CUL:Secular Easter & the Occult by David L. Brown WHAT MAKES EASTER IMPORTANT? by David L. Brown Th.M. Copyright March 1991 [This article is on line by special arrangement with the author. Permission is given to download this article but if it is to distributed in quantities order information is available from LOGOS COMMUNICATION, P.O. BOX 173, OAK CREEK, WI. 53154 or leave a private message to the author in the message section.] IS IT THE NAME? The name "EASTER" is not a Christian word at all. It really has nothing to do with Christianity. Now, somebody is going to say, in the KJV Acts 12:4 it says, "And when he had apprehended (Peter), 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." See, there is EASTER in the Bible. Read any other translation you like, New International, New American Standard, The Living Bible and every one translates the word PASSOVER and rightly so because the Greek word translated "EASTER" in the KJV is PASCHA (3957). It appears 29 times in the New Testament and 28 of the 29 times the word occurs it is rightly translated "PASSOVER", except in Acts 12:4. As you look at those verses it is clear that the reference is to The Feast Of The Passover, which was one of Israel's three great yearly Holy Days (the other two being Pentecost & Tabernacles). Passover commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt on the night when God's death angel "passed over" the homes of the Israelites without killing the firstborn when he saw the blood of the lamb. Passover was celebrated on the 14th of Nisan which falls in our March or April, depending on the reckoning of the Jewish calendar. The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at Passover time. That is significant because Christ was the Lamb Of God given to take away our sins (John 1:29). Paul says that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" I Cor. 5:7. Because of the shed blood of Christ applied to the believer life God does not see out sins and we will not be condemned to the "Second Death," The Lake Of Fire. It would be correct to call this time of year THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER, CHRIST'S VICTORY CELEBRATION or even RESURRECTION TRIUMPH COMMEMORATION but technically NOT EASTER and here's why. EASTER -- A PAGAN RITUAL FEAST The name EASTER and celebration come from an occultic pagan feast that is a derivation of the Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre. There are a variety of spellings--Eostre, Estera Ostrae and Oestre. Estera was the goddess of sex (fertility) and spring. Pagan worshippers honored their false goddess by naming a month after her, Eoster-Monath, which is roughly equivalent to our April. Her deceived followers gathered around the Spring (vernal) equinox, which is about March 21 (depending on the lunar calendar), and honored their pagan goddess by blood sacrifices and frenzied sexual rituals. Much like the prophets of Baal mentioned in the Bible, the priests would cut themselves, splattering their blood on their altars and dance around. Since they erroneously believed she was responsible for the "rebirth" of plants and the fertility of animals and humans they wanted her blessing, therefore they offered these bloody and perverted rituals. How sad that they did not realize that the Lord God Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, ordained the seasons. The non-existent goddess Estera had nothing to do with it. As Christianity spread throughout the world, the name Easter continued to be used by "converted" pagans to identify the time of the Resurrection of Christ. It is obvious that it is NOT THE NAME "EASTER" that makes out celebration important. IS IT THE CELEBRATION? Is it he celebration that makes Easter important? It was not until the second century that the church began to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ with any regularity. As the Roman Empire expanded it's world wide power and dominion and adopted "Christianity" as the official religion, some unfortunate things began to happen. Churches were forced to take in people who were not true Christians. Along with them they brought their old pagan traditions. By the time of the Protestant Reformation many of the "Holy Days" were so far removed from biblical Christianity that Protestants quit celebrating Easter, Christmas or any other of the church festivals. They had become excuses to gluttony, drunkenness and riotous behavior. "It was not until during the Civil War that the nonritual- istic churches began to observe Easter. It began in the Presbyterian churches first. So many men had been killed that they wanted to point the grieving mothers, widows and orphans to the promise of the resurrection in the biblical account of the risen Christ. Other churches soon followed suit, focusing biblical things. As you can see from history sometimes the churches celebrated Easter and sometimes it hasn't. Biblically speaking it is NOT WHAT you celebrate that is important but HOW you celebrate that is important. (Colossians 2:16-17 "Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however