Pagan Worship

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

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 4^th 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.

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?

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.

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