By the Scripture’s Own Writers
Holidays
Definition
A day or days fixed by law, custom or religion [holydays] on which ordinary business is suspended or certain things are done or abstained from, in commemoration of some event or in honor of some person.
Christians Not Commanded to Observe Any Holiday
Romans 14:4-6 “Who are you to judge the house servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for Jehovah can make him stand. One man judges one day as above another; another man judges one day as all others; let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. … Also he who eats, eats to Jehovah, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to Jehovah, and yet gives thanks to God.”
Galatians 4:9-11 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather now that you have come to be known by God, how is it that you are turning back again to the weak and inadequate elementary things and want to be slaves to them over again? You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.”
Colossians 2:16, 17 “Therefore let no man judge you in eating and drinking or in respect of a feast day or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath, for those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ.”
Acts 15:28, 29 “For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep yourselves free from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things killed without draining their blood and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper.”
Romans 1:25 “Even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created.”
Christians Should Praise God, Give Thanks Every Day
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips which make public declaration to His Name.”
Acts 2:46, 47 “And day after day they were in constant attendance at the temple with one accord, and they took their meals in private homes and partook of nourishment with great rejoicing and sincerity of heart, praising God and finding acceptance with all the people.”
Revelation 7:9, 10, 15 “After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ ‘That is why they are before the throne of God, and they are rendering Him sacred service day and night in His temple.’ “
Birthdays
Scriptures mention observance only by pagans
Genesis 40:20 “And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants.”
Matthew 14:6-10 “But when Herod’s birthday was being celebrated the daughter of Herodias danced at it and so delighted Herod that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Then she under her mother’s coaching said: ‘Give me here upon a plate the head of John the Baptist.’ Pained though he was, the king out of regard for his oaths and for those reclining with him commanded it to be given, and he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.”
Mark 6:21 “But a convenient day came along when Herod spread an evening meal on his birthday for his top-ranking men and the military commanders and the foremost ones of Galilee.”
Isaiah 65:11 (mar.) “But ye that forsake Jehovah, that forget My holy mountain, that prepare a table for fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Meni [celebration of birthday of “the Lord Moon”].”
One’s birthday not the thing of greatest importance in his life; not to be commemorated
Ecclesiastes 6:3; 7:1, 8 “If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say that an untimely birth is better than he.” “A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death, than the day of one’s birth. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”
God not responsible for, does not bless each birth; counts all except Christians as dead in sins. Fleshly births are due to will or passion of earthly parents
Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
John 1:12, 13 “However, as many as did receive Him, to them He gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in His name; and they were born not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.”
Luke 9:60 “But He said to him: ‘Let the dead bury their dead, but you go away and declare abroad the Kingdom of God.’ “
Ephesians 2:1, 5 “Furthermore, it is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins,.. . made us alive together with the Christ.”
1 John 3:14 “We know we have passed over from death to life, because we love the brothers.”
Only exceptions are certain ones God specially used
Examples:
Isaac: Genesis 18:9-14; Romans 4:17-21; Galatians 4:28, 29
Samson: Judges 13:2-5
Samuel: 1 Samuel 1:11, 19, 20
Jeremiah: Jeremiah 1:4, 5
John the Baptist: Luke 1:5-20
Jesus: Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-37.
Christ’s death to be observed by Memorial evening meal, but no commandment to observe His birthday as at a “Christmas”
Luke 22:19 “Also He took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: ‘This means My body which is to be given in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of Me.’ “
1 Corinthians 11:24-26 “And, after giving thanks, He broke it and said: ‘This means My body which is in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of Me.’ He did likewise respecting the cup also…. ‘Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until He arrives.”
Jesus’ birth not in cold December
Luke 2:8, 12 “There were also in that same country shepherds living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks. ‘And this is a sign for you: you will find an infant bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.’ “
Luke 2:1-7 “Now in those days a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus for ail the inhabited earth to be registered; . .. and all people went traveling to be registered, each one to his own city. Of course, Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city which is called Bethlehem, because of his being a member of the house and family of David, to get registered with Mary, who had been given him in marriage as promised, at present heavy with child.”
Jesus’ birth in the fall (about Oct. 1, of year 2 B. C.); John the Baptist’s father serving as priest in early part of July, of year 3 B.C., when John was conceived (hence born in April, of year 2 B.C.)
Luke 1:5, 8-24 “In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there happened to be a certain priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Now as he was acting as priest in the assignment of his division before God…. To him Jehovah’s angel appeared,… the angel said to him: ‘… your wife Elizabeth will be the mother of a son to you, and you are to call his name John.’. .. after these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant.”
