What Are You Celebrating - Easter Vs Resurrection Sunday

“What are you Celebrating”

Resurrection Sunday

vs.

Easter

By

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Mark 16:1-6 “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the [mother] of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first [day] of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

Now that would be good enough if I was going to preach a traditional Easter Sunday message; however, I am not going to preach the traditional message but I want to share with you something on today that will change the way you look at and understand this day we call Easter.

The Bible says in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children”.

Today we celebrate what is traditionally called Easter Sunday. We understand it as the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Sometimes you will even hear the term Resurrection Sunday used, which is the term we use here at Apostolic Glorious Church. The reason we call it Resurrection Sunday and not Easter is because we have come to understand that there is a difference in the terms and the celebration of each is different as well. Today I want you to take a look at yourself and ask the question “What am I celebrating”?

Understand that to get caught up in doing something just because that is the way we have always done it or because everyone else is doing it so I might as well also is detrimental and can cause you to end up in place you have no business being or even in hell itself.

Sadly many people are misguided, uninformed, totally confused, and utterly lost trying to figure out what must I do. They look at the drugs, alcohol, illicit sexual activity, the homosexual lifestyle, or internet porn trying to find the answer unable to find the answer there because there is no answer in those things only problems.

So they turn to the church looking for answers and help only to find confusion and misguided interpretations of scripture, because people are being deceived and destroyed because of the lack of knowledge. They sadly wonder through life going through the motions never truly being delivered and ultimately being spiritually destroyed because they were not able to find the answers they were looking for. Many people celebrate today and go to church wearing the very best outfits, but are utterly lost because they have no idea Who or What or Why they are celebrating today.

Today I want to enlighten you on the 2 different celebrations which will give you knowledge and keep you from being destroyed.

• Many people celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on this day.

• Sadly for some it is the only time or the 1st of 2 times they attend church all year, the 2nd time they attend church is Christmas.

HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE: The word Easter is found only once in the Bible in Acts 12:4 and it literally is a misguided interpretation of the word “Passover”

• The Greek word is “Pascha” (pas-khah) it is used in the New Testament 28 times, 27 of those times it is translated Passover. 1 time as Easter.

• There is no way you can translate “Pascha” as Easter unless it is done deliberately in an attempt to distort and discredit the Word of God. The translation of Pascha to Easter is a deception of Satan. Understand ever since the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:14-15 Satan has been trying to distort and discredit the Word of God.

• Galatians 6:7 says “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”.

• Easter is a pagan term derived from the goddess Eastre, the same as Astarte, the Syrian Venus called Ashtoreth in the Old Testament 1st Kings 11:5, 33, 2nd Kings 23:13. Ashtoreth was known as the goddess of love and increase. She was worshipped as a fertility goddess.

• She was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, which is the day that there are equal hours of day as there is night, hence equinox. Or in layman terms the beginning of Spring.