Just a thought concerning the true lies of our cultural mores that have been imposed upon us of the which, when one who chooses to may untie oneselve from the perverbial "moor post" of learning to continue one's learning.

1. A Reminder of an Ancient Evil
The English word “Easter” is derived from the name Astarte. The mother of easter.
Astarte was introduced into the British Isles by the Druids and is another name for Beltis or
Ishtar of the Babylonians. Many goddesses have displayed the same characteristics: all claiming
the title “Queen of Heaven.”
The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the
Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of
the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve
him. (Jdg 10:6 ESV)
“Astarte / Ashtoreth is the Queen of Heaven to whom the Canaanites had burned incense and
poured libations, Jeremiah 44.1­16 (17­19) 20 ­ 30.”
Astarte was worshipped in Egypt, Ugarit among the Hittites, and in Canaan. Her
Akkadian counterpart was Ishtar. Later she became ass­imilated with the Egyptian deities Isis
and Hathor. In the Greco­Roman world she was Aphrodite, Artemis, and Juno, all [ass­uming]
the [ass­pects] of the “Great (Bitch / Whore) Mother.”
The archaeologist, Layard, that explored Babylon and
Nineveh, documents the worship of Astarte, or Ishtar, found on
Assyrian artifacts. Easter was not considered a “Christian” 1
festival until the fourth century. Early Christians celebrated
Passover on the 14th day of the first month. The first month began
on the first visible new moon after the vernal equinox : 2
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at
twilight, is the LORD's Passover. (ESV Leviticus 23:5)
A study of the dates on which Easter (4.20.2014) is
celebrated will reveal that the celebration of Easter is not observed
in accordance with the prescribed time for the observance of
Passover (4.14.2014).
1
http://books.google.com/books?id=hjKQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Sir+Austen+Henry+L
ayard%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Bvo1U43xKaSsyAH40YCwDA&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
in author:"Sir Austen Henry Layard" (accessed 3.28.2014)
2
VERNAL in spring, on about March 20 in the northern hemisphere and September 22 in the southern hemisphere
EQUINOX the time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are
of equal length (about September 22 and March 20).
Chaplain Stacy Burdick BA / M.Div.
OSH ­ CPE Spring, 2014
1

2. … and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This
was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison,
delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to
bring him out to the people. (Act 12:3­4 ESV)
pa,sca pascha {pas'­khah} Meaning: 1) the paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people's deliverance of old
from Egypt) 2) the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Israelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan
(the first month of their year) in memory of the day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay
and eat a lamb, and to sprinkle their door posts with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings;
Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb 3) the paschal supper 4) the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from
the 14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan (BibleWorks9 program files)
The King James Version (KJV) is perverse and translates the Gr. term πάσχα (passover) 3
into the term easter, of the which is a perversion of the text, (Act 12:4 BGT.) Easter is not
another name for Passover. History reveals that the first month of the Israelite year begins on
the first visible new moon after the vernal equinox; and the Passover, 14 days later. Passover is
representative of the death of Christ. Easter is a perverse representation of the resurrection of
Christ, on the third day after, having nothing to do with his passover death. So, what were the
translators of the KJV thinking? Please enlighten me … . “Easter” is usually far from the true
date for Passover. One can only imagine that after much debate, the Nicaean Council of 325 AD
decreed that “Easter” should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon, on or after the
vernal equinox. This makes the date vary from March 22nd ­ (4.20.2014) ­ April 25th.
Why was so much debate necessary if “Easter” was a tradition passed down from the
Apostles? The answer is that it was not an Apostolic institution, but, a sexual perversion handed
down to innocent ears and gullible cultural mores!!
The historian Socrates said in the 5th century, “This much already laid down may seem
a sufficient treatise to prove that the celebration of the feast of Easter began everywhere more
of custom than by any commandment either of Christ or the Apostle.” 4
History records spring festivals in honor of the pagan fertility goddesses and the events
[ass­ociated] with them were celebrated at the same time as “Easter.” In the year 399 AD the
Theodosian Code attempted to remove the pagan connotation from those events and banned their
observance on “Easter” and “Christmas.” People still celebrated the pagan festival in honor of
Isis: they just called it something else: Easter. In the book, “On Roman Time the Codex
Calendar of 354 AD,” the author, Salzman, states that many of the rites [ass­ociated] with Isis
were retained in the Christian celebration of Easter. Why should anyone think otherwise? 5
3
Perverse as an adjective (of a person or their actions) showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a
way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the consequences.: "KJV’s perverse decision not to
cooperate with the text ...". synonyms: awkward, contrary, difficult, unreasonable, uncooperative, unhelpful,
obstructive, disobliging, recalcitrant, stubborn, obstinate, obdurate, mulish, pigheaded, bullheaded, antonyms:
accommodating, cooperative. (docs.google.com, research)
4
Hist. Ecclesiast., lib. v. cap.
5
On Roman Time, Salzman.
Chaplain Stacy Burdick BA / M.Div.
OSH ­ CPE Spring, 2014
2

3. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “This people honors
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men.” (ESV Matthew 15:7­9)
That being said, there is no Biblical authority for the celebration of “Lent” preceding
Passover. Lent was an observance connected with Babylonian worship of Astarte or Ishtar. It
has been documented that the pagan celebration of Lent has been celebrated by many religions
not even remotely [ass­ociated] with Christianity. The 40 day celebration was observed by the
Yezidis, (pagan devil worshippers of Koordistan) who inherited it from the Babylonians. It has
always been a celebration connected with sun [not Son] worship: the spring equinox. Aztecs of
Mexico as well as the ancient Egyptians, were both sun worshippers, celebrated the 40 day
observance in honor of Adonis and Osiris the sun god. 6
“Among the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary to the
great [annus­ual] festival in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which
was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing, and which, in being observed in Palestine and
[Ass­yria] in June, therefore called “the month of Tammuz;” in Egypt, about the middle of May,
and in Britain, some time in April. “To conciliate the Pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome,
pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and pagan festivals amalgamated,”
and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in
general, to get Paganism and Christianity (now far sunk in idolatry) in this as in so many other
things, to shake hands.” The Encyclopedia Britannica re­confirms the statements of Hislop:
“The celebrations in March ­ April that marked the death of the god also seem to have been
dramatically performed.”
Greater Abominations
Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and
behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O
son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these." And he brought me into the
inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
between the porch and the altar, were about twenty­five men, with their backs to the temple of
the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. (ESV Ezekiel
8:14­16) These people were in the temple of the Lord, no doubt claiming to be His followers.
They had combined pagan sun worship with the true worship of the Lord: practices that had
never been prescribed as His worship. These were considered abominations.
Non­Biblical “church tradition” is based on the worship of the gods of the past. Will
there be those who will once again hear the reply of the Creator?
6
The Two Babylons, Hislop
Chaplain Stacy Burdick BA / M.Div.
OSH ­ CPE Spring, 2014
3

4. “Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.
Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your
distress." (ESV Judges 10:13­14)
“The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to
make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to
provoke me to anger.” (ESV Jer 7:18)
History records the words of Hyginus, an Egyptian, who was librarian at the Palatine
library in Rome during the time of Caesar Augustus: “An egg of [wondorous] size is said to
have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank, where the
doves having settled upon it, and hatched it, out came Venus, who afterwards was called the
Syrian Goddess.” That Syrian goddess, supposedly hatched from the egg, was Astarte, from 7
whom the title “Easter” came.
To summarize: The pagan festival of Easter originated as the worship of the sun goddess, the
Babylonian Queen of Heaven who was later worshipped under many names including Ishtar,
Cybele, Idaea Mater (the Great “Bitch Whore” Mother), or Astarte for whom the celebration of
Easter is named. Easter is not another name for the Feast of Passover and is not celebrated at the
Biblically prescribed time for Passover. This pagan festival was “Christianized” several hundred
years after Christ. There is no Biblical authority for the celebration of Easter. Please consider
the implications of the following scripture upon the “church” of today:
"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not
consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and
have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But
you say, 'How shall we return?” (ESV Malachi 3:6­7)
The people had gone away from the ways of the Lord and He called for them to return.
They said, “... wherein shall we return?” They did not think they were doing anything wrong.
The same thing is going on today. Pagan practices are being proclaimed to be “Christian” in
nature, and many think there is nothing wrong. Once more the Lord pleads with His people to
[dis­ass­ociate] with Babylonian apostasy: “come out of her ...” Will the reply again be:
“How shall we return?”
7
Hyginus, Fabulae, pp 148­149 from Hislop, Two Babylons.
Chaplain Stacy Burdick BA / M.Div.
OSH ­ CPE Spring, 2014
4