Sabbath 5/1/40/120

Dear Friends,

From 1 Abib 40/120 we should have all begun sanctifying the Church of God as part of the Sanctification of the Nations (No. 077) and the Temple of God.  The process of Sanctification was reinstated by and in CCG as it had been erroneously abandoned with the New Moons and the Temple Calendar and the understanding of the Godhead by the False Prophet and Idol Shepherd Herbert Armstrong and his ministry.  The false prophecy of Armstrong is the stuff of legends.  The sequence of false prophecy was detailed in the paper False Prophecy (No. 269)

From the New Moon we should be looking at preparing for the Sanctification of the Temple of God (No. 241) and in that process we should also prepare for the Fast of the Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous that we are responsible for undertaking on 7 Abib which this year falls on Monday 3 April 2017.

We see the Fast and details in the paper Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291).

The fast was kept from the beginning of the Church of God. The appendix to the paper (No. 291) records the original church did indeed fast from the time of Christ and we have those records.

This sanctification process must be done correctly, as we see from Isaiah 66:17, or those people will suffer destruction.

So we see that, whilst it is God who sanctifies and Christ who sanctifies, it is we also who sanctify with God as the Temple of God (see also Ezek. 20:12; 36:23; 37:28).

Where formerly this task rested with the sons of Levi, and then in the physical sense with the sons of Zadok (see Ezek. 44:15-24; cf. 46:20), this function now rests with the Church as the priesthood of Melchisedek (see the paper Melchisedek (No. 128)).

Thus we fast on 7 Abib as we have done for two millennia except when under the direction of heretics like those of the Armstrongite system and elements of the COG (SD).

We should all be aware of the Quartodeciman Disputes that caused the division between the Churches of God and the Church at Rome in 192 of the Current Era. The details are in two papers; one is the Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277) and the other is the Origin of the Christian Church in Britain (No. 266).

Irenaeus wrote to a former friend, Florinus, who had lapsed into Valentinianism.  He reminded Florinus of the fact that he and Florinus had been with Polycarp and the apostle John and those still alive that had known the Lord.  He wrote regarding the fast of 7 Abib being kept before the Passover from 14 Abib. He had also written to Victor re the ancient custom of the observance of the Pascha (Lord’s Supper or Passover) on 14 Abib and the Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread from 15 Abib.  In that early writing, since lost, we see it preserved by Eusebius. It is there witnessed by Irenaeus in observing Polycarp with John and those who knew the Lord and that they kept the Passover and the Fast preceding it (cf. ANF, Vol. 1, p. 568ff).

The fragment to Florinus regarding the Fast of 7 Abib and the Passover on 14 Abib and the Feast of Unleavened Bread 15-21 Abib is as follows.

ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus
The writing of Irenaeus concerning the Fast was lost except in the fragment preserved by the historian Eusebius but we know without doubt that the entire church fasted  on 7 Abib from Christ and the apostles through John and Polycarp and through Irenaeus to the Quartodeciman Disputes (No. 277).  Irenaeus wrote  to Victor also concerning the Fast and its manner and the confusion that had come in regarding it due to the heretics coming in from the worshippers of the Sun Cults and their introductions of the cults of Baal and Ashtoreth or Easter and his fragments from Eusebius are also in the Appendix to the paper (No. 291) (see also the Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).

It is beyond dispute that the church fasted on 7 Abib as commanded by Ezekiel 45:20  for centuries and only failed in the Sardis and Laodicean systems.

The entire Sanctification system is critical to the proper restoration of the Philadelphian system and the true system of the Worship of the One True God in the Last Days.

This Sabbath please study the paper on the Sanctification of the Simple and Erroneous (No. 291) and prepare for the Fast.  On the Fast Day please study the Qartodecimen Disputes (No. 277) and prepare for the Passover and the Setting aside of the Lamb details and the preparatory papers.

Please enjoy the build-up and get yourselves ready this year for the coming trials ahead and prepare for the Witnesses and the coming kingdom of God.

May God bless us all.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General