Easter Is Not in Your Bible!

Transcription

1 Pastor Scott Velain Easter Is Not in Your Bible! Today is March 31st, It is the first day of the feast of unleavened bread of Many unstudied Christians believe that we have moved past the Passover, but I would submit to you my friends that we have not yet moved past the Passover according to our God breathed Scriptures, and this is massively important for us to understand when it comes to contending for the faith properly. Now I know that sounds rather confusing, but stay with me here, because this is very important. As Bible believing Christians we need to understand that there are some of our brothers and sisters out there who worship an English translation of the Bible more than they worship the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. And I know that sounds strange, but nevertheless, it is another trick of our adversary who will use even the Bible itself to divide God s people and to give them something new to argue about. Oftentimes we Christians argue about things that we shouldn t be arguing about. We argue about frivolous things. We argue about things that have nothing to do with our salvation. We argue about how to pronounce ancient Hebrew words and names. We argue about whether or not Yeshua, Jesus had long hair or not. Many Christians today will argue wrongly over which pastor, priest, Bishop or Pope that they follow. But what we must understand is that none of these things has anything to do with our salvation. So why are we arguing over these frivolous things when we re supposed to be busy contending for the faith and expanding his coming kingdom? There are some things that are not worth arguing over. There are some frivolous things that have nothing to do with our salvation. But what we will be discussing here this morning does have much to do with not only our salvation, but the salvation of our children and our children s children. What we will be discussing here this morning is definitely a salvation will issue. Many of our brethren have made themselves cultists. They have joined together with a cult that believes that the King James version of the Bible is absolutely inherent, and that it is perfect, and that there are no flaws found within the King James version of their Bibles, and that anyone who says that there is any kind of a mistake found within the pages of their King James version of the Bible Must therefore be a heretic. Now there may be some of our brethren even amongst our own congregation that may be laughing and thinking that there is no way that these people could exist, but I tell you the truth 1

2 my friends, even within the circles that I have traveled here in my area of the world I have been well educated concerning this cultic view of God s word. Believe it or not, it is a cult. They re not interested in the truth of God s word, all they re interested in is keeping their agenda alive and trying to portray themselves as being above the fray of intelligence even though the nonsense that they believe convicts them of being unstudied and ignorant of what the word of God truly does say. The first thing that we need to understand as Christians is that there is not one of our English translated Bibles that have been translated without flaw. There is not one of our English translated Bibles that can be pointed to as perfect. And that s a hard pill for many Christians to swallow, but for those of us who have studied to show ourselves approved, there should be no doubt in anyone s mind that there is no perfect English translated Bible on the market today. Each one of these English translated Bibles have been translated by human men. The original word of God was given in the Hebrew language, not in the English language. During what many call the New Testament era, the Scriptures were written in both the Aramaic and Greek languages. So what today s modern-day Christian must understand is that the English translated Bible that he or she is carrying around in their hands is a translation of a translation. We often times proclaim that are Bibles are God breathed, and that we need to adhere to what it says within the confines of our Bibles because they are God breathed. The problem with that assumption is that our English translated Bibles are not perfect, and they are not inherent, and believe it or not they are not exactly God breathed. The God breathed Scriptures that come from the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and his prophets, priests, and apostles, was simply not written in the English language. Anyone with a ninth-grade education can tell you that any time you translate one language into another language, there are going to be misunderstandings, there are going to be cultural differences, and that there is going to be human errors, and even certain agendas and theological understandings that are going to divide the human translators themselves concerning how to translate certain words and phrases. Take the King James version of the Bible for example. We must remember that the King James version of the Bible was translated during the time of the Reformation. Most of the known world was fighting against the pomp and pageantry of the Roman Catholic Church when the King James version of the Bible was being translated. At the time the King James Bible was being translated by those of the worthy of King James himself, there was a huge argument going on concerning the proper understanding of God s word. During this Reformation era, almost all of the reformers who read the Scriptures for themselves in their original context and in their original language understood that Roman Catholicism was not Christianity. Roman Catholicism was just that Roman Catholicism. They realized the difference between true Christianity and what the Roman Catholic Popes were selling as a 2

