Various COG's that have splintered off over the decades have returned to deeper Jewish roots and traditions instead of freedom in Christ. As a result, new moons and the first sighting off barley is of extreme importance. As usual, in all things like this, there is NO commonality when it comes to determining the correct dates and times.
The Assemblies of Yahweh and Yahweh's Obedient Servants have decided their interpretation are best and have decreed that the barley is far enough along that the next new moon will be the start of the new year (Jewish).
It is my judgment that there is significant and verified evidence that the season is well-advanced in Eretz Israel. In my opinion, there is sufficient fully mature grain, in both thewild and agricultural crops that a first of the first-fruits sheaf would be available to wave on the evening after the Sabbath of March 26, 2016 and that there would be sufficient grain (parched or raw) to be ground into the required meal offering at that time. Therefore, it is my expressed conclusion that the New Moon crescent we seek on the evening of March 9, 2016 will be the first of the New Year, and begin the month of Abib. YOSRYahweh's Assembly in Messiah has other version. They say that the new year begins March 24-30 (based on the sighting of the new moon in the USA).
Then there are the Karite Jews, of which some COG groups identity with. They have this to say:
Nehemiah Gordon and other Karaite Jews (who continue to adhere to the Second Temple Calendar), have posted both of their ‘aviv barley’ reports:
“On Wednesday March 9, 2016 we examined barley in the Judean Desert and Jordan Valley. Despite finding some lone stalks of Aviv barley, we did not find any fields that had significant amounts of Aviv barley. In one sampling of the most advanced barley at Ein Mabua in the Judean Desert we found 10% of the stalks were Aviv, not nearly enough to harvest with a sickle as per Deut.16:9.”
Thursday, March 10th: “After scouring the Land of Israel for Aviv Barley, the Aviv Search Team has concluded beyond any doubt that the time of the Aviv has not yet arrived. We found individual stalks of Aviv barley in the Judean Desert and northern Negev. However, we did not find any fields with substantial quantities of Aviv Barley.
The answer is clear. The new moon sighted on March 10, 2016 is the beginning of the 13th Hebrew Month. The First Hebrew Month, Chodesh Ha-Aviv, will begin on April 8, 2016 (barring clouds). The festival of Passover (Chag HaMatzot) will begin April 22 at sunset and Shavuot will fall out on Sunday June 12, 2016.
We sighted the new moon of the 13th Hebrew Month on March 10, 2016 from Jerusalem. The new moon was first sighted by Keith Johnson followed shortly thereafter by Nehemia Gordon, Yoel Halevi, Devorah Gordon, and Gil Ashendorf. Photos of the new moon are on Facebook”
Then there is is the Abib of God group:
Brian and Linda Convery’s ‘aviv’ reports, with pictures, for March 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th are all on their Abib of God website.And then we have God's most highly favored Pharisee, James Malm, weighing in on the correct date. As usual, only he is correct.
NEW YEAR ANNOUNCEMENT: Brian inspected the crops in the south yesterday even going as far south as Sderot in the Gaza belt. No barley was found anywhere near the required maturing stage anywhere. Not even the fig trees were leafing out yet. He will inspect in the north of the country tomorrow.
Nevertheless it is clear that absolutely no advanced growth barley exists in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem and the temple; which is required for the first month of the new year to be declared.
If the New Moon is seen as expected after sunset Thursday night, it will make March 11 the first day of the 13th Biblical month. As expected the New Year and Passover will be in April.
All of this needless speculation brings to mind this scripture: Isaiah 1:13
New International VersionStop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
New Living TranslationStop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting--they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.
English Standard VersionBring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
New American Standard Bible "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
King James BibleBring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Holman Christian Standard BibleStop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to Me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies-- I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.
International Standard VersionStop bringing useless offerings! Incense is detestable to me, as are your New Moons, Sabbaths, and calling of convocations. I cannot stand iniquity within a solemn assembly.
NET BibleDo not bring any more meaningless offerings; I consider your incense detestable! You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations, but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations!
GOD'S WORD® TranslationDon't bring any more worthless grain offerings. Your incense is disgusting to me, so are your New Moon Festivals, your days of worship, and the assemblies you call. I can't stand your evil assemblies.
JPS Tanakh 1917Bring no more vain oblations; It is an offering of abomination unto Me; New moon and sabbath, the holding of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly.
Then there is Isaiah 1:14:
I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.…
It always amazes me how so many in the Church of God seek to have burdens laid upon themselves. Because Armstrong weighed down the membership with countless rules, needless demands and foolish burdens, people assume they still need to do so.
With Jesus always out of the picture, its no wonder they ignore this:
Matthew 11:28-30New International Version (NIV)28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Sources: 7thDay Sabbath News and Shining Light (James Malm)
19 comments:
Ahem. Isn't this supposed to be left to the Levitical priesthood?
Of course, there is no Levitical priesthood since the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. no matter how Armstrongists want to twist the forged Scriptures.
And by the way, no Levitical priesthood, no Temple... no tithes.
Armstrongists are nuts. Hope you folks in Australia and New Zealand are preparing for the fall Passover....
I Cor. 14:33: For God is not the author of confusion...
I wonder: Did Hillel ever visualize the global warming phenomenon as he developed the fixed calendar? Do you drill a hole in the earth from Jerusalem to a counterpoint on the Southern Hemisphere so that barley can be accurately measured in their Spring to calculate the New Year? Did the Pharisees know about the International Date Line? Were there Kangaroos and Wallabies on Noah's ark? Were Jews living in the Arctic Circle allowed to kindle a fire on the sabbath? Since even cooking utensils were to be kept kosher, would one become ceremonially unclean while fishing for bass in bodies of water also inhabited by catfish that became ensnared in the same nets? If a swine eating gentile passed gas in one's presence, would one's lungs become ceremonially unclean?
Dayum! I sure am glad there is a New Covenant! Sure gets rid of a lot of the confusion.
BB
"...freedom in Christ."
everytime I hear that phrase I'm immediately aware that a confused person is in the room.
"...there is a New Covenant!"
same with that one...if you study it you'll see that the law in the new covenant is infinitely more binding than it was in the old.
Jesus will clarify that for everyone when He returns. (and a lot of folks won't be happy about it)
They're like little kids playing dress-up.
So when Paul was in Rome or in Greece, etc, how did he know whether or not there were barley shoots?
He didn't! How could Jews in the Diaspora know when such things occurred in Jerusalem. Obviously, none of them could and thus was born the idea for a perpetual calendar which is still used by the Jews today. Simple and universal.
I can barley keep from laughing.
Yes, anonymous, you're correct, there is a confused person in the room. It might not be who you think it is, though.
Hey Connie, interesting point about the barley. It begs a lot of questions, doesn't it? I do know that the Jews had a system for relaying the sighting of the new moon, and thus the timing of the Holy Days, to the Diaspora, though. It was quite a system. Hilltop fire relays that went out from Jerusalem all the way to Egypt and Babylon. It's kinda funny that the COGs claim they have no idea how the Jews marked the new moons in Paul's day when it took us less than 24 hours of research to flesh out the details of the entire custom.
COG criticism aside, the practice is fascinating. Plus I just like to burn stuff.
http://asbereansdid.blogspot.com/2014/09/new-moons-what-josephus-says-they-were.html
Didn't they use their cell phones, Connie?
If I recall my Greek history properly, and the story of Phidipides, running messengers provided the quickest alternatives in communication during that era. Letters were also carried via the King's messengers, or by ship.
This rapid communication with the priests in Israel is a very recent development. Before the first Transatlantic Cable was completed in 1858, it required ten days for messages to reach Europe by ship! And this span became even longer as one travelled more deeply into the Eurasian continent.
Before Hillel, the priests calculated the calendar from natural events like the barley people in Gary's entry, on a year to year basis. It is thought that the sabbaths were numbered not by calendar, but by counting from the first sighting of the new moon. Jewish scholars admit that at some point in time the weekly sabbath was arbitrarily linked to the seventh day of the fixed calendar. No way does it date continuously as a fixed anniversary to creation week.
BB
Black ops Mikey asks: Isn't this supposed to be left to the Levitical priesthood?
______________________
No, its left to the right of James Malm. The christian conservative who knows all things right. If he ran for president he would be like little Teddy Cruz.
Watch the sick video. Kenneth Copeland Says Ted Cruz Has Been 'Called & Anointed' By God To Be The Next President
https://youtu.be/J0_KKg6Wh3Q
If you didn't know, Cruz's wife worked for Goldman Sachs and is a member of the think tank 'Council of Foreign Relations.' An anti-American group run by American traitors.
If you think different email me for a shit load of information.
-James
Painful Truth Editor.
Summed up in one sentence: Straining at a gnat, and swallowing a camel.
I believe that the Trump phenomenon is all a matter of strategy, James. I believe the original intention was for him to make Cruz look normal and mainstream. The American public seems to have made a contrarian choice, and now the Republican establishment (and the Tea Party) are running scared. Should be an interesting election season. I'd just bet that the ACOGs are preaching that a Cruz election would indicate that the trib has been postponed.
BB
"There being a change in the priesthood, there is of necessity a change in the law".
Oh but Paul says, "I must above all things attend the feast". But notice that the rest of the Christians around him don't need to go. Why? Because he was going to try to preach at the Jews not that it was something he was required to do by the law.
Christ fulfilled all the holy days. Not one jot or title til all is fulfilled and it was fulfilled at the cross: "it is finished" or it is fulfilled.
He was the focus of all the calendar holidays and all are summed up in his complete and final sacrifice.
The calendar is obsolete.
The church of God diligently trying to be saved by works over and over again and never making it.
" It is thought that the sabbaths were numbered not by calendar, but by counting from the first sighting of the new moon. Jewish scholars admit that at some point in time the weekly sabbath was arbitrarily linked to the seventh day of the fixed calendar. No way does it date continuously as a fixed anniversary to creation week."
Absolutely Untrue.
James Malm's new year announcement for this year was:"Brian inspected the crops in the south yesterday even going as far south as Sderot in the Gaza belt. No barley was found anywhere near the required maturing stage anywhere. Not even the fig trees were leafing out yet. He will inspect in the north of the country tomorrow.
Nevertheless it is clear that absolutely no advanced growth barley exists in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem and the temple; which is required for the first month of the new year to be declared.
If the New Moon is seen as expected after sunset Thursday night, it will make March 11 the first day of the 13th Biblical month. As expected the New Year and Passover will be in April."
What if, hypothetically, there is an ongoing drought in that Jerusalem area for one year after another for several years?
Does one keep adding in "13th months" year after year?
How confusing?
And besides, what is God using physical Israel for today? Israel existed. The Old Covenant was broken and Israel is no longer under that Covenant! Jerusalem existed. The Messiah came out of Bethlehem. Jesus Christ existed and was crucified in Jerusalem. And now, barley growth!
So really, how important is looking out for barley growth in the Jerusalem area today? What does barley growth, if anything, have to do with salvation? What does that have to do with, for instant, the following words of the Apostle Paul?
"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, NOT IMPUTING their TRESPASSES unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:18
Does barley growth have anything to do with the "price of putty?"
Now, "not imputing trespasses?" Now, that may mean something...
John
Who watches the watchers? Banned! does.
"Absolutely Untrue."
Well, that was explanatory.
Well, 6:35, that was his (or her) attempt to educate. It probably came from someone who has no idea of the history of the fixed calendar, and the dissociation the fixed calendar brought from lunation.
BB
The reason RCM becomes livid and wants to go on a rabid disfellowshipping spree at the mention of new moons is because he doesn't want the minions thinking beyond the party line. If they debate new moons, they may conclude LCG is off in the timing of their observances. If things progress farther, they may learn that the fixed calendar does not mean that today's Saturday is a continuation of the seventh day of creation week or the sabbaths observed by ancient Israel. All that thinking would get in the way of them roely writing the tithe checks.
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