Sabbath 13/ 2/ 41/ 120

Dear Friends,

This week we noted the ridiculous scrap between COGawa and Frank Nelte over the question of making seven offerings in a year.  The paper at reference was a study paper by COGawa titled
“HOLY DAY OFFERINGS — HOW OFTEN?.  In this bizarre document COGawa attempts to claim that there is no restriction on how often an offering might be made in a year and then argues for the seven offerings they have made since Armstrong introduced the heresy in the twentieth century. Nelte tries to argue against them and as usual makes a complete mess of it and overlooks the fundamental issues of the offerings.

CCG was incorporated in 1994 and commenced services at the New Moon of Abib in 1994.  The three commanded offerings were instituted with the New Moons and the Temple Calendar. The Hillel system was rejected as heresy and the seven offerings made on the Holy Days of Hillel were exposed as contrary to God’s law.  Nelte’s only contribution to the Hillel heresy was to argue that there was no Temple Calendar which is an unprincipled false assertion. Pack’s argument was to claim that Christ kept Hillel and said nothing against it when anyone with any knowledge knows the church never kept Hillel until Armstrong and that it did not come into existence until 358 CE and it uses the Babylonian intercalations and often has the Passover twice in the same year. Hillel was rejected by the Churches of God and even the Sun cults in their entirety. That Pack would even suggest such a matter shows his complete ignorance of the truth of the history or his indifference to it.

The reality is that tithes and offerings may be made at any time in the year. However, they are commanded by God to be made three times in a year at the three feasts and their purpose is to be made so that the offerings might be distributed to the poor and needy so that they may keep the Feasts properly fed and housed. These provisions are catered for in the tithe legislation (cf. Tithing (No. 161)). Thus it is obvious from basic reading that the offerings must be made at the beginning of each Feast and not left until the Last Holy Days of the Feasts including Pentecost.

The issue of Offerings is covered in the following papers:
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p139.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p275.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p161.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p256.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p049.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p056.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p156d.html
www.ccg.org/weblibs/study-papers/p097.html

In a blatant attempt at increasing funds Armstrong introduced the heresy that there must be a giving of offerings on the Holy Days of the Calendar which involved offerings on the First and Last Holy Days of Unleavened Bread, an offering on the holy Day of Pentecost, an offering on Trumpets and an offering on Atonement and again on the First Holy Day of Tabernacles and then again on the Last Great Day at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

Aside from the direct command that it be done three times a year, which these so-called ministries of the Churches of God seek to negate to justify their seven offerings, they ignore these major provisions of the Bible and also the direct command of God which provides explicitly that no offering may ever be taken up on the Day of Atonement. God specifically says that no man may give more or less than the half shekel head tax in Exodus 30:15. It is a fundamental aspect of the faith that the Temple tax was paid for us by Jesus Christ. That is exactly why these fakes are dead and spewed out of the mouth of God into the Second Resurrection as provided for in Revelation chapter 3.

What is more important is that these people do not even keep the Holy Days on the correct days except by accident such as in this year 2018 due to the postponements and many years not even in the correct months due to the Postponements and the Babylonian Intercalations (cf. Hillel, The Babylonian Intercalations and the Temple Calendar (No. 195C) and also The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals (No. 195)).

They have no understanding and no shame and they will not repent.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General