Banish the Easter Bunny!

If I’m honest, Easter was the one holiday that took me more time to accept as pagan. How could I NOT celebrate the resurrection of my Savior? But once I learned the history (which I will share with you in this post)

I realized that I couldn’t be more obedient to Abba than by forgoing all pagan holidays. Because as I learned, Easter has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

[bctt tweet=”Banish the Easter Bunny! What Christians should know about Easter.” username=”TheScribe_Blog”]

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase through a link we’ll receive a small commission at no additional cost to you but will help this blog to keep on running.

Origin of “Easter”

“Easter” is the angelized name of Ishtar. As I have discussed before in my previous holiday posts (you can read them here) Ishtar is the Babylonian goddess also known as Semiramis- the wife of Nimrod (Tammuz). In Hebrew, the Bible refers to her as Ashtoreth. She is also Astarte in the Phoenician culture, the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, Ostara in Germanic, the Sumerian Inanna, the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.

Ishtar was also known as the goddess of the east (notice the correlation with the word “easter”) and since the sun rises on the east, she was the sunrise. Because Easter is observed on the first Sunday after the spring equinox, it was the celebration of the coming of spring and the rising of Tammuz (more on that in a minute). Therefore…

Spring equinox= EASTER=EAST=SUNRISE

 

Her husband Tammuz, was the god of the west and therefore the sunset. If you read my Christmas post, you’ll remember that we discussed the significance of the winter solstice in paganism. The winter solstice was celebrated in honor of the sun god’s departure or the death of Tammuz. For this reason, the setting of the sun is attributed to Tammuz. Therefore…

Winter equinox=CHRISTMAS=WEST=SUNSET

According to pagan belief, this meant that their gods ruled the world at all times.

The Story of Ishtar, Tammuz, and the Resurrection

According to Babylonian legend, when Semiramis died, her husband Tammuz sent her back to earth inside a giant egg. Once back to life, Semiramis turned a bird into an egg-laying rabbit. In honor of Ishtar and Tammuz’s resurrection which was believed to have happened in the spring, the pagans celebrated “Ishtar’s Sunday.” This celebration was a sunrise service during the first Sunday after the spring equinox. During the service, the priest would impregnate young virgins on the altar and sacrifice the 3-month-old babies from the previous year’s service. They would then dip eggs in the infants’ blood. To this day, red is the official color of easter eggs worldwide.

 

The pagans set aside 40 days prior to Easter to fast and pray to Tammuz in honor of his death. It was believed that Tammuz had been killed by a wild boar. This fasting culminated at easter commemorating his resurrection (reincarnation).

During their Easter dinner, adherents ate ham to symbolize the wild boar.

Prior to the Easter festivities and the 40 days of fasting, pagans indulged in wild parties, liquor, orgies, and all kinds of immorality before submitting to the “sanctifying” ritual of fasting and prayer. From this tradition sprung up Mardi Gras, which is not far behind in wickedness.

Fertility Rites

In its true form, easter is a fertility pagan holiday. Ishtar has always represented mother earth in the natural cycles of fertility. She was also viewed as the goddess of love. There resided many “sacred prostitutes” or “shrine prostitutes” who symbolically acted out the fertility rites in the pagan temples.

Eggs and rabbits have long been symbols of fertility so it’s not surprising that they found their way into the foundation of easter. In essence, easter is connected to spring fertility rites, not the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Rabbits have always been known to be very fertile animals and the rate at which they can reproduce is unmatched by many other animals that the ancients knew of. Because fertility was a major concern for those living in the Near East, where rainfall was scarce, the people practiced fertility rituals to their gods in order to encourage human reproduction and agricultural success.

Sunrise Services

Easter Sunrise Services have pagan origins. Mainstream Christianity believes in early morning Easter services in honor of the resurrection of Jesus. However, Easter sunrise services do NOT celebrate the resurrection of Jesus but rather the reincarnation of a pagan god! And what’s more, as we have seen above, the activities that took place on Easter are complete abominations to God! Abba strictly condemned child sacrifice.

