Destined to be Caught in a Snare, how this Prophecy is to be Fulfilled: And notice a Composite Message of Sweetness and Bitterness! “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
“America is back,” so is al Qaeda! — Osama bin Laden maybe dead but his organisation lives on! US most wanted Al Qaeda terrorist Khalil Haqqani resurfaces in Kabul alongside Taliban with $5million bounty on head.
The al Qaeda that terrorized New York and the World on September 11 IS BACK!!!
ONE of America’s most wanted terrorists with a $5million bounty on his head has reappeared in Kabul as Taliban leaders gather to map out the future of the war-torn country.
The Haqqanis have been blamed for some of the deadliest terror attacks across the world in recent years, claiming the lives of civilians, government officials and foreign forces.
al-Qaeda Khalil Haqqani, one of America’s most wanted terrorists, in Kabul.
They have been designated a foreign terrorist group by the United States – and the jihadists are also under United Nations sanctions.
Despite their reputation, they are expected to be powerful players in the new regime following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last week – casting doubts on the group’s pledge not to harbour terrorists.
Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani leading prayers at a mosque in Kabul in front of adoring fans
Guarded by fighters wearing US uniforms and gear. Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani leading prayers at a mosque in Kabul in front of adoring fans.
According to the New York Times, Haqqani told the crowd on Friday: “Our first priority for Afghanistan is security. If there is no security, there is no life.
“We will give security, then we will give economy, trade, education for men and women. There will be no discrimination.”
Another key leader of the Haqqani network – Anas Haqqani – was also in the capital on Friday.
The shadowy group – one of the most powerful networks behind the Taliban’s rise to power – was formed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who gained prominence in the 1980s as a hero of the anti-Soviet jihad.
Now free to preach, Khalil Haqqani is a US-designated terrorist with a new mission while carrying a US assault rifle.
At the time, he was a valuable CIA asset as the United States and its allies, such as Pakistan, funnelled arms and money to the mujahideen.
Following the Soviet withdrawal, Jalaluddin Haqqani forged close ties with foreign jihadists – including Osama bin Laden.
He later allied with the Taliban who took over Afghanistan in 1996, serving as a minister for the Islamist regime until it was overthrown by US-led forces in 2001.
The Haqqanis have a reputation for frequently using suicide bombers – including drivers in cars and trucks packed with huge amounts of explosives – and have carried out deadly assaults on major targets.
Taliban (or al-Qaeda?) fighters put on a show of force through the city of Qalat.
According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, Afghan forces intercepted a Haqqani truck in eastern Afghanistan in October 2013 that contained nearly 28 tonnes of explosives.
The Haqqanis have also hugely contributed to the Taliban’s fighting ranks.
They are the group’s “most combat-ready forces”, UN monitors said in a June report.
A British intelligence officer told VOA: “The fact we have Khalil al-Rahman Haqqani in charge of Kabul security is dismaying.
British paratroopers try to control chaos at the Kabul Kamikaze Airport as women and children crushed in stampede to escape their new master, the Taliban.
“The Haqqani and Al Qaeda have a long history together, you could argue they are intertwined, and it is highly unlikely they will cut ties.”
And retired diplomat Ivor Roberts said putting the Haqqani network in charge of security is like the “fox being put in charge of a chicken coop”.
I create darkness; I create evil; I, the LORD, do all these things (Isaiah 45:7)
ISIS-K TERRORS
It comes as security experts warned the UK faces an “immediate” danger of a terror attack on the same scale as 9/11 after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan. Now ISIS-K, who are they?
British counter terror officers feel the takeover could give al-Qaeda back the “ungoverned spaces” where Bin Laden plotted.
Former MI5 boss Lord Jonathan Evans told The Mirror: “If they get the opportunity to put down infrastructure to train and to operate then that will pose a threat to the West.
The Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, is a newly revived terrorist group.
“There’s also the psychological effect of the inspiration that some people will draw from the failure of Western power in Afghanistan.
“In practical terms and in terms of ungoverned space, but also in psychological terms, it probably means an increase in threat over the coming months and years.”
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan said: “There is the possibility of a 9/11 style spectacular, on government buildings, sports grounds, major targets.”
“If you are an #American this should make your blood boil!!!” Taliban fighters mock iconic Iwo Jima flag raising photo, posing in seized US military gear
He added: “If they cannot get the US, the UK remains a large target.
“Freedom in Afghanistan, as we have seen with 9/11, will give them time and help to plan such an attack.”
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hathnot done it? Amos 3:6
With America withdrawing from Afghanistan abruptly after some 20 years, one big question is being discussed throughout the strategic sphere by those both in big institutions and laying on their couches – is the American loss in Afghanistan the first domino to fall in the eventual collapse of the Global Hegemon? After all, Afghanistan is the “graveyard of empires” probably because it is an expression that sounds nice and because the Soviets fell apart a few years after losing to the locals. So this must be the “beginning of the end” right?
Well, we should never be so quick as to jump onto narrow narratives without looking at the big picture. Side-by-side images of the Americans and their allies fleeing Vietnam and Afghanistan by helicopter are flooding Facebook, posted by those in the Alternative Media who take great joy in any loss by the 21st century’s “Evil Empire” but they seem to forget that just a few decades after losing in Vietnam the United States won the Cold War and took dominance over the planet.
Would this Great Retreat from Afghanistan Mark the End of the American Empire?
Or, Could the death of the Dollar the Final?
If the dollar were to collapse, or there were serious problems at the Federal Reserve, as have been predicted for many years due to insane national debt, this would of course be the biggest domino of all. The West has been able to accumulate bafflingly massive debt with no consequences because of the dominance of Washington. It is very hard to call in a debt from the toughest kid school surrounded by his henchmen. But when the big bully stops growing, and loses his buddies, all of a sudden getting your $5 back with a few whacks from a baseball bat becomes viable.
Is Afghanistan “the first domino to fall” in the death of the American Empire? This cannot be proven, but it certainly looks like a domino that has been put in position poised to fall waiting for others to take their places in the line. Other major defeats would be required to say for sure that this “New American Century” is over, not even making it to the one-fourth mark. It is really the other potential signs of the end that are of most concern not squabbling over Afghanistan’s domino status. So the big question is, if Washington is losing its Monopolar World Order, then where will be the next grand retreats?
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her indulgences pleasures.” Revelation 18:2-3
Afghanistan: Taliban’s return ‘boosts morale’ of militant groups in Southeast Asia and elsewhere
Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Philippines are seen as being most affected by the Taliban’s victory, according to an analyst. A security source said seven Indonesian Isis fighters were recently among 5,000 prisoners freed by the Taliban from a former US airbase in Afghanistan.
With American weaponry, a Taliban fighter patrol along a Kabul street after a stunningly defeat to American hegemony. Will this embolden regional allies for more revolutions?
The return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan has boosted the morale of militant groups in Southeast Asia, inspiring some to make plans to go to the country and undertake military and other training there, according to analysts and a former militant.
The Taliban’s success has been widely celebrated by Islamist and extremist groups, which are also expected to have been reinvigorated in their fight to replace secular governments in the region with an Islamic state.
“Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern Philippines will be most impacted by the Taliban’s victory as the three countries have real or perceived local grievances [involving such groups],” said Noor Huda Ismail, visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore. And of course, not forgetting southern Thailand.
“It will inspire them, strengthen their spirit, and boost their morale to constantly fight for their political goal of an Islamic state,” he said, adding that Islamists would try to learn from the Taliban “how to win people’s hearts and support”.
Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir waves from a police vehicle after he was convicted by a Jakarta court for terrorism in June 2011
China – whose far western region of Xinjiang shares a short border with Afghanistan – is highly concerned about security in the country. Senior Chinese diplomats have called on the Taliban to cut ties with extremist groups such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which it has blamed for violent attacks in Xinjiang.
Taliban fighters seized guns, ammunition, helicopters and even combat aircraft as they took over provincial capitals, military bases and on Sunday Kabul, in a rapid offensive after American troops withdrew. They met little resistance from US-trained Afghan forces.
These haul of American weapons and equipment could worsen instability in the region – including Xinjiang in China – if they fall into the hands of extremists, analysts say.
Nasir Abas, the former leader of al-Qaeda’s Southeast Asia branch, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), said jihadist groups were euphoric that the Taliban had retaken Afghanistan, as could be seen from their social media posts.
The Jihadist flag of ISIL, which was adopted by Abu Sayyaf of the Philippines
“There are those who have already expressed the hope and desire to go to Afghanistan,” said Abas, who fought and trained there from 1987 to 1993. “For sure they will go if the opportunity is available for them to undergo military training there, the same way the Taliban once gave permission for Osama bin Laden to open a training camp in Kandahar.”
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD saith thus: “Wailing shall be in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through thee,” saith the LORD.
Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light:
as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:16-20
John McCain: Blinken “has actually been dangerous to America,” and of course still is.
In December 2014, John McCain came down to the Senate floor to warn his colleagues about Anthony Blinken. And Afghanistan.
Blinken is apparently so bad that John McCain called him “dangerous to America” in a 2014 Senate speech, adding that he was “one of the worst selections of a very bad lot” as Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.
Using a special ‘dissent channel’ within the State Department, the cable – sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and another top State Department official – warned of ‘rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces,’ and offered suggestions on how to speed up evacuation and mitigate the obvious crisis slated to ensue, two people told the WSJ.
In total, 23 US Embassy staffers – all Americans, signed the July 13 cable, which was given a rush status ‘given the circumstances on the ground in Kabul.’ In addition to Blinken, it was sent to the Director of Policy Planning, Salman Ahmad.
Blinken received the cable and reviewed it shortly afterwards according to the report.
The cable, dated July 13, also called for the State Department to use tougher language in describing the atrocities being committed by the Taliban, one of the people said.
In 2014, John McCain described Anthony Blinken as “dangerous to America.”
The classified cable represents the clearest evidence yet that the administration had been warned by its own officials on the ground that the Taliban’s advance was imminent and Afghanistan’s military may be unable to stop it. -WSJ
According to the report, some 18,000 Afghans and their families who had applied for special US Immigrant Visas remained in Kabul in areas under Taliban control, while efforts to reach the airport have become increasingly difficult.
US intelligence officials have sparred with the White House over who was warning of what, and when. And as the Journal notes, the existence of this confidential State Department memo warning of impending doom adds a crucial piece to our knowledge of how this all went down.
Why Blinken and Biden didn’t take immediate action despite receiving a ‘dissent channel’ emergency communication from their staff on the ground in Kabul is unknown, however Blinken is apparently so bad that John McCain called him “dangerous to America” in a 2014 Senate speech, adding that he was “one of the worst selections of a very bad lot” as Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.
Zerohedge: Scene from the 2001 movie “Black Hawk Down” in the Battle of Mogadishu, 1993 where 18 American soldiers were killed, including two Delta Force operatives.
After the Taliban swept in and took Kabul over the weekend, the US evacuated its embassy staff from Kabul – some of whom were relocated to a makeshift location at the Kamikaze International Airport surrounded by US troops.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday there’s still a staggering number of trapped Americans inside Kabul: “The collapse of the Ghani government left as many as 15,000 Americans and permanent residents along with an unknown number of other Westerners and foreigners trapped behind Taliban lines.”
However, should any US troops venture outside the Kamikaze Airport, it would very likely result in a dogfight with the Taliban, which would inevitably lead to more American forces being called in. Things are already poised to get worse at any moment.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
“For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof” Hosea 8:14.
Professor Ralph Baric: The Coronavirus Hunter That Is Under The Spotlight
Is FORT DETRICK the SOURCE of COVID-19? If the United States has nothing to hide, there is not a single reason why it did not agree to open up their labs for inspection by the International community. This could lay to rest any suspicions on them.
In a Twitter post on 26 July, Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “if labs are to be investigated, then the WHO experts should go to Fort Detrick. The US should act transparently and responsibly as soon as possible and invite WHO experts for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick lab. Only in this way can truth be revealed to the world.”
From a youtube now deleted, some other comments below:
“Links to information used in the video are available in the description now. All Information from Western media, not even one source is from China.”
“Yes, WHO should send an international team to investigate Fort Detrick lab.”
“Yes, an international investigation on Fort Detrick and other US biolabs is absolutely necessary to understand the origin of covid 19 and to prevent similar pandemics in the future.”
“I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL” HOSEA 6:10
“And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him” Jeremiah 50:32.
“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished” Ezekiel 6:6.
From what happened in Afghanistan, those in Taiwan should perceive that once a war breaks out in the Straits, the island’s defense will collapse in hours and US military won’t come to help. As a result, the DPP will quickly surrender.
US spent billions on Afghan forces. Their weapons are now in Taliban hands.
The Taliban’s haul of American weapons and equipment taken from the Afghan military could worsen instability in the region – including Xinjiang in China – if they fall into the hands of extremists, analysts say.
Made by Raytheon, Stinger Missiles Can Shoot Down Fighter Jets and Helicopters.
Taliban fighters seized guns, ammunition, helicopters and even combat aircraft, according to the Associated Press, as they took over provincial capitals, military bases and on Sunday Kabul, in a rapid offensive after American troops withdrew. They met little resistance from US-trained Afghan forces.
The insurgents are now trading weapons like Russian Kalashnikov AK-47s for modern American assault rifles, and according to Chinese military researcher Zhou Chenming, it is this type of weaponry that could help fuel the expansion of extremist and terrorist groups in the region.
Taliban fighters with US-made weapons.
“If this weaponry that has been supplied by the US [to Afghan forces] – like guns, ammunition and armoured vehicles – is seized by extremists then it will certainly add to the difficulty and challenges of counterterrorism operations for all governments in the region,” said Zhou, from the Yuan Wang military science and technology institute in Beijing.
Taliban fighters in Kabul on a captured US-made Humvee.
“In the past, extremist groups have … carried out surprise attacks using knives and home-made bombs, but the casualties will be much higher if they get hold of more powerful weapons.”
Military vehicles transferred by the US to the Afghan Army in February 2021.
China – whose far western region of Xinjiang shares a short border with Afghanistan – is highly concerned about security in the country. Senior Chinese diplomats have called on the Taliban to cut ties with extremist groups such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which it has blamed for violent attacks in Xinjiang.
An Afghan helicopter in Panjshir province, waiting to be used by the Taliban Army.
Zhou said given the political turmoil in Afghanistan, China needed to step up border security to stop extremists from entering Xinjiang via the Wakhan Corridor – a narrow strip of Afghan territory that borders the Chinese region.
Zerohedge: Senators “Horrified” to See Black Hawk Helicopters in Taliban Hands.
The LORD will smite thee with the boils of Egypt, and with the hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways. “And thou shalt be only oppressed and despoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee . . . And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee. Deuteronomy 28:27-29, 37
One minister says “the Bible doesn’t require extra-biblical interpretation and support,” or another who claims they “genuinely believe in the original Protestant declaration, Solo Scriptura—”the Scriptures only”!
Is this true? Is it true we don’t need any extra-biblical interpretation to understand the true meaning of the Scriptures?
This is an unorthodox approach to studying the Oracles of God. But first, we ask what are the components of the Oracles or the Scriptures?
For a change, we will start by reading just a portion of a chapter in the Bible that we are all familiar with — Genesis 1 (21st Century King James Version).
And we’ll try to read it without the vowels. It’s possible, let’s try:
Gnss 1:1-10 (21st Cntry Kng Jms Vrsn) n th bgnnng Gd crtd th hvn nd th rth. nd th rth ws wtht frm nd vd, nd drknss ws pn th fc f th dp. nd th Sprt ~ f Gd mvd pn th fc f th wtrs. nd Gd sd, “Lt thr b lght”; nd thr ws lght. nd Gd sw th lght, tht t ws gd; nd Gd dvdd th lght frm th drknss. nd Gd clld th lght Dy, nd th drknss H clld Nght. nd th vnng nd th ~ mrnng wr th frst dy. nd Gd sd, “Lt thr b frmmnt n th mdst f th wtrs, nd lt t dvd th wtrs frm ~ th wtrs.” nd Gd md th frmmnt, nd dvdd th wtrs whch wr ndr th frmmnt frm th ~ wtrs whch wr bv th frmmnt; nd t ws s. nd Gd clld th frmmnt Hvn. nd th vnng nd th mrnng wr th scnd dy. nd Gd sd, “Lt th wtrs ndr th hvn b gthrd tgthr nt n plc, nd lt th dry lnd ~ ppr”; nd t ws s. nd Gd clld th dry lnd rth; nd th gthrng tgthr f th wtrs clld H Ss; nd Gd ~ sw tht t ws gd.
In the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and the earth. בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ: Hebrew text with vowels בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ Hebrew text without vowels
Below is the same Genesis 1:1-10 — without vowels, without spaces and punctuations.
“For there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” Matthew 24:24
Below is the same Genesis 1:1-10. And this is how Moses wrote the Torah — without vowels, spaces, punctuations, capitalization nor paragraph breaks.
So when it is written that Moses wrote all the words of the LORD as stated in Exodus 24:4, his written texts (except of course, he wrote from right to left in paleo Hebrew scripts instead of the modern ‘square’ alphabets) were only making sense to himself, but to an outsider, they were just unreadable. [Note: this Bible study is greatly simplified as cantillation and other numerous peculiar details of the Sacred Text are not discussed here]
For well over two thousand years until the appearance of the Aleppo Codex in the tenth Century, scribes, priests and Levites with the Scriptures would have to memorise where the vowels and other punctuations were located so that the Scriptures would make sense to those who hear them.
The vast majority which would be no less than 99.99 percent of today’s professing Christianity make this fundamental error. This porous foundation differs greatly from the original Nazarenes where they understood what the Oracles as given to the Jews (Romans 3:1-4) would mean. Unless trained in Judaism, they wouldn’t be able to read the Sacred Text, which only had consonants written. This means our modern version of Christianity is basically built on sands, loose sands.
The written Torah, when originally written, were just the consonants but the Oral Knowledge were memorised. Torah means instructions, teachings and knowledge, and these accumulated knowledge is known as the Oral Law and is not necessarily the legalistic concept of law we know today.
What does this “nthbgnnnggdcrtdthhvnndthrth” mean? A learned scribe would know it was “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” by adding his Oral Torah to make the meaning clear. Thus when the Aleppo Codex was written in the tenth century, vowels were embedded. For the Hebrew Sacred text to be readable by the common people, it also means that the Oral Law were intrinsically embedded into the Written Torah.
Many hundred years later, in 1611, the English King James version of the Bible arrived. And like it or not, it had similarly incorporated the Oral Torah with the written Torah. For the churches to say that our Scriptures are the written Word of God and we don’t need the Oral Torah is just misguided, deceived. And being puffed up and deceived they go about deceiving others.
“For I know this: that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” Acts 20:29.
The first Church after the apostolic age was the Roman Catholics and they are the most populous today. Others in the West, many sprang from the British Isles or the United States. Such deceptions are so deeply embedded and entrenched that this truth would sound strange, unorthodox and foreign.
Today many Christians believe they will go into a Place of Safety when tribulation comes – but they will only achieve it in their fantasies.
It’s far more likely that lightnings and thunderstorms would begin at His sanctuary (Ezekiel 9:6), i.e. dark days lie ahead for these professing Christians. “Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.”
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” Hosea 11:12
“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” Isaiah 9:21
Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require My flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more. For I will deliver My flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. Ezekiel 34:10
“And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.” Leviticus 26:27-28
Taliban spokesman says Afghan war is over, militants convinced ‘foreign forces won’t repeat failed experience in Afghanistan’ – the Graveyard of Empires.
“WAR IS OVER” UNDISPUTED VICTOR OF A 20-YEAR WAR!
The Taliban have taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Earlier talks to form a transitional government appear to have been scuppered by Ghani’s departure. “A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn’t harbor terrorists is a government we can work with and recognize,” Blinken reassured his fellow American people.
“There’s going to be no circumstances where you’re going to see people being lifted off the roof of a US Embassy in Afghanistan,” Biden said. But this is worst.
And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursueth.
And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. Leviticus 26:36-39
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel” Hosea 6:10
Sobering thought: Timeline of COVID19 proves the USA bombed China with SARS in 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019
Covid Special: How this mysterious coronavirus originated and spread around the globe
And below is a testimony from an anonymous “Samantha Hill” — an ex-employee of the bioweapon lab at Fort Detrick, using a twitter account to testify that Professor Ralph Baric – “a science-maniac” – is the creator of the COVID-19 virus and that she had now fled back to India when her continual presence there had become dangerous:
“And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” Jeremiah 7:15
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
Below is a screenshot from above:
Curious, has Professor Ralph Baric been developing this COVID-19 virus to produce an adverse effect to target specifically the non-Caucasians and the Chinese??
A “novel” coronavirus (nCoV) is supposed to be “a new strain” that has not been previously identified in humans, but Dr David Martin – Patents Review shows SARS-CoV-2 is no novel Virus – July 9 2021
“I HAVE SEEN A HORRIBLE THING IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL” HOSEA 6:10
Dark days lie ahead for the descendents of modern Ephraim and Manasseh. Here’s what Leviticus says:
Leviticus 26:22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate. 23 “‘And if ye will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will walk contrary unto Me, 24 then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities I will send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. 27 “‘And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me, 28 then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. 30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you. 31 And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. 32 And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Leviticus 26:25-33
Australian Warmongering, Rex Patrick, ASPI & Xinjiang – A Discussion with Robbie Barwick, Part 1
Join Robert Barwick (Australian Citizen’s Party Research Director) and Daniel Dumbrill for part 1 of a casual conversation about the growing anti-China propaganda in Australia. We discuss Rex Patrick, ASPI, the Xinjiang Uyghur genocide narrative and other pro-war pro-aggression voices destroying Australia and bringing it closer to war.
One commentator says “As an Australian, thank you to Daniel and Robbie for speaking about this. I am very concerned about what is happening in the region. Almost everyone I hear talking about China just reflects what they hear in the media. But it is so important to be critical about the information we hear because half-truths and lies can and will lead to war as we have already seen with Iraq and Afghanistan. For the sake of a peaceful future, thank you for showing the other side of the story.”
Another “I’m English and have lived in UK for 60 years and say I would never trust anything the BBC say anymore 😠 it has lost any respectability It had , UK media has become so biased now it would not want to know the truth even if it causes war and suffering so sad now.”
“Rupert Murdoch and his media empire creating anti-China propaganda should also be discussed, because his news empire contributed the most to the current anti-China sentiment by magnifying the narrative of politicians in US, Australia and other countries around the world.”
“Totally disgusted with my country’s brainless leaders Keep it up Daniel it is so important We have so many problems here that they are unable to handle so they use propaganda and lies to denigrate China as a smoke screen for their absolute inadequacy.”
“We need the US for defence, but we only need defence because of the US” – Ex Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser
“We have killed Muslims in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Libya [much more]… But we are very concerned about the human rights of Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang, China” – Mike Pompeo
Part 2 – Join Robert Barwick (Australian Citizen’s Party Research Director) and Daniel Dumbrill for a casual conversation about the growing anti-China propaganda in Australia. We discuss Rex Patrick, ASPI, the Xinjiang Uyghur genocide narrative and other pro-war pro-aggression voices destroying Australia and bringing it closer to war.
One listener asks a great question: “I’m flabbergasted. Why does Iraq not demand that the US and their allies compensate the Iraq government and the Iranian citizens for the damage caused by the false and made up allegations that caused a war and genocide? Why are the UN members keeping so quiet? Where is the ethos of diplomacy and politics? It’s time to pay up for the war crimes committed by the US!”
Another “America has a giant collection of experts on verbal gymnastics. They can twist facts and words in a million ways to support their devious minds.”
“Great content! Your videos are very informative. I was wondering if I can get your opinion on a current topic. The 2022 China Olympics are set to start soon and the western countries and media are ramping up efforts to push for a boycott. How do you think the situation will unravel if the China Olympics were to take place and the USA media lies were exposed? My belief is that the Olympics were a GREAT “chess move” by China to force media to show China and its growth and success. I believe boycott efforts will continue to escalate as the amount of time, effort and money that the US government has used to create a world of lies around China is at risk. I’d love to see a video about this topic as well if possible. Thanks and keep up the great work!”
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” Hosea 11:12
“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be” Hosea 5:9
“And I will set My face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you,and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.” Leviticus 26:17
Empires killers, the Talibans had killed off the British Empire, then the Soviet Empire, now the American Empire. Not really, US forces had already retreated before the latest Taliban surge, so there were no face-to-face humiliation as was the case during the Vietnam retreat with their Saigon roof-top moment.
Holding Taliban flags, the Taliban making military gains in Afghanistan
As of August 11, within a five day period, the Islamist insurgents have already overrun seven provincial capitals in the north, west and south, setting up the group to make an eventual bid for the biggest prize of all: the national capital, Kabul.
Taliban insurgents have tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory as civilians hid in their homes, and a European Union official said the militants now control 65 per cent of the country.
About 400,000 Afghans have been displaced in recent months and there has been an increase in numbers of people fleeing to Iran over the past 10 days, the EU official said.
Seventh provincial capital falls to Taliban as blitz takes Afghan forces by surprise.
The Taliban, ousted in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, appeared to be in a position to advance from different directions on Mazar-i-Sharif.
The fall of Mazar-i-Sharif would deal a devastating blow to Mr Ghani’s government.
Atta Mohammad Noor, a northern militia commander, vowed to defend Mazar-i-Sharif to the end, saying there would be “resistance until the last drop of my blood”.
Seven Provinces already fallen to the Taliban
1 / August 6 — ZARANJ
The Taliban take over the city in Nimroz province in the south of the country, the first provincial capital to fall to the insurgents since they stepped up attacks on Afghan forces in early May.
2 / August 7 — SHEBERGHAN
The Taliban declare they have captured the entire northern province of Jawzjan, including its capital Sheberghan. Heavy fighting is reported in the city, and government buildings are taken over by the insurgents. Afghan security forces say they are still fighting there.
3 / August 8 — SAR-E-PUL
The insurgents take control of Sar-e-Pul, capital of the northern province of the same name. It is the first of three provincial centres to fall on the same day.
4 / August 8 — KUNDUZ
Taliban fighters seize control of the northern city of 270,000 people, regarded as a strategic prize as it lies at the gateway to mineral-rich northern provinces and Central Asia. Government forces say they are resisting the insurgents from an army base and the airport.
5 /August 8 — TALOQAN
The capital of Takhar province, also in the north, falls to the Taliban in the evening. They free prisoners and force government officials to flee.
6 /August 9 — AYBAK
The capital of the northern province of Samangan is overrun by Taliban fighters.
7 /August 10 – FARAH
Capital of the western province of Farah.
President Ashraf Ghani called on regional strongmen to support his shaky government, while a UN official said advances made in human rights in the 20 years since the hard-line Islamists were ousted from power were in danger of being erased.
In the capital of Kabul, Mr Ghani’s aides said he was seeking help from regional militias he has squabbled with over the years to rally to the defence of his wobbling government.
Mr Ghani had also appealed to civilians to defend his American-imposed “democratic fabric”.
The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.Deuteronomy 28:25
Space lasers are a real thing, even if they’re not generally made to blow up passing satellites.
Designed to damage or disable sensor equipment on orbiting satellites, ground-based lasers can help hide a nation’s activities. Photography from satellites, for example, has been key in helping reveal the extent of Beijing’s detention of Muslim Uighurs in western China.
Lasers as Weapons in a crowded Space
Weeks before the Federation of American Scientists produced analysis showing missile silos being built in western China, US-based analysts – drawing attention to anti-satellite lasers in Xinjiang – warned that US satellites, the kind that could keep an eye on China’s military, were “increasingly vulnerable to China’s ground-based lasers”.
The technology gives a country the power “to deny a satellite’s ability to operate, to shut it down or to damage it – without creating space debris”.
Michael Duitsman of the California-based James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies said the laser facility in Xinjiang was thought to have been started as far back as 2009. It “significantly predates both the Uighur cultural genocide and the current missile silo construction,” he said.
Inspecting images from earlier this year, Duitsman said there had been some construction in the support area for the laser, as well as modification at one of the buildings.
Concerns about the use of lasers used this way in a future space conflict are spreading.
The prospect of a contest for space dominance between China, the US and Russia prompted the US to create the Space Force in 2019. Last month, Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced Australia would begin exploring options for Space Electronic Warfare, because it’s a capability that doesn’t “create debris or damage the space environment”.
Pentagon report: China amassing arsenal of anti-satellite weapons
Flaherty said to better understand China’s intentions with lasers aimed at satellites, one need only look at the example Russia provides. In 2018, Russia unveiled its Peresvet laser system and positioned it near mobile units of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
In doing so, it can temporarily blind passing satellites overhead from taking pictures.
Flaherty said “any superpower that has important strategic assets … will deploy a laser”.
US-based China space analyst Dean Cheng believes Beijing would likely have installed them to frustrate the satellite photography of its military bases and equipment.
“It would not be surprising if the Chinese wanted to limit Indian ability to see into Tibet,” said Cheng.
He said lasers could be used to protect one of China’s missile silo fields, as well as naval and air bases that could be used in an invasion of Taiwan.
But the ability to use lasers against satellites is well known by space-faring powers.
Pentagon Warns That Enemies Could Shoot US Satellites With Lasers
“What is more problematic is that the West relies more on space for the conduct of military operations, so effective anti-satellite systems work much more to the benefit of” Russia or China, which focus their military closer to their own regions, Cheng says.
Economically, the West has more to lose in such a scenario because widely adopted Western technologies such as GPS have evolved to rely on peaceful access to space.
Simply raising questions about China’s capabilities to disrupt a rival nation’s satellites is part of the new game, one that differs from the Cold War rivalry.
The physical distance of orbit makes it hard to know with certainty whether an outage of a satellite happened as a cause of an accident, or if something was the result of hard-to-detect aggression.
For example, in 2006, China used a laser that temporarily blinded a US military reconnaissance satellite.
“The action temporarily blinded the satellite but caused no permanent damage, leading to speculation that China may not have been intentionally trying to interfere with the satellite,” said US congressional testimony in 2019.
Messing with a rival’s satellites in orbit in ways that can easily be misinterpreted, using lasers, or some other directed energy, is a change from the Cold War.
Back then Russian or American interference with each other’s satellites could easily be interpreted as a prelude to a nuclear launch, and so was something to generally avoid.
Today, while the nuclear risk hasn’t gone away – as China’s missile silo building proves – technology has evolved, orbits have grown much more crowded, and so has the willingness of some space powers to court risk.
China, among others, has been on a mission to build space power since it – and the world – witnessed volleys of US satellite-guided bombs raining down on Iraqi troops during the Persian Gulf War of 1991.
“The Gulf War set off the next technology trend for countries to catch up,” Flaherty said.
Since then, many more satellites and nations have entered orbit, producing data and services we rely on daily: GPS, space-based timing for transactions, Google maps, precise weather data for agriculture.
If China or another power used lasers aggressively against orbiting satellites, it’s no longer about two superpowers facing off like during the Cold War space race, said Flaherty.
Instead, the question becomes: if one space-reliant system goes down, what else goes down with it?
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Gill: but turned back in the day of battle; fled from the enemy, could not stand their ground when the onset was made:
Trapp: Carnal confidence seldom comes home otherwise than weeping.Calvin: it is the more abundantly manifest that they had incurred the displeasure of God, who not only deprived them of his aid, but also made their hearts effeminate in the hour of danger.
The US empire is in terminal decline, and heading for a dystopian future. Yet no-one – not the generals, the politicians or the fawning MSM – will be held accountable for all the military follies that herald its imminent collapse.
The debacle in Afghanistan, which will unravel into chaos with lightning speed over the next few weeks and ensure the return of the Taliban to power, is one more signpost of the end of the American empire.
The two decades of combat, the one trillion dollars we spent, the 100,000 troops deployed to subdue Afghanistan, the high-tech gadgets, artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, Reaper drones armed with Hellfire missiles and GBU-30 bombs, and the Global Hawk drones with high-resolution cameras, Special Operations Command composed of elite rangers, SEALs and air commandos, black sites, torture, electronic surveillance, satellites, attack aircraft, mercenary armies, infusions of millions of dollars to buy off and bribe the local elites and train an Afghan army of 350,000 that has never exhibited the will to fight, failed to defeat a guerrilla army of 60,000 that funded itself through opium production and extortion in one of the poorest countries on Earth.
Like any empire in terminal decay, no one will be held accountable for the debacle, or for the other debacles in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or anywhere else. Not the generals. Not the politicians. Not the CIA and intelligence agencies. Not the diplomats. Not the obsequious courtiers in the press who serve as cheerleaders for war. Not the compliant academics and area specialists. Not the defense industry.
Empires at the end are collective suicide machines. The military in late empire becomes unmanageable, unaccountable, and endlessly self-perpetuating, no matter how many fiascos, blunders, and defeats it visits upon the carcass of the nation, or how much money it plunders, impoverishing the citizenry and leaving governing institutions and the physical infrastructure decayed.
Bloomberg’s America’s Worsening Homeless Crisis
The human tragedy – at least 801,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan, and 37 million have been displaced in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University – is reduced to a neglected footnote.
Nearly all the roughly 70 empires during the last four thousand years, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, Ottoman, Habsburg, imperial German, imperial Japanese, British, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and Soviet empires, collapsed in the same orgy of military folly. The Roman Republic, at its height, only lasted two centuries. We are set to disintegrate in roughly the same time. This is why, at the start of World War I in Germany, Karl Liebknecht called the German military, which imprisoned and later assassinated him, “the enemy from within.”
Mark Twain, who was a fierce opponent of the efforts to plant the seeds of empire in Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, wrote an imagined history of America in the twentieth century in which its “lust for conquest” had destroyed “the Great Republic … [because] trampling upon the helpless abroad had taught her, by a natural process, to endure with apathy the like at home; multitudes who had applauded the crushing of other people’s liberties, lived to suffer for their mistake.”
Twain knew that foreign occupations, designed to enrich the ruling elites, use occupied populations as laboratory rats to perfect techniques of control that soon migrate back to the homeland. It was the brutal colonial policing practices in the Philippines, which included a vast spy network along with routine beatings, torture, and executions, which became the model for centralized domestic policing and intelligence gathering in the United States. Israeli’s arms, surveillance and drone industries test their products on the Palestinians.
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.Leviticus 26:30-31
It is one of the dark ironies that it was the American empire, led by Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, which spawned the mess in Afghanistan. Brzezinski oversaw a multibillion-dollar CIA covert operation to arm, train, and equip the Taliban to fight the Soviets. This clandestine effort sidelined the secular, democratic opposition and assured the ascendancy of the Taliban in Afghanistan, along with the spread of its radical Islam into Soviet Central Asia, once Soviet forces withdrew.
New York’s Homeless Epidemic
The American empire would, years later, find itself desperately trying to destroy its own creation. In April 2017, in a classic example of this kind of absurd blowback, the United States dropped the “mother of all bombs” – the most powerful conventional bomb in the American arsenal – on an Islamic State cave complex in Afghanistan that the CIA had invested millions in building and fortifying.
And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and thesound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. Leviticus 26:36-39
Bad news for the vaxxed: The official vaccine narrative IMPLODING: CDC warns that virus is evading the vaccines; masks and quarantines now required for all
For months, public health authorities told citizens that “life would not go back to normal” unless 90 percent of the population was vaccinated with experimental spike protein mRNA programs. Lockdowns were used to force people to comply with vaccine mandates.
Celebrities and politicians were recruited to promote the shots on social media as the vaccine-injured were censored. Vaccine lotteries and junk food freebies were handed out to the vaccinated. Illegal employer mandates are being used as threats and intimidation.
The Biden regime promised “100 days of masking” to end covid-19 once and for all, and they even bastardized “Independence Day” by telling Americans they won’t have their freedoms back until they collectively comply with a national 70 percent vaccination rate.
Ken Dilanian for NBC News is shocking American viewers with “new data” on the failure of the mass covid-19 vaccination program. “New data suggests that fully vaccinated individuals are not just contracting COVID, but could be carrying higher levels of virus than previously understood, facilitating spread,” he reported.
The report was confirmed by Dr. Leana Wen, who appeared on CNN to call for universal indoor masking for the vaccinated and even declared that quarantines should be used on the vaccinated when they are exposed to another sick vaccinated person. Even the propaganda-pushing Andersen Cooper was bewildered by the new guidance. The CDC is currently promoting mask mandates for the unvaccinated, as the failure of the vaccines is openly admitted through policy.
CDC director warns that virus is evading the vaccines
CDC Director Walensky went on Fox News and implied that more doses of vaccine will be needed in order to keep people “fully vaccinated.” She warned about the failure of the vaccine program: “The largest concern that I think we in public health and science are worried about, is that virus and the potential mutations away, we are from a very transmissible virus that has the potential to evade our vaccine in terms of how it protects us from severe disease and death.”
This waning immunity is not new; it was demonstrated in the clinical studies that were originally ignored by the regulatory agencies. This waning immunity is already occurring in some of the most vaccinated countries, like Israel and Singapore. The vaccinated are coming down with sickness and are being hospitalized at a growing rate, as their so-called “immunity” wanes in less than six months.
While it’s no longer called “covid” for the vaccinated, they are coming down with sickness nonetheless. Israel has even demoted Pfizer’s vaccine effectiveness to an abysmal 39 percent. Whatever that means? The UK chief science advisor admits that 60% of people admitted to UK hospitals are “fully vaccinated.” In Singapore, 75 percent of new covid infections are from the vaccinated. In the US, cases in the vaccinated are so high, the CDC had to commit medical fraud by lowering the cycle threshold on the PCR test kits to artificially lower covid positives for the vaccinated.
And now the Center for Disease Control wants to push more mask mandates for the vaccinated, as the vaccinated become the “super spreaders” they once mocked. Not only are the vaccinated shedding spike protein bioweapons from their own cells, but they have also weakened their bodies with further inflammation from those spike proteins, making them more susceptible to coronavirus variants. Even worse, the vaccinated have become the vector for which coronaviruses mutate and spread.
Meanwhile, the vilified and socially ostracized (the unvaccinated) enjoy natural immunity or may soon have natural immunity that is proven to be 40 times more durable at preventing hospitalizations in Israel. What’s more, science shows natural immunity provides persisting antibody levels, including robust memory B and T cell immunity.
“Ephraim compasseth me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12).
It’s bad enough that these vaccine efficacy studies use diagnostic fraud, but the studies are also grossly inadequate because they only aim to prove that the vaccine reduces the number of symptomatic cases of covid-19 in a given cohort of people. The studies do not in any way prove that the vaccine prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection, transmission, hospitalization, death or even less severe symptoms.
A majority of vaccinated test subjects experience fever, chills, headaches and pain that requires further medical intervention. Because covid vaccines deliberately cause symptomatic illness, its insane to think they could achieve anything useful for science and health.
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is engaged in one of the greatest medical frauds of our time, using disparate PCR cycle thresholds to artificially inflate covid-19 cases in the unvaccinated, while hiding covid cases in the fully vaccinated. This covid-19 testing fraud continues to obfuscate the American medical response, as the original aerosolized bioweapon evades detection, as the ongoing release of that spike protein continues through the “savior” vaccines.
In a recent interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Dr. Harvey Risch of the Yale School of Medicine called out the CDC for committing wide-scale medical fraud. When the covid-19 vaccines were launched under emergency authorization, the CDC changed the covid-19 testing guidelines for the fully vaccinated, lowering the cycle threshold count of the PCR test ONLY for the vaccinated.
Israel’s health ministry has found that 40 percent of new covid cases are in the vaccinated, while less than 1 percent of new cases are from people who were previously infected. People who recovered from a natural infection have immunity that is 40 times more durable at preventing hospitalization from future variants. In the UK, Sir Patrick Vallance said the vaccinated patients makeup 40-60 percent of new covid cases, proving the vaccines are an abysmal failure at preventing serious illness in the real world.
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart;and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways. And thou shalt be only oppressed and despoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Deuteronomy 28:28-29.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, Psalm 91:7
Five Republican senators are questioning why the Department of Health and Human Services redacted a portion of an email between Dr Anthony Fauci and Peter Daszak, the president of a research organization that worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology on coronavirus studies before the pandemic.
Their inquiry is the latest attempt from the group to get public health agencies to turn over documents related to the way pandemic policies have been set behind the scenes.
Earlier this month, Sen. Rand Paul requested Attorney General Merrick Garland to start a criminal investigation of Fauci over his Senate testimony, during which he said the National Institutes of Health never funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab. The Kentucky Republican says that is a lie, while Fauci insists the NIH grants did not fund gain-of-function research.
Dr Fauci should have been led away in handcuffs long ago but he’s still there, holding the most important office. It shows how paralyzed and corrupt the System is, especially the Department of Justice. Already sedated? If so, by whom?
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the top GOP member on the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Fauci this week, noting he hadn’t responded to a similar June letter from them about testimony in May and arguing that his July testimony only raised more questions. Jordan and Comer said, “New emails make this recurring testimony even more concerning and show a closer relationship between NIAID and the WIV than previously known.”
The one exception, according to the Republican lawmakers, was the email between Fauci and Daszak, which had been unredacted. The senators said it appeared HHS “may have forgotten” to redact the portion of the email that was previously hidden under the law enforcement standard.
“It’s been a very hard few months as these conspiracy theorists have gradually become politicized and hardened in their stance,” Daszak wrote to Fauci and others in the unredacted version of the email.
“Especially because the work we’ve been doing in collaboration with Chinese virologists has given us incredible insight into the risks that these viruses represent, so that we can directly help protect our nation from bat-origin coronaviruses,” Daszak continued. “We’re fighting to keep the communications open with our Chinese colleagues, so that we can better address future pandemics like COVID-19.”
The CDC and NIAID entered into trade among States (including, but not limited to working with University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and with foreign nations (specifically, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences represented by Zhengli Shi) through U19AI109761 (Ralph S. Baric), U19AI107810 (Ralph S. Baric), and National Natural Science Foundation of China Award 81290341 (Zhengli Shi) et al. 2015-2016. These projects took place during a time when the work being performed was prohibited by the United States National Institutes of Health.
The public was clearly advised of the dangers being presented by NIAID-funded research by 2015 and 2016 when the Wuhan Institute of Virology material was being manipulated at UNC in Ralph Baric’s lab.
Jordan and Comer contended that the NIAID “funded gain-of-function research at the WIV and this research did not go through the proper oversight.” They told Fauci that “it is unclear why you would continue to testify otherwise.” They pointed to recently released emails to make their case.
Ralph Baric and his team @Baric_Lab – Researching #SARSCoV2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, Dengue, Zika, and human norovirus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
The Republicans cited a Feb. 1, 2020, email from Fauci to the deputy director of the NIAID, Dr Hugh Auchincloss, which included an attached research article published in 2015 in Nature Medicine titled “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronavirus shows potential for human emergence” that was “primarily authored” by Dr Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wuhan lab “bat lady” Dr Zhengli Shi, with the paper acknowledging the Key Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Jordan and Comer noted that “the paper was funded by NIAID grant U19AI107810” and that both “Baric and Shi acknowledge this.”
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
There was a murder, and upon an initial investigation, there was a trail of blood . . . and they all lead to high places!
“A can of worms,” someone says, “better not to open such can.”
Dr David Martin, CEO of M-CAM International (risk management) has reviewed 4,000 Coronavirus patents. He appeared on Sitting #60 of the German Corona Committee on July 9 2021 to share his findings in a 90 minute discussion with lawyers.
Now Dr Martin is opening that can!
Dr David Martin – Spike Protein Patents Since 2002!
The gist of David Martin’s video was that wealthy philanthropists like Bill Gates, technology companies, pharmaceutical companies and global health organizations colluded to create a virus that would force governments to fund research and development of vaccines and therapies in order to enrich themselves.
Dr Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance offered the following assessment [in March 2015]:
“Daszak reiterated that, until an infectious disease crisis is very real, present, and at an emergency threshold, it is often largely ignored. To sustain the funding base beyond the crisis, he said, we need to increase public understanding of the need for MCMs such as a pan-influenza or pan-coronavirus vaccine. A key driver is the media, and the economics follow the hype. We need to use that hype to our advantage to get to the real issues. Investors will respond if they see profit at the end of process.”
By doing so Dr Martin explains in detail the trails of blood related to SARS Cov2. It’s unbelievable and breathtaking to me, but please watch the video and decide for yourself.
This elitist crime information is a matter of PUBLIC RECORD and the information is of public interests. And please share around if you find it beneficial. Thanks.
“Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers” Isaiah 1:7.
Then said I, “LORD, how long?” And He answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate” Isaiah 6:11.
“In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel; and there shall be desolation” Isaiah 17:9.
•July 27, 2021 • Comments Off on Dr Fauci Should be Led Away in Handcuffs
Dr Fauci should have been led away in handcuffs long ago but he’s still there, holding the most important office. It shows how paralyzed and corrupt the System is, especially the Department of Justice. Already sedated? If so, by whom?
In 2014, the Obama administration imposed a moratorium on Gain of Function because it was seen as too risky on humanity, but this moratorium was overturned on December 19, 2017 by Dr Anthony Fauci who sees himself siting on a pedestal above the President.
SummitNews report: Fauci Declares Himself The Supreme Authority; “Attacking Me Is Attacking Science”
By Steve Watson / 10 June, 2021
As the scrutiny of Dr Fauci continues to increase following the release of his emails, it’s clear he’s feeling the strain. He declared, yet again, Wednesday that anyone attacking him should be seen as attacking science itself.
FAUCI: "If you are trying to get at me as a public health official and a scientist, you're really attacking not only Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are attacking science." pic.twitter.com/MwZSv2nxbL
Fauci made the comments in part in response to Republicans in the House demanding he explain comments previously made that contradict sworn testimony that he gave to Congress.
During another softball interview on MSNBC, Fauci repeated his claim to being the supreme authority on the pandemic, suggesting that anyone who questions what he says is “painfully ridiculous”.
“If you are trying to get at me as a public health official and a scientist, you’re really attacking, not only Dr Anthony Fauci, you are attacking science,” Fauci proclaimed.
Fauci continued “Anybody that looks at what’s going on, clearly sees that. You have to be asleep not to see that. That is what’s going on. Science and the truth are being attacked.”
“It’s very dangerous, Chuck, because a lot of what you’re seeing as attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science.”
Science and truth was attacked when Fauci’s pal Peter Daszak, the Wuhan gain of function funder, the guy Fauci routed the money through, orchestrated a ‘bullying’ campaign and coerced top scientists into signing off on a letter to The Lancet aimed at removing blame for Covid-19 from the Wuhan lab he was funding with taxpayer dollars.
Fauci is repeating this ‘I am science’ talking point all over the place. Last week, again on MSNBC, he said basically the same thing.
A real scientist would point out that one should always beware anyone who says ‘the science is settled’ or criticises others for questioning science. That’s what science is, a series of questioning hypotheses.
And given Fauci’s record for flip flopping on what is and isn’t scientifically sound during this pandemic, and his shady involvement with funding the dangerous research in a lab where the virus magically appeared, he in particular should be the first to be questioned.
“The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high, and thou shalt come down very low … He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail” Deuteronomy 28:43-44
A “novel” coronavirus (nCoV) is supposed to be “a new strain” that has not been previously identified in humans, but Dr David Martin – Patents Review shows SARS-CoV-2 is no novel Virus – July 9 2021
In this video Dr David E. Martin explains in detail,the trails of blood related to SARS Cov2.
NOT SURE HOW YOU FEEL BUT A CHILL RUN THROUGH MY SPINE WHEN I WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!
Dr David Martin, CEO of M-CAM International (risk management) has reviewed 4,000 Coronavirus patents. He appeared on Sitting #60 of the German Corona Committee on July 9 2021 to share his findings in a 90 minute discussion with lawyers of the Ausschuss and Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, Germany’s most experienced lung doctor.
RALPH S. BARIC, described as “a science-maniac”and Professor of epidemiology at the UNC-Chapel Hill, also “one who has made a lot of money” — shouldn’t the world honor him the title FATHER of COVID-19?
Dr Martin’s clear and verifiable conclusion is that there is nothing at all novel about the SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence used as a basis for the Covid vaccines. Further from a patent standpoint, there seems to be no way of knowing what exact sequence is being used in the vaccines and therefore what people are being injected with. Drs Martin & Fuellmich consider this situation to be a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) legal case.
Then said I, “LORD, how long?” And He answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate” Isaiah 6:11.
CHINA is threatening to NUKE revisionist Japan on the eve of the Olympics if it intervenes in conflict with Taiwan, it has been revealed in a new video.
According to the Congressional Research Service, neo-Imperialist Nippon Kaigi believes that “Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia” during WW2, that the “Tokyo War Crimes tribunals were illegitimate,” and that the rape of Nanking was either “exaggerated or fabricated.” It denies the forced prostitution of Chinese and Korean “comfort women” by the Imperial Japanese Army, believes Japan should have an army again — something outlawed by Japan’s current constitution — and believes that it should return to worshipping the emperor.
In 2013, at a Nippon Kaigi party celebrating Shinzo Abe’s new appointments to his cabinet — 15 of whose 18 members were Nippon Kaigi-niks — the old imperial “Rising Sun” flag was flown, pledges to “break away from the postwar regime” were made, and the (very short and controversial) imperial national anthem was sung.
In response to these revisionist statements, elements in the Chinese Republic said in the video that it would declare “full-scale war” against neo-Imperialist JAPAN if the Taiwan disagreement escalates, stoking World War Three fears.
Even after this atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima (and another in Nagasaki), JAPAN doesn’t know or pretends not to know what they had done to CHINA (and KOREA).
The Sun / Jul 19 2021 / Jamie Seidel, Adriana Elgueta
It comes after earlier this month, China vowed to invade Taiwan and explained how it would do it.
An article in a state-controlled publication offered a glimpse of a terrifying three-stage plan to pave the way for an invasion force to storm the breakaway island.
President Xi Jinping pledged a “complete reunification” with Taiwan as he delivered a speech to mark 100 years of the Chinese Communist party.
Any invasion would represent a serious escalation of hostilities and could drag in the US through its pact to defend Taiwan.
Washington’s regional allies such as South Korea, revisionist Japan and Australia could also be sucked into a conflict as would Nato forces such as the UK because the US is a member of the alliance.
But a video channel, allegedly approved by the Chinese Communist Party with close ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), took the anger to the next level.
In the new video now deleted, a narrator said: “We will use nuclear bombs first. We will use nuclear bombs continuously.
“We will do this until Japan declares unconditional surrender for the second time.”
Gen MacArthur’s Unfinished Business after WWII: Now China says to Japan, “We will use nuclear bombs continuously.” Japan, the only country to experience nuclear attacks, may experience them again?
“When we liberate Taiwan, if Japan dares to intervene by force – even if it only deploys one soldier, one plane or one ship – we will not only return fire but also wage full-scale war against Japan itself.”
Delinquent of his duty to execute fair and equitable justice for the crimes JAPAN had committed, General MacArthur had left today the Western Pacific an unfinished business to solve. By allowing JAPAN’s criminals to roam free the UNITED STATES is deemed as an accomplice in its crimes. Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense but by allowing JAPAN’s criminals free, (even bringing in their “germ data” from Harbin, CHINA for the foundation of FORT DETRICK’s biochemical weapon program), the UNITED STATES would be sharing JAPAN’s culpability.
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
And, today, many of those criminals have their Nippon Kaigi great grand children in the DIET, JAPAN’S Parliament, ruling over their country. Hence today, the Japanese has mastered the art of giving apology without any contrition. See more of these deceits and deceptions in Japan’s Imperial Conspiracy by David Bergamini. Your local library would have a copy screaming for attention to be read.
Shinzo Abe recalls sitting on his grandfather’s lap as a young boy 55 years ago. ABE’s duty was to rebuild Japan’s military for JAPAN’s “Manchukuo: Asia’s Unfinished War.” ABE’s grandfather Nobusuke Kishi was nicknamed the “Monster of Manchuria,” and Prime Minister of JAPAN (1957-1960) under the nose of the UNITED STATES.
And there is a prophecy to the house of Israel, “a rebellious nation” (Ezekiel 3:5). This house of Israel refers to 10 tribes of Israel that separated from Judah and set up their own kingdom. They were besieged and taken into captivity in 721 BC. Ezekiel was writing more than a hundred years later with fellow captives at Telabib (Ezekiel 3:15), so the message could only meant for those of the Northern Kingdom – the modern Israelites today from Prophet Ezekiel:
Ezekiel’s Vision of God for the Endtime rebellious House of Israel
Chapter 5
1 “And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor and cause it to pass over thine head and upon thy beard. Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair.
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife, and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
6 And she hath changed My judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and My statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have refused My judgments and My statutes. They have not walked in them.
7 Therefore thus saith the LORD God: Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in My statutes, neither have kept My judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you,
8 therefore thus saith the LORD God: Behold I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and the like of which I will not do any more, because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
11 “Therefore as I live, saith the LORD God, surely because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted; and they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in My zeal when I have accomplished My fury upon them.
14 “Moreover I will make thee a waste and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments upon thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you, and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread,
17 so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee, and I will bring the sword upon thee. I, the LORD, have spoken it.”
The Fall of Jerusalem began with a Siege in AD 70, wrote Flavius Josephus
Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av (July 17-18, 2021), is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which pious or Orthodox Jews, deprive themselves and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period of time during which they mark the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth and peace.’ Zechariah 8:19
So what happened on the 9th of Av?
1313 BCE: The spies returned from the Promised Land with frightening reports, and the Israelites balked at the prospect of entering the land. God decreed that they would therefore wander in the desert for 40 years.
The Israelites are in the desert, recently having experienced the miraculous Exodus, and are now poised to enter the Promised Land. But first they dispatch a reconnaissance mission to assist in formulating a prudent battle strategy. The spies return on the eighth day of Av and report that the land is unconquerable.
That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They insist that they’d rather go back to Egypt than be slaughtered by the Canaanites. God is highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His power, and consequently that generation of Israelites never enters the Holy Land. Only their children have that privilege, after wandering in the desert for another 38 years.
Both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date – the 9th day of Av. The First Temple was burned by the Babylonians in 423 BCE.
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month [which is Av], which is the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem.
And [two days later] he burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burned he with fire. II King 25:8-9
— Western records designate the year as 586 BCE when this First Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, which is 163 years earlier than Jewish reckoning. But why such differences? The Jews have a continuous record, but English has no written records until around 400 CE. And even if the Roman Empire had a continuous record, it could bring us back another 500 years at most, but nothing to bring us to 586 BCE. Hence Western narratives and its dating system are, unfortunately, full of suspects.
In 66 CE the Jewish population rebelled against the Roman Empire. Four years later, on 4 August 70 CE (the 9th Day of Av), the Second Temple fell to the Romans unleashing a period of suffering from which the Jewish nation has never fully recovered.
According to an inscription on the Colosseum, Emperor Vespasian built the Colosseum with Jewish slaves and war spoils – many from the spoils of the Second Temple.
Surely deemed not worthy of survival, the apostate Sadducees, the Boethusians and the Essenes all vanished without coming through the Consuming Fires.
The Sadducees and Boethusians, following the heretic Samaritan way of observing Passover, kept it on the night of the fourteenth. The Essenes, after they had repudiated the calendar that was sanctioned by the Sanhedrin, then went about presumptuously making one of their own. They all perished by either the flaming Sword or the consuming Fire.
These unpleasant endings should give those in the Church serious thoughts to a coincidence that all serious believer would find troubling. But, alas, His ten endtime virgins are all naked, wretched and far asleep, as if they had all been tranquilized by Satan.
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Amos 3:6
The Pharisees and the Nazarenes escaped; the former to Yavneh, the later to Pella.
Wow, is there such a thing as the Unspoken Will of God?
Yes, there is!
Some of God’s oracles were written with God’s fingers. And they are the Ten Commandments.
What Are the Unspoken Word of God?
Others are scattered all over the Books of Moses. Much of these were collated and for the Mishnah that form the 613 mitzvot. Many of the mitzvot cannot be observed now, following the destruction of the Second Temple, although they still retain religious significance.
And the LORD delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them was written according to all the words which the LORD spoke with you on the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Deuteronomy 9:10
Others were written when God told Moses to write them down:
And the LORD said unto Moses, “Write thou these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.” Exodus 34:27
But surprisingly, there were the unspoken Word of God! Extra blessings await those who touches the heart of God; like parents, they have their secret wishes for their children. So is God. But how do we know God’s unspoken will if they were unspoken?
To be unspoken would also mean unwritten.
The answer is quite simple. Like parents they could be hinted at but not quite spoken of. So how could we understand the unspoken Word of God if there are any?
The answer lies in the Four fasts of Zechariah:
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth and peace.’ Zechariah 8:19
The Scriptures do not give any details, but they are in the Oral Law:
Seventeenth of Tammuz (Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, minor fast) — the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. – June 27, 2021 (July 16,17, 2022)
Ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av, full fast) — fall of Jerusalem on the same dates in 587 BC and 70 AD. – July 18, 2021(August 6,7, 2022)
Third of Tishrei: Fast of Gedalia (Tzom Gedalia, minor fast) — assassination of Gedaliah, the righteous governor of Judah (II Kings 25:22–26). – Sept 9, 2021 (Sept 28, 2022)
Tenth of Tevet (Asara B’Tevet, minor fast) — the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. – Dec 14, 2021 (January 3, 2023)
But notice, today these fasts mainly by Jews — the “house of Judah” — will turn to be a joy and into “gladness and cheerful feasts.” How so, you may ask? God must have accepted their fasts prayers and those who participate in them would be duly rewarded. Those who fast will turn into joy! Extra blessings await those who touches the heart of God.
These four fasts are all related to Jerusalem, God’s beloved city with its Temple where God initially told Moses to build a sanctuary for Him to dwell. Thus, they needed to be done with the right attitude:
“Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years, did ye fast at all unto Me, even to Me?” Zechariah 7:5
“When you held days of fasting every fifth and seventh month all these seventy years, were you doing it for me? And when you held feasts, was that for me?” MSG
The right attitude means to care about God, to think about his welbeing; for he asks: do you fast for me?
The final place for this sanctuary or Temple was and is to be in Jerusalem, and God wants to dwell with us.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the LORD and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3:17
“Thus saith the LORD God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. Ezekiel 5:5
And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Micah 4:2
U.S. leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another, a trajectory mirroring the sad finales of other historical imperial powers.
America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire.
With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not—wisely—attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another. Korea. Vietnam. Lebanon. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya.
The trajectory of military fiascos mirrors the sad finales of the Chinese, Ottoman, Hapsburg, Russian, French, British, Dutch, Portuguese and Soviet empires. While each of these empires decayed with their own peculiarities, they all exhibited patterns of dissolution that characterize the American experiment.
There is not a single case since 1941 when the coups, political assassinations, election fraud, black propaganda, blackmail, kidnapping, brutal counter-insurgency campaigns, U.S. sanctioned massacres, torture in global black sites, proxy wars or military interventions carried out by the United States resulted in the establishment of a democratic government. The two-decade-long wars in the Middle East, the greatest strategic blunder in American history, have only left in their wake one failed state after another. Yet, no one in the ruling class is held accountable.
War, when it is waged to serve utopian absurdities, such as implanting a client government in Baghdad that will flip the region, including Iran, into U.S. protectorates, or when, as in Afghanistan, there is no vision at all, descends into a quagmire. The massive allocation of money and resources to the U.S. military, which includes Biden’s request for $715 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal year 2022, a $11.3 billion, or 1.6 percent increase, over 2021, is not in the end about national defense. The bloated military budget is designed, as Seymour Melman explained in his book, “The Permanent War Economy,” primarily to keep the American economy from collapsing. All we really make anymore are weapons. Once this is understood, perpetual war makes sense, at least for those who profit from it.
The idea that America is a defender of democracy, liberty and human rights would come as a huge surprise to those who saw their democratically elected governments subverted and overthrown by the United States in Panama (1941), Syria (1949), Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Congo (1960), Brazil (1964), Chile (1973), Honduras (2009) and Egypt (2013). And this list does not include a host of other governments that, however despotic, as was the case in South Vietnam, Indonesia or Iraq, were viewed as inimical to American interests and destroyed, in each case making life for the inhabitants of these countries even more miserable.
“The two-decade-long wars in the Middle East, the greatest strategic blunder in American history, have only left in their wake one failed state after another. Yet, no one in the ruling class is held accountable” Chris Hedges.
I spent two decades on the outer reaches of empire as a foreign correspondent. The flowery rhetoric used to justify the subjugation of other nations so corporations can plunder natural resources and exploit cheap labor is solely for domestic consumption. The generals, intelligence operatives, diplomats, bankers and corporate executives that manage empire find this idealistic talk risible. They despise, with good reason, naïve liberals who call for “humanitarian intervention” and believe the ideals used to justify empire are real, that empire can be a force for good. These liberal interventionists, the useful idiots of imperialism, attempt to civilize a process that was created and designed to repress, intimidate, plunder and dominate.
The liberal interventionists, because they wrap themselves in high ideals, are responsible for numerous military and foreign policy debacles. The call by liberal interventionists such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Susan Rice and Samantha Power to fund jihadists in Syria and depose Muammar Gaddafi in Libya rent these countries—as in Afghanistan and Iraq—into warring fiefdoms. The liberal interventionists are also the tip of the spear in the campaign to rachet up tensions with China and Russia.
Russia is blamed for interfering in the last two presidential elections on behalf of Donald Trump. Russia, whose economy is roughly the size of Italy’s, is also attacked for destabilizing the Ukraine, supporting Bashar al-Assad in Syria, funding France’s National Front party and hacking into German computers. Biden has imposed sanctions on Russia—including limits on buying newly issued sovereign debt—in response to allegations that Moscow was behind a hack on SolarWinds Corp. and worked to thwart his candidacy.
At the same time, the liberal interventionists are orchestrating a new cold war with China, justifying this cold war because the Chinese government is carrying out genocide against its Uyghur minority, repressing the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and stealing U.S. patents. As with Russia, sanctions have been imposed targeting the country’s ruling elite. The U.S. is also carrying out provocative military maneuvers along the Russian border and in the South China Sea.
The defeat in Afghanistan is a familiar and sad story, one all those blinded by imperial hubris endure. The tragedy, however, is not the collapse of the American empire, but that, lacking the ability to engage in self-critique and self-correction, as it dies it will lash out in a blind, inchoate fury at innocents at home and abroad.
“I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set My face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.” Leviticus 26:16-17
What are the Oracles of God committed to the Jews? What are Oracles anyway?
Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there in circumcision?
2. Much in every way; chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. 3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4. God forbid! Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written: “That Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest overcome when Thou art judged.”
So what are these Oracles committed to only one group of people on earth to manage?
But what are the components of these Oracles?
The Oracles is designated by Strong to be G3051 logion of God
Strong’s Outline of Biblical Usage
a brief utterance, a divine oracle (doubtless because oracles were generally brief)
in the NT, the words or utterances of God
of the contents of the Mosaic law
There are four times in the New Testament this word oracles (logion G3051) of God are used:
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles (G3051) to give unto us:
Rom 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed theoracles (G3051) of God.
Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles (G3051)of God; and become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
1 Pe 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles (G3051) of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The Greek word Logion is related to Logos! The Greek phrase translated as “oracles of God” is logion Theos (logion G3051 being the plural form of logos).
In the New Testament, in John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word (G3056 logos), and the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God. Thus the term oracles of God could be translated as the “Words of God.”
But sometimes the term oracles has been used by some Bible translators as are the messages or words of God. In Acts 7:38, Stephen speaks of how Moses received “living oracles to give to us” — a reference to the life-giving nature of God’s Word.
Romans 3:2 mentions the oracles of God: “To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.” Paul highlights the fact that the Jews who received, copied, and preserved the Tanakh had been entrusted with the very Words of God.
In our twentieth-first century, the Scriptures or Bible has been delivered to us, all seems intact, but it’s not so simple. The Scriptures we have today have many components, all put together, some written, some not written. So what are the components of the Oracles (Words) of God?
No vowels in the original Hebrew Text that Moses wrote, only alphabets.
(1) The Hebrew alphabet. But unfortunately the original written Words of God couldn’t be understood without the “unwritten” Words of God – the written Words have no vowels! It was just the bones!
(2) Only when the unwritten vowels were incorporated into the Texts could the Words of God be read and understood. The unwritten are the flesh. The bones and flesh constitute a whole. Like it or not, our standard Bible, like the King James, has already incorporated the unwritten words or the oral Words of God into the written Text. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” has a combination of both the Written and Oral Words of God.
(3) The Words of God also include the case law that had been decided by the judges (or oral law)
Deuteronomy 16:18 “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19 Thou shalt not distort judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a bribe doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous.
Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left.
12 And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Ezra changed the Paleo Scripts to Square ones but still no vowels. Vowels were added Millennium later in the 10th Century AD.
(4) The unspoken Word or the unspoken Will of God. These are for those who are willing and happy to go the extra mile, so what are they?
Four fasts – Zechariah 8:19 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love the truth and peace.’
The Scriptures do not give any details, but they are in the Oral Law:
Ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av, full fast) — fall of Jerusalem on the same dates in 587 BC and 70 AD. – July 18, 2021
Fast of Gedalia (Tzom Gedalia, minor fast) — assassination of Gedaliah, the righteous governor of Judah (II Kings 25:22–26). – Sept 9, 2021
Tenth of Tevet (Asara B’Tevet, minor fast) — the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. – Dec 14, 2021
Seventeenth of Tammuz (Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, minor fast) — the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. – June 27, 2021
But notice, these fasts by the “house of Judah” will turn to be a joy and into “gladness and cheerful feasts.” How so, you may ask? God must have accepted their prayers and fasts and will be duly rewarded. These four fasts are all related to Jerusalem, God’s beloved city.
Aleppo Codex – the first Hebrew Text to be written with vowels in the 10th Century AD.
Zechariah 8:1 Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying,
2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.
3 Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.
(5) Out of the unwritten Word of God came also rules and regulations in determining the calendar. During the time of Christ, the Sanhedrin met in a building called the Hall of Hewn Stones near the Temple in Jerusalem. When the new month should start depends on the crescent new moon actually being seen by at least two witnesses. The word “this” (in this verse in Exodus 12:2, “This month shall be unto you”) implies something that is actually seen. These witnesses could be local or from the Diaspora who arrived in Jerusalem to testify. And the phrase “be unto you” means the calendar is being given to us the layman, and not for the layman each to determine the calendar for ourselves.
The rabbis of the Sanhedrin would question the witnesses in the sightings of the moon on their arrival. They knew what the proper responses to their questions ought to be, and were thus quickly able to identify fraudulent claims. Starting with the elder of each pair, they would ask: “Tell us how you saw the moon.”
On whether to declare a leap year on a given year, the Sanhedrin considered several factors in the course of their deliberations. The primary factor, which may or may not override other factors, was the spring equinox.
(a) If the spring equinox would fall later than the first half of Nissan (from the 16th onward), then the year could be declared a leap year. This is because Passover should be observed “in its appointed season” (Numbers 9:2-3). Again “in its appointed season” is defined by the Oral Law as in the spring.
(b) However, it wasn’t enough for Passover to fall after the equinox, when it was “officially” spring; spring-like conditions needed to be evidenced. If in the land of Israel, the barley had not yet ripened, and the trees were not yet blossoming with seasonal fruit — that, too, was sufficient reason to delay Nissan by adding a second month of Adar. Spring had to be felt; it had to be bright and green.
(c) There were also several non-season-related factors which the Sanhedrin considered. For example, if the roads or bridges were in disrepair due to the winter rainy season, impeding the ability of the pilgrims to travel to Jerusalem for Passover.
This was an advantage to the Jews because they have God’s Words. Of course, this advantage was not only applicable to those who believed the gospel, but even to those who don’t believe. Roman 3:4 – God forbid their advantage be disadvantaged even if they don’t believe; let God be true, but man a liar. — the Words of God, both written and unwritten; And Case Laws, are still committed to the Jews.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The above is a combination of both the written and oral Words of God.
And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the Sanhedrin who were and are designated to minister before the LORD thy God, even that man shall die.
Deuteronomy 17:12 And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
It’s a death penalty “that man shall die” because mankind have been found guilty of being presumptuous or acting presumptuously by creating our own calendars.
During World War II, CAMP DETRICK became the site of intensive biological warfare research. But after the War, Gen MacArthur took Japan’s Unit 731 scientists home from Harbin, CHINA (including Shiro Ishii and many of his 3,607 associates); fed, nourished and gave them immunity; and FORT DETRICK (renamed after a 1956 expansion to 1,200 acres today) was where these Japanese criminals ended up; and where the US’s bio-weapon program got its foreign GERM and CHEMICAL research momentum and expansion.
JAPAN’S Shiro Ishii and his cohorts conducted live human vivisections and other biological experimentation in Harbin, CHINA, and after WWII were transferred to FORT DETRICK
Believe it or not, American’s Bio-experiment on fellow Americans?
Operation Whitecoat was a biodefense medical research program carried out by the United States Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland between 1954 and 1973. The program pursued medical research using volunteer enlisted personnel who were eventually nicknamed “Whitecoats”.
These volunteers, all conscientious objectors, including many members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, were informed of the purpose and goals of each project before providing consent to participate in any project. These “volunteers” were conscientious objectors — who volunteered to expose themselves to deadly viruses and bacteria, rather than go to war.
Over a 20-year period beginning in the 1950s, about 2,300 were infected at Fort Detrick with Q fever, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, Hepatitis A, Yersinia pestis (Plague), Tularämie (Hasenpest) and other germ warfare experiments.
The justification of their research was to defend troops and civilians against biological weapons and it was believed that the Soviet Union was engaged in similar activities. Much of the actual tests were subjected to confidentiality and visitors are not allowed at Fort Detrick. This also applies to the former participants.
Although the program was discontinued in 1973, human use research for biodefense purposes is still conducted at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick and at other government and civilian research institutes. However, these post-Whitecoat studies are often human use challenge studies, in which a person is inoculated with a known pathogen to determine how effective an investigational treatment will be.
Operation Whitecoat tests were done under the cloud of the Cold War and at a time when people rarely scrutinized the workings of government. It was a time when the government conducted some dubious experiments, such as the infamous Tuskegee experiments in which scientists studied the progression of syphilis in untreated poor black men.
Operation Big Itch and Operation Drop Kick, the corps explored the feasibility of using fleas and mosquitoes as weapons. Declassified government documents apparently show tests were conducted, but with uninfected mosquitoes.
In 1956, the Corps conducted Operation Drop Kick when they released 600,000 uninfected mosquitoes from a plane at Avon Park Bombing Range, Florida. Within a day, the mosquitoes had spread a distance of between one and two miles and had bitten many people. The mosquitos were released across several Black communities in Florida. In the predominantly Black community of Avon Park, dozens of Black people became ill, and eight people died.
In 1958, further tests discovered at Avon Park AFB, Florida, mosquitoes could quickly be disseminated from helicopters, would spread more than a mile in each direction and would enter all types of buildings.”
A longtime Avon Park resident, Beatrice Peterson, didn’t know about mosquito releases but recalled that screwworm flies were released in the mid to late 1950s. She was only 14-years-old at the time.
“We know they released some flies, but what was the reason and why, I can’t remember why because we were in school back in the 1950s,” Peterson said. “Occasionally we would see them when they fly over and drop the little boxes out. Evidently the boxes were supposed to open up.”
A similar operation took place over Georgia, “Operation Big Buzz.” The experiment occurred in May 1955 in the U.S. State of Georgia. The operation was a field test designed to determine the feasibility of producing, storing, loading into munitions, and dispersing from aircraft the yellow fever mosquito (though these were not infected for the test).
The second goal of the operation was to determine whether the mosquitoes would survive their dispersion and seek meals on the ground. When the mosquitoes were collected and it was determined that they were actively feeding on the blood of humans.
Operation Big Itch was a September 1954 series of tests at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The tests were designed to determine coverage patterns and survivability of the tropical rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) for use in biological warfare as a disease vector. The fleas were loaded into two types of munitions and dropped from the air.
The E14 bomb and E23 bomb, which could be clustered into the E86 cluster bomb and E77 bomb, respectively. When the cluster bombs reached 2,000 or 1,000 feet the bomblets would drop via parachute, disseminating their vector. Big Itch proved successful, and the tests showed that not only could the fleas survive the fall from an airplane but they also soon attached themselves to hosts.
JAPAN’S Unit 731 Site, R&D Experimental Camp, Harbin, CHINA
Are any of these experiments not having their origins at FORT DETRICK? Yes, they are:
Jeffrey Alan Lockwood wrote in 2009 that the biological warfare program at Ft. Detrick began to research the use of insects as disease vectors going back to World War II and also employed German and Japanese scientists after the war who had experimented on human subjects among POWs and concentration camp inmates.
Scientists used or attempted to use a wide variety of insects in their biowar plans, including fleas, ticks, ants, lice and mosquitoes – especially mosquitoes that carried the yellow fever virus. They also tested these in the United States.
Lockwood thinks that it is very likely that the U.S. did use insects dropped from aircraft during the Korean War to spread diseases, and that the Chinese and North Koreans were not simply engaged in a propaganda campaign when they made these allegations, since the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense had approved their use in the fall of 1950 at the “earliest practicable time”. At that time, it had five biowarfare agents ready for use, three of which were spread by insect vectors.
Entomological testing on fellow Americans Further information: U.S. Cold War entomological warfare program
The United States seriously researched the potential of entomological warfare (EW) during the Cold War. EW is a specific type of biological warfare which aims to use insects as weapons, either directly or through their potential to act as vectors. During the 1950s the United States conducted a series of field tests using entomological weapons.
Operation Big Itch [in Utah], in 1954, was designed to test munitions loaded with uninfected fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis).
In May 1955 over 300,000 yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) were dropped over parts of the U.S. state of Georgia to determine if the air-dropped mosquitoes could survive to take meals from humans. The mosquito tests were known as Operation Big Buzz.
The U.S. engaged in at least two other EW testing programs, Operation Drop Kick and Operation May Day. A 1981 Army report outlined these tests as well as multiple cost-associated issues that occurred with EW.
In civilian venues Medical experiments were conducted on a large scale on civilians who had not consented to participate. Often, these experiments took place in urban areas in order to test dispersion methods.
Questions were raised about detrimental health effects after experiments in San Francisco, California, were followed by a spike in hospital visits; however, in 1977 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that there was no association between the testing and the occurrence of pneumonia or influenza. The San Francisco test involved a U.S. Navy ship that sprayed Serratia marcescens from the bay; it traveled more than 30 miles.
One dispersion test involved laboratory personnel disguised as passengers spraying harmless bacteria in Washington National Airport.
“Scientists” tested biological pathogens, including Bacillus globigii, which were thought to be harmless, at public places such as subways. Light bulbs containing Bacillus globigii were dropped in New York City’s subway system; the result was strong enough to affect people prone to illness (also known as Subway Experiment). Based on the circulation measurements, thousands of people would have been killed if a dangerous microbe was released in the same manner. The Chicago subway system was also subject to a similar experiment by the Army.
A jet aircraft released material over Victoria, Texas, that was monitored in the Florida Keys.
Much information about these programs remained classified and kept secret. How many of these experiments were initiated from FORT DETRICK and its 7,900 researchers? Why was FORT DETRICK closed from July 2019 to November 29, 2019? Why did this closure of FORT DETRICK coincide with the timeline of “vaping illness,” the pandemic flu and COVID-19? And why does this mysterious EVALI disease look exactly like COVID-19, and even accurately matches its epidemic footprint?
FORT DETRICK / UNIT 731 Transplant / USAMRIID with 7,900 Researchers / 1,200 ACRES
Could the following narrative be possible?
1) Fort Detrick was shut down after a cease and desist order to the organisation in July, 2019 due to multiple violations of procedure. 2) An outbreak of ‘influenza’ killed something like 10,000 people in the US in August 2019. 3) In October 2019 there was a US organised event ‘Event 201 – A Global Pandemic Exercise’ which simulated a very similar scenario to the actual pandemic. 4) From October 18 – 27, the 2019 Military World Games was held in Wuhan. Could the SARS-Cov-2 virus be released while the US Army team were there?
From 1950 through 1953, the U.S. Army conducted Operation LAC (Large Area Coverage), spraying chemicals over six cities in the United States and Canada, in order to test dispersal patterns of chemical weapons. Army records stated that the chemicals which were sprayed on the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, included zinc cadmium sulfide, which was not thought to be harmful.A 1997 study by the U.S. National Research Council found that it was sprayed at levels so low as not to be harmful; it said that people were normally exposed to higher levels in urban environments.
For more about Time reported high cancer rate, Agent Orange and anthrax, weaponized botulism and radioactive carbon here. John Hopkins Public Health news here. Baltimore Sun here. For those living near Fort Detrick and are affected by sickness, diseases, cancer or any other illness, please check here.
“Therefore as I live, saith the LORD God, surely because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.” Ezekiel 5:11-12
During World War II, Fort Detrick became the site of intensive biological warfare research. But after the War, Gen MacArthur took Japan’s Unit 731 scientists home (including Shiro Ishii and 3,607 of his associates) and gave them immunity; and Fort Detrick was where these Japanese scientists ended up; and where the US’s bio-weapon program got its foreign GERM research momentum and expansion.
Japan would have to defend Taiwan together with the US in the event of a major problem, Kyodo News reported on July 06, 2021 Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso as saying, marking some of the highest-level remarks from Tokyo on a hot subject.
In comments at a political fundraising party in Tokyo on Monday, Aso said an invasion of Taiwan by China could be seen as an existential threat, allowing Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense.
JAPAN’s Imperial Army, Creator of Unit 731 bio-warfare program in Harbin, CHINA, whose data were later transferred to Fort Detrick, USA
The reason why Japan keeps hyping up the so-called external threats is obvious: it needs to constantly exaggerate the situation so it can turn these into public opinion to support revising its pacifist constitution. And to increase its military budget!
China, on the other hand, said Aso’s comments were “extremely wrong and dangerous.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news conference in Beijing that “we will never allow any country in any way to interfere in the Taiwan question, and nobody should underestimate the Chinese people’s strong determination, will and ability to safeguard national sovereignty.”
And earlier, Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to complete “reunification” with Taiwan and vowed to “smash” any attempts at formal independence.
“Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the CPC,” Xi said with an eye for an October 1, 2049 celebration. “Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.
And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.
And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Leviticus 26:30-33
The Coming War on China, from award winning journalist John Pilger, reveals what the news doesn’t – that the world’s greatest military power, the United States, and the world’s second economic power, China, both nuclear-armed, may well be on the road to war.
Marshall Islanders being Betrayed with Unclear Fallout, Radiation (cancer, miscarriages, deformities, thyroid disorders, leukemia) and Death.
Nuclear war is not only imaginable, but planned. The greatest build-up of NATO military forces since the Second World War is under way on the western borders of Russia. On the other side of the world, the rise of China is viewed in Washington as a threat to American dominance.
To counter this, President Obama announced a ‘pivot to Asia’, which meant that almost two-thirds of all US naval forces would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific, their weapons aimed at China. A policy which has been taken up by his successor Donald Trump, who during his election campaign said “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing”.
Filmed on five possible front-lines across Asia and the Pacific over two years, the story is told in chapters that connect a secret and ‘forgotten’ past to the rapacious actions of great power today and to a resistance, of which little is known in the West.
This is also the US’s use and experimentation of weapons of mass destruction, about bio and chemical weapon experiments all along the islands of the South Pacific, about how these islanders were burned, and how they died.
Credit to John Pilger for his brave journalism.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
“And it shall come to pass that as the Lord rejoice over you to do you good and to multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.” Deuteronomy 28:63
During World War II, Fort Detrick became the site of intensive biological warfare research using various pathogens. But after the War, the U.S. government under Gen MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, gave immunity and took Japan’s Unit 731 scientists home (including Shiro Ishii and 3,607 of his associates); and this is how Fort Derrick was where many of the Japanese scientists ended up; and where the U.S.’s bio-weapon program got its foreign momentum, expanded and its effects worldwide.
JAPAN’S General Shiro Ishii with his cohorts administrated and conducted live human vivisections and other biological experimentation in Harbin, CHINA
In the summer of 1975, congressional staffer Loch Johnson was searching through classified papers at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, when he came across something he couldn’t believe — a covert plan by the US military to deploy biological weapons against Cuba.
The American public knew that their government had a tense relationship with Cuba, especially with its feisty leader, Fidel Castro. The US had unsuccessfully underwritten a Cuban-exile paramilitary invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 — a disaster in every sense. And just a year later, the world came to the brink of nuclear apocalypse after a showdown with the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles it had placed in Cuba.
Johnson relayed to his superiors at the Church Committee the details of project SQUARE DANCE:
The proposal envisioned the destruction of the Cuban economy by introducing aerially from off-shore a sugar cane plant parasite called Bunga. The program would begin with a 30 percent reduction of anticipated Cuban sugar production and within three-to-six years the ruination of the sugar industry would be achieved.
U.S.’s Bio-Weapon Program Worldwide and even against the U.S.?
But that wasn’t all. Johnson quoted directly from the JCS memo:
The economic and political disturbances caused by this attack could be exacerbated and exploited by such measures as spreading hoof-and-mouth disease among draft animals, controlling rainfall by cloud seeding, mining canefields, burning cane, and directing other acts of conventional sabotage against the cane milling and transportation systems.
Hoof-and-mouth disease (sometimes referred to as foot-and-mouth disease) is highly infectious and affects farm animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. The disease causes high fevers followed by blisters in the animal’s mouth and feet. While very rarely affecting humans, it can bring devastating economic consequences to farmers. Containing a 2001 outbreak in the UK cost some £8bn ($12bn) in public and private outlays.
The longest-serving non-royal head of state in the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro secured Cuba’s independence and became a thorn to US hegemony.
A JFK document released last year revealed an intelligence memorandum from 1962 discussing the possibility of using biological agents to induce crop failure “which would appear to be of natural origin.” A US Army memo from 1963, recently released by the National Archives, lists a number of “Ideas to Exploit Cuban Vulnerabilities,” including the initiation of “biological warfare against vegetable and animal tissue (except human).”
The October 30,1964, memo, referenced in Johnson’s book National Security Intelligence but digitally released last month by the National Archives, gives us a clearer picture of what that might have looked like.
“Bunga,” known also as Aeginetia Indica, is a flowering weed that acts as a root parasite to nearby plants. It can be particularly harmful to sugarcane crops, which were Cuba’s primary economic output. US intelligence sabotage efforts had long targeted sugar crops, including night raids from offshore boats planting incendiary devices in fields. But this was something different.
Like the earlier memo from 1962, this one mentions the need for deniability: “It appears feasible to introduce gradually Bunga into Cuba and maintain a basis for plausibly disavowing US involvement.”
JFK Files Reveal US Biological Warfare Plans Against Cuba
It has been rumored that the U.S. employed biological weapons against the Communist island nation of Cuba. Noam Chomsky claimed that evidence exists implicating the U.S. in biological warfare in Cuba, but these claims are disputed. Allegations in 1962 held that CIA operatives had contaminated a shipment of sugar while it was in storage in Cuba.
Also in 1962, a Canadian agricultural technician assisting the Cuban government claimed he was paid $5,000 to infect Cuban turkeys with the deadly Newcastle disease. Though the technician later claimed he had just pocketed the money, many Cubans and some US citizens believed a clandestinely administered biological weapons agent was responsible for a subsequent outbreak of the disease in Cuban turkeys.
In 1971 the first serious outbreak of African Swine Fever in the Western Hemisphere occurred in Cuba. The Cuban government alleged that U.S. covert biological warfare was responsible for this outbreak, which led to the preemptive slaughter of 500,000 pigs. The outbreak was labeled the “most alarming event” of 1971 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.
Six years after the event, the newspaper Newsday, citing untraceable sources, claimed that anti-Castro saboteurs, with at least the tacit backing of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officials, introduced African swine fever virus into Cuba six weeks before the outbreak in 1971, to destabilize the Cuban economy and encourage domestic opposition to Fidel Castro. The virus was allegedly delivered to the operatives from an army base in the Panama Canal Zone by an unnamed U.S. intelligence source. Evidence linking these incidents to biological warfare has not been confirmed.
Accusations have continued to come out of Havana charging U.S. use of bio-weapons on the island, after the official end of the US biological weapons program in 1973. The Cuban government blamed the U.S. for a 1981 outbreak of dengue fever that sickened more than 300,000. Dengue, a vector-borne disease usually carried by mosquitoes, killed 158 people that year in Cuba, including 101 children under 15. Tensions between the two countries, coupled with confirmed U.S. research into entomological warfare during the 1950s, made these charges seem not implausible to some people.
For behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will the LORD plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Isaiah 66:15
During World War II, Fort Detrick became the site of intensive biological warfare research. But after the War, Gen MacArthur took Japan’s Unit 731 scientists home (including Shiro Ishii and 3,607 of his associates) and gave them immunity; and Fort Detrick was where these Japanese scientists ended up; and where the US’s bio-weapon program got its foreign GERM research momentum and expansion.
While Agent Orange may be the most well-known chemical used during the Vietnam War, it wasn’t the only one. An entire rainbow of new chemical formulations rained down on Vietnam’s forests and fields. The Rainbow Herbicides, as they were known, were only used as weapons in the war for a little over a decade, but their consequences can still be felt today.
“I remember the sight and the smell of the spray,” recalls Thomas Pilsch, who served as a forward air controller in South Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. In the early morning low angle sunlight, it appeared to have an orange hue.” By spraying Agent Orange, he thought he was helping the United States military bust through Vietnam’s impenetrable jungles on the way to victory.
US plane spraying Vietnam landscape with tainted herbicide/defoliant Agent Orange
The U.S. had a rainbow of chemicals at their disposal. They were nicknamed according to the color on the barrels in which they were shipped. (Agent Orange didn’t appear orange, though it looked like that to Pilsch.) Once Operation Ranch Hand began, around 20 million gallons of Agents Green, Pink, Purple, Blue, White, Orange, Orange II, Orange III, and Super Orange were sprayed over South Vietnam. The chemicals were produced by companies like DOW Chemical, Monsanto, and Hercules, Inc.
“Trail dust” operations were conducted by the U.S. Air Force, whose “cowboys” flew C-123s escorted by fighters. As they approached a strategic target—dense, jungled areas that provided cover for the Viet Cong or crops suspected to feed their troops—the fighter jets would shoot down bombs and napalm. Then the sprayers would move in and douse an area with the chemical.
American soldiers were told the chemicals were safe. They were also effective. “We just blew away that jungle,” recalled Tom Essler, a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam between 1967 and 1968, in an oral history. “Between the B-52 strikes and Agent Orange, that lovely lush jungle around Khe Sanh was turned brown.”
As the jungle died, so did crops. Famine, malnourishment and starvation set in. By the end of the war, over 3.6 million acres had been sprayed with Rainbow Herbicides.
So had millions of Vietnamese people. American soldiers had also been exposed to the herbicides, reassured by their superiors that they presented no risk.
Not true: Sixty-five percent of the United States’ rainbow of chemicals contained dioxins—known carcinogens. Dioxins enter the bloodstream after being eaten or touched, build up in the food chain and can cause reproductive problems, cancer, hormonal interference, immune system damage, and developmental issues.
Conjoined twins affected by the defoliant Agent Orange being cared for at Hanoi’s Viet-Duc hospital
Contaminated soils, permanent forest loss, soil erosion, and other environmental damage have haunted Vietnam for years. Children of veterans and Vietnamese people exposed to the chemicals were born with serious birth defects and illnesses.
In the 1960s, the U.S. changed its main approach from biological agents aimed to kill to those that would incapacitate. In 1964, research programs studied Enterotoxin type B, which can cause food poisoning. New research initiatives also included prophylaxis, the preventive treatment of diseases. Pathogens studied included the biological agents causing a myriad of diseases such as anthrax, glanders, brucellosis, melioidosis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Q fever, coccidioidomycosis, and other plant and animal pathogens.
The Vietnam War brought public awareness to the U.S. biological weapons program. Jeanne Guillemin, wife of biologist Matthew Meselson, summarized the controversy:
The entire experimental legacy is dismaying, from the hundreds of dead monkeys at Fort Detrick to the spectacle of Seventh Day Adventist soldiers, the vaccinated volunteers in Project Whitecoat, strapped to chairs amid cages of animals in the Utah sunlight as Q fever aerosols are blown over them. Most chilling are the mock scenarios played out in urban areas: light bulbs filled with simulated BW agents being dropped in New York subways, men in Washington National Airport spraying pseudo-BW from briefcases, and similar tests in California and Texas and over the Florida Keys.
The Nixon administration felt an urgent need to respond to the growing negative perception of biological weapons. The realization that biological weapons may become the poor man’s atom bomb also contributed to the end of the U.S. biological weapons program. Subsequently, President Nixon announced that the U.S. was unilaterally renouncing its biological warfare program, ultimately signing the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972.
President Nixon said at Fort Detrick on November 25, 1969: “The United States shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons, and all other methods of biological warfare.”
President Richard M. Nixon issued his “Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs” on November 25, 1969 in a speech from Fort Detrick. The statement ended, unconditionally, all U.S. offensive biological weapons programs. Nixon noted that biological weapons were unreliable and stated:
“The United States shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons, and all other methods of biological warfare. The United States will confine its biological research to defensive measures such as immunization and safety measures.” President Richard M. Nixon
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6
“Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; . . . and begin at My sanctuary.” Ezekiel 9:6
Written largely by the most prestigious British scientist of his day, this official report, containing hundreds of pages of evidence about the use of US biological weapons during the Korean War, was effectively suppressed upon its original release in 1952.
WORLD WAR II Japan’s hidden Unit 731 Germ Complex in Harbin, CHINA
Back in the early 1950s, the U.S. conducted a furious bombing campaign during the Korean War, dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of ordnance, much of it napalm, on North Korea. The bombardment, worse than any country had received up to that point, excepting the effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, wiped out nearly every city in North Korea, contributing to well over a million civilian deaths. Because of the relentless bombing, the people were reduced to living in tunnels. Even the normally bellicose Gen. MacArthur claimed to find the devastation wreaked by the U.S. to be sickening.
U.S.’s Weapons of Mass Destruction – Napalm, anthrax, plague, and cholera in KOREA
The report concluded that the U.S. had used a number of biological weapons, including use of anthrax, plague, and cholera, disseminated by over a dozen of different devices or methods, including spraying, porcelain bombs, self-destroying paper containers with a paper parachute, and leaflet bombs, among others.
Napalm is a gel that burns at temperatures of 800-1,200 degrees C (1,500-2,200 degrees F).
When napalm falls on people, the gel sticks to their skin, hair, and clothing, causing unimaginable pain, severe burns, unconsciousness, asphyxiation, and often death. Even those who do not get hit directly with napalm can die from its effects since it burns at such high temperatures that it can create firestorms that use up much of the oxygen in the air. Bystanders also can suffer heatstroke, smoke exposure, and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Censorship of Unit 731-U.S. Collaboration on Biological Warfare Data
One important part of the ISC report guaranteed its suppression in the United States after its initial publication. The report discussed the activities of Imperial Japan’s biological warfare detachment, Unit 731, and the U.S. interest in its activities.
Back in 1952, collaboration between the U.S. and Japanese war criminals using biological weapons was top secret, and totally denied by the U.S.
But today, even U.S. historians accept that a deal was made between the U.S. and members of Unit 731 and associated portions of the Japanese military that had in fact been experimenting on the use of biological weapons since the mid-1930s, experimentation that included use of human vivisection and barbaric torture of thousands of human beings, most of whom were disposed of in crematoria. In addition, as described in the book chapter by Bernd Martin noted in the bibliography, there was collaboration between the Japanese and the Nazi regime on these issues.
The U.S. collaboration with Japanese war criminals of Unit 731 was formally admitted in 1999 by the U.S. government, though the documentation for this confession wasn’t published until nearly 20 years later.
It is a matter of historical record now that the U.S. government granted amnesty to Japan’s chief at Unit 731, doctor/General Shiro Ishii and his accomplices. The amnesty was kept top secret for decades, until revealed by journalist John Powell in a landmark article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in October 1981.
[A]t least one scientist working at Ft. Detrick at the time admitted to German documentary investigators before he died that the U.S. had indeed been involved in germ warfare in Korea.
The Jews shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son — Zechariah 12:10
Isaiah 53 – KJ21
This chapter of Isaiah shows a prophecy foretelling how a suffering servant will have to suffer and ultimately die for the sins and iniquities of many not his own. And upon his triumphant return, he would be given the glory to rule the world with the saints around him. The Orthodox Jews, after realizing how unfairly they had treated him, will be shocked and speechless.
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? — the Jews had the message made available to them first. ‘He came unto his own, but his own received him not.’ Although some did! The 3000 in Acts 2:41, etc.
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. Zechariah 12:10 He springs out of the earth without notice; low in its beginning, slow in its growth, liable to be crushed with the foot, or destroyed with the frost, and no great probability of its coming to any perfection; very ordinary. In fact, of dry ground, that is, of the land of Galilee, away from the land of Jerusalem and Judea, where the headquarter and their scholars are usually located. His parents were poor, they could only afford two turtle doves or two young pigeons as offerings, but the proper offering was a lamb for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or dove for a sin offering; but for the poor an alternative was allowed – instead of the more costly present of a lamb, a second pigeon or dove might be brought. The poverty of Mary and Joseph is shown in this offering. They would never have put the sanctuary off with the humbler had the richer gift been in their power. Luke 2:24
Leviticus 12:6 “‘And when the days of her (the mother) purifying are fulfilled, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation unto the priest. 8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for the burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”
3 He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. — his life was a series of sorrow, from the cradle to the cross; in his infancy his life was sought for by Herod, and he was obliged to be taken by his parents, and flee into Egypt; he ate his bread in sorrow, and with the sweat of his brow; he met with much sorrow from the hardness and unbelief of men’s hearts, and from the contradiction of sinners against himself, and sometimes from the doubts of his own disciples; from the temptations of Satan, and was exceeding sorrowful in the garden, when his sweat was as it were great drops of blood; and when on the cross, under the hidings of his Father’s face, under a sense of divine displeasure for the sins of his people, and enduring the pains and agonies of a shameful and an accursed death; he was made up of sorrows, and grief was familiar to him. Some render it, “broken with infirmity”, or “grief.”
4 Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.
The night before, while He prayed, His blood fell to the ground. He knew He would be flogged nearly to the point of death before they pounded the metal spikes into His flesh. He knew the prophetic words of Isaiah spoken seven centuries earlier that He would be beaten so badly that He would be “disfigured beyond that of any man” and “beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14).
Forerunner Commentary of the King James Version Isaiah 52:14:
Jesus had to die a death that was excruciatingly painful. Why? To depict the horrible pain that sin causes. It would not have served God’s purpose if He had died a painless death. The picture would have been incomplete.
Any criminal of that time would have despaired to learn he was to be crucified. Crucifixion was not only an execution, but also a method of torture. The Romans usually gave the victim an excruciating scourging first. Jesus was no exception. Before He ever touched His cross, He was scourged, beaten, and insulted.
Over the years we have heard quite a bit about the Roman lictor (Roman officer), the soldier charged with dispensing this dreaded punishment. He used a whip, often with imbedded pieces of metal, bone, or other sharp objects. Romans did not limit their lictors to the Israelite practice of “forty stripes save one,” nor to striking just the victim’s back. He would let the whip strike and wrap around every inch of the person’s body until he was within an inch of death.
The prophet Isaiah prophesies how Jesus appeared after the scourging: “Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage [appearance] was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). He goes on to say that He was “wounded [pierced] for our transgressions, He was bruised [crushed] for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).
Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness — Isaiah 52:14.
Many people were shocked when they saw him. He was so scarred that he no longer looked like a person. His body was so twisted that he did not look like a human being anymore (Isaiah 52:14).
The Jews were prophesied they would mourn One whom they had rejected: “And they shall look to Me whom they have pierced; then they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son” (Zechariah 12:10). But the Christians have nothing to mourn? Currently these endtime virgins are described as lukewarm and in need of nothing, but would they not mourn when they realise that they had been blind, wretched and naked, seeing finally that Christ had suffered far more through His torn flesh and shed blood than they had ever realised? No? Regardless, these are being described in Revelation 3:17. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: or else I will spew thee out of My mouth (v16,19).”
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. — Genesis 22:8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. that is, God the Father was foreshadowing what was to come; he has laid on Christ, his own Son, the sins of all his elect; which are as it were collected together, and made one bundle and burden of, and therefore expressed in the singular number, “iniquity”, and laid on Christ, and were bore by him, even all the sins of God’s elect; a heavy burden this! which none but the mighty Son could bear; this was typified by laying of hands, and laying of sins upon the goat of sacrifice, and putting the iniquities of Men also upon the head of the azazel goat, and carried away.
7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. — The natural reading of this verse indicates this is a human, not the state of Israel as Orthodox Jews alleged. Thus this is talking about Jesus, one who came to fulfill this Isaiah prophecy.
And when Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad, for he had been desirous to see Him for a long time, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing (Luke 23:8-9).
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He stricken. — again, the natural reading of this verse indicates this is a separate being, a human, and “My people” and “He” could only be two separate entities.
9 And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. — that Christ died with wicked men, besides two robbers, as if he himself had been one, a sinner, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathaea, a rich man.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. — Another prophecy fulfilled: Speaking to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between thee (serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel” Genesis 3:15. Jesus was buffeted, scourged, and nailed to the cross; and was bruised and broken in spirit, when the sins of his people were laid on him. But why do it please the LORD?
11 He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. — My righteous Servant couldn’t possibly be Israel, and Israel doesn’t bear the world’s iniquities, so this has to be a Man, the Son of Man, Jesus.
12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. — In Daniel 7:18 “But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, yea, for ever and ever.” He bore the sin of many; again, this description fit Jesus nicely fulfilling the Lamb of God that every Jewish family should be reminded at Passover. It would take an unsustainable effort to propose this is fulfilled by the state of Israel. Because He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even unto death, God hath also highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And looking into the future, the blindness of the Jews will vanish. their eyes open. This is a prophecy for the Jews when Christ return:“And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn” Zechariah 12:10
•July 7, 2021 • Comments Off on Russian Hypersonic Mach 20 Missiles!
A Sino-Russian Pack? Will the Biden Administration Push Russia and China Closer Together? Already as “strategic partners” both China and Russia had said they are “not entering into an alliance but keeping the door open to one,” should the need arises.
DefenseNews / by Alexander Bratersky / March 15, 2021
MOSCOW — Hypersonic weapons are a top priority for the Russian government, a defense analyst with the state-run think tank IMEMO has told Defense News, and with two now fielded, the country is looking into further improving the technology.“
The so-called hypersonic technology is essentially an evolutionary development. However, it provides new, combined abilities for missile weapons: increased speed and maneuverability, and improved accuracy,” Dmitry Stefanovich said. “I can’t imagine a person who is responsible for the decision-making in the country and who wouldn’t be interested in improving all those features.”
By creating hypersonic technology that can overcome missile defense systems, Russia maintains “strategic stability and strategic balance,” President Vladimir Putin once told Russian news agency Tass in March 2020.
For Russia, hypersonic technology is also a way to avoid a quantitative arms race like the Soviet Union went through during the Cold War, said Viktor Litovkin, a retired colonel and military analyst with Tass. “We have no money to get involved in a quantitative arms race. You need to have a little, but the highest quality, which will restrain the adversary,” he said.
There are currently two hypersonic missiles with the Russian military: the Avangard and the Kinzhal. The former is a nuclear-capable missile reportedly able to fly faster than 20 times the speed of sound. The first Avangard infrastructure was set up in December 2019.
The Kinzhal (or “Dagger” in English) is a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile fielded in December 2017. Before entering the military’s inventory, it was tested with the MiG-31 fighter jet. Putin has said the weapon can exceed 10 times the speed of sound, but some missile experts have cast doubt on that capability.
Russian media previously reported the Kinzhal physically resembles the 9M723 ballistic missile developed for the Iskander tactical missile system. “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” Stefanovich said of the similarity.
Russia is also testing its 3M22 Zircon anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile, expected to be installed on the modernized submarine-killing ship Marshal Shaposhnikov. The vessel is undergoing its owns tests. The head of Tactical Missiles Corporation JSC, Boris Obnosov, told Tass last month that the Zircon’s testing is going according to schedule.
The first launch of Zircon from the nuclear-powered submarine Severodvinsk will take place in June, industry officials said, according to reports from Tass this month. If testing goes well, the Zircon will be delivered to the military in the first half of 2022.
Obnosov has said hypersonic projects are among the top priorities for his company, adding that there are “several dozen” hypersonic efforts ongoing in partnership with the country’s several research and development institutes. He said a center dedicated to hypersonic technology efforts could be established to oversee the projects, without providing further information.
Tactical Missiles Corporation is Russia’s leading developer of hypersonic technology, so it might also be behind a recently tested prototype of an air-to-surface hypersonic missile meant for the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jet. However, the company did not respond to questions from Defense News regarding its hypersonic projects.
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
With Tibet and Xinjiang at peace and Hong Kong finally subdued, China celebrated its CCP’s hundredth year in style. Within the next 28 years China will be having its last frontier to confront: Taiwan, TaiWan and TAIWAN.
Chinese President Xi Jinping had pledged to complete “reunification” with Taiwan and vowed to “smash” any attempts at formal independence.
“Resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China’s complete reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the CPC,” Xi said with an eye for an October 1, 2049 celebration. “Anyone who would attempt to do so will find themselves on a collision course with a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”
Taiwan — broke away from China in 1949 — but the Chinese ruling party regards the island as a “renegade state” and has repeatedly vowed to take it back by force if necessary by 2049. That would be the hundred anniversary of the founding of the People Republic of China, which will give China’s leaders a profound motivation to achieve for another grand celebration on October 1, 2049.
Now new footage from China shows how the island could be brought back into China’s fold. Chinese state media reveals a ‘three-stage battle plan’ to invade Taiwan as the US stages war games in the Pacific.
WAR FOOTING WW3 fears as Chinese state media reveals ‘three-stage battle plan’ to invade Taiwan as US stages war games in Pacific.
WORLD War Three fears are growing after China vowed to invade Taiwan and explained how it would do it as the Communist Party celebrates its centenary.
An article in a state-controlled publication has offered a glimpse of a terrifying three-stage plan to pave the way for an invasion force to storm the breakaway island.
It comes as President Xi Jinping yesterday pledged a “complete reunification” with Taiwan as he delivered a speech to mark 100 years of the Chinese Communist party.
The warning came as tensions were increasing in the seas around China where the US and Japan are reported to have been holding joint military exercises amid fears of a possible conflict.
Once ground targets are eliminated an amphibious force would launched the invasion
Any invasion would represent a serious escalation of hostilities and could drag in the US through its pact to defend Taiwan.
Washington’s regional allies such as South Korea, Japan and Australia could also be sucked into a conflict as would Nato forces such as the UK because the US is a member of the alliance.
Xi’s vow to invade was followed up with an article in the publication Naval and Merchant Ships, which outlined a three-pronged attack that would pave the way for an amphibious landing and the toppling of the government in Taipei.
he first stage would see DF-16 short-range ballistic missile attacks pulverising airports, early warning radar, anti-air missile bases, and command centres across the island.
The article states: “The attacks against Taiwan’s airports would continue until [Chinese] surface troops had accomplished an assault landing.”
Following this China’s H-6 bombers and J-16 fighter jets would attack naval ports, although the facilities would not be “completely destroyed” so the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could use them for a landing.
It is a common wish of the Chinese people to resolve the Taiwan issue and achieve the total reunification of the motherland Xi Jinping, China’s President
The three stage attack would pave the way for a land invasion by military hovercraft
In the second stage, the article states YJ-91 and CJ-10 cruise missiles would be unleashed from land, warships and submarines.
Military bases, ammunition depots, communications infrastructure and key road junctions would be crippled. Drones would then be dispatched to assess the damage.
Finally, the article said warships and land-based rocket forces would wipe-out any remaining obstacles so the PLA’s marine corps and amphibious landing troops would safely land.
Of course, Taiwan and its fake allies will put up some resistance, but Taiwan’s former President Ma Ying-jeou has enough knowledge and the foresight about the island to predict that: “Taiwan’s “first battle will also be its last.”
“Be afraid,” warns ASIATIMES’ David Goldman for his home country; but he also has one for its illegitimate ally, Taiwan: “Be very afraid.”
Bernard Madoff, the Manhattan investment adviser who promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than $19 billion in history’s largest Ponzi scheme, has died.
With his promise to deliver steady returns through markets bullish and bearish, Madoff built such a sterling reputation that he had to turn some prospective investors away. The fraud collapsed in December 2008, when plunging equity markets prompted clients to seek more withdrawals making his scheme unattainable. His sons Andrew and Mark notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation that their father had confessed to them.
Like Charles Ponzi, whose 1920 con earned him a place in the annals of fame, Madoff seemed to deliver stunning returns to his clients, when in fact he was paying existing investors with money from new ones. Unlike Ponzi, who soared and fell in the course of one year, Madoff achieved a level of respect and acclaim among finance professionals — he was chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market in 1990, 1991 and 1993 — and kept his ruse going for at least 15 years, even under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The money is gone,” Andrew Madoff quoted his father as telling the family. “It’s all been one big lie.”
Bernie Madoff died in prison at 82, but his spirit lives on in the US Government with a far greater Ponzi scheme — the Great American Debt. Now the Fed Reserve is trapped; it will either bankrupt the government or the American people.
The Federal Reserve has either to raise interest rates and bankrupt the Treasury to attract new debts to pay off old ones, or the Reserve doesn’t raise rates, let inflation spiral out of control like the hyperinflation affecting the German’s Weimar Republic from 1921 to 1923 and bankrupting the American people to ruin.
“How does the Reserve fight that inflation without bankrupting the US government?” Schiff asked “The answer is it can’t. My thinking is, if it can’t fight inflation without bankrupting the government, it won’t fight the inflation, which means it bankrupts the public because it destroys the value of the dollar.”
The People’s Bank of China could at any moment at their own choosing move into making a version of the Chinese Yuan, making China the first country in the world to have an exchange rate, which would be backed by gold held in vaults
. . . and the fall of the US Dollar?
Undoubtedly many Central Banks from various countries would see the benefits of safety to shift their reserves into Yuan. Further incentives include having a currency of international settlements if they have their trades with Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Libya, Myanmar, South Sudan, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Belarus, Russia and China (and the 138 countries in its Belts and Road initiative covering 4.4 billion people and about 40 per cent of global GDP) lie beyond the sanctions of the US government. Germany might find itself sanctioned if it goes with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic
China’s own currency, the Yuan, is not backed by either global use nor gold but being persistently pushed by Russia, this could change. If these two forces shaking the global monetary system — digital acceleration and geopolitical rivalry with the US — were to come together, change could indeed come quickly and suddenly.
With the advent of smart logistics, just-in-time inventory management and just-in-time payments for goods in world trade, traders won’t have to write contracts in foreign currency for payments due months ahead, and buy expensive hedges against currency market fluctuations.
“$16 trillion of US dollar deposits may disappear,” says David Goldman for ASIATIMES. What it means is that $16 trillion of deposits from foreign countries, once they loose their deposit base function in banks, will return to flood the US economy, chasing the same amount of goods and services, thus igniting a hyperinflation immediately.
If not, the United States must borrow 15% to 20% of its GDP each year to finance its internal budget deficit, and also must attract about $1 trillion of capital inflows to finance its growing current account deficit with the rest of the world. Either the dollar has to fall or Treasury yields have to rise – or both. And cumulatively its interest payment year on year would be prohibitive. Either way it is suicidal!
“Be afraid,” warns David Goldman: “Be very afraid!”
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
Is China Preparing A Gold-Backed Yuan? Beijing Greenlights Purchases Of Billions In Bullion
In 2018, the Chinese launched a gold-backed, yuan-denominated oil futures contract. These contracts were priced in yuan, but convertible to gold at the Shanghai exchange, raising the prospect that “the rise of the petroyuan could be the death blow for the dollar.
Two weeks ago, The IMF reported that the global share of US-dollar-denominated exchange reserves dropped to 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the IMF’s COFER data released today. This matched the 25-year low of 1995.
And China had became the first major economy to unleash a Central Bank Digital Currency, cementing its trailblazer status in virtual currencies far ahead of other countries, after already recently experimenting with large-scale trials of actual payments by consumers, which was met with mixed results.
China and its BRI Connectivity among 138 Countries
All of which sets the stage for the dramatic headlines that hit this bombshell as Reuters reports that China has given domestic and international banks permission to import large amounts of gold into the country,
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the nation’s central bank, controls how much gold enters China through a system of quotas given to commercial banks. It usually allows enough metal in to satisfy local demand but sometimes restricts the flow.
In recent weeks it has given permission for large amounts of bullion to enter, the sources said.
“We had no quotas for a while. Now we are getting them … the most since 2019,” said a source at one of the banks moving gold into China.
Around 150 tonnes of gold worth $8.5 billion at current prices is likely to be shipped, four sources said. Two of the sources said the bullion would be shipped in April. Two others said it would reach China over April and May.
The news sent gold prices soaring (in US Dollars).
The size of the shipments signals China’s dramatic return to the global bullion market. Since February 2020, the country has on average imported gold worth around $600 million a month, or roughly 10 tonnes, Chinese customs data show.
Is the US Time Bomb Dollar on its Way?
In 2019 its imports ran at about $3.5 billion a month, or roughly 75 tonnes.
Is this just the next stage that China, at any moment at its own choosing, would peg its digital currency to gold, and we would see the writing on the wall for the US Dollar as the global reserve currency . . .
. . . paving the way for a gold-backed yuan? . . . and bankrupting the US Dollar?
“And this the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,” Daniel 5:25
THAT NIGHT WHEN CHRIST ATE HIS LAST SUPPER WAS ON THE THIRTEENTH!
THE MISSING HOURS OF CHRIST
This presentation, in detail with all the events leading up to Jesus’ Crucifixion, is to prove that (a)that night Jesus took the Last Supper with His disciples, was the night on the thirteenth of Nisan.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to be on the fourteenth as the High Priests (Annas and Caiapas), chief priests and other Sadducees were also waiting to partake their passover, which would be on the night of the Fourteenth. Even these Sadducees refused to enter the Preatorium lest they be defiled and couldn’t take their passover.
There are other reasons for this IMPOSSIBILITY but they are presented along with the events, with timing — hour and day — conveyed in this presentation.
Second, that night when Jesus and His disciple sat down and ate, the Scriptures say it was a supper. Yes, just a supper!
Also, and of greater importance,if that night had been the Passover night, Jesus would have infringed one of the ordinances — that the bones should be burned in the morning (boqer), Exodus 12:10, 22; Numbers 9:12.
“They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.” Numbers 9:12.
Beside, there were the missing 18 hours that most students of the Gospels missed.
And finally, this presentation is also to show (b) that the three Synoptic Gospels didn’t contradict John’s testimony that Jesus died on the eve of the Passover.In fact, when their testimonies are placed in proper perspective, they supplement each other.
Below are the comprehensive evidence, right from the Scriptures:
Jesus’ Last Hours
(The Hours Usage are Jewish Reckoning; Usages in Roman Reckoning are AM (Ante Meridiem “before noon”) and PM (Post Meridiem “after noon”).
Prelude to the Passover
Matthew 26:1 (KJ21) And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said unto His disciples,
2 “Ye know that after two days is the Feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people assembled together unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
4 and consulted that they might take Jesus by stealth and kill Him.
5 But they said, “Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Jesus anointed in Bethany
Matthew 26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
7 there came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head as He sat at meat.
8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
10 When Jesus perceived this, He said unto them, “Why trouble ye the woman? For she hath wrought a good work upon Me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you, but Me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial.
13 Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, which this woman hath done, be told as a memorial of her.”
Judas promised 30 pieces of silver
Matthew 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests
15 and said unto them, “What will ye give me if I will deliver Him unto you?” And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Disciples prepared for Passover
Matthew 26:17 Now onthe first day (G4413 protos) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover?”
— The natural reading of this verse seems to suggest the disciples asked Jesus where to keep the Passover when Passover was already over. But G4413 protos could be translated as ‘a time before’ as in John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred beforeme: for he was before G4413 me.
Thus Matthew 26:17 could be translated as: “Now before the Days of Unleavened Bread have arrived, the disciples came to Jesus, asking, Where shall we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?”
— the intention to eat the Passover was there, but the actual eating was yet to happen.
18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say unto him, ‘The Master saith, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples.”’”
19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover.
The Last Supper — 13th Nisan, Monday, Even (6:00 PM)
Luke 22:14 And when the hour had come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him.
15 And He said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”
If that night was the Passover night, Jesus would had broken one of the ordinances according to Numbers 9:12: “They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.”
They left early and if Jesus had broken any of the ordinances, the destiny of all humanity would have been flushed down the toilet.
Second, if they had killed the lamb at sunset at 6 PM as the CoG Communities believe, it would be a miracle if they could have the lamb roasted and meal ready before 10 PM, but for this exercise, let’s start at 6 PM when supper was served, because that night could only be the thirteenth.
Taking into consideration a very unusual word for “desire” is epithumia in the Greek, which is something forbidden, perhaps this verse should be translated as: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; but I’m saying to you now, I am forbidden and denied this privilege, and I will no longer eat with you until we’re all in the kingdom of God.” — for a detailed exegesis see endnote.
16 for I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
John 13:2 And supper (G1173) being ended, and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him — other translations say “during supper.” It was just as a supper as in John 12:2 where Martha and Mary made Him a supper(G1173) in Bethany after raising Lazarus. If that night was a passover why didn’t the Gospel writers say so to differentiate it from other ordinary supper?
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God,
Foot washing (only recorded by John) — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (7:30 PM)
John 13:4 rose from supper(G1173) and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself.
5 After that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
Among Eastern people it was customary, before eating, to wash the feet; and to do this, or to bring water for it, was one of the rites of hospitality. See Genesis 18:4; Judges 19:21. The reasons for this were, that they wore “sandals,” which covered only the bottom of the feet, and that when they ate they reclined on couches or sofas. It became therefore necessary that the feet should be washed before food. But here, none of His disciples was willing to play host and doing the act of hospitality, hence Jesus volunteered after supper.
6 Then came He to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto Him, “Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.”
8 Peter said unto Him, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said unto Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
10 Jesus said to him, “He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all.”
11 (For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “Ye are not all clean.”)
12 So after He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and had sat down again, He said unto them, “Know ye what I have done to you?
13 Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
16 Verily, verily I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Judas left to betray Jesus— 13th Nisan, Monday Night (8:00 PM)
John 13:18 “I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me.’
19 Now I tell you before it comes that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.
20 Verily, verily I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me.”
21 When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Verily, verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray Me.”
22 Then the disciples looked at one another, not knowing of whom He spoke.
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom He spoke.
25 He then, leaning on Jesus’ breast, said unto Him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.” And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. — this was not the Passover sop, which was dipped into a sauce made of various things, called by the Jews for this was not the “paschal” supper, but a common supper, two days before the feast of the Passover; but this sop, or rather crust of bread (G740 artos), which when dipped into a sop, which Christ dipped his hand into, and took to Judas Iscariot, was evidently a piece from a common bread (G740 artos).
27 And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said unto him, “What thou doest, do quickly.”
28 Now no man at the table knew with what intent He spoke this unto him.
29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the money bag, that Jesus had said unto him, “Buy those things that we have need of for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. — some of the other disciples thought Judas was taking the money to buy for the feast. This indicates that buying and selling were still going on, which demonstrates that Passover hadn’t arrived yet otherwise everyone would be keeping Passover at home and none would be engaging in commercial activities. Second, if that night were the Passover, the other disciples would be wondering why Judas didn’t wait until morning (boqer) before venturing out of the house (Ex 12:22; Num 9:12); but none did.
30 Judas then, having received the sop, went immediately out. And it was night.
31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
32 If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.
Wine and unleavened bread — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (8:00 PM)
Luke 22:17 And He took the cup, and gave thanks and said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves;
18 for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.”
19 And He took bread (G740 artos), and gave thanks and broke it and gave it unto them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” — Jesus was using leavened bread (Greek=“artos”) throughout this last supper (recorded in all the Gospel accounts and 1 Corinthians 10-12). Had this been Passover, Jesus would have had to use unleavened bread (Greek=“azimos”) which was commanded in Exodus 12:8.
20 Likewise also He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.
21 But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table.
22 And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined; but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
24 And there was also a contention among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
25 And He said unto them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
26 But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
27 For who is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth? Is it not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as He that serveth.
28 “Ye are they that have continued with Me in My temptations.
29 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me,
30 that ye may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
A new commandment — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:00 PM)
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, ‘Whither I go ye cannot come,’ so now say I to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you: that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one for another.”
Prophecy about Peter denying Christ
Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
33 And Peter said unto Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death.”
34 And He said, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
Christ’s instruction to the disciples — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:00 PM)
Luke 22:35 And He said unto them, “When I sent you without purse and pack and shoes, lacked ye anything?” And they said, “Nothing.”
36 Then said He unto them, “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it and likewise his pack; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
37 For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was reckoned among the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”
38 And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said unto them, “It is enough.”
Thomas Coke Commentary on Luke 22:38. Lord, behold, here are two swords.— Our Lord’s disciples, mistaking his meaning about the swords, replied, they had two: the reason why they had any at all, probably, was, that they might defend themselves against robbers in their journey from Galilee and Perea, and from the beasts of prey which in those parts were very frequent and dangerous in the night time: it afterwards appears, that one of these swords was Peter’s. See John 18:10. Our Lord replies to the disciples, “It is enough for weapons of this sort; my chief intent is, to direct you to another kind of defence; even that which arises from piety and faith.” This is strongly intimated by our Lord’s saying that two swords were sufficient; which, it is evident, they could not have been for so many men, had our Lord meant what he said in a literal sense.
They sang a hymn and left —13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:30 PM)
Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives.
One of the Passover ordinances would be broken if that night was a Passover:
“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning (boqer), and that which remaineth of it [food remains] until the morning ye shall burn with fire.” Exodus 12:10
“They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it” Numbers 9:12.
Jesus and His disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane and according to most timeline it was around 9:00 PM. Further, they left without burning any food remains or the bones, infringing one of the Passover ordinances according to Exodus 12:10, 22; Numbers 9:12. If that night was a Passover night, all our hopes and dreams about eternal life would be flushed down the toilet. OBVIOUSLY IT WASN’T A PASSOVER NIGHT.THANK GOD!
More discourse — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:30 PM)
John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me.
2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
5 Thomas said unto Him, “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said unto him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
7 If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said unto Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
9 Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long a time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.
12 Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever”
17 even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. But ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me. Because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21 He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said unto Him, “Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him.
24 He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. And the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
25 “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, ‘I go away and come again unto you.’ If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, ‘I go unto the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
More discourse — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:30 PM)
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, no more can ye, unless ye abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.
9 “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in My love.
10 If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 “This is My commandment: that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 “If the world hates you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you: ‘The servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for My name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth Me hateth My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.
More discourse— 13th Nisan, Monday Night (9:30 PM)
John 16:1 “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not lose faith.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go My way to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me, ‘Whither goest Thou?’
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment:
9 concerning sin, because they believe not in Me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father and ye see Me no more;
11 concerning judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come.
14 He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
16 A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father.”
17 Then said some of His disciples among themselves, “What is this that He saith unto us, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me,’ and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
18 They said therefore, “What is this that He saith, ‘A little while’? We cannot tell what He saith.”
19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous of asking Him, and said unto them, “Do ye inquire among yourselves of what I said, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me’?
20 Verily, verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
23 And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25 “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
26 In that day ye shall ask in My name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you;
27 for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”
29 His disciples said unto Him, “Lo, now speakest Thou plainly and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do ye now believe?
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.”
In Gethsemene to pray — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (10:00 PM)
Luke 22:39 And He came out and went, as He was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.
Jesus’ ‘inner circle’
Mark 14:33 And He took with HimPeterand James and John, and began to be sore amazed and very heavy of heart. — These three disciples were there during Christ’s time of prayers and distress. They were Christ’s inner circle.
34 And He said unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death; tarry ye here, and watch.”
Jesus prayed for 3 hours — 13th Nisan, Monday Night (12:00 AM)
Matthew 26:39 And He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
40 And He came unto the disciples and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?
41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, unless I drink it, Thy will be done.”
43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44 And He left them and went away again, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.
Up to this point, Jesus still hoped and prayed that this cup could be taken away from Him, so He could take the Passover with His disciples. But it wasn’t granted.
Second, He sweated profusely, His blood falling to the ground, not so much as death awaited Him, but the process of tortues under the Roman soldiers that most people would fear of. Surely He knew this in advance.
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44).
Then He said unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with Me.” And He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:38-39). —Christ wanted two things that night; (a) to partake the upcoming Passover; (b) avoiding this cup of suffering. Here, for three hours, He was still pleading, but both requests were denied.
The Lord’s prayer— 13th Nisan, Tuesday Early Morning (1:00 AM)
John 17:1 These words spoke Jesus and lifted up His eyes to Heaven and said, “Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
2 as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
3 And this is life eternal: that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy Word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee.
8 For I have given unto them the Words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.
9 I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine.
10 And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 “And now come I to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them Thy Word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.
18 As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe in Me through their word,
21 that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
22 And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as We are one:
23 I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.
24 “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.
26 And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Judas’s betrayal — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Early Morning (1:30 AM)
John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where was a garden into which He entered with His disciples.
2 And Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the place, for Jesus often resorted thither with His disciples.
3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
The high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, were known to be Sadducees and according to their beliefs they would be having their passover that night, if that night was on the fourteenth. They would be roasting their lambs for 4 to 5 hours and eating them and it would be extremely unlikely they had planned anything else on such a revered night.
Later these same high priests were said to refuse entering the praetorium, lest they be defiled to partake their passover, signifying that night could only be the thirteenth!
4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, “Whom seek ye?”
5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said unto them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who betrayed Him, stood with them.
6 As soon then as He had said unto them, “I am He,” they went backward and fell to the ground.
7 Then He asked them again, “Whom seek ye?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way,”
9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those that Thou gavest Me, have I lost none.”
Healing of High Priest servant’s ear — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Early Morning (2:00 AM)
John 18:10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, “Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” — Peter was there during Christ’s time of distress
12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him,
Disciples deserted Him — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Early Morning (2:00 AM)
Mark 14:50 And they all forsook Him and fled.
51 And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him. — this disciple during Christ’s trial was probably James.
Acts 12:2 He (Governor Herod) killed James the brother of John with the sword,
52 And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.
They led Him to Annas — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Early Morning (2.30 AM)
John 18:13 and led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that same year.
14 Now it was Caiaphas who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Peter followed near a fire — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Morning (3:00 AM)
John 18:15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. — John, shy to identify himself, was another disciple during Christ’s time of distress.
16 But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known unto the high priest, went out and spoke unto her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.
17 Then the damsel who kept the door said unto Peter, “Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
18 And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
Before Annas and Caiaphas — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Morning (4:00 AM)
John 18:19 The high priest (identified as Annas) then asked Jesus about His disciples and about His doctrine. — Annas was trying to fish out something so as to accuse Jesus of treason and to put Him to death.
20 Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple whither the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing.
21 Why askest thou Me? Ask them that heard Me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I said.”
22 And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Answerest thou the high priest so?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?”
24 Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest.
Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas by marriage to his daughter. Annas and Caiaphas were Sadducees or their close allies, the Boethusiasns. And if that night was on the fourteenth, they would be having their Sadducaic passover. Their minds would be on killing, cleaning and roasting the lamb after sunset, and it would be close to insanity to think that they had planned to be troubled on something else on such an auspicious night.
Second, after Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus from the grave, the chief priests (John 12:10) who would certainly include Caiaphas and other Sadducees advocated putting Jesus to death. This act of raising Lazarus from death is anathema to Sadducaic teaching, because Sadducees don’t believe in any resurrection (Acts 4:1-6; 23:8).
The Sanhedrin — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Morning (5:00 AM)
Matthew 26:59 Now the chief priests and elders and all the councilsought false witness against Jesus to put Him to death,
Mark 14:55 And the chief priests and all of the council (i.e. the entire Sanhedrin members alone would be 70 or 72, not including elders and false witnesses) sought for witnesses against Jesus to put Him to death, and found none. — It would probably take one or two hours to assemble them together, even if they all live nearby. Those days they didn’t have telephones, only runners.
Second, if that night were the fourteenth, it would be a passover night for the Sadducees, who made up a large portion of the Sanhedrin at that time. It would be inconceivable to believe that many runners could be found during the early morning hours and dared to trouble all the Sadducaic members of the Sanhedrin in their sleep. This together with the comment above on Annas and Caiaphas are strong evidence to believe that that night wasn’t possible to be on the fourteenth.
60 but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found none. At the last came two false witnesses,
61 and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”
62 And the high priest (Caiaphas, Matt 28:57) arose and said unto Him, “Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witnesses say against thee?”
Earlier a Saddusaic high priest Caiaphas already wanted Jesus dead for raising Lazarus (for Sadducees didn’t believe in any resurrection Acts 23:8): John 11:49 And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, “Ye know nothing at all, 50 nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” 51 And he spoke this not of himself, but, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52 and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 So from that day forth, they took counsel together to put Him to death.
63 But Jesus held His peace. And the high priest answered and said unto Him, “I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”
Jesus before Caiaphas, chief priests, elders and the full Sandhedrin
64 Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest rented his clothes, saying, “He hath spoken blasphemy! What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy!
66 What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death!”
67 Then they spit in His face and buffeted Him, and others smote Him with the palms of their hands,
68 saying, “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ! Who is he that smote thee?”
Peter denied Jesus three times — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Morning (5:00 AM)
Matthew 26:69 Now Peter sat outside in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, “Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.”
70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I know not what thou sayest.”
71 And when he had gone out onto the porch, another maid saw him and said unto those who were there, “This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 And again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the man!”
73 And after a while came unto him those who stood by, and said to Peter, “Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee.”
74 Then he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not the man!” And immediately the cock crowed.
75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, when He said unto him, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Methrice.”
The best scientific evidence says that normally endogenous cycles stimulate a cock to crow in response to incremental changes in light intensity. The best bet seems to be from around 5 AM to 6 AM.
Luke 22:62 And Peter went out and wept bitterly.
63 And the men who held Jesus mocked Him and smote Him.
64 And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is it that smote thee?”
65 And many other things they spoke blasphemously against Him.
Sanhedrin condemned Him— 13th Nisan, Tuesday, Dawn (6:00 AM)
Luke 22:66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council, saying, —“it was day“— “it was daybreak“— The Scripture here is screaming! “John 19:14 couldn’t be the same time as in Luke 22:66!” —THIS IS DAYBREAK! 6AM! DAWN! THE SIXTH HOUR INJOHN 19:14 COULDN’T BE ROMAN TIME! “Jesus couldn’t be with the Sanhedrin here and inside the praetorium at the same time!” THIS IS DAYBREAK! THIS IS ALREADY6AM!
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness. That was written for the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 28:28-29 that they should gropeth in the dark. But in the last days, all ten virgins of the endtime Laodicean church — blind, wretched and naked — are ALL groping in the light!
67 “Art thou the Christ? Tell us.” And He said unto them, “If I tell you, ye will not believe.
68 And if I also ask you, ye will not answer Me nor let Me go.
69 Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God.”
70 Then said they all, “Art thou then the Son of God?” And He said unto them, “Ye say that I am.”
71 And they said, “What need of any further witness? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth.”
Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? See thou to that!”
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.”
7 And they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
8 Therefore that field was called the Field of Blood unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom they the children of Israel did value,
10 and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”
The Sanhedrin sent Him to Pilate — 13th Nisan, Tuesday Morning (8:30 AM)
Luke 23:1 And the whole multitude of them arose and led Him unto Pilate.
John 18:28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium(AMP, RSV, YLT, WEB). It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. — the phases “they” from the “house of Caiaphas” would comprise the chief priests (Caiaphas and Annas), the captains of the temple (Lk 22:52) and their servants. Most in the CoG Communities identify these accusers as solely the Pharisees but evidence here shows this is erroneous.
The chief priests, the captains of the temple and their servants are all known to be Sadducees. This is another proof that the Sadducaic passover haven’t arrived, and they, too, didn’t want to defile themselves by entering a Gentile residence just before their passover where they would have kept it on night of the fourteenth!
This is a solid proof that that night could only be on THE THIRTEENTH!
29 So Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not an evildoer, we would not have handed him over.” — Pilate would have to come out of the praetorium to speak to the multitude and he did “So Pilate went out [of the praetorium] and said” to the crowd!
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” 32 This was to fulfil the word which Jesus had spoken to show by what death he was to die.
33 Pilate entered the praetorium againand called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this of your own accord, or did others ask it to you about me?” — See, Pilate went back to the praetorium to speak to Jesus.
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world.”— the chief priests were standing outside the praetorium.“They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover” (John 18:28).So the Sadducees haven’t had their passover yet!
37 Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
Only Jesus was in the Praetorium, the Sadducaic Chief Priests stayed out!
38 Pilate said unto Him, “What is truth?” And when he said this, he went out [the praetorium] again unto the Jews, and said unto them, “I find in him no fault at all. 39 But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?”
Most like to place the timing of this encounter with Pilate and Herod and then back to Pilate again early morning, around 5.30 to 8.30 AM. But this timing just couldn’t be so.
“How Dare You Trouble Me?” It would be inconceivable or even fanciful to think that Pilate as king of Judea could be troubled in the early morning by someone subordinate to him as traditional protocol demands. Pilate was known as a tyrant and would kill anybody at will those who displeased him. It would be far more reasonable to assume that he attended court at a reasonable hour starting at 9 AM the earliest.
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
Jesus before Pilate
3 And Pilate asked Him, saying, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “Thou sayest it.”
4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and the people, “I find no fault in this man.”
5 And they became the more fierce, saying, “He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.” – this stirring includes raising Lazarus from the dead, infuriating the Sadducees more than the Pharisees.
The chief priests could include Annas’ five sons (1 Eleazar ben Ananus 16-17; 2 Jonathan 37; 3 Theophilus 37-41; 4 Matthias 43; 5 Ananus ben Ananus 63-66), who at later times, also held the high priest office. Annas’ son-in-law Caiaphas 18-36-37
More on
(3) Theophilus ben Ananus 37-41: “A growing belief points to Theophilus ben Ananus, High Priest of the Temple in Jerusalem from 37 to 41. In this tradition Theophilus would have been both a kohen and a Sadducee,” (Theophilus (biblical), Wikipedia).
(5) Ananus ben Ananus 63-66: Josephus’s account says “Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees,” (Anti 20.9.1). Wikipedia says he was the Sadducaic high priest who ordered the execution by stoning of James the brother of Jesus. Ananus was deposed as the high priest in 66 and became one of the main leaders of the Great Revolt of Judea. But in 68, he was killed during the inter-rebel civil war in Jerusalem, (Ananus ben Ananus, Wikipedia).
Josephus provides us with more details of the death of the high priesthood toward the AD 66-70 inferno: “But the rage of the Idumeans was not satiated by these slaughters; but they now betook themselves to the city, and plundered every house, and slew every one they met; and for the other multitude, they esteemed it needless to go on with killing them, but they sought for the high priests, and the generality went with the greatest zeal against them; and as soon as they caught them they slew them, and then standing upon their dead bodies, in way of jest, upbraided Ananus with his kindness to the people, and Jesus with his speech made to them from the wall. Nay, they proceeded to that degree of impiety, as to cast away their dead bodies without burial, although the Jews used to take so much care of the burial of men, that they took down those that were condemned and crucified, and buried them before the going down of the sun. I should not mistake if I said that the death of Ananus was the beginning of the destruction of the city, and that from this very day may be dated the overthrow of her wall, and the ruin of her affairs, whereon they saw their high priest, and the procurer of their preservation, slain in the midst of their city,” (Wars. Book 4, Chapter 5).
Luke 23:6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the Man were a Galilean.
7 And as soon as he learned that He belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
8 And when Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad, for he had been desirous to see Him for a long time, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. — remember, in those days they only have runners in sending and receiving messages. And protocol required letters were properly written, signed and sealed before they were despatched.
9 Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.
10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.
11 And Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him again to Pilate.
12 And on the same day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before that there was enmity between them.
13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
“I find no fault in this man,” said Pilate
14 said unto them, “Ye have brought this man unto me as one who perverteth the people. And behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man concerning those things whereof ye accuse him.
15 No, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
16 I will therefore chastise him and release him.” — Only Pilate was to scourge Jesus (consistent with John 19:1; Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15)
17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast.)
18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas”
19 (who had been cast into prison for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder).
20 Pilate therefore, desiring to release Jesus, spoke again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, “Crucify him, crucify him!”
22 And he said unto them the third time, “Why? What evil hath he done? I have found no cause for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go.” — Only Pilate was to scourge Jesus (John 19:1; Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15). The Roman soldiers remained restraint.
23 But they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
Matthew 27:15 Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
John 18:39 But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. — Not a law, neither of God nor man’s, but a custom, so commentators have swam in an ocean on this point, but nothing to such custom or reason is known.
Pilgrims normally took their trips to Jerusalem early before the actual Passover took place, to secure an accommodation, to buy a lamb and also to purify themselves. The whole period is a Passover season. “And the Jews’ Passover was nigh at hand, and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.” John 11:55
16 And they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, “Whom will ye that I release unto you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him.
19 When he had sat down on the judgment seat[inside the praetorium again], his wife sent unto him, saying, “Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. — the chief priests were always deeply involved throughout, but stayed outside the praetorium with the multitude.
21 The governor answered and said unto them, “Which of the two will ye that I release unto you?” They said, “Barabbas!”
22 Pilate said unto them, “What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all said unto him, “Let him be crucified!”
23 And the governor said, “Why, what evil hath he done?” But they cried out the more, saying, “Let him be crucified!”
24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail, but rather that a tumult(disorderly agitation)was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it.”
25 Then answered all the people and said, “His blood be on us, and on our children!”
John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him [inside the praetorium].
Only Pilate scourged Jesus here (consistent with Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15); no mentioning of the soldiers doing the scourging before John 19:16.
2 And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe
3 and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they smote Him with their hands.
4 Pilate therefore went forth again and said unto them [to those outside the praetorium], “Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.”5 Then came Jesus [from inside the praetorium] forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said unto them, “Behold the man!”
6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said unto them, “Ye take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.”
7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
9 And he went again into the praetoriumand said [in private] unto Jesus, “From whence art thou?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then said Pilate unto Him, “Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”
11 Jesus answered, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore he (the chief priests) that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.” — having the greater sin, the Sadducees (some Pharisees included) were wiped out in the AD 70 inferno!Also a result of “His blood be on us, and on our children!”
12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.”
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat(in the praetorium)in a place that is called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbath – (an extended elevated pavement by itself in front of the praetorium. This must be the place where a final verdict was made).
14 And it was the Preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and Pilate said unto the Jews, “Behold your king!” —(NOON 13th Nisan)
This sixth hour would be the same sixth hour where Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, established to be at NOON, when Jesus was wearied and needed a drink (John 4:6). To think that John suddenly popped up Roman time to suit a belief is just trying to be fanciful.
Second, Roman times uses AM (ante meridiem, meaning before midday) and PM (post meridiem, meaning past midday) to denote time. So if John was using Roman time in John 19:14 why didn he use AM and PM? The Hours Usage in John 19:14 is definitly Jewish Reckoning.
Thirdly, Luke 22:66 says “it was day” — Jesus was at the Sanhedrin at daybreak! He couldn’t be with the Sanhedrin here and inside the praetorium at the same time! “Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12). And most CoG Communities are prone to lying!
John 19:15 But they cried out, “Away with him, away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said unto them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
16 Then he delivered Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they (the soldiers, a small number 50-60 say) took Jesus and led Him away.
Matt 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor [personal soldiers] took Jesus into the praetorium, and gathered unto Him the whole detachment of soldiers. — i.e. this small number of the governor’s soldiers led Jesus to the entire contingent of soldiers!
Gill: consisting of five hundred, and some say more: these their fellow soldiers, to whom Jesus was committed, got together “against him” as the Syriac and Persic versions render it.
The TPT version says “nearly six hundred soldiers.” Matthew Henry: (at least five hundred, some think twelve or thirteen hundred)
The soldiers, numbering 500-600, led Him away to be crucified, but first to be flogged, this time by the Roman soldiers, including more scourging and mocking — the missing hours, back at the praetorium (about 18 hours where there is no record of Him; from about NOON on the thirteenth to daybreak on the fourteenth of Nisan). And it is thus obvious that that evening, the evening where Jesus and His disciples were taking supper, were indeed a supper. There is no evidence of a Passover — no lamb, no bitter herbs — not even a Samaritan or a Sadducaic passover, where it would be on an early fourteenth of Nisan. Even the high priests (Annas and Caiapas), chief priests and other Sadducees stayed outside the praetorium lest they be defiled and wouldn’t be able to partake in their passover!
The night before, while He prayed, His blood fell to the ground. He knew He would be flogged nearly to the point of death before they pounded the metal spikes into His flesh. He knew the prophetic words of Isaiah spoken seven centuries earlier that He would be beaten so badly that He would be “disfigured beyond that of any man” and “beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14).
Forerunner Commentary of the King James Version Isaiah 52:14:
Jesus had to die a death that was excruciatingly painful. Why? To depict the horrible pain that sin causes. It would not have served God’s purpose if He had died a painless death. The picture would have been incomplete.
Any criminal of that time would have despaired to learn he was to be crucified. Crucifixion was not only an execution, but also a method of torture. The Romans usually gave the victim an excruciating scourging first. Jesus was no exception. Before He ever touched His cross, He was scourged, beaten, and insulted.
Before 500-600 soldiers!
Over the years we have heard quite a bit about the Roman lictor (Roman officer), the soldier charged with dispensing this dreaded punishment. He used a whip, often with imbedded pieces of metal, bone, or other sharp objects. Romans did not limit their lictors to the Israelite practice of “forty stripes save one,” nor to striking just the victim’s back. He would let the whip strike and wrap around every inch of the person’s body until he was within an inch of death.
The prophet Isaiah prophesies how Jesus appeared after the scourging: “Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage [appearance] was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). He goes on to say that He was “wounded [pierced] for our transgressions, He was bruised [crushed] for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).
Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness — Isaiah 52:14.
Many people were shocked when they saw him. He was so scarred that he no longer looked like a person. His body was so twisted that he did not look like a human being anymore (Isaiah 52:14).
And in Isaiah 53:7 Isaiah goes on to describe the servant who would suffer and die for the sin of his people “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.”
The Jews were prophesied they would mourn One whom they had rejected: “And they shall look to Me whom they have pierced; then they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son” (Zechariah 12:10). But the Christians have nothing to mourn? Currently these endtime virgins are described as lukewarm and in need of nothing, but would they not mourn when they realise that they had been blind, wretched and naked, seeing finally that Christ had suffered far more through His torn flesh and shed blood than they had ever realised? No? Regardless, these are they being described in Revelation 3:17. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: or else I will spew thee out of My mouth (v16,19).”
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness. That was written by Moses for the children of Israel inDeuteronomy 28. But at the endtime, all ten virgins of the Laodicean church — blind, wretched and naked — ALL THESE TEN VIRGINS ARE GROPIING IN THE LIGHT!
The next morning — 14th Nisan, Wednesday, Dawn (6:00 AM)
Luke 23:26 And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
27 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women who also bewailed and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus, turning unto them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore and the breasts which never gave suck.’
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
They led Him to be crucified — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (7:00 AM)
John 19:16 Then he delivered Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away.
17 And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Skull (which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha)
The Third hour— 14th Nisan, Wednesday (9:00 AM) — 3rd hour
John 19:18 where they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the midst. — here, Jesus was nailed to the cross, with two others besides Him
19 And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.
20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, “Write not ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith, “They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture did they cast lots.” These things therefore the soldiers did.
Mark 15:25 And it was the third hour (9 AM) when they crucified Him.
29 And those who passed by railed at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days,
30 save thyself and come down from the cross!”
31 Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, “He saved others; himself he cannot save!
32 Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” And those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said unto His mother, “Woman, behold thy son!”
27 Then said He to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!” And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home.
Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour (12 NOON) had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour(3 PM).
Luke 23:44 And it was about thesixth hour(12 NOON), and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour(3 PM).45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”
29 Now there was set there a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon a hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour (3 PM) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he calleth Elijah.”
36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink, saying, “Let him alone. Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”
37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.
Earthquakes and graves opened — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (3.00 PM) — 9th hour
Matthew 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks rent.
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose,
53 and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
Preparation for the Passover — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (4:00 PM) — 10th hour
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, and so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
32 Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs,
34 but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water.
35 And he that saw it bore record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truly, that ye might believe.
36 For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled: “A bone of Him shall not be broken.”
37 And again another Scripture saith, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
The women watched — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (4:30 PM)
Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome
41 (who also, when He was in Galilee, had followed Him and ministered unto Him), and many other women who came up with Him unto Jerusalem.
Joseph of Arimathea — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (5:00 PM) — 11th hour
Mark 15:42 And now when the evening had come, because it was the Preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), — that Sabbath was a High Day, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable council member who also was waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
44 And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead.
45 And when he learned it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46 And Joseph bought fine linen, and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.
47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid.
~~~
End note: Luke 22:15-6. Here Jesus said to the disciples:
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
What did He mean by saying “THIS Passover”?
There are only two possibilities:
1) He meant the upcoming Passover that very year, which had not yet arrived, as this statement was made “before the feast of the Passover” (John 13:1).
2) He meant that very meal that evening which they were partaking of – even though it was served with regular “bread,” makes no mention of lamb, or bitter herbs, which were required for a Passover meal. Second, if that meal was the Passover, Jesus and His disciples would have broken one of the Passover ordinances specified in Numbers 9:12 —moving the bones out of the house and burned them in the morning.
Fred Coulter, whose book The Christian Passover is his church’s flagship and endorsed by most of the CoG Communities, specifies it this way:
God’s commands to Moses in Exodus 12 show us the step-by-step procedures required for keeping the Old Testament Passover. It is clear that the act of slaying the lambs was only one part of keeping the Passover. The nine steps for keeping the Old Testament Passover were as follows:
1) Select an unblemished male lamb less than one year old on the 10th day of the first month (Ex 12:3). 2) Kill the lamb on the 14th day of the first month at dusk [Hebrew ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings”]. Share the lamb with a neighbor if one’s own family was too small to eat it. Do not break a bone of the lamb (Ex 12:4, 6, 46). 3) Strike the side posts and lintel of the door of the house with some of the blood (Ex 12:7). 4) Roast the whole lamb — head and legs and edible entrails — with fire (Ex 12:9). 5) Do not boil the meat in water or eat it raw (Ex 12:9). 6) Eat the flesh in that night with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (Ex 12:8). 7) Allow no alien to eat it unless circumcised (Ex 12:43-44). 8) Eat it in the same house where it was slain. Do not carry any of it out of the house (Ex 12:46). 9) Burn any remains, such as the bones and fat, the skin and guts, with fire by morning (Ex 12:10). (The Christian Passover, pg 19)
These were the commands of God for Israel’s first Passover. If the children of Israel had not observed all nine steps for the Passover exactly as God commanded, the Passover would not have been fully “kept,” and the Lord would not have spared the firstborn of Israel.
At their next Passover, the first one in the wilderness after the tabernacle was set up and dedicated, the nine rules for “keeping” the Passover are called statutes and ordinances: “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, you shall keep it in its appointed time. You shall keep it according to ALL ITS STATUTES, and according to ALL THE ORDINANCES of it” (Num. 9:2-3).
This Scripture shows that the nine rules for the Passover, here called statutes and ordinances, were to be observed in all the years that followed. All nine ordinances were to be observed on the 14th day of the month! It is quite clear in Numbers 9 that all the statutes and all the ordinances that were established at the first Passover were to be observed by the children of Israel. We find no later instructions given in Scripture that in any way alter or modify the manner in which the Passover was originally commanded to be observed. (The Christian Passover, pg 19-20)
And Fred’s statements are reemphasised further:
“And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning [sunrise]” (Ex 12:21-22),” (pg 58).
And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise [Hebrew boqer]’ ” (Ex 12:21-22). (Pg 71)
“…And none of you shall go out of the door of his house UNTIL SUNRISE….And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, SO THEY DID” (Ex 12:22, 28).
“If any of the children of Israel had left their houses before morning, it would be recorded in the Scriptures that some of the people had disobeyed the command of God and had left their houses too soon, and therefore they had died in the plague of the firstborn.” (Pg 72)
The Blind couldn’t see, of course! If that night had been the Passover, that would make Jesus and His disciples break a Passover ordinance since they were only allowed to burn the bones and left their house in the morning, BUT THEY DIDN’T!
What, then, did Jesus mean when He said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”? The word for “desire” in this verse is an unusual word, epithumia in the Greek, and means “a longing, especially for that which is forbidden” (see Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #1939).
The word for “desire” in this verse is very important to understanding the context of Jesus’ words. Says Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, “desire, craving, longing,” “specifically for what is forbidden.” This is the “strongest expression of intense desire,” whether good or bad, says the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Critical-Experimental Commentary.
In other words, Jesus here was saying He desired to eat the traditional Passover with His disciples that year, but He knew that such a thing will be impossible — that it was forbidden — that for Him to fulfill God’s PLAN He must be dead and in the grave the evening the Passover would be eaten, and therefore it was forbidden and impossible for Him to eat that Passover with them!
Second, Christ also wanted to avoid this “cup” of suffering that He knew He had to endure. He pleaded for three hours, but both requests were denied, forbidden.
Perhaps Luke 22:15-6 should be translated as:
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; but I’m saying to you now, I am forbidden and denied this privilege, and I will no longer eat with you until we’re all in the kingdom of God.”
Conclusion: despite all the huffings and puffings arguing otherwise by the various CoG Communities, that night when Jesus and His disciples had their last supper, the same night He was betrayed, it wasn’t the Passover; it wasn’t on the Fourteenth night. IT COULDN’T BE! — IT’S IMPOSSIBLE! It was just a supper as the Scriptures say, and to believe that that night was the Fourteenth is only a sweet FANCIFUL DREAM!
In 1977 Carl Bernstein published an article titled “The CIA and the Media” reporting that the CIA had covertly infiltrated America’s most influential news outlets and had over 400 reporters who it considered assets in a program known as Operation Mockingbird. It was a major scandal, and rightly so. The news media are meant to report truthfully about what happens in the world, not manipulate public perception to suit the agendas of spooks and warmongers.
In a recent Fox News appearance by Glenn Greenwald he made an observation about the way the CIA used to have to infiltrate the media, but now just openly has US intelligence veterans in mainstream media punditry positions manipulating public perception.
“If you go and Google, and I hope your viewers do, Operation Mockingbird, what you will find is that during the Cold War these agencies used to plot how to clandestinely manipulate the news media to disseminate propaganda to the American population,” Greenwald said. “They used to try to do it secretly. They don’t even do it secretly anymore. They don’t need Operation Mockingbird. They literally put John Brennan who works for NBC and James Clapper who works for CNN and tons of FBI agents right on the payroll of these news organizations. They now shape the news openly to manipulate and to deceive the American population.”
Wikipedia: John Brennan serves as a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC
Nowadays the CIA collaboration happens right out in the open, and the public is too brainwashed and gaslit to even recognize this as scandalous. Immensely influential outlets like The New York Times uncritically pass on CIA disinfo which is then spun as fact by cable news pundits. The sole owner of The Washington Post is a CIA contractor, and WaPo has never once disclosed this conflict of interest when reporting on US intelligence agencies per standard journalistic protocol. Mass media outlets now openly employ intelligence agency veterans like John Brennan, James Clapper, Chuck Rosenberg, Michael Hayden, Frank Figliuzzi, Fran Townsend, Stephen Hall, Samantha Vinograd, Andrew McCabe, Josh Campbell, Asha Rangappa, Phil Mudd, James Gagliano, Jeremy Bash, Susan Hennessey, Ned Price and Rick Francona, as are known CIA assets like NBC’s Ken Dilanian, as are CIA interns like Anderson Cooper and CIA applicants like Tucker Carlson.
They’re just rubbing it in our faces now. Like they’re showing off.
And that’s just the media. We also see this flaunting behavior exhibited in the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a propaganda operation geared at sabotaging foreign governments not aligned with the US which according to its own founding officials was set up to do overtly what the CIA used to do covertly. The late author and commentator William Blum makes this clear:
Buyout Hong Kong protesters waving American flags / CBS Evening News, 8 Sept 2019
We see NED’s fingerprints all over pretty much any situation where the western power alliance needs to manage public perception about a CIA-targeted government, from Russia to Hong Kong to Xinjiang to the imperial propaganda operation known as Bellingcat.
“Ephraim compasseth me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” Hosea 11:12
“And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” Jeremiah 7:15
The Covid BioWeapon: Made in the USA? Aimed at China and Iran?
The Unz Review, by MIKE WHITNEY AND RON UNZ • JUNE 15, 2021
“…..we are left with the strong likelihood that Covid came from a laboratory (and) was designed as a bioweapon… China was the intended target (and) America seems the likely source of the attack… The most likely suspects would be rogue elements of our national security establishment… The virus and its dispersal devices might have been obtained from Ft. Detrick and CIA operatives… would have been sent to Wuhan to release it.” Ron Unz, Editor of The Unz Review; from the text
If Covid-19 comes from a lab, then the Question is, which Lab?
Question 1– What makes your theory about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 so controversial, is not that it suggests that the pathogen was created in a lab, but that it is, in fact, a bioweapon that was deliberately released by US agents prosecuting a secret war on presumed enemies of the United States. Here’s the “money quote” from your article titled, “American Pravda: George Orwell’s Virus Lab-Leak”:
“…..we are left with the strong likelihood that Covid came from a laboratory along with a good possibility that it was designed as a bioweapon, yet we lack serious indications that any lab-leak occurred. So if the original Wuhan outbreak was due to the deployment of a powerful bioweapon but not one that had accidentally leaked from any lab, then surely China was the intended target, the victim rather than the perpetrator….
Given our ongoing military and geopolitical confrontation with China, America seems the likely source of the attack… The most likely suspects would be rogue elements of our national security establishment, probably some of the Deep State Neocons whom Trump had placed near the top of his administration.
This small handful of high-level plotters would have then drawn upon the resources of the American national security apparatus to actually carry out the operation. The virus and its dispersal devices might have been obtained from Ft. Detrick and CIA operatives or members of special forces would have been sent to Wuhan to release it…. In effect, what happened was a Dr. Strangelove-type scenario, but brought to real life.” (“American Pravda: George Orwell’s Virus Lab-Leak”, Ron Unz, The Unz Review)
Mike Pompeo: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole … we had entire training courses … It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
So, here’s the question: Do you think recent developments lend credibility to your explosive theory or do you now believe that Covid-19 was merely “accidentally” leaked through human error?
Ron Unz– As everyone knows, over the last month the entire “mainstream narrative” of the Covid outbreak has been completely overturned. Just a few weeks ago, anyone suggesting the virus was artificial was denounced and ridiculed as a “conspiracy theorist” and any such statements were automatically banned by Facebook.
But exactly these same prohibited ideas are now widely accepted and promoted by leading figures in the media and political establishments. The 45-year veteran of the New York Times who spearheaded its Covid coverage has now admitted that he was completely mistaken, and that the virus probably came from a lab. The three billion Facebook users can now openly discuss this possibility.
The total collapse of this “natural virus” propaganda-bubble was produced by a self-published 11,000 word article by longtime science journalist Nicholas Wade. Yet the astonishing thing is that almost none of the crucial facts he cited in his article were new. Nearly all of Wade’s important evidence had been publicly available for a full year, but was simply ignored by our entire political and media establishment, partly because Trump took that position and they all hated Trump.
So the virus probably came from a lab. But the question now becomes “which lab?” Just as the MSM had promoted the totally unsubstantiated belief that Covid was natural, the MSM has now begun promoting the equally unsubstantiated belief that Covid accidentally leaked from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. However, the evidence of any such Wuhan lab-leak is so thin as to be almost invisible.
It’s true that Chinese researchers at that lab were experimenting with related bat viruses, but many American researchers were doing very similar experiments, and for decades bat viruses have also been the central focus of America’s huge biowarfare program.
Wuhan is an enormously large metropolis of 11 million, much larger than New York City, and the Wuhan lab is located 20 miles(!) from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which was the earliest epicenter of the Wuhan outbreak. A distance of 20 miles seems pretty far for an accidental lab-leak.
Immediately after the initial Wuhan outbreak, the virus began infecting Iran’s top political elites, and killing a number of them. Isn’t it implausible that a random lab-leak in Wuhan would so quickly jump to the Holy City of Qom on the other side of the world?
There are many other aspects of the timing of the outbreak that seem very inconsistent with a random, accidental lab-leak.
Until a few weeks ago, the MSM and Facebook shut down anyone who disagreed with the “natural virus” theory, even though the evidence for an artificial virus had always been much stronger. They’ve now said “Oops! We were wrong. The virus probably came from a lab.” So I think they’ll now have a much harder time shutting down any debate about which lab.
Once people became aware of the basic facts of the virus, belief that it was artificial natural quickly collapsed. And once people become aware of the basic facts of the initial Covid outbreak, I think that belief in an accidental lab-leak will also begin to collapse.
What is this Defense Intelligence Agency report that the US and all its allies received on the second week of November, 2019 ? Not Wuhan? Could we know?
Question 2–You seem to have anticipated my next question, but I’ll go ahead and ask it anyway. In another one of your articles, you say this:
“As the coronavirus gradually began to spread beyond China’s own borders, another development occurred that greatly multiplied my suspicions. Most of these early cases had occurred exactly where one might expect, among the East Asian countries bordering China. But by late February Iran had become the second epicenter of the global outbreak. Even more surprisingly, its political elites had been especially hard-hit, with a full 10% of the entire Iranian parliament soon infected and at least a dozen of its officials and politicians dying of the disease, including some who were quite senior. Indeed, Neocon activists on Twitter began gleefully noting that their hatred Iranian enemies were now dropping like flies.
Let us consider the implications of these facts. Across the entire world the only political elites that have yet suffered any significant human losses have been those of Iran, and they died at a very early stage, before significant outbreaks had even occurred almost anywhere else in the world outside China. Thus, we have America assassinating Iran’s top military commander on Jan. 2nd and then just a few weeks later large portions of the Iranian ruling elites became infected by a mysterious and deadly new virus, with many of them soon dying as a consequence. Could any rational individual possibly regard this as a mere coincidence?”
My question is this: Is this the smoking gun? In other words, do these two “attacks” on enemies of the United States strongly suggest Washington’s involvement?
So much scheming, one narrative for the public, one in secret sharing only among themselves? To destroy China and Iran in one blast? No?
Ron Unz– Well, it’s certainly an *extremely* odd coincidence for those who claim the global Covid outbreak was caused by an accidental, random lab-leak of a virus in Wuhan, China.
Iran is on the other side of the world from China, and very few Chinese visit the Holy City of Qom. So it’s extremely strange that the Covid virus would have jumped so extremely quickly from a Wuhan lab-leak to Iran’s top political leadership, which suffered the next major outbreak.
A few weeks afterward, the third major world outbreak began in Northern Italy, but 200,000 Chinese live and work in that region, and many had just returned from their Lunar New Year holiday in China. The Chinese population in Qom is absolutely negligible by comparison. The Italian outbreak makes perfectly logical sense while the one in Qom does not.
None of this constitutes proof, but it raises huge doubts about the likelihood of the random lab-leak hypothesis. By contrast, the deliberate release of a viral bioweapon seems a much more plausible explanation of both these outbreaks.
America has the world’s largest and most comprehensive biowarfare program, and America’s two leading international adversaries—China and Iran—were almost simultaneously hit by a mysterious, deadly virus. Suspicion seems to point in a pretty obvious direction.
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For about a year, most experts had agreed that the Covid outbreak in Wuhan probably began in late October or early November of 2019. By a remarkable coincidence, there were 300 American military servicemen visiting Wuhan for the World Military Games, which ended in late October. That visit would have provided perfect cover for America to slip a couple of operatives into the group, and have them release the virus in the city. With thousands of foreign military personnel traveling around and doing sightseeing, any risk of detection would have been minimal. That seems much more plausible than the risk of finding and using local Chinese operatives.
What would Americans think if 300 Chinese military officers paid an extended visit to Chicago, and immediately afterwards a mysterious, deadly viral epidemic suddenly broke out in that city?
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In any event, our biological warfare capability certainly does exist, with the Ft. Detrick facility being our leading lab. Trump’s lackadaisical response once Covid began leaking back into the U.S. hardly suggests that he initially realized it might be a dangerous bioweapon, so he seems to have been entirely ignorant of the facts. Therefore, the attack against China (and Iran) would have been a rogue operation, probably carried out by elements of the national security apparatus associated with the Deep State Neocons at the top of his administration.
If someone sufficiently senior had been behind the plot, I think it would have been easy for the conspirators to have drawn upon America’s military resources to carry out the operation, with all those lower-level participants believing that they were part of a fully-authorized strike against America’s leading geopolitical adversaries, just as our government soon afterward assassinated Iran’s top military commander. Probably someone such as such as Secretary of State (and former CIA Director) Mike Pompeo or National Security Advisor John Bolton would have had been able to orchestrate the attack.
Such individuals had the means, motive, and opportunity, so it seems absurd for the media to so totally ignore this possibility.
“Such individuals had the means, motive, and opportunity, so it seems absurd for the media to so totally ignore this possibility.”
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Most experts believe that the Covid outbreak in Wuhan probably began in late October or early November, but since infections took some time to spread and the virus was initially undetectable, no one in the Chinese government was aware of the outbreak until the end of December. However, several American government sources later revealed to ABC News that as early as November 2019, our Defense Intelligence Agency had distributed a secret report to government officials warning that a “cataclysmic” disease outbreak was taking place in Wuhan. The Pentagon afterwards denied the story, but Israeli TV independently confirmed that the report indeed existed and had been distributed to our NATO allies and Israel. The secret DIA report was prepared in “the second week of November,” at a time when probably only a couple of dozen people were starting to feel a little sick in Wuhan, a city of 11 million, and more than a month before anyone in the Chinese government discovered the outbreak. These facts seem almost impossible to explain if the virus was either natural or was accidentally leaked from the Wuhan lab.
The CoG Communities have been trumpeting that after resurrection, Christ went to heaven to present Himself to His Father to be accepted as a sacrifice. They base their “evidence” on the waving of the mistranslation of “omar” as “wave sheaf” in Leviticus 23:11 “And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
But where are the evidence? The timeline below shows that Jesus was hour-by-hour on the earth after being resurrected.
They led Him to be crucified — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (7:00 AM) John 19:16 Then he delivered Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away. 17 And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Skull (which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha)
The Third hour — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (9:00 AM) — 3rd hour John 19:18 where they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the midst. — here, Jesus was nailed to the cross, with two others besides Him 19 And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews. 20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, “Write not ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” 23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith, “They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture did they cast lots.” These things therefore the soldiers did.
Mark 15:25 And it was the third hour (9 AM) when they crucified Him.
29 And those who passed by railed at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself and come down from the cross!” 31 Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, “He saved others; himself he cannot save! 32 Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” And those who were crucified with Him reviled Him. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said unto His mother, “Woman, behold thy son!” 27 Then said He to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!” And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home.
Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour (12 NOON) had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3 PM). Luke 23:44 And it was about the sixth hour (12 NOON), and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (3 PM). 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.” 29 Now there was set there a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon a hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour (3 PM) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he calleth Elijah.” 36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink, saying, “Let him alone. Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.
Earthquakes and graves opened— 14th Nisan, Wednesday (3.00 PM) — 9th hour Matthew 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rented in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks rent. 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose, 53 and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
Preparation for the Passover— 14th Nisan, Wednesday (4:00 PM) — 10th hour John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, and so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs, 34 but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bore record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truly, that ye might believe. 36 For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled: “A bone of Him shall not be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture saith, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
The women watched — 14th Nisan, Wednesday (4:30 PM) Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome 41 (who also, when He was in Galilee, had followed Him and ministered unto Him), and many other women who came up with Him unto Jerusalem.
Joseph of Arimathea— 14th Nisan, Wednesday (5:00 PM) — 11th hour Mark 15:42 And now when the evening had come, because it was the Preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), — that Sabbath was a High Day, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable council member who also was waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. 45 And when he learned it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought fine linen, and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid.
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First Day of Unleavened Bread — 15th Nisan, Thursday (9:00 AM) — 3rd hour Matthew 27:62 Now the next day, that following the Day of the Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 Command therefore that the sepulcher be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, ‘He is risen from the dead,’ so that the last error shall be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said unto them, “Ye have a watch. Go your way, make it as secure as ye can.” 66 So they went and made the sepulcher secure, sealing the stone and setting up a watch.
Thursday Evening — Beginning of 16th Nisan (7:00 PM) — 1st watch Mark 16:1 And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought sweet spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.
Friday Afternoon — Afternoon of 16th (1-5 PM) to Beginning of 17th (6 PM) Luke 23:56 And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. — resting on the weekly Sabbath
Saturday Evenings — End of 17th (5-6 PM) to the Dawn of 18th (6-7 PM) Matthew 28:1 At the end of the Sabbath (G4521, sab’-bat-on), as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week (G4521, sab’-bat-on), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. — Dawn is the beginning (of the 24-hr day), so that the three days and nights remain intact.
The Proper translation should be: At the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the beginning of [a new] week (G4521, sab’-bat-on), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards shook and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, “Fear ye not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and behold, He goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see Him. Lo, I have told you.”
Sunday Morning — Dawn of 18th of Nisan (4-5 AM) Mark 16:2 And very early in the morning on the first day of the week (beginning of a new week G4521, sab’-bat-on), they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?” 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very large. 5 And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were frightened. — no mentioning that his countenance was like lightning. Also, Luke account (Luke 24:4) says they saw two men stood by them, not one sitting; John account of two angels both sitting, one at each end of Christ tomb:
Luke 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 And as they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” 8 And they remembered His words,
6 And he said unto them, “Be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. 7 But go your way. Tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see Him, as He said unto you.”
Luke 24:9 and returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James, and other women who were with them, who told these things unto the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
Sunday Morning— Morning of 18th Nisan (7-8 AM) John 20:2 Then she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple (Most guessed him as John), whom Jesus loved, and said unto them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid Him!” 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. 4 And they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came first to the sepulcher. 5 And stooping down and looking in, he saw the linen cloth lying, yet he went not in. 6 Then came Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher and saw the linen cloths as they lay 7 and the napkin that had been about His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who came first to the sepulcher, went in also; and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. — none of the angels appeared to the men. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home (went back to where they were staying in Jerusalem).
Sunday Morning — Morning of 18th Nisan (9-10 AM) John 20:11 But Mary stood outside at the sepulcher weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, 12 and saw two angels in white, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they said unto her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She said unto them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.” 14 And when she had thus said, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said unto her, “Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said unto Him, “Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said unto her, “Mary!” She turned herself and said unto Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, “Master”). 17 Jesus said unto her, “Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say unto them, ‘I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” — Do not cling to Me
MEV Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’ ” to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” NASB Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” CJB “Stop holding onto me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t yet gone back to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am going back to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her.
Sunday Morning — Morning of 18th Nisan (10-11 AM) Matthew 28:8 And they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. — “Great joy” because they had seen the resurrected Jesus. 9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail.” And they came, and held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him. — see, they held Him by the feet a few moments later! 10 Then said Jesus unto them, “Be not afraid. Go tell My brethren to go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me.” — Note the different terms: Disciples don’t necessarily include brethren.
Sunday Noon — Noon of 18th Nisan (12:00 Noon) Matthew 28:11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city and reported unto the chief priests all the things that were done. 12 And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money unto the soldiers, 13 saying, “Say ye, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and secure you.” 15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this account is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Sunday Afternoon— Afternoon of 18th Nisan (2:00 – 5:30 PM) Luke 24:13 And behold, two of them were going that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about seven miles. — typically, adults walk at a speed of 3 to 4 miles per hour, and therefore seven miles would be about two hours, but they were talking so a bit slower. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass that while they communed and reasoned together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. 17 And He said unto them, “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad?” 18 And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto Him, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which have come to pass there in these days?” 19 And He said unto them, “What things?” And they said unto Him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. 21 But we trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women also of our company, who were early at the sepulcher, made us astonished. 23 And when they found not His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said, but Him they saw not.” 25 Then He said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 28 And they drew nigh unto the village whither they were going, and He made as though He would have gone further. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” And He went in to tarry with them. — this is likely to be getting dark 5:30 PM 30 And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it, and broke and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened and they knew Him. And He vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
Sunday Evening — Evening of 19th Nisan (6:00 – 7:30 PM) Luke 24:33 And they rose up that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon!” — and John perhaps 35 And they told what things were done on the way, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
Sunday Evening— Evening of 19th Nisan (10:00 – 11:00 PM) Luke 24:36 And as they thus spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and said unto them, “Peace be unto you.” 37 But they were terrified and afraid, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said unto them, “Why are ye troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me to have.” 40 And when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. John 20:20 And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Then said Jesus to them again, “Peace be unto you. As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, “Have ye here any meat?” 42 And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate before them. — If Christ had gone to heaven and been accepted by the Father, they didn’t even give Him a meal, poor thing! Moses’ face turned white radiating with the glory of God, making the Israelites afraid to come near him, but nothing about Jesus’ face radiating white after He had returned if He had appeared before the glory of His Father. Perhaps His sacrifice wasn’t accepted, lol! 44 And He said unto them, “These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, 46 and said unto them, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. — Jesus told them many things, but He didn’t tell them that He had gone to heaven and had been accepted by the Father. Perhaps He forgot!
Conclusion: The hour-by-hour timeline above doesn’t support that the resurrected Christ had gone up to heaven and be accepted by the Father. Second, the Lamb in Leviticus 23:12 wasn’t waved! Weird! Why wasn’t this Lamb waved if it were to represent Christ? Third, if waving means going up to heaven and back, then why the 3000 new convertson Pentecost (Acts 2) didn’t similarly go up to heaven as they were also waved (Lev 23:20), each should be giving warning the others “don’t touch me” along the way up and back from heaven on that day of Pentecost, wouldn’t they?
This timeline above is conclusive. The end-time CoG Communities have had their share of nonsensical interpretations which have caused great delusions among themselves. Most of these Blind Guides didn’t even notice the Lamb in Leviticus 23:12! It is nice to believe that Christ was waved and accepted by the Father before the Throne in heaven, but where are the evidence? Not a single one is given.
Instead the CoG Communities have been infiltrated by the long arms of the sun-worshipping Samaritans to pin down Shavuot on Sundays as they have succeeded in pinning the weekly Sabbath on Sundays with the same success. Now this Samaritan-inspired “White Sunday Pentecost” or “Whitsunday Pentecost” doctrine is a well-entrenched ideology within the CoG Communities!
With over 50 years in the ministry, Fred Coulter has written a comprehensive book on Passover and since then has been the flagship for those who keep Passover on the early fourteenth of Nisan. His book is now over 28 years, spread over three editions, and claimed to have covered all and every issue of the Passover. There is much truth in this claim, so this series of critiques follow his order of Passover issues in his book. Readers can study these critiques from (a) to (l) — from Chapter One to Chapter Nineteen.
On the issue of erev it is defined by the Orthodoxy as “after noon and until nightfall.” Between the two eves (erevs) is the time between the eve of the first decline of the day and the eve of the onset of the night. There are two evenings, one from the time the sun begins to decline, the other is after the sun has gone down.
The time between the eve of the First Evening and eve of the Second Evening is the time “between the two evenings.”
To put it another way: “between the two evenings” is from the time when the sun begins to incline towards the west, which is from the sixth hour [noon or 12 o’clock] and onwards. It is erevim [plural – “evenings”] because there are TWO EVENINGS, for “between the two evenings” is from the time that the sun begins to decline as one evening, and the other evening is after the sun has GONE DOWN.
Fred Coulter has addressed this issue at great length. Of course, like most in the CoG Communities, he has a contrary view.
So all of the critiques of Fred Coulter’s Passover issues are in this Blog site HERE:
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Passover, its Importance a Matter of Life and Death — “to eat the Passover” — Exodus 12:43; — “to kill the Passover” — Exodus 12:21, II Chronicles 35:6; — “to sacrifice the Passover” — Deuteronomy 16:2; — “to roast the Passover” — II Chronicles 35:13.
Chapter Two
The Real Meaning of “Passover” — and when I see the blood, I will “pass over” (H6452) you Ex 12:13; the Lord will pass over (H6452) the door Ex 12:23; or — it is the Lord’S Passover H6453 Ex 12:11. The Ordinances of keeping the Passover
What is Ben Ha Arbayim (H6153) — “Between the Two Evenings” — dusk? twilight? — “after noon and until nightfall”?
