September 2010 NOTE:  Our original home study Sabbath Packet with audio cassette tapes is being reformatted onto CD's and is currently unavailable.  Check back soon for the complete packet. back     Dear Saxon Christians of the House of Israel: The Sabbath is Simple and It's For You To Know !! The Vernal Equinox is the celestial sign which points us to Yahweh's solar calendar of Sabbaths and Feast Days.    The Bible teaches that the first day of Yahweh's year, when compared to our time today, WILL ALWAYS BE Sunset March 20th until Sunset March 21st -- every single year, year after year!!   The confusion about the Sabbath is for the heathen of  the World. (Ex.31:13; Ps.147:19,20; Mk.4:12; Jn.14:17; Mat.15:24) But Yahshua says to you: "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!" (Jn.16:33) Christ did not do away with the National Sabbath by "nailing it to the Cross".  The national Sabbath given to Israel through Moses is the SAME SABBATH as the N.T. Day of Rest. (see link articles at end)      Why has there been so much confusing debate about it?  Because the Sabbath never was on Saturday or Sunday!!  Imagine two men standing in a field looking at a horse and arguing extensively about whether it is a cow or a deer.  They could go on for ever, presenting all manner of reasons to "prove" their point.  The problem is that the horse is neither a cow nor a deer --- it is a horse, quite easily observed by somebody who knows what a horse is!       When it is finally realized that neither Saturday nor Sunday are ever mentioned in the Bible, and that our present calendar, the Gregorian calendar, did not even exist until 1582 AD, we can begin to ask "what time keeping system was used in the ancient Bible text in the first place?" We know that it could not be ours of today, so trying to argue a point about the Sabbath and looking at our calendar week days  today to "prove it", is an exercise in complete futility ---  but this is what has been done by virtually every denomination, Bible study group, Christian ministry, or Sabbath fellowship in the entire world.   THE ENTIRE REASONING IN A NUTSHELL- Biblical, logical and simple        If you have thrown your arms up in disgust trying to "figure out" whether the Sabbath is Saturday or Sunday, do not despair.  Do yourself a huge emotional favor and forget all arguments and presentations from every source you have ever struggled with on this subject.   The only question that matters when dealing with this debate is "WHAT IS THE FIRST DAY OF YAHWEH'S SACRED YEAR?"  Simple, to the point, direct, and cross hair dead center on target pertaining to this issue.        Why is this question THE ONLY PERTINENT QUESTION in defining the Sabbath?  Because Yahweh Himself, in the Written Text of The Bible, tells us exactly and precisely how many days to count from the first day of the year to easily compute the Sabbaths and  the Holy Feast Days.  We are to count 7 days after day #one, then we have a day of rest (Sabbath).  The other "weekly" Sabbaths follow suit ---  just count the days!!  A child can do this.  We are to count 14 days from day # one of the year and we have Passover.  The rest of the Holy Days follow naturally --- just count the days as told by Yahweh.  All of these numbered dates are given to us clearly and precisely in our Bible -- they are still there for all of us to read.  Again --- this is SIMPLE AND EASY!!!  Only the preachers and the churches have confused it.  Repeating once more: The only question that matters is -- "WHAT IS THE FIRST DAY OF YAHWEH'S SACRED YEAR?"         Do not let any person, minister, group, or other persuasion sidetrack you from this focal point!  If they don't know the answer, then they can not count to 7 and locate the Sabbath; end of story!  Drop the subject with anyone who can not tell you the first day of Yahweh's year.  This will completely stop any mental confusion and "off topic" arguments about the Sabbath.  Do you see now why Saturday vs Sunday is not relevant in any way?  That argument has nothing to do with counting 7 days from Yahweh's first day of the year!  It is a bogus position to argue with respect to the Sabbath. It simply is not the issue. It is not applicable nor germane to the subject at hand. AUTOMATIC  LUNAR CONFUSION ???     Did the Israelites hold to a lunar calendar? Yes, a few of them did --- AFTER the Babylonian captivity when they learned it from adulterated Judah and the corrupted priesthood spreading idolatry.   But no lunar based Hebrew Sabbaths were kept in the Genesis era and Moses' days. Here's where people today are citing conflicting sources and causing more confusion on this subject.  The "Jews" calendar they say "was lunar".  Fine, but we're not talking about "today's Jews", we're talking about Israelites. (today's "jews" are not Israel, and they are not even of Judah)     Ancient Babylon's calendar established the beginning of each of  their months on the new moon (just as lunar Sabbath proponents do today).  Babylon's calendar was known as "luni-solar".  This does not mean it was half lunar and half solar (which would still be unbiblical if it were).  The Babylonian luni-solar calendar reckoned their days according to the phases of the moon, but since at the end of a year their lunar months did not match up with a true solar year (Earth's orbit around the Sun), the Babylonian priesthood was forced to insert extra weeks and even entire extra months after enough years, in order "to even things out" with a real solar year.  