EASTER
THE PROBLEMS WITH EASTER:
1) THE WORD “EASTER” IS A MISTRANSLATION ERROR THAT DID NOT APPEAR IN THE OLDEST COPIES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BEFORE THE 1500's:
For 1600 years, in the Byzantine Majority Text, the Greek word Pascha was used in Acts 12:4. Between the years of 1522 and 1534, the word “Pascha” was replaced by "Easter." Pascha is a transliteration of the Hebrew word Pesach, meaning slaughter, victim, or Passover (when the death angel passed over as a result of the slaughter). This Greek word Pascha appears 29 times in the KJV (King James Version) of the New Testament, and 28 of those times it appeared as Passover, and only once as Easter. Unlike Easter which is a one-day event, Passover is tied in with the week of unleavened bread extending for 7 additional days beyond the 14th of the month of Nisson, a.k.a Aviv. The Hebrew word Pesach is mentioned 49 times in the OT and appears in English as Passover. The word first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible known to Jews as the Tanach in Hebrew. It was later translated into Greek in a text called the Septuagint. In 390 AD, Jerome translated this word into Latin as Pask, or Paske. So, his Latin Vulgate version called it Pascha even in Acts 12:4. Then later in 1385, John Wycliffe hand wrote the first English Bible and transliterated it as Pascha. In 1522, Martin Luther was the first to TRANSLATE the word instead of TRANSLITERATING it in his German bible. The word he chose was Ostern which was the Germanic equivalent to the Fertility Goddess name of Easter. In 1534, William Tyndale, who was friends with Martin Luther, created another Bible version calling this word Easter and in 26 other places he used words like ester, easter, easterlame, and ester fest. Before this time, it was always Passover, but now in the early 1500's it was changed to Easter. Tyndale realized his mistake and created the word Passover when he translated the OT portion of the Bible, but never went back and corrected the word Easter to Passover in the NT that he had written previously. The KJV corrected Tyndale’s mistake in the NT 25 times, except for once in Acts 12:4. All of our customs about celebrating Easter come from this one incorrectly worded verse.
2) THE INCORRECT WORD “EASTER” CONFUSES RESURRECTION LIFE WITH
SACRIFICIAL DEATH (Passover ~vs Easter):
The word Easter, along with the current way of honoring it as practiced by the modern church world, is a complete reversal of the intention of the author of the book of Acts who intended the word #G3957 to mean a Sacrificial Death (Passover Holiday) instead of Resurrection Life (Easter Holiday). The word Easter (i.e.- #G3957) is mentioned only one time in the entire text of the King James Bible and the place where it is found is Acts 12:4, which reads -
“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". [KJV]
Here are two definitions of this word from a couple of bible dictionary lexicons or concordances:
“STRONGS CONCORDANCE: G3957 πάσχα pascha pas'-khah
Of Chaldee origin (compare [H6453]); the Passover (the meal, the day, the
festival or the special sacrifices connected with it): - Easter, Passover.”
“THAYER'S LEXICON: G3957 πάσχ pascha
1) the paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the
people’s deliverance from Egypt)
2) the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Israelites were accustomed to
slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (the first
month of their year) in memory of the day on which their fathers,
preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay and eat
a lamb, and to sprinkle their door posts with its blood, that the
destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings;
Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb
3) the paschal supper
4) the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from the
14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan. Part of Speech: noun neuter
3) THE YEARLY TIMING OF EASTER IS CALCULATED BY PAGAN CALCULATIONS RELATED
TO THE SUN INSTEAD OF BY THE MOON AS MANDATED IN SCRIPTURE FOR
PASSOVER:
Though these dates often fall close to each other on the yearly calendar, they hardly ever fall on the same day. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the Vernal Equinox of the sun every year, but Passover is supposed to fall on the 14th day of every new year according to the creator's calendar found in Exodus Chapter 12 according to the bible. The first month of every Biblical Hebrew Year of the Creator’s calendar is called the month of Abib or Aviv according to the Bible, even though modern Jews call it the month of Nissan as a result of their Babylonian captivity. New Year's Day falls somewhere in our months of March and April on our Western Gregorian calendar. According to scriptural instructions, the first day of the calendar year starts at the sighting of the first sliver of the moon simultaneously with the barley being in the aviv stage, only after 12 consecutive months of the previous year have concluded. On the 10th day of the year a lamb without blemish is selected, and then on the 14th day of the year, called Passover, it is sacrificed in the evening and eaten. On the 15th day of the year, the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. In the middle of this seven-day period is the Feast of First Fruits (of Barley) which falls on the first day after the weekly Sabbath. The Feast of First Fruits occurs after Passover and always falls on a Sunday. First Fruits of the barley harvest were offered to Yahweh on this date which was the day that Yahshua rose from the dead and offered himself up to the heavenly father as the first fruits of those who will also rise from the grave into new life. So, First Fruits is supposed to be his real resurrection day which has to fall at least 3 days after his sacrifice at Passover. Here are some scripture references to help you verify that the first month of a scriptural year is called the month of Abib as set by the moon, and that Passover falls on the 14th of every single scriptural year, not on the First Sunday after the Vernal Equinox of the sun: Exodus 12:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; 12:21; 13:3-5; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1, and Leviticus 23:5.
