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Easter ?! It's the Passover - not bunnies and eggs!

Passover is NOT about, nor has anything to do with Bunnies and Eggs!!! You have been falsely taught to follow the traditions of men, verses what God's Word says about it...

EASTER: from Webster's Dictionary -
(ês´ter) n. [[ME ester < OE eastre, pl. eastron, spring,
Easter; original name of pagan vernal festival almost coincident in date with pashcal festival of the church < Eastre, dawn goddess. < PGmc *Austro (> Ger Ostern) < IE base *awes-: see EAST]]
1.) an annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon that occurs on or after March 21st.
2.)  the Sunday of this festival: also
3.) Easter Sunday

From the Bible, it appears only one time, in  ACTS 12:4 - "intending after Easter to bring him..."

The word in the Strong's Concordance is # 3957 - pascha. pas'-khah; of Chaldean or (comp. 6453); the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it): - Easter, Passover.

The King James translators, for who knows what valid reason took the word "pascha" and translated it to "Easter" and we have been stuck with that name - through the traditions of men - ever since. The highest day of the Christian year, and we call it by a pagan goddess of fertility, taking it even further by allowing our children to roll Easter eggs and have cute little bunnies (the signs of the goddess and her fertility rituals!)...do what you like, however, it is the Passover, and the resurrection of our LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ - not bunnies and Easter Eggs.

Need more proof? Here we go - "Ostara, also known as The Spring or Vernal Equinox, the Festival of Trees, Alban Eilir, Ostara, the Rites of Spring, and the Rites of Eostre, occurs between March 19 and 21 and marks the first day of true Spring. Day and night are equal on this day, hence the name Equinox. It is observed by Pagans throughout the world. For Wiccans and Witches, Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the birth of Spring and the reawakening of life from the Earth... The Spring Equinox was Christianized by the Roman Church as were most Pagan festivals of old. On the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Equinox (or "Eostre's Day" from which the name Easter was derived), the Christians celebrates their Easter holiday. The Christian festival commemorates the resurrection of Christ, synchronized with the Jewish Pesach, and blended since the earliest days of Christianity with pagan European rites for the renewed season. It is preceded by a period of riotous vegetation rites and by a period of abstinence known as Lent." (Cutting Edge Ministries Article #n1796).

We have just learned the name of Easter is taken from the Pagan celebration of the "Rites of Eostre". Reverend Alexander Hislop, writing in his monumental work, "The Two Babylons", states that the name of Easter was derived from the goddess Astarte [page 109]. In reality, both are probably right, because the Pagans have a history of worshipping the same gods in different lands under different names. Then, the celebration of Lent is pagan. Yet, today, we see many Christian churches celebrating Lent today, another example of linking Jesus Christ with Satan. Do not be deceived by these many Pagan holidays being brought into "Christian" churches. If your church celebrates Lent, you probably should be looking for another church, one that holds true to the fundamentals of the Faith. If your church today is celebrating Lent, tomorrow they will be denying more Scriptural Truth, until your church will one day not even teach Salvation by Grace through Faith.

Now, let us return to our discussion of the Easter Eggs. (Cutting Edge Ministries Article #n1796) "It is also believed that humankind first got the idea of weaving baskets from watching birds weave nests. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets. The eggs appearing above are a collection of Pysanky. Pysanky are the famous Ukranian Easter eggs, and are powerful amulets for fertility, prosperity, and protection ... There is much symbolism in eggs themselves. The golden orb of its yolk represents the Sun God, its white shell is seen as the White Goddess, and the whole is a symbol of rebirth."

