Church of God News

Older Hebrew Calendar

COGwriter

Passover is after sunset on April 4th in 2023.

Each year, some bring up calendar concerns. Some believe that a calculated Holy Day calendar is wrong and that one must only be kept based upon personal observation. Those espousing the observed calendar often differ among themselves as to how it is to be observed.

The debate is often centered around a Jewish leader called Hillel II. He is credited for publishing the rules that the Jews use for calculating the calendar based on certain observations. Basically, the observed only crowd claims that since Hillel was not around until the 4th century, that prior to him, the Jews always used a calendar based upon observation of the first crescent moon and did not include something called ‘postponements.’

This argument presumes, however, that Hillel II invented the calendar rules he made public.

Since the calendar determining methods were guarded by the priests, that assumption is not a fact–and it can be actually proven that calculated rules pre-date Hillell II. Furthermore, some believe that this public action was necessary, because the ‘judicial body’ then known as the Sanhedrin, was a fading institution at the time, hence there was a need for public disclosure of the rules.

The observation with calculations crowd basically says that not all Jews used an observed calendar and the Bible seemingly gave the Jews (Leviticus 23:2 and possibly the Church per Colossians 2:16-17, literal translation) some latitude in determination of the actual start date. Some believe that postponements were in place and probably used by some centuries prior to the time of Jesus.

The theory of the Hillel calendar allegedly derives entirely from a paper written seven centuries later by R. Avraham b. Hiyya, in which he quoted R. Hai Gaon (early 11th century) as saying: “… until the days of Hillel b. R. Yehuda in the year 670 of the Seleucid era (358/359AD), from when they did not bring forth or postpone, but kept to this cycle which was at hand …” This brief remark is the only scrap of evidence for the existence of Hillel II related to the calendar.

Notice the following:

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar has been attributed to a Nasi named Hillel II. One would have thought that the calculation established by Hillel II would be widely published and known in his day. Yet neither Hillel II nor even a discussion of the idea of supplanting witnesses with a calculated calendar is found in the Talmud Yerushalmi or the Talmud Bavli. The first mention of Hillel II is over seven hundred years after the fact.

עד ימי הלל בר’ יהודה בשנת תר’ע לשטרות, שמאותה שנה לא הקדימו ולא אחרו, אלא אחזו הסדר הזה אשר היה בידם. . . .

until the days of Hillel b. R. Yehuda in the year 670 of the Seleucid era (358/9 CE), from when they did not bring forth or postpone, but kept to this cycle which was at hand . . . This from a responsum of R. Hai Gaon (early eleventh century) cited by R. Avraham b. Hiyya. …

Hillel b. R. Yehuda documented the fact not of the initiation of the Hebrew Calculated Calendar but of the fact of the continued use of this system. This documentation somehow made it to the library of Pumpedita and ultimately to the attention of Rav Hai Gaon. (Hillel II. Sod Haiber, http://sodhaibur.com/hillel-ii.html accessed 02/20/22)

So, that view is consistent with the idea that Hillel II did not invent postponements, only that he wrote calendar rules down.

Notice the following:

Jewish authorities of the 2nd century B.C. had achieved precision in their computations of the luni-solar calendar. (Segal JB. Intercalation and the Hebrew Calendar. Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 7, Fasc. 3, Jul., 1957, p. 296)

Furthermore, there is additional proof that the rules pre-date Hillel II. There is a Jewish document known as the Palestinian Talmud which dates from about 200 A.D. UCG put out the following, which I verified in the original source:

“According to the Palestinian Talmud, indeed, the rule was firmly established that Yom Kippur [the Day of Atonement] could never occur on Friday” (Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community, p. 136).

“The Babylonian Talmud frequently cites a saying attributed to Rav (Babylonian Amora, early third century), that since the days of Ezra [nearly 500 years before the time of Christ] the month of Elul [the sixth month] had never been full [never been 30 days long] 4 . . . the reference to Ezra suggests, nevertheless, that this rule existed already in the Mishnaic period [before A.D. 358, the time of Hillel II], and even long before. This rule is also attributed to Rav [Babylonian Amora, early third century] in the Palestinian Talmud, but without reference to the days of Ezra. Similar to this is the rule that ‘Adar adjacent to Nisan is always defective’ [that is, it is always 29 days long]. It is attributed in the same passage of Palestinian Talmud to Rabbi [Judah ha-Nasi (see footnote 5)], the redactor of the Mishnah, and elsewhere to R. Yehoshua b. Levi” (Sacha Stern, Calendar and Community, pp. 165-166).

Notice also something from the Palestinian Talmud itself:

The mishna elaborates: The lulav is taken for seven days. How so? If the first day of the Festival occurs on Shabbat, since the mitzva to take the lulav on the first day is a mitzva by Torah law, it overrides Shabbat and one takes the lulav that day. As a result, the lulav is then taken for seven days. And if the first day occurs on one of the rest of the days of the week and one of the other days of the Festival coincides with Shabbat, the lulav is taken only six days. Since the mitzva to take the lulav is a mitzva by rabbinic law throughout the rest of Sukkot, it does not override Shabbat. (Mishnah Sukkah 4: 1; https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Sukkah.4.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en accessed 04/04/23)

So, what does that and the previous quotes mean?

Well, they prove that there were postponement rules at least 150 years prior to Hillel II. Plus there are writings that the postponements are tied back to the at least the time of the Old Testament’s Ezra.

Sacha Stern in his Calendar and Community book states:

The existence of a fixed calendar in the late Amoraic period is confirmed beyond doubt in a passage of the Palestinian Talmud. The content is a Mishna (M. Megillah 1:2) … (Stern S. Calendar and Community A History of the Jewish Calendar, 2nd Century BCE to 10th Century CE. Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 171)

Thus, postponements preceded Hillell II. Those who say otherwise are overlooking historical evidence.

Furthermore, understand that back in Jesus’ time, communications were not instantaneous.

Yet, somehow Jews around the Roman Empire knew when the Day of Pentecost was as the Bible shows that they were in Jerusalem observing it on the correct day:

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:1-11)

The above is scriptural support for the idea that the calculated calendar was in place because the Jews who came for Pentecost obviously would have to have known when it was some time prior to its occurrence. Travel was much slower then and for a message to get from Jerusalem to Rome, and then for people to get back to Rome, would have taken a long time. It would not seem possible that those who visited Jerusalem from places as far away as Rome could have known when to be there, UNLESS a calculated calendar was used. While the Roman visitors coincidentally could have been there, since Pentecost was one of the listed Holy Days to appear before God with an offering (Deuteronomy 16:16), it is likely that they knew (in advance) when it was.

It should be realized that for centuries after Jesus was resurrected, Christians who kept the Holy Days had to use some method to determine their date, and since most were NOT near Jerusalem after 69 A.D., the use of a calculated calendar (which they likely knew from the Jews) was the only practical way for them to know when the Holy Days were.

Now because some rules related to the calendar were not made public prior to Hillel II (some others had been related to years with an ‘intercalated’ month), we do not know the date when they were first implemented–though some believe they existed from the time of Moses and were shown to be utilized by Ezra. It would seem logical to conclude that they were begun during the period when sacrificing was being done. One of the possible reasons I have read about for implementing them was in consideration of back-to-back High Days (before or after a weekly Sabbath) and the laborious offering rituals needed. It would not seem that postponements would have been implemented long after the Temple was destroyed with related sacrificing also ceasing by 70 A.D. If sacrifices played a role in using the postponement, then Hillel II could not have been the one to originate postponements.

According to Jewish sources. the placement of the Day of Atonement seems to be a major factor in the use of postponements. Notice the following from the Encyclopaedia Judaica:

CALENDAR (Heb. לוּחַ, lu’aḥ). The present Jewish calendar is lunisolar, the months being reckoned according to the moon and the years according to the sun. A month is the period of time between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next. The conjunction of the moon with the sun is the point in time at which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun (but not on the same plane) and is thus invisible. This is known as the מוֹלָד, molad (“birth,” from the root ילד). The mean synodic month (or lunation) is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3⅓ seconds (793 parts (ḥalakim); in the Jewish system the hour is divided into 1,080 parts each of which is 3⅓ seconds). The solar year is 365 days, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, which means that a solar year exceeds a lunar one (12 months) by about 11 days. The cycles of 12 lunar months must therefore be adjusted to the solar year, because although the Jewish festivals are fixed according to dates in months, they must also be in specific (agricultural) seasons of the year which depend on the tropical solar year. Without any adjustment the festivals would “wander” through the seasons and the “spring” festival (Passover), for example, would be celebrated eventually in winter, and later in summer. The required adjustment is realized by the addition of an extra month (Adar II) in each of seven out of the 19 years that constitute the small (or lunar) cycle of the moon (maḥazor katan or maḥazor ha-levanah). …

The year begins on Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of the molad, as there are four obstacles or considerations, called deḥiyyot, in fixing the first day of the month (rosh ḥodesh). Each deḥiyyah defers Rosh Ha-Shanah by a day, and combined deḥiyyot may cause a postponement of two days: (1) mainly in order to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10) from falling on Friday or Sunday, and Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from falling on Saturday, but in part also serving an astronomical purpose (see below). Rosh Ha-Shanah never falls on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday (according to the mnemonic לא אד”ו ראש known as the postponement addu – probably first vocalized iddo; cf. Ezra 8:17). (2) Entirely for an astronomical reason, if the molad is at noon or later (מוֹלָד זָקֵן or מוֹלָד יח) Rosh Ha-Shanah is delayed by one day or, if this would cause it to fall as above, two days. These two deḥiyyot, owing to the mentioned limits on the number of days in the year, entail another two. (3) The third deḥiyyah is as follows: If the molad in an “ordinary” (not leap) year falls at ג”טר”ד, that is the third day (Tuesday), at 9 hours, 204 ḥalakim, that is, 3:11 A.M. and 20 secs. – Rosh Ha-Shanah is put off two days. A postponement to Wednesday is not permitted (as in (1)), so that it is deferred to Thursday. The object is as follows: If the molad of Tishri occurs at that hour, the outcome would be a year which is one day too long…. (4) This deḥiyyah is very infrequent. It is known as בט”ו תקפ”ט אחר עבור שנה, that is when the molad of Tishri, following immediately after a leap year, occurs on the second day (Monday) at 15 hours, 589 ḥalakim, which means Monday, 9:32 A.M. and 43⅓ secs. …

While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II the fixing of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present fixed calendar is doubtful. … Intercalation is claimed to be evident from the figures in Ezekiel 1:1, 3:15, 4:4–6 and 8:1, with similar indications in I Kings 12:32–3 and II Chronicles 30:2–3; … The New Moon (Num. 28:11, and parallels) was determined by the phasis in the preceding evening, hence the plausibility of an early biblical record (I Sam 20:18) of its prediction for “tomorrow.”

(Calendar. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. p354-359. COPYRIGHT 2007 Keter Publishing House Ltd. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=imcpl1111&resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&contentSegment=9780028660974&isBOBIndex=true&docId=GALE|CX2587503848#354 viewed 02/28/15)

It is true that Hillel II did not come up with all the calendar calculation rules. Again, it is more likely he mainly laid them out publicly.

Psalm 81:1-5 discusses new moons, and may be a reason that the Jews believe the calculation for the new year should be based on Tishri 1. Though the sacred year, according to the Bible (Exodus 12:1-2), begins on Nisan 1, the date of that calculation seems to be based on the Tishri calculation. The fact that the Encyclopaedia Judaica ties an aspect of the calendar with Ezra 8:17 is consistent with the view that the postponements were being utilized at the time of Ezra.

Furthermore consider that Jesus kept Passover on the 14th of Nisan (also known as the month of Abib) on the Hebrew calendar after sunset on the day we now call Tuesday (see What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’?). He died the next day, which is the day we commonly call Wednesday. The late Dr. Herman Hoeh taught this occurred in 31 A.D. (though 30 A.D. might be possible–as far as 30 A.D. goes, I have seen something from one supporter of that view that claimed that the Feast of Trumpets prior to it was calculated based upon a postponement).

Now, if we can have records of when the new moon was for 31 A.D., we can calculate when Passover would have been. And that information exists.

There is New Moon Data from the US Navy Observatory using the current Julian calendar and Greenwich Mean Time for the new moon in 31 A.D.:

31 ...  April 10    Noon  (http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/spring-phenom viewed 02/25/15)

Since Jerusalem is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, then the conjunction, which effectively is the start of the actual New Moon, would have occurred at 2:00 pm on what we now call April 10th on the day of the week commonly called Tuesday (the same US Navy link states that March 27th was on a Tuesday, and from that we can calculate the days of the week for April of 31 A.D.).

If the first part or crescent of the moon could have been seen close to the time the US Navy said the conjunction for the new moon occurred, the 14th of Nisan would have begun after sunset on Sunday the 22nd of April. Yet, it would not have been seen.

Furthermore, the human eye normally cannot see the moon in the middle of the afternoon and there are delays until enough of the moon can be seen. So it would seem that the first observable crescent should have been the next day. Thus, the first day of the month would have likely been Wednesday, April 11th, based upon a strictly observable calendar. This would have made Passover after sunset Monday, April 23rd.

Presuming Jesus was killed in 31 A.D., this eliminates the strictly observable calendar (for details on why that makes sense, check out the article The KEY To The Crucifixion Date). The beginning of the month that year would have been ‘postponed’ one day, based upon a calculated calendar. Since Jesus kept His last Passover on a Tuesday evening after sunset, this leads to the logical conclusion that Jesus kept the Passover based upon a calculated calendar (again presuming a 31 A.D. final Passover for Him). Jesus would have kept Passover after sunset on April 24th and died prior to sunset on April 25th.

