From Phillip Du Preez:
Why We Don’t Celebrate Easter: Returning to the Roots of Passover
As followers of Messiah Yeshua, we are called to walk in His footsteps — not just in faith, but in practice. That means examining everything we do through the lens of Scripture and shedding the traditions of man that contradict the Word of Elohim. One such tradition is Easter, a celebration that, when held up to the light of history and Scripture, is revealed to be rooted not in the Bible, but in paganism.
Easter: A Festival of Pagan Origins
The very name Easter is believed to be derived from Eostre (also known as Ishtar, Astarte, or Ashtoreth), a fertility goddess worshipped by various ancient cultures. Her festivals were held around the spring equinox, celebrating renewal, reproduction, and fertility. These festivals included rituals involving eggs and rabbits, both ancient fertility symbols.
Easter Eggs: Long before Christianity adopted the practice, eggs were used in pagan spring rites to symbolize new life and fertility. In Babylon, Egypt, and Persia, decorated eggs were offered to deities and used in mystical rituals. These were not innocent customs — they were tied to worship of false gods and goddesses condemned in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 12:30-31, Ezekiel 😎.
The Egg and the Goddess: In Mesopotamian mythology, it was said that a giant egg fell from heaven into the Euphrates River. From it hatched the goddess Ishtar. Her symbols? Eggs and rabbits. To this day, the world celebrates this ancient myth in the name of Easter — a word and festival never found in the Bible.
What Does Scripture Say?
Yahweh is very clear about how we are to approach worship:
“Do not worship Yahweh your Elohim in the way these nations worship their gods…”
— Deuteronomy 12:31
We are forbidden from taking pagan customs and trying to “clean them up” or make them about Yeshua. Mixing the holy with the profane is not acceptable. Remember the golden calf? Israel claimed they were worshipping Yahweh — but they did it through an image and practice learned in Egypt. His response was judgment, not acceptance (see Exodus 32).
The apostle Paul warned us:
“What fellowship has light with darkness? What harmony is there between Messiah and Belial?”
— 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Passover: The True Appointed Time
Rather than adopting man-made traditions, we celebrate the Feast of Passover (Pesach) — a biblical feast
Another who came to the truth on Ishtar
WHEN PASSOVER WAS VOTED OUT?
As more and more Gentiles started to come into the “church”, groups began to be segregated, with virtually all the “churches” in the East following the path the disciples did and the “Christians” in the West in Rome, made up of mostly Gentiles, starting to pull away from their Hebraic root. These Roman Christians were coming out of paganism and didn’t know the difference between “come here” and “sic ’em!” They had no clue how important the rules were or how to follow this new God they’d just adopted. On top of that, many were converting to “Christianity” because the Emperor said they had to or else. This natural separation between the way the former Gentiles did things and the way the believers in the East practiced was bound to come to a head – and it did.
Along with voting out the Shabbat and switching it to Sunday, in 325 A.D., at the Council of Nicea, the Roman Emperor settled this question of Passover or Easter once and for all when he declared the following:
“When the question relative to the “sacred festival of Easter” arose, it was universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the feast on one day…It was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of all festivals, to follow the custom (the calculation)of the Jews, who had soiled their hands with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded…In rejecting their custom (which was coming from Yeshua Himself), we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter….We ought not therefore to have anything in common with the Jews, for the Savior has shown us another way…All the brethren in the East who formerly celebrated Passover with the Jews, will henceforth keep it at the same time as the Romans.” (parenthetical insertion mine)
Wow! If there was ever a time to pick your jaw off the floor, this would be it. The anti-Semitic Emperor Constantine just gave us a mouthful. In one stroke of a pen, he gave us the following historical statements:
There was a dispute about which day to celebrate the feast.
His decision was based on convenience. Sounds like something a politician would say…
They didn’t want to keep it on the same day as the Jews because in Constantine’s mind, the Jews killed Yeshua. I suppose he kind of forgot that it was his sin that sent Him to the STAKE, too.
