"Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Galatians 4:16

Contents: Introduction Chapter 01 - Easter is a Heathen Celebration Chapter 02 - Rabbits Do Not Lay Eggs Chapter 03 - Churchgoers Worshiping the Sun Chapter 04 - The Lent Trap Chapter 05 - Was Jesus an Early Riser? Chapter 06 - No Matzah in Your Easter Basket Chapter 07 - Resurrection Revenue Chapter 08 - A Letter From a Witch Chapter 09 - Fallacious Arguments of "Christian" Icons           • Billy Graham           • Ken Ham           • Steven Anderson           • Michael Houdmann Chapter 10 - Is It Wrong to Celebrate the Resurrection?

 

Most of you know the routine. You dress up in your "Easter Sunday best" outfit, go to a church building, hear about the resurrection of Jesus Christ with some special musical presentation, maybe even a play with actors in costume, and afterwards, go outside where the children look for some colorfully-painted eggs that have been hidden around the yard.

As children, we do not readily question what we do, nor why we do it, because we are simply learning from our family what we are supposed to do, and how we are supposed to behave. However, as I got older, I asked myself a very simple question, and one which most churchgoers I have encountered almost never ask:

WHY?
It is a great mystery to me why so many people never question what they do or why they do it, so long as it feels good to them. They drag a tree into their house and put tinsel on it, they adorn wacky costumes and demand candy from their neighbors, and they put up decorations of rabbits and eggs on the full moon of the spring equinox, all in the name of Jesus, but none of these practices make any rational sense.
(Read Christmas: Rejecting Jesus & Halloween: Are Christians Lovers of Death? here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

When I use the word 'churchgoers', what I mean are those who attend a church building, but whether or not they are actually Christians is unclear because there are many false converts among church buildings today. (Mat 7:21-23) So while churchgoers delight in nonsensical practices without sparing a moment to ask why, when I study the Bible, the Lord tells me that the righteous study to answer such questions:

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer:
but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
-Proverbs 15:28

No man can be righteous of himself (Rom 3:10), and if he is to obtain righteousness, it must be given to him by the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 4:22-24), but this verse is meant that those who would reflect the righteousness of Christ, and do that which is pleasing to God, would first study and think before answering a question, whether the subject matter be natural or spiritual. However, the mouth of wicked people just accept whatever they are told by religious figureheads, and because of that, they think themselves wise in the pride of their own imaginations.

Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own conceit.
-Proverbs 26:5

Therefore, the result is that they turn from the wisdom of Scripture, blurt out regurgitated tropes before considering the facts, make no effort to learn anything, reject sound doctrine, abhor the idea of changing themselves for the sake of Christ, and instead prioritize the satisfaction of their lustful hearts so they can "feel" holy inside.

The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it?
-Jeremiah 17:9

He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool:
but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
-Proverbs 28:26

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
-2 Timothy 4:3-4

I grew up going to church buildings every week, and in my experience, churchgoers regard Easter with more reverence than any other holiday they celebrate, to the point that their normal greetings temporarily transform into a brainwashed salute, mindlessly repeating the phrase "He is Risen!" over and over again. Please do not misunderstand because I have reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead, without which I would be lost forever in hell, but I would also note that there is no commandment, precedent, nor vague suggestion in the Bible to have a ritualized celebration marked with an egg hunt.

Of course, there are those who argue that they have what they call a "Holy Week," but as we are going to learn in the next chapter, that is an invention of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church practices something called "The Eucharist," which an antichrist ritual that invokes witchcraft, cannibalism, and vampirism through their transubstantiation doctrine, and despite their claims, was never commanded or instituted by Christ, and I cover those details in another book called Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism. Because they practice antichrist rituals, it is therefore ridiculous to claim they have a week that is "holy," and it is laughable to think the modern day version of Easter can be "Christian" in any sense when it was established by heretics.

Despite the claims of a "Holy Week," there are Catholic websites that defend the idea that the egg and rabbit symbolism of Easter is "Christian" in origin. I will provide some quotes and cover those details in chapter two.

The corrupt, pseudo-Christian website, Christianity.com, tells us what the "true" meaning of Easter is:
"Easter is one of the central holidays, or Holy Days, of Christianity. It honors the Resurrection of Jesus three days after His death by crucifixion. For many Christian churches, Easter is the joyful conclusion to the Lenten season of devoted prayer, fasting, and penitence."
-Christianity.com, "What Is the True Meaning of Easter? Why Is it Celebrated?" Apr 1, 2024, retrieved Mar 27, 2025, [https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/true-meaning-of-easter-why-is-it-celebrated.html]

I must compliment Christianity.com in their uncanny ability to overload us with propaganda, false information, and corrupt religious practices in only two short sentences. The average churchgoer reading this book may not understand what I mean just yet, but there is so much wrong with their paragraph, I needed the length of this book to unravel the lies and deceit.

As indicated in the title of this book, I believe Easter is an abomination in the sight of the Lord, and let's make sure we understand what the word 'abomination' means:

abomination (n): extreme hatred; detestation; defilement, pollution, in a physical sense, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements
(See 'abomination', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

Therefore, I am making the argument that God hates the Easter celebration with the most extreme hatred. To support the argument that Easter is an abomination, we will cover the following points in this book:

Easter is a celebration of idolatry. Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity. Easter's foundation comes from pagan lore, not the Bible. Easter does not honor the resurrection of Jesus. Easter is not celebrated the third day after Christ's crucifixion. Lenten traditions contradict the commandments of Christ.

During His ministry, Jesus Christ was mostly hated, and if it were not for the miracles He performed, most of the Jews would have not bothered coming to see Him. Most people wanted nothing to do with Jesus, nor did most people want anything to do with His apostles, and He told us that few would find the way to eternal life because they reject His doctrine:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
-Matthew 7:13-14

Therefore, if Easter were truly a celebration of the doctrines and goodness of Jesus Christ, which leads us to salvation (Rom 2:4), then most people would want nothing to do with Him. So when worldly people, who obviously (simply by the way they live their lives) have no part with Christ or His church, show up once per year in their "Sunday best" for an Easter Sunday event, what does that tell us?


For many of these people, they do not attend church buildings on a regular basis, but they will show up for a prestigious event such as Easter because it is a fashion statement that provides them with the façade of a clean lifestyle, when they have anything but. Others believe in the ridiculous notion that God is pleased with them if they perform an annual dress-up play date at a church building, as if they somehow become "holy" by being in proximity to it on a particular day at a particular time.

In attempt to answer my "Why?" question, David Sheley of Films for Christ poses a question for children: Why then, do we celebrate Easter?" The answer he provided was interesting:
"As Christians, we celebrate Easter for entirely different reasons than most people do. You see, about two thousand years ago, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life, and to die for our sins! But Jesus did not stay dead; He rose from the dead! We are actually celebrating Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection. That is why many people call Easter, Resurrection Sunday, because that is exactly what it is."
-David Sheley, "Why do we celebrate Easter?" Christian Answers, retrieved Mar 27, 2025, [https://christiananswers.net/kids/edn-easter.html]

That begs the question, if "many people" call it "Resurrection Sunday" because that is allegedly "exactly what it is," then why do "most people" (according to Sheley) celebrate it for a different reason? In fact, when I was young, the only reason I was told that we celebrated it was because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so what is the other reason?

Unfortunately, but predictably, Sheley does not provide that information on his website. Now that I am a grown adult with the grace of the Holy Ghost for understanding, I will provide that answer.



 

I understand many churchgoers lose their minds in a rage of fury when I make a statement like this, but try to put aside everything you have been told about Easter for a moment, and consider this: Why is a celebration alleging to be about the resurrection of Christ not just called "Resurrection Day" by everyone? This was suggested by the author at the end of the Introduction of this book, but he was answering why we celebrate "Easter," so that begs the question, why is it called "Easter?"

Imagine for a moment that every time someone died, we had a celebration called "Wester." Do you think there would come a time in a child's life when he would begin to question WHY we call it "Wester?" I would suggest that, in modernity (i.e. in our modern society), many people name their children based on how a name tickles their ear, personally preferring how a particular name sounds to them, rather than naming a child based on meaning, and therefore, in my opinion, it has become common practice to seldom question the meaning of names.

Etymology is the study of word origins, or how a word came to be created, how it has changed in society over time, and why it is categorized the way that it is. In the Etymology Online Dictionary, the listing under "Easter" says:
"Old English Easterdæg, 'Easter day,' from Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre), from Proto-Germanic *austron-, 'dawn,' also possibly the name of a goddess whose feast was celebrated in Eastermonao (the Anglo-Saxon month corresponding with April), from *aust- 'east, toward the sunrise' (compare east), from PIE root *aus- (1) 'to shine,' especially of the dawn."
-See "Easter," Etymology Online Dictionary, retrieved Mar 28, 2025, [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=easter]

Although this website says that the name "possibly" comes from the name of a goddess, further research indicates that it most definitely came from the name of a goddess or god, and the name "Easter" does not make any sense otherwise because it has to do with "dawn" and the "sunrise." Most readers are probably unfamiliar with the "Wheel of the Year" that is revered by pagans and witches, but they use it as a means of worshipping the sun, and it is based on the position of the sun at certain intervals throughout the year.


Before we get into the details, I want to clarify that this practice of sun worship is strictly condemned in the Word of God. Witchcraft of any kind, paganism (i.e. the practices of heathen, which includes witchcraft), and all their practices, are shown no favor whatsoever in the Bible; they are not encouraged, nor commanded to be followed, and God makes it clear to us that those who practice such things will not inherit His Kingdom in Heaven.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
-Galatians 5:19-21

I am not teaching that you will go to hell because you celebrated Easter, so please do not misunderstand me on this point. We cannot be saved by our works. (Rom 11:6) We are only saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ through repentance (i.e. broken-heartedness for wrongdoing) and faith (i.e. in the shed blood of Christ for the remission/forgiveness of sins), as Jesus taught us in Mark 1:15, however, we are commanded to flee (i.e. move quickly away from) idolatry of any kind, and the foundation of paganism is idolatry.

Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
-1 Corinthians 10:14

idolatry (n): the worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God; idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues, pictures, etc. made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals; excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration
(See 'idolatry', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

It is the pagans who see the days get shorter, and the sun and moon move from place to place, and are dismayed (i.e. discouraged or depressed) by the celestial signs. We are not to learn their ways, as we are taught in Jeremiah 10, which is not to say that we cannot understand them, as we learn about this subject in this book, but rather, the context of Jeremiah 10 teaches us that this is said that we should not learn to adopt them into our practices.

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
-Jeremiah 10:2

To make sure I am being absolutely clear, God has said, in no uncertain terms, that idolatry and witchcraft in any form provokes Him to anger:

And he caused his children to pass through the fire [i.e. ritualistic abortion] in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
-2 Chronicles 33:6
(Read "Abortion: Paganism, Satanism, Sacrifices & Witchcraft" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

In the Witch's Wheel of the Year, I highlighted March 21st as "Ostara," and churchgoers will often use this as a point of contention because Easter does not fall on that date. In fact, the earliest date for Easter is March 22nd, but that has not happened since 1818, and is not scheduled to happen again until 2285. However, March 21st is the Spring Equinox (or the vernal equinox of the Northern Hemisphere), which is a mid-point in the year (between the solstices of Dec 21st and June 21st, the longest and shortest days of the year) when the Earth's axis is not tilted towards the sun, resulting in a roughly even 12 hours for day and night respectively, marking the first day of Spring.

The following author practiced witchcraft for over 20 years before his death in 1993, and he is still highly regarded in Wiccan circles as a foremost authority in witchcraft: "Ostara (circa March 21), the spring equinox, also known as spring, Rites of Spring, and Eostra's Day, marks the first day of true spring... On Ostara the hours of day and night are equal. Light is overtaking darkness; the Goddess and God impel the wild creatures of the earth to reproduce... Traces of this old custom are even found in Christianity. [i.e. the author is referring to Catholcism] Easter, for example, is placed on Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, a rather 'pagan' way to organize religious rites."
-Scott Cunningham, Wicca, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2010, ISBN: 9780738717159

As I said, churchgoers will contend that March 21st is not Easter, but Easter is the first full moon after March 21st. Why? There is no reason any man can offer from Scriptural commandment, nor any indication that there is "holiness" in waiting until the first full moon after the Spring Equinox to have a celebration of Jesus, but the tradition had to have come from somewhere, and that "somewhere" is paganism.

That notion is immediately rejected by most churchgoers because they pride themselves in their so-called "holy" celebration on what they claim to be a "Resurrection Day," and they adopt an attitude of arrogance that condemns all those (like myself) who dare to question their holy sacred cow of Easter. However, despite their objections, the full moon is very significant to pagans, as taught by the following author, who is a high priestess in the Wiccan religion:
"To this day, Easter Sunday is determined by the ancient lunar calendar system which places the holiday on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or following the Vernal Spring Equinox. (Formally, this marked the 'pregnant' phase of the Triple Goddess passing into the fertile season.)"
-Gerina Dunwich, Wicca Craft: The Modern Witches Book of Herbs, Magick and Dreams, Citadel Press, 1991, p. 28, ISBN: 9780806512389.

Whether churchgoers want to admit or deny this, the fact is that this makes sense, not that it is truth (because paganism is a lie of the devil), but that it makes sense from the perspective of the pagans, and the chronology matches their religious ideology. Churchgoers have been taught to believe that Christians celebrated Easter, and pagans came along later to corrupt it, but the truth is that pagans celebrated Easter long before Christ was born, and false converts (i.e. Catholics) came along later and tried to "Christianize" paganism.

Other churchgoers will object by claiming that the date of Easter was determined by the Council of Nicea in 325 under Constantine I, but it should first be noted that Constantine was a pagan, not a Christian. The Council of Nicea was formed to put the church under Rome's authority (which the true church has never been a part of), to establish it as an "approved" religion under Roman licensing, despite the fact that the church is under Christ, not Rome.

I will briefly cover a few points on this subject, but I cannot cover it in its entirety in this book, so if you want more details, I would once again recommend reading my other book Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com. Despite what the world has been brainwashed to believe, Catholicism is the world's largest antichrist religious cult that parades itself as "Christian," when they have almost nothing to do with Christianity other than leeching off of the title, and that their true founder, Constantine never converted to Christianity; rather, he converted weak-minded churchgoers into a pagan hybrid false religion.

Though Catholics claim their origin started with Peter, they have never had a shred of historical or Scriptural evidence to back up that claim (i.e. they just say it because it makes them sound spiritual), and the real Catholic Church started in 312 A.D. during Constantine's involvement in the Battle of Milvian Bridge, which was a war between Constantine and Maxentius, who fought over the title of Roman Emperor. This is based on the Catholic claim that he had a dream the night before battle about a cross symbol, and painted what Catholic historians claim was a "cross" on the shields of his soldiers, but in reality, he painted the Roman Labarum on the shields, which is similar to the Egyptian Ankh, and he did this to strategically to boost the moral of his troops because most of them worshipped the Persian god Mithra: "LABARUM: Emblem of the Persian god Mithra, derived from the Egyptian ankh, painted on the shield of the emperor Constantine for the purpose of encouraging his Mithra-worshipping soldiers to believe they were fighting for their god. Because the labarum resembled the Greek letters khi and rho superimposed on each other, and khi and rho were the first two letters of khristos, it was later claimed by the Christians that Constantine had triumphed under a Christian symbol. In fact Constantine did not declare himself a Christian until much later."
-William Harwood, Dictionary of Contemporary Mythology: Third Edition (2011), World Audience Inc, 2017, p. 284, ISBN: 9781544601403

The following image depicts the symbols of Mithra (or Mithras), and you can see the symbol of the Labarum on the back on the Roman coin that has Constantine's face on the front:
Constantine was a pagan at heart, and Rome was the umbrella under which all religious corporations were required to be officiated. No department of Rome was permitted to go to war against itself, and therefore, just as with any government, all approved state religions cannot be in conflict with each other because they are ruled over by the same entity (i.e. Rome), which means that their so-called "Christianity" had to be established in a way that did not conflict with the pagan religions already under Rome's leadership, and this is the very ecumenical essence of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as all its denominations. (e.g. Anglicanism, Orthodoxy, etc.)

As a side note, this is why I openly condemn American 501(c)(3) incorporation under the IRS, and I wrote a book about that subject called 501c3: The Devil's Church. Countless church buildings and other so-called "Christian" organizations immediately flock to sign a contract with the government, and by doing so, they become a corporation of the state, which belongs to the state, and by signing the contract, they denounce Christ as the head of their organization, and replace Him with the IRS as the defacto head, just as churchgoers in the 4th century did by corporitizing themselves under Rome.

The Catholic Church started out as a pagan organization, designed solely to fuse paganism into a corrupt, hybrid form of "Christianity," and therefore, it is no wonder that their Nicene Council wanted to consolidate a celebration of "Easter," which was a pagan festival. There were some cults at the time who celebrated Easter in a passover hybrid celebration, but there was no fixed date, and Constantine wanted to remedy that issue:
"There also the question having been considered relative to the most holy day of Easter, it was determined by common consent that it should be proper that all should celebrate it on one and the same day everywhere."
-Constantine Augustus, Church History (Socrates Scholasticus), Book I, Chapter 9, "The Letter of the Synod, relative to its Decisions: and the Condemnation of Arius and those who agreed with him," retrieved Mar 28, 2025, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/26011.htm]

However, despite what many so-called "Christian" websites claim, the Council of Nicea did NOT establish the regimen for the date of Easter because there was not a time they could agree upon. It was established by the pagan Catholic Church over two centuries later (around 525 A.D.), mostly credited to the Catholic monk Dionysius (named after the Greek god of wine and theater), but he took the timing (i.e. the full moon after Ostara) from the scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, a hub for pagan culture, that housed temples to the Serapis, Isis, Osiris, Zeus, Poseidon, and Saturn, just to name a few.

There is no other historical reason for making it the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, other than it was an Alexandrian tradition, and that tradition existed only because of pagan culture. The Catholic cult has always centered their celebrations around paganism, which is why Christmas (Dec 25th) is scheduled directly after the week-long pagan Yule celebration (Dec 17th-24th), it is why All Saints' Day (Nov 1st) is scheduled directly after All Hallows Eve (i.e. Halloween, Oct 31st), and it is why Easter is scheduled after Ostara (Mar 21st); regulating their "holy" days so people would revere the priesthood and bring them money.

The following author is a priestess of Wicca, and has studied it for over 25 years:
"The Christian [i.e. Catholic] holy day of Easter is named for Her [the Goddess of Paganism], and is observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox — when the pregnant Goddess enters the season of fertility."
-Amber K., Coven Craft: Witchcraft for Three or More, Llewellyn Worldwide, 1998, p. 158, ISBN: 9781567180183

The pagans believe that the first full moon after the Spring Equinox is significant because (as we learned earlier) they believe the full moon is representative of the pregnant moon goddess conceiving the sun god. The pagans believe that sun god dies in the fall (i.e. All Hallows Eve, or Halloween) while the moon goddess is pregnant with a new sun god from the previous spring, the sun god is birthed in the winter (i.e. Yule, or Christmas), and then flourishes in the spring (i.e. Easter) to fertilize the moon goddess (i.e. have incestuous sex with his own mother) once again.
(Read Christmas: Rejecting Jesus here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

This quote is from an award-winning pagan author, who has written many books on witchcraft and the occult:
"The words Easter and oestrogen (estrogen) were derived from the Anglo-Saxon 'Ostara,' goddess of fertility. Night and day stand in perfect balance, with the powers of light on the ascent... The God of the Waxing Year confirms his Yuletide victory over his twin, the Lord of the Waning Year. The Goddess in her Maiden aspect is wooed by the young sun god's embraces and conceives a child. The child will be born nine months from now at the next winter solstice."
-Kala Trobe, The Witch's Guide to Life, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2003, p. 112, ISBN: 9780738702001

In other words, the sun god would be born at what people now call "Christmas," which is the real reason Catholics allegedly celebrate the "birth of Christ" in December, despite the fact that it makes no sense because Jesus was not born anywhere close to that date. Catholic Online, whether knowingly or not, emphasizes the same pagan connection between Christmas (i.e. Yule) and Easter (i.e. Ostara) as witches do:
"Easter is the principal feast of the ecclesiastical year. Leo I (Sermo xlvii in Exodum) calls it the greatest feast (festum festorum), and says that Christmas is celebrated only in preparation for Easter."
-Catholic Online, "Easter Sunday - April 5, 2015, Holy Day of Obligation," retrieved Apr 1, 2025, [https://www.catholic.org/lent/easter.php]

Although we Christians find paganism abhorant, Catholics revere the moon goddess and worship her, but like pagans of different cultures, they call her by a different name. The Catholics call their moon goddess "Mary," and those involved in witchcraft religions understand the symbolism of the Catholic Church very well: "Many mythological traditions identify the moon as a feminine counterpart to the masculine sun. For this reason, a number of Goddesses are associated with the moon, including Artemis or Diana, Selena, and of course, Luna. Even the 'Goddess' of Christianity, the Virgin Mary, has some associations with the moon under her feet... So, for Witches, the moon is special because it is a powerful symbol of the Goddess, and therefore of women."
-Gerina Dunwich, Wicca A to Z: A Complete Guide to the Magickal World, Citadel Press, 1997, p. 180, ISBN: 9780806519302

Catholics argue this point to say that they do not worship Mary, and that Mary is not a goddess because they are referring to the Mary, mother of Jesus, in Scripture. However, there are a couple of problems with their claim, the first being that pagans are well aware that their goddess goes by MANY names:
"When envisioning the Goddess and God, many of the Wicca see them as well-known deities from ancient religions. Diana, Pan, Isis, Hermes, Hina, Tammuz, Hecate, Ishtar, Cerridwen, Thoth, Tara, Aradia, Artemis, Pele, Apollo, Kanaloa, Bridget, Helios, Bran, Lugh, Hera, Cybele, Inanna, Maui, Ea, Athena, Lono, Marduk--the list is virtually endless. Many of these deities, with their corresponding histories, rites and mythic information furnish the concept of deity for Wiccans."
-Scott Cunningham, Wicca, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2010, ISBN: 9780738717159

I would recommend readers check out chapter six in my book Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism for more details on this because Catholics call her "Mary Immaculate," meaning that they believe she was sinless, spotless, and flawless, so they hold her in a much higher regard than the pagans hold their moon goddess. Catholics are idolaters who worship the goddess they call "Mary," and quickly object to accusations of idolatry, despite the fact that their religious cult removes the 2nd Commandment against idolatry from their revised version of the Ten Commandments to cover themselves.

The following photograph shows Catholics kneeling in prayer and worship of a Marian statue. The bottom line is this: If what they are doing is not idolatry, then idolatry does not exist.

Mortify [subdue or restrain] therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
-Colossians 3:5-6

The following quote is from a witch with over three decades of experience, and is part of the pagan Welsh Traditionalist Coven in Missouri: "The major difference between The Goddess and the Blessed Virgin Mary is that The Goddess is a Creatrix in Her Own Right and a source of Divine Power. In Catholicism, Mary is Blessed, unique among women, sinless, The Mother of God - and it is believed that She ascended bodily into Heaven. However, for Catholics, She is supposed to be merely a channel of Power from God, and not a source of Divine Power, Herself. Of course, this is only the official view of the Catholic Church. Many worshipers understand, and have always understood instinctively, if not consciously, that the Blessed Virgin is a modern version of The Goddess; and many Catholic cathedrals are actually built upon the sites of ancient temples to The Great Goddess. For example, St. Peters Cathedral in the Vatican is built right on top of the old temple of The Goddess, Magna Mater, and some parts of the original temple are presumably still left under the foundations."
-Raven Emrys Aurlineus, "The Catholic Goddess," May 4, 2008, retrieved Nov 20, 2013, [http://ravenemrys.hubpages.com/hub/The-Catholic-Goddess#]

I readily acknowledge that the opinion of a witch is not necessarily indicative of a Catholic's beliefs, but when the Catholics themselves do not seem to understand what they believe, nor have any Scripturally justified reason for why they do what they do, then it behooves us to look for answers elsewhere. Once we understand that Catholicism was founded on pagan religion, and that its founder crafted a demonic hybrid of paganism and poorly interpreted doctrine from the Bible, then it stands to reason that those who follow its teachings would be idolaters.

The similarities between Catholicism (along with its various denominations) and paganism are striking. Pagans refer to their goddess as the "Queen of Heaven," and Catholics also refer to Mary as the "Queen of Heaven," and this is because the two are one and the same.

