Written by: Damien Powell
The world has forsaken YHWH’s Holy Days also known as Shabbats to follow Satan whether knowingly or unknowingly. When the world celebrates holidays not found in the Bible then the decision has been made to rebel against our Creator. Meaning that they are walking AWAY from YHWH instead of WITH YHWH! In this article/broadcast I will show the origin of Thanksgiving and how it involves the worship of pagan harvest deities; how the day was instituted by man and not YHWH; and how these days are knock off Thanksgivings of YHWH’s TRUE thanksgiving called Sukkot: The Feast of Ingathering, The Feast of Booths, and The Feast of Tabernacles that ended in October. As we know Satan always mocks everything YHWH does as I mentioned Shabbats versus his knock off sabbats; as he said he wants to be like the Most High, but he never will be able to be. Unfortunately, the world is giving him the impression that he can by giving him worship on these days. Satan has deceived the world again, accept the world thinks this holiday is more innocent than the others.
What false deity is Satan using?
Acts 19:27
“And not only is this trade of ours in danger of coming to rejection, but also that the temple of the great female mighty one Artemis whom ALL ASIA AND THE WORLD WORSHIP, shall be regarded as worthless and her greatness diminished.”
Now Paul did what he was supposed to do which was expose the false pagan deities and show that there is only ONE Elohim YHWH and His Son YESHUA who created the heavens and earth.
Galatians 4:8
“But then, indeed, not knowing Elohim, you served those which by nature are not mighty ones.”
Now notice how in Acts 19:27 Demetrio’s the silversmith who built silver shrines for Artemis and the other craftsmen recognized that all Asia and the world were worshipping a false deity, though to them she was real. Satan moved the true Thanksgiving which is The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) to a false one in November for those who do not know the truth. Fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 along with all his pagan days, which says
“And it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the saints of the Most High, and it intends to change Appointed Times and Law.”
What Appointed Times and Law?
Leviticus 23:1-2
“And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Yisra’el, and say to them, ‘The Appointed Times of YHWH, which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings, My Appointed Times, are these:”
YHWH then lists the weekly 7th Day Sabbath, not Sunday, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Shavuot (Pentecost), Yom Teruah (Trumpets), Yom Kippur (Atonement), Feat of Tabernacles, and the 8th Day Assembly. 99% of the world has rejected these days for Satan’s days. So wouldn’t this quality what Daniel 7:25 said “he intends to change the Appointed Times”. And yes Apostle Paul observed all of these Holy Days, Appointed Times, and Shabbats of YHWH as I pointed out in the last article/broadcast last week.
The whole world has fallen into the snare of worshipping Artemis and these other pagan harvest deities. How? By Satan who leads the WHOLE WORLD astray Revelation 12:9.
“And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who leads the WORLD astray. He was thrown to earth, and his messengers were thrown out with him.”
Who is Artemis that the whole world worships? Artemis on an article titled “The cult of Artemis” says this
“Artemis: Great Mother and Divine Huntress
She was chief hunter of the gods and goddess of hunting and of wild animals, especially bears. Artemis was also the goddess of childbirth, of NATURE, AND OF THE HARVEST. It is believed that she was first this caring earth mother goddess and later after many religious changes became the virgin huntress of myth.”
So we see that she was a deity of the harvest, which Thanksgiving is, and also known as the mother goddess which would link her to Jeremiah 7:18 which says
“The children are gathering wood, the fathers are lighting the fire, and the women are kneading their dough, to make cakes for the queen of the heavens, and to pour out drink offerings to other mighty ones, to provoke Me.”
As believers and followers of The Messiah YESHUA we are commanded to celebrate Chag HaSukot aka The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), The Feast of Ingathering which is the ONLY true Thanksgiving. This feast and celebration was commanded by YHWH in Leviticus 23:33 saying:
“Speak unto the children of Yisra’el, saying, the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto YHWH.”
And in Exodus 23:16 YHWH says:
“And the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field.”
Finally in Deuteronomy 16:13 YHWH says:
“Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, after thou hast gathered in the produce of your threshing floor and your wine.”
Why do we need 2 Thanksgivings?
