Part
7:
Proverbs 16:
end thereof are the ways of
death.
In Part 2 I wrote:
There has to be a point that can be identified from the history of the Worldwide
Church of God or Radio Church of God where a basic flaw in thinking
affected doctrine and became a basis for the domino effect that has caused the
collapse of the entire structure. The
point that I identify as this crucial junction occurred in the very beginning.
This flaw in thinking patterns began almost immediately.
This shows the absolute deceit and power that Satan has and his ability
to thwart sincere believers. This
fatal flaw in thinking came at the very beginning of the history of the era of
the church that began when Mr. Armstrong first came into contact with the Church
of God 7th Day. The
error in thinking involved the Jewish Calendar and its proper application today.
Just as the calendar
controversy had been raging for centuries, so it reared its ugly head in the
beginning of Mr. Armstrong’s ministry. In
1927 he came into contact and started attending services with the Church of God
7th Day. They scheduled
Passover according to the Jewish Calendar. At least they tried to schedule Passover according to the
Jewish Calendar, given the restricted information available at that time.
They did not, of course, keep or acknowledge any of the other holy days.
In 1940 Mr. Armstrong was forced to confront and resolve a calendar
controversy.
Two years ago I was
finally forced to start looking into the Calendar
Controversy for myself. There
is a lot of misinformation floating around concerning this mathematical model.
One of these ideas concerns not reading information produced by sources
that do not share your religious bias. Now
let me say right here that this is a damnable,
satanic approach. It has no
scriptural basis except to show that one is most probably a Laodicean (one who
thinks he has all knowledge).
The real scriptural
basis for our approach and attitude is exemplified by the Bereans, a group of
Jews in the town of Berea who had a humble, teachable attitude.
How about you? Are you teachable? Or,
do you mirror the attitude of a Laodicean
thinking you have all knowledge and everyone else is wrong?
Let’s analyze the example of the Bereans.
10 And the brethren
immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the
synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more
noble than those in Thessalonica, in
that they received the word with all
readiness of mind, and
searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of
them believed; also of honourable
women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
13 But when the Jews
of Thessalonica had knowledge that
the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came
thither also, and stirred up the people.
14 And then
immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go
as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timothy stayed.
Here we have a biblical
account of the Jews in Thessolanica rejecting Paul and his assistants concerning
the Word of God. Consequently, they
are guided to Berea and encounter an entirely different approach to examining
doctrine. Verse 11 shows how
teachable these people were. They measured
teachings against the Bible (Old Testament).
They did not immediately swallow everything they were told, but neither
did they discount Paul’s teachings outright as so many people do who believe
that God inspired the Jewish Calendar. I
do believe we were taught to “prove all things.”
There are a growing
number of people who realize, after studying all aspects of the calendar issues,
that we need to change. This is
precisely what I had to do when I came into the truth.
I had to examine the evidence and understand what the Holy Spirit was
showing me. I discovered, much to
my disliking, that trying to prove that Sunday as a day of worship had replaced
the Biblical Sabbath in God’s opinion was simply a “fool’s game.”
I reached the point that I had to actually change.
Likewise, I discovered that Christmas and Easter were pagan festivals
that had just adopted the concept of Christ as part of their religious
experience. I had to change my
thinking concerning holidays I had always observed.
Just arbitrarily placing God’s approval and name in a pagan holiday or
doctrine does not cut it. I worship
a God of precision. How about you,
what characteristics define the deity you worship?
The hard, cold facts
show that the Jewish Calendar merely is the product of Jewish, Rabbinical
thinking long after the time of Christ and the original Apostles.
If all of the evidence is examined, it can be shown that this calendar
was not complete until 921 AD. Further,
the rabbis are merely an extension of the dreaded Pharisees.
To assume that they had much of anything correct from Christ’s
perspective is really stretching your imagination.
The Pharisees were heavily condemned for bending, changing biblical truth
to accommodate their traditions (interpretations of scripture at the time).
Yes, I hated to swallow
it, but the biblical facts and Jewish history showed that I had merely
substituted one set of unbiblical festivals and papal authority for another
equally pagan and unbiblical authority and festivals. These Jewish festivals closely resembled God’s festivals in
name, but the way and when they are
scheduled fails the biblical test. During
the study I encountered such brash statements as “God nowhere reveals His
calendar in the Bible.” Balderdash!
Under what authority and reasoning would anyone make such a statement? We are to live by every word of God. Does Christ lie? Would God tell you to do something and then
not even leave a clue in his recorded word how to do it? Even Dr. Hoeh acknowledged as late as 1981 that the Bible
actually has a lot to say about how to schedule
the holy days. It was just that the
church did not follow the Bible in scheduling holy days.
The church had chosen to follow human tradition.
Absolutely
never is it biblical to not
examine an issue. If I had followed
this line of thinking, I would still be attending a local Baptist congregation.
You should not automatically follow every wind of doctrine.
You should give your religious affiliation the benefit of the doubt and
study their ideas; but the ultimate test is the biblical test.
Is the doctrine in question supported in the Bible? You are supposed to be sufficiently grounded in truth to
properly discern error and hopefully not manipulate scripture to fit your bias.
This is why the Bereans could be taught.
Another argument used
is the appeal to unity and not to be divisive.
I do not know how the laity could be more divided than they are right
now. Where exactly, does the Bible condone a continuance in pagan doctrine for
the sake of unity? If unity were
the criteria, we would all be back serving and paying tithes to Worldwide or
even promoting a sunrise service in the local Baptist church, all the while
knowing it was wrong but staying together for the sake of unity.
