By Pastor Eli James

"And they will forget all my law and all my commandments and all my judgments, and they will err in reference to new moons and sabbaths and festivals and jubilees and ordinances. And then they will turn themselves to me from the midst of the nations with all their hearts and all their soul and all their power, and I shall gather them from amongst all nations, and they will seek me that I may be found for them when they seek me with all their heart and with all their soul, and I will open to them much peace and happiness." - Book of Jubilees 1:13.

The response to my Scriptural study on the Hebrew Calendar, "Yahweh’s Solar Calendar (Part 1)," was both invigorating and demanding. I ordinarily have no compunction about challenging long-held traditions of orthodoxy. It is well understood, within Christian Identity, that a great number of mainstream traditions, surrounding Christianity and Judaism, have little or no Scriptural foundation. Virtually everything taught by the rabbis of Judaism is anti-Mosaic, as the Talmud asserts that Talmudism supersedes the teachings of Moses. Likewise, the Catholic Church has introduced numerous traditions, such as Christmas and Easter, that have no Scriptural foundation. Both of these "holy" days are, in fact, rooted in pagan tradition. Both of these religions have made a habit of substituting their own traditions in place of the teachings of the Bible. Also, the Protestant denominations have added universalism and antinomianism ("The law is done away with") to the witch’s brew that is called orthodox religion today.

Knowing these things, I long ago suspected that the Jewish and Catholic feast days were probably just as un-Scriptural. When I was writing my book, The Great Impersonation, between 1980 and 2003, I became more aware of the Hebrew Feast Days and how different they are from both mainstream Christianity and Judaism. As I gathered more information about these Hebrew Feast Days, I realized that I had to add an Appendix to TGI, because Yahweh puts so much importance on keeping His Sabbaths and on observing His Feast Days, although we are to keep the Feast Days as memorials. What was abolished at the Cross was the blood rituals of the Levitical priesthood. The rest of the Law remains fully in effect, as we are to have the Law "written in our hearts," as per Jer. 31:31-37.

The Bible takes the Fourth Commandment very seriously, even calling for the Death Penalty for those who violate it. For this reason, I had decided that I needed to study the subject in greater detail. Starting with the premise that, "If the rabbis or Popes demand it, it’s probably wrong," I became attracted to the Solar Calendar. Of all of the Biblical subjects I have ever tackled, this has been the most difficult to research, as it is a subject of great antiquity and one that is buried by most scholarship. Fortunately, there has been a resurgence of interest in the Hebrew solar calendar because it is featured so prominently in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes. Some of that research will be adduced herein.

Although there is much said in Scripture about the Feast Days (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, and the Last Great Day}, there really are no explicit instructions as to how to arrange the Calendar. The Calendar must be deduced from the various passages that deal with the Sabbaths, Feasts, days, weeks, months and years. Because the Bible gives only scant information how to organize these days, the Calendar must be painstakingly reconstructed. I believe I have done this in Part 1 of this two-part series. (Here is the link to that study, which lists Chapter and Verse of all relevant passages pertaining to the Calendar: http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/newsletter/2007_8_23.php )

I expected rejection from the mainstream, but I was quite surprised by the reaction from many CI groups. This calendar issue has struck a raw nerve within the Christian Identity community, as many well-established groups practice a lunar or luni-solar calendar.

The circles I travel in are almost exclusively solar in their approach to the Feast Days. Either that, or the congregation takes a wait-and-see attitude, waiting for more information to come in before committing to either a solar or lunar calendar. Once I was invited to speak to a group in Tennessee. Not realizing that they were an exclusively lunar group, I caused an uproar by declaring that I practice a solar calendar.

That experience has caused me to research the subject more thoroughly, to see if perhaps I had overlooked something. The lunar Sabbath-keepers claim to have all kinds of "proofs," but I found their arguments to be unconvincing. In short, they just assumed too much. They were reading things that just weren’t there. So, I did a thorough survey of all the Bible verses that relate to the Appointments, Seasons and Sabbaths.

In spite of many recent appeals by lunar advocates, I cannot accept a lunar calendar. I still maintain that there is not enough information in Scripture to complete the picture of the Calendar, whether it is lunar or solar. As I related in Part 1, I had to turn to the books of Enoch and Jubilees to get the full picture. From these three sources, here is what we know for sure:

1. A week consists of 7 days, and every 7^th Day is a Sabbath.
2. A month consists of 30 days.
3. A calendar year consists of 364 days, composed of a combination of weeks and months, but it begins at the Spring Equinox (Abib 1).
4. The Feast Days all depend upon counting days, weeks and months.
5. The end of the year is not defined in Scripture, nor anywhere else, so it has to be deduced.
6. Weeks and months synchronize at Abib 1 and Ethanim 1, but they are asynchronous everywhere else.
7. There are a few Special Sabbaths, such as Pentecost and the Day of Atonement, that do not occur on the weekly, regular 7-day Sabbath count.

From the above, it can be seen that we have to get Day 1 right in order to derive the Sabbaths and Feast Days. If Day 1 is wrong, everything else is wrong, because Day 1 begins the annual count. Fortunately, Scripture tells us which day that is. It is the first day of the first month of Spring, Abib. Since all calendars, whether lunar, luni-solar, or solar, focus on the Spring Equinox, that day is the focal point. This is true for two main reasons: a.) Since the Equinox Day divides daytime and nighttime into to equal halves of 12 hours each, it is a perfect marker day. It’s like the yellow stripe down the middle of the road. A sundial will cast no left or right shadow on this day, so it easy to mark. The sundial’s shadow will move strictly east and west as the sun passes overhead. b.) Since planting and harvesting seasons must be determined with relative accuracy, a reliable, consistent marker day must be used. This is the reason why the Julian calendar replaced the previous calendars. And this is also the reason why the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar. Inaccurate calendars begin to drift away from the focal point and must be constantly adjusted to get back to the focal point. This is why lunar calendars must be constantly adjusted to approximate the Spring Equinox. Since the growing season is determined by the sun, not the moon, it is the sun that rules the seasons, the year, and the calendar.

The consistency of a calendar is much more important to a farmer than it is to a priest. Religious rituals need not be determined by the planting, ripening or harvesting of crops. Knowing what I do about Judaism and its importation of Babylonian ideas into Judea during the Herodian dynasty, and since Jews have never been farmers throughout their entire history, I began to have doubts about the Jewish calendar, with it fluctuating dates, months and years. Virtually every calendar commentator admits that the lunar calendar was practiced in ancient Babylon before the Hebrews adopted a lunar calendar. The question is: "Did the Hebrews ever practice a non-lunar, purely solar (agricultural) calendar?" Since our people have always been farmers and the Jews have never been farmers, I suspected that the Hebrews had a solar calendar.

One of the most important reasons for rejecting lunar reckoning is that the first yearly day of the lunar calendar can be as much as two weeks off of the Spring Equinox. Since all lunar calendars are based on either the New Moon or Full Moon closest to the Spring Equinox, these calendars can be as much as two weeks ahead or two weeks behind the agricultural clock. For farmers, such fluctuations can mean the difference between a good harvest or a poor harvest. It is for agricultural reasons that all calendars must focus around the Spring Equinox. The further a calendar wanders away from this Marker Day, the less the farmers can rely on it. In other words, a calendar must accurately reflect the Seasons of the year; and only a purely Solar Calendar can do this consistently.

From the ancient world, one evidence of the importance of agriculture to the year is the so-called "Gezer Calendar." {http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/westsem/gezer.html } This is not really a calendar, but a poetic instruction about which months to sow and reap various crops. Like our famous "knee high by the 4^th of July" saying for corn, the Gezer Calendar relates crops to particular times of particular months.

The Hebrew word, abib, although employed to designate the first month, actually means, according to various scholars, "green ears of barley," "ripening of the barley," "tender, green ears," etc. This demonstrates that Abib is the first month of Spring, when the winter barley crop is just beginning to ripen. Two weeks after the Spring Equinox, the barley had to be ripe enough for the Wave Sheaf ceremony to be performed. Obviously, this ripening is the function of sunlight, not moonlight, nor is it tied to any phases of the moon.

If the calendar wanders too far away from the agricultural year, the farmers might as well go back to observation of seasonal weather patterns. An accurate calendar is primarily an agricultural guide, especially for planting crops. Because weather patterns are not always constant, farmers need a guide for sowing seeds at the most opportune time.

