Did Jesus Fulfill His Prophecy of How Long He Would Be Entombed?

article by Scott Ashley

Jesus Christ plainly said He would be entombed for three days and three nights. Can this be reconciled with a "Good Friday" crucifixion and burial and an "Easter Sunday" resurrection, which allows for barely a day and a half in the tomb? Or do the Gospels spell out a solution that fits perfectly with what Jesus foretold?

Jesus Christ's body was likely placed in a rolling-stone tomb similar to this one located in Galilee.

Source: Scott Ashley

In Matthew 12:38, some of the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign to prove He was the Messiah. "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you," they told Him (New International Version).

Jesus responded that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40, NIV).

God's Holy Day Season Differs Greatly from Man's Holiday Season

God's Holy Day Season Differs Greatly from Man's Holiday Season

A commentary by Larry Walker
Posted December 7, 2006

Few people have the courage to face the facts (all so easily substantiated) about the traditional holidays of Christianity, let alone to cease observing them in favor of God's appointed Holy Days. For those who are willing to learn and willing to change, the Bible offers annually an exciting and enlightening Holy Day journey.
This is definitely not my favorite time of year. The weather is cold. In my part of the world Daylight Savings Time is over and the days are short. That means less light and more darkness.
For these reasons, most people living in my climate zone would agree that late spring, summer and early fall are the nicest times of the year. But I have another, more important reason for preferring these seasons over late fall, winter and early spring.
I observe seven annual Holy Days that fall during these times of year, beginning with Passover in spring and ending with the Feast of Tabernacles in the early fall. These days, that God first gave to Old Testament Israel, that continued to be observed by Jesus, the apostles and the early church and are kept by many Christians to this day, teach valuable spiritual truths in the plan of God (Colossians 2:16-17


).
These Holy Days are over for another year. Before the Holy Day season begins again in the spring, the traditional Christian holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, Valentine's Day and Easter) begin, and will continue throughout late fall, winter and early spring. With the exception of Thanksgiving, all of them have one thing in common—they all have pagan origins. Despite the alleged Christian significance and meanings commonly attached to the customs connected with these days, they have no biblical foundation.
On the contrary, God commanded ancient Israel not to copy or borrow the religious customs of other nations to worship Him because of their pagan connection with idolatrous abominable practices, including human sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:29-32




). God thunders out, "You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods" (verse 31).
Reading this passage, it is obvious that God is not pleased with the practice of borrowing pagan, manmade customs and traditions in a misguided attempt to worship Him. Jesus also makes this clear in Matthew 15:9
, "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
In addition to their pagan background, these customs fail to teach the vital truths that God wants us to learn. Halloween makes light of Satan the devil and makes practices of the occult seem like fun.
Also, God nowhere instructs us to celebrate the birth of Christ. Furthermore, He was born in the fall, during the time of the fall festivals of the Bible when it was still warm enough for sheep graze in the fields, not on December 25.
New Year's customs also were borrowed from paganism and teach nothing about God. In fact God's calendar, as designated in the Scriptures, begins the year in the spring, not the dead of winter (Exodus 12:1-2


).
Valentine's Day can be traced back to an ancient Roman fertility religion on February 14th to honor Juno Fructifier, the goddess of marriage, the queen of the Roman gods and goddesses. Rabbits and eggs were common symbols of pagan fertility cults and teach nothing about the exciting truths of the plan of God.
It is interesting to note that these holidays have something else in common. They all fall during the time of year when, in the northern hemisphere where God's Holy Days were first introduced, the days are short and often cold, dark and dreary.
God chose the best times of the year for His Holy Days and Festivals (Leviticus 23)—the seasons when the days are long and the weather is warm and pleasant. Could it be that He wants us to conclude that His Holy Days compared to the traditional Christian holidays and their pagan counterparts are as different as day and night?
Few people have the courage to face the facts (all so easily substantiated) about the traditional holidays of Christianity, let alone to cease observing them in favor of God's appointed Holy Days. For those who are willing to learn and willing to change, the Bible offers annually an exciting and enlightening Holy Day journey.
For more fascinating information on this important subject I encourage you to request, read online or download our free, enlightening booklet: Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Keep?
ucg.org

Before You Ask Someone to Be Your Valentine...

