James Russell, Elder
Dear Scattered Brethren and Co-workers,
God wants us to find Him with all our hearts, and He said we would find Him when we do so! "But if from
thence you shalt seek the LORD your God, you shalt find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all
your soul" (Deut 4:29). "And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart"
(Jer 29:13). We need to make sure that our seeking Him is according to truth! The Bible is God's Word to us!
His own revelation of who He is. We must always be like the Bereans who received the word with all readiness
of mind, and "searched the scriptures daily" to make sure the things they were being taught were so.
With that believed, for over twenty years, the Church Of God, In Truth has been studying into the postponements
of God's annual Holy Days. After much research and study we found no scriptures supporting the postponing
of God's appointed Holy Days as the Jewish Hebrew calculated calendar recommends and prescribes. We
found many churches use Hillel II 358 - 9 AD calculations for keeping God's annual Holy Day dates, which
cause God's appointed time dates from His Word be postponed!
The Catholic Church in the 4th century AD changed God's seventh day Sabbath to keeping Sunday, the first day
of the week, thus postponing God's appointed weekly Sabbath. This same kind of scenario is found to be in
evidence when following the postponement rules for God's annual Holy Days.
God's called are admonished to "Prove all things; hold fast to that which is good" (1 Thess 5:21). Apostle Paul
and Silas, when in Berea quickly noticed, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so"
(Act 17:11). When studying God's word there is no mention of Hillel II or his Postponements ( delaying) God's
annual Sabbaths for convenience sake!
Many who teach and follow Hillel II 358 - 9 AD calculated Hebrew Calendar say there is no chapter found in
God's Word to build a calendar from, no chapter like "clean and unclean foods," " blessings and cursing," or
"Feasts of the Lord," that lay out instructions for putting God's Holy Day calendar together. We can not let that
be our stumbling block for learning of God's Holy appointed time knowing the weekly Sabbaths and annual
Sabbaths are a sign of His called [Exodus 31:12-18].
In the book Proverbs chapter 18 verse 13, we are told, "He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly
and shame unto him." To remove this stumbling block we must follow God's instruction found in Isaiah
28:9-10, "Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line
upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little."
Genesis 1: 3-5, serves as an introduction to the principles of the calendar as set forth by God in the Bible. " And
God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the
light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and
the morning were the FIRST DAY." This cycle of setting, rising and setting, is called a day. This is the first
day of the 7 day week and the first day of God's following months. This first day of the week and the first day
of the seventh month that God calls the "Feast of Trumpets" should always resemble one another!
Hillel II in 358-9 AD, after our Lords death, does not calculate his dates for his Hebrew Calendar calculations
from Genesis 1:3-5, that God calls His first day for figuring His weekly Sabbath and annual Sabbaths. Hillel
II, who never had God' Holy Spirit, calculates his, [for convenience sake] postponed time from the waxing
crescent moon which appears on God's fourth day of creation week (Genesis 1: 14). This waxing crescent moon
marks the beginning of the month in a number of lunar calendars, such as, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhism,
and of course the Hebrew Calendar. Hillel II made use of the lunation from Ptolemy that was handed down
from the Babylonians.
Does God Word tell us it is OK to postpone His Holy Days, to follow the Babylonians crescent moon god
Sin ? "Babylon was guided by the crescent moon as a time indicator in determining their months and festival
season. The Israelites were to remain free from the practice of moon worship that was prominent in the nation
around them. The crescent moon god Sin was the city god of Ur, the capital of Sumer, the location from which
Abraham and his family departed for the promised land" (INSIGHT on the SCRIPTURES). Deuteronomy 17:
2-4 relates to us, "If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the LORD gives you is found doing
evil in the eyes of the LORD your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to My command has worshiped
other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars of the sky, and this has been brought to
your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly" (New International Version). "And when you look up
to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars--all the heavenly array--do not be enticed into bowing down
to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. But as for
you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his
inheritance, as you now are" (Deut 4:19-20 New International Version). "The LORD commanded me [Moses]
at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess
it. And lest thou lift up your eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all
the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided
unto all nations under the whole heaven" (Deut 4:14,19).
The seventh new moon of each year, on the Feast of Trumpets, is to correspond with, what God calls His first
day! (Gen 1:3-5) His Holy Days are not to be counted from the fourth day of His creation week, (Gen 1:14)
when Babylon's pagan crescent moon god Sin becomes visible!
When "Proving all Things," are you going to believe our Creator in Gen 1: 1-5, the beginning of a dark moon
or Hillel II's crescent moon god Sin, for counting God's annual Sabbaths??
CHURCH OF GOD, IN TRUTH
P.O. BOX 1120 Kimberling City, MO 65686
Tel: 417-338-0033 Fax: 417-338-0031
James Russell, Elder Tel: 417-338-0033 E-Mail: cogit@flash.net
Pete Fleming, Elder Tel: 830-885-5502 E-Mail: pmf06@gvtc.com
Spanish
Martine Martinez, Deacon Tel: 787-786-5856 E-Mail: marty@yahoo.com
Philippines
Romeo Samudio, Rep: Tel: 090-8536-4415 E-Mail: romesamudio@yahoo.com