EZEKIEL
and YHWH’s
Judgment
for the
Good News
PEOPLE
VOLUME XV
Calendar and Festivals
EZEKIEL and YHWH’s
Judgment for the
Good News People
Volume XV--Calendar and Festivals
by
an unworthy servant
And you shall know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.
(John 8:32)
Common Law Copyright, 2003 & 2005 CE, an unworthy servant, Calder, Idaho. The author claims his Right of exclusive ownership and control of this publication, the fruit of his labor, as a matter of Intellectual Property protected by the Laws of YHWH and as guaranteed by the US Constitution for the United States. Permission is granted to quote provided appropriate credit is cited together with the Publisher’s web site name and postal mailing address––WWW.AgeEnd.Com PO Box 473, Calder, ID 83808, USA.
Contents
Volume XV--Calendar and Festivals
CHAPTER PAGE
- Cover Page 1
- Title Page 2
- Contents 3
- Publisher’s Preface 5
Part SS--The Sabbath
217 Sunday or the Sabbath? 6
Part TT--Calendar and Times
218 Sun Worship and the Calendar 18
219 The Day 26
220 The Scriptural Calendar I 42
221 The Scriptural Calendar II 51
222 Calendar Changes and Confusion 58
223 The Jewish Calendar 74
224 Other Calendar Issues 84
Part UU--Christian Holidays Versus YHWH’s Feasts
225 Easter or Passover? 89
226 Lent, Mardi Gras and Fasching 100
227 Christmas and New Year’s Day 104
228 More Christian-Religion Holidays 110
229 Secular Holidays in Christendom 113
230 The Hebrew Festivals I 125
231 The Hebrew Festivals II 137
Part VV--Chronology
232 Overview of Scriptural Chronology 145
233 Scriptural Chronology of Adam I 151
234 Scriptural Chronology of Adam II 163
SHEERIT YISRAEL
PO Box 473
Calder, Idaho 83808, USA
Publisher’s Preface
Greetings! The following presentation is volume fifteen of a 36-volume production of some 6,000 pages on “Ezekiel and YHWH’s Judgment for the Good News People,” all of which is on the Internet at the www.AgeEnd.com web site.
This overall effort provides an interpretation of the Good News message in the New Testament, its linkage to the book of Ezekiel, and an application of both to the age-end prophecies relating to certain nations and peoples now out in the world. In order for this single volume to be understood and comprehended, it is imperative that the study be read from its beginning--from page one of volume one.
Anyone trying to read this volume or the study’s 6,000 pages at any mid-point will end up in a state of confusion without having read and digested the preceding material. It is crucially important that this work be read in sequence from its beginning--otherwise, the reader will almost certainly end up missing the essence of the message!
The effort was originally set on a Macintosh computer with Microsoft Word 6.0.1. It was set in Helvetica, 12-point type (18 pt on chapter headings); single line spacings; and margins: left 1.2”, right 0.8”, top 0.7”, bottom 0.8” and footer 0.6” (for page numbers).
For further information on obtaining this study in 18 computer floppy disks (IBM-formatted, high density, 2HD, 1.44 MB, 3 1/2 inches); in a single CD-Rom; or in hard copies (when the Internet or a compatible computer is not available); please write the publisher at the above address and send a stamped, self-addressed, long (legal-size), return envelope.
With a CD-Rom or computer floppy disks, the study is readable on Macintosh (systems 5.0 and later) or IBM/compatible (with Microsoft Word-Windows) personal computers. May The Great CREATOR and SOVEREIGN OF THE UNIVERSE bless you as you study His word to learn His will and to obey Him. Shalom (peace) to you and yours!
an unworthy servant, Hanukkah 2003 CE
Chapter 217--Sunday or the Sabbath?
Sunday
In terms of the calendar and festival time themes (in the context of “set aside” [Hebrew kodesh] days), it would be well to initially reflect some on the question of Sunday in the Word since Christians often suppose that it was the resurrection day (which it was not, as outlined in a prior chapter), or that the Seventh day Sabbath was somehow changed to Sunday in the NT (which is simply not true, as will be proven in comments to follow).
In fact, many Christians try to use these allegations as support for their Sunday worship and abolishment of the Seventh day Sabbath--though both ideas are wrong!
Sabbath in the Scriptures
As a start place, it is important to observe that the Seventh day Sabbath was set apart by The CREATOR at creation (Gen 2:2-3). It is repeatedly enjoined as a day of rest and worship throughout both the OT and NT (Ex 20:8-11; 23:12; 34:21; Lev 19:3, 30; 26:2; Deut 5:12-15; Neh 9:14; Heb 4:4-10). It predates the giving of the law at Sinai (Gen 1-2; Ex 16:23-30).
Please note that the Torah sets the specific seventh day in a weekly cycle apart and not just any one day in a seven day weekly period (Ex 20:10). This is a profoundly important point to keep in mind when examining Christian practices and theology later in this and succeeding chapters.
From the standpoint of obedience by a follower of YHWH YESHUA, no explanation is needed on why the Seventh day Sabbath was formally created by The CREATOR. On the surface, it is readily apparent that a weekly day of rest is needed. The Sabbath day accomplishes this need.
Perhaps the New Testament offers the best conclusion on this when YESHUA said that the Sabbath was made for Adam (Mk 2:27). On this NT reference, the point must be made that the remark surely pertains to Adam since the KJV man in this text comes from the Greek anthropos (noted in a previous chapter, as typically meaning Adam).
Does this mean that behemah servants or work animals are not deserving of the Sabbath rest? No, the Sabbath was made for Adam. But the law stipulates that Adam is to extend this rest day to servants, slaves and behemah humanoids and work animals as well (the KJV incorrectly translates behemah to cattle in Ex 20:10--which covers this need).
Significantly, the Sabbath is a sign or mark which identifies YAH’s people (Gen 2:2-3; Ex 31:12-17; Ezek 20:12, 20). Yet, the two nations (the Houses of Yehudah and Yisrael) both despised YHWH’s set apart things and profaned His Sabbaths (Ezek 20:12-24; 22:8, 26; 23:38). Thus, breaking of the Seventh day Sabbath became one of their primary sins during the days of the divided kingdom.
Because neither House would correctly observe the Sabbath, they were both sentenced to the judgment of a conquering army and captivity. This fact was brought out by Yechezkel, as noted above, when he reported three times that both nations “polluted” YHWH’s Sabbaths (Ezek 20:12-24; 22:8; 23:38).
