Connection re the Nature of God and the Temple Calendar(No.156E)

During the years prior to Christ and the judgment and subsequent destruction of Judah in 70 CE, the Temple observed a calendar based on the New Moon Conjunctions and the month went from one conjunction to the next and was determined for years in advance in the astronomical schools. The history is well known and documented by Philo as is quoted in the text of God’s Calendar (No. 156). Emil Schurer, in History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, agrees that the Calendar is documented by Philo and also elsewhere historically. In order to avoid and corrupt the well documented calendar, the Jews, since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, have resorted to the falsification of the history of the system and claims that the calendar was determined by observation and not within the astronomical schools as Philo attests from his direct experience and observations over the First Centuries BCE and CE (cf. Distortion of God’s Calendar in Judah (No. 195B)).

Christ castigated these Pharisees for their traditions, their hypocrisy and for their show of religion. So there is no doubt as to what he said; we need only look at the basic texts. The hypocrites were predominantly of the Pharisees that used the traditions to undermine the Law and the Testimony.

Mat_6:2 "Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Mat_6:5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Mat_6:16 "And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Mat_22:18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

Mat_23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Mat_23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Mat_23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Mat_23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Mat_23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity.

Mat_23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

Mat_23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

Luk_11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

Luk_11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Luk_11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

Luk_11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

Luk_12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Luk_13:15 Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it?

It was in the text in Matthew 15 that the traditions were condemned as vain worship by Christ and we should look seriously at what he said.

Mat 15:7-9 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ⁸'This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ⁹in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'"

It was for this reason of idolatry and the rejection of the teachings of Christ and their refusal to reject the traditions of false teachings and of foreign gods that Judah was sent into captivity. The Pharisees became the Rabbis and the traditions became paramount. After they failed to repent and the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the traditions became the rituals of Post-Temple Judaism. The traditions resulted in the Hillel Calendar of 358 CE and the Churches of God rejected them as they had the traditions before them.

The Hillel Calendar remained outside of the Faith of the Churches of God until the heretic Herbert Armstrong introduced the false god of Ditheism into the faith and along with it came the false calendar of Hillel and modern Judaism. He was a proven false prophet (cf. False Prophecy (No. 269)). The church was penetrated by a man whose baptism they would never have accepted under normal circumstances and he was credentialed by a COG that was at the lowest phase of the Sardis era of the Churches of God. Armstrong in the WCG, and the Offshoots, then developed the Sardis system in its final phase.

The Nexus between the Nature of God and the Calendar

When the Body of Israel as the Temple of God is in sin it is not allowed to keep the Temple Calendar. This has been a long standing fact of history since the Law was given at Sinai and Israel entered the Holy Land. When they go into idolatry they are sent into captivity and into the hands of a foreign people under a foreign god. It is enough to look at the history under the Judges (cf. Samson and the Judges (No. 073)).

Mar_7:6 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

What exactly was it that Isaiah said and to what was Christ referring when he mentioned him? The text in Isaiah shows the failure of Israel to understand their God and what He requires of them.

Isaiah 1:1-31 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. ²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: "Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. ³The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand." ⁴Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. ⁵Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds; they are not pressed out, or bound up, or softened with oil. ⁷Your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens. ⁸And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. ⁹If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. ¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! ¹¹"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats. ¹²"When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? ¹³Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New Moon and Sabbath and the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. ¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, ¹⁷learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. ¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; ²⁰but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." ²¹How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. ²²Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. ²³Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them. ²⁴Therefore the Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: "Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes. ²⁵I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy. ²⁶And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." ²⁷Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. ²⁸But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. ²⁹For you shall be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted; and you shall blush for the gardens which you have chosen. ³⁰For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. ³¹And the strong shall become tow, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together, with none to quench them.

So does this text mean that God hates the Sabbaths and New Moons and Solemn Feasts? By no means! What He hates is what these sinners of Israel and Judah have done to the Sabbaths of God and how they have corrupted the faith with the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is the mixing of iniquity and idolatry with the Solemn Assemblies that God detests. Such sin is rampant throughout Israel. In this spirit of sin and hypocrisy they offer vain offerings to God. Now in these last days the entire house of Israel and Judah are in sin and under utter condemnation by God. Aliens devour their birthright and strength under their very eyes and through the corruption of the leaders of Israel. That is so throughout the entire US and BC and in the state of Israel with these pseudo-Jews. Only approx 10% of Judaism are actual Jews and 52% of Ashkenazi Rabbis are R1a Khazars and not even Semites. We will commence to deal with them under the Witnesses and then the Messiah. They can stay but they must repent and be baptized as part of the Church of God.

As God says through Isaiah, He will hide Himself from us. Our Sabbaths, New Moons, and Feasts are a burden and God has hidden His eyes from us. He will not listen as our hands are full of blood. He requires us to wash ourselves and wash ourselves clean and remove the evil of our doings from before His eyes. Soon He will allow us to go into punishment and perhaps captivity (cf. Wars of the End series at: http://ccg.org/armageddon.html.

Why were the Churches of God in the Twentieth Century and before under the Sardis system and the Laodiceans prevented from keeping the Temple Calendar? The answer was simply that they confused the doctrines and the Law of God and failed to understand the requirements to keep the Law and the Testimony (Isa. 8:20). When they did understand the requirement to keep the Calendar, with the exception of the Caldwell Conference who had the correct doctrines on the Nature of God, they were not allowed to do so.

When the Sardis system decided to keep the Hebrew Calendar they were only able to implement the Jewish Hillel Calendar as the Jews themselves had been forced into keeping through their traditions and the Babylonian system they had taken from their captivity in Babylon and the Rabbis in Babylon and among the Arabs who brought it to Hillel II ca 344 CE, and which was released in 358 CE as the official Jewish Calendar until Messiah comes. Well it will not last that long as Elijah will commence to deal with you 1264 days before the Messiah and Judah will be punished along with Sardis and Laodicea.

No Jew or proselyte or a member of the Churches of God in either the Sardis or Laodicean systems have ever kept the Holy Days on the correct days or the Lord’s Supper on the correct day, except by accident, in their entire lives, and their history as Churches of God or Post-Temple period Jews. They simply have not been allowed to keep the Temple Calendar and they are prevented from doing so until they repent of their Ditheism/Binitarianism, Trinitarianism and their Pharisaical/Rabbinical traditions. It is for that reason that they are not allowed into the First Resurrection as Churches of God (cf. Rev, Ch. 3) (cf. Ditheism (No. 076B); Binitarian and Trinitarian Misrepresentation of the Early Theology of the Godhead (No. 127B) and Role of the Fourth Commandment in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God (No. 170)).

Even if they tried to keep it, until they repent on the Nature of God, they will not be allowed to keep the Temple Calendar. They must repent of their false doctrines and there is nothing they can do to alter that fact. The problem stems from their entire ministry and priesthood. They simply have their eyes shut and are blinded to the truth. Until they understand the Nature of God, they are not allowed into the First Resurrection, until they do repent. That repentance must be in time or it will be too late. Then they will have to fight for their place in the millennial system and face the Second Resurrection.

So also will Islam be forced to study and accept the Bible texts and keep the Calendar of God or they too will be prevented from the First Resurrection or Garden of Paradise. They will be forced into the Second Resurrection and the retraining there (cf. http://ccg.org/islam/quran.html).

Most people who say they are Christians or Muslims are Baal worshipping heretics and are condemned to the Wars of the End and the Vials of the Wrath of God and then the Second Resurrection. If they repent and are blessed they might get to go into the 1000 year Millennium before they die. In any case they will face the possibility of the Second Death.

The only way into the First Resurrection is to repent before the last year of the Witnesses and the Coming of the Messiah.