Little Children, Keep Yourselves From Idols. 1 John 5:21

Transcription

1 Little Children, Keep Yourselves From Idols. 1 John 5:21 PREFACE The message in this little booklet is written to God s people. The world knows nothing about, neither cares anything about God or His Word. The true believer says, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee (Psa 119:11). His word is pure and it is forever settled in Heaven. Thus we read, The word of our God shall stand for ever (Isa 40:8). In the light of His infallible word, we should be diligent that we may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless (2Pe 3:14). Our goal is heavenly, not earthly. This is not so with the carnal believer. The pleasing things of this world its holidays, its entertainments appeal to him more than the path of separation that our Lord requires of His people, and he [the carnal believer] has a multitude of excuses for his disobedience. Speaking of His own our Lord said, They are not of the world even as I am not of the world (Joh 17:14,16). He also said, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world (1Jo 2:15). Why? Because, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1Jo 2:15). This is startling but true. Whosoever [any one] therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God 1

2 (Jam 4:4). Shouldn t this cause us to search ourselves lest we be found among those that go down to the pit? If we are His, then we are a new creature [creation], old things are passed away (2Co 5:17). We do not do the things that we once did, nor go to the places that once appealed to us. We are not found among those that we once mingled with for all things are become new (2Co 5:17). Is this true in your Christian life? Let us not forget the obedience to God s Word is the identifying mark of a true believer. Can you say with the Psalmist, Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein I delight (Psa 119:35), and again, I love Thy commandments above gold, yea above fine gold (Psa 119:127)? Is this path too narrow? Don t you hear those words lovest thou me more than these? (Joh 21:15) My dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. What does this mean? Why does God say Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1Jo 5:21)? Webster says idolatry is excessive love or veneration for anything. God is a jealous God and will not share the love of His people with any idol. Holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Lent, Valentine s Day, Halloween, and others are pagan, worldly, and idolatrous; if we observe or take any part in these holidays, we are guilty of idolatry. If you don t believe this, go to your encyclopedia and read when they were started, who started them, and for what purpose they were and are used. Then ask yourself: can I, as a Christian, have anything to do with them? 2

3 How can we live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world while being a part of its entertainments and holidays? God asks the question, What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believes with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? (2Co 6:16) If a man love me, he will keep my words (Joh 14:23). IDOLS When one thinks of idolatry today, he feels it is an expression which belongs in the dark ages or in some so-called pagan land. The Lord s people have always been warned against it in Old Testament times as well as the New Testament era. This was a strict regulation given to the Gentiles that they abstain from pollutions of idols (Act 15:20). Idolatry is mentioned among the works of the flesh, and they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (see Gal 5:19-21). Idolatry was always the great sin that provoked the Lord to anger against Israel. While Moses was in the mountain to receive the two tables of stone (the Law), the people of Israel went to Aaron and said, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us (Exo 32:1). So, they made themselves a golden calf and danced around it and worshiped it. This was one of the gods of Egypt. Three thousand of them were slain because of this great sin. It seems to be human nature to want to worship something that can be seen and admired; all 3

4 idolaters do this. The children of Israel came face to face with a new form of worship when they entered the land of Canaan. The Lord instructed them before they ever entered this promised land that, Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images (Exo 23:24). As we know, Israel did not do this, but rather, in the process of time, took on the worship of Canaanite gods. It is this form of worship that has been well-preserved down through the ages, having its beginning with Nimrod, the mighty hunter. Nimrod was the grandson of Ham, that wicked son of Noah. He built the tower of Babel, the original Babylon, ancient Nineveh, and many other cities. The name Nimrod comes from a root word in the Hebrew meaning he rebelled. All that has ever been written about Nimrod proves he did rebel, and in his rebellion he founded a religion of his own. This religion embraced the worship of the sun and the mother and child, which are called all the host of heaven (2Ch 33:3). This pagan religion is spoken against in Romans 1:25, Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator. This is exactly what Nimrod s religion consisted of, i.e., worshiping the creature, that creature being the woman and her son. The children of Israel worshiped the mother and son of Babylonia as Jeremiah cried out against it. There are two days that are observed by the children of God as well as the ungodly world in 4

