Truth Seekers Ministries Presents…
Good Friday to Easter Sunday
VS Passover to Firstfruits
If you’ve started reading this, then at least your interest has been tweaked, and I will assure you of this, that if you read this study to it’s completion with an open heart and mind, your faith in Jesus Christ and God’s Word will be increased. This subject, and the facts I’ll go over with you, have been studied and taught by many scholars, and can be researched and found out for yourself if you so desire. This subject does not prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but assumes it. If you haven’t settled that fact in your heart, then read my Resurrection letter.
First let me say that I know this holiday is dear to the heart of most, if not all, true Christians. As a young child, I grew up a Southern Baptist, and enjoyed the Easter season with all the children. We colored and hunted eggs then ate them. We had chocolate bunnies and some kids even got real bunnies or chicks. I am not about ruining this holiday or taking the fun away from children, Christian or not. One purpose of this letter, is to show you, the reader, the origins of the symbols, how this holiday came into being, when and why the “Church” adopted this holiday into their belief system, and what exactly should Christians be teaching others about this time of the year, that is if we want to spread “TRUTH”, which is more important to GOD than anything else.
We were told by the Church, that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, and rose from the dead at sunrise on Sunday morning. Scripture is plain that Jesus was crucified at 3pm, dead and in the tomb by sundown or around 6pm. When the disciples asked Jesus for a sign, He told them that the only sign that He would give them, is the “Sign of Jonah”. For as Jonah was in the belly of the fish or whale for three days and three nights, so would Jesus be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Now, I was pretty good in math, but even using algebra and geometry, I just can’t figure how to get three days and three nights to fit into the time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning. I can find two nights, Friday night and Saturday night, and one day, Saturday. Even if you counted Sunday as a day, you still only have two days and two nights, but since he rose at sunrise, so we’re told, that won’t work. Even if you took all day Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday day, you still only have three days and two nights. So, what’s the deal…
Traditional church leaders will say that any part of a day can be considered as a whole day, and other such nonsense, like God needs for us to somehow explain His inability to count. God knows what a day is, Jesus knew what a day was, what a night was, and He was in that tomb for at least 72 hours, 3 days and 3 nights, this cannot be changed if God’s Word is true. The church came up with these kind of excuses to explain the discrepancy, however their error was not in the timing of Jesus death, burial and resurrection, but in their claiming Good Friday and Easter Sunday as the fixed times of said events.
The word “Easter” comes from Ishtar, or Astarte, the Goddess of Spring, and is the Phoenician name for Semiramus. The word itself is only used once in the KJV bible, however it was translated incorrectly. The Greek word that was translated Easter in Acts, is Pascha, and means Passover, it is correctly translated “Passover” another 28 times in the KJV. Other Bible versions, correctly translate the word. Passover has nothing to do with the already existing Easter Festival. The early church did not keep Easter, there were no sunrise services, this holiday, and indeed even the sunrise worship services that churches practice today, comes directly from the worship of this Queen of Heaven, Semiramus.
Good Friday, or Good Freila Day, even our word Friday, originates from Freila, the Goddess of Peace, Joy and Fertility, which is the Scandinavian name for Semiramus, the Queen of Heaven, wife of that Great Hunter Nimrod. (Read my Mystery Babylon letter for information about him) Semiramus was still alive in Abraham’s day. The rituals and traditions of the mystery religions of Babylon, have been creeping into the Church since Constantine united his kingdom under one religion, Christianity. This happened early in the 4th century. The pagan temples were used, and many out of work pagan priests changed to “Christianity” and began bringing in their symbols and rituals into the Christian church ever since. Semiramus, became pregnant after Nimrod died, and to keep her adultery, or at least the controversial pregnancy, quiet; a lie was devised that her new son, Tammuz, was Nimrod incarnate. Semiramus had been miraculously impregnated by a “Sun Beam”, so the lie goes, and Nimrod then was reincarnated. This is why we call “Sunday” Sunday, not “Sonday”. Now this Queen of Heaven was worshipped even more than Nimrod, or even her son. It was then said that an Egg of Wondrous size fell from heaven and landed in the Euphrates River, it was rolled to the shore by fish, was hatched by doves and out came Ishtar, or Semiramus. She is also known by her Egyptian name Isis with her son Osiris or Horus, the Roman Venus with her son Cupid, in Greek you have Aphrodite with her son Eros, the Saxon goddess Eastre, her names were also Astarte, Freila, and the Phoenician Ashtoreth with her son Baal, which became the Baal worship of Daniel’s day. A further tale was also devised by Semiramus which when her son Tammuz was killed by a Wild Boar, she lamented for 40 days and after that time Tammuz was raised from the dead. Soon, both her miraculous birth, along with her son’s miraculous resurrection, were incorporated into the festivals of Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Fish, Eggs, and Bunnies were sacred fertility symbols used by these ancient religions, long before Jesus came. Isis in Egypt, is seen with a “Fish” on her head, and one is reminded about the Pope’s “Fish Hat”, which is very similar. Egyptians even colored eggs during this season. The miraculous birth of Semiramus, as the mother of god, or Nimrod incarnate, became necessary, for her to receive the worship and power she so desired, and eventually the miraculous conception of Mary was taught by the church, which had not beforehand, been considered. This teaching evolved directly from the pagan teachings of the miraculous birth of Semiramus.
