The Cult’s Pagan Obsession: A Smokescreen for Control
Armstrongism loves a good pagan conspiracy. The WCG built its brand on sniffing out "satanic" influences in everything—Christmas, birthdays, Sunday worship, and especially Easter. To the cult, Easter isn’t a celebration of Christ’s resurrection; it’s a Babylonian fertility rite, a pagan abomination straight from the goddess Ishtar, complete with bunnies and eggs to prove it. Herbert Armstrong hammered this into his flock, claiming mainstream Christianity was a satanic counterfeit, while only his “true church” kept God’s pure festivals like Passover. It’s a claim that’s kept splinters like Pack’s RCG and Brisby’s COGTE clutching their pearls to this day, warning members to shun Easter or risk God’s wrath.
But let’s call this what it is: a lie, a flimsy tale spun from bad logic to keep the cult’s followers in line. The Ishtar myth doesn’t hold up—it’s a house of cards built on sand, and we’re here to knock it down. It is easy to trace the Easter-Ishtar claim to its shaky roots and expose its flaws. We’ll offer a biblical alternative origin story in Esther. But here’s the plain truth: Easter—called Pascha by the early Christian Church—is about Christ’s triumph over death, not some ancient fertility goddess. Along the way, we’ll show how the WCG’s pagan paranoia was just a control tactic, a distraction to keep members from seeing the cult’s own rot. Buckle up, Splinterland—this one’s gonna sting.
The Ishtar Myth: A Cult Classic Built on Nothing
The idea that Easter comes from Ishtar, a Babylonian fertility goddess, isn’t some ancient truth—it’s a modern fiction, cooked up in 1853 by a Presbyterian minister named Alexander Hislop in his book The Two Babylons. Hislop wanted to dunk on Roman Catholicism, so he claimed Easter was a pagan corruption, linking “Easter” to “Ishtar” through a flimsy phonetic similarity and springtime symbols like eggs and rabbits. Sound familiar? It’s the same playbook the WCG used to demonize anything that didn’t fit its rules. The cult ate Hislop’s theory up, waving it like a gotcha to prove mainstream Christianity was satanic, all while demanding members stick to their “pure” Passover.
Let’s tear this apart. Linguistically, Hislop’s claim is garbage. “Ishtar” and “Easter” share a vague sound—big whoop. There’s no etymological bridge; he made it up. Culturally, it’s laughable. Ishtar’s Akkadian religion, with its temples and rituals, was dust by 100 AD, centuries before Christianity spread. Its records—cuneiform tablets—were buried, unreadable until the 1800s. So how exactly did early Christians, with no access to these tablets, adopt a dead culture’s customs from 1,500 years prior? They didn’t. The WCG loved to scream about paganism, but this is just bad logic—a False Cause Fallacy, assuming resemblance means origin. It’s the kind of sloppy thinking the cult thrived on, keeping members scared and obedient with tales of satanic holidays.
Hislop pointed to eggs and rabbits as proof of Ishtar’s fertility influence, but those came later, as Christianity reshaped local traditions—not the other way around. Easter’s date isn’t tied to some Babylonian festival; it’s pegged to Passover (Nisan 14-15), when Christ died and rose. The Ishtar myth is a cult classic, but it’s fiction—a house on sand that crumbles faster than the WCG’s failed prophecies.
A Biblical Twist: Esther, Not Ishtar
If Easter isn’t from Ishtar, could it connect to Esther instead? This novel idea, offers a far better link, rooted in Scripture, not Akkadian fairy tales. Esther’s story—deliverance and redemption—lines up with Easter’s core, and the timing makes it intriguing.
Check the calendar. Esther’s victory, celebrated as Purim on the 14th or 15th of Adar II, often falls near spring, just like Easter, which is tied to Passover (Nisan 14-15). Both are lunar-based, set by a full moon. In 2008, Purim (March 20) and Easter (March 22) were two days apart; in 2024, Purim (March 23) and Easter (March 31) were a week apart—close enough to see a pattern. Esther fasted three days to save her people (Esther 4:16); Jesus was in the tomb three days to save ours. Haman’s evil plot failed (Esther 7:10); death got crushed at the resurrection. Mordecai’s rise (Esther 8:15) mirrors Christ’s glory.
Why Esther over Ishtar? Simple: access. Esther’s story was in the Bible, read yearly at Purim by Jews—including early Jewish Christians who shaped the Church. Ishtar’s cult was long gone by the first century, its records lost to time, while Esther’s tale was alive and sacred. The name “Easter” might even nod to this—“Esther” (Hebrew Estēr, possibly “star”) could have shifted to “Easter,” a star of redemption rising. It’s a theory, but it beats the WCG’s Ishtar nonsense by a mile, grounding Easter in biblical truth, not cult paranoia.
The Real Deal: Easter’s True Roots
So what’s Easter actually about? In the early Church, it was called Pascha, from the Hebrew Pesach (“pass over”), and it’s always been about Christ’s resurrection—the bedrock of the faith. . Jesus died and rose during Passover and early Christians celebrated this as Pascha, set by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD as the first Sunday after the spring full moon.
The English term “Easter” is a Western quirk. The Eastern Orthodox Church—Greek, Slavic, Arabic—never used “Easter”; it’s always been Pascha, keeping the direct link to Passover. In the West, “Easter” came from Old English ēastre, possibly tied to ēast (“east”) or a Germanic spring figure, Ēostre, mentioned by Bede around 730 AD. Scholars aren’t even sure Ēostre was real—Bede’s the only source—but even if she existed, she was a minor figure, not some Ishtar knockoff. As Christianity spread to Germanic tribes, “Easter” named the Paschal season, transforming local terms, not adopting pagan rites. The Eastern Church’s use of Pascha proves its purity, untouched by the WCG’s pagan conspiracy theories.
Early Christians like Polycarp in 150 AD celebrated Pascha, rooted in apostolic tradition, not Babylonian nonsense. The WCG’s Ishtar claim is just another lie to control members, making them fear the “world” while ignoring the cult’s own sins—like fleecing members for millions while its leader lived like a king.
Pascha’s Truth: Christ’s Victory, Not Paganism
In its purest form, Pascha—Easter to the West—is the heart of Christianity: Christ’s resurrection, no pagan shadow in sight. The Bible lays it out: “The third day he rose again”, fulfilling “He will swallow up death in victory”. It’s redemption’s core: Jesus, the Lamb, frees us from sin, just as Israel escaped Egypt. The WCG wanted you to think it’s all bunny-worshipping paganism, but that’s a distraction—they were too busy building their own empire to care about truth. Pascha isn’t just a day; it’s a way of life. The WCG never got this; they were too busy banning Easter to see Christ’s victory staring them in the face.
Splinterland, Wake Up: Easter Isn’t Your Enemy
Easter isn’t pagan—the Ishtar myth, born in The Two Babylons, is a cult favorite, but it’s trash. Akkadian rites were long gone, their records buried. The truth is Pascha: Christ’s resurrection, tied to Passover, not fertility goddesses. The WCG’s pagan obsession was a control tactic, a way to keep you scared of the “world” while they fleeced you for triple tithes. Splinterland, it’s time to ditch the lies.
Easter’s Pagan Roots? © 2025 by AiCOG is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0
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