Did you realize the holidays you observe, such as Christmas and Easter --so-called Christian Holy Days-- are not mentioned in one single place in the Bible? Would not the average person assume that the two holidays considered the anchors of Christianity would be talked about in the bible -- the story of and guide to Christianity-- if they were talked about anywhere?
In a previous article we showed that Christmas was never a Holy Day in the early New Testament church, and that Jesus was not born in the winter, nor on December 25th.
Then what about Easter? Since the Bible reveals that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, does it also state that we are to observe this resurrection, with a holiday called Easter? If it doesn't, exacty what does Easter have to do with Jesus' resurrection?
IS THE WORD EASTER IN THE NEW TESTAMENT?
We read of Easter in the New Testament in Acts 12: 1--
"Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
v. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
v. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
v. 4 And when he had apprehended him, 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.Will you find the word "Easter" used in the original Greek manuscripts? Or do the original manuscripts refer to something else?
Actually, the use of the word "Easter" in Acts 12: 4 was a mistranslation of the Greek word "Pascha" which means "Passover."
To verify this, let's see how Acts 12:4 is worded in other translations:
Living Bible-- "Herod's intention was to deliver Peter to the Jews for execution after the Passover."
Phillip's Modern English - "Intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover."
Revised Standard Version -- "Intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people."
NIV -- "Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover."
St. Joseph Catholic Edition -- "Intending to bring him forth to the people after Passover."
[The footnote for verse 3 in the St. Joseph Catholic Edition reads: "Days of Unleavened Bread: The Seven Days following the Paschal supper."]
Even in the King James Version, every other time the word "Pascha" is used, it's translated as Passover.
HOW DID EASTER BECOME A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY?
I ask this because if we read the 1948 edition of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, we find:
Easter: "Name of old Teutonic goddess of Spring."
The word Easter is derived from the word Ishtar, used in the Babylonian religion. The chief goddess of the Partheon. [A temple dedicated to all of their gods.] The goddess of Love, and of the reproductive forces of nature, and especially with the Assyrians,also the goddess of War.
This goddess of Fertility and Reproduction was known by other names in other nations that did not worship the true God. The names Aphrodite, Ostara, Astarte, and Isis are but a few of the variations of Ishtar used by these nations.
Have you ever wondered what "Easter Eggs" and "Easter Bunnies" have to do with Christ's resurrection? The answer is absolutely nothing. They were symbols of fertility used by the pagans in their springtime festivals honoring the goddess of Nature. This is where the term "Mother Nature" comes from.
The symbol of the "Easter Lily" also goes back to the "fertility rites" of the pagans. Like Christmas, many of the symbols used for Easter were imported from pagan rites as "Christian oriented," to make Christianity more acceptable to heathen converts.
If we go back to the Old Testament, we see people using similar methods in the worship of Baal. One was the worshipping of the rising sun. How many of us have attended an Easter sunrise service? Would you believe it can be found in the Bible, but has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ?
We can read of this practice being observed in the Temple of God, by of all people, the Israelites:
Ezekiel 8:16 - "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.
Many years ago, at about age 12, I was invited to a bible camp in northern Michigan. One of the activities on a Sunday morning was to go out to a cliff that overlooked Lake Superior and watch the sun come up. Immediately, people began to pray (including me). I didn't know why I was praying, I suppose because everyone else was. However, without realizing it, I was participating in a practice similar to the one we read about in Ezekiel 8.
IS THERE A QUEEN OF HEAVEN?
"Easter" or "Ishtar" was considered the Queen of Heaven. She was worshipped by the Israelites and those of Judah when they went into idolatry and rejected the True God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We can read what they did in their worship of these pagan deities,
Jeremiah 7:17- " Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
v.18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger."Jeremiah 44:15 -"Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
v. 16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
v.17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
v.18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
v.19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?"What were these cakes? Is there a modern day counterpart? How many readers have eaten a hot cross bun? I did many years ago; I never knew why; but it was always at Easter time.
WHY DO PEOPLE BAKE HOT CROSS BUNS FOR EASTER?
