The Resurrection of Jesus; The Annual Passover Celebration.
What does the Bible say about Passover? When was Passover celebrated in the Old Testament? As we know, Passover was a picture of what would end Jesus’ ministry on earth. That was when He would be crucified and die for the sins of all people. Passover, which was a memory of the exodus from Egypt, was celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Abib. In 2024, Abib 14 fell on Monday, April 22. In 2023 it was Saturday, March 25, in 2025 it is Thursday, April 3.
What is the purpose of referring to these three days? These three dates were Passover Day in 2023, 2024 and 2025 according to Jewish tradition. Passover was to be celebrated on the same date every year, Abib 14. Therefore, it moves between the days of the week every year, and therefore it was on Saturday in 2023, Monday in 2024, and Thursday in 2025.
It was to distinguish itself from the Jewish traditions, which are actually biblical traditions, that Pope Sylvester I and the Council of Nicaea in the year 325 decided that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Therefore, Easter will always be celebrated on Sunday. This is not the case according to Jewish tradition. Coincidentally, Easter was on Sunday the year Jesus died, but as we saw above, Easter moves between the days of the week.
As a consequence of the change in the Easter celebration, Ascension Day and Pentecost have also been moved accordingly. These are two holidays that are celebrated 40 days (Ascension Day) and 50 days (Pentecost) after Easter, respectively, and which also move between the days of the week.
It seems that Sol Invictus has played an important role here too, just look at how Easter is determined by the papacy, to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Sunday has always been celebrated as the venerable day of the sun, and both the full moon and the vernal equinox are related to the solar cycle.
What is actually celebrated at Easter?
The Easter celebration includes various symbols such as hares, baskets full of eggs painted in bright colours, and hot buns decorated with crosses in the crust. Could it be that they celebrate Easter this way?
Spring was a sacred time for pagan sex cults, including those in Phoenicia. Eggs and hares were the symbols of their fertility goddess, Astarte, or Ishtar (Aphrodite to the Greeks). She had an unquenchable thirst for blood and immoral relationships. There are statues that depict her with grossly oversized genitals or with an egg in her hand and a hare or rabbit by her side. Sacred prostitution was part of her worship. In Canaan, the fertility goddess was seen as the wife of Ba’al (Ba’al is another name for Satan). She was honoured with sex and drinking orgies, because the worshipers believed that their sexual intercourse helped to arouse Ba’al and make him have intercourse with his wife. Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands states: In no other country* have so many statuettes of the naked fertility goddess been found, and some of them are clearly obscene.
* Ancient Canaan.
Under her memorials in Carthage, colourful urns containing the charred bones of young children were found. The children’s parents, who were often of the upper classes, sought the gods’ blessings to maintain their wealth and influence.
Easter, the English word for Easter, was originally a spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring, who was called Eastre among the Anglo-Saxons. (The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible)
Easter, there is no reference in the New Testament to any celebration of Easter, (The Encyclopedialike Britannica).
The hare or rabbit was the companion of the Germanic goddess Ostara. (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend).
Eggs were dyed and eaten at spring festivals in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome. Celebrations).
The special spring hat, often decorated with flowers, which is worn in the United States on Easter Sunday, was originally a wreath of flowers or leaves. The circle or crown represented the round sun and its path in the sky, which brought the return of spring. The custom of wearing new clothes at Easter, which is followed in some places, arose because it was considered impolite and therefore bad luck to greet the goddess of spring, or Eastre, in anything other than new clothes, since the goddess bestowed new clothes on the earth. (The Giant Book of Superstitions).
Cross-Crusted Buns, like the Greeks, the Romans also ate bread marked with a cross at public sacrifices. Pagan Saxons ate such pastries in honor of Eastre. (The Encyclopedialike Britannica).
Sunrise services parallel the rites performed at the vernal equinox to welcome the sun and its great power to bring new life to all that grows. (Celebrations).
Despite the pagan origins of these holidays, some adults find it wrong that children should be denied the opportunity to celebrate such holidays today. I have spoken to members of my own church about this problem, and the answer is that they cannot help but celebrate Christmas in the same way as the world, laying out Easter eggs, decorating with the Easter Bunny, participating in Halloween, and celebrating Valentine’s Day. Some do this with full intent, while others are simply ignorant.
We see that there are clear similarities between the ancient rituals and what is happening in our time. Even the name used for Easter in English-speaking countries, Easter, is almost identical to the old pagan name for the ancient fertility goddess Ishtar. Is this a way of honouring God and the Son of God?
Why are our children, who are the future of the church, taught to worship idols before they can even speak? Do our children know that we worship Saturn, Astarte, Istar, and Samhain through these festivals? Have they been told that celebrating these holidays is idolatry?
A strong call.
In Ephesians we find a sequence called The work of light and darkness! This sequence comes with a strong call not to do as the world does.
Here Paul covers most of the pitfalls we can fall into, and he says: Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, (Ephesians 5:1-7).
