 By Pastor Mike Taylor 1st Corinthians 15:3 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” This spring season, most of world celebrates the risen Lord. It is something we must all celebrate and give thanks to God our Father for sending His Only Begotten Son to die for the sins of you, and for me. We give Him well deserved praise and glory for the plan of redemption and the single most important aspect of that redemption, His own resurrection. His resurrection will be the first fruits of our own resurrection when Jesus breaks forth from the clouds with power and great glory to redeem what is His, already paid for in full. Christians view this as a most sacred time, and in their hearts and minds, they are giving our Lord and Savior honor and glory for what He did for us, almost 2000 years ago. BUT………………there’s that word……. Would it bother any of us to know that we are celebrating the Lords death and resurrection in a way that is contrary to scripture? After reading this, it should. I know, we are just doing what is traditionally been the way of the masses of Christians for years of our present lives, but to worship God in Spirit and in Truth, requires knowing the truth, does it not? What if I told you that Jesus did not rise from the dead on Sunday morning or traditionally called Easter? What if I told you that the tradition is nothing but the traditions of men and is in direct conflict with God’s Holy Word and steeped in pagan idolatry. I think you would say prove it! Let us go to scripture and do just that…prove all things by the Word of God. Let us start by the very words of our Lord and Savior when the Pharisees came to Him asking for a sign that He was the Messiah. Matthew chapter 12, 12:39 “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Just from taking the underlined words of Jesus and thinking on that only, I have been amazed that our Catholic friends found in the Lord, believe that Jesus was buried on “Good Friday” and was raised on Sunday morning. How do they get 3 days and three nights out of the time of Friday evening until Sunday morning? My brother, who is a “converted” Catholic hypothesized that Jesus was talking about half days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Really? Let us examine scripture starting here and then let us dive right into the season based on historical accounts and the way the Passover season is observed by the Jewish community, even today and would have been so done in the time of Jesus being delivered to be crucified as prophesied in your bible. THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS! This was the only symbol that Jesus gave to the disbelieving Jewish authorities of the sign of Him being the Messiah. He plainly told them that as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the fish, so He would also be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. Any less than 3 days and 3 nights would make Jesus an outright fraud and an imposter. In others words, He would be a lunatic and a liar! We know that He was God’s foreordained sacrifice for the sins of the world and not a fraud. So we need to examine this question, “what is three day and three nights, being the only sign our Lord gave”? In the beginning of your bible, found in Genesis, the creator gives the definition of what is a day, consisting of the evening and the morning. Genesis 1:3, “And the evening and the morning were the first day. And the evening and the morning were the second day. Genesis 1:8 and so on till God rested on the seventh day from all His labors…” This reveals that God made a literal 24 hour day, half being in the evening, and the other half being in the morning. So when Jesus said 3 days and 3 nights, he literally meant three 24 hour period or a total of 72 hours or He was a fraud. Additionally, Jesus' understanding of a day's length in John 11:9: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" From this we can safely assume that night is also twelve hours long, and day and night together equal 24 hours. It is no stretch of intellect to figure that three days and three nights total 72 hours. Now let’s take the traditional and popular stance of a Good Friday crucifixion believed by the major religions and plug in 72 hours. Notice the problem? It doesn’t fit. You only come up with 36 hours or half the required time to make what Jesus said was the “ONLY” sign He gave that He WAS their Messiah. If you take that amount of time that God stated in the beginning and Jesus plainly stated about His resurrection, then you come away with a Monday evening resurrection. So it’s not even close to Sunday morning. So what’s the problem with the tradition? Problem is that men have failed to understand, or chose to ignore what really happened during this time of the historical account, not just the biblical account of the way the nation of Israel kept this season differently than traditions of modern Christianity which is the only barometer we have, because Jesus lived in a Jewish society with all its customs and following Biblical Torah Law. Look at John 19:31, “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” Many of the traditional Christian community mistakenly think that the Sabbath this verse refers to is the weekly Sabbath or Saturday. But historically, on this week, there are TWO Sabbaths…one is after Preparation Day, and one is the weekly Sabbath. So logically, but in gross error, they think that they are referring to Friday, but is that so? Historically we find that the Jewish people started calling this the week of Unleavened Bread beginning with Passover. In your Bible that word Easter is mentioned, but in Greek the word is Pascha, or Passover. Acts chapter 12, and it is mentioned only one time and no where else, why? 