Is Thanksgiving Pagan?

IS THANKSGIVING A PAGAN FESTIVAL? www.babylonforsaken.com

There are some groups in 'Christendom' that call Thanksgiving pagan. They attempt by any means to associate it with some sort of ancient Satanic holiday; but can it be done? No, no honestly. The following seven questions concerning Thanksgiving will establish the fact that Thanksgiving is not pagan!

QUESTION #1. Is having a harvest festival of thanksgiving wrong?

NO, God taught the Children of Israel to keep two feasts to give thanks for their harvest. Since the beginning of time, man has given Thanks to their “GOD” for their yearly harvest. “The answer must obviously be "No," because God Himself {Commanded his people} to keep Pentecost and Tabernacles, both of which are harvest festivals. He must see a positive purpose in them to require two during each year.” John W. Ritenbaugh Forerunner, October-November 1996

QUESTION #2. Did Pagans also have harvest festivals?

YES, the ancient Romans dedicated October 10 to the goddess Ceres. The pagan Roman Church in the Middle Ages decorated church buildings between September 19 and October 1. St. Martin’s Day followed on November 11; these were all types of Harvest Festivals, and these dates, like the rest of Rome’s holy calendar was based on the pagan customs of the people.

QUESTION #3. Does the fact that Pagans also had harvest festivals, make all harvest festivals wrong?

NO, both God’s people and pagans have celebrated harvest from the beginning of time. The pagan’s harvest festivals were wrong because they gave thanks to false gods. The peculiar customs the pagans used to honor their ‘gods’ during their festivals are disgusting to Jehovah; and it IS wrong to borrow these customs in an attempt to honor Him.

QUESTION #4. Is the date of the American Thanksgiving Pagan?

NO, President Lincoln appointed the fourth Thursday of November 1864 as a day of National thanksgiving, and since that time each president has annually followed his example.

QUESTION #5. Is ‘Thanksgiving’ a ‘False Church’ Festival?

NO, the American Thanksgiving is not tied to any Church denomination; and it’s authority rests upon the state. It is a National holiday.

QUESTION #6. Are all national holidays wrong?

“At this point, we need to consider whether it is sin for those who have made the covenant with God to celebrate a national holiday. Zechariah 8:19 gives us some immediate insight into this.

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace."

Here are four fasts established by the Jews, none of which has anything to do with God’s plan. The fast of the fourth month (9th of Tammuz) marked when the Babylonians entered Jerusalem; that of the fifth month (9th of Ab), the destruction of the temple; that of the seventh month (3rd of Tishri), the murder of Gedaliah, a governor of Judah; and that of the tenth month (10th of Tebeth), the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. God nowhere says that they are evil, that He hates them or that to observe them is sin. In fact, the prophecy in which these fasts appear shows not only God’s approval of keeping them, but also that He will turn them into feasts of joy rather than fasts of sorrow.” (IBID)

QUESTION #7 Is it wrong to observe a holiday that GOD did not specifically set aside in Leviticus 23? Should God’s people proclaim and establish national holidays?

“And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar. . . . [T]he Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants. (Esther 9:20-21, 27-28)

The context explains that they celebrated these days with feasting, rejoicing and sending of presents to one another and to the poor! They established this national holiday on their own authority without any condemnation from God.” (IBID)

Also, John 10:22-23 shows Jesus walking in the Temple area in Jerusalem during the Feast of Dedication. Today, the Jews call this feast Hanukkah. It is the national celebration of the rededication of the Temple by the Jews at the end of the Maccabean revolt. It was not set aside by GOD but by the government of the Jews.

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