What is the origin of Easter?

The name “Easter” has its roots in ancient polytheistic religions (paganism). On this, all scholars agree. This name is never used in the original Scriptures, nor is it ever associated biblically with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For these reasons, we prefer to use the term “Resurrection Sunday” rather than “Easter” when referring to the annual Christian remembrance of Christ’s resurrection.

Ancient origin

Most reference books say that the name “Easter” derived from the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. Although this relationship exists, in reality, the origin of the name and the goddess are far more ancient—going all the way back to the Tower of Babel. The origin begins not long after the biblical Flood.

The Flood was a divine judgment sent on mankind after evil had become all pervasive, and all people everywhere were totally unresponsive to God. TheBible says that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5, NKJV). It is not difficult to imagine that life must have been almost unbearable at this time in history. God gave humankind a second chance by preserving the righteous man Noah and his family (a total of 8 people).

After the Flood, Noah had a talented, but evil, great-grandson namedNimrod (Genesis 10:6-10) who rebelled greatly against God. The Bible says that he was “a mighty one”[1] Jewish tradition indicates thatNimrod was a tyrant “who made all of the people rebellious against God.”[2] It is evident from history that Nimrod was not only a political leader, but also the lead priest of a form of occultic worship.[3]

King Nimrod, Queen Easter (Ishtar/Semiramis), and Tammuz (the “reincarnated” Nimrod)

Nimrod built and organized major cities. The Bible notes that these included Babel, Asshur, Nineveh and Calah (Genesis 10:10-12). If you know anything about ancient history, the mention of these places may send shivers up your spine. For these were cities of great, almost unimaginable practices and perversion.

When Nimrod eventually died, the Babylonian religion in which he figured prominently continued on. His wife/queen saw to that. Once he was dead, she deified him as the Sun-god. In various cultures he later became known as Baal, the Great Life Giver, the god of fire, Baalim,Bel, Molech, etc.

“Later, when this adulterous and idolatrous woman gave birth to an illegitimate son, she claimed that this son, Tammuz by name, was Nimrod reborn.”[4] Easter/Ishatar “claimed that her son was supernaturally conceived [no human father] and that he was the promised seed, the ‘savior’”—promised by God in Genesis 3:15. “However, not only was the child worshipped, but the woman, the MOTHER, was also worshipped as much (or more) than the son!”[5]Nimrod deified as the god of the sun and father of creation. Easter became the goddess of the moon, fertility, etc.

“In the old fables of the Mystery cults, their ‘savior’ Tammuz, was worshipped with various rites at the Spring season. According to the legends, after he was slain [killed by a wild boar], he went into the underworld. But through the weeping of his mother… he mystically revived in the springing forth of the vegetation—in Spring! Each year a spring festival dramatically represented this supposed ‘resurrection’ from the underworld.”[6]

Thus, a terrible false religion developed with its sun and moon worship, false priests, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with their gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, and more. Frankly, the practices which went on were so horrible that it is not fitting for me to speak of them here.

It was at Nimrod’s city of Babel (Babylon) that a towering structure was first built in defiance of God as part of their Satanic religion. Archaeological evidence indicates that this was a spectacular pyramid-shaped structure (ziggurat). The Bible tells us that at this time there was only one language in the world and that most of the world’s population centered in this area and participated in this religion. It was evident to God that all mankind would soon degenerate into a level of evil that would parallel that of the pre-Flood world. For humanity’s sake, something had to be done to slow and frustrate this organization of an evil one world, tyrannical government.