LTLF_Rev. Penny_The Easter Holiday Revealed_Final Draft 2

8/7/2019 LTLF_Rev. Penny_The Easter Holiday Revealed_Final Draft 2

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The Easter holiday revealed

The Easter Holiday

And Christians

The Easter Holiday-Revealed

Written By Rev. Penny Hibbitts

April 12, 2011


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The traditional holiday celebrated as

Easter

This Bible Study is intended to find out the

truth about Easter and the traditions that are

used to celebrate it by Christians. Easter is

celebrated by many with Church services,

family get-togethers, stories about Easter

bunnies and a traditional holiday meal. Much


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time and effort is given to coloring Easter eggs

for the traditional Easter egg hunts held for

children and preparing and eating the

traditional Easter dinner, which usually

features ham as the main course. According to

traditional Christian beliefs Easter is said to be

a celebration of Jesus Christ resurrecting from

the dead, yet this does not seem to be the main

focus of the holiday.

Jeremiah 24:6-7 (KJV)

6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good,

and I will bring them again to this land: and I


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will build them, and not pull them down; and I

will plant them, and not pluck them up.

7. And I will give them an heart to know me,

that I am the Lord: and they shall be my

people, and I will be their God for they shall

return unto me with their whole heart.

Diligent Christians should study to show

themselves approved. Christians should never

just assume that something they heard or read

from someone or someplace, or is held as a

tradition is true without first verifying it by

finding the proof in the Holy Bible. It is easy to


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be deceived by someone elses perception of

predictions. Christians are now being made

aware that most (if not all) of the holidays

traditionally celebrated by Christians have

pagan origins. Armed with the fact that the

celebrated Christian Holidays have pagan

origins, Preachers, Reverends, Priests and other

Christian teachers should be made aware that

they will be held accountable to the Lord for

what they teach their followers, just as parents

are accountable for what they are teaching their

children. This bible study will examine the

dates, origin, symbols and how Easter became a


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Christian celebrated holiday associated with the

resurrection of Jesus Christ and Passover (a

biblical based Christian holiday with no pagan

origins).

The apostle Paul who taught the gospel of

Jesus Christ after Christs death and

resurrection clearly shows that the old laws and

traditions were still in effect at that time and

were not abolished by the birth, death or

resurrection of Jesus Christ as Paul cites the

Ten Commandments of the Old Testament

given to Moses by the Lord, when teaching the

people.


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Easter Revealed 7

Romans 13:9

9. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,

Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou

shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not

covet; and if there be any other commandment,

it is briefly comprehended in this saying,

namely, Thou shalt love they neighbor as

thyself.

Celebration Dates for Easter and

Passover


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Easter is celebrated on April 25. The Easter

Holiday falls on the last day of Passover during

the Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread.

According to the Christian Calendar the

Passover dates are:

Christian Passover

Nisan 14 = sunset April 17 to sunset April 18 in

2011

Christian Passover observed just after sunset on

April 17 in 2011, (Blank, 2011).


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First Day of Unleavened Bread


2011, (Blank, 2011).

Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread


2011, (Blank, 2011).

The Origin of Easter

In order to determine the validity of Easter

as a Christian Holiday we must look to the

bible. Easter is mentioned in the bible

depending on which translation is used.


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The New Testament churchcelebrated Passoverwith unleavened

bread.Acts 12:23 clearly demonstrates

that Passover celebrations were still in effect

and this holiday was celebrated for more

than a thousand years after Jesus

resurrection which shows that the Old

Testament holidays and laws (given by the

Lord to His people in Leviticus 11- 23 should

still be recognized by Christians today.

In Acts 12:4-King Herod put theapostle peter in prison with the

intention of bringing him in front of the


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people after Easter. Hebrew words are often

used in the GreekNew Testament versions

some bibles have the wrong translation for

the Hebrew word Pasok which means

Passover. The biblical word Easter derives

from the Greek word Pasha, which is

derived from the Hebrew word Pasok.

Translation of the word Pasha means

Passover, (Pack, 2011. Video).

People began celebrating Easter in the

1870s.


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This is a description of an ancient

Babylonian family2,000 years before Christ

honoring the resurrection of their god,

Tammuz, who was brought back from the

underworld by his mother/wife, Ishtar (after

whom the festival was named). As Ishtar was

actually pronounced Easter in most Semitic

dialects, it could be said that the event

portrayed here is, in a sense, Easter. Of course,

the occasion could easily have been a Phrygian

family honoring Attis and Cybele, or perhaps a

Phoenician family worshipping Adonis and

Astarte. Also fitting the description well would


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be a heretic Israelite family honoring the

Canaanite Baal and Ashtoreth. Or this depiction

could just as easily represent any number of

other immoral, pagan fertility celebrations of

death and resurrectionincluding the modern

Easter celebration as it has come to us through

the Anglo-Saxon fertility rites of the goddess

Eostre or Ostara. These are all the same

festivals, separated only by time and culture.

(Pack, 2004).

The word Easter derived from the Old English

word Eastre or Eostre.


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Easter Revealed 14

Symbols of Easter

Hot Cross Buns

There is no reference in the bible about or

too Hot cross buns. This tradition has many

supposed origins. Hot cross buns are typically

eaten on Good Friday and during Lent. Stories

abound about the origins of the Hot Cross Bun.

Yet, the common thread throughout is the

symbolism of the "cross" of icing which adorns


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the bun itself. Some say that the origin of Hot

Cross Buns dates back to the 12th century, when

an Angelican monk was said to have placed the

sign of the cross on the buns, to honor Good

Friday, a Christian holiday also known as the

Day of the Cross. Supposedly, this pastry was

the only thing permitted to enter the mouths of

the faithful on this holy day. Other accounts talk

of an English widow, whose son went off to sea.

