The Catholic Church Hijacks Everything

When it comes to the teachings, practices, and traditions of the Catholic Church, you'd be hard-pressed to find something that actually did originate with them.  Actually, it's probably impossible to find a single thing that originated from the Catholic Church.  This is because of the Roman tradition of incorporating the traditions of surrounding cultures into their own.  The Catholic Church began as an extension of the Roman government, so it should come as no surprise that they continue that tradition.

Here's how this hijacking works.  When the Catholic Church wants to make "Christianity" look more appealing to the masses of whatever culture they encounter, they adopt the pagan practices of that culture and modify it to look more "Christian".  We know from Deuteronomy 12 that God does not accept his people worshiping him the way the pagans worshiped their gods.  Yet this is how we got Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Halloween, Sunday Sabbath, etc.  All of these are pagan traditions modified to look Christian.

Not all practices come from the pagan cultures.  Some actually did come from Christianity, which came from Judaism.  The Catholic Church corrupts those practices as well.  Baptism is one example of a Christian practice that was hijacked by the Catholic Church.  Another example is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), and some of his teachings.  Since the Catholic Church is trying to look Christian (though they are actually pagan), it should be expected that they hijack some Christian practices and teachings.  Because convincing deceptions use truth to gain your trust.  By the way, the Catholic's "Mary" is actually the pagan goddess Diana, which also makes the Catholic "Jesus" a pagan deity, which they make to look like the Jesus of the Bible.

Going off of Isaiah 1:12-15, we can clearly see that when we mix God's instructions with man's traditions, God counts all of it as man's traditions, and despises them!  Yet this is exactly what the Catholic Church has done with Yeshua.  When Isaiah proclaimed that all the feasts that Yahweh proclaimed to Israel were despised by the one who proclaimed them, the people must have been very confused as to why.  After all, God proclaimed them, so he must be pleased when we partake in them, right?  Unfortunately, they fell for the same trap that their ancestors fell for 1,000 years earlier:  When you make a golden calf to Yahweh, you aren't worshiping Yahweh, you're worshiping the calf!  Likewise, when you mix the practices that Yahweh commanded with human tradition, you're not practicing what Yahweh commanded, you're following human rules.  Isaiah 29:13 points this out quite clearly, which Yeshua later quoted in Matthew 15:8.

Because the Catholic Church hated the Jews, they did everything in their power not to adopt any of their practices (biblical or otherwise).  This is why instead of remembering Yeshua's death on Passover, they do it on Good Friday, and why Good Friday almost never falls on the same day as Passover.  This is also why they don't keep the Day of Atonement, or the biblical Sabbath (Saturday), or the Feasts of Trumpets, or any other day that God has appointed.  In fact, they even outlawed the observance of such days under penalty of death!  By the way, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only exception to the rule.

To summarize:  If something appears to have originated with the Catholic Church, then it is certainly a hijacked pagan tradition or teaching that has been modified to look Christian.  And even in the rare instances where the Catholic Church actually did invent something rather than adapting an existing pagan practice, it's still pagan because it came from the Catholic Church.  And any practice or teaching of the Catholic Church that appears to come from the Bible is certainly a corrupted version of what the Bible actually teaches.  Discernment is needed to distinguish between the Biblical teaching, and the Catholic counterfeit.

What About Hanukkah and Purim?

In my last post, I exposed the "golden calves" of Christianity, which includes its false holy days.  In this post, we're going to examine Hanukkah and Purim to see if they also count as "golden calves" as well.  Some who wish to justify the observances of the traditional "Christian" holidays will point to these days (which are not mandated by God's Law) and say, "if these aren't okay, then why are Hanukkah and Purim okay?" under the premise (which they know is false) that these traditionally "Christian" holidays are not of pagan origin.  If we remove the deceitful premise, then the question is perfectly valid.

Let's start with Purim, since the record of its institution is in the Bible, in the book of Esther.  The description is in Esther 9:20-32.  The day was established as a celebration and memorial of God delivering the descendants of Israel from an enemy (Haman) that sought to destroy them completely.  And that the remembrance of that day shall never die from among the descendants of Israel.

So, is Purim okay?  If so, why?  I'll let you decide the answer to the first question as well as your rationalization.  But here's what I've noticed, and what my opinion on this matter is.  There is nothing in the text about Purim being a feast to Yahweh, like what Aaron and Jeroboam I did during their times.  That means it's not masquerading around as a holy day to be celebrated in addition to or in the place of something that God has ordained.  And there's absolutely no indication that anyone is attempting to even claim that God is commanding its observance.  In addition, there's also no indication in the text that this day was derived from any pagan practices, except the giving of gifts.