The House of Yisrael was divorced and taken into Assyrian bondage and Yehudah spent 70 years in Babylonian exile before being allowed to return. In the divorce, Yisrael lost The MOST HIGH’s name (discussed earlier) and her Sabbath sign of identification (Lam 2:6). Truly, the House of Yisrael became lost in terms of her own knowledge, as well as in the comprehension of others.
The Jews Learned About the Sabbath
But after correction and instruction (Neh 13:15-22), Yehudah finally learned about the Sabbath and began keeping it. In fact, in the NT environment, Yehudah was so Sabbath conscious that the Jewish leaders built an unscriptural hedge around the Sabbath (in the Talmud) to supposedly protect it from abuse, as discussed earlier.
Of course, YESHUA, Shaul and the other NT figures all kept the Seventh day Sabbath--per the prevailing custom of the people (Lu 4:16; Acts 17:2). As Dr George Lamsa notes in his “Holy Bible from Eastern Texts,” the NT says “It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath” (Heb 4:9).
While some persons confuse YAH’s law on prohibiting a fire (Ex 35:3--which refers to an industrial or construction fire for work at the Tabernacle and plainly not otherwise, per Lev 6:13) and not carrying a heavy load or any load involving work (Num 15:32-36; Jer 17:19-27; Neh 13:15-22), the law is fairly simple and easy to understand.
Sunday in the Word
Actually, the weekday of Sunday seems to only appear twice in the Word in an allowable fashion. Mark “possibly” referred to it once in the NT (Mk 16:9). And in the OT, Yeshayahu alludes to it in his statement on the Sabbath (Isa 56:2-12) when he suggested that on the morrow after the Sabbath (thus, the first day or Sunday after the seventh day), evil men shall set it aside as a day of happiness and feasting.
The KJV of the Scriptures uses the expression “first day of the week” some eight times in the New Testament. In all instances, the word “day” is supplied by the translators as it is not in the actual Greek text. Otherwise, the word “week” comes from the words Sabbaton or Sabbata (which must at once suggest the weekly Sabbath).
In Mark 16:9, the word “week” comes from the Greek word Sabbaton, in the singular. In all of the other seven cases in the Greek NT, the work “week” is from the Greek Sabbata, plural of Sabbaton (“The New Englishman’s Concordance of the Greek New Testament,” p. 679).
Moreover, Mark 16:9 uses the Greek word protos (meaning “first”) for “first.” But in all of the other seven NT cases, the word “first” comes from the Greek mia which means the cardinal number “one” and not the ordinal number “first.” Thus, there are some fundamental differences between Mark 16:9 and the remaining seven expressions of the “first day of the week” in English translations of the New Testament.
Confusion?
Actually, there is no confusion on this theme if one is familiar with the Scriptures and Second Temple Judaism. The count to Pentecost (Lev 23:16) involves a count process of seven Sabbaths (or weeks) to the 50th day (as will be described in a later chapter on the Hebrew festivals). In Hebrew/Jewish mentality, this count is one of the Sabbaths (or weeks), two of the Sabbaths (or weeks) and so forth.
Therefore (literally), the Greek mia Sabbata refers to one of the Sabbaths (possibly the first Sabbath or perhaps one of the other Sabbaths) in the count to Pentecost, while protos Sabbaton (in Mk 16:9) is very plausibly the first Sabbath.
Christian translators quite often link the word Sabbath to week for protos Sabbaton at Mark 16:9, and for mia Sabbata in the other seven cases found in the NT (thereby implying the first day of the week or Sunday in all eight instances).
But there must be another explanation on both mia Sabbata and protos Sabbaton since the Greek language already has other appropriate words for day and week--like hemera for day and hepdomads (meaning sevens) for week (hepdomads is used in Classical Greek, per Colin Deal in the Dec 2002 “End Time News,” p. 1).
As Christian writer Colin Deal outlined in the Oct 2002 “End Time News” (p. 3), the “first day” in Greek should appear as “protos hemera.” In this sense, it is possible that the first day of the week is not to be found at all in the Greek NT. Maybe, protos Sabbaton means the first Sabbath in the count to Pentecost while mia Sabbata means any one of the seven Sabbaths in the count to Pentecost.
In raising a question over translating Sabbaton/Sabbata as “week” (instead of recognizing hepdomads), it must be acknowledged that it is conceivable that Sabbaton does indeed mean a week (singular), as Colin Deal points out in Luke 18:12 where a Pharisee said that he fasted twice in the week--obviously, he didn’t fast twice on the Sabbath (Dec 2002 “End Time News,” p. 3).
The essence of this presentation is that mia Sabbata probably means one of the Sabbaths (or possibly one of the weeks) and protos Sabbaton logically means either the first Sabbath or the first week--in the count to Pentecost.
Shmuel Safrai, Revisited
The New Testament also has another most interesting remark on this subject of counting (of the omer--the wave sheaf) to Pentecost. This one surfaces in Luke 6:1, where the “King James Version” refers to “the second Sabbath after the first.” Of course, there is some question about what Luke may have had in mind in such a statement.
Shmuel Safrai, Professor of Jewish History of the Mishnaic and Talmudic Period at Hebrew University, observes that the actual Greek in this text reads the “second-first Sabbath” which in Second Temple days meant the second Sabbath of the counting of the omer to Pentecost (per an article on Sabbath Breakers, appearing in the Jul/Aug 1990 “Jerusalem Perspective,” p. 3).
Other students of the Book suggest that second first Sabbath meant the second high Sabbath of the feast (days) of Unleavened Bread. This latter statement could be the same finding as Safrai’s conclusion, depending on how the Sabbath days fell during that occasion and/or whether Sabbath always meant a week or not.
Ridiculous Christian Arguments
Yet, many Christians ignorantly try to argue that the so-called “Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10), mentioned by Yohanan, is mysteriously and somehow Sunday. This is virtually too stupid to even be discussed by students of the Word since there is absolutely nothing in the Book to allow or suggest such a connection. The allusion only arises because some Christians “say” it’s so and not because it is so.
Actually, the Tanakh abundantly describes a coming “Day of YHWH” which refers to the coming period of time when The ELOHIM intervenes in world affairs to terminate Satan’s rule of this planet and man’s irresponsible propensity for sin (Isa 2:12). Yohanan’s reference in Revelation 1:10 connects to this coming day of YHWH (the “Lord’s Day” in the KJV, where YHWH surfaces as “Lord”).
Perhaps the most ridiculous position of sun worship Christianity is the theory that Christians are free to keep Sunday as their rest and religious day on the premise that “any” one day in seven meets YHWH’s law, as outlined above.
For this Christian theory, Christians typically try to misread, misquote and twist the Scriptures and claim that the law only requires the setting aside of any day, as if man or the Christian Church has the authority to decide which day it wants to set apart for worship. No, not so! This is blatant nonsense and stupidity. The law doesn’t specify one day in seven. It expressly specifies the seventh day (Ex 20:10).
More From Colin Deal
The above cited Colin Deal has an incredibly wrong slant on the weekly Sabbath because he incorrectly confuses the weekly Sabbath with the annual Sabbaths (like the first day of Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Kippur, etc, which were discussed in a previous chapter on the Sign of YESHUA, and as will be further described in subsequent remarks herein).
Since Deal is unable to tell the difference between the two types of Sabbaths in the Word, he actually comes to a position that the Book prescribes neither the seventh day or the first day for rest and worship (Oct 2002 “End Time News”). Deal does this with the following words:
“Although many sincere Christians keep Saturday as the day of worship what some fail to recognize is that ancient Israel’s ‘seventh-day Sabbath’ did not always occur on Saturday. They were changing Sabbaths, being observed on two different days each year because of an additional Sabbath being observed at Pentecost.
“If we suppose, for instance, that the 15th of Abib (when Yisrael left Egypt, see Lev. 23:5-6--ed) which was on the Sabbath, was Saturday, then the seventh day Sabbath would fall on Saturday for seven weeks or until forty nine days had run their course. The fiftieth day, which would be Sunday, would be Pentecost (Lev. 23:15-16). The next seventh-day Sabbath after Pentecost would fall on Sunday.
“Thus it would be until Pentecost of the following year which would change the seventh day Sabbath again. This time it would fall on Monday until the next Pentecost which would be fifty days after the first fifteen days of Abib, as stated, or on the sixty-fifth day of that particular New Year. Thus, Israel’s Sabbath did not always fall on a Saturday throughout the year.”
It is almost useless to even discuss this incredible reasoning of Deal. He simply does not understand that the first day of Unleavened Bread (Aviv 15) and Shavout are annual Sabbaths which generally can fall on any day of the week. He never understands the mitzwah in Exodus 20:8-10 which demands six days of work and then a Sabbath day of rest. With Deal’s thinking, some weeks would have eight days.
This totally false idea of a week which varies in the number of days will be addressed in some detail in subsequent chapters herein (which assess the calendar). Suffice to say, a variable week is totally unscriptural. Deal is thoroughly confused and he has transmitted that confusion to his readers. For sure, there are no such things as variable weeks or floating weekly Sabbath days which change each year.
The Jewish Sabbath or YHWH’s Sabbath?
One of the popular Christian arguments against the Sabbath is that it is the Jewish Sabbath and is not binding upon other peoples. Actually, this stupid argument is used for all of the demands of the Torah which Christians passionately hate and oppose. This Christian reasoning and hate goes back to the days when the Greeks ruled the civilized world (before the Romans took over in the first century BCE).
The famous Christian apologist and spokesman Justin Martyr carried this Christian hate one step further in his confrontation with Trypho the Jew in the mid second century CE.
Justin said: “As I stated before, it was by reason of your sins and the sins of your Fathers that, among other precepts, God imposed upon you the observance of the Sabbath as a mark” (Jul-Aug 2000 “Petah Tikvah,” by Sid Roth, p. 15, quoting the “Ante-Nicene Fathers”). Justin added that this mark (of the Sabbath) was to single the Jews out for the punishment that they so well deserved for their infidelities.
This Christian hatred and opposition to The CREATOR’s Sabbath have been around for most of the last 2,000 years. It is the story of Christianity, despite even the NT admission that the Sabbath was created (by The CREATOR) for Adam (Mk 2:27).
Anyone believing this heresy (of the Sabbath being the Jews’ Sabbath) should not be reading this study at hand. This traditional Christian hatred is too stupid to be believed by Scripturally informed people. Yet, it was anciently believed and is still in the hearts and minds of multiplied millions or billions of people today.
Christian Hatred for Judaism, Revisited
Previous chapters have discussed the supposed Christian hatred for the Jews (especially in groups like the Christian Identity movement, the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazis, etc). The truth is that almost all of these Jew hating groups are strongly Christian in theology and temperament. In this context, they don’t really hate Jews, per se. What they hate is the Jewish religion--Judaism.
Yes, generic Christians passionately hate Judaism and the mitzwot of YHWH--at least, those which do not conform to the theories of Christian humanism in the vein of commandments demonstrating the supposed love of other humans/humanoids (mentioned in a prior chapter on love and the Torah and to be detailed in later chapters).
This hatred is so strong, passionate, powerful and pervasive that it must be demonic in origin. As will be subsequently proven conclusively, this Christian hatred for Judaism has its basis in ancient Grecian sun worship, as noted above and as cited in previous chapters (where the old Greek sun worshippers passionately hated Judaism--but not Jews, per se).
In the perpetuation of this hatred and animosity toward Judaism, the focus has always been upon those mitzwot in the Torah which primarily serve to demonstrate love of The CREATOR YHWH and His various manifestations (like as YESHUA The MESSIAH). In effect, what is hated is not the Jews, but the Sabbath (and the Jewish religion for advocating it).
This is a hard pill for most people to understand and grasp. But evil sun worshippers have always hated YHWH’s Sabbath mitzwah--in ancient days, as well as today. Manifestly, ancient Greeks and modern Christians have both hated the Sabbaths.
Effectively, the former Greek sun worshippers and modern Christians have hated anything and everything which will serve to reflect love of The MOST HIGH instead of love of humans/humanoids. Thus, keeping of the weekly Sabbath and the Scriptural calendar and festivals are hated violently by all sun worshippers (both past Greeks and modern Christians) because those mitzwot show love of The ELOHIM.
Why Sunday Worship?
Since Sunday worship is totally foreign in terms of the Scriptures and since the fourth commandment in the Decalogue is so plain and clear, one has to wonder how in the world anyone professing a belief in YHWH YESHUA and the Scriptures could ever be motivated, persuaded or impressed to worship on Sunday.
Well, the answer is quite simple. In 321 CE, the sun worshipper Constantine decreed that thereafter all persons in the Roman Empire were under obligation to sanctify and set Sunday apart as a rest and worship day (under threat of death). Of course, all complied and became Sunday keepers, if they were not already keeping Sunday. The actual reference will be discussed in a future chapter herein.
Now, while the sun worshipper Constantine imposed Sunday worship on the collective Roman Empire by dictatorial fiat, it must be observed that the collective Christian Church was already keeping and sanctifying Sunday worship and had been doing so for 279 years before Constantine came along with his imperial edict. The full story of this condition will be elaborated upon in a future chapter.
Thereafter, in 364 CE (or possibly in 336 CE, per some reports), the Universal Catholic Church held her Church Council of Laodicea which passed an edict prohibiting rest on the Seventh day Sabbath, under penalty of death. The few Seventh day Sabbathkeepers in the then Roman Empire had to go in hiding, for fear of their lives.
In the late fourth century, the decree of the emperors Gratianus, Valentinianus and Theodosius said-- “On the day of the sun, properly called the Lord’s day by our ancestors, let there be a cessation of law suits, business, and indictments; let no one exact a debt due either the state or an individual; let there be no cognizance of disputes, not even by arbitrators, whether appointed by the courts or voluntarily chosen” (Code of Theodosius, Book 8, Title 8, Law 3).
To show how serious those early Catholic Christians were, this same law from the Code of Theodosius went on to declare that anyone violating that law would not only be adjudged notorious, “but also impious who shall turn aside from an institute and rite of holy religion.” Obviously, this would pave the way for them to be executed at the hands of the state.
Eusebius
In a commentary on the Psalms, the famous Christian historian and Catholic Church leader Eusebius wrote that “All things whatsoever it was our duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day, as more appropriately belonging to it, because it has precedence and first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath.”
Eusebius’ words bring to mind Yeshayahu’s famous prophecy, outlined in previous comments in this chapter, on the change of the Sabbath from the Seventh day to the first day of the week (Isa 56:2, 12). Like Yeshayahu predicted, men would think to change the solemnity of the Seventh day to the next day (the first day of the week).
Stupid Protestants, who know little or nothing from YHWH’s Word, suppose that Sunday worship is something to be found in the Scriptures. In fact, there is absolutely nothing in the Book about it. Its entire authority comes from Rome!
Over the years, the Roman Catholic Church has consistently admitted that Sunday has been sanctified and established as a holy day by her own edicts. Even today, informed Catholics will quickly attest to this historic reality.
Catholics Are Far More Informed
Yes, Catholic Christians are far more informed. Many know and understand that the Catholic Church has set the first day of the week aside and sanctified it. Many of them brag and boast of the role that the Catholic Church has played in the change and how Protestant Christians are ignorant and maybe even stupid for accepting the change.
A Catholic theologian named Henry Tuberville, wrote in 1833, in an article on “An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,” that the Sabbath was changed by the governors of the Christian Church (the Catholic Church). He said that the Church’s change of the Sabbath was proof that she had authority to command feasts and holy days.
In answer to the question of “How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?,” Tuberville noted “By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.”
Tuberville went on by charging that “by keeping Sunday, they (the Protestants) acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest (of the feasts) by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.”
In an 1868 article on the “Plain Truth About the Protestantism of Today,” Catholic theologian Louis Gaston de Segur wrote: “It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of JESUS CHRIST, has transferred this (Sabbath) rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of the Lord. Thus, the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the (Catholic) Church.”
Catholic Stephen Keenan wrote in the 1876 edition of “A Doctrinal Catechism” that the Catholic Church has power to institute festivals of precept and had she not this power, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for Saturday, the seventh day, “a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”
The January 1883 issue of “The American Catholic Quarterly Review” had an article by John Gilmary Shae on “The Observance of Sunday and Civil Laws for Its Enforcement,” which said “Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the (Catholic) Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought, logically, to keep Saturday as the Sabbath.”
More Catholic Words
Catholic Priest T. Enright of Redemptorist College of Kansas City, MO for years had a $1,000 offer to Protestants. In a 1884 lecture at Hartford, KS, he noted “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone.”
Writing in the 1892 book on “The Papal Controversy,” D. B. Ray noted that “From this same Catholic Church you have accepted your Sunday, and that Sunday, as the Lord’s day, she has handed down as a tradition; and the entire Protestant world has accepted it as tradition, for you have not one iota of Scripture to establish it.”
An editorial in the Sep 23, 1893, “Catholic Mirror” of Baltimore, MD reported “The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of their Divine mission, changed the day (of worship) from Saturday to Sunday... The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church, as Spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world.”
In the “Catholic Mirror” of Dec 23, 1893, James Cardinal Gibbons wrote: “Reason and sense demand the acceptance for one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.”
Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, wrote in a Feb 10, 1920, letter that “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”
The Aug 14, 1942, “Question Box” in the “Catholic Universe Bulletin” suggested that the Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by the right of the divine, infallible authority given her and that the “Protestants, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.”
An article on “To Tell You the Truth,” in the Oct 3, 1947, issue of “The Catholic Virginian,” asserted that “Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the (Catholic) Church outside the Bible.”
Still More Catholic Words
Priest Peter R. Kraemer of the Catholic Extension Society of Chicago wrote that Protestants, who accept the Bible as their rule of faith and religion, should go back to the Sabbath and the fact that they do not, “stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.”
Going on, Kraemer said that Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith because they have the authority of the Church as a rule to guide them. He argues that it is laughable to see the Protestant Churches demand the observance of Sunday of which there is nothing in their Bible.
In the 1965 edition of “The Faith Explained,” Catholic Leo J. Trese asserts that there is nothing in the “Bible about the change of the Lord’s day from Saturday to Sunday. It comes from the tradition of the (Catholic) Church.”
Trese goes on to say “That is why we find so illogical the attitude of many non-Catholics, who say that they will believe nothing unless they can find it in the Bible and yet will continue to keep Sunday as the Lord’s day on the say-so of the Catholic Church.”
The many quotations outlined above from numerous Catholic writers and authorities have been taken largely from a tract from the Bible Sabbath Association, quoting those sources. Interestingly, there were many, many more. But space would not allow their presentation.
Christian Sunday Worship is Very Ancient
Actually, Christianity has been keeping Sunday as her holy day--probably from her beginnings, around 42 CE or so. Even recently, the modern Pope John Paul II has issued a Pastoral Letter to all Roman Catholics declaring that Sunday is the true Sabbath of “God” and that many world problems are due to the neglect of the Sabbath commandment (May 1999 “Prophecy Flash,” p. 69).
So, where did Christianity get Sunday worship and why? This too is easy. She got it from the old sun worship cults--all of which worshipped on Sunday. Sunday has always been the primary holy day of sun worshippers.
In his book on “Fossilized Customs” (p. 7), Lew White says that the ancient ritual among sun worshippers was to gather at dawn on Sunday mornings to watch and greet the rising sun. Surely, this has been the basis of Easter sunrise services, to be discussed in a subsequent chapter.
Writing in “The Outline of History,” H. G. Wells wrote that “It would seem the Christians adopted Sun-day as their chief day of worship instead of the Jewish Sabbath from the Mithraic cult.” Of course, the Mithra cult, as well as all other ancient sun worshippers, worshipped the sun on Sunday. Historians, apparently without exception, have recognized this reality.
Gerald L. Berry adds: “Since Mithra was the sun god, Sunday was automatically sacred to him--the ‘Lord’s Day’ --long before Christ” (“Religions of the World,” p. 56).
However, the writer of this study at hand would note that the great presence of Chrishnaism in the first century CE Roman Empire would suggest that Sunday worship might also could have come from Chrishnaism. Perhaps the Christians got Sunday from both the Mithra and Chrishna cults.
And while the linkage may not be positively established, there is reason to believe that the earlier mentioned Yarovam may get some credit for imposing Sunday sun worship on the Northern ten tribes of Yisrael when he took over that kingdom and broke it away from Rechavam and Jerusalem.
Yarovam was evidently a sun worshipper who picked up that faith from his Egyptian wife or from his stay in Egypt (II Chron 10:2).
For certain, he did change the fall feast (Sukkot) to the 15th day of the eight month, instead of YHWH’s ordained seventh month (I Kg 12:32-33), as mentioned earlier, and perhaps changed the solemnity of the Seventh day Sabbath to the next day, as some persons suggest (including Herbert W. Armstrong of the Worldwide Church of God).
Hence Israelites, who later became Christians, may have already had a dose of Sunday sun worship. Apparently, it is correct to say that Christian Israelites have been sun worshippers ever since the days of Yarovam, almost 3,000 years ago.
The Present Weekly Cycle
Before proceeding on to new topics, a few words must be shared on the question of the validity of the present weekly cycle. In other words, is the present Seventh day of the week the same day as the Seventh day commanded in Exodus 20?
Some Christians, wanting to argue and find an excuse to keep Sunday, say that the calendar has been changed over the years. While some ancient areas of Europe did experiment for a while with an eight day week, the seven day week always prevailed and nullified all efforts historically to alter it.
The next chapter will address this question in some detail. Hence, there is no need to elaborate upon it at this time. Suffice to say, the present Roman calendar came from Egypt in 46 BCE and the few changes in it never interfered in the weekly cycle (just as the leap year change, every fourth year, does not alter the weekly cycle).
Assuredly, the weekly cycle, as established in the Roman Empire in 46 BCE, has never changed. From 46 BCE to present times, the Jews have diligently kept the Seventh day of the week as the Scriptural Sabbath. Manifestly, the Jews would never have allowed any alteration of their worship days and cycles (as will be proven in the succeeding chapters).
YESHUA, Shaul the apostle and the other Apostolic people verified the Seventh day Sabbath (as kept by the Jews) and its cycle in their routine worship activities--mentioned previously herein. Collectively, they always worshipped with the generic Jews on the Sabbath day. There is never an indication otherwise.
The Bottom Line
The present Christian Church started keeping Sunday around or evidently by 42 CE. Christians have been just as adamant about keeping Sunday. They have not and would not have allowed any alteration of that day and cycle in their worship.
The validity of the present Seventh days (as kept by Jews) and present Sundays (as kept by Christians) will be discussed and proven in the following chapters. There is no justification for anyone to argue against Christianity and Judaism on this thing. The point is that history and both the Jewish and Christian religions and peoples declare that the present weekly cycle has not been altered in the last 2,000 years.
Chapter 218--Sun Worship and the Calendar
The Julian-Gregory Calendar
Our present Western calendar is called the Julian-Gregory calendar. The Roman Empire (the basis of the Western culture) adopted this calendar when the emperor Julius Caesar obtained it from Egyptian sun worshippers in 46 BCE. Since it is a solar calendar, ordained by sun worshipping Egyptians, it correctly can be called a sun worship calendar.
Rome had historically been using a lunar calendar at that time. But using his power and authority, Caesar imposed the (sun worship) solar calendar on the empire (per “The Clock We Live On,” by Isaac Asimov, “Encyclopedia Britannica” and “Encyclopedia Americana”).
The point of this calendar (with its cycles of days, months, years and choice of names) is that it is a solar, sun worship calendar adopted from Egyptian sun worshippers. Conversely, there is a Scriptural calendar which is a luni-solar calendar with very different cycles, periods, days, months, years and names.
Despite a few modifications over the years (i.e., a name change, a leap year alteration, taking a day away from one month to add to another month on three occasions and principally the change by Pope Gregory, to be shortly discussed), the weekly cycle was never altered or changed in the European sun worship culture (though there were some ancient attempts to use a eight day week in a few areas, as noted earlier).
The few historic changes to the Julian calendar were of the same order as the present leap year alteration (as pointed out in the prior chapter). Approximately every four years, a day is added to February. But this added day never disrupts the weekly cycle. Thus, the established weekly cycle continues unaffected.
In other words, the seven day weekly cycle, established by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE, has never changed. Thus, it has never been disrupted or altered in any manner. This is a most important point. The weekly cycle operates independently of the months and solar year features of the calendar and the addition or dropping of a day does not alter the weekly cycle.
So, when Gais Octavius Augustus (emperor from 44 BCE to 14 CE) dropped one day from February to add to August 2,000 years ago, the weekly cycle was unaffected. His other few minor changes were of the same nature.
And strangely enough (but of great benefit to people attempting to obey YHWH), the weekly cycle in the current sun worship calendar is fairly close to Scriptural truth (one problem arises in the international date line, as will be described in comments to follow). However, there are now enormous efforts worldwide to change the present Julian-Gregory calendar (primarily, in some fashion to disrupt the weekly cycle).
Some Holdouts to Rome
While most of the Roman Empire fell into line on this calendar in 46 BCE and its few minor modifications in later years, there was some holdouts in immediately adopting this calendar and/or some of its few changes over the years, even though the Caesars and the later popes were very powerful in the old Roman Empire.
For example, by this calendar, the new year starts just after Christmas and the winter solstice at the “birth of the sun.” Besides being totally ridiculous, in terms of logic, this new year in the dead of winter is totally unscriptural.
As will be proven in a later chapter, the Scriptures prescribe a new year starting at the new moon (Aviv 1) nearest the spring day equal night (equinox), which occurs around March 19th to 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere in the sun worship calendar (religious Jews call this Aviv 1 “Yom Kippur Katan,” a small Yom Kippur).
Despite a change of New Year’s to January 1st by Rome, the peoples in Great Britain (and later colonial America) continued to start their new year in the spring on March 25th. In terms of the Egyptian-Julian solar calendar, this date of March 25th is interestingly very close to what would have been calculated for creation week, if that week and the Julian solar calendar were linked together.
The question of the creation week will be addressed in a later chapter herein. Suffice to say, here, there is much support for the first day of that first year to have been calculable on or near March 25th, per the Julian solar calendar. This date is not far-fetched at all in general terms (if one insists on using a strictly solar date without the benefit of the new moon).
The point of this truth is that there is every reason to believe that the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic tradition for this date goes back a long way to the history of those people in ancient Canaan land (as discussed in a previous chapter). It is highly plausible that these people held onto that concept when the Romans imposed the Egyptian-Julian calendar on them.
The Ten-Day Correction
Otherwise, the English/British peoples also refused for ages to recognize a needed correction of the Julian solar calendar, as decreed by Pope Gregory in 1582, despite otherwise using the basic Julian sun worship calendar.
These Gregory stipulated changes came about because under the Julian calendar every fourth year was a leap year automatically with an added day. By following this practice, the calendar “added” an approximate extra one day every hundred years.
By the just mentioned reign of Pope Gregory in the 16th century, some ten days too much had been added to the solar calendar (throwing the calendar off ten days, per the solar cycle) over the centuries, from the time of Julius Caesar--which threw it out of alignment with the spring equinox by ten days (“The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia,” p. 127).
To correct this ten days deficiency, Gregory ordered a drop of ten days in 1582 (which did not alter or affect the weekly cycle) and a provision that in future years, a leap year would be added every fourth year, except it would not be added every 100 years unless that year was divisible by 400. In other words, in the first three 100 year periods, only 24 leap years would be recognized and not 25.
But in the fourth 100-year period, 25 leap years would be observed. Otherwise, the calendar would remain as it had been observed and used for centuries. Generally, the civilized world came to accept this change (though some Eastern Orthodox areas did hold onto the old Julian calendar without the Gregory modification--which has caused some confusion between them and Rome over observing the pagan Easter).
Eventually, in 1752, Britain (and her American colonies) adopted the changes decreed by Pope Gregory and also changed the New Year from March 25th to January 1st. But the spring reckoning persisted somewhat because even US presidents were inaugurated around March 4th in America, until Roosevelt came along in the 1930s and changed it to January.
As was true in Augustus’ days, when he initiated some five minor calendar alterations, none of the Gregory, British or Roosevelt changes affected the weekly cycle. The seven day weekly cycle established by Caesar in 46 BCE is still the same one so-called humanity observes today (as asserted in the preceding chapter).
There is some fantastic proof of this reality and proof that this present seven day weekly cycle is the precise same one which was established with Adam at creation.
While there might have been some confusion over exactly when the seven day week started and ended (when Yisrael first came out of Egypt), The HIGHEST worked a miracle for forty years to dramatically affirm the cycle and teach it to the Israelites. YHWH fed the Israelites manna for forty years.
Per His Word, they gathered the manna for six days. On the sixth day, they gathered a double portion. On the seventh day, they rested and did not gather food (Ex 16:4-6, 15-26). Please note that this weekly cycle and Sabbath day observance was established some time before the Ten Commandments were even given on Sinai.
It is also true that the Israelites in Canaan land (both in the House of Yehudah and the House of Yisrael) transgressed and violated YHWH’s Sabbath days of rest and were both accordingly thrust into slavery and captivity, as Yechezkel asserted (per the outline in the prior chapter). But for all of those years, they had the prophets up to and including Yirmeyahu and Yechezkel.
The prophets understood the correct Scriptural weekly cycle and which day was the Sabbath day. Be assured that this reality was constantly brought to the people’s attention. The Israelites may have chosen to disobey YHWH’s law (Ex 20:8-11), but they knew the truth or they would not have been held accountable for Sabbath breaking.
The Jews Learned
During the Babylonian exile, the Jews finally realized the importance of the weekly cycle and observance of the Seventh day Sabbath. However good or bad the Jews have been, the one thing that they have done diligently for 2,500 years, since the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, is that they have kept and observed the correct weekly cycle with the proper Seventh day Sabbath.
On returning to Canaan land from the exile, the Jews had Ezra, Nechemyah, Haggai, Zekharyah, Malakhi and other leaders to all guide and direct them in observance of the correct weekly cycle and Seventh day Sabbath. It is a certainty that these leaders would have correctly known the Scriptural Sabbath and would have imposed it on the people (as happened in Nehemiah 13:15-22).
The Jews were so diligent and careful about observing the correct Seventh day Sabbath that at one time a group of some 1,000 of them were attacked by a Greek army on the Sabbath and they refused to come out and fight that day. They were all murdered--men, women and children (I Maccabees 2:32-38). After this incident, the Jews have been willing to defend themselves--even on the Sabbath.
In New Testament days, the Jews observed this same weekly cycle and Sabbath. They had a certain ritual and procedure to follow at the synagogues for the worship on the Sabbath. The leaders and people of the first century Apostolic Assembly all kept this same weekly cycle and Sabbath with the Jews. There is never any mention or suggestion that anything was wrong with the Sabbath day, as designated by the Jews.
Confirmed by YESHUA and the Apostles
At least, on one or more times, YESHUA’s Own comments confirmed the correctness of the weekly Sabbath, as determined by the Jews (Lu 13:16). The Scriptures note that, per their custom, YESHUA and Shaul both went into the synagogues for worship on the Sabbath days, as designated and followed by the Jews (Lu 4:16; Acts 17:2).
There is never one iota of evidence to suggest that any person in the NT had any problem, question or concern over the correctness and validity of the Seventh day Sabbaths, as specified by the Jews (as established in the former chapter).
It is manifestly certain that YESHUA or Shaul would have never went to the synagogues for worship on a wrong day and particularly if the Jews had lost the true cycle. They were not hypocrites and certainly abided by truth in their personal worship practices (Jo 4:24).
The NT Sabbath Issues
Further dramatic proof of this conclusion is clear from the several conflicts YESHUA had with the Pharisees (evidently of the School of Shammai) over the Sabbath--such as plucking grain and healing on the Sabbaths, as mentioned in a former chapter. Please note that these conflicts were not over keeping the Sabbath; but rather, they surfaced on how to keep the Sabbath.
As discussed earlier, the Talmud developed a number of man-made restrictions on how to keep the Sabbath and not on whether to keep the Sabbath. The Shammai Pharisees were responsible for some of these. But some were evidently older traditions of men. Clearly, YESHUA disobeyed many of these man-made restrictions which impeded upon the Sabbath (as ordained by The ELOHIM).
If the Jews had lost the weekly cycle and were worshipping on the wrong Seventh day Sabbath, YESHUA would have certainly known about it. One can be absolutely sure that He would have pointed this problem out to them whenever they accused Him of Sabbath violations.
Yet, He always agreed with them over which day was the Sabbath (either in His Own words [like at Lu 13:16] or in His actions of assent)--while disagreeing with them over their Talmudic rules. Since YESHUA and the Apostolic Assembly kept and observed the same Sabbath (and weekly cycle) as the Jews, it is a certainty that the weekly Sabbaths that they were keeping were right and correct.
Sun Worshippers as Well
Another group of early religious adherents who observed a seven day weekly cycle was the Mithra sun worshippers in Rome and assuredly most sun worshippers around the world (certainly, long before 46 BCE and the adoption of the Julian calendar by Rome). Indeed, the evidence is most persuasive that all sun worshippers worshipped the sun on Sunday--the first day of the week, as discussed elsewhere herein.
Sunday sun worshippers certainly knew which day was Sunday. They obviously had been observing a weekly cycle of seven days for some time (although some minor parts of Europe reportedly tried an eight-day week in ancient times--before settling in on the seven-day week). It’s hard to fathom that the Mithra sun worshippers became confused over which day was Sunday.
The Christian faith came into being manifestly before the fall of Jerusalem to Rome in 70 CE (evidently in 42 CE), probably through the efforts of Simon Magus and Apollonius, elsewhere commented upon in this study.
Since Christians have attached so much importance to their Sunday worship for 2,000 years, it’s ludicrous and out of the question to speculate that they would have dared to allow any alteration of the weekly cycle which would have interfered in their Sunday worship in the old Roman Empire (certainly in modern Europe).
As mentioned in the prior chapter, we can all rest assured that the world ruling and dominant Christian Church has not stupidly and incompetently allowed any alternations in the prevailing weekly-cycle to affect their historic and present Sunday worship holidays.
The point of this presentation is that during the years following Caesar’s establishment of the seven day weekly cycle, a number of religious faiths have kept and observed that cycle for the next 2,000 years because of their worship on certain days. Both the Christians and the Jews are quite adamant that no disruptions of the weekly cycle have occurred since Rome adopted the Egyptian sun worship calendar in 46 BCE.
International Date Line
Besides starting a day at midnight (which had commercial appeal and acceptance for profit and gain), instead of sunset, as is Scriptural, one of the main other problems respecting the weekly cycle in the modern sun worship calendar and culture concerns the establishment of the international dateline for the beginning of a day and the resulting week (as briefly touched upon in the above comments).
This imaginary (zig zagging) line was established in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in 1884 by the leading nations in the world (per “Biblical Astronomy and The Calendar,” by Harold Hemenway). Apparently, commercial, trade, monetary and economic considerations were the motivations for the line chosen without any obvious concern over what the Word might say.
Of course, there is an apparent need for such a line or place on the circular globe to start the days and the weeks (and even the months and years) in order to facilitate man’s governmental, commercial and social activities across the planet. The problem is not so much about designating such a line; but rather, the dilemma surfaces because of man’s choice of a location for that line.
For the student of truth, it seems clear where the “new” day and “new” week started. Read Genesis 1 and 2. Adam and the created order around him evidently started in the Euphrates River Valley of modern Iraq--perhaps even South in the Persian Gulf, although there is a Jewish tradition that the Garden of Eden site was at Jerusalem.
This Jerusalem option is not far fetched at all. It is very possible that the Garden of Eden was a huge area. It may have resembled the later land grant to Avraham (from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. In that case, it could have included both Jerusalem and the Euphrates Valley. In terms of the territory involved, the day would have still started at the Euphrates.
In any case, the first seven days of the first week and the first day of the second week dawned upon or commenced (at sunset) with the creation (and particularly with Adam on the 6th day) in that precise locale (which likely was the Euphrates Valley or perhaps Jerusalem--if the Garden of Eden was limited to that area).
Why would persons attempting to obey The MOST HIGH want to substitute a man-made imaginary line to start the new day and new week in some other place other than what the Word clearly teaches? While such a line in the Pacific Ocean might sound good for man’s commercial reasons, the fact remains that it is unscriptural.
A Modern Response
The above discussion on the international date line prompted a response from a reader of this production (when it was still in draft). The respondent was a Sabbathkeeper, probably fairly close in theology to the Seventh day Adventists.
This reader recognized the plain reality that the date line should be in the Middle East, per the Scriptural record. However, this respondent went on to inject some human thinking and rational into the discussion. The reader thoughtfully added--that the paradox is that it probably works best, away out in the blue Pacific where it doesn’t split any large land areas and populations.
Of course, the world authorities who established the international date line in the middle of the Pacific used this precise rational. Seemingly, none of them ever really gave any consideration whatsoever to the Scriptures and precisely what the Word does say or what The CREATOR may have intended.
Actually, as already outlined by the writer of this study, in the above comments on the date line, the real motivation for the line chosen was undoubtedly profits and economic factors (from trade and commercialism) which would be less affected by a line out in the middle of the Pacific, as opposed to a line which ran through a land mass with a population or populations of people to contend with.
But the reader’s letter, just noted, brings to the surface the interplay of human reasoning and contemplation on a subject like this. Even when man has been exposed to truth from the Scriptures, he can still rationalize and justify his actions of rebellion against truth as being a proper and legitimate action--based upon human reasoning.
Man always seems to have the capability and capacity to rationalize, justify and support his acts of sin and rebellion on the basis of human reasoning. Actually, human pride and especially the pride of life (confidence and trust in this human governed system of things) always comes into play to affect man’s thinking.
The bottom line here is that what works best is the obedience of the Word. Disobedience never works best, contrary to human reasoning. The date line could be placed in Iraq (where it seems to belong) and it would work out totally satisfactorily--just as there are time zones all over the world which essentially work out all right (because world commercialism and profits were never YAH’s plan and way).
Some Observe the Wrong Day for Sabbath
Because of man’s stupidity and rebellion toward YHWH’s Word, this line in the Pacific makes the culture, society and peoples living between that line and where it should be (evidently just to the East of the Euphrates River to the mid Pacific) function, live and conduct their lives generally on the wrong days of the week.
Now, this may not seem to be a big deal for some of the days of the week. But it is profoundly important to persons attempting to obey The HIGHEST in terms of the Sabbath. Most Sabbath keepers take to heart the seriousness of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue and try to do their level best to keep it correctly.
Consequently, the Sabbath that now starts at the present international dateline is, in fact, wrong since that day correctly should be involving the 6th day of the week (providing it starts correctly at sunset) at the international dateline in the Pacific Ocean.
Actually, the true Sabbath will not commence until the (sixth day of the week) sun sets in the Euphrates Valley. All this means, of course, is that people (certainly including Israelites) using the sun worship calendar in Australia and the Far East typically recognize the Sabbath as being on the sixth day of the week.
Another Ridiculous Action of Man
Incidentally, the stupidity of this international date line in the middle of the Pacific is about as gross as have been Christian attempts to date the birth of their Gee-Zeus in 1 CE--as seems to been done for centuries. Previous comments and a later chapter herein describe and establish the reality that The Scriptural YESHUA was actually born about 5 BCE.
Today, many Christian scholars admit the dating mistake. But they are in no mood to take any action to set the record straight. Baptist leader Jerry Falwell typifies the compromise and confusion of Christian leaders. Falwell’s newspaper, the “National Liberty Journal,” had a remark on its masthead in December 1999 which said “Celebrating the 1999th Birthday of Jesus Christ” (evidently on Christmas).
Falwell probably doesn’t know the truth. Like Christians at large, it is evident that Falwell still believes in the Christian Christmas story, as occurring around December 25 in I BCE or so (although the Catholic monk Dionysius Exiguus calculated the birth of the Christian Gee-Zeus in 1 AD--Jan-Feb 2001 “End Time News,” p. 2).
Chapter 219--The Day
Gene Heck
In a very evident act of ridiculous calendar manipulations, a man named Gene Heck has theorized that a day runs from noon to noon, instead of sunset to sunset (which is defined as evening in the Hebrew term ehrev), as the Book so states (Gen 1:5, Ex 22:26; 30:8, Lev 22:7; 23:32, Deut 24:15; Josh 8:29; 10:26; Jud 14:18; II Sam 3:35; Neh 13:19; Ps 104:19; Prov 7:9; Dan 6:14; Mk 1:32; Lu 4:40; Eph 4:26).
A classic proof of sunset is outlined in Deuteronomy 23:11 where the unclean man must go outside the camp of Yisrael and wash himself as “evening (ehrev) cometh on.” My KJV text has a footnote for “cometh,” indicating that in the Hebrew it means “turneth toward.” In context, the man can come back into the camp of Yisrael when the sun is down (sunset).
Sunset is also conclusively proven by the Hebrew “bo,” meaning to come-arrive at, come up to, come to pass, march out or in, to bring to, to go in, enter into (meaning closure, as the arrival and/or precise moment of sunset)--per Botterweck & Ringgren (v. II, p. 20-49); Brown, Driver & Briggs (p.97-99); Young’s (p. 424); Gesenius (p. 106), Halliaday, (p. 34), Davidson (p. 70) and other Hebrew lexicons--at Deut 16:6; Josh 10:13, 27; II Chron 18:34; etc (which the KJV translates as “going down” of the sun).
This man Heck refuses to accept the meaning of the Hebrew “boqer,” meaning daybreak (which he claims is midnight) and the above cited Hebrew “ehrev,” meaning sunset (which he attaches to high noon).
He has even went to the extreme of preparing a publication of 60 pages or so to support his ridiculous thinking. Tragically, for truth’s sake, a number of Scripturally shallow people have actually become his followers (Heckites) to join in to help promote his stupid theory (like Christian Identity leader Pete Peters).
Heck utterly ignores the Hebrew “tsohar” (meaning noon or midday), which differentiates from ehrev and boqer in Psalms 55:17 (where David said he prayed three times a day--evening, morning and noon). Here, David noted these three distinctively different points of time identifications and even laid them out in their proper sequence, as they occur during a 24 hour civil day.
In his book (“The Weekly Sabbath When?,” p. 21-23, 57-59), Heck abundantly criticizes the Talmud, but then goes on to hypocritically use a quote from the Talmud with a bad interpretation and incorrect conclusion (ibid, p. 16)--along with human traditions from sun/star worshippers and various English dictionaries to try to prove his stupid thesis (too bad for Gene, but the Scriptures weren’t written in English).
Heck then goes on to develop charts which have no Scriptural basis whatsoever (ibid, p. 7-19). They may look good to ignorant people, but they have no bearing on truth.
He refuses to accept the recognizable and observable signs of sunset and sunrise (as required and stipulated in Gen 1:14) for evening and morning and instead chooses the uncertain points of noon and midnight, which can only be known precisely with a clock or other man-made time device (ibid, p. 24). He says that noon and midnight never change (ibid, p. 24).
True, they never change by man-made clocks (theoretically only, since all man-made clocks develop errors over time and necessitate corrections). However, high noon and midnight change regularly in the observable heavens (especially in respect to the earth, moon, stars and constellations) and this reality is what counts in respect to the Scriptural calendar.
In the winter months and in the Northern hemisphere on planet earth, the sun (high noon) appears visibly more in the Southern skies while in the summer months, it moves more into the Northern skies. At the equinoxes, it is directly overhead (near the equator).
Problems
For followers of Heck, wishing to use shadows to determine high noon, reality is that the presence and direction of any shadows at high noon are constantly changing because they are utterly dependent upon the time of the year.
Since there is an obvious need to observe the sun and heavenly signs in order to determine the new day and to properly keep the Sabbath, one wonders how a person can observe midnight (without a man-made clock subject to error)? How about high noon?
Clearly, Genesis 1:14 demands the observation of the sun to establish the day and not the observation of a sundial, clock or shadow. People can’t look at the high noon sun without blinding themselves!
Sometimes, Heck says that “evening” means high noon (ibid, p. 20, 25); sometimes 6 PM (ibid, p. 32); sometimes sunset (ibid, p. 30-31); sometimes when the sun is going down from high noon (ibid, p. 25); sometimes when shadows fall (ibid, p. 33); sometimes night or darkness (ibid, p. 29); sometimes a second before midnight (ibid, p. 9); and sometimes the twelve hour period from noon to midnight (ibid, p. 15)--yet saying that it is a never changing sign (ibid, p. 24).
It appears that Mr Heck defines evening by whatever time condition that he may need on any particular Scripture to justify his overall thesis about a noon to noon civil day. He exhibits similar confusion over the meaning of morning when he bounces around with various points in time.
For defining morning, he uses an English dictionary and definition to grant him some leeway or latitude to make it mean anything from midnight to high noon (again, for whatever time factor he may need on a particular Scriptural interpretation).
Importantly, the contextual uses of the Hebrew and Greek words for morning often clarify it as daybreak--like at John 8:2 (using the Gr