Grandest lady in the Easter Parade

In 2016, when I first posted this promotional notice given by the granddaddy of American Christian evangelical mega-churches, Chicagoland's Willow Creek, it got a large number of hits:

“Come join us for the Willow Easter Celebration. Celebrate Easter! An Easter Egg Hunt with lots of eggs and prizes for every kid on a beautiful Saturday evening AND live Easter bunnies and chicks galore. Nowhere but at … Willow Creek!
There will be plenty of space for all to enjoy the dramatized Easter Story.  But space is limited for the after-party. So register today to be sure you, your friends, and family get in on the fun!" 

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“You see the word ‘east’ in that name Easter? The Anglo-Saxon name for the pagan goddess was Eostre, and that got brought into the English language. The Eostre is ‘the rising,’ and the sun comes up in the east,” explains Richard Jordan.

“Malachi 4, looking toward the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes to set up His kingdom on the earth, says:

[1] For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

[2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

"The S-U-N of righteousness, that’s His name. When the sun comes up, that’s the morning. The ‘east’ is the idea of the rising of the sun and that tells you the people who are worshipping the sun—you get reminded about them when you say ‘east.’ It’s also connected with the date of Easter.

“You ever wonder why the date of Easter changes all the time? It’s a moveable date because the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. decided that Easter would be celebrated the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox.

“It has to do with worshipping the sun and the moon; it has nothing to do with the Bible. It’s part of the vain religious system that gets caught in everything.”

In describing German pagan traditions, Jacob Grimm, one of the two Brothers Grimm, once wrote, “Bonfires were lit at Easter and water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing - here also heathen notions seem to have grafted themselves on great Christian festivals. Maidens clothed in white, who at Easter, at the season of returning spring, show themselves in clefts of the rock and on mountains, are suggestive of the ancient goddess.”

(new article tomorrow)