The Latest from CBCG’s Fred Coulter

In his latest newsletter, CBCG’s Fred Coulter reported:

The Bible Project: We are continuing to make progress with the Old Testament Bible Project. We should be finished editing and polishing up the Scriptures in about 60 days—and finished writing and editing the commentaries in about 90 days. This will give enough lead-time for the printer to order the special French Bible paper and the lambskin to make the covers for 7,000 copies. Then we will have 3,000 copies printed with soft covers, which will lower the overall cost. Later this month I will meet with the printer’s representative to finalize the contract.

He also reported:

As you have seen with the samples we sent to you in the last mailing, all of the difficult Scriptures will be properly translated and clarified. For example, passages instructing us how to properly count to Pentecost have been correctly translated. They now clearly show how to count fifty days—with each of the seven complete weeks ending with a weekly Sabbath, plus one day. Seven complete weeks of seven days each—to the day after the seventh Sabbath—for a total of 50 days. Therefore, Pentecost is always on the first day of the “eighth week.” This is important because the number eight signifies a “new beginning”—and the resurrection is truly a new beginning for the saints. While there may be some who continue to cling to a Monday Pentecost, the proper translation of Leviticus 23 should eliminate this error in the future.

When the WCG observed a Monday Pentecost for forty years (from 1934 to 1974) they were observing it on the wrong day—a day late—because the day after the seventh Sabbath is a Sunday, not a Monday. Keeping Pentecost on the wrong day undoubtedly lead to a lack of understanding of its full meaning. While many understood the Old Testament harvest of the firstfruits of the grain harvest, they failed to understand that the true harvest of the spiritual firstfruits at the first resurrection also had to occur on a Pentecost. Instead, as so many still assume, they believed that the first resurrection would take place on the Feast of Trumpets. But the Feast of Trumpets is a memorial of the blowing of trumpets all day long. Trumpets is God’s call to war, not a day of the resurrection of the firstfruits.

The last paragraph is one of the differences that CBCG has from most other COGs. An article of related interest may be Christian Biblical Church of God and its Teachings.