GOD’S HOLY DAY CALENDAR
The New moon in Jerusalem for the spring season for 2011, following the vernal/spring Equinox/conjunction of March 20, was April-4 (12:32 A.M). But, because Jerusalem is 8-hours earlier than Australian Eastern Standard Time, making it 4.32 P.M on April 3, April 3 is therefore “Abib” 1 from Jerusalem, or, the 1st new moon for 2011.
This equinox, or conjunction, signals the seasonal changeover from winter to SPRING, and the “SEASONS” are the key by which God’s people are commanded to keep God’s Feasts.(Lev.23:4) The Passover to be kept in its appointed season! ( Num.9:2-3)
How can we ‘offer’ in season if we don’t know which month to correctly offer? (Num.28:2) God appointed the moon for seasons…Psa.104:19; Gen.1:14; The defining feature of this season is that of “abib” meaning green-ears of barley, without which we are in the wrong “season”, and which the season dictates, not the other way around, because it is this change-over from the winter season to spring season, that the earth begins to warm, signalling to all plant life that the spring season heralds the new “abib” growth, only available in spring; The growth comes from the season, not the season from the growth. How can we proclaim the feasts of the Lord to be holy convocations…upon it’s day, if we can’t prove which day is in its season?
Any who “say” they ‘know’ Christ need acknowledge that the things which we observe, and teach here are the clear doctrines of The Lord, not the clearly manipulated and “postponed” days of Judaism! Their Dehioth, or “rules of postponement” can never make their “days” holy, just as the Sabbath day is made holy by the Creators sanctifying of that 7th day, not the 1st day (Sunday) or any other day. Only Gods specified days are made holy, and that begins and ends in their appointed seasons. Why? Because God says so! God’s holy day calendar is a solar-lunar calendar, not a man-made calendar, and certainly should never be altered to fit with men’s traditions!
If any reject God’s Holy day calendar, they reject not the writer, but God, who had his Laws recorded by Moses in the books of the Law! Lev.23:4 Begins; These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons! Not according to the dictates of Judaisms “rules” of postponements, called the Dehioth! They are God’s feasts, not men’s. Also, God commands us to “PROVE ALL THINGS”…(I Thessalonians 5:21) In the book of Acts, the Bereans did exactly that, and proved whether the things being spoken, were so, searching the scriptures daily, and were considered more “noble” for doing so! (Acts.17:10-11)
In King David’s time, even Jonathan knew when the new moon would appear, and told David he would be missed at his father, Saul’s table! (I Sam.20:18,24-25) God’s Holy day calendar was not an issue at this time, today, it is just another deviation from God’s Laws, so many profess to be teaching.
So how did they know when the new moon would appear? From years of seasonal observation of course. The new moons are bench marks for the keeping of God’s annual holy day feasts in their seasons, and they must be reckoned from Jerusalem time. God’s Church have been ‘given’ the “eyes” to see God’s holy days are as crucial as ANY of God’s commandments, and that all who profess the name of Jesus Christ, MUST be able to faithfully keep all of God’s commanded holy days in conjunction with His Law for 2011, as we do, again. Sadly, most have rejected God’s holy feast days, for Judaism’s postponements! God will not regard any who change, or manipulate his holy day feasts, the feasts of the LORD!
Regarding the ‘full moon’, we have been asked why the moon wasn’t full on the N.T.B much observed that the Sydney brethren kept this year? As well as the previous material herein, we must remember the following in this context; The full moon is nowhere commanded to be kept-But the new moon IS!
However, in Sydney, the full moon was April 18, but we have to take into account that if viewing the Jerusalem full moon , this occurred 8-hours earlier than our own time of 12.44 pm. This would take it back to 4.44 pm, meaning that that full moon fell on the 17th of April, which begins on the evening before, the 16th, because all days begin and end at sunset as we are shown in the Holy scriptures.