3 cheap plastic imitation of Christianity. What we must understand is that during the time that the King James version of the Bible was being translated by the King James translators there was a spiritual warfare going on around the world. The Roman Catholic Church was murdering true God-fearing Christians who were abiding by the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone, because the Roman Catholic Church was doing all that she could to steal the power and the glory and the Majesty of the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. The Jesuit priests of Roman Catholicism are well known throughout the world, and if we study our history we will find that these Jesuit priests have been thrown out of almost every country around the world at least once. The founders of the United States were horrified when these Jesuit priest began to set up shop here in the United States because this was the exact reason that many of our founders left England in order to come to the United States. They were running from Catholic oppression. And almost all of the reformers pointed to the Roman Catholic Pope as being antichrist. Calvin, Huss, Tyndale and even Martin Luther himself pointed directly at the Roman Catholic Pope and called him out as antichrist. So, we should be wise enough to know and to understand that the Roman Catholic Church has more blood on its hands than even Hitler himself when it comes to true God-fearing Christians who believed in Scripture only. At least 60 men were directly involved in the translation of the King James Bible. All of the translators were university graduates. Oxford and Cambridge claimed nearly equal numbers of translators as alumni. Something else to understand is that all of the translators except one were ordained church of England priests. Most of the translators spent a significant portion of their career associated with their colleges and universities as fellows involved in teaching and administration. As fellows, they were not allowed to marry. As a result, many of them delayed being married until they had established themselves in church offices far away from their universities. What s important to remember is that King James did not come into power until after Queen Elizabeth who had succeeded in imposing a high degree of uniformity upon the church of England. Queen Mary who has gone down in history known as bloody Mary attempted to restore Roman Catholicism during her bloody reign when she rained down terror on true Bible believing Christians by murdering anyone who was found to be part of the protestant movement and was protesting the tyrannical power and the demonically inspired behavior of the Roman Catholic Church. The most popular English translation at that time was the Geneva Bible back in The Geneva Bible was first published in England in It was made in Geneva by English protestants living in a silence during bloody Mary s persecutions. The Geneva Bible was never authorized by the crown, but it was particularly popular among Puritans at that time. 3

4 By June 1604 King James had approved a list of 54 advisers although it is said that only 47 scholars actually participated. These men were spread out and were working at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge on sections of the Bible that were assigned to them. Richard Bancroft who was an Archbishop of Canterbury served as overseer and established doctrinal conventions for the translators and the new Bible was published in Now before we go any farther, I do want to say that I do personally believe the King James version of the Bible to be one of the very best translations that we have. There are few other Bibles that are as accurate as the King James version of the Bible is, however it is not flawless, and it is not inherent. Too many King James version cultists will proudly proclaim that just as the apostles and the prophets were led to be perfect in their writings so too were the King James translators that came from Westminster, Oxford and Cambridge. But we can clearly see that these translators were not quite as lead as the apostles, and profits of our Messiah s time, and neither were the men who first printed the 1611 version of the King James Bible. And this is not just me saying these things. This is what history tells us. For anyone who believes that the King James Bible is perfect and has never been edited or revised I would simply point you back to the history of the King James version of the Bible. I have a very short clip that I would like you to watch concerning just a couple of the mistakes that were made during the production of the 1611 King James version of the Bible. Mistakes and Misprints: The King James bible Bloopers: And so If I am such a big advocate of the King James version of the Bible (and I am by the way a huge advocate for the King James version of the Bible) then why am I showing you all of these mistakes and bloopers that are found within the pages of the King James Bible? Well the answer to that question is simple. As a pastor, a shepherd of God s people, I am tasked with certain responsibilities that need to be taken seriously. Once again each and every person who is called to shepherd God s people must understand what the duties of a shepherd are. Let s turn back very quickly to Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 14: Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Eph 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Any apostle, profit, evangelist, shepherd or teacher should be well acquainted with the tasks of 4

