Passover or Easter?
[note]God told Solomon not to marry foreign wives because they would bring their pagan worship into his house and before long what was holy would be so intermingled with what was unholy that people would no longer know the difference. I believe this has happened to the modern Church. In Jeremiah the Lord declares that "people perish for their lack of knowledge" and we are exhorted to study the Word of God to rightly divide/ascertain the truth. I believe Keith green correctly stated that the "world is sleeping in the dark that the Church just can't fight 'cause its asleep in the light."
The following brief summarization of past events is for the purposes of understanding why calling the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus "Easter" (and intermingling pagan practices as if they were truth) breaks the heart of God. There are reliable historical documents that explain these events in greater detail for those who wish to investigate them further.
The Case Against Easter
History:
Noah had three sons. One son, Ham, had a son named Cush, who married Semiramus (aka Semiramis). Cush and Semiramus had a son named Nimrod. When Cush died, Nimrod married his mother. Nimrod was king over the land of Shinar, also known as Babylon. He was considered a great hunter. (Genesis 10) Nimrod was killed violently by his enemies, who cut him into pieces and scattered them throughout the kingdom. Semiramus took opportunity and said that Nimrod had ascended to the sun, and was now the sun-god Baal. She further claimed she was immaculately conceived and had arrived on earth in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates during the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
Semiramus took the Aramaic goddess name of Ishtar (the h is silent and it is pronounced e’ star). Her egg which the moon “birthed” her in was called Ishtar’s (e’ stars) egg. When she was pregnant after the death of Nimrod, she claimed the rays of the sun-god Baal had impregnated her. She named her son Tammuz. Ishtar was worshipped as mother of a god-child, and self-proclaimed, “Queen of Heaven.”
When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar, Semiramus told the people he had ascended to his sun-god father Baal. She declared a 40 day period of mourning which was to continue every year in his memory. (Ezekiel 8: 13-18) This period was followed by a sunrise celebration to commemorate the ascension of Tammuz. This celebration coincided with the arrival of Ishtar’s egg, on the first day of the week following the spring equinox (hence, the celebration called e'star - or Easter). [Note that this celebration preceded the arrival of the true Savior Jesus by some 1,500 years].
Temples:
In 550 BC, (~ 1,000 years after the life of Semiramus), a temple was erected for Ishtar in Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia. Considered to be the city of enlightenment by the people of the day, many Babylonians worshipped Ishtar. It was common practice for a girl to spend time as a temple prostitute before marriage to both worship and be worshiped as the physical embodiment of Ishtar. Other temples were erected in other cities as the worship and celebrations of Ishtar grew. Worshippers exist as of this writing in the early 21st Century, and recently the temple in Babylon (Mesopotamia is now Iraq) was renovated under the rule of Sadam Hussein.
Other Names:
The same way “Good Day” in English has the exact same meaning as “Buenas Dias” in Spanish, or “Guten Tag” in German, names can differ too. John in English is Juan (pronounced whon) in Spanish. They are the same name. The name Ishtar is Aramaic. In Hebrew she is called Ashtaroth; in Greek Astarte; and in English, Estre, or Easter. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia).
These are all reference to the same false goddess. The Old Testament, written in Hebrew mentions Ashtorath on several occasions with condemnation for her and those who follow her ways. Judges 2:13 and 10:6 both talk about the children of Israel doing evil, forsaking God to serve Baal (plural Baalim) and Ashtorath. 1 Samuel 7:3 says Samuel spoke to ALL the house of Israel to forsake Ashtorath and return their hearts to the Lord, and He would deliver them from the Philistines.
