2005 CoGs Keeping The Wrong Festival Dates

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2005

CoGs Keeping

The Wrong

Festival Dates

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

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In 2005, the dates assigned by ‘Churches of God’ for celebrating God’s festivals were a month too late.

For example, the Feast of Tabernacles should be observed in September to be correct, not October. The simple reason is because Scripture states that these celebrations are to be observed IN THEIR SEASONS.

Notice it. Leviticus 23:4 states:

These are the feasts of the Lord [Yahweh], holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons (Lev 23:4, KJV).

The autumn equinox (September 22nd) and the spring equinox (March 20th) determine the approximate turning from one season into another. They are the turning point, which Scripture describes in Hebrew as the tequphah, which literally means "revolution of the year", or "circuit" (Psalm 19:6), and translated "end" in the KJV in Exodus 34:22 and 2 Chronicles 24:23.

In Genesis 1:14 God says:

Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years (NIV).

The Soncino Pentateuch, edited by Dr J H Hertz, makes this comment about this text in Genesis: "For seasons: to regulate the calendar. The 'seasons' are spring, summer, autumn, and winter; also seed-time and harvest. The Hebrew word for 'seasons' later acquired the meaning of 'festivals', since these were fixed by the year's seasons."

Moses was told by YHWH to "celebrate... the Feast of Ingathering at the turn (tequphah) of the year" (Ex 34:22). This is referring to the time of the autumn equinox. The autumn Feast is to occur as close as possible to the time of the equinox before winter, just as the spring Feast is to occur as close as possible to the time of the vernal equinox before summer.

But the Jews are in error – as are Churches of God for following a man-made Jewish tradition – by calling for the autumn Feasts to be kept in October in 2005 instead of in September, as Scripture clearly requires they be observed in their appropriate season.

By keeping the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles a month later than is correct this year, they are being observed too late – in the wrong season.

The reason for the error is to do with a human addition to the biblical Calendar that God gave Israel. Steve Thompson explains: Malcolm B Heap

What Happened To Passover?

Some of you may have noticed that this year the "Jewish" Passover occurred about one month later than the true Passover. Even the Christians that do not celebrate Passover noticed it since the "Jewish" Passover typically falls close to Easter. So why was it one month late this year?

I decided to do a little research into it. I already knew that the Jews have been celebrating the Passover one day late for thousands of years. They celebrate the Passover on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is a holy day. The Bible states that the Passover is to be observed on the evening of the 14^th day of Abib (sometimes called Nisan), which is the first month in God’s holy calendar (compare Ex 12:2, Deut 16:1, Est 3:7). The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15^th day of Abib, and is a holy day (Lev 23:6).

You shall keep it [the lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month [Abib], then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight (Ex 12:6, NASB).

The error of observing the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the same day (15^th of Abib) is the result of misinterpretation of the scripture and a long run controversy. Midnight Ministries booklet Passover and Pentecost unveils the mystery of this confusion in great detail, and I advise all those who are interested to read it. I will not go into these details in this short piece. However, I will bring up the point that this error was being practiced at the time of Jesus. He observed the Passover on the correct day. He also admonished the Pharisees for their neglect to follow the commandments of God:

Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men (Mark 7:8).

Again, more information on this topic can be found in the above mentioned publication. Getting back to the reason why the Passover this year is one month late. The present "Jewish" calendar was created by Rabbi Hillel II in 357-358 AD, and is called the "authorized fixed Jewish calendar". Many things were adjusted in God’s calendar to arrive at this "fixed" calendar. For the sake of time and space, we will concern ourselves only with the issue of the Passover.

As you know, a solar year consists of 364¼ days. Every four years we have what is known as a leap year, when one day is added to the month of February to adjust for the ¼ day per year error. God’s calendar also makes an adjustment, but does so by adding one month to the year when needed.

The Jews wanted to make this adjustment consist- ent and thus closer in synchronization with the Roman calendar. Therefore, they adopted a calendar that had leap years which occurred on a fixed [man-made] schedule. During a 19 year cycle, a month would be added to years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, and 19. The year 2004 was the 8^th year of the current 19 year cycle and a 13^th month was added to it. This is the reason for the Passover being shown one month late on all the calendars of men. Further, all subsequent Jewish holy days this year will also be off one month as a result.