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.” It may be accounted for bias of the King James translators to not translating it correctly as Passover, not to discredit the KJV, but it is men’s bias that we must look past and look to the original text for the proper translation in Greek. Now let’s move on to the historical account of this season. THE LORDS SUPPER and EVENTS OF THE CROSS Jesus knew that His time had come, and if He was going to have a Passover meal with His disciples, He must do it the night before, as He Himself was being delivered as our Passover, which was the next night. On Nisan 14, Jesus gathered His followers to institute the New Covenant of the bread and the wine as symbols of His broken body and shed blood. Luke, 22:14 “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you”. When Jesus was arrested, it was early morning before daylight and He was judged in a kangaroo court apart from the people in secret for fear of the masses gathered for the Passover season. History shows us from just other secular writings that this was a Wednesday morning Jesus was judged as a heretic and sentenced to death by the cross. Note that by Jewish method of biblical time keeping is from sundown to sundown, not like we do today, which is confusing to the everyday Christian. Jesus was put on the cross before noon or the sixth hour of this Wednesday , which was counted from 6am our time. Note that Jesus hung on the cross by scripture from the 6th hour and died about the 9th hour, or 3pm and the heavens were black as night, during the strength of the daylight. Matthew chapter 27, 27:45 “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 27:47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 27:48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 27:49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” So Jesus died about 3PM on Wednesday afternoon, when the Priest came to Pilate to have the legs of the victims crucified broken and have them quickly die and taken off the crosses since the next day was a High Day. John chapter 19, 19:31 “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” From scripture, Jesus legs were not broken, as He was already dead. Jesus was quickly taken off the cross (by His great uncle), Joseph of Arimathaea, a follower also of Jesus, John 19:38 “And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.” So summarizing up to this point, Jesus was crucified on Nisan 14 about noon in the daytime until being taken off the cross before sundown and laid in a tomb of a rich man before the High Day of Passover was to begin at sundown. So begins our time clock of the time of our Lord being in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights according to His Word of being the Messiah. The time clock starts BEFORE 6pm or sundown on a Wednesday night….a side note that I find most compelling and emotional to my heart strings is this. In the temple at that very hour that our Lord was crucified and died from torture and the loss of blood, the priest in the temple were in the middle of the task of slaughtering all the lambs for the Passover sacrifices the next day. Our Savior Jesus Christ was slain at the very same hour. He WAS the Passover Lamb of God. 72 HOUR BEGINS Beginning from this hour of our Lord’s entombment before sundown on a Wednesday evening, we begin our count of 3 twenty four hour days….let’s begin. Wednesday evening until Thursday evening is 1 day or 24 hours. Thursday evening until Friday evening at sundown, 2ndday of 24 hours, and finally Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening or near the end of the weekly Sabbath. From the time of His entombment, the end of the sign of Jonah of 72 hours, Jesus opened His eyes in a transformed spiritual body and rose from the dead, not a second later, or a second earlier. Some say the covering was rolled back at this time, but scripture shows that the angels rolled it back for the living to enter. Jesus went right through the walls. Thus, Jesus fulfilled His sign of being the Messiah, by being resurrected exactly 72 hours later from the time of being put in the tomb before sundown the previous Wednesday evening. Some will say, well what about the verse that says He was raised on the first day of the week? Let’s look at those verses. 16:1 “ And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. 16:3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 16:4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him……. 16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.” What verse 9 is saying is that Jesus revealed Himself to Mary, before anyone else on the first day of the week. By following scripture and historical accounts we have established that Jesus was raised near the end of the weekly Sabbath, then was in the Garden when Mary was crying. This would have been on a Saturday, not Sunday, as Jesus proclaimed Himself, Lord of the Sabbath. Why did the women wait until this morning to anoint the body of Jesus. It’s easy if you follow the timeline. Jesus was laid in a tomb on Wednesday night at sundown. The next day was a High Day or the First Day of Unleavened Bread week which includes Passover, or Seder. The next day, they gathered all the implements to do the anointing of Jesus body, then they rested on the weekly Sabbath which was Saturday, and made the trip to the tomb on the first full day with the preparations on Sunday morning. Jesus there met Mary in the garden and said these words: John 20, 20:13 “And they said to her, Woman, why are you sobbing? She told them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him. 20:14 On saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing [there], but she did not know (recognize) that it was Jesus. 