Christian Churches of God

No. 287

 

 

 

Birthdays

(Edition 1.0 20000101-20000101)

 

What do Birthdays really mean? They are based on the Solar Calendar and have nothing to do with the Bible system of God’s Calendar. The star-gazers make much of them in relation to the stars and base so-called horoscopes around them and the position in which the constellations appear at the time of the birth. Where do Birthday celebrations come from and what is the philosophy behind their observance?

 

 

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369,  WODEN  ACT 2606,  AUSTRALIA

 

Email: secretary@ccg.org

 

(Copyright ©  2000 Wade Cox)

 

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Birthdays

 


The Bible does not record the birth of Christ nor of any of the other Bible characters. In fact the Bible states that the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. (KJV)

 

The Bible deliberately does not record the birth of Jesus Christ, the most important character in the Bible other than God. In fact we can tell with fair certainty that it was not the date allocated to it as 25 December, which we know to be associated with the pagan system.

 

Why is Christ’s birth important to some people? Why would they deliberately invent a day placed around a pagan festival and the birth of the Invincible Sun? The answer is simple. Paganism is intertwined with the worship of the Triune God and is the endemic god of the Aryans as is Satan worship. The Satanists stole the Christian Religion through the Mystery and Sun cults and they made Christ the centre of their religious system. Therefore, it was critical that he also has a birthday because the birthday is the centre of satanic religious worship. They did it for the same reason they changed the Sabbath to Sunday (cf. the paper The Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170)).

 

The Philosophy is so simple. Wills outside of the will of God are polytheist. Satan established a system of worship outside the will of God and His Law and hence polytheism. All the heavenly Host exercise their capacity to become elohim or gods as part of the being and will of the One True God (cf. The Elect as Elohim (No. 001)). In that way God is all in all (Eph. 4:6) (cf. How God Became a Family (No. 187) and Consubstantial with the Father (No. 081)).

 

The Satanists seek to become gods and grasp equality with the Father as Christ never sought to do and as Christianity and the elect never seek to do.

 

The elect become sons of God because of their obedience to the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). Christ did not seek to grasp equality with God but humbled himself and took the form of a man and made himself obedient unto death even death on the cross (Phil. 2:5-8).

 

The concept that man could become a god, without the obedience of Christ and the elect to the One True God and His Law, is part of the satanic lie that you shalt not surely die. Satan spoke it to Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:4) (cf. The Doctrine of Original Sin Part I The Garden of Eden (No. 246); see also the papers Law and the First Commandment (No. 253) and Law and the Fifth Commandment (No. 258)).

 

Thus, the Satanic Solar Calendar, on which the Trinitarian religious system is centred, is based on the premise that man shall become a god and shall not surely die. The birthday is the start and most holy of that delusional system.

 

The Satanic Bible (Anton Szandor LaVey, (Air) Book of Lucifer – The Enlightenment, Avon Books, 1969, Ch XI, Religious Holidays, p. 96) has the following to say about Birthdays:

 

THE highest of all holidays in the Satanic religion is the date of one’s own birthday. This is in direct contradiction to the holy of holy days of other religions, which deify a particular god who has been created in an anthropomorphic form of their own image, thereby showing that the ego is not really buried.

The Satanist feels: ‘Why not really be honest and if you are going to create a god in your image, why not create that god as yourself.” Every man is a god if he chooses to recognize himself as one. So, the Satanist celebrates his own birthday as the most important holiday of the year. After all, aren’t you happier about the fact that you were born than you are about the birth of someone you have never even met? Or for that matter, aside from religious holidays, why pay higher tribute to the birthday of a president or to a date in history than we do to the day we were brought into this greatest of all worlds?

Despite the fact that some of us may not have been wanted, or at least were not particularly planned, we’re glad, even if no one else is, that we’re here! You should give yourself a pat on the back, buy yourself whatever you want, treat yourself like the king (or god) that you are, and generally celebrate your birthday with as much pomp and ceremony as possible.

 

The logical sequence of the satanic holy days shows how this system penetrated Christianity. They often did this while making a show of being part of it and then adapting the people’s names and places or making those people into actual Saints of Christianity even though they themselves were actually Satan worshippers. In this way, the English family of Boniface brought pseudo-Christianity to Europe and undermined the true Christianity of the Frisians and Northern Germans. Let us look at what the family of so-called St. Boniface did as we examine the next most important festivals in the Satanic Calendar. The Satanic Bible says of these next festivals of Walpurgisnacht and Halloween.

After one’s own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht and Halloween (or All Hallows' Eve).

