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Will You Be
 
My Valentine?
 
             
                 
                         

“Will you be my valentine?” Again, it is that time of the year when businesses popularize that one day a year when people are to show some special person that they are very special. People do this in many different ways. Retail businesses reduce some of their prices in hopes to gain more sales. Theaters reduce prices so one can take their loved one to a movie. Restaurants reduce meal prices so one can treat their spouse or loved one to a special meal. Liquor is sold at reduced prices to encourage their sales. Florists give special prices on flowers. Card and gift shops advertise special prices to encourage the sale of their goods. Commercial establishments use this day to increase their sales so they can increase their profits.

 
   
Advertisers Also Target Young People
The above scenarios are for the not so young. But retail stores also target children. They encourage school children to purchase a card for each child in their class. If a class has 30 pupils and each buys a card for the other children, that totals 870 cards. Multiply this by a small amount for each card and this will total in the hundreds of dollars. Then, multiply this by the number of classrooms in the country doing the same thing and what do we have? A business venture not left alone.
 
   
The Beginning
A number of stories concerning this day have circulated through time to give some credence to its origin. One story has a Roman priest named Valentine who favored young people. At the time when the Roman Empire needed soldiers and the Emperor forbade anyone becoming engaged, much less getting married, this priest defied the Emperor and married a young couple and he was arrested and sentence to die.
    Another legend has Valentine being jailed for helping persecuted Christians. For this he was imprisoned and while there he seemingly helped the jailer’s blind daughter regain her sight. Just before he was executed he sent her a farewell message and signed it “from your valentine.”
    There is a Roman festival named Lupercalia, which was celebrated to honor Lupercus, protector of flocks against wolves. One story attached to this festival was that Roman youths would draw names of young girls to be their partner for this pagan fertility festival. Another story concerning this February 15 day dealt with luperci priests who, after a sacrifice, would choose two youths of noble birth to run through the streets of Rome and lash out at the crowd with goatskin throngs. If a person was struck by the thongs, it was believed to increase their fertility. It was also believed that birds, especially love birds, would begin their mating on February 14.
 
   
Its Meaning Is Lost
The Adversary has once again shown his ability to shadow the true meaning of this pagan celebration. As with other pagan days which society chooses to celebrate, as Halloween or Christmas, Satan has convinced mankind that nothing is wrong with doing something good on this day. Mankind really has had the wool pulled over their eyes. By merely looking in a dictionary or an encyclopedia one can find out for yourself the origin of this day. You will be surprised what those reference books will say.
    Don’t let Satan beguile us. It is of utmost importance you recognize the true meaning of this and all pagan celebrations. Yahweh is most assuredly not for them. He hates manmade festivals. We must turn from them if we want to have a position of rulership in His Kingdom when our Savior, Yahshua, returns to set up that Kingdom.
 
                       
               
-Elder Roger G. Meyer
                   

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