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and performed the same rituals, but
now tbey did it to "Christ" instead
of to Astarte or Tammuz! They had
not, however, understood what it
meant to repent and become con–
verted.
How, then, did Easter creep into
the professing Christian Church?
Constantine presided over the
Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) at
which the "Easter question" was
taken up for settlement.
In
an at–
tempt to concíliate the conflicting
customs of "Ch ristians" throughout
the Roman Empire, he wanted bis
religious leaders to determine a uni–
versal date for the celebration of
Easter so that all the peoples of his
Empire would observe tbis festival
on the same date.
It
was at the
Council of Nicaea that the date of
Easter was declared to be tbe first
Sunday after the fuU moon follow–
ing the spring equinox.
Why Easte r ls Wrong
"Well, what difference does it
make?" many might ask. "Sure,
Eas ter Sunday is derived from hea–
then customs, but doo' t we observe
itas a Christian holiday, in honor of
Christ and His resurrection. 1 don' t
see anything inherently wrong or
evil about that!"
In the first place, Easter does not
commemorate the resurrection. The
resurrection was not oo Sunday.
Nor was the crucifixi on on any so–
called "Good Friday." And second,
we humans are not free to select our
own method ofworshipping God!
King Solomoo was inspired to
write: ' 'There is a way which seem–
eth right unto a man, but the end
thereof a re the ways of death"
(Proverbs 14: 12; 16:25). Jesus Christ
said, "Man shall not live by bread
alone , bu t by
every word
that
proceedeth out of the mouth of
God" (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4).
The vitally importaot question is:
What does God say about taking
pagan practices and "making them
Christian"?
Jeremiah 10:2, "T hus saith the
PLAIN TRUTH Morch 1973
Lord,
Learn not the way of the hea–
then,
and be not dismayed at the
signs of heaven; for the heathen are
dismayed at them."
Those are plain words.
God says in the Bible that Satan
the devil " deceiveth the whole
world" (Revelation 12:9). Do you
want to go along with the world
in
its deception? Speaking of the reli–
gious system and customs of this
modero world, God says to His
peo ple: "Come out of her, my
people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of
her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).
Should you simply go along with
the crowd and attend Eas ter ser–
vices? God says: " ... what fellow–
ship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what commu–
nion
hath light with darkness? ...
Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and 1 will receive you, and
will be a Father unto you, and ye
shaU be my sons and daughters,
saith tbe Lord Almighty" (II Corin–
thians 6: 14-18).
God sent ancient Israel into cap–
tivity because that nation forsook
His commandments and began fol–
lowing pagan ways and incorporating
pagan traditions, custorns, and su–
perstitions into the worship of God
(see 11 Kings 17; Jeremiab 44; Eze–
kiel 8). Sbould we imitate their mis–
takes?
The question is whether or not we
are willing to trustfully obey God,
even wben we do not fuUy under–
stand why He tells us to do some–
thing. To Iearn
this
kind of obedience
based on faith is of decisive impor–
tance not only for our life here and
now, but also for aU etemity.
Whether or not we observe pagan
customs labeled "Christian" makes
a great deal of difference to God.
Therefore, Iet's get back to the pure,
unaltered and unadulterated fai th
which was once delivered to the
saints.
o
When Was
Christ
Resurrected?
Easte r Sunday, shocking
as it may seem, does NOT
commemorate the resurrec–
tion of Jesus Christ. Christ
was not resurrected on a
Sunday morning nor did He
di e on \\Good Friday ."
Read the irrefutable Biblical
proof in th is carefully docu–
mented bookle t.
See inside front cover for address of PLAIN
TRUTH office neorest you.
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