By Pastor Micah Anthony SR
What so-called Holiday did mainstream Christianity just celebrate last Sunday?
Most consider Passover/Unleavened bread a Jewish holiday and Easter a Christian one. But when we compare the biblical Passover with Easter, we find big differences.
If you asked most people what they would associate the words Passover and Easter with, you would probably get something like “Passover is Jewish and Easter is Christian.” But would this basic answer be correct?
There are major differences between Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Easter. You may be surprised to learn that it isn’t that one is Jewish and one is Christian. So, what is the difference between Easter and Passover? What do we discover when we compare them to each other?
The origin of the Passover is found in Exodus 12.
The Israelites had been under harsh slavery to the Egyptian Pharaoh, who had refused to let them go. Because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness, Yahweh sent a series of plagues on Egypt and was about to send the 10th and final plague: killing the firstborn of all people and animals.
Yahweh Elohim would spare, or “pass over,” only those who smeared lamb’s blood on their doorway (Exodus 12:12-13).
The day the passover lamb was eaten was at evening (sunset) the beginning of the 15TH of Abib. This was the day of Israel's great deliverance. the first day of Unleavened bread and was to be kept by Israel as a memorial of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt
What About Easter?
You can’t find Easter commanded in the Bible. The word is actually located in Acts 12:4 in the 1611 King James Version,...
History demonstrates that some Bible translators found it difficult to accept that Easter was not mentioned in the Bible. Hence, in a last-ditch effort, they purposefully mistranslated the Greek term Pascha, which is elsewhere correctly translated as “Passover.”
The vast majority of Bible translations recognize this error in the King James Version and rightly translate the word as "Passover" in Acts 12:4. It as a clear translation error (modern translations replace it with the word Passover).
There are over 70 references to Passover in the Old and New Testaments—but no legitimate references to the word Easter.
Passover: Elohim-ordained vs. Easter: demonically inspired human tradition
One of the significant differences between Passover and Easter is this: The Creator Yahweh Elohim commanded Passover/Unleavened Bread be kept by His people. He never commanded anyone to observe Easter to commemorate Messiah’s resurrection.
Who commanded Easter’s observance?
If you’ve been led to believe that Christians have celebrated Easter every year since Messiah’s death, reconsider. Christians in the first century did not observe Easter or anything resembling its customs.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in the section titled "The Liturgical Year," "At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter . . . should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon . . . after the vernal equinox" (1995, p. 332).
Up until this time, many believers had continued to commemorate Yahshua' death through the biblical Passover meal ([15TH Abib] the first day of the seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread). They did this as Yahshua and the apostles had instructed (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8;11:23-26).
1 Corinthians 5:…7 ,”Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.”
Now, however, with the power of the Roman Empire behind it, the Catholic Church enforced its preference for Easter. Those who wished to continue to observe the biblical Passover had to go underground to avoid persecution.
The record of the New Testament scriptures is clear: The faithful members of the early Church continued to observe all that the apostles taught them, as they were taught by Yahshua Messiah.
Matthew 28:19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The record of history is clear: In later centuries new customs, practices and doctrines were introduced that were quite foreign to the original Christians, forming a new "Christianity" they would scarcely recognize.
Again, we should find a paragraph about Easter in the writings of the Apostles and other New Testament authors if the early followers of Messiah believed that it is truly necessary to celebrate Easter or if He directed them to remember His resurrection.
We don’t, though.
This is more proof that Easter wasn’t originally a Christian holiday.
As we’ve seen, it is a historical fact that the Catholic Church commanded Easter’s observance at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. Church leaders did not appeal to scriptural authority, only their own authority, to make the change. Sadly, both the Catholic church, and its mainstream Christian offspring of today ignored Messiah’s warning against committing the sin of substituting human tradition for the commandments of Elohim (Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:13).
The Master Yahshua said be careful of the leaven of the pharisees. He was talking about the traditions, doctrine or teaching of the religious leadership of His time. Their traditions and teachings that went against the commandments of Elohim. As we approach Yahweh’s feast of Unleavened Bread, we need to not only get the leaven out of our own lives but encourage our brothers and sisters deceived into keeping the wicked, unrighteous leaven of Easter. When it comes to the religious leadership of our times we also need to be careful of the leaven of their passed down doctrine and traditions that go against the commandments of Elohim.