He decided to reject “their custom,” having no clue that the “custom” was a commandment right out of not just the Scripture but straight from the mouth of the Messiah Himself: “Do this…”
He says they should not have anything in common with the Jews. This statement alone shows his anti-Semitic mindset and how bent he was toward creating a completely different religion that looked nothing like that of the tallones (disciples) or the early Messianic community.
His last statement tells us that all the brethren in the East were, just as Polycrates said, keeping it according to the Bible.
And last but not least, a pagan Roman Emperor who pretended to convert to Christianity was now behind the wheel of the well-established Messianic community. No longer would there be a central leader in Yerushalayim like there had been in the time of James or Polycrates. From now on, Rome was in charge and it would soon be big business.
ISHTAR (Easter)
As if all of the above wasn’t bad enough, there are some sources that say that Easter was actually the fertility goddess of the East and the actual Ishtar of the Bible that the Israelites were constantly falling into idolatry over. It’s speculated that the Roman pagans were already celebrating Ishtar’s Sunday on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox in the Spring. This is easily believable for multiple reasons. First, because we know they had many other gods they celebrated throughout the year. Second, they were already celebrating the sun god’s birthday on December 25th as witnessed on their own calendar as early as 354 A.D. Third, the second most popular deity in virtually all pagan cultures, and sometimes the most important, is the female goddess of fertility. She also represented the sunrise and was said to be the wife of the sun god. There can be no doubt that if Rome was celebrating the sun god they were most certainly celebrating the fertility goddess of the East, as well. Lastly, as we have just demonstrated, Rome was a place of compromise. “Convenience” and Pax Romana (the peace of Rome) were the most important will of the day. If most of Rome was used to celebrating the goddess of Easter on the first Sunday after the Spring Equinox, and the Emperor already said that he wanted the entire Roman Empire to be Christian, it’s simple logic to deduce that making Easter “Christian” not only made sense and was convenient but would also – in his mind, anyway – redeem a pagan holiday. This, of course, is forbidden in the scriptures as Yah never redeems things that were pagan. He redeems people.
A larger article exposing the Ishtar compromise
Ye shall observe to do therefore as YHWH your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” Deuteronomy 5:32
“Enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto YHWH thy God.” Deuteronomy 12:30-31
“What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” Deuteronomy 12:32
“Thus saith YHWH, Learn not the way of the heathen… For the customs of the people are vain.” Jeremiah 10:2-3
“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” Matthew 28:20
“Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition… Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:7-13
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith YHWH, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” II Corinthians 6:17
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:4
We cannot find Easter in the Bible.
This is a major problem for us, because we are Bible Messiahians. We only worship YHWH Yahshua Messiah according to what is written in the Holy Scriptures. The great and dreadful God of the Bible demands worship exactly as He has commanded. He will not tolerate additions or deletions, no matter how innocent, noble, popular, or sincere. If you doubt this, ask Cain about his offering, Nadab and Abihu about contemporary worship, Moses about striking a rock, or David about moving the Ark of the Covenant on a new ox cart. All four were judged severely for altering the worship of God. If we cannot find a doctrine or practice clearly taught in the Bible, we hate it and oppose it with all our might; therefore, we hate Easter and anything to do with it, for it is not in the Bible.
Proof: Gen 4:6-7; Lev 10:1-7; Num 20:1-13; Deut 5:32; 12:29-32; II Sam 6:1-10; I Chron 15:12-15; Ps 119:128; Isaiah 8:20; Matt 28:20; Rom 16:17-18; Gal 1:6-9; II Cor 11:1-4; II Thess 2:15; 3:6; II Tim 3:16-17; Titus 3:10-11; Jude 1:3.
We can find Easter in pagan history.
