Easter
and Its Myths
By Evangelist Ron Davis, minister of
Christ
Why do some
Christians celebrate Easter and reason among themselves, it's okay with the
True God?
The Easter celebration is hailed as the
"most important" of all “so-called” Christian holidays. Those who want to celebrate and to persuade you to
indulge in the paganism of these holidays love to use a certain logic, which
when carried through is not logic at all. This kind of logic is used to defend
their behavior in worshipping God, who is Spirit with pagan festivals. That is
these Christians say, if we must stop celebrating Easter, Xmas, and other
man-made Christian holidays because they are pagan in origin then we must not "participate"
in any other pagan activities or ceremonies because they to are pagan in
origin. These Easter lovers say things like the days of the week are named
after pagan gods, so we should not observe these days either since they like
Easter is named after pagan gods. The one thing these smooth talkers leave out
is this: when we recognize the days of the week we do not say we are
worshipping God or these pagan gods because these days are named for some pagan
god or goddess. But, Easter and Xmas lovers do use pagan rituals to worship the
One True God [See Rev. 2:14, 20 and Rev. 9:20]. This makes their
behavior a sin, for an idol or pagan ritual is nothing until the one involve with
it claim it represent a god or the attributes of the Living God by using it in
their worship. Those who use symbols such as crosses, doves or fishes in the
worship of God the Father and His Christ make these symbols sinful by
attributing God's glory to them. As the Scripture says,
·
2 Corinthians
6:16-18… “16 And what
agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you [or we] are the temple
of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them, and walk
among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people" [Leviticus
26:12; Jeremiah 32:38 and Ezekiel 37:27]. 17 Therefore "Come out
from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and
I will receive you" [Isaiah 52:11 and Ezekiel 20:34,41]. 18
"I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty" [2 Samuel 7:14]”.
Why does the
Easter day of celebration move to a different date each year between March 22
and April 25?
The so-called Bible scholars of this
world's churches claim the earlier Christians, those Christians spoken of in
the New Testament, prior to the Council of Nicea in 325 AD did not establish
dates for these so-called Christian festivals (Good Friday, Easter, Christmas,
Lent, etc.). Their reasoning why is that these Christians were being persecuted
by the Jewish leadership and the Roman government, and didn't have the time. [This reasoning is strange indeed, because these
same persecuted Christians managed to write New Testament Scriptures without
even mentioning these so-called Christian festivals]. Then it's said
along came the Roman Emperor called Constantine, who converted to Christianity
to save his empire; he wanted to win the support of the populace. Christianity
had been spreading rapidly, Constantine thought if he could not stop
Christianity then he would control it. Yet, Constantine did not want Christianity
to have any thing in common with Judaism. And with the help of those Romans and
Greeks, and also some Jews who had accepted Christianity after Constantine
declared it legal. That's right the Roman Empire after declaring that
Christianity was now legal, a state religion, they established the time period
to celebrate this so-called Christian festival referred to as “Easter”,
a name they came up with at this same council, its also called by some today as
"Resurrection Sunday". This Council of Nicea in AD 325 under
the direction of Constantine decreed that the celebration of Jesus'
resurrection would always be on a Sunday, and the Sunday after the first full
moon after the spring equinox was chosen.
This decreed was given primarily
against celebrating Christ's Passover on the fourteenth of Nisan, the date of
the beginning of the Jewish Passover, which by the way is written down in
Scripture by those previous persecuted Christians (1 Cor. 11:20). The Roman Emperor Constantine and the Council of
Nicea wanted all Christians to celebrate the resurrection on a Sunday. For even
in Rome there was confusion among those celebrating Easter, some were
celebrating Easter the nearest Sunday to the Passover. Also, Rome and
Alexandria used different dates in determining the spring equinox, which caused
some congregations in Rome and Alexandria to celebrate Easter on different
days. Even to this date Easter is still determined by using the first Sunday
after the spring equinox; but because the Western churches uses the Gregorian
calendar and the Eastern churches uses the Julian calendar they still come up
with different dates. These Christians still have different dates for Easter,
but they still all make sure it's celebrated on a Sunday.
