Easter SUNday - Behold! The Ham of God?

When I wrote about Christmas a few months ago I was encouraging folks to forsake their involvement with the practices of pagan tradition. (Christmas Time is Here! Decisions, decisions, decisions.) With the approach of Easter I'm compelled to offer more of the same.

Here's a video presentation I found. (As it must ever be, take responsibility for yourself to eat the fish and spit out the bones.) [video] TAMMUZ EASTER PASSOVER (Michael Rood)

One of the practices the video didn't address is the Easter Sunrise Service. Do a Web search for easter sunrise service pittsburgh, or for wherever you happen to live. Consider what you see in light of interpreting the occult symbolism you recognize. Compare the event to what Ezekiel saw.

14) Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15) He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.” 16) Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17) He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose.

Ezekiel 8:14-17

Sunrise services - on SUN day - on a festival based on a pagan solar calendar that is named after a pagan goddess. This gives my Lord no honor. If you can accept a teaching that declares there are three days in the span from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning I suppose you can readily enough accept the story that goes along with it.

You may well take a defensive stance here and tell yourself that calling Easter by the name Resurrection Sunday and switching from serving ham to something Kosher sufficiently distances you from pagan idolatry. I bet not. You may consider me a self-righteous jerk to write like I do, overbearing and heavy handed, and you're certainly welcome to think what you like, but there's somebody reading who get's it and this is for them.

Just before I posted this, I got a report from a dear friend about his mother and sister, who have both decided to stand on what the Lord has revealed about Easter and practicing pagan tradition and have entered into a quite an intense conflict. I praise the Lord for women of faith, and the men and women who will be humbled by their witness. Pray with me, if you will, for those who hear the Lord's voice and with boldness, submit. The joy of the Lord is their strength.

To forsake pagan Easter does not equate to a turning to embrace the customs of Rabbinical Judaism. An exchange of one Babylonian brand and program for another won't do. You see, both the church and the children of Israel have been “filtered” through the world systems and are severely compromised, impure. The northern kingdom of Israel was filtered through Assyria. What went in wasn't good. Whatever may have come out was generally no better but if possible, worse. The southern kingdom was filtered through Babylon. Again, what went in was not good, and largely, what came out was none the better for the filtering. The church independently went through the same routine, filtered through Rome to assimilate the same Mystery Babylon religion Israel had in earlier seasons. Constantine did no one any favors by sanctioning the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing holy about any Roman empire. The Lord has ever had a remnant of Israel, and He has a plan for them, an awesome plan! He also has an awesome plan for a remnant of the church. The remnant of Israel and of the church have to be pure, and those who come out of Babylon have to have Babylon purged from them. This is the same process the early church endured.

It's not enough just to camp and march under God's banner.

40. SAYING TO AARON, ‘MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT—WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’ 41. At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42. But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? 43. YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’

Acts 7:40-43

Consider the example given for us, which we absolutely need.

1. For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2. and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3. and all ate the same spiritual food; 4. and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. 6. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” [ Exodus 32:6]
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21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

1 Corinthians 10:1-7, 21-22

We are not stronger than He. You may think like those who came out from Egypt thought, that, so long as you do the God thing, you can do the Devil thing alongside it, and things will go well enough. Will it really? Joshua and Caleb made it all the way from Egypt into the promised land, but how many fell in the wilderness? Everyone who left Egypt fell who was, what, 20 or older, except for 2? There's the example.

Now, if you read that passage as most do and as I formerly did, the expression, "as examples for us," interprets more softly to, “as a warning for us.” That's not entirely correct, which may be seen from verse 11 of that chapter.

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

1 Corinthians 10:11

“...upon whom the ends of the ages have come” - that's us! The same Greek word for “example” is used in both verses 6 and 11, typos. Verse 11 expands upon verse 6 to explain that it was given both for a typos and also for our instruction, nouthesia, meaning “admonition, exhortation.” What I'm trying to convey here is that the example given should be understood as more than just a vaguely similar account intended to caution us. The typos presented is more literally a prophetic type, a pattern and model of how it will be, in fact. Recognizing this pattern as coming from someone who truly knows the end from the beginning, the slim odds of being included in such a small number is a serious admonition indeed. There's just not a lot of biblical support for a theology of "wide way" entrance into great reward.

When the Biblical directive about Babylon is given, to “come out of her, my people,” those who have a hearing ear simply comply. Those who are willing to obey understand what is meant. They recognize an invitation and a good opportunity to trade up! There's not a lot of quibbling and whining to be heard. In the fear of God they know the lukewarm are going to be rejected. For most, even among those who will read this, "actual obedience" is just too radical. I'm well aware of this. If my being so frank offends you, I do hope you will consider what this means, before you even put your head to the pillow.

Today, a highly leveraged word is: Diversity. Another is: Tolerance. If your personal policies align with diversity and tolerance, will you not be judged with those who promote the same? It's not a bad thing to have enemies. It's not a bad thing to be hated. Quite the contrary. The Lord was and is hated by the worldly. Are you and I, by the same? If not, let me encourage you to draw close to Him, whose love is pure.

I pray you and I will not involved in the following scenario through any casually compromising and lukewarm embracing of idolatry, having been warned about yet failing to reject the familiar traditions of our religious culture.

21. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23. And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Matthew 7:21-23

In closing this sober post, the word forfeit comes to mind. So many forfeit their reward and so many forfeit their ability to hear (a hearing ear) by neglecting to assign simple obedience the importance it deserves in our relationship with the Lord. This is how he knows who really loves Him and who is merely giving lipservice.