5 the office that they have been called to fulfill. We are not called to hover over God s people and to place ourselves on Golden thrones. We are called to be servants of God s people and to help to equip them for the work of ministry, and for building up the body of our Messiah, and I want us to pay close attention to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 14. And I quote, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, and by craftiness in deceitful schemes. This is the objective for anyone who has been called by God to be an apostle or a prophet or an evangelist or Shepherd or a teacher. So, the next question that you may be asking, is so what are you protecting us from in the King James version of the Bible?. And that s a great question! Because that is exactly what today s study is all about. There are indeed some King James version cultists out there who love the King James version of the Bible more than they love the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This my friends, is called idolatry. When we love someone or something more than we love the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, then we are guilty of giving our hearts to someone or something other than the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Although I am a huge advocate for the King James version of the Bible I do not love the book more than I love the author. From time to time as true God-fearing, cross bearing, Messiah following, Christians we will be confronted with the idea of the word Easter being in our Bibles. And the reason that we will be confronted with the idea of the word Easter being in our Bibles is because the word Easter is indeed wrongly found in the earlier versions of the King James version of the Bible. Now the more modern version of the revised King James versions of the Bible do not have the word Easter and them, because they know full well that the word Easter never should have been in the pages of the King James version of the Bible in the first place, and we re going to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt here today. Let s turn to Acts chapter 12 verse four in our King James Bibles: Act 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. As you have probably already noticed, we see here in the King James version of the Bible in the book of Acts the word Easter. Now before we get started in completely and utterly throwing this mistranslation to the ground according to Scripture let s take a look at a few key things that we should all know about this mistranslation. The first thing that we need to realize is what Greek word was this English word Easter translated from. What does the original Greek manuscript actually say? Let s go to the numbered version of the King James version of the Bible and let s see what the original Greek word was. 5

6 According to Strong s Hebrew and Greek dictionary The word Easter found here in our King James version of the Bible is the Greek word Pascha pronounced Pas-khah. Notice what the definition of this word is. According to Strong s Hebrew and Greek dictionary the definition of Pascha is the Passover or the Passover meal and the Festival or the special sacrifices connected with it. In Strong s Hebrew and Greek dictionary it does also say that it could mean Easter. But the only reason that they say that Easter can be used as a definition of Pascha, is because it has been translated as Easter in the King James version of the Bible. But If we take a look at Thayer s Greek definition dictionary it makes no mention of the word Easter as being part of the definition of the Greek word Pascha. And if we look at the new American Standard exhaustive concordance we once again see no mention of the word Easter being used as a definition for the Greek word Pascha. What does the Bible say? Only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established! What does the Greek English lexicon have to say about the definition of the Greek word Pascha? Once again, my friends it makes no mention of the English word Easter. Something else very important that I want us to understand is that if we go back to the Strong s definition we can clearly see that there are 29 occurrences of this word Pascha being used in the King James version of the Bible. So, in other words, they have translated this word 29 times in the King James version of the Bible. The next question that we must ask, is how did they translate this word the other 28 times? According to Strong s, there were 29 occurrences of this word Pascha found in the New Testament. 28 Times they translated it as Passover. But only one time did they wrongly translate this word as Easter. My friends how do you correctly translate the Greek word Pascha as Passover 28 times, and then just decide out of the blue to translate it as Easter one time? And as we ve already seen according to Thayer s Greek definitions and the new American Standard exhaustive concordance, and the Greek English lexicon the word Easter is not even included in the definition of the word Pascha. This troubling evidence should give us pause to say the least. Knowing and understanding this I would like us to once again return to Acts chapter 12 so that we can investigate this Scripture a little closer. Let s read acts chapter 12 verses one through five: Act 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Act 12:2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. Act 12:3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) Act 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Act 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Now those that argue that the word Easter belongs here in acts chapter 12 verse four will 6

