EASTER PART III

5.) Where did the Easter Egg originate from?

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: Like the word Easter, many of our customs at this season had their beginnings among heathen religions. The egg was, however, a sacred symbol among the Babylonians who believed an old fable about an egg of wonderous size which fell from heaven into the Euphrates River. From this egg, the goddess Astarte was hatched. The egg came to symbolize the goddess Astarte.

The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of coloring and eating eggs during their spring festival. The similarity of the chick coming out of the egg, so Christ came out of the tomb. The ancient Druids bore an egg as the sacred emblem of their idolatrous order. The procession of Ceres in Rome was preceded by an egg. In China they used dyed or colored eggs in there sacred festivals. In Japan, an ancient custom was to make the sacred egg a brazen color. In Northern Europe, in pagan times eggs were colored and used as symbols of the goddess of Spring, all being pagan customs.

6.) What about the Easter Bunny?

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: The hare, came to be associated with the idea of periodicity, both lunar and human, and with the beginning of new life in both the young man and the young woman, and so a symbol of fertility and of the renewal of life. Thus both the Easter rabbit and Easter eggs were symbols of sexual significance, symbols of fertility.

7.) Where did Sunrise Services originate?

As far back as in the days of Ezekiel we find people worshipping the sun god, Baal, the god of fire. The Sphinx in Egypt was located so as to face the east. In Japan prayers are made to the rising sun. The pagan Mithrists of Rome met together at dawn in honor of the sun-god. Even today it is assumed here in the United States, that such honor Christ because he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday morning just as the sun was coming up. But the resurrection did not occur at sunrise, Sunday morning, as according to the Bible He rose Saturday evening as the sun was setting, still we are worshipping the rising of the SUN, not the Son of God.

8.) What does the Bible say about worshipping the sun?

Ezekiel 8:10-18
And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.

He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. 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. 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. 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 TWARD THE EAST; AND THEY WORSHIPPED THE SUN toward the east. 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. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

Mark 7:9
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

THE TIME OF CHRIST CRUCIFIXION

Abib 14th, Tuesday Sundown - Wednesday before Sundown: preperation for the Passover, Crucifixion takes place as Christ became the sacrifial lamb:

John 19:31
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

15th Wednesday Sundown - Thursday before Sundown: Feast of the Unleavened Bread

Numbers 28:16-17
And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:

16th Thursday Sundown - Friday before Sundown: Preperation of the 7th day Sabbath and spices

Luke 23:56
And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

17th Friday at Sundown - Sabbath (7th day) Christ Arose!

Matthew 27:63; 28:1
Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

1 Corinthians 5:7
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:

Isaiah 53:6-7
And we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

There is no where in the Bible, the Holy Scriptures that ever implies a Friday, 6th day crucifixion, nor a 1st day sunrise resurrection. There is no way possible to get 3 days and 3 nights from Friday to Sunday morning. We see no mention of easter eggs, rabbits, or sunrise services in the scriptures. So why then do we throw in these pagan rituals, choose Friday and Sunday morning, and have a ham for Easter Sunday, because satan has a counterfiet for every true doctrine out there. He loves to mingle the truth in with heathen practices, this way everything looks holy to the Christians, yet souls will still be lost if we don't come out of the false teachings, the heathen practices, and not carry the mark of the beast. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is holy, pure, and serious, let's not make mockery of his death and resurrection by bringing in heathen practices.

2 Corinthians 6:17
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.