******* Continuing our prophecy study-- Please GO back and read the study from the beginning to gain full understanding of where we are if you haven't been following this study daily. Thank you :) God bless you! ******
Yesterday we discussed the rise of Christianity mingled Paganism and we're going to continue with this a bit longer, noting more detailed facts.
We need to understand that the Holy Covenant was truly forsaken by the rise of this so called church of God.
Dan 11:30 '...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant
so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. '
Have you ever heard of the Eleusinian Mysteries-
'The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek) were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. It is acknowledged that their basis was an old agrarian cult which probably goes back to the Mycenean period (c.1600-1100 BC) and it is believed that the cult of Demeter was established in 1500 BC.[1] The idea of immortality which appears in syncretistic religions of antiquity was introduced in late antiquity.[2] The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome.[3] The name of the town, Eleusís seems to be Pre-Greek and it is probably a counterpart with Elysion and the goddess Eileithyia[4]
The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from a hoary antiquity. The initiated believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife.[5] There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents.[6]'
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These pagan mysteries existed for close to 3000 years.
The *supposed* end of them occurs when Christianity rose up.
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'In 170 AD, the Temple of Demeter was sacked by the Sarmatians but was rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius was then allowed to become the only lay person to ever enter the anaktoron. As Christianity gained in popularity in the 4th and 5th centuries, Eleusis' prestige began to fade. Julian, the last pagan emperor of Rome, was also the last emperor to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries.[28]
The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in 392 AD. The last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 AD, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded accompanied by Christians "in their dark garments", bringing Arian Christianity and desecrating the old sacred sites.[29] The closing of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the 4th century is reported by Eunapius, a historian and biographer of the Greek philosophers. Eunapius had been initiated by the last legitimate Hierophant, who had been commissioned by the emperor Julian to restore the Mysteries, which had by then fallen into decay. According to Eunapius, the very last Hierophant was a usurper, "the man from Thespiae who held the rank of Father in the mysteries of Mithras."'
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I said supposed end because read on…
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'Modern Interpretation-
The annual Aquarian Tabernacle Church Spring Mysteries Festival is a 3 day Pan-Pagan festival, recreating the mysteries in modern day. The main focus of the Festival is the Ritual Drama. The ATC (Aquarian Tabernacle Church) presents a modern interpretation of the ancient Greek mystery drama of how the seasons came to be.
The original Eleusinian Mysteries were a mystery kept secret for almost three-thousand years and the basic story, as portrayed, is all that is available. In modern times the ATC is the only group performing these mysteries on a large scale, available for all who have always wished to experience their wonder, are able to.
The ritual takes place every Easter weekend at Fort Flagler State Park in Washington.'
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MODERN INTERPRETATION. When does this modern interpretation take place? EASTER weekend. Now we need to ask ourselves some questions- is this mere coincidence? Does Easter have something to do with paganism?
Remember Christianity rose up amid many, many pagan customs that had been around for thousands of years. People did not simply give up their pagan beliefs and accept Christianity. It'd be great if that were the case but even our Savior had this to say, and He meant it!
Mat 7:14 For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.
Few be they that find it! How many? FEW. Only few compared to the multitudes. So many religions tout their numbers as a sign of truth, when the truth is that the greater the number the less truth. Yes, the Gospel was to go to the whole world, but that didn't mean the whole world would accept that Gospel. How can those words come from our Savior's mouth if they weren't true? They couldn't and that means they are pure TRUTH.
Christianity quickly went from being truth and only truth to being truth corrupted by untruth. The lines became blurred, paganism and Christianity merged into something unrecognizable as wholly pagan or wholly Christian. However… Satan used His deceptive power to have the products of paganism Christianized. And as we know if something is changed and enough time passes that it is hard for people to accept that the changed something was ever anything different than it appears currently. People honestly believe that our so called Christian holidays are truly Christian holidays. What they really are is paganism Christianized and as we know once untruth mingles with truth it is NO LONGER TRUTH!