“Behold you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name and say ‘We are delivered!’ – that you may do all these abominations? ...go to My place which is in Shiloh, where I made My Name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel…And now because you have done all these things…I will cast you out of My sight… Do not pray for these people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me, for I do not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven (Ishtar).” Jeremiah 7: 8-18
In 605 BC, (55 years after the erection of Ishtar’s temple in Babylon), Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, taking king Jehoiakim, vessels from the temple of God, and among the abductees, many of the choicest of the royal youth to Babylon. One of these youth was Daniel. The book of Daniel describes some of the 70 years of captivity that were prophesied in Jeremiah. (The reason I mention this, is because as I read these books together in context, part of the idolatry that landed them in Babylon was the worship of Ashtaroth, i.e. Easter).
When Daniel was an old man, he mourned for the sins of his people after having visions of the end times. Daniel 9 contains his prayer for God’s mercy. At this time, the 70 years of captivity ended, and many returned to Jerusalem. Daniel stayed in Babylon. There are many possible reasons he stayed, he had a high position in the kingdom, and at the age of ~85, the trip was probably not practical. Daniel 10 finds Daniel in the midst of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He mourned for Jerusalem for three weeks before an angel came to him. It occurred to me that his mourning might have been compounded by the celebrations of Ishtar that would have been close to, or overlapped Passover each year, with their pagan rites and celebrations.
Fast forward to the time of Christ.
As a Jewish man, Jesus would have traveled to Jerusalem each year to take part in Passover. The week of His betrayal and crucifixion, He shared a Passover feast with His disciples, and then fulfilled the feast by becoming God’s own Passover Lamb. The women who went to the tomb on the first day of the week found that Jesus had risen! Followers of Christ continued to celebrate Passover and its fulfillment in Jesus. “Christ our Passover is sacrifice for us, therefore let us keep the feast.” 1Corinthians 5:7-8
The close time proximity of Passover to the celebration of Ishtar is no doubt the reason a few English Bibles mistakenly translated the word of Passover as Easter in Acts 12. Most recent editions have been corrected. It begs the question of how much the 2 feasts clashed throughout time.
Modern Easter
The Roman Empire was in the height of its power from 63 BC – 476 AD. One of its products was the Roman Catholic Church, which was as much a political power as it was a religious one. The leaders of the church sought to separate all things Jewish from their modern Christianity. I do not know the intentions of their hearts, and I am merely making observation of the consequences of their decisions. Perhaps they were seeking to avoid the persecution that always seemed to pursue the Jewish people through history. Suffice it to say, the early Roman Catholic Church forced Jewish people to renounce their Judaism in order to profess their Christianity, and the misguided era of separatism began. (Constantine’s Sword) Anxious to ditch the practice of all things Jewish, the church began to instigate its own feasts, thereby replacing the feasts of God in Leviticus.
The closeness of Passover with the celebration of Ishtar /Easter was certainly obvious to the leaders of the time. Perhaps they aspired to replace the pagan practices that honored the false deity with a religious one that honored the risen Christ, but the way they went about it was to “poach” each pagan ritual and “claim” it for Christianity. The 40 days of sorrow were replaced with what was called Lent. The sunrise service for Tammuz was replaced with a sunrise service for the resurrection of Christ. (The church taught that Jesus rose at sunrise, but John 20 says Mary arrived at the tomb while it was STILL dark on the first day of the week and Jesus was Already risen). Ishtar/Easter’s egg became colored Easter eggs brought forth by another symbol of fertility, an “Easter” Bunny. The cakes baked for the queen of Heaven were called by the favorite little nursery song “hot cross buns.” Somewhere along the way, Passover was lost and the resurrection of Christ was known by the masses as Easter.
“Howbeit in vain they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of God you hold the tradition of men. Full well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition.” (Mark 7:7-9)
Some people think it is “legalistic” to forsake Easter and practice Passover. Passover is thought to be a feast for the Jewish people with no significance to the Gentiles, but besides what would be another discussion, the fact that Jesus fulfilled the feast alone makes it relevant to all people who call Him Christ/Messiah. (Plus, why do they not consider the celebration of Easter legalistic too?) We are under grace and not the law, and when we celebrate the resurrection is probably not a big deal (though the “how” is very important), but, if you are going to celebrate the resurrection and redemption of Christ, why would you choose the man-ordained Easter celebration with pagan practices which honor an enemy of God and evoke His anger over a celebration which God Himself ordained and fulfilled?
Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and drown rather than to cause a believer to stumble. Yet, the American Christian culture tells innocent children the Easter Bunny is REAL (idolatry in its purest form) and invites him (and Easter egg hunts) into their homes and their sanctuaries alongside with Christ.
I cannot say that observing 40 days of Lent is bad just because it originated in a pagan practice; many people earnestly seek God in this time, and I believe God sees our hearts. I’m not purporting that we have to worship in the manner of the early Church who were Messianic Jews [although it is my personal preference] or meet in houses or be like the first Gentile believers who were Greek. There is room for adaptation to culture and preference – As long as we know and practice truth!
However - Telling children a mythical creature is real is a lie, plain and simple. No excuses. Celebrating Spring and even having egg hunts is okay as long as we are truthful about what it is and don't pretend it has anything to do with the resurrection of our Lord.
(I’ll reiterate what a Jewish girl told me when I was ~9 or 10 – “Why should I listen to you tell me Jesus is real when you still believe in Santa Claus? Someday you’ll know all the adults have been lying to you about everything!” That week I knew the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny and more, and it was a long, hard road to be sure Jesus was indeed real).
When we do not even know the truth from the fiction, how are we effective witnesses to a dying world? We speak truth out of one side of our mouths and lie from the other (knowingly or not); how can this honor Christ? Sometimes the world knows more than those who claim to know “the truth” like Jesus.
Finally for this particular writing, imagine you are married, and your spouse has/had an affair. Now imagine it is the anniversary of your marriage, and your spouse wants to celebrate it, but the anniversary with his/her lover is the same week, and so this year, s/he will celebrate Your anniversary on the date of Their anniversary; you will eat Their favorite meal, and it will be called by the Lover’s name. Even when your spouse swears the lover meant nothing, you continue to celebrate your anniversary on their day with their customs. (Recall Jeremiah 7:8) How would you feel? IMO, that is what "Easter" is to God.
The following brief summarization of past events is for the purposes of understanding why calling the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus "Easter" (and intermingling pagan practices as if they were truth) breaks the heart of God. There are reliable historical documents that explain these events in greater detail for those who wish to investigate them further.
The Case Against Easter
History:
Noah had three sons. One son, Ham, had a son named Cush, who married Semiramus (aka Semiramis). Cush and Semiramus had a son named Nimrod. When Cush died, Nimrod married his mother. Nimrod was king over the land of Shinar, also known as Babylon. He was considered a great hunter. (Genesis 10) Nimrod was killed violently by his enemies, who cut him into pieces and scattered them throughout the kingdom. Semiramus took opportunity and said that Nimrod had ascended to the sun, and was now the sun-god Baal. She further claimed she was immaculately conceived and had arrived on earth in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates during the first full moon after the Spring equinox.
Semiramus took the Aramaic goddess name of Ishtar (the h is silent and it is pronounced e’ star). Her egg which the moon “birthed” her in was called Ishtar’s (e’ stars) egg. When she was pregnant after the death of Nimrod, she claimed the rays of the sun-god Baal had impregnated her. She named her son Tammuz. Ishtar was worshipped as mother of a god-child, and self-proclaimed, “Queen of Heaven.”
When Tammuz was killed by a wild boar, Semiramus told the people he had ascended to his sun-god father Baal. She declared a 40 day period of mourning which was to continue every year in his memory. (Ezekiel 8: 13-18) This period was followed by a sunrise celebration to commemorate the ascension of Tammuz. This celebration coincided with the arrival of Ishtar’s egg, on the first day of the week following the spring equinox (hence, the celebration called e'star - or Easter). [Note that this celebration preceded the arrival of the true Savior Jesus by some 1,500 years].
Temples:
In 550 BC, (~ 1,000 years after the life of Semiramus), a temple was erected for Ishtar in Babylon, the capital of Mesopotamia. Considered to be the city of enlightenment by the people of the day, many Babylonians worshipped Ishtar. It was common practice for a girl to spend time as a temple prostitute before marriage to both worship and be worshiped as the physical embodiment of Ishtar. Other temples were erected in other cities as the worship and celebrations of Ishtar grew. Worshippers exist as of this writing in the early 21st Century, and recently the temple in Babylon (Mesopotamia is now Iraq) was renovated under the rule of Sadam Hussein.
Other Names:
The same way “Good Day” in English has the exact same meaning as “Buenas Dias” in Spanish, or “Guten Tag” in German, names can differ too. John in English is Juan (pronounced whon) in Spanish. They are the same name. The name Ishtar is Aramaic. In Hebrew she is called Ashtaroth; in Greek Astarte; and in English, Estre, or Easter. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia).
These are all reference to the same false goddess. The Old Testament, written in Hebrew mentions Ashtorath on several occasions with condemnation for her and those who follow her ways. Judges 2:13 and 10:6 both talk about the children of Israel doing evil, forsaking God to serve Baal (plural Baalim) and Ashtorath. 1 Samuel 7:3 says Samuel spoke to ALL the house of Israel to forsake Ashtorath and return their hearts to the Lord, and He would deliver them from the Philistines.
“Behold you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name and say ‘We are delivered!’ – that you may do all these abominations? ...go to My place which is in Shiloh, where I made My Name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel…And now because you have done all these things…I will cast you out of My sight… Do not pray for these people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me, for I do not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven (Ishtar).” Jeremiah 7: 8-18
In 605 BC, (55 years after the erection of Ishtar’s temple in Babylon), Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, taking king Jehoiakim, vessels from the temple of God, and among the abductees, many of the choicest of the royal youth to Babylon. One of these youth was Daniel. The book of Daniel describes some of the 70 years of captivity that were prophesied in Jeremiah. (The reason I mention this, is because as I read these books together in context, part of the idolatry that landed them in Babylon was the worship of Ashtaroth, i.e. Easter).
When Daniel was an old man, he mourned for the sins of his people after having visions of the end times. Daniel 9 contains his prayer for God’s mercy. At this time, the 70 years of captivity ended, and many returned to Jerusalem. Daniel stayed in Babylon. There are many possible reasons he stayed, he had a high position in the kingdom, and at the age of ~85, the trip was probably not practical. Daniel 10 finds Daniel in the midst of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He mourned for Jerusalem for three weeks before an angel came to him. It occurred to me that his mourning might have been compounded by the celebrations of Ishtar that would have been close to, or overlapped Passover each year, with their pagan rites and celebrations.
Fast forward to the time of Christ.
As a Jewish man, Jesus would have traveled to Jerusalem each year to take part in Passover. The week of His betrayal and crucifixion, He shared a Passover feast with His disciples, and then fulfilled the feast by becoming God’s own Passover Lamb. The women who went to the tomb on the first day of the week found that Jesus had risen! Followers of Christ continued to celebrate Passover and its fulfillment in Jesus. “Christ our Passover is sacrifice for us, therefore let us keep the feast.” 1Corinthians 5:7-8
The close time proximity of Passover to the celebration of Ishtar is no doubt the reason a few English Bibles mistakenly translated the word of Passover as Easter in Acts 12. Most recent editions have been corrected. It begs the question of how much the 2 feasts clashed throughout time.
Modern Easter
The Roman Empire was in the height of its power from 63 BC – 476 AD. One of its products was the Roman Catholic Church, which was as much a political power as it was a religious one. The leaders of the church sought to separate all things Jewish from their modern Christianity. I do not know the intentions of their hearts, and I am merely making observation of the consequences of their decisions. Perhaps they were seeking to avoid the persecution that always seemed to pursue the Jewish people through history. Suffice it to say, the early Roman Catholic Church forced Jewish people to renounce their Judaism in order to profess their Christianity, and the misguided era of separatism began. (Constantine’s Sword) Anxious to ditch the practice of all things Jewish, the church began to instigate its own feasts, thereby replacing the feasts of God in Leviticus.