Now, the annual barley harvest, by itself, does not prove that the agrarian Hebrews used a Solar Calendar. Virtually every scholar agrees that the Hebrews had several calendars going simultaneously, but that one of these calendars was an exclusively solar one. The remaining question is: "Which of these calendars was used to determine the Sabbaths and Feast Days?"

All of the latest research coming from the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests that the Essenes practiced a 364-day Solar Calendar, which was very similar to the Calendar that I proposed in Part 1. And it is important to realize the Essenes considered themselves to be the True descendants and Priests of Judah.

Here is what Dr. Wesley Swift has to say about the Essenes:

‘Strange and difficult conditions existed in Palestine during the time of Christ’s ministry. The powers of darkness and forces of evil had usurped priesthood positions which ruled over the temple. True Judah and Benjamin understood that the temple was in the hands of this false priesthood; they also perceived that the defense of their people was not being carried out by the soldiers that were controlled by the priesthood. Although they knew that they were under the Roman Empire and that Rome considered Palestine to be only a vassal province, still they realized that their greatest danger came from this evil which had penetrated into the temple control. For this reason the Essene Company had gathered together and were trying to preserve their records, their scrolls, their doctrines, and were planning for the rebirth of Israel in Palestine. They met in secret caves and in homes of people in Palestine. Out of this organization came the defensive army which would have crowned Christ the King." -- The Symbol of the Cup, p. 1.

We know that the Pharisees were the sect favored and empowered by Herod; and they were composed of both Edomites and traitor Judahites. I am absolutely certain that, with the passage of time, the Pharisees became dominated by Idumeans and that, by the time of Christ, the Pharisees were an Idumean monopoly. Jesus confirms this for us at John 8:33-44, although there may have been a small contingent of Judahite traitors still among them.

The Sadducees were, for the most part Judahites who had given up the Mosaic Law in favor of Greek traditions. These were representatives of the well-to-do, cosmopolitan class of Judeans, who had made their livings trading or dealing with the Greeks, during the Greek occupation of Judea, from 331 BC to the Roman era. I have no reason to suspect that there were any Idumeans in this sect.

Josephus, the Judahite historian, tells us about these three sects:

"For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews [sic. Judeans]. The followers of the first of whom are Pharisees; of the second the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essens. These last are Jews [sic. Judeans] by birth [meaning native Judahites, since the Pharisees were primarily Idumeans from Idumea], and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essenes reject pleasures as evil [What more proof do you need that they weren’t Jews? The Jews have always been known for their materialism and for the ostentatiousness of their wealthier brethren. Ascetic Jews are unheard of!!!], but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue." – Wars of the Judeans, Book II, Chapter VIII, Para. 2.

From this analysis, we can reasonably compare these three groups with three American groups: Jews, Bluebloods, and Christian Whites. We have virtually the same political and economic dynamic occurring today, as the Jews have become the dominant class, with the Bluebloods taking second place, while the White Middle Class pays the taxes and does all the work. In paragraphs 3 through13, Josephus shows his admiration for the Essenes, who, he says, are "perpetually conversant in the discourses of the prophets."

By this, he means the Hebrew prophets.

Many of our people falsely believe that Josephus was a Jew. He most definitely was not. Just because the Jews have claimed him as one of their own does not make it so. After all, the Jews even say that "Jesus was a Jew." Do you believe that? By his own autobiography, Josephus says he is a Judahite, of both royal and priestly stock. Yes, he did study with the Pharisees, but that was only to find out what they taught. He does not say how long he studied with them; but he did leave that pursuit and went on to a brilliant military and political career. The fact that he does not lavish the Sadducees nor the Pharisees with the same type praise as he does for the Essenes should be proof enough of where his sympathies lie.

The point of this sectarian anaylsis is this: The Essenes were TRUE JUDAHITES, who remained true to their roots, while the Sadducees were Judahites who did not; and the Pharisees, despite their ancient and modern claims, were non-Judahites (non-Shemitic Idumean Canaanites) who practiced their own, Babylonian tradition, which was completely different from the Mosaic Law. Now, which of these three groups do you suppose practiced a SOLAR CALENDAR?

"The Dead Sea Scrolls have provided a wealth of information about religious practices during the first century or so BC in the community of Qumran near the Dead Sea. A surprisingly large portion of the scrolls deals with keeping time, which was essential for knowing exactly when the sacred feasts prescribed by the Law of Moses would be celebrated. The scrolls make it clear that the group at Qumran felt that the other Jewish [sic., ‘JUDEAN’ is the proper word here, not ‘Jewish.’ The Essenes were Judahites of Judea, not Idumean Jews.] sects were mistaken in the calendar they were using, which was based on the phases of the moon. This was probably one of several reasons that caused them to withdraw from Jerusalem and to celebrate their own feasts at the times they felt were proper according to what has become known as the Qumran calendar." -- "Dead Sea Scrolls May Solve Mystery," by John C. Lefgren and John P. Pratt, p. 1.

Continuing with these authors:

"While several documents discovered at Qumran give schedules of events according to their calendar, the best descriptions of the workings of the calendar itself are probably found in the Book of Jubilees and the book of Enoch. Although those books are not included in our Bible today, both were held in high regard at Qumran, equal to others we now include in the Old Testament.

"The calendar had 364 days each year, beginning on a Wednesday every spring. [This part of their analysis I cannot agree with, since there were no named days before or during Essene times. The authors give no rationale for choosing Wednesday, so I disregard this statement. – Eli.] It had four quarters of exactly 13 weeks each, so that every quarter-year began on a Wednesday [sic!]. Each quarter had three months, the first two having 30 days and the third having 31 days. The months were numbered from 1 to 12, beginning in the Spring."

Note: There is no mention of a thirteenth month at Qumran (nor is there in the Bible). Here, the authors have described the calendar that I deduced from my own studies, taking into consideration the information from Jubilees and Enoch. Except for the "Wednesday" business, I could have written these paragraphs myself. Jubilees and Enoch say nothing about Wednesdays (the fourth day of the week). Other than this, my understanding of the Enoch Solar Calendar is virtually identical to theirs. All of this comes as good news to me, since I was not even aware of the Qumran calendar when I composed "Yahweh’s Solar Calendar." If nothing else, this shows that the Essenes used the same source material for their calendar as I have.

Later on in the article, the authors talk about the 24 Courses of Temple Priests, where they explain how they came up with this "Wednesday" business. What they are doing is giving our modern day-names to the number-days of the Hebrew calendar. Thus, day 1 they call "Sunday," day 2 they call "Monday," etc. What they discovered was that the Qumran priests had retained the names of the Twenty-Four Courses as given in I Chron. 24:1-18, although the original Course families had to be replaced by new families, who agreed to adopt the family names of the original Courses. Thus, the 24 Courses were re-established under Ezra and Nehemiah, after the return of the Judahites from Babylon. Only the Essenes show this constant connection to ancient Israel and Judah, so it is clear that the Essene traditions would reflect the culture of True Judah more than either the Sadducees or the Pharisees.

Later in the article, after analyzing a 7-year stretch of the Essene calendar, the authors say,

"It is clear that every year in that period had exactly 364 days." -- p. 4.

Another Hebrew Calendar analyst says:

{Source: http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/israelites/enochian_calendar_information.htm }

One more quotation from Dead Sea Scrolls research:

The Jews [SIC! Judahites!] of Qumran, now famous for the Dead Sea Scrolls and recognized as the Essenes, (100 bc–B100 ad) emphasized "times, seasons, and the calendar." They desired to walk before God "perfectly in all things that are revealed according to their appointed seasons." They also refused to advance their times or to lag behind any of their seasons. According to them they were the covenant community who were faithful to the divine laws while the rest of Israel had erred. They were separated from the rest of the Jews [Judeans] by their calendar, festivals, and fasts. They insisted that "they will not leave out any day nor disturb any feasts." Their book of Jubilees inveighed against the harm that is done by the use of a different calendar. It objected to the lunar calendar because it was based on "observations of the moon" and makes the year come annually "ten days too soon" (Handbook of Biblical Chronology, by Jack Finegan, pp. 45, 47–48, 55).