5 which the pure Babylonian religion and practice have been preserved. Yes, for thousands of years this pagan religion has been preserved with little deviation from its original form. There have been changes of the names of the mother and son, but the religion basically is unchanged as I will endeavor to prove by this article. The first and most popular idol that we will consider is the one known as Christmas. CHRISTMAS And they set them up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree: and there they burnt incense in all the high places as did the heathen...and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger: and they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them Ye shall not do this thing (2Ki 17:10-12). We all know holiday seasons are very popular. Any time of festival seems to have great sentimental appeal to the hearts of most people. Add to this emotional expectation, the complex of a conscience which compels a vague respect for the day when Christ supposedly was born, and we have the Christmas spirit. No date on the calendar is welcomed more. Old and young, rich and poor, pious and vulgar, godly and ungodly race with boundless frenzy toward the coming Christmas day like the waters of a flooded river, submerging everything before it. Christmas is the day when the driving power of this festive love reaches its zenith. No other day can equal it for fleshly revelry. All this is, at the same time, supposed to honor Christ. 5

6 Now, as our text reads, And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree. Every place in the Old Testament where the words grove or groves appear as objects of worship, they come from the Hebrew word meaning the image of Astarte and the infant Tammuz. This is the same Astarte who is worshiped as the queen of heaven. These groves are the idols of Astarte and her son Tammuz the original form of mother and son worship. She was called the mother of god as the Romish church today refers to Mary. It might be interesting at this point to explain how this worship ever got mixed up into the so-called Christian churches. The pagans of Europe and Asia worshiped Astarte and Tammuz at the time they were persecuting the Christians for the first 200 years or so after Christ. The early church was free from pagan idolatry. It is true, however, that from the time of the apostles, there has been error creeping into the churches. But the greatest of all compromises was when Constantine embraced the Catholic religion, making it the religion of his empire. This was the first time any so called Christian church ever became a state religion. Constantine himself presided over the Council of Nicea in 354 A.D., making himself the head over both church and state. This, however, brought on much difficulty: there were major disagreements between pagan Rome (who worshiped Astarte and Tammuz) and the Catholic religion (who worshiped Mary and Jesus). So the apostate church, having already reverted to the celebrating of days and 6

7 months and times and years, returned to the weak and beggarly elements, desiring to be in bondage. The church was now so complete in her apostasy that she no longer opposed idolatry since relic worship had already attained a stronghold. Thus the pagans worshiped the queen of heaven, and, by now, the Catholics worshiped Mary. The pagans of Rome worshiped the birth and resurrection of Tammuz, the great sun god; the church worshiped Christ as the Son of God, His birth (by this time, but not before), and His resurrection. The big job now for Constantine, the ruler over both state and church, was to find unity for his subjects. Being a very good statesman, he found the answer, and pagans flocked into the church by the thousands. The answer was in simply changing the names of the idols already worshiped. The mother and son could be received by the Catholic bishops, but their names had to be changed. It made little difference to the pagans what the names were so long as they could keep their mother and son idols to worship. The names of the mother and child had already changed down through the process of time. The mother and child in Egypt were Isis and Osiris, in India, Isi and Iswara. In Asia, the mother was Cybele and her son, Deoius; in Greece, they were Ceres and Plutus. So one can see the actual names made little difference so long as they could serve their gods. But the pagans refused to give up the every green tree. Worship of the tree was part of the worship of the queen of heaven and the hosts of 7

8 heaven. Jeremiah cried out against it: Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not (Jer 10:2-4). This practice has changed very little in the last 3,500 years since Jeremiah s time; this is the identical practice of the heathen today. Why is the evergreen tree used in the worship of Christmas? There is absolutely no reasonable answer. It is only a custom, you are told. You are expected to worship the tree just because everybody does because it s the custom. Remember the Scriptures tell us the customs of the people are vain. What customs? The worship of the evergreen tree, of course. The worshipers of Baal would not give up the trees. Another time of bargaining had to come, so Constantine went to work on it. He gave it a Christian name; it was to be known as the Christ-mass tree. Well, the pagans didn t much care what it was called so long as they could worship the tree. So another milestone is crossed by the head of the church and state. Whether erected in public or private, a tinselled and spangled evergreen tree is just a glaring symbol of the worship of this false god. It is supposed, by Baal worshipers, that the evergreen tree sprang up overnight when Tammuz ascended to the sun. The tree was decorated and worshiped as a symbol of the sun, so that at this season, the 8

