ANNOUNCEMENT
March-22, 2023
1st Day of the sacred year!
The God Calendar
Time, being ordered by the Creators was put in place and effect from the creation week, each 24-hour period a day, consisting of 12 hours of light, followed by 12 hours of darkness, the light period ending at sunset is 1-day. (John 11:9.) In the same way that a day starts and ends, (suns setting) a lunar cycle of approximately 28-30 days complete a month at the dark phase of moon. These laws were put in place and made by the Creators, with each month beginning and ending at the moon’s setting phase which becomes the New Moon.
From the dark phase of the new moon in it’s growth cycle from darkness to light, the slightest sliver of light becomes visible as it waxes to a quarter, then full moon stage. This is the halfway point, then begins its waning back to the dark phase again until it “sets”, or becomes dark once again becoming another new moon, and beginning another month.
This is how all days in the Calendar called the sacred or holy calendar are ordered, holy because the Eternal Creators ordained these to be laws and which God’s people today, ostensibly known as the church or what is meant to be spiritual Israel do follow. Formerly the church in the wilderness (Old Testament) to the church (congregation) of God. (New Testament) See Acts.7:38.
In Old Testament times, physical Israel as God’s chosen people were instructed by the servant of God, Moses to tell them to keep the holy days as God Himself ordered His people to do via His servant. He, Moses was given the instructions while still in Egypt, very close to the holy land, Jerusalem, by the One who was to become the Christ who instructed the apostles on the keeping of the New Testament Passover at His last supper, clearly then, these laws were not included with the rituals of the law of Moses.
I Cor. 10:1-4 gives insight into who it was that led ancient Israel in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. This is that Moses, which said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your own brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness…Ancient Israel was the church in the wilderness led by the one who was to become the Christ, who was the Word of God that did the speaking on the Father’s behalf. We mention these scriptural facts only that the world’s religion’s, “Christianity” in particular may know that they do not worship the same Lord, but a counterfeit Jesus. (Anglicized—Jeshua-Pro-Yeshua). He was the the Lawgiver whom they reject.(James 4:12; Isa 33:22.) and the One by whom The Father created all things, in heaven and in earth, the Logos. See John.1:1-2; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2, 11:3; Col’s 1:15-17.
“Christianity” do not know nor accept that He is the One whom the Father will send in the day of vengeance, to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of their ungodly deed which the ungodly have committed and which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. All of these matters including God’s holy time keeping, the sacred calendar of Christ Jesus was kept precisely by the Lord when He kept the holy days, which the apostles then taugh the churches they raised up to also keep. God’s holy calendar being spiritual is not magically done-away with the rituals of the Law seeing they are spiritual, or Christ Himself would not have kept them nor as it is receorded in the New Testament scriptures that the apostles kept and taught these laws. . Judges 1:14-15; I Thess 1:7-8; 4:16-17; 2 Thes 1:7-8.
“Christianity” Not So Christian
“Christianity” do not know nor accept that He is the One whom the Father will send in the day of vengeance, to execute judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly of their ungodly deed which the ungodly have committed and which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. All of these matters including God’s holy time keeping, the sacred calendar of Christ Jesus was kept precisely by the Lord when He kept the holy days, which the apostles then taugh the churches they raised up to also keep. God’s holy calendar being spiritual is not magically done-away with the rituals of the Law seeing they are spiritual, or Christ Himself would not have kept them nor as it is receorded in the New Testament scriptures that the apostles kept and taught these laws. . Judges 1:14-15; I Thess 1:7-8; 4:16-17; 2 Thes 1:7-8.
“Christians” in this spiritually degraded age reject the very words Christ spoke concerning the Law, they say, not He, is done away, and nailed to His cross. A lie pure and simple, and as the serpent lied to old mother Eve, so have these poor souls allowed themselves to believe the great lie that He came to destroy the Law which the Lord himself said he did not come to destroy or abolish.
Today, “Christianity” know nothing of the commands Christ gave His apostles and the New Testament churches to keep, teach and live by, much of which was lost down through the centuries by what is ‘known’ as “Christianity” today. But the actual fact is, is that Christianity today are little more than a pagan counterfeit started by Simon, not Simon-Peter the chief apostle to the circumcision, but Simon the sorcerer ( Acts 8:9-11,13,18-23.)