Leading up to and during the feast of Unleavened Bread one determines what to buy and not buy by searching the food labels at the store to see what contains leavening or not. If you want to be a true disciple or follower of Messiah Yahshua, you need to carefully examine whether your handed down beliefs agree with the Bible. Why? Because Yahshua did. He looked at the traditions that were going on among the church people of His day, and He didn’t like some of the traditions that were passed down.
Matthew 15:1 – Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Yahshua, saying,2 – Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. 3 – He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition?”
So, we see here that the church people of Messiah’s day were not pleased that Yahshua’s disciples were violating the traditions of the elders. Likewise we today have many in mainstream Christianity that will be puzzled to find we don’t celebrate Easter. Many may ask, “Why don’t you as a Christian celebrate Easter? They are basically saying the same things the Jews asked Yahshua,”.Why don’t you keep the traditions of the elders?”
With the scribes and Pharisees who were the religious leaders Yahshua was very direct…
“Why do you transgress the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition?” And our answer for why we today don’t celebrate Easter is, actually, very similar.
The Master Yahshua answered their question with a question so We might likewise respond by asking, if they found out that celebrating the traditions of Easter transgressed Elohim’s commandments; would they think it's wrong and repent?
Easter celebrating Church people may respond by saying,” Wait a minute, when celebrating Easter we’re worshiping Yahshua with all our heart. How is that transgressing Elohim’s commandments?
Again, the master Yahshua was a little harder on the ones who were the teachers. He said to the Scribes and Pharisees:
Matthew 15:7 – Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 – `These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me.9 – And in vain they worship Me, Teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.’
Wow! Yahshua who is the living WORD in the flesh said that those who teach and put doctrines or commandments of men over His commandments are worshiping Him in vain. In other words He doesn’t accept that kind of worship.
Long before the Catholic church passed Easter down as the most important holiday for hundreds of millions of believers around the world, its commandment breaking traditions were celebrated by demonically inspired pagans hundreds of years BEFORE Messiah rose from the dead!
This begs the question…
Though it might astonish you to learn, the truth is, "there is no trace of Christians celebrating Easter in the New Testament but it’s celebration can be found in the Old Testament"
Nineteenth-century Scottish Protestant clergyman Alexander Hislop's work The Two Babylons is still considered a definitive work on pagan customs that survive in today's religious practices.
Again,the name Easter, then, comes not from the Bible. Instead its roots go far back to the ancient pre-Christian Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, known in the Bible as Astarte or Ashtoreth.
Ancient resurrection celebrations
What did worship of this goddess Ishtar involve? "Temples to Ishtar had many priestesses, or sacred prostitutes, who symbolically acted out the fertility rites of the cycle of nature. Again, Ishtar has been identified with the Phoenician Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, and the Sumerian Inanna. Strong similarities also exist between Ishtar and the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.
An interesting fact is that the Bible states that all these gods are really demons and this implies that their pagan customs such as are related to Easter celebration originated from demons.
Another interesting fact is although it was originally written in Hebrew as Ashtoreth, or the queen of heaven, perhaps it can be correctly said that Easter is found in the Old Testament scriptures of the Bible. Because in reality, scripture shows that Yahweh Elohim has condemned and rejected the holiday as heathen demonic worship rather than as a celebration He has encouraged.
To gain a sense of how abhorrent and repugnant pagan forms of worship such as Easter are to Yahweh let's read...
Jeremiah 7:18,“The women knead the dough to prepare cakes for the queen of heaven and pour drink offerings to other gods while the children gather wood and the fathers light the fire in an effort to enrage me”.
Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, said in this way:
Jeremiah 44:25,“You and your wives have both vowed with your mouths and your hands that we will fulfill our vows to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her: you will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows”.
The reason why Yahweh gets jealous is because instead of only worshiping Him in righteousness, His people are participating in the abominable worship to false gods who are really Demons. Demons who did not create mankind, and cannot save them, are mocking Yahweh the true Elohim as they receive worship from His own redeemed in His righteous image people of Israel. Yahweh’s own people are keeping idolatrous traditions that Yahweh calls abominable. Every time Yahweh sees these ancient demonic traditions being carried out by people, He is reminded of the condemned wicked demons who are deceiving and destroying men created in His image as they participate in the idolatry of bowing down and offering worship to them. His own nation of Israel participating in traditions and doctrines of demons; instead of worshiping the only true Elohim.