1 Chronicles 24:10, 18 [Regarding the courses of the priests]: “The seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah.” [Of the 24 courses the second week of the eighth would fall in the latter part of the fourth Jewish month, or early part of July, our calendar.]
Jesus was conceived in the early part of January (hence born early October)
Luke 1:26-39 “In her [Elizabeth’s] sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent forth from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin promised in marriage to a man named Joseph of David’s house; and the name of the virgin was Mary. .. . the angel said to her: ‘Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son. And, look! Elizabeth your relative has also herself conceived a son, in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her.’ “
John came baptizing in the spring of A.D. 29
Luke 3:1-3 “In the fifteenth year [A.D. 29] of the reign of Tiberius Caesar [who began to reign August 19, A.D. 14, after Augustus’ death],.. God’s declaration came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. So he came into all the country around the Jordan, preaching baptism of those repenting for forgiveness of sins.” [John would start priestly preaching duties at the age of 30. See Numbers, chapter 4.]
Jesus was baptized at the age of 30, 6 months later
Luke 3:23 “Furthermore, Jesus Himself, when He commenced His work was about thirty years old.”
[Hence His birth was 30 years earlier, about October 1, of year 2 B.C.]
The “star” was a light Satan used to guide astrologers (demon worshipers) in his scheme to locate Jesus for destruction by Herod
Matthew 2:1-16 “After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Jude in the days of Herod the king, look! astrologers from eastern parts came to Jerusalem, saying: ‘Where is the one born king of the Jews? For we saw His star when we were in the east and we have come to do Him obeisance.’ At hearing this King Herod was agitated and all Jerusalem along with him. . .. Then Herod secretly summoned the astrologers and carefully ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearing, and, when sending them to Bethlehem, he said: ‘Go make a careful search for the young child, and when you have found Him report back to me.’… and, look! the star they had seen when they were in the east went ahead of them, until it came to a stop above where the young child was. .. . However, because they were given divine warning in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.. .. Then Herod, seeing he had been outwitted by the astrologers, fell into a great rage, and he sent out and had all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its districts killed, from two years of age and under, according to the time that he had carefully ascertained from the astrologers.”
Astrologers were the ones who brought gifts
Matthew 2:11 “And when they went into the house they saw the young child with Mary its mother, and, falling down, they did obeisance to Him. They also opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” [As to astrologers’ being condemned by God’s law, see Deuteronomy 4:19; 2 Kings 17:16; Isaiah 47:13, 14.]
Easter
Ashtoreth, Astarte (“a wife”) the “queen of heaven”—a Babylonian pagan goddess
1 Kings 11:5 “For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the sidonians.”
2 Kings 23:13 “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the sidonians.”
Jeremiah 7:18 “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the 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.”
Also: Jeremiah 44:17-19.
Easter egg, rabbit, “symbols of life” are phallic emblems, worship of a creation rather than the Creator
Romans 6:23 “For the wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life by Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Psalm 36:9 “For with You [Jehovah God] is the fountain of life.”
Romans 1:22-25 “Although asserting they were wise, they became foolish and turned the glory of the incorruptible God into something like the image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed creatures and creeping things. Therefore God in keeping with the desires of their hearts gave them up to uncleanness, that their bodies might be dishonored among them, even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Such connected with phallic worship of sex in Baal-peor, “lord of the opening,” and Ashtoreth, “a wife”
Numbers 25:1-3 “And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab: … And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel.”
Deuteronomy 4:3 “Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-peor; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, Jehovah your God has destroyed them from among you.”
Hosea 9:10 “They came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves unto the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.”
Jude 10, 11 “Yet these men are speaking abusively of all the things they really do not know, but all the things they do understand naturally like the unreasoning animals, in these things they go on corrupting themselves. Too bad for them, because they have gone in the path of Cain, and have rushed into the erroneous course of Balaam for reward.”
Christ’s death on Nisan 14 to be observed by Memorial evening meal, not his resurrection on Nisan 16, A.D. 33
Exodus 12:2, 6, 14 “This month [Abib or Nisan] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. And ye shall keep it [the lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.”
Matthew 26:17-27 “On the first day of the unfermented cakes the disciples came up to Jesus, saying: ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the passover?’ … As they continued eating, Jesus took a loaf and, after saying a blessing, He broke it and, giving it to the disciples, He said: ‘Take, eat. This means My body.’ Also He took a cup and, having given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: ‘Drink out of it, all of you.'”