The true church of God was the persecuted and small church which was driven into the wilderness. The apostle Paul was taught directly by Christ for 3-1/2 years supposedly in Arabia, and returned to preach the Gospel to the Gentile churches, though there were many Jews in those congregations, many with Gentile attitudes and natures, who were all taught to keep the holy days according to God’s own calendar. All members of the church were to observe these days, prepare for them, and keep them as they were appointed of God, and were often at odds with the festivals of the Jews religion-Judaism.
Nevertheless, it is not just the festivals this world’s religions reject, it is the entirety of the Law they say is nailed to his cross”. Conveniently, “Christianity” reject God’s spiritual Laws too, regardless of the fact that God’s own Son said: “Think not that I am come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I am not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For verily, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law”. Mat.5:17-18.
Which laws were made powerless? The sacrificial system of meat and drink offerings, many of which were carried out on holy days, Sabbaths, new moons etc. Unfortunately, “Christianity” and all of the world’s religions do not accept any of God’s Laws or ordinances which were never part of the rituals of the Mosaic law. A great mistake, and as Simon-Peter said concerning those who ae unstable and unlearned wrest the scriptures to their own destruction.
God calls these a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the Law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Isa 30:9-10.
Although most know that Catholicism is not Christianity, yet, they all claim to offer salvation by Jesus Christ. An impostant matter in the context of who are, and who are not following Christ seeing Christ Himself forewarned that many would come in his name saying that He was the Christ and deceive many.
Today, the washed out and watered down churches of God who trace their history back to the ancient New Testament church of God were called Christian (Acts.26:28.) but they refuse to acknowledge that God’s holy calendar of sacred days were appointed exactly and precisely as the Lord spoke in the books of the Law, not the Mosaic law, not rituals, not done away by “faith” as many unlearned “teachers” say.
What quite astonishingly happened in rapid time in the New Testament churches of God was that which the apostle Paul whose many epistles rebuked the errors and iniquities which set in to the church, also worked tirelessly with encouragements, admonishments and corrections he repeatedly gave them, and in only about 20-short years after the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection back to the throne of the Father the “Mystery of Iniquity” had already set in. (2Thess 2:7.)
That old serpent called the Devil and Satan began to move quickly against the churches of God with ongoing and prolonged persecutions by the heathens, beginning with the Romans in horrific acts of barbarity too awful to cover in this short article. Suffice to say, books such as Foxes Book of Martyrs does more justice to this dark period in church history than we have
space for here.
Were God’s Holy Days Part of The Rituals?
The short answer is a resounding NO! The rituals of the sacrificial system alone were made powerless, given that the Lamb of God had become the one true sacrifice for God’s people, animal sacrifices were now redundant, and could not deliver the one who sinned, nor could the blood of bulls or goats clear the guilty from sin, but the blood of Christ only could redeem God’s people. The penalty of death still hangs over the vast majority of all earths people’s, until they too are freed from their transgressions of God’s Law. Notice what Galatians 2:16-20 & 3:10, 13-19 speak regarding the “works of the Law” the Greek word ‘Ergon’ refers not to our works which are required though we are not saved by them, we are saved by grace through Jesus Christ’s shed blood, and saved by His life-His resurrection from death!
But the Old Testament ritualistic sacrificial works the Levitical Priesthood did for the people, with meat and drink offerings, these works (Ergon of the Law) of the temporary Law can never justify the sinner. The church is now under grace through Christ, as we live according to God’s Law as a way of life, as Christ said: “Ye shall not live by bread alone, but, by every word of God. (Matt 4:4) quoting from the Old Testament words He gave Moses to speak to Israel, (Deut 8:3.) the ‘church’ in the wilderness. Again, Acts 7:37-38.
The Law given there at Mount Horeb were really a formalizing of what the ancient had already been doing for centuries or father Abraham would not have given tithes to Melchizedek, the Priest of the most high God, Heb 7:1-2 and who was in actual fact the same everliving Being by whom the Almighty created all things in heaven and in earth, the Word who was with God and was also God. John 1:1-2; Psa 110:4 Eph 3:9;
These laws and commandments include God’s Holy Days which were appointed by Him through Christ the same Great High Priest of the soon-to-be-revealed everliving New Testament Priesthood which God changed from Aaron at the tearing of the veil. Mat 27:51. Heb.7:12.
