Idolatry that has been carried into the protestant church
By Robert O. Sanford
Idolatry that has been carried into the Reform Church called the Protestant Church, form the Pagan Roman Church.
i·dol (ºd"l) n. 1.a. An image used as an object of worship. b. A false god. 2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively. 3. Something visible but without substance.
i·dol·a·try (º-d¼l"…-tr¶) n., pl. i·dol·a·tries. 1. Worship of idols. 2. Blind or excessive devotion to something.
(John 4:21-25 KJV) "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. {22} Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. {23} But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. {24} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. {25} The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." (John 7:16-17 KJV) "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. {17} If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."
From the above ******ures in the New Testament, and the above definition of Idolatry being the "Blind devotion to something" where one does not know who they are worshipping, we can see why Jesus Christ said to the Smaritian woman at the well "Ye worship ye know not what, for salvation is of the Jews. The worship of the Smaritians was a mixture of the Babylonian Religion and Judaism. The Smaritians from Persia in Babylon, had been brought into Israel and settled their by the King of Babylon. After arriving there, the Smaritian mixed their Babylonian celebrations involved with Sun Worship in with Judaism and given them Jewish names to identify them as a Jewish feast days.
The Gentiles Protestant Christians even through they claim the Bible as their only source of understanding, still do not know who they are worshipping. They, like the Smaritians, also still cling to their Babylonian celebrations that they brought with them into Christianity, having been part of the Gentile's worldly religions, that worship the creature, rather then the Creator. (Rom 1:25-26 KJV) "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. {26} For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections.-" To keep their former celebration that they enjoyed in the pagan world, by bring them with them into their New Life in Christ Jesus, was to trodden under foot the Son of God and count the Blood of Jesus as an unholy thing. (Heb 10:28-29 KJV) "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: {29} Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"
(2 Cor 6:16-17 KJV) "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. {17} Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," (Rev 18:4-5 KJV) "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. {5} For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev 17:5 KJV) "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
The message in all these ******ures is to come out of Idolatry, which is celebrating the Pagan holidays and the Pagan practice of worshipping man as their leaders. Idolatry is giving honour to the thing created, rather then the God of Israel who created all things for His own Glory. The Pagan Deities (Devils) behind Sun worship, Tree worship, Man worship, and Fertility worship, are all unknown to the people doing the worship. If one was part of the Commonwealth of Israel and adhered to the Covenant God made with them, they would know who they were worshipping when the do such a thing, and not do it. (John 8:43-44 KJV) "Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. {44} Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."
Jesus Christ clearly establishes the fact, that Salvation is only of the Jews. Only the Jewish Nation and the strangers that join themselves to the Commonwealth of Israel can come to know the One true God, as Israel is the only Nation that God deals with as His People. The Gentiles were not given the Oracles of God as the Jewish People were and therefore they did not know who the One true God was. The Jews worshipped the One True God and their One true God is the One who created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th Day. The God of creation made the Day that He Rested on after creating the universe, His Holy Day of Rest. The Gentiles did not know the Creator God of the Commonwealth of Israel, and therefore they chose a way of worship that would honour the purpose for which God created the object, instead of the God of Israel, who created all things.
Pagan Religions also create their own special holidays to celebrate their deities, (Devils) that were behind the formation of their believes. They worship these deities as individual gods. Each god worshipped represent a thing created. We see this in the names of the days of the week. Each named after a star in the heavens. Sun day, Moon day, Saturn day etc. They make Idols to represent the different aspects of Nature that they could and couldn't see. Such as the Pagan god called Thro, the god of ice and snow. They created an elaborate celebration in northern Europe to celebrate this god of winter. The worship of the Sun god was incorporated into it as the winter solstice took place on Dec. 21, and by Dec. 25, they could see the rebirth of the Sun taking place.
Their celebration included the evergreen trees of the North. They cut them down and brought into their houses and decorated them. This celebration of the gods of the winter is still celebrated by heathen today. It is also celebrated by Christian people today under the name of Christmas. They took a Pagan holiday and renamed it with a Christian name to make it acceptable to people who had accepted Jesus Christ as their new God. This way they could still serve the Pagan god in the new found Christian Religion. It was the common practice of the Pagan to accept the gods of other lands and incorporate them into their own believes by renaming their gods with the name of the new gods. When the Jewish Religion of the Bible, later came to Europe by the Jewish Apostle, Paul, the Pagan Churches in Rome, assimilated the name of Jesus Christ and some of the believes from the Jewish God, into their own religion, thus giving their religion a Jewish identity for a short time.