Easter-
'Easter ... is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year.[1] According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday[2] (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday). The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and 36.
Easter marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many European languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are etymologically related or homonymous.[4] The term "Pascha", from the same root, is also used in English to refer to Easter.
Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating Easter eggs is a common motif. In the Western world, customs such as egg hunting and the Easter Bunny extend from the domain of church, and often have a secular character.'
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Did you read that? Decorating eggs is a common motif. A common motif of what? A supposed CHRISTIAN holiday! A CENTRAL feast . Now many, many, many Christians will give you reasons for this egg decorating and how it ties into the celebration, but in truth where did EGGS, let alone decorating them, come into play with Jesus?! Alarm bells should be ringing in the head of anyone who is really seeking TRUTH.
Just how did eggs come to be associated with a supposed Christian holiday?
Read this--
The first Christians, Jewish and Gentile, were certainly aware of the Hebrew calendar (Acts 2:1; 12:3; 20:6; 27:9; 1 Cor 16:8), but there is no direct evidence that they celebrated any specifically Christian annual festivals. Direct evidence for the Easter festival begins to appear in the mid-2nd century. Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referencing Easter is a mid-2nd century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one.[23] Evidence for another kind of annual Christian festival, the commemoration of martyrs, begins to appear at about the same time as evidence for the celebration of Easter.[24] But while martyrs' days (usually the individual dates of martyrdom) were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity during its earliest, Jewish period, but does not leave the question free of doubt.[25]
The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (b. 380) attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of its custom, "just as many other customs have been established," stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. Although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.[26]
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This is NOT a CHRISTIAN celebration! No where in the Bible are we told to celebrate this way, NO WHERE!
This isn't the only perversion of Christianity, not by a long shot. Go ahead LOOK UP this stuff on the internet! Go to the library! Search out the truth! Read your BIBLES!
While Christian holidays seem to be Christian enough, they are far from it. They carry a cloak of Christianity but underneath that cloak is a vile, scheming, deceiving being who has tricked the majority of Christians into celebrating these days as if they are truly holy, when they are FAR from it!
This is TRUTH!
Beyond a doubt covering evil with a nice fluffy frosting does not make it acceptable. Think about it- how many times are evil people truly evil appearing? Not as often as one would like to hope. Evil people often get away with a lot of their evil by appearing as someone far from evil, the more innocent they appear the more evil they can get away with. This isn't a lie, this is truth. And truth cannot be changed, not by you and not by me, not by anyone!
The deception of the mingling of paganism with Christianity did not stop at holidays, but goes much deeper, into a place that affects people every week of their lives!
Read this--
Sunday and Sabbath
See also: Sabbath in Christianity.
Christians from very early times have had differences of opinion on the question of whether Sabbath should be observed on a Saturday or a Sunday. The issue does not arise for Jews, for whom "Shabbat" is unquestionably on Saturday, nor for Muslims whose day of assembly (jumu'ah) is on a Friday.
The first given evidence for a differentiation, between traditional Jewish "Shabbat" observance and the religious observance of the first day of the week, appears in Acts 20:7 where the disciples met and "broke bread" together. Some believe this was a participation in the ordinance of the sacrament. (In previous verses, the Days of Unleavened Bread had just ended, including Passover, so it could not have been the anniversary commemoration, but it could have been a communion service done in remembrance.) Seventh-day Sabbatarians say that the believers met on all days of the week to "break bread" together for the sake of meals and fellowship, such as in Acts 2:46, regarding the incident in Acts 20:7 as nothing outside of usual practice.
Col. 2:16 suggests that early Christians had been judged by others in their traditions of eating foods and in observance of particulars of Sabbath and festivals. Also, the Jews had defined "forty minus one" works to be abstained from on "Shabbat," and Jesus and his disciples had been accused of breaking some of these customs during his ministry.
The Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day" ("kuriake hemera") in Rev. 1:10. "Kuriake," meaning "Lord's," later became the Greek word for Sunday. However, in light of the texts Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 it is seen that Jesus himself (as the Son of Man) claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath, and that day fell on the seventh day. Some early Christians observed Sabbath on Saturday, while others gathered for worship on Sunday. However, in AD 363 a seventh-day Sabbath was prohibited by Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea.[7]
The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight-day nundinal cycle, a market week, but in the time of Augustus, the seven-day week also came into use. The two weeks were used side-by-side until at least the Calendar of 354 and probably later,[8] despite the official adoption of Sunday as a day of rest by Constantine in AD 321.[9] Mithraism kept Sunday holy in honor of Mithras.[10] On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.[11]
Many Christians today consider Sunday a holy day and a day of rest and church-attendance. Denominations which observe Saturday as Sabbath are called "Sabbatarians", but the name "Sabbatarian" has also been claimed by Christians, especially Protestants, who believe Sunday must be observed with just the sort of rigorous abstinence from work associated with "Shabbat". For most Christians the custom and obligation of Sunday rest is not as strict. A minority of Christians do not regard the day they attend church as important, so long as they attend, as the apostles and disciples gathered on Sundays, on Saturdays, and whenever they could. There is considerable variation in the observance of Sabbath rituals and restrictions, but some cessation of normal weekday activities is customary.
In Orthodox Christian families and communities, working and requiring somebody else to work are prohibited, including buying goods or services, use of public transport, gardening or driving or washing a car.[verification needed] Allowed exceptions include religious services, electricity, and urgent medical matters. In Roman Catholicism, those who work in the medical field, those in law enforcement, and soldiers in a war zone are dispensed from the usual obligation to avoid work on Sunday.
The majority of Christians observe Sunday as the Lord's day. However, throughout the history of Christianity, some groups have continued or revived the observance of a Saturday Sabbath. More recently, Christians in the Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh Day Baptist, and Church of God (Seventh-Day) denominations, as well as many Messianic Jews have revived the practice of abstaining from work and gathering for worship on Saturdays.
Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "Sabbath." Eastern Orthodox churches, as well as many Roman Catholics, distinguish between Sabbath (Saturday) and Sunday, which some Christians traditionally call the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10). However, many Protestants and Roman Catholics do refer to Sunday as Sabbath, though this is by no means a universal practice among Protestants and Catholics. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name, while referring to Saturday as the "Seventh day".
In Roman Catholic liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfills the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers (evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically "first Vespers" of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset ("Shabbat" starts on Friday night).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead ...." Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. The Russian word for Sunday is "Voskresenie," meaning "Resurrection day." The Greek word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day").
The Czech, Polish, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Belarusian words for Sunday ("neděle," "niedziela," "nedelja," "недеља", "неділя" and "нядзеля" respectively) can be translated as "without acts (no work)."
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Clearly the seventh day of the week has been established throughout history to be Saturday, not Sunday and now read this….
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God NEVER changed a single one of HIS commandments!!! Never! Yet man dared to do so!
Constantine! The Roman Emperor as Rome's pagan power was shifting into a papal power, as paganism was mingled with Christianity - just as it was all predicted- this man did this--
On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.[11]
And read this--
“Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” — Rome’s Challenge immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003.
“Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” — James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 edition), p. 72-73 (16th Edition, p 111; 88th Edition, p. 89).
“For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.” — Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947, p. 9, article “To Tell You the Truth.”
“Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code (ten commandments) was received from the Almighty by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai...Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)...The (Catholic) Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day...He (God) claims one day out of the seven as a memorial to Himself, and this must be kept holy...” — The Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. 4, “The Ten Commandments”, 1908 edition by Robert Appleton Company; and 1999 Online edition by Kevin Knight, Imprimatur, John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
“Question: How prove you that the church had power to command feasts and holydays?
“Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
“Answer: Had she not such power, she could not a done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; -she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day of the week, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” — Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism On the Obedience Due to the Church, 3rd edition, Chapter 2, p. 174 (Imprimatur, John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York).
“Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The day of the Lord’ was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the (Catholic) Church’s sense of its own power...People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” — St. Catherine Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995.
“Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday...Now the Church...instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.” — Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927 edition, p. 136.
“Question - Which is the Sabbath day?
“Answer - Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Question - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“Answer - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” — Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd edition, 1957.
“Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day - Saturday - for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day’? I answer no!”
“Faithfully yours, J. Card. Gibbons.” — James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, Md. (1877-1921), in a signed letter.
“Question. - How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
“Answer. - By the very act of changing Sabbath into Sunday which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church.
“Question. - How prove you that?
“Answer. - Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the Church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin: and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.” — An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, composed by Henry Tuberville, p. 58.
http://www.godssabbathtruth.com/SabbathStatementsByTheCatholicChurch.pdf
Outlawing the keeping of the sabbath and encouraging rest on Sunday (the Lord's Day) (canon 29)
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Canon 29 Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364)
Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
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******* In 321 AD the pagan emperor turned Christian - who really mingled paganism with Christianity- made Sunday the Christian day of rest contrary to the Bible.
In 364 AD the Catholic Church outlawed keeping the Biblical Sabbath.
These are facts people!
Now you'll get all kinds telling you how the Sabbath was done away with. They'll have seemingly convincing articles as they pervert the Biblical verses to suit their purposes. They'll even say that Jesus reaffirmed all the Ten Commandments but the Sabbath, making the Sabbath void. Making the keeping of the day of rest INSTITUTED during CREATION week null and void. They'd have you believe that one of those TEN COMMANDMENTS was no longer in effect, that it no longer mattered, that it was changed, that it was just for the Jews. Satan would have men deceived and He'd done an amazing job of it! Amazing deception and we were told this would be so. God would NEVER have made the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments if it were merely meant to be ceremonial and done away with, never! The Ten Commandments were set in the Ark of the Covenant, under the Mercy Seat of God! These were never to be altered to suit man's perverted desires. And if anyone thinks that the perversion didn't start right away, they're wrong. Deception was already in the church in the Apostles' day! So when people say oh, the first day was kept on the first day of the week, Sunday way back in 150AD, they say it like that is proof when it proves NOTHING but that deception had begun to filter in which we'd already been told would happen.
Recently I read an article detailing in small blurbs the major changes in our history at 20 year increments over the last 100 years I think it was 100 years, anyway they did it and it showed how quickly things change and it was astounding to read- it really put a new perspective on things. So much can change in a mere 20 years and here we have over a 100 years between Christ living upon earth before His death and a time when a writer in 150AD seems to write something that makes it look as if the Sabbath is no longer kept!
There is NO doubt about man's corruption, none whatsoever!
Prophecy shows us that the Holy Covenant would be forsaken and the Roman Power of the time would being in league with those who forsake the Holy Covenant. This isn't a fairy tale, this isn't fiction, no fable here, but TRUTH!
May God open our hearts and eyes to ALL His truth! May we NEVER believe in man's lies over GOD'S TRUTH!
Please God bless us with all your truth, create clean hearts within us Lord, open our eyes, open our understanding! This is our prayer Lord, Your truth and NOTHING but Your TRUTH!
In Your amazing love, in Your forgiveness, may Your kingdom come Lord just as You've given us the prophecy of it occurring!
Amen!
Yesterday we discussed the rise of Christianity mingled Paganism and we're going to continue with this a bit longer, noting more detailed facts.
We need to understand that the Holy Covenant was truly forsaken by the rise of this so called church of God.
Dan 11:30 '...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant
so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. '
Have you ever heard of the Eleusinian Mysteries-
'The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek) were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. It is acknowledged that their basis was an old agrarian cult which probably goes back to the Mycenean period (c.1600-1100 BC) and it is believed that the cult of Demeter was established in 1500 BC.[1] The idea of immortality which appears in syncretistic religions of antiquity was introduced in late antiquity.[2] The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome.[3] The name of the town, Eleusís seems to be Pre-Greek and it is probably a counterpart with Elysion and the goddess Eileithyia[4]
The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from a hoary antiquity. The initiated believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife.[5] There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from psychedelic agents.[6]'
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These pagan mysteries existed for close to 3000 years.
