I wonder if everything that I do is to the praise and glory of the LORD JESUS CHRIST --- or do I still have within me traditions of my elders that are the same as idols or images before GOD? In Isaiah 42:8, the Lord says, "I AM THE LORD: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images." How many traditions do we partake of that have their root beginning in pagan worship, and our participation makes us guilty of worshipping another god?

St. Valentine’s day has recently passed. I wonder how many have ever studied its origin and purpose? Or have we just followed the tradition of our elders? Do you know that the heart represents the female sex organ and the arrow the male sex organ? Are you aware that it comes from ancient Babylon and is the fertility rite to the gods? I wonder what curse we carry because of our participation, and the participation of our ancestors in the honoring and taking part in the worship of the god of fertility? Numbers 14:18 states, "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." Deuteronomy 5:8,9 tells us, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me..." Take a moment and read these Scriptures.

It is the season of hot cross buns. I wonder how many know their origin and meaning? I did not, until the last couple of years. I followed the traditions of my elders, being guilty of heathen worship and causing others to do likewise. During the forties and early fifties, we owned a chain of bakeries in the Los Angeles area, and have made and sold thousands of dozens of hot cross buns.

The history of the hot cross buns began in Babylon, and were made in honor of Semiramis, who was Nimrod’s wife, Tammuz’ s mother and also Tammuz’s wife (incest). She was also known as Astarte, ‘queen of heaven." Turn in your Bible and read Jeremiah 7:16-20. "Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me: for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, 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. Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and My fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched."

And then turn.to Jeremiah 44:15-29. "Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. 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 drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into His mind? So that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.

Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by My great name, saith the Lord, that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, Mine or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil."

Lord, forgive us of our sins and the sins of our forefathers.

Have you ever wondered what Good Friday meant, or just where that phrase came from? If you will look up Friday, you will find that it comes from "Freya," who was worshipped as the goddess of FERTILITY, and her symbol was the fish, a well-known symbol of worship among ancient Babylon. The symbol of the fish was worshipped because of its high reproductive rate. A single codfish annually spawns upwards of nine million eggs. Why is Friday known as fish day? The ancient pagan worship of "Freya," the goddess of fertility, symbolized by the fish, as carried over into the early Catholic religion in order to bring thousands of pagan worshippers into the Catholic church. (Source: Encyclopedia of Religions)

Have you ever wondered, or tried to figure out, how the Scriptures say Jesus would be three days. and three nights in the grave, yet it does not agree with the traditions of our elders that we are taught even to this day? Read Matthew 12:38-40, "Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

Matthew 16:21, "From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."

Mark 10:34, "And they shall mock Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall kill Him: and the third day He shall rise again."

Mark 8:31, "And He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."

Luke 24:7, "Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."

They all say three days and three nights, the same as Jonah 1:17. Leviticus 23:32 tells us that the day ended at sunset and began at sunrise. "It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath."   I wonder, is it possible that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday? Buried at sunset, and 72 hours later (3 days), arose at sunset, the end of the sabbath day and the beginning of the first day? I wonder if we are not in some way accountable to Revelation 22:18-19 in regards to our handling of the Scriptures given by Jesus Himself in the matter of His death and resurrection?  "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Have you ever thought or wondered about easter eggs or easter bunnies, or more than that, the word Easter? The use of rabbits and eggs is part of pagan sex fertility worship. We use it in honoring the LORD JESUS CHRIST and teach our children that the resurrection, bunnies and eggs all go together -- a mixture of pagan worship attributed unto GOD -- an abomination in HIS sight. The word "Easter" is derived from the goddess Astarte, which is the name Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod took when she proclaimed herself to be the, "queen of heaven." The Encyclopedia Britannica states, "there is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in any writings of the apostolic fathers." Volume 7, page 858.

While we are considering these things, have you ever wondered about the cross or the steeple on your church? Have you just taken that for granted, too, because you have been taught by the elders? I am not at this time going to ponder this subject with you. Why don’t you study it for yourself? Where can you start? The encyclopedias - the older the volumes, the more you will find. Look in the library under books of church history, encyclopedias of religion, the books: Two Babylons, and Babylon Mystery Religion.

Now, before we close our pondering of this subject, let us consider one more tradition of our elders, the Easter sunrise service. Honoring Christ? Telling the world of His resurrection? Wearing of new hats? Sunday, the first day of the week. Have you ever considered what the word even stands for? Sunday -sun day - is the day of heathen sun worship and honors the sun god Baal that God forbade the children of Israel to worship. It comes from the sun worshippers of Babylon. The word "Easter" also even implies their worship. They rose early and faced the East. Let us turn to the book of Ezekiel and read what God showed Ezekiel was taking place in His house, the temple itself. Ezekiel 8, starting with verse 5, and reading through verse 16: "and they worshipped the sun towards the East." We say, "but we don’t worship the sun, we are honoring Christ."

I wonder, does God accept it or is it an abomination to Him?  I wonder if He is calling, "Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues?" (Revelation 18:4, "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."  And Luke 16:15, "And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.")

I wonder... Are we carrying our sins and the sins of our elders because of these abominations, and are we under the curse that God Himself places on us in Deuteronomy 5:7-9? "Thou shalt have none other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me..."

If so, we all need to repent and do as Daniel did in 9:3-11, where he repented for his sins and the sins of his fathers and the sins of the Nation. "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth and ashes; And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, 0 Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in Thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 0 Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him; Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him."

(Reprinted from January/February 1979 edition, Voices From His Excellent Glory)

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