Dear Brethren and Friends,

Greetings from San Diego! From what I hear, all of us had a wonderful Pentecost! Attendance was up in San Diego. The offerings were up. And I heard fine comments about the sermons everywhere.

I was privileged to spend this Pentecost weekend in the Atlanta, Georgia, area with a record number of brethren in attendance. The enthusiasm was infectious and the brethren inspired me as much as I, hopefully, did them. I was especially encouraged to meet five new brethren who had never previously attended any Church of God before coming to Global.

Two of them had never heard of Mr. Armstrong. We also have had reports of many other brethren—"brand new" to the Truth—beginning to attend our churches, especially in areas where we have good television coverage. It is inspiring to see that God is continuing to call so many people into the Truth through our efforts. The Work is NOT finished by any stretch of the imagination!

At our present rate of growth, we may have hundreds of new people attending church by this time next year. And, within two years, thousands of new brethren, God willing, may be among us—worshipping the true God and learning His purpose. As all of this begins to come together, let us all be sure to hang in there! If we continue to "do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly" with our God, then He can use us (Micah 6:8). And we will preach to the entire world—to the extent God desires—the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! And we will reach out and SHAKE the American, Canadian and other British-descended peoples with Christ's warning message of the coming Tribulation due to our peoples' sins.

On another point, I am encouraged about the absolute unanimity and clarity in the Doctrinal Team's recent decisions concerning the postponements and the Hebrew calendar. We had three or four major meetings on these subjects, each lasting two or three hours. Mr. Raymond R McNair, vice-chairman and coordinator of our Doctrinal Team, did a superb job personally researching these issues. He deserves a great deal of credit for his long, hard work in putting all of this together.

I urge all of you to read and study the articles on these topics beginning on page three of this magazine. I think you will find that they thoroughly explain these issues. Most importantly, they contain the Truth, which is the official position of the Global Church of God on any topic.

After reading these articles, if you have any further questions on the Sacred Calendar, please address them to Mr. Raymond McNair personally. He will be glad to clarify any questions for you as best he can.

Brethren, please remember these VITAL principles when considering any technical issue that comes up—whether postponements, how to count Passover and Pentecost or the sacred names question: 1) Jesus Christ is ALIVE at God's right hand; 2) that same living Christ has on this earth today a Church of which He is the active, LIVING Head; 3) the resurrected Christ promised to be with and guide that true Church "even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20 KJV).

Of course, when the leadership of our former association contemptuously threw down the baton handed them by Mr. Armstrong, they walked away from the FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS historically taught by the Church. They refused to preach the true Gospel and the prophetic warnings to Israel. By their "fruits" it was clear they abandoned any pretense to call themselves a valid branch of the Church of God. Consequently, all of you who perceived this had to look around and see who Christ was subsequently using to carry the baton.

Of necessity you had to prove where the Truth of the Bible was still being taught, who was really doing the Work, and who was faithfully teaching and administering the government of God. You looked for an organization empowered by the ideals of servant leadership, which ALL the true saints will be administering soon in the World Ahead for the benefit of all peoples.

Now after proving to yourself where Christ is actively working, then what?

You need to have faith! Christ has promised to be with and guide His servants in their duties: Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). He was the God, the "Rock" of the Old Testament (1 Cor. 10:4). It was this same Living Personality who inspired righteous King Jehoshaphat to tell the appointed judges of God's people, "Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment" (2 Chron. 19:6). And how much MORE should we expect Christ to be guiding His faithful, converted servants today in the New Testament Church? Again, remember Jesus' last words to His disciples as recorded by Matthew: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen" (Matt. 28:19-20).

Concerning the Church's decision-making, Jesus Christ told His personally selected and tested disciples "Assuredly, I say to you; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:18-20).

Again, to judge the validity of an organization, observe its "fruits:' Who is doing the Work? Who is Christ using to preach His Truth to the world and faithfully carry on the government of God, preparing the body of Christ to be kings and priests in the Millennium (Rev. 2:26-27)?

But once you have proved this by looking at the fruits, which only the Spirit of Christ can produce, you need to respect and honor those whom Christ is using. By respecting the servants, you honor the Master who directs them (Matt. 22:1-14)! Jesus said, "He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me" (Luke 10:16).

The Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us that God "put ALL things under His [Christ's] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23). Paul says the Church is Christ's body. Jesus is now the active, LIVING HEAD of His Church and is responsible to guide its leaders in administrative and doctrinal decisions.

As long as you know that Christ is there by observing the fruits—having the basic truths of the Bible preached and upheld and seeing the Work being done—then you should have confidence that the Living Christ will guide the men whom He is using to make the right decisions about technical aspects of teaching or practice, which may not always be clear to every member of the Church.

Yet, I am often sadly astonished that a number of our brethren—or, perhaps, our former brethren—seem obsessed with the idea that Christ has left it up to every "Tom, Dick and Harry" to decide for himself such important Church matters, such as which date to observe Passover or Pentecost, how to formulate a sacred calendar, whether to speak Hebrew when referring to God or Christ. These are not personal matters that God leaves up to an individual to decide. They are group, community-wide, Church issues. We must have a unified approach concerning when and how we will worship together or we cannot worship together Can't we see that the approach of every man doing that which is right in his own eyes is not good (cf. Judges 21:25 KJV). Do-it-yourself religionists and spiritual anarchists are always going to produce CONFUSION! But the Apostle Paul tells us, "God is NOT the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints" (1 Cor. 14:33).

I urge all of you to read Mr. Raymond McNair's excellent articles on the calendar and the postponements. When you do, you should readily see how this type of technical matter definitely ought to be thoroughly discussed by a ministerial council at the highest level. We ought to follow God's instruction: "Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established" (Prov. 15:22). And even beyond that, the servant leadership of the Living Jesus Christ in guiding His Spirit-led ministry is absolutely essential to the spiritual vitality of the Church.

Brethren, the Work of God is going forward with increasing POWER. Let us all keep our hearts in Christ's Work so that we may some day hear His Words: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matt. 25:21).

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The Feast of Tabernacles will soon be upon us! Are you faithfully saving your second tithe so that you can have a joyous, abundant Feast? Have you made your reservations to attend a Global Feast site with your brethren?

In His inspired Word; God makes it exceedingly clear that this issue is of paramount importance to Him: "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain" (Zech. 14:16-I7).

In the soon-coming World Ahead you and I will be under Christ, administering the government of God over cities or perhaps even nations. If we overcome, Christ promises, "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end; to him I will give power over the nations—He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter's vessels shall be broken in pieces—as I also have received from My Father" (Rev. 2:26-27).

The Feast of Tabernacles—as Mr. Armstrong explained to us so often—pictures the millennial rule of Jesus Christ. It is a picture—a foretaste—of God's Ieadership in action. At our Global Feast sites you will be hearing sermons about the real meaning of the Feast and our future responsibilities as kings and priests administering the government of God. You will learn how to prepare for your exciting future. You will also have fun opportunities to fellowship with others in God's true Church!

So, unless you are genuinely ill or financially destitute, it would be WRONG for you to stay at home and listen to tapes or attend the Feast somewhere else just to be with friends or relatives. We must obey Jesus Christ's powerful commands to keep a truly spiritual Feast at the place He has chosen.

"Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice" (Deut. 16:15). We are now preparing to be kings. We are preparing to serve in Christ's administration. We should definitely go to the Feast NOT just anywhere-but with the Church where the correct form of servant leadership is being taught and practiced and where powerful sermons will be given preparing us for our responsibilities in the World Ahead. See you at the Feast!

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by Raymond F. McNair

Since God commanded Israel to keep His weekly Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11), and His seven annual Holy Days (Lev. 23; Ezek. 20:12-24), of necessity He would also have given His people a reliable calendar showing when to observe those Sabbaths.

According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary, although the Bible gives numerous references to what might be called "God's Calendar," the Scriptures simply do not give adequate information for anyone to know how to make an accurate sacred calendar "No part of the Bible or even the Bible as a whole presents a full calendar" ("Calendars;' vol. 1 ).

We are also informed that "modern students of the Bible should realize that it is not possible to speak of a [strictly] biblical calendar" (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, "Calendar," vol. 1 ).

What are some of the problems confronting anyone who would seek to reconstruct the Sacred Calendar solely from the Bible?

PROBLEM l: The Bible does not tell us precisely when to begin each month in the Sacred Calendar. Scripture reveals that each month must begin at the time of the "New Moon," but God's Word never sufficiently defines this term to tell us exactly when it occurs! Does the biblical New Moon refer to the astronomical New Moon (also called "conjunction" or "dark moon")? Or does New Moon refer to the new crescent moon, which always lasts "a few days"? if, for instance, the New Moon observers in ancient Israel sighted the new crescent moon above the western horizon a few minutes before the sun went down, did they declare that day—which was just ending—to be the first day of the next month? Or did they proclaim the following day the first day of the new month?

PROBLEM 2: The Scriptures never tell us how many days each month of God's Sacred Calendar should contain. Are there 29? Are there 30? Even more? We must go outside the Bible for this information.

PROBLEM 3: The Hebrew Scriptures don't even tell us how many months should be in a calendar year Since the solar year (about 365 1/4 days) is roughly 11 days longer than the lunar year (about 354 1/4 days), how can the lunar and solar years be harmonized? By what means can the months of God's Sacred Calendar be kept in their proper seasons—so that the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread always occur in the spring, while the Feast of Tabernacles always occurs in the autumn? (all mention of the seasons refers to the Northern Hemisphere).

The answer is to add an "intercalary" month (a thirteenth month) seven times each 19-year lunar time cycle—which always contains 235 lunations or lunar months. But the Hebrew Bible does not tell us how many months the year is to have, or how long the sacred year is to be! The Bible mentions a twelfth month (Esther 3:7)—never a thirteenth month. Yet, from careful study of the time periods mentioned in the first eight chapters of Ezekiel (1:1-2; 3:15; 4:5-6; 8:1 ), we can deduce that a thirteenth month was definitely being used by the Jews when Ezekiel wrote in the early part of the 6th century B.C. And since the Bible doesn't even specify this intercalary month, it certainly does not say when to add it!

PROBLEM 4: The Bible does not indicate exactly when to begin the ecclesiastical year or sacred year. Though Scripture plainly reveals that the sacred year must begin around the time we call the vernal equinox [Heb. Tekufah] (Ex. 12:2; 23:16; 34:22), it does not give exact instructions.

