There are many other biblical
types which come clear in one's thorough study of the deep symbolism of
the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Pharaoh is a type of Satan
the devil; his two magicians, Janes and Jambres, are symbolic of the beast and
false prophet; Moses and Aaron, who continually say, "Let my people go," are
symbolic of the prophesied "two witnesses" (Revelation 11), who will warn the
beast and the false prophet just prior to Christ's second coming. Leaven
is used as a type of sin; the eating of "unleavened bread" for seven days
signifies taking Jesus Christ into our lives, and overcoming our carnal human
nature by the power of God's Holy Spirit. Thus, in this first important
holy day season of the sacred year, God revealed to the ancient Israelites rich
symbolism which has great meaning to the very purpose of human life and which
reveals, in large measure, what is our final, glorious
destiny!
But, instead of remaining faithful to these deeply
significant annual holy days of God, the Israelites quickly descended back into
idolatry. Idolatry, condemned of God in the first two of the Ten
Commandments, is evil and a horrible abomination in God's sight for several
reasons. First, it puts inanimate, nonexistent, pagan "gods" (which are nothing
more than the figment of the imagination of demented, ignorant, savage peoples)
in place of God! Such imagery blots out from superstitious
minds the truth of God! It is a substitute, a counterfeit, which God calls the
"image of jealousy." As the Creator, as well as our Protector and
Provider, like a husband to the church (described as His bride), God is "very
jealous" over His people.
The reason our English words idolatry and
adultery are so similar is because they stem from the same original word.
God terms idolatry "spiritual adultery." In many analogies in the Bible, imagery
and worship are directly spoken of as "adultery." Read Revelation 17 and 18, where the great
fallen woman (symbolizing a great, universal false church) is said to be
"committing fornication" with the kings and rulers of the
world! Today, millions upon millions of professing
Christians gaily go about the business of observing so-called Christian
holidays, not realizing they are nothing but modern versions of ancient, pagan
idolatries! As the millions celebrate these days, they do so in abysmal
ignorance of their origin, their true symbolism, and ignorant of the fact that
such days obscure God's annual holy days. How Was Easter Substituted for the
Passover? Do you remember our earlier
quotation from The Catholic Encyclopedia, in which they mentioned the
"controversy of the Quartodecimans"? The Quartodeciman controversy raged
throughout the Mediterranean world for literally centuries.
"Quartodeciman" is merely another word for "fourteenth"! The controversy stemmed
from the insistence that the early New Testament Church of God ought to follow
the custom of Jesus Christ of Nazareth in observing the Passover on the
fourteenth of nisan, the first month of the year, according to God's sacred
calendar.
The "universal church" gradually began adopting pagan
customs and traditions, and began insisting upon standardizing the date for the
observance for the spring festival.
The masses of pagans who were
being "converted" into this new religion brought with them their ancient customs
of the celebration of life, sexual reproduction, fertility and worship of the
sun. Their gods and goddesses were Isis, Osiris, Astarte, Ashtaroth, Ishtar,
Tammuz, and others. Apostate church
leaders reasoned these pagans had to be
accommodated.
History absolutely proves that pagan customs
and ceremonies were allowed and merely given Christian names. Finally,
those who insisted on continuing to observe God's annual holy days were put out
of the apostate church!
Notice! "The first council of Nicea (325)
decreed that the Roman practice should be observed throughout the church. But
even at Rome the Easter term was changed repeatedly. Those who continued to keep
Easter with the Jews were called Quartodecimans (14 Nisan) and were excluded
from the church" (The Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Easter," emphasis
added).
Interestingly, The Catholic Encyclopedia subtly inserts the
word Easter in its article under that term, even though the writer of the
article knew no one would keep "Easter with the Jews," for the Jews never
recognized this pagan custom. The Catholic Encyclopedia continually refers to
the Passover as "Easter." Note some further quotes from the same
source: "Easter eggs: The symbolic meaning of a
new creation of mankind by Jesus risen from the dead was probably an invention
of later times. The custom may have its origins in paganism, for a great many
pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg
is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring....
"The
Easter rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in
the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of
fertility (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).