Regarding law, Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek hundreds of years before the Law was given, “Christianity’s” erroneous doctrine of no law make no sense from many points and perspectives, particularly seeing the Law was kept before the covenant of Mount Horeb was inaugurated officially and cannot remove the Law. See Heb.7:9-10
While the Law of Moses does not bring eternal life, neither just being a law-keeper without God’s holy Spirit, there is no life, for the gifts of God’s holy Spirit enjoin life, the spiritual Law of the 10-commandments are designed to order mankind’s conducts in true worship of the eternal, and while they do not give life which relates to the promises apart from Law, they are part of the requirements that God seeks regarding obedience to His word. (Acts.5:28-32)
The sacrificial system of the Law in the Law of Moses was set-aside with all of the rites and associated ceremonial and rituals after the “Seed” came, and the promises God made with Abraham and to his seed refers to Christ, meaning, the law which came 430-years after the promises cannot disannul or nullify that covenant established of God with Abraham. (Galatians 3:16-17)
The covenant was not established upon the Law, but by promise, Gal.3:18.
The ‘law’ (Of Moses) was given because of transgressions to teach the people who had lived in Pagan circumstances in Egypt for more than 400-years and were almost entirely Gentile in nature knowing little to nothing of God. Most of the verses describing the law in Galatians refer to the Mosaic law, not the 10-Commandments of the spiritual Law, but, that does not mean that all of the laws of Moses are magically done away contrary to popular “Christian” believe today. Those laws are necessary to the righteous ways of living and godly conduct, but once Christ had fulfilled His course the need for the sacrificial laws were removed and replaced with faith, for the just said God shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4; Rom 1:17.) that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Gal 3:14.
Even the covenant of physical circumcision being magnified is no longer about physical circumcision, but spiritual circumcision which is the one baptism. Gal.5:11. Eph 4:5
While verse 18 of Galatians 5 teaches the would-be disciple that you are not under the law if led of the Spirit of God, the proper meaning is that we are not under the penalty of the Law of sin and death through Christ’s sacrifice and shed blood if we partake of that “blood” which symbolically he taught to drink the red wine symbolizing His shed blood, and the unleavened bread symbolizing his broken body, and to wash one another’s feet at Passover as an annual memorial until He come. All of these “symbols” refer to eternal life in Christ.
Circumcision Spiritually Magnified LAW Thru Baptism Covenant
The Lord taught that even to look upon a woman to lust after her was committing adultery with her in your heart, though she wasn’t even aware, magnifying the 7th and 10th commandments.
No matter what “religion”, or “church” or organization, no matter the authority of any person on earth, if they speak not according to this word (God’s-Not mine) there is no light (truth) in them. Isaiah 8:20.
A Final Word On The Law
If there is no law then is there no sin, yet the scripture says that whosoever commits also transgresses the Law: for sin is the transgression of the law. I John 3:4. Likewise we are instructed by the apostle: “He that says I know Him and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. I John 2:4. And without doubt, though so many scriptures of truth tie in with this matter of Law, indeed the entire Holy Book is based upon Law, the greatest of the law and the prophets is Love, agape love, love to God first, and to his fellow man 2nd, which we that ought to know the LORD understand that the LORD’S word is chief, particularly when we take into account the word by the apostle Paul: Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows them that are his, and let every one that names his name depart from iniquity (2 Tim 2:19) and we know that know the Lord knows he will not countenance them that work iniquity but said he never knew those that did. Mat 7:23.
Clearly, the overwhelming power over all human thoughts is Christ whose clearly stated confession was that he came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Another aspect of that is that he came to magnify the Law and make it more honourable. See Isaiah 42:21.
The Law of God is holy and spiritual, Rom.7:12,14. The books of the Law are part of the living oracles which were delivered to us via God before he became Jesus Christ on the holy Mount Sinai. The book of the Law that was put in the side of the ark of the covenant was a temporary measure, not written with the finger of God, but Moses and are still to live by every word through Christ’s indwelling Spirit which He leads all that are so endowed. Rom.8:14.
God’s Holy & Sacred Calendar Connected To His Plan
While the holy day Calendar is vital to understand how to arrive faithfully at the days God appointed is not salvation, it is an integral part of His commandments in the Law of how we are to live, how to prepare for these days and times, and are essential to the people of God today just as it was in the first-century churches. The importance of the holy days themselves each depict an important phase and part of God’s plan of salvation for humankind and therefore the precise keeping of the times and seasons as God ordained is vital, and we uphold very highly this revealed knowledge as a vital key to all who are part of God’s elect remnant, spoken of as the remnant according to the election of grace. Romans 11:5.