The *supposed* end of them occurs when Christianity rose up.
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'In 170 AD, the Temple of Demeter was sacked by the Sarmatians but was rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius was then allowed to become the only lay person to ever enter the anaktoron. As Christianity gained in popularity in the 4th and 5th centuries, Eleusis' prestige began to fade. Julian, the last pagan emperor of Rome, was also the last emperor to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries.[28]
The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in 392 AD. The last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 AD, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded accompanied by Christians "in their dark garments", bringing Arian Christianity and desecrating the old sacred sites.[29] The closing of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the 4th century is reported by Eunapius, a historian and biographer of the Greek philosophers. Eunapius had been initiated by the last legitimate Hierophant, who had been commissioned by the emperor Julian to restore the Mysteries, which had by then fallen into decay. According to Eunapius, the very last Hierophant was a usurper, "the man from Thespiae who held the rank of Father in the mysteries of Mithras."'
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I said supposed end because read on…
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'Modern Interpretation-
The annual Aquarian Tabernacle Church Spring Mysteries Festival is a 3 day Pan-Pagan festival, recreating the mysteries in modern day. The main focus of the Festival is the Ritual Drama. The ATC (Aquarian Tabernacle Church) presents a modern interpretation of the ancient Greek mystery drama of how the seasons came to be.
The original Eleusinian Mysteries were a mystery kept secret for almost three-thousand years and the basic story, as portrayed, is all that is available. In modern times the ATC is the only group performing these mysteries on a large scale, available for all who have always wished to experience their wonder, are able to.
The ritual takes place every Easter weekend at Fort Flagler State Park in Washington.'
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MODERN INTERPRETATION. When does this modern interpretation take place? EASTER weekend. Now we need to ask ourselves some questions- is this mere coincidence? Does Easter have something to do with paganism?
Remember Christianity rose up amid many, many pagan customs that had been around for thousands of years. People did not simply give up their pagan beliefs and accept Christianity. It'd be great if that were the case but even our Savior had this to say, and He meant it!
Mat 7:14 For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.
Few be they that find it! How many? FEW. Only few compared to the multitudes. So many religions tout their numbers as a sign of truth, when the truth is that the greater the number the less truth. Yes, the Gospel was to go to the whole world, but that didn't mean the whole world would accept that Gospel. How can those words come from our Savior's mouth if they weren't true? They couldn't and that means they are pure TRUTH.
Christianity quickly went from being truth and only truth to being truth corrupted by untruth. The lines became blurred, paganism and Christianity merged into something unrecognizable as wholly pagan or wholly Christian. However… Satan used His deceptive power to have the products of paganism Christianized. And as we know if something is changed and enough time passes that it is hard for people to accept that the changed something was ever anything different than it appears currently. People honestly believe that our so called Christian holidays are truly Christian holidays. What they really are is paganism Christianized and as we know once untruth mingles with truth it is NO LONGER TRUTH!
Easter-
'Easter ... is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year.[1] According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday[2] (also Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday). The chronology of his death and resurrection is variously interpreted to be between AD 26 and 36.
Easter marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.
Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many European languages, the words for "Easter" and "Passover" are etymologically related or homonymous.[4] The term "Pascha", from the same root, is also used in English to refer to Easter.
Easter customs vary across the Christian world, but decorating Easter eggs is a common motif. In the Western world, customs such as egg hunting and the Easter Bunny extend from the domain of church, and often have a secular character.'
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Did you read that? Decorating eggs is a common motif. A common motif of what? A supposed CHRISTIAN holiday! A CENTRAL feast . Now many, many, many Christians will give you reasons for this egg decorating and how it ties into the celebration, but in truth where did EGGS, let alone decorating them, come into play with Jesus?! Alarm bells should be ringing in the head of anyone who is really seeking TRUTH.
Just how did eggs come to be associated with a supposed Christian holiday?
