Halloween, Christmas and other popular holidays kept by billions, Lent is generally observed

by dedicated believers. For Catholics and many Protestants, the start of Lent signals

40 days of prayer, self-denial and confession, culminating at Easter.

But what is the truth of this period? Why is it so widely practiced throughout Christendom?

Does God command it? Did Jesus or the original apostles observe it? Did the New Testament

Church? What does the Bible teach about Lent? Prepare to be shocked by the facts from history—and

God's Word!

The World to Come. The Restored Church of God presents David C. Pack. Author of 80 books

and booklets. Editor-in-chief of The Real Truth magazine. Read by countless and growing

numbers in every nation and territory of the world. In a violent age full of bad news.

Answering life's greatest questions straight from the Bible, and announcing the wonderful

good news of the World to Come. And now, David C. Pack.

During the Lenten period, which lasts from Ash Wednesday in late winter to Easter, observers

abstain from certain foods or pleasures. Some give up bad habits like smoking or nail biting.

Others abstain from chocolate or a certain flavor of ice cream, keeping the others. Still

others try to help the environment by walking to work for 40 days instead of driving, or

they use Lent as a time for good works. In recent years, many have been encouraged

to put aside technology—MP3 players, cell phones, text messaging and the Internet. Let's

see: “The Turin [Italy] diocese is suggesting the faithful not watch television during Lent.

In the northeastern city of Trento, the church has created a 'new lifestyles' calendar

with proposals for each week of Lent.” Stopping pleasures and modern devices supposedly

imitates Jesus' 40-day fast in the wilderness, helps the believer understand Christ's suffering

and prepares one for Easter. On the surface, this practice appears well-intentioned,

and adherents seem sincere. But does God approve of it? Does it line up with His Word, the

only source of true spiritual knowledge? God says this to His servants: “The holy scriptures…are

able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture

is given by inspiration of God.” Before examining what the Bible says about

Lent, let's look at its customs, history and origin. Notice this: “The real aim of

Lent is, above all else, to prepare men for the celebration of the death and Resurrection

of Christ…the better the preparation the more effective the celebration will be. One

can effectively relive the mystery only with purified mind and heart. The purpose of Lent

is to provide that purification by weaning men from sin and selfishness through self-denial

and prayer, by creating in them the desire to do God's will and to make His kingdom

come by making it come first…in their hearts.” Sounds noble, but where did Lent come from?

How did it become so widely observed by mainstream Christianity?

Lent comes from the Anglo-Saxon Lencten, meaning “spring” or “lengthen,” as in days

lengthening. The practice came from the ancient Babylonian mystery religion. Notice this:

“The 40 days abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian

goddess…Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary

to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz.”

Tammuz was the Babylonian messiah—an early counterfeit of Jesus Christ!

The Bible records ancient Judah worshipping him. Notice: “Then He brought me to the

door of the gate of the Lord's house…and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”

You will see this was an abomination to God! The Feast of Tammuz was usually celebrated

in June (also called the “month of the festival of Tammuz”). Lent was held 40 days before

this feast, “celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing.” This is why Lent means “spring.”

It took place from spring to early summer. But why did the church at Rome institute such

a pagan holiday? Notice: “To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome,

pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated,

and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar [shifting Lent to earlier],

it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity—now far

sunk in idolatry…(as in so many other things) to shake hands.”

The Roman church replaced the God-ordained Passover with Easter, and moved the pagan

Feast of Tammuz to early spring, thus “Christianizing” it. Lent moved with it. Notice: “This change

of the calendar in regard to Easter was attended with momentous consequences. It brought into

the Church the grossest corruption and the rankest superstition in connection with the

abstinence of Lent.” Just before Lent, the pagans held a wild,

“anything goes” celebration to ensure they participated in enough debaucheries and

perversities before giving them up for Lent. Today, this same celebration is known as Mardi

Gras. Lent was never observed by Jesus or His apostles.

Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go you therefore, and teach all nations…to observe

all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Jesus did not command—or ever even suggest—His

disciples keep Lent or Easter. He did, however, command the keeping of Passover and the Days

of Unleavened Bread. In fact, during His last Passover, Jesus gave detailed instructions

on how to observe it, including the use of new symbols. (Read John 13:1 to 17 and Luke

22:19 and 20.) Now more from a previous source: “The festival,

of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth

centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish Church,

and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter…[Passover] was not idolatrous,

and it was preceded by no Lent. 'It ought to be known,' said Cassianus, the monk of

Marseilles, writing in the fifth century, and contrasting the primitive [New Testament]

Church with the Church in his day, 'that the observance of the 40 days had no existence,

so long as the…primitive Church remained inviolate.'”

Lent was not observed by the first century Church! It was first introduced by the Roman

church during the Council of Nicea in AD 325, when Emperor Constantine officially recognized

that church as the state religion of the empire. Any form of Christianity that held to doctrines

contrary to the Roman church was considered an enemy of the state. (To understand God's

Church, read my book Where Is the True Church? -- and Its Incredible History!)