PROBLEM 5: Most insurmountable of all the problems facing those who would rely solely on the Bible to construct a sacred calendar is the undeniable fact that the lunar and solar years cannot be precisely aligned—a biblical requirement!—without periodically adjusting, or "postponing," the beginning of certain months and years. The calendar must also be adjusted by one or two days under certain conditions. Otherwise, the lunar and solar years would eventually diverge.

None of the five problems mentioned above are resolved in the Bible! Since neither the Hebrew nor the Greek Scriptures give us sufficient information to know how to reconstruct the Sacred Calendar, where can we find exactly when to observe God's seven annual Holy Days?

Why This Issue Has Two Articles on the Calendar

As “sacred calendars” proliferate—is there a way to make sense of it all?

Never before have there been so many sacred-calendar “experts.” Consequently, some brethren have become confused over the resultant proliferation of contradictory “sacred calendars.” Has God seen to it that His “authorized” Sacred Calendar has been made available to His people?

Ever since God gave ancient Israel His Holy Days and His Calendar, there have been those who did not want to follow the calendar He provided His people through His priests after the Ten Tribes of Israel seceded from the throne of David in about 930 B.C., Northern Israel’s King Jeroboam introduced his own humanly devised festival—along with his counterfeit calendar—which he ordained to be held in the “eight month” instead of the seventh (1 Kings 12:31-33).

Secular historians of ancient biblical times tell us that, even among the Jews, numerous sects refused to follow the official Jewish calendar—published by the priesthood—and instead devised their own sectarian calendars. ”There is evidence that the authority of the normative calendar was never universally accepted, but that always there were individuals or groups who were promoting their own special calendars” (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, “Calendar,” vol. 1, p. 487). We should not, therefore, be surprised to learn that, from time immemorial, this “calendar problem” has plagued God’s people.

Which calendar did the early New Testament Christians use? Some wrongly think that Gentile Christians in the New Testament Church used only Greco-Roman calendars: “It may be understood that Jews and Jewish Christians, even when far from Palestine, continued to employ the official calendar of Jewish orthodoxy, particularly for observing the religious festivals (cf. Acts 20:6, 16)” (p. 483). And we know that the Apostle Paul taught Gentiles to observe God’s Holy Days just as He did the Jews (Acts 20:6; 1 Cor. 5:7-8; 16:8). Therefore, the Gentile Christians could not have properly observed God’s Festivals without also using the Hebrew calendar!

But what about God’s Church in modern times? In the early 1930s, Almighty God raised up a remarkable man, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, to restore the knowledge of the Holy Days to His people. Satan, however, immediately began muddying the waters by introducing confusion over the calendar among some of the brethren.

When confronted with such a potentially divisive “calendar problem” in early 1940, Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote the brethren saying, “In conclusion, unless God has preserved His Sacred Calendar through the Jews, then we do not know how to figure Passover or any of the Holy Days this year. For there is no authority for any other way. There is no Bible authority whatsoever for figuring the first day of the first month from the new moon nearest the spring equinox” (Good News Letter).

The ministry of the Global Church of God has likewise diligently examined this subject in great detail for more than three years. We have concluded, as did Mr. Armstrong, and the brethren in 1940, that the Hebrew calendar is indeed the only calendar that God’

How God Imparted the Calendar to His People

Who, if anyone, was divinely authorized to produce a sacred calendar and communicate it to God's people? In the year of Israel's Exodus from Egypt (c. 1446 B.C.), God began revealing to the Israelites certain important features of His Calendar—a calendar that made it possible for His people to observe the annual Holy Days in their proper seasons (Ex. 12; Lev. 23).

"Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt; saying, `This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you'” (Ex. 12:1-2). Notice that God gave those important instructions to both "Moses and Aaron.” Aaron would later be ordained as God's high priest. Only his sons could succeed him in that office (Num. 16, 17).

To whom did God reveal His Holy Days? Leviticus 23 lists seven annual Holy Days that God commanded His people to observe "forever" (vv. 14, 21, 31, 41). Notice, however, that God revealed them to Moses and commanded him to give them to Israel. "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: `The feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim [Heb. qara, to make known officially] to be holy convocations, these are My feasts'” (vv. 1-2). Verse 4 tells us that the Feasts were to be proclaimed in their "appointed times [Heb. moedim, "appointed seasons" JPS].” Israel's religious authorities were to declare, announce or officially proclaim the beginnings of the months and the precise days on which God's Feasts were to be observed.

What did God mean when He commanded Israel's spiritual leader, Moses, to proclaim (qara) His Festivals? Moses was in fact "summoning" God's people to keep those days. "When convocations are `proclaimed' the sense of qara is summon'” (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3). In other words, God's spiritual leaders in Israel had the authority to summon God's people when they, under God's guidance, determined the days on which God's Feasts would fall.

How did Israel's religious leaders proclaim God's Feasts in later times? The Encyclopaedia Judaica mentions that the "`sanctification’ of the thirtieth [day] as the New Moon [was] subject to witnesses' reports of the time and circumstances of their sighting of the new crescent scrutinized by a court competent to check them; and only accepted if tallying with each other and not contrary to astronomical prediction, with the further proviso of agreement by the court and formal declaration of ‘sanctification' before night set in" ("Calendar," vol. 8). Note that a special calendar court first had to sanctify or set apart the day of the new crescent moon, then had to make a "formal declaration" of sanctification before nightfall.

Both biblical and secular history reveal that the Jewish religious leaders (the priests) had a solemn duty, as well as divine authority, to make binding decisions concerning the Hebrew calendar. It was they alone who sanctified the New Moons (the first day of each month), and it was they who decided if or when to intercalate (add) a thirteenth month. "The beginnings of the months were determined by direct observation of the moon. The new months were sanctified and their beginnings announced [proclaimed] by the Sanhedrin" (Arthur Spier, The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, 1952, p. 1 ).

Detailed knowledge of God's Calendar was closely guarded by the Jewish priesthood. But, as Jews migrated farther and farther from Jerusalem, it became more difficult to pass along decisions on the calendar to outlying areas. This situation led to a significant change.

"Because of the serious condition of the communities of.. . Israel [in the 400s A.D.] and the deterioration of the Galilaean center, Hillel II agreed in principle to limit the authority of the nasi [the top Jewish authority] and his functions in connection with [ 1 ] the proclamation of the new moon; [2] the fixing of the festivals; and [3] the intercalation of the year. He thereupon published Sod ha-Ibbur (The Secret of Intercalation).... This took place in 358 C.E." (Judaica, "Hillel II," vol. 8). The Judaica goes on to say that before the time of Hillel II, "the Sanhedrin fixed the calendar together with the court by proclaiming the new month and intercalating the year."

When Does the Month Begin?

There is considerable confusion concerning exactly when to begin God's sacred months and years. The Bible clearly reveals that each month begins with a New Moon (Ps. 81:3; Is. 66:23; Ezek. 46:1), or to be more exact, with the approximate New Moon. The Jews, and also the Muslims, correctly begin their months this way: "The Islamic Year is lunar and each month begins at the approximate New Moon" (Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., p. 755).

Arthur Spier says, "Since biblical times the months and years of the Jewish calendar have been established by the cycles of the moon and sun. The traditional law prescribes that the months shall follow closely the course of the moon, from its Molad (birth, conjunction) to the next moon" (p: 1). Anyone who is familiar with the Hebrew calendar will realize that quite often there are what many believe to be valid reasons for postponing the beginning of the months by one day, or in some cases even two days. In fact, in the Hebrew calendar the months begin with the observable New Moon only 40 percent of the time, and with the approximate New Moon 60 percent.

Those who object to these "postponements" need to realize that it is utterly impossible for any luni-solar calendar to be devised that does not require various adjustments or postponements! All who are familiar with the Jewish calendar also know that from ancient times, the Jews always began each month with the observable new crescent moon—not with the astronomical New Moon (also called "dark moon"). The visible crescent can be called a "New Moon" for about three days.

Let us briefly look at some of the serious problems confronting those who assume they must use the astronomical New Moon (the conjunction, molad or dark moon), in order to know when to observe God's Holy Days in their divinely appointed seasons.

Today, there is confusion in the minds of some regarding exactly what constitutes a New Moon. "New Moon... l: the moon's phase when it is in conjunction with the sun so that its dark side is toward the earth: also: the thin crescent moon seen shortly after sunset for a few days after the actual occurrence of the new moon phase; 2: the first day of each Jewish month marked by a special liturgy" (Webster, 10th ed.).

Notice! The thin crescent moon can actually be seen for a few days. As we already noted, the biblical months always begin with the New Moon, but the Bible does not say that each month must always begin either on the molad (astronomical conjunction) or on the first day the crescent moon appears!

In fact, "to see the moon when it is less than 2 days old [less than 2 days after the conjunction or molad] is a challenge for any observer because of its nearness to the sun. The French astronomer Andre Danjon (1890-1967) apparently holds the record for sighting the moon in 1931 when it was only 16 hours, 13 minutes from new phase" (Burrus & Spiegel, Earth in Crisis, pp. 408-409).

Expert Hebrew Calendar Testimony

The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar by Arthur Spier notes, "Lunar months must always correspond to the seasons of the year which are governed by the sun. The month of Nisan with the Passover Festival, for instance, must occur in the spring and the month of Tishri with the harvest festival of Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles] in fall " ( 1952, p. 1 ). This author and Jewish scholars in general do not believe that the months must begin precisely on the day of the astronomical conjunction, which often occurs a day or so before the crescent moon is visible! Rather, the months must "follow closely the course of the moon.”

Spier adds, “The Jewish calendar must meet two requirements both solar and lunar. This accounts for its relatively complicated structure. Since the solar year of about 365 days is approximately 11 days longer than 12 lunar months [one lunar year], the Jewish calendar is faced with the problem of balancing the solar with the lunar years" (p. l). Some mistakenly think it is a simple matter to reconcile the solar and lunar .

Bear in mind that God set both the sun and the moon in the heavens to govern all calendar calculations. `Then God said, `Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons [Heb. moedim, appointed festivals], and for days and years'” (Gen. 1:14). The Moffatt translation says, "Let there be lights... to mark out the sacred seasons, the days and the years."

If one uses a purely solar calendar, then it is not possible to know when God's annual Holy Days are to be observed. The Gregorian calendar, widely used by the Christian world today, is in no way tied to the New Moons, and therefore cannot reveal when God's seven annual Holy Days are to be kept! But if one uses a purely lunar calendar (like the Islamic calendar), then in about 33 years, God's Feasts will retrogress through all 12 calendar months.

