Newsletter: Jewish Calendars, Mayan Calendars, and Prophecy

Greetings from HomeWorship 101™

“This month shall be your beginning of months;

It shall be the first month of the year to you.” Exodus 12:2

This year I have been receiving a lot of mail regarding the Holy Day dates. Some want to correct me, some are asking why I am a month early, and some are wondering what the fuss is all about, so let me make some clarifications. As always, YHWH is correct, and man is wrong. These past couple of months I have been reading about calendar keeping until my eyes bleed, to save you some pain I’ll share with you some of the highlights. Regular readers of my work know that I endeavor to K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid), and the above Bible verse seems pretty simple to me. The month Passover is kept is the first month of the year. Yet the Jewish religious calendar says the 7^th month is the beginning of the year, and only a few brave Jews ever question the rabbis on it.

Learn to think outside of your programming!

The rabbis are not known for keeping spiritual matters simple, they will either talk you to death or say you are not allowed to challenge rabbinic authority. The Jews can go through life believing what ever they want to - just do not ask me to join in (the same goes for the Pope and the Catholics, and most of the rest of the religious world). The question remains how did the 7^th month become the new years month? The answer is simple, as with most religions, some mere mortal came along and changed what YHWH has decreed. I”ll quote:

“This Calendar was adopted during the Hasmonean period. It was introduced by the High Priest Hannan, or Annias. He changed the months from the simple Biblical numerical designations of the 1st month, the 2nd month, and so on, to the names of the Babylonian months. The names of the Babylonian months were the names of the pagan Babylonian gods. We have like designations for the pagan names of the months and days of the week in the Christian System.

Hannan also changed Rosh HaShanah (New Year) from the first month that begins at Aviv, the Spring month, to the seventh month at the Autumn Equinox. The word, 'equinox' means equidistant, halfway or middle. The 7th month, Tishri, is the beginning month half way through the year from the 1st month of Aviv in the Spring….

One might ask "Why do the Rabbis not go back to the Original Jubilee Torah Calendar?" The answer is, that the Lunar Calendar was established by the recognized Sanhedrin of that day. No rabbi or group of rabbis have the authority to change a decision of that Sanhedrin. They cannot change it even if that Sanhedrin was wrong!”

For the full story log on to: http://www.vendyljones.org.il/jewishcal.htm

If you research a little you will find, the Jewish calendar, the Jubilee calendar, the Torah calendar, the Essene calendar, the festival calendar, etc, - so much for keeping it simple. When pressed the rabbis get around the simple truth by saying they have two calendars, the civil and the festival calendar – but to me it seems like the civil calendar takes priority. I’ll quote: “The Jewish calendar contains a number of "new year" dates. This is like having a fiscal year that overlaps two calendar years. The month of Tishrei, which begins with Rosh Hashanah, is the beginning of the year vis-à-vis the number of years, e.g., 5752, 5753, etc. The month of Nissan, the month in which Passover falls, is considered the beginning of the year with regard to the festivals (Passover, Shavuos and Succos) as well as for the establishment of the reign of a Jewish king.” Source: http://roshhashanah.torah.org/learning/yomtov/roshhashanah/survival2.html

You go your way, I’ll go YAHWEH!

What seems bizarre to me is that no rabbi will dare to change what a defunct Sanhedrin enacted thousands of years ago, but changing what YHWH decrees doesn’t seem to be a problem. Obviously, I am centered on what YHWH teaches, and that is what I try to pass on in my writings. Another calendar issue is in some years, why are some Holy Day dates off by a few days between some Messianic groups, and other Jewish and Christian groups (IE: sometimes Passover is listed before Palm Sunday). The answer is that in ancient times two witnesses observing the first crescent moon visible after the darkness of the new moon determined the beginning of month. The two witnesses would report to the Sanhedrin who then certified it. In time as the Jews discovered mathematics, they then started to figure the months mathematically which is what they do today. The problem is that celestial math is complicated, for example: a month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 2.841 seconds; and a year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46.069 seconds. The Jews roughly figure a month cycle is about 29 ½ days, so they had some months either 29 or 30 days, as you can see their math is off a little, eventually the days became out of sink with the actual sighting dates, consequentially the people miss their true appointed times with YHWH.

Another problem with the Jewish calendar are their rules for the postponement (dehioth) of the Holy Days. The rules of postponement cannot be found in the Bible, and are another rabbinic invention. For example: When the first crescent new moon occurs on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the following day. The Day of Atonement cannot precede or follow a weekly Sabbath—never on a Friday or Sunday. The Last Great Day cannot fall on a Sabbath. Passover can fall only on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sabbath. One could almost get the impression that the Holy Days are inconvenient. Oy Vea!!!

Another dispute between calendar math vs. visual sighting is when does the first month begin. This year the math folks are way out of sink with the Scriptural command to watch for the ripening barley in Jerusalem (Exo.23:15), because this year the ripening barley was seen earlier then anyone expected. Hence those with their preprinted math calendars do not change and they are a month late. Source: http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib.shtml

Beware & be aware, nowhere in Scriptures does is say to do complex math to figure the Holy Days. Use your own YHWH given common sense. Understand that YHWH made HIS signs to set HIS appointed times, easy enough for a Shepard boy to look up to the sky and see the moon, or to watch the crops in the fields – it is man that creates the mishegoss (craziness) of YHWH’s simple truths.

