Armstrongism has always had legalistic people who demanded that the WCG observe New Moons, sacred names and other non essentials.
James Malm has take this to a new extreme that I have not heard before. He will actually have people in Israel to see if a certain type of barley has achieved ripeness in order for the 'correct' date of Passover to be observed.
There is a small segment of Armstrongism that has attached it's self to the Karaite Jews and their legalistic rules and regulations that are completely irrelevant to Christians. There are a couple of people on the Original COG Yahoo board that practice all things Jewish and try to get others to do it also. You never hear these people talking about Jesus, but spend their entire time talking about Jewish law, rules and regulations that people should be following.
Malm claims to be a 'new covenant' christian yet goes it fits over people eating out on the 'sabbath', working over onto sundown, and other legalistic rules. There is nothing 'new covenant' about this delusional guy! No matter how hard Armstrongites pretend to be Jewish they are not Jews.
He writes:
NEW YEAR: The last day of the twelfth month of this year is expected to be March 5. It appears that an intercalary 13th month needs to be added to bring us into the proper season for Passover. To comfirm that and to make absolutely certain; my friend Brian Convery will be in Judea with a team of specialists to determine the state of the Aviv Barley. A number of other COG groups as well as the Karaite Jewish community will also be doing this Aviv search. The search will take place next week, just before the end of the twelfth month, unless the airlines cancel flights. In that case observers living in Judea will do the search alone.
If no Aviv barley is found then another month will be added to the year and Passover will take place in April. Please pray that God’s will should be clearly revealed in this matter and that his servants should be kept safe from all harm in this difficult time.
While one can calculate the probabilities, it is very important that practical experience be gained by taking the time to actually study and do these things. The major COG Groups do not understand the Biblical Calendar because they are content to cling to their past traditions and are not willing to make any real effort to find the truth of the matter.
