Our Pagan World : The Easter Myth Exposed! : Part 4

OUR PAGAN WORLD -- THE EASTER MYTH EXPOSED! : PART 4

Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Net

Last Updated : July 23, 2006

Isis The Cow Goddess, Ancestry Faith And Example Of Abraham
Difficulty Of Forsaking Family Religious Tradition, Concerns
As Parents, Isaac And Rebekah, Jacob's Doubts, Rachel's Gods
Slavery In Egypt, Isis/Ishtar And Israelites' Golden Calf,
Repeating Sins Of The Past, Accusing God, Test The Spirits,
America's Young Wayward Generation, Internet Wickedness And
Spiritual Pollution, Worldly Enticements, Answers For God's
Critics, Foolish To Judge God, Historical Recap Of The Facts
Greek God Dionysus, Tammuz/Baal/Osiris/Dionysus Usurps Jesus'
Position As The Firstfruits Of The Resurrection Of The Dead,
Compromising Christians Easter Eggs & Nails, Our Jealous God

One important point from the previous quotes which I wish to
draw to your attention, is the fact that Isis was depicted
as a woman upon whose head was a pair of cow horns, between
which was situated a solar disk. There is a picture of this
ancient Egyptian goddess of sex and fertility in my Random
House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Why is this point so
important? Because it makes a direct link, once again, to
the sad backslidden condition of the ancient Israelites, a
long time before the Assyrian/Babylonian invasions would
occur. During the hundreds of years that the children of
Israel were enslaved in the land of Egypt, they backslid in
the faith which they had inherited from their physical and
spiritual fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Undoubtedly,
due to the very harsh conditions under which they were
forced to live, many of the Israelites must have felt as if
the God of Abraham had abandoned them, and it seems quite
plausible that they may have found comfort in something
which seemed vaguely familiar to them: Osiris and Isis, the
sun god and moon goddess of their Egyptian masters.

Why might Osiris and Isis seem familiar to the Israelites;
and why did they seem to have a weakness and a propensity
for repeatedly turning to the gods and goddesses of these
other cultures? To answer these questions for you, allow me
to draw upon some information which I first included in an
article I wrote almost six years ago entitled 'The Children
Of God And Politics'. In a word, Abraham, and his family
were pagans; they were Babylonian pagans. According to the
eleventh chapter of the Book of Genesis, Abraham, his father
Terah, and their family, were all natives of Ur, which was
located in the land of the Chaldees, or the Chaldeans if you
prefer. Who were the Chaldeans? They were the rulers of
ancient Babylonia. Even though Abraham and his family were
descended from the line of righteous Noah, nevertheless,
initially, before Abraham was called by the one true God, he
worshipped the pagan gods. This is clarified for us by the
words of Joshua, the son of Nun, in the following verses:

"And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD
God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the
flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and
the father of Nachor: and THEY SERVED OTHER GODS. And I took
your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and
led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied
his seed, and gave him Isaac." Joshua 24:2-3, KJV

The fact that Abraham's family were pagans from Babylonia is
also confirmed for us in various of the apocryphal works as
well. In essence, the Lord told Abraham, who was then called
Abram, to forsake his own country, to forsake his father's
family, and to even forsake his old religion. As a reward, if
Abram would do this, God promised him that He would mightily
bless him, as we see here:

"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a
great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in
thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 12:1-3, KJV

But, as some of you will already know through personal
experience, forsaking family religious traditions is not
always an easy task, no matter how wrong or distorted those
traditions may be. For example, try convincing a Catholic to
forsake the pope and the so-called 'Holy Mother Church'; or
try convincing a Jehovah's Witness to stop being a member of
that group; or try convincing a Southern Baptist to abandon
what has been a family tradition for perhaps hundreds of
years; or try convincing an Orthodox Jew to embrace Yeshua
as the Messiah of the Jews; or try convincing a Mormon to
forsake the doctrines of Joseph Smith; or try convincing a
Muslim to forsake Muhammad and the Qur'an. As I explain in
'Are You Just A Baby Huey?', you will encounter a lot of
resistance, because most people are not easily persuaded to
abandon a set of religious beliefs with which they have been
comfortable, and which has been a central part of their
family for many years.

