Easter: Pagan or Christian?

Deuteronomy 6
12Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. 14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

Deut. 7
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. 6For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God

2 Kings 21
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 7And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever.

2 Chronicles 33
God was angry with Manasseh causing him to be taken into captivity in Assyria. While in Assyria Manasseh cried unto the Lord God and found repentance in his heart. God restored him to the throne of Judah and Manasseh destroyed the pagan idols and tore down the altars to the false gods and found favor in the eyes of God.

2 Kings 23
Josiah gathers all the elders of Judah unto Jerusalem and reads from Gods law. He renews a covenant with God and throughout this chapter he tears down the altars of Baal. He destroys pagan images and idols. He destroys the houses of homosexuals. He rids the land of witchcraft, sorcers, pagan religion and practice and this pleases God. “21And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.”

God commanded the Hebrew children to destroy all traces of pagan religion in their midst. This was a constant battle throughout the Old Testament. People are instinctively drawn to false gods because they don't exist. These false gods can be manipulated in your mind. They can also be very dangerous as a gateway for Satan into the hearts of people. This is why the true and living God abhors these pagan false gods. They are lies that distract from the true and living God. In a previous message I explained the meaning of the first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Of all the commandments God gave this is the most important. The word “have” in this commandment can have a broader meaning than simply to “possess” another god. This word “have” actually means to simply “acknowledge” another god even exists. In spite of these stark warnings throughout the Old Testament Christians for 18 centuries have defied this commandment and acknowledged the false pagan Teutonic goddess of Spring called Easter. Easter is not a season like spring. The word Easter comes from the pagan Teutonic goddess Ostre. The customs and traditions that surround Easter are from the ancient pagan practices involved in sacrificing to Ostre. Bunny rabbits, chicks and colored eggs all are part of this pagan religion. This is why non-Christian people can celebrate Easter because Easter has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ. The transference of this pagan god into the Christian religion is probably one of the earliest examples of the Catholic practices of accepting pagan customs, traditions and even gods into the religious practices of the church. According to church historians the earliest mention of Easter was early to mid second century. Well into the second century Christians did not celebrate the resurrection as a feast or holy day. Early Christians observed Passover with Jesus as the Passover Lamb. The resurrection was celebrated every Sunday because that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

The early Christians would not have said, “Happy Easter” to one another. Paul and Peter would have been livid to think that a false pagan god would be associated with the Passover Lamb and resurrection. Paul states in Ephesians 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Paganism has no place in the church and Easter has no place in the vocabulary of a Christian.

I read, admire and respect greatly the reformers such as Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and later Wesley but I cannot understand why they never opposed this pagan influence in the gospel. What is more disturbing is the number of people who acknowledge that Easter has absolutely nothing to do with Christ but they have Easter sunrise service, Easter egg hunts and such. By the way, the sunrise service also has nothing to do with the resurrection story. I know the scripture says the women rose early to go to the tomb. Sacrifices were made to Ostre at the rising of the sun. This “rising sun” is a part of the etymology of the word Easter. This is not some small matter to be taken lightly. God does not take it lightly. In Exodus 32 we find the impatient Hebrew children eager to worship something because Moses had been in the mount a long time. So they made a golden image of the Egyptian calf god Apis and ascribed to that calf the name of Jehovah. Moses burned the image, ground it into powder cast it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it.

And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 26Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

And they killed 3,000 Israelite men. Usually, the scriptures only count the heads of households when there is a counting like this. The number of people that died was probably closer to 15,000. To ascribe something so profane as Easter to the most significant holy day of the Christian year is nothing short of sacrilege. Whenever Jesus hears a Christian say, “Happy Easter” it must sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to Him.

I submit to you that Easter was born in the mind of satan as a distraction from the meaning of this holy event of Christs resurrection and dilution of the message of Passover which is to be a memorial FOREVER.

“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever”. Exodus 12:14

Jesus is the Passover Lamb. And what did His death accomplish?

Christ has conquered death, hell and the grave. The next time someone says, “Happy Easter” respond by saying, “He is Risen”.

Who is on the Lord's side?