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SUNDAY, EASTER & CHRISTMAS WILL BE OUR UNDOING

CHAPTER 2

PAGAN EASTER

HOW GOD VIEWS USA AND BRIT-COM NATIONS

Consider this situation. You are the absolute, benevolent king of your country. Natural resources of your country, your personal sacrifices and your enlightened policies have made your country one of the richest in the world. You have a neighboring country ruled by a lying, cunning, crafty implacable tyrant, intent upon conquering your nation, and is in perpetual war with you.

In your country, you have instituted wise laws for the welfare of your citizens, and festivals to celebrate major achievements by your country so that they remember their history, and detailed instructions on how to celebrate them in a wholesome way.

But you find that the neighboring tyrant king has been engaged in perverting your people for decades. Some of his citizens had infiltrated your country decades ago and had been clandestinely engaged in subverting your citizens, inveigling them to violate your laws, palmed himself off as their genuine benefactor, criticized you as a tyrant with ‘restrictive’ laws that curb your citizens freedoms and wants to liberate them from your rule. He has also convinced your citizens to celebrate different counterfeit festivals, with concocted reasons for celebrating them in your honor so that they can ‘justify’ celebrating them to you. Those festivals are celebrated in ways that are contrary to your instructions. This tyrant has done such a fantastic con job that your citizens have adopted all the ways of his citizens. Many of your citizens have been deceived into following the tyrant.

What would your reaction be towards your citizens? They disobey you and are disloyal to you. They have made a total commitment to the tyrant and have become traitors to your country. You want to open the eyes of your citizens to the true nature of the tyrant, whose sole aim is to destroy your kingdom and enslave your citizens. How would you deal with your traitor citizens? They pose a deadly danger to your loyal citizens because their aim is to destroy them and take over the kingdom under the tyrant’s banner.

This is not a completely hypothetical story. Somethings similar have really happened to the USA and British Commonwealth nations. In the story, substitute God for the benevolent king and Satan for the tyrant king.

To fulfill His unconditional promises to our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Judah, God has given us rich lands. He has given us His laws in the Bible. But we disobey His laws, violate all His Ten Commandments; worship pagan gods in pagan festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Day, which are Satan’s counterfeits designed to obscure God’s plan of salvation for mankind as pictured in His seven annual holy days, commanded to be kept as mentioned in Leviticus 23; eat unclean foods such as pork, shellfish, rabbits and unclean birds. We lead the world in sexual perversions and parade them around the world and even try to coerce other nations to allow their people to participate in them. I have detailed all our violations of God’s laws in my free eBook “Modern Romans: A Warning for America, Britain and Israel”, available at http://www.churchofgodmessage.com/modernromans.html.

We can be quite certain that the benevolent king would not deal kindly with citizens in his country who have turned traitors. While we may not know how precisely the king will deal with them, there is absolutely no doubt about how God will deal with our nations. We are the only people with whom He has had a relationship. He made it absolutely clear in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 how He will bless us if we obey His commandments, statutes and judgments and how He will curse us if we disobey. The prophets in the Bible have warned us to turn from our sins, but we have not obeyed. Here are what they have said:

Isaiah 1:2-7, “2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib: but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.”

God warns us in Leviticus 26 about what we will suffer if we disobey His laws:

“14 But if you will not hearken [listen] unto me, and will not do all these commandments; 15 And if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but that you break my covenant: 16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption [wasting diseases], and the burning ague [fever], that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and you shall flee when none pursues you...

“25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy... 30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. 32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen [Gentile nations], and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste...

“36 And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursues. 37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursues: and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them... 46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the Lord made between Him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.”

Jeremiah 30:4-7, “4 And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel [America and British Commonwealth nations] and concerning Judah [the Jews]. 5 For thus says the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. 6 Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child [labor pains]? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's [America, British Commonwealth nations and Israel] trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.”

The only good news is that God will rescue our nations from slavery, but we will be left few in number.

My eBook, “Modern Romans: A Warning for America, Britain and Israel” provides many more details about our sins and why God will punish us. One of those reasons is the pagan festivals we celebrate, which were instituted by demon influenced men and women who had deified themselves as gods and goddesses. Easter is one of those pagan festivals. Let’s now see Easter’s pagan origins.

WHAT EASTER MEANS FOR MODERN CHRISTIANS

Vast majority of nominal Christians who have not read the Bible completely, assume that the bible contains many verses mentioning Easter and Christmas and very detailed instructions in the New Testament on how to celebrate Easter with images of rabbits, coloring eggs and egg hunts for children, baskets of candy, hot cross buns, on Lent and Good Friday that precede Easter and sunrise services on Easter, and how to conduct Easter services, just like in the Old Testament there are very detailed instructions on how to keep the “Jewish” holy days such as Passover, days of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles. They believe that their Church pastor is diligently following these instructions.

