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Easter vs. Resurrection Sunday

Mark 16:1-6-“And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first [day] of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

The Bible says in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children”.

HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE: The word Easter is found only once in the Bible in Acts 12:4 and it literally is a misguided interpretation of the word “Passover”.

The Greek word is “Pascha” (pas-khah) it is used in the New Testament 28 times, 27 of those times it is translated Passover. 1 time as Easter. • There is no way you can translate “Pascha” as Easter unless it is done deliberately in an attempt to distort and discredit the Word of God. The translation of Pascha to Easter is a deception of Satan. Understand ever since the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:14-15 Satan has been trying to distort and discredit the Word of God. • Galatians 6:7 says “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. °Easter is a pagan term derived from the goddess Eastre, the same as Astarte, the Syrian Venus called Ashtoreth in the Old Testament 1st Kings 11:5, 33, 2nd Kings 23:13. Ashtoreth was known as the goddess of love and increase. She was worshipped as a fertility goddess. • She was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, which is the day that there are equal hours of day as there is night, hence equinox. Or in layman terms the beginning of Spring. • The rabbit is vital in this celebration because of its fertility – hence the term multiply like rabbits. • The egg is a symbol of life the more beautiful the eggs where it was believed the more pleased Ashtoreth would be and the more favorable she would be to give increase to the people. God gave the TEN COMMANDMENTS in Exodus 20. The 1st commandment is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. In Matthew 22:36-40 the question was asked of Jesus which is the greatest commandment, Jesus said “Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment”. The practice began early, in the form of what is called the Passover. The Passover was already an important feast to the Jews and was commanded by God in Exodus 12 and is called The Lord’s Passover, it commemorates the deliverance of the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. The Children of Israel were instructed by God to take a lamb, slay it, and take the blood of the lamb put it on the door post and on the lentil of the door and when the death angel came by that night he would see the blood of the lamb and Passover that house, but if the blood wasn’t there then death of the first born would happen. God gave very specific instructions as to what was supposed to be done and that all of the lamb had to be eaten. This Passover celebration is still performed today among the Orthodox Jews. However, they have failed to miss the greater significance of the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was during this feast of Passover that Jesus instituted the "Lord’s Supper" 1st Corinthians 11:23-34, which commemorates our deliverance out of the bondage in sin, we call this communion and is what we will be doing before the end of this service today. Many Jews continued to keep their Jewish customs and religious festivals after their conversion to Christ and this brought much concern Acts 18:18-21; 21:17-26. HOW DID THE YEARLY CELEBRATION START: - After the death of Jesus and the institution of the church the Passover was now observed in memory of Christ’s death and the deliverance from the bondage of sin and the penalty of death. Jesus Himself was offered as our Passover lamb for our sins what is called today communion and the scripture says “this do in remembrance of me”1st Co 11:24, 1Co 5:7-8. Thus began a YEARLY observance even though Christ instituted the Lord’s Supper as the proper memorial to commemorate His death Luke 22:14-20; 1Co 11:23-26. However, this celebration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was not just to be remembered once a year, but we are told as often I we do this we do show forth the Lord’s death until He comes. This yearly celebration soon included other observances as well a. Palm Sunday, the day Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem prior to His death b. Good Friday, the day He was crucified c. Resurrection Sunday, the day He arose

This has become known as Holy Week. There has been much controversy over celebrating these days. In the early 2 & 3 century much dispute over the proper date was a problem. Some churches followed Jewish chronology and celebrated the Passover on the 14th of Nisan, which would be either March or April according to our calendar. That is why sometimes it is celebrated in March and other times in April. Churches threatened to "excommunicate" one another and failed to further fellowship because of the conflict of these dates. So the YEARLY observance of the resurrection originated from human tradition, not the Bible itself. HOW DID THE NAMES AND TRADITIONS GET ASSOCIATED WITH THE HOLIEST OF CHRISTIAN CELEBRATIONS? ASSIMILATION:- a change in a sound or action so it becomes identical with or similar to something or someone else The assimilation of pagan rituals into Christian observances was a common practice. When people took the gospel into a pagan area many would not discourage the local residents to discard their pagan rituals. Instead they would attempt to give the customs a Christian flavor.2nd Cor. 6:17 says “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you”. In the pagan ritual of Easter they would take the egg as a symbol of life, dye them red to represent the blood, shed by Christ. The effect of such assimilation eventually neutralized the pagan rituals making them seem harmless. Who would have ever thought of Easter as the name of a pagan goddess, Bunny Rabbits, and colored eggs are all part of a Demonic plan that originated in the Garden of Eden? It is because of this deception that many people are left with erroneous conceptions and misinterpretations of this day called Easter and the true meaning of Resurrection Sunday.

[1] 1.Jump up ^ http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/what-are-you-celebrating--easter-vs-resurrection-sunday-melvin-maughmer-jr-sermon-on-easter-resurrection-145826.asp?Page=1