is found in Christ." Romans 14:5-6 "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God." It is NOT the celebration that makes Easter Important! IS IT THE DAY THAT MAKES EASTER IMPORTANT? Perhaps you have noticed over the years that Easter is not celebrated at the same time from year to year. In our day the earliest that Easter is ever celebrated is March 22 an the latest is April 25. In 1945 Easter fell on April Fools Day, April 1st. Because of calendar changes, no one knows the exact date of the Resurrection of Christ, though they do know the DAY it happened. It was SUNDAY for Luke 24:1-6 (selected portions) says, "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre... and they found the stone rolled away... and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. ...two men stood by them in shining garments and... said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen..." The truth is, the Church has argued for years about when to celebrate Christ's resurrection. In 159 A.D. Polycarp, who was baptized by the Apostle John, December 25, 95 A.D. tried to persuade the church to celebrate the Resurrection at the end of the "Paschal Feast" in Nisan on the 14th day of the moon at evening, regardless of the day of the week. That was the habit of the Jewish Christians. The Gentile Christians disagreed, saying Jewish traditions were unimportant. What was important was the DAY of the WEEK, Sunday not the day of the month. For a long time each church did what it pleased. But In 325 A.D. The Council of Nice decreed that "Pasch" should be celebrated on SUNDAY but did not fix the particular Sunday. It was left to the Bishop of Alexandria to determine the particular Sunday, as his city was regarded an authority in astronomical matters. Those who continued to follow the Jewish rule were called "Quartodeciman," which was a derogatory remark, and considered heretics. That still did not completely solve the problem. Bitter differences arose as to the proper Sunday for Easter to be celebrated. The western churches did not like this matter being in the hands of the Alexandrian Church. Finally, in the 7th century the Spring equinox was fixed at March 21 and Easter would be celebrated the Sunday following the 14th day of the calendar moon which comes on, or after, the vernal equinox. Things were all set, right? WRONG. A difficulty arose when the Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582. There was a 10 day difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars. As a result some churches then and yet today refused to follow the Gregorian calendar. That means the celebration of Easter can be as much as five weeks apart. Obviously, it is NOT THE DATE that makes Easter Important! IS IT THE EASTER BUNNY THAT MAKES IT IMPORTANT? How did rabbits get associated with Easter? Actually, they have nothing to do with the Christian celebration of Easter. The fact of the matter is, that the hare, or rabbit was the was the symbol of Estre, the ancient false goddess of fertility. Pagans regarded rabbits as an emblem of fertility because of the number and frequency of offspring they produced. As cute as the Easter Bunny is, it is NOT THE EASTER BUNNY that makes the day important. IS IT EASTER EGGS? Eggs have an interesting history. According to Mildred H. Arthur in her book Holidays of Legend, there are people who once worshipped eggs. She says, "Archaeologists tell us that on Easter Island in the South Pacific Ocean a sacred village called Orongo was once inhabited by a race of egg worshippers." Certainly Easter has nothing to do with egg worship but "Eggs were colored and eaten during spring festivals as far back as the time of ancient Egypt" one reference book said. Further, he giving of eggs as gifts was also common. "The Persians gave eggs as presents at the time of the vernal equinox." And, Greeks and Romans continued to dye eggs and give them as gifts. In fact, in celebration of the spring equinox Romans would run races. You'll never guess what prize the winner got -- eggs! John MacArthur says "There were other ancient Easter rites attached to the worship of the sun and worship of certain gods of fertility that predate Christianity also. That's where the Easter egg came from. In ancient times the egg was a symbol of fertility and a symbol of the sun because of the color of the yoke." In another book I read, "The egg also came to be regarded as symbolic of the resurrection, as it holds the see of a new life." At first reading you think this is a reference to Christ's resurrection, but not so. Most cultures hoped their loved ones would live again. Egyptians buried eggs in their tombs. Greeks placed eggs atop graves. Romans coined a proverb --Omne vivum ex ovo-- which means "All life comes from an egg." The egg in all these cultures was symbolic of birth and resurrection before the resurrection of Christ. The custom of "Christians" dying eggs and giving them as gifts at Easter came for came to Western Europe in the 1400's. Likely knights brought the idea home from the Crusades. Red was the