St. Walpurgis.—or Walpurga, or Walburga, depending upon the time and area in which one is referring to her—was born in Sussex about the end of the Seventh or the beginning of the Eighth Century, and was educated at Winburn, Dorset, where after taking the veil, she remained for twenty-seven years. She then, at the insistence of her uncle, St. Boniface, and her brother, St. Wilibald, set out along with some other nuns to found religious houses in Germany. Her first settlement was at Bischofsheim in the diocese of Mainz, and two years later (754 A.D.) she became abbess of the Benedictine nunnery at Heidenheim, within her brother Wilibald’s diocese of Eichatadt in Bavaria, where another brother, Winebald, had at the same time also been made head of a monastery. On the death of Winebald in 760 she succeeded him in his charge, retaining the superintendence of both houses until her death on February 25, 779. Her relics were translated to Eichstad; where she was laid in a hollow rock, from which exuded a kind of bituminous oil, afterwards known as Walpurgis oil, regarded as having miraculous efficacy against disease. The cave became a place of pilgrimage, and a great church was built over the spot. She is commemorated at various times, but principally on May 1st, her day taking the place of an earlier Pagan festival. Amazingly enough, all of this rigmarole was found necessary simply to condone the continuance of the most important Pagan festival of the year—the grand climax of the spring equinox! (La Vey, ibid. pp. 96-98)

 

Here we see the true intent of the adoption by Trinitarianism of the Pagan holy days and their disguising them as Christian holy days. In this case it was done through a practicing satanic family operating within Roman Catholicism. They became instrumental in spreading this false religion across Northern Europe.

 

They were successful because the Germans and the Teutons were in fact all part of this ancient system of human sacrifice and had been from their time in the Middle East before their move into Europe. They had followed this ancient system of the Mysteries for millennia under the systems as they arose from Babylon among the Assyrians and the Hittites; the Babylonians and the Medes and Persians and then under the Israelitish Parthians (cf. The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235); cf. also the Foreword by W. Cox to the work by R.S. Kohn, The Sabbatarians in Transylvania, CCG Publishing, USA, 1998).

 

Then Europeans were part of the ancient system of the worship of the Assyro/Babylonian deities based on the worship of the Triune God and which permeated into India and around the world (cf. the paper The Golden Calf (No. 222)).

 

Christianity had succeeded in more or less eliminating human sacrifice in Europe but itself succumbed to the outward calendar and system of holy days due to its entrenched usage among the Aryans and the apostasy of a devious and politically motivated church.

 

The Assyro-Babylonian System

Strange as it may seem our methods of measuring the hours and the place of man in that time scale comes from the Babylonian sexagesimal unit, i.e. sixty. Thus there were sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a minute. The Assyro-Babylonians sought to maximise the race by ensuring that births took place at the correct times in the luni-solar cycle. The births were matched to the phases of the moon so it seems and the calculations of the phases were placed on tables which we have today (cf. The Encyc. Of Religion and Ethics (ERE), art. Birth (Assyro-Babylonian), Vol. 2, p. 643). These calculations appear to be centred on the worship of the Goddess Ishtar or Easter. The tables show complex mathematical capacities in the calculation of the lunar phases and the solar horoscopes cast from the dates of birth as well as the placement of lunar and solar eclipses (cf. ibid.). The moon was important but less important than Ishtar as Venus and she seems to be at once distinct from the consort of Merodach, Zer-panitum who bore the name Eru’a or conception. In the bilingual account of the Creation she appears as Aruru meaning the one who formed, with Merodach the creator of all things, the seed of mankind.

 

As Ishtar-Zer-panitum (for Zer banitum), called also Mah or Mami she was the seed creatress which is often turned into Sar-panitum meaning the Bright one (hence Venus). She was a fertility goddess known by various titles such as the mother who openeth the loins (Amu-du-bat=ummu pitat burki); Nagar-Sagar, the framer of the fetus; Sasuru, the goddess of the fetus, Nintur, the lady of the womb, Nin-zizna=belit binti, the lady of birth; Nin-Dim, the lady of procreation etc. This explains how the same deity can have different names from place to place and yet be regarded as the same deity such as the reference to Diana of Ephesus in dealing with the temple of the fertility goddess there.

 

Merodach himself was also seen as a god of birth with his spouse perhaps because he was regarded as begetter of the gods. However, the ERE considers that the theory of reflected power may be more correct because Merodach gained this title only after Babylon, of which he was patron, rose to power and the older gods became his manifestations. He is known in this instance as Tutu (rendered mullid ilani, mudil ilani (ERE, ibid.). In connection with birth the Babylonians also practiced fertility drugs and contraception by plants and stones (ibid.).

 

We know beyond doubt from tablets of later date that the hour of birth was carefully noted and the horoscopes were cast, based on careful notations of celestial observations. From tablet K 1285 we deduce that ceremonies were carried out in the Temple of Ishtar, or Istar (Easter), at least for children of people of note. In this tablet she is addressed as Queen of Nineveh (ibid., p. 644).

