Do You Observe a
PAGAN
PASSOVER?
Was the Passover ever meant to be a
"memorial" of the
DEATH of Christ, as many churches claim which observe
it on the
evening beginning Nisan 14? Or is
observing the
DEATH of a Saviour hanging on a
cross a PAGAN custom
dating back
to time immemorial -- to the pagan customs
introduced
by Nimrod, Semiramis, and Tammuz? Here
is
new truth
with a cutting edge that will cut through the "smoke
and
mirrors" of modern religious confusion!
Here is powerful
new truth that will explode like dynamite the false,
neo-pagan
customs
observed by many who are deceived and never
understood
the profound significance of their practices!
On Thursday, Nisan 14, in 30 A.D., Jesus Christ of Nazareth
was nailed to an upright stake or tree outside the bounds of ancient
Think about it.
Re-enact this most heinous of all murders in the mental imagery of your
mind. This was no doubt the moment,
ironically, of Satan's greatest triumph -- he had succeeded in getting the
"Son of God" killed, murdered, in a frenzy of hatred and
loathing. The Saviour of the world was
nailed to the cross. The Redeemer of mankind hung there, dead,
having suffered the utmost agony and indescribable pain, shame, and
ignominy.
The Lamb of God
The "Lamb of God" had been slain for the sins of
the world! The apostle Paul wrote as a
consequence of this event, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been
sacrificed. . ." (I Cor.5:7). Just
as the Jews sacrificed their Passover lambs every year on the afternoon of
Nisan 14, so Jesus Christ died for our sins at that very same time. Paul went on, "Therefore let us KEEP THE
FESTIVAL, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with
bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth" (I Cor.5:7-8).
What is Paul saying here?
In ancient Israel, the "feast of the Passover"
began with the slaying of the Passover lamb, which then was bled, skinned, and
roasted whole. God told Israel to take
care of the lambs until the 14th day of Nisan, "when all the people of the
community must slaughter them at twilight [the ending of the 14th, before
sunset]" (Ex.12:6). The original
Hebrew for "twilight" was literally "between the two
evenings," and meant generally the period of time between noon and sunset,
or the time during which the sun was "going down" in the sky. Sunset marked the beginning of a new day,
Nisan 15.
God went on, "That same night" -- or what would
have been Nisan 15, therefore -- "they are to
God goes on, "This is a day you are to COMMEMORATE [the
day of Nisan 15, when the Passover was eaten, and the children of Israel were
"passed over" and spared the destruction that came upon the
Egyptians!]; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it AS A FESTIVAL
to the LORD -- a lasting [or everlasting] ordinance" (Ex.12:14). "For seven days you
are to eat bread made without yeast" (v.15).
This awesome day of celebration was Nisan 15, the first Holy
Day of the Feast called Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread. It celebrated the deliverance of Israel from
Egypt, the sparing of Israel and the slaughter God wreaked upon their enemies,
the paganized Egyptians. It was a
celebration of immense joy and incredible, miraculous Triumph. It proclaimed freedom, liberty, rescue from
slavery and bondage, and deliverance!
Later, God told the Israelites, "On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the LORD did for
me when I came out of
The Passover -- a Joyous
Celebration!
This great festival of the Passover, eaten on Nisan 15, with
great joy and anticipation, was to be "a sign on your hand and a symbol on
your forehead that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty
hand"(Ex.13:16). Notice that this
actual celebration occurred on Nisan 15, and symbolized the DELIVERANCE which
God wrought! It was a positive,
uplifting, emotional celebration of tremendous excitement and joy. There was nothing negative about it. The children of Israel did NOT celebrate the
slaughtering of the lambs, or their being killed, in Nisan 14, in any manner,
shape or form. But they DID celebrate
their own being SPARED and "passed over" at midnight from the slaying
hand of the LORD who struck down all those houses where there was no
"blood" of the lamb on their doorposts or lintels.
"At midnight the LORD" -- notice, this was God
Himself who executed this judgment, not, as many believe, merely a "death
angel" or "angel of the Lord" at all -- "At midnight the
LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who
sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon,
and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the
night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without
someone dead" (Ex.12:29-30).
