Category Archives: Q&A – Mans Pagan Worship

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Why do you spell out the word “God”? Isn’t it synonymous with “Elohim”?

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Q.   Why do you spell out the word “God”? You say the word Elohim and isn’t “God” basically the English rendering of Elohim?

A.   Some spell out “God” because of its pagan connection. According to the Britannica, the root of god means, “to pour as a molten image.” Also, according to some scholars, the supreme deity of the Teutonic religion was named and pronounced “God.” To avoid this connection and pronunciation of this word, some will simply spell it out. Below are a few references confirming these associations:

“…and that even where the earlier neuter form is still kept, as in Gothic and Old Norwegian, the construction is masculine…. “God” is a word common to all Teutonic languages. In Gothic it is Guth; Dutch has the same form as English; Danish and Swedish have Gud, German Gott. According to the New English Dictionary, the original may be found in two Aryan roots, both of the form gheu, one of which means ‘to invoke,’ the other ‘to pour’…the last is used of sacrificial offerings. The word would thus mean the object either of religious invocation or of religious worship by sacrifice. It has been also suggested that the word might mean a ‘molten image’ from the sense of ‘pour.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 12, 1911).

“It is much more difficult to trace the Teutonic word, ‘God,’ back to its origin. There is no doubt that the Supreme Being has always been called by this name in all German tongues…. We can only say, therefore, that ‘God’ was probably an old Teutonic word, used long before the introduction of Christianity, to signify either one Supreme Being, or gods in general. Indeed, we find that in the Old Norse, god in the neuter means a grave image, an idol” (Edinburgh Review, vol. XCIV, p. 170).

“In all Teutonic tongues the Supreme Being was always with one consent been called by the general name God…. Some remarkable uses of the word God in our older speech and that of the common people may have a connexion with heathen notions” (Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, pp. 13, 15, 1882).

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Whether you refer to it as Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, it does not matter, as long as we worship our Lord who paid for our sins. As far as observing feast days or Sabbaths, we are not to allow others to judge us in such matters.

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Q.   Whether you refer to it as Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday, it does not matter, as long as we worship our Lord who paid for our sins. As far as observing feast days or Sabbaths, we are not to allow others to judge us in such matters. Colossians 2:16-17 states, “Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a festival, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.”

A.   The belief that it doesn’t matter how we worship as long as our intentions are right could not be further from the truth. The Bible is extremely clear that we’re to worship Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, as He directs in His Word. We see many examples confirming what happens when we willfully stray from His commandments.

One of the most notable examples is found with the first king of Israel after the split between Southern and Northern Israel. Instead of worshiping Yahweh on the time He appointed, Jeroboam modified the date from the seventh to eighth month. He also set up golden calves and made priests of the lowest of the people, 1Kings 12:25-33. Because of this act of defiance, Jeroboam was cursed, 2Kings 13:1-10, and Israel never recovered.

There are similar examples of this type of rebellion by Israel. Elijah withstood Ahab and Jezebel and the prophets of Baal for a similar reason.

The Torah also provides many warnings against practicing the worship of other nations. Consider the following:

  • Leviticus 18:3: “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.”
  • Leviticus 20:23: “And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.”
  • Deuteronomy 12:30-31: “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their mighty ones, saying, How did these nations serve their mighty ones? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto Yahweh thy Elohim: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hateth, have they done unto their mighty ones; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their mighty ones.”

In addition to the Law, we find this warning from Jeremiah 10:2:

  • Jeremiah 10:2: “Thus saith Yahweh, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.”

Clearly, Easter Sunday has two strikes against it. Number one, the Easter celebration is undeniably pagan and number two, the Messiah was not resurrected Sunday morning. Based on the biblical narrative, He was resurrected late on Saturday prior to sunset. Also, we are never commanded to remember His resurrection, only His death.

Here are a few sources confirming the paganism of Easter Sunday:

“The English word comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre or Estera, a Teutonic goddess to whom sacrifice was offered in April, so the name was transferred to the paschal feast. The word does not properly occur in Scripture, although the King James Version has it in Acts 12:4 where it stands for Passover … There is no trace of Easter celebration in the New Testament,” International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Easter.

“Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring Eostre, a Teutonic (Germanic) goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox (the day in the spring when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of equal length), sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the eighth century, the name was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ,” Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Easter.

