M-The Holy Calendar

Jerusalem Time

After much searching and enquiring of ’ADONAI on this issue, I have come to the conclusion and conviction that it is best for people to keep all Holy Days whenever they start and end in Jerusalem. While I do not allow this issue to create divisions between other believers and myself, I believe that I can support this viewpoint from Scripture and history.

Point#1:When ’ADONAI gave the Torah and all The Commandments, (including The Holy Days), He did so with the intention that His people Yisra’el would observe The Commandments WITHIN’ THE HOLY LAND. We can find this conveyed repeatedly throughout The Torah in many places. For example:

Deuteronomy 12:1 These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shallobserveto do in theland, which ’ADONAI Elohim of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

Again, there are a great many verses that convey this in The Torah. A read through Leviticus chapter 26 clearly Tells us that the reason why His people Yisra’el are dispersed throughout the world is as a punishment for not keeping His Commandments. This is what why He dispersed us in the first place.

Point #2:To take it yet a step radically further, not only does ’ADONAI want them to keep The Commandments in The Land, but He actually States that The Holy Days are accociated with TZIYON! Note, Isaiah 33:20Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.--(HNV) Not only this, but clearly, Scripture Tells us that at the end of the age when Jerusalem is restored as the world capital with ’ADONAI Reigning there, ALL FLESH and NATIONS will be required to worship there on Sabbath’s, New Moon’s, and on The Feast Of Tabernacles:

Isaiah 66:22“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says ’ADONAI, “so your seed and your name shall remain.

Isaiah 66:23It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,” says ’ADONAI.

Zechariah 14:16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, ’ADONAI of Hosts, and to keep the feast of booths.

Zechariah 14:17 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, ’ADONAI of Hosts, on them there will be no rain.

Zechariah 14:18 If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which ’ADONAI will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths.

Zechariah 14:19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of booths. Not only this, but cleary, the entire world will look to Jerusalem for Divine Instruction:

Isaiah 2:2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of ’ADONAI’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

Isaiah 2:3 Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of ’ADONAI, to the house of the ’Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of ’ADONAI from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:4 He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. So for those who make the argument why ’ADONAI created the world the way He did, the sunsets and new moon’s appearing all over the world, so support going by their local time: Well, if this argument is valid, then I would ask why would not ’ADONAI let peoples all around the world stay in their own locals on Sabbath’s, New Moon’s, and Tabernacles after He restores everything at the end of the age, as we can clearly see in the above passages?

Another point: In Devarim chapter 30, we are Told that even when Yisra’el is driven far away from The Land because of their sins, and when they repent and follow The Commandments again, that He will restore them:

Deuteronomy 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither ’ADONAI thy Elohim hath driven thee,

Deuteronomy 30:2 And shalt return unto ’ADONAI thy Elohim, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

Deuteronomy 30:3 That then ’ADONAI thy Elohim will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither ’ADONAI thy Elohim hath scattered thee.

Deuteronomy 30:4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will ’ADONAI thy Elohim gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:

Deuteronomy 30:5 And ’ADONAI thy Elohim will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

Deuteronomy 30:6 And ’ADONAI thy Elohim will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love ’ADONAI thy Elohim with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Here, I think we can assume that He was not only Speaking of the current times where we have modern technology, like computers to determine when The New Moon’s occur. Therefore, one can conclude from this passage that we are to go by out local time. For if this passage applied equally to the time of Moshe, This Text could be understood like that. However, due to all of the other passages i’ve discussed above, I have concluded that there may have been another method they did use when they were dispersed to other nations in going by the local time where they were at at the time. However, I do not believe that that method was preserved. For The Talmud cannot be seen as a reliable Torah as The Written Torah is. This is because ’ADONAI Himself was very critical in numerous passages throughout Tanakh passages of our people’s leadership. So this being the case, how then could we choose to follow their leadership? Note:

Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

Therefore, I have concluded that while Devarim 30:1-6 probably didn’t mean that they should go by Jerusalem Time when they were dispersed throughout the nations, that for all of the reasons discussed above on this issue, it is best to go by Jerusalem Time now. For all of the confusion on calendar issues can be put behind if we simply do this, having confidence from Scripture that in the future, and the end of the age, the entire world will be going by Jerusalem Time for Holy Days, (Isaiah 2:2-4; Isaiah 66:23, ZecharYAH 14:16-19). For this is the time we seek! The Traditional Jewish Calendar Is Wrong The current "Jewish Calendar", (known as the Hillel calendar from the 4th century), surely is not in accordance with Torah. How could it be, being from the 4th century? The Torah Told Isra’el to obey the rulings of The Sanhedrin, but the rabbis of today do not make up a Sanhedrin. They were given The Authority to make Rulings within’t he framework of Torah, but they were not given the Authority to make rulings outside of the framework of Torah.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of ’ADONAI your Elohim which I command you. So since they have violated this precept, we are under no obligation to follow them. In fact, Isaiah Said:

Isaiah 9:16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

Surely, I don’t want to be lead to destruction. So we should aspire to follow ’ADONAI HIMSELF in His Holy Word!

We are Told that the sun and moon were created by ’ADONAI for the purpose of man determining Times and Seasons:

Genesis 1:14 And Elohim said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Psalms 104:19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. The English Word Moon in The Hebrew Text of Scripture is "Rosh Chodesh". "Rosh"-1st/head, and "Chodesh"--New-Fresh, referring to The Moon. So we are to look for the first slither of the new moon and this is the first Day of the new month. Yet the traditional "Jewish calendar" does not use this method to determine when the first days of each month is. Therefore, this makes its calculation of all Holy Days throughout the year other than the fixed Seventh Day Sabbath, unreliable to follow for determining the Days they fall on! Even more so, the first month of The Biblical year is supposed to be the month when the barley is sighten in Isra’el. This would be necessary for the Isra’elites to keep the Passover offering at Passover, which falls in the 15nth Day of the first month, as The Torah Tells us. Yet the current "Jewish calendar" is computed by a complex and false FIXED system, not taking this into account! According to The Torah, the first month, (’Aviv), is The New Moon of the month when the barley is first Sighten in Isra’el. It appears that more and more Messianics are coming to this Truth, and there is a denomination of Jews/Isra’elites who realize this, (and do not believe in Yehowshu`a), called The Karaites. They provide monthly reports from Isra’el of the barley Sightings in the spring time for the new year, and monthly reports of the new moon Sightings from Isra’el. In addition, there are some useful free astronomy programs that can be downloaded that can be helpful in telling us when the EXPECTED new moon sightings will be, as well as sundown times (See the Recommended Resources page). Yet because of complications of visibility issues, we can never be certain of a sighting until after it occurs.