The tribe of Judah picked up this method of time keeping from the Babylonians during their stay of captivity in that heathen nation, circa 600 B.C.  Technically, the Babylonian calendar was lunar with a periodic solar adjustment. Please read the below excerpt:  "Most early calendars were based on the moon, which takes roughly 29 1/2 days to circle the Earth.  The ancient Babylonian calendar, adopted by the Hebrews, was entirely lunar based, with 12 months of alternately 29 and 30 days and thus a 354 day year.  But this calendar rapidly got ahead of the seasons, so it was adjusted to keep it roughly in step with the solar year.  The Babylonians observed that 235 lunar months coincided with a cycle of 19 solar years.  So around 380 B.C. they decided that 7 of every 19 years should have 13 months instead of 12.  The Jewish calendar still follows this lunar-solar arrangement, but the Muslim calendar remains lunar based, with regressive months." (Source:  Reader's Digest Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, 1976, page 537.) In light of the above fact it might be questioned as to why certain Christians want to be Babylonian Jewish and Muslim in their time keeping!  Certainly this is one method of calendar observance those in the body of Christ should be diligent to avoid at all costs.  The Babylonian luni-solar time method, if followed, will lead us only AWAY from Yahweh's Sabbath and never TO IT.   The entire Babylonian system (morals, faith, money, time, contracts, etc) is ANTI-YAHWEH AND ANTI-TRUTH!!   Let's continue with this brief lesson:    There is no such term as "new moon" in the Hebrew text.  It was always "new month"!  The term "new moon" became attached to Hebrew text mistranslations after the Babylonian captivity.  English Bibles such as the King James Version that read "new moon" are unequivocally in error.  No matter how ornate the presentation or how many lunar cycle lists are impressively calculated by the lunar Sabbath adherants, the end story is that their Sabbaths and Feast Days can never be yearly events as we see them in Scripture.  It is this unavoidable fact that lunar Sabbath holders will not deal with. Everyone can present their position in a pretty package and it may look authentic and scholarly.  But when all is said and done, just ask anyone using the lunar method if their Sabbaths and Feast days will be held on that same DATE next year!! The answer is "No". That's all one needs to do --- ask that question!  This is because there is actually no such thing as a 'lunar year".  What is actually meant is that compared to the only real year, the solar year, the moon orbits the Earth so many times.  A so called "lunar year" is but a comparative term used for convenience, only if one acknowledges the true year in the first place! A "YEAR" COULDN'T BE MORE EASY TO DEFINE     We know that a "YEAR" is SIMPLY one complete (to the minute and position) revolution of the Earth around the Sun.  From point 'A' out in space, go all the way around the Sun, come exactly back to point 'A', and you have defined a precise YEAR!  This is Biblical, scientific, and logical. The first day of the year is going to be the same day each year and will forever be the same day each year until the Sun and earth disintegrate.  Therefore, those who use any lunar calculation in determining the first day will never arrive at the same day each year as day #1, from which to begin counting the Sabbaths.  Lunar Sabbaths and Lunar Feast Days vary as much as three weeks from year to year.      For instance, the lunar Passover will not be held on the same day next year as it was this year. Ditto with all the other lunar "Jewish" Holy Days.  Admittedly then, lunar Sabbaths and Feast Days are not really "yearly memorials", and can never be so. Being that the lunar Sabbaths are not stable from year to year, nobody knows when they are until the Talmudic Jewish priests declare them to be. The lay person can never figure the lunar dates out and always wind up waiting for their priest or religious authority to tell them the dates.  The simple solar dates do not vary from year to year and anybody in the Christian Assembly can realize when they take place.  Stay away from lunar calculations as they are Jewish Talmudic Babylonian confusion with absolutely no sense of orderly fixed arrangement.  The Moon on it's own without reference to the Sun can not be used to tell time.  Time is calculated within our solar system according to the Sun.    The Feast Days being seasonal events (Lev.23:4) could therefore have no relevance to the Moon.  Remove the Moon from the equation and we still have seasons in which to hold the Feast Days.  But remove the Sun from the equation and we have no seasons at all.  In fact we would have no light by which to perceive time, and nobody could even see the Moon to somehow attempt to use it as a guide for Sabbaths or Feast Days!!  Yet there are those who refuse to  acknowledge these elementary and basic foundations for fear of "eating crow".     I taught the Sunday Sabbath --- for years!  It is not pleasant to have to change course when you think you've been sailing in the right direction.  But I didn't know any better and was wrong.    