1 Corinthians 11:25, 26 “[Jesus said]: ‘Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until He arrives.”
John 20:1 “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the memorial tomb early in the day, while there was still darkness, and she beheld the stone already taken away from the memorial tomb.” [This was Sunday, Nisan 16, A.D. 33, while Jesus was put to death Friday, Nisan 14.]
Day of Memorial on Nisan 14 (so-called “Good Friday”) does not always fall on the same day of the week
John 19:31 “Then the Jews, since it was Preparation, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the torture stakes on the sabbath, (for the day of that sabbath was a great one, [a double sabbath, which did not happen every Passover time]) requested Pilate to have their legs broken and the bodies taken away.”
[Also, Nisan 14 is not always on a Friday, but is the night of full moon.]
The meal on the first day of the week at Acts 20:7 not the Memorial, but eating of an ordinary meal
Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to have a meal, Paul began discoursing to them.”
Acts 2:42, 46 “And they continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to association together, to taking of meals and to prayers…. and they took their meals in private homes.”
Acts 6:1-6 “Their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. So the twelve… said: ‘It is not pleasing for us to abandon the Word of God to distribute food to tables.’ “
Pascha, at Acts 12:4, mistranslated “Easter” in “King James Version”
Acts 12:4 “And laying hold of him, he [Herod] put him [Peter] in prison, turning him over to four shifts of four soldiers each to guard him, as he intended to produce him for the people after the passover.”
The Day People Waved Palms for Jesus Was Not Sunday, but Was Monday, Nisan 10, A.D. 33
John 12:1, 12, 13 “Accordingly, Jesus, six days before the passover, [the passover day itself being counted as the sixth day] arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus was whom Jesus had raised up from the dead. The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast, on hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And they began to shout: ‘Save, we pray You! Blessed is He that comes in Jehovah’s Name, even the king of Israel!'”
Matthew 21:8, 12 “Others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. And Jesus entered into the temple, and threw out all those selling and buying in the temple and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves.”
Exodus 12:3-5 “In the tenth day of this month [Abib or Nisan] they shall take to them every man a lamb,. . . Your lamb shall be without blemish.”
Lent Corresponds to Preliminary of Annual Festival of Death and Resurrection of Tammuz (“the Perfecting Fire”, “Purifier”)—a Pagan “Purgatory” God
Ezekiel 8:14, 15 “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you shall again see yet greater abominations than these.”
Denying Oneself Meats, Food, Certain Proper Things on Certain Days, Not Required of Christians
1 Timothy 4:1-6 “However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth. The reason for this is that every creation of God is right and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through God’s word and prayer over it.”
Romans 14:1-17 “One man has faith to eat everything, but the man who is weak eats vegetables. Let the one eating not look down on the one not eating, and let the one not eating not judge the one eating, for God has welcomed that one. Who are you to judge the house servant of another? … One man judges one day as above another, another man judges one day as all others; … He who observes the day, observes it to Jehovah. Also he who eats, eats to Jehovah…. For the kingdom of God does not mean eating and drinking, but means righteousness and peace and joy with holy spirit.”
Colossians 2:20-22 “If you died together with Christ toward the elementary things of the world, why do you, as if living in the world, further subject yourselves to the decrees, ‘Do not handle, nor taste, nor touch,’ respecting things that are all destined to destruction by being used up, in accordance with the commands and teachings of men? Those very things are, indeed, possessed of an appearance of wisdom in a self-imposed form of worship and mock humility, a severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in combating the satisfying of the flesh.”
1 Corinthians 8:8 “But food will not commend us to God; if we do not eat, we do not fall short, and, if we eat, we have no credit to ourselves.”
Hebrews 13:9 “Do not be carried away with various and strange teachings; for it is right for the heart to be given firmness by undeserved kindness, not by meats, by which those who occupy themselves with them have not been benefited.”
1 Timothy 4:8 “For bodily training is beneficial for a little, but godly devotion is beneficial for all things, as it holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.”
Isaiah 58:5-7 “Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah? Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Christendom’s Holydays Abominable to Jehovah
Isaiah 1:10, 13, 14, 17 “Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; new moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies,—I cannot away with iniquity and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary of bearing them. Learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
Revelation 11:8 “The great city which is in a spiritual sense called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also impaled.”
For more details or any questions on this topic, don’t hesitate to contact us.
© All Rights Reserved