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Dictionaries define the word CALENDAR as; A means of measuring the passing of time by DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS
and YEARS.
In the beginning God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from
the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years Gen 1:14. Thus God set in motion
the means of dividing and measuring time.
DAYS
The evening and the morning were the first day Gen 1:5;
the evening and the morning were the second day Gen 1:8. This formula is repeated for six times, revealing clearly
and unmistakably how a day is to be defined. In Deu 23:11 and Jos 8:29, the terms evening and sundown are used
interchangeably, revealing that the word evening is meant as sunset. Now, God made two great lights, one to rule the
day and one to rule the night Gen 1:16. The sun rules the day and when it sets it is no longer ruling, therefore
the day has ended and the night has begun. In the beginning there were no clocks, the lights of the heavens were man's
clock. All a person had to do, was to look up and see that the sun had set, to know that the day was over. God made
the things about measuring time, simple and easy.
WEEKS
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified
it Gen 2:2-3. On the seventh day God rested from His labours and spent the day with the man, whom He had created.
The seventh day was set apart for holy use at the time of creation, for Adam and ALL his descendants M'r 2:27. At
the end of a seventh day, a new week begins. The eighth day always represents the beginning of a new cycle of seven
(let the reader understand). And so we have the week of seven days, ending with the end of the seventh day!
MONTHS
Paul tells the Colossians not to let anyone condemn them for observing New Moons Col 2:16, and Isaiah
says that, in God's kingdom, ALL MEN shall worship on the new moons Isa 66:23. Some men declare that Zec 14:16,
which states that in the Kingdom of God, all men will observe the Feast of Tabernacles, justifies observing that Feast today!
Yet these same people refuse to observe New Moons, even though Isaiah declares that in the Kingdom of God, all men will observe
New Moons! They are NOT CONSISTENT in their thinking. Now the citizens of Colosse were Gentiles who had never
before observed the laws of God. They began to observe what Paul had instructed! Would the Apostle Paul have instructed
them to do something that was unnecessary? or contrary to scripture? Why did he encourage them to continue observing
New Moons in the face of objections by others, if he thought that observation was unnecessary? David wrote that
He appointed the Moon for seasons Psalm 104:19 and special Burnt Offering were to be made on the New Moons 1 Ch 23:31, Ezra
3:5. The New Moons were NOT Sabbaths or Holy Days but they were consecrated as natural divisions of time appointed by
Almighty God.
At the conjunction of the moon there is no light at all. On most of our published "Christian"
(sanctified by the Roman Pontiff) calendars the date of the conjunction of the moon is marked as the new moon, since this
is how astronomers reckon things. A day or two later the first visible light from the moon can be seen. Over the
next two weeks, the moon appears to grow bigger, fuller and rounder until it is completely full, A FULL MOON. After
this event the moon begins to shrink, getting a little smaller each day, until about two weeks after the full moon there is
again no visible moon at all, this is called the conjunction. If we were to search the sky we would see nothing of the
moon at all. Then a day or two later we would see the first visible light of a NEW CRESCENT MOON. Why a new moon?
Because the day before there was no moon! We are now seeing something NEW in the night sky. This new light
is the beginning of a month, the beginning of a NEW cycle. The moon waxes and wanes throughout the month, until
it finally disappears and the month ends, even as the day ends when the sun disappears over the horizon. A day or so
later, a NEW LIGHT, A NEW MOON appears in the sky and a new month begins! How awesome and simple! It is only necessary
to look up and acknowledge the light in the night sky to discern when a new month begins!
Since all days begin
at sunset, the first day of each month also begins at sunset. Therefore the observance of the New Moon must take place
directly after sunset, for the beginning of the day and the beginning of the month both start at sunset. If a New Moon
were to be observed in the morning, then the new month would begin at the next sunset. Otherwise we would have the new
month beginning in the middle of a day! The new month BEGINS with the SUNSET starting the first COMPLETE
day after the New Moon is observed. Otherwise, one could be polluting a High Holy Day (The Feast of Trumpets) for a
full half day without knowing it. A High Holy Day CANNOT begin in the middle of a day and it CANNOT begin
before the New Moon beginning the month is OBSERVED! Such a Holy Day must begin like ALL other days, AT SUNSET!
WHEN DOES NEW MOON BEGIN
In our round world the question arises; When does the new moon begin? Are we to
observe it in Jerusalem or somewhere else? The answer is that since God made the heavens our calendar, at creation,
and it is quite probable that Jerusalem did not exist at that time, that God fully intended that people, wherever they are,
could just look up and discern the times. Surely, God knew that men would reproduce and spread over the earth, for He
had commanded them to do so. God wanted to make the measurement of time simple and easy, wherever men were. When
you look up into the sky and see the sun set, the day ends for you, wherever you are. We are not to live all around
the earth by Jerusalem sunset times! Neither are we to live all around the earth by Jerusalem new moon days!
Wherever the new moon is observed by the naked eye, without aids, such as telescopes or binoculars, that is where the
new moon begins on the planet's surface. Whenever and wherever a new moon is seen, that moment begins the new moon
day! As the earth turns, that new moon will become visible in each new time zone. The argument that people will see
the new moon on different days is simply false and is the result of confusing God's calendar with the Papal calendar and
trying to intermix them! While there may be a different day according to the Papal calendar, the new moon will
be seen within the SAME 24 HOUR PERIOD, beginning at the same sunset as it occurs around the world, on the
same Biblical day!
YEARS
God said to Moses; this month shall be the first month of the year
to you Ex 12:2. During this first month the early harvest shall begin Lev 23:5-14 and Deu 16:9. The year begins
with the first visible light of the first crescent moon of the first month. The year consists of twelve months, therefore
at the end of the twelfth month the year ends and a new year begins. Thus bringing to a completion the seasons and completing
one revolution of the earth around the sun. Because the twelve months do not add up to a complete solar year there
is a loss of about ten days a year, of the lunar year over the solar year. If this were allowed to continue without
any correction, the end of the twelfth month would quickly fall behind the solar year, throwing the spring holydays
out of the spring harvest season. Therefore a thirteenth month is intercalated every few years to bring the lunar back
into line with the solar year. This addition of a thirteenth month is essential to maintain the holydays in their proper
seasons. The thirteenth month should be added whenever the spring harvest in Judea will not be ripe enough to begin
reaping by the day of the Wave Offering on the day after the Sabbath which comes after Passover. Note; the Wave Offering
is to be made during the week of Unleavened Bread, therefore, if Passover falls on a Sabbath, the Wave Offering is to be made
on the First Day of Unleavened Bread. This is because the next day after the Sabbath, occurring one week later, would
fall outside of the feast of Unleavened Bread.
During ancient times the people in Judea had no problem looking
out at their fields and determining the ripeness of their crops. As migrations occurred it became very difficult for
people who lived many thousands of miles away to receive timely information on the state of crops in Judea. This problem
was solved by the observation that crops in Judea ripened around the spring equinox. Since crops were never ripe enough
before the spring equinox, the Wave Sheaf could not be harvested and offered before the equinox. A thirteenth month
was added whenever it was determined that the Wave Sheaf offering would fall before the equinox.
Today,
with e-mails, web sites and telephones it is incredibly easy to contact someone in Judea and determine the state of the crops
there. This fact along with the equinox rule makes the determination of intercalated years simple and easy.
While these observations are easy in a dry desert climate. They are difficult in areas subject to much rain, fog, smog or
bright city lights. Yet, in todays world, there should be no difficulty in setting up official church observers in various
cities around the world, so that these events may be seen regardless of local conditions. In fact, the date and
timing of the first visible crescent of the new moon may be calculated and known beforehand, requiring only confirmation by
observation. The same may be said of sunset times and harvest dates as well.
Throughout the ages various
priesthoods have tried to make the simple calendar of God's word appear complex and incomprehensible to people.
This was to create an atmosphere of dependence on the priests for information; on when to plant and harvest and when
to keep annual celebrations pleasing to God. This has been true of virtually all cultures. They try to conceal
the truth, that God's ways are simple and really very easy to understand.
Because the word calendar is not
mentioned in the bible, there are those who declare that there is no biblical calendar and that all people must rely on the
calculated Rabbinic calendar. We have shown that there most definately are biblical instructions on the calculation
and measurement of the passage of time. We DO NOT need to RELY upon those who reject our Messiah for information
on how to please our God, through observing His feasts on their proper days. Instead WE NEED TO RELY UPON THE WORD
OF OUR GOD! If we would only observe the new moons, as scripture indicates is God's will, we would NEVER have lost
track of God's way of measuring time. We would NOT have become so lost and confused about something so simple.
New moons are NOT holydays, they are signs of the natural division of time and should be observed as such.
The calendar information discussed above was in use in Judea before and during the time of Christ. The modern calculated
Rabbinic calendar with it's reliance on Molads (the average moon conjunction times), postponements and complex
rules was first published by Hillel 2 in the fourth century AD. IN FACT, this was the Babylonian calendar, learned
in Babylon by the captive peoples and slightly modified to accommodate religious holydays! This Hillel 2 calendar completely
ignores the word of God as recorded by Moses in the Torah. Those researchers who base their studies on the premise that the
Hillel 2 calendar was in use during the time of Christ and earlier will be in error in their conclusions. The fact is,
Hillel 2 was not even of the same branch of the Pharisees that lived in Judea at the time of Christ. Those Mosaic Pharisees
were destroyed during the Roman rebellions in the first century. Hillel 2 came from the Hellenic Pharisees and
his ideas had been moulded by the Babylonians (see the SEAT OF MOSES page). In terms of research, any astronomical
observatory can calculate moon phases, equinoxes and sunset, moonset times back for thousands of years. Making
the determination of months and years in history relatively easy.
It is a general principle that God keeps things
simple and straightforward where-as men complicate matters. Brethren, it is time to RETURN TO OUR GOD and look
to HIM for understanding on ALL SPIRITUAL MATTERS!
EXPECTED FESTIVAL DATES FOR 2008
These dates are based on the most likely day that the new moon may be observed
in the first and seventh months. While every effort has been made to assure accuracy, these dates are subject to confirmation
by the observation of the new moon. We will publish observation data for the first day of the first and seventh months
in our CURRENT EVENTS page. As the first day of the seventh month is a Holy Day we recommend that the date we provide
and the next day as well be taken off work, just in case the new moon is not observed on the expected date. Anyone desiring
to volunteer as a new moon observer should feel free to contact us, please be sure to provide your location.
Spring
harvest and New Moon data will be provided in our CURRENT EVENTS page as soon as it is available.
5 Mar
08. After rigorous inspection throughout Judea and Samaria, no spring grain was found that would even begin to
meet the requirements for the Wave Offering, therefore an intercalary (13th) month must be added, so that the wave offering
may be made on the Sunday after Passover. This means that Passover will be in April in 2008.
PASSOVER
21 APRIL UNLEAVENED BREAD 22 - 28 APRIL
PENTECOST 15 JUNE
FEAST OF TRUMPETS 2 OCT ATONEMENT
11 OCT FEAST OF INGATHERING 16 - 22 OCT
THE LAST DAY 23 OCT
All dates are calendar
dates, beginning at sunset ending the previous day.
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