1. When did God establish his Calendar in the Sky?

    2. Genesis 1:14-19
    So we see God put the Earth in orbit around the sun and the moon in orbit around the earth on the 4th day of creation. He also would have needed to tilt the earth on it's axis for the seasons to occur. I stated in a sermon I gave before that the barley was not even created when God established his Calendar in the sky. However, I was wrong. Let's notice what was created on the 3rd day of creation. Genesis 1:9-13
    On the 3rd day of creation God created plant life, so the barley was in existance when God established his Calendar in the sky. So how do the sun and moon establish a calendar in the sky?

  2. When does the day begin and end according to scripture?

    3. Leviticus 23:26-32
    A day ends at Sunset and that begins a new day. The sun controls when a day starts and when a day ends. This is the way God intends it to be, but man thinks he has a better way starting the day in the middle of the night at midnight. But God wants us to be up and aware and SEE one day end and the next day begin.

  3. When does the week begin according to scripture?

    4. Genesis 2:1-3
    God did not finish creation week on the sixth day, he finished it on the seventh day. The Sabbath is a part of the creation week. God established the Sabbath day at creation, not when he gave it to Moses in the 10 commandments. It was already in place, the people just were not following it. Julie and I have noticed that some of the creation museums in our country have creation week lasting 6 days, because they do not want to acknowledge the Sabbath day. They REFUSE to keep this day Holy that God commands them to keep Holy. The week begins on the first day of the week and ends with the Sabbath day. God does not give us a day off and then put us to work. No, he put's us to work for 6 days and then gives us a day off of rest. The week begins on what we call Sunday and ends on what we call Saturday. Let me ask you a question, "How do we know Saturday is the seventh day of the week?" If you woke up shipwrecked on a deserted island and did not know how many days you had been unconsious. How would you know what day the Sabbath is? How do we know what day the Sabbath is today? Where did we get it? We get it from the Jews. Where did the Jews get it? They got it from Moses. Where did Moses get it? He got it directly from God and the miracle of manna on all other days but the Sabbath made it very clear which day was to be kept as the Sabbath. The Lunar Sabbath movement claims we don't need the Jews see when the Sabbath is to be kept. They believe that the new moon starts a new Sabbath cycle and the seventh day of each month is the Sabbath. I've looked into this and it is not correct. The problem is a lunar month is not evenly divisible by a 7 day week. A lunar month is 29.5 days and will either be 29 days or 30 days depending on the cresent sighting. You can not divide 29 or 30 by seven evenly so you have days left over. What do you do with this left over day and a half? Ignore it? Then the last week of the month would be 8 or 9 days long, not 7 days long.
    Leviticus 23:15-16
    The calculation of the day of Pentecost specifies 7 weeks or 49 days showing scripture supports a 7 day week and not 7 days sometimes and 8 or 9 days at other times. Scripture clearly show this Lunar Sabbath doctrine to be incorrect and I don't know why some people still cling to this false doctrine.
    Does God expect us to ignore what the Jews are doing or does he expect us to examine what they are doing and when they are worshipping God properly we are to imitate them?
    Zechariah 8:20-23
    It baffles me that some people claim to be Christians and are Antisemetic. Our savior was a Jew. King David who will rule again over Israel was a Jew. How can you be a Christian and be Antisemetic? I personally don't believe you can be.

    So, if you wake up on a deserted island and you are not sure what day of the week it is, how are you going to keep the Sabbath holy? First, you keep one in seven to at least keep the spirit of the law. Second, you pray to God for a sign to show you when the Sabbath day is. I think I would be asking for some manna on the six other days, wouldn't you? God did this for his people before, can't he do it again? I believe in the place of safety we will be fed with manna and it will be very clear which day is the Sabbath. I really look forward to that. When all the rest of the world will not have the freedom to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, we will be able to keep it together, what an incredible blessing that will be brethren. Are you hoping for that? Are you looking for that? Are you praying for that? Don't you want to be in the place of safety when God establishes it?

  4. When does the month begin?


    5. From the Website: http://www.karaite-korner.org/new_moon.shtml
    The New Moon in the Hebrew Bible

  5. When does the year begin?

    6. Genesis 1:14-19
    When is the equinox and what does it matter?
    (From Encarta 97 Encyclopedia)

    So we see that the sun rises due east and sets due west only on the spring and fall equinoxes. Day and night is nearly equal but not exactly because of the atmosphere. From the Website:
    http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

    Somerset, KY Sunrise/Sunset Chart for 2010

    Think about it, when the sun sets is it dark immediatly? Even before the sun rises, is it already light? Why is that so? If the sun is no longer in view, why do we still see light? Because the sun is reflecting off our atmosphere which is above the earth and continues to produce some light.

    Now the important question for us is, How did the ancients calculate the equinox? Did they have clocks that could measure down to the minute the time of day and time of night. We have that technology today, but without a watch, how would you measure down to the minute 12 hours? It's possible, but is this what they did? No, they did not, they built structures and shadows from these structures indicated to them when the equinoxes occurred. Want proof?

    From the Website: www.crystalinks.com/gpstats.html containing statistics of the Great Pyramid we find:

    With the original surrounding courtyards and temples in place, the pyramid was used as a sundial.
    The pyramid was used to indicate solstices and equinoxes.
    The pyramid is located at 29 degrees, 58 minutes, 51.06 seconds north latitude, and 31 degrees, 9 minutes, and 0.0 seconds east longitude.
    Marks Spring Equinox:
    Due to the angle of the sides of the pyramid vs. its latitude, it casts no shadow at noon during the spring equinox.
    Aligned True North:
    The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was probably exactly aligned at one time.

