Love, love, love–that’s what Valentine’s Day is all about, or so we are told.  As a child some of my fondest school activities involved those little sugar hearts and those cute cards from classmates (you had to send a card to each one).  I grew up believing that, because it had a “St.” (saint) prefix, the festivities had to be ordained by God.  However, there is no Biblical basis for the celebration.  Therefore we must look to the secular world to determine from whence came the springtime holiday called St. Valentine’s Day.

Being secular in nature the day necessarily involves profit–much profit.  In America it has been reported that some 18 billion dollars are annually spent on the trappings associated with the day–candy, cards, flowers, etc.  Even in this country, $18 billion is a lot of money.  When it comes to expressions of love, money, it seems, is no object.  We need not wonder why businesses go all-out with their advertising during the days leading up to the much-anticipated event that will across the nation in about three weeks from now.  Being the big deal that it is, would it not be beneficial, or possibly even enlightening to know the origin of the holiday?  In the spiritual realm in which God has much to say regarding man’s actions, there are some annual festivities that, due to their heathen origins, He has declared off limits to His saints.  Valentine’s Day is one of them, along with New Years, Christmas, Easter and the Sunday Sabbath.

Hundreds of years before the time of Christ the Romans celebrated February 14 as a sex-oriented festival in honor of a god-like being called Lupercus.  They called the holiday “Lupercalia.”  The custom of exchanging written works and drawn figures, along with other traditions in honor of the deified Lupercus, was linked to the pairing off of teenagers for exclusive relationships which often led to fornication.  It is from this custom that “going steady” became a popular practice.  In my day we also called it “claiming” another person.  Following the supposed “salvation experience” of Roman Emperor Constantine the empire lost its zeal for the sex free-for-all, partly because it involved sex with children.  Some citizens sought to do away with it entirely.  But there was too much fun to be had and too much money to be made to allow that to happen.  The solution to the problem was simple–make the holiday a church activity, tie the Lord to it and stay the course.  After toning down the more egregious aspects of the custom, the activities continued.  By the time of Pope Gelasius’ reign the holiday had become a “Christian” undertaking and was being called “Valentine’s Day.”

Lupercus, also known as Valentine, has been traced back to Nimrod of Old Testament fame.  They were in fact one in the same.   The heart symbol used in today’s Valentine’s Day celebration was Nimrod’s symbol.  In the Babylonian tongue the word for heart was “bal” or “Baal”–the god of the Babylonians.  Baal was Nimrod–the sun god.   Another name for Nimrod was “Saturn,” meaning to hide or conceal.  According to ancient tradition, Saturn (Nimrod/Valentine/Baal/Lupercus), having committed many crimes, fled into the mountains of Italy and hid in the area where Rome would later be built.  He was found there and killed because of his crimes.  The city that would come to be called Rome was originally called “Saturnia”– the place where Saturn had hid.  The Catholic Church would eventually make Nimrod/Valentine a saint and honor him as a “Christian” martyr.  Thus the “saint” designation in front of his name–St. Valentine.

Nimrod/Baal–the sun god–was said to have been born at the winter solstice which anciently occurred on January 6.  It was the custom for a woman who had birthed a male child to present herself for purification on the 40th day after his birth.  Forty days from January 6 is February 14.  Semiramus, the mother of Nimrod, first appeared with her son publicly on February 14.  Semiramus and Nimrod became the original “mother and child” duo made famous by the Catholic Church.  Thus Lupercalia/ St. Valentine’s Day became established within that organization.

Tradition holds that Semiramus developed a romantic love for her son Nimrod and married him.  Thus the love aspect of St. Valentine’s day came into being.  “Cupid,” meaning desire, resulted from Semiramus lusting after her son Nimrod who became the object of desire for many women.  The Prophet Daniel called him “the desire of women” (Dan. 11:37).  Ezekiel wrote that he provoked so many women to jealousy that an idol of him was called “the image of jealousy” (Eze. 8:5).

From this information we can conclude that the observance of St. Valentine’s Day is rooted in heathen tradition.  The Lord’s people are commanded to abstain from even the appearance of evil (1 Thes. 5:22).  In Jeremiah 10:1-4 the Lord commanded us to, “Learn not the ways of the heathen ….  For the customs of the (heathen) people are vain ….”  Throughout the Scriptures God calls heathen customs abominations.  In Deuteronomy 12:30,31 God says to us: “Take heed that you be not ensnared to follow them (the pagans and their customs), … and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? that I also may do likewise.’  You shall not do so to the Lord your God; EVERY ABOMINABLE  THING WHICH THE LORD HATES THEY HAVE DONE FOR THEIR GODS.'”  One of those abominable things is the celebration of St. Valentine’s day.  L.J.