Spier continues, "In the early times of our history the solution [to balancing the solar and lunar years] was found by the following practical procedure: the beginnings of the months were determined by direct observation of the moon. The new months were sanctified [by God's duly appointed priests] and their beginnings announced [Heb. qara] by the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, after witnesses had testified that they had seen the new crescent and after their testimony had been thoroughly examined, confirmed by calculation and duly accepted. The Jewish communities were notified of the beginning of the months (Rosh Hodesh) in earlier times by kindling of night fires on the mountains, and later on by messengers" (p. 1 ).

Biblical Reasons for a 30-day Postponement

Did the Jewish priests have authority to delay (postpone) the beginning of the year by a whole month? Spier says, "A special committee of the Sanhedrin, with its president as chairman, had the mandate to regulate and balance the solar with the lunar years. This so-called Calendar Council (Heb. Sod Haibbur) calculated the beginning of the seasons (tekufah) on the basis of astronomical figures which had been handed down as a tradition of old. Whenever, after two or three years, the annual excess of 11 days had accumulated to approximately 30 days, a thirteenth month Adar II was inserted before Nisan in order to assure that Nisan and Passover would occur in spring and not retrogress toward winter" (p. 1).

An unbroken succession of priests had received from Moses and Aaron vital information concerning how to calculate God's Sacred Calendar And though they still relied on visual observation, they always confirmed any eyewitness accounts of those who professed to have seen the new crescent moon with their own rough astronomical calculations.

The Jewish high priests and their courts had authority to add a thirteenth month when agricultural conditions in the Holy Land indicated that if such a month was not added (thereby delaying the beginning of the new year), the barley would not be mature enough to present the required wave offering (Heb omer) on the Sunday that fell during the Days of Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:9 14).

This agricultural consideration is by the Encyclopaedia Judaica: "The solar year is 365 days 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, which means that a solar year exceeds a lunar one (of 12 months) by about 11 days. The cycles of 12 lunar months must therefore be adjusted to the solar year, because although the Jewish festivals are fixed according to dates in months, they must also be in specific [agricultural] seasons of the year which depend on the tropical solar year. Without any adjustment the festivals would ‘wander’ through the seasons and the 'spring' festival [Passover, for example], would be celebrated eventually in winter, and later in Sumner. The required adjustment is realized by the addition of an extra month (Adar II). ... In Temple times [until about 70 A.D.] this intercalation was decided upon in the individual years according to agricultural conditions... later, however, it was fixed to be in the years 3, 6, 8, 11l, 14, 17, and 19 of the cycle" ("Calendars," vol. 5).

Fixing Festival Dates

Spier says, "This method of observation and intercalation was in use throughout the period of the second temple (516 B.C.E. 70 C.E.), and about three centuries after its destruction, as long as there was an independent Sanhedrin. In the fourth century [c. 358 A.D.], however, when oppression and persecution threatened the continued existence of the Sanhedrin, the patriarch Hillel II took an extraordinary step to preserve the unity of Israel. In order to prevent the Jews scattered all over the surface of the earth from celebrating their new moons, festivals and holidays at different times, he made public the system of calendar calculation which up to then had been a closely guarded secret. It had been used in the past only to check the observations and testimonies of witnesses, and to determine the beginnings of the spring season" (p. 2).

No one can say, authoritatively, when astronomical calculations were first used in conjunction with actual visual observation. They appear to have been used from the very beginning—from the time God revealed His Sacred Calendar to His people (Ex. 12; Lev. 23; 1 Sam. 20:5, 24-27). "Although it is obvious from numerous OT passages that the ancient Hebrews possessed at least a roughly calculated calendar [see 1 Sam. 20:5-27]... they have nowhere given us a complete account of their [calendar] system" (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible "Calendar," vol. 1).

Hillel II's extraordinary action has had far-reaching consequences for more than 16 centuries. His calendar calculations are still being used by the Jews and most of the members of God's Church scattered throughout the world. "Hillel II formally sanctified all months in advance, and intercalated all future leap years until such time as a new, recognized Sanhedrin would be established in Israel. This is the permanent calendar according to which the new moons and Festivals are calculated and celebrated today by the Jews all over the world. Like the former system of observation, it is based on the Luni- solar principle. It also applies certain rules by which the astronomical facts are combined with the religious requirements into an admirable calendar system" (The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, p. 2).

The Encyclopaedia Judaica adds: "The gradual regularizing of the intervals of intercalation had to be in the terms of the seven-year sabbatical cycle as none of the styles of the 19-year Metonic Cycle would have been compatible with the rule not to intercalate in sabbatical and post-sabbatical years.”

Some have assumed that Hillel II's permanent Hebrew calendar somehow sets God's Holy Days on vastly different days of the month than would a Calendar Council if one were in place today. But this is not necessarily so. According to Spier, Hillel's fixed Jewish calendar incorporates essentially the same days that would now be sanctified and observed by the Jews if they had a Calendar Council to decide all Holy Day dates. It is possible that a functioning Calendar Council might adjust when to add the extra intercalated month. Such a Council's judgment of agricultural conditions could override the fixed intercalations of Hillel mentioned above (years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19). Nevertheless, the Holy Days would still fall on the same days within each month. In any case, Hillel did not set out to establish the Holy Days strictly according to the astronomical conjunctions.

"It is obviously not the intention of the calendar calculation [of Hillel II] to establish Rosh Hashanah [first day of Tishri] and the beginning of the [subsequent] months on the day of the conjunction. It would rather appear that [in the permanent Hebrew calendar] the beginnings of the years and the months are generally adjusted to the days on which the Sanhedrin would have sanctified them on the basis of observation of the new crescent" (p. 219)!

When Does God Begin the Sacred Year?

According to God's Word, each day begins at sunset, each week begins immediately after the setting of the Sabbath sun, and each month begins with the New Moon—the crescent moon!

But when does God begin the religious year?

Exodus 12:2 says, "This month [Abib or Nisan] shall be... the first month of the year to you." But the Bible does not tell us exactly when to begin that first month. Some think the first month of the sacred year begins with the New Moon that immediately precedes the vernal equinox. Others believe it begins with the first New Moon that immediately follows that equinox. Still others think the starting point is the New Moon nearest the spring equinox.

How do the Jews, who alone have preserved God's Calendar, begin the first day of the first month of their religious year? Arthur Spier says, "The month of Nisan [or Abib] with the Passover Festival, for instance, must occur in the spring" (p. 1). The fact that the Hebrew word for the first month is Abib, meaning "green ears," reveals that that particular month occurs in the spring when the green ears appear everywhere. The first month of the Hebrew calendar is also called Nisan, meaning "to start.” The month of Abib or Nisan starts the ecclesiastical year (Ex. 12:2).

The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar lists all of the Jewish Holy Days for the entire 20th century~, from September 1899 through September 2000 A.D. It shows that for each year during this century, according to the Jewish calendar, the Passover always falls in the spring of the year—never in the winter. However, although the first day of Nisan usually begins after the vernal equinox, it does not always do so! In 1994, for example, the first day of Nisan fell on March 13, but spring didn't arrive until March 21.

The Bible reveals that the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread must always fall within the "first month" (Ex. 12; Lev. 23). In actual practice, they always occur after the spring equinox as well.

Tabernacles Never Occurs Wholly in Summer

Does the Bible demand that the Feast of Tabernacles must always occur around the time of the autumnal equinox? "And you shall observe... the Feast of Ingathering [Feast of Tabernacles] at the year's end" (Ex. 34:22). The JPS translation reads, "And you shall observe... the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year [tekufah, autumnal equinox]." What was the "year's end" or the "turn of the year"? This Hebrew word (tekufah or tekufot in the plural) means "a revolution, i.e. [of the sun] course, [of time] lapse" (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance). The Jews have traditionally understood this to mean that the autumnal equinox is to fall on or before the Feast of Tabernacles—never after! Only the spring and autumnal tekufot (equinoxes) are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (cf. 2 Chron. 24:23; Ex. 34:22).

"Tekufot ("Seasons"). As stated, the four seasons in the Jewish year are called tekufot... (literally "circuit... to go round"), the tekufah of Nisan denoting the mean sun at the vernal [equinox], that of Tammuz denoting it at the summer [solstice], that of Tishri, at the autumnal [equinox], and that of Tevet, at the winter [solstice]" (Judaica, "Calendar," vol. 5).

Today, our Gregorian calendar uses two words (equinox and solstice) to mark out the beginnings of the four seasons. There are two equinoxes—vernal or spring (about March 21), and autumnal (about September 23). The Gregorian calendar also has two solstices: summer (about June 21), and winter (about December 22). But the Hebrew calendar only has one word, tekufah, to refer to these four recurring phenomena.

The Jews realized there was both a spring and a fall equinox—a time when day and night were equal, when the year had made one complete revolution (from spring to spring, or from fall to fall). Psalm 19:6 further explains the meaning of tekufah. "Its [the Sun's] rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit [tekufah] to the other end.”

What, then, does Exodus 34:22 really say and mean? It reveals that the “Feast of Ingathering” was to occur at or after the turn of the year (NASB)—i.e. the time when the autumnal sun completes its yearly circuit as it passes southwest over the earth’s equator, thereby ushering in what we call autumn or fall.

The Feast of Tabernacles, according to the permanent Hebrew calendar, always occurs at or after that time of year. Even though the beginning of the Feast sometimes occurs a few days before the autumnal equinox, the latter half of the Feast of Tabernacles always falls after the autumnal equinox—thus fulfilling the biblical requirement of Exodus 23:16 and 34:22. Tabernacles must never end before the fall equinox (tekufah Tishri), which, in the Northern Hemisphere, usually occurs on September 23. That Feast must never occur wholly in summer!

Reject Unbiblical Teachings!

When we rightly understand the Hebrew Scriptures, we see that god gave His calendar to “Moses and Aaron” (brothers of the tribe of Levi). Aaron and his descendants were later chosen to be God’s priestly family (all the high priests were from Aaron’s family). It was solely to them that the Lord committed the “oracles of God” for safekeeping—including the preservation of His true Calendar. Without such a calendar, God’s people would not know when to observe His seven annual Holy Days in their proper seasons, as required by the Hebrew Scriptures.

Regrettable, some of God’s people are being confused by false teachings concerning God’s Sacred Calendar. Today, at least half a dozen different calendars are being circulated—all of the purporting to be "God's Calendar"—yet no two of them agree! Some who have devised their own calendars say you must observe the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month that falls on or after the spring equinox. Yet those who go by that rule sometimes end up keeping the entire seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, as well as the "eighth day" that follows (Lev. 23:36), in the summer, rather than in the autumn season as demanded by Exodus 34:22!

People sometimes cite Ambassador College's booklet, How Often Should We Partake of the Lord's Supper? to support their claim that "the first day of the new year always begins with the day nearest the spring equinox when the New Moon is first visible to the naked eye at Jerusalem" (1952, p. 6). That statement is generally true—but not always! If that rule had been in effect during the following years of this century—1905, 1932, i943, 1951, 1970, 1989, 2000—then the entire Feast of Tabernacles would have occurred in late summer, which we've just seen must never happen!

Consequently, those who follow the rule that the Passover must always fall on the first full moon after the spring equinox—or who say that the new year always begins with the day nearest the spring equinox when the New Moon is first visible to the naked eye at Jerusalem—will find themselves in quite a dilemma.

What does this all add up to? God has preserved His Sacred Calendar (commonly called the Hebrew or Jewish calendar) through the Jews (Rom. 3:2)—among whom are included Levites, as well as many priests—the latter being descendants of Aaron. God committed to them the preservation and teaching of His "oracles"—His Word, the Hebrew Bible—as well as the preservation of His Calendar, which is necessary to properly keep God's commanded Festivals in their appointed seasons.

Any man who would appoint himself to devise his own calendar—rejecting the Jews to whom God entrusted the oracles—would do well to remember what God thinks of those who arrogate to themselves the office or function of God's priests, when God has not called them to that office (cf. Num. 16, 17)!

God's people ought to use the calendar that He caused the Jews to preserve for the benefit of all who wish to obey Him and keep His commanded Festivals. That was basically the same calendar used by Christ and His disciples in New Testament times!

Who Controlled the Calendar in Christ’s Time?

Chambers Encyclopedia says, “Since the chief priests were in close alliance with them [Sadducees] it would seem natural that the ritual of the Temple should be considered on lines approved by the Sadducees” (”Sadducees,” vol. 12).

The Illustrated Bible Dictionary agrees” “Many, but not all, priests were Sadducees; nearly all Sadducees, however, appeared to have been priests, especially of the most powerful priestly families.…Under the Herods and Romans the Sadducees predominated in the Sanhedrin [and] their reckoning regulated the public observance so long as the Temple stood” (Sadducees,” vol. 3).

“In general, the Jewish calendar in N.T. times (at least before A.D. 70) followed the Sadducean reckoning, since it was by that reckoning that the Temple services were regulated (“Calendar,” vol. 1).

The 19-Year Time Cycle

The Hebrew calendar keeps the lunar year in general harmony with the solar year by adding a thirteenth month approximately every third year. Those added months (producing “leap years”) are inserted into the permanent Hebrew calendar seven times during each 19-year time cycle. The sun and moon arrive at approximately the same position in the sky every 19 years; that is, every 19 years the New Moons again fall on the same days of the solar year.

The Greeks also had a 19-year time cycle, named after the Greek astronomer, Meton, who discovered the “Metonic Cycle” around 432 B.C. Even though the length of the Greek version was the same as the Jewish 19-year time cycle, its seven “leap years” were positioned differently—during years 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 16 and 19, instead of in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19, as in the Jewish cycle. Only four of the seven leap years in the Metonic and Jewish cycles coincide. This means that three of the seven leap years in the Metonic Cycle occur in different years than in the Jewish 19-year time cycle. If one used the Metonic Cycle, he would observe many of god’s Holy Days on different dates than he would if he followed the Jewish 19-year cycle. Furthermore, the Metonic Cycle does not take into account the seventh-year land Sabbaths of Leviticus 25. God did not give His law or instructions for His Calendar to the Greeks, He rather gave them to Israel.

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by Raymond F. McNair

Some brethren are being confused concerning whether to continue using the Hebrew calendar that God's people have followed for many years. Their main objection concerns whether the postponements used in that calendar are in some way contrary to the scanty information on the calendar contained in the Bible.

Answers to Postponement Questions

In order to better understand the postponements incorporated in the Jewish calendar, we need to ask and answer the following questions:

1) When speaking of God's Calendar, exactly what is being postponed? Do the postponements delay God's Holy Days, or simply postpone the starting point from which they are reckoned? In other words, does the Hebrew calendar merely postpone the beginning of the first day of Tishri?

The present permanent Jewish calendar employs various postponements—all of which merely delay the commencement of the first day of Tishri, which begins the civil year used in both ancient and modern times. Once Tishri 1 is established, all of the other months of the Sacred Calendar are easy to calculate. So the postponements merely delay—by either one or two days—the beginning of the first day of Tishri, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year.

In actuality, the postponements don't really delay the Holy Days themselves, since those days (established by Scripture) are still observed on the same biblically commanded days of the months, according to God's directions in Leviticus 23.

2) Exactly when did the postponements originate? The origin of the postponements is not revealed—either in the Bible or by secular history. In fact, this word "postponement" (or its modern Hebrew equivalent, dehia) is not found anywhere in the Bible. But, as will be demonstrated later, from the very beginning certain postponements had to be incorporated in the Sacred Calendar—simply because it is not possible to construct it without them!

In order to observe a complete 24-hour Feast of Trumpets, it was sometimes absolutely necessary to delay the beginning of Tishri 1 by a whole day. Further, in order to be able to offer the "wave sheaf” (Heb. omer) of ripened barley during the Days of Unleavened Bread, it was sometimes mandatory that the high priest in ancient Israel postpone the beginning of Nisan 1 by a whole month. Such a postponement would, of course, delay all of the seven annual Feasts by 30 days!

3) Did the calendar used by the Jews in the time of Christ and His apostles include any postponements? Postponements were certainly used by the Jews in the first century A.D. Secular history shows that the two major religious parties (the Sadducees and the Pharisees) used essentially the same basic calendar. The Sadducees, as successors to the priesthood from the line of Aaron, used the same calendar information that had been passed on to them from Aaron and Moses. This included the requirement that the Feast of Unleavened Bread fall in the spring (thereby necessitating certain one-month postponements to the beginning of the sacred year). There is no record of Christ and His apostles objecting to the calendar or instituting a different one.

Whom did God Authorize to Preserve His Calendar?

4) Did God give His people the Sacred Calendar, including postponements that would facilitate the observance of His Feasts?

Firstly, as mentioned earlier, it is utterly impossible to have an accurate, viable sacred calendar without incorporating certain adjustments or postponements. That's to say, the essentially Lunar months of the Hebrew calendar would not remain within their proper seasons—which are determined by the solar year—unless the calendar is periodically adjusted.

Secondly, it is totally inconsistent with the Bible to believe that God would have commanded the Israelites to keep the seven annual "Feasts of the LORD" mentioned in Leviticus 23—yet would not have revealed to them an accurate calendar showing the proper days for their observance!

God began to reveal His Calendar to the Israelites even before they left Egypt: "Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, `This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Ex. 12:1-2). Further, the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were always to be observed in that first month of Abib/Nisan (Ex. 13:4; Esther 3:7), the month in which the barley became ripe enough to offer a "wave sheaf” (Heb: omer) to God, on the Sunday during this Feast (Lev. 23:9-15).

When the Lord revealed His seven annual Festivals to Moses, He commanded him to proclaim (Heb. qara, announce officially) those Feasts to Israel (Lev. 23:1-2). God chose the entire tribe of Levi to be His ministers (Num. 18:20-22); however only Aaron and his sons were chosen to serve in the top ministerial positions as priests (Num. 17:1-13; 18:1-7, 25-32).

But the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel lost the knowledge of God's Sacred Calendar. When they seceded from the House of David (c. 930 B.C.), their first king, Jeroboam, rejected God's law and His Feasts and devised a festival to be observed in the "eighth month" (1 Kings 12:19-33). Because of Jeroboam's apostasy, many of the Levites living among the Ten Tribes in the north moved south into Judah.

From then on, the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and most of the Levites composed the kingdom of Judah. After the Jews' Babylonian captivity in the 6th century B.C., some of them returned to their ancient homeland and formed a nation, which later became known as Judea. The New Testament Scriptures plainly reveal that the Jews were responsible for preserving the Hebrew Scriptures, including preservation of certain "oral" calendar instructions given by God to Moses and Aaron. "What advantage then has the Jew...? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them [the Jews] were committed the oracles [Gk. logion, words of God)" (Rom. 3:1-2; cf. Acts 7:38).

How do we know the oracles include how to reckon God's Calendar? Since the Bible does not tell us how to construct the Sacred Calendar, and since it is essential that we have it in order to properly observe God's Feasts, therefore we know God has seen to it that all essential information about the calendar was communicated to His servants.

The Four Postponements

5) How many postponements are now incorporated in the Hebrew calendar?

Today's permanent Jewish calendar (established by Hillel II in 358 A.D.) utilizes four postponements. God Almighty gave Moses certain necessary oral instructions regarding His calendar that are not recorded in the Bible. And, through the centuries, God must have inspired the Jews in such a way as to utilize the postponements. We are specifically told that God's Spirit can impart physical knowledge (Ex. 35:30-35; 36:1-4) as well as spiritual understanding (Job 28:28).

The Bible itself says absolutely nothing about postponements. So, if God's Word does not condemn postponements, then who are we to say that the Jews, the custodians of God's Word and His Calendar, are wrong in including them—especially so, since those postponements enable God's people to avoid certain problems when the weekly Sabbath immediately precedes or follows an annual Sabbath, thereby producing two back-to-back (tandem) Sabbaths?

Though the vast majority of the members of the true Church of God today follow the Hebrew calendar, nonetheless there are numerous small groups that believe in keeping God's Feasts, yet totally reject the Jewish calendar. They claim that the Jews had no authority to introduce the postponements into God's Calendar. But is that what really happened?

Let us briefly examine the purpose of the postponements to see if they do in some way run counter to the plain teaching of God's Word. As we show in the companion article on God's Calendar, the Jews do not believe the months must always begin on what is called the astronomical conjunction. Rather, the Jews (as well as the Muslims) believe that each lunar month begins on the day of the approximate New Moon!

What is a conjunction? "'The conjunction of the moon with the sun is the point in time at which the moon is directly between the earth and the sun (but not on the same plane) and is thus invisible. This is known as the molad (birth)" (Judaica, "Calendar," vol. 5).

