Fossilized Customs [Paperback]

Lew White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

Ever wonder where the customs of Santa Claus, Halloween, Easter, the Christmas Tree, the Christmas Wreath, and many, many more come from? If so, then you need to read this book. In Fossilized Customs, you will discover the true origins of many cherished customs. They come from Babylonian sun worship, cleverly 'inculturated' into Christianity over many centuries of darkness. The author, Lew White, addresses the unanswered questions that lurk in the back of many people's minds. It exposes the lies, and reveals the truth. These customs were re-invented so as to have different meanings, yet behind them remain the cunning ruses of an ancient spatial being, who seeks to be worshiped by means of trickery, perpetrated upon everyone alive. There is so much Paganism active in cultures today, there can be no doubt that it was deceitfully placed into our traditions, then through fraud and disguise, obscured with new meanings. Hopefully, this book will lift some of humanity out of the dense fog of history, and awaken people who are dreaming, as they walk into a new dawn of living -- with an eternal perspective. This book is written from the perspective that there is a Creator, as well as a spiritual enemy loose on Earth; and that the Scriptures of the Hebrew prophets are all true. A 'must read' book for those wanting to know the truth.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Strawberry Islands Inc.; 9th edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0958435367
• ISBN-13: 978-0958435369
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good information, bad presentation, March 12, 2004

By 

Michael Morgan (Chatsworth, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fossilized Customs (Paperback)

I have read Fossilized Customs several times over the past few years and from the first reading to the last, which I just completed, there are three things that I have noticed: Mr White's facts and opinions are based on historical accuracies, his style of writing is rambling and difficult, and he often pokes fun at those pagan beliefs and those who believe them.

I will start with the first item. Many of the beliefs and rituals of Christianity are, in fact, based on paganistic beliefs that have been absorbed through the centuries when pagan peoples were "Christianized." Many of their beliefs were assimilated into the beliefs of the church to facilitate bringing them into the faith. I cannot fault many of Mr White's assertions at all.

What I can fault is how Mr White delivers those assertions, which relates to items number two and three. Mr White, in this work, will often begin discussing the paganism of a belief and then start rambling on about something else right in the middle of the discussion. He usually ends each ramble with the assertion that we must return to Torah, as if saying it over and over will cause the reader to do so, as opposed to outlining each belief and then, at the end, asserting that we should return to Torah in one concise, intelligible argument. Also, in several places, he will stop what he is talking about and insert an illustration that is completely independent of his topic and poke fun at another belief, making glib remarks and witticisms. At times, I felt as I was being made fun of for ever believing these paganistic rituals had anything to do with Christianity. As an educated man (with a degree in History), I see this as bad scholarship. Most works that try to be scholarly do so by refuting what is believed to be wrong without making fun of those who believe that wrong. Mr White, in my opinion, does not seem to understand that. He wishes to be taken seriously, yet does not organize his work in a concise, intelligent way that leaves someone seeking the "truth" with the idea that he possesses it.

I have read C.J. Koster's Come Out of Her, My People and can attest to the fact that it is the better read for people who wish to know the facts behind the pagan origins of Christian customs and beliefs. Mr Koster carefully annotated his work and gave references on almost every page. There is never any doubt as to where he received his information and we are never told to "go look it up" in some dictionary or encyclopedia. He tells us exactly which work to look in and see for ourselves.

I would recommend Mr White's book, but only after reading Mr Koster's first and getting the facts behind some of the pagan customs. Then, and only then, does Mr White's book start making sense.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eat the Meat and spit out the bones...., March 20, 2004

By 

Jason A. Whitwood "Jason Allen" (Bakersfield city, California state Republic uSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fossilized Customs (Paperback)

This book is one of the most informative books out there on how debase and 'lost' our society has become. Looking beyond the poor layout and the small font (I am a proficient reader and this book 'bogged' me down due to the layout and font size, sometimes causing me to loose the train of thought.)