"The Easter fire is lit on
the top of mountains (Easter mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new
fire, drawn from wood by friction; this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue
all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter. The Bishops
issued severe edicts against the sacrilegious Easter fires, but did not
succeed in abolishing them everywhere. The Church adopted the observance into
the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to
the Resurrection of Christ; a new fire on Holy Saturday is drawn from flint,
symbolizing the Resurrection by the Light of the World from the tomb closed by
a stone" (ibid). What a shocking admission! Notice that
even the Catholics admit that the origins of Easter, and even the name itself,
are totally pagan! The rabbit is a pagan symbol! It is an emblem of
fertility! Easter fires, lit on the top of mountains, are "customs of
pagan origin!" First phase [of the Easter Controversy]:
The dioceses of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth
day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb,
should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch [Passover],
contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it
might happen to be. However, it was not the custom of the churches in the rest
of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which
from apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the
fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour. Synods
and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all with one consent
through mutual correspondence drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the
mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated on no other day
but the Sunday and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on
that day only. [No such fast is mentioned in the Bible.] "A letter of Saint Ireneus is among the
extracts just referred to, and this shows that the diversity of practice
regarding Easter had existed at least from the time of Pope Sixtus (c. 120).
Further, Ireneus states that St. Polycarp, who, like the other Asiatics, kept
Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might
be, following the tradition which he claimed to have derived from St. John the
apostle, came to Rome (c. 150) about this very question, but could not be
persuaded by Pope Anicetus to relinquish his Quartodeciman observance. The
question thus debated was therefore primarily whether Easter was to be kept on
a Sunday, or whether Christians should observe the holy day of the Jews, the
fourteenth of Nisan, which might occur on any day of the week. Those who kept
Easter with the Jews were called Quartodecimans" (ibid., emphasis
added). Again, it must be noted in this lengyour
quotation from The Catholic Encyclopedia that they have subtly substituted
"Easter" for the "Passover." What Polycarp observed "like the other Asiatics"
was not easter! It was the passover, on the fourteenth of Nisan, as all the
apostles had kept it. That they admit he kept a great event "on the fourteenth
day of the moon, whichever day of that week that might be, following the
tradition which he claimed to have derived from St. John the apostle"absolutely
proves that the festival Polycarp (who was a student of John) kept was not
"Easter," but the Passover!
In the final paragraph of the
quotation, the distinction is subtly drawn between "Christians" and "Jews."
Another obvious and flagrant misapplication of terms is the final quote: "Those
who kept Easter with the Jews were called Quartodecimans." Nonsense! They were
called Quartodecimans because they kept the Passover and absolutely shunned the
pagan "Ishtar" (pronounced "Easter") being adopted by an apostate, increasingly
pagan church! Notice further: Second Phase: The second
stage in the Easter controversy centers round the council of Nicea (A.D.
325).The emperor himself [Constantine], writing to the churches after the
council of Nicea, exhorts them to adopt its conclusions and says among other
things: 'At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter
was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that
this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day
And first of all it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this
most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously
defiled their hands with enormous sin for we have received from our Saviour a
different way and I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with
the approval of your sagacities in the hope that your wisdoms will gladly
admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome and in
Africa, throughout Italy and Egypt with entire unity of judgment.' From this
and other indications we learn that the dispute now lay between the Christians
of Syria and Mesopotamia and the rest of the world. The important Church of
Antioch was still dependent upon the Jewish calendar for its Easter" (ibid.,
emphasis added). Remember, these lengyour quotations are
from The Catholic Encyclopedia! Constantine was a reformed sun-worshiper! When
he embraced "Christianity" he embraced the so-called Christianity of the leading
bishops who had already gone apostate! He did not embrace the Christianity
practiced by those who were "holding fast to the faith once delivered to the
saints," and who tenaciously refused to change the observance of one of the most
important annual holy days Jesus Christ ever hallowed, the
passover!
Notice, in the quotation above of Constantine's
exhortation to the churches after the Council of Nicea, that he, too, showed
disdainful contempt for "the Jews" (who are accused of having "impiously defiled
their hands with enormous sin") and repudiates the "practice of the Jews,"
meaning the observance of the Passover (the Lord's Supper, as the apostle Paul
began to refer to it) on the fourteenth of Nisan, as it had been observed for
centuries!
At the end of the quotation concerning the development
of keeping Easter in the Catholic Church, the encyclopedia admits "the important
Church of Antioch was still dependent upon the Jewish calendar for its Easter."