Dear Abraham must have met equal, if not greater resistance,
from some of his family members, because not only did he ask
them to abandon their religion, but he asked them to leave
the comfort of Padan-Aram, and travel to a land which was
totally foreign to them, which was inhabited by Canaanites.
In fact, we are told that Abram did not leave his father's
family in Haran until after his father had died; and there
are indications that those who remained in Haran never did
adopt the new God of Abraham, as we will see in a moment. In
a word, Abraham truly was stepping out by faith, and this is
why God honored him, because Abraham was a man of faith and
obedience. As the Apostles James and Paul would later write:

"Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew
me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my
faith by my works...For as the body without the spirit is
dead, so faith without works is dead also."
James 2:18, 26, KJV

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him...By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went
out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in
the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the
same promise:" Hebrews 11:6, 8-9, KJV

While Abraham made the break with his family, as well as
with his old religion, in his wisdom, he must have realized
that his son might not share his same religious convictions;
and that in a moment of weakness, he might even fall back
into the pagan worship of the past. How typical this is of
even Christian parents today. We want so much for our own
children to follow in our footsteps; we want them to love
and obey the Lord as much as we try to do; but sadly, to our
disappointment, things don't always turn out that way. This
is something which has even been of concern to me in my own
family in recent months. The enticements and false promises
of the world are indeed strong, and we must fervently pray
for our children, and ask the Lord to give them the strength
to resist such things; even at the cost of losing worldly
friendships.

In the case of Abraham, his concern was that his promised
son, Isaac, might marry a pagan woman of Canaan, the land
wherein he and his family now dwelt. Just as King Solomon
would backslide from the Lord many years later as a result
of marrying pagan women, Isaac might also fall back into
worshipping the pagan gods, if he were to marry a Canaanite
woman. At the same time, neither did Abraham want Isaac to
return to the land of his own nativity; that is, to the city
of Ur in the land of the Chaldees; because the Lord had
promised to give Abraham the land of Canaan and to multiply
his seed there as the stars of the heavens. And again, the
temptation to desert the one true God may have been too
strong for his son to resist, were he to go to his father's
birthplace in Ur, in order to find himself a bride.

Thus, as we read in the Book of Genesis, Abraham sent one of
his servants to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor, (which
was named after Abraham's brother), in order to find a wife
for Isaac his son. It is there that the Bible tells us that
the Lord did a miracle, and wisely provided Rebekah, the
granddaughter of Nahor, to be Isaac's wife. According to what
we read in the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis, Rebekah and
her brother Laban are both referred to as Syrians, which is
an indication that Syria was considered to be a part of
Mesopotamia in those days. In fact, this entire area was
under Babylonian jurisdiction. Consider these verses:

"And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son:
Abraham begat Isaac: And Isaac was forty years old when he
took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of
Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian."
Genesis 25:19-20, KJV

A number of years later, we find Isaac, who is now a father
himself, and Rebekah, his wife, sending Jacob to Laban,
Rebekah's brother, who still lives in Haran. You will recall
that this is the place where Terah had first taken Abraham,
Sarah and their nephew Lot after leaving Ur in the land of
the Chaldees, as we see in Genesis 27:30-45. Just as Abraham
did not want his son Isaac to marry a pagan woman of Canaan,
so too, Isaac shared the same concerns with Jacob.

As I said a moment ago, changing a family's religious
beliefs is not an easy task. This is particularly revealed
when we consider Jacob's feelings concerning the God of his
father Isaac, as well as of his grandfather, Abraham. In
spite of Isaac's concerns regarding his two sons, Jacob and
Esau, we know from the Scriptures that Esau displeased his
parents by marrying a woman of the Hittites. Considering all
of this, as well as Jacob's nature of being somewhat of a
'wheeler-dealer', it should come as no surprise to us that
Jacob appears to have had doubts about the God of his father
and of his grandfather. As we see by the following verses,
even before he arrived at Laban's house, Jacob's belief in
the God of gods was conditional. He needed to be convinced
that this was the one true God which he should worship:

"And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread
to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my
father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:"
Genesis 28:20-21, KJV

In other words, these verses appear to be telling us that in
essence, Jacob set a test before the Lord. He said that he
would accept the God of Abraham and Isaac, IF He would prove
Himself, by bestowing His blessings upon Jacob. As we know
from the Biblical narrative, the Lord did exactly that; and
twenty years later, we find Jacob with two wives, quite a few
children, huge numbers of flocks, and many servants. God had
kept His part of the bargain, and now Jacob was willing to
admit that his blessings were in fact due to the God which
had been embraced by his father and grandfather. Not only
that, but Jacob realized that God had protected him from
Laban's evil intentions.

At this point in our story, we come upon yet another clue
which reveals how difficult it must have been for Abraham's
heirs to forsake the pagan gods of Babylonia. In Genesis, we
are told that Jacob makes haste, obeys the Lord, and departs
from Laban's house in secret. However, what isn't known to
Jacob at the time, is that his wife Rachel has stolen the
images of the gods of her father Laban. Why would Rachel do
this? Obviously, while Abraham had placed his faith in the
new God which had told him to travel to the land of Canaan,
the rest of his family, which stayed behind in Padan-Aram,
apparently remained faithful to the false gods which they
had worshipped in Ur, including Jacob's wives-to-be, Rachel
and Leah. Please notice that it is at a time of stress and
danger, that we find Rachel placing her faith in the gods of
her fathers. Why? I would venture to say that it was probably
a matter of tradition, and also because she felt comfortable
with them. Later, when Laban finally catches up with Jacob
and his caravan, notice what he says to Jacob:

"And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou
sore longedst after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast
thou stolen my gods?" Genesis 31:30, KJV

Although Laban searched high and low in Jacob's property, he
wasn't able to find the idols because Rachel had hidden them
in a chest of sorts and sat upon it, pretending that she was
having her menstrual cycle:

"With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live:
before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and
take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen
them. And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's
tent, and into the two maidservants' tents; but he found
them not. Then went he out of Leah's tent, and entered into
Rachel's tent. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them
in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban
searched all the tent, but found them not. And she said to
her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise
up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he
searched, but found not the images." Genesis 31:32-35, KJV

While the previous information may seem off-topic from our
main discussion concerning the origin of the word 'Easter',
I have included it here, because not only does it contain
some important lessons for us today, but I believe that it
will also help you to understand why the ancient Israelites
repeatedly fell back into worshipping the false gods and
goddesses of the nations around them. In a sense, in their
backslidden condition, whether they realized it or not, they
were really regressing to their own roots of the past, which
began in Babylonia; and perhaps subconsciously, they were
deriving some level of comfort from it. This does not by any
means excuse their blatant sins, but it may simply help to
explain why they did some of the things that they did, which
got them into so much trouble with the Lord.

We must remember that in ancient times, most beliefs and
traditions were passed along orally; and I suspect that in
spite of the endeavors made by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to
eradicate such beliefs from their midst, talk of the past,
and of the ancient gods, may have occasionally still floated
in the air. When the Israelites found themselves under the
bondage of the Egyptian whip, as I said earlier, it must
have been a very stressful situation. Many undoubtedly felt
that the God of their forefathers must have abandoned them.
After all, they may have thought, where was He in the midst
of all of their suffering and hardships? Why didn't He hear
their prayers and groanings? Why didn't He deliver them from
such cruel bondage? Why was He silent?

To some of the Israelites, perhaps it seemed as if the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had failed them, and thus they
chose to turn to, what they may have assumed to be, the more
powerful gods and goddesses of Egypt. In certain regards,
the transition to the worship of the new Egyptian pantheon
of gods may have been easy. After all, the characteristics
which were attributed to Tammuz and Ishtar of Babylonia,
were very much the same as those attributed to Osiris and
Isis. They simply had different names. In thinking about
this, I must now wonder if the purpose of the plagues upon
Egypt wasn't just to punish Pharaoh and the Egyptians so
that they would finally release the Israelites, but also to
convince and remind the backslidden Israelites that Jehovah
was still the God of gods, and the mightiest of them all;
truly the 'El Shaddai'.