The closeness of Passover with the celebration of Ishtar /Easter was certainly obvious to the leaders of the time. Perhaps they aspired to replace the pagan practices that honored the false deity with a religious one that honored the risen Christ, but the way they went about it was to “poach” each pagan ritual and “claim” it for Christianity. The 40 days of sorrow were replaced with what was called Lent. The sunrise service for Tammuz was replaced with a sunrise service for the resurrection of Christ. (The church taught that Jesus rose at sunrise, but John 20 says Mary arrived at the tomb while it was STILL dark on the first day of the week and Jesus was Already risen). Ishtar/Easter’s egg became colored Easter eggs brought forth by another symbol of fertility, an “Easter” Bunny. The cakes baked for the queen of Heaven were called by the favorite little nursery song “hot cross buns.” Somewhere along the way, Passover was lost and the resurrection of Christ was known by the masses as Easter.
“Howbeit in vain they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of God you hold the tradition of men. Full well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition.” (Mark 7:7-9)
Some people think it is “legalistic” to forsake Easter and practice Passover. Passover is thought to be a feast for the Jewish people with no significance to the Gentiles, but besides what would be another discussion, the fact that Jesus fulfilled the feast alone makes it relevant to all people who call Him Christ/Messiah. (Plus, why do they not consider the celebration of Easter legalistic too?) We are under grace and not the law, and when we celebrate the resurrection is probably not a big deal (though the “how” is very important), but, if you are going to celebrate the resurrection and redemption of Christ, why would you choose the man-ordained Easter celebration with pagan practices which honor an enemy of God and evoke His anger over a celebration which God Himself ordained and fulfilled?
Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and drown rather than to cause a believer to stumble. Yet, the American Christian culture tells innocent children the Easter Bunny is REAL (idolatry in its purest form) and invites him (and Easter egg hunts) into their homes and their sanctuaries alongside with Christ.
I cannot say that observing 40 days of Lent is bad just because it originated in a pagan practice; many people earnestly seek God in this time, and I believe God sees our hearts. I’m not purporting that we have to worship in the manner of the early Church who were Messianic Jews [although it is my personal preference] or meet in houses or be like the first Gentile believers who were Greek. There is room for adaptation to culture and preference – As long as we know and practice truth!
However - Telling children a mythical creature is real is a lie, plain and simple. No excuses. Celebrating Spring and even having egg hunts is okay as long as we are truthful about what it is and don't pretend it has anything to do with the resurrection of our Lord.
(I’ll reiterate what a Jewish girl told me when I was ~9 or 10 – “Why should I listen to you tell me Jesus is real when you still believe in Santa Claus? Someday you’ll know all the adults have been lying to you about everything!” That week I knew the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny and more, and it was a long, hard road to be sure Jesus was indeed real).
When we do not even know the truth from the fiction, how are we effective witnesses to a dying world? We speak truth out of one side of our mouths and lie from the other (knowingly or not); how can this honor Christ? Sometimes the world knows more than those who claim to know “the truth” like Jesus.
Finally for this particular writing, imagine you are married, and your spouse has/had an affair. Now imagine it is the anniversary of your marriage, and your spouse wants to celebrate it, but the anniversary with his/her lover is the same week, and so this year, s/he will celebrate Your anniversary on the date of Their anniversary; you will eat Their favorite meal, and it will be called by the Lover’s name. Even when your spouse swears the lover meant nothing, you continue to celebrate your anniversary on their day with their customs. (Recall Jeremiah 7:8) How would you feel? IMO, that is what "Easter" is to God.
posted by Shirley @ 9:30 PM
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