Sola Scriptura-6

Since Jesus is the ‘Passover’ lamb, where did Easter begin and how did we substitute Easter for the Passover? We only need to look into history and discover once again the traditions created by the Church of Rome.

In the Bible, we are introduced to two names for fertility goddesses, Asherah and Astarte. If you do a google image search, you will discover the whole world at one time worshiped some form of a fertility goddess.

King Josiah even had to remove the Asherah from God’s Temple in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:4  Then the king (Josiah) commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 

The primary fertility goddess mentioned in the Bible is Asherah, who was a major deity in Canaanite religion alongside her consort, the god Baal. Other related figures, like Astarte (the Greek name for Ashtoreth) and the Queen of Heaven (a title for a similar goddess), are also referenced.

Jeremiah 44:16  "As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you! 44:17  "But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. 

44:18  "But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine." 44:19  "And," said the women, "when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and were pouring out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her?"

Gross idolatry and disobedience in Israel. But as the other countries of the world had similar goddesses, we discover some continuity in names, although in different cultures and languages.

Asherah, Astarte, were known as Oestra and even Eostre.

Easter originated as a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but its name and some traditions have roots in pre-Christian pagan festivals honoring spring and fertility. The name "Easter" likely comes from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and dawn, and traditions like eggs and rabbits are associated with these older celebrations of new life.

As was the custom in Israel, as borrowed from their idolatrous neighbors, Asherah poles and fertility goddess worship included child sacrifices.

The Church of Rome adopted Eostre and gradually it became Easter. So it is a pagan celebration of an idol for sexual worship and child sacrifices.

The real question is why do all Protestant Churches still follow this abhorrent, idolatrous practice? Doesn’t anyone care that the Church of Rome is the one who has officially proclaimed which day Easter it to fall on? Anyone can find this out for themselves, but traditions are almost impossible to forsake. This is especially true of centuries of church traditions. No one even questions them.

I recommend that you confirm this for yourselves. Especially the hundreds of images from antiquity. Unfortunately, this has never really stopped.

More next Saturday.