Author: Michele at ScriptureStudy.Guide
Posted: March 21, 2022. Updated September 6, 2022.
This essay will use scripture to prove two things:
- Jesus was resurrected from the tomb on “The Lord’s Day” on a true seventh-day Saturday Sabbath.
- Easter is a pagan holiday that began over a thousand years before Christ.
Christians buying into worldly deception is why Jesus told HALF — HALF! — of His church “I know you not” and shut the door on them (Matthew 25:1-13).
If you perform the physical ritual with your hands, then your heart is there also... no matter what you tell yourself, you cannot serve God while practicing paganism (Matthew 6:24). The want of a pagan holiday celebration is idolatry, and no idolater will be in the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 10:7 & 6:9).
Easter is Not in the Bible
Acts 12:4 is the only biblical reference to “Easter” but the verse is actually a mistranslation of Passover. The pagan word Easter is NOT in the original Greek text of our bible. Strong’s G3957 is the word pascha which is PASSOVER, not Easter. Half of the KJV translators were Catholic, and the head of the 1611 KJV Translator Committee was a Roman Catholic Bishop (source here), so study the words in your bibles (a how-to is here).
Who is Easter?
EASTer – the sun god of the East – is the name of the fertility god or goddess of spring and vegetation. The name Easter was derived from the Assyrian fertility goddess Ishtar commemorating the annual spring equinox, marking the birth of vegetation.
Easter had many different names in different cultural societies: Ishtar, Ostara, Estera (the goddess of the east of the Saxons), Ostern (German), Ashtarte of the Syrians which was a Greek form of Asherah (the grove of the Hebrews), and Ashtoreth (the female deities of the Mediterranean including Venus, Aphrodite, Diana, Ceres Cybele, Isis, Mylitta, the female mediatrix called “Queen of Heaven”) — source here.
Ishtar/Easter the Assyrian Fertility Goddess
It all started after the flood. Noah had a son named Ham who had a son named Cush who married a woman named Semiramis. Cush and Semiramis then had a son named Nimrod. When Cush died, Nimrod married his own mother, Semiramis, and became a powerful king of ancient Babylon with his mother as the queen.
Note on Semiramis whose name is not in the biblical cannon:
In the Sumerian language, Semiramis’ name is Sammur-amat. She’s the famous queen regent of the Assyrian Empire, who reigned from 811-806 BCE. According to historical documents she’s known as a legendary warrior who exercised political power like no other—commanding territory that stretched from Asia Minor to modern-day Iran. Historians describe her as a rare beauty, a fine military strategist, a master builder, and some even say she was builder and founder of Babylon. Eusebius—a well-respected ancient biblical scholar and historian—identifies Semiramis as the wife of Nimrod. Based on a combination of all these assumptions, countless other historians and scholars have written volumes about Semiramis—transforming the historical Queen Sammur-amat into the legendary Queen Semiramis (source here).
Nimrod was responsible for the building of the tower of Babel causing the confusing of the people. He was defeated by an enemy who cut up his body and scattered it all over the kingdom. His wife and mother, Semiramis, began gathering all the pieces of his body but could not locate his reproductive organ.
Semiramis deceived the people by telling them that Nimrod ascended to the sun and was now the sun god Baal. She made herself a goddess by telling the people that she had ascended into the heavens and came back down to earth in a giant egg that landed in the Euphrates river. She proclaimed herself as queen of heaven, called herself Ishtar, and her egg as Ishtar’s eggs which are called Easter eggs today.
Soon after, Semiramis, now called Ishtar, became pregnant and claimed the conception was caused by the rays of the sun god Baal (her dead son/husband). She then had a son, true birth father unknown, that she named Tammuz.
Tammuz was very fond of rabbits and enjoyed hunting like his supposed “father” the supposed “sun god Baal.” He was killed by a wild pig while hunting one day. Ishtar then told the people that Tammuz had ascended up to the sun to be with his “father” (source here).
Ishtar’s Sunday
Following Tammuz’s supposed ascension to the sun, a yearly celebration was made. On the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was held called Ishtar’s Sunday or Easter Sunday today. It was celebrated with rabbits (Tammuz’s favorite) and eggs.
Because Tammuz was killed by a wild pig, Ishtar proclaimed a pig must be killed and eaten on Ishtar Sunday, the exact same tradition of ham being served today at modern-day Easter dinners.
