I wanted to take this time to wish you a hearty St. Valentine’s Day and what a day it is. During this time we celebrate Hallmark in all of its glory. Chocolatiers (makers of chocolate) are truly enjoying the fruits of their labor. Candy hearts are beating across the land and flower sales are keeping bees busy from coast to coast.
Not to mention that when we celebrate this day we get to rehears the time honored history of the feast of Lupercalia. What a joy it was for the Romans during the time when the holiday was celebrated according to its original intent.
According to an article published by by Arnie Seipelby of NPR on February 13, 2011.
“From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.
The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, coupled up for the duration of the festival – or longer, if the match was right.”
Oh the joys of Lupercalia, the time when we honor the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. Let’s not forget that cute little Cupid. According to Roman mythology, Cupid was the son of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Cupid was known to cause people to fall in love by shooting them with his magical arrows.
And to think, we have not only kept it all alive until today. We have actually brought it into the “Church”.
The article above also states…”Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love."
I find it comforting to know that the “Church” has done well by sprinkling holy water on pagan rituals and redeeming then for the Lord. I only wish the Lord would get in step with the “Church” It is very disheartening to me when I read passages like…
Hos 2:17 "For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more.
Exo 23:13 "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Deu 18:9 "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.
It just does not make any sense. After all these passages are from the “Old Testament” and every “Christian” knows that these verses don’t apply to the “Church”, or do they.
Ok enough tongue in cheek already, here is my gripe. I find it rather ironic that churches all over the country will spend time, energy and money having a sweet heart Valentine’s Day banquet every year, yet not even a fraction of these “Churches” would ever consider putting that time into hosting the Biblical feast of Passover, let alone any other Biblical feast. Am I misled, am I legalistic, uninformed or am I speaking the truth?
Is the “Church” that blind that they cannot see how ludicrous this practice is? It is time for those who call themselves believers in the Messiah of Israel to act like it. Until the “Church” abandons the paganism that has crept in and gets back to a Biblical model they will always be powerless in their ability to preach the fullness of the Gospel.
With all of that being said I would like to wish everyone a happy feast of Lupercalia.
Shalom uvracha b'Yeshua (Peace and blessings in Yeshua) Rabbi Henry
Not to mention that when we celebrate this day we get to rehears the time honored history of the feast of Lupercalia. What a joy it was for the Romans during the time when the holiday was celebrated according to its original intent.
According to an article published by by Arnie Seipelby of NPR on February 13, 2011.
“From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.
The Roman romantics "were drunk. They were naked," says Noel Lenski, a historian at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them, Lenski says. They believed this would make them fertile.
The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be, coupled up for the duration of the festival – or longer, if the match was right.”
Oh the joys of Lupercalia, the time when we honor the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. Let’s not forget that cute little Cupid. According to Roman mythology, Cupid was the son of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Cupid was known to cause people to fall in love by shooting them with his magical arrows.
And to think, we have not only kept it all alive until today. We have actually brought it into the “Church”.
The article above also states…”Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Lenski adds, "It was a little more of a drunken revel, but the Christians put clothes back on it. That didn't stop it from being a day of fertility and love."
I find it comforting to know that the “Church” has done well by sprinkling holy water on pagan rituals and redeeming then for the Lord. I only wish the Lord would get in step with the “Church” It is very disheartening to me when I read passages like…
Hos 2:17 "For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more.
Exo 23:13 "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Deu 18:9 "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.
It just does not make any sense. After all these passages are from the “Old Testament” and every “Christian” knows that these verses don’t apply to the “Church”, or do they.
Ok enough tongue in cheek already, here is my gripe. I find it rather ironic that churches all over the country will spend time, energy and money having a sweet heart Valentine’s Day banquet every year, yet not even a fraction of these “Churches” would ever consider putting that time into hosting the Biblical feast of Passover, let alone any other Biblical feast. Am I misled, am I legalistic, uninformed or am I speaking the truth?
Is the “Church” that blind that they cannot see how ludicrous this practice is? It is time for those who call themselves believers in the Messiah of Israel to act like it. Until the “Church” abandons the paganism that has crept in and gets back to a Biblical model they will always be powerless in their ability to preach the fullness of the Gospel.
With all of that being said I would like to wish everyone a happy feast of Lupercalia.
Shalom uvracha b'Yeshua (Peace and blessings in Yeshua) Rabbi Henry
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