Men either completely ignore God’s calendar or change it to suit their needs and desires. This is contrary to God’s Word recorded in the Bible (Rev 22:18; Deut 4:2). Again, the words of Mark 7:8 ring true. Remarkably, most of the so-called Churches of God (Worldwide Church of God and its offshoots), who pride themselves on their strict adherence to the observance of the holy festivals of God, use the inaccurate Jewish "fixed" calendar as their guide! One of them, "The Restored Church of God" [which is not restored by the Spirit at all!], has published a rather lengthy article to justify their practice of using the fixed Jewish calendar.

I have but touched the surface on the issues of God’s calendar. The booklet God’s Calendar Revealed To Man by Midnight Ministries covers this topic in detail. Steve B Thompson, Midnight in America

Of course, those who foolishly believe in the infallibility of the Church of God leaders will raise the objection, "But how do you know that YOU are not mistaken?" They cannot conceive that the church they place their trust in could be wrong on such a basic point! However, what they don’t see is just how much else is wrong in such Churches of God! It’s a case of the blind leading the blind, just like Jesus said of the religious leaders in His day.

"How do I know that we are not mistaken in this claim?" Because God has spoken through dreams and in other revelations to various people about me (Malcolm Heap) and Midnight Ministries, to confirm that He has revealed His final restoration of truth through this ministry.

The following are just some of those revelations. More are in the leaflets What God Said About Midnight Ministries and Revelations From God About Midnight Ministries.

You might know some of the people to whom He spoke. And you might even know that they have stepped back from ‘walking with us’. Yes, that happens. It happened to many disciples of Jesus (Jn 6:66). The devil has never ceased to disenchant people. He would have got Israel to go back to Egypt, had it not been for God’s extreme forbearance!

So, yes, people draw back, and God has no pleasure in those who do (Heb 10:38). So, let this be a warning to such evangelists, ministers and brethren who have known of God’s guidance upon MM’s work and who have stepped back. None escape God’s judgment!

What God Revealed To Others

1. Kassahun Ayele, a prophet in Ethiopia, was given dreams about Malcolm Heap and about what God is doing through Midnight Ministries. This is only one of hundreds of dreams given to Kassahun:

a) 5th June 2001. Malcolm Clothed in White.

I saw Malcolm in the house. He was clothed with gabbi. (Traditional garment of Ethiopia. It is very white. People dress in it in winter to be warm. White is a symbol of righteousness and purity.)

He was writing something very powerful which revolutionised the whole world. I was glad by his commitment.

Kassahun Ayele

2. Isaya Owak, a minister in Kenya.

9/8/01. I was reading the book Introduction to the Spiritual Gifts, pages 17-18, where it was written Matt 10:40-41. I heard a word in my mind: "Isaya, you have received a prophet, do you see? You are benefiting from a prophet."

"Yes", I said, "and I want more spiritual benefit."

When I reached page 21 topic Prophecy, I was seeing a vision that somebody with white garment (robe) [Jesus] was holding Malcolm's hand...

I continued reading this book and reaching page 24 where a prophet from America prophesied about Malcolm. Then I remembered what God put in my mind when I was in England on 9/4/01 in Luke 21:15-16. Reaching page 25 where it mentions Isaiah 6, I remembered the audible voice I heard when I was walking down the road. It said, "Tell Mr Heap to stand firm and open the eyes of the Kenyans." [This message is in MM Newsletter 8, p 3.]

[In John 14:26 Jesus promises that when the Spirit comes He will remind you of the very words Jesus has spoken previously.]

10/8/01. Coming into my house, I took Zechariah's Amazing Prophecy. I started reading it. I reached page 4 paragraph 4, and the holy Spirit whispered to me: "I do not want division in the Church."

I was given 1st Corinthians 1:10-18 and the Holy Spirit also says: "I want you to write your last letter to Joel Meeker to prove if he is My servant or not. His response will tell you which side he is on. Tell him that you want to work with him to direct people to God. Time is short...."

(Meeker didn’t respond. CoGs and their ministers don’t want to co-operate with MM. False ministers only want pre-eminence for themselves, which is a satanic trait.)

Tongues and Interpretation received 10/8/01.

I was praying before I went to bed and the Holy Spirit moved me to pray in tongues. When I was praying, I saw Malcolm sitting somewhere. After praying in tongues I was given the meaning: "This is My son. I have chosen him..."

3. Nicholas Ochieng Odero.

In a dream (2/10/04) I heard a voice telling me, "This is the man I have chosen to restore all things to the Church."