The Spring Festival
(April 2000; Modified  April 2004)

Dear Saints, when light is shed upon darkness in our lives and we ignore that light by continuing in darkness, a breaking apart begins in our relationship with The Lord. This breaking apart results in our not giving The Lord "one hundred percent" love and obedience. The consequence of the decline in our love and obedience toward The Lord is gradual, but steady reprobation of the mind. The word to The Church is to heed this message and act upon it.

Beloved, do not forget God’s immutability – He simply does not change. True, Jesus was not found in the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday), but that does not justify Resurrection Sunday/Easter always being celebrated on a Sunday each and every year, year-in and year-out. Let’s back up and answer the following question: How could Jesus have died on the cross on Friday afternoon (according to the Catholic Church) and resurrected two days later, or a day and one-half later, on Sunday, the first day of the week? That being the case, Jesus wasn’t truthful when He said He would rise on the third day. (We know that Jesus cannot lie!) Something is terribly wrong there. According to Luke 18:33, Jesus resurrected on the third day. Beloved, again, you have been lied to all these years and you have bought it. You cannot get a three-day resurrection out of two days. Indeed, it is the gates of hell attempting to prevail against the True Church of Jesus Christ. Your observing Easter Sunday is sin on your part and you have Satan and the Roman Catholic Church to thank for that.

What constitutes a day was established back in Genesis - sundown to sundown, or from one time period of between the light of one day to the next. Further proof as to what constitutes a day, look at Exodus 12:18-19, The Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron, "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leven found in your houses...." This was the Passover feast The Lord was speaking of and it was for seven days, from day 14 to day 21.

From the evening of day 14 to the evening of day 21 is 7 days of 24-hour periods each.

How could Jesus have died on the cross on Friday afternoon (according to the Catholic Church) and resurrected two days later, Sunday, the first day of the week, if a full day is a 24-hour period? If He died on a Friday, then from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon would have been three full days and nights, and not from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning. Again, according to Luke 18:33, Jesus resurrected on the third day. Jesus said Himself:

Question: Did the third day rising mean in fact rising somewhere within the third day? Did it mean rising at the end of the third day and night, which would have made His resurrection on the fourth day?

Answer: Look at Queen Esther’s requested fast:

Esther requested a fast of her people on her behalf before approaching the king. She requested that the fast should last three full days and three full nights. For example, we will say that the fast was called to begin on a Monday evening.

Let us look at what Esther says next in Chapter 5:

"On the third day" meant that some time "near the end" of the third day of the three full days and three full nights of fasting, Esther went before the king. Esther went sometime before the full fast expired at the end of the third day of twenty-four hour periods.

Jesus died about the ninth hour (Matthew 27:45-46). The ninth hour is believed to have been around 3PM in the afternoon, and He was laid in the sepulcher before sundown because the Passover feast was to begin at sundown.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre (John 20:1; Mark 16:1-2).

1. The first day being Sunday, Mary Magdalene went to the sepulcher.
   
2. The first day of the week began at sundown Saturday evening, and would run until sundown on Sunday evening.
   
3. Mary Magadalene went when it was yet dark – meaning some time before daybreak on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to the sepulcher, but Jesus was already gone. Jesus had left before sundown Saturday, the third day from His crucifixion.

"In the end of sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week...." (Matthew 28:1) shows clearly that this was the weekly Sabbath/Saturday, and not the Passover Sabbath, before the dawning of the first day - Sunday. For three-full-days and three-full-nights, Jesus was to be preaching to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18-19), but was resurrected on or during the third day, or before the end of the third day, which meant He had to have been crucified on a Wednesday. This also means that, sundown of that Wednesday was the evening beginning the yearly feast (yearly Sabbath) of Passover.  "for that sabbath day was an high day . . ." (John 19:31).

