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Here's an article I wrote in the 1990s for a KJVO who was trying to defend Dr. Sam Gipp's defense of the KJV's "Easter" goof in Acts 12:4...
THE GIPPER SHOULDA STUCK TO FOOTBALL! (part 1)
Let's tear apart The Gipper's "research" right now with some FACTS. The Gipper has an agenda to push, and some books to sell, & he doesn't mind embellishing his "facts" with imagination to make either point.
Feel free to look up the facts I'm presenting, in any reputable reference book on earth. In fact, I encourage you to do so since I'm an unknown & you don't have any reason to believe me.
The following is from Dr. Gipp's "Wrong Answer Book":
First, Dr. Gipp writes,"Coming to the word 'Easter' in God's authorized Bible,...'
The AV was authorized by KING JAMES. Nowhere does it say GOD authorized it. So Gipp's misleading people from the gitgo.
Dr. Gipp wrote:"Coming to the word "Easter" in God's Authorized Bible, they seize upon it imagining that they have found proof that the Bible is not perfect. Fortunately for lovers of the word of God, they are wrong. Easter, as we know it, comes from the ancient pagan festival of Astarte. Also known as Ishtar (pronounced "Easter"). This festival has always been held late in the month of April. It was, in its original form, a celebration of the earth "regenerating" itself after the winter season. The festival involved a celebration of reproduction. For this reason the common symbols of Easter festivities were the rabbit (the same symbol as "Playboy" magazine), and the egg. Both are known for their reproductive abilities. At the center of attention was Astarte, the female deity. She is known in the Bible as the "queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25). She is the mother of Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) who was also her husband! These perverted rituals would take place at sunrise on Easter morning (Ezekiel 8:13-16). From the references in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we can see that the true Easter has never had any association with Jesus Christ."
We see Dr. Gipp believes the false idea of Alexander Hislop in his 1853 book, "The Two Babylons". Actually, easter as we know it was invented by the RCC in the 300s AD. IT DID NOT EXIST WHEN LUKE WROTE "ACTS"!
Also, SEMIRAMIS was the mother of Tammuz,(who was illegitimate) and NIMROD was her hubby. Look that up in any world history work!
Dr. Gipp:It must also be noted that whenever the passover is mentioned in the N.T., the reference is always to the meal, to be eaten on the night of April 14th not the entire week. The days of unleavened bread are NEVER referred to as the passover. (It must be remembered that the angel of the Lord passed over Egypt on one night, not seven nights in a row.)
THIS IS GROSSLY INCORRECT! THE GIPPER COULDN'T BE MORE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shall PROVE it to you, straight from the KJV! Ezekiel 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."
Ezekiel was quoting GOD HIMSELF! THAT SHOULD END ALL CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE PASSOVER OBSERVANCE!
John 18:28, KJV - "Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might EAT THE PASSOVER."
Now, we know Jesus had eaten the paschal lamb w/his disciples THE PREVIOUS EVENING, as the law required - AS EVERY OTHER JEW HAD DONE! There weren't TWO paschal meals, so John can ONLY be referring to a meal with unleavened bread which was part of the Passover observance.
JUST ASK ANY RABBI or other person knowledgeable about Judaism if the WHOLE WEEK is called Passover or not!
Who do you believe? - Gipp?....or SCRIPTURE.......along with those to whom God gave the Passover?
This alone proves The Gipper's "research" wrong. But let's look deeper.
Dr. Gipp:But the pagan holiday of Easter was just a few days away. Remember! Herod was a pagan Roman who worshipped the "queen of heaven." He was NOT a Jew. He had no reason to keep the Jewish passover. Some might argue that he wanted to wait until after the passover for fear of upsetting the Jews. There are two grievous faults in this line of thinkings."
Yes, there ARE two grievous lines of thinking here-AND GIPP IS THE "THINKER" OF BOTH OF THEM!
First, the Easter observance did not exist in Herod's time. You may read any encyclopedia, Jewish history, or other reference book you wish, and you will NOT find any observance of Easter in that part of the world at that time! Go ahead...Try to find any!
AND IF THE ANNIVERSARY OF jESUS' RESURRECTION WAS THEN OBSERVED THEN, NEITHER HEROD NOR THE jEWS WOULD'VE OBSERVED IT ! !
Again...If there were some pagan rite called Easter being observed in that time/place, Luke certainly would NOT have called it pascha!
