TIME OUT - What Would A Beguiling Messenger Promote?
Excerpts From http://www.babylonforsaken.com/easter.html
Many customs of "Easter" are highly pagan in origin. Though we can find the word "Easter" in Acts 12:4 of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, the name was never used in the original scriptures. The original word was "pascha" meaning Passover; the word Easter is NEVER biblically associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nor was it historically associated with it, until, the rise of Constantine in 325 A.D. For these reasons, biblical orthodox christians prefer to use the term "Passover" or "Resurrection Sunday" rather than "Easter" when referring to the annual remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection.
EASTER'S ANTISEMITIC ORIGIN
In 325 AD – Emperor Constantine in the Council Nice ordered all Churches to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. The ancient Church had celebrated the Resurrection during the Passover [Nisan 14], which could fall on any day of the week, but the Churches near Rome had abandoned the practice because they hated the Jews, and fixed the date to the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. They also called the celebration ‘Easter’, after the pagan goddess of Spring. All of this is verified by the following quote from the Encarta Encyclopedia:
“An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observed [the Resurrection] according to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday.
“Constantine the Great, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.” “The name [Easter] probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts...” – Encarta Encyclopedia, article: Easter.
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The following is an actual quote from Constantine showing that at the heart of the Sunday issue was Rome’s hatred for the Jews. “And truly, in the first place, it seems to everyone a most unworthy thing that we should follow the customs of the Jews in the celebration of this most holy solemnity, who, polluted wretches! having stained their hands with a nefarious crime, are justly blinded in their minds. It is fit, therefore, that rejecting the practice of this people, we should perpetuate to all future ages the celebration of this rite, in a more legitimate order, which we have kept from the first day of our "Lord's" passion even to the present times. Let us then have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.” (Council of Nicea, pg. 52.)
(Web Editor's note: Anytime we blame the Jews for anything, we are missing the whole point of the Gospel. For surely, it was OUR sin, yours and mine, that put Jesus on the cross. Though He willingly gave Himself, it was because of us: our sin. Constantine's hatred masked his own guilt thus preventing repentence. When we hate and assign guilt to anyone other than ourself, we are doing the exact same thing.)
THE ORIGIN OF PAGAN 'EASTER'
Most reference books say that the name "Easter" is derived from Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. Although this relationship exists, in reality, the origin of the name and the goddess are far more ancient; going all the way back to the time not long after the flood. Nimrod, the grandson of Noah, became a mighty ruler and he built and organized major cities. These included BABEL, Accad, and Erech; he also built Resen, Calah and Nineveh in the land of Asshur (Genesis 10:10-12*) *Here Asshur is another name for Assyria, see Micah 5:6*. Ancient history tells us that these cities were home to unimaginable satanic, cultic, and perverted practices, all headed up by its ruler and high priest Nimrod. When Nimrod finally died, the Babylonian mystery religion continued on through his wife, Queen Semiramis. Upon Nimrod's death, she deified him as the Sun god. In various cultures he later became known as Baal, Janus, Saturn, Baalim, Bel, Osiris, Bacchus and Molech.
Later when Queen Semiramis gave birth to an illegitimate son, she claimed that he was Nimrod reborn, Nimrod Tammuz by name. She claimed that he was the promised seed of God (Genesis 3:15), the savior. Semiramis became the mediator between man and this "god", you had to pray through her to reach him. So Nimrod was deified as the god of the sun, Queen Semiramis became the Queen of Heaven, the goddess of the moon and fertility; and Nimrod Tammuz became the savior in this satanic Babylonian religion. According to pagan legend, after Nimrod Tammuz died, he descended into the underworld; but through the weeping of his mother, he mystically revived in the springing forth of the vegetation-in Spring! (EZEKIEL 8:14) Much in the same way Queen Semiramis said the evergreen tree symbolized his father's eternal life (Jeremiah 10:1-7)....(Christmas tree?) Thus a terrible false religion developed with its sun and moon worship, priests, astrology, demon worship, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, and more. The celebration of Nimrod Tammuz's revival is called Ostara (Easter), probably in honor of his mother, who's weeping brought him from the dead. Ostara begins during the Spring Equinox, which is considered holy by pagans. The Spring Equinox occurs on a day in late March when day and night are of equal length, thus its name, Equi-nox.
God saw that the world was united in this occult, which was centered around Babel, and that the degeneration of man would soon fall to the level of the pre-flood era; So God put an halt to their order. He confused their speech; and separated the people (Genesis 11:7); then he divided the continents; thus scattering the people upon all the face of the earth. (Genesis 10:25,, Peleg means earthquake, and Genesis 11:8)
When the people were scattered, they carried their evil Sun god religion with them. They continued to build pyramids reminiscent of the tower of Babel as part of their Mystery religion. Today, we can still find remnants of these through out the world; In Iraq, South America, Central America, Egypt, Burma, China, etc. Jeremiah 51:7, Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nation's have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Almost every idolatrous practice you can think of originated at Babel. As the people scattered from Babel with different languages, they used different names for Nimrod and Semiramis. Some called her the Mother Goddess "Ishtar" (originally pronounced Easter), in other lands, she was called Eostre, Astarte, Ostera, and Eastre; she was also called the Mother goddess, Wife of Baal, Ashtaroth or Ashtoreth; and the Queen of Heaven (Judges 2:13 and Jeremiah 44:17-19). She was worshipped as the god of fertility, as Mother Nature, the goddess of Spring and the goddess of the moon.
ORIGIN OF THE EASTER CUSTOMS
THE EASTER EGG: Now that we know the origin of the word "Easter", we can look at one of Easter's most loved symbols, the Easter Egg. The egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians. They believed the fable about an egg of wondrous size, which fell from heaven into the river Euphrates. From this marvelous egg, according to this ancient story, the Goddess Astarte (Easter) was hatched; And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter. The idea of a mystic egg spread from Babylon to many parts of the world. In Rome, the mystic egg preceded processions in honor of the Mother Goddess; the egg was part of the sacred ceremonies of the Mysteries of Bacchus. The pagan Druids used the egg as their sacred emblem. In Europe, China and Japan eggs were colored for sacred pagan festivals. The egg was also a symbol of fertility; Semiramis was the goddess of fertility. The egg was also seen as a symbol of the Babylonian gods; the yoke was the sun god Baal, the white was seen as the white goddess Semiramis, and the entire egg was seen as a symbol of Nimrod Tammuz's rebirth.
THE EASTER BUNNY: The Easter Bunny is also a pagan idol. The rabbit is a well-known sexual symbol of fertility; and in various parts of the world, religions that developed from Babel, associate it with periodicity, as in both human and lunar. As you remember the Mother Goddess Easter (Semiramis) is associated with the moon, and is considered the goddess of fertility. In other words, the Easter Bunny, is named after and symbolizes the Mother goddess. Pagan tradition also teaches that Eostre (Easter) saved a bird whose wings were frozen from the harsh winter by turning it into a magical, egg laying hare. Eostre was said to be the goddess of renewal and rebirth, who brought about the reappearance of bright flowers, baby chickens and baby bunnies all from their winter dens.
SUNRISE SERVICES: Sunrise services in honor of Tammuz is an ancient heathen custom. It is actually described in the book of Ezekiel 8:13-17 "He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 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. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose."