PAGAN FESTIVALS.

         

 What are their sources?

“Watch out for yourself for fear you may not be entrapped after them, and for fear you may inquire respecting their gods, saying, “How was it these nations used to serve their gods?  And I, yes, I will do the same way.”__  Deut 12:30-32;Lev 20:23

Counterfeit Christians in defiance of God’s command have chosen to worship as the nations do with every occasion a time for either — merrymaking, feasting or giving gifts. They fail to heed the warning at Deut. 12: 30-32, not to serve God the way the nations serve their gods.  These seemingly innocent holidays are rooted in mythology and paganism. They disguised their wicked deed by renaming these festivals but their evil would not remain hidden forever.  The following is a list of pagan religious festivals that were adopted and renamed. Special Church service is held on these days.  None of these services honor God.

A) CHRISTMAS  - The day Pago Christians celebrate the birth of Christ.  Christmas, the most popular holiday has its roots in sun worship.  The date December 25th was already observed by the people of Rome as the Feast of Saturn, in which they celebrate the birthday of Mithras the Sun god.  This festive day was adopted and used as the birthday of the Son of God.  Most of the customs and traditions associated with Christmas are pagan customs that have been absorbed or tolerated by the church. Aside from its pagan customs the holiday is polluted with lies and deception. Children are deceived into thinking a fat white bearded man riding a sleigh pulled by flying deers sent them gifts, while others enjoy playing and singing Christmas carols that are full of lies. Where in the bible did it say Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day (December 25th)? They find pleasurable what God finds detestable....lies.  They practice sin in Jesus name. 

B)  EASTER - Named after Eastre the goddess of Spring and fertility.  Easter is a combination of pagan and Christian.  Easter [resurrection Sunday] takes its name from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility and the sister of Baal.  Customs associated with Easter, such as the Easter rabbit and egg, as well as the dating of Easter can be traced back to the festival dedicated to the goddess.  Eastre’s festival symbolized rebirth/spring.  Imitation Christians consider Jesus’ resurrection a rebirth and so they combined Eastre’s festival with Jesus resurrection.  "Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit.  This is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility.  Furthermore, the rabbit was the escort of the Germanic goddess Ostara who gave the name to the festival by the way of the German Ostern.”  [Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend] Other customs associated with Easter, such as the Hot Crossed buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday go as far back as ancient Babylon where they were once a part of Chaldean [Babylonian] rites.

C) HALLOWEEN  - Customs connected to Halloween can be traced back to a Druid ceremony in pre-Christian times.  The Celts had festivals for major gods…a sun god called Baal, and a god of the dead called Samhain.  The festival that occurred on the evening of October 31 was called Samhain or La Samon.  The Celts believe that on this night [October 31] the veil between the living and the dead was so thin that Samhain; the god of the dead, allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes.  “In the A.D. 800’s, the Church established All Saint’s Day on November 1 so that the people could continue a festival they had celebrated before becoming Christians.  The Mass that was said on this day was called All Hallow Mass.  The evening before became known as All Hallowe’en or Halloween.”__ The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, 1982

D)  VALENTINE'S DAY - Valentine’s custom comes from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia, which took place every February 15.  The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and Pan, the god of nature.  This lewd superstitious custom was adopted and given the name of a Catholic saint called Valentine.  The winged infant with the bow and arrow commonly associated with this holiday is the god Cupid, son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

E) BIRTHDAYS  - The custom of celebrating birthdays has its origin in the realm of magic and religion. The customs of offering congratulations presenting gifts and celebrating…complete with lighted candles… in ancient times were meant to protect the birthday celebrant from the demons and to ensure his security for the coming year. The blowing out of the candles began with the Greek goddess of the moon Artemis. On her birthday, lighted candles on cakes that were as round as the moon, were placed on alters within the temple.  During the festival the candles were blown out with one breath, and Artemis would gaze favorably upon her worshipers.  Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic for granting wishes.  Birthday celebrants are usually ask to make a wish and then blow out the candles with one breath. Up until the 4th century Christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan custom.  Birthday celebration is also linked to divination with birthday celebrants acquiring birthstones which are associated with the zodiac/sun sign astrology.  Horoscope and natal charts are used to gain information about an individual using their birth date. (Deut 18:11,12)   Among some Jewish sects birthdays are viewed as a special day because on that day one's Mazal, good fortune, shines extra strong. Others consider it a pagan custom.  Birthdays are also used to honor men, nations, and organizations which is idolatry.