Catholic Answers, one of the officially approved website of the Catholic Church, defends the idea that Mary is the "Queen of Heaven," and Catholic author Edward Sri openly admit that non-Catholics see it as a problem:
"Mary's title as 'Queen of Heaven and Earth' is a great scandal to many non-Catholic Christians. After all, the Bible doesn't mention anything about there being a queen in God's kingdom. All this royal attention Catholics give to Mary—whether it's singing 'Hail, holy queen enthroned above' or portraying Mary in statues and paintings with a crown on her head—seems to many non-Catholics to detract from the royalty of Christ, who alone is King of Kings."
-Edward Sri, "Is Mary's Queenship Biblical?" Catholic Answers, Aug 19, 2019, retrieved Apr 1, 2025, [https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-marys-queenship-biblical]

Sri's use of the word "scandal" is very light and playful compared to the actual offense, which is heresy, but Catholics do not like to use that word when it comes to their beliefs because it makes them look bad. This is not a matter of "detract[ing] from the royalty of Christ," but rather, it is a fundamental sin called 'idolatry', which is antichrist in its philosophy, and again, I would recommend chapter six in my book Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism, which covers the Marian idolatry in much more detail.

Catholics will obviously object to my arguments, and many people who are ignorant of pagan culture do not understand how "Mary" can refer to a pagan goddess, but what most people do not understand is that the various names of gods and goddesses throughout all cultures are (according to pagan lore) referring to the same mythological persons:
"When envisioning the Goddess and God, many of the Wicca see them as well-known deities from ancient religions. Diana, Pan, Isis, Hermes, Hina, Tammuz, Hecate, Ishtar [i.e. Ostara or Easter], Cerridwen, Thoth, Tara, Aradia, Artemis, Pele, Apollo, Kanaloa, Bridget, Helios, Bran, Lugh, Hera, Cybele, Inanna, Maui, Ea, Athena, Lono, Marduk--the list is virtually endless. Many of these deities, with their corresponding histories, rites and mythic information furnish the concept of deity for Wiccans."
-Scott Cunningham, Wicca, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2010, ISBN: 9780738717159

This is part of the concept of what Revelation calls "MYSTERY BABYLON" in Revelation 17:5, which has to do with the Babylonian religions being separated into groups when God confounded their languages at the Tower of Babel. (Gen 11:7) They all worshiped the same false gods, but now that their languages have been separated, they call those gods by different names, and the Catholic Church, riding atop the Roman beast, has brought them together again, and will pave the way for the coming final antichrist (the son of perdition); a subject that I cover in much more detail in chapter eleven in my book, Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism.

The particular goddess worshipped by witches and pagans in the spring months of the year go by the following names: Eostra/Eostar/Eostre (Saxon), Ishtar (Sumerian), Ostara (German), Astarte (Greek), and Easter (Modern English). These names all represent the same goddess and refer to the same pagan traditions, and although the name "Easter" has been mistakingly attributed by many people to other feasts, such as Passover, its foundational meaning is built on heathen ideology.

For example, the goddess "Ashtoreth" is mentioned in 1st Kings:

Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
-1 Kings 11:33

The following quote is from a high-level priestess in the Wiccan religion, who has authored many books about magic and witchcraft. She points out that Ashtoreth is another name for Astarte and Ishtar, which (as we learned earlier in this chapter) are the names after which Easter was labeled:
"Invocations [to] Goddesses: Anahita, Anath, Aparajita, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Athena, Badb, Bellona, Durga, Eris, Fea, Inanna, Ishtar,"
-Eileen Holland, The Wicca Handbook, Weiser Books, 2008, ISBN: 9781609254520

The next quote is from another high level Wiccan priestess, who teaches the basics of her craft to new converts. She emphasizes that the names Ashtoreth and Astarte (or in this context, Easter) were the names of the goddess of the Canaanites:
"Images of the Goddess...offer silent testimony to the most ancient worship of the Queen of heaven in the land that is most often remembered today as the homeland of Judaism and Christianity. In exploring the influence and importance of the worship of the Goddess in Canaan in biblical times, we find that as Ashtoreth, Asherah, Astarte, Anath, or simply as Elat or Baalat, she was the principal deity of such great Canaanite cities as Tyre, Sidon, Ascalon, Beth Anath, Aphaca, Byblos, and Ashtoreth Kamaim."
-Athena Gardner, Lessons in Goddess Spirituality: Wicca 101, iUniverse, 2000, p. 15, ISBN: 9780595131167

The Lord, through His prophet Ezra, warned the Jews that they were to have nothing to do with the practices of the Canaanites because their beliefs and rituals were greatly hated by Him:

Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
-Ezra 9:1

What I am trying to get readers to understand is that churchgoers are honoring the goddess of the Canaanites in the same way, even though most of them are doing it unknowingly. However, the vast majority of them do not care, just as Solomon did not care when he followed the pagan ways:

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
-1 Kings 11:5

And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians...
-2 Kings 23:13

It is a shame on churchgoers that witches have a better understanding of this than they do. However, self-proclaimed Christians just continue on with their pagan practices in willful ignorance, and far worse, they continue witchcraft ideology in the name of Jesus, taking Christ's holy name upon themselves when they do abominable things.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
-Exodus 20:7

This verse is often misconstrued by churchgoers to mean people should not use the name of God and Christ as cuss words, which would be USING the name of God in vain. Rather, this verse is much deeper, speaking of ambassadorship, or in other words, we ought not to take the name of God upon ourselves, to call ourselves "Christian," while having no repentance of our wrongdoing, and making His Word of lower priority to the sentiments of our hearts.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.
-Proverbs 14:12

Witches seduce men into doing strange (i.e. foreign and pagan) things, just as they did with Solomon, which is the primary reason he accepted and permitted paganism to flourish in Israel:

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
-1 Kings 11:1-3

Churchgoers are making the same error that Solomon made thousands of years ago, and they think they are so much different and more sophisticated, but as Solomon wrote by the wisdom of God, there is no new thing under the sun, meaning that mankind will continue to do the wicked things they do in an endless sin cycle:

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
-Ecclesiastes 1:9

Churchgoers commonly make the argument that Easter is "all about Jesus," but slapping a "Jesus" sticker on pagan tradition does not automatically make it good. They think they can do whatever they please by claiming to be "saved" (i.e. delivered) to do them, but the Jews made the same argument, and God rebuked them:

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
-Jeremiah 7:8-11

Now that we have established a strong connection between pagan beliefs and Easter, we can begin to unravel the mystery of rabbits and eggs being associated with the churchgoers' so-called "Resurrection Sunday."



 

This chapter will cover the symbolism of the Easter celebration, and when I go to Google images and search for "easter," I am immediately bombarded with pictures of rabbits and eggs. This is quite the conundrum because, as indicated in the title to this chapter, rabbits do not lay eggs, but as we established in the previous chapter, the reason for the rabbit/egg connection to Easter is paganism.

This pagan author explains it in more detail:
"Ostara—March 20-23... This is the Spring Equinox, known also as Ostara, or Eostar. It's the time of balance, when light and dark are equal and the Earth swells with new life. In ancient times, people celebrated the arrival of spring, and the Goddess of Eostar, or Eostre, whose symbols were the egg and the hare, both representations of the Great Mother... Traditional symbols of this Sabbat are eggs, lambs, chicks, and rabbits—all symbolic of the Goddess in her 'mother' aspect. Eggs are considered a symbol of the universe itself, with the shell representing earth; the membrane, air; the yolk, fire; and the white, water. An ancient Ostara custom was to dye eggs red, the color of life-force and regeneration. Other traditional colors of this Sabbat are silver and penny-candy pastels."
-Michele Morgon, Simple Wicca, Conari Press, 2008, p. 52, ISBN: 9781609250393

Rabbits, eggs, chicks, and lambs are all pagan fertility symbols that have specific meaning in witchcraft. I am in no way arguing that rabbits, eggs, chicks, or lambs are bad or wrong for their daily intended use, but their use specifically within the context of Easter is an abomination to God.

Let's begin with rabbits, or hares, which is explained by Wind Moon Magick, a website for witches who want to learn more about their craft:
"Rabbits and hares have long been associated with magic, mystery, and fertility in various cultures and traditions. In modern witchcraft, they are often seen as powerful symbols of renewal, growth, and the cycle of life. The energy of the rabbit or hare is often associated with spring, the season of growth and renewal, making them an ideal symbol for spells and rituals related to these themes. In many cultures, rabbits and hares are also associated with the moon and the goddesses associated with the moon, such as Artemis and Ostara. This association adds to their symbolism of mystery, magic, and the hidden aspects of life. In modern witchcraft, rabbits and hares are often used in spells and rituals related to new beginnings, fertility, and manifestation."
-Wind Moon Magick, "Animal Magick: The Magick of Hares & Rabbits," retrieved Apr 1, 2025, [https://www.windmoonmagic.com/animals/the-magick-of-hares-amp-rabbits]

The rabbit is perceived to be a fertility symbol among pagans because rabbits can have more than one gestation cycle at the same time. In other words, rabbits that are pregnant with bunnies can get pregnant again before they give birth, and this fertility symbol has been used by various wicked groups, including the infamous Playboy bunny.


The use of a rabbit symbol in this regard is a reference to sexual intercourse, or simply put, rabbits are a sex symbol to pagans. Patti Wigington, a high priestess in the Wiccan religion, has written many articles for the website Learn Religions, and she openly admits this:
"Spring equinox, or Ostara, is a time for fertility and sowing seeds, and so nature's fertility goes a little crazy. The rabbit—for good reason—is often associated with fertility magic and sexual energy."
-Pattie Wigington, "Egg-Laying Bunnies and Mad March Hares," Sept 25, 2019, retrieved Apr 1, 2025, [https://www.learnreligions.com/egg-laying-bunnies-and-mad-march-hares-2562459]

Wigington goes on in her article to suggest witchcraft spells and pagan rituals using rabbits to invoke sexual arousal and increase fertility. So I ask readers: Do you think it is appropriate for churchgoers to use rabbits in this sexual fertility context in the name of Jesus?

I have heard all of the excuses churchgoers offer. "That's not what it means to me!" or "We just do it for fun for the children!" When they give me these excuses, all they are doing is trying to justify that which they know to be wrong, so they do not have to change their lives, and that is because conversion (i.e. turning and changing away from wrongdoing) is more abhorrant to them than paganism, which is abhorrant to God.

Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way:
and he that hateth reproof shall die.
-Proverbs 15:10

Churchgoers typically love their traditions more than they love Jesus.

Many churchgoers are ignorant of the Scriptures, to the point that they do not even understand that their use of the cross symbol (🕇, which is "man's device") should not be used to represent Christianity, and that is why you will not find me using it on my website, in my articles, or in my books, other than to expose it as a pagan icon the world uses as a lazy replacement for the understanding of God's Word. We who are born again in Jesus Christ should not use any kind of symbol to represent Him and His doctrine.
(Read "Christian Symbols Are Not Christian" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
-Acts 17:29

Therefore, if churchgoers want to believe these symbols are good for the church in any way, they are making the Word of God of no effect to the hearers because they are hypocrites that will not hear the truth. We Christians are commanded not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness that have been created by the pagans, but rather, we should correct those who do these abominations.

Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
-Mark 7:13

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
-Ephesians 5:11

Eggs and chicks obviously go together because one eventually comes from the other. Although evolutionists cannot figure out which one came first, God told us it was the chicken that came first, and that makes logical sense, but if you have an atheistic worldview, you will be unable to answer very simple questions, and instead be left with childish riddles that will never be solved.
(Read "Evolutionism: Another New-Age Religion" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

But churchgoers are left with their own riddle about how to connect their so-called "Resurrection Sunday" to painted eggs and "Easter-egg hunts" because there is nothing in the Bible that even slightly hints at such symbolism or practice, but once again, corrupt pagan ideology offers a very simplistic and logical link. The following quote is from the owner of Salem West, one of the largest witchcraft stores in the midwest, and is the host of the annual Real Witches Ball, one of the largest gatherings of witches in America:
"Culturally speaking, we see public Easter egg hunts and games designed to promote community. Why not? After all, not only are those eggs a symbol of animal fertility associated with this Holiday, but the very practice of hunting those eggs comes from the ancient practice of hunting for eggs and nuts to be given as gifts of fertility... What better way of sharing the true Pagan meaning of this celebration with our children?"
-A.J. Drew, A Wiccan Bible: Exploring the Mysteries of the Craft from Birth to Summerland, Career Press, 2003, p. 148, ISBN: 9781564146663

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Drew on this point, what better way is there to teach children the ways of the heathen than to create games with prizes? Drew is also correct that it "promote[s] community" because most church buildings in America today are 501c3 incorporated community centers that masquerade as a "church," when in reality, they sold their souls to the IRS by signing a contract that denounces Jesus Christ as the head of the church, and taking a community-center approach helps them keep up attendance numbers that would otherwise dwindle if they taught the truth of Christ's Gospel of Salvation.
(Read 501c3: The Devil's Church here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

The egg is commonly known to be a symbol of fertility in pagan cultures around the world:
"These days, when we think about eggs, we may think of a delicious omelet or a fluffy yellow chick. But eggs have a long history rich in symbolism and have many uses in witchcraft. Eggs in magick and witchcraft represent fertility, rebirth, creation, and abundance... Easter eggs may also come to mind, and the roots of the practice of coloring eggs can be traced all the way back to ancient Rome. The story goes that on the day when Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was born, his mother's hen laid a red speckled egg. She understood this to be a sign of good fortune for her son's future. This led to a tradition of coloring eggs with red dye and exchanging them on important days to wish blessings and good luck to others. Colorful eggs are a common sight around Ostara and Easter. Many witches use this tradition to incorporate color magick and the symbolism of eggs into their practice."
-Sarah E. Wolfe, "Oomancy: The Magick and Folklore of Eggs," Green Witch Living, retrieved Apr 2, 2025, [https://blog.greenwitchliving.com/eggs-in-magick-and-witchcraft-folklore/]

I could find no references to any documentation about Domitia Lucilla (the mother of Marcus Aurelius) having a hen that laid a speckled egg, so that story may not be true. However, what is true is that Rome was home to hundreds of pagan religions, and it was a deeply superstitious society that heeded whatever they considered to be "omens" (i.e. events that are interpreted to be a good or bad fortune of future events), so it is not unreasonable to consider that a story like this might have been handed down to justify some tradition they may have had, and that those things would come from the pagan Roman Catholic Church is no surprise to me either.

My wife and I raise grass-fed chickens, and because they are somewhat free range (i.e. we try to keep them fenced in as much as possible to protect them from predators), different birds have different preferences for where they lay their eggs, and although we have specified areas for them to lay, they choose to do what they want, so when we suddenly see a sharp decline in our egg count, we often end up having to hunt for eggs around the property from week to week. Such egg hunting traditions may have evolved from basic farm practices, but wherever they came from, the fact is that there is no Biblical precendent to connect coloring, hiding, hunting, and using the symbolism of eggs as a nonsensical ritual to allegedly "honor" Jesus Christ, and the thought alone is so foolish and insane, I felt somewhat frustrated that I even needed to write that sentence into this book.

As I mentioned earlier, rabbits do not lay eggs, nor do rabbits commonly eat eggs, as they are not part of their natural diet. Therefore, if there is some connection between rabbits and eggs for a religious holiday, we should find the reason for it in the tenets of the religion in question, and since we do not find them in the Bible, the only other place to look is in pagan doctrine and the weird traditions of men:
"Easter, like nearly every Christian [i.e. Catholic] religious holiday, is rich with an abundance of Pagan overtones, customs, and traditions such as Easter eggs and the Easter bunny. Eggs, as previously mentioned, were ancient fertility symbols and offerings to the goddess of the Pagans. The hare was a symbol of rebirth and resurrection, and was a sacred animal to many lunar goddesses in both western and eastern cultures, including the goddess Ostara, whose escort was a rabbit."
-Gerina Dunwich, Wicca Craft: The Modern Witches Book of Herbs, Magick and Dreams, Citadel Press, 1991, p. 28, ISBN: 9780806512389

"Eggs and rabbits are sacred to Her [Ostara]... Pagan Anglo-Saxons made offerings of colored eggs to Her at the Vernal Equinox. They placed them at graves especially, probably as a charm of rebirth. (Egyptians and Greeks were also known to place eggs at gravesites)... Rabbits are sacred to Ostara, especially white rabbits, and She was said to be able to take the form of a rabbit."
-RavynStar, "Goddess Ostara," Mar 17, 2012, retrieved Apr 2, 2025, [https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/03/17/goddess-ostara/]

This is indeed what pagans and witches believe, as we can see from the following image of a wreath sign sold on Etsy. As I explained in my book, Christmas: Rejecting Jesus, the wreath is a symbol of witchcraft's "wheel of the year" (as well as a vaginal symbol), representing the annual cycle of sun and moon worship, and this wreath was designed with the image of Ostara (i.e. Easter), the goddess or "Queen of Heaven" transformed into a rabbit, but with the queen's crown still on her head.

(See DesignsbyCherylBaker, "Ostara Bunny Wreath Sign," Etsy, retrieved Apr 2, 2025, [https://www.etsy.com/listing/1352199922/ostara-bunny-wreath-sign-ostara-wreath])

And the lamb is also symbolic in pagan lore as a fertility symbol during Ostara:
"Lamb Amulet: To increase fertility or to fill your home with peace, use an amulet in the shape of a lamb (the symbol of fertility and peace)."
-Gerina Dunwich, The Wicca Spellbook, Citadel Press, 1994, p. 78, ISBN: 9780806514765

Some churchgoers will argue, "The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God, so what's wrong with that?" This question is not meant as an inquiry for understanding, but rather, it is asked as a justification, to push away any argument that would show them their own wrongdoing.

Their (perhaps willful) lack of understanding comes from their ignorance of the difference between an analogy and a symbol, and why the Bible uses analogies while the pagans use symbols. For example, John the Baptist called Jesus "the lamb of God" in the first chapter of the book of John:

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
-John 1:29

When John gestured to Jesus Christ and told the Jews to "behold" Him, he was not pointing at a man and teaching the Jews to believe that Jesus was a literal sheep. Rather, John was emphasizing an analogy that Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that God had foretold He would send to save the world from their sins.

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
-Genesis 22:8

An analogy is a comparison between two things, highlighting some similarities to explain or clarify the meaning of something, however, a symbol is an object, image, or word that is not used just for comparison, but as representation of something. Put another way, an analogy builds a bridge between two things to teach a lesson, while a symbol replaces or condenses meaning into a single idea.

For example, if I said "Time flows like a river," that is a decent analogy to show that time flows one way in a consistent path. However, if I took you to a river and said, "Behold, time!" that does not logically follow because the river does not become time itself, nor does it represent time.

This is one of the reasons that idols are nonsensical. Pagans make idols to represent things that are nonexistent, and though they pray to their idols, those idols cannot pass knowledge of any kind; they are dumb (because they cannot speak), and that makes them vain and confusing, let alone an abomination in the sight of God.

Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto
these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
-1 Corinthians 12:2

They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
-Jeremiah 10:5

The following author is a veteran practitioner of Wicca, and even does "evangelistic" teaching in a pagan prison ministry:
"For Wiccans, lambs are symbols of the cute and fluffy, of innocence and of youthful energies. In the early Spring, it's appropriate to symbolize our God as a lamb—so long as we remember that lambs do mature, and the males become rams, just as our God matures and takes on the more assertive and lusty aspects we associate with male sheep."
-Ashleen O'Gaea, Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara, Career Press, 2004, p. 139-140, ISBN: 9781564147318

To hold up a lamb (or any image of one) and say it is representative of Jesus Christ is an offense against God because the Bible tells us that we ought not to worship and serve creatures.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
-Romans 1:25

Of course, churchgoers will argue that they do no such thing, but why is it that they put up images of lambs in their homes and church buildings during Easter? They only have one answer: because of Jesus Christ, and therefore, they are creating a symbol of Jesus in idolatry.

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. -Deuteronomy 4:15-19

These verses are given to us for instruction and correction, that would know the will of the Lord, and what pleases and displeases Him. Should we ignore this and just do whatever we please? Or should we consider that God hates the ways of the heathen and turn from them?

(See Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, [https://www.homemoravian.org/])

Jesus Christ, nor the doctrines of His Gospel, were ever meant to be symbolized by anything, not even the cross symbol as I mentioned earlier. The Lamb of God is a name for the metaphor of Christ being a pure sacrifice for the sins of man, but in paganism, the lamb is an actual symbol they use to represent their god, and Christians should have no part with those who follow the traditions of the heathen.

But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
-1 Corinthians 5:11-13

If we are not to keep idolaters among the church, why would we keep the idols themselves? It is basic reason that if the idolater is condemned, the idol is also condemned, and therefore, those of us born again in Christ should have nothing to do with these pagan traditions.

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
-2 Timothy 2:19-21

For example, if a pastor told everyone that they should bring Muslim symbolism into the church building, and that they all should get prayer mats and face Mecca in honor of Jesus, there would likely be substantial push back from the congregation because they know it is dishonorable to the Lord to practice Islam, which is also a pagan religion. However, what churchgoers quickly forget is that paganism itself is a religion, and rather than object to it, they have accepted the pagan traditions, and defended them with great fervence.
(Read "Islam: Religion of Terror" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

When one belief or practice contradicts the other, which one do you keep?

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
-Matthew 6:24

Most churchgoers refuse to pick one, and therefore, being lukewarm, they will be rejected by Christ:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
-Revelation 3:15-16

Some churchgoers may want to dismiss my hypothetical example about Islam as "ridiculous," but they fail to recognize that it is not a hypothetical because a religion called "Chrislam" exists, which is a combination of so-called "Christianity" and Muslim beliefs. Likewise, there is a religion called "Christian Wicca" in which the same thing happens, just with paganism instead of Islam; both of them are abominations, and their ideology, practices, and symbolism should be thoroughly rebuked and removed from among the church.
(See PBS "'Chrislam' Combines Christian and Muslim Beliefs," retrieved Apr 3, 2025, [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/daily-videos/2023/08/chrislam-combines-christian-and-muslim-beliefs]; See also Cassie Beyer, "Christian Wicca," Wicca For the Rest of Us, June 20, 2014, retrieved Apr 3, 2025, [http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/christian-wicca/])

However, that is not what we see the average church building doing. In fact, most church buildings in America (and around the world) uphold similar sentiments as the followers of so-called "Christian" Wicca, and the following quote is from Nancy Pittman, who is one of the key people who popularized the "Christian" Wicca movement:
"The Easter Bunny had its origins with the legend of the Germanic Goddess Eostre. The small field rabbit wished with all its heart to please this Goddess. As a show of his devotion, he decorated the sacred eggs with bright colors and intricate patterns and then humbly presented them to his beloved Goddess. She was so pleased with the bunny's beautiful work, that she wished all of humankind to join in and share her joy! Since that day, the Eostre (Easter) rabbit has gone throughout the world carrying out her wishes, and delivering little decorated gifts of life."
-Nancy C. Pittman, Christian Wicca: The Trinitarian Tradition, self-published, 2003, p. 123, ISBN: 9781410753472

Of course, this is a bunch of garbage because, based on what I have read in Wiccan articles, they mostly reject "Christian" Wicca because it is not only contradictory to pagan beliefs, but also because (as you can see) it is overly loose with the lore. But as I just said, churchgoers blindly follow the practices without consideration for the doctrine, and just continue in worldly rituals while glorying themselves in their shame.

"Following the success of its Candy Bar Bingo Night in March, First Reformed Church, the Church on the Hill, in Walden hosted yet another successful community event, dubbed their 1st Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Boasting nearly 1300 Easter eggs, the church received an exciting response from its members and the greater Walden community. Complete with the Easter Bunny attending, the event included eggs, refreshments and good old fashioned family fun!"
-Wallkill Valley Times, "First Reformed Church hosts its first Easter Egg hunt," Apr 20, 2023, retrieved Apr 3, 2025, [https://www.timeshudsonvalley.com/wallkill-valley-times/wallkill-valley-times/stories/first-reformed-church-hosts-its-first-easter-egg-hunt,77679]

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly [i.e. they do things for the money], and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
-Philippians 3:18-19

This is what I meant earlier when I said they took a "community-center approach," because to them, it is about serving the community, not serving Jesus Christ. Of course, those things do not have to be mutually exclusive (depending on the context), but providing paganism to the community is not serving them, nor is it serving Jesus Christ.

