The Christian Letter, Volume One: Chapter 21
Time and time again I have spoken with both young and elderly, and when they are alone, and not unknowingly pressured by other members of their church, they express openly and honestly a hunger to walk and live like the Messiah. They want to keep Passover, as well as Sabbath, but they simply do not know how to, and are afraid of their church’s reprisal.
We know that communion, also known as Eucharist, has no resemblance to Passover. (Communion is the term given to the partaking of breadcrumbs and grape juice in church.) Why does this have an association with Easter, what is communion, and should we walk as He walked?
Christianity, as a whole, has embraced communion, as well as Sunday keeping, because they have been told that is how we are to walk. I feel that once we learn how to really live, we will yearn for His Way far more than the church’s way. Many Christians desire to know Him, but they go right back to their preacher or theology; however, if desire is real, then there will be a willingness to improve despite fear of the unknown. They will become more and more like the Messiah. Should that not be the goal of us all?
Yet, are we locking ourselves in the dark? Can we walk in the newness of the Messiah, and still live our old routine? “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
As I have shared already, we know that in Eostre’s / Ishtar’s / Easter’s honor, sacrifices were offered each year on the vernal equinox, which is around the time of Passover, but can be off by over a month due to different calendars being used. One calendar is based on the worship of the Sun, and the other calendar is of the Word. The worshipers of the goddess, commonly called the “Queen of Heaven,” celebrated the return of light and life with fertility rituals and symbols, some of which still survive in the modern observance of Easter, like colored eggs and rabbits. Christians adopted the name and customs of Easter to the celebration of the Messiah’s resurrection to gain pagan converts, but by doing so became indistinguishable from the pagans themselves.
In church, when the trays of breadcrumbs and grape juice are passed around for people to partake of silently in remembrance of His death, usually every “Sunday,” this ought be the thought on everyone’s mind: “Hey. If this is to remember our Passover Lamb, then where is the feet washing, bitter sop, wine, meal, song, dance, unleavened bread, or anything Biblical at all?”
So where did this drink offering and wafer cake come from? I have been to many churches that have a cross on the bread in the communion, but what does all this mean? Let’s look to Yahoweh’s Word: “‘We are not going to listen to you in the matter about which you spoke to us in the Name of Yahoweh! But we shall do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our sovereigns and our heads, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim. And we had plenty of food, and were well-off, and saw no evil. But since we ceased burning incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all and have been consumed by the sword and by scarcity of food. And when we burned incense to the sovereigness of the heavens and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to idolize her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands?’” (Jeremiah 44:16-19). The symbol of Easter, the queen / sovereigness of heaven, is the cross, and they placed this image on the cakes to idolize her. Whether or not we have such symbol on our bread, or up front, it matters not, for this is still the rehearsal of the queen of heaven, of a lie.
Yahoweh ordained Passover. Yahoweh’s perfect plan unfolds in His festivals. Human made festivals just cover Him up. But do non-Jewish non-Israelites observe Passover? Exodus 12:43-45 states that foreigners are not to eat the Passover, but in Ephesians 2:12 and 19 we see that we can be grafted into the covenants of the promise. There are some steps to this that I will share later, but for now I boldly yell: Let us not be foreigners any longer!
“‘The children are gathering wood, the fathers are lighting the fire, and the women are kneading their dough, to make cakes for the sovereigness of the heavens, and to pour out drink offerings to other mighty ones, to provoke Me. Is it Me they are provoking?’ declares Yahoweh. ‘Is it not themselves—unto the shame of their own faces?’” (Jeremiah 7:18-19).
Some will say that “So oft as ye partake of it,” means you can partake any time you wish. “So when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Master’s supper.” (1 Corinthians 11:20). Let’s use your birthday as a comparison. If Yahoweh had said, “You are to celebrate your birthday with a big chocolate cake so oft as ye celebrate it,” would this mean you would have chocolate cake every Sunday in church? Would you celebrate your birthday anytime you felt like it? Do you? We remember our parent’s daily, we do not need a birthday party to do so, but once a year a birthday party honoring them sure is nice, isn’t it? Passover is not to be celebrated any old time; there is a set time, and Yahoweh never misses it. We should remember, and remember it well, all that the Messiah did for us on a daily basis, so much so that we remember that if we are indeed following Him, then we will walk with Him to the Passover, yes, we will walk with Him, even if to the cross.
