Understanding Arabs

Alan Caruba (http://www.anxietycenter.com)

Seven years passed 9/11 and five years passed the invasion of Iraq, Americans are still trying to figure out what makes Arabs behave the way they do.
Understanding Arabs - March 23, 2008

Elijah mocked Baal and Easter!

Our Gentilized Israelite people have always had a problem with paganism involving Easter:

1 Kings 18
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is that you, O troubler of Israel?”
18 And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the [traditional] Baals. 19 Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah*, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. 21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. 23 Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. 24 Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.”
So all the people answered and said, “It is well spoken.”
25 Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.”
26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.
27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. 29 And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”
40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

*"Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar."

Easter -The Two Babylons Alexander Hislop

Some precious few British and Euro-Israelites have repented of keeping pagan holidays pretending to be Christian (like Christmas and Easter) and have been restored to keeping the biblical festivals that soon the whole world will observe in spirit and in truth.

Hear O Israel: Remember Your Roots & Faith Once Delivered!

Arrogant Jew?

David Ben-Ariel has left a new comment on the post "Holy Hole!":

If you're so eager for the Messiah to arrive, why don't you follow Judaism to Israel and help hasten his arrival? The Temple Mount is in Jerusalem, not these Lands of the Covenant (partial inheritance of Joseph - Menashe). You don't have to stay in your self-imposed exile, especially since you hypocritically appear to hate all professing Christians, failing to distinguish between our differences, as carelessly as some mark all Jews as liberals and enemies of mankind. Priests and Levites are supposed to know how to differentiate between things.

Some rabbis consider Christianity idolatry, others don't. Some of us recognize pagan elements in both professing Christianity and Judaism and call for both Israel and Judah to clean house.

Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives

And please stop beating your chest about real or imagined persecution of Jews by Christians (mainly by Catholics who are not Christian, and who also persecuted Sabbath-keeping Christians), or vainly thinking that all Christians need your approval or care to show you anything but tough love, as necessary. I know this Christian Zionist doesn't. Some of us strive to please God - not those who play God. Besides, Jews are their own worst enemy, as both the Bible and history has proven time again.

Shimon Peres Came to Power Over Rabin's Dead Body

Ariel Sharon: From Zionist to Traitor

www.DavidBenAriel.org

German-Jesuit designs on Jerusalem

I've been warning about German-Jesuit designs on Jerusalem for years - persistent and consistent, God knows - and current events are confirming what I've said.

"The one time The Traveller did run a political piece, it ruffled feathers with the local authorities. In 'Will Jerusalem become an international city?' by American writer David Ben-Ariel, readers were warned about a German-Vatican plot to take over Jerusalem, urged to take back the Temple Mount and dislodge 'as symbols of foreign occupation' Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock."

Exposing the German-Vatican Plot to Occupy Jerusalem

www.DavidBenAriel.org

More on murky Obama

From Ted Belman of Israpundit:

I wanted to draw to you attention a few informative articles which have been posted on Israpundit.

Arab-American Activist Says Obama Hiding Anti-Israel Stance

The author of this article has written for the NYT and is quite credible.

Back to the future

There is a recognition in the US and Israel that there will be no agreement on “core issues” before terror stops. Thus they are returning to the phases in the Roadmap.

Talk show host reveals OBAMA connection to terrorists

The talk show host is Laurie Roth. Some of the people that are mentioned include former Weather Underground honcho William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi, a known terrorist sympathizer.

Obama church published Hamas terror manifesto

This article is written by Aaron Klein and was published by World Net Daily.

Obama Says 'I certainly wasn't in church' when defense of terror appeared on 'Pastor's Page' of bulletin

You decide.


Ted Belman

+1 416 256 7597

The Audacity of Hate

The Audacity of Hate

by Stephen Flurry

March 21, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Blaming whites for black problems offers little in the way of hope for a better tomorrow.

“He has a right to express his views,” Al Sharpton said last year in response to a racially charged remark by radio shock jock Don Imus. “This is ridiculous,” he said of the public outcry over the remark. “I think Don Imus has been totally distorted.”