Chapter Four
What is ba erev — at even? What is ben ha arbayim — between the evening? — is ben ha arbayim immediately follows erev? What are all the Passover Ordinances?
A Critique of Chapter Three and Four (b) HERE~ —— ~
Chapter Five
What is Evening (erev) and Morning (boqer)? Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 — the Quails and Manna How is Erev Different from Ben Ha Arbayim?
“At sunset, or ba erev, is a very short period of time.” Is it no more than 3-5 minutes? “The length of time for ben ha arbayim varies around 30-40 minutes?”
Chapter Seven
Who are behind Everett Fox translation and Schocken Books? And Schocken Bible? What Does “Night” (Lailah) and “Morning” (Boqer) Mean?
A Critique of Chapter Six and Seven (d) HERE ~ —— ~
Chapter Eight
The Exodus Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread Are they distinct or composite Feast/s?
Chapter Nine
Did any of the Ordinances change after Exodus? Are Blood from any Sacrifices Required to be Sprinkled at the Altar?
A Critique of Chapter Eight and Nine (e) HERE ~ —— ~
Chapter Ten
Changes in the Old Testament Passover Observance Was the Passover Killed on an Early or a Late 14th Nisan? Who exerted Passover and the Unleavened as separate Feasts? Testimonies from Jewish “Authorities” — Who Are They?
The Fallouts of Jeroboam’s refusal Jerusalem as Center of Worship Composite nature of Passover even in Exodus 12! The Reform Movement — Fleeing from the “Bondage of Judaism”
When was a Centralised Passover Instituted? Was the Temple Passover instituted by King Hezekiah?
Chapter Thirteen
Did King Josiah forged a Centralised Temple Passover service?
A Critique of Chapter Twelve and Eleven (h) HERE ~ —— ~
Chapter Fourteen
Why the Composite Character in Deuteronomy 16? Was Deuteronomy 16 Edited or Forged by Ezra? The Birth and Testimony of the Aramaic Targum
Chapter Fifteen
How the Samaritans infiltrated the Jewish Community More on Deuteronomy 16 being “Edited” or “Forged”
A Critique of Chapter Fourteen and Fifteen (i) HERE ~ —— ~
Chapter Sixteen
Why was Passover not Practiced in Babylon for the Exiled? Was Jerusalem the only Place to offer a Sacrifice? Was Passover also a Sacrifice?
Chapter Seventeen
The Testimonies from the Targum and Josephus Leviticus 17 — Any Sacrifice inside or outside the Camp Deuteronomy 16:1-8 — A Comparison with the Samaritan Version
A Critique of Chapter Sixteen and Seventeen (j) HERE ~ —— ~
Chapter Eighteen
Had Ezra instituted any New Passover Law? Would endtime “Generation of vipers” be Cast into the Fire? Why did John express Passover as the “Passover of the Jews”?
Jesus’ Last Supper — Was that Meal a Passover? If so, how about any Food Remains (Number 9:12)? John 19:14 — What Time was the Sixth Hour? Did Jesus keep the Passover? Or Was He Offering Himself as the Passover? Could the 70 AD Inferno be a Microcosm of the Great Tribulation?
JESUS’ LAST HOURS — timeline of Christ’s Hours Before He died Was That Meal a Passover Meal? Luke 22:15 — What about Jesus’ Desire to eat “this Passover”? Could That Night had been the Fourteenth? Why even the Sadducaic Chief Priests stay outside the Praetorium? If John was using John 19:14 Roman time what about Luke 22:66?
Tough words about Beijing in summit communiqué but less consensus among allies about what to do.
President Biden fret about China’s Indo-Pacific and Atlantic ambitions
Boasting of restored unity thanks to the arrival of US President Joe Biden, NATO leaders on Monday declared that China poses increasing dangers to the security of Western democracies. But they revealed deep disagreements over the urgency in confronting Beijing, or even if it should be NATO’s role at all.
In their closing communiqué of an afternoon summit at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the leaders used remarkably forceful language to describe China as their most troublesome rival after Russia — given Beijing’s fast-expanding nuclear arsenal, stepped-up military cooperation with Moscow, and increasing use of disinformation.
“China’s stated ambitions and assertive behavior present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to Alliance security,” the leaders wrote. “We are concerned by those coercive policies which stand in contrast to the fundamental values enshrined in the Washington Treaty,” NATO’s founding charter.
The historic shift in focus comes partly at the urging of Biden, who has made clear he sees China as a growing threat. And NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, eager to please the richest and most powerful ally, has taken up the charge.
China is seen entering the North Atlantic thus NATO leaders declare China a new global security challenge! “Be afraid,” says David Goldman. “Be very afraid.”
Stoltenberg stressed that China was “not an adversary” but posed challenges that must be answered, and he insisted that NATO was not shifting operations to Asia but protecting itself close to home.
“This is about taking care of a core responsibility to be able to protect and defend all allies against any threat from any direction,” Stoltenberg said at his closing news conference. “Because we see China is coming closer to us in cyberspace, we see them in Africa, we see them in the Arctic, we see them trying to control our infrastructure, we had the discussion about 5G.”
He noted that the first-ever mention of China in a NATO leaders’ communiqué was from a summit in London in December 2019. “Before that, we didn’t have any language at all,” he said. “In the current Strategic Concept, China is not mentioned with a single word. Now, you can read a communiqué and you see that we have seen a convergence of views among allies.”
But there didn’t seem to be much convergence when French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to reporters just minutes later.
“On China, as I said during the meeting, I think I can say we shouldn’t confuse our goals,” Macron said. “NATO is a military organization, the issue of our relationship with China isn’t just a military issue. NATO is an organization that concerns the North Atlantic, China has little to do with the North Atlantic.”
“So, it’s very important that we don’t scatter ourselves and that we don’t bias our relationship with China,” he continued. “It is much larger than just the military issue. It is economic. It is strategic. It is about values. It is technological. And we should avoid distracting NATO which already has many challenges.”
Macron: “For my part, China isn’t part of the Atlantic, or perhaps my map is off.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the wealthiest European allied nation, stressed that Moscow still represented the biggest threat — a point evidenced by it being mentioned 62 times in the communiqué to just 10 mentions of China.
“Russia, above all, is a major challenge,” Merkel said. “China is playing an increasing role, as is the entire Indo-Pacific region. This is of course related to the fact that the United States of America, and of course the transatlantic partners as a whole, are also a Pacific nation. Here, the economic and also the military rise of China is of course an issue.”
But she also cited a risk of overreaction. “If you look at the cyber threats, the hybrid threats, if you look at the cooperation between Russia and China, then you cannot simply negate China,” Merkel said. “In this respect, I do not think that we should overestimate the importance of this, so we have to find the right balance.”
Adding another layer of discord, Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte engaged in a terse exchange of words during the leaders’ meeting over their differing views on how Europe should approach military and security policy. Macron, who has pushed for greater military cooperation among EU countries and the development of strategic autonomy, claimed most other EU leaders were with him and said it was up to Rutte “to clarify his thoughts.”
Security analysts cite a growing risk of a deep rift within the 30-nation NATO alliance if China becomes too great a focus, particularly because European militaries are relatively limited in their capabilities and the US could not simultaneously manage a military conflict in Asia while also protecting Europe along its borders with Russia.
Biden, at his own news conference after the summit, sought to focus on his overall revitalization of transatlantic bonds, which were strained almost to a breaking point by his predecessor Donald Trump.
“Everyone in that room understood the shared appreciation, quite frankly, that America is back,” he said, adding strong words about US fidelity to NATO’s collective defense clause. “The US Commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty is rock solid and unshakeable,” he said.
Biden suggested that Russia and China posed similar risks to NATO. “Russia and China are both seeking to drive a wedge in our transatlantic solidarity,” he said. And the president noted that when NATO last focused on its overall strategic outlook, in 2010, “Russia was considered a partner and China wasn’t even mentioned.”
NATO leaders bid adieu to Afghanistan, but President Biden’s and Narendra Modi’s wish for Nato’s new mission is to help India fight China in the high mountains of Ladakh.
But some allies made no mention of China whatsoever in their public comments, a reflection of how, especially in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, Russia is the sole focus.
“The US is aware of the threats faced by the Baltic States and is well informed about Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture and its aim to integrate Belarus into Russian military structures,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said in a statement following a meeting with Biden.
One Central European official said that there was clear recognition that Washington puts a priority on containing China and European countries were not disappointed. “They understand that China must be part of a new ‘transatlantic bargain’ to preserve NATO’s relevance for the US,” the official said, adding: “Plus, the attention given to Russia was pretty substantial and outspoken.”
Failing in their Uighur ETIM strategy, President Biden would like to transfer US and other Nato’s troops to these mountains of Ladakh to help India bog down China.
Indeed, Biden’s news conference focused overwhelmingly on Russia, largely because of his summit meeting on Wednesday with President Vladimir Putin.
Asked about Putin’s laughing, during a recent television interview, over Biden saying he believed the Russian president was a killer, Biden laughed dramatically. Asked about his approach, in the context of Reagan’s famous “trust but verify” approach toward the Soviet Union, Biden reversed the phrase.
“I’d verify first, and then trust,” he said “It’s not about trusting, it’s about agreeing. You know when you write treaties with your adversaries, you don’t say ‘I trust you.’ You say this is what I expect and if you violate the agreement we made, then the treaty is off, the agreement is off.”
Biden did not retract the killer accusation but said he hoped Putin might adopt a new approach. “I am hoping that President Putin concludes that there is some interest in terms of his own interest in changing the perception the world has of him in terms of whether or not he will engage in behavior that is more consistent with what is considered to be appropriate behavior for a head of state,” he said.
“Be afraid,” says David Goldman. “Be very afraid.”
“And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies” Leviticus 26:37
ASIATIMES Report “China is intervening in forex markets to soak up dollars, invest in Treasuries and effectively pay the bill of US fiscal stimulus.”
But why would China try to prop up the dollar? Remember, China’s strategy is to manage a peaceful decline of the United States. its strategy is to wait for the rotting apple to fall on its own rather than to shake the tree risking the wrath and fallout of a Samson seppuku.
NEW YORK – Hating China may be the only thing that American politicians agree about, but China remains the prop and support of the American economy.
Americans can’t spend the trillions of dollars that their federal government has poured out in “stimulus” payments without Chinese imports. And the American Treasury can’t finance its projected US$2.3 trillion deficit – not without substantial pain – unless China recycles its nearly $500 billion trade surplus with the United States into US government bonds.
The US is perilously short of money, and China is flooded with money from its trade surplus. There’s nowhere else the US can raise the money it needs except China, unless it prints more money. What economists once called “Chimerica” – the symbiosis of an American economy that borrows and imports with a Chinese economy that lends and exports – is back with a vengeance.
China’s apparent support for the US dollar has a double impact. It supports the imperiled Treasury bond market, and it also keeps Chinese goods cheap for US consumers. That has a significant impact on US inflation: America’s trade deficit is deepening while import prices are rising.
This will happen not because Biden is well disposed towards China, or because he planned to cut a deal with China, or because a cabal of China-friendly American business persuades him to do so, but simply because he is short of money and China has lots of it.
A forensic analysis of market data suggests that all of this already is happening. China is to thank for the buoyancy of the US Treasury bond market despite a sequence of inflation shocks. China appears to be intervening in the foreign exchange market to prevent its enormous trade surplus from driving down the dollar’s exchange rate against the Chinese renminbi (RMB), and then reinvesting the proceeds of intervention in American money markets.
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I would [[or wouldn’t]] be surprised to learn that the US Treasury and the PBOC have worked this out in some kind of tacit policy agreement. The current is so strong that the US is being caught up in a Sinocentric vortex of trade and capital flows whether it likes it or not.
Eventually, US-China policy will adjust to the misery of America’s present circumstances.
“Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin.”
“Be afraid,” says David Goldman. “Be very afraid.”
Martin Jacques says G7 is no longer able to order the world around. So is the G7 obsolete? Is it hopeless, divided and outdated as the Guardian had said? However, according to University of Chicago’s Professor John Mearsheimer, the G20-1 should be a better bet to dispel this sense of gloom, but China already has its Belt and Road Initiative covering over 130 nations! The problem would also mean the need for President Biden to rope the head of “a Killer” over to his “new Atlantic Charter” — but Russia says “We’re smarter than Americans think [who we are].” And second, Xi has already seen such attempts as bluffs since both of Putin’s legs are already well-entrenched in China’s Belt and Road!
Fine words will accompany the G7 summit this week. Much will be promised. And little will be delivered. It has long been like this. The G7 is no longer fit for purpose. Comprising the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan, in the 1970s the G7 was the overlord of the global economy. Today, the G7 is but a pale shadow of what it once was, reduced to the role of a declining faction within the global economy. It still talks in grandiose terms about its intentions, but the world has learnt to discount them. It is entirely appropriate that this week’s summit will be chaired by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a grandmaster of verbal exaggeration and empty gestures.
The role and importance of the G7 has been greatly diminished by the rise of the developing world. The latter now accounts for almost two-thirds of the global economy compared with one-third by the West: in the 1970s, it was exactly the opposite, the West enjoying a two-third share and the developing world just one-third. The most dramatic illustration of the G7’s waning authority came in 2008 when, at the height of the financial crisis, it was effectively displaced by the more representative G20.
Ever since, the G7 has increasingly become an institution in search of a role. Under Biden, as if to confirm its eclipse as a global institution, there is an ongoing attempt to reframe G7 as the representative and champion of the democratic world in the struggle against autocracy, shorthand for China. To this end, South Korea, India, Australia and South Africa have been invited to attend the G7 summit this week. There is even talk of the G7 becoming the D10 (D being a reference to democracy). This, however, would only serve to emphasize the declining authority of the G7: from global leader to ideological sect.
The truth, however, is that this proposal is unlikely to gain assent either among existing G7 members or potential new members, excepting perhaps Australia. Here we get to the heart of the crisis of the G7. It is the rise of China, above all else, that has transformed the global economy, sidelined the G7 and, at the same time, reconfigured the various G7 economies. Good relations with China are fundamental to the economic prospects of Germany, France and Italy. That is why they are opposed to the G7 becoming an anti-China crusade. So is Japan; and likewise would-be recruits such as South Korea and South Africa. Here laid bare, then, are the fault lines of the G7 and any potential extended membership. The West is divided and fragmenting. The authority of the US is in decline, no longer able to get its way as it once was.
The best illustration of the growing impotence of the G7 concerns its relationship with the developing world. For eight years, the West has been trying to find a way of responding to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The subject is due to be raised again at this week’s G7 summit. All the ideas that have been offered as a basis of a Western alternative to BRI have come to nought. This failure is extraordinarily significant and most revealing about the West on the one hand and China on the other.
BRI is an eloquent articulation of China’s relationship with the developing world, rooted in its own semi-colonial past and its position as a developing country. The West, in contrast, has failed because its history has been precisely the opposite, one of colonization and the exploitation and subjugation of these countries. It has neither the experience, empathy nor motivation that is required. The existential gap between the rich Western world and the developing world is a multidimensional chasm.
A dramatic example of the West’s indifference to the needs of the developing world will be on full display at the G7 summit. Although the US and UK, and increasingly Western Europe, have vaccinated a majority of their populations against COVID-19, the UK, to take one example, has not exported a single dose of vaccine to the developing world. It has kept all its vaccines for itself, even though its existing stock far exceeds its own future needs. As each new variant spreads around the world, however, it has become patently clear to everyone that no country will be protected until every country is protected.
In a pandemic, no country is an island. The US, which has so far failed to export a single dose of vaccine, is promising to export 80 million doses of vaccines later this year. Compare this with China’s record. In addition to the 777 million vaccinations already carried out in China, it has exported more than 300 million doses of vaccines to the developing world. Over half the vaccinations in Latin America, for example, have been sourced by China. It seems all too likely that the West will fail in its moral responsibility to vaccinate the developing world until it is too late and many millions have died unnecessarily.
“Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin.”
“Be afraid,” says David Goldman. “Be very afraid.”
Despite all the rhetorics, China’s strategy is to win a war without fighting a war. Despite all the posturing, China’s strategy is to manage a peaceful decline of the United States. Despite all the theatrics, China’s strategy is to wait for the rotting apple to fall on its own rather than to shake the tree risking the wrath and fallout of a Samson seppuku.
It would seem to some that a US war with China over the island of Taiwan appears imminent.
Considering the congestion of hostile forces in, above, and below the Taiwan Straits and South China Sea, conflict could explode by accident or design. Once blood is drawn, the US will have few options. If the US elects to fight China over the island of Taiwan, then it will lose.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) independence hubris is fueled by US cabinet-level China hawks and Congress’ bipartisan, bicameral Taiwan Caucus. The DPP has rejected political reunification in one China and dismissed the “one country, two systems” model under which both Taiwan and Hong Kong have gotten rich. Encouraged by US trivialization of the three joint communiqués, the DPP parades a sense of entitlement, taking for granted an umbrella of protection with full knowledge of the dire consequences for the US
The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) may not have been intended to give birth to Taiwan’s renegade secessionists, but it has done exactly that.
The DPP’s champions in the US Congress dismiss omens of fanatical China grit on the topic of Taiwan. China-bashing and Taiwan-coveting rhetoric forms an echo chamber reminiscent of the groupthink-led American Friends of Vietnam (AFV) lobby that pressured the US to commit to the Vietnam War killing 60,000 American patriots before the US disgracefully abandoned its ally.
But the Chinese are different. China’s history of the whole-of-society commitment to core national security priorities is legendary. The rebellions and unrests in the 19th century cost millions of Chinese lives. Twentieth century Chinese civil war losses ranged between 5 and 8 million, and 360,000 Chinese died in Korea, while routing and humiliating US and UN forces. In each case, the dynasties emerged stronger.
The US Congress’ interests in Taiwan are deeply conflicted, better said corrupt. The reciprocal relationship between defense lobbyists, industry contributions, and a Caucus Member’s reelectability is well documented. The bipartisan support for increasing arms sales to Taiwan and even larger defense expenditures on the US Indo-Pacific Command are logical and transparent as all parties profit from the tension and war.
Many Americans assume China’s citizenry longs for a liberal democracy like that on the island of Taiwan, and that war will trigger popular revolt. But the Taiwan question is not an ideological dispute. Rather it is a raw and painful open wound in China’s civilizational identity. Today, US othering of Chinese only fuels a fierce nationalism in its 1.4 billion citizens. China has a traditional self-narrative wherein the preservation of face and enforcement of sovereignty are inseparable.
All the while the balance of power has shifted fundamentally. The US would be wise to regard China as a peer superpower, if only due to her casualty-tolerance – China’s decisive advantage in any fight with the US. China also shares a binding mutual defense treaty with North Korea, and the depths of its friendship and security bonds with Russia should never be underestimated.
The US can think whatever it wants about China’s ideology, culture, Xinjiang and Hong Kong policies, and sovereign claims to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and surrounding seas. But, whether the US likes it or not, those are ultimately China’s internal affairs.
As for DPP claims of the Province of Taiwan’s non-Chinese identity, they are historical fiction. Fate made them Chinese just as fate made us Americans. We also know that the free will choice to carve out a territory and people from an existing nation incurs a steep price, one the Confederacy paid not long ago.
The US has never paid an existential price for violating another nation’s sovereignty, leading to our smug sense of military invincibility. However, with Taiwan being a core Chinese priority, that would be a fatal miscalculation. Still, the US counts on regional allies to share the pain. Yet some will have blood debts to pay if they engage in China’s civil war. For example, India was bloodied badly in the 1960s for testing China’s territorial resolve. Japan’s humiliating 50-year occupation of Taiwan and the Rape of Nanjing also remain fresh, unforgettable wounds for China. The US allies will definitely think twice before militarily intervening in China’s unresolved civil war and internal affairs. — Lee Kuan Yew once said Taiwan is China’s core interests, but only periphery to American interests. No way will Americans have the stomach to wage a costly and bloody war with China on this, less still its fair-weather allies.
The US could advise Taiwan’s secessionists to peaceably accept “one country, two systems” and cease its “independence” ambitions. If they don’t stop their rhetoric, the US president could rescind the TRA, as baiting China to force reunification is of the DPP’s own choosing. If Congress obstructs TRA recension, the US president could order all national security agencies to stand down in cross-Straits conflicts, keeping our powder dry for actual existential threats in the future.
In the end, the prosperous Taiwan people will make every effort to wag the American dog. But Taiwan’s fate poses no existential threat to the US, and the US should not fall into the trap of paying for their hubris with American blood. However, in view of the violent political polarization of the US at home, an ill-advised foreign war with no path to victory would only serve to accelerate America’s decline.
Written by Franz Gayl, a retired Marine Corps infantry officer who serves as a US civil servant in the Pentagon, is now under an “investigation.”
“And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies” Leviticus 26:37
•June 10, 2021 • Comments Off on Wuhan’s “Gain of Function” Exposed
“Gain of Function” experiments are when a natural pathogen is taken into the lab, made to mutate, and then assessed to see if it has become more deadly or infectious.
This research also allows the virus’s potential effects on humans to be studied and better understood. Gain of Function has been considered controversial due to its inherent biosafety risks.
In 2014, the Obama administration imposed a moratorium on Gain of Function which included halting funding for projects, however, this decision was overturned on December 19, 2017 by the National Institute of Health (NIH) under Dr Anthony Fauci who took the decision for the Institute and did not alert any White House officials.
“Scientists working in this field might say – as indeed I have said – that the benefits of such experiments and the resulting knowledge outweigh the risks,” Dr Fauci wrote in the American Society for Microbiology well back in October 2012, deciding to overturn the Obama moratorium five years later on his own authority.
Dr Anthony Fauci has denied any wrongdoing. Asked to testify, he told lawmakers that the NIH committed $600,000 to the Chinese lab through a nonprofit, to study whether bat coronaviruses could be transmitted to humans – but denied funding went towards Gain of Function research.
That appears to be technically true, as the NIH grants actually go to a New York-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance (where Dr Peter Daszak is President, later a member of the WHO team sent to investigate the origins of the virus in China) – which then subcontracts some of its work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak – who collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology on research funded by Dr Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease – appears to boast about the manipulation of “killer” SARS-like coronaviruses carried out by his “colleagues in China” in a clip unearthed by The National Pulse.
Daszak made the admission at a 2016 forum discussing “emerging infectious diseases and the next pandemic,” which appears to be at odds with Fauci’s repeated denial of funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
While describing how his organization sequences deadly viruses, Daszak describes the process of “insert[ing] spike proteins” into virusesto see if they can “bind to human cells”as being carried out by his “colleagues in China”:
“Then when you get a sequence of a virus, and it looks like a relative of a known nasty pathogen, just like we did with SARS. We found other coronaviruses in bats, a whole host of them, some of them looked very similar to SARS. So we sequenced the spike protein: the protein that attaches to cells. Then we… Well I didn’t do this work, but my colleagues in China did the work. You create pseudo particles, you insert the spike proteins from those viruses,see if they bind to human cells.At each step of this you move closer and closer to this virus could really become pathogenic in people.
“You end up with a small number of viruses that really do look like killers,” he adds.
The comments follow growing evidence that Fauci’s NIAID has deep financial and personnel ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – and that Daszak’s EcoHealth alliance was one of the primary proxies funneling the money to the Chinese Communist Party lab.
Over a dozen research papers carried out under a $3.7 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) grant list the Wuhan Lab’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Director Shi Zhengli as a co-author alongside Daszak. Shi has included these Fauci-backed grants on her resume.
The Wuhan lab has also listed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as one of its “partners,” secretly erasing the mention in March 2021.
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
•June 7, 2021 • Comments Off on Is the US the Covid-19 Mastermind?
Was the US a mastermind or just a complicit in China’s Covid-19 research?
ASIATIMES reports by STEPHEN BRYEN And SHOSHANA BRYEN / May 27, 2021
The Joe Biden administration closed the US State Department’s investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Personnel working inside the bio-level 4 lab at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick.
But as the pandemic recedes in the United States, there is renewed interest by the scientific and journalistic communities about the origins of the virus and whether it could have escaped from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). So, a day later, the president opened a new investigation.
The flip-flop came amid Senator Rand Paul’s claim at a Senate committee hearing on the Covid-19 pandemic that the US collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China to make a more deadly, transmittable coronavirus. That’s putting the Chinese lab leak theory, which Beijing vigorously denies, back at the forefront of the Covid-19 origin debate.
Hazard suits at the high-security National Biosafety Laboratory in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which received $3.7m from the US’ NIH to collect about 15,000 bat sample.
Based on papers published by WIV on the scientific work of Dr Shi Zhengli, the US government investigators have some catching up to do. In 2015, Dr Shi – popularly known as the “bat lady” – published a paper entitled “A SARS-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses show potential for human emergence.”
Her colleagues on the study included American researchers associated with the University of North Carolina’s Department of Cell Biology and may be related to work funded by the US government.
It is possible, although we don’t know, that Dr Shi and her team successfully converted a coronavirus, specifically SARS-like virus SHCO14-CoV, from bats to other animals and not only mice. It is also possible, but not proven, that the new virus quickly spread to other animals and then to lab workers, three of whom became sick in November 2019, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
This is known as “gain of function” research, which is considered by the US to very dangerous. Between 2014 and 2017, gain of function research, which had been actively subsidized by The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies, was suspended in the US.
“Gain of Function” experiments are when a natural pathogen is taken into the lab, made to mutate, and then assessed to see if it has become more deadly or infectious.
This research also allows the virus’s potential effects on humans to be studied and better understood. Gain of Function has been considered controversial due to its inherent biosafety risks.
In 2014, the Obama administration imposed a moratorium on Gain of Function which included halting funding for projects, however, this decision was overturned on December 19, 2017 by the National Institute of Health (NIH) under Dr Anthony Fauci who took the decision for the Institute and did not alert any White House officials.
“Scientists working in this field might say – as indeed I have said – that the benefits of such experiments and the resulting knowledge outweigh the risks,” Dr Fauci wrote in the American Society for Microbiology well back in October 2012, deciding to overturn the Obama moratorium five years later on his own authority.
Dr Anthony Fauci has denied any wrongdoing. Asked to testify, he told lawmakers that the NIH committed $600,000 to the Chinese lab through a nonprofit, to study whether bat coronaviruses could be transmitted to humans – but denied funding went towards Gain of Function research.
That appears to be technically true, as the NIH grants actually go to a New York-based nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance (where Dr Peter Daszak is President, later a member of the WHO team sent to investigate the origins of the virus in China) – which then subcontracts some of its work to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Slightly later, in 2019, the US temporarily closed some laboratories, including the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, Maryland, over safety issues.
Mistakes and errors in labs
According to the CDC: “The two breaches [at Fort Detrick] reported by USAMRIID to the CDC demonstrated a failure of the Army laboratory to ‘implement and maintain containment procedures sufficient to contain select agents or toxins’ that were made by operations in biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratories …”
Level 4 is, in theory, the most secure type of laboratory known today; China’s WIV is also a Level 4 lab. But not all the Wuhan laboratory followed Level 4 standards and there are, as Fort Detrick shows, lapses that need to be accounted for.
In fact, the same kind of lapses that happened at Fort Detrick, which centered on waste treatment, also happened at the Wuhan lab.
The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada’s only level four lab.
Furthermore, Fort Detrick was working with other American and foreign labs, which may have included Chinese facilities. For example, Fort Detrick was connected to Canada’s National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, which was thoroughly penetrated by the Chinese, including at least one known member of China’s biowarfare community.
According to Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper: “One of the Chinese researchers, Feihu Yan, from the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Academy of Military Medical Sciences, worked for a period of time at the Winnipeg lab, a Level 4 facility equipped to handle some of the world’s deadliest diseases.”
There were at least seven Chinese scientists at the lab. Two of them, “Xiangguo Qiu and her biologist husband, Keding Cheng, were fired in January (2021) after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service … recommended that their security clearances be removed on national security grounds,” (allegedly for sending samples of deadly viruses to the Wuhan lab).
On at least one occasion, Qiu, and probably others, visited the Fort Detrick Laboratory. The details are not known, but it can be reasonably surmised that the Winnipeg Lab and Fort Detrick were cooperating, and this cooperation might have included Wuhan.
Unsupervised, this pretty “Snow White” Shi Zhengli was busying herself in the dark catching bats and doing labwork for a “science-maniac” Professor Ralph Baric.
Was Canada a weak link?
Given Fort Detrick’s security level, further investigation is essential.
It also begs the question of Canada giving Chinese scientists, including at least one from the PLA’s Academy of Military Sciences, top secret clearances.
The US and Canada, as part of the North American Defense Sharing Agreement, share classified information, which means there is a strong possibility that some classified American information made its way to Winnipeg and then to Wuhan or elsewhere in China.
Not only does WIV need further investigation, but so do American institutions including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the CDC and Fort Detrick.
In 2017 and 2018, the US did at least two inspections of the Wuhan Laboratory. That raises the question of why did a US inspection team gain entry multiple times to a sensitive Chinese laboratory?
The answer seems to be that the Americans had special status because of high-level, top-secret cooperation between the US, China and other partners (eg, Canada).
With the help of a “batwoman Shi Zhengli,” is Professor Ralph Baric the Father of COVID-19?
Top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci has said it would have been “almost a dereliction of our duty” if the NIH had not worked with China to study coronaviruses and “collaborate” with “very respectable Chinese scientists.”
“Respectable scientists” working for the Chinese government. That’s another avenue for investigation.
International collaboration suggests the US may have halted gain of function research because it was easier and less politically risky to let China do it. China has lower legal standards – try litigating in China if you have any doubt – and, as Fauci said, the US government funded Chinese labs and happily published papers by Chinese scientists.
Those papers today give us a partial record of what the Chinese with the CDC and NIH – and perhaps even the US Army – were up to.
The CIA changes course
The US intelligence community had to know all of this, and a lot more.
But the CIA and other senior American officials, including James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, insisted that Covid-19 did not come from the Wuhan Laboratory but was zoonotic, namely that it was transmitted in nature by animals.
Today the CIA appears to have tentatively reversed course as American scientists press for more information.
Mike Pompeo: “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole … we had entire training courses … It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
A proper investigation would have to ask why the US would trust China, knowing how sloppy the Chinese are about food and safety standards. The faulty ventilators, Covid-19 test kits and N-95 masks for physicians and health workers that were sent abroad by China after the outbreak of the epidemic illustrated this clearly for the world to see.
But beyond sloppiness, it seems the US decided to fund and shift dangerous research to Chinese labs run by the Chinese state. The Biden administration erred in closing the investigation and is right to have opened a new one.
•June 5, 2021 • Comments Off on Come Covid Clean America!
Amid growing controversy about the virus’s origins, US President Joe Biden has ordered intelligence agencies to investigate the emergence of Covid-19. In a statement, Mr Biden asked US intelligence groups to “redouble their efforts” and report to him within 90 days.
But 116 NATIONS had already backed the VIRUS PROBE over a year ago, but Not the UNITED STATES! Why?
Many countries have signed up to support Australia’s call for an international COVID-19 inquiry at the World Health Assembly, but not the leading Nation of this world.
Electron microscope image (Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus particles) made available by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick
At least 116 countries have now signed up as co-sponsors of the draft motion calling for an investigation, but not the United States.
Britain, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and Russia have put forth their support.
The EU draft resolution now has 116 co-sponsors, after the entire African Group and its member states joined the initial list of 62 countries, which included Australia, Russia, the UK and Japan.
The countries now backing the inquiry are Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, the African Group and its Member States, the European Union and its Member States, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. — But but wait: where is the United States?
Why IS the United States SO reluctant to open Fort Detrick for an investigation? If the operation surrounding Fort Detrick is clean there is nothing to hide. But if something there is fishy, then there are lots to hide!
Another European diplomat told the ABC China might well vote for the motion even if it didn’t join as a co-sponsor.
He said Beijing opened the door to supporting the EU motion last week when its Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it was “not the same thing” as Australia’s push for a probe.
Meanwhile, United States diplomats have been pressing for tougher language that calls for a probe into how the virus started in China.
B1617 a fourth COVID-19 variant of concern
US President Donald Trump said repeatedly the coronavirus originated in a Chinese virology lab but declined to provide any evidence for his claim that is likely to further increase tension with China over the origins of the pandemic.
Asked about providing evidence, he responded, “Yes, yes I have,” he said, declining to give specifics. “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters: “China could have spared the world a descent into global economic malaise. They had a choice but instead – instead – China covered up the outbreak in Wuhan. China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe.”
“Mr Pompeo repeatedly spoke up but he cannot present any evidence. How can he? Because he doesn’t have any,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
FORT DETRICK, the nerve center of US biological weapons program, was “shut down” in July 2019 but resumed back on November 25, 2019. Is this FORT the Source of COVID-19?
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua expressed stance on the issue of origin-tracing at the press conference: “If the United States truly respects facts, it should open the biological lab at Fort Detrick, give more transparency to issues like its 200-plus overseas bio-labs, invite WHO experts to conduct origin-tracing in the United States.”
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart;and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness. — That was written in Old Testament time in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, but at the enlightened endtime, the intended Israelites are groping in the light.
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former President Ma Ying-jeou said the US will not come to Taiwan’s aid in the case of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
On a Monday afternoon, Ma was invited by a non-governmental organization to deliver a speech on cross-strait relations and Taiwanese national security. He stated that China’s strategy of striking Taiwan is to “let the first battle be the last,” suggesting that the communist nation aims to launch a quick war so that Taiwan does not have time to wait for American military support, CNA reported.
The president should prevent war from happening, Ma remarked, referring to President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent comment to foreign media that if Taiwan is attacked by China, Beijing will “pay a great price.” She also said that after the nation endures the first wave of attacks, she hopes countries around the world will come to assist it.
Ma said he was worried because the nation’s military is aware of China’s strategy. Once war has begun, it will be over in a very short period of time, he predicted, giving Taiwan no chance to wait for the US military.
The former two-term president added that in fact, there is no way the US would even come to the rescue in such a situation.
Taiwan’s “first battle will be the last” former President Ma Ying-jeou predicted Taiwan’s prospect of winning a war with China on August 10, 2020.
Ma stated: “Whoever is president should not tell our compatriots how many days [the nation] can last in a war but rather tell our compatriots that he or she can prevent war from happening.”
”There is a Chinese saying, it takes 10 years to sharpen a sword. We have spent 60 years sharpening two swords. And they are the best.” — Chinese researcher Han Guilai
Imagine a wind tunnel, capable of simulating flights at Mach 30 — that’s 23,000 mph, or, 30 times the speed of sound.
It may sound like science fiction, but in fact, China has built a hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing which could put the superpower decades ahead of the West, according to a report in UK’s .
Researcher Han Guilai, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that together with another facility, also in Beijing, China will be about 20 to 30 years ahead of other powers.
China and countries such as the US and Russia have invested heavily in the development of hypersonic flight technology including missiles.
The futuristic tech could make it possible for super-fast jets to fly anywhere in the world in two hours or less.
It could also make space travel accessible to ordinary people as the hypersonic aircraft could cut costs by more than 90 per cent, reports say.
Wind tunnels have helped China push ahead with the technology.
Instead of using mechanical compressors, Beijing uses chemical explosions to generate high speed air flow.
Fuel burns in the JF-22 at speeds 100 million times faster than a regular gas stove creating shock waves similar to those experienced by jets at hypervelocity.
At America’s most advanced wind tunnel, named the LENS II, simulated flights last 30 milliseconds.
In comparison, JF-22’s average flight simulation can reach 130 milliseconds, Guilai said.
He said: “Our experiment time is much longer than theirs, so the aircraft model can be larger than theirs, and the experiments can be more advanced than theirs.
“This determines our leading position in the world.”
The technology is also hugely important when it comes to weapons. The lethal DF-17 ”carrier killer” can perform extreme manoeuvers as it hurtles at Mach 10 — some 7,600 mph — towards a target; the DF-17 could tear through a big ship like the US Navy’s latest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford — putting it out of action.
Shanghai-born Qian Xuesen, considered ”the father of China’s rocket program,” coined the term ”hypersonic” in 1946 after he found that the behaviour of air flow was completely different at five times faster than sound.
Qian Xuesen (11 Dec 1911 – 31 Oct 2009)
Qian single-handedly led China’s space and military rocketry efforts after he was drummed out of the United States during the red-baiting of the McCarthy era.
Upon his return, Qian began a remarkably successful career in rocket science, boosted by the reputation he garnered for his past achievements (in MIT and Caltech) as well as Chinese state support for his nuclear research. He led and eventually became the father of the Chinese missile program, which constructed the Dongfeng ballistic missiles and the Long March space rockets.
A former US Secretary of the Navy, Dan Kimball — later head of the rocket propulsion company, Aerojet — would later say about Qian’s expulsion that it was ”the stupidest thing this country ever did. He was no more a Communist than I was, and we forced him to go [back to China].”
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Huawei, one of the leading providers of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures and smart devices, is going to launch two satellites together, along with two Chinese partners this year, as reported by a global news website.
Huawei to launch more satellites for 6G
The launch is scheduled to be in July, with the aim to verify the 6G network technologies. Huawei has taken lead in the research and development (R&D) 6G technology around the world.
The two Chinese partners are said to be network operator China Mobile and a national space firm, details of which has not been unveiled, but has great significance for China’s core technologies such as networking and switching.
According to Ma Jihua, a senior tech industry analyst based in Beijing, “The satellite move is natural as Huawei pushes ahead its layout on 6G networks, which is 50 times faster than 5G.”
Ma explained that 6G networks convey higher frequencies need using the satellite for communication instead of base stations, whereas 5G networks rely on base stations to transmit signals.
Earlier this month, Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced at Huawei global analysts conference that the Chinese tech giant will launch its 6G networks in 2030, and it will release a 6G white paper soon to explain to the industry what 6G is.
During a global 6G summit in 2019, Huawei had proposed it vision to launch more than 10,000 small satellites to provide 6G services covering the world,
10,000 small satellites to transmit 6G services
According to Ma, the potential of 6G technologies is something that no government or firm could ignore despite the fact that it is still at the early R&D phase.
China’s satellite constellation, as current projects Hongyun and Hongyan have been involved in, aims to enable broader online access for people and businesses in China’s remote and poorer areas. While the 6G satellite is more used for tests and providing data in popular urban areas, Ma added.
The Five Eyes is a system of electronic espionage by Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. They have excluded Huawei from their auctions.
“Their decision (to ban Huawei) will put the Five Eyes ten years behind China (and the EU if it resists US pressure) in 5G and its associated technologies” Godfree Roberts
On May 8 the European Medicines Agency (EMA) an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medical products, using the data base EudraVigilance which collects reports of suspected side effects of medicines including vaccines, published a report that barely warranted mention in major mainstream media.
Through May 8, 2021 they had recorded 10,570 deaths and 405,259 injuries following injections of four experimental COVID-19 shots: COVID-19 mRNA VACCINE of MODERNA (CX-024414); COVID-19 mRNA VACCINE of PFIZER-BIONTECH; COVID-19 VACCINE of ASTRAZENECA (CHADOX1 NCOV-19); and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 VACCINE (AD26.COV2.S).
A detailed analysis of each vaccine gives the following:
The Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA gene-edited vaccine resulted in the largest fatalities – 5,368 deaths and 170,528 injuries or nearly 50% of the total for all four.
The Moderna mRNA vaccine was second with 2,865 deaths and 22,985 injuries. That is to say, the only two gene manipulated mRNA experimental vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, accounted for 8,233 deaths of the total registered deaths of 10,570. That’s 78% of all deaths from the four vaccines currently in use in the EU.
And among the serious side effects or injuries recorded by the EMA, for the two mRNA vaccines which we focus on in this article, for the Pfizer “experimental” vaccine, most reported injuries included blood and lymphatic system disorders including deaths; cardiac disorders including deaths; musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders; respiratory, thoracic and mediastinal disorders, and vascular disorders.
For the Moderna mRNA vaccine, most serious injuries or causes of death included blood and lymphatic system disorders; cardiac disorders; musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders; disorders of the central nervous system. Note that these are only the most serious injuries related to those two genetically manipulated mRNA vaccines. The EMA also notes that it is believed that only a small percent of actual vaccine deaths or serious side effects, perhaps only 1% to 10%, are reported for various reasons. Officially more than 10,000 persons have died after receiving the coronavirus vaccines since January, 2021 in the EU. That is a horrifying number of vaccine-related deaths, even if the true numbers are far greater.
“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness” Deuteronomy 28:28-29.
•May 27, 2021 • Comments Off on Taiwan’s Endless Troubles
Taiwan’s continuous whammy threatens its own future
AsiaTimes reports Drought, power outages and a Covid-19 outbreak will crimp TSMC’s and others’ ability to deliver ramped-up chip production / MAY 24, 2021
Taiwan’s Covid-19 Surge / May 26, 2021
Taiwan’s chipmakers are being hit simultaneously with drought, power shortages and a worst-yet wave of Covid-19, a confluence that threatens to undermine already strained global supply chains.
That threat is greatest to chip producer TSMC, the world’s leading supplier of cutting-edge semiconductors that power everything from iPhones to newfangled electric vehicles.
At least one engineer employed by the chipmaker at its vital Taichung fab tested positive for the virus last weekend, while the central Taiwanese city grapples with a viral spread from Taipei with the confirmation of 11 fresh infections, according to Taiwanese papers.
But the worst of the flare-up is likely yet to come after what started as sloppy quarantine arrangements for aircrew members at Taipei’s main airport ignited a community outbreak two weeks ago. The pathogen has spun out of control on the island, once praised for almost vanquishing the virus.
The island logged 334 new cases on Monday, with another 256 infections reported but not instantly confirmed in the past week. The spike is steep given the island’s modest total of fewer than 5,000 cases so far.
TSMC has sought to allay concerns, saying that only one infection among its technicians would not cause it to reduce output. With Taiwan slipping into a Covid crisis, however, more infections are feared among TSMC‘s army of engineers and workers in plants across the island.
In the meantime, the impact of Taiwan’s perennial power shortage has also had its toll on TSMC. Within five days in the past week, the island of 24 million residents was hit by two massive power outages when blackouts occurred in domino fashion.
In the second accident on May 18, 20 million industrial and household users from Taipei to Taichung were left without power.
Power supplies are drying up further amid Taiwan’s longest spell of drought in more than half a century, with hydropower plants operating way below capacity and many reservoirs and rivers running dry.
Taiwan’s Economic Daily reported last week that TSMC had been hiring fire engines to deliver water to its headquarters campus and plants in Hsinchu. The city that is hailed as Taiwan’s Silicon Valley will start rationing water next month.
“The problems TSMC is now grappling with all of a sudden and on multiple fronts in Taiwan can be symptomatic of the island’s constraints, complacency and vulnerability that will increasingly hamper the growth of its key companies in difficult and unsettled times,” Chen Cze-yao, a professor of economics at a Taiwanese university, told Asia Times.
Earlier on March 22, 2021 RT reports Taiwan’s air force has confirmed that one pilot died and another remains missing after two antiquity F-5E fighter jets collided and crashed into the sea off the island’s southeastern coast during a training mission.
Taiwan loses two ancient jets in apparent collision
It is believed that both pilots ejected before the jets hit the water but so far only one pilot has been found. Air force Chief of Staff Huang Chih-wei said the pilot was found unconscious and airlifted to hospital by helicopter but later died.
Designed back in the last century, the well-polished F-5 fleet that should have been on display in a museum for children to amuse with, has now finally got itself grounded, all training missions stopped and any pretension of a great power exposed.
The collision is the third such crash in six months and raises questions about the capacity of Taiwan’s air force, particularly amid increasing pressure from Beijing and incursions by Chinese military air assets.
In October a similar antiquitous F-5 crashed while a month later a more modern F-16 also crashed off the coast of Taitung. The pilots died on both occasions.
“Be afraid,” warns David Goldman for his home country; but he also has one for its illegitimate lover, Taiwan: “Be very afraid.”
•May 21, 2021 • Comments Off on Is there a Calendar Omen?
The Essenes had their own calendar, but they were wiped out during the 70 AD Inferno, so is there a connection? Is there a Calendar Omen?
The Scriptures command us to celebrate Passover in the spring at the time of the ripening of the barley, so the Jewish or the Hebrew calendar has to be a solar calendar. But in another Scripture, it commands us to remember the new moon, so the Jewish calendar has to be a lunar too.
The Nasi presiding over the Great Sanhedrin in ancient times
Since Biblical times, various astronomical phenomena have been used to establish uniquely Jewish definitions for the day and its hours, the months and the year.
The length of days and hours vary by the season, controlled by the times of sunset, nightfall, dawn and sunrise. The months and years of the Hebrew calendar are established by the cycles of the moon and the sun.
Though the months follow the lunar cycle, the lunar months must always align themselves with the seasons of the year, which are governed by the sun. Thus, the Hebrew calendar is “Luni-Solar.” The discrepancy between the solar year (365 days) and the lunar year (354 days) was resolved by every so often adding a thirteenth month to the year, to form a “leap year.”
In the early times of our history, the High Court (Sanhedrin) in Jerusalem was assigned the tasks of determining the beginning of each month and the balancing of the solar with the lunar years. They relied on direct observation of the New Moon, astronomical data, and other considerations.
In the fourth century after the Temple’s destruction, however, when oppression and persecution threatened the continued existence of the Court, a fixed calendar was instituted — based on the Sanhedrin’s closely guarded secrets of calendrical calculation. Called the Hillel calendar, this is the permanent Hebrew calendar according to which the New Moons and festivals are calculated and celebrated today by Orthodox Jews all over the world.
Like the original system of observation, it is based on the Luni-Solar principle. It also applies certain rules by which complex astronomical calculations are combined with the religious requirements into an amazingly precise system.
Exodus 121 And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
From the wording of this verse, “shall be unto you,” the sages deduced that the responsibility of pinpointing and consecrating the chodesh, the crescent new moon, was entrusted to the leaders of our nation, the Sanhedrin, the rabbinical supreme court of every generation.
Preceding the Sanhedrin were the one hundred and twenty priests who comprised the Great Assembly that Ezra had established.
Originally, there was no fixed calendar. There was no way to determine in advance the exact day of a coming holy day or festival, because there was no way to determine in advance when the month would begin. Each month anew, the Sanhedrin would determine whether the month would be 29 or 30 days long — depending on when the following month’s new moon was first sighted — and would sanctify the new month.
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew synedrion, “sitting together,” hence “assembly” or “council”) were assemblies of elders (known as “rabbis” after the destruction of the Second Temple), who were appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land of Israel.
There were two classes of Jewish courts, the Great Sanhedrin and the Lesser Sanhedrin. A lesser Sanhedrin of 23 judges was appointed to sit as a tribunal in each city, but there was only supposed to be one Great Sanhedrin of 71 judges, which among other roles acted as the Supreme Court, taking appeals from cases which were decided by lesser courts.
Members of the Sanhedrin were to be recruited from the following sources: Priests (Kohanim), Levites (Levi’im), and ordinary Jews who were members of those families having a pure lineage such that their daughters were allowed to marry priests.
Arrow shows the Chamber of Hewn Stones where the Sanhedrin convened
In general usage, the “Sanhedrin” without qualifier normally refers to the Great Sanhedrin, which was presided over by the Nasi, who functioned as its head or representing as President, and was a member of the court; the Av Beit Din or the chief of the court, who was second to the nasi; and sixty-nine general members (Mufla).
Hillel II (Hillel the Nasi), held the office of Nasi of the Sanhedrin between 320 and 385 AD and he is regarded as the creator of the modern fixed Hebrew Calendar the Jews observed from 359 AD onward to modern time.
In the Second Temple period, the Sanhedrin met in the Temple in Jerusalem, in a building called the Chamber of Hewn Stones. This Sanhedrin convened every day except the yearly festivals and on sabbath days (Shabbat).
Inside the Chamber of Hewn Stone
Members of the Sanhedrin were well schooled in astronomy. They knew exactly when the new moon would have appeared, and where it would have been visible. Nevertheless, the sanctification of the moon depends on the crescent new moon actually being seen by at least two witnesses. The word “this” (in the above-quoted verse in Exodus 12:2, “This month shall be to you . . .”) implies something that is actually seen. These witnesses could be local or from the Disporal who arrived (would be lavishly entertained there, in order to attract potential witnesses to travel) to Jerusalem to testify.
The rabbis of the Sanhedrin would question the witnesses in the order of their arrival. They knew what the proper responses to their questions ought to be, and were thus quickly able to identify fraudulent claims. Starting with the elder of each pair, they would ask: “Tell us how you saw the moon:
In which direction was it in relation to the sun? (The observation is limited to the time of sunset) Was it to the north or south? How high in the sky did the moon appear to be? In which direction were the crescent’s tips facing? How wide was it?”
After they had finished questioning the first witness, they would bring in his partner and question him in similar fashion. If the two accounts corroborated, the evidence was accepted.
Publicizing the New Month
The following night (the second night of the month), huge bonfires were lit on designated mountaintops. Lookouts stationed on other mountaintops would see that a fire had been lit, and would light their own fires. This chain of communication led all the way to Babylonia, so that even very distant communities knew that the day beforehand had been declared the New Month (Rosh Chodesh).
Eventually, the Samaritans started lighting fires mischievously on the wrong days in order to confuse the Jewish Diaspora. To prevent this confusion, the fire-on-mountaintop method of communication was discontinued, and instead running messengers were dispatched from Babylonia and all other far-flung Jewish settlements. This took a lot longer, a delay which had (and still has) halachic implications with regards to observance of the second day of the Festivals in the Diaspora.
The Essenes living on their own
Nowadays
The lunisolar Hebrew calendar, or the Hillel calendar, was named after Hillel II because he was the presiding Nasi of the Sanhedrin when the calculated calendar was established, is actually a brilliant invention that filled a desperate need. Originally, the new moons were formerly sighted by multiple witnesses and officially declared throughout Israel. But after the Second Temple destruction and the subsequent dispersion, it was impractical to declare the new moon to every Jewish community in the world, and under Constantius II, it was actually outlawed.
As a remedy, the Sanhedrin instituted the Hillel calendar in 359 AD. This calendar averages 29.5 days per month and 365.2468 days per year (compared to the average solar year length of 365.2422).
Implementing the Hillel calendar was the Sanhedrin’s last big decision before disbanding. Whenever the Hillel calendar will be decommissioned in the future to return to sighting and declaring the New Moon days, it would have to be at the authority of a reconvened Sanhedrin.
So until then, this calendar is what unites Jewish people worldwide in celebrating any Festivals on the same days, and reading the same Torah portion together each week. So Hillel and his rabbinical court, the Sanhedrin, established the perpetual calendar which is followed today.
The Sanhedrin considered several factors in the course of their deliberations whether to declare a leap year on a given year. The primary factor, which may or may not override other factors, was the spring equinox.
(a) If the spring equinox would fall later than the first half of Nissan (from the 16th onward), then the year was automatically declared a leap year. This is because, as mentioned earlier, the verse states: “Guard the month of spring, and make [then] the Passover offering.”
(b) However, it wasn’t enough for Passover to fall after the equinox, when it was “officially” spring; spring-like conditions needed to be evidenced. If in the land of Israel, the barley had not yet ripened, and the trees were not yet blossoming with seasonal fruit — that, too, was sufficient reason to delay Nissan by adding a second month of Adar. Spring had to be felt; it had to be bright and green.
(c) There were also several non-season-related factors which the Sanhedrin considered. For example, if the roads or bridges were in disrepair due to the winter rainy season, impeding the ability of the pilgrims to travel to Jerusalem for Passover.
But where did the Sanhedrin get their authority?
Deuteronomy 16:18 “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19 Thou shalt not distort judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for a bribe doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous.
Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand nor to the left.
12 And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
Moses knew he would die soon and his understanding had been conveyed to the judges, the Levites and priests where the true interpretation of the law were taught. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses spoke and explained unto all Israel “according unto all that the Lord had given him” as to how to keep them, the blessing they would have if they obey, or cursing if they disobey, in a language they could understand. Men may have good intentions, but may do things seen as presumptuously?
The Essenes, known also as Sun-worshippers, are now extinct
And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die
It’s a death penalty, so what is presumptuous or presumptuously?
Exo 7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god H430 to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
The KJV translates elohim as “judges” in Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8; and twice in Exodus 22:9
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges H430; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
Exo 22:8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges H430, to see whether he has put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods.
Exo 22:9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challenge to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges H430; and whom the judges H430 shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.
The Jewish “leap year” which occurs seven times in a 19-year cycle has 13 months instead of the regular 12. This is so that the lunar-based Jewish year should remain aligned with the solar seasons (12 lunar months make up a total of 354 days — slightly more than 11 days short of the 365.25 day solar cycle). The added month is called “Adar I” and is inserted before the month of Adar (termed “Adar II” in leap years).
New Testament Omen
The significance of the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD should not be ignored. It came forty years after John the Baptist had given a stern warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16. The number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses’ life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.
Because of their perversion, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s time. The Blind have ignored John’s warning about another consuming fire recorded in the Gospel of Luke. John said unto them:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE unquenchable,” Luke 3:16-17.
Dining together – Commual living among the Essenes
The word F-I-R-E is highlighted above, with a hope that the Blind could see the word“FIRE.” When we look back, one cannot avoid concluding that God had deemed that the Essenes were worthy of extinction during the AD 70 INFIRNO. Everything about the Essenes were destroyed by FIRE.
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6
Or by the Roman SWORD?
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a SWORD,” Matthew 10:34
The Sadducees and a large portion of the Shammai Pharisees also followed suit; only the Hillel branch of Pharisees limped off to Yavne and survived; the Nazareens survived too, they fled to Pella on the northeastern side of the Jordan Valley.
If the 70 AD inferno was only a microcosm, a foretaste, how could those who deviate from the God ordained Calendar, who have similar deceptive beliefs as the original Essenes, escape John’s warning during the Last Days? Wouldn’t there be another Sodom and Gomorrah? And wouldn’t they also share its fate? It’s an unpleasant ending, but that’s what the Scriptures indicate.
The Essene/Qumran has their own 364 day solar calendar totally at odds with the calendrics of the Sanhedrin. Their sacred year always began on the vernal (spring) equinox and is, by definition, Wednesday (because God Created the “lights in the firmament” for “signs and seasons” on the 4th Day), 1st day of the 1st month (Nisan or Abib). Consequently, the Essene Passover will always begin at 6 PM Tuesday, 13 days later (Nisan 14). The key point being Essene Passover always began “Tuesday” evening, 13 days after the vernal equinox. To outsiders, the Essenes would appear to observe the vernal equinox and (regardless of whatever the previous day was) declare that day to be Wednesday 1 Nisan of their calendar.
The way of Sodom and Gomorrah? If not, why not?
The Essenes were pious, they practised celibacy, collective ownership, and plagued obedience to their leaders, chose not to possess slaves but served each other, to maintain a pure lifestyle, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, they practised daily purification by water rituals and baptism and even refrain from defecation on the Sabbath. Yet the Essenes were wiped out during the AD 70 inferno.
But why? Why did they faced their Sodom and Gomorrah in AD 70!
Had the Essenes acted presumptuously by repudiating the Calendar that God has instituted through the Sanhedrin? Were they found guilty of repudiating the Passover sacrifice in Jerusalem? Had the Essenes acted presumptuously?
If so, could this AD 70 INFERNO be just a microcosm during the endtime for those who promote their own calendar?
“Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the CREATOR of this Universe has not brought it about?”
•May 21, 2021 • Comments Off on Extreme Drought across the Pacific
Taiwan’s dried-up Sun Moon Lake
DW reports Taiwan drought could threaten global supply of electronic chips, posing a potential risk to the heavily water-reliant production of computer chips.
The two production hubs in Hsinchu and Taichung — where the world’s largest contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has factories — will have to reduce their water consumption if it does not rain by June 1, according to Reuters news agency.
The two science parks will not be affected by the measures, but must cut their water consumption by 17% in line with the country’s highest alert level, set by the economic ministry.
Praying to break Taiwan’s worst drought in 67 years
Taiwan alone produces some 20% of all semiconductors. Companies there, including TSMC, have been expanding to meet the increased demand. However, expansion has put extra strain on the water supply.
The island has also been rocked by energy challenges, with hydroelectric power plants running at reduced capacity, with both consumers and chipmakers increasing demand on the power grid.
In the past week, two major blackouts have hit the country.
On top of water and energy supply problems, authorities are also tackling a major outbreak of COVID-19 with an island-wide soft lockdown.
Extreme drought across the Western US has become as reliable as a summer afternoon thunderstorm in Florida. And news headlines about drought in the West can seem a bit like a broken record, with some scientists saying the region is on the precipice of permanent drought.
That’s because in 2000, the Western US entered the beginning of what scientists call a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years — triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and human-caused climate change.
In the past 20 years, the two worst stretches of drought came in 2003 and 2013 — but what is happening right now appears to be the beginning stages of something even more severe. And as we head into the summer dry season, the stage is set for an escalation of extreme dry conditions, with widespread water restrictions expected and yet another dangerous fire season ahead.
2020 was the worst fire season in the modern history of the West, with California and Colorado experiencing their largest fires on record. As can be seen in the below visual, the intensity of fires and acres burned tracks with increasing temperatures. Simply put, the warmer and drier it gets, the larger fires become.
Because of a warming climate, fire season in the West is now two to three months longer than it was just a few decades ago. That means, with the dry season already getting underway in the West, the time to prepare for wildfires is fast approaching.
“And this the writing that is written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.”
Nations around the world continue to express disbelief at the way Australia is handling its fraught relationship with China, with the US now joining the chorus.
Reporters for CNN, one of the biggest news companies in the US, this week penned an article about the escalating conflict between Australia and the global superpower.
“For a country with a much smaller military and no nuclear weapons, Australia is suddenly hinting an awful lot about a war with China,” the CNN article said.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that one of Australia’s top generals told troops last year there was a “high likelihood” of war with China.
Major-General Adam Findlay gave the candid and confidential briefing to Australia’s special forces soldiers last year, according to a report in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
General Findlay, who has since stepped down but still advises the Australian Defence Force, reportedly said that China was already engaged in “grey zone” warfare and that Australia must prepare for the “high likelihood” it could spill over into actual conflict.
And on Anzac Day, newly appointed Defence Minister Peter Dutton said a conflict with China over Taiwan shouldn’t “be discounted”, and that Australians had to be “realistic” about the tensions between the two nations.
Australia going to war with China is ‘ridiculous’
The CNN article described the idea of Australia going to war against China on it own as “ridiculous”.
“Plus, China is a nuclear power. Australia is not,” the article said.
Australia and China relations have struggled since our nation called for a public investigation into China and how COVID-19 originated.
Yun Jiang, the managing editor of the China Story blog at the Australian National University, said a lot of the issues were coming from Australia’s own politicians.
“Focusing on an external enemy has usually been quite effective in uniting public sentiment and rallying around the Government,” she told CNN.
“I think it’s irresponsible for the Government to talk it up like that. War is very serious business.”
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao responded, “These people are the real troublemakers. I have noticed that many people in Australia have expressed disapproval on social media, saying that such inflammatory language are outrageous and extremely crazy.”
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
United Church of God P.O. Box 541027 Cincinnati, OH 45254-1027
Pentecost and Its Observance — A Doctrinal Study Paper (20 pages) Approved by the Council of Elders September 1997
How to Count Pentecost, Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), Feast of Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26), Festival of Fifty Days, Feast of Heptads, Festival of Seven Heptads, Wave Sheaf, Omer, “the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field (Exodus 23:16).”
This is a Critique of UCG’s Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits. The counting to Pentecost is an extremely interesting subject and we’ll follow it in every issue discussed. Besides the main issue of when to start counting towards Pentecost is the issue of what the firstfruits mean. What or who do they represent? Are they humans or is it Christ?
Quoted are UCG’s “Pentecost and Its Observance” doctrinal paper, a Study Paper,1997, posted on its website. They are indented, in PINK, and in block form so as to differentiate UCG’s from other narratives or my comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
The expression refers to the fact that Pentecost was the fiftieth day in a specific counting commanded in the Old Testament. The festival is one of the seven annual Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23.
And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations (Leviticus 23:21).
This same Festival is referred to as “the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labor” (Exodus 23:16). (Pentecost and Its Observance pg 1)
Only one-tenth of an ephah “sheaf” finally accepted
That’s right! The “Feast of Harvest” is “the firstfruits of your labor” or the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field. Question. If this “firstfruits” represents Christ, what labor did we humans contribute to His resurrection? NOTHING!
Human beings contribute virtually nothing to the redemption of humanity. God the Father plans and carries out the redemption with His Son. Hence the teaching that Christ is the firstfruits “of thy labors” doesn’t have any merit.
In studying the observance of Pentecost, it is important to understand the historical context. It was in 1974 that the Worldwide Church of God began observing Pentecost on Sunday (the 50th day after the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread). Mr. Armstrong’s position was that the issue should not be complicated with a number of technicalities. There was no attempt to ignore these technicalities and the subsequent study paper addressed most of them. To arrive at the correct biblical position in this matter, we need to study the relevant passages of scripture. After all, our position must rest on scripture and not necessarily on what has been practiced historically.
Leviticus 23
In dealing with Leviticus 23, we must address the term “Sabbath” and what it means in this context. There are three references to the word Sabbath (or Sabbaths) in verses 15-16.
And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.
The English word “Sabbath” or its plural “Sabbaths” is translated from the Hebrew shabbath or its plural form shabbathoth. Although there are some translations that use the word “weeks,” this is not the most common translation. In fact, in the King James Version (KJV) the word shabbath (or its plural shabbathoth) is only translated Sabbath and is never translated weeks. There is another word in Hebrew which is translated weeks. This can be found in Deuteronomy 16:9 and also in Exodus 34:22. The word used in these verses for weeks is shabuoth. The singular form of this word is shabua. In the King James Version, and the New King James Version this Hebrew word is never translated as Sabbath. In twenty occurrences in the KJV, this word is translated as “week” (or weeks) nineteen times and on one occasion it is translated “seven.” The Englishman’s Hebrew-Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament makes this point quite clearly. The word shabbath can be found 108 times and in every instance it is translated Sabbath or Sabbaths and never weeks. According to this same source, the Hebrew word shabuoth is never translated as Sabbath, but is in every instance but one translated as weeks. (Pentecost and Its Observance pg 8-9)
It is interesting to note that the writer intends to arrive at the correct biblical position in this matter by seeking the relevant Scriptures, but the evidence is that this stated intent is only lip service. After all, UCG’s position has always been centered on what had been practiced historically.
The King James Versions say:
Leviticus 23:15 “‘And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, H7676 from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths H7676 shall be complete:16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath H7676 shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Leviticus 23:15-16 seven sabbaths [h7676 shabbat] — according to Strong, this shabbat could be translated as:
(a) sabbath (b) day of atonement (c) sabbath year (d) WEEK (e) produce (in sabbath year)
According to Strong’s Concordance, this shabbat could be translated as a weekly sabbath or an annual sabbath like the Day of Atonement. It is also the same word for the seventh year where the land needs a rest. But the most important point in Strong’s Concordance is that it could also mean week, or a block of seven days. The JPS 1917 and the New JPS 1988 translate Leviticus 23:15-16 as follows:
Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest (footnote: Sabbath), from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete; 16 even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto the LORD. (JPS 1917)
Leviticus 23:15 And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete; 16 you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD. (New JPS 1988)
Note: the word sabbath [h7676 shabbat] could be translated as week or weeks. To restrict the word to only the weekly sabbath is misguided. The above extract is as if Moses had written the Original Scriptures in the English James King Version. The King James translation is generally good, but at times, could be ridiculous, as translated in Numbers 25:4
KJV: And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. — this includes all men, women and children; all are to be hung! Genocide!
Compared to:
Amplified Bible: The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people [who have committed sin with the Moabites], and execute them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”
Septuagint: And the Lord said to Moses, Take all the princes of the people, and make them examples of judgment for the Lord in the face of the sun, and the anger of the Lord shall be turned away from Israel.
Look at the official UCG logo and it tells a story. The church has the mistaken notion that the center of this Universe is the British Isles instead of Jerusalem, whereas God’s main interest is centered in Jerusalem. Here are the evidence:
II Kings 21:4 . . . the Lord said, “In Jerusalem will I put My name.” II Kings 21:7 . . . the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever. II Chronicles 6:6 . . . but I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there. II Chronicles 33:4 . . . the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever.” Ezra 7:19 The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. Ezra 8:30 So the priests and the Levites took the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. Psalm 116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord! Psalm 125:2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth, even for ever. Psalm 135:21 Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem! Praise ye the Lord! Psalm 147:12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise thy God, O Zion! Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isaiah 28:14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Ezekiel 5:5 “Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. Micah 4:2 And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Zechariah 8:3 “Thus saith the Lord: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’ Zechariah 14:8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and in winter shall it be.
UCG’s Self-Absorbing Logo
The focus of UCG is not in Jerusalem, but on the British Isles. It may seem innocuous and insignificant, but God says He is a jealous God. Their focus are on themselves, their elitist Anglo-Saxonisn — an indication of where members of the Council of Elders came from — their minds unfocused on the themes of God, but all about their self-centered hubris.
“History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes.”
“Ephraim compasseth me about lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12).
The house of Judah operates with hypocrisy but the house of Ephraim operates with lies and deceits! The Scriptures say so!
And here are some examples:
In an August 2002 speech that kicked off the Bush White House administration’s campaign for war against Iraq, Cheney asserted, “Simply stated, there’s no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”
In October 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed he had “bullet-proof” evidence that Saddam was tied to Osama bin Laden. And a National Intelligence Estimate said Iraq had “continued its weapons of mass destruction program.”
“However, there is no doubt at all that the development of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein poses a severe threat not just to the region, but to the wider world.” – Tony Blair, House of Commons, 10 April 2002.
Prime Minister Tony Blair defended himself in 2005: “I have never told a lie. No. I don’t intend to go telling lies to people. I did not lie over Iraq.”
But these are only following their first lie by King Jeroboam, an Ephraimite:
“It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem,” says King Jeroboam. “Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!” (I King 12:28).
So he (King Jeroboam) offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart, and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel; and he offered upon the altar and burned incense (I King 12:33).
Jeroboam was of the house of Ephraim; he was not supposed to offer sacrifices, which were reserved only for the Aaronic Priesthood of the house of Judah. Further let’s take a closer look into this prophecy regarding the House of Manasseh rallying with the House of Ephraim against Judah:
Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still (Isaiah 9:21).
Manasseh and Ephraim are united against Judah; their quarrels, contentions, and wars among themselves, whereby they fight, devoured, and consumed each other, though they were brethren; which explains and confirms what is before said, of no man sparing his brother, and everyone eating the flesh of his own arm.
Massacre of Jews in Clifford’s Tower 1189-1190
In 1190 THE MASSACRE OF THE JEWS at Clifford’s Tower the British expelled all Jews from his kingdom and only some four hundred years were they allowed to return in the 17th century.
Furthermore, the pogroms of 1189 and 1190 are just the tip of an iceberg. Here in Wikipedia it documents more than two hundred years (1066–1290) of persecutions.
The Targum bore testimony the words in Isaiah 9:21:
“they of the house of “Manasseh” with those of the house of “Ephraim”, and they of the house of “Ephraim”, with those of the house of “Manasseh”, shall be joined together as one, to come against them of the house of Judah.”
Rashi: “Manasseh” shall be joined with “Ephraim”, and “Ephraim” shall be joined with “Manasseh”, and they together shall be joined against Judah;’
Gill: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still;
that is, the anger of God, that was not turned away; he had not yet stirred up all his wrath, he had not done with them, he had still other judgments to bring upon them; and his hand continued to be stretched out to inflict them, seeing they were not brought to repentance by what was already done unto them; so the Targum,
“for all this they do not return from their sins, that he may turn away his anger from them, but still retain their sins; and yet his stroke will be to take vengeance on them.”
The anger of God will soon hit Ephraim and Manasseh. Blind and deceitful Guides! Ephraim compasseth the world with lies! Such parallels are astonishing! Why have they ignored the warning of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and especially Ezra? Even other English versions have translated “seven weeks” correctly in Leviticus 23:15,16. Blind Guides! Why have UCG blushed off these other translations? These are:
The Companion Bible (Bullinger) Common English Bible (CEB) Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) Contemporary English Version (CEV) Christian Standard Bible (CSB) Darby Translation (DARBY) Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) English Standard Version (ESV) Expanded Bible (EXB) GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) Good News Translation (GNT) Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) International Children’s Bible (ICB) International Standard Version (ISV) Lexham English Bible (LEB) The Message (MSG) Modern English Version (MEV) Names of God Bible (NOG) New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE) New Century Version (NCV) New English Translation (NET Bible) New International Version (NIV) New Life Version (NLV) New Living Translation (NLT) Revised Standard Version (RSV) The Voice (VOICE) Wycliffe Bible (WYC)
Also, if Leviticus 23:11,15-16 are restricted to a weekly Sabbath, there is no proof as to which one, since there are over 50 weekly sabbaths during the year. Another problem arises when the fourteenth of Nisan falls on a weekly Sabbath. And so there are different interpretations among the different CoG Communities adding confusion to confusion. Why choose one instead of another especially where there is no solid evidence to be found?
UCG’s Council of Elders – a display of a self-serving Anglo-Saxonisn elitist Church
Further in Deuteronomy 16:9 it says:
Deuteronomy 16:9 “Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
Putting the Scriptures in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 together, they may appear to say different things. Surely they don’t, but how do we reconcile them?
First we must realize that the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers were mainly the words of God to His subjects — from Adam to Abraham, on to Moses — but in the book of Deuteronomy it was Moses speaking to the Israelites. Deuteronomy 1:1 says “These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel on this side of the Jordan . . . 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year . . . that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him.”
In a language meant to be more easily understood, Moses uses the word šāḇûa[h7620] in Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 16:9 “Seven weeksH7620shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeksH7620 from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks [h7620 shabua] — Strong translates shabua as seven, period of seven (days or years), heptad, week
A. period of seven days, a week Feast of Weeks B. heptad, seven (of years)
UCG points out that shabua is never translated as a sabbath. That is true, but UCG fails to explain that shabua is generally described as a block of seven days, or heptad. So what is a block of sevens? It is a group or series of seven — it could be days or years.
Ambassador Bible College Class of 2021 with faculty members – same tune different lyrics
In all, the Bible has used “šāḇûaH7620” twenty times. We should study each of them in detail. Here are all their uses, all 20 of them, in 17 verses:
Gen 29:27 Fulfil her week, H7620 and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. — this is a block of seven years
Gen 29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: H7620 and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. — again, this is a block of seven years
Exo 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, H7620 of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. — This is the Feast of Weeks, which could also be called the Feast of Firstfruits, the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field
Lev 12:5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, H7620 as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. — this is a block of two weeks
Num 28:26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the LORD, after your weeks H7620 be out, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work — this is the Feast of Firstfruits, which could also be called the Feast of Firstfruits, the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field
Deu 16:9 Seven weeks H7620 shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks H7620 from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. — this is the Feast of Weeks, and is NEVER called the Feast of Sabbaths. The difference is that the count starts immediately; no need to wait until the weekly Sabbath has arrived
Deu 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks H7620 unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: — this is the Feast of Weeks, NEVER the Feast of Sabbaths
Deu 16:16 Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, H7620 and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty: — again, this is the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Firstfruits, the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field
II Ch 8:13 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, H7620 and in the feast of tabernacles. — this is the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Heptads
Jer 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks H7620 of the harvest. — this is a block of weeks
Eze 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven H7620 days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. — a block of seven days: this is the most obvious illustration that shabua is NOT connected to the weekly sabbath. It starts IMMEDIATELY after Passover! And NO NEED to wait until the weekly Sabbath to start! The blind couldn’t see this because they are blind
Dan 9:24 Seventy weeks H7620 are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. — a block of seventy weeks
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, H7620 and threescore and two weeks: H7620 the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. — a block of sixty-nine weeks
Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks H7620 shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. — a one week block; the seventieth week
Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: H7620 and in the midst of the week H7620 he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. — a one week block; the seventieth week
Dan 10:2 In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. H7620— a block of three weeks
Dan 10:3 I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks H7620 were fulfilled. — a block of three weeks
All their uses show heptad is a block of seven — days or years — but NEVER is it used as a weekly Sabbath, nor does it have to align with the weekly Sabbath. It is a BLOCK of seven, and it can start on any day.
The term was first used in Genesis 29:27-28 when Jacob had to serve seven years marriage to Leah, and another seven to marry Rachael. The seven years period began immediately when Jacob and Laban concluded their agreement.
When Moses wrote or spoke in Deuteronomy 16, he uses this word shabua that was different from that expressed in Leviticus, to clarify that the start of the count to Pentecost need not start at the beginning of a week, but that it can start “on the morrow after the Sabbath,” and that Sabbath is an annual Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, followed by seven blocks of days.
As the wordings in Deuteronomy16 show, Moses would clarify seemingly unclear issues in Leviticus 23, or to elucidate complex subjects. And when Ezra returned from Exile, he, too, used expressions which appeared different from what God or Moses used. We can see those expressions in the Targum.
The Targum makes it extremely clear:
Leviticus 23:15 And number to you after the first feast day of Pascha, from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be.
The reference is from the day “after the first feast day of Pascha.” Since Passover also means Unleavened Bread, this is the day after the first Day of Unleavened Bread. And this is confirmed in Septuagint 23:11 and he shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up. “The first day,” of course, refers to the first Day of Unleavened Bread; and to the morrow after is the sixteenth of Nisan.
The Targum is an important source of our Scriptures. Blind Guides! Why would we ignore such an important witness? Naked Preachers!
Let’s go and check into what the Targum is and what it says:
The Targum known in Hebrew: תרגום, plural: the targumim play an important role in translating many of our modern editions. The range of its origin was from 530 BC to 500 AD. When the Israelites returned from their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BC, most of them could no longer speak Hebrew; they spoke Aramaic. Nevertheless, the Scriptures have always been read in Hebrew even if no one in the greater community could speak it.
Blind Guides wouldn’t use the Targum, a Cornerstone of Scriptural Understanding
Something had to be done so that the people would understand God and His Word. The sages, starting with Ezra, found an answer. After hearing a priest read a few verses of the Torah scroll in Hebrew, they then heard a translation in Aramaic called a Targum, which simply means translation. Hence the Targum is an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that was written or compiled in Palestine or in Babylonia from the Second Temple period until the early Middle Ages (late first millennium).
One might think that God would have given the Levites privileged land as their inheritance to match their privileged position, but God actually gave them no land inheritance at all. Instead, they received agricultural and monetary tithes from the people as their inheritance. In this capacity, the Levites and priests had the opportunity to minister to the people through the instruction of the Torah.
Back in Jerusalem, for instance, after returning from Babylonian exile, Ezra, a Levite and high priest, read and translated the Torah in Hebrew into the common Aramaic language, and he, or other Levites, explained the Torah so the people could understand.
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read” (Nehemiah 8:7–8).
Another way of saying: The Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites of the Aramaic version. Hence, we have to assume that the action of Ezra narrated in Nehemiah 8:8 implied not only the reading of the Law, but also the interpretation of its language — its translation in fact from Hebrew to Aramaic, and that, further, this practice was long followed in all the synagogues among the returning Exiles in Judea.
The Targum is like a mirror: when placed against the end-time CoG Communities, it reflects their nakedness. And the Targum stated clearly that the counting is the morrow after the first festal day of Pascha. Leviticus 23:11-13 And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. AFTER THE FIRST FESTAL DAY OF PASCHA (OR, THE DAY AFTER THE FEAST‑DAY OF PASCHA) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make the sacrifice of a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord . . . 15 AND NUMBER TO YOU AFTER THE FIRST FEAST DAY OF PASCHA, from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be.
A Partial Week?
Are the weeks (shabuoth) referenced in Deuteronomy 16 truly full weeks, each ending with a Sabbath? Can there be partial weeks in this count? A partial week will result when a day other than the first day of the week is used as day one. If the count were intended to start on any other day of the week, say, a Wednesday, seven weekly cycles would be completed on a Tuesday. In this case we would have a partial week, Wednesday to Sabbath, six complete weeks from Sunday to Sabbath, and another partial week from Sunday to Tuesday. Notice how this would look if you began your count on a Wednesday:
Wednesday to Sabbath = one partial week, 4 days 6 full weeks (Sunday to Sabbath) = 42 days Sunday to Tuesday = one partial week, 3 days Total of 49 days, followed by the 50th day on Wednesday (morrow after the 49th day)
We could also count seven Sabbaths, and not have 49 days. In the hypothetical example above we count the seven Sabbaths, and then we still have to count the remaining days of Sunday through Tuesday to complete the seven weekly cycles. It should be noted here that the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), Moffat, NIV, and the JPS (Jewish Publication Society) all translate Leviticus 23: 15 “seven Sabbaths shall be complete” as “seven weeks” or “seven full weeks.” The King James Version and the New King James Version are both faithful to the original Hebrew text where the word shabbath is used. If weeks were the intended meaning in these verses, then a different Hebrew word should have been used– shabuoth.
It is certainly true that seven full weeks could be satisfied by seven weekly cycles, independent of when the weekly cycle started. Thus, it would be permissible to have two fragments of a week and six complete weeks (from the first day through the seventh day or Sabbath) according to this explanation. But is this what is intended by the scriptures?
An argument could be made here that God starts the week on the first day and ends it on the seventh day, the creation week being an example (Genesis 1). This argument, however is not necessary in the determination of how to count to the day of Pentecost. It is to be noted here that Deuteronomy was written after Leviticus. The instructions from Leviticus have to be taken into account, as Deuteronomy supplements Leviticus. There is no contradiction between the two. (Pentecost pg 12-13)
This is correct, that the “seven full weeks could be satisfied by seven weekly cycles, independent of when the weekly cycle started.” Pentecost is NEVER called the Feast of Sabbaths, it’s the Feast of Weeks, or Feast of Heptads (blocks of sevens). The Feast of Weeks could start at any day of the week. The best illustration is Ezekiel 45:21 where it testifies the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread could start at any time of the week.
Look at Ezekiel 45:21 again:
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a Feast of Haptads (a block of seven) H7620 days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Note carefully, the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread starts IMMEDIATELY after Passover, so it could be a Monday, or any day after Passover, but the most important characteristic is that it starts IMMEDIATELY to begin the block of seven weeks! There is no waiting even for a single day. That’s why Pentecost is called the Feast of Weeks but never the Feast of Sabbaths.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were both sects of the Jews in the first century. The two groups had numerous differences, one of them being the method of counting Pentecost. It is acknowledged that during the first century C.E. and up until the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., the Sadducees controlled worship at the temple. . . .
It is only after the destruction of the Temple that the Pharisees gain control and the Sadducees, for the most part, disappear:
Except under Salome Alexandra the Pharisees have the role of a minority up to A.D. 70. Their great period comes only with the fall of the hierocracy. When the capture of Jerusalem shatters the Sadducean ideal, Pharisaism provides the direction needed for reconstruction. Politically independent, it nurtures community life in the synagogue. The failure of the Zealots clears the way for more moderate leaders such as Jochanan ben Zakkai. Jabneh with its chakamim [sages], which plays no part in the revolt, forms a center for reorganization. (Pentecost pg 16)
On first appearance, the Sadducees seemed to have control over the worship at the temple, but it wasn’t the case. Josephus, an eye witness living during the first century, wrote in his Antiquities of the Jews, saying that the Pharisees were the dominant religious party during the time of Christ, and that they controlled the worship services.
Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason’s dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years . . . on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction (Antiquities 18.1.3).
The bulk of the common people followed the Pharisees. And although the Sadducees were occupying the upper stratum of the Jewish aristocracy, they were few in numbers, hence they were unable and unwilling to carry out their own beliefs in the Temple service, “because the multitude would not otherwise bear them” but to carry “the notions [directions] of the Pharisees”:
But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be,they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. (Antiquities 18.1.4).
The Unger’s Bible Dictionary tells us further political-religious amalgamation called the Sadducees:
“Their political supremacy was, however, of no long duration. Greatly as the spiritual power of the Pharisees had increased, the Sadducean aristocracy was able to keep at the helm in politics. The price at which the Sadducees had to secure themselves power at this later period was indeed a high one, for they were IN THEIR OFFICIAL ACTIONS TO ACCOMMODATE THEMSELVES TO PHARISAIC VIEWS. With the fall of the Jewish state the Sadducees altogether disappear from history. (“Sadducees,” Pg 954).
The strength of the Sadducees was mainly in politics and living luxurious lives. “What servant would work all day without obtaining his due reward in the evening?” they asked themselves, and so they broke away from the Law and lived in great luxury, using silver and gold vessels at banquets; and they established schools which declared the enjoyment of this life to be the goal of man, at the same time pitying the Pharisees for their bitter privation in this world with no hope of another world to compensate them. These schools were called, after their founders, Sadducees after their apparent founder, Zadok; and Boethusians, after Boethus the high priest brought over by King Herod the Great from Alexandria.
In the book Faith in the Future, we find a chapter which discusses this subject in some detail. The chapter is entitled “Shavuot/Pentecost, Israel’s Wedding” and the book was written by Jonathan Sacks, who is currently Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth:
In Judaism, mysteries have a habit of becoming controversies, none more so than in the case of Shavuot, otherwise known as Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks. Shavuot generated one of the great arguments in Jewish history. . . The argument became acute in the days of the second Temple when Jews were divided into several groups, most notably the Sadducees and Pharisees. We know all too little about this period, but we can say this. Of the two groups, the Sadducees were the more affluent and influential. They were closely connected to the Temple hierarchy and to the political elite. They were as near as Jewry came to a governing class. . . The Torah had specified that the counting of seven weeks should begin on the “day after the Sabbath.” The Sadducees took this literally. The counting should begin on Sunday, so that Shavuot would always fall on Sunday seven weeks later. The Pharisees invoked tradition and argued instead that in this case “sabbath” meant “festival,” specifically the first day of Pesach.”
From the above quotes, it may be deduced that the Pharisees were unable to convince the Sadducees that the Feast of Weeks always falls on a fixed date of Sivan 6. The two groups were clearly divided over this issue. (Pentecost pg 17)
When it comes to Temple services Josephus testifies that the Sadducees submitted themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise tolerate them. But why, you may ask.There was a Talmudic report of a Sadducean high priest, R Abbahu, who suffered badly by following the Sadducaic interpretation.
It was reported that coming out of the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he was hit from behind between his shoulders. He fell forward and hit the floor on his face. It was believed that an angel kicked him, a type of sound was even heard in the Temple courtyard, whose sole of a foot had the mark of a calf-hoof, (Ezekiel 1:7).
A mark of a calf’s hoof appeared right at the center of Abbahu’s forehead and his nose started to discharge worms. And he died a terrible death a few days later. (Yoma 19b)
This testimony of God’s judgement recorded in the Talmud would have struck fear and trepidation and permeated the Land of Israel for numerous generations to come, about where the LORD’s position is and how His laws should be interpreted, but another major event would come to be ignored.
The significance of the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD should not be understated. It came forty years after John the Baptist had given a stern warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16. The number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses’ life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.
Because of their perversion, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s time. The Blind have ignored John’s warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16. John said unto them:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE unquenchable.” (Luke 3:16)
The word “FIRE” is highlighted above, with a hope that the Blind could see finally. When we look back, one cannot avoid concluding that God had deemed that the Sadducees and the Boethusians were worthy of extinction during the 70 AD INFIRNO. Everything about the Sadducees and the Boethusians were destroyed — they “disappeared.” A large portion of the Shammai Pharisees also followed suit; only the Hillel branch of Pharisees limped off to Yavne and survived.
Now, just as the victims of Sodom and Gomorrah have revived today, so were those of the Sadducees and Boethusians! They, too, have revived as a “Reform Movement.”
So says the United Hebrew Congregations on its website:
We are a Reform congregation with a traditional mind-set and a progressive heart. As a congregation affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism, we strive to attain the high ideals of the movement. We make informed, meaningful choices from Jewish tradition to guide our observance, take an open-minded approach to Jewish religious belief and practice, and provide a home where members can cultivate, explore, and expand their spirituality.