What needs to be realized is that while the Qumran sect claimed that the rest of Israel was in error, this is no proof that they were conservative or innovative. Quite often the innovator attempts to pass himself off as conservative, a follower of the "legitimate" line. The facts are that the disruptive nature of their [lunar] calendar would have been seen after only a few years' use, particularly the gap between the beginning of the seasons and their respective solstices and equinoxes. Four or five years is all it would have taken (The Jewish People in the First Century, Vol. II, edited by S. Safrai and M. Stern, pp. 842–843).

{Source: http://www.cogeternal.org/text/004hebrewcalreliable.htm }

At least on encyclopedia agrees:

"The origin of the Jewish Calendar can no longer be accurately traced. Some scholars suggest that a solar year prevailed in ancient Israel." -- Article, "The Jewish Calendar," Encyclopedia Britannica, 15^th Edition.

Even Jewish scholars, who have researched the Qumran calendar, report that the Essene calendar is a 364-day Solar Calendar. The important factor, from my perspective, is the fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls, Enoch and Jubilees confirm the fact that the Hebrews, at one time or another, followed a 364-day calendar. This can only be a Solar Calendar, as a lunar "year" varies in the number of days every year. Lunar years also drift away from the Spring Equinox by as much as two weeks before ore two weeks after, since they are tied to the phases of the moon.

Now, it is also true, as one of the authors points out, that LATER, the Israelites adopted some Babylonian customs; and it is possible that moon-reckoning crept in with these other Babylonian customs. The Jerusalem Temple was first ransacked and desecrated by the Greek army. The Judahite Maccabees rebelled against this sacrilege and regained control of Judea. Later, the Romans invaded and the Roman occupation was instituted. The Romans took more of a "hands off" approach to local religion, as they were happy to collect tribute money through local officials. As long as the locals paid their tribute, the Romans stayed out of their religious affairs. Consequently, there was no desecration of the Temple by the Romans. However, Antipater, the Idumean father of Herod the "Great," had made a league with Julius Caesar, which was designed to give the Idumean Canaanites control of Jerusalem. (You can just see the Jewish moneylenders frothing at the mouth, in anticipation of taking control of the city of Jerusalem, which was a major international trade center at that time. A modern parallel is the Jews gaining control of New York City, for the same reason.) This established the precedent of giving Herod the power to chose the High Priest, which was usually one of his own Idumean kinsmen. This favoritism was extended to the Pharisees, which were the official "priesthood" under Herod.

Based on the foregoing, it is my opinion that the lunar calendar crept into temple worship during these turbulent years, not by the choice of the Judahite priests, but by the imposition of non-Judahite occupiers, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians and Idumeans.

Followers of my work know that I deal in word studies. The fact is that the meanings of words change over time. Sometimes this is due to the natural progression of use and disuse of certain words over time. Sometimes, as is often the case for the King James Bible, the change in meaning is the result of a deliberate process of distortion. My third book, Arsenal of Words, shows, in great detail, how numerous modern words, such as Jew and Gentile, have completely lost the meaning intended by the original Hebrew and Greek authors. And in that book, I document how, starting with the Pharisaic rabbis and continuing to the present day, organized Jewry has had a continuous policy of deliberately changing the meanings of words in order to promote their self-serving religion of the "chosen." {Here is the link to that book: http://www.anglo-saxonisrael.com/newsletter/2007_12_16.php }

I have demonstrated how the word Jew originally meant ONLY Judah, the exclusive racial stock of the Tribe of Judah, and how, over the centuries, it came to be used of the mongrelized people known as Jews today. A word which was originally used to designate a purebred came to represent a mongrel. This change in meaning is a deliberate stratagem employed by the Jews for the purpose of confusing the readers of the Bible, so that they cannot understand that there is a difference between a Judahite and a Jew.

Now, a purebred is a purebred; and a mutt is a mutt. If you mix these two categories together, you will forever be confused by the King James Bible. Logicians cal it "mixing apples and oranges." Apples are not oranges; and purebreds are not mutts. You cannot talk about apples as if they are oranges; and you cannot talk about mutts as if they are purebreds. It’s just that simple. Only confusion will result; and that’s exactly what the rabbis of Judaism want to create in your mind.

In my opinion, the Jews have given the word chodesh the same treatment. They, as the original promoters of the Babylonian lunar calendar, have seen to it that the Hebrew word chodesh, which means "month," has been translated as "new moon." The Jews have even influenced the various Concordances in adopting false Jewish definitions. The obviously false definition of Gentile in Strong’s Concordance, as meaning "non-Jewish," is a particularly egregious example, for, in the original language, Gentile clearly means "kinsmen," which is the exact opposite of how the Jews use the word.

I believe that organized Jewry has done the same thing to the word, chodesh, so that we Israelites would come to believe that the Israel of Scripture practiced a lunar calendar, just like the Jews of today practice. If the impersonator doesn’t resemble the original enough to fool everybody, then the impersonator can improve his disguise or he can distort our memory of how the original looked. The rabbis of Judaism are the ABSOLUTE MASTERS of distorting both Scripture and history.

Let’s take another look, now, at the word, chodesh, and how it is used in Scripture.

Chodesh – (Strong’s # 2320) as defined therein: "from 2318; the new moon; by implication, a month: -- month (ly), new moon.

This is especially odd since the Hebrew word for "moon" is yereach [#3394], and its root is yerach [#3391], whose meaning is " a lunation, i.e., month: -- moon, month." Strong’s lists the root word for chodesh as #2318, chadash, which means, "a prim. root, to be new…to rebuild…renew, repair." Also, there is the Hebrew word, chadawsh, #2319, which also means, "new: -- fresh, new thing." A linguist would expect "new moon," or other phases of the moon to be variations yerach, not chodesh!

The idea that is closest to "new moon" is lunation (yerach), for this word implies the phases of the moon. One would expect that the concept of "new moon," therefore, to be derived from yerach. Additionally, I would expect to find at least one instance of the expression chodesh yereach, the natural Hebrew combination for "new moon."

Usually, the derived word has some resemblance in meaning to the root word. But in the case of chadash and chodesh, there is quite a stretch from "renewal" to "new moon." The former is a general concept about making new. The latter is a particular phase of earth’s natural satellite. My objection is this: How does the physical moon derive from the simple concept, new? It’s fairly evident that the moon was, at some point, added to this concept of newness. Certainly, the root word implies nothing about any object, whether a house, wife, or an object out in space. I can see "month, " in the sense of "beginning of the month," before I can see "new moon" as the primary meaning of chodesh.

Most dictionaries give the most common meaning and usage of a word first. Then, the other meanings are listed in the order of decreasing usage. The fact is that the Bible uses chodesh in the sense of "month" 256 times. It is translated as "new moon" only twenty times. Clearly, MONTH is the primary definition of chodesh, by a long shot!!! Therefore, the definition in Strong’s should be: "month, by implication, new moon." Someone has performed a switcheroo! The purpose of this switcheroo is to convey the impression that "new moon" is the primary meaning. It is not.

Also, and perhaps even more importantly, the expression, "new moon" is not found where the Appointments (Feast Days) are given and defined: in the Five Books of the Law, the Pentateuch!!! There, it always says "month." I have provided all of these quotations in Yahweh’s Solar Calendar, referenced earlier. None of these five books contains the expression "new moon." If the concept of the new moon is so important, then why doesn’t the Bible use that expression where it is most important: in those very verses where the Sabbaths and Appointments are defined? At the very least, this is a strange omission.

Most lunar advocates have failed to notice this. For example, my good friend, and fellow songwriter, Jonathan David Brown, a lunar calendar advocate, says this in his book, Keeping Yahweh’s Appointments:

"Every verse in the flood account specifying the beginning and ending points uses the term chodesh, i.e., new moon. As one professor of Hebrew told me, chodesh was never used historically to speak of anything other than the moon cycle prior to the Maccabean era." -- p. 70.

I think I have provided lots of evidence that his professor is wrong. Like most people in the world today, the good professor’s thinking has been conditioned by Jewish ideas that have been imposed upon the Bible. Jonathan’s teacher may have sincerely believed this, but there is abundant evidence today, thanks to the ongoing translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls, that the Hebrews most definitely practiced a Solar Calendar, which both precedes and precludes the usage of "new moon" for chodesh!