Actually, that wasn’t Sharpton’s response. In truth, Sharpton was the one who successfully lobbied for Imus to be fired for his racial slur. The quotes above were made by Sharpton last week in defense of Barack Obama’s spiritual advisor for the past 20 years—the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Sharpton maintains that the media’s treatment of Wright’s bigoted diatribes has been “grossly unfair.”

On Tuesday, Barack Obama, who also lobbied for Imus’s firing, attempted to distance himself from his spiritual mentor. But he too maintains, albeit with more tact and eloquence than Sharpton, that Dr. Wright has been misunderstood and unfairly characterized. He said the fact that so many people are “surprised” by Jeremiah Wright’s anger reveals how segregated whites and blacks are during the church hour on Sunday mornings. “The anger is real—it is powerful,” he said. “To simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races” (emphasis mine).

That anger, of course, is rooted in slavery—the cause of many disparities and inequalities within the African-American community, Obama said. In other words, the legacy of slavery justifies Wright’s racist rants.

But as Orlando Patterson noted in his 1982 book, Slavery and the Social Death, “Slavery has existed from the dawn of human history right down to the 20th century, in the most primitive of human societies and in the most civilized. There is not a region on earth that has not at some time harbored the institutions.”

The roots of slavery run deep. And the fruits of it to this day go far beyond any lingering discriminatory injustices—whether real or perceived—in American society. In his 1999 book, Disposable People, Kevin Bales estimated the world’s slave population to be 27 million. As Benjamin Skinner points out in his new release, A Crime So Monstrous, there are more slaves in the world today than at any point in human history. In the first chapter of his book, Skinner described, in shockingly vivid detail, how easy and inexpensive it was for him, working as an undercover investigative reporter, to purchase a teenaged sex slave in Haiti.

From New York, Skinner explained, it’s about a three-hour flight to Port-au-Prince. The unemployment rate in Haiti runs at about 70 percent. About the only industry that’s booming is the slave trade. In 1998, approximately one in ten Haitian children—some 300,000—had been sold into slavery. A few years ago, that figure had ballooned to 400,000. “These are the children who won’t look you in the eyes,” Skinner notes.

These are also children who have infinitely more reasons to be angry than Jeremiah Wright, who is living a life of wealth and privilege in an upper-middle-class suburb of Chicago.

Slavery—never mind what the most vocal leaders in the black community say—is not distinctly American, or even Western. What is distinctly Western, as Dinish D’Souza pointed out in The End of Racism, is the abolition of slavery. “The American founders articulated principles of equality and consent which formed the basis for emancipation and the civil rights movement,” D’Souza wrote. Of course, abolition came with a heavy price. Over 500,000 whites were killed during the Civil War—about one for every six blacks who were emancipated. “In all the literature condemning Western slavery,” D’Souza wrote,

few scholars have asked why a practice sanctioned by virtually all people for thousands of years should be questioned, and eventually halted, by only one. …

[F]or Lincoln and for [Frederick] Douglas, the greatest white and black statesmen of the time, the triumph of the union and the emancipation of the slaves represented not the victory of might over right, but the reverse; justice had won over that of expediency and the principles of the American founding had at long last prevailed.

As endemic as slave trading still is in our modern world, imagine how much worse it would be in America had the South won. This point was not lost on leading voices of black America soon after emancipation. Booker T. Washington, who began his life as a slave, later became one of the most prominent black educators of his day. He said at the beginning of the 20th century,

Think about it: We went into slavery pagans; we came out Christians. We went into slavery pieces of property; we came out American citizens. We went into slavery with chains clanking about our wrists; we came out with the American ballot in our hands. Notwithstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery, we are in a stronger and more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually, morally and religiously, than is true of an equal number of black people in any other portion of the globe.

It’s hard to imagine any American leaders today—white or black—expressing that kind of gratitude for the many blessings God has bestowed on the United States of America. We have taken these super-abundant blessings for granted in a way that Booker T. Washington and Abraham Lincoln never would have. The average American has never visited war-torn, disease-infested, poverty-stricken, slave-trading regions in Southeast Asia, Central and South America or black Africa. Most Americans have never observed first-hand the filth and squalor that most people in this world live in—even places like Haiti, a short plane flight away.

