Saturday, January 6, 2018

Church Festivals and "God's Calendar": Oy veh!

Oy vey (Yiddishאױ װײ‎) or oy vey ist mir is a Yiddish phrase expressing dismay or exasperation. Also spelled oy vay, oy veh, or oi vey, and often abbreviated to oy, the expression may be translated as, "oh, woe!" or "woe is me!" Its Hebrew equivalent is oy vavoy (אוי ואבוי, ój waävój).[1][2]



When I was a mere puppy in the ministry, age 25 at the most, and knew all things pertaining to life, death  and the hear after, just ask me, I had the wonderful experience of having to drive Dr. Hoeh out to a farm in Ohio where the local deacon was stirring up the pot in the congregation on all things Passover.  If I recall properly he felt it was being kept on the wrong day, at the wrong time in the wrong way and was getting more and more militant about it at services.  Dr Hoeh talked with him as I fell asleep bored to tears and wondering what the hell it all mattered anyway.  Nothing was going to get solved and the scriptures weren't exactly  clear about it all or we'd not be here in the first place.  Over the years, "How and When to keep the Passover" or other Holy days for that matter was one of life's more annoying experiences in the Church.  Eventually the deacon threatened to call 60 minutes on me , which was popular at the time, and I had to call the police to come to  services to calm things down.  It was nuts. Very nuts.
 My FIRST of many stressful welcome to the ministry experiences with WCG.  He left of course and took whoever he could with him.  That's how it works in the Church.  It was  the 70's,  and it was all downhill from there with WCG history, which can be loosely defined as "one damn thing after the next."
I wish I had known that the Pentateuch, not written by any Moses, but rather various authors JEDP (Defined nicely on this site) documented 5 different Festival Calendars depending on who wrote the text.  And here all along I thought God wrote the rules and they were perfectly clear if you just had the right combination to the safe and pieces of God's puzzle.  
There are 5 different festival calendars in the Pentateuch, each one originating from a once separate and independent source:
  1. Exodus 23:14-17 (from the Elohist source)
  2. Exodus 34:18-26 (from the Yahwist)
  3. Deuteronomy 16:1-17 (from the Deuteronomist)
  4. Leviticus 23 (from the Priestly source, accredited to the Holiness Code)
  5. Numbers 28-29 (also from the pen of P)
I am presently going through these different calendars and will be posting their contradictions and differences over the next few days/weeks. I have already noted a few of these contradictions, those between the earliest sources and Deuteronomy (#109-110#111#112#113#117#118, and #168). However, there are a few that I missed and I will additionally be adding the contradictions between the earliest sources and the late Priestly source, as well as those between D and P.
Here, in this initial introductory post, I merely wish to reproduce each of the different calendars in the broadest view possible, and in chronological order—that is from the oldest textual source forward, not from the narrative chronology as these sources now stand in the redacted text.
1) Exodus 23:14-17 (E): 3 pilgrimage festivals to local altars that must be observed by all males
  1. Festival of Unleavened Bread (7 day festival in the month of Abib; 7th day is the pilgrimage (Ex 13:6)
  2. Harvest Festival (first fruits/grains harvested)
  3. Festival of Gathering (end of year harvest)
2) Exodus 34:18-26 (J): 3 pilgrimage festivals to local altars that must be observed by all males
  1. Festival of Unleavened Bread (7 days in the month of Abib)
  2. Festival of Weeks = Harvest (#168)
  3. Festival of Gathering
3) Deuteronomy 16:1-17 (D)
  1. Passover + 6 days of Unleavened Bread (specific day of Abib still not specified; Passover must be celebrated at Jerusalem, which is now a pilgrimage festival (#117); Unleavened Bread no longer a pilgrimage festival; Passover is now absorbed as the 1st day of unleavened bread, reducing the Festival of Unleavened Bread to 6 days)
  2. Festival of Weeks (now delayed 7 weeks from early E date; now a pilgrimage festival to Jerusalem)
  3. Festival of Booths (7 days at Jerusalem; transformation of Festival of Gathering)
4) Leviticus 23 (P): Yahweh’s Appointed Times & Sacred Assemblies
  1. Passover & Unleavened Bread (14th & 15th of Abib; 7 days total (=D) or Passover + 7 days (cf. Ex 12:17-20)?; Passover no longer a pilgrimage festival to Jerusalem, but now (again, see E) at home; Unleavened Bread reclaimed a pilgrimage festival; now proclaimed an “eternal law”; burnt-offerings to Yahweh for 7 days, not specified)
  2. Festival of Weeks (now proclaimed an “eternal law”; grain & burnt offerings to Yahweh at the first reaping of harvest AND 7 sabbatical weeks later (i.e., start counting on the Sabbath), on the 50th day, more grain & burnt offerings to Yahweh, plus sin and peace offerings)
  3. Horn Blast Holy Day (1st day of 7th month; offerings to Yahweh)
  4. Day of Purgation (10th day of 7th month; an “eternal law”; offerings to Yahweh, see Lev 16)
  5. Festival of Booths (15th day of 7th month; an “eternal law”; burnt-offerings for 7 days; 8th day a sacred assembly)
5) Numbers 28-29 (P): Yahweh’s Sacrifices
  1. The tamid (twice daily “continual” burnt-offering of one-year old lambs, in the morning and in the evening)
  2. Sabbath Day (burnt-offering of 2 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + the tamid)
  3. New Moon, 1st of the month (burnt-offering of 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid)
  4. Passover & Unleavened Bread (14th & 15th of Abib; Unleavened Bread a pilgrimage festival for 7 days, each day a burnt-offering of 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid)
  5. Day of Firstfruits = Festival of Weeks (pilgrimage festival; burnt-offering of 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid)
  6. Horn Blast Holy Day (1st day of 7th month; burnt-offering of 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + burnt-offering for New Moon + sin-offering of 1 goat + thetamid)
  7. Day of Purgation (10th day of 7th month; burnt-offering of 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + burnt-offering for Atonement (= Lev 16) + sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid)
  8. Festival of Booths (15th day of 7th month; pilgrimage festival; 7 days of burnt-offerings: day 1: 13 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + a sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid; day 2: 12 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs; day 3: 11 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs, etc.; day 8 declared a sacred assembly: burnt-offering of 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs w/accompanying grain-offering + sin-offering of 1 goat + the tamid)
As is visible from this detailed list of the Pentateuch’s festival calendars, the two Priestly calendars, most likely from the post-exilic era, express a heightened interest in and concern for the cult—as we would expect from this Aaronid priestly guild. Not only are the lunar dates of these festivals precisely articulated, but so too, at least in Numbers, the actual sacrifices to be performed.
The reader can additionally see where there are minor discrepancies and even contradictions between these sources’ calendars. We will look at these in more detail over the next few posts. I think I will proceed by first looking at the variations, discrepancies, and contradictions in the Passover and Unleavened Bread Festival accounts, and from there the accounts of the Festival of Weeks, etc.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was in WCG for 6 months, I never had a desire to keep the Jewish feast days and so I stopped attending.

No Name said...

Anon 3:15 PM, At least you got to attend. I had been watching The World Tomorrow program and reading the literature and after 3 years of that I asked to meet with a minister and after the meeting I was told that since I disagreed with the WCG about the feast days I couldn't attend. I never, even to this day, have believed that the feast days were mandatory for new testament Christians. I now attend the SDB and have been for over 24 years.

Byker Bob said...

Customs are customs. People are happy or sad in the same proportions no matter what customs they keep, so long as they are free and able to meet their basic needs. My Jewish friends loved shabbas and the holy days, and keeping them never really bothered me. I can "keep" Cinco de Mayo with my Mexican friends, and have a wonderful time!

What did bother me were all of the lies, intrusiveness, and authoritarianism. HWA/WCG claimed to have the truth on things that are basically not 100% knowable (as we see from this article), and to claim that everyone who did not accept that or his authority on these matters would go through the tribulation, and possibly to the Lake of Fire. I don't believe that it's possible to even know beyond the shadow of doubt when the sabbath is, because of the way the priests counted out the calendar from the new moons. Today, the sabbath and holy days are largely a function of the work of Hillel II.
We need to remember that when there was a temple, if the high priest entered the holy of holies on the wrong day, the penalty ws death. I believe that God deliberately confused many of the details of the Old Covenant to make it impossible to mix the wineskins of the Old Covenant with the new wine of the New Covenant. And, remember! God IS the author of confusion when it suits His purposes. He confused armies which were doing battle with Israel, and he confused the tongues of the construction crew that were building the tower of Babel.