Given this modern, nearly universal assumption of a lunar calendar, Jonathan David Brown realizes that there is still a problem with the Bible’s 150 days of Noah’s Flood and the fact that lunar months are not 30-day months. He tries to resolve this discrepancy by saying:

"…inasmuch as the ‘flood calendar’ uses the term chodesh for its specific dates, the ‘hundred and fifty days’ is likely an acronym for five lunations estimated at thirty days each." -- p. 71.

But Gen. 8:4 uses the word month, not new moon. The discrepancy is only caused by mentally and habitually substituting "new moon" for "month." A lunar month count falls 2.5 days short of 150 days, because lunar months are only 29.5 days long. Jonathan, like all lunar advocates, has made a habit of reading "new moon" where it says "month." They treat the two concepts as being synonymous. As much as they would like it to be that way, the two concepts are not synonymous!!!!

The first usage of chodesh as "new moon" occurs at I Samuel 20:5. This passage reads as follows: "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon…" It makes just as much sense as, "Behold, tomorrow is the new (or beginning of the) month…"

I Samuel 20 suggests that there is something special about that particular day, because there will be a supper with Saul, the King, although no particular Appointment is mentioned. The lunar calendar advocates assume that it means the beginning of any month, and it is therefore a Sabbath, for they define months as beginning with a new moon Sabbath; but I Sam. 20: 5, 18 and 24 do not say anything about that particular day being "hallowed" or "sanctified," as would be expected for a Sabbath. Even if it were a Sabbath, these could just as easily be references to one of the two Solar Calendar Sabbaths, which also happen to be the first days of their respective months: Abib 1 and Ethanim 1. The passage does not specify the month, so it is not proof of a lunar calendar. This interpretation fits the Solar Calendar just as well; and it is a calendar that uses months of 30 days each.

Charles W. Dodge, in his book, Yahweh’s Perfect Calendar, puts it this way:

"In every one of the 20 references where the KJV has translated the Hebrew word KHODESH as new moon(s), we can substitute the first of the month or the first day of the month without affecting the sense of the verse. This would move the emphasis away from the moon and put our attention upon the month.

"If Yahweh had not wanted His true name to be revealed until now, could He not also, for the same reason, have caused the truth to be hidden as to when His Feasts should be kept? Daniel 7:25 seems appropriate at this point: ‘And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.’" -- p. 5,6.

With respect to Col. 2:16, in the New Testament, Mr. Dodge continues:

"According to Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word translated new moon in Col 2:16 is NOUMENIA [3561]. This comes from the Greek words [3501] and [3376], meaning a new or a fresh month. Why, then, was it translated new moon? Could it be that somebody purposely wanted to cause confusion?" - p. 6.

Of course, it is not impossible that the Hebrews meant "new moon" by chodesh, but the Bible says nothing about which phase of the moon it is. The Bible says absolutely nothing about the phases of the moon, so it is just an assumption that chodesh means that particular phase that we traditionally know as the "new moon." The very important question is: "Who’s tradition is it?"

Nowhere is there in Scripture or in any Israelite literature an instruction to observe the new moon. Those who think there is have fallen for a Jewish trick, by which the word chodesh has been conveniently redefined to suit the Jewish calendar. Having fallen for this trick, they proceed to read Scripture with a mind to find things where they do not exist. Even where a "new moon" is implied, it is NEVER explicitly referred to as an object in the sky, so the New Moon is always inferred, never located. For those who practice a lunar calendar, this statement may be infuriating, but it is, in fact, very reasonable. And I will proceed to demonstrate this as a fact in the following sections of this study. Lunar reckoning is a prime example of reading with a biased eye, injecting meaning into Scripture that is not actually contained in it - what the scholars call eisegesis - seeing only what you want to see and ignoring what you don’t want to see. In addition, as Charles W. Dodge suggests, there is a very great likelihood that the meaning of the word chodesh was changed to suit the objectives of the Deceiver.

In an article entitled, "The Sabbath Question," Pastor Frank Dowsett, compares Israel’s 7-day Sabbath cycle with that of their Egyptian captors, who also had a 7-day week:

"This 7-day cycle was naturally kept by the captive Israelites, and it is of considerable importance to note that this agreed completely with the 7-day cycle subsequently given to them [by Moses] at Mount Sinai. This year contained 12 months of 30 days each, giving a total of 360 days to the year, and ever since has been the basis of prophetic time cycles. However, this was 5 days short of the true length of the year. This was overcome by adding five days, called ‘supplementary days’, to the year at several set times, thus extending the year to the true 365 days, with no doubt the addition of the extra day each fourth year as we still observe to make up for the quarter of a day each year. These extra days were observed as ‘Sabbaths.’" [In my reconstructed calendar, I show that these are all actual 7^th-day Sabbaths, no quotation marks, the four 91^st days of Enoch and Jubilees, plus the Equinox Marker Day!!!]

Pastor Dowsett goes on to say, "For those who might be skeptical regarding the aforementioned statements, they are derived from the Encyclopedia Britannica, 9^th Edition, of 1903, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. [From] "After 40 Years," by Hershal Shanks and James C. Vandercamp. It is interesting to note that after that year, that is 1903, Jewish companies bought out most of the publishing and printing establishments that printed encyclopedias, historical and educational books. After this date, true unadulterated history is hard to find." -- p. 25-26. From the March, April 1996 issue of America’s Promise Newsletter, POB 157, Sandpoint ID 83864.

Now, lunar advocates might object that we should not follow an Egyptian tradition, even though it appears that it is the same as the calendar of Enoch. Well, there is reason to believe that the Egyptian solar calendar IS the calendar of Enoch. Dr. Wesley Swift teaches that Enoch spent considerable time in Egypt and even built the city of On, which city is, in fact, named after him. On is short for Enoch. In addition, Enoch set up a priesthood, which was known as the priesthood of On. It goes without saying that he would have taught his priests how to use his calendar.

Now, all of this would have occurred before the Hamites moved down to Egypt to set up their dynasty. (Egypt was relatively unaffected by Noah’s local Flood, so these Hamites would have moved into a well-populated area.) The KJV records the four sons of Ham as Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. (Gen. 10:6.) Here, it would be useful to compare Moffatt’s translation: "The descendants of Ham were Ethiopia, Egypt, Put, and Canaan." So, we see that Mizraim and Egypt are different names for the same person. The Canaanites settled in the land of Canaan. The Cushites settled in Ethiopia; and the Mizraimites settled in Egypt.

When these Hamites moved down to the Nile territory, they would have run into their kinsmen, the priesthood of On! Mizraim would have deferred to these men, who would have been revered by their newly-arrived kinsmen. Enoch himself was famous throughout all of Mesopotamia and was known by many different names in many different languages. One of these names was Hermes, the "Magician."

Here is what Dr. Swift had to say on this subject:

{Source: http://kelticklankirk.com/swift_foretold_destiny_of_america.htm }

So, the idea that the Egyptian Solar Calendar might be of foreign invention is false. It was actually the well-known calendar of Enoch himself, as taught by the Adamic Priesthood of On!! As we solar advocates have been arguing all along, the Hebrews originally practiced a Solar Calendar and only later began to adopt a Babylonian lunar calendar, which is today known as the Jewish calendar. I submit to you, dear reader, that a false lunar tradition has, for a very long time, been cleverly, relentlessly and systematically substituted for solar fact. It is a major part of the substitution by the Jews of their own traditions for the traditions of True Israel.

To quote the Book of Jubilees again:

"And there will be those who will make observations of the moon, for this one (the moon) corrupts the stated times and comes out earlier each year by ten days. AND IN THIS WAY THEY WILL CORRUPT THE YEARS AND WILL OBSERVE A WRONG DAY AS THE DAY OF TESTIMONY AND A CORRUPTED FESTIVAL DAY." -- p. 25.

What has happened to our people is this: They came to a fork in the road, and they asked a Jewish bystander, "Which way to the Kingdom?" (He was actually waiting for us to come along!!) A gleam appeared in his eye, and he deliberately directed them DOWN THE WRONG PATH!!!! Now, if you come to a fork in the road and you go down the wrong road, you may have to backtrack all the way back to the fork, get your bearings and start over, and try the other road. To the advocates of a lunar calendar, I say "Everything you ‘know’ is wrong!" If a thesis begins with the wrong premise, it leads in the wrong direction; and no amount of adjustments will change the fact that you’re on the wrong road!!!