9 fourth week in December, the sun would be born anew. By this is meant that the days would get longer again and the sun would not ultimately disappear. Incidentally, it was at this time of the year that Astarte supposedly gave birth to Tammuz. In I Corinthians 11:26 we read, For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord s death till He come. One will, however, search the Scriptures in vain to find either the date of our Lord s birth, or the observance of His birthday by anyone. This should be convincing enough but it is not. Man has to devise his own way, a way in which there is no scriptural authority to worship the babe Jesus. Now hear Paul again: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more (2Co 5:16). We now find that Christ is not to be worshiped as a fleshly man much less as an infant, but as both Lord and Christ (See Act 2:36). Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1Ti 4:1-2). The worship of Astarte and Tammuz is most certainly the doctrine of devils, and the Christian world has been deceived into worshiping them. Seemingly, this is all done without being bothered by conscience. There was a time when the children of Israel said, But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out our 9

10 drink offerings unto her (Jer 44:17). Here drunkenness is established as a definite part of mother and son worship. This has not changed. During Christmastime, men and women become foully drunk on Christmas present liquor, and perpetuate every kind of social vice and criminal debauchery. In wild Christmas parties they sell their bodies to do evil around the beribboned and wreathed Christmas gifts of champagne, brandy, wine, and beer. Thousands of others, who would ordinarily not get drunk, commit the abominable sin of gluttony like some gorging carnivorous animal. In all of this, the name of Christ is used in vile cursing, vulgarity, and blasphemy by men and women, boys and girls who lie deliberately about Saint Nick and Santa Claus, and love a merry Christmas. My dear reader, have you stopped to consider what the word Christmas stands for? In the Encyclopedia Americana under Christmas we read as follows: The name is derived from Christes Masse, the Mass of Christ. The celebration was not observed in the first centuries of the Christian Church...In the fifth century the Western Church ordered the feast to be celebrated on the day of the Mithraic rites of the birth of the sun and at the close of Saturnalia (1958 ed., vol. 6, 622). Christmas is the mass of Christ. Do you believe in the Romish mass? If not, why do you observe it? Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? (Rom 6:16) 10

11 The ungodly world has left off the name of Christ by using X mas. This is, at least, the truth of the matter. The X (which is one of the marks of the cross) was used in the worship of Tammuz which proves two things. First, the ungodly world hates Christ, and is trying to forget Him in this celebration; secondly, it proves the mass is the worship of Tammuz in the pagan idolatry of Baal, and not the worship of Christ at all. We have heard of late the expression, Let s put Christ back into Christmas. How, may I ask, can you put Christ back into something that He never was a part of? Let men, if they will, worship an X-mass, and the apostate church her Christmass; but, beloved, our Savior said, God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:24). Let us heed these words. Again our Savior said, That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God (Luk 16:15). Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil (Exo 23:2). Now, to return to our text, and under every green tree. It is said that Christmas just wouldn t be Christmas without the tree. Well, that s right; in order to properly worship the pagan deity, you must worship the evergreen tree. People who have little of this world s goods will, after they have spent most all they have for presents to put under every green tree, then alas, spend the rest on that green tree and decorate it just as the Baal worshipers did in Jeremiah s time (Jer 10:1-4). Then they must get upon their knees before this pagan idol to place the gifts under it. When this is 11

12 complete, the drapes or shades must be opened to show the outside world that you too have done your bit of homage to this pagan idol. You stand back and admire its beauty. You call in your friends so they will make favorable comments upon your work of art in decorating this every green tree. What would these same friends think of you if you called them into your home to tell them of the Sovereign Grace of our God? Would they appreciate it? Would you be just half as enthusiastic to do this as to show the tree? Think on these things. This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Mar 7:6b- 7). Christmas Programs and Literature Read chapter two of Matthew s gospel, then the second chapter of Luke. By doing so with care, any thoughtful reader can see at once that Christmas songs, books, cards, and programs are not scriptural. In most of these, we find, in one way or another, misrepresentations about the shepherds, the wise men, the star, the child, the stable, etc. Let us begin to solve this problem by stating that nowhere in the Scriptures are we informed how many wise men there were. Neither are we informed that they followed a star to Jerusalem. Most certainly they knew the way there. Being wise men, they knew how the prophets foretold of the Messiah s coming birth in Bethlehem. When they came to Herod to learn the whereabouts of the newborn Christ, it was sometime after His birth. 12

