The Feast Of Tabernacles

30 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by thefourcarpenters in bible, christianity, history, holidays, Jesus Christ, Uncategorized

Exodus 23:14-16, “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before Me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.”

There are three feasts spoken of in God’s word that we, as Christians are told to keep. That is Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles. These feasts are of great importance to the Lord, and all correspond with Christ. As we know, when Christ died on the cross for our sins, we no longer were required to make animal sacrifices. Blood ordinances were done away with because He became our Passover, and sacrifice for once and all time.

1 Corinthians 5:7, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Ephesians 2:15, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;”

Colossians 2:14, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”

Fifty days after Passover would be the time that Pentecost was celebrated. It was fifty days after Passover that God would pour His Holy Spirit on the apostles as many nations were gathered there to celebrate this feast. That day many heard the good news about Christ and believed on Him.

So what is the significance of the Feast of Tabernacles? Let’s start by looking at the meaning of the word in the Strong’s Concordance:

Strong’s Concordance 4908

mishkan: dwelling place, tabernacle

Original Word: מִשְׁכָּן
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: mishkan
Phonetic Spelling: (mish-kawn’)
Short Definition: tabernacle

dwelling (1), dwelling place (8), dwelling places (9), dwellings (9), resting place (1), tabernacle (109), tents (1), where…dwells (1).

When the Israelite’s came out of Egypt, the first town that they stayed in was Succoth (Exodus 12:37), which means booth or tents. This was the first celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles as they were celebrating being brought out of Egypt for they had been held captive there for 430 years.

Exodus 12:40-42, “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.”

During this time, the Israelite’s made booths which is a small hut or tent from the boughs of goodly trees such as palm, olive, willow, ect. This was done as a reminder of God bringing them out of the wilderness, and His protection over them. Not only was this a time to celebrate coming out of Egypt, but it was also harvest time where the Israelite’s would enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Leviticus 23:33-43, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord.Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

So we see in this 23rd chapter of Leviticus that the Lord is telling His people that they are to keep this feast for ever. We as Christians don’t celebrate it for the same reason the early Israelite’s celebrated it. They were celebrating being brought out of bondage of the Egyptians. We celebrate it because we know that Christ came into this world on September 29th, the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and because of Him, we are no longer in bondage to sin. It’s because of Him that we are able to come repent of the sins we have committed, and be forgiven. Christ became our sacrifice and our resting place or tabernacle. We won’t be going into detail in this teaching about Christ’s birth correlating to the Feast of Tabernacles, but we do have an in depth teaching giving the breakdown of how His birth fell on this day according to the course of Abia. You can study it by going here: https://thefourcarpenters.com/2015/09/28/the-birth-of-jesus-christ/

Where else in God’s word does it speak of keeping this feast? Let’s look at the book of Deuteronomy chapter 16.

Deuteronomy 16:14-16, “And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:”

So we have once again, God pointing out the three feasts each year that we are to keep.

As I stated earlier, Christ died on the cross for our sins, and we no longer have to sacrifice animals during these feasts to cover our sins. Before Christ came there were specific blood ordinances that took place to atone for sin. For that we will look at the book of Numbers chapter 29.

Numbers 29:12-40, “And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days:And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs:And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings.And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish;And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein:But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.

Now we see the importance and beautiful gift the Lord gave us, by giving His only son to be our sacrifice for our sins. God doesn’t want our burnt offerings anymore. He only wants our love and to show Him his love it is important to study and know His word.

Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

Just like God wanted His children to come out of Egypt, He wants us to come out of traditions of men and false teachings taught in the pulpit today. Those traditions only make God’s word void. Satan wants God’s children to be ignorant of the true word of God, and wants us celebrating man made holiday’s instead of keeping the days that we are to truly keep.

Mark 7:13, “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”

Most people believe that these feasts were meant for those who practice the religion of Judaism, not Christians, however this is not true. Remember that those who practice the religion of Judaism do not believe on Jesus Christ, and according to their Talmud believe that Christ is in hell burning in his own excrement, and that Mary, his mother, is a whore. These are the same ones who had Jesus crucified. These are those who will call themselves Jews, but do lie, and are from the synagogue of Satan. (see John 8:44, Revelation 2:9, Revelation 3:9, 1 John 2:22-23) They have called themselves God’s chosen, and have turned these feasts into a mockery. There is a huge difference between those who are of the tribe of Judah, which our Lord and Savior descended from, and those who practice the religion of Judaism. They do not even keep the feasts on the proper days. Those who practice Judaism follow the lunar calendar. True Israelite’s followed the solar calendar. That is why those who practice the religion of Judaism celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles on a different day each year. Although the Hebrew calendar differs from our calendar, the 15th day of the 7th month falls on the same day every year. Just like your birthday falls on the same day every year. So we know that the Feast of Tabernacles begins each year at 6pm on the 28th of September, but those who practice Judaism celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles on October 17th this year, and in 2017 they will celebrate it on October 5th. For a breakdown of how we compare the Hebrew calendar to our calendar please reference Appendix 179 of the companion bible: https://levendwater.org/companion/append179.html#begetting

The Law was given to the Israelite’s at Mount Sinai and all twelve tribes were present, but who is to observe the law today? It is our intent to show that the Israelite’s were to be called by a new name after the dispersion and that new name would be “CHRISTIAN“.

Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The ten tribes of Israel would be scattered, first north, over the Caucasus Mountains, into Eastern Europe then eventually throughout the whole world and would become the Christian nations of today. As they were scattered they would take with them that new name.

Acts 11:26, “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

So, who is it that is to observe the law today? Those that are called by His name, Christians.

Romans 2:28-29, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

So with all that being said, Let’s take a look at John chapter 7. This was during the Feast of Tabernacles, and here the Pharisees are celebrating. They are doing things in their own traditions, not keeping to the law of Moses, and Jesus will point this out to them.

John 7:14-38, “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Jesus waited until the middle of the feast to speak because it was finally His time to, and when He did, He did so boldly! These Pharisees were questioning Him on how He knew the word of God to teach it because He didn’t go to their schools of religion. He didn’t need to, Jesus is that living word, and He is making it very clear in these verses. These Pharisees were going around plotting to kill Jesus when the law said thou shall not murder. They were outwardly looking all religious and spiritual with their fancy traditions, and at the same time seeking to kill Jesus. Part of the religious practices of those Pharisees, and those who practice Judaism today involves pouring water and wine over their sacrifices, and on the eighth day of the feast they would not draw water from the well. When Jesus says to them they that are thirsty come to Him and drink, and those who believe on Him, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, He is referencing Isaiah 12:3.

Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Those who come to Him, and believe on Him will receive salvation! That is the key, and His whole purpose of coming. No more traditions of men, no more sacrificing animals. Believe on Him, repent and turn from your sins, and you will be redeemed!

Satan does some of his best preaching from the pulpit today. Misguiding people through false preachers and false teachings so that they won’t understand where they came from or the days the Lord has told us to keep. He knows God’s word, but twists it right at the end because his ultimate goal is to deceive. That’s why many don’t know the true date of Christ’s birth, it’s why they celebrate man made holidays that have nothing to do with the word of God, and it’s why when he returns at the 6th trump pretending to be Christ, most will follow him because they don’t know that the true Christ returns at the 7th trump. It’s why many people think they are going to fly out of here in a false rapture that is no where in God’s word. There is an easy solution to this. Study God’s word to show yourself approved. Only when you do this can you rightly divide it. We aren’t supposed to put our trust in any man, only trust in God.

Jeremiah 17:5, “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.”

Even with our teachings, we ask that you research and study these things yourself. We pray that this teaching has been a blessing to you, and that it has opened eyes and ears today regarding the Feast of Tabernacles!

Thank you Heavenly Father for giving Your only son so that we may be saved! We are so grateful for your mercy, love and forgiveness!

Luke 2:8-14, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The Passover

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by thefourcarpenters in christianity, history, holidays, truth

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The youngest of the four carpenters who is only 8 years old teaches on the Passover.

The Truth About Easter

03 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by thefourcarpenters in false teachings, history, holidays

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Is Easter an innocent little holiday, or is there more to it? Is it the day Christ was resurrected? Should we as Christians be celebrating this day? Well let’s start with Colossians 2:8 and see what it says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Most Christians think the whole purpose of Easter is because of the death and resurrection of Christ, however Easter was around for thousands of years before Christ ever walked this Earth. It is a pagan holiday, and it started back with Nimrod. Nimrod is a descendent of Noah’s son Ham, and was a builder of cities (Study Genesis chapter 10). Some of those cities included: Ninevah, Babel, Asshur (Assyria), and Calah, all of which were known for their evil, perverse acts. Nimrod’s wife Semiramis, who was also called Ishtar, Ostara, Isis, or the Queen of heaven is where we get the word Easter from.