The priest over Ishtar’s Sunday would sacrifice infants to their pagan gods. He would then dye Ishtar’s eggs, the symbols of fertility, in the infant’s blood (source here). Have you ever questioned why you dye Easter eggs today?
Are you following God or Baal? Did you blindly follow the world into pagan rituals because the false prophets slapped a Christianity label on it? I sure did… I was a keeper of “family traditions” and believed the teachings of “Christian” men regarding “Christian holidays.” But when we know better, we can do better, and repent. We are to be in the world but not of the world (Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15-17).
Easter Through the Centuries
The name Easter eventually became known as the virgin goddess of spring. Easter is to celebrate her resurrection which is the new growth and new vegetation. Pagans worshiped Easter this time of year to receive her blessing so that the crops they put in the ground would prosper.
The following is quoted from Grace and Truth Ministries found here:
“One thousand years before the birth of Jesus, all of the nature gods would resurrect this time of year. These female deities were all forms of the “tree goddess” of Jeremiah 10, Isaiah 44 and Jeremiah 44. This system began in Babel in Genesis 11. It was the deification of Semiramis, the mother and eventual wife of Nimrod.
The male deities were the mythological incarnation of Nimrod as the virgin-born sons of Tammuz, Mithra (whose birthday was December 25th), Hercules, Baal, Attis, Thor, Osiris, etc. These male deities were said to be the heirs of the sun god. They were all deified in the stars as variations of the sun.”
These deities are said to die with the crops in the winter at the Celtic end of the harvest which is October 31st, “All Hallows Eve” or today’s Halloween (the highest satanic holy day of the year), and resurrect every spring.
This “celebration of the spring equinox (equal night and day) came at the same time of year as the Hebrew Passover. The resurrection celebrated every year at this season was not the resurrection of Jesus from the dead — it was the celebration festival of the resurrection of the male sun gods who had brought nature and their crops back to them, which they feared they had lost through the dead of winter” (for more details on this, see GraceAndTruth.net).
Today’s Easter Sunday Celebration
Modern-day Easter in the U.S., complete with the cooked pig, dyed eggs, rabbits and worship of nature growth, is the resurrection of the fertility god or goddess of vegetation/birth after the day of the carnival of Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras?
My hometown of Mobile, Alabama, USA ignorantly lays claim to having the first ever Mardi Gras carnival, but the celebration is ancient, pure paganism, and brought to our country by the false prophet system headed by Rome. Grace and Truth Ministries explains its history in their Easter article, paraphrased here:
Famine was one of the greatest fears in ancient times. Like modern man who fears being alone and facing darkness and hopelessness, the people lit bonfires (turned on the lights) and partied all winter long. They called these festivals “memorials” and “sacrifices to their gods.” The last of these was called Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. The French word is Marcli Gras.
The Mardi Gras carnival – a type of visitation of their sun god in winter – had to die on the last day of the festival which was Fat Tuesday (they literally ate a lot of fat and indulgences on this day). The winter sun god died on Fat Tuesday. Mourning for the god would begin the next day on Ash Wednesday and last for forty days — the Roman Catholics (head of the false prophet system in Revelation 13) adopted this and renamed it “lenta.”
Notice the 40-day parallels:
- Moses was on the mountain 40 days.
- It rained 40 days for Noah.
- Jesus was fasting in the wilderness 40 days.
During the 40-days of lent, pagan worshipers fasted, just like they still do today (and true to the antichrist ways of Mystery Babylon, many of them mark their self-righteous act of pagan worship-of-self with an ash cross on their forehead). Then on the day of annunciation, March 25th, the winter sun god would rise from the dead as the goddess of vegetation. This was the same time of year as the Passover when Jesus (the Passover Lamb for Christians) was resurrected.
The Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was a copy of the celebration of the dead and risen pagan god Adonis which was celebrated in Syria at the same season. The pagan sun god festivals are what the Roman church has used to pollute Christendom.
Ash Wednesday and Lent
The Catholic popes and priests proclaim that their rituals are about Messiah, but they’re really about the symbolic worship of pagan gods.
Around the world, Catholic priests carry out the blasphemous Eucharist ceremony, during which they proclaim to bring to life the flesh of Messiah. They put the round wafer, which represents Nimrod the sun god, in the monstrance that has sun-rays emanating out of it. It’s placed on a crescent moon lunette, which represents the moon goddess Semiramis. This symbolizes the sexual union of the sun god and moon goddess, to create their incarnate christ-child in the flesh, Tammuz.
