Post by Rev. Jim Cunningham on Apr 10, 2009 11:54:38 GMT -5
(Brethren = brothers and sisters)
Dear brethren
Thank you all for your emails enquiring about easter and Passover, asking me where I stand on this issue.
The New Testament does mention that two Apostles where murdered on the pagan holiday of Easter, but the Bible does not indicate days called "Good Friday" or "Easter" for Christian observance. Easter is the holy day of the fertility deity Astarte/Asteroth/Ishtar; and as a fertility goddess her mascots were the rabbit (which breeds excessively) and the egg and new born chick - which is where the "easter bunny" and "easter eggs" come from. Scripture does not give any instructions pertaining to their observance (why, after all, would God want Believers to follow the holyday of a false deity?) It is merely a traditional holiday - specifically a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition taken from ancient Rome, Greece, Philistia, Babylon, etc. There is nothing you are "supposed to" do on these day, according to God's Word. In fact, a Christian should not do ANYTHING on these days. They have nothing to do with Christ's death and resurrection.
The pagan egyptian format was then adopted by Rome, which consists of sun shaped unleavened wafers which the Egyptian priests claimed they could transform into the body and divinity of the sun god (which they termed "transubstantiation", and which Rome still calls it to this day); and to control the populous the priests declared that they must regularly eat the wafer god to be reborn, and those who refused would be damned. The tradition of the wine cup of Bacchus, the drunken god of the vine, replaced the Passover cup.
However, the Bible does tell us what we are supposed to be celebrating. The Apostle Paul said this in 1st Corinthians 5 -
Unfortunately most Christians do not understand this. Our Lord was sacrificed and the first day of the Passover, which Paul called "The Lord's Supper". The Passover is eight days, and it was on the third day of Passover - not Easter - that Jesus rose from the dead. We are commanded in Scripture to keep the Passover in remembrance of Christ's death and to be baptized in celebration of His resurrection. Over time through corrupted tradition, the Passover (which consists of lamb, bitter herbs, Matzah unleavened bread, and wine) has been reduced to a bit of cracker and a sip of grape juice or wine, and changed from being celebrated on Passover, to being celebrated as "communion" every week or every month in churches around the world.
But Paul straitly rebuked those who do this in 1st Corinthians 11:17-34, saying,
The Corinthians had abandoned the Passover that was commanded by Scripture and began eating it in their regular church gatherings (as most Christians do today). But Paul, continuing, reminds us, "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus THE SAME NIGHT IN WHICH HE WAS BETRAYED took bread... For as often as ye eat THIS bread and drink THIS cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come."
Which night was "THE SAME NIGHT" that Jesus was betrayed? The Passover.
(Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:1-8; John 13)
When Jesus said, "as often as ye eat THIS bread", what bread was Jesus holding when He referred to "THIS" bread? The Passover unleavened matzah bread.
When Jesus said, "as often as you drink THIS cup", what cup was Jesus holding when He referred to "THIS" cup? The Passover wine cup.
So every time you eat the PASSOVER bread and drink the PASSOVER cup, you do so in remembrance of the Lord's death.
Good Friday and Easter are all man made holidays and have nothing to do with our Lord (if it did, all of the prophets and Apostles and Christ Himself would have glorified them as they did the Sabbath and the Passover - yet none of them even mention those other days). I pray that God's people will abandon these pagan holidays and obey His commanded holidays - for Christians say they are not bound to keep God's laws under the New Testament and that they are free to abandon His precious Holy Days, yet they bind themselves to pagan celebrations and create their own holidays and decree them to have a sacred and holy nature! God forbid!
May we be set free from the deceptions of the father of lies, that old serpent called the devil and satan.
In the joy of our Lord,
Rev. Jim Cunningham
King James Bible Ministries
Dear brethren
Thank you all for your emails enquiring about easter and Passover, asking me where I stand on this issue.
The New Testament does mention that two Apostles where murdered on the pagan holiday of Easter, but the Bible does not indicate days called "Good Friday" or "Easter" for Christian observance. Easter is the holy day of the fertility deity Astarte/Asteroth/Ishtar; and as a fertility goddess her mascots were the rabbit (which breeds excessively) and the egg and new born chick - which is where the "easter bunny" and "easter eggs" come from. Scripture does not give any instructions pertaining to their observance (why, after all, would God want Believers to follow the holyday of a false deity?) It is merely a traditional holiday - specifically a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition taken from ancient Rome, Greece, Philistia, Babylon, etc. There is nothing you are "supposed to" do on these day, according to God's Word. In fact, a Christian should not do ANYTHING on these days. They have nothing to do with Christ's death and resurrection.
The pagan egyptian format was then adopted by Rome, which consists of sun shaped unleavened wafers which the Egyptian priests claimed they could transform into the body and divinity of the sun god (which they termed "transubstantiation", and which Rome still calls it to this day); and to control the populous the priests declared that they must regularly eat the wafer god to be reborn, and those who refused would be damned. The tradition of the wine cup of Bacchus, the drunken god of the vine, replaced the Passover cup.
However, the Bible does tell us what we are supposed to be celebrating. The Apostle Paul said this in 1st Corinthians 5 -
"For Christ our Passover is crucified for us; therefore let us KEEP THE FEAST."
Unfortunately most Christians do not understand this. Our Lord was sacrificed and the first day of the Passover, which Paul called "The Lord's Supper". The Passover is eight days, and it was on the third day of Passover - not Easter - that Jesus rose from the dead. We are commanded in Scripture to keep the Passover in remembrance of Christ's death and to be baptized in celebration of His resurrection. Over time through corrupted tradition, the Passover (which consists of lamb, bitter herbs, Matzah unleavened bread, and wine) has been reduced to a bit of cracker and a sip of grape juice or wine, and changed from being celebrated on Passover, to being celebrated as "communion" every week or every month in churches around the world.
But Paul straitly rebuked those who do this in 1st Corinthians 11:17-34, saying,
"WHEN YE COME TOGETHER INTO ONE PLACE, THIS IS NOT TO EAT THE LORD'S SUPPER."
The Corinthians had abandoned the Passover that was commanded by Scripture and began eating it in their regular church gatherings (as most Christians do today). But Paul, continuing, reminds us, "For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus THE SAME NIGHT IN WHICH HE WAS BETRAYED took bread... For as often as ye eat THIS bread and drink THIS cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come."
Which night was "THE SAME NIGHT" that Jesus was betrayed? The Passover.
(Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:1-8; John 13)
When Jesus said, "as often as ye eat THIS bread", what bread was Jesus holding when He referred to "THIS" bread? The Passover unleavened matzah bread.
When Jesus said, "as often as you drink THIS cup", what cup was Jesus holding when He referred to "THIS" cup? The Passover wine cup.
So every time you eat the PASSOVER bread and drink the PASSOVER cup, you do so in remembrance of the Lord's death.
Good Friday and Easter are all man made holidays and have nothing to do with our Lord (if it did, all of the prophets and Apostles and Christ Himself would have glorified them as they did the Sabbath and the Passover - yet none of them even mention those other days). I pray that God's people will abandon these pagan holidays and obey His commanded holidays - for Christians say they are not bound to keep God's laws under the New Testament and that they are free to abandon His precious Holy Days, yet they bind themselves to pagan celebrations and create their own holidays and decree them to have a sacred and holy nature! God forbid!
May we be set free from the deceptions of the father of lies, that old serpent called the devil and satan.
In the joy of our Lord,
Rev. Jim Cunningham
King James Bible Ministries