7 argue that it tells us in verse three that these were the days of unleavened bread. And of course, we all know that Unleavened Bread comes after Passover Or does it? The argument being made by our King James version cultists, is that the word here in verse four has to be Easter because the Passover was already over, but I would submit to you once again my friends, that they have not done due diligence in their study into the Passover. The truth of the matter is my friends that the entire period of both Passover and the feast of unleavened bread was often times referred to as the Passover. Let s turn to the book of Luke chapter 22 verse one: Luk 22:1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. What our King James cultists do not understand is that the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread were often times used interchangeably. Often times when people were talking about the Passover, they were talking about a seven-day event not just a one-day event. Let s also turn to the book of Ezekiel chapter 45 verse 21: Eze 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. I want you to notice that I am staying within the context of the King James version of the Bible so that no one can say that they did not have this information. Those who claim that the King James version of the Bible is inherent and perfect have no excuse as to why they do not have this information. Notice that it is written here in the book of Ezekiel, that the Passover is a feast of seven days when unleavened bread shall be eaten. We have to remember that the Passover is eaten at twilight which means that you are actually in the first day of the feast of unleavened bread when the actual Passover meal was to be eaten, so there really is only seven days. We think of it as eight days because on Passover day we are cleaning our houses from many leaven or yeast and they were sacrificing the Passover lambs at the temple before twilight so that the Passover meal could be ready at twilight. So, in our minds we think of the Passover and unleavened bread as being eight days, but the truth is, that the Passover meal and the feast of unleavened bread occur within the confines of the seven-day period. So once again we see that our King James version cultists do not have a leg to stand on when proudly proclaiming that the Passover was over. According to our Scripture the Passover was not over because the term Passover often times included the feast of unleavened bread according to our Scripture. And so once again we have taken away the only leg that our King James version cultists have to stand on concerning why the word Easter is found within the King James version of the Bible. Something else that should be made note of is the fact that if we compare Acts chapter 12 verse four of the old King James version to the modern King James version, we find that it has once again been revised and corrected to read and I quote the Passover. And we can also see in our parallel here that according to the Hebrew Bible, The Complete Jewish Bible, the NASB and almost all of our more accurate modern-day English translated Bibles, they all correctly translate the Greek word Pascha as Passover. So, let there be no 7

8 mistake my friends the word Easter found in the earlier versions of the King James version of our Bibles is indeed a mistake, a blooper, and error in translation. And this is exactly why my friends we do not worship an English translation of our Scripture. We worship the author, not the book. And we know that the author wrote his book in the Hebrew language, some of it in Aramaic, and the rest of it in the Greek language. Let there be no doubt in our minds that we must indeed study to show ourselves approved. Studying to show ourselves approved does not simply mean taking for granted the English translation, or the French translation, or the Italian translation, or the German translation, or the Chinese translation, of God s word, but rather that we study to show ourselves approved in the actual manuscripts that were put forth by our Father in Heaven and the prophets and the apostles that he ordained to record them. Once again for anyone who believes that the King James version of the Bible is perfect and inherent I can show you over 6500 errors within the King James version of the Bible in under five seconds. All you have to do is turn anywhere in the beginning of the book and find the word Lord. The word Lord especially in the Old Testament is a mistake. It s a blooper, it s an error in the translation. Once again all we have to do is click on that word and see what the translation of the word Lord is. It is the Hebrew letters yod-hey-vav-hey which spell out Yahovah. We should already know that our Father in Heaven is not a 16 th -century British land Baron. That s what a Lord is. The translators were again in error because they did not study the Jewish culture in order to know and understand that the early Jewish sages covered up the name of the one true God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because they were afraid that someone would mispronounce it or that someone would misspell it. They incorrectly saw this as profaning God s name, but according to Scripture we do not profane the name of God by mispronouncing his name or by misspelling his name. We profane the name of God when we profane his sabbaths and when we profane his laws and his commandments and his precepts and his appointments. This is how we profane the name of God, not by mispronouncing or misspelling his name. But of course, the translators did not know this, and so they were once again in error when placing the word Lord over top of the very name of God. Once again, I just want to make mention of the fact that we are flesh and bone men. I m sure that the translators did the very best that they could with the information that they had, however because they did not study to show themselves approved deeply enough they too were deceived into mistranslating some of the words found within the King James version of the Bible. And I might also add that there is no perfect English translation on the market today. No English translation on the market today is flawlessly perfect, and no English translation on the market today is inherent. If you think for one moment that our adversary is going to allow us to have a flawlessly perfect English translation of the Bible you re sadly mistaken. Our adversary is brilliant and we often times do not give him enough credit. And this is why our 8

