Friday, April 19, 2019

Easter: The Counterfeit Passover Updated!!!



Today we will be going over the Topic of Easter. I feel that this is a very important topic to address because there are millions of Christians worldwide who celebrate this "holiday" but is Easter really a Christian holiday? As Christians we are supposed to prove all things and hold fast the good (1Th 5:21). Scripture also teaches us that the simple believes every word but a prudent man looks well to his going and that we shouldn't be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is (Pro 14:15, Eph 5:17). This is all the more reason to study this topic to decide whether or not we should keep Easter. Note: if you decide to read this article please read until the end because I state some information which I refute later in the article. 





OK so first we need to find out is Easter a Christian holiday after all we shouldn't take other peoples word for it or do what's right in or own eyes (Deu 12:8), but we should turn to the scriptures which is our source of authority. 

The only place in the bible where Easter is even mentioned is in Acts 12:4. Some Christians will say that Easter here should be translated Passover because the Greek word here is Pascha, however what they don't tell you is that Pasche can also be translated as Easter, note that in Acts 12 Passover already occurred because the days of unleavened bread was already here (Lev 23:5-6, Num 28:16  -17).  Another thing to note is that Friday through Sunday doesn't = 3 days and nights, which was the amount of time Jesus said that he would be buried (Mat 12:40).  Unless of coarse, Friday started on Thursday night (Gen 1:5, Gen 1:8, Gen 1:13, etc.) That makes sense!

The last link that I give below provides the details, I will just sum up the argument here. Before I cover this let me just say that whether you believe Christ was crucified on a wednesday, thursday, or a friday it's no reason to divide over. I agree with my source that Jesus couldn't have been crucified on "good friday" because that gives us too few days. The historians may have mistaken Mar 15:42 to mean the weekly sabbath. Whereas the feast of tabernacles, weeks, trumpets, and in this instance the days of unleavened bread were also considered sabbath days. That sabbath day was considered a high day (Joh 19:31).

We know that Christ was risen by or before the first day of the week (Mat 28:1, Mar 16:2), when it was still dark (Joh 20:1). She concludes that only thursday fits with Jesus' sayings that he would have been risen  in three days (Joh 2:19-21) and after three days (Mar 8:31), this uses two different counting methods.
The former method uses six half days equaling 3 full days (thursday 1/2 day, friday night/day 1 day, saturday night/day 1 day, sunday night 1/2 day). While the latter counts each daytime period as one day, the day of crucifixion being the first day (thursday day, friday day, saturday day) after three days.


The Origins of Easter

So where does the custom or tradition of celebrating with rabbit/chicks as well as coloring and searching for eggs come from. Well it turns out you won't find this tradition in the Holy Bible but instead it came from the worship of the Pagan spring/fertility goddess Ostara/Eostre; check out 1Ki 11:5, 2Ki 23:13, and Jer 7:18 for verses about Ashtoreth and the queen of heaven.

In regards to Easter's origins there is a popular story that can be found in numerous places across the web and much of it is derived from the book The Two Babylon's by Alexander Hislop; whether or not it is a true account of history I am quite skeptical. Semiramis was allegedly the wife and mother of the infamous Nimrod, who is mentioned in the following bible verses (Gen 10:8-9, 1Ch 1:10, Mic 5:6). According to the bibleapaedia link below Nimrod and his wife were worshiped as gods and when the language of babel was confounded and the people dispersed they all called them by different names, and that this is where all the false gods come from. 

Semiramis was said to have a son named Tammuz who was killed by a pig therefore she proclaimed a 40 day no-meat fast for him (This is supposedly were the Catholic Lent originated). They also ate T marked cakes (Hot Cross buns) which stood for Tammuz. Semiramis also commanded a pig to be eaten on Sunday as well. If there is one thing from this story that we know to be true it's that there was a real Tammuz that women wept for which God calls an abomination (Eze 8:14-15), though I can't say if this Tammuz was the son of Nimrod.  

According to legend Semiramis (supposedly the goddess Ishtar/Venus) came down to earth from the moon in an egg and fell into the Euphrates, that is once the moon ovulated during it's 28 day cycle. Whoever would find this Ishtar (Easter) egg would receive her blessing. This is why Easter is held on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox. Back in the Ancient times of Egyptians and Persians exchanged decorated eggs during the spring equinox.

