In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods. But now you do know God, and, more than that, you are known by God. So how is it that you turn back again to those weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to enslave yourselves to them once more? You observe special days, months, seasons and years! I fear for you that my work among you has been wasted! Galatians 4:8-11
All Saints' Day
Halloween
Lent
Epiphany
Candlemas
Valentine's Day
Yule
Ash Wednesday
Samhain
May Day
Easter
Mardi Gras
Etc., etc...
Timeout for Grammar Nazi
THE PREPOSITION AS ADVERB
Many prepositions, such as about, outside, past, and before, can be used as either an adverb or a preposition.
An example using "behind" as an adverb: The boy fell behind.
And as a preposition: The boy fell behind us.
Sometimes, two prepositions can be used consecutively, one as an adverb and another as a preposition.
Example: The boy climbed up onto the roof.
"Up" is used as an adverb, while "onto" is used as a preposition.
Here's another example showing incorrect and a correct usage:
Wrong: Get your nose out my business.
Right: Get your nose out of my business.
"Out" is used as an adverb, and "of" as a preposition.
If you are going to use an adverb-preposition combo like these, please get it right. Don't make me write another one of these posts.
Many prepositions, such as about, outside, past, and before, can be used as either an adverb or a preposition.
An example using "behind" as an adverb: The boy fell behind.
And as a preposition: The boy fell behind us.
Sometimes, two prepositions can be used consecutively, one as an adverb and another as a preposition.
Example: The boy climbed up onto the roof.
"Up" is used as an adverb, while "onto" is used as a preposition.
Here's another example showing incorrect and a correct usage:
Wrong: Get your nose out my business.
Right: Get your nose out of my business.
"Out" is used as an adverb, and "of" as a preposition.
If you are going to use an adverb-preposition combo like these, please get it right. Don't make me write another one of these posts.
13+ Surprising Things That Will Still Exist in the Millennial Era
The Millennial Kingdom is often portrayed as an era of perfect peace and harmony, but this is very far from what scripture portrays. Here are a few things that you might be surprised to learn the Bible says will be present in the world while Yeshua reigns personally in Jerusalem.
- Animal sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem
- The Biblical feasts celebrated in Israel
- Levitical priesthood functioning at the Temple
- Drought
- Famine
- War
- Social class
- Economic disparity
- Sin
- Death
- Labor
- Trade
- Nations
- etc.
Some of these things are good, some are bad, but Yeshua will allow them all to continue after his triumphant return. God has his own purposes for allowing these things and he hasn't seen fit to explain his reasoning to us. Maybe he never will.
A Chiasm in the Induction of the Priests
There is a chiasm in Leviticus 8:1-5 dealing with the conveyance and execution of God's instructions for inducting Aaron and his sons into the Levitical priesthood.
What can be gleaned from this? I don't immediately know. I'll have to come back to it another day.
For more on chiasms--including how to identify, map, and interpret them--check out The Chiasm Course!
The First and the Last Plagues of Egypt
| First Plague | Tenth Plague |
|---|---|
| Death from below | Death from above |
| Death from water | Death from spirit |
| Testified of the murder of Hebrew sons | Took the lives of Egyptian sons |
Easter...Eostre...Ishtar?
Easter (still called Passover by almost all non-English-speakers) is a paganized "strange fire" version of Passover and, in my opinion, nobody should be celebrating it as such.
However, this post is about the name, and not the date or the method.
I have yet to see any credible evidence that the word "Easter" has any connection to the word "Ishtar". If I recall correctly, a single, short statement by Bede, made long after the described festivals of Eostre had disappeared, is the sum total of evidence for that claim. And he didn't even claim that the Angles had renamed "Passover" to "Easter". He actually wrote that they had named a month after the goddess many centuries before and, since Passover was observed in that month, the name of the month had come to stand for the feast.
Maybe Eostre was the name of a pagan goddess and maybe it wasn't. The weekday names that we inherited from those people are definitely derived from pagan gods, so it seems likely that they followed the same pattern in naming the months. However, we aren't renaming our national holiday after Julius Caesar when we call it "July 4th" instead of "Independence Day," so the use of "Easter" as a label for "Passover" isn't in itself proof that the Angles renamed Passover in honor of a pagan deity or merged the feast of Eostre with the feast of Passover. It's much more likely that they took the entire adulterated Passover package directly from the Roman missionaries who had already hopelessly confused its observance with their own pagan religions.