So now we come to His New Covenant redeemed people of Israel (today’s church). People whom Yahweh Himself has come to the Earth in the flesh as His own Son to become the sacrificed Lamb to suffer and die for their sins. He didn’t do all this only to find that many within modern Christianity will once again adopt and participate in…
A new celebration with ancient idolatrous roots
History shows that various forms, worship of this god under the names Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, among others, spread from the outer reaches of the Roman Empire to Rome itself. There a truly remarkable development took place: Early Catholic Church leaders merged customs and practices associated with this earlier "resurrected" god and spring fertility celebrations and applied them to the resurrected Son of Elohim.
If you're a follower of Yahshua, you need to be completely honest with yourself. The demonic Easter (Ishtar) symbolism has nothing to do with Yahshua Messiah. Think about it:
What connection exists between Messiah’s resurrection and the Easter bunny?
What about hot cross buns and colored eggs? Should these traditional foods offered on the alter of Easter’s (Ishtar’s) holiday whose name is inspired after a demon have any connection to Yahshua?
Bunnies, eggs, and buns are indisputable relics of Easter’s sinister ancient beginnings. Pagans have long used bunnies and eggs as symbols of fertility. The “queen of heaven” referred to in Jeremiah 7:18 is worshipped with buns or cakes.
Jeremiah 7:18,”The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.”
Parents take time to color Easter eggs and hide them so their children can hunt for them.
Similar to Christmas, it's typical for TV movies this time of year to depict Easter as an enjoyable occasion of renewed happiness.
Television advertisements and commercial businesses also get very involved with Easter as they offer colorful Easter baskets, Easter costumes and chocolate rabbits to celebrate this great religious event.
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Many churches advertise outdoor Easter sunrise services, with any and all invited. Weather permitting, the Easter celebration is visually reinforced by watching the sun rise in the east.
Scripture says that the Messiah was resurrected when it was still dark, but Easter says he rose at sunrise. I'm not sure why so many people believe that the Messiah rose at sunrise, when Scripture plainly tells us that when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb it was still dark and the stone had already been removed from the tomb…
(John 20:1,”Now 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. “
. Haven't believers been called hypocrites enough? Let's be accurate with the most basic of details of Scripture in order to be taken more seriously. Additionally the concept of the oh-so-popular 'sunrise service' Easter morning is eerily similar to what was happening in Ezekiel 8 where men had their back to YHWH's temple to face the rising sun in the east. YHWH's response to this was, "Do they consider these disgusting practices a casual matter? Because it's filling their land with violence."
Sunrise services: These have been linked to rites of ancient sun worshippers “performed at the vernal equinox welcoming the sun and its great power to bring new life to all growing things.”—Celebrations—The Complete Book of American Holidays.
That’s why even when the so called holidays are over and they're giving the candies shaped like easter eggs, bunny’s, Santa Claus or Christmas trees, the witches ghost and jack o lanterns of Halloween, you won't catch me buying and eating them. These holiday candies are the modern day equivalent of eating foods offered to false gods which the scriptures from Old Testament to New says are really demons. The main point is many professed believers have been deceived by the false teachings which are leaven of demons which has inspired the Christian leaders of today to keep traditions that depart from the originally pure faith in Yahshua. A false not in the truth of the Word (Bible) Yahshua who allows us to celebrate the demonically inspired so called holidays such as Easter, Christmas, Halloween, or Valentines, and New years day…
Unlike the pure untainted feasts of Passover/Unleavened Bread, the demonically inspired traditions of Easter trangress the commandments of Elohim. The feast of Passover has seriously deep implications to Messiah's true disciples. They reveal aspects of Yahweh Elohim's plan for the salvation of humanity—commemorating the fact that Yahshua who lived an unleavened life untainted by sin, died as the perfect sacrifice for us and lives in us and for us (1 Corinthians 11:26; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4). Unleavened Bread represents Messiah work in helping us get the leaven of sin out of our lives. The so-called Holiday of Easter represents a false worship full of the leaven of sin that Yahshua Messiah Himself would never participate in the celebration of.
Remember, in Matthew 15:3, the Master Yahshua asked the question…
“Why do you transgress the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition?”
Then later he said…
Matthew 15:7 – Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 – `These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me.9 – And in vain they worship Me, Teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.’
Easter celebrating Church people may say,” Wait a minute, when celebrating Easter we’re not worshiping Ishtar we’re worshiping Yahshua with all our heart. How is that transgressing Elohim’s commandments?
