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ment practice of commemorating
the death of Jesus on the 14th day
of the first month of the Hebrew
calendar. Instead he introduced
the custom of Easter and Lent.
But from where did the bishops
of Rome obtain the c ustom of
Lent?
The Orlgln of Lent
In the early church, Lent was
always called
tessarakoste,
in
Greek, or
quadragesima;
in Latín.
These two words mean "count 40. "
Lent-though sometimes cele–
brated for only one or two days, or
for severa! weeks- wAS ALwAYS
CALLEO THE CELEBRATION OF 40
DAYS!
Why ?
Why sbould a period of absti–
nence have gone by this name even
though it was not until the beg in–
ning of the eighth century after
Christ that the final number
of
40
days was fastened on the whole
c hurc h from Ireland to Asia
Minor?
The answer is obvious-absti–
nence among the pagans was called
by the name "count 40" because
that is the length of time they cele–
brated their spring festival! Re–
member, Lent means "spring."
The his torian Wilkinson, in his
book
Egyptian Antiquities,
chapter
111, p. 181, wrote that the pagans
kept " fasts, many of which !asted
from seven to forty-two days, and
sometimes even a Ionger period."
But the original lengt li of the
fast, traced back to ancient Babylon
4,000 years ago, was a " forty days"
fast in the spring of the year
( Layard's
Nineveh and Baby lon.
chapter 4, page 93). That is why it
bore its
name
of "40 days"!
Each nation gradually changed
the length of celebration, but they all
retained the
name.
The professing
Christ ians of the second century
mere!y adopted the customs found in
their respective countries-that is
why they were divided as to its
Iength from the beginning. Remem–
ber, it took the churches of the
Westero world nearly eight centu–
ries to reimpose a total period of 40
days abstinence as had been tbe orig–
inal custom at Babylon.
Christiani ty today has turned to
30
pagan customs instead of the com–
mands of God in the Bible!
Where Mentloned In the Blble
Lent is nowhere commanded or
mentioned in the New Testament.
But it is mentioned in tbe Old Tes–
tament!
Lent, remember, was an indis–
pensable preliminary to the great
annual festival in commemoration
of the death and resurrection of
Tammuz- the pagan Babylonian
counterfeit of the Messiah. The
Babylonian lunar month of June/
July was named in honor of this
false Babylonian messiah . Forty
days preceding the feast of Tam–
muz (usually celebrated in June)
the pagans held their Lenten sea-
Fasting, or abstinence
from certains foods, was
imposed after the days of
the apostles-by the
authority of the priests.
' '
son! Ezekiel describes it vividly in
Ezekiel 8:13-14:
" He [the Lord] said also unto
me, Turn thee yet again, and thou
shalt see greater
abominations. "
Notice that God calls what Ezekiel
ÍS
about to See an ABOMINATION.
What does the prophet see?
" And, behold , there sat women
weeping for
Tammuz."
They wept for Tammuz, the
false messiah of the pagans! That
weeping preceded the pagan festi–
val in honor of a supposed resur–
rection of Tammuz. Fasting was
joined with weeping FOR A PERIOD
OF 40 DAYS before the festival in
honor of Tammuz. The period of
weeping and semifasting fell during
springtime. That is why the word
Lent means "spring"! Lent is a
continuation of the pagan spring–
time custom of abstaining from
certain foods just prior to celebrat–
ing a supposed resurrection of a
pagan Babylonian deity.
That is why Christ and the t rue
New Testament Church never
observed it! Paul forbade Christians
to observe these pagan "times" or
"seasons" (Gal. 4:9- 10) .
Does lt Make a Dlfference
to God?
But what if Easter and Lent
are
ancient pagan festivals? Isn't it
sti/1
al l right, if we use them to honor
CHRIST? That 's the way people rea–
son. Let Goo answer that ques–
tion:
Hear what he said to bis people
through Moses: " Take heed ...
that thou enquire not after their
gods, saying: How did these nations
serve their gods? even so will 1 do
likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto
the LORD tby God: for every abom–
ination to the LoRo, which he
hateth, have they done unto their
gods" (Deut. 12:30-3 1) .
Here is what
God says.
It
doesn't matter what we think- but
it DOES MATTER what God thinks.
He calls these pagan Easter and
Lenten customs
abominations
be–
cause they commemorate false
ideas. The penitence of Lent is a
form of world ly sorrow over the
things that smite one's conscience.
But conscience is no s ufficient
guide to right or wrong. The peni–
tence of Lent is a counterfeit of
genuine repentance of sin. What is
the Bible definition of sin?-"sin is
the transgression of the law"
(1 J ohn 3:4)-God 's law! God's
law defines right from wrong. And
the customs of Easter? They com–
memorate a supposed Sund ay
morning resurrection of Jesus–
though in fact Jesus was resur–
rected, accord ing to the Bible, on
Saturday evening after he had been
in the tomb three days and three
nights (Matt. 12:40) . No wonder
the apost les did not teach the early
s p irit-fi ll ed New Testament
Church of God to observe these
traditions of men!
Is it any wonder that Jeremiah
was
inspired
to write: "Learn not
the way of the heathen ... for the
customs of the people are in vain"?
(Jer. 10:2-3).
Jesus left us an example of what
we ought to do--and that example
is not Easter or Lent! o
The PLAIN TRUTH