If such Christians diligently read the Bible from cover to cover, they will be shocked to learn that the words Good Friday, Easter and Christmas are not even mentioned in the Bible, leave alone any detailed instructions on how to celebrate them.

Have you ever stopped to think what rabbits, eggs or hot cross buns have to do with the worship of God and Jesus Christ? No such rituals are mentioned in the Bible concerning how to worship God. What can worship services on a Sunday facing the sun have to do with the worship of Jesus Christ. Clearly, all these are ways the pagans worshipped their pagan gods and the Sun as a ‘god.’

For modern Christians, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to their beliefs, they suppose that Jesus Christ was crucified and died on late Friday afternoon, laid in the tomb, and was resurrected on Sunday morning. Christians therefore hold Easter sunrise services to commemorate His resurrection. But these suppositions are not supported by the record of Jesus’s death and resurrection in the Bible.

Most Christians will also be surprised to learn that the Bible does not instruct Christians anywhere to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. There is also no mention whatsoever of the apostles or early Christians ever doing so.

Again, most nominal Christians will also be surprised to learn that Easter is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. The King James translation mentions it only once in the Bible in Acts 12:4: “4 And when he [that is Herod] had apprehended him [Peter the apostle], 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.” The Greek word translated Easter here is Pascha, which means Passover. Therefore, the word Easter in this verse is a mistranslation.

Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says: "...The term 'Easter' is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pasch [Passover] held by Christians in post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast ... From this Pasch the pagan festival of 'Easter' was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity" (1985, p. 192, "EASTER")

WHEN WAS THE RESURRECTION

Not only is Easter not mentioned in the Bible, the traditions and the supposed reason for celebrating this festival – the Friday crucifixion and Sunday or Easter morning resurrection - also do not match the biblical record. Let us analyze in detail what the biblical record actually says about this tradition.

Matthew 12:38-40 shows some of the scribes and Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign to prove He was the Messiah. Jesus told them that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: "40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

But how can we fit "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" between a Friday-afternoon crucifixion and a Sunday-morning resurrection, which allows for Jesus to have been entombed for only a day and a half?

Some try to reconcile Christ's words with their belief in a Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection by rationalizing that Christ's "three days and three nights" statement does not require a literal span of 72 hours. They reason that a part of a day can be reckoned as a whole day. Hence, since Jesus died in the afternoon (around "the ninth hour" after daybreak, or about 3 p.m.; Matthew 27:46-50), they think the remainder of Friday constituted the first day, Saturday the second and part of Sunday the third.

However, they fail to take into consideration that only two nights—Friday night and Saturday night—are accounted for in this explanation. John 20:1 states: “1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” This clearly shows that Jesus had already risen before the daylight portion of Sunday. So even if we count a few hours of daylight of Friday as one day, only two days and two nights are accounted for in this explanation.

WAS CHRIST'S SIGN FULFILLED?

If Jesus was in the grave only from late Friday afternoon to sometime early Sunday morning, then the sign He gave that He was the prophesied Messiah was not fulfilled. The claim of His Messiahship rests on the fulfillment of His words. It's that critical an issue.

Each of the Gospel writers gives an account of the events, but each presents different aspects that need to be correctly synchronized and harmonized to produce a clear sequence and understanding of what happened. We will see that, when each account is considered, the chronological details align perfectly. We will see that Jesus Christ was in the tomb exactly three days and three nights.

John 19:31 preserves a critical detail that provides insight into the other accounts. The preparation day on which Jesus was crucified is described as the day before the Sabbath. But John clarifies it by stating that this approaching Sabbath "was a high day." Ask any Jew and he will tell you that a “high day” here does not refer to the weekly Sabbath (from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but to the first day of Unleavened Bread, which is one of God's annual high days, or Annual Sabbaths (Exodus 12:16-17; Leviticus 23:6-7) days which could—and usually did—fall on other days of the week.

Some believe that this high day fell that year on the seventh day of the week, making it coincide with the weekly Sabbath, with the preparation day being on Friday. But Luke's account shows that this was not the case. Notice the sequence of events outlined in Luke 23. Jesus' moment of death, as well as His hasty burial because of the oncoming Sabbath, is stated in verses 46-53. Verse 54 then states, "That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near."

