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SHOULD WE CELEBRATE EASTER?
Why do most Christians observe a festival called Easter, instead of the biblical Passover? Every year when
the festivals observed by the vast majority of Christians roll around, we see feature articles in newspapers, on
TV and in magazines, explaining how the quaint customs associated with the various holidays have come down to us
from paganism, and how they have been "christianized" by the church. It's all very upbeat and positive,
with author and readers or listeners alike, apparently seeing absolutely nothing wrong with it. We are told, for
example, that Easter was named for an ancient Goddess of spring, or of fertility, and that the symbols of eggs
and bunny rabbits, while anciently depicting a sex?oriented religion, today picture the renewal of life ? the resurrection
of the savior.
Is this what our savior wanted? Is this what He commanded in John 13:15, where He said, after He had washed His
disciple's feet, "for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you"? Is this
what our Savior meant, in I Corinthians 11:23, 24 and 25, where Paul said "for I have received of Yahweh that
which I also delivered unto you, that the master Yahshua the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and
when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do
in remembrance of me. After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the
new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me." Paul went on in v.
26 to say "for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show Yahshua's death till he come."
The Savior himself, and also the apostles, told us to commemorate His death, not His resurrection. This was the
memorial supper, and it was at the time of the Passover. How, then, did we begin to observe an ancient pagan festival
named after the very pagan Goddess who was worshipped at that time of year, and use the very same rites and customs,
the fertility symbols, that were used to worship her? And does it matter? Let's take a look at that first. If
there is no Elohim in heaven above, then it doesn't matter. If the Bible is not His inspired word, then it doesn't
matter. But there is a Supreme Being in heaven above, Yahweh, the very Creator of the universe, and the Bible
is His inspired word for us to live by. In Deut. 8:3 we are told that man "does not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Yahweh doth man live." Our Savior Yahshua repeated these
words in Matthew 4:4 but he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of Yahweh.
Now, lets look at some of those words that proceed out of the mouth of Yahweh: Deuteronomy 11:16 take heed to yourselves,
that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other Elohim, and worship them; in Deut. 12:30, speaking
of heathen, pagan peoples, "enquire not after their Elohim, saying, 'how did these nations serve their Elohim:
even so will I do likewise'." Deut 4:2 says "ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from it." Deuteronomy 12:32 what thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou
shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Revelation 22:18?19: for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man
shall add unto these things, Yahweh shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Yahweh shall take away his part out of the book of
life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book. Jer 10:2 says, thus saith
Yahweh, learn not the way of the heathen..."
We have amply shown by the scriptures just quoted that our heavenly Father does not take kindly to idolatry. Worshipping
Him by using the same rites and ceremonies used to worship false Elohim and idols, is an abomination to Him. Luke
16:15 and He said unto them, ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but Yahweh knoweth your hearts: for
that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of Yahweh.
The word Easter does not appear in the Holy Scriptures, except in Acts 12:4, in the King James Version only. This
is probably the grossest mistranslation in the entire Bible. For some unknown reason, the KJV translators made
a deliberate decision to translate the Greek word Pascha, meaning Passover, as "Easter." This was not
a mistake. It had to be deliberate, because in 28 other places in the New Testament, they correctly translated
it as "Passover."
Even though Easter is not otherwise mentioned by that name, the pagan goddess we know as Easter is mentioned in
Scripture. In the Old Testament, she is known as Ashtaroth and Ashtoreth. She is also called the queen of heaven.
In the book of Jeremiah 7:18 Yahweh says "the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and
the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other
Elohim, that they may provoke me to anger."
Then in chapter 44, Jeremiah is giving them Yahweh's message to repent of their sins, and stop their idolatry.
Their answer is recorded in verses 16?17: "[as for] the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of
Yahweh, 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:"
In Ephesus, she was known as Diana. Acts 19 records that when Paul preached to them that Diana was only an idol
and not a god, that they were infuriated, and shouted for two solid hours, "great is Diana of the Ephesians".
Dr. E. W. Bullinger in the Companion Bible, note on Acts 19, Diana, says Greek "Artemis," "not the
chaste huntress of popular mythology, but an oriental deity who personified the bountifulness of nature. An alabaster
statue in the museum of Naples represents her with a castellated crown, and many breasts, with various emblematic
figures indicating that she is the universal mother of all creation. Layard, in "Nineveh and its Remains,"
gives reasons for identifying her with Semiramis, the queen of Babylon, from whom all licentiousness in ancient
worship proceeded."
She has been known and worshipped down through the ages under the following names, as well as many others: Semiramis,
Ishtar, Isis, Eostre, Artemis, Cybele, Venus, Astarte, Diana and Ashtoreth, as well as Easter.
In Ezekiel chapter 8, Yahweh is showing Ezekiel some of the abominations that the people are practicing, and notice
what a couple of them are:
Ezekiel 8:14 then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh's house which [was] toward the north; and, behold,
there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Tammuz was the son of Easter, and was killed by a wild boar. Then he was supposedly resurrected or brought back
to life, as an immortal "god." So a custom had evolved, many years before the Messiah, in which every
year, during a period just before the time of the Easter celebration, women wept and mourned for Tammuz, which
corresponds to our modern Lent, and then on Easter Sunday morning, there was great celebration when he was supposedly
resurrected.