Again, a confusion of terms may be misleading to readers. By no stretch of the
imagination were the converted brethren in Antioch, in Syria, who were dependent
upon "the Jewish calendar" (meaning Abib, or Nisan, 14), keeping "Easter." By
tenaciously adhering to the fourteenth of Nisan, it is clear they were observing
the Passover! Notice now the next quotation:
"Third Phase: It was to the divergent cycles which Rome had successively adopted
and rejected in its attempt to determine Easter more accurately that the third
stage in the paschal controversy was mainly due. The Roman missionaries coming
to England in the time of St. Gregory the Great found the British Christians,
the representatives of that Christianity which had been introduced into Britain
during the period of the Roman occupation, still adhering to an ancient system
of Easter-computation which Rome itself had laid aside" (ibid., emphasis
added). What a fantastic
admission! Here we read of "Roman missionaries"
arriving in the British Isles from Rome, yet discovering Christians in the
British Isles adhering to the very same system of determining the date for the
Passover as had always been observed by the early New Testament church!
Few have stopped to speculate on where all the other apostles mentioned in the
Gospels went. Most disappear from sight, and the Bible quickly begins concerning
itself with the ministries of, first, the apostle Paul, and then to some extent
Peter and John. But what ever happened to Thomas, Simon the Canaanite, Mathias
(who replaced Judah Iscariot), Andrew (Peter's brother), James the son of
Alpheus (not the son of Zebedee), Bartholomew, and others?
Jesus
plainly said He would "send them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"! Is
it strange, then, that peoples in faraway lands had been converted to true
Christianity, and were observing God's annual holy days on precisely the correct
dates, which actually created a controversy with Roman
missionaries?
Now, under the article "Councils" in The
Catholic Encyclopedia, notice one of the most important purposes for the Council
of Nicea:
"The First Ecumenical, or Council of Nicea (325) lasted
two months and twelve days. Three hundred and eighteen bishops were present.
Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, assisted as legate of Pope Sylvester. The Emperor
Constantine was also present. To this council we owe the Creed of Nicea,
defining against Arius the true divinity of the Son of God...and the fixing of
the date for keeping Easter (against the Quartodecimans)."
Hot-Cross Buns Have you ever eaten a "hot-cross"
bun?
At Easter one may go to the local bakeries, or the bakery
counters of supermarkets, and see them by the dozen. They are served in
restaurants and cafeterias. The little rounded buns, with their quaint
little sugar-coated crosses, evoke memories of childhood; and to unsuspecting
professing Christians the tiny crosses are believed to represent the "cross of
Christ." How shocking to discover that hot-cross buns find their origins
in paganism!
Notice what history has to say about the origin of
"hot-cross buns": "It is quite probable that it [the word
bun] has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry
into the origin of hot cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated
with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan
history. Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon goddess; and
these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice
of which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon goddess, the
equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians. The Greeks offered such sacred
cakes to Astarte [Easter] and other divinities. This cake they called bous (ox),
in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is
suggested that the word 'bun' is derived. Like the Greeks, the Romans eat
cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the
doors of the temple and taken in with them, a custom alluded to by St. Paul in I
Cor. x.28. At Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in diameter, and plainly
marked with a cross, were found. In the Old Testament are references made in
Jer. vii.18-xliv.19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess. The
cross-bread was eaten by the pagan Saxons in honor of Eoster, their goddess of
light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The
custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early church adroitly
adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist. The boun with its
Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers
mentioned in St. Chrysostom's liturgy. In the medieval church, buns made from
the dough for the consecrated Host were to be distributed to the communicants
after mass on Easter Sunday. In France and other Catholic countries, such
blessed bread is still given in the churches to communicants who have a long
journey before they can break their fast" (The Encyclopedia Britannica, eleventh
edition, article "bun").
Interesting reading, isn't it? But how
many of your friends and relatives have ever taken the time and trouble to
simply go to a public library and read such shocking
admissions!
Remember, this is not someone's "church doctrine" you
are reading; it is not the clever arguments of someone trying to confuse your
mind and "trap" you into observing some strange customs! Instead, you are
reading direct quotations from historians! That certain Easter customs
have pagan roots is a matter of authoritative, historical
fact! Almighty God
soundly condemns the entire practice in the
Bible! Of course, if there is no God the
plaintive cries of "I don't see what difference it makes," or "Why should we
take away such joyous occasions from the children?" seem to make sense.
But, since there is a God, and since that Eternal Creator God is righteously
angry at instilling pagan customs in the minds of our children. It does
make a difference! God says: "To him that knoweth to do good, and does it
not, it is a sin." Once you know the truth, you become responsible for it. It is
knowledge that, while readily available in any number of historical sources, is
not known by the vast majority of humankind! Millions of churchgoing professing
Christians are blissfully ignorant of these startling
facts!
Ephesians Chapter
5
1 Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children;
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