TWO SABBATHS MENTIONED

Many have assumed that it is the weekly Sabbath mentioned here. But this is not the case. Instead, it was a Sabbath that occurred on a Thursday, since verse 56 shows that the women, after seeing Christ's body having been laid in the tomb, "returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils" for the final preparation of the body.

Such work would not have been done on a Sabbath day since it would have been considered a Sabbath violation. This is verified by Mark's account, which states, "Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices [which they would not have purchased on the high-day Sabbath], that they might come and anoint Him" (Mark 16:1).

The women had to wait until this Sabbath was over before they could buy and prepare the spices to be used for anointing Jesus' body. After purchasing and preparing the spices and oils on Friday, then as Luke 23:56 states, "they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment." This second Sabbath mentioned in the Gospel accounts is the regular weekly Sabbath, observed from Friday sunset through Saturday sunset.

By comparing details in both Gospels—where Mark tells us the women bought spices after the Sabbath and Luke states that they prepared the spices and then rested on the Sabbath—we can clearly see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned. The first was a "high day" (John 19:31)—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—which, in A.D. 31, fell on a Thursday. The second was the weekly seventh-day Sabbath.

SIGN OF THE MESSIAH

After the women rested on the regular weekly Sabbath, they went to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week (Sunday), "while it was still dark" (John 20:1) and found that He had already been resurrected (Matthew 28:1-6; Mark 16:2-6; Luke 24:1-3). When we allow the Scriptures to interpret themselves, all four Gospel accounts perfectly harmonize and attest to the validity of Jesus' promise that He would be in the grave three days and three nights—not just part of that time.

Several Bible translations recognize that more than one Sabbath is discussed in these events. In Matthew 28:1 some Bible versions, including Alfred Marshall's Parallel New Testament in Greek and English, Ferrar Fenton's Translation and Green's Literal Translation, properly translate this phrase as "after the sabbaths."

The wording of Mark 16:1-2 is confusing to some because it seems to suggest that the spices were purchased after the weekly Sabbath rather than before it, on Friday. However, this is explained by Luke 23:56, which clearly shows that the women bought the spices before, and not after, the weekly Sabbath, "and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment." Mark did not mention this weekly Sabbath rest in his account, but Luke, who wrote later, did.

Some also stumble over Mark 16:9 which in the King James Version states, “9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” They do not take into account that there is no punctuation indicated in the original Greek. Therefore, to be in harmony with the material presented in the other Gospels, by putting the comma after risen, a better translation would be: "Now having risen[,] early the first day of the week He appeared first to Mary Magdalene ..." These verses are not saying that Jesus rose early on Sunday morning, but that He appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene, having already risen some time earlier.

When we consider the details in all four Gospel accounts, the picture is clear. Here then is the sequence of events. Jesus was crucified and entombed late on Wednesday afternoon, just before a Sabbath began at sunset. However, that was a high-day Annual Sabbath (the first day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread), falling on Thursday that week, rather than the weekly Sabbath. The women rested on that high-day annual Sabbath. Then on Friday they went and bought spices to anoint Jesus’ body. Then they rested on the regular weekly Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Jesus thus remained entombed from Wednesday at sunset until Saturday at sunset, when He rose from the dead. Thus, when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb on Sunday morning before sunrise, "while it was still dark," she found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. Jesus had already risen on Saturday near sunset, before Sunday sunrise.

We can be assured that the precise duration of Christ's entombment before His resurrection, the "three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish [as Jonah was]" (Matthew 12:40), which Jesus gave as proof of His Messiahship, did happen. Jesus rose late Saturday afternoon around sunset—not Sunday at sunrise—which was precisely three days and three nights after He was placed in the tomb just before sunset on Wednesday. Jesus was not resurrected on Sunday at sunrise as mainstream Christianity claims as its justification for Easter worship.

ORIGINS OF EASTER

Since Easter is nowhere mentioned in the Bible, what then are its true origins? The truth is that the roots of Easter celebration date long before Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection. In fact, most of the customs surrounding modern mainstream Christian festivals such as Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Day originated with the religious system developed by Nimrod and his mother and wife Semiramis soon after the Flood of Noah’s day. Briefly, here is that story, told in detail in my book “Satan vs God: From the Flood to Abraham’s Call”, Volume 2. For a brief account, please read my eBook “Crazy, Delusional German Beliefs”, available free on my religion website www.churchofgodmessage.com.