We are also told that, according to the Hebrew calendar, "every month must begin on a day close to the molad. For the beginning of the year, the first day of Tishri, the calendar follows this rule: Rosh Hashanah, the first day of Tishri, must be on the day of the Molad. [But) there are exceptions, the so-called Dehioth [postponements], which take place in four specific cases" (Arthur Spier, The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar, p. 219).

Spier then says, "Note: In more than 60% of all years Rosh Hashanah [Tishri 1 ] does not occur on the day of the Molad [the actual conjunction] but is postponed according to one of the Dehioth [rules governing postponements]. Therefore the Dehioth are actually not the exceptions to the rule but the rule."

6) What; then, are the four postponements included in the permanent Hebrew calendar?

POSTPONEMENT l: "When the Molad Tishri occurs on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, Rosh Hashanah [Tishri 1 ] is postponed to the following day" (p. 218).

What purpose does this postponement serve? Spier says postponement 1 "mainly fulfills the following three religious requirements: Yom Kippur [the Day of Atonement] shall not occur on the day before or after the Sabbath and Hoshanah Rabba [the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles] shall not occur on a [weekly] Sabbath" (p. 219).

Why does postponement 1 prevent Tishri 1 from occurring on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday? If Tishri 1 did occur on a Sunday, this would result in four consecutive Holy Day/Sabbath combinations during that particular year If the first day of Tishri occurred on a Wednesday, this would necessitate two consecutive combinations. And if Tishri 1 occurred on a Friday, this would once again result in four consecutive Holy Day/Sabbaths.

The Jewish calendar permits Tishri 1 to fall on a Monday, 'Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. When Tishri 1 falls on these permitted days there are only two possibilities for tandem Sabbaths (not including the true Pentecost, which always involves this combination). The first permitted tandem Sabbath combination occurs when the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sunday, as in 1994. The second permitted tandem Sabbath combination occurs when the last day of Unleavened Bread occurs on a Friday, as in 1998. But these tandem Sabbaths occur rather infrequently

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.

Why did the Jewish religious authorities conclude that the fast day (Yom Kippur) should never occur on the day before or after the weekly Sabbath? Clearly, this would have made it very difficult for the Israelite women to properly prepare for the weekly Sabbath—a feast day! Remember, anyone who did not properly observe the Day of Atonement; by refraining from all work, would be "cut off” from his people (Lev. 23:28)!

And why did the Jewish religious authorities conclude that the last day (seventh day) of the Feast of Tabernacles (called Hoshana Rabba) should never fall on a weekly Sabbath? Simply because if Hoshana Rabba did fall on the weekly Sabbath, this would be followed immediately by another Sabbath, the annual Sabbath called the "eighth day" (Lev. 23:39-44). This tandem Sabbath would work undue hardship on the women who, in such cases, would have to prepare food on Friday for both the weekly Sabbath and the following day, the eighth day, which would be an annual Sabbath (v. 39).

Another benefit of the postponements is the matter of avoiding Sabbath burials. If someone died shortly before a back-to-back Sabbath combination occurred, this would make it difficult for mourners, since the burial could not take place on either the annual or weekly Sabbaths.

POSTPONEMENT 2: "When Molad Tishri occurs at noon [the approximate l8th hour of a 24-hour day from sunset to sunset] or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next day. (Or if this day is a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, [it is then postponed] to Monday, Thursday or Sabbath because of Dehiah)" (p. 219).

The New Moon (molad) can happen at any time during a 24-hour day. Postponement 2 ensures that "when Molad Tishri occurs at noon... or later," then Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next day, or if circumstances demand, it is postponed another whole day. In ancient times, duly authorized religious authorities always went by "visual observation" (though they used calculations as a further check) in determining exactly when the New Moon had occurred. But if the New Moon did not appear until noon (or later), this meant that three-fourths of the 24-hour day had already elapsed—with less than six hours remaining. Since the religious authorities had to get the word out to the people throughout the land of Israel, there would have been no way the people could have learned when the first day of Tishri was in time to properly observe the Feast of Trumpets. It thus became necessary to postpone Tishri 1 by one day, in order to allow the messengers enough time to inform the Israelites so they could observe the Feast.

POSTPONEMENT 3: "When the Molad Tishri of a common year falls on Tuesday, [about 12 minutes] after 3 a.m... or later, Rosh Hashanah [Tishri 1 ] is postponed to Wednesday, and, because of Dehia, further postponed to Thursday" (p. 219).

Why was postponement 3 made? The Jewish calendar, being luni-solar, is based on the fact that 19-year astronomical time cycles regularly occur in nature. During each such time cycle, the Sacred Calendar incorporates twelve common years (having 353, 354 or 355 days), and seven leap years (having 383, 384 or 385 days). Since the decision of Hillel II in 358 A.D., the leap years are always positioned to occur in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of the time cycle. This postponement was made for purely astronomical reasons—to make certain that the "common year" was kept to its proper, pre-ordained length of 353, 354 or 355 days.

POSTPONEMENT 4: "When, in a common year succeeding a leap year, the Molad Tishri occurs on Monday morning [about 35 minutes] after 9 a.m... Rosh Hashanah [Tishri 1] is postponed to the next day" (p. 219).

Postponement 4 was also made for astronomical reasons—to ensure that each "common year succeeding a leap year" would always fall within the required length of all "common years," that is 353, 354 or 355 days.

The four postponements that the Jews incorporate in the Hebrew calendar were put there for specific purposes—the chief purpose being to avoid certain Sabbath observance problems that otherwise would have resulted when two successive Sabbaths (i.e. tandem Sabbaths) occurred.

Preventing or Minimizing Tandem Sabbaths?

7) Doesn't the fact that tandem Sabbaths occur annually at Pentecost (which is always preceded by the weekly Sabbath) prove that we don't need to be concerned about having Sabbaths back-to-back?

We must remember that during most of the history of mankind, the masses lived in an agriculturally based society, and did not have modern electrical appliances, running water, refrigeration, etc. Consequently, they could not have prepared food and kept it for several days without it spoiling.

The four postponements in the Hebrew calendar reduce the "tandem Sabbath" problem to a bare minimum. They were never intended to totally prevent, but merely to minimize, the number of tandem Sabbaths that could occur in any one year! Therefore the Jewish religious authorities deliberately included the postponements.

Now, there are modern "Pharisees" who think it was not proper for the Jewish religious authorities to include any postponements in the calendar; but they utterly fail to understand that God is far more concerned with the avoidance of undue human hardship on His Sabbaths (Mark 2:27-28), than in making sure the Jews always observe the beginning of their months precisely on the very day on which the new crescent moon first appears!

8) Is there further proof that God did not intend for the months to always begin at some "mathematically precise" moment?

When, for instance, the weather was cloudy at the time of the New Moon, it was sometimes impossible for anyone to see the crescent moon on the first day of its appearance. In such cases, the Jewish religious authorities then automatically counted that day as the "thirtieth day" of the month (the months of the Sacred Calendar never had more than 30 days!), and then postponed the beginning of the first day of their next month until the following day

Clearly, if that day hadn't been cloudy, and if the observers had seen a new crescent moon on the "thirtieth day," they would have proclaimed that particular month to be a 29-day month. Consequently, they would have begun the first day of the next month on that very day when they first sighted the new crescent moon (cf. Judaica, "Calendar," vol. 8).

Reconciling Astronomy and Religion

9) How did the priests determine when to intercalate a thirteenth month?

The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar explains: "Astronomical calculation was not the only basis for intercalation of a thirteenth month. The delay of the actual arrival of spring was another decisive factor. The talmudic sources report that the [Calendar] Council intercalated a year when the barley in the fields had not yet ripened [enough to provide the omer, Lev. 23:11].... The Council on intercalation considered the astronomical facts together with the religious requirements of Passover and the natural conditions of the country" (p. 1 ).

The Jewish high priests and their courts had authority to add a thirteenth month when agricultural conditions in the Holy Land indicated that, if a thirteenth month was not intercalated (thereby delaying the beginning of the new year by one whole month), the barley would not have been mature enough to present the required wave offering (Lev. 23:9-14)!

This agricultural requirement is corroborated by The Illustrated Bible Dictionary: "Pentecost... marks the completion of the barley harvest, which began when the sickle was first put to the grain (Deut. 16:9), and when the sheaf [Heb. Omer] was waved `the morrow after the Sabbath' (Lev. 23:11)" (1994, vol. 3).

The Encyclopaedia Judaica states, "'The required adjustment [postponing the beginning of the year] is realized by the addition of an extra month (Adar II) in each of seven out of the 19 years that constitute the small (or lunar) cycle of the moon (mahazor katan or mahazor ha-levanah). In 19 years the solar cycle exceeds the lunar cycle (of 235 lunations) by about 209 days, which are approximately 7 months.... In Temple times this intercalation was decided upon in the individual years according to agricultural conditions... later, however, it was fixed to be in the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 of the cycle" ("Calendar.” vol. 5).

As long as the Temple stood, that is, up until 70 A.D., the Jewish religious authorities sometimes had to intercalate a thirteenth month in order to ensure that the barley would be ripe enough for the omer offering. Thus, it is clear that the Jews not only sometimes postponed the beginning of Tishri by a day or two, but they sometimes postponed the beginning of the ecclesiastical year (Nisan 1 ) by a whole month—thereby postponing all the Holy Days for that year! After 70 A.D., the Temple was no more. Therefore, the priests could no longer offer the required omer during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Compelling Evidence

What is the very best evidence proving decisively that it is not only permissible to use postponements, but is impossible not to use them if we are to have a viable calendar for observing God's Festivals?

Clearly, as we have seen, it is sometimes necessary to postpone Tishri 1 by a day or two. Likewise, it is indisputable that the entire year must be postponed by a whole month from time to time. These steps are necessary to synchronize the lunar and solar years.

Moreover, those who object to the postponements, which are built into the permanent Hebrew calendar, should carefully consider that when the New Moon appeared late in the day (12 noon or later), it was absolutely necessary to delay the beginning of Tishri 1—otherwise it would not have been possible to have informed God's people (by officially proclaiming that day as Tishri 1), and consequently there would have been insufficient time in which to properly observe the Feast of Trumpets. If the New Moon appeared immediately after 12 noon, less than six hours would remain in that day, therefore one could at most only observe one-quarter of the day—not a complete day of Trumpets—that is, unless Tishri 1 was postponed. Presumably, a six-hour minimum would have given just enough time in which to notify God's people, so they could assemble in a "holy convocation" as commanded on the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24-26).