I did however, find that there are those who believe that the book of Esther is an example of historical fraud, designed to justify and sanitize what they claim is a holiday that is on par with a version of Halloween that includes indulgence in sexual sin.  Make of these claims and any presented evidence what you will.  But if these claims are true, then the book should be removed from the Biblical canon, for historical fraud does not belong in the canon of Scripture.  Also, if these claims are true, then Purim absolutely should not be celebrated for the reasons discussed in my previous post.  Also, I will be investigating these claims and the evidence presented.  Interestingly enough, when I first started writing this paragraph, I was going to conclude that Purim is okay, now I'm not so sure about that.  It is entirely possible that, once I finish my investigation, my answer to the question "is Purim okay" will be a definitive "no".

Okay, so I can't give a definitive answer to Purim.  Hopefully I can give one for Hanukkah.  But you're not really supposed to be relying on what I say about anything, anyways.  Do the research for yourself and draw your own conclusions.  Hanukkah is not found in the Bible (except in passing in one verse in the New Testament), but it is found in the Apocrypha.  The account of it's establishment is found in 1 Maccabees 4:36-39.  And in 2 Maccabees 10:1-9, it is recorded that the day was originally kept in the order of the Feast of Tabernacles.  Interestingly enough, the text says that they worshiped Heaven, not God.  That is definitely sinful, and it shows how just how hard it is to rid yourself of all pagan practices.

I have found no historical evidence that the feast was called "the festival of lights" until long after the day's establishment.  But there is definitely a pagan feast called "the festival of lights".  I believe this to be a paganization of the celebration.  I've also found no evidence of the miracle of the one day's worth of oil lasting eight days.  This appears to be an embellishment of the Talmud.  There is also no record of a 9-branch variant of the Menorah until much later on.  There is also the tradition that the first Hanukkah was the Feast of Tabernacles that year because they weren't able to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles that year at the appointed time.  This is the only tradition that has any sort of historical support for it.  That's because of 2 Maccabees 10:1-9, which I mentioned earlier.  But I haven't found any definitive proof of that tradition either.

In terms of the first Hanukkah being a late Feast of Tabernacles, the Torah does give precedent for such things.  In Numbers 9:10-13, God gives provision for eating the Passover later than the appointed time if you are unable to eat it at the appointed time.  That would make the first Hanukkah perfectly fine to celebrate.  But what about the Hanukkahs that come after that one.  Some interpret Jesus not condemning the holiday as a nod of approval.  And even celebrating it himself.  Others interpret the mention of the holiday as simply a convenient reference to the timing of the events described, not being meant as either affirmation that the holiday is okay, nor condemnation of the holiday.  I can see both points of view.  It's important to remember to distinguish between what the text says, and the interpretation of the text.  The Bible does not state that Jesus was celebrating Hanukkah.

Now in modern times, Hanukkah has been highly paganized because of Christmas.  This paganized version of Hanukkah is definitely not okay.  Neither are any other paganized forms of Hanukkah.  But what about as recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees?  Well, there's no record of it being established as a feast to the Lord, either in addition to, in in place of what God has established.  In addition, the celebration, as described in Maccabees, is in the order of the Feast of Tabernacles, not in the order of any of the surrounding pagan holidays.  And I can find no evidence that contradicts the historical record of Maccabees.

There is however, an apparent link to paganism found in the date of the celebration:  The 25th day of the 9th month, which on a solar calendar, would be the winter solstice (which would later become the 25th of the 12th month).  It is entirely possible that in the year that the Temple was desecrated, the 25th day of the 9th lunar month coincided with the winter solstice.  But there's no evidence in the text that the winter solstice has anything to do with the celebration.  Because, if it were, they would have tried to fix the date to the winter solstice rather than to wherever the 25th of the 9th lunar month fell each year.  They seem to be ignoring the solstice altogether.  But there are paganized forms that do place importance on the winter solstice.  So I'm going to conclude that Hanukkah, without all of the pagan traditions that are associated with it, is perfectly okay.

The Golden Calves of Christianity

In my previous post, we investigated the two incidents in Israel's history involving golden calves and the perspective of the people who were worshiping the calves.  I'll give a brief recap:  From their perspective, they were using the calves to worship God, but from God's perspective, they were worshiping the calves.  Also in both instances, they held "sacred" feasts to God (only God can declare a sacred feast).  I also want to make sure that we are clear on the criteria for a golden calf.

The first criteria is that it has to be a direct violation of Exodus 20:4.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [Exodus 20:4; NIV]

By the way, the word "image" in the Bible means any physical object with a form that is designed to look like something else.

Failing the first criteria, something will still be classified as a "golden calf" if (a) the pagans did the same thing to worship their gods (see Deuteronomy 12) or (b) if the object in question is part of the worship of God.

If the item in question is not a physical object, but rather a "sacred" feast, celebration, or fast that God has not ordained, then that also counts.  Basically, any day called "holy" that God has not made holy, with holy meaning set apart to God.  That is, any violation of Deuteronomy 12:32.

