A post once appeared on a Christian website which mirrors the
mood of the moment amongst so many Christians: “Does it matter that an ancient
festival used to worship pagan gods and promote fertility was adopted by the
Church and used to worship the God of the Bible? Does God really care what
customs are used to worship and honor Him or what holidays we celebrate?” So
many argue that since the end result of these festivals is to worship God, then
the purpose have been achieved. Such forget that our God is a God of order. All
He had done or ever permitted to be done had been according to divine order. In
the Bible, we see how God Himself planned several feasts or celebrations for
His own people either as memorials of what He had done or as a prophetic
picture of what He will do. In all of these Scriptures, there was no where that
we were mandated by Him to set aside a day or days in honor of a man. No matter
how diligent the person was, only God rewards such: “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who
draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6. He is the One that rewards any man that diligently carries out
His commands and lives an obedient life in accordance of His word. Therefore,
what we do and how we carry out His instructions on a daily basis will be
carefully weighed by the Lord. So many are living under the deception that God
is lowering His standard with every successive generation. This is simply not
true. The same standard that proved the heroes of Hebrews 11 is still in force
to prove us. If God should lower it then He is partial. But the Bible expressly
tells us that our God is NOT partial neither does He show favoritism.
The St. Valentine’s Day Celebration has its roots in ancient
Babylon but the form it presently has was handed down from ancient Rome. There
are many legends that had been spurn as to the origin of its present form. One
such legend is that it is a pagan celebration of Juno, the queen of the Roman
gods and goddesses. She is also said to be the goddess of women and marriage.
The Catholic Popes Christianized this sexual immoral paganistic ritual that
matches young males and females for a year for sexual escapades. The Popes
tried matching the youths with patron Saints so they could model their lives
like that of the dead saints for a year but this was not popular: “If you died with Christ to the elemental
forces of the world, why do you live as
if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: ‘Don’t
handle, don’t taste, don’t touch?’ All these regulations refer to what is
destroyed by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. Although
these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility and
severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value against fleshly
indulgence.” Colossians 2:20-23. It was a matter of time before it reverted
to its former form which is a celebration of lust and perverted desires because
it did not originate from God! Later, it was said that a catholic monk named
Valentine lived and did great good by marrying couples in a time of terrible
immorality upon the land. After his death, he was raised to sainthood and his
name was used to cover this evil practice that was prevalent in order to make
it acceptable in the Church of God. After all, he was a saint!
It is sad to note that this terrible perversion has found a
home in the Church whilst the watchmen and soldiers of the Lord had fallen
asleep at their duty post. Oh child of God have you stopped to ask yourself
where this celebration came from, who was he and what was so spectacular about
what he did? You might say well it has been handed to us by our forefathers – a
doctrine that we cannot go against it. Good! If we may ask you, where are the
forefathers that handed down this to you, do you even know where they ended up?
According to Zechariah 1:5-6, your forefathers and prophets are all dead and
gone but the WORD of God lives on and only by His standard we will either stand
or fall and not of your forefathers and prophets. Despite the moves of God, it
is a shame that the very sons of God whom the Master expects to stand out and
operate under a clearly distinct vision as opposed to the trends and traditions
of these times are not different from the world. In fact, the loudest noise
about this paganistic celebration seem to be coming from the Christians now:
what with the programmes lined up – dinners etc to honor the god called
Valentine, spicing up the themes with God’s name. The Church has now become the
orchestrator of the things and doctrine we ought to oppose. If we may ask you:
the marriages and relationships that have been in crises, do you think a single
day celebration done annually would solve and restore things back to normal? Friend,
you cannot eat from the table of the Lord and then from demons’ and expect
Heaven to answer. So many argue that Valentine must be good since it propagates
love, thus, we are to turn a blind eye to its roots and just celebrate this
love in whichever way we may choose. This is not the LOVE of the Bible but a
cheap imitation with dire consequences. God hates imitation! A similar case
took place in the Bible about King Ahaz of Judah when he visited Assyria a
heathen nation and saw a ‘beautiful’ altar, he sent a sketch of the design to
the Chief Priest who promptly got busy to make the pagan altar before the king
returns from his journey. This sinful act led Judah into one of the greatest
apostasy that saw the death of brave men and the Temple of God shut down. When
we try to build replacements for the things of God by imitating the world, we
inadvertently shut down the Temple of God – immorality runs rife within the
Body! You may ask: how can something so good be bad? We would rather ask you,
can a tree that has orange roots bear grape fruits? No matter how good the
celebration may sound it IS NOT OF GOD. God is not impotent in teaching the
people what LOVE is. Neither has He lost strategies in filling His pews with
hungry souls. Friend, the Lord admonished us in 1John 2:15-17 not to love the
world or the things in the world – this includes events and celebrations that
promote vices that negate the commands of God. We must understand, as children
of God that the true love of God which Jesus Christ showcased to us during His
life time is the Real true love and we must exhibit this in our daily lives not
once a year. The Love of God does not originate from any man but flows directly
from His heart towards us. “Love consists
in this, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a
propitiation for our sins.” 1John 4:10. Therefore, no man can claim he is an
originator or master at ‘showing or displaying’ love because Jesus Christ is
our Perfect example of love which is from God – the Father of all.
VALENTINE’S DAY AND ALL IT ENTAILS IS NOT OF GOD BUT FROM THE
PIT OF HELL!
GOD BLESS YOU!
Word!
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