Christ's Resurrection and Easter Part 2
Now, in regards to the celebration of the resurrection being called Easter. Easter is the name of a pagan goddess of fertility. In the early years of the Catholic church, when Constantine adopted Christianity, Rome was a pagan nation. ( Note: I'm going leave a lot of details about the paganism of Rome out right now, and just write about the history of Easter at this point.) Easter is one version of the pagan goddess of fertility, who is also known by: Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos. Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Other pagan cultures in the east also had their own version of the same goddess, and their festivals were also celebrated in the spring: Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus, Ashtoreth from ancient Israel, Astarte from ancient Greece, Hathor from ancient Egypt, Ishtar from Assyria, and Ostara, a Norse Goddess of fertility just to name a few. Some of these celebrations had their own resurrection story about their fertility goddess, and were celebrated in the same area, and at the same time, as Christians celebrating Christ's resurrection. Of course, there ended up being much debate over which of the gods was real, and which was an imitation. An important fact to note: Satan, the father of lies, is always going to try to present a false Christ. This is even going to happen in the end times when we have the Antichrist, and many people are deceived into following him. He will perform "miracles", he will die and be resurrected. What is there to make us think that this is going to be something that Satan hasn't tried to use to deceive people in the past? He constantly tries to lead people away from the one true God. He always has, and he will keep trying until He is finally locked in hell for all eternity.
So, when pagan Rome began to adopt Christianity, they did not want to fully give up their pagan practices. These were their traditions! We say the same thing about so many things that we do, we don't want to give up our traditions, the comfortable things we've always known. But Jeremiah tells us, not all of our traditions are worth keeping: 16:19 "O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit."" So many of our traditions are worthless lies! They were inherited from pagans, and labeled with new names. Calling them Christian does not change the fact that they are wicked! Leviticus 4:13 says "If the entire Israelite community sins by violating one of the Lord 's commands, but the people don't realize it, they are still guilty." We are still guilty! Yes, we are redeemed by Christ's sacrifice for us, but that does not free us from obeying God's commands! Jesus even said so Himself in Matthew 23:1-3 "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach." He also says this in Matthew 5:17-19 , "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."
It's also been said that to try and win pagan converts to Christianity, they would take some of the pagan traditions, holidays, etc, and put Christian names on them. Some may say that it's okay if it won people to Christ, but it's not. The Bible makes that very clear: Deuteronomy 18:9 and 12 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you." Other versions use the word "abomination" instead of detestable. This is a strong word, and should not be taken lightly. The two Hebrew words which it is translated from mean "perverted, disgusting, repulsive, repugnant, putrid, and vile." These were pagan people, worshiping pagan gods, and yes, unfortunately, the Jewish people did end up following many of them, despite what Yahweh said! And we can read in several places in the scriptures were He punished them for this. So, if later people who ended up being called Christians, were using pagan practices to worship God/Yahweh, would He appreciate it? All through the Bible God expresses clearly how He feels about pagan practices, and how He feels about His people practicing them. Never once did He say that it was okay.
So, between the day that is recognized as being the day of Christ's resurrection being incorrect, the name "Easter" being the name of a pagan goddess, and of course, the rabbit, eggs, chicks, and even Easter candy are all connected to this same goddess, symbols of fertility, and the festivals therein, (There are so many stories about how they were used in the different festivals, that it would make this post even longer than it already is, but I can always post them later, and even link to some sites, or you are welcome to Google them and find a few of the stories; if you do a Google search on the traditions of Easter, you will find many sites explaining the pagan origins) this does not leave much of any actual connection to Christ on this "Christian" holiday! I do truly believe that we most certainly are supposed to remember Christ's death and resurrection, but this isn't how He wants us to do it, by using pagan traditions and misinformation that has nothing to do with Him! In fact, He does tell us how we should remember it, actually, in Matthew 26 beginning in verse 17. Jesus/Yeshua ate the Passover feast with His disciples, including the bread that represents His body, the wine that represents His blood, and then they even sang a hymn. This was a real true feast, keeping to the traditions of the Passover, including real wine.
Which brings me to my next point, the Passover Feast. The Passover was a precursor of things to come (I think that's the correct word). The Hebrews were slaves, captive to the Egyptians. The whole human race is a slave to sin, held captive by Satan. Moses came to free them, Yeshua came to free the world. The Hebrews were covered and protected from the curse by the blood of the lamb, as the world is now covered and protected from the curse of sin by the blood of the lamb provided we accept and stay under that covering. The Hebrews were commanded not to leave their homes that night, not to step out from under the blood protection of the lamb because it was the only thing protecting them, as we are not to step out from under our blood protection. Yeshua was also the final Passover sacrifice. He died on Passover, at which time the veil that separated every person from Yahweh, was torn. This meant that everybody now has free and equal access to Yahweh, no longer needing an intermediary (such as a Jewish or Catholic priest), and no longer needing a sacrifice to redeem us from our sins (which in the verse referenced above in Leviticus, the chapter outlines how the Israelite nation could be redeemed when they sinned, using a sacrifice). We no longer need to perform a sacrifice to receive redemption, because Christ was the final sacrifice! And with that being said, I think that Passover isn't just about the Hebrews being freed from Egypt anymore (not that it isn't something we should remember), but also about the freedom the whole world has received! When Christ ate the Passover supper with His disciples, He instituted a new meaning to it: to do it in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19), and how He is the lamb, the final Passover sacrifice (Luke 19:20)!
So, what I did this year, on Passover, I held a feast with my family to remember the sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. We broke bread (we used Matzah, because it would be at least similar to what Jesus/Yeshua used at His supper, because it was what God commanded to be used at the Passover Feast, bread made without yeast, which represents sin), and drank unfermented wine (grape juice, simply because 1, I couldn't get any wine at the time, and 2, my girls would have to drink juice anyways). We also ate a dinner, and read the story of the Last Supper to remember and teach my girls about what it all means, which they understand very well, fortunately. Tomorrow, I will be celebrating Christ's resurrection with my family, having a meal. We won't be celebrating “Easter”. The Bible says not to even speak the names of other gods (Ex. 23:13)! So, why should we call the holiday that celebrates the resurrection of the Son of the true God, Yahweh, by the name of a pagan goddess, especially when we should not even so much as speak her name?!
There are so many other subjects that I want to speak on that can be brought up from different things talked about in here. I hope to write more, in fact I plan to (even if I don't post it all), as God, Yah, leads me. I feel strongly that I can't hold this in and keep it to myself. God wants everyone to know the truth, the truth that is in His word. He wants people to not be deceived anymore. And so I know that whatever He shows me in His word, whatever He tells me to speak, I will. Controversial to mainstream Christianity or not.
No comments:
Post a Comment