I'd love to see an ancient manuscript, carving, or...something...dating from 500 that says "The Germanic peoples worship a deity they call Eostre, which is their version of the Greek Aphrodite and the Babylonian Ishtar and they now combine the feast of this goddess with that of Passover." But I don't think such a thing exists. A single statement hundreds of years removed from the event is worthless as evidence. Until such evidence is produced, all we have is speculation.
If you are judging someone based on their use of a pagan-derived month name while you continue to use pagan-derived day names, and if you are judging someone based on speculation without hard evidence...then you probably have bigger problems than they do.
And if your best reply to my skepticism is "Ditch the lies!!1! Stop worshiping Constantine!!!", then I'm just going to ignore you. If you have actual, primary source evidence, I welcome it. If you don't, then...are you claiming to be a prophet with divine knowledge of the past?
Update: Here's the original and only historical source for "Easter" coming from the name of a pagan goddess:
Paske
Pasques
Paskha
Pascoa
Pasti
Pasg
Paskah
Pashke
Pasen
Pasqua
The exact languages aren't the point. The point is that only Germanic peoples and their converts use the name "Easter".
The rest of the world is fully aware that Easter is a counterfeit Passover. They didn't even bother changing the name.
However, this post is about the name, and not the date or the method.
I have yet to see any credible evidence that the word "Easter" has any connection to the word "Ishtar". If I recall correctly, a single, short statement by Bede, made long after the described festivals of Eostre had disappeared, is the sum total of evidence for that claim. And he didn't even claim that the Angles had renamed "Passover" to "Easter". He actually wrote that they had named a month after the goddess many centuries before and, since Passover was observed in that month, the name of the month had come to stand for the feast.
Maybe Eostre was the name of a pagan goddess and maybe it wasn't. The weekday names that we inherited from those people are definitely derived from pagan gods, so it seems likely that they followed the same pattern in naming the months. However, we aren't renaming our national holiday after Julius Caesar when we call it "July 4th" instead of "Independence Day," so the use of "Easter" as a label for "Passover" isn't in itself proof that the Angles renamed Passover in honor of a pagan deity or merged the feast of Eostre with the feast of Passover. It's much more likely that they took the entire adulterated Passover package directly from the Roman missionaries who had already hopelessly confused its observance with their own pagan religions.
I'd love to see an ancient manuscript, carving, or...something...dating from 500 that says "The Germanic peoples worship a deity they call Eostre, which is their version of the Greek Aphrodite and the Babylonian Ishtar and they now combine the feast of this goddess with that of Passover." But I don't think such a thing exists. A single statement hundreds of years removed from the event is worthless as evidence. Until such evidence is produced, all we have is speculation.
If you are judging someone based on their use of a pagan-derived month name while you continue to use pagan-derived day names, and if you are judging someone based on speculation without hard evidence...then you probably have bigger problems than they do.
And if your best reply to my skepticism is "Ditch the lies!!1! Stop worshiping Constantine!!!", then I'm just going to ignore you. If you have actual, primary source evidence, I welcome it. If you don't, then...are you claiming to be a prophet with divine knowledge of the past?
Update: Here's the original and only historical source for "Easter" coming from the name of a pagan goddess:
Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rithe by the time-honoured name of the old observance.
Bede, The Reckoning of Time, "Chapter 15, The English Months"
Easter in a Few Other Languages
PazkoPaske
Pasques
Paskha
Pascoa
Pasti
Pasg
Paskah
Pashke
Pasen
Pasqua
The exact languages aren't the point. The point is that only Germanic peoples and their converts use the name "Easter".
The rest of the world is fully aware that Easter is a counterfeit Passover. They didn't even bother changing the name.
Obedience != Salvation by Works
You can't save your soul by keeping the Torah. I have never taught otherwise. Sometimes I feel like I have to brand it on my forehead to keep reminding people that I already know this. No matter how many times I say or write it, people have a Pavlovian response to the words Torah and Law.
Teaching obedience, whether one teaches obedience to the instructions of Moses, Jesus, Paul, or God Himself, is not teaching salvation by works.
(I just happen to believe they all taught the same thing.)
Let me illustrate the point with a short video...
Teaching obedience, whether one teaches obedience to the instructions of Moses, Jesus, Paul, or God Himself, is not teaching salvation by works.
(I just happen to believe they all taught the same thing.)
Let me illustrate the point with a short video...
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