around the same time as the traditional memorial of Christ's resurrection from the dead, was merged with the pagan celebration, and became known as Easter. This was a grievous mistake, for such a pagan celebration can never properly symbolize Christ's resurrection from the dead, both as it was celebrated then, and what it has become today.

 

There are good and scriptural reasons why the Restored Branch of Jesus Christ rejects this pagan name and the practices surrounding it. The first followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ honoured the Lord with reverence and dignity, without the admixture of paganism and frivolity. But the Church fell away, and was lost, only to be restored once more in Ancient Britain, amongst the People of the Araneck, as has been revealed in modern times by the restoration and translation of the Chronicles of The Children of Araneck of which The Book of Jeraneck is a part.

 

There, in Chapter 17:67-72 the Lord revealed to the Prophet

Jeraneck, "And I looked and I saw that he was older and in his mid years and I saw that he was in a garden with his friends and as his friends lay sleeping and I saw that he bled from his skin and the Lord said unto me:- Behold I bleed for you and your people behold I bleed for all that have lived and will ever

live. I bleed and take upon my self the sins of the entire world and then I saw that his own people spat on him and cursed and betrayed him and a strange looking people full of hate and idolatry and whipped him and they placed thorns on his head and they nailed him to a tree in the shape of a cross and there he hung and died between two others. And my heart sank that the people would do this to God. Now as I wondered what kind of people could do this to God and in my despair the Lord commanded me to look and I saw that he had risen from the dead and that he walked again upon the earth once more and that he did many great things unto his people."

 

This indeed must be the proper and true focus of the sacred holiday of the Lord's resurrection. And again, the Lord appeared unto His people in the Americas, and in the Book of Mormon, the Lord testifies that there is a resurrection, “But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death, is swallowed up in Christ.” (Mosiah Chapter 8:81)

 

In today’s Restored Branch of Jesus Christ, which has been resurrected in our time just as it has been in ancient times amongst ancient peoples, that which was added to the Lord's teaching by way of Pagan admixture have been stripped away from the original holiday as wheat is separated from the chaff, and the day is once again focused on the Lord’s sacrifice on our behalf. On the 8th of March 2007, Now section 155 in the Doctrine and Covenants, He gave to His branch a new revelation and outlined His will concerning the proper celebration of his New Passover. The Lord said, "I, the Lord, am most displeased with the world for they have taken my sacrifice and they have desecrated it and they have set it at naught. Behold I say unto you that it is not pleasing unto me that Easter be celebrated amongst my church in the manner in which it is being done. … Wherefore come unto me at the time you call Easter and lay a feast at your table in my honour and lay upon the altar table well prepared and cooked lamb which is a similitude of me and also bring before me unleavened bread that you may remember that I suffered in the garden and upon the cross for you. Behold I say that this is not to take away the sacredness of the sacrament but it is to prove unto me that I, the Lord, am remembered amongst you and that my sacrifice is not set at naught.”

 

Therefore, we choose to obey the Lord, and to stand firmly with the traditional teaching of Easter, the New Passover of the Lord, who has commanded us to keep this celebration both sacred and holy. It is not just another holiday to be spent in frivolity and overindulgence, but a celebration and remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice for us. In these last days, the Lord has seen fit to call a people forth to set right what has for so long been in error. He has seen fit to enlighten humanity with more revealed scripture and has enabled us to read the words of others who also worshipped at the feet of Christ. And so today he has chosen to do away with the errors of the Easter season.

 

In these last days, the Restored Branch of Jesus Christ has been commanded to set aside the false feast of Easter and has been commanded instead to remember the New Passover of Christ from mortality to immortally - from corruptible to incorruptible. The Feast of the New Passover, therefore, is to be a holy and proper celebration of the true meaning of this celebration of the wonderful time of year falsely named by the world as "Easter." Instead of chocolate eggs, we are called to remember our Saviour's actions in the Garden of Gethsemane, in which he bled from his very pores, and on the cross, where he also bled, in order to atone for our sins.

 

Instead of making "Easter eggs," we are called to remember how he took the sins of the world upon him in the Garden and on the Cross. And instead of wearing bonnets and clothing, we are called to remember the resurrection - the central event of our faith - in which Christ took off the bodily clothing of corruption and put on incorruption during the resurrection, which assures us that life is eternal.

 

Therefore, let us embrace our duty to do as the Lord commands us, and leave behind as so much filthy rags all the trappings of Easter eggs and bunny rabbits and let us instead look only upon Christ, for He is our Lord and it is to Him that our minds must be turned this special time of year.