If, when you get back to that fork in the road, the Jew is stupid enough to be still standing there, you may want to give him what he deserves!!!!

Is the destruction of the city of Jericho a symbolic foreshadowing of the end of the lunar calendar?

In an article entitled, "Search for the Sacred Calendar," Messers Raber, Vaught and Walker discuss the derivation of the word Jericho. Under the heading of "Calendar Discussion, Months Versus Moons," they have this to say:

Earlier I stated my surprise that nowhere in the Bible is the natural Hebrew expression, chodesh yereach found. Seeing these two words together, I would not hesitate to translate them as "new moon." It is quite ironic that their inverted order, yerach chodesh, or "moon new" (!!!), means Jericho!!! The "accursed thing" is the moon-worship of the Canaanites of Jericho.

Of course, I do not mean to imply that the modern proponents of the lunar calendar are "heathen" or moon-worshippers! Nor do they worship Baal. But I think it is becoming more and more reasonable to suggest that, via their insistence on practicing a lunar calendar, they are dabbling in Baal-worship without knowing it!!! In the same way, those who observe Christmas - which is not Christ’s birthday but the revival day of the heathen sun-god, Tammuz - do not realize that they are actually continuing an ancient, Babylonian tradition!

I have repeatedly stated in my various writings that the Bible, when its original language is understood, is a scientifically accurate book. The more I study the Bible, the more I find this to be true. Of course, I am not talking about orthodox translations and interpretations of Scripture, which are almost routinely at variance with both natural history and natural science. I am talking about serious analysis of the Hebrew and Greek words that were used to compose the Scriptures.

There is no doubt in my mind that even Joshua’s Long Day, or the Day the Sun Stood Still, is an accurate record of the events that day. At least one possible explanation for this is that the earth temporarily slowed down and then began to speed up again. Most people would think such a thing to be impossible, but the fact is that this can be caused by a large, closely approaching body in space, by a combination of gravitational attraction and electromagnetic force. If a large body, such as an asteroid, were to pass close by on the other side of the planet, the Israelites would not have been able to see it, but they would have felt the effects. (Most people falsely assume that such a slow-down would cause objects to fly off their moorings. To the contrary, such a slow-down will actually do the opposite, as the centrifugal force will be lessened and gravity will hold you even more solidly to the earth. Just use a carousel as an example. You are only likely to be thrown off when the carousel is turning! That’s when you need to hold on to your horse!) If a large asteroid had come up from the Southern sky, heading south to north, it would have evaded detection by most of the ancient astronomer-priests.

From Richard Scott’s book, The Restoration of All Things Has Begun:

"Believe it or not, this is just the length of year scripture reveals existed in the time of Moses, when the feasts and the Sabbaths were given to the Yasraelites [Israelites. Some of our people don’t know how to spell! (chuckle) – Eli] as they came out of Egypt!

"There are two events in history, that are recorded in scripture, which show us the year being lengthened by a given amount. When scripture speaks of a day being lengthened, this means that the year was lengthened by the same amount of time, for one cannot occur without the other. [This statement is problematic, but let’s see where Mr. Scott is leading us. – Eli.]

"But that’s not all. There was another miracle that likewise increased the year by increasing the length of the day. We find the account in Joshua 10:12-14…Verses 13 and 14 give the remarkable details of this incredible miracle: ‘And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed…So the sun stood still in the middle of the sky, and delayed going down about a full day.’" -- p. 29-30.

Richard Scott’s point is this: Is it a coincidence that, if we subtract the one day and five or so hours from our current 365 and ¼ day year, we get a result of a 364 day year?

The reason why Enoch and Jubilees had a 364-day calendar was because that’s how long the year was, before these two events disrupted the orbit and spin of the earth, resulting in a year that now has an extra 1 & ¼ rotations in our orbital year!!!! The logic is impeccable and the historical/scientific fact may even be demonstrable astronomically.

This would explain why Enoch, Jubilees and the Essenes insist on a 364-day yearly calendar. But now, being faced with the reality that we have to periodically adjust our calendars to accommodate the extra 1 & ¼ days of the year, some method is required by which the days and seasons stay aligned. Of course, part of this method is called the Leap Year. (Incidentally, Yahweh has chosen that the day of this writing should be Leap Day, February 29, 2008! Sometimes I feel like I’m just a pencil in His Hands! Don’t I wish!!!)

The Leap Year concept takes care of the four ¼ days that add up every four years, but how do we account for the extra FULL DAY every year?

Referring back to Scott Vaught, et al, in their paper entitled, "Search for the Sacred Calendar," under the heading of "First Witness of the Biblical Calendar," we are given this fresh (chodesh!) translation of Deut. 16:1:

Compare the KJV:

Scott Vaught argues that the translators have overlooked or ignored the suffix, ix, that is attached to the word Abib. Although Abib is not actually used in the sense of the name of the first month, it is a reference to the Spring Equinox!!!

Quoting Mr. Vaught from p. 7 of this article:

1. "Why are the two superfluous letters (xi) on the end of the Hebrew word xi-wov "vey-osh" (and keep) left untranslated? Furthermore, why is this not mentioned in the Hebrew Interlinear or Strong’s Concordance of the Bible?
2. What is the significance of these same two letters when placed at the end of the word bibae? [eabib, Vaught has kept the right to left direction of the paleo-Hebrew – Eli] They transform to "xibibae" [abibix]: the word defined in every Hebrew dictionary as, "The Vernal Equinox."

Summing up his findings, Scott Vaught says this:

What Mr. Vaught calls the "Sign-Day" is what I have been calling the "Marker Day." Since we were working independently of each other, we came up with different terminology. It is Day 365, which is not accounted for in the 364-day Calendar. It is the fifth intercalary day that was mentioned earlier by Pastor Dowsett, concerning the Egyptian Solar Calendar, which is none other than the Enoch Solar Calendar.

It is quite incredible that two teams of Israelites, working independently of each other and unknown to each other until the final stages of their respective work, should come up with such similar results!!!! Kenneth Lent and I were working out the final details of our Solar Calendar while Vaught, Raber and Walker were doing likewise with theirs!!! Just before publishing my Yahweh’s Solar Calendar, I became aware of the other team’s work, because Russell Walker was staying in Indiana for a few weeks and attending our local congregational meetings in Illinois and Indiana. Thus, Walker and I were able to discuss the details of Solar Calendar intercalation.

After looking at my write-up, Scott Vaught remarked that this is "dangerously close to our calendar"!

Indeed!

Summarizing this section, then, I can only say that we have done our best to present the evidence as we see it. All of us saw obvious problems with the lunar calendar, and we felt that these problems needed to be resolved. The Scriptures that have been interpreted as justifying a lunar calendar needed a closer inspection. This we have done in some detail; and our conclusion is that the Bible does NOT support a lunar calendar.

According to the earlier mentioned New Moon Sabbath Calendar, every month MUST begin with a NEW MOON and every 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th day of EVERY MONTH is also a Sabbath.  This is how their calendar works. The Solar Advocates teach that this is true ONLY of the FIRST Month and the SEVENTH Month, as the Bible specifically says this of these two months, but it nowhere says this about any of the other months.  The lunar advocates have extrapolated the words concerning these two months and simply ASSUME that what is true of the first and seventh months is true of all the other months.

Now, we all agree that our principles must be based on what the Bible teaches.  But, if an issue cannot be resolved from Scripture, then we must go to other Israelite scriptures and to reason, science and history. And that’s what I did when I turned to the Books of Jubilees and Enoch for more information on the Hebrew calendar. I had to do this to establish the 91^st days (the four quarterly intercalary days) of the solar calendar.

The lunar Sabbath-keepers think that they can establish their calendar purely from Scripture. So, let’s stick with Scripture and see if there are any passages which contradict their method. To disprove the New Moon Calendar, we need not leave the pages of Scripture. The evidence is presented here, as I will now provide FOUR EXAMPLES, from Scripture, which disprove this lunar reckoning:

 1And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

This verse clearly shows that the children of Israel were TRAVELLING on this 15th day of the SECOND month.  If it were a Sabbath, they would have been resting, not travelling, and should have stopped travelling on the previous day and set up their camp, to observe the supposed Sabbath rest on the next day, which was the 15th day of the second month.  According to the New Moon Sabbath calendar, the 15th day MUST BE A SABBATH IN EVERY MONTH.   However, from this passage, the 15th day is NOT a Sabbath in the 2nd month. (According to the Solar Calendar, the 15^th day of the second month always falls on Day 3 of its own week, two days after the preceding Sabbath.)

 1And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

Numbers 1:1 tells us that, on the First Day of the Second Month, the Israelites were taking a census. If it were a Sabbath, it should have been a day of rest. (In the Solar Calendar, the first day of the second month also falls on Day 3 of its respective week.)

 17And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names:

This is the same day as the census. Instead of resting on this day, they were also declaring their pedigrees. They should have been at home resting or in the Temple reading Torah. Therefore, this first day of the second month was NOT a Sabbath.

 15Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

Instead of resting on this "Lunar Sabbath Day," they were examining the matter of mixed marriages. Therefore, the 1^st day of the tenth month is not a Sabbath either.  In contrast, Verse 17 tells us that they had completed their expulsions of the men with strange wives "by the first day of the first month," which IS a Sabbath (Abib 1 of the succeeding year); and they were not performing this work on this Sabbath Day.  So, the whole process took three months, resting from this task on the weekly Sabbath days, none of which were lunar months, and none of which had anything to do with observing new moons.

To disprove their thesis, only one counter-example would be necessary. I have provided four exceptions to their method. I do not see how any Lunar Sabbath reckoning can overcome the contrary evidence of these verses. (According to the fixed solar calendar, the first day of the tenth month always falls on the day before a Sabbath.)

One of the major contentions held by the lunar Sabbath-keepers is that Gen. 1:14-18 speaks about the moon. I argued against this position in Part 1.

I will repeat the argument here:

The King James translation of Genesis 1:16 is terribly flawed. Let’s have a look.

As translated it says,

"And God made two great lights [which shine of their own accord]; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."

Pastor Lent points out that there are two problems with the final clause of this verse. #1. The words he made ARE IN ITALICS, meaning that the KJV translators ADDED these words to the text. They are NOT in the original Hebrew verse. #2. In addition, the word also, is not in the original Hebrew either, even though it is not italicized. In other words, the King James translators have taken great license in translating the verse. Whether the King James translators imported these suggestions from the Jewish Masoretic Text or whether they invented these changes themselves is an interesting question, but that would require considerably more historical study. We need to look at how this verse reads without these added words.

Here is how it should read: "And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day [the Sun, obviously], and the lesser light to rule the night, the stars." From this translation, the lesser light and the stars are one and the same. Grammatically, this would naturally take the form of an appositive, which is: "the lesser light, the stars." But the original paleo-Hebrew text contained no punctuation, nor did it contain vowels, so the Masoretes added their own notation for what they determined the vowels should be. Additionally, the translators of the KJV had to determine how to punctuate the verses. And this punctuation can dramatically affect the meaning of this verse.

As another example, consider the comma insertion at Luke 23:43 and the great controversy that has created. Again, as translated, it states, "Verily I say unto you, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." With another comma, it could easily have been translated as, "Verily I say unto you, today, thou shalt be with me in paradise." The first translation suggests that the "malefactor" would be with Him in paradise this very day. The latter translation, with a comma on both sides of the word ‘today,’ leaves open the question of exactly WHEN he would be with Jesus in paradise. It may not be a major point in this instance, but it illustrates well that there is an editorial process going on, whenever a translation is made. Punctuation can change the meaning of a verse dramatically!

Getting back to Gen. 1:16: By ADDING the semicolon after the word ‘night,’ and also the words "he made" and "also," the appositive relationship between "lesser light" and "the stars" is destroyed, leaving the impression that SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE STARS is meant by the "lesser light," namely, as everyone would naturally assume, the MOON. But this cannot be, because the moon is not a light by the Hebrew definition of a "luminary," which shines of its own accord. Nor can the moon be used to divide times or seasons. The moon can shine by day or night, so it is NOT strictly a nighttime "light." So, we have three solid reasons for rejecting the moon as the "lesser light."

Scott Vaught, in an article entitled, "The Two Greater-Sign Luminaries," states,

Pastor Lent puts it this way:

Although Pastor Lent uses these verses to argue against the "noon to noon" day reckoning, I cite it as an affirmation that the moon DOES NOT "divide the light from the darkness," since it can reflect light during the daytime or the nighttime. Ironically, the NEW MOON does not "shine" at all, so it is definitely not luminous when the Babylonian calendar takes it into consideration!!! The new moon is as dark as darkness itself!!! How can a completely dark object be regarded as a "lesser light"?

In the light of this new understanding of Gen. 1:16, let’s read Gen. 1:17-18 very carefully:

"And Elohim set them in the firmament [Hebrew raqiya, meaning EXPANSE!] of the heaven to GI VE [Hebrew nathan, "to give" or "to provide"] light upon the earth, and RULE OVER the day and OVER the night, and to DIVIDE THE LIGHT FROM DARKNESS: and Elohim saw that it was good."

The moon does not "give" light as the luminaries do, because its source of light is reflected. Also, the moon has nothing to do with the DIVIDING of day from night, nor does it "rule over" either daytime or nightttime! The moon can "shine" any time of the day or night and, therefore, cannot be used for the purpose of dividing the day from the night. It is also possible to have a completely moonless night sky, so the moon does not regularly illuminate the night as the stars do. Thus, Gen. 1:16-18, taken together, prove that the moon is NOT the light that "shines" at night!!!

**********************************************************************

Now, to add considerable weight to this analysis, here is scientific proof that the moon DOES NOT "divide the day from the night" (Gen. 1:14), as the Moonies also claim.

{Source: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/moon/Phases.shtml }

Here is a direct quote from this article, which describes the moon’s skyward path in great detail:

"The moon rises and sets every day, appearing on the horizon just like the sun. The time depends on the phase of the moon. It rises about 30 to 70 minutes later each day than the previous day, so the moon is out during daytime as often is it's out at night."

Since the moon spends half of its time in the daytime sky, it cannot be said to divide the day from the night. The sun rules the day and the stars rule the night. I know Psalm 136:8-9 says that the sun rules the day and the moon and stars rule the night; but the moon’s "rule" (Hebrew: memsheleth, meaning "dominion") is dependent upon its being in the night sky, in addition to the stars. Nowhere does the Bible say that the moon, by itself rules the night. It is absolutely true that, on those nights when the moon is out, it provides more light than the stars do. But, the mere fact that the moon comes out at night does not make it a DIVIDER of day from night, since it spends just as much time in the daytime sky as in the nighttime sky. Whatever "dominion" the moon has, it is borrowed from the sunlight it reflects. In other words, "moonlight" is actually sunlight! What kind of "dominion" is that?

Just as important, however, is that fact that Psalm 136 is NOT talking about the Calendar or Appointments! It is merely stating the fact that it "shines" at night, along with the stars. Even if we assume that the Moon does "rule" the night sky, this is not evidence that the Moon has anything to do with the Appointments. Here is the thought process of the lunar advocates: "You see? The fact that the moon rules the night sky is PROOF that new moon is the first Sabbath of the month." Of course, it is no such thing!!! The fact that moonlight may be important at night in no way qualifies it for determining the Sabbaths!!! Ironically, a NEW MOON doesn’t shine at all, when it is supposedly "ruling" the night!!! Is the expression, "jumping to conclusions," appropriate here?

Getting back to Gen. 1:16, the fact is that the moon is not even mentioned in that verse! That is a false inference, which is based on words which were ADDED to the text by the translators, who were assuming the Babylonian Jewish lunar reckoning was accurate. That’s why they added the words, "He made" and "also," which DO NOT OCCUR in the Hebrew text. Even if the lunar-reckoners were correct in their interpretation of Psalm 136:9, they would still need a second witness which clearly says the same thing. There is no such second witness. And they would still have to prove that "ruling the night" is equivalent to "determines the Feasts and Sabbaths."

These are two completely different propositions. Whether or not the moon "rules the night sky" is not proof - or even evidence – for whether the moon must be consulted in determining the Appointments.