20:15 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you crying [so]? For Whom are you looking? Supposing that it was the gardener, she replied, Sir, if you carried Him away from here, tell me where you have put Him and I will take Him away. 20:16 Jesus said to her, Mary! Turning around she said to Him in Hebrew, Rabboni!--which means Teacher {or} Master. 20:17 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to Me [do not hold Me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brethren and tell them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” Precisely at this very hour, the priest were in the temple performing the Feast of First Fruits. The evening before they had laid sickle to the first gathering of the spring harvest of barley and were waving it before God to bless the harvest, as a offering of the best of their harvest, a offering of first fruits from the earth. Jesus also ascended to the Father in heaven and offered Himself, the First Fruits of those borne of the dead as payment in full for the sins of the world, past, present, and future for all mankind that believes on His name. Historically and biblically , it is the scenario that fully satisfies biblical accounts and historical accounts apart from men’s traditions. At this time, Jesus was the first fruits of the FIRST resurrection that will end after the Tribulation and the last of the those raised in the first resurrection will be raised to life, just as He was. There is another reason why the women waiting for the fourth day to anoint the body of Jesus and it is the same reason Jesus waiting four days to raise Lazarus from the dead. In this time, nobody had a “stethoscope” to listen for the sounds of a heart beat. It was custom to wait four days to pronounce the deceased as dead…not just dead (as many were raised because of being in a coma), but dead, dead…with all the signs of decomposition of smell and rigor of the body. To be any earlier and be a witness of Jesus resurrection would have given critics another reason to believe that Jesus was never dead, but only in a coma and not really dead, so the women waited, as was custom for the fourth day at sunrise to approach the tomb of Jesus with the spices to complete His burial service. SO WHY KEEP SUNDAY AS RESURRECTION DAY? Good question and one that must be also answered on historical grounds. If anyone would take the time and research the meaning of the word “Easter” by even going to their encyclopedia or doing a word search and looking at even Wikipedia, they would find the historical meaning and why the tradition was moved to Sunday as Jesus being raised from the dead and is in total error. Why the change? Because men love tradition more than they love the truth. I myself did a word search and find that the word Easter is derived from pagan influence. It’s not a comfortable ride when you find out your favorite holiday is nothing but a smorgasbord of pagan and perverted Christian symbols mixed with cute little items, such as bunnies and eggs. Wikipedia will give you many origins that have been incorporated into mainstream Christianity, but I take this definition from online source at religioustolerance.org, “Origins of the name ‘Easter’:The name ‘Easter’ originated with the names of an ancient false goddess and god. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were: Aphrodite, named Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two places which claimed her birth; 8 Ashtoreth from ancient Israel; Astarte from ancient Greece; Emeter from Mycenae; Hathor from ancient Egypt; Ishtar from Assyria; Kali, from India; and Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility. An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word ‘Easter’.2”” So how was this pagan origin found to be included into modern Christianity? This is pure history and attempts are not made to lay blame on any one denomination, but you know who you are. From the Catholic Encyclopedia, the New Advent, we find these words: “However it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which from Apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Savior. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all with one consent through mutual correspondence drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the resurrection of our Lord should be celebrated on no other day but the Sunday and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on that day only." The text of the decree of the Council of Nicaea which settled, or at least indicated a final settlement of, the difficulty has not been preserved to us, but we have an important document inserted in Eusebius's "Life of Constantine" (III, xviii sq.). The emperor himself, writing to the Churches after the Council of Nicaea, exhorts them to adopt its conclusions and says among other things: "At this meeting the question concerning the most holy day of Easter was discussed, and it was resolved by the united judgment of all present that this feast ought to be kept by all and in every place on one and the same day. . . And first of all it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin. . . for we have received from our Saviour a different way. (where? Not in my bible!). . And I myself have undertaken that this decision should meet with the approval of your Sagacities in the hope that your Wisdoms will gladly admit that practice which is observed at once in the city of Rome and in Africa, throughout Italy and in Egypt. . . with entire unity of judgment." Comment BOLD added emphasis mine. So the Catholic Church fully admits that they changed the time of the observance of the resurrection and moved it to Sunday as a sign of the power of the Church. Can you say Anti-Semite? The ruling religious class of the Roman Catholic Church has a sordid