Regarding your reference to Colossians 2:16, Paul there is not disavowing the Sabbath and Feasts, as often taught by mainstream theologians. Paul’s message is quite the opposite. He is warning those in the assembly not to allow the world to judge them on their obedience to Yahweh’s Word.

The biblical record is clear, the Sabbath and Feasts were observed by the Messiah and His disciples. In some cases, years/decades after Yahshua’s resurrection. Below are several examples:

  • Luke 2:41: “Now his [Yahshua’s] parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.”
  • Luke 22:11 “…Where is the guestchamber, where I [Yahshua] shall eat the passover with my disciples?”
  • 1Corinthians 5:7-8: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah our passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast….”
  • Acts 20:6: “And we [Paul and company] sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread….”
  • Acts 2:1: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they [apostles / disciples] were all with one accord in one place.”
  • Acts 20:16: “…for he [Paul] hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.”
  • 1Corinthians 16:8: “But I [Paul] will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.”
  • Acts 27:9: “…because the fast [Day of Atonement] was now already past….”
  • John 7:2, 37: “Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand … In the last day, that great day of the feast, Yahshua stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”
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Numbers 24:2-5 seems to show when Balaam looked down to the Israelite camp that he saw the symbol of the cross. Please help me understand what is going on here?

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 Q.    I recently saw your Q&A on the cross. The story of Balak and Balaam in Numbers 24:2-5 seems to show when Balaam looked down to the Israelite camp that he saw the symbol of the cross. This would have been due to the positioning of the Israelite tribes and Judah being double in size. Also, John Hagee provides a teaching on the tabernacle and points out how the shape from within the Holy of Holies to outside the tabernacle makes the form of the cross. Reading this Q&A, I am being challenged once again. Is the symbol of the cross pagan? Please help me understand what is going on here? Where is the error?

 A.    We cannot be certain of what Balaam saw. It may have resembled more of an ‘x.’ Regarding John Hagee, we are familiar with him, but not with this specific teaching. However, we do not believe either of these two examples support the cross. The shape of the cross would require the Greek crux, which is not found in the Koine Greek of the New Testament. Instead, the words used (i.e., stauros and xulon) convey an upright post.

In addition to the Greek, the cross itself is a very old symbol that contains strong ties to paganism. In our Q&A we quote the Encyclopedia Britannica, which confirms that the cross is connected to pagan worship. There are many other sources verifying this connection. Consider the following:

“This Pagan symbol … the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah … the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians – the true original form of the letter T the initial of the name of Tammuz … the Babylonian cross was the recognized emblem of Tammuz” (The Two Babylons, pp. 197, 205).

“By the middle of the third century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system, pagans were received into the churches…and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence, the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ” (Babylon Mystery Religion, p. 256).

“The pre-Christian cross of one form or another was in use as a sacred symbol among the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and many other…nations. The Spaniards in the 16th century found it also among the Indians of Mexico and Peru. But its symbolic teaching was quite different from that which we now associate the cross” (Davis Dictionary of the Bible, p. 159).

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When and where did the cross originate? Should we use the cross as a symbol of religious worship or in dress?

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Q.   When and where did the cross originate? Should we use the cross as a symbol of religious worship or in dress?

A.   Since the cross is a pagan symbol, believers should refrain from using it as a religious symbol or within fashion. The word “cross” comes from the Greek stauros. The Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words states, “stauros NT:4716 denotes, primarily, ‘an upright pale or stake.’ On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, ‘to fasten to a stake or pale,’ are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed ‘cross.’ The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A. D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the ‘cross’ of Christ.”

There are several important facts to note here.

  1. The Greek word for “cross” comes from stauros and likely refers to an upright stake and not to a cross. The word for cross in Greek is crux and is never used in the koine Greek of the New Testament. For this reason, the Messiah probably died on an upright stake and not on a cross as often displayed.
  2. The symbol of the cross is associated with the worship of Tammuz. According to scholarship, Tammuz was a Mesopotamian god of fertility and was symbolized by the sun. The Bible is quite clear that we are not to adopt paganism in any form.
  3. The cross gained acceptance, along with many other pagan items, as gentile influence gained dominance in the church. Many scholars verify that it was the policy of the church to amalgamate pagan ideas within the church. This was partly done to appease the growing gentile members along with a desire to move away from anything “Jewish.”

