COG Pharisees Still Straining At Gnats

It has always been amazing to watch various people from the church who have gone even further off the deep end of legalism to the point they embrace all kinds of silliness instead of following the one who cast off the bondage of all those rules and regulations while setting people free.  In the COG it is always more important to have rules and regulations running every aspect of a persons life than it is to revel in freedom and uncertainty by not having to worry about constantly screwing up.

This is the latest by the Chief Pharisee James Malm.  While he sits in his kitchen cranking out legalistic mumbo jumbo to keep his few followers enslaved,  he relies upon people traipsing all over Israel looking for a perfectly ripe piece of barley. They look in fields, on hillsides, in barnyards and along roadsides as they look for a few growths of wild barley. Meanwhile, Jesus stays abandoned outside the garden gate where Pharisee Malm refuses to let him in.

5 Mar:   2019 New Year Report- With two or three days left until the new moon, Brian Convery reports that he has found sufficient Aviv barley in the Gaza area.  

Since God commanded that every able person appear before him at Jerusalem for the Passover, the barley would necessarily need to be ready for cutting at Jerusalem and I cannot agree with Brian.  

I would add that in the time of Christ in the flesh, there was no way that the sheaf could be cut at sun set in Gaza and then be transported to Jerusalem and prepared in time for the Temple Wave Offering just after the morning sacrifice that same day.

I understand that Brian will be looking elsewhere tomorrow and I will wait for final reports, however all available information is that the barley is not ready in any place outside of the Gaza envelope, not even in Beer Sheva (See this FB Biderman video).

Larry Hardison writes; “We are following 5 search groups of which 4 have reported their findings. Only the Karaite Jews (Devorah Gordon’s group) have not reported as yet.  So far the results have been generally negative, with barley in the flowering stage (Northern Israel), still in “the boot,” just out of “the boot” and in the “milk” stage all which means the barley grain is not mature enough at this time to be considered Aviv.” 

Final reports on March 7

Then he has this mess:

Later the command came  regarding the Wave Offering once they began to cultivate the promised land came into play, and gave us a firm starting point from that time on. 

Originally there were 12 thirty day months in a solar year, this changed later and they had to begin to intercalate to keep the months in line with the solar year. Early civilizations around the world used calendars with months of 30 days and years of 360 days. These calendars functioned well until sometime in the 8th century BC when suddenly it became necessary to change them. Then most civilizations around the world began to modify their calendars to allow for 5 extra days for the year and 6 fewer days for a lunar year of 12 full months; a modern lunar year is 354 days (12 months x 29.5 days).

The number of days in a year change was marked by the second King of Rome, Numa Pompilius, and by his Jewish contemporary, King Hezekiah. Later other civilizations adopted the new 365 day year as well. These events are often linked with the shadow on the sundial going back 10 degrees in the days of Hezekiah around 700-750 BC. 

Contrast the above nonsense to this:

Matthew 11:28-30 English Standard Version (ESV)

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

That damn Jesus just has to go and ruin everything these fraudulent COG leaders set out to enforce!

This is what Jesus had to say about the unclean pigs like Malm and the others who enslave members:

Jesus Condemns the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law of Moses

(Mark 12.38-40; Luke 11.37-52; 20.45-47)

1Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3So obey everything they teach you, but don't do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else.

4They pile heavy burdens on people's shoulders and won't lift a finger to help. 5 Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels+ for everyone to see. 6They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues. 7And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers.

8But none of you should be called a teacher. You have only one teacher, and all of you are like brothers and sisters. 9Don't call anyone on earth your father. All of you have the same Father in heaven. 10None of you should be called the leader. The Messiah is your only leader. 11 Whoever is the greatest should be the servant of the others. 12 If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored.

13-14You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. You won't go in yourselves, and you keep others from going in.+

15You Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You travel over land and sea to win one follower. And when you have done so, you make that person twice as fit for hell as you are.

16You are in for trouble! You are supposed to lead others, but you are blind. You teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the temple. But you say it does matter if someone swears by the gold in the temple. 17You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

18You also teach that it doesn't matter if a person swears by the altar. But you say it does matter if someone swears by the gift on the altar. 19Are you blind? Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Anyone who swears by the altar also swears by everything on it. 21And anyone who swears by the temple also swears by God, who lives there. 22 To swear by heaven is the same as swearing by God's throne and by the one who sits on that throne.

23 You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your garden, such as mint, dill, and cumin. Yet you neglect the more important matters of the Law, such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the important things you should have done, though you should not have left the others undone either. 24You blind leaders! You strain out a small fly but swallow a camel.

25You Pharisees and teachers are show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You wash the outside of your cups and dishes, while inside there is nothing but greed and selfishness. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of a cup, and then the outside will also be clean.

27 You Pharisees and teachers are in for trouble! You're nothing but show-offs. You're like tombs that have been whitewashed.+ On the outside they are beautiful, but inside they are full of bones and filth. 28That's what you are like. Outside you look good, but inside you are evil and only pretend to be good.

29You Pharisees and teachers are nothing but show-offs, and you're in for trouble! You build monuments for the prophets and decorate the tombs of good people. 30And you claim you would not have taken part with your ancestors in killing the prophets. 31But you prove you really are the relatives of the ones who killed the prophets. 32So keep on doing everything they did. 33 You are nothing but snakes and the children of snakes! How can you escape going to hell?

34I will send to you prophets and wise people and experts in the Law of Moses. You will kill them or nail them to a cross or beat them in your synagogues or chase them from town to town. 35 That's why you will be held guilty for the murder of every good person, beginning with the good man Abel. This also includes Barachiah's son Zechariah,+ the man you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I can promise that you people living today will be punished for all these things!

Jesus Loves Jerusalem

(Luke 13.34,35)

37Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Your people have killed the prophets and have stoned the messengers who were sent to you. I have often wanted to gather your people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you wouldn't let me. 38 And now your temple will be deserted. 39 You won't see me again until you say,

“Blessed is the one who comes

in the name of the Lord.”