By Haitian standards, a Third World nation where the average family barely survives on a few dollars per month, even the poorest Americans live like kings.

Yet, without question, the blessings that black and white Americans have come to take for granted are now rapidly beginning to disappear. And social hardships have been especially brutal within the black community—where nearly three fourths of all children are born out of wedlock and the unemployment rate is almost double what it is for the rest of the nation.

And for these people, the message coming from leaders in the community like Jeremiah Wright is undeniably clear: Blame the white man. In 2006, Dr. Wright summed up our nation’s core values this way: “We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority, and believe it more than we believe in God.”

That the United States is a racist nation is more fundamental to the church’s body of beliefs than God Himself.

Divided We Fall

Frederick Douglas, many years before Abraham Lincoln emancipated blacks, acknowledged, “It is evident that white and black must fall or flourish together.” Douglas understood, like Lincoln, that for the nation to survive, it had to be unified. A house divided against itself cannot stand, Jesus said (Matthew 12:25). Douglas, though he had criticized the Constitution early on, said later in life, “Abolish slavery tomorrow, and not a sentence or syllable of the Constitution need be altered.”

Far from upholding the Constitution today, many leaders in the black community see America’s foundational law as fundamentally racist. And instead of urging Americans to unite as one so that we might “flourish together,” many black leaders are actively inciting hatred and division.

When asked earlier this week for his reaction to Wright’s incendiary remarks, black activist Jesse Jackson said he was “not going to address any of that now.” He had no comment. Al Sharpton believes Reverend Wright has been treated unfairly and that his reputation has been “totally distorted.” And Barack Obama, while he condemns the “controversial” statements of Pastor Wright, still considers him part of his own family. “He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children,” Obama said on Tuesday. “I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.” Obama’s wife, as was widely reported not long ago, said it wasn’t until her husband’s presidential campaign that she finally became proud to be an American.

Every once in a while, a voice of hope will emerge from the black community, like when Bill Cosby urged his fellow blacks in 2004 to stop blaming the “white man” for their problems and to look at themselves. But those voices are quickly silenced by the cacophony of race merchants and their many accomplices in academia and the liberal media.

Their audacious message of hate may empower and enrich the black leadership, but it does little in the way of helping the black community—and it further divides our nation.

Meanwhile, beyond our borders, the hateful animosity aimed at Americans of every color has never been so intense. Enemies who despise us are swirling about like vultures, applauding our internal strife while planning for our overthrow. They are intent on taking our peoples captive as real slaves!

Does it seem far-fetched? Do we think that such a colossal collapse could never happen to such a great power as the United States? Do we somehow reason that the great God who gave us such unprecedented power and wealth is not able to take it all away?

Blaming other races or genders or political groups for our ever-intensifying evils and curses will not solve any of our many problems. “The future of great nations rests on the promises the Eternal Creator made to Abraham,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in The United States and Britain in Prophecy. “The only hope of life after death for anyone—regardless of race, color or creed—is dependent on the spiritual phase of these promises to Abraham—the promise of grace through the ‘one seed’—Christ the Messiah!” •

Stephen Flurry’s column appears every Friday.
To e-mail Stephen Flurry, click here.
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Excellent article! Only thing I could possibly take exception with is the comment: "Blaming other races or genders or political groups for our ever-intensifying evils and curses will not solve any of our many problems."

Doesn't the Bible teach that part of the curse for our sins would be the rise of militant Gentiles in our midst? Yes, it is OUR fault - to great degree - so I don't know that I'm "blaming" militant minorities or excusing them, but exposing the spiritual cause behind the sudden increase in hostility against White Israelites and Jews around the world.

A Warning for America from South Africa

Fellowship with Besieged White South Africans

Race Matters

The English-Speaking Nations of White Israelites

Diversity Demands: Segregate Now!

