Hiding from the death angel
The spiritual Gestapo agents in Edmond Oklahoma, at Gerald Flurry's command, have laid down the law on who is invited to The Night To Be Much Observed, a night of food and drink that was manufactured by Herbert Armstrong and not found in the Bible. (cue Bob Thiel meltdown right now...)
From Exit and Support Network:
For the days of Unleavened Bread, John Krueger, in a recent sermonette, decided to quote from an article by laughing Brian Davis in the Philadelphia News Nov/Dec 2010, “Who should Attend the Night To Be Much Observed?” Krueger quotes Davis [emp mine] as saying: “If individuals attend who would hinder this fellowship, or lackthis understanding, or in some cases could even be hostile to this type of fellowship, our observance would not be up to the standard that is pleasing to God. That is why it is imperative that we not only know how to observe this night, but also who should keep it with us.”
In addition to wearing their very best clothing that night, paying careful attention to detail, and being “moderate in food and drink” (Note: We all remember far too many members getting high on alcohol this night and eating too much roasted lamb and rich desserts) here are the rules:
Who should we invite to observe the night with us?
1. Those in God’s inner circle2. Members’ children who are sanctified3. Those who attend church on a regular basis but have not yet been baptized but desire to be
Who should not be attending?
1. Non-converted mates who do not attend services on a regular basis2. Those in the outer court –the Laodiceans3. Teens who have decided not to attend services
Herbert Armstrong never ever made such a command. If so-called unconverted spouses and non-attending children felt compelled to attend the meal they were invited. And, what's with this Laodicean crap? This night meal is not a New Covenant command and is beyond the boundary of a minister telling people who can and cannot attend. Besides, nowhere in the entire Bible are Christians told to keep this night.
EXODUS 12:41-42, the scripture the COGs use to establish this fabricated celebration, tells us the observance in question is to be solemn. The Passover is unarguably solemn, because of what occurred that night - the slaughter of a lamb, and thousands of firstborns, and even moreso because of what it foreshadowed - the death of the Savior. This tone of the COG Passover service seems much more in line with what verse 42 describes than the alleged Night to Be Much Observed. It doesn't appear that the Israelites celebrated their deliverance until Exodus 15, after Pharaoh's army was drowned in the sea. Humanly speaking, this makes sense to me. Would I have been pleased the morning after the Passover, to learn we were leaving? Absolutely. But I can see myself a little shell shocked. Grieved at the deaths of so many Egyptians. A little post traumatic stress disorder from the plagues. And then there was the matter of the Egyptian army pursuing them. All in all, I suspect the day after the Passover was not a big party for the children of Israel.
And really, it's not exactly a reason to party for Christians today, either. The COGs tell us that this supposed Night to Be pictures Israel's deliverance from Egypt and our deliverance from sin through Christ's death. It is a night to prepare an elaborate meal, gather with brethren and rejoice. The tone of this tradition is tragically incongruent with what the evening allegedly marks.
What do the COGs tell us we are celebrating? Christ's victory over sin, achieved by His death. Is the end result of the story something to celebrate? Absolutely. But is His actual death something to celebrate? I think not. Do you start planning an elaborate party when a close relative passes? "Hey guys, Aunt Edna is dead, would you please pass the prime rib? And did you SEE the dessert table?"
Should Christians Celebrate the "Night to Be Much Observed"?
.
35 comments:
This night meal is not a New Covenant command
So you have a list of what the New Covenant commands are? If there is such a list it should be posted. Some COGs say we are under the New Covenant, some (I think) say we are not, and HWA said "Sort of" under it.
Apart from that I remember my first NTBMR - it was at a restaurant and was for new attendees/members who hadn't been invited to one. There was a member who went around telling everyone "It has to be with a family! With a family is better!"
Exodus 12:6 says to keep the Passover, where the lamb was sacrificed at even — “after noon and until nightfall.”
From verse 7 to 11, it is describing the night as the Passover, ending by saying “it is the Lord’S Passover.” So the Passover stretched into the Days of Unleavened Bread. The eating of unleavened bread also starts from the fourteenth of Nisan, at even (verse 18, ba-erev).
