I WILL SET THEE AS A WATCHMAN ON THE WALL.........
GOD╒S HOLY DAYS OR HOLIDAYS?
by Jim Mattson (JMMattson, AOL)
COPYRIGHT ⌐ 1994 by The Olive Tree Ministries
Knowing there has been much research done in the Christian community on the origins of Christmas (Santa, Christmas tree), Easter (Bunny), HALLOWEEN (Trick or Treat), or Valentine╒s Day (Cupid), why have our gifted and educated BS, MD and PhD's been voiceless in turning God's people away from the pagan traditions that pervade the Holiday customs? Could it be paganism is defined in the commandments of God(Torah-613)as delivered to us by our Jewish forefathers to which our gifted theologians have understood and taught as having been done away with and with arrogance done what Paul advised us not to do? Romans 11:18-"Do not be arrogant toward the Jews, but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root(Israel) but the root(Israel)supports YOU."
God╒s commandments have not been done away with (Matthew 5:17-19) We read in Deuteronomy 12: 30,31, ╥Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them(pagans) and their customs, that thou enquire not after their Gods, saying how did these nations serve their God╒s? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods.╙
In plain english, no custom or tradition used in the worship of idols or false gods, past, present or future, may be participated in by God╒s people. We will not be able to dress it up in Christian apparel and expect God╒s approval. To God it is still Idolatry.
Does the Christian community during what is called the Holiday season immerse itself in traditions that are indeed infused with pagan practice and customs? Will we find God being honored the very same way as the pagans honored their Gods? If so, will we find a Christian community that will be willing to forsake these ways to bring true honor to God by obeying his commandments passed down to us by our Jewish brothers?
Make no mistake, in researching the origin of many of the accepted Christian festivals, one doesn╒t have to sift through the history books very far to see paganism is at the very root. What makes a pagan culture, regardless of sophistication, is defined in it╒s customs and traditions. The fact that we are 20th century intellectuals and not barbaric doesn╒t make us any less a pagan, if indeed our traditions and customs reflect the same as pagans of 4000 years ago. The fact remains that when God╒s people began to incorporate many of these holiday customs and traditions, they chose to disobey God.
Christmas
I too have gathered some information that I believe is insightful and very helpful in arriving at the conclusion to obey God's commandments is foremost in the Kingdom of God.
See if this doesn╒t sound familiar. Fourth century writer Libanius described the end-of-the-year gift giving and partying in the ancient non-christian Roman-Empire: ╥Everywhere may be seen....well laden tables, the impulse to spend seizes everyone. He who throughout the whole year had taken pleasure in saving... becomes suddenly extravagant. A stream of presents pours itself out on all sides. Of all times in the year, it was indeed the Season to be jolly. Drunkenness was widespread. The spirit of rioting, merrymaking and frivolity permeated the air.
Anciently, December 25th was the date of the Pagan Roman Bromalia, the final day of the popular week long Saturnalia celebration. Celebrated in honor of the God Saturn. It was the day of the invincible sun, a winter solstice festival...
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious knowledge explains that in 3000 B.C., after the untimely death of King Osiris (King of Egypt) his wife, Isis propagated(taught) the doctrine ╥the survival of Osiris as a spirit-being.╙ She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang up over night from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth unto life of the dead Osiris, then reborn in his son Horus. On each anniversary of his new birth, she claimed Osiris would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts. The date of his birth was December 25. SOLSTICE AND THE EVERGREEN
Author David Ingraham╒s article in the publication ╥The Gospel Truth,╙ published and copyrighted 1992 by Southwest Radio Church on ╥Where is Christ in Christmas? reads; ╥Veneration of trees had begun in the Garden of Eden where one tree represented eternal life and another conveyed the knowledge of good and evil. Eve apparently became preoccupied with the fruit of the latter and, with the help of the Tempter, capitulated to what must have been an idolatrous relationship to it. Adam later acquiesced and mankind was plunged instantly into an inescapable legacy of sin and death.