THE ORIGIN OF THE TIMING AND PRACTICE OF EASTER
The springtime fertility cult of Isthar/Easter had been celebrating the arrival of Spring on or near the Vernal Equinox of the sun for centuries before Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) was crucified and rose again. The Passover, on the other hand, has commemorated the death of a sacrificial lamb ever since the time of Moses, before Israel became a nation. Both Christians and Messianics consider Yeshua Messiah to be the final Passover Lamb.
EMPEROR CONSTANTINE & THE CHURCH COUNCIL OF NICEA CHANGED THE DATE SETTING PROCEDURES FOR THE PASSOVER EACH YEAR:
The Nicean Council of 325 AD decided that Easter should be observed on the 1st Sunday after the vernal equinox every year, rather than by scriptural methods. Emperor Constantine’s letter to the churches at the time of the Nicean Council concerning the Holy Day of Easter stated “it was decided by common consent that this festival should be celebrated on the same day by all in every place. It seemed an unworthy thing to follow the customs of the Jews in the Celebration in a more legitimate order …that we have nothing in common with these parricides and murderers of our Lord. ….any dissention in a business of such importance …. should… and would be highly criminal.” Constantine failed to remember that the original followers of Christ kept the law, including Passover.
4) THE NAME OF THE PAGAN GODS LIKE EASTER ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SPOKEN
AT ALL:
The word Easter comes from pagan goddesses such as Eostra, Eastra, Astarte, and Ashtoreth. It was introduced to the British Isles by the Druids as another name for Beltis or Ishthar of the Chaldeans or Babylonians. Judges 10:6 “Israel did evil and forsook Yahweh and served Ashtoreth…”. According to Jeremiah 7:18 she was worshiped as "the Queen of Heaven” but history proves that she was not considered a Christian festival until the 4th Century. She was also worshiped as Cybil, Ishthar, the Great Mother, or Astarte. When church leaders stand up in the pulpit on Easter Sunday and say “I want to welcome each of you to church on this fine Easter Sunday” they have broken the commandment in Exodus 23:13 not to mention the name of other gods with their mouth, and also broken the 1st of the 10 commandments recorded in Exodus 20:3 which command us to not have any other gods before Him. Yet the leader has brought reference to Easter the Queen of Heaven and the Sun God Baal or Mithra before the face of Yahweh because Sunday was named after the Sun God. Pope Gregory gave the Gregorian calendar to us in the west and the name of every day of the week and most of the months are the names of pagan gods, fallen angels, or demons.
5) THE EASTER HOLIDAY COMPETES WITH YAHWEH’S HOLIDAYS OF PASSOVER &
FIRST FRUITS:
According to scripture, Passover (when Christ died) always precedes First Fruits (when Christ actually arose), but in some years Easter (the false resurrection day) follows First Fruits because it is based upon the wrong timing. If both Easter and First Fruits are intended to celebrate his resurrection day, then they should fall on the very same day of the year. If we are putting all of our efforts into Easter festivities and services, it crowds out the spring feasts that we were commanded to keep forever in Leviticus Chapter 23. There was never any biblical command to celebrate Easter, or even Christmas for that matter. Apostle Paul referred to Christ as “risen …First Fruits of them that slept…from the dead” in 1st Corinthians 15:20 & 23.