history of being just that, Jew haters. Not that the Jews are innocent, but are any one of us innocent? We all crucified our Lord by our sins that could not be forgiven any other way. I crucified my Lord, you crucified the Lord Jesus and we are all guilty as charged. But it was God’s plan all along to redeem His creation from the sin nature begun so long ago in the Garden of Eden and the first man and woman sinned against God and fell under the power of Satan. WHAT DO WE DO? First each of us have to decide in all good conscience to either submit to the traditions of men who have changed the timing of the Lord’s resurrection by filling it with pagan practices and cute little symbols to make the kids happy, or do we follow the clear teachings of the Bible? Do we honor God with our lips, or with our hearts? It’s a personal decision that each of us have to make and it’s not an easy one to make. I do not fault anyone who in all good conscience (and ignorance of the facts) continues to follow the traditions of men and feel they are giving our Lord proper worship and praise, but to the uneducated in Biblical accounts of this most sacred of Christian beliefs, the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the truth must be revealed to all who wish to serve God with an obedient heart. To observe a tradition that we come to know as being steeped in pagan practices and is in direct conflict with the ways of God and His written Word, is an opening for Satan to blind you to the rest of the truths of the Word of God and it’s message. If they got this wrong, then what else did this “Catholic relgion” get wrong. Much, you say and you would be right. We must stay true to His message and His sacrifice made in blood. For my house, we observe the Lord’s Supper yearly, as He did with His disciples by taking the wine and the bread as symbols of the New Covenant made in his blood and His broken body. It is the Lord’s Passover for the remission of sins. By submitting myself unto the Lord and examining myself, much as Paul admonished to early Christians in : 1st Corinthians, 11:23 “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” We must all praise and give God glory and worship for the sacrifice of His only Begotten Son, our Lord and Savior. We must worship our Lord God in Spirit and in Truth and not confuse the traditions of men, for the truth found in your open bible. We must praise Him during this season for His Resurrection to Life, that if Jesus be not raised we are a people most miserable: 1st Corinthians, 15:12 “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” I could on and on about what the pagan symbols mean that most men and women don’t even realize what they are doing, but Lea Sylvester did an outstanding job of explaining the pagan influences starting with Nimrod as the Sun God, Baal and the Queen of heaven notion that is rampant even today in “modern” Christianity, or those who claim the moniker and it’s power over other men. This message is designed to add to the account of the why the Easter season is dripping in pagan influence and YOU have decide whether you will honor God or follow men and their perversion of the Truth…note one thing my friend, as many of today’s Christians find no fault in continuing the practice of worshiping God on this day out of tradition and “it’s how we have always done it”, but remember one thing, “GOD HAS A MEMORY”…He never forgets how men have substituted pagan practices to somehow “worship” Him…can you say, the Golden Calf of Exodus and what God thought of using pagan symbols to worship Him? Was God amused? Was Moses amused? How many people were slain because of using pagan idolatry and dare think that it worshiped God? Jesus railed at the Pharisees for doing just the same thing that their forefather did in the wilderness: Mark chapter 7, 7:7 “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 7:8 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. 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” Does the Word of God support what is written here? Search your heart and scripture and make that pledge to follow our Lord as He intended by clear commands of the Messiah, and God our Father. Do not think you can appease God for doing what you know now, is a gross error on how He wishes to be worshiped. For the true Christian, it will mean loss of reward at the Bema Judgment seat of Christ, and for the so called “Christian” who follows the edicts of their church, it could mean worshiping God as the children of Israel did when they worshiped a Golden Calf and you know what happened to them. Search your heart and get rid of anything that stinks of this world. The world is quickly passing away, but God’s Word will NOT pass away. This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying God’s salvation come into each of your lives. If there is anything I can help you wish, pray with you about, or just listen with an attentive ear, email me atrealteam1999@sbcglobal.net, God bless you,
till we meet at Jesus feet.
Comments
Allan Rowley
04/03/2015 2:31am
Well done Mike, you got it right. In fact almost everything about Christianity is paganism, it all goes back to 321 and Constantine who hated the Jews and the Tenach (Old Testament). We need to view the Bible from an Eastern culture and not Western or Greek culture. Daniel 9:27 is the glue that the Christian church misses but which opens the Bible. The Messiah was the only One who could do a covenant with Israel and break this covenant. "Bring an end to sacrifice in mid week" - who, only the Messiah and He was the fulfilling sacrifice of Father God's requirements for sin. Mid week, sacrificed on a Wednesday.
If you can understand that prophecy you will unravel all the deception around the end times.