The only thing it is doing is gaining noteriety from the community (which is why they called the local media to cover a story on them), so they can get attendance, which gives them access to more money through tithe. Tithe is completely unbiblical in the New Testament Church, and if anyone wants to learn more about that, I would recommend my article "Tithe is Not a Christian Requirement" here at creationliberty.com (keyword search 'tithe'), and in that, I provide more details about the "storehouse tithing" doctrine, which is a false doctrine that was started by the Wesleyans at the turn of the 20th century after they got themselves in a bunch of unbiblical debt because they attempted to gain noteriety and money by hosting these same types of carnal community events.

And it is not just evangelical church buildings defending this pagan garbage, but Catholics also defend it, and on the aforementioned website, Catholic Online, Catholic author Marshall Connolly claims that the Easter Bunny tradition is "Christian" in origin:
"Rabbits are common and found on every continent except Antarctica. Rabbits are also prolific breeders, especially in the spring when they are most commonly seen interacting with one another. As a result of their fertility, rabbits have long been associated with spring and with new life. Even the Greeks pointed out this connection. However, the Christian tradition of the Easter Bunny has distinctly Christian origins. The ancient Greeks thought rabbits could reproduce as virgins. Such a belief persisted until early medieval times when the rabbit became associated with the Virgin Mary, who we know became pregnant without knowing man."
-Marshall Connolly, "The surprising origins of the Easter Bunny -- it's not what you think!" Catholic Online, Apr 17, 2025, retrieved Apr 22, 2025, [https://www.catholic.org/lent/story.php?id=67999]

To say that "rabbits became associated with the Virgin Mary" does not mean the Easter Bunny is a Christian tradition, but what evidence did Connolly offer for this? If you read the whole article: Nothing. The only thing Connolly does to provide any evidence for this claim is to offer his conjecture that it is the truth.

Do not take my word for it, read his conclusion where he says there is a lot of documentation to support his claim, but he offers NO references for it:
"Conversely, there is considerable documentation that the rabbit was once associated with virginity, the Virgin Mary, and with the season itself, in a Christian context. As a result, we must conclude, the Easter Bunny is a distinctly Christian symbol, and does not have pagan origins as occasionally claimed by those who despise the popular children's myth."
-Marshall Connolly, "The surprising origins of the Easter Bunny -- it's not what you think!" Catholic Online, Apr 17, 2025, retrieved Apr 22, 2025, [https://www.catholic.org/lent/story.php?id=67999]

I am unsure if Connolly knows what a myth is:

myth (n): a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature
(See 'myth', Random House Dictionary, 2025, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

He first makes the claim that the "Easter Bunny" is Christian symbol of the Virgin birth, (which is already absurd, and he offers no sources to back up his claims), but then he calls that a "popular children's myth." If his claim were true, that the Easter Bunny represents the Virgin birth of Mary, then it is referring to something that IS true, not something that is fictitious, which would not make it mythical, but still admits it is a "myth," and I think that is because this author knows he is spinning a lie.

He also argues that 19th century fiction author Jacob Grimm was responsible for making the Easter Bunny popular, and then offers no example or other sources of information to back it up. There is only one source that he provides in his article, and that is to another article he wrote on "Easter Eggs," so I went to that article, and it is essentially a repeat of the first; namely, a bunch of conjecture with no evidence:
"Since Christianity was heavily influenced by Roman paganism, which it supplanted, many have accused the egg of being a pagan symbol. Jehovah's Witnesses and atheists are fond of pointing this out to Christians, and arguing that Christians should eschew the egg for that reason."
-Marshall Connolly, "The TRUTH about Easter Eggs. Are they really pagan?!" Catholic Online, Mar 27, 2016, retrieved Apr 22, 2025, [https://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=67961]

By "supplanted, Connolly means that pagans stole Christian tradition, which is nowhere near the truth, and he provides no evidence for the claim. Again, paganism was around long before Jesus Christ and His church, and it was the pagans of Rome who started up the vile Catholic Church, who grew out of the roots of pagan lore, who supplanted paganism, and who, to this day, cannot see the pagan forest because the pagan trees are in the way.

Connolly then attempts to use a logical fallacy called "poisoning the well," which is where you associate an opposing argument with a negatively-viewed person, group, place, or thing. In this instance, Connolly is arguing that because Jehovah's Witnesses and atheists have bad ideology, and because they also say that Easter is pagan, therefore, Easter is not pagan, which is childish absurdity.

Atheists and Jehovah's Witnesses are correct to call Easter paganism, but just like Catholics, they are incorrect in their general ideology. Thus, to watch atheists or Jehovah's Witnesses argue about this with Catholics is like watching two monkeys locked in a zoo, throwing feces at each other, arguing about the other being trapped in a cage.

If you read Connolly's article, he argues that chickens were common in medieval Europe, and people preserved eggs to have after Lent. (i.e. Lent is also a corrupt practice, and we will cover more on that in chapter four.) Therefore, he concludes (based on no evidence whatsoever, and no sources at all) that the egg became a "Christian" symbol of Easter, but Connolly has no respect for his readers (and the 1.4 million students Catholic Online claims to "educate") because the fact that he provides no sources for his claims is proof that he believes his readers (most especially Catholics) are all stupid and will just believe anything they are told without question.

It is no coincidence that, in the vast majority of cases I have seen, I find a false gospel on salvation being preached by church buildings who host Easter celebrations. Of course, it is not automatically conclusive of that because, as Connolly rightly pointed out, Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Easter, and they teach a false gospel as well, but my point is that most church buildings have no concern about the truth of the Gospel of Salvation in Christ, many of them refuse to discuss it among one another (because it causes proper Biblical division based on the truth, Luke 12:51), and that is why it is no surprise to me that they also openly practice pagan tradition without shame.
(Read "Corruptions of Christianity: Jehovah's Witness" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

The following image is an Easter egg hunt hosted by Grace Community Church in Noblesville, in my home state of Indiana. They teach false doctrine on repentance, teaching that it means to "turn from sin" or "change one's mind" rather than it's Biblical definition of "grief and godly sorrow of sins," therefore perverting the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ into a works-based ideology.
(Read There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

(See WSBT-TV, "Indiana church holds 30,000 Easter Egg Hunt," Apr 1, 2024, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfFp8r77HeI])

Because they teach that one must repent to be saved (which is correct), they (whether knowingly or not) teach repentance as "conversion" (which is incorrect), or in other words, they are preaching one must convert (i.e. turn from sin) to be saved, which is a works-based false doctrine. The ironic part about it is that the leavened pastor of this congregation has taught the following, and this comes from his sermon notes on their website:
"In OT, 'repent' was the favored word of the prophets with the goal of calling the people of God away from idolatry to faithfulness to YHWH."
-David Bell, "Repentance and Faith," Grace Community Church, Aug 24, 2014, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://gracechurch.us/sermons/repentance-and-faith]

And yet, despite calling churchgoers to move "away from idolatry," the pastor and those listening in agreement continue in idolatry by hosting pagan Easter egg hunts, of which they have no Biblical mandate or justification for doing. However, pagans have a reason why they highly revere these things, and the following quote is from a neo-pagan who trains others in witchcraft: "EGG is the source of life and the concealment of mystery... Eggs are also symbols of rebirth and regeneration. Along with the hare, the egg appears as a symbol in the cult of Ostara, a spring goddess. These figures were later adopted into the Easter celebration of Christianity as the "Easter Bunny" and decorated eggs. Among the Druids was a belief in the Cosmic Egg of the Serpent, symbolized by the sea-urchin fossil. The connection of the egg and the serpent appears earlier among the ancient Egyptians as the Cosmic Egg of the Sun god Ra. The theme also appears in Greek mythology related to the egg of Orphism, where the egg is the symbol of the mystery of life, creation, and resurrection."
-Raven Grimassi, Encyclopedia of Wicca and Witchcraft, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2000, p. 135, ISBN: 9781567182576; Image from same source

Once again, I need to emphasize that God told us not to learn the ways of the heathen to adopt them:

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
-Jeremiah 10:2

And yet, these people, claiming to be of Christ (while preaching a false gospel on salvation) are spending a huge amount of time and money to do the same idolatry that 3,000 Hebrews were doing that resulted in them being executed:

And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
-Exodus 32:4-7

I have heard the ridiculous arguments from churchgoers that "an egg is God's creation" or "rabbits are part of God's creation," but I would respond: So is a cow. So when the people lifted up God's creation as a symbol for their religious practices, how did God respond?

Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
-Exodus 32:22-28

We Christians ought to care about the lack of care in churchgoers. We should be concerned that there is a substantial lack of concern in those claiming to be of Christ, and if they want to follow the world in willful blindness and blissful ignorance, then so be it; let them follow the world, but if they are unwilling to confess the truth, they have no part in the matters of the church.

And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
-Luke 6:39

How can we teach our children about sanctification (i.e. separation unto a holy use) for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ if we have immersed ourselves into the traditions of witches? Could we immerse ourselves in fornication and adultery while teaching our children about sanctification unto Jesus Christ? If not, why would churchgoers ever believe that they could do it with idolatry and paganism? Their only defense is to repeat their regurgitated excuse, "To me, it's all about Jesus," so they can justify idolatry and worship of pagan gods to be "holy" so they do not have to give up the worldly pleasures they love.


If you thought 30,000 eggs was a lot of investment, here in Indiana, another church building, Living Hope Church, used to hold a 200,000 egg hunt at Lake County Fairgrounds, involving multiple helicopters dropping eggs from the sky. This church-ianity conglomerate (half of which is made up of fat, female so-called "pastors," who have no leadership authority in the church of Christ, 1Ti 2:12) claim that this insane amount of time and money is to bring "the hope, love and purpose of God to all people," and once again, we have churchgoers thinking they can use pagan carnival games as a means of "sharing the love of God," when in reality, they preach a false gospel and set a horrible example.
(See Living Hope Church, "The Midwest's Largest Easter Egg Hunt! Easter Eggstravaganza," retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://web.archive.org/web/20180601213951/http://www.lhcweb.org/easter-eggstravaganza/])

It is not just ignorance, it is WILLFUL ignorance, or rather, they are being stupid on purpose. They want to be ignorant of the truth so they can continue doing whatever pleases their flesh, and this is because, although they honor Jesus Christ with their lips, their hearts are far from Him.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
-Matthew 15:8

These are willingly ignorant that they are profaning the name of Christ in service to the pagan sun god.



 

The title of this chapter might seem like hyperbole (i.e. exaggeration) to the average reader, but as we will see, it is based on the foundation of pagan tradition, and the foolish actions of churchgoers who cover their eyes and ears to avoid correction. In the first chapter of this book, we learned about the word origins of Easter, and that it contains the word 'east', which refers to the direction in which the sun rises.

"Old English east, eastan (adj., adv.) 'east, easterly, eastward;' easte (n.), from Proto-Germanic *aust- 'east,' literally 'toward the sunrise' (source also of Old Frisian ast "east," aster "eastward," Dutch oost Old Saxon ost, Old High German ostan, German Ost, Old Norse austr "from the east")... The east is the direction in which dawn breaks."
-See "east," Etymology Online Dictionary, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=easter]

Easter's name is centered around the sun coming up over the horizon, which is a reference to the sun god's conception and birth in pagan lore. Of course, churchgoers will argue that just because the name refers to the rising sun does not automatically make them sun worshipers, but we need look no further than the special "sunrise services" that are held every year on Easter morning.

It is quite common for church building organizations to schedule their congregations to come out before dawn (on the first Sunday morning after the first full moon of the Spring Equinox), while it is still dark, to watch the sun rise. For example, in North Carolina, this congregation of churchgoers met at a graveyard (which is ironically fitting) to pay homage to the sun, while they claimed with their mouths they were there to "honor Jesus." (See Holly Meyer, "Easter is March 31 this year. Here's why many Christians will wake up before sunrise to celebrate," Associated Press, Mar 29, 2024, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://apnews.com/article/easter-christians-sunrise-services-jesus-resurrection-369324a6e9561da528b46c080103bd93])

What many churchgoers today do not understand is that the Lord rebuked the Jews for doing the same thing:

He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
-Ezekiel 8:13

God told Ezekiel to turn and look at the great abominations of the Jews. As we learned in the introduction to this book, an abomination is something that God hates with the utmost hatred.

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
-Ezekiel 8:14

God brought Ezekiel to the Temple, at the north gate, which is where sacrifices to the Lord were offered, making it a greater offense to have idolatry in this area. The women had no business being in this place doing what they were doing, and worse still, they were "weeping for Tammuz," who was a fertility god of the Sumerians.

According to myth, Tammuz was the lover of the goddess Inanna, who is the same as Ishtar (or Easter). Inanna descended to the underworld, died, and resurrected from the dead, but to live, she had to provide a substitute, and that substitute was her lover Tammuz, who was dragged into the underworld forever; thereby, a month-long, springtime "weeping for Tammuz" pagan tradition was implemented, and was mostly performed by women.

Remember, these traditions were done LONG before Christ and His church, despite the claims of willingly ignorant churchgoers that "pagans stole Easter from Christians," which is absurd. Did the pagans steal these traditions from the Jews? No, the Jews corrupted their traditions by infusing pagan rituals into them, and thus, we have Biblical evidence to support the pattern that religious people will claim to be of God, but profane His name by adopting pagan practices.

Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
-Ezekiel 8:15

The abominations of what comes next are even more hated by the Lord than what was just described.

And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
-Ezekiel 8:16

The priests of the Temple stood on the porch leading up to the Temple, and turned their backs to the altar, which was their duty to oversee, a responsibility given to them by God, so they might instead turn their faces towards the rising sun. The reason they turned to face the sun is because they were giving religious adoration and veneration to it, which was strictly forbidden in the law. In other words, they turned their backs on God's Word, and looked to the sun instead.

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
-Deuteronomy 4:19

worship (v): to adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration
(See 'worship', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

Does that sound familiar yet?
As we can see from the image below, all these churchgoers gathered for the worship of the sun, while slapping a "Jesus" label on it: (See Holly Meyer, "Easter is March 31 this year. Here's why many Christians will wake up before sunrise to celebrate," Associated Press, Mar 29, 2024, retrieved Apr 4, 2025, [https://apnews.com/article/easter-christians-sunrise-services-jesus-resurrection-369324a6e9561da528b46c080103bd93])

Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
-Ezekiel 8:17

Should these things be reckoned to be "a light thing," or in other words, small matters of little importance? Churchgoers certainly seem to have that apathetic philosophy, adopting an attitude that no one should dare question them, and in the vast majority of cases, they certainly refuse to question themselves. The corrupt pastors of these institutions have lifted themselves up to a position of high importance, have taken money from the poor to fill their own pockets (and we will cover more on that in chapter seven), angered the Lord under the pretense of "praise and worship," and "put the branch to their nose," which was a way of saying that the bad branches that would normally be put to the fire are instead given great importance.

Churchgoers today are no different than the Jews in the days of Ezekiel. They commit abominations, disguise them as "holy" rituals, and they care nothing for the offenses they do against God.

If ye love me, keep my commandments.
-John 14:15

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
-1 John 5:2-3

Please do not misunderstand my argument because there is nothing wrong with going outside to watch the beauty of a sunrise, but why do churchgoers go out to do it on Easter Sunday? They claim that they do it for "Jesus," and therefore, they are doing it for divine honor, meaning that they are turning the sunrise into worship.

worship (v): to adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration
(See 'worship', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The sun is being given divine honors and supreme respect because it is said to be "all about Jesus." That is worship.

And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
-Deuteronomy 17:3

The Bible tells us that we can learn from the rising sun, and understand that the Lord God is due all divine honor.

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
-Isaiah 45:6

However, that does not mean we were intended to create sun worship rituals in the name of Jesus, nor were we intended to adopt rituals from those who worshiped the sun. If (as churchgoers often argue) these Easter rituals are truly spiritual and "all about Jesus," I would challenge them to show me where the Holy Spirit instituted them in the Bible.

Where did Christ or His apostles institute or even remotely suggest any of these things? Where did they set an example of precedent to keep this tradition? The problem with modern day churchgoers is that they will take anything they want to do, slap a "Jesus" sticker on it, and claim it is "holy."

In fact, nowadays, some church building organizations do not have a leavened pastor come out to give his dime-a-dozen sermon during the sunrise. Sometimes, they just play or sing music and watch the sun rise, and thus, they are not doing anything different than the abominations of the Jews in the days of Ezekiel.
(See Salem Congregation, "2024 Moravian Easter Sunrise Service," Apr 5, 2024, retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://youtu.be/VOP16lvEtmM?t=2783])

But even if they do preach some sermon, why is any of this necessary? They did not find these traditions in Scripture, they did not learn them from the apostles of Christ, but rather, these were invented by pagans who first practiced these traditions, and they are adopted by churchgoers so that, by performing the traditions, they (like the pagans before them) will feel like they are "holy."

Churchgoers like to argue that there is nothing wrong with songs of praise to God at any time for any reason, but that is not what God has said:

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will
not smell in your solemn assemblies.
-Amos 5:21

The Lord said this about the feast days, which would include the Passover feast, and this is because the Jews used these rituals as a pretense to make themselves look and feel holy, just like churchgoers do with Easter. Therefore, when they performed their rituals, made their sacrifices, and burned their incense, the Lord would have no part with it.

Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
-Amos 5:22

They claimed with their mouths to regard the Lord, but in their hearts, they had no regard to His commandments.

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
-Mark 7:6

This means that, despite the fact that the Jews said they loved God with all their hearts, and despite the fact that they sang songs and gave offerings, there was no repentance (i.e. godly sorrow of sin) in their hearts. They continue in their idolatrous and other sinful practices, had no consideration for the true prophets and teachers of God, and therefore, He would not hear their praise and worship music.

Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs;for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
-Amos 5:22-23

There is a problem with pagan idolatry among churchgoers in the same regard as there were many violations against the commandments of God among the Jews, but instead of acknowledging the truth and turning from them, they stubbornly pride themselves in the pagan rituals they do, and try to justify it by their songs. Paul (via the Holy Ghost) taught us that all Scripture was given to us for instruction and correction, so why is it that so many churchgoers do not care about what God has said in His Word concerning what pleases Him and what does not?

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
-2 Timothy 3:16-17

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
-1 Samuel 15:23

One of the ways we can determine that, despite all the songs they sing to Him, churchgoers have no regard to Jesus Christ, is by their practice of "Lent," which is a ritual that rejects the commandments of Christ.



 

If what I have written so far is not offensive enough to the average churchgoers who pride themselves in their works, this chapter will probably be doubly so. However, I would remind Christians that Jesus made it very clear to us that when the spiritual things of this world are founded on corrupt principles, they will bring forth corrupt fruit.

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
-Matthew 7:17

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
-Isaiah 5:20-21

lent (n): an annual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter, observed by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and certain other churches
(See 'lent', Random House Dictionary, 2025, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

Lent is alleged to be a following of Christ in the sense of participation in a 40-day fast, just as Jesus did in the wilderness:

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
-Matthew 4:1-2

For those of you who know nothing about the details, you might think it impressive that anyone would be willing to fast all food for 40 days every year, but as you might suspect, that is not even close to what they do. According to the Catholic website, Hallow, churchgoers only do a very small calorie cut, and forbid eating meat for one day out of the week:
"On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, fasting rules allow Catholics to eat only one full meal and two smaller meals which, combined, would not equal a single normal meal. Additionally, Catholics may not eat meat on these two days—or on any Friday during Lent."
-Stephen Spiewak, "Lent Fasting Rules: Catholic Rules for Fasting During Lent in 2025," retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://hallow.com/blog/lent-fasting-rules/]

The word origin of the word 'fast' meant to close or secure, which is why we use the word 'fasten' when speaking of something that needs to be tightened. Therefore, the general concept behind the word 'fast' is to close off the entryway of the mouth to food:
"Old English fæst 'firmly fixed, steadfast, constant; secure; enclosed, watertight; strong, fortified,' probably from Proto-Germanic *fastu- 'firm, fast'"
-See "fast," Etymology Online Dictionary, retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=fast]

Modern definitions of the word 'fast' first state that it is a hault of the intake of food, and they add on a secondary definition that is now in common usage, which is a "lessening" of food:

fast (v): 1. to abstain from all food
2. to eat only sparingly or of certain kinds of food, especially as a religious observance
(See 'fast', Random House Dictionary, 2025, [dictionary.com]; See also Collins English Dictionary, 10th Edition, William Collins Sons & Co, 2012)

The first definition makes sense to the word origin, while the second definition is vague and undefined, which makes it mostly nonsensical, and this is no insult to the dictionary authors, because they are simply repeating definitions in common usage. The problem is that when using the second definition, it comes down to a subjective interpretation of what fasting means, and by that definition, a man could simply eat one less french fry on his plate and call it a "fast."

Although there are benefits to fasting for the Lord Jesus Christ, both physically and spiritually, it should be noted that fasting is not a Christian requirement, meaning that we are not specifically commanded to do it; rather, it is simply voluntary if we choose to do so. However, because true fasting, which is no food intake, is so difficult for obese, lazy Americans, they come up with a bogus way of making it look like they are fasting.

I have seen this lazy, apathetic attitude in churchgoers who want to look like they are making effort, so they can appear "holy," while doing almost nothing. So, for instance, I have seen churchgoers say they "fast" chocolate, meaning that they will intake no chocolate for 40 days, or they will "fast" television, meaning that they will not watch TV for 40 days (which, based on the many sinful and false things that are shown on TV, they ought not to do anyway), or something else pampered Americans think they are "sacrificing for Jesus," and these pathetic versions of so-called "fasting" become a symbol of their so-called "righteousness" in the sight of men.

The Council of Nicaea, who were made up of some spineless, leavened churchgoers that wanted to gain the favor and prestige in Rome via Constantine (who was a pagan, not a convert to Christianity, and not someone who came to repentance for the remission of his sins), suggested that some religious cults who claimed to be Christian should practice a 40 day fast ritual like Jesus did. There is no commandment Jesus or the apostles, nor precedent for this in the Scriptures; it was just advised by a pagan emperor. Constantine started the tradition with six weeks (36 days), and later in the 6th century, Pope Gregory is most commonly credited with establishing the 40-day ritual they call "Ash Wednesday."

Catholics (and their various denominations) have a Palm Sunday ritual where leftover palm leaves are burned, and the ashes saved for use on their Ash Wednesday ritual. The ashes are used to make symbols on the foreheads of their peritioners, as described by Hallow:
"It is typical to receive ashes on your forehead in the Sign of the Cross. Similar to taking communion at Mass, you usually process toward the altar to get ashes."
-Cate Von Dohlen, "Ash Wednesday 2025 - The First Day of Lent," retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://hallow.com/blog/ash-wednesday/]

This practice is found nowhere in the Scriptures, so why do they claim to do it? Eastside Catholic School answers this for us:
"Ashes are a sign of physical death, as in 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust.' We began as dust (a joyless and lifeless existence), and our bodies will return to dust until we are raised up by Christ. By receiving ashes and keeping them on, we publicly proclaim our intent to die to our worldly desires and live even more in Christ's image, which we focus on during the season of 'rebirth' that is Lent (a Latin term for 'Spring')."
-Eastside Catholic, "Why Do Catholics Put Ashes On Our Heads On Ash Wednesday?" retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://www.eastsidecatholic.org/news/story-details/~board/campus-ministry/post/why-do-catholics-put-ashes-on-our-heads-on-ash-wednesday-1617224950010]

In summary, those who perform this ritual claim that the ash cross symbol they put on their foreheads is an outward sign of inward repentance, which they claim is similar to repenting in dust and ashes as mentioned in Scripture (Job 42:6), but most importantly for them, it is a symbol of their participation in the Lenten "fast." Although this is a Catholic ritual, many non-Catholic, church-ianity institutions have also adopted this practice, but none of them are following the doctrine of Jesus Christ because He told us NOT to do these things:

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
-Matthew 6:16-18

Washing one's face and anointing one's head was a sign of joy in Jewish society, but the purpose of teaching this, as Jesus said, was that we Christians would NOT appear to others to fast, that we might gain the approval and applause of men. Gaining attention and clout for being "holy" is the primary purpose of this ridiculous religious practice of Lenten ash.

