Page 9 - lesson3.vp

Lesson 3 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course 9

The expression “in that day” (Verses 16, What About St. Valentine’s Day?
18, 21) always refers to OUR day and the
INTERVENTION of YEHOVAH God in world Every February 14 we see an “angelic”
affairs -- when Yeshua the Messiah -- and infant with a bow and arrow aiming for the heart
YEHOVAH God Himself -- will return to this of his “valentine.”
earth and set up YEHOVAH’s Kingdom. Cupids are everywhere with bows and
10. YEHOVAH God inspired Ezekiel to arrows, heart shapes, paper lace, birds and
direct prophecies specifically to the ten tribes of flowers. All these are associated with St.
Israel after they were ALREADY in captivity in Valentine’s Day. But just WHERE did these
the land of Assyria. He foretold still another symbols and celebration of the 14th of February
possible future captivity -- a captivity to come in come from? Most of all, should we be
our day! Why must YEHOVAH’s people today celebrating this seemingly innocent day on
face the likely prospect of captivity? Do they which so many remember sweethearts and
still serve pagan gods on pagan holidays? lovers?
Ezekiel 8:14-18. Do people still hold sunrise The origin of this day is not clear, as
services, and weep for Tammuz? Verses 14, 16. there is more than one explanation. The most
COMMENT: Tammuz was one of accepted legend is that a Roman priest named
Nimrod’s many names. One of the festivals Valentine had a special feeling for young people.
celebrated in Greece, where Nimrod was called When the Roman Empire needed
Adonis, was a memorial of his fabled soldiers, Emperor Claudius II decreed that no
resurrection. Notice the testimony of one could marry or become engaged. Claudius
Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary under the believed that marriage made men want to stay at
article “Adonia”: “Adonis was the same deity home instead of fighting wars.
with the Syrian Tammuz, whose festival was The kindly Valentine defied the
celebrated even by the Jews, when they Emperor’s decree and secretly performed
degenerated into idolatry (Ezekiel 8:14)." weddings for a number of young couples. He
The ancient weeping for Tammuz or was arrested, imprisoned, and put to death.
Nimrod is carried over today in the world’s According to legend, he was beheaded on
“Lenten season.” Write for our free article The February the fourteenth -- the evening of Rome’s
40 Days of Weeping for Tammuz? feast of LUPERCALIA.
The ancient sunrise services -- when men It was on our February 15 that the
faced the east (where the sun is when rising) and Luperci priest would gather at the cave of
worshipped Nimrod -- are carried over today in Luperical, where, according to legend Romulus
the world’s EASTER sunrise services! and Remus, the co-founders of Rome, were
11. Who does YEHOVAH God hold nursed by a mother wolf. Afterwards two young
responsible to teach His people the truth? men of noble birth were brought before the
Malachi 2:7. Aren’t today’s ministers failing to priest. After a ceremony the young men ran
teach the law of YEHOVAH God’s lunar through the Roman streets, lashing at the young
Sabbath and His Holy Days? What do they teach women, who believed that just one lash of the
instead -- that it is not necessary to keep goatskin thongs would increase their chances of
YEHOVAH’s law today? Verse 8. bearing children.
12. Did Daniel prophesy of a power that The goatskin thongs were called februa
would speak against YEHOVAH God -- and the lashing the februatio. Both these terms
persecute His faithful servants -- and attempt to come from a Latin term meaning to purify.
change times and laws? Daniel 7:25. Understandably, this is how we get our calendar
month February.

The Pagan Origins of Easter and Halloween