Black to Africa: Facing the Crisis in Black America

May 1: Illegal Immigration Day Defused!

Chocolate Continent Awaits the Great Black Return!

President Barack Obama sound good to you?

Would Jesus Christ Celebrate Easter?

For millions of people Easter Sunday is the most important religious holiday of the year. But if Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee today, would He observe Easter?

by Jerold Aust

FREE Booklet Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Keep? Beyond Today Web TV The Easter Charade Christians Who Don't Keep Easter Related Articles Christians Who Don't Celebrate Easter: What Do They Know? Easter: Masking a Biblical Truth The Resurrection Connection Fertility Symbols: Beneath the Dignity of God The Chronology of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection Would Jesus Keep Easter? What Are the Real Origins of Easter? Does Easter Really Commemorate Jesus Christ's Resurrection? The Good Friday—Easter Sunday Question Does God Allow Us to Choose Our Own Religious Holidays?

Each spring the excitement of Easter fills the air. Many churches prepare special Easter programs about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At home mothers color eggs, and parents hide the brightly colored symbols of Easter around the house and lawn so that, come Easter morning, their children can excitedly hunt for them.

Stuffed Easter bunnies and chocolate rabbits are seen everywhere in the weeks leading up to this major religious observance. Then there are the Easter sunrise services, where churchgoers gather to hear about Jesus' resurrection and honor that miraculous event by watching the sun come up in the east.

But what do colored eggs and the Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus Christ's resurrection? How did these seemingly irreligious symbols come to be associated with that event?

Can we find any historical or biblical record of Jesus or His disciples observing Easter or teaching parents and children to dye eggs and display bunnies on this holiday? Did Jesus or His apostles instruct any of His followers to meet to honor His resurrection at sunrise on Easter Sunday—or at any other time, for that matter?

If Easter was not sanctioned by Jesus or instituted by His apostles, then where did Easter come from? In other words, if Jesus were living among us as a flesh-and-blood human being, would He celebrate Easter or encourage others to do so?

Answers to these questions are readily available. Some may take a little research, but they become clear when we look into history and the Bible.

The apostles' record on Easter

As surprising as this may sound, nowhere in the New Testament can you find any reference to Easter. In the King James Version of the Bible (in Acts 12:4) you do find the word Easter, but it is a blatantly erroneous mistranslation that has been corrected in virtually every other Bible translation.

The original Greek word there is pascha, correctly translated as "Passover" in virtually every modern version of the Bible everywhere it appears in the Scriptures. It refers to the biblical Passover originally instituted when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12:1-14).

The original apostles, from the inception of the New Testament Church to near the end of the first century, when the apostle John died, left absolutely no record of observing Easter or teaching others to do so. From Jesus to John, not one of the apostles gave even the slightest hint of celebrating or advocating the observance of what we know today as Easter Sunday.

However, that doesn't mean the early Church did not hold to specific religious observances. The apostle Paul, some 25 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, plainly told members of the church at Corinth that they should continue to observe the Passover as Christ commanded.

Paul wrote: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:23-27).

Paul was concerned that the Church members in Corinth observe the Passover in the right way, with reverence and proper comprehension of its meaning.

The writings of Paul and of Luke, his traveling companion and author of the book of Acts, regularly mention keeping the weekly Sabbath day and the biblical festivals listed in Leviticus 23. But Easter is conspicuously absent (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; 16:8; Acts 2:1-4; 13:42, 44; 17:1-3; 18:4; 20:6, 16).

Since Easter wasn't introduced by Jesus or the apostles, where did it come from, and how did it come to be such an accepted part of traditional Christianity?

The origin of Easter

It's not that difficult to trace the surprising origins of Easter and what it really represents. Many scholarly works show that Easter is a pre-Christian religious holiday, one that was created and developed long before Jesus' time and carried forward to the modern era through such empires as Babylon, Persia, Greece and finally Rome.

Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words notes: "The term 'Easter' is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean [Babylonian] goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pasch [Passover] held by Christians in post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast . . . From this Pasch the pagan festival of 'Easter' was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity" (W.E. Vine, 1985, "Easter").