After exchanging some emails with Kenneth Lent, Russ Walker and Arnold Bowen (who is a lunar advocate), I realized that the New Moon Calendar can never obey the Bible’s rules for calculating the Day of Pentecost. Those who practice the New Moon Calendar teach that days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 are Sabbaths every lunar month.

I refer to this system as the New Moon Sabbath system. This is the basis of their New Moon Calendar.

The problem with this calendar is that each lunar month is 29.5 days long, so there is a half day remainder each month. It is a day and a half longer than four weeks and it is a half day short of a month. I can see that they are trying to reconcile the concepts of months and weeks, but this is not necessary, as months and weeks are separate counts in virtually every calendar that exists! There is no need for months to be determined by weeks! Perhaps they see this as a defect that must be corrected. This is not a problem for the Solar Calendar. If necessary, months and weeks can be converted into each other just as Fahrenheit and Centigrade can be converted into each other; but they are separate systems of measurement.

In addition, Day 29 of a lunar month must become Day 1 of the next month (since it is a New Moon!), so, after two months, a full day extra must be added to the last week, giving a total of 59 days for every two months. But 8 weeks equals 56 days. This causes them to violate the Fourth Commandment's specific 7-day Sabbath count. From this deviation, I realized that the New Moon Sabbath count will NEVER yield a Pentecost date of 50 DAYS from the First Sabbath of the count.  Irregardless of where we start the count, the lunar system gets hopelessly lost in a maze of Double Sabbaths, irregular weeks and half day remainders. This New Moon demand will prevent the day of Pentecost from occurring the DAY AFTER THE 49TH DAY!  

The countdown to Pentecost begins on the morrow after the Passover Sabbath. I will first show you how Pentecost is arrived at by the Solar Calendar, which is a simple 49-day count, so you can see how easy this is.

Passover: Abib 14.

Passover Sabbath: Abib 15.

Wave Sheaf, Day after Passover Sabbath: Abib 16 (Lev. 23:11).

Now, from Wave Sheaf Day, we count 49 days (seven weeks or seven Sabbaths, Lev. 23:15).

The alternative method for counting is to count 50 days from yesterday’s Sabbath (Lev. 23:16).

A simple 49-day count from Wave Sheaf Day yields this result: 16 + 49 = Day 65.

A simple 50-day count from the Sabbath day before yields the same result: 15 + 50 = Day 65.

These two verses provide a DOUBLE WITNESS that result in the EXACT SAME DAY AS THE DAY OF PENTECOST.

According to the FIXED Solar Calendar, Pentecost is always on Day 65. No need to look around for a new moon.

This is how it looks, according to the days and months of the Solar Calendar:

Beginning with Abib 15, a Sabbath Day, the Solar Calendar will have these 7 consecutive Sabbaths:

Abib 22 (7 days from Wave Sheaf Sabbath, Abib 15)

Abib 29 (14 days from WSS. There is one more day in the month of Abib, Abib 30. The next day is Ziv 1, so the seventh day from Abib 29 is

Ziv 6 (21 days from WSS)

Ziv 13 (28 days from WSS)

Ziv 20 (35 days from WSS)

Ziv 27 (42 days from WSS. There are three more days in the month, Ziv, so the next Sabbath is in the month of Sivan.)

Sivan 4 (49 days from the Sabbath that begins the count, Abib 15.)

Sivan 5 PENTECOST (50 days from the Sabbath Day just prior to the Wave Sheaf Day and 49 days from the Wave Sheaf Day itself. DOUBLE WITNESS!)

According to the FIXED Solar Calendar, Pentecost is always on Sivan 5, every year.

Now, let us look at the New Moon Sabbath countdown.

According to this lunar system, the month of Abib will begin on a New Moon Day, whatever day of the week. In both of these calendars, the named day of the week is irrelevant. In Scripture, there are only the six allowed workdays and the Sabbath Day of Rest. In 2008, for example, the Spring Equinox occurs on March 20, a Thursday. The first full day of the next year, therefore, will be Friday, March 21. According to the fixed system, every Friday until the next Spring Equinox will be a regular, 7-day Sabbath.

For a direct comparison, let’s pick a year in which the Spring Equinox and the New Moon occur on the same day. This will happen every 29 years or so. Thus, the New Moon Calendar and the Solar Calendar will start on exactly the same day. For the first four weeks such a year, the two calendars will be aligned. Thereafter, the two calendars will drift apart for another 29 years!

Abib 1 (New Moon Day, Sabbath)

Abib 8 (Sabbath, quarter moon)

Abib 14 (Passover, full moon)

Abib 15 (Sabbath)

Abib 16 (Wave Sheaf, Lev. 23:11)

Abib 22 (Sabbath, 7 days out, three-quarter moon)

Abib 29 (Sabbath, new moon begins, 14 days out)

Ziv 1 (New Moon, shared from previous day, 15 days out)

Ziv 8 (Sabbath, 22 days out)

Ziv 15 (Sabbath, 29 days out)

Ziv 22 (Sabbath, 36 days out)

Ziv 29 (Sabbath, 43 days out)

Ziv 30 (Intercalary day creating an 8-day week, waiting for the next New Moon, 44 days out)

Sivan1 (New Moon, Sabbath, 45 days out)

Sivan 2, 46 days out.

Sivan 3, 47 days out.

Sivan 4, 48 days out.

Sivan 5, 49 days out.

Sivan 6, 50 days out, PENTECOST.

But the Bible clearly says that Pentecost, just like Abib 16, is a "Morrow after the Sabbath." (Lev. 23:15) But the New Moon Sabbath Calendar yields a 50^th day (Pentecost) on the fifth day of this last week, two days before the next Sabbath! They would have to wait another 3 days before coming to a "morrow after the Sabbath" – which would be a count of 53 days! This is an obvious violation of the definition of Pentecost! It is also a violation of the 7-Day Sabbath rule. Therefore, the lunar advocates have to fudge the numbers, and add a few more days to get to a morrow after a Sabbath.

Observe:

Sivan 7, 51 days out.

Sivan 8, 52 days out, Sabbath

Sivan 9, 53 days out, Day after Sabbath.

The Day of Pentecost must meet these two specific requirements:

1. It must be the 50^th day after Abib 15 (Lev. 23:16), or 49 days from the Wave Sheaf offering on Abib 16 (Lev. 23:15), and
2. It must be the day after a Sabbath. (Lev. 23:15)

In simple terms, Pentecost must be 50 days after Abib 15 and it must be the day after a Sabbath. This is only possible if you have seven 7-day weeks. Sivan 5, of the Solar Calendar, fulfills both of these requirements, as it is the 50th day from Abib 15 and it is the day after the Sabbath Day, Sivan 4.

Neither Sivan 6 nor Sivan 9 meets both requirements. As you can see, the New Moon Sabbath Calendar cannot deliver the goods. Therefore, it is an un-Scriptural calendar.

By insisting that every New Moon must be the first day of the next month, the New Moon Calendar advocates cannot meet the requirements of the countdown to Pentecost.

In order to avoid dealing with these problems, New Moon Sabbath keepers declare that the Bible does not specifically define a week as 7 days. They keep their definition of "week" open to 8-day weeks and even 9-day weeks, depending upon how far away the New Moon Sabbaths drift away from the 7-day count.

In the "Countdown To Pentecost" section above, I showed that the Countdown is "7 Sabbaths," and that is equal to 49 days, with Pentecost being the 50^th day from the first Sabbath of the count. This should be proof enough that the word week means 7 days – no more, no less.

The Hebrew word for week is shabua. Here is how Strong’s defines it: "literally sevened, i.e., a week, (spec. of years); - seven, week."

So, Scripturally, a week is a sevening, or a count of seven days. Ironically, the lunar Sabbath-keepers accuse us solar advocates of not heeding Scripture, which, of course, means their interpretation of it!!!

The Greek equivalent is sabbaton [#4521], meaning, "…Sabbath…day of weekly repose…a se’nnight [sevennight]…i.e., the interval between two Sabbaths…Sabbath (day), week."

We can see that the number 7 is both implicit and explicit in its many Scriptural usages. There is not even a hint in Scripture that a week is ever anything else than exactly 7 days.