They Christianised the winter solstice by establishing a Pagan sacrifice called a Mass, on Dec. 25 and called it the Christ Mass. They Christianised the celebration of their Pagan god of fertility, Easter, worshiped on the second Sun-day of April, along with all the Pagan symbols still attached to her. The Easter Egg and the Easter Bunny along with hot cross Easter buns are condemned in the Jewish Bible. The Pagan Church even managed to write Easter into the Bible, to replace the Jewish Celebration of Pass Over, that took place about the same time, in the Spring. Who is this god called Easter? (Jer 7:18-19 KJV) "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. {19} Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" Who is this Queen of Heaven? She is the third person in the Trinity of the Roman Church. Nimrod is the father and Tamuz is his son. Easter, the Queen of Heaven is the mother of Tamuz. The Catholic Church renamed the Queen of Heaven, Mary, to give their religion a Christian flavour.
The Reform Churches brought along all the former Pagan Holidays that they had celebrated in the Rome Church. They never did, to this day, adopt the Jewish customs taught in the Jewish Bible. Most of them never did take the 7th Day of Judaism, the Rest of God and His people, as their Day of Worship. They took the Pagans day that the True God called the First Day of the week, and renamed it Sun Day, in honour of their Pagan Sun god. The Sun is no god, the sun was created by the God of Israel. To worship anything created by the God of Israel, instead of the creator Himself, is nature worship. Nature worship is called Idolatry in the Jewish Bible. (Exo 31:16-17 KJV) "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. {17} It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Ezek 20:16 KJV) "Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols." (2 Ki 17:12 KJV) "For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing."
The calendar we use today is a Babylon calendar. Every day and month is named after one of their many Pagan gods. What is Paganism? The worship of the things created, rather than the One True God that created all things through Jesus Christ. (Col 1:16-18 TLB) "Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can't; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. {17} He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. {18} He is the Head of the body made up of his people--that is, his Church--which he began; and he is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead, so that he is first in everything;" (Ezek 14:6 KJV) "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations." (Josh 23:7 KJV) "That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods,"- It was an abomination to the God of Israel for His people to even speak the name of the Pagan gods. Today it is almost impossible not to say the name of Pagan gods as the weeks and months of the Babylonian calendar we use are named after them.
Of all the Nations on earth, the Jewish Nation called the Commonwealth of Israel, was the only Nation that know who the God was that created man in His Image. The God of creation revealed Himself to Abraham, and made a Covenant with Abram, to make of Abram's seed, a People for Himself, to be a God to them. Abram's seed were called the chosen people of God. It was to Abram and his seed, that the God who created man, Jesus Christ, appeared to as the Seed of Abram. He appeared as a Jew, the promised Seed of Abram, and He was born the King of Jews. He came as a Jew, He die as a Jew on the cross to Seal the Covenant that He had made with the Jewish Nation He called Israel. It was to Israel and to Israel only that God sent His Holy Prophets to show Israel and all them that would join themselves to Israel, the way of His Salvation. Remember; Jesus Christ was born a Jew in the flesh and He came as a King over His own Nation. He was born as the King of the Jews and died as the King of the Jews. (Mat 2:2 TLB) ""Where is the new born King of the Jews?" Mark 15:2 Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" "Yes," Jesus replied, "it is as you say."
(John 1:11-13 KJV) "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. {12} But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: {13} Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Isa 56:6-7 TLB) "As for the Gentiles, the outsiders who join the people of the Lord and serve him and love his name, who are his servants and don't desecrate the Sabbath, and have accepted his covenant and promises, {7} I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and make them full of joy within my House of Prayer. "I will accept their sacrifices and offerings, for my Temple shall be called 'A House of Prayer for All People'!"
