Easter Sunday vs the Feast First Fruits

Here's an interesting fact:  Easter and the Feast of First Fruits are on the same day this year.  But the former is pagan while the latter is what Yahweh commanded.  Even if Easter wasn't pagan, God is very specific in Deuteronomy 12 that we are to serve him only as he commanded us to serve him.  Deuteronomy 12 also forbids claiming pagan holidays for God.  And in fact, it forbids claiming any pagan practice or tradition for God.

Before we get into the pagan origins of Easter and the surrounding traditions, let's talk a bit about the Feast of First Fruits, and how our Lord Yeshua fits into this biblical holy day.  The Feast of First Fruits was instituted by Yahweh in Leviticus 23:9-14.  On that day, the first fruits of all of the crops are to be presented as an offering to Yahweh.  This is to happen the day after the Sabbath that comes after the Passover.  All the first fruits of the field are set apart to Yahweh.

Yeshua, having died to pay the penalty for our sins, and having risen from the dead, is the first fruits of those who will be raised at the resurrection of the righteous (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).  Yeshua is the first fruits of the redeemed.  This is why, as mentioned in my previous post, Yeshua rose at the very start of the Feast of First Fruits (that is, what we would call Saturday evening, which is the end of the Sabbath).  Yahweh does nothing by accident!  First Fruits points us directly to Yeshua.  So does Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Sabbath, etc.  Every one of Yahweh's appointed times points directly to our Lord and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah!

Even the very word "Easter" is pagan in origin, being derived from the name of the Proto-Germanic goddess of fertility, which also traces all the way back to the Babylonian fertility goddess, Ishtar.  It's just a chain of cultures pronouncing the name of the same false god slightly differently from the other cultures.  Same name, same false god, but different language and pronunciation.  Now if even the name is of pagan origin, then what about the rest of the celebration and its various traditions?  Also, in Exodus 23:13, Yahweh makes it clear that these names are never, ever to be spoken of!

Things get even worse for this "holiday".  Because historically, Easter and Passover have sometimes been portrayed as being the same thing.  Considering the fact that Passover is when Yeshua died while Easter is supposedly when he rose from the dead, it should be clear that they are definitely not the same thing.  The timing of the two days are also based on different calendars, with the exception that Easter is sometimes moved if it lands on the same day as Passover.  Passover is a feast of remembrance of Yahweh's judgement passing over the Israelites when they were in Egypt.  Yahweh later used this to symbolize his judgement passing over those who believe in Yeshua.  Easter, on the other hand, is all about satisfying the desires of the flesh under the pretense of remembering Yeshua's resurrection.

Also, there is also no link between the word "Easter" and language-specific variants for the Hebrew word "pasakh".  But the variants of "pasakh" do follow the same pattern:  Different pronunciations of the same thing:  Passover!

What about the eggs and rabbits?  Those are symbols of fertility.  The pagans worshiped fertility itself rather than the One who made mankind fertile.  These obviously have nothing to do with the resurrection of Yeshua.  And their pagan origins means we should not be using them in remembrance of Yeshua, as per Deuteronomy 12.  Yet for some reason, every year, Christians everywhere hold "egg hunts" for the children.

And if you think the connections couldn't get any worse, the red Easter egg represents the blood of the infants that were burned alive on the altars of the pagan gods!  They would then dip eggs into the blood of these infants.  The pagans were just that evil!  The Church has "Christianized" this to represent the blood of Yeshua instead.  This is obviously not acceptable in the eyes of Yahweh.

The timing of the holiday also has pagan roots.  The Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox.  Let's just say that the pagans love their full moon!  The pagans also love the Spring Equinox and Winter Solstice.  And let's not forget that Sunday got its name because the pagans honor their sun gods by naming the first day of the week after the sun.  Whoever observes Sunday as the Sabbath worships the sun, not God.

The only thing about Easter where the pagan connections are merely a coincidence (if you can call it that) is the pagan stories of their gods being resurrected by other gods at this time of year.  That tells us why the pagan "converts" to "Christianity" decided to celebrate Yeshua's resurrection on this day rather than the Feast of Frist Fruits.  However, the pagan stories are nothing like the historical resurrection of Yeshua.  I'll leave you with "Truth or Tradition" by Pastor Jim Staley (from before his fall), and the more accurate "The Christmas Question" by 119 Ministries.

The Catholic Church Hijacks Everything

When it comes to the teachings, practices, and traditions of the Catholic Church, you'd be hard-pressed to find something that actually did originate with them.  Actually, it's probably impossible to find a single thing that originated from the Catholic Church.  This is because of the Roman tradition of incorporating the traditions of surrounding cultures into their own.  The Catholic Church began as an extension of the Roman government, so it should come as no surprise that they continue that tradition.

