The Truth About Easter

This picture of an easter bunny coming out of the tomb looks ridiculous, but it would seem by the way that most Christian churches celebrate YHWH's (the LORD's)Passover that what is shown in this picture is the truth.

So what is easter? Here is what Webster's dictionary says.

Easter [ēas'tər] ME ester < OE eastre, pl. eastron, spring, Easter; orig., name of pagan vernal festival almost coincident in date with paschal festival of the church < Eastre, dawn goddess < PGmc * Austro (> Ger Ostern) < IE base * awes-: see EAST

Notice that Webster called it a "pagan vernal festival." Why would the Christian church celebrate the death and resurection of Yahushua Messiah (Jesus Christ) with a "pagan vernal festival?"

It is my prayer that through this study YHWH (the LORD) will open eyes and ears to the truth of this matter.

Previously the webster dictionary was used. Now the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance will be used.

Easter in the Strong's is reference #3957 in the Greek dictionary.

#3957 pascha, pas'-khah: of Chaldean origin[compare 6453] the Passover (the meal, the day, the festaval or the special sacrifices connected with it.

The word translated in the KJV as "easter" is the Greek word for Passover.

The Greek word Pascha occurs 28 times in the New Covenant. It is translated Passover 27 times and is translated easter only one time in the KJV. It should have been translated Passover all 28 times.

Remember, Webster said that  easter was a pagan vernal (spring) festival  that happened to fall at the same time of year as the paschal festival of the church. The KJV translators made a critical error when Pascha was translated "easter" in Acts 12:4

Now we are going to compare 3 other English translations of the Bible with the KJV.

King James Version

1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)

4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

Notice that in verse 3 the days of Unleavened Bread are mentioned. The days of Unleavened Bread start the day after Passover. The next three versions rightly translate the Greek word pascha as Passover.

New King James Version

1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.

2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

The Amplified Bible

1 About that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to afflict and oppress and torment some who belonged to the church (assembly).

2 And he killed James the brother of John with a sword;

3 And when he saw that it was pleasing to the Jews, he proceeded further and arrested Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread [the Passover week].

4 And when he had seized [Peter], he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers of four each to guard him, purposing after the Passover to bring him forth to the people.

^{New  International Version}  

1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

I am not a big fan of the NIV but even the NIV got this one right.

So how did the pagan festival of easter become absorbed by the Christian church?

The answer to that question is the emporer Constantine.

Constantine

Constantine is responsible for replacing YHWH's (the LORD's) Passover with easter. In the year 325 A.D. at the councel of Nicea, the Catholic (Universal) church of the Roman Empire was born.  To form the Catholic church, Constantine merged the Messianic belief with pagan sun worship. He changed YHWH's (the LORD's) sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday (the day of the sun).  He also forbid anyone to observe any of the feasts of YHWH (the LORD).  Anything that was considered Jewish was removed and replaced with pagan customs of Rome.

Who is easter?

The word easter comes from the name of a goddess of spring worshiped by ancient Germanic tribes. This spring goddess was known as eostre, eastre, eostra or ostra. This spring goddess was known as the fertility goddess ishtar to the Pheonecians and Assyrians. Ishtar is mentioned in the Bible as,  ashtaroth and ashtoreth. Here's what the Smith's Bible Dictionary says about ashtoreth.

Ashtoreth
        (a star) the principal female divinity of the Phoenicians, called Ishtar by the Assyrians and Astarte by the Greeks and Romans. She was by some ancient writers identified with the moon. But on the other hand the Assyrian Ishtar was not the moon-goddess, but the planet Venus; and Astarte was by many identified with the goddess Venus (or Aphrodite), as well as with the plant of that name. It is certain that the worship of Astarte became identified with that of Venus, and that this worship was connected with the most impure rites is apparent from the close connection of this goddess with ASHERAH.
        1Ki 11:5,33; 2Ki 23:13

The "impure rites" mentioned in the Smith's Bible Dictionary are fertility rites.

Have you ever wondered where the rabbit and the egg came from?

 They are symbols of the fertility rites associated with the worship of the heathen fertility goddess ashtoreth, ashtoroth, astarte, oster, venus, aphrodite, ishtar, eastre, easter or whatever name you wish to call her by.

The rabbit is known worldwide for is ability to produce offspring quickly. The egg is also commonly known all over the world as a symbol of fertility.

Another part of pagan worship that has been mixed into Christianity is the annual easter sunrise service. When you add that to the fact that easter is always celebrated on sunday (the day of the sun) it can be seen how sun worship and the Messianic believe were subtilely fused together.