04/03/2015 3:07pm
Allan,
sadly, it has become even more true what you speak of. Jesus said it would be so, that ministers would preach a message for those with itching ears to give them what makes them feel good about themselves and Satan has infiltrated today's mainstream churches with pagan practices that rival that of the Catholic church in the heyday of their abominations. When Jesus comes, there will be a remnant removed from the earth...only true believers in the blood sacrifice of Jesus, my Lord by faith will meet Him in the air...the rest will be deceived into thinking their church, tithing, being a good moral person, or their priest, or heaven forbid, the Pope, or anything and everything apart from the only Way to Salvation through Jesus will find out in horror, that they were deceived and practice with their lips and not their hearts to follow after Jesus...He will reject them...
04/03/2015 2:56am
Pastor Mike: I never did fully understand how people came up with the 72 hours of the crucifixion. It was never really so hard, but we just have to stop following man's unjust teachings and beliefs. It's clear now.
Great Article
Dr. Frank I. Nangum
04/03/2015 8:11am
Thank you, this article is great .But ,l question if this was a "Passover" meal.? Unleavened bread was always used at the Passover meal. But, In all verses, the name for the bread, ,in Greek, was "artos:", which is regular bread with yeast in it. If it had been unleavened bread, the Greek word would have been "azumor"
04/03/2015 3:01pm
Dr. Frank,
Jesus called it a Passover...Luke 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Jesus instituted the emblems of His death ..the wine and bread to symbolize His blood and broken body. It was not a traditional Passover meal, as Jesus knew He would not be able to be with them on the appointed day for Passover, as He, Himself would be the Passover Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world, on the traditional day's observance. So in that respect, it was not a traditional Passover meal, but is called the Lord's Supper. It was ALL about Him....and still is...
Micky
04/03/2015 11:46am
Hello Mike
Thanks for the article, when we try to explain the truth about the Pagan origin of Easter to the mainstream Christians, we need articles like yours to help us. It is just so much easier to ask our friends to read Mike's article than to try and explain things from the very beginning to them. In regard to the King James Bible though, you said, "...It may be accounted for bias of the King James translators to not translating it correctly as Passover..." I need to point out first of all that Passover is the day before the Week of Unleavened Bread, not after. In Acts 12:3 (KJV), it says, "...Then were the days of unleavened bread..." and in a French version (LSG) it says, "...C'était pendant les jours des pains sans levain (It was during the days of unleavened bread)..." If it was during the days of unleavened bread, you cannot go back in time to the Passover (I do realize that some call the Week of Unleavened Bread the Passover Week). So the story line is, Herod arrested Peter during the days of unleavened bread and he was waiting for the Week of Unleavened Bread to be over before he was going to bring Peter out to the people (Herod was not going back in time to the Passover before the Unleavened Bread Week or waiting for the Passover next year after the Unleavened Bread Week). One more thing worth pointing out is that because Herod was a pagan King and Easter is a pre-Christian pagan festival, we cannot be dogmatic about the King James Bible being wrong. Would I be surprised if Herod celebrated this pre-Christian pagan festival called Easter? Or Could the King James Bible have correctly pointed out that Easter that year occurred after the Week of Unleavened Bread? We do know for a fact that Easter occurs after the Week of Unleavened Bread in some but not all of the years. The King James Bible is a more accurate bible than most of the other versions, this is not a myth. I can spend the rest of the day talking about the deletions the errors and contradictions of the modern bible versions but that is another story for another day... Kind regards Micky
04/03/2015 3:22pm
Micky,
Passover was the FIRST day of Unleavened bread, as the Jews, or Israel called the whole festival by that name...the observance of Easter is always the first Sunday after the spring equinox...it may or may not be close to the Passover observance...They did that for a reason...to not look Jewish...again, Anti-Semitic to the core. I believe that during hte time of the King James version, the translators were driven by Catholic teachings that influenced their rendering of this one passage, but like you, the KJV is the closest we have to a correct translation of the Hebrew and Greek portions of the Bible.. God made the Bible for us...as it was not compiled together until the printing press was invented...The lessons of the Word of God speaks to us, in the last days...before that time, the Bible was a mysterious book to many people, as the Catholic church hid away the writings of the Ancients sages and prophets....much effort has been spent to preserve the Bible down through the ages, as men of evil intent have sought to destroy it...But God would not allow that to happen. He had a plan, and it would not be thwarted for mere mortal men's efforts..God bless,
Micky
04/03/2015 3:58pm
Leviticus 23:5-8 says that Nisan 14 is the Lord's Passover and Nisan 15 is the First Day of Unleavened Bread:
Leviticus 23:5-8 King James Version (KJV) 5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 8 But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Mark R Palladino
04/03/2015 12:07pm
Bravo on this article!