Here's how this hijacking works.  When the Catholic Church wants to make "Christianity" look more appealing to the masses of whatever culture they encounter, they adopt the pagan practices of that culture and modify it to look more "Christian".  We know from Deuteronomy 12 that God does not accept his people worshiping him the way the pagans worshiped their gods.  Yet this is how we got Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Halloween, Sunday Sabbath, etc.  All of these are pagan traditions modified to look Christian.

Not all practices come from the pagan cultures.  Some actually did come from Christianity, which came from Judaism.  The Catholic Church corrupts those practices as well.  Baptism is one example of a Christian practice that was hijacked by the Catholic Church.  Another example is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus), and some of his teachings.  Since the Catholic Church is trying to look Christian (though they are actually pagan), it should be expected that they hijack some Christian practices and teachings.  Because convincing deceptions use truth to gain your trust.  By the way, the Catholic's "Mary" is actually the pagan goddess Diana, which also makes the Catholic "Jesus" a pagan deity, which they make to look like the Jesus of the Bible.

Going off of Isaiah 1:12-15, we can clearly see that when we mix God's instructions with man's traditions, God counts all of it as man's traditions, and despises them!  Yet this is exactly what the Catholic Church has done with Yeshua.  When Isaiah proclaimed that all the feasts that Yahweh proclaimed to Israel were despised by the one who proclaimed them, the people must have been very confused as to why.  After all, God proclaimed them, so he must be pleased when we partake in them, right?  Unfortunately, they fell for the same trap that their ancestors fell for 1,000 years earlier:  When you make a golden calf to Yahweh, you aren't worshiping Yahweh, you're worshiping the calf!  Likewise, when you mix the practices that Yahweh commanded with human tradition, you're not practicing what Yahweh commanded, you're following human rules.  Isaiah 29:13 points this out quite clearly, which Yeshua later quoted in Matthew 15:8.

Because the Catholic Church hated the Jews, they did everything in their power not to adopt any of their practices (biblical or otherwise).  This is why instead of remembering Yeshua's death on Passover, they do it on Good Friday, and why Good Friday almost never falls on the same day as Passover.  This is also why they don't keep the Day of Atonement, or the biblical Sabbath (Saturday), or the Feasts of Trumpets, or any other day that God has appointed.  In fact, they even outlawed the observance of such days under penalty of death!  By the way, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only exception to the rule.

To summarize:  If something appears to have originated with the Catholic Church, then it is certainly a hijacked pagan tradition or teaching that has been modified to look Christian.  And even in the rare instances where the Catholic Church actually did invent something rather than adapting an existing pagan practice, it's still pagan because it came from the Catholic Church.  And any practice or teaching of the Catholic Church that appears to come from the Bible is certainly a corrupted version of what the Bible actually teaches.  Discernment is needed to distinguish between the Biblical teaching, and the Catholic counterfeit.

Can the Church be Reformed?

Churches more and more are falling away to Universalism and New Age mysticism.  This falling away is not happening by the individual congregation, but by the denomination.  There is a desperate need to reform the Church.  But, can the Church even be reformed?

To answer that question, we just need to take a look at history, when a Catholic Priest by the name of Martin Luther tried to reform the Catholic Church with his 95 thesis.  Little did Martin Luther know at the time that the Catholic Church is run by those who are not hungry for the Word, but by corruption up to the highest levels in the Church (yes, he did have some idea of the Church's corruption, but only a small portion of it).  The resulting movement was not a reformation of the Catholic Church, but a break-away from the Catholic Church and its many, many heresies.

Also, note that the Catholic Church is not Christian by any stretch of the imagination.  It is but one branch of a satanic cult bent on ruling the world.  Those that run the Catholic Church (both in the past and in the present) do unimaginable acts of wickedness in secret.  And the wickedness that they do in public, and teach their members to do in the name of Jesus, is just the tip of the iceberg.  The Catholic Church, as Martin Luther found out the hard way, cannot be reformed.

Martin Luther's movement resulted in many people abandoning some of the Catholic Church's practices.  But this move to return to God's commandments would be greatly incomplete and short-lived, as most who are in the Church are governed by the flesh.  This is also why the Puritan's move to outlaw the counterfeit holidays of Christmas and Easter ultimately failed.  Those who are governed by the flesh worship God their own way, rather than God's way.

Over the past several decades, the Church has been infiltrated by the same, satanic cult that runs the Catholic Church.  But this time, that which was previously done in private is more and more being done in public for all to see.  And the means of deception have only gotten better, so that those who would otherwise be convinced of the intolerable nature of these acts are instead committing them themselves!  And by the way, we're still talking about the tip of the iceberg!