The origins of Reform Judaism started in 19th-century Germany, where its early principles were formulated by Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810-1874). Since the 1970s, the Movement adopted a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities, rather than “strict theoretical clarity,” and away from the “Bondage of Judaism.”
Abraham Geiger (1810-1874)
Reform Judaism initially developed as lay Jews simply lost interest in the strict observances required of Orthodoxy, with many seeking shorter services, more frequent sermons, and organ music, modeled after Protestant churches. Thus Reform Judaism’s own mandate is “a process of constant evolution” and it “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” In an attempt to alter the appearance and ritual of Judaism and to mimic German Protestantism, they stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete and a new one had to be found.
Hence Geiger sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice. Discrimination and persecution against Jews were rampant for the next hundred years in Germany. Works were hard to come by and such new interpretation made sense in a community struggling to survive.
One characteristic of their progressive revelation was the institution of a “Second Sabbath” on Sunday, modeled on the Second Passover, as most people desecrated the day of rest. “If you cannot keep the Sabbath on its appointed time, you keep it on the next available day,” and so the Sabbath was shifted from Saturday to Sunday. “God would accept it,” they justify themselves and encourage each other.
America was opening up to immigrants and in a new Land of the Free, the five-day workweek soon made the Sunday Sabbath redundant. But nevertheless, the Movement had already had its momentum and today the Reform Movement’s largest center is in North America.
Reform Judaism encourages adherents to seek their own means of engaging a new Judaism, enhancing “individualism.” Tolerance for LGBT and ordination of LGBT rabbis were also pioneered by the Movement. It started slowly then gathered speed. Intercourse between consenting adults was declared as legitimate by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1977, and openly gay clergy were admitted by the end of the 1980s. Same-sex marriage were sanctioned by the end of the following decade. In 2015 the Union for Reform Judaism(URJ) adopted a Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People, urging clergy and synagogue attendants to actively promote tolerance and inclusion of such individuals.
If the 70 AD inferno was only a microcosm, a foretaste, how would the Reform Movement and its CoG Communities, who have similar deceptive beliefs as the original Sadducees and Boethusians, escape John’s warning during the Last Days? Isn’t this a return to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah? And also to share its fate? And why is it so coincidental that the end-time lackadaisical churches described as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked”? It’s an unpleasant descripture, but that’s what the Scriptures say.
How did the Sadducees just “disappeared” in 70 AD?
These Blind Guides may have grand aspirations but they are misguided! The Targum ireflects their nakedness. When placed against the end-time CoG Communities, it reflects their wretchedness. Woe unto the shepherds of Israel (the shepherds of the United States, Britain and related countries), says the Lord, for they feed themselves but not the sheep!
Although Ezekiel’s message was to both the “house of Israel” and the “house of Judah” its main message after chapter 24 was to the “house of Israel.” Captivities were the end results historically for both kingdoms, but today, the main focus in Ezekiel chapter 34 is on the Northern Kingdom with dire warning, especially its shepherds:
Ezekiel 34:1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, ‘Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the ones that are fed; but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. — Adam Clarke: The prophet is commanded to declare the dreadful judgments of God against the covetous shepherds of Israel, who feed themselves, and not their flocks; . . . the using these tithes and offerings, not to enable them the better to fulfill the work of the ministry, but to pamper their own bodies, and support them in an idle voluptuous life . . . and maintain their own luxury and idolatrous prodigality . . . The fat sheep point out the rich to whom these pastors often disguised the truth, by a cruel condescension and complaisance . . . And the consequence was, grievous wolves, false and worldly interested teachers, seized on and made a prey of them.
•May 14, 2021 • Comments Off on A Strange Coincidence for Taiwan?
Taipei Pride parade – a beacon for Asia?
When Taiwan became the first place in Asia to allow same-sex marriage on May 24, 2019, many thousands of gay people were cheering and waving the rainbow flags on the streets of the capital Taipei.
And the Taipei Pride parade a few months later drew 200,000 participants from all over the world to celebrate Taiwan’s image as a beacon of gay rights in Asia.
“One year has passed, the values we want to protect still exist and at the same time, we have let more people embrace happiness together,” President Tsai Ing-wen, who won her reelection by a landslide and was sworn in for a second term, said, expressing her pleasure that her Taiwanese society had become more diverse and open since passing the law.
Dried-up Sun Moon Lake
Two years on, the island has been suffering its worst drought in 67 years, with the island reservoirs at dangerously low levels. Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake is so low that parts of it have dried and turned to grass. Jetties that normally float are sprawled awkwardly on dry land, and tour boats are crowded at the tail ends of pontoons still in the water.
Taiwan is supposed to be one of the rainiest places in the world – its climate is subtropical in the northern and central regions, and tropical in the south. Typhoons are common in summer and autumn, and it also gets monsoons. It rains so often here that umbrellas are placed at subway stations and businesses for anyone to borrow.
Taiwan’s reservoirs are usually full, but in 2020 not one monsoon made landfall. And it could happen again in 2021. There have been mass prayer events to the sea goddess Matsu, but still no rain, only some drizzles!
The government also resorted to cloud seeding around several reservoirs, but the measure did not yield any positive result. Now, most reservoirs in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli are less than 15% full. Several in central Taiwan are less than 10%.
Chinese believe where there is crisis, there is opportunities! Taiwan’s true pride, TSMC, is currently at its Prime. Like eveything else, this could change. Their goddess Matsu who was originally revered by Fujianese across the Taiwan Strait might have other idea.
Would Taiwan’s deity, Matzu, listen to their prayers?
The Diplomat Reports (May 1, 2021) As Drought Worsens Chip Shortage, Taiwan Fights Brain Drain to China
Taiwan, home to two-thirds of the world semiconductor manufacturing capacity during the worst global chip shortage in recent memory, is under enomous pressure to alleviate this global chip shortage, but worst still, is fighting a recruitment drive of its engineers by its mainland Chinese competitors.
Taiwan’s labor ministry has ordered online job boards to remove all listings by Chinese employers attempting to recruit Taiwanese engineers to their semiconductor firms, an escalation in an intensifying technology standoff as mainland too, is also looking to Taiwan to alleviate its chip shortage.
The move comes as Taiwan continues to withstand a historic drought that has threatened the speed of chip production, which requires lots of water.
Taiwan’s Pride, TSMC – Still at its Prime
On April 27, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called for the island to conserve more water, especially in the semiconductor hub of Taichung.
Taiwan has ensured that water keeps flowing to its chipmakers during its drought. TSMC has used large water trucks to help store water, and the company is building a plant that would treat industrial water for reuse.
While the world watches the impact Taiwan’s drought has on its chipmakers, the water shortage has also harmed the island’s agriculture industry. Taiwan has shut off irrigation to tens of thousands of acres of farmland, harming production of crops ranging from rice to lychees.
So is there a Strange Coincidence for Taiwan? Your take.
“Be afraid,” warns David Goldman of tsunamis to come, “Be very afraid!”
America’s latest policies toward China will prove self-defeating. US–China relations now exemplify Freeman’s third law of strategic dynamics: for every hostile act there is a more hostile reaction.
Chas Freeman: Washington is playing the China Game without any Strategy.
Washington would be easy to spot in a game of chess. It’s the player with no plan beyond an aggressive opening. That is no strategy at all. The failure to think several moves ahead matters.
Washington developed some well-founded complaints about Chinese economic behaviour — and launched a trade war. Washington was alarmed about China’s potential to outcompete America — and tried to cripple it with an escalating campaign of ‘maximum pressure’. Washington saw China as a threat to US military primacy — and sought to contain it.
China’s Strategy on STEM Scientists and R&D
US farmers have lost most of their US$24 billion Chinese market. US companies have had to accept lower profits, cut wages and jobs, defer wage hikes, and raise prices for American consumers. The US shift to managed trade has cost an estimated 245,000 American jobs, while shaving about US$320 billion off US GDP.
American families are paying as much as US$1,277 more a year on average for consumer goods. There has been almost no reshoring of American jobs outsourced to China. The United States can expect job losses of 320,000 by 2025 and a GDP US$1.6 trillion less than it would have been.
China’s overall trade surplus rose to a new high of US$535 billion in 2020. Beijing improved its position by lowering barriers, striking free trade deals with countries other than the United States, and sponsoring a trade dispute-settlement mechanism to replace the US-sabotaged WTO.
China is investing 8 per cent more each year in education. China already accounts for a quarter of the world’s STEM workforce. Its science investment is almost on par with that of the United States and rising at an annual rate of 10 per cent as America’s falls. Its infrastructure is universally envied. China accounts for 30 per cent of global manufactures, versus America’s 16 per cent, and the gap is growing. It became the world’s largest consumer market in 2020. Its economy is ferociously competitive. China has many problems, but it has its act together and appears on top.
Imagine if only half of this Annual $750B Military Drainage had been reallocated to STEM and R&D!
The principal challenge that China presents is not military but economic and technological. But the United States is geared only to deal with military threats. China has become the antidote to the US post-Cold War-enemy-deprivation syndrome and a gratifying driver of US defence spending.
There are US aircraft and ships aggressively patrolling China’s borders, but no Chinese aircraft and ships off America’s coast. US bases ring China. There are no Chinese bases near America.
Still, the once indispensable nation ups its defence budget to make its ability to overwhelm China more credible. Yet, in the long run, this indispensable nation cannot outspend China militarily and cannot even hope to beat it on its home ground.
“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness,” (Deuteronomy 28:28-29)
Few people are as well connected or have more diplomatic experience than Kissinger, particularly when it comes to America’s bilateral ties with China. Beijing is not “determined to achieve a world domination,” Kissinger said in a recent Chatham House webinar “they’re trying to develop the maximum capability of which their society is able.”
The 97-year-old Kissinger called on the US to create a balance with existing global forces, saying
“And if you imagine that the world commits itself to an endless competition based on the dominance of whoever is superior at the moment, then a breakdown of the order is inevitable. And the consequences of a breakdown would be catastrophic.”
The veteran diplomat warned the US of creating a pre-World War One situation:
“Is it possible for us to develop a foreign policy thinking together with allies and understood by other countries that looks for world order at the basis of that sort of analysis? And if we don’t get to an understanding with China on that point, then we will be in a pre-World War One-type situation in which there are perennial conflicts that get solved on an immediate basis but one of them gets out of control at some point.”
The Straits Times (May 1, 2021) published another speech given and reaffirmed his thoughts that United States-China tensions threaten to engulf the entire world and could lead to an Armageddon-like clash between the two military giants.
Strains with China are “the biggest problem for America, the biggest problem for the world,” Mr Kissinger told the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum on global issues.
“Because if we can’t solve that, then the risk is that all over the world a kind of cold war will develop between China and the United States.”
More from RT “For the first time in human history, humanity has the capacity to extinguish itself in a finite period of time,” Kissinger said, “the nuclear issue is added the high tech issue, which in the field of artificial intelligence, in its essence is based on the fact that man becomes a partner of machines and that machines can develop their own judgement.” This is not just about nuclear missiles, as it was in the days of America and the Soviet Union, but also about the ability of advanced technology to reimagine and refine warfare in ways not conceived previously.
“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished” Ezekiel 6:6.
Joe Biden’s prediction of a technological war with Beijing will be played out in outer space. And as the creation of a new space station and other successful missions demonstrate, China is intent on winning the strategic battle.
On Thursday, China sent the core module of its first-ever space station, the Tianhe – or ‘Harmony of the Heavens’ – up into orbit. It’s long been under development, and marks a huge breakthrough in the country’s space program.
The space-based construction effort requires 10 additional launches from 2021 through 2022: two more module launches, four crewed missions and four cargo vessel flights, as reported by China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Three types of Long March carrier rockets will jointly launch the remaining 10 missions. When completed, China’s orbiting outpost will form a T-shape with Tianhe at the center and two other modules, Wentian and Mengtian, on each side.
The only current space station in orbit is the ISS which is a collaboration between Russia, the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. China has been blocked from participating in it.
China is pioneering a space program that is not only advancing very quickly, but successfully. This will almost certainly put NASA to the test, and it is a competition which, as we saw previously, is likely to massively broaden our perspective and understanding of the universe around us.
China has made no secret of its space ambitions. It has poured significant funding into its space efforts, and in 2019 became the first country to send an uncrewed rover to the far side of the Moon.
President Xi Jinping has also thrown his support behind the country’s space endeavours and the Chinese state media regularly cast the “space dream” as one step in the path to “national rejuvenation.”
This national rejuvenation in developing space capabilities are manifold. Satellites facilitate military and civilian communications. Human spaceflight garners international prestige, while also providing opportunities for cutting-edge research.
From Tiangong to Tianhe (2021-2022)
Experiments conducted in space have resulted in numerous breakthroughs that have been used to address medical, environmental, and technological challenges back on Earth.
The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, which could potentially leave Tianhe as the only space station in Earth’s orbit.
China welcomes collaboration on the CSS from scientists all over the world but also could use this to gain diplomatic leverage, since countries interested in continuing research in space could be compelled to look to the Chinese space program in the absence of other alternatives.
But US law prohibits NASA scientists from collaborating directly with China.
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!” Isaiah 28:1
China’s newly commissioned nuclear-powered submarine is armed with the country’s most powerful submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) capable of hitting the US mainland, according to a military source and analysts.
The Type 094A, or Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), was presented last Friday as part of the celebration to mark the 72nd anniversary of the PLA Navy. It was capable of firing the JL-3, or Julang (Big Wave) SLBM with a range over 10,000km (6,200 miles), a source close to the navy said.
“The Type 094A is an upgraded version of the Type 094 that overcame one of the key problems – noise – by improving hydrokinetic and turbulent systems, allowing it to carry the more powerful JL-3,” said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
The JL-3 SLBM with a range of 10,000 km
“Before the upgrade, the submarine was armed with the inferior JL-2 that could only hit the northeast United States, but now it’s able to cover the whole American continent.”
Chinese submarines have been dogged by the problem of being too noisy and easy to detect but that has largely been remedied in recent years by Chinese naval engineer Rear Admiral Ma Weiming, who is now taking the lead in a cutting-edge propulsion technology, according to state media.
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
•May 3, 2021 • Comments Off on Annabel Yao – China’s Rising Soft Power!
Countries that can successfully leverage their national power are able to affect the behavior of other political actors. This can be accomplished through traditional “hard” power measures, such as threats or coercion, or through “soft” power, which enables countries to persuade or attract others to support their interests.
A country’s soft power is heavily dependent upon its global image and international prestige. In the case of China, the central government has developed top-down strategies for enhancing China’s soft power, which in conjunction with public diplomacy, are designed to cultivate a positive international image of China.
And this mood seems to be shifting. Annabel Yao, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, is one example of soft power; she has forayed her aspiring career into the entertainment industry instead of the cutthroat world of Huawei.
On January 18, 2021, she debuted her first single, sung in a mix of Chinese and English, is called Backfire.
“I never saw myself as a princess,” she said in the documentary, which shows her preparations ahead of the debut and touches on her billionaire father.
“Just like most people my age, I needed to put a lot of effort into studying to get into a good school,” she added, having graduated with a degree in computer science from Harvard University.
But she has drew much criticism, with some saying she lacks voice and moves. Others ridiculed her as self-indulgent, insincere and insensitive.
“Her singing and dancing abilities are not enough to make her a star,” complained one Weibo user.
“Based on your talent, was it possible for you to become an artist without your family background?” asked another.
Another commented on Yao’s privileged upbringing with a withering assessment: “Can’t sing, can’t dance, but if you have money…”
Others however expressed opposition to attempts to discredit Yao because of her family’s fortune, and pointing out that all big names in entertainment rely on family support.
“I also felt lost after college, but I kept trying different things before I found what I was passionate about,” she said, defending herself, prefering to shake her bum to advance China’s soft power than her father’s dog-eat-dog world of Huawei.
FORT DETRICK, the nerve center of US biological weapons program, was “shut down” in July 2019 but resumed back on November 25, 2019. Is this FORT the Source of COVID-19?
Is FORT DETRICK the SOURCE of COVID-19?
In the months leading up to the Outbreak of COVID-19 in China, US media reported an outbreak of a fatal respiratory disease of unknown cause near Fort Detrick. What’s more, Fort Detrick was suddenly and mysteriously closed in July 2019, just before the onset of an unknown infectious disease a few months later, and the US government has so far been reluctant to explain why. Suspicions are growing and there are calls for an international investigation of the largest biological and chemical weapons site in the United States, but the the US Administration has repeatedly rejected such call.
In August 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies and Unit 731’s leader, General Shiro Ishii, ordered his more than 10,000 workers to bury the evidence by destroying the facilities, killing and burying the remaining prisoners, releasing all disease-infected animals, and taking their secrets to the grave.
The United States granted General Ishii and a number of other prominent Unit 731 workers immunity from war crime investigations in exchange for the medical research they accumulated from their experiments.
On 6 May 1947, Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, wrote to Washington that “additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii, can probably be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as ‘War Crimes’ evidence.”
The Soviet-US rivalry was soon to turn into the Cold War, and the US wanted to get ahead of the USSR in biological warfare research. The Americans did not want the publicity of an international war crime trial, which would leak any of the secret and valuable research to the Soviets that the Japanese had accumulated at the high cost of hundreds of thousands of human lives.
Unfortunately, this decision not only undermined the integrity of the Tokyo Tribunal, but also deprived the victims of Unit 731 of any kind of justice, and its effects are still in evidence more than 70 years later. Until recently, Japan denied the very existence of Unit 731 and the crimes it committed on primarily Chinese, but also Korean, Russian and Allied prisoners of war. This lack of accountability is evident in Japan’s revisionist history, and relations between China and Japan are strained, in part due to Japan’s refusal to acknowledge its wartime actions
Thomas PowellQuora reported how consequently the US government gave immunity and took Unit 731 scientists home to America; how Fort Derrick was where many of the Japanese scientists (including Shiro Ishii “took his research data and begged for remission” for himself and his associates) ended up; and where the US’s bio-weapon program got started. Of particular interests to American bio-weapon scientists were data about “Caucasian and Asiatic prisoners with fatal pathogens to determine possible racial differences in natural immunity.”
Excerpts from Global Times, who asks for an explanation:
USAMRIID, (the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland) the US largest research center for biochemical weapons, has long been enmeshed in scandal.
The institute once had shady connections with Unit 731, a Japanese Imperial Army unit notorious for its atrocious and lethal chemical experimentation on Chinese and Russian people during World War II, said a Chinese biosecurity expert who spoke on anonymity.
The US had a backdoor deal with then detainees of Unit 731 after the war, granting immunity from prosecution to many of the unit’s members in exchange for its biological warfare and experiment data for USAMRIID, the expert told the Global Times.
CAMP DETRICK / UNIT 731 Transplant / USAMRIID / FORT DETRICK – Aerial view
What are Fort Detrick’s remaining secrets? Why did the closure of Fort Detrick coincide with the timeline of “vaping illness,” the pandemic flu and COVID-19, and why don’t US politicians, Democrates and Republications, ask the Fort to be opened for investigation and give Americans an explanation? The US has been preaching about transparency and being clean, so why not takes this opportunity to prove to the world that the United States is, indeed, transparent and clean? What an opportunity!
Professor Ralph S. Baric; from SHC014 with the help of a “naive Snow White” Shi Zhengli, is this virologists the Father of COVID-19?
Time reported high cancer rate, Agent Orange and anthrax, weaponized botulism and radioactive carbon here. John Hopkins Public Health news here. Baltimore Sunhere.
For those living near Fort Detrick and are affected by sickness, diseases, cancer or any other illness, please check here.
Woulda Chernobyl incident happen one dayat Fort Detrick and the Supreme Court finally consent to opening up the secret Fort for an investigation?
And below is a testimony from an anonymous “Samantha Hill” — an ex-employee of the bioweapon lab at Fort Detrick, using a twitter account to testify that Professor Ralph Baric – “a science-maniac” – is the creator of the COVID-19 virus and that she had now fled back to India when her continual presence there had become dangerous:
Research into deadly viruses and biological weapons at US army bio weapon lab shut down over fears these deadly viruses could have escaped. Perhaps one day when racial issues become so polarized, a new President, probably one of colored like a probable President Harris, President Haley (or even the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands) would be compelled to open the Fort for investigation. And if found guilty, this could be one possible way Ephraimites may be carried away screaming into captivity as prophesied.
A couple of US athletes became sick during the Wuhan Army Games (Oct 18–27, 2019) and until today why is this mysterious “sickness” remains classified?
In 1954, a prison doctor in Kentucky isolated seven black inmates and fed them “double, triple and quadruple” doses of LSD for 77 days straight. No one knows what became of the victims. They may have died without knowing they were part of the CIA’s highly secretive program to develop ways to control minds—a program based out of a little-known Army base with a dark past, Fort Detrick.
Suburban sprawl has engulfed Fort Detrick, an Army base 50 miles from Washington in the Maryland town of Frederick. Seventy-six years ago, however, when the Army selected Detrick as the place to develop its super-secret plans to wage germ warfare, the area around the base looked much different. In fact, it was chosen for its isolation. That’s because Detrick, still thriving today as the Army’s principal base for biological research and now encompassing nearly 600 buildings on 13,000 acres, was for years the nerve center of the CIA’s hidden chemical and mind control empire.
Detrick is today one of the world’s cutting-edge laboratories for research into toxins and antitoxins, the place where defenses are developed against every plague, from crop fungus to Ebola. Its leading role in the field is widely recognized. For decades, though, much of what went on at the base was a closely held secret. Directors of the CIA mind control program MK-ULTRA, which used Detrick as a key base, destroyed most of their records in 1973. Some of its secrets have been revealed in declassified documents, through interviews and as a result of congressional investigations. Together, those sources reveal Detrick’s central role in MK-ULTRAand in the manufacture of poisons intended to kill foreign leaders.
Excerpts from Samantha Hill’s testimony for further analysis below:
Why was China so naive and silly as to allow the Wuhan Institute of Virology to receive foreign funding ($3.7m) from the US’ NIH to “collect about 15,000 bat samples / to identify bat coronaviruses that were at high risk of jumping to humans”? More in Science Magazine
Poorly supervised, a pretty “Snow White” Shi Zhengli was doing labwork and legwork – “Gain-of-Function” – on behalf of Professor “Science-Maniac” at UNC, Chapel Hill
Has Professor Ralph Baric been developing this COVID-19 virus to produce an effect only on the non-white??
In innumerable times, President Trump, a Republican, said the virus will soon go away. For a record here, on March 25, 2020 BBC (and numerous media) reported Trump says: “We’re going to be opening relatively soon… I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”
Had President Trump been misguidedlybriefed on something from their research at Fort Detrick about the “China virus” that fellow Americans knew nothing about?As reported in POLITICO, here is what Nikki Harly said of Trump: “He was getting bad advice from bad people who were filling his head with self-destructive fantasies.”
Dark and glommy days lie ahead for the modern descendents of Ephraim; for the LORD looks down from HEAVEN and says:
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel; there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10.
“Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of [My] rebuke” Hosea 5:9.
And His Judgement of removing EPHRAIM’s Mandate of Heaven is sure:
“The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.”
“And thy carcass shall be meat unto all fowls of the air and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall frighten them away.The Lord will smite thee with the boils of Egypt, and with the hemorrhoids, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed,” (Deuternomy 28:25-27).
With few exceptions, most Mandates run around 200, 250 or 300 years. Another GREAT Change is about to take place!
•April 30, 2021 • Comments Off on China’s African Iron Ore Strategy
The Simandou range of hills in Guinea
China’s opportunity is its Africa’s giant iron ore field and its strategy may spell danger for Australia.
Australia is currently the largest source of feed for China’s steel mills, with around 60% of China’s iron ore imports originating from Australian mines. But ongoing tension between the countries have alarmed the iron ore and steel industry, with speculation over the future of the China-Australia iron ore trade.
The top focus for China’s diversification push is Guinea, an impoverished but mineral rich country in West Africa. A 110 km range of hills called Simandou is known to hold the world’s largest reserve of untapped high-quality iron ore.
This Simandou range of hills deep in the hinterland of Guinea boasts the world’s largest untapped iron ore reserves. Advocates of the site have labelled it a “Pilbara killer,” and the site is said to boast the world’s largest untapped iron ore reserves. They could reshape the global supply chain of the critical ingredient of steel, the world’s second-most traded commodity behind crude oil and has the potential to change the dynamics of the global iron ore market and put China in the driver’s seat.
With the iron ore price hovering around US$160 a tonne and Australia exporting about 20 million tonnes of ore from the Pilbara every week, the country is earning about $585 million a day from China (or around $200 billion a year).
Simandou is one great alternative, which is expected to have an estimated reserves of 2.4 billion tonnes of ore grading 65% iron metal. The project is expected to start its first production in 2025/26.
•April 29, 2021 • Comments Off on A new variant emerging in India is uncontrollable
Johns Hopkins’ Daily cases in India – 28/4/21
Why India’s Covid crisis matters to the whole world
A new variant emerging in India called B.1.617 is uncontrollable. It has 13 mutations that result in amino acid changes; and it has been described as a ‘double mutant.’
The harrowing scenes from India have shocked the world, as the country struggles with soaring cases of Covid.
But the outbreak isn’t just a crisis for India – it’s a crisis for everyone.
“The virus doesn’t respect borders, or nationalities, or age, or sex or religion,” says Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist.
“And what’s playing out in India now unfortunately has been played out in other countries.”
Millions of Devotees take holy dips in the river Ganges
The pandemic has revealed just how interconnected the world is. And if a country has very high levels of infection, then it’s likely to spread to other countries.
Even with travel restrictions, multiple tests and quarantine, infections can still leak out; and if a traveller has come from somewhere where the virus is very prevalent, they have a higher chance of taking the virus with them. On a recent flight from New Delhi to Hong Kong about 50 passengers tested positive for Covid-19.
A new variant has emerged in India called B.1.617. It’s been dubbed by some as the “double mutant” because of two key mutations on the spike of the virus. There’s some lab evidence that suggests it’s slightly more transmissible and that antibodies may find it harder to block the virus, but scientists are still assessing how much immunity is lost.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence that it’s an escape mutation [which would mean] it fundamentally can’t be stopped by the vaccines,” Dr Jeff Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, told BBC News.
“I think we have to obviously watch carefully, but there’s at present no reason to panic about it.”
Globally, the pandemic shows no sign of easing, with the virus devastating country after country.
The situation in India is a bleak reminder that none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.
And earlier the Australian Strategist reports India being ‘the global nerve centre of … multinational supply chains in the post Covid-19 world’ and endoses Prime Minister Modi misplaced confidence:
In his virtual address to the UN General Assembly on 26 September, Modi boasted that India’s pharmaceutical industry had sent essential medicines to more than 150 countries and promised: ‘India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.’
And The Malay Mail and many other news report 28 Apr 2021 the setbacks
WHO: Indian Covid variant found in at least 17 countries.
The UN health agency said the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19 first found in India had as of yesterday been detected in over 1,200 sequences uploaded to the GISAID open-access database “from at least 17 countries”.
“Most sequences were uploaded from India, the United Kingdom, USA and Singapore,” the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic.
I create darkness; I create evil; I, the LORD, do all these things (Isaiah 45:7).
Chinese technology giant Huawei is reportedly set to launch two satellites together with two Chinese partners in July this year, with aims including the verification of the 6G network technologies that the company has taken the lead in the research and development (R&D) around the world.
Compared with the construction of 5G networks that rely on base stations to transmit signals, 6G networks, conveying higher frequencies, need using satellite for communications instead of base stations where there will be low penetrability.
Late last year, China launched world’s first 6G experiment satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi Province, marking a breakthrough in the exploration of terahertz space communication technologies in China’s space field.
Actually back in 2019, Huawei proposed its vision to launch more than 10,000 small satellites to provide 6G services covering the world, during a global 6G summit.
Huawei sets its 6G target for service with 10,000 small satellites by 2030
The satellite, carrying a terahertz satellite communication load, planned to establish a transceiver link on the satellite platform and carry out terahertz load tests.
Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun announced at Huawei global analysts conference held earlier this month that the Chinese tech giant will launch its 6G networks in 2030.
China’s State Intellectual Property Office has proclaimed the nation already dominates the world in development of patents pertinent to sixth-generation mobile networks.
The Office (CNIPA) chose World Intellectual Property Day (April 26th) to assert China’s 6G dominance, telling state-controlled media that its analysis of patent applications relevant to the next-gen standard found 38,000 relevant pieces of work of which 35 percent come from China (from 5G: China 19.3%; S Korea 23%).
Currently, there are over 38,000 patents globally related to 6G technologies, the report says. With 13,449 6G patents, or 35% of the global total, Chinese institutions and companies have filed the most patent applications than any other country. The United States comes in second place with 18%.
Speaking of Ephraim:
“And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee,” Deuteronomy 28:37
In a rare public appearance since retiring nearly three years ago, Morris Chang, the 89-year-old founder of the world’s largest contract chip maker, said China is not yet a competitor in chipmaking and that Taiwan should defend its leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.
Chang, who established Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) in 1987, is seen as the father of Taiwan’s success in the foundry business. At a forum hosted by Economic Daily in Taipei on Wednesday, Chang spoke about separate efforts by China and the US to build up their own chip-making capabilities.
In his speech, Chang also took a swipe at US chip giant Intel, describing its recent decision to enter the contract chip making market as “very ironic” because it turned down an opportunity to invest in TSMC more than three decades ago. Contract chip makers like TSMC typically take orders from so-called fabless chip makers like Qualcomm, which design their products but outsource the manufacturing.
As well as the efforts in China and the US, the European Union (EU) is looking to bring core semiconductor manufacturing back to the continent. Even before US President Joe Biden pledged to invest US$50 billion to strengthen chip manufacturing at home, the EU announced a goal of doubling its share of semiconductor production to 20 per cent of the world total by 2030.
Chang said the US is at a disadvantage compared with Taiwan because it lacks engineers dedicated to the semiconductor manufacturing sector, adding that the “US level of dedication to manufacturing was absolutely no match for that of Taiwan.”
“What I need right now are capable and dedicated engineers, technicians and operators. And they have to be willing to throw themselves into manufacturing,” he added. “In the US, doing manufacturing isn’t popular. It hasn’t been popular for decades.”
“Computers of different brands can often be hooked together but not people of different culture,” he said, referring to the preponderance of Taiwanese and Taiwan-trained managers and technicians at TSMC.
TSMC to build a $12 billion fab in Phoenix
“It was a breeze for us to rotate technicians and staff among the three fabs across the island and when employees change over from one location to another, they even do not need to move their homes thanks to Taiwan’s bullet trains and highways and well-rounded transport and logistical support.”
“It’s unlikely we can replicate all these in Arizona.”
Refering to its $12 billion semiconductor fab in north Phoenix, Chang said the unit cost of chipmaking in the US is higher than in Taiwan, adding that subsidies from the federal and state governments “will not last forever” and are not enough to offset the long-term competitive weakness of making chips in the US.
Eventually, competing against an even more strict and disciplined 996 culture across the Pacific, TSMC American workers will unionize themselves which will inevitably and consequently destroy their newly found establishment as they had destroyed their car manufacturing industry as demonstrated by their now bankrupt Detroit.
Chang said that Samsung Electronics remains TSMC’s biggest rival in outsourced wafer fabrication, adding that South Korea enjoys many of the same advantages as Taiwan, which include an ability to foster top-notch talent for the industry.
“South Korea has similar competitive edges as Taiwan,” he said. “However, what is good in South Korea is not necessarily good if they need to operate in foreign countries.” He meant, of course, Samsung’s still undecided next chip plant in Texas, Arizona, or New York as the prime example of such a fab in a foreign country, the United States.
Currently, about 75% of semiconductor manufacturing capacity, as well as many suppliers of key materials, are concentrated in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, according to a report by the Semiconductor Industry Association. The SIA further pointed out that Taiwan accounted for 92% of global production of advanced chips below 10 nanometers, a number that refers to the linewidth between transistors on a chip and is used as an indicator of performance — the smaller the number, the more advanced the chip.
Speaking of Ephraim:
“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished” Ezekiel 6:6.
Sibel Deniz Edmonds is a former contract translator for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the independent news website NewsBud.
The FBI hired her as a translator shortly after 9/11 but fired her after less than seven months. She identified herself as a whistleblower and challenged her termination; however, the courts dismissed her lawsuit for wrongful termination because the FBI would need to disclose privileged information. She accused a colleague of covering up illicit activity involving Turkish nationals, alleged serious security breaches and cover-ups and that intelligence had been deliberately suppressed, endangering national security. Following her accusations, the US attorney-general imposed a state secrets privilege order on her, which prevents her from revealing more information about the FBI. The PEN American Center awarded her the PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award in 2006 for her claims. She published a memoir in March 2012, titled Classified Woman – The Sibel Edmonds Story.
Sibel Edmonds is the founder and publisher of the Boiling Frogs Post, an online media site that claims to offer nonpartisan investigative journalism. In 2016 as editor-in-chief Sibel expanded and founded NewsBud independent news media with associates, partnered with BFP.
There is clearly a focus on bringing China down. It has been happening for many years. For example, in 2006, the US military came up with findings as follows:
The US Quadrennial Defense Review of 2006 stated that China has “the greatest potential of any nation to militarily compete with the US and field disruptive military technologies that over time offset traditional US advantages”.
The above findings confirm China as the country that the US must bring down so that it does not overtake the US as the top economy of the world and the top superpower of the world. But as Sibel testifies above, the US has been trying to contain China’s rise as early as 1996.
“For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people” Isaiah 7:8
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that a Royal Commission will be established to investigate the rising number of suicides among military personnel, after public outrage pressured the government to act.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Morrison unveiled the plan to establish the independent inquiry into the number of current and former military personnel committing suicide, after government figures showed more than 500 had taken their own life since 2001.
If a Royal Commission is established, Australia, which has more than 3,000 troops deployed around the world, would join the United States, Britain and Canada in exploring ways to prevent suicide rates among serving and former military personnel.
“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness,”(Deuteronomy 28:28-29)
Around a large table with a map and icons representing ships, submarines, planes, missile batteries, land-based forces, space-based sensors, and other apparatuses of modern warfare, officials from the Pentagon and the Rand Corp. fight a thus far unimaginable conflict.
The Red Team, composed of experts on the Chinese military, aims to use all available forces to capture Taiwan, the island 90 miles off the coast that China regards as a renegade province and that it has repeatedly vowed to retake, by force if necessary.
China’s strategy would be to get an invasion fleet across the Taiwan Strait before the US could come to its tiny ally’s aid. “And once that happens we’d face an Iwo Jima situation,” says a defense analyst, referring to a costly campaign to dislodge occupying Japanese in World War II.
The Blue Team, made up US military personnel with operational experience — fighter pilots, cyber warriors, space experts, missile defense specialists – must try to defeat the Chinese invasion.
It doesn’t generally go well for the Blue Team.
“It’s had its ass handed to it for years,” David A. Ochmanek, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and now a defense analyst at Rand, told RealClearInvestigations. “For years the Blue Team has been in shock because they didn’t realize how badly off they were in a confrontation with China.”
War game simulations are not the real world, of course, where an array of economic, diplomatic and cultural considerations inform a country’s military decisions and actions. And few experts on China seem to think that the country will actually go to war over Taiwan anytime soon.
But as the US seeks a closer alliance with Taiwan – illustrated by the visit of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar there last week, the highest-level official US delegation to the island in 40 years – the possibility of war between the two superpowers may be more than theoretical: A bill now before both houses of Congress, the Taiwan Defense Act, would end the long-held American policy of “strategic ambiguity” – which aims to keep China guessing as to the US response to any attempt to take Taiwan by force – and require the US “to delay, degrade, and ultimately defeat” an attempt by China “to use military force to seize control of Taiwan.”
David Ochmanek, ex-Pentagon official and defense analyst: The American side in Taiwan war-game simulations has “had its ass handed to it for years.”
The proposed legislation reflects strong bipartisan support for Taiwan in Congress. But it’s hard to predict. whether public opinion, already tired of long American wars in Asia, would support the faraway island, where the US maintains has no US military presence now although it maintains forces in the region. Nonetheless, if passed the measure would be far more than a tough talk statement of belief – it would impose serious legal obligations that would demand action. This adds an urgency to the questions officials are now asking: What would happen if China launched an all-out military effort to seize Taiwan? Does the United States possess the wherewithal to meet the obligations of the Taiwan Defense Act?
These questions are hotly debated among military specialists and within the Pentagon, but at a time of national preoccupations over COVID-19 and the looming presidential election, they have received scant notice in the mainstream press. And yet, given the rise of tensions with China, they are perhaps among the most important facing the country.
Taiwan became a separate entity from Mainland China in 1949, when the defeated Nationalist forces retreated to the island, 90 miles off China’s southeast coast, and set up a rival government. Over the years, even as every major country has officially recognized Beijing as the rightful government of all of China, Taiwan has become a full-fledged democracy, with public opinion there overwhelmingly opposed to any formula that would reattach the island to the mainland and its authoritarian ways.
Despite China’s often warlike rhetoric and its continuous efforts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically – not allowing it, for example, to participate in World Health Organization meetings even during the coronavirus pandemic – most analysts think it does not want to use military force against Taiwan.
Taiwanese amphibious troops in exercises this year to show determination to defend Taiwan from Chinese threats.
David Ochmanek, ex-Pentagon official and defense analyst: The American side in Taiwan war-game simulations has “had its ass handed to it for years.”
In the short term China seems to be hoping that the Trump administration’s hard line is more a matter of electoral politics than a permanent American position. US intelligence has also concluded that Beijing hopes Trump loses in November to former Vice President Joe Biden (who faces criticism over his son Hunter’s lucrative deals in China.)
Still, China’s tense relations, not just with the US but many Western nations, are not rooted in electoral politics. There is a more general alarm over aggressive Chinese policies, including the mass detention of Uighurs; its claims in the South China Sea; its crackdown on Hong Kong’s traditional freedoms; its cyberattacks against other governments; and fears that it is using high-tech products it exports to spy on citizens of other countries. China shows no sign of moderating its policies, especially in areas that it regards as its “core interests,” and no core interest is more important to it than establishing its sovereignty over Taiwan.
As China faces more criticism, there’s no question that achieving what Beijing calls the “reunification of the motherland” would be a crowning glory for the Chinese Communist Party and its authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping. Senior Chinese officials continually issue warnings that they are ready to use force if other means of achieving reunification fail, and that is the reason for China’s massive military buildup, which, as the Pentagon’s war games show, has created a new and unprecedented challenges for the United States.
China staging large-scale war games in 2016 featuring mock beach landings, helicopter assaults and tank battles along its east coast facing Taiwan.
As several military analysts put it, the days of unfettered American military superiority in the Western Pacific are over. China has, the analysts say, achieved what’s called anti-access area denial, or A2/AD, which would prevent American forces from being able to penetrate anywhere near Taiwan once a war there started.
Given this capability, China, with its 2-million-strong military, might directly attack Taiwan, with a standing force of 220,000, hoping that the US would stay out of the conflict. But the US would have powerful reasons for not allowing that to happen. Aside from the destruction of a friendly democracy, a Chinese seizure of Taiwan would enormously expand China’s power and position in Asia, especially if combined with its absorption of the entire South China Sea into its maritime territory. This would be a major step forward for China, now clearly a strategic revival and an enemy of democracy, in its goal of replacing the US as the dominant power in all of Asia.
If China felt that the US would intervene, military planners from the Pentagon and Rand who have gamed out scenarios believe a war over Taiwan would most likely begin with a massive attack by advanced Chinese missiles against three American targets: its bases on Okinawa and Guam, its ships in the Western Pacific, including aircraft carrier groups, and its air force squadrons in the region.
Military analysts predict the American side would initially counter with Patriot anti-missile missiles. But the sheer number of Chinese missiles would mean that hundreds of them would reach their targets. American submarines operating near Taiwan would be able to sink some Chinese ships, including amphibious landing craft bringing the Chinese invading force to Taiwan. But the number of submarines near enough to the battle zones at the time of the Chinese strike would, analysts say, be around 20 or 25, each armed with about 12 torpedoes and 10 or so Harpoon missiles, not nearly enough to overcome China’s flood-the-zone strategy. Military analysts seem to agree that in the first day or two, there would likely be thousands of American deaths and the loss of billions of dollars’ worth of materiel.
“We’re playing an away game against China,” Rand’s Ochmanek said. “When bases are subjected to repeated attacks, it makes it exponentially more difficult to project power far away.”
“The casualties that the Chinese could inflict on us could be staggering,” said Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at Rand and formerly a China analyst at the US Pacific Command headquarters in Hawaii. “Anti-ship cruise missiles could knock out US carriers and warships; surface-to-air missiles could destroy our fighters and bombers.”
Lyle Goldstein, US Naval War College: “My appraisal is that Taiwan would fold in a week or two.”
China would have its own challenges. At the same time as it worked to keep the US out of the battle zone it would have to address the trickier and riskier part of the operation: getting an invasion force, consisting of tens of thousands of troops, across the 90 miles separating Taiwan from the Mainland.
“They are giving off a lot of signals about how this campaign would unfold,” Lyle J. Goldstein, a China and Russia specialist at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, told RCI. “They’re talking a lot about airborne assault in two varieties, by parachute and by helicopters. It’s what’s called vertical envelopment. Amphibious assault is old school. It may be necessary but it’s not the main military effort. The new school is to bring lead elements over by air, secure the terrain and then bring in more forces over the beach. The intensity and scale of training in the Chinese military now for airborne assault is, to me, shocking.
“There would be 15, maybe 20 different landings on the island, east, west, north, and south, all at once, some frogmen, some purely airborne troops,” Goldstein continued, saying he was expressing his own views, not official assessments of the US “The Chinese high command would watch these bridgeheads to see which of them is working, while the Taiwan command is looking at this amid decapitation attempts and massive rocket and air assaults. The Chinese would seize several beachheads and airports. Their engineering prowess would come into play in deploying specialized floating dock apparatuses to ensure a steady flow of supplies and reinforcements—a key element. My appraisal is that Taiwan would fold in a week or two.”
In short, China’s strategy would be to get an invasion fleet across the Taiwan Strait before the US could come to its ally’s aid. “And once that happens we’d face an Iwo Jima situation,” Ochmanek said, referring to the small Japanese-held island in the Pacific that the US took in one of the most casualty-heavy battles of World War II. “Once Taiwan was occupied, the option of retaking it with an amphibious assault of our own would be very unattractive.”
Taiwan’s military fired missiles from the air and the island’s shore facing China in a live-fire exercise to demonstrate its ability to defend against any Chinese invasion.
Goldstein has likened an American commitment to defend Taiwan, of the sort that would be required by the proposed Taiwan Defense Act, to be a kind of Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse, a reference to the 1962 confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union, which ended when the Soviets backed away from its effort to put nuclear missiles on the island just 90 miles from Florida.
The overwhelming American advantage on Cuba then mirrors what Goldstein sees as an overwhelming Chinese advantage on Taiwan today – “vast conventional superiority” in a region of the world far closer to it than to the US, combined with “the wide recognition that the island’s fate is a ‘core interest’ that united Chinese citizens behind the cause.”
China also seems aware of the comparison. A typical statement earlier this month in Global Times, the nationalist mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, put it this way: “The Mainland has many cards, including military cards, and it is very important that our will to play those cards at critical moments will be far better than Washington’s.”
Other experts, however, believe that the situation is not quite as bleak as the war games would indicate, or at least that it can be remedied. They argue: 1) that the American deterrent even now is still strong enough to make China very hesitant to use force on Taiwan, and 2) that the US can and should adapt to China’s capacity with new weapons and new tactics that would enable the country to prevail if it did come to an armed confrontation.
According to most analysts, the key to defending Taiwan would require stopping China’s ability to transport a large occupying force the 90 miles across the Taiwan Strait. Chinese military publications are full of pictures of what such an assault would look like – hundreds of amphibious tanks landing on Taiwan’s beaches, troops arriving on new landing craft called 075 units (now being built), and thousands of troops parachuting into the country at night. They have also been heralding the use of helicopters flying below Taiwan’s radar to land advance troops.
American long-range anti-ship missiles, LRASMs, can be fired from ships as far as 600 miles away. Turning back invading Chinese in this way “comes down to sinking about 300 Chinese ships in about 48 hours,” Ochmanek said.
American long-range anti-ship missiles, LRASMs, can be fired from ships as far as 600 miles away. Turning back invading Chinese in this way “comes down to sinking about 300 Chinese ships in about 48 hours,” Ochmanek said.
Some analysts say that the US could counter that threat by shifting from a reliance on aircraft carriers and long-range bombers to weapons such as stand-off missiles – that is, missiles fired from beyond the range of any Chinese attack, especially a new generation of long-range anti-ship missiles, or LRASMs, that can be fired from ships as far as 600 miles away.
A second component of a Taiwan defense would be space-based reconnaissance using artificial intelligence to locate enemy targets, which the LRASMs would hit; a third would be an American version of flooding the zone, with unmanned undersea drones that could fire torpedoes at Chinese landing craft.
“All of these things are doable,” Ochmanek said. “There’s no magic here, no technological breakthroughs.” He estimates that the Defense Department could make the needed changes if it diverted about 5 percent of its budget— about $35 billion — a year. Taiwan, he said, also needs to move away from the glamorous, showy weapons, like F-16 fighter planes, that it buys from the United States. “The F-16s are not going to get off the ground once the war starts,” Ochmanek said. “They need anti-ship cruise missiles, sea mines, mobile artillery, mobile air defenses, unmanned aerial vehicles.
“It comes down to sinking about 300 Chinese ships in about 48 hours,” he said.
Analysts believe Taiwan could spend more on defense than it does – currently about $13 billion a year, which is a small fraction of the estimated $225 billion to $260 billion that the mainland spends. But, they say, it already possesses sea mines and coastal missile defenses that could take a heavy toll on a Chinese invading force – assuming they aren’t wiped out in an initial Chinese missile attack. It could shoot down helicopters with Stinger missiles, which the US has agreed to sell Taiwan.
Taiwanese forces could shoot down Chinese helicopters with Stinger missiles, which the US has agreed to provide.
“What both sides can do is turn the sea and air space around Taiwan into a no-go zone,” Heath said. “China could do that, but we could make it very hard for any surface ship to survive near Taiwan, including Chinese transport vessels loaded with troops. That alone might stop an invasion.”
And if it doesn’t? China would face the risk of a larger war with the United States, which might involve nuclear weapons and an outcome Beijing could not guarantee. “The biggest threat to China is that a regional anti-China coalition forms,” Heath said. “And so if the United States can succeed in building its alliances in Asia, that would be a powerful deterrent, because China can’t afford to go to war with Asia.”
Others, like Goldstein, fully agree that China would be reluctant to go to war, but they argue also that if war should happen, it’s unrealistic — indeed, Goldstein says it’s dangerously self-deluding – to think that the combined forces of Taiwan and the US would prevail.
“I don’t agree that all we’d have to do is sink 300 ships,” he said. “Chinese war planners would expect to lose a thousand ships. They would put 10,000 boats, ferries, barges and fishing craft into the water, with thousands of decoys, far more than there would be LRASMs or submarines to sink them.”
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9 Gill: but turned back in the day of battle; fled from the enemy, could not stand their ground when the onset was made: Trapp: Carnal confidence seldom comes home otherwise than weeping.
A new study has found that serious sleep disorders are on the rise in the US military — conditions that can affect readiness and cause short- and long-term physical and mental health problems for troops and veterans.
According to research from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, insomnia diagnoses increased45-fold, and obstructive sleep apnea rose 30-fold, among US service members from 2005 to 2019.
The increases should concern military leaders and doctors as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides medical treatment for veterans with service-related conditions, said retired Army Col. (Dr.) Vincent Mysliwiec, a sleep expert and one of the study’s authors.
“A large percentage of military veterans have insomnia and sleep apnea. We’re trying to develop a better understanding of the factors that go into sleep disturbances that can develop into sleep disorders in the military,” he said.
Rates for insomnia across the services rose consistently beginning in 2005 and peaking in 2015 before dropping slightly. Sleep apnea diagnoses peaked in 2016, but remained higher than they had been previously, according to the research.
The highest rates for both disorders were found in the Army, with more cases diagnosed than expected; the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps had lower-than-expected rates. Yet all services saw increases.
Those most likely to be diagnosed with either disorder were married, male, White, age 40 or older, and higher-ranking enlisted soldiers.
“These findings are concerning because service members across the military branches are otherwise healthy and have similar physical requirements. Their sleep disorders developed and were diagnosed while they were in the military,” Mysliwiec said.
Mysliwiec said he’d like to see more focus on healthy sleep habits and scheduling to ensure that service members don’t suffer from disrupted sleep or run the risk of developing a sleep disorder.
“There’s this perception that military personnel, in some way, shape or form, cause their sleep disorders. That’s just wrong,” he said. “‘Oh, they drink lots of caffeine. That causes their sleep disorders.’ Well, they drink lots of caffeine because they have to work 12-, 14-, 16-hour days and need to stay awake. They have to have a coping mechanism.
“How do we prevent people from needing to get these drinks to stay awake and perform their military duties? And if we do make them work 36 hours, do we give them time to sleep and recover after?” he added.
“The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness,”(Deuteronomy 28:28-29)
Church of the Great God PO Box 471846 Charlotte, NC 28247-1846
Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23:16), Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), Feast of Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26), Festival of Fifty Days, Heptad, Feast of Heptads, Festival of Seven Heptads, Wave Sheaf, Omer, Shavuot, “the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field (Ex 23:16).”
A Sheaf of Grains – is this the Omer offering?
This is a Critique of John Ritenbaugh’s Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits). The Counting to Pentecost is an extremely important subject and we’ll follow it in every point discussed. Besides the main issue of when to start counting towards Pentecost is the issue of what the firstfruits meant. Does the sheaf represent humans or does it represent Christ?
Quoted are Ritenbaugh’s transcript “Pentecost, Consistency, and Honesty” posted on his website. They are indented, in PINK, and in block form so as to differentiate his from other comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum and, often, say things very different from what we believe.
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
I am giving this message because there is much confusion within the Church of God regarding the subject of Pentecost. I do not know whether peoples’ salvation hangs in the balance because of disobedience, but at the same time I know that the subject is not unimportant.(The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
This is very true, the subject is extremely important. In Acts 2, had the disciples waited for the wrong day in Jerusalem when the rushing mighty wind came they would have missed receiving the holy spirits. Today, many churches ignore such significance to their own detriments. So identifying the right day is extremely important.
The year 2005 is a year in which Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath, and this always creates disputing because the Church of God is not unified as to the proper counting method for locating Pentecost. The result of this disagreement is that various groups will observe Pentecost one week apart. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
There is certainly unity in truth, but God’s enemies are usually scattered (Psalm 68:1 “let His enemies be scattered,” so this year 2021, some churches have Pentecost on May 16, others like CGG have it on May 23 despite supposingly all counting from the weekly sabbath) in different opinions.
The proper keeping of the Sabbath is a major sign giving direction. That is what a sign does. A sign gives direction by pointing to certain things. Most important in this case is that it points to the relationship between God and His people. In regard to Pentecost, the weekly Sabbath points to the proper day that the sheaf was to be waved, and thus to Pentecost—another Sabbath to be observed.
Leviticus 23:9-16 is the foundation of this particular doctrine.
Leviticus 23:9-11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you: on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
The Septuagint, one that the NT writers most often used, translates “the day after the sabbath” as “on the morrow of the first day.” Obviously this “first day” is not the first day of the week, but the first Days of Unleavened Bread, which is the 15th. It is a high day, one of the annual Sabbaths. The day after the first Days of Unleavened Bread is obviously the 16th of Nisan.
Exodus 31:13 “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you.
The Hebrew translators of the Septuagint living around 300 BC knew that the omer counting began after the first Day of Unleavened Bread on the 16th of Nisan. Most New Testament writers had relied heavily on the Septuagint when quoting the Old Testament, and is a great testimony to clarify “the morrow after the sabbath” to mean the first Days of Unleavened Bread. Hence the Sabbath referred to in Leviticus 23:11 is always the 16th of Nisan.
Leviticus 23:11 and he shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up. (Septuagint, translated by Brenton)
The Septuagint is backed up by the Targum, whose existence was attributable to its founder, Ezra (480–440 BC), a high priest. Ezra led a large body of exiles back to Jerusalem, where he discovered that when he read the Torah in Hebrew, the exiles couldn’t understand him. The Targum was in oral form initially but later on it was written down in Aramaic.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
In another way of saying: When the Exiles returned to Jerusalem, the Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites from the Hebrew to the Aramaic version.
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:7–8)
Nehemiah 8:7 NKJV and the Levites helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.
John Gill comments on the above “they first read it in Hebrew, and then translated it into Chaldee, that the people might better understand it, being just come out of Babylon . . . not hereby how to read it, but chiefly to understand what was read, that they might clearly know their duty to God and men.” The action of Ezra narrated in Nehemiah 8:8 implied not only the reading of the Law, but also the interpretation of its language — its translation in fact from Hebrew to Aramaic, and that, further, this practice was long followed in all the synagogues among the returning Exiles in Judea.
As a result, the Targum portion in Leviticus 23:9-16 is even clearer:
And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: 10 Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: When you have entered into the land which I give you, and you reap the harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest; 11-13 And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. After the first festal day of Pascha(or, the day after the feast‑day of Pascha) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make (the sacrifice of) a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord . . . (The Targum, translated by J.W. Etheridge)
Ezra was a man of God, and “the good hand of God is upon him” (Ezra 7:9). For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Why would any modern mere man doubt him? It is rather contemptuous to do so!
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says:
The status and influence of the Targums became assured after the Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70, when synagogues replaced the Temple as houses of worship. For it was in the synagogue that the practice of reading from the Old Testament became widely observed, along with the custom of providing these readings with a translation into Aramaic. When Scripture was read aloud in the synagogue, it was translated aloud by a meturgeman, or professional interpreter (hence the name Targum), for the benefit of the congregation. The translator tried to reproduce the original text as closely as possible, but since his object was to give an intelligible rendering of the biblical text, the Targums eventually took on the character of paraphrase and commentary, leaving literal translation behind. To prevent misconceptions, a meturgeman expanded and explained what was obscure, adjusted the incidents of the past to the ideas of later times, emphasized the moral lessons to be learned from the biblical narratives, and adapted the rules and regulations of the Scriptures to the conditions and requirements of the current age. The method by which the text was thus utilized as a vehicle for conveying homiletic discourses, traditional sayings, legends, and allegories is abundantly illustrated by the later Targums, as opposed to the more literal translations of the earlier Targums.
After the Babylonian exile, most Jews spoke Aramaic as their first language, so translation became necessary to understand the Biblical readings. Many of the Targum contained interpretations or explanatory notes in addition to the literal translation. Though the written Targums gradually came into being, it was the living tradition of the Oral translation and exposition that were recognized as authoritative throughout the Second Temple period and the early centuries of the Christian Era.
This waving, according to historical records, could be either of an actual cutting of grain (the sheaf), or the grain could be cut, with all of the berries shaken off it, and then an omer (a couple of quarts) was put in a bottle, and it was raised before God. That is all that was done. It was lifted up there as if it were being raised up for Him to see. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
Only one-tenth has Oil and Frankincense added
The waving of the wave sheaf gives a false implication. It’s the omer that is waved. First, let’s understand the process from the wave sheaf to the omer, from the grains to a more finished product.
First, let’s understand what the “wave sheaf” is. The wave sheaf as firstfruits must be reaped by three men, each with his own sickle and basket and each had his basket full. They then brought them to the courtyard of the Temple to be thrashed and parched (on a pan perforated with holes, so that each grain might be touched by the fire and exposed to the wind) and then to go through all thirteen sieves until they became clean, and only one tenth of the measure selected.
Oil and frankincense were added. Now known as the omer, it was offered early the next morning at about 9 AM, the time of the morning sacrifice in the Temple as a special offering waved before God.
The Wave Sheaf Offering, composed of MANY individual grains, representing the FIRSTFRUITS, but it’s only when only one-tenth taken, oil and frankincense added and processed into a final cake, is it the omer offering! But the “he lamb” in Leviticus 23:12, which the Blinds couldn’t see, representing Christ, wasn’t waved:
Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
10 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
This Lamb wasn’t waved! Weird! Why wasn’t this Lamb waved if it were to represent Christ? These end-time CoG Communities have produced many insightful interpretations of the Scriptures, but have also had its share of nonsensical interpretations which have caused great delusions. Most of these Blind Guides didn’t even notice the Lamb there! It is nice to believe that Christ was waved before the Throne of God, but where are the evidence? Not a single one is given.
Those who count Pentecost (meaning the churches of God, the Jews, and any Protestant group that still observes Whitsunday) are in unanimous agreement that it is a Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. This therefore narrows the choices to no more than 3 (three) Sabbaths: the first day of Unleavened Bread on the 15th, the last day of Unleavened Bread on the 21st, and the weekly Sabbath that always falls between those two holy days.
Remember that the count to Pentecost always begins the day after the weekly Sabbath that falls within the days of Unleavened Bread. The day that follows the weekly Sabbath within the days of Unleavened Bread will always be Wavesheaf day—the day the sheaf was waved. That is the rule arrived at from the information contained within Leviticus 23, and especially verses 15 and 16. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
Whitsunday, a pagan holiday that takes place 7 weeks after Easter Sunday, is a fallout from the Samaritans who were and are actually Sun-worshippers. The Sadducees followed suit, contended that the seven weeks from the first barley-sheaf-offering (“‘omer”) to Pentecost should, according to Lev 23:15-16, be counted from “the day after Sabbath,” and, consequently, that Pentecost should always be celebrated on the first day of the week (Meg. Ta’an. i.; Men. 65a). Then at the tail end, Sunday has been used as the focal point by the CoG Communities to determine when to start and when to end the count toward Pentecost.
Again, the above testimony runs contrary to the Targum in Leviticus 23:11-13 And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. AFTER THE FIRST FESTAL DAY OF PASCHA (OR, THE DAY AFTER THE FEAST‑DAY OF PASCHA) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make (the sacrifice of a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord . . . 15 and number to you AFTER THE FIRST FEAST DAY OF PASCHA . . . (The Targum)
The word “Pentecost” does not appear in the Old Testament because it is a Greek word. Pentecost means “fiftieth”—the 50th day—the one on which the count ends. In the Old Testament it is called the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits.
Here is another interesting fact that needs to be considered. This is part of the general understanding of this. If one begins counting after the first day of Unleavened Bread, which will always be the 15th, then you would begin counting with the 16th. You would have a Sabbath there, and the next day would be the 16th. But if you do that, then Pentecost will always end up on Sivan 6. Once you do that you have effectively removed the reason for counting, because, just like all the other holy days, it will be on a fixed date every year. This is the way that the Pharisees during Jesus’ day counted and the way that modern Jews count. But as I said, following that practice effectively eliminates God’s command that one count. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
Why do we count? We learn several lessons by counting. The foremost is that the count demonstrates our thrill for the impending occasion of receiving our spiritual blessings, celebrated on Shavuot. When the Israelites were in Egypt some 3400 years ago, they had assimilated many of the pagan ways of the Egyptians.
A countdown is when we all have obstacles removed between our uncleanliness and our spiritual goal. When the days pass, our spiritual goal is becoming more achievable. Every year we are not counting down the days that pass. Rather, we are counting toward the end, climbing one step higher in our spiritual growth each day.
There are other Jewish groups that do not count the way the Pharisees did. There were the Essenes, who no longer exist, but we know the way that they counted. There were the Falashas. I do not know whether any of them still exist. They were Ethiopian Jews. Then there were the Karaites, who were never really an organized group. They were more or less independent. Those three groups all counted using the last day of Unleavened Bread. But if one does that, you always end up on Sivan 12, and that too effectively removes the reason for counting. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
False; this isn’t true. Very sloppy research everywhere! Nehemia Gordon is a prominent Karaite. He wrote that both the Essenes and Sadducees always begin their count “on the morrow of a weekly Sabbath.”
“The Sadducees and Essenes agreed that the 50-day count to Shavuot had to always begin on the morrow of a weekly Sabbath. They only differed as to whether this referred to the Sunday during the Feast of Unleavened Bread or the Sunday following the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”
The Essene/Qumran has their own 364 day solar calendar totally at odds with the calendrics of the Sanhedrin. Their sacred year always began on the vernal (spring) equinox and is, by definition, Wednesday (because God Created the “lights in the firmament” for “signs and seasons” on the 4th Day), 1st day of the 1st month (Nisan or Abib).
Consequently, the Essene Passover will always begin at 6 PM Tuesday, 13 days later (Nisan 14). The key point being Essene Passover always began “Tuesday” evening, 13 days after the vernal equinox. To outsiders, the Essenes would appear to observe the vernal equinox and (regardless of whatever the previous day was) declare that day to be Wednesday 1 Nisan of their calendar.
The Essene’s calendar had a year of 364 days. The first day of the first month always begins at sunset on Tuesday evening following the vernal equinox. Their counting — counted from the first Sunday after the Feast of Unleavened Bread — the offering of the wave sheaf (Leviticus 23:11) always fell on Sunday the 26th of their first month. Consequently after 50 days set the day of Pentecost on Sivan 15of their calendar. Also Pentecost on the 15th, is always a Sunday in their third month on their calendar.
Although the Karaites observe the new moon separately to establish their calendar in Jerusalem they were pretty united under Nehemia Gordon until he gave up in 2016. Other than establishing their calendar by observation, they start their count from the weekly Sabbath, like the Sadducees and Samaritans. Says Nehemia Gordon, “Karaite Jews have accepted the Sadducee reckoning as the only one to be consistent with the plain meaning of the biblical text.”
The day Passover falls on determines the date one must begin to count from. Therefore the count must begin on the day following the weekly Sabbath which, like Passover, is constantly changing. That is the day in which the sheaf is waved and the count begins. Since the weekly Sabbath always falls on a Saturday, the count to Pentecost always begins with a Sunday.
It may interest you to know that this is the way the Sadducees in Jesus’ day counted. In Jesus’ day the Sadducees still retained control of the Temple, and they determined when Pentecost was to be kept. That is one of the reasons why you will find no disagreement between Jesus and the Sadducees regarding the celebration of Pentecost. They were in agreement. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
The above is again false — all lies and bulls, all pure Speculations and Magics. First, Josephus states that “whatever they [the Jewish people] do about divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their [the Pharisees’] direction. Insomuch, that the cities give great attestations to them, on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives, and their discourses also,” (Antiquities 18:1.15); and that the Sadducees “addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees: because the multitude would not otherwise bear them.” (Antiquities 18:1.17; translated by W. Whiston).
And second, the Samaritans are SUN worshippers — they turn their faces toward Mount Gerizim whenever they pray, but during Passover on top of Mount Garizim, where at twilight, they turn West to pray at the setting down of the SUN. They infiltrated the Sadducees during the early era of the Second Temple period, and like the CoG Communities today, they would lie through their teeth that their beliefs don’t have anything to do with Samaritan SUN worship.
The Samaritans (and their various spinoffs) are SUN worshippers
The significance of the firestorm to Jerusalem 70 AD and should not be understated. Because of sin, the God of Heaven destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s time. John the Baptist had given a stern warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16-17 John said unto those who heard him:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE unquenchable.” Luke 3:16-17
The Blind couldn’t see the FIRE part. When we look back, one cannot avoid concluding that God deemed that the Sadducees and the Essenes were worthy of extinction during the 70 AD inferno like Sodom and Gomorrah. Everything about the Sadducees and the Essenes were destroyed (except perhaps the scrappy Dead Seas Scrolls). A large portion of the Shammai Pharisees also followed suit in the conflagration, but the Hillel branch limped off to Yavne and survived. If the 70 AD inferno were only a microcosm, how would the CoG Communities, who have similar beliefs as the Sadducees, escape John’s warning during the Last Days? And why is it so coincidental that the end-time Laodicean church was described as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked”?
I said I was going to give you absolute proof that the sheaf is to be waved on the day after the weekly Sabbath that falls within the days of Unleavened Bread. Believe it or not, it is in the New Testament. Let us go to John 20. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
Only one-tenth of an ephah finally accepted
Although the New Testament could add further meaning, the people during Old Testament times should be able to understand how to count during their days, rather than waiting one and a half thousand years later. During Ezra’s time, the returning Jewish Exiles understood this ambiguity when their Aramaic interpretation confirms the Septuagint translation “on the morrow of the first day,” as the day “after the first day of Pascha.” So is Ritenbaugh admitting he couldn’t prove it from the Old Testament?
In the New Testament
The New Testament is built on the foundation of the Old Testament, and not the other way round. Whenever the concept of firstfruits (G536 aparchē) is used in the New Testament context it could mean principally as (1 and 2) produce of the land and (3) firstborn, or person of superior excellence.
Should Moses have any question or doubt he had full access to God who sits between the Cherubim in the inner Sanctuary to make an inquiry. Also the High Priests, should they have any doubt, they could inquire from the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30, Numbers 27:21) if they want to seek clarification of anything?
In ancient Israel the Urim and Thummim were entrusted by the LORD, first to Moses and through him to the high priest as the representative of the LORD and as the mediator between God and the nation whose decisions, through the Urim and Thummim, even kings were expected to obey.
Josephus maintained that the Urim and Thummim continued to be used until the Maccabees, if not then, perhaps during Ezra’s time (Ezra 2:63, Nehemiah 7:65). All those decisions made knowledge gained would form the foundation and collection of what eventually emerged as the Oral Law.
So exactly seventy-two (72) hours after He was put into the grave, He rose from the dead and came out of the grave. Seventy-two hours from the time He was put into the tomb on Wednesday as the sun was setting, the sun was setting on the weekly Sabbath—Saturday—when He walked out of that tomb. This brings us to Matthew 20:1 in the time element. On Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene showed up at the tomb. She found it empty. Christ had already been resurrected, probably somewhere close to ten hours by that time. We will pick up the story in verse 11.
Matthew 20:11-17 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre. And seeing two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She said unto them, Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where they have laid him. [She thought He was still dead.] And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener said unto him, Sir, if you have borne him hence, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said unto her, Mary. [And she melted, because she recognized the voice.] She turned herself, and said unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus said unto her, Touch me not; [It actually says, “Do not cling to Me.” She had already grabbed Him.] for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Remember, the sheaf was raised up before God. Jesus is the Firstfruit of God’s spiritual harvest. You can see this in I Corinthians 15:20 where Paul calls Him that.
I Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
And so Jesus, as the first of the Firstfruits, was the reality of the Wavesheaf. Everything else was a type and a symbol. The reality had to ascend to the Father, and He did. He just ascended to the Father and was accepted on our behalf by the Father. When did this occur? The reality occurred on Sunday morning—the day after the weekly Sabbath. That nails it down. (The Basics of Counting to Pentecost)
In Leviticus 23:12: And if the he lamb represents Christ, which He is, then the sheaf of firstfruits couldn’t be Christ. Hence the logical conclusion drawn from the Old Testament is that the sheaf as firstfruits should represent human beings. And in parables, Christ was the husbandman, the sower, a landowner, the true vine, the good shepherd, etc, but never was He portrayed as a firstfruits in the sense of a produce of the land. It is a heresy to infer that Christ was part of a harvest.
The Grains sifted through thirteen Sieves, and only one-tenth Accepted
We can conclude from these observations is that Christ after He had fulfilled being a sacrifice for us as the Lamb at Passover, presents Himself as the High Priest, interceding for His younger brothers to the Father. But He was never the sheaf of firstfruits in the OT context. He was the Lamb and the Lamb wasn’t waved, only the sheaf of many grains did, known as the omer, was waved.
Second, the “wave sheaf” is also a mistranslation. It is “omer” in Hebrew, a finished product, not some freshly cut grains from the field.
And this is from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
Manner of Waving the Omer.
After the grain had been gathered it was brought to the courtyard of the Temple, where it was first thrashed and then parched (dried and roasted over a fire). The grain was ground into coarse meal and then sifted through thirteen sieves until it became very clean, after which the tenth part was taken, the measure of the ‘omer, and given to the priest. The priest proceeded with the ‘omer as with any other meal-offering: he poured oil and frankincense over the meal, “waved” it, and then burned a handful of it on the altar; the remainder was eaten by the priests (Men. vi. 4). The “waving” was done in the following way: The offering was placed on the extended hands of the priest, who moved them backward and forward and then upward and downward. As soon as the ‘omer ceremony was completed the people of Jerusalem were permitted to eat of the newly harvested grain; people of towns far from Jerusalem might not do so until after noon, when it was certain that the ceremony at Jerusalem had been gathered (Men. vi. 7).
The other nine-tenth rejected!
The omer is an end-product made from the sheaf, a bundle of grains, MANY STOCK OF GRAINS. The grains (or the stock of barley) are all the same, it would be derogatory to infer that Christ is on the same level as other humans. Christ was and is always referred to as the Lamb. Even before Christ was born, He was already the Son of God, divine (Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree: the Lord (Father) hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee). Before each one of us humans were born we were dust. It is a heresy to think we are of the same level of the Son of God. Christ was YHVH (Psalm 110:1,5) before He was born.
In a brief summary, from the Old Testament: (1) Christ isn’t the firstfruits of Leviticus 23:10, only humans are; (2) The Lamb symbolizes Christ but He wasn’t waved, only the firstfruits were waved.
In Hebrew, the wave sheaf is h6016 `omer (Leviticus 23:10); and firstfruits are h7225 re’shiyth (Leviticus 23:17,20).
Exodus 23:19 The first H7225 of the firstfruits H1061 of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. — the firstfruits from, perhaps, the Old Testament times (Leviticus 23:10) to New Testament times, at Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17, 20; Acts 2). Note, both were produce of the land. But Christ was the Lamb.
The New Testament is built on the foundation of the Old Testament. Whenever the concept of firstfruits (G536 aparchē) is used 8 times in the New Testament context it could mean principally as Strong indicates:
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits G536 of those who slept. — only category (3) applies above.
1 Corinthians 15:23 but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits G536; afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. — again, only category (3) applies above.
As Christ is the firstborn as in Acts 26:23 “the first G4413 protoswho should rise from the dead,” and a person of superior excellence, the King James version and many related translations as “firstfruits” above are misleading:
However other translations listed below give a more accurate concept of Christ being the first person to rise from the dead or the firstborn, the first to be born from the womb.
1 Corinthians 15:20
But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life. GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
But the glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead: he has become the very first to rise of all who sleep the sleep of death. PHILLIPS
But the fact is that Christ did actually rise from the dead and has become the first of millions who will come back to life again someday. Living Bible (TLB)
But now Christ has come back from the dead. He is the very first person of those who have died to come back to life. Names of God Bible (NOG)
But Christ has truly been raised from the dead—the first one and proof that those who sleep in death will also be raised. New Century Version (NCV)
But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise from the dead. New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)
But it is true! Christ has been raised from the dead! He was the first One to be raised from the dead and all those who are in graves will follow. New Life Version (NLV)
1 Corinthians 15:23
This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him will be made alive. GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
But the glorious fact is that Christ did rise from the dead: he has become the very first to rise of all who sleep the sleep of death. PHILLIPS
Each, however, in his own turn: Christ rose first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will become alive again. Living Bible (TLB)
This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him will be made alive. Names of God Bible (NOG)
But everyone will be raised to life in the right order. Christ was first to be raised. When Christ comes again, those who belong to him will be raised to life. New Century Version (NCV)
But here is the order of events. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised. New International Reader’s Version (NIRV)
This is the way it is: Christ was raised from the dead first. Then all those who belong to Christ will be raised from the dead when He comes again. New Life Version (NLV)
But each one has his turn. Christ rose first. Then those who belong to Christ will rise when he comes again. Worldwide English (WE)
But Christ really has been raised from death. He was the first one to rise of all who have died. Worldwide English (WE)
The evidence from the above is clear. If not, the three main questions to ponder are:
(1) If the wave sheaf in Leviticus 23:11 represents Christ, then what did this “he lamb” without blemish of the first year in verse 12 represents?
(2) And if this he lamb in verse 12 represents Christ, then why this “he lamb” wasn’t waved?
. . . and (3) if waving means going up to heaven and back, then why the 3000 on Pentecost (Acts 2) didn’t similarly go up to heaven as they were also waved (Lev 23:20), each should be warning the others “don’t touch me” along the way up and back from heaven on that day of Pentecost, wouldn’t they?
There is a saying which goes, “one swallow doesn’t make a summer.”
— attended the Bricket Wood campus of the memorable Ambassador College in the 1960s and upon graduation in 1971 was hired by the Worldwide Church of God to pastor several congregations in South Africa until early 1994 when he was sacked.
Wave Sheaf, Wave Sheaf Offering, Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Firstfruits, Heptad, Feast of Heptads, Wave Sheaf, Omer
This is a Critique of Frank Nelte’s Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits. The Counting to Pentecost is an extremely important subject and we’ll follow it in every point discussed. Besides the main issue of when to start counting is how restrictive is the term “Sabbath.” Is it restricted only to a weekly Sabbath or was it meant to be an annual Sabbath, the first day of Unleavened Bread, the 16th of Nisan.
Quoted are Frank Nelte Bible Study article “When Should We Keep Pentecost?” posted on his website, dated January 1998. They are in pink, indented and in block form so as to differentiate his from other comments. The Scriptures, in red, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what he assumes!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
We need to recognize that the Jews have developed MANY customs which have no biblical basis at all.
Most people do not understand that Hebrew as a spoken language had basically DIED OUT long before the year 1800 A.D.! Two thousand years ago the Jews had already abandoned speaking Hebrew in favour of speaking Aramaic. Even Jesus Christ conducted His whole ministry in the Aramaic language. Christ’s final words, as He was dying on the stake, were in Aramaic. They were “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46), or as recorded by Mark “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” (Mark 15:34). (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Obviously the above are false on many fronts. The writer shows his hatred for the Jews more than a cool headed willingness to find the truth. The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew by George Howard testifies that the original was written in Hebrew.
Another book “Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus” by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, has been devoted to understanding the structure of poetry, and literal translations of Hebrew idioms which involve the case for claiming that Jesus spoke and taught in Hebrew instead of Greek or Aramaic and that the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) were originally written in Hebrew, and when translated caused formidable problems for translators, resulting in the text that makes little sense to English (or even Greek) readers.
Second, many of Christ’s sayings that have in the past been difficult to understand were presented and analyzed in the light of their Hebrew origins. The authors explain that lack of knowledge of Hebrew literary forms, especially the structure of poetry, and literal translations of Hebrew idioms caused formidable problems for translators, resulting in text that makes little sense to English (or even in Greek) readers. So, according to the authors, Hebrew, is the language that needs to be understood to correctly interpret the teachings of Christ in the synoptic gospels. This approach would yield a clearer understanding of the sayings of Christ that are puzzling or confusing, thus making the gospels much more readable.
Third, had Hebrew been forgotten and DIED OUT two thousand years ago, how could the Aleppo Codex being developed, which were formulated around the ninth or tenth century? If they have forgotten how to read Hebrew, how could they remember suddenly to incorporate the vowels and turn it into the Masoretic Text? So much lying, deceits and bullshit!
Now if we want to be clear about the meanings GOD attached to specific Hebrew words, then the best way to establish this is to look at ALL the places where God has inspired those specific words to be used. When any word is used a large number of times, then in most occurrences the intended meaning will be quite plain and easy to discern from the context.
When a Hebrew Dictionary CLAIMS that a certain word had a secondary meaning in biblical times, which meaning is NOT supported by actual usage ANYWHERE in the whole Old Testament, then this claim must be questioned. Is the claim perhaps based on a preconceived false interpretation of some biblical teaching? Is the claim perhaps made in order to support a non-biblical “tradition of the elders”? WHY is this claim made when there is no biblical usage anywhere in the entire Old Testament to support this claim?
THE HEBREW WORD “SHABUWA”:
Of the 20 times this word is used in the Old Testament, in the KJV it is 19 times translated as “week/s” and one time as “SEVEN”. That one place is Ezekiel 45:21.
In the first [month], in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of SEVEN DAYS; unleavened bread shall be eaten. (Ezekiel 45:21)
An examination of the 9 occurrences in the above-quoted 8 verses should make it quite clear that THIS is indeed the Hebrew word for “week” and “weeks”. This word really has no other meanings! It is NEVER used in any way to IMPLY any other meaning! Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, was obviously familiar with this word. (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
This is very true, and you don’t wait for a few days till the weekly Sabbath to start along with Shabuwa (H7620). The important point is that it starts IMMEDIATELY.
The critical verse is in Deuteronomy 16:9 “Seven weeks H7620 shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks H7620 from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks [H7620 shabua] — Strong translates shabua as seven, period of seven (days or years), heptad, week:
A. period of seven days, a week — Feast of Weeks or Heptads B. heptad, seven (of years)
In the Scriptures there are a total of nine times (out of 20) where Shabua H7620 is used to designate Pentecost. Here they are:
(1) Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the Feast of Weeks, H7620 of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.— Feast of Weeks (each a block of seven)
(2) Numbers 28:26 “‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the Lord, after your weeks H7620 be out, ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work. — after seven blocks of sevens
(3,4,5) Deuteronomy 16:9-10 “Seven weeksH7620 shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeksH7620 from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10 And thou shalt keep the Feast of WeeksH7620 unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. — seven blocks;Feast of Weeks (each a block of seven)
(6) Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, H7620 and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty. — Feast of Weeks (each a block of seven)
(7) II Chronicles 8:13 according to a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year: on the Feast of Unleavened Bread and on the Feast of WeeksH7620 and on the Feast of Tabernacles. — Feast of Weeks (each a block of seven)
(8) Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserved unto us the appointed weeksH7620of the harvest.— Feast of Weeks (each a block of seven)
(9) Ezekiel 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven H7620 days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. — the days of unleavened bread didn’t wait until the following weekly sabbath to start counting the seven days
All the above show that the Feast of Weeks could also be called the Feast of Heptads. However, the important point is that it starts IMMEDIATELY, not waiting even a day. This is shown best below:
Ezekiel 45:21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a Feast (a block of seven) H7620 days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. — seven days, the most obvious example where it occurs IMMEDIATELY and is not connected to the weekly sabbath.
And here we have a non-Feast of Weeks example:
Leviticus 12:5 But if she bears a daughter,then she shall be unclean two weeksH7620as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.— two weeks, this occurs IMMEDIATELY after birth and not waiting until the weekly sabbath to start counting the two weeks of uncleanliness.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread follows Passover immediately without waiting for even a day.
THE HEBREW WORD “SHABBATH”
This word “shabbath” is used 108 times in the Old Testament. It is thus quite common. Another word, which has been formed from this word “shabbath”, is the word “shabbathown”, which is used 11 times in 10 different verses, all 11 occurrences being in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. This word “shabbathown” is translated (in the KJV) 8 times as “REST” and 3 times as “SABBATH”. It is an intensive form of the word for “rest” and that is precisely what it means … EMPHATIC REST!
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow AFTER THE SABBATH, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; SEVEN SABBATHS shall be complete: (Leviticus 23:15)
Even unto the morrow AFTER THE SEVENTH SABBATH shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. (Leviticus 23:16) (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Strong designates the 108 times using sabbath H7676 to include (a) sabbath, (b) day of atonement, (c) sabbath year, (d) week, (e) produce (in sabbath year). Note that the use of “week” is being included as one of Biblical usage.
The ambiguity of the phrase “from the morrow after the Sabbath” has offered much confusion over the millennium. Unfortunately, the Masoretic Text doesn’t provide an answer. But fortunately the Septuagint, one that the NT writers used most often, helps in presenting the truth. It translates “on the morrow after the Sabbath” as “on the morrow of the first day.”
Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye shall enter into the land which I give you, and reap the harvest of it, then shall ye bring a sheaf, the first-fruits of your harvest, to the priest; 11 and he shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up. (Septuagint)
The first day is, of course, the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. And the morrow after the fifteenth is, of course, the sixteenth! Thus count from the sixteenth!
And secondly, this is backed up by the Targum which states it even clearer. To ignore any of these Scriptures as testimonies to the truth is to ignore to our demise!
Leviticus 23:11-12 And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. After the first festal day of Pascha (or, the day after the feast‑day of Pascha) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf . . . 15 And number to you after the first feast day of Pascha, from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be. (Targum, translated by J. W. Etheridge)
Same thing, the day “after the feast-day of Pascha” is, again, the sixteenth! The evidence from both the Septuagint and Targum are overwhelming. At times they are superior to the Masoretic Text. Here is an example:
How do you solve the problem of Genesis 15 where it says 400 years and in Exodus 12 says 430 years? Is there an error? Also, how does this tie into the age of Isaac when he was offered as the burnt offering? So where do we begin?
Genesis 15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years (Masoretic KJV)
Exodus 12:40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.(Masoretic KJV)
The Masoretic Text above says “in Egypt” but the Septuagint read “Egypt and Chanaan.” Chanaan is Canaan
From the Septuagint:
Genesis 15:12 And about sunset a trance fell upon Abram, and lo! a great gloomy terror falls upon him. 13 And it was said to Abram, Thou shalt surely know that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them, and humble them four hundred years. (Septuagint)
Exodus 12:40 And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Chanaan, [was] four hundred and thirty years. (Septuagint)
From the Targum:
Genesis 15:12-13 And when the sun was nearing to set, a deep sleep was thrown upon Abram: and, behold, four kingdoms arose to enslave his children: Terror, which is Bavel; Darkness, which is Madai; Greatness, which is Javan; Decline, which is Pheras, which is to fall, and to have no uplifting, and from whence it is to be that the children of Israel will come up. And he said to Abram, Knowing, thou must know, that thy sons shall dwell in a land not their own, because thou hast not believed, and they will subjugate and afflict them four hundred years; and also that the people whom they shall serve I will judge with two hundred and fifty plagues, and afterwards they shall go forth into liberty with great riches. (Targum)
Exodus 12:40 And the days of the dwelling of the sons of Israel in Mizraim were thirty weeks of years, (thirty times seven years,) which is the sum of two hundred and ten years. But the number of four hundred and thirty years (had passed away since) the Lord spake to Abraham, in the hour that He spake with him on the fifteenth of Nisan, between the divided parts, until the day that they went out of Mizraim. And it was at the end of thirty years from the making of this covenant, that Izhak was born; and thence until they went out of Mizraim four hundred (years), on the selfsame day it was that all the hosts of the Lord went forth made free from the land of Mizraim. (Targum)
Abraham (75 years old when he left Ur for Caanan: Gen 12:4; was 100 when Isaac was born: Gen 21:5) If the Covenant was made 30 years before Isaac was born, then Abraham would be 70 years old, i.e. when he was still in Ur?
Isaac (60 years old when he had Jacob: Gen 25:26)
Jacob (130 years old when he entered Egypt: Gen 47:9. When Jacob descended to Egypt at the age of 130, 190 years of the 400 years had already passed, thus leaving 210 years. This is the number of years that the Israelites lived in Egypt.
Levi (137 years old: Ex 6:16) Kehath (133 years old: Ex 6:18) Amram(137 years old: Ex 6:20) Moses (80 years old when God called him: Ex 7:7; a fourth generation: Gen 15:16)
To elaborate the problem with the Masoretic text, presuming that Kehath was even only one day old when entering Egypt, he is recorded as living 133 years (Ex. 6:18). Kehath’s son is Amram who lives 137 years (Ex. 6:20) of which some presumably overlap with those of his father Kehath. Amram’s son is Moses who is 80 when standing before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:7) – presumably some of those years overlap with his father Amram’s years. Even without the issue of overlapping years, the total maximum number of years would only be 133 + 137 + 80 = 350 years. This would mean that even if Kehath entered Egypt on the first day of his life, had Amram on the last day of his life, and who, in turn, had Moses on the last day of his life, the longest period of time that the nation could have been in Egypt is 350 years.
Genesis 15:13 And he (God) said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
The count of the 400 years as recorded in Genesis 15:13 should start with the birth of Isaac. Isaac was 60 years old when he had Jacob (Gen. 25:26) and Jacob was 130 when standing before Pharaoh (Gen. 47:9). Therefore, when Jacob descended to Egypt at the age of 130, 190 years of the 400 years had already passed, thus leaving 210 years. This is the number of years that the Israelites lived in Egypt.
Therefore the Masoretic KJV of 430 years of “dwelling in Egypt” is a BLATANT ERROR. The Septuagint and the Targum gives an accurate account, but the Targum translates and elucidates with great insights.
The Targum is like a mirror. When placed against the end-time CoG Communities, it reflects their nakedness. When the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BC, most of them couldn’t speak Hebrew; they spoke Aramaic, but they still retained the Torah, which were read to them in Hebrew. Something had to be done so that the people would understand God and His Word.