Further, commenting on the beginning verse 8, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night,” the Targum translates this as the night of the fifteenth (of Nisan).
Just another ploy by those fuckers to separate the cult members from people of value.
Me being obscene and off puting.
PCG's leaders are obscene and would be absolutely mundaine at Nuremberg trial as their colleagues were.
When I met Davis I should have kicked him in the face.
Nck
"Come unto me, all ye who qualify and can benefit me, and I shall give thee a very hard time...."
I attended NTBMO several years ago at the home of a church member whose husband and son did not attend. The son was especially skeptical about God.
So I dared to engage him in a Biblical discussion, even though I didn't bring a Bible with me. (I've made sure to bring one since.) It turned into a good dialogue about matters of faith, between the two of us - even if almost everyone else moved to the other side of the grounds, like NBA teams used to do so stars could go one-on-one.
That son was attending church regularly when I moved to a different area.
So instead of thinking exclusivity on NTBMO, remember the "mixed multitude" which came out with the Israelites. It could be a great opportunity to share things of God with them.
Who should not be attending?
1. Non-converted mates who do not attend services on a regular basis
2. Those in the outer court –the Laodiceans
3. Teens who have decided not to attend services
MY COMMENT: Great way to "win friends and influence people". If someone desires to attend, and has some kind of
interest in doing so, wouldn't that be considered some type of potential or at the very least a way to ease tensions within a family? This is a curious policy to me., but Flurry is a curious and weird dude, so what do you expect!
The fewer people who get trapped into this cult the better......wouldn’t you agree? I think it’s a great policy
People in the PCG. Need to come out of Egypt.
I see all the hypocrites have already commented, ha!
It's not only PCG that does this, at least their open about it, UCG (i know shocking even them!) Do this as well.
For ten years my family got left out of being included in NTBMO. Every other member was put into smaller groups except us. We didn't even get the chance to be included. But it actually turned out to be a blessing. Keeping NTBMO without modern day pharisee atheist's is better.
The "plain truth" is this NTBMO as commemorated by COGs is a man-made tradition of HWA's own making.
The Passover is the real "night to be much observed" NOT the following night.
The entire context of Exodus 12 is the night of the Passover not the following holy night.
If HWA's NTBMO was a night God wanted His people to celebrate with a fine meal and to stay up late He surely would've given detailed instructions how to observe it just like He did the Passover!
Actually which night did God's people vigilantly stay up late prior to their exodus from Egypt? It was the night of the Passover!
And if HWA's NTBMO was not the Passover, but a separate holy night then why isn't it even referred to as such AT ALL in ALL of Scripture??
Why didn't Christ's disciples keep it the night after Jesus was crucified??
In fact, Christ's disciples did keep the real NTBMO on the night of the Passover, the night our Saviour was betrayed! When they went to Gethsemane Christ instructed them to "watch" or "observe" vigilantly and it was very late at night, but they were tired and sleepy and He had to wake them up repeatedly. That was the night our Saviour--and His disciples indeed after the betrayal!--wouldn't have slept much if at all!
The night of the Lord's Supper is the real NTBMO!
Calendars
Mk 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat [phago] the passover?
Jn 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat [phago] the passover.
“A problem is posed by the fact that the Synoptic Gospels appear to record the Last Supper as a Passover meal (e.g. Mark 14:12ff.), while John seems to indicate that Jesus was crucified at the time when the Passover victims were being slain, so that the Last Supper preceded the Passover (John 13:1, 29; 18:28; 19:31)” (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, Revised, NICNT, p.684).
“The synoptic Gospels present the last supper as a Passover meal that took place at the normal time, i.e., on 15 Nisan, which began at sundown on Thursday. (The lambs were sacrificed earlier that day, i.e., on 14 Nisan [cf. Mark 14:12].) The meal was eaten that night, and Jesus was arrested, given a mockery of a trial, and crucified on the same day, i.e., by Friday afternoon... In the Gospel of John, on the other hand, Jesus’ death takes place at the time of the sacrificing of the Passover lambs, before eating of the Passover meal (cf. John 18:28). On this reckoning, 15 Nisan began twenty-four hours later than in the Synoptics, i.e., on Friday at sundown...” (Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14-28, WBC, p.763).