popular color for early Easter eggs symbolizing the blood of Christ. It is clear that neither the history of eggs nor the attractiveness of colored eggs is what makes Easter important. I've just scratched the surface regarding Easter customs. There's Hot Cross Buns originally made and given to honor a pagan god. Pretzels have their origin in Easter. The fact remains that None of these things make Easter important. If you strip off the name, the Easter Bunny, the colored eggs, the Hot Cross Buns and the candy, what is there left that makes this day important? Right smack dab in the middle of all the clutter is JESUS CHRIST. CHRIST IS TO BE PREEMINENT THIS EASTER AND EVERY EASTER and here's why. EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROWN OF THORNS HE WORE John 19:2-7 "The soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for (better translation is "but") I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." THE CROWN OF THORNS IS A SYMBOL OF THE SUFFERING & ABUSE CHRIST ENDURED TO PAY FOR OUR SINS. They spit in his face, they punched him, they mocked him, they hit his thorn crowned head with a stick (Mat. 27:27-31; Mk. 15:19). Somewhere during the abuse they jerked his beard out by the roots (Isa. 50:6). It was a horrible scene. As I watched the TV footage of the man being beaten by L.A. police officers that would be somewhat like what happened to Christ, except Christs beating was much worse. WHY DID CHRIST SUFFER SO? Isaiah 53:5-6 reveals the answer. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit put it this way, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened (made alive) by the Spirit. I Pet. 3:18 Easter is important because of THE CROWN THAT HE WORE. The Crown of Thorns symbolizes Christ suffering for our sins and therefore Easter is important because it commemorates Christ suffering for our sins. There's another reason Easter is important... EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROSS THAT HE BORE Read Luke 23:26-46 & Matthew 27:51-54 Christ died on the cruel Cross of Calvary for one purpose, to pay for our sins (I Cor. 15:3). Peter wrote, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on that tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." Christ's shed blood is the ONLY payment that God will accept, that we might be forgiven our sins (I John 2:2; Acts 4:12; I Pet. 1:18,19). Christ's sacrifice is available to all, but only applied to those who receive Him as their personal Savior. (John 3:16- 18; John 1:12; Romans 10:9-10) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROSS THAT HE BORE. Christ died a cruel death that we might have an abundant life (John 10:10). That abundant life is available to you if you will receive him as your personal Savior. Let's take a moment to review -- 1) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROWN THAT HE WORE... 2) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROSS THAT HE BORE... There's yet another reason that Easter is important... 3) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE VICTORY HE DID SCORE I love the Gospel accounts of the RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. You find them in Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-16; Luke 24:1-29; John 20:1-21. Each adds different information to the resurrection account. WHY IS THE RESURRECTION IMPORTANT? The resurrection is important because... 1) It proves that Christ was who he claimed to be, the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). 2) It proves that God accepted His Son's sacrifice for our sins. (Acts 13:33) 3) Believing it is the basis of our salvation (Rom. 10:9; 4:24-25) 4) It shows us how that one day we will be raised (Raptured) to be like Him. Read with me I Corinthians 15:1-26 & 51-58. SUMMARY What makes Easter important? 1) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROWN THAT CHRIST WORE 2) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE CROSS THAT CHRIST BORE 3) EASTER IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF THE VICTORY CHRIST DID SCORE What will be the focus of your Easter celebration? Will it be on fantasy or occult rituals of Christ? May the CHRISTIAN PASSOVER... THE DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST be your focus. If you have never received Christ as your Savior, why not put your faith in Him right now. Christ died for your sins and arose from the dead that you might have eternal life. Why not pray right now and ask Him to forgive your sins and be your Savior? If you have any questions leave a personal message to me in the message area. Address it to David Brown. If you want to write to me my address is -- LOGOS COMMUNICATION c/o David L. Brown P.O. BOX 173 OAK CREEK, WI. 53154 [Copyright March 1991 -- This article is on line by special arrangement with the author. Permission is given to download this article but if it is to distributed in quantities order information is available from LOGOS COMMUNICATION, P.O. BOX 173, OAK CREEK, WI. 53154 or leave a private message to the author in the message section.]