Today Is Easter: Why I'm Not Celebrating The Day

Let me just begin by reminding everyone that Christians have something called communion. It's described in scripture and it began with Jesus' instruction during the last supper with His disciples. Communion is a way for believers to participate together in showing their love for, and fellowship with, Christ. We were given instruction in how to remember the atoning sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Drinking of the fruit of the vine symbolizes His shed blood, while consuming the broken bread symbolizes His body, which was broken for all of us. 

This is one of the main reasons why I don't celebrate Easter. Jesus already instructed us in how to remember Him and His sacrifice for us. He made that clear with the example of communion. We were never instructed by God, through scripture, to recognize a specific and singular day or time of the year to recognize Jesus' birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection. In fact, His instructions were to participate in communion regularly. 

Many people explain their aversion to this "Christian" holiday by emphasizing the pagan roots of this day, but we don't even need to go that route when discussing the issue. I think it muddies the water and causes unnecessary arguments. There's no need to go into what it's possible pagan roots consist of, other than to say again that Easter wasn't, and isn't, a God ordained holiday, but is, instead, a manmade holiday that began at the First Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, which established the observance of this day by all "Christians" on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. So, to put it into perspective, Easter originated with the Roman Catholic Church, which is steeped in paganism, religious rituals, symbolism, graven images, and worldly traditions, but that's a subject for another article. 

If you can understand and acknowledge that Easter isn't a God-directed holiday and that it wasn't even celebrated by the early church, then you're heading in the right direction. So, if Easter is just a made up Catholic holiday, how did it spill over to protestant churches after the Reformation? 

Holidays, like Easter, have been kept alive by tradition and nostalgia. Traditions are beliefs and behaviors that have been followed by people from generation to generation without much thought. In fact, many of the things we honestly believe are scriptural are actually just church tradition. The problem comes when "Christian" tradition becomes so ingrained that it's seen as a sacrilege NOT to participate in or recognize that very thing, and can cause someone to be labeled as an apostate for not following tradition. Nostalgia is what ties strong emotions and memories to traditions. Tradition and nostalgia are strongly linked together and are very powerful emotional tools employed by the enemy (Satan) to keep people bound to things of which they should be repenting. One of the enemy's greatest accomplishments is to condition Christians into believing and participating in things that he has disguised as Christian or biblical.

I don't attend church services during Easter or Christmas season, so that I can separate myself from the secular and pagan symbolism of those seasons. I prefer to remain apart and removed from those things of which God has separated me. Discussing the secularism/paganism of those holidays with other Christians is as challenging as discussing Jesus with Atheists. When I'm talking with unbelievers, their negative words and feelings are expected. Not so much with those who claim to be born again believers, who won't even entertain the thought that their long held beliefs could be unbiblical. It's both frustrating and heartbreaking at the same time. Another sad thing is seeing how many "Christians" compromise their faith by combining the spiritual with the worldly in the observance of this holiday. They'll say it's, "for the kids," but that's a weak excuse. As a parent, I know that it can be difficult, but aren't we supposed to bring our children up in the way that they should go so that they won't depart from it? What they're actually training up their child to do is to perpetuate this tradition. What compromised Christians are actually doing is training up another generation of Christians who are going to be bound and chained by tradition and nostalgia and who are then passing it on to the next generation of Christians. 

That's why we get Christians who welcome graphics like the one we have here. It seems like a colorful Christian expression of the season that includes butterflies (a symbol of rebirth), a scripture reference, and a cross with a bow. What else do we see? Rabbit ears... and it's all designed with Easter egg pastel colors. This graphic may appear to be Christian by some Christians, but it just reinforces the combining of a Christian and secular celebration of Easter. In other words, compromised Christianity.

The decision of whether or not to celebrate Easter is in the hands of everyone who considers themselves to be a born again believer. Some people just aren't ready to entertain the idea of turning away from the limitations of Easter, but others have reached the point where they are open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this area of their life. Honestly ask yourself, "If my relationship with God and others is different on this day, then what does it say about my daily relationship with God?" "If Jesus set up communion as a reflection and celebration of His life, then doesn't that make Easter moot?" "What can I do on Easter that I can't do any other day of the year?" When you begin asking yourself these first few important questions, and begin reflecting on the word of God, I'm hoping that the Holy Spirit will show you that your faith in God, and the strength of your relationship with Him, should be just as strong every day as you believe it to be on a day like Easter. May the Holy Spirit also convict anyone who has been compromising their Christianity to include the secular aspect of Easter. 

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE AND BE SAVED!

TRIBULATIONHARVEST.NET

A Thief In The Night Film: Following The Wrong Man

If you're over 30 years old, then you're probably familiar with a film called, "A Thief In The Night." Since it's release in 1973, it has produced three sequels and has reached millions of people around the world with the message of salvation, causing a multitude to repent and believe. The movie is dated, as you can see by the clothes, hairstyles, cars, etc... but the message isn't. If you haven't seen this film, there are a few online sources where you can watch it for free, including Tubi and YouTube. If you haven't watched the film, then be forewarned that there are SPOILERS AHEAD. That being said...

Many born again believers fall into the trap of following a man instead of following God. Patty, the main character in "A Thief In The Night," makes some serious and life altering errors in judgment in her half-hearted attempt to have a relationship with God. Patty attends an apostate church, where people aren't challenged. The message is easy, and they don't really have to worry about sin and it's consequences. So you see, the first mistake Patty made was to become involved in a church that was led by an apostate minister, surrounding herself with a likeminded congregation that didn't want to have their religious beliefs challenged. 

This church employs, and is lead by, an apostate minister who doesn't take the bible seriously, and doesn't preach sound doctrine from it. His sermons are designed to make the congregation feel at ease, allowing them to fall into a spiritual slumber, never challenging them or requiring anything of consequence of them. He tells them what their itching ears want to hear... they can believe in God, but still live their lives as they wish, with no negative spiritual or eternal consequences. They're taught that they don't need to adhere to scripture, because scripture is just allegory... symbolic... without real consequences for sin.

When the Rapture actually occurs, both Patty and her minister, Rev. Turner, are taken off guard and left behind to deal with the consequences of their actions and to fear about living in the Tribulation. It's at that moment that the apostate minister finally realizes his grave mistake, and he grieves over the number of people in his congregation that were left behind and for those who, before the Rapture, had died in their sin, having never heard the message of salvation (at least not in his church). Patty, like others, was lulled by Rev. Turner's safe and easy message of trying your best to live a good life and not worry about sinning, because people can't help but sin. She was now reaping the consequences of believing Rev. Turner's false teaching.

Still, after learning and admitting that she should never have followed the teachings of her apostate Pastor, she ends up making the same mistake again. You see, after she and her pastor are temporarily incarcerated in the local jail, a prison matron comes to Patty's cell, trying to convince her to take the mark. She tells Patty that Rev. Turner has "seen the error of his way" and has taken the mark. Patty is surprised at first because it doesn't reflect the conversation she just had with him the prior night, but she shrugs it off and decides to take the mark as well because, as she sees it, her minister knows what's best. That's right! Even though she knew her apostate minister led her astray, she's willing to follow him AGAIN and go against precisely what the Christians she has known in her life have warned her not to do.

It's only after she is brought outside, when she sees a deceased Rev. Turner sporting a bloody forehead and laying on a gurney, that she realizes that the prison matron lied to her. She breaks free and runs for her life.

That's not all. Who does Patty contact? She calls the only friend she still has... Diane. She's the third young lady of this young trio of women in the film. Diane has never believed in the salvation message, and even called it, "...a bunch of bull." So Patty, after missing out on the Rapture, choses to run to her atheist friend. Even at this point, being forewarned about the Rapture, and even having her own husband disappear, she remains on the fence.

We can look to others to define our relationship with God, or we can look to Him alone. Many born again believers make the mistake of comparing their spiritual walk with the examples set by other born again believers that they judge to be better than themselves. They judge their own success and failures by those comparisons. That's a huge mistake. Yes, we can take encouragement observing another believer's relationship with God, but our walk is ours alone. It's a unique relationship with the Lord that is defined by our own personality and by what God wishes to accomplish through us. We all have our own unique personality, experiences, strengths, and weaknesses. 

The danger is when we allow others to define our place in God's kingdom and to define our success in our spiritual walk with the Lord. This especially holds true for young born again believers, who are just trying to fit into the body of Christ and are using other believers as examples or templates. If Patty had been reading her bible, praying, and trying to forge a close relationship with the Lord, she would have known she was in an apostate church and that she was being taught by an apostate pastor. Instead, she was being religious, thinking that this was enough. After all, everyone in her little church bubble, including her pastor, reinforced those feelings and thoughts, which were... On occasion, go to church, read your bible, and do a little praying. Then live your life trying to be as "good" as your own subjective ethics and feelings tell you to. As Patty said, "What else is there? I'm as good as the next person... maybe better." 

Well, if you don't know by now, it's not about how "good" you think you are. It's not about meeting anyone else's expectations. It's about addressing the broken relationship we have with God and the sin that we carry with us. It's about repenting of our past sin and having faith in, and submitting to, the One who put aside His own glory in Heaven, humbled Himself by coming to earth to be born a man, and who lived a perfect life as an example to us all. It's about Jesus' suffering and death on the cross, shedding his innocent blood and taking on the full brunt of God's judgment; a judgment that should have been directed toward us. It's receiving the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and having our sins forgiven and the slate wiped clean through His blood, and having our relationship with God restored by having our dead spirit resurrected and being born again by way of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus stood in the way of God's judgment upon us when He went to the cross as our ultimate sacrifice, and He still stands in the way as He mediates for us as our High Priest in Heaven. 

So, be careful who you listen to, and use sound judgment and discernment in seeking out sound teaching. If what you're hearing contradicts scripture, then it's not sound teaching. Also, never hold anyone in such high regard, that your desire to follow them becomes stronger than your desire to follow God. In other words, never put anyone on a pedestal or become their fanboy. It clouds good judgment, discernment, and can lead you astray without even realizing it.

The message of Tribulation Harvest has always been a simple one. Repent, and be forgiven! Believe, and be saved! You'll see that at the end of all my blogs.

TribulationHarvest.net

REPENT, AND BE FORGIVEN!

BELIEVE, AND BE SAVED!