Ezekiel 8: 15 He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these." 16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17 He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. 18 "Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; (NASB)

Can you grasp the meaning of the above Scripture? Doesn't it perfectly describe the Easter Sunrise services? Can you see what an abominable thing "Easter" is?

Yet this is the very thing millions of Christians do every Easter Sunday morning! They stand there with rapt faces adoring the sun as it rises in the east, not realizing they are performing the rituals demanded by the mythical and idolatrous goddess Ishtar (Easter). Deceived into believing this is Christian, millions practice the identical form of the ancient sun-worship of the Sun-god BAAL!

The Bible tells us this is the MOST ABOMINABLE of all idolatry in the sight of our Creator! Yet millions of Christians partake in this ritual, never stopping to think about what they're actually doing....

The English word Easter is derived from the names "Eostre" - "Eastre" - "Astarte" or Ashtaroth. Astarte was introduced into the British Isles by the Druids and is just another name for Beltis or Ishtar of the Chaldeans and Babylonians.

The book of Judges records that "the children of Israel did evil ...in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, ...and forsook the LORD, and served not Him."

Easter is just another name for Ashteroth "The Queen of Heaven." Easter was not considered a "Christian" festival until the fourth century. Early Christians celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the first month and a study of the dates on which Easter is celebrated will reveal that the celebration of Easter is not observed in accordance with the prescribed time for the observance of Passover.

After much debate, the Nicaean council of 325 A.D. decreed that "Easter" should be celebrated on the first Sunday, after the full moon, on or after the vernal equinox. Why was so much debate necessary if "Easter" was a tradition passed down from the Apostles? The answer is that it was not an Apostolic institution, but, an invention of man! They had to make up some rules.

History records that spring festivals in honor of the pagan fertility goddesses and the events associated with them were celebrated at the same time as "Easter". In the year 399 A.D. the Theodosian Code attempted to remove the pagan connotation from those events and banned their observance.

The pagan festival of Easter originated as the worship of the sun goddess, the Babylonian Queen of Heaven who was later worshiped under many names including Ishtar, Cybele, Idaea Mater (the Great Mother), or Astarte for whom the celebration of Easter is named. Easter is not another name for the Feast of Passover and is not celebrated at the Biblically prescribed time for Passover. This pagan festival was supposedly "Christianized" several hundred years after Christ.

The truth is that Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Yeshua! God's COMMANDED Biblical Feasts reveal that Yeshua was born during the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) which falls on the Gregorian calendar September/October timeframe. He was nailed to the cross on 14 Nisan and was off the cross before sunset that same day; and He rose exactly 72 hours later, just before sunset on the following Sabbath (approximately 5-6 p.m.) - NOT on a "Sunday"....(Please be sure and read these links, as they a true eye openers!)

(The above was xcerpted in part from the book, Too Long in the Sun.)