Now please understand that I am not anti-Catholic, I am just pro-truth. But, Mary worship is not scriptural, it was incorporated into Christianity through the symbols of the Mother and Son worship straight from Babylon. Many of the pagan statues and artwork depicting this “Queen of Heaven” with her son, were soon believed to be Mary and Jesus, or that’s what the church told their parishioners. They would even paint some of the statues because the faces and hands were originally black. Semiramus was black. Jesus never indicates that we should have any “Special recognition” for his mother. The first centuries of the church have no such exaltation of Mary, nor any Saint, that we should pray to, or through them, to get to God. We can only come to the father through Jesus, period. He is the only Mediator between God and man, which is the true “straight and narrow” way. Papal worship is wrong. The round wafers with a cross on them are straight from the Babylonian Mystery religions. When Jesus took bread, he broke it. He didn’t hand out wafers to his disciples, which were in fact originally symbols of life, the Sun, or the life force coming from the sun to impregnate this Semiramus. Catholics used to have to abstain from meat on Friday, and could only eat fish. This begs one to wonder why did the Catholic church change their position? Maybe it was just a tradition, and it was not scriptural. This connection between fish and Fridays, comes directly from the Pagan Fertility Rituals of Babylon.
OK, I can just imagine that half of the traditional Christians reading this, if you haven’t left already, have fingers stuck in both ears, singing loudly, “La, La, La, La, I can’t hear you, La, La, La”. Or if you are not a Christian and reading this, you are laughing inside, thinking I am blowing away the “Resurrection” message, and tearing down Christianity itself, but you are far from the truth….Just keep reading. Or maybe you’re considering what I am saying and you may say, “I can agree with you on this, that Good Friday and Easter Sunday have pagan origins, so what. Why can’t we still use these days to commemorate our Lords death and resurrection? What’s the big deal ?” Now that’s exactly what the overall purpose of this letter is for, that is to explain just exactly what the, “Big Deal” truly is. ….Read on.
God always uses what he calls, “Set Times” in the fulfillment of prophesy. In Genesis, he says that the stars were to be for, “Signs”, meaning that there were prophetic messages carried within the Stars themselves. Read my “God’s Message in the Stars” letter for that study. Interestingly, modern planetariums have shown that there was an alignment with Jupiter and Venus with the “King Star” Regulus in the Leo Constellation. This happened in the fall of 2BC and Leo represents Jesus as the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” in God’s Message in the Stars. This alignment was what the “Three Wise Men” had foreseen, and they then travelled to the city of Bethlehem, foretold in prophesy, and bought gifts to our Lord. They didn’t follow some light over their heads until the light stopped over Bethlehem, they were “Wise” men, and they were able to read the signs in the alignments of the stars and planets, Also realize that they didn’t give gifts to each other, but unto the Lord and our current “Gift Swapping” stems not from this event, but from the Feast of Saturnalia which is a different subject that I will tackle later during the Christmas season. I don’t want to take away all your fun in this letter, I’ll spread it out over time.
