Easter is Coming!

Easter is a time of colored eggs, rabbits, and sunrise services. Many seem to think that it has something to do with Christianity but does it? Going back in time, we will see where it came from and what it means.

The greatest festival of the Christian church commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. It is a movable feast; that is, it is not always held on the same date. In AD 325 the church council of Nicaea decided that it should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox of March 21. Easter can come as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. (Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia)

Keep the above quote in mind as we proceed.
From this we see that it is a movable feast. Did Jesus rise on one particular day or on different days each year? I said that the time changes from year to year and we need to see why it does that. From this quote, we also see that the church council of Nicaea determined that they were going to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on these particular times. The word of God never mentions it being celebrated by Christians. Easter is mentioned but it is celebrated by a heathen king and it was his time of celebration. This was the date that he was going to deliver Peter up to be killed. Check Acts 12:4 in the King James Bible, all other bibles translate it Passover which is wrong.

Going to Acts 12:3,4 in the King James Bible, we read,
And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

Herod wasn’t going to have Peter killed on their holiday but on his. Easter was shortly after Passover. The bible says, “(Then were the days of unleavened bread.)” The days of unleaven bread occurred after the Passover.
“Blanton says, “The ‘pascha’ that Herod was waiting for was evidently the celebration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, the Sun god. The sunrise services today are a continuation of that pagan worship.”
“... The great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing and which, in many countries, was considerably later than the Christian festival, being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome (the Roman Catholic Church), pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity -- to shake hands” (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 105).

“Continuing his quotation from Hislop, Blanton shows: “The term Easter is of pagan origin. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven” (p. 103).
The connection between the word Easter and Tammuz is thus: “The wife of Tammuz was Ishtar (Astarte), who is called Mother Nature, who being refreshed by spring rains brings life. When Tammuz died she followed him into the underworld or realm of Eresh-Kigal, queen of the dead. In her deep grief Astarte persuaded Eresh-Kigal to allow her messenger to sprinkle Astarte and Tammuz with the water of life. By this sprinkling they had power to return into the light of the sun for six months. After which the same cycle must be repeated.”
“Thus, the goddess of spring or the dawn goddess is responsible for the resurrection of Tammuz. Easter is a joint worship of the two. This Satanic myth is interwoven with the sun’s cycle of vernal equinox (dawn) and autumn equinox (sunset)” (from The Flaming Torch, Jan-Mar. 1987). Dake’s Bible adds, “Easter ... is derived from Ishtar, one of the Babylonian titles of an idol goddess, the Queen of Heaven. The Saxon goddess Eastre is the same as the Astarte, the Syrian Venus, called Ashtoreth in the Old Testament. It was the worship of this woman by Israel that was such an abomination to God” (1 Sam. 7:3; 1 Ki. 11:5, 33; 2 Ki. 23:13; Jer. 7:18; 44:18) (p.137 N.T.).

This was the “pascha” that Herod was waiting for before releasing Peter. As an Edomite, he and his people had a long association with Babylon and her mystery religion (cf. Gen. 14:1-4).”
EASTER OR PASSOVER? by Jack Moorman

Compton’s Encyclopedia also says this:
“Easter. First Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.”

Why is it the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the vernal equinox of March 21? The answer will shock many of those who never studied it. The reason for this happening is because it is a celebration for the sun goddess, if I may say that, she was the wife of the sun god, Baal. She has a few different names but I think the one most known is “Ishtar” or “Astarte”.

“Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice, mainly in the Roman Catholic church, of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them that “man is but dust.” Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Holy Week begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is in memory of the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion.”

The Roman Catholic Church brought paganism into their church all through history and sad to say many of the Protestants have followed suit, whether we are talking about Easter, Christmas, or other holidays. They are even trying to make St. Patrick a Roman Catholic and he never bowed to a pope, he was and stayed a missionary to Ireland the whole time he was there and he never left one time after he went back. Let’s deal with Easter a little more.

“The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor. Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Christian spring festivals. Others come from the Passover feast of the Jews, observed in memory of their deliverance from Egypt.”
(Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia) under the sub title “Easter”.

“And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.” II Kings 23:5

“Ishtar, chief goddess of Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Phoenician Astarte and Greek Aphrodite; the “great mother,” goddess of fertility, love, war.”
This is the definition for Ishtar in the Compton’s Encyclopedia.
So are you beginning to see clearer as to why we have bunnies, eggs and the like on Easter? This is her time of the year. Eggs and rabbits have a lot to do with fertility. Chickens and rabbits are pretty fertile animals as I am sure that you are aware. Christianity has nothing whatsoever to do with false gods or goddesses. Christians are to shine as lights in a dark world and playing with the world during a time when Satanists, Wiccas, New Agers and others celebrate their gods or goddesses which are not approved of by the God of the bible. It is something Christians should not partake in.
Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights. You cannot get three days and three nights from Friday evening until Sunday morning before it was light outside. Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and he was buried on a Wednesday evening before sunset and then he rose on a Saturday evening. That gives us three days and three nights just as he said would be the sign to show that he was the promised Messiah.

By reading Matthew 12 we will see this truth.
“But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Matt. 12:39,40

Now the sunrise services. Many Christians go out early in the morning before the sun rises to celebrate Easter. They face the east where the sun rises and pray and praise Jesus probably, if they are born again but where does this come from? Remember, I just told you that Baal and Isthar were sun gods and goddesses. They had other names also that won't be discussed in this article.

“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 the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”
Ezekiel 8:15-18

God is telling his people to repent and to quit these pagan practices. Are you born again of the Spirit of God then listen to his voice and obey him and come out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing.