Sabbath and New Moon 1/8/26/120
Dear Friends,
This week we are all back from the feast and now looking forward to the Passover. This feast we emphasised the fact of the Fifth and Sixth Years of the Sabbatical cycle. The Fifth Year is a year of grace and the Sixth Year is the year of trial but also it is a double harvest year. In the paper Samson and the Judges (No. 73) we explain the years of grace and trial but we have now reissued that paper with a new tape. That tape goes into the aspect of the Fifth Year as a trial year through the grace of God.
Many people do not comprehend that the trial process begins in the year of grace and ends with the double harvests of the Sixth Year feasts. Many people think that because the Fifth Year of the cycle is a year of grace, then they will not face trials in that year and are puzzled because they do. They ask: “Why is it that I am receiving so many trials in a year of grace? I am supposed to be free from those trials, am I not?” The answer is that through sin the grace of God abounds. In this Year of Grace the sins of our folly are pointed out to us and God uses this year to commence the trials and the rectification or justification of the individual.
Each year this process commences and leads up to the Passover season, and the Lord’s Supper, the Foot-washing, and Passover Sacraments in which our sins are forgiven for another year. However, the Fifth Year of the cycle is particularly serious and many people are tested in this process. The sins that have been overlooked to date are brought to a head and, in many cases, many individuals are removed entirely from the Church of God over serious and unrepented sins.
In this year particularly God will remove ministers from the Church for unrepented sin. He will also deal with people in aspects that are critical in the Sabbatical cycle and which He does not wish to leave uncorrected for the next cycle. This year we have seen a number of ministers removed from the Church for various reasons, as well as individuals. Sometimes God will deal with an aspect of a family in bringing some to judgment and not others. Sometimes He deals in families, and sometimes He does not but rather splits families. It is a decision He alone makes in His Omniscience. He then gives the individuals to Christ to bring to the birth in judgment.
God will not be dictated to or cajoled into action without merit. Each individual is chosen, predestined, called, justified and then glorified (Rom. 8:29-30). Each of us is called in our own time according to God’s purpose and into the body of Christ, which is the Church of God. There are many administrations or operations, hence the Churches of God, but one Lord.
God will not allow individuals to make merchandise of His people and interfere with their calling. Sometimes He will scatter the flock in order to protect some from the wolves of a rapacious ministry and a wrong system.
This year, in the build up to the Feast of Tabernacles, a number of the Churches of God were tried both before and during the feast. Each of the churches was allowed to grow into maturity through trials. Judgment was forced on some both as families and as a church. Some ministry were tested and found wanting in some nations. In many cases, the ministry were forced to address issues they had never seen before. As I receive the reports from the nations I am often pleased and sometimes saddened. In one trial year I myself almost died. Often God gets our attention on fundamental issues.
This process of testing is ongoing, and we are called to repentance and growth in the Holy Spirit and sometimes dealt with contrary to what we might desire. Often God wants to see what you will do with a little before He entrusts you with much. Sometimes we fail and have to start again, much chastened with the knowledge of our faults.
I met an old friend this year over the feast period. He agrees with our Sabbatical and Jubilee system but does not understand the significance of the postponements and their effect on the calendar. He wants to keep the Land Sabbaths and knows we do that, but does not see the necessity of correcting the other errors in the system. So he is left with those who do not understand because he will not act fully on what he knows. He is an old friend and I tell him gently what the problem is, but he does not seem to want to correct the problem. The problem is that the Church of God he is with became a social club and he is happy with that social set. And in spite of the necessity of correcting error and acting on the information we are all given in the Holy Spirit, he continues to be frustrated that the social group does not see the Jubilee system and Sabbaths as he does.
God expects us to act on what we know before we are given the next understanding and the next level.
Next year we are all faced with a double harvest year in order to keep the Land Sabbath of the Seventh Year in 2005. In that year we will all read the Law and we will all be re-credentialed and reorganised for a further seven years. That is the way the Law of God is structured.
The World Conference Executive will soon announce the place of the Reading of the Law for 2005. The nations will organise for Passover and their delegates will be sent to the World Conference, wherever it is, for the Conference and the Reading of the Law. The World Conference of national leaders will decide on the direction of the work for the next seven years up to 2012.
That period is the most significant in world history. The Mayan and Inca calendars end in the years equivalent to the sacred year 2012-2013. The sun system will be at an end from that time as they see it. Thus, we have much work ahead of us and much to do before the period of the Witnesses (see the paper The Witnesses (No. 135)). From their witness the world is judged under the Messiah, who returns to save those who eagerly await him.
Over the year 2004 we will try to make the feast costs a little lighter so that the maximum number of people can attend the Reading of the Law. Some of you will receive literal double harvests for the feasts of 2004. Others may receive benefits that will enable them to attend the feast in 2005. Harvest and manage your funds so as to attend this important event. God will give you what you need, so be aware and don’t waste it.
We are going to canvas the holding of the Sabbath Feast in the location of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor in modern day Turkey. We will also look at the provision of multilingual facilities for the feasts both in French and Spanish, and perhaps Italian among other languages besides English.
There may well be a three-day cruise of the Greek islands from there also if there is sufficient interest. We are looking for expressions of interest to the Secretaries for the 2005 feast and you are all invited to let us know of any interest. There is a two-year period from now until then and you will need to save your second tithe funds over the entire period to enable the feast. Nations are required to send delegates by law.
Remember what has to be done to finish the warning of the nations. We are warning the nations now as never before in the history of the Church. The message is going out to many nations in many languages covering the entire plan of God and the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Many people are reading and studying, and many understand the truth. From he to whom much is given, much will be expected. No one can sit on their hands and do nothing with what they have been taught. We are all required to work.
I have noticed that in some nations the Church of God is made merchandise of and God will deal with those aspects before the Reading of the Law. Make sure that God does not remove you from the Temple of God because you are an unjust steward. I have written on this aspect before but many do not realise they are being tested and judged in this matter, and in this year ahead God will deal with them if He has not already done so. Make sure it is not you. Remember Ananias and his wife who were both taken out dead and were buried over their sins before the Holy Spirit.
Prepare now for the Passover. Use this New Moon to build up in your studies. Also help the work in the tasks ahead.
If you wish to help, let us know through the secretaries and we will allocate tasks to you as you are able to help.
We will commence to issue the Koran commentaries soon. If you wish to help, please let us know.
If you are able to help in the research projects let us know and we will give you a task to help with and a team to work with. There are never too many hands. This is what you were called to do. Don’t shirk your tasks and use your talents wisely.
We will issue the program lists for this year and we hope that will give us all more impetus also.
I hope that the feast refreshed you all and gave you new insight and new friends.
The feast sites seem to have been successful and new friends were made everywhere. If you had a problem, let us know. If you are in Asia or Africa and are unsure of your administration, please also let the Secretaries know of any problems you may have had.
Please prepare for the years ahead and let us go forward together in strength
and harmony. Love one another as God and Christ love us, and work together as
one and they are one with us.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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