by Linda Hoffman
Nine-year-old Walter sat quietly at the window, looking out at the sky. His younger brother sat close by, busily playing with some homemade wooden cars on the floor. Grandma was working in the kitchen, preparing a meal for the hungry children. Walter looked longingly toward the road. “I wonder when Mom and Dad will return from their trip to Iowa?” he thought to himself.
His father had been sick with stomach cancer for some time. His mother had been told of a doctor down in Iowa who could possibly help her ailing husband, so they had gotten into the old car and headed south. Grandma was to stay with the children and help keep the home running and everyone fed. Times were hard. It was the 1930’s, the Great Depression years. Thank God they still had something to eat, though it was pretty meager at times. Their little farm and livestock were still supporting them.
Walter felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into Grandma’s eyes. “Sonny, I’ve been calling for supper, are you ready to eat something? You must be missing your parents, if I have my guess right. You have been so absorbed that you didn’t hear me call you.”
Just as Walter was standing up to join the family at the table, a bird flew up to the window sill, sat there for a moment, then flew away. “Oh, no!” Grandma cried. “Your father just died! That bird is a bad omen.” She turned and looked at the old mantel clock. It said 5:30.
Later, Walter was to learn that his father had indeed died on that very day and at that very hour. The widowed mother had to drive back home with her dead husband in the back of the car.
This is a true story. Walter is my dad. He told me this story when I was young. As you can imagine, it made quite an impression on me.
If a bird sits on a window sill, is it an omen that someone has died or will die? No! I’ve seen birds do that many times and it was never associated with someone’s death. So why did it happen that way in my father’s story? Those older folks, such as his Grandma, had grown up with these superstitions and didn’t know any different. In Russia where they had come from, the people had many superstitious beliefs and, even after they became Christians, they still continued to believe lies from Satan’s kingdom. “But,” you may say, “It actually happened. That bird fluttered on the window sill at the very time your grandfather died.” I believe that Satan takes advantage of those who believe superstitious things. He uses those things to influence their minds. He can make something happen in the way someone believes it will happen. Such things are not from God. Let me show you from scripture.
Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Leviticus 19:26
There shall 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. Deuteronomy 18:10-11
I want you to notice the phrase “observer of times.” What does the Torah forbid here? Let’s look at these words carefully.
The word for “times” is H6049 in Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary:
H6049 aw-nan’ A primitive root; to cover; used only as denominative from H6051, to cloud over; figuratively to act covertly, that is, practise magic: – X bring, enchanter, Meonemin, observe (-r of) times, soothsayer, sorcerer.
At first, as I was looking at this word, I wondered what a cloud had to do with observing times. So I went to the commentaries and found something very interesting.
from Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible:
“Observer of times” – One who pretends to foretell future events by present occurrences, and who predicts great political or physical changes from the aspects of the planets, eclipses, motion of the clouds, etc., etc.
from John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes:
“Useth divination” – Foretelleth things secret or to come, by unlawful arts and practices. An observer of times – Superstitiously pronouncing some days lucky, and others unlucky. Or, an observer of the clouds or heavens, one that divineth by the motions of the clouds, by the stars, or by the flying or chattering of birds, all which Heathens used to observe. An inchanter – Or, a conjecturer, that discovers hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of water or smoke or any contingencies. A witch – One that is in covenant with the devil.
The commentaries helped me understand what was involved in these practices and how clouds were a part of this picture: fortune-telling by planet movements, eclipses, and motions of the clouds. Pronouncing lucky days is also a part of the picture. When I looked it up in my old German Martin Luther Bible that belonged to my Great Grandpa, I read something about day-choosing and birds screaming. That puzzled me until I read Wesley’s commentary on lucky days and on the flight and chatter of birds. My Great Grandmother was telling events by the flight of birds. This is forbidden in Scripture, though I am sure she did not realize this, since she was first converted in her old age.
So the idea is that no one is to predict events in life now or in the future by means of cloud movements, lucky days, the movements of planets, stars, or the sun. Basically, this scripture forbids astrology and superstition.
A further study of these words brought me to another interesting scripture passage.
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:8-11.
Here again we see the observing of times, as is referred to in the Old Testament. Lucky days are mentioned. Also the practice of astrology, foretelling the future by Leo or Pisces, the sign of one’s birth month, etc.
It seems quite clear, when we use the Old Testament to interpret the New, what these verses are referring to. No wonder Paul was afraid for the Galatians’ salvation. They were going back into those heathen practices of astrology and superstition. Do those superstitions bring a person into captivity or bondage? Yes, because he is subject to many fears and disappointments that he would have been spared otherwise. Also, it makes him vulnerable to the suggestions of Satan.
