The Christian Church and pagan based holidays

We thought it was ok if we celebrated holidays we knew were of pagan origin because we were doing it for the Lord. We made it our own form of worship, we took something evil and made it holy, right?

Well, we quickly discovered in scripture that we have no right as mankind to make anything holy by our own power. Yehovah calls his holy feast days “appointed times” which is “moedim” in Hebrew. In addition, Yehovah explicitly tells us NOT to change his appointed times, nor worship him in the way the world does:

Deuteronomy 12:29-32: “When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

Rabbinical Law added to the Torah, against God’s commandments. That is why Yeshua chided the Pharisees and scribes: “And He answered them, “And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” Matthew 15:3. Traditions here being any statutes, laws, and traditional practices that were treated as holy but that were made up by men and not handed down from God.

Deuteronomy 4:2: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

In this verse we are told not to add to or take away from God’s commandments. Which is exactly what the Jews did with their oral law or Talmud (in Judaism).

This is also reflected in Revelation, warning us to not add to nor take away from the Revelation book “ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22 18-19

Both Judaism and mainstream Christianity have taken God’s commandments and added to them or taken away from them by declaring new moedim, by their own will that is against the will of God. Jews added their own book of laws that were based on oral “tradition” called the Talmud. They even say that a Rabbi’s teachings must be obeyed by God himself! Incredible heresy!

The Catholic Church took control of those walking in faith during the 3rd century by consolidating several pagan practices into “Christianity” against every warning from God. Modern Protestants, while protesting the Catholic priesthood, STILL keeps all the pagan rituals such as Christ’s Mass (during the solstice and birthday of known pagan gods), Lent (weeping for Tammuz) Easter (a pagan goddess), All Hallow’s Eve (again a pagan time of ritual) and added Saint’s days such as Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s.

That said, the first Protestants did not originally keep those pagan festivals. They saw the Catholic “feasts” and rituals for what they were. Even Christmas was outlawed in the USA the until mid 19th century. That is how we won the battle of Trenton: Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas day because he knew the Catholic Hessians (German mercenaries hired by the British) were getting drunk at their Christ’s Mass and they would be able to take them by surprise early in the morning.

Deuteronomy 18:9 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. “

Exodus 23:13 “Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.”

Yehovah hates it when we worship him in ways the pagans do.

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I despise YOUR feasts, and I take no delight in YOUR solemn assemblies.”[emphasis added]

“Your feasts” here being feasts that were created outside of the way he commanded us to celebrate him. Your feasts vs HIS feasts. Remember again, “feasts” here means moedim or appointed times.

God clearly commands us to not celebrate pagan festivals the way other nations do, nor to use the traditions of these nations to worship God. He does, however, command us to follow HIS appointed moedim (feasts).