Satan’s sphere of influence never ceases to amaze me!
People have 365 days a year to show loved ones they are appreciated, but they wait until the day of a past pagan holiday to show it! Their love and affection culminates on this one day; the same day pagans used to worship their gods!!
February 14[sup]th[/sup]!!!
How can Christians justify keeping this pagan holiday?
Did you know that centuries before Christ, the pagan Romans celebrated February 15 and the evening of February 14 as an idolatrous and sensuous festival in honor of Lupercus, the "hunter of wolves"?
The Romans called the festival the Lupercalia. The custom of exchanging valentines and all the other traditions in honor of Lupercus - the deified hero-hunter of Rome - was also linked anciently with the pagan practice of teenagers "going steady." It usually led to fornication. Today, the custom of teenagers dating only one person on a regular basis is thought very modern. It isn't. It is merely a rebirth of an old custom "handed down from the Roman festival of the Lupercalia, celebrated in the month of February, when names of young women were put into a box and drawn out by men as chance directed." That's the admission of the Encyclopedia Americana article entitled St. Valentine's Day.
When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire there was some talk in church circles of discarding this pagan free-for-all. But the Roman citizens wouldn't hear of it! So it was agreed that the holiday would continue as it was, except for the more grossly sensual observances.
It was not until the reign of Pope Gelasius that the holiday became a Christian custom:
"As far back as 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia on February 15 to St. Valentine's Day on February 14." (page 172 of Customs and Holidays Around the World by Lavinia Dobler).
How is this justified against the word of God?
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Ephesians 5:11-12
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
3 John 1:11
11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God
1 Corinthians 10:21
21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
2 Corinthians 6:14-17
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
1 John 5:21
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Valentine’s Day is no longer part of the official liturgical calendar of any Christian church; it was dropped from the Catholic calendar in 1969. It’s not a feast, a celebration, or a memorial of any martyrs. A return to more pagan-like celebrations of February 14th is not surprising — and neither is the overall commercialization of the day. Millions of people all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day in one fashion or another, but it’s unlikely that even one of them celebrates it in an even remotely religious manner, not that it ever was.
Yet another gift from the woman that sits on many waters;
"For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies."
What will you be doing on Feb. 14[sup]th[/sup]?
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