They carry out this wicked ceremony in front of a crucifix, which mocks Messiah by keeping Him on the cross. In the Greek, ‘Chi-Xi-Stigma’ means ‘Christ nailed to a cross,’ the crucifix, and it’s represented in the Greek alphabet as ‘666.’
When Catholics make the ‘sign of the cross’ they’re inadvertently making an upside down cross which is anti-christ and Satanic.
The mark on Catholics forehead on Ash Wednesday is a T for Tammuz. The forty days of lent mimic the forty days of weeping for Tammuz, the incarnate christ-child of the Babylonian Mystery Religion.
Then forty days later, Easter (Ishtar) is celebrated with ham, as Tammuz was reportedly killed by a wild boar at age forty. And it’s mixed with the pagan fertility symbols of rabbits and eggs (source here).
Celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection
The 2nd century A.D. church did not have any yearly celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus. The early church remembered the resurrection of Jesus once a week on the Lord’s Day, which was every Saturday Sabbath when they gathered together to have a meal/break bread (details here).
Jesus instructed us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 on how to remember His sacrifice made for us. It is done among the brethren with every meal – the breaking of bread – that they partake of together (Acts 2:42 & 46). This is not to be confused with the Catholic construct of the ritual of communion. The word “communion” in 1 Corinthians 10:16 is actually “partnership” — it is the joining of each of the brethren to Christ, making the brethren one body in Christ. It is talking about the spiritual union of the brethren through the new covenant (cup) and Christ (bread) — it is NOT a physical ritual/sacrament.
The Sunrise Service
Ezekiel 8:14-16 records the first sunrise service:
14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
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.
This weeping for Tammuz was done during the period of lent. Afterwards, the god of the East — EASTer — was worshiped.
The new buds and new blooms – nature’s new “clothes” – is what started pagans wearing a new Easter outfit on the day of EASTer worship… and they still do it today which is offensive to God — man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
The mother of all harlots, Roman Catholicism (with their adoption of ancient Greecian mythology which came from ancient Babylon), has created false Christianity by deceiving Christians into participating in pagan rituals. YOUR HEART IS IN THE SAME VESSEL WITH YOUR MIND AND HANDS… you’re either all in with God or not in at all. See my article “Identification of Antichrist, False Prophet & Mystery Babylon.”
Physical Rituals Are Idolatry
Idolatry in modern times is spiritual and done through the heart. It is the craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God. This could include your looks, your family, your home, your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend, good grades, approval of people, success in business, a hobby, music genre or music group, having the best lawn… anything you put your efforts toward and gain pleasure from more than God and your spiritual relationship with Him and Jesus Christ. A sense of pride in something is a sure sign that you are practicing a form of idolatry — pride comes before a spiritual fall (Proverbs 16:18).
All of our pagan customs date back to sun (fire) and moon (tree) worship of antiquity. Here are God’s words concerning these pagan rituals:
Leviticus 18:30
“Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.”
Jeremiah 10:1-4
1 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Deuteronomy 12:32
“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
The blood of Jesus conquered all sin, but does not allow us to participate in idolatry.
Jesus Rose On The Seventh-Day Sabbath
Before we begin, it should be noted that while Jesus was raised on a Saturday, the Israelites’ weekly Sabbaths were not always on a Saturday. God’s calendar was the lunisolar calendar. Scripture clearly defines a pattern of Sabbaths that fall on the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the Biblical month; which can only happen on a lunisolar calendar. Details HERE.
The scriptural proofs that Jesus Christ did not rise on a Sunday, but rather on a Saturday, are sound. The details of the study can be found here — it’s fantastic and worth the read (should their link go down, email me and I will send you a Word copy of their article).
The main points of the study are as follows:
- Preparation Day is the day before ANY Sabbath, weekly or annual, and doesn’t always fall on a Friday.
- The Passover is a feast, NOT a Sabbath.
- The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a feast AND a Sabbath.
- Passover is always the preparation day for the first day of Unleavened Bread, except when Passover itself falls on a Sabbath.
- Two preparation days occurred that week: one for the holy day and one for the weekly Sabbath.
- Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem on a Sabbath, was crucified on Wednesday the 14th of Abib/Nisan, and rose 72 hours later as the Sabbath day ends.
