“When Jesus Christ rose from His earthly tomb on Easter morning, He restored our grace, washed our sins, and reconciled humanity with God—fulfilling the ancient prophecy that ‘He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity … by His wounds we were healed.’”

• That was part of Donald Trump’s message to the nation, posted on the White House website on Friday.

The next day he released a video from the White House stating:

I’m proud to join with Christians across the country, and around the world, to celebrate the most glorious miracle in all of time: the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In His life, Christ displayed true humility. In His death, He modeled true love. And in His resurrection from the tomb, He proved that even death itself will not silence those who place their trust in Almighty God.

His religious message is a major contrast to the statements Joe Biden would put out at this time of year.

• In Biden’s 2021 Easter remarks, his only mention of anything religious was to say, “God bless you all. May God protect our troops and take care of the Easter bunny.”
• Some of his messages had more substance to them, but even so, I haven’t found anywhere he talked about Christ dying for our sins.
• This year, several Democratic leaders issued statements to commemorate “Transgender Day of Visibility” on March 31 but had nothing to say about Easter.

By comparison, President Trump’s message sounds far better. But it would be a mistake to look no deeper than the surface.

“As we rejoice in this Easter season, we are reminded that the life of Jesus Christ and the truths of the gospel have inspired our way of life and our national identity for 250 years,” he said in his Friday statement. “From the Christian patriots who won and secured our liberty on the battlefield and every generation since, the love of Christ has unfailingly guided our nation through calm waters and dark storms.”

Is America really “guided” by the love of Christ? If you are guided by something, it changes your course and your direction.

• America’s Founding Fathers didn’t have a perfect understanding of the Bible, but if Americans would look at how they were guided by their beliefs, they could learn a lot.

“Christian leaders today teach that the law has been done away,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in 2011. “That is almost the extreme opposite of what our forefathers believed!”

Americans could let God’s law guide and change them. But it’s much easier to talk about God and keep doing what we want.

That is the truth about Easter. Jesus Christ never kept that holiday. Nor did the disciples. They kept Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

• Christ said He would be in the grave three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40), not the two nights and one day from Easter Friday to Easter Sunday. In fact, those three days and three nights are the only sign He gave of His Messiahship (verse 39). (Read our reprint article “From Good Friday to Easter Sunday” to learn more.)

Easter, named for the goddess Ishtar, is a pagan fertility festival. Mankind kept it and all its pagan fertility symbols—the bunny, the eggs, etc—and they added in a lot of talk about Jesus.

• That is the same approach America is taking to religion under President Trump. There is a lot of talk about Christ, but it is mixed with unsavory, unbiblical ideas and practices.

Many Christians know that their predecessors mixed the name of Christ with pagan festivals—and have no problem with it. As with Christmas, some openly boast of having taken over a pagan festival.

• But it comes down to whom we obey. Do we do whatever we want and find a way to call it Christian? Or do we really let Christ guide and direct our lives? If so, we will keep the same holy days He kept, not sticking a Christian label on pagan days.

Turning away from pagan days like Easter would be a real step for a nation, or an individual, to be “unfailingly guided” by the love of Christ.