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Blood on the Doorposts - Lea Sylvester - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8021
Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (Exodus 12:7) Moses commanded the children of Israel to mark their homes with the blood of the Passover lambs. They were to dip hyssop into the blood and smear it on their doorposts. Although Passover was thereafter celebrated annually, the Israelite homes were never again smeared with blood from the Passover lambs. The smearing with blood was a one-time ritual. Every Passover thereafter, the blood of the Passover lambs was splashed on the altar in the Tabernacle/Temple as a remembrance of the plague of the firstborn and the blood on the doorposts of Israelite homes in Egypt. Try to imagine the Passover in the Temple on the day the Master died. While His precious body hung dying on the tree, a short distance outside the city walls pilgrims were flooding the Temple courts, leading their lambs to slaughter. While His blood stained the stones beneath that tree, the priesthood of Israel was splashing basin after basin of Passover blood against the stones of the Temple altar. While the women wept at the foot of the dying Messiah, the Levites in the Temple courts were chanting the songs of the Hallel: Psalms 113-119. Once slaughtered, the lambs in the Temple were hung from iron hooks in crucifixion poses for skinning, and once skinned, they were bound by the hooves, hand and foot as it were, to wooden poles, to be carried from the Temple on the backs of the worshippers. Meanwhile, the Master hung in crucifixion pose from iron nails, bound hand and foot to a wooden pole. Believers have traditionally interpreted the Passover blood on the doorway as a symbol of Messiah's blood. Consider a few of the parallels. Messiah is called our Passover Lamb. He died at Passover. Just as the death came upon Egypt to claim the firstborns, so too all mankind is given over to death. Just as those under the protection of the Passover lamb's blood markings were protected from death, so too those who take refuge under the blood of Messiah are protected from condemnation. They are given eternal life and will overcome death in the resurrection. What is more, Messiah's blood marked the soil of Jerusalem, the city in which the Holy Temple is located. According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem and the Temple therein are called the "gateway to heaven." It is as if Messiah's blood was smeared upon the doorposts of heaven. Those who call themselves Christian have traditionally ignored the great significance of Passover. Instead, most have observed a holiday called Easter. This particular holiday has nothing whatsoever to do with the death and resurrection of our Messiah. What our Lord did for us approximately 2015 years ago today is slighted with the celebration that includes bunnies, eggs and other traditions. This man who is called The Word left His place in Heaven in order to make atonement for the sins of the world; those that would recognize Him and who would follow Him. He was crucified on Passover, just as the Passover lambs were being slain. He was hung on a tree to suffer a gruesome death. The two things nailed to that tree were our Savior and the indictment against us for our sin. He died for our sin for He had none. How much more to celebrate being led from the bondage of sin to everlasting life! "In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1. Here, Elohim is used as plural. This word can be used as a singular pronoun but it is not used in this manner in this passage of scripture. Furthermore we can see this repeated again in Genesis. "And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26. The "us" in the passage above refers to the plural Elohim. The point is, Yeshua was always, from the beginning, from the foundation of the world. He is described as The Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." John 1:1-4 This is speaking of Yeshua, Jesus Christ, the promised Savior, Messiah and King. He left His throne and became man so that we could have eternal life. He is now our great mediator. He is our High Priest, who intercedes for us. Not only did He lay down His life for us, He established a new priestly order. Brethren, let us rejoice and exalt the Name of God for the marvelous things He has done for us! Let us not think ourselves wise and be foolish! "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles, also: Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. We then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3:29-31. For too long, we have been told that "the church" replaced Israel. This is a lie. But our Lord warned us that there would be those who taught another gospel. If God changed His mind and did away with His commandments, then why did our Messiah have to die? Does this mean that God might change His mind again about something else? Heaven forbid! God Almighty never changes. Yeshua did not die on that tree to make pork clean. He did not die so that in the Rabbinical tradition men could sit in the seat of Moses and make rules that supposedly superseded God's Word. Nor did He die so that the Pope could say His rulings or sayings replaced the Word of God. These are foolish men who teach their own gospel. Choose this day whom you will serve for you cannot serve two masters. The traditions of men were the very things Yeshua spoke against. He called out the Pharisees for adding to His Laws. He told them that they were vipers, He called them hypocrites. He told them that they would have their reward. What would He say today about what "religion" has to say about His Word? This writer believes we need only look back at the red letters of words spoken by Yeshua to see exactly what He would say. Yeshua lived in perfect submission to the will of His Father. He lived His life perfectly according to the laws and commandments of God. To do otherwise would have made Him imperfect and not the perfect sacrifice for the sins of man. His crucifixion was one of the most horrible acts of torture and agonizing death one might be able to imagine. He was beaten beyond recognition. Prior to this, the sacrifices offered to Yehovah by man were like bandaids. It was as if the can was being kicked down the road. What this is called is Vertical Retribution. That is, until the Messiah came and once and for all made atonement that would be perfect and done perfectly according to God's sacrificial laws so that the victory was not only His but also belonged to those who believed in Him. The patterns we see established from the beginning of God's Word and all throughout it are pearls of truth presented to us in the Bible. The God-principles hidden within the story of Creation were carried forward and manifested at a little more obvious level in the narratives about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Those God-principles were deeply embedded in the fascinating