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“We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial. We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments etc. were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular; but they were common to almost all cults” (Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 246.)

“When we give or receive Christmas gifts; or hang green wreaths in our homes and churches, how many of us know that we are probably observing pagan customs...the god, Woden, in Norse Mythology, descends upon the earth yearly between December 25th and January 6th to bless mankind...But pagan though they be, they are beautiful customs. They help inspire us with the spirit of 'good will to men', even as the sublime service of our Church reminds us of the ‘peace on earth’ which the babe of Bethlehem came to bestow” (Externals of the Catholic Church, 140).

Catholics can’t deny that the RCC has incorporated pagan practices into its practices. The RCC itself admits that it does. The RCC refuses to hear the words of the Lord.

“As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.” (Jer.44:16-17)

"We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendor of religious ceremonial."

"Catholics can’t deny that the RCC has incorporated pagan practices into its practices. "

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So you think that God does not have the power to transform a thing used by pagans for pagan purposes into a holy thing, used for holy purposes?

CyberBear, do you believe that God has the power to transform a stinking, rotten, evil, filthy, wicked, scummy pagan (say the guy who made those terrible, awful "pagan things") into a God-fearing Christian, completely cleansed and filled with the Holy Spirit, seeking to do God's Holy Will in his newly renovated and refreshed life?

Do you believe that Almighty God has the power to transform formerly dirty, pagan hands which had been used for sinful pagan purposes, into clean, Christian hands, now used only for Holy, Christian purposes for the Glory of God, and for love of neighbor?

If so, do you believe that the Power of God somehow fizzles out, and that He is unable to use the things that the former pagan made for other purposes, and to turn them into things to be used for God's good and holy purposes? Does God's tranforming power fall short of being able to make use of items that were made use of in the past for pagan things?

For example, if the earliest known "books" or "writings" ever written in the world were done by pagans (such as "The Egyptian Book of the Dead"), and used for pagan religious ceremonies (like the burial ceremonies for the dead), is God not able to use those "pagan" tools (books/writings) later on in history as a medium to write, say, the holy, sacred books/writings of the Bible? (And are those Bible "books" somehow rotten because they make use of things (the same tools of books/writings) that were previously first used by pagans, including for pagan forms of worship?) (In other words, do you see the book/writings called "The Bible" as being wrong somehow, because the first time books/writings were used in the history of the world, they were used for pagan purposes?)

And is God not able and powerful enough to take a pagan thing such as the "internet", which is just saturated with sinful, disgustingly putrid pornography, visual and audible pollution, vile atheistic teachings, all sorts of satanic, pro-witchcraft, demonic, communistic, terroristic, and other abominable forms of garbage, and use that same pagan medium (the internet) to reach out and shine the light of truth to pagans all over the world, and to proclaim God's glory, and God's love, and God's mercy, and God's salvation, causing sinners to come to repentence and conversion, and to help them turn from being stinking pagans themselves into becoming Christians filled with the Holy Spirit?

(And, do you see even your own writing here on this thread as being wicked, and evil, and sinful, and horrible, just because you are doing it by using this computer/internet medium initially set up and used for pagan, non-Christian purposes?)

In other words, do you place your own unwarranted limits on Almighty God's power to transform things and their usages, as well as to transform people, and use them all for His Holy purposes? In your eyes, can God totally transform actual pagans, and use them for His Holy purposes and according to His Holy will, but that same omnipotent God is somehow totally powerless and unable to effect that same kind of transformational usage for pagan objects/things/tools (such as books/writings/candles/incense, etc.), and pagan practices (such as forms of "pagan prayer" or "pagan song" remade into sacred Christian music)?

After denigrating those things you call "pagan" type tools and objects (candles, incense, etc.), and as you ponder the thoughts above, please also keep the following Bible texts (and others like them) in your mind. thinking honestly about whether the Bible teaches that God used those very same kinds of things in the past for His holy purposes.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”    Exodus 34:27

"For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."    Psalm 18:28

“You shall make an altar to burn incense upon; of acacia wood shall you make it."    Exodus 30:1

Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.    Matthew 6:9-13

David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brethren as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.    1 Chronicles 15:16