“The evidence is thus confusing, and it is in the least surprising that scholars have come to very different conclusions. I do not see how we can be dogmatic in our present state of knowledge. The most natural reading of the Synoptists shows the Last Supper there to be the Passover. The most natural reading of John shows that Jesus was crucified at the very time the Passover victims were slain in the Temple. While it is undoubtedly possible to interpret the accounts in such a way that we make them tell the same story, it seems best to see them as the result of following different calendars. According to the calendar Jesus was following the meal was the Passover. But the Temple authorities followed another, according to which the sacrificial victims were slain the next day. John appears to make use of this to bring out the truth that Christ was slain as our Passover” (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, Revised, NICNT, pp.694-695).
"To relate John's passion chronology with that of the Synoptics, who clearly describe the Last Supper as a Passover meal, would require a separate excursus; suffice it to day here that while John times his passion narrative with references to the official temple date of the Passover, our Lord and his disciples, following (it may be) another calendar, observing the festival earlier" (F.F. Bruce, The Gospels & Epistles of John, p.279).
“So also I. H. Marshall, “Our conclusion, then, is that Jesus held a Passover meal earlier than the official Jewish date, and that he was able to do so as the result of calendar differences among the Jews” (Last Supper and Lord’s Supper [Exter, 1980], p.75)” (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, Revised, NICNT, p.695).
Depends on the splinter 11:55.
The RCG does the same thing. Non members and even non baptized members are not welcome! I have loved ones in the RCG and wanted to visit them. Was told it is ‘only for God’s chosen ones’..
https://concretizedchristianity.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/thoughts-on-the-night-of-vigil-a-k-a-the-night-to-be-much-observed/
In cults, all members are treated like dumbo children that need a permission slip for every decision that they need to make.
The night of the Lord's Supper is the real NTBMO.
No it is not. Then why are the vast majority of ACOG recognising the Lord's Passover Supper this year on Friday 26th March night when the Jews are keeping the Moses Passover on 28th instead.
As Bereans Did?
If ever there was an improperly named group!
Thanks for the comment 7:33 AM. Had no idea it was a post from 'As the Bereans Did?'
Well those ones who run that blog and write those articles have sure got some hard faced cheek.
The biggest hypocrites who ever lived.
12:42 wrote: "The biggest hypocrites who ever lived."
Seriously? If you actually knew your Bible and stopped using the crap of Armstrongism to tell you what to believe you would see that they are correct in what they posted. Besides, the biggest hypocrites I have ever seen have been COG members and their leadership. talk about self-righteousness!
Prove them wrong...oh, wait! You can't!
“The night of the Lord's Supper is the real NTBM.”
Lk 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Lk 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Jn 18:28 Then led they [“the chief priests and associates”] Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
“...those who were in a state of ceremonial purity in readiness to eat it could not now afford to contract defilement and be excluded from the Passover [meal]... There is, of course characteristic Johannine irony in this reference to the chief priests’ scrupulousness in the matter of ceremonial defilement, when all the time they were incurring greater incomparable moral defilement by their proceedings against Jesus” (F.F. Bruce, The Gospels & Epistles of John, p.349).
Mk 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread [the 14th by convention not by ordinance], when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat [phago] the passover?
The night of the “Lord’s Supper” was the NTBMO according to the Calendar employed by the Synoptics, but not according to the Calendar employed by John. That is, Christ and the disciples ate a Passover meal on Thursday evening April 6, AD 30 (Gregorian Calendar), and the chief priests and their associates ate a Passover meal on Friday the following evening.
[In AD 30 the 1st day of UB fell on the Sabbath according to John’s Calendar; non-atonement holy days are not Sabbaths].
1Co 5:7b Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Looking at the ordinances of the Passover with the events of John’s calendar:
Ex 12:46b neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
Jn 19:33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
Jn 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
Ex 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it between the evenings
Mt 27:46a And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice...
Mt 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
It is also suggested that scripture was fulfilled around 3pm on Friday April 7, AD 30 with Christ dying between the evenings.
Ex 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Jn 18:28and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
It is highly likely that first eating of unleavened bread during the seven days of UB occurred at the Passover meal.
Lev 19:6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.
Lev 19:7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.
Lev 19:8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity [i.e., punishment], because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
When it comes to sacrifices God expects the ordinances to be followed, which then can be a life or death matter. In Leviticus 19 the Hebrew idiom is employed whereby the “third day” refers to the day after tomorrow. With Friday being the preparation day, offering a peace offering on that day would be beneficial. It could eaten on the first day, that is, Friday and on the second day, the Sabbath, but could not be eaten on the third day, that is, Sunday. Sunday is the third day from Friday inclusive reckoning; the count to Pentecost is also inclusive reckoning - the ANE custom of counting forward that includes the present day. This is also how Cornelius counted in Acts 10.
Anonymous March 6, 2021 at 5:24 AM said...
The night of the Lord's Supper is the real NTBMO.
No it is not. Then why are the vast majority of ACOG recognising the Lord's Passover Supper this year on Friday 26th March night when the Jews are keeping the Moses Passover on 28th instead.
------
Armstrongists believe the Passover is at the start of the 14th Nisan while Judaics believe the Passover is at the start of the 15th Nisan.
The Armstrongists believe the NTBMO is at the start of the 15th Nisan when the Judaics are celebrating their Passover.
The Judaics never celebrated a NTBMO separate to the Passover.
Jesus and His disciples never celebrated a NTBMO separate to the Passover.
The Church throughout its history has never celebrated a NTBMO separate to the Christian Passover or Lord's Supper.
The NTBMO as HWA invented and ACOGs keep as a tradition (ie as a separate ordinance kept by having a fine meal and staying awake til past midnight) is a counterfeit addition to the Passover or Lord's Supper, which is the real NTBMO.
See The Night to be Much Observed
7.33 AM
Exactly. The Bereans in Acts were independent minded. Yet after reading many of their articles, it's obvious that the group believes in a command and control system, and misrepresent it as Gods way. God's system is in fact that of self government. Which is the whole intent of the declaration of independence and the American constitution. It's inherent in the parable of the talents.
Still no its not.
Yep seriously. The cowards behind that blog don't even believe that Jesus Christ was three days and three nights in the grave.
They are shambolic and have no courage to openly admit the beliefs they hold so dear.
When someone says to me that “I will be there in a minute,” I believe them but I don’t expect them to be there in exactly 60 seconds.
Mt 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
When Jesus said that he would be three days and three nights I believe Him but I don’t see that He was exactly “three days and three nights” in the tomb.
Just as today a “minute” is used idiomatically, so in the ANE “day and night,” was also used idiomatically.
Mt 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem ... and that he must be killed and ON THE THIRD DAY be raised to life. (NIV).
Mt 27:63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, AFTER THREE DAYS I will rise again.
“While referring to the example of Jonah (Jon 1:17) Jesus uses a phrase which appears only here, in Jonah and in 1 Samuel 30:12. Yet it clear even in Matthew that Jesus was raised “on the third day” (Mt 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; compare Mt 27:63 “after three days” and this agrees with the narrative (Mt 27:57-28:1). What are we to make of this?
“First we know what we mean by the phrase in Matthew 12:40: we would mean a seventy-two hour period or at least most of that period... we know that the phrase “three days and three nights” was not a problem for Matthew, for he can use both that and “on the third day” and include no explanation, which he does in other cases where he sees a problem.
“Having seen what we know, we now need to look at what we may be assuming erroneously... we may be assuming that first-century Jews thought about time in the same way that we do. In fact they did not. Any part of a day could be counted as if it were a full day, much as in Canada and the U.S.A. a child is deductible for income-tax purposes at the full year rate even if he or she was born at 11 p.m. on December 31” (Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, Manfreed T. Brauch, Hard Sayings of the Bible, pp.380-381).
The Gospel of Matthew may have been written in the late fifties or early sixties AD. Concerning a near contemporary:
“Eleazar ben Azariah (flourished late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD), Jewish rabbinic scholar, one of the Palestinian tannaim (those who compiled the Jewish Oral Law), whose practical maxims constitute some of the best-known sayings of the Talmud... Eleazar was an expert in the Scriptures and in all aspects of Jewish Law. He favoured a direct and literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and he formulated the principle that a biblical verse can be interpreted in the context of the verses that precede or follow it” (britannica.com/biography/Eleazar-ben-Azariah).
“... the Jerusalem Talmud: ‘R. Akiba fixed a Day for an onah, and a Night for an onah.’ But the tradition is, that R. Eliazar ben Azariah said, A day and a night make an onah: and a Part of an onah is as the Whole. And a little after, R. Ismael computed a part of the onah for the whole.” Thus, then, three days and three nights, according to this Jewish method of reckoning, included any part of the first day; the whole of the following night; the next day and its night; and any part of the succeeding or third day” (Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible).
“One of the greatest obstacles we face in trying to interpret the Bible is that we are inclined to think in our own cultural and linguistic categories. This is no surprise since our categories are often all that we have, but it is a problem because our own categories often do not suffice and sometimes mislead” (John H. Walton, Genesis, NIVAC, pp.67-68).
Eleazar-ben-Azariah observation on time agrees with both the Old and new Testament usages. Christ was crucified on the Preparation, i.e., Friday, Nisan 14 (John’s calendar) and rose on the first of the sabbaths, i.e. the first day of the week, Nisan 16.
Correction to previous post; two sentences should have been:
When someone says to me that “I will be there in a minute,” I believe them but I don’t expect them to be there in a literal 60 seconds.
When Jesus said that he would be three days and three nights I believe Him but I don’t see that He was there a literal “three days and three nights”.
8:21 AM
You say 5:48 PM is wrong. So when is the NTBMO to you and what evidence do you have to prove it?
Woke rubbish anon 2:08 as per usual.
"Anon" 10:08 PM seriously need to evaluate what you want in life because arguing over scripture on a blog like this is not a Christ filled life. But of course in the count down to Passover it will be all you want, just like the build up to Tabernacles.
Well that's your doubt Anon 2:08 PM rising to the surface. When Jesus said he would be three days in the grave I believe him and trust Jesus and scripture and not you.
NTBMO is on NTBMO.
Just coz you say so doesn't make it so 8:21/11:51. At least those you flippantly and ignorantly say are wrong actually have given their reasons to support why they believe different to Armstrongism's absolutely wrong and warped theology. You actually sound like some big "know it all" lurkers on this blog who've spouted off in the past as if they're God's gift to us all and they're right and everyone else is wrong. It's no wonder so many good COG and non-COG folk who used to share their views on this blog's comments section in healthy debate--something which you seem so afraid of probably cause you'll learn something new and have to admit your idol HWA was wrong making you wrong with him!--have increasingly abandoned it and we're seeing it taken over by the likes of bitter, small-minded, narcissistic trolls like you who have nothing constructive to share and only want to spread the misery they feel inside with their inane one line assertions. You epitomize Christ's warning to His flock in Matthew 7:6: “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you." I'll take a leaf from NEO's example to say I've wasted enough time on the likes of you and won't be coming back. Buh bye!!
Oh its you. I can see through the act. I wouldn't give up the day job. Desperately putting others in boxes to which they don't belong. Same old, same old. Many see through you in real life.
6:14 Ministry with mental health issues.
11:51 wrote:
Woke rubbish anon 2:08 as per usual.
Why is it “woke rubbish”?
Mt 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem ... and that he must be killed and ON THE THIRD DAY be raised to life. (NIV).
Mt 27:63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, AFTER THREE DAYS I will rise again.
Or perhaps you would like to answer this question:
How can Christ rise on the third day yet be after 3 days? This can be explained easily using ANE counting but how is it explained using modern western counting?
Post a Comment