The Origin Of Easter

The Origin Of Easter

Easter is an event that is honored by nearly all of contemporary Christianity as the resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah. This tradition is so well established that it is believed to have begun with the resurrection of our Saviour and instituted by His apostles in the first century in commemoration of that event.

Actually, the apostles kept Passover until the mid 2nd century when a debate broke out about separating Christian celebrations from Jewish ones. Churches in the east still celebrated Passover (quartodeciman churches) while western churches began celebrating the resurrection on the first Sunday after Passover.

The name Passover comes from the German month in which Passover fell in -Eosturmonath.

The name spread through Europe until is became standardized as the name of the Resurrection day known as Easter in English.

The Mystery Religion

Nimrod was killed because of his violence and iniquity against the true and living God and his body was cut in pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom. His wife/mother told the people of Babylon that Nimrod had ascended to the sun and was now to be called "Baal", the sun god. Semiramis was creating a mystery religion, and with the help of Satan, she set herself up as a goddess. Semiramis claimed that she was immaculately conceived. She taught that the moon was a goddess that went through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full and that she had come down from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River at sunrise at the time of the first full moon after the spring equinox, on a Sunday. Semiramis became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounced "Easter" referred to as Ashtoreth in scripture, and her moon egg became known as "Ishtar's" egg." One of her titles was the Queen of Heaven, and two of her fertility symbols were the rabbit and the egg. She soon became pregnant and claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal (the ascended Nimrod) that caused her to conceive.

The son that she brought forth was named Tammuz. Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter. The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig. Queen Ishtar told the people that Tammuz was now ascended to his father, Baal, and that the two of them would be with the worshipers in the sacred candle or lamp flame as Father, Son and Spirit.

Ishtar, who was now worshiped as the "Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven", continued to build her mystery religion. The queen told the worshipers that when Tammuz was killed by the wild pig, some of his blood fell on the stump of an evergreen tree, and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight. This made the evergreen tree sacred by the blood of Tammuz.

She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow for each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten - this is what became known as Lent" in Roman Catholic tradition. Worshipers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign of the "Tau" (a cross) in front of their hearts as they worshiped. They also ate sacred cakes with the marking of a "T" or a cross, on the top. Every year, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made. It was Ishtar's Sunday and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. Ishtar also proclaimed that because Tammuz was killed by a pig, that a pig must be eaten on that Sunday.

Ishtar, (Semiramis, widow of Nimrod, mother of Tammuz) came to be represented as the bare breasted pagan fertility goddess of the east. The original pagan festival of "Easter" was a sex orgy that celebrated the return of life via the fertility of Ishtar's conception of Tammuz. Worshipers of the Babylonian religion celebrated the conception of Tammuz on the first Sunday after the Full Moon that followed the Spring Equinox. They celebrated it by baking cakes to Ishtar, getting drunk, engaging in sex orgies and prostitution in the temple of Ishtar. Women were required to celebrate the conception of Tammuz by lying down in the temple and having sex with whoever entered. The man was required to leave her money. Babies were sacrificed in the honor of these pagan gods and their blood was consumed by the worshipers. The priest of Easter would sacrifice infants (human babies) and take the eggs of Easter/Ishtar, as symbols of fertility, and die them in the blood of the sacrificed infants (human babies). The Easter eggs would hatch on December 25th (nine months later), the same day her son Tammuz the reincarnate sun-god would be born.

This is where the practice of coloring "easter eggs" came from. Many babies would be born around Dec 25 from the sex orgies that began on the feast of Ishtar in the Spring and many of these babies would be sacrificed the following Easter/Ishtar feast .

It was also common for pagans to bake cakes to offer to her (the Queen of heaven) on the Friday before the Easter festival. This is where we gained the custom of 'hot cross buns', with the “cross” symbol indicating the female (the Babylonian symbol for the “female” was, and is, a circle with a crux/cross beneath). The cross also indicated the Equinox, when the Earth’s orbit “crossed” the celestial equator.

Jeremiah spoke against this practice and pronounced God's judgment against them for these practices (Jeremiah 7:17-19; 44:19-29). Ezekiel also speaks against the celebration of the rites of Ishtar which were taking place in the temple and the weeping for Tammuz (Ezek. 8:14) refers to the mourning process of the death/resurrection symbolism of Easter, Ishtar weeping for the death of her son Tammuz which the women were obliged to emulate.

The fertility rites were extended to agricultural processes and to ensure a prosperous growing season, Pagans rolled eggs decorated with the bright colors of Spring in their fields, hoping to imbue fertility. These eggs were then hidden from “evil spirits” in rabbits’ nests, another symbol of fertility.

The Easter or Ishtar symbolism of the Sunday resurrection of the spring fertility cult (Easter, the Anglo-Saxon form of Ishtar), is a pagan system of worship that first penetrated Christianity in the second century. The symbolism stems from the death of Tammuz (or Dumuzi) on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday. This mirrors the grain and new shoot symbolism of the corn harvest which occurred at this time of the year. The 40 days of Lent were picked as one day for each year of his life since he died at age 40. The rest of the traditions of Easter were "Christianized" into the story of the death and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah.

The Infiltration Into The Church

Says Alexander Hislop, "It was an essential principle of the Babylonian system, that the Sun or Baal was the one only God. When, therefore, Tammuz was worshiped as God incarnate, that implied that he was an incarnation of the Sun" (p.96). Connected with his worship was a pagan "Lent" of forty days. Hislop adds, "Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing . . . being observed in Palestine and Assyria in June, therefore called the 'month of Tammuz;' in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, some time in April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals amalgamated, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity -- now far sunk in idolatry -- in this as in so many other things, to shake hands" (ibid., p.105).

