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Millions, perhaps billions of people will once again run
full throttle into the upcoming fall and winter holiday
seasons of Halloween and Christmas. Many fully acknowledge
that the customs of these events are deeply rooted in | |
paganism.
Many take paganism as an ugly word, but it simply means
teachings of the nations that did not know the Jewish or
Hebrew God of the Bible. An important point to always
remember is that the Hebrews or Israelites and not the
nations (non Hebrews) were the ones who brought us the
knowledge of God. Even in the New Testament we know that
Jesus and the Apostles were Israelites. This is why
scripture says, "You worship what you do not know; we know
what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." So it always
comes as a surprise to me that the tail (the nations) tries
to wag the dog when it comes to religious knowledge. Yet
this is what is commonly allowed in the so-called Christian
holidays.
The Catholic encyclopedia seems to struggle somewhere
between acknowledging that modern Christianity has
incorporated pagan teachings and no it is just a
coincidence. A coincidence When you look at the
preponderance of coincidences like a day for all the dead
Saints that comes on the heels of an ancient Celtic fire
festival called Samhain (notice that this is a nations non
Hebrew pagan teaching here) now called Halloween in which we
have children dressing as demons, ghosts and skeletons or we
shift to Christmas and really examine through some simple
web research about the origin of these Bacchanalian or
Saturnalia type festivities.
Research the origins of the Yule log, tree, mistletoe,
wreaths, greenery, birthdays, gifts, caroling (yes even
seemingly innocent Christmas carols are from ancient circle
dances dealing with fertility rites of the medieval Celtic
countries of Europe) and lights. Bacchanalian festivities
also had parties celebrated with drinking and promiscuity
orgies and riotousness. The Saturnalia festivities also
included exchanging gifts, greenery, lights etc. It is
impossible to ignore that we have ties to teachings of the
nations or pagans that we have justified just as the Bible
says, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Yet
again the Bible says, "what communion has light with
darkness" But we say we cleaned it all up. Why we
Christianized it Lord! Yet again the Bible says, "Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean No one!"
But some may ask isnt it all ok. Cant we just have some
fun Why half the stuff I do isnt really Christian related,
I just do it for fun and Im not thinking of Christ. Ive
seen these attitudes. They are attitudes of someone who
thinks they have some distinguishable alter ego. That
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But some may ask isnt it all ok. Cant we just have some
fun Why half the stuff I do isnt really Christian related,
I just do it for fun and Im not thinking of Christ. Ive
seen these attitudes. They are attitudes of someone who
thinks they have some distinguishable alter ego. That
somehow we can separate ourselves from ourselves like some
type of Jekyl and Hyde. But do you think you can really hide
half of yourself from before the Lord The Bible says, "For
if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to
the Lord" and "He who observes the day, observes it to the
Lord" Therefore all we do is in plain sight of God.
So how dangerous is all this Well this is what I call
mixing of religions or religious practices. Though it
appears to be innocent by most, truly it is the most
dangerous of all sins. Believe it or not this is something
that gets God absolutely furious. Notice God said, "do not
inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations
serve their gods I also will do likewise.' You shall not
worship the LORD your God in that way". If nothing else
notice the word nations in the above. God is saying do not
adapt the practices of the nations. In another example from
the book of Ezekiel we read, "Son of man, do you see what
they are doing, the great abominations that the house of
Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My
sanctuary" What was this sanctuary Why it was Gods temple
back in the Old Testament. What were they doing to drive God
far from His Temple Well a further read says they were
doing things like bringing in, "every sort of creeping
thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols", the Bible says
the, "women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz." (It is
known that there were ancient pagan religions that practiced
weeping. Tammuz was an agricultural god who got weak as
summer waned on and we all know how we get sad as summer
nears its end, so they wept) and the Bible reads,
"twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the
LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were
worshiping the sun toward the east" (hey look its a first
Easter sunrise worship.)
The point of all this is that it all occurred in Gods
temple. They had stained, soiled, desecrated and defiled the
Temple of God by bringing in the ways and teachings of the
nations, the pagans, those who did not have a knowledge of
proper worship of the true God. After all, why do you think
they were called pagans Because they were stupid, get it
And why is it that their knowledge is so great now that it
is brought into Christianity Because we are stupid I guess.
Belittling Gods Temple is not relegated just to the Old
Testament. Im sure we all remember how infuriated Jesus
became when He encountered the merchandising in the Temple
and made a whip and started to crack some heads. Some things
are just off limits.
But now for the biggie because there is a scripture that we
need to look long and hard at which says, "Do you not know
that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will
destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you
are." Defiling our human temple here is no different than
all we just read about defiling the physical one. Simply
intermix paganism, mix in the bad with the good and you are
defiled. As a matter of fact if you mix in any ways of any
kind of disobedience you are on your way to defilement and
utter destruction.
Disobedience leads to destruction, but obedience and a
humble spirit leads one to salvation. It is your
disobedience that caused Christ to have to die for our sins
(our disobedience) so why do we think it is ok to continue
to disobey Now that you have learned nothing from paganism,
for what did you learn from the Yule log or dressing your
child up as an Easter egg Why not learn from God about His
holidays Most people do not even know that God also has
Holidays (Holy Days). Well He does and there are seven of
them that He commands us to observe.
You can learn about the true holidays that you never knew of
from our website at www.cornerstone1.org
About The Author
Glenn Williams is editor at Cornerstone Evangelical Association. A site dedicated to teach Christians are not to separate from Old Testament laws yet still look to Christ for salvation. You can sign up for a free weekly newsletter at http://www.cornerstone1.org or mailto:subscribe@cornerstone1.org
This article was posted on November 14, 2005 |
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