Starting with Ezra, the new communities found an answer. After hearing Ezra read a few verses of the Torah scroll in Hebrew, either he or other Levites translated it to Aramaic, hence it set the stage for the Aramaic version of the Bible, called a Targum, which simply means translation. Hence the Targum is an entrenched translation of the Hebrew Bible that was written or compiled in Judea from the Second Temple period until the early Middle Ages (late first millennium).
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:7–8)
Nehemiah 8:7 NKJV and the Levites helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.
So they read in the book of the law — and gave the sense— i.e., they read and translated the meaning of the Hebrew words, and expounded them in the common language. And caused them to understand the reading — So they gave them both a translation of the Hebrew words, into the Chaldee or Syriac, and an exposition of the things contained in them, and of the duty incumbent upon the people by virtue thereof; to declare and teach these things were a great part of the duties of both priests and Levites.
Adam Clark comments on Nehemiah 8:8: I beg leave to make a few observations: – So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading . . . but it appears that they had in general lost the knowledge of the ancient Hebrew to such a degree, that when the book of the law was read, they did not understand it: but certain Levites stood by, and gave the sense, i. e., translated into the Chaldee dialect. This was not only the origin of the Chaldee Targums, or translation of the law and prophets into that tongue but was also, in all probability, the origin of preaching from a text; for it appears that the people were not only ignorant of their ancient language, but also of the rites and ceremonies of their religion, having been so long in Babylon, where they were not permitted to observe them. This being the case, not only the language must be interpreted, but the meaning of the rites and ceremonies must also be explained . . .
John Gill comments on the above “they first read it in Hebrew, and . . . not hereby how to read it, but chiefly to understand what was read, that they might clearly know their duty to God and men.”
Ezra and those with him expounded obscurer passages, and in doing so naturally translated into the vernacular Aramaic dialect. This simply explains the former: they expounded as they read. They gave the meaning though the scriptures on how Ezra and those with him would understand the meaning from the Torah.
THEREFORE IF GOD INTENDED FOR US TO “COUNT” FROM THE DAY AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD: THEN SOMETIMES we would have to count “1 week” as being:
– from a Monday to the following Sunday; or – from a Wednesday to the following Tuesday; or – from a Friday to the following Thursday; or – from a Sunday to the following Saturday. (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
This is correct. Pentecost is never called the Feast of Sabbaths, it’s the Feast of Weeks, or Feast of Heptads (blocks of seven days). The Feast of Weeks could start at any day of the week. The best illustration is Ezekiel 45:21 where the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread could start at any time of the week — it DOESN’T HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE WEEKLY SABBATH TO START!.
How could God possibly tell us: “counting FROM A WEDNESDAY TO THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY, COUNT SEVEN FULL WEEKS, COMING TO THE SEVENTH TUESDAY, AND THEN GO TO THE MORROW AFTER THAT TUESDAY TO ARRIVE AT A WEDNESDAY PENTECOST”?? How could God possibly refer to a period of time from a Wednesday to the following Tuesday as “A SHABBATH”?? (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Look at Ezekiel 45:21 again: In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a Feast of Weeks (Haptads) H7620 days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.— the seven days of UB starts any day IMMEDIATELY after Passover, so it could be a Monday, a Wednesday, a Friday or a Sunday. By your double question marks above, it demonstrated the opposite of what you intended, that the “Sabbath” could be translated as “weeks” as Strong shows below:
A. period of seven days, a week — Feast of Weeks or Heptads; B. heptad, seven (of years)
Leviticus 23:15-16 seven sabbaths [h7676 shabbat] — according to Strong, this shabbat could be translated as:
(a) sabbath (b) day of atonement (c) sabbath year (d) WEEK (e) produce (in sabbath year)
James Strong (1822 – 1894)
According to Strong, both shabua (H7620) and sabbath (H7676) could be translated as weeks. Has Frank Nelte had a higher level of Hebrew degree at the angelic but uncredited Ambassador College than Strong’s? Who were his Hebrew lecturers at the now fallen Ambassador College can we ask him? James Strong was both acting President and Professor of Biblical Literature at Troy University; Professor of Exegetical Theology at Drew Theological Seminary, and was honored with a degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by Wesleyan University in 1881.
And Strong’s definition allows the JPS 1917 and many other translators to transcribe the seven Sabbaths as seven WEEKS:
Leviticus 23:15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest (footnote: Sabbath), from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete; 16 even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto the LORD. (JPS 1917)
Other versions that translated “seven weeks” in Leviticus 23:15 are:
The Companion Bible (Bullinger) Common English Bible (CEB) Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) Contemporary English Version (CEV) Christian Standard Bible (CSB) Darby Translation (DARBY) Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) English Standard Version (ESV) Expanded Bible (EXB) GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) Good News Translation (GNT) Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) International Children’s Bible (ICB) International Standard Version (ISV) Lexham English Bible (LEB) The Message (MSG) Modern English Version (MEV) Names of God Bible (NOG) New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE) New Century Version (NCV) New English Translation (NET Bible) New International Version (NIV) New Life Version (NLV) New Living Translation (NLT) Revised Standard Version (RSV) The Voice (VOICE) Wycliffe Bible (WYC) The Septuagint (LXX The Targum
Adam Clarke comments on “Ye shall count unto you – seven Sabbaths” – “That is, from the sixteenth of the first month to the sixth of the third month. These seven weeks, called here Sabbaths, were to be complete, i. e., the forty-nine days must be finished, and the next day, the fiftieth, is what, from the Septuagint, we call pentecost.”
DO JEWISH CUSTOMS AND AUTHORITIES STICK TO THE BIBLE?
If you are on the lookout for it, it is quite easy to find evidence that the Jews actually do not stick to what is revealed in the Bible at all. It is fairly easy to discover that for the Jews TRADITION is of far higher importance than what God actually instructed in the Old Testament. (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Some of their traditions are bad, but some are great. Only the wise know how to separate the good from the bad. The stupid renders all traditions as bad. Here is what Paul says:
“I profited in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedinglyzealous for the traditions of my fathers” Galatians 1:14.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast andhold to the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle” II Thessalonians 2:15.
Paul being a Pharisee, and son of a Pharisee’ and in all thirteen epistles are littered with Pharisaic precepts. He grew up and was “zealous for the traditions of my fathers” – namely, those of the Pharisees, bred up at the feet of Gamaliel. “Tradition (paradosis) embraces everything which is handed down orally or in writing from generation to generation,” says the Schaff’s Commentary. The Whedon’s commentary on Zealous — “The inspiring motive; zeal for the ancestral traditions; not merely the sacred books, but hereditary customs and rabbinical maxims, as afterwards embodied in the Talmud.”
Second, if traditions are always untrustworthy, then the Masoretic vowel points should also be considered untrustworthy. They are based on traditions and should be rejected, because how to read any single Hebrew word comes from oral tradition. Plain and Simple!
In the March 1992 edition of “Prophecy Flash” Mr Dankenbring has an article entitled “A Letter to the Chief Rabbi, London – on Passover and Pentecost”, and another article entitled “Reply from the Office of the Chief Rabbi”. This second article is interesting in that it clearly reveals the Jewish thinking. The last two paragraphs of that article are most revealing.
Firstly, the “Chief Rabbi” points out that
“… according to the Sadducees, PENTECOST WOULD ALWAYS FALL ON A SUNDAY”. (my emphasis)
THIS IS A STAGGERING ADMISSION!
During the time of Jesus Christ the Pharisees controlled the local synagogues, but THE SADDUCEES CONTROLLED THE TEMPLE AND THE TEMPLE WORSHIP! The priests, with very few exceptions, were Sadducees!
Therefore during the time of Christ Pentecost at the Temple in Jerusalem was always observed on a Sunday … and this information is given to us by the “Chief Rabbi” (Christ said to call no man ‘Rabbi’!) of London, England. Thus, when Christ observed the Day of Pentecost and when the disciples observed it at the Temple in Acts chapter 2, IT WAS ON A SUNDAY!
But continue reading this “reply from the office of ‘the chief rabbi'”. Notice the last paragraph of that article – it’s only six-and-a-half lines long. How did the Pharisees try to argue with the Sadducees? Notice! [The parenthetical statements are my comments.]
“The Pharisees … tried to do this from text [i.e. they tried by using THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES!] WITHOUT relying on the oral traditions, [what “oral traditions”? – the ones Christ addressed in Matt 15:1-3 and Mark 7:8-9?] since their adversaries were not ready to accept all of the oral tradition [i.e. the Sadducees said: unless it’s in the Bible, we don’t believe it].”
But now notice this candid admission concerning pharisaical teachings:
“But the real reason they [i.e. the Pharisees] insisted on this interpretation [Pentecost on the 6th of Sivan] is based on two factors …”
WHAT ARE THOSE TWO FACTORS THAT DETERMINE PHARISAICAL BELIEFS?? God’s Word? the Bible? NO!! Continue with the quote:
“…1) The oral tradition which [they falsely claimed!] had come down from Moses’ time which they maintained and passed on; 2) Logic which dictated that …” (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Who was that “Chief Rabbi” of London who wrote “… according to the Sadducees, PENTECOST WOULD ALWAYS FALL ON A SUNDAY”. Actually there is nothing wrong with what he wrote. The truth is that no sensible Orthodox Rabbi is that stupid to say that such is the truth. Keep your head cool: he only wrote that “according to the Sadducees, Pentecost would always fall on a Sunday.” The Rabbi didn’t say that’s what he believes nor that that is the truth. If the “Chief Rabbi” believes such is the truth, the only possibilities are that he is either a rabbi from (a) a Karaite Organisation, or (b) a Reform Movement.
Both the Karaites and Reform Jews have Sadducaic leaning. And they, of course, claim that during the first century, the Sadducees had control over the Temple functions. But Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, wrote in his Antiquities of the Jews, informing us that the Pharisees were the dominant religious party in Judaea during the time of Christ, and that they controlled the worship services:
The common people followed the Pharisees. And although the Sadducees were occupying the upper stratum of the Jewish aristocracy, they were few and unable and unwilling to carry out their own beliefs in the Temple service, but to carry “the notions of the Pharisees”:
But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addicted themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. (Ant 18,4)
Sadducees – “Disappeared” during the AD 70 Inferno!
Also, the Unger’s Bible Dictionary tells us further political-religious amalgamation called the Sadducees:
“Their political supremacy was, however, of no long duration. Greatly as the spiritual power of the Pharisees had increased, the Sadducean aristocracy was able to keep at the helm in politics. The price at which the Sadducees had to secure themselves power at this later period was indeed a high one, for they were IN THEIR OFFICIAL ACTIONS TO ACCOMMODATE THEMSELVES TO PHARISAIC VIEWS. With the fall of the Jewish state the Sadducees altogether disappear from history. Their strong point was politics. When deprived of this their last hour had struck. While the Pharisaic party only gained more strength, only obtained more absolute rule over the Jewish people in consequence of the collapse of political affairs, the very ground on which they stood was cut away from the Sadducees” (“Sadducees,” pg 954).
And keeping your head cool again, using Oral Traditions could be true and valid. The Talmud tells the story of a Gentile who went to Hillel the Elder and said to him, “I want to convert, but I want to accept only the Written Torah, and not the Oral Torah. I don’t wish to accept the words of the Rabbis. So teach me only the Written Torah.”
But Hillel knew that the man wanted to do the right thing, but he didn’t understand the purpose of the Oral Torah. So Hillel began to teach him the Aleph Bet (Hebrew alphabet). The first day, Hillel taught him the first two letters, aleph and bet.
The next day, Hillel taught him the same two letters in reverse. He showed him the letter aleph, but called it “bet.”
The man objected, “but yesterday you taught it the other way!”
“Well, then, you need me, a Rabbi, to teach you the Aleph Bet? So you have to trust my knowledge of the tradition of the letters. What I tell you is the Oral Tradition. You can’t read the alphabet if no one tells you how they are pronounced. And you think you don’t need the Rabbis’ knowledge of Jewish Tradition in order to understand the words of the Torah? Those are much more difficult! Without an Oral Tradition you will never be able to learn the Torah.”
So it is clear that an Oral Tradition is needed, and that one exists. If you don’t agree, try to define: (a) what circumcision is, and (b) when is Sabbath — from the Bible alone and without tradition! and (c) how do you pronounce the 22 Hebrew alphabets when you don’t have the Oral Traditions? And how to identify and pronounce each of the vowels with the 22 alphabets?
But did you notice one other point in this statement by the “Chief Rabbi”? When the Pharisees tried to argue with the Sadducees based purely on the written Word of God, they couldn’t succeed. Did you notice this? What does this tell you?
It tells you that about 2000 years ago already the Sadducees, the keepers of the Temple Scriptures, the ones who were of the priestly line and who were responsible for all of the Temple services, DID NOT ACCEPT THAT “SHABBATH” MEANS “WEEKS”! And those learned Sadducees knew more about the Hebrew language than all of the “noted Biblical scholars and Bible dictionaries” of today put together! It makes clear that the Pharisees tried to attach the meaning of “weeks” to the word “shabbath” and that the Sadducees did not accept this as valid. (When Should We Keep Pentecost?)
Yes, the above were very true, but not all, especially this line: “When the Pharisees tried to argue with the Sadducees based purely on the written Word of God, they couldn’t succeed.” On almost every issue they debated frequently. And it was left for Christ to judge. John the Baptist prophesied about judgement time and the Messiah:
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE unquenchable.”
Let’s get back to a basic parable where the tares and wheat were growing together:
Matthew 13:1 The same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a boat and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore . . . 24 Another parable put He forth before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blades had sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath come the tares?’ 28 He said unto them, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servants said unto him, ‘Wilt thou then have us go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
As the Pharisees and Sadducees thrived together for a designated time only, and forty years later, it was decision time, judgement time — to put the tares into the fire. And who were those that met their fate during the fire and brimstones of the 70 AD inferno? The Sadducees and their allies — the Herodians and Boethusians. The Essenes (who practiced an anti-Sanhedrin calendar), all ended in the inferno. Every Blind Guide ignores the significance of the destruction of Judea in the 70 AD conflagration BECAUSE THEY ARE BLIND!
How did the Sadducees and Essenes just “DISAPPEARED” from this 70 AD INFERNO?
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
How to Count Pentecost — Feast of Harvest (Exodus 23:16), Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), Feast of Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26), Festival of Fifty Days, Heptad, Feast of Heptads, Festival of Seven Heptads, Wave Sheaf, Omer
Wave sheaf – is this the Omer?
This is a Critique of Wade Cox’s Wave Sheaf Offering, Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits. The counting to Pentecost is an extremely important subject and we’ll follow it in every point discussed. Besides the main issue of how to count is what exactly is the Wave Sheaf Offering. Are they the firstfruits, and what do the firstfruits mean if they are. Are they humans or is it Christ?
Quoted are Wade Cox’s transcript “Wave Sheaf Offering” posted on his website. They are indented, in PINK, and in block form so as to differentiate his from other comments.The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
The Wave-Sheaf Offering needs to be kept in order to understand the full implications of Christ’s sacrifice and the power that he was given in terms of his resurrection from the dead. The Wave-Sheaf Offering is an ancient requirement of Israel within the Torah. The ordinance is found in Leviticus 23:9-14, and also in Exodus 29:24-25 and other texts. It is poorly understood by scholars and ignored by many (e.g. it is absent as a category in Schürer’s index in The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ). It is often thought of as being “done away,” as a part of the sacrificial aspects of the law. So why is it to be kept now? It is a day that commences the count to Pentecost. Whilst we don’t physically wave the sheaf of grain, we celebrate the acceptance of Christ before the Throne of God. In the same way we no longer sacrifice the animals at the Temple but we celebrate the actual days on which they were made. The days themselves represent aspects of the Plan of God fulfilled in Christ and the elect. The Wave Sheaf in like manner represents part of the Plan and part of the Story. (The Wave Sheaf OfferingNo. 106b)
At least it is “poorly understood by scholars” rather than misunderstood by the CoG Communities. First, let’s understand what the “wave sheaf” is. The original word is omer which is rendered “wave sheaf” in English translations, which gives a wrong impression. The “wave sheaf” as firstfruits, must be reaped by three persons, each with his own sickle and basket, until each had his basket full. They then brought them to the courtyard of the Temple to be thrashed and parched and then to go through ALL of the thirteen sieves until it became very clean, and only one tenth the measure of the ‘omer’ were selected.
Second, the barley grain was cut by three people appointed by the Sanhedrin at the end of the “Sabbath.” The heads of the grain were then separated from the stalks and the removed grain was thrashed, parched with fire and ground into flour in the courtyard of the Temple that night.
The resultant flour were then sieved through thirteenth sieves until it was pure and of very fine texture. Only ten percent of an ephah were chosen while the other ninety percent were rejected, From this, now known as the omer, oil and frankincense were added, which is a weight of about 1.6 kg (the same weight the children of Israel were allowed to collect for their morning manna Exodus 16:16), was taken and then offered the next morning at about 9 AM, the time of the morning sacrifice in the Temple as a special annual offering waved before God.
The omer, composed originally of MANY individual grains, offered together, is the wave offering. If the omer represents Christ, why was it composed of many stalks of grains? It should be of one grain. Further if the omer represents Christ, why the “he lamb” in Leviticus 23:12, which definitely represents Christ, wasn’t waved:
Leviticus 23:9 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
10 “Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them: ‘When ye come into the land which I give unto you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest.11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf a he lambwithout blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
This Lamb wasn’t waved! If waving represents acceptance by God in heaven, why this Lamb wasn’t waved?
Leviticus 23:19 Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
Weird! If on the day of Pentecost, waving represents acceptance by God in heaven, why weren’t the “one kid of the goats” “two lambs of the first year,” and these that wave “with the bread of firstfruits” gone into heaven and be similarly accepted by God in Heaven?:
These end-time CoG Communities have produced many insightful interpretations of the Scriptures, but they are Blind Guides! In the first instance, they didn’t even notice the Lamb there! It is nice to believe that Christ was waved before the Throne of God, but where are the evidence? Not a single one is given.
It is a mandatory ordinance associated with the Feast of the Passover and controls both the timing of Pentecost and the consumption of the new harvests (Lev. 23:9-14). To put it in its modern perspective, we should look at the significance of the timing of Christ’s death.
The sign of Jonah had to be completed in all of its phases. The only sign that was given to Christ’s ministry was the sign of Jonah. Christ said that the function of three days and three nights in the belly of the whale or great fish of Jonah was the same as his ministry, and he would be three days and three nights in the belly of the Earth (as the great fish). The sign of Jonah is much more than three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. The sign of Jonah was related to the ministry to Nineveh, where there were three days consisting of one day’s journey into Nineveh and two days preaching to Nineveh, and 40 days for repentance. Nineveh repented. Judah was given approximately three years under John the Baptist and the Messiah, and then 40 years to repent. Nineveh repented but Judah did not repent. (The Wave Sheaf OfferingNo. 106b)
What a great observation! Yes, many living in Jerusalem and surrounding areas were burnt off like Sodom and Gomorroh, others limped off but survived. Interesting. Who were those who escaped from the fire and brimstones of Sodom and Gomorroh?
Let’s get back to a basic parable, a parable where the tares and wheat were growing together:
Matthew 13:24 Another parable put He (Jesus) forth before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blades had sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, ‘Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath come the tares?’ 28 He said unto them, ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servants said unto him, ‘Wilt thou then have us go and gather them up?’
29 But he said, ‘Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
So as the wheat and tares grew together, the Pharisees and Sadducees thrived together. And forty years later, it was decision time — to put the tares into the fire. And who were those that met their fate during the fire and brimstones of the 70 AD inferno? Everyone seems to understate the significance of the destruction of Judea in 70 AD. Nobody equates it to sin as it was in Sodom and Gomorrah’s “a little taste of God’s judgment” in the words of Australian Israel Folau. John the Baptist had given a stern warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16. John warns with a prophetic taint:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE. 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE unquenchable.” Luke 3:16
Who died in the AD 70 inferno some 40 years after these warnings were given? Those burnt into ashes like Sodom and Gomorroh were the Sadducees and their allies — the Herodians and Boethusians. The Essenes (who practiced an anti-Sanhedrin calendar), also ended in the inferno. The Blind put no significance to John’s warning because they are blind. And why is it so coincidental that the end-time Laodicean church has been described as “NAKED” “WRETCHED” and “BLIND”? If the AD 70 inferno were only a microcosm, how would the CoG Communities, who have similar misguided beliefs as the Sadducees and Boethusians, escape John’s warning during the Last Days?
The Wave-Sheaf Offering seems to have been waved at 9 a.m. on the Sunday morning within the Feast of the Passover. The general wave offering was brought by the worshipper and made in conjunction with the priest (Ex. 29:24-25). We know that the Samaritans and the Sadducees kept a Sunday Wave Sheaf and a Sunday Pentecost. That is an important factor in history. The Jews do not keep the Wave Sheaf because they keep a Sivan 6 Pentecost, which came from the traditions of the Pharisees in rabbinical Judaism after the Temple was destroyed. We know that the Samaritans keep the 14th and 15th and the concept of the Wave Sheaf, and count the Omer from Sunday within the Feast. So the Temple period structure and right throughout, including the Samaritans, always kept Pentecost on a Sunday. The early Church kept Pentecost on a Sunday. Only the Jews kept a Sivan 6, and only after the Temple was destroyed. (The Wave Sheaf OfferingNo. 106b)
Reading the above, the smell of a rat is all over the place. In this paragraph alone, the word “Sunday” is mentioned six times. Today, it’s no coincidence as the CoG Communities cuddle with the Samaritan Sun-worship. When Daniel prayed his knee bent and he turned his face toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10). But for the Samaritans, they turn their faces toward Mount Garizim whenever they pray, except during Passover on top of Mount Garizim, where, exactly at sunset, they turn West to pray at the setting down of the sun.The Samaritans would deny they were sun worshippers, nor idol worshippers, but they are. Even while these people were pretending to worship the LORD, and made unto themselves from the lowest of them priests of the high places, they were in fact, serving their idols. TO THIS DAY (and even in 2021), their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did (II Kings 17:29-41).
“So these nations feared the Lord, and also served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day,” (II Kings 17:41)
Hayyim Schauss points out that these Samaritans would go up to Mount Gerizim every year, and half an hour before sunset, as the 14th of Nisan draws to a close, their high priest leads the assembly in silent prayer:
“Exactly at sunsetthe High Priest faces WESTWARD and reads that portion of the Pentateuch which orders the slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. About twelve or fourteen of the younger Samaritans busy themselves, meanwhile, with preparing the sacrificial animals. They form a circle about the pit of fire, holding the lambs between their legs, and as the High Priest utters the words, ‘And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk,’ they utter a benediction and throw the lambs, throats to the pit, where they are slaughtered by two ritual slaughterers. Six or seven sheep are slaughtered” (The Jewish Festivals, pg 63).
Their priest taught them a schismatic system to worship the Lord, the system imposed by King Jeroboam to wean his people away from the worship of the Jews and the Temple at Jerusalem. “Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. . . . They pretended to worship the Lord as they appointed all sorts of people to officiate as priests in the shrines at their high places. Indeed, they were actually serving their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought from.
Look at the photo above — the Samaritans are SUN worshippers. After sending the Northern Kingdom into exile in 721 BC, the king of the Assyrians brought the pagans from Babylon — Cuthah, Avah, Emath, and Sepharvaim — and placed them in Samaria. Today their modern followers would deny that they are SUN-worshipers and they would lie through their teeth that their beliefs are based in the Scriptures. So let’s continue with Wade Cox’s Samaritan version of his Wave Sheaf Offering:
Modern Judaism does not do this now. Pentecost was then counted from this day. This (the Sadduccean) position was held up until the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (see F. F. Bruce, art. ‘Calendar’, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ed. by J. D. Douglas and N. Hillyer, IVP, 1980, Vol. 1, p. 225). After the dispersion, the Pharisaic position became the accepted practice, and the conflict is noted in the Mishnah (Hag. 2:4). After the dispersion, the Wave Sheaf was understood to be waved on the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost was then determined to fall on a fixed date, namely, Sivan 6. This practice was not followed during the days of the Temple priesthood and up until 70 CE and, hence, at the time of Christ. (The Wave Sheaf OfferingNo. 106b)
There are many problems with the above paragraph, but I’ll only mention the main ones.
(a). The Targum could be traced all the way back much earlier than AD 70 to Ezra (480 BC – 440 BC). And the Targum states clearly that the counting is the morrow after the first festal day of Pascha:
And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. AFTER THE FIRST FESTAL DAY OF PASCHA (OR, THE DAY AFTER THE FEAST‑DAY OF PASCHA) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make (the sacrifice of a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord . . . 15 and number to you AFTER THE FIRST FEAST DAY OF PASCHA . . . (Leviticus 23:11-15, Targum)
(b) The Targum is like a mirror. When placed against the end-time CoG Communities, it reflects their nakedness. When the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon in the 6th century BC, most of them couldn’t speak Hebrew; they spoke Aramaic, but they still retained the Torah, which were read to them in Hebrew.
But the people couldn’t understand Hebrew. Something had to be done so that the people would understand God and His Word. The sages, starting with Ezra, found an answer. After hearing Ezra read a few verses of the Torah scroll in Hebrew, either he or other Levites translated it to Aramaic, hence it set the stage for the Aramaic version of the Bible, called a Targum, which simply means translation. Hence the Targum is an entrenched translation of the Hebrew Bible, first orally by Ezra for the returning Exiles in Judea, and was written or compiled from the Second Temple period until the later part of the first millennium.
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:7–8)
Nehemiah 8:7 NKJV says “and the Levites helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.”
The Targum translates and explains the counting of the wave sheaf from the Hebrew in Leviticus 23 into the vernacular, in a very simple language, and in verse 15 only the blind couldn’t see: “And number to you after the first feast day of pascha from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be. 16 Until the day after the seventh week you shall number fifty days, and shall offer a mincha of the new bread unto the Name of the Lord.”
This unique truth is captured by the GOD’S WORD Translation and the Wycliffe Bible (WYC)
Leviticus 23:15 “Count seven full weeks from the day after Passover (the day you bring the bundle of grain as an offering presented to the Lord) 16 until the day after the seventh week. This is a total of fifty days. Then bring a new grain offering to the Lord. GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Leviticus 23:15 Therefore ye shall number from the tother day of the sabbath, in which ye offered handfuls of the first fruits, seven full weeks, (And so ye shall count seven full weeks from the day after the sabbath, that is, after the Passover, in which ye offered the sheaves as a special gift,) (Wycliffe Bible)
These “seven weeks” do not have the same connotation as “seven Sabbaths” but have the same meaning as the “seven weeks” ofDeuteronomy 16:9. They are both seven blocks of seven days, or heptad. So what is a heptad? A heptad is a BLOCK OF SEVEN — either days or weeks — and a heptad can start on any day of the year.
We will get the timing of the Wave-Sheaf Offering from Leviticus 23.
Leviticus 23:9-14 And the LORD said to Moses, 10 “Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest; 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, that you may find acceptance; on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13 And the cereal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, to be offered by fire to the LORD, a pleasing odor; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (RSV)
As we have established at the beginning, the expression “wave sheaf” is also a mistranslation. It is “omer” in Hebrew, a finished product, not some freshly cut grains from the field. Secondly, the “wave sheaf” is made of MANY grains from a BUNDLE of barley plants? Of the bundle of grains only about ten percent made it to the end. Old and frankincense were added. Now known as the omer, it represents human beings, that humans need to go through numerous trials and testings, to be acceptable before God. The priest represents Christ, who mediates before us. The omer as firstfruits have to go through ALL the thirteen sieves. Only humans were required to go through numerous trials and testings, many fell by the waysides. The role of the Messiah was on a much higher plane — He was the sacrifice, the Passover sacrifice.
Jesus told many parables, but not a single one indicates he was a product of the land, a firstfruits. He was always the Lamb, he was the “he Lamb” in Leviticus 23:12. And in parables, He was the husbandman, a landowner, the good shepherd, etc, but never was He portrayed as a firstfruits or produce of the land.
The offering of the he-lamb and the waving of the first-fruits symbolised Christ as a first-fruit ascending into Heaven to his Father. Compare the passage concerning Mary Magdalene. In John 20:1,14-18, we find that Christ had waited that night. He was resurrected and he was waiting to ascend to the Father, and that ascension took place on the Sunday morning. The resurrection did not take place on Sunday morning at all; it took place on the Saturday night, and Christ waited until Sunday morning in readiness to ascend into Heaven. (The Wave Sheaf OfferingNo. 106b)
Did Christ go up to heaven and saw the Father? When Moses went up to Mt Sinai to meet God, his face shone brightly when he returned, but why wasn’t Christ’s face shone after meeting His Father, neither his clothes glistened in white? Was His seeing God inferior to that of Moses? Weird!
But when Jesus met His Father in heaven nothing happened. No earthquake, no lightning, nothing! When He returned, His disciples should have fallen backward. “What happened?” Not only did His face shone, but His whole garment too. “Why is your face blaring at us?” “Help! I can’t see, I’m blind.” “I just came back from seeing my Father face-to-face. Don’t be afraid.” No, nothing happened like this as Moses experienced in Exodus 34.
Also when there is a prophecy fulfilled, there is normally something supernatural accompanying it — lightning, earthquakes, darkening of days, etc. But there was none! Nothing! Something is obviously wrong! What happened? Was Jesus’ acceptance postponed? Or not accepted? Or being delayed?
John 20:15-17 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-bo’ni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (RSV)
What would happen if Magdalene had touched Him? Would He be defiled? But numerous other translations say she held Him. Yes, she held Him.
Adam Clarke adds:
“Verse 17: Touch me not. . . . Cling not to me. APROMAI has this sense in Job 31:7, where the Septuagint uses it for the Hebrew dabak, which signifies to cleave, cling, stick, or be glued to. . . . our Lord seems to have spoken to her to this effect: ‘Spend no longer time with me now: I am not going immediately to heaven — you will have several opportunities of seeing me again: but go and tell my disciples, that I am, by and by, to ascend to my Father and God, who is your Father and God also. Therefore, let them take courage.'”
Cambridge Greek writes:
17. μή μ. ἄπτου. This is a passage of well-known difficulty . . . the full meaning will therefore be, ‘Do not continue holding Me,’ or simply, hold Me not. The old and often interrupted earthly intercourse is over; the new and continuous intercourse with the Ascended Lord has not yet begun: but that Presence will be granted soon, and there will be no need of straining eyes and clinging hands to realise it.
Matthew 28:9 And as they (Mary Magdalene and other women) went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “All hail.” And they came, and held Him by the feet, and worshiped Him. — That means, they had all touched Him. But Jesus’ face didn’t shine like Moses! What happened? Moses needed a veil to cover his face when he returned to face his people (Exodus 34:35).
And again, Jesus’ face didn’t radiate when two disciples met Him on the road:
Luke 24:13 And behold, two of them were going that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about seven miles. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass that while they communed and reasoned together, Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were held, that they should not know Him. 17 And He said unto them, “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad?” 18 And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto Him, “Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which have come to pass there these days?” 19 And He said unto them, “What things?” And they said unto Him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death and have crucified Him. 21 But we trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women of our company, who were early at the sepulcher, made us astonished. 23 And when they found not His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women had said, but Him they saw not.” 25 Then He said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. 28 And they drew nigh unto the village whither they were going, and He made as though He would have gone further. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” And He went in to tarry with them. 30 And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread and blessed it, and broke and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened and they knew Him. And He vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose up that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told what things were done on the way, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
It would be a great opportunity for a risen Christ to tell His disciples He had been accepted by the Father, but He didn’t! Maybe He forgot!
The Septuagint, one that the NT writers used most often, is also a great testimony to the truth. It translates “on the morrow after the Sabbath” in the KJV as “on the morrow of the first day.” The first day is, of course, the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. And the Targum states it even clearer. TO IGNORE ANY OF THESE SCRIPTURES AS TESTIMONIES TO THE TRUTH IS TO IGNORE TO OUR DOWNFALL!
Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Firstfruits, Wave Sheaf, Omer
Wave sheaf – is this the Omer?
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Firstfruits. The Counting to Pentecost is an extremely interesting subject and we’ll follow it in every issue discussed. Besides the main issue of how to count is when to start counting towards Pentecost. Included are some issues on the Passover, which are also critiqued, but for the most part, it has been critiqued earlier on Fred Coulter’s Passover series (see A Study Index of Fred Coulter’s Passover).
Quoted are Fred’s work from a PDF version from his website. They are indented, in PINK, and in block form so as to differentiate his from other comments.The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
Chapter One
In The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, these verses have been properly translated so that it is clear and the wave sheaf offering day itself was, in fact, the 1st day of the 50-day count to Pentecost. It reads: “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it…. And you shall count to you beginning with the next day after the Sabbath, beginning with the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete; even unto the day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall proclaim on the same day that it may be a holy convocation’ ” (Lev. 23:10-11, 15-16). (Count To Pentecost — From the Morrow After Which Sabbathby Fred R. Coulter, pg 1)
Fred Coulter would be using his translation, The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, or the “Faithful” Version, but unsure of his Hebrew proficiency I’ll compare his translation with KJV, KJ21, the Masoretic version, the Septuagint, or the Targum.
The Pharisaic Method of Counting to Pentecost
When the Pharisaic Jews reinterpreted God’s commands for the wave sheaf offering, they began the count to Pentecost from the day after the annual Sabbath of Nisan 15, which may fall on any day of the week, instead of counting from the first day of the week—the day after the weekly Sabbath—during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This change was apparently made to solve the problem caused by the elimination of Nisan 14 as the Passover day. Since the Pharisaic Jews had ceased to observe Nisan 14 as part of the spring festival season, they could not use that day in determining the correct day for the wave sheaf offering. Thus, when Nisan 14 fell on a weekly Sabbath, the only weekly Sabbath they could use [to count] was the following weekly Sabbath which fell on Nisan 21, the annual holy day which ends the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But if the wave sheaf were offered “on the day after” the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Wave Sheaf Day would fall on the first day of the week outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Wave Sheaf Day must always fall within the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It is contrary to Scripture to place the Wave Sheaf Day outside of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 4)
Fred Coulter’s use of the word “reinterpreted” is not just being misguided for himself but misleading to those who follow him. He has already made his conclusion before he has even started. What really happened is that where the Scriptures in the Torah appear contrary, they need to be read and interpreted taking all related Scriptures as a whole. The existence of an oral law was deduced from the character of the written law as well as of the other books of the Torah and the Prophets.
Many of the Mosaic laws are worded very briefly, and some are almost unintelligible without certain presuppositions which were assumed to be generally held, like circumcision (where to cut); and a few other examples that seem to contradict one another, for example, on the Sabbath day “let no man go out of his place” Exodus 16:29 and Leviticus 23:3, where ye are to have “an holy convocation.” If the written Torah is regarded as a complete code, it must be assumed that on certain points some of the laws supplement the others, so that the written law might be interpreted in a way that makes sense as a whole. It makes no sense to attend Sabbath and yet not allowed to leave ones home. So a Sabbath boundary was established and defined roughly as a distance of about 2000 cubits (about 1km) as measured from the edge of a settlement to all directions as one could venture out of his/her home, known as a Biblical mile.
Second, the Pharisaic Jews had never ceased to observe Nisan 14 as part of the spring festival season. This is a blatant lie. In fact the Pharisees used the spring festival, the “morrow after the sabbath” which is the wave sheaf to count toward the Feast of Weeks. That is, all the annual feast days are related. The weekly Sabbath runs on its own and has no relation to the annual Holy Days, but the Sadducees had made them seem so.
Third, Fred Coulter has got confused with his own writings. The second half of the above quote (starting with “Thus” to the end) is a problem about counting toward Pentecost “when Nisan 14” fell the weekly Sabbath. When the high day falls on the weekly Sabbath it becomes a problem, because then which weekly Sabbath is to start the count, since there are two weekly Sabbaths that qualify. The problem is that different CoGs have different interpretations. This problem is only confined within those who use the Sadducaic interpretation. But for the Pharisees and Rabbinics, when the weekly Sabbath fell during the Jewish calendar has no bearing in determining which day to start counting Pentecost.
To solve this problem, the Pharisaic Jews decided to reinterpret the meaning of “the morrow after the [weekly 7th day] Sabbath.” They transferred the meaning of the word ha shabbat—“the Sabbath” in Leviticus 23:11—from the weekly Sabbath to the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Nisan 15. It is true that Nisan 15 is an annual Sabbath, shabbat, but ha shabbat which always refers to the weekly Sabbath. According to this Jewish reinterpretation, the day after Nisan 15 is Nisan 16, which to them became “the morrow after the Sabbath.” As a result, the Pharisaic Jews always begin their count to Pentecost with Nisan 16—regardless of the day of the week on which it falls. (Pg 4-5)
Abraham Geiger (1810 – 1874)
Again, the Pharisees didn’t “reinterpreted” God’s commands for the wave sheaf offering in any of their writings as Fred Coulter alleges. The Samaritans were the ones to reinterpret the Scriptures, though it was first started by King Jeroboam of the Northern Kingdom, spearheaded by those with the Birthrights — Ephraim and Manasseh. The Rabbinics have their Scepter, their Oral Law which were written in the Talmud.
Fred’s assertions are gathered mostly from the Jewish Reform Movement writers who were keened to avoid the “bondage of Judaism.” Started by Abraham Geiger (1810 – 1874) in Germany, they succumb to the Samaritan narratives in how the Torah should be interpreted. These Reformers believe in “a process of constant evolution” and “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” They stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete and sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice.
The Septuagint, one that the NT writers most often used, translates “the day after the sabbath” as “on the morrow of the first day.” Is this “first day” the weekly sabbath? Obviously not. It is the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread. If we follow the Saddusaic reasoning, then the counting of the omer would begin on Monday, the day after “the first day” i.e. Sunday.
The Hebrew translators of the Septuagint knew that the omer counting began after the first Day of Unleavened Bread on the 16th of Nisan. Most New Testament writers had relied much on the Septuagint when quoting the Old Testament, and is a great testimony to clarify “the morrow after the sabbath” to mean the first Days of Unleavened Bread. Hence the count is always on the 16th of Nisan.
Besides the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, another source of our Scriptures is the Targum. And note the Targum portion in Leviticus 23:9-16 is even more clear:
And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: 10 Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: When you have entered into the land which I give you, and you reap the harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest; 11-13 And he shall uplift the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you. AFTER THE FIRST FESTAL DAY OF PASCHA (OR, THE DAY AFTER THE FEAST‑DAY OF PASCHA) on the day on which you elevate the sheaf, you shall make (the sacrifice of a lamb of the year, unblemished a burnt offering unto the Name of the Lord . . .
15 AND NUMBER TO YOU AFTER THE FIRST FEAST DAY OF PASCHA, from the day when you brought the sheaf for the elevation, seven weeks; complete they shall be.16 Until the day after the seventh week you shall number fifty days, and shall offer a mincha of the new bread unto the Name of the Lord. (Leviticus 23:10-16, Targum)
The Targum, a translation and interpretation started by Ezra for the returning Jewish exiles, makes it absolutely explicit. The Aramaic interpretation confirms the Septuagint translation “on the morrow of the first day” as “on the morrow after the first day,” which is the sixteenth. Have anyone wonder why the end-time church is described as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked”?
In ancient times, not all Jews followed the Pharisaical method of counting to Pentecost. The Jewish sects known as the Essenes and the Sadducees used different methods. The Essenes were an ascetic sect that combined Judaism with pagan sun worship and lived in monastic religious communities. Because of this strange mixture of sun worship and Torah law, they always counted Pentecost improperly. They reckoned the last holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Nisan 21, as the Sabbath for beginning the count. As a result, the first day of their count was always Nisan 22—the day after the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Because they began their count on Nisan 22, their Pentecost always fell on the fixed date of Sivan 13. (Pg 5-6)
The Essenes were indeed sun-worshippers. This Qumran community has their own 364 day solar (and no regards to the moon) calendar which were totally at odds with the calendrics of the Sanhedrin. Their sacred year always began on the vernal (spring) equinox and is, by definition, Wednesday (because God Created the “lights in the firmament” for “signs and seasons” on the 4th Day), 1st day of the 1st month (Nisan or Abib). Consequently, the Essene Passover will always begin at 6 PM Tuesday, 13 days later (Nisan 14). The key point being Essene Passover always began “Tuesday” evening, 13 days after the vernal equinox. To outsiders, the Essenes would appear to observe the vernal equinox and (regardless of whatever the previous day was) declare that day to be Wednesday 1 Nisan, their New Year.
Interpreting their calendar from the Book of Jubilees 6:1-38, their 12 months were either 30 (for 8 months) or 31 days (for 4 months). Meaning, they didn’t follow the phases of the moon. Essenes also celebrated each Equinox and Solstice on the first day of those months (the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th months).
The Essenes calendar had a year of 364 days. The first day of the first month always begins at sunset on Tuesday evening following the vernal equinox. Their counting — counted from the first Sunday after the Feast of Unleavened Bread — the offering of the wave sheaf (Leviticus 23:11) always fell on Sunday the 26th of their first month. Consequently after 50 days the day of Pentecost is set on Sivan 15 (not 13th as Fred quoted above, a show of his shabby research), and is always on a Sunday in their third month.
While the Pharisees and the Essenes based their counts on the holy days, which were annual Sabbaths, the Sadducees followed the biblical injunction to begin to count to Pentecost “beginning with the next day after the weekly Sabbath. The priests and the high priests who were in charge of the temple during Jesus’ physical life were Sadducees. They did not set a fixed date for Pentecost because they based their count on the weekly cycle, as God had commanded. When a weekly Sabbath fell on any of the first six days of Unleavened Bread, they began counting to Pentecost from the day after that weekly Sabbath—the first day of the week. But a problem arose in years when the weekly Sabbath fell on the last day of Unleavened Bread. In the following chapter, we will examine this problem and learn why “the day after the Sabbath” is always the first day of the week during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 6)
Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, was himself a priest and a Pharisee. In his Antiquities of the Jews, he informs us that the Pharisees were the dominant religious party in Judaea during the time of Christ, and that they controlled the worship services.
Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason’s dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years . . . on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction (Ant 18,3).
The common people followed the Pharisees. And although the Sadducees were occupying the upper stratum of the Jewish aristocracy, they were few and unable and unwilling to carry out their own beliefs in the Temple service, but to carry out “the notions of the Pharisees”:
But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addicted themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them. (Ant 18,4)
The Unger’s Bible Dictionary tells us further political-religious amalgamation called the Sadducees:
“Their political supremacy was, however, of no long duration. Greatly as the spiritual power of the Pharisees had increased, the Sadducean aristocracy was able to keep at the helm in politics. The price at which the Sadducees had to secure themselves power at this later period was indeed a high one, for they were IN THEIR OFFICIAL ACTIONS TO ACCOMMODATE THEMSELVES TO PHARISAIC VIEWS. With the fall of the Jewish state the Sadducees altogether disappear from history. Their strong point was politics. When deprived of this their last hour had struck. While the Pharisaic party only gained more strength, only obtained more absolute rule over the Jewish people in consequence of the collapse of political affairs, the very ground on which they stood was cut away from the Sadducees” (“Sadducees,” pg 954).
The Talmud records such an instance, when a Sadducee attempted to circumvent a procedural ruling of the Pharisees concerning the high priest entering the Holy of Holies and offering incense. The Talmud shows that the Pharisees came to require that a sitting high priest who was a Sadducee give an OATH that he would perform the ceremony according to Pharisaical teaching.
Says the Talmud:
“And why do they require an oath of him? Because of the Boethusians [a family from Alexandra installed by King Herod as high priest, subsequently becoming a close ally to the Herodians and the elitist Sadducees], who said: let him cense from outside and let him enter from inside. We are told of one who did so, and when he came out, someone said to his father: ‘Though ye have taught this all your lives, ye have never done so until this man came and did it.’ The other replied: ‘Though we have taught so all our lives, we have done as the hakhamim [Pharisees] willed and I wonder if this man will live long.’ It is said that there were no easy days until he died; and some said that worms came out of his nose” (Jerusalem Talmud, Yoma I,39a).
Although the High Priests were often from the Sadducees, they were under the authority and supervision of the Pharisees and were rigorously taught and trained and required to perform every act of worship according to the dictates of the Pharisees. The people feared that if the High Priest offended the Most High in any way, while in the Holy of Holies, he might never come out alive again. Therefore a rope was tied to his ankle, so that just in case something went wrong, and he stayed in the Holy of Holies much too long, they could pull him out with the rope!
And finally, the Sadducees were all dead from the AD 70 inferno: John the Baptist warned in Matthew 3:11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with FIRE.”
If the AD 70 inferno is a microcosm for the CoG Communities of the Great Tribulation to come, what would stop these resurfaced “Sadducees” from disappearing into another end-time inferno?
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Amos 3:6
Chapter Two
Like the Jewish sects of old, Christians today, hold differing interpretations of God’s instructions for counting to Pentecost. While most follow the scriptural injunction to count beginning the next day after the weekly Sabbath, sometimes there is disagreement as to WHICH weekly Sabbath is the correct Sabbath. (From the Morrow After Which Sabbath by Fred R. Coulter, pg 7)
This is very true, which weekly Sabbath, one is as good as the other. In singling out one, we read all the human reasoning above, but there is not a single scripture to back up any statement. This is only a doctrine of man. The real problem is that there are over 50 weekly sabbaths during the year, why choose one instead of another?
This conflict of opinion is greatest in years when the Passover day—Nisan 14—falls on the weekly Sabbath. When this occurs, the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread— Nisan 15—falls on Sunday, the first day of the week. When the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on Sunday, the seventh day of the feast falls on the next weekly Sabbath. In this sequence of days, the only weekly Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the last day of the feast—which would cause “the day after the Sabbath” to fall outside the feast. Therefore, the critical connection that God established between the Wave Sheaf Day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is severed. Yet some Christians follow this practice because they believe that the Wave Sheaf Day must always follow the weekly Sabbath that falls during the 7 day Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 7)
Again, this is a typical doctrine of man, and what they do year after year becomes a tradition, not a single Scripture is quoted to back up any statement. Outside of the written word of God, men wonder with all sorts of new ideas. Beginning with Jeroboam, they started with changing the feast days, with two different places of worship, but proclaimed the same old maxim: “Behold, these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
When we understand the full meaning of the wave sheaf offering, all confusion concerning the determination of the Wave Sheaf Day is eliminated. The offering of the wave sheaf in Old Testament times on the first day of the week during the Feast of Unleavened Bread foreshadowed the acceptance of Jesus Christ by God the Father as the First of the firstfruits after His resurrection from the dead. Thus, in order to understand the ultimate fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering, we must go to the New Testament. (Pg 7)
Although the New Testament could add further meaning, the people during Old Testament times should be able to understand how to count during their days, rather than waiting one and a half thousand years later. During Ezra’s time, the returning Jewish exiles understood this ambiguity when their Aramaic interpretation confirms the Septuagint translation “on the morrow of the first day,” as the day “after the first day of Pascha.”Why are the end-time churches so cocky to think they are so much better than Ezra when these end-timers are described as “wretched” “blind” and “naked”?
When we accept this biblical truth, we are acknowledging the true Wave Sheaf, Jesus Christ, Who ascended to God the Father and was accepted on that day. No other day can commemorate His fulfillment of the offering of the wave sheaf. Some Christians have not understood this truth because they were taught that the Wave Sheaf Day must follow the weekly Sabbath which falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 9)
Most in the CoG Communities believe that the wave sheaf represents Christ. But this is too simplistic on several fronts. First Christ is always represented by the Lamb. In the most critical Scripture, the lamb is mentioned in Leviticus 23 but most have chosen to ignore its presence:
Leviticus 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf A HE LAMB without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord.
Second, there are numerous problems to identify Christ as the “wave sheaf” above. If the wave sheaf represents Christ, then what did the “he lamb” represent in Leviticus 23:12?
And if this he lamb represents Christ, then why was this he lamb wasn’t waved?
. . . and if waving means going up to heaven and back, then why the 3000 on Pentecost (Acts 2) didn’t similarly go up to heaven as they were also waved (Leviticus 23:20), each should be warning the others “don’t touch me” along the way up and back from heaven on that day of Pentecost, wouldn’t they?
William Tyndale (1494 – 1536)
Lastly if that he-Lamb were to represent Christ, which it is, then the wave sheaf must be representing something else, the human saints. The “wave sheaf” is made of MANY grains from a BUNDLE of barley grains. This could only represent human beings, rather than Christ, and that humans need to go through numerous trials and testings, to be acceptable before God. The high priest represents Christ, who does the wavings and mediates for us.
Before we start, as good an intention William Tyndale may have, “wave sheaf” is also a mistranslation, so is “firstfruits” plural. It is “omer” in Hebrew, a finished product (grains that had been thrashed, dried and roasted, and only a tenth part taken), now a tenth of this is called the omer and given the the priest, who laced it with oil and frankincense before waving it before the altar, not some freshly cut grains from the field, which is misleading.A leading figure in the Protestant Reformation, Tyndale had his translations heavily influenced by the works of Erasmus of Rotterdam and Martin Luther — i.e. anti-Jewish and biased toward Catholic andProtestant dogma. His work was later plagiarised for subsequent English translations, including the Great Bible, the Bishops’ Bible and in 1611, by the 47 scholars who produced the King James Bible.
This is from the Jewish Encyclopedia
Manner of Waving the Omer.
After the grain had been gathered it was brought to the courtyard of the Temple, where, it was first thrashed and then parched (dried and roasted over a fire). The grain was ground into coarse meal and then sifted through thirteen sieves until it became very clean, after which the tenth part was taken, the measure of the ‘omer, and given to the priest. The priest proceeded with the ‘omer as with any other meal-offering: he poured oil and frankincense over the meal, “waved” it, and then burned a handful of it on the altar; the remainder was eaten by the priests (Men. vi. 4). The “waving” was done in the following way: The offering was placed on the extended hands of the priest, who moved them backward and forward and then upward and downward. As soon as the ‘omer ceremony was completed the people of Jerusalem were permitted to eat of the newly harvested grain; people of towns far from Jerusalem might not do so until after noon, when it was certain that the ceremony at Jerusalem had been gathered (Men. vi. 7).
The “wave sheaf” as firstfruits, must be reaped by three persons, each with his own sickle and basket, until each had his basket full. They then brought them to the courtyard of the Temple to be thrashed and parched and then to go through ALL of the thirteen sieves until it became very clean, and only one tenth the measure of the ‘omer’ were selected.
Only humans were required to go through numerous trials and testings. Only ten percent of an ephah (about 40 litres or 9 gallons) or about 1.5 to 1.8 kilo in weight, were chosen while the other ninety percent were rejected, but could be redeemed and eaten even by laymen; these ninety percent, so to speak, fell by the wayside.
Thus the “wave sheaf” analogy doesn’t fit the role of the Messiah where ninety percent were rejected. Leviticus 27:32: “a tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.” Our messiah has a far higher role; He was the sacrificial lamb, unblemished. His death at 3PM at Calgary was accepted immediately when thunder and earthquake displayed God’s eminence, and this lamb wasn’t waved.
The New Testament reveals the fulfillment of the things pertaining to Jesus Christ which were prophesied in the Old Testament. When we understand the New Testament fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering by Jesus Christ, we can understand why God commanded that the first of the firstfruits, the premier sheaf, must be waved and accepted during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 8)
The firstfruits are better explained in Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. . . 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits (G536 aparchē) unto God and to the Lamb.
Here, as in Leviticus 23:11-12, the “firstfruits” or “wave sheaf” (omer) and the Lamb are shown to be TWO DIFFERENT entities.
Chapter Three
The account of the original Passover in the book of Exodus makes it clear that the Passover was both killed and eaten on the 14th day of the month. . . The lambs were roasted and eaten that same night, and any remains were burned before the morning of the 14th day. (From the Morrow After Which Sabbath, pg 11)
Passover is a sacrifice, an event, not a day. The Scriptures references of Passover as the sacrificial lamb are being made as follows:
(a) ”to kill the Passover” — Exodus 12:21, II Chronicles 35:6; (b) “to sacrifice the Passover” — Deuteronomy 16:2; (c) “to roast the Passover” — II Chronicles 35:13. (d) “to eat the Passover”— Exodus 12:43;
Passover isn’t a day; it’s a sacrifice. You couldn’t kill a day, you couldn’t sacrifice a day; neither could you roast nor eat a day! Coulter’s quote above is contrary to what the Targum says, which translates and explains the ordinances of the Passover from the Hebrew in Exodus 12:8 into the vernacular, in a very simple language that the people could understand:“And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .”
In another way of saying: When the Exiles returned to Jerusalem, the Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites in the Aramaic language.
Ezra with the Exiles
Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. (Targum)
John Gill comments on the above “they first read it in Hebrew, and then translated it into Chaldee, that the people might better understand it, being just come out of Babylon . . . not hereby how to read it, but chiefly to understand what was read, that they might clearly know their duty to God and men.” The action of Ezra narrated in Nehemiah 8:8 implied not only the reading of the Law, but also the interpretation of its language — its translation in fact from Hebrew to Aramaic, and that, further, this practice was long followed in all the synagogues among the returning Exiles in Judea. And they understand that the flesh eaten on that Passover night, was “the fifteenth of Nisan.”
The account of the original Passover in the book of Exodus makes it clear that the Passover was both killed and eaten on the 14th day of the month. God commanded the children of Israel to kill the Passover lambs on the 14th at ben ha arbayim, or “between the two evenings” (Ex. 12:6). Other passages make it absolutely clear that this Hebrew term refers to the beginning of the 14th—after ba erev, or the sunset of the 13th. (Pg 11)
MAGIC! According to Fred Coulter, ben ha arbayim comes AFTER ba erev.If his junky theory is correct, then two lambs would be needed to be killed for the Passover, one for ben ha arbayim (Exodus 12:6) and the other to satisfy ba erev (Deuteronomy 16:6). One lamb definitely couldn’t fulfil two sacrifices. Fred Coulter’s analysis can only add confusion to more confusion. His definitions for ba·erev and ben ha arbayim are both sleights of hand! Suddenly from nowhere, you see two pigeons, out of the hands of Simon Magus. His non-thinking faithfuls would always admire his skills with veneration and mesmerization!
For the rest of chapter 3 (pages 11-17; and again from chapter 4, pages 18-20), Fred went on to explain Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:17.
Matthew 26:17 Now the first day (G4413 protos) of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
The natural reading of this verse seems to suggest the disciples asked Jesus where to keep the Passover when Passover was already over. But G4413 protos could be translated as ‘a time before’ as in John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before G4413 me.
Thus Matthew 26:17 could be translated as: “Now before the Days of Unleavened Bread have arrived, the disciples came to Jesus, asking, Where shall we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?” — the intention to eat the Passover was there, but the actual eating was yet to happen.
Mark 14:12 And the first (G4413 protos) day (G2250 hemera) of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?
Same translation problem here. G2250 hemera could be translated as ‘a period of time or days’ as in Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days G2250 of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.
So Mark 14:12 could well be translated “Now before the Days of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover?”— the unleavened bread period was the time they killed the lamb. Yes the context of this question indicates that the time asked could be a couple of days before the fourteenth when they killed the lamb. And yes, the Passover was a composite festival in the NT (as well as the Old), also called Days of Unleavened Bread when the lamb was to be killed.
Same thing with Luke 22:7 Then came (G2064 erchomai) the day (G2250 hemera) of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
G2064 erchomai could be translated “to come” or “to go” as in Matthew 2:2, 8. In Matthew 14:29 And he said, Come. G2064 And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go G2064 to Jesus.
Thus Luke 22:7 could be translated as “As the Days of Unleavened Bread were approaching when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed, 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”” — again, the intention to eat the Passover was there, but the actual eating had yet to happen.
Chapter Four
When we examine all three Gospel records of Jesus’ instructions to His disciples, it is obvious that Jesus kept the domestic Passover on the 14th—“the first day of the unleaveneds.” (Count To Pentecost — From the Morrow After Which Sabbath pg 19)
If Jesus and His disciples had kept a “domestic Passover” they would have stayed back in Galilee, in their own homes as in the original Exodus. A “domestic Passover” would have to be kept in their houses “as commanded by God in Exodus 12.”
If the children of Israel had gathered at one place before the Passover, as Josephus pictures, they would not have been in their houses but would have been camping in tents. And if they were in tents, how could they purify their houses with the blood of the lambs? Did they run back to their houses with bowls of blood and sprinkle the blood on the two side posts and lintel, and then frantically return to their tents in Rameses? This ridiculous scenario shows the gross internal contradiction in Josephus’ account. (The Christian Passover Pg 61)
Fred Coulter makes a scene that if the Israelites have to keep the Passover in their houses, they would have to run back from Rameses to Goshen to keep their Passover in their houses. Fast forward to Jesus and His disciples, they would also need to run back from Jerusalem to their houses in Galilee with bowls of blood and sprinkle the blood on the two side posts and lintel to keep it in their Galilean houses. Did they? Is this not ridiculous? Just substitute “Josephus” to “Fred Coulter” above. Blind Guides and WHAT FOLLY, that’s how he concludes about himself:
WHAT FOLLY! What foolishness to accept a traditional belief that directly conflicts with the truth of God’s Word, and to use interpretations of Scripture that promote the false ideas of men! No wonder God says that He entraps the intelligent in the foolishness of their own human wisdom. (ibid pg 61)
Moreover, in Deuteronomy 16:16 it commands “three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.” And God had chosen Jerusalem, a Temple-centered place where He had chosen to place His name there.
The children of Israel kept the Passover in their houses, just as the Bible records for us. The inspired record in Exodus 12 makes it clear that the children of Israel were not dwelling in tents at Rameses when they kept the Passover. The Hebrew word bayith, which is translated “house” or “houses” in Exodus 12, does not refer to a tent or a temporary dwelling. (ibid pg 62)
There is no question that the children of Israel were in their houses “bayith” when they observed the original Passover in Rameses, but in the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples didn’t keep any Passover back in Galilee. Fred Coulter may have good intentions but he has foolishly made his savor a sinless life unattainable! And if they have to keep it in Jerusalem in houses, tents, or inns it would be a fake domestic Passover. Because Jesus and His disciples lived in Galilee in their houses – “bayith.”
The Gospel accounts do not specify whether the disciples’ preparations included the killing of the Passover lamb. However, since everything was “furnished and ready,” there can be little doubt that the master of the house had already killed the lamb and it was already being roasted by the time Peter and John arrived. In that case, they would have begun setting out the other foods for the meal, making sure that the unleavened bread and wine were ready. They completed whatever was necessary to prepare the Passover meal. Luke records, “Then they went and found everything exactly as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover” (Luke 22:13). (Count To Pentecost — From the Morrow After Which Sabbathpg 20)
The above are all pure speculation. Magic. The master of the house must have killed the lamb early, before the fourteenth, and to sin on behalf of Jesus and His disciples. Ridiculous Bulls!
One of the requirements of partaking Passover is for members of a group of about ten to kill as well as roast the lamb to be eaten. Why would the master of the house roast and had the lamb ready for Jesus and His disciples? He and his family don’t have to kill his lamb for his family?
But Fred Coulter had unknowingly given warning to himself:
The apostle Peter warned the believers to be on guard against false teachers: “As he has also in all his [Paul’s] epistles, speaking in them concerning these things; in which are some things that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable are twisting and distorting, as they also twist and distort the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (The Christian Passover pg 13)
How true it is, that Fred Coulter could be seeing his own destruction, like the AD 70 inferno!
Sound doctrine should be firmly based on Scriptures. Here he is basing his doctrines on pure speculation — everything is done so that Fred Coulter could deceive his dumb sheep?
Until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD the domestic 14th Passover was apparently the predominant practice. However, after the destruction of the Temple, the Jews observed only a 15th Passover; and thus, only viewed the 14th of Nisan as a preparation day for their traditional Seder meal on the 15th—the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. By replacing the 14th Passover with a traditional Seder meal at the beginning of the 15th, the Jews have changed the original eight-day festival to their own eight day observance ending on the 22nd day of the 1st month. These eight days of are now known to Jews as “the Passover,” rather than as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (Pg 20-21)
The significance of the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD should not be understated. Because of sin, the Heavenly Overseer of this Universe had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah during Abraham’s time. The God of this Universe had also destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 587 BC. John the Baptist had given a stern warning about another consuming fire recorded in Luke 3:16 John said unto them:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE (pyr g4442). 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE (pyr g4442) unquenchable.”
When we look back, one cannot avoid concluding that God had given judgement that the Sadducees and the Boethusians were deemed worthy of extinction during the AD 70 inferno like Sodom and Gomorrah. Everything about the Sadducees and the Boethusians were destroyed. A large portion of the Shammai Pharisees also followed suit, only the Hillel branch survived. If the AD 70 inferno were only a microcosm, a foretaste, how would the CoG Communities, who have similar deceptive beliefs as the Sadducees and Boethusians, escape John’s warning during the Last Days? And why is it so coincidental that the end-time Laodicean church was described as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked”? How could these “virgins” escape a coming FIRE?
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Amos 3:6
China has been accused of not having soft power, but it’s about to change. Chinese female translator Zhang Jing at US-China talks showing her power applauded not just by Chinese netizens but the world audience. The highlight of Zhang’s interpretation came when she smoothly translated several speeches by the Chinese delegation that were more than 15 minutes long fluently and accurately into English, which earned her applause and respect from netizens, including many majoring in interpretation.
China’s new weaponless Mulan
A native of Hangzhou and described as “China’s most beautiful interpreter,” Zhang, who graduated from China Foreign Affairs University, has been praised on Chinese social media for “fully showing the elegant demeanor of China’s diplomats in the new era.”
According to a media interview with Zhang’s high school teacher, Zhang had academic credentials to enter top Chinese universities like Peking University and Tsinghua University, but she, with an IQ score of 161, chose to go to China Foreign Affairs University to serve her country at the ministry of foreign affairs.
No longer in the era of Maoism, wearing Mao jackets, a photo with the hashtag “she is the on-site translator at high-level US-China talks” has gone viral on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo with views surpassing 400 million.
Bad Omen or just Bad Luck?
“Zhang Jing helped convey China’s voice to the world through her specialty; and compared to the US translator, she performed far better. She also showed ‘her power’ of Chinese women,” one netizen commented on Sina Weibo.
Another Weibo user wrote: “I think women who have appeared in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent years are wonderful. They present China’s image on the international diplomatic stage and increase China’s reputation with their talents.”
This new diplomacy, coupled with the slogan of China’s soft power rise, Zhang Jing dazzled the world with her calm and accurate translation of China’s State Councillor Yang Jiechi’s 15-minute remarks at the US-China Alaska summit. Her high school English teacher said: “Zhang has always been a persistent, focused person who knew at a very young age what she wanted for her career.”
With an IQ Score of 161
In a blunt opening statement before the talks with TV reporters keeping their cameras rolling in live broadcast for their President and audience back home, big mouth Secretary of State Antony Blinken fired the first shot by claiming that the US would “discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies.”
“Chinese people won’t be pushed around,” Zhang bombarded back at the hypocritical American-wiping-out-Native-Americans delegates in the only language they could understand. “The US is not qualified to speak to China from a position of strength!”
Her words meant, of course, that America, like Biden, has passed her best days, and now, a fallen power; but the Secretary of State seems not getting it — “their bows shall be broken” and “their sword shall enter into their own heart!” Whatever he (or any of the Five Eyes) alleges of world issues, his words will be of no effect but will come back to haunt him.
“The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.” Psalms 37:12-15.
Annabel Yao, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has forayed her aspiring career into the entertainment industry instead of things Huawei.
On January 18, 2021, she debuted her first single Backfire.
Far more talented than Paris Hilton of course
“I never saw myself as a princess,” she said in the documentary, which shows her preparations ahead of the debut and touches on her billionaire father.
“Just like most people my age, I needed to put a lot of effort into studying to get into a good school,” she added, having attended Harvard University and graduated with a degree in computer science.
“I also felt lost after college, but I kept trying different things before I found what I was passionate about,” she said, prefering to shake her bum to advance China’s soft power than her father’s dog-eat-dog world of Huawei.
Quotes are from Fred Coulter’s book, and some from his compatriots, all in PINK. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 19
This chapter starts with the preconceived notion that Jesus’ last supper was His last Passover. And Fred Coulter repeated his misconception again and again. Scriptures were cherry picked to support preexisting biases and other Biblical passages were reinterpreted and twisted to support his misconception.
If His last supper was a Passover, there were no words or a phrase to confirm that, such as “when they finished Passover, they sang a hymn”, “during Passover, He poured wine and break bread,” or “during Jesus last Passover, He took bread.”
And even when Paul was referring back to that night, he wrote, “the night He was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23), rather than, say, “the last Passover He kept.” Why? Strange, isn’t it?
There is evidence in early historical works that at the time John was writing his Gospel, the 14/15 Passover controversy was already a major problem. That would explain why John describes Jesus’ last Passover and the subsequent events in greater detail than the other Gospel writers.
The Gospel of John makes a clear distinction between the Passover of the Jews and the Passover that Jesus kept. The sequence of events that John records conclusively shows that Jesus did not observe the Passover at the traditional time. (The Christian Passover, pg 232)
It is correct that John’s account apparently differs from the other Gospels, but not for the reasons given above. John had to keep on emphasizing the details of Jewish feasts as different from a Samaritan counterfeit version that had been a threat for hundreds of years.
John mentioned going through Samaria in detail encountering a Samaritan woman (John 4:4-40), eventually giving them the most important message: for “Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).
For us living far and away in the twenty-first century, the threats from the Samaritans aren’t real, but for John and his countrymen from Galilee they had to live with those threats, and they were real.
John shows that the Passover they were preparing to eat was recognized as the official observance of the Jews: “(Now it was the preparation of the Passover, and aboutthe sixth hour [6 AM]). And he [Pilate] said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried aloud, ‘Away, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ ” (John 19:14-15). (Pg 233)
The sixth hour is 6 AM? Here, wringing like a snake, Fred says the sixth hour is “6 AM”, but in another of his own books, it is 8.30 AM (Harmony of the Gospels, 1974, pg 219). It’s like a red-hot murderer caught and being interviewed in a police station testifying with different alibi to suit different circumstances.
If Fred Coulter had not been lying with deceits, he would tell the truth that the “sixth hour” is the same as when Jesus met the Samaritan at the well — NOON! It was hot, and Jesus, being wearied and tired, asked for a drink. It was noon time, as the same time were listed elsewhere:
John 4:6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the well; and it was about the sixth hour. — NOON
And that noon, the sixth hour, is the same in the other Gospels.
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. — NOON TO 3 PM
Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. — NOON TO 3 PM
Luke 23:44 And it was about thesixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. — NOON TO 3 PM
John 19:14 And it was the Preparation of the Passover and about thesixth hour, and Pilate said unto the Jews, “Behold your king!” — NOON
The truth is that all the Gospel writers were using Hebrew time and all the “sixth hour” means 12 noon, since the hour counting starts at daybreak, at 6 AM. “And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council [Sanhedrin], saying, “Art thou the Christ? Tell us.”” Luke 22:66-67 — “it was day” — It was daybreak! Jesus couldn’t be with the Sanhedrin here and inside the praetorium at the same time! The Scripture is screaming here! “John 19:14 couldn’t be 6AM!” — What a hypocrite, Fred didn’t follow his own thirteenth rule on studying the Bible 13) Do not form conclusions based on partial facts or insufficient information, or the opinions and speculations of others. (Pg 15)
Second, the chief priests (including the high priests), the captains of the temple and their servants are all known to be Sadducees. And they didn’t want to go inside the praetorium!
“Then they (the chief priests, etc) led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover,” John 18:28.
This is another proof that the Sadduciac passover haven’t arrived, and they, too, didn’t want to defile themselves by entering a Gentile residence just before their passover where they would have kept it on night of the fourteenth! This is a solid proof that that night could only be on the thirteenth!
The truth then, is, since Matthew, Mark and Luke testifies that Christ was on the cross at the sixth hour, Jesus couldn’t be at the praetorium (judgement hall) at the same time. And since the crucifixion was on the fourteenth, the time at the praetorium had to be on a day before, ON THE THIRTEENTH.
Then they led Him away to be crucified, but first to be flogged, including mocking and scourging — the missing hours, or for the next 18 hours — then back at the praetorium. From John 14:16 to17, there is a time gap where there is no record of Him — from about noon on the thirteenth to daybreak on the fourteenth of Nisan. A mystery of mysteries. A secret among secrets.
And that evening, the evening where Jesus and His disciples were taking supper, was indeed just a supper. There is no evidence of a Passover — no lamb, no bitter herbs, no mention of any blood on the doorposts and lintel — it was not even a Samaritan or a Sadducean Passover, where it would be on an early fourteenth of Nisan.
Luke 22:20 Likewise also He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.
John 13:2 And supper being ended, and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
John 13:4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself.
John 21:20 Then Peter, turning about, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at supper, and said, “Lord, who is he that betrayeth Thee?”
That meal, that last meal that Jesus took with His disciples, was called supper consistently. It was just as a supper as in John 12:2 where Martha and Mary made Him a supperin Bethany after raising Lazarus. If that night was a passover why didn’t the Gospel writers say so to differentiate it from other ordinary supper? Nothing was said it was a Passover if it really was one! How strange! Its silence speaks volume!
Jesus before the full Sandhedrin – “It was day” Luke 22:66 – It was already daybreak!
The truth is, that night — often called the “Last Supper” night — was on the night of the thirteenth. The following day, still on the thirteenth, Jesus was brought before Pilate, at noon, at sixth hour (John 19:14) and Jesus was led away by the Romans to be tortured by them, and then another 24 hours had passed, where He was crucified on the cross, at noon, and darkness began upon the whole land (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) until the ninth hour when He died.
And Jesus died when the Passover lamb was sacrificed. He was and is our Passover Lamb! He died exactly on the fourteenth, at even (ben ha arbayim; 3 PM) and fulfilled the symbolism of the lambs that were killed at the Temple!
Bacchiocchi fails to consider that during Jesus’ day a majority of the Jews were observing the domestic Passover at the beginning of the 14th, as commanded by God in Exodus 12. (Pg 235)
The Samaritans, donning long white robes, chanting prayers and eating in haste, would keep their passover — with belts on their waists, sandals on their feet, and staffs in their hands — at Mount Gerizim at sunset.
Blood from the lamb would have smeared on their forehead, while those who have camped nearby, would have blood smudged at their tents entrance. On some years on their calendar, it occurs a month after the Jewish celebration.
But there is no record how the Sadduceans, the Boethusians and Herodians, would keep them, except that they would have kept it on an early fourteenth. And they were an aloof aristocracy MINORITY (not a majority) during Christ’s time, and they were confined to Jerusalem and the Temple.
When the Temple was destroyed by fire in AD 70, the Sadduceans and their compatriotes, the Boethusians and Herodians were all consumed and disappeared from history. Jesus acknowledged that the Scribes and Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat (Mathew 23:2) and thus the Seat of Moses was saved, despite their hypocrisy and fragility, along with their oracles (Roman 3:1-4).
But not the Sadducees! The Sadducees and their compatriotes perished into the AD 70 inferno! And the CoG Communities take pride in following their interpretation of the Passover! Wouldn’t these CoG Communities follow the same fate? If not, why not? Isn’t what happened in AD 70 a microcosm of the Great Tribulation in the Last Days?
A “domestic Passover” would have to be kept in their houses “as commanded by God in Exodus 12.” Fred Coulter emphasised in Chapter 6: “There is no question that the children of Israel were in their houses when they observed the Passover.” There has been no such record of any “domestic” Passover being kept back in Galilee.
And if they have to move to keep it in Jerusalem in houses, tents, or inns it would be a fake domestic Passover. A true domestic Passover would have to be kept in where there own houses, as Fred Coulter emphasises, as in Egypt. In Exodus 12:13-14 it says, “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live.” And Jesus and His disciples lived in Galilee.
Only Jesus was in the Praetorium, but the Sadducaic Chief Priests stayed out!
Because Bacchiocchi recognizes no other Passover than the traditional Nisan 15 observance, he concludes that Jesus’ observance of the 14th was “a special paschal meal” kept a day early in anticipation of His crucifixion. Notice: “An Early Passover Meal. A plausible resolution of the discrepancy is to assume that the last Supper was a special paschal meal eaten the evening before the official Passover meal. The anticipation of the paschal meal could have been motivated by the fact that Jesus knew He would suffer death at Passover in fulfillment of the type provided by the slaying of the paschal lamb on Nisan 14. He knew He could not possibly eat of the paschal lamb at the usual time [assuming that Jesus kept the traditional Nisan 15 Passover] and Himself be sacrificed as the true Paschal Lamb when the lambs were slain [referring to the afternoon of Nisan 14]. It was more important that Christ’s death should synchronize with the death of the Passover lambs [at the temple] than that His eating of the Passover meal synchronize with the official time of the Passover meal” (Ibid., p. 56, emphasis added). (Pg 236)
Although Bacchiocchi was right in observing how Christ’s last supper wasn’t a Passover, he wasn’t right to describe it as “an early Passover.” That night, there were no evidence of a Passover — no lamb, no bitter herbs. If lamb have been eaten at that supper, it is inconceivable that the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world didn’t have the lamb mentioned. There were no reminder of John the Baptist’s words, “Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29,36).
There were also no mention of bunches of hyssop brushing blood on the doorposts and lintel either, neither did they remained in the house till SUNRISE, OR DAYBREAK, nor did they burnt any of the remains at daybreak, but they hurried off to the Garden of Gethsemane against all the ordinances needed to keep a “domestic Passover” — so it shouldn’t be any surprise that it wasn’t a Passover of whatever kind at all, unless it is a Simon Magus Passover, taking on a false hope with a wafer of bread and a goblet of wine that the Catholics introduced later.
It is important to note what Fred Coulter wrote earlier in Chapter 6:
The children of Israel kept the Passover in their houses, just as the Bible records for us . . . The inspired record in Exodus 12 makes it clear that the children of Israel were not dwelling in tents at Rameses when they kept the Passover. The Hebrew word bayith, which is translated “house” or “houses” in Exodus 12, does not refer to a tent or a temporary dwelling. (Pg 62)
Amazing stuff! Even if Jesus and His disciples were eating that last supper in a house, it still doesn’t qualify keeping it bayith, “in their houses” as Fred Coulter alleges in Chapter 6, because bayith “does not refer to a tent or a temporary dwelling.” He warned in the introduction,“It is important to read with an open mind, carefully examining each Scripture as it is presented,” and “drawing conclusions only after considering all the facts,” (pg 5).
And the “facts” Fred presented are all either self-contradictory or against a “domestic Passover.”A better question to ask is why is the end-time Church has the descriptions as being “ten virgins, waiting, waiting and waiting,” and yet described as “blind” “wretched” and “naked”? (Revelation 3:17). And where are his team — Carl and Jean Franklin, Philip Neal, Albert and Mela Cataga John, Hiedi and Sasha Vogele — is this a case of the ten virgins sleeping? — Are they “blind” “wretched” and “naked”?
Now back to Chapter 19:
The word “they” in Mark 14:12 refers to those who were killing the Passover lambs at houses, tents, or inns where the domestic Passover would be kept. Mark’s record of the killing of the lambs at the time that Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover confirms that many Jews in New Testament times were observing the domestic Passover. Clearly, Jesus and His disciples did not observe a “special paschal meal” at a different time from other Jews in Jerusalem. Mark’s testimony exposes this teaching as a false doctrine of men. (Pg 238)
Okay, let’s see what Mark says in Mark 14:12; and it’s getting a bit technical:
Mark 14:12 KJV And the first (G4413 protos) day (G2250 hemera) of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
G4413 protos could be translated as‘a time before’ as inJohn 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was beforeG4413 me.
John 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was beforeG4413 me.
G2250 hemera could be translated as ‘a period of time or days’ as inMatthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days G2250 of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.
Matthew 3:1 In those days G2250 came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Matthew 11:12 And from the days G2250 of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days G2250 of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Matthew 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! G2250
Matthew 24:22 And except those days G2250 should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days G2250 shall be shortened.
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days G2250 shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Matthew 24:37 But as the days G2250 of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. During those 120 years Noah preached a warning message (1 Peter 3:20).
Matthew 24:38 For as in the days G2250 that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day G2250 that Noah entered into the ark,
Mark 2:20 But the days G2250 will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. G2250
Mark 8:1 In those days G2250 the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,
Hence“the first (G4413 protos) day” could be translated as “a period of time” – could be many days. So Mark 14:12 could or should be translated as: “Now before the Days of Unleavened Bread arrived, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare that You may eat the Passover’?”
Matthew 26:17 Now the first day (G4413 protos) of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Matthew 26:17 could be translated as: “Now before the Days of Unleavened Bread have arrived, the disciples came to Jesus, asking, Where shall we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?”
Same thing with Luke 22:7 Then came(G2064 erchomai) the day (G2250 hemera) of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”
G2064 erchomai could be translated “to come” or “to go” as in Matthew 2:2, 8. In Matthew 14:29 And he said, Come. G2064 And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go G2064 to Jesus.
Luke 22:7 could be translated as “As the Days of Unleavened Bread were approaching when the Passover lambs had to be sacrificed, 8 Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.””
— It is possible that Peter and John killed the lamb themselves. However, since the guest chamber was furnished and ready, it is more likely that the master of the house had already killed the lamb by the time Peter and John arrived.
— It is probable that the lamb for Jesus’ last Passover was a very small lamb,
— If the lamb was very small, the Passover meal could have been ready as early as 7:30 PM.
— The subsequent events of that night indicate that the Passover meal began early and probably ended by 9 or 9:30 PM. (Pg 240-241)
Typical of Fred Coulter’s analysis. A possibility becomes a probability and then it becomes a fact. And so in hisHarmony of the Gospels, his passover started at 7.30 PM and everything ended by 9.30 PM when Jesus and His disciples sped off to the Garden of Gethsemane well before daybreak. They were to keep all the ordinances of a “domestic Passover,” shouldn’t they?
Jesus before Pontus Pilate – the sixth hour! NOON! (John 19:14)
“And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning [sunrise]” (Ex. 12:21-22),” Fred wrote in Chapter 6, (pg 58)
And reaffirmed again in Chapter 7:
“…And none of you shall go out of the door of his house UNTIL SUNRISE….And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, SO THEY DID” (Ex. 12:22, 28). (Pg 64)
The killing and roasting took only one and a half hours, Fred says. Anticipated to feed 13 adults, he wrote that they only planned to have a tiny 8-day old lamb, weights only 10-12 pounds [about 5 kilos]. Have any of you roasted a leg of lambs, say just under half the weight above? I would love to hear from your experiences. More so if you have even killed a lamb, drained off the blood, skinned, cleaned and have it roasted, expected to feed thirteen adults after nightfall. If not, try it, it is an opportunity to prove the truth!
Nevermind, Fred Coulter provided his own analysis. Surely he had in mind a household during the time of the Exodus of around ten: women and children among them; here he analysed he needed close to 6 hours to roast a lamb, so back to Chapter 6:
To roast a whole lamb or kid weighing 20-30 pounds [9-14 kilos] until the meat was thoroughly done would take approximately 4-5 hours. The total time needed to have the meal ready is estimated to be from 4 and 1/2 hours at the earliest, to 5 and 3/4 hours at the latest, which includes 30-45 minutes to prepare the lamb and 4-5 hours to roast it. (Pg 67)
At the end of the Chapter 6 he concluded from an earlier question: Element # 4) How long did it take to kill, roast and eat the lambs, and to burn the bones and remains?
The Answer for Element # 4: To kill, roast and eat the lambs, and to burn the bones and remains, took from approximately 6 PM on the night of the fourteenth until 2-3 hours before sunrise, a total of 8-10 hours. (Pg 69)
See, Fred Coulter keeps on wiggling like a snake to suit different circumstances. Or is this a doublespeak? “Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words.” But in this case his distortion is everywhere. Can we trust his “analysis”?
He wrote in Chapter 1: “Unfortunately, the landscape of religious history is filled with the bodies of people who have taught false doctrines, and the bodies of people who have embraced such teachings.” (Pg 14) So true with Fred’s remarkable insight, especially when he’s describing himself!
Luke records Jesus’ words at the beginning of the Passover meal: “Now when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said to them, ‘With earnest desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you that I will not eat of it again until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God’ ” (Luke 22:14-16). (Pg 241)
Did Jesus eat the Passover? If so, why didn’t they said they were partaking in the Passover during the meal? If not, what was He talking about when he said “this Passover”?
Let’s study this; there could only be two possibilities:
1) He meant the upcoming Passover that very season, which was approaching, as this statement was made “before the feast of the Passover” (John 13:1).
2) He meant that very meal that evening which they were partaking of – even though it was served with leavened bread (artos G740), makes no mention of the lamb, or bitter herbs, which were required for a Passover meal.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer?” Note that earlier it was the disciples, not Christ, who mentioned eating the Passover, and that Christ referred later only His desire to eat it: “Where is the guest chamber where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?”But did Christ eat the Passover? This difference is critical. The word for “desire” is an unusual word, epithumia in the Greek, and means “a longing, especially for something forbidden” (Strong’s G1937) — a strong desire for something denied. Other examples are:
Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after G1937 her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Matthew 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired G1937 to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Luke 17:22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire G1937 to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Acts 20:33 I have coveted G1937 no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.
1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. G1937
James 4:2 Ye lust, G1937 and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire G1937 to die, but death shall flee from them.
Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts G1939 of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
The word for “desire” in Luke 22:15 is a “desire, craving, longing — specifically for what is forbidden,” says the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Critical-Experimental Commentary. This is the “strongest expression of intense desire,” whether good or bad. The New Testament Greek Lexicon says epithumia is, “desire, craving, longing, desiring for something forbidden.”
In other words, Jesus desired to eat the true Biblical Passover with His disciples that year, but He knew that such a thing would be impossible — it was forbidden; it was denied — that for Him to fulfill God’s plan that He must fulfilled that Special Sacrificial Paschal, that “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus knew He was to fulfil John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So Christ knew He would be denied, forbidden and impossible for Him to eat that forthcoming Passover with His disciples.
With all these in mind, perhaps Luke 22:15 could be translated as: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; but I’m saying to you now, I am forbidden and denied this privilege, and I will no longer eat with you until we’re all in the kingdom of God.”
As we continue reading the account, it is clear that the context supports this translation, and is consistent with the Greek. We are told that Jesus rose from supper (verse 4). After washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus sat down again (Greek “reclined”) to eat (verse 12). Jesus said, “The one who is eating bread with Me…” (verse 18), shows that the meal was in progress. Jesus dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas, who ate it (verse 26). (Pg 243)
Obviously Jesus and His disciples didn’t keep a “domestic Passover” back in their houses in Galilee. Neither did He keep a Passover of any kind in Jerusalem! Here they didn’t eat “with loins girded, shoes on their feet, and staves in their hands,” they didn’t take a bunch of hyssop, dipped it in the blood and strike the lintel and the two side posts, and to eat “in haste,” ready to flee.
And then they left for the Garden of Gethsemane on Mount Olives though they were supposed to remain in their house that entire night! Instead they sang a hymn where the Israelties didn’t sing any song in the original Passover in Egypt.
Why wasn’t the Jerusalem AD 70 Inferno a Microcosm of the Coming Great Tribulation?
Jesus and His disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane and according to Fred’s timeline it was around 9 – 9:30 PM. Further, they left without burning any food remains or the bones, infringing one of the Passover ordinances according to Exodus 12:10 and Numbers 9:12.
“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of it [food remains] until the morning (boqer) ye shall burn with fire.” Exodus 12:10
“They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.” Numbers 9:12.
This is what Fred Coulter acknowledged this Passover ordinance in his earlier chapters:
“And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning [sunrise]” (Ex. 12:21-22),” (pg 58).
And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise [Hebrew boqer]’ ” (Ex. 12:21-22). (Pg 71)
“…And none of you shall go out of the door of his house UNTIL SUNRISE….And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, SO THEY DID” (Ex. 12:22, 28).
“If any of the children of Israel had left their houses before morning, it would be recorded in the Scriptures that some of the people had disobeyed the command of God and had left their houses too soon, and therefore they had died in the plague of the firstborn.” (Pg 72)
That would make Jesus and His disciples break the Passover ordinance since they were only allowed to burn the bones and other food remains and left their house only AFTER SUNRISE! What HERESY!