In Leviticus 19:28 we find a very interesting verse: Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD, (New Living Translation). As we see, tattoos are specifically mentioned in this verse. Many will disagree with me on this for reasons that can be so many. Some say that the tattoos in this verse must be seen in connection with the first clause of the verse that we should not cut our flesh in mourning for the dead.
Those of you who think that it is only about not cutting our flesh in mourning after losing a loved one, I encourage you to read the verse carefully a few times, and to reflect on what the little innocent word “and” accomplishes in this sentence. And is a conjunction that ties two different clauses together. This means that there are two types of tattoos being talked about in this verse, and neither of them should we do according to God.
When it comes to piercing, this has a thousand-year history, and we know from Ötzi the Iceman that piercing was used in Europe about five thousand years ago. Other mummies with piercing have also been found. Piercing has also been used in Pakistan and India, and then in a religious context.
Abhiṣeka is a central worship ritual in Hinduism in which the deity is bathed in various substances, such as milk, curdled butter, yogurt, honey and water with various substances. During this ritual, a procession consisting of women carrying milk pots on their heads and worshippers of both sexes who are pierced in an elaborate ceremony by the temple priest before the procession. The milk from the pots is used to pour over the goddess when they reach the temple. Milk is a cooling substance and cools the goddess from her state of being hot and wild, to cooled and peaceful.
The piercings are most often spears that are pierced through the cheek of the worshipper, but some people also get hooks in the back that are used to pull a chariot with a god image behind them. Spears are also glued or sewn into the skin or come in a form that is set up around the body where 108 spears are inserted into the upper body. There is loud music played with drums, call-and-response singing and conch shells while the piercing takes place, and some people are also possessed by various “deities” before they are pierced – these are summoned through this special type of folk song. These “deities” are none other than Satan’s evil angels who have possessed these people.
Being pierced in this way serves as a manifestation of the fulfilment of a private vow (vrata) between oneself and the goddess, where one may have asked her to have children, a new house, to cure illness, or the like. This can be done on behalf of both oneself and others. Some participate in this ritual year after year after having such a vow fulfilled, others only once.
Let me say right away that I do not judge anyone for what they do, whether they get tattoos, how they dress, how they look, what they believe and do not believe, I only refer to the Bible. I am just trying to make the same call that the Bible does, and ask each individual to turn to the Lord God, and seek God with a sincere heart and align their lives with God’s word. Today there are far too many who call themselves Christians who try to adapt the Bible to the life they live.
I have to take care of myself so that I do not fall victim to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 5:22: Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure. Therefore I cannot, nor will I, judge others, but according to the Bible we are each our brother’s keeper, and this is my driving force in this context.
The greatest disease of our time.
If we look at Christians today, and that applies to Christians in all denominations – including my own – we find people who find great joy in keeping up with the world in many areas. Computer technology is probably here to stay, and this technology is a double-edged sword. It can be used both to advance the kingdom of God and to tear it down. When I look around in my own church, I see several who are more concerned with their mobile phones than they are with the church service. The same people can boastfully say that they have hundreds, if not thousands, of “friends” on Facebook or other social media.
What these “friends” say on Facebook is more important to them than being spiritually present in the church service. Most of these thousands of “friends” are people they have never met face to face, never will meet and never heard the voice of, they are just a face they have seen on a screen. The question I ask myself is whether we can trust “friends” who not physical friends are, just a face on a screen, friends who are only digital “friends” that you will never get to know well enough to trust what they say. Now it may seem like I am being very stigmatizing and cutting everyone with the same brush, but there are forces on the ‘web’ that do not have honest intentions, and your best “friend” online may just be a fraud. I am fully aware that you can have digital friends who are also physical friends with whom you can spend your free time without having to seek them out online.
The problem for most people is that these “friends” are so important to them that they risk losing everything we hope for and what God wants to give us rather than risk losing a friend on Facebook. This also applies to all the other social platforms that exist, and they spend a lot of time every day updating themselves on what their “friends” say, think, believe and do. Personally, I am not a fan of this. I was on Facebook once, but I closed my account after a short time because I did not have time to do this. For me, reading and studying the Bible is more important, and I have chosen to spend more time on this.
It is perfectly fine to be on these social platforms, but if they are on such social media, they should spend at least as much time on God and God’s word as they spend chatting with their digital friends. I take it for granted that they do not. Maybe I am biased, but when you can’t stay away from Facebook, email, texting or social media for a couple of hours on the Sabbath, how are you supposed to make time for God when you are not in church? Many people are not even able to turn off their mobile phones, not even put them on silent mode they can, and it is the same people every time.
Think about the term «social media». How social are you with your surroundings when you are surfing on your mobile phone or other electronic gadgets? There are even married couples/cohabitants who can sit in separate rooms in the same house/apartment and send text messages to each other on their mobile phones instead of talking face to face. Many walk around like wandering digital nomads with their mobile phones in their hands. It almost seems as if the mobile phone has grown together with the hand, and has taken deep roots, because it hangs in the hand 24/7. A tragic result of this excessive mobile phone use is that more people have been hit and seriously injured in such accidents, some have even been killed in traffic because the mobile phone has all the attention. The world has gone crazy.
