My Bible teaches me that I will know the truth and the truth shall set me free. This is why I believe that truth heals me. If I profess to be Christian and accept that the Bible is the word of God, if I use the Bible as my standard for truth, then anything contrary to Biblical truth is suspect. As much as we all grew up with various Christian traditions which have become a part of our lives, we must be open to examine everything we do under the guise of Christianity with the Bible as the yardstick. This is the only way we will walk in the light of His word.

Easter in one of those cute little traditions that we have so fallen in love with, especially in the west, where we celebrate with Easter bunnies and all these awesomely colorful eggs. Don’t we just love to see that sweet little toddler all dressed up in spring patterns and colors racing alongside her counterparts in an attempt at gathering the most eggs for her lovely basket? If you are like me, you too got carried away with the apparent beauty of this tradition but as Christians, have we stopped to ask why we do this? Is the word Easter in the Bible? If it is, please help a sister out here. Did we see the apostles or any of the prophets with baskets gathering eggs? I know there were 5 loaves and 2 fishes but I don’t remember that there were some eggs in the mix, do you? Can you imagine the apostle Paul dressed as an Easter bunny as a way of celebrating Christ’s resurrection?

You may be thinking, why not let sleeping dogs lie. Ok, I get it, let’s not rock the boat and upset the status quo after all this is ratified by the Christian establishment. I know that it is easier to go with the flow of things the way our parents, pastors and priests have always done it but is this not how the Pharisees and Sadducees held unto traditions to a point where the truth stood before them in the person of Jesus the Christ and they rejected and crucified him?

Let me leave you with some food for thought. If you really want to continue celebrating Easter, please do your own research and find out more on the following:

• Easter is derived from the word Eastre, a goddess of spring in ancient pagan religion
• Both the rabbit and the eggs are symbols of fertility in ancient Babylonian tradition

How do we end up with a pagan goddess and 2 Babylonian symbols of fertility for the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection? How does this end up being more about the sales of bunnies, baskets and eggs, and about the branding and commercialization of the term “Easter” by business people who are not promoting Christ. All of this leaves the church behind the scenes sounding like an afterthought and struggling to remind us that we are really celebrating Jesus. Could we have used terms such as “Resurrection Day” “Passover” or any other terms that retain the true meaning of what we are celebrating? It is time we Christians stand up for the truth and stop allowing the devil to run the show. Like you, I am learning to identify truth daily. I pray for boldness in you and me to stand for truth once we know it. Let’s take back those things which mean so much to our faith. Why are we christianizing pagan holidays and traditions? God warns us about this in Deuteronomy 12:4 “Do not worship God like the pagans worship their idols.”  Let us be like the Bereans who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:10-11) Rather than just go along with the world’s christianization of pagan traditions, let’s always check how the things we do measure against Biblical truth before joining the party!

Many have requested the lyrics for this heaven inspired song. Straight from the deep, stirred up in the secret place, meditate on these words as you enjoy the sweet presence of the lover of your soul. Remember to bare all before the King, for in his presence, there is no pretense, he sees everything and still loves you so!

As I come in your presence

I lay down my guard

There is no pretense

As to who I am

So I lay on the altar

My shame and my pain

Intimacy is what I want

Oooh you are my lover ooh oh oh

Oooh ooh you are my keeper

The Lover of my soul

I give you my heart

Oooh ooh I give you my life

Chorus:

Purify me, sanctify me take me to a higher place

Justify me, elevate me take me on a holy chase

Rectify me, beautify me take me on a higher plain

Satisfy me, edify me now I got a brand new name

Humbled in your presence

I stand here in awe

I can see you in your glory

I know now my need

How I hunger for your healing

Stripped off my pride

I know you’re my

Only ho ho ho ho hope!