Fred Coulter’s definition of boqer even makes Jesus a sinner! Oh a white sepulchre of over 50 years!
And he has many sleepy followers and compatriots from members of the CoG Communities: If that night was a Passover night, Jesus and His disciple would have infringed one of the ordinances of the feast, and all our hopes and dreams would have been flushed down the toilet!
And now from John Ritenbaugh’s Toilet:
Everybody agrees—even people who support a 15th Passover—that Jesus kept the Passover at the beginning of the 14th—one whole day before the great body of Jews was keeping it, as it is recorded in the Scriptures. We have to keep it with the new symbols that He instituted at that time. We should not follow the traditions of the Jews regardless of their apparent good intent, nor of the apparent goodness accomplished at the time they observed it under Hezekiah and Josiah. (Passover transcript, Part Nine)
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So, allowing them half-an-hour to eat, they would then be finishing the Passover meal just about the time that the Death Angel was coming through. And then would come the burning of the remainder of it. Remember that God said He wanted not any of it to remain until morning.
6. What does “night” (that is, the Hebrew word, lailah) mean? What does “the morning” (Hebrew, boqer) mean?
And Ritenbaugh answers his own question:
Exodus 10:13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
In this verse, “day” is yom; “night” is lailah; and “morning” is boqer. So this one verse here shows a complete day and a complete night—with its next morning. With this usage, it clearly shows there is a difference between “night” and “morning”—shown right in the scriptures! Lailah and boqer are NOT the same thing. The locusts arrived at boqer(after lailah). (Passover transcript, Part Four)
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We had worked our way partly through element #6, and so I want to review a portion of that element so we can have a running start on what is going to follow.
Genesis 1:3-5 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
Verse 5 is the one that I want to concentrate on here, just very briefly. “God called the light Day.”This is the Hebrew word yom. (You are familiar with it, probably, from reading in the newspaper about Yom Kippur. Yom, meaning day. The Day of Atonement.) Then “the darkness He called Night.” This is lailah. And “the evening and the morning.” Evening there is ba erev, and morning is boqer. What we are seeing here is that the Day (yom) consists of two parts: one is dark, and one is light. The dark is called lailah; and the light is called boqer.
Boqer is in many ways similar to ben ha arbayim, only it is on the other end of the night period. Boqer begins at the first crack of dawn, when light begins to appear in the eastern sky. (Passover transcript, Part Five)
Those nine steps (that John Ritenbaugh wrote), just to reiterate, were:
1. To select the lamb on the tenth day of the first month. 2. To kill the lamb “between the evenings” on the fourteenth. 3. To strike the doorposts and the lintel with the blood. 4. To roast the whole lamb with bitter herbs. 5. To eat the lamb that night. 6. To not boil the lamb, or eat it raw. 7. To burn any remains by morning. 8. No alien (no stranger, no foreigner) was to eat it unless he was circumcised. 9. They were not to leave their house until the morning.
Remember that I gave you the time element here in Numbers 9. It was one year later—after the Israelites left Egypt. It was the first month of the second year. Nothing has changed in regard to the keeping of the Passover! God makes it very clear: “According to all its rites and ceremonies you shall keep it.”
If you have a Bible with a center reference (or footnotes, or something), you will also see that the word “rites” is actually the word translated in other Bibles as “statutes”—meaning that these things now have the force of law. So, “according to all of its laws.“ Thus, these other things (like striking the doorposts and lintel, and not going out of the house), they have the force of law! (Passover transcript, Part Three)
Jesus and His disciple didn’t wait until the “the first crack of dawn” before rushing out to the Garden of Gethsemane, nor did they burn any of their food remains at daybreak. Another Reminder of this ordinance! “And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning (boqer), and that which remaineth of it [food remains] until the morning ye shall burn with fire,” Exodus 12:10. “They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it,” Numbers 9:12.
Now from Frank Nelte’s Toilet:
Anyone who, in the face of these clear Scriptures [Matt 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:8,11,13,15], claims that Jesus Christ did not observe a real Passover is calling Jesus Christ a liar! And calling Jesus Christ a liar most certainly qualifies for Romans 8:7. People who claim that Jesus Christ did not observe a Passover before He was killed are denigrating Jesus Christ’s last observance to some inconsequential status! They are insulting Jesus Christ! Claims that Jesus Christ observed some kind of “Lord’s Supper” are garbage and highly offensive to Jesus Christ!
Don’t let anybody tell you that there wasn’t enough time for Jesus Christ to eat a real Passover. Jesus Christ and His apostles had plenty of time to eat the Passover meal between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m., though it seems very likely that they concluded eating their meal well before 11:00 p.m. (JESUS CHRIST’S LAST PASSOVER, March 2014)
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That is not how God works!
Everything associated with the Passover (i.e. the killing, roasting, eating and disposal of any leftovers) has to take place on the same day, based on the way God counts days (i.e. from sunset to sunset). If any part of the slaughtered Passover animal was still left on the next morning, but still on the same 24-hour day, then it was to be “burned with fire” that day (see Exodus 12:10).God’s intention with this instruction in Exodus 12:10 is very obviously that the entire Passover proceedings are to be carried out and completed on one specific day, the 14th day.
Consider Exodus 12:22 again.
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning (Hebrew word is “boqer”). (Exodus 12:22)
What is the Bible definition of “boqer”? It is “when the sun rises“. How plain is that? The claim that “boqer” starts at midnight is a perversion of the truth. King David provided the obvious meaning for “boqer”. The added expression “a boqer without clouds” shows that the obvious meaning refers to a beautiful clear sky at sunrise.
That’s right, according to Fred Coulter, John Ritenbaugh and Frank Nelte, if the children of Israel were to leave their houses before the morning, they would be breaking one of the most important ordinances! And this is far more than telling a lie!
From UCG’s Toilet:
The available historical information simply confirms what we read in Scripture. Christobserved His final Passover on this earth with the apostles during the evening portion of the 14th. At this Passover He instituted the symbols of the new covenant and He washed His disciples’ feet. This is the example followed by the New Testament Church and the same example that we follow today. We can confidently observe the New Testament Passover on the night portion of the 14th knowing that we have the support of Scripture and history.
3. Can the Hebrew term for morning refer to the few hours after midnight, thereby allowing the Israelites to leave their homes before daybreak? There is no example of the Hebrew term boqer (morning) ever meaning anything but “daybreak,” “dawn” or “towards dawn . . . The term boqer is used for the light portion of the day in Genesis 1 and is never used in the place of night. In Exodus 12, the firstborn were killed at midnight (middle of the night and not the dividing line between night and morning). The Israelites were told not to leave their homes until morning, not after midnight, or after the firstborn have died. God was very clear in the command that they were not to go out until morning—daybreak.” (Passover of Exodus 12, Study Paper November 1999, by UCG, pg 41-42).
According to the teachings of UCG and other CoG Communities, if Jesus and His disciples were to leave their houses before the morning, they would be breaking one of the most important ordinances! Can you believe such blatant heresy in His church today?
By blowing up their own righteousness, Fred Coulter and fellow compatriots from other CoG Communities have belittled the righteous like Hezekiah,Josiah and Ezra. Now they have even implied our Saviour is a sinner.
God strictly forbade any Israelite to leave his house until sunrise. The Schocken Bible conveys the precise meaning of the Hebrew word boqer, showing the exact time at which the children of Israel were permitted to leave: “Now you—you are not to go out, any man from the entrance to his house, UNTIL DAYBREAK” (Ex. 12:22, SB). (The Christian Passover, pg 71)
But Jesus and His disciples left around 9 to 9:30 PM without burning any food remains and bones. It’s a BLASPHEMY of blasphemies. O generation of vipers! Like in the Garden of Eden, it kills the redemptive process. It has the smell of a rat,killing the work the Son of God is doing: “thou shalt not surely die.”
And a reminder:
The word of the LORD came unto Hosea to the children of whoredoms, to the house of Israel:
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceits” (Hosea 11:12). The house of Judah operates with hypocrisy but the house of Ephraim operates with SATANIC lies and deceits! Only the wretched naked and blind couldn’t see this.
Amazing Oh House of Wholedoms!
Just referring back to his Introduction and Chapter One, this is how Fred Coulter put a mirror in front of himself, and wrote about what he saw:
As the return of Jesus Christ draws near, Satan the devil is employing all the powers and forces of evil to complete his deception of the entire world (Rev. 12:9). One of his greatest deceptions is the perversion and paganization of the Christian Passover. He has so subtly masterminded his false doctrines and practices that they are nearly universally accepted and believed. People through the centuries have become so used to hearing, believing and practicing satanic lies that they cannot believe the truth. To those who have been blinded by Satan’s deceptions, the true observance of the Christian Passover seems fanatical and cultish. As Dressdon James once wrote, “When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker [or writer] a raving lunatic.” (The Christian Passover, pg xiii)
“False doctrines and misinterpretations are continually being spread because ministers and teachers use the Word of God deceitfully. How diabolical it is to take the Word of God, which is the truth, and misapply it to create a lie! Such deceptive use of God’s Word has existed from the time of the apostles.”
“Anyone who twists and distorts the Scriptures is “using the law unlawfully,” as Paul said, and will end up believing false, satanic doctrines, which subvert the souls of men. Unfortunately, the landscape of religious history is filled with the bodies of people who have taught false doctrines, and the bodies of people who have embraced such teachings.” (The Christian Passover, pg 13-14)
And just in case we have forgotten Haman in the Persian Court, here is what Fred Coulter reminded us of himself when he wrote in Chapter 6:
WHAT FOLLY! What foolishness to accept a traditional belief that directly conflicts with the truth of God’s Word, and to use interpretations of Scripture that promote the false ideas of men! No wonder God says that He entraps the intelligent in the foolishness of their own human wisdom. (Pg 61)
O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Why art thou the apple of My eye?
For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. Isaiah 3:8
And He shall be for you a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a trap and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Isaiah 8:14
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee. Isaiah 30:19
“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children (Ephraim, Manasseh, etc) shall bow down before thee.”
As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending, also He will deliver it; and passing over, He will preserve it. Isaiah 31:5
And he shall pass over to his stronghold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign,” saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem. Isaiah 31:9
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Isaiah 40:9
“The Scepter shall not depart from Judah!”
The first shall say to Zion, ‘Behold, behold them!’ And I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. Isaiah 41:27
“Make ye mention to the nations. Behold, publish against Jerusalem that watchers come from a far country and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. Jeremiah 4:16
“Thus saith the LORD God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. Ezekiel 5:5
As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 36:38
“For the law shall go forth from Zion!”
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. Joel 2:32
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. Joel 3:16
And he said: “The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.” Amos 1:2
And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Micah 4:2
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:2
And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:9
Chamber of the Sandhedrin – “The Scepter shall not depart from Judah!”
“Thus saith the LORD: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’ Zechariah 8:3
“Judah . . . thy father’s children (Ephraim, Manasseh, Reuben etc) shall bow down before thee.”
Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.’ Zechariah 8:22
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall take hold, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’ Zechariah 8:23
5nm laser lithography breakthrough may lift Chinese chip-making
By Li Xuanmin Source: Global Times Published: 9 July 2020
A Chinese research institute has made a breakthrough in a new type of 5 nanometer (nm) laser lithography technology, which industry insiders believe could lay the foundation for research into a self-developed advanced lithography machine, a field in which China lags behind some developed Western countries.
But they stressed that China remains “far away” from producing such a chip-making machine as there are still technological barriers. Lack of sufficient capital also presents an obstacle to translate the theoretical findings into production power.
The Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-Bionics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Sinano), along with the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, announced Thursday that they have made important progress on ultra-high precision laser lithography, according to a statement on Sinano’s website.
The new tech has broken the traditional constraint in laser direct writing to be able to process at nano-level. The ultra high precision processing is based on a new type of three-layer membrane structure.
In addition to high precision, the technology demonstrates the potential of mass production. The laser direct writing tech could be used to produce up to 500,000 special nano electrodes an hour.
The research result is published in Nano Letters, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society. The paper noted that the new nano processing technology could be widely applied in such sectors as semiconductors, photonic chips and micro electro mechanical systems.
Xiang Ligang, a Beijing-based veteran industry analyst, told the Global Times on Thursday that the new technology will equip Chinese researchers with the theory to make forays into making homegrown lithography machines. “But it will take years for China to close the gap with the advanced Western suppliers, in particular ASML,” Xiang said.
ASML delivered 7nm EUV lithography machines last year. The Netherlands-based firm also announced in June that it has made a significant development in its multi-beam inspection tool line for 5nm lithography machines.
In China, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE) announced in June that it expects the first China-made 28nm immersion type lithography machine will be delivered in 2021-2022. SMEE has mass-produced lithographswith the best performance of 90nm processing nodes.
Xiang noted that the Dutch firm monopolized key technologies in making lithography machines, which makes it difficult for Chinese companies to fast track their production. “It’s urgent to improve the machines’ production yield,” Xiang noted.
Industry observers noted that another critical issue lies in the absence of sufficient capital input due to the slow return on a heavy investment.
“Chinese research institutes need to work with companies to translate theories into products. But in terms of profits, making a chip-production machine could cost billions of yuan and it will take years to recover the investment. Most Chinese companies don’t see it as a good deal,” Xiang explained.
China accounts for one-third of global semiconductor sales, according to media reports. The recent US-led relentless attack on China’s high-tech industries, which could cut off some Chinese tech companies like Huawei from advanced chip imports, has created a sense of urgency for the world’s second-largest economy to be self-sufficient in the semiconductor industry.
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is the second last Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover lamb was killed on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quotes are from Fred Coulter’s book, and some from his compatriots, all are in block form, in PINK. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 18
In earlier critiques, we have found that when Solomon had finished the Temple in Jerusalem the Lord appeared to the young king by night and said unto him as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there,” as affirmed in II Chronicles 7:11-12 “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place (Jerusalem) for Myself for a house of sacrifice.”
God Himself had chosen Jerusalem and these Scriptures run in contradiction to Fred’s heresy that “[b]oth Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s temple-centered Passover observances were the result of a personal commitment by these kings to restore apostate Israel and Judah to the true worship of God” (The Christian Passover, pg 220).
And three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burned incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house. (I King 9:25) — Adam Clarke: These three times were: (1) The passover. (2) The feast of pentecost. (3) The feast of tabernacles.
Second, it was God and not Ezra who instituted the laws regarding the slaughtering of the Passover lamb not needed be done solely within the Temple courtyard – but “inside or outside the camp.” This runs contrary to another of Fred’s heresies that “[a]fter the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity, Ezra promulgated the “new Passover law,” which designated Jerusalem and the surrounding festival area as the only place where the Passover could be observed” (pg 220).
The principle requirements being that the blood had to be carried to the Temple courtyard for a priest to sprinkle upon the altar as commanded in Leviticus 17 – it wasn’t a “new Passover law,” and it wasn’t instituted “according to the commandment of the king” but a commandment of God. Any person offering a sacrifice inside or outside the camp but its blood not carried to the Temple be offered at the altar before the Lord risked being “cut off from among his people” (Leviticus 17:3-4). It was God who instituted this commandment way back during the time of Moses.
Before we go into the Passover issue in the New Testament it is important to start with John the Baptist, the forerunner to the arrival of the Messiah. Note his prophecy:
Luke 3:3 And he (John the son of Zacharias) came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
7 Then said he to the multitude who came forth to be baptized by him, “O generation of vipers! Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say unto you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire (pyr g4442).”
And further down, John prophesied about the Messiah:
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire(pyr g4442). 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire(pyr g4442)unquenchable.”
The Greek word pŷr is“fire”literally or figuratively, especially lightning. A pyre in English is also known as a funeral pyre, which is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire.
John was a voice crying in the wilderness, and he said to make the crooked paths straight, he needed to hewn some trees and cast them into the fire (verse 9).
Then John said that the Messiah that comes after him, will have a winnowing fan in His hand, and will thoroughly purge His floor by gathering the chaff together and burn them with fire (verse17). This story is so important that it is similarly recorded in Matthew 3:1-12.
Notice the consistency of “fire” is important. After the flood, God promised the world that whenever we see the rainbow it is a reminder of His promise not to similarly destroy the world by flood again. But about destroying by fire here are some of Jesus own warnings:
Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this world.
Matthew 13:50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 25:41 “Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Mark 9:44 where ‘their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.’
Luke 12:49 “I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled?
John 15:6 If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Acts 2:19 And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath — blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
And destruction came in AD 70, roughly 40 years after Christ’s warning! The Romans, led by the future Emperor Titus, came and destroyed Jerusalem, killing more than 1.1 million, with another 97,000 enslaved. “O Brood of vipers!” warned John the Baptist, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” From all the chaos that took place, only a few Jews escaped.
Once the Roman started the fire, it spread quickly and was soon out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 Tisha B’Av, around the end of August, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.
Josephus described some of the scenes:
As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar’s commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom.
During the four years of war, the Romans had taken 97,000 prisoners. Thousands of them were forced to become gladiators and were killed in the arena, fighting wild animals or fellow gladiators. Some, who were known as criminals, were burned alive. Others were employed at Seleucia, where they had to dig a tunnel. But most of these prisoners were brought to Rome, where they were forced to build the Forum of Peace (a park in the heart of Rome) and the Colosseum. The Menorah and the Table were exhibited in the temple of Peace.(Full Details in Wars Bk 6)
But John wasn’t alone, earlier King David also saw this, more likely one for the end-time, even “he shall fill the places with the dead bodies . . . over many countries”: “The Lord at thy right hand (i.e. the Son, who came later as the Messiah) shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries” (Psalm 110:5-6).Were these “baptised in fire” as warned by John the Baptist?
The foundation of Fred Coulter’s Passover on the early fourteenth of Nisan has been proven to be built on quicksand. Once this foundation is wacky, it shifts and moves and its consequence can be desperating. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall,” (Matthew 7:24-27).
That’s right! The Worldwide Church of God was growing at some 30 percent each year for decades, but it was built on sand. Once its founder died, the organisation imploded, and it fell like a bang, and great was its noise, scattering into many splinters as a result. Because Fred Coulter’s belief is similarly built on a shaky foundation it will with certainty come with a desperating end. So we’ll proceed with him to the New Testament era.
But notice the following four verses during the New Testament time before we proceed. They show that the Feast of the Passover were well understood by the writers as the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a composite Festival, known by either name.
Matthew 26:17 Now on the first [dayof the Feast] of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover?”
Mark 14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said unto Him, “Where wilt Thou have us go and prepare, that Thou mayest eat the Passover?”
Luke 22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Luke 22:7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb must be killed.
When we examine the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ last Passover, it is evident that Jesus and His disciples kept a domestic Passover at the beginning of the 14th, according to the commands of God in Exodus 12. On the other hand, the New Testament discloses that the Sadducees, scribes and Pharisees observed a 14/15 temple Passover, eating their Passover on the night of the 15th. This dichotomy makes it clear that the 14/15 controversy existed in New Testament times. We will have a better basis for understanding the observance of the Passover in the New Testament if we survey the terminology that is used in the Gospel accounts. (Pg 220)
There are many errors in the above paragraph. The Sadducees didn’t subscribe to a 14/15 Passover, the Pharisees did. The Sadducees (and also the Samaritans), kept an early fourteenth Passover, because they also define erev as twilight, and ben ha arbayim (between the two evenings) as between sunset and dark.
Fred Coulter must be suffering from memory loss, for he wrote in Chapter 10: “The Sadducees, including some high priests and their families, continued to practice the domestic killing of the Passover lambs at the beginning of the 14th,” (Pg 119). Such oversight is glaring. And where are all his team? — Carl and Jean Franklin, Philip Neal, Albert and Mela Cataga John, Hiedi and Sasha Vogele — all sleeping?
The Pharisees, and later the Rabbinics considered the time when the sun began to descend from its zenith to be called the First Evening and the Second Evening when the sun disappears from sight over the horizon. The time between the eve of the First Evening and eve of the Second Evening is “between the two evenings.” Only the Pharisees retained keeping the Passover during this time frame which is also known as a late fourteenth Passover.
Both Mark and Luke make a clear distinction between the Passover day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in their accounts of the events leading to Jesus’ last Passover. On the other hand, in his narration of the early life of Jesus Christ, Luke includes the Feast of Unleavened Bread with the Passover day as a single feast called “the feast of Passover.” In this passage, Luke does not distinguish the Passover day from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but records that Jesus and “… His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover….[And] they departed after completing the days…” (Luke 2:41, 43). (Pg 221)
That’s right, the feast of the Passover involves several days. The gospel writers all well understood that the feast of the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread were a composite feast. By separating the Passover from the days of Unleavened Bread can also mean we are separating our Messiah’s sacrifice from the redemption of His subjects.
Can we redeem ourselves from sin when we separate ourselves from the One who makes our redemption possible? Certainly not, but to argue otherwise is going against the spirit of the Scriptures, and the writings of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Unless, of course, Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh are holier and more righteous than Ezra, Matthew, Mark and Luke.
The Gospel accounts make it clear that Jesus did not follow the traditions of men. Jesus strongly denounced the traditions of the Jews—ALL OF THEM! (Pg 222)
All of them? Nar. Early in His life, Jesus went with his parents to keep the Passover, Luke 2:41.
Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. If these Galileans were to keep a domestic Passover, as Fred Coulter alleges, they would stay back to keep a “domestic Passover” in Galilee. Bad traditions are already well documented, so I won’t reiterate them, but good traditions are seldom mentioned. Here there are, as Paul says:
“I profited in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers” Galatians 1:14.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle” II Thessalonians 2:15.
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother who walketh disorderly and not according to the tradition which you received from us” II Thessalonians 3:6.
And how come Jesus wore the tassels or ham, described as “edges”; a distinctively Jewishtallit (Matthew 9:20-22, 14:36; Mark 6:56)? Then Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication (John 10:22), another Jewish tradition. To say that Jesus rejects “ALL” the traditions of the Jews is a presumption that could only come from one with a devious mindset, and it will come with a serious consequence. “And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die” Deuteronomy 17:12.
The Gospel of John shows how far the Jews had strayed from the worship that God desired. John records that the Jews were actually defiling the temple of God with their corrupt practices: “Now the Passover of the Jewswas near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem . . . (Pg 225)
Wasn’t a Jerusalem centred Passover an ordinance from God? Jerusalem was chosen by God as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, “I have chosen Jerusalem.” And the three annual feasts (Deuteronomy 16:5-6) were established in Jerusalem during Solomon’s reign, (I King 9:25). Jesus, setting the best example, went to Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the Jews. He didn’t stay back in Galilee, in their own homes, to keep a “domestic Passover” as occurred in the original Exodus. Neither did He keep a Passover of the Samaritans at Mount Gerizim.
Yet Fred harps and moans over this “domestic Passover” all over his book. To the knowledgeable this is revolting. The original Passover had to be observed in a strict prescribed manner because of what God was going to achieve through Exodus. However, in later years it was a commemoration of the event, not the event itself.
For in Deuteronomy 16:16 it commands “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.” God had provided a provision where He will choose a place in the future where the Israelites are to worship him. And that place chosen by God is Jerusalem as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there.”
And God’s prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Zechariah, they all say the same thing. In Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord fromJerusalem; Isaiah 24:23
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously: Isaiah 28:14, Jeremiah 3:17, Joel 2:32, Joel 3:16, Amos 1:2, Micah 4:2, Zechariah 1:16,17, 2:12, 3:2, 8:3, 8:22, 12:10), and other follows identifying Jerusalem as God’s chosen city, but why is Fred Coulter still harping and whining about a “domestic Passover”?
And Jesus, at the age of twelve, readily went to Jerusalem to keep the Passover! “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Deuteronomy 16:5) Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
And when Jesus was twelve years old, they similarly went up to Jerusalem“after the custom of the feast,” rather than staying back in Galilee. Was Jesus misled? “Custom of the Feast,” that means to say, Jesus went to Jerusalem every year for Passover!
But Fred still groans about a “domestic Passover” all over. In Old Testament times, the old Jeroboam stopped his subjects from going to Temple-based Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles; but here in modern times, a new Jeroboam also teaches against keeping Passover in a Temple-based Jerusalem. Amazing parallels!
In later chapters, John uses similar terminology when referring to the Jews’ observance of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread: “Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near” (John 6:4). Again, John states, “Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from out of the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, so that they might purify themselves” (John 11:55). John’s repeated use of this terminology makes it clear that the Jews were not keeping these feast days as God intended them to be kept. (Pg 225-226)
Another work of high Satanic quality, so according to Fred, even Jesus and His disciples “were not keeping these feast days as God intended them to be kept!”
Among the Gospel writers, John lived the longest. He was there when there arose a revolting movement by the Gentiles to get rid of anything that had to do with being adhering to Mosaic Laws, anything considered as “Jewish.” With that in mind, John emphasized the Jewishness of those feasts by reiterating “Passover of the Jews” or “feast of the Jews.”
He also mentioned a Jewish feast of tabernacles too in John 7:2 “Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand” which is also Jewish. Mosaic laws were considered among the Gentiles then and now as Jewish.
John emphasised their Jewishness simply because there was a real Samaritan counterfeit nearby: they practiced another version of the Passover, which were observed on a Samaritan calendar on the early fourteenth of Nisan, at twilight, on Mount Gerizim. Jewish and Samaritan rivalries were so intense and hence imbuled their perception that Samaritans were having a devil (John 8:48).
The animosity was well understood as Samaritans would often, among numerous devices, light bon-fires in order to deceive the Jews as to the tidings of the announcement of a new moon in Jerusalem, confusing and fooling them.
Being Galileans, John and the other disciples have to travel innumerable times passing Samaritan territories, including Jacob’s well in Shechem, which lies between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim in the hill-country of Ephraim, to come to Jerusalem to keep the three annual feasts. So bad and threatening to these Jewish faiths and practises since Ezra’s time that eventually the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, (John 4:9).
So when John was writing, he emphasized “of the Jews” as distinct from that of the Samaritan’s. And to put a sting to their Jewishness, John even recorded Jesus in Jerusalemfor the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), which all the other Gospel writers ignored, for it says in John 10:22 “And it was at Jerusalemthe Feast of Dedication,” where Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s Porch.
However, John writes differently when he refers to Jesus’ last Passover, which was observed on the night of the 14th, the time that God commanded. Notice that John does not use the phrase “of the Jews” to describe this Passover: “Now six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany…” (John 12:1).
Again, John records, “Now before the feast of the Passover, knowing that His time had come to depart from this world to the Father…” (John 13:1). As the subsequent verses in John 13 show, John is referring to Jesus’ last Passover, which He ate with His disciples on the 14th day of the first month, as commanded by God. The different terminology that John uses makes a clear distinction between Jesus’ observance of the Passover and the Jews’ observance of their feast. (Pg 226)
“And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?” (Mark 14:12, KJV.)
Although the translators did not insert the words “feast of” before “unleavened bread,” this translation of Mark 14:12 gives the impression that the lambs were killed on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Such a statement would be contrary to all records of Scripture and history. (Pg 227)
Mark rightly didn’t incorporate the “feast of” before unleavened bread and credit should be attributable to him, not attacking him. This is a typical case of Fred having a preconceived notion of what the Scriptures say, and when it doesn’t fit, he attacks his own misconception: “If these verses are actually stating that the lambs were killed on the 15th, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then we are confronted with gigantic problems.” And then he continues his attack with various “imaginary scenarios” (three in fact, on page 228) as he describes them.
Let’s recall what Fred Coulter wrote about sticking to the Scriptures on Chapter 1:
Fourteen Rules for Bible Study:
12) Do not allow your own personal assumptions or preconceived notions to influence your understanding and conclusions.
13) Do not form conclusions based on partial facts or insufficient information, or the opinions and speculations of others.
14) Opinions, regardless of how strongly you feel about them, don’t necessarily count. Scripture must be your standard and guide. (Pg 14-15)
Amazing! Fred Coulter has been making presumptions all the time. He doesn’t read that it was God who established Jerusalem where He put His name there for worship but keeps on harping that it was the commandment of the kings. And right here at the second paragraph of this chapter:
“When we examine the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ last Passover, it is evident that Jesus and His disciples kept a domestic Passover at the beginning of the 14th, according to the commands of God in Exodus 12,” (Pg 220)
And the title for the next chapter, he already has his heading as,
“Chapter Nineteen – Jesus’ Last Passover—When and How Was It Observed?” (Pg 232)
He already had a preconceived notion that it was“Jesus’ Last Passover” before he began to prove it. Are these statements and headings not presumptuous? Are Fred’s devotees still adoring him? Are they not correctly described as “blind” “wretched” and “naked”?
The wording in Mark’s account causes confusion because it appears to contradict these facts, as does the wording in Luke’s account: “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed” (Luke 22:7, KJV).
If these verses are actually stating that the lambs were killed on the 15th, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, then we are confronted with gigantic problems: (Pg 227)
No, there are nowhere considered as “gigantic problems” not even a slight problem. Exodus 12 confirms the opposite. Verse 18 says “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening (erev), ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening (erev).”
Eating of unleavened bread starts BEFORE the beginning of the fifteenth. Unleavened bread is to be eaten “on the fourteenth day of the month at evening (erev),” (Exodus 12:18). As another testimony from Deuteronomy 16:1-8 shows, the full ordinances for Passover and the time for taking unleavened bread overlapped. The Targum translates and explains the Sacred Hebrew Text into the vernacular, in very simple language and is extremely clear: “And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan.”
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover lamb was killed on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s book, from an internet online PDF version. Most of his quotes are in block form, in PINK and indented. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 16 – 17
Chapter 16 from Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passoverstarts with the issue of how Deuteronomy 16 was different from other text, that Passover and Unleavened Bread should be distinct and separate, not a composite festival.
And that Deuteronomy 16 was edited by Ezra to make it as if it were a composite festival, confusing students and scholars by calling the festival by using either name.
The followings are from Chapter 14 of The Christian Passover, so it’s a bit of flashback:
The advocates of a 15th Passover claim that the commands of God in Deuteronomy 16 support the temple sacrifice of the Passover lambs. On the surface, it appears that these commands required the sacrificing of the Passover at the temple, and that the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were combined into one feast. (The Christian Passover, pg 159)
Why do the commands in Deuteronomy 16 appear to be in conflict with all other commands of God for keeping the Passover? (Pg 159)
Why does Deuteronomy 16:1 use the term “Passover” in the context of commemorating the Exodus? What is the reason for this apparent discrepancy between Deuteronomy 16:1 and other Scriptural references to leaving Egypt in the month Abib? (Pg 164)
Remember, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers were mainly the words of God to His subjects — to Adam, Abraham, Jacob, on to Moses — but in Deuteronomy it was Moses speaking to the Israelites. Moses uses words and terms different from God’s so that the people could understand in a language the Israelites could understand. The introduction to Deuteronomy says:
“These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness . . . ” (Deuteronomy 1:1)
Yes, Moses combined Passover and Unleavened Bread into one festival as the two festivals were used interchangeably in this book of Deuteronomy. Moses wasn’t writing anything in conflict with the Words of God — surely he won’t dare to — he was making sure in clearer language so that the Israelites didn’t miss this amalgamated character of the feast. This character was already inherent in the original Exodus but Moses combined these two feasts explicitly here to ensure that those with a thicker head can also catch up.
Moreover, during the entire seventy-year captivity, the Passover could not be kept. The word of God makes it absolutely clear that when the people were not in the land of Israel, they could not keep the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. Notice the instructions that God gave to Moses when the children of Israel were in the wilderness: “And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month between the two evenings [ben ha arbayim] in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, the children of Israel did. (Pg 202)
If the Passover was home-centered – a “domestic passover” – the Jews shouldn’t have any inhibition about keeping the Passover in Babylon, as were in Egypt and in the Sinai wilderness, but Fred Coulter says, “The word of God makes it absolutely clear that when the people were not in the land of Israel, they could not keep the Passover.”
Why didn’t he provide any Scriptures to back up his claim? Actually the Scriptures say the opposite. Goshen wasn’t in Israel, neither the Sinai Desert in Israel while wandering in the wilderness for the next forty years, yet they kept the Passover. Are his devotees still sleeping? Why such wretched writing and none of his devotees are thinking?
In fact the Scripture in Leviticus 17 commands that in any sacrifice to the Lord the blood must be brought to the tabernacle or later, the temple.
In verse 8, it says, “And thou shalt say unto them: ‘Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice (h2077 zebach), 9 and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation to offer it unto the Lord, even that man shall be cut off from among his people.
A Passover is a sacrifice. Its blood must be brought to the tabernacle before the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar, at the door of the tabernacle. IT WAS THIS INABILITY TO BRING THE BLOOD TO THE ALTAR THAT DURING THE SEVENTY YEARS OF CAPTIVITY THE EXILES COULD NOT KEEP THE PASSOVER!
Below are further quotes from Fred Coulter:
That the Jews in exile could not observe the Passover is acknowledged by the Karaite Jews and recorded by Samuel Al-Magribi in 1484: “Today, however, by reason of our many sins, we are scattered over the four corners of the earth, we are dispersed in the lands of the Gentiles, we are soiled with their ritual uncleanness and unable to reach the House of the Lord, and our status is equivalent to that of persons ritually unclean or traveling far away. That is why this ordinance of the Passover sacrifice no longer applies to us, and the reason for this is our fathers’ exceeding disobedience to God and our own following in their sinful footsteps” (Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, p. 206) (Pg 203)
That the Jews were “unable to reach the House of the Lord” was because the Temple wasn’t in Babylon where the captives lived. This quote above confirms that the Karaites understand that Passover couldn’t be kept other than at the Temple.
But who are the Karaites?
Anan ben David (715 – 795 or 811) is widely considered to be the founder of the Karaite movement, hence his followers were initially called Ananites; but now they are largely known as the Karaites.
These Karaites challenge the Rabbanite establishment as they do not believe the rabbinical oral law is divinely inspired. Thus when interpreting the Torah, Karaites strive to adhere to the plain or literal meaning of the text; much like the Sadducees.
Hence Abraham Geiger, a 19th-century German scholar who founded Reform Judaism, posited a connection between the Karaites and the Sadducees, simply because many of their beliefs are similar.
When the Jews were in exile during the Babylonian captivity, they could not keep the Passover. This prohibition led to the replacement of the Passover with the Seder meal on the 15th day of the first month, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. To make their false substitute appear Scriptural, the Jews changed the name of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread to “Passover.” By changing the name of this feast, the Seder meal on the night of the 15th became the “Passover” for those who were living in exile. (Pg 203)
Typical of Fred’s writing, he doesn’t provide any evidence why this “prohibition led to the replacement of the Passover with the Seder meal” during the Babylonian captivity. He could just whip up something from nothing. Magic. A touch of Simon Magus again. On closer scrutiny, he contradicts himself later in Chapter Nineteen, saying:
“The Seder meal was adopted by the Pharisaic Jews after the destruction of the temple in AD 70,” (Pg 242).
Second, the terms “Passover” and the “Days of Unleavened Bread” had been established as a composite Festival right during the Exodus as was proven in the last few critiques.
“And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity kept the dedication of this house of God with joy….And the children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. The priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them pure. And they killed the Passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel ate the Passover lamb, all who had come again out of exile, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful…” (Ezra 6:15-16, 19-22). (Pg 204)
During the original Exodus, the Passover was killed in the evening by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel” but once the Levitical priesthood was established, most of the ordinances were carried out by the Levites and priests. And given that Ezra was a righteous scribe, what he did was righteous in the sight of God: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” Ezra 7:10:
And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.19 And the children of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. 20 For the priests and the Levites were purified together; all of them were pure, and killed the Passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves, (Ezra 6:18-20).
The Talmud has listed 613 mitzvot from the Torah but there is no command that the Passover should ONLY be killed by members of the congregation of Israel or by the Levites and priests. That isn’t an issue. The important criteria is that the Levites and priests must be clean and the Passover lamb must be killed on the fourteenth of the first month at even (ben ha arbayim, Exodus 12:6).
The priests and Levites did as they “were purified together; all of them were pure,” on behalf of the returning Exiles who had returned to Jerusalem. If Ezra wasn’t a righteous scribe, he wouldn’t “seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
Fred Coulter is a false accuser, along with Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh. Instead of upholding the Scriptures and Ezra as a man of God, these accusers are demeaning Ezra and the Scriptures.
The Scriptures quoted above (Ezra 6:19-20) reaffirm the followings about keeping the Passover:
(1) the divisions and duties of both priests and Levites were reestablished at the Temple, “as it is written in the Book of Moses” (Ezra 6:18). The Sanctuary in JERUSALEM was reinstituted. There is no such a thing about a “domestic” passover.
(2) the priests and Levites “killed the Passover lamb for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves.” — contrary to what Fred hopes for, the common people didn’t do the killing, the priests and Levites did in this instance.
When God gave unto Moses the law in Mount Sinai, He also gave the interpretation of the law, commanding Moses to put the former into writing, but to deliver the later only by word of mouth, to be preserved only in memories and be transmitted down from generation to generation orally; and from hence the former is called the Written Law and the latter the Oral Law. Sometimes later the Prophets came along and added more light on certain Laws. Ezekiel 45:21 and Ezra 6 are examples of further enlightenments.
As the account in the book of Ezra shows, the Levites themselves killed the Passover lambs at this observance. This was not a purely domestic observance, as was the Passover that the children of Israel observed in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and in their early years in the Promised Land. This Passover—the first recorded observance by the returned exiles—was centered at the newly dedicated temple and was kept according to the new Passover law that Ezra had instituted. Ezra’s new law was enacted primarily because of the apostate Jewish temples in Samaria and Elephantine, where unauthorized sacrifices were being made. The new Passover law enforced the Scriptural teaching that Jerusalem was the only city where God had placed His name and that the altar at the temple in Jerusalem was the only authorized place to offer sacrifices to God. Since the Jews of Ezra’s day were accustomed to observing a temple-centered Passover, those who lived near the apostate temples in Samaria and Elephantine would naturally have been tempted to observe the Passover at these sites. The majority of the Jews still lived in exile, and less than 60,000 lived in Judea. By restricting all Passover observance to the area of Jerusalem, Ezra hoped to prevent the exiles from falling prey to the counterfeit religions that were competing with the true worship of God at the temple in Jerusalem. (Pg 204-205)
Regardless of whether other temples had been established in Samaria or Elephantine, God’s law was instituted that the Passover sacrifice had to be done at the Tabernacle or in Jerusalem. Once King Solomon had finished building the Temple in Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice” (II Chronicles 7:11-12). What happened in Mount Gerizim or Elephantine had no consequence with what God had intended for those who would come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. Fred Coulter is continuing with his distortion.
And “this place” that God had intended is in Jerusalem:
“I (God) have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there” (II Chronicles 6:6).
And continue in other Scriptures:
II Chronicles 7:1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’S house.
3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.
5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
I King 9:3 And the Lord said unto him, “I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before Me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put My name there forever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.
II Chronicles 7:12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place [Jerusalem] for Myself for a house of sacrifice.
I King 9:25 And three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burned incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house. — That house chosen by God is in Jerusalem: “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there,” II Chronicles 6:6,
God had His plan all worked out early. And those Scriptures quotes above are testimonies to the truth that Jerusalem is the ONLY place to offer sacrifices. Again we should refer to what Fred Coulter wrote back in Chapter One: “Anyone who twists and distorts the Scriptures is “using the law unlawfully,” and will end up believing false, satanic doctrines,” (pg 13).Only the blind couldn’t see this. And not only blind, but they are also described as wretched and naked.
~~17~~
It takes blood to cover sin. Blood represents life.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).
Only the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, can pay for the sins of all mankind. Then why wasn’t His blood acknowledged to be sprinkled at the alter? Why were all the other sacrificial blood offered at the alter, but not that of the Lamb of God. The blood of all the other sacrifices could never pay for the sins of anyone, yet they were offered and sprinkled at the alter. But not that of the Lamb of God?
Fred Coulter’s quotation from the Reform Movement “authority” continues:
Hellenism was introduced by the Greeks in the days of Alexander the Great. The Greeks actively promoted their Hellenistic beliefs in the lands that they dominated. The spread of Hellenism among the Jews was curbed for a time by the influence of Simon the Just, who was high priest in the last years of the Great Assembly. As the last of the Sopherim—the great teachers of the law—Simon was held in high esteem by all Jews. With his death, the rule of 206 the Great Assembly came to a close, and Hellenism became the dominant influence in the lives of the people. Its impact on the Jewish community led to major changes in the teachings of the religious leaders. (Pg 205)
Dr. Lauterbach, a Jewish historian, describes the changes that occurred during this period: “Thus we see that after the death of Simon the Just, the conditions of the community and as a result thereof the activities of the teachers differed greatly from those that obtained in the times of the Soferim [the teachers of the Great Assembly]” (Rabbinic Essays, p. 200). (Pg 206)
Jacob Zallel Lauterbach (1873–1942) was an American Judaica scholar and author who served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College and composed responsa (written decisions and rulings) for the Reform Movement in America. His work, Rabbinic Essays, drew heavily from Abraham Geiger (1810 – 23 October 1874), known as the Father of the Reform Movement. And his other Works include contributing many articles to The Jewish Encyclopedia, another spinoff from the Reform Movement.
The Movement sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice. Originated in Germany, one characteristic of their progressive revelation that started the ball rolling was the institution of a “Second Sabbath” on Sunday, modeled on the Second Passover, as jobs were hard to come by and so they started crafting a way out.
The Reform Movement claims their Movement is in “a process of constant evolution” and this movement “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” They stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation (meaning the Mishnah and the Talmud) were obsolete.
Today, Reform Judaism has two major objectives:
(1) Reform Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewish life. “We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women cantors, and elect women presidents of our synagogues.”
(2) Reform Jews are also committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at large.
The book of Ezra records the first Passover to be observed after the dedication of the second temple. Although the Passover was centered at the temple, the lambs were slain at the beginning of the 14th and were eaten on the night of the 14th (Ezra 6:19-21).
It is important to understand that Ezra’s decree did not change the time for killing the Passover lambs. His Passover law did not in any way alter or contradict the Passover ordinances of God, as recorded in Scripture. The measures that Ezra enforced were aimed at protecting the true worship of God and upholding His laws—not changing or replacing them. His restriction of the Passover to the area of Jerusalem promoted a temple centered observance, but it did not replace or prohibit the domestic killing of the Passover within that area. (Pg 206)
A cluster of truths and lies. Although it’s correct to say the returned exiles kept the Passover on the fourteenth and centered at the Temple, nothing in Ezra 6:19-21 was said the time the lamb was slain was “at the beginning of the fourteenth and were eaten on the night of the 14th.” If Fred wants to say that the lambs were slain at the beginning of the fourteenth, that’s okay, at least we know Fred says it, but to quote Ezra as saying it, it’s lying about his writing. That’s a sign of desperation.
And this lie continues, sugarcoating about Ezra “upholding His laws” and yet “it did not replace or prohibit the domestic killing of the Passover within that area.” These continuous lyings are a presumptuous way of ascertaining “truth”— a deceitful way.
Although the temple sacrifice in the afternoon of the 14th became a widespread tradition, it did not wholly replace the domestic sacrifice of the lambs at the beginning of the 14th.
It is important to understand that Ezra’s decree did not change the time for killing the Passover lambs. His Passover law did not in any way alter or contradict the Passover ordinances of God, as recorded in Scripture. The measures that Ezra enforced were aimed at protecting the true worship of God and upholding His laws—not changing or replacing them. His restriction of the Passover to the area of Jerusalem promoted a temple centered observance, but it did not replace or prohibit the domestic killing of the Passover within that area. (Pg 206)
There is so much double-talk above. And just in case: “double-talk” is “a language that appears to be earnest and meaningful but in fact is a mixture of sense and nonsense.”
If the law and ordinances for a “domestic Passover” were still in force, then changing it to a temple-centered observance would be a violation, a sin, nor matter what the intention was. Second, if the law and ordinances were for the lamb to be slain at the beginning of the fourteenth, then moving it to the late fourteenth would also be another sin. The presentation is “a mixture of sense and nonsense.”
Ezra was accredited with the beginning of the synagogues, where after the Babylonian captivity, the men of the Great Assembly formalized and standardized the language of the Jewish prayers and worship. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
We must be reminded that Ezra was a righteous scribe and a righteous high priest, one who “tenaciously studied, practiced, and taught the Eternal’s law to Israel” that he was regarded as the second Moses.
After the return of the Exile, the Jews were back in Jerusalem and the law was explained to the returning Exiles in the Aramaic language where they could understand that were originally written in Hebrew. Since most of the people, after 70 years of Exile, had lost the knowledge of the ancient Hebrew to such a degree that they need the Word of God, not only translated, but explained in the vernacular.
And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. . . . 7 . . . .and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law; and the people stood in their place. 8 So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:6-8)
In order to give “the sense and caused them to understand the reading,” they need to understand the Scriptures in Aramaic, hence this gave rise to the origin of the Targum version of our modern Bible.
And the Targum says of the original Passover in Exodus 12:6-8 “And it (the lamb) shall be bound and reserved for you until the fourteenth day of this month, that you may not know the fear of the Mizraee (Egyptians) when they see it; and ye shall kill him according to the rite of all to congregation of the assembly of Israel, between the suns. And you shall take of the blood and set it upon the two posts and upon the upper board outside of the houses in which you eat and sleep. And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan.”
It is clear and simple. The Targum says the instruction was to eat the flesh of the lamb on the fifteenth of Nisan. And this is confirmed by Deuteronomy 16:4, which commands us regarding the Passover Sacrifice: “and there shall not remain of the flesh [and bones] that you slaughter at evening on the first day until the morning.” —“first day” of course, refers to the seven days of unleavened bread earlier in the same verse.
Josephus states that 256,500 lambs were killed for the Passover that year. To kill 256,500 Passover lambs at the temple, 85,500 lambs would have to be slain in each of the three courses. But the size of the sacrificial area limited the number of lambs in each course to less than 6,500. The number of lambs that Josephus records is thirteen times the maximum number that could have been killed in the three courses.
WE CAN CONCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Far more lambs were sacrificed for the Passover than could possibly have been slain at the temple during the allotted courses. The only logical explanation is that most of the lambs were not slain at the temple! (Pg 219)
The Scriptures have provided such a scenario of people making sacrifices in Jerusalem, “inside or outside the camp,” at or beyond the Temple courtyard, so long as the blood from the sacrificial animals were collected and splinked by a priest on the altar, on pain of death.
In Leviticus 17 it says if one were to make a sacrifice, “in the camp or out of the camp,” the blood must be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar. The critical performance of a sacrifice, including the Passover sacrifice, is that “the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle” (verse 6).
So the 256,500 lambs mentioned by Josephus need not be sacrificed within the Temple courtyard. In fact, most of them could be sacrificed outside, but not too far, least during the trip to the altar in front of the Temple the blood collected in their bowls could set down, and they might coagulate before a priest could sprinkle the blood upon the altar before the Lord. So there is absolutely no doubt about the accuracy of Josephus’ testimony.
Second, the slaughtering of the Passover lamb needed not be done by a Levite or a priest. Any layman (hence the phrase “the whole congregation of Israel” – usually head of household – were allowed to kill the Passover lamb, provided they were ceremonially clean, otherwise the Levites or priests might have to do it for them (II Chronicles 30:1).
The whole assembly could kill their lamb, and most would have done so beyond the Temple courtyard, “without waiting for the priests” to kill for them as testified by Philo (Special Laws, II, XXVII). The requirements were that the ones who did the killing must have to be circumcised and be ceremonially clean. Second and most important, the blood must be taken to the Temple courtyard and only a priest could sprinkle upon the altar as commanded in Leviticus 17.
1 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them: ‘This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying:
3 Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel who killeth an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who killeth it out of the camp,
Rashi: Who slaughters an ox, a lamb, [or a goat]: Scripture is speaking of [slaughtering] holy sacrifices [not of slaughtering ordinary animals], for Scripture continues, “to offer up as a sacrifice” (next verse). – [Torath Kohanim 17:91]
Rashi: inside the camp: But outside the Courtyard. — [Torath Kohanim 17:89; Zev.107b]
4 and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, blood shall be imputed unto that man: he hath shed blood. And that man shall be cut off from among his people, (Leviticus 17:1-4).
Any person offering a sacrifice inside or outside the Temple precinct but its blood not carried to the Temple be offered at the altar before the Lord risked being “cut off from among his people” (Leviticus 17:3-4); that man “is liable to the death penalty” (Rashi). It’s a serious charge, hence the Passover sacrifice couldn’t be practised in Galilee nor in Babylon but near Jerusalem. “Blood shall be reckoned to that man; he hath shed blood, and that man shall be destroyed from his people” (Targum).
If the symbolism is to be carried over to the New Testament period, Jesus Christ didn’t die within the Temple Courtyard, but outside, even outside the city walls — “outside the camp” — outside the Walls of Jerusalem. What an amazing parallel!
~~~
For the rest of chapter 17, Fred Coulter went to quote or but more often misquote from many non-biblical sources. From experiences cited in previous critiques, his misquoting is obvious, blatant and a constant irritant that it’s not worth following him to — Dr. Lauterbach, John G. Wilkinson, Solomon Zeitlin, Philo, Josephus, Joachim Jeremias, Alfred Edersheim, etc. Besides, he is so spiteful of the Rabbinic interpretation that everything he quoted had to be twisted to suit his preconceived notion of an early fourteenth passover.
We will, instead, go back to a critical point about Deuteronomy 16 being edited or forged. Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh have all colluded that the text, especially chapter 16:1-8 have been forged. They all meant it in the maligning sense, of course, their minds are vented on attacking a holy man of God, Ezra.
So back to chapter 15. There were lots of more to say in this chapter:
Under Sanballat’s jurisdiction, a temple was built on Mount Gerizim, which was originally the Mount of Blessing for the children of Israel (Deut. 27:12). Now Samaria had a temple similar to the one in Jerusalem. Manasseh, a descendant of Aaron, was a high priest, and he had a whole corps of Levites as assistant priests. They were setting up a “Moses-like religion” that would compete with the true worship of God. For their Scriptural authority, they claimed and used the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah. (See Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, Chapters 7 and 8.) They offered the commanded sacrifices, observed the Sabbath, festivals and holy days, and fulfilled all the requirements of the Torah—with the exception of the law against intermarriage. Because they had their own temple and their own priesthood, they did not have to comply with the law against intermarriage. They were now under Sanballat’s jurisdiction, where they were safe from any interference by Ezra and Nehemiah. Through their counterfeit religion, they could begin to influence Jews everywhere in the empire.
What an alarming turn of events! What an absolute disaster this could bring! Only sixty miles north of Jerusalem was a competing religion, a new Jewish/Samaritan religion, with authentic copies of the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. Because the founders of this religion had rebelled against the law of God, it was obvious that they did not respect His Word. They would not hesitate to alter the text to suit their own purposes. The Scriptures were in great danger of being corrupted. (Pg 181)
The narrative above is already self-contradictory – if they had “offered the commanded sacrifices, observed the Sabbath, festivals and holy days, and fulfilled all the requirements of the Torah” how could this same religion be a “counterfeit religion”?
Second, if Ezra had forged the Scriptures, a comparison would show the difference with the Samaritans’ version: “with authentic copies of the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.” The Samaritan religion was established earlier, but close and north of Jerusalem, around 720 BC. Since they have their original Samaritan version, “authentic copies” as Fred Coulter put it, any editing by Ezra, will show the difference.
Shortly after the northern Exile, in II Kings 17:
24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof.
25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them.
26 Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the land; therefore He hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them because they know not the manner of the God of the land.”
27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Carry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.”
28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
29 However every nation made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt.
32 So they feared the Lord, and made unto themselves from the lowest of them priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
So “one of the priests whom ye brought from thence,” (verse 27) had been brought from among the northern Exile to teach the new settlers. It is with certainty he had some scrolls of the Torah with him, otherwise how could he teach the new settlers? By the time Ezra arrived, (around 440-480 BC), the Samaritan religion would have been around for about 250 years.
But for both versions — Deuteronomy 16:1-8 — evidence shows otherwise especially the Passover in verse 2: “of the flock and the herd” are exactly the same. And second, the usage of Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread are similarly used interchangeably in both versions. Hence this proves conclusively that there were no editings and the composite characteristics of the festivals were established by Moses himself.
1“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name there.
3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy borders seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificed the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee;
6 but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt turn in the morning and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein.
1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD God of you shall choose to place his name there. 3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. 4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day between the even, remain all night until the morning. 5 And thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: 6 But in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. 7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. 8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a celebration to the LORD thy God: thou shalt not do any work of service therein.
Even though the Samaritans consider the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as two distinct festivals, their Pentateuch remains much the same as the Masoretic Text in Deuteronomy 16:1-8. The difference, if any, is no more than the difference between the KJ21 and the NKJV, or between the KJV and the RSV.
Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh — these are Liars and Blind Guides! Three wolves who had subjected themselves to lyings and deceits and come to believe in their own mischieves.
They came to study the Bible with a preconceived notion that the Passover is at the start of the fourteenth.
So when other Scriptures don’t fit into their preconceived notion, they attacked the Scriptures; attack King Hezekiah, attack King Josiah, where both conducted a centralised Feast of Tabernacle and Passover in Jerusalem; attack the people behind the Scriptures, singling out Ezra who is a righteous scribe as the main culprit in forging Deuteronomy 16:1-8.
Is there any wonder for us to wonder if the Sovereign God deems these Samaritan-influenced apostates as the three shepherds whom He hates?
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s book, from an internet online version, which I presume, is his latest. Most of his quotes are in block form, in PINK and indented.The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 14 – 15
Ezra was a righteous scribe. He was also a righteous high priest. His priestly lineage could be traced all the way back to Aaron, the first high priest established under Moses (Ezra 7:1-5).
Ezra returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile and faithfully reintroduced the Torah to all those who followed him (Ezra 7:10 and Nehemiah 8). For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
He was so righteous that he was regarded as the second Moses in the Voice Translation of Ezra 7:10 He was like Moses who tenaciously studied, practiced, and taught the Eternal’s law to Israel.
With the above in mind, we’ll continue with our critique:
WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING OF DEUTERONOMY 16?
The advocates of a 15th Passover claim that the commands of God in Deuteronomy 16 support the temple sacrifice of the Passover lambs. On the surface, it appears that these commands required the sacrificing of the Passover at the temple, and that the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were combined into one feast. This interpretation of Deuteronomy 16 is taught by Jewish and Christian scholars alike. As the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states, “The section in Deut. 16:1-10 was interpreted as an attempt to abolish the private Passover celebrations…” (p. 668).
Is this interpretation of Deuteronomy 16 correct? Did God abolish the domestic Passover by commanding that the Passover sacrifice be offered at the temple? If that is the meaning of God’s commands in Deuteronomy 16, then these commands are clearly contradicting His commands in Exodus 12, Numbers 9 and Leviticus 23 concerning the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. (The Christian Passover, pg 159)
During the forty years of wandering in the desert, the children of Israel performed their sacrifices at the Sanctuary, but when the Temple was established God told King Solomon that He had chosen for Himself to move the place of sacrifice to Jerusalem. Hence a Temple-centered sacrifice in Jerusalem is a God-ordained command.
And just a reminder — The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, published by Abingdon Press from 2006 to 2009 — Its chief editor is feminist Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, a spinoff from the Reform Movement!
Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and all that came into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice” (II Chronicles 7:11-12).
And “this place” is in Jerusalem:
“I (God) have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there” (II Chronicles 6:6).
And continue in II Chronicles 7:1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’S house.
3 And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.”
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord.
5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
That place chosen by God is Jerusalem as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there.” Only the stiff-necked think otherwise.
I King 9:3 And the Lord said unto him, “I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before Me. I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put My name there forever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.
II Chronicles 7:12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place [Jerusalem] for Myself for a house of sacrifice.
I King 9:25 And three times in a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burned incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.
Adam Clarke: Three times in a year did Solomon offer – These three times were: 1. The passover 2. The feast of pentecost 3. The feast of tabernacles.
Whedon’s Commentary on the Bible – Three times in a year — At the three great feasts required by the law of Moses. Exodus 23:14-16. The feast of unleavened bread, or the passover; the feast of harvest, or of weeks, (Exodus 34:22;) and the feast of ingathering, or of tabernacles.
Undoubtedly this means at the three solemn great feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16) — the Passover (which is often used interchangeably with the Days of Unleavened Bread), Pentecost and Tabernacles. And Jerusalem is not only a house of sacrifices. It is also a house of prayers:
II Chronicles 7:13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land or if I send pestilence among My people,14 if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
15 Now Mine eyes shall be open and Mine ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place.
16 For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.
And many people, seeking the Lord God of Israel, setting their hearts right, went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, any sacrifice, including the most important of all sacrifices, the Passover:
“And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers,” (II Chronicles 11:16).
Before Moses sacrifices could be made anywhere. But once the tabernacle was built, Moses received the command from the Lord God of Israel that sacrifices could only be brought to the “entrance of the tent of meeting” as instructed in Leviticus 17. And when the Temple was built in Jerusalem, God placed His name, eyes and heart there “forever” and “perpetually,” (I King 9:3).
Although Deuteronomy 16 contains instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the two other holy days seasons, the fact that the word “Passover” appears in Verse 1 has caused great confusion in the minds of many Bible students and scholars. They are not aware that these verses were edited by Ezra long after the book of Deuteronomy was originally written, and that in Ezra’s time the entire eight-day observance of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called “Passover.” When we understand that the term “Passover” was used for the Feast of Unleavened bread, the seeming discrepancy between Deuteronomy 16 and other Scriptural passages is eliminated. (Pg 165)
First of all, Ezra couldn’t have edited Deuteronomy 16 and yet remained one who “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD,” (Ezra 7:10). He was so righteous that he was regarded as the second Moses, so how could he had obeyed the commandment: “not add to the Word that I tell you, and do not take away from it?” (Deuteronomy 4:2).
When we place all the jigsaw pieces together and they fix nicely, there isn’t any confusion. If the puzzle doesn’t fit, Fred Coulter’s understanding is obviously wrong, and so there is “great confusion.” The plain meaning of Deuteronomy 16 supports the theme that the amalgamation of the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread started way back during the Exodus.
The books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers were mainly the words of God to His subjects — to Adam, to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses — but in the book of Deuteronomy it was Moses speaking to the Israelites. Deuteronomy 1:1 says “These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness . . . 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them.”
So when Moses spoke, he spoke “according unto all that the Lord had given him.” He uses terms that were slightly different from what God spoke as expressed in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.
In Deuteronomy Moses couldn’t be just repeating the same line, word for word, that God used before. Moses would sometimes clarify seemingly confusing issues, or to elucidate complex subjects as the wordings in Deuteronomy 16 show.
Beside the fact that the Passover is a composite feast composed of an eight days festival, Scriptures show that it could be known by either of its names. Hence sometimes it is referred to as the Passover while other times as the Days of Unleavened Bread, as the following shows.
Deuteronomy 16:1“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.
Exodus 34:18 “The Feast of Unleavened Bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
Both verses claim it was during their time that they came out of Egypt! This couldn’t be possible if Passover is distinct from the Days of Unleavened Bread. The children of Israel knew this composite characteristic from the beginning all along. There is no confusion.
If Moses had any doubt, he had full access to God at the Holy of Holies at the Sanctuary to ask and seek clarification. One example is found in Numbers 9 when some Israelites had came in contact with the dead, and thought they couldn’t keep the Passover. Moses said to them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you” (verse 8). Moses had never been denied access to God to seek clarification on any issue or for any reason.
The book of Deuteronomy is composed entirely of the words of Moses, spoken from his heart to his people Israel. And since Moses was a righteous man, he spoke in a language that we can understand, yet it’s the Word of God.
Years later Ezra used the same methodology for those who returned from the Exile and who had lost the Hebrew language, and who knew only the Aramaic language, and this same process gave birth to the Targum, another source of the Scriptures that we should refer from time to time. And the Targum says in Exodus 12: that the Passover was a late fourteenth and the eating was on the fifteenth: “And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .”
And this is confirmed by Deuteronomy 16:4, which commands us regarding the Passover Sacrifice: “and there shall not remain of the flesh [and bones] that you slaughter at evening on the first day until the morning.” —“first day” of course, refers to the seven days of unleavened bread earlier in the same verse.
The Targum is a Ezra-inspired Scripture.
Nehemiah 8:8 So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.
Nehemiah 8:8 implied not only the reading of the Law, but also made interpretation of its Hebraic meaning — its translation and interpretation — were simplifies from Hebrew to Aramaic, so that the common people in the streets could understand, and this practice was broadened and spread to all the synagogues in Judea. Before long the Aramaic Targum was written, and today, translated — including some explanations — in the English language.
Let’s have another look at the original Passover, during the Exodus:
Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening (ben ha arbayim).
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire; and with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.(The Targum identified that night as the night of the fifteenth of Nisan).
Note in verse 8 that the Targum identified that night as “the night of the fifteenth.”Along with the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, the Targum is also an important source of our Bible and ignoring it could only lead to our own paucity.
It was Ezra whose work gave rise to the Targum, translating the Hebrew Text to Aramaic so that the rank and file could understand. Ezra was a righteous priest and “a scribe skilled in the law.” Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. The Voice translated this same verse as “He (Ezra) was a second Moses, and tenaciously studied, practiced, and taught the Eternal’s law to Israel.”
Let’s have another look; let’s accept that the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat as Christ instructed, instead of twisting the Scriptures for their own evil end and stigmatizing them:
Exodus 12:6 says to keep the Passover, where the lamb was sacrificed at even — “after noon and until nightfall.” From verse 7 to 11, it is describing the night as the Passover, ending by saying “it is the Lord’S Passover.” So the Passover stretched into the Days of Unleavened Bread. The eating of unleavened bread also starts from the fourteenth of Nisan, at even (verse 18, ba-erev).
Further, commenting on the beginning verse 8, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night,” the Targum translates this as the night of the fifteenth (of Nisan).
That same night was what the Lord (often deemed as the Death Angel) would do, to “execute judgment.” That night, when the Lord execute His judgment, was meant to be a memorial, and it was “a feast to the Lord.”
The Targum says further, “And it was in the dividing of the night [idiom for midnight] of the fifteenth, that the Word of the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Mizraim (Egypt), from the firstborn son of Pharoh, who would have sat upon the throne of his kingdom, unto the firstborn sons of the kings who were captives in the dungeon as hostages under Pharoh’s hand.”
The subject was still the Passover — about how Passover was to be kept. What happened on the Passover night. And how we should be keeping Passover by having seven days of eating unleavened bread — observed Passover by eating unleavened bread for seven days. And this amalgamation is confirmed in the Mishnah:
What is the difference between the pesah [which was offered] in Egypt and the pesah of [subsequent] generations? The pesah in Egypt was taken on the tenth [of Nisan], And it required sprinkling with a bunch of hyssop on the lintel and on the two door-posts, And it was eaten in haste on one night, whereas the pesah of [subsequent] generations is kept the whole seven [days]. (Mishnah Pesachim 9)
Only in verse 17 is the phrase “the Feast of Unleavened Bread” appears. And how should we keep it? The answer is found in verse 18; we are to keep it by eating unleavened bread from the fourteenth, at even. So the Days of Unleavened Bread starts a few hours before the fifteenth, overlapping with Passover which is also to start the fourteenth, at even.
The Scriptures were a bit vague on casual reading, but on closer scrutiny, it is extremely clear. The two feasts, known by either name, are a composite, and this Exodus 12 account shows that the original distinction between the two feasts were well interweaved right from the start.
Moses knew he would not be crossing the Jordan with the Israelites. So he took the opportunity to point the Israelites toward the Lord and impressed upon a new generation the importance of heeding His Commandments. For God it is His glory to conceal a mystery, sometimes to hide a truth and sometimes to hook out those having a contemptuous attitude. And Moses warned those found to be guilty of persisting with this contemptuous spirit, a serious charge, would be put to death:
Deuteronomy 16:18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man who will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die.
Moses knew he would die soon and his understanding had been conveyed to the judges, the Levites and priests where the true interpretation of the law were taught. So in the book of Deuteronomy Moses spoke and explained unto all Israel “according unto all that the Lord had given him” as to how to keep them, the blessing they would have if they obey, or cursing if they disobey, in a language they could understand. Men may have good intentions, but may do things seen as presumptuously? What is presumptuous or presumptuously?
And those judgments have the force of law, and of God. In Deuteronomy 19:17Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges. When we stand before a judge, we stand before God. “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges [H430 elohim]” (Exodus 21:6). In the Septuagint, it is translated as the judgment-seat of God. Elsewhere God says He is coming as a consuming fire. “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:3, Hebrew 12:29).
On another note, the word “pesach” has a few timeframes. Just like the word “yowm” could be a 24-hour day or a 12-hour day, both concepts are contained within such a verse like Genesis 1:5. But pesach could be any one of four timeframes:
(a) An approximately 6-hour period — “after noon and until nightfall” erev or ben ha arbayim, when the lamb was killed.
(b) A one day 24-hours concept, as in Numbers 28:16 “‘And on the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord.
(c) A seven-day festival as in Exodus 12:4-15, Deuteronomy 16:1-8, and as in Ezekiel 45:21 where it is explicitly described, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten.
(d) An 8-day period when the 7-days Days of Unleavened Bread is added to the 14th day Passover. The whole period is also known as the Passover. Another reason is given below: Back when the months of the Jewish calendar were determined by observations of the new moon, eyewitnesses would bring their testimony to the rabbinical court in Jerusalem, and the court would sanctify the new month based on this testimony. But faraway communities such as Babylonia couldn’t get the message in time, and didn’t know when the new month had begun, though they could narrow the possibilities to two days. So to play it safe, they observed another day, so Pesach were observed as an eight-day festival.
Deuteronomy 16 clarifies some earlier Scriptures as to how to keep the Passover:
(i) Passover was to be offered in the place which the Lord shall choose, not within any of their gates (Deuteronomy 16:2,5). It was no longer in their houses as was during the Exodus, hence a “domestic passover” for later observances is a misconception.
(ii) For purposes of the timing of the sacrifice of Pesach, the time is erev (Deuteronomy 16:6), the same time as ben ha arbayim (Exodus 12:6). Thus erev, for this purpose, is also “after noon and until nightfall” (Exodus 12:6).
(iii) Erev (Deuteronomy 16:6) is being defined as “at the going down of the sun.” It’s the first moment when the sun starts to go down when it passes its zenith. It is also the same time to start eating unleavened bread (Exodus 12:18). So the eating of unleavened bread started earlier than eating Pesach by some 6 or more hours.
(iv) God specifies that three times a year all males should appear before Him in the place which He shall choose, which were later identified by God to be in Jerusalem (II Chronicles 6:6): in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:16, which clarifies Exodus 23:14,17; 34:23).
We should study the Scriptures in great detail and scrutinise microscopically what it actually says, not presuming what we thought it says. Start eating unleavened bread from the fourteenth onward, at even, ba–erev, don’t wait until the fifteenth: “Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread” reaffirms Exodus 23:18.
The originator of the idea that these feasts as distinct originated from the Samaritans and then penetrated the Sadducees, who died out during the AD 70 inferno, but resurfaced during the ninth and tenth century by the Karaites. And since the last two centuries, this Samaritan idea had been promoted by the Jewish Reform Movement, and since then by the Worldwide Church of God and its splinters: the CoG Communities. “You shall know them by their fruits” Matthew 7:16. And they all bear the same Samaritan fruits.
And just as a reminder of what Fred Coulter wrote so truthfully of himself and his comrade in the CoG Communities back to Chapter One:
“False doctrines and misinterpretations are continually being spread because ministers and teachers use the Word of God deceitfully. How diabolical it is to take the Word of God, which is the truth, and misapply it to create a lie!” (Pg 13)
So true, for it was well prophesied way ahead when God looked down from heaven and said in Hosea 11:12: “Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit.”
~~15~~
In this chapter, we will examine the historical circumstances that led to the modifications that Ezra made in Deuteronomy 16. These same circumstances led Ezra to institute a “new Passover law,” which officially centralized the Passover at Jerusalem. As in the days of Hezekiah and Josiah, this action was an emergency measure in response to a national crisis. The true worship of God in Jerusalem was being threatened by a Samaritan conspiracy, and the Scriptures—particularly the books of the Law—were in danger of being corrupted. (The Christian Passover, pg 174)
Ezra would have sinned if he had instituted a “new Passover law.” The Scriptures says Ezra was a righteous scribe and a righteous high priest. After returning to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile, he reintroduced the Torah to all those who followed him (Ezra 7:10 and Nehemiah 8).
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. He was so righteous that he was regarded as the second Moses, but Fred Coulter finds it appropriate to demonise a righteous man of God, sugarcoating his statements but actually vilifying him by accusing him of forging the Scriptures.
To preserve the true worship of God, Ezra used his authority as priest and religious leader of the Jews to edit and canonize the Old Testament Scriptures. As part of his work in preserving the Book of the Law, known today as the Pentateuch, Ezra edited Deuteronomy 16 in order to make the text more understandable to the Jews of his day. Since they referred to the Feast of Unleavened Bread as “Passover,” Ezra edited the commands in Deuteronomy 16 to fit this later terminology. The offerings for the seven days of unleavened bread are referred to as “passover-offerings” because the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called “Passover.” (Pg 174)
While Ezra was responsible for centralizing the Passover, it is important to remember that his action was intended to protect the true worship of God. He was not acting in opposition to God’s ordinances and therefore was NOT ACTING AGAINST THE AUTHORITY OF GOD. (Pg 177)
Why such doublespeak above? Or a gobbledygook? A doublespeak is a language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. If centralizing the Passover in Jerusalem is not against God, then it is for God. Why so much ambiguity in his language to distort his true message?
A gobbledygook is usually used as either a substitute for a speaker’s lack of knowledge or confusion about a subject. If forging the Scriptures is “NOT ACTING AGAINST THE AUTHORITY OF GOD” then what is it?
This is not only lying but playing with various forms of deceits, a prime example of Ephraim’s character:
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit;” (Hosea 11:12).
Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Lord and to teach in Israel His laws, statutes and judgments. He was so highly regarded that he was appraised as the second Moses.
To this day, the members of this Samaritan religion keep their Passover at the beginning of the 14th, in the same manner as their ancestors. The fact that this Jewish/Samaritan sect has always observed a domestic Passover indicates that the temple sacrifice of the Passover lambs was not the practice in Jerusalem when their religion was founded. The following description of their Passover confirms that it has not changed from the original domestic observance: (Pg 182)
No, they don’t. The Samaritans kept their passovers outdoors at Mount Gerizim, just as the Sun was about to set and their celebration went into the night under the light of the moon, near today’s city of Nablus in the West Bank. This mountain isn’t at their homes, so to say it’s a “domestic Passover” is another lie.
But yes, the Samaritans kept their passover at the beginning of the fourteenth, and through Tobiah, the Ammonite, this belief penetrated the Jewish community through a sect later known as the Sadducees, accompanied by their close comrade, the Boethusians, who both died out during the AD 70 inferno, but this belief resurfaced in the ninth and tenth century with the birth of a Jewish sect known as the Karaites.
And since the last two centuries, this idea of an early fourteenth passover was regenerated by the Jewish Reform Movement and modern Protestants (A.T. Olmstead, including Ernst Würthwein both works Fred relied heavily from) springing forth as experts many from Jewish background. And then at the tail end by the Worldwide Church of God and today its Laodicean splinters: the Church of God Communities who are described as blind, wretched and naked. “You shall know them by their fruits.” And they all bear the same fruits of whom the CoG Communities today follows exactly in the same manner like their forebears.
“They, therefore, observe Pesach exactly as it was observed two or three thousand years ago [emphasis added]….Modern historical research has proved that the Samaritans are not descendants of the heathen colonists settled in the northern kingdom by the conquerors of Samaria, as was once assumed….Actually the Samaritans of today are a small and poor remnant of an old and great Jewish sect….The only religious books that they possess, however, are the Pentateuch and Joshua….these two hundred [remnant] Samaritans observe Pesach to this day on Mount Gerizim, in a manner that other Jews ceased practising thousands of years ago. The custom of offering sacrifices has died out with the Samaritans, except on the fourteenth day of Nisan, when they offer the ceremonial Pesach sacrifice” (Schluss, The Jewish Festivals, pp. 60-61). (Pg 182)
Another book published by Schocken, a spinoff of the Reform Movement, author Hayyim Schluss would like us to think that the Samaritans are “not descendants of the heathen colonists” but “a small and poor remnant of an old and great Jewish sect.”
But the Scriptures give a different view, that the new settlers weren’t a Jewish sect but pagans from various regions of Babylonia when the Assyrians captured their land and redistributed its captives throughout the Assyrian empire. The background of the arrival of the Samaritans to live in Samaria is recorded in the Scriptures for our enlightenment, hence there is no need to seek guidance from Schluss’ heresy.
And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of despoilers until He had cast them out of His sight. 21 For He rent Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. 22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them, 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. 24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria and dwelt in the cities thereof (II Kings 17:20-24).
The newly arrived Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh and the other Lost Tribes where most of today’s Church of God communities come from. The capital of the country was Samaria, then a large and splendid city.
When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (II Kings 17:24). So for simplicity sake, Jews assert that the Samaritans are “Cutheans.”
In order to preserve the true worship of God, it was essential to differentiate the Scriptures of the Jerusalem Jews from the Scriptures of the Jewish/Samaritan religion. The first step was to set the Scriptures in order and canonize each book as the authentic Word of God. When this work was completed, accurate copies of the entire text had to be made and distributed to Jewish synagogues throughout the empire. Once canonized, the Word of God could be preserved for all time. (Pg 183)
As part of the canonization of the Scriptures, Ezra also edited the books which became the Old Testament. This editing included the substitution of current terminology for ancient names that were no longer in use. (Pg 184)
Ezra edited Deuteronomy 16 from the then old Samaritan version, so Fred Coulter alleged, as the Samaritan version must be the authentic version. Quoting his own work, “The Original Bible Restored,” he says, “Although a few alterations were made in the text of the Old Testament after its canonization, there is no question that Ezra was the one who compiled the books, edited them and canonized them.” But of course, Fred was mainly referring to Ezra’s forging of Deuteronomy 16 (mainly verses 1-8).
“Whatever I command you, observe to do it. Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it (Deuteronomy 12:32). Forging the Bible is a serious charge, risking eternal life (Revelation 22:18-19). But on the other hand, if Ezra isn’t guilty of forging, then his accusers would be in danger of death.
Fred Coulter’s charge isn’t alone. He has a few comrades who share his view.
From Frank W. Nelte, referring to Deuteronomy 16:1, 2, 4, 5, 6
These verses give the impression that the Passover is being spoken about. But the word “Passover” was deviously inserted into these verses by some dishonest scribe. The motivation for these devious changes was to justify the Jewish custom of referring to the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread as “Passover”.
The evidence for the fraudulent changes in this section of Scripture is not found in preserved manuscripts but in the pages of the Bible itself. We are dealing with a passage that is absolutely vital to upholding a Jewish belief, which belief is clearly unbiblical according to all the other Scriptures in the entire Old Testament. And these fraudulent changes have been accepted in every preserved manuscript, because they endorse a specific Jewish custom.
In addition, there is also a mistranslation in verse 6.
The only evidence for these alterations consists of exposing incompatible, contradictory and illogical statements in the changed text, when compared to other biblical passages. The person who altered this text overlooked some things which expose his fraudulent tampering.
Here are the changes that were made:
In these verses some scribe REMOVED the expression “the Feast of Unleavened Bread” from verse 1, and then REPLACED IT with the word “Passover”. In addition, this scribe also simply INSERTED the word “Passover” into the text of verses 2, 5 and 6 (SOME SCRIBES CHANGE THE TEXT OF DEUTERONOMY 16:1-6).
In the context of Deuteronomy 16, the word “Passover” is beginning to look clearly out of place. As we continue to look further, we are going to see that verses 1-8 have nothing to do at all with instructions for the Passover lamb, but rather for Unleavened Bread, and specifically the Night To Be Much Observed, which is of course the first night after the Passover, not the same night as the Passover.
How did the name “Passover” get in there? God certainly did not inspire it to be in there. It had to have been edited into Deuteronomy 16 at a much later time (when the entire eight days of the spring festival were commonly called Passover) than from when it was originally written. You will see this very clearly in the New Testament that the entire spring feast was commonly called Passover by the Jews. Somebody, in copying, must have deliberately removed the name “Unleavened Bread” and placed the name “Passover” into Deuteronomy 16 in order to give support to a 15th Passover—to a Temple-centered 15th Passover (Passover transcript, Part 9).
“Why were these particular Scriptures chosen as the ones to be edited? It was very likely because Deuteronomy 16 does not contain any numbered dates—for example, “Passover is on the 14th, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the 15th.” Because of the lack of numbers, the text in Deuteronomy 16 could be edited and changed to give the appearance of a 15th Passover. But if the texts of Exodus 12, Numbers 9, and Leviticus 23 would be altered, somebody would have to alter the numbers, and that would result in very dramatic editing. That was unthinkable, and it would have been very obvious, too, that the Scriptures had been tampered with.”
“Who would have the authority to make such a change from Unleavened Bread to Passover in Deuteronomy 16? The finger of history points to someone during or after the time of Ezra. Ezra came along in the period roughly between 530 BC and about 515 BC. When Ezra came on the scene, the Jews, who had just come out of captivity, were again starting down the same path that originally took them into captivity” (Passover transcript, Part 10).
Tampering and forging God’s Word are serious charges, whose penalty is death (Revelation 22:18-19):
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book,” Revelation 22:18-19.
Zechariah 11:8 is one of the most intriguing verse in the Scriptures. It says,“Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me.” Who are these three shepherds? Could they be Fred Coulter, Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh? (JR died May 28, 2023; ”Pentecost,” Sunday)
My nerves stand on end when I think about this. I hope it isn’t, of course.
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s book, from an internet online version, which I presume, is his latest. Most of his quotes are in block form, in PINK and indented so as to differentiate his writings from other comments.The Scriptures, in RED, must and foremost, be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 12 – 13
II Chronicles 29:2 says “And he (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” and this, of course, includes sanctifying the house of the Lord cleaning the altar, all the vessels, and the table for the shewbread (verses 17-18). It was reemphasized in verse 12 that the commandment of the king, as well as “by the word of the Lord.”
Verse 12 says: “Also the hand of God was in Judah, to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord.” The burnt offerings and peace offerings were accompanied by much rejoicing, enhanced by having music, songs, accompanied by various instruments — cymbals, psalteries, harps and trumpets — which were commandments of King David and other prophets, and they performed with praises and gladness.
In his account of Hezekiah’s Passover, Ezra records that “the runners went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah…according to the commandment of the king…” (II Chron. 30:6). (The Christian Passover, pg 142)
After taking counsel, the decree was to invite the other tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh — to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan — and the running and sending out letters to inform the other tribes, were the king’s command to keep the Passover in the second month. “So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them” (II Chronicles 30:10).
In response to Hezekiah’s command to come to Jerusalem for the Passover, Ezra records that “…many people gathered at Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month…” (verse 13). This is the first Scriptural record in which the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Passover are used interchangeably in referring to the spring festival season (verses 1-2, 13). (Pg 143)
No, it’s not the first record. Earlier in the original Exodus 12 the two feasts have been all along a composite. As a reminder of my observation of previous critique (chapter 11):
Of the 51 verses in Exodus 12 (not counting verse 1):
— 29 are clearly pertaining to the Passover or its ordinances (2-14, 21-28, 43-50);
— 5 are judgement on those not defended by the blood of the sacrifice (29-33); still related to the Passover above, totalling 34 verses relating to Passover or its ordinances;
— 8 are coming out of Egypt (35-38, 40-42, 51); and
— only 8 are about unleavened bread (15-20, 34, 39). In fact, eating unleavened bread wasn’t planned; it was thrust upon them, v 34.
Further, in Deuteronomy 16:1-8 when Moses wrote it in his last days (39 years after the original Exodus), the names Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread were used interchangeably.
In Hezekiah’s instance, the name “Passover” is used in II Chronicles 30:2 “to keep the Passover in the second month,” and then in verse 13 “And there assembled at Jerusalem many people to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month.”
They were indeed a composite feast, right at the start in Exodus, and reaffirmed during Hezekiah’s time. And even in the New Testament times, the Gospel writers also used the terms “Passover” and “Feast of Unleavened Bread” interchangeably.
Second, Hezekiah was a good king, who was righteous before God. The Scriptures speak well of him, who “kept His commandments which the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him”:
II Kings 18:3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. 4 He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the Asherah poles, and broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any who were before him. 6 For he cleaved to the Lord and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments which the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth; and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not.
And they (the congregation of Israel that assembled at Jerusalem) stood in their place, according to their order “according to the law of Moses,” II Chronicles 30:16.Surely anyone who postulates about Hezekiah not keeping the law of Moses is a liar, and Fred Coulter continues:
As we continue to study the account in II Chronicles, we will see that Hezekiah’s Passover is the first record in Scripture of killing the Passover lambs at the temple. Although Ezra’s account does not state the time that the lambs were slain, it appears that they were slain during the day portion of the 14th.
. . . This is also the first Scriptural record of killing the Passover at the temple and dashing the blood of the lamb against the altar instead of applying the blood to the door posts at home, as was done with the domestic sacrifice of the lamb. Why did Hezekiah institute these changes in the observance of the Passover? (Pg 143)
It is an absolute truth that the Passover lamb were slain during the day portion of the 14th, but it wasn’t the first time. So says II Kings 18:3 And he [Hezekiah] did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Only those with a perverted mind says otherwise.
Second, Leviticus 17 says if one were to make a sacrifice, any sacrifice including the Passover “in the camp” or “out of the camp,” the blood must be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle (verse 6).
In verse 8, it says, “And thou shalt say unto them: ‘Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice.In the Good News Translation, it says “who offer a burnt offering or any other sacrifice.”
Referring to the phrase “that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,” John Gill says “any other sacrifice besides a burnt offering.”
All indications are that the sacrifice mentioned would inevitably include the Passover sacrifice, only that the GNT made it clearer.
Leviticus 17 in the Targum gave a clearer warning:
“And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon and with his sons, and with the sons of Israel, and tell them: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded, saying: A man of the house of Israel, young or old, who shall kill as a sacrifice a bullock, or lamb, or goat in the camp, or who killeth it without the camp, and bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance to offer it an oblation before the Lord, before the tabernacle of the Lord, the blood of slaughter shall be reckoned to that man, and it shall be to him as if he had shed innocent blood, and that man shall be destroyed from his people.”
The critical performance of a sacrifice or any sacrifice “in the camp” or “out of the camp” which includes the Passover, is that “the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle.”
Since memorial time, the priests had sprinkled the blood upon the alter evidently from the time of Moses and evidentently down to King Hezekiah and Ezra. The penalty for infringement is DEATH: it is “as if he had shed innocent blood, and that man shall be destroyed from his people.” If Moses had any doubt about such ruling, he had all the opportunity and time to ask God who dwelt between the cherubim in the Sanctuary for any clarification.
There is not one detail in the account which resembles the domestic observance that is recorded in Exodus 12. To the contrary, the account in II Chronicles 30 points out the changes that were instituted for the temple sacrifice of the Passover. The lambs that were killed at the temple were slain by the Levites, not by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel,” as in Exodus 12. (Pg 144)
Of course the domestic Passover in Egypt was a one-off occurrence. Never were the children of Israel required to experience a night of trepidation again, nor to experience a night of the Death Angels’ bloodbath to all the firstborn.
The Levitical duties of the tribe of Levites and the Sanctuary were not instituted at the time of the Exodus. But once instituted, it was centralized.
Although the tabernacle moved with the Israelites in the wilderness it was in Jerusalem in later years that God’s Holy City was chosen to place His name there. “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” Deuteronomy 16:5.
Hence most of the Exodus 12 requirements were a one-off situation, otherwise every Israelites would still be eating with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staff in their hands; and they were to eat in haste, pretending to flee from a non-existing Pharaoh and his non-existing armies in an re-enactment of the Exodus.