Some say that watching for the crescent new moon is paganism. No, because watching these signs is not considered astrology, we do not use it to derive any personal destinies. It is used to determine the universal "appointed times" (Gen.1:14; Ps.104:19). Maybe some pagans have adopted some of what is YHWH’s and corrupted it, but YHWH’s decrees were first and there is no reason I should give up on them. For example, the Rainbow symbolizing the Rainbow Covenant to humanity is sometimes corrupted by the less then Godly, but that doesn’t mean is not YHWH’s sign anymore. For more info log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_timekeeping&calendar.htm

Another question in calendar keeping is whether the calendar is set by Jerusalem time or by personal sighting? I would answer: “If one does not have access to world news via the web or other sources then the answer is yes, the default method would be by a personal sighting. But what about my situation, I publish the Holy Day dates on the world wide web for a world wide audience, I see little use in telling the world when the first crescent new moon rises here in Alabama so I use the reports of trusted eye witness in Jerusalem to determine the new moon days.”

Some say Jerusalem is desolate so why should we look there (they reference Mat.23:38, 24:1-2; Jon.2:16, 4:19-24). I answer: “This is all true, the Jewish religious order has been blinded until the Messiah arrives whereupon they will know whom they have pierced (Zec.12:10). During my years of church hopping I know that many Sabbath keeping groups use all these verses as an excuse to ignore Jerusalem, and do what I feel, use them as a reason to promote a “hint” of replacement theology or anti-Semitism.

Jerusalem’s desolation is temporary and for the last 2,000 years you might be right, but today the regathering has begun and the desolation is ending (Dry Bones prophecy of Ezk.37:1-14 ). If we watch prophecy we know Jerusalem is ground zero, and His Bride would be watching (Zec.12:3; Luk.21:36).

In my humble opinion, I also think that knowing the Muslims pray with their backsides pointing to Jerusalem, the faithful should counter this by standing up for Jerusalem and when possible say your personal prayers while facing towards Jerusalem to show your spiritual support for YHWH’s eternal city (Dan.6:10).”

Some also say the temple worship is obsolete so why bother with new moons and Jewish Holy Days? “Huh?!?! Temple is Obsolete? Bit of a stretch I think. Temporally blinded yes, but permanently obsolete, I don’t think so. Do you not know that the headquarters of YHWH’s elect in Yahshua will be in the Millennium Temple with Yahshua, and once again sacrifices will be required during the 1,000 years of His rule (Ezk.ch.40-43). The new moons and Tabernacles Holy Days are a shadow of things to come in the Millennium Kingdom (Zec.14:14-16; Isa.66:23); one would think the Bride would be following Yahshua’s lead. I hope you will not next tell me that the Old Testament is obsolete and we should ignore Psalms 122:6 to pray for Jerusalem, or all the other numerous references to Jerusalem.”

“Watch…, and pray be counted worthy to escape…” Luke 21:36

What is interesting to me this year is the Jewish number of their coming new year, 5766. I’ll quote: “Rabbi Kaduri also stated that the upcoming year would be a year of "secret and revelation" in the world. The Jewish year 5766 begins…, with the holiday of Rosh Hashana.

The Rabbi explained that the numerical Hebrew abbreviation for 5766, taf, shin, samech, vav gives insight into the nature of the upcoming year. "This will be a year of secret (or sod, from the letter samech) and revelation (or v'giliu from the letter vav).”” Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=89850

As a student of prophecy what caught my eye is that they believe this will be a year of secrets and revelations. I personally believe we are living in the end times of this age (not the end of the world). I’m not into date setting, too many smarter people then me have set dates and been wrong, but Yahshua did give us some hints. A popular one is when Israel signs a the 7 year peace treaty which will be broken and lead to WWIII, eventually leading to the coming of the Messiah near the end of the seven years (Dan.9:27, 12:1). Another popular one is that the real Satan possessed antichrist will reign for 1260 days in the last half of the seven years of tribulation (Rev.12:6-13). Yahshua tells us this to comfort us so we will know that there will be a very limited time to the horrors of the satanic rule that lies ahead.

As a researcher I discover things and can’t help but wonder… If you have read through the attached links you know that accurate timekeeping has not been the forte of the western world, or the Jews, in my humble opinion, that honor goes to the ancient Mayans of Central America. I’ll quote: “Mayan comprehension of time, seasons, and cycles has proven itself to be vast and sophisticated. The Maya understand 17 different calendars, some of them charting time accurately over a span of more than ten million years.” They recorded a period of global tribulation after which that the world begin a rebirth on December 21, 2012. They say: "Humanity will continue," he contends, "but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human." http://www.livinginthelightms.com/symbology

Do not misunderstand I’m not setting any dates, there are still many prophecies that have to fall into place, but it will be interesting watching. Log on to: http://www.homeworship101.com/bb-c9_prophecy_trib01.htm

Peace and blessings, Errol.

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Errol Mueller, chronicler extraordinaire

e-mail: errol@homeworship101.com

website: www.homeworship101.com

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Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

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#WSC 2005-13, posted 09/30/05.

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