ST. VALENTINE’s Day Celebration: Begging The Question!

      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 has 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 person that diligently carries out His commands and lives an obedient life in accordance to His word. Therefore, what we do and how we carry out His instructions on a daily basis will be carefully weighed by the Lord Jesus Christ.  So many are living under the deception that God is lowering His standards 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 pagan ritual that matches young males and females for a year for sexual escapades. The Popes ‘Christianized’ the ritual by matching youths with patron Saints instead of with each other with the hope that the youths will 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 Valentine 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. 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 seems to be coming from the Christians now: what with the programs lined up – dinners, talk shows, seminars, concerts and the likes 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’s 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! Friends, VALENTINE’S DAY AND ALL IT ENTAILS IS NOT OF GOD BUT FROM THE PIT OF HELL!

GOD BLESS YOU!