As in former generations of the true church of God, a servant was raised in the 20th Century to restore many truths that were lost down through the centuries through the horrific persecutions and tortures even of elderly ministers of Christ who refused to recant their simple
faith in their sovereign Lord Christ to obey the error of Roman Catholicism’s deadly sins.
That 20th-century servant Herbert W. Armstrong did a worldwide work no man has done in modern times in restoring the lost Laws and teachings that have not been taught in generations, including the holy days which the apostles and saints of the ancient churches of God were taught and the scriptures affirm are part of the oracles of God, and therefore Godly requirements for the kingdom of God.
Regardless of the fact that God did not reveal to Mr. Armstrong the errors of the Jews religion by traditions which influence their postponing and “changing of God’s feast dates”, but trusted that because the Jews were committed the oracles they knew what they were doing when the facts stand contrary to this. Indeed the religion of Judaism and its priesthood were rejected and disqualified by Christ, and the New Testament priesthood was begun with the apostles, the 70, and the 120 just as the Old Testament government was arranged.
Unfortunately, the Jews began to think that having to prepare for more than one Sabbath, either weekly or annual, together as successive Sabbaths would be a “burden” to the women having to prepare for 2-consecutive Sabbaths, one following the other, when the opposite is true, that the keeping of God’s Sabbaths, whenever they fall, is a privilege and an honour.
The Church of God under Mr. Armstrong applied the New Testament references concerning Acts 15:28-29 determining that the Gentiles who were judged by the apostles at that time to be given no greater burden than these necessary things: That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication…
This in no way relates to the correct keeping of God’s festivals and does not speak of God’s festivals being a burden, as God by the prophet made explicitly plain, by condemning anyone who thought of God’s way as a burden. See below refs:
Jer 23:33 And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. And so the judgment of God continues from verses 34-40 in the most terrifying manner concerning any that call the way of God “the burden of the LORD”
After Mr. Armstrong’s death in 1986, the churches began to water down the living word of God, and the scattering and prophesied falling away (II Thess.2:1-12) began. Likewise, as Paul experienced in his time what was coming when grievous wolves would enter in among them not sparing the flock. When has it ever been any different?
Churches of God Reject The Restoration of God’s True Holy-Day Calendar
God’s people today rejected for rejecting knowledge! Today, instead of accepting the restored knowledge of God’s true holy days according to His own instructions in the books of the Law, all too many lukewarm “Churches” refuse to even look at these vital truths, let alone prove all things and hold fast that which is good”. (I Thes.5:21)
Clearly, in this 7th and final era of God’s church just prior to Christ’s 2nd coming, lukewarmness has beset the vast bulk of the churches of God, and like the time of the ancient kings of Israel, when there was no king in Israel every man did that which was right in his own sight. (Judges 21:25.) In this generation, spiritual Israel has proven the same truth to be so today. God prophesied of ancient Israel in like manner as the so-called “spiritual Israel”, the churches of God, do commit iniquity in their rejections of the knowledge of God. They prove that the word they say they follow proves their actions at the very least reckless, and for which are pronounced horrors coming according to Christ’s own word; “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; But he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out demons? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Mat.7:21-23.
Through the prophet, Amos God told Israel that He hated and despised their feast days, and would not smell in their solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21 This is very telling in conjunction with this revealed knowledge.
The fact that it is the ministry that casts out demons is a telling factor in relation to this above scripture, not that each person is not responsible for his or her own salvation, regardless of the fact that the church is commanded to be in subjection to the ministers of God, we must discern wisely who they are, for there were false prophets among the people, just as there were false ministers and false brethren bringing in damnable heresies, heretical teachings to vainly aggrandize themselves among the churches as Christ Himself said: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Mat. 7:15-16;
There are too many references to list, nevertheless, the words of the Lord suffice in this:
“And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of (God) many shall wax cold. Mat. 24:11-12.
“For there shall arise false Christs, (Witnesses of Christ) and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Mat. 24:24.
Likewise, the chief apostle Simon-Peter also said: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2Pe 2:1-3.