“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.” (Ezekiel 16:20-21, KJV)

Easter Ham

The custom of eating ham on Easter is also an abominable act before the LORD. Considering that God strictly commanded Israel not to eat pork since it is contrary to the Passover lamb. Indulging in such pagan customs is a slap in the face to God.

Lent

Lent comes from the 40 days the pagans fasted to Tammuz. Christians who practice lent have been greatly deceived in that lent has nothing to do with the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness. Besides that Lent is not mentioned in Scripture, it is practiced by the Catholic Church which should give us a hint.

During these 40 days of celebration to Tammuz, women often went to the temple to weep mournfully due to the death of Tammuz!

“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.” (Ezekiel 8:14)

Passover Not Easter

While Easter is not a Biblical holiday instituted by God, Passover definitely is. I would like to mention here that Easter is an extremely ancient practice, in fact, it was observed before the birth of Jesus. So there is no way that easter could have celebrated the resurrection of Jesus if it existed long before He came to the world.

I would also like to point out that Passover and Easter are NOT the same holiday. Many Christians have fallen into the lie that Passover is the same as easter. Nowhere in Scripture is easter even mentioned.The King James Version contains a mistranslation in Acts 12:4. “Passover” was incorrectly translated as “easter.” The original Greek word in this verse is “Pascha” which means Passover.

“Pascha… mistranslated ‘Easter’  in Acts 12:4, KJV, denotes the Passover…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 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” [Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of old and New Testament Words, 1985, p.192]

Early Christians observed Passover just like the Jews did, not easter.

However, with the persecution of the Jews and the rise of anti-semitism in the 2nd century, Christians felt pressured to move Passover to the first Sunday after the Jewish feast. Scared that they would be targeted for persecution themselves, gentile Christians made changes to the way they practiced Passover. Some churches in Asia Minor continued to celebrate it normally but were accused of Judaizing.

During the Council of Nicea of 325 AD, Passover was formally moved to the first Sunday following the Spring equinox. With time, the Catholic church adopted Easter to venerate Jesus in order to convert pagans because it was more attractive to them and easier to make converts.

Thus, Christians replaced Passover with Easter which is still practiced to this day.

Want to learn about the Biblical roots of Passover? Check out this great resource! 

How Can Celebrating Easter Anger God?

Now that we have just gone through the roots of easter the question remains, “how does celebrating easter anger God?” There is no doubt that the holiday has pagan roots which the LORD detests. Throughout the old testament, we see the LORD’s reaction to Israel’s constant falling away into idol worship and pagan practices. We are not much different than the Israelites. Why should we expect a different reaction from Abba? The Word says that God is a jealous God who does not tolerate idolatry. And even if you celebrate Easter with Jesus in mind, God does not receive this! Why? Because it’s strange fire! Following a holiday with pagan roots, symbols, and meanings and then claiming it in honor of God is an abomination!

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:30-31)

God is not happy with the way we have mixed pagan practices with His true worship.

Celebrating Easter does not honor or please God even if we do it with the right intention. It was never established by God, so why are we so attached to it? Why do we go to great lengths to defend a holiday that angers Abba? Pride perhaps? Or our unbudging stubbornness in tradition?

In the words of Paul to the Romans:

“But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” (Romans 11:5)

And still to this day, there is a remnant of followers of The Way who have made the decision not to be contaminated by the world. Who have proposed to follow God no matter the cost, no matter the fire, no matter the cold shoulder. Because being Christian is not easy and less even when you follow the entire truth- the truth that no one wants to acknowledge.Truth is never popular, not even in the church. But be brave brethren. Be humble. At the end of the day, we want God’s approval, not man’s.

Will you be part of the remnant?

 

 

 

Enjoyed reading this post? Share it on Pinterest!