So not only are they circumventing any real effort by creating a bogus version of fasting (i.e. only claiming to fast to gain church-ianity credit for doing an allegedly "holy" tradition), but they are also rejecting the commandments of Christ. David King was a 19th-century author who was part of the Restoration Movement and Churches of Christ (which were an anti-denominational group [as they rightly should be] that had a few doctrinal issues, but were much more faithful to the New Testament Scriptures, especially in rejecting the pagan celebrations of pseudo-Christian cults), and he wrote on this subject:
"Our State Church [i.e. Anglican Church of England, not that he was part of it, but that it is the official state religion of England], like its Mother of Rome, is still busy with Lent superstitions, derived from Paganism... The forty days abstinence of Lent was borrowed from the worship of a Babylonian Goddess. The Yezidis, or devil worshippers of Koordistan, still observe it. Humboldt shows that Pagan Mexicans observed a Lent of forty days, beginning three days after the vernal equinox, in honour of the sun. The Egyptian Lent of forty days was in commemoration of Osiris. To allure the Pagans to an already corrupted Christianity, Rome took measures to amalgamate the Christian [i.e. Catholic] and Pagan Festivals. This was mainly accomplished by Dionysius the Little, about A.D. 525. The change of the calendar, in regard to Easter, brought into the so-called church the grossest Lent corruptions and superstitions; such as we see not in this country, nor in these days, and could not look upon without shame."
-David King, The Ecclesiastical Observer: Fortnightly Journal and Review, Vol. 29, No. 1, Jan 1, 1876, p. 83

Yezidism is a pre-Islamic religion, based in Iran, that has some heavily pagan practices, and although there may have been reason why some people in the 19th-century referred to them as "devil worshipers," it is possible they were called this simply because pagan sacrifice and idolatry is the spiritual equivalent of fellowship with devils according to Scripture. (1Co 10:20) The Yezidis have various fasts, including the "Fast of Shems," who is a sun angel or sun spirit according to their beliefs, which tells us that they are sun worshipers to some degree, and they also observe a 40-day fast at the end of winter in commemoration of Abraham sacrificing a sheep in place of his own son, which provides evidence that these 40-day fasts in spring were common among pagans.
(See Servant Group International, "Yezidi Sacred Holidays and Pilgrimages," retrieved Apr 23, 2025, [https://servantgroup.org/yezidi-holidays-pilgrimages/])

Alexander von Humboldt was a German geographer and explorer who spent years traveling in Mexico and South America, and he wrote a 6-volume series called Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years 1799-1804. Although Humboldt provides general records of religious fasts that were performed by various groups in Middle and South America, I was unable to find any digital documentation in those volumes concerning a forty-day springtime fast, although it should be noted that much of his writing is not digitized nor translated for a researcher like me, who is limited to digital English, and such a testimony might be found in his works in a physical document that is not known to me.

David King also reported the same thing I discovered, which was that Dionysius borrowed from pagan traditions in Alexandria, Egypt for the timing of Easter, but the same applies to why the Catholic Church changed their abominable celebration from 36 days to 40. This was all modeled after pagan lore, to bring pagans to the Catholic temples and get them to pay money for Catholic religious services (such as indulgences, which I covered in more details in my book, Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism), and the Catholic Church had no hesitation to adopt pagan ideology because their religion was founded on Roman paganism in the early 4th century.

The Catholic Church uses the 40-day fast of Jesus as an excuse to justify their tradition, but it has nothing to do with Jesus fasting 40 days, nor do they actually fast 40 days, as I mentioned earlier in this chapter. Gerald Massey was a 19th century Egyptologist, and he pointed out the same connection:
"In Egypt, there was a time of fasting for forty days during the Egyptian Lent. The mourning and the fasting naturally followed the suffering and the death of Osiris... But when the death was shifted to Easter, to be celebrated in accordance with the Jewish Passover, to which it was hitched on, the long time of fasting remained as in Egypt,"
-Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World: A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books, Vol. 2, T. F. Unwin, 1907, p. 746

Massey believed that Catholic ideology was born from paganism, and sought to prove that point, but I would critique Massey on the point that mainstream Egyptology does not support a forty-day fast. The Egyptians, as with the vast majority of pagans, did not fast any longer than roughly 2-7 days, if at all, because they more often sought the pleasures of the flesh. However, that being said, I think Massey was on the right track because the Catholic monk Dionysius, based on multiple sources I found, was primarily responsible for the timing of Lent and Easter we have today, and he got that information from Alexandria, Egypt.

Since there is very little definitive information for either side of the argument, based on my research, here is my theory on what happened: As we learned in the last chapter, there was a pagan tradition of the "weeping for Tammuz," and this was documented by the prophet Ezekiel. (Eze 8:14) Mourning and fasting often go hand-in-glove, meaning that someone that is in deep mourning often has little to no appetite (as many of us who have heavily grieved have experienced), and this connection is found many times in Scripture:

I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.
-Deuteronomy 26:14

And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
-Ester 4:3

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
-Joel 2:12

So the people start out as pagans, and then convert to Catholicism, but not Christianity, and because they become Catholics instead of Christians, they maintain their old traditions of paganism (instead of abolishing them), but they hybridize them with the Bible. So when they have a month-long mourning for a false god at springtime, they then translate that into a month-long mourning for "Jesus," then the Catholics, who (like the Pharisees before them) are much more rigorous in their performance of duties to make them look "holy" in appearance, declare a "fast" of mourning, but water it down so that it does not have to be an actual fast because that would be far too much suffering for them.

Thus, what has happened in modernity is that churchgoers (in childish fashion) see that Jesus fasted 40 days in the Bible, see that religious institutions declare a 40-day fast of "Lent," and then automatically conclude that Lent is a celebration of Jesus. In logical terms, this is called a "conflation" fallacy, or some readers may know it as "comparing apples to oranges" and calling them the same thing.

The argument looks like this:

A has quality X, and B has quality X.
Therefore, A and B are the same.
That might be confusing for some readers, so let's look at an example:

Watermelons are green, and lilypads are green.
Therefore, watermelons and lilypads are both fruit.
As you can see, a conflation argument is not sound reasoning, and invokes a foolish pattern of thinking that makes no sense. We cannot classify lilypads as fruit just because they have the same coloration as a watermelon.

Likewise, churchgoers are arguing:

Jesus fasted 40 days, and Lent is 40 days.
Therefore, Lent is all about Jesus.
That does not logically follow, and furthermore, the demonic cult of Catholicism did not originally practice 40 days. (i.e. It was five weeks plus one day for a total of 36 days.) They changed it from 36 to 40 for no other reason than to ignorantly say, "because Jesus," despite the fact that it makes no sense to do it in the context in which Jesus was fasting.

In Matthew 4, Jesus was to be tempted of the Devil after 40 days of fasting to fulfill prophecy before the beginning of His ministry. So why churchgoers would want to somehow compare themselves to Christ by doing a weak and lazy version of so-called "fasting" (which is actually just a minor dietary restriction) for forty days according to that context is bafflingly silly because there is no reason for it.

I can completely understand churchgoers getting fooled into thinking this way because people in religious cults often lie to gain converts. However, once this has been explained to them, and they continue to believe in the pagan ideology anyway, despite the fact that it has no Biblical justification, we can know we are dealing with someone who is foolish, and glories in themselves for that which they should be ashamed.

For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
-Phillipians 3:18-19

fool (n): one who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of understanding; an idiot; often used for a wicked or depraved person; one who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness
(See 'fool', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 9, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes:
but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
-Proverbs 12:15

If you want to fast for 40 days, then by all means, you are free to do as you please. My grandparents successfully fasted for 40 days a couple of times, on their own, as they decided to do so, but that was not in honor of any pagan celebration, nor was in honor of an antichrist religion like Catholicism.

It is hilariously hypocritical of so many denominations, who were founded on preaching against the corruptions of the Catholic Church, to turn to the Catholic-pagan traditions. I once received a local church-ianity bulletin in the mail, advertising the pagan worship of Lent in a handful of church buildings in our county:
"The Waldron Area Ministries invites you to experience Lent...
March 23rd - at Waldron Baptist Church, Preacher: Rev. Brandon Sutton (Blue Ridge Christian Union Church)
March 30th - at Rays Crossing Christian union Church, Preacher: Rev. Marcy Patrick [unbiblical FEMALE pastor] (Waldron United Methodist Church)
April 6th - at Little Blue River Baptist Church, Preacher: Rev. Alan Small (Interim at Waldron Baptist Church)
April 13 - at Waldron United Methodist Church, Preacher: Community Choir Cantata - "The Day He Wore My Crown"
April 18 (Good Friday) - at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Musical Drama"
-Waldron Communicator, Vol. 8, No. 4, April 2014

Outside of our church, I am unaware of a single church building in our county that does not participate in this pagan garbage. However, it is fitting since they commonly do unbiblical things in their various cults, like how they are all 501c3 incorporated (which requires signing a contract that denounces Christ as the head of the church), they call themselves "Reverend" (which means "holy," even though only the Lord God is called reverend in Scripture, Psa 111:9), and they bring in female so-called "pastors," despite the fact that female pastors are not tolerated in Christ's church. (1Ti 2:12)
(Read 501c3: The Devil's Church and "Titles Are Unbiblical in the Church" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

These corrupt people are leading everyone into practicing a tradition that they all believe will make them "holy," but if we look at it through spiritual glasses, we can see them embarrassing themselves by participating in corruption. They claim to do these things based on the timing of things Christ did, but they do not pay close enough attention to realize that, no, they do not.



 

Not only are the dates of Easter and the time frame of Lent both based on pagan traditions, the time line of Easter weekend makes no sense. Jesus told us that, after His crucifixion, His flesh would remain dead for three days and three nights:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
-Matthew 12:40

Paul later confirmed the same:

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
-1 Corinthians 15-3-4

Although I could find no documentation to determine the origin of the phrase "Good Friday," it is a day that Catholics signify to be the day of Christ's crucifixion, but the entire celebration is based on paganism, not on Scripture, so it does not matter what they want to call it. The point I want to make is that they claim it is the day that Jesus died and was buried in a tomb.

The crucifixion of Jesus began in the third hour:

And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
-Mark 15:25

According to Jewish terminology, the new date rolls over at 6:00 PM each night (similar to how the date rolls over at midnight for us), then the work day begins at 6:00 AM, and the next twelve hours of daylight are separated into four sections called the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and the twelfth hour. In other words, it breaks down like this:

THIRD hour: Anywhere from 9:00 AM to NOON SIXTH hour: Anywhere from NOON to 3:00 PM NINTH hour: Anywhere from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM TWELFTH hour: Anytime after 6:00 PM

So the third hour was likely meant to be just before noon because the testimony of John says:

And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 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. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
-John 19:14-16

As a side note, John calls it the "preparation of the passover" that is not meant as a Passover preparation, but rather, a prepartion that happened to be on the day of Passover. There is nothing in the Scriptures (nor, from my understanding, anything in the Talmudic writings) that called the readying of the Passover feast a "Passover preparation," but there was a preparation for the Sabbath, which (as I just said) happened to take place on the day of Passover, so John called it "preparation of the passover," which likely has confused some people on the timing of the day of Christ's crucifixion.

So the process of the crucifixion, where they stripped Jesus, handed Him the cross to bear, and led him up to the execution site, was somewhere around noon, which could both be said to be the third and sixth hour, depending on the perspective. (Maybe because Matthew was a tax collector, he was more of a "glass-half-empty" type.) Soon after, Jesus was nailed to the cross, and hung on it suffering until the ninth hour, which would be sometime in the evening before 6:00 PM, and that indicates that He hung on the cross roughly between 3-5 hours.

Now from the sixth hour [i.e. noon] there was darkness over all the land [i.e. dark cloud cover] unto the ninth hour. [i.e. 3:00 PM] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?... Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
-Matthew 27:46-50

Joseph of Arimathaea then went to Pilate (who had allowed the Jews to do this despicable deed) to request permission to take the body of Jesus to be buried in a tomb. This was done in the evening on that day same day, likely by around the 12th hour, or sometime around 6:00 PM, and it would have taken some time to get Jesus down and processed, which would mean that it would have been close to dark by the time they got His body to the tomb.

When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
-Matthew 27:57-60

Now that we have a timeline, let's do some basic math. I am sure that if you are reading this book, you know how to count to three, so start with Friday evening, and use this chart I made to help you count:
If Jesus died on Friday evening, then Saturday evening would be day 1, Sunday evening would be the end of day 2, and because Paul told us that Jesus rose from the dead the third day, that means Jesus would rise from the dead any time during the day on Monday. This begs the question: Why is everyone celebrating Jesus rising from the dead on Sunday morning, when they should be celebrating it on Monday?

The answer to this question is more simple than most churchgoers might realize: Easter is not about Jesus Christ. Easter is about adhering to religious traditions of heathen that were molded by the antichrist Catholic Church for their purposes.

In a comedic attempt to justify this, Ken Ham's corrupt Answers in Genesis ministry published an article by Paul Taylor (who later moved on to work with Eric Hovind's corrupt Creation Today ministry), in which he pointed out what I said earlier, that the date for the Jewish calendar rolls over at 6:00 PM, and by borrowing a chart from false preacher Matt Slick of the corrupt CARM (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry), claims that this accounts for the day discrepancy. The following is a DECEPTIVE chart, and I will demonstrate that in a moment, but first, let's look at the chart and read the argument:
"This table indicates that Jesus died on Good Friday; that was day one. In total, day one includes the day and the previous night, even though Jesus died in the day. So, although only part of Friday was left, that was the first day and night to be counted. Saturday was day two. Jesus rose in the morning of the Sunday. That was day three. Thus, by Jewish counting, we have three days and nights, yet Jesus rose on the third day."
-Paul F. Taylor, "Three Days and Nights," Answers in Genesis, June 29, 2009, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/resurrection/three-days-and-nights]; See also Matt Slick, "How long was Jesus dead in the tomb?" CARM, Dec 2, 2008, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [https://carm.org/bible-difficulties/how-long-was-jesus-dead-in-the-tomb/]

This is completely wrong, and the only way that Taylor could come to this conclusion is if he IGNORES the Scripture. We have already seen this at the beginning of the chapter, but let's read it one more time:

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
-Matthew 12:40

This means that the body of Jesus would be lifeless for at least three full nights, but that is not what Taylor just told us. He told us that the missing time was counted while Jesus was still alive, and if that were true, then that would make Jesus a liar, which is what Taylor is doing (whether he realizes it or not) in order to justify his viewers' pagan funtime celebration so they can continue to think themselves "holy" for participation in it.

This chart by Matt Slick (whose last name is fitting for his scam operation he calls a "ministry"), is deceptive because when you glance at it, you see three days, right? This is because Slick attempted to include the entire previous night, when Jesus was arrested and brought before Pilate, when He was at trial, and all the time He was hanging on the cross (still alive) as part of the "three days and three nights."


You can see more deception by the labels that Slick put at the bottom of the chart, classifying three sections as "Crucifixion," "Sabbath," and "Resurrection," even though those three labels have nothing to do with the fact that Jesus said His body would remain dead for three nights. It is the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus that are the start and finish to that three days and nights timeline, but Slick deceptively renames and miscategorizes these things to justify his tradition.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died at about 3:00 PM, so if they want to claim that He died on Friday, then why not celebrate His resurrection on the day of His resurrection, which would be Monday morning? It is because that upsets the narrative of the tradition, and in the hearts and minds of these false preachers, they will twist and distort the Scriptures, making Jesus into a liar, and worship and serve the creature (i.e. the created thing, like the day itself) more than the Creator.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
-Romans 1:25

Their god, their lord and savior, is Easter, not Jesus Christ, and these hypocrites, who run ministries, schools, church buildings, and websites, will tell you that you should ignore preachers like me because they claim to be honor "Passover" through the celebration of Easter. This is another lie because Passover and Easter are not the same thing, even though modern corrupt bible versions conflate the two celebrations into one thing because Passover is NOT a Christian celebration.



 

In chapter four, we learned about the "conflation fallacy," which is an error of logic that attempts to take two things that are different and call them the same. (e.g. An orange and a basketball may share the same shape and color, but are not the same thing.) Likewise, Easter and Passover are often called the same thing, but they are not the same thing by a long shot, and sadly, many pastors often misuse the Greek language in their willful ignorance as an attempt to justify their pagan traditions.

As we have already learned, churchgoers reject consideration of any small thought that Easter might be pagan, and could not care less what the Bible says about pagan practices. In like manner, when the Bible shows us that Easter was celebrated as a pagan religion, they reject that too because for churchgoers, despite what they claim, the Bible takes a back seat to their true god, Easter.

Let's take a look at Acts 12 in the King James Bible (KJB):

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 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.
-Acts 12:1-4

These verses have been hotly debated among churchgoers because the KJB uses the word 'Easter' in this passage, whereas other watered-down versions use the word 'Passover'. Why does this matter? Because if the celebration of Easter were to be used separately from Passover at this time in history when Christians were being hunted and killed, it would mean that there is evidence in the Bible that Easter was not originally a Christian holiday.

Herod Agrippa hated Christ and His doctrine, and therefore had no favor for Christians, so He killed one of the primary disciples of Christ, and because of their wickedness and hatred, the Jews rejoiced. Because Herod was cheered on for slaughtering Christians without a cause, he had Peter arrested so he could publicly execute him, but there was a problem with the timing because it was the days of unleavened bread, which was sacred to the Jews, and the Easter celebration was also coming up, which was sacred to the Gentiles, so he decided to hold Peter in prison until all the feast days were finished.

Many preachers, in books and websites all over the world, have blasted the KJB for its use of the word 'Easter' in Acts 12:4. For example, author Mark Long said:
"The word 'Easter' is only found in one scripture in the entire King James Bible. Other translations have thankfully corrected this mistake."
-Mark L. Long, Misplaced Loyalty, Xlibris Corporation, 2009, p. 157, ISBN: 9781441589118

Phil Sandilands also writes his opinion that the KJB is wrong:
"But the NKJV [New King James Version] translators wanted to make necessary corrections in vocabulary and grammar too. They and most other modern translators recognize that 'Easter' was an inaccurate translation of pascha in Acts 12:4, and they use the word Passover instead."
-Phil Sandilands, "Easter in the Bible? Translation Error!" Life Hope & Truth, retrieved Apr 11, 2025, [https://lifehopeandtruth.com/life/plan-of-salvation/holy-days-vs-holidays/origin-of-easter/easter-in-the-bible/]

And the aforementioned false preacher Matt Slick parrots the same:
"The KJV is not the perfect English translation upon which no improvement could ever be made. Easter may be a rather benign translation error here, but it is still an error, and it is certainly an improvement to replace Easter with the proper word 'Passover,' just as modern English translations all do."
-Matt Slick, "Easter and the KJV," Oct 31, 2018, retrieved Apr 11, 2025, [https://carm.org/king-james-onlyism/easter-and-the-kjv/]

The word 'Passover' was not invented until the 16th century by a man named William Tyndale (1494-1536, a Christian martyr executed by his government under the influence of the Catholic Church), and while working on an English translation of the Bible, Tyndale created the term 'Passover' because there was no single-word English equivalent at the time. In his translation, he used the word 'Easter' in Acts 12:
TYNDALE BIBLE: "And when he had caught him he put him in preson and delyvered him to .iiii. quaternios of soudiers to be kepte entendynge after ester to brynge him forth to the people."

Almost no other version in existance, outside of the Tyndale Bible and the King James Bible, uses the word 'Easter' in Acts 12:4. Some of you may be wondering if I am arguing that the majority of bible versions are wrong, and indeed, not only is that what I am arguing, I am also going to show you how to prove the KJB is correct by using the Scriptures to verify it the translation of 'Easter' as opposed to 'Passover'.

Let's begin by looking at the appointed holiday in the Old Testament:

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
-Exodus 12:18

In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover.
-Leviticus 23:5

According to the Bible, the Jews were to kill a lamb and eat it on the celebration day, which Tyndale named "Passover," and that was in the month of Nisan on the Jewish Calendar, which lasted from the 14th to the 21st, a total of eight days. The Passover was celebrated the first day, and "at even" (which was the end of the first day, as we learned in the previous chapter) they were to eat the Passover feast. For the next seven days after that, they were supposed to eat unleavened bread, and that week, the week AFTER Passover, is called the days of unleavened bread.

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even [i.e. in the evening] the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
-Exodus 12:15

So to clarify, the 14th of Nisan is the Passover celebration, and the 15th-21st are the seven days of unleavened bread, or "the feast of unleavened bread." The Bible clearly makes a distinction between the day of Passover, and the days of unleavened bread, and you can cross references these verses in the modern, corrupt bible versions as well because they say mostly the same thing.

This is also contextual subject matter one must know to understand what Paul was talking about in 1st Corinthians 5:

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
-1 Corinthians 5:7-8

This is not saying that we are to observe days and times (Gal 4:9-11), but that the Passover celebration was completed in Christ, and that we should purge out wickedness and iniquity from His Church. With Christ, the Passover is finished, and now we are to be unleavened in Him because the feast of unleavened bread was symbolic (or prophetic) of this dispensation of His church.

And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
-Leviticus 23:6

Perhaps some people misunderstand this because when they subtract 15 from 21, the result is 6, or (21 - 15 = 6), but counting time is different from counting units because when counting time, you have to start from zero. When you start a stopwatch, you will notice it starts from zero, not one, and that is because time requires counting the equadistance between the numbers.


Again, there are eight days represented for this feast, the first day being Passover, and the following seven days being the days of unleavened bread. Now that we have proper contextual knowledge from God's Word, let's go back and analyze Acts 12:4 once more:

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) [i.e. Passover had already passed.] 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.
-Acts 12:1-4

At the time Peter was put in prison, the Passover had already passed over because it was the days of unleavened bread. There is no logic to the idea that Herod would want to hold Peter in prison until Passover the following year (and place 16 soldiers, or four quaternions, to guard him for an entire year) when he was trying to quickly appease the wrath of the Jews against the Christians and gain political popularity from both Jews and Romans.


The context that is overlooked by churchgoers and pastors is that Easter was a PAGAN celebration, and they overlook it because they quickly reject it in their hearts before they are willing to hear reason. Easter was a big deal for most Roman citizens because it was a huge celebration that would have been sullied by a political execution, so Herod (wisely, from his perspective) waited until after the pagan Easter celebration to have Peter publicly executed and appease the Jews.

In attempt to justify Easter as "all about Jesus," some churchgoers argue that the celebration of Passover is the entire eight-days, not just one day. However, those who make that argument are either ignorant of the Scriptures or they are lying because the Bible makes it clear that they are two distinct times; one being the Passover, and the other being "the morrow after the passover when they would eat unleavened bread:

And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.
-Numbers 33:3

And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
-Joshua 5:11

One of the most popular arguments churchgoers make is that the Greek word 'pascha' means "Passover," but even though it is true that the word 'pascha' is used in Acts 12:4, the word "Passover" is NOT the proper contextual translation in that passage, which is why William Tyndale did not use it there. (Tyndale used 'Easter' in other places it should not have been used, but we will cover more on that in a later chapter.) The word pascha is used in the KJB 29 times, and of those, 28 are used for "passover," and only one (in Acts 12:4) is used for Easter.

Many scoffing preachers (who hate the KJB more than they will admit publicly) condemn the KJB for translating 'pascha' to mean "Easter" in Acts 12:4, but they often overlook the fact that there is no Greek-equivalent word for Easter. Just as Tyndale had to invent the word 'Passover' to create something that would describe the Hebrew holiday, so did the Greeks.

The Greek word 'pascha' was used to represent the pagan Easter celebration. Because the pagans celebrated Easter after the Spring Equinox, which is roughly the same time the Jews celebrated Passover, the Greeks called the Jewish Passover "pascha," since there was no Greek equivalent word for it.

Some churchgoers have objected to this, claiming that the word 'pascha' is not the Greek word for "Easter." Easter is a widely celebrated event in Greek-speaking countries, so they must have a word for 'Easter', and if it is not 'pascha', then what is it?

I went to the DeepL website, which is an AI translator, and I typed in the title to this book, Easter: Abomination in Disguise. The following is a screen shot of the translation for it: (See "Easter: Abomination in Disguise" translation, DeepL, retrieved Apr 11, 2025, [https://www.deepl.com/en/translator#en/el/Easter%3A%20Abomination%20in%20Disguise])

As you can see, the word Πάσχα is used for "Easter." For those of you who do not know, the Greek word 'Πάσχα' is Páscha, meaning that if a Greek-speaking person wants to say "Easter," they use the word 'pascha'.

