Easter

A Golden Calf in the Wilderness
What do holidays such as Easter or Christmas have to do with a golden calf?  What does the golden calf represent to us spiritually?  Let’s take a look.

Exodus 32 begins with the Israelites and Aaron during the forty days and forty nights that Moses was in the mount with God.

Exodus 32:1-10 KJV  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  (2)  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.  (3)  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.  (4)  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  (5)  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.  (6)  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.  (7)  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:  (8)  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  (9)  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:  (10)  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Verse 5 is key:  Aaron states, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord”.
The Concordant version reads: “Then Aaron called out and said: A celebration to Yahweh tomorrow!”

If you grew up in my generation it is hard to read this scripture without the imagery of Cecil B. Demille’s epic movie, The Ten Commandments.  Instead let’s stick to what the scripture says.  We read because of the absence of Moses the people desired something to go before them… in place of the missing Moses.  We need to understand what Moses represented to the Israelites… he was their conduit to an invisible God.  God’s order laid out in scripture is this: first the physical and then the spiritual.  There are countless images, types, and shadows that give way to the real… the spiritual.  Moses himself was a shadow of the Deliverer.  Consider what the Tabernacle and all of its components were but images or shadows of spiritual realities that they represent.  Even God gave the Israelites a physical representation of his dwelling place between the cherubim of the ark of the covenant.  This was part of God’s order but we know that God does not dwell in temples made of hands (Acts 7:48)… these physical images represented something else… and were again, visible objects people directed their worship toward.

This calf, I believe, was borrowed from Egypt’s worship of the Apis Bull.  The nation of Israel had just spent 400 years observing the way of the heathens and for the Egyptians, this bull represented the power and strength of their god.  It was a physical manifestation… an image that they could direct their worship toward.  Think about this… an invisible God requires faith.  Man has always struggled with this concept of the unseen and likewise has attempted to add a tangible manifestation, by the works of their own hands, to the invisible mystery of God.

Acts 7:41 KJV  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

What has the Lord commanded us?

Jeremiah 10:2 KJV  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen…

Deuteronomy 12:30 KJV  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

Leviticus 20:23 KJV  And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

Leviticus 18:3 KJV  After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

Are Easter and Christmas rooted in paganism?
Today’s vast amount of Christian members believe that holidays such as Easter and Christmas represent true worship to The Lord.  Did God command us to observe these days… or any day as holy?  A truth that most tend to ignore is that we have been commanded not to observe days, months, seasons, or years (Galatians 4:10)  Minimal research of Easter or Christmas will bring to light the pagan roots of these Christian holidays.

Easter was originally a name associated with Queen Semiramis (Astarte or Ishtar), the wife of King Nimrod.  It is King Nimrod, who after his death, became known as the various sun and fire gods Baal, Baalim, and Molech.  A son born to Semiramis after the death of Nimrod, named Tammuz, was hailed as the reincarnation of Nimrod… the savior promised by God.  Semiramis became a goddes of fertility while Tammuz(See Ezekial 8:12-14) was worshipped as a god of renewing life, primarily of the Spring season.  Does this all sound a little far-fetched?  Yes it does… and this is the foolishness of man.  Look it up for yourselves.  The history of this topic goes far beyond this post as it all ties in with Babel, the source of so many pagan religions and practices.  A little study into this subject and you’ll find the beginnings of the Easter rabbit, Easter eggs, and sunrise services which have absolutely nothing to do with Christ… but do in fact have everything to do with the pagan roots of this celebration day.

Christmas (See Jeremiah 10) is no different in origin as it is derived from Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun… or as the Romans called this celebration of the Winter Soltice, Saturnalia.  Like Easter, this observed day was celebrated long before the birth or resurrection of Christ.  The day was filled with gluttonous eating and gift-giving.

We must realize that a we cannot take a pagan day… associate it with the name of our Lord, and consider it holy –  no matter what our intention.  Every man-made holiday (holy-day) is derived from the heathen.  These so-called holy days are celebrations of “the works of our own hands“.  These are pagan days that we have adopted to worship our Lord.  That is the purpose of this article… not to give a complete and accurate history of the origins of these days… but to show that we cannot keep the Lord’s commandments by observing any day… much less adopting the ways of the heathen.  There is no biblical authority for the observance of these days and to keep observance of them is following human commandment and tradition… and God says this is done in vain.  God is to be worshiped in the way that God commands… not in the way man decides.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 KJV  (29)  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;  (30)  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.  (31)  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.  (32)  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Jeremiah 10:2-3 KJV  Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.  (3)  For the customs of the people are vain…