That the worship of Tammuz was popular generations before the Word came to earth as Jesus Christ is evidenced in Ezekiel 8:14-16 where God is telling the prophet that His people were on the verge of being destroyed by Him because of their idolatry which they were practicing in His Temple. In this passage Ezekiel is taken to the Temple in a vision where he is shown an abominable sight–Israelite women “weeping for Tammuz.” Ezekiel was also shown a number of men who were bowing toward the rising sun which represented Tammuz, one of the sun gods. Note that their backs were turned to God’s Temple–they had turned their backs on Him, which is what one does when one pays homage to any other god to any degree. God is jealous and will not tolerate idolatry (Josh. 24:19). The women were weeping because, according to legend, Tammuz had been killed by a wild boar at the age of 40. In honor of Tammuz the women annually mourned 40 days–a day for each year of his life. During those days they would deny themselves a food pleasure. This became known as the Lencten Season, later shortened to Lent. Many years later, following a huge influx of heathen “converts,” the Catholic Church would bow to them by embracing the springtime holiday that honored both Tammuz and his mother Semiramis, the “Queen of heaven,” known in the West as Easter. To further memorialize the event, a boar was killed and eaten on Easter Sunday. Though most Protestants do not practice Lent, they entheusiasticly celebrate Easter with all the pomp and ceremony they can muster in honor of the Goddess of Fertility.

As is the case with all mortals, Semiramis eventually died, leaving the religion without a supreme leader. In order to keep the spiritual legacy of the “divine family” alive, her priests concocted a legend which had Semiramis ascending to the sun where she joined her late husband Nimrod and their son Tammuz. After a short visit, the dual sun gods sent her back to earth in a gigantic egg which fell into the Euphrates River where it was pushed onto the bank and sat upon by birds. At the proper time the egg split open and out came a spiritualized Semiramis (Easter, Astarte, Ishtar, etc. depending on the society) who immediately reclaimed her position as heaven’s queen. In short order she turned a chicken into an egg-laying rabbit. From this miraculous act the chicken, egg and rabbit tradition was born. As a fitting climax to the festivities, children were sacrificed to the queen and their blood used to color the rabbits’ eggs.

Over the centuries the celebration has changed somewhat. Being much more aesthetically inclined, modern Easter worshipers use a variety of colors when decorating the eggs. To add to the gaiety of the occasion, many also color the chickens and rabbits. To cut down on the messiness of the ritual many parishioners use plastic eggs that are already colored. But all will agree that the most important change implemented by the modern church is that she no longer physically sacrifices her children. Rather, she sacrifices them spiritually by teaching them to practice heathenism in the name of the Lord. God calls this idolatrous custom an abomination–one of several practiced by Mystery Babylon and her Harlot Daughters (Rev. 17:5). To be continued. L.J.