Remember, if a stranger, and all Gentile were and still are strangers, who joins themselves to the Commonwealth of Israel, and "accepted his covenant and promises," they have to keep the whole Covenant to receive the promises. (James 2:10 KJV) "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." The forth Commandment in the Covenant, is to keep the 7th Day, Holy. The 7th Day is the Sabbath of all the Jews born into the Nation Israel and all the strangers who join theselves to the Commonwealth Israel. It is their National Holy Day to celibrate the God who created mankind in His Image. The Jews born of the Commonwealth of Israel, who honour God's Covenant that He made with them, still to this day, keep the Jewish Sabbath given in the Old and New Covenant. The Covenant that was sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ. (Exo 24:8 TLB) "Then Moses threw the blood from the basins toward the people and said, "This blood confirms and seals the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these laws." The 7th Day Law was one of the Laws sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ and it is still the Day Sealed with the Blood of Jesus Christ. It is still called the Jewish Sabbath. (Exo 31:13-14 TLB) ""Tell the people of Israel to rest on my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a reminder of the covenant between me and you forever; it helps you to remember that I am Jehovah who makes you holy. {14} Yes, rest on the Sabbath, for it is holy. Anyone who does not obey this command must die;" (1 John 3:3-4 KJV) "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. {4} Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."
The day called Sunday, was the National Holy Day of the Pagan Roman Empire before Christianity begin, however at that time it was the second day of the week, not the first. They still kept the Day of their Sun god as their National Day of rest. Jesus Christ and His Disciples did not become Pagans and worship their Pagan gods. They did not keep or give honour to the Pagan day of worship by celebrating the Pagan Holidays. That would have been an abomination to every Jewish Christian as it was to their God. The worship of Pagan Holy Days and their Idols are an abomination to the God of Israel. The only Holy Day in the Jewish Gospel, that was given to the Jews by the King of the Jews, Jesus Christ, was the Day He chose to honour the God of creation with. The Apostle Paul took the Gospel that Jesus Christ Himself preached to the Jewish Nation of Israel, to the Gentile Nations. He took it to the Gentiles to bring the strangers into the Commonwealth of Israel, so that they to would have the Covenant that God made for His Nation, Israel, to be saved by keeping. (Mark 13:10 KJV) "And the gospel must first be published among all nations." (Mat 28:19-20 KJV) "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost {20} Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Exo 20:8 KJV) "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
The Gentiles who accepted the New Religion of the Commonwealth of Israel, preached by the Jewish Apostle Paul, are the strangers from all Nations that God brought into Israel to be part of His people. They became part of Israel by accepting the Jewish Bible as their only authority, thus separating themselves from "BABYLON THE GREAT". However some of them only reject part of their former teachings from their former Pagan Religions. They were not converted to Judaism, as they were not willing to rejected all of their former Pagan believes and celebrations they had loved to celebrate in their former Nations. Such as the carnivals of the Latin countries. Most of them accepted the truth of God, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. But they would not accept the truth that the Blood of Jesus Christ was given to seal the Covenants, that if kept, would made both the Jew and Gentile into one New Man, called Christ, the Son of God. (John 1:12 KJV) "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" If one does not believe on the Son of God, to the keeping of the Covenant that will makes them a Son of God by their obedience to the Word of God, their faith is in vain. (Mat 15:9 KJV) "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
(Col 3:10-11 KJV) "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: {11} Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." (Rom 2:28-29 KJV) "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {29} But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
The Gentiles who refuse to become fellow Citizens, together with the Jews, in the Commonwealth of Israel, are without Christ and without Hope in the world. (Eph 2:12 KJV) "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:" People who refuse to accept citizenship of the Commonwealth of Israel are rejecting the very purpose that Jesus Christ shed His Blood by dying on the cross. That purpose was to make the carnal Jew and the carnal Gentile, who were both living their lives outside of the Life that Christ lived, by service other gods, into One New Man in Christ Jesus who serviced Jesus Christ and His Father only.
(Eph 2:13-14 KJV) "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. {14} For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" (Mat 9:12-13 KJV) "But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. {13} But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Who are these sinners? All of us who are not part of the Spiritual Commonwealth of Israel and heirs of the Covenant promises that God made with His People Israel, and to the Strangers who join themselves to One True God of Israel. The Covenant promises are only to those who keep the Covenant, Jews and Gentiles alike. Because the Gentiles have rejected the Religion of the Jews preached by Paul, they have also rejected God of the Jews and His Covenant He made for all people who would join the Commonwealth of Israel to be saved. Most of the Jewish people in the Old Testament also reject the Covenant to worship the One True God, and the lived the way of the Gentiles.