God also commanded Israel to keep His “Feast Days”, or “Set Times” of God. The term “Feast” seems to denote what we do, or what Israel did during this time, however the original Hebrew word does not indicate a meal or party, but a “Scheduled Set Time” of GOD. God used Israel’s own history to establish these feasts, which commemorate events in Israel’s history, but God also planned these feasts to have a prophetic future fulfillment. Certain times of the year, exactly on the appropriate feast day, the prophetic fulfillment of that feast day was and will be fulfilled. Paul states, that these Feast Days of Israel, were types and shadows that pointed to the substance or the fulfillment of this feast, which is Jesus Christ. Here then are the Seven yearly feasts of Israel, and their prophetic fulfillment, either already fulfilled or to be fulfilled soon. The SABBATH is also considered a “Set Time” of God and I will go over that in just a bit.
PASSOVER: Given to Israel as a sign of God’s deliverance, they had to sacrifice a lamb, and put the blood on the threshold, posts and lintel of their door, they were to go into their home, eat the roasted lamb, the blood of which was used on their door, then when the “Death Angel” came and saw the blood, He would “Pass Over” that household and not kill the firstborn child within. This Feast has it’s fulfillment on Calvary, Jesus became that “Lamb Slain from the foundation of the world”. Just as there was no other requirements within the household, other than to apply the blood, we now just have to apply his shed blood to our lives for the remission of our sins, and through that application, salvation is given unto us through God’s Grace or “Unmerited Favor”. We can’t do, say, or earn our way in. Only through the shed blood of Jesus, is the way made available, for those who will enter in. The KJV indicates that the Passover would take place on the “Evening” of the 14th day. However this is also incorrect, the literal translation would be “Between the Evenings”, so Jesus could eat the “Last Supper”, the Passover meal, after dark on the 13th, which begins the 14th day, and be killed as the Passover sacrifice at 3pm the next day and be in the tomb before sundown that evening, which would complete the Passover Feast and Jesus sacrifice fulfilling said feast, and then the 15th day began which starts this next feast.
FEAST OF UNLEAVEN BREAD: After that Passover night, God delivered Israel out of the bonds of Egypt, and instituted this feast to commemorate the Passover sacrifice. They kept this feast for seven days during which time they only ate un-leaven bread. Jesus death is the fulfillment of this feast. His time in the tomb, this pure, sin free savior died as the perfect sacrifice. His ”Un-leaven” state was also apparent when the woman tried to touch him, and his reply was “Not yet, I have not ascended to the father”. He couldn’t be touched by anything sinful until that perfect sacrifice is taken to the Throne of God, for “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump”.
FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS: This feast was given for Israel to commemorate, when they went into their new land, and their first harvest, they were to offer the “Firstfruits” of their harvest to the priest, along with an unblemished lamb. Jesus is the Firstfruits of the Resurrection. The first to raise from the dead, and being the Firstfruits, carried Himself as the perfect unblemished lamb unto the Throne of God. Israel was commanded to keep this feast the day after the Saturday Sabbath following the Passover.
FEAST OF PENTECOST: This annual feast of Israel, with offerings and sacrifices, was to take place exactly fifty days after the feast of Firstfruits, Jesus hung out for forty days, and left, then ten days later came the fulfillment of this Feast. Pentecost brought 3000 people into the fold of Christianity at one time. The Holy Spirit, Our Comforter and Guide, came in with “Power”, filled these new believers, and the true Church was born. Christ in us, the Hope of Glory.
FEAST OF TRUMPETS: This feast occurs on the First day of the Seventh month, and aligns with our Sept-October dates. It is called the feast of the “Ingathering” and the “Harvest”. Israel blew Two Silver trumpets all day long during this feast. Silver always means redemption. Jesus was not born on December 25th, but in the fall of the year, most likely on this feast of trumpets. I’ll get into the details of that another time. This feast has only had a partial fulfillment though, for since there were two horns blown, this Feast has two parts to it’s fulfillment. Jesus came once to redeem this world of sin, and He will come back to receive his Body, the true Church, and redeem us back unto him. The Rapture will occur on the Feast of Trumpets, one year very soon now. No man knows the day or the hour, yes, but we can know the “Times” and Seasons and this “Set Time” will see it’s fulfillment by taking out the true “Faither’s” in Christ. This is where we are “Gathered up” to meet the Lord in the Air. The Harvest is ripe and reaped by our Lord. When Jesus comes back at Armageddon, he stands on the ground, but that’s not here, He is only seen in the air at this appearing. Seven years have to go by before Jesus returns at Armageddon when He steps on the earth.