The whole celebration and memorial of the Passover revolved
around the EATING of the lamb, and being Passed Over
and delivered from
The shed blood of the Passover lambs actually symbolized the
shed blood of Jesus the Messiah who gave His life for our sins; the eating of
the lambs symbolized the EATING of the Messiah, or His body given for our sins,
and accepting of His sacrifice -- as well as the "eating" of His
"flesh," which meant the devouring of His Words and acceptance of His
message! As Jesus
said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and
he who believes in me will never be thirsty. . . . I am the living bread that
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever. l This bread is MY
FLESH, which I will give for the life of the world" (John
In othe words, the PASSOVER CELEBRATION, which is to be
observed and always has been observed, on Nisan 15, the very NIGHT God freed
His people from Egyptian bondage and slavery, and DELIVERED them from the power
of Egypt ("sin"), is the very same celebration CHRISTIANS are to observe , in the very same manner, in celebration of CHRIST
delivering US from bondage to SIN, and bringing us SPIRITAL DELIVERANCE! It is a time of reviewing the whole plan of
God, from start to finish, and ends up with our LOOKING FORWARD to the return
of Christ our Deliverer to bring the Kingdom of God, and to finish His task of
complete DELIVERANCE from this evil world of Satan's dominion (Rev.12:9; II
Cor.4:4; Eph.2:2).
The True Passover
The true Passover -- celebrated always on Nisan 15 -- points
directly and completely to JESUS CHRIST, coming as our Saviour and Redeemer and
KING of kings and LORD of lords, bringing us COMPLETE DELIVERANCE and ETERNAL
SALVATION! It is a time of awesome joy
and fulfillment. It points NOT to just a
"dead Christ," hanging on a cross, suffering obloquy and shame -- it
points to the LIVING CHRIST, WHO SAVES US from sin and the power and clutches
of sin and the corruption of the flesh!
The entire focus of this Holy Day of God is POSITIVE -- not negative!
However, Satan the devil is the great perverter of all
truth. And Satan has also perverted and
polluted this awesome truth of the Passover, and turned it into a time of
negativism, somberness, sorrow, grief, shame, reproach, self-loathing,
contempt, and mourning.
Notice how subtly he has done this. The whole emphasis of the Passover is,
according to the Scriptures, the EATING of a Feast, especially the lamb, and
the commemoration of DELIVERANCE and FREEDOM.
Nowhere in the Scriptures will you ever find any commemoration or
memorializing of DEAD people, things or artifacts. This is a PAGAN custom! Pagans memorialize birthdays (ie,
"Christmas" which is the "mass of Christ," and dates back
to the PAGAN custom of observing the winter solstice and the "birth"
of the new "sun god" -- observed by the Romans as the
"Saturnalia"), death days (ie., "Good Friday," the day the
Catholics claim Jesus died -- why
they would call that "good" is a subtle indication of
the devil's trickery, confusing people into celebrating a day God NEVER
commanded to be celebrated!).
The
Passover celebration was not and was never intended to be a
"memorial" of the DEATH of Christ (any more than the Israelites ever
"memorialized" the death of the Passover lambs slaughtered on Nisan
14!). Notice! The apostle Paul explained: "For I received from the Lord what I
also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus,
on the night he was betrayed [the evening PRIOR to the Passover!], took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is
for you; do this in remembrance of me.'
In the same way, after supper he too, the cup, saying, 'This cup is the
new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of
me.' For whenever you
The Meaning of the Kiddush
Notice! This event,
called a Kiddush or "Blessing" in Hebrew, refers to the bread
and wine Jesus told His disciples to take "in remembrance" of His
broken body and shed blood. This final
ceremony Jesus held with His disciples before He died on the stake as our
Passover Lamb the very next day was not itself the Passover. It was a special "bread and
wine" ceremony to be partaken of throughout the year, when brethren get
together.
However, this ceremony should not be confused with the
Passover itself!
Of course, as we eat the Passover bread, during the Passover
meal on Nisan 15, the broken bread REMINDS us of the body of Christ, our
Passover Lamb, beaten, pierced and slain for us; and the wine REMINDS us of his
shed blood, given for our sins. This
should be literally true, every Passover, every year -- for the EATING of the
bread and DRINKING of the wine occurs on Nisan 15, just AFTER the afternoon of
Nisan 14, when the Passover was actually SLAIN!
The time sequence is perfect; just as we should expect.
We do not celebrate, however, the DEATH of Christ -- that
was indeed the most horrible thing that ever had to happen, an appalling and
totally unjust thing. He literally
became SIN FOR US -- a SIN OFFERING. And
as such, God the Father actually had to turn His back on His beloved Son, and
let Him die an agonizing death on the stake or tree. We don't rejoice in the DEATH of Christ, but
rather in what that death ACCOMPLISHES FOR US -- the DELIVERANCE FROM SIN that
He made possible, and makes possible since He now sits at God's right hand, to
evermore intercede for us (Heb.7:24-27).
The Passover therefore is a MEMORIAL OF DELIVERANCE from sin
-- not of the horrible death that Christ suffered. We celebrate DELIVERANCE, just as the ancient
Israelites did, and every Jew does today, when they partake of the Passover.
However, the Passover, like the Kiddush, also is an
occasion where we "PROCLAIM the Lord's death TILL HE COMES" (I
Cor.11:26). This is the part of the
Passover that those who attempt to observe it on Nisan 14, prior to the true
Passover, fail to perceive and observe at all.
The word "proclaim" in the Greek is kataggello
and means, literally,
"declare, promulgate, preach, speak of, teach." This is not a word that connotes
"memorialize" at all, but rather "PROCLAIM, PREACH, TEACH"
the truth about the significance of Christ's death and how it delivers us from
SIN and the power of Satan -- which is the WHOLE SPIRITUAL MEANING of the
Passover celebration on Nisan 15!
That very evening we are to TEACH our family, and children
the real meaning of our DELIVERANCE from Satan's control, and sin, through
Christ, as we rehearse and teach the whole lesson of the Passover in ancient Egypt, at its foundation,
and the plagues upon Egypt, following up with the lesson of Christ our
Passover, and continuing the saga through the SECOND COMING of Christ, when He
will complete the DELIVERANCE He has made possible and brought to mankind!
Therefore, Paul said, we "proclaim the Lord's death
until he comes" (II Cor.11:26) -- that is, the story of Christ's
death, resurrection, what it means to us, His ascension into heaven, and the final
judgment He will bring on the world in the Great Tribulation, the "Day of
the Lord," and the prophecies leading up to HIS SECOND COMING!
Christ died for us in the afternoon of Nisan 14, in 30
A.D. And that very evening, Nisan
15, is the annual celebration of the
PASSOVER SEDER, or dinner and story-telling, explaining how just as God passed
over the firstborn of Israel in ancient Egypt, protecting them from death, so
God "passes over" our sins when He sees the "blood of Christ"
covering them, and forgives us, and blots out our transgressions of His Law --
enabling us to receive FINAL SALVATION when Christ returns to execute judgment
on the wicked, to deliver the righteous, and to usher in everlasting
righteousness and the Kingdom of God!
Daniel's Amazing Prophecy
As Daniel wrote, "Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your
people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to
atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the
vision and prophecy and to aoint the most holy" (Dan.9:24. This prophecy of the Messiah or Saviour deals
with TWO ADVENTS -- the time He came to pay the penalty for our sins and the
time He comes again to usher in the Kingdom of God and everlasting righteousness! Daniel was
told that from the decree
to rebuild Jerusalem -- issued later by Persian king Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. --
till the coming of Messiah would be seven "sevens" and sixty-two
"sevens" -- or 69 "sevens" or "weeks." A day being a year in fulfillment (Num.14:34;
Ezek.4:4-6), 69 weeks of 7 days each was 483 days or years in actual fulfillment. From 457 B.C. till the coming of the Messiah
would be 483 years. Thus Christ actually
began His ministry in 27 A.D. -- exactly 483 years after the decree!
The "final week" or "seven" years of
this prophecy REMAIN TO BE FULFILLED!
They will involve the final suffering on this world, it judgments, the
abomination of desolation, the destruction of
True Christians, who partake of the Passover, have their
eyes on the future -- the future when this present world under the cloud of
illusion and deceptive sway of Satan the devil (Rev.12:9) will be abolished and
replaced by the joyous, exhuberant, scintillating, dazzling Kingdom of
God! We look forward, in the Passover,
to the time when Christ will replace all the pagan traditions, customs, and
ideas of this world, with its false Christmas, fraudulent "Easter,"
phony "Good Friday," and fake "Nisan 14 Passover" which God
never commanded and Christ never sanctioned -- all which have their roots
buried in PAGANISM -- with the TRUTH of God, and the true Holy Days of GOD!
Beware of Pagan Traditions
The eyes of true Christians, when they celebrate Passover,
are not on a dead "Saviour" hanging on a cross, which is a carry-over
of the PAGAN tradition of a dead "Tammuz" who was crucified, or a
dead Nimrod, or a dead "Saturn," the pagan "saviour" of the
world -- the apostate saviour of the Babylonian Mystery religion. God says He will not even listen to the prayers of people
-- even "Christians" -- who insist on learning, believing and
practicing HEATHEN, pagan concepts and ways.
"Thus saith the LORD, 'Learn not the way of the heathen
. . . For the customs of the people are VAIN" (Jer.10:2-3). The Jewish Tanakh has, "Do not learn to
go the way of the nations . . . For the laws of the nations are
DELUSIONS." The Moffat translation
has, "Never learn to live like PAGANS . . . but
their rites are inane."
The Amplified Bible says:
"Learn not the way of the heathen (nations) . . . For the customs
and ordinances of the peoples are FALSE, EMPTY and FUTILE."
The particular custom of the pagans, in the spring of every
year, was to weep and lament the slaying and death of Tammuz, the pagan false
saviour. In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet
says, "Then he brought me to the entrance to the north gate of the house
of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, MOURNING FOR TAMMUZ." The KJV says they were "weeping for
Tammuz." God called this custom
"greater abominations," or "things that are even more
detestable" (verse 13).
