Church of God, In Truth
Man made traditions
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Man made traditions
"MAN MADE TRADITIONS"
HAVE INFILTRATED GOD'S CHURCH
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We are admonished to "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thes. 5:21). We also read from Christ' conversation with Satan, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).
Jesus Christ was God's Word in the flesh. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). We have the Bible, God's word in print. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong said many times, "Don't believe me, believe your Bible."
If we believe the Bible truly is inspired by God to be our instruction book, and His Sabbaths are a sign between Him and His people as Moses was told in Exodus. "Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people" (Exo. 31:13- 14).
The weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths are the distinctive sign of loyalty to God. Its violation is an offence of the gravest character--an act of treason against God's divine Laws!
Jeremiah, who was sanctified and ordained a prophet before coming out of his mothers womb, was inspired to write, "Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know Mine hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is The LORD" (Jer. 16:20-21). "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars" (Jer. 17:1). The sins of Judah" is deeply stamped upon the table of their hearts. Jeremiah continues to write, "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is" (Jer. 17:5,7). To trust in man brings a curse, to trust in the Lord brings blessings. Does God know mans deceitful heart? "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jer. 17:9-10). Jeremiah found himself being further instructed to "Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; And say unto them, Hear you the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do you any work, but hallow you the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction" (Jer. 17:19-23).
Judah's disobedience to follow God's instructions are still being practiced today! Satan has used them for his tool to pull apart the Churches of God! HOW? By counterfeiting God's Holy Days, postponing them for man's conveniences, which God's calls the "traditions of men." "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do. And He said unto them, Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:6-9). The Jewish Hebrew calendar, which incorporates the postponement rules, are the traditions of men. What are these rules? And why do they use the first day of the seventh month to establish the calendar?
When reading "Rosh Hashanah" in these dehioth [postponement rules] take note; the Churches of God interpret this to be the "Feast of Trumpets," first day of the seventh month of the year! Judaism interprets it to be the first day of the first month of THEIR JEWISH CIVIL YEAR!
"Molad Tishri" is considered the rebirth of the new moon on the opening month of their civil new year. The book "All About Jewish Holidays and Customs" by Morris Epstein states, "The Bible calls Rosh Hashanah the day of the sounding of the rams horn," [Page. 21].
AN EXPLANATION OF ROSH-AH-SHANAH by Michael Strassfeld in his book called, "Jewish Holidays, a Guide and Commentary," page 96, give us a better understanding of Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year]. Rosh-ha-shanah is referred to in the Torah as the day of sounding the shofar. It was not called Rosh- ah-shanah the New Year until Talmudic times, [around 200 A.D.]. The nature of the festival is unclear. The notion of Rosh-ah-shanah as the year may have come later in the tradition. Rosh-ah-shanah as the new year is tied to the creation of the world. Thus in the Talmud there is a debate as to whether the world was created in Nisan [the month the Passover falls] or in Tishri. In fact the bible's silence about the fall new years and its celebration is hardly accidental. Celebration of this festival were so fraught with pagan association that the rather Puritanical Biblical authors probably opposed the festival altogether, much as later rabbis fraught against too much paganism and magic for their comfort. Only in the Talmud does Rosh- ah-shanah emerge as a major Jewish Festival, showing that the fold, then as later, did not always listen to their more purist religions leaders. It is likely that especially the first Diaspora Jews, those of Babylonia did much to support the acceptance of this festival and gave it a legacy that is in many ways reminiscent of the ancient Babylonian new year."
If God's Church keep the Jewish Rosh-ah-shanah for the Feast of Trumpets, they are keeping a pagan Babylonian new year! They are not keeping God's true Holy Day, the Feast of Trumpets!
There are seven rules called postponements in the Hebrew Calendar. But we are only going to explain the first four. The other three have to do with the benedictions.
The dehioth [postponement rules] found in Arthur Spier's book, "The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, pg. 15 states:
a. When the molad Tishri occurs on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the following day.
b. When the Molad Tishri occurs at noon (18h) or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next day. [Or if this day is a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, to Monday, Thursday or Sabbath because of Dehiah a].
c. When the Molad Tishri of a common year falls on Tuesday, 204 parts after 3 A.M., ie, 3d 9h 204p or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to Wednesday, and because Dehiah a., further postponed to Thursday.
d. When, in a common year succeeding a leap year, the Molad Tishri occurs on Monday morning 589 parts after 9 A.M., ie., 2d 15h 589p or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next day.
Page 10, in the "Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar," states, "These calendar tables are presented in the hope that their simplicity will encourage many to use the Jewish calendar regularly, not merely at the approach of the High Holydays or Yahrzeit. Since the days of Hillel II the traditional Jew had always counted his days, weeks and months according to its hallowed rhythm and will continue to do so in the spirit of the Psalmist."
Explanation of the Dehioth rules taken from various calendar articles and sources:
THE FIRST RULE:
Explains that Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the new year, may not occur on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. If Rosh hashanah were on Sunday, Hosha'na' Rabbah would be on Saturday, and this must be avoided because it would prevent the proper celebration of the day. If Rosh Hashanah were on Wednesday, Yom Kippur would be on a Friday, and this would cause undue hardship because there would be two days in a row with severe restrictions. If Rosh Hasanah were on a Friday, Yom Kippur would be on a Sunday, and again we would have two days in a row with severe restrictions. Therefore, if the Molad is on either Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, the first day of Tishri is postponed to the following day.
THE SECOND RULE:
If the Molad of Tishri occurs at noon or later, Rosh Hodesh is declared to be the following day. Thus, if the Molad is Monday at noon or later, Tuesday is declared to be Rosh Hodesh. The reason is that if the Molad is before noon, it is certain that the new crescent will be visible in some part of the world before sunset of the same day. If, however, the Molad occurs after midday, the new crescent will not be visible before sunset of the same day. If the following day is Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, days on which the first day of Tishri may not occur, it is further postponed to the next following day, so that the first of Tishri is the third day counting and including the day of the Molad.
THE THIRD RULE:
If the Molad of Tishri in an ordinary year is on Tuesday at 3 204/1080 A.M. or later, the first of Tishri is postponed to Thursday. It cannot be on Tuesday because then the next year's Molad of Tishri would be on Saturday afternoon, and Rosh Hodesh would have to be postponed to Sunday and then again to Monday, this would make the year in question 356 days long, which is more that the statutory limit of 355.
THE FOURTH RULE:
This occurs if the Molad of Tishri in a year succeeding a leap year is on a Monday after 9:00 A.M. [I.E., the fifteenth hour from the beginning of the night before] and 589/1080 parts. If this year were to begin on Monday, Rosh Hashanah of the preceding year would have fallen on Tuesday noon, and would have been postponed to Wednesday, and then postponed again to Thursday. This would make the current year 382 days, which is lower than the statutory limit of 383.
If these postponement [dehiot rules] were in force and being used by ancient Israel under Moses or during the Temple period, we should expect to find them mentioned in God's Word, knowing God's Word is our foundation for understanding truth!
In the third book of the Torah, Leviticus 23:24 clearly states that it is the first day of the seventh new moon of the year that is to be sanctified with a Holy assembly. No where does scripture state that this God appointed Holy Assembly can be moved, changed, transferred or postponed to a day different than the seventh new moon, which God appoints!
When examining past history and documents, we will find that the postponement rules of today were not yet in use during Jesus Christ time or before.
"During the Second Commonwealth down to the fourth century C.E. [at the earlist], the festival of Passover could fall on any day of the week including Friday" (Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, "The Judean Calendar During the Second Commonwealth and the Scrolls, Jewish Quarterly Review, July 1966).
"Trumpets" which is the day on which the postponement rules are based, the Mishna records the following. "A child can be circumcised on the eight, ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth day, but never earlier or later. How is this? The rule is that it shall be done on the eight day; but if the child was born at twilight the child is circumcised on the ninth day; and if at twilight on the eve of Sabbath, the child is circumcised on the tenth day; if a Festival-day of the New year fall after the Sabbath [that is, on Sunday and Monday] the child is circumcised on the twelfth day" (The Mishnah, Danby, pg. 117 Shabbath 19:5).
This quote reveals Holy Days can and have immediately followed a weekly Sabbath. It states Rosh Hashanah, seventh new moon, Tishri 1 can fall on the first day of the week, thus it is recognized that postponement of the Feast of Trumpets/"Rosh Hashanah" from Sunday to Monday was not yet established during Temple times nor in the Mishnaic period.
"If Rosh Hashanah fell on a Sunday, Hoshanah Rabbah would fall on the Sabbath and would call for the elimination of certain rituals which the pharisaic rabbis did not want to forgo" (Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 25, No. 1, 1997, article by Rabbi Saul Leeman, "Why is Pesach So Late This Year 1997?).
The following quote is from Rabbi Jacob Neusner, "The Mishnah, a New Translation, The Second Division: Appointed Times," pp. 286-287, Sukkah 4:1,3,5,6), "4:6 A. As the rite concerning it [is performed] on an ordinary day, so the rite concerning [is performed] on the Sabbath." This rite is talking about the willow branch rite!
After reading all the explanation of why these man made postponement rules should be followed, we need to ask ourselves, "Should we obey man? Rather than God?
Choose you this day! "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24: 14-15). The Church of God, In Truth has chosen to "serve and fear the Lord."
James Russell
"WHY TRADITIONS"
The "Jewish Book of Why," by Alfred J. Kolatch, describes the traditions laws and customs of the Jewish people and their religion. To understand why, it is important first to understand how, when and where these masses of Jewish laws and customs developed. "Were a Jew of the generation of Moses or Solomon or Judah the Maccabee alive today, he would be quite confused as he observed our religious conduct. He would look at the talit [prayershawl] or kipa [skullcap] that we wear and ask, "Why do Jews wear them? What are they for? He would notice the gartl [girdle] and shtreiml [fur hat] worn by the chassid and be puzzled by this special garb.
Were one of our ancestors of the biblical era to join us at a Seder, he would wonder about the types of food served. He knows the Bible, and the Bible refers only to the Paschal lamb and the matza that the Jews of Egypt ate during those last hectic days of enslavement. He would also wonder where the narrative and songs of the Haggada originated. A Jew of those early years would also wonder about our Sabbath observance. He would surely questions why there are so many dos and don'ts" [Pg. 2].
To understand contemporary Jewish observance, our visitor from the past would have to learn that the laws of the Bible, although primary and central, are not the only source of Jewish practice. The Talmud [Baba Metzia 86b] emphasizes the point: "When you come to a town, follow its customs. Should a custom [minhag] conflict with some established law [halacha], the custom frequesntly takes precedence [Soferim 14:18] [Pg.3].
The calendar calculations was a closely-guarded secret of the Sanhedrin. This was one of the ways in which the Sanhedrin managed to hold onto its power, which it did until 359 C.E. [Pg. 9]."
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