In 360, the Council of Laodicea officially commanded Lent be observed. Let's read:

“The emphasis was not so much on the fasting as on the spiritual renewal that the preparation

for Easter demanded. It was simply a period marked by fasting, but not necessarily one

in which the faithful fasted every day. However, as time went on, more and more emphasis was

laid upon fasting…During the early centuries (from the fifth century on especially) the

observance of the fast was very strict. Only one meal a day, toward evening, was allowed.”

From the ninth century on, strictness was relaxed. More emphasis was on performing “penitential

works” than fasting and abstinence. Let's see this: “Abstinence is to be observed

on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of the year that do not fall on holy days of obligation,

and fasting as well as abstinence is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.”

On Ash Wednesday, priests apply cross-shaped ashes to foreheads to show repentance and

mourning. Today, Lent means fasting to forsake all sinful

ways. It is defined as a season “for penance, which means sorrow for sin and conversion

to God.” This tradition teaches that fasting and employing self-discipline during Lent

will give a worshipper the “control over himself that he needs to purify his heart

and renew his life.” But what does the Bible say about how a Christian

draws closer to God and purifies himself? First, God's Word shows self-control comes

from having God's Spirit working in the life of a converted mind. Notice: “Walk

in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh…the fruit of the Spirit

is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [or

self-control].” Fasting cannot produce godly self-control.

The Bible warns against using self-denial as a tool of growth, calling this will worship.

Let's read what the apostle Paul wrote: “If you be dead with Christ from the rudiments

of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances [that's

human ordinances], (touch not; taste not; handle not…) after the commandments and

doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility

[that's false humility], and neglecting of the body.”

God did not design fasting to be a tool for penance, meaning to “beat yourself up,”

or to develop will power. Let's read: “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for

a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth

and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is

not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy

burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to

deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house?

When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own

flesh?” God's people humble themselves through fasting

to draw close to Him—so they can learn to think and act like Him—so they can live

His Way in all things. Fasting and prayer help in this process. Let's read this: “Submit

yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God,

and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts,

you double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning,

and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift

you up.” Also recognize the Bible teaches that true

Christians are purified—cleansed or set apart and made pure in God's sight—by

the shed blood of Jesus—not by self-denial. Notice: “If the blood of bulls and of goats,

and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the

flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself

without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

and “Almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood

is no remission.” And finally: “Jesus…sanctif[ies] the people with His own blood.”

Faith also plays a role in the conversion process: “[God] put no difference between

us and them [Paul wrote, referring to the Gentiles in context], purifying their hearts

by faith.” Next understand that one cannot, by his or

her own power, create even the desire to do God's will. Although God has given mankind

free moral agency, plain Bible verses show that the carnal, natural mind cannot—will

not—submit to God. Notice: “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of

the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit…Because the carnal

mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed

can be.” Only in a converted mind, actively led by His Spirit, can God, it says, work

“in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

Also recall that Lent adherents strive to make God's “kingdom come by making it

come first in their hearts.” This is an unbiblical concept taught by modern Christendom.

God is not setting up His kingdom in the hearts of men.

The World to Come will continue. In addition to the literature ordered with this program,

you will receive a free one-year subscription to The Real Truth! This magazine answers the

question, why so much bad news in today's headlines? It explains the root causes behind

the bad effects and points to the good news of the only possible solution—the soon-coming

kingdom of God! Your subscription is free with any literature order.

Directly related to Lent, what about Easter? Since two billion people keep it, supposedly

to honor Christ's Resurrection, the Bible must authorize it. Surely many verses mention

rabbits, eggs, egg hunts, baskets of candy, hot cross buns, Good Friday, sunrise services

and Easter itself—right? The Bible is the source of all things Christian—or

should be. Does it mention Easter? It does, but not as you think!

Acts 12 describes persecution against the Church, involving the brutal murder by sword

of the apostle James. Notice: “Then were the days of unleavened bread.” The early

New Testament Church was observing these feast days described in Leviticus 23. Next: “When

he [that's King Herod] had apprehended [Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to

four quarternions of soldiers [that's 16] to keep him; intending after Easter to bring

him forth to the people.” Is this Bible authority for Easter? No!

This passage is not talking about Easter. The word Easter is translated from pascha—which

derives from the Hebrew word pesach. There is no Greek word for Passover—and pascha

has only one meaning. It always means Passover. It can never mean Easter! So we find a Hebrew

word used in the Greek New Testament. Other translations, like the New King James, the

Revised Standard Version and the New English Bible, correctly use “Passover.”

Instead of endorsing Easter, Acts 12 in fact proves the Church was still keeping God's

Passover 11 years after Jesus' death! This becomes its own statement about the rejection

of Easter. No scriptures support Easter. None! There

are absolutely no verses, anywhere in the Bible, that in any way authorize or even permit

celebrating Easter! And God's Word says nothing about Lent, eggs, egg hunts, or baskets

of candy—although it does mention hot cross buns and sunrise services as practices God

condemns. You will later see this. The mistranslation of Acts 12 is a not-so-subtle

attempt to insert a pagan festival into Scripture to authorize it—just like the pagan Lent

was inserted into Christianity by Rome to authorize it.

So then, where did Easter originate? The vast majority of ecclesiastical and secular historians

know that Easter—and the traditions surrounding it—are deeply rooted in pagan religion.