Other C.O.G groups are quick to find fault, while conveniently ignoring the fact that this year, all of “Judaism’s” feasts, and therefore theirs, are postponed by 2-days, beginning with the new moon Abib-1 on April 5! Typical of men, they will deny this, And yet, even a cursory glance at the calendar that shows moon cycles can prove this. Using an example of calculating for someone in AEST the calendar shows new moon April-4, but in Jerusalem, it is 8-hours earlier than for, so the 1st new moon is April-3, not April-5. Of course they are following the rules of the Dehioth, not God’s Law. From April-3 New moon from Jerusalem, we count 14-days to get to Passover of April 16, counting inclusively from the first day, Abib-1, or day 1 of this 1st New Moon, beginning the night before, can only be April-16, not April-18!!
- The 1st day of U.L.B falls on the following day at even, as well as the wave sheaf, from whence we begin counting to Pentecost.
- A MOST important fact to keep in mind regarding the moons, is that the “NEW-MOON” is the 1st day of each particular month, (1st of month) and therefore the moon, or 1st day of that month we are commanded to observe and “keep”. We’re not commanded to keep any of God’s annual Sabbath festivals according to a full-moon, but from the “new moon”, or 1st of the month!
- April 17 began wave-sheaf, “on the morrow after the Passover”, (Josh.5:11) and we began faithfully counting 50-days to get to June-5 Pentecost according to God’s command in Lev. 23:11,15-16.
- It is also vitally important that we understand the role and significance of the Wave sheaf offering as specified in Lev.23:9-11,14 as being on the “day after the Sabbath.” Verse 14 shows that no grain or new growth could be eaten until after the offering had been made. In previous times in the church, it was assumed, erroneously, that the weekly Sabbath must fall within the days of U.L.B. In fact, the “Sabbath” is the first Sabbath on, or after the Passover, as described in Joshua.5:10-12 (See below for full explanation-Sacred Calendar).
- If “The Hebrew Calendar”, should be the calendar used, because H.W.A followed it, as God’s apostle, why are we not following this? First and foremost, we heeded God’s command to “prove all things”, (IThess.5:21) and came painfully to the truth that we were keeping the wrong calendar, just as H.W.A did in relation to Pentecost for over 40-years! Did we choose to separate ourselves from the rest of God’s flocks? Would this be a sensible option, to be alone? The more one thinks about this situation, the more one realizes that the church has been in the process of being “sifted”, and “sorted, since the death of the apostle, of this I am personally convinced!
- In relation to the commonly posed question about the word “equinox” not being in scripture, we need to realize many words are not in scripture, including the words “crescent moon”?? When I first came into God’s church, this seemed to be a common practice to look for the first faint sliver of the moon to “mark” the 1st day of the month, in other words, naked eye observation. This is another point many are totally confused on with regard to the keeping of God’s sacred calendar, and use this false doctrine, as one of many, to justify their thinking and position. In the preface of a little publication called “RELIGION, RED AND ROTTEN”, the writer says some will never hear the facts, no matter how clear the evidence is, or how much of it is presented, people can always find an interpretation that will allow them to cling to what they want to believe. As he said, so also say I here; This material is not written for those kind of people, though it will suffer in their hands, …for it will not profit them, but the humble it will profit. Why? Because it is the meek that are teachable and to whom Jesus Christ said would inherit the earth. (Matt.5:5).
Who was it that grieved The Lord, and to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest? Was it not them that do always err in their heart, who knew not The Lords ways, and them who believed not. (Heb.3:9-10,18-19) Therefore Gods Sacred calendar, being part of the oracles of God, are also spiritual being the Word of God, (Rom.3:2; Jn.6:63).
Below is an excerpt from Arthur Spiers Hebrew calendar found on the internet, which mentions H.W.A, as well as the Jewish errors and confusion in this regard
Sacred scripture does not mention the equinox. According to its pages, the first new moon crescent to appear after the barley crop in Israel is found in the stage of growth known as abib and is what demarks the first day of the new year. However, it is not the crescent moon that figures anything, it is the new moon. The new moon is in the dark-phase when it is “new”, like the day that begins at sunset! Sunset begins the new day, the dark phase of the new day!
The notion put forth by Herbert Armstrong (as well as many others) that the first “crescent” sighting nearest the equinox is the head of the year is dispelled by the abib and new moon reports from Israel in 1999. In that year, a fresh crescent moon was sighted the evening of March 18 (a couple days prior to the equinox), however barley was not found to be “abib” until April 11, and thus the next new moon, sighted on April 17, was the new moon of the “abib”. Herein is a clear refutation of the myth of “The first day of the new year always begins with the day nearest the Spring equinox.”