The line of Herods began with Antipater, a friend of Julius Caesar, of Babylonian or possibly of Idumean(Edomite) descent. His grandson was Herod the Great, the one who sought Jesus' life. He wisely persuaded Augustus Caesar to grant the Jews freedom from the state religion, thus pleasing the Jews greatly enough that they overlooked some of his "little murders" of Jews-and pleased Augustus, who didn't hafta worry about any rebellion in the district. To further please the Jews, he had the temple rebuilt into the most magnificent structure in Jerusalem, & reinstated the Sanhedrin (thus relieving himself of the everyday ruling duties)...and it worked! The Jews obeyed him & paid their taxes without much dissent!
However, Herod became a madman, murdering most of his own family, including a son named Aristobulus. This was of little concern to the Jews, however. And...during this time he'd caused the Temple heirarchy to become very corrupt, leading to their having the Romans crucify Jesus.
His son Archelaus was detested by the Jews, & Augustus replaced him with his brother Herod Antipas, the Herod who executed John The Baptist, and was called "that fox" by Jesus. Antipas was banished in 39 AD by Caligula, who replaced him with Aristobulus' son Herod Agrippa I.
This is the Herod who slew James & arrested Peter! And by every account, especially by that of Josephus, he sought to PLEASE THE JEWS, especially the popular but corrupt temple leadership, the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees. If this man practiced anything but the state religion of the worship of Caesar, it would've been the worship of the Hellenistic pantheon of gods...but he was well-acquainted with the Jewish law! He absolutely did NOT observe any pagan nor Christian holy days, at least openly, as this would've destroyed his popularity with the Jews. You may search any library on earth to try to prove this wrong!
He was the same Herod smitten by God with worms in his innards, killing him in 44 AD, age 54, in the 7th year of his reign.
Sometimes Scripture calls him Herod; at other places it calls him Agrippa - but there's no doubt of his identity.
His son Herod Agrippa II was the Agrippa before whom Paul appeared.
Thus, you see once again how faulty Gipp's "research" is!
Dr. Gipp:First,Peter was no longer considered a Jew. He had repudiated Judaism. The Jews would have no reason to be upset by Herod's actions.
Totally irrelevant! In fact, the Jews had to have been pleased, although Scripture doesn't mention it. PLEASING THOSE JEWS WAS HEROD'S WHOLE REASON FOR BUSTING PETER!
The Jewish leadership DETESTED Christians! They considered Peter one of the worst HERETICS of all time! Only Roman rule prevented their killing him sooner! (The Romans had cracked down on Jew killing Jew after Stephen was killed without a trial)
If Herod had simply whacked Peter as he'd done James, the Jewish religious leaders would've been pleased. But Herod wanted THEM to do it, for their greater satisfaction. But the Jews themselves would NOT have fooled with Peter during Passover.
Dr. Gipp:Second, he could not have been waiting until after the Passover because he thought the Jews would not kill a man during a religious holiday. They had killed Jesus during passover (Matt. 26:17-19, 47). They were also excited about Herod's murder of James. Anyone knows that a mob possesses the courage to do violent acts during religious festivities, not after.
Again, totally irrelevant. Jesus was crucified at the instigation of the Jewish religious leadership, BUT BY THE ROMANS,while Herod killed James by his own will. He wanted to deliver Peter to the Jews, for them to do with him as they wished, while it was the Jews who delivered Jesus to the Romans & had them crucify Him.(They did NOT kill Him; He gave up His life of his own accord when all had been fulfilled. Thus, no one person or group can be "blamed" for Jesus' death, but certainly for trying to kill Him.)
Dr.Gipp:The days of unleavened bread would end on the 21 st of April. Shortly after that would come Herod's celebration of pagan Easter. Herod had not killed Peter during the days of unleavneed bread simply because he wanted to wait until EAster.
There's not one scintilla of Scriptural or historical evidence that this Herod observed ANYTHING called Easter! Before the time of Jesus, Ishtar/Asherah had become APHRODITE of the Greex & VENUS of the Romans. Hislop's stupid idea came about because of the similarity of pronunciation between ishtar & Easter. And, if Luke were writing about a fest for that "goddess", he woulda used either Aphrodite or Venus as "her" name.
Anyone not believing what I've written here, please check it out for yourself before you dismiss my writing as incorrect. Unlike The Gipper, I deal in FACT, not imagination, opinion, or guesswork!
