From Dan's Desk

Well, today is what the religious world around refers to as “Easter” Sunday.  On one hand it really thrills me to see so many people focusing on the resurrection of Christ.  But, on the other hand, it really saddens me to see so many who have no understanding of God’s word.  The word “Easter” does not appear in God’s word anywhere, that is, unless you use the old KJV translation.  There you will find “Easter” in Acts 12:4.  Sadly, it is an intentional mistranslation to put “Easter” in the Bible.  The word translated “Easter” there is the Greek word “pascha” which is correctly translated “passover.”  It is used 29 times in the N.T. and translated “passover” every time except for this one place in the KJV.  And again, sadly, most people have no idea where “Easter” actually came from.  Easter celebrations are of pagan origin.  It was a celebration of the goddess “Eastre” the pagan goddess of fertility.  This is also where we get the fertility symbols of eggs and bunnies.  This was all brought over by the Catholic church centuries ago who wanted to draw all these people to the Catholic church by recreating this pagan celebration into its own image and convert the pagans to Catholicism.  You can find these facts from countless encyclopedic resources but, obviously, not from God’s word.  You will not find any command or example of Easter sunrise services or Easter egg hunts in memory of Christ and His resurrection in God’s word anywhere.  These are nothing more than the doctrines of men.  What did Jesus have to say about following the doctrines of men?  Listen to His words in Matthew 15:7-9 where He says, “7 "YOU HYPOCRITES, RIGHTLY DID ISAIAH  PROPHESY OF YOU, SAYING, 8  ' THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.  9  'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"  Jesus gave His disciples very clear instructions on how He wanted them to remember Him (John 8:31-47; Luke 22:14-20).  They did this on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).  Not once a year or once a month but every first day of the week.  It is very obvious in Matthew 15 that our Lord is not happy when those claiming to follow Him are listening to and following the doctrines of men instead of listening to and following the doctrine of our Lord and Savior.  For us today, we have a tendency to listen to our family or our friends instead of listening to Christ.  And, our thoughts are, this is my family, my friend, surely they can’t be wrong in what they are doing.

So, what do we do with all of this?  Use this as an opportunity to talk with our family, our friends, those who do not truly understand about how we are to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord.  Encourage them to turn to God’s word instead of listening to the world around them.

Until next week, I love you all,
                       Dan