Alexander Hislop, in his book The Two Babylons (1959), explores the origins of Easter. He discovered that a form of Easter was kept in many nations, not necessarily only those that professed Christianity: "What means the term Easter itself? . . . It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was . . . Ishtar" (p. 103).

Easter and the practices associated with it can be traced back to various pagan rituals. Hislop explains that "the forty days' abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess" (p. 104). In Egypt a similar 40-day period of abstinence "was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god" (p. 105).

A pre-Christian spring festival

How, then, did 40 days' abstinence come to be associated with a resurrection? Hislop continues: "Among the pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing" (p. 105).

Tammuz was a chief Babylonian deity and husband of the goddess Ishtar. Worship of Tammuz was so widespread in ancient times that it even spread into Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 8:12-18 God describes that worship and calls it an abomination—something repugnant and disgusting to Him.

The Babylonians held a great festival every spring to celebrate Tammuz's death and supposed resurrection many centuries before Christ walked the earth (see "The Resurrection Connection" on page 18). Hislop comprehensively documents evidence showing that Easter's origins precede the modern Christian holiday by more than 2,000 years!

Hislop cites the fifth-century writings of Cassianus, a Catholic monk of Marseilles, France, on the subject of Easter's being a pagan custom rather than a New Testament observance. "It ought to be known," the monk stated, "that the observance of the forty days [i.e., the observance of Lent] had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate" (p. 104).

Sir James Frazer describes Easter ceremonies entering into the established church: "When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis [the Greek name for Tammuz], which . . . was celebrated in Syria at the same season" (The Golden Bough, 1993, p. 345).

Why eggs and rabbits?

What about other customs associated with Easter? One Catholic writer explains how eggs and rabbits came to be connected with Easter. You will quickly notice an absence of any link or reference to the Holy Bible when it comes to these rituals:

"The egg has become a popular Easter symbol. Creation myths of many ancient peoples center in a cosmogenic egg from which the universe is born. In ancient Egypt and Persia friends exchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox, the beginning of their New Year.

"These eggs were a symbol of fertility for them because the coming forth of a live creature from an egg was so surprising to people of ancient times. Christians of the Near East adopted this tradition, and the Easter egg became a religious symbol. It represented the tomb from which Jesus came forth to new life" (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p. 101; emphasis added throughout).

Like eggs, rabbits came to be linked with Easter because they were potent symbols associated with ancient fertility rites. "Little children are usually told that the Easter eggs are brought by the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are part of pre-Christian fertility symbolism because of their reputation to reproduce rapidly. The Easter Bunny has never had a religious meaning" (p. 102).

Honest Bible scholars freely admit that Jesus never sanctioned this pre-Christian holiday, nor did His apostles. In the centuries to follow among those who called themselves Christian, Easter eventually supplanted the Passover, the biblical ceremony Jesus and the apostle Paul told Christians to observe.

This came to a head with the Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea—almost three centuries after Jesus was killed and rose again.

Says The Encyclopaedia Britannica: "A final settlement of the dispute [over whether and when to observe Easter or Passover] was one among the other reasons which led Constantine to summon the council of Nicaea in 325 . . . The decision of the council was unanimous that Easter was to be kept on Sunday, and on the same Sunday throughout the world, and 'that none should hereafter follow the blindness of the Jews'" (11th edition, pp. 828-829, "Easter").

Constantine 's decision was a fateful turning point for Christianity. Those who remained faithful to the instruction of Jesus and the apostles would be outcasts, a small and persecuted minority (John 15:18-20). A vastly different set of beliefs and practices—recycled from ancient pre-Christian religions but dressed in a Christian cloak—would take hold among the majority.

What would Jesus do?

Since Easter (with all the pagan symbols that have come with it) was adopted by the Catholic Church centuries after Christ's ascension, should Christians observe this holiday and encourage others to do so?

To answer that question, let's go back to the title of this article, "Would Jesus Christ Celebrate Easter?"

