What do Jesus and Easter have to do with Each Other?

Every year people, who don’t normally go to church, show up on Easter morning to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Some even go shopping for this special occasion. They dress in their Sunday best. After Easter service, they go home to an elaborate dinner, dyed eggs, and baskets full of candy with a chocolate bunny in it.

Although, Easter is celebrated by many people as the resurrection day of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Christians aren’t the only ones celebrating this holy day. The origin of this day doesn’t even begin with Jesus. It really begins with Nimrod, the son of Cush and the grandson of Ham, whose father was Noah. Nimrod built a kingdom consisting of many cities across the land, including the famous city Babylon.

How Easter Began

According to legend, Nimrod married Semiramis, whose Babylonian name is Ishtar. Throughout history and in various cultures she goes under different names, but it is always the same woman being worshipped as a goddess. Some of her names include Queen of Heaven, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Easter, Ash-dar, Innanna, Aphrodite and many more. God’s first commandment is to have no other gods before him. Therefore, God condemns the worship of Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, in the scriptures.

Nimrod was killed and chopped up. Semiramis tried to gather all of his body parts to bring him back to life. When his manhood couldn’t be found she told the people Nimrod ascended into the sun and was now the sun god, Baal, and should to be worshipped. She claimed she was immaculately conceived and came down from the moon goddess in an egg. This happened during the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Later, Semiramis became pregnant and claimed that Baal had impregnated her. She named the baby Tammuz, who loved rabbits. During one of his hunting expedition he was killed by a wild boar. His blood caused a tree to grow over night. He ascended into the sun with his father, Baal, and was now a god himself. She declared the people were to weep for Tammuz 40 days prior to his death each year and no meat was to be eaten during that time. (This sounds a lot like Lent to me.)

However, on Ishtar’s day, Easter, a great celebration took place. A pig was to be eaten in honor of Tammuz. Small cakes were made with the letter “T” on it. (The same way Catholics move their finger over their head and heart to make a “cross.”) These cakes and drink offerings were made to Ishtar to honor her as the virgin mother of the great god Tammuz, whose father was the sun god, Baal. Tammuz was reborn every spring and brought with him new life. This, my friend, is Easter.

The Easter Egg

Historically, eggs represented fertility and new life. In some cultures they were used to determine the sex of a baby before it was born. In other cultures dyed and decorated eggs were given as gifts to ensure prosperity for the coming year.

In the Catholic Churches, Easter eggs were dyed red to represent the blood of Christ. Its shell symbolized his tomb. Cracking the egg symbolized his resurrection. These eggs were blessed by the priest and given to faithful members as a memorial of Jesus Christ. This is not how the scriptures tell us to remember his death and resurrection. Yet, we honor this tradition without understanding its significance.

So what is the significance of eggs? There are several reasons for the use of eggs during this holiday. As stated earlier Ishtar came down from the moon goddess in an egg. Also, she was considered the goddess of love, war and fertility, which is what the egg symbolizes. Lastly, which is the worst in my opinion, involves children sacrifices. In the Babylonian culture eggs were dipped in the blood of children who were sacrificed to Ishtar.

Today, we decorate eggs without knowing the significance of it. We teach our children to do the same so they can teach their children. We do this in ignorance without knowing we are teaching them the Babylonian ways. The scriptures tell us not to let ourselves be deceived so that we turn aside from Yahweh to serve and worship other gods. We are to follow his rules and regulations and teach our children to do the same. In a nutshell, we are to train up our children in the way they should go so that when they are older they won’t depart from it. The way they should go is not following after Babylonian ways, but Yahweh’s ways.

Peter Cottontail, a Hare’s Tale

Now how did we get egg laying rabbits?  Actually, they aren’t rabbits, but hares. So what’s the difference? Hares are larger animals that make nests in the grass instead of burrowing holes in the ground. They are born with fur and with their eyes open. They are active and able to move freely from birth. Rabbits are not this way. Why is this distinction important? Hares are seen mostly in the spring because of their mating rituals. This is why they are a symbol of fertility, renewal, and the return of spring.²

The Persians (Babylon) also believed that their beloved Phoenix birds reincarnated into rabbits after being defeated by their enemies. To show where they came from they kept laying eggs. Hello, bunny!

The Easter Dinner

The traditional main meat for Easter was ham. Ham comes from a pig, which is one animal God forbade the Israelites to eat. It was considered an unclean animal. So why choose a pig as the main meat? Tammuz was killed by a pig; therefore, Ishtar proclaimed a pig must be eaten ever year in remembrance of him.