Now that we have the criteria defined, let's take a look at (hopefully) all of the golden calves of Christianity.

Depending on the denomination, there may or may not be statures of angels among Christians.  This is a blatant violation of the 2nd Commandment and obviously meets the first criteria.  Similarly, nearly all denominations have something called "manger scenes", which has a statue of Jesus as a baby surrounded by statues of Mary, Joseph, three wise men, and possibly a number of animals.  Again, a violation of the 2nd Commandment.  Also, the Catholic Church (which completely corrupted Christianity even to this day) has something called a "crucifix", which is a cross with a stature of Jesus nailed to it.

So that's all the things that I can think of that blatantly violate the 2nd commandment.  What about Deuteronomy 12, which is the first part of the second criteria?  We have many more things that meet this criteria that probably don't meet the first criteria in an obvious way.  These still violates the 2nd Commandment just by being worshiped.  And remember, it's your perspective vs. God's perspective on who or what is being worshiped.  And guess which perspective is the one that matters.  I only quoted the first part of the 2nd Commandment in this post.  The second part, in verses 5 and 6, forbid us from worshiping anything other than God.  And defines loving God as keeping the 2nd Commandment, and hating God as breaking the 2nd Commandment.

The first item on our list is the Christmas tree, which comes directly from the pagan practices that the Israelites were supposed to wipe out of the land that God gave them!  This is shown directly in Jeramiah 10:3-5.  Even the shape of the tree is the same, for they were cedars, as mentioned in Isaiah 37:24.  Not that this makes much difference.  The fact that the pagans used trees to worship their gods automatically means that using trees to worship our God is a violation of Deuteronomy 12.  And even if that were not the case, it's still the case that it's the tree that's being worshiped, not God.  The exact same thing goes for the star placed on top of the tree, the Easter egg, and Easter rabbit.  All of which, by the way, are symbols of fertility associated with the pagan fertility gods and goddesses.

We have the same situation with the symbols of Valentines Day and Halloween.  The symbolism of the Valentines Day symbols is yet another example of worshiping fertility rather than the One who makes people fertile.  And the symbolism of Halloween doesn't even try to hide it's demonic origins.  In a previous blog post, I pointed out the satanic origins of Halloween.  What I failed to mention in that post is that the symbols were used to deter evil spirits and keep spells away.  And also that "trick or treat" originated as a threat for the purposes of extortion.  It still is that way in some parts of the world.  And no, the Church has not, historically, celebrated Halloween as a celebration of Jesus defeating death and the devil on the cross (which doesn't change anything anyways).

Now, what about the holidays that are celebrated?  Christmas was an instance of sun worship that happened on the Winter Solstice, which was on December 25 when Julius Cesar established his Calendar in 45 B.C.  It was at this time that the pagans celebrated the birth of their sun gods.  The Catholic Church hijacked this celebration to celebrate the birth of the Son of God instead to make "Christianity" more appealing to the masses.  Even if the date was just a coincidence (which it is not), the fact that the pagans celebrated the birth of their gods means we are forbidden from celebrating the birth of our God.  And even if the pagans did not have such a celebration, it would not change the fact that it is a man-made day to the Lord, which is a direct violation of Deuteronomy 12:32.  Only God can appoint days to God.

Easter is even worse than Christmas, because even the name comes from the name of the pagan fertility goddess.  In fact, the pronunciation is nearly identical to the name of the Babylonian fertility goddess (Ishtar).  And its celebration is directly condemned in Ezekiel 8:16 (and that's just a sample of what went on during that celebration).  What became the Easter celebration of Christianity predates the founding of the Catholic Church by more than 1,000 years!  And by the way, this was also the day that the pagans sacrificed their infants in the fire to Moloch.  Are you sure you want to be celebrating Christ's resurrection on this day?

A couple more notes about the celebration of Easter and Good Friday.  The timing instituted by the Catholic Church was deliberately set so that the two days would never coincide with Passover and Feast of First Fruits.  In fact, the Catholic Church outright replaced Passover with Good Friday, and First Fruits with Easter Sunday.  So if Christmas is merely an addition to God's commands, Easter is outright rebellion against God!  Jesus gave us something to remember his death by.  Something that is in full compliance with all of God's commands.  But even that has been replaced with a cracker and a one-ounce cup of grape juice!

Now, about Halloween.  I already made a post about it on Halloween.  But let's go into a bit more detail.  First off, the word Halloween comes from the phrase "All Hallows Evening", which translates into "All Holy Night".  That alone should tell you everything you need to know about Halloween, since God never declared the last day of any month holy.  This is another celebration that was hijacked by the Catholic Church to make "Christianity" more appealing.  What they did was they changed the day of the celebration to the last day of a month on their calendar that came closest to the last day of the month on the calendar that it was originally celebrated on.  The new date happened to be October 31.  The Catholic Church also added "All Saints Day" to the celebration, which was given the date of November 1, out of the need to remember all of their dead "saints" without completely filling-up the calendar.  Then they added "All Souls Day" for November 2.  In terms of the celebration on October 31, virtually nothing has changed except the calendar used to schedule the celebration, and the fact that some parts of the world now do it for fun rather than out of fear of evil spirits or being cursed with a spell.

