"Is it Possible to Christianize Modern
Holidays"?
by Lani W. Finley
There
is only one similarity that Satan has in common with Jesus
Christ. It is that he is the same today, yesterday and
forever. The scriptures tell us that the devil is a murderer
and a liar.
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the
father of it. (John 8:44)
The
Bible also informs us that he has deceived the whole world
(Rev. 12:9).
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast
out into the earth, and his angels were cast out
with him Rev 12:9. (Emphasis on scripture is mine
throughout).
Satan
will never repent, nor cease from this evil conduct. It is
as natural to him, as breathing is to a human being. He will
always remain the same.
One of
his goals is to twist, pervert and misrepresent the truth of
God, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. He has managed to
steal the truth regarding God's Holy Days from the majority
of mankind and has deceived them into believing fables. The
apostle Paul warned the body of Christ that sound doctrine
would be replaced with fables of men.
"For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn
away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables (2 Tim
4:3-4)."
The Cunning Deception
Satan
has deceived most of the Christian community into accepting
the erroneous belief that man can create doctrines and days
of worship outside of the scriptures and use them to honor
God. This is predicated upon the belief, that it is somehow
possible to Christianize something
that is evil and an abomination to God. Is it possible for
pagan feast days and symbols, that were used in the evil
worship of the devil, to be cleaned- up and used for the
worship of God? Most learned Christian pastors will admit
that holidays like: Christmas, Easter, Halloween and
Valentines Day have a pagan origin. Nevertheless, they
reason, that if Christ's name and the person of Jesus, is
incorporated into the day, that it is somehow Christianized
and can be used to worship a Holy God. Is this true? There
is a way that seems right to man, but ends in death (Prov.
14:122). What does God have to say about something that has
its origin in pagan worship? In addition, how does He feel
about pagan symbols and artifacts? We should let the Word of
God answer this question for us.
The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with
fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that
is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be
snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD
thy God). [26] Neither shalt thou bring
an abomination into thine
house, lest thou be a cursed thing
like it: but thou shalt utterly detest
it, and thou shalt utterly
abhor it; for it is a cursed thing
(Deut 7:25-26).
When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy
God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after
the abominations of those nations. [10] There shall
not be found among you any one that maketh his son
or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that
useth divination, or an
observer of times, or
an enchanter, or
a witch. [11] Or a
charmer, or a consulter
with familiar spirits, or
a wizard, or a necromancer.
[12] For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the LORD: and because
of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive
them out from before thee Deut 18:9-12.
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way
of the heathen, and be not dismayed at
the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at
them. (Jer 10:2).
Please
notice how many times God uses the word
abomination in these verses. The word
abomination means, "a hateful thing, disgusting, an
abhorrence." Does this sound as if God could ever approve of
the pagan practices, symbols and customs of the heathens? We
are instructed by God not to bring any of these things into
our homes and we are commanded to detest
and abhor them. We are warned,
"not to learn the way of the heathen". God did not say for
us to learn their ways, Christianize them and use them to
worship Him.
Anything
that is evil and an abhorrence to God, cannot have Christ's
name attached to it and made holy. Can one attach the name
of Jesus to the act of adultery, incest, lies or murder and
then make the act acceptable to God? Of course not, because
there can be no fellowship between good and evil. The Word
of God confirms this.
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what
do righteousness and
wickedness have in common?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
[15] What harmony is there between
Christ and Belial? What does a
believer have in common with an unbeliever? [16]
What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols? For we are
the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I
will live with them and walk among them, and I will
be their God, and they will be my people". [17]
"Therefore come out from them and be
separate, says the Lord. Touch no
unclean thing, and I will receive you (2 Cor 6:14-17
NIV).
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of
demons too; you cannot have a part in both the
Lord's table and the table of demons (1 Cor 10: 21
NIV).
Paul is
warning Christians not to have any fellowship with things
that originated in the deceived heart of man and inspired by
the devil. We are commanded to come out
and be separated from these evil
and corrupt beliefs and customs.
The Fables
We
have investigated several scriptures that clearly condemn
combining pagan doctrines with Christian worship. God has
plainly stated that this is not acceptable to Him. However,
the world has chosen to adopt and teach fables,
instead of truth. Although, most
pastors know that these fables are derived from pagan
origins; they try to justify them by erroneously attaching
Christ's name to them. Most Christians believe that their
holidays (a deviation from the
biblical references to holydays) honor God and His Son,
Jesus Christ. However, reference materials and Bible
historians agree, that it was sheer paganism, that gave
birth to these modern Christian observances.
(1). Christmas:
The following is a quote from the Encyclopedia
Britannica, Volume 11; page 390 "During the later
periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in
importance and ultimately led to what has been
called a 'solar monotheism.' Nearly all the gods of
the period were possessed of Solar qualities, and
both Christ and Mithra acquired the traits of solar
deities. The feast of Sol and Victus (open
unconquered Sun) on December 25th was celebrated
with great joy, and eventually this date
was taken over by the Christians as Christmas, the
birthday of Christ."
The Encyclopedia Americana,
1956 edition, adds, “Christmas…was not observed in
the first centuries of the Christian church, since
the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the
death of remarkable persons rather than their
birth…a feast was established in memory of this
event [Christ’s birth] in the fourth
century. In the fifth century the
Western Church ordered the feast to be celebrated
forever on the day of the Mithraic rites
of the birth of the sun and at the close of the
Saturnalia, as no certain knowledge of
the day of Christ’s birth existed.”
