'EASTER?'... 'FIRST FRUITS?'... or 'NEITHER!'

On this very day that I write to you, April 4th 2021, millions of Sunday Christian Churches and literally BILLIONS of their followers are observing Easter, the day they believe their Christ rose from the dead. He's Alive, He's Alive! Or as the lyrics of the song have it...

He's alive yes He's alive Yes He's alive and I'm forgiven Heaven's gates are open wide He's alive yes He's alive Oh He's alive and I'm forgiven Heaven's gates are open wide He's alive He's alive Hallelujah He's alive He's alive and I'm forgiven Heaven's gates are open wide He's alive He's alive He's alive I believe it He's alive

Indeed, He is alive, I have no contention with the song at all but this Easter thing is another thing altogether!

BILLIONS will have celebrated the resurrection of their Christ today with a Sunrise Service followed by an Easter Sunday Breakfast of Easter Ham and Eggs. Wow! For the children the leaders of the church have the parents decorate the church and church grounds with cute little Easter Bunnies and there are Easter Egg hunts of course, we must not forget about the Easter Egg Hunts!

So how did the Messiah Yahusha resurrection narrative, found in Scripture, turn into today's Easter Sunday celebration? Surely you know that Easter Ham comes from the Scripturally banned unclean flesh of a swine and that eating the flesh of a pig is the equivalent of eating a mouse and the abominable thing, whatever that may be, I'm sure it's not good! Don't believe me, read it for yourself in Leviticus 11:7, Deuteronomy 14:8, Isaiah 65:2-7 or Isaiah 66:17. Scripturally speaking the flesh of a pig, mouse, snake and all other Scripturally listed unclean life forms is not even considered food!

And where did that egg laying Easter Bunny come from? I don't remember an egg laying Easter Bunny having a role in the atonement of my sins in the Scriptural account, maybe someone can point that out to me in the comment section below! Although I can't find such a thing in Scripture I can find it in the paganism of history. The bizarre mythology of Astarte, also known as Ishtar, the "fertility goddess", is the root source of all this false worship that destroys any sincere remembrance for what Messiah Yahusha has done for ALL MANKIND in dying a substitutionary death to make possible the restoration of ALL MANKIND'S relationship with their Creator. Because He is alive so we too will one day be raised to life!

All anyone has to do to get to the bottom of this filth is do an internet search using the phrase "origins of Easter", then read until you can't take it anymore!

So far in this blog I've briefly discussed BILLIONS of people worshipping their risen Savior by eating the flesh of a pig, an animal they're commanded not to eat, as well as parents lying to their children by pawning off an egg laying Easter Bunny as though the worship of a "fertility goddess" named Astarte or Ishtar, which is exactly where the word Easter comes from, is okay and should be received by their risen Savior as appropriate and esteeming... Is it?

My guess is if Messiah Yahusha were to visit your church today while you are practicing these pagan traditions He would do exactly what He did to the money changers that set up on the steps leading to the Temple for selling Passover Lambs. He would come into your church dining halls and in a fit of rage throw your swine laden tables over onto the floor, He would trample your egg laying Easter Bunny and castigate every single person who thought they were somehow worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth!!! He would instill a reverent fear!

As if all this false worship isn't enough you might also consider the date you're using to mark Easter as your day for acknowledging His resurrection. The Scriptural narrative leaves no doubt that Messiah Yahusha was crucified on the 6th Day of the weekly cycle which was the 14th Day of the 1st Month, this is the Scripturally mandated date for the Pesach slaughter of the Passover Lambs. Messiah Yahusha then spent the 7th Day Sabbath of the weekly cycle, which was also the High Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, falling on the 15th Day of the 1st Month, resting in the sleep of death in His tomb. Finally, as the sun dawned beginning the 1st Day of the weekly cycle and the 16th Day of the 1st Month, which is ALWAYS the Day of First Fruits, Messiah Yahusha rose alive from the sleep of death and left His tomb empty. In these three days, the 14th, 15th and 16th of the 1st Month, Messiah Yahusha fulfilled the three spring festivals which are the first three of the Seven Annual Moedim (Appointed Times) of Scripture, they being Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits. So how did First Fruits become Easter? Do they fall on the same day of the year? Are you celebrating Easter on the 16th Day of the 1st Month of the Scriptural Calendar? No, I'm sorry to say, you're not!

The calculation developed by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Nicea in 321-325 A.D for setting the date for the celebration of Easter is anything but Scriptural. Why was there even a need? Actually, the council was addressing a nearly two century old disagreement commonly referred to as the QUARTODECIMAN CONTROVERSY. The arguments that broke out between Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, and Anicetus, the bishop of Rome, that occurred around A.D. 155 and the more heated controversy between Polycrates, the bishop of Ephesus, and Victor, the bishop of Rome, that broke out around 195 were pretty mind numbing in my opinion. I believe that controversy stems from both the Jews and the RCC having abandoned the Scriptural Calendar and its Annual Moedim. Rather than celebrate Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and First Fruits on individual days as required in Scripture, Christianity was arguing over celebrating that entire Spring Festival season on one single day and which day that single celebration should be on. In the end the RCC changed the method for calculating the celebration of Messiah Yahusha's resurrection by abandoning the Scriptural Calendar where First Fruits ALWAYS falls on the 16th Day of the 1st Month to keeping the celebration of Messiah Yahusha's resurrection as Easter on the 1st Sunday AFTER the 1st Full Moon AFTER the Vernal Equinox. The Scriptures however, are unmistakably clear, the New Moon is the Full Moon and neither the Romans or the Jews of the 4th Century were observing it as their New Moon! That Scriptural reality causes the 14th, 15th and 16th Days of the 1st Month to fall during the Dark Moon Conjunction period of its cycle when a solar eclipse is possible and believed to have happened during the crucifixion! Also, Scripture knows nothing of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, those are week days of a pagan calendar. Scripture counts the days of the week by numbers, not the names of the host of heaven, i.e. planetary gods! To complicate matters even worse Constantine venerated the Day of the Sun (Sunday) by moving it from the 2nd Day of the Week to the 1st Day of the Week thereby moving Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday up one day in the week and bumping Saturn's Day (Saturday) from the 1st Day to the 7th Day of the Week so Messiah Yahusha rising on the 1st Day of the Week can in no way be connected with Sunday!!! Interestingly, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches don't keep the same date for Easter as the Roman Catholics do! There are those who believe all of this has been done to separate the Sunday Christian Church from the Jews who in all likely hood had already abandoned the true Scriptural Calendar due to the severe persecution they had been subjected to by the Roman Empire having fallen into the angry hand of judgment via The Almighty!

So today's Easter Sunday celebration of Messiah Yahusha's resurrection is being celebrated on the wrong date, feasting on unclean flesh banned by the Torah with pagan "fertility goddess" traditions... do you actually think that honors your Creator and Redeemer and that He is pleased with this spiritual polytheistic syncretism?

"And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues." Revelation 18:4

If you instinctively understand there is something horribly wrong with today's Christianity and have a mind to return to... "the faith once delivered unto the Saints" let's talk!

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May our endlessly merciful Father pour His Ruach HaQodesh into your life until your cup overflows that you may know and keep His ways!