Remember it’s the Word of Elohim that judges the hearts of men…
Hebrews 4:12For the word of Elohim is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Matthew 24:35,”Yahshua said to His disciples, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away".
Elohim's Word is an eternal, absolute reality that cannot be altered. It is as unchanging as Elohim is Himself.
Malachi 3:6 says, “I am Yahweh, I change not.”
Hebrews 13:8 says Yahshua is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.
As far as Elohim is concerned, what He has spoken is "... settled forever in Heaven" (Psalm 119:89).
Psalm 119:160The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.
We learned in our foundations lesson (Lesson 1) that Yahweh’s Word is Unfailing and Reliable
He does not lie, and He cannot change (Numbers 23:19; James 1:17). Elohim's Word is reliable because Elohim Himself is reliable. He does not change.
Our assurance and faith lie in the Word of Elohim. We have an Elohim who cannot lie and who cannot change. So what Yahweh Elohim Word says is sin in the Old Testament scriptures is still sin in today’s New Testament times. Yahweh’s Word the Bible defines sin in…
1 John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the law” (King James Version)
Elohim’s Word tells us to study to show ourselves approved. We should study to show ourselves approved of Yahweh in every area of our life; including whether or not to celebrate Easter. Yahweh tells us to test or prove everything.
I Thessalonians 5:21-To “prove all things,”
Faithful disciples of Yahshua uphold Elohim’s commands .
So Yahweh Elohim says if celebrating Easter does not pass the test of being approved by His WORD, we are commanded to repent in our hearts from doing such things.
Yahweh’s WORD doesn’t approve of Easter because a long time ago He declared thru Moses…
"Learn not the way of the heathen"—those who don't know Yahweh Elohim's truth (Jeremiah 10:2, King James Version).
His Word gives us explicit instructions regarding worshipping Him with practices adopted from pagan idolatry:
Have a look at Deuteronomy 12:29–32:
“Be careful not to fall into their trap after they are destroyed from before you, and do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?’ when Yahweh your Elohim cuts off the nations that you go to dispossess from before you, and you displace them and dwell in their land. And I’ll follow suit.” You are not allowed to worship Yahweh your Elohim in that way because they have committed every sin against Him by burning their children in the fire to appease their idols. You must be cautious to follow all of my instructions; you may not change or modify them.”
Here the ancient Israelites are being warned by Yahweh Elohim not to incorporate paganism into their religious worship of Him. Yahweh warns His followers not to worship Him in the same way using the traditions of paganism. These actions are viewed as ABOMINATIONS by Elohim.
The fact that Yahweh Elohim’s WORD uses the term abomination means that Easter which is a recycled version of ancient paganism, used in an attempt to worship Him fails the test of His WORD.Such worship is detestable or hateful to Yahweh!
For those who celebrate Easter, I understand that you're honoring Yahweh with your lips, but lip service isn’t all that Yahweh is asking for. He wants our hearts to worship Him in Spirit and in truth...
Yet, the time is now for the REAL WORSHIPERS to worship the Father in spirit and in truth because the Father is looking for people like this to adore Him. Those who worship Elohim must do it in both spirit and truth because God is spirit (John 4:23–24).
Let’s now consider the question, “Does Easter let us to worship Yahweh Elohim in Spirit and truth?
Let's let the Bible define what it means to worship in Spirit…
Ezekiel 36:26,”I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.”
Let's let the Bible define what it means to worship in Truth…
Psalms 119: 160The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.”
John 17:17,”Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. “
If we are going to worship Yahweh Elohim, it ought to be in accordance with His will and requirements.
And if in our heart– we’ve been exposed to the truth of Yahweh’s Word that worshiping Him by celebrating Easter is full of the sin of syncretism;...
Then the holy Spirit in us would cause Easter to become to you an abominable attempt to paganize the worship of Messiah Yahshua.
Once we the followers of Yahshua know in our heart that Easter is wrong, rather than only giving lip service and allowing our heart to be far from His will in continuing to keep the lying doctrines and demonic commandments of men, we should repent. This false worship is nothing but empty vanity and futility that Elohim does not accept.
