Easter with Koloff!

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Nikita Kolov, once the Russian nightmare, now the Devil's nightmare. Hey, do I have a special show for you today? An Easter show. An Easter show with the nightmare.

How about that? Hey, when you think of Easter, let me just throw a question out there, right off the top of the show. When you hear Easter, what do you think about? I mean, what does Easter mean to you? I mean, it can be all over the spectrum, right, what Easter looks like. I mean, is it about bunny rabbits? Is that what Easter's about?

I know. Maybe it's about Easter egg hunts. Is it about Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets?

I mean, what immediately hits your mind when you hear the word Easter? Well, let's talk about that today on the Man Up show. And if you remember, if you listened to my special Valentine's presentation, and if you didn't, shame on you.

Go back and listen to that podcast on the special Valentine's show that I did. But you'll probably, or you're learning by now, like, I love history. Like, I really do. Like, I'm a history guy. I wasn't always a history guy. I didn't always love history.

But I'm fascinated by it now. I mean, that's why I love to travel to other countries. I remember years ago when the Lord led myself, the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, and another friend of ours, Jason Sanderson, on a pilgrimage to Israel. And I knew that I knew I was supposed to go.

And God's perfect timing, he just worked it all out. We went and we spent three days touring in Jordan, and then we spent eight days touring in Israel. And it's an incredible, incredible memory because we were in Jordan. We were touring, like, Roman ruins that were, like, three, four thousand years old. Not hundreds.

Three or four thousand. I mean, I was fascinated by that, seeing all these walking through towns and the center squares and where they had chariot races and the building of aqueducts and columns and pillars. Anyway, I'm rambling. But if you can't tell, I just love history. And then we went to the ruins of Petra, and that was the last thing we did right before the next day. We were baptized in the Jordan River. That's historical, right? Who else was baptized there?

Oh, I know. A man named Jesus, right? And John the Baptist baptizing people in the Jordan. And we actually got to see the Promised Land, kind of like Moses from Mount Nebo. We got to see it before we descended the Jordan Valley, got baptized, and then for the first time stepped foot into Israel.

Man, you want to talk about history? If you're a Christ follower, I want to encourage you, make that journey yourself one day. In fact, hopefully in 2022 we may put an Easter trip together to Israel, potentially. You follow me on social media and you'll probably learn more about that, you know, upcoming, unless Jesus comes back first. But history, to walk the streets, you know, of Jerusalem, to go into some of the ruins of Capernaum, I mean, just, again, I mean, just words can't even express.

So I love history. So we're talking about Easter. Special Easter show this weekend. Easter.

And so when it comes to history, when and where, you might even say, how did this, how did it originate anyway? Why do we celebrate this holiday known as Easter? And when it comes to bunny rabbits and Easter eggs and Easter egg baskets and the coloring of eggs and Easter egg hunts, how did all that start anyway? How did we get to that? How do we get to from what really the real true meaning, we'll talk about this towards the end of the show, what the real true meaning of Easter is to now it's turned into this holiday and the eating of chocolates and in some cases, big family get togethers and lunches and dinners.

Right. Well, the exact origin. Let's just start with the Easter Bunny. OK, let me just start with the bunny. The exact origin of the Easter Bunny is it's somewhat clouded in mystery.

I mean, kind of like many of these types of things. Right. One theory is that the symbol of the rabbit stems back to a pagan tradition celebrated at the beginning of spring, specifically the festival of and I'm probably going to butcher a bunch of these names and words, but estre. E-O-S-T-R-E. Estre, maybe, I don't know.

Bear with me. Anyway, it was a pre-Christian goddess in England, a goddess of fertility whose animal symbol was a bunny. Imagine that. You know anything about rabbits, which I didn't know much until I did my homework on this. I knew a little bit, but they're known for their energetic breeding. That's a good way to say they have lots of bunnies.

Right. They're known for their energetic breeding. Well, that kind of fits into fertility, doesn't it? Having traditionally symbolized fertility.

And the only reference to this goddess comes from the writings of the venerable Beatty, a British monk who lived in the late 7th and early 8th century. How about that for history? Rabbits usually give birth to a big litter of babies. Did you know? What are they called? Do you know? Any idea?

Any guess? Any of you rabbit breeders out there? You probably know the answer to this, but if you don't, this litter of babies is called kittens. So they became a symbol of new life. And legend has it that the Easter Bunny lays, decorates, and hides eggs as they are also a symbol of new life. Right.

Because obviously an egg can be used for breakfast or put it in an incubator and can produce more chickens. Right. So the Easter Bunny, why do we give Easter baskets?

You ever wondered that or you just automatically do it? Right. I remember my kids growing up, like every year I'm like, oh, I got to go get their Easter baskets, you know, and they wake up Easter morning and they'd have fun, you know, and going through the basket and everything that was in there. Well, Yastre, again, I don't know if I'm saying that right, I probably should have researched a little deeper, would carry a basket filled with eggs to encourage fertility and since seedlings and eggs are associated with new life, the baskets came to symbolize new life as well.

Get that? That's perhaps the main reason why we still give baskets filled with goodies during the holidays. Now, according to other European folklore, some other European folklore, a lot of this all took place over in Europe. A rabbit was said to leave a basket filled with colored eggs for children and when settlers, ready for this, immigrated to America, they brought that story with them. And that tradition then carried on.

In fact, Pennsylvania Dutch settlers were to bring the tradition to America where its popularity exploded during the Victorian era. And eventually, as it was called the Osterhaus, these are a couple of German attempts of annunciation, became the Easter Bunny and the baskets became receptacles for candy, toys, and plastic eggs that so many enjoy today. Well, we talk about Easter eggs. Why do we dye eggs?

You ever wondered that? Again, I can remember, you know, having fun with the kids, buying all the Easter dye and I can still see the little thing you stick the egg in, the little wire thing and dip it in and make all the different colors and try a collage of colors, right, with all the kiddos and just having, you know, having fun doing that. Ever wondered why, or maybe you don't care, but you're going to learn today, why do we dye eggs? Well, one account back in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, Easter eggs are dyed red, check this out, red to represent the blood of Christ. With further symbolism being found in the hard shell of the egg, because you've got to boil the egg, right?

Hey, don't, if you've never done that, don't try to like dye like an unboiled egg, hard boil the eggs first, just in case you're wondering or you didn't know that. But the further symbolism being found in the hard shell of the egg, which symbolized the sealed, the sealed tomb of Christ. And then the cracking of the egg symbolized his resurrection from the dead.

Hmm, that's one of those, hmm, wow, I never knew that. Centuries ago, Christian missionaries observed community members hunting for eggs in the spring, so they began using the food as a tool to describe Christ's new birth and resurrection. They would dye the eggs based on what colors meant to the church. So check this out, yellow represented resurrection. That's what the yellow egg represented, resurrection. Blue, the blue egg, represented love.

The red egg, as already mentioned, was for the blood of Christ. And they would, if they didn't just dye the eggs yellow, blue, red, they would, they would paint various scenes. This is kind of cool. Hey, maybe we should implement this again today, or maybe some do, I don't know.

But this is kind of cool. They would paint various scenes from the Bible on the eggs and hide them. Remember the egg hunts, right? And hide them, and then the child who found the egg would come back and have to tell the story that was painted on that egg. Hey, that's one way of helping to educate the children to all the Bible stories, isn't it? That's pretty creative. Hey, maybe that's something you might implement this Easter. Paint some Bible stories on your eggs, go hide them, let your children go find them, and then see if they can tell.

You know, put Jonah, you know, put Jonah and the whale on there, you know, but maybe you paint a picture of the people crossing the Red Sea, crossing the Jordan River, all kinds of stories that you could paint on the eggs. We so appreciate our listeners. If you will support this program with a financial gift of any amount, I will send you a personalized copy of my latest book, Nikita, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption.

Go to Koloff.net, that's Koloff.net, Koloff.net, and make your contribution today. Nikita Koloff, the Russian nightmare here for Crescent Automotive. If buying a car is a nightmare for you, my friends, Brian and Jamie Johnson at Crescent Automotive make it simple to find your pre-owned dream car with no hassle, affordable windshield pricing. No matter where you live, they will get your American dream car to you, baby. DriveCrescent.com is all you need to know.

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DriveCrescent.com. Well, we mentioned Easter egg hunts. Okay, now, I used to have a blast with that, too. Like, truth be known, I really did.