Absolutely no earthly way could Christ have died on a Friday and been resurrected three full days and three full nights later, ending up on a Sunday and not a Monday. Church, you are guilty of observing days  that are not ordained by God, but by man, with Satan as the author. Church, you call yourself saved and yet you continue to partake in this pagan holy day (Easter). This is inexcusable before God! For centuries now, The Church is guilty of savoring not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men, and you continue to savor those pagan/man-made days. Repentance is in order, for you have not given up paganism while claiming to belong to Jesus. Repentance is in order because you choose to continue walking in the dictates of the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Interjection: Victor was the Bishop of Rome at the time Polycrates was Bishop of Ephesus. Polycrates refused to celebrate Easter as Victor and the Roman Church had fixed to always fall on a Sunday. (Celebrating Easter Sunday was to satisfy the pagans that had come into The Church.) Even before Polycrates, there was disputation over the Churches in Asia Minor not celebrating Easter, but celebrating Paschal according to the Jewish Passover on 14^th day of Nisan. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna had refused to celebrate Bishop Anicetus of Rome’s fixed Sunday Easter celebration, and did it according to what he had learned from Apostle John.

Polycarp, the venerable and sainted bishop of Smyrna, who, according to Irenaeus visited Rome in 159 with this object, failed to induce Anicetus to conform to the Quartodeciman [observant of 14^th day of Nisan] usage, which Polycarp had inherited from his master, the Apostle John. (The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume VII. The Werner Company, New York, 1900, p 614.)

To this day, there should be no Easter or Resurrection Day celebration in the True Church of Jesus Christ. The True Church of Jesus Christ should be celebrating the "fulfilled" feast of Passover with excitement and lots of joy because Jesus, the unblemished Sacrificial Lamb, is now resurrected after shedding His blood on Calvary. The Passover feast (out of Egypt) was a shadow of Jesus' shed blood on the cross on Calvary. This is a true holy feast day ordained by God. It is the 14th day of Nisan, which can fall on any day of the week and not always the same day of the week. When the Roman Catholic Church instituted the pagan holy day of Easter, and because of its great influence over the other churches, Passover celebration of Jesus' resurrection made its exit from the early Christian churches. (My Lord! How long You have ached in Your heart because of this gross sin.)

With Easter being so pagan, how can you, the Body of Christ, want anything to do with it? Easter is named after the Goddess of Spring (Eostre, Ostera, Astarte, or Ishtar, according to the Venerable Bede). The Easter eggs, the bunny rabbit, all have to do with sexuality, fertility, and new life (this is not to say that "normal" sex between husband and wife is trash). Easter celebration is pure pagan trash that was incorporated into The Church of Jesus Christ for the purpose of drawing in large numbers of pagan worshipers and keeping them there by making it the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It cannot be said often enough: God does not need the help of pagan practices incorporated with His teachings to draw men unto Him. That is not God! Be forewarned, pay no attention to folks saying, "Well, even though it doesn't quite lineup with the Word of God, don't let these facts discourage you from celebrating Easter." True Church of Jesus Christ, BE DISCOURAGED! Repent!

No Born Again Believer can, and should even want to, take anything pagan/demonic and attempt to "Christianize" it. Paganism cannot be Christianized. Church, you have got to repent. God is sending this warning to you in love and after much patience, for He is so patient. Look how long He has waited for you to turn loose all the pagan celebrations in His Church. As stated in the above reference, the early Church started to go astray from the original faith in lots of ways. The waywardness in The Church today goes back to the control the church in Rome wanted and started to have over the other church bodies, resulting in them falling victim to the harmful influence of that lead church. Church, you know that anytime you have a controlling spirit in operation in the church body, or a person, it is not of God but is unmistakably of Satan. That is what was going on with the church in Rome - a controlling spirit was and still is in operation. Body of Christ, repent of all the false teachings you have received from the Catholic Church and stay away from her! Stay Away from the Catholic Church and her Easter celebration! You are to turn loose of her! That Catholic Church is the gates of hell trying to prevail against the TRUE CHURCH of Jesus Christ through the pagan celebration of Easter.

God's Law, His Word, the Ten Commandments, is yet alive on the fleshly tables of your heart. It has not been abolished. To be just before God is evident by one who is obedient to His Law and gives up all of the pagan holy days. God's Law, His Word, is not dead. This immutable God is grieving over you. Repent! Go back to your First Love, while remembering that.

1. Jesus died on a Wednesday.
2. Jesus was resurrected on or near the end of the third day, which was sometime before sundown on Saturday, which would have ended the third day of His burial. Remember, He would rise on the third day, or before the third day ended.
3. The first day of the week, Sunday, began at the end of Saturday’s sundown.
4. Mary Magdalene went to the sepulchre early on the first day when it was yet dark, or before daybreak – midway of the first day, Sunday, and Jesus was already gone.