Easter or Passover?

After His brutal beating at the hands of the Roman soldiers, our Lord was marched out to the dreaded

place called Golgotha. Photo by Hal Lindsey from his book Hal Lindsey A Prophetical Walk Through the

Holy Land. The caption beside the photo says, "Even the noisy Arab bus station below Gordon's

Calvary and the Muslim cemetery above it cannot erase the memory of what happened here [nearly]

two thousand years ago."

It's so very sad that so many people - especially among the English-speaking nations of the world - do not understand that the holiday they call Easter is truly supposed to be Passover.

Passover is AFTER sunset on April 7th this year, whereas Easter (also known as the celebration of Ishtar/Inanna) is April 12th - Easter Sunday. Now, in many other languages, some version of the Greek word páscha is often used - like on the Jewish calendar behind me, it says Erev Pesah (Eve of Passover).

Yet, so many are completely confused.

Notice this assertion from a Lutheran source:

The ancient name for Easter is 'Pascha', from the Greek and Hebrew words for Passover, 'for Christ, our paschal lamb [sic], has been sacrificed' (1 Corinthians 5:7).

(The church season of Easter. King of Grace Lutheran Church, April 18, 2019).

What a crock full of gobbledygook! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His disciples kept PASSOVER - which is the Greek word 'Pascha' that is in the New Testament! Christians kept Passover at night as a memorial of Christ's death. Yet, instead of keeping a memorial for our Savior's death - the Passover - the Greco-Romans (along with the Protestants) began to keep a resurrection holiday. Friends, 'Pascha' is not an ancient name for Easter. The Lutheran's lied to you!

Artists illustration (front and back)

of a life-sized statue of - very probably -

Ishtar/Inanna, holding a vase from Mari,

Syria (18th century BC). illustration from:

The Cosmic Code by Zecharia Sitchin,

Avon Books, © 1998, p. 86

Centuries after changing to Sunday worship, the very name of what was supposed to be the God-ordained observance of Passover was changed - in some Teutonic languages - to Easter. A variation of a Babylonian sex goddess often spelled Ishtar but pronounced roughly the same as Easter. Ishtar was the 'queen of heaven' who was celebrated each Spring by the ancient Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians and even including the Assyrians. Various non-biblical celebrations were part of the Ishtar celebration that is still being celebrated by Catholics and Protestants alike!

Many also teach that instead of Ishtar, the name 'Easter' came from an Old High Germanic goddess, Ēostre - the namesake of the festival Easter. Ēostre is therefore linguistically cognate with numerous other "dawn" goddesses attested among Indo-European language-speaking peoples. This Anglo-Saxon Ēostre, though some have argued that she is but a figment of the imagination of Bede - though it shouldn't be disregarded - wrote in his The Reckoning of Time, that during that Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan's had held feasts in Ēostre's honour.

Now friends, truly, whether originally from the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians or the ancient Teutons - I believe it is but semantics. None of it was for our Mighty and Holy Savior Jesus Christ, but for a pagan goddess - the 'queen of heaven' or even the 'daughter of heaven.'

In all seriousness - and as our dear six-year-old Lily says, "Seriously Uncle Lenny!" - let us consider the 'hot cross buns' of Easter. Do you honestly believe that the early Christians ate these!? - especially since they faithfully obeyed the keeping of God's Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is immediately after Passover. Not to mention, God's Word WARNS against making similar cakes to the 'queen of heaven' (Jeremiah 7:18, 44:16-29)! Seriously, Easter bunnies, chicken eggs - are these biblical!? No, instead they are but a part of pagan worship to Ishtar/Inanna/Easter/Ēostre/'queen of heaven' - whatever name you choose. NO CHRISTIANS SHOULD TAKE PART IN ANY OF THAT (1 Corinthians 10:20-22).

Friends, the early and faithful Christians observed Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

So, when is Passover!? Is it early in the morning!?

No.

Actually, an early morning celebration during this time of year was observed for Ēostre, the pagan goddess of the "dawn."

Our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples kept Passover in the evening (cf. John 13).

Now, it should be noted that in the Council of Nicaea of AD 325, not all the churches agreed "that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox." 1 And the true members of the Body of Christ - the Church of God - did not even attend the Council of Nicaea. Bellarmino Bagatti, a 20th-century Italian archaeologist and Catholic priest writes in his The Church from the gentiles in Palestine; history and archaeology:

…the inhabitants of Syria, of Cilicia and of Mesopotamia were still celebrating Easter {Passover} with the Jews…

The importance of the matters to be discussed and the great division that existed had led Constantine to bring together a big number of bishops, including confessors of the faith, in order to give the impression that the whole of Christendom was represented. 

In fact…the churches of Jewish stock had had no representation…From this we can conclude that no Judaeo-Christian bishop participated in the Council. Either they were not invited or they declined to attend. And so the capitulars had a free hand to establish norms for certain practices without meeting opposition or hearing other view points. 

(Bagatti, Bellarmino. Translated by Eugene Hoade. The Church from the Gentiles in Palestine; history and archaeology. Franciscan Printing Press, © 1971, pp. 47-48).

And of course, over time not only the date but the very practices associated with Passover were changed for the Greco-Roman churches - as did the same with the Protestants.

During God's ordained Passover service in the Owensboro Church of Jesus Christ, most of John chapter 6 is read - see my Passover notes below. Most people do not appear to understand that Jesus taught John 13-18 the very night in which He was betrayed. Also, most do not understand that much of the Book of John has to do with two holy day seasons: the final Passover season (chapters 13-21) and the Feast of Tabernacles season (chapters 7-9).

However, early Christians DID NOT ignore them. Most biblical scholars realize that all early Christians kept Passover.

What about you!? □

Also called the Lord's Supper, recorded in Owensboro, Kentucky in 2016. Since so many meetings (very possibly) will be impossible during this spring Holy Day season, services will be made available here on our YouTube channel.

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, p. 332.