By Hermanus W. Smeenk
Warning for the Churches of God
After
You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened
bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib,
for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);
Also, God gave Moses and Aaron instructions in how to observe His
several feasts. Specifically, speaking
of the duties of the priest and the people concerning the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, God instructed them in Leviticus 23 vs. 9-14:
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
"Speak to the children of
In Exodus 15, God instructed
“In the month of Abib” means the month of green ears, which has
reference to the earliest crop of the year to be harvested – the barley
crop. Before the barley ears are fully
ripened, but after they have firmed up, they can be picked and the kernels can
be roasted and eaten. It is in this
condition that the first wave sheaf is cut, waved before the Lord, then the
grains are beaten out of the ears, roasted and ground to fine flour. This flour is then mixed with olive oil and
offered along with the burnt offering by fire to the Lord.
All this is done after sunset following the first Sabbath during the
Feast of Unleavened Bread. The wave
sheaf, the first cut of the first harvest, is compared to Christ after His
resurrection who ascended into heaven to appear before the Father to be
accepted as the first of the first fruits of the harvest of humanity.
From the day that
Notice that the barley in abib dictated the beginning of a new year
according to Exodus 15 and Leviticus 23, not the calendar. The ripening of the barley is according to God’s
schedule, not according to man’s calendar!
Yet, when I informed a number of ministers of the Churches of God and
several other individuals that barley in abib had been found in Israel as of
March 8, 2005, none deigned to either acknowledge the information I sent them
or appeared to have made any changes in their schedules for observing Passover
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Why? One person was honest in his
answer in that they followed the established convention determined by the
calendar. (Read: traditions of men). One of the individuals to whom I provided the
information was of the opinion that he didn’t live in
I am writing this letter as a warning to the Churches of God ministers
who were provided information about the finding of barley in “green ears” in
“...Thus you have made the commandment of
God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about
you, saying:
“These people draw near to Me with their
mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of
men."'
In answer to the individual who claimed that he was to use the
conditions in the
First, God instructed the Israelites in Leviticus 23 vs. 10: "Speak
to the children of
The wave sheaf was to be cut in the
Second, in Zecharia 14 vs.16-19 the prophet
spoke thus:
“And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations
which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King,
the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the
families of the earth do not come up to
The Feast of Tabernacles is observed starting the 15th day of
the 7th month of the year.
God threatens the nations to withhold the rain from them if they do not
go up to
How are the nations to know when the 15th day of the 7th
month occurs unless they are aware of the time schedule established from
Third, if the barley wave sheaf pictures the resurrected Christ
ascending to the Father and there to be accepted of Him, then note that He
ascended into heaven from the vicinity of
What happens when the Feast of Unleavened
Bread is observed a month later in accordance with the calendar? The barley crop languishes in the field
because it may not be harvested before the first sheaf has been cut and waved
before the Lord. Would the priests wave
a sheaf of rotten kernels before the Lord, and would He deign to accept such an
offering? I tell you, no! He would
surely refuse it and consider it a great abomination.
Why would the Churches of God ignore such a relevant piece of information? Could it be motivated by economics? or maybe
by the fear of embarrassment? All the
churches have already made arrangements with various hotels and civic
organizations in diverse cities to observe the Feast of Tabernacles in late
October (they observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread in late April, thereby
moving all the other feast observances up by a month). It seems to me that they don’t want to now
scramble to tell all these organizations that the churches will now observe the
Feast of Tabernacles a month earlier that previously arranged. WHAT A CALAMITY!! We’re already on the hook for October, we
can’t change NOW!!!
In trying to please men, they are foregoing obedience to God!! Who cares what people might say. Don’t you think that people would have more
respect for an organization that admits
to be in the wrong than for one that grovels at the feet of merchantmen? They have the churches of God over a
barrel…is this pleasing to God? Where is
their faith? Don’t they know that God
would take care of things if they diligently seek to obey His commandments and
precepts?
Yes, God did make provision for observing Passover in the second month
under certain conditions, but He did not do that for the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles,
and the Last Great Day. All these feasts
must be observed at their appointed
times as set by God -- not the calendar.
Remember the words of God in Exodus 31 vs. 14:
“
‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must
be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off
from his people.’”
The Churches of God, and anyone else who will not keep God’s Sabbaths at
the appointed times are putting themselves in serious jeopardy!!
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