Some Christians might quote Peter in Acts 10 when God lowered a blanket full of a variety of animals that were considered unclean. However, God was not talking about food as much as he was talking about non Jews. Peter, who was a Jew, had nothing to do with anyone who wasn’t a Jew. God had to let him know that he sent Yeshua for everyone.

When Ishtar instituted this decree God had overridden her decree with his law, which was only for his people. His law states that the swine is unclean and should not be eaten.

The Christian’s Easter

According to New Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia, the “Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) granted that the great Easter festival was always to be held on a Sunday, and was not to coincide with a particular phase of the moon, which might occur on any day of the week.”¹

Before that Easter coincided with the Jewish Passover. The Roman Church determined Christians should keep the resurrection day on the same day every year like Ishtar did. The Roman Church didn’t want to be associated with the Jews or their holidays. Easter day must always occur after the spring equinox.  So they kept Easter on the Sunday after the Jews kept Passover. We are still doing this today.

However, Yahweh warns us, “When you enter the land I am giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.” (Deuteronomy 18:9)

Easter in the Bible

I know everyone wants to point out the fact that Acts 12:4 speaks of Easter. However, the Greek word used for Easter actually means Passover. A possible reason the word was translated at Easter is because the passage talks about Herod, who was an unbeliever who celebrated a pagan festival. Personally, I can’t see any reason to translate this into Easter this one time, while leaving the other translations as Passover.

What Yahweh Says About Easter

In Ezekial 8 God takes Ezekial on a journey. Yahweh shows him the evils his people are doing in his temple. With each thing God showed him, the next thing was worse than the thing before. The last two abominations God showed Ezekial involved Tammuz and the sun god, whom we know is Baal. Ezekial 8:14-18 says,

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. Therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”

God is horrified by this display of worship, especially since it was happening on his front porch. God says he is the same yesterday, day, and forever. Easter has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) and it has everything to do with a pagan god whom Yahweh Elohim forbids us to worship. I don’t believe he is pleased with this. It is time for the believers of Yeshua to take a stand and shun the ways of the world. Just because our forefathers did something doesn’t mean we should.

In case you might think God understands look at this way: If you were married, would you celebrate your husband on another man’s special day? Would your wife understand if you two celebrated your anniversary on the anniversary date of his first wife? Use whatever scenario you want, but do take a minute to think about it.

In conclusion, we should not celebrate Easter for no other reason than Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, did not die on Friday and come out of his grave on Sunday morning. This does not add up to him spending three days and three nights in the grave.

Prayer Time

Our Heavenly Father, who is in heaven,
Open up our understanding to the truth. Give us the strength to break free from tradition and the old ways of Babylon. Lead us out of temptation into your truths.
In Yeshua the Messiah’s name, Amen.

Scripture Reference

“But be careful not to let yourselves be seduced, so that you turn aside, serving other gods and worshipping them. If you do, the anger of ADONAI will blaze up against you. He will shut up the sky, so that there will be no rain. The ground will not yield its produce, and you will quickly pass away from the good land ADONAI is giving you. Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a headband around your forehead; teach them carefully to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up; and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates – so that you and your children will live long on the land ADONAI swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as long as there is sky above the earth.” (Deuteronomy 11:16-21 CJB)

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old , he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6 KJV)

“Instead, we will certainly continue to fulfill every word our mouths have spoken: we will offer incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our ancestors, our kings and our leaders, in the cities of Y’hudah (Judah) and the streets of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). For then we had plenty of food; everything was fine, we didn’t experience anything unpleasant. But since we stopped offering to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything, and we have been destroyed by sword and famine.  [Then the wives added,] Are we the ones who offer incense to the queen of heaven? Do we pour out drink offerings to her? And did we make cakes marked with her image for her and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ consent?” (Jeremiah 44:17-19 CJB)

“Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat. But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof; while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses. Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat.” (Deuteronomy 14:6-9 CJB)

Further Research

I urge you to study this holiday for yourself. Below are several links to give you a better understanding of the origin of Easter.
Easter
Easter or Ishtar?
Diodorus Siculus Library of History: Book II (beginning)
The Babylonian Origins of Easter (Ishtar)
Tammuz Easter Passover (YouTube)
Pagan Origin of Easter – MUST SEE!!! (YouTube)

Notes

1Easter Controversy
2What’s the difference between a bunny, a rabbit, and a hare?