Sadly, in spite of His mighty deliverance of His children
from Pharaoh's oppressive grasp, as I point out in other
articles, the Israelites continued to complain; and some of
them longed to return to their former lives in Egypt, rather
than face the harshness of the wilderness, and an uncertain
future. Many of them surely lacked the faith and vision of
their father Abraham. In fact, as we know from the Biblical
account, the minute they were given an opportunity, and the
minute it appeared as if the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
had abandoned them, that is, when Moses was delayed on the
summit of Mount Horeb, (or Sinai), during the forty days
that the Lord gave him the Commandments written on the two
tablets of stone, the faithless children of Israel renewed
their loyalty to the Egyptian gods.

In particular, based upon the description we are given of
Isis, I would dare say that the creation of the golden calf
in the Book of Exodus, may have been a tribute to none other
than Isis herself, or Ishtar if you prefer. If we take into
consideration the fact that the Israelites were wandering
shepherds by occupation, their attraction to Isis the cow
goddess seems to make perfect sense. When I saw the picture
of Isis in my Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, it immediately
reminded me of one of the videos we have which portrays the
life of Moses, and the flight to the Promised Land. In this
movie, the golden calf is in fact shown with the solar disk
of Isis between its horns. So perhaps the Israelites had
physically left Egypt, but Egypt was still in some of their
hearts, and God allowed those lacking faith to slowly die
off during the forty years that they wandered in the
wilderness.

Ironically, while we have discussed Biblical events of the
distant past in order to help us understand the awful truth
behind the contemporary 'Easter' celebration, I can't help
but believe that in our modern day, particularly in the
United States of America, which claims to be THE Christian
nation of the world, just as Israel claimed, (and continues
to claim), to be the nation chosen by God, we are currently
witnessing a repetition of some of the sins of the ancient
Israelites in every regard; from rampant sexual promiscuity,
to the worship of false gods, to the murderous abortion of
millions of unborn babies, (child sacrifice), and more.

While I have mentioned this same point in other articles,
allow me to add a new angle to it. Just as the Israelites
chose to abandon the one true God of Heaven time and time
again whenever they found themselves under duress, such as
through war, captivity, famine, drought, etc., today, many
Americans, particularly young Americans, are abandoning the
God of their fathers, (meaning we, their parents), by the
droves. Just as the ancient Israelites asked 'Where is God
in all of our suffering?', many people today are also asking
similar questions such as 'If God is real, why is there so
much suffering in the world? Why is there is so much evil
occurring? Why are there so many wars? Why is there so much
famine and poverty? Why is there AIDS? Why is there so much
political corruption and inequity between the rich and the
poor? If your Christian God is the true God, why doesn't He
just stop all of these things and prove Himself? Where is
He?'; and on and on they rant with their accusatory remarks.

Sadly, just as the ancient Israelites were asking the wrong
questions during the times of their sufferings, the people
who are making these accusations against God are asking the
wrong questions today as well. And just as the children of
Israel chose to embrace the false gods and goddesses of the
heathen nations around them, and abandoned the true God of
Heaven when He didn't answer them as quickly, and in the way
in which they desired, many people today, both young and
old, are doing the very same thing. Like the Israelites of
old, they are basically saying 'If your God won't answer us,
and prove Himself to us, then we will just find ourselves
some new gods to worship'; and that is precisely what many
of them have done; but in their folly, they have failed to
realize that these other voices are deceptive spirits, of
which the Apostles John and Paul wrote:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1, KJV

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving, and being deceived." 2 Timothy 3:13, KJV

If you are a God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian who has
spent any time surfing Internet web sites, message boards,
chatrooms, IRC channels, and other online communities, like
myself, I don't doubt that you have been very alarmed by the
number of these places which are dedicated to the forces of
darkness, such as RPG's, (role-playing games), which involve
a heavy dosage of magic and sorcery, sites which glorify the
false gods and goddesses of the past, places which revolve
around Wicca and other forms of modern witchcraft, sites
which blatantly profess devil worship and explain satanic
practices, etc. Then, of course, there are the multitude of
web sites which are dedicated to the subtle lies of New Age
thought, UFOlogy, channeling and other forms of spiritism,
etc. Between online commercialism and the spiritual junk
which is propagated by these sites, the Internet has truly
become a type of spiritual Babylon.

