Will The Deceptions Of Easter Celebrations Be Righted Before The Lord's Return?—Part 1 Of 2

All too soon, the time for the celebration of another Easter Sunday is here with us. This year's celebration will be on 31st March, 2013. For those who might not know about Easter, this is a feast celebrated by Christians, which is supposed to be in commemoration of the resurrection of Yeshua—The Messiah.

Christians believe that Yeshua resurrected three days after he was buried following his crucifixion. Though this belief is bible-based, it is however, wrong to suppose Sunday was the day of Yeshua's resurrection, hence one of my reasons for writing this article.

The cardinal faith of Christians for their salvation and eligibility to enter Heaven at the end of time is based on the fact that Yeshua—the only begotten Son of the Almighty—indeed came to live on this earth as a human being, was mal-treated and then crucified, was buried, and resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit of the Almighty that entered his body on the third day after his burial.

Every serious-minded salvation seeker must exhibit a firm belief in these truths if one is to be set on a pilgrimage to Heaven. In fact, these truths form the core message of the Gospel of Yeshua; and it is only this Gospel and one's appropriate response to it which have the power to bring Elohim's salvation to anyone seeking it (Romans 1:16).

And so, one must have the fullest knowledge of these truths, if one's expression of faith in them is to bring one to the desired end—that is, the salvation of the Almighty and one's eligibility to enter Heaven.

The first century followers of Yeshua, under the tutelage of his apostles, did not have much difficulty expressing true faith in the Gospel and were therefore blessed to have found the salvation of the Almighty.

They expressed faith in the human birth of Yeshua, his sufferings and crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection. The apostles had all these realities of Yeshua's life virtually unfold before their very eyes and, so, were able to lead their followers to also express genuine faith in these events for their salvation.

Sadly, after almost two millennia of the coming of the Gospel, the value of these truths about Yeshua seems to have been lost from mankind. People, today, are challenging the fact that, without her having sexual contact with a man, the Virgin Mary did bring forth the Messiah.

The fact of Yeshua's death is also being contested by some people—claiming that he only fainted on the cross. His resurrection is being refuted by the enemies of the Almighty—deceiving themselves that the Messiah simply came to after being in coma. All these contestations, by the enemies of the Most High One, are intended to render the Gospel message powerless for mankind's salvation.

These notwithstanding, the greatest threat to our salvation is not about whether Yeshua was indeed born human, suffered and died on a cross, was buried in confirmation of his death, or even that he actually resurrected from death—since Christians have accepted them as facts—but rather, the ignorance about the actual day and hour that this resurrection took place.

One may ask: Is it not enough for salvation seekers today to believe with all their hearts that Yeshua did indeed resurrect after his burial, but also have to be bothered about what day and hour this actually happened? Yes, it might have been better for salvation seekers to simply accept the cogent truth and facts about the resurrection of Yeshua, and not make fetish of the time and day that they think this resurrection took place, as they have done.

Of course, if clergymen had not wrongly put their own day and hour to this event of Yeshua's resurrection, but had relied solely on the revelation of the Word of Elohim, they would not have erred into polluting their faith and that of their followers in venerating and celebrating to no benefit—but to their curse and doom—a Sunday that had no relation to the resurrection of the Messiah.

The overwhelming evidence and strong logic proving that Yeshua never resurrected on Sunday are simply irrefutable. For instance, if we accept the view of clergymen, that, Yeshua was crucified on a Friday and laid to rest this same day, then it is logically impossible for him to have resurrected on a Sunday.

The Bible says that, for Elohim to be able to prove to the whole world that Yeshua is indeed the Messiah, He needed to have three days and three nights to raise Yeshua from the dead after his burial (cf. Matthew 12:40, 17:22-23, Mark 9:31, Luke 8:22, 18:31-33, John 2:19-21, etc). That being the case, Yeshua could only have been resurrected on Monday, at sunset, from the much-touted clergymen's Friday evening-hour burial.

Yes indeed, the popular view that the body of Yeshua was laid to rest at sunset is scriptural. This being so, a correct count of three days and three nights, could only end at the same evening hour that the burial took place—from the very second The Timekeeper began His timing for the event.

A correct count of three days and three nights by any being—divine, angelic or human—cannot be attained in any hour besides sunset. Where then is the veracity in the claim by clergymen that the resurrection of Yeshua was in an early morning hour—after a sunset-hour burial?

The celebration of Easter, based on clergymen's deception of a Friday crucifixion/burial and a Sunday morning resurrection of the Messiah, makes it an illegality, and living in an illegality means living in sin. And this has been going on for close to two millennia? Unbelievable! Where then is the salt and light in those clergymen who mislead their followers to celebrate Easter year in year out?

It is worthy of note that the celebration of Easter is not commanded in the Word of Elohim, and so the apostles and the followers of Yeshua of the first century had nothing to do with it. Yet these are the surest of saints to enter Heaven.

We must understand that whatever we do that is not mandated by Elohim, is a sin. (Romans 14:23). Easter is one celebration that might look right in the eyes of man, but will ultimately lead to death. (Proverbs 14:12).

From my little study of the Word of Elohim, Yeshua was crucified on a Tuesday and laid to rest at the sunset that commenced Wednesday. Obviously, then, the three days needed for the resurrection ended in the sunset that commenced the Saturday following this Wednesday. (Readers may find a simple proof of this in the article—Why the Friday-Crucifixion-Sunday-Resurrection Story of Easter is not Biblical—www.modernghana.com/author/Chris Bapuohyele).

The resurrection of Yeshua, therefore, coincided with the sunset-hour that commenced Saturday—the weekly Sabbath. For the whole of this Saturday—in its sunset-sunrise-sunset time frame—nobody went out to check whether the Messiah was still sleeping in the tomb because the anti work Sabbath law also forbade people from walking beyond certain distances.

When Mary Magdalene got to the tomb early Sunday morning, she did not behold Yeshua walking out of it; Messiah had left it some thirty-six long hours earlier—the time spanning from the sunset-sunrise-sunset Saturday Sabbath, to the sunset-sunrise darkness hours of Sunday—when people neither worked on this Sabbath nor did they in those days have electricity or solar lamps for night work.

On the Sunday morning that Yeshua met Mary Magdalene at the tomb area, she was given the honor of breaking the news of his resurrection to the apostles; sadly, they never believed her. Later, upon reflecting on the baffling issue of an empty tomb, the apostles were led by the Wisdom of Elohim to understand what Yeshua had earlier-on told them about his resurrection, after three days and nights of being in the earth.

The apostles did not believe Yeshua to be the Messiah, on the basis of the events of the Sunday morning—as told to them by Mary Magdalene and of their own verification of the empty tomb. Rather, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, they went back in time to when Yeshua told them of what the proof of his Messiah-ship by the Most High One would be. (---concluding part to this article is in Part 2 of 2: soon to be published).

The writer is a bible-expositor and author of the book—Beware of This False Doctrine: Of Reciting the Sinners' Prayer for Salvation. E-mail address: [email protected].