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In the large five-volume Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, only six brief lines are given to
the name "Easter," because it occurs only once in the Bible -- and that only in the Authorized King
James translation. Says Hastings: "Easter, used in the Authorized Version as the translation of
'Pascha' in Acts 12:4, 'Intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.' Revised Standard
Version has substituted correctly 'the Passover.'"

Apostles Observed Passover

The World Almanac, 1968 edition, page 187, says: "In the second century A.D., Easter
Day was, among Christians in Asia Minor [that is, in the Churches at Ephesus, Galatia, etc. -- the
so-called "Gentile" churches raised up by the Apostle Paul] the 14th of Nisan, the seventh month of
the Jewish [civil] calendar." In other words, the 14th day of the first month of the sacred calendar,
and it was not then called by the name of the pagan deity "Easter," but by the Bible name
"Passover."

Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the holy days God had ordained
forever were all observed by Jesus, and the early apostles, and the converted Gentile Christians
(Acts 2:1; 12:3; 18:21; 20:6, 16; I Cor. 5:7-8; 16:8). Passover is a memorial of the crucifixion of
Christ (Luke 22:19). Passover, observed by the early true Church, occurred not on Sunday or any
fixed day of the week, but on a calendar day of the year. The day of the week varies from year to
year.

Easter is one of the pagan days Paul warned Gentile converts they must not return to ob-
serving (Gal. 4:9-10).

How, then, did this pagan festival enter into and fasten itself upon a professing Christian-
ity? That is a surprising story -- but first, notice the true origin and nature of Easter.

Its Chaldean Origin

Easter, as Alexander Hislop says (The Two Babylons, p. 103), "bears its Chaldean origin
on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of
heaven ...."

The ancient gods of the pagans had many different names. While this goddess was called
Astarte by the Phoenicians, it appears on Assyrian monuments found by Layard in excavations at
Nineveh as Ishtar (Austen H. Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, Vol. II, p. 629). Both were pro-
nounced "Easter." Likewise, Bel (referred to in the Old Testament), also was called Molech. It
was for sacrificing to Molech (I Kings 11:1-11, especially verse 7, where Molech is called an
abomination) and other pagan gods that the Eternal condemned Solomon, and rended away the
Kingdom of Israel from his son.

In the ancient Chaldean idolatrous sun-worship, as practiced by the Phoenicians, Baal was
the sun god; Astarte, his consort or wife. And Astarte is the same as Ishtar, or the English "Easter."

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