Now notice Ezekiel 8:15-16 then said he unto me, hast thou seen [this], o son of man? Turn thee yet again, [and]
thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of Yahweh's house, and,
behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men,
with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward
the east.
Tammuz was the sun?god, and they were worshipping him as the sun rose in the east ? in other words, an Easter sunrise
service. This all happened hundreds of years before our savior, Yahshua the Messiah was born, and was nothing
but a satanic substitute for the real event.
Thus we see that this event, which we call Easter, is hundreds of years older than the Savior, whose resurrection
it is supposed to commemorate. We also see that it is pagan to the core, and has nothing to do with true Biblical
religion. And we have also seen that we are forbidden by Almighty Yahweh to participate in any type of pagan rituals
or ceremonies whatsoever, no matter how dressed up and righteous we try to make them appear to be.
The new Werner edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica says, "there is no trace of the celebration of Easter
as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic fathers." The Lexicon Universal
Encyclopedia, 1985 edition, says of Easter: "according to the venerable Bede, the name Easter is derived
from the pagan spring festival of the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre, and many folk customs associated with Easter
(for example, Easter eggs) are of pagan origin."
Then how did this abominable, idolatrous festival come into the church? A form of Christianity was accepted by
the Roman Empire, and by the time of the emperor Constantine, around 325 CE, it was being enforced on all residents
of the empire. As they expanded, they conquered and subjugated pagan nations of many different religions. In order
to make the conversion from their pagan religions to the new Christianity, they were allowed to keep many of their
old festivals and customs.
According to Alexander Hislop's "The Two Babylons", all pagan religions trace their roots back to the
time of ancient Babylon, during the days of Nimrod and Semiramis, which is just another name for Baal and Easter,
or Baal and Ashtoreth. Nimrod was the world's first despot, the first one to organize a rebellion against the Almighty
Creator, Yahweh. We read of him in the 10th chapter of Genesis. Therefore, the customs of all these religions have
a common bond. They were very similar. So the church gave most of them Christian sounding names, and just let
the people keep doing what they had always done, only in the name of the Son of God, instead of the sun?god. However,
in the case of Easter, they didn't even bother to change the name.
So what, you might ask, should I do about all this? What does this mean to me? That all depends. It depends on
whether or not you want to obey your creator, your savior, or whether you want to continue on in the traditions
of men. Are you serious about your salvation? Our savior said in mark 7:9, full well ye reject the commandment
of Yah, that ye may keep your own tradition. Verse 13 making the word of Yah of none effect through your tradition,
which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. It takes courage to buck the system, so to speak ? to
swim against the current, to be different. These pagan practices are so ingrained in our society, that the very
thought of renouncing them seems ridiculous, if not impossible. You might ask, "if I give up this pagan worship,
what would I do then? Do what the savior commanded! Do what the apostles did! The Elohim of heaven ordained annual
festivals for us that have meaning! His festivals picture his plan of salvation, whereas these pagan holidays
have no meaning for us at all. They are shrouded in mystery.
Revelation 17:5 and upon her forehead [was] a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and
abominations of the earth. II Thessalonians 2:7 for the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now
letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. This is all a part of Satan's substitute religious system
that has deceived the whole world, as we read in Revelation 12:9.
In II Corinthians 11:13?14?15, Paul said, "For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose
end shall be according to their works. Did you get that? Satan has ministers who appear as ministers of righteousness.
Ministers who tell you that the commandments of Yahweh are done away; ministers who tell you that it is all right
to partake of pagan festivals in honor of other gods. Ministers who tell you that you don't have to obey, that
the Messiah did it all for you.
Scripture says Satan is a liar. So are his ministers. He and they are out to deceive you. Beware. The truth is
to be found in the pages of your Bible. All of Yahweh's Holy Days are to be found in many places, but one place
where they are all listed in order, is Leviticus 23. They have real meaning for us today. They reveal Yahweh's
plan of salvation for mankind. The New Testament reveals that Yahshua and His disciples kept these days. The Apostles
continued keeping them throughout their lives. History shows that His followers for at least the next 300 years
kept these days, but that gradually the vast majority of Christians adapted the Roman customs and holidays that
now are considered to be an integral part of Christianity. Well-meaning followers of Christianity assume these
pagan customs come out of the Bible.
Elsewhere in this issue you will find the year 2000 dates for these Biblical festivals, and where we will be keeping
them. There are many locations, worldwide, where brethren of like mind will be meeting to observe these days. If
you are within driving distance of our meetings, we invite you to participate with us. If not, we will help you
to find a group nearer you. Just let us know where you are, and we will see if we can help.
Let's all resolve to forsake the worldly, pagan festivals we have all grown up with, and begin to honor the Creator,
Yahweh, and His Son, Yahshua the Messiah, by keeping the Festivals He commanded, the ones that point us toward
His eternal Kingdom. ~FB
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