Pagans have always gotten excited about spring, because they saw the sun increasing in power, animals mating, and plant life reviving. With their minds totally blinded by a holy God, they exalted animal and human fertility, reproduction, and sexual love. Goddesses of love and fertility were worshipped with spring festivals and gross immorality. The Roman Catholic Church, seeking to “Messiahianize” the pagans, gave new names and meanings to the old pagan festivals to keep their unregenerated members happy. Any encyclopedia will confirm this brief synopsis, and we have provided some links to help you at the bottom of this document. But Bible Messiahians are plainly told to reject any association with pagan religion or any religious things highly esteemed by the world. Any participation in them is spiritual adultery and highly offensive to the most high God.
Proof: Ex 34:12-16; Num 15:38-41; Deut 4:19; 17:2-5; I Kgs 11:5; Jer 7:16-20; 44:16-23; Ezek 8:13-18; Luke 16:15; Rom 1:18-32; I Cor 12:2; II Cor 6:14-17; Eph 4:17-19; II Thess 2:3-12; I Tim 4:1-3; James 4:4; I John 2:15-17; 5:19,21; Rev 18:4.
The name gives it away as evil.
The Oxford English Dictionary reads, “Easter. The name is derived from Eostre, the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox; her name shows that she was originally the dawn-goddess.” Compton’s Encyclopedia reads, “Our name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor.” Academic American Encyclopedia reads, “According to the Venerable Bede, the name Easter derived from the pagan spring festival of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre.” Though the King James Bible has the word “Easter” in Acts 12:4, it was used only as a synonym for the Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was the event under consideration, as Herod waited for the right time to kill Peter and not offend the Jews (Acts 12:1-3). The OED confirms this use of “Easter” as a synonym for the Jewish Passover.
The date gives it away as evil.
The date for Easter is always hard to figure out, so you have to turn to a calendar to see which Sunday it falls on for a given year. There is a simple reason for this confusion. The pagans observed festivals at the vernal equinox, which was and is considered the first day of spring, when the length of the day and the length of the night are equal, as the sun climbs in the sky of the northern hemisphere. In AD325, Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire, presiding over the large church council at Nicea, set the date as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. It can range from March 22 to April 25. The date set by spiritual fornication between a king and churches tied this Messiahianized celebration of paganism to the movements of the sun and moon, all of which is condemned in the Bible (Deut 12:29-32; II Kings 23:5; Jer 10:2; Rev 17:1-6).
The customs give it away as evil.
What does a rabbit with a basket of eggs have to do with Yahshua Messiah and His religion? Nothing! What about hot cross buns? Nothing! What about a sunrise service? Nothing! What about ham? Nothing! Encyclopedia International (1978) declares, “Many of the customs associated with Easter are derived from various spring fertility rites of the pagan religions which Messiahianity supplanted.” The Catholic Encyclopedia declares, “A great many pagan customs celebrating the return of spring gravitated to Easter.” Encyclopedia Britannica states, “Messiahianity … incorporated in its celebrations of the great Messiahian feast day many of the heathen rites and customs of the spring festival.” Compton’s Encyclopedia (1978) declares, “Some Easter customs have come from this and other pre-Messiahian spring festivals.”
Rabbits do not lay eggs.
Why are children taught that Peter Cottontail has a basket of eggs? Do rabbits lay eggs? Of course not! Rabbits are an obvious symbol of fertility and reproduction, for they are known for their short gestation and large litters. Many jokes have been made about the reproductive ability of rabbits, as this is a well-known fact about this mammal. The egg is also an obvious symbol of fertility and reproduction, for animals, fish, birds, and man come from eggs. The combination of these two symbols is potent and obvious – the reproductive power of nature is being worshipped by making them central to a spring festival. Pagans used both symbols in their spring celebrations long before Yahshua Messiah.
