God, the eternal jokester play a cruel trick on the followers of James Malm tonight. The Chief Pharisee has been predicting that the "new moon" would appear tonight in Jerusalem. The Chief Pharisee was adamant that the new moon would be sighted on Friday:
April 7, 2016
New Year Update: Update on the Barley in Jerusalem. This update is only referring to Jerusalem. About 40% is abib, and about 10%, or maybe a little less, has jumped all the way to being ripe in the last few days. With hot dry weather predicted for the rest of the week, there should be no problem for the majority of the barley to be abib by the sighting of the new moon on Friday.
Since the Jerusalem barley is the last to ripen the entire harvest will be ready to be reaped after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
April 8, 2016
Announcements: The sighting of the new moon will be reported in a special post with extensive study material as soon as the moon’s light is sighted at Jerusalem; expected this evening.
Between looking for ripe barley on the roadside or neighborhood park to standing outside in the cold to be the first to catch sight of the slightest sliver of the moon rising, the legalists will go to any length to devalue the work of Jesus so that the law trumps.
God must have been having some fun tonight when thongs did not go as planned for the Malmites.
NEW MOON UPDATE 13:15 EDT: There is heavy haze over Jerusalem and a sighting of the new moon this evening is in doubt. We will continue looking in hopes the haze will open up long enough for the moon’s first light to be seen. As this is day 29 of the 13th month and no month may be longer than 30 days, if the new moon is not seen tonight then tomorrow night will begin the new moon by default.
Already having some fun with the legalists, God takes it even further. He decides to send a dust storm to totally obscure the "new" moon.
The new moon would normally be easily seen this evening, however a dust storm covered the entire region and the first visible light of the new moon was NOT seen by anyone at Jerusalem or anywhere else in the region this evening.
God has power over the weather and atmospheric conditions and God could have caused conditions to remain normal and allow the moon to be sighted, but God chose not to do so.
Since this was the 29th day of the 13th month and no month can be longer than 30 days, sunset tomorrow evening will end the 30th day and a new month will automatically begin at sunset ending Saturday 9 April, 2016, and Sunday 10 April 2016 is the first day of the first month of the Biblical year.
Because weather conditions do occasionally cause a delay in beginning new months after 29 day months, it is always very important to confirm by actual sightings, and it is also very important to schedule the expected day and the following day just in case the moon is not sighted as expected.
Please note that this year the Feast of Trumpets is also after a 29 day month and should be booked for the expected day and also the following day just in case the moon light is not seen as expected.