Later in human history the heathen came to believe that certain gods or spirits inhabited trees; therefore, they offered sacrifices under them:
╥Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: Deut. 12:2 ╥For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.╙
1 Kings 14:23
Tree ceremonies were not limited to the Middle East, however. When Spanish explorers discovered the New World they found that the Mayans of Mexico revered the cypress trees and attached offerings of teeth and locks of hair to its boughs. In China, red banners with words of praise and thanksgiving printed on them adorned certain sacred trees. In Finland, the Lapps collected samples of all the foods eaten at the solstice feast, put them into a small birch bark trough, and fashioned the piece into the shape of a small boat with sails, masts, and oars. They then placed the vessel into the branches of a special pine tree which had sacred symbols on all four sides. The Druids loved the oak tree as well as the fir. During the winter solstice they tied apples to the branches of these trees and thanked the god Odin for blessing them with fruitfulness. They also made offerings of cakes shaped like fish, birds, and other animals. They also adorned the boughs with lighted candles in honor of the sun god.
In Roman circles, Saturnalia adopted the motif of green boughs, fir trees, fertility rites, and protection from spirits and darkness. According to one of our sources, holly and ivy first came together in the Roman Saturnalia. They were thought to be magical in quality with the ability to repel one╒s enemies. Ivy was thought to bring good luck especially to women. The combination of holly leaves and red berries was thought to be especially effective against the ╥evil eye.╙ Mistletoe became associated with fertility, connecting it with the act of kissing.
In other countries the celebration of the winter solstice assumed different characteristics. In China, little children received coins packaged in red envelopes bearing the words, ╥New Happiness for the New Year.╙ In Thailand, perfumed water was thrown over friends and guests as a form of greeting for the new year. But the festival that moved westward and became amalgamated with the celebration of the birth of Christ was characteristically dominated by evergreen trees, wreaths, and boughs.╙
Century╒s before Christ╒s birth, much of the Pagan world, realizing their dependence upon the sun for light, heat and growing of crops, watched the sun╒s yearly course in the heavens with deep interest. At different seasons, feasts and celebrations were held to help, it was thought, the solar orb on its way..
The end of December was an especially significant time in the Northern Hemisphere. The day╒s were short. The Sun was at it╒s lowest point. Special Festivals of thanksgiving and encouragement to the sun were held. When, at the winter solstice, the days began to lengthen, there was great celebration lasting into the first part of January. The Sun, the Light of the World, had been reborn!
The writings of the Apostles document for us that Jesus as well as the early church continued to celebrate the Feasts of Israel. Jesus╒ participation can clearly be seen in the Feast of Passover(John 10.22), Feast of Dedications or Hanukkah (John 10:22), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Luke 22:1) and the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:10). The Apostle Paul commanded the Corinthians to keep the feast of Passover in 1 Cor. 5:7,8, and these were predominately non-Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus). These were festivals designed by God for man that were full of symbolism and foreshadowed God╒s total redemptive plan for all men. Never to have become obsolete or understood only for the Jewish community. Yeshua (Jesus) understood that and participated as well as those early followers. Well, what happened?
It was not until the mid-fourth century that Pope Julius I decreed December 25th to be Christmas or then called Christ-Mass Day. This was perhaps due in large part to the so-called conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine who made Christianity popular by making it the state religion and bringing with it all of it╒s pagan traditions.
Some will ask: What is wrong with borrowing some of those ancient customs and using them to honor the Messiah? Can pagan practices be Christianized?
More than 34 centuries ago, the rebellious children of Israel fashioned a pagan Idol- a golden calf - in the wilderness. (Exodus32) It was the God Apis, the sacred Egyptian Bull deity worshipped at Memphis on the Nile. Upon seeing the people╒s approval, Aaron(Moses Brother) declared their offering as a new ╥Feast unto the Lord,╙ verse 5. Three thousand people died the next day because of their deception and how many of God╒s people are perishing today because the Christian community has immersed itself in worldly traditions.
These traditions go back centuries before Messiah and are bound up in the apostasy which has gripped a deceived world. Through the influence of Egypt and later Babylon and then over the rest of the civilized world the enemy has accomplished what he has set out to do..The people of God have ceased to be a peculiar people, distinct and separate from the world we live in and find the practice of pagans and their customs from centuries ago, who had no knowledge of God, acceptable.
What is heart breaking is the few who will hear God╒s word and remove themselves from such apostate behavior, will be ostracized and misunderstood by even their own families. It was just headlined in one of the local newspapers recently that Christmas is to the department stores what Easter is to the egg producers..For the business man, that sounds good, but for the millions of consumers the indebtedness that takes place on an annual basis is catastrophic. For many the recovery takes months and with plastic money it╒s extended for years. America is in trouble because God╒s commandments are not heeded. ╥Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them (pagans) and their customs, that thou enquire not after their Gods, saying how did these nations serve their God╒s? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods.╙
Attempt in any way to return to and obey God╒s commandments by evaluating and in some cases turning away from some of these traditions will cause a division among family and friends. Remember Yeshua╒s (Jesus) words in Luke 12:51-53, ╥ Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.╙
From the Grolier Encyclopedia, ╥Christmas is the feast of the birth of JESUS CHRIST, celebrated on December 25. Primitive Christianity regarded the birth of Jesus as a significant moment, important for the understanding of his person. This conviction was expressed in narrative form in the birth stories (Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2).╙ Despite the beliefs about Christ that the birth stories expressed, the church did not observe a festival for the celebration of the event until the 4th century. What we can learn here is in her apostasy, the Church rejected the Feasts of the Lord and instituted and insisted on her own Feasts. Can Christian festivities be an alternative for pagan festivities despite God╒s heeding in Deut. Chapt 12:30,31? Its evident the Church thought so. The date was chosen to counter the pagan festivities connected with the winter solstice; since 274, under the emperor Aurelian, Rome had celebrated the feast of the "Invincible Sun" on December 25. In the Eastern Church, January 6, a day also associated with the winter solstice, was initially preferred. In course of time, however, the West added the Eastern date as the feast of the EPIPHANY, and the East added the Western date of Christmas. Thus, the West subsequently divided the Christmas celebration between December 25 (the birth of Christ and homage of the shepherds) and January 6 (the homage of the MAGI). The result in medieval Europe, folk customs connected with the winter solstice were perpetuated together with the church celebration. Although it rose in popularity through the Dark Ages, Christmas was outlawed in England in 1644 by an act of Parliament and the influence of the Puritans. The Puritans brought this influence to America and by 1659 Massachusetts had passed a law fining anybody who celebrated Christmas. Under the influence of puritanical thought, America suppressed the celebration of Christmas well into the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, we can see Christmas has survived and has had a strong resurgence in America, being developed commercially since the Industrial Revolution.
Dr. Donald Dossey, author of the book ╥Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun,╙ writes, ╥So many early cultures had festivities surrounding the winter solstice of light overcoming darkness. Bonfires were a universal way to combat the darkness. Norsemen called their winter festival Yuletide, and they burned yule logs. ╥They helped good spirits see their way and scared away the evil. Candles and lights on trees today are really symbols of those early bonfires.╙ The prevalence of winter festivals helps explain why Dec. 25th was chosen as Christmas Day. Some scholars say Jesus was actually born in the spring, when shepherds tended their flocks. But the Catholic Church merged older customs into the religious events surrounding the Christmas celebration. ╥When Christianity began less than 2000 years ago, it had no history. The so-called pagans were diehards. They weren╒t going to give up their practices. So the Church(Catholic) in a purely political move, infused many of the pagan festivities with their Christian celebration of Christmas. Her thinking was perhaps the church╒s influence would rub off on the pagans bringing them closer to God, but the direct opposite has happen. This in direct disobedience of God╒s word in Deut. 12:30,31-╥ Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them(pagans) and their customs, that thou enquire not after their Gods, saying how did these nations serve their God╒s? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods.╙
What brings tears to this writers eyes is the fact the men of our society who are the heads of our families would be lost without all the pagan paraphernalia that surrounds them each year and with no desire to change or know the truth, they profess him(Jesus) with their lips, while their hearts are far from him. Furthermore, with a wealth of knowledge at the hand of most casual readers concerning these pagan practices, they turn a deaf ear to the prophetic message before them and continue in their disobedience.