Those are the absolute only downsides to this book. I had come across most of the Truth's presented in the book prior to reading it while doing some research into calanders and how/why we keep time the way we do, being a leap year and all it is obvious our Gregorian calander is faulty and not the means of keeping time. Nor is it the means our Creator established.

This book give a thorough presentation of the facts and history of our common practices. It may offend some, but only those who do not want to accept the Truth, and desire to keep those things they have become accustomed to. I recommend than anyone who claims to be a 'believer' or understands they were created, needs to read this book.

39 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Balencing act on how this book should be read, November 3, 2005

By 

Ehav Eliyahu Ever (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fossilized Customs (Paperback)

Lew White's Fossilized customs is a start for many people who would like to know the history of some of the pagan religious practices in the Christian world. Before reading this book much of what he presents I found by way of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and various other library books.

After learning Hebrew and Aramaic, traveling to Israel, and doing my own research I will say that there are several areas of this book that I disagree with. I agree with the fact that Christianity has a lot of paganism involved in it, the same history of Christianity's pagan origin is documented in this and other such books. I disagree in certain areas of this books theology especially surrounding the Name of Elohim (for those who don't know God in English is often used as a translation for the Hebrew words El, Elohim, Eloah, Elah, etc), my reasons are listed below.

The book like some others of its type has some incorrect conclusions about how amongst Jews and Israelis pronunciation of The Name of Elohim became uncertain. Jewish and Samaritan sources both show the process by which The Name of Elohim became uncertain because of 1) corrupt Kohanim after the death of Shimon HaTzadiq around 3 BCE, 2) concern that the corrupt times would cause people to disrespect Elohim 3) loss of the First and Second Temples 4) the social-religious changes that took place after the Roman conquest and the loss of a central Israeli consul.

Most Jews have a plithera of sources on where to find information on the theory's of what the Name of Elohim is, the issue in the Jewish world is that we are not willing to call The Creator by a name that is not certain. When the time is right The Creator will reveal it with 100% certainty. The Samaritans also have a similar understanding that until certain things in the land of Israel is restored the Name of the Creator will remain uncertain. 90% of Jewish bibles with commentaries discuss the issue of the pronunciation of Yod-Hey-Waw-Hey and discuss in detail all the theories on this, so it is not a complete unknown.

If a person learns Hebrew they can easily investigate every possible theory and find the ones that based on Hebrew make sense, yet the exact pronunciation could have been anything since there are no clear document witnesses from the First Commonwealth of Israel i.e. Moses until the Babylonian exile that have survived in some filtered form whether the filter be time or other author. 95% of the information on The Name of The Creator comes from the 2nd Temple period, which is somewhat of an uncertain period. Also, ancient Hebrew as well as a number of Semitic languages had no vowels, and only a few Jewish communities from the Middle East are believed to have maintianed the most accurate dialect of ancient Hebrew.

Also the book does not take into account 1st cent to 8th cent. sources from Jewish and Samaritan communities from the Middle East. Things of a Jewish nature in the book are mainly sourced from English translations of Northern European texts. Yet, as mentioned before this book is primarily for those who come from certain areas of the Christian world.

So of course the appeal of books like this is often with people who are disconnected from or are on the verge of leaving Christianity, and I don't fault that as I agree that Christianity has a lot of incorrect and pagan issues.

I would make the following suggestions to anyone looking into things like this and those who have purchased and will purchase this book.

1) I must first say that the best first step a person should take is to learn the Hebrew language for themselves.

2) Travel to Israel and research the events mentioned in the Bible for yourself.

The problem that comes up with books like this is that people rely on it as if is 100% fact end up concentrating on what is pagan instead of concentrating on what the Hebrew and Aramaic texts say about a true grounded relationship with Elohim. Using Isaiah 8:20 as a guide and doing your own research on what is Scripture based leads to a better alternative than concentrating on what is pagan.

So if you purchase this book, read it with an eye on Hebrew, Aramaic, archeology, and travel to Israel as being the ultimate judge and jury. If you read a book like this and you never learn Hebrew or Aramaic, and you know more about paganism than you do the languages and archeology of the Scriptures then you are still in the Babylon the author hopes you will leave.