Until today I always assumed that Valentine’s Day was a holiday made up by the candy industry to sell more white sugar/high fructose corn syrup laden, artificially colored (from petroleum or crude oil), unnaturally flavored, and harmfully preserved candy that has little or no nutritional value. We heard this today on the World View in 5 Minutes below, and it completely transformed the way I think about Valentine’s Day. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!
Emperor Claudius II, called Claudius the Cruel, ruled the Roman Empire with an iron fist during the third century. He was having difficulty recruiting soldiers and believed Roman men were unwilling to leave their loved ones because soldiers were required to fight for at least 25 years. Therefore, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements.
That’s why Valentinus, a leader in the church who refused to worship the Roman gods, secretly married Christian couples in the woods at night until he was caught and arrested for both crimes against the state.
Valentinus was so gutsy, he even challenged Claudius the Cruel, to his face, to believe in Jesus as God incarnate and invited the emperor to believe in Him and be saved.
He prayed that God would restore the sight of his jailer’s blind daughter which led to her miraculous sight while awaiting his execution.
On the eve of his death, he wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter and signed it, “From your Valentine.”
In 496 A.D, more than 200 years after Valentinus was executed, a church leader marked February 14th as a celebration to honor Valentine’s courageous life.
And now you know the rest of the story.
1 Corinthians 16:13 says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”