The word 'pascha' is used to describe BOTH the Jewish Passover and the pagan Easter festival. Which definition is used depends on the context in which the word is used, and in Acts 12:4, the word 'Passover' does not fit because the Passover had already come and gone, so that means 'pascha' was used to refer to the pagan celebration of Easter, but to acknowledge that would mean that Easter is not a Christian celebration (otherwise, they would have honored Peter instead of arresting him), and thus, churchgoers condemn the King James Bible because they love their pagan traditions more than they love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
-Mark 7:13

If churchgoers want to use erroneous, corrupt, watered-down bible versions, they are free to do as they please. However, if you want a Bible that is perfectly preserved by the guiding hand of God, I recommend the King James Bible, and if you want a more in-depth study as to why the King James Bible is far superior to modern versions, I would recommend reading my book, Why Christians Should Study the King James Bible, here at creationliberty.com.

The other baffling thing that churchgoers do is confuse Easter with Passover, as if they are the same thing, or that they are in some way related to each other. Not only do churchgoers falsely equate paganism with Passover in Scripture, they also falsely equate their renamed "Day of Resurrection" with Passover to justify their pagan celebration, and those are also not equivalent.

Many years ago, a lady wrote a letter to me and complained that I was teaching Christians that they ought not celebrate Passover. This infuriated her because she was part of one of the many Hebrew-roots cults that believe in the nonsensical ideology they must adopt all the appointed times of the Old Covenant. She cherry-picked a portion of a couple of verses, and quoted them to me as follows:

For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Therefore let us keep the feast,
-1 Corinthians 5:7-8

If I were to show you nothing more than these two sentences, you might be left thinking that you ought to observe the Passover feast. This is why cherry-picking Scripture out of its context is so dangerous, and it is how most false doctrines and nonsensical religious practices get started.

Let's briefly go over 1st Corinthians 5 to get a better understanding:

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
-1 Corinthians 5:1

After addressing the sins of pride and strife in the church, Paul goes on to address the fornication taking place because he had received word that some in the church were involved in fornication to a greater degree than even the Gentiles would typically allow. The reason Paul points this out is that, this example of a mother/son sexual relationship is extreme to the point that even the Gentiles would look upon it in disgust, and therefore it was a shame that those who claimed to be of Christ would not be the first to be offended by such acts in the church.

That being said, it is possible that the culprits behind this fornication were not a mother and son relationship because it specifically says "his father's wife." Therefore, it is more likely that the mother had died, or the father divorced the mother, and he married another woman, then the son had a sexual relationship with the new woman, who would have been his step mother. Under the Old Testament law (and still in the New Testament), the one-flesh relationship between a man and his wife means that if the son uncovers the nakedness of his mother, it is the equivalent of uncovering the nakedness of his father, and even though the woman is not his biological mother, it is still an offense against the father (Lev 18:7), and obviously, an offense against God.

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
-1 Corinthians 5:2

Because they were lifted up in their pride, spending so much time warring against each other in struggle for superiority in title and rank, they were blinded to the fact that they should have mourned in grief of the sin that was allowed to persist among them. They ought to have rebuked the sin, and if there was no repentance of it, they should have removed that offending family from the church, that the body of Christ would be presented spotless before the Lord. (2Pe 3:14-16)

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
-1 Corinthians 5:3

Though Paul was not with them physically, his spirit had concern and care for them in the same way as if he was among them, and though not being with them, he judged the matter in righteousness (as Jesus instructed us to do, John 7:24). Please note that Paul was not there, and likely did not know some of these people personally, but judged the matter anyway, because God loves righteous judgment (Isa 61:8), and it should have been embarrassing to Corinth that they did not judge righteously what was in front of their own eyes.
(Read "Unbiblical Cop-Outs: 'Don't Judge Me!'" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

This will tie together with the meaning of what Paul said was "keeping the feast" of Passover, so bear with me as we walk through the Scriptures:

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
-1 Corinthians 5:4

Paul was re-emphasizing the fact that all judgment and sanctification should be done in the name of Jesus Christ, not in the name of Paul, or any other apostle, as Paul had already rebuked them in previous chapters of this wrongdoing. This is one of the many reasons that denominations are completely unbiblical; they are institutions crafted by men, not by the Holy Ghost.
(Read "Denominations Are Unbiblical" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

When the church gathered together to handle the matter, Paul prayed that his same spirit, by which he was given the extraordinary gifts, would be present with them without his having to be physically present, and that such extraordinary gifts would be manifest among the church by the power of Jesus Christ. When the apostles were present, there was much fear of God because many of them heard of not just extraordinary miracles of blessing, but also of punishment, just as Ananias and Sapphira had been struck dead by the Holy Spirit for lying about their donation to the church (Acts 5:1-11), and some, in their arrogance, believed that Paul would not personally come to them (as he pointed out in 1Co 4:18), therefore, they also foolishly believed that the judgments of the Holy Spirit would not reach them if the apostles were not physically present.

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
-1 Corinthians 5:5

It is the duty of the church to remove those who do not repent (i.e. to grieve in godly sorrow and broken-heartedness) of their sins, as Paul will point out at the end of this chapter (1Co 5:11-13), but in combination with verse four, this was a unique instance in which Paul, who had been given the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, had been moved to declare, upon removal of this offending man (who was obviously a false convert, since his spirit was not saved), that he would suffer the torments of Satan against his flesh for the purpose of bringing punishment upon him for his wicked deeds in the hopes of bringing him low, humbling him to the point that he would receive the gifts of repentance and faith from God, acknowledging the truth, having his sin forgiven, and being born again. Though none today have this authority from the Holy Spirit (namely, to punish a man's flesh for his sin, as Peter did with Ananias and Sapphira), we still ought to remove the unrepentant sinners from the midst of the church because we should consider the condition and salvation of their souls first and foremost, but this special instance of discipline was a way to warn those false teachers that God's influence is not limited to the presence of His apostles.

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
-1 Corinthians 5:6

The Corinthian church glorified themselves in the fact that the numbers of the church were growing, but the problem was that they were not removing corrupt people from the church, which only gave a false appearance of growth. This is still a common problem with church buildings and other church-ianity events (like revivals) because they almost never remove anyone from their rosters, giving a false appearance that they have growth, while everyone remains willingly ignorant that they are neck deep in leaven (i.e. corruption).
(Read "Revivalism: The Devil's Design" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

They also boasted in the sense of denomination, being in strife against one another, and the pride of abundance in food and wealth, so they were blinded to the fact that they were corrupted by the wickedness among them. (Rev 3:17) It was common in that day for most people to understand that leaven in the dough of bread is what causes the bread to rise, and that if left in the bread long enough, the bread will continue to increase in size; likewise, when false doctrines are left in the church unchecked, and the church continues to grow in number, it will endanger the church as a whole, being spread by word and example, and will corrupt many. Sadly, despite the fact that in the early years of my life I spent two decades attending church buildings as a young man, I NEVER once recall hearing a pastor teach about leaven (Gal 5:9, Luke 12:1), nor was it ever explained to me, and I believe that is why, today, I still encounter so many churchgoers who have no idea what the analogy of leaven means in Scripture, nor about the dangers of it, and how Christ warned us to beware of it. (Mat 16:6-12)

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
-1 Corinthians 5:7

Just like the man who was fornicating while among the church, the old leaven (i.e. the old way in which we used to live as sinners) should not be named among us in Christ. When we are born again, we are made new creatures (2Co 5:17), and being a "new lump," we are made without leaven. This is why all things pagan of the Gentiles, like the celebration of Easter, should be put away from among the church. Paul then explains that the reason the feast of Passover was celebrated with the seven days of unleavened bread was that it was prophetic of the coming of Jesus Christ.

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
-1 Corinthians 5:8

As we can see, the woman who emailed me cut this verse off after the first six words, and did not bother to consider the rest of it seriously. This is not to say that we should observe the Jewish passover, but we are keeping the feast in the spiritual sense, as Christ fulfilled the ordinances of the law.

Thus, the way in which we Christians keep the Passover feast is by study of God's Word (2Ti 2:15), applying His doctrine to our lives, and living sincerely, which would be purely, without deception or hidden malice, coming to the light that our deeds may be seen that they are founded in Christ. (John 3:19-21) So if any Christian claims to keep the Passover feast days of the Old Covenant, they are ignoring the commandments of the Holy Ghost to us, that we would study God's Word, understand the truth, put away corrupt things, and live according to the Spirit in truth, as Jesus said:

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
-John 4:24

Now that we have understanding of Paul's teaching, I would say to Christians that if you want to keep the Passover, then abolish Easter. The religions of the Gentiles are an abomination unto God, and to bring them into the fellowship of the church is to bring in leaven, rather than keeping the church unleavened as the Spirit of God has instructed us.

Furthermore, there is another problem in that participation in the Old Covenant Passover feast of the Jews is a rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not saying that those who have ever participated in a Passover feast have rejected Christ, but those who claim to be of Christ and give honor to the feast days of the Jews are indirectly denouncing Jesus as the Messiah.

I once knew a Messianic Jewish rabbi who held a Passover feast for a Catholic Church as a way to educate them on it. As a veteran Christian looking back on my time as a new Christian, I can see now how vile and contradictory the entire setup was, but I was invited by a friend of mine simply for an educational experience so that I could understand what the Passover was, and now I am better equipped to explain to readers what they generally do, and what it all means.

There are 15 steps to the Passover, and they are as follows:

1. Kadesh (meaning "sanctified")
This is named after a city called Kadesh which is mentioned many times in the Bible as the Jews traveled in the desert. (See Gen 14:7, Num 13:26, etc) It is symbolic of their freedom from Egypt, and at the beginning of this feast, they recite some things for remembrance.

2. Urchatz (meaning "washing")
They wash their right and left hands three times each, based on Jewish tradition. (See Mat 15:2)

3. Karpas (meaning "vegetable greens")
They take a small piece of vegetable greens, dip it in salt, and eat it, creating a bitter flavor, enhanced by the salt, to bring tears to the eyes, remembering the tears the Jews shed as slaves in Egypt. They recite a prayer: "Baruch Ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Borei Pri Ha'Adama," which translates: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the land."


4. Yachatz (meaning "division")
A piece of matzah (unleavened bread, which is like a large, unsalted cracker) is broken in half, and the larger half (called the Afikoman) is hidden for children to find. As far as I understand, afikoman means "dessert," but the Greek equivalent, aphikomenos, means "He has come." The broken afikoman is wrapped in linen cloth, hidden in the room, and the children participate in the tradition of looking for it, and this is important for why this Passover feast is, in the New Testament dispensation, an offense against Christ, as we will learn in a moment.

5. Maggid (meaning "teacher")
This is a reading of the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt.

6. Roachtzah (meaning "wash")
They wash their hands again, and this time a blessing is said over it. The prayer recited is: "Baruch Ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Asher Ki-d'shanu Be-mitzvotav Vetzivanu al Netilat Yadayim," which translates: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to wash our hands."

7. Motzi (first blessing)
They eat unleavened bread with a blessing that says: "Baruch Ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Hamotzi Lechem Min Ha'Aretz," which translates: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth."

8. Matzah (second blessing)
They eat unleavened bread again with another blessing that says: "Baruch Ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam, Asher Ki-d'shanu Be-mitzvotav Vetzivanu al Achilat Matzah," which translates: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the eating of unleavened bread."

9. Maror (meaning "bitter")
Bitter herbs are eaten and traditionally dipped in Charoset, which is a mixture of apples, nuts, and juice to resemble the clay the Hebrews would make in Egypt. This is a rememberance of the bitter days of slavery, and when bitter herbs are not available, they will sometimes use a bitter dip, like horseradish. The prayer is said: "Baruch Ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu Melech Haolam Asher Ki-d'shanu Be-mitzvotav Vetzivanu al Achilat Maror," which translates: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the eating of Maror."

10. Korech (meaning "wrap")
They make a sandwich out of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and romaine lettuce, representing the brick manufacturing of the Hebrews in Egypt.

11. Shulchan Orech (meaning "set table")
The full meal is enjoyed.

12. Tzafun (meaning "hidden")
After the children have found the Afikoman, everyone takes a piece and eats of it.

13. Berach (meaning "bless")
They thank God after the meal is eaten. (My understanding is that Jews do not pray before a meal as traditionally done by Americans; they prayed after the meal because if the meal was rotton or poisoned in some way, they did not want to mistakenly label it a blessing.)

14. Hallel (meaning "praise")
While drinking an after-dinner cup of grape juice, they sing songs of God's performed miracles.

15. Nirtzah (meaning "accepted")
They finish with a solemn prayer to God for the coming Moshiach (Messiah).

The reason this is a serious problem is because the Afikoman, which is a large piece of unleavened bread, is hidden, and the children of God must go forth and look for this unleavened bread. Remember, in step four, the unleavened bread was hidden in a linen cloth. Does that sound familiar? If you have not figured it out already, this is symbolic of the coming Messiah, who was still unknown to them because He had not yet appeared in this world, and whose name they did not yet know, so they were supposed to be looking for Him.

Ultimately, the Passover feast is a ritual of looking for the Messiah who had not come, but the Messiah has already come! He is, without doubt, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Jews continue to celebrate the Passover feast because they have REJECTED the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah, and I would ask Christians: Why would you want to follow the corrupt beliefs and hypocritical practices of men who reject the Messiah?

For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
-2 Peter 2:18-22

But to pastors, it does not matter whether it is paganism that is an abomination to God, or whether it is the traditions of the Jews that deny Christ; they have to celebrate something. Why? Because such events are too lucrative for them to pass up.



 

This is a difficult subject to tackle, not because of the subject matter itself, but because it is extremely difficult to find hard numbers from any religious corporation. Because church buildings are not required (via their unbiblical, demonic 501c3 contracts) to report specified data on Easter Sunday, discovering the truth behind how much money they bring in must be done with some deductive reasoning.
(Read 501c3: The Devil's Church here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Although Christmas takes the prize for the overall highest revenue intake of most church buildings (and I cover more details on that in my book Christmas: Rejecting Jesus), Easter is one of the highest attendance numbers for most church buildings:
"Today, 90% of pastors identify Easter as the day their church has its highest, second-highest or third-highest attendance for worship service."
-Aaron Earls, "Easter Remains High Attendance Day for Most Churches," Lifeway, Mar 26, 2024, retrieved Apr 9, 2025, [https://research.lifeway.com/2024/03/26/easter-remains-high-attendance-day-for-most-churches/]

Of course, this depends on the size and location of the church building (the smaller the congregation, the less likely they are to have extra visitors on Easter Sunday), but Easter is typically the highest attendance, rivaled only by Christmas and Mother's Day. (Because 21st century American society has sadly devolved into feminism and worships women instead of God.) Church building organizations are notorious for hiding their income because publishing those numbers might lead to a loss of revenue, but the opposite is true for attendance, and so although they are vague about their attendance numbers as well, they brag about increased attendance because that can potentially help them grow their popularity, which is good for my research because that can help us roughly determine the increase of money they collect on Easter Sunday.
(Read Feminism: Castrating America here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

According to Pew Research Center, of those Americans who identified as "Christian" in 2024, only about 32% say they attend a church service once or twice per month:
"In Pew Research Center's 2020 NPORS [National Public Opinion Reference Survey], 33% of U.S. adults reported attending religious services at least once or twice a month. That's identical to what we found in the 2023-24 RLS and very similar to the 32% measured in the 2024 NPORS."
-Gregory A. Smith & Alan Cooperman, "Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off," Pew Research Center, retrieved Apr 9, 2025, [https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/]

However, Gallup polls found that only about 20% of Americans attended a church building service on a weekly basis:
"What percentage of churchgoing people attend regularly depends on your threshold for what you consider regular attendance. If once a week, only 20% of Americans attend church at that rate, down from 32% in 2000. If we lower the threshold to once a month or more, the number of Americans in regular attendance jumps to 41% (this combines all respondents who answered weekly, almost every week, and about once a month in the Gallup survey)."
-Church Trac, "The State of Church Attendance: Trends and Statistics [2025]," retrieved Apr 9, 2025, [https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023]

Although the precise numbers are elusive, Gallup research has shown a significant spike in internet searches for the word 'church' during the week of Easter, indicating that roughly 50% more people than normal are looking for a church building to attend for the celebration. When asking Americans if they planned on showing up to a church building during Easter, more than 60% said "Yes," and because the number of weekly churchgoers is 20% of Americans, while occasional churchgoers is 32% of Americans, that means Easter Sunday for most church buildings (of medium to large size) brings an increase of anywhere from 50% to 200% of their normal attendance numbers.
(See Noble Kuriakose, "When Easter and Christmas near, more Americans search online for 'church'," Pew Research Center, Apr 18, 2014, retrieved Apr 9, 2025, [https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/04/18/when-easter-and-christmas-near-more-americans-search-online-for-church/]; See also Frank Newport, "Easter Season Finds a Religious, Largely Christian, Nation," Gallup, Mar 21, 2008, retrieved Apr 8, 2025, [https://news.gallup.com/poll/105544/easter-season-finds-religious-largely-christian-nation.aspx])

We can see more evidence of this by simply opening our eyes and looking at Easter attendance in photos of church buildings on an Easter Sunday. The following photo shows a Catholic temple in Washington DC, and if you look closely, the pews are packed with people shoulder-to-shoulder. (See Diane Cameron, "We live in a Good Friday world, but we are Easter people," Baltimore Sun, Mar 31, 2024, [https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/31/easter-people/])

I have attended a variety of church buildings during the Easter celebration in the early years of my life, and it has been my experience in all of them that Easter Sunday had almost twice the attendees show up, if not more than that depending on the size and location of the church building. Please note that these buildings are constructed to have empty space for visitors, because if every seat was filled every week, they would have to build a bigger building to house everyone, so it is clear that they take in an overload on Easter.

According to research done by Church Salary, after analyzing a database of 14,000 church buildings from 2018-2020, they found the average annual per person giving was $2,297. This is just an overall average, and we should keep in mind that, typically, most people give less than that, while there are a few more wealthy donators that provide the majority of what is given, but it averages out to $2,297.
(See Aaron M. Hill, "Average Per Person Giving in the Church," Church Salary, May 16, 2024, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [https://www.churchsalary.com/content/articles/average-per-person-giving-in-church.html])

Some readers might see where I am going with this, to analyze average giving with attendance spikes, but there are some other factors we need to first consider. Nucleus published a report after analyzing over 600 million dollars of donations, they found that the average donation is $210, but keep in mind that they found only 5.6% of all donations comes from weekly giving, while 18.2% comes from monthly giving, and the biggest whopper of all is that more than 75% of all giving comes from those who give a one-time annual gift.
(See Brady Shearer, "Church Giving Statistics 2025 Report," Nucleus, Jan 23, 2025, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [https://www.nucleus.church/blog/church-giving-statistics])

Of course, Christmas is almost always the highest rate of giving, but Easter also pulls in quite a bit because as attendance numbers increase, so do donations, especially during a time when people really want to feel "holy." The spike in giving can also vary depending on whether or not the church building in question puts on a show, with lights, music, and actors to reenact the resurrection of Jesus, because people tend to give more when they are well entertained, as proven by countless street performers over thousands of years.

(See David R. Lutman, "Easter takes center stage at Bates Memorial Baptist Church in 'The Passion Live'," Courier Journal, Mar 31, 2018, retrieved Apr 10, 2025, [https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2018/03/31/bates-memorial-passion-live-easter-2018/471406002/])

Putting on a ridiculous show like this is financially beneficial for the church building organization because they most often get volunteers to do all the work, from stage hands to performers, and therefore, outside of utilities, they have no expenses. Of course, most church buildings do not charge a ticket price to watch the show, so we cannot readily compare it to a normal stage production, but they know that people are more likely to give money after being entertained and made to feel "righteous" for showing up to the event on this particular "Resurrection Day."

So we now have double to triple the normal audience, who come for the express purpose of feeling "righteous" by going to a church building on a particular day that they are told is a "holy day" (i.e. holiday), and they are presented with carefully rehearsed music and/or shows. In addition, they are coerced to give tithe under threats of "robbing God," which is an unbiblical, false doctrine in the New Testament church. Therefore, it is not a stretch of the imagination to conclude that this is one of the biggest money-making events of the year for the average church building, which is why they put so much time and energy into it.
(Read "Tithe is Not a Christian Requirement" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

If the average donation amount is $210, as research indicates that it is, that amount likely goes up on average for a "holy day" like Easter, either from excitement or a sense of obligation. For a smaller church building, they might have 100-200 attendees, and if we add in increased giving, on top of the vile extortion of tithe that nearly all of them practice, having an intake of five digits (i.e. over $10,000) would not be surprising, and for larger church buildings, there is the potential for six digits because, as we saw earlier, most giving is done in single donations on a big event once or twice per year.

For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
-Titus 1:10-13

To clarify, these verses are speaking of men who deceive and speak vain things, to corrupt entire families with false doctrines, so long as they get their "filthy lucre," which is money. They have a love of money because it feeds their grumbling bellies without having to do much, if any, work for it, and the "slow bellies" comment means they are fat and constipated from their habitual overindulgence.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
-1 Timothy 6:9-11

Churchgoers often fervently defend their pastors and claim that he does not do it for the money, but take away the money and see if he still puts in the effort. Sadly, that experiment will never happen, so churchgoers will use their feelings as "proof" of their claims until the end of this world. The name of Jesus is not only being corrupted by churchgoers because they inappropriately tie Him to a pagan festival, but pastors are using Christ's holy name (and His sacrifice on the cross) as a pretense to gain the applause of men and fatten their wallets.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
-Matthew 23:27

 

This book started out as a much shorter article I wrote in 2012. A couple of years after writing the article, a witch named Patricia wrote a letter to me about my exposé on Easter:
"Hello, Mr. Johnson, my name is Patricia and I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the research and time you spent learning the true origins of these 'Christian' holidays, and then making the effort to get this information to a wider audience. It is rather frustrating to see so many Christians celebrating Christ with all these pagan symbols that they don't understand. I myself am familiar with much of this information, so it is quite a relief to see it posted on a website such as this, as opposed to only seeing it on pro-pagan blogs where Christians rarely venture. It's also nice to see a web article where you know the author is educated enough on the topic to post the citations where he got all the information instead of merely typing his opinion and making others guess whether or not his information is credible."

The sad part about this email is that this is a compliment I rarely get from people claiming to be of Christ, but even someone who practices witchcraft acknowledged that I put in the time to understand the fullness of the subject matter. Of course, in the end, she will hate me as much as churchgoers hate me because I use the Word of God to condemn their false religion (just as I do with churchgoers), but at the very least, she can acknowledge that, from the perspective of pagans, my research is accurate, and the sad thing is that she is acting more reasonable in this regard than do most people who claim to be of Christ.

"Still, there is something that I am a bit confused about and wanted to ask you. The rituals that these people once performed all seemed to stem from the idea of rebirth and the returning of the light. They celebrate with brightly colored eggs and bunny rabbits to symbolize fertility and new life coming into the world, when all the animals would have their babies and the plants grew green again after the long winter. I just wanted to know why those things were so bad to celebrate."

For those of us who are of Christ, and have taken the time to study the Scriptures carefully, it is a simple thing that we ought not to have anything to do with idolatry. To venerate anything (i.e. to give something the highest degree of awe, sacredness, and reverence) that is not directed to the Lord God (i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) is to commit idolatry, but churchgoers and pagans alike have the same blindness to idolatry, the only difference being that pagans openly do it, while churchgoers try to hide it behind the holy name of Jesus Christ.

We learned about this in chapter one, with the Catholic cult worshiping their pagan goddess under the name of "Mary." The Orthodox cult worship "saints," or those dead men who they consider to be saints are prayed to with "affirmation prayers," and that is also idolatry, as well as a form of Eastern mysticism. (They call them "icons" in a pathetic attempt to create a loophole to avoid idolatry accusations from those who are ignorant of the truth, but that does not dispel their idolatry.) Modern churchgoers of various denominational cults then follow suit after these idolaters to adopt their practices in celebration, all of which are abomination to the Lord.

This witch has no understanding that giving divine honors to the creation is to deify nature itself, which is an offense against the Creator of the creation. It would be the equivalent of a baby giving obeisance to the crib instead of the parents, but because Patricia rejects her Creator, and rebels against Him, she sees no problem esteeming the crib.

Instead of looking at nature to gain understanding of the authority and kindness of God, she worships nature itself:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
-Romans 1:20-23

When the Day of Wrath comes, in which the Lord God will severly punish all those who rejected His grace, and (through their rebellious and lackidaisical actions) mocked his longsuffering (see Revelation chapters eight and nine for more details), it will be justified for many reasons, but one of those is that they held the truth in unrighteousness. This means they had capability to see His handiwork and understand His majesty, seeing it clearly by the things that were made by God, but they ignored it, became unthankful, and turned their thoughts to the vain imaginations they invented to justify their sin, declaring themselves to be wise and understanding, while scoffing at the children of God and rejecting the truth in their willful stupidity.