Once again from David Ingraham╒s Where is Christ in Christmas, ╥The preceding scenario is by no means imaginary. In a recent edition of The End Times and Victorious Living, published by Paw Creek Church and Media Ministry, Christian author Texe Marrs disclosed that a school in Portland, Oregon has established a precedent once thought inconceivable. He writes: ╥The kids at a public elementary school in Portland, Oregon, were not allowed to celebrate a traditional Christmas last year. School authorities decided that would be wrong. Religion is not permissible in the classroom. Church and State must be kept separate, right?╙
╥Since Christmas is a Christian holiday, school officials decided that the very word ╘Christmas╒ must be forbidden to be spoken. And in the place of the annual Christmas event, the school╒s kids would be required instead to participate in a winter solstice program.╙
Under the guise of separation of church and state, the school system inaugurated an alternative to Christmas that is abominable. At the event, the program cover depicted the sun god(Lucifer, god of light) and the moon goddess identifying the Babylonian origin of the rituals described within.
The solstice celebration that followed was nothing short of diabolical. The children engaged in chanting, dancing, and drumming, being seated in a circle according to their sign of the zodiac, and ingesting ╥sun and moon cake╙ among other occult activities.
The irony of the matter is that the world is separating itself from the church because the church has failed to separate itself from the world. Santa Claus has only been an anesthetic for the Pagan culture in America and with the dawn of the Age of Aquarius the Winter Solstice celebrations like a seed has been germinating and is preparing to blossom.
Easter
To understand the transition from Passover to Easter a history lesson is neccessary. In the King James translation the only reference to the word Easter is found in Acts 12:4, and this is unfortunate. In the original Greek text the word ╥PASCHA.╙ is used by Luke to convey a Jewish Feast (festival) instituted by God in Leviticus 23:5. Historically documented, is the fact the early disciples both Jew and Gentile continued to celebrate the festivals of God up until the time of the dispersion and destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Titus in A.D. 70 Not too long after that with the make-up of the Church predominately non -Jewish, laws were enacted prohibiting any association with the Jew or his way of life. This was to include the Festivals of God. This process toward this compromise in the church began immediately after the death of the Apostles. Up until 70 AD when the holy Temple was destroyed, Jewish believers filled the land of Israel. The Jerusalem Church was a sect of Judaism and claimed many Temple priests and P╒rushim (Pharisees) as members. Its membership numbered in the mutiple thousands, and was the most authoritative of the churches in the world. But with the attack of Titus on Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple, Rome began an all out punishment of the Jewish people. A Jewish rebel arose by the name of Bar Kochba(Son of the star) He claimed to be a messiah and many of the princes of Judaism, as well as a few Jewish believers, followed him. The height of his revolt took place about 135 AD at which time Emperor Hadrian crushed it, by plowing the Holy city under and taking absolute control of Israel (which he called Palestine), forcing all Jews to leave Jerusalem and most to leave Israel. He renamed Jerusalem, Aeolia Capitolina and built a temple to Jupiter on the site of the Temple Mount. People from other nations were brought in to inhabit Jerusalem and from this time the complexion of the church began to change quickly. It became very dangerous to be Jewish. The main change in the structure of the church was that the Church of Jerusalem completely lost its place of spiritual influence. It was the Jerusalem Church, under the supervision of Ya╒kov(James) the Just, which had maintained faithfulness to the Law of Moses, especially the keeping of the Sabbath and the Holy Feasts. Eventually the writings of Paul were allowed to be misinterpreted as approving the negation of the Torah(Law), when, infact, Paul was simply exalting Messiah as the example of following the Torah, rather than the traditions of Jewish elders, whose teachings sometimes negated the intention of the Law. Let me quote from a distinguished Gentile Christian scholar without any Messianic Jewish axe to grind. C.E.B.Cranfield, in his commentary on the book of Romans:
╥...it will be well to bear in mind the fact(which, so far as we know, had not received attention before it was noted in [Cranfield╒s article in] the Scottish Journal of Theology, Volume 17, 1964,p.55) that the Greek language of Paul╒s day possessed no word-group corresponding to our ╘legalism╒ and ╘legalistic.╒ This means that he lacked a covenient terminology for expressing a vital distinction, and so was surely seriously hampered in the work of clarifying the Christian position with regard to the law. In view of this, we should always, we think, be ready to reckon with the possibility that Pauline statements which at first sight seem to disparage the law, were really directed not against the law itself but against that misunderstanding and misuse of it for which we now have a convenient terminology. ╥