Read this--
The first Christians, Jewish and Gentile, were certainly aware of the Hebrew calendar (Acts 2:1; 12:3; 20:6; 27:9; 1 Cor 16:8), but there is no direct evidence that they celebrated any specifically Christian annual festivals. Direct evidence for the Easter festival begins to appear in the mid-2nd century. Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referencing Easter is a mid-2nd century Paschal homily attributed to Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one.[23] Evidence for another kind of annual Christian festival, the commemoration of martyrs, begins to appear at about the same time as evidence for the celebration of Easter.[24] But while martyrs' days (usually the individual dates of martyrdom) were celebrated on fixed dates in the local solar calendar, the date of Easter was fixed by means of the local Jewish lunisolar calendar. This is consistent with the celebration of Easter having entered Christianity during its earliest, Jewish period, but does not leave the question free of doubt.[25]
The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (b. 380) attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of its custom, "just as many other customs have been established," stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. Although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.[26]
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This is NOT a CHRISTIAN celebration! No where in the Bible are we told to celebrate this way, NO WHERE!
This isn't the only perversion of Christianity, not by a long shot. Go ahead LOOK UP this stuff on the internet! Go to the library! Search out the truth! Read your BIBLES!
While Christian holidays seem to be Christian enough, they are far from it. They carry a cloak of Christianity but underneath that cloak is a vile, scheming, deceiving being who has tricked the majority of Christians into celebrating these days as if they are truly holy, when they are FAR from it!
This is TRUTH!
Beyond a doubt covering evil with a nice fluffy frosting does not make it acceptable. Think about it- how many times are evil people truly evil appearing? Not as often as one would like to hope. Evil people often get away with a lot of their evil by appearing as someone far from evil, the more innocent they appear the more evil they can get away with. This isn't a lie, this is truth. And truth cannot be changed, not by you and not by me, not by anyone!
The deception of the mingling of paganism with Christianity did not stop at holidays, but goes much deeper, into a place that affects people every week of their lives!
Read this--
Sunday and Sabbath
See also: Sabbath in Christianity.
Christians from very early times have had differences of opinion on the question of whether Sabbath should be observed on a Saturday or a Sunday. The issue does not arise for Jews, for whom "Shabbat" is unquestionably on Saturday, nor for Muslims whose day of assembly (jumu'ah) is on a Friday.
The first given evidence for a differentiation, between traditional Jewish "Shabbat" observance and the religious observance of the first day of the week, appears in Acts 20:7 where the disciples met and "broke bread" together. Some believe this was a participation in the ordinance of the sacrament. (In previous verses, the Days of Unleavened Bread had just ended, including Passover, so it could not have been the anniversary commemoration, but it could have been a communion service done in remembrance.) Seventh-day Sabbatarians say that the believers met on all days of the week to "break bread" together for the sake of meals and fellowship, such as in Acts 2:46, regarding the incident in Acts 20:7 as nothing outside of usual practice.
Col. 2:16 suggests that early Christians had been judged by others in their traditions of eating foods and in observance of particulars of Sabbath and festivals. Also, the Jews had defined "forty minus one" works to be abstained from on "Shabbat," and Jesus and his disciples had been accused of breaking some of these customs during his ministry.
The Apostle John also refers to the "Lord's Day" ("kuriake hemera") in Rev. 1:10. "Kuriake," meaning "Lord's," later became the Greek word for Sunday. However, in light of the texts Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 it is seen that Jesus himself (as the Son of Man) claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath, and that day fell on the seventh day. Some early Christians observed Sabbath on Saturday, while others gathered for worship on Sunday. However, in AD 363 a seventh-day Sabbath was prohibited by Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea.[7]
The ancient Romans traditionally used the eight-day nundinal cycle, a market week, but in the time of Augustus, the seven-day week also came into use. The two weeks were used side-by-side until at least the Calendar of 354 and probably later,[8] despite the official adoption of Sunday as a day of rest by Constantine in AD 321.[9] Mithraism kept Sunday holy in honor of Mithras.[10] On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.[11]
Many Christians today consider Sunday a holy day and a day of rest and church-attendance. Denominations which observe Saturday as Sabbath are called "Sabbatarians", but the name "Sabbatarian" has also been claimed by Christians, especially Protestants, who believe Sunday must be observed with just the sort of rigorous abstinence from work associated with "Shabbat". For most Christians the custom and obligation of Sunday rest is not as strict. A minority of Christians do not regard the day they attend church as important, so long as they attend, as the apostles and disciples gathered on Sundays, on Saturdays, and whenever they could. There is considerable variation in the observance of Sabbath rituals and restrictions, but some cessation of normal weekday activities is customary.