Just because some of
the Jews claim their method of calculation for the calendar has been handed down
orally from the time of Moses does not make it a fact.
The actual history of the Jewish Calendar shows otherwise.
I will make the statement right here that there is a correct method of
scheduling holy days that God undoubtedly showed Moses.
He undoubtedly also showed the same techniques to Adam, Seth, and even
Noah. But, what God showed them is not
the Jewish Calendar. As we progress
through the study, I hope this becomes clear.
God is the creator of the universe and deals in reality, not fiction.
Part
8:
It is very important to
understand how we were taught about the Jewish Calendar in the early 80s.
How we were taught and how some of the ministry understood the reality of
the calendar model were two different things.
It was much easier to let dumb sheep just proceed with a false image of
official church doctrine than it was to correct it.
I have actually encountered ordained elders (not pastors) who do not
realize that the Jewish Calendar has always been the standard used to schedule
holy days in both the Radio Church of God and Worldwide Church of God.
Hard as that may be to believe, there are those scattered individuals who
attained the ordained rank of elder, but did not realize that use of the Jewish
Calendar went back to the beginning of the Radio Church of God.
They perceive that use of this calendar just started somewhere in the
late 60s when Dr. Hoeh wrote a couple of articles on the calendar and authority
of the Jews. These people never
once took the time to really study the past history of the church or how its
doctrines were formulated, and more importantly how they have been changed.
This shows how thoroughly the history of the church and its development
of doctrine has been obscured (intentionally I might add).
These elders were so busy leading and preaching that they never even
thoroughly understood the doctrines they were actually supporting.
Burying the past (history) is a known technique used to deceive nations
and even religious organizations. You
never hear older ministers and evangelists dwell on how the church had healing
back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, because they realize we do not have this gift
today.
In some of the earliest
Bible studies designed to give us (the laity in general) information concerning
how to determine Passover, we were actually told that the Jews were following
“God’s Sacred Calendar.” It
was explained that we were not under Jewish authority. The explanation was that the Jews just happened to accidentally
get this doctrine right. They were
doing things almost as well as we were. The
difference was that our leaders had made a few changes based upon their superior
understanding of the New Covenant and New Testament scripture. The primary example of course was that of Jesus keeping a
different Passover date than the Jews. This
is a perfect example of the absolute arrogance of the ministry toward the laity.
The fact that these Jews kept a different Passover should have given
someone a wakeup call. But no!
These same ministers have the gall to explain that Jews have authority
over the calendar and that we must do what they say when legitimate questions
arise about the calendar today.
This is technically called a “dodge.”
It is also an example of circular reasoning.
If the Jews have authority over the calendar now, why do we not actually
observe holy days as they do? This
form of reasoning shows no form of consistency with calendar history or logic.
This technique is also known as “dismissing a topic.”
Does anyone remember the absurd example of Dr. Stavrinides and his famous
Bible studies with “nonquestions?” Can
you remember the absolute arrogance of this scholar toward good questions that
got right to the heart of the issues?
It was always explained
to us in the 80s to go to the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox and count
14 days to Passover Day. Now where
did this idea come from? Any of us
who have studied these issues know that there is a secret society of knowledge
floating around. We now understand
that the Jewish Calendar in fact does not even care about a Vernal Equinox.
I was one who went through studies with three pastors and several elders
and they all taught the same thing. They
all misunderstood the same things.
These pastors and
elders got this idea and information from somewhere, and it was the Ambassador
Experience. That is because this is
what they taught. This is the
source of the teachings. You do not
have to be a rocket scientist to understand this.
All of us new in the truth certainly did not come up with this idea.
We had never heard of these issues, let alone care about them before.
We were just like the Colossians. It
was a gross misunderstanding of the facts, but nonetheless, this understanding
had its origins at the beginning. This is an example of “the blind leading the blind.”
This idea (going to the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox) is
actually factual and really is the true basis for determining which month starts
the year, and was just a product of assuming
the Jewish Calendar actually determined the first month this way in early church
understanding?
As we proceed through
this study you will see some rather amazing examples of poor reasoning.
You will also see some glaring examples of generalization.
Ambassador College had a special course to teach the Jewish Calendar and
how it was calculated. This course evidently failed to include a complete history of
exactly how this calendar model was developed and when it was developed
according to Jewish History. Either
that, or they knowingly eliminated the true history. This course was developed because Mr. Armstrong taught that
we needed to understand God’s calendar so we could accurately explain and
understand many prophecies. Prophetic
statements were thought of as instruments of precision in those days.
Hence, the need for a detailed calendar course.
This is a very logical progression of reasoning.
The only thing wrong was they developed a college course to cover the wrong
calendar. The first edition of
this course was prepared by John Kossey and edited by Herman Hoeh. By this time Dr. Hoeh most certainly knew exactly how the
Jewish Calendar worked. He actually
knew how this mathematical model worked in the 60s.
He would have had to have realized the technical problems the Jewish
Calendar has in light of what the Bible says concerning scheduling holy days.
Part
9:
Loss #1:
Much has been said over
the years concerning the Jews and their accuracy with preserving scripture.
Things have been attributed to them, like God using them in spite of
themselves to faithfully copy scripture without changing things.
The reality of the facts is that we do not have the original, ancient
Hebrew texts. The Jews have a
proclivity for adding their own interpretations to scripture.