Brethren, and all who read this, be mindful of how this illustrates very clearly the fact that it is not the crescent moon sighting, whether closest the equinox or not, it is a combination of the correct new-moon in conjunction with the correct season, not a supposed new moon sighting, or any other human devised combination.
As far as the “sighting” of the so-called new moon, one of the reasons it does not figure in any calculation, is because the new moon cannot be sighted because it is “SET”, like the setting of the sun to begin the new day. Second, even a crescent moon is regularly not able to be sighted due to a number of climatic and geographical conditions. For instance what about the divisions of the poles by geographical location, can one view any moon when there is total darkness for 6-months of the year? Also, and significantly, please take great care to remember this, once the crescent moon has been sighted, it is already 1-2 days past the new-moon stage, it has WAXED, or GROWN to become a crescent, and therefore any who use a crescent moon as a “new moon, will always be late relative to the beginning of the holy-day season, abib, and the wave sheaf.
The spring equinox is the conjunction that “SIGNALS” the changeover from winter to spring, and it is the new moonclosest this equinox that is the month in which ‘abib’, or new green ears of barley, (new-spring growth) will appear! There are exceptions to this because where a new moon closest the spring equinox occurs more than 14-days prior to the equinox, spring turn, seasonal observation has proven that the barley will not be abib, or gree-ears stage, if that new moon is chosen, and therefore there would be no green-ears to wave at wave sheaf!
The selection of the correct moon, as taught by this church, and as alluded to by Arthur Spier, Jewish calendar expert, to reiterate again; If the new moon closest the spring equinox occurs “more” than 14-days earlier then the equinox, the green ears of barley will not emerge to be waved, at Wave Sheaf, and therefore, this new moon will not be the correct one.
For those particular years, we must go to the next new moon after and closest the equinox, automatically adding an extra month to that year, thus keeping the calendar in line with the seasons, not a human-devised mathematical equation which needs correcting periodically, as the Jews admit of their own calendar!
Can we believe that the religion of Judaism knows that their calendar needs periodic adjustment, and that they believe it will take a new “Sanhedrin” to be set up to correct it???
Just as astonishing is the belief by other COG groups, at least some senior people in them, and one who has written the following damning statement;
“Who has the time and expertise to “INVENT” a better calendar that does not conflict with “biblical guidelines”?? that is “precisely” phased according to the new moons, and one that has no postponements and errors? Until we discover a viable alternative, we will need to use the “Hebrew” (Judaism postponements) calendar in the meantime”??? (Note, he says the Hebrew calendar – Not God’s sacred calendar)
This particular writer shows any, with eyes to see, that that writer is in confusion! His premise is based on his “reasoning” that the word equinox is not in the scriptures! This profound blindness is being adopted by many, but not God’s elect people!
The following are benchmarks that make calculating God’s annual Sabbaths in conjunction with God’s instructions to keep His sacred festivals, almost as easy as 1-2-3, because we are commanded to keep these days “IN THEIR SEASONS”, that is the point that is being completely overlooked by these blind-guides, and their false teaching will not be pleasing to God!
Let’s look into God’s Biblical guidelines in Lev.23:4; also Psa.104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. Once we know the spring equinox, (Conjunction marking winter changeover to Spring) the first new moon closest this equinox is easy to locate, providing it is no longer than 14-days earlier, as even Arthur Spier showed even he knows! Brethren, shouldn’t we know more than this man, in relation to God’s word and commandments?
God’s Sacred Calendar
Let’s be reminded again, to clear up any misconception that the weekly Sabbath “must” fall within the days of Unleavened Bread. Why? Because this would not account for when the Passover falls on the Sabbath, as it was for this year of 2011, as it was in 2001, and in the days of Joshua, (Josh.5:10-12.)
Sunset on Friday April 15, was Passover, and the 16th of April at even was the N.T.B, as well as the first day of U.L.B and therefore the “morrow” following the Passover brings us conclusively to Wave-sheaf, on the first day of U.L.B also on April 17th.