In Orthodox Christian families and communities, working and requiring somebody else to work are prohibited, including buying goods or services, use of public transport, gardening or driving or washing a car.[verification needed] Allowed exceptions include religious services, electricity, and urgent medical matters. In Roman Catholicism, those who work in the medical field, those in law enforcement, and soldiers in a war zone are dispensed from the usual obligation to avoid work on Sunday.
The majority of Christians observe Sunday as the Lord's day. However, throughout the history of Christianity, some groups have continued or revived the observance of a Saturday Sabbath. More recently, Christians in the Seventh-day Adventist, Seventh Day Baptist, and Church of God (Seventh-Day) denominations, as well as many Messianic Jews have revived the practice of abstaining from work and gathering for worship on Saturdays.
Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "Sabbath." Eastern Orthodox churches, as well as many Roman Catholics, distinguish between Sabbath (Saturday) and Sunday, which some Christians traditionally call the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10). However, many Protestants and Roman Catholics do refer to Sunday as Sabbath, though this is by no means a universal practice among Protestants and Catholics. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name, while referring to Saturday as the "Seventh day".
In Roman Catholic liturgy, Sunday begins on Saturday evening. The evening Mass on Saturday is liturgically a full Sunday Mass and fulfills the obligation of Sunday Mass attendance, and Vespers (evening prayer) on Saturday night is liturgically "first Vespers" of the Sunday. The same evening anticipation applies to other major solemnities and feasts, and is an echo of the Jewish practice of starting the new day at sunset ("Shabbat" starts on Friday night).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Sunday begins at the Little Entrance of Vespers (or All-Night Vigil) on Saturday evening and runs until "Vouchsafe, O Lord" (after the "prokeimenon") of Vespers on Sunday night. During this time, the dismissal at all services begin with the words, "May Christ our True God, who rose from the dead ...." Anyone who wishes to receive Holy Communion at Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning is required to attend Vespers the night before (see Eucharistic discipline). Among Orthodox Christians, Sunday is considered to be a "Little Pascha" (Easter), and because of the Paschal joy, the making of prostrations is forbidden, except in certain circumstances. The Russian word for Sunday is "Voskresenie," meaning "Resurrection day." The Greek word for Sunday is "Kyriake" (the "Lord's Day").
The Czech, Polish, Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Belarusian words for Sunday ("neděle," "niedziela," "nedelja," "недеља", "неділя" and "нядзеля" respectively) can be translated as "without acts (no work)."
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Clearly the seventh day of the week has been established throughout history to be Saturday, not Sunday and now read this….
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God NEVER changed a single one of HIS commandments!!! Never! Yet man dared to do so!
Constantine! The Roman Emperor as Rome's pagan power was shifting into a papal power, as paganism was mingled with Christianity - just as it was all predicted- this man did this--
On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor (see Constantine I and Christianity), decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest:
On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.[11]
And read this--
“Most Christians assume that Sunday is the biblically approved day of worship. The Catholic Church protests that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath (Saturday) to Sunday, and that to try to argue that the change was made in the Bible is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. If Protestantism wants to base its teachings only on the Bible, it should worship on Saturday.” — Rome’s Challenge immaculateheart.com/maryonline Dec 2003.
“Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.” — James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 edition), p. 72-73 (16th Edition, p 111; 88th Edition, p. 89).
“For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.” — Catholic Virginian, October 3, 1947, p. 9, article “To Tell You the Truth.”
“Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code (ten commandments) was received from the Almighty by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai...Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5)...The (Catholic) Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s Day...He (God) claims one day out of the seven as a memorial to Himself, and this must be kept holy...” — The Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. 4, “The Ten Commandments”, 1908 edition by Robert Appleton Company; and 1999 Online edition by Kevin Knight, Imprimatur, John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
“Question: How prove you that the church had power to command feasts and holydays?
“Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
“Answer: Had she not such power, she could not a done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; -she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day of the week, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” — Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism On the Obedience Due to the Church, 3rd edition, Chapter 2, p. 174 (Imprimatur, John Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New York).
“Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. ‘The day of the Lord’ was chosen, not from any direction noted in the Scriptures, but from the (Catholic) Church’s sense of its own power...People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy.” — St. Catherine Church Sentinel, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995.
“Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday...Now the Church...instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.” — Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927 edition, p. 136.
“Question - Which is the Sabbath day?
“Answer - Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Question - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“Answer - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” — Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd edition, 1957.
“Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day - Saturday - for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day’? I answer no!”
“Faithfully yours, J. Card. Gibbons.” — James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, Md. (1877-1921), in a signed letter.
“Question. - How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
“Answer. - By the very act of changing Sabbath into Sunday which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church.
“Question. - How prove you that?
“Answer. - Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the Church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin: and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.” — An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine, composed by Henry Tuberville, p. 58.
http://www.godssabbathtruth.com/SabbathStatementsByTheCatholicChurch.pdf
Outlawing the keeping of the sabbath and encouraging rest on Sunday (the Lord's Day) (canon 29)
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Canon 29 Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364)
Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
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******* In 321 AD the pagan emperor turned Christian - who really mingled paganism with Christianity- made Sunday the Christian day of rest contrary to the Bible.
In 364 AD the Catholic Church outlawed keeping the Biblical Sabbath.
These are facts people!
Now you'll get all kinds telling you how the Sabbath was done away with. They'll have seemingly convincing articles as they pervert the Biblical verses to suit their purposes. They'll even say that Jesus reaffirmed all the Ten Commandments but the Sabbath, making the Sabbath void. Making the keeping of the day of rest INSTITUTED during CREATION week null and void. They'd have you believe that one of those TEN COMMANDMENTS was no longer in effect, that it no longer mattered, that it was changed, that it was just for the Jews. Satan would have men deceived and He'd done an amazing job of it! Amazing deception and we were told this would be so. God would NEVER have made the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments if it were merely meant to be ceremonial and done away with, never! The Ten Commandments were set in the Ark of the Covenant, under the Mercy Seat of God! These were never to be altered to suit man's perverted desires. And if anyone thinks that the perversion didn't start right away, they're wrong. Deception was already in the church in the Apostles' day! So when people say oh, the first day was kept on the first day of the week, Sunday way back in 150AD, they say it like that is proof when it proves NOTHING but that deception had begun to filter in which we'd already been told would happen.
Recently I read an article detailing in small blurbs the major changes in our history at 20 year increments over the last 100 years I think it was 100 years, anyway they did it and it showed how quickly things change and it was astounding to read- it really put a new perspective on things. So much can change in a mere 20 years and here we have over a 100 years between Christ living upon earth before His death and a time when a writer in 150AD seems to write something that makes it look as if the Sabbath is no longer kept!
There is NO doubt about man's corruption, none whatsoever!
Prophecy shows us that the Holy Covenant would be forsaken and the Roman Power of the time would being in league with those who forsake the Holy Covenant. This isn't a fairy tale, this isn't fiction, no fable here, but TRUTH!
May God open our hearts and eyes to ALL His truth! May we NEVER believe in man's lies over GOD'S TRUTH!
Please God bless us with all your truth, create clean hearts within us Lord, open our eyes, open our understanding! This is our prayer Lord, Your truth and NOTHING but Your TRUTH!
In Your amazing love, in Your forgiveness, may Your kingdom come Lord just as You've given us the prophecy of it occurring!
Amen!
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