ST. VALENTINE’S DAY, ETC.

By R. H. Parry, Michigan

Nations may learn to fly and orbit the moon and yet forget to walk in the path of Yahweh’s commandments. Are we accepting the strong delusions, stones instead of bread and death instead of life? The spirit and the word of Yahweh does agree.

There is a way that seems alright unto men of goodwill. They believe in their hearts that this path they are pursuing is the right road. The spirit in which these joyous feasts and days are observed cannot be denied. Yet let us stop for a moment and weigh facts against traditions and fantasies.

We have grown up in a generation which has been nourished in falsehoods. We have been taught to make lies our refuge. Isaiah 28:15. Our fathers have inherited lies. Jeremiah 16:19. Before our children are able to speak we begin to instill within them fantasy and fiction, in other words LIES which have no real foundation. It is no wonder then, what began as imagination and lying vanities have mushroomed into the giant that is before us this very day. We need to look around us and see the end results in the cry of this generation! “There is no God!” As was foretold in II Timothy 4:1-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.” Prior to the flood we read in Genesis 6:5, “Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In verse eight we find that Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of Yahweh. We are told that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.

Do we dare to halt? Do we dare come out of (Rome) Babylon as the word commands? Revelation 18:3, 4. We are not to take part in her sins. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12. “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the latter day (marginal reference): That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Yahweh: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.” Isaiah 30:8-15.

Let us return, not to the Mother of Harlots, (Rome) Revelation 17:5, but back to the old paths wherein we may find rest for our souls, Jeremiah 6:16, and to the faith that was once delivered. Yes, we are choosing sides; you cannot serve Yahweh and sacrifice to devils. You cannot be partakers of Yahweh’s table and the table of devils. I Corinthians 10:20, 21.

Let us look into what the month of February holds, what is the background of these feasts and holy days?

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY – Cupid

February 14, 270 A.D.

As a matter of historical fact, St. Valentine really had nothing to do with its beginning. All pagan celebrations had a tendency to deteriorate into orgies, and that is what had happened to this one. It seems that on Feb. 14, the eve of the purification festival in honor of Juno, young Romans paired off in lots. The names of the girls were placed in a fish bowl and were drawn by the men, who gave gifts to their ladies. The Roman oracles observed that Feb. 14 was the date on which birds began to mate. According to legend, these wise men took this to be an omen from the gods. To commemorate the event, they decreed the Feast of Lupercalia and dedicated it to the pastoral god, Lupercus, and the goddess of love, Juno.

St. Valentine was a Roman. Little is known about him except that he was martyred for his faith on Feb. 14, 270 A.D. The day was immediately dedicated to his memory. (Genesis 3:4, 5 You shall not surely die but you shall be as mighty ones) and the dead saint soon began to have a modifying influence on the pagan Roman festival.

This is one of the many instances in which the early Christian church worked its strategy of Christianizing pagan celebrations instead of abolishing them. As is written concerning this very thing. “Let us do evil that good may come.” Romans 3:8.

The skull of St. Valentine is believed to have the power to keep the brow of your beloved free of frowns for one year after you gaze upon it. It is exhibited each St. Valentine’s Day in the church of Santa Marie in Cosmedin-Rome by Ripley, in BELIEVE IT OR NOT.

Now, what about CUPID? “God of love, son of Jupiter and Venus. He is represented as a winged boy, naked, armed with a bow and arrows, and often with a bandage covering his eyes. He shot his arrows into the hearts of both gods and men, thus infecting them with love. Like all the gods, he put on different forms to suit his plans. He became the husband of Psyche; Psyche is the Greek word for soul.” LINCOLN LIBRARY, pages 326-328.

Facts about Lent, to be observed this year Feb. 19, 1969. What does the scripture state concerning “Lent?” Is it found in the Bible? Then, Where does it find its origin? “The forty days” abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, “in the spring of the year,” is still observed by the Yezidis or Pagan Devil-worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent of forty days was held in spring by the Pagan Mexicans, for thus we read in Humboldt, MEXICAN RESEARCHES, v. i, p. 404, where he gives account of Mexican observances: “Three days after the vernal equinox . . . began a solemn fast of forty days in honour of the sun.” Such a Lent of forty days was observed in Egypt, as may be seen on consulting Wilkinson’s EGYPTIANS, taken from THE TWO BABYLONS, by Alexander Hislop, p. 104,105. Today we find Lent observed by all liturgical churches, including the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal and Eastern

Orthodox communions. These churches follow an ancient calendar of worship which divides the year into six seasons. Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Trinity. The idea is that this calendar provides an annual rhythm for worship, so that each major aspect of the Christian faith has its own appointed season for special emphasis. Many Protestant bodies which formerly ignored the liturgical calendar have begun in recent years to adopt it. The date of Lent varies from year to year, because it is tied to the date of Easter. Lent is a period of 40 weekdays and 6 Sundays preceding Easter. This period was fixed by Pope Felix II in 487 A.D. The first day of Lent is called “Ash Wednesday.” A day of general repentance and one of the two strictest fasts of the Christian year. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday employed in the blessing are those made by burning the palms in the services on Palm Sunday of the preceding year.

It is written in Isaiah 1:13, 14 that “your feasts and your new months my soul hateth: they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them.” Let us not be soothed into a false world of hope; when a true foundation has already been laid down for us by the apostles and prophets; Yahshua, Himself being the Chief cornerstone upon whom we must build. Ephesians 2:20-22. There is no other foundation upon which man can build but one of sand, which though it mount to the height of heaven and fill the whole earth it shall not stand in that day. To build upon lies and man’s belief does nothing for you but lead you astray.

Without a vision of our destiny we shall perish as the word relates in Proverbs 29:18. Your faith is personal. We will be judged by our works, Revelation 22:12, and without faith it is impossible to please Him. It is up to you to act and seek out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12. You have the freedom to choose. Your belief is something sacred, the responsibility lies on your shoulders. We stand as individuals with only one Mediator, Yahshua to plead for our eternal life. I Timothy 2:5.

Information compiled in this article has also been taken from: LOOK, magazine, Feb. 1955, Vol. 19. THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, Feb. 1953 article – “St. Valentine Legend Told,” by Mr. Howard V. Harper. THE STATE JOURNAL, Lansing, Mich., Feb. 1958, “Odd facts about Lent,” listed by Tom Henshaw.