Do not follow the world!
We are warned by God in various ways that if we follow the world, it will inevitably lead to our downfall. In John 17:16, Jesus says of his disciples, which includes Christians today: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. This means that we are to separate ourselves from what the world does, not that we are to follow the world in every way. What characterizes the world today? The same problems are in our day as when Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians, and if we look closely, we find that in Paul’s day there were, among other things, fornication, all uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, jesting, which are not convenient.
If we dare to look out of our window, we see exactly the same problems in our day, and perhaps to an even greater extent. There are no longer any limits to what is permitted in society, and the common denominator for all these abominations, as God calls them, is that they are both destructive and degrading and lead to a dissolution of healthy and ethical norms. If we as Christians follow the world, it leads us to certain doom.
In Luke 17:26, Jesus says something about what conditions in the world will be like just before His second coming. He says: And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. What did God do in the days of Noah? He dealt with sin, but not before all living people had heard the message of salvation that was given in the form of an oral proclamation of the pending judgment, and a visual proclamation in the form of building a huge ark. Anyone who wanted could seek refuge in Noah’s ark, but sin and demoralization had gone so far that only Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives went aboard the ark. The rest received the judgment they had condemned themselves to because they would not accept salvation.
How does the Bible describe the condition in the days of Noah? In Matthew 24:38 Jesus tells how it was back then: For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. In other words, people lived a life of pleasure, carefree and did not care about anything else but satisfying their ego in every conceivable way.
This is what it is like today too. The vast majority of people live a life of pleasure. They indulge in food and alcoholic beverages, drugs, and unbridled free sex. Soon Jesus will return and make a final settlement with sin, and now also with the author of sin. All people in the whole world will hear about salvation in Jesus Christ, but only those who accept salvation and surrender themselves 100% to God, God’s Ten Commandments and God’s laws will be saved, the rest will face the judgment they themselves have chosen when they chose not to be saved.
Another reference to ancient times is found in what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah and their sister cities. In Jude 1:7 we read how he describes the events that led to the total destruction of these cities: Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
To this day we have two words that describe the people who lived there and the actions they performed. It is sodomite, which describes the people, and sodomy, which describes the most perverse sexual acts. And as already said, not even imagination set limits to what was permitted by debauchery in these cities.
That the people of the world today are doing the same things that were done in the days of Noah and in Sodom and Gomorrah is certainly not something to be expected, but that many who call themselves Christians are doing such things is mind-boggling. It is not primarily sexual perversions that Christians are doing, although there may be some who do that too, because there are many who are caught up in sexual immorality. In any case, this is an abomination to God whether you are a Christian or not. Then it is worse with all kinds of fornication, all uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, jesting, which are not convenient that we know abound among those who call themselves Christians.
Jude writes: Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core, (Jude 1:11).
What did these three, Cain, Balaam, and Core, do?
Cain became the first man in the world to kill another man, (Genesis 4:1). In our time, murder and mutilation have become so common that people mostly do not react to this. At best, they shrug their shoulders.
Balaam was commissioned by Balak, the son of the king of Moab, to curse the people of Israel, and was to receive the rewards of divination for the job, (Numbers 22:7). In our time, God’s faithful remnant is looked down upon as a hair in the soup, and everyone is out to destroy God’s little remnant.
Core led the rebellion against Moses, (Genesis 16:3). Today the whole world is gathered against God’s faithful remnant to turn them away from God.
How should we who call ourselves Christians, and who belong to God’s remnant in the end times, relate to these topics that are raised here? There is much good advice for this in the Bible. Let’s look at some scriptures and see what they tell us:
In Zechariah 2:11 we read: Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest [with] the daughter of Babylon.
Zion is a picture of God’s faithful remnant. The daughter of Babylon is fallen churches and worldly people.
In 2 Corinthians 6:17 Paul says: Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you. In this verse them are the ungodly and fallen churches. We are urged to separate ourselves from them so that we do not become unclean. If we associate with them, we will be contaminated by their uncleanness.
In Ephesians 5:11 Paul says: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove [them]. Here, the unfruitful works of darkness are the works that are contrary to the word of God, which are fornication, all uncleanness, greed, lasciviousness, foolish talking, and foolish jesting that is not fitting. As we have seen, it is paganism, and nothing else, that lies behind all these celebrations and rituals. This and much more has been dragged into the church and made «Christian» by the papacy throughout the Middle Ages and into our time. It will certainly continue in the time ahead of us until Jesus returns. We should think twice before we embark on an unrestrained worship of the sun god, the many saints, or the pagan deities that the pagan and mystery religions of both Europe and the East are full of. As already said: If you have a kilo of horse dung and wrap it in the finest package with the most beautiful decorations, there is still only horse dung inside the package. The packaging does not change the content. Nor does the content of the religious festivals change if you wrap them in «Christian» packaging. It is and will remain paganism whether you like it