New Moon 1/7/33/120 B                                                                                                

Dear Friends,

It is in this month that the turn of the year occurs and in the Northern Hemisphere the autumnal equinox occurs and Winter begins. Biblically there are only two seasons a year marked by the equinoxes. Often CCG gets people involved and seeking admission that have an odd idea that they do not heat their houses or cook food on the Sabbath. In the Northern Hemisphere such a misconstruction of Scripture has a number of unfortunate effects. For those living close to the equator it is not as unfortunate as it is for the families living further away to the North. For those families the effects are disastrous.

The general effect is that the young are brought up with the insane idea that hot food is not permitted  on Sabbaths, New Moons or Holy Days and nor are houses permitted to be heated on such days. Such a view of the scriptures is an aberration that has the effect of making the people who believe and espouse such things not only appear to be idiots themselves but attributes a perverse mindset to God that is patently absurd. The end result is that the children see God as aberrant and some abandon the faith.

It is not a correct interpretation of Scripture and has the effect of endangering the lives of the old and infirm and the infants. We have issued instructions concerning this aberration over the years and those that espouse and teach this view are instructed to be removed from CCG or prevented from access. 

Any child who is placed in danger by such practice by their parents or guardians is to be protected and should any child or elderly or infirm person be affected by such conduct the person doing so is to be censured and reported to national and world headquarters of CCG.

The theology of the matter has been addressed in the paper The Juma’ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285) (http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p285.html. This paper is to be studied prior to the feast.

We have noted that this view has surfaced again by persons seeking admission to CCG. As usual it occurs among people that live in more tropical or at least more temperate climes. It is also a problem regarding living in Booths at the feast. In the tropics it is not a problem but for the elderly in the northern latitudes it is a serious problem. Josephus records that the people in Judea at the time of Christ erected booths inside their homes to protect them from the cold at the turn of the year.

No person is permitted access to CCG that espouses these views no matter where they live. They may eat salads over the hot weather but if they cite Scripture as the basic reason and continually refuse to eat hot food or heat their homes they are to be corrected and if they persist they are to be removed.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General