In Webster's Dictionary:
cross bun: "a bun or cake marked with a cross, commonly eaten on Good Friday."
Why were these specially baked at the time the heathen worshipped Easter or Ishtar? Because these buns or cakes were in honor of the "Queen of Heaven", who was known as Ishtar or Astarte.
This Queen of Heaven was actually worshipped as the mother of God. She was also worshipped as the great Mother goddess by the Anglo-Saxons in Europe.
Today one of the great churches of the world pays homage to Mary as the Queen of Heaven. In a book entitled The Imitation of Mary, one page is devoted to a picture, showing her being crowned Queen of Heaven by Jesus and God the Father. Under the photo it says, "Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth. She shares in the glory of her son just as she shared in His suffering on earth, through which he redeemed the world."
Another quote on page 274 -
"It was fitting that she to whom Jesus has given authority even over himself, should have the right to command angels and saints. How eagerly they vie in giving you the obedience and honor that is your due. Enraptured by the queenly rule you exercise over them, they serve you with sentiment that could please even God himself." . . ."Loveable queen of the Heavenly city shall it be my good fortune to sing with the angels and saints your praises and those of your son Jesus."
In A Prayer of Repetition, she is known as the Mother of God. "Holy Mary, mother of God . . ."
It is easy to see how Easter, Ishtar or Astarte and the Queen of Heaven became a part of mainstream Christianity's doctrine. They lifted it lock, stock and barrel right out of paganism, just like they appropriated most of the symbols, icons and traditions still being practiced today to observe Christmas and Halloween.
WHAT DAYS ARE BEING REFERRED TO IN ACTS 12: 3-4?
Returning to Acts 12: 3, it states:
"And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
v. 4 And when he had apprehended him, 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." [We've already seen how "Easter" in the KJV should actually be "Passover."]Strange as it might seem to most Christians today, Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were observed by the early New Testament Church of God.
In I Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul is chiding the church in Corinth for allowing a man who is having intimate relations with his step-mother to remain a member of the church. They not only allowed it, they bragged about it:
I Corinthians 5: 6- "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [Leavening being a type of sin.]
v. 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
v. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." [This feast was not a feast of Easter, but the Feast of Unleavened Bread,]ARE GOD'S HOLY DAYS MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT?
If we read the New Testament scriptures we find the early church observed not only Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, but also the Feast of Pentecost, known also as the Feast of Weeks or First-Fruits in the Old Testament.
Acts 2: 1- " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." This chapter tells of God giving his Holy Spirit to the early New Testament church.
In Acts 20: 16 we read:
"For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost."
If we turn to I Corinthians 16: 8:
"But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost." [This Feast occurs after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in the second feast season in late spring.]
It's interesting to read in Acts 27: 9:
"Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, . . ."
In the center margin of my Bible it states: The Fast was on the tenth day of the seventh month (Leviticus 23: 27) and (Numbers 20: 7). Though this was and still is known as the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur to the Jews. [It is a day of fasting.]
In John 7, we read how Jesus went up and observed and preached at the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall. This was NOT the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles. It was one of the Lord's Feast Days. Leviticus 23: 1-4.
God has shown us which Sabbaths, both weekly and annually, he wants his people to observe. He calls them "my Feast Days." Nowhere in your Bible will you find instructions from God to observe Christmas or Easter. Actually, if you read I Corinthians 11:26, it tells us when we observe Passover with the New Testament symbols Jesus used in Matthews 26, that we show the Lord's death till he comes.
Look for other articles on this web site that explain in detail, Passover and the seven annual Holy Days of God. These were not nailed on the cross in Colossians 2, as some would have you believe . Rather, in this same chapter, Paul writes in:
v.16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
v. 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." [The italicized "is" has been added by men.]The Holy Days of God symbolically illustrate God's plan of Salvation, a plan you will not find in the holidays of today's mainstream Christianity.
I cordially invite you to come back often and explore our web site further, as we continue to add articles, audio cassette sermons (available at no cost) and streaming audio sermons you can listen to in the comfort of your own home.
So remember Herald Ministries, where you'll hear things you've never heard before.