DAY OF ATONEMENT: This Feast was given unto Israel, for the, “Affliction of their Souls”. Which they have to go through until they recognize “He whom they have pierced”. This is fulfilled after the Church is taken away, and coincides with “Jacobs time of Trouble” or the Seven years of Great Tribulation. God’s attention is taken off of the Church, which is not on earth then, and it is then turned back unto Israel, and the completion of the prophesies regarding them.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES: This feast is the most joyous of all feasts to Israel. This Feast was instituted to have Israel understand who it truly is that gives them everything. They moved out into “Booth’s”, and were reminded that God brought them out of Egypt and made them live in Booths, and without God, they would still be slaves in Egypt. During this week they brought 203 offerings unto the Lord. Jesus in type, frees us from being slaves under the bondage of the law, because Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s Law, and we are freed from the rule of the “Prince of the Power of the Air”. This feast will be enforced during the millennium. All nations will be forced to keep this feast for a thousand years, under penalty of plagues for non-compliance.
“You make void, the Word of God, by your Traditions”
Satan, from the very beginning, has told us lies. He distorts God’s Message in the Stars through astrology, He brings in false traditions into every aspect of truth that God would have us to know, he twists the truth, and by doing so we then have to try to explain scripture and why God can’t count too well. Jesus didn’t make a mistake when he said he would be in the tomb for three days and three nights. The truth is, that every aspect of Jesus’ prophetical fulfillment fits perfect. The dates and times come out perfect, and God’s Word is proven true, only if we throw out the traditions that have been shoved down our throats by the church and claimed as truth. The very people claiming that Easter, Good Friday, and even Christmas, are true accounts of our Lords birth, death, and resurrection, have never taken the time to study these things for themselves, for they are only perpetuating what they have been beat on the head with all their lives, or they are too afraid to speak out against the “Church”. GOD WANTS TRUTH, DAMN THE LIES AND TRADITIONS. Only when people stand up and make their church leaders to truly seek and teach the truth, no matter who’s toes and traditions they step on, will the Church change. Satan however, has a firm foothold on this last days, “Laodecian” church, with the people getting their “Ears Itched”, and he is progressively eliminating the “Teachers of Truth”, so now each of us as individuals have to take up the mantle, we have to shout out truth to whomever has “Eyes to See and Ears to Hear” for as long as we can, until we too are either, “taken out” by Satan, or the Lord returns first.
The Sabbath: There was only one literal Sabbath day, and that is Saturday. There were however, many Sabbath’s or “High Day” Sabbaths, and these correspond to any feast day. Many people think that a Friday crucifixion is necessary because of the scripture that says that the next day was the Sabbath, however scripture is specific, and what it is referring to, is a “High Day” Sabbath regarding the Feast of Un-Leaven Bread, not the typical Saturday Sabbath. The Sabbath is also a “Set time” of God and many believe that prophetically resting on the 7th day, indicates that God will rest during the millennium while Jesus rules from the throne of David for if a day is like a thousand years, then our 6000 year cycle is about complete, and the millennium represents God’s day of rest. Paul, in Hebrews tells us that there remains a “Sabbathing” unto us who are in Christ. The word was changed to a verb, and we are then admonished to be always in a “Sabbathing” state of mind, always walking in faith, trusting God, living in His presence, and this act of faith on our part is how we in this age of Grace keep the Sabbath. No one particular day matters to those in Christ, for all are equally important when it comes to “Faithing”. Don’t be a one day a week “Faither”, and I purposely create that word, because Faith “Pistis”, is not a noun but a verb, and as such people who live daily in faith, are indeed Faithing. Mere belief doesn’t count, for Satan believes, and you know what’s going to happen to him. Faith is the act of hanging your body on God, the promises of God, the finished work of Jesus Christ, and “Damn the circumstances” you keep hanging on till your faith is rewarded, or you die first, then your rewards surely follow.
