Easter - Truth or Fiction? You know, sometimes we do things out of habit. At other times, we do things from tradition because it was the way we were raised or because it just "feels" like it's right. We don't stop to investigate if what we're doing is really right. We just continue because it's familiar and easy. Such is the case with many of the holidays we habitually keep in the so-called Christian western world. I suppose the two most prominent of those holidays are Christmas and Easter. We’ve previously discussed the origins and history of Christmas and its "supposed" relation to the birth of Christ but what about the holiday we know as Easter? What are its origins and its history? Does it accurately picture the truth about the resurrection of our savior? If it does, then why doesn't our society treat it with sacred solemnity rather than allowing it to become so highly commercialized?

If it doesn't accurately picture the truth about the death of our savior, then why do people keep the observance at all? Easter’s Origin According to the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, "the word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ's resurrection." According to Nelson's Bible Dictionary, Easter is defined as "Easter was originally -a pagan festival honoring Eostre, a Teutonic (Germanic) goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox (the day in the spring when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of equal length), sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the eighth century, the name was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ. The only appearance of the word Easter (KJV) is a mistranslation of pascha, the ordinary Greek word for ‘Passover.’" Alexander Hislop writes in his book, The Two Babylons, "…Easter bears its Chaldean origin…[and] is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the Queen of Heaven, whose name as pronounced by the people of Ninevah, was evidently identical with that now in common use in the country [that is, Easter]."

The Rites of Easter What about the traditional observances associated with the Easter holiday? What do dyed Easter Eggs and rabbits have to do with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? On the subject of Easter, Ralph Woodrow writes in his book, Babylon Mystery Religion Ancient and Modern, that "The word itself, as the dictionaries and encyclopedias explain, comes from the name of a Pagan Goddess - the goddess of Spring. Easter is but a more modern form of Ishtar, Eostre, Ostera, or Astarte. Ishtar, another name for Semiramis of Babylon, was pronounced as we pronounce "Easter" today. And so the name of the Spring Festival, "Easter", is definitely paganistic, the name being taken from the name of the Goddess. And not only is the name "Easter" of pagan origin, but we shall see that the traditional customs and observances of this season originated in paganism also. A good example of this can be seen in the well known usage of the Easter egg. From the "egg-rolling" on the White House lawn to the yard of the most humble home, eggs are colored, hid, hunted, and eaten - each year at the "Easter" season. But where did this custom of using eggs at this season begin? Are we to suppose that Christians of the New Testament dyed eggs?

Do eggs have anything to do with Christ or his resurrection? The answer is obvious. Such usage is completely foreign to the Bible. On the other hand, the egg was a sacred symbol among the Babylonians! They believed an old fable about an egg of wonderous size which was supposed to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this marvelous egg - according to the ancient story - the Goddess Astarte (Easter), was hatched. And so the egg came to symbolize the Goddess Easter. From Babylon -the MOTHER of false religion - humanity was scattered to the various parts of the earth and with them they took the idea of the Mystic Egg. Thus we find the egg as a sacred symbol among many nations (pg. 152-153)." The Encyclopedia Britannica states that "like the Easter egg, the Easter hare came to Christianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples… Through the fact that the Egyptian word for hare, UM, means also 'open' and 'period,' the hare came to be associated with the idea of periodicity [or ovulation], both lunar and human, and with the beginning of new life in both the young man and young woman, and so a symbol of fertility and of the renewal of life. As such, the hare become linked with Easter…eggs (article Easter)."

What about another Easter holiday custom, the Easter Sunrise service? As even modern worshippers assemble at early dawn to face the east and gaze upon the rising sun, what they are reenacting is what their forefathers have done for many millennia. It is just sun-worship under a different name. Nimrod and Semiramis On the subject of the constellation of Orion, we read from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "According to an old tradition, the name of Nimrod, mentioned in Gen 10:10, as the founder of Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh, was given by his courtiers to this most brilliant of all the constellations, one that by its form somewhat suggests a gigantic warrior armed for the fight. Until recently it was not found possible to identify the Nimrod of Scripture with any Babylonian monarch until Dr. T. G. Pinches suggested that "Nimrod" was a deliberate Hebrew transmutation of "Marduk," the name of the great Babylonian national hero, and chief deity of their pantheon (article Astronomy)."

