Christianizing” Pagan Beliefs

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Every year, the vast majority of professing Christians keep Christmas, Easter and other holidays steeped in ancient pagan rituals. They reason that these popular celebrations have somehow been “Christianized,” turning practices and traditions rooted in idolatry—often once having involved gruesome child sacrifice—into now being approved by God.

But what does the God of the Bible say about these ideas?

After rescuing them from slavery, God warned Israel not to practice the customs they had acquired in Egypt, or to learn the ways and traditions of the Gentile nations they would encounter in the Promised Land (Lev. 18:1-3). Instead, God commanded Israel to follow His ways (Lev 18:4-5).

Why do so few heed this next passage? “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed by them. For the customs of the people are vain” (Jer. 10:2-3).

But Israel did not listen. “And they have turned unto Me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house [the temple at Jerusalem], which is called by My name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin” (Jer. 32:33-35).

Imagine. Israel committed a sin so vile, so disgusting, that it even shocked God!

Concerning this pagan, satanic system, God commands true Christians to “come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4).

God commands His people to follow Him—not the traditions of men. God’s ways are higher, better than man’s (Isa. 55:8-9). Men cannot determine for themselves right from wrong or how to properly worship God.

Why? Because “the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). God designed us and gave us life. He knows how we are to worship Him.

To be a true Christian and to properly serve God, one must live “by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4), recognizing that His Holy Scriptures “cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

The idolatry-drenched religious holidays and customs of this world seem like sincere, heartfelt sacred observances—but they are deeply rooted in pagan ideas that counterfeit God’s will—and God says He hates them! Pagan observances cannot be “Christianized” or made clean by men. To do so is to worship God in VAIN.

Vain Repetition

As with all other doctrines in the Bible, “Churchianity” has distorted and misapplied Christ’s teaching on how to pray. Misguided theologians have twisted Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-4. They have led millions into turning Jesus Christ’s model prayer into a meaningless, word-for-word recitation. This was never Christ’s intention!

In Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus instructed His disciples not to pray to be seen by men and to be considered “righteous.” The Bible teaches that God will listen only to those who are teachable, humble and yielded to Him. Notice Isaiah 66:1-24, “Thus says the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that You build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things has My hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word” (Isa 66:1-2).

Jesus used a parable to teach a valuable lesson to some who “trusted in themselves” (Luke 18:9): “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican [tax collector]. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Lk 18:10-12). The Pharisee seemed to believe he was God’s gift to mankind.

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk 18:13). The tax collector saw himself from God’s perspective and humbled himself.

Christ continued, “I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted” (Lk 18:14).

God will not listen to the prayers of the proud and arrogant (James. 4:6).

In Matthew 6:1-34, Jesus also warned His followers about praying in vain repetition—repeating the same words in a monotonous, chant-like drone, as millions of “Christians” do today. Then in Mt 6:9, He states, “After this manner therefore pray…” The Greek word for “manner” is houtos, meaning “in this way.” Christ was not teaching His disciples to follow this prayer word-for-word. Remember, He had just commanded them not to do this in Mt 6:7. In contrast to the popular Jesus, so few pay attention to the One who inspired the Bible.

What Christ was teaching them (and us today) was a prayer outline, or model prayer, with topics to pray about and the general order they should follow. It is up to the person praying to provide details for each subject.

The example of Jezebel and the 450 prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:1-46) shows that endlessly babbling prayers is nothing but vain repetition—an empty exercise of communication that will reach no higher than the ceiling.

But contrary to the prophets of Baal, Elijah gave a simple, but earnest, prayer to God, which He answered. Here’s why: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James. 5:16)—which brings us to another point.

Obedience, Not Sacrifice

Believe it or not, one can observe God’s Sabbath and annual Holy Days, and keep the letter of the Law—yet all in VAIN, in a show of empty, meaningless worship!

Regarding the modern descendents of ancient Israel, which God calls “people of Gomorrah,” God states, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations [worthless sacrifices]; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:11-15).

Most ministers and religionists claim this passage abolishes God’s annual festivals—but that is not what God is condemning. He says, “YOUR new moons and YOUR appointed feasts My soul hates.”

Elsewhere in Isaiah, God charges His faithful servants to warn the modern descendents of Israel of “Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:6-7) because of their religious hypocrisy: “CRY ALOUD, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” (Isa. 58:1).

Many of today’s 600 million-plus people of modern Israel (who are unaware of their prophetic identity) believe they faithfully worship God, while they endlessly sprint through Our Father and Hail Mary “prayers.” They volunteer in soup kitchens and other charities for the needy. They teach the “golden rule” of treating others properly. Yet all their works are in vain—because they do so their way, according to their terms.

God declares that “Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God” (Isa. 58:2). They appear to be righteous, but they actually wear the clothes of SELF-righteousness, claiming to be God-fearing people while ignoring Proverbs 8:13: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward [perverse] mouth, do I hate.”

God charges His servants to deliver His end-time warning to Jacob—but the reaction they receive is shallow: “And they come unto you as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they will not DO them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. And, lo, you are unto them as a very lovely song of one [Hebrew: A good singer] that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear you words, BUT THEY DO THEM NOT” (Ezek. 33:31-32).

These same people arrogantly ask of God, “Wherefore have we fasted…and You see not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and You take no knowledge?” (Isa. 58:3).

God answers, “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high” (Isa 58:3-4).

He adds, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?” (Isa 58:6-7). And that “you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words” (Isa 58:13).

In other words, put Christianity into ACTION God’s Way, not your own!

Even after witnessing God’s punishment of deporting the house of Israel into national slavery, Judah thought it could not happen to them. After all, they reasoned, Israel changed God’s Holy Days and worshipped idols and false gods. But Jerusalem had Solomon’s Temple, the Levitical priesthood and the daily sacrifices.

Nonetheless, having the Temple did not wipe away Judah’s secret sins. It did not save them from being punished for appearing to be faithful while in reality they were rebellious. Read Ezekiel 8:1-18, in which seemingly righteous religious leaders privately worshipped false gods. Isa 58:13-16 reveal that, while claiming to serve God, people actually worshipped Tammuz and the sun—ancient pagan practices known today as “Easter”! (This will be covered in more detail momentarily.)

But God said, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6)—and “to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Sam. 15:22).

“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:6-8).

To worship and serve the true God requires rejecting one’s human nature—which is self-deceptive (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 16:25), hostile toward God (Rom. 8:7), and cannot subject itself to God’s Law (same verse). It means praying to, obeying and serving Him HIS way. Anything less is to worship God in VAIN.

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