Another interesting howbeit grotesque piece of information that I picked up while researching this topic is that supposedly back in ancient times the priest of Ishtar would impregnate young virgins and sacrifice their babies next Easter and dip their eggs into the blood of the infants. This isn't hard to believe when you consider how the bible speaks of pagan's that made child sacrifices to their gods (Deu 12:31, 2Ki 16:3, Psa 106:37-38), and how that tragically, abortion in america is quite common. If this is true, then that would certainly explain where the tradition of dying eggs (especially red) came from.

However after further research I found out that the story of Ishtar being associated with bunny rabbits/eggs, or the name semiramis (a 12 century Mesopotamian queen that wasn't married to Nimrod, nor did she have a son named tammuz), being a mother goddess, and the sacrificing of infants to her, etc could very well be a fabrication! Even though she was an actual historical goddess. For more info on (perhaps) the true details on the worship of Ishtar see the ancient bridge link below. However even assuming that all the information about Ishtar being Semiramis is false, does this mean Easter isn't pagan? Of course not!! It still is the pagan tradition of Eostre celebrated by witches that attempts to usurp the true holiday of Passover.

Another question that should pop into a Christians mind is if Easter is about Christ's resurrection, then why is it celebrated with bunnies, the simple answer is because the rabbit is a fertility symbol to Pagans. Why do you think Hugh Heffner used a bunny ear logo for his playboy magazine. So if Easter is a pagan celebration why do Christians celebrate it? It is because when Constantine called the council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. they decided to keep Easter on Sunday in place of Passover, even stating "that none should hereafter follow the blindness of the Jews".

The truth is Christians should be remembering Christ death by keeping the New Testament version of the Passover aka the Lord's supper, by partaking of the bread & wine; This is after all how we are instructed to remember his death (Mat 26:26-29, Mar 14:22-25, Luk 22:13-20, 1 Cor 10:16-17, 1Cor 11:23-30), and not by chasing after fertility eggs.

Should Christians Celebrate Easter

Now I would like to go over several scriptural reasons as to why we as Christians shouldn't have anything to do with Easter now that we know this information.

I Suppose the main reason why Christians shouldn't keep Easter is because it's customs are derived from the worship of devils/idols. The bible is clear that we are to flee idolatry (1Co 10:14), to not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers (2Co 6:14-18), and that we should be done practicing the will of the gentiles such as abominable idolatries (1Pet 4:3). 

See also: Deu 13:17, Act 15:20

The truth is we are not supposed to worship God the same way that heathens do (Deut 12:29-32, Jer 10:2). We can't just worship God however we decide, just look at the example of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2). God wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth (Joh 4:24). 

So now that I've proven that Easter is not a biblical doctrine but rather a tradition of men that is steeped in idolatry we should look at some verses that speak of the dangers of following men's traditions that contradict the teaching of God's word. 
Please take a moment now to read the following bible verses Mat 15:3, Mat 15:8 -9, Mar 7:9, Col 2:8, 1Pet 1:18. In fact it was by the zeal of the traditions of Paul's fathers that he persecuted the Lord's church (Gal 1:13-14), we need to have zeal according to knowledge (Rom 10:2)!
  
There are other bible verses to take in consideration when discussing the topic of Easter like Luk 16:15 that shows us that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God, and Rom 12:2 that instructs us to NOT be conformed to this world. 1Joh 2:15 tells us to not love the things of this world. Some Christians may cite Col 2:16 in order to justify observing it, however Easter is NOT a holyday it's a pagan festival. Would you call the festivals (Japan's kanamara matsuri, Greece's Bourani) where they honor and show off reproductive organs a holyday; I would certainly hope not! It's the same kind of thing, Easter is a pagan fertility festival.    

So to conclude we see that Easter is just a Pagan fertility festival masquerading as a Christian observance, and we as Christians should have nothing to do with it. Those that use the excuse that we are under God's grace and therefore we should be able to observe pagan festivals would do well to remember Rom 6:15 which tells us that we shouldn't sin just because we are under grace. Finally we shouldn't perpetuate the LIE that Easter is of Christian origin when it's not because those that love and make lies won't be going to heaven Rev 22:15. 

See also: Isa 29:13, Mar 8:15

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