9 Father in Heaven has countered this deception by once again giving us the tools that we need to uncover these deceptions today with just the click of a mouse. We today are blessed with the same technology that causes many people to sin. Just like a gun, the Bible can be used for good, but it can also be used for evil. A gun can be used to defend oneself, and it can be used to put dinner on the table, or it can be used to murder someone. The Bible can be used to spread the gospel message of our Messiah and to bring people to salvation and to expand his coming kingdom, but the Bible can also be used against us if used incorrectly. We can be swayed into thinking that celebrating a pagan festival like Easter is all right according to our Scripture, if we are not studied enough to show ourselves approved. There are those who will even take Scripture out of the Bible to prove homosexuality is acceptable in the eyes of God. And so, the Bible just like a gun, can be used for both good and evil and this is why it is written that we are to study to show ourselves approved in order to rightly handle the word of truth. Even our Messiah spoke in parables so that they would not understand. Our Messiah did not want them to understand. And if you don t understand that I would point you to the book of Matthew chapter 13 versus 10 through 15 so that you can educate yourself. Our Messiah is only interested in those who study to show themselves approved. Why? Because he knows that those who are studying to show themselves approved are truly interested in the truth. He knows that those who are taking the time to study to show themselves approved truly do love him and are truly interested in getting to know him, and who he truly is, and what he truly came for. As for the demonically inspired man-made, man created, man instituted Easter Festival I want us to take a look at what true historical documentation has to say about such a demonically inspired Festival. And I want us to understand that it indeed has been used as a demonic tool to hide the actual anniversary of the death of our Messiah for a reason. And I want us to be absolutely clear about the fact that Easter has nothing to do with the resurrection of our Messiah. The celebration of this demonically inspired Easter Festival has always been demonically inspired from the very day that it was created, and as Christians, I want us to go well armed with the historical documentation that we need to show our brothers and sisters why it is that we believe what we believe and why it is that we do not believe in a Roman Catholic created demonically inspired Easter celebration. 9

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14 And so, it is that we should understand the historical significance of a demonically inspired pagan festival that has been perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church and her now many daughter churches who claim to be protestant churches, but are not These churches who follow after their mother churches first day of the week Sunday Sabbath s that are not found anywhere in our Scriptures, and her demonically inspired lent, and Ash Wednesday, not to mention her all Saints day also known as Halloween are indeed the daughter churches of their mother church of Rome, and I ll try to be still and not mention the demonically inspired Christ mass and her Santa Christ that she uses to indoctrinate our children and our children s children. In the end my friends, as we celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, let us try this week, to help spread the light, and the truth of his gospel message by dragging these demonically inspired festivals, traditions, rituals and myths out of the darkness and into the light so that our lost brothers and sisters can finally see the truth of what they are doing and exactly who it is that they are following. As for me and my house We will serve Yahovah. My hope and my prayer this first day of unleavened bread, is that you will always remember That Easter is not in your Bible! 14