The Passover feast always occurred on the 14th of Nissan. Their calendar is based on a lunar cycle, with the main feasts occurring on the “New Moon”. Since it is always on the 14th, Passover can occur on any day of the week, and it changes every year. Now, the scripture that has the women coming to the tomb at the rising of the sun, Mark 16, seems to contradict other accounts of it being still dark. However, the word used does not indicate necessarily a sun rise, but is also used for a “moon” rise. When these women came to the tomb, it was just after sunset on Saturday, which is the beginning of Sunday, for the Jewish day is from evening to evening. The moon was coming up, and they couldn’t even get up to go to the tomb until the Sabbath had past, and being in earnest about taking the spices to anoint our Lord who had been in the tomb for “3 days and 3 nights”, they wouldn’t have waited until morning. This however is all irrelevant, because when they arrived at the tomb, the stone was rolled away and the Lord had already left, He took off as soon as the Sabbath was over, probably before the women even left their homes.
The year before Jesus crucifixion, his disciples wanted Him to go up to Jerusalem with them, and he told them no, because “His time was not yet”. He knew that if He went to Jerusalem with them, that he would be killed and then God’s Word and prophesy would not be fulfilled. Jesus had to be crucified, in a year in which Passover occurred on a Wednesday. One year before or after wouldn’t work, the dates wouldn’t line up. However God, in his omniscience, made sure that Jesus went at the right year for Passover to be on Wednesday, and also made sure that the old testament prophesies would line up, for there had to be exactly so many years before Jesus would be, “Cut Off” , according to the OT prophesies, and everything lined up perfectly. I’ll get into the specifics of these prophesies in a later study.
On Tuesday evening, at sunset, Wednesday began, and Jesus could eat the Passover Sacrifice with his Disciples, for the Passover sacrifice and meal, had to be completed “Between the evenings”. He was then arrested that night, tried the next day, crucified at 3 P.M. and in the Tomb before the sunset, or around 6 P.M., to become the fulfillment of the Passover Sacrifice. Then the Feast of Un-leaven Bread began. Now the Feast of Firstfruits has to occur on the day after the Saturday Sabbath following Passover, and for Jesus to be in the tomb for Three days and Three nights, and for Him to become the “Firstfruits of the Resurrection”, then Passover had to be on Wednesday, for God’s Word to be true. Jesus was in the tomb for exactly 72 hours, and was raised from the dead on Saturday after dusk, which was the beginning of Sunday. We should be having a “Sunset” services instead of sunrise services.
You see, God doesn’t need for us to help Him and His Word. He knew what He was saying. We have to seek, learn, and realize what is truth, throw out all the traditions that we currently use that truly make void God’s Word, and then everything in God’s Word will fit perfectly. Christians should be celebrating the Feasts of God, for in them is found the truth of God’s Word. I’m not saying to get rid of Easter. Give the kids their bunnies and eggs. Just leave Jesus out of it, because He never was there to begin with. Celebrate Jesus sacrifice on Passover, and His resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits, Saturday night, not Sunday morning. Celebrate His birth on the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh Hashanah, and not on “Christ’s-Mass”, for that’s also directly related to Tammuz, and that feast of Saturnalia. Give the kids their Saturnalia feast, Just leave Jesus out of it too. But that is a subject for another time.
Alright then, here is what I see as the “Big Deal” regarding Good Friday and Easter Sunday being portrayed as Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Your children are very smart these days, I know. I even grew up with questions regarding these things, and thank God I found someone that could give me some answers without destroying my faith. If we keep teaching these lies to our kids, they will eventually figure out the truth, and they may just turn off on the whole idea of God, the Bible, and a Messiah, as just other lies they were told, and that is so sad, because God’s Word will stand the test. If everyone starts seeking and teaching others the truth about these things, people will start seeing God’s Word, just as “Miraculous” as it truly is.
Keep faithing, keep seeking the truth, keep spreading the truth, and our steadfastness in this will surely be rewarded.
For my YouTube video on the traditions of Easter and the Feast Days, visit here…
With Love in Christ,
Patrick Robinson
3/15/2012