    Why would the Egyptians go to all the trouble to line up one of the faces to DUE north? Realize this means the other faces are also lined up due south, east and west. So, on the equinox when the sun rises due east, the shadow should fall in the middle of the due west face of the pyramid and you would know the exact day when this occured. On winter days the shadow would be north of center, because sun is rising south of east and in the summer the shadow would be south of center, because the sun is rising north of east. This is how they determined the equinox. Want more proof?


    From the Website: www.world-mysteries.com/chichenitza_sn.htm we find some interesting facts about the Pyramid of Kukulcan" * (usually called "El Castillo").

    For a thousand years, the slanting rays of the setting sun have played a spectacular shadow and light game with this great Mayan pyramid. During the equinoxes, at the appointed hour, the shadow of the Feathered Serpent, Kukulcan appears on the northern stairway...and vanishes.

    EL CASTILLO - The Temple of Kukulcan, Chichén Itzá, Mexico
    The Mayans succeeded in an almost impossible mission with the completion of their structures at Chichén Itzá. A poetic combination of form, style, function, religion, philosophy, mathematics and geometry. A true symbiosis of all of their intelligence and art in one location, to be studied and admired by all that visit.

    By far the most impressive structure of the complex is the "Pyramid of Kukulcan" * (usually called "El Castillo"). This is a square-based, stepped pyramid approximately 30 meters tall (with the temple on top), constructed by the Mayans ca 1000-1200 AD, directly upon the multiple foundations of previous temples. It was mysteriously abandoned along with the surrounding city of Chichen Itza by 1400 AD.

    The pyramid has special astronomical significance and layout. Each face of the pyramid has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year. These stairways also divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen months of the Mayan calendar. The pyramid's design reflects the equinoxes and solstices of our solar year in a spectacular game of light and shadow. During the equinoxes, the setting sun casts a shadow of a serpent on the northern steps of the pyramid.

    People of ancient times knew when the equinoxes were because the required this information to plant thier crops a the proper time.
    Unfortunately, many ended up using these instruments to detect the equinoxes as a form of false worship. They worshipped the creation, instead of the creator. History does clearly show us that the ancients determined the equinoxes based on the shadows cast in the sun which would occur around March 20th and 21st, not on March 17th and for this reason I believe we should use the March 20th Equinox for this year. What does a few days matter anyway? Let's take a look at this years calendar to see how it can make a months difference.

    From the Website: www.sabbathbible.com/fellowship/archive/2010/calendar/mar.html
    The new moon is supposed to be seen on March 17th this year and since it is the 30th day, it might be possible to see ealier, but not later. If you use March 17th as the date for the equinox, then you would call this the first day of the year. However, if you use March 20th as the first day of the year, then you would NOT call this the first day of they year, because it is still Winter and not Spring. This is why I believe we should not begin the year until April 15th when the next new moon will appear, the first new moon to appear in the Spring and not the Winter. This will make the Holy Days we keep a month later than most people will keep them. Of course it is not the equal time or due east equinox controversy that has the Jews keeping the Holy Days a month earlier that we intend to keep it. No, it's the 19 Year time cycle estimate for adding the extra month that is close but not exact. Why would you ignore the sun and it's cycle God created and instead use an estimate of it that is off a bit? Well, they do the same thing with the moons don't they? Instead of observing when it really is, they estimate, postpone and over the years have gotten farther and farther away from the actual new moons. If we know better, we should do better.

    And some claim the barley harvest is what should determine the start of the new year. These people are forgetting some very important scriptures: Leviticus 25:1-12
    Do you know what this means brethren? Every 7 years there is NO Barley Harvest! And every 50 years for the Jubilee there are two consecutive years where there is NO Barley harvest! Does God expect us to take these land Sabbaths seriously?
    Leviticus 26:27-35
    The Barley Harvest does not determine the beginning of the year, the Sun and Moon do just as scripture states in Genesis 1:14 and that will make us keep the Feast days one month later than most people who keep the Feast days this year.

    Now, I don't condemn those that keep the Holy Days a month earlier this year and accept the Messiah as our savior. I still consider them brethren, but when God gives us truth we MUST follow it no matter what other people are doing. You see, in the future Kingdom of God we will be teaching the entire world how to keep God's Feast days. I don't want to tell the people then that I knew when to keep the Feast days more accurately than most, but refused to do so because others in the church didn't do it. No, I want to explain to them the truth on this matter and show how we struggled to keep it as best we knew how, no matter what others did. We don't answer to others brethren, we answer to the Messiah and we should be following his example as we understand it.

    Summary:
    How does the sun and moon establish what I call God's Calendar in the Sky?

    1. The year is established by the sun and moon which are both in the sky:

      2. The first visible new moon cresent over Israel on or after the equinox.

    2. Each new month is established by the Moon which is in the sky:

      3. When visible new moon cresent over Israel is sighted by two witnesses or the 30th day otherwise.

    3. The week is established by the sun which is in the sky:

      4. It begins on what we call Sunday and ends on the seventh day of the week which is the Sabbath day. When we see the sixth setting of the sun the Sabbath begins with the seventh day of the week.

    4. The day is established by the setting of the sun which is in the sky:

      5. As the sun sets and retires for the day, one day ends and another day begins.

      The creation of God is breathtaking to behold and we should worship and honor the creator not the creation.
      And who created ALL things? The Messiah?
      And why were ALL things created? For the Messiah.
      Colossians 1:13-23

      And yet, he had the humility to divest his power and come down as a human being and die for our sins. What an astounding and incredible God we serve! Blessed be the name of Yahweh!