Today, there are "legalists" who object to the postponements. They would—in Christ's words—"strain out a gnat [a one- or two-day postponement] and swallow a camel [a 30-day postponement]" (Matt. 23:24)! They would disallow a one- or two-day postponement at the beginning of Tishri, but would be forced to acknowledge that the Jewish religious authorities had the authority to intercalate a whole month (Ve-Adar or Adar II), in order to make certain that the barley would be ripe enough for the omer, as demanded by God's law (Lev. 23: I 1 ).

One further question may come to mind regarding the observance of Pentecost. If we believe the Jews have accurately preserved God's Calendar, why do we differ with them on when to observe this Holy Day? The answer lies in the Jews' interpretation of the date from which to begin "counting fifty." (For a full exposition on this topic, please write for our reprint article on how to properly determine the day of Pentecost.)

An Inescapable Conclusion

What is the inescapable conclusion the foregoing facts lead us to? God authorized the "Jews" (primarily the priests and Levites) to preserve the knowledge of His Sacred Calendar—now known as the Hebrew calendar. The Lord gave certain instructions regarding the calendar to Moses to give to Aaron and his sons so they could pass them down to future generations (Lev. 23:1-2). Later, God may have given further oral instructions regarding His Calendar to His holy prophets. If God has not preserved His Calendar through the Jews, then no one today has God-given authority to devise his own calendar. Why not? Simply because the Scriptures do not give sufficient information for anyone to properly reconstruct the Sacred Calendar!

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.

When we consider all the scriptures pertaining to the calendar, it becomes clear that God's people ought to follow the example of Jesus Christ and His New Testament Church by using the Hebrew calendar (Rom. 3:2)—rather than groping around trying to devise their own unauthorized calendars! (Judges 21:25).

Astronomical Calculations and the Postponements

Some say that by using certain astronomical calculations we can actually determine the exact position of the phases of the moon for past years—including the year of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Others, however, don’t believe astronomical calculations are totally reliable. They claim there are too many imponderables in regard to the use of astronomical tables to know precisely the time of day on which the astronomical New Moon (the molad) occurred in 31 A.D., the year of Christ’s crucifixion—or the precise hour when the new crescent moon appeared on either Tishri 1or Nisan 1 of that same year. Such astronomical calculations, intended to prove the use of postponements in Christ’s time, appear to be unreliable!

In any case, there is insufficient evidence for anyone to construct an accurate, visible “Sacred Calendar”—from the Bible alone! But God Almighty did not leave us in the dark. He saw to it that important knowledge of His calendar was preserved through the Jews. Of all the people of Israel, only the Jews continued keeping God’s Holy Days, and only they preserved the knowledge of His Sacred Calendar!

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by John H. Ogwyn

The events recounted in Acts 2 mark the real beginning of the New Covenant Church. These events happened on the Day of Pentecost, also called the Feast of Firstfruits Harvest in the Hebrew Scriptures (Ex. 23:16). As the Church of God began, those first members inherited a system of belief and structure, which made for unity.

In Matthew 10:1-6, Christ chose twelve apostles, with Peter as the chief, to proclaim the Gospel and to lead the Church under Him. Peter is called "first" (v. 2). This is from the Greek protos, meaning "foremost" or "first." Peter was not the first chosen chronologically; Andrew was (John 1:40-42). Therefore, protos can only refer to his leadership role among the apostles.

Christ personally taught these 12 men for three-and-a-half years. They saw His personal example day in and day out. Most crucial of all, they were eyewitnesses to His resurrection to eternal life. They saw Him rise to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. They also knew that He was going to come back as King of kings because He had told them so! In the meantime, however, their Lord and Master had entrusted them with a job to do (Matt. 28:19-20).

Since Judas, one of the original twelve, had committed suicide, a replacement had to be chosen. Judas' replacement was chosen shortly prior to Pentecost by casting lots. This was before the Holy Spirit was given and it is the last time we read about lots being cast to ascertain God's will. When Pentecost was fully come, the disciples were together with one accord in one place. Suddenly the sound of a rushing mighty wind filled the house, tongues of fire appeared above the heads of the disciples, and they were granted the miraculous gift of speaking languages they had never studied. This gift was quickly put to use by preaching the Gospel to Jews from all over the known world in their own native languages.

At that time in the Church's history, there were no splits. The Church had unity of doctrine, harmony of purpose, love for one another and zeal for the Work of God. "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42). Proceeding through the book of Acts, however, it is apparent that this idyllic scene did not continue. Acts recounts not only incidents of persecution from without, but also of disruptions by false brethren from within. It tells of doctrinal disputes and even of those who falsely claimed to be God's true ministers, but were really instruments of Satan the Devil (cf. 2 Cor. 11:13-15).

At the close of the first century, the Living Christ inspired the Apostle John to record messages to the seven Churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2-3. These messages give us both insight into the problems besetting the Church in that day as well as a prophetic view of the Church from John's day to ours and on beyond.

The first Church, Ephesus, was used to characterize the Apostolic Era. This Church had tested "those who say they are apostles and are not" (Rev. 2:2). The "Ephesians" hated the deeds of the "Nicolaitans." Who were these Nicolaitans, and why were their deeds to be hated? Clearly, the Nicolaitans played a major negative role in the early history of the Church. Are there Nicolaitans, today, who play a role in the story of God's Church?

Prejudice Against Hierarchy

One of the biggest mistakes that many make in trying to understand prophecy is to approach it from the wrong direction. People often start with today's events and try to make them fit into the Bible rather than beginning with the biblical text and letting it interpret itself. Many make a similar mistake in the study of history. They begin with a pattern of thought and prejudice shaped by contemporary society and then attempt to decipher the past using a lens of wrongly focused assumptions.

In the contemporary Western world, democracy as a form of governance has been virtually deified. There has been, throughout this century in particular, an attack on the concept of hierarchy. This has affected many. Such people have sought to reinterpret the Bible in accordance with modern prejudices and thereby deny the divine authorship of structure and hierarchy.

Some new Bible translations , seek to avoid terms like "Lord," "Master," and references to God as "the Father." Others haven't gone to that extreme. But some churches have tried to reinterpret the structure of their organizations in a way that is compatible with trendy democratic notions. For instance, Alexander Strauch in his book, Biblical Eldership, argues against churches having a pastor, insisting rather that there ought to be a "team" of elders, governing by committee.

Prejudice against hierarchy represents the spirit of our age. It is rampant throughout the Western world. In religion, such a spirit influences not only Protestants, but also Catholics. In his book, The Jesuits, Malachi Martin explains how a democratic spirit has even swept the Catholic Church since the Vatican II reforms in 1965. "In place of a hierarchic Church, they ["liberation-theology" clergy] are aiming at a church composed of small and autonomous communities of people—`the people of God,' as they are collectively known, or `the people's Church'” (p. 15).

What does all of this have to do with the Nicolaitans? Simply this: certain modern commentators have come up with a new interpretation of the nature of this ancient heresy. Focusing on the meaning of the Greek name Nicholas as "conqueror of the people," they have come to the conclusion that the sin of the Nicolaitans lay in introducing church government. This notion is simply an attempt to biblically buttress trendy ideas that permeate our whole society, including the religious sphere. It is a misguided idea that overlooks the role of the real Nicolaitans in both ancient and modern times.

"People Conquerors"

Those who point out the meaning of Nicholas are correct in their interpretation of the word, but they are missing the real significance. The Greek proper name Nicholas is the equivalent of the Hebrew name Balaam! The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible points out in its article, "Nicolaitans," that just as Nicolaitans could be derived from Greek words, nikan, which means "to conquer" and laos, which means "people,” so Balaam derives from two Hebrew words, bela, "to conquer" and ha'am, "the people." Zondervan states, "Nicolaus and Balaam would then be the Greek and Hebrew forms of the same name" (vol. 4, p. 435).

Revelation 2 closely links the Nicolaitans to followers of Balaam. The Anchor Bible Dictionary says, "By way of a similitude, the teaching of the Nicolaitans is defined as that of Balaam of the OT and Jewish tradition: eating food sacrificed to idols and immorality (Num. 25:1-2; 31:16).”

Let's briefly look at the story of Balaam. In Numbers 22, Israel encamped east of the Jordan, prior to entering the Promised Land. Balak, King of Moab, knew that he couldn't overcome Israel on his own, so he sent his servants to Pethor to ask Balaam to come and curse Israel.

Pethor is a city on the Euphrates River about 350 miles from where Israel was encamped. Why would Balak try to recruit "cursing talent" from so far away? The first-century Jewish historian Josephus tells us that it was because Balaam "was the greatest of the prophets of that time" (Antiquities, bk. 4, chap. 6, sec. 2). For the King of Moab and the leaders of Midian to send their princes on such a long, arduous journey at that critical time to offer Balaam considerable wealth as payment for his services, shows the esteem in which the pagans held him.

Balaam wanted the money, but knew that he could not go beyond what God allowed in invoking a curse. He kept looking for a way to get around God's instruction not to go. He sought his own way and finally got it. Since he wasn't allowed to curse Israel directly, he came up with a plan.

Revelation 2:14 says that the doctrine of Balaam was that he "taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." Evidently Balaam reasoned that the only way to curse Israel, since God wouldn't let him do it directly, was to entice them into such flagrant sins that God Himself would be so displeased that He would curse them.

Following Balaam's advice, Balak had the Moabite women entice the Israelites into idolatry and immorality. How Balaam "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15)! Balaam was a greedy prophet who taught unrighteousness. In other words, he taught against God's law. He was responsible for leading God's people into grievous sins involving idolatry and immorality. Jude also talks about false teachers in his day who ran "greedily in the error of Balaam for profit" (Jude 11 ).

What most people don't realize is that "Balaam" was not a personal name; it was a title. Originally, it had been a title of Nimrod the mighty hunter, the founder of Babylon and of this world's post-flood civilization and religions. The Balaam of Moses' day was nothing less than the successor of Nimrod. He was the Pontifex Maximus of the ancient world. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology notes, "Yet Balaam is unexpectedly prominent in Jewish tradition. He was a type of lawless wickedness, the antagonist of Moses the law-giver" (vol. 2, p. 677).