Now, it wasn't the heartache. You know, we'd buy the plastic ones, you know, crack open or crack in half. And what I would have fun doing, and maybe you do this very same thing, or maybe you don't do this at all, is, you know, obviously you put different little candies in there. But my kids always knew in some of them there was going to be money. They were money motivated to go find the eggs and frustrated when they couldn't find them. And then, of course, as you can gather with four children, if one only got three cents and the other got three dollars, one was happier than the other. So I tried my best to make sure each child got about an equal amount of cashola in their egg hunt.

But I would. I put different coins, mostly coins. But every now and then, you know, I might slip a dollar bill in there and, you know, and they'd get a green back in addition to the coins. And all excited about about, you know, add it all up and see how much they got. And of course, obviously they love the candy as well. But why an Easter egg hunt? You ever wondered about that?

Why? Why do we have Easter egg hunts? Well, documented from what I learned, the first Easter egg hunt can be traced back to none other than Martin Luther.

Martin Luther, a central figure during the Protestant Reformation. And men hid the eggs ready for this for women and children to find. So the women even went on on the Easter egg hunt. So the men would hide them and the women and children go find them. And then they'd have the happy act of finding an Easter egg during the hunt. And it was supposed to remind remind them of the joy that the women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, Mother of James, Salome, Salome, you know, again, apologize for butchering these these names and words.

But but but check this out. So it was supposed to when they found the eggs, it was supposed to symbolize the joy the women experienced and what they felt when they came to Jesus's empty the cave, the tomb and found it empty. And so just given given the women and even the children the opportunity to to enjoy that, experience that joy, that joy. Well, the Christian holiday celebrated each and every year has and it's been observed. It's been this holiday has been observed since the second century.

Now, the real reason it's not about Easter bunnies, it's not about egg hunts and dying eggs, although there's a lot as I just explained, a lot of great symbolism involved in all of that. But more than anything, this this this Christian holiday symbolizes and or it's a way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And, you know, so we got to two huge holidays every year, right? Christmas. And Easter. I mean, Christmas, just the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the babe lying in a manger, the shepherds out in their fields and the angels showing up and announcing the Savior's birth and them going running into the village to find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. The wise man who sometime later would make their trip, their their venture to to find the child, the young child and present their gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh.

What an amazing story. The birth of Jesus. And then there's Easter.

The resurrection of Jesus. You ever wonder why there's a sunrise service? I mean, some churches still do that. I don't know that everybody does that.

Some do. Well, there's a reason why Easter Sunday is often celebrated with a church service at the what we just say the crack of dawn, right? It was early at dawn on Easter morning that Mary went to Jesus's tomb to find it empty. Which is why so many churches will will still hold services at at the early hour of dawn to honor this momentous occasion. The tradition of sunrise service, from what I could tell, dates back to 1732 when the first service was held in Germany by the Moravian Church. It was a group of young men who gathered at first light of dawn in the town's graveyard to sing hymns of praise. And the next year, the entire congregation joined in and then by 1773, the first Easter sunrise service. Check this out for you history buffs. In 1773, the first sunrise service for Easter was held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I like that for a piece of history. That's where I'm broadcasting these shows from, Winston-Salem.

That's where my last wrestling match was officially. Well, there's a lot of history in Winston-Salem. Why an Easter feast?

Ever wonder that? Why an Easter feast? Well, we can thank Lent for our big Easter feast. Originally, Lent required people to fast for 40 days, excluding Sundays. You didn't have to fast on Sundays. Lent, for some, is just a special time of prayer and sacrifice and good works and preparation of the celebration of Easter. For others, it's more commonly observed by having people give up an indulgence.

Maybe that's you, right? I'm going to give up, you know, caffeine. I'm going to give up chocolate. Oh no, there goes the Easter bunny.

Just kidding. I'm going to give up television. Or maybe in modern-day vernacular, I'm going to give up social media, you know, for the 40 days of Lent. The exact end date for Lent can vary slightly depending on whether the church is following Western or Eastern practices, but it tends to end near Easter. So come Easter Sunday, people are definitely ready to dig into some sweet and savory dishes that they've been missing for 40 days. Although the choice of what to serve for Easter dinner might come down to taste and preference, for some, the menu holds great significance. For example, in early Jewish history, lambs were sacrificed as offerings to God and served regularly as part of the Passover feast. Then when Jesus died during Passover, He represented the ultimate sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God, and the animal evolved into a symbol for Christianity. The celebration of Easter is an international event, but few cultures refer to the holiday by its famous name.

