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Easter sermons
The name Easter is the slightly changed English spelling of the name of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the 'Queen of Heaven' who is also known as Ostern, Eostre ('Goddess of the Dawn'), and Astarte—the ancient pagan goddess of fertility and spring who was celebrated annually on the vernal (spring) equinox. The Roman Catholic church incorporated the Easter traditions into its version of Christianity by subtly altering the meaning of the rituals to try to venerate Jesus Christ. Even though Jesus Christ clearly said He would be in the grave 'three days and three nights'—making a 'Good' Friday crucifixion and Easter Sunday morning resurrection impossible—this flawed tradition was adopted to honor both the goddess of fertility (whose day is Friday) as well as worship of the rising sun through Easter sunrise services. This is also the basis of the common, though wrong, Sunday worship. The first-century church observed the Passover, not Easter, and worshipped on the seventh-day Sabbath rather than Sunday.
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Choosing the Field of Battle
David Grabbe explores Satan's strategy at getting people distracted, choosing his own field of battle, forcing us to argue the wrong things, twisting scripture, making mountains out of molehills and molehills out of mountains. The debate used by Prot... |
Dealing With the Holidays
David Grabbe, finding ironic humor in Halloween clashing with the venerable day of the Sun, observes that our culture is saturated with paganism—Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Mardi Gras—all derived from the world's religions and culture. Th... |
Easter
Herbert W. Armstrong reiterates that the sign of Jonah in Matthew 12:40 precludes any Good Friday crucifixion and Easter Sunday resurrection. Jesus was actually slain on a Wednesday afternoon on the 14th day of the sacred calendar on the Passover day... |
Easter
In this sermonette on Easter-Origins and Implications, Richard Ritenbaugh reveals that the only biblical reference to Easter (Acts 12:4) is spurious, a mistranslation of Passover. God's apostles and disciples faithfully kept the biblically defined an... |
Easter Tradition
In this broadcast, Herbert W. Armstrong proclaims that the church Jesus Christ established never kept Easter, Christmas, New Years, Lent, or Good Friday. Jeremiah's prophecies apply more to the future of America and Britain more than to ancient Israe... |
Easter/Good Friday/Lent
In this broadcast, Herbert W. Armstrong asserts that Christ's crucifixion did not occur on Friday and His resurrection was not on Sunday morning. The 40-day observation of Lent came from the worship of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar or Astarte. Most o... |
Is the Cross an Acceptable Symbol?
Mike Ford asserts that the sign of the cross is a pagan symbol used by the ancient Chaldeans to honor Tammuz—the sun god. Even if Jesus were crucified on a cross, it would be just as absurd to venerate this instrument of execution as it would b... |
Passover vs. Easter
In this broadcast focusing upon the differences between Easter and Passover, Herbert W. Armstrong asserts the impossibility of a Good Friday crucifixion and an Easter Sunday morning resurrection based upon the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:40, Luke 11:30... |
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For more information on the pagan origins of Easter, the timing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the questions about whether Christians should celebrate Easter, see the Easter Articles page.
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