New Moon and Sabbath 010339120

Dear Friends,

Once again we are faced with the sheer dishonesty and duplicity of the WCG offshoots.  This week I was given a report from one of the CCG people in Tanzania via one of our officers there.  They said that the LCG ministry turned up at Ukerewe and tried to convince them that the Passover was in April this year and that the Hillel Calendar was correct and was used in Israel by the Jews.  This New Moon is the beginning  of the Third Month of the Temple Calendar.  It falls on the Seventh Day of May 2016. The true Pentecost or feast of Weeks begins next weekend on EENT Friday 13 May 2016 and covers 14 May and 15 May 2016.

If the WCG offshoots really believed the lies they teach over Hillel they would keep the Sivan 6 Pentecost which they do not do in spite of preaching the false doctrine that the Jews have the oracles of God which is an absolute and outrageous lie (see the paper The Oracles of God (No. 184)).

In the Sabbath Message (of Sabbath 14/11/38/120) we addressed the issue of the year 2016 and the problems of Hillel.

As we are all aware the next sacred year begins on 9 March 2016 (at EENT 8 March 2016).  That is unless you are a Babylonian Cabbalist that follows the Hillel Calendar using the Babylonian intercalations.  Anyone who has done any study on the matter knows that the Churches of God have never followed the Hillel Calendar until the heretic Herbert W. Armstrong introduced it to the Churches of God with Dugger in the COG (SD) in the 1940s.

It is a matter of academic record that the Temple Calendar was determined in the Astronomical Schools and ran from New Moon Conjunction to New Moon Conjunction. The New Moons were determined by the heavenly movements and the entire shipping system was determined by the New Moons as they determined the tides also.  All nations knew and determined the tide charts and the calendar systems of the months based on those conjunctions.  The New Moon in ancient China was referred to as the Emperor’s shame as, if the astrologers failed to determine the New Moon Conjunctions and the eclipses accurately well in advance, they were punished severely.  The New Moons and the Sabbaths and Holy Days were determined in the Temple system and we have ancient public records of that system. Anyone who does not know and understand that fact is simply uneducated.  Anyone who denies that as a fact is either uneducated or unprincipled.

CCG is aware of the offshoots of the WCG and their false doctrines concerning Hillel and their lies concerning the Temple Calendar.  That calendar was published by CCG as God’s Calendar (No. 156) many years ago.  We have seen many of these scoundrels make false claims such as that the Temple Calendar did not exist (Nelte).  Or that the Hillel Calendar was used at the time of Christ in the Temple and Christ did not refute its use therefore it must be correct (Pack).   The WCG taught its ministers to pass the Hillel Calendar off as the correct Calendar and the one used by the Churches of God knowing that such a claim was a blatant lie.  Any student of Judaism knows that the current calendar was taken to Chief Rabbi Hillel II by two Jewish rabbis from Babylon in 344 CE and then was developed for the postponements and was issued as the official Jewish Calendar in 358 CE over 320 years after the death of Christ and 288 years after the closure of the Temple in 70 CE and the fall of the Sadducees and the establishment of the Rabbinical system from the Pharisaic system as it was developed post temple period from Jamnia.  No scholar with any integrity would ever claim that Hillel was used in the Temple period and would admit that it came into being in 358 CE and was not completed until the Twelfth Century under Maimonides.  All Jews acknowledge that it is incorrect by stating that they have to wait for the Messiah to correct it (see the paper Why is Passover so late in 1997? (No.239)).  The same situation will apply in 2016 because the Babylonian intercalations will force the Hillel system to be a month late and the Passover will fall in the Second month of the Temple system in 2016 and Pentecost will fall in the Fourth month and Tabernacles will fall in the Eighth month.  This happens at least six times in a 19 year cycle.

The Babylonians invented this system in the Seventh Century BCE and their dating system originated at the same time and that is why the Jews declare this year to be 5776 instead of the year 5988 since the closure of Eden and 6018 since the Creation of Adam (see the paper Outline Timetable of the Age (No. 272)).

When they brought the Hillel system out it was observed that the Babylonian intercalations did not accord with the heavenly cycles of the seasons and there was a reactionary element formed to try to counter the Hillel system by observation and this was termed the Karaite System.  Instead of going back to the Temple Calendar which would have solved the problem they wished to keep the traditions and the postponements under Hillel and postpone some of the months that were inaccurate. The origin of the Karaite system is found in the paper The Origin and Basis of the Karaite Division (No. 156C).  