I wrote one myself a few years back, here is a link to it. http://thebiblevsromancatholicism.blogspot.com/2013/03/dont-put-all-your-eggs-in-multiple.html Nice to see a Pastor out there who understands this! May God bless your ministry and I have saved your website as a favorite. I have read other articles posted on 'Prophecy Update' that you have written and have always felt that kindred Spirit in your writings.
Micky
04/03/2015 3:36pm
Scott Ashley of the United Church of God has another article on the same subject. There is a timeline in the article that shows very clearly how Jesus rose on the 7th Day Sabbath to fulfil his role of the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). Because of the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29), we know that the 7th Day Sabbath is the Day of the Lord-of-the-Sabbath - the true Lord's Day - not the pagan sungod's Sunday:
http://www.ucg.org/doctrinal-beliefs/son-man-will-be-three-days-and-three-nights-heart-earth/
Micky
04/03/2015 3:40pm
Scott Ashley of the United Church of God (ucg.org) has another article on the same subject. There is a timeline in the article that shows very clearly how Jesus rose on the 7th Day Sabbath to fulfil his role of the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). Because of the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29), we know that the 7th Day Sabbath is the Day of the Lord-of-the-Sabbath - the true Lord's Day - not the pagan sungod's Sunday:
J. W. W.
04/03/2015 11:12pm
Your historical account is correct (the changing of times and seasons, etc.), but I believe the Pesach seder Yeshua had with His apostles was held on Thurs. night which started Pesach with the Temple sacrifices being performed on Friday when Yeshua was on the cross. He was hanged on the cross by about 9am. He died and was taken down about 3pm and placed in the tomb almost immediately because preparation had to be made for the Sabbath before sundown. He was in the tomb from Friday afternoon through
the Sabbath and rose on the of day of First Fruits which would have ended on Monday. That's 3 days and 3 nights exactly like He said. No Easter bunnies for me! (No Christ Mass either.)
04/05/2015 11:07am
JWW,
let's just assume that your account is correct. If you take the 72 hours that is REQUIRED to fulfill the sign of Jonah that was the ONLY measure that Jesus gave that HE was the Messiah, then there's a problem with your analogy. First if Jesus was nailed to the cross on Friday morning, and in the tomb by sundown on Friday evening...let's count...first 24 hours goes to Saturday at sundown, the next 24 hours goes till Sunday at sundown, and the last 24 hours puts it as a resurrection on Monday at sundown....see the problem, the timing is all wrong. Jesus revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene on Sunday morning. Historically, if you and the fellow that quoted Leviticus and Exodus as saying the High Holy Day was a Friday, then you will find your error....Thursday was the High Holy Day during this ancient time of Passover observance. So Jesus had to be removed from the cross the afternoon of the prior day, as sundown to sundown is the measure of days in ancient Israel...that means Jesus ate the Lord's Supper with His disciples on our Tuesday night, or their Wednesday, as sundown to sundown is the counting in Israel....Nope, both you guys got it in error...it's a popular misinterpretation of God's Word based on "Catholic" traditional error teaching. Don't think as a Catholic, Protestant, but as a Jew...it is how it was observed in their culture, not ours. God bless, YBIC, Pastor Mike
J.W.W.
04/06/2015 10:49am
You are exactly right! P.S. I am a Jew! Just got the day wrong (Thurs WAS indeed the High Holy Day that year). Sorry 'bout that!
Shalom, and YBIC, too.
04/03/2015 11:49pm
Friday was a High Holy day of Passover and Jesus Christ had to be in the Grave by 3PM Thursday. It's all in Leviticus, and Exodus.