This statement is the clearest you will ever get from a Pagan. They are clearly stating that they view the Egg as a sexual symbol of union between the Male Principle, Sun God, and the Female Principle, the White Goddess. The Satanist views the egg as an amulet for fertility, prosperity and protection, while they view the yolk of the egg as a symbol of the Sun God, and its white shell as the White Goddess. This view is very consistent with the Pagan's worship of the creature rather than the Creator [Romans 1:25]. They view all the universe in terms of Duality of Nature, the Female and the Male principle, of just plain sex. Thus is their view of the egg. Is this tantamount to linking Christ with a prostitute, in His eyes? I think it likely. Now, let us look at what Reverend Alexander Hislop has to say about the Pagan practice of eggs, for this practice goes back centuries. Prepare to be shocked, and then be prepared to ask yourself how and why a "Christian" denomination could possibly embrace such Satanism!

"The origin of the Pasch eggs is just as clear. The ancient Druids bore an egg, as the sacred emblem of their order. In the Dionysiaca, or mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. The Hindu fables celebrate their mundane egg as of a golden colour. The people of Japan make their sacred egg to have been brazen. In China ... dyed or painted eggs are used on sacred festivals, even as in this country. In ancient times, eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks, and were hung up for mystic purposes in their temples ... The classic poets are full of the fable of the mystic egg of the Babylonians ... 'an egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank, where the doves having settled upon it, and hatched it, out came Venus, who afterwards was called the Syrian Goddess' that is Astarte. Hence the egg became one of the symbols of Astarte, or Easter.' " [Reverend Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons: Papal Worship Proved To Be The Worship Of Nimrod And His Wife", Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., First Edition, 1916, page 108-109]

Now that Hislop establishes the great worship of the Goddess, Astarte, through the egg, he then shows the connection with the Roman Catholic Church. "Now the Romish Church adopted this mystic egg of Astarte, and consecrated it as a symbol of Christ's resurrection. A form of prayer was even appointed to be used in connection with it, Pope Paul V teaching his superstitious votaries thus to pray at Easter: 'Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance unto thy servants, eating it in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ.' " During ceremonies with the eggs, the ancient pagans would eat the egg at the end of the ceremony. Thus, the Catholic Church adopted their mystic practice entirely, just changing the names of the gods to whom they are praying! But, this is the practice of the Roman Catholic Church for most of the past 1,500 years. They have adopted, wholesale, into their religious practice many of the doctrines and rituals of the pagans to whom they were appealing, believing that they were making it easier for the pagans to 'accept' Christianity. The Catholics also erroneously believed that they could take a Pagan, Satanic belief, ritual, or object, and 'Christianize" it by simply saying some sort of elaborate prayer over it! This belief is totally without foundation in the Bible, as you can find it nowhere taught or practiced. In fact, during Israel's history, whenever a righteous king would lead Israel into a revival, he would immediately set out to completely destroy all of the pagan idols, altars, temples, and priests. Let us examine a few of these Biblical instances.

"And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD." [2 Kings 11:18]. Notice that they thoroughly destroyed all the Pagan altars and images. In some other instances in Scripture, we see that the Righteous Kings burned the objects with fire. "The altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king [Josiah] beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men." [2 Kings 23:12-14]

I encourage you to thoroughly read First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles, carefully noting the many instances in which Israel drifted back into pagan worship. Note how God raised up righteous kings to bring Israel back to the worship of Him. Note that in every time of revival, the righteous King set out to completely destroy all the idols, images, altars, temples, and to kill the Jewish priests of the pagan religion. In no instance did any righteous King ever pray over these pagan things, in an attempt to purify them so they could be used in the worship of the One True God. You see, God is as concerned with how He is worshipped as He is with the fact that people are to worship Him. The principle with how to deal with pagan objects and practices is described thoroughly in the New Testament. Listen carefully:

"So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences, will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work." [2 Timothy 2:21], Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary

You do not see any admonition here to pray over the unclean object, in order to make it useful to Jesus Christ. No, you see the admonition to separate yourself from contact with unclean, contaminating, and corrupting influences. Then you, personally, may be used by the Master for His good works. Never, ever, in the entire Bible can you find any instance where a righteous leader prayed over pagan objects and made them acceptable to God. Nor do you ever see where a righteous leader ever allowed any pagan doctrine to come into Jewish religious teaching, under any guise or with any changed names.