Some readers may see where Patricia's email is going next because she did not write this to me as a simple inquiry, but rather, as an accusation to defend her pagan ideology. What I found fascinating about her letter, and why I appreciated her writing this to me, is that she tried to justify her idolatry precisely the same way that churchgoers do:
"The people back then feared the cold winters, feared there would not be enough food to make it through, feared that the cold would kill them, their family, and their friends. Wouldn't a celebration of returning abundance and warmth be called for? I just don't understand why that was so wicked, and why pagans where evil."

Again, it is because idolatry is sin, and that is because it reduces the power and glory of the Living God to a lower position than His creation, which is a great offense to the King of all creation. For example, if a man was invited to a king's palace, but gave no heed to the king, nor did he have any honor for the king, and ignored the king's rules, doing and saying anything he wanted without regard to the king's commandments, how would the king react to this ungrateful man?

A king would kick that person out of his palace at the very least, and there may be other far worse consequences depending on the situation. All of us have authorities that are over us in this life, whether in government or in occupation, and we all have to answer to someone, but every man and woman on this planet must answer to the Living God for the offenses they committed against Him, but this witch does not understand those consequences because she does not see her sin as sin.

sin (n): the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity; sin is either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command; sin comprehends not action only, but neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law
(See 'sin', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

Pagans may want to claim that ignorance of the law means it would not apply to them, but the problem with that philosophy is that it ignores the fact that God has written His law on the hearts of mankind, meaning that their guilty consciences are triggered when they do wrong. If there was nothing wrong with what they were doing, why would Patricia (and other pagans I have encountered) get so offended when they are told it is wrong? Thus, God explains to us that they know of their own sin, but refuse to see it as sin.

For when the Gentiles [the heathen; pagan unbelievers], which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
-Romans 2:14-15

Paul expands on this idea in more detail a few chapters later:

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. [i.e. lust without restraint] For without the law sin was dead. [i.e. without the law, sin is not acknowledge to be sin] For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
-Romans 7:8-12

To put this another way, there are three reactions people can have when hearing the law of God, and first is indifference, which is the most common. Apathy towards the hearing of the law means that the person is not listening with any intent to understand, and therefore does not care because they are given over to concupiscence. (i.e. lust without restraint)

The second response is to have fear and grief because, once a man has seen himself for the vile, wicked person that he is, he knows he is guilty. That guilt brings a man to shame, and inwardly, it slays him, like an arrow through the heart, seeing sin as the ultimate deceiver and betrayer, which uses him for selfish pleasures, and leaves him in a wretched state that would destine him for eternal damnation.

The third response is anger, but not anger towards sin; rather, anger towards the messenger. This reaction is when a man hears the Word, recognizes his sin, but rejects the truth of it, and instead chooses the pleasures of sin for a season (perhaps even hiding behind the name of Jesus to excuse himself), to satisfy the lusts of his heart and self-justifiction of fallaciously perceived righteousness, and therefore, he condemns the messenger of truth.

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
-Hebrews 11:24-26

Thus, Patricia refuses to accept her deeds as evil because she does not want to perceive them as evil. She has no moral argument against it; rather, she attempts to justify it by saying it is a natural thing. In short, her morals are based on her personal feelings, not based on objective truth, which makes her no different than atheists I have talked to who try to argue the same thing, and no different than churchgoers, whose only difference is that they take the same pagan or atheistic arguments and slap a Jesus sticker on them.

I did not explain this to Patricia in this much detail, and that is because she had no interest in hearing the truth. Again, that is not the reason she wrote her letter to me, as we can see if we keep reading:
"I must be frank with you, Mr. Johnson. Yes, your article truthfully points out the origins of Easter and why it is pagan at its heart and uses pagan symbolism, but the approach you took on the topic was extremely offensive."

Of course, what I have written in this book is going to be offensive not just to pagans, but most of the world who participates in these things. Jesus told us that we, His disciples, are to be the salt of the earth, and salt, by nature, irritates wounds, meaning that, although the message we preach is good for the soul and body, it is offensive to those who love their sin.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
-Matthew 5:13

Patricia continues:
"You can write on and on about paganism being evil because 'they *gasp* celebrate fertility! And the rebirth of spring and light! And the changing of the seasons! And wait, they have a goddess AND a god that are equal in every way and show that feminine qualities are just as important as masculine ones?! Wait, why is that a bad thing? Oh, it says so in this book!' That's great, but you'll find that others see Christianity as that religion that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Because their god told them to."

Patricia then goes on to say many expected things, the first is an attempt to justify her paganism and witchcraft as a good thing, and then an attempt to justify her feminist ideology as good. Feminism is a rebellious and demonic ideology that rejects the commandments and authority of God over women (and thereby, over men as well), abhoring the submissive role they were designed to have, and replacing it with a prideful, usurping of authority they (as females) cannot handle, nor enforce, because they are created for the purpose of being a help meet to men.
(Read Feminism: Castrating America here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
-1 Samuel 15:23

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
-Ephesians 5:33

reverence (v): to regard with fear mingled with respect and affection
(See 'reverence', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

When Patricia says I would "find that others see Christianity as that religion that killed hundreds of thousands of people," she has a misconception that most churchgoers today also have, and that is the fallacious idea that Catholicism is "Christianity." Catholicism (as I talked about in chapter one) is one of the world's largest cults, a false religion parading itself as "Christian," and as I covered in chapter eight of my book, Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism, they initiated the Inquisition, which was six centuries of torture, rape, and murder of many people of various beliefs, some of which were the saints of Christ.

Because a bunch of lofty men with false religious ideology claimed to be "Christians," and defied the commandments of Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mat 7:12), I am now being implicated for Catholic crimes against humanity, as if I am personally responsible for the deaths of many people, some of which were my brethren in Christ. That being said, to address her fallacious argument, just because the Catholic Church does something so vile that we have no words in the English language to fully express, that does not automatically justify paganism to be valid or good, especially considering how much child sacrifice has come out of pagan ideology.
(Read "Abortion: Paganism, Satanism, Sacrifices & Witchcraft" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Patricia then argues that "their god told them to," which I would not argue against, simply because, just like Patricia, Catholics have a false god. Furthermore, Catholics consider their pope to be a god on earth, and I cover more details on that in chapter seven of Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism, so when they follow the commands of the popes, they follow their false gods. However, Patricia's implication is that the Christian God of the Bible told them to do these things, but Jesus Christ (who is God) did not say that; on the contrary, He told them the opposite and the Catholic cult chose to ignore Jesus because they do not serve Him.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
-Matthew 5:43-45

Christ's apostles taught us that we are not to use the weapons of warfare that men use, but rather, we are to challenge faulty philosophies and imaginations of wicked things, using the Word of God to dismantle their preconceived ideologies:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal [i.e. weapons men use to attack the flesh], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
-2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Patricia then says:
"But this book says it's right, so...it must be right and everything else must be wrong. Now, how did it feel reading that opinion, Mr. Johnson? Do you feel your faith in humanity slipping as people attack your faith, the thing you hold above everything else?"

How do I feel? Joyful, because I have been blessed by Jesus Christ.

Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
-Luke 6:22-23

But since she is a feminist, she believes in the ridiculous philosophy that her feelings as a woman are the guiding light of truth, which makes her no different than many insane churchgoers who think the Holy Spirit is the equivalent of their emotions. Please do not misunderstand, our emotions can be in synch with the guidance of the Holy Ghost, especially when we come to repentance (i.e. godly sorrow) of our sins, but that emotion is not the Holy Ghost itself, and often, the emotions of our hearts are deceitful, leading us away from the commandments of God.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked: who can know it?
-Jeremiah 17:9

So in the end, Patricia is just a pagan—an idolater who practices witchcraft—who did not like the fact that I pointed out that the Living God has condemned her practices and beliefs as sinful. She ends by saying:
"I just wanted you to know that your article is hurtful, and I hope one day you gain some perspective, along with some religious tolerance. And in a perfect world, consider uploading an apology."

Exactly how am I not tolerating of other religions? Am I going to their temples to disrupt their worship of false gods? Do I visit their shops and homes to burn them down to be rid of them?

tolerate (v): to suffer to be or to be done without prohibition or hinderance; to allow or permit negatively, by not preventing
(See 'tolerance', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025 [webstersdictionary1828.com])

All I did was write a book to show people that what they do is in direct violation to the commandments of the Christian God of the Bible. What have I done to prohibit or hinder any religious cult from doing what they please? I do not make any effort to stop people in my town from celebrating Easter, nor do I go to them and demand apologies, so how am I intolerant of them? However, by demanding an apology for daring to create negative feelings in a witch, Patricia has demonstrated intolerance of other religions, or in other words, she is a hypocrite, feigning to be "tolerant," while accusing others of rejecting principles that she also rejects.

hypocrite (n): one who feigns to be what he is not; one who assumes a false appearance
(See 'hypocrite', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

What Patricia truly wants is not tolerance, just as churchgoers are also not looking for tolerance. What all of these hypocrites are looking for is acceptance.

accept (v): to take or receive what is offered, with a consenting mind; to receive with approbation or favor; to consent or agree to
(See 'accept', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 15, 2025 [webstersdictionary1828.com])

I refuse to apologize for not accepting paganism in any form, whether it be from the mouths of witches, or from the idolatrous practices of churchgoers in celebrations such as Easter. For me to apologize, which is to say "I am sorrowful inwardly of critiquing pagans and churchgoers alike" would be a lie because I am not sorrowful of any such thing; on the contrary, I am pleased to preach the truth for the Lord Jesus Christ, even if all of them hate me for it.

I am especially not going to apologize for teaching the truth to a woman who is so weak in the faith of her own beliefs that she cannot tolerate reading the Word of God in my book, let alone would she accept it into her home and life. However, she expects everyone else tolerate and accept her witchcraft, just like churchgoers expect everyone to tolerate and accept the witchcraft they celebrate in their church buildings.

I will tell readers the same thing I told her when I responded to her email:

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft... they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
-Galatians 5:20-21

Get angry with me all you want. Call me all the names you wish. Cast all the spells you desire. Pray to all the false gods you choose. God has shown great patience by giving you the freedom to do all these things, but none of them will save you from the Day of Judgment of the Living God.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment:
-Hebrews 9:27

 

This chapter is dedicated to answering the arguments of various famous pastors and evangelists who advocate for Easter as a "Christian" celebration. As much as I would like to answer a wide variety of them, sadly, there are many who do not even bother to address the arguments of their opposition, arrogantly (and ignorantly) presuming that everyone believes their Easter celebration is "holy" simply because they say so.

The research for this chapter was tedious because, in most cases, when you look up written statements from typical church-ianity preachers, they provide the same tired statements that seem to be copy and pasted directly from one another about how it is "all about Jesus." It is rare to find one who addresses the history of the Easter celebration, or makes any kind of attempt to answer arguments, but the following is what little I could find from people who have popular names in so-called "Christian" circles.

 

BILLY GRAHAM - Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

William F. Graham Jr., more commonly known as Billy Graham, died in 2018 at 100 years old, and for the vast majority of his time in ministry, he did everything in his power to lead people away from the truth of Jesus Christ. This might be surprising to those of you who did not know what he taught, or just adopted impressions of him you got from other people, but Graham was an ecumenicist, meaning that he believe in an antichrist one-world religion that encompassed all views of any faith, and if you would like to learn more about that, I recommend my article, "Wolves in Costume: Billy Graham" here at creationliberty.com.

To give a brief example, Billy Graham appeared on Robert Schuller's Hour of Power program in 1997, and they had the following conversation:

SCHULLER: "Tell me, what do you think is the future of Christianity?" GRAHAM: "Well, Christianity, in being a true believer—you know, I think there's the Body of Christ, which comes from all Christian groups around the world; or outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the body of Christ... And that's what God is doing today; he's calling people out of the world for his name. Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their heart that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think that they are saved and will be with us in heaven..." SCHULLER: "Fantastic! I'm so thrilled to hear you say that! There's a wideness in God's mercy!" GRAHAM: "There is, there definitely is."

-Billy Graham, interview with Robert Schuller, Hour of Power, May 31, 1997, [https://youtu.be/3WFkb9NkEHE]

This is Graham stating, in no uncertain terms, that it does not matter what you believe, and that you can even be an unbeliever (i.e. one who REJECTS repentance and faith in Christ) and still have salvation. Schuller (another deceased false preacher) then chimes in with agreement, claiming that God's mercy of salvation is "wide," when Jesus told us that the only thing that is wide is the false doctrine they are preaching which will put listeners on the wide path to hell.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
-Matthew 7:13-14

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life.
-1 John 5:12

Moving on from his heresy on the Gospel of Salvation, Graham and his leavened organization used the conflation fallacy we learned about in chapter four by creating an article of ten quotes from Graham as justification for "Why Easter Matters." The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association prefaced Graham's quotes with this statement:

"Billy Graham has had a lot to say over the years about Christ's death and resurrection—what he has called the two 'most important events in human history.'"
-Billy Graham, "Why Easter Matters: 10 Quotes From Billy Graham," The Billy Graham Library, Apr 1, 2015, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://billygrahamlibrary.org/why-easter-matters-10-quotes-from-billy-graham/]

Again, the article is called "Why EASTER Matters," not "Why the Resurrection Matters," but it is automatically assumed that Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are one and the same. (i.e. conflation fallacy) Graham is then quoted saying that, "Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless," which is a true statement, but that has NOTHING to do with the title of this article.

The reason I wanted to address this conflation fallacy is that, if you investigate this for yourself, you will see this pattern from nearly every preacher and church-ianity organization. They do not question nor address the origins of Easter other than making vague statements without any research, let alone do they show the slightest hint to question whether or not it is good for us to participate in a celebration that was founded by pagans.

To their credit, Graham's staff published a blog answer to the question, "Is it true that the name Easter is pagan in origin?" I am not crediting them with a good response, but I am crediting them with addressing the question:
"The origins of Easter can be traced to several pre-Christian cultures. The name Easter is attributed to Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, Astarte the Phoenician goddess, Ishtar the Babylonian goddess, and Oster, the German equivalent. Eastre was celebrated on the day of the Spring Equinox."
-BGEA Staff, "Is it true that the name Easter is pagan in origin?" Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://billygraham.org/answers/is-it-true-that-the-name-easter-is-pagan-in-origin]

So far so good. This is fairly accurate. Let's continue:
"Jesus was crucified at the time of the Passover; read John 13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14. In the early centuries of the Christian church, the celebration of Christ's death and resurrection, based on the timing of the Jewish Passover, coincided with Eastre's festival."
-BGEA Staff, "Is it true that the name Easter is pagan in origin?" Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://billygraham.org/answers/is-it-true-that-the-name-easter-is-pagan-in-origin]

Again, this is accurate, as it says in John 13:

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
-John 13:1

Easter and Passover were celebrated at roughly the same time, but the key to understanding the error of all this is in their definition of the word 'Easter'. All of this checks out so far, but we have read only two of their four paragraphs of response to this question, so let's read the next part:
"As pagans were transformed by the Gospel, the Christian celebration took the pagan name. In the year 325, the Nicene Council set the annual observance of Easter on the first Sunday following the full moon after the March equinox (usually March 20 or 21)."
-BGEA Staff, "Is it true that the name Easter is pagan in origin?" Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://billygraham.org/answers/is-it-true-that-the-name-easter-is-pagan-in-origin]

Let's slow this down because there is a whirlwind of assumptions and fallacies in this short statement. First of all, I agree that pagans were transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but only if they were "transformed."

transform (v): to change the natural disposition and temper of man from a state of enmity to God and his law, into the image of God, or into a disposition and temper conformed to the will of God
(See 'transform', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
-Romans 12:2

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
-Ephesians 4:21-24

Thus, one who is born again in Christ is transformed so that the will of God is his priority, and he would not be "conformed to this world," or in other words, he would NOT be made to resemble the world in what they say and do, nor to adopt their principles as the foundation of faith. It is vital for Christians to understand that nowhere in the Scriptures does it ever say that we should take the inventions of the world and conform them to try to look like Jesus.

There is not a single instance anywhere in the Old or New Testaments where God ever commanded that His children should take the devices of paganism and use them for His glory. In fact, when the pagans were converted at Ephesus, they brought out their pagan books and burned them in the street for all to see:

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
-Acts 19:18-19

The early church did not adopt the pagan name of Easter for a celebration, but rather, they abandoned it for the sake of Christ. It was false converts that attempted to merge some of the Christian ideology into paganism, and because those who claim to be of Christ will, in the end, far outnumber those who are actually of Christ, it is inevitable that pagan celebrations would be popular.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
-Matthew 7:21-23

What Christians should understand is that false converts have been around from the very beginning, even during the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if left unchecked, they will continue in the false ideology of their imaginations. After the founding of the church in Acts, there were many false converts that convinced others that they were disciples of Christ, which has continued for two millennia, and expanded so far and wide, that the vast majority of those who claim to be "Christians" are not.

For example, the Adamites were a 2nd-century denomination in Northern Africa that believed that Adam and Eve were originally innocent, and so they practiced what they called "holy nudism," which means they held public religious services with all their members stark naked. Various other groups, called the "Neo-Adamites," attempted to revive the denomination at various points through the 13th-17th centuries in Europe.
(See William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity, Scarecrow Press, 2012, p. 21, ISBN: 9780810871793)


(Read "Denominations Are Unbiblical" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
The Ebionites also appeared in the 2nd century, but they denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, and that He was born of a virgin woman. They also believed that the Jewish law had to be strictly followed, they rejected the epistles of Paul, they believed in praying towards Jerusalem (similar to how Muslims today pray towards Mecca), and they believed that the eternal spirit of Jesus and Jesus as a man were two separate beings.
(See Anthony J. Blasi, Social Science and the Christian Scriptures, Volume 1: Sociological Introductions and New Translation, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017, p. 152, ISBN: 9781532611506)

These are just a couple of many examples, but the point I am making is that there have always been false converts who claimed to be "Christian" and were not. Many of these people were formerly pagans, and so they brought their paganism into their fake version of "Christianity," and the Catholic Church later accepted them as "Christians," so that is why Catholic historians say that "early Christians celebrated Easter."

I am not arguing that Easter was never celebrated by churchgoers (i.e. fake Christians) before the Catholic Church climbed its way out of the sewage in the 4th century. What I am arguing is that it was the false converts—the heathen who claimed to be of Christ with their mouths only, but their hearts were far from Him—who carried on the pagan traditions in pretense under the name of Christ, despite the fact that Jesus never commanded this holiday, nor is there any justification for us Christians to continue in pagan ideology of any kind.

The Nicene Council referred to by Graham's staff is the council that helped to form the corrupt Catholic cult in 325 A.D., and this is no surprise to me because Graham yoked together with Catholics for the better part of a century. As I demonstrated earlier, he was an ecumenicist, and did not believe in the Gospel of Salvation as it is taught in the Scriptures. The Council of Nicea was made up of men like Graham, who professed Christ with their mouths, but the problem was that they also bent the knee to Rome, meaning that when they were offered prestigious positions to create a corporation under Rome's umbrella, to make the Roman Pontiff the head of all Christendom, they leaped at the opportunity because their allegiance was not to Christ.

In case any readers might not understand my position on the Council of Nicea, I will make it more clear: The Nicene Council were a group of weak-willed false converts who were more than happy to betray Christ to the corrupt, pagan beast of Rome. As I talked about in chapter one, Constantine was not a Christian; he was an impenitent pagan, parading himself as a so-called "Christian convert" to create religious unity under his authority in the Roman government, and he was key in corporatizing the demonic hybrid of paganism with the Bible.

So even though Graham's staff started out the first half of the answer with accurate information, they immediately shifted to justify themselves as to why they continue to celebrate that which was clearly a pagan festival. In summary, their reason is that a bunch of cowards (under the pretense of "Christianity") got together and told the first pope, Constantine, that they would establish whatever he said, and like the spineless, faithless wimps they were, capitulated to all that Rome required of them, so because the world now highly esteems these double-minded cowards, they will continue in the blissful stupidity of their pagan traditions and say it is "all about Jesus."
(Read Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

At least this clarifies one thing for us: Billy Graham and his association do not follow the Scriptures in all matters of faith and practice. Instead, they follow the traditions of men.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
-2 Thessalonians 3:6

Graham's staff then end with a statement that they claim avoids confusion:
"Some Christians prefer the name Resurrection Sunday instead of Easter. This avoids any confusion with pagan roots and also exalts the significance of Christ's death and resurrection above the commercialization of Easter."
-BGEA Staff, "Is it true that the name Easter is pagan in origin?" Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://billygraham.org/answers/is-it-true-that-the-name-easter-is-pagan-in-origin] Imagine for a moment that a group of queers (i.e. homosexuals/sodomites) and pedophiles get together to have a queer pedophile celebration in broad daylight by marching down the street in a parade of cross-dressing, nudism, and other debauchary. This is generally rejected by most churchgoers, but now imagine that they get together, prohibit the nudism, and call it a "pride parade," does that now "avoid any confusion" and make it acceptable for American society?

That is called deception, not an "avoidance of confusion," and I can easily demonstrate this. The year I rewrote my article into a full-length book is 2025, and on that year, Easter was on April 20th, but Passover was on April 12th, which means that if they wanted to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, they should have done so on April 15th, three days after Passover, but the reason they will not do this is because they celebrate the pagan festival of Easter, which was established by the corrupt Catholic cult, who perform their antichrist Eucharist (along with their witchcraft of transubstantiation), which has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy [i.e. a way of thinking] and vain deceit [i.e. useless lies], after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [i.e. first teachings you learn] of the world, and not after Christ.
-Colossians 2:8

By not participating in the timing of the thing they claim to be worshiping, and setting a new time for it according to tradition, they demonstrate that they are not actually doing what they claim to be doing. They are not celebrating Jesus, but rather, they are celebrating a tradition, and slap a "Jesus" sticker on it, which causes more confusion because of the deception.

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints.
-1 Corinthians 14:33

When Graham's organization upholds the pagan traditions of men, they get praise, they get attention, and they get money, but when I rightly preach against the pagan traditions of men, I mostly get hatred and ridicule. I think we can deduce why Graham and his cult have always defended their Easter traditions, and although they make a pathetic attempt to claim concern about "commercialization," few churchgoers care to understand that Graham's cult are among the worst commercializers of Easter because it materialistically benefits them to do so.

 

KEN HAM - Answers in Genesis

In chapter five, I quoted from an article published by the corrupt so-called "ministry" Answers in Genesis, which was written by a man who now works for Creation Today, which he borrowed from Matt Slick, who is another false preacher. In this section, we will have to cover other false teachers, and that is because Ken Ham, ironically (as opposed to the name of his "ministry"), does not answer very many issues himself, but rather, he outsources them to other people, and I do not believe that he reads most of the books he endorses.

In 2014, I did an analysis on the Ken Ham versus Bill Nye debate, which I called a "Useless Media Stunt" because that is exactly what it was for both sides. I predicted what would be said during the debate four weeks in advance, and I was correct in my prediction, which alone demonstrates what was a clown show it was. It was essentially Ken Ham, CEO of Vague Responses versus Bill Nye the Religion Guy, and both sides were pathetic. However, Ham thought that the boost of viewership he receive from this spectacle was a great opportunity to market a book published by his company called In Defense of Easter: Answering Critical Challenges to the Resurrection of Jesus.
(See "Ham/Nye Debate: Useless Media Stunt," Creation Liberty Evangelism YouTube Channel, Feb 14, 2014, [https://youtu.be/4PMJTk5G4cE])

As we can see, the title of the book is using the conflation fallacy once again, and as I said before, we are going to see a lot of that from many so-called "Christian" ministries. The book was described on Ham's website:
"Skeptics and critics understand the magnitude of the Resurrection, and they have developed numerous theories in their desperate attempts to explain away the wealth of evidence. The early Christians focused uniquely on Christ's conquering of death. Yet many in the church today only discuss the this [sic] vital doctrine at Easter time, and some fail to mention it entirely when attempting to share the gospel with unbelievers."
-Ken Ham, "Just in Time for Easter—In Defense of Easter," Answers in Genesis, Apr 8, 2014, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2014/04/08/just-in-time-for-easter-in-defense-of-easter/]

In my experience in talking with a wide variety of churchgoers over the past two decades, I do not see a lack of people talking about Christ's death and resurrection. Rather, what I see is a lack of people talking about repentance for the remission of sins, as Christ instructed us to go out and preach, and even if they talk about it, they preach it in complete error, or they shove it to side as an afterthought.
(Read There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

However, Ken Ham has to say something to make his book sound important. In his mind, it does not have to be truth, it only has to increase sales, which is the Ken Ham way because he is a marketer, not a minister.