The apostle Paul to the Gentiles often made warnings to the churches to be especially careful, and at his last address to the Ephesian church of God in Acts.20:17-29. He told them that after his “departing grievous wolves would enter in among them, not sparing the flock”. In Truth, this has been one of “Israel’s” greatest problems, both Old Testament physical Israel, and now New Testament “spiritual Israel”, the churches of God who have all too often been infiltrated by weak men-pleasers willing to water down the laws of the eternal God.
This is the spiritual war going on and underlying the appointed times which God appointed as holy times being written in the books of the Law which Christ said He came not to abolish, but to magnify. Mat. 5:17; Isa. 42:21.
1st New Moon-Key
1st New Moon Begins The Count To Gods Holy Days-Not the 7th New Moon
Again, the Jews religion erroneously teaches to begin the count backwards from the 7th New moon. How to establish the first day in accordance with God’s plain instructions through Moses is the Biblical and authentic method through the sanction of God, when God commanded Moses to tell the children of Israel which is in fact the first month. Notice the command in Exodus 12:1-2;
Exo 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. This leader of God’s people Israel was given specific instructions to count 14-days from that 1st-month new moon to arrive at the first holy day they were being instructed to keep called the Passover when the death angel, would pass over their homes and spare the lives of their firstborn who painted the blood of the lambs on their door posts and lintels as they came under the protection. There is a great deal more to this story, but for time and space we will address the matter of holy time, why it was established, how it was ordered, when it was to be observed/kept, and how.
Churches of God as “Spiritual Israel” Follow Disqualified Judaism
The Hebrew word for ‘month’ is Chodesh which has the same meaning as the moon or new moon. Many are aware of course that each month begins with a new moon, but the 1st new moon from the Northern Hemisphere, in particular, relates entirely to the holy land where the command of God was given to Moses (Exodus 12:1-2) which begins the New year, and that day for 2023 is the 22nd of March.
This means that all that are of Israel are to be keeping His calendar instructions given to Moses which is specifically spiritual Israel today!
Any that follow Old Testament Judaism whom our Lord disqualified are likewise disqualifying themselves, particularly as the Lord witnessed against Judaism’s disqualified Priesthood. “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Mat 5:20.
The basic commandments in relation to timekeeping convey God’s very will concerning the ordering of time particularly as they relate to how we are to arrive at, and be able to count to the holy days God commanded in the Law. We know “Christianity refuse God’s Law which the Lord said he came not to abolish (Mat.5:17) but are in fact the harlot daughters of the scarlet woman whose name is MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
In view of Revelation 17:5 “MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” and this world’s “churches” particularly, but not exclusively “Christianity”, was, and remains under that old woman who was drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (Rev.17:6) actually came out of Catholicism as Protestantism to become one of its many harlot daughters and to this day keep all the same basic tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, with slightly different clothing, ye still the same teachings as that old Mother of harlots.
Though reasonably faithful in keeping the commandments and testimony of Jesus Christ. The Worldwide Church of God has fulfilled prophecy concerning the falling away, and will yet pay mightily for her sins, and few greater than a lukewarm approach to God’s Law and commandments.
They were meant to be New Testament Israel, or “spiritual-Israel” who are able to trace their heritage and history back to the 1st-century church Jesus Christ said he would build, (Mat.16:18) Instead, in this 7th and final era of the church (Rev. 2:1-3:22.) just prior to Christ’s coming has become lukewarm according to Christ’s prophecy. Rev.3:14-19 and shamefully follow the ‘Dehioth’, Judaism’s set of rules called Postponements. For her sins, she is to enter a time of trouble such as has never been, no, nor ever shall be again. Mat 24:21. Rev. 12:17 is even more specific. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and has the testimony of Jesus Christ.
In following Judaism’s vain traditions, the Lord spoke: “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Mark 7:9,13.
Let’s not forget, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Tim 3:16) Whereas Judaism’s traditions are intertwined with their oral law as they postpone the clear instructions of God in the books of the Law by postponing the specific commandments of God, they delay any number of the feasts of the LORD to keep their tradition.
In Christ’s own words in Luke 11:42, He rebuked these religious leaders and those therefore that follow that way, saying: “But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not leave the other undone”.
Right there, the Lord revealed that there are many aspects of the Law, some weightier than others which are all required to be done, and which so-called Christianity by their rejection of God’s Law and the weighty matters thereof likewise disqualify themselves by following illegitimate practices of deceived and disqualified Judaism.
