How have so many in the world come to associate the resurrection of Yeshua with Babylonian sun-god worship? What do the ancient fertility rites and traditions of pagan cultures have to do with the Messiah? If you consider yourself to be a believer in Yeshua, saved by his blood, secure in your hope of eternal life through him, you should seriously ask yourself that question and, even more seriously, be careful how you answer.
I faced the truth many, many years ago and it is a bitter pill to swallow. It is not pleasant to go against the accepted traditions of an entire culture. You find yourself isolated from all that has previously been your reality. You are no longer comfortable in a world that you once were very much a part of. Yet, once you know and accept the truth, however painful it may be, there is no going back. You can't unlearn what has been revealed to you. The blinders are off, the veil has been lifted. You once were blind but now you see, and what you now see is a world under judgment, a world that will one day soon be stripped of all of its false gods, it's religions, governments, educational institutions, it's very culture. Everything they have put their trust in will collapse before their very eyes and they will see the awful truth, that they had been fed nothing but lies.
I read in an article this morning that says Easter is also known as Pascha (Passover). That is an absolute lie. Easter has nothing to do with Passover. None of it's ancient celebrations, rituals, or customs identify with anything remotely associated with Yeshua. Do you know where the custom of dying eggs comes from? On the first Sunday after the vernal equinox, the priests of Easter would impregnate virgins on the altar of Easter and the next year sacrifice those three-month-old babies, dying eggs in their blood. Is this the ritual we are rehearsing with our children. Many will respond, "That's not what it means to me!" Well, what does it mean to you? You tell me! When you are telling your children the story of the resurrection, how do you insert egg-laying rabbits, baby chicks and baskets filled with candy?
Yehovah's warning to his called-out ones is to stay away from the worship of pagan cultures, not to learn the ways in which they honored their gods and attempt to do so to him. It is an abomination. Jeremiah 10:2, "Learn not the way of the heathen". God tells his people in Revelation 18:4 to come out of Babylon, that we are not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues.
It doesn't matter how sincere we may be. We are to worship him in spirit and in truth. He shows us what that true worship is in his sight. Ancient Israel rehearsed, through their temple services, the shadow pictures of the Messiah and how he would save mankind. The celebration of each of the festivals and the manner in which they were to be observed were to tell the story of Yeshua, both his first coming as the lamb of God and his second coming as King of kings. He fulfilled the Spring feasts two thousand years ago through his death, burial, and resurrection. These shadow pictures are beautiful illustrations that pagan practices can never duplicate or replace. However, because the majority of mankind has abandoned these feasts and celebrations for those of pagan sun-god worship, his second coming will be that of judgment on a disobedient, God-rejecting world. We have been warned. Jude 1:3 begs us to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints for, even in the first century, many crept in unawares among the early believers, bringing in false doctrine and leading many astray, turning God's grace into license. Too many today believe that God accepts any form of worship we choose to offer him, but God is not mocked. He has revealed to us how he wants to be worshiped.
The religions we have today come from the deluded mind of Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. who declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire, albeit a hybrid religion. He purged the empire of the teachings of Yeshua and the early apostles and ushered in a corrupted form of religion that merged pagan sun-god worship with the worship of God. Any who refused to comply with the new religion were executed. To appease those followers of Yeshua who remained, he changed the names of all the pagan festivals to cover up their origins, so as to make them more acceptable. So, here we are today, nearly two thousand years later, completely immersed in Babylonian sun-god worship, and it's not just Easter. It permeates nearly everything in our culture. We should not be surprised. The bible tells us that Satan is the god of this age and has deceived the whole world.
We have been warned, but will we heed the warning? We can do nothing about what we have inherited. It goes back much farther than our parents or grandparents. All we can do is repent and ask God to show us the truth. Can we do that? If we are taught the truth, can we turn from what has become so familiar, from those traditions that have become so dear to our hearts, those which we thought were honoring God but were birthed in the mind of a madman who remained a sun-god worshiper to the day of his death?
Modern day Christianity, as we know it, has been the recipient of this hybrid religion and our priests, ministers and pastors have continued in its teachings down through the centuries. Some have seen the light and discontinued their association with their previous denominations. Most have remained, many who know the origins of their religion but who are afraid to preach it for fear of losing their position in the church. They weakly proclaim that it doesn't make any difference. Well, lets read the message of Yehovah to Jeremiah and see if it makes a difference to him. You alone are responsible for your life, for the decision you make. God has set before us life and death. I pray you choose life.
Jer 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.
Jer 10:21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
Jer 12:10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness
Jer 22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Jer 23:1-2 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
Jer 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
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