 

Certain days of the month were auspicious and from the time of the dynasty of Babylon (ca. 2000 BCE) names such as son of the twentieth day (Mar-umi-esra) are found. We know that the 20th of the month was the festival of the sun god Samas or Shamash from which the name Shamus is derived. This seemed to be related to the Victorious shining of the sun (seemingly particularly after eclipses).

 

Bible accounts of birthdays

The keeping of birthdays had entered Judah from the Assyro-Babylonians and was celebrated in Ancient Egypt by banquets, such as we see kept by Pharaoh in Genesis 40:20. In this occasion the baker was put to death.

 

Another occasion was when John the Baptist was killed on Herod’s birthday (Matt.14:6).

Matthew 14:6-9 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 7Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. 8And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 9And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. (KJV)

The practice in this ancient system was tied up in the system of human sacrifice, over the entire system and birthdays are part of that system. We will examine this aspect in the paper The Days of Human Sacrifice.

 

The Bible position on Birthdays appears to be given definitively in the Book of Job.

Job 1:1-12 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. 4And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. (KJV)

Here Job was blessed, but his children followed the ways of the Assyro-Babylonians, when they began celebrating their days or the days of their birth (cf. Companion Bible fn. to v. 4). This is the time of the Israelites in Egypt and Job was listed as a son of Issachar (Gen. 46:13). It appears that this event was told to Moses while he was in Midian and was recorded for the posterity of Israel, when they were removed in the Exodus.

 

Job sacrificed for his children when they performed these festivities on their days, in case they sinned, but when Job was given into Satan’s hands, all of these children were killed for their sins. Job’s comment at Job 3:3 appears to confirm this view. God handed them to the sons of God under Satan to kill them and so sift Job like wheat. They were not sanctified in Job through their iniquity. That is how seriously God views this sin. The lesson here is that this is sin and results in death for the elect and consignment to the second resurrection with the rest of mankind (see the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143)).

 

Birthdays and Human Sacrifice

The disturbing occurrence of human sacrifice with birthdays can not be overlooked. Herodotus shows us that Birthdays were accompanied by a special meal among the Persians (Persian Wars I, 133). In the case of the king there was an annual royal banquet with gifts being given to his subjects (ix, 110).

 

The pre-Hellenistic Greeks celebrated the birthdays of gods and prominent men (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), art. Birthday, Vol. 1, p. 515). The Greek words genéthlia designated these celebrations whilst genésia represented the celebration of the birthday of an important person who was now deceased.

 

In 2Maccabees 6:7 there is the reference to the monthly genéthlia of Antiochus IV, during which the Jews were forced to partake of the sacrifices. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, vii. 3. 1) refers to Titus’ celebration of his brother’s and father’s birthdays (genéthlia) by slaughtering Jewish captives.

 

The reference in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21 shows that apparently the term genésia could be used of important living personages. The ISBE holds that when Herod celebrated his birthday it was in accord with a Hellenistic custom; there is no evidence for the celebration of birthdays in Israel in pre-Hellenistic times (ISBE ibid.). The Name Days that entered Trinitarianism derive for the same sources.

 

The instance of the birthday of Pharaoh from Genesis 40:20 is held to be the only evidence of the celebration of the birthdays of Pharaohs in Egypt in pre-Hellenistic times. Procksh suggests that the annual celebration of the Pharaoh’s enthronement, in which he was born as a god, may be the meaning behind the reference of Genesis 40:20. This would mean that the day of the enthronement became the more important day because it designated a change in the status of the individual who became Pharaoh over and above that of the others. During the Ptolemaic period the Pharaoh’s birthday was celebrated by an amnesty of prisoners (as opposed to the sacrifices we saw previously). This has the same idea behind it in that the power of life and death rests in the god who can dispose of it as he wills. Josephus refers to a celebration  (genésia) at the birth of a son to Ptolemy (A of J, xii, 4, 7-9).

 

Conclusion

Birthdays are tied to the Assyro-Babylonian system and entered the Greeks and Romans through the Persian Hellenisation. It is a specific day in which the individual becomes a god and is part of the ancient system of the satanic mysteries and the inheritors of the Babylonian system. It is tied up with the concepts of human sacrifice and the disposal of life. It is non-Biblical and strikes at the power and authority of God.

 

God gave us the system of His Calendar and His holy days in that sequence. Birthdays based on a false calendar are not part of that system (see God’s Calendar (No. 156)).

 

We will proceed to the next phase of the work, which will deal with the satanic calendar in total and the Days of Human Sacrifice, which is what the calendar and holy day system is all about.

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