And if Jesus kept the Holy Days based upon a calculated calendar, then it is reasonable to conclude that a calculated calendar existed centuries before Hillel wrote a record of it down.

Notice also the following from the late Dr. Herman Hoeh:

The Hebrew calendar tells when

Here is a chart verified by works on the “Jewish calendar” — actually God’s sacred calendar — absolutely correct according to the computation preserved since the days of Moses!Dates Passover
A.D. 29 Saturday, April 16
A.D. 30 Wednesday, April 5
A.D. 31 Wednesday, April 25
A.D. 32 Monday, April 14
A.D. 33 Friday, April 3

To place the Passover on a Friday in A.D. 30 is to violate one of the rules of the fixed calendar — that no common year of the sacred calendar may have 356 days. Common years of 12 months may be only 353, 354 or 355 days long, a fact you can verify in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Theologians place the Passover of A.D. 30 on Friday, April 7, 356 days after the Passover of A.D. 29. Count it for yourself! This date is two days late. The Passover in A.D. 30 was only 354 days after that of A.D. 29.

The 14th of the month Nisan could have occurred on Wednesday in A.D. 30, as well as in A.D. 31. Thus, if you want to believe that the crucifixion was in A.D. 30 — which it was not — you would still have to admit that Friday could not be the day of the crucifixion!

For the year A.D. 31 a few references, unacquainted with the rules of the Hebrew calendar, mistakenly give the Passover, Nisan 14, as Monday, March 26. But this is one month too early. The year A.D. 30-31 was intercalary — that is, it had 13 months — thus placing the Passover 30 days later in A.D. 31, and on a Wednesday. (Hoeh H. The Crucifixion Was Not on Friday, Part Two. Good News magazine, March 1984)

Since Jesus kept Passover on Tuesday night (the day starts the evening prior on the Hebrew calendar, hence a Wednesday calendar date means a Tuesday evening obvserance, since Passover is observed in the evening) and died Wednesday afternoon, it appears that He was keeping a calculated calendar with postponements.

Understand that many of the children of Israel were dispersed from Jerusalem for centuries. This of course separated them from accurate Jerusalem observations. Since all wanted to keep the right day, a calculated calendar was a logical solution to this (though odd solutions, such as observing the holy days for two days, were used by many, as some do today).

On sufficiently cloudy evenings/nights, it is not possible to observe the first appearance of the new moon through observation. Thousands of years ago, they would not have had a way to observe the start of the new moon every month.

1. Modern communication methods did not exist thousands of years ago.
2. Jesus endorsed the basic Jewish calendar (cf. Matthew 23:1-3).
3. Jesus, who did not sin (Hebrews 4:15), seemingly observed a calculated calendar (cf. Luke 22:8-22, etc.).
4. Throughout history God’s people not near Jerusalem basically had to rely on some type of a calculated calendar.
5. Weather and other factors made a strictly observational calendar impossible for use every month.
6. A strictly observational calendar results in people keeping Holy Days sometimes weeks differently, depending upon where they are physically located.
7. God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

There is more information that could be provided on each of the above points, but even though I plan to research more on this in the future, I thought this information could be helpful for some as we get closer to the start of the Spring Holy Day season for 2023.

Here is a link: Holy Day Calendar.

Here is the portion related to Spring Holy Days:

Knowing when the Holy Days are coming does assist with planning–particular on matters of work, school, and travel.

We also have the following related video:

24:20

The Biblical Calendar

Did you know that the biblical calendar differs from the commonly used Roman calendar? What are both based on? How do they differ? When does the Bible teach the first month of the year is? What are the names of the biblical months and when do they fall? Did Hillel II invent the ‘calculated’ calendar in the fourth century or simply make the rules public? Did Jesus use a calculated calendar? What about the date of His final Passover and His execution? Dr. Thiel addresses these questions as well as shows a chart of when God’s Holy Days fall on the Roman calendar.

Here is a link to our video: The Biblical Calendar.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by the Tkach WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
What are Postponements? This was written by the late evangelist Raymond McNair and explains a lot about postponements and calculations.
Calculated or observed calendar? Did Jesus use a calculated calendar? This article addresses this issue that many wonder about.  Here is a link to a related video: The Biblical Calendar.
Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate? Historical and biblical answers to this question about the world’s New Year’s day. A video of related interest is also available: God’s or Satan’s New Year?
Hebrew Calendar and “Postponements” This late John Ogywn writing explains why the most faithful in the Church of God use the calendar that we do and answers such questions as “Did Jesus Observe the Postponements?”
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2033 with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’? How long are three days and three nights? Was Palm Sunday on a Saturday? Did Jesus die on “Good Friday”? Was the resurrection on Sunday? Do you really know? Who determined the date of Easter? (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Murió Jesús un día miércoles o un viernes?)
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins?
Melito’s Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well. Here is a related sermon, also titled Melito’s Homily on the Passover.
TPM: Passover on the 14th or 15th? While the real COG observes Passover on the 14th, some observe it on the 15th. Why is the 14th correct? A related sermon is titled Is Passover on the 14th or 15th for Christians?
The Night to Be Observed What is the night to be much observed? When is it? Why do Jews keep Passover twice and emphasize the wrong date? A related video is available and is titled The Night to Be Much Observed.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers. Here is a YouTube video intended to be viewed for the first day of unleavened bread: Christians and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history teach about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.

COGwriter

What day of the week was Jesus killed on? Was He killed on “Good Friday” or perhaps on a Wednesday, the afternoon after Passover?

Does the Bible give us enough information to figure this out?

When the scribes and Pharisees asked Him for a sign, Jesus answered with:

39 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40)

While most people assume that Jesus was killed on a Friday and rose before sunrise on a Sunday morning, those who have “done the math” realize that this does not add up to three days and three nights. The Bible also teaches that He was killed on a tree (Acts 5:30).

Now, of course, while the English-speaking world uses the names Wednesday and Friday, the Jews did not use those terms. Basically, the question is, was Jesus killed on the fourth or sixth day of the week?

Although “the last supper” is often observed on a Thursday for those who point to Friday, most people do not seem to realize that even certain Greco-Roman sources taught that Jesus observed that meal (Passover) on a Tuesday (which is the third day of the week). The following was written around the late second/early third century:

For when we had eaten the passover on the third day of the week at even, we went forth to the Mount of Olives; and in the night they seized our Lord Jesus. (Didascalia Apostolorum, Chapter 21, verse 14. R. Hugh Connolly, version Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929).

So, that ancient source says the last Passover of Jesus was on a Tuesday night–and in 2023 Passover is also on a Tuesday night (April 4th after sunset).

In the third century, the Roman Catholic bishop and saint Victorinus wrote:

Now is manifested the reason of the truth why the fourth day is called the Tetras, why we fast even to the ninth hour, or even to the evening, or why there should be a passing over even to the next day…

The man Christ Jesus, the originator of these things whereof we have above spoken, was taken prisoner by wicked hands, by a quaternion of soldiers. Therefore on account of His captivity by a quaternion, on account of the majesty of His works,–that the seasons also, wholesome to humanity, joyful for the harvests, tranquil for the tempests, may roll on,–therefore we make the fourth day a station or a supernumerary fast (Victorinus. On the Creation of the World. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

The day commonly now called Wednesday is the fourth day of the week. The above account shows that the fasting occurred the fourth day (tetras means fourth) at the ninth hour (3:00 pm). That is the precise time of the death of Christ according to the Bible. Victorinus is admitting that later that day, there was the unleavened bread time (as does the Bible). He also clearly states that Jesus was arrested on Wednesday. And that is correct (what is not correct is that the Bible allows that Jesus did not die until Friday, with a Wednesday arrest, which is what these sources seem to believe).

It may be of interest to note that, even in the 21st century, many of the Roman Catholics still teach that this Passover (which they call the Last Supper) was kept by Jesus on a Tuesday night and that He was betrayed on a Wednesday (Zanchettin L, ed. Meditations, Tuesday, April 11, Wednesday April 12. the WORD among us–The #1 Monthly Devotional for Catholics. 2006; Volume 25, Number 4, pp. 63-64). Many, however, seem to think that He was held for two days before He was killed, which differs from the biblical account.

I will state here that Jesus was not just arrested on a Wednesday, He was killed then too, just before the first day of unleavened bread. As that Sabbath was a high day according to the Bible (John 19:31), and since the day before the high day was considered to be a preparation day, it was that day, and not a Friday, that Jesus was crucified on. If more professing Christians would keep the Holy Days, more would realize that.

It was also known, even by Roman supporters in the second century, that Jesus was buried for three days. Irenaeus wrote:

For the Judge of the whole world is thus proclaimed, who, having been hidden in the heart of the earth in a tomb for three days (Irenaeus. Fragments of Irenaeus, Fragment XXXI. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Excerpted from Volume I of The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors); American Edition copyright © 1885. Electronic version copyright © 1997 by New Advent, Inc.).

Since the Bible clearly shows that Jesus was resurrected well before sunrise Sunday morning (when the women came to His tomb Sunday morning, “it was still dark” per John 20:1), there is simply no way that there were three days from Friday afternoon to prior to sunrise Sunday–let alone three days AND three nights. He had to have been killed on a Wednesday.

Jesus clearly taught that the sign He would give to prove who He was, was that He would “be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Three days prior to the sunrise of a Sunday would be prior to a sunrise on a Thursday. And since Jesus was killed and buried when it was still light out (John 19:31), that means that Jesus had to have been killed on a Wednesday.

Some Protestant scholars have long realized that there is biblical support that Jesus’ resurrection may have been on Saturday with a Wednesday crucifixion. Notice what one wrote in 1907:

…the Bible nowhere says or implies that Jesus was crucified and died on Friday. It is said that Jesus was crucified on “the day before the Sabbath“…Now, the Bible does not leave us to speculate which Sabbath is meant in this instance; for John tells us, in so many words, in John 19:14, that the day on which Jesus was tried and crucified was “the preparation of the Passover” (emphasis added). In other words, it was not the day before the weekly Sabbath (that is, Friday), but it was the day before the Passover Sabbath, which came that year on Thursday–that is to say, the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified was Wednesday. John makes this as clear as day…

To sum it all up, Jesus died just about sunset on Wednesday. Seventy two hours later, exactly three days and three nights, at…Saturday at sunset, He arose again from the grave. (Torrey R.A. Difficulties in the Bible. Originally published 1907; Whitaker House; Updated edition, October 2003, pp. 168-169, 173).

Furthermore, see what the late Jerry Falwell, a Sunday-keeper, and others have admitted:

The Bible is actually silent on the precise moment of resurrection. Jesus’ followers came to His tomb before dawn on the first day of the week (Sunday), but they did not witness Him coming back to life. They merely found an empty tomb.

Even the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, a Sunday-keeper and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., agreed with that timetable, telling WND in 2001, “I personally believe He was crucified on Wednesday evening … and rose after 6 p.m. Saturday evening.”

Most Christians today think Jesus died on a Friday and rose on Sunday. They point to Scriptures indicating a Sabbath day followed Jesus’ execution. But Sabbath-keepers claim it was not the weekly Sabbath of Saturday approaching. Rather, they say it was an annual Sabbath, a “high” holy day in the Hebrew calendar known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which supposedly occurred on a Thursday the week Jesus was killed. The Gospel of John mentions that Sabbath was the annual type.

“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) … .” (John 19:31)

In other words, Sabbatarians say there was more than one day of rest that week. Their timeline has Jesus slain on Wednesday – the day before the “high day” annual Sabbath on Thursday. They believe Jesus was in the grave for a full three days and three nights, finally arising Saturday evening, the second Sabbath of the week.

The mention of “three days and three nights” is important for many, as Jesus used that phrase to prove His divine identity:

“For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so I, the Son of Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” (Matthew 12:40, New Living Translation) (Kovac, Joe. ‘Deception’: Christians war over worship day. Posted: March 16, 2008 5:24 pm Eastern. WorldNetDaily).

For Christians around the globe, Good Friday is one of the most important days of the year. And the Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just the foundation of the entire faith, but a cultural touchstone.

But a new book that investigates Passion Week has reached the shocking conclusion Jesus Christ wasn’t actually crucified on that Friday at all.

“The Great Christian Lie,” by James C. DeSelms, argues Christ was crucified on Wednesday, the 13th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar.

DeSelms presents a detailed breakdown of everything Jesus and His disciples did during Passion Week, including an in-depth medical examination of exactly what Messiah endured during His crucifixion. He argues the resurrection took place on the Feast of First Fruits, showing a deep connection between the life of Christ and the biblical calendar and indicating the Passion of Messiah was the culmination of many of the biblical feasts.