Balaam dwelt in Pethor of Mesopotamia (Deut. 23:4). What is the significance of Pethor? The Semitic root consonants PTR (sometimes rendered Peter, Petor, Patora, Pathar or Pethor, vowels were changeable between the consonants and were not generally written in a text) means "opener" or "interpreter." In Genesis 40:8, Pharaoh's servants "dreamed a dream.” They told Joseph, "...and there is no interpreter [Heb. pathar] of it.” Proper Names of the Old Testament, edited by A. Jones, says that Balaam's Pethor was a sacred high place "where there was an oracular temple, and hence called Pethor, and Pethora, which meant, place of interpretation, or oracular temple. Here was, no doubt, a college of priests of whom Balaam had been appointed chief Patora" (p. 296).

Balaam came from Mesopotamia, the home of idolatry and false religion. He was the Chief Opener or Interpreter.

The Great Power!

Just as Balaam was the greatest false religious leader of his day, so the New Testament identifies Simon Magus as one who was a great religious leader of the Babylonian-descended Samaritans. In Acts 8 he is called Simon the Sorcerer In an article on Simon Magus, the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica says that Simon was both the "Samaritan Messiah attempting by the aid of Christianity to establish a new religion" and also "founder of a school of gnostics." Edward Lohse in his book The New Testament Environment writes, "The claim to be `The Great Power' cannot be understood simply as the expression of opinion of a magician: instead, it represents the claim to be the bearer of divine revelation" (pp. 26&269).

When God allowed the northern Ten Tribes of Israel to go into Assyrian captivity, the Assyrians brought in Babylonian settlers to populate the countryside (2 Kings 17:74). These Babylonians came to be known as Samaritans. They continued to practice their same Babylonian pagan religion, but now in the name of YHVH. Notice 2 Kings 17:33, “They feared the LORD [YHVH], yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.”

"So these nations feared the LORD, yet served their carved images; also their children and children's children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day" (v. 41). Clearly the Samaritans practiced Babylonian paganism and yet claimed to be doing it to serve YHVH, the God of Israel.

In John 4:22, Jesus Christ explained to the Samaritan woman at the well that the Samaritans did not have God's Truth and in reality worshipped they "know not what" (KJV). The knowledge of salvation was preserved not by them, hut by the Jews. Simon Magus was the religious leader of the Samaritans—he was the New Testament counterpart to Balaam.

The first century Church, symbolized in Revelation 2 as the Church at Ephesus, is praised because it rejected false apostles (v. 2) and hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans (v. 6). The Pergamos church is corrected because "you have those who hold the doctrine of Balaam.... Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate" (vv. 14-15).

In Revelation 2:20, the Thyatira Church receives a rebuke because it allowed "Jezebel... to teach and beguile My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.” This sin is exactly what is identified in verse 14 as the doctrine of Balaam. Thus the doctrine of Balaam, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, and the teachings of Jezebel (used here to personify the great false church, cf. also Rev 17:1-6) are one and the same.

There is another interesting note in the messages to the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia. Both of these Churches are pictured as having to contend with the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are not (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). Clearly the synagogue of Satan is the evil counterpart to the Church of God. Since all who will be saved must become spiritual Jews (Rom. 2:29; Gal. 3:29; John 4:22), these scriptures point out that here are those who are claiming to be the true Church and teach the way of salvation, but aren't really. Notice what Josephus says of the Samaritans of old, "When they see the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that they are changed, and allied to them and call them kinsmen, as though they were derived from Joseph, and had by that means an original alliance with them" (Antiquities, bk. 9, chap. 14, sec. 3).

The ancient Samaritans claimed to be Israelites when it was to their advantage. The Samaritan woman referred to Jacob as "our father" in talking to Christ (John 4:12), but as we've already seen from 2 Kings 17, the Samaritans were Babylonian in origin, not Israelite. Their only connection with Israel was that they came into possession of what had formerly belonged to God's people. They talked about the God of Israel, but in reality they simply practiced their old Babylonian paganism using new terminology.

This was the approach that Simon Magus attempted to bring into the first century Church. It is what gave rise to the false religion that now masquerades under the name Christian.

The Nicolaitans of the first century were followers of Simon Magus, the Petor of the Babylonian Mystery religion in Samaria and, as such, successor to Balaam and Nimrod. "The Nicolaitans attempted to establish a compromise with the pagan society of the Greco-Roman world that surrounded them" (Zondervan, vol. 4, p. 436).

No, the Nicolaitans weren't the authors of government. God Himself is the author of right government, of loving authority based upon His laws. This is what exists in heaven today, and it is what God desires to exist in His family, in the Church, and in the Kingdom of God to come. The Nicolaitans were, in reality, a continuation of the rebellion that began with Nimrod and the Tower of Babel against God's government, which is embodied in His law.

We must "continue in the apostles' doctrine" in order that we might reject the seduction to follow the doctrine of Balaam and fit in with this world. The doctrines of the Nicolaitans, ancient and modern, are just a continuation of the doctrine of Simon Magus, Balaam and Nimrod. Nimrod, the mighty hunter of Babylon, by rebelling against the government of God and establishing his own system, became the original post flood "conqueror of the people.”

Godly government, properly structured and administered, leads to harmony both in the home and in the Church. It was good that the people in the early New Covenant Church "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine" (Acts 2:42) and "held them in high esteem" (5:13 NRSV). But what happened to the first century Church? The same old story. They got their eyes off the big picture and lost their first love. Zeal for the Work flagged. Pride led to contention and strife among brethren. False doctrine and a spirit of compromise with the world led them off the track. The role of the Nicolaitans was to entice God's people to lose sight of their high calling and to lose their identity. They taught disregard for God's law and encouraged God's people to be just like the world.

Conquerors of the people? Respect for God's government does not enslave us. It is sin that enslaves and conquers. Truth sets us free.

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To My Friends,

This may come as a shock to you; but we've decided to start attending with Global. Sometime last November, while channel surfing, I came across the Global telecast and was immediately captivated by it. To me, it was powerful and gripping and I realized that Global was doing a Work. I wondered if all the rumors about Global could be true. I figured they had to be, since so many ministers and brethren decided to align elsewhere.

I kept watching the telecast. Mr. Meredith conveyed such a depth of conviction and understanding of the Truth, that we decided to ask for the World Ahead magazine. We started getting it in December We thought the magazine was superb and thus began examining the fruits of Global, in spite of all the persistent rumors about them.

Meanwhile, the focus at my former affiliation seemed to be more inward rather than getting a Work done. Also, I compared Global's booklet, Your Ultimate Destiny, with my former group's booklet on the same topic. Mr. Meredith proved that God is actually reproducing Himself and the booklet was chock-full of supporting scriptures. It was the full Truth. I was also impressed with Mr. Raymond McNair's booklet; The God You Can Know, dealing primarily with the nature of God. It was refreshing to read these truths so clearly expounded again.

In the process of evaluating Global, we listened to dozens of sermons and felt that what was being preached, as best we could judge, was the full, solid Truth. It became evident that only Global, in our estimation, believed and preached the whole Truth. Yet, the rumors about Global continued to concern us.

“They don't have much love"

Mr. Meredith has been emphasizing servant leadership for quite some time. He commented in the January 1994 issue of the Global Church News (GCN): "But we do want to make sure—among ourselves at least—that any harsh, dictatorial approaches will not be tolerated in either the ministry or any other part of the human leadership of the Church.... We do want the emphasis to be on SERVICE rather than on `who is in charge here'” This approach has been emphasized repeatedly (p. 13; Jan. 1995, p. 3; March 1995, p. 27). Most recently, in the January 1996 issue, Mr. Meredith's lead article stresses love, gentleness and consideration of others. He has emphasized this approach in sermons and in a ministerial conference too.

Some close friends of ours report that the Global congregation in their area is friendly and helpful. They are very pleased with the quality of fellowship they have with the brethren there.

We ourselves have attended the San Diego congregation a couple times and found the brethren to be very friendly. Most of them didn't know us from Adam but several introduced themselves. And, we were impressed with the quality of fellowship too.

During U.B., my wife and the kids flew to Arkansas to visit my wife's parents. My wife's grandma attends Global. Since her only chance to see her grandma was at services, she attended the last Holy Day with Global. My son, not feeling well, was sitting by himself. From a distance, my wife noticed a group of four older teens walk toward him. They introduced themselves and talked to him for a good while. My son was very impressed by their friendliness.

'They're stuck in the 1960s"

If this rumor refers to doctrine, it's not true. Global believes what the Church taught up until Mr. Armstrong's death, in 1986, although some things like moderate use of makeup and acknowledgement of birthdays are okay: Also, Global allows tithing on the net. These are some of the changes that I' m aware of at the moment.

If the rumor refers to technology, the facts expose otherwise. I'm pretty sure Global established a home page on the Internet before most others. Maybe it's because TV is currently emphasized that this rumor persists. In the U.S., 99 percent of homes have at least one TV and about two-thirds of those homes have at least three TVs. Obviously, a lot of people watch a lot of TV! Although rapidly growing, I think only about 20 percent of U.S. homes have PCs. No one should criticize Global for emphasizing TV while also developing their computer presence.

Maybe the rumor refers to administrative matters. Well, Global's overriding emphasis is on servant leadership. Also, I know that one of the female employees was asked to address a ministerial conference about some administrative matters. She declined, but asking a woman to address the ministry does not sound like a policy of the 1960s. In addition, several people who work at Global headquarters have told us that Mr. Meredith is a pleasure to work for, that he gets plenty of advice from others, and that he's kind and very positive.

"They don't think for themselves; they like to be told what to do"

I don't believe that brethren who left our former association earlier than many of the rest of us can logically be accused of this. Obviously, they were able to reason, test and prove things for themselves, especially when one understands that Global has grown a trickle at a time with individuals or small groups continually trickling in over the last few years and it continues to grow that way. Those in Global cannot be accused of following the crowd.

"There's a different spirit there"

For about six months now, I've talked to people who attend with Global, talked to some who work at headquarters, watched the telecast and read the literature and publications. And I believe, by all the fruits that I have been able to evaluate, that God is using Global and that they will have more and more of a dramatic impact in doing the Work of God. I believe it is God's Holy Spirit that is working through Mr. Meredith and the brethren at Global. I think we need to be extremely careful about making judgments regarding where God's Spirit works (Matt. 12:31-32).

"Global thinks they’re better than other Church of God groups"

Global does believe it is following God's will more closely in regards to Church government, preaching all of the Truth and in prioritizing a Work. Mr. Meredith explains these points in detail in the GCN (July 1995, p. 1). Also, notice this comment by Mr. Raymond McNair: "To the contrary, all of those who today comprise the one true Church (the invisible `body of Christ') are scattered through numerous corporate bodies, which in one way or another all bear the name Church of God" (GCN, Jan. 1995, p. 6). Mr. Meredith urged the Global brethren to "appreciate the fact that so many thousands of brethren have hung in there and have continued to keep the Sabbath, the Holy Days and much of God's precious Truth. Let's love and appreciate them—even if they are not within our particular church organization" (GCN, Jan. 1996, p. 21).