Notice also Mat.23:23 “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone”.
“Spiritual-Israel” Leave God’s Weighty Matters of Law undone For Judaism’s Traditions
In the 20th century, the churches of God were wrongly taught these “rules” and traditions of the Jewish religion by one of the worldwide churches of God’s leading men. This writer has the very book which that minister outlined in his book the very complex set of postponements they use to regulate the days and times God made holy by His own authority and command they are now in rejection of. Neither the Jews nor the churches of God accept that they are in error regardless of the facts presented to them back in the late 1990s by this faithful remnant, and neither now do they repent of this grave error.
What Is The Template, Manmade Rules or God’s Law? Notice the following command:
Deu 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. As mentioned, our Lord said a man should not live by bread alone, but by every word of God which He said He came not to abolish! Mat.5:17 And that not even the dotting of an”i “or the crossing of a “t” would be removed from the Law until heaven and earth had passed. Mat.5:18. Let me ask the obvious: Has heaven and earth passed?
Man’s Pagan Holidays V God’s Chosen Holy Days
All of western civilization has for many, many centuries followed a pagan Roman calendar, beginning with the Julian from 47 BC, then the Gregorian Calendar by 325 CE as it is this day, which was instigated in effect issued by Pope Gregory in 1582. At that time Pope Gregory reformed the Julian calendar of Julius Caesar which had lost at least 10 days time by the time Pope Gregory took over, where March 11 became March 21 the next day. All of man’s current holidays and timekeeping are based on erroneous Pagan days and timekeeping, while God’s true and holy calendar is based on the authority and power of the Creator who made all things in heaven and in the earth.
Ending As We Started
Time being ordered by the Almighty, we keep the holy days of God as commanded and as Christ taught his holy apostles and the churches he said he would build (Mat 16:18) so share we freely as we have received as Herbert W. Armstrong stated in the 1986-7 Calendar special the following with a notable error regarding the citing of a CRESCENT MOON:
” A new sacred year commences about the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere. “This month [Abib or Nisan] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Ex. 12:2). The beginning of this month and all of God’s months basically correspond with the appearance of the first faint crescent of the new moon in the west just after sundown. (Traditionally observed from Palestine.) The astronomical new moon
calculated for the United States is, in general, a day or two earlier.
The above is error mixed with truth and therefore a false premise. Using a crescent moon is contrary to scripture and the science of astronomy. A reason that a crescent is different from a new moon is that as the moon in its orbits revolves around the earth, its path, trajectory, and revolutions are accurately tracked and recorded in astronomy, and we know that the Almighty Creator made these heavenly bodies to perform as He ordained them so to do by a Law. Our sacred responsibility is to obey the commands of God in accordance with that word, not add thereto, nor diminish anything from it, that we may keep the commandments of the LORD our God which He commanded us (Deut.4:2), as the scripture clearly states: Prove all things and hold fast that which is good. As for those unwilling to obey these commands but recite by repetition what the bulk of the churches say without proving as the Bereans did the things being spoken, (Acts 17:11) we can not nor do we wish to dispute with any the facts as presented here in this article according to the divine oracles of the great God.
FACTS
A crescent moon is just that, a crescent. It is not a new moon, nor a “crescent-new moon”, nor is it the faint crescent of the new moon. They are at different stages in the moon’s revolutions of the earth as it waxes from the new moon to the crescent moon no matter how faint the new moon, it generally cannot be viewed when the sun, moon, and earth align in the conjunction, the new moon is produced. There is of course no command to keep a crescent moon as it does not begin the month, which the new moon without question commences according to God’s appointments of the seasons, the sun, and the moon. (Gen.1:14-15.) See illustration below from Time and date.com:
How Often Do Conjunctions Occur?
Conjunctions involving the Moon happen frequently. As it circles the Earth once a month, the Moon passes each of the planets in the sky, as well as the Sun (producing a New Moon)
Time being ordered and authorized by the Almighty as spoken to Moses, and which Christ the Lord taught his holy apostles and the churches, so share we freely as we have received the truths which many have misunderstood and defend even in the face the facts from scripture and astronomy, we being led of God’s Holy Spirit to keep holy the divine oracles, just as we seek all them that are likewise led, of the Spirit. (Rom.8:14.)
