National Day of Prayer

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln called for a National Day of Prayer. Officially, the National Day of Prayer was established as an annual event by an act of Congress in 1952 and was signed into law by President Truman. The law was amended in 1988 and signed by President Ronald Reagan, establishing the NDP as the first Thursday of May each year.

History of Easter

We at ChristianECards.com ..

We at ChristianEcards.com have chosen not to portray the overtly pagan symbolism that is commonly associated with Easter such as Easter eggs and bunnies and have instead focused on imagery that represents what we feel is the true Christian meaning of the holiday, namely, the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Most people today celebrate Easter in a fashion that has more to do with ancient Pagan roots, than with any reference to Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

What does the Bible say?

As to the actual Christian origins, there is no mention in the New Testament or in any of the writings of the apostolic fathers of the early church ever celebrating the resurrection of Christ--although they would often refer to Sunday as being "the Lord's day" because it was on Sunday that he rose from the dead.

Early Christians would celebrate traditional Hebrew festivals with expanded insight into the fulfillment of these festivals through the life, death, resurrection and return of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was crucified before the Jewish festival, Paschal, or Passover, which was the feast commemorating God's deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt and his protection from the "angel of death" whereby a spotless lamb was sacrificed, and its blood was brushed upon the doorways of the homes of the Hebrews and the "angel of death" would "Passover" their dwelling. This feast was only a foreshadowing in that Jesus Christ was actually God's perfect, spotless lamb, that was sacrificed for our sin, and that by believing that his blood was shed for us, our sins are forgiven, and the wrath of God, that our sins deserved, would now "Passover" us and we would have eternal life.

His resurrection the following Sunday, confirmed his power and authority over death and that same power that raised Christ from the dead is available for anyone who believes and confesses their sinfulness, asks God for his forgiveness, and then turns and repents from that sin with the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

So ... when did it all change?

Going back to Easter's earliest origins we have to travel back to ancient Babylon in what is now, modern day Iraq, where the worship of the goddess, Astarte was practiced widely. Astarte was considered the creating-preserving-destroying goddess, identical to the Hindu Kali, the Cyprian Aphrodite, the Egyptian Hathor, and the Greek Demeter. Astarte's earthly symbol was originally the hare or rabbit, called the "Moon-hare" which along with the rabbit's reputation for fertility helps explain the association with the "Easter bunny" of today.

The Bible refers to this goddess as Ashtoreth, "Queen of Heaven." in the books of 1 Kings and Jeremiah and has much to say about God's displeasure in the Israelites for their worship of this goddess.

Eventually this spread throughout the Greek and Roman empires to the northern parts of Europe and according to Venerable Bede, an English historian of the early 8th century, the name Easter, like the name of the days of the week, is a survival from old Teutonic mythology.

According to Bede it is derived from the Norse, Ostara or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. The Greek myth, Demeter and Persephone, with its Latin counterpart, Ceres and Per sephone, conveys the idea of a goddess returning seasonally from the nether regions to the light of day. This is in conjunction with the festival of spring, or vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter.

In Summary:

Easter has traditionally been viewed as a Christian holiday but the imagery has been a bit confusing as to what significance the Easter bunny has to do with the resurrection of Christ. The reason is simply that as the spread of Christianity traveled throughout the Roman Empire, whenever possible, the Christians would transform local pagan customs to harmonize with Christian doctrine in an attempt to be contemporary with their local culture.

On a practical basis, this prevented local converts from being persecuted by the pagan traditionalists. Since the Eastre festival to celebrate spring coincided with the time of the Christian observance of the resurrection of Christ, this crossover was achieved smoothly. Some doubt remained however, as to the exact day of the celebration.

The Emperor Constantine put that to rest. In AD 325, the Emperor convened a council and it was decreed: Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Easter is therefore bound never to fall before March 22 or after April 25.