Before You Ask Someone to Be Your Valentine...


article by Jerold Aust

Millions send Valentine’s Day cards to express their affection for someone special. But how did this holiday originate? And does Valentine’s Day represent what true love is all about?
Every year, more than a billion Valentine cards are bought and sent throughout the world. The act of sending a nice card seems to fill a natural yearning to express how much we care for someone.
But does Valentine's Day really celebrate true, caring love? Or does this popular holiday actually promote something else?
Origins of Valentine's Day
When we think of Valentine's Day, we call to mind hearts, chocolates, flowers and expressions of love. Yet before joining in the fun, wouldn't it be wise to know where this tradition came from?
First, we should understand that Valentine's Day began when the early Roman Catholic Church tried to Christianize an ancient pagan Roman holiday called Lupercalia. That celebration was a licentious festival that honored Lupercus, the hero-hunter of wolves. This festival was so immensely popular among the Roman people that church leaders included it in their calendar, hoping to retain their new parishioners and turn them from sexual licentiousness to morality by linking it to a saint.
The saint they chose for this mid-February Roman festival was St. Valentine. One source explains: "St. Valentine is believed to have been a Roman priest who was martyred on this day [February 14] around [A.D.] 270. How he became the patron saint of lovers remains a mystery, but one theory is that the Church used the day of St. Valentine's martyrdom in an attempt to Christianize the old Roman Lupercalia, a pagan festival held around the middle of February.
"Part of the ancient ceremony entailed putting girls' names in a box and letting the boys draw them out. Couples would thus be paired off until the following year. The Church substituted saints' names for girls' names, in the hope that the participant would model his life after the saint whose name he drew.
"But by the 16th century, it was once again girls' names that ended up in the box. Eventually the custom of sending anonymous cards or messages to those one admired became the accepted way of celebrating St. Valentine's Day" (Helene Henderson and Sue Ellen Thompson, editors, Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, "Valentine's Day," 2005, p. 576).
Although all historical sources contain some of the same notions about how Valentine's Day developed, each one highlights another facet of the story. Another states: "Some people have tried to connect the historical Saint Valentine with the later practices of Valentine's Day by saying that the saint married couples despite the emperor's prohibition, or that he sent a note signed 'from your Valentine' to the daughter of his jailer.
"However, the early Christian saint Valentine probably had nothing to do with the traditions later celebrated on his feast day; it is simply by his placement in the Christian calendar that his name became associated with it. Later, the word valentine may have been confused with the Norman French word galantine , meaning lover of women, as the g and v were often interchangeable in common pronunciation.
"In any case, February 14 gradually became a traditional date for exchanging love messages, and Saint Valentine became the patron saint of lovers" ( Macmillan Profiles: Festivals and Holidays, 1999, p. 363).
Theories differ as to how a holiday for lovers developed in February. Some think the mating of birds at that time of year is connected with the tradition:
"One is based on the belief throughout rural Europe during the Middle Ages that the birds began to mate on February 14. Chaucer, in his 'Parliament of Foules,' refers to the belief in this way: For this was Seynt Valentyne's day. When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate" (Stephen Christianson, The American Book of Days, 2000, p. 139).
Regardless of the varied sources and ambiguous history of Valentine's Day, a few identifiable points continue to surface: Valentine's Day originated with an ancient pagan Roman feast called Lupercalia. That festival was based on fertility and sexual licentiousness. In the third century, the Roman Catholic Church attempted to Christianize the ancient festival practice by naming it after a martyr.
The hope was that the festival adherents would thereafter follow the examples of church saints, no longer engaging in the ancient practice of free sex while honoring an ancient god. Despite some success, the holiday still contributes to immorality among many and promotes a wrong view of love.
A counterfeit holiday
Something that is counterfeit always indicates there is something real that it stands in place of, the genuine article. Could the same be true of a holiday? The roots of Valentine's Day lie in a pagan festival, not the Bible. In the Catholic Church's efforts to "Christianize" a pagan festival to gain adherents, did it overlook the real thing—holidays that reflect God's perspective on love and giving?
In fact, what was overlooked in the adoption of pagan holidays was God's true Holy Days and what they mean. We can find all of God's Holy Days or festivals listed in Leviticus 23. And you can also find in the New Testament that Jesus Christ, the apostles and the entire early Church all kept those exact same festivals. Jude is apparently referring to these when he writes of "your love feasts" in Jude 12.
In contrast, the holidays that are widely celebrated in modern Christendom, including Valentine's Day, are not found in the pages of the Bible. Instead, they are largely rooted in ancient pagan holidays that have been given a veneer of Christianity. (If you want to know more about God's festivals, please request or download our free booklet God's Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind .)
Where does God stand on Valentine's Day?
We learn from the Bible that God is strictly opposed to any religious or secular holiday that keeps humankind blinded from His precious truth. Jesus said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32
). God wants people to be truly free, not held captive by false beliefs and ideas.
The Bible reveals God's Holy Days and festivals. Each one illustrates a significant part of His ultimate love for humanity and His plan to save mankind—a love that led Jesus Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners. Valentine's Day has no part in the salvation of humanity. In fact, it stands in contradiction to it—originating as it does in sinful, pagan worship.
Valentine's Day may be acceptable to millions of people, but not to God. It substitutes human reasoning for God's truth. It focuses the attention of people on infatuation, not a deep abiding love, on "getting love," not giving or sacrificing for others.
God warns all who claim to represent Him, who claim to be Christians, to avoid the ways of the ancient pagans and their counterfeit holidays and feasts: "Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
"When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.'
"You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods . . . Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:28-32