13 No one in Jerusalem seemed to know where the Child was. So, the same star they had seen before, at the time of His birth, now appeared and led them to where the Child was. When the wise men found the Lord Jesus, He was no longer a tiny babe but a Child living in Nazareth. Joseph and Mary had already returned from taking Him up to Jerusalem, which took place when Jesus was fortyone days old (See Lev 12:1-4). Therefore, the wise men never saw the Savior until He had been brought back to Nazareth from the temple in Jerusalem (See Luk 2:39). They could not possibly have seen Him before, because immediately after their departure, when they had seen the Savior, Joseph and Mary fled into Egypt with Him and remained there till Herod died (Mat 2:14-15). It was not the wise men but the shepherds who came to visit the babe Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem. They followed no star; there is no record of them seeing one. They were informed of the birth of their Messiah by the angel of the Lord (Luk 2:10). Religious leaders join together with covetous men who have made the Christ-mass season a profitable one, indeed, for themselves. Because of their misrepresentations of the scriptural account of the birth of Christ, the land abounds at that season with all sorts of literature, cards, books, and programs of celebrations; these confuse the facts. Few people ever bother to read their Bibles to discover the truth. Jesus said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (Joh 8:32). Shepherds and wise men, angels and stars, 13

14 manger and house are all interchanged to satisfy carnal man. The visit of the shepherds and the visit of the wise men are confused, and this makes the whole story of the birth of Christ become a distorted combination of truth and error. This is all done so they can set them up images and groves [idols of mother and son] in every high hill and under every green tree (2Ki 17:10). Oh, how pitiful is the case! The people of today are as Israel of yester-year, and it is said of Israel that, They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations (2Ki 17:33). Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgressions (Isa 58:1). Will you, as Israel of old, fear the Lord and serve your own gods? Remember what the Scriptures have to say concerning this: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? (Rom 6:16a). But the cry is, Oh, it is for the children. How can you expect your children to believe you when you say you worship Christ alone and then bow down before the decorated X-mass tree? How will they believe it is wrong to tell lies when you lie to them about old Saint Nick? How can you help a bewhiskered clown, dressed like a dunce who is hired by some commercial establishment, to lie to children all day long? How can you betray your own children into a maze of falsehood to save your face before the Christ-mass idolaters? The amazing part about this whole thing is that you are trying to convince someone that this is to honor 14

15 Christ! Our Lord said, If ye love me, keep my commandments (Joh 14:15). Idolatry is strictly forbidden both in the Old and New Testaments. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (Jam 4:17). With God, idolatry is a very serious matter. Then how can we treat it so lightly without expecting to reap His punishment? (see Gal 6:7-9). For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). Now, in order to rightly deal with this subject, we must include Lent, Good Friday, and Easter. All three of these observations are also handed down to us from the paganism of old Babylon, the city of Nimrod, and are in honor of Tammuz and his mother, Astarte. LENT In the Encyclopedia Americana (vol. 9, 506) we read, Easter is a convergence of three traditions, (1) Pagan; (2) Hebrew; (3) Christian. In Humbolt s Mexican Researches (vol. 1, 404), we find how Lent was kept by the pagan Mexicans: Three days after the vernal equinox began a solemn fast of forty days in honor of the sun. There are a host of other quotations that could be given. However, I believe the above quote proves that the forty days of a spring fast is pagan in origin not Christian. The Bible tells us nothing of such a fast in the New Testament. However, it does tell of it in Ezekiel 8:13-14: He said also unto me, Turn thee yet 15