Paul instructed that the unlearned Gentile believers, in the process of spiritual growth, were not to be overwhelmed by legal demands before they could grow into maturity and understanding. Paul wanted the church to have a personal living relationship with God, instead of a static legal one. He believed the Spirit of God would lead the believer into all righteousness and that righteousness would be in keeping with the Law(Torah) as it was learned. This can be seen in Paul sending Zenas to Titus in Crete. A man of God who was skilled in all knowledge of Torah(Mosaic Law).Titus 3:13 Thus, Paul saw himself as establishing the Law, not destroying it (Romans 3:31). But, after Paul departed, his rabbinical writing style was allowed to be misconstrued and used against the very things for which Paul gave thanks: the Torah, the covenants, and the chosen people In formulating our own Christian doctrines, lets not even consider why Paul made every effort to come to Jerusalem for the Holy Feasts(Acts 20:16), Why he was always in the synagogues on the Sabbath Day(Acts 17:2) Why he kept a nazirite vow according to Torah(Acts 18:18) Why he sacrificed and purified himself in the Temple(Acts 21:26) Why he boldly declared himself to be a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin(Phil 3:5) and Why he had his Gentile compatriot circumcised(Acts 16:3) Paul was setting an example for all to follow who would dare to be yoked with a Jewish Messiah....
With the first apostles dead, it was Rome╒s opportunity to corner the market on God for the Gentile people and become exclusively a gentile religion. As documented for us in the Constantine Conspiracy╙ by David M. Hargis we quote, ╥Constantine who declared Rome Christianized in 321 A.D., decreed Sunday as the official day off of the civil government. It was to be observed as Dies Solis , the Day of the Sun, or Sun╒s day. Constantine had acclaimed Apollo, the sun-god as his patron, and never recorded a recantation of that confession. By issuing this imperial command he effectively pronounced the first day of the week to be in honor of his pagan god.╙ He said, ╥This day should be regarded as a special occasion for prayer,╙ and he enjoined on all his subjects of the Roman Empire to observe Sunday as a day of rest. Prior to this the brilliant Greek civilization which bequeathed us Plato and Aristotle, which served as the bedrock for Western civilization and provided the impetus for scientific inquiry, mocked the Jews in its time for not working one day a week. Jews were then called shiftless and lazy, not by barbarians, but by people whose writings are still studied in the universities of the world. It took the civilized world all these centuries even to begin to realize the value of a day of rest, and make the six day work week the basis of its social order. From the seven day work week to the endorsement of Sunday as the day of rest, it had now become difficult for a non-christian to get any public employment, and in less than a century it was a public crime not to be a Christian. The concession made by the church in Rome was no less. She adopted, one by one, the essential ideas and rites of paganism as her own. Therefore, pagans could easily say they were Christians, in order to be employed, without giving up their pagan practices. The rush to become non-Jewish allowed the devotional transference of observing biblical holy days to the pagan festivals. Constantine demanded that no one heretofore was to keep any other day except Sunday as the Lord╒s Day as well as any feasts associated with the hated Jews. His army was commissioned to enforce his decrees with all unmerciful diligence. It is documented that many people, Jews and faithful believers in Yeshua died by his hand for keeping the Sabbath instead of Sunday and many others were forced by imperial order to labor on the Sabbath Day or forfeit their jobs.╙ The church by now which was primarily non-Jewish had systematically exchanged God╒s Holy Days for Constantine's Holidays, which the Apostles, who were all dead by now, would have torn their garments in agony over such apostasy. Passover became Easter and the worship of the Sun god Saturnalia on December 25 became Christmas. Despite Yeshua╒s response in Luke 11:27,28 where a woman makes an attempt to immortalize his birth she cries out, ╥Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts at which You nursed.╙ But Yeshua said, ╥Nay, On the contrary, blessed are you who hear the word of God, and observe it.╙
The Church in Rome was successful and responsible for destroying the Fourth Commandment of God, ╥Remember the Sabbath and to keep it Holy.╙ This one act by Constantine was the key to ushering in the Easter Celebration we have all come to intimately know as Easter Sunday. We have all been taught that Sunday became the day of worship for the Christian but historically this just ain╒t so. The few references made in the apostles writings eluding to meeting on the first day of the week should not be construed as the new Sabbath. The early church fathers(greek) went to great lengths to cut us off from our roots ╥Israel,╙ and for fear of losing their very own lives chose not to identify with a Jewish Messiah. So out with ╥The Week of Unleavened Bread, Passover and the Feast of First Fruits,╙ and in with ╥Passion week, Good Friday and the Easter Bunny╙...
