“Behold my servant with whom I am pleased, my beloved one, in whom my soul rejoices; I will put my Spirit upon Him , and He will preach justice to the peoples. And in His name will the Gentiles find hope.” – Mattityahu [Matthew] 12:18,21. This Gentile thanks her ELOHIM [the word for GOD in Hebrew] daily, all three of HIM as shown in the verse above, because HE is my beloved whom everything I have is from. HE is amazing!!! Every time I start getting overwhelmed HE reminds me that HE is watching out for me. Two days ago, the spiritual warfare I was dealing with in the morning was getting to be too much and I told HIM I was tired and that I just wanted to rest in HIS arms and have HIM hold me. Shortly after when I was in my car driving, a van pulled in front of me with a Bible verse written across the back doors from Mattityahu [Matthew] 11:28 – “Come to me, all you who labour and carry burdens, and I will give you rest.” I love HIM dearly!!!
The study I wrote about christmas [posted on this blog 12/2012], goes into information that worship is love/devotion/adoration [look up the definitions of each]. A friend of mine put it very well after we spoke about ELOHIM in depth. He had been using the word “love” for objects and places. He then said that we should use the word “love” only for ELOHIM and people not places or objects. Another friend told me something similar about the word “awesome” which is a Biblical word but varies per translation – see Tehillim [Psalm] 68:35. If you use the word “love” loosely it not only diminishes its meaning it can even end up becoming worship because you are “idolizing” something or someone [the ways of men and not HIS Way] and that is a sin per HIS Word – HE is to be loved above all [Sh’mot – Exodus – 20″1-7, Mattityahu – Matthew – 15:8-9 and 22:37, Yesha’yahu – Isaiah – 29:13, D’varim – Deuteronomy 6:5]. I will be doing a study about the worship of images/symbols more in depth later.
For now, I would encourage you to read Romans 1:18-32 and Yochanan [John] chapters 3 and 14-15. I would also encourage you to start making a list when reading the Bible of what ELOHIM wants/loves and a second list of what HE doesn’t want/hates. This will help you grow in your relationship much more with HIM by knowing the depths of HIM. Remember the words “do unto others as you would have done unto you”? Would you want to be known by those closest to you only superficially or really well? How well do you know HIM? HE knows us better than any, HE created us and keeps up with us, [Luke 12:6-7] every hair on our heads, all 7 billion plus of us!
In my walk with HIM, I have found that HE expects action to HIS words, both reading them and doing what HE says. So when HE shows you something that needs to change in your life to help out your relationship with HIM – do it! If you need help, ask HIM and be sure and thank, praise, and bless HIS Name!!!
So guess where this is all heading? We have another pagan holiday coming up, valentine’s day. Below I have links to information concerning its origins. You can also google “pagan origins of …” to see the information many have put together on it and other holidays. Valentine’s day, christmas, and easter all originated in worship of pagan gods and revolved around their fertility rites, customs, symbols, and images. Remember what I said above about getting to know HIM? HE is very clear about hating anything pagan [meaning worship of other gods and their ways] and for HIS people not involving themselves in anything pagan because it separates them from HIM and it hurts HIM.
This is from I Yochanan [I John] 5:3-4, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not difficult. For whoever is born of God triumphs over the world…” Read the whole gospel of I Yochanan, it is only 4-5 pages but there is much about HIS love in it. HE showed us how much HE loves us by sending HIS SON [HIS WORD made flesh – see Yochanan chapter 1] to die for our sins, Yochanan 3:16. HIS love is shown us daily in all that HE gives us and does for us [food, water and disciplining, chastening – Mattityahu 5:45 and Revelation 3:19]. So who do you love, the god of this world [II Corinthians 4:4] or our true BELOVED ONE???