Purify me, oh

Sanctify me, yay

Justify me eh eh eh

Elevate me oh

Rectify me ahemn

Beautify me eh eh

Satisfy me edify me now I got a brand new name

Listen: And now for your listening pleasure:

https://soundcloud.com/anita-etta/purify-me

Take a copy of this song home along with 11 other anointed songs by purchasing a copy here:

http://anitaetta.com/?product=purify-me

If you are still standing on the sidelines and wondering why every now and then you see another seemingly intelligent friend or family member join the “born again movement”, let me talk to you today. You thought he or she was more intelligent than that, how could they join those strange acting people and subject themselves to”brainwashing”? Now your friend or  family member is acting “fanatical” and they behave as if something very exciting is always happening in their lives. As if that was not enough, they are also paying tithes and giving all their money to the church or to that Pastor who you believe is the master brain washer. You have contemplated this whole situation and you have concluded that you will try and tolerate your friend if this makes them happy; different strokes for different folk! At least your friend seems to have suddenly found some type of peace after all the frustration they were previously experiencing in their life, you say to yourself. So when all is said and done, many have concluded that being born again is for frustrated people who had too many issues going on or possibly for weak people who cannot think for themselves and need a so called man or woman of God to control them and abuse their finances.

I would like to debunk that thinking by asking you to simply examine the facts around you. Born again believers are from all walks and social levels in life. Have you noticed that some of the born again believers you know may have been even more intelligent than you at school? While there are many struggling people who become born again, there are also many who are very successful in their careers, marriages and overall standing in life. Ask yourself what would make a very intelligent and career driven person suddenly profess their faith in Christ and submit under the authority of a Pastor who becomes a vehicle for the transformation of this person’s life? We have all seen too many powerful people including world leaders and famous people do this so there must be something to this. When it gets you, it is like a bug that you cannot shake off! It is a phenomenon that causes everyone around the newly born again person to be intrigued. The song says “There is something that makes me come into your presence my, helper”. Aaah … the Jesus Factor!

Consider these facts:

• Life is tough no matter who you are and trials and tragedy do not discriminate. We all need help at some point to navigate through life. If you disagree with this, you have not lived long enough, keep living!
• No matter how rich, intelligent or well connected you are, there are some problems you simply cannot solve.
• When sickness hits you, no matter how handsome or beautiful you are, it can reduce you to nothing.
• Ultimately, death will come knocking at everyone’s door and no human has the power to resist death.

Today I present to you the premise that those who chose to become born again and follow Jesus passionately have discovered a secret. They have understood that you can either battle your way through life with your limited human ability or you can be honest with yourself and accept that you need God to assist you. Many come to Jesus for this reason but let me indulge your mind for a minute with another hypothesis:

You did not create yourself right? Ok so we agree on this. The one who made us must have had a reason for doing so. We come into this world and generally  begin by doing our own thing until one day it dawns on us that there must be more to life. It cannot just be about eating, sleeping, having fun, working and so on. When a manufacturer makes a product, they always have a purpose for that product. A knife is made to cut stuff, if you use it to put food in your mouth, it will cut you and cause you to bleed. When you bleed, depending on how badly cut you are, it may lead to infection and maybe even death. Maybe you survive the cut but you go through a lot of pain before it heals; that is exactly how life is. If you do not find out and live the purpose for which you were made, you may be trying to live a life that was not what you were designed for thus creating a lot of wounds and pain in your life. Kinda like a square peg in a round hole! Being born again simply means you have gone back to submit to your manufacturer and ask him to use you for the purpose he made you. You change from living a life in which you experienced a lot of self inflicted pain through sin to a life of true purpose.

Your maker knows what you need in order to navigate through this complex world. He alone knows why he made you. You really will never experience true fulfillment until you are walking in your divine purpose. This is why those friends and family of yours suddenly become very excited, very happy, this is why they want to give all of themselves including their finances for godly purposes. This is why they cannot be silent and they want to tell everyone they know and all they meet about their Jesus. Isaiah 43:21 says “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise”. We were made to praise God and show forth his  glory. Isaiah 43:7 “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made”. Until you experience this, you will never understand what you are missing. Your friend or family member is not crazy, neither are they brainwashed, they have simply found their raison d’etre! You can find yours too in Christ. It does not matter what church you go to or what your academic or financial standing in life is, your true purpose is waiting to embrace you and when you find it, you will never be the same again. When you find it, you too will want to shout it from the mountain tops.

Your creator did not make you to struggle through life on  your own, he wants to  make things better for you but will not force himself on you.When all is said and done this is what your creator himself requires: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. I implore you to be open to this quest and you will be pleased with what you will find. If you need help to work through this, holla at me or at any one of those friends and family you thought had lost their minds. There is just something about the man called Jesus! Oh taste and see that the Lord, he is good!