The teachings of these abominations have to do with gratification in this life, or hope only for this life.  Sin is rarely, if ever discussed, and the message of salvation and the promise of eternal life is reduced to allegory.  And there is absolutely no concept of being held accountable to God on Judgement Day.  Their teaching is ultimately one of hopelessness with the "perk" of no accountability or condemnation on Judgement Day.  In other words, their teachings add up to this:  This is the only life you have and when it's over, it's over for good, with no hope of eternal life, and no accountability for what you have done.

Contrast that with the numerous warnings in Scripture given by both Jesus and his disciples:

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. [Matthew 7:21-23; KJV]

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. [Matthew 12:36; NIV]

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, [Hebrews 9:27; NIV]

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. [Romans 3:19]

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. [Matthew 3:10; NIV]

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. [Matthew 3:12; NIV]

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [Matthew 7:19; NIV]

As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. [Matthew 13:40; NIV]

That's just a small sample of the numerous warnings about what will happen to the wicked.  Get the picture?  The one who does not have their sins atoned for will be BUNRED! UP! on Judgement Day!  Those who trust in Jesus for this life only instead of for the remission of sins and his promise of eternal life will BURN! UP! on Judgement Day!  Once this life is over, you will be raised from the dead to face God's Judgement!  The righteous will inherit eternal life, but the wicked will perish in the lake of fire!

14 Then death and [the Grave] were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:14-15]

It would seem that the mission of these wicked pastors is to make sure that people are blind to the danger of the impending judgement.  Any Church run by such people cannot be reformed until all those who teach against the Judgement by not mentioning it are removed from said Church.  Even then, as we've learned from history, most of those who call themselves "Christian" are governed by the flesh, which compels them to worship God their own way instead of God's way.  Even those who are supposed to be teaching people how to live by God's Word are instead governed by the flesh.  So the Church as a whole cannot be reformed.  And the extremely few congregations that may reform will incur a great financial loss.

Your best option is to leave a Church as soon as you recognize that it's falling away, and form your own Bible study group.  And to study the Bible for yourself and to obey it!  And to test everything against it.  Also, any Church that refuses to learn to obey the front of the book will eventually stop obeying what little of the back of the book that they are currently obeying.

The Golden Calves of Christianity

In my previous post, we investigated the two incidents in Israel's history involving golden calves and the perspective of the people who were worshiping the calves.  I'll give a brief recap:  From their perspective, they were using the calves to worship God, but from God's perspective, they were worshiping the calves.  Also in both instances, they held "sacred" feasts to God (only God can declare a sacred feast).  I also want to make sure that we are clear on the criteria for a golden calf.

The first criteria is that it has to be a direct violation of Exodus 20:4.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [Exodus 20:4; NIV]

By the way, the word "image" in the Bible means any physical object with a form that is designed to look like something else.

Failing the first criteria, something will still be classified as a "golden calf" if (a) the pagans did the same thing to worship their gods (see Deuteronomy 12) or (b) if the object in question is part of the worship of God.

If the item in question is not a physical object, but rather a "sacred" feast, celebration, or fast that God has not ordained, then that also counts.  Basically, any day called "holy" that God has not made holy, with holy meaning set apart to God.  That is, any violation of Deuteronomy 12:32.

Now that we have the criteria defined, let's take a look at (hopefully) all of the golden calves of Christianity.

Depending on the denomination, there may or may not be statures of angels among Christians.  This is a blatant violation of the 2nd Commandment and obviously meets the first criteria.  Similarly, nearly all denominations have something called "manger scenes", which has a statue of Jesus as a baby surrounded by statues of Mary, Joseph, three wise men, and possibly a number of animals.  Again, a violation of the 2nd Commandment.  Also, the Catholic Church (which completely corrupted Christianity even to this day) has something called a "crucifix", which is a cross with a stature of Jesus nailed to it.

So that's all the things that I can think of that blatantly violate the 2nd commandment.  What about Deuteronomy 12, which is the first part of the second criteria?  We have many more things that meet this criteria that probably don't meet the first criteria in an obvious way.  These still violates the 2nd Commandment just by being worshiped.  And remember, it's your perspective vs. God's perspective on who or what is being worshiped.  And guess which perspective is the one that matters.  I only quoted the first part of the 2nd Commandment in this post.  The second part, in verses 5 and 6, forbid us from worshiping anything other than God.  And defines loving God as keeping the 2nd Commandment, and hating God as breaking the 2nd Commandment.

The first item on our list is the Christmas tree, which comes directly from the pagan practices that the Israelites were supposed to wipe out of the land that God gave them!  This is shown directly in Jeramiah 10:3-5.  Even the shape of the tree is the same, for they were cedars, as mentioned in Isaiah 37:24.  Not that this makes much difference.  The fact that the pagans used trees to worship their gods automatically means that using trees to worship our God is a violation of Deuteronomy 12.  And even if that were not the case, it's still the case that it's the tree that's being worshiped, not God.  The exact same thing goes for the star placed on top of the tree, the Easter egg, and Easter rabbit.  All of which, by the way, are symbols of fertility associated with the pagan fertility gods and goddesses.

