Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
Easter Rabbits and Easter Eggs
April 6, 2011
What do Easter rabbits and Easter eggs have to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The answer is that they have nothing to do with it. Easter, itself, gets its name from the Teutonic goddess of spring, honored on the Vernal Equinox, originally called Eostre, but known today to New Agers as Ostara.
The traditional symbol of this goddess is the egg. The shell is seen as the universe, which surrounds everyone and everything. The white is as the goddess, herself, and the golden yolk represents the sun god, with the egg, as a whole, symbolizing rebirth. Rabbits are the cute, furry, little creatures that reproduce often and very rapidly.
It all boils down to Easter becoming a celebration of fertility magic, with God being more of a husband to Mother Nature than to mankind. Easter then evolves into somewhat of a seasonal, clean-air type of celebration, more befitting the Green Party, and its worship of Mother Nature, along with an all-inclusive kind of institutional Christianity, than it is for the believer of the true church of Christ. This pagan-type celebration began within the institutional church when Rome took the apostolic church captive to Christianity by joining it with the pagan practices of Rome, thus Romanizing the church and placing it under the label of Christian, a label Jesus never gave to His church.
The resurrection day has everything to do with the Exodus of Israel coming out of Egypt. The first Passover of the Israelites in Egypt, before being saved from the treachery of the seawaters, is symbolic of the death of God’s firstborn on the cross and the resurrected life to follow. His death and the resurrection promise for salvation are seen in the blood of the Lamb being placed on the doorpost of the Israelite houses as protection from death for the firstborn of those within, which the Lord would bring upon the firstborn of Egypt.
Just as we trust in the blood of Jesus for salvation, so, too, could the Israelites trust in the Lord to save their firstborn from the spirit of death. It was because of His passionate love that Jesus had for His bride that He was placed on the cross as the Passover Lamb, so that He might wash her clean and free of sin. He knew if He were to bring her through the evil seawaters of this world, He would have to become the perfect blood sacrifice, in place of her blood, which a Holy God would require of her who was facing a death sentence.
Did God bring Israel to the crossover point of her short history when she came through the seawaters, with the burden of leadership falling on the shoulders of Moses, to then require nothing of the nation in response to her life-saving experience? No, she would have many battles to fight with her brethren of mankind in order to possess the Land promised to her. It would mean that many lives would be lost along the way, but the Lord would lead and continue to protect His remnant until He safely brought them into the Promised Land.
Moses chose twelve spies to go in and spy out the Land, with the intent of their returning to witness to the people of its fruitfulness and bounty, just as Jesus would later call twelve witnesses to witness to the entire world of the fruitfulness and treasures of the kingdom – the true Promised Land for a spiritual nation of believers. The spies returned to confirm what Moses had told them, but only two were willing to carry out the commandment of God to go in and do battle to possess the Land. They were Joshua and Caleb, who are types of Jesus and His bride. They were prepared to take action in the face of death because they knew who they were in God and the power for victory in Him.
The ten reluctant spies took the stand we see being taken by institutional Christianity today. The institutional church cowers in fear of challenging the enemy of God. The outcome will be the same as that of the spies. It will surely die during its journey through the wilderness of this world, never to reach or possess the kingdom of heaven, here on earth.
It is necessary to remember that all twelve of the spies had placed the blood on the doorposts back in Egypt, or they would not have experienced the miracle of coming through the sea safely to the other side, under the leadership of Moses. You could say they bore the name of Israel, but they had no passion for God or the power of His righteousness in the face of perceived danger. God had sent them in to spy out the Land and, in the process, separate the men from the boys.
Christianity, like the spies, will run frightened in the face of the forthcoming One World Order and, in fact, will prefer to join the enemy rather than face the antichrist giants of this world. God is looking for soldiers who know that going into battle is an act of faith and trust in His power to equip them for victory.
Resurrection day marks only the beginning of the church age and not the end of it. The church’s commission is in the final stage of being completed whereby the gospel of truth will be spread throughout the world to all nations. Does she bow to appease the enemy or does she stand face to face before her idol worshipers, declaring the power of her Lord and the worthlessness of their idols? Did the council of religious men, before whom the disciple, Stephen, was taken, not see his face to be like the face of an angel, when he witnessed to them? Was he mealy-mouthed and tolerant of the feelings of his religious opponents, or did he tell them directly that the Most High did not dwell in their temple or in any other temple built by man?
He spoke to them, saying, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it (Acts 7:51-53).”
Did these words of Stephen to the religious leaders not ignite a fire of indignation and a killing rampage every bit as much as burning the Koran in America ignited a killing rampage among Muslims? Saul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, was at the heart of the killing.
At this time when we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, where do you as the church stand? Do you create great performances and plays around the Passion of Jesus and then sit back without any passion for Him, while denouncing the Koran burning for fear it will raise the passions of the idol worshipers for killing? Do you join in the cry for tolerance for all religions while holding the hand of another who chants, “We are all one”, perhaps one of the greatest New Age cries of our day? The true church is never one with the world, but is always at odds with it.
Is your passion relegated to a performance once a year, or is there a passion in your heart to witness to the truth at the possible cost of your life so that another, who might choose to kill you, can live? This is what Jesus called the greatest love we can have for one another, when we are willing to die to self, so that others might live. It is a passion for Him, even unto death, which will change one’s behavior and response to His calling, in order to become a witness to the truth in the face of death. The witness is not for those of understanding, but rather to those who do not believe and are involved in witchcraft of all sorts and kind, because of their lack of knowledge.
Easter rabbits and Easter eggs are the obvious pagan response to the resurrection. I wonder if the institutional Christian church isn’t involved in a far greater and more devious pagan response to the cross, which finds it failing daily and moving straight toward the goal of Satan for one grand, tolerant world religion? Basic to the union, will be the doctrine of tolerance for all religions, so that no one will have any hurt feelings. Such doctrine runs totally in the face of Jesus.
The cross is not situated at a tolerant crossroads of history; it is totally intolerant of sin and forces those who will be saved to never recognize any other way to heaven. There is no other way, for Jesus is the Way, and the only way to the Father. Is the institutional church teaching you to be tolerant of religion or intolerant as you look upon the cross, and see it free of the religious trappings we have placed upon it?
Jesus is the Word made flesh. I am afraid it was an army chaplain, a so-called soldier of the cross, who burned Bibles in Afghanistan for the sake of not upsetting those who believe the witchcraft surrounding Mohammed and Islam. And will this same military chaplain sit in a church or in a military, make-shift chapel to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after having put Him to flame?
One thing is for sure; no one will see the face of that same military chaplain as being like the face of an angel and like that of Stephen, the disciple of the Lord under the influence of the Holy Spirit, who told the truth to the religious council, which was simply awaiting its opportunity to stone him to death. Nor is it likely that this so-called, Christian military chaplain will ever sit in the company of Stephen upon the Day of Judgment. The question must be asked as to whether or not this military chaplain ever had the blood on the doorpost of his life, and whether or not the seawaters will part to allow him to cross over to the kingdom on the other side.
Where do you stand on this day of celebration of the resurrection? Is the cross celebrated for one day of your life or for your every waking moment? Are you seated among the godly or among the ungodly, both claiming the name of Jesus yet, of one He will say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:23)!”