The Catholic Encyclopedia reads, “The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.” Encyclopedia International (1978) reads, “The Easter rabbit, legendary producer of Easter eggs, was also a symbol of fertility and new life.” Encyclopedia Britannica reads, “The Easter hare came to Messiahianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples. Through the fact that the Egyptian word for hare, um, means also ‘open’ and ‘period’, the hare came to be associated with the idea of periodicity, both lunar and human, and with the beginning of new life in both the young man and young woman, and so a symbol of fertility and of the renewal of life.”
Regarding Easter eggs, Encyclopedia Britannica states, “The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewal of life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of coloring and eating eggs during their spring festival.” The New Book of Knowledge (1978) declares, “One of the best-known Easter symbols is the egg, which has symbolized renewed life since ancient days. The egg is said to be a symbol of life because in all living creatures life begins in the egg.” Encyclopedia International (1978) states, “Eggs were a primitive symbol of fertility; but Messiahians saw in them a symbol of the tomb from which Messiah rose, and continued the practice of coloring, giving, and eating them on Easter.”
Sunrise services are pagan.
Have you ever been to a sunrise service? The darkest tribes of the darkest nations on the darkest continents have not shown more ignorance, superstition, or idolatry. But when so-called Messiahians gather in the chilly dawn to sing hymns while facing the rising sun, there is a new standard set for pagan perversion of God’s religion, regardless of the modern clothes they might be wearing and the modern automobiles they drove to the event. Where in the world did this obvious custom of sun worship originate? Did the apostles face the rising sun and sing hymns? There is no record of it in the Bible. There are three strong Bible reasons against sunrise services. First, the great and terrible God has already very plainly condemned sunrise services connected to His religion (Ezek 8:15-18). Second, He also condemned any other form of worship of the heavenly bodies (II Kgs 23:5). Third, Yahshua did not rise on Easter Sunday morning; He rose the night before at the end of His prophesied three days and three nights. When the women arrived at His tomb in the dark of the morning, He was already long gone.
The New Book of Knowledge (1978) declares, “The custom of a sunrise service on Easter Sunday can be traced to ancient spring festivals that celebrated the rising sun.”
Good Friday is a joke.
How in the world could Yahshua have died on Good Friday afternoon, risen from the dead on Easter Sunday morning, and still been in the ground the three days and three nights that He prophesied and promised (Matt 12:38-40)? This common tradition only allows one day and two nights. If you count parts of Friday and Sunday as whole days, you still only have three days and two nights. The math does not work! There are only two nights! Of course, once Constantine and the religious compromisers at the council of Nicea in AD325 had subscribed to sun and moon worship for setting the date, it was not difficult to further reject the words of Yahshua Messiah and create their Good Friday – Easter Sunday combination. Simple saints that believe the Bible can rejoice over their arrogant persecutors with seminary degrees and worldly education, just as Yahshua had promised (Matt 11:25-27; I Cor 1:19-20; 3:19-20). They know Yahshua was buried Wednesday night and rose Saturday night, just as He had declared would be the proof of His identity.
Fish on Friday is Venus sex worship.
Rome has long demanded that her followers abstain from meat at certain times, especially during Lent, especially on Fridays, and especially on Good Friday. Even elementary Bible readers know that this abstinence from meat is a doctrine of the devil, which Paul foretold to Timothy (I Tim 4:1-3). Where did this pagan custom originate? Friday, the English name of the sixth day of the week, is the Germanic translation of “dies Veneris” or “Day of Venus.” Venus was the Roman goddess of sexual love. A fertility symbol associated with Venus is the fish, because fish can produce more rapidly than any other creature. A single cod can spawn 9,000,000 eggs in a year! Eating fish on Friday is an act of adoration to Venus and her cohorts, and it celebrates by sympathetic magic the principles of fertility and reproduction.
Hot cross buns are to the Queen of Heaven.