Indeed, “The Great Christian Lie” is an invaluable guide for any believer who wants to understand the most important week in human history. It’s also a formidable assemblage of many of the prophetic proofs Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. 03/26/17 http://www.wnd.com/2017/03/stunner-about-passion-week-and-good-friday/#GYU9e7HwlutdIV20.99

Jesus was killed late afternoon on the 14th of Nisan which was a ‘Wednesday’ in 30/31 A.D. That date will also be a Wednesday in 2023.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’? How long are three days and three nights? Was Palm Sunday on a Saturday? Did Jesus die on “Good Friday”? Was the resurrection on Sunday? Do you really know? Who determined the date of Easter? (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Murió Jesús un día miércoles o un viernes?) A sermon of related interest is titled What did and did not happen in the ‘Crucifixion week’?
What is the Origin of the Cross as a ‘Christian’ Symbol? Was the cross used as a venerated symbol by the early Church? A related YouTube video would be Origin of the Cross.
Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2024, with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L’Histoire Continue de l’Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins? There is also a detailed YouTube video available titled History of the Christian Passover.
The Passover Plot What was the first Passover plot? Which plots have Islam and the Greco-Roman faiths perpetuated about Passover? A sermon video of related interest is The Passover Plots, Including Easter.
Melito’s Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well. Here is a related sermon, also titled Melito’s Homily on the Passover.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers. Here is a YouTube video intended to be viewed for the first day of unleavened bread: Christians and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? What do scholars and the Bible reveal? Here is a link to a video titled Why Easter?
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?

Four non-disqualified Red Heifer candidates March 2023
Photo from Temple Institute’s Facebook page

COGwriter

Last September 5 red heifer candidates arrived in Israel from the USA. This red heifer matter is a BIG DEAL to various Jews, such as those in the Temple Institute.

Certain Jews consider that the fate of the world depends on sacrificing an unblemished red heifer that is at least twenty-four months old.

Some believe that this could happen in 2024.

Here is what the Hebrew  scriptures say about a red heifer:

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come. 3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him; 4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting. 5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening. 9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them. (Numbers 19:1-10)

Jews have interpreted this to mean that another red heifer needs to be sacrificed for sacrifices to be resumed or for the Messiah to return. While that is not directly stated above, it could be implied from that one is again needed.

Now, here is something from the Temple Institutes’ Facebook page regarding its views on red heifers:

September 22, 2022

What is a red heifer?

The red heifer is first mentioned in the Book of Numbers 19:3, when God tells Moses and Aaron “This is the ritual law that God has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid.”

The Torah goes on to explain how the heifer is processed and burnt and its ashes mixed into sanctified water. Those who became impure due to touching a human corpse would be purified by having the water mixed with the ashes sprinkled on them twice: once three days after they came in contact with the corpse and a second time seven days after contact.

The Torah relates that a red heifer was brought to Elazar the Priest, the son of Aaron, and was processed for its ashes for the ritual. According to the Talmud, those ashes were used from that moment until the end of the First Temple period. During the Second Temple period, another five to seven red heifers were burnt for their ashes. Maimonides wrote in his compendium of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah (Laws of the Red Heifer, 3:4), that the next red heifer will be brought by the Messiah.

Why is the red heifer important?

In the modern day, all Jews, including kohanim, are assumed to be impure with the impurity imparted by a corpse. While in everyday life in the modern day this status does not have much of a practical effect, those impure with this type of impurity are prohibited from entering the Temple.

Kohanim impure with this type of impurity are thereby prevented from conducting the services required in the Temple and would need to be purified with the ashes of a red heifer before being able to serve again, making the creation of such ashes a necessary requirement for any attempt to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem. (One exception is the Pascal sacrifice, which can be offered even by those who are impure with the impurity imparted by a corpse, as long as the majority of the Jewish people are impure with this type of impurity). https://www.facebook.com/templeinstitute/posts/10151740340689969

Israel365News posted the following:

Jews and Christians come together to reinstate the Biblical commandment of the Red Heifer

April 2, 2023

The Voice of Healing Church in Houston, Texas held an event last Monday in conjunction with Boneh Israel and the Israel Guys focusing on the recent efforts to reinstate the Biblical commandment of the Red Heifer.

The event was broadcast and recorded. It was hosted by VOH’s Pastor Michael Petro. Rabbi Itzchak (Tzachi) Mamo, Mo Bareli, and Byron Stinson representing Boneh Israel.

“The one thing we kept hearing, over and over, was that everyone felt so much love at the event,” Pastor Petro told Israel365 News. “Christians and Jews, we were all working towards the same vision with the same hopes which is remarkable since this event could never have taken place ten years ago. The Lord is pulling us together for a common purpose.”

The pastor has always been strangely drawn to learning about the Biblical sacrifices and, in particular, the ritual of the Red Heifer. https://www.israel365news.com/369150/jews-and-christians-come-together-to-reinstate-the-biblical-commandment-of-the-red-heifer/

Before going further, certainly that is strange as presumably Michael Pedro claims to accept the New Testament on matters like the red heifer.

Notice what the Apostle Paul was inspired to write:

11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:11-15)

Christians do not need any heifer, but certain Jews who reject Jesus’ sacrifice think that they do. A red heifer is NOT a biblical requirement for Christians. And since Jesus came, it is also not one for Jews either. Yet, because the Jews reject Jesus, some believe having a red heifer is a biblical requirement.

On the other hand, let me state that some with ties to Protestantism believe that the Sanhedrin (which has connections with the Temple Institute) is bringing on ‘Antichrist’ through its sacrifices and desire for another temple (see Sanhedrin Accused of Bringing Anti-Christ). While that is not quite the case, it is true that the resumption of daily sacrifices is prophesied to be stopped by the coming Beast who is in league with the final Antichrist.

Notice the following scriptures:

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering … (Daniel 9:27)

So, after a deal is made, 3 1/2 years later, sacrifices will be stopped. By who? Well, the “he” above was called a “prince” in Daniel 9:26 and will become the King of the North Beast leader as discussed in Daniel 11. Notice also:

31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. (Daniel 11:31)

So, we see that the sacrifices will be stopped, hence they must start. And that is something that the Temple Institute and Sanhedrin are working towards.

Let me also add that representatives of both of those groups personally told me that they do NOT need a massive temple to resume such sacrifices–that is not only from Jewish tradition, but also from past practices, such as is recorded in Ezra 3:6:

6 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. (Ezra 3:6)

Basically, to re-implement sacrifices, the Sanhedrin needs government permission, an altar, a high priest, various implements, and a tent–and they already have all of those, except legal permission–but with religious parties gaining political influence in Israel, one day they will get permission.

Notice now another passage in the Book of Daniel that mentions the sacrifices and the date:

11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.  (Daniel 12:11)

Since those that wait the 1335 days are then blessed–this looks to be a reference to Jesus returning and establishing the Kingdom of God a little less than four years after the daily sacrifices are stopped by the Beast. So, since the sacrifices have to be started before they are stopped, it may well be that the sacrifice of a red heifer will be involved as many Jews want.

The fact is that certain Jews (and others) have put a lot of time and money into red heifer projects.

Here is more from the Israel365News article:

Moriel (Mo) Barelli, the representative from Boneh Israel, was inspired by the level of dual-faith cooperation manifested at the event.

“The theme of the event was redemption and how the red heifers play a major role in that,” Mo told Israel365 News. “It amazed me that when it came to redemption and the Third Temple, we all had so much in common. The people we met were connected to Torah and felt strongly that they wanted to be a part of the prophetic things happening in Israel right now. Of course, Christians and Jews have significant differences but it was very easy to focus on the important things we have in common.”

In September, Boneh Israel succeeded in bringing five red calves that were born in Texas to Israel with the intent of raising them to perform the commandment of the Red Heifer. The red heifers are now between 1 ½ and 2 years old. To replicate the ceremony mentioned in the Bible, they need to be at least two years old.

“The heifers will, God willing, be ready by Pesach next year,” Mo said. “All of the elements necessary, the land and the kohanim, are being made ready in the meantime.”

The flight to Israel and preparations cost over $250,000 dollars. Now that they are in Israel, the heifers will need to be raised until they are at least two years old.

It should be noted that the Jews only needs ONE, not five, red heifers. The Temple Institute announced one was disqualified last month (see Temple Institute says one red heifer disqualified, with four remaining viable).

And since the Jews believe that there have only been nine qualified red heifers in recorded history, it is almost guaranteed that at least three of the remaining heifers will some day be disqualified.

Notice some of what the Temple Institute teaches about the need for a red heifer:

But in truth, the fate of the entire world depends on the red heifer. For G-d has ordained that its ashes alone are the single missing ingredient for the reinstatement of Biblical purity – and thereafter, the rebuilding of the Holy Temple…

The Divine ordinance of the heifer, beyond the grasp of man’s frail intellect, with all the details of its preparation and ceremony, calls out to Israel and to all who seek to cling to the living word of the G-d of Israel: “Purify yourselves! Shake off your despair! Death is an illusion!” Thus it is written, “…but all of you who cling to the Lord your G-d…you are all alive today” (Deut. 4:4)…

G-d uses many devices to bring His children back to Him. …  the rabbis observed: “And if one should wonder, how could a man turn his life around, and come close to G-d on account of a heifer?! Do not wonder: For it is through the heifer that all of Israel becomes pure.  https://www.templeinstitute.org/red_heifer/introduction.htm

The Mishna teaches that up until the destruction of the Second Temple, ashes had been prepared from a total of only nine red heifers. The very first red heifer was processed by Moses himself – as the verse states, “… have them bring you a red heifer.” The second was done by the prophet Ezra in the days of the First Temple, and during the entire era of the Second Temple only seven more heifers were used for ashes. This was enough to provide for the nation’s needs for purification throughout all those years.

The names of all the High Priests who prepared those seven heifers during Second Temple times are recorded by the Mishna: Simon the Just and Yochanan each made two; El’yhoeini ben Hakof, Chanamel HaMitzri and Yishmael ben Pi’avi processed one heifer each. Thus, from the time that Moses received the commandment of the red heifer from the Holy One, blessed be He, until the destruction of the Second Temple, purifying ashes had been produced by the hands of these great leaders from a total of nine red heifers.

The Tenth Red Heifer Will be Prepared by the Messiah

In recounting this historical record in his commentary to the Mishna, the great Maimonides ends with the enigmatic statement: “… and the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily, Amen, May it be God’s will.”

With this amazing statement, Maimonides recounts an ancient tradition – that the tenth red heifer is associated with the Messianic era. Does this perhaps mean that the appearance of a red heifer in these waning end times is an indication, a forerunner of the appearance of the Messiah himself, who will officiate at its preparation?

If there has been no red heifer for the past 2,000 years, perhaps it is because the time was not right; Israel was far from being ready. But now… what could it mean for the times we live in, to have the means for purification so close at hand? With the words of Maimonides in mind, we cannot help but wonder and pray: If there are now red heifers… is ours the era that will need them?  https://www.templeinstitute.org/red_heifer/tenth_red_heifer.htm

Some believe that the tenth red heifer came prior to the destruction of the last temple. Whether it did or not, the Bible simply does not mention ten red heifers. Nor does the fate of the world depend on a red heifer. And as quoted before, the New Testament is clear that Christians do NOT need the ashes of a heifer for redemption (Hebrews 9:11-15).

Consider, though, that it is possible that if one red heifer is still acceptable to the Temple Institute next year–hence the last and tenth one to come according to Jewish tradition–this sacrifice could very well happen in 2024.

Why? Because if one truly is the tenth, the Jews will have a dilemma. How so? The Jews cannot wait for the Messiah to do it (which is what Boneh Israel wants) because that is not something Jesus will do upon His return. Furthermore, as they do not want to have the red heifer be too old nor risk getting somehow disqualified, they may decide one should be killed, just in case (or make up some other reason)–despite their traditions of expecting the Messiah to do it.

As far as dates go,

September 16, 2022

Chanan Kupietzky, an Orthodox Jewish resident of Efrat …

Chanan pointed out that last year was 5781 in the Hebrew calendar.

“In Hebrew numerology, this is תשפא. That is an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה אדומה (it will be the year of the red heifer). The cows we are looking at now were conceived last year,” Kupietzy said. “This year is תשפ,ב 5782, an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה בישראל (It will be a year for the heifer in Israel). In two weeks we will begin תשפג, 5783, the year in which the ceremony of the Red Heifer will be performed. This is an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה גאולה (It will be a year of the Red Heifer of redemption).”…

According to Jewish tradition, there will only be ten red heifers in human history with the tenth heifer ushering in the Messianic era. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides), the most renowned medieval Jewish scholar known by the acronym Rambam, wrote in his explanation of the mitzvah that “the tenth red heifer will be accomplished by the king, the Messiah; may he be revealed speedily, Amen, May it be God’s will.” https://www.israel365news.com/274830/watch-red-heifers-arrive-in-israel/

Let me clearly state that two years past was not year 5781 anno mundi (year of the world), the next one was not 5782, and the from September 25, 2022 through sunset September 15, 2023 is not 5783 despite Jewish claims. Jewish scholars know full well that their ‘year count’ is off by over 200 years. For details, check out the article, Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End?

We will see what “redemption” ceremony Jews may or may not perform this year (which for the Jews, the current year ends at sunset on September 15, 2023). While the Temple Institute has information about a Levitical priest conducting a red heifer sacrifice ceremony (see https://templeinstitute.org/red-heifer-the-ceremony/), despite the statement from Chanan Kupietzky, I have not seen anything from the Temple Institute suggesting it is about to have one of the red heifers killed soon.

But again, since the Temple Institute has been waiting for a red heifer for a very long time and believes only one more will exist–it may take steps as opposed to waiting for the Messiah to sacrifice it–and since Jesus is not about to sacrifice a red heifer, then certain Jews may take matters into their own hands. The group also has some political influence and may point to having at least one red heifer as a Divine sign that the Jews can re-implement regular sacrifices.

