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Elders Letter
James Russell, Elder
Dear Brethren and Co-workers;
In this issue of the Prove All Things Magazine; the Church of God, In Truth will be sharing a letter
printed by permission of the writers in 1996. The letter was sent to the Global Church of God questioning
there doctrinal teachings of the Jews Hebrew calendar.
February 19,1996
Dear' Dr. Meredith,
I have been lamenting with you for a long time now about the lack of healing in God's Church, even though
my wife and I have experienced God's healing. Many have not, and I could not understand why. You have
often stated, "... we need to build an atmosphere of faith ".. then we will see more brethren healed." I don't
think anyone disagrees with you about needing real faith; faith that reaches into every part of our lives. But is
this atmosphere of faith, all we are lacking?
Since before the death of Mr. Armstrong and the concluding apostasy, there has been counted to be forty
Churches to have come from this parent church. There seems to be an abundance of churches that claim to be
" The" Church of God by virtue of using the name of God in their titles. All claim they are led by the Spirit of
God and have Jesus Christ as their Spiritual head, yet their administrations are not united. Is Christ divided?
On the surface. one might think so. All keep the Commandments, the Holy Day Sabbaths and the weekly
Sabbaths. It has been said that these varying groups are - branches of the one Spiritual Church of God. - other
labels have not been as kind. It would be difficult at best, for one outside the Church, to recognize God's true
Church. Thankfully, God has revealed in His word, a way to tell the true Church from the false churches of
this world,
His Sabbaths "... .I gave them My Sabbaths, (weekly and annual) to be a sign between Me and them, that they
might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." But as stated above, all these Churches keep the same
Days, on the same days; so how then do the Sabbaths remain a sign? Satan is the master of deception and
impersonation, and he has now managed to keep the true Church hidden, and confuse the brethren through
this very clever, as it were, cloning process.
It has come to my attention, in the last few months, that we are not properly keeping God's Holy Days as they
are commanded in the scriptures. This year the Holy Days will be keeping, will be late by one and two days.
It is a historical "FACT" that the Jewish captives, coming out of Babylon in the sixth century B.C., had been
influenced by their captors and were using the "crescent" moon as their indicator of the beginning of months,
and not the new moon as God commands. This was the standard in the time of Christ, even until today. Is it
any wonder that God, through the 'Writers of the New Testament, spoke of the "Jews" Passover or the
"Jews'" Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus and the disciples after Him, were not keeping the "Jews'" feasts,
otherwise they would not have called them the "Jews'" feasts. The calendar of days God has made Holy has
been influenced by men who have decided that there is too much inconvenience and conflict with the way
God has chosen His days to be observed. As you most likely already know, it is called the Postponements.
Next year, 1997, the Holy Days will be a whole month late. God's people will be trampling over God's Holy
Days, getting to their own holy days. It should not be a surprise to us that God says to His people in Isaiah,
1:13-14 “... "Your (Israel's) new moons and appointed feasts I hate." The word "appointed feasts" is Strong's
# 4150 (MOWED, mo-ade) and means, fixed appointment. God fixed these times in the scriptures! Men
changed them without the authority, or the fear of God. Let me quote, if I may, from The Ambassador
College Bible correspondence course (1986), lesson # 25, page 5, last paragraph under # 1. " .... , God has
used the Jews to preserve the Hebrew scriptures and calendar by which His Church, using the instructions
preserved in the Bible can accurately calculate when God's festivals are to be observed." This is no light
matter, this is a matter of obedience, or should I say disobedience. Is this not reason enough for God, NOT
TO BLESS / HEAL HIS PEOPLE?
We might say, but are we not one of the few Churches of God that is getting the Ezekiel warning message
out to a doomed world? We are no doubt pleasing God, one might say, by virtue of the realized blessings we
so evidently have received. (ie: The radio stations, at first, - and then the television work. - acquiring the
headquarters building at such a good price, and on and on the blessings have come.) There is no doubt we
have been blessed in doing the work, but the people have not been .... "as they should be." In Luke 19 when
Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, on the back of a colt, the disciples were crying out and praising God. The
Pharisees ask Christ to quiet the multitude, and Jesus answered them. If they were to be quiet, the stones
would begin to cry out. Stones do not need to be obedient to the spiritual laws of God. Stones are not and
never will be fit for the kingdom of God, yet God has used animals and man, and said He could use stones to
accomplish His purpose. Could we be just living stones, doing the "work", yet not fit for the kingdom; by not
teaching the whole council of God; by not obeying the truth as revealed in Scripture? We need to be obedient
servants. A measure of one's righteousness, is his fear and obedience toward The Great God. Not just
whether we are doing the work.
The Hebrew calendar was devised by man and consequently is flawed. [ Keep in mind, at the time of this
letter the writer was calculating time from the Astronomical dark mean “middle” conjunction of the new
moon! ] For years God's Church has taught that Jesus Christ was crucified on the fourth day (Wed) of Abib
14, in the year 31 A.D. The Hebrew calendar shows, in AD. 31, the new moon was on April 12 and the
Passover on April 25, with the spring equinox being on March 23. This would be correct and in order for a
Saturday sunset resurrection, however the season would be wrong! A whole 33 days after the spring equinox.
The problem is, that when you use the correct new moon of March 12, AD 31 (12 days before the spring
equinox) you find that the Passover falls on March 25th, a Sunday, and does not correspond to scripture, even
though it would be in season. How is the Passover out of season? Besides being past the spring season (green
ears), the scriptures indicate to us that it was cold at the time of the Passover. (See Mark 14:67, Luke 22:55
and John 18:18) It would be unlikely that it would be cold enough on April 25th to need a fire. However,
there is yet one more problem. Being as far out of season as 33 days, the people would need to delay their
harvest quite some time, in order to Wave the sheaf before God on Sunday, April 29, 31 AD. as commanded
by God. This being the case, it would also have affected keeping the correct day for Pentecost. Consequently,
regardless of which new moon is used, 31 AD does not fit !
In 33 A.D., Abib 1 fell on March 19, and 14 days later was Wednesday, April 1, 33 A.D., the time for the
Passover "in it's season". In 30 AD., Abib 1 fell on March 22, and 14 days later was Wednesday, April 5, 30
AD., the time for Passover "in it's season". As we see, both these years meet God's time frame. After the start
of spring, and "in" SEASON. This however, does not tell us when Christ died. Is it important for us to know
when Christ died? It is only significant, beside being accurate, in the fact that it shows us we have acquired
erroneous information by relying on the Hebrew calendar instead of the Bible.
The coming Holy days were a concern to me when I first learned of the ERROR we are, and have been
embracing for so long. Even Greater concern, since I have learned that this matter has been treated so lightly
in the Churches of God. Could it be, that the very tool in God's hand that will warn the world of the coming
Great Tribulation, will need to be subjected to it, to learn to fear and obey their God? Which one of us can
keep the feasts of God, and especially the Passover, in good conscience, when there is such strong evidence
we are keeping the wrong days, most of the time. It is like reaching out, with good intentions, and touching
the ARK of God. We need to seriously consider, keeping the days God has made holy, Holy; and to keep it a
sign of His true people.
Respectfully and with warm regards.
After reading a letter like this, should encourage one that has been called and given God’s holy spirit, to want
to prove all things. “Moses was told to “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, 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” ( Exo 31:13). Notice now how our LORD addresses the house of
Judah. “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the
punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept His
commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked”( Amos 2:4).
The prophet Jeremiah recorded “They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor
walked in My law, nor in My statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers”( Jer 44:10). Verse 26
continues to tell Judah; “Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt;
Behold, I have sworn by My great Name, saith the LORD, that My name shall no more be named in the
mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD lives.”
CHURCH OF GOD, IN TRUTH
P.O. Box 1120 Kimberling City, MO 65686.
Tel: 417-338- 0033
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
Martin Martinez, Deacon: Tel: 787-786-5856 E-mail: mmartinez@ucsint.com
Phillippines
Romeo Samudio: Rep: Tel: 090-8536-4415 E-mail: romesamudio@yahoo.com