Unleavened bread promotes the truth VS Easter promotes lying
Easter is obviously not the truth. One example is Easter gives us permission to tell our kids lies about Easter bunnies laying brightly colored eggs. Parents frequently tell their children lies about the Easter bunny, much like they do about Santa Claus. Children are told that Easter bunnies hide eggs for them to find.
Adults may believe that this is simply one of those innocuous lies, but it is still considered to be a lie. In the Bible, lying is discouraged:
As a result, set away lying and speak the truth to your Neighbours, for we are all related (Ephesians 4:25).
“Be honest with one another; by engaging in its activities, you have cast off your old self” (Colossians 3:9).
You may not testify falsely against a Neighbour (Exodus 12:16).
As you can see, whether a falsehood is said for fun or not, it is still a lie.
All sorts of lying — including the lies we tell around Easter — must be eliminated from our lives if we are to truly live up to the standards established by our Master.
Rather than celebrate Easter, we need to turn our hearts toward Elohim law and His prophets, which are based on loving Him with all of our heart, soul and strength.
I know, the pressure of the world is strong. But these are the little heart tests that Yahweh is putting before us to see whether or not we will do His commandments.
This is why we celebrate Yahweh’s appointed time of Unleavened bread and call Easter a celebration of wicked demonic leaven that our deceived brothers and sisters in Messiah need to purge out of their lives?
1 Corinthians 5:6Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough? 7Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.…
We can talk about so much more on this subject of Passover vs Easter
- Passover’s fixed day vs. Easter’s movable day
- Passover as a memorial of Yahshua’ death vs. Easter as a celebration of His resurrection
- Passover symbols vs. Easter symbols
- The Passover lamb is an instruction of Scripture, Easter ham and bunnies are not. The traditional Easter ham is forbidden by Scripture (Leviticus 11:7), and having unclean animals (even colorful stuffed Easter Bunnies) in the sanctuary is called "wicked abominations" in Ezekiel 8. However the Passover lamb is something the Israelites were directly instructed to serve at their Passover in Egypt, and that analogy continues with Revelation 5:13, with the Messiah being likened to the Passover lamb that was slain.
Conclusion:
The exact same logic people use to say that Christians should not celebrate Christmas can also be used to say that Christians should not celebrate Easter
Here is the logic some Christians use to teach that it is sinful to celebrate Christmas:
- Christmas has roots in the pagan holiday of Saturnalia. It was celebrated with decorating trees, baking cookies, putting up lights, passing out presents, and singing songs.
- If we do these things for Christmas, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.
Let us plug the same logic in to the holiday of Easter:
3. Easter has roots in the pagan holiday that celebrated Ishtar, the sex goddess. Among other things, the spring celebration of Ishtar was observed with sunrise celebrations, decorating eggs, giving candy, and cute bunnies. It reminded people of new birth and new life.
4. If we do these things for Easter, then we are participating in a sinful, pagan holiday.
___________
You might be asking yourself, “Does it matter? Does Yahweh Elohim who is Spirit (JN 4:24) truly care how we approach worshipping Him?
ANSWER: Yes, IT DOES MATTER.
What will you do with the truth now that you know it? Will you keep celebrating the demonically inspired sin of Easter, or will you switch to Yahweh’s Passover/ Unleavened Bread?
Let’s pay attention to the warning in Hebrews 10:26–27:
And if we choose to sin deliberately after coming to know the truth, there is no longer a sacrifice to atone for our transgressions; instead, there is a terrifying expectancy of judgement and a FIERY INDIGNATION that will consume our enemies.”
Will you honor Messiah's lifesaving instructions so that Yahweh Elohim can bless you? He said:
John 12:26,"If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor"
Yahweh Elohim wants you and me to obey His life-giving Word. When we do, we can serve Messiah as His ambassadors on earth. There is no greater calling on earth and throughout time. For your ongoing happiness and security, turn to Yahweh Elohim now and seek His complete and perfect way.
The Bible warns against worshipping Elohim by following traditions or customs that displease him. (Mark 7:6-8) 2 Corinthians 6:17 states: “‘Separate yourselves,’ says Yahweh, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’” Easter is a demonically inspired pagan holiday that those who want to please Elohim will avoid.
May we all possess the courage to carry out righteous deeds that are acceptable to Yahweh Elohim. Instead of continuing the sin of Easter, let’s commemorate Yahweh Elohim’s Feast of Unleavened Bread. Yahweh Bless!!!
END SONG: We Serve a Living Elohim-Who made the Heavens and the Earth