Josephus records "Nimrod persuaded mankind not to ascribe their happiness to God, but to think that his own excellency was the source of it. And he soon changed things into a tyranny, thinking there was no other way to wean men from the fear of God, than by making them rely upon his own power (Ant. Jud. i. c. 4. 2)." E.W. Bullinger writes in The Companion Bible, "'The Chaldee paraphrase of 1Chron 1:10 says: "Cush begat Nimrod, who began to prevail in wickedness, for he shed innocent blood, and rebelled against Jehovah.' Nimrod was the founder of Babylon, which partook of his character as being the great antagonist of God's Truth and God's People. We cannot fail to see, in Nimrod, Satan's first attempt to raise up a human universal ruler of men. There have been many subsequent attempts, such as Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Napoleon, and others. (Appendix 28, pg. 29)." The Encyclopedia Britannica states, "After the death of Ninus, Semiramis, who was accused of causing it [that is, the death of King Ninus], erected to him a temple-tomb… near Babylon (11th ed., Volume 19, pg. 706)." As we shall see, this was the beginning of the Babylonian Mystery Religion, which lives on, in various forms, even to our present day. Israel’s Disobedience Let's look in God's word to see if there are any examples that show us God's attitude about such "worship" services.

In Ezekiel 8:3-18, we read of God's reaction to Judah's form of worship. (Ezek 8:3-18 NASB) And He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. So, we see here that even though Ezekiel was still in Babylon with the first of the Jewish captives deported under King Jehoiachin, he was given a vision picturing events in Jerusalem, hundreds of miles away. (Ezek 8:6-17 NASB) And He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, that I should be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations." {7} Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. {8} And He said to me, "Son of man, now dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. {9} And He said to me, "Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here." {10} So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. {11} And standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. {12} Then He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'" {13} And He said to me, "Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing." {14} Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. {15} And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these." {16} Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. {17} And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. [Look at what Gods says: the house of Judah remaining in Israel were thumbing their nose at him. In the Commentary on the Whole Bible by Jamieson, Fausett and Brown, on this section of scripture we read: "Instead of weeping for the national sins, they wept for the idol. Tammuz (the Syrian for Adonis), the paramour of Venus… killed by a wild boar, and, according to the fable, permitted to spend half the year on earth, and obliged to spend the other half in the lower world (pg. 678)."

In Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, under the topic CROSS we read, "stauros, [Strong's] #4716 denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such, malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter [that is, the cross in the shape of a "t"] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt.” What other examples in scripture are there for us to see how God views the idolatries of ancient Israel and Judah?

Look at Jeremiah 7:17. (Jer 7:17-23 NASB) "Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? {18} "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out libations to other gods in order to spite Me. {19} "Do they spite Me?" declares the LORD. "Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?" {20} Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched." {21} Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. {22} "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. {23} "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.' Even before God gave Israel the regulations regarding the daily and monthly animal sacrifices, he spoke the command to Moses of the obedience God desired from his people. That was at the foot of Mount Sinai just a few days before God descended on the Mount to speak directly with the people.

In Exodus 19:1, we can read for ourselves the words God spoke to Moses. (Exo 19:1-11 NASB) In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. {2} When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. {3} And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: {4} 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. {5} 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; {6} and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 'These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel." {7} So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. {8} And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do!" [Look at that! The people were not coerced. They voluntarily agreed to obey the words of God]. Later in Jeremiah 44, we can read about the remnant of Jews that were left after Nebuchadezzar's victory over Zedekiah. They had defied God and chosen to flee to Egypt.

(Jer 44:1-19 NASB) The word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying, {2} "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'You yourselves have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them, {3} because of their wickedness which they committed so as to provoke Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known, neither they, you, nor your fathers. {4} 'Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets, again and again, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate." {5} 'But they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as not to burn sacrifices to other gods. {6} 'Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day. {7} 'Now then thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, "Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant, {8} provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? So, even after pleading with the remaining Israelites through his prophet, look at the response Jeremiah received in verse 15. {15} Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, {16} "As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you! {17} "But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and were well off, and saw no misfortune. {18} "But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine." {19} "And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, and were pouring out libations to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out libations to her?" Verse nineteen is very important to notice. For those who might say “the women sacrificed but not the men,” verse nineteen is a plain admission that the women worshipped idols with the full knowledge, and probably even the assistance, of their husbands. Idolatry How does God view the prospect of his people worshipping false gods and the heavenly bodies?

Look at Deuteronomy 17:2. (Deu 17:2-6 NASB) "If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by transgressing His covenant, {3} and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, {4} and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. And behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, {5} then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed, to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. {6} On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.

In 2 Kings 17:13, we can read further of God's strong stance against the worship of false gods. (2 Kings 17:13-20 NASB) Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah, through all His prophets and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments, My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you through My servants the prophets." {14} However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. {15} And they rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the LORD had commanded them not to do like them. {16} And they forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal. {17} Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him. {18} So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; none was left except the tribe of Judah. {19} Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced. {20} And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers until He had cast them out of His sight.

Again in Deuteronomy 4, Moses reminds the people of Israel about God’s benevolence in giving them his righteous commandments, statutes, and judgments. (Deu 4:5-9 NASB) "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. {6} "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' {7} "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? {8} "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? {9} "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Personal Responsibility The end of verse nine is very important. God gave to his people his very own precious laws and statutes and judgments for their own good. It was the responsibility of the people to keep those precious instructions from God. Beyond that, they were (and so are we) to diligently teach them to their children. That is the responsibility of the parents, and even the grandparents, to pass along the righteous ways of God to the next generation. It is the responsibility of the servants of God to show the people their sins that they might turn from them and live according to God's way of life, for their own good.

