Can you balance your checking account? Are you mentally challenged to make change as a cashier? I was in a Home Depot Store in Macon Georgia years ago around Christmas Time and I purchased an item for $9.95 and I gave the cashier a ten dollar bill. She gave me change back for a one hundred dollar bill. As she was counting the twenty dollar bills into my hand I could not help to think is this the new math? Is this Washington D.C math? Now I know how politicians become millionaires on a government salary! As she put the nickel into my hand on top of the stack of bills I said is this my Christmas gift? She looked at me kind of funny and said what do you mean? Mam I gave you a ten dollar bill! She thanked me and took back the stack of bills and left me with my nickel! I hope she does not work at my bank unless she helps me out again! Did you know Caesar Augustus was a trillionaire! Not a millionaire or a billionaire but a trillionaire! Then he woke up from his bed one morning and looked over at his beautiful wife with expensive tastes and thought we need to tax the whole fricking world! Yes Caesar was a Democrat! But it was prophetic! Joseph and pregnant Mary had to go down to Bethlehem from Nazareth to be taxed. So baby Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Micah written some 500 years earlier that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem! Did Caesar know that? Probably not a clue? All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose! There are so many scriptures that predicted Jesus birth and death that just too much to cover in this posting! Also the historical people and dates involved in these great events! Ceasar Agustus reigned from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14. Well within the time of Jesus birth! So when was Cyrenius governor of Syria? For sure he reigned in 6 A.D. So the critics said Luke must have got the date wrong since most historians believe Jesus was born in 4 B.C. Well that was a question until 1912 when archeologists discovered an inscription on a stone that proved that Cyrenius ruled for two terms! We know from the official Roman records that Caesar made three decree’s! One in 28 B.C. and one in 8 B.C. and then in A.D.14. If there are an others we do not know about it is possible? If the 8 B.C. was the world tax decree then it would have to be passed by the Roman Senate and since they did not have E-mail how long would it take to get it out to the Roman provinces by mule train? What other historical references do we have? How about King Herod! Herod famous for his death march to Bethlehem to kill baby Jesus died in 4 B.C. That would be the latest date for Jesus to have been born! Remember Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus escaped the knife of Herod by going down to Egypt and then returning to Nazareth after his death! I have called my Son out of Egypt! So just from historical records we can place the birth of Jesus between 6-4 B.C. Now the even more accurate are the prophetic scriptures like Daniel chapter nine. However the math is not hard but may trouble your mind more than you are used to! The Old Testament prophet Daniel determines the sevens are seven years. Gabriel told Daniel that the decree to rebuild the Temple would be seven sevens which is 49 years! Plus 62 sevens which is 434 years. After the 483 years the anointed one the Messiah would be cut off! That would be the year of Jesus crucifixion! The Hebrew calendar is based upon the lunar year where our calendar is based upon the solar year. So 360 days in lunar year and 365.25 days in solar year! So you have to covert! Conversion yields 476 years on our calendar. Nehamiah records the date of the decree from Axtaxeres. From our calendar that would be 444 B.C. Counting 476 years from 444 B.C. remembering there is no zero A.D. we discover from what Gabriel told Daniel that the Messiah would be cut off in 33 A.D. That is April 3, 33 A.D. This also helps us to determine the birth date of Jesus! Jesus said pay your taxes! Render unto God his share and render unto Caesar his share! The Caesar IRS could not get Jesus on tax fraud! He was obedient unto the law even unto death! James & Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com