These teaching are itemized in a collection of teachings called the
Talmud, which show what the Jewish leaders were thinking at different points in
history. Supposedly the Talmud
contains oral tradition going back to Moses, but in fact it just shows
conflicting ideas. What the Jews
thought from time to time may or may not agree with God’s Word.
The church presented the Jewish Calendar as fa “Faith Issue” in the
late 60s when serious questions were arising concerning the calendar.
The reality is that what one set of rabbis passed on to their students
changed from generation to generation. A
serious study of the Jews reliability will show they have tampered with the
scriptures. This is a reality most
of us will have to learn and face eventually.
Let’s briefly examine one obvious example.
Deuteronomy
16:
1 Observe the month of
Abib, and keep the passover unto
the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy
God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore
sacrifice the passover unto the LORD
thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the
LORD shall choose to place his name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no
leavened bread with it; seven days shalt
thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of
affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in
haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest
forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be
no leavened bread seen with thee in all
thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the
flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all
night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not
sacrifice the passover within any of
thy
gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
6 But at the place
which the LORD thy God shall choose to
place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover
at
even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou
camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast
and eat it in the place which the
LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the
morning, and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt
eat unleavened bread: and on the
seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God:
thou shalt do no work therein.
This is an example of
how certain unfaithful scribes actually inserted their own ideas into the
original text. Other examples of
this are in Leviticus 23. Many
people turn to Leviticus 23 to find examples of specific High Days, which are
supposed to be more important and hence treated differently. Actually, it can be effectively argued that these
translations represent tampering to justify the Jews postponement stance.
The historical evidence establishes that the Jews were not at all opposed
to double Sabbaths until long after the time of Christ.
Mr. Ben Whitfield
occasionally conducts a Bible study showing how the Passover was corrupted as part of the history of the Old Testament.
He shows how traditions changed the original instructions for Passover in
Egypt, to sacrificing one lamb for the entire nation.
His study is excellent and totally accurate in my estimation. He further shows how this change is simply part of the
recorded history of the Bible and that God does not condone this practice.
He just permitted it.
Some Church of God
ministers trying to show that the Levites were at some time definitely
authorized to sacrifice the Passover Lamb in place of a head of household
observance at home, often cite the scripture above (Deuteronomy 16. 1-8).
Most of these ministers were trained in the Ambassador Experience so they
should know better. It is just an example of leaders trying to build a biblical
case to justify their bias. They
often point out that people in the church do not totally realize that when the
Levitical Priesthood was formed, certain changes (special knowledge is required
outside the Bible) were made. They
try to make the case that one of the first changes was making the sacrifice of
the Passover Lamb a priestly function rather than a head of household function.
This is just another example of changing the biblical rules without
proper authority. At the time of
Christ, one pascal lamb was sacrificed for the entire nation, but this was just
a custom of the Jews, nothing more. The
Jews had corrupted many biblical doctrines by that time.
God’s presence and guidance had been absent for a long time.
Religious leaders and
scholars have an inborn need to justify themselves and establish their worth and
the necessity of having them around. This
is why such a mess has been made changing doctrines in the Church of God.
The example cited above is typical of the Jewish scholars and leaders
just changing God’s laws to accommodate their traditions.
What they should have done with these doctrines was to change their
customs and traditions to accommodate God’s laws.
What the church should have done is continue to try to live by every word
of God rather than align their doctrines with the Jews.
God
has a lot to say about scholars:
Romans 1
18 For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth
in unrighteousness;
19 Because that which
may be known of God is manifest in
them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse:
21 Because that, when
they knew God, they glorified him not
as God, neither were thankful; but
became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened.
22 Professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an
image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also
gave them up to uncleanness
through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own
bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the
truth of God into a lie, and worshipped
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God
gave them up unto vile affections: for
even their women did change the natural use into that which is
against nature:
27 And likewise also
the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with
men working that which is unseemly, and
receiving in
themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they
did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do
those things which are not convenient
(postponements);
29 Being filled with
all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters
of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without
understanding, covenantbreakers, without
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the
same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Usually the ploy in
citing Deuteronomy 16: 1-8 is to show how sharp the speaker is and his knowledge
of the Bible. He is usually making
some kind of case for not focusing on pure doctrine, but rather the need to
focus on just loving others. While
love (godly love; agape love) is important, I would submit that accuracy of
doctrine defines the God we serve. Loving
the True God comes before effectively loving your neighbor.
God’s true ministers
trying to present truth will never focus on Deuteronomy 16: 1-8 to show how God
changed laws at different times because they know this scripture represents tampering. Most will not bring it to your attention either.
They will present it on a need to know basis because they are trained to
keep you in the dark to some degree. In
other words, the truth that some Jewish Scribes tampered with the Bible needs to
be kept back so you will not loose faith. I
believe Jesus said, …..”and the truth
shall make your free.”
Loss #2
If you look in Arthur
Spier’s book, the source of most COG calendar information, you will see that
the year 2003 (this year) of your Gregorian Calendar is categorized as the year 5763
from Creation.
The only problem is that this famous calendar model has lost about 184
years of recorded history. Most
ministers were taught this at Ambassador College.
They will actually laugh about how the Jews lost most of the history of
the Persian Empire.
Am I missing something?
Why would ministers who recognize this fact go to great extremes to claim
that the Jews have preserved the correct calendar?
Why would they try to justify the authority of the Jews concerning
scheduling the holy days on some misguided faith argument?
