In the tenth chapter of Genesis, verses eight to twelve, we read: "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. And Resen between Nineveh and Calah, the same is a great city."

The greatest of the cities that Nimrod built was Babel or Babylon. In this city, the sun worship rose to its highest peak. You may be wondering how the sun worship came around in the first place. Before the time of Nimrod, giants, as we would call them today, lived upon the earth. As time went on however, men were born smaller, weaker and less intelligent. But Nimrod seemed to have retained all the strength and wisdom of those who were born immediately after the fall of Adam, as they were not so degenerate then.

Because of his strength and wisdom, Nimrod was able to do mighty acts, especially with his hunting weapons. Human beings, who did not wish to worship God, or admit that He was the ruler of the universe, began to exalt Nimrod as a superhuman, and worship him as a god.

Only one person surpassed Nimrod in his arrogance and pride. It was his wife Semiramis. She was very beautiful and cunning, wielding her power with a strong hand. To the rejecters of God, Nimrod and Semiramis, in their strength, beauty and power, seemed as the gods of the sun and moon. The people therefore worshiped them as the sun god and the moon god.

Then, one day, Nimrod died. History gives only vague accounts of what happened. It is quite probable that he was killed while out hunting. Anyway, he left to his wife a large dominion and an equally large dilemma. Semiramis wished to hold on to the large empire that Nimrod had built. There seemed only one way to do this and that way she pursued with zeal. This is what she told the people.

Nimrod’s spirit had ascended to the sun, she claimed. He now had a new and elevated role as their protector and helper. Every morning, she said, he rose to bring life and light to land, animals and people. At the going down of the sun, he plunged below the edge of the earth to battle with the evil spirits and devils that would otherwise wipe out mankind. If the battle was bloody, the red sky would bear witness to the fact. Each morning and on other specified days, the people were to bring offerings and lay them before the sun, worshipping it as their leader who had departed.

Semiramis’ plan was very successful. The people, left with nothing but human reasoning and passion, accepted the fiction of Semiramis. Unknown to them, they had now become the game of Satan, as he laid the foundation of paganism.

The first day of the week was dedicated to Nimrod, the sun god, and the other six days of the week to six other gods. Our own weekdays retain the Teutanic names of the same planetary deities. Sunday, as mentioned before, commemorates the sun; Monday the moon; Tuesday Mars (Tiu); Wednesday Mercury (Woden); Thursday Jupiter (Thor); Friday Venus (Frig or Freda), and Saturday Saturn.

As time passed, the leaders in religious worship began to add doctrines and ceremonies to the worship of the sun. The people were told that the sun gave life and therefore needed life to keep it alive in its course across the sky. The people, kept in blindness by the devil, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of men, women, children, and animals to the sun.

One spring, a few years after the death of Nimrod, Semiramis was found to be with child. Calling all the great men of the kingdom of Babylon together, she told them a most remarkable, but untrue story. She claimed that Nimrod had impregnated her through the rays of the sun. Because the baby would be the offspring of gods, it too would be a god. And thus Semiramis would be the "mother of god." Everyone accepted her story without question, and greatly looked forward to the birth of this "child of the gods."

On December 25, Tammuz, the supposed child of the sun god, was born. Of course, his birth was heralded as a great miracle. It fell during the slowly lengthening days that fall immediately after the solstice of winter. His birth was looked upon as the sun’s rebirth and was therefore a day of great rejoicing. December 25 was forever thereafter celebrated as the birthday of the sun god and became a yearly holiday with feasting throughout the kingdom.

Tammuz also, according to legend, became a great hunter. His greatest conquest was his supposed union with Ishtar, the "mother goddess" of natural reproduction. She was also thought to be the moon goddess and the queen of heaven. (She was also the main female deity of the Assyrians).