A few weeks before the above article was published on the Answers in Genesis (AiG) site, Ham made a post about Easter to promote AiG author Roger Patterson: -Ken Ham, Facebook Post Mar 13, 2016, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://www.facebook.com/aigkenham/posts/1110881912275497]

Patterson is a former public school teacher who came to work as an "Education Specialist" for AiG. In 2011, Patterson wrote an article for AiG under their "Misconceptions Series" to discuss if the word 'Easter' was of pagan origin:
"The modern controversy over the name Easter, when used in association with the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, is interesting, to say the least. The controversy seems to have blossomed at the beginning of the twentieth century and has caused many disturbances through the years. Examining this question is important to many Christians who do not wish to mix the worship of false gods with their worship of the only true God."
-Roger Patterson, "Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, Apr 19, 2011, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/]

Whereas my argument is that this has been a point of contention for the past 2,000 years, Patterson believes it has only been debated for about a century. What is his argument for this?

"According to various sources, the name Easter has its origin with a goddess of the Anglo-Saxons named Eostre (also Estre, Estara, Eastre, Ostara, and similar spellings in various sources). It is believed that she is the goddess of the dawn and was worshipped in the spring by pagans in Northern Europe and the British Isles. In The Two Babylons, Alexander Hislop claimed Eostre is actually a name derived from the Babylonian goddess Astarte. Hislop extended this connection to include goddesses from around the world: Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Venus, and others. In fact, Hislop argued that all of the systems of gods and goddesses find their origin with Nimrod and his wife Semiramis at the Tower of Babel. Thus, every primary god is a figure of Nimrod, and every primary goddess is a figure of Semiramis."
-Roger Patterson, "Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, Apr 19, 2011, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/]

On this point, I can understand Patterson's error because, at one time, many years ago, I also fell for the deceptions of Scottish Presbyterian Alexander Hislop, although I did not know that I was parroting his false message at the time. (i.e. I heard it repeated by other authors, and have since corrected those errors.) Hislop made the argument just as Patterson accurately described, and he had no references or any other backing for the statement in his 1853 book, The Two Babylons—it is nothing more than an opinion piece.

The error of Patterson's argument is the assumption that because Hislop published an opinion piece that has been parroted by many, therefore, this debate has only taken place in the 20th century, but that is simply not true. I do not know if Patterson was ignorant or lazy, but either way, he obviously does not understand that this debate has been taking place for many centuries before he came along.

For example, in the 16th century, John Knox objected to the idolatry of Easter, instituted by the popes of Rome:
"Nevertheless by our slothfulness, we have suffered that idol the Masse [i.e. the antichrist Catholic Eucharist] not only to be planted again, but to increase so, that the maintainers thereof are like, by all appearance, to get the upper hand, which would be the occasion of our destruction: And for that the Papists [i.e. worshipers of the Pope of Rome] purposed to set up their idol at Easter following, in all places, which was to be imputed to the slothfulness and want of godly zeal of the professors. Therefore they admonished the Brethren to strive to avert the evil in time, and not to suffer such wickedness to continue and encrease, lest God's heavy wrath come upon us unawares like a consuming fire... nevertheless they continued in their wickedness; and the Papists, of obstinate malice, pretended nothing else but to erect and set up their idolatry and superstition; and especially at Easter day following, they intended to put the same in practice, which the Brethren and Professors of the Evangel could not suffer;"
-John Knox, Works of John Knox, 2014, The Banner of Truth Trust, Vol. 2, p. 475, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://archive.org/details/worksofjohnknox0000knox/page/474/mode/2up]

Also, in the 17th century, Puritan William Prynne argued that Easter was created by the Devil and was "the enemy of mankind." He argued against many abominations of the Catholic Church, especially concerning their hypocrisies during Lent. Prynne rejected Easter on the grounds that it was formed according to pre-Christian customs of paganism, and that there was no Biblical mandate for any such thing.
-William Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, 1633, p. 258, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1475-1640_histrio-mastix-the-play_prynne-william_1633/page/258/mode/2up]

To defend Patterson's ignorance, I would say that it is rather difficult to find these sources, and because Christians were often hunted and killed in many cultures all over the world, it is quite challenging to find those faithful men whose writings survived the past two millennia. Those of false religion, who have established themselves in unbiblical lofty mega-corporations, such as Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Orthodoxy (just to name a few) tended to have the funding to maintain a stronghold and monopoly on documentation and scholarship, and because history is most often written by those who have hanged good men, we scarcely have access to the writings of born again Christians. However, the point I will not defend Patterson is on his assumption, meaning that he has not studied all documentation that exists throughout the past 2,000 years, and so for him to make a whopper of a statement that this debate only "blossomed at the beginning of the twentieth century" is a position of willful blindness that is only matched by the vile popes who instituted all this pagan garbage.

Please note that AiG is a multi-million dollar company, and as such, they need to protect their customer base by not offending anyone who claims to be of Christ, no matter what false doctrine they might believe. Therefore, neither Ken Ham nor Roger Patterson will dare say a negative word about the Catholic cult, lest it reflect poorly on their end of year sales numbers.

Patterson goes on to argue that William Tyndale referred to 'Easter' as "Passover" because, he said, it "had no association with the pagan goddess Eostre," and then makes an absurd statement:
"To suggest these men thought of their Savior in terms of the sacrificial offering of a pagan goddess is quite absurd in light of their writings and translations of other portions of Scripture. Even the translators of the KJV, who relied heavily on Tyndale's work, chose to use Easter in the post-Resurrection context of Acts 12:4. Using a word that means resurrection would not make sense to describe the Passover festivals prior to the Resurrection of Christ."
-Roger Patterson, "Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, Apr 19, 2011, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/]

This statement is baffling, and I understand that Patterson has his fancy degree and title at AiG, and I am just a lowly, worthless nobody, but it is as if Patterson is not capable of understanding that there were TWO celebrations by TWO groups of people. One of the groups was called the "Jews," and their feast was called the "Passover" (coined by William Tyndale as we learned about in chapter six).

There was a second group of people called the "Gentiles," and perhaps Patterson has never heard of them before, but they were infamously known to be pagans, and practiced things like witchcraft and sorcery, while worshiping false gods and goddesses. The Gentiles did not celebrate the Jewish holidays because they had their own set of holidays based on their own pagan beliefs, one of which was called "Easter" that was named in reference to the east, where the sun rises, because of the return of the sun in the spring to break the cold of winter.

The reason I have to explain this in simplistic detail is because Patterson suggested that it was silly for men to relate the resurrection of the Savior in terms of a pagan goddess. I agree that it is a silly thing, but that is exactly what the Catholics do with their pagan goddess "Mary," and furthermore, that is what false converts will do when they want to justify their pagan traditions as "holy" under the pretense of Christ, meaning that they will look at Easter, see that it is a celebration of "rebirth," and then say that it is "all about Jesus" because He rose from the dead.

There is no moral excuse for this. Just from a logical standpoint alone it makes no sense, let alone is there any justification in Bible for participating in this, which is why, when it comes to subjects about pagan practices in church-ianity, authors like Patterson NEVER go to Scripture to justify what they do; they instead go to other authors to help them justify their faulty ideology.

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
-Jeremiah 17:5

The phrase "maketh flesh his arm" is referring to getting help to walk when you have an injury, but this verse is not condemning getting help from someone else when you have injured your leg. This verse is saying that when you are looking for spiritual help, and you turn to men to have them justify you, instead of looking to the Lord God for your help and guidance, you are cursed because your heart departs from the Lord.

Finally, I want to point out a glaring hypocrisy in Patterson's article that the average reader will probably miss. When critiquing Hislop, Patterson condemned him for his nonsensical use of phonetics, meaning that Hislop was trying to connect Easter and Eostre to Ishtar and Ashtoreth based on the sounds of the words alone:
"For instance, he argued on a phonetic basis that Eostre from Saxony must be the same as Astarte, Ishtar, and Ashtoreth. This is a leap to consider their relationships based on the sound of the names alone. We might find many examples of words that sound the same in various languages but share no common root or meaning."
-Roger Patterson, "Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, Apr 19, 2011, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/]

I want to credit Patterson for making a good argument, and I agree whole-heartedly. We cannot jump to conclusions about the connections between words based on sound or spelling alone for many reasons I will not get into in this book. However, even though Patterson argues that we cannot draw conclusions based on such flimsy connections, he uses the same phonetics argument to support his position later in his article:
"In the Hebrew, Passover is Pesach. The Greek form is simply a transliteration and takes the form Pascha. Virtually all languages refer to Easter as either a transliterated form of pascha or use resurrection in the name. English and German stand apart in their use of Easter (Ostern) to refer to the celebration of the Resurrection."
-Roger Patterson, "Is the Name 'Easter' of Pagan Origin?" Answers in Genesis, Apr 19, 2011, retrieved Apr 16, 2025, [https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/]

That was a bit confusing, so let me break it down into a simpler format: He is arguing that pesach in Hebrew is the word for their Passover celebration, and it is called pascha in Greek, and because pascha is also used to mean Easter, therefore, he fallaciously concludes that Easter is about a resurrection celebration. In summary, Patterson is hypocritically doing almost exactly the same thing he criticized Hislop for doing, claiming that because two words in two other languages apart from English sound the same, therefore, his observance of Easter is justified to be "all about Jesus."

This is not an isolated incident with AiG because even though Patterson is hypocrite who argued that the similarity in names does not necessarily prove a link, while he claims that a similarity proves a link, this was also done by Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son-in-law. In my book, Christmas: Rejecting Jesus, Hodge wrote a book defending the pagan Christmas celebration in the same regard that Patterson is defending the pagan Easter celebration, claiming that "Hellen is likely a variant of Elishah" for the purpose of arguing the insane position that all the gods of the pagans are actually representations of people in the Bible, therefore, he fallaciously concludes that worship of pagan festivals is acceptable with God.

Frankly, anyone can make up whatever crazy argument they want, but it does not change the fact that there is no place in the Bible where Easter and the resurrection of Christ can be linked, nor is there any place in the Scriptures that you can find the early church observing any such day in relation to the pagan festivals it is now connected to today. The bottom line is that if you want to justify the celebration of Easter as a "Christian holiday," then you have to go OUTSIDE of Scripture to support it, and I cannot, in good conscience, recommend any Christian attempt to justify any spiritual matter outside of the guidance of the Holy Ghost as documented in the Word of God.

 

STEVEN ANDERSON - Faithful Word Baptist Church

I have an exposé on Anderson called "Wolves in Costume: Steven L. Anderson," which I published in 2018, and I showed that he is a wicked, hateful, warmongering preacher that has no business being a "pastor" of anything. (I will refer to him as "Steve" from here on out, and if readers are curious why, see my teaching for details.) Recently (in 2024), as his children have become adults and escaped his home, a few of them have given public testimony about the child abuse going on in Steve's household, and I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ would show their family mercy, and guide them all to the truth of His Word.

In a teaching he gave called "Easter is NOT a Wicked or Pagan Word," Steve said:
"In Acts chapter twelve, I want to point out where the bible actually uses the term 'Easter' because today is Easter Sunday, and there are a lot of people out there who I've heard they're against celebrating Easter, and I've heard people say to me—and in fact, just a few days ago, somebody said to me, you know, 'Did you know that Easter is a horrible pagan holiday, and that Easter is a wicked word, and it comes to this and that, but, lo and behold, that word is actually used in the bible."
-Steven Anderson, "Easter is not a Wicked or Pagan Word," Faithful Word Baptist Church, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://odysee.com/@sanderson1611:8/easter-is-not-a-wicked-or-pagan-word]

Before we continue with Steve's quote, I want to note that he goes on to quote from Acts 12:4, which we learned about in chapter six, and just to refresh our memories, let's look at it one more time:

Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 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.
-Acts 12:1-4

To recapitulate, I demonstrated that the Scriptures show us that the word 'Easter' in this passage is referring to a pagan celebration (which was honored by heathen long before the Catholic Church made an incorporated so-called "Christianized" version of it), and that it is not possible that it is referring to the Passover feast since they were in the "days of unleavened bread," which are the days after the Passover feast. However, Steve comes up with a wild theory, and if anything positive can be said about his sermons, he never ceases to surprise me with his insane ideas, as he goes on to talk about Acts 12 in verse four:
"So there, you see Easter being equivalent to the days of unleavened bread, mentioned in verse three. It says, 'then were the days of unleavened bread', and then in verse four, it said that he put Peter in prison. He was going to put him to death, but he wanted to wait until after Easter. Now, a lot of people have said, 'No, that Easter mentioned in the bible, that's some pagan holiday that Herod was celebrating.' That's just simply not true, you see, the word 'Easter' was the original word for the 'Passover' in the English language."
-Steven Anderson, "Easter is not a Wicked or Pagan Word," Faithful Word Baptist Church, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://odysee.com/@sanderson1611:8/easter-is-not-a-wicked-or-pagan-word]

If you have read the entirety of this book up to this point, and you are not laughing right now, you should be, because it is obvious that Steve did not do any research on this subject before talking about it. It is well known that the word 'Passover' in English did not appear in use until William Tyndale invented it in the 16th century, but not only would Steve's claim heavily imply that English-speaking people were using this word long before Tyndale, he also claims that it was referring to the Passover, which (as we learned in chapter six) can be proven by the Scriptures to be false.

Steve goes on to point out that Tyndale used the word 'Easter' in some places that should have been 'Passover', and that is true, but Steve fails to understand that the word 'Passover' had to first be invented AND implemented by Tyndale, which was a lengthy process. Tyndale would have had to go back through the entire translation to find those passages, and then rewrite them by hand because the moveable-type printing press had not been invented yet, and furthermore, Tyndale was put to death by his government at the beheast of the Catholic Church (for the "crime" of translating the Bible without the Pope's permission) before he could complete his work, which is one of the many reasons the King James Bible project had to be completed.

"By the time you got to the King James Bible, it uses 'Passover' every time except this once, and the reason it uses the word 'Easter' this once is because it's not just talking about the day of Passover, it's talking about the whole week-long feast, and calling that whole week-long feast 'Easter'."
-Steven Anderson, "Easter is not a Wicked or Pagan Word," Faithful Word Baptist Church, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://odysee.com/@sanderson1611:8/easter-is-not-a-wicked-or-pagan-word]

When I heard Steve say this, I sat stunned at my keyboard trying to think of a way to explain this because this is so absurdly simple that I struggled to figure out how to write this paragraph without insulting anyone's basic ability to reason. If the "days of unleavened bread" was called "Easter," then the hundreds of scholars that worked on the King James Bible would have simply said, "Then were the days of Easter," but that is not what was written down in this translation because Easter is something different than the days of unleavened bread.
(Read Why Christians Should Study The King James Bible here at creationliberty.com for more details.)

Remember, the book of Acts was written down by Luke (via the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost), and later, in Acts 20, Luke documented their travels. He mentioned that they sailed "after the days of unleavened bread," but if what Anderson said was true, then it leaves us to wonder why the King James Bible translators did not just use the word 'Easter' in this passage:

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
-Acts 20:6

Even if you look at all the other modern, watered-down bible versions, they also refer either to the "days of unleavened bread," or "the feast of unleavened bread," or in some cases, the "Passover." Tyndale's translation used the word 'Easter' in this passage, but that is because, once again, there was not an English equivalent word for it at the time, so when the King James Bible translators looked at this, they distinguished it based on the context and correlating verses to be the "days of unleavened bread," correcting the Scriptures to what it should contextually say in English, while in Acts 12:4, there was a clear distinction between the days of unleavened bread and the pagan Easter celebration, which is why that was the only place it was used because that is the only time the pagan festival was mentioned in the entire Bible.

Anderson continues his rant:
"To say that it's a pagan word about a pagan festival—when every English bible before it, in modern English, all used the word 'Easter' a ton of times about the Passover, and that's what it's referring to here—the bible says every word of God is pure, he is shield to them that put their trust in him, so you can't take a word from God's word in the King James Bible and say that's a bad word, that's a pagan word. If it were a pagan word, then God wouldn't be using it in Acts 12:4 in your King James Bible."
-Steven Anderson, "Easter is not a Wicked or Pagan Word," Faithful Word Baptist Church, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://odysee.com/@sanderson1611:8/easter-is-not-a-wicked-or-pagan-word]

Again, there was not an English-equivalent word for the Greek word 'pascha' at that time. The word 'Passover' was newly created in the 16th century, and it would take time for it to come into common use. It makes sense that English translations before the King James Bible would so commonly used the word 'Easter' because that is one of the meanings of the word 'pascha', but that does not mean that 'Easter' and 'Passover' are the same thing, nor does it mean that 'Easter' was a holy day; it was only the common word used to represent a Hebrew holiday which had no other word equivalent in English prior to the 16th century.

To simplify the matter, the Passover feast and days of unleavened bread were attached to the word 'pascha' by the heathen Greeks, a word they already used to describe their pagan feast of 'Easter'. This was done simply because both feasts took place within a few days or weeks of each other, but now there is confusion because people think that the pagan festival of Easter and the Passover feast are one and the same, and then further confuse the matter by claiming that it is a 2,000-year-old celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

Steve then expresses his misunderstanding of the Scriptures in what the word 'pure' means in the context of "pure words" talked about in Psalm 12:

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

This is purity in the sense of holiness, meaning that the Word of God is free from the corruptions and stains of the thoughts of men, and contains no deceit. The promises of God are certain, always able to be relied on because the Lord cannot lie. (Tts 1:2) Steve either does not understand or ignores the fact that the Bible accurately records the sins and wicked inventions of men, and rebukes them.

For example, the Lord God in the Bible spoke of Baal and Ashtaroth (the name of which is partly responsible for the pagan celebration called 'Easter'), a god and goddess that were commonly worshiped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians:

And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
-Judges 2:12-13

If we were to approach the interpretation of Scripture using Steve's method, then we would have to conclude that Baal and Ashtaroth were "holy" figures because, as Steve stated, all the words of the Lord are pure. Such an argument would border on lunacy, and it is a simple understanding that the Bible speaks of the wicked deeds of men, one of those being the pagan festival of Easter.

My argument is that there is no such thing as a "pagan" word. There is paganism, and there are words that describe pagan ideology, but words themselves are not pagan, and we Christians are free to use any word that would not carry a sinful connotation in a derogatory or pejorative sense; meaning that words used to describe the wicked deeds of men are simply truth, and truth is never restricted by the Scriptures.

Just like other pastors, Steve needs Easter to not be pagan, otherwise, he would have to be corrected, which is something he hates with a deep passion, as do those who blindly follow him. Not only Steve himself, but it would also mean other wicked preachers he has idolized, like Steve's former mentor, the late pedophile Jack Hyles for example, would have to be corrected, and that idea is abhorrant to Steve.

Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way:
and he that hateth reproof shall die.
-Proverbs 15:10

 

MICHAEL HOUDMANN - Got Questions

Most of you have probably never heard of Michael Houdmann, but you have likely heard of his website "Got Questions," which is a deceptive organization to say the least. After a brief email exchange with him back in 2015, I would not consider him to be an honest man, and like Ken Ham, he is a marketer, not a minister. What many people do not know about Got Questions is that rarely are there any author names attached to the answers they provide, and this is because Houdmann is involved in an intricate process of plagiarism, but doing so through a technically legal means.

If any readers want more details about that, see my book 501c3: The Devil's Church, where I provide some information about his business model, and the deception of his incorporated business. However, because the authorship of their articles are unknown (since they steal the hard work of others and slightly change the wording to make it their own), I will be attributing this to Houdmann directly, since he is the owner.

In an article called "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Houdmann says:
"No, Easter is not a pagan holiday. Easter is the Christian celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead."
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

Houdmann then uses Luke 24:1 as a justification for Easter:

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
-Luke 24:1

As much as I would like to answer whatever argument he is making, Houdmann does not explain this argument, so I do not know what he is implying by quoting this verse. As I explained in chapter five, churchgoers do not celebrate the birth of Christ on the third day because they eliminate one of the three nights Jesus was supposed to be dead.

"Those who claim that Easter is a pagan holiday usually mean that the word Easter is etymologically linked to the name of an ancient goddess or that various pagan groups also held ceremonies in the springtime. Neither claim carries much weight. First, we'll consider the idea that Easter is a pagan holiday because the name Easter has pagan origins. Some say that a Saxon goddess named Eostre is the namesake of our modern holiday. Others say that the word Easter comes from the name of a Germanic goddess named Ostara. The problem with both of these theories is that there is no real evidence that anyone ever worshiped a goddess by either name. The only mention of Eostre comes from a passing reference in the history of the Venerable Bede. The first mention of a goddess named Ostara is in a book by Jakob Grimm—and Grimm admitted that he could find no solid link between Easter and pagan celebrations.
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

Bede was a Catholic monk who lived in the 7th century, and he is often given credit for linking Ostara with Eostre/Easter, however, there are a few problems with this claim. The first is that, in a separate article, Houdmann gives praise to Bede for being a great historian of high reputation, as well as crediting him for his "scholarly work on how the date of Easter should be calculated," which means that Houdmann celebrates Easter based on the timing put forth Bede (via the corrupt Catholic cult), but then turns around and says Bede is wrong about Easter originally being a pagan celebration when Bede does not agree Houdmann's preconceived ideology.
(See Michael Houdmann, "Who was the Venerable Bede?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Venerable-Bede.html])

Another problem is something I have noticed with the vast majority of these articles put out by leavened preachers, and it is that they never explain where the celebration or the word of Easter came from. If it is not pagan, as they claim, then where did all of this come from, how did it get started, and what is your historical evidence for it? What is fascinating to me is that there is no historical or Biblical documentation for the origin of the modern Easter celebration being "all about Jesus," nor is there any explanation or evidence for why rabbits and eggs are so closely attached to the holiday, but they participate in it willingly, without question, and then, when objections of paganism are brought to light, they accuse their opposition of making claims without evidence, which is comically blatant hypocrisy.

The problem with historical documentation in this regard is that much of it has been lost. In fact, most of the Roman documentation that still exists from the Roman empire are not originals; rather, they are Greek translations about the Roman empire that were kept safe in the libraries of Greece, and almost all of the original Latin documentation was destroyed when the Roman empire burned to the ground.

With each passing century, older documents become harder and harder to find, and so we must piece together history based on a combination of written documentation, archeology data, cultural tradition, and logical deduction. However, Houdmann abandons this process and subjectively claims that arguments about Easter being pagan are without merit:
"Next, we'll consider the idea that Easter is a pagan holiday because its springtime observance coincides with those of pagan religions. There are a plethora of pagan holidays that occur during the season covered by Easter: the Day of Bau (Babylonian), Dark Mother Day (Indian), the Day of Fortuna (Roman), the Feast of Blajini (Romanian), the Feast of Artemis/Diana (Greek/Roman), the Feast of Tellus Mater (Roman), the Festival of Ba'ast (Egyptian), the Festival of Ishtar (Babylonian), the Feast of Elaphebolia (Athenian), and Odin's Day (Norse), to name a few. But sharing a date on the calendar is no proof that two holidays are related."
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

This was a bit mind-blowing to read because Houdmann openly admits that there are many pagan festivals that are celebrated at the same time as Easter, which supports the argument I am making, namely, that Easter was pagan of origin, and used by the demonic Catholic cult as a pretext for a hybrid celebration they could use to lure pagans into their corrupt religion, but then he simply asserts there is no connection. If that is the way Houdmann is going to argue, then I will simply assert that Easter has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and he would have to accept that as a valid argument because "sharing a date on the calendar is no proof" that Easter and the resurrection are related, and Houdmann is so blind, he did not realize that, by making that statement, he destroyed his own position for claiming Easter is "all about Jesus."

Immediately after this, Houdmann added a sentence to the end of that paragraph:
"A married couple who celebrate their wedding anniversary on October 31 should not be accused of appropriating Halloween."
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

Houdmann just finished arguing that there was no connection between pagan holidays and Easter, but then argued that just because someone celebrates a wedding on a pagan holiday, therefore, it does not mean the couple is participating in the paganism. If there is no connection between the two, then why would you need to justify yourself?

