Easter Pagan?

Is Easter pagan?

On first glance that might seem like a ridiculous question.

But just think about it.

Do you know what the word "Easter" means?

Have you ever wondered where that word came from?

That is something I always wondered about when I was growing up.

However, it was not until I started doing some research that I began to learn the truth.

Our old reference books actually told us the truth about these things.....

The Britannica Encyclopedia (1934) stated:

"EASTER (es’ter). Ostara, or Eastre, was the goddess of Spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. With the beginnings of Christianity, the old gods were put aside. From then on the festival was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ, but was still known as Easter after the old goddess."

So why do we celebrate "Easter"?

Well, the story goes back a long way - to the ancient Middle East.

Have you ever heard of "Ishtar" or "Ashtoreth"? Most of you probably have. They are ancient names of the same pagan fertility goddess. In fact, if you trace the various pagan fertility goddesses back far enough, they all trace back to Semiramis of ancient Babylon.

Over time, "Ashtoreth" and "Asherah" became "Ishtar" which eventually became "Eastre" and then finally "Easter", but it is all the same pagan fertility goddess.

Some other names of "Easter" over the centuries included Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus, Astarte from ancient Greece, Demeter from Mycenae, Kali from India and Ostara, a Norse goddess of fertility.

Easter "eggs" and bunny rabbits are pagan fertility symbols that celebrate this pagan fertility goddess, and they have been used as symbols for her for thousands of years.

So why do Christians celebrate "Easter"?

Jesus did not die on "Easter".

Do you want to know when Jesus died?

He died on the eve of Passover.

You see, in the "Old Testament", God had His people come up to Jerusalem three times per year. One of those times was for Passover.

During the very first Passover, God had the Jews take the blood of a lamb and put it on their doorposts so that the death angel would pass over their houses.

And do you know what doorposts are most commonly made of?

Wood.

And do you know where wood comes from?

From a tree.

So the message of that very first Passover was that the blood of the lamb on the tree covers us from the wrath of God.

Does that sound familiar?

It should.

It is the message of the cross - the blood of the lamb on the tree covers us from the wrath of God!

So for hundreds and hundreds of years, God had His people gather in the exact city where Christ would die, at the exact time of the year when He would die, and He had them celebrate a holiday that perfectly foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah.

So why do Christians not celebrate the holiday of Passover?

Did you also know that Jesus celebrated Passover? The Last Supper was actually a Passover meal (just look it up in the Scriptures).

During the Last Supper Jesus said to do this meal in memory of Him.

And did you know that all of humanity will celebrate the Passover during the 1000 year reign of Christ (see Ezekiel 45-46)?

Did you know that "Easter" was celebrated by ancient civilizations such as the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, and the Philistines? Did you know that ritual pagan sex acts were involved with the celebration of "Easter"?

So why have we all forsaken a holiday which predicted the sacrifice of Jesus, which is full of symbolism about Jesus, which is during the precise time when Jesus died and rose again and which God tells us in the Scriptures to remember?

Why have we instead been celebrating a pagan fertility festival that is named after a pagan fertility goddess and is filled with pagan symbols and traditions?

The YouTube video below contains even more information on this.....



Perhaps it is time to reconsider a lot of the things that we have taken for granted.

The Bible has nothing to say about Easter.

But it has a ton to say about Passover.

If you do not know much about Passover, I would encourage you to pick up your Bible and to read about the amazing holiday that perfectly foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ every year for over a thousand years before Jesus arrived on earth.

Ron Paul Schools Bernanke On Capitalism

I love it when Ben Bernanke gets questioned by Ron Paul.

Ron Paul is one of the only members of Congress that is willing to stand up against the Federal Reserve.

You see, the Federal Reserve is about as "federal" as Federal Express is.

The Federal Reserve is a private central bank that is run for profit by elite international bankers.

They should not have control over the issuance of U.S. currency or anything else. Most politicians won't touch the Federal Reserve bankers, but it is good to see Ron Paul challenging them.....

The Darwinism Deception

A new study has found that the theory of evolution is far less accepted in the United States than it is in most other western countries.

But unfortunately the bad news is that the majority of people who live in western countries are incredibly deceived when it comes to these matters. Darwinism is especially dominant in Europe, and if trends don't change, the numbers that we see in Europe will be the numbers that we see someday in the United States.

A chart that shows the results of this study is below.....

Well, it looks like the data shows that there is a consensus in the western world that the theory of evolution is true.

But is it?

What does the science actually say?

You might be surprised.

