The Doctrine of Pentecost

How and Why It Was Changed!

 The Basis for the Change
Why Go to the Scholars?
Be Careful With the Word!
Some Discrepancies
Facts We Should Consider
A Sunday or a Monday in the Beginning?
The Truth of God Stirs Up Wrath
Backward, Not Forward—The Fruit of a Sunday Pentecost
How Does God Reveal Truth?
An Important Review: How the Holy Days Were Revealed
Excerpts From a 1953 Article
Was the New Testament Church Founded on Sunday?
How to Count Pentecost
The Exact Date!
Why Pentecost on Monday?
Pentecost Centuries After A.D. 31
How Pentecost Was Changed
Early Confusion Among Catholics About Pentecost
We Are Expected to Believe
Believe It Now or You're Suspended
God Says Hold Fast
Pentecost Only Holy Day to Count

Should we keep a Sunday or a Monday Pentecost? Does it make any difference which day we keep? How did we come to keep a Monday Pentecost? What were the reasons—the basis—for changing from a Monday to a Sunday Pentecost? This article will answer these questions and give a behind-the-scenes summary of events which led to the change.

           Which day is Pentecost? How can we know? Some say Sunday; others say Monday. Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote, in 1957, that "It is of very grave importance we figure the right day. This day, and this only [emphasis ours], is made HOLY by the Eternal Creator" ("Pagan Holidays—or God's Holy Days—Which?" 1957, p. 14).

           In the same booklet, on pages 13 and 15, Mr. Armstrong emphatically stated that the New Testament Church began on Monday, June 18, a.d. 31, "The New Testament Church of God was not founded on Sunday."

           How did Mr. Armstrong come to know that Pentecost was on a Monday? That Jesus Christ started His Church on a Monday—not a Sunday, the day on which the large majority of "Christian" churches hold services and the day they use for the inception of their first century church?

           Let Mr. Armstrong answer: "'For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, BUT BY THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST . . .' [through] the WORD OF GOD . . . ." ("NO! I Never Was a 'Jehovah Witness,' or a Seventh Day Adventist!") As late as January 31, 1974, in a letter to the church, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong reiterated how he had personally researched—at least three times—the matter of a Sunday versus a Monday Pentecost. Each time, he had held fast to a Monday Pentecost, rejecting all of the false arguments against it (p. 1, para. 4).

           God revealed many foundational truths to Mr. Armstrong. Among them were the identity of modern Israel, all of God's annual Holy Days and the fact that Christ was crucified on a Wednesday, Nisan 14, in a.d. 31—although the overwhelming majority of "scholars" placed the crucifixion on any year other than a.d. 31 and refused to admit Passover fell on a Wednesday in a.d. 31.

           Was this man, whose fruits had proven him to be God's servant, led into gross error in the matter of Pentecost? At the time God revealed to him which day was Pentecost, all other religious "scholars" disagreed with a Monday Pentecost, observing a Sunday Pentecost and an Easter Sunday Passover season.

           Time after time, Mr. Armstrong refused to give up a Monday Pentecost. In the late 1940's and early 1950's, the protests of half the Eugene church—over the counting of Pentecost—resulted in Emil Heibel's leading off the dissidents who formed a separate church believing in a Sunday Pentecost. There were many attacks, from all across the nation, leveled against a Monday Pentecost. In each case, some form of division or split occurred. Rebellious groups sprang up. Their initial cohesiveness centered around the keeping of a Sunday Pentecost. In every case, these groups fragmented and ultimately faded into nonexistence. Whereas, up to 1974, the Church of God fervently and zealously observed a Monday Pentecost and continued to grow and expand under the benevolent and divine favor of Almighty God.

           Why this tenacity of Mr. Armstrong to cling to a Monday Pentecost? Did God fail to reveal the truth to Mr. Armstrong for forty years? When Pentecost was changed in 1974, for what reason was it changed from a Monday to a Sunday?

The Basis for the Change

           In the 79-page "Pentecost Study Material," written in April of 1974 and given primarily to the ministers, Mr. Armstrong gave the reason for changing Pentecost to Sunday. He wrote, "It is the fact that one of the translators of the RSV, who is Chairman of the Revision Committee now revising the RSV, said not only that [that is, that the Hebrew mi or min should never be translated 'from' but 'beginning on'], but that he will strongly recommend the revision will so translate it, that caused me to CHANGE the Pentecost from Monday to Sunday" ('A Simplified Note from Herbert W. Armstrong,' para. 4).

           So, the meaning of the Hebrew expression mi-mohorat (which in English is translated 'from the morrow') formed the entire basis for the conclusion to keep a Sunday versus a Monday Pentecost. Since Mr. Armstrong's decision to change was based on the meaning of these Hebrew words, we should expect their literal meaning to be ironclad—provable beyond question. Certainly, we would not want to base so important a change on a controversy or on an ambiguous Hebrew expression.

           As quoted in the 1974 Pentecost paper, Dr. Moule (assistant to the late Dr. Charles H. Dodd, Head of the Committee on The New English Bible) said, when contacted by the Doctrinal Committee in Pasadena in reference to the English expression "from the morrow:" "I see what you mean. The English is ambiguous . . . yes, a very tricky expression." Then he was asked if he felt the Hebrew expression mi-mohorat was also ambiguous. "Definitely not. I would still suggest using the translation 'beginning from' but I would count inclusively [because of the Hebrew]" (p. 20, para. 1).

           On May 14, 1974, Mr. Armstrong wrote to the entire church regarding the "new light on marriage and divorce"—"First, we all had to bear in mind that we could not accept mere arguments advanced by others outside the Church, resorting to unclear meanings of Greek or Hebrew words and using human reason to try to 'prove' what they wanted to prove" (p. 5, para. 4).

           But, hasn't the exact opposite of the above been done in establishing a Sunday Pentecost? What source of knowledge did the doctrinal committee use to persuade Mr. Armstrong to "change" Pentecost? Again, let the church answer.

           They went to Dr. Naor, "a famous scholar in Hebrew grammar" (p. 9, para. 1), who said that "from the morrow" in Leviticus 23:15 should be counted inclusively (that is, Sunday is 'day one' in the count). He wrote, "The interpretation of the words 'on the morrow of the Sabbath' was a subject of controversy between the Pharisees and the Sadducees [since early New Testament times] . . ." (p. 8, para. 2).

           They went to Mordakhai Joseph, an adviser to The Plain Truth, who wrote that the English expression "from the morrow" (mi-mohorat in Hebrew, vs. 15) has only one understanding in Hebrew. "To me as a native Israeli who has spoken Hebrew all my life, Leviticus 23:15 simply indicates 'on Sunday until Sunday.' I can't see any other explanation to it even if I wanted to" (p. 10, para. 1).

           From the same paper, "Dr. Bergmon (Rabbi) from Israel, now teaching at University of Judaism said: 'It definitely means on Sunday, there isn't any other way.' He added, 'only those who don't know Hebrew would possibly render it as Monday'" (p. 7, para. 3).

           But is this true?

           Dr. Herbert G. May, Chairman of the Committee for Continuing Revision of the Revised Standard Version, admitted that "from the morrow" could be confusing in English. Asked more specifically by the Doctrinal Committee about the meaning of mi-mohorat, "I don't think here it would be 'away from.' It would mean a starting point . . . and 'beginning with' would probably be clearer." So, here we have even the scholars admitting they "think" that it's "probably" that way ("Pentecost Study Material," p. 19, para. 3).

           It was stated in the "Pentecost Study Material" (p. 1, para. 3) that min and its shortened form mi mean "FROM, OF, BY, AT, IN, ON, etc." Is this the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

           Let's go to Dr. Menahem Naor, "famous scholar in Hebrew grammar" (quoted in the Pentecost paper), to find out if mi means "on." On page 83 of his Hebrew Language and Grammar, A Practical Textbook (Jerusalem, 1949), Dr. Naor defines mi and min as "from, out of." And on page 29, he uses mi connected with a noun to mean "out of the house." Dr. Naor's book contradicts his comments to the Doctrinal Committee.

           The English-Hebrew index in the back of the Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance lists mi under the English words "from, of, by, at, in, out of and after," but not under "on"!

           The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Brown, Driver and Briggs; published in 1906) summarizes the meaning of mi and min (p. 577)—"prep. expressing the idea of separation, hence: out of, from, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not." With verbs, this lexicon explains, mi expresses separation or removal. Saphar is a verb, so we are to count from—count out of—the morrow after the Sabbath. While it is true that the count toward Pentecost begins on a Sunday (inclusive), it is also true that one must use inclusive counting at the end of the period. Thus, the count is completed at the end of a Sunday, making Pentecost fall on Monday. For a complete explanation of how Pentecost should be counted, send for our article, "The Plain Truth about Pentecost."

Why Go to the Scholars?

           Why, after forty years, have we gone to the scholars to determine the correct day for Pentecost? From Mr. Herbert Armstrong's Pentecost letter of February 11, 1974, are the following quotes:

In a former letter, I told you we had called a special team of Ambassador College's most scholarly researchers to reexamine all evidence on setting the day for Pentecost. . . A committee of our best researchers and scholars at Pasadena Headquarters was appointed to reexamine for me this subject in depth. . . . To assist Mr. Armstrong, we contacted world-famous translators—scholars who actually rendered the Hebrew . . . . We did not have, at that time, access to all of the scholarly research that we have today. . . . Ambassador College has indeed provided an educated ministry. It has developed a scholarly research team. (pp. 3, 7, 5, and 6 respectively)

           Then we are told, on page 9 of the same letter referring to Pentecost, that the expression which has been used on radio, "'Don't believe me—see it with your own eyes in your Bible,' that is one thing. But this setting of the day for the entire Church to assemble must be set by Christ as He reveals to His appointed leaders in His Church." Considering the above, one must ask why the need for this new revelation. Did Christ make a mistake in His earlier revelation to Mr. Armstrong? Or, if it was the truth when first revealed, has not the church now departed from the way of life?

           Again, why go to the scholars when God says in Malachi 2:12 that He will cut off, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, the scholars and the masters who have profaned the holiness of the Lord? God warns that those who profess themselves to be wise—including the scholars—will become fools (Rom. 1:22).

           There is no conceivable way by which we can see or understand God's Word from a "scholarly" point of view. Truth must be understood by revelation, by God's Spirit. Scholarship should serve to substantiate revelation. It is not the basis for truth. When we reject revelation, we reject God—we reject the only way anyone can understand truth! Using the scholarly approach can only lead to error; God designed it that way (Rom. 1:22). The human eye or ear has not seen the truth of God. ". . . But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (I Cor. 2:9–10). Try as he may, no one ever came to the truth except as guided and directed of God, through the power of His Holy Spirit. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him . . ." (John 6:44).

           In II Timothy, through the entire third chapter, we are warned of what is to take place within the church in the last days. In verse 7, God specifically warns—relative to those having the scholarly approach—"Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." If the church is going to accept the scholars' views and the outside world for substantiation of Pentecost, then why not for every other doctrine?

Be Careful With the Word!

           A long-time member, of twenty-five years, wrote Pasadena of her concern over changing Pentecost from a Monday to a Sunday, citing several scriptures of controversy, including Leviticus 23:15. The letter was answered on May 23, 1975, by Mr. Garner Ted Armstrong.

           In the reply, Mr. Armstrong wrote that the church only ". . . assumed Pentecost was on a Monday, which it was not. . . . if we had been able to see PLAINLY that this verse [Lev. 23:15] means exactly what it says those many years ago, we would NEVER have assumed Pentecost to be on a MONDAY. . . . I feel I could prove Pentecost is on a Sunday to a child in five minutes. . . . [Pentecost] was studied in careful, many-hours long sessions by the whole doctrinal committee, of which I was a part."

           Lastly, the entire third paragraph quoted from the first page of his letter: "The scripture you mentioned has nothing directly to do with Pentecost; and the word PENTECOST, or 'FEAST OF WEEKS' is not even mentioned ANYWHERE in the book of Exodus. The Feast days were NOT REVEALED in their entirety until much later, following entry into the Promised land." The fact that the Holy Days were revealed to God's people in the beginning is quite an admission, especially when the doctrinal committee claims they were not revealed in the beginning of God's end-time Work. But notice the statement that "Feast of Weeks" is nowhere mentioned in the book of Exodus, "And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end" (Ex. 34:22).

           God admonishes His servants to be very careful with His Word—His Truth, His laws and His commandments. Carelessness can be disastrous. And, worst of all, carelessness can lead God's people away from the truth which was revealed by Almighty God.

           Uzzah (II Sam. 6:6–7) is an example in point. He became overconfident in his own wisdom. He disregarded God's instruction on how to carry the ark of God (Num. 4:14–15; 7:9). A small matter, one would think—but not to God. It cost Uzzah his life! None of us can afford the mistake of becoming careless with this way of life, however well-intentioned or convinced we are of God's Truth. In the end, it's God's Word that counts.

Some Discrepancies

           On page 47, paragraph 2, of the 1974 "Pentecost Study Material," is the following quote: "We know that Jesus Christ observed Pentecost with the Jews (Luke 4:16); and there is no hint of different days being observed for Pentecost either then or in 31 a.d. (Acts 2). All the Jews were apparently observing Pentecost on the same day!"

           This statement is contradicted in the same paper, eleven pages earlier (p. 36, para. 4): "These three Jewish encyclopedias make it abundantly clear that the three Jewish religious sects of Christ's day (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes) all kept Pentecost on a different day—but, remember, they all reckoned inclusively."

           The problem on page 36 is that the doctrinal committee was trying to prove inclusive counting—while on page 47 they were trying to prove that Jesus Christ kept Pentecost on Sunday, the same as the Sadducees. Is someone bending the facts to fit the need? Can you trust any man, especially "scholars"?

           Mr. Armstrong said that we should not accept the arguments of others outside the church, or unclear meanings of Greek or Hebrew, to prove the truth. The Jews—the scholars whom the Doctrinal Committee contacted—all argue that we, the Church of God, should keep Pentecost on Sunday when they themselves keep it on Sivan 6 and Sivan 7. They admit they are unsure. Then why should we take their word on how to count?

           The Jews have long recognized the inconsistency of their manner of observing Pentecost on Sivan 6 when, if fifty days are counted inclusively (beginning with Nisan 16), then Sivan 7 would be the date. Jewish scholars since the time of Maimonides, during the twelfth century, have interpreted Leviticus 23:15 to mean that one should reckon forty-nine days from the time of the cutting of the first sheaf (article, "The 613 Commandments," in The Jewish Encyclopedia). Again, the Encyclopedia Britannica (1972 edition, article "Jewish Holidays") admits that Jews count forty-nine days, not fifty. To count fifty days the way the Jews do today, would place their Pentecost on Sivan 7. So they have interpreted Leviticus 23 to mean "count forty-nine days." But in order to be "covered," many Jews add a second day of Pentecost, keeping both Sivan 6 and Sivan 7. The Bible remains clear that fifty complete days are to be counted—not forty-nine, as many Jews do and as the Worldwide Church of God now does.

Facts We Should Consider

           The Jews are in controversy, among themselves, concerning the observance of God's Holy Days. Then why should God's Church go to them concerning His Holy Days? Shouldn't we go to God as He has instructed? Shouldn't we keep the day He inspired and gave to the church in the beginning? By changing Pentecost to Sunday, are we now prepared to admit the churches of the world were right all along? That God left His Church in error for several decades?

           We were told, in a Headquarters sermon, that when the Doctrinal Committee asked a certain Jewish Hebrew scholar the meaning of "count from"—he laughed at our ignorance, our lack of wisdom. We could just as well ask the same man about Passover, Nisan 14 or any other of God's Holy Days—explaining what we believe from God—and he would also laugh!

           Which group, in departing from a Monday Pentecost, has long maintained a knowledge of the truth? Which group, keeping a Sunday Pentecost or Easter Passover, has God blessed? Several groups, of recent date, have departed from the truth and from the church. They made their departures prior to the changes in doctrine, believing in a Sunday Pentecost. All have denied—or are in the process of denying—God's Holy Days, His Sabbath, the sanctity of marriage, etc.

           One cannot change God's revealed doctrine and remain in the truth. Dr. Hoeh wrote, in 1953, "This Pentecost [the Pentecost that the Gentile churches changed from a Monday to a Sunday], so-called, had become corrupted with SUN WORSHIP. It always fell on Sunday, the same as the pagan Easter substituted for the Passover. . . . God's true Church—the church that Jesus built—has been observing the true day of Pentecost [Monday] to this day [1953]. . . . All other churches have resulted from apostasies [sic] and have accepted pagan doctrines." (pp. 2–3 of "Was the New Testament Church Founded on Sunday?")

A Sunday or a Monday in the Beginning?

           A question often asked is, "Didn't Mr. Armstrong keep Pentecost on Sunday when the Work first started?"

           Mr. Armstrong has answered that question on numerous occasions, publicly stating, "I never kept a Sunday Pentecost as such!" Some, newly converted to keeping a "Sunday Pentecost," are not satisfied with Mr. Armstrong's explanation that he "never kept a Sunday Pentecost as such." They have sought to justify their acceptance of a Sunday Pentecost. Their assumption being that if Mr. Armstrong kept a "Sunday Pentecost" on one occasion in the early days of the Work, it is all right to keep a Sunday now.

           What, then, did Mr. Armstrong observe in those early years while he was in the process of learning God's Truth?

           We have, in our possession, a copy of a diary of a member who began attending services over forty years ago. She was baptized on August 4, 1936. She recorded each Holy Day in her diary. On Monday, May 17, 1937, she attended Pentecost services in Eugene, Oregon. She wrote that she went home with the Armstrongs after Pentecost services.

           It was in the early thirties that Mr. Armstrong began actively seeking admission to—and ordination papers and credentials from—the Church of God (7th Day) which had its headquarters in Salem, West Virginia. He did so after breaking with the Oregon Conference over the "pork question" and doctrinal questions relative to baptism. He was admitted into the ministry of the Church of God (7th Day) in the fall of 1934, as one of the "seventy" ordained to the office of an evangelist.

           At the time Mr. Armstrong officially became a member and evangelist, it was noted by the church elders that he had begun observing the feast days. No exception was taken to this practice at that time! Considering what Mr. Armstrong has written in his autobiography, The Plain Truth, other articles, letters and the official records from the Salem, West Virginia, Church Conference, 1934 was the first year he began keeping the Holy Days.

           It was not until three years later—in 1937—that the Salem, West Virginia, Church of God Conference officially read into its minutes Mr. Armstrong's papers and articles contending that the Holy Days, including a Monday Pentecost, were to be observed. The conference rejected the Holy Days. Finally, in 1938, Mr. Armstrong was notified in writing to ". . . turn in his credentials for continuing to preach contrary to the church and resolution as passed in 1937 as to Feast Days, etc." (from the historical records of the Church of God [7th Day]). The Holy Days never became an issue until after they were fully proven by Mr. Armstrong, after God revealed a Monday Pentecost.

The Truth of God Stirs Up Wrath

           It is the Truth of God that stirs up wrath. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword . . ." (Heb. 4:12). It is God's Holy Days—and particularly a Monday Pentecost (which pictures and portrays the giving of the Spirit of God)—which makes Satan exceedingly angry. It is God's Truth—not falsehood—that arouses Satan to act in anger against the true servants of God, who keep God's commandments and have the faith of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:12, 17).

           In 1937, after three years of study, Mr. Armstrong had the knowledge—the revealed knowledge—of a Monday Pentecost. That is when he took it to the conference for a decision, and that is when the Church of God (7th Day) rejected the truth and the division occurred which led to Mr. Armstrong's expulsion from the ministry of the Church of God (7th Day).

           God began His end-time Work with a Monday Pentecost. However, He removed His blessings from that Work when the church rejected a Monday Pentecost.

Backward, Not Forward—The Fruit of a Sunday Pentecost

           To any thinking person, it should be clear that what is called "the Work of God," within the Worldwide Church of God, is retrogressing spiritually. The real truth of God is not being preached by those who have now departed from the faith once delivered. The gospel Christ preached has been changed to one of cause and effect!

           What nation today is being told its sins?—India? Ethiopia? Israel? Japan? What leader has repented, been convicted and baptized? Where is the fruit of Matthew 28:19–20 or Mark 16:15—the prophecy of a work to shake up this world? Is the church receiving God's blessings or His cursings—His approval, or disapproval?

           What fruit do you see? God warns us not to be tossed to and fro with doctrinal changes (Eph. 4:14). In I Timothy 4:6 we are told to remember the good doctrine that we heard. And in verse 16, we are told to take heed and continue in the doctrine in order to receive salvation. Read the same warning all throughout I Timothy 5–6 and Titus 1–2. In II Timothy 1:13, we are instructed to hold fast the sound words we have heard. II Timothy 4:3 says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." And who can read I John 2:24, without concern over the recent changes in doctrines—Pentecost included: "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father."

           Reread the Scriptures cited. Are these Scriptures for those in the world who never knew the truth? Or, are they for those who knew it—and are forsaking it?

           What were the fruits of God's people the first forty years while keeping a Monday Pentecost? When were we made free? (Gal. 5:1) Was it in 1974? Or, was it not when the first thousands were converted to God's Truth and baptized? When did we experience the fruits of the Spirit? (Gal. 5:22) Would that have been possible if we had lived in error the first forty years? Was God a wilderness unto us, as some now claim, during the first forty years? (Jer. 2:31) Could those thousands of people have been converted to error? Could we have received the Holy Spirit when we celebrated its coming on the wrong day? What would have happened to the apostles if they had assembled together (Acts 1 and 2) on the wrong day? What is happening, spiritually, to those who now observe a Sunday Pentecost? What is the fruit of those who insist on keeping a "Sunday Pentecost"? What can your fate be if you remain with a Sunday Pentecost organization?

           Was God's Church confused in the past, or is the church confused now? Is our God such a God? (I Cor. 14:33)

How Does God Reveal Truth?

           The Apostle Paul received the understanding of the gospel by divine revelation. Paul said, "But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. 1:11–12).

           The same was true of Mr. Armstrong—who forcefully, emphatically, and dramatically stated, many times, "I will never change on a Monday Pentecost. God revealed a Monday Pentecost to me, I did not receive it nor was I taught it of any man but of Jesus Christ!"

           In the December 1956 issue of The Plain Truth—in the article, "NO! I Never Was a 'Jehovah Witness,' or a Seventh Day Adventist!"—Mr. Armstrong wrote, ". . .'but when it pleased God, who . . . called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him' to the world; 'immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood'—neither went I to any sect or denomination or organized 'church,' but I went directly to the WORD OF GOD, and on my knees asked God through His Spirit to open my understanding—to correct me, reprove and rebuke, and instruct in His Truth and His righteousness . . . then after three years I went to some of the humble of God's people in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, and preached to them [please compare with Gal. 1:11–18]."

           On page 301 of his autobiography, Mr. Armstrong wrote, "As this study of the Bible continued, I was forced to come out of the fog of religious Babylon a single doctrine at a time. It was years later before I came to see the WHOLE picture—To understand God's PURPOSE being worked out here below, and why, and how, He is working it out. Like a jigsaw puzzle, the many single doctrinal parts ultimately fit together, and then, for the first time, the WHOLE picture burst joyfully into view. . . . I had to examine every doctrinal tree in the religious forest . . . . But finally, after years, I was able to see the whole forest of TRUTH, with dead doctrinal trees removed . . . . The pioneer work has been done. The weeds have been removed. . . . But I myself had to check carefully and test every doctrine, one at a time."

           Then why should we go back and lay a different foundation of doctrine, when that pioneer work was done by God—through revelation to Mr. Armstrong—after eighteen and one-half centuries of spiritual darkness?

           When God reveals His way of life to those He calls, He does not reveal error! God did not make a mistake and reveal the wrong day for Pentecost. To claim such a thing makes God a liar. God is not a liar—He is the God of truth. Paul wrote, in the book of Romans, ". . . let God be true, but every man a liar . . ." (Rom. 3:4).

           This world was largely in spiritual darkness for almost nineteen centuries before God began working with Mr. Armstrong. In like manner, Israel was in the darkness of sin in Egypt. The time of their sojourning, between the covenant with Abraham and the Exodus, was 430 years to the day (Ex. 12:40). From the time Jacob moved to Egypt until the Exodus and the giving of the Law, almost 200 years elapsed.

           When God brought His people out of Egypt, one of the very first things He did was to reveal His Sabbath day. He did this prior to Sinai—before He codified the Ten Commandments. Before Israel left Egypt, God gave them the Passover (Pentecost was revealed at a later date) and the knowledge that Abib was the beginning of the year (Ex. 12).

           When God revealed the Sabbath to Israel, He revealed the true Sabbath—a sundown to sundown, seventh day of the week Sabbath. He did not make a mistake and set the Sabbath on a Sunday, the first day of the week! Neither did He make a mistake in revealing Pentecost to His people in Israel, then or now!

An Important Review: How the Holy Days Were Revealed

           After Mr. Armstrong was first called, it was several years before he learned all the truth about God's Holy Days. His autobiography (p. 400) relates how God began to call him, at age thirty, in 1927. Mr. Armstrong writes that ". . . after 3–1/2 years of intensive study and training, Christ ordained me to preach the same Gospel . . . . This ordination took place at, or very near, the day of Pentecost, 1931" (p. 407). Since he wasn't keeping Pentecost in 1931, it was difficult to know whether he had been ordained on Pentecost.

           Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong kept the Holy Days alone, in their own home, during the first few years after learning they were to be kept. He has said that he learned the meaning of the Holy Days only after he began keeping them. How did he come to know Pentecost was on a Monday?

           When Mr. Armstrong began seeking the truth concerning the day of Pentecost, God then (not before) revealed it to him. And God did reveal Pentecost—that's what Mr. Armstrong emphatically states. He has said that he was deeply troubled in his search for the truth, the right day. He has both written and vocally declared that he sought God on at least three occasions, and each time the answer came back a Monday Pentecost! Your Bible says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7). That is what Mr. Armstrong admittedly did—he fasted and prayed, and God answered!

           To accuse God of leaving His Church in error for thirty-five years or more would be sin! In doing such a thing, we indict Christ as being derelict in His responsibility as Head of His Church. Where, in all the Bible, can we turn to a Scripture showing God reveals doctrinal error? Search as you might, you will find none. But you will find example after example where God's people departed from the truth after it was revealed! Strange as it may seem, these departures most often occur after a forty-year period of time!

           In the beginning of this end-time Work, Mr. Armstrong went to God for the answer. But in 1974, he went to the Hebrew scholars—the outsiders—and established a Sunday Pentecost based on a single Hebrew expression, mi-mohorat. It is an expression that the scholars themselves admit is a "very tricky expression" or that is "unclear of its meaning." The expression has been a controversy for centuries. Few scholars agree among themselves, as to what it means! Then how can we expect to find truth from such a source, admittedly proven unreliable?

           Dr. Charles V. Dorothy wrote, in his introductory letter for the 1974 "Pentecost Study Material," "Though the decisions on Pentecost [Sunday] are obviously correct, please realize this [the Pentecost paper] is not intended to be the divinely inspired, one hundred percent correct 'Law of Medes and Persians which altereth not' on all technical details—we are always open to further knowledge."

           Then why accept a Sunday Pentecost since, admittedly, the Doctrinal Committee agrees it was not divinely inspired of God and is "open to further knowledge"? Perhaps we should expect a "new truth," later, on the same subject. When Dr. Hoeh was asked the question—"Dr. Hoeh, at what time do we arrive at the absolute truth from which we will never depart?"—his answer was an unbelievable "NEVER!"

           God says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee . . ." (Hos. 4:6). It is God's people who are rejecting knowledge, and it is God's people who are going to be punished for "their ways" (Hos. 4:9). Read the entire passage for yourself.

           In Isaiah 48:16–17, God speaks to us through His prophet. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc., were written for the last days. God admonishes us to "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit [not err], which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go."

           Yes, God has led us when we walked with Him, when we sought Him. When we reject God, looking to men, He says He will reject us. In I Thessalonians 2:13, God again instructs us, through Paul, "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God [when did we receive the basic, foundational truths—in the beginning (the early thirties), or in 1974?] which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe [who continue in God's revealed Truth]."

Excerpts From a 1953 Article

           Now, just a few excerpts from an article written by Herman L. Hoeh in 1953, entitled, "Was the New Testament Church Founded on Sunday?" (Emphasis theirs throughout.)

Yes, Jesus founded His church on the day of Pentecost—not before then! . . . Was the true church founded on a Sunday in a.d. 33 as the Catholic and a few other churches claim? REMEMBER, if any church which claims apostolic authority has erred in the traditional date of its founding, how can we believe that its other traditions are true?

Was the New Testament Church Founded on Sunday?

First, the day of Pentecost is the ONLY annual Sabbath that must be counted year by year. THEREFORE, THE JEWS ARE WRONG IN PLACING IT ON A FIXED DAY OF THE MONTH. The Jewish date for Pentecost is incorrect because it does NOT need to be counted each year. If the Jews were right, Moses would have said that Pentecost shall be observed on the seventh day of the third month.

The Jewish error developed when the Pharisees used the day after an annual sabbath instead of "THE SABBATH"—the WEEKLY sabbath . . . .

The cause for placing Pentecost on Sunday is based on the error of counting "Saturdays" instead of weeks. Pentecost is not the feast of "Saturdays" but the feast of weeks. (Exodus 34:22).

How to Count Pentecost

As absolute proof that this verse [Lev. 23:15] should be translated "after the seventh week," turn to Deut. 16:9 and Num. 28:26 where the word week is translated from a different word—shabua—which NEVER means sabbath, but always week. Since in these verses the Hebrew words used never mean the sabbath . . . . Hence, the real meaning of Lev. 23:16 is "the morrow after the seventh week" as any other translation would necessitate a contradiction of scripture.

Yes, the church that Jesus built was not founded on Sunday, but on Monday. Catholics and the Jews know that Pentecost is to be numbered fifty days or seven full weeks from Sunday, the day the wave sheaf was offered. Yet NEITHER of them knows how to figure correctly!

The Exact Date!

Pentecost in 31 a.d., the exact day upon which the true church was founded by Jesus Christ, was June 18. This day was a MONDAY, which you can prove in your own home if you check on Webster's Collegiate Dictionary under perpetual calendar.

God's true church—the church that Jesus built—has been observing the true day of Pentecost to this day. That is why it has not forgotten the right year in which it was founded. All other churches have resulted from apostasies [sic] and have accepted pagan doctrines. They have forgotten the right year and the right day. They are not the churches that Jesus promised to build and which He promised to guide into all truth! Only the true church which has kept the true day of Pentecost could remember when Jesus founded his church.

Why Pentecost on Monday?

The wave sheaf did NOT picture the resurrection of Christ, but the resurrected Christ being accepted of the Father on Sunday, the day after His resurrection. Compare John 20:17 with Matthew 28:9 to find the time when Christ first ascended to the Father to be accepted of Him.

Because, since the resurrected Christ is the first of the firstfruits and was accepted by the Father on the Sunday after his resurrection—portrayed by the wave sheaf offered on the first day of the week—then we who are second in order to be reaped—"afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming"—are pictured by having the feast of firstfruits or Pentecost fall on the SECOND DAY OF THE WEEK or Monday.

Pentecost Centuries After a.d. 31

With the death of the apostles, a great change occurred, which most of you have never been told about. A terrible apostasy set in among the churches of God. Paul warned the Ephesians with whom he observed Pentecost, as we have already seen, that "after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you [ministers in the church], not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them." (Acts 20:29, 30) "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves [within the church] teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Tim. 4:3)

How Pentecost Was Changed

The following extracts from histories obtainable at most libraries PROVE THAT THE EARLIEST GENTILE CHURCHES DID KEEP PENTECOST! These records speak of keeping Pentecost—a Pentecost that was changed in the immediate years that followed the death of the last apostles. This Pentecost, so-called, had become corrupted with SUN WORSHIP. It always fell on a Sunday, the same as the pagan Easter substituted for the Passover.

Here is a plain statement of Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, article "Pentecost":

"In the Christian Church the importance of Pentecost was continued and its significance emphasized by the outpouring of the Spirit on that day (Acts 2). The day of the week on that occasion is TRADITIONALLY represented as Sunday . . . Wieseler (Chron. d. Aposl. Zeitalter, p. 20) plausibly suggests that the festival was fixed on Sunday by the later Western Church to correspond with Easter. . . . Among the early Jewish Christians observance of the Hebrew feasts continued, doubtless with fresh significance derived from the new revelation."

Let's notice these statements. Pentecost was continued in the early true Christian Church. It is TRADITION, not Revelation, that places Pentecost on Sunday according to Wieseler.

Early Confusion Among Catholics About Pentecost

. . . [T]he apostates of the universal church were almost wholly Gentiles, these men gradually developed their own customs to distinguish themselves from the Jews, and yet to retain the Christian or Jewish names. Both the Passover and Pentecost were TRANSFERRED GRADUALLY TO SUNDAY. And the name Passover was at last dropped for Easter. Even Pentecost has been greatly obscured by the name Whitsunday. And along with the perversion of these two days, the apostate church LOST ALL REMAINING KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE PLAN OF GOD which these days picture.

The Reformation failed to restore the Holy Days of God. All the multiplicity of churches today either follow the pagan custom of observing Pentecost on Sunday or else NEGLECT the day altogether. The time has come for us to get back to the faith ONCE DELIVERED to the saints. Let's begin to keep holy, the days God made holy. It is time we quit this Babylon of religious confusion

and human tradition and follow the paths of the saints through all ages who have remained faithful to the truth of God. (pp. 1–4)

           True to the word—every denomination, every church, every person to depart from a Monday Pentecost—changing to a Sunday Pentecost—has left the precepts, the doctrine, the truth of God!

We Are Expected to Believe

           Senior pastors were told, in the 1975 Senior Ministerial Conference in Texas, that Mr. Armstrong did not come to understand the Truth by revelation. We were further told that he only "dug out" such things as the Sabbath, the Holy Days, healing, interracial marriage, hair length, tithing, divorce and remarriage, etc., physically. That is, he just read it out of the Bible. That, after all, it was expected (by the Doctrinal Committee?) that he would make many mistakes, since he was not educated in Hebrew or Greek and only had the help of unconverted men through books—i.e., Adam Clarke and all the other Bible helps.

           Today we are told that we have the "scholars," the Doctrinal Committee. They "know" the Greek and the Hebrew and are "educated." They are able to "hold up the apostle's hands" and show him the truth and the error of his ways. (Why doesn't someone read II Timothy 3:7 or Malachi 2:12?)

           We are told to believe in the changes of 1974—rather than the "errors" to which we were once converted. As one minister explained, "God made a mistake in revealing the Truth to Mr. Armstrong; He is now showing us the Truth, revealing the errors!"

           We are expected to believe that God is guilty of sowing bad seed for approximately forty years. Based on the "new truth," none of us could have been converted previously, since one can be converted to truth only!

           No wonder God warned us of a departure, in the last days, from doctrine (Matt. 15:8–9, Eph. 4:14, I Tim. 1:10; 4:1; 6:1, 3-5, Titus 2:1). "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father" (I John 2:24).

Believe It Now or You're Suspended

           In the Ambassador College Auditorium dedication ceremony of May 6, 1974, Mr. Ted Armstrong commented on the "new truth" of Pentecost and divorce and remarriage. To the "entirety of the ministry," assembled there from around the world, he laid it on the line! Believe in a Sunday Pentecost now, or you will be put out of the church and the ministry. Submit papers if you will to prove your point, but it will do you no good: "Pentecost is ironclad, and you cannot prove it is on a Monday" (from the official transcript of the Ambassador College Auditorium dedication ceremony, p. 62, reel 2).

           To submit proof or papers on any given subject, contrary to the opinion held by the speaker and/or the Doctrinal Committee, has led only to ridicule and being put under surveillance.

           Here is the exact quote of May 6, 1974 (p. 62, reel 2 of above mentioned transcript): ". . . anybody in this room or outside of it who can answer point-by-point the more than 20 major proofs illustrating Pentecost is in fact on a Sunday, I now [after the decision was officially announced in February] not only invite him, but will order him to submit such a paper in writing before he says one word in private, laterally or beneath him, concerning the subject of Pentecost, or else he will be suspended from this church. . . . It has been wide open, anybody's input has been sought on bended knee, so to speak. Give us information. . . . So I'm saying that Pentecost is ironclad, and YOU CANNOT PROVE IT IS ON A MONDAY!"

           But, where are the twenty major proofs that Pentecost is on a Sunday? Rather, we read and listen to phrases, claims, assumptions, hypotheses, theories, presumptions, and scholarly conjectures concluding in a Sunday Pentecost. Not only was the "new" doctrine not proven—its spokesman angrily demanded that we either believe it or be put out of the church!

           It has been said, "Some will find it hard to believe that the Church has been wrong for nearly forty years." But, it is even harder to believe God was so absent-minded that He forgot to reveal which day He made holy!

           During the auditorium dedication, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong said (p. 21, reel 1 of transcript), "Now how God would let His own Church go several [thirty-five or so] years in error may be a little difficult for some to believe. But the more important thing is your attitude." Yes, it is difficult to believe God could lead anyone in error. But He does not lead in error—He leads in truth, for God is Truth! When one changes God's revealed truth and then claims attitude is the more important thing, he has ceased to properly fear God! Attitude is important, but it does not supersede revealed doctrinal truth!

           For example, many well-meaning Christians in this world have tremendous attitudes, yet they believe the Sabbath is Sunday. Is God leading them?

God Says Hold Fast

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