Kent Bailey
During the season of spring every year many individuals acknowledge in some way that Christ was raised from the dead some two thousand years ago. Modern day society refers to such an observance as Easter.
The name of this religious day is of pagan origin and was observed in celebration of false gods such as Eastre (a pagan false god of Germanic origin), Beltis (a false Chaldean goddess) believed to be the queen of Heaven. Among some of her worshippers she was also known as Astarte. In Assyria she was known as Ishtar. Easter is nothing more than the Roman Catholic version of Ishtar.
The adaptation of Easter to Roman Catholicism. The observance of this pagan holy day was adapted as a means to bring pagans into the apostate Roman Catholic Church. There are various adaptations the Roman Catholics invented to “spice up” this special day.
- Lent: A forty day period of liturgical period of fasting representing the forty days Christ fasted in the wilderness.
- Ash Wednesday: The first day of the forty day period of lent demonstrating repentance when a priest rubs ashes on one’s forehead.
- Holy Week: The week before Easter and the last week of Lent. The last week of the events in the life of Christ are remembered.
- Good Friday: A commemoration of the crucifixion of Christ.
- Easter Vigil: The first official resurrection of Christ between sunset on Saturday and sunrise on Sunday.
- Sunrise Service: An early morning worship service practiced by many Protestant churches replacing the Easter Vigil.
- Eastertide: This is the fifty day period between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday.
The only time the term Easter appears in the New Testament is recorded in Acts 12:4 of the King James Version. It is a mistranslation of the NT Greek word pascha that is translated Passover. Acts 12:1-4 was previous to the establishment of the false religion of Roman Catholicism and thus before the establishment of the religious observance of Easter. There is no authority for a religious observance of Easter (Colossians 3:17; 2 John 9). The New Testament authorizes the remembrance of the resurrection of Christ every first day of the week (John 20:1-9; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Those who respect New Testament authority limit their practice to what the scriptures authorize.
Reasons why I refuse to observe Easter. My reasons for such a refusal is not based on cultural reasons. There are they based upon reasons because I oppose the observance of the secular grounds of a non-religious national custom. I reject such observance because:
- I will not celebrate a day that is named for a false goddess.
- I refuse the practice of Lent which was derived from paganism who worshipped Tammuz—Ezekiel 8:13-14.
- I refuse to conciliate with pagans, Roman Catholics and/or Protestants by compromising and observing their false religious practices—Jude 9.
- I refuse to engage in unauthorized religious practices that uses an egg as a religious symbol. The ancient Druids bore an egg as a sacred emblem of their order. The Egyptians and Greeks engaged in the same pagan customs. Under Pope Paul V, Catholics were taught to pray at Easter that eggs were to be eaten in religious observance of the memory of Christ.
I do believe in the resurrection of Christ. The New Testament authorizes such through explicit statement. It also authorizes such by means of example as well as implication:
- Romans 1:1-4.
- 1 Corinthians 15:13-20.
- Acts 2:16-31.
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
- Acts 2:23-36
- John 20:11-18
- Luke 24:1-6
- Matthew 26:26-29
- Matthew 28:18-20.
Observations drawn from adequate evidence. God has given specific instruction in the New Testament as to how we must worship Him (John 4:23-24). The Holy Spirit provided divine information regarding all of the acts of worship. No where has God left it to our own uninspired judgment as to what constitutes the day the church is to assemble or the avenues by which we are to approach Him (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
No where in the Scriptures are we to formulate special holy days and bind them collectively upon the church as religious functions—Galatians 4:8-11; Colossians 2:16-23. In view of the importance of limiting our practices to that which is authorized by the New Testament of Christ, we dare not accept neither practice a religious holy day such as Easter. Such is a relic of paganism and Roman Catholicism which has been foolishly borrowed by the Protestant churches. Let us follow the scriptures and stand upon the solid rock of divine truth.
–Bulletin for 4/21/2019, Northside Church of Christ, Calhoun, GA, Ron Hall, Ed.