ORIGINS SOON AFTER THE FLOOD

God drowned the old world in a worldwide flood in Noah’s day because of its wickedness, saving only Noah, his three sons and their wives. After the Flood, wild beasts multiplied faster than human beings and began to pose a threat to humans. But a very young, powerful black man named Nimrod organized hunting parties to hunt wild animals, which finally drove them away from human habitations. Thus, Nimrod began to be viewed as a savior of mankind. The Bible identifies Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-10, “8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore, it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”

About 80 years after the Flood, God gave Noah a plan to colonize different areas of the earth by different branches of Noah’s family, to prevent them from fighting with one another, over forced interracial marriages which had led to the earth being saturated with violence, bloodshed and evil before the Flood. But some branches of Noah’s family rebelled against God’s colonization plan. The leaders of this rebellion were Cush the black son of Ham, the young very beautiful Semiramis, a white woman of the line of Japheth, and their illegitimate son Nimrod, born black.

These leaders were not only rebelling against Noah, but against God Himself. They separated from Noah’s group and went to the land of Shinar [in modern Iraq], built a tower, and began building their own civilization with their own religion and worship system, in and around Babylon. Their religion was opposed to the worship of the true God.

These rebels were already being led by Satan and the demons. They first set up their own god, the Sun-fire-serpent god, in opposition to the true Creator God. Since they had rejected the true God as their provider, they had to invent a new god as the provider and knowledge giver or enlightener. They understood that the sun was the source of energy that helped their crops to grow. So, they set up the sun as their god. That’s what Easter sunrise services are: worship of the pagan Sun god.

The rebels were also being led by Satan. They also understood history at the time of Adam’s creation in the Garden of Eden. They knew that Adam and Eve had disobeyed the true God, and then knowledge of good and evil had been revealed to them by Satan. So, they told the people that as the sun was the physical enlightener [meaning provided physical light], the serpent in the Garden of Eden [who was none other than Satan] was the spiritual enlightener of mankind. So, they set up the Sun-serpent as their god. They also set up fire as a representation of the sun on earth. They fused these three elements and thus set up the Sun-serpent-Fire god as their god in opposition to the true God of Noah. Cush and Nimrod became the high priests of the Sun-serpent-fire god, and Semiramis became its priestess. They built a tower as a sanctuary or Temple and began building a city, Babylon.

Then Cush, Nimrod and Semiramis began to develop their worship system. Many rituals, ceremonies and celebrations were added to the religion. Later Nimrod added live human and child sacrifices as a form of worship of their god.

The plans of the rebels were to forcibly spread their religion over all the earth. At that time all of mankind had only one language. But God put an end to their attempts by destroying the Tower they had built and confusing the language of mankind which forced them to spread over different parts of the earth due to language differences. However, Nimrod began to pick up the pieces of his empire. He again began spreading his religion over other parts of the earth, and by force where necessary. They were making contact with people loyal to Noah and Shem and planned to force them to convert if they did not do it voluntarily.

At this time, it appears God decided that Nimrod should be executed for his many crimes, including initiating live infant and human sacrifices. He was the first human ordered to be executed by divine command (in accordance with God’s command after the Flood in Genesis 9:6, “6 Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”) Shem the son of Noah went to Egypt to carry out the execution. In a battle, Nimrod’s forces were defeated. He fled to Italy but was pursued and slain by Shem. Cush had already died about two and a half decades earlier. Now Semiramis was left alone to pick up the pieces of the empire Nimrod had created.

At this time most likely Satan saw an opportunity to exploit an ancient prophecy given in the Garden of Eden, immediately after Adam and Eve took of the forbidden fruit. That prophecy is stated in Genesis 3:15: “15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

This was the curse pronounced by God on Satan for deceiving Eve in the Garden of Eden. The woman’s seed here would be a woman’s son, who would bruise Satan’s head, meaning destroy Satan and his work, but Satan would first bruise the heel of the woman’s son meaning kill the woman’s son. Satan understood that the woman’s seed would be the Savior of mankind, born of a woman and not of a man. So, He would be the Son of God.

After Nimrod was assassinated, Satan saw a golden opportunity to counterfeit the events of this prophecy in Genesis. In life Nimrod had been honored as a great hero for saving mankind from the fear of animals and helping them live a 'civilized' life in cities; and as a high priest of the Sun-fire-serpent god. Now in death Satan inspired Semiramis to have him worshipped as a god, as the woman's promised seed, to greatly augment her power and hold over the people and rule Nimrod's empire.