So the question arises to us as followers of YESHUA is why do we need to give thanks for the harvest 30 days after we have already given thanks to Elohim on the day that He commanded us to give thanks, which is The Feast of Tabernacles? This widely celebrated holiday is often overlooked because it seems innocent enough on the surface, but underneath this day fits in with all the other pagan days. Below are facts about Thanksgiving Day:
YHWH commanded all believers to celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles and to dwell in booths. The Thanksgiving celebrated in November is not found in scripture.
Australians have a “Corn mother doll” also known as Kern baby fashioned from a sheaf of grain cut in the field and the Kern baby which is the last of the standing corn of the biggest and ripest ears of corn to be found in the field. The spirit dwells among the corn and also required child sacrifices. Child sacrifices? This sounds a lot like Moloch the deity that the children of Yisra’el passed their children through the fire too. There are similarities and definitely nothing holy about child sacrifices at all. Tales from the kern baby says this in an article “Till recent years a rather common form of the revelry and thanksgiving which have ever taken place at the ingathering of the harvest was the Kern (notice how they use the exact same terminology that YHWH uses to describe the true Thanksgiving He created for Sukkot aka The Feast of Ingathering in Exodus 23:16?) One of the customs of Ceres, it had many local variations. It was observed in the northern part of Northumberland at the close of the reaping, not the ingathering. Immediately the sickle was laid down and the last sheaf set on the end the men shouted that they had “got the kern”. Then a curious image was produced an image dressed in a white frock with colored ribbons and crowned with corn ears-stuck on a pole, and held aloft by the strongest man of the party while the rest circled round it. Subsequently it was taken to the barn, set on high, and the merry makers fell to on the HARVEST SUPPER.
The Romans dedicated their Thanksgiving to the goddess of the harvest Ceres and they called it Cecelia (where we get the name cereal).
In England they would select a harvest queen and decorate her with grain of their fields and fruit of the trees. She was then paraded through the streets on white horses.
The Greeks honored Demeter the goddess of agriculture
Outside of the pagan goddesses receiving credit for the harvest and being worshipped, Thanksgiving is a day decreed by man and not The Elohim of Yisra’el. Governor Bradford in 1621 decreed Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks for the harvest and other blessing of the past year.
Abraham Lincoln in 1863 made Thanksgiving a national holiday to praise God (Cannot be Elohim of Yisra’el) by observing and setting apart the last Thursday of November as an annual festival of thanks for mercies of closing out the year. So again this day was instituted by human beings. Set apart means holy and everything about YHWH and YESHUA are set apart, not these pagan celebrations.
Indians were moved off of their homeland and thrown into reservation camps. Infants were taken from their mothers and killed. It was a sweet victory for William Bradford and the pilgrims and they gave thanks to their god for it. Remember 2 Corinthians 4:4 says “In whom the mighty one (god) of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving of the Good News of the esteem of Messiah, who is the likeness of Elohim, does not shine on them.” So Satan is the god or elohim of this world. So which god are they thanking? After stealing the land of the Indians by deception and murder they celebrated it with a feast of Thanksgiving. Millions of Indians were murdered just like millions of Jews were murdered and put in concentration camps. The difference is we know it's wrong to have a feast over the Holocaust, what makes this massacre any different?
If the pagan portion of harvest deities doesn’t dissuade you, then what about the innocent slaughter of Native Americans on that day? The Indians call the day the world calls “Thanksgiving” a “Day of mourning.” In other words, the meal you enjoy on this day is actually celebrating the death and suffering of Native Americans while they weep and have bad memories of what took place. Would anyone have a big feast for the Holocaust knowing what the Jews endured under Hitler? Absolutely not! What makes this day any different? It is my opinion that the Native Americans mourn on this day and some of their souls are crying out to Elohim because their innocent blood was shed. This is what happened when Cain killed Abel and Elohim said to Cain in Genesis 4:8-12:
“Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And He said, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”
The Book of Enoch, one of the books removed from the Bible, goes into the further detail about the souls of the dead. Enoch was shown the secrets of Heaven and death by Elohim through the messenger Raphael and this is his account of the Cain and Abel situation in Chapter 22:4-10:
“I saw the spirit of a dead man, and his voice went out to heaven and made petitions. And I asked Raphael the messenger/malach/angel who was with me, and I said to him: ‘This spirit which petitions, whose voice goes up is and petitions heaven?” And he answered me saying: ‘This is the spirit which went out from Abel, whom his brother Cain slew, and he makes his suit against him until his offspring is destroyed from the face of the earth, and his offspring are annihilated from among the children of men.’ Then I asked, regarding all the hollow places: Why is one separated from the other? And he answered me and said to me: ‘These three have been made that the spirits of the dead might be separated. Divisions have been made for the spirits of the righteous, in which there is the bright spring of water. And one for sinners when they die and are buried in the earth and judgment has not been executed on them in their lifetime.’