Ishtar can also be identified in other nations with variations and a different name. Some of the names are Ashtoreth (Phoenician), Astarte (Greek and Roman), Eastre (Teutanic and Saxon). In Egypt her counterpart was Isis, sister and wife of Osiris, the mother of Horus. Early signs that came to be identified with Ishtar were eggs and rabbits. Her yearly celebration took place around the first full moon that followed the spring equinox, when all nature was alive with reproductive vitality.

One day young Tammuz met his death on the tusks of a wild boar. Legend says that three days later Tammuz resurrected himself, or that Ishtar went to another world to find him. Supposedly days later she did find him, but during the time that she was gone, all passion of love ceased and the whole earth mourned. When the time of mourning was over Tammuz was made sun god and Ishtar the moon god. Their fame was even greater than that of Nimrod and Semiramis.

Every year that followed the death of Tammuz, 40 days preceding Ishtar’s festival were set aside to weep and mourn for the sufferings and death of Tammuz. At the end of this time of mourning and sadness, on the first day of the week early in the morning, the people traveled to the highest points near their homes. There they would offer wine, meat, and incense to the sun. Then, while laying face down on the ground, they would proclaim, "Our lord is risen."

From there they would go to the festival of Ishtar. In preparation for this festival, small cakes were made, inscribed with the cross (a pagan fertility symbol), baked in the sun and eaten as part of the feast. The day would be one of revelry, often including human sacrifices.

It may be unsettling to learn that all of our present holidays, with the exception of Thanksgiving, stem from the practices of pagans and Satan worshippers. The first day of the week, set apart to worship Tammuz, was set aside by the Catholic Church, as a day to worship Christ on, in direct opposition to the fourth commandment as given us by God. December 25, the birthdate of Tammuz, was set aside as Christ’s birthday. The time of mourning for Tammuz became the time of Lent.

The cakes to the queen of heaven or Ishtar became hot cross buns, and the fertility rites evolved into Easter. (Incidentally Easter is still a movable festival that finds its date each year from the cycles of the moon. It is always celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.)

Even the pagan lesser holy days or holidays are being used by the Christian culture. In the autumn, the season of decay, spirits of those who had died were thought to hover around. Many feared that if the spirits were not prayed for and given food and shelter, they would haunt them with misfortune. This is where the trick or treat practice came in. Today All Soul’s Day is left with us, the evening before being the Eve of all Hallows or Halloween.

Saint Valentine’s Day is what is left of Lupercalia, a spring purification rite. During this time priests with goatskin whips would run through the streets striking women to ensure them of fertility. Matchmaking would occur later in the day between young people. The goatskin whips became the little arrows shot by Cupid, and matchmaking became the passing of Valentine’s cards.

What does God have to say about all this? In regards to the forsaking of the only true God and going to worship other gods, the Bible says many things. Here are a few examples.

Exodus 20:3-5 says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." We know that it was frequent practice among many peoples to make images of what they were worshipping.

Matthew 4:10 commands us, "Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." To Israel, God’s chosen people at that time, the Lord said, "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Exodus 22:20.

In Deuteronomy 12:31 Moses informs us of the attitude of God toward those who took the lives of their children. He says, ". . .Every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire unto their gods."

Jeremiah writes about the festival of Ishtar in Jeremiah 7:17, 18 "Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."

Ezekiel 8:14,16 also tells us of two of the other abominations, which the children of Israel copied. "Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east."

What does God think of Christians celebrating Halloween, the day that witches and others use as a religious holiday to the devil? Paul asks in II Corinthians 6:14-16, "…What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? … And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?…" In the camp of Israel the Lord told them "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exodus 22:18.

In Deuteronomy 18:9-12 God commanded the Israelites thus, "When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shalt not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out before thee."

Another thing that has come from paganism is the idea to worship God on Sunday. If you remember, this was the day the pagans worshipped the sun on. But the Bible tells us which day to keep in Exodus 20:8-11.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

If you look on the calendar, which day is the first day and which is the seventh. They were put in that order for a reason, you know.

Does God change what He says? Are we, because we are in a different age than back then, to keep the holidays, which originated from paganism? Malachi 3:6 tells us, "For I am the LORD, I change not;…"