Now, this decreed to celebrate the
resurrection on a Sunday were not accepted by all Christians at the time, and those who did not accept the date was declared
heretics. Also, those who had been celebrating the Lord's death on the
fourteenth of Nisan, the Jewish Passover date according to the Jewish calendar
were declared heretics because of this decreed. [This fourteenth day in the
month of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar corresponds to the Roman calendar (our
current calendar today) months of March and April]. These Christians
celebrating, the Passover, the Lord's death, also called the "Lord's
Supper" (1 Cor. 11:20) were persecuted even though Christ
Himself had given them this command to "do this in remembrance of
Me" the night of His last meal with His disciples as spoken of in Luke
22:1-20. Jesus said to His twelve apostles in Luke 22:15-20, "15…'With
fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 16
for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the
kingdom of God'. 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 'Take this
and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you. I will not drink of the
fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes'. 19 And He took bread, gave
thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is
given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. 20 Likewise, He also took the cup
after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is
shed for you'" (Luke 22:15-20). There are some so-called bible
scholars who claim this was the beginning of the celebration of Easter, which
as you can see couldn't be further from the truth; Christ clearly called this a
"Passover" in verse 15 above not Easter, and He
spoke of His death, not His resurrection. In 1 Corinthian 11:23-26, the
Spirit through the apostle Paul says this, "Take, eat; this is My
body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me" speaking
of His body (1 Cor. 11:24). Again speaking of His shed blood, Christ
says, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of Me" (1 Cor.11:25). It is
clearly shown in the above verses that Christ Jesus wanted us to remember and
commemorate His death, not His resurrection.
Christians
who celebrate Easter use the line "it's the meaning that matter" not
the date to counter this difference in dates.
These Easter Christians say the
resurrection happen and it was a joyful event, the basis of Christian hope, and should be celebrated by all Christians
regardless of the date. Now, we can all be assured that the resurrection happen
(1 Cor. 15), and the resurrection from the dead is the hope of all
Christians (Phil. 3:7-11); but Christ Jesus dying for our sins is more
important, for Jesus Himself declares it in Luke 22. It was once asked,
which is more important Christ Jesus dying or Christ Jesus being born? Here
are more pertinent questions, why did Christ come in the form of the Man Jesus?
Why did Christ Jesus die? If Christ Jesus had not died for our sins where
would we stand today? Here's one for you, if Christ had not paid our death
penalty would we know of His resurrection? Ponder these things.
But back to this matter of the date, in
recent years, the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of
Churches held a council in Aleppo,
Syria in March 1997 to use astronomical prediction to determine Easter's date.
This astronomical prediction would use the Sunday after the Jerusalem meridian
date of the first Full Moon following the March equinox, which will basically
change the date to one corresponding to the Gregorian calendar reckoning date.
The date would still change each year, but still always held on a Sunday.
What about
this name "Easter"?
The Council of Nicea in 325 AD with the
blessing of the Roman Emperor Constantine did not just choose the name
"Easter" out of a hat.
As we will see from the historian Bede who in the eighth century wrote that the
word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, called
Eastre. Therefore, the Romans had a reason for changing the celebration of
Jesus' death, which was on the Jewish Passover date of the fourteenth Nisan to
a Sunday. And the reason was that the people under the rule of the Roman
government already celebrated many festivals during the springtime, which was associated
with the goddess of spring and fertility. Constantine realizing the people of
those provinces would not be willing to give up their old religious
celebrations of the fertility and new life goddess, so he decided to make the
Easter festivals into a Christian celebration instead.
Also, it is said the English word
Easter comes from the Scandinavian word "Ostra" and the German /
Teutonic word "Ostern" or "Eastre" both were goddesses of
myths for the spring, dawn and fertility festival celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox. In
other European languages the name for the Easter festival is based on the
Hebrew word "pasah", to pass over giving it only in word a
biblical origin. The activities and beliefs around this "pasah"
celebration among Christians celebrating resurrection Sunday, called Easter are
still pagan in origin.