- Early on Sunday while it was still dark, Jesus had already been resurrected — there shouldn’t be an EASTer SUNRISE service at all!
Jesus rose on the day of which He says He is Lord: the true seventh-day Sabbath as we know the Saturday Sabbaths to be today (Mark 2:28) — Christ Jesus fulfilled the old testament Shabbat rest by bringing us the Holy Spirit rest (PLEASE see the article The Sabbath According to Jesus).
Remembering Jesus’ Sacrifice
In light of what we have learned, EASTer and sunrise and Sundays have absolutely nothing to do with the resurrection of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, but everything to do with the pagan worship of the sun god! These evil pagan practices were brought into the church by the false Christianity system to deceive the elect (Matthew 24:24).
Jesus told us Himself of the way in which we are to remember His sacrifice for us, and that is every time we break bread with the brethren.
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same manner, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (I Corinthians 11:23-25).
This Passover is Passover; NOT “communion.” It is not a ritual to be done whenever some religious group feels like doing it, or even an annual ritual. Jesus desired that we remember Him at every meal — no bells and whistles or formal displays, but just a simple act of solemn remembrance of His blood giving us the New Covenant and His bread/body giving us eternal life.
“Communion” is a construct started by the Roman Catholic church. The word “communion” in 1 Corinthians 10:16 is actually “partnership” — it is the joining of each of the brethren to Christ, making the brethren one body in Christ. It is talking about the spiritual union through the new covenant (cup) and Christ (bread) — it is NOT a physical ritual/sacrament.
The gathering together of the apostles to break bread is called “fellowship” in scripture – it was done weekly when they had a meal together (Acts 2:42), and then done from house to house with different brethren throughout the week (Acts 2:46). They remembered the sacrifice of Jesus with every meal they partook — it was not a special ritual they performed, but rather keeping Jesus’ sacrifice in their minds, hearts and words at every meal.
True Christians Are “Troublemakers”
The few true Christians who refused to celebrate Easter were considered troublemakers and dissenters by the early church… not because they did anything wrong, but because they refused to accept worldly traditions dictated by men.
Author Richard T. Ritenbaugh states in his article, “Those few who stubbornly resisted the change to the celebration of Easter, which had supplanted Passover throughout most of Christendom, were called Quartodecimans (“fourteenthers”) and Judaizers. By Origen’s day (c. 185- 254), they were, he wrote, “a mere handful” among the millions living in the Empire. Even so, the Roman Church did not effectively ban the practice of keeping the Passover on Nisan 14 until AD 325 at the Council of Nicea, when rules were set down to calculate the date of Easter for the entire Church. Canon 29 of the Council of Laodicea (held in 363-364) later anathematized (cursed, publicly condemned) those Judaizers who kept the seventh-day Sabbath, many of whom were also Quartodecimans” (article here).
Richard Ritenbaugh further explains that “the reason that the Roman Church chose to keep Easter rests on two faulty pillars: 1) an intense prejudice against “the perfidy of the Jews” in the crucifixion of Christ (which has come to be known as the “blood libel”), and 2) the widespread celebration of Easter among pagan cultures throughout the Empire. The convoluted theological arguments that have come down from the so-called apostolic fathers, repeated endlessly by their successors, are window dressing to obscure these unpleasant factors.”
In the end of days, God’s chosen few are going to be hated by the masses of self-professed “Christians” who refuse to separate the world from their spiritual kingdom… a kingdom that is NOW (see my articles on God’s Kingdom and the Millennial Reign).
In Closing
The Easter celebration is pagan, is not biblical, and goes against Jesus’ instructions for us.
The Christian Passover is not a celebration but a spiritual observance that commemorates:
- The agonizing blood-sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins (Matthew 26:28; Romans 4:25; I Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 1:7; Titus 2:14; I John 1:7).
- Our redemption from spiritual bondage (Matthew 20:28; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:1-3; Hebrews 2:14-15; I Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9).
- Our way to fellowship and commune with the Father (Romans 8:34; Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 7:25 and 10:19-22).
Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. With His death and resurrection, the Passover became spiritual.
The Catholic-created “communion” ritual is not scriptural and should not be confused with the annual observance of Passover (which is now spiritual), or with the fellowship of the brethren where they prayerfully remember Jesus’ sacrifice with every meal.
Jesus instructed that we simply remember His sacrifice, not with a day of celebration or with a ritual, but with an act of solemn remembrance “as often as we will” (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
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