In the Tanakh we read, "And He said to me, 'You shall
see even more terrible abominations which they practice.' Next He brought me to the entrance of the
north gate of the House of the LORD; and there sat the women BEWAILING
TAMMUZ."
Tammuz-Osiris-Adonis-Saturn-NIMROD!
Who was this Tammuz? The
New Bible Dictionary says, "This mourning for the
god Tammuz took place on the second day of the fourth month (June-July), which
was named after this event. It
commemorated the legendary DEATH of the Sumerian deity Dumu-zi ('true son'),
the prediluvian shepherd and husband of Ishtar [Easter]. On his death, Ishtar mourned and called on
all to do so . . . [The cult] seems to have become popular, however, in Syria
and Phoenicia, where a similar legend is told of Adonis and Aphrodite. A reference to the planting of gardens to
these deities is possibly given in Isaiah 17:10. The temple of Aphrodite in Gebal, Syria, was a
principal centre of this cult, also known in Egypt, where Adonis was identified
with Osiris" ("Tammuz," p.1238).
Tammuz was "originally the sun-god, primarily a god of
Babylonia, slain by a wild boar while hunting, and mourned long and vainly by
the goddess Ishtar. He is generally
identified with Adonis, of Greek mythology, whose story is practically the
same. According to Sayce, the Canaanites
called him 'Adonai' lord, from which when the myth reached
"Tammuz
was an ancient Akkadian deity whose worship spread throughout
the Semitic world. He
was the husband and brother of Ishtar, the Babylonian
goddess of procreation. . . . The Greek counterpart of
Tammuz was Adonis
and the Egyptian, Osiris.
Tammuz cults are thought to be referred to in Jer.22:19;
Amos
8:10; Zech.12:10 . . . Tammuz worship was connected with licentious
festivals. In Babylon
the cult included the annual marriage of the king
to the fertility goddess in the form of a priestess. This symbolized the
regeneration of nature.
The Tammuz-Ishtar cult was degrading and
thoroughly inconsonant with the chaste worship of
Yahweh" (Unger's
Bible
Dictionary, p.1070).
"Tammuz
was worshiped throughout Babylonia, and in Assyria, Phoenicia,
and
goddess of love and war, known by the Semites as
Ishtar. He was god of the
pasture, the patron of flocks and their keepers, and hence
was himself entitled
shepherd. HE WAS
REPRESENTED AS DYING ANNUALLY, BUT
RETURNING
TO
solemnity to Adonis in June, when he was LAMENTED by the
women as
dead, and afterward his coming to life again was celebrated
with songs"
(New
Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, p.925).
According to this authority, the annual feast of Tammuz was
held in the temple of Aphrodite (Ishtar, Easter or Semiramis). It lasted seven days, beginning with a
commemoration of the disappearance of the god.
There followed a search for the missing god by the women. When his image was found in one of the
gardens, a celebration followed with lewdness and songs. The image was then confined, the wound made
by the boar which legend says slew him was shown on h is body. "The people sat on the ground around the
bier with their clothes rent, and the women raised loud lamentation" (ibid.).
Tammuz, known as Adonis, was the paramour of Venus. At
Says the Adam Clarke Commentary,
"He
is fabled to have been a beautiful youth beloved by Venus, and killed
by a wild boar in
worshipped him as dead, with deep lamentation, wearing
priapi [images
of male sex organs] and other obscene images all the while,
and they
prostituted themselves in honor of this idol. Having for some time mourned
him as dead, they then supposed him revivified, and broke
out into the most
extravagant rejoicings" (vol.1, p.444).
Nimrod -- the Mighty Rebel
This slain pagan sun-god was none other than Nimrod, who
steered the world into rebellion against the laws of God after the Flood, and
established the first world "kingdom," over which he ruled as the
first tyrant (Gen.10:8-12). He was a
"mighty hunter," and promised the people protection by herding them
into cities, which he then formed into a "kingdom," which he ruled
with despotic authority. He was
eventually slain, at the behest of Shem, the son of Noah, and his body carved
up into pieces to show the people the fate of those who plunged into idolatry. But the people, at the behest of his wife
Semiramis, bewailed his death each year in the "Babylonian
mysteries," and worshiped him as the "sun-god," or Baal (the
Phoenician or Hebrew word means "Lord"). The mourning for Tammuz, then, was the annual
wailing for this wicked priest-king of Babylon who led the world into
rebellion!
Tammuz, or Nimrod, was also known as Bacchus, that is,
"The Lamented One" (see Hislop, The Two Babylons, p.21). He was the "husband" of Semiramis,
but is also represented as her son.
After the death of Nimrod, Semiramis had an illegitimate son (she was
"Venus," remember, a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness!),
whom she also foisted upon the world as the "son of God," or the
reincarnation of her husband come back to life!