Consider your anniversary. You cannot celebrate it whenever. There is a set time. You celebrate your marriage every day but if you miss the anniversary … something is not right in your heart. Let’s say your spouse says, “Honey, I don’t care about our anniversary date. I don’t care about remembering saying, ‘I do.’ I don’t want to remember that day.” Where is the love? Where is the grace? I see no love, and I see grace asked to be forgotten. Passover is once a year and our Jewish Rabbi never initiated communion.
“And taking bread, giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the renewed covenant in My blood which is shed for you.’” (Luke 22:19-20). Was Yahoshuah saying that whenever you drink wine and eat bread to “remember Me”? What does, “this,” in reference to, “this cup,” and, “do this,” mean? It wasn’t, “these,” things do in remembrance of me, so it has to be referring to one thing. If we look a few verses before this one we’ll see. “And the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover had to be slaughtered. And He sent Kepha and Yohanan, saying, ‘Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.’” (Luke 22:7-8). This do in remembrance of Me. Using basic English, Greek, or Hebrew, it is very clear that we are to keep this Feast in His memory.
Communion, at best, is nothing more than a shadow picture of a shadow picture, and that is just too dark to see. Many in history have died rather than forsake Truth, and thus refused upon pain of death to partake of communion. Such as nineteen year old William Hunter who was tortured with heavy chains and hunger for months before being burned alive for refusing to take communion. On coming to the stake, he knelt down and proclaimed, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” And he was burned to death. Others were killed by the pouring of hot lead down their throats, and still others by the sword. They knew dying was more desirable than trading the truth for lies just too allegedly live.
I used to partake of the trays as they were passed around the church until I was challenged. I remember it vividly. A family sat down and harshly told me there was no such thing in the Scriptures as communion. I told them there was and that I would prove it. I grabbed my Bible and turned to an accounting I thought I had been raised with, but it turned out I had been raised without. They told me, “That is Passover. What does it say there? Passover. Do you have bitter sop at communion?” I was dumfounded. I just sat there and listened to them tell again and again how we have been robbed of our freedom to do as the Messiah will always do.
Later on they apologized for their rude behaviour. I refused it. I told them that there was no way I would ever accept their apology … because there was no need for one. I had challenged their challenge and dove into the Scriptures, and in the beautiful pages of Yahoweh I found a great telling called Passover. I did not fail in proving what was right. It was irrelevant that I was wrong to begin with; it would only be pertinent if I yearned to remain wrong. I urge you as well to study this. Look in encyclopedias, dictionaries, history books, online, but above all look in Scripture with the desire to follow the Word.
Ah, but they were not the first. When I was around twelve years old, I sat in on an adult Bible study that was interrupted by a man with tattoos. He spoke about how communion was not in the Bible, and that we should actually start keeping Passover like the Bible says to do. The elders of the church argued with him back and forth for almost an hour. It was very rare for an argument to occur but it still was a nonevent to me. I did not recall it for many years, long after my wife and I began keeping Passover (consider: the Messiah is called Passover, ought we not keep Him). It was then that event replayed. I will tell you how I failed. I judged him for having tattoos. Sure, they are sinful, but am I without sin? Simply because someone is imperfect does not mean that they are 100% flawed. I saw it all again. The elders had no arguments, but I sided with them. I sided with them because they were elders. Now I am truly judged by my own judgments. No one there believed the man was right. We were too self-righteous to see just how unrighteous we were.
We do not have to follow the customs of man; instead, let us desire to observe Passover on His appointed time. Take this appointed time and remember that Yahoweh is the Lamb sacrificed for our sins. He lived. He died. He rose. In love. We miss out on the depth of Yahoweh’s perfect plan for our Salvation if we choose not to observe what Yahoshuah commanded us to observe. Take time to reflect on His love, and remember this Passover, and all of your days, His unfailing love is for you.
“So how do we keep Passover, and should we?” In the upcoming Letters, I will share with you how to keep Passover, and once you have kept His Word the wonder of “should we,” will disappear. I hope you will give living as the Messiah lives a chance. Though, I won’t lie, I’ve been told by more than just a few that you’d have to be a Jew to love the Messiah enough to behave as He did.
Be Blessed and be a Blessing
Shalom
-Valentine Thalken Billingsley
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Additional Scripture References:
Isaiah 1:16, Hebrews 11:27-28, 2 Peter 3:17-18