THE GIPPER SHOULDA STUCK TO FOOTBALL! (part 1)
Let's tear apart The Gipper's "research" right now with some FACTS. The Gipper has an agenda to push, and some books to sell, & he doesn't mind embellishing his "facts" with imagination to make either point.
Feel free to look up the facts I'm presenting, in any reputable reference book on earth. In fact, I encourage you to do so since I'm an unknown & you don't have any reason to believe me.
The following is from Dr. Gipp's "Wrong Answer Book":
First, Dr. Gipp writes,"Coming to the word 'Easter' in God's authorized Bible,...'
The AV was authorized by KING JAMES. Nowhere does it say GOD authorized it. So Gipp's misleading people from the gitgo.
Dr. Gipp wrote:"Coming to the word "Easter" in God's Authorized Bible, they seize upon it imagining that they have found proof that the Bible is not perfect. Fortunately for lovers of the word of God, they are wrong. Easter, as we know it, comes from the ancient pagan festival of Astarte. Also known as Ishtar (pronounced "Easter"). This festival has always been held late in the month of April. It was, in its original form, a celebration of the earth "regenerating" itself after the winter season. The festival involved a celebration of reproduction. For this reason the common symbols of Easter festivities were the rabbit (the same symbol as "Playboy" magazine), and the egg. Both are known for their reproductive abilities. At the center of attention was Astarte, the female deity. She is known in the Bible as the "queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25). She is the mother of Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) who was also her husband! These perverted rituals would take place at sunrise on Easter morning (Ezekiel 8:13-16). From the references in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we can see that the true Easter has never had any association with Jesus Christ."
We see Dr. Gipp believes the false idea of Alexander Hislop in his 1853 book, "The Two Babylons". Actually, easter as we know it was invented by the RCC in the 300s AD. IT DID NOT EXIST WHEN LUKE WROTE "ACTS"!
Also, SEMIRAMIS was the mother of Tammuz,(who was illegitimate) and NIMROD was her hubby. Look that up in any world history work!
Dr. Gipp:It must also be noted that whenever the passover is mentioned in the N.T., the reference is always to the meal, to be eaten on the night of April 14th not the entire week. The days of unleavened bread are NEVER referred to as the passover. (It must be remembered that the angel of the Lord passed over Egypt on one night, not seven nights in a row.)
THIS IS GROSSLY INCORRECT! THE GIPPER COULDN'T BE MORE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shall PROVE it to you, straight from the KJV! Ezekiel 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."
Ezekiel was quoting GOD HIMSELF! THAT SHOULD END ALL CONTROVERSY ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE PASSOVER OBSERVANCE!
John 18:28, KJV - "Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might EAT THE PASSOVER."
Now, we know Jesus had eaten the paschal lamb w/his disciples THE PREVIOUS EVENING, as the law required - AS EVERY OTHER JEW HAD DONE! There weren't TWO paschal meals, so John can ONLY be referring to a meal with unleavened bread which was part of the Passover observance.
JUST ASK ANY RABBI or other person knowledgeable about Judaism if the WHOLE WEEK is called Passover or not!
Who do you believe? - Gipp?....or SCRIPTURE.......along with those to whom God gave the Passover?
This alone proves The Gipper's "research" wrong. But let's look deeper.
Dr. Gipp:But the pagan holiday of Easter was just a few days away. Remember! Herod was a pagan Roman who worshipped the "queen of heaven." He was NOT a Jew. He had no reason to keep the Jewish passover. Some might argue that he wanted to wait until after the passover for fear of upsetting the Jews. There are two grievous faults in this line of thinkings."
Yes, there ARE two grievous lines of thinking here-AND GIPP IS THE "THINKER" OF BOTH OF THEM!
First, the Easter observance did not exist in Herod's time. You may read any encyclopedia, Jewish history, or other reference book you wish, and you will NOT find any observance of Easter in that part of the world at that time! Go ahead...Try to find any!
AND IF THE ANNIVERSARY OF jESUS' RESURRECTION WAS THEN OBSERVED THEN, NEITHER HEROD NOR THE jEWS WOULD'VE OBSERVED IT ! !
Again...If there were some pagan rite called Easter being observed in that time/place, Luke certainly would NOT have called it pascha!
The line of Herods began with Antipater, a friend of Julius Caesar, of Babylonian or possibly of Idumean(Edomite) descent. His grandson was Herod the Great, the one who sought Jesus' life. He wisely persuaded Augustus Caesar to grant the Jews freedom from the state religion, thus pleasing the Jews greatly enough that they overlooked some of his "little murders" of Jews-and pleased Augustus, who didn't hafta worry about any rebellion in the district. To further please the Jews, he had the temple rebuilt into the most magnificent structure in Jerusalem, & reinstated the Sanhedrin (thus relieving himself of the everyday ruling duties)...and it worked! The Jews obeyed him & paid their taxes without much dissent!
However, Herod became a madman, murdering most of his own family, including a son named Aristobulus. This was of little concern to the Jews, however. And...during this time he'd caused the Temple heirarchy to become very corrupt, leading to their having the Romans crucify Jesus.
His son Archelaus was detested by the Jews, & Augustus replaced him with his brother Herod Antipas, the Herod who executed John The Baptist, and was called "that fox" by Jesus. Antipas was banished in 39 AD by Caligula, who replaced him with Aristobulus' son Herod Agrippa I.
This is the Herod who slew James & arrested Peter! And by every account, especially by that of Josephus, he sought to PLEASE THE JEWS, especially the popular but corrupt temple leadership, the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees. If this man practiced anything but the state religion of the worship of Caesar, it would've been the worship of the Hellenistic pantheon of gods...but he was well-acquainted with the Jewish law! He absolutely did NOT observe any pagan nor Christian holy days, at least openly, as this would've destroyed his popularity with the Jews. You may search any library on earth to try to prove this wrong!
He was the same Herod smitten by God with worms in his innards, killing him in 44 AD, age 54, in the 7th year of his reign.
Sometimes Scripture calls him Herod; at other places it calls him Agrippa - but there's no doubt of his identity.
His son Herod Agrippa II was the Agrippa before whom Paul appeared.
Thus, you see once again how faulty Gipp's "research" is!
Dr. Gipp:First,Peter was no longer considered a Jew. He had repudiated Judaism. The Jews would have no reason to be upset by Herod's actions.
Totally irrelevant! In fact, the Jews had to have been pleased, although Scripture doesn't mention it. PLEASING THOSE JEWS WAS HEROD'S WHOLE REASON FOR BUSTING PETER!
The Jewish leadership DETESTED Christians! They considered Peter one of the worst HERETICS of all time! Only Roman rule prevented their killing him sooner! (The Romans had cracked down on Jew killing Jew after Stephen was killed without a trial)
If Herod had simply whacked Peter as he'd done James, the Jewish religious leaders would've been pleased. But Herod wanted THEM to do it, for their greater satisfaction. But the Jews themselves would NOT have fooled with Peter during Passover.
Dr. Gipp:Second, he could not have been waiting until after the Passover because he thought the Jews would not kill a man during a religious holiday. They had killed Jesus during passover (Matt. 26:17-19, 47). They were also excited about Herod's murder of James. Anyone knows that a mob possesses the courage to do violent acts during religious festivities, not after.
Again, totally irrelevant. Jesus was crucified at the instigation of the Jewish religious leadership, BUT BY THE ROMANS,while Herod killed James by his own will. He wanted to deliver Peter to the Jews, for them to do with him as they wished, while it was the Jews who delivered Jesus to the Romans & had them crucify Him.(They did NOT kill Him; He gave up His life of his own accord when all had been fulfilled. Thus, no one person or group can be "blamed" for Jesus' death, but certainly for trying to kill Him.)
Dr.Gipp:The days of unleavened bread would end on the 21 st of April. Shortly after that would come Herod's celebration of pagan Easter. Herod had not killed Peter during the days of unleavneed bread simply because he wanted to wait until EAster.
There's not one scintilla of Scriptural or historical evidence that this Herod observed ANYTHING called Easter! Before the time of Jesus, Ishtar/Asherah had become APHRODITE of the Greex & VENUS of the Romans. Hislop's stupid idea came about because of the similarity of pronunciation between ishtar & Easter. And, if Luke were writing about a fest for that "goddess", he woulda used either Aphrodite or Venus as "her" name.
Anyone not believing what I've written here, please check it out for yourself before you dismiss my writing as incorrect. Unlike The Gipper, I deal in FACT, not imagination, opinion, or guesswork!