When her husband Nimrod died, she deified him, and called him the sun god. You can do a search of different cultures throughout history and find reference to him, usually called Baal, Molech, Satarn, Osiris, etc. Ishtar claimed to have a miraculous conception from the rays of the son, her husband, the sun god, and she gave birth to Tammuz. Being that Ishtar was the wife of the sun god, she was called the moon goddess, or goddess of fertility. Her son Tammuz was a mighty hunter just like his father Nimrod, but at 40 years of age, he was killed by a wild boar. To honor his death, Ishtar required her followers to weep and mourn for him 40 days each year, and to eat a pig as revenge for the wild boar that killed her son. These 40 days would start at the spring equinox each year. This is where Catholics get their 40 days of lent from. It is also where the tradition of the “Easter ham” came from. What does God think about these practices? He speaks very clearly against it in Jeremiah 44. He even mentions Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven. Jeremiah 44:17-19 “But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?” God was angry with the wicked acts that his children started becoming part of because of traditions of men that were passed down and worked into the true word of God. God also speaks of the evil workings of those taking part in these traditions of men in Ezekiel 8, verse 14 even speaks specifically of the weeping for Tammuz, “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”
So we’ve established where the name Easter came from, and how some of these pagan traditions started, but what about the egg and the bunny? The egg was a symbol that was sacred to the Babylonians. Eggs are also used as a symbol of fertility, and during this time in the spring, the pagans would often participate in an orgy in the groves as part of their “religious” practices. As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, there is a more sinister background of eggs and the practices of dying them. The classic poets are full of the fable of the mystic egg of the Babylonians, and its tale is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian, the learned keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the time of Augustus, who was skilled in all the wisdom of his native country. At the Sunrise service (Ezekiel 8:13-17) the priest of Ishtar would impregnate young virgins on the altar and during that service they would take the babies that were now three months old from the previous year and sacrifice those children on the altar to Ishtar and take the eggs of Ishtar and dip those eggs with the blood of those young infants. This is also where we get our Sunday sunrise service from. You can see how angry this made God in Ezekiel 8.

Where did bunnies come from, and what do they have to do with Easter? The rabbit is a pagan symbol of fertility and a sexual symbol. We all know that rabbits reproduce quickly which is why pagans use this as their fertility symbol. Here’s a quote from a pagan/wiccan website where they state it themselves, “Spring equinox, or Ostara, is a time for fertility and sowing seeds, and so nature’s fertility goes a little crazy. The rabbit — for good reason — is often associated with fertility magic and sexual energy.” This again is why they had their sexual orgy rituals in the groves.
It’s important to note that the word easter was never meant to be in our bibles. It is in it only once, and that’s in Acts 12:4 “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” This word easter, is a deliberate mistranslation, it should say Passover. The word is Pascha in the greek, and you can find it in your Strong’s concordance G3957. What is another way we can know this to be true? Look in Acts 12:3 “And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)” The days of unleavened bread is Passover! Luke 22:1 “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.”
Keeping easter instead of Passover is an abomination to the Lord. These traditions of easter make void the very word of God, Mark 7:13, “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” So how did these traditions of men, these pagan traditions, get tied into Christianity? The emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. is a good place to start. Emperor Constantine in the Council Nicaea ordered all Churches to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday. The ancient Church had celebrated the Resurrection during the Passover [Nisan 14], which could fall on any day of the week, but the Churches near Rome had abandoned the practice because they hated the Jews (those from the bloodline of Judah, not the religion of Judaism), and fixed the date to the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. They also called the celebration ‘Easter’, after the pagan goddess of spring. All of this is verified by the following quote from the Encarta Encyclopedia:
“An important historical result of the difference in reckoning the date of Easter was that the Christian churches in the East, which were closer to the birthplace of the new religion and in which old traditions were strong, observed [the Resurrection] according to the date of the Passover festival. The churches of the West, descendants of Greco-Roman civilization, celebrated Easter on a Sunday.
Constantine the Great, Roman emperor, convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325. The council unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and that if the full moon should occur on a Sunday and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following. Coincidence of the feasts of Easter and Passover was thus avoided.
The name [Easter] probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts…” – Encarta Encyclopedia, article: Easter.
After the council of Nicaea, Constantine outlawed Passover, his goal being to remove Jesus from the context of Passover. The church fought against this for centuries after Constantine. In the 6th century, Justinian sent the Roman army to enforce the prohibition of Passover. Thousands of men, women, and children were murdered simply for refusing to stop celebrating Passover. The Roman church would eventually get involved in attempts to stamp out Passover.

So this is why churches celebrate the pagan holiday of easter today. The Roman church brought in many pagan practices, and then “Christianized” them so that they could please the pagans and Christians. These traditions of men were then passed down from generation to generation. Easter is not the only pagan holiday that is celebrated here today, but we will go over the others in a different teaching.
Jesus Christ and His apostles would have never taken part in the type of celebration that goes on today. Jesus and the apostles took part in 3 feasts that God commanded in Exodus 23, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Exodus 23:14-16, “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.” As Christians these are the days that we should keep holy as well. Satan wants people to “stay in Egypt” and keep celebrating these pagan holidays. Satan and his children love it when we mix pagan worship with the worship of God, Christianity with babylonianism, the truth with a lie, but God will not mix with evil. What are we doing when we attempt to “Worship Jesus” with the traditions of Babylon? Mark 7:7-9, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” In 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 God commands: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
If you did not know these things before, and the Lord has opened your eyes to His truth regarding them, please do not continue celebrating these pagan traditions of men. Turn from these evil practices so God can use you! Study God’s word yourself so that you may know the truth. Don’t put your trust in the man at the pulpit, put your trust in God almighty! 2 Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”