Thank You God for Resurrection Day!

John 3:16, 17, 18 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God. ¹⁹ “This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

WOW!!! God must love us beyond anything that we can imagine! Jesus loved us enough to die for us and to give us the Holy Spirit to guide us!

When the Holy Spirit speaks to me I listen…and HE speaks louder and clearer everyday in my walk with Jesus. Every moment I spend with Him in Bible study and prayer makes me want to spend more time with Him…I want to please Him in every aspect of my life. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When you get a message from Him, it’s the same message that He gave Moses when He went up to Mt. Sinai, and it was the same message given when He was leading the Israelites through the desert for 4o years. The same message when He told Joshua in reference to the heathen tribes in the promise land…wipe them from the land. The same message that we received through the prophets. NOTHING has changed, He sure hasn’t! So why would we think that as His followers, we can play games with his rules? Have we forgotten that part of being a follower of Jesus is not only to repent, but to obey? To bring Him GLORY!

What I’m addressing is our worldly human nature that desires for us to involve ourselves in pagan traditions in the name of Jesus, Yeshua, Immanuel, Beloved Son of God, Good Shepherd, Messiah, Lamb of God, Redeemer – so many beautiful names and titles for the one God Loved and gave to us. Why would we entangle Him with myths, pagan rituals and man made customs? Isn’t there enough to celebrate just in the fact that HE loved us enough to suffer and die for us on the cross; to take our filthy sins upon himself?

Okay…Here it comes!

I do my “very best” to stay away from saying Happy Easter (although until I was led by the Spirit, I will admit that I too was guilty)…now just writing it makes me cringe! Do you really know what this pagan ritual that we’ve tied to the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus is about?

1. The name Easter (Eostre -the Teutonic goddess of fertility and spring ) Babylonians: the rabbit was a symbol associated with Eostre, representing the beginning of Springtime. Then there’s Ostara and Ishtar… names of other goddesses celebrated in the same fashion as Eostre.

2. The eggs (“The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians (the egg represented the sun) and Persians), the egg represents the hatching of the Venus Ishtar, who fell from heaven to the Euphrates. Likewise, the egg has come to represent Spring, fertility and renewal.

3. The rabbit that lays eggs…that in itself is sickening! In Germanic mythology, it is said that Ostara healed a wounded bird she found in the woods by changing it into a hare. Still partially a bird, the hare showed its gratitude to the goddess by laying eggs as gifts.

We’ve actually taken these pagan rituals and beliefs and incorporated them into the Resurrection of Jesus. Think about it. Can you really justify any of it?

What have these things to do with Christ? What and why have we done this… to turn the most special gift God has given us – eternal life- into a celebration filled with pagan ritual that celebrated a variety of goddesses in different cultures? These cultures were in constant conflict with God all through the Old Testament and were constantly leading His people astray. Are they still leading us astray today? Do you really believe God doesn’t care? God doesn’t change! Deuteronomy 12:2-4 Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. ³ Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. ⁴ Don’t worship the Lord your God this way.

It wasn’t until 325 AD nearly 300 years after the crucifixion that Emperor Constantine convened a meeting of Christian leaders to resolve important disputes at the Council of Nicaea. Since the church believed that the resurrection took place on a Sunday, the Council determined that Easter should always fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox.

Deuteronomy 12:30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’

Don’t take my word for it…spend a little time and investigate this for yourself and then justify it for yourself. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:12 (KJV) Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.