The Lamented Death of Nimrod
Since Tammuz or Nimrod was also known as the Egyptian god
Osiris, Egyptian legends tell us Osiris met with a violent death, around which
the whole idolatry of Egypt turned.
Hislop writes:
"The
death of the great ringleader of the apostasy was not the death of
a warrior slain in battle, but an act of judicial rigour,
solemnly inflicted.
This
is well established by the accounts of the deaths of both Tammuz
and Osiris. The
following is the account of Tammuz, given by the celebrated
Maimoides, deeply read in alls the learning of the
Chaldeans: 'When the
false prophet Thammuz preached to a certain king that he
should worship the
seven stars and the twelve signs of the Zodiac, that king
ordered him to be put
to a terrible death.
On the night of his death all the images assembled from
the ends of the earth into the
of the Sun, which was suspended between heaven and
earth. That image
prostrated itself in the midst of the temple, and so did all
the images around
it, while it related to them all that had happened to
Thammuz. The images
wept and lamented all the night long, and then in the
morning they flew away,
each to his own temple again, to the ends of the earth. And hence arose the
custom every year, on the first day of the month Thammuz, to
mourn and
to weep for Thammuz" (The Two Babylons, p.62).
Egyptian mythology shows that their god Osiris, or Nimrod,
was slain not by open violence or in battle, but through a "conspiracy"
by one whom they called "Sem" -- most likely the patriarch Shem, the
son of Noah, who undoubtedly was still alive at that time -- who entered into
an agreement with 72 of the leaders of Egypt to capture him, put him to death,
and then cut his dead body into pieces which were sent throughout the country
(p.63). Seventy two was the number of
judges, both sacred and civil, in Egypt required to determine the punishment of
one guilty of so high a crime as that charged to Osiris. Naturally, among the apostates this act of
summary vengeance and execution was abhorrent and grossly evil. They mourned the death of their
"god," and referred to the chief architect of his demise as
"Typho," or "The Evil One."
Legends have Tammuz slain by the tusk of a wild boar. The tusk, a "horn in the mouth,"
symbolized the power of the mouth, or the power of persuasion, the very power
with which "Sem," the primitive Hercules was endowed. Wilkinson notes that Typo was also called
"Seth." Both "Seth"
and "Shem" are synonymous and mean "the appointed
one." The name "Shem"
also means "to desolate, or lay waste,"
which is exactly what this son of Noah did to Nimrod!
Shem was the son of Noah whom God blessed (Gen.10:26). He was adamantly opposed to the worship of
the starry host of the heavens and idolatry.
As the son of Noah, he was a great patriarch and leader. He was the ancient Egyptian Hercules who
fought against the Giants (Nimrod and his fellow tyrants) "by the power of
the gods" (ie. by the Spirit of God).
Shem and the Egyptian Sem were one and the same. The Celtic Hercules, called Hercules Ogmius,
in Chaldee is "Hercules the Lamenter." The appellative fits Shem perfectly, for he
it was who saw the vast apostasy that occurred after the Flood during his day,
and having personally experienced the catastrophe of the Flood, this apostasy
no doubt grieved him to his very soul.
He lived 502 years after the Flood, with no less than seven generations
of his lineal descendants dying before him
(Gen.11:10-32).
The apostasy spread like wildfire, with a fury that must
have grieved and devastated Shem.
The
Paganization of Christianity
Says Hislop, "It was an essential
principle of the Babylonian system, that the Sun or Baal was the one only God. When, therefore, Tammuz was worshipped as God
incarnate, that implied that he was an incarnation of
the Sun" (p.96). Connected with his
worship was a pagan "Lent" of forty days. Hislop adds,
"Among
the Pagans this Lent seems to have been an indispensable preliminary
to the great annual festival in commemoration of the death
and resurrection of
Tammuz,
which was celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing . . . being
observed in
Tammuz;'
in Egypt, about the middle of May, and in Britain, some time in
April. To conciliate the Pagans to nominal
Christianity,
usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan
festivals amal-
gamated, and, by a complicated but skilful adjustment of the calendar, it
was
found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and
Christianity -- now
far sunk in idolatry -- in this as in so many other things, to shake
hands"
(ibid., p.105).
The "sign" of the pagan Tammuz was the sign of the
"cross." Says Hislop,
"That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian
emblem at all, but was the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans and Egyptians -- the
true original form of the letter T -- the initial of the name of Tammuz . .
." (p.197).
The name Tammuz was equivalent to "god of fire,"
and was derived from tam, "to make perfect," and muz,
"fire," signifying "fire the perfecter" or "the
perfecting fire." As Nimrod was the
first "king" or tyrant ("melek" or "molech")
after the Flood, it was in honor to him, also known as Tammuz, that the "children were made to
pass through the fire to Molech" (II Kings
known as Suttee --
that is, "pure by burning."