Below are a few additional references confirming the pagan nature of the cross:

“Ezekiel refers to the worship of this Babylonian deity in a vision of his apostate brethren who were enamored of this cult. The prophet saw the women weeping for this god at the North Gate of the Jerusalem Temple (Ezek 8:14). Tammuz was known by the Babylonians as Dumuzi, god of pasture and flocks, of subterranean water, and of vegetation. He was the husband-brother of Ishtar (Asherah, fertility goddess). Tammuz supposedly died every autumn when he departed to the underworld; from there he was recovered by the disconsolate Ishtar. His reappearance marked the bursting forth of life in the springtime. The fourth Babylonian month, July, was named in honor of Tammuz, which name was applied in later postbiblical times by Jews to their fourth month, June-July. Tammuz is equated with the Greek Adonis and the Egyptian Osiris….  Allusions to the worship of Tammuz cults seem to be referred to in Jer 22:18 and Amos 8:10. The worship of this god was widespread throughout the Fertile Crescent from Babylonia-Assyria to Palestine-Syria. The rites of Tammuz included a divine marriage of the king annually to the fertility goddess in the person of a temple priestess. Tammuz worship was especially notorious at Byblos (biblical Gebal) on the Mediterranean,” New Unger’s Bible Dictionary.

“In the Greek New Testament two words are used for ‘the cross’ on which the Lord was put to death.

  1. The word stauros; which denotes an upright pole or stake, to which the criminals were nailed for execution.
  2. The xulon, which generally denotes a piece of a dead log of wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose. Is is not like dendron, which is used of a living, or green tree, as in Matthew 21:8; Revelation 7:1, 3; 8:7; 9:4, etc.

As this latter word xulon is used for the former stauros, it shows us that the meaning of each is exactly the same. The verb stauroõ means to drive stakes. Our English word “cross” is the translation of the Latin crux; but the Greek stauros no more means a crux than the word “stick” means a “crutch”. Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a single piece of timber. And this is the meaning and usage of the word throughout the Greek classics. It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone. Hence the use of the word xulon in connection with the manner of our Lord’s death, and rendered “tree” in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29. Galatians 3:13. 1 Peter 2:24. This is preserved in our old English name rood, or rod….

The Catacombs in Rome bear the same testimony : ‘Christ’ is never represented there as ‘hanging on a cross’, and the cross itself is only portrayed in a veiled and hesitating manner. In the Egyptian churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life, borrowed by the Christians, and interpreted in the pagan manner,” Companion Bible, Appendix 162.

“From its simplicity of form, the cross has been used both as a religious symbol and as an ornament, from the dawn of man’s civilization. Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples, while numerous instances, dating from the later Stone Age to Christian times, have been found in nearly every part of Europe. The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times, and among non-Christian peoples, may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship,” Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., pg. 506.

Should I be observing pagan holidays with my family or friends?

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     Should I be observing pagan holidays with my family or friends? For example, is it okay to attend the family Christmas dinner if I am not participating in the actual holiday?

     We discourage attending holiday events adopted from paganism with family or friends. Yahweh warns against observing such Pagan Holidays. Consider the following verses:

“After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances,” Leviticus 18:3.

“And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them,” Leviticus 20:23.

“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their mighty ones, saying, How did these nations serve their mighty ones? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto Yahweh thy Elohim: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hateth, have they done unto their mighty ones; for even their sons and their daughters, they have burnt in the fire to their mighty ones,” Deuteronomy 12:30-31.

“Thus saith Yahweh, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good,” Jeremiah 10:2-5.

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Messiah with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of Elohim with idols? for ye are the temple of the living Elohim; as Elohim hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people,” 2Corinthians 6:14-16.

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” Revelation 18:4.

When we observe these pagan holidays with our families or friends, even something as harmless as a Christmas dinner, we are approving of the observance. As well, we are not making a separation. The Bible is very clear that Yahweh abhors pagan worship and as believers, we are not to participate in these days. While attending a Christmas dinner may not make you a pagan, it is acknowledging and approving of the pagan practice. Making a separation with family over pagan holidays is difficult, but is scripturally required.

Yahweh is not going to accept someone who both dapples in His truth and the traditions of man. We must choose which one we are going to follow. He told the Laodicean assembly to be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. For those lukewarm, He stated that He would vomit them from His mouth, Revelation 3:15-16.