Myths of
Easter:
Easter have many strange myths and
traditions surrounding its celebration. Most of these myths are taken directly from the traditions and
activities used to worship the fertility goddess of the times. There are times
I am amaze, yet not surprise at the way some Christians are so willing to
accept pagan traditions to worship the Living God in heaven, who is Spirit (John
4:21-24).
First, there is the Easter rabbit used
to symbolize fertility because of
the rabbit's ability to rapidly multiply. The rabbit or hare was probably,
introduced to the United States by the German settlers in Pennsylvania in the
1700s. The idea of the Easter bunny leaving gifts for the children who believe
they had been good through out the year came out of Germany also. [Reminds you
of another certain character around those "Xmas lovers"
holiday]. Have you ever asked yourself, why rabbits are shown in Easter
traditions as laying eggs? I mean, when was the last time in real life did you
see a rabbit lay an egg? Yet, Christians justify their behavior with the Easter
bunny by quoting Scripture they claim support their paganism.
Then we have the colored Easter eggs,
which were traditional painted with bright colors to represent the sun- rays of
springtime. The Easter egg like
the rabbit symbolizes fertility and also new life. There were also egg rolling
contests, and gift giving of painted eggs for fertility in homes of young
couples. These eggs with painted images on them were also exchanged among
romantic admirers. [These romantic lovers exchanging gifts in times past on
Easter reminds you of another Christian holiday more commonly observed today by
non-Christians called Saint Valentine day]. In each cultural in the past, this
pagan ritual of giving eggs were somewhat different; for instance, in Germany
eggs were given to the children, as Easter celebrants do today in the United
States. Here's a blasphemous act, in Greece and other countries the eggs are
painted red to represent the "blood of Christ", and exchanged
as gifts. Then we have the people of Armenia painting "so-called"
pictures of Jesus, Mary, as well as other religious designs on the eggs,
another blasphemous act (Exodus 20:3-6 and Isaiah 42:8).
Other
man-made traditions surrounding this pagan holiday called "Easter":
First, we have the "Lent"
season, which is observed over the forty or more days prior to this pagan Easter
celebration. Earlier Roman churches fasted prior to their Easter holiday. Then
a pope called Gregory I, established a period of forty days fasting for the
Roman churches, which excludes Sundays. The Roman churches also developed a
food of flour, salt and water, which were eaten during the Lent fasting period.
Today, this food is called "pretzels", the name came from the
Germans. Next, there's "ash" Wednesday, where Christians in
times past placed ashes on their foreheads. Even the much loved holiday
celebrated mostly by non-Christians today called "Mardi Gras",
French for the phrase "Fat Tuesday" is part of the ancient
religious celebration surrounding Easter where the people "ate, drank,
and made merrymaking like it's no tomorrow" prior to beginning their
fast during the Lent fast.
We also have the tradition of the "sunrise
service" from the Roman churches of Germany. The story goes like this
the Christian young men in Germany went to a cemetery at dawn one Easter
Sunday, what followed is the tradition of going to a cemetery on Easter at
sunrise, later becoming a sunrise service of meditation. In the 1700s, German
settlers brought this same behavior of Christians going to some cemetery at
sunrise on Easter Sunday to meditate to the United States. Also, prior to the
holiday called Easter Sunday with its pagan traditions, we have the week called
"holy week". This week begins with "Palm Sunday"
called after Christ's entry into Jerusalem, also including "Maundry
Thursday" and "good Friday" all given to the churches
of this world as religious holidays by the state religion of the Roman Empire,
which took on the name Christianity.
