Easter is a time when many Christians around the world remember the death and resurrection of Christ. Various ceremonies, celebrations, and services are held during so-called “Holy Week”. Some Christian churches even have Easter Egg Hunts and Easter productions saying that these are harmless traditions that are just fun for children and adults. As usual, all these are done “for Jesus”
As with many other “Christian” traditions such as Christmas, Christians should not be ignorant of their origins and simply call them “fun” and “harmless”. We must realize that not everything done in the name of Christ is acceptable to Him.
Matt 7:21-23
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Many people do things in Jesus’ name. They call him “Lord” but what they practice is actually lawlessness.
The exact origin of Easter is difficult to pin down but every explanation of its origin shows that it involved the worship of idols.
Most sources agree that Easter is based on an ancient Pagan ritual and takes its name from the Teutonic goddess of fertility and spring – Eostre or Ostara. It was held around the time of the Spring Equinox to celebrate the renewal of life during spring, just as Saturnalia was celebrated during the Winter Solstice and evolved into Christmas. Eostre was the bringer of light after a long dark winter and she was often depicted as a hare, an animal that represented the arrival of Spring and the fertility of the season.
Some stories of the origin mention the “Queen of Heaven’s” son Tammuz who was resurrected and people celebrated his resurrection by worshipping the “rabbit” and kept rituals such as colouring eggs and “egg hunting”. The rabbit and eggs symbolized the fertility of the “Queen of Heaven” and by participating in this ritual, women would be fruitful and conceive children, livestock would be fertile, and fields would yield a bountiful harvest.
These pagan rituals were celebrated prior to the arrival of Christianity in Europe and as Christianity spread, pagan rituals merged with Christian beliefs and practices.
The Roman Catholic Church, in 325AD, took out the name of Tammuz and replaced it with Jesus and thus Easter became “Christianized”.
As with many other pagan/Christian blends, such as Christmas and Halloween, the appeal to children and its commercial potential also led to its broad public acceptance and longevity. Its “Christian” aspect also legitimizes and justifies it while its pagan origins are downplayed and eventually forgotten, however that does not erase its association with idol worship. We may not have been alive when these pagan rituals occurred but God had no beginning and no end. He saw and he knows!
What about today? Since Easter is “for Jesus”, it must be ok, right? We’re not worshipping idols! We’re just having fun! The kids love it, they’re happy, everyone’s happy. What’s wrong with that? My pastor says it’s ok so it must be ok!
The problem is this demonstrates how we so easily tolerate idolatry and are more concerned with people’s enjoyment rather than God’s righteousness. It also shows how ignorant we are and simply repeat traditions without questioning them. Christian “leaders” perpetuate the problem when they celebrate Easter and Christmas and mislead the people who blindly follow them, rather than the truth.
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 10:18-22:
Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
Behind these idols is the power of demons. Easter may not any longer celebrated as a Pagan ritual, but its origins are there: from false gods, idols, and ultimately Satan.
Paul also says in Ephesians 5:8-11:
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
We must not be ignorant; we must reject and expose the works of darkness! We cannot touch or have anything to do with these Satanic things!
As Hosea said, God’s people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge:Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.Because you have rejected knowledge,I also will reject you from being priest for Me;Because you have forgotten the law of your God,I also will forget your children.
Our separation from evil things was also emphasized again by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1:
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in themAnd walk among them.I will be their God,And they shall be My people.”
Therefore
“Come out from among themAnd be separate, says the Lord.Do not touch what is unclean,And I will receive you.”“I will be a Father to you,And you shall be My sons and daughters,Says the Lord Almighty.”Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
We must have no fellowship or communion with darkness and lawlessness. Let’s cleanse ourselves from all filthiness and perfect holiness in the fear of God! Come out and be separated! We are God’s holy and sanctified people — His saints! We are not to be mixed together with the filth of this world.
In the Bible we only see God’s instructions to keep holy and have nothing to do with idolatry and the demons behind them, we see nothing about celebrating and ceremonializing particular events in the New Testament such as Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, or ascension. Instead, we are instructed to remember Christ’s sacrifice and our communion with Him in the New Covenant through the breaking of bread and the cup during the Lord’s Table (Matt 26:26-30; 1 Cor 10:16-21; 1 Cor 11:23-26). In Acts, we see the disciples keeping the Lord’s Table on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).
Even more importantly than simply remembering, is the substance and reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. What good is it if our only connection to Christ’s death and resurrection is a picture in our minds and some momentary sad emotions? What He wants from us is that His accomplished work on the cross and His victory over death is fully part of our lives!
This is firstly achieved when we are baptized; this means that we are one with Christ in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Our old man, the old creation is dead and buried, and we live and walk in the new resurrection life. No longer can we be conquered by spiritual death and sin because we have the Life of Christ which overcame death; even death and Hades could not stop this life which now lives in us! (Romans 6:4-5)
Paul also had the substance of Christ’s death and resurrection in His life when he proclaimed:
Gal 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
You may remember what Jesus did for you, but what about experiencing being crucified with Christ? In your life, do your own goals, interests, comfort, opinion, etc matter to you or do you truly live completely for God and consecrate yourself to Him? Does your old human nature keep you trapped in a cycle of sin and spiritual death and dryness? If so, then you are not living according to the resurrection life of Christ because if this life is allowed to reign in us then there CANNOT be any spiritual death and dryness because this life overcame death!
Christ’s work on the Cross is so full of meaning and significance to us! For example, He is the true Passover Lamb that was sacrificed for us freeing us from captivity in Egypt (representing the world); He is the true Unleavened Bread that was broken for us and feeds us; He is the true Burnt Offering since He sacrificed Himself on the Cross as a sweet aroma to God in complete submission and obedience; He is the true Grain Offering (the grain that fell into the earth and died (John 12:24), the grain that was ground up into fine flour) and many other things. All of these were fulfilled on the Cross and is contained in this new life that we received when we received Him and were baptized into Him!
Let’s not be ignorant of the true meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection and be deceived into keeping meaningless, empty traditions that belong to demons. There is true meaning and direct application to our Christian lives that’s crucial to our growth and maturity as Christians — not ceremonies, Easter productions, Easter eggs and rabbits and parties, and “remembering” with our thoughts and feelings! Let’s wake up! Satan has deceived so many Christians!
We need to leave this idolatry behind, even if we encounter opposition from our loved ones and fellow believers. We should also warn our fellow Christian brothers and sisters to leave these practices, to seek after the truth and stop following traditions. If our church group will not stop even with warnings, then we should break off fellowship or we will have to endure God’s judgment which will come upon all the false and dead practices of Christianity. Remember that “judgment begins in the house of God!” (1 Pet 4:17). Seek fellowship with brothers and sisters who do want to pursue the truth and righteousness!
1 Tim 2:3-4:
“God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
May all of God’s people come to the knowledge of the truth!