narratives of the Patriarchs and were then extracted and clearly laid out when God gave Moses the written Law at Mt. Sinai. The detailed God-principles given at Mt. Sinai were next carried forward and brought to fruition at a higher spiritual level in the life, sermons and parables of Yeshua, Jesus Christ. Those same God-principles will next be manifested at near perfection level in the Millennial Kingdom, the 1000 year reign of Messiah. But understand: they are still all the same principles. Nothing has changed; only how they were revealed, manifested and transformed over time. These principles existed even from the time of Creation. The Word was in heaven long before it made its first appearance on earth at Creation. Let us understand and know what God expects of us and what we are to do and not do. His laws establish a moral absolute for us. Men who reason with themselves that God must have changed elevate their wishes above those of God's and therefore they make idols of themselves. To be sure, let's examine Easter and then each reader can decide for himself or herself if honoring our Passover Lamb is better or honoring a pagan holiday called Easter is better. We cannot do both. Easter is a day that is homered by nearly all of contemporary Christianity and is used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The holiday often involves a church service at sunrise, a feast which includes an "Easter Ham", decorated eggs and stories about rabbits. Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead? Where did all of the strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of our Savior? The first thing we must understand is that professing Christians were not the only ones who celebrated a festival called "Easter.""Ishtar", which is pronounced "Easter" was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called "Tammuz", who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god. In those ancient times, there was a man named Nimrod, who was the grandson of one of Noah's sons named Ham. Ham had a son named Cush who married a woman named Semiramis. Cush and Semiramis then had a son and named him "Nimrod." After the death of his father, Nimrod married his own mother and became a powerful King. The Bible tells of this man, Nimrod, in Genesis 10:8-10 as follows: "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." Nimrod became a god-man to the people and Semiramis, his wife/mother, became the powerful Queen of ancient Babylon. Nimrod was eventually killed by an enemy, and his body was cut in pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom. Semiramis had all of the parts gathered, except for one part that could not be found. That missing part was his reproductive organ. Semiramis claimed that Nimrod could not come back to life without it and told the people of Babylon that Nimrod had ascended to the sun and was now to be called "Baal", the sun god. Queen Semiramis also proclaimed that Baal would be present on earth in the form of a flame, whether candle or lamp, when used in worship. Semiramis was creating a mystery religion, and with the help of Satan, she set herself up as a goddess. Semiramis claimed that she was immaculately conceived. She taught that the moon was a goddess that went through a 28 day cycle and ovulated when full. She further claimed that she came down from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River. This was to have happened at the time of the first full moon after the spring equinox. Semiramis became known as "Ishtar" which is pronounced "Easter", and her moon egg became known as "Ishtar's egg." Ishtar soon became pregnant and claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that caused her to conceive. The son that she brought forth was named Tammuz. Tammuz was noted to be especially fond of rabbits, and they became sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter. The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig. Queen Ishtar told the people that Tammuz was now ascended to his father, Baal, and that the two of them would be with the worshippers in the sacred candle or lamp flame as Father, Son and Spirit. Ishtar, who was now worshipped as the "Mother of God and Queen of Heaven", continued to build her mystery religion. The queen told the worshippers that when Tammuz was killed by the wild pig, some of his blood fell on the stump of an evergreen tree, and the stump grew into a full new tree overnight. This made the evergreen tree sacred by the blood of Tammuz. She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz. During this time, no meat was to be eaten. Worshippers were to meditate upon the sacred mysteries of Baal and Tammuz, and to make the sign of the "T" in front of their hearts as they worshipped. They also ate sacred cakes with the marking of a "T" or cross on the top. Every year, on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, a celebration was made. It was Ishtar's Sunday and was celebrated with rabbits and eggs. Ishtar also proclaimed that because Tammuz was killed by a pig, that a pig must be eaten on that Sunday. By now, the readers should have made the connection that paganism has infiltrated the contemporary "Christian" churches, and further study indicates that this paganism came in by way of the Roman Catholic System. The truth is that Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We also know that Easter can be as much as three weeks away from the Passover, because the pagan holiday is always set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Some have wondered why the word "Easter" is in the King James Bible. It is because Acts, chapter 12, tells us that it was the evil King Herod, who was planning to celebrate Easter, and not the Christians. The true Passover and pagan Easter sometimes coincide, but in some years, they are a great distance apart. We know that the Bible tells us in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The truth is that the forty days of Lent, eggs, rabbits, hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Mystery Babylon. These are all antichrist activities! Satan is a master deceiver, and has filled the lives of well-meaning, professing Christians with idolatry. These things bring the wrath of God upon children of disobedience, who try to make pagan customs of Baal worship Christian. You must answer for your activities and for what you teach your children. These customs of Easter honor Baal, who is also Satan, and is still worshipped as the "Rising Sun" and his house is the "House of the Rising Sun." How many churches have "sunrise services" on Ishtar's day and face the rising sun in the East? How many will use colored eggs and rabbit stories, as they did in ancient Babylon. These things are no joke, any more than Judgment day is a joke. These are the last days, and it is time to repent, come out and be separate. "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psalm 51:6-17 
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