Easter a
man-made holiday given by man to be observed in lieu of God's Holy days:
These "Easter celebrants"
as well as "Xmas lovers" love to quote verses in the Holy
Bible to describe their holidays, claiming these verses give them authority to
celebrate their holiday. I mean, these Christians are saying to you let us look
in the Bible and find some verses to support creating a holiday to celebrate
and worship God. Never mind that God never ordained such days, for they say,
"God will honor these holidays because it happen in the Bible, these
events actually happen". And saying, if the Bible speaks of it then what's
wrong with inventing a holiday? Well, I can think of one very important reason:
that is, those who created these holidays do not want you to celebrate the Holy
days given to us by God. [Yes, I know these days were under the Old Covenant].
And they say these days are in the Old Testament and were done away with; yet,
these same Christians say you should tithe to them even though tithing is in
the Old Testament also, and it also was done away with under the New Covenant.
And here's one even more important reason; that is this: the Holy Spirit tells
us of another religious celebration set-up in lieu of God's holy days in 1
Kings 12.
Now, in 1 Kings 12, we have the
first king of Israel after God divided the nation into two nations with the
throne of David and the tribes of Levi, Judah and Benjamin remaining in the
nation which would be called Judah (Read 1 Kings 11:26-40 and 1 Kings
12:22-24). Another nation of the other ten tribes retained the name Israel,
and was given to a man called Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:15). Below the Spirit
tells us how the separating of the nation of Israel occurred. It started with King
Solomon son Rehoboam (verse 6):
Now, Jeroboam who was made king over
the ten tribes, which retained the name "Israel" while the tribes of
Judah, Benjamin, and Levi became the nation of Judah after this spilt from God.
As we see verses 3-5, the
whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam, the king of Israel asking him for
tax relief, which his father King Solomon had placed upon the people to build
the temple. King Solomon also used forced labor from among the ten tribes of
the nation of Israel to build the temple; this is probably why the ten tribes
are the ones bringing the complaint (verse 4 and 18). King Solomon’s son
King Rehoboam asked the advice of the elders who were in his father's service,
but he rejected their advice to give the people a "favorable
answer". Then he asked the young men who grew up with him; and they
realizing the advise the elders had advised, these young men advised King
Rehoboam with what he wanted to hear, that is to increase the yoke of the ten
tribes (verses 10-11). All this happen because God had already foretold
these events in 1 Kings 11:26-40 and 1 Kings 12:22-24, saying He would
"tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give" (1 Kings
11:31 NIV) ten tribes to Jeroboam. God did this because of Solomon’s sin,
which he caused the people of Israel to sin also. But for David’s sake God
would not perform this prophecy while Solomon ruled because He had made Solomon
king all the days of his life. Yet, God would perform this when Solomon’s son
Rehoboam was king, leaving Rehoboam the tribe of Judah because of David’s sake
and Jerusalem whom God had chosen (1 Kings 11:32-36).
Once Jeroboam had kingship over the ten
tribes of Israel, which God gave to him, he was determined to hold on to it at
all cost. The first thought came
to his mind was to insure the people did not go back up to Jerusalem to
celebrate the festivals of God (1 Kings 12:26-27). Saying to himself the
people would kill me and return to King Rehoboam, and that if they went back to
Jerusalem to worship the One True God then they would give their allegiance
back to the king of Judah. So, Jeroboam decided after counsel to set up
another holiday to be celebrated in lieu of God’s eight day "festival
held in Judah" on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (1
Kings 12:32). Jeroboam, the king of Israel "instituted a
festival on the fifteenth day of the eight month" (see 1 Kings
12:32, which corresponds to the Roman calendar eleventh and twelfth months
today). Jeroboam built "two golden calves" and said
these were the gods, which brought the ten tribes up out of Egypt (Sound
familiar?). Notice, what the Holy Spirit says about Jeroboam creating a
holiday, this holiday was in "a month of his own choosing"
(1 Kings 12:33). The Easter
celebration was chose on a day of the council of Nicea in AD 325 own choosing. As Jeroboam instituted a "festival for
the Israelites", so did the council of Nicea institute a festival
name “Easter” for the state religion called Christianity. As the
festival created by Jeroboam caused the people to sin, so do the holiday Easter
cause the people to sin against God. The ten tribes of the nation Israel
celebrated a holiday like God’s eight-day festival, but in a different month, a
month of their own choosing. Also, the king of Israel, Jeroboam could claim as
these Easter celebrants do today, that his eight-day holiday was rooted in the
word of God. As these Easter lovers claim, the hymn “Christ, the Lord is
Risen Today” is rooted in the word of God. Because each verse of the hymn
can be found in Scripture, they say this makes it okay to celebrate, which is
strange logic because there are many hymns about Bible verses; yet, that do not
make them commanded by God to worship Him with such a holiday nor to create a
holiday about these verses. Easter celebrants today claims God honor their
holiday, yet Scripture tells us otherwise.