Ezekiel 33:7 speaks of that responsibility and accountability in the eyes of God. (Ezek 33:7-16 NASB) "Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth, and give them warning from Me. {8} "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. {9} "But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your life. {10} "Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'Thus you have spoken, saying, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?"' {11} "Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?' {12} "And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, 'The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.' {13} "When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. {14} "But when I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, {15} if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he will surely live; he shall not die. {16} "None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he will surely live. The Reality of Christ’s Resurrection We've established from many sources, both secular and scriptural, the pagan origin, growth and perpetuation of Easter.

Anyone can freely investigate and come to the same conclusions but let's see what the real truth is about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To do so, we need to first go to God's word to see for ourselves the sequence of events surrounding the resurrection of the Messiah. (Mat 28:1-10 NASB) Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. {2} And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. {3} And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow; {4} and the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. {5} And the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. {6} "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. {7} "And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." {8} And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. {9} And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. {10} Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see Me." We can fill in even more detail in the account written by the apostle John in John 20:1.

(John 20:1-22 NASB) Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. {2} And so she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." {3} Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they were going to the tomb. {4} And the two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first; {5} and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. {6} Simon Peter therefore also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there, {7} and the face-cloth, which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. {8} So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb entered then also, and he saw and believed. {9} For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. {10} So the disciples went away again to their own homes. {11} But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; {12} and she beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. {13} And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." {14} When she had said this, she turned around, and beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. {15} Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." {16} Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). {17} Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" {18} Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. {19} When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." {20} And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. {21} Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." {22} And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Now, the events surrounding Christ's resurrection are very important to notice. It is our Messiah's supposed Sunday sunrise resurrection that forms the basis for the whole Easter celebration - and for the change of the seventh day Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

We already read at the beginning of John 20 that Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early on the first day of the week [that is, Sunday] while it was yet dark. It was before the sunrise and Jesus was not in the tomb because he had already risen from the dead. In addition, Matthew stated that when they came to the tomb, the stone had already been rolled away. That could have happened a few minutes before or even several hours before they came to the tomb. You can see for yourself that there was no Sunday sunrise resurrection. So, what is it that people today are really worshipping when they participate in Easter sunrise services? It's plain and simple to see that even if they slap a so-called "Christian" name on it, they are facing the east at sunrise and are, in actuality, participating in the same heathen practices of sun worship as their forefathers of thousands of years ago.

God Desires Repentance Look at Ezekiel 18:29. Notice God’s compassion and how he wants to have mercy on his people and extend forgiveness to them. (Ezek 18:29-32 TANAKH) Yet the House of Israel say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Are My ways unfair, O House of Israel? It is your ways that are unfair! {30} Be assured, O House of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways – declares the Lord God. Repent and turn back from all your transgressions; let them not be a stumbling block of guilt for you. {31} Cast away all the transgressions by which you have offended, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, that you many not die, O House of Israel. {32} For it is not My desire that anyone shall die – declares the Lord God. Repent, therefore, and live! Remember what we read earlier in Deuteronomy 4, (Deu 4:1-2 NASB) "And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, in order that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. {2} "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

It’s easy to see that the practices of modern "Christian" church holidays actually add to God's word many things which he has not commanded us to do. Furthermore, they take away from God's word many things God has directly commanded us to perform. Such holidays cause us to "miss the mark" and fall short of God's standard of righteousness. Conclusion In answer to the question, "is Easter truth or fiction" we’ve seen that there is no truth in the Easter celebration performed today in mainstream "Christianity." Easter appropriates as its own the name of Jesus Christ and the sequence of events related to his crucifixion but the story it relates and the conclusions it teaches are complete fiction. It is the modern perpetuation of ancient paganism. Our nations today need to know the real truth about their traditional practices. They need to be told that their tradition is sin and it is detestable in the eyes of God. The practice of such detestable traditions in the sight of God causes God to refuse to hear them and to be far from them. To go through life in a manner that causes God's animosity is a fearful position in which to place yourself. Just remember Ezekiel's words "repent and turn from your evil ways my people… for why would you die?"

It just doesn't make sense: why would you voluntarily behave in such a manner as to drive God away from you? Without God's protection, you are really "on your own" and you are truly defenseless. Our nations are persisting in doing evil in the sight of God. That evil causes our nations to be cut off from the very God who has provided our prosperity. We are, in short, becoming nations in open rebellion against God. If we persist in doing the things that drive God away, we’re going to be left totally on our own, without God’s blessings and without God’s protection. So, if you join the world and insist on going your own way and being without God’s protection, just remember the question from the old western movie, “do you feel ‘lucky’?” Sermon by Philip Edwards March 2, 2013