The Festival of Easter had it╒s origin in Babylon, centuries before Messiah. Easter comes from the idol Goddess Queen of Heaven better known as ╥Asarte.╙ In ancient Anglo-Saxon ╥Eostre.╙ In Arabic, ╥Ishtar,╙ in Egypt, ╥Isis╙ and in Hebrew, ╥Asherah.╙ Some of her other names are Diana of Ephesus, Aphrodite of Greece, and Venus of Rome. She was and is known as earth mother or goddess of fertility. Her day was celebrated throughout the Roman Empire on the first Sunday after the first full moon, on or after the vernal equinox (when the sun travels most directly from east to west) of March 21. Easter can come as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. Easter is directly a homage to the sun╒s movement. It was the worship of this woman by Israel that was such an abomination to God (1 Samuel 7:3) She was a fertility God and the symbol that became synonymous with her was the Easter egg. The egg symbolizing all of life. Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia on Religions of the World states that the Easter celebration was formerly accepted by the Council of Nicea and enforced by the office of the Emperor. The Church maintained that Easter Sunday was the day of resurrection. However, the Hebrew celebration, First Fruits, was the actual day of his resurrection which was a Feast of Israel which had about a 1400 year history by then and was tied to the week of unleavened bread, and the Passover. To have the Lord╒s resurrection associated with Judaism was blasphemous to the Church with her anti-Semitic heart. The church╒s adaptation of pagan traditions was both convenient and popular, and whatever increased the influence of the church became the rationalization for its adoption, and again the Apostle Paul commanded the church in Corinth who was predominately gentile, to keep the feast of Passover (1Cor 5:7,8). The proper dates for Passover and First Fruits have been accurately noted by Jewish rabbinical authorities from the beginning of the commandment. David Hargis continues to share with us that "the Passover observance has special meaning to Jesus since he said he looked forward to eating it with us in the coming Kingdom (Luke 22: 15, 16). We must not overlook Yeshua was confirming a Renewed Covenant with an ancient commandment that was already centuries old when He gave it. Yeshua was making Passover a celebration of His death. He was fulfilling it by giving it it╒s full prophetic meaning. He was not instituting a new unrelated table unknown to the disciples who were there. He certainly was not taking Passover away, rather He affirmed it as belonging to Him.."
Like Aaron's attempt to declare a new feast unto the Lord while worshipping the false bull deity Apis, we see the people of God today with the world enjoying the festival of Easter, embracing it and declaring it a Holy day unto the Lord. In truth, it╒s a false doctrine and tradition which seems unbreakable.. Deut. 12:30,31 ╥Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them(pagans) and their customs, that thou enquire not after their Gods, saying how did these nations serve their God╒s? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God, for every abomination to the Lord which he hateth have they done unto their gods.╙
Halloween
Halloween is the one pagan holiday that America celebrates that has not been Christianized by the Church per say but is full of so called Christian participants. Halloween can be traced as far back as 600 years B.C....It is believed to have originated with the occult type of priesthood know to the Celtic people as Druids. Halloween, or Samhain was the day of the festival which honored the Lord of Death.The Druid╒s cruelty and magic were feared by the celts. Reports spread of their practices of sexual molestations, tortures and sacrifices, both animal and human whose hearts were torn out and offered to the god of this dark religion.
Bonfires were lit and the people gathered in masks and costumes to represent the spirits that roam the earth on that night. Futures were foretold by bobbing for apples and not only food was left on the doorstep so evil spirits would pass by without playing a trick on those inside but a smiling pumpkin aglow and placed on the front porch of each home indicated the house was sympathetic to those evil spirits. The Druids were and still are today witches, wizards, chanters of magic poems to a dark and sinister god.