THE FALSE MESSIAH

The world had been expecting a savior as prophesied in Genesis 3:15, but they did not know when the savior would be born. The elements of Satan's skillful plan implemented through Semiramis included:

1) Recognition of Nimrod as the promised savior, who died for mankind. Thus, his death was portrayed as fulfillment of the prophecy in Genesis 3:15. Nimrod was thus deified as a god and glorified in death as the savior of mankind. He was worshipped by different people under different names such as Baal, Moloch, Tammuz, Saturn, Bachhus, Dionysius etc.

2) Nimrod was then to be portrayed as being eternally alive. Semiramis told the people that she had supernaturally conceived, and that Nimrod had been supernaturally reborn, begotten by a spirit. This would perfectly parallel Christ's supernatural conception according to the prophecy.

At that time, the son Semiramis chose to present to the world as the SAVIOR was Horus, her illegitimate son, whose real father was Ninus II, a son of Asshur, a king in early Assyrian history who ruled from about 2055-2003 BCE. Semiramis claimed that Horus had been conceived by a spirit and thus was Nimrod reborn as the promised savior. The event became mythologized and began to be celebrated annually as the death of the god Tammuz and his rebirth or resurrection in the spring.

These are the kind of cunningly devised fables concerning salvation that Peter the apostle referred to in 2 Peter 1:16: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

3) Semiramis also gained glory as the VIRGIN MOTHER of the savior of mankind. In due course of time, both Semiramis and Nimrod were worshipped under the names of Rhea and Nin, or “Goddess-mother and Son”. The people accepted her claim as the Virgin Mother…That is the origin of Mother and Child (Madonna and Child) worship, more than 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Later their statues were set up everywhere and adored by the people.

4) Semiramis had thus deified Nimrod, then herself, and then her son Horus.

Semiramis also told the people that just as Nimrod had emancipated the people from the ‘restrictive’ ways of God, Nimrod in his reborn form as Horus would continue to liberate mankind from the ways of God. Over the centuries, the connection between Nimrod and Horus was lost, but the ruse continued to be celebrated as the death of the god Tammuz in the winter and his rebirth or resurrection in the spring.

This development of the counterfeit religion began after Nimrod’s death around 2121 BCE and innovations to it continued till Semiramis’ death about 160 years later around 1961 BCE. Semiramis was thus led by Satan to develop a counterfeit religion, based on the promise of a Savior for mankind (and Nimrod was already being viewed as a savior of mankind), and worship system with many innovations in rituals, ceremonies, holidays and festivals for the remainder of her life.

For example, all the rites and rituals practiced in mainstream Christianity today such as the mass, penance, baptism by sprinkling, Easter sun-rise services; festivals celebrated such as Easter, Christmas; symbols such as the Christmas Tree, Easter eggs, Easter rabbit and hot cross buns, the T as a symbol of the cross (it was actually the first letter for Nimrod’s name, Tammuz, in the Chaldee – Babylonian – language), all originated with Semiramis, as her Babylonian Mystery religion developed over the rest of her life.

After the Flood, for 3-4 centuries, most of humanity still lived around Babylon and had close contact. That’s why there are some similarities in all pagan religions because they all originated with Semiramis. However, after her death, as humanity spread out over the earth, different people added their own innovations to their pagan religions.

Thus, what we see masquerading around as mainstream Christianity today actually originated as a worship system around 2,000 BCE, or more than 4,000 years ago. This is attested to by many scholars.

The very name EASTER shows that it originated with Semiramis in Babylon-Assyria (Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 629). Her Assyrian and Babylonian name was “Ishtar,” also called Astarte of the Phoenicians in the Bible. Her Sidonian name was Ashtoreth (2 Kings 23:13) and she was known as Isis in Egypt. She is referred to as the “Queen of Heaven” in Jeremiah 7:18 and 44:24-28, whose worship is condemned. She later became the fertility goddess Aphrodite of the Greeks and Venus of the Romans.

The Encyclopedia Britannica says: "As at Christmas, so also at Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals—in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit" (15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. IV, p. 605, "Church Year").

All the celebrations associated with Easter pre-dated Jesus Christ by more than 2,000 years. But how did the pagan festival, Easter, become a Christian festival, when early Christians had nothing to do with it? They kept the Passover, instituted by God centuries earlier at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 12:13-14; Leviticus 23:5).

The Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edit., Vol. 8, p. 828 states: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers…The first Christians continued to observe the Jewish festivals [all mentioned in Leviticus 23], though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus, the Passover, with a new conception added to it, of Christ as the true Paschal Lamb…continued to be observed.”

If the apostles and the early Church had observed Easter, and it had been a commanded celebration, don’t you think it would have been mentioned in the New Testament with clear instructions on how to observe it? But the Bible is totally silent on this.