Considering how enormously pagan the custom is of
memoralizing the DEATH of the pagan saviour Tammuz, by weeping for Tammuz or
Nimrod, every spring, when the pagans mentally re-lived the execution of their
saviour, and considered it the most horrendous murder of all history, should we
even begin to consider that God wants us to WEEP, and follow a similar custom
in connection with the death of Christ on the stake or tree?
Nowhere is such a custom sanctioned in the Bible. Nowhere does God command us or encourage us to
observe a custom memorializing or commemmorating the DEATH of Christ on the
tree. Some claim this is precisely what
they do when they observe what they ignorantly call the "Passover" at
the beginning of Nisan 14, the night Jesus held His "last supper" with
His disciples. That "last
supper," however, had NO LAMB served.
It was NOT the "Passover."
The apostle John very plainly declares, "Now BEFORE the feast of
the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart
out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world,he loved them unto the end.
And SUPPER BEING ENDED . . . he riseth from supper . . ." (John
13:1-4). Notice! The supper itself -- a regular meal -- was
OVER. Yet, John says, Passover HAD NOT
YET ARRIVED! In fact, it would not arrive UNTIL THE FOLLOWING NIGHT (see John
Rather, we are commanded to observe the PASSOVER on the 15th
of Nisan which celebrates our DELIVERANCE FROM SIN! Although the emblems of the Passover are to
remind us of the suffering and the death of our Saviour, and the price He paid
for us, Passover is a VICTORY CELEBRATION of the "deliverance" and
"salvation" we receive through Christ -- not a celebration of His
death itself! There is a distinct and
clear difference between the two concepts.
The godly approach emphasizes
Neo-Pagan "Christian" Customs
However, every spring Roman Catholics, as part of their
celebration of Lent, Good Friday and Easter, vividly attempt to virtually
re-live the sufferings of Christ. In the
Philippines, men even nail themselves to crosses, in imitation, they think, of
the sufferings of Christ. Every Sunday,
or even on any day of the week, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates its
"mass" -- when Catholics commemorate the death of Christ by
participating in the "mass."
The priests claim that the wafer and wine literally are transformed into
the literal body and blood of Christ.
In the Catholic Church, just above the communion rail
hanging over the altar is a large crucifix with a dead figure attached. Catholics all assume that the dead figure is
or represents the true Christ. However,
this is not so. Usually, on every
crucifix there is a name-plate. On this
name-plate are the large Roman letters I
H S. The "I" stands for Isis, the
Egyptian goddess, or "Ishtar" ("Astarte" or
"Easter"), the pagan harlot-queen Semiramis, wife and mother of
Nimrod. The "H" stands for
"Horus," another name for the Egyptian "Tammuz" or
"son of god," the resurrected or revivified "Nimrod," made
"pure." And the "S"
stands for "Saturn" -- the Roman name for "The Hidden One,"
Saturn, who was Nimrod, and who fled to Saturnia, the ancient name of Rome,
trying to escape from the avenging wrath of Shem.
Thus the Catholic Church, the Mother of Harlots,
"Babylon the Great" (Rev.17:3-4), memorializes the death of the PAGAN
savior, Nimrod or Saturn, in every mass, every day, every week, and every
year! The weekly and daily custom refers
to the mass. The yearly custom involves
the "weeping for Tammuz," or Nimrod, the false saviour, every spring,
bewailing and lamenting his "death."
For true Christians to observe a solemn, sober, austere
night in which they think only on the DEATH of Christ, and partake of a tiny
piece of unleavened wafer, and a thimble-sized portion of wine, letting their
minds DWELL upon the suffering and misery and horrendous death of Christ, seems
awful close to the "weeping for Tammuz" which ALMIGHTY GOD CONDEMNS
as a detestable abomination in Ezekiel!
Therefore, I must ask, in all sincerity -- is there any
place in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, where God asks us to
COMMEMORATE or MEMORIALIZE the death of Jesus Christ on the stake or
tree?
The answer must be a thunderous NO! RATHER, we are to observe the Passover, on
Nisan 15, as it has ALWAYS been observed, which proclaims (preaches and
promulgates) the LIBERTY and SALVATION we receive through the death of Christ
in our stead, as our Ransom, He who gave His life that we might LIVE!
The Passover -- Past, Present and Future
Salvation was NOT "completed" long ago, on the
cross of Calvary. Not at all! It was merely BEGUN there! The Feast of the Passover makes this plain. It was not ever held on Nisan 14, the day the
lambs were slain. It was celebrated the
NIGHT of Nisan 15 -- the following Hebrew day -- commemmorating deliverance and
salvation from Egypt, and from SIN and the power of Satan!