Ezra’s account in II Chronicles 30 shows that God accepted this temple-centered Passover, although it was contrary to the ordinances that He had established, because of the prayers of Hezekiah and the repentance of the people. But God’s acceptance of this Passover does not mean that He intended this type of Passover to replace the domestic Passover. The commands for the domestic observance of the Passover, as recorded in Exodus 12, were still in effect. Consider this: If the ordinances of the Passover were not in effect at that time, there would have been no need for Hezekiah to pray for forgiveness for those who ate the Passover contrary to God’s requirements. (Pg 147)
If “it was contrary to the ordinances,” then Hezekiah wouldn’t be a righteous King. But the Scripture in II Kings 18:3 says: “And he (Hezekiah) did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” So this is a clear case whether Fred Coulter is telling lies or the testimony from the Scriptures is false.
During the Exodus the command to kill the lamb in their houses (a domestic passover) were obviously a one-off situation. Later, other laws and ordinances were established, like the command to commence a holy assembly on the first and last days of Unleavened Bread, which wasn’t in the original Exodus.
Hezekiah’s prayers were for the fact that they were late for the Passover, which should be on the first month, but they celebrated it on the second month, which is contrary to the law. But the main reason was stated in II Chronicles 30:18 For a multitude of the people, even many from Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good Lord pardon every one 19 who prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.” 20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
We should refer back to Chapter One, this is what Fred Coulter wrote: “Anyone who twists and distorts the Scriptures is “using the law unlawfully,” as Paul said, and will end up believing false, satanic doctrines, which subvert the souls of men,” (pg 13). Yes, Fred Coulter is describing his own satanic doctrines. Has any of his sleepy sheep awakened by now? Can this be brought to Fred’s attention?
~~13~~
II Chronicles 34:1Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right nor to the left. Adam Clarke comments further, “He never swerved from God and truth; he never omitted what he knew to be his duty to God.”
And the testimony from II Chronicles 34:31-33:
And the king (King Josiah) stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. 32 And he caused all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. 33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they (the children of Israel) departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Note that King Josiah “made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and with all his soul.” King Josiah was a good king: “And all his days they (the children of Israel) departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.”
But as usual, Fred Coulter always has something bad to lie about King Josiah:
The description of the sacrificing does not fit the ordinances that God established for the domestic observance of the Passover. There is no mention of the lambs being killed by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel,” as in Exodus 12. Rather, the account gives a detailed description of the slaying of the lambs at the temple by the Levites, and the sprinkling of the lamb’s blood against the altar by the priests. (Pg 153)
The sacrificing that was performed by the priests and Levites in this account was not conducted according to the ordinances that God gave to Moses for the observance of the Passover. (Pg 154)
And there were no mention of the lambs being killed by “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel,” was because the Exodus 12 experience was a one-time incident. The Levites and priesthood were instituted in Leviticus 17 which commands that if one were to make a sacrifice, “in the camp” or “out of the camp,” the blood must be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle (verse 6).
So there was also a change in the practice of killing the lamb from their Exodus experience as the Scriptures say:“And they (the Levites) killed the Passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands (at the alter), and the Levites flayed them, (II Chronicles 35:11). Josiah was a good king; he “took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel,” but Fred Coulter is lying with deceit and contempt that he was a bad one, one whose (Josiah’s) Passover “was not conducted according to the ordinances that God gave to Moses for the observance of the Passover.” But this is what the Scripture says: “And like unto him was there no king (referring to Josiah) before him, who turned to the Lord with ALL his heart and with ALL his soul and with ALL his might, according to ALL the Law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” II Kings 23:25.
Notice the four “ALL”
(1) with ALL his heart;
(2) with ALL his soul;
(3) with ALL his might,
(4) according to ALL the Law of Moses.
Can we say any one of our endtime crop of religious leaders — wretched, blind, and naked — has any of these qualities today? Is the Scriptures lying, or is it Fred Coulter who is lying?
As we read the account in II Chronicles 35, we find that the entire ceremony was conducted by the priests and Levites, who stood in their places to serve at the altar, offering sacrifices and carrying out all the duties that were assigned to their courses (verses 2-5). Notice Josiah’s exhortation to the Levites: “ ‘And kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren so that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.’ And Josiah gave to the people from the flock, lambs and kids, all for the Passover offerings, for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousandoxen. These were from what the king owned” (verses 6-7).
This verse is significant because bullocks and oxen were never to be used for the Passover sacrifice. God had commanded that the animals for the Passover sacrifice be selected from the sheep or the goats (Ex. 12:5). The bullocks that Josiah gave to the people were not for the Passover sacrifice itself. These “Passover offerings,” were to be sacrificed by the priests and Levites as burnt offerings, peace offerings and thank offerings. The priests received “…for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred sheep, and three hundred oxen.” And the Levites received “…for Passover offerings five thousand sheep, and five hundred oxen” (II Chron. 35:8-9). (Pg 154)
Notice the PASSOVER offering came from BOTH the flock and from the herd:
(I) King Josiah himself gave from the “lambs and kids from the flock, all for the Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks,” (II Chron. 35:7);
(II) Josiah’s princes, chief priests and officials gave “for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen,” (verse 8);
(III) Conaniah and other chief Levites gave “for Passover offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen,” (verse 9).
The fact that oxens were included for the “Passover offerings” is because the Passover and Unleavened Bread were well amalgamated. And since King Josiah did “according to ALL the Law of Moses” meant that right at the beginning at the time of the original Exodus the amalgamation was instituted then. The composite feast consisted of sacrificing one lamb on the fourteenth for the Passover proper and “two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year” for each of the seven Days of Unleavened Bread.
Sacrifices from the flock and the herd are needed for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, all seven days (Numbers 28:19).
Numbers 28:16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD. 17 And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:
19 But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without blemish: 24 After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: it shall be offered beside the continual (daily) burnt offering, and his drink offering. (Numbers 28:16-19).
The Passover is a composite feast composed of the Passover proper and the seven Days of Unleavened Bread. Once this concept is mastered, all the rest just fall into place. The Jewish Encyclopedia (initiated by Reformed Jews) digged deeper into this phenomenon by stating the concept that the two festivals as distinct was promoted by the Samaritans:“The Samaritans consider the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as two distinct festivals.”
These animals from both the flock and the herd were offered as burnt offerings, peace offerings and thank offerings. They were offered on the night of the 15th and each day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The fact that they are called “Passover offerings” indicates that during this time in history, the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread began to be called “Passover.”
As the account shows, the lambs were brought to the temple to be sacrificed by the priests and the Levites, and the blood of the lambs was sprinkled against the altar in the manner that was practiced for peace offerings and thank offerings. This was done by Josiah’s command: “So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king’s commandment. And they killed the Passover offerings, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them [cut them open and removed the guts]. And they removed the burnt offerings [the interior fat and genital organs] so that they might give, according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer to the LORD as it is written in the book of Moses; and so they did to the oxen” (verses 10-12). (Pg 154)
Again once the composite feast is understood there is no problem understanding that the sacrifice and other offerings were composed of animals from the flock and from the herd, composed of thirty thousand lambs and kids as well as three thousand oxen owned by King Josiah.
In fact, since King Josiah was a righteous king, his action validates the concept that Passover and Days of unleavened Bread were and have always been a composite Festival. In fact Fred Coulter admitted: “The fact that they are called “Passover offerings” indicates that during this time in history, the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread began to be called “Passover” (pg 154). To be more correct, the entire Feast of Unleavened Bread and “Passover” began as a composite Festival during the Exodus.
The sacrificing that was performed by the priests and Levites in this account was not conducted according to the ordinances that God gave to Moses for the observance of the Passover. The Passover ordinances that God delivered to Moses are recorded in the book of Exodus, which is the second book in the Pentateuch, or the “Book of the Law.” These ordinances of God do not instruct the priests and Levites to sacrifice the Passover lambs and sprinkle the blood on the altar, nor to burn the fat and other parts. The phrase “as it is written in the book of Moses” is not referring to the ordinances for the Passover, but to the ordinances that God established for peace offerings, which required that the blood of the sacrificial animal be sprinkled against the altar, and the fat and certain organs be burnt on the altar (Lev. 3). (Pg 154-155)
Not so, II Chronicles 35:6 says “So kill the Passover lamb (not the peace offering) . . . that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.” The central theme about King Josiah was about keeping the Passover, not about offering a peace offering. So much twistings and lyings of God’s word! The verse actually reaffirms that the blood of the sacrificial animal should be sprinkled against the altar. Josiah was a righteous king.“And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” II Kings 22:2. Fred Coulter has so much lying problems reading the Scriptures or is he suffering from memory lapses? Instead of sending tithes to Fred, his sleepy sheep should send him to the nearest hospital for a thorough clinical checkout.
After relating the sacrifice of the lambs and the oxen, the account describes the manner in which they were cooked: “And they roasted [Hebrew bashal] the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the holy offerings they sod [boiled] in pots [Hebrew bashal], and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people” (II Chron. 35:13, JPSA)
Bashal is never used to signify the act of roasting. The use of the word “roasted” in II Chronicles 35:13 is a blatant mistranslation of the Hebrew text. Bashal is first used in this verse to indicate that the sacrifices were cooked over fire, and then to specify that the cooking was done by boiling the flesh of the animals in pots and pans. None of these sacrifices were roasted, as God had commanded for the sacrifice of the Passover lambs (Ex. 12:9). (Pg 155)
If “they roasted [Hebrew bashal] the passover with fire according to the ordinance” then they must be doing the right thing. So why all the complainings? If they had boiled the Passover then it wasn’t according to the ordinances. The KJV translates Strong’s H1310 (bashal) in the following manner (and times): seethe (10x), boil (6x), sod (6x), bake (2x), ripe (2x), roast (2x).
The KJV and most translations translate bashal as “roasted”: “And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance.” The Bible says they did the roasting “according to the ordinance.” The same word bashal is used in Deuteronomy 16:7 “And thou shalt roast (H1310 bashal) and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.” Only “A Faithful Version” by a “not-sure-what-his-level-of-Hebrew-is” author translates it as “boil.”
Bear with me that I should dive deeper into this leather bound Faithful Version. II Chronicles 35:13 is translated as “And they boiled the Passover offerings over fire according to the law.”
If it is “according to law” it is correct to translate it as “roast.” But what this translator means is that what they did is contrary to the law. In which case it should be translated, “And they boiled the Passover offerings over fire contrary to the law” if he insists bashal should be translated as “boil.”
Hope one of his sleepy devotees will finally wake up, do humanity a favor, and inform the author of this paradox, or at least ask for clarity how boiling is “according to law?
And the king commanded all the people, saying, “Keep the Passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the Book of this Covenant.” Surely there was not held such a Passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel nor of the kings of Judah, but in the eighteenth year of King Josiah wherein this Passover was held to the Lord in Jerusalem. (II Kings 23:21-23).
Rashi: such a Passover sacrifice had not been performed: So many people had not assembled at any Passover sacrifice as assembled at this one.
Clarke: – Not one on purer principles, more heartily joined in by the people present, more literally consecrated, or morereligiously observed. The words do not apply to the number present, but to the manner and spirit.
This is similar to II Chronicles 35:18 “There was no passover like that”which means that this Passover distinguished from all the former Passovers because it was performed with great generosity — from Josiah, his princes and others who contributed to his people such a great number of lambs and oxens — boosting their joys and spirit that neither even David nor Solomon had done.
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is a Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover Lamb was to be killed at the early or at the end of the fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s book, from an internet online PDF version. Most of his quotes are in block form, in PINK and indented so as to differentiate his from other comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must, foremost, be our primary focus and guide.
Chapters 11
While reiterating the story of Israel in Chapter 11 of The Christian Passover from the time of Joshua, the judges and then Samuel, King David and Solomon, and so on, Fred Coulter seems to avoid one critical sin of King Jeroboam. Jeroboam not only moved the Feast of Tabernacles to the eight month, he also set up altars in Bethel and Dan as houses of worship.
“Then the king [Jeroboam, now king of the northern ten tribes of Israel] took counsel, and made two calves of gold and said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ And he set the one in Bethel, and he put the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. And he made houses of worship on the high places [pagan temples to Baal], and made priests of the lowest of the people, who were not the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordered a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah. And he offered upon the altar. So he did in Bethel [meaning “house of God”], sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
“And he offered unto the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised out of his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burned incense” (I Kings 12:28-33). (The Christian Passover pg 127).
But why didn’t Fred Coulter bold by emphasising Jerusalem as God’s designated holy place to keep the Feast? Or has he deemed it wasn’t a sin? That Jeroboam’s sin were only moving the Feast from the seventh to the eight month and worshipping the two golden calves?
Notice Fred Coulter also didn’t emphasize the other cities — Bethel and Dan — neither cities authorised by God as a place of worship. This runs parallel with his thought that the Israelites were wrong to keep the Passover in Jerusalem, that they, like King Jeroboam, should keep a “domestic” Passover — for it is too hard to keep the Feast in Jerusalem!
Later the Samaritans came along and said Mount Gerizim is the holy place to worship. But the truth is that Jerusalem is a very important city to God, one close to His heart.
The Lord said, “In Jerusalem will I put My name,” II Kings 21:4.
The Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put My name for ever,” II Kings 21:7.
“(God) have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there,” II Chronicles 6:6.
The Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be for ever,” II Chronicles 33:4.
And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Micah 4:2
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3:17
“Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her,” Ezekiel 5:5.
“Thus saith the Lord: ‘I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’ Zechariah 8:3
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is NewJerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name. Revelation 3:12
And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2
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While going into details reiterating the fall of Israel’s apostasy in Chapter 11 of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover, we’ll take this opportunity for better use studying into the original Exodus. Exodus 12 is a chapter where the principal subject is the Passover and its ordinances, with all other secondary issues incorporated to support the main structure.
Evidently, the Samaritans were the first to propagate that the festivals of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were distinct and separate originally, but were combined by the wicked Jews, so they claimed. Today there are many modern “authorities” where Fred Coulter could draw support from. But the best authority is right at the source — Exodus 12.
When we examine Exodus 12, we’ll see that the primary focus is the Passover and its ordinances. Those secondary subjects are the death angels passing over, a memorial experience, the days to take unleavened bread, etc.
The first 7 verses apply principally to the Passover sacrifice. Verses 8 to 11 say about how to eat the Passover meal. Verses 12-13 say about God’s judgement and the protection for those who obeyed.
Verse 14 describes the day as a memorial and how to keep “it” i.e. the “it” is the Passover — by keeping IT as a feast, and that Passover feast is a composite Feast which includes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, verse 15. Verses 16 to 17 go into details about keeping IT with unleavened bread. Verses 18 to 20 is a reinstatement of keeping the Passover with unleavened bread.
Then Moses reiterates the Passover in verses 21-33, reemphasizing it by adding details as to how to keep it. In verses 34 and 39, it explains why the dough couldn’t leaven.
Then in verses 35-38, it says about spoiling the Egyptians, then back to Passover in verses 43-50.
Verses 40-42 and 51 emphasize the Exodus from Egypt since the prophecy God had given to Abraham 430 years before. The primary focus of Exodus 12 is the Passover; the eating of the meal with bitter herbs and unleavened bread and keeping it as a memorial are also important but secondary.
Exodus 12 (any capitalized IT is referring IT to H6453 pecach; the Passover LAMB).
1And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. — setting the background to the Passover
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month they shall take for themselves every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. — preparing for the Passover
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house takeIT(the Passover LAMB) according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. — preparing for the Passover
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take IT out from the sheep, or from the goats. — identifying the Passover
6 And ye shall keep IT up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill IT in the evening. — the killing of the Passover LAMB
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it (the blood) on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat IT(the Passover LAMB). — the blood and the eating of the Passover
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire; and with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat IT. — the Passover meal (the Targum says this meal is to be taken on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan). The main focus is still thePassover LAMB).
9 Eat not of IT raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire — his head with his legs and with the viscera thereof. — how to eat the the Passover meal
10 And ye shall let nothing of IT remain until the morning, and that which remaineth of IT until the morning ye shall burn with fire. — Passover meal (the Targum says the night of the fifteenth)
11 And thus shall ye eat IT: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat IT in haste; IT is the Lord’S Passover. — Passover meal on the fifteenth
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. — Passover and the judgement on Egypt
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt. — Passover judgement on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan
14 “‘And this day (of the LORD’s judgement above) shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep ITa feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep ITa feast by an ordinance for ever. — the Passover is a feast and was also an ordinance on the night of the fifteenth forever
15 Seven days (Rashid: Heb. שִׁבְעַתיָמִים, seteyne of days, i.e. a group of seven days) shall ye eat unleavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. — seven days of Unleavened Bread, i.e. a group of seven days
16 And in the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you. No manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. — details of observing the seven days of unleavened bread
17 And ye shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. — seven days of Unleavened Bread as another ordinance of Passover
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. — the eating of unleavened bread starts at the same time as the killing of the Passover lamb, “on the fourteenth day of the month at even”
19 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land. — more details of observing the seven days of unleavened bread
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.’” — details of observing the seven days of unleavened bread
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said unto them, “Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover. — back to the Passover sacrifice (H6453 pecach)
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it (the hyssop) in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning. — what to do with the blood of the Passover sacrifice
23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over (H6452 pacach) the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. — the passing over (H6452 pacach)
24 And ye shall observe this thing as an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. — an ordinance for the Passover sacrifice
25 And it (at a later time) shall come to pass, when ye come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. — the Passover ordinance is to be kept as a memorial
26 And it (at a later time) shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, ‘What mean ye by this service?’
27 that ye shall say, ‘IT is the sacrifice of the Lord’S Passover (H6453 pecach), who passed over (H6452 pacach) the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. — the Passover sacrifice is to be kept as a memorial
28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron; so did they.
29 And it (at a later time) came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. — the judgement on the night of the fifteenth is to be kept as a memorial
30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. — the judgement
31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel! And go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. — judgement on those who were not defended by the blood of the sacrifice
32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said; and be gone, and bless me also.”
33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, “We are all dead men.” — the judgement
34 And the people took their dough before it (the bread) was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. — the feast of unleavened bread
35 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed from the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment. — a process of being thrust out of Egypt
36 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they despoiled the Egyptians. — a process of being thrust out
37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children. — a memorial for being thrust out of Egypt
38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them, and flocks and herds, even very much cattle.
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it (the bread) was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. — the feast of unleavened bread
40 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
41 And it (at a later time) came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even on the selfsame day it (at a later time) came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. — a memorial
42 IT is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations. — a memorial for being thrust out of Egypt for later generations
43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof; — the night for being thrust out of Egypt was to be a Passover ordinance
44 but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. — the Passover ordinance
45 A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof. — the Passover ordinance
46 In one house shall IT be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone thereof. — the Passover ordinance
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep IT. — the Passover sacrifice to be a memorial
48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep IT; and he shall be as one that is born in the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof. — the Passover sacrifice to be kept
49 One law shall be for him that is homeborn and for the stranger who sojourneth among you.” — the Passover ordinance to be a memorial
50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. — the Passover ordinance to be a memorial
51 And it (at a later time) came to pass the selfsame day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies. — a memorial for being thrust out of Egypt
Of the 51 verses in Exodus 12 (not counting verse 1):
— 29 are clearly pertaining to the Passover or its ordinances (2-14, 21-28, 43-50);
— 5 are judgement on those not defended by the blood of the sacrifice (29-33); still related to the Passover above;
— 8 are coming out of Egypt (35-38, 40-42, 51); and
— only 8 are about unleavened bread (15-20, 34, 39). In fact, eating unleavened bread wasn’t planned; it was thrust upon them, v 34.
In summary, the primary focus of Exodus 12 is the Passover, which also included bringing God’s judgement on the Egyptians, allowing the children of Israel to be freed from captivity. The process involves selecting and killing the Passover lamb, spreading its blood on the lintel and doorposts, the eating of the meal with bitter herbs and unleavened bread and later, keeping IT as a memorial which are all considered as ordinances to the Passover.
In fact, the eating of unleavened bread is just a sideshow of the Passover; at best it’s as integrated like a flower girl in a wedding, which is extremely important to the celebration but definitely secondary to the main rite, the Passover. The SACRIFICE of the LAMB is of primary importance. The LAMB is the FOCUS, all others are secondary.
~~~~
In a previous post, we went through Conservative Judaism, a spinoff of Reform Judaism. Here, we’ll dive deeper into how the Movement started, a serious subject that most seekers of the truth ignore.
The origins of Reform Judaism lay in 19th-century Germany, where its early principles were formulated by Rabbi Abraham Geiger (1810-1874) and his associates (Samuel Holdheim, Israel Jacobson and Leopold Zunz). Since the 1970s, the Movement adopted a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities, rather than “strict theoretical clarity.”
Rabbi Abraham Geiger
They claim their Movement is in “a process of constant evolution” and this movement “rejects any fixed, permanent set of beliefs, laws or practices.” They stated that the old mechanisms of religious interpretation were obsolete.
Geiger sought a more coherent ideological framework to justify innovations in the liturgy and religious practice. While Reform Judaism initially developed as lay Jews simply lost interest in the strict observances required of Orthodoxy, with many seeking shorter services, more frequent sermons, and organ music, modeled after Protestant churches.
In Germany, one characteristic of their progressive revelation was the institution of a “Second Sabbath” on Sunday, modeled on the Second Passover, as most people desecrated the day of rest.
Discrimination and persecution against Jews in Germany were rampant in the 19th and early 20th century. Work were hard to come by and such new interpretation made sense in a community struggling to survive. “If you cannot keep the Sabbath on its appointed time, you keep it on the next available day,” and so the Sabbath was shifted from Saturday to Sunday. “God would accept it,” they encouraged each other.
America was opening up to immigrants and in a new Land of the Free, the five-day workweek soon made the Sunday Sabbath redundant. But nevertheless, the Movement had already had its momentum and today the Reform Movement’s largest center today is in North America.
Reform Judaism encourages adherents to seek their own means of engaging a new Judaism, enhancing “individualism.” Tolerance for LGBT and ordination of LGBT rabbis were also pioneered by the Movement. It started slowly then gathered speed. Intercourse between consenting adults was declared as legitimate by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 1977, and openly gay clergy were admitted by the end of the 1980s.
Same-sex marriage were sanctioned by the end of the following decade. In 2015 the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) adopted a Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People, urging clergy and synagogue attendants to actively promote tolerance and inclusion of such individuals.
(1) Reform Jews are committed to the absolute equality of women in all areas of Jewish life. “We were the first movement to ordain women rabbis, invest women cantors, and elect women presidents of our synagogues,” they claim.
(2) Reform Jews are also committed to the full participation of gays and lesbians in synagogue life as well as society at large.
As of 2013, the Pew Research Center survey calculated Reform Judaism represented about 35% of all 5.3 million Jews in the US, making it the single most numerous Jewish religious group in the country. Based on these, the URJ claims to represent 2.2 million people.
It has 846 congregations in the US and 27 in Canada, the vast majority of the 1,170 affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) that are not Reconstructionist. Its rabbinical arm is the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), with some 2,300 rabbis as members, mainly trained in Hebrew Union College. As of 2015, the URJ was led by President Rabbi Richard Jacobs, and the CCAR headed by Rabbi Denise Eger.
Rabbi Denise Eger
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. Today, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. Its current president, and its first openly gay president, is Rabbi Denise Eger.
Denise Eger became the first openly gay president in 2015. The Reform Movement acknowledged that Jews and their rabbis “have long been part of the struggle for gay rights, and that includes advocacy for marriage equality.”
Rabbi Denise Eger was also the founding President of the Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Interfaith Clergy Association. In the summer of 2010 she was named one of the fifty most influential women rabbis.
Some Reform rabbis have other objectives in the Land of the Free. In 1888, the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America (JPSA), was founded by reform RabbiJoseph Krauskopf among others in Philadelphia. It claimed to be the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English.
As the years rolled on, JPS became well known for its English translation of the Hebrew Bible, the JPS Tanakh. As JPS moved into the 20th, its popularity grew rapidly. After years of meetings, deliberations and revisions, the entire translation of the Bible was finally completed in 1917.
Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf
In 1985, the newly translated three parts of the Bible (the Torah, Prophets, and Writings) were compiled into what is now known as the JPS Tanakh (or NJPS, New JPS translation, to distinguish it from the OJPS, or Old JPS translation of 1917). Hence the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) is credited as both Publisher of the TANAKH 1917 and 1985 editions.
The JPS followed a central tenet, to adopt “a policy of inclusiveness and acceptance, inviting as many as possible to partake in its communities, rather than strict theoretical clarity.” It is strongly identified with progressive political and social agendas, mainly under the traditional Jewish rubric Tikkun Olam, or “Repairing of the World”.
In their endeavour to avoid the “bondage of Judaism,” a new policy of inclusiveness and acceptance was established. And a new Tikkun Olam became a central motto of Reform Judaism — to “express wholeheartedly the idea of universal equality, freedom, and peace for all,” and to “forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry.”
The results:
Exodus 12:6 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats; 6 and ye shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk.
The 1988 edition (hard copy) says “at twilight,” published by the New JPS Translation. And as a result it has overwhelming influence in every major English translation:
NKJV: Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. The NAS, NIV, NKJV and NRSV all render this similarly as “twilight.” “The Message Bible” produced by Eugene Peterson, and CJB by David Stern translates this as “dusk” like the JPS. *
And besides Fred Coulter there are others yielding great influence among the CoG Communities:
John W. Ritenbaugh
And John W. Ritenbaugh wrote: “Ba erev means sunset.It is very specific. It includes no time before sunset. It is a period that begins whenever the edge of the sun hits the edge of the horizon. If you stood and watched how long ba erev takes, it takes about three to five minutes of time. It is very specific” (Passover, Part 3).
Frank W. Nelte
After discussing the meaning of Exodus 12:6, Frank W. Nelte of South Africa, an ex-WCG minister, states: “The JPS translation of “between the two evenings” is AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT that dusk is bounded by “the two evening.” Frank emphasized further, “Now “dusk” is NEVER before sunset. Dusk is ALWAYS AFTER SUNSET!
It follows that dusk can ONLY refer to a period of time at the very start of a day. Therefore this instruction to kill the Passover “at dusk” could only be at the very start of the 14th day. The word “dusk” does not allow for any other possibility.”(The Meaning of ‘Between the two Evenings’)
As of this writing, a new “gender-sensitive version of the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) translation” is on promotion in their endeavour to adapt to the needs of the day. It’s a “largely gender-neutral God language” and a completely fresh translation of the Torah. This new translation will prove exceedingly useful not only for clergy and synagogue professionals, but also for anyone interested in Biblical learning, so they claimed.
The next challenge for Fred R. Coulter, John W. Ritenbaugh and Frank W. Nelte is to continue cutting off from the “bondage of Judaism” to attain their next level of spirituality.
When the Ronald Reagan and Nimitz carrier strike groups recently engaged in “operations” in the South China Sea, it did not escape to many a cynic that the US Pacific Fleet was doing its best to turn the infantile Thucydides Trap theory into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The pro forma official spin, via Rear Adm. Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz, is that the ops were conducted to “reinforce our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, a rules-based international order, and to our allies and partners.”
Nobody pays attention to these clichés, because the real message was delivered by a CIA operative posing as diplomat, Secretary of State Mike “We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal” Pompeo: “The PRC has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region”, in a reference to the Nine-Dash Line. For the State Dept., Beijing deploys nothing but “gangster tactics” in the South China Sea.
Once again, nobody paid attention, because the actual facts on the sea are stark. Anything that moves in the South China Sea – China’s crucial maritime trade artery – is at the mercy of the PLA, which decides if and when to deploy their deadly DF-21D and DF-26 “carrier killer” missiles. There’s absolutely no way the US Pacific Fleet can win a shooting war in the South China Sea.
But the US could run into the Thucydides Trap in the South China Sea.
A crucial Chinese report, unavailable and not referred to by Western media, and translated by Hong Kong-based analyst Thomas Wing Polin, is essential to understand the context.
The report refers to US Growler electronic warplanes rendered totally out of control by electronic jamming devices positioned on islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
According to the report:
“[A]fter the accident, the United States negotiated with China, demanding that China dismantle the electronic equipment immediately, but it was rejected. These electronic devices are an important part of China’s maritime defense and are not offensive weapons. Therefore, the US military’s request for dismantling is unreasonable.”
It gets better:
“On the same day, former commander Scott Swift of the US Pacific Fleet finally acknowledged that the US military had lost the best time to control the South China Sea. He believes that China has deployed a large number of Hongqi 9 air defense missiles, H-6K bombers, and electronic jamming systems on islands and reefs. The defense can be said to be solid. If US fighter jets rush into the South China Sea, they are likely to encounter their ‘Waterloo.’”
The bottom line is that the systems – including electronic jamming – deployed by the PLA on islands and reefs in the South China Sea, covering more than half of the total surface, are considered by Beijing to be part of the national defense system.
I have previously detailed what Admiral Philip Davidson, when he was still a nominee to lead the US Pacific Command (PACOM), told the US Senate. Here are his Top Three conclusions:
Napoleon Met his End at Waterloo
1) “China is pursuing advanced capabilities (e.g., hypersonic missiles) which the United States has no current defense against. As China pursues these advanced weapons systems, US forces across the Indo-Pacific will be placed increasingly at risk.”
2) “China is undermining the rules-based international order.”
3) “China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States.”
Implied in all of the above is the “secret” of the Indo-Pacific strategy: at best a containment exercise, as China continues to solidify the Maritime Silk Road linking the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean.
The PLA Rocket Force, says one report, has already fielded an estimated 1,500 short-range ballistic missiles, 450 medium-range missiles, 160 intermediate-range missiles and hundreds of long-range ground-launched cruise missiles [all along the Western Pacific].
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China authorises coast guard to fire on foreign vessels if needed
Excerpts from Yahoo News report by Yew Lun Tian Fri, January 22, 2021
BEIJING (Reuters) – China passed a law on Friday that for the first time explicitly allows its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could make the contested waters around China more choppy.
China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. It has sent its coast guard to chase away fishing vessels from other countries, sometimes resulting in the sinking of these vessels.
According to draft wording in the bill published earlier, the coast guard is allowed to use “all necessary means” to stop or prevent threats from foreign vessels.
The bill allows coast guard personnel to demolish other countries’ structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs and to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China.
The bill also empowers the coastguard to create temporary exclusion zones “as needed” to stop other vessels and personnel from entering. This signals that China is preparing to up the stakes over what it considers its key national interests and controlling them is a strategic imperative if China wishes to displace the US as the dominant military power in the Western Pacific.
“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” Psalm 78:9
Covid-19 may not have originated in China at all, says top WHO scientist
Excerpts from a Report by the Mirror by Luke Powell — 14 Feb 2021
Prof John Watson, formerly England’s deputy chief medical officer, was part of a WHO delegation sent to Wuhan to investigate the sources of the pandemic, and said he was not certain Covid-19 originated in China.
It is possible the virus’s leap from animals to humans could have happened outside the country, Prof John Watson said.
He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that the pandemic most likely started with an infection in an “animal reservoir” which was then passed on to humans through an “intermediate host”.
Asked if he was sure the virus emerged in China, Prof Watson said “no”.
He said: “I think that there are all sorts of reasons to do with the way it did start in the outbreak in Wuhan and the various bits of information about the way in which these viruses live in different animal reservoirs, that suggest that China is a very, very possible source for the outbreak, but by no means necessarily the place where the leap from animals to humans took place.
“And I think we need to ensure that we are looking beyond the borders of China, as well as within China.”
The coronavirus may have been lying dormant across the world until emerging under favourable environmental conditions, rather than originating in China, an expert has claimed.
Dr Tom Jefferson, from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) at Oxford University, has pointed to a string of recent discoveries of the virus’s presence around the world before it emerged in Asia as growing evidence of its true origin as a global organism that was waiting for favourable conditions to finally emerge.
Traces of COVID-19 have been found in sewage samples from Spain, Italy and Brazil which pre-date its discovery in China. A preprint study, which has not been peer reviewed, claims to have found the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genomes in a Barcelona sewage sample from 12 March 2019.
CatalanNews: “A study led by the University of Barcelona (UB) has detected the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples from Barcelona on March 12, 2019.”
“Since most cases of Covid-19 show flu-like symptoms, the former should have been masked as undiagnosed flu cases.”
World Economic Forum COVID-19 was circulating in Italy from September 2019, according to a study by the Italian National Cancer Institute. A study by the University of Siena also supports this theory.
Italy’s first COVID-19 patient was detected on Feb. 21 (2019) in a little town near Milan, in the northern region of Lombardy.
I create darkness; I create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things (Isaiah 45:7).
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
Chapters 10
This is a continuing Critique of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover. The main issue is whether the Passover Lamb was to be killed on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan. Quoted are Fred Coulter’s book, from an internet online PDF version. Most of his quotes are in block form, in PINK and indented so as to differentiate his from other comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must, foremost, be our primary focus and guide.
Worshippers, facing West, Praying before the Aura of the Sun!
Chapter 10 started with the issue of how to interprete the time for slaying the lambs—Hebrew ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings.”
There is no question that the Passover commands in Exodus 12 have been misinterpreted and given different meanings than the true scriptural meaning of God’s ordinances and statutes delivered to Moses. False interpretations of key Hebrew terms that are used in the Scriptural commands have caused great confusion as to which day God designated for the Passover observance, the 14th or the 15th. (The Christian Passover, Pg 115)
This is very true, even an understatement, especially to people who thought they are better than those having Hebrew as their first language.
If ba·erev is followed by ben ha arbayim then two lambs would be needed, one at ba·erev to fulfil Deuteronomy 16:6 and another at ben ha arbayim to fulfil Exodus 12:6. It is not just “great confusion,” it is magic—the type of Magic that Simon Magus had mastered that mesmerised many of his followers.
And then the issue is whether the Passover ordinances were seven or eight days, and whether the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were originally observed as two separate and distinct feasts. Fred Coulter wrote:
Contrary to God’s commands in Exodus 12, the traditional Jewish Passover combines the Passover meal with the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, dropping an entire day from the Scriptural chronology. (Pg 115) — an opinionated statement, but no proof given.
Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread Originally Were Two Separate Feasts—Not One Combined Feast (Pg 116) — again, an opinionated headline, no proof given as usual.
The commands of God in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 make it undeniably clear that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were to be observed as two separate feasts, one following the other. (Pg 116) — the writing in Leviticus 23 may appear to be two separate feasts but in Exodus 12 the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are surely a composite Feast. Just prove it for yourself by reading the chapter.
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia reveals that many of the Sadducees—which included the high priests’ families—retained the practice of the domestic Passover at the beginning of the 14th. This fact is quite surprising. We would expect the high priests to observe the temple sacrifice of the Passover on the afternoon of the 14th, since they were in charge of the temple. But such was not the case. (Pg 118) — the Sadducees (like most CoG Communities today) kept their Passover at the beginning of the fourteenth is an absolute truth.
And Fred Coulter isn’t alone; there are many modern “Jewish authorities” to support him:
The Samaritans — as the Top Dog!
(1) The Jewish Encyclopedia states, “Comparison of the successive strata of the Pentateuchal laws bearing on the festival makes it plain that the institution, as developed, is really of composite character. TWO FESTIVALS ORIGINALLY DISTINCT HAVE BECOME MERGED…” (Vol. IX, “Passover,” emphasis added). (Pg 116)
(2) The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible . . . Amid all the uncertainty about the Passover and Unleavened Bread in Israel there is general agreement on two points: the feast contains two originally separate components” (Vol. III, s. v. “Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread,” emphasis added). (Pg 117)
(3) The Encyclopedia Judaica: “The Feast of Passover consists of two parts: The Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Originally both parts existed separately, but at the beginning of the Exile [in Babylon 603-585 BC] they were combined. (Pg 120)
And this is picked up by Fred Coulter, admitting that the Samaritans were the first to start this observation:
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible points out this marked change in the observance of the Passover: “In many respects the observance [of the Passover at the beginning of the 14th by the Jewish Samaritans] corresponds more closely to the scriptural prescriptions, notably those of Exod. 12, than the true observance in Jerusalem in the days of Jesus—a reminder, among other things, that in its three thousand years or more of history as an Israelite observance, Passover has never ceased to change, however imperceptibly. (Pg 118) — In fact, the Passover observed at the beginning of the fourteenth originated with the Samaritans! More on this later.
The “authorities” quoted above are from The Jewish Encyclopedia, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible and The Encyclopedia Judaica. But who are they? What were their motivation behind their work?
Research shows that these publications are mainly by either (a) Protestants with a Jewish background or (b) Jewish Reformists having strong aversion or hostility against the Rabbinic Orthodoxy — both are critics of the “Bondage of Judaism” claiming that their predecessors had somehow amalgamated the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread and call that the Passover or the Jewish Passover.
Being dissatisfied with the strict Orthodoxy, they left their original faith and craved an alternate explanation rather than remained with a “static religion.” The Jewish Encyclopedia digged deeper into this phenomenon by stating the concept that the two festivals as distinct was promoted by the Samaritans: “The Samaritans consider the Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as two distinct festivals.” Of course the Samaritans were the first to promote this distinct concept.
“You shall know them by their fruits.” The originator of these feasts as distinct originated from the Samaritans and then penetrated the Sadducees, who died out during the AD 70 inferno, but resurfaced in the ninth and tenth century with the Karaites. And since the last two centuries, by the Jewish Reform Movement and modern experts who were mainly Protestants from a Jewish background.
And at the tail end by the Worldwide Church of God and today its splinters: the CoG Communities. “You shall know them by their fruits” Matthew 7:16. And they all bear the same fruits.
In more details, the following “Jewish authorities” are largely the works of (a) Protestants with a Jewish background and (b) the Jewish Reform Movement:
The Jewish Encyclopedia — Its managing editor was Isidore Singer (1859–1939) and the editorial board was chaired by Isaac Funk and Frank Vizetelly. Singer was born Austria and studied at the University of Vienna and the Humboldt University of Berlin, receiving his PhD in 1884. One who held “extremely liberal views” and one who had described the Sabbath as “heavy burdens,” and annual holy days as “mere ceremonies.” Singer moved to New York in 1895 where he started work which resulted in the Jewish Encyclopedia.
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible — Its chief editor was feminist Katharine Sakenfeld (b 1940). She is Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary, having previously been William Albright Eisenberger Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis. Sakenfeld studied at the University of Rhode Island and Harvard Divinity School before obtaining her PhD at Harvard University. She was ordained as a Presbyterian teaching elder in 1970, and has served as the moderator of the Presbytery of New Brunswick in the PCUSA.
The Encyclopedia Judaica — Its first chief editor was Cecil Roth (1899–1970). He was educated at Merton College, Oxford (PhD, 1924) and later returned to Oxford as Reader in Post-Biblical Jewish Studies from 1939 to 1964.Thereafter he was visiting professor at Bar-Ilan University, Israel (1964–1965), where he found his position unattainable when he’d shown sympathy to those “arguing that Moses never existed.” Unable to redeem his reputation in Israel, Roth went to teach at the City University of New York (1966–1969), worked as general editor of the Encyclopaedia Judaica and ended his career there.
Anti-Jewish sentiments were ranpant throughtout Europe through the second millennium. These hostilities have contributed significantly to the development of antisemitism in Germany, and in the 1930s and 1940s provided an “ideal underpinning” for the Nazis’ attacks on Jews.
In Martin Luther’s work, “The Jews & Their Lies,” Luther advocates (1) the burning of Jewish synagogues; (2) that their houses also be razed and destroyed; (3) that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings be destroyed; (4) that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb . . .
Jews have persistently been painted in a negative light, stigmatized upon, both spoken and in writing: antisemitism had been around since the ancient time of old, resurfaces its urgy head time and time again in various forms . . . and today very prominent among the CoG Communities.
No, it wasn’t the Jews who amalgamated the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread. It was Moses who did that. For in Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel . . .
And jumping to:
Deuteronomy 16:1 “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God, “of the flock” (of sheep and goats) “and the herd” (bulls or bullocks), in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name there.
The Passover and the days of unleavened bread are well interlaced during the Exodus that it is a composite festival. This is what Moses explained to the children of Israelites in more details.
In Exodus 12:5, it says, “You may take it either from the sheep or from the goats” but in Deuteronomy 16:2 above it includes from “the herd,” which is from cattles or oxens.
To include cattles or oxens can only mean to include the Festival of the Days of Unleavened Bread where among other animals, two young bulls were sacrificed. Therefore the idea that the Passover was restricted solely to the fourteenth day is unattainable.
Also the composite festival was hinted at earlier in Numbers 28:16 “‘And on the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day shall be a holy convocation. Ye shall do no manner of servile work therein, 19 but ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord: two young bulls, and one ram, and seven lambs of the first year. They shall be unto you without blemish.
The verses above should be read to describe the seven-day feast of the Passover, including eating of unleavened bread. Also, below it continues to describe how eating unleavened bread is part of observing the Passover:
Deuteronomy 16:3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy borders seven days, neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificed the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.
5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
And this composite festival is confirmed by prophet Ezekiel:
“‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten” Ezekiel 45:21.
Later practice of keeping this composite feast in Jerusalem was a departure from the original Passover in Egypt where they were to stay in their houses. In fact the command is exactly the opposite of the idea of a “domestic passover.” That they should “NOT sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gate.”
The Israelites should keep this composite feast in Jerusalem!
Deuteronomy 16:6 but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at evening (erev), at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
This evening (erev), is the same time where they kill the daily sacrifice.
Exodus 29:38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. 39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even (erev). — It is also the time (baerev) when they were to start eating unleavened bread Exodus 12:18.
This amalgamation was reaffirmed in Ezekiel 45:21 where it describes the Passover as a seven-day festival! “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Septuagint: And in the first [month], on the fourteenth [day] of the month, ye shall have the feast of the passover; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread.
And again in Luke 2:41 Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it. (Feast of the Passover – same expression as used in Exodus 34:25)
Deuteronomy 16:7 And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt turn in the morning and go unto thy tents.
8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt do no work therein.
So the amalgamation of the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread started way back to Moses at the time of the Exodus, and this interlacing characteristic was reaffirmed by Ezekiel, a prophet sent to the northern stiffnecked Israelites; the Jews, also stiffnecked, knew this all along.
“Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12). Only the stiff-necked and blind couldn’t see this. The house of Judah operates with hypocrisy but the house of Ephraim operates with lies and deceit!
Below are some classic examples of lying and deceit in the house of Ephraim for reflection:
“But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never,” Bill Clinton testified before the nation, Jan. 26, 1998. For his deceit, Clinton became the second president in American history impeached by the House of Representatives.
In an August 2002 speech that kicked off the Bush White House administration’s campaign for war against Iraq, Cheney asserted, “Simply stated, there’s no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.”
In October 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed he had “bullet-proof” evidence that Saddam was tied to Osama bin Laden. And a National Intelligence Estimate said Iraq had “continued its weapons of mass destruction program.”
“However, there is no doubt at all that the development of weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein poses a severe threat not just to the region, but to the wider world.” – Tony Blair, House of Commons, 10 April 2002
Prime Minister Tony Blair defended himself in 2005: “I have never told a lie. No. I don’t intend to go telling lies to people. I did not lie over Iraq.”
“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster was the only media that seemed to pick up on Pompeo’s words and described it as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”
“The Bible nowhere sanctions the use of intoxicating wine. The wine that Christ made from water at the marriage feast of Cana was the pure juice of the grape” (Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing p.333).
“I do not write one article in the paper expressing merely my own ideas. They are what God has opened before me in vision–the precious rays of light shining from the throne” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p.67).
“The chronological events that are recorded in Exodus 16 clearly define ben ha arbayim— “between the two evenings,” or “between the setting times”— as the time period that immediately FOLLOWS sunset, or ba erev” (Fred R. Coulter,The Christian Passover, p 48).
“There is no question that the Passover commands in Exodus 12 have been misinterpreted and given different meanings than the true scriptural meaning of God’s ordinances and statutes delivered to Moses” (ibid, p 115).
Gerry Flurry’s chronic lying claim of a Mighty Angel that had handed Malachi’s Message to him must be confused and not very articulated because Flurry in later years has to make revisions after revisions to get the messages right for his so-called Philadelphia Church of God. Flurry also prophesied that Donald Trump would serve his second term to fulfill Jeroboam II revival, “BECAUSE A BIDEN PRESIDENCY IS CONTRARY TO BIBLE PROPHECY.”(Pg 1, The Philadelphia Trumpet,January, 2021). — Full of Flurry’s BULLSHIT!
“It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!” 29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan . . . 31 And he made a house of high places . . . 32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah. (King Jeroboam: I King 12)
A day will come when all the people of the earth will wake up and say: “Surely our fathers have inherited lies,” and we, too, have been deceived.
“Erev” is the evening time, and at around 3 PM, the Jews killed the evening lamb since the time of Moses. If Moses had any doubt about its timing, he had full access to ask God who speaks to Him from between the cherubim!
No, it was God working through Moses who intertwined the Passover with the Days of Unleavened Bread! For it is said that the glory of God is to conceal a thing, (Proverbs 25:2), and Moses was revealing its composite character when he described the law in his own words in the Book of Deuteronomy. “These are the words which Moses spoke unto all Israel on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness,” Deuteronomy 1:1.
To make this clear enough: the Passover amalgamation occurred right at Exodus 12, the original Passover in Egypt: Moses only made it clearer in the Book of Deuteronomy.
The first time “Passover” was mentioned is in Exodus 12:11, not at verse 6, even though verse six was describing the process of the Passover, the killing of the lamb. Verse 11 described the same continuing process of the Passover; i.e. the process of Passover runs into the Days of Unleavened Bread! The two feasts overlap right at the beginning.
Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. . .
11 And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord’S Passover.
The Targum translates and explains the eating of the Passover from the Hebrew in Exodus 12 into the vernacular, in a very simple language, and is extremely clear:“And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .”
And here is a description of the CoG Communities: It says in Revelation 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’ 14 “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write . . .15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked . . . ”
And Fred Coulter quoted another “authority”:
In his book The Jewish Festivals—From Their Beginnings to Our Own Day, Hayyim Schauss explains the changes in the observance of the Passover that were instituted at the time of Josiah’s reform: “It was in this way that Pesach [Passover] and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were joined, and the two distinct spring festivals became one historical holiday. (Pg 121)
No, Fred is now getting desperate: Schauss didn’t say the amalgamation of Passover with Days of Unleavened Bread took place during Josiah’s time. With deception in mind, Fred Coulter lies that the changes started at Josiah’s initiative “at the time of Josiah’s reform.” Schauss says the reform took place after the Exodus but he wasn’t sure when:
“We cannot be certain how long a time passed before the Jews accepted these reforms in practice and eased to offer the Pesach sacrifice in their own homes. Nor can we be certain how long it took for Pesach and the Feast of Unleavened Bread to become as one festival” (The Jewish Festivals, pg 46).
And just in case we didn’t dive deeper for more details: “The Jewish Festivals” is written by Hayyim Schauss, most probably a Conservative Jew, part of the Reform Movement where modern Jews found “the old ceremonies lack meaning,” and new interpretations are needed to be relevant to our modern era. Hence the terms that Schauss changed in his book are not surprising: the annual solemn convocations or “holy days” as were perceived in Biblical times become a vacation or “holidays” in a character change.
The most solemn Passover and Unleavened Bread festival became “the greatest Jewish national holidays.” In modernity, Jesus and His disciples must be seen as taking their annual vacation in Jerusalem. This is a character change. This is real heresy! Second, the book is published by Schocken Books, it is the same publisher Everett Fox and the Schocken Bible that Fred Coulter quotes for his authority throughout. So the saying goes: foxes and wolves, wolves and foxes of the same colours.
To be sure, where the two feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were intertwined, they were intertwined right in the original Exodus:
Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening (ben ha arbayim). This ben ha arbayim is the time to kill the Passover (lamb).
In Deuteronomy 16:6ba·erev is also the time to kill the Passover.
The above time is also the time to start eating unleavened bread:Exodus 12:18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening (ba–erev), ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening (ba-erev).
Compare this to Leviticus 23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at evening (ben ha arbayim) is the Lord’S Passover.
In Leviticus 23:5 and Exodus 12:6 where the same expression ben ha arbayim is used it is when the Passover was killed on the fourteenth.
In Deuteronomy 16:6ba·erev is to commence the Passover; and in Exodus 12:18 ba·erev is also to commence eating unleavened bread. Passover and Unleavened Bread. Hence the festival has already taken a composite character and is well entwined right at the beginning, at the time of the original Exodus.
This is plainly and simple as to what the Scriptures say. “Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12). Only the stiff-necked couldn’t see this. Plain and simple. Simple and plain.
Has Donald Trump been a KGB stooge for 40 years? A bombshell claim in a new book, In American Kompromat: How The KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, about the former US president’s courting of Vladimir Putin’s Russia alleges he has long-standing ties to the Kremlin!
Beautiful friendships often have small beginnings and it was a trip by Donald Trump to a New York discount electrical shop to buy televisions more than 40 years ago that laid the seeds of the most shocking relationship of his career.
That relationship was with the Kremlin and eventually with Vladimir Putin, a man who — as Russian President — Trump repeatedly went out of his way to please.
These are the bombshell claims in investigative reporter Craig Unger’s new book that alleges the KGB began grooming a young and malleable Trump at least four decades ago, repeatedly saving him from financial ruin.
There was a quid pro quo for ‘arguably the most successful intelligence operation in history’ — President Trump became, intentionally or unwittingly, everything Putin wanted.
Craig Unger’s claims — which have yet to draw any response from Trump — certainly address the most intriguing question that still hangs over the Trump presidency: why was he so chummy towards Vladimir Putin?
He not only pulled US troops out of Syria and cut the US military presence in Germany — both goals of Putin — but also ignored reports that Russia was offering bounties to Afghans for killing US soldiers.
Unger, whose book has detailed the turn of events, said, “He was an asset. It was not this grand, ingenious plan that we’re going to develop this guy and 40 years later he’ll be president.”
“For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraimhath hired lovers”Hosea 8:9
The Passover of Exodus 12 — Approved by the Council of Elders in 1999.
Draft I
This is a Critique of UCG’s The Passover of Exodus 12, a 45-paged document approved and posted on UCG’s website under “Study Papers” in November, 1999. Besides the main issue of whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan, of equal importance is whether traditions should be followed. But what exactly is traditions, especially given that Paul says he had followed traditions?
Quoted are UCG’s work, author is nameless. They are in block form, PINK, and indented so as to differentiate it from my comments.The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
The United Church of God, an International Association, teaches the observance of the New Testament Passover on the evening at the beginning of the 14th, following the example of Jesus Christ. (Pg 2).
This writer hasn’t proven anything yet and he had already established his conclusion, garnering Jesus on his side, thinking he is now safe. By saying “following the example of Jesus Christ” his mind is already closed, right at the beginning. But let’s persist, even with a mind that’s closed.
On the night prior to His death, Christ observed what is called the Passover in the synoptic Gospels and instituted the symbols of bread and wine as well as foot washing. (Pg 2).
Again, nothing has been proven. That night, when the disciples sat down and ate, was called “supper” and when Paul later referred back, it was referred to as “the night he was betrayed.” If it was Passover, why didn’t he say “Passover” but used a rather long-winded description?
Genesis 1:3-5 “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening [erev, darkness, night] and the morning [boqer, light, day] were the first day.” Morning is used in Scripture to refer to the light portion of a day. The Hebrew word for night is layil. It is used as a synonym for the Hebrew erev, which is normally translated “evening.” (Pg 11).
So according to this writer, morning (boqer) would be day, which starts from 6 AM to 6 PM, including the afternoon? Think again. The morning includes the afternoon? Blind Guides.
The truth is, evening (erev), which is the first evening, is the time from “after noon until nightfall”. The second evening (erev) is the first part of the night, from 6 PM to midnight. Also, in Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening (erev) and the morning (bôqer) were the first (24-hours) day. As the evening (erev) were a full 12-hour period, so does the morning (bôqer) a 12-hour period, from midnight to noon. The evening and morning add up to a full 24-hour day.
Or another way of saying: a full day is divided into two halves – erev and boqer – 12 hours each. Half of erev is day (after noon) and half is night (till midnight). Half of boqer is night (midnight till daybreak) and half is day (from sunrise till noon). The Hebrew “between the evenings” is the time between the eves of both evenings. A day is also divided another way into day and night – light and dark, making it a full 24-hour day.
Reading this “study paper” here’s another pothole:
The first mention of the name or term Passover in Scripture is found in Exodus 12:11. Instructions in the previous verses describe the killing, roasting, eating and disposing of the lamb. This lamb “without blemish” is defined as “the LORD’s Passover.” (Pg 2).
And this contradicts directly what the writer wrote at the end:
What does the term Passover mean? The word Passover is clearly associated with “passing over” the homes of the Israelites. If the Passover has to do with the timing of God passing over the homes of the Israelites while slaying the firstborn of the Egyptians and if the Passover is on the 14th day, then this activity had to be after the beginning of the 14th and not on the 15th. (Pg 45).
My stomach’s churning! The nameless writer is like a loose cannon, he couldn’t figure out whether “Passover” is the “sacrificial lamb” or was it the Lord’s “passing over” the night that killed the firstborns. He is a cannon that shoot in all directions. Can he makes up his mind? And this paper had been approved since 1999 and nobody, including any its doctrinal committee or Council of Elders has noticed it.
This brief summary of events is far from complete. (Pg 41).
The above statement is extremely true as the writer wrote in circles. It says one thing here and contradicts it later, which goes on and on. And this makes any reader lost its concentration trying to see what the author is saying. They simply give up. And to do a critique is even harder, if it is at all possible.
It would be much better to adopt Fred Coulter’s “The Christian Passover.” At least, it has gone through numerous revisions and is now standing at 512 pages, “the result and accumulation of studies done by the author over the past fifty years” and “the first book ever written and published that thoroughly explains all aspects of the Passover as recorded in the Bible.”
“All aspects” he claims, and he had over “fifty years” of experience, which sound impressive, so we will go there and have a look, shall we?
But before doing so, we must tackle a major topic, and that’s on traditions, an important topic for study. Shall we follow traditions, or shall we throw them away?
ON TRADITIONS
But there are others who believe that the lambs were slain at the beginning of the 14th (at “twilight”) and eaten the same night, one full day prior to the departure from Egypt. Which view does the Bible support? We know that Christ condemned the Jewish leaders of His day along with many of their traditions. (Pg 2).
Yes, yes, traditions can be bad, but they could also be good as Paul himself says so. Only the wise know how to discern the good from the bad. According to Strong’s Concordance “traditions” is G3862 – paradosis:
Outline of Biblical Usage
(I) . . .
(II) a giving over which is done by word of mouth or in writing, i.e. tradition by instruction, narrative, precept, etc.
(A) objectively, that which is delivered, the substance of a teaching
(B) of the body of precepts, esp. ritual, which in the opinion of the later Jews were orally delivered by Moses and orally transmitted in unbroken succession to subsequent generations, which precepts, both illustrating and expanding the written law, as they did were to be obeyed with equal reverence
The second precept is what it is meant to be: a giving over which is done by word of mouth or in writing, i.e. tradition by instruction, narrative, precept, which are orally transmitted in unbroken succession to subsequent generations and they are expected to be obeyed with equal reverence as the written law.
Yes, there are references to Moses, who wrote the book of Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 1:15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
Judges were appointed by the Great Assembly, later the Sanhedrin, and officers were masters of the staff and whip, and they stood before the judges, and went into markets, streets, and shops, to ensure that rules were obeyed, and to punish all that disobeyed.
In the Great Assembly, later the Sanhedrin, they placed only men wise and understanding, expert in the wisdom of the law, and masters of great knowledge that they may know how to judge them; and they set in the Great Assembly or Sanhedrin only priests or learned Levites, and of a good stature. And they shall judge the people with just judgment; give a right and just sentence in all cases that come before them, according to the laws of God, and the rules of justice and equity.
And thou shall put away the evil from Israel; the evil man that is rebellious against the supreme legislature of the nation, and the evil of contumacy he is guilty of, deterring others from it is by his own death. And all the people shall fear the Lord. All the people of Israel in their own cities, and particularly the judges in those cities; they shall hear of what is done to the obstinate and disobedient person, and shall be afraid to commit the like offence, lest they should come into the same punishment.
It would be foolish to blanket all traditions as bad. Blind Guides. Here is what Paul says:
“I profited in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions G3862 of my fathers” Galatians 1:14.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions G3862 which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle” II Thessalonians 2:15.
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother who walketh disorderly and not according to the tradition G3862 which he received from us” II Thessalonians 3:6.
Another word for traditions used by Strong is patroparadotos G3970 – it is something handed down from one’s father or ancestors:
1 Peter 1:17-20 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by traditionG3970 from your fathers; 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, 20 who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
To say all traditions are bad is just too simplistic. Good traditions are good precepts, derived from judicial cases, one that has been acquired and accumulated from judges and their cases developed since the days of Moses.
Deuteronomy 17:18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, nor take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
Deuteronomy 17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. 12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
Deuteronomy 17:12 The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.”— These understandings derived from judges and cases were passed from one generation to the next, and collectively they were known as the Oral Law. To disregard the Oral Law, Precepts and Judgment or showing any contempt for these judgements is considered evil before God; they shall be purged of such evil. The Kingdom of Judah was cleansed of those who show contempt to Biblical laws by its judgement from AD 66 to AD 70.
NKJ Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed (1) the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or (2) the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel.
We should be learning how to judge and how to be good judges. A good judge has to filter through all sort of “evidence” and “testimonies” to arrive at a correct final decision. This means our rationale, logic, and emotions must be shielded from the illogically absurd, ridiculous, unfounded, and unbalanced thoughts that tried to muddle our filtering process. Which tradition is Biblical, which tradition is shaky and without foundation. Without a sound filtering process we will fail to be good judges. Consequently those laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that became known as the “Torah that is on the mouth” and became Oral Law. According to Jewish records, the Oral Torah was passed down orally in an unbroken chain from generation to generation until its contents were finally committed to writing following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, when Jewish civilization was faced with an existential threat.
In the British common law system, we have an equivalent to what the Jews call the Oral Law, namely, judicial precedent for judges-made law. How they were derived from were similar — from precedents. Common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law) is the body of law derived from judicial decisions of courts and similar tribunals. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the British Empire spread the English legal system to its colonies, many of them retain the common law system we have today. These “common law systems” are legal systems that give great weight to judicial precedent, the style of reasoning inherited from the English legal system. This common law — so named because it was “common” to all the king’s courts across England — originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries to follow.
The defining characteristic of “common law” is that it arises as precedent. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts, and synthesizes the principles of those past cases as applicable to the current facts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (a principle known as stare decisis). If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a “matter of first impression”), and legislative statutes are either silent or ambiguous on the question, judges have the authority and duty to resolve the issue (one party or the other has to win, and on disagreements of law, judges make that decision).
The court states an opinion that gives reasons for the decision, and those reasons agglomerate with past decisions as precedent to bind future judges and litigants. Common law, as the body of law made by judges, stands in contrast to and on equal footing with statutes which are adopted through the legislative process, and regulations which are promulgated by the executive branch. Stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems.
Today, just as the Oral Law is not “unwritten” so is the common law. Common law exists in writing, just as the Oral Law — as must any law that is to be applied consistently — by the written decisions of judges.
But sometimes, precedents were taken into a wrong direction, and a Parliament action is needed to turn the law back on course. Lord Denning (1899-1999), described as “probably the greatest English judge of modern times” according to Margaret Thatcher, was one who boldly argued against existing precedents in numerous cases while in the Court of Appeal. Although many of his decisions were overturned by the House of Lords a significant number of them were confirmed by Parliament, which passed statutes in line with his judgments.
Likewise, when the Son of God was on the earth, and running contrary to the teachings of those who sat on Moses’ seat, the Pharisees, it was because some of the precedents of the Pharisees had gone off tangent from what it was intended. Being the Son of God, He was and is, of course, a higher Judge. Hence He has that power to restore the right teaching about how the laws and precedents that the Pharisees were accustomed to, should be interpreted.
The 613 mitzvot may seem overwhelming, but nothing was revealed about healing on the Sabbath. Because the Torah was silent on this issue the Pharisees set the precedence that no healing be allowed. The Son of God, sitting as a higher Judge, has the power to correct this misconception, and He did so on numerous occasions, raising numerous conflicts.
And we can draw a conclusion from an event that took place some forty years later. If the AD 70 inferno was only a mini-judgement, the result was that the Pharisees, despite their hypocrisies and frailties, were deemed worthy of escape to Yavna and survived. The Sadducees and Boethusians couldn’t escape John’s fire warning and finished themselves in the inferno? Isn’t this a repeat to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah? And also its fate? And why is it so coincidental that the end-time lackadaisical churches were described as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked”?
In Exodus 12:6 the Hebrew phrase translated “twilight” is bein ha- ‘arbayim. The lambs were to be slain during twilight or “between the two evenings”—the literal translation of bein ha‘arbayim. Jewish tradition claims that this was between noon and sunset. (Pg10)
That’s right. Jewish precepts state that bein ha‘arbayim is between noon and sunset or “after noon until nightfall.”
Traditionally, the Jews adopted the position that the lambs were to be slain at the temple and then taken to a home or room to be consumed. According to this tradition the lambs were slain on the afternoon of the 14th and eaten on the night of the 15th. We have no reason to believe that the majority of the Jews did not follow this pattern beginning during the Intertestamental period (or earlier). It is claimed that this is the one and consistent practice throughout the years.(Pg19)
The lamb were indeed killed on the afternoon of the fourteenth and eaten on the night of the fifteenth. The Targum (530 BC to 500 AD), whose origin was during the intertestamental period, translates and explains the eating of the Passover from the Hebrew in Exodus 12 into the vernacular, in a very simple language, and verse 8 is extremely clear: “And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .”
When the Exile returned from Babylon, Ezra, a Levite and high priest, read and translated the Torah in Hebrew into the common Aramaic language, and he, or other Levites, explained the Torah so the people could understand.
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read” (Nehemiah 8:7–8).
Another way of saying: The Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites into the Aramaic version. Hence in Nehemiah 8:8 Ezra narrated not only the reading of the Law, but the Levites interprete and explain the Torah from Hebrew into the vernacular in Aramaic.
Here is what the Encyclopaedia Britannica says about the Targum:
For it was in the synagogue that the practice of reading from the Old Testament became widely observed, along with the custom of providing these readings with a translation into Aramaic. When Scripture was read aloud in the synagogue, it was translated aloud by a meturgeman, or professional interpreter (hence the name Targum), for the benefit of the congregation. The translator tried to reproduce the original text as closely as possible, but since his object was to give an intelligible rendering of the biblical text, the Targums eventually took on the character of paraphrase and commentary, leaving literal translation behind. To prevent misconceptions, a meturgeman expanded and explained what was obscure, adjusted the incidents of the past to the ideas of later times, emphasized the moral lessons to be learned from the biblical narratives, and adapted the rules and regulations of the Scriptures to the conditions and requirements of the current age. The method by which the text was thus utilized as a vehicle for conveying homiletic discourses, traditional sayings, legends, and allegories is abundantly illustrated by the later Targums, as opposed to the more literal translations of the earlier Targums.
Though written Targums gradually came into being, it was the living tradition of oral translation and exposition that was recognized as authoritative throughout the Talmudic period of the early centuries of the Christian Era.
Yes, Ezra read the law of the Bible in Hebrew, then the Levites assisted him by translating it sentence by sentence into the Aramaic, the vernacular dialect which the Exiles spoke in Babylon; sometimes explaining to the people, many of whom had become very ignorant of what Ezra had read. The Aramaic Targum was originally an oral translation, then slowly it was committed in writing. As an interpretation of the Hebrew text, the Targum eventually found its place both in the synagogal liturgy and in instruction after the return of the Exiles.
According to the rabbinical interpretation of Exodus 34:27, that besides the written law, God gave Moses other laws and maxims, as well as verbal explanations of the written law, enjoining him not to record these teachings, but to deliver them to the people by word of mouth. This Oral Law was a necessary supplement deduced from the character of the written law as well as of the other books of the Old Testament. Many of the Mosaic laws are worded very briefly, and are almost unintelligible without certain presuppositions which were assumed to be generally held; and some of the laws even contradictory to each other (eg, Exodus 13:6 and Deuteronomy 16:8).
Exodus 13:6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 16:8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God.
Some may quote Deuteronomy 4:2, objecting to add anything further to the Scriptures but that’s restricted to the laity. The Jewish Encyclopedia explains further:
Moreover, the interdiction against adding to the law was directed only against individuals, not against the Sanhedrin or the judges, who were expressly empowered (Deut. xvii. 9-11) to expound and interpret the laws and to make new statutes; for the Sanhedrin or any other court would formulate their decisions only after examining the traditions preserved among the people and in conformity with certain logical and hermeneutic rules deduced from Scripture.
In addition, here is a parable to validate these Oral Traditions:
The Talmud tells the story of a Gentile who went to Hillel the Elder and said to him, “I want to convert, but I want to accept only the Written Torah, but not the Oral Torah. Just teach me the Written Torah.”
But Hillel knew that the man wanted to do the right thing, but he didn’t understand the purpose of the Oral Torah. So Hillel began to teach him the Aleph Bet. The first day, Hillel taught him the first two letters, aleph and bet.
The next day, Hillel taught him the same two letters in reverse. He showed him the letter aleph, but called it “bet.”
The man objected, “but yesterday you taught it the other way!”
“Well, then, you need me, a Rabbi, to teach you the Aleph Bet? So you have to trust my knowledge of the tradition of the letters. What I tell you is the Oral Tradition. You can’t read the alphabet if no one tells you how they are pronounced. And you think you don’t need the Rabbis’ knowledge of Jewish Tradition in order to understand the words of the Torah? Those are much more difficult! Without an Oral Tradition you will never be able to learn the Torah.”
So it is clear that an Oral Tradition is needed, and that one exists. Hebrew bein ha- ‘arbayim literally means ‘between the two settings.’ Rabbinic sources take this to mean ‘from noon on.’ According to Rashi, a renowned Jewish Rabbi, the first ‘setting’ occurs when the sun passes its zenith just after noon and the shadows begin to lengthen, and the second ‘setting’ is after sunset. If we don’t agree with their Oral tradition, try these challenges: (a) what is circumcision, and (b) when is the day Sabbath — from the Bible alone and without tradition! and (c) how do we pronounce the 22 Hebrew alphabets when we don’t have the Oral Traditions?
In Chapter 8, vanity aside, Fred Coulter is quoting his own translation as before. For one who doesn’t have Hebrew as a native tongue it’s an amazing feat! What reward would he give to himself? Ten crowns?
Coulter accurately translates ba erev as “at sunset,” showing that the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins immediately after the Passover day ends: “And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for in this same day [the 15th, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread] I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day in your generations as a law forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at sunset [ending the Passover day and beginning the 15th], you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at sunset [ending the 21st day]” (Ex. 12:17-18). (The Christian Passover, Pg 89)
Fred’s analysis is all over the place. Nobody knows what level of Hebrew he has but he could pull another rabbit out of a hat that his Samaritan comrade couldn’t. Okay, let’s get back to the topic. Can anybody see the self-contraction above? If unleavened were to be eaten AFTER “the Passover day” which he zealously identifies as the fourteenth, then the day after would be the fifteenth, but the Scriptures say to eat unleavened bread on ”the fourteenth day, at even, until the twentieth-first day of the month at even” in Exodus 12:18.
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even (ba-erev), ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month at even (ba-erev)” Exodus 12:18.
What the Scripture says is very often different from what we assume it says. If Fred Coulter is honest and he didn’t come to study the Bible with an already makeup mindset, he would admit that when the moment the Passover lamb was killed it was also the same time that any leavened product had to be removed, and only unleavened bread was to be eaten. In both instances, in Deuteronomy 16:6 and Exodus 12:18 the same expression ba-erev is used.
The Scriptures make it explicitly clear that the Passover day and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are two separate feasts with two different meanings. The Passover day, the 14th day of the first month, was established as a memorial feast to commemorate God’s passing over the houses of the children of Israel. The 15th day, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, was established as a memorial feast in commemoration of the Exodus: “And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for [for the following reason] in this SAME DAY I HAVE BROUGHT YOUR ARMIES OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT…” (verse 17). (Pg 89)
GOD DID NOT COMBINE THE PASSOVER AND THE FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD. It was the leaders of Judaism who changed the commandments of God and combined the two feasts, eliminating the 14th Passover and proclaiming the 15th as the Passover day, and then supporting their erroneous teaching with the empty argument of a “day’s delay.” (Pg 90)
Passover and Unleavened Bread were well amalgamated right at the beginning, at the time of the original Exodus.
And this amalgamation is confirmed in another passage in Exodus 34:25
“Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until the morning” Exodus 34:25. — Note that Passover is a Feast expressed above and it is to be celebrated as a feast of Unleavened Bread, hence the Passover Feast is a Composite Feast. No need to argue otherwise.
Rashi: You shall not slaughter…: You shall not slaughter the Passover sacrifice as long as leaven still exists. This is a [specific] warning to the slaughterer, to the one who sprinkles the blood, or to one of the members of the group [bringing this sacrifice]. -[from Pes. 63b].
In Deuteronomy 16:6 ba·erev is the time to kill the Passover on the fourteenth; and in Exodus 12:18 ba·erev on the fourteenth is also to commence eating unleavened bread. The Composite Feast started on the fourteenth, at erev, and continued through the fifteenth to the twentieth (Exodus 12:18).
Here is a great revelation from Ezra: in Exodus 12, verse 8, the Ezra-inspired Targum had made it clear that the Passover was a late fourteenth and the eating was on the fifteenth: “And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .” the Targum says.
And this is confirmed in the New Testament time: “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover,” Luke 22:1
In both Testament times (Old and New), the Passover and Unleavened Bread ordinances were well interlaced. The testimonies from Exodus 12 and the New Testament are like twin mirrors: when placed against the CoG Communities, they reflect their nakedness. But these Wretches and Blind could not see their Nakedness because they are blind and they continue speaking with various deceptions.
This is plainly what the Scriptures say, but “Ephraim compasseth me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12). Only the stiff-necked and blind couldn’t see this. Plain and simple. The modern day descendants of Ephraim operate with lies and deceit!
And they are throwing diatribes and lying against the one with the Oracles of God, the Jews (Romans 3:1-4). Below is another verse great for reflection:
“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” (Isaiah 9:21).
John Gill: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still; that is, the anger of God, that was not turned away; he had not yet stirred up all his wrath, he had not done with them, he had still other judgments to bring upon them; and his hand continued to be stretched out to inflict them, seeing they were not brought to repentance by what was already done unto them; so the Targum, “for all this they do not return from their sins, that he may turn away his anger from them, but still retain their sins; and yet his stroke will be to take vengeance on them.’
The anger of God will begin at His Sanctuary:
“Go ye after him through the city and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary,” Ezekiel 9:5-6.
Again, Fred Coulter spent a lot of time whinging about travelling in the darkness of the night.
He wrote:
When the sun began to set, ending the 14th, and beginning the 15th, the children of Israel were all ready to begin the Exodus. . . . The first column would have begun to march out at about 6 PM, as the sun was setting, and the end of the last column would have left the city at about eleven o’clock on the night of the 15th. (Pg 94)
Eleven o‘clock at night is deep into the night! And then further down:
“The Scriptures clearly record that the Exodus began at the going down of the sun, and continued on into the night: “…the LORD your God brought you forth out of Egypt BY NIGHT…. at sunset [ba erev, the beginning of the 15th], at the going down of the sun, at the time that you came out of Egypt” (Deut. 16:1, 6).” (Pg 97)
Deuteronomy 16:6 (thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at evening [ba-erev], at the going down of the sun) is a passage identifying the time when the Passover was to be killed, not when the Israelits were to go out of Egypt. But a few pages earlier, he wrote, contradicting himself again and again, adding errors to errors:
Imagine the difficulties the children of Israel would have encountered if they had attempted to travel to Rameses by night with no light to guide them. Some families might have ended up in the wrong city and missed the Exodus! And how could they have kept their sheep and goats from being scattered along the way? It is no easy task to keep stragglers from wandering off during the daylight hours; it would have been an impossible task in the dark hours after midnight. (Pg 91)
So it was possible before midnight, but impossible after midnight! In these few pages, Fred Coulter whines back and forth about travelling in the dark contradicting himself what he wrote earlier in the same paragraph: with no light to guide them some “families might have ended up in the wrong city and missed the Exodus!”
And where are all the members of his team — Carl and Jean Franklin, Philip Neal, Albert and Mela Cataga John, Hiedi and Sasha Vogele — where are they? Or is this a case where they saw the Emperor has no clothes?
Deuteronomy 16:6, “at the going down of the sun,” is the time to kill the Passover, at even, but is misquoted above to indicate when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. Fred Coulter has a habitual style of misquoting the Scriptures, on becoming a chronic liar.
That night, of course, was on the fifteenth, under a full moon, and there shouldn’t be any difficulties seeing the Egyptians burying their dead, either later that night, or early morning. Neither would the Egyptians have any difficulties seeing the children of Israel going out with a high hand.
Traditions or precedents could be bad, but it could also be good. To say all traditions are bad are just too foolish.
Paul wrote in Galatians 1:14 “I profited in the Jews’ religion beyond many of my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.”
And in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle.”
We should learn how to distinguish good traditions from bad ones. We should be learning how to judge, how to be good judges. A good judge has to filter through all sorts of “evidence” and “testimonies” to arrive at a correct final decision. This means our rationale, logic, and emotions must be shielded from the illogically absurd, ridiculous, unfounded, and unbalanced thoughts that tried to muddle our filtering process.
Which tradition is Biblical, which tradition is shaky and without foundation. Without a sound filtering process we would fail to be good judges.
~~9~~
Critique of Chapter 9 continues:
In our study of the Passover account in the book of Exodus, we found no evidence to support the Jewish tradition of a late afternoon temple sacrifice of the Passover lambs. On the contrary, we found that all the Scriptural evidence points to a Passover at the beginning of the 14th. By letting the Scriptures define “morning” and “night,” we have determined that the children of Israel killed the Passover lambs on the 14th as the day began, right after sunset of the 13th day. (The Christian Passover, pg 101)
Do not be mistaken, the Bible isn’t a dictionary. At best, a verse here or there could hint what a word means, but normally it doesn’t. Most of the meaning of these words are known orally to people who have Hebrew as their native language.
In fact the Hebrew Text that Moses wrote doesn’t have any vowels, thus the Text couldn’t give any clue how the words are to be pronounced, least of all the meanings of each of those words.
To say that “the Scriptures define “morning” and “night”” is not just being misguided, it’s a fool by itself. The Samaritans were the first pretenders who foolishly thought of themselves as capable of interpreting the Scriptures, and so they led a string of heresies along the way down to our modern era.
In Chapter 9, Fred Coulter asked in a paragraph a series of questions:
Is there any Biblical evidence that God altered the Passover ordinances that He had given to Moses? (The Christian Passover, pg 102)
Of course, He did. The original Passover had to be observed in a certain manner because of what God was going to achieve through it in Egypt. However, in later years it was a commemoration of the event, not the event itself. If not, during each Passover thereafter, every Israelites would still be:
(a) Eating with their loins girded, sandals on their feet, staff in their hands; and they were to eat in haste;
(b) Go and spoil the Egyptians: jewellery of gold and silver; raiment and any other things in the morning;
(c) Pretend fleeing from Pharaoh and his armies in an re-enactment of the Exodus.
Did God Himself end the domestic sacrifice of the Passover lambs? (Pg 102)
Of course, He did. Otherwise we wouldn’t read of a 12-year old Messiah going to Jerusalem to keep the Passover with His parents. They should have kept it back in Galilee, but they didn’t.
Also, the Mishnah sheds more light on this:
What are the differences between the Paschal lamb that was offered in Egypt and the Paschal lamb offered in all later generations? The Paschal lamb offered in Egypt had its blood sprinkled upon the lintel and the two doorposts with a bundle of hyssop, unlike the Paschal lamb in later years. In addition, the Paschal lamb in Egypt was eaten in haste on only one night, whereas the Paschal lamb of subsequent generations is observed for the whole seven days (Perushim 9).
The Mishnah supports the Scriptures intimately.
After Israel’s first Passover, did He institute a mandatory tabernacle sacrifice of the Passover lambs? (Pg 102)
Of course, He did. Otherwise what’s the point of God setting aside a whole tribe of Levi and establishing the Priesthood for a special purpose and then having the ordinances of the sanctuary and Temple instituted. The Scriptures warn in Leviticus 17 to bring the blood of any sacrifices to the sanctuary:
Leviticus 17 says if one were to make a sacrifice, any sacrifice including the Passover “in the camp” or “out of the camp,” the blood must be brought to the tabernacle, and the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle (Leviticus 17:1-6).
The penalty for disobedience is death as any man who refuses to do so would be “cut off” from the children of Israel (Leviticus 17:8-9).
Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee;but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in (Deuteronomy 16:5-6).
During the time of Moses, Joshua and the Judges the sacrifices were performed where the Sanctuary was situated, but when the Temple was established permanently in one place it was God who told King Solomon that He had chosen for Himself to move the place of sacrifice to Jerusalem. Hence a Temple-centered sacrifice in Jerusalem is a God-ordained command:
Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and all that came into Solomon’s heart to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house, he prosperously effected. And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him: “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself for a house of sacrifice” (II Chronicles 7:11-12).
And “this place” is in Jerusalem:
“(God) have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there” (II Chronicles 6:6).
And many people, seeking the Lord God of Israel, went to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices:
“And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers” (II Chronicles 11:16).
The Scriptures are extremely clear but the Blind couldn’t see this because they are blind.
Did God require that the blood of the Passover lambs be sprinkled on the altar? (Pg 102)
Of course, He did. Otherwise during Passover celebrations righteous King Hezekiah and King Josiah would have commanded the people should instead be taking the blood and striking it at the lintels and both sides of the doorposts of their houses.
Fred Coulter further alleges:
In accordance with God’s command, the morning offering was originally offered at sunrise, when the morning begins, and the evening offering was originally offered between sunset and dark. Every day of the year, there was an offering at the beginning of daylight and at the beginning of darkness. Later records of the temple service show that a change was instituted in the time of the evening offering. Instead of an offering immediately after sunset, as God had commanded, the offering was moved to the late afternoon. (Pg 103)
Conveniently, Fred Coulter alleges that the original morning and evening sacrifices were offered “at the beginning of daylight” and “at the beginning of darkness” but offers any record (unless that record came from the Samaritans) or evidence of when the change took place. If he could, he would be a Biblical genius, worthy of a Nobel Prize, if not he must be displaying a figment of his own imagination or he is just a serial liar.
Throughout Fred’s writings, he harped continuously about observing a “domestic Passover” but he never defined it. Okay maybe the case in Egypt should serve as the best example, since he advocates the nine Passover ordinances were never changed.
Should this be the case Israelites would be observing Passover in their houses, just as they did in the land of Goshen. Should that be the case, Galileans need not come to Jerusalem and yet Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem in numerous times to observe Passover. Were they gallivanting in Jerusalem? Were they disobedient? They were supposed to keep their Passover in their houses, back in Galilee, shouldn’t they? This is a serious charge, a travesty and bothering blasphemy!
God’s commandment is clear in Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And “Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Deuteronomy 16:5). A “domestic Passover” wasn’t sanctified by God in subsequent years. It wasn’t allowed. It would be outright rebellion!
That place chosen by God is Jerusalem as affirmed in II Chronicles 6:6, “I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there.”
THE SCRIPTURES DO NOT COMMAND A PASSOVER SACRIFICE AT THE TABERNACLE.
There is not a single word in Numbers 28 concerning a Passover sacrifice at the tabernacle. The Hebrew word for “sacrifice” is not used in Numbers 28:16, which is the only verse that speaks of the Passover. (Pg 109)
And a few pages later, Fred Coulter wrote a headline:
All Sacrifices except the Passover
Were to be Brought to the Tabernacle (Pg 113)
Number 28-29 may not specify that the sacrifice be conducted near a Sanctuary, but Leviticus 17 did. Anyone who read Fred Coulter’s argument in the whole chapter and wouldn’t find further in Leviticus 17 would be persuaded to his allegation. In fact Leviticus 17 refers to any sacrifice offered and commanded that the blood needs to be brought to the tabernacle. And Passover is inherently a sacrifice! Christ, our saviour, is a sacrifice! (Ephesians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 5:7;
Hebrew 10:12)
In verse 8-9, it says, “And thou shalt say unto them: ‘Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice(h2077 zebach) and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation to offer it unto the Lord, even that man shall be cut off from among his people.
Also, the Targum Leviticus 17 comments (first part) below makes this very clear:
XVII. And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying: Speak with Aharon and with his sons, and with the sons of Israel, and tell them: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded, saying: A man of the house of Israel, young or old, who shall kill as a sacrifice a bullock, or lamb, or goat in the camp, or who killeth it without (outside) the camp, and bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance to offer it an oblation before the Lord, before the tabernacle of the Lord, the blood of slaughter shall be reckoned to that man, and it shall be to him as if he had shed innocent blood, and that man shall be destroyed from his people.
In order that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they have [heretofore] killed on the face of the field, they may [henceforth] bring them before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, unto the priest, and sacrifice their consecrated victims before the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and burn the fat, to be received with acceptance before the Lord. Neither shall they offer any more their sacrifices unto idols which are like unto demons, after which they have wandered. This shall be an everlasting statute to them, unto their generations.
And thou shalt tell them: A man, whether young or old, of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among you, who shall sacrifice a burnt offering, or consecrated oblation, and bring it not to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, to be made an oblation before the Lord, that man shall be destroyed from his people.
A Passover is inherently a sacrifice. Its blood is to be brought to the tabernacle before the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar, at the door of the tabernacle. Note on Rashi’s comment on Leviticus 17:4, Rashi: “Who slaughters an ox, a lamb, [or a goat]: Scripture is speaking of [slaughtering] holy sacrifices [not of slaughtering ordinary animals], for Scripture continues, “to offer up as a sacrifice” (next verse). – [Torath Kohanim 17:91]”
Note also that the Targum says about those not obeying, “that man shall be destroyed from his people.”
It is the same word zebach in Hebrew as in the original Exodus 12:27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice (h2077) of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.
In the Hebrew the word Pesach is implicitly and inherently a sacrifice. These implicit and inherent characteristics aren’t clear in English, but in Hebrew they are obvious. Hence the phase to “kill the Pesach” or “eat the Peach” makes sense in our language English. Passover isn’t a day! We couldn’t kill a day, neither can we eat a day.
For completeness, references of Passover as the sacrificial lamb being made are as follows:
(a) “to eat the Passover”— Exodus 12:43;
(b) “to kill the Passover” — Exodus 12:21, II Chronicles 35:6;
(c) “to sacrifice the Passover” — Deuteronomy 16:2;
(d) “to roast the Passover” — II Chronicles 35:13.
The two characteristics (implicit and inherent) in Hebrew, compelled some translators to insert the word “sacrifice” in Numbers 28:16 so as to make its meaning clearer in English: “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, there shall be a Passover sacrifice to the Lord,” Numbers 28:16. It is a Sacrifice to the Lord. Clear and simple.
In the Good News Translation of Leviticus 17:8, it says “who offer a burnt offering or any other sacrifice.” Other translations may not insert the phrase “any other,” but by inserting it, the GNT has made it clearer — that any sacrifice includes the Pesach, the LORD’S passover.
The critical performance of any sacrifice is that “the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle.” The priests had sprinkled the blood upon the alter since he time of Moses, down to Ezra, and then during the time of Christ. If Moses had any doubt, he had all the time to ask God who dwelt between the cherubim in the Temple for any further details.
And if Ron Wyatt’s testimony is true, that at the moment when Jesus Christ died at 3 PM that fourteenth afternoon, an earthquake occurred, cracking the rocks underneath. His blood then dripped through the rocks onto the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant under Golgotha, otherwise also referred to in Scripture as the “place of the skull.”
Christ’s testimony is another witness that the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed at 3 PM in the afternoon, “at even” on the fourteenth, otherwise Christ’s death couldn’t have fulfilled the Passover ordinance.
At the same movement, while the Jews were killing their lambs for the Passover, and the priests splinking the blood on the altar, Christ’s blood dripped into the Mercy Seat for the sin of the whole world!
The biblical narratives indicate that the crucifixion took place outside the city walls — “outside the camp,” and His blood was miraculously brought “into the camp,” revealing why the blood could be killed outside the camp but only its blood brought into the camp for the priest to sprinkle on the altar.
If Ron’s attestation is true, the story of Christ’s death and sacrifice would reveal how the Lamb was ordained with so much forethought right from the foundation of the world. Well planned and well thought-out by the Great God of this Universe. Are we amazed? I’m stunned. It is the mystery of mysteries!