She vowed to bake him a bun every Good

Friday. When he didn't return she continued to

bake a hot cross bun for him each year and

hung it in the bakery window in good faith that


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he would someday return to her. The English

people kept the tradition for her even after she

passed away. Others say, that Hot Cross Buns

have pagan roots as part of spring festivals and

that the monks simply added the cross to

convert people to Christians. (Sharon, 2011).

The hot cross bun was originally used as part of

a religious ceremony to the spring fertility

goddess Ostera or queen of heaven, Ishtar,

Ashatari, Astarte (cruel, wayward-Babylonian).

Jeremiah 7:18-19


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18. The children gather wood, and the fathers

kindle the fire, and the women knead their

dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,

and to pour out drink offerings unto other

gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

19. Do they provoke me to anger?saith the

Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the

confusion of their own faces?

20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold,

mine anger and my fury shall be poured out

upon this place, upon man, and upon beast,

and upon the trees of the field, and upon the


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fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall

not be quenched.

Easter Eggs

There are no verses in the bible about Easter

eggs or any reference to them. Queen

Semiramis a worshipper of Baal who married

her own son created her own religion with

Satans help while claiming that she came from

a giant moon egg that fell in the Euprates River.


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Queen Semiramis also proclaimed that Baal would

be present on earth in the form of a flame, whether

candle or lamp, when used in worship. Semiramis

was creating a mystery religion, and with the help of

Satan, she set herself up as a goddess. Semiramis

claimed that she was immaculately conceived. She

taught that the moon was a goddess that went

through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full. She

further claimed that she came down from the moon

in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates

River. This was to have happened at the time of the

first full moon after the spring equinox. Semiramis

became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounced


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"Easter", and her moon egg became known as

"Ishtar's" egg."Ishtar soon became pregnant and

claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that

caused her to conceive.(Meyer, 2011).

The Romans believed that all life

proceeded from an egg, so the egg came to

symbolize birth and rebirth. Christians

regarded eggs as the seeds of life and attributed

them with the symbol of Jesus' resurrection.

Easter was once celebrated by giving colored

eggs to children and later evolved to hiding

them in the grass, where they had supposedly

been laid by a hare. Children referred to this


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Easter mascot as the "Easter Hare," which later

became known as the "Easter Bunny" (Aristotle

Internet. 2002-2009).

Easter Rabbits

There are no bible verses that refer to an

Easter bunny or rabbit as a religious symbol.

However, Tammuz is mentioned in the bible.

Legends about Semiramis, a known worshipper

of Baal, also referred to as Ostara and her son

Tammuz . Tammuz was known to have a


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fondness for rabbits and was killed by a wild

boar. The son that she brought forth was

named Tammuz. Tammuz was noted to be

especially fond of rabbits, and they became

sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz

was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal.

Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a

hunter. (Meyer, 2011).

Ezekial 8:12-14

12. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast

thou seen what the ancients of the house of

Israel do in the dark, every man in the


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chambers of his imagery? For they say, The

Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the

earth.

13. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again,

and thou shalt see greater abominations that

they do.

14. Then he brought me to the door of the gate

of the Lords house which was toward the

north; and, behold, there sat women weeping

for Tammuz.

The rabbit has traditionally represented

fertility in many pagan religions and can be


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attributed to the breeding practices of the

rabbit. The rabbit was used in early Easter

celebrations to symbolize fertility, perhaps

because these animals give birth to multiple

offspring at a time. Anglo-Saxon mythology says

that Ostara changed her pet bird into a rabbit to

entertain a group of children, and the rabbit

laid brightly colored eggs for them. (Aristotle

Internet. 2002-2009).

Easter Ham


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Ham is one of the most widely used meats used

to celebrate Easter dinner in Christian households as

a holiday meal that is supposed to be eaten in

celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The

traditional holiday ham is a meat that is specifically

identified as an unclean meat by the Lord in

Leviticus 11:1-8. When the Lord spoke to Moses

and Aaron He specified which animals that people

can eat. The animals were divided as clean and

unclean. The Lord specifically tells them NOT to

eat unclean meat and identifies Swine (hogs and

pigs) as one of the unclean meats because they do

not chew the cud.


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Leviticus 11:1-8 (KJV)

1.And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron,saying unto them,

2.Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Theseare the beasts which ye shall eat among all the

beasts that are on the earth.

3.Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts,

that shall ye eat.

4.Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them thatchew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as

the camel, be he cheweth the cud, but divideth

not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.


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5.And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, butdivideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

6.And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, butdivideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

7.And the swine, though he divide the hoof, andbe cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud;

he is unclean to you.

8.Of their flesh shall ye not eat, andtheir carcassshall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

Jeremiah 10:1-3

1. Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto

you, O house of Israel;


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associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus

Christ.


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References

Aristotle. (2000 2009). Origins of easter. Aristotle Internet.

http://home.aristotle.net/easter/origins/

Blank, W. (2011). The Holy day calendar. Daily Bible Study.

http://www.keyway.ca/m2c.htm

Meyer, D. J. The pagan origin of Easter. Last trumpet ministries international. Retrieved May 1, 2011.

http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

Pack, D. (2011).Video.Easter exposed-what God says. The restored church of God.

http://www.thercg.org/landing/holidays.html?s_kwcid=TC-4107-5641387640-e-286273730#c

Pack, D. (2004). The true origin of Easter. The restored church of God.

http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooe.html#c

Sharon.(1998-2011).Hot Cross Buns.DLTK sites.http://www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/hotcrossbuns.htm

Photos: Microsoft Office 2007 Clipart


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Documents

LTLF_Rev. Penny_The Easter Holiday Revealed_Final Draft 2