"And it came to pass, on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread [manna], two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which Yahweh hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto Yahweh: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth overlay up for you to be kept until the morning…Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, there shall be none." - Exodus 16:21- 30.

William F. Dankenbring, a prolific Biblical scholar, reveals that the 7-day Sabbath count was established even before it was given by Moses as part of the Written Law. He says this precedent was set by Yahweh Himself, when He dispensed manna for six days and then deprived the Israelites of it on the seventh. He has this to say about these verses:

1. He provided manna from heaven by a miracle six days a week.
2. If kept over a second day, He caused it to breed worms and stink.
3. On the sixth day, He provided twice as much as on the other five days.
4. That kept over [from the sixth day] on the seventh day did NOT stink or breed worms!
5. On the seventh day of each week, there was NONE provided! [i.e., Yahweh Himself rested! – Eli]
6. God performed these miracles for FORTY LONG YEARS, without interruption or fail! - p. 4, "Sabbath or Sunday – Which?"

As stated earlier, the Fourth Commandment (Exo. 20:8-11) specifies six days of work and the seventh as a day of rest. There is no indication in Scripture that this 7-day cycle is to be disturbed. Yes, there are special Sabbaths or Appointments which can fall on other days of the week, but these special Sabbaths do not change the six days work, next day rest, six days work, next day rest cycle of the year.

The lunar Sabbath keepers, as I have shown, violate this principle every month, as their Sabbaths are based on the Moon, not on the 7-day count.

It is admitted that the Solar Calendar, which I propose, does stop the cycle on the Marker Day; but that is only one exception compared to many for lunar Sabbath keepers, because their calendar deviates from the 7-day count at the end of the first month, and stays out of synch for the rest of that year. On the other hand, since it has been demonstrated herein that the yearly Calendar consists of exactly 364 days, as the Egyptian, Enoch, Jubilees, and Essene calendars all agree, then my proposed calendar does not deviate at all, since the Marker Day is not considered as part of the calendar. It is part of the solar year, but not part of the solar calendar. Since the Marker Day is partially in the old year and partially in the new year, it does not properly belong to either year. It is not counted in the 364-day calendar, so it is a free day for us to enjoy as we please.

Given all of the above considerations, I think I have provided sufficient evidence to show that this is how the Hebrew Calendar is supposed to work. The ancient Hebrew traditions are solar, not lunar. Lunar traditions crept in later, just as prophesied by the Book of Jubilees.

One of my South African Newsletter subscribers wrote to me after I published Yahweh’s Solar Calendar. She informed me that she had enthusiastically printed out that paper and took it to her lunar Sabbath congregation. Well, they practically threw her out of the congregation!!!!

All I can say is this: I am overjoyed that her people study the Bible so enthusiastically that they left the Jewish Saturnalia Day Sabbath and the Catholic Sun-worship Sabbath behind. Jesus said, "I would rather ye be cold or hot. If ye be lukewarm, I will spew thee out of my mouth." There is no substitute for enthusiasm. Christian Identity is revitalizing Christianity by invigorating Bible scholarship.

Disagreements over interpretation are bound to occur. In the spirit of Brotherly Love and Righteousness, Truth will prevail. In His infinite Mercy, the Father will not hold us to the Letter if we are doing our best to keep the Spirit of the Law. We are in the process of restoring that which was lost.

In her letter, she posed a question which I had not considered before: "What about those of us Down Under? What calendar should we practice, since our Seasons are the reverse of yours in the Northern Hemisphere?"

In thinking about this, I realized that the Solar Calendar is uniquely qualified to handle this potential difficulty. Since the Solar Calendar is divided into two equal halves of 182 days each, each composed of 26 weeks, it can be adapted to the Southern Hemisphere without any difficulty whatsoever. Since we are always 180 degrees apart in our Seasons, our Spring Equinox is their Autumn Equinox, and our Winter Solstice is their Summer Solstice.

Since Enoch’s Solar Calendar is primarily an agricultural calendar, geared to the growing season, it makes sense for those in the Southern Hemisphere start their agricultural year on Ethanim 1. The two halves of the Solar Calendar reflect the two halves of the planet! Just as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are 180 degrees apart, the Solar Calendar reflects this by stressing the two poles of this Seasonal reality: the Spring Equinox, Abib 1 and the Autumn Equinox, Ethanim 1.

How about that!!!!

NO LUNAR CALENDAR CAN COME EVEN CLOSE TO REPRESENTING BOTH HEMISPHERES AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!

Regarding the luminaries in the sky, Gen. 1:14 says, "Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years."

The Hebrew word translated as "season" is mowed, meaning "an appointment, a fixed time or season."

Charles W. Dodge, in his Yahweh’s Perfect Calendar, has this to say about Gen. 1:14:

Isn’t it amazing that a handful of White men, through diligent and patient study, can decipher God’s Word by being true to the Hebrew language, while the official world of organized religion is utterly clueless?

Here are the salient points which tie the Hebrew Calendar either to the Sun and/or the Spring Equinox.

1. The month of Abib is named after the ripening of the barley crop, which is a solar event occurring roughly two weeks after the Spring Equinox.
2. Evidence from Egypt, Enoch, Jubilees, and the Essenes proves that the ancient Israelites practiced a solar calendar.
3. All of these sources state explicitly that this calendar was 364 days long.
4. The same sources state that the calendar year consisted of twelve months of 30 days each. No thirteenth month is mentioned in any of these documents, including the Bible itself.
5. In order to make up the difference between twelve months of 360 days, intercalary days were employed to make up the difference of 5 days in the solar year.
6. According to Enoch and other sources, four intercalary days are placed at the end of each season, so that each season has exactly 91 days (13 weeks).
7. This exact placement of the intercalary days permits a continuous cycle of 7-day Sabbaths throughout the fixed calendar year.
8. This placement accords with the Biblical definition of a week, which consists of 7 days, no more, no less.
9. The Hebrew word chodesh, although defined as "new moon," does not possess the concept of "moon" in its root meaning, suggesting that this definition is an interpolation, or false definition.
10. The expression, "new moon," is not found in the Pentateuch, where all of the definitions and rules of the Sabbaths and Appointments are defined and placements given.

11. The idea of "lunation" derives from the root, yerach, not from the root, chadash.
12. Although the Hebrews and Israelites may have practiced a lunar calendar at some time(s), all indications are that the lunar calendars are of heathen origin.
13. The rabbis of Judaism and Jewish publishing houses have been in the forefront of promoting the Jewish lunar calendar, in order to convey the false impression that the ancient Israelites practiced a lunar calendar.
14. The moon is NOT the "lesser light" of Gen. 1:16.
15. The moon DOES NOT divide day from night.
16. Only months 1 and 7 begin with a Sabbath Day.
17. Various lunar calendars violate the precise Biblical rules given for calculating the Day of Pentecost.
18. Many Scriptural verses prove that expected lunar Sabbaths are not Sabbaths at all.
19. Lunar Sabbath-keeping necessarily violates the definition of a week.
20. The solar calendar works for both northern and southern hemispheres, because it complies with the division of the calendar into two halves, which are defined by the Equinoxes. Lunar calendars cannot be divided into two equal halves.

The ancient Hebrews and Israelites practiced a Solar Calendar, not a lunar calendar. The lunar calendars were introduced at a later date and conform to Babylonian and other heathen calendars, suggesting introduction from non-Israelite sources. The language of the Bible does not support a lunar calendar. Nowhere does the Bible instruct us to observe the moon, which would be an absolute requirement for developing a lunar calendar. Nowhere does the Bible explicitly state any kind of lunar reckoning of the calendar. It has to be inferred from statements which appear to suggest a lunar calendar, but which do not explicitly say so. Lunar advocates avoid dealing with the subject of the possible false translation of the word chodesh. Lunar reckoning hinges on the reliability of the translation of chodesh to mean "new moon."

The derivation of a lunar calendar from Scripture is fraught with difficulties. There is no doubt in my mind that the Jewish lunar calendar is un-Scriptural. It is a Babylonian calendar, through and through. Other lunar calendars have obviously been influenced by Jewish assertions about their interpretation of Scripture, which is utterly untrustworthy.

Therefore, I can only conclude that any and all lunar calendars are un-Scriptural. Anyone who thinks that the above summary is invalid now has the opportunity to rebut. "Come, let us reason together." (Isa. 1:18.)