Why would these pastors continue to defend a position that is simply not
defendable from the record of history, namely that the Jewish Calendar is not a
product of the Jews, hundreds of years after the time of Christ. Identifying the year of creation is a fundamental part of the
Jewish Calendar. It is a
fundamental part of this special, privileged knowledge the Jews were supposed to
have. Yet, they lost a significant
amount of history.
We need to perform some
basic mathematics at this point. If
we add the 184 lost years of history
to the Jews’ dating of creation, we get 5947
years from creation to fiscal 2003.
5763
+ 184 = 5947 years from creation
If the Church of God
ministers promoting the end of the United States really believe in this
calendar, why are they always trying to scare more money out of the laity by
proclaiming the immediate end of the world?
There is really some misguided zeal working here or poor reasoning skills. If
the traditional church of God position allocating Satan 6000 years to beguile
mankind is accurate, we still have at least 53 years left before Christ comes
back. If the Jews are right we
still have 234 years left. I know
these ministers constantly predict the downfall of the United States but the
opposite is actually what is occurring. The
United States just keeps getting stronger.
Church of God leaders
really need to get their act together. If
a group of religious scholars can loose 184 years and still be called accurate
by COG leaders, there simply needs to be change of leaders.
That is precisely what God is doing.
He is scattering the flock away from a corrupt leadership.
See Ezekiel 34 for this explanation.
In your wildest imagination, why would you look to the Jews for any
reliable accuracy on the calendar if they can loose 184 years of history?
Loss #3
Losing the Jubilee
It is quite well known
that Jews do not keep the Jubilee anymore.
That is simply because they have lost it in practical knowledge.
They do not know or really care what year the Jubilee should be.
The Bible instructs the Israelites to begin the Jubilee Year on the Day
of Atonement. This is the most
important holy day to the Jewish Religion, yet they lost the knowledge of which
year should be the Jubilee. The
Karaites claim knowledge of which year it is, but their track record concerning
doctrine is really shaky. The
Karaite reasoning, or rather their conglomerate of different ideas is more mixed
up than ideas of the rabbis (see Richard Nickel’s great article, What
do you mean “You”?).
What do you think of a
group of religious scholars (rabbis), who claim authority, yet have lost the
Jubilee, which is supposed to start on their most holy day of the year?
This is a typical example of what happens when people interject their own
ideas into God’s Word. They stop
keeping God’s Way of life. Then
they loose the proper doctrine and understanding of that doctrine.
Likewise, the fruits of the last several decades in the Churches of God
mirror what happens when a religion apostatizes.
Starting in the 60s, the church has been led from one heresy to the next.
It is no coincidence
that keeping the improper method of scheduling God’s holy days has something
to do with the modern problems in the Churches of God. For years a fundamental doctrine of the Worldwide Church of
God and Radio Church of God was that if God showed you something to do and you
refused to act upon that revealed knowledge, then God’s blessings would be
removed. Later in the study we will
show how this works. In 1969 a
great many problems surfaced in the church.
It is no coincidence that 1969 probably marks the year Mr. Armstrong
became aware of how the Jewish Calendar actually works.
From 1934 until 1974 the church grew at an unprecedented rate of 30%.
Then suddenly, the blessings stopped and now the church is scattered,
almost to the state of being irrelevant.
Loss #4
The
Loss of the Temple Location
It appears there is a
good chance that the Jews have lost the knowledge of the location of the Temple.
They have lost the knowledge of the location of David’s tomb also.
In 1969 a scholar at Ambassador College, Earnest Martin, led a large
number of people out of the Worldwide Church of God on the Sunday Pentecost
issue. These people very quickly
became scattered and returned to Protestantism, as did Dr. Martin. Dr. Martin went on to publish a book locating the Temple down
the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem’s water source.
His theories concerning the need for water for the sacrificial system
were prominent in developing his conclusions.
His premise seems flawed to me. I
personally believe that history will eventually show that the location of the
Temple was on top of the Mount of Olives, just where everyone believes it was.
This is because I find it very doubtful that God would inspire men to
build the temple where there was a potential to contaminate Jerusalem’s water
supply with the tremendous amounts of blood involved in the sacrificial system.
A few years ago, Ben
Whitfield gave a Bible study at the Jackson, Wyoming feast site showing the
inside of the Dome of the Rock. It
showed an impression cut out of the rock base that is presumably where the Ark
was set. I am confident that
history will verify this version of the Temple location over Dr. Martin’s
theories.
Dr. Martin’s theories
concerning the location of the Temple cannot be totally ignored as other
scholars have came to similar conclusions.
Dr. Martin is not an infallible source as may be evidenced by his studies
showing Pentecost should be on Sunday. Most
of his arguments were based upon wild theories showing that the Resurrection
happened on Sunday. Indeed, the
Systematic Theology Project embraced these theories and they were the basis for
Raymond McNair and Garner Ted Armstrong spearheading the effort to change the
church’s observance of this festival. Once
the theories concerning a Sunday Resurrection fall, the entire argument for
Sunday as a Feast of Weeks date implodes. The
official 1974 change concerning the timing of the Resurrection has been missed
by most people in the church. This
is because Mr. Armstrong did not fully understand that his helpers had assisted
him by officially changing this doctrine. He
continued to preach, publish, and teach a public message showing the
Resurrection was on Saturday.
Part
10:
At this point in the
study we need to examine the very beginning of the Radio Church of God and how
the authority of the Jewish Calendar became official doctrine.
Mr. Armstrong came into contact with the Church of God 7th Day
in 1927. By 1931 he was ordained.
He encountered the usage of the Jewish Calendar in regard to scheduling
Passover. The Church of God 7th
Day acknowledged no other holy days or New Moons. Mr. Armstrong was just like you and me coming into the truth.
He had no reason to doubt the authority of the Jewish Calendar as a means
of scheduling holy days. In his
wildest imagination, the thought that the leaders might impose an unbiblical
system would not naturally enter his mind.
Neither would this possibility enter our mind if we were in his shoes.
The Church of God 7th
Day and Mr. Armstrong did not have Arthur Spier’s book available in 1940.
Dr. Spier was in the process of immigrating to New York City to avoid
persecution by the Nazis in 1940. His
book would not become available for years.
All they had readily available was The
Farmer’s Almanac, The Word Almanac,
and encyclopedias. They may have
had access to a kosher calendar.
In 1940 a controversy
arose concerning when to schedule Passover.
One Brother Dodd had scheduled the Passover based upon figuring the New
Moon closest to the Vernal Equinox.
This placed Passover one month earlier than the Jewish Calendar had it
scheduled.
This same situation
arose in 2002 only in reverse. The
Jewish Calendar had Passover scheduled based upon the New Moon nearest
the Vernal Equinox. This
configuration was definitely one month early as shown in the detailed study “Return
to Gilliagan’s island --The Real Calendar God Gave Adam, Seth, Noah, Abraham,
Issac, and Moses.” What
escaped Mr. Armstrong and others was the fact that the Jewish Calendar often
schedules Passover exactly like Brother Dodd wanted to in 1940.
The Jewish Calendar model does not care about Equinoxes or First
Visibility or Jerusalem Time. Only
when the months were intercalated and scheduled based upon the reality of
observation, were equinoxes (a biblical requirement) ever criteria for
scheduling holy days. Raymond
McNair and other scholars try to justify this (going to the New Moon nearest the
Vernal Equinox on certain years) as a special
rule for special occasions. In
1940 Mr. Armstrong and his counselors would not accept this argument as a
biblical argument. They were of
course, correct. Beginning the year
with the New Moon nearest the Vernal Equinox is not
a factual biblical argument today and it was not
in 1940.
If Mr. Armstrong had
truly understood what the Jewish Calendar really was and how it operated, I am
certain he would have made the necessary changes to have the church assume its
proper role in scheduling holy days for the people God called out of the world.
He would have devised a system based upon God’s reality of creation,
rather than Jewish reasoning. The
church would have been taking responsibility for scheduling their own appointed
times with God based upon the Bible, just as the Colossians did.
This 1940 Good News
article is included in the Appendix of this study for examination.
Over the years very little was ever written about the calendar and even
less after 1969 when questions arose concerning this system of scheduling holy
days. Kenneth Herrmann and Dr. Hoeh
were the only ones besides Mr. Armstrong to really address the topic of the
calendar and they simply carried on a hypothesis he made concerning the
authority of the Jews.
Part
11:
The
Topic the 1940 Good News Article Addresses
As stated in Part 10,
the topic this 1940 letter addresses is when to insert the intercalary month.
I quote from this letter, “5)
Now, our problem is, WHEN, and HOW OFTEN, DID God ordain these intercalary
months should be added?” This
is the root of the issue. Earlier
in this article Mr. Armstrong stated, “many
of the brethren are in doubt, and want the FACTS.”
Postponements are not an issue because Mr. Armstrong and others simply
are not aware of these peculiarities of the Jewish Calendar.
Mr. Armstrong is not trained in astronomy or higher mathematics.
He is essentially a self-trained man.
He never received a college degree for anything.
This always bothered the scholars.
Many people will focus
on this 1940 article in an attempt to introduce confusion into issues concerning
when and how to schedule the Feast of Weeks (not the Feast of Sabbaths).
They will point out a typo showing how there is doubt concerning the scheduling of this
feast. They will try to prove that
Mr. Armstrong scheduled a Tuesday appointment for the Feast of Weeks.
This is not true. Diaries exist showing that as early as 1937 and 1939 Mr.
Armstrong and his congregations observed only
a Monday schedule for the Feast of Weeks. If
you consider that he kept the holy days with Mrs. Armstrong 7 years by
themselves, you will see that he had a remarkable understanding of scripture by
the time the 1940 calendar controversy arose. He was inspired to
sort the facts and understand a proper scheduling of the holy days in 10 years
from the first time (1927) he came into contact with the Sabbath issue.
The mistake of putting
June 18 instead of June 17 is just what it seems. It is just a typo, nothing more.
It is not proof of anything. Mr.
Armstrong is just trying to say sunset to sunset and gets things tangled up.
When translating God’s ideas into Gregorian Calendar lingo, that
sometimes happens, even to people with doctorate degrees.
If only his critics could measure up to what was accomplished through him
in restoring doctrine.
Part
12:
The
Critic’s Corner
Critics of the Jewish
Calendar being chosen as the authority for scheduling holy days such as Frank
Nelte, always turn to the 1940 article, the first writing in the church
establishing doctrine in this sphere. The
critics are quick to point out that Mr. Armstrong does not understand the Jewish
Calendar and how it comes to its conclusions and they are right.
They will point out that in item number 3 of this article that Mr.
Armstrong wrote, “Pentecost ALWAYS came in the summer, Tabernacles ALWAYS in the Fall at
time of, or right after, Fall harvest.”
These critics will jump on the fact that he says Pentecost always comes
in the summer. What these critics
fail to tell you is that in the minds of many of the ancient scholars, the
seasons are spoken of as only SUMMER and WINTER.
This is because there are only two
equinox locations in the path of the earth around the sun.
The locations of the two solstice points on the Ecliptic Plane are different points in
astronomy. Charts and pictures are
provided in the Appendix of this study showing the Ecliptic Plane.
We know from other
church literature that Dr. Hoeh and others were definitely aware that the Feast
of Weeks was seasonal in nature and was never to fall in the summer.
I have no doubt that the people advising Mr. Armstrong in 1940 had some
of this figured out too.
All of the scriptures
in the Bible pertaining to scheduling God’s festivals with the exception of
Genesis 1: 14 and Romans 3: 1-2 which was later used in a special interpretation
of what “Oracles of God “
means, are present in this 1940 article. Even
though Mr. Armstrong mentions “Oracles of God” in the article he does not
specifically cite scripture. This
seems to indicate he does not place a lot of importance on what oracles means in
resolving the problem at hand (when to insert the intercalary month).
Notice the scriptures
he cites in the article. He
definitely went to the Bible first,
to see what it said about the scheduling of the holy days.
He seems to show a definite bias toward the Jewish Calendar, as he
should. He should not accept a
change in doctrine haphazardly.
Leviticus
23:10-14 = the wave-sheaf
Leviticus
23:39 = Feast of Tabernacles
Exodus
23:14-17 = feasts in their seasons
Exodus
34:18, 22-23 = Feast of Tabernacles at the TEKUFAH of the year
Deuteronomy
16:9, 13, 16 = 3 feasts in their seasons
Leviticus
23:4 = feasts in their seasons
Numbers
28:2 = offer in their seasons
Exodus
13:10 = in its season
1
Chron. 12:32 = men of Issachar for the calendar
Esther 1:13 = men who "knew the times" in the Persian Empire
Notice that Mr. Armstrong lists all of the scriptures that apply except Genesis 1:14. If you examine this article thoroughly, it becomes apparent that Mr. Armstrong tried to find every scripture pertaining to the topic of how to schedule the appointed times. This is important in Bible study. In those days he was seeking truth diligently. Notice that he did not come to his final decision alone. The verdict was the result of a consensus. Mr. Armstrong did not pretend to be a calendar authority when this study began or when it was over and a final decision had been made.
Note
that Mr. Armstrong emphatically states that, “There is NO BIBLE AUTHORITY WHATSOEVER for figuring the 1st day of the
1st month from the new moon NEAREST the Spring equinox!”
He is absolutely correct but he obviously does not understand that the
Jewish Calendar, the system he thinks is correct (Jewish Calendar) does this
quite often. He absolutely
knows that from scripture you never figure from the New Moon nearest the Vernal
Equinox. Mr. Armstrong and his
helpers undoubtedly knew that Ezra adopted the Babylonian names to the calendar.
They would have realized that the Babylonians always started their year
from the first New Moon (visible crescent by their reckoning) after the Vernal
Equinox. This information would
have been quite common knowledge. Only
historical evidence from written records of ancient Israel and how they began
the month is obscured from history.
Mark this well!
Right here is the basis for the misunderstanding of believing that the
Jews started their years like the Babylonians.
There was no evidence showing that the calendar systems of Babylon and
Judah were not compatible. They
were. All of the calendar systems
in this part of the world were lunar and came from the same source. This is the original thinking and assumptions leading to the
teaching that I was to experience in the early 80s. After all those years, the original misconception was still
believed by many to be correct while the church scholars had actually come to
know differently. They knew by 1969
that the Jewish Calendar did not even pretend to schedule holy days using this
criteria. Those of us in the laity
who “prove all things” had to dig this out by ourselves one piece at a time.
And it has been a long excavation. The
idea of the leadership was not to rock the boat, but to preserve the income base
for doing a work. Somewhere,
protecting and teaching truth took a backseat.
Somewhere, the church woke up one morning without
the gift of healing, just as Judah woke up one morning and discovered the
presence of God was gone from the Temple.
Part
13:
Human
Reasoning
Most
of us know how Mr. Armstrong taught and warned against human reasoning.
He taught that there was a cause for every effect.
He was right. What he did
not realize was that he fell victim to the same human reasoning he warned all of
us about. After the extensive study
he and others done concerning the calendar in 1940, Mr. Armstrong realized that
Josephus and other historians only provide conflicting ideas regarding how to
schedule God’s feasts. He can
find no authority in the Bible on how and when to insert the intercalary month.
It must be noted here that neither
is there anything in the Bible giving the Jews this authority.
God sets all doctrine and schedules his feast days (see Richard Nickels
fine article, What do you mean “You?”).
So
Mr. Armstrong made the following generalizations:
“In
conclusion, unless God has preserved His sacred calendar thru the Jew, then WE
DO NOT KNOW how to figure Passover or ANY of the holydays this year. For there
is NO AUTHORITY for any other day.”
. “God did not commit His oracles, or the preservation of His TIMES to profane history, or to the Roman Catholics, but to the Israelites. And they have been preserved BY THE JEWS.”
“The
Catholics are the ones who have thought to CHANGE the Times. They say the
paschal new moon this year is the one BEFORE March 21st, and figure Easter
accordingly. The Jews say it is the one AFTER March 21st.”
“After
thorough study of the Bible, of the Hebrew calendar, of history, and every
angle,--after going into the matter with all the Eugene brethren, and other
brethren who have made a special study of this question, we have unanimously
agreed that the Hebrew calendar has been preserved correct by the Jews.”
Please
notice the human reasoning and logic involved.
He previously cited practically all of the scriptures relating to
scheduling the holy days that one can find in the Bible.
He understands that God would not commit his method of scheduling holy
days to profane history. He does not understand the mathematics of the Jewish Calendar.
Mr. Armstrong does not realize that the Jews have not preserved God’s
method of scheduling holy days. What
they have done is devise their own method based upon the logic of the rabbis
over several centuries, after the time of Christ.
Mr.
Armstrong makes the correct decision. He
really has no other options at this point. He thinks the Jewish Calendar is going to the first New Moon
after the Vernal Equinox. I have
before me Arthur Spier’s book and it shows that in 1940 this was precisely
what the Jewish Calendar system appeared
to do. What Mr. Armstrong does not
realize is, that in 1940 the Jewish Calendar Model only appeared to be doing
what he expects. It is just a fluke
of this mathematical model and its cycles at that point in time.
In
closing this part of the study I will say that given the information at hand Mr.
Armstrong made the right decision. He
made an obvious error in relying upon HUMAN REASONING and this error set the
stage to undermine the entire church. Mark
this well! This reasoning was used
by Satan to destroy and change a lot of original doctrines starting in the late
1960s. A little leaven truly
leavens the whole lump. Right here
was the beginning of the approach to doctrine, which has caused the
disintegration of the entire church structure.
I hope to show this to you as the study progresses.
In
the beginning, Mr. Armstrong fell victim to the very thing he preached against, HUMAN
REASONING. What I hope to show later in this study is how failing to change,
to correct wrong thinking and get in line with the Bible as the sole authority
will destroy everything if the truth is revealed to you.
Right here is the SPIRITUAL
TERMITE that undermined the entire church structure and that termite stands
identified as the HUMAN REASONING of
church leaders submitting to Jewish reasoning.
Part
14:
Church
History on the Jewish Calendar
This
part of the study is quite lengthy. It
will detail prominent writings of the church over the yeasr concerning the
calendar and document the progressive understanding that the Jewish Calendar has
a lot of technical flaws. The
articles are cited to show that despite obvious, unbiblical technicalities, that
the Jewish Calendar was retained as the official means of scheduling God’s
appointed times. These articles
document the movement of the church leaders to accept the authority of the Jews
and align the church with Jewish reasoning.
The Bible had ceased to be the authority for all doctrine.
Kenneth Herrmann’s March 1953
Good News Article
The
next important article concerning the calendar was written by Kenneth Herrmann
in 1953. He arrives at the same
conclusion regarding the authority of the Jews concerning this calendar as Mr.
Armstrong did in 1940. Kenneth
Herrmann does add a few scriptures not used in the 1940 article.
Genesis 1:14 = use sun and moon for the calendar
Leviticus
23:27-32 = days go from sunset to sunset
Exodus
12:2 = year to start in the spring
Numbers 28:11 and 1 Chron. 23:31 = months start at the new moons
Leviticus
23:4 = feasts in their seasons
Exodus
13:10 = in its season
Exodus
23:14-17 = feasts in their seasons
Deut.
16:9-16 = feasts in their seasons
Numbers
28:2 = offer in their seasons
1
Chron. 12:32 = men of Issachar for the calendar
Romans
3:1,2 = oracles of God
Kenneth Herrmann adds
Genesis 1:14 to the scriptures used to show what the Bible has to say about
scheduling the holy days. He adds
Exodus 12: 2 to show that without exception, the Bible starts the year in the
Spring. Kenneth Herrmann is still
using the same human reasoning Mr. Armstrong used in 1940 but he expands on the
biblical requirements from the Bible for the calendar by adding Genesis 1:14 and
Exodus 12:2. He also adds Romans
3:1-2 as the first actual reference to what the church was interpreting
“Oracles of God” to mean. Otherwise
there are no changes.
What I intend to do
next is look at some parts of this article and examine the premise Kenneth
Herrmann is working on. The
following excerpts were also included in his 1957 article.
On page 8, also column I, the article states: "God's months begin with the new moon. However, these months may seem to begin a day or so following the actual new moon because of special considerations. The observation of the new moon is to be made from Jerusalem, not from the North American continent. The seven to ten hours difference in time between Jerusalem and the part of the country (i.e. United States) you live in will make actual observation of the new moon from America misleading."
Kenneth Herrmann is
obviously under the misconceptions that the Jewish calendar attempts to achieve FIRST
VISIBILITY of the New Moon crescent!
All calculations of the Jewish Calendar are based on establishing a mean
average conjunction (the molad), not THE ACTUAL INVISIBLE CONJUNCTION.
Visibility never enters into any mathematical considerations one way or
the other with the Jewish Calendar model.
Further, Kenneth
Herrmann apparently believes the molad calculations of the Jewish Calendar model
arrive at the true new moon conjunctions. They
do not. The molad calculations can be 15 hours in error, at Jerusalem. The
15-hour error can cause the actual new crescent to be visible before the Jewish
calendar model even begins a month. The
New Moon of March 2003 is an example of this.
On page 8, top of column II, the article states: "Passover varies from about March 26th to April 22nd over a ten-year period
What Kenneth Herrmann
is talking about here the earliest year for all the Feasts and the
latest year for all the
Feasts in every 19-year cycle. Year
#9 is the earliest year Year #17 is the latest year in the Jewish Calendar
model. There are either 8 years or
11
years between these
extremes. Kenneth Herrmanns
understanding is flawed.
In actual practice in
the Jewish calendar Passover is scheduled to be on:
April
23rd in 2005
March
25th in 2013
Therefore the range for
Passover dates in the Jewish Calendar model are 3 days longer than Kenneth
Herrmann states in this article. The
range is thus clearly a full 30 days and not only 27 days as the 1953 article
implies. Incidentally, 2005 marks
another year like 2001 when the churches of god schedule their Pentecost based upon an incorrect understanding Joshua
5:10-12. Also, 2013 marks the
earliest year in the range for scheduling Passover and throws the fall festivals
into the summer.
On page 8 in column II,
the article Kenneth Herrmann writes:
"Thus we have established… the yearly cycle beginning in the spring with the first day of the month in which the early harvest would take place. The day, month and year are easy to follow by watching the sun in its daily path, the moon in its phases, and the seasons as they progress. The signs in the heavens were intended for this purpose." (Also quoted in the February 1957 GOOD NEWS article, Kenneth Herrmann's own emphasis).
Doesn’t Kenneth
Herrman say it beautifully? How
could you improve on the way he describes the yearly cycle? He has knowledge of the sciences. Once more Kenneth Herrmann correctly states that the yearly
cycle begins in the Spring! However,
the Jewish Calendar does not do this all of the time. Six years out of every Nineteen, the Jewish Calendar starts
the year in the winter. This is
precisely what Mr. Armstrong criticizes Brother Dodd for in 1940.
Kenneth
Herrmanns February 1957 Good News Article
WHICH IS THE CALENDAR CHRIST USED
Listed below are the
scriptures cited in this article:
Genesis
1:14 = use sun and moon for the calendar
Leviticus
23:27-32 = days go from sunset to sunset
Exodus
12:2 = year to start in the spring
Numbers
28:11 and 1.Chronicles 23:31 = months start at the new moons
Leviticus
23:4 = feasts in their seasons
Exodus
13:10 = in its season
Exodus
23:14-17 = feasts in their seasons
Deuteronomy
16:9-16 = feasts in their seasons
Numbers
28:2 = offer in their seasons
Acts
7:38 = lively oracles
Romans
3:1,2 = oracles of God
This is basically a
rerun of his 1953 articles. Many
passages are quoted exactly as mentioned in the previous analysis of the 1953
article. One notable exception is
that Kenneth Herrmann does not reference "the men of Issachar" or
Persia as being the calendar gurus. He evidently realizes at this point that
there is a conflict concerning this biblical idea with what the church is
actually teaching.
The church was teaching
that Leviticus 23 shows how certain authority was given to the Levites.
Hence, that authority passes to the leaders of this church age and they
understand that "the oracles of God" were the specialty of the
priesthood and/or the tribe of Judah. Naturally
they had to extend this privilege to Judah because at the time of Christ the
priesthood was overrun with “shanty” Levites.
Herod sold genealogies and politics corrupted the priesthood.
Rich Nickels has a tremendous article exposing the error of assuming
Leviticus 23 gives any special authority to the priesthood concerning the
calendar. His article is called, What do you mean “You?” This
study clearly shows how wanna-be leaders will go to any extreme to bend
scripture to give themselves authority. Also,
teaching that Levites in general were given special authority is a real stretch
of scripture. Generalization
is a product of the human reasoning that has proven to be a spiritual termite in
the Church of God.
Also
Kenneth Herrmann has added Acts 7:38 with reference to "the lively
oracles." Otherwise the article generally shows that Kenneth Herrman
still thinks, or at least teaches the idea that the Jewish Calendar meets the
scriptural requirements for scheduling God’s holy days.
Kenneth
Herrmanns October 1957 Good News Article
Prove God's Calendar Correct
This specific Good
News article was aimed at addressing a specific problem. That problem was:
1) In the first Good
News article of 1957, Kenneth Herrmann had stated that the start of each
month is based on the appearance of the first faint crescent of the new moon in
the western sky. This is not
factual. The Jewish calendar never claims to achieve first visibility of the new
crescent; it is only concerned with "the molad," the mean average,
invisible, new moon conjunction. The
reality of the creation is not a concern with the Jewish Calendar model.
2) Since his previous
article was published in 1957, some Church members had noticed that they could
see the first faint crescent of the new moon one, and sometimes two days earlier
than the dates published by the Church. Naturally they wrote with questions to Pasadena.
An accurate educational picture of the Jewish Calendar model was
developing within the church.
3) In response to those
questions--to explain this obvious contradiction of facts--Kenneth Herrmann
wrote this present article. In this
article he mentions several things that were not featured in his previous
article in 1957, which was published twice under different titles.
On page 5 in column I, the opening sentence states:
"Almanac dates for the new moon sometimes disagree with those on the Sacred Calendar."
This is Kenneth
Herrmann's purpose statement for this entire article.
He is going to explain why the start of each month in the Jewish calendar
(which he calls "the
Sacred Calendar,"
a title the Jews themselves have never at any stage claimed) frequently differs
from the "new moon dates" that are commonly published in calendars and
in almanacs. Kenneth Herrmann will
explain why God expects the church to enter chaos and ignore the reality of his
creation. He will explain why Moses
deliberately led the Israel in a state of confusion, despite clear biblical
statements otherwise, for 40 years and had them by blind faith accept a New Moon
which was up to two days different from the New Moon of reality (actually he
fails to make these things clear).
For the purposes of this article I will deal with only several of the many obvious flaws in thinking the ch