In order to deal with the serious concerns forming among the brethren of the offshoots this year in 2016 these unprincipled scoundrels are now trying to use the Karaite arguments to assert that the Babylonian intercalations are required to prevent the harvests from being delayed, which never occurred under the Temple system and only came about because of the Babylonian intercalary system in the first place.

We had one of our officers confronted with this ridiculous argument recently by a member of his family associated with a major offshoot of WCG, which seems to have concocted this fabrication to minimise internal criticism. They will say anything at all to avoid admitting error and embracing the truth.  Truth is the basis of the faith, and only the truth will set you free (see the paper Truth (No. 168)).   In order to justify the Jewish apostasy of Hillel, Armstrong invented the fiction that the Jews retained authority of the oracles of God from a misidentification of the writings of Paul which we covered in the paper The Oracles of God (No. 184).  Yet they refused to accept the Jewish misidentification of a Sivan 6 Pentecost in spite of their heresy. Thus they did not believe what they taught.”

The place of the Equinoxes in the determination of the Feasts

Philo, a Jew at Alexandria over the life of Christ, taught on the Temple Calendar and stated in his work on the Special Laws that the traditional equinoxes take place in the first and seventh months. This means he believed that the new moon BEFORE the traditional Vernal Equinox is the first month of the year!

Philo goes on to say  [in THE SPECIAL LAWS, II, (153) page 582 THE FIFTH FESTIVAL XXVIII.] “Although the month “in which” the autumnal equinox occurs is first in sequence according to solar orbits, it is not considered first in the law.”

Philo here is saying that the month  in which the Autumnal or northern  equinox occurs in is the first month of the year according to the solar orbit but not considered first in the law i.e. the month/moon in which the Autumnal equinox happens is the seventh month, although it the first according to the solar orbit. The month in which the Northern Vernal equinox occurs is the first month of the year according to the law, but seventh according to the solar orbit.  Thus Hillel is heresy.

He also writes, ON THE CREATION (116) Page 17 

“And the sun, the ruler of the day, making two equinoxes every year, both in spring and autumn. The spring equinox in the constellation of Aries, and the autumnal one in Libra, gives the most evident demonstration possible of the divine dignity of the number seven.” The assertion that each takes place in a seventh month sequence is derived by counting from One to Seven with five months between the first and the seventh and after the seventh as five to the First month at the end of the second seven as the next sequence of Seven to get to the First month.


The quote used by some as “For each of the equinoxes takes place “in” the seventh month, at which time men are expressly commanded by law to celebrate the greatest and most popular and comprehensive festivals;”

"since it is owing to both these seasons, that all the fruits of the earth are engendered and brought to perfection; the fruit of corn, and all other things which are sown, being owing to the vernal equinox; and that of the vine, and of all the other plants which bear hard berries, of which there are great numbers, to the autumnal one.” 

 FLACCUS page 735 chapter 14 verse 116 states  “This was the unexampled misfortune which befell Flaccus in the country of which he was governor, being taken prisoner like an enemy on account of the Jews, ...the time of his arrest, for it was the general festival of the Jews at the time of the autumnal equinox, during which it is the custom of the Jews to live in tents;” 

Special Laws 1  Note also that from this text the New Moon of the New Year is a sacred feast as well, the new moons requiring special sacrifices.

(180) For the feast which begins the sacred Month{23}{the exact meaning of ieromeµnia is unclear. The best explanation of the term was suggested by a scholiast on Pindar Nem. 3.2 who explained that the beginnings of months were sacred (A. B. Drachmann, Scholia Vetera in Pindari Carmina [3 vols., Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1903û27] 3:42). Thus understood to be Philo's designation for the feast day which opens the sacred month, it is here consistently translated "the feast which begins the sacred month."} double sacrifices are fitly offered since the reason for it is double: one, since it is the new moon; the other, since it is the feast which begins the sacred month. Regarding the fact that it is the new moon it is distinctly stated that sacrifices equal to the other new moons are to be sacrificed. Regarding the fact that it is the feast which begins the sacred month, the gifts are doubled apart from the young bulls. For one rather than two is offered since the judge has thought it correct to use the indivisible nature of the number one instead of the divisible number two at the beginning of the year. (181) In the first season--he calls springtime and its equinox the first season--he ordered that a feast which is called "the feast of unleavened bread" be celebrated for seven days and declared that every day was equal in honor in religious services. For he commanded that each day ten whole burnt offerings should be sacrificed just as they are for the new moons, making the total number of whole burnt offerings apart from those dealing with the trespass offerings seventy. (182) For he thought that the same reason governed the relation of the new moon to the month which governed the relation of the seven days of the feast to the equinox that took place in the seventh month. As a result he declared sacred both the beginning of each month and the beginning, consisting of the same number of days as the new moons, of the aggregate seven months. (183) In the middle of spring the harvest takes place during which season thank offerings are offered to God from the field because it has produced fruit in abundance and the crops are being harvested. This feast is the most publicly celebrated feast and is called "the feast of the first produce," named etymologically from the circumstance that the first of the produce, the first fruits, are dedicated at that time.

 Special Laws II

181.} because before the annual crop has proceeded to human use, the first produce of the new grain and the first fruit which has appeared are offered as first fruit. (180) For it is just and religiously correct that those who have received the greatest gift from God, the abundance of the most necessary as well as most beneficial and even the sweetest food, should not enjoy it or have any use of it at all before they offer the first fruits to the Supplier. They are giving him nothing since all things and possessions and gifts are his, but through a small symbol demonstrate a thankful and God-loving character to the one who needs no favors but showers continuous and ever-flowing favors. (181) Or else because the fruit of wheat is most especially the first and most excellent of all productions. (182) And the bread is leavened because the law forbids any one to offer unleavened bread upon the altar; not in order that there should be any contradiction in the injunctions given, but that in a manner the giving and receiving may be of one sort; the receiving being gratitude from those who offer it, and the giving an unhesitating bestowal of the customary blessings on those who offer. [...]{25}{the whole of this passage appears corrupt and unintelligible. Mangey especially points out that what was forbidden was not to offer unleavened bread, but leavened bread upon the altar. See Exodus 28.23:18.} Not indeed to that [...]{26}{part of section 183 was omitted in Yonge's translation because the edition on which Yonge based his translation, Mangey, lacked this material. These lines have been newly translated for this volume.}

THE SPECIAL LAWS, 1, (186 -- page 551 (186)  “When the third season takes place in the seventh month at the autumnal equinox,  at the beginning of the month, the feast which begins the sacred month named "the feast of trumpets" and which was discussed earlier is celebrated. On the tenth day the fast takes place which they take seriously--not only those who are zealous about piety and holiness, but even those who do nothing religious the rest of the time.”

THE DECALOGUE (161) page 532, “But to the seventh day of the week he has assigned the greatest festivals, those of the longest duration, at the periods of the equinox both vernal and autumnal in each year; appointing two festivals for these two epochs, each lasting seven days;  the one which takes place in the spring being for the perfection of what is being sown, and the one which falls in autumn being a feast of thanksgiving for the bringing home of all the fruits which the trees have produced. And seven days have very appropriately been appointed to the seventh month of each equinox, so that each month might receive an especial honour of one sacred day of festival, for the purpose of refreshing and cheering the mind with its holiday.” 

THE SPECIAL LAWS, II, page 582 THE FIFTH FESTIVAL XXVIII. (150) "And there is another festival combined with the feast of the passover, having a use of food different from the usual one, and not customary; the use, namely, of unleavened bread, from which it derives its name. … This month, being the seventh (scriptural month) both in number and order, according to the revolutions of the sun, is the first in power; (151) on which account it is also called the first in the sacred scriptures. And the reason, as I imagine, is as follows. The vernal equinox is an imitation and representation of that beginning in accordance with which this world was created. 

Accordingly, every year, God reminds men of the creation of the world, and with this view puts forward the spring, in which season all plants flourish and bloom (152) for which reason this is very correctly set down in the law as the first month, since, in a manner, it may be said to be an impression of the first beginning of all, being stamped by it as by an archetypal Seal. (153) Although the month in which the autumnal equinox occurs is first in sequence according to solar orbits, it is not considered first in the law. 

The reason is that at that time, after all the crops have been harvested, the trees lose their leaves and everything that springtime produced in the height of its glory is withering under dry winds after it has been made dry by the flaming heat of the sun. (154) Therefore he thought that to apply the name "first" to the month in which the hill country and the plain become barren and infertile, was incongruous and unfitting. For it is necessary that the most beautiful and desirable phenomena belong to those things which are first and have received the position of leadership, those phenomena through which the reproduction and growth of animals and fruit and crops take place but not the ominous destructive forces. (155) And this feast is begun on the fifteenth day of the month, in the middle of the month, on the day on which the moon is full of light, in consequence of the providence of God taking care that there shall be no darkness on that day. …(160) Since, therefore, the vernal festival is a commemoration of the creation of the world, 

THE SPECIAL LAWS, I {Yonge's title, A Treatise on Circumcision.} XXXV. (172) “And loaves are placed on the seventh day on the sacred table, being equal in number to the months of the year, twelve loaves, arranged in two rows of six each, in accordance with the arrangement of the equinoxes; for there are two equinoxes every year, the vernal and the autumnal, which are each reckoned by periods of six months. At the vernal equinox all the seeds sown in the ground begin to ripen; about which time, also, the trees begin to put forth their fruit. And by the autumnal one the fruit of the trees has arrived at a perfect ripeness; and at this period, again, is the beginning of seed time. Thus nature, going through a long course of time, showers gifts after gifts upon the race of man, the symbols of which are the two sixes of loaves thus placed on the table.” 

“in accordance with the arrangement of the equinoxes; for there are two equinoxes every year,” 
A new moon or month on or "after" the equinox is not the month in which the equinox takes place or occurs! Philo is not speaking of the Solar Calendar on which the Roman system was based after Julius Ceasar. Philo says specifically that the Month occurs from one New Moon to the next and which is on the day in which the conjunction occurs.  See the Special Laws on the Third festival or the New Moon.  The New Year is always the New Moon nearest the equinox when an intercalary year inserts Adar II or We Adar in to intercalate the Lunar calendar. The Intercalation occurs in the sacred year 2016/2017 placing the New Moon on March 28 2017 after the equinox and not in March of 2016 that has occurred using the Babylonian Intercalations of Hillel. The assertion that the New Moon must always occur before the Equinox is a false interpretation and an incorrect reading of Philo.
 So also we can see from Josephus   Antiquities of the Jews - Book III

CHAPTER 10. CONCERNING THE FESTIVALS; AND HOW EACH DAY OF SUCH FESTIVAL IS TO BE OBSERVED.  5. “In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, Thus Hillel is wrong with the New year in Rosh Hashanah or the Autumn. In 2016 Hillel has Roshashanah in October or the Eighth Month beginning after the Northern Equinox.

See also Antiquities of the Jews - Book I

CHAPTER 3. CONCERNING THE FLOOD; AND AFTER WHAT MANNER NOAH WAS SAVED IN AN ARK, WITH HIS KINDRED, AND AFTERWARDS DWELT IN THE PLAIN OF SHINAR, 3. This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's government, [age,] in the second month, (14) called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesuan: for so did they order their year in Egypt. But Moses appointed that · Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for their festivals, [March April and not April May as in 2016 with Hillel ed]  because he brought them out of Egypt in that month: so that this month began the year as to all the solemnities they observed to the honor of God, although he preserved the original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs. At the beginning of the second year, on the month Xanthicus, as the Macedonians call it, but on the month Nisan, as the Hebrews call it, on the new moon, they consecrated the tabernacle, and all its vessels, which I have already described.”

The history is clear on what the Temple calendar was and the lies of the Jews and Armstrongites should be treated with utter contempt. The Church has a responsibility to study the facts of the Temple Calendar and reject outright that which is not true.

As we said previously: It is the aim of the Churches of God to enter the First Resurrection and become the priesthood of Christ (see the paper Heaven, Hell or the First Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143A)).  To do that each of the Churches of God must keep the calendar of God on the correct days and that includes Sabbaths, New Moons and Holy Days and Feasts.  To do that they cannot postpone them and particularly not the Day of Atonement or the Passover and Unleavened Bread. The Jews will go to the Second Resurrection (see the paper The Second Resurrection of the Dead and the Great White Throne Judgment (No. 143B)); but so also, we are told, do the two eras of the Churches of God, namely the Sardis and the Laodicean, seemingly because they do not keep the Calendar of God (see the papers The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals (No. 195)Distortion of God’s Calendar in Judah (No. 195B)Hillel, Babylonian Intercalations and the Temple Calendar (No. 195C) and The Pillars of Philadelphia (No. 283)).

It is up to each individual to enter the Kingdom of God.  They do it on their own merits and no one can do it for them and no one can give them dispensation to do other than keep the Commandments of God and the Faith and Testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; 14:12). These are the elect or the saints.

These teachers of false doctrine and slanderers of the brethren have no authority to waive one jot or tittle from the laws of God and if they do they are counted least of those in the kingdom of heaven and, not entering themselves, they prevent all who follow them from entering also.  Be under no illusions; Sardis and Laodicea are not in the First Resurrection except for those that repent and become part of the Philadelphian system of the Last Days.  The timings of the Churches of God and their doctrines are seen in the paper Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Historical Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170).

Herbert Armstrong was a credentialed paid officer of the Church of God (Seventh Day) in two branches for many years. All those paid credentialed officers of his in RCG and WCG are also Sardis officers. The only way to the First Resurrection is to repent and move to a church keeping the correct doctrines and that is CCG.

If you love your family members and brothers work to make them understand these simple truths.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General