He certainly could have told us to. So could the apostles, whose teaching and doctrine are preserved for us in the book of Acts and the epistles written by Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John. But nowhere do we find a hint of support for Easter or anything remotely resembling it. What we do find, as pointed out earlier, is clear instruction from Jesus and Paul to keep the Passover and other biblical—and truly Christian—observances.

Holy Scripture does not support this pre-Christian holiday and, in fact, condemns such celebrations. Because Scripture condemns pagan practices and the worship of false gods (Deuteronomy 12:29-32), we know that God the Father and Jesus His Son have no interest in Easter and do not approve of it.

Jesus, in fact, is diametrically opposed to religious rituals that supposedly honor Him but in reality are rooted in the worship of false gods. He makes clear the difference between pleasing God and pleasing men: "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men . . . All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition'" (Mark 7:6-9).

Easter is a tradition of men, not a commandment of God. But it's more than that. It is a pagan tradition of men that, like other traditions involved in the worship of false gods, is abhorrent to the true God. Jesus and His apostles would never sanction its observance because it mingles paganism with supposedly Christian symbolism and ritual. It is rooted in ancient pre-Christian fertility rites that have nothing to do with Jesus.

In reality, most of the trappings associated with Easter reveal that the holiday is actually a fraud pawned off on unsuspecting and well-intentioned people. God wants us to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24), not to recycle ancient customs used to worship other gods.

Even the timing of the events used to justify celebrating Jesus' resurrection on a Sunday morning—that He was crucified on the afternoon of Good Friday and resurrected before dawn on Sunday morning—are demonstrably false, as an examination of the Scriptures shows.

For those who want concrete proof that He was indeed the Messiah and Savior of mankind, Jesus made a promise: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39-40).

Try as some might, there is no way to calculate three days and three nights from late Friday afternoon to Sunday morning before daylight. At most, this amounts to barely more than a day and a half. Either Jesus was mistaken, or those who say He was crucified on a Friday and resurrected on a Sunday are mistaken. You can't have it both ways.

Jesus' instructions remain consistent

If Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee today, would He celebrate Easter? Certainly not. But He would be consistent because He does not change (Hebrews 13:8). For instance, He would keep the annual Passover in the same manner as He instructed His followers to keep it (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:15-17). And Jesus would observe the Days of Unleavened Bread in the way He inspired Paul to instruct early Christians (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Anyone who wants to be right with God, who wants to be a true disciple of Christ, the Master Teacher, will carefully examine his beliefs and practices to see whether they agree with the Bible. Such a person will not try to honor God with ancient idolatrous practices, violating His explicit commands (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1). Easter, as we have seen, is filled with idolatrous trappings.

Simply claiming that something is Christian or is done to honor God doesn't make it acceptable to God. Easter doesn't represent a resurrected Jesus Christ. Rather—difficult as it may be to admit—it merely continues the practices pagans followed thousands of years ago to honor their nonexistent gods. If we are to escape the calamities prophesied to come on those who place the ways of this world ahead of God, then we must repent of following traditions that dishonor Him (Revelation 18:1-5).

God wants us to honor and obey Him according to His instructions in His Word. Then He can use us to represent His holy Son, our Savior and the Messiah, who will return to the earth. No greater calling can be extended to human beings. May you have the heart to seek understanding and God's perfect will! GN

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The Plain Truth About Easter
Has it ever occurred to those stuffing their faces with Easter ham that Jesus would puke at the thought? Neither Jesus or Peter, James or John ever ate forbidden foods. They wouldn't feel too comfortable at plenty of people's dinner tables.

Unclean Christianity vs. Peter's Vision
Unclean traditional Christianity teaches the religious lie that Jesus "did away with" the dietary laws, sinning against both God and man (1 John 2:4; Matt 5:17-20).

Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
If anybody is honestly interested in knowing whether or not this or that doctrine is actually biblical or merely traditional, all they have to do is objectively search the Scriptures like the noble Bereans did in Acts 17:11, after hearing Paul out, to see whether what he taught was true...

Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob [the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God" (Isaiah 58).