For more info on the origins of Christmas, Please check out our free booklet: December 25th Birthday of the Sun

Why do you often spell out “God” and “Lord”?

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Why do you often spell out “God” and “Lord” in your sermon messages instead of vocalizing the words?

 

We often spell out “God” and “Lord” to show a distinction between the common and proper titles / names for Yahweh. In the case of God, according to some sources, including the Britannia, God may refer to a molten image. Also, according to some scholars, the proper name of the supreme deity of the ancient Teutonic people was “God.” We further explain in the Restoration Study Bible, “…Today, Elohim has been falsely replaced with the generic title ‘God,’ which is neither correct, based on the Hebrew, nor honoring to Yahweh, based on its etymological roots. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘It has been also suggested that the word might mean a “molten image” from the sense of to “pour”‘ (Vol. 12, 1911). See [Oxford English Dictionary]. Additionally, according to others, the term ‘God’ was the proper name for the Teutonic Supreme Being. ‘In all Teutonic tongues the Supreme Being has always with one consent been called by the general name God.’ (Teutonic Mythology, Vol. 1, Jacob Grimm, p. 13, 1882).” note on Genesis 1:1.

Regarding Lord, this comes from the Old English hlāford and refers to a bread-keeper. Also, many biblical sources state the Baal means “Lord.” While the Old English etymology certainly is demeaning, the latter, i.e., meaning of Baal, is of more concern.

  • “Baal means lord, in the sense of owner, possessor…” (Fausset’s Bible Dictionary, Baal).
  • “ba’al; Heb. ba’al, ‘lord, possessor…'” (The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Baal).
  • “BAY uhl (lord, master)-the name of one of more false gods, a place, and two people in the Old Testament” (Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Baal).
  • “(ba’-al:) (ba’al; or Baal): The Babylonian Belu or Bel, ‘Lord,’ was the title of the supreme god among the Canaanites” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Baal).

Interestingly, Jeremiah 23 describes a time when believers would forget Yahweh’s Name for Baal (Lord). “The anger of Yahweh shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly… Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal [Lord],” verses 20, 27.

For more Q&A’s please visit our main Q&A page here! 

From where did the practice of wearing the kippah or yarmulke develop?

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     From where did the practice of wearing the kippah or yarmulke develop?

The Old Testament is silent on the wearing of the kippah or skull cap. It is also nowhere found in the New Testament. “Wearing of a head covering (yarmulka, skullcaps, kippah [pl. kippot]) for men was only instituted in Talmudic times (approximately the second century CE).” The Jewish Virtual Library So if the kippah is absent from the Bible, how was it adopted? The tradition likely goes back to Greek culture. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid emperor, made it his personal goal to force the Greek culture upon all of his empire, including the Jewish people. This is what motivated the Maccabean revolt and the rise of the Hasmonean Empire. In the year 175 BCE, Jason, of the Oniad family, was appointed high priest. As recoded in 2 Maccabees 4:7-17, he favored the Greek culture and vigorously sought to incorporate Antiochus’ policy of assimilation:

“When Seleucus died and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias obtained the high priesthood by corruption, promising the king at an interview  three hundred sixty talents of silver, and from another source of revenue eighty talents. In addition to this he promised to pay one hundred fifty more if permission were given to establish by his authority a gymnasium and a body of youth for it, and to enroll the people of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch. When the king assented and Jason came to office, he at once shifted his compatriots over to the Greek way of life.

“He set aside the existing royal concessions to the Jews, secured through John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to establish friendship and alliance with the Romans; and he destroyed the lawful ways of living and introduced new customs contrary to the law. He took delight in establishing a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat. There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways because of the surpassing wickedness of Jason, who was unholy and no true high priest, that the priests were no longer intent upon their service at the altar. Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the signal for the discus-throwing, disdaining the honors prized by their ancestors and putting the highest value upon Greek forms of prestige. For this reason heavy disaster overtook them, and those whose ways of living they admired and wished to imitate completely became their enemies and punished them. It is no light thing to show irreverence to the divine laws—a fact that later events will make clear.”

As seen from the above excerpt, Jason made several radical reforms to the Jewish culture in an attempt to promote Antiochus’ policies of integration into the Greek culture. In his fervor to adopt the Hellenistic culture, he even changed his own name from Yahshua (possibly, Yeshua) to the more Grecized “Jason” (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, book 12, chapter 5, p. 239).

