THE TRUTH ABOUT EASTER

(PART 3)

(... continued from Part 2)

Now, let's tackle the pagan origin of Easter.

It is a fact that Easter is honoured by nearly all of contemporary Christianity where it is used for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Most Christian churches have services at sunrise, services which includes the "Easter Ham", decorated eggs and stories about rabbits.

To those who love the truth, have also learned to ask questions, and many questions must be asked in order to learn the truth regarding Easter's holiday.

Where did all of the strange customs came from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of our Saviour? Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead? (This question has partly already been answered in part 1 and 2)

I want to reiterate the fact that the final purpose of this article is to help to answer those questions, and to mainly help those who seek the truth in order to draw their own conclusions.

The Church has been celebrating Easter for almost 1700 years, but few in the church are aware of its origins, and what or who it originally celebrated. We have to ask ourselves sincerely if God is pleased with this celebration. Does it glorify Him and His Son, or does it honour a false god?

Many Christians say that the origin of Easter does not matter. 'Does it really matter?' 'Fact is: He died for us and He rose again... just focus on that fact...'. Others still say, 'What is important is the reason for our celebration.' And the reason, is that Christ is alive, making it possible for believers to have eternal life. I, completely agree with these focused opinions, however, please prayerfully consider the following information before making your decision. I also know that I am the one who mostly claims that we are not to "look for gremlins', but I also know that if I do something for God I always remember that God did not spare Israel when they worshiped false gods. Are we somehow "better" than God's chosen people?

The name Easter was never used in the original text of scripture for the resurrection of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (Jesus The Christ).

While many today try to disassociate this celebration from its pagan roots by referring to it as "Resurrection Sunday", does this celebration have any place among believers or any relevance to Messiah's resurrection?

The first thing we must understand is that professing Christians were not the only ones who celebrated a festival called "Easter."

"Easter", many scholars agree, has its root in ancient pagan religion. "Easter" derived from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. The name is actually much older - going back to Babel and it's infamous tower.

"Ishtar", which is pronounced "Easter" was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called "Tammuz", who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god.

In those ancient times, there was a man named Nimrod, who was the grandson of one of Noah's sons named Ham. Ham had a son named Cush who married a woman named Semiramis. Cush and Semiramis then had a son named him "Nimrod."

After the death of his father, Nimrod married his own mother and became a powerful King.

The Bible tells of this man, Nimrod, in Genesis 10:8-10 as follows:"Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." The first centres of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar."

Who was Nimrod? Not much is known about him except that he was a mighty hunter. But people with great gifts can become proud, and this is what probably happened to Nimrod who became a god-man to the people and Semiramis, his wife and mother, became the powerful Queen of ancient Babylon. Some consider him the founder of the great, godless Babylon empire.

Nimrod was eventually killed by an enemy, and his body was cut in pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom, more important the Babylonian mystery religion continued.

Semiramis had all of the parts gathered, except for one part that could not be found.

That missing part was his reproductive organ. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod could not come back to life without it and told the people of Babylon that Nimrod had ascended to the sun and was now to be called "Baal", the sun god. Queen Semiramis also proclaimed that Baal would be present on earth in the form of a flame, whether candle or lamp, when used in worship. Semiramis was creating a mystery religion, and with the help of Satan, she set herself up as a goddess. Semiramis claimed that she was immaculately conceived. She taught that the moon was a goddess that went through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full. She further claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River. This was to have happened at the time of the first full moon after the spring equinox. Semiramis became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounced "Easter", and her moon egg became known as "Ishtar's" egg."

As soon as Ishtar became pregnant, she claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that caused her to conceive. The son that she brought forth was named Tammuz. Tammuz was noted to be especially fond of rabbits, and they became sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter. The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig.

In the Mystery cults, the 'saviour' Tammuz or Mithras , was worshiped in spring with pagan rites. According to legend, after Tammuz was killed by the wild boar, he went into the underworld. But through the weeping of his mother (for 40 days - lent) he was resurrected. Each year a spring festival was held to dramatically represent this supposed 'resurrection'. Thus a false religion developed with sun and moon worship, priests, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with their gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, and more. Ishtar, who was now worshiped as the "Mother of God and Queen of Heaven", continued to build her mystery religion. The queen told the worshipers that when Tammuz was killed by the wild pig, some of his blood fell on the stump of an evergreen tree, and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight.

This made the evergreen tree sacred by the blood of Tammuz. She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten. Worshipers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign of the "T" in front of their hearts as they worshiped. They also ate sacred cakes with the marking of a "T" or cross on the top. Every year, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made. It was Ishtar's Sunday and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. Ishtar also proclaimed that because Tammuz was killed by a pig, that a pig must be eaten on that Sunday.

With the destruction on Babel, many people moved away from the area carrying their evil Sun-god based religion with them. They continued to worship the stars and practice all the other pagan rituals of their religion.

Babel was the origin of an idolatrous system that swept the world. The Bible often speaks of the Satanic religions which came from there. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus "witnessed the Mystery religion and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which ALL systems of idolatry flowed.

Many vile and idolatrous practices originated at Babel with Semiramis and Nimrod. Many names were used for this pagan god & goddess as people scattered from Babel. Names for the "Mother Goddess" included: "ISHTAR" (where we get "EASTER"), Eostre, Cebel, Astarte, Ostera, Eastre, Wife of Baal, Ashtaroth, and Queen of Heaven. She was frequently worshiped as the goddess of fertility - a "Mother Nature", goddess of spring, sexuality and birth. She was also worshiped as a mediator between god and man. Sexual orgies and temple prostitutes were often used in her worship and in attempting to gain her favour.

But, without going any further, can we find evidence of Ishtar (Easter) & Tammuz worship in Holy scripture?

(to be continued...)