While Jesus DID NOT specifically mention a ‘red heifer’ as a sign to look for in Matthew 24 (hence not a requirement He laid out), Jesus did refer to the Book of Daniel, which discusses sacrifices being stopped (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11). In order for them to be stopped, they first must be started.

If Jews will not resume regular animal sacrifices until there is a red heifer, then looking out for one would seem to be a sign that ties in with end time prophecy. The Bible shows that the Jews will again have animal sacrifices (cf. Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11). The fact is that The Temple Institute and others are taking steps that are consistent with that.

As far as timing goes, the Bible shows that the stopping of the animal sacrifices occurs just prior to the start of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21) and what is commonly considered to be the end of the world.

We will see if the Jews decide to actually sacrifice a red heifer in 2024–if so, this could set off a major prophetic sequence, and ultimately with Jesus returning and establishing the millennial Kingdom of God.

As Jesus said, “And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:37).

Related to those five red heifers that arrived in Israel last September, we put out the following short video:

15:19

5 Red Heifers and Year 5783?

The Temple Institute announced that “5 perfect, unblemished red heifers arrived in Israel from the USA” on September 15, 2022.. Chanan Kupietzky, an Orthodox Jewish teacher, pointed out that last year was 5781 in the Jewish calendar, pointing to the year these red heifers were conceived, 5782 is when they were to arrive in Israel, and that the year beginning sunset September 25, 2022 is supposedly 5783, which is supposed to be the year of red heifer redemption. Is that the correct year anno mundi (year of the earth) or is 5989 to 5992 more in line with history? What about the claimed Shemitah year? Might the appearance of a proper red heifer encourage the Sanhedrin to begin regular animal sacrifices? Might political considerations result in the resumption of animal sacrifices? Does the Bible show that animal sacrifices in Israel will be stopped? Does possibly having a red heifer mean that a massive Jewish temple is about to be rebuilt in Jerusalem? Do Christians need the sacrifice of Jesus or the blood of a red heifer to be purified? How close do we seem to be for Daniel 9:27b to be fulfilled?

Here is a link to our video: 5 Red Heifers and Year 5783?

Update 04/12/23: We put up the following related video:

14:53

Red Heifer Sacrifice Ready April 2024?

In September 2022, 5 seemingly unblemished red heifers were transported from Texas to Israel by Boneh Israel in conjunction with some Protestants. In March 2023, the Temple Institute declared one of the red heifers disqualified for sacrifice. What is a red heifer? Why are certain Jews so concerned about having one? What does the Bible teach about the ashes of red heifer? Is a red heifer needed for Christians? If animal sacrifices are not needed for Christians, does the Bible prophesy future animal sacrifices? If so, will the stopping of them have anything to do with the countdown for return of Jesus and the establishment of the Kingdom of God according to the Book of Daniel? Did Moriel Barelli of Boneh Israel say he hopes a red heifer will be available for sacrifice by Passover in 2024, which is April 22? Is the sacrifice of a red heifer, like the Temple Institute and Sanhedrin want, going to usher in the Antichrist? Is there any relationship between daily animal sacrifices and the King of the North Beast power? Does the “fate of the world” rely on a red heifer as the Temple Institute has stated? Will the Messiah sacrifice the ‘tenth red heifer’? If not, might the Jews do it anyway? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these issues.

While the fate of the world does not depend on red heifers, nor are any required for Christians, since certain Jewish attitudes of prophecy seem to require one–having an acceptable red heifer looks to have prophetic ramifications.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy. Here are links to seven related sermons: Proof Jesus is the Messiah, Prophecies of Jesus’ birth, timing, and death, Jesus’ prophesied divinity, 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made, Why Don’t Jews Accept Jesus?, Daniel 9, Jews, and Jesus, and Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus. Plus the links to two sermonettes: Luke’s census: Any historical evidence? and Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah, but … These videos cover nearly all of the book, plus have some information not in the book. We also have the book translated in the Spanish PRUEBA de que JESÚS es el MESÍAS and French PREUVES QUE JÉSUS EST LE MESSIE languages.
Why is a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem Not Required? Although people like Timothy LaHaye teach a third Jewish temple is required, who is ‘the temple of God” in the New Testament? Does the Bible require a rebuilt Jewish Temple? Here is a related item in the Spanish language ¿Por qué no se requiere un templo judío en Jerusalén? Here is a link to two sermons The Temple, Prophecy, and the Work and God’s Temple in Prophecy. And here is a version of the latter one in the Spanish: El templo de Dios en profecía.
Nascent Sanhedrin and Prophecy The reconstituted Sanhedrin wants the reimplementation of animal sacrifices. A related video is titled Sanhedrin pushing animal sacrifices. And a newer one is: Sanhedrin makes burnt offering to dedicate altar!
The Red Heifer, Jewish Beliefs, and the End of the World The Temple Institute is watching a ‘red heifer.’ Why might this be important in the sequence of end time events? Here is a related link in the Spanish language Novilla roja descubierta en EE.UU. e Instituto del Templo está interesado en ella. Here are links to three related videos in English: Red Heifers and the Fate of the World and The Red Heifer and the End of the World and 5 Red Heifers and Year 5783?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

Artist depiction of the Apostle Paul writing his epistles

COGwriter

COGwriter

Passover is on the 14th of Nisan and is to be observed after sunset on April 4, 2023, which is what would now be called Tuesday evening–just like Jesus’ last Passover, which was also on a Tuesday evening.

The following was written around the late second/early third century:

For when we had eaten the passover on the third day of the week at even, we went forth to the Mount of Olives; and in the night they seized our Lord Jesus. And the next day, which was the fourth of the week, (Didascalia Apostolorum, Chapter 21, verse 14. R. Hugh Connolly, version Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929).

Notice that it was understood in the second century that Jesus’ arrest occurred on the third day, which was Tuesday (with Sunday being the first day, then Monday the second day). That means that the Passover obviously was not on a Sunday–and no scholar I am aware of teaches that Jesus’ last Passover was on a Sunday.

It may be of interest to note that, even in the 21st century, some Roman Catholics seem to realize that this Passover (which they normally call the Last Supper) was kept by Jesus on a Tuesday night and that He was betrayed on a Wednesday (Zanchettin L, ed. Meditations, Tuesday, April 11, Wednesday April 12. the WORD among us–The #1 Monthly Devotional for Catholics. 2006; Volume 25, Number 4, pp. 63-64). That Tuesday, as mentioned earlier, was the 14th of Nisan.

Did the Apostles keep the 14th of Nisan or did they choose Sunday, a day no one believes the last Passover could have happened?

Is it logical that some of the faithful Apostles actually kept different dates for the observance of the Christian Passover?

Some claim that Peter and Paul kept Sunday, while teaching that John and Philip kept the 14th of the month of Nisan for the Christian Passover.

But does that make any sense?

Could the date of Passover be at all important?

Many seem to believe the following written by the 5th century Eastern Catholic historian Socrates Scholasticus:

Quartodecimans affirm that the observance of the fourteenth day was delivered to them by the apostle John, while the Romans and those in the Western parts assure us that their usage originated with the apostles Peter and Paul. Neither of these parties however can produce any written testimony in confirmation of what they assert. (Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History, Book V, Chapter XXII. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 2. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. American Edition, 1890).

Is this true?

No.

But many believe this and related statements, hence they do not keep Passover on the 14th day of the first month of the biblical year (Exodus 12:2), which is often known as Nisan (Esther 3:7). Instead most who claim Christianity keep Easter Sunday.

Before going further, it may be of interest to note that ‘Easter’ is claimed to be Passover, Notice what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

1170 At the Council of Nicea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter, the Christian Passover, should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon (14 Nisan) after the vernal equinox (Catechism of the Catholic Church. Imprimatur Potest +Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. Doubleday, NY 1995, p. 332).

From this, notice that it is taught that what is now called Easter was originally observed as a change in the date of Passover. It originally was not a Christian resurrection holiday.

Easter itself is not a Christian term, and its celebration contains pagan elements. The Catholic Encyclopedia article on Easter notes:

The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring … Since Christ, the true Paschal Lamb, had been slain on the very day when the Jews, in celebration of their Passover, immolated the figurative lamb, the Jewish Christians in the Orient followed the Jewish method…For this observance they claimed the authority of St. John and St. Philip.

(Holweck F. G. Easter. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Copyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Thus, the Romans admit that the name Easter is the name of a pagan goddess and that the churches in Asia Minor (which they call the Orient) continued to observe Passover on the date that the Jews did, Nisan 14. But it was not just Jews, but also Gentile Christians who did so.

Now, let’s consider if there is early evidence that the Apostle Paul observed Passover or Easter Sunday.

(Public Domain Pictures)

COGwriter

A reader sent me a link to the following written by Michael Brown:

The Lost Art of Repentance

March 30, 2023

The Hebrew word for repent means “to turn” or “turn back.” Over and over the prophets proclaimed, “Turn back to God and He will turn back to you!” Turn away from your sins and turn back to God, and He will turn away from His anger and turn back to you. Or, when Israel repents, God relents.

But repentance was not only the theme of the Hebrew prophets. It was the foundation of Jesus’ own message (“The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” {Mark 1:15} “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” {Luke 13:3}) and the heart of the great commission (“Repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” {Luke 24:47}). It was the key to Peter’s preaching (“Repent and be baptized, every one of you!” {Acts 2:38}) and the essence of Paul’s gospel (“God calls all men everywhere to repent.” {Acts 17:30}) Without repentance and faith, no one can be saved. https://stream.org/the-lost-art-of-repentance/

While I do have major theological differences with Michael Brown, such as those he considers to be actual Christian leaders, he is correct that without repentance, one cannot be saved.

Notice something that happened on Pentecost after the Holy Spirit had been given to Peter and the other faithful apostles and Peter had preached about Jesus:

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:37-39, NKJV throughout, unless otherwise specified)

Those who God calls MUST repent. Jesus tied repentance in with the Kingdom of God:

15 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel!” (Mark 1:15, NET)

Without repentance, one will not be in God’s Kingdom–which is real. That is basically the message Jesus began to proclaim as the good news.

When one repents, one not only is sorry for one’s sins, one must change and obey God.

Related to salvation, notice the following from Peter and the apostles:

29. … Peter and the apostles answered and said, “We are obligated to obey God rather than men.

30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus Whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree.

31. Him has God exalted by His right hand to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel.

32. And we are His witnesses of these things, as is also the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey Him.” (Acts 5:29-32, AFV)

We need God for many reasons, including the fact that the minds of humans are susceptible to the pulls and deceptions of Satan.

6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:6-8)

Yet, the spirit of God, which is given to those who have been properly baptized after true repentance, is more powerful than Satan and can and will give us the strength to obey!

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:6-10)

Cleansing one’s hands and lament means sorrowful repentance. Humility shows a willingness to change to God’s better ways than our own ways.

Getting back to the Apostle Paul’s writing in Romans, notice that without the Holy Spirit one is not a Christian:

9 … Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  (Romans 8:9-10)

What is righteousness? Here is what the Bible says:

172 My tongue shall speak of Your word,
For all Your commandments are righteousness.  (Psalms 119:172)

Let me also add that scholars know that all faithful early Christians believed that they were to strive to obey the Ten Commandments.

Now, are only those who keep God’s commandments saved? The last book of the Bible teaches:

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.  (Revelation 22:14-15)

In his article, Michael Brown also wrote:

Yet many of our leaders have implied, “You can have Jesus as Savior before you have Him as Lord. Jesus already died for your sins, so don’t even think about that junk. Just confess Him with your lips, believe in your heart, and it’s done!” In other words, “You can believe today and repent tomorrow!” But does tomorrow ever come? Is this how people got saved in the Bible? Does it even make spiritual sense?

Actually, this no-repentance gospel hardly resembles the message of the Scriptures, since according to the Word: 1) There is no forgiveness where there is no repentance (Acts 3:19); 2) You can no more believe without repenting than you can repent without believing (How can you believe in God without turning back to Him? And how can you turn back to God without believing in Him?); and 3) It is impossible to come to God without repenting, since repentance is the very act of coming back. For those taken captive by the devil, repentance is the only way out (2 Tim. 2:25-26).

Notice also something from the Apostle Paul (the traditional author of Hebrews):

9 … He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,  (Hebrews 5:9)

Like the Apostle Peter, Paul also ties being a true Christian (and salvation) in with obedience.

So, let me state that the “no-repentance gospel,” is certainly not a biblical one–it is a false gospel.

The Apostle Paul warned about such things:

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.  (Galatians 1:6-9)

Now, do actual Christians also need repentance?

Michael Brown asked that as well:

But what about repentance for those already saved? Do believers need to repent? Haven’t we become the righteousness of God in the Messiah? Aren’t we new creations in Him? … As believers, how often have we been challenged to “examine ourselves” and “test ourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5)? Have we forgotten that we must “judge ourselves” if we do not want to be judged with the world (1 Cor. 11:31-32)? Doesn’t the Word tell us plainly that we must “purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Cor. 7:1)?

Yes, we are a new creation in Christ, but that does not mean we do not sin nor need repentance.

The Apostle John wrote:

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

Acts 3:9 says that we are to repent so that our sins can be blotted out.

Furthermore, Jesus told Christians, in some prophecies in Revelation, that they need to repent:

2 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,

‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent. (Revelation 2:1-6)

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,

‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. (Revelation 2:12-16)

14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked — 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:14-19)

Yes, Christians are to repent. Christians are to grow in grace and knowledge, which means to change as well.

Furthermore, to assist in knowing what you should repent of, the Apostle Paul wrote the following:

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:28-32)

So, that was to happen just prior to the annual Passover season, which is in the Spring each year (with Passover being after sunset on April 4th in 2023).

And scripture written by the Apostle Paul points to the attitude of repentance continuing through Passover through the Days of Unleavened Bread:

6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)

Glorying in sin and/or lack of repentance, like some who profess Christianity do, is not good.

The Bible is clear that one must repent to be a Christian. And Christians must examine themselves and repent annually, but also be willing to confess their sins and repent whenever they are aware that they have sinned. Psalm 51, a psalm of repentance, shows that God will accept those who truly humbly repent and rely on Him.

Here is a listing of some scriptures about this repentance:

1. Mark 1:14-15; Acts 2:38, 17:30 — we are commanded to repent, which means to change from our way to God’s way.
2. Romans 2:4; Acts 11:18 — repentance must be granted by God, who calls according to His will.
3. Romans 6: 23– the wages of sin is death.
4. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 — sorrow that produces true repentance is far different than mere worldly sorrow.
5. Matthew 7:21; Acts 5:32; Hebrews 5:9 — attaining God’s Spirit, and salvation requires obedience to God. Jeremiah 10:23 — we cannot obey God without His help. But God will help if we draw near to Him per James 4:8
6. 2 Peter 3:9, 18 — spiritual growth is a process and doesn’t happen all at once. 1 John 1:8-10 Christians will still have issues they need to repent of and ask forgiveness for.
7. Psalm 51 –points out that God will accept those who truly humbly repent and rely on Him.

The importance of repentance cannot be overemphasized. It is a first step toward salvation–and should also be an ongoing requirement for Christians.

The Continuing Church of God is pleased to announce this sermon from its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:21:11

Real Repentance

Jesus’ message included REAL REPENTANCE. But Christ really meant it. He meant to really repent–not just experience an emotional upset or disturbance. There is a “sorrow of this world” which is merely human and physical–it is EMOTIONAL–but it leads to death. Do YOU know the difference between sheer human emotion, which would even lead some to sob and SHED TEARS as they “go down the aisle,” and GODLY SORROW which leads to real repentance? Is obedience and real repentance REQUIRED for salvation? Do YOU HAVE TO CHANGE DIRECTION? Without national repentance are the Anglo-American nations doomed? Does God have to call one for real repentance? Does Jesus expect people to give up all to be His disciple? What about Laodicean Christians? What about righteousness and the Ten Commandments? Do converted Christians still need repentance? Dr. Thiel addresses these questions and more.

Trans Radical Activist Network logo

COGwriter

Here is more related to the 28 year old female who wanted to be identified as he/him shot that shot and killed six people at a Protestant school in Tennessee:

Nashville shooting a ‘hate crime against Christians,’ Sen. Hawley says

March 29, 2023

The Nashville school shooting should be investigated as a hate crime since the transgender shooter intentionally targeted Christians, Sen. Josh Hawley told Fox News …

The Trans Resistance Network, a trans activist group, said the transgender shooter felt “no other effective way to be seen” than by killing six people at a private Presbyterian school. Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake, said Monday night that some believe the shooter held “resentment for having to go to that school.”

“What police have told us in Nashville is that this was targeted at this Christian school, the Christian students, the Christian employees and that they believe it was definitely premeditated and there was a deliberate attempt to target the school,” Hawley told Fox News in a sit–down interview. “We need to be clear that when you target people of faith, that is a hate crime.”

Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a 28-year-old transgender Nashville resident, shot and killed three students and three faculty members at The Covenant School, according to local police.

“We’ve seen a lot of language directed at the Christian community with regard to particularly trans issues, calling them hateful,” Hawley told Fox News. “That kind of rhetoric is dangerous, and we’re seeing its effects right now.” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nashville-transgender-school-shooter-possibly-targeted-christians-hateful-rhetoric-senator-says

New Details Emerge About Nashville Shooter Audrey Hale’s Manifesto

Nashville Police Chief John Drake gave reporters their first glimpse into the manifesto the suspect, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, had left behind before the shooting.

According to Drake, Hale had outlined in the manifesto plans to attack “multiple” locations in the Covenant School, with detailed maps of those locations as well as action plans describing how the killings would be carried out. …

Drake had little to offer on a specific motivation for why Hale— who identifies as transgender with he/his pronouns and a former student at the school—decided to enter the building and start shooting. He said specifics of the manifesto were still under investigation.

“There’s quite a bit of writing to it,” Drake told reporters. “I have not read the whole entire manifesto. Our team and the FBI have been working on this.” … The killings—which conservatives have speculated were specifically targeted at a Christian institution—came after Tennessee’s Legislature had been working on legislation aimed at the transgender community, 03/28/23 https://www.newsweek.com/new-details-emerge-about-nashville-shooter-audrey-hales-manifesto-1790956

“We have a manifesto,” said Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake. “We have some writings that we’re going over that pertain to this date, the actual incident. We have a map drawn out of how all this was gonna take place.”

As for motive, Drake said, “There’s right now a theory that we may be able to talk about later, but it’s not confirmed.” Drake appeared to hint that the shooter’s transgender identity factored into her motive. 

REPORTER: “Do you have any reason to believe that how she identifies has any motive for targeting the school?”

NASHVILLE POLICE: “There is some theory to that.”

REPORTER: “So was this a targeted attack?”

NASHVILLE POLICE: “It was.” pic.twitter.com/NDfm9XBCcV

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 27, 2023

https://summit.news/2023/03/28/police-post-video-from-transgenders-rampage-at-nashville-christian-school/

Nolte: Nashville Christian School Shooting Preceded by Calls for ‘Trans Day of Vengeance’

The mass shooting by Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old transsexual who murdered three kids and three staffers at a Nashville Christian school Monday, was preceded by left-wing radicals calling for a “Trans Day of Vengeance.”

In February, a group of transsexuals announced that “A Day of Vengeance” will be held in Washington, D.C., between March 31 and April 2. Their specific goal is to “[s]top trans genocide” (which is a hoax), specifically by raising money for firearms.

The now-deleted tweets read…

We hope to see you in DC or online :)! The time is now, enough is enough. This country is full of hate and hate is NOT welcomed in this country. We are human beings and we will always exist. You are all worth it, let’s unite. #TransDayOfVengeance ️‍⚧️️‍⚧️ pic.twitter.com/F5x6TRZh3G

—

DANCE PARTY FUNDRAISER!! March 7th 8pm-2am @falloutrva
18+, $10 suggested admission

Benefiting firearm/self defense training for trans Virginians. Come boogie with us and defend trans life!

The “Day of Vengeance” website is still up. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/28/nolte-nashville-christian-school-shooting-preceded-by-calls-for-trans-day-of-vengeance/

As far as the “Day of Vengeance” page goes, it is part of the Trans Radical Activist Network. I visited that page today. It had the following:

The Time is Now

The Trans/Non-Binary/Gender Non-Conforming/Intersex communities are facing astronomical amounts of hate from the world. At least a 100 Gender Affirming care ban bills have been proposed. accessed 03/29/23 https://www.transradicalactivistnetwork.org/transdayof-vengeance

Before going further, let me state that “Gender Affirming care” means trying to change one’s sex. The Bible teaches that God made humans male and female in both the Hebrew and Greek scriptures (otherwise known as the Old and New Testaments):

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ (Mark 10:6)

So called, “Gender Affirming care” tries to obliterate how God has people.

Furthermore, no matter how many mutilating and other surgeries, taking hormones and/or hormone blockers, those born male have xy chromosomes and those born female have xx. Bone structure, brain processing, etc. still remain male or female, though drugs can have some mental impact.

Anyway, that said, the The Time is Now article also states:

“I was a radical revolutionist. I still am a revolutionist…I am glad I was in the Stonewall Riot. I remember when someone threw a Molotov cocktail, I thought, “My god, the revolution is here. The revolution is finally here?” -Sylvia Rivera

TRAN will be hosting an event in DC, time and location on 4/1 at 11 am in front of SCOTUS. The online event will be hosted on 4/1, time TBA. This protest is about unity, not inciting violence. TRAN does not encourage violence and it is not welcome at this event.

Well, many people equate vengeance with violence. Perhaps the Nashville trans-shooter did as well?

Notice also the following:

March 29, 2023

There was widespread outrage after Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ press secretary responded to the school shooting in Nashville by posting a tweet that appeared to advocate violence against “transphobes”. …

A transgender-identified individual killed three children and three adults after a rampage at The Covenant School, a private Christian school for students aged three to 11 …

Hobbs’ spokeswoman Josselyn Berry responded to the carnage by posting an image from the 1980 movie Gloria showing a woman brandishing two handguns. https://summit.news/2023/03/29/outrage-after-arizona-governors-press-secretary-posts-tweet-advocating-violence-against-transphobes/

BREAKING: Josselyn Berry, the Press Secretary to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, has resigned after posting this image on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/M9zUz84gbd

— Ben Kew 🏌️‍♂️ (@ben_kew) March 29, 2023

“This is what @katiehobbs press secretary decided to tweet after a trans militant shut up a school. Any Republican would be fired for this in an instant. We’re done with the double standard. @joss_berry must be fired,” asserted commentator Matt Walsh. https://summit.news/2023/03/29/outrage-after-arizona-governors-press-secretary-posts-tweet-advocating-violence-against-transphobes/

Of course, it is not just some associated with the LGBTQ+ movement that advocate violence.

Consider also that the Bible shows that God is against violence and that destruction will come because of it:

23 ‘Make a chain,
For the land is filled with crimes of blood,
And the city is full of violence.
24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles,
And they will possess their houses;
I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease,
And their holy places shall be defiled. (Ezekiel 7:23-24)

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality…30…violent, proud, boasters,…31…unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32)

8 … And the violence of the land and the city, And of all who dwell in it. ( Habakkuk 2:8)

Consider also the following prophecy for the last days:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

We are in “the last days.” We are in what Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:4-8 as the “beginning of sorrows.”

A worse time of ‘tribulation‘ is coming (Matthew 24;21-22) and is getting closer.

But, ultimately, there will be good news. Jesus will return and the millennial Kingdom of God will be established, and violent crime will be stopped.

The transgender movement has allowed itself to be deceived and it is sad that some in it have turned to violence.

Iran did a study that found mental issues were associated with the transgendered:

Abstract

Background: Co-morbid psychiatric disorders affect prognosis, psychosocial adjustment and post-surgery satisfaction in patients with gender identity disorder. In this paper, we assessed the frequency of personality disorders in Iranian GID patients.

Methods: Seventy- three patients requesting sex reassignment surgery (SRS) were recruited for this crosssectional study. Of the participants, 57.5% were biologically male and 42.5% were biologically female. They were assessed through the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory II (MCMI- II).

Results: The frequency of personality disorders was 81.4%. The most frequent personality disorder was narcissistic personality disorder (57.1%) and the least was borderline personality disorder. The average number of diagnoses was 3.00 per patient.

Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that the prevalence of personality disorders was higher among the participants, and the most frequent personality disorder was narcissistic personality disorder (57.1%), and borderline personality disorder was less common among the studied patients. … Personality disorders are common in patients with Gender Identity Disorder who are candidates for sex reassignment. As a result, the assessment of Personality disorders before sex reassignment surgery and offering psychological and medical intervention care, if needed, is strongly suggested. The results of this study also indicated that Borderline personality disorder is not necessarily the most comorbid personality disorder in patients with Gender Identity Disorder. . https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301205/

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Cross-dressing and other assaults against your children.  What should you do? Is there an agenda to turn your children and/or grandchildren away from biblical morality and towards practices promoted by homosexuals? What does the Bible teach about cross-dressing? What should parents do? If there is an agenda, what has been going on?  There are also three YouTube videos related to this, titled Transgender ‘Woe to those who call evil good’ and Cross dressing and Other Assaults Against Your Children and USA pushing gender confusion.
The Bible Condemns Homosexuality “Same-sex marriage” for “gays” and lesbians is becoming more acceptable to many. What does the Bible teach about homosexuality and the LGBTQ agenda?  Can homosexuals change? A related video sermon is titled: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? A short video is available titled: Gay Gene? Born That Way?
Crime can be stopped…here’s how! This was a booklet that was edited with some updates by Dr. Thiel. Here is a link to a related sermon: Crime and How it Will be Stopped!
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Are there prophetic reasons to believe that the USA will not last two complete presidential terms? Yes. There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There are also three video sermons you can watch: Cancel Culture and Christian Persecution, The Coming Persecution of the Church, and Christian Persecution from the Beast. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
Prophecies Showing Persecution of Sabbath Keepers Are Sabbath-keepers going to be persecuted in the 21st century? Are there biblical and non-biblical prophecies that point to this type of persecution?
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free draft/unedited pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The Ten Commandments Reflect Love, Breaking them is Evil Some feel that the ten commandments are a burden. Is that what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John taught? For a more detailed discussion of the first four commandments, please see the video The Ten Commandments:
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

Site of Calvary?

COGwriter

After Jesus was buried, was He and in the grave for three days and three nights?

Some think He went elsewhere. Some claim Jesus had a descent to Hades.

An author wrote some of how a descent story about Ishtar and a descent story for Jesus became mixed:

Somewhere after 100 A.D., a false gospel, The Gospel According to Nicodemus, surfaces … in which Jesus is made to go on a quest into the Netherworld during the three days between His death and Resurrection, to free some Old Testament saints. The gospel of Nicodemus is never accepted, but it is a well-known fact of Church history that this idea of Jesus going on a quest, exactly like Ishtar, to free souls from imprisonment … ultimately approaches the level of official Church doctrine. This raising of the tale from superstition to dogma occurs at a politically correct time …

Clement espouses both story and the Friday crucifixion. In discussing Clement’s acceptance of the “Descent of Christ” as true, one author cautioned: “It is important to realize that Clement drew upon Pagan religion more systematically than any other Christian source before or since”.

Critical historians candidly admit that the “Descent” was derived from Pagan myth … The “other pagan religions” that the Descent Myth appears in are our most familiar stable of Sun gods: … Dionysus, Orpheus, Osiris, Hermes, Krishna, Balder … All of them are derivatives of Tammuz (Alfieri A. The Darkness at the Crucifixion, Volume I. Ngenium LLC, New Jersey, 2005, p. 367).

The Clement above is the Clement of Alexandria, who around 190 A.D. blends Nicodemus and pagan sources in his writing known as the Stromata. Hence certain pagan stories about a descent into the Netherworld became blended with Christ, and this may have been a factor in the final adoption of the descent story and an Easter Sunday resurrection holiday, to replace a Nisan 14 Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. The Alexandrians, like various others who were not truly faithful, used false gospel accounts, see also The New Testament Canon – From the Bible and History.

The Church of Rome calls the day before “Easter” “Holy Saturday.”

Now, the Bible does call the Sabbath day, which is on the Roman calendar day called Saturday, holy:

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. (Exodus 20:8-9)

But that is not what Roman Catholics mean when they call today “Holy Saturday.”

The Apostle Paul taught that Jesus died and that is essentially like being asleep:

34 … It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

Yet, many falsely claim that Jesus did not really die, but that He descended into ‘hell’/hades to preach to fallen angels and/or others after His physical death on the stake. This is what the Church of Rome teaches happened on the day they call Holy Saturday:

What happened on the first Holy Saturday?

Here on earth, Jesus’ disciples mourned his death and, since it was a sabbath day, they rested. …

What happened to Jesus while he was dead?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” – Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek – because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.

Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”:

“It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.”

Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

634 “The gospel was preached even to the dead.” The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment.

This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/12-things-you-need-to-know-about-holy-saturday3

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.478 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.479 (479 Cf. 1 Pet 3:18-19.) (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 632)

While Jesus’ disciples mourned His death and would have rested on the Sabbath, when Jesus was dead, He was actually dead. Though He was raised from the dead on the day we now call Saturday.

There are several theological problems with the Roman view of ‘Holy Saturday”. Consider:

1. If Jesus did not really die, which He did (Romans 5:8, 8:34; 1 Thessalonians 5:10), then He did not really give His life.
2. Jesus said He would be like Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish (Matthew 12:40)–does anyone really claim that Jonah preached in ‘hades’ (called sheol in Hebrew) during that time? It is certainly not recorded that Jonah did that in the Old Testament.
3. There is no New Testament teaching that Jesus descended into Hades to preach to various spirits or dead humans. Plus dead humans are dead (see Did Early Christians Believe that Humans Possessed Immortality? and What Happens After Death?).

On that third point, first let me quote the Bible:

27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:27)

That passage does NOT say that Jesus descended and preached. Consider also the word translated as Hades means the grave or place of the dead.

It is NOT the same word as Gehenna (which had a fire) that is often translated as hell in many New Testaments.

It is also NOT the same word as Tartarosas which is used as a place of restraint for fallen angels (2 Peter 2:4). The Bible never teaches that Jesus went there after He was executed.

Note, in his Latin Vulgate Bible, Jerome used the word for Tartarosas and not the word for Hades:

4 si enim Deus angelis peccantibus non pepercit sed rudentibus inferni detractos in tartarum tradidit in iudicium cruciatos reservari (2 Peter 2:4, Latin Vulgate)

Furthermore, realize that Acts 2:27 is a quote (per Acts 2:25) of something David wrote in the Psalms:

10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (Psalms 16:10)

Sheol also means grave or place of the dead. Notice the following where Sheol is translated as grave:

5 For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks? (Psalms 6:5, NKJV; both the Catholic NJB and NABRE leave the word as Sheol, instead of using the translation as grave–see their Psalm 6:6)

So, in Sheol one will not give God thanks.

Now let me quote a statement from the late French Cardinal Jean-Guenole-Marie Danielou on whether the New Testament teaches the descent:

The Descent Into Hell…This doctrine appears nowhere in the New Testament,1

1 So W. Bieder, Die Vorstellung von der Hollenfardt Jesus Christi, p. 128

(Danielou, Cardinal Jean-Guenole-Marie. The Theology of Jewish Christianity. Translated by John A. Baker. The Westminister Press, 1964, p. 233)

Anyway, Jesus was dead for three days and three nights. Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity upon incarnation (Philippians 2:7) and did not receive it back until He was resurrected (cf. John 20:24-29).

As far as WHEN He preached to certain fallen angels, the idea is claimed to come from 1 Peter 3:18-20). So let’s look at that:

Jesus Christ was the same God who walked and talked with Moses in the wilderness — the same “I AM” (see Ex. 3:14) who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. Paul makes this plain. “I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the [Red] sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea…. For they drank from the same supernatural Rock which followed them, and the [‘that,’ KJV] Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:1-4).

This same Personage in the Godhead presided over the Flood in Noah’s day. Peter gives us the facts: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he [Christ] went and preached unto the spirits [demons] in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (I Peter 3:18-20, KJV). (Schroeder JR. Who Was Jesus? Good News magazine, November 1975)

The timeframe of the ‘descent’ was the time of Noah and that flood. Thus, it DID NOT happen during the time called the ‘crucifixion week.’

Many who profess Christ observe something they call “Good Friday.” They believe that Jesus was crucified and died that day and rose early Sunday.

But is that what happened? Is that what Jesus taught?

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. (Matthew 12:38-41)

Most people do not seem to realize that Jesus’ sign of His Messiahship was being in the grave for 72 hours. Yet most who profess Christ have rationalized this away.

A common Roman Catholic position seems to be that 3 days and 3 nights is at the most 40 hours. Notice:

Christ lay forty hours in the tomb (Lent. The Catholic Encyclopedia).

However, their celebration of the Good Friday-Easter Sunday time period does not allow for Jesus to have been in the tomb for more than 36 hours as they teach that Jesus was placed in the tomb late Friday (just prior to sunset) and that when Mary Magdalene came to His tomb while it was still dark (John 20:1, hence probably a half hour or so before sunrise), He already was gone.

Interestingly, there was a shortened (Jesus was in the grave a full 72 hours), Friday to Sunday resurrection holiday to Osiris.

In order to justify a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday morning resurrection, most who do so have theologically relied, directly or at least indirectly, on the personal opinions of a late fourth/early fifth century writer named Augustine, who wrote:

Scripture again witnesses that the space of those three days themselves was not whole and entire, but the first day is counted as a whole from its last part, and the third day is itself also counted as a whole from its first part; but the intervening day, i.e. the second day, was absolutely a whole with its twenty-four hours, twelve of the day and twelve of the night. For He was crucified first by the voices of the Jews in the third hour, when it was the sixth day of the week. Then He hung on the cross itself at the sixth hour, and yielded up His spirit at the ninth hour…But from the evening of the burial to the dawn of the resurrection are thirty-six hours which is six squared. And this is referred to that ratio of the single to the double wherein there is the greatest consonance of co-adaptation. For twelve added to twenty-four suits the ratio of single added to double and makes thirty-six: namely a whole night with a whole day and a whole night, and this not without the mystery which I have noticed above. For not unfitly do we liken the spirit to the day and the body to the night. For the body of the Lord in His death and resurrection was a figure of our spirit and a type of our body. In this way, then, also that ratio of the single to the double is apparent in the thirty-six hours, when twelve are added to twenty-four (Augustine. On the Trinity (Book IV), Chapter 6. Translated by Arthur West Haddan, B.D. Revised and annotated by the Professor W.G.T. Shedd, D.D. Excerpted from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 3. Edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. American Edition, 1887. Online Edition Copyright © 2004 by K. Knight).

Augustine admits that Jesus is to be in the grave for three days, yet decides that he can calculate using a non-accepted form of mathematics.

Even the Pope Emeritus (also known as Benedict XVI) does not seem to know how long Jonah or Jesus were “swallowed up”. Notice what he stated:

Like Jonah in the belly of the whale, so too Christ crucified was swallowed up into the heart of the earth (cf. Matthew 12:40) for the length of a Sabbath (Benedict XVI. Jesus Is Risen, and He Gives Us Peace. Easter Message, April 16, 2006. © Copyright 2006 — Libreria Editrice Vaticana as reported by www.zenit.org/english).

The length of a Sabbath is one day and one night–about 24 hours. It is not three days and three nights. But Jesus and Jonah were “swallowed up” for 72 hours!

Martin Luther, who had been a Roman Catholic, also did not accept that Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights as he wrote,

How can we say that he rose on the third day, since he lay in the grave only one day and two nights? According to the Jewish calculation it was only a day and a half; how shall we then persist in believing there were three days? To this we reply that be was in the state of death for at least a part of all three days. For he died at about two o’clock on Friday and consequently was dead for about two hours on the first day. After that night he lay in the grave all day, which is the true Sabbath. On the third day, which we commemorate now, he rose from the dead and so remained in the state of death a part of this day, just as if we say that something occurred on Easter-day, although it happens in the evening, only a portion of the day. In this sense Paul and the Evangelists say that be rose on the third day (Luther M. Of Christ’s Resurrection from volume II:238-247 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 11).

Hence the only way to have a “Good Friday” crucifixion and a pre-dawn Sunday morning resurrection is to twist what Jesus taught and deny that He would be buried for three days AND three nights.

If people rationalize away the only sign of Jesus’ Messiahship, perhaps that suggests that they are not really His followers?

What about you?

Those who wish to learn more should also study the following articles:

Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins? There is also a detailed YouTube video available titled History of the Christian Passover.
Melito’s Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well. Here is a related sermon, also titled Melito’s Homily on the Passover.
What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’? How long are three days and three nights? Was Palm Sunday on a Saturday? Did Jesus die on “Good Friday”? Was the resurrection on Sunday? Do you really know? Who determined the date of Easter? (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Murió Jesús un día miércoles o un viernes?) A sermon of related interest is titled What did and did not happen in the ‘Crucifixion week’?
‘Passion’ sequel: Descent into Hades Mel Gibson’s ‘Passion of the Christ’ movie grossed over $600 million. He is working on a sequel tentatively titled ‘Resurrection.’ The actor who plays Jesus (Jim Caviezel) said this movie will have “shocking” parts. One part, that has been reported, is the idea that Jesus went to Hades after the crucifixion and prior to the resurrection to preach to souls in “hell.”‘ Is that what the New Testament teaches? Is this something original to the Apostles and what is called the “Apostles” Creed’? Did Jesus really die? What do the terms Hades, Sheol, Tartarosas, and Gehenna signify? What does the Bible teach about when Jesus preaching in Tartarosas? Did Jerome include this in his Latin Vulgate? Is the ‘descent into Hades’ (Acts 2:27) the same as taught by the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’? What does the Bible teach us? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more in this video.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy. Here are links to seven related sermons: Proof Jesus is the Messiah, Prophecies of Jesus’ birth, timing, and death, Jesus’ prophesied divinity, 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made, Why Don’t Jews Accept Jesus?, Daniel 9, Jews, and Jesus, and Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus. Plus the links to two sermonettes: Luke’s census: Any historical evidence? and Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah, but … These videos cover nearly all of the book, plus have some information not in the book.
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? What do scholars and the Bible reveal?
Why Easter? Did early Christians observe Easter? What are the origins of Easter? What does Easter have to do with the goddess Ishtar. Where did the word Easter come from? Where do Easter eggs come from? What do rabbits have to do with Easter? Was Jesus resurrected on a Sunday? This is a video.
The Similarities and Dissimilarities between Martin Luther and Herbert W. Armstrong This article clearly shows some of the doctrinal differences between the two. At this time of doctrinal variety and a tendency by many to accept certain aspects of Protestantism, the article should help clarify why the genuine Church of God is NOT Protestant. Do you really know what the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther taught and should you follow his doctrinal example? Here is a related sermon video: Martin Luther and Herbert Armstrong: Reformers with Differences.
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.

Official US government portrait of  Nancy Pelosi

COGwriter

Should women be able to become presbyters or priests?

Former US Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Roman Catholic Nancy Pelosi, believes so:

Pelosi: Women Should be Priests ‘That Is Real Power’

March 28, 2023

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., touted the notion that one-day women could become priests.

Speaking at an event at Georgetown University last week, Pelosi said that she had been “attracted” to the notion of being a priest because of the power of the clerical office held. But she added it was disappointing Pope Francis had not permitted the ordainment of women to the Catholic priesthood.

“Every day [priests] have the power … of turning bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, that is real power, now we’re talking power, and that’s why I was more attracted to that than being a nun,” Pelosi said during a conversation with Rev. Jim Wallis, the director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/nancy-pelosi-women-priest/2023/03/27/id/1114019/

While I do not believe that Roman Catholic priests can turn “bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ,” note that Nancy Pelosi’s personal objective was power. Not truth, not the word of God.

Now, let’s look at some statements in the word of God.

Let’s start by pointing out that there are several roles the Bible shows women do not have. The Apostle Paul wrote:

34 Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. (1 Corinthians 14:34-35).

11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. 12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. (1 Timothy 2:11-12).

The above does not mean that women can never talk. What Paul is teaching is that women are not supposed to be the ones giving sermons.

The New Testament also shows:

3:1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach (1 Timothy 3:1-2).

5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you– 6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination (Titus 1:5-6).

Thus, the New Testament does not support the concept of women being elders/bishops over a church as only males are shown to be in those specific roles.

But the Bible does not prevent women from having important roles in the church.

Instead of focusing on what women should not be doing, it is important to understand what they should be doing. Here are some details from an article titled: Women and the New Testament Church:

Women can serve the Church in many capacities and many do. From being deaconesses to assisting others in or interested in the Church of God to being fellow laborers of the gospel.

Here is something related to former head of the Church of God, Seventh Day, A.N. Dugger, in the 1925:

…in the “Question Corner” section of the Advocate, Dugger said that women were not to be in religious authority over men, but they could be used as workers and have a part in evangelistic work (I Corinthians 14:34-35, I Timothy 2:12 and Romans 16). (Nickels R.C. History of the Seventh Day Church of God. 1988, p. 94)

As one who had assisted the church in some of those capacities for decades in an unordained capacity, I will simply add that just because someone is not an ordained deacon, elder, or deaconess, does not mean that one cannot serve the Church of God in many ways.

And I believe that when Jesus taught:

37 The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9:37-38).

That this was not limited to men only, but includes women.

Notice something related to a 19th century leader who may have been COG:

Asa Bee … He was a strong advocate of co-education, having no sympathy, whatever, with the idea that was so prevalent at that period “that woman was amply equipped for the battle of life if she could only spell and read.” He taught that woman’s influence was the potent factor in shaping the mind of the child, and that, thus, she was in need of the better education; (Lowther MK. History of Ritchie County. Wheeling News Litho. Co., Wheeling W.Va., 1911, pp. 572-577)

Yes, women should be properly educated. When the Old Testament talks about teaching children God’s ways, it says the following:

6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

Notice that this teaching was not for boys only.

Sometimes, there are also special roles that women may have–like Deborah the prophetess (Judges 4).

In the early 20th century, prior to the start of the Radio Church of God, Loma Armstrong had a dream that RCG/WCG said came from God as the first part of the dream was later confirmed (see Dreams, the Bible, the Radio Church of God, and the Continuing Church of God).

Furthermore, Loma Armstrong assisted her husband, Herbert W. Armstrong, in many aspects of the work and the start of the Philadelphia Church Era. Some believe more apostasy hit the Worldwide Church of God after her death as she reportedly assisted her husband in understanding some character traits of various church leaders.

By the way, in the 21st century, a woman was granted a dream prior to the start of the Continuing Church of God, part of which also was confirmed by later events.

Currently in the Continuing Church of God women assist with videoing and other aspects of church services, editing publications and letters, online radio production, translating, managing Facebook pages, host groups where we have no males, and in various other activities that support the final phase of the work, including with websites. They also sing, provide music, help put together items related to the Study the Bible Course, and do some writing.

I also believe that as we approach the end of the church age, that God will use many men and women, who have not been used as much in the past, to truly be laborers for the Lord’s harvest.

Which ones?

Well biblically it would appear to be those that:

18… grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

Women need to be instructed so that they can instruct others. Some will be persecuted for that as Bible prophecy teaches:

32 Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33 And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34 Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue. 35 And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time. (Daniel 11:32-35)

Despite views of certain ones, even though they often have different roles, women have the same spiritual potential as men:

7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Husbands should give honour to their wives. But also notice that wives are to be HEIR TOGETHER–not that one’s inheritance is less because of gender.

Notice also what Paul wrote:

26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

Women have the same potential to be deified in the God family as men (Deification: Did the Early Church Teach That Christians Would Become God?). And that is the position not only of the Bible, but also the Church of God throughout history.

Furthermore, consider:

10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

Yes, women are heirs to the above promise to be kings and priests in the coming Kingdom of God.

Here is something from the old Radio Church of God:

To be truly happy, a real woman should bear in mind the purpose of which she was created – and set herself definite GOALS to fulfill in the accomplishment of that purpose.

First of all, she should remember that she was called to help and supplement her husband. She should learn to be responsive to him and to his direction of the home, entertainment and way of life.

She should realize that her husband’s success is her success also – and fully SHARE and delight in the triumphs and achievements of her husband, knowing that htey are partly her own. Also, she should equally share in his sorrow and disappointments – trying always to give the right kind of balanced and positive sympathy and encouragement so that he will rebound to other successes in the future.

A second area in which a woman should cultivate success and service is that of bearing and TRAINING her children. Certainly, young mothers exert a powerful influence on the leaders of tomorrow. And women should realize the overwhelming IMPORTANCE of zealously and joyously dedicating themselves to this as their highest physical calling. FAR MORE IMPORTANT it is than that of an office worker or secretary on any level.

In His Word, God instructs older women: “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, KEEPERS AT HOME, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Titus 2:4-5). …

The ULTIMATE Goal

Then, for the woman who reads and understands the Bible, another goal presents itself. That is the goal of preparing to help RULE and reconstruct this entire society in the World Tomorrow (Rev. 2:26; 5:10). Some Christian women wonder how they are being prepare for this. If they, themselves, are not leading and directing businesses, families and public activities today, how are they learning and preparing for tomorrow’s world?

The ANSWER is that a woman, with the physiological and psychological nature given her by God has magnificent opportunities – too often untapped – for preparing toward this goal. She needs to set herself to be a really successful wife, mother and contributor today. (True Womanhood: A Lost Cause?)

Women have no less potential than men.

In the Continuing Church of God we do not believe that women are to preach or be elders, pastors, or overseers. But some are deaconesses. Furthermore, for the CCOG, some edit, manage websites, manage Facebook pages, do translations, maintain our online radio presence, host groups where we have no males. They also sing, provide music, help put together items related to the Study the Bible Course, and do some writing.

Notice also something from our free online book, The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?:

Why Did God Make Males and Females?

Related to the creation of humans, why did God make them male and female?

Well, an obvious reason would have to do with reproduction as God told the first man and woman:

²⁸ Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth… (Genesis 1:28).

The Bible gives a fairly specific related reason:

¹⁴ … Between you and the wife of your youth … she is your companion And your wife by covenant. ¹⁵ But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring… (Malachi 2:14bd-15)

God made males and females so that they could be one and ultimately produce godly offspring (for deification).

Jesus taught:

⁴ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ ⁵ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

The Apostle Paul wrote related to this that, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32).

In addition, the two properly becoming one also helps us better understand the relationship between the Father and the Son (John 17:20-23).

The marriage relationship helps picture the relationship between the Father and the Son (both of whom the Bible identifies as God, e.g. Colossians 2:2, which is a mystery to most) as well as what will happen to converted humans after the resurrection (which the Bible also calls a mystery, e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

The Apostle Paul discussed love and gave some other spiritual lessons related to the marital state:

⁴ … admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children (Titus 2:4).

²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. ²⁴ Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:22-27)

Another reason to make males and females was to make it possible, though with physical distinctions in this life, for couples to be glorified together with Jesus (Romans 8:16-17). Working together (Genesis 1:28; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) and even suffering together in this life was also part of the plan (Romans 8:16-17) for male-female couples.

Let’s also see some lessons from history:

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. ³² And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: ³³ who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. ³⁵ Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented — ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. ³⁹ And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. (Hebrews 11:30-40)

Both men and women had faith and were heirs to the promises—equally. And both men and women are to be made perfect. And this will be better for us.

For what purpose?

To give love in a unique way throughout all eternity.

As the Apostle Paul wrote to Christians (and not just married couples):

¹² And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all … (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

Whether male or female, humans are intended to give love. Increasing love to all will make eternity better.

People like Nancy Pelosi do not understand many of the mysteries of God’s plan. But you can–here is a link to our free online book: The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?

As far as women’s roles go, we also have the following sermon on our ContinuingCOG channel:

Women’s Roles in the Church

What roles, rights, and responsibilities do Christian women have? Did Jesus break Jewish traditions related to women? What did various women do in the New Testament? Can women be prophetesses or deaconesses? What about pastors and preachers? Do women have the same spiritual potential as men? Are women listed in the Book of Life? Will women be subject to persecution prior to the start of the Great Tribulation? Will women be wives or kings and priests in the coming kingdom of God? What are some of the roles women have in supporting the work in the Continuing Church of God? Dr. Thiel provides answers to those and other questions.

Here is a link to the sermon: Women’s Roles in the Church.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Women and the New Testament Church What roles did women play in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles? Did Jesus and the Apostle Paul violate Jewish traditions regarding their dealings with women? Do women have any biblical limitations on their role in the Church? Were there female prophets? Do women have any special responsibilities in terms of how they dress? What does the New Testament really teach about women? Here are links to two related sermons: Women’s Roles in the Church and New Testament Women.
True Womanhood: A Lost Cause? Is there still a place for being feminine? Here is an article from Herbert Armstrong about his thoughts relating to women and womanhood.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, Mystery of Race, and The Mystery of YOU. Here is a link to two videos in Spanish: El Misterio del Plan de Dios and El Misterio de Satanás, el Misterio de la Verdad, el Misterio del Reposo.
Veils and Other Head Coverings Do women need to wear veils or similar coverings while praying or attending church services? What does the Bible teach about hair length? What about going around bald? Here are some scriptures on that subject.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.

Older Hebrew Calendar

COGwriter

When speaking of the Hebrew month of Abib/Nisan, which occurs around late March/early April God declared:

“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2).

After sunset on March 21, 2023, the new month and year began. Passover will be after sunset on April 4th in 2023.

Each year, some bring up calendar concerns. Some believe that a calculated Holy Day calendar is wrong and that one must only be kept based upon personal observation. Those espousing the observed calendar often differ among themselves as to how it is to be observed.

The debate is often centered around a Jewish leader called Hillel II. He is credited for publishing the rules that the Jews use for calculating the calendar based on certain observations. Basically, the observed only crowd claims that since Hillel was not around until the 4th century, that prior to him, the Jews always used a calendar based upon observation of the first crescent moon and did not include something called ‘postponements.’

This argument presumes, however, that Hillel II invented the calendar rules he made public. Since the calendar-determining methods were guarded by the priests, we do not know that for a fact. Furthermore, some believe that this public action was necessary, because the ‘judicial body’, then known as the Sanhedrin, was a fading institution at the time, hence there was a need for public disclosure of the rules.

The observation with calculation crowd basically says that not all Jews used an observed-only calendar and the Bible seemingly gave the Jews (Leviticus 23:2 and possibly the Church per Colossians 2:16-17, literal translation) some latitude in determination of the actual start date. Some believe that postponements were in place and probably used by some prior to the time of Jesus. It would seem that somehow God led the Levitical priesthood to the calculations that are used to this day.

The theory of the Hillel calendar allegedly derives entirely from a paper written seven centuries later by R. Avraham b. Hiyya, in which he quoted R. Hai Gaon (early 11th century) as saying: “… until the days of Hillel b. R. Yehuda in the year 670 of the Seleucid era (358/359AD), from when they did not bring forth or postpone, but kept to this cycle which was at hand …” This brief remark is the only scrap of evidence for the existence of Hillel II related to the calendar.

Notice the following:

The Calculated Hebrew Calendar has been attributed to a Nasi named Hillel II. One would have thought that the calculation established by Hillel II would be widely published and known in his day. Yet neither Hillel II nor even a discussion of the idea of supplanting witnesses with a calculated calendar is found in the Talmud Yerushalmi or the Talmud Bavli. The first mention of Hillel II is over seven hundred years after the fact.

עד ימי הלל בר’ יהודה בשנת תר’ע לשטרות, שמאותה שנה לא הקדימו ולא אחרו, אלא אחזו הסדר הזה אשר היה בידם. . . .

until the days of Hillel b. R. Yehuda in the year 670 of the Seleucid era (358/9 CE), from when they did not bring forth or postpone, but kept to this cycle which was at hand . . . This from a responsum of R. Hai Gaon (early eleventh century) cited by R. Avraham b. Hiyya. …

Hillel b. R. Yehuda documented the fact not of the initiation of the Hebrew Calculated Calendar but of the fact of the continued use of this system. This documentation somehow made it to the library of Pumpedita and ultimately to the attention of Rav Hai Gaon. (Hillel II. Sod Haiber, http://sodhaibur.com/hillel-ii.html accessed 02/20/22)

So, that view is consistent with the idea that Hillel II did not invent postponements, only that he wrote calendar rules down.

Back in Jesus’ time, communications were not instantaneous. Yet, somehow Jews around the Roman Empire knew when the Day of Pentecost was as the Bible shows that they were in Jerusalem observing it on the correct day:

1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:1-11)

The above is scriptural support for the idea that the calculated calendar was in place because the Jews who came for Pentecost obviously would have to have known when it was some time prior to its occurrence. Travel was much slower then and for a message to get from Jerusalem to Rome, and then for people to get back to Rome, would have taken a long time. It would not seem possible that those who visited Jerusalem from places as far away as Rome could have known when to be there, UNLESS a calculated calendar was used. While the Roman visitors coincidentally could have been there, since Pentecost was one of the listed Holy Days to appear before God with an offering (Deuteronomy 16:16), it is likely that they knew (in advance) when it was.

It should be realized that for centuries after Jesus was resurrected, Christians who kept the Holy Days had to use some method to determine their date, and since most were NOT near Jerusalem after 69 A.D., the use of a calculated calendar (which they likely knew from the Jews) was the only practical way for them to know when the Holy Days were.

Now because some rules related to the calendar were not made public prior to Hillel II (some others had been related to years with an ‘intercalated’ month), we do not know the date when they were first implemented–though some believe they existed from the time of Moses and were shown to be utilized by Ezra. It would seem logical to conclude that they were begun during the period when sacrificing was being done. One of the possible reasons I have read about for implementing them was in consideration of back-to-back High Days (before or after a weekly Sabbath) and the laborious offering rituals needed. It would not seem that postponements would have been implemented long after the Temple was destroyed with related sacrificing also ceasing by 70 A.D. If sacrifices played a role in using the postponement, then Hillel II could not have been the one to originate postponements.

According to Jewish sources. the placement of the Day of Atonement seems to be a major factor in the use of postponements. Notice the following from the Encyclopaedia Judaica:

CALENDAR (Heb. לוּחַ, lu’aḥ). The present Jewish calendar is lunisolar, the months being reckoned according to the moon and the years according to the sun. A month is the period of time between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next. The conjunction of the moon with the sun is the point in time at which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun (but not on the same plane) and is thus invisible. This is known as the מוֹלָד, molad (“birth,” from the root ילד). The mean synodic month (or lunation) is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3⅓ seconds (793 parts (ḥalakim); in the Jewish system the hour is divided into 1,080 parts each of which is 3⅓ seconds). The solar year is 365 days, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, which means that a solar year exceeds a lunar one (12 months) by about 11 days. The cycles of 12 lunar months must therefore be adjusted to the solar year, because although the Jewish festivals are fixed according to dates in months, they must also be in specific (agricultural) seasons of the year which depend on the tropical solar year. Without any adjustment the festivals would “wander” through the seasons and the “spring” festival (Passover), for example, would be celebrated eventually in winter, and later in summer. The required adjustment is realized by the addition of an extra month (Adar II) in each of seven out of the 19 years that constitute the small (or lunar) cycle of the moon (maḥazor katan or maḥazor ha-levanah). …

The year begins on Tishri 1, which is rarely the day of the molad, as there are four obstacles or considerations, called deḥiyyot, in fixing the first day of the month (rosh ḥodesh). Each deḥiyyah defers Rosh Ha-Shanah by a day, and combined deḥiyyot may cause a postponement of two days: (1) mainly in order to prevent the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10) from falling on Friday or Sunday, and Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of Sukkot; Tishri 21) from falling on Saturday, but in part also serving an astronomical purpose (see below). Rosh Ha-Shanah never falls on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday (according to the mnemonic לא אד”ו ראש known as the postponement addu – probably first vocalized iddo; cf. Ezra 8:17). (2) Entirely for an astronomical reason, if the molad is at noon or later (מוֹלָד זָקֵן or מוֹלָד יח) Rosh Ha-Shanah is delayed by one day or, if this would cause it to fall as above, two days. These two deḥiyyot, owing to the mentioned limits on the number of days in the year, entail another two. (3) The third deḥiyyah is as follows: If the molad in an “ordinary” (not leap) year falls at ג”טר”ד, that is the third day (Tuesday), at 9 hours, 204 ḥalakim, that is, 3:11 A.M. and 20 secs. – Rosh Ha-Shanah is put off two days. A postponement to Wednesday is not permitted (as in (1)), so that it is deferred to Thursday. The object is as follows: If the molad of Tishri occurs at that hour, the outcome would be a year which is one day too long…. (4) This deḥiyyah is very infrequent. It is known as בט”ו תקפ”ט אחר עבור שנה, that is when the molad of Tishri, following immediately after a leap year, occurs on the second day (Monday) at 15 hours, 589 ḥalakim, which means Monday, 9:32 A.M. and 43⅓ secs. …

While it is not unreasonable to attribute to Hillel II the fixing of the regular order of intercalations, his full share in the present fixed calendar is doubtful. … Intercalation is claimed to be evident from the figures in Ezekiel 1:1, 3:15, 4:4–6 and 8:1, with similar indications in I Kings 12:32–3 and II Chronicles 30:2–3; … The New Moon (Num. 28:11, and parallels) was determined by the phasis in the preceding evening, hence the plausibility of an early biblical record (I Sam 20:18) of its prediction for “tomorrow.”

(Calendar. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 4. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. p354-359. COPYRIGHT 2007 Keter Publishing House Ltd. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=imcpl1111&resultListType=RELATED_DOCUMENT&contentSegment=9780028660974&isBOBIndex=true&docId=GALE|CX2587503848#354 viewed 02/28/15)

It is true that Hillel II did not come up with all the calendar calculation rules. Again, it is more likely he mainly laid them out publicly.

Psalm 81:1-5 discusses new moons, and may be a reason that the Jews believe the calculation for the new year should be based on Tishri 1. Though the sacred year, according to the Bible (Exodus 12:1-2), begins on Nisan 1, the date of that calculation seems to be based on the Tishri calculation. The fact that the Encyclopaedia Judaica ties an aspect of the calendar with Ezra 8:17 is consistent with the view that the postponements were being utilized at the time of Ezra.

Furthermore consider that Jesus kept Passover on the 14th of Nisan (also known as the month of Abib) on the Hebrew calendar after sunset on the day we now call Tuesday (see What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’?). He died the next day, which is the day we commonly call Wednesday. The late Dr. Herman Hoeh taught this occurred in 31 A.D. (though 30 A.D. might be possible–as far as 30 A.D. goes, I have seen something from one supporter of that view that claimed that the Feast of Trumpets prior to it was calculated based upon a postponement).

Now, if we can have records of when the new moon was for 31 A.D., we can calculate when Passover would have been. And that information exists.

There is New Moon Data from the US Navy Observatory using the current Julian calendar and Greenwich Mean Time for the new moon in 31 A.D.:

31 ...  April 10    Noon  (http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/spring-phenom viewed 02/25/15)

Since Jerusalem is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, then the conjunction, which effectively is the start of the actual New Moon, would have occurred at 2:00 pm on what we now call April 10th on the day of the week commonly called Tuesday (the same US Navy link states that March 27th was on a Tuesday, and from that we can calculate the days of the week for April of 31 A.D.).

If the first part or crescent of the moon could have been seen close to the time the US Navy said the conjunction for the new moon occurred, the 14th of Nisan would have begun after sunset on Sunday the 22nd of April. Yet, it would not have been seen.

Furthermore, the human eye normally cannot see the moon in the middle of the afternoon and there are delays until enough of the moon can be seen. So it would seem that the first observable crescent should have been the next day. Thus, the first day of the month would have likely been Wednesday, April 11th, based upon a strictly observable calendar. This would have made Passover after sunset Monday, April 23rd.

Presuming Jesus was killed in 31 A.D., this eliminates the strictly observable calendar (for details on why that makes sense, check out the article The KEY To The Crucifixion Date). The beginning of the month that year would have been ‘postponed’ one day, based upon a calculated calendar. Since Jesus kept His last Passover on a Tuesday evening after sunset, this leads to the logical conclusion that Jesus kept the Passover based upon a calculated calendar (again presuming a 31 A.D. final Passover for Him). Jesus would have kept Passover after sunset on April 24th and died prior to sunset on April 25th.

And if Jesus kept the Holy Days based upon a calculated calendar, then it is reasonable to conclude that a calculated calendar existed centuries before Hillel wrote a record of it down.

Notice also the following from the late Dr. Herman Hoeh:

The Hebrew calendar tells when

Here is a chart verified by works on the “Jewish calendar” — actually God’s sacred calendar — absolutely correct according to the computation preserved since the days of Moses!Dates Passover
A.D. 29 Saturday, April 16
A.D. 30 Wednesday, April 5
A.D. 31 Wednesday, April 25
A.D. 32 Monday, April 14
A.D. 33 Friday, April 3

To place the Passover on a Friday in A.D. 30 is to violate one of the rules of the fixed calendar — that no common year of the sacred calendar may have 356 days. Common years of 12 months may be only 353, 354 or 355 days long, a fact you can verify in the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Theologians place the Passover of A.D. 30 on Friday, April 7, 356 days after the Passover of A.D. 29. Count it for yourself! This date is two days late. The Passover in A.D. 30 was only 354 days after that of A.D. 29.

The 14th of the month Nisan could have occurred on Wednesday in A.D. 30, as well as in A.D. 31. Thus, if you want to believe that the crucifixion was in A.D. 30 — which it was not — you would still have to admit that Friday could not be the day of the crucifixion!

For the year A.D. 31 a few references, unacquainted with the rules of the Hebrew calendar, mistakenly give the Passover, Nisan 14, as Monday, March 26. But this is one month too early. The year A.D. 30-31 was intercalary — that is, it had 13 months — thus placing the Passover 30 days later in A.D. 31, and on a Wednesday. (Hoeh H. The Crucifixion Was Not on Friday, Part Two. Good News magazine, March 1984)

Since Jesus kept Passover on Tuesday night (the day starts the evening prior on the Hebrew calendar, hence a Wednesday calendar date means a Tuesday evening obvserance, since Passover is observed in the evening) and died Wednesday afternoon, it appears that He was keeping a calculated calendar with postponements.

Understand that many of the children of Israel were dispersed from Jerusalem for centuries. This of course separated them from accurate Jerusalem observations. Since all wanted to keep the right day, a calculated calendar was a logical solution to this (though odd solutions, such as observing the holy days for two days, were used by many, as some do today).

On sufficiently cloudy evenings/nights, it is not possible to observe the first appearance of the new moon through observation. Thousands of years ago, they would not have had a way to observe the start of the new moon every month.

1. Modern communication methods did not exist thousands of years ago.
2. Jesus endorsed the basic Jewish calendar (cf. Matthew 23:1-3).
3. Jesus, who did not sin (Hebrews 4:15), seemingly observed a calculated calendar (cf. Luke 22:8-22, etc.).
4. Throughout history God’s people not near Jerusalem basically had to rely on some type of a calculated calendar.
5. Weather and other factors made a strictly observational calendar impossible for use every month.
6. A strictly observational calendar results in people keeping Holy Days sometimes weeks differently, depending upon where they are physically located.
7. God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33).

There is more information that could be provided on each of the above points, but even though I plan to research more on this in the future, I thought this information could be helpful for some as we get closer to the start of the Spring Holy Day season for 2023.

We have had a calendar of the biblical holy days through 2026 for some time.

This past week we extended that to include dates through 2033.

Here is a link: Holy Day Calendar.

Here is the portion related to Spring Holy Days:

Knowing when the Holy Days are coming does assist with planning–particular on matters of work, school, and travel.

We also have the following related video:

24:20

The Biblical Calendar

Did you know that the biblical calendar differs from the commonly used Roman calendar? What are both based on? How do they differ? When does the Bible teach the first month of the year is? What are the names of the biblical months and when do they fall? Did Hillel II invent the ‘calculated’ calendar in the fourth century or simply make the rules public? Did Jesus use a calculated calendar? What about the date of His final Passover and His execution? Dr. Thiel addresses these questions as well as shows a chart of when God’s Holy Days fall on the Roman calendar.

Here is a link to our video: The Biblical Calendar.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Is There “An Annual Worship Calendar” In the Bible? This paper provides a biblical and historical critique of several articles, including one by the Tkach WCG which states that this should be a local decision. What do the Holy Days mean? Also you can click here for the calendar of Holy Days.
What are Postponements? This was written by the late evangelist Raymond McNair and explains a lot about postponements and calculations.
Calculated or observed calendar? Did Jesus use a calculated calendar? This article addresses this issue that many wonder about.  Here is a link to a related video: The Biblical Calendar.
Is January 1st a Date for Christians Celebrate? Historical and biblical answers to this question about the world’s New Year’s day. A video of related interest is also available: God’s or Satan’s New Year?
Hebrew Calendar and “Postponements” This late John Ogywn writing explains why the most faithful in the Church of God use the calendar that we do and answers such questions as “Did Jesus Observe the Postponements?”
Holy Day Calendar This is a listing of the biblical holy days through 2033 with their Roman calendar dates. They are really hard to observe if you do not know when they occur 🙂 In the Spanish/Español/Castellano language: Calendario de los Días Santos. In Mandarin Chinese: 何日是神的圣日？ 这里是一份神的圣日日历从2013年至2024年。.
What Happened in the ‘Crucifixion Week’? How long are three days and three nights? Was Palm Sunday on a Saturday? Did Jesus die on “Good Friday”? Was the resurrection on Sunday? Do you really know? Who determined the date of Easter? (Here is a related link in Spanish/español: ¿Murió Jesús un día miércoles o un viernes?)
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins?
Melito’s Homily on the Passover This is one of the earliest Christian writings about the Passover. This also includes what Apollinaris wrote on the Passover as well. Here is a related sermon, also titled Melito’s Homily on the Passover.
TPM: Passover on the 14th or 15th? While the real COG observes Passover on the 14th, some observe it on the 15th. Why is the 14th correct? A related sermon is titled Is Passover on the 14th or 15th for Christians?
The Night to Be Observed What is the night to be much observed? When is it? Why do Jews keep Passover twice and emphasize the wrong date? A related video is available and is titled The Night to Be Much Observed.
Should Christians Keep the Days of Unleavened Bread? Do they have any use or meaning now? What is leaven? This article supplies some biblical answers. Here is a YouTube video intended to be viewed for the first day of unleavened bread: Christians and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history teach about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.