The origin of the word “Easter” – Ministerial Academy
“And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” Acts 12:4
This is an unfortunate and poor translation because Easter was a pagan festival celebrated long before the time of Christ. It is not a Christian name, but is derived from Ishtar, one of the Babylonian titles of an idolatrous goddess who was called the Queen of Heaven by the people of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq. The Saxon goddess Eastre is the same as Astarte, the Syrian Venus, called Ashtoreth in the Old Testament. It was Israel’s worship of this woman that was such an abomination to God [1 Samuel 7:3; 1 Kings 11:5, 33; 2 Kings 23:13; Jeremiah 7:18; 44:18]. For this feast, round cakes were baked with the sign of the cross imprinted on them, which was used in Babylonian mysteries to signify life. According to the legend of the egg, “an egg of extraordinary size fell from heaven into the river Euphrates; then a fish rolled it along the bank, where doves settled on it and incubated it; and out of it emerged Astarte or Ishtar, the goddess of Easter. Therefore, Easter, Christmas, Lady’s Day, Lent, and other Babylonian festivals were all borrowed from this religion, and were all observed centuries before Christ, none of them having any relation to Christ or Christianity. According to the decree of the Roman Emperor Constantine, the persuasion of the Christian Church would come to an end and the same Church would be adopted as the Church of the Roman Empire. It was called “the universal church” in which the pagan idols of the Romans became part of the newly established Roman Church. It was the mixing of pagan beliefs with the divine principles in which the church was established in the very beginning, resulting in a completely corrupted system. The universal church under the Roman Empire absorbed every pagan belief brought in by the new members who became part of the Roman church. Over time, more pagan rituals were added to the Roman Church as it expanded beyond the territory of the Roman Empire, especially after the collapse of the Roman Empire. The Greek word used for “Easter” in Acts 12:4 is “pascha,” which means “Passover or to pass over” [in remembrance of the divine protection over the curse that befell the Egyptians and where the Hebrews were not affected because of the blood as recorded in Exodus 12:1-32]. It used Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, figuratively [1 Corinthians 5:7], and it always refers to the Jewish feast of the “paschal lamb” [the day on which the paschal lamb was slain and eaten, the 14th of Nisan]. The biblical passage that uses this word has absolutely nothing to do with a pagan-rooted feast celebrated by the Catholic Church and other pagan religions. Sadly, born-again believers have fallen into celebrating a pagan-rooted feast because they lack the true knowledge of the Word of God and its elements.
The ungodly are blinded by their sinful nature, and therefore they do not understand the biblical truths, but the born-again people? We should have better knowledge than they, but as you can see, in many cases we don’t. We must honor the true God in everything we do. Amen!