6) WE AREN’T SUPPOSED TO MIX THE WORSHIP OF YAHWEH WITH METHODS
USED BY FALSE GODS:
In Deuteronomy 12:30-32 Yahweh advised his children not to try to find out how the heathen used to worship their false gods, and then turn around and worship him (Yahweh) in the same manner. But that is exactly what people do when they celebrate Easter which has always been named after the Babylonian sex and fertility Goddess Ishtar, with an annual celebration date set by the Spring Equinox of the sun rather than the moon as the bible requires. Easter celebrates new life rather than death, as the Greek word Pascha and Hebrew word Pesach meaning Passover commemorates. Celebrating Easter in place of Passover is the act of worshiping Yahweh in the way that a false God is worshiped, which is forbidden. In Exodus 32:4-8 we find that Israel learned a great lesson during their exodus from Egypt when they made a golden idol in the image of a calf and then worshiped it by calling it “thy Gods, Oh Israel, which brought us up from the land of Egypt” (v4), and they even called it the LORD (V5) which is defined in Strong's Concordance as Jehovah who is otherwise known as Yahweh in many encyclopedias. Yes they looked at the man-made golden calf and called it Yahweh, against the will of Yahweh. In Exodus 2:9-10. Yahweh got so angry that he wanted to consume (end or waste) the people of Israel. This should be a lesson to us that we should repent and abandon the pagan practice of Easter that mixes Messiah Yahshua with the Goddess Ishtar.
MODERN EASTER MIMICS ANCIENT EVIL PRACTICES IN HONOR OF THE GODDESS ISHTAR:
Our Easter celebrations coincide with the timing of annual pagan celebrations in honor of the Goddess Ishtar, not the resurrection of Christ. This is a pagan religious practice started by Queen Semiramis, the moon goddess, who was the wife of Nimrod. The legend says that a great egg fell out of heaven and landed into the Euphrates River, and that Semiramis walked out of it. Bunny rabbits signify the breeding capabilities of Queen Semiramis who arrived from heaven as Ishtar the goddess of sex and fertility. After Nimrod died, she claimed that he became the Sun God Baal, Baalim, or Molech. She got pregnant by rays from his sunshine, and that their baby, named Tammuz, was Nimrod reincarnated. For years, this mystery religion was practiced in the following manner. Pagan priests of Baal would impregnate virgins in the Temple on Easter Day. Nine months later the children born from these rituals would be born on or about Christmas day to commemorate the new birth of the sun during the winter Solstice when the sun is thought to die and be reborn as the days begin to be longer after the shortest day of the year. By next Easter these newborns babes could be sacrificed, and eggs dyed in their blood when they are about 4 months old to celebrate the New Life of Springtime. This is what Easter was always about before the time of Christ and is still practiced behind the veil of Christian names and purposes. Israel had this same problem as recorded in Ezekiel 8:14, 15, & 16 where we find that women were weeping for Tammuz at the door of the Yahweh’s House (the Temple). Also, at the door of the temple, 25 men faced the sun in the East and worshiped the Sun.
HOLINESS IS AT STAKE:
The avoidance of pagan holidays is a holiness issue. The words "Holiness" and "Sanctification" mean to be set-apart, separate, or special. Separated from sins, mistakes, competing gods (Elohim), or anything Yahweh does not like, and especially separate from cooperation with and worship of other gods. We are to save ourselves exclusively for him. In exchange, he will always have time for us because we will be special to him. Yahweh says we are to be holy as he is holy — 1st Peter 1:14-16. In the following verses we find that it is dangerous not to keep ourselves separated unto him in loyalty after we enter into a relationship with him, because he has a jealous nature:
Exodus 20:3 “Thou shalt have no other Elohim before me. 4 Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I Yahweh thy Elohim am a
jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
Type the phrase "PAGAN EASTER" into a search engine or into YouTube to find lots of info about this topic. If you will do this, you can find proof of how truly Un-Christian or Un-Messianic this holiday really is.
YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIPS EXPOSING EASTER & CHRISTMAS ENTITLED
“TRUTH OR TRADITION”:
TRUTH or TRADITION By: Jim Staley (NEW VERSION = 1 hour & 55 minutes)
RICHARD RIVES "EASTER" PAGE ON HIS “TOO LONG IN THE SUN”:
Here you will find a long article about the pagan origins of the Easter holiday with
about 5 two-minute videos. His book, "Too Long in the Sun," contains
a lot of proof with footnotes, exposing many pagan additions which have entered
Christianity over the centuries, like the pagan holidays.