F) THANKSGIVING -  Thanksgiving celebration comes from pagan harvest festivals.  Thanksgiving Day was intended to be a day of patriotism and religion.  Millions of turkeys are sacrificed for people to give thanks to their respective gods.  The things the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do to want you to become sharers with the demons? (1 Co 10:20)  Would the true God want any part of a holiday that involves other gods? If Thanksgiving was truly Christian, would non-Christians want any part of it? With all so-called "Christian holidays" non-Christians are selective, participating only in the pagan part and tossing the part they consider "Christian".  Counterfeit Christians are not selective.

G) MOTHER'S DAY [mother worship festival]  - “A festival derived from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece.  Formal mother worship, with ceremonies to Cybele, or Rhea, the Great Mother of the Gods, were performed on the Ides of March throughout Asia Minor.”  [Encyclopedia Britannica: (1959), Vol. 15, p.849] This pagan custom of worshiping mothers was adopted by the church and celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent to honor the Mother Church, and possibly Mary, the Mother of Christ, who is considered by many the Mother of God.  The holiday was eventually expanded to include all mothers.  Many mothers expect their children to worship the ground they walk on for creating them (giving birth to them) much like humans are expected to worship the creator for creating them.

H) NEW YEARS - Babylonians as early as the third millennium B.C.E celebrated New Year’s. The celebration was observed in mid-March.  It is said that at that time the god Marduk decided the destiny of the country for the coming year. In 46 B.C.E the pagan emperor Julius Caesar decreed New Year’s should be on the 1st day of January, the month which was dedicated to Janus the Roman god of gates, doors, and beginnings.  The date of New Year’s changed from mid-March to January, but the carnival atmosphere persisted.  As in ancient Babylon, superstitious rituals play a part in New Year’s festivities.  In some areas of South America, many welcome the New Year while standing on their right foot.  In other countries people make sure New Year’s catch them inside of a church. Such superstitious rituals, designed to ward off ill fortune and guarantee prosperity, merely perpetuate the ancient belief that the turn of the year is a time for deciding destinies. Christendom's churches perpetuate this false belief by holding religious service Midnight New Years Eve.

I)  MARDI GRAS - “Mardi Gras also known as Shrove Tuesday or Carnival is an annual festival marking the final day before the Christian fast of Lent, a 40-day period of self-denial and abstinence from merrymaking.  Mardi Gras is the last opportunity for revelry and indulgence in food and drink before the temperance of Lent.”  [Encarta.msn.com] Mardi Gras celebration goes back to an ancient Roman custom of merrymaking before a period of fast.  Secret societies known as Krewes organize and pay for the parades and other festivities.  These secret societies are named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.

J) ALL SOULS DAY [day of the dead]   - A day set apart in the Roman Catholic church for the commemoration of the faithfully departed.  "Essentially, All Souls is the adoption of an almost worldwide custom of setting aside a part of the year [usually the last part] for the dead. The Greek commemorative feast of All Souls was held on the last day of the Anthestheria; the Romans celebrated theirs during Parentalia… In many Catholic countries the belief that the dead return on this day [All Souls Day] is so strong that food is left on the tables [Tirol, Italy] and people [France, Italy, Germany] still decorate the graves of their dead.”__ Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, New York; 1949, Vol. 1, p.38

K) LENT - The 40-day fast of Lent is said to commemorate the 40-day fast of Christ. Yet, Jesus never commanded his disciples to commemorate his fast, nor is there any evidence that they did so. The first reliable mention of the 40-day fast before Easter is thought to be in letters of Athanasius, dated 330 C.E.   Since Jesus fasted following his baptism and not before his death, the fact that some religions observe Lent in the weeks preceding Easter may seem strange. However, a 40-day fast in the early part of the year was common among ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks. The “Christian” custom was evidently borrowed from them.

The Jews adopted a pagan Egyptian festival and renamed it a festival to Yahweh and Yahweh punished them, blotting many names out of his book of life.  The Bible was written as a warning and to set matters straight. "Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad" ( Ec 8:11).  God who is wisest of all, knows that adopting pagan customs would not make them holy.  Rather than being holy they would be an entrapment into false worship.  These pagan holidays they claim are sanctified by there adoption into the church are polluted with lies, deception, revelries, idolatry, pagan tradition, mythology, loose conduct, drunken bouts, and spiritism all of which are detestable to the true God. Shunning practices that God disapproves of should in no way deprive true Christians of happiness.  Genuine love for one’s heavenly Father will cause true Christians to rejoice not over unrighteousness but with truth. 

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