We have the same situation with the symbols of Valentines Day and Halloween.  The symbolism of the Valentines Day symbols is yet another example of worshiping fertility rather than the One who makes people fertile.  And the symbolism of Halloween doesn't even try to hide it's demonic origins.  In a previous blog post, I pointed out the satanic origins of Halloween.  What I failed to mention in that post is that the symbols were used to deter evil spirits and keep spells away.  And also that "trick or treat" originated as a threat for the purposes of extortion.  It still is that way in some parts of the world.  And no, the Church has not, historically, celebrated Halloween as a celebration of Jesus defeating death and the devil on the cross (which doesn't change anything anyways).

Now, what about the holidays that are celebrated?  Christmas was an instance of sun worship that happened on the Winter Solstice, which was on December 25 when Julius Cesar established his Calendar in 45 B.C.  It was at this time that the pagans celebrated the birth of their sun gods.  The Catholic Church hijacked this celebration to celebrate the birth of the Son of God instead to make "Christianity" more appealing to the masses.  Even if the date was just a coincidence (which it is not), the fact that the pagans celebrated the birth of their gods means we are forbidden from celebrating the birth of our God.  And even if the pagans did not have such a celebration, it would not change the fact that it is a man-made day to the Lord, which is a direct violation of Deuteronomy 12:32.  Only God can appoint days to God.

Easter is even worse than Christmas, because even the name comes from the name of the pagan fertility goddess.  In fact, the pronunciation is nearly identical to the name of the Babylonian fertility goddess (Ishtar).  And its celebration is directly condemned in Ezekiel 8:16 (and that's just a sample of what went on during that celebration).  What became the Easter celebration of Christianity predates the founding of the Catholic Church by more than 1,000 years!  And by the way, this was also the day that the pagans sacrificed their infants in the fire to Moloch.  Are you sure you want to be celebrating Christ's resurrection on this day?

A couple more notes about the celebration of Easter and Good Friday.  The timing instituted by the Catholic Church was deliberately set so that the two days would never coincide with Passover and Feast of First Fruits.  In fact, the Catholic Church outright replaced Passover with Good Friday, and First Fruits with Easter Sunday.  So if Christmas is merely an addition to God's commands, Easter is outright rebellion against God!  Jesus gave us something to remember his death by.  Something that is in full compliance with all of God's commands.  But even that has been replaced with a cracker and a one-ounce cup of grape juice!

Now, about Halloween.  I already made a post about it on Halloween.  But let's go into a bit more detail.  First off, the word Halloween comes from the phrase "All Hallows Evening", which translates into "All Holy Night".  That alone should tell you everything you need to know about Halloween, since God never declared the last day of any month holy.  This is another celebration that was hijacked by the Catholic Church to make "Christianity" more appealing.  What they did was they changed the day of the celebration to the last day of a month on their calendar that came closest to the last day of the month on the calendar that it was originally celebrated on.  The new date happened to be October 31.  The Catholic Church also added "All Saints Day" to the celebration, which was given the date of November 1, out of the need to remember all of their dead "saints" without completely filling-up the calendar.  Then they added "All Souls Day" for November 2.  In terms of the celebration on October 31, virtually nothing has changed except the calendar used to schedule the celebration, and the fact that some parts of the world now do it for fun rather than out of fear of evil spirits or being cursed with a spell.

How about Valentines Day?  This is yet another pagan celebration of fertility which, by the way, is also linked to witchcraft and the superstitions surrounding the full moon (which is why it's in the middle of the month, which was originally a lunar month).  The name comes from the name of a Catholic "saint":  St. Valentine.  On this day, the pagans made sacrifices to their gods so that they would remain fertile and to celebrate their fertility.

Finally, we have the Sunday Sabbath.  This came about in direct rebellion to God's commands because the Catholic Church didn't want to do anything on the same day that the Jews did things on.  The day has it's name because the pagans worshiped the sun in the sky on this day.  The excuse that the Catholic Church gives is that Jesus rose on the first day of the week (in reality, he rose at sunset on what we would call the seventh day of the week).  But God said to rest on the seventh day of the week.  The purpose of the Sabbath has also been changed from the "day of rest" to the "day of worship".  And a common defense of not observing the Sabbath on its proper day (which we call "Saturday") is that "cults worship on Saturday".  Some of these same people acknowledge that Christmas and Easter originated within cults, which should tell you all you need to know about their motives.  Regardless of which, God commanded that we rest on the seventh day of the week.  And that those who deliberately work on the seventh day are to be put to death!  Remember, the Sabbath is the only one of the Appointed Times that God commands all to practice!  The whole world!  For it was established in the beginning, and it was established for the benefit of all mankind!