The New Catholic Encyclopedia comments: "Since the majority of the early Christians were Jewish converts, it is understandable that from the outset the Christian calendar was governed by the fact that the death and Resurrection of Christ had taken place at the time of the chief Jewish feast, the Pasch, or Passover, celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Nisan, i.e., at the full moon following the Spring equinox. " (ibid., McGraw Hill, N.Y., 1967; pp. 1062-3). They go on to explain why they changed the date for uniformity in celebrating it on the same day each year and later to incorporate the pagan Easter Festival.

The historian Eusebius of Constantine's era, records "When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable, than to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality, celebrated by all with one accord, and in the same manner?" (Vita Const., Lib. iii., 18-20) Obviously Eusebius regarded the festival of Easter as 'sacred' and rejected the God-ordained festival of Passover which the true believers had kept along with the Jews up to that time from the apostolic era.

Nowhere are the customs associated with Easter sanctioned in the Bible. Nowhere does God command us or encourage us to observe a custom memorializing or commemorating the DEATH of Messiah on the tree. Rather, we are commanded to observe the PASSOVER on the 15th of Nisan which celebrates our DELIVERANCE FROM SIN! Although the emblems of the Passover are to remind us of the suffering and the death of our Saviour, and the price He paid for us, Passover is a VICTORY CELEBRATION of the "deliverance" and "salvation" we receive through Messiah -- not a celebration of His death itself! There is a distinct and clear difference between the two concepts. God does not want us to commemorate, therefore, the death of His Son.

The Scriptures state: "Cursed is everyone that is hung on a tree" (Gal.3:13). When Messiah was hanging on that tree, He had become a "curse." He became SIN for us -- our SIN offering. Therefore, God the Father turned His back on His own Son, to allow Him to DIE for our terrible and many sins. Paul wrote, "God made him who had no sin to be SIN FOR US, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Nevertheless, His death is not the end of the matter. Rather, "Much more then, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the DEATH of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be SAVED BY HIS LIFE" (Romans 5:9-10).

Therefore, what we are to commemorate is our VICTORY and TRIUMPH over sin, which was made possible only through the DEATH of Messiah! We must never forget that fact. We "remember" His death every time we partake of the emblems of the Lord's Supper, and every night of Nisan 15, when we celebrate the Passover, just as God commanded, over three thousand years ago!

Where did all of the strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of our Saviour? The forty days of Lent, eggs, rabbits, hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Mystery Babylon. Satan is a master deceiver, and has filled the lives of well-meaning, professing believers with idolatry. These are all antichrist activities!

The Roman Church has taught that Yeshua (Jesus) died on a Friday, but the maths for this doesn't add up, since the scriptures clearly teach that He rose before Sunday morning, and He spent 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb (Matt 12:40). While the Bible says He died the day before a Sabbath, they were talking about the annual Passover Sabbath that falls on the 15th of Aviv, no matter what day of the week the 15th fell on, and not the weekly Sabbath. You can't get 3 days and 3 nights from Friday to Sunday morning.

To create "Christian" alternatives for the Pagan festivals of "Easter" celebrations, the Roman church created "Good Friday", though His death was on a Wednesday night. We all know that Jesus's tomb was discovered empty and the grave clothes neatly folded early Sunday morning. So, Jesus resurrected Saturday night. You can count 3 days and 3 nights backwards and you get Wednesday night for Jesus' death and burial. This just happens to be the night the Jews are killing their Passover lamb that was to be consumed that very night. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb of God who died and was buried in God's perfect timing. Tammuz also was traditionally to have died on a Friday and risen on a Sunday. They moved the celebration of what they then called "Passover" to coincide with the celebration of the resurrection of Tammuz, which was very close to the time of the actual Passover. The "Easter holiday often involves a church service at sunrise, a feast which includes an "Easter Ham", decorated eggs and stories about rabbits. Is it truly the day when Jesus/Yeshua arose from the dead?

Greek texts as well as the Aramaic Peshitta and Old Syriac texts do not say He was raised on the first day of the week, literally they all say it was on one of the Sabbaths. You have to delve into Hebraic terminology and the Passover week to figure it out. I would suggest that we turn from Easter/Ishtar to Passover because that is what the upper room as well as the crucifixion were about.

"Thus says Yahweh, 'Learn not the way of the heathen . . . For the customs of the people are VAIN" (Jeremiah10:2-3). The Jewish Tanakh has, "Do not learn to go the way of the nations . . . For the laws of the nations are DELUSIONS." The Moffat translation has, "Never learn to live like PAGANS . . . but their rites are inane." The Amplified Bible says: "Learn not the way of the heathen (nations) . . . For the customs and ordinances of the peoples are FALSE, EMPTY and FUTILE."

In Acts 15, when deciding what the Gentile Christians should observe, food offered to idols is first on the list.

The word “Easter” appears in the KJV translation, but in the Greek from which it is translated, it is 'pascha', and it means Passover, from the Hebrew word “Pesach”. All scholars admit that this is an error in translation, and it only appears ONCE, at Acts 12:4. Luke, who wrote almost 40% of the writings in the New Testament, didn’t put it there as “Easter”, he wrote it as "Pesach/Passover". The KJV is the only one with this error, since translators have since corrected it in all others!

"God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24

Yeshua/Jesus said, "This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Mark 7: 6b-7