What in the world are hot cross buns? They are a definite custom and tradition of Easter. They are special buns made only in the spring with a cross of icing on the top for eating around Easter. Did Peter, James, and John make such buns to celebrate their Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection? Of course not! Similar buns had been made in the spring for hundreds of years before Yahshua Messiah by most cultures and nations in the world. Some of the buns were very similar to modern hot cross buns, and their ancient history among pagan peoples can be found in the links below. But the true God had already condemned this pagan custom in the Holy Scriptures, when Israel picked it up from the Phoenicians and Babylonians and their families made cakes to the Queen of Heaven (Jer 7:18; 44:19).
It is the greatest holy day of the Great Whore.
Since this holy day is the greatest event of the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, that is good enough reason for us to despise and reject it with all our might. The Bible warned about Rome and her popes by prophecy (Dan 7:1-28), by character (II Thess 2:3-12), by doctrine (I Tim 4:1-3), and by spiritual fornication with the world and false religion (Rev 17:1-6). As God called His people to come out of her (Rev 18:4), we do not want anything to do with her. It is our privilege to be associated with our fathers in the faith, who would have nothing to do with Rome whatsoever and existed in free churches outside her brothel since the days of the apostles.
We reject the spiritual fornication of Roman Catholicism.
The great whore church of Roman Catholicism has incorporated much of Judaism and paganism into her mongrel religion under a profession of Messiahianity, which proves her guilty of the charges of spiritual fornication laid against her in the Bible (Dan 7:1-28; II Thess 2:3-12; I Tim 4:1-3; Rev 17:1-18; 18:1-24). She has committed fornication with the kings and nations of the earth by incorporating their pagan customs and traditions into her liturgical calendar and popish dogmas under Messiahian names and doctrines. The true churches of God have always existed outside this brothel of a mother church and her harlot daughters. They have opposed her at every opportunity, and many have given their bodies to her dungeons, swords, and fires. Those children of God baptized into her without their agreement or knowledge as infants or who joined her in ignorance have come out of her in answer to YHWH’s call to His people when they see the truth of God’s word revealed to them by His grace (Rev 18:4).
The Catholic Encyclopedia reads, “Devotions of ancient date deeply rooted in the heart of the peasantry cannot be swept away without some measure of scandal and popular disturbance. To create this sensation seems unwise….” Pope Gregory wrote to Augustine in 597 A.D., “Do not destroy the temples of the English gods; change them to Christian churches. Do not forbid the harmless customs which have been associated with the old religions; consecrate them to Christian uses.” Edward Gibbon wrote, in his history of Rome, “The most respectable bishops had persuaded themselves, that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman Empire: but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals.” Philip Schaff wrote, “Not a few pagan habits crept into the church concealed by new names. This is conceded by the most earnest of the Fathers.”
Messiah’s resurrection is observed in baptism.
We do truly and fervently believe and revel in the resurrection of our Lord Yahshua Messiah. But if we do not observe Easter, how do we celebrate and remember His resurrection? We do the two things the Bible commands regarding this subject – we preach the gospel, which is the record of His death, burial, and resurrection (I Cor 15:1-11); and we baptize by immersion in water, which is a symbolic picture of His death, burial, and resurrection (John 3:23; Acts 8:38-39; Rom 6:3-5; I Cor 15:29; Col 2:12; I Pet 3:21). Of course, Rome and the other harlot churches in her brothel, having rejected baptism by immersion long ago, do not have any Bible means to celebrate the resurrection; so they have turned to paganism and superstition to come up with Lent, Good Friday, and Easter. Rejecting Bible baptism and adopting pagan customs, they show their obvious disdain for the God of heaven and their infatuation with the devilish things of the world.
Conclusion
As Bible Students, we serve and worship YHWH Yahshua Messiah according to the Bible. We do not care what any man, any group of men, or all men might think of our choice. The Bible plainly details how we are to worship God, and we will take His word for it any day over that from any other source. Easter is pagan in every instance, and it directly contradicts the word of God for New Testament saints. We love the resurrection of Yahshua Messiah, but we will celebrate it by Bible baptism rather than by Catholic corruption
Hebrew Messianic Israel 