04/05/2015 11:14am
Ed,
close, but no prize for being close. See my answer above. It's historical of the account of when Passover and the High Holy Day was on this day of the week...It was a Thursday, from Sundown Wednesday, till sundown Thursday. My timeline is correct, and this Scott Ashley has it correct as well....see what Mickey gave as a URL for the site where he explains it as well...God bless
04/05/2015 10:59am
Brethren,
a beautiful email that I must share. Ignore the part of I've "a gift of teaching", as I give God all the glory. He is the teacher, I'm just His servant... You sure do have a teaching gift. Thanks Mike. I really like that you say we must worship Him in Spirit and Truth. This is a lesson that the Lord taught me in a very personal way. I start any prayer with praise and worship. One day I was in the worship part of my prayer, and this crazy thought popped into my mind. "You're good at praising God." I thought, yes I am. This is something that I can do. Praise would easily flow from my lips. In the morning when waking, the words, "Praise God" would be the first words from my mouth as if it started in a semi-conscious state. As I was driving, I heard a speaker on Moody radio describing a scene in heaven where the beast surrounding the throne of God were constantly praising God. Just then another unholy thought popped into my mind. "Why does He think He has to be praise ALL the time, constantly. Mike, I could not get this thought out of my mind. It plagued me for 7 straight day. It dominated my every thought. I was miserable, being tormented by this unholy thought. I could not pray; I could not worship. What came so easily as an apple tree bearing apples was now impossible for me to do. If I woke in the night, this thought met me. When waking in the morning, no longer did praise come from my lips. I was truly miserable. On the seventh day, on my way home. I prayed and cried that I couldn't take it anymore. "Please give me something to remove this tormenting spirit." Immediately, He says to me (timelessly in my mind not one word at a time as I think and these unholy thoughts) "What is it to you? I'm worthy of your praise!" Oh, I cried profusely, and the torment was instantly gone. I could worship and praise again. Mike what he wanted to teach me is that I truly cannot do anything for Him or for His ministry without Him. I love Him only because He loved me first and gave me the love to love Him back. The Spirit in me allows me to worship as the Father desires. This is what Jesus spoke to the woman at the well about. "I tell you that a time is coming and is here already that the true worshipers will worship in truth and spirit" It's the Holy Spirit in us which allows us to worship as the Father desires. It's all about Him, and we can truly do nothing without Him. Blessings! Dennis
Banie
04/05/2015 6:01pm
I really enjoyed your article in respect of the above mentioned and truly agree.
My problem is where does one find a Church that stick to these ordinances? I live in South Africa and have been peddling between Churches to try and find one that truly stick the Bible prophecies so much so that I do not go to any Church but listen to Sermons on the internet mainly Baptist Churches in America and have found true preaching and have learnt a lot. Can you make any suggestions? Which Church do you attend? Many thanks
Micky
04/06/2015 11:17am
You said: My problem is where does one find a Church that stick to these ordinances?
Hello Banie If you are interested in Sabbath keeping churches, there are many of them in South Africa. In general, you would have no trouble finding two main groups of churches there who keep the Sabbath. One group would be the Adventists and the other would be one of the COGs or Churches of God like Church of God 7th Day, Living Church of God, United Church of God, Church of Great God and many more. The Adventists and the Church of God 7th Day keep the weekly 7th Day Sabbath whereas the other Churches of God keep the 7th Day Sabbath as well as the Holy Days like the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. The church that I attend in New Zealand has branches in South Africa too and you many find some of the links below rather useful. However, this is by no means the only Sabbath keeping church available in South Africa. I guess the best way to find a church is to shop around and do some research before committing yourself. I have no idea if Pastor Mike approves of the churches I have listed as I am just one of the readers/bloggers. Perhaps you can ask Pastor Mike and find out if his church - The Church of the Living God has branches in South Africa too. Here are some links to UCG in South Africa: http://south-africa.ucg.org/content/about-united-church-god http://south-africa.ucg.org/contact http://www.ucg.org/booklets/ http://www.ucg.org/good-news-magazine/?source=direct Kind Regards Micky
JWW
04/06/2015 10:59am
You are exactly right! I did indeed get the day - the High Holy Day - wrong. It was on Thurs. that year.
(PS: I am a Jew!..think like a Jew...read scripture like a Jew...a Christian Jew!) Thanks for catching my error. "Swarms of Locusts": An excellent book researched and written by Michael Bunker on how the Catholic Church has created tremendous error(s) to turn the masses away from scriptural truth for the past two millennia.
J.W.W.
04/06/2015 11:01am
You are exactly right! I did indeed get the day - the High Holy Day - wrong. It was on Thurs. that year.
(PS: I am a Jew!..think like a Jew...read scripture like a Jew...a Christian Jew!) Thanks for catching my error. "Swarms of Locusts": An excellent book researched and written by Michael Bunker on how the Catholic Church has created tremendous error(s) to turn the masses away from scriptural truth for the past two millennia. |
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
SIGN OF JONAH, 3 DAYS, 3 NIGHTS
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