The spirits of some of the Native Americans cry out and make petitions to Elohim just as Abel did against Cain and Elohim hears those petitions that reach heaven. They are dead to us but their spirits cry out from the ground. Remember, that YHWH scattered His people to the four corners of the earth; therefore, His people are of all nationalities including some Native Americans. When you celebrate this day you are recreating a pagan ritual that was horrific for Indians.
Colossians 2:8 says:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on the tradition of men and the basic principles of this world rather than on the Messiah.”
YHWH tells us bluntly in Amos 5:21:
“I hate, I despise your FEAST days, and I will NOT smell in your solemn assemblies.”
Paul understood this in Galatians 4:7-9 saying:
“So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, also an heir of Elohim through Mashiach. But then, indeed, not knowing Elohim, you served those which by nature are not mighty ones. But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters, to which you want to be enslaved again? You closely observe days and months and seasons and years.”
1 Corinthians 12:2
“You know that you were gentiles, led away to the dumb idols, even as you might be led.”
Once you come to know the true Elohim and follow YESHUA, how do you go backwards and continue into pagan worship to be enslaved by the chains of Satan again? You WERE a gentile, pagan, or heathen, but now that you know the truth you have become a citizen of Yisra’el. Therefore, you are supposed to leave those pagan practices behind and follow Elohim’s Commands and Holy Days (Sabbaths) Appointed Times in Leviticus 23. However, believers turn to the elementary things of this world and closely observe days, months, seasons and years that belong to Satan and not YHWH. This ties in exactly with what YHWH said in Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feast days”
1 Corinthians 10:6-12
“And these became examples for us, so that we should not lust after evil, as those indeed lusted. And do not become idolaters as some of them, as it has been written, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood up to play.” Neither should we commit whoring (spiritual idolatry), as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell, neither let us try Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were destroyed by serpents, neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. And all these came up on them as example, and they were written as A WARNING to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come, so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.”
Notice how Paul says that they committed WHORING which is sexual immorality or spiritual idolatry and 23,000 fell that day? This is what happened in Numbers 25 for Yisra’el worshipping a false deity as many are today.
Numbers 25:1-4
“And Yisra’el dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to WHORE with the daughters of Moab, and they invited the people to the slaughtering’s of their mighty ones, and the people ate and bowed down to their mighty ones. Thus Yisra’el was joined to Ba’al Pe’or, and the displeasure of YHWH burned against Yisra’el. And YHWH said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them up before YHWH, before the sun, so that the burning displeasure of YHWH turns away from Yisra’el.” And Moses said to the judges of Yisra’el, “Each one of you slay his men who were joined to Ba’al Pe’or.”
Celebrating these pagan days is not for YHWH no matter how you disguise it by changing the name to a harvest festival because it is still about the worship of false harvest deities that did not make one grain of wheat grow. Thanks should be given to YHWH and YESHUA alone for the food that you have been given. YHWH told Moses to hang those people who joined in with this demon, so that means that you are hanging yourself in the spiritual realm and committing a spiritual death by joining yourself to Satan on these days.
Paul also said that these accounts in Scripture were written as a warning for us to not follow their examples. Yet, the world refuses to follow YESHUA in truth who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
Acts 26:18
“To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and the authority of Satan to Elohim, in order for them to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are kadosh (sanctified) by belief in Me.”
As always, let us stand up and fight for the Elohim of Yisra’el in truth and stay away from these holidays which are not commanded by YHWH Elohim.
Peace and blessings to you in the name of our Messiah YESHUA!