16 again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD S house which was toward the North; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. This, dear friends, is the forty days of weeping, fasting, and sorrow for the death of Tammuz, a sun god. It was, indeed, an abomination unto the Lord then; do you suppose it looks any better to Him now? GOOD FRIDAY Friday is accepted without question, by most of the Lord s people today, as the day of the crucifixion. One who opposes this idea is considered by these to be sacrilegious and a troublemaker. Let us now consider a few facts. Any thoughtful student, unbiased by tradition or men s imagination, will have no difficulty in understanding that our Lord Jesus Christ did not die on Friday. Proof of this fact is in the following verses: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Mat 12:40). And He began to teach them, that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed and after three days rise again (Mar 8:31). Saying, Sir, we remember that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again (Mat 27:63) 16

17 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1Co 15:4). In John 11:9 we read, Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in a day? Here our Lord teaches that twelve hours make a day. Therefore, by His reckoning, a day and a night are exactly 24 hours. In the Jewish order of time, the night preceded the day (Gen 1:5). Thus, the reckoning of time when Christ was on the earth was as follows: night began at six o clock in the evening, and ended at six o clock in the morning which was the beginning of day. From the Scriptures quoted, we conclude one important fact: after the death of Christ, He was in the tomb for three days and three nights no less than 72 hours before His resurrection. In each of the four Gospel records, we read of Mary of Magdala and others coming to the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus. If we consider them all, one fact stands out beyond any question: when they came to the grave, Jesus was gone. In Matthew 28, we have the record of the angel rolling away the stone, but this was not to liberate the Lord of glory. It was only to show the world that He was gone. Sometime before the women witnessed the tomb unsealing, our Savior had come forth from the dead. The angel said,...he is risen; he is not here (Mar 16:6). We know that haste was made by those who put Christ in the tomb of Joseph, in order to have Him buried before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath at six o clock in the evening. We read in 17

18 John 19:31, For that Sabbath was an high day. This refers to the Passover Sabbath which did not come on Saturday (the seventh-day of the week) at all, but rather on Thursday. The regular seventhday Sabbath is never referred to as a high day. Sometimes special feasts among the Jews were called Sabbaths or high days, even though they never fell on the seventh-day of the week. We also learn from John 19:31 that Jesus was buried by His sorrowing followers the evening before the high day Sabbath. Christ could never have been buried on Friday evening and risen Sunday morning, because that is not three days and three nights, but one day and two nights. I believe our Saviour knew more about His resurrection than carnal man, and when He said three days and three nights, He knew quite well what He was saying. According to the scriptural record, the crucifixion took place on Wednesday. His body was removed, wrapped, and buried before six o clock that day. The three days and three nights period of time (seventy-two hours) expired at six o clock Saturday evening; this was the beginning of the first day of the week, since the evening was the beginning of the new day. Therefore, the resurrection took place sometime after six o clock (or sundown) on the seventh-day Sabbath. The Scriptures conclusively prove that He was not crucified on Friday, nor was the resurrection at sunrise on the first day of the week. 18

19 EASTER Now let us consider the images and groves in every high hill. Once a year during every spring, we witness the sun worship of Tammuz in its purest form, under the disguise of the resurrection of Christ. The name of this holy day is Easter. This is not a Christian name, but rather it is derived from the name Astarte, who is the goddess of spring; she is called the queen of heaven in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44: It is true the name Easter is in the King James Version of the Bible (Act 12:4). However, in all other translations, as well as in Greek texts, it is always translated Passover. One needs to remember that the King James Version was translated about 1,250 years after the Council of Nicea in 354 A.D.; it was at this Council that Easter (Astarte) was adopted by the Romish church. So you can see why it was thus translated. The cross as we know it was never a symbol of the Christian people. It is this giant T which represents the name of the pagan god Tammuz, the son of Astarte, the goddess of spring. According to the mythology of Nimrod s religion, Tammuz was conceived at the time of the vernal equinox (or beginning of spring), and born about the 25th of December. He supposedly met an untimely death and ascended to dwell in the sun which was then worshiped as the god Tammuz. They offered human sacrifices on the cross, which was the symbol of Tammuz. So today people are still worshiping this pagan idol on every high hill. Later on, I intend to prove the rising of the sun has nothing to 19