For many disillusioned young people in particular, these are
the 'in' things to do, and the 'in' places to go to, while
believing in God, and trusting in His Holy Word, the Bible,
are viewed as being old-fashioned and out-of-sync with the
times. The new sexuality which is associated with many of
these sites is also very appealing to young people. In their
desire to be freed from what they view as the restrictive
beliefs of their God-fearing parents and grandparents, many
of these young people have gone to the opposite extreme. Is
it any wonder that pornography has become so rampant on the
Internet and elsewhere? As we all know, these things are not
restricted to the Internet alone. We also find them on the
television set; we hear them continuously on the radio; we
see them in books and magazines; and now they are even being
popularized in a plethora of big-budget movies. Children are
being drowned in a sea of deception, worldliness and satanic
wickedness. As the Apostles John and James warned us so long
ago:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is
not of the Father, but is of the world." 1 John 2:15-16, KJV

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God." James 4:4, KJV

So the point I am trying to make from all of this, is that
the sins of the past are being repeated today, and possibly
to a much greater degree. Contrary to the Apostle Paul's
sober admonition, many people have not learned from the
mistakes of the past; and if we have not learned from the
past, not only are we bound to repeat them, but we will
eventually also reap the same reward in the form of God's
righteous judgments:

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and
they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of
the world are come." 1 Corinthians 10:11, KJV

While I could easily address all of the 'why' questions
which I posed above, (and they do merit responses), being as
I have already amply addressed them in other articles, such
as in 'What's Wrong With Modern America?', 'The Fruits Of
Disobedience', 'Beholding The Evil And The Good' and 'Are
Personal Tragedies Due To Sin?', I will refrain from doing
so in this current series. For now, suffice it to say that
the question shouldn't be 'God, why don't you stop all of
these things; what's wrong with You?', but rather it should
be 'Heavenly Father, why are you allowing these things to
happen to us; how have we displeased You?'. If there is one
thing of which I am absolutely certain, it is that God is
NOT the source of the problem; unbelieving, unrepentant,
rebellious people are . . . and that is the simple answer
with a bite on it! For us mere humans to question and
criticize the Almighty God is foolhardy, as we see here:

"Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, Shall he that
contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth
God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the LORD, and
said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will
lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will
not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then
answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and
declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment?
wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?"
Job 40:1-8, KJV

"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?
Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast
thou made me thus?" Romans 9:20, KJV

With this series, we have now traced the trail of the Easter
goddess from the earliest of known civilizations. We have
seen that the Easter observance is historically based, not
upon the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as organized religion
would have us to believe, but rather upon a celebration that
honors the ancient pagan goddess of love, sex and fertility.
We have seen that down through history, she has been known
by many different names; including Ashtoreth, Astarte, Eos,
Ishtar, Isis, and Ostara. The name 'Easter' simply happens
to be the most modern form of her name; and the similarity
in spelling, as well as in pronunciation with the others,
is hard to dismiss as merely being a coincidence. Consider
once again some of the words and names which we've discussed
throughout this series:

Ashtoreth
Astarte
Easter
Eastre
Eos
Eostre
Ester
Estrus
Oestrus
Oistros
Ostara

Almost every single major culture of Europe and the Middle
East has paid homage in one form or another to this 'star
goddess', who was the goddess of the moon, and the lover and
wife of the sun god Tammuz/Baal, as well as the lover and
wife of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld, and the
protector of the dead. This includes the Phoenicians, the
Canaanites, the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the
Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans; and
the Germans, the Anglo-Saxons of Britain, and their modern
ancestors have all continued the practice through the Easter
observance. How dare they take one of the most sacred of
Christian holy days, and defile it by giving it the name of
a pagan goddess which was honored with prostitution and
other lewd sexual acts!