There is another way in which we can observe heathen practices in regard to “observing times.” Included in the worship of the sky were the special holidays in honor of those heavenly bodies. In heathenism, the first day of the week was commemorated as a holy day in honor of the worship of the sun. This is where the Christian world gets the practice of Sunday worship. The Bible gives only the weekly seventh-day Sabbath as a day to honor the Creator. Easter is also in honor of the Sun god of the heathen, right along with Christmas. So how did we get these days in our Christian heritage? Here is a quote by a Bishop of the Catholic church that may help us understand this mystery.
Letter from T. Enright, CSSR
Bishop of St. Alphonsus Church
St. Louis, MO
June, 1905
Dear Friend,
I have offered and still offer $1000 to any one who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound, under grievous sin to keep Sunday holy. It was the Catholic Church which made the law obliging us to keep Sunday holy. The church made this law long after the Bible was written. Hence said law is not in the Bible. Christ, our Lord empowered his church to make laws binding in conscience. He said to his apostles and their lawful sucessors (sic) in the priesthood “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be binding in heaven.” Mth. 16:19. Mth. 18:17. Luke 16:19. The Catholic Church abolished not only the Sabbath, but all the other Jewish festivals. Pray and study. I shall be always glad to help you as long as you honestly seek the truth.
Respectfully,
T. Enright CSSR
It was long ago that the Catholic church changed these days. Surely they are acceptable now. They are not “observing times” or witch craft now, are they? Here is a quote from a modern-day person who was involved in the occult. Let’s see what he says:
“Witchcraft is very real but greatly misunderstood. I know because witchcraft goes back on the paternal side of my family for over five generations to Chesterfield, Massachusetts in 1770. My great grandmother became a well-known witch in Wisconsin in the early days of this century . . . By the time I was 19, I had reached my first goal. I was a powerful witch . . . I did not know it at the time, but a dear old woman had been praying for me every day for a long time . . . a friend . . . persuaded me to come to church with him. One week late, I was baptized . . .”
“Eight times each year, the witches celebrated a sabbot . . . I also learned that the Roman Catholic Church copied and renamed all of the eight sabbots . . . the winter Solstice became Christmas . . . the vernal equinox was celebrated as Easter.”
“Raised with the occult, . . . I wanted real magic. The so-called Christians were cursing themselves and their children by copying the craft that their tenets forbade. I knew full well that so-called Christians were coping what my ancestors had done for many centuries.” (from an article “What’s Wrong with Halloween” by Pastor David J. Meyer)
Many times I have heard the idea presented that the days, times, and years mentioned in Galatians 4 were the seven Biblical Feasts given in Leviticus 23, namely the Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. But if we look at the texts carefully we will see that this interpretation is impossible! First, I would like to remind you that 7 is the number of perfection. Now let’s look at what Paul himself tells us he was talking about.
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:8-11.
What does this text tell us?
1. These “days, and months, and times, and years” were associated with the worship of “no gods.”
2. The Galatians were returning to what they had left before becoming Christians.
3. It was bondage to return.
4. Paul was afraid for their eternal salvation.
Now, let’s look at this logically. How could Paul, in his right mind, call the God of Heaven a “no god?” It was the God of Heaven who gave the Feasts in Leviticus 23. If we Christians say those Feasts are what Paul is referring to, then we are guilty of calling the Creator God a “no god.” This seems to me to be a grievous sin which I would not wish to answer for in the Judgment.
These converts from paganism were not Jews and never had been. They had not observed God’s Holy Days prior to becoming Christians. How could they return to something they had never kept?
To say that these former heathen would be in bondage by keeping the joyous Holy Days that the Lord had given Israel is absurd. Could a Christian really conceive in his mind that to participate in days reminding him of what God has done for him could in any way bring him into the bondage of Satan? Why would God have ever given the Jews such days if they would only bring bondage? I have personally participated in those God-given Holy Days and received the greatest spiritual blessings in my life! It has broadened my understanding of the scriptures, the Plan of Salvation, and the eternal destiny of the saved. I have experienced wonderful fellowship and the Lord has put in my heart the promise of His renewal of the Everlasting Covenant with me. What a blessing it has been!
Going back to heathenism would bring bondage and endanger anyone’s salvation.
With these understandings, I would like to conclude with a promise from our Father in Heaven.
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12
The Biblical Feasts were given by God. Easter and Christmas are the product of heathenism. Which would God want you to observe?