20 sun has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ. What is Easter? What do all the customs connected with it represent? Easter is the day when the forty-day Lent and Good Friday celebrations reach their zenith (grand climax). It is a time when especially the women must put on their finest apparel. It is a time when thousands of people who have absolutely no interest in the gospel church nor the gospel of the Son of God must go and worship before the image which is in every high hill. Then they must take their children out to hunt Easter eggs, and tell them the eggs were laid there by the Easter bunny. If all these practices were of God, it most certainly would not command the respect and worship of the ungodly world as it does. Customs Associated with Easter I would like at this point to take the customs and practices of the people in connection with their worship of Easter, and prove two things, both by history and by the Word of God: 1) they all came from the worship of Astarte, the goddess of spring and her son, Tammuz ; and 2) they all began with the ancient religion of Nimrod, the one who rebelled from the true worship of God and became the founder of ancient idolatry which is known in the Bible as the worship of Baal. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel (Num 25:3). Seest thou not what they do in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fa- 20

21 thers kindle the fires, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods; that they may provoke me to anger (Jer 7:17,18). Here we have a scriptural reference to the famous hot cross buns that are so popular at Easter time. Why are they marked with a cross? This cross stands for Tammuz, the son of the queen of heaven. The letter T and other forms of the cross such as the X stand for Tammuz. According to the old Babylonian mother-andson-worship, Tammuz, the son of Astarte, was incarnated into the sun and rules from his throne there; so when people go to every high hill and worship, is it not the worship of Tammuz? They must be at the high hill and watch the sunrise through the very symbol of Tammuz, the cross, which is the initial of this pagan deity. Ezekiel 8:16 says: And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east. Rabbits and eggs have for centuries been used to worship the queen of heaven. I would like to quote from Hyginus, keeper of the Palatine Library in Rome in the days of Augustus. He said: An egg of wondrous size fell down from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank. The doves settled upon it and hatched it and out 21

22 came Venus, who was afterwards called the Syrian goddess Astarte. The ancient Druids of the British Isles used eggs in their heathen worship. In the mysteries of Bacchus, celebrated in ancient Athens, one part of their pagan ceremony was to consecrate an egg! In Hindoo paganism, eggs of a golden color are used in their celebrations. The Shinto-worshiping Japanese have sacred eggs of brazen hue. In China, they have used painted eggs in their idolatrous festivals. Eggs were used in religious rites of the Egyptians who hung them in their heathen temples for mystic purposes. This should be sufficient proof as to where the worship of the egg came from. Rabbits are known for their rapid rate of productivity. To the above-mentioned pagans, eggs held the secret of life. Combine these facts and you have the fertility rites of idolatry. Now, this is where the custom of the women wearing their finest apparel on Easter comes from. By so doing, they are complying with the ancient fertility rites of paganism. The Feast of Astarte has a two-fold purpose: it is to celebrate the conception and the resurrection of Tammuz. Remember that Astarte was called the queen of heaven which is where the Romish expression of the mother of God comes from; it is not from the Bible at all, but from the oldest known form of pagan idolatry. So much for these pagan customs. Now, in the twentieth century, our educated, cultured, and refined generation of pagans have well-preserved this ancient idolatry of Babylon. So we have edu- 22

23 cated and highly cultured parents, yes, even churchgoers, who brazenly deceive their little children into believing that rabbits lay colored eggs for Easter. Is this bringing up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?(See Eph 6:4) Shame on you, parents! You are perfect hypocrites: punishing your children for lying to you, while you lie and deceive them. Again I say, shame on you. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me (Mat 15:8). Dear Friends: It is with a burning desire to see the Lord s people flee idolatry that I have undertaken to write this article. With the degeneration in general which is plaguing true Christianity the world over, it is time for the Lord s people to take a few moments to consider why we have this condition. While we have more and more church members, the number of those who really show evidence of a true conversion to Christ is growing fewer and fewer. We cannot expect our children to take a firm stand against this common trend and for gospel truths when we ourselves are overcome by the constant pressure of ungodliness around us. Having five children of my own and taking the stand against Christmas and Easter hasn t been easy for my wife and me. But we are thankful that our Lord has given us grace to endure against much ridicule and criticism. It is never easy to follow the Lord, for We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22). 23

24 It is my desire that you will consider the truth contained in the above article and flee idolatry, and may our God give grace and strength to run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Sincerely, Carroll R. Bierbower And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree. 2 Kings 17:10 24