Sunday was a day normally called “Easter Sunday” by the church folk.
What, EXACTLY, is the Christian supposed to be celebrating on ‘Easter’?
Let’s take a look at some history behind the day called EASTER.
First, a little background on the day modern Christians celebrate as ‘Easter.’
Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn’t really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.
In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today’s Vatican Hill. Cybele’s lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshippers and pagans who quarrelled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. What is interesting to note here is that in the ancient world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts. So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering “sunrise services” at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration. The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – how pagan is that?
—The Pagan Roots of Easter
The name “Easter” was derived from “Eostre,” “originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover.” This very fact causes many to wonder if Easter is really a pagan holiday and if it should be celebrated by Christians.
The origins of Easter are wrapped up in a celebration of seasonal renewal that has taken place in numerous cultures for thousands of years around the time of the Spring Equinox. Some argue that even the Christian version of Easter merely perpetuates a pagan age-old, familiar theme of resurrection rather than honoring an actual person or event in history.
—Is Easter Pagan in Origin and Roots?
Easter arrives this year on Sunday, April 17, 2022, but if you think Easter started as a Christian holiday, think again.
The history and origins of how Easter began aren’t rooted in what Christians know as Resurrection Sunday, but rather, as part of the lexicon of Pagan holidays and traditions.
Even as Christians celebrate the day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, people of other faiths and religious traditions which existed for millennia before Christianity was established celebrate their own stories of gods and goddesses being brought back to life again after death.
From the Egyptian god Osiris to the Greek god Dionysus, among others, resurrection and rebirth have been a fairly common theme among religions and mythology.
—The Pagan Reason We Celebrate Easter With Colored Eggs & Bunnies
The one thing all of these bits of published information have in common: although the article’s author PRETENDS to bring up pagan roots in order to examine and discredit them, the articles do a fairly good job of justifying pagan Easter practices–including calling Jesus’ resurrection a fairy tale.
This is pagan Easter apologetics–and the reader may expect to see LOTS of these types of articles around the Easter (and Christmas!) season.
So, modern Christians have not only used a pagan holiday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, they have adopted a NUMBER of pagan practices which have NOTHING to do with the rebirth of the Son of God.
Quite a number of ‘Easter traditions’ are pagan in nature, honoring fertility by using eggs, rabbits and other fertile animal symbolism.
Easter and Christmas aren’t technically Pagan holidays, but they occur on the same days as pagan festivals and have similarities in the traditions of each.
Pagan traditions remained as Christianity took over, because Christians actually found the pagan traditions special.
That’s why many Christian holidays fall around the same time as many Pagan festivals — Easter being on the same day as the Pagan spring festival Ostara, Christmas occurring on the same day as the Pagan winter festival Saturnalia, which is the celebration of the birth of the Sun god.
Though some mistakenly believe so, Easter does not mean Ishtar. However, the original celebration of Easter was named Ishtar, after the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility.
—The Pagan Reason We Celebrate Easter With Colored Eggs & Bunnies
Easter 2023 has come and gone and now it is only a memory. BUT Easter 2024 and beyond is coming up.
We at ETPR COULD write a LOT more about the paganism which surrounds the holiday of EASTER–but we’ll hold our fire for Easters to come, God willing.
HOPEFULLY, the reader will have celebrated the day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ by NOT resorting to pagan symbolism or practices.
DID the reader celebrate Easter in some way?
DID the reader have access to ANY of the information in this piece previously?
DID it matter?
It is not YET too late–although time is surely running out: there is still a LITTLE time to change direction (repent), place your faith (hope) for the future entirely on Jesus Christ and enter the kingdom of heaven.
DOES the reader believe he is saved?
Make Your Calling and Election Sure: End Times Survival
DOES the reader believe he is NOT saved?
Time is Running Out: Today is the Day of Salvation
THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. ”
—1 Corinthians 15:1-8
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
-–Romans 1:16
MORE: Eternal Salvation Through Jesus Christ: Salvation Messages from End Times Prophecy Report
A Reminder: The Gospel is Simple
[Portions of this piece appeared originally in End Times Prophecy Headlines: April 10, 2023.]
MORE: Eternal Salvation Through Jesus Christ: Salvation Messages from End Times Prophecy Report
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by Jeremiah Jameson
–with Mondo Frazier
image: Image by Robert Armstrong from Pixabay.com
© Jeremiah J. Jameson and End Times Prophecy Report, 2012-23. © Mondo Frazier and End Times Prophecy Report, DBKP 2007-2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeremiah J. Jameson and End Times Prophecy Report with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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