God does not want us to commemorate, therefore, the death of
His Son. The Scriptures state: "Cursed is everyone that is hung on a
tree" (Gal.3:13). When Christ was
hanging on that tree, He had become a "curse." He became SIN for us -- our SIN
offering. Therefore, God the Father
turned His back on His own Son, to allow Him to DIE for our terrible and many
SINS. Paul wrote, "God made him who
had no sin to be SIN FOR US, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God" (II Cor.5:21).
Nevertheless, His death is not the end of the matter. Rather, "Much more then, being justified
by his blood, we SHALL be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the DEATH of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be SAVED BY HIS
Therefore, what we are to commemorate is our VICTORY and
TRIUMPH over sin, which was made possible only through the DEATH of
Christ! We must never forget that
fact. We "remember" His death
every time we partake of the Kiddush, and every night of Nisan 15, when
we celebrate the Passover, just as God commanded, over three thousand years
ago!
Those who celebrate a day they "call" Passover, at
the beginning of Nisan 14, have no Scriptural authority for doing so. They may call it "Passover," and
mourn and lament, similar to the pagans mourning for Tammuz. But that observance is NOT "the
Passover." It is a wholly
Let's face facts.
Those who observe a Nisan 14 ritual similar to a Catholic
"mass" are not really observing the Passovere of God's Word! They don't do it! They celebrate a ritual "added to"
God's commands, on a different day, and in a different manner, which God never
commanded -- and they do it in a manner similar to and reminiscent of that
ancient PAGAN practice which Almighty God specifically prohibits and condemns
as an ABOMINATION in His eyes -- the practice and annual observance of
"weeping for Tammuz" or Nimrod!
Can we scarcely comprehend how diabolical and Satanic such a
custom is? Can we not FEAR to do
anything even remotely similar to PAGANISM?
Can we not see
clearly that the somber, sad, melancholy and mournful celebration of the
"death" of Christ is a PAGAN PRACTICE BORROWED FROM PAGANISM! Such a practice has no place whatsoever in
the Church of the Living God!
Let's not compromise one iota or even one hair-s breadth
with paganism!
God's Severest Warning
Does Almighty God say it is all right for us to worship Him
like the pagans do their idols and false gods?
Is it all right to partake of the "Passover" in a wrong,
unScriptural manner, and to top that off, on the WRONG
REASONS?
The apostle Paul warned, "Therefore, whoever eats the
bread and drinks the cup of the Lord IN AN UNWORTHY MANNER will be GUILTY of
SINNING against the body and blood of the Lord" (I Cor.11:27).
The practice of assembling together, as a group, to partake
of a tiny wafer or piece of unleavened bread, and a tiny thimble-sized vial of
wine, smacks completely of the Roman Catholic MASS and is a Protestant
variation thereof! Just because the
Worldwide Church of God and
How did Churches get so mixed up?
God does not want His people to compromise with even the
tiniest bit of PAGANISM! God called His
people OUT of Egypt! He doesn't want His
people to go back into Egyptian customs, such as a modern version of
"weeping for Tammuz" or "Osiris"! God Almighty thunders,
"Do
not defile yourselves in any of these [pagan] ways, because this is how
the nations that I am gong to drive out before you became
defiled. Even
the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the
land VOMITED
OUT its inhabitants.
But you must keep MY decrees and MY laws. The
native-born and the aliens living among you must not do ANY
of these
DETESTABLE
things, for all these things were done by the people who
lived in the land before you [pagan worship practices], and
the land became
defiled. And if you
defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the
nations that were before you. Everyone who does ANY of these detestable
things -- such persons must be CUT OFF from their
people. KEEP MY REQUIREMENTS
and do not follow ANY OF THE DETESTABLE
CUSTOMS
that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves
with them. I am the
LORD your God" (Lev.18:24-30).
God says further,
"Break
down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah
poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe
out their names
from those places.
YOU MUST NOT WORSHIP THE
LORD YOUR GOD
IN
THEIR WAY" (Deut.12:3-4).
God adds, ". . . be careful not to be ENSNARED by
inquiring about their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.' YOU MUST NOT WORSHIP THE LORD your God IN
THEIR WAY, because in worshiping their gods they do all kinds of DETESTABLE
THINGS the LORD hates [such as mourning or weeping for a "dead
saviour"!]" (Deut.12:30-31).
"For what do righteousness and wickedness have in
common? Or what fellowship can light
have with darkness? What harmony is
there between Christ and Belial [Satan]? . . . 'Therefore COME OUT from them
and BE SEPARATE, says the Lord. Touch no
unclean thing, and I will receive you'" (II Cor.6:14-17). This is very important in
God's sight. How important is it to you?
BY WHOSE AUTHORITY?