We recently wrote an article entitled "The Creation/Evolution Debate" which demonstrates that when you actually look at the facts they do NOT support Darwinism.

But people cling to the theory of evolution because the alternative is unthinkable to them - that there is a God who created them and who they are ultimately accountable to.

School Prayer?

This school prayer for the "New America" was supposedly written by a 15 year old kid in Ohio.....

----

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise....
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks....
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!

Amen

A Sign Of The Times - Tent Cities

Is it not obvious at this point that the United States of America is in the early stages of a depression?

If the following video does not stun you, it should at least sadden you deeply.

Tent cities filled with the homeless and unemployed are rapidly growing in Sacramento, Seattle, Reno, Nashville and in many other cities across the United States.

Can you imagine what is going to happen if things get much worse than this?.....

End Times Speed Links - Less Than 1% Of Americans 18 - 23 Years Old Have A Biblical Worldview

*A new survey by the Barna group reveals that less than one percent of 18 to 23 year old Americans has a biblical worldview.

*Has the Iranian nuclear program now passed the point of no return?

*The Russians are pushing for global disarmament talks.

*The President of Kazakhstan says that the world needs a single currency.

*A plan to introduce biometric IDs is stirring a heated privacy debate in Israel.

*A 75-year-old widow in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 40 lashes and four months in prison for mingling with two young men.

*Barack Obama says that he is considering deploying National Guard troops to the Mexican border in order to help contain the violence.

*Obama is also quietly proposing to completely rescind federal regulations that protect the right to conscience for healthcare workers.

*The terrorist watch list in the United States now has a million people on it.

*One major financial expert says that this economic crisis has wiped out 45 percent of the world's wealth.

*A two-bedroom, 800-square-foot home in Detroit recently sold for a single dollar.

*Unemployment is getting so bad in the United States that it is now being called a "national emergency".

*The percentage of people who call themselves Christian in the U.S. has dropped more than 11% in a generation.

*WorldNetDaily is reporting that more Americans are now stockpiling food and supplies.

*Will HR 875 criminalize organic farming and backyard gardens?

*Same-sex couples will have all of the rights and benefits that that state of Washington offers to married couples under a new bill passed by the state Senate.

*Some people are taking David Wilkerson's recent warning very seriously.

*An increasing number of American churches are denying it, but does hell actually exist?

*Has amazing evidence that dinosaurs and humans coexisted been found at an ancient Cambodian temple?

Will The Second Coming Of Jesus Be The End Of Human History?

Will the second coming of Yahshua (Jesus Christ) be the end of human history?

No.

The second coming of Yahshua is not the end at all.

In fact, the Bible very explicitly teaches that Yahshua will reign on this earth from Jerusalem for 1000 years.

Unfortunately, almost all writing and teaching concerning the "end times" focuses on what is going to happen BEFORE the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Even most Christians don't realize what is going to happen AFTER Yahshua (Jesus) comes back.

Have you ever thought much about what life will be like after the return of Jesus?

The following passage of Scripture illustrates that the Bible clearly teaches that Christ will rule in Jerusalem for 1000 years after He returns to this earth.

Please notice how the Scripture mentions the term "thousand years" five times alone in Revelation 20:1-10.....

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

So what life will be like during the 1000 year reign of Jesus?

Did you realize that the Bible tells us some of the holidays that we will celebrate?

Read the following scriptures for yourself and see if we are wrong about this.

Zechariah 14:3-4 describes the circumstances of the return of the Messiah.....

Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

Then, in Zechariah 14:16-19 it tells us that Yahshua will require the whole earth to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles when He reigns.....

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

One of the most neglected parts of Scripture is Ezekiel chapters 40-48. Those chapters actually describe what life will be like when the Messiah comes and reigns. Did you know that Sabbath, New Moon and Passover will all be celebrated when Yahshua (Jesus) reigns of earth for a thousand years?

Just check out these passages.....

Ezekiel 46:1-3

"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The gate of the inner court facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day and on the day of the New Moon it is to be opened. The prince is to enter from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. On the Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the presence of the LORD at the entrance to that gateway."

Ezekiel 45:17

"It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons and the Sabbaths—at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel."

Ezekiel 45:21

"In the first month on the fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which you shall eat bread made without yeast."

In addition, the Scripture tells us that Sabbath and the New Moon will be celebrated forever and ever.....

Isaiah 66:22-24

"As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

What a glorious time it will be when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns over the whole earth! For more information on what life will be like during the 1000 year reign of Christ, just check out this YouTube video.....