These are attitudes we have to overcome in the carnal mind.  The alternative, to our own hurt, is to remain in error of the truth.  As difficult as it was to admit an error, I see it much more difficult to continually cover tracks of teaching a falsehood just to save face.  And it doesn't take a PHD to count from day one of the year.  Yahweh's Written Word is to all men (Adamites), so that all may read it and all may come to repentence of errors that lead us away from Our Heavenly Father.  Confusion and frustration is not the way of The Almighty for His children.        THE BOTTOM LINE        The Sabbath Lesson Packet available from this ministry is exhaustive in its Scriptural and scientific presentation of Yahweh's time keeping method for Sabbaths and Feast days.  (See below on how to obtain an order form)  That being the case, this page does not present the sources or references which clearly reveal Yahweh's first day of the Sacred year. You'll find them all in the Sabbath Lesson as I can't upload it all. However, with no intention of withholding the basics, the first day of the sacred year  is centered around the Vernal Equinox (but not always exactly ON the Vernal Equinox), which begins the Spring season each year.   The month of Abib is the first month of Spring.  Therefore:  (Abib Day One will always be within a day of the Vernal Equinox, but not always on the V.E. exact start.  The reason for this is diagrammed for ease of comprehension in the Sabbath Packet study manual, and clarified by the simplest of terms beyond doubt.  This day, Abib One first day of Yahweh's year, when compared to our time today WILL ALWAYS BE Sunset March 20th until Sunset March 21st -- every single year, year after year after year!!  Some well intentioned folks trying to honor Yahweh's solar calendar directions have missed this point by using close but incomplete solar calendar versions) (Note:  What day is the Sabbath now?  Yahweh's Sabbath for His faithful, as of this date June 2011, runs from Monday sunset until Tuesady sunset each week.  The Sabbath day will advance one day each year.  ( for example, Sunday sunset until Monday sunset; the following year Monday sunset until Tuesday Sunset; the following year Tuesday sunset until Wednesday sunset -- etc., etc., etc)   But understand this:  Yahweh's Solar Calendar Sabbath does not change --- it is our modern named days of the week that are changing position from year to year.   VIEW THE PDF PRINT OUT SOLAR CALENDAR (CLICK HERE)    This is why your birthday is on the same DATE each year but is NOT ON THE SAME NAMED WEEK  DAY each year.  Yahweh's calendar is fixed, stable, and solid from year to year!   It is the present named weekday method that is unstable and shifts.  Our Sabbath Study Manual covers this point in detail with clarity)   Day one of Abib is Yahweh's first day of the year by which Sabbaths and Feast Days are then counted and calculated. (Ex.12:2;13:4)  These Holy Days and Sabbath are reckoned by their seasons (Lev.23:4), which seasons are determined by the Sun as it passes the Earth's equator.  The Moon can never be used to determine seasons! Impossible! If you want to read a bit more about the Sabbath issue please click the "SOLAR SABBATH" button on the home page or this page top and follow the links.         If you are wondering why the Sabbath Day is so easily determined yet the Sabbath Packet from this ministry is so extensive, the answer is as follows:      All that is needed to understand the true Sabbath is to find out which day is "day one" of the year.  After that, all that is needed is to count days ---7, 14, 50, etc. as given by Scriptures.  Simple!  However, this study is a compilation of 11 years of my research in answering nearly all related questions surrounding this topic, and believe me, many good questions were mailed to me when I taught the Sabbath as Pastor at Christian Bible Ministries in Virginia.  Those questions needed specific answers due to the convoluted misgivings of Sabbath arguments of the many denominations.  Therefore, the basic understanding of the Sabbath is indeed simple, yet the related questions can and do get into some rather deep explanations.  ----  Ken Lent                                                      >    Interested in another important article about the Sabbath??  Click here and read "Jesus Christ Did Not Do Away With The Sabbath Day". [This goes into detail about N.T. and O.T. comparison of the Sabbath, why the original Sabbath is still valid, and how many well meaning Christians have fallen prey to the mistranslation concerning the erroneous "first day of the week" (Sunday) theory] Also --- "The N.T. 'Moral Sabbath' and the 'Levitical Sabbath' are the Same Sabbath" -- an examiniation into the Scriptures which reveal that N.T.Israelite Christians knew their Hebrew Sabbath roots.  We see yet one more proof that Israel actually became Christians and these are indeed the same people.  Yahweh's Sabbath revealed in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and the New Testament Books are all the same Sabbath given to the same family of people. It is still in effect today!  (Helpful article for the Bible student researching this subject.) Remember that much more information about the true Hebrew Solar Calendar can be reviewed by clicking the SOLAR SABBATH BUTTON at the top of this page and on the home page.   back