BB

True Bread said...

Dennis...

Next you'll be arguing about the seven-day week...

Anonymous said...

The feast days were given to all 12 tribes of Israel, not just the Jews.

DennisCDiehl said...

The website I provided address every last "what about.." and "why does it say this ...and over there says this..." I ever heard concerning the various and obvious contradictions in when, how and why to keep the Holy Days. It's also so well done that it should be obvious that no Church of God leader or member has the grasp of the history, politics, redaction, motivations and edits to remotely know how any Holy Day must be kept today. They simply are not educated enough on what it would take to understand the intricacies of the topic. They view the Bible as one seamless whole which is simply not the case. Most would not take the time to wade through the material and most who do would not understand it nor care if they did.

The fact that no Moses wrote the Penteteuch is probably enough to fry their circuits.
Or as Israel Finkelstein, author of The Bible Unearthed told me while putting that book together when he assured me there was no real Moses, no Exodus as presented, no Abraham or Solomon that can be found in the actual history of Israel outside the mythic stories in the OT, "we exaggerate". Yes they do and did. I also believe it.

DennisCDiehl said...

True Bread said...
Dennis...

Next you'll be arguing about the seven-day week...

Where do you see me arguing anything here? I am providing an informed and scholarly view of the who, what, where, why , when and how of the Holy Days which Church of God types think are so seamlessly presented in scriptures. Nothing here is about me presenting anything save an introduction to illustrate the and enumerate the problems of thinking one can easily discern how everyone did what and how we ought to do it today. There were lots of players competing in the OT for the final say and it obvious to those willing to see it .

Never mind the fact that they have the same problem with understanding the NT , what is majoring in the minors and what is not.

I presented nothing here but a source for information for those who are so inclined in the Church to devise their own understanding of how it all is . Just the fact there are 5 Holy Day calendars in the Pentateuch should give pause to those who struggle and strain over such issues to find the one pure one. There never was on pure calendar or way to apply it. That is one of the more obvious problems energizing the questions many in my past stressed over. The politics and needs of the day or the competition between Priests and Scribes, or Judah and Israel or Northern Kingdoms with Southern is the reason for the season defined multiple ways in various calendar renderings.

As social creatures, we need social celebrations and ways to enrich our stories and perspectives on meaning. Straining at gnats and swallowing camels however is not the goal and I have seen more of that and the divisive damage that does than I care to illustrate.

DennisCDiehl said...

And while I know well the WCG perspective on "Col 2:11-17 culminating in "having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."

It says what it says , and while not an authentic Pauline Epistle , written in his name later, it is addressing the Judaizing aspects the Gentile Church under Paul was being pressured into following. The radical teachings of Paul did not include keeping Sabbaths or based on eating or not eating anything. That is a fact. The Church of God is dead wrong on Colossians 2: and they can't go back now.

When Paul authentically said in Romans 14: "

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt?

He wasn't kidding and he was talking about what he considered "weak" or "strong" views on meat vs veggies. While Paul is made to say he agreed with the Noahide rules that would apply to gentiles who wanted to become Christians in Acts 15 which had to do with eating and idols etc, he turned right around when on his own and told his folk that meat offered to idols was no biggy, "but in all men i.e. the Jerusalem apostles, is not that knowledge.

The church apologetics were and still are twisty clever to get around what is plainly not the correct way to view Paul's or those who wrote in his name's beliefs. Peter, James and John were Jewish to the bitter end.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the holy day dates are a complex issue. Which is why God in His great wisdom has in both the old and next testament authorised some with the power of 'binding in heaven that which is bound on earth.' So after exercising their duty of care, these ministers of God can set the holy day dates. This cannot be avoided since it is impracticable for thousands of members to keep different personal dates.
If James Malm disagrees with these dates, he can go eat cake.

Byker Bob said...

James can eat cake in any case.

But, who are "God's ministers" in your opinion? Anyone ordained in an Armstrong-based church? And how can you prove that they are "God's ministers"?

No, if the days are to be kept, and if they are gotten wrong, then you might just as well be a Sunday-keeping Christian. HWA always asked where in the New Testament the sabbath was changed to Sunday. So if you're an Armstrongite you've gotta play by that rule. If you can't reset the sabbath, you're not allowed to reset the Holy Days. Fortunately, Jesus, one of the parties of the Old Covenant, died. That means that covenant was vacated. Now, we've got a new one "not according to the old".

BB

Anonymous said...

Dennis has a syllogism for us. It goes like this:

Premises:

1. Not all the Holy Days are described in one place.
2. Nomenclature concerning the Holy Days differs among different writers.
3. The Documentary Hypothesis, if true, invalidates the Bible.
4. Various aspects of Holy Day practice are scattered.
5. A guy in the "publish or perish" industry is trying to sell books and has labeled these all fatal "contradictions" therefore we should unquestioningly believe him.

Conclusion:

The Bible is false and there is no Christian God.


The syllogism above belongs to the non-sequitur class. Even if all the premises are spun in the way that Dennis proposes, it poorly supports the conclusion.

The most valuable observation that DiMattei makes is: "But what this often boils down to is defending a particular belief about the Bible..."

But DiMattei, who has presumed to himself the objective high ground, does not seem to understand that this applies to himself.

Anonymous said...

BB
Who are 'God's ministers' is a good question. Common sense is that it's the governing body for that denomination. They are not necessarily 'God's ministers' literally, but once someone joins any group, one has antered a unwritten contract to the effect of abiding to that groups rules.

It doesn't matter if history proves these dates wrong, since it's the meaning of these holy days that's important.

As a independent Christian I once forgot a holy day date, and I did get a reaction from the holy spirit. So these holy days are still in force. A reaction from God trumps the reasoning of BB, Dennis or who ever else.

In fairness, I have found some technical articles by James Malm helpful.

Anonymous said...

"Nothing was going to get solved and the scriptures weren't exactly clear about it all or we'd not be here in the first place."


actually they are quite clear, you simply don't understand them....and after reading over your supposed contradictions it's abundantly clear that you don't have a clue.

there has never been a shortage of people claiming special enlightened understanding concerning the passover timing, and they're all badly mistaken, and when you show them the clear passages that correct them, their eyes glaze over and they don't see it......it's an amazing thing to behold.

Floyd1944 said...

Dennis, thank you for presenting the information on so many different bible concepts. As a former WCG minister, I appreciate your ideas, facts, and knowledge about various biblical subjects. As a minister I like so many others, believed what was taught. I don’t always agree with you on everything you write but you do make me think and look at my understanding. I am sure that is what you want, make people stop and take a look at what they believe. Once a person understands that WCOG was all about HWA and not the Bible or religion then we are responsible for studying and looking at history with the idea we might have been taught a bunch of BS. Once again thanks Dennis for what you do. Also Bikker Bob, when did you graduate from AC, I appreciate your comments as well. I never went to the concerts you did but later in late 90,s I was on the staff with Metallica. I learned not to judge people so much from outward appearances. All but Kirk we’re pretty normal. Bob as you have pointed out, many of the lyrics of these groups have some deep political and social meaning. Again thanks guys.

Anonymous said...

8:38 PM has come to the same conclusion the first-century Christians reached.

The first-century "binding and loosing" authorities set Sunday as the weekly Sabbath. All who rejected that binding and loosing authority, and are now caught in squabbles over Pentecost and Passover date-binding, lost the plot centuries ago.

Byker Bob said...

Thanks, Floyd. Appreciate the compliments. Also enjoyable reading your perspectives!

Somehow at an early age, I saw through the program and power structure at AC, so only spent two years there, and did not graduate. Vietnam was ongoing at that time, and the guys all had to be cognizant of draft status, which is probably why I even lasted two years. I was out of there in August '68, and missed actually meeting Dennis as a fellow student by 2 or 3 weeks, as he arrived with the incoming freshman class in September.

Metallica is an awesome group and it must have been interesting working with such an influential group that in so many ways can only be described as a vortex.

The freedom of rock n roll, or even music in general, can be a very effective antidote to Armstrongism (I realize that some will take that statement in the wrong way), and it is often amazing how sensitive, humane, and socially conscious some of these artists are.

One of the bigtime concerts I attended in 1975 was the farewell tour of Humble Pie. They were as heavy back then as Metallica is considered today. Gerald Bronkar's brother Paul, and another friend, Allen, and I saw the Pie in the Long Beach Arena, which had also been a regular WCG feast site. It was a trip, to say the least. Here we were, in the same arena where we had heard HWA, GTA, Rod Meredith, Les McCullough, Al Portune, and the rest of the WCG ministers speak, but a couple of months into the aftermath of the Disappointment of 1975. Obviously, we were getting on with our lives figuratively dealing with the fact that neither Santa, nor the Wizard of Oz existed. I for one, have never looked back. I sought to understand, but there is no looking back once one realizes that HWA, who claimed to have all the answers didn't. Not even close.

BB

Dennis said...

Floyd...my heart's desire is for good folk to see a bigger picture, consider origins in fact not myth and fiction and not just experience their life filtered through the minds of others who claim so much and know so little.

RSK said...

If they even made a Sabbath of it, and not simply their meeting day. Armstrongists tend to pin it on Constantine, but he was clearly enshrining an existing practice, not making up a new one.

Gerald Bronkar said...

BB,
Just spoke with Paul and he remembers the Humble Pie Concert and asked me to forward his best wishes to you! He is wondering where you are now living. He was in Scientology for years, but escaped several years ago. We must have inherited the "searching gene" from our dad. Oh well, who wants to be normal? So happy at this stage of my life to be free to think my own thoughts and not be mentally restrained.

Anonymous said...

well according to my eastern european ex wife today is christmass, but i guess this blog is very selective about which pagan holidays it recognizes, having a western european bias...typical hypocrisy...

Anonymous said...

indeed, i never really believed in Proverbs 3:5 nor Proverbs 14:12 cuz i was born with inherent understanding of those things that were happening before i was conceived...

i believe in my own ability above all, and one day I WILL figure out a way to live forever...

Byker Bob said...

Hey, Gerald. Good news all around. Freedom is good, and give my best regards to Paul as well.

I had considered Scientology myself for a while. When AC Press was sold, we ended up doing all of the Scientology mailings, and a cool Scientologist actually came and worked with us. I read Dianetics, and did get some fresh perspectives from it, but I just had these nagging apprehensions about becoming involved in another organization that seemed to have all the answers.

If you or Paul or Nolden want to conversate by email, we could exchange email addresses through Gary here at Banned. Love to hear more from you guys!

BB

Anonymous said...

Dennis - Thank you for your time and effort with this. It's something I've been curious about and suspicious of for some time but it's such a large subject I've had a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

I am presently in the process of leaving Armstronism. I am focusing solely on scripture, instead of COG booklets and HWA propaganda.

The thing that initially drew me to Armstongism was their claim that they "keep the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation" but it didn't take me long to discover that that is absolutely NOT true. They pick and choose, add-to and take-away from the Word of God just as much as the Catholics do!

I noted long ago that they have their own version of the Holy Days while at the same time I struggled with why we were even keeping them (especially since we weren't keeping them as instructed).

I have a few questions if you don't mind...

1. I get that the Holy Days were commanded of the Israelites but I no longer believe in British Isrealism and have zero proof that I am an Israelite so why would I be bound to keep these days (I'm asking you to put on your ACOG goggles to answer this and then take them off to give me your current thoughts)?

2. Why do Armstongites feel it's okay to keep the FOT in places other than Jerusalem? I've seen them keep the Feast in casinos and in shady hotels. They don't stay in temporary dwellings as the scripture says. Why do they feel it's okay to deviate from scripture in this regard?

3. What do you make of the scripture that says Jesus Christ will keep the FOT upon His return and its significance to us?

4. What about the Passover instruction Christ leaves us with to "do this in remembrance of Me"? I feel like He was my Passover in the sense of the OT Passover being a foreshadowing of things to come. But then in the NT Jesus instructs us to "do this" so I'm confused about the requirement to keep or not keep Passover. Can you offer clarity?

5. Atonement... it seems that the keeping of Atonement would negate the fact that the death of Jesus was to atone for our sins. Am I crazy? I don't get why ACOGers think that not eating or drinking for 24 hours can in any way compare to our Savior's death on the cross! He atoned for us so I don't get it.

I have a million more questions but I'll leave it at 5 for now.

Thanks Dennis!

Anonymous said...

8.26 AM
I came to the conclusion in the 1980s that Herb was simply projecting bully morality into the bible. A bullies morally is summed up in dominate exploit, exploit dominate.
So Herb taught members to allow themselves to be dominated with his 'obey, yield, surrender, submit, and allow themselves to be exploited with his non stop 'give, help serve.'
It's the wolf talking to the lambs.
Unlike your 'religious' complaint, my complain is fundamental 8.26 AM.
One cannot survive and prosper if one is being exploited and dominated.

PS there must be a spirit of murder, envy, sadism, malice, cruelty etc in this dominate-exploit mindset.

Margaret Walker said...

All of the above is interesting reading, but all one needs to know about God's calendar is right in Genesis 1: Day 3 God planted the earth's vegetation, so that created a need for a harvest festival in the 7th month from Day 4: which was Abib 1, when God ordained the heavenly ordinances as lights, to DIVIDE light from darkness, and to count time and appointed times. Conjunction of the moon is the only time in a month the moon can possibly divide light of one month from the light of the next, and the sun does it at SUNDOWN. No need for any Jew. In fact, since Day 4 was the middle of the week, the first Passover would have been postponed by the Jew for landing on a "Tuesday", so the Jew made God out to be a liar from the beginning. The Jews think the first Passover was the 15th, not the 14th. Ok, so Day 4 was blossomtime, green grasses, and was NOT in Tishri, a word NOT in the Bible. The 7th month is called "Ethanim" in the Bible. Look up the meaning of that word. It very much has to do with John 6 statements by Christ, and the living waters that will flow from the Mt. Olives around the world to heal the water when Christ returns. We know since 1969 that the Moon is moving away from the earth about 8cm/day so it is impossible to calculate what the moon did thousands of years ago, so just go calculate the next new moon, done easily by a FIFTH GRADER with a protractor, based on the speed of the moon in the heavens, from earth's viewpoint a few days before the dark moon. (continued…)

Margaret Walker said...

(Part II: Continued from previous...)
Then know this, that the Jews have further mucked up God's calendar by insisting the beginning of the "civil year" is the 7th month, when God clearly states in Ex.23:16 and 34:22 that the Feast of Booths is held at the end of the circuit of the SUN, as it goes southward across the equator to the southern hemisphere. Both 2016 and 2019 will be ONE MONTH TOO LATE, so that "hunter's moon" will be the first day of the WRONG Tabernacles. The Harvest Moon month is always month 7, a month where the moon is in perigee, always. Get the conjunction day (figured in a "forward direction from Jerusalem") correct and Tabernacles in the right month, and you will have an automatic 1 Abib, like Noah knew in Genesis 8. Noah was in the Ark exactly 365 days, a solar year. God is the Revelator of His Truth, not you or me, and it is IN the pages of your Bible, IF you obey God's Laws. It is not by intelligence, college degrees, or by HWA. I was only a "B" student in college astronomy, so God's Words have to reveal His Truth on the calendar. The Jubilee is from Abib 1 to the last day before Abib 1 the following year: that way there will be no famine because one can plant up until Abib 1, and again on Abib 1 the year following Jubilee, or "solemn seventh year". 15th Year Tiberius (year beginning Abib 1) is when John Baptist began to preach, and Christ was baptized that year, and in Nazareth stood up to read from Isaiah, proclaiming the "acceptable year", which began the following Abib 1, in which He began His Ministry: 27AD, Abib. Terms like "spring", "summer" etc. are figured upon equinoxes and solstices, and ARE NOT IN THE BIBLE, but are the BASIS of POPE GREGORY's pagan calendar. Stop with that pagan calendar. And STOP with the 1884 International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean, where a Sabbath Day was DROPPED from the weekly cycle in 1885 by going from a MONDAY, 31 Dec. 1884 to a WEDNESDAY 1 Jan.1885, projecting the Sabbath into a SUN-day ever since! HWA said in his booklet, "Has Time Been LOST?" that China "holy time is ahead of Jerusalem", which it is not. The Sabbath was "made for man" where MAN WAS in Eden, when God ended ALL the "work" which He had made. Jerusalem is central to the SAME TIME ZONE as Moses in Cairo, or Noah on Ararat's mtns. The Law goes "forth" (forwardly) from Jerusalem, NOW and FOREVER. God doesn't CHANGE. One can prove all of this in His Bible through knowledge of Biblical Law. One doesn't need a college degree to understand what God has Revealed to His servants IN the Holy Writ.