Previous quotes introduced the subject of the
Saturnalia. Let’s carefully study just exactly who
Saturn was. Consider the following quote from
another large American newspaper, The
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New
York, December 1984: “The Roman festival of
Saturnalia, Dec. 17-24, moved citizens to decorate
their homes with greens and lights and give gifts to
children and the poor. The Dec. 25 festival of
natalis solis invicti, the birth of the
unconquered sun, was decreed by the
emperor Aurelian in A.D. 274 as a Winter Solstice
celebration, and sometime (later)…was Christianized
as a date to celebrate the birth of the Son of
Light.”
(2) Easter:
“Easter—the name Easter comes to us from Ostera or
Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for whom
a spring festival was held annually, as it is from
this pagan festival that
some of our Easter customs have
come”(Hazeltine,p.53).
“In Babylonia…the goddess of spring was called
Ishtar. She was identified with the planet Venus,
which, because…[it] rises before the Sun…or sets
after it…appears to love the light [this means Venus
loves the sun-god]…In Phoenecia, she became Astarte;
in Greece, Eostre [related to the Greek word
Eos: “dawn”], and in Germany,
Ostara [this comes from the German word Ost: “east,”
which is the direction of dawn]” (Englehart, p. 4).
The widely-known historian, Will Durant, in his
famous and respected work, Story of
Civilization, pp. 235, 244-245,
writes, “Ishtar [Astarte to the Greeks, Ashtoreth to
the Jews], interests us not only as analogue of the
Egyptian Isis and prototype of the Grecian Aphrodite
and the Roman Venus, but as the formal beneficiary
of one of the strangest of Babylonian customs…known
to us chiefly from a famous page in Herodotus: Every
native woman is obliged, once in her life, to sit in
the temple of Venus [Easter], and have intercourse
with some stranger.” Is it any wonder that the Bible
speaks of the religious system that has descended
from that ancient city as, “Mystery, Babylon the
Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the
Earth” (Rev. 17:5)?
(3). Halloween:
[p. 315] Druidic Element. Unlike the familiar
observance of All Souls, Halloween traditions have
never been connected with Christian religious
celebrations of any kind. Although the name is taken
from a great Christian feast (Allhallows’ Eve), it
has nothing in common with the Feast of All Saints,
and is, instead, a tradition of pre-Christian times
that has retained its original character in form and
meaning.
Halloween customs are traced back to the ancient
Druids… Halloween fires are kindled in many places
even now, especially in Wales and Scotland.
Another, and more important, tradition is the
Druidic belief that during the night of November 1
demons, witches, and evil spirits roamed the earth
in wild and furious gambols of joy to greet the
arrival of "their season"—the long nights and early
dark of the winter months. They had their fun with
the poor mortals that night, frightening, harming
them, and playing all kinds of mean tricks. The only
way, it seemed, for scared humans to escape the
persecution of the demons was to offer them things
they liked, especially dainty food and sweets. Or,
in order to escape the fury of these horrible
creatures, a human could disguise himself as one of
them and join in their roaming. In this way they
would take him for one of their own and he would not
be bothered. That is what people did in ancient
times, and it is in this very form the custom has
come down to us, practically unaltered, as our
familiar Halloween celebration: …
[p. 316] Roman Element. In those countries that once
belonged to the Roman Empire there is the custom of
eating or giving away fruit, especially apples, on
Halloween. It spread to neighboring countries: to
Ireland and Scotland from Britain, and to the Slavic
countries from Austria. It is probably based upon a
celebration of the Roman goddess Pomona, to whom
gardens and orchards were dedicated. Since the
annual Feast of Pomona was held on November 1, the
relics of that observance became part of our
Halloween celebration, for instance the familiar
tradition of "ducking" for apples. Source: Francis
X. Weiser, Handbook of Christian Feasts
and Customs (New York: Harcourt, Brace
and World, Inc., 1958), pp. 315, 316. Copyright 1952
It is
evident that these observances of modern Christianity had
their birth and origin in absolute paganism. How can
Christians justify telling their innocent little children
these satanic lies? The Ten Commandments teach us it is
wrong to lie. The scriptures also tell us that, no liars,
and those who participate in witchcraft, shall inherit the
Kingdom of God" (Gal 5: 19-21 & Rev. 22:15).
Yet, millions of professing Christians will fill their
children with falsehoods about Santa Clause, flying
reindeer, an Easter Bunny that lays eggs, fairies, wizards
and witches. There is something terribly wrong with this
thought process. Nowhere in the Word of God
does it instruct us to observe these days, or to lie to our
children. However, it does teach us to repent of such
practices and to remove ourselves from anything that has its
roots in the worship of the Satan the devil.
The
Bible instructs us not to substitute the teaching of man for
the truth of God.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 9And
he said unto them, Full well ye reject the
commandment of God, that ye may keep
your own tradition (Mark 7:7,9).
Most
professing Christians find it difficult to accept these
truths because the observance of the holidays
gives them a warm and fuzzy feeling. They
simply do not understand that the worship of God is not
based upon feelings, but on truth. Christians must remember
that we are to worship God in "spirit and truth" - not lies
and fables (John 4:24). Christians must also be aware that
Satan's ministers are transformed into ministers of light.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light. 15Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be
according to their works (2 Cor 11:14-15).
Jesus
Christ came to "destroy the works of the devil" (1 John
3:8). He did not come to incorporate them into the worship
of Himself and His Heavenly Father. It was the lies of the
devil that brought division within the Kingdom of God and
caused one third of the angels to rebel. It was his lies
that deceived Adam and Eve and caused the death of all
mankind and Jesus Christ, our Savior. Our Heavenly Father
hates the works of Satan - and so should we. God Almighty is
a jealous God, "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the
LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Exod 34:14).
He will not share the worship of Himself and His Son, Jesus
Christ, with anyone or anything else. To incorporate pagan
teachings into the worship of God, would be the same as
asking God to share His throne with the works of the devil.
That is impossible for God to entertain.
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