This is a faulty analogy that completely misrepresents the argument I am making becauese, in this instance, churchgoers celebrating the pagan holiday of Easter is like a married couple purposefully marrying on October 31st because they believe that Halloween was the day Adam and Eve were first married. So in a proper analogy, not only would the married couple believe October 31st commemorated the day of the first marriage between a man and woman, but they would also believe that pumpkins and black cats were used as symbols of marriage, and without me needing to make any other argument, most readers should recognize how stupid that would be, but Houdmann does not want to use this much more accurate analogy because he knows it would make his position look childish and silly.

Houdmann then says:
"In short, claims that Easter is a pagan holiday are based on hearsay, assumptions, and inferences, with no hard evidence to back them up."
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

Apparently, Houdmann is willfully ignorant of the shortcomings of his own position. I could say the exact same thing about his belief by saying, "In short, claims that Easter is a holiday about Jesus are based on hearsay, assumptions, and inferences, with no hard evidence to back them up," but instead of just making that claim, I wrote this book to make a proper Scriptural and historical argument.

After foolishly destroying his own position multiple times, Houdmann ends with the following argument, where he attempts to presume that Easter was originally pagan:
"Even if Easter Sunday were a Christianized version of an ancient pagan holiday, it would not mean that Easter itself is a pagan holiday. No one today is sacrificing to a goddess named Eostre or Ostara. Regardless of what a day may once have meant, its observance today needs to be evaluated on the basis of what it means today."
-Michael Houdmann, "Is Easter a pagan holiday?" Got Questions, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.gotquestions.org/Easter-pagan-holiday.html]

This argument might seem reasonable on the surface, but there are some serious problems with it. First of all, here are what churchgoers are doing today based on everything we have seen so far:

They have sunrise services to honor the rising sun in the east, which is built into the name "Easter" because of the sun god worship. They celebrate it on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, which was a tradition practiced by pagans in Alexandia, Egypt in honor of the moon goddess. They participate in Easter bunny traditions. They host Easter egg hunts. They treat it as a sacred ritual that makes people "holy" if they show up once a year. They claim it is "all about Jesus," but offer no Biblical justification for it whatsoever, and scoff at those who dare to question it.

So based on what I observe churchgoers doing, repeating narratives without evidence, and ignoring the fact they have no Scriptural foundation for their traditions, then I have to conclude it is a pagan celebration. Because of that, I also have to conclude that it is an insult to the Living God, and as indicated in the title of this book, an abomination to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Worse still, by assuming for the sake of argument that Easter was pagan, Houdmann contradicted Jesus Christ:

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
-Matthew 7:18

This creates a problem because Jesus Christ told us that something that was founded on corrupt roots, like the idolatry of paganism for example, cannot magically become good over time. You can water and fertilize an corrupt tree all you want, and it will remain corrupt no matter what you do. However, Houdmann's argument was saying that because churchgoers have (presumably) removed some of the pagan aspects of it, it is now producing good fruit based on "what it means today," and by making this claim, he foolishly (in his willful ignorance) argued against Jesus Christ was wrong about what He told us in Matthew 7.

Again, the purpose of this chapter was to hear out the arguments of those who oppose my position, and answer them accordingly, so that readers can gain a deeper understanding of both sides. I hope have done that sufficiently. However, there is one question that I have not yet answered, and it might be one that has been in the back of your mind...



 

In short, my answer is "No, it is not wrong," and to be clear, I could not care less whether someone wants to celebrate a day for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which might cause confusion in some of you because, if that be the case, you may ask why I wrote this book in the first place. In fact, I might be convinced to join in with them for a "Resurrection Day" celebration because I am eternally grateful to the Lord Jesus Christ for His sacrifice, and His grace and mercy of salvation on me, but before I could be convinced to participate, I have another important question, one that is slightly different than what I asked in the introduction to this book:

HOW?
Because we have no Biblical instructions, mandates, or even vague hints from which we can infer anything from the Scriptures, if we wanted to do it, then how are we supposed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ?

celebrate (v): to praise; to extol; to commend; to give to; to make famous; to honor or distinguish by ceremonies and marks of joy and respect
(See 'celebrate', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

So to celebrate the resurrection, should we praise Jesus Christ? Should we commend His great works? Should we make Him famous by preaching about His wisdom? Should we honor Him?

If you thought all of those things are good things to do to celebrate Jesus Christ, I agree. However, that begs another question: How is that different from what we Christians do every week?

If you believe you should get dressed up in your best outfit to glorify Jesus in honor of His resurrection from the dead, then why not do that every week? If you believe you should take communion together to give praise and honor to Jesus because of His resurrection from the dead, then why not do that every week?

What specifically should we do on this annual day? Should we sing songs of praise? Should we study the Scriptures? Should we fellowship together? Once again, it begs the question: How is that different from what we Christians do every week?

Personally, in my writing and speaking, I give praise to Jesus Christ, commend His works, preach about His wisdom, and honor Him to make Him distinguished and glorified, and I do this just about every day. In fact, when I pray before we begin our weekly Bible studies, I give Him praise for His sacrifice on the cross, so again, if you want to convince me to join in a "Resurrection Day," then I ask, how is that annual day supposed to be different from what I do every week?

The very fact that churchgoers believe they need a "Resurrection Day" to honor, praise, and commend Jesus Christ because of His sacrifice on the cross and rising from the dead, implies that they only do those things once a year. If they hear that accusation, they will immediately argue that they do those things more than once per year (because otherwise, they would look lazy and unfaithful), but then what is the significance? If I ask you to give me a list of things that you think should be done to make a "Resurrection Day" significant, once you are done with the list, no matter what you might put on it, my question to you will be: Why would you not do those things every week?

I am going to take a guess and say that the reason you opened up this book and began to read is because you wanted to know whether or not you were doing the right thing for the Lord Jesus Christ. If that is the case, I completely understand because I have the same concerns about myself as you do about yourself. Even if you disagree with my position on Easter, and are only reading this to counter my arguments, you still opened this book to read about the matter because (presumably) you want to serve Jesus Christ in the best manner you know how.

If you have read this entire book with a charitable and sincere heart for the purpose of better serving the Lord, is that itself not honor of Jesus Christ, even if you disagree with me? When you find the answers you were looking for, do you not praise Him for it? If you do, then how is it that you are not celebrating Him daily, even by the studying of this book?

Some may argue that a "Resurrection Day" makes Jesus famous, therefore making him a "celebrity" because that word is formed out of the word 'celebrate', but if you do not do that on a regular basis in your life, and you have to rely on an annual day to do it, then what savour do you have?

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
-Matthew 5:13

If celebration of the resurrection of Christ is done only once per year, then it is nothing more than pretense. It is just a show of so-called "holiness," to make people feel like they are "spiritual," instead of daily practicing what they claim to believe.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
-James 2:18

I do not typically like to quote from those who are considered by the corrupt Catholic cult to be the "Early Church Fathers," because there are many of them who taught some very serious heresies, and sadly, they are literally worshiped as gods by many pseudo-Christian cults, but for their sakes, I want to provide a brief quote from Tertullian. Tertullian was an author who wrote in abundance on Christian doctrine, and he supported a day of celebration of the resurrection, but one of the points he made was that if we have been converted by Jesus Christ from darkness to light, we should not return to that darkness:
"Let, therefore, them who have no light, light their lamps daily; let them over whom the fires of hell are imminent, affix to their posts, laurels doomed presently to burn: to them the testimonies of darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the world, and a tree ever green. If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple. I have said too little. If you have renounced stews [i.e. a neighborhood of whoredom], clothe not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel."
-Tertullian, "On Idolatry," retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0302.htm]

To this point, I agree. This is similar to what Peter taught, that if we have been brought out of "the pollutions of the world," then we should stay out of them, otherwise it is no different then being "turned to his own vomit again" like a dog licking that which he has thrown up:

For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
-2 Peter 2:20-22

If Jesus brought us out of fornication and adultery, should we turn back to it? Churchgoers would find this to be an unfair analogy, so let's suppose that we had a day once per year to honor Jesus by only looking at swimsuit models, so that all the bad parts of nudity and sex are removed, would that be acceptable with God?

Putting aside some cults that might be willing to do that, churchgoers would reject this idea in most cases because all you have essentially done is hallowed out the bad fruit and left the husk for consumption. However, this is exactly what has been done with paganism and idolatry because they have simply taken pagan tradition and slapped a Jesus sticker on it, which would be no different than women coming to a church building wearing "I ♡ [heart] Jesus" swimsuits for worship because both profane the holy name of Christ.

I have heard churchgoers whine ad nauseum that, "God can take anything and use it for his glory!" I have challenged every one of the people who have said that to me, to show me anywhere in the Scriptures where God has instructed His children to take the inventions, idols, and ceremonies of the pagans, and use them or transform them for His glory, and to this day, I have never gotten a response other than silence, diversion, or ridicule for asking the question.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
-Matthew 12:36

There is no place in Scripture where God took pagan things and used them for His glory (nor did He command His children to do so) because they do NOT glorify Him, anymore than "I ♡ Jesus" bikinis glorify Him. Therefore, when churchgoers say such irrational, absurd things, they do so only to justify themselves in their willful ignorance, and because they say these things while claiming to be of Christ, they bring insult against Him and shame on themselves.

Tertullian continued to talk about refusing participation in idolatrous practices:
"But since the evil one has so surrounded the world with idolatry, it will be lawful for us to be present at some ceremonies which see us doing service to a man, not to an idol. Clearly, if invited unto priestly function and sacrifice, I will not go, for that is service peculiar to an idol; but neither will I furnish advice, or expense, or any other good office in a matter of that kind. If it is on account of the sacrifice that I be invited, and stand by, I shall be partaker of idolatry; if any other cause conjoins me to the sacrificer, I shall be merely a spectator of the sacrifice."
-Tertullian, "On Idolatry," retrieved Apr 17, 2025, [https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0302.htm]

Again, I agree with his point, but churchgoers object by saying that they do not sacrifice, nor do they have idols they worship. Many do have idols, especially in the Catholic cults, but for the sake of argument, let us assume that they do not. What they have done is created a fanciful appearance by taking away idolatry and sacrifice from it (to make it look good on the outside), but kept the pagan tradition, and attached Christ's holy name to it, which is no different than hollowing out a dried cow turd, deep frying the remains, and calling it a delicious meal.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
-Exodus 20:7

This is said in the sense of ambassadorship, meaning that we are taking the name of Christ on ourselves as Christians. When an ambassador comes to a foreign nation, he should be on his best behavior, and should abstain from sinful activities of any kind. We who are of Christ are ambassadors for the Kingdom of Heaven, and if we give obeisance to a holiday ritual that was first developed by pagans for the purpose of idolatry and sacrifice to gods and goddesses, we are setting a bad example as ambassadors.

Easter itself has become a god that churchgoers worship, which is why they get so upset when I dare to question it. If Easter has not become an idol, then why do both churchgoers and witches alike throw a fit when I point out the facts about it? Why do both churchgoers and witches make very similar arguments in defense of it? Why do both churchgoers and witches condemn me for condemning it?

For example, while I was writing this book, I joined in on a discussion with a Discord channel called "Christian University," which was not really Christian because it was filled to the brim with heretics who did not know the first thing about the Gospel of Salvation. It was myself up against a handful of Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans who struggled to answer the most basic questions about salvation. I uploaded our discussion to Rumble and it made them furious, which I found to be funny because, if they had done well defending their beliefs, they would have had no problem with it, but because they did a terrible job and showed themselves to be without understanding of basic Christian principles, they were quite angry about it.
(See Creation Liberty Evangelism, "DEBATE: Christian vs Catholic Orthodox Anglican," Apr 5, 2025, [https://rumble.com/v6rpn69-debate-christian-vs-catholic-orthodox-anglican-4-5-25.html])

Am I therefore become your enemy,
because I tell you the truth?
-Galatians 4:16

Soon after our discussion (and after a little harassment from them afterwards), I posted in their "self-promotion" chat channel that Easter was a pagan celebration that had nothing to do with Jesus Christ, gave them a link to my book, and wished them all a great day. For this, I was banned from their Discord channel for, "promoting blasphemy," and little did these foolish men understand that their accusation of blasphemy over my statement proved that they do not worship Jesus Christ.

blasphemy (n): an indignity offered to God by words or writing; reproachful, contemptuous or irreverent words uttered impiously against Jehovah
(See 'blasphemy', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 25, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

I never said a negative word about the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, but rather, I said that Easter was not a Christian holiday, and in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ (Mat 5:43-44), they hated me as an enemy (despite the fact that I was friendly with them), and as children of their father the devil, they silenced me rather than coming to the table to have a peaceful and reasonable discussion. The only reason the charge of blasphemy could be brought against me is if they think that Easter itself is their god, and because I spoke a negative word about their false god Easter, they unknowingly condemned themselves, for which they will have to give account on the Day of Judgment; not because they banned me, but because who they were really banning was Jesus Christ in favor of worshiping the day of Easter itself as their righteousness, rather than looking to Jesus alone for righteousness.

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
-Philippians 3:9

Never in my time in ministry have I spoken a word of condemnation against the Lord Jesus Christ, and none of those men can provide any evidence of their false accusations. On the contrary, I have always (during my time in ministry) taught that the Christian God of the Bible is holy and just in all that He says and does.

Christ is the essence of all goodness, and all things righteous must be measured to Him and His doctrine. However, what churchgoers get riled up about is not in defense of Jesus Christ, but in defense of their traditions because they worship the day of celebration itself more than Jesus Christ.

To demonstrate this point more clearly, let's go to Mark 7 and carefully consider what is being said:

Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
-Mark 7:1

The Pharisees and scribes had heard of the miracles of Jesus, and came to see him, to witness these things for themselves, to hear what He had to say, and to take advantage of Him in any way they could to make themselves more lofty in the eyes of men. Either they would find a way to bring Jesus to their side, to use him as glorification of themselves, or if He did not acknowledge them, they would find a way to trick or entrap Him, and make Him look bad in the public eye, so their conceited idea of their so-called "holiness" would be venerated.

And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
-Mark 7:2

This is the opportunity they were looking for, namely, some sort of minor issue established by the Jewish elders, so they could accuse them of a wrongdoing, thereby putting themselves in a position to rebuke Jesus, that the crowd might fear and honor the Pharisees and scribes even more.

For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
-Mark 7:3-4

The Pharisees and scribes did not pretend that this practice of diligently and carefully washing their hands came from the Scriptures because they knew it was the tradition of the elders. So because it was highly esteemed by religious leaders, they considered it a "holy" deed, and so "holy" did they consider themselves, they would avoid any physical contact with commoners, else they have to wash themselves for "uncleanness," which included the use of cups, pots, and even certain tables depending on where they were used, when they were used, or who had used them.

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
-Mark 7:5

Though the alleged fault was of the disciples, they asked Christ because their cause was to accuse Him, but they were only accusing Him of not following the traditions established by religious leadership. Jesus knew that they were familiar with the Scriptures, and that they understood that the Bible commanded them to walk in the statutes of the Lord, not the statutes of men, so He quoted Isaiah 29:13 to them:

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
-Mark 7:6

These men had long abandoned the Word of God to follow the traditions of men, which means they left the ways of righteousness for a perceived "righteousness" among men, which made them hypocrites because, once we boil down their argument, they were accusing Jesus and his disciples of rejecting righteousness. Although they attended the temples of worship and fervently offered up praises to God, they prided themselves in their own so-called "holiness," being so focused on the noteriety they gained by their works, they could no longer see that their lips were a pretense to cover their corrupt hearts.

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 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.
-Mark 7:7-8

Instead of instructing the people in the doctrines of Scripture, and turning them to honor the Lord by adhering to the Word of God in true worship, they taught them the traditions and ceremonies of men, which gained the scribes and Pharisees religious clout among the people. It is not that these hypocrites thew away the Bible, but that they preferred oral instructions to the written Word, to follow the traditions of so-called "holiness" by the commandments of men, while hypocritically claiming they followed, served, and worshiped God only, and not just in pompous practices of traditional washing to keep themselves from uncleanness, but many other things they did, believing that their righteousness was achieved by ceremony.

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
-Mark 7:9-10

Jesus gave His general argument that they were a people who desired their traditions far above God's Word, then presented an example. The honor presented to one's parents was not just in obedience to their word, but to do good to them, which included helping them in times of need, in sickness, poverty, or old age.

But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
-Mark 7:11

This word 'Corban' was used in the sense of "this is a gift," or in other words, that which might be used to relieve the poor and needy (and in this regard, elderly parental needs) could be withheld from them in a sort of tradition-based loophole, claiming that the money or other resources were "devoted to God" and could not be used for anything other than what the scribes and Pharisees considered a "sacred use." Corban was a type of vow they would use to alleviate themselves of any responsibility of dedication to the Word of God, and such a thing was not justified in the Scriptures, rather, it was a self-perceived justification by the sanctimonious declarations of religious leadership.

And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
-Mark 7:12-13

Therefore, because the Jews created traditions that permitted them to do whatever they pleased without having to be held accountable to the Word of God, they were hypocrites because, while they claimed to serve God, in their hearts, they actually served the traditions of men, and not only served them, but taught them, and many other like things they did. Likewise, churchgoers go outside of the Scriptures to create traditions that they consider "holy," thinking themselves clean for participation in them, but it shows that their worship of God is limited to their hypocritical lips because their hearts care nothing for how God sees their selfish deeds, which they presume to do in His name.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
-Isaiah 1:15-17

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
-Amos 5:21-24

judge (v): to compare facts or ideas, and perceive their agreement or disagreement, and thus to distinguish truth from falsehood; to discern
(See 'judge', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 18, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

God told the Jews to seek judgment, and to judge with righteousness. This is because the Lord loves judgment (Isa 61:8), and that is why Jesus told us Christians to do the same:

Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment.
-John 7:24

Although the Bible makes it clear that God hates (with the utmost hatred) the inventions and traditions of the heathen, churchgoers decided to repackage it with a Jesus label, and think that because they are allegedly "saved," then they are delivered to do all the abominations they want, so long as they use the magic word, "Jesus." They are willingly blind to the fact that the Jews have tried to use the same excuse, and God rebuked them.

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
-Jeremiah 7:8-10

Churchgoers might say that was long ago in the Old Testament, and we do not have to follow the Old Covenant, but no one is saying we are under the Old Covenant. What I am saying is that the Bible AS A WHOLE (i.e. not just the New Covenant, but the Old Covenant) is intended to teach us lessons:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
-2 Timothy 3:16-17

I am not saying that church buildings are "the house of God" because the church is not a building constructed by the hands of men. The bodies of those born again in Christ are the house of God, where the Holy Spirit dwells (1Co 6:18-20), but because of this, we ought to rid ourselves of paganism of any kind, just as we ought to rid ourselves of drunkenness, fornication, and all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
-2 Corinthians 7:1

The goal of this book is to teach young Christians to turn away from the traditions of men, and turn to the promises of God, given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. What need do we have for fanciful celebrations if we first celebrate the salvation of Christ in our words and deeds?

Although I do not believe that participation in Easter serves Christ in any way, nor do I believe for a second that churchgoers do it for Christ (i.e. they actually do it for themselves), but in most cases, that is not their greatest offense. The greatest offense, in my opinion, is that the vast majority of churchgoers and preachers are teaching a false and incomplete version of Christ's Gospel of Salvation, and covering themselves with the false appearance of "holiness" through Easter traditions.

The reason so many people think that coming to an Easter Sunday church building service is going to make them more holy, or that highly revering the day will somehow increase their standing with God, is because they believe their works make them righteous. The Bible tells us that our righteousness (by grace through faith) is imputed to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is nothing that we can do to add to His finished work.

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all... And therefore it [i.e. Abraham's faith] was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
-Romans 4:16-24

Many churchgoers believe themselves to be more pious because they attended a special pagan celebration with a Jesus sticker on it, but they live according to that superstitious philosophy because they were never brought to repentance for the remission of sins, or in other words, they were never given the gift of godly sorrow of wrongdoing, that their sins may be pardoned.

Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
-Mark 1:14-15

The entire reason Jesus came to this world, died on the cross, and brought Himself back from the dead was so that we would go into all nations preaching repentance for the remission of sins:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
-Luke 24:44-47

Despite the erroneous teachings of most pastors, the word 'repent' does NOT mean "to turn" or "to change." I wrote a book on this subject called There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance where I provide a lot more details on this subject, but to explain it very simply, the Bible tells us who God draws close to, and who He saves:

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
-Psalm 34:18

The definitions of the terms are synonymous with repentance:

repentance (n): sorrow for any thing done or said; the pain or grief which a person experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own conduct
grief (n): the pain of mind produced by loss, misfortune, injury or evils of any kind; sorrow; regret
broken-hearted (adj): having the spirits depressed or crushed by grief or despair
contrite (adj): broken-hearted for sin; deeply affected with grief and sorrow for having offended God; humble; penitent
(See 'repentance', 'grief', 'broken-hearted' & 'contrite', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Apr 18, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])

The doctrine of repentance for the remission of sins, which is to come to godly sorrow of one's wrongdoing, was taught by Jesus Christ (Mat 4:17), His disciples (Mar 6:7-12), and the early church (Acts 26:20), but today, it is rarely taught in church buildings, and if it is taught, it is often taught wrong. Most churchgoers believe that 'repent' means "to turn" or "to change," but that is the definition of the word 'convert', and that happens to us AFTER we are saved, so when they transform repentance into "turning" or "changing," they are transforming the Gospel of Salvation into a false gospel of works, meaning that they teach you must "turn from sin" or "change your mind" to be saved, and that is heresy.

Here are some diagrams that simplify it for those of you who might be a bit confused. The first diagram is the proper Biblical Gospel of Salvation in Christ, showing the godly sorrow of repentance leading to faith in Christ which leads us to salvation, and then we are converted (i.e. turned and changed) in our hearts, minds, words, and actions:
There are two general false gospels that are being taught today, and the first is the works-based heresy that removes repentance, changes it to conversion (while still calling it "repentance" under false pretenses), effectively removing all understanding to create heaps of false converts:
The the second false gospel is sometimes known as "easy-believism," and it accepts someone as a "saved Christian" without repentance and conversion altogether, which is typically done because it is popular among those who are lazy when it comes to spiritual matters, attracting people who seem to have more money than sense:
Repentance is a gift from God, as the Scriptures teach us:

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
-2 Timothy 2:25

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
-Acts 11:18

And only those who have been humbled to repentance will be saved. The Lord will NOT save the proud of heart who refuse to hear the truth:

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
-James 4:6

These churchgoers do not understand the Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ, they teach it wrong, and then insist on having a "Resurrection Day" to honor Jesus Christ in His works for the Gospel of Salvation. Dare I say, that is retarded. That is like transgender queer men claiming that they are women, and then not knowing how to define what a 'woman' is. If you do not understand the Gospel of Salvation, or worse, if you deny it and preach a different gospel, what is the point of having a celebration?

The bottom line is that churchgoers and pastors have nothing to offer us in terms of evidence for Easter being "Christian" other than they simply claim that it is, but they seem to misunderstand that claims are not evidence. To avoid the burden of proof, they pass the buck to us to prove that Easter is pagan (despite the fact that I have provided plenty of evidence to show that it is), but even if it was not, it still does not relieve their burden of proof, especially in light of the fact that the vast majority do not understand the Gospel of Salvation in Christ, which makes them hypocrites at best.

Ultimately, my answer to the question of the chapter ("Is It Wrong to Celebrate the Resurrection?") is this: The priorities of churchgoers are completely backwards. They put far too much emphasis on parades, while putting far too little emphasis on doctrine, and therefore, it is my hope that those of you who are born again in Christ would stop looking to the highly esteemed traditions of men, and focus on the Word of God.

And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
-Luke 16:15

As I end this book, I would like to offer my gratitude to any of you who have taken the time to read this in its entirety because I know that few will. I would know nothing without the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I give Him thanks for His mercy not only in opening my eyes to the truth of His Word, but also giving you the patience and understanding to read this book.

I hope that all of you who read this will be richly blessed with wisdom and understanding from the Lord as you study the Word of God and sanctify yourselves from the world. If you believe this might help someone else understand the truth and let go of their hopeless works-for-salvation doctrine to follow the Christian God of the Bible, I hope you will share it with them.

If you learned anything from this, I would also encourage you to read another short book I wrote concerning the Gospel of Salvation called Why Millions of Believers on Jesus Are Going to Hell, which I wrote based on the doctrine that Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
-Matthew 7:21-23

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
-Matthew 7:13-14

I hope that the Lord Jesus Christ would richly bless your home with mercy, health, and prosperity. If you want more books and teachings like this, as well as free access to hundreds of hours of audio teachings, visit creationliberty.com.

🔍