PRESSURE AGAINST THE PASSOVER

Why did Easter replace the Passover? United Church of God booklet “Easter: The Rest of the Story” explains:

“Prejudice seems to have been a major factor in their decision to make these changes. According to R.K. Bishop: "The early development of the celebration of Easter and the attendant calendar disputes were largely a result of Christianity's attempt to emancipate itself from Judaism. Sunday had already replaced the Jewish sabbath early in the second century, and despite efforts in Asia Minor to maintain the Jewish Passover date of 14 Nisan for Easter (hence the name Quartodecimans), the Council of Nicaea [in 325 A.D.] adopted the annual Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox (March 21)" (Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1984, published on The New Bible Library CD, 1993, "Easter").

“Before A.D. 70, Christianity was "regarded by the Roman government and by the people at large as a branch of the Jewish religion" (Jesse Lyman Hurlbut, The Story of the Christian Church, 1954, p. 34). Christianity and Judaism shared the biblical feast days, although Christians observed them with added meanings introduced by Jesus and the apostles.

“However, two Jewish revolts against the Roman Empire, in A.D. 64-70 and 132-135, led to widespread persecution of Jews and suppression of Jewish religious practices. Jews were even driven from Jerusalem and forbidden to return on pain of death. As pressure of persecution mounted, some Christians began to abandon beliefs and practices perceived as being too Jewish. Over time many abandoned their weekly Sabbath day of rest and worship in favor of worship on Sunday and abandoned the Passover in favor of Easter to distance themselves from Jews.

“The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains: "Originally both observances [Passover and Easter] were allowed, but gradually it was felt incongruous that Christians should celebrate Easter on a Jewish feast, and unity in celebrating the principal Christian feast was called for" (1967, Vol. V, p. 8, "Easter Controversy").” So, the Council of Nicaea outlawed Passover and enjoined the celebration of Easter on all Christians.

PASSOVER-EASTER DEBATE

Acceptance of Easter over Passover did not come without resistance. Two religious leaders of the mid-second century—Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna [which was God’s true Church in this case]; and Anicetus, bishop of Rome—debated this very point.

Anicetus argued for Easter while Polycarp, stated Encyclopedia Britannica, defended observing "the Christian Passover, on the 14th of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical calendar, regardless of the day of the week" (15th edition, Micropaedia, Vol. VIII, p. 94, "Polycarp").

Polycarp taught observance of the Passover as the early Church had observed it. Eusebius said Polycarp did so because this was the way "he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated" (Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, 1995, pp. 210-211). These Christians, who were members of God’s true Church of the second century, were still following the example of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6) in observing the Passover.

Several decades later another leader of God’s true Church, Polycrates, argued with Victor, bishop of Rome, over the same issue. Eusebius wrote of the continuing debate:

"There was a considerable discussion raised about this time, in consequence of a difference of opinion respecting the observance of the paschal [Passover] season. The churches of all Asia, guided by a remoter tradition, supposed that they ought to keep the fourteenth day of the moon for the festival of the Savior’s Passover, in which day the Jews were commanded to kill the paschal lamb…

"The bishops...of Asia, persevering in observing the custom handed down to them from their fathers, were headed by Polycrates. He, indeed, had also set forth the tradition handed down to them, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the Church of Rome. 'We,' said he, 'therefore, observe the genuine day; neither adding thereto nor taking therefrom. For in Asia great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again the day of the Lord's appearing, in which he will come with glory from heaven, and will raise up all the saints...

"Moreover, John, who rested upon the bosom of our Lord...also Polycarp of Smyrna, both bishop and martyr. Thraseas,...Sagaris,...Papirius; and Melito...All these observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. Moreover, I, Polycrates…according to the tradition of my relatives, for there were seven, my relatives [who were] bishops, and I am the eighth; always observed the day when the people (i.e., the Jews) threw away the leaven.” (Eusebius, pp. 207-209).

The 11th Edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica, as quoted in “The True Origin of Easter” by David Pack, describes the history how Easter slowly came to replace the Passover by 325 AD at the Council of Nicaea under Emperor Constantine: “Although the observance of Easter was at a very early period in the practice of the Christian Church [the false Churches], a serious difference as to the day for its observance soon arose between the [true] Christians [Churches that followed the religion handed down by the Apostles] of Jewish and those of Gentile decent, which led to a long and bitter controversy…The Jewish Christians…(observed) the 14th day of the moon at evening…without regard to the day of the week. The Gentile Christians (Roman Catholics)…identified the first day of the week with the resurrection and kept the preceding Friday as the commemoration of the crucifixion, irrespective of the day of the month.