As the Holy Spirit says by the prophet
Amos in chapter five of his book,
·
Amos 5:21-27… “21 "I hate, I despise your
feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. 22 Though you
offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor
will I regard your fattened peace offerings. 23 Take away from Me
the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed
instruments. 24 But let justice run down like water, And
righteousness like a mighty stream. 25 "Did you offer Me
sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26
You also carried Sikkuth [A pagan deity] your king [Septuagint and
Vulgate text read tabernacle of Moloch] And Chiun [A pagan deity],
your idols, The star of your gods, Which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore
I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus," Says the LORD, whose name
is the God of hosts.”
Notice, the question God asked the house
of Israel in Amos 5:25, “Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the
wilderness forty years”? Then God tells Israel about their other gods
they carried in the wilderness with them to worship also saying, they “also
carried Sikkuth” and “Chiun…the star of your gods, which you made
for yourselves” (Amos 5:26). God the Father in heaven asks this same
question today of Christians who have combined their worship of Him with these
man-made holidays called Easter and Christmas with their idols and hymns,
something He did not command you to do.
Now, I know there are many of you who will
not stop celebrating Easter or any of your other beloved so-called Christian
holidays. You and the merchants of this world love these holidays for they make
you feel good, and there are great profits to be made from these days. Many of
you who have a need to justify your actions with the Holy Bible will comfort
yourselves with the fact that the Bible speaks of Jesus’ resurrection. And the
fact that the resurrection is the hope of all Christians, for the Scriptures
says, God the Father of Christ Jesus “has
begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead”. Yet, none of these reasons
mean we have authority to create a holiday in God’s name to worship Him with
man-made traditions and idols. Then we have those so-called Bible scholars and
intellectuals who will exclaim “well, the Holy Bible do not tell us not to
celebrate these holidays”. For these of the type of people who have chosen to
walk “willingly… by human precept” (Hosea 5:11), for they
conclude since the Bible do not command them not to do it, they will do it. Let
us not forget what the Holy Scriptures say concerning adding to God’s word and
idolatry,
·
1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and
the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and
possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word, which I command you, nor
take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God, which I
command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did
at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men
who followed Baal of Peor.
Even as the children of Israel were
divinely warn by the word of God
spoken to them by Moses, we as Christians today are warn against idolatry by
adding to the word of God additional holidays, which God never commanded. For verse
2 clearly says, “you shall not add to the word”.
Therefore, I say to you today while it is still
Day. Repent of these wrongs
against the Holy Father in Heaven and His Christ, ask God for forgiveness, He
is faithful and will forgive you. I call out to you with the exhortation of our
Lord and Savior Christ Jesus to all who are being swayed by “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF
THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev.
17:5), “Come out of her My people, lest you share in her sins”
(Rev. 18:5). Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen. Praise God.
This
message was given in part on WJRO 1590AM coming out of Glen Burnie /
Baltimore, Maryland area. Send your comments to Evangelist Ron Davis,
of the Kush Edifying Ministries.
mailto:yourcomment@kemonline.411-cashflow.com
OR
if you want to debate my conclusion of this matter or if you want to argue your
own "private interpretation", then please forward your
response to the below email address with your Scripture backing up what you
say. Thanks, and may God bless you in understanding His Holy and righteous
word.
mailto:yourargument@kemonline.411-cashflow.com
May
God bless and continue to bless you and your household until we speak again. Amen.
Praise God.