At this point, allow me to interject another important fact
which will fill in the historical picture even more for us.
We have seen how Ishtar was associated with Tammuz, Isis was
associated with Osiris, and Ashtoreth was associated with
Baal; but what about the Greek goddess Eos. Is there a male
god in the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses who fits into
our picture? You bet there is; and his name is 'Dionysus'.
From the following description taken from 'The NEED Project'
web site, we see that Dionysus had some of the very same
attributes as Tammuz, Baal and Osiris; including the fact
that he was raised from the dead each Spring, and was viewed
as being responsible for the growth of crops:

----- Begin Quote -----

Dionysus was one of the most important Greek gods. He was
good and gentle to those who honored him, but he brought
madness and destruction upon those who did not. According to
tradition, Dionysus died each winter and was reborn in the
spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied
by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied
the promise of the resurrection of the dead.

----- End Quote -----

I find it rather blasphemous that Tammuz/Baal/Osiris/Dionysus
has usurped the power and authority which belongs to Jesus
Christ alone, through the claim that he was raised from the
dead and brought back to life. The Bible tells us that Jesus
is the true Son of God; and that He alone has the power over
death and hell, because He, and only He, paid the price for
our Salvation by shedding His own Blood upon the Cross. The
Bible also tells us that He alone is the Firstfruits of the
Resurrection. Please consider the following verses:

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that
thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." John 17:1-2, KJV

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never
perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
John 10:28, KJV

"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive
for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
Revelation 1:18, KJV

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren." Romans 8:29, KJV

"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all
men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by
man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming." 1 Corinthians 15:19-23, KJV

"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature:...And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Colossians 1:12-15, 18, KJV

"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood," Revelation 1:5, KJV

Sadly, despite the fact that they are aware of the pagan
origin of the Easter observance, there are many compromising
Christians who still celebrate this holiday; and I do mean
'holiday', because by assigning it the name of a pagan sex
goddess, it most certainly is NOT a holy day!

Exactly how do they resist the conviction of God's Spirit?
What I heard on the radio some time ago is one sad example.
A certain lady was suggesting that instead of hiding Easter
eggs, parents could hide nails. Yes, that's right; nails!
This woman then went on to say that when the children found
them, it would help them to remember Christ's sufferings on
the Cross. I couldn't believe it! I was aghast! In my view,
that is just as bad as the Roman Catholics with their gloomy
crucifixes. Instead of totally forsaking Easter/Ishtar as
they know they should do, these weak Christians compromise
their faith, and try to make the festival appear a little
more Christian by replacing Ishtar's eggs with Christ's
nails. All I can say is 'May God help them!'.

Another common argument which some Christians will use in
their weak attempt to justify themselves is the following:

'Well, what really matters is that we are worshipping the
Lord in our hearts. Even though it is of pagan origin, and
even though our children may become distracted by the Easter
bunny, Easter eggs and chocolate candy, we still use Easter
to remember the Lord's sufferings and His Resurrection.'

While on the surface this human reasoning may satisfy one's
own conscience, that is, excusing oneself as Paul referred
to it, the fact of the matter is that our God is a jealous
God, and He refuses to take second place, or to share His
glory with a false goddess like Ishtar. He makes this very
clear in His Word, as we see here:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me...For thou shalt
worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous,
is a jealous God:" Exodus 20:3, 34:14, KJV

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and there is none else." Isaiah 45:22, KJV

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there
is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,"
Isaiah 46:9, KJV

As we conclude our series in part five, we will continue our
discussion by taking a look at some of the glaring contrasts
between these pagan religions and Christianity. This will
include the Resurrection, Satan's boastful challenge as the
true 'Light Bearer' and 'Morning Star', and Ishtar and the
woman of Revelation chapter twelve. We'll also be discussing
William Tyndale's and Martin Luther's links to the Roman
Catholic Church; Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan;
the Biblical view on materialism and worldliness; Satan's
offer and how the Roman Catholic Church accepted it; the
danger of compromise and hiding our light; ecumenism and the
coming One World Religion; the ungodly marriage of Rome and
Christianity; the Byzantine Era; and the 'RCC is Babylon'
theory. I will end the series with a theory regarding the
possible identity of the modern Ishtar/Queen Of Heaven. I
trust that you will join me.

Go To Part Five . . .