Why Easter and not Passover
Why Easter and not Passover?
When I ask why Easter, I’m not asking why we should celebrate the holiest day in Christianity, but why the name Easter? The word is nowhere in the original manuscripts. The Greek word Pascha appears 28 times in The New Testament and is translated Passover every time but one, Acts 12:1-4:
1. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
2. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
4. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Pascha is Strong’s Concordance # 3957 and means Passover. Easter in the Strong’s Concordance is also #3957, Pascha.
The use of the word Easter could not have been a mistake. The translators of the 1611 King James Bible had to know they were inserting this unbiblical word because they properly translated it Passover 27 other times. So why Easter?
It could have been inserted innocently. The term Easter goes back to the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility. Her name was Eostre or Eostrae.
Eostre is also referenced in the writings of a British monk who lived in the late seventh and early eighth century. His name was The Venerable Bede who was best known for his work, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Bruce Forbes, a religious scholar wrote about him:
“Bede wrote that the month in which English Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus had been called Eosturmonath in Old English, referring to a goddess named Eostre. And even though Christians had begun affirming the Christian meaning of the celebration, they continued to use the name of the goddess to designate the season.”
Because Bede was so influential to Christians in England, the celebration of the resurrection became known as Easter. At this same time Old High German, the precursor to modern German and English, was calling the festival week Eostarum. The translators may have thought it to be more relatable to use the word Easter and so inserted it in Acts 12:4. Because of this, the term Easter is used today by the English, Germans and Americans.
Whether it was completely innocent or had more nefarious motives, it’s insertion was intentional.
What bothers me about the word being placed in the scriptures is this is exactly how Satan works. He likes to slightly and subtly alter God’s words. He did it with Eve in the Garden of Eden as seen in Genesis 3:1-4:
1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
We see Satan pulling this stunt again when he tempted Jesus in the books of Mark , Luke and here in Matthew 4:5-6:
5. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6. And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
What Satan did was subtly change Psalm 91:11-12 below by adding “at any time” to Matthew 4:5-6:
11. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
See how he twisted this scripture?
The term Easter is not of Christian origin. It’s another form of Astarte, which was one of the names of the Queen of Heaven, a Babylonian goddess.
It all originated with Queen Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod. Nimrod was the king of the city-state of Babylon and the builder of the Tower of Babel. This is where Mystery Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17:5 starts. It’s the beginning of man made mystery religions.
When Queen Semiramis was deified she became known as Ishtar. Ishtar was the protectress of prostitutes which included sacred prostitution in the temple as part of her cult.
Babylonian fable has her falling from heaven in an egg that was hatched in the Euphrates River. Thus the Ishtar/Easter egg.
She is referenced in Jeremiah 7:18, “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.”
We see her referenced again in Jeremiah 44:16-19:
16. As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
17. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.
18. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
19. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
The Israelites called her Ashtoreth and references her throughout The Old Testament including I Kings 11:5, “For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.” Also in I Kings 11:33, “Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians…”
Astarte, or Ishtar as the Akkadians also called her, morphed from one deity into another as successive western empires simply renamed and rebranded her. She was Venus, Isis, Aphrodite, Cybele, Europa, Athena, Artemis and Diana. The Roman Catholic church would finally morph Diana and all her previous iterations into the worship of the Virgin Mary who they began to call “the queen of heaven” as far back as the 12th century.
By the time we get to 1611 and the King James Bible, she was inserted where it should have been translated Passover.
Changing the word Passover to Easter may seem harmless but its symbology is now part of a tradition containing Easter eggs, baskets, candy, egg hunts, egg coloring , chocolate bunnies and mass commercialism, just as we have done to Christmas. Rabbits don’t even lay eggs, they’re both pagan fertility symbols.
What it does show is how easy a false tradition is made part of the church. If we can be led into a false tradition like this, how are we going to fare against the Antichrist and the false prophet who are supernatural and a lot more cunning than those who gave us chocolate bunnies.
Revelation 13:11-17:
11. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14. And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Verse 15 sounds a lot like a deep fake. The truth is only going to get harder to find.
I remember having a discussion with a woman who was in seminary school. She said Christians will never be fooled by the Antichrist because the sheep know their shepherds voice. The Bible is pretty clear that almost everyone is going to be fooled. This is why the Tribulation will have to be shortened because even the elect may be lost as seen in Matthew 24:22, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”
As Christians we have to be aware of false doctrine in our churches. It’s part of fighting the good fight.
I love the intro to The Chosen series because it shows all the fish going in the same direction. Slowly, more fish hear the Gospel and begin to swim against the flow. God’s Word sets us free. It allows us to follow the truth and not the herd. It makes us a bit peculiar to the world as Peter stated in I Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light:”
We see this peculiarity again in Titus 2:13-15:
13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14. Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
15. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
Christ told His disciples in Mark 7:7-8:
7. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
It’s not a sin to use the word Easter. You’re not going to lose your salvation over it but God made it pretty clear what the day should be called when Jesus was actualy crucified on Passover as seen in John 19:13-16:
13. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
15. But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
16. Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away.
It’s important to be aware of the wiles of our adversary. Substituting a pagan name and it’s fertility symbols for the sacrifice His Son made for us on that day are one of those devices Satan uses. We should not be ignorant of that as seen in II Corinthians 2:10-11:
10. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
If Satan thought he could get Jesus off the righteous path by subtly changing the scriptures, you know he thinks he can do it to you as well. As with the fish in The Chosen intro who heard the Word and changed their path, if you follow the Word of God, you too will be going in the right direction. The Bible is the one place you want to keep the Devil out of the details.
God bless and Happy Passover to you all.