"Global is always attacking other groups"

When Global makes statements about how it differs from others (such as not voting for its leadership), I believe it is defending its position. There are those who wonder why Global and other groups don't get together, or why they should drive much farther to attend Global if there's a different organization's congregation much closer. Responses to these questions are not attacks. There is a difference between defending a position on the basis of Scripture versus making derogatory statements about peoples' character and motives. The latter would be an attack.

"You can't trust Mr. Meredith"

I've read about how Global got started (GCN, July 1995, p. 19). Basically, Mr. Meredith was confronted and given only one option—retire and take discretionary assistance in exchange for keeping quiet about the doctrinal changes. Mr. Meredith did not initiate this action. What he did reminds me of what Mr. Armstrong did when he told the leadership of the Sardis era to take his salary and throw it in the Pacific Ocean.

What ensued with Mr. Meredith closely parallels what God did through Mr. Armstrong. A comment I've read suggests that one who "present[s] himself as the one to follow" is not waiting on God to reveal what should be done. This could easily have been applied to Mr. Armstrong as criticism for what he did in raising up the Philadelphia era.

I believe that the only way to evaluate whether a Leader is self-appointed or not, is to judge the fruits, not to question motives, which only God can judge.

Some of the Fruits of Global

• Spiritual Truth, which can only be revealed by God ( 1 Cor. 2:10), is certainly one of the fruits that shows where God is working. Through the sermons I've heard, the telecasts I've seen and the literature I've read, I believe that Global does a superb job in upholding and preaching the whole Truth, very clearly and without ambiguity, well substantiated by the Scriptures.
• Global started extremely small. The first service started with 42 persons including Mr. Meredith. Yet, within six weeks, Global was on radio doing a Work! In January 1993, income was only $15,200. By December, income was still low, at only $263,000 for the entire month, but that represented an increase of over 1,700 percent in only eleven months!
• So far this year, year-to-date income is a whopping 40 percent above 1995. In spite of its very humble beginnings, growth has been consistent and sure.
• Much of the growth is due to the telecast. World Ahead circulation is up to 50,000 per month. In 1996, Global has been adding approximately 1,000 new people to the mailing list every week as a result of the telecast alone! To me, that's impressive considering the telecast started only a year ago.
• Already, people never before affiliated with the Church have been called to Global and have been baptized, as a result of initial contact through the telecast!
• For the first time ever in the Church of God, Global is starting a Spanish-language telecast (no subtitles), presented by Mario Hernandez. This has the potential of reaching Mexico and Latin America, especially if we can get on a Spanish cable station!
• Although growing rapidly, Global still has far less income than some other branches of God's Church but it is already doing a significant Work as the statistics above illustrate.
• Many Global employees, including evangelists, accepted significant pay cuts in order to be able to prioritize the Work and fulfill the Great Commission. Also, we've been told that some wives consistently volunteer many hours each week.
• The manner in which Global obtained its beautiful headquarters facility for an apparently ridiculously low lease rate, and the way they obtained some TV equipment (GCN, May 1995, p. 21), also indicate to me that the hand of God is with Global.

Government in the Church

Along with God's Spirit, the Truth is what sets the Church apart (John 17:17, 21; 2 Thess. 2:13). The Apostle John's greatest joy was that the brethren walk in Truth (3 John 4). One of the 18 truths that God restored to His Church was the proper form of Church government. To me, God's government is His structure or method of getting things done. It is a hierarchical form of government, from the top down (Mystery of the Ages, p. 256) with always one person at the head of whatever unit is being governed. Consider these points:

• In the God Family, the Bible indicates that the Father has always been supreme authority. Under the Father, the Logos did the work of creation. It was He who was slain from the foundation of the world. It was He who became Melchizedek, God's High Priest. And as the Son of God, He clearly stated that the Father was greater than Himself (John 14:28).
• In a godly human family, the husband has authority over the wife (Gen. 3:16; Eph. 5:23; 1 Peter 3:1 ) in a context of servant leadership. The structure is husband under Christ, wife, then children.
• In the Old Testament Church, the pattern of government was the same. Moses, who was appointed by God, in turn appointed others under him (Ex. 18:21-22).
• In the early New Testament Church, it seems clear that Peter was the chief apostle. Just like Abram and Jacob, Christ changed Simon's name (John 1:42; Mark 3:16) for a reason. The Church was built on the Rock, who was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4; Eph. 2:20), but Peter was the human leader. Also, in Matthew 16:16-19, Christ first gives Peter (not the other apostles because "you" is singular in the Greek) the authority to "bind" and "loosen.” Galatians 2:7 is very clear. Peter was in charge of the Gospel to the circumcised and Paul was in charge of the Gospel to the uncircumcised. Paul, as the apostle "born out of due time" ( 1 Cor. 15:8), had a special commission. Titus 1:5 shows that Paul had authority over Titus and that Titus in turn was to appoint elders in every city—government from the top down.
  Christ used Peter to open up salvation to the first Gentiles (Acts 10:44-45) even though the commission to the Gentiles was later given to Paul.
  More details about the biblical form of Church government are thoroughly covered by Mr. Meredith in the September 1995 GCN.
• In the world to come, God's government will be restored to the earth. David will once again be over all Israel (Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 37:24). The 12 apostles, under him, will each rule over one of the nations of Israel (Matt. 19:28). That's why 12 apostles were called and not 10 or 14, because there were 12 positions to be filled under David. That's why Judas had to be replaced. There are many other scriptures that hint as to who might occupy what positions. Mr. Armstrong wrote: "We know it will be government from the top down. There is to be a definite chain of authority.... All will be divinely appointed from above" (The Wonderful World Tomorrow, What It Will Be Like, p. 51).
• The Church is the Kingdom of God in embryo. If so, then God’s form of government should also be a part of the Church. It is through the Church that we "learn the way of God's government" and learn "to qualify to reign with Christ" (Mystery of the Ages, p. 201 ). "In order for Christ to restore God's government over the earth, he would need with and under him a qualified and organized personnel of God Beings—all having rejected Satan's false way and having proved their loyalty to the government and righteous ways of God" (p. 227). Mr. Armstrong points that the “Presbyterian Church is organized with the presbyters or ministers in control" This structure, is a humanly devised pattern of government (p. 242).
• God is certainly not a "respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34 KJV); so we must ponder these questions: Why is the Church called out of the world? Why does God desire "firstfruits"? Why are we extended the awesome opportunity of being a part of the first resurrection? It was put most eloquently by Mr. Armstrong: to qualify to rule with Christ. In other words, we are being drafted into positions of leadership for the kingdom and government of God.

Because God's government is hierarchical, there are specific positions that need to be filled. Many of them are already filled (like David's and the apostles') but others are not. That's why God needs firstfruits. These positions of authority will be filled by people who have had to overcome Satan and resist the ways of the world around them. Positions of lesser authority will be occupied by those called in the Millennium and beyond who will not have had to overcome and endure the same way we have. We will qualify for those higher positions by virtue of enduring to the end—even to martyrdom if necessary (Rev. 17:6). So, a major reason for the Church's existence is linked to God's hierarchical government.

Top-down government is God's way of operating in the God Family and in the human family. This method was used in the Old Testament and New Testament Churches. And it will be implemented in the world to come. Consequently, it seems to me that it is vital that the endtime Church also be governed in the same way so that we can practice what is going to be implemented.

God can judge the leader to see how well he responds to Christ's directions. The Lord can judge others in positions of authority to see how well they respond to the human leader and how well they practice servant leadership with those under them. Likewise, God can judge all of us to see how well we bear up to carnal superiors who might be dictatorial (1 Peter 2:18-19). God will reward each of us with appropriate positions in His Kingdom (see the parable of the pounds in Luke 19:11-27). So, the form of government practiced in the Church should follow the biblical pattern. We should keep it in BOTH the physical form (top-down structure) and spiritual form (servant leadership) for the same reasons that we should, for example, deleaven ourselves both physically and spiritually.

Abiding by God's government takes faith in Jesus Christ and not in men. Jesus praised the centurion highly in Matthew 8:9-10. He had great faith because he recognized the ultimate power behind the authority. He understood the great Being who was at the top. We are admonished to follow a leader ONLY as he follows Christ (1 Cor. 11:1 ). Abuse of authority by spiritual backsliders does not justify throwing the baby out with the bathwater and adopting a democratic system that some brethren may feel more comfortable with. We're supposed to be tried and tested. We fail the test if we end up rejecting a vital truth.

Is Mr. Meredith the one God has sanctioned as the human leader of the Global Church of God? In my opinion, yes. Examples in the Bible and modern church history indicate that when God raised up His Church (in both the Old and New Testaments) the human leader was specially trained and prepared for his position, by God Himself. Examples would be: Moses on the mountain for 40 days, Peter and the apostles directly trained by Christ, likewise with Paul in Arabia and Mr. Armstrong through the Word in print.

The successors of these Church leaders were in turn directly trained by those Christ prepared. Examples include Joshua (by Moses), Polycarp (by the Apostle John), Timothy and Titus (by Paul) and yes, Mr. Meredith, Mr. McNair and a few others still living (by Mr. Armstrong). What distinguishes Mr. Meredith from the others, in my opinion, is that he has been unusually persecuted, maligned and otherwise humbled. Therefore, in my opinion, he was prepared for this position. Incidentally, because Mr. Meredith has stated in print that he was personally taught by Mr. Armstrong, I've heard people accuse him of being egotistical. I think he is simply defending his qualifications like Paul did in Philippians 3:4-6. Was Paul being egotistical? I don't think so.

We can test the fruits of Global. Their literature is a testimony to the fact that they believe virtually everything the Church taught prior to the death of Mr. Armstrong. We've already examined the fruits of Global's Work. No one can deny the outstanding growth, considering how small it started. Like a snowball rolling down a hill, God has blessed this Church with growth and momentum. The growth in World Ahead circulation, especially in terms of new people never before affiliated with the Church, is astounding! So, according to what I can glean from the Scriptures on how to judge the question of government, I conclude that God is using Mr. Meredith as the human head of the Global Church of God to get His Work done and prepare His people for rulership.

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