In addition to neglecting the sacrificial offerings and establishing a gymnasium, he also introduced the “Greek hat.” There is general agreement that this hat refers to the hat of Hermes (a.k.a. Roman deity Mercury). Ancient depictions of the hat of Hermes are very similar to the modern kippah. The only notable difference was that the hat of Hermes often had wings on each side.

Whether this was the exact time that the Jews adopted the wearing of the kippah, there is little doubt that the kippah or skull cap arose through the adoption of the Hellenistic culture. Except for the High Priest’s turban, there is no command in the Old Testament to wear a skull cap. The only possible connection between the kippah and Old Testament is where Yahweh commanded Israel not to round the corners of the head in Leviticus 19:27.

In reference to this command, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary states, “It seems probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head.” Interestingly, most kippahs are designed with this same circle design.

Besides its absence in the Torah, nothing is said about men’s headcoverings in the New Testament, except for Paul’s statement in 1Corinthians 11:7, “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of Elohim.” If Yahweh commanded that men wear a kippah, why does Paul specifically command the opposite? The reason is obvious, the kippah is not rooted in Scripture, but in Greek culture.

As believers we must avoid wearing kippahs or following any man-made, heathen practice not ordained in Scripture. Our Heavenly Father has a disdain for synchronizing with pagan beliefs. Writing to Israel in Deuteronomy 12:30-31, He says, “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their mighty ones, saying, How did these nations serve their mighty ones? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto Yahweh thy Elohim: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hateth, have they done unto their mighty ones; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their mighty ones.”

For more info on the Kippah and its origins please check out our article: The Beanie: Torah or Tradition? 

What is Lent and should believers observe it today?

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    What is Lent and should believers observe it today?

     Lent is a 40-day period that Catholics along with a few Protestant denominations, including Anglicans and Lutherans, go without items of their choosing, e.g. foods or habits. Lent was originally established in the 4th century as a time of self-evaluation, self-denial, and repentance. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.

According to some scholars, the celebration of Lent was pre-dated by a more sinister observance. Alexander Hislop in his book, The Two Babylons, states, “Let any one only read the atrocities that were commemorated during the ‘sacred fast’ or Pagan Lent, as described by Arnobius and Clemens Alexandrinus, and surely he must blush for the Christianity of those who, with the full knowledge of all these abominations, ‘went down to Egypt for help’ to stir up the languid devotion of the degenerate church, and who could find no more excellent way to ‘revive’ it, than by borrowing from so polluted a source; the absurdities and abominations connected with which the early Christian writers had held up to scorn. That Christians should ever think of introducing the Pagan abstinence of Lent was a sign of evil; it showed how low they had sunk, and it was also a cause of evil; it inevitably led to deeper degradation. Originally, even in Rome, Lent, with the preceding revelries of the carnival, was entirely unknown, and even when fasting before the Christian Pasch was held to be necessary, it was by slow steps that, in this respect, it came to conform with the ritual of Paganism,” pp. 171-172.

The Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible continues: “Easter, Christmas, Lady Day, Lent, and other Babylonian festivals were all borrowed from this religion and were all observed centuries before Christ. None of them have any relationship to Christ or Christianity.”

There can be no doubt that Lent, along with Easter, are not only missing from Scripture, but also have roots in pagan worship going back to antiquity. In the tenth chapter of Jeremiah, Yahweh commands that we learn not the way of the heathen. As shown above, Lent, along with many of the Church’s “sacred” days, was adopted from heathen worship.

For this reason, as believers we are to abstain from practicing these days and worship Yahweh as He established, including the seventh-day Sabbath and biblical Feast days as found in both Old and New testaments.

What is the origin of Christmas?

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q    What is the origin of Christmas?

a     Like so many other modern holidays, Christmas was borrowed from paganism, mostly from the  Roman Saturnalia, a day that was established to honor the god Satan. This day also contains ties to Mithraism, a warrior god that began in ancient Persia, and Sol Invictus. Because the church was unable to remove this abominable worship, they decided to adopt it. The Encyclopaedia Britannica states: “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 Invictus (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,” Vol. 11, p.390. Yahweh warned of accepting pagan worship in Jeremiah 10:2, “Thus saith Yahweh, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.”

For more info on the orgins of Christmas, please check out our free booklet: December 25th Birthday of the Sun