Before allowing His people to enter the Holy Land, also known as the Promised Land, He spoke to them through the Prophet Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy 12:29-31 where He instructed Israel on how to deal with the heathen people who would be living near them: “Take heed to yourself that you are not snared by following them …. Do not inquire after their gods with the intention of serving me as these nations serve their gods? You must not do unto the Lord your God as they do unto their gods, for God hates every abomination which they do for their gods.”

Centuries later He reiterated this warning: “Do not learn the ways of the heathen …. for the customs of the people are vain” (Jer. 10:2,3). He later stated in Matthew 6:7: “… do not do as the heathen do ….” God’s message is clear. Few, however, read it; even fewer believe it; even fewer obey it. Those few He calls His saints, His church, His little flock. As did their ancient ancestors, those who call themselves God’s people today ignore the voice of God’s messengers. Deceiving church people into observing his holidays is one of the devil’s most effective ways of keeping them under his control and out of God’s control.

One of the favorite customs of professing Christendom in today’s world is known as St. Valentine’s Day with its cute little boy named Cupid who is normally pictured with a bow and arrow with which he has penetrated a heart. Unlike in the past, in today’s world Valentine’s Day involves huge amounts of money. Candy sales surrounding that day accounts for 40% ($18 billion) of annual candy sales in the United States alone. Valentines Day is one of the many things the Institutional Church and the secular world equally agree on and equally enjoy.

The popular spring-time holiday has an interesting history. The festival was introduced over 4000 years ago and quickly became popular as a love-fest–a time to express ones love for a particular person by way of a written letter. Over time a hand-written letter to the object of one’s affection was replaced by commercially produced cards which were given to all of one’s friends. Believing it to be a Christian observance, some modern church people lament the commercialization of the annual holiday.

Not surprisingly, this “Christian” celebration falls on the same day as an ancient heathen celebration. The festival of Lupercalia was a holiday the Roman Empire borrowed from the mystery religion practiced by Babylon. Following Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Catholicism he was advised to end the observance of Lupercalia. But the heathen masses, who had been “converted” to Catholicism at the point of a Roman sword, refused to give up the celebration of Lupercalia. This resulted in a generations-long, intra-church conflict. Finally, in 496 A.D., Pope Gelasius “Christianized” the Babylonian festival and renamed it “St. Valentine’s Day.” Like other pagan holidays such as Christmas, New Years, Easter and Halloween, St. Valentine’s Day was embraced by the church which is identified in Revelation 17:5 as “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” True God seekers are commanded to come out of the religious system today known as Catholicism (the mother harlot) and Protestantism (her harlot daughters) (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1/ Rev. 18:4). That false religion now numbers in the billions.

St. Valentine’s Day is symbolized by hearts and a cute little fellow named Cupid. In the Babylonian culture, the word for heart was “Bal,” which symbolized Baal, the lord of the Babylonians. To appease her heathen parishioners, the church also Christianized the heart symbol, referring to it as the “Sacred Heart,” meaning Sacred Baal” (lord).

Cupid is often presented with his mother, Venus, known in the Western world as Easter–the Goddess of Fertility–who is venerated annually with rabbits and eggs which are globally recognized as symbols of reproduction. I once saw a picture of a wood-carved statue of the goddess. She had breasts all over her upper body.

Spiritually speaking, we are what we believe. What we do and say is reflective of what we believe. This makes professing Christendom heathen to the core. Many, if not most of her beliefs, customs and traditions have been borrowed from the Babylonian mystery religion which consisted of many different sets of beliefs and customs associated with an equal number of gods. A number of such heathenisms are listed on the home page of this website. Those who celebrate those heathen festivals are unknowingly worshiping the heathen gods associated with them. One of the church’s favorite gods is the sun, which she worships every sun god day–Sunday. And let us not forget Christmas, New Years, Easter and Halloween. L.J.