I was talking to a fellow the other day about doing some work for him and I told him I had Sunday (Easter Sunday) open. His response was, "You remember it's Easter right?" My response was, "Yes, I know. I do not celebrate Easter." He must have not celebrated it either because in a few minutes I will be leaving to go to his house for work. 

To many people it seems strange to not celebrate Easter, but instead work on the day, but this would have been the practice of Yeshua the Messiah and every single follower of Yeshua in the 1st century Christian faith. No one, let me repeat, not one single follower of Yeshua in the 1st century (in the New Testament Scriptures) celebrated Easter. Easter didn't have anything to do with Yeshua, but it had everything to do with the custom of the heathens who honored the spring fertility goddes by such names as Ashtoreth, Astarte, Eostre, Ishtar, etc. All the sunrise services, egg hunts, easter bunnies, etc. stem from worship to this goddess.

If Yeshua the Messiah, nor his apostles and followers celebrated Easter then why should we? If they didn't think it to be important to their true worship and faith, why should we? Do you realize that while Yeshua lived (as well as His disciples) there were people on the earth and possibly in close proximity to Jerusalem that did celebrate Easter? Did you know that the people who celebrated it were not followers of Yahweh at all? Did you realize that people actually hunted eggs, had sunrise services, and depicted "easter" bunnies before and during the time of Yeshua for heathen, pagan worship? 

Is Yahweh honored in the celebration of Easter? Not in the least bit, He is rather dishonored. To take such paganism and attempt to attach it to the resurrection of the Son of Yahweh is a stench in Yahweh's nostrils. You don't mix the holy with the unholy. You don't proclaim a feast to Yahweh and then build a golden calf to help you out in your worship (Exodus 32). Father help us to see the error of our ways more and more.

Matthew Janzen

Last night I attended a teaching/lecture about the Passover led by a Messianic Rabbi from the Atlanta area. It was very enjoyable to say the least, and I agreed with much of what He had to say, although I didn't partake in the "seder" because I will keep Passover next moon in the Gregorian month of April.

There was a few things mentioned by the Rabbi concerning the Jewish traditions that take place during the Passover seder/meal. These traditions are not participated in by me and my family because we feel they are additions to the Passover and not commandments from Yahweh. Exodus 12 is great place to go to learn about how to keep Passover, but Jewish tradition has added some baggage to its observance and such tradition is not necessary if one desires to celebrate the Passover.

That being said, I was talking to one of my friends during a break about asking the Rabbi about Easter - and I eventually got to ask him myself just before his departure from the church grounds. I asked him, "Sir, did the earliest followers of Yeshua in the 1st century celebrate Easter?" He looked at me like I was crazy! "Of course not! You've got to be kidding me!" were basically his words/statement. I then told him that I had figured he felt this way, but just wanted to hear it from him.

Easter is a man-made festival/day that has nothing to do with true worship. The name stems from a fertility goddess if anyone desires to do the research to find, and the practices such as sunrise services, easter egg hunts, bunnies laying eggs, etc. all have everything to do with false worship rather than with true worship. It is certainly true that Yeshua resurrected from the tomb on the third day, but none of his disciples or anyone in the Bible ever celebrated what the professing church world calls Easter today.

Simple question: If the early assembly did not celebrate Easter in the 1st century, why do people make it such an importance today? Why didn't the early believers think it to be important? The answer is because it was not important. They did not see it proper to mix pagan/heathen customs with great truths like the resurrection.

Matthew Janzen