Deuteronomy 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; 29 and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness. Isaiah 45:7 I create darkness; and I create evil; I, the LORD, do all these things.
THAT NIGHT WAS THE THIRTEENTH
AND
THE MISSING 18 HOURS OF CHRIST BEFORE BEING CRUCIFIED
The purpose of this article and the details given is to show that the Last Supper occurred on the thirteenth of Nisan and not on the fourteenth as most Christians believe. Neither was the Last Supper a Passover, not for Christ and His disciples nor even for the Sadducees, who would have kept their Passover on the fourteenth.
That night was on the thirteenth and was just an ordinary supper!
Beside, there were the missing 18 hours that most students of the Gospels missed.
Below are the evidence, right from the Scriptures:
Jesus’ Last Hours
(The Hours used are Jewish reckoning; AM (Ante Meridiem “before noon”), and PM (Post Meridiem “after noon”) are Romans)
Prelude to the Passover
Matthew 26:1 (KJ21) And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, He said unto His disciples,
2 “Ye know that after two days is the Feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people assembled together unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
4 and consulted that they might take Jesus by stealth and kill Him.
5 But they said, “Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.”
Jesus anointed in Bethany
Matthew 26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
7 there came unto Him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head as He sat at meat.
8 But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “To what purpose is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
10 When Jesus perceived this, He said unto them, “Why trouble ye the woman? For she hath wrought a good work upon Me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you, but Me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial.
13 Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, which this woman hath done, be told as a memorial of her.”
Judas promised 30 pieces of silver
Matthew 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests
15 and said unto them, “What will ye give me if I will deliver Him unto you?” And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Disciples prepared for Passover
Matthew 26:17 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover?”
18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say unto him, ‘The Master saith, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples.”’”
19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them, and they made ready the Passover.
The Last Supper Monday (6:00 PM) Even, 13th Nisan
Luke 22:14 And when the hour had come, He sat down and the twelve apostles with Him.
15 And He said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”
If that night was the Passover night, Jesus would had broken one of the ordinances according to Numbers 9:12: “They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.”
They left early and if Jesus had sinned, all humanity would be flushed down the toilet.
Second, if they had killed the lamb at sunset at 6 PM as the Church of God Communities believe, it would be a miracle if they could have the lamb roasted and meal ready before 10 PM, but for this exercise, let’s start at 6 PM, because that night was the thirteenth.
Taking into consideration a very unusual word for “desire” is epithumia in the Greek, which is something forbidden, perhaps this verse should be translated as: “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; but I’m saying to you now, I am forbidden and denied this privilege, and I will no longer eat with you until we’re all in the kingdom of God.” — for a detailed exegesis see endnote.
16 for I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
John 12:2 And supper being ended, and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, — other translations say “during supper” — if it was a Passover why didn’t any of the Gospel writers say so? Not one! 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from God and was going to God,
Foot washing (only recorded by John) (7:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 13:4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself.
5 After that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
Among Eastern people it was customary, before eating, to wash the feet; and to do this, or to bring water for it, was one of the rites of hospitality. See Genesis 18:4; Judges 19:21. The reasons for this were, that they wore “sandals,” which covered only the bottom of the feet, and that when they ate they reclined on couches or sofas. It became therefore necessary that the feet should be often washed.
6 Then came He to Simon Peter, and Peter said unto Him, “Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.”
8 Peter said unto Him, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said unto Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
10 Jesus said to him, “He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all.”
11 (For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “Ye are not all clean.”)
12 So after He had washed their feet and had taken His garments and had sat down again, He said unto them, “Know ye what I have done to you?
13 Ye call Me Master and Lord; and ye say well, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
16 Verily, verily I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Judas left to betray Jesus (7:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 13:18 “I speak not of you all. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me.’
19 Now I tell you before it comes that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.
20 Verily, verily I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me.”
21 When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Verily, verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray Me.”
22 Then the disciples looked at one another, not knowing of whom He spoke.
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom He spoke.
25 He then, leaning on Jesus’ breast, said unto Him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it.” And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
27 And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said unto him, “What thou doest, do quickly.”
28 Now no man at the table knew with what intent He spoke this unto him.
29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the money bag, that Jesus had said unto him, “Buy those things that we have need of for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
30 Judas then, having received the sop, went immediately out. And it was night.
31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
32 If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.
Wine and unleavened bread (7:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
Luke 22:17 And He took the cup, and gave thanks and said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves;
18 for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.”
19 And He took bread, and gave thanks and broke it and gave it unto them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”
20 Likewise also He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.
21 But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me on the table.
22 And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined; but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed!”
23 And they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing.
24 And there was also a contention among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
25 And He said unto them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
26 But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
27 For who is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth? Is it not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as He that serveth.
28 “Ye are they that have continued with Me in My temptations.
29 And I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me,
30 that ye may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
A new commandment (8:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, ‘Whither I go ye cannot come,’ so now say I to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you: that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one for another.”
Prophecy about Peter denying Christ
Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
33 And Peter said unto Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death.”
34 And He said, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
Christ’s instruction to the disciples (8:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
Luke 22:35 And He said unto them, “When I sent you without purse and pack and shoes, lacked ye anything?” And they said, “Nothing.”
36 Then said He unto them, “But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it and likewise his pack; and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
37 For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was reckoned among the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.”
38 And they said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.” And He said unto them, “It is enough.”
Thomas Coke Commentary on Luke 22:38. Lord, behold, here are two swords.— Our Lord’s disciples, mistaking his meaning about the swords, replied, they had two: the reason why they had any at all, probably, was, that they might defend themselves against robbers in their journey from Galilee and Perea, and from the beasts of prey which in those parts were very frequent and dangerous in the night time: it afterwards appears, that one of these swords was Peter’s. See John 18:10. Our Lord replies to the disciples, “It is enough for weapons of this sort; my chief intent is, to direct you to another kind of defence; even that which arises from piety and faith.” This is strongly intimated by our Lord’s saying that two swords were sufficient; which, it is evident, they could not have been for so many men, had our Lord meant what he said in a literal sense.
They sang a hymn and left (9:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out unto the Mount of Olives.
“They shall leave none of it [food remains] unto the morning (boqer), nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it” Numbers 9:12.
Jesus and His disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane and according to most timeline it was around 9:00 PM. Further, they left without burning any food remains or the bones, infringing one of the Passover ordinances according to Numbers 9:12, if that night was a Passover night. OBVIOUSLY IT WASN’T. — for a detailed exegesis see endnote.
More discourse (9:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God; believe also in Me.
2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”
5 Thomas said unto Him, “Lord, we know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said unto him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.
7 If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said unto Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
9 Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long a time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.
12 Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth in Me, the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.
15 “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever”
17 even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. But ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 “I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me. Because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21 He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said unto Him, “Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?”
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him.
24 He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings. And the Word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
25 “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, ‘I go away and come again unto you.’ If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, ‘I go unto the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
30 “Hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
More discourse (9:30 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, no more can ye, unless ye abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abides not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.
9 “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in My love.
10 If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 “This is My commandment: that ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 “If the world hates you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you: ‘The servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for My name’s sake, because they know not Him that sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hateth Me hateth My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law: ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning.
More discourse (9:30 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
John 16:1 “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not lose faith.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go My way to Him that sent Me, and none of you asketh Me, ‘Whither goest Thou?’
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world concerning sin, and concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment:
9 concerning sin, because they believe not in Me;
10 concerning righteousness, because I go to My Father and ye see Me no more;
11 concerning judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come.
14 He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
16 A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father.”
17 Then said some of His disciples among themselves, “What is this that He saith unto us, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me,’ and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”
18 They said therefore, “What is this that He saith, ‘A little while’? We cannot tell what He saith.”
19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous of asking Him, and said unto them, “Do ye inquire among yourselves of what I said, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again a little while, and ye shall see Me’?
20 Verily, verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
23 And in that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.
24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25 “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
26 In that day ye shall ask in My name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you;
27 for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”
29 His disciples said unto Him, “Lo, now speakest Thou plainly and speakest no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things and needest not that any man should ask Thee. By this we believe that Thou camest forth from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do ye now believe?
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.”
In Gethsemene to pray (10:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
Luke 22:39 And He came out and went, as He was wont, to the Mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.
Jesus’ ‘inner circle’
Mark 14:33 And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed and very heavy of heart. — These three disciples were there during Christ’s time of prayers and distress
34 And He said unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death; tarry ye here, and watch.”
Jesus prayed for 3 hours (10:00 PM) Monday Night, 13th Nisan
Matthew 26:39 And He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
40 And He came unto the disciples and found them asleep, and said unto Peter, “What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?
41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 He went away again the second time and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, unless I drink it, Thy will be done.”
43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.
44 And He left them and went away again, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.
Up to this point, Jesus still hoped and prayed that this cup could be taken away from Him, so He could take the Passover with His disciples. But it wasn’t granted. Second, He sweated profusely, His blood falling to the ground, not so much as death awaited Him, but the process of tortues under the Roman soldiers that most people would fear of. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44). Then He said unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry ye here and watch with Me.” And He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matthew 26:38-39).
The Lord’s prayer (1:00 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 17:1 These words spoke Jesus and lifted up His eyes to Heaven and said, “Father, the hour is come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,
2 as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
3 And this is life eternal: that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
6 “I have manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy Word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee.
8 For I have given unto them the Words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me.
9 I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine.
10 And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 “And now come I to Thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them Thy Word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.
18 As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe in Me through their word,
21 that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.
22 And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as We are one:
23 I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.
24 “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.
26 And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Judas’s betrayal (1.30 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where was a garden into which He entered with His disciples.
2 And Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the place, for Jesus often resorted thither with His disciples.
3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth and said unto them, “Whom seek ye?”
5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said unto them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who betrayed Him, stood with them.
6 As soon then as He had said unto them, “I am He,” they went backward and fell to the ground.
7 Then He asked them again, “Whom seek ye?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way,”
9 that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, “Of those that Thou gavest Me, have I lost none.”
Healing of High Priest servant’s ear (2:00 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 18:10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, “Put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” — Peter was there during Christ’s time of distress
12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound Him,
Disciples deserted Him (2:00 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
Mark 14:50 And they all forsook Him and fled.
51 And there followed Him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him. — this disciple during Christ’s trial was probably James.
Acts 12:2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword,
52 And he left the linen cloth and fled from themnaked.
They led Him to Annas (2.30 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 18:13 and led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that same year.
14 Now it was Caiaphas who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Peter followed near a fire (3:00 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 18:15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. — John, shy to identify himself, was another disciple during Christ’s time of distress.
16 But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known unto the high priest, went out and spoke unto her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.
17 Then the damsel who kept the door said unto Peter, “Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
18 And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
Before Annas and Caiaphas (4:00 AM) Tuesday Early Morning, 13th Nisan
John 18:19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and about His doctrine.
20 Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple whither the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing.
21 Why askest thou Me? Ask them that heard Me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know what I said.”
22 And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Answerest thou the high priest so?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?”
24 Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest.
Annas and Caiaphas are known to be Sadducees or their close allies, the Boethusiasns or the Herodians, and according to their beliefs they would be having their passover that night, on the fourteenth. Their minds would be on their passover, and it would be highly unlikely they had planned and wanted to be troubled on something else on such an occasion.
The Sanhedrin (5:00 AM) Tuesday Before Dawn, 13th Nisan
Matthew 26:59 Now the chief priests and elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put Him to death,
KJ21 Mark 14:55 And the chief priests and all of the council (i.e. the entire Sanhedrin members alone would be 70 or 72, not including elders and false witnesses) sought for witnesses against Jesus to put Him to death, and found none. It would probably take one or two hours to assemble them together. Those days they didn’t have telephones, only runners. Second, if that night were the fourteenth, it would be a passover night for the Sadducees, who made up a large portion of the Sanhedrin at that time. It would be inconceivable to believe that many runners could be found during the early morning hours and dared to trouble all the Sanhedrin members in their sleep. This together with the comment above on Annas and Caiaphas are strong indications that that night wasn’t the fourteenth.
60 but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found none. At the last came two false witnesses,
61 and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’”
62 And the high priest arose and said unto Him, “Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witnesses say against thee?”
63 But Jesus held His peace. And the high priest answered and said unto Him, “I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.”
64 Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest rented his clothes, saying, “He hath spoken blasphemy! What further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy!
66 What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death!”
67 Then they spit in His face and buffeted Him, and others smote Him with the palms of their hands,
68 saying, “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ! Who is he that smote thee?”
Peter denied Jesus three times (5:00 AM) Tuesday, Before Dawn, 13th Nisan
Matthew 26:69 Now Peter sat outside in the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, “Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.”
70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I know not what thou sayest.”
71 And when he had gone out onto the porch, another maid saw him and said unto those who were there, “This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 And again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the man!”
73 And after a while came unto him those who stood by, and said to Peter, “Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech betrayeth thee.”
74 Then he began to curse and to swear, saying, “I know not the man!” And immediately the cock crowed.
75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, when He said unto him, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.” And he went out and wept bitterly.
The best scientific evidence says that normally endogenous cycles stimulate a cock to crow in response to incremental changes in light intensity.
Sanhedrin condemned Him (6:00 AM) Tuesday, Dawn, 13th Nisan
Luke 22:66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council, saying,
67 “Art thou the Christ? Tell us.” And He said unto them, “If I tell you, ye will not believe.
68 And if I also ask you, ye will not answer Me nor let Me go.
69 Hereafter shall the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God.”
70 Then said they all, “Art thou then the Son of God?” And He said unto them, “Ye say that I am.”
71 And they said, “What need of any further witness? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth.”
The Sanhedrin sent Him to Pilate (6:00 AM) Tuesday, Dawn, 13th Nisan
Luke 23:1 And the whole multitude of them arose and led Him unto Pilate.
Judas hung himself (6:00 AM) Tuesday, Dawn, 13th Nisan
Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? See thou to that!”
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.”
7 And they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.
8 Therefore that field was called the Field of Blood unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom they the children of Israel did value,
10 and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”
Before Pilate (9:00 AM) Tuesday, 3rd hour, 13th Nisan
Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
3 And Pilate asked Him, saying, “Art thou the king of the Jews?” And He answered him and said, “Thou sayest it.”
“How Dare You Trouble Me?” It would be inconceivable or even fanciful to think that Pilate as king of Judea could be troubled in the middle of the night by someone subordinate to him as traditional understanding demands. Pilate was a tyrant and known to kill anybody at will those who displeased him. It would be far more reasonable to assume that he attended court at a reasonable hour at around 9 AM the earliest.
4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and the people, “I find no fault in this man.”
5 And they became the more fierce, saying, “He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.”
6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the Man were a Galilean.
Before Herod (10:00 AM) Tuesday, 4th hour, 13th Nisan
Luke 23:7 And as soon as he learned that He belonged unto Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
8 And when Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad, for he had been desirous to see Him for a long time, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. — remember, in those days they only have runners in sending and receiving messages. And protocol required letters were properly written, signed and sealed before being despatched.
9 Then he questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.
10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him.
11 And Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him again to Pilate.
12 And on the same day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together, for before that there was enmity between them.
13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 said unto them, “Ye have brought this man unto me as one who perverteth the people. And behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man concerning those things whereof ye accuse him.
15 No, nor yet Herod; for I sent you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
16 I will therefore chastise him and release him.”
17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the Feast.)
18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas”
19 (who had been cast into prison for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder).
20 Pilate therefore, desiring to release Jesus, spoke again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, “Crucify him, crucify him!”
22 And he said unto them the third time, “Why? What evil hath he done? I have found no cause for death in him. I will therefore chastise him and let him go.”
23 But they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
Pilate: Barabbas or Jesus (11:00 AM) Tuesday, 5th hour, 13th Nisan
Matthew 27:15 Now at that feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
16 And they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, “Whom will ye that I release unto you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered Him.
19 When he had sat down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, “Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
21 The governor answered and said unto them, “Which of the two will ye that I release unto you?” They said, “Barabbas!”
22 Pilate said unto them, “What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all said unto him, “Let him be crucified!”
23 And the governor said, “Why, what evil hath he done?” But they cried out the more, saying, “Let him be crucified!”
24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail, but rather that a tumult was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it.”
25 Then answered all the people and said, “His blood be on us, and on our children!”
26 Then released he Barabbas unto them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole detachment of soldiers.
28 And they stripped Him and put on Him a scarlet robe.
29 And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head and a reed in His right hand, and they bowed their knees before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30 And they spat upon Him, and took the reed and smote Him on the head.
31 And after they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
“Crucify him! Crucify him!” (12 NOON) Tuesday, 6th hour, 13th Nisan
John 19:6 When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said unto them, “Ye take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.”
7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid.
9 And he went again into the judgment hall and said unto Jesus, “From whence art thou?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Then said Pilate unto Him, “Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”
11 Jesus answered, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, unless it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin.”
12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.”
13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 And it was the Preparation of the Passover and about the sixth hour, and Pilate said unto the Jews, “Behold your king!” (NOON, 13TH NISAN)
This sixth hour would be the same sixth hour where Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, established to be at noon, when Jesus was wearied and needed a drink (John 4:6). To think that John suddenly popped up Roman time to suit a belief is just trying to be fanciful. Like a virgin who suddenly upskirts herself at an intersection, such distraction and deception would surely result in many fatalities. “Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” (Hosea 11:12).
15 But they cried out, “Away with him, away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said unto them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”
They led Him away to be crucified, but first to be flogged, including scourging and mocking — the missing hours, probably back at the praetorium, (about 18 hours where there is no record of Him; from about noon on the thirteenth to daybreak on the fourteenth of Nisan). And it is thus obvious, that that evening, the evening where Jesus and His disciples were taking supper, were indeed a supper. There is no evidence of a Passover—no lamb, no bitter herbs—not even a Samaritan or a Sadducean Passover, where it would be on an early fourteenth of Nisan.
The night before, while He prayed, His blood fell to the ground. He knew He would be flogged nearly to the point of death before they pounded the metal spikes into His flesh. He knew the prophetic words of Isaiah spoken seven centuries earlier that He would be beaten so badly that He would be “disfigured beyond that of any man” and “beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14).
Forerunner Commentary of the King James Version Isaiah 52:14: Jesus had to die a death that was excruciatingly painful. Why? To depict the horrible pain that sin causes. It would not have served God’s purpose if He had died a painless death. The picture would have been incomplete. Any criminal of that time would have despaired to learn he was to be crucified. Crucifixion was not only an execution, but also a method of torture. The Romans usually gave the victim an excruciating scourging first. Jesus was no exception. Before He ever touched His cross, He was scourged, beaten, and insulted. Over the years we have heard quite a bit about the Roman lictor (Roman officer), the soldier charged with dispensing this dreaded punishment. He used a whip, often with imbedded pieces of metal, bone, or other sharp objects. Romans did not limit their lictors to the Israelite practice of “forty stripes save one,” nor to striking just the victim’s back. He would let the whip strike and wrap around every inch of the person’s body until he was within an inch of death. The prophet Isaiah prophesies how Jesus appeared after the scourging: “Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage [appearance, margin] was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (Isaiah 52:14). He goes on to say that He was “wounded [pierced through, margin] for our transgressions, He was bruised [crushed] for our iniquities” (53:5).
Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness — Isaiah 52:14 NIV.
Many people were shocked when they saw him. He was so scarred that he no longer looked like a person. His body was so twisted that he did not look like a human being anymore Isaiah 52:14 NIRV.
The Jews will mourn One whom they had rejected: “And they shall look to Me whom they have pierced; then they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son” (Zechariah 12:10). But the Christians have nothing to mourn? Currently these endtime virgins are described as lukewarm and in need of nothing, but would they not mourn when they realise that they had been blind, wretched and naked, seeing finally that Christ had suffered far more through His torn flesh and shed blood than they had ever realised? No? Regardless, these at the moment are described in Revelation 3:17. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: or else I will spew thee out of My mouth (v16,19).”
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness.That was written for the Old Testament time in Deuteronomy 28:28-29. But at the endtime, there are ten virgins – blind, wretched and naked – and they are groping amazingly in the light.
The next morning (6:00 AM) Wednesday, Dawn, 14th Nisan
Luke 23:26 And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
27 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women who also bewailed and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus, turning unto them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore and the breasts which never gave suck.’
30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
They led Him to be crucified (7:00 AM)
John 19:16 Then he delivered Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led Him away.
17 And He, bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Skull (which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha)
The Third hour (9:00 AM) Wednesday, 3rd hour, 14th Nisan
John 19:18 where they crucified Him and two others with Him, one on either side and Jesus in the midst.
19 And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.
20 Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, “Write not ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also His coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith, “They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture did they cast lots.” These things therefore the soldiers did.
Mark 15:25 And it was the third hour (9 AM)when they crucified Him. 29 And those who passed by railed at Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself and come down from the cross!” 31 Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, “He saved others; himself he cannot save! 32 Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” And those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.
25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus therefore saw His mother and the disciple standing by whom He loved, He said unto His mother, “Woman, behold thy son!”
27 Then said He to the disciple, “Behold thy mother!” And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his own home.
Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour (12 NOON) had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3 PM).
28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”
29 Now there was set there a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon a hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour (3 PM) Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” 35 And some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he calleth Elijah.” 36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave it to Him to drink, saying, “Let him alone. Let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.
Earthquakes and graves opened (3:00 PM) Wednesday, 9th hour, 14th Nisan
Matthew 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks rent.
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose,
53 and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly, this was the Son of God!”
Preparation for the Passover (4:00 PM) Wednesday, 10th hour, 14th Nisan
John 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, and so that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was a high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
32 Then came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him.
33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs,
34 but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water.
35 And he that saw it bore record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith truly, that ye might believe.
36 For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled: “A bone of Him shall not be broken.”
37 And again another Scripture saith, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
The women watched (4:30 PM) Wednesday, 10th hour, 14th Nisan
Mark 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome
41 (who also, when He was in Galilee, had followed Him and ministered unto Him), and many other women who came up with Him unto Jerusalem.
Joseph of Arimathea (5:00 PM) Wednesday, 11th hour, 14th Nisan
Mark 15:42 And now when the evening had come, because it was the Preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), — that Sabbath was a High Day, the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
43 Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable council member who also was waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
44 And Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead.
45 And when he learned it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
46 And Joseph bought fine linen, and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.
47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where He was laid.
~~~
End note: Luke 22:15-6. Here Jesus said to the disciples:
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
What did He mean by saying “THIS Passover”?
There are only two possibilities:
1) He meant the upcoming Passover that very year, which had not yet arrived, as this statement was made “before the feast of the Passover” (John 13:1).
2) He meant that very meal that evening which they were partaking of – even though it was served with regular “bread,” makes no mention of lamb, or bitter herbs, which were required for a Passover meal. Second, if that meal was the Passover, Jesus and His disciples would have broken one of the Passover ordinances specified in Numbers 9:12 — moving the bones out of the house and burned them in the morning.
Fred Coulter, whose book The Christian Passover is his flagship and endorsed by most of the CoG Communities, specifies it this way:
God’s commands to Moses in Exodus 12 show us the step-by-step procedures required for keeping the Old Testament Passover. It is clear that the act of slaying the lambs was only one part of keeping the Passover. The nine steps for keeping the Old Testament Passover were as follows:
1) Select an unblemished male lamb less than one year old on the 10th day of the first month (Ex. 12:3). 2) Kill the lamb on the 14th day of the first month at dusk [Hebrew ben ha arbayim, “between the two evenings”]. Share the lamb with a neighbor if one’s own family was too small to eat it. Do not break a bone of the lamb (Ex. 12:4, 6, 46). 3) Strike the side posts and lintel of the door of the house with some of the blood (Ex. 12:7). 4) Roast the whole lamb — head and legs and edible entrails — with fire (Ex. 12:9). 5) Do not boil the meat in water or eat it raw (Ex. 12:9). 6) Eat the flesh in that night with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (Ex. 12:8). 7) Allow no alien to eat it unless circumcised (Ex. 12:43-44). 8) Eat it in the same house where it was slain. Do not carry any of it out of the house (Ex. 12:46). 9) Burn any remains, such as the bones and fat, the skin and guts, with fire by morning (Ex. 12:10). (The Christian Passover, pg 19)
These were the commands of God for Israel’s first Passover. If the children of Israel had not observed all nine steps for the Passover exactly as God commanded, the Passover would not have been fully “kept,” and the Lord would not have spared the firstborn of Israel.
At their next Passover, the first one in the wilderness after the tabernacle was set up and dedicated, the nine rules for “keeping” the Passover are called statutes and ordinances: “Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings, you shall keep it in its appointed time. You shall keep it according to ALL ITS STATUTES, and according to ALL THE ORDINANCES of it” (Num. 9:2-3).
This Scripture shows that the nine rules for the Passover, here called statutes and ordinances, were to be observed in all the years that followed. All nine ordinances were to be observed on the 14th day of the month! It is quite clear in Numbers 9 that all the statutes and all the ordinances that were established at the first Passover were to be observed by the children of Israel. We find no later instructions given in Scripture that in any way alter or modify the manner in which the Passover was originally commanded to be observed. (The Christian Passover, pg 19-20)
And Fred’s statements are reemphasised further:
“And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning [sunrise]” (Ex. 12:21-22),” (pg 58). And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise [Hebrew boqer]’ ” (Ex. 12:21-22). (Pg 71) “…And none of you shall go out of the door of his house UNTIL SUNRISE….And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, SO THEY DID” (Ex. 12:22, 28). “If any of the children of Israel had left their houses before morning, it would be recorded in the Scriptures that some of the people had disobeyed the command of God and had left their houses too soon, and therefore they had died in the plague of the firstborn.” (The Christian Passover, Pg 72)
If that night had been the Passover, that would make Jesus and His disciples break a Passover ordinance since they were only allowed to burn the bones and left their house after morning, BUT THEY DIDN’T! If that night had been the Passover’s night, Christians’ hopes and dreams would be just ready to be flushed down the toilet!
What, then, did Jesus mean when He said, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”? The word for “desire” in this verse is an unusual word, epithumia in the Greek, and means “a longing, especially for that which is forbidden” (see Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, #1939).
The word for “desire” in this verse is very important to understanding the context of Jesus’ words. Says Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, “desire, craving, longing,” “specifically for what is forbidden.” This is the “strongest expression of intense desire,” whether good or bad, says the Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Critical-Experimental Commentary.
In other words, Jesus here was saying He desired to eat the traditional Passover with His disciples that year, but He knew that such a thing will be impossible — that it was forbidden — that for Him to fulfill God’s PLAN He must be dead and in the grave the evening the Passover would be eaten, and therefore it was forbidden and impossible for Him to eat that Passover with them!
Perhaps Luke 22:15-6 should be translated as:
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; but I’m saying to you now, I am forbidden and denied this privilege, and I will no longer eat with you until we’re all in the kingdom of God.”
Conclusion: despite all the huffings and puffings arguing otherwise by the various CoG Communities, that night when Jesus and His disciples had their last supper, the same night He was betrayed, it wasn’t the Passover; it wasn’t on the Fourteenth night. It was just a supper as the Scriptures say, and that night was on the THIRTEENTH!
“The Enemy Is Within,” says Nancy Pelosi in reference to the Republican ranks.
Pelosi made the remarks during a Thursday news conference while reassuring the more than than 30 lawmakers who penned a letter to the speaker and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy this week looking for more personal security resources. The ask was prompted by a rise in threats directed at lawmakers after the insurrection on January 6th.
When asked to expand on what she meant by “the enemy is within” she responded: “We have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
Pelosi did not state names of colleagues who might be a threat during follow-up questions, but she did mention the incident when Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) was caught attempting to sneak a gun into the House chamber after the deadly riot at the Capitol.
GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene:”She’s a traitor to our country, she’s guilty of treason.”
CNN’s KFile, in a report on her online activity, said GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., allegedly “liked” a comment on her Facebook page in 2019 that threatened Pelosi life and other Democrats.
Her comments come after Republicans have tried, in recent days, to bring their guns on the House floor, despite the addition of a metal detector at the chamber door. Some Republicans are bypassing the metal detector altogether.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China toughened its language towards Taiwan on Thursday, warning after recent stepped up military activities near the island that “independence means war” and that its armed forces were acting in response to provocation and foreign interference.
Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, reported multiple Chinese fighter jets and bombers entering its southwestern air defence identification zone last weekend, prompting Washington to urge Beijing to stop pressuring Taiwan.
China believes that Taiwan’s democratically-elected government is moving the island towards a declaration of formal independence, though Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly said it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name.
Asked at a monthly news briefing about the air force’s recent activities, Chinese Defence Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.
“The military activities carried out by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait are necessary actions to address the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty and security,” he said.
“They are a solemn response to external interference and provocations by ‘Taiwan independence’ forces,” he added.
Wu said a “handful” of people in Taiwan were seeking the island’s independence.
“We warn those ‘Taiwan independence’ elements: those who play with fire will burn themselves, and ‘Taiwan independence’ means war,” he added.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry reported six Chinese air force aircraft, including four J-10 fighter jets, flew into its air defence zone on Thursday, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands at the top end of the South China Sea.
The weekend Chinese incursions coincided with a US carrier battle group entering the disputed South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas”.
How the US Could Lose a War With China by The Atlantic.
It’s not that the Chinese Communist Party would take over Washington. But in its own region, China has the advantage. by KATHY GILSINAN July 26, 2019
If a war broke out between the United States and China, the clash between two of the world’s most powerful militaries would be horrific. And the United States could very well lose.
That’s a concern among current and former defense officials and military analysts, one of whom toldBreaking Defense earlier this year that in war games simulating great-power conflict in which the United States fights Russia and China, the United States “gets its ass handed to it.”
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum last week, Admiral Philip Davidson, who oversees U.S. military forces in Asia, called China “the greatest long-term strategic threat to the United States and the rules-based international order.” He described China’s rapid military buildup in nearly every domain—air, sea, land, space, and cyber—and said that while China’s capabilities don’t outnumber America’s in the region for now, it’s possible they could overtake the United States’ within the next five years.
But the sheer number of ships, missiles, planes, and people doesn’t tell the whole story. What already gives the Chinese the advantage is geography.
The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until He have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness (Deuteronomy 28:21, 28-29) I create darkness; I create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things (Isaiah 45:7).
Matthew 10:34 “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword.
AN AUTOPSY OF JERUSALEM IN THE AD 70 INFERNO
An autopsy (also known as a post-mortem examination or necropsy) is the examination of the body of a dead person and is performed primarily to determine the cause of death, to identify or characterize the extent of disease states that the person may have had, or to determine whether a particular medical or surgical treatment has been effective.
Spiritually and physically Jerusalem faced its death in AD 70 but nobody has asked and wondered why? Have the warnings from the Prophets were of no effect? Why such a silence?
For the Lord promised:
Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. Leviticus 18:5
And this promise was reinstated later by Moses before Israel entered the Promised Land:
That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Deuteronomy 30:20
And elsewhere:
Whosoever shall be wanting, he shall not live. II King 10:19
But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction; bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. Psalms 55:23
But it shall not be well with the wicked; neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before God. Ecclesiastes 8:13
For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law: that “the man who doeth those things shall live by them. Roman 10:5
And in a form of a question:
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:23
Certainly the answer is that the righteous will live and the wicked shall die by fire. And this principle is reaffirmed in the New Testament, which is built on the foundation of the Old Testament:
“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE (pyr g4442). 17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with FIRE (pyr g4442) unquenchable.” Luke 3:16-17
Christ came as lamb, but He could come with wrath too:
Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.— Yes, the Son could have wrath, too.
Isaiah 5:4 What could have been done more to My vineyard than I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to bring forth good grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? ––John Gill: “what is further or hereafter to be done to my vineyard”, and “I have not done in it?” that is, by way of punishment; I have reproved and chastised them, but all in vain; what remains further for me (to do), because of their ingratitude and unfruitfulness? I will utterly destroy them as a nation and church;
5 “And now, I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.
Gill: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; that is, the vineyard shall be eaten by the wild beasts that will enter into it, when the hedge is taken away; or “it shall be burnt”; that is, the hedge, being a hedge of thorns.
6 And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.”
Calvin: I will lay it waste. God will not take pains to dig and prune it, and consequently it will become barren for want of dressing; briars and thorns will spring up to choke its branches; and, what is more, by withholding rain, God will dry up its roots. — “I will deprive you of all my blessings.”
The above Scriptures are all setting the stage for the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
And here it is expressed in a question:
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? Amos 3:6
And the answer is obvious: that God sits on His Throne, giving warnings about the soon coming destruction of Jerusalem.
But why?
Forty Years earlier, John the Baptist warned that the Son of God was prophesied to Baptize His subject with Fire:
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptized you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE.
Luke 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I cometh, the straps of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE.
Luke 9:54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, wilt Thou that we command FIRE to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went to another village.
Note: As Elijah did (II Kings 1:10,12).
Like Chaff with Unquenchable Fire
Matthew 3:12 His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Luke 3:17 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.”
Luke 23:27 And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women who also bewailed and lamented Him. 28 But Jesus, turning unto them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming in which they shall say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore and the breasts which never gave suck.’ 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ 31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
These warnings were for the Events leading to the Atrocities of Jerusalem in AD 70.
What Happened in AD 70, Forty Years after Christ’s Death?
Titus’ Siege of Jerusalem began in April 14, AD 70
On 14 April 70, during Passover, General Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. To the northeast of the old city, on Mount Scopus, the legions XII Fulminata and XV Apollinaris shared a large camp; V Macedonica was camped at a short distance. When X Fretensis arrived from Syria, it occupied the Mount of Olives, in front of the Temple. The soldiers of these legions, each of around five thousand soldiers during the first century, had a special incentive to fight: they had been defeated by the Zealots in 66 AD, and had Jerusalem controlled by Judean rebel factions and they wanted revenge.
During this same Passover, One Zealot leader, Eleaser, allowed all inhabitants to perform their religious duties in the Temple. The festival, however, was spoiled by other militias who took swords with them and forced some Romans into surrender. Despite early successes in repelling the Roman sieges, the Zealots fought amongst themselves, and they lacked proper leadership, resulting in poor discipline.
The Roman attack served to unite the militias, who started to make sorties, but failed to destroy the new weapon that the Romans had prepared: siege towers. These were taller than the walls and enabled the legionaries to throw missiles on the defenders of the walls; when the latter tried to evade the missiles, the battering-rams could do their work. After fifteen days, the wall collapsed, and the Jews withdrew from Bezetha to their second wall. Titus ordered an all-out attack on this wall. The militias were able to ward off for four days, but on the fifth day the second wall yielded to the violence of the battering-rams.
Fighting continued in the streets of Jerusalem, where the defenders inflicted heavy losses upon the Romans, who were forced to retire through the breach to Bezeth, a suburb north and north-west of the Temple, built opposite the tower Antonia. After four days of heavy fighting, the latter again managed to drive away the Jews from the second wall, which was immediately destroyed.
Titus now decided upon a show of strength, staged an army parade. Meanwhile, his adviser Flavius Josephus was to talk to the men on the walls, trying to induce them to surrender. The Jewish leaders were not impressed by the arguments of the turncoat, and on the fifth day, the Roman soldiers renewed the struggle: they started to build four large siege dams, aimed at the Antonia fortress. (It was to be taken by force, because it had large stores and two great cisterns.)
The Romans knew that their enemies would fight for every inch of their city, and understood that the siege of Jerusalem would take a long time. Therefore, Titus changed his plans. There were signs that the supplies of Jerusalem were giving out: some Jews had left the city, hoping to find food in the valleys in front of the walls. Many of them had been caught and crucified – some five hundred every day. The soldiers took pleasures by nailing their victims in different postures, while for others they decided to starve them into surrender. In three days, Jerusalem was surrounded with an eight kilometer long palisade. All trees within fifteen kilometres of the city were cut down.
The death rate among the besieged increased. Soon, the Kidron valley and the Valley of Hinnom were filled with corpses. One defector told Titus that their number was estimated at 115,880. Desperate people tried to leave Jerusalem. When they had succeeded in passing their own lines and had not been killed by Roman patrols, they reached the palisade. One of the defectors was the famous teacher Yohanan ben Zakkai, who escaped in a coffin and saved his life by predicting Titus that he, too, would be an emperor.
Since there was no wood, the construction of new siege dams to attack the Antonia took three weeks. A sortie of weakened Jewish warriors had no success. Soon, the sound of the battering-rams was to be heard, and one night, a wall of the Antonia collapsed; but the legionaries discovered that a new wall had been built behind the breach. The Antonia had to be taken by other means.
During a dark night at the beginning of July, twenty-four Roman soldiers climbed the walls of the castle, killed the guard, and sounded a trumpet. The garrison of Antonia overestimated the number of enemies; many fled to the Temple. At the same time, Titus ordered his men to enter the mine that the militias had made. At three o’ clock in the morning, these men entered the fortress; after ten hours of fighting, they had driven all the militias away.
On 14 July, prisoners told the militias that the priests in the Temple had been forced to interrupt the daily sacrifices, which had greatly demoralized the defenders of Jerusalem. The Antonia was demolished. The stones were used to build a new dam, this time towards the Temple terrace. The Romans used the dam to set fire to the porticoes on the northern and western side of the terrace, but it was impossible to bash through the walls. On the tenth of August, the Temple itself was set on fire. Six thousand women and children were taken prisoner at the Court of the Gentiles, while the legionaries sacrificed to their standards in the Holy of Holies.
The Temple was set on fire. During the next few days, the Romans destroyed the archives, the quarter immediately south of the Temple, and the building where the Sanhedrin convened. Then, they descended into the Old City. Meanwhile, dams had been prepared to attack the palace; when Titus’ men had taken it, the last defenders managed to hide themselves in the sewer system but to no avail. By 8 September, Titus was master of what was left of the city.
On his return to Rome, Vespasian, Titus and their soldiers celebrated a triumph. They paraded through the streets of their capital in a beautiful procession, which culminated in the punishment of the Jewish leaders: Simon son of Giora was executed and John of Gischala was sentenced to life imprisonment. The sacred vessels, the table on which the Bread of God’s Presence had been put, the Menorah, the curtain and all the other objects that nobody except the high priest was allowed to see, were carried through the Roman streets.
The boundless riches from the Temple treasury were used to strike coins with the legend JUDAEA CAPTA (“Judaea defeated”). Any Roman would be reminded of their victory. The Jews were forced to pay an additional tax (fiscus Judaicus).
During the four years of war, the Romans had taken 97,000 prisoners. Thousands of them were forced to become gladiators and were killed in the arena, fighting wild animals or fellow gladiators. Some, who were known as criminals, were burned alive. Others were employed at Seleucia, where they had to dig a tunnel. But most of these prisoners were brought to Rome, where they were forced to build the Forum of Peace (a park in the heart of Rome) and the Colosseum. The Menorah and the Table were exhibited in the temple of Peace.
But which sects had escaped death? History recorded only two sects that escaped the inferno of AD 70:
(1) The Christians, known as Nazarenes in Acts 24:5. They escaped to a northern town called Pella, west of the Jordan River. (2) Some Pharisees, those of the House of Hillel. They were headed by a Pharisaic rabbi, Johanan ben Zakkai, the head of the Sanhedrin, who was smuggled out of besieged Jerusalem in a coffin. They escaped to Yavne and, later, his followers re-emerged as Rabbinic Jews, who established the Hillel Calendar, which was revealed by Hillel II in about AD 359 concerning the rules of the calendar.
All other sects of the Jews died and disappeared in the AD 70 inferno: All Sadducees, Herodians, Boethusians, Essenes, together with the House of Shammai Pharisees and those of its military arm, the Zealots. They all disappeared from history. Were they receiving their “fire”? Were these sects facing their sodom and Gomorrah?
Were these “baptised in FIRE” as warned by John the Baptist? We need to note a very important point in this judgment. God included His holy city of Jerusalem in this judgment. He did not exclude them from judgment during the inferno of AD 70.
The Destiny of the Pharisees (Shammites) — Dead
Main characteristics — Rivid rules and penalties; Lack of mercy and grace.
The word “FIRE” is highlighted above, with a hope that the Blind could finally see. When we look back, one cannot avoid concluding that God had deemed that the Sadducees, the Boethusians and the Essenes were worthy of extinction during the AD 70 INFIRNO. Everything about them were destroyed. A large portion of the Shammai Pharisees also followed suit; only the Christians survived by fleeing to Pella and the Hillel branch of Pharisees limped off to Yavne.
And these are the verses in Ezekiel repeated and expanded here for reflection. The message of Ezekiel was and is to the House of Israel. Ezekiel was already a captive when he gave the warning, “I was among the captives by the River of Chebar” Eze 1:1 so his warning was not for those already in Babylon but for those far beyond his time.
Ezekiel 3:17 “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word out of My mouth, and give them warning from Me. 18 When I say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20 Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 3:17-21
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:23
And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man obey, he shall even live in them. Ezekiel 20:11
But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They walked not in My statutes and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall even live; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. “‘Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. Ezekiel 20:13
Zechariah 12:9 And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.10 And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Although in mourning and in grief, the Jewish Orthodoxy survive, but would those from the Church of God Communities survive? By adhering to the same belief of Passoverand methodology of countingPentecost of the Sadducees and Boethusians, would they repeat history by following their fate?
If not, why not? What other features and characteristics are there for the end-time Church other than wretched, blind and naked? Is God going to spew them out of His mouth? What does that mean? And not into the FIRE?
The LORD spoke to Ephraim, the HEAD of the Ten Lost Tribes:
Leviticus 26:15 and if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant,
16 I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set My face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies; they that hate you shall reign over you, and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass.
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 “‘And if ye walk contrary unto Me and will not hearken unto Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.
22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate.
23 “‘And if ye will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will walk contrary unto Me,
24 then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities I will send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and ye shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 “‘And if ye will not for all this hearken unto Me, but walk contrary unto Me,
28 then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols;and My soul shall abhor you.
31 And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.
32 And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
34 “‘Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths.
35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it.
36 And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursueth.
37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
38 And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
40 “‘If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me,
41 and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity,
42 then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
43 The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths while she lieth desolate without them; and they shall accept the punishment of their iniquity, because, even because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.
44 And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God.
Clarke: Neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly – Though God has literally fulfilled all his threatenings upon this people in dispossessing them of their land, destroying their polity, overturning their city, demolishing their temple, and scattering themselves over the face of the whole earth; yet he has, in his providence, strangely preserved them as a distinct people, and in very considerable numbers also.
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
Fred R. Coulter Christian Biblical Church of God Post Office Box 1442 Hollister California 95024-1442
This is a continuation of a Critique of Fred Coulter’s Passover. This Passover controversy is an important Bible subject and we’ll follow it in detail. The main issue is whether the Passover is on the early or late fourteenth of Nisan.
Quoted are Fred Coulter’s work, from an internet PDF version. These excerpts are in block form, in PINK, and indented so as to differentiate them from other quotes or comments. The Scriptures, in RED, must be our primary focus and guide, and sometimes the Scriptures, which include the Septuagint and the Targum, say things very different from what we think!
And so with that in mind, we’ll begin:
Chapter 6 – 7
The killing of the Passover lambs took place AT THE BEGINNING of the fourteenth day. As the thirteenth day of the month drew to a close, all the children of Israel assembled their families and gathered around the lambs, watching the sun set and waiting for the sun to disappear below the horizon. The instant it dropped below the horizon, ending the thirteenth and beginning ben ha arbayim of the fourteenth, all the children of Israel killed the Passover lambs at precisely the same time! What a fantastic occurrence!
As God had commanded, “And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it BETWEEN THE TWO EVENINGS [Hebrew ben ha arbayim]” (Pg 57).
What is being described above – “watching the sun set waiting for the sun to disappear below the horizon” – resembles a counterfeit passover! The Samaritans, donning long white robes, chanting prayers and eating in haste would keep their passover — with belts on their waists, sandals on their feet, and staffs in their hands — at Mount Gerizim at sunset.
What Hayyim Schauss wrote below about facing WESTWARD toward the setting SUN and about the REJOICING KISSES could complement Fred Coulter’s book:
“Exactly at sunset the High Priest faces westward and reads that portion of the Pentateuch which orders the slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice. About twelve or fourteen of the younger Samaritans busy themselves, meanwhile, with preparing the sacrificial animals. They form a circle about the pit of fire, holding the lambs between their legs, and as the High Priest utters the words, ‘And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk,’ they utter a benediction and throw the lambs, throats to the pit, where they are slaughtered by two ritual slaughterers. Six or seven sheep are slaughtered.
“The slaughtering is a signal for general rejoicing. Greetings are exchanged in the oriental manner; the participants kiss one another, first on the right shower and then on the left”(Schauss, The Jewish Festivals, Pg 63).
The Samaritans were very particular that the sheep should not be killed a minute before or after the sun went down. Just as the sun dipped into the Mediterranean the sheep were killed, the people shouting all the time. In reality, the Samaritans, exactly “AT SUNSET” and facing “WESTWARD” are SUN WORSHIPPERS, a syncretic blend of paganism and heresy, and this ancient apostasy is continuing in the CoG (CoGs) Communities today, unabashed.
“At sunset, or ba erev,” according to Fred Coulter, “is a very short period of time. It begins when the sun appears to touch the horizon,” and that’s when the lamb was killed, all simultaneously, during and is no more than 3-5 minutes. “What a fantastic occurrence!” Fred Coulter added his expression as the Samaritans began kissing each other on the shoulders, first on the right , then on the left.
But note one significant difference. The Samaritans don’t have another sacrifice following one at ba erev to satisfy ben ha arbayim as expressed in Exodus 12:6. Even the Samaritans are not that foolish, but Fred Coulter would whip out another rabbit from his hat and make another sacrifice. He wrote of others but in reality some of his observations are for himself. Here is one:
“WHAT FOLLY! What foolishness to accept a traditional belief that directly conflicts with the truth of God’s Word, and to use interpretations of Scripture that promote the false ideas of men! No wonder God says that He entraps the intelligent in the foolishness of their own human wisdom” (Pg 61).
According to Fred, “there can be no doubt whatsoever that ben ha arbayim comes after ba erev, or sunset.” And he kept on harping his stupidity, “we have found irrefutable proof that ben ha arbayim — “between the two evenings,” or “between the setting-times”—begins immediately after the day has ended at sunset, or ba erev.”
His analysis requires two rabbits for his passover, called Fred Coulter’s passover, one for his analysis of Exodus 12:6 ben ha arbayim and the other to satisfy his definition of Deuteronomy 16:6 ba erev.
Like a magical touch of Simon Magus, it’s another sleight of hand. And together with most of today’s Churches of God Communities, they also believe the same magic. It’s no surprise they came from the same homeland — from Samaria.
“Ephraim compasseth me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit” Hosea 11:12.
“And the head of Ephraim is Samaria” Isaiah 7:9
The Churches of God Communities may fervently consider themselves as virgins, waiting, waiting, but they haven’t realized they are being described elsewhere as “wretched” and “blind” and “naked,” and lies!
But the House of Israel continue with their deep-seated hatred of their brother Judah:
“Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still” Isaiah 9:21.
The Orthodoxy Rabbinic interpretation as to when to correctly kill the lamb is confirmed by the work of Ezra: The lamb were indeed killed on the afternoon of the fourteenth and eaten on the night of the fifteenth. The Targum (530 BC to 500 AD), whose origin was during the intertestamental period, translates and explains the eating of the Passover from the Hebrew in Exodus 12 into the vernacular, in a very simple language, and verse 8 is extremely clear: “And you shall eat the flesh on that night, the fifteenth of Nisan . . .” (Targum Exodus 12:8)
When the Exile returned from Babylon, Ezra, a Levite and high priest, read and translated the Torah in Hebrew into the common Aramaic language, and he, or other Levites, explained the Torah so the people could understand.
“The Levites … instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read” (Nehemiah 8:7–8).
Another way of saying: The Law was read by Ezra, verse by verse, and each verse was followed by a recitation by the Levites into the Aramaic version. Hence in Nehemiah 8:8 Ezra narrated not only the reading of the Law, but the Levites interprete and explain the Torah from Hebrew into the vernacular in Aramaic.
Now on the subject of the true timing of when the quail arrived in the evening, the Rabbinic understanding is that the quail arrived in the afternoon, anytime when the sun moved passed its zenith, until sunset, which is the first phase of erev — this same period could also be described as ben ha arbayim — “between the two evenings,” or “after noon and until nightfall.”
During this time of about six hours, it is daylight time and the Israelites wouldn’t have any problem catching the quail, killing them, skinning and cleaning them, cooking and having them for food. There wouldn’t be any problem at all about keeping the Sabbath when it arrived a few hours later.
Also, the Scriptures are silent about the quails appearing six times a week in any manner like manna did for forty years as expressed in Exodus 16:35. In fact, the story of the quail in Numbers 11 strongly hints, especially with a plague involved, that it is a one-off event, or probably, twice.
Numbers 11 has a chronological order. It began with “And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed those who were in the uttermost parts of the camp.”
Despite fire consumed some of them, others still complained:
Numbers 11:4 And the mixed multitude [Targum: strangers as well as sons of Israel] that was among them fell to lusting. And the children of Israel also wept again and said, “Who shall give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic;
Notice the next verse, this took place when the children of Israel already had manna to eat:
Numbers 11:6 but our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes.”
While the story of the quails was taking place, the children of Israelites were already having “this manna before our eyes,” speaking with “disdain and contempt of the manna.” So pretending that their bodies lack fresh food, and having no moisture in them (John Gill comments on what “our soul is dried away” means), they murmured and complained. This complaining continued until they weep pitifully in their eyes, so the wrath of God was rekindled again:
Numbers 11:10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly;
So in short, God in anger sent them a month’s supply of quails, so much for them to eat until they came out at their nostrils . . . “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague” (Numbers 11:33).
Sometimes the Masoretic Text is vague on certain issues, but the Targum could shed further light on these uncertainties. Numbers 11 ended with a plague where “the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the wicked (Targum) people with a very great plague,” (v 33) killing by “a flaming fire from the Lord” (Targum) all those who murmured against Him, being “contemptuous” (Targum) and lusted for flesh to eat, and after eating, and “offered no thanksgiving to Him” (Targum).
However, if the quails had continued coming down throughout the 40 years, what about the plague? Was there only one plague regarding eating the quails in all that 40 years? And if so, did the people in later weeks or years stop grumbling?
Or that God had relented in His anger, feeling later that the son of Israel’s grumblings were legitimate compared to one recorded in Numbers 11?
The Scriptures offered no clear answer, but indications are that it was a one-off event, or only twice.
Also, the Targum in Numbers 11 confirms the time “all that day and all that night and all the next day” (v 32) was actually the time spent on waiting, watching and when the quails came, the catching and gathering the quails. No other details were given but Scriptures commented that the gathering of the quails was so great that the catch could last not just a week or two, but a whole month’s supply.
The story of the quails has nothing to say about the time preceded by the Sabbath, disproving Fred Coulter’s sole hypothesis “that ben ha arbayim comes after ba erev”:
Thus says the Targum:
“And they who had been wanting in faith arose: and all that day, and all the night, and all the day that followed, they gathered the quails; even he who was lame and infirm gathered ten korin (ten donkeys’ loads), and they spread them abroad round about the camps” (Targum: Numbers 11:32).
And after this incident, no repeat of the quail’s appearance were ever mentioned again. The story of the quails is about a contemptuous, a wicked and a lusting people, offering no thanksgiving to Him that fed them, thus deserving a death penalty by a flaming fire from the Lord – all hinting that Numbers 11 was the final event.
Below are more Scriptural evidence that the quails didn’t arrive again:
Deuteronomy 8:3And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. — no mention of quails but manna only.
Deuteronomy 8:16 who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; — no mention of quails but manna only.
Joshua 5:12And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. — surely this incident would include the quails if quail arrivals had occurred throughout the forty years in the wilderness; also no mention of the ceasing of quails before entering the Promised Land but manna only.
Nehemiah 9:20Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. — no mention of quails but manna only.
Psalm 78:24and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. — again, no mention of quails but manna only.
In the New Testament, no mention of quails were ever mentioned. Only manna were mentioned a couple of times. However there is only one Scripture in the Old Testament that has quails in it and that it maybe of interest to take a closer look:
Psalm 105:40 The people asked, and He brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. — The people asked [grumbled, lusted] for fresh, and God brought quails but satisfied them only with the bread of heaven. The “bread of heaven” is manna. Again no mention of quails to satisfy them, but they were satisfied only manna from heaven. The quails were not from heaven.
John Gill, however, thought the quails appeared twice. He commented on Psalm 105:40: “the people of Israel asked flesh of the Lord, and he gave them quails; which he did twice, first at the same time the manna was first given, Exodus 16:13, and some years after that a second time, when the wrath of God came upon them and slew them while their meat was in their mouths, Numbers 11:31.”
Regardless of the quails appearing once or twice, the story of the quails is about a contemptuous, a wicked and a lusting people, offering no thanksgiving to Him that fed them, thus deserving a death penalty by a flaming fire from the Lord. Whether it was a one-off event or twice it wouldn’t make a difference. All these bad attributes mentioned above brought about their downfall, a lesson they needed to learn to be content, be humble and be thankful with having manna for the rest of their forty years wandering in the desert.
Besides flouting and stigmatizing the Rabbinic understanding of evening (erev),Fred Coulter also redefines what morning (bôqer) is in Genesis 1:5 And the evening (erev) and the morning (bôqer) were the first day. Such a day is a full 24-hours day. And this 24-hour day is divided into evening (erev) and morning (bôqer), each could only be a 12-hour period. The full extent of time for evening (erev) is from noon to midnight; and the full extent of time for morning (bôqer) is another 12-hour period, from midnight to noon.
~~7~~
Up to Chapter 7 of Fred Coulter’s The Christian Passover, we can see the author had quoted a lot from Everett Fox’s translation and from the Schocken Bible. And both sources translate boqer as “until sunrise” or “UNTIL DAYBREAK,” (pg 71) or “beginning at the crack of dawn,” (pg 77).
Flashback to Chapter 6, Fred Coulter wrote:
These two key verses must be kept in mind: “…And none of you shall go out of the door of his house UNTIL SUNRISE….And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did” (Ex. 12:22, 28). (Pg 64).
The Schocken Bible conveys the directness of the command even more emphatically and pinpoints the exact time that they were permitted to leave their houses: “…Now you—you are NOT to go out, any man from the entrance to his house, UNTIL DAYBREAK” (Ex. 12:22, SB). (Pg 65).
And this is repeated in Chapter 7:
God strictly forbade any Israelite to leave his house until sunrise. The Schocken Bible conveys the precise meaning of the Hebrew word boqer, showing the exact time at which the children of Israel were permitted to leave: “Now you—you are not to go out, any man from the entrance to his house, UNTIL DAYBREAK” (Ex. 12:22, SB). ( Pg 71)
Morning, or boqer, does not include any part of the night, or lailah. Boqer begins with the first light of dawn, just before the sun rises above the horizon. Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication that boqer is “long before sunrise” or “the latter portion of the night.” The Scriptures never refer to the dark hours after midnight as boqer, or “morning.” (Pg 78)
So who is Everett Fox, since he is greatly admired by Fred Coulter? And who are behind the Schocken Bible? Since Fred had quoted principally from Fox’s translation and the Schocken Bible we’ll take a deeper dive to find out more. Aren’t you curious? I am sure we all do.
Rabbis Everett and Cherie Fox
Everett Fox spent years at Brandeis University as a college student, majoring in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. He is the husband of Jewish educator, Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox (a Jewish feminist), yet he is described, at best, as a conservative Jewish scholar.
Although he studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) of America in New York for only one and a half years at the Seminary, the influence from the reform-minded Seminary had a deep impact on him, as evidence showed in his translation of the Bible, published by Schocken Books. And they all teamed up to publish the Schocken Bible (described as an offshoot of the Buber-Rosenzweig translation), from which Fred Coulter quoted extensively.
The JTS seminary was started by Rabbi Zecharias Frankel (1801-1875) who was a leading figure in mid-19th Century German Jew. Known both for his traditionalist views and the esteem he held for scientific study of Judaism. Frankel was, ironically, at first considered a conservative within the nascent Reform Judaism Movement.
The Reform Judaism Movement, or Reform Judaism, or sometimes just the Reform Movement advocates that Jewish laws are not static, but rather have always developed in response to changing conditions. In his endeavour, Frankel amassed scholarly support which showed one must be open to a changing environment and developing Judaism in the same evolving fashion that the law should be reinterpreted, and as a way of restoring meaning to modern life.
Although the Jewish Theological Seminary of America was alleged to be a product of the Reform Movement, it claimed to be “a new rabbinical school” in New York City.
There were power struggles between the two, but eventually Reform Judaism gained ground as the Seminary developed a new movement known as Conservative Judaism. This conservatism may not sound conservative — traditionalist, orthodox, conventional — but Reform Judaism were just only taking place at a slower pace. Nevertheless the Jewish Theological Seminary became the primary educational and religious center of Conservative Judaism.
The central theme for the Conservative Movement is that Jewish Law shouldn’t be regarded as static, but “to reignite a fresh religious insight,” that Rabbinic Judaism be regarded as non-binding and that individual Jew should be regarded as autonomous, and that our perception of Judaism “should incorporate openness to external influences and progressive values” as the years unfold. Concurrently, examining Jewish history and rabbinic literature through the lens of academic criticism, it maintained that these laws were “always subject to considerable evolution, and must continue to do so.”
Conservative Rabbi Amy Eilberg
Thus from the beginning in the 1970s, the topic of women’s ordination was regularly discussed at JTS. A special commission (which consisted of 11 men and three women) was established by the chancellor of the Seminary to study the issue of ordaining women as rabbis. After years of discussion, the JTS faculty voted to ordain women as rabbis and as cantors in 1983.
The first female rabbi to graduate from the school (and the first female Conservative Jewish rabbi in the world) was Amy Eilberg, who graduated and was ordained as a rabbi in 1985. The first class of female rabbis that was admitted to JTS in 1984 included Rabbi Naomi Levy, who later became a best-selling author and Nina Beth Cardin, who became an author and environmental activist. Erica Lippitz and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel were the first women ordained as cantors by JTS (and the first female Conservative Jewish cantors in the world). They were both ordained in 1987.
Since March 2007, JTS has accepted openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual students into their rabbinical and cantorial programs. This is to uphold the Seminary’s non-discrimination policies for their new founded admission policy, without taking a stance on same-sex unions. JTS marked the first anniversary of the change with a special program.
Since then, special programs were established to recognize the pluralism in the student body. In April 2011, JTS held a Yom Iyyun, or day of learning, about LGBTQ issues, and their intersection with Judaism. Joy Ladin, a transgender woman who teaches English at Yeshiva University, gave a talk about her life. Other programs included creating welcoming communities, and inclusive prayer, among others. It was sponsored by other Jewish social action groups to ensure that all other queer individuals are included in all sectors of Jewish life.
TransgenderJoy Ladin
Ladin has described her girlhood intuiting at a young age, viewing her assigned male identity as “false” as a child. At age eight, she began calling herself a “pacifist” in order to avoid combative play and athletics.
She received her PhD from Princeton University in 2000, her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1995 and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1982. In 2007, Ladin received tenure at Yeshiva University, and thereafter announced her gender transition. In consternation, the Yeshiva could only place her on 18 month paid leave, but with the aid of lawyers from Lambda Legal, Ladin returned to work at Yeshiva University in 2008.
Since its birth, Reform Judaism had given themselves a new challenge. In an effort to avoid what they perceived as “bondage to Judaism” the Bible has to be reinterpreted in a different way from what the Rabbinic Orthodoxy believes.
Thus the Hebrew term ben ha arbayim is reinterpreted as between the setting-times and erev as dusk. And bôqer, which Orthodoxy defined as the time after midnight to noon, is redefined and restricted to daybreak or sunrise. So Passover and the Exodus were redefined to recapture the spirit of the ancient Samaritans, a spirit that persistently looked at Jewish laws and issues not from a static viewpoint, but from an evolving angle.
Biblical and non-Biblical history has recorded a couple of evolving reinterpretations at various times to suit a new social and political environment, each has its own axe to grind:
(1) King Jeroboam — Being anointed King of the Northern Kingdom he quickly felt he needed a new place of worship, lest his subjects could be influenced to pledge their allegiance back to the Kingdom of Judah based on Jerusalem. For the convenience of his subjects, he chose two places: Bethel and Dan. And to differentiate from Jerusalem’s feasts, he moved the Feast of Tabernacles to the eighth month. Also, he made himself the high priest, whose action drove most of the Levites and others in the priesthood south to the Kingdom of Judah.
(2) The Samaritans — After the Shalmaneser king of Assyria had taken the Ten Tribes into Exile, he took the surrounding heathens to resettle the land. But lions plagued the new settlers, so they needed a priest from the previous populace to come and teach them how to worship the God of the land. Having secured a returning priest, the new settlers “feared the Lord, but served their own gods, after the manner of the nations who carried them away from thence” (II Kings 17:33).
(3) Sanballat the Horonite — He was a Samaritan governor and was a chief opponent of Nehemiah and Ezra, and who, with some Jewish allies, constantly fought against Jerusalem and the teaching of Ezra. Failing to infiltrate Jerusalem in the rebuilding Temple activities, he sought consent from the Persian Court to build a similar temple on Mount Gerizim as Nehemiah had done in Jerusalem. And he had one of the grandsons of Eliashib, the high priest in Jerusalem, made a high priest in Mount Gerizim. He was Manasseh, who married a daughter of Sanballat, and was dispelled from Jerusalem for not keeping his lineage pure (Nehemiah 13:28). The Mountain Gerizim was inserted into the Pentateuch to make the new mountain under their control as God’s sacred mountain.
(4) The Sadducees — the Sadducaic sect claimed they drew their name from Zadok, the first high priest of Israel to serve in the First Temple, with further claims they were the “sons of Zadok,” descendants of Eleazar, son of Aaron. Many of the Pharisees were also priests and both participated in the Temple and in the Sanhedrin, so there were intense rivalries battling each other for centuries. The Boethusians and the Herodias had strong blood ties and were close compatriots of the Sadducees.
(5) The Karaites — Anan ben David (715 – 795 or 811?), a nasi, a prince, from a family of exilarchs, the leaders of Babylonian Jewry, was the founder of the Karaite movement. His followers were, at first, called Ananites, but adopted Karaism as their movement. They rejected the Oral law as divinely inspired and because many of their other beliefs were similar to the Sadducees, some claimed they were descendents from them. Nehemia Gordon is a prominent Karaite today among English-speaking audiences.
(6) Reform Judaism — Abraham Geiger (1810 – 1874), a rabbi in Germany, was considered the founding father of the Reform Movement. Emphasizing Judaism’s constant development along history and universalist traits, Geiger sought to reformulate a new form of Judaism in what he regarded as a religion compliant with modern times. And so he did, splitting Judaism further in varied forms: Reform, Conservative, Progressive, Liberal, Humanistic and Reconstructionist.
(7) Church of God Communities — together with the Church of God, Seventh Day, the Seventh-Day Adventists came from the teachings of William Miller (1782 – 1849), especially the need to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Next came Herbert W Armstrong who started the Radio Church of God in 1933 (renamed Worldwide Church of God in1968), and Ambassador College in 1947. Following his death in 1986, the church and the college collapsed, and now a couple of its splinters remain, known collectively as the Church of God Communities.
But here our concentration is on the (6) Reform Judaism for the moment:
The Orthodox or Rabbinic life faced many challenges since the Industrial Revolution and were subjected to numerous scrutiny among the majority of Jews living in the diaspora at large. And soon their claim as sole traditional theological authority to Torah Law and practice were not sustainable over time. This gave rise to demand for changes and reforms in various guises — a stiffnecked people adding sin to sin, a rebellious and lying children — all ending with a consuming fire. Thus says in the Sacred Text:
“Woe to the rebellious children,” saith the Lord, “that take counsel, but not of Me, and that cover with a covering, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin . . . 9 that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord” (Isaiah 30:1,9).
And the Lord said unto Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people.10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them” (Exodus 32:9).
“Understand therefore this day that the Lord thy God is He who goeth over before thee as a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 9:3).
Could this wrath of “a consuming fire” that were destined for other people in ancient times be turned around in our modern era toward the CoG Communities by the same Lord? And could it “begin at My sanctuary?” (Ezekiel 9:6). We’ll see as we investigate this question further in future critiques.
Dr. Jerry Hendrix (Ph.D.) is a retired Navy captain, a frequent contributor to NR, and one of the foremost naval historians and strategic thinkers in Washington today. He understands thoroughly what’s wrong with the Navy and what it will take to fix it; and it would be a sign that Providence intends once again to shine on these United States if he were at some point to become secretary of the Navy.
He would be the best secretary since the legendary John Lehman, who built the modern Navy during the Reagan years and who also writes the foreword to Captain Hendrix’s new book, To Provide and Maintain a Navy. The book is intended to be, and is, both an argument for the importance of naval power and a blueprint for the future Navy that the lay reader can easily access and understand.
The thesis is that the primacy of American naval power after World War II firmly established the idea of the seas as international commons, ensured oceanic security by deterring naval conflict, and — along with the technological advances of those years — empowered the growth of the American (and world) free-trade economy while also giving the United States a cost-effective means for sustaining its influence and alliances around the world.
Hendrix offers one of the best explanations of naval “presence” that I’ve ever seen:
US Navy ships . . . possess a distinct advantage over their land contemporaries in that they can exert influence ashore without having to be physically tied to the land. Not only does sovereignty move with each commissioned ship but also through the effects of its sensors and weapons; it can project influence simply by being present offshore. Think of this influence as an incandescent lamp moving about upon the sea. As it approaches an object, its influence can be understood as the degree to which [its] sensors and weapons fully “illuminate” or make clear the local strategic environment while demonstrating US interests at the local area. . . .
Ships moving toward an area of interest cast a “bow wave” of influence ahead of them as they approach, projecting their capabilities and potential for action well prior to their arrival, yet ships departing an area also leave behind influence in the good will and stability they fostered but also because of the implicit promise that they can, and will, return.
Unfortunately, as Hendrix explains in lucid detail, American naval primacy is now largely a thing of the past. The defense budget was reduced by over a third in the 1990s, forcing the Navy to cut 200 ships. The situation got even worse in the first 15 years of this century. All pretense of meeting naval requirements was dropped, and the Navy lost another 100 ships. Our NATO allies reduced their fleets even more than the United States did during the same period.
At its low point about five years ago, the Navy had only slightly more than 270 ships. It was obvious to everyone (except some fact-checking organizations) that the Navy was too small, which prompted me in 2017 to write a column called simply “We Need More Ships!”
There should be two aircraft carriers in the Pacific theater at all times. Only one is deployed there consistently. There should also be a two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf, yet only one is typically there. There should be a continuous carrier presence in the Mediterranean, but typically there is no carrier there at all. This is because the United States only has eleven aircraft carriers and at any given time only about a third of them can be deployed at sea. Carriers have to steam to and from deployments, and they must be maintained in home port. This “two for one” rule is true for the entire Navy (and in fact, for most of the armed forces) but it’s especially true for carriers, because they require so much maintenance.
The Trump administration made rebuilding the Navy a priority but was able to add only about 20 ships to the inventory in four years. As a result, the Navy has had to lengthen ship deployments in order to maintain at sea even two thirds of the required number of vessels. That in turn has reduced the time available for maintenance and training, to the point that even the ships we have are much less ready than they should be. Hendrix calls this effect the “material death spiral” — the cascading disintegration of naval readiness when the fleet is highly stressed for long periods of time.
“I will be unto Ephraim as a moth” Hosea 5:12
Clarke – I will consume them little by little, as a moth frets a garment.
Gill – which eats garments, penetrates into them, feeds on them privately, secretly, without any noise, and gradually and slowly consumes them; but at last utterly, that they are of no use and profit:
On December 20, 2020, the Guardian reports that Britain has notified the WHO about a new fast-spreading strain of COVID-19
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed tighter COVID-19 restrictions ahead of Christmas, after he was briefed that a new strain of the virus circulating in south-east England could be up to 70 per cent more transmissible.
With the average number of cases in England soaring because of a new, more contagious strain of the virus, Mr Johnson said the Government had to take urgent action.
Just days after reaffirming the festive “bubble” plan and claiming it would be “inhuman” to cancel Christmas, the prime minister announced the creation of a new, stricter “tier 4”.
“And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.” Leviticus 26:31
Chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said viruses often mutated but this strain had gained force over autumn.
“We think it may be in other countries as well. We definitely think there’s a large outbreak in the UK,” he said.
John Hopkins' Britain Stats
“It may have started here, we don’t know for sure. There will be other types of mutations around the world.”
Professor Edmunds, a highly respected epidemiologist and member of the government’s powerful Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told television station ITV the new strain was “the worst moment of the whole epidemic”.
The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness (Deuteronomy 28:29)
Update: December 24, 2020
The Daily Mail reports “Cases in South Africa have spiked from 3,000 to 9,500 per day in three weeks, with the mutant accounting for up to 90 percent of those new infections.”
Britain’s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock said: “This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.”
Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel and Mauritius have banned flights from South Africa in an effort to stop the spread of the mutant which is thought to be giving young people more acute symptoms than other variants.
South African doctors say their patients are younger and do not always have other conditions that amplify the virus’ effect, but are nonetheless suffering from more severe forms of Covid-19.
CNN (Jan 22, 2021) reports about the new UK variant death rates: “If you took… a man in their 60s, the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die with the virus. With the new variant, for 1,000 people infected, roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die.”
The UK remains under a strict lockdown.
The Times of Israel reports (Jan 22, 2021): “I don’t think this virus is going anywhere,” British government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance said. “It’s going to be around, probably, forever.”
Deuteronomy 28:21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee until He have consumed thee from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
Peter Schiff, author of numerous books, has been warning about a looming dollar collapse. During an appearance on Fox Business in July, Peter said the dollar isn’t just going down, it’s going to crash.
“I think the dollar is going to keep drifting down until it collapses,” Peter said. “And this is going to usher in a real economic crisis in America, unlike something we’ve ever seen.
Peter is not alone. In a recent article published on SCMP.com, Yale economist Stephen Roach said he expects the dollar to plunge by as much as 35% next year.
Roach lists three factors he thinks will ultimately doom the dollar.
This reflects three considerations: the rapid deterioration in macroeconomic imbalances in the United States, the ascendancy of the euro and renminbi as alternatives, and the end of the aura of American exceptionalism that has given the dollar Teflon-like resilience for most of the post-World War II era.”
Roach called the confluence of an erosion in domestic savings and the current account deficit “nothing short of staggering.”
The national savings rate has entered negative territory for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, coming in at -1% in the second quarter. According to Roach, a temporary surge in personal savings due to the pandemic and government stimulus checks has been more than outweighed by a record expansion in the federal budget deficit.
With the federal budget deficit exploding towards 16% of gross domestic product this financial year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the savings plunge is only a hint of what lies ahead. This will trigger a collapse in the US current-account deficit. Lacking savings and wanting to invest and grow, the US must import surplus savings and run massive external deficits to attract foreign capital.”
A current account deficit occurs when the value of the goods and services a country imports exceeds the value of its exports. We’re already seeing signs of that the current-account deficit is widening. It came in at 3.5% of GDP in Q2 – the worst since the 4.3% deficit in the fourth quarter of 2008. Not only that, the quarter to quarter decline charted the largest deterioration since recordkeeping began in 1960.
Roach noted that the Federal Reserve will exacerbate the rapidly destabilizing savings and current-account imbalances with its zero percent interest rate policies and its “average 2% inflation” targeting. In simple terms, the Fed is committed to holding interest rates low, even if inflation gets hot.
This new bias towards monetary accommodation effectively closes off an important option – upwards adjustments to interest rates – that has long tempered currency declines in most economies. By default, that puts even more pressure on the falling dollar as the escape valve from America’s rapidly deteriorating macroeconomic imbalances. In short, the vice is tightening on a still-overvalued dollar. Domestic savings are plunging as never before, and the current-account balance is following suit. Don’t expect the Fed, focused more on supporting equity and bond markets than on leaning against inflation, to save the day. The dollar’s decline has only just begun.”
What Will Happen to You When the Dollar Collapses?
Historically, when a nation’s debt exceeds its ability to repay even the interest, it can be assumed that the currency will collapse. Typically, governments exacerbate the situation by printing large amounts of currency notes in an effort to inflate the problem away, or at least postpone it.
The greater the level of debt, the more dramatic the inflation must be to counter it. The more dramatic the inflation, the greater the danger that hyperinflation will take place. No government has ever been able to control hyperinflation. If it occurs, it does so quickly and always ends with a crash.
“I create darkness; I create evil; I, the Lord, do all these things” Isaiah 45:7
With Donald Trump set to leave office, newly released documents show his strategy towards Beijing has largely failed, and that the US isn’t confident over its ability to contain China in certain areas should a conflict arise.
Following the departure of White House Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger and with the Trump administration coming to an end, a number of documents have been declassified setting out its ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategy or, more specifically, its gameplan to attempt to contain China over its four years in office.
The documents are hardly comprehensive, yet reveal ambitions to contain Beijing in the political, diplomatic, economic and military spheres, including a blueprint of what the US would do in a potential war scenario.
Documents Reveal Self-Doubt
According to the papers, the US has aimed to sustain its “primacy” in the region, “support activists and reformers” opposed to Beijing (such as the Hong Kong protesters), create a counter to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and economically integrate the region towards the US, enlist allies against China in the form of the Quad and assist “the rise of India”.
But what about in the event of a conflict? The documents spoke of aiming to prevent China “dominating the first island chain” – the scope of islands extending from Japan to Taiwan and around the South China Sea – via air and sea, and to maintain uncontested supremacy over the “area beyond”. Military analysts have described the former objective as being “modest” in expectation.
“China’s leaders are much smarter than ours. It’s like taking the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and having them play your high school football team,” President Trump.
If anything, the file reveals the comprehensive failure of the Trump administration’s strategy towards the region during his tenure in office. Not only have attempts to bolster America’s economic presence failed completely, largely owing to the contradictory priorities of the White House, but in addition the document illustrates subtle doubt rather than confidence that the US is capable of defeating China in this “first island chain” region.
The US, above all, is seeking naval containment of China, and in line Beijing has utilized the Belt and Road Initiative to counter it by diversifying its energy supply routes.
Throughout its tenure in office, the Trump administration has been unable to accept China’s status as a rising power, and these documents reveal how this resulted in a set of policies aimed at attempting to quell the country’s rise through various means.
These methods, however, have not yielded much success, largely because of the US’s understating of the dynamics which underscore Beijing’s centrality and importance to the region as an economic power, and the erroneous belief that it can easily divide the world into cold war blocs and force countries to undercut their relations with China on the premise of values alone.
The idea that the US can somehow displace Beijing again as the region’s economic centre of gravity is not realistic, and events such as the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership underscore that.
“Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart; they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” Hosea 7:11
“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” former CIA director and now Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on April 15, 2019 at a forum at Texas A&M University, TX. “It was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.” Interestingly, a Christian religious news broadcaster picked up on Pompeo’s words and described it with such precision as follows: “that’s not the resume of the Secretary of State… that’s the resume of Satan.”
Mike Pompeo is the worst secretary of state in history
As secretary of state, Mike Pompeo has presided over the collapse of negotiations with North Korea, the failure of a pressure campaign against Iran and an abortive attempt to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian regime. On his watch, China has carried out genocide in its Xinjiang region and the suppression of Hong Kong’s freedoms without resistance from Washington until it was too late.
Pompeo has failed to fill dozens of senior positions at the State Department, and hundreds of career diplomats have left or been driven out in political purges. Morale is at a historic low: In staff surveys, there has been a 34 percent increase between 2016 and 2019 in those who say the State Department’s senior leaders “did not maintain high levels of honesty and integrity.” Maybe that’s because Pompeo himself has defied legal mandates from Congress, skirted a law restricting arms sales to Saudi Arabia, tasked staffers with carrying out errands for himself and his wife, and fired the inspector general who was investigating his violations.
Last week, Pompeo crossed yet another ethical line by speaking before the Republican National Convention, thereby disregarding the State Department’s explicit legal guidance against such appearances. The speech he delivered was weak and littered with false or simply ludicrous claims, such as that the recent diplomatic accord between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is “a deal that our grandchildren will read about in their history books.” Maybe if they major in Middle Eastern affairs.
With his ambitions likely fixed on a presidential candidacy in 2024, Pompeo is undoubtedly hoping most of the diplomatic disasters will ultimately be blamed on President Trump, especially if Trump loses the November election. But the former Kansas congressman should not get off so easy. Yes, it’s Trump’s foreign policy. But Pompeo’s steering of it has led to some of the worst diplomatic damage the United States has suffered in decades — especially in relations with its closest allies.
A good example can be seen in the debates over Iran this month at the UN Security Council. Amid the press of other news, the Trump administration’s failure to extend an expiring UN arms embargo against Iran hasn’t gotten much attention. But it offers a telling illustration of how Pompeo has driven US policy into blind alleys.
The pressure campaign against Iran has been Pompeo’s signature cause: Trump announced the US withdrawal from the multilateral accord restraining Iran’s nuclear program 13 days after Pompeo became secretary of state in April 2018. The president said he wanted to negotiate another deal, but Pompeo quickly moved to head that off, setting a dozen far-reaching conditions Tehran would have to meet and letting it be known his own goal was regime change.
Which, of course, hasn’t happened. Despite mounting US sanctions and a drone strike killing its most important general, the regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has remained intact and has stepped up its uranium enrichment. By this summer Iran had quintupled the stockpile of enriched uranium it had when Pompeo’s crusade began.
That brings us to the battles at the Security Council, where Pompeo tried to force through an extension of the UN arms embargo against Iran, which is due to expire in October. Though US allies have no interest in allowing Tehran to sell and buy weapons, they recognized that a new embargo would rupture what remains of the nuclear deal, prompting Iran to expel the UN inspectors who are still monitoring its activities. That, they concluded, was Pompeo’s real intent.
The result was a humiliatingly lopsided vote against the US resolution, with Britain, Germany and France withholding support. Pompeo’s reaction was to publicly trash the allies — who, he said, “chose to side with the ayatollahs.” A week later, he doubled down, notifying the Security Council that the United States would seek to invoke a provision of the nuclear accord allowing one government to unilaterally force the reimposition of UN sanctions — even though Washington is no longer a party to the pact.
That has set the stage for an even more bruising battle. Last week, the Security Council’s president announced that all but one member of the council had rejected the US gambit as illegal. The US reaction? Another statement accusing its closest allies of “standing in the company of terrorists.” Pompeo, says Daniel Fried, a former State Department chief for Europe, “seemed to take gratuitous pleasure in division.” US relations with Europe, he told me, are the “worst I can remember.”
RT and Yahoo (Jan 20, 2021) report China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying accused Pompeo of “lying and cheating,” and calling him “a doomed clown and the joke of the century!”
“The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet” Isaiah 28:3
Ezekiel 5:11 “Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, surely because thou hast defiled My sanctuary with all thy detestable things and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall Mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
As the FBI warns of violence, anti-government extremists are ready to get in on the chaos.
“They want Rome to fall,” one observer MacNab said. “They want chaos to bring it down.”
In the menagerie of right-wing populist groups, the boogaloo bois stand out for their fashion, for their great love of memes, and, to put it plainly, for the incoherence of their ideology. Which is saying a lot, considering that the riot at the Capitol last Wednesday featured partisans of the long-gone country of South Vietnam, Falun Gong adherents, end-times Christians, neo-Nazis, QAnon believers, a handful of Orthodox Jews, and Daniel Boone impersonators.
The boogaloos weren’t a huge presence in that mob. But according to federal officials, the attack on the Capitol has galvanized them and could inspire boogaloo violence in D.C. and around the country between now and Inauguration Day. The FBI warned earlier that boogaloos could launch attacks in state capitols this Sunday, January 17.
The boogaloos don’t appear interested in fighting for Donald Trump—they tend to despise him, mostly because they think he panders to the police. But for the past year, boogaloo bois all over the United States have been cheering on the country’s breakdown, waiting for the moment when their nihilistic memes would come to life and the country would devolve into bloody chaos.
Ezekiel 5:12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
~~~~~
More from ZeroHedge: While the protesters are being identified across various platforms as members of a so-called “boogaloo” movement, they largely appear to be generic anti-government anarchists – some of whom call themselves “liberty boys,” and others who oppose the conservative Proud Boys. “We are not a pro-Trump group” says one of the speakers for the Boogaloo Boys in front of the Ohio Statehouse. “We are out here supporting the local BLM scene.”
QAnon Shaman & Co Praying for Divine Guidance
CNN Reports: Heading ‘into a buzzsaw’: Why extremism experts fear the Capitol attack is just the beginning!
The US Capitol is surrounded by fences and troops amid fear the January 6 riots could spark violence this weekend and leading up to Wednesday’s inauguration.But experts worry the real threat may be what the attack unleashed for the long term.
~ Come to my parlour ~ the spider says to the butterfly: “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.”
"Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?” Isaiah 42:18-19
"Where two sit together to study the Torah, the Shekinah rests between them."
“Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet! And show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins" Isaiah 58:1
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word out of My mouth, and give them warning from Me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die,’ and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul" Ezekiel 3:17-19
Now, consider this PROPHECY:
“And upon thy sword shalt thou depend, entering at every place: yet thou shalt be supple and credulous, and be in subjection to thy brother [Jacob]; but it will be that when his sons [the children of Israel] become evil, and fall from keeping the commandments of the law, thou shalt break his yoke of servitude from off thy neck…. and then will I kill Jakob my brother,” Genesis 27:41-42 the Targum of Jonathan
“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you'" Exodus 31:13
ISRAEL, today as in the past, has many BLIND shepherd, for it was prophesied:
“His watchmen are BLIND; they are all ignorant; they are all DUMB dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber” Isaiah 56:10
The mission here is to provide research ARTICLES that are ENLIGHTENING and EASY TO UNDERSTAND using SCRIPTURES to help improve our knowledge and make our life better.
“I have seen a horrible thing in the house of ISRAEL; there is the whoredom of EPHRAIM, Israel is defiled” Hosea 6:10
“Shall a TRUMPET be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Amos 3:6
“Hear, ye DEAF; and look, ye BLIND, that ye may see” Isaiah 42:18
Hence the RESEARCH produced here are to help us UNDERSTAND and hopefully WE all could learn together.
There's nothing special about me, except perhaps, since I was younger, I had an inner struggle between my heart and my head, hence this blog.
I produce articles that I would understand and hopefully you could too.
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President — Victor Kubik
Again, nothing has been proven. That night, when the disciples sat down and ate, was called “supper” and when Paul later referred back, it was referred to as “the night he was betrayed.” If it was Passover, why didn’t he say “Passover” but used a rather long-winded description?
In the British common law system, we have an equivalent to what the Jews call the Oral Law, namely, judicial precedent for judges-made law. How they were derived from were similar — from precedents. Common law (also known as judicial precedent or judge-made law) is the body of law derived from judicial decisions of courts and similar tribunals. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the British Empire spread the English legal system to its colonies, many of them retain the common law system we have today. These “common law systems” are legal systems that give great weight to judicial precedent, the style of reasoning inherited from the English legal system. This common law — so named because it was “common” to all the king’s courts across England — originated in the practices of the courts of the English kings in the centuries to follow.
But sometimes, precedents were taken into a wrong direction, and a Parliament action is needed to turn the law back on course. Lord Denning (1899-1999), described as “probably the greatest English judge of modern times” according to Margaret Thatcher, was one who boldly argued against existing precedents in numerous cases while in the Court of Appeal. Although many of his decisions were overturned by the House of Lords a significant number of them were confirmed by Parliament, which passed statutes in line with his judgments.
The lamb were indeed killed on the afternoon of the fourteenth and eaten on the night of the fifteenth. The Targum (530 BC to 500 AD), whose origin was during the intertestamental period, translates and explains the eating of the Passover from the Hebrew in Exodus 12 into the vernacular, in a very simple language, and verse 8 is extremely clear: 
The above Scriptures are all setting the stage for the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
And these are the verses in Ezekiel repeated and expanded here for reflection. The message of Ezekiel was and is to the House of Israel. Ezekiel was already a captive when he gave the warning, “I was among the captives by the River of Chebar” Eze 1:1 so his warning was not for those already in Babylon but for those far beyond his time.
RT
Joel
A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob 