I preface my comments by giving credit where credit is due, showing a great love and appreciation for Raymond F. McNair being blessed to serve as one of the pioneers in the Worldwide Church of God and to have such an active and important role in the holy Work of fulfilling the Great Commission under God's apostle Herbert W. Armstrong, serving thousands of brethren over the years. I want this on record since he is an elder and deserving of biblical respect, while I respectfully and strongly disagree with him on the sacred calendar, as a brother in the Lord.
I am very happy to see Raymond McNair acknowledge the Jews have a God-given authority to include postponements in the sacred calendar. Some Church of God members reject this plain truth and go off the deep end, creating their own calendars in the confusion of a spiritual anarchy, a Laodicean everybody-decide-for-himself wrong attitude.
I am grieved to see Raymond McNair assume it's the Sadducees God's Church should submit to on these matters, rather than the Pharisees whom Christ clearly supported on these biblical issues of the sacred calendar.
Quotes from Raymond F. McNair's article, WHAT ARE THE "POSTPONEMENTS"? --
Modern Jews don't observe Pentecost (Shavout) on a Sunday. Instead they observe it on Sivan 6. However the early New Testament Church of God (like the Sadducees) followed the biblical command to observe Pentecost by counting 50 days from the Sunday (the "morrow after the Sabbath") that occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This means that when Pentecost is counted correctly, it always falls on a Sunday-thus creating tandem Sabbaths.
Furthermore, no biblical or historical sources indicate that Christ and His apostles had any calendar disputes with the Jews (the Sadducees were then in control of the calendar and the Temple ritual until a short time before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D!) regarding the calendar that they were using in New Testament times.
What a crying shame that Raymond McNair refuses to submit to the government of God and hear the Voice of the Shepherd who clearly stated THE PHARISEES SIT IN MOSES' SEAT - not the blind Sadducees that some Church members continue to blindly follow. God has restored this truth to His Church, and some have repented of their vain Church traditions, choosing to get back on track like the early Church that followed the correct calculations of the Pharisees, like the Apostle Paul.
For Zion's sake,
David Ben-Ariel
Passover and Pentecost Differences Settled!
The correct dates to observe God's holy days should not be a Church of God issue, having been settled by God thousands of years ago and preserved throughout the ages by faithful Jews.
The Oracles of God
God's empowered the Jews - despite themselves - to preserve His Word. They are the only people on Earth that God has blessed and ordained to fulfill such a calling! God will not retract His Word or renege on this gift and responsibility that He's graciously bestowed upon Judah.
The Pharisees
Who isn't aware of the sins of the Pharisees? Especially the Accuser of the Brethren? But does that mean the truths they teach, even if they don't live them, are no longer true?
The Passover Memorial
When did God decree that Jesus could declare "it is finished" and die on the stake? Why at the very same time that THE JEWS were sacrificing their Passover lambs at the Temple! The Jews had always killed the Passover lambs during the final hours of the 14th. It was towards the end of the 14th, not at the beginning of the 14th, that the Passover lambs were killed.
David Ben-Ariel is a Christian-Zionist writer and author of Beyond Babylon: Europe's Rise and Fall. With a focus on the Middle East and Jerusalem, his analytical articles help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out the Beyond Babylon blog.