How about Valentines Day?  This is yet another pagan celebration of fertility which, by the way, is also linked to witchcraft and the superstitions surrounding the full moon (which is why it's in the middle of the month, which was originally a lunar month).  The name comes from the name of a Catholic "saint":  St. Valentine.  On this day, the pagans made sacrifices to their gods so that they would remain fertile and to celebrate their fertility.

Finally, we have the Sunday Sabbath.  This came about in direct rebellion to God's commands because the Catholic Church didn't want to do anything on the same day that the Jews did things on.  The day has it's name because the pagans worshiped the sun in the sky on this day.  The excuse that the Catholic Church gives is that Jesus rose on the first day of the week (in reality, he rose at sunset on what we would call the seventh day of the week).  But God said to rest on the seventh day of the week.  The purpose of the Sabbath has also been changed from the "day of rest" to the "day of worship".  And a common defense of not observing the Sabbath on its proper day (which we call "Saturday") is that "cults worship on Saturday".  Some of these same people acknowledge that Christmas and Easter originated within cults, which should tell you all you need to know about their motives.  Regardless of which, God commanded that we rest on the seventh day of the week.  And that those who deliberately work on the seventh day are to be put to death!  Remember, the Sabbath is the only one of the Appointed Times that God commands all to practice!  The whole world!  For it was established in the beginning, and it was established for the benefit of all mankind!

The Evil of Halloween

Every October 31, children go out on something called "trick or treating" to ask complete strangers for candy while dressed-up with the appearance of evil and with their houses dressed up with the appearance of evil.  Halloween doesn't even try to hide its satanic origins!  And Paul correctly pointed-out that we should abstain from all appearance of evil.  Yet Christians still find some way to try to justify continuing to celebrate this satanic day.

By the way, did you know that Paul was applying Deuteronomy 12 when he said to abstain from all appearance of evil?  God himself commanded us not mimic the ways of the pagans, not even as a means of serving him, but said to keep his commandments without adding to or diminishing from them [Deuteronomy 12:32].  Here's an article giving a very brief summary about what the Celts did for their new year celebration, which was later hijacked by the Roman Catholic Church, being given the name "All Hallows Eve" assigned to October 31, and mimicking the Celtic witchcraft in their celebration to this day!

Actually, the article linked above gives a watered-down version of what the Celts did.  A very watered-down version.  There are still cultures around the world that practice Celtic witchcraft instead of "merely" mimicking it.  And those who actually read the passages I linked (bonus points if you read more), you will know that God wants these pagan practices and their articles completely destroyed, leaving no trace that they even ever existed.  He wants us to practice what he commanded, not what the pagans practiced.  He has set us apart (made us holy) from the rest of the world to be an example to the world.

Let's take a look at some of the excuses that Christians make to continue to celebrate this holiday.  Some who claim to be Christians outright lie about the origins of the various practices and claim that the pagans borrowed from Christianity.  But even if that's true, what business does a Christian have in dressing as witches or demonic entities?  What part of "abstain from all appearance of evil" [1 Thessalonians 5:22] do you not understand?  What part of "do not add to God's commandments" do you not understand?  Should God be pleased with us for dressing as those whom God said shall be put to death?  Should God be pleased with us for honoring the rebellious angels by dressing as them?  Should God be pleased at the glorification of death, which he says is the enemy [1 Corinthians 15:26]?

Some Christians claim to celebrate Halloween to make a mockery of Satan because he was defeated by Jesus dying on the cross and then rising from the dead.  While I have no reason to question their sincerity, there are a couple a major problems with this, not counting the fact that it's a direct violation of Deuteronomy 12 and a violation of Paul's command.  The first problem is that Jesus didn't die on October 31.  He died on Aviv 14 (buried the following sundown) in 30 AD, which landed on Wednesday, April 3.  He rose on Aviv 18 (at sundown), which landed on Sunday, April 7, but which would still be counted by our standards as Saturday (the Sabbath), April 6.

The second major problem is this:  Who's mocking who?  Is it the Christian making a mockery of demonic powers, or Satan making a mockery of Christians who have been tricked into doing things that are contrary to everything that God stands for?  Satan's goal is to keep Christians away from God and he is the father of lies [John 8:44].  And what better way to do that than to trick us into believing that there's nothing wrong with doing things that God calls abominations?  I think the answer to the question of "who's mocking who" is quite clear.

I'll leave you with this video on the origins of Halloween by Pastor Jim Staley.