Early Christians called Christ's resurrection, ready? Pisaach. Pisaach.

I did try to look that one up, and I hope I said that right. Don't be offended to all you Messianic Jews out there if I said it wrong. It's a Hebrew word for Passover. Today most languages use a variation of that name, like Pisaach in French. Pisaach. That sounds, yeah, that sounds pretty, yeah, anyway.

Pascua in Spanish, Pascua in Italian, Pasaach in Albanian, and just Pasc in Swedish. So there's my attempt. Yeah, you're probably wondering why I didn't, I should have looked up Russian. Oh, man, I dropped the ball on that one.

Hello. Come on, Russian nightmare, devil's nightmare, why not, you know, say it in Russian. All right, next time, or I'll remember that for a later date. Some say the first Easter Bunny was a legend, you know, documented back into the 1500s, and according to some sources, the Easter Bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s, as I mentioned, with the German immigrants, and settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of egg laying, the egg laying hare. Remember what it was called?

Ousterhaus, or Ochterhaus, and their children made nests in which they could lay their eggs. But all in all, you know, as I kind of bring this special Easter show, start winding this up, and bring it to a conclusion, I just have to reemphasize, you know, it's not about the Easter Bunny, it really isn't, even though it's not about the Easter eggs, it's not about the egg hunt, it's not about the Easter baskets. I mean, no matter when it came to America, or when it was first initiated, whatever the actual numbers are, it's all about Jesus. That's really the bottom line.

It's all, Easter is about Jesus. Now, that's not to say you can't celebrate and do some of the things we just talked about. You can.

You can. Go do that. This Easter, go do that. Have an Easter egg hunt. Have a big party and celebration and a big feast.

You know, go hide the eggs and let your kids find them. But more than anything, make sure your children, your family, everyone that you're celebrating Easter with, you know, that knows the real reason for this season. Kind of use that at Christmas, right? Here's the real reason for the season. Jesus. Well, the real reason for the Easter season is just as, Jesus.

Jesus. Easter and Christmas. Two special holidays for every Christ follower. Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus. Easter, celebrating His resurrection. You know, if you're listening today, and I've known others over the years that Easter was a memorable day for them because that was actually the day, you know, maybe they don't frequent church all that much, but they go on, I call them CEOs, they go on Christmas and Easter only, right?

CEOs. Christmas and Easter only. But there's many who, because of that, they surrender their heart and life to Jesus on Christmas, or at Easter, at a special Easter production.

You know, a lot of churches will do special Easter productions, typically, or have special Easter services. Well, if you don't know Jesus, you're listening today, and can I end this show by saying this today? If you don't know Jesus, man, make that decision today.

Don't wait any longer. And this Easter, this Easter, 2021, can be one of the most memorable Easters you will have ever had. Why? Because you'll always remember it was on that Easter that I surrendered my life, I surrendered my heart to Jesus, and life, I assure you, will never be the same. And most likely, you'll even look at Easter in a whole different light. Your eyes will be open to see Easter in a whole different way. So I hope you've enjoyed today's show. Pray a prayer.

It's not complicated. Just ask for forgiveness. Commit, surrender, repent, invite Jesus into your heart, and I hope some of the history I shared with you today, I hope you enjoyed it, and now you know just a little bit more, as I do, about the backdrop of Easter. But most important, can I emphasize, I can't emphasize enough, that most important, as you celebrate Easter today, make sure your heart's in the right place, your eyes are focused on the cross, and you realize it's all about Jesus. Thanks for tuning in to the Man Up show today. Remember, today and every day, God is first. Men, I would like to challenge each of you to consider spending five days with Lex Luger and I at Man Camp, pursuing the heart of God. Ladies, if you're listening, we'll send your men home better equipped to be men of God, godly husbands, and godly fathers.

God appeals to you. Give them your blessing and encourage them to sign up today at mancamp.info. Pastors, if you would like to bring Koloff for Christ Ministries and Man Up Conference to your community, go to koloff.org and email me. Remember this, it's time to man up. We'll be seeing and serving you soon. This is Nikita Koloff, and I want to thank Clemens Karp for supporting my new show, Man Up, Saturday afternoon at 1230 on the Truth Network. Nikita Koloff here.

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