Let us recapitulate briefly the facts, as they are revealed
in the Bible -- the Word of God.
Originally, God gave the Passover to His people when they came out of
Egypt, the "house of bondage."
He told them they were to sacrifice the Passover lambs "between the
two evenings" on Nisan 14 -- or between noon and sunset of the 14th, and
then
Joshua and all Israel observed the Passover when they
entered Canaan (Josh.5:10-11) at that same time, slaying the lamba as the
"sun went down" and eating the Passover on the night of Nisan
15. All Israel kept the Passover at this
very same time, as God commanded, during the days of king king Hezekiah of
Judah (II Chron.30:1-18). In the day of king Manasseh, the king apostasized from the truth of God
and led
Jesus and His parents, Joseph and Mary, observed the
Passover, according to the custom of the Jews (Luke
time. The last year of
Jesus' ministry, however, He did not observe the Passover with the disciples --
because that year He BECAME our Passover lamb, dying for our sins on the stake
(I Cor.5:7). The "final
supper" or meal He eat with His disciples in the
"upper room" was not the Passover, but just a final meal about 24
hours before the celebration of the Passover would occur.
Of that final meal, the apostle John says, "It was just
BEFORE the Passover Feast" (John 13:1).
The next morning, when Jesus was brought before Pilate, after He had
been scourged and whipped, it was still "the day of Preparation of
Passover" (John 19:14). When Jesus
was crucified, and died on the stake (John 19:28-30), the afternoon of Nisan
14, the Jess were slaying the Passover lambs at the Temple of God. Thus Jesus' death fulfilled perfectly --
right on time -- the Passover sacrifice!
At that time it was still "the day of Preparation, and the next day
[Nisan 15] was to be a special Sabbath [the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread,
when the Passover was to be EATEN and celebrated by the people!]" (John
19:31).
Thus the Passover has always been observed on Nisan 15. Jesus kept it at that very time. The Jews have always observed the Passover on
that special high high holy day. The apostles observed it at the very same
time. They never changed or deviated
from God's commandment.
The question must be asked, therefore: BY WHOSE AUTHORITY WAS THE PASSOVER CHANGED
BY SOME TO 24 HOURS EARLIER, AT THE BEGINNING OF NISAN 14? This change is completely contrary to Holy
Scripture. It has no foundation in the
Bible. It is an institution of MEN. It is not the Passover!
Now at one time Herbert W. Armstrong thought that the
original Jewish Passover was held at the beginning of Nisan 14. He thought that the time the lambs were slain
was at "twilight," which he thought was between sunset and dark, when
the stars come out. Therefore, he
assumed and believed that the Passover lambs were slain after sunset of Nisan
13, and then eaten that same evening.
That is the reason he led the Worldwide Church of God to celebrate the
Passover on the beginning of Nisan 14.
However, research has proven that Herbert Armstrong's
assumption of when the Passover lambs were slain was wrong. Some 200,000 lambs were slain at Passover by
the Jews in Jerusalem during the days of the Jewish historian Josephus of the
first century. He points out in his history
that they were slain in the afternoon, largely between 3 and 5 o'clock. No way could so many lambs be slain after
sunset and before the first stars came out, about 20-30 minutes later!
If Herbert Armstrong had understood that the true Passover was
slain in the afternoon of Nisan 14, and celebrated and eaten on Nisan 15, then
he would have observed the Passover at the same time the Jews do -- and have
always done it -- on Nisan 15!
BY WHAT AUTHORITY, THEN, DOES THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD,
THE CHURCH OF GOD INTERNATIONAL,
They have no authority whatsoever from God or Christ for
doing so. They have no authority from
the apostles for doing so. The truth is,
they have NO SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY AT
By doing this, they have "changed times and laws"
of God (Dan.7:25). In doing this they
have usurped the prerogatives of God and rebelled against His laws (I
Sam.15:22-23), a sin comparable to WITCHCRAFT and DEMONISM!
In Leviticus 23, God says plainly, "These are the
LORD's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim AT THEIR
APPOINTED TIMES" (Lev.23:4). To try
to observe them at a DIFFERENT TIME and in a different manner is nothing short
of REBELLION AGAINST GOD! To do so
knowingly and willingly is an act of willful defiance and stubborn presumption
which can only lead to the unpardonable sin and the lake of Gehenna Fire!
This is no small matter in God's sight. God commands us to observe HIS FEASTS at
their "appointed times" -- not some time else! Not at a different hour on a different day
and in a different manner! Woe unto
those who trample on the Word of God, and do despite to the Sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, by rebelling against the Word of God and stubbornly following their own
customs rather than the PLAIN and straightforward Word of GOD!
Now you know the truth.
When will YOU observe the Passover this year? Will you observe some kind of PAGANIZED
Passover? Or will you keep and proclaim
the