The deception behind February 14(part 1)

According to the Encyclopedia, “Valentine, Saint, is the name associated with two martyrs of the early Christian Church.  Little is known about them.  The Roman history of martyrs lists two Saint Valentines as having been martyred on February 14 by being beheaded.  One supposedly died in Rome and the other at Interamna, now Terni, 60 miles from Rome.  There is no conclusive evidence for doubting the existence of either man.

            The Saint Valentine who died in Rome seems to have been a priest who suffered death during the persecution of Claudius the Goth about A.D. 269.  A basilica was built in his honor in Rome in A.D. 350, and a catacomb containing  his remains was found on this location .

     The custom of exchanging valentines on February 14 can be traced to the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer.  He mentioned that birds began to pair off on that day.”

            Today, Valentine’s Day is a special day when people send greeting cards to their sweethearts, friends, and members of their family.  Most Valentine’s cards have romantic connotations, verses, and often feature “Cupid” and his arrows aimed at the heart, with the message, “Be My Valentine.

The Origin of Cupid

            The central figure of Valentine’s Day is Cupid, the Roman god of love.  He is called Eros in Greek mythology.  Myths describe Cupid as a handsome lad who united lovers whenever he could.  Early images show him as an athletic young man, but by the mid-300’s B.C. he had evolved to a chubby naked infant with wings, holding a bow and arrows.  If one was shot by one of his arrows, he or she supposedly fell in love. 

            The origin of Cupid and his prominence in pagan religion is discussed in Hislop’s Two Babylons. He mentions that the ancient poet Aristophanes declared “we are informed that he from whom both ‘mighty ones’ and gods derived their origin, was none other than the winged boy Cupid.”  In a footnote Hislop declares, “Aristophanes says that Eros or Cupid produced the ‘birds’ and ‘gods’ by ‘mingling all things.’  This evidently points to the meaning of the name Bel, which signifies at once ‘the mingler’ and ‘the confounder.  This name properly belonged to the father of Nimrod, but, as the son is represented as identified with the father, we have evidence that the name descended to the son and others by inheritance”
 Cupid occupied the very same position as Ninus the “son” did to Rhea, the mother of the gods.  Nimrod was the first of the “mighty ones” after the Flood, as we read in Genesis, “Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD” (Gen.10:8-9). 

Thus Cupid, the god of love, was none other than the infant NIMROD, the one who taught rebellion against the LORD, Yahveh, after the Flood – the one who led the revolt against God’s laws, and who attempted to build the tower of Babel, to strike against heaven and the heavenly host!  Cupid is pictured as a child hunter, with bow and arrows, and grew up to be “the mighty hunter before [i.e. against] the LORD.” 

The Latin for word “Valentine” alludes to this major trait of Nimrod, the mighty hunter.  The Latin word for “Valentine” is “Valentinus,” a proper name derived from the word valens which means “to be strong.  It literally means, “strong, powerful, mighty.”  Nimrod was, remember, the “MIGHTY hunter against the Lord.”  He was renown in the ancient world for his muscular strength skillful hunting and bowmanship, and war-waging prowess.

The Moffatt Translation says, “Ethiopia produced Nimrod, the first man on earth to be a despot (he was a mighty hunter before the Eternal; hence the proverb, ‘Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Eternal’).  His empire at first was Babylon, Uruk, Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar; from which he pushed out into Assyria . . .” (Gen.10:8-11). 

Nimrod was not only physically powerful, and skillful at hunting game, including voracious leopards and lions, but he was also a “hunter” of the souls of men, who strove to lead mankind into idolatry, and worship of pagan gods, of whom he was considered the chief – a man who declared himself to be “God” in the flesh. 

            Aristophanes says that the boy Cupid, a “winged one,” produced all the birds, “winged ones,” occupying the very position of Ninus, the “son,” thus identifying him with Nimrod.  “Ninus is Nimrod,” said the ancient historian Appolodorus

Written by  William F. Dankenbring