“Generally speaking, the Western Churches (Roman Catholic) kept Easter on the 1st day of the week, while the Eastern Churches [including the remnant of the true Church] followed the Jewish rule [the true Christian Passover].

“Polycarp, the disciple of John the Evangelist (last of the 12 apostles), and bishop of Smyrna, visited Rome in 159 (sic) to confer with Anicetus, the bishop of that see, on the subject, and urged the tradition which he had received from the apostles of observing the 14th day. Anicetus, however, declined. [incidentally, a few days after his meeting with Anicetus, Polycarp was martyred on his way back from Rome].

“About forty years later (197), the question was discussed in a very different spirit between Victor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates, metropolitan of proconsular Asia. That province [embracing churches founded through the apostle Paul, like Antioch and all of those identified in Revelation 2 and 3 as the true Church] was the only portion of Christendom which still adhered to the Jewish usage. Victor demanded that all should adopt the usage prevailing at Rome. This Polycrates firmly refused to agree to, and urged many weighty reasons to the contrary, whereupon Victor proceeded to excommunicate Polycrates and the Christians who continued the [correct] Eastern usage. He was, however, restrained (by counsel from other bishops) from actually proceeding to enforce the decree of excommunication…and the Asiatic churches retained their usage unmolested. We find the Jewish usage (the true New Testament Passover) from time to time reasserting itself after this, but it never prevailed to any large extent.

“A final settlement of the dispute was one among the other reasons which led Constantine [Roman Emperor] to summon the council at Nicaea in 325. At that time the Syrians and Antiochenes were the solitary champions of the observance of the 14th day. The decision of the council was unanimous that Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and on the same Sunday throughout the world, and that none hereafter should follow the blindness of the Jews. [Or, in other words, no one was allowed to follow the example of Christ and the true Church He founded!]…The FEW who afterwards separated themselves from the unity of the [politically organized] church, and continued to keep the 14th day, were named Quartodecimani [from the Latin word for 14], and the dispute itself is known as the Quartodeciman controversy” (Vol. VIII, pp. 828-829).

Unfortunately, people's and the false Church’s reasoning won out over the directions of God and the example of Jesus Christ, and genuine leaders of God’s Church after that.

A NEW WORSHIP THEME

As Easter replaced Passover, not only was a new date selected (the Sunday after the spring equinox rather than the biblically directed Nisan 14), but a new theme was introduced. Rather than commemorating Christ's death as directed by the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 11:26), the new holiday was designed to celebrate His resurrection. This new theme accommodated the pagan fertility symbols. It also helped distinguish the Christian community from the Jews, a major goal of church leaders of the time to avoid persecution.

Although Christ's resurrection is an important basis of our hope that we, too, can be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:17; Romans 5:10), neither God the Father, nor Jesus Christ, or the Bible have ever directed us to celebrate the resurrection in the New Testament. Only Christ’s death is to be observed in the Passover.

The wave sheaf ceremony mentioned in Leviticus 23:4-14 during the Days of Unleavened Bread, which took place on Sunday, did not anticipate Christ’s resurrection, which had already taken place earlier on Saturday at dusk, but Him being accepted by God the Father as the First of the Firstfruits.

Nevertheless, the celebration of Easter prevailed. Those who remained faithful to Christ's example of keeping the Passover decreased in number and were persecuted by those favoring Easter.

SUMMARY

In summary then, there are four main reasons Christianity gave up keeping the Passover and began keeping Easter, and the customs associated with it.

1. First, because of Jewish revolts, the Jews were highly persecuted in the Roman Empire. Romans could not distinguish between the Jews and Christians. The Church at Rome wanted to avoid persecution. Hence it sought to distance itself from the religion of the Jews. It had already changed the weekly worship day from the Sabbath to Sunday. For the same reason it sought to change the Passover to another festival.

2. The pagan Easter was being celebrated around the same time as Passover throughout most of the Empire. So, the Roman Church began the practice of giving pagan festivals Christian significance and calling them Christian holidays. The significance attached to Easter was the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a change from the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ which Passover commemorates. Jesus Christ never commanded His disciples to commemorate His resurrection.

3. After the Roman Church had distanced itself from Judaism by changing the day of worship, giving up keeping the holy days of God and instituting its own festivals or holidays by giving pagan festivals Christian significance, it sought to dominate all other Churches. It misinterpreted Christ’s words to the Jews in Matthew 21:43: “43 Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

The Roman Church presumed that since it was the prominent Church by virtue of being headquartered in the capital city of the greatest empire on earth at that time, it was able to propagate the gospel with greater power than the other Churches. Therefore, the Roman Church presumed that when Jesus Christ said, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”, He must have meant that the keys to entrance to the Kingdom of God were taken from the subject Jewish nation and given to the Roman nation, hence the Roman Church.

But by nation, Jesus Christ did not mean the Roman nation. He meant His true Church, because 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that the Church is a holy nation. Jesus also left no doubt that the nation He meant was His true Church which would be a small flock, as stated in Luke 12:32.

Thus, the Roman Church conveniently misinterpreted Christ’s words to presume that the keys to the Kingdom of God had been taken from the Jewish nation and Judaism and given to the Roman nation, and the Roman Church. The apostle Paul was fully aware of this shift in thinking in his own time. That is why he devoted chapters 9-11 in his letter to the Romans to discuss this issue at length. He warned the Roman Church in Romans 11:18-21: “18… do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.”

4. Later to attract more people into the Church, the Roman Church incorporated all the pagan rituals, rites, customs and ceremonies into celebrations of the newly instituted Christian holidays such as Easter, and later Christmas. Thus, virtually all the pagan customs that began with Semiramis around 4,100 years ago were incorporated into Christianity as Christian festivals. Now all the pagans could become Christians in name, but continue to keep all their pagan festivals, customs and celebrations.

HISTORY OF EASTER IN AMERICA

In America, early immigrants knew Easter to be a pagan festival! David Pack in his booklet quotes from Steve Englehart’s booklet “Easter Parade: Welcome Sweet Spring Time!”, p. 4: “When the Puritans came to North America, they regarded the celebration of Easter—and the celebration of Christmas—with suspicion. They knew that pagans had celebrated the return of spring long before Christians celebrated Easter…for the first two hundred years of European life in North America, only a few states, mostly in the South, paid much attention to Easter.” Not until after the Civil War did Americans begin celebrating this holiday: “Easter first became an American tradition in the 1870s” (p. 5). Remarkable! The original 13 colonies of America began as a “Christian” nation, with the cry of “No king but King Jesus!” The nation did not observe Easter within an entire century of its founding.

Now we know who mainly settled in the South: German masqueraders. They brought their pagan celebrations, Easter and Christmas with them, which merchants then popularized.

DOES IT MATTER TO GOD?

The question now for us is: “Does it matter to God whether human beings can change God’s holy days and institute their own holidays to worship Him?”

How ancient Israel suffered because of disobedience to God is recorded in the Bible as history. Ultimately, both the House of Israel, whose modern descendants are the Americans, the British, and citizens of the democracies of Northwestern Europe, and the House of Judah, whose modern descendants are the Jews, were defeated in war and removed from their lands as slaves.

Ezekiel the prophet wrote his book after the House of Israel had already been in captivity for more than 130 years. So, his book contains prophecy for the end time, meaning our time. God considers holding sunrise services at Easter an abomination to Him. Ezekiel records in 3:16-18, “16 And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. 17…Is it a light thing…that they commit the abominations which they commit here?… 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”

Then the final punishment is described in Ezekiel 9:4-6, “4 And the Lord said unto him [an angel], Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem [a symbol for the Israelite nations as Jerusalem was the capital], and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry [meaning members of God’s Church who know celebrating Easter is an abomination to God and sigh at celebration of paganism] for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, Go after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have pity: 6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.” That will be the final punishment.

Thus, we see that celebration of Easter and other mainstream Christianity’s holidays such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day are condemned in the Bible because these festivals originated in rebellion against the God of the Bible. There are seven annual holy days - Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah, Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, Feast of Tabernacles or Succoth and the Last Great Day, described in Leviticus 23, that are actually commanded to be kept, which command our nations disobey, and have disobeyed for more than 2,700 years.

God in His prophecies makes it absolutely clear that the consequences for America, Britain and the State of Israel of worshipping Ishtar or Semiramis, and Baal or Tammuz or Nimrod in Easter and following paganism, born in rebellion against the true God will be defeat in war, a massive slaughter of our populations and national slavery, before God in is mercy will rescue the chastened survivors, finally willing to listen to Him and obey His laws.

To learn more about Easter and its pagan origins please order a free copy of the booklets published by the United Church of God titled “Easter: The Rest of the Story”, available at the Church’s website www.ucg.org.

To understand the meaning and significance of God’s seven Annual festivals or Holy Days mentioned in Leviticus 23 that God’s Church observes, which also picture God’s plan for salvation of all of mankind, please read my free eBook “God’s Plan of Salvation for All Mankind,” available on my religion website www.churchofgodmessage.com.