, emphasis added).
In fact, God told the Israelites to eradicate all elements of pagan worship among them (see verses 1-4).
God is keenly interested in our welfare. He created us and gave us His manual, the Bible, to follow so we can get the most out of this life and that He might give us eternal life forever.
Valentine's Day is rooted not in God's Word, but in ancient paganism. It is not from the true God but from this world and its false god, Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4
). God says: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17



).
So to return to the issue raised up front: Should you ask someone to be your Valentine? Not if you care more about true love and about what God thinks. GN
ucg.org

Where did Valentine's Day come from? Is it wrong for a Christian to celebrate it?

Where did Valentine's Day come from? Is it wrong for a Christian to celebrate it?
Like many of the world's major holidays, St. Valentine's Day is an annual observance with its roots entrenched firmly in pagan beliefs and customs. What would God think about Valentine's Day?

Answer:

Source: Photos.com
The ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, an annual three-day ritual believed to ward off evil spirits and increase fertility, was held on Feb. 13 to 15.
Lupercalia (also known as Februatio, which is where we get the name for our month of February) was popular among many of the new converts to the quick-rising Catholic Church, and as Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays notes, "Everywhere that [mainstream] Christians came into power they immediately adapted the holidays and customs of the people to their own creed” (Robert J. Myers and the editors of Hallmark Cards, 1972, pp. 50-51).
Such was their course of action with this festival of Lupercalia. While Pope Gelasius officially condemned the pagan Roman festival and banned its observance at the end of the fifth century, many of its accompanying practices quickly appeared in a newly established holiday added by him to the official church list of feast days in A.D. 496—St. Valentine's Day.
Soon, people were no longer looking to obtain fertility by being beaten with strips of animal skin called februa. Instead, they turned their focus to St. Valentine, the patron saint of "engaged couples and anyone wishing to marry" (Celebrations, pp. 48-49), whose actual identity is even murkier than what connection he bore to romance.
What amounted to a renamed, refurbished Lupercalia then picked up steam, gradually adapting itself into the Valentine's Day we know today, which included the added elements of Valentine cards and Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love.
Friendship and sending cards are wonderful things, and God is not opposed to romance at the right time in the right way. But does the pagan religious history of Valentine's Day taint the modern practices? What does God have to say about observing pagan traditions, renamed or not?
"When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess…do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods... Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:29-32




).
Though the practices of Lupercalia have been repackaged and dressed up in the form of Valentine's Day, these verses indicate they remain just as detestable as they have always been in our Creator's eyes. Instead of pagan days and practices, our focus should be on the Holy Days God has given us in the Bible, which point us toward His amazing and incomparable plan for all of humanity.