This is when we begin to count and number 50 days-From evening of April 16th to evening of June 4th, Sunday June 5 Pentecost. Proving this is very simple.
First of all, Josh.5:10-12 makes it plain, and the fact that the offering had to be made the day after the Passover in order to eat some of the produce of the land, and that that Passover fell on the Sabbath that year!
“And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the wave sheaf offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete” (Lev.23:15)
If we were to begin counting from after a 2nd Sabbath to fit with the assumption that “it” must be from the morrow after the Sabbath during the days of ULB, instead of the morrow after the Passover, (Josh.5:11) we would be keeping the feast of first-fruits, Pentecost, one whole week late on June 12th for 2011! Some years, the Passover will fall on the Sabbath, and therefore the next day at sunset is not only the wave sheaf, but also the 1st day of ULB.
According to God’s Law and “Biblical” guidelines, we can show any willing to prove the truth regarding these days, not those who want to refute these easily provable commands, but those can see the truth of these things, and may be shocked that they can see they have been mistakenly following the traditions of men as Jesus warned against in Mark 7:6-13.
Doesn’t God say He hates their feasts and their new moons, that He would not accept their offerings, and to take away from Him the noise of their songs (hymns) and viols? (music) (Amos.5:21-23) Also, likewise, what about the excuse that the word “equinox” is not in the sacred scriptures, which is in reality the “conjunction” signalling the change of season from winter to spring? This method is the one which everyone can “see” all around the world in our modern societies, by simply looking at national observatory tables just how easy it is to count for yourself when to keep God’s sacred days.
Some prefer the easy option of relying on other men to work it out for them. This is contrary to God’s commands. (I Thess.5:21)
In an agrarian society, we had centuries of seasonal observation. In our modern city based societies today, we have astronomical tables, observatories and satellites to aid our accurate observance of Gods sacred calendar. God expects accuracy and our concentrated effort to ensure we are carrying out His instructions implicitly!
Also, some prefer to be deceived, shunning these pinpoint accurate, and easy to work out for yourself tables, to the error of what they have been formerly taught, saying, but the word “Equinox” isn’t mentioned in scripture, so I’ll ignore all this easily provable truth; Better the devil you know, right?? Wrong!
This method of calculation has been around for a lot longer than most realize. For starters, Dugger & Dodd wrote of this in ‘A History of the True church, pages 314-315; “The church, as the apostle Paul said, kept the Passover in its season, that is, the fourteenth day of Nisan, (Abib) counting from the new moon nearest the spring equinox.”
We today, like the Bereans, are willing to prove God’s Word, and then obey, regardless of what men think. (Acts.17:11) This was what the chief apostle Peter said to those persecuting them for speaking the truth when the Sanhedrin commanded them to stop preaching Christ. (Acts.5:28-32)
If we continue to faithfully obey God, knowing that God’s Holy Spirit is the power by which He is operating in us, (Eph.3:7,20; Rom.15:18) surely, that supply (Phil’.1:19) will not be cut off, but God will view our faithful obedience and continue to supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ. (Phil.4:19)
SUMMARY GOD’S SACRED CALENDAR 2011
(No postponements) *All days begin evening before
1. Spring Equinox/conjunction March-20
2. Correct New moon nearest the Spring Equinox, April-4 (Start eve’ before from Jerusalem)
3. Count 14-days from Abib-1 (1st day of month) April-3 to April 16 Passover *Next day at Sunset April-17 Wave-sheaf
4. Count 50 to June 5 Pentecost
5. Go to 7th new moon Sept’-27 Feast of Trumpets
6. Count 10-days inclusively from Sept’ 27 (being day-1) to Oct’ 6th Day of Atonement
7. Oct’ 11 1st day F.O.TS
8. 7th day of F.O.T’S Oct’ 17
9. Oct’ 18 Is the 8th & L.G.D of the F.O.T’S for 2011
*Due to the great deal of confusion surrounding God’s feast dates, and the easily provable Biblical based Holy Calendar and the tremendous importance of what these days represent, we invite everyone reading this introduction, to request our “free” booklet, “GOD’S CALENDAR CHALLENGE”.