The Bible speaks of the Druids of 600 years ago and the Bible still speaks to the Druids of today. ╥There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination (fortune telling-psychic friends network) or a necromancer (communication with the dead-channeling). For all that do these things are a ABOMINATION unto the Lord.╙
Law enforcement estimates 40,000 to 60,000 occult murders occur in America each year. The sacrificial death of infants each year on Oct. 31, the countless number of teenage girls who are raped at midnight rituals and the number of fires associated with arson are staggering. In Chicago last year on Oct 31, 1994, there was reported 160 plus arson related fires. It's also a well known fact more teenagers for the first time test the effects of illicit drugs on this day due to the captivation adults have with this unholy alliance.
Can Christians continue to participate in festivals that obviously have pagan origins?
Saint Valentine╒s Day
Valentine, Saint
The name Saint Valentine is given to two legendary Christian martyrs whose feasts were formerly observed on February 14. One, believed to be a Roman priest martyred c.269 during the persecution of Claudius the Goth, was buried on the Flaminian Way; the second was probably a bishop of Terni martyred in Rome. It is possible that these two legends were based on real people or, as some believe, one person. The association of Saint Valentine's Day with love and courtship may have arisen from the coincidence of the date with the Roman festival of LUPERCALIA. In 1969 the feast day was dropped from the Roman church calendar.
Lupercalia {loo-pur-kay'-lee-uh}
The Lupercalia was a Roman festival believed to have been in honor of FAUNUS, the god of flocks and fertility. Celebrated on February 15, it was intended to ensure the fertility of people, fields, and flocks for the new year. After sacrificing goats and a dog on the Palatine Hill, young men called Luperci raced around the borders of the hill striking those they met with whips made of the goatskins. Women who were struck were ensured of fertility and of easy delivery of children. The festival survived until the 5th century AD.
In Greek mythology and philosophy, Eros played many roles. In the Theogony of Hesiod (c.750 BC), Eros impregnated GAEA (mother earth), and their offspring were URANUS (heaven), the sea, and mountains. The Birds of Aristophanes contains another theogony, in which CHAOS and darkness first existed. Then night laid an egg in darkness, and Eros was hatched. Finally, Eros fertilized Chaos, who gave birth to ocean, heaven, earth, and all the gods. Among some early Greek philosophers, Eros was love, the force responsible for all creation--if present--and for all destruction--if absent.
As a young, playful god, he was often referred to as a son of APHRODITE and was frequently depicted as causing love by shooting a gold-tipped arrow. Many of his antics are related in the Aeneid of Vergil and in the Metamorphoses of Ovid. In art, he is usually depicted with wings, carrying a bow and wearing a quiver of arrows. In Roman mythology he is known as Cupid or Amor.
Robert E. Wolverton-Eros (mythology)
Summation
We have touched on four significant festivals celebrated in America and for the most part, this world. Although this article couldn╒t begin to deal with all the various religious feasts that have been instituted in the last 2000 years, these feasts in their present form, though deviated slightly in some cases from their origin, have resulted in our children being sacrificed to pagan traditions and customs and know more about Santa, Easter bunny, Trick or Treat and Cupid than they know about Yeshua the Messiah, Passover, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I have come to abolish or do away with the Law, but to fulil." As it turns out, "abolish" and "fulfil" are terms used at that time as part of scholarly debate and rabbinic discussion. A sage was accused of abolishing or cancelling the Torah(LAW) if he misinterpreted a passage, nullifying its intent. If he fulfilled it, he had properly interpreted Scripture so as to preserve and correctly explain its intent. The Jews Jesus was talking to understood this. To reject this Hebraic concept is anti-Semitic and the Christian commentaries are guilty of this. God has provided festivals for us but not the ones most religions have chosen. James 4:4 ╥You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.╙ Godly intentions don╒t make Godly ways no matter how good it makes you feel. God has called us to be a peculiar people, but instead we have mingled with the world and telling the two apart is most difficult. ......
To what extent are you willing to separate from this world to love and obey God......Modern man may celebrate many holidays, but he observes few, if any, Holy Days.
A good sign the Lord is not involved is when the world is.