[disclaimer: I have read the links below and believe that much if not all of what is said is true. I however, have not read over the sites the links are from so I do not promote anything else from them unless I read it and state that I agree with it. I have found many sites that had information that I felt was very Biblical and then read elsewhere on them and ran smack into something I felt I could disprove from my Bible readings. Unfortunately this seems to be the human condition, that all contain truth and error and it is up to us to do our homework and go to ELOHIM and want and pray for only the truth, which is HIM, and not wrap ourselves into human error and get led astray.]
http://rcg.org/articles/ttbsvd.html
http://www.biblestudy.org/basicart/what-is-true-origin-of-valentines-day.html
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract6.html
[ the article below came from a witchcraft site – I didn’t want to promote the link but copied the information for you because it goes into how a valentine is like a magic formula – witchcraft per the Bible]
Pagan Origins of a Popular Christian Festival
As an estimated one billion cards* are exchanged this St Valentine’s Day spare a thought for the ancient pagan custom that the Catholic Church has tried to hide from you, for St Valentine’s Day is the Eve of Lupercalia, the Pagan Roman festival of fertility.
Love is a Lottery
In fact, the 14th of February was the day specially set aside for love lotteries in Pagan Rome. A holiday devoted to Juno, Queen of the Gods, and patroness of marriage, the 14th was also the day on which young girls’ names were written on slips of paper and thrown into jars to be picked out by the boys. Chooser and chosen would then be partnered for the duration of the Lupercalia festival. Such arbitrary pairings often resulted in lasting relationships. The Catholic Church later substituted the names of dead saints in place of those of flesh-and-blood girls to subvert the lusty pagan practice.
The Lupercalia proper began on the 15th of February with animal sacrifice and ritual flagellation. After slaughtering a goat and dog in the sacred grotto of the she-wolf who suckled the legendary founders of Rome, the young men would run through the streets whipping women and crops with the flayed hide of the goat to promote fertility. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Lupercalia, far from being restricted to Rome, was practiced in other cities in Italy and Gaul.
Dating from remotest antiquity, the Lupercalia was celebrated until as late as the reign of Anastasius I in 491-518 CE. It was towards the end of the 5th century in 498 CE that Pope Galesius decided to dedicate the Eve of Lupercalia to the long-dead priest. The lottery system was banned as being un-Christian and the Pope did his best to make people forget about other un-Christian ideas such as fertility.
Mating Season
However, the pagan principles of the people proved irrepressible. Memories of the Roman Lupercalia combined with folklore beliefs in Britain and France that the 14th of February marked the beginning of the mating season amongst birds to ensure that this day would persist in the popular imagination as a day of love.
The oldest extant Valentine message is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415 to his wife. He had good reason to write: he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured at the Battle of Agincourt. It proved a popular idea and some years later it is believed that Henry V hired John Lydgate to compose a Valentine missive to Catherine of Valois.
Despite such early precedents, St Valentine’s Day did not become a widely celebrated event in Britain until the 17th century. Printed cards did not appear until the late 18th century, but it was not until the 1840’s that Esther A. Howland entered the history books as the first person to sell the first mass-produced Valentine cards in the United States.
The Magic of Love or Love Magic?
But why send a card and why make it anonymous? Either we believe one of the Christian legends and accept that we all celebrate the giving of a love token of 3rd century priest by sending a replica, or look deeper into the significances of giving and anonymity. The act of giving, stripped of any moral sentiment, is usually one of status modification, for example, how many times do you hear people boasting of how they give to charity? However, in this instance the giver’s identity is carefully concealed. The card itself acts simply as the vehicle of the giver’s desire. The message that accompanies such cards is most often in the imperative, Be My Valentine, Be My Love, and so on. The structure of this exchange is remarkably similar to many magical formulae.
Christians Against the Fun
Even the Christians, originally responsible for foisting St Valentine on this festival, are re-assessing their position. Biblestudy.org, amongst many others, has come clean and admitted that Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with a long dead saint, and everything to do with our pagan heritage. Of course, they were horrified and immediately wanted to ban it:
It is about time we examined these customs of the pagans now falsely labeled Christian. It is time we quit this Roman and Babylonian foolishness – this idolatry – and get back to the faith of Christ delivered once for all time. Let’s stop teaching our children these pagan customs in memory of Baal the sun god – the original St. Valentine – and teach them instead what the Bible really says!
So, the next time you ask someone to be your Valentine, try not to forget that you are engaging in a millennia old fertility rite and, what is more, dabbling in a little magic to boot.