I believe in giving credit where credit is due.  Therefore I must confess that Satan is very effective in what he does.  What he does was summed up by Jesus Christ while revealing a vision of the future to the Apostle John in what would become the Book of Revelation.  Jesus said: “Satan deceives the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).  Note that the word “deceives” is written in present-perfect tense, meaning that the deception has been on-going since Eden and will continue until Jesus returns to put a stop to it.  Note also that the whole world is subject to his powers of deception.  For good reason he is called “the prince of the powers of the air” (Eph.2:2).  Note that “powers” is plural.  He had untold multitudes of “devils”–fallen angels who serve him.  This explains why he can influence billions of people around the globe to believe and do the same things at the same time and in the same way.  Due to his power over professing Christendom the observance of church heathenism is a year around undertaking.  This truth is publicly exhibited at various times throughout the year in what are called “church holidays,” which are in reality perverted substitutions for some of the Lord’s commanded Holy Days.  Read God’s Holy Days.  Key word–Days.  (reminder–do not use quotation marks when searching the site).

Though each of the church’s heathen holidays are important to her, one stands out above all others.  The religious worth of a holiday can be determined by the amount of time and energy expended in its observance.  Throughout the world of professing Christendom, one annual celebration stands out for its supposed exaltation of the Lord’s Messiah.  The irony of this situation is that the celebration, called Easter in the Western world, is in fact a holiday dedicated to a false messiah named Tammuz and his mother–Simiramus.  Though the Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, New Years Day, Valentine’s Day and Halloween are important observances within the Catholic/Protestant religious system, nothing rivals Easter for outward worship of and service to the arch enemy of the Biblical God.  Like the other pagan observances, the activities related to the Easter Season are conducted in the name of the Lord.  This spiritual slap to God’s face is not new.

The first recorded example of such heresy took place soon after He brought Israel out of Egyptian slavery.  When the people grew restless while waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, Aaron fashioned a bull calf out of gold and presented it to the Israelites as the god that “… brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”  The Egyptians worshiped bull calves.  Aaron’s words, and his building an alter (place of worship) for the statue, would indicate that the Israelites had embraced the Egyptian god.   Having blasphemed God, Aaron then announced that they would later congregate before the alter and “… observe a feast UNTO THE LORD” (Exo. 32:5).  In so doing the broke the first commandment that Moses would later present to them.

As I have repeatedly pointed out, nothing has changed relative to man’s insatiable appetite for sin.  Beginning in the Garden of Eden, rebellious man has consistently practiced idolatry, often doing so in the name of and in false worship of the Biblical God.  Man worships the one he obeys.  In Eden the object of man’s worship was the Serpent.  At Mt. Sinai it was the statue of an animal.  Today it is the church itself–modern Christianity’s Golden Calf.  Proof: if asked if one is a Christian one will invariably name the religious organization with which one is affiliated.  It is invariably the doctrines of the organization, not God’s Word, that serves as the standard for one’s character.

There are literally hundreds of churches, denominations, cults, sects, orders, etc. within what is referred to as “the church.” Each church has its own name. its own version of God’s gospel (read Galatians 1:6-9 and 2 Corinthians 11:4), its own path to heaven, etc.  Each claims to have THE truth which God has supposedly commissioned THEM to spread around the globe.  Though the different organizations compete with, conflict with and contradict one another, there is one thing that binds them together–the celebration of their holidays, each of which was adopted from a pagan religious system.  Read Simon of Samaria: the Legacy.  Key word–Legacy.  Though the Sunday (sun god day) sabbath is of great importance, one holiday stands out above the others in terms of pomp and ceremony–Easter.

For approximately half of professing Christendom, the celebration of Easter is a one day affair centered around the resurrection of Tammuz (Eze. 8:14), the supposed immaculately-conceived son of the supposed sun god.  Tammuz was killed by a wild boar at the age of 40.  After supposedly spending one day and two nights in the grave, he reportedly arose from the dead by the power of his sun god father.  Since his miraculous resurrection from the dead, Tammuz supposedly returns each year on his birthday (December 25th) with presents which he places under the trees his worshipers have brought into their homes and decorated with silver and gold. (Jer. 10:3-5).  The annual spring celebration combines his resurrection with the exaltation of his mother–Semiramus–who gave birth to Tammuz after being impregnated by the rays of her husband–Nimrod the sun god.  Universally worshiped by billions of church people each spring, Simiramus is known throughout the world by a variety of names.  For example, in the Middle East she is known as Ishtar.  In the Western World she is called Easter–the goddess of fertility whose calling cards are chickens, rabbits and eggs.  Anciently, colored eggs were only red, made so by the blood of babies the worshipers sacrificed to their god.  Read Passover Versus Easter.  Key word–Passover.  As that series reveals, Tammuz, like his mother, was called by a variety of names and worshiped in a variety of ways in the heathen world.  The various factions that comprise the heathen religion known as Christianity all differ on various points.  However, they all agree on the holidays that must be celebrated.

As stated, about half of professing Christendom celebrates Easter for one day each year.  And it is a world-wide extravaganza.  But not as much as in the past.  I can remember when towns and cities would have parades on Easter Sunday.  Everyone who could afford it bought a new set of clothes and wore them on that day.  One’s new clothes were called one’s “Easter outfit.”  Women dressed up in their brightly colored “Easter dresses” and “Easter hats.”  Part-time Christians always managed to show up on Easter Sunday and Christmas.  Their participation in the festivities supposedly kept them in good standing with God.  Another feature of the Easter Season was the anxiously awaited “revival”–a two-week-long religious observance which served to “revive” (bring back from spiritual death) those who had back-slid during the previous 6 months (there was also a fall “revival” designed to resurrect those who had fallen from grace since the spring revival).  I must confess, I routinely needed to be “revived” during both of those times of heightened religious fervor.  As is the case today, getting spiritually “resurrected” was a simple undertaking.  All that was required was to repent of one’s collective sins.  The blood of Jesus, we were assured, would wash them away so that God could see what we had done.  When it comes to convenience, the Christian religion is in a class by itself.

I HAVE A FREE LIST OF EVERY SERIES TITLE AVAILABLE FOR THE ASKING.  ALL I NEED IS A MAILING ADDRESS.  I WILL NOT CONTACT YOU AGAIN UNLESS ASKED TO DO SO.  L.J.