LUNAR SABBATH - not a fan

(mentally insert a distant howl here, but not aloud - it may disturb others)No, it's not Nebuchadnezzar from Daniel 4, but a "change" comes over a person who becomes one of these. Dan 4:16 "‘Let his heart be changed from man’s, let him be given the heart of a beast, and seven times pass over him.'"

“‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you go about the land and the sea to win one convert, and when he is won, you make him a son of Gehenna twofold more than yourselves.’” (Mat 23:15)

This was spoken by Yahusha to those who had “exalted” themselves by taking the title of RAB, meaning “exalted one”. They thought highly of themselves due to their titles, honors, and knowledge of men’s traditions falsely promoted as equal or higher than Torah.

Their “leaven” still lives on among us today in various ways among some NATSARIM. By molesting the 7-day week, some are departing from the sign of the Everlasting Covenant: the Sabbath (Ex 31:17, Dt 28:46). People are exalting themselves as teachers, when they have no idea of what they are talking about.

“Do not do as we are doing here today – each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” (Dt 12:8)

Suddenly, all around us, we are seeing new ways (winds of doctrine) for calculating weeks, new moons, and festivals. Of these new patterns, there are at least 3 or 4 different variations. Even among the adherents to the “Lunar Sabbaths”, there is not agreement. One pattern even considers the FULL MOON

to be a new moon. In most all cases, those who fall for these new teachings have very little comprehension of how the Earth, Moon, and Sun behave. Those who don’t know the operation of the Sun, Moon, and Earth can be easily swayed to practically any wild idea.All around us, we are seeing people who once walked with us DEPART from the Way (DEREK, way, path) of Torah.

PREVIOUS MISCONCEPTIONS

MEDIEVAL WOODCUT

While some scholars challenged the idea, most Greeks and Romans believed the Earth was FLAT, and this persisted for them throughout medieval times (500’s-1500’s). Additionally, most believed the Earth was not only flat, but fixed and unmovable; the Sun and Moon were believed to move around it. Even as some slowly came to accept a round Earth, the idea that it was fixed persisted. Galileo proved the Copernican theory of a Sun-centered system (Heliocentricity), however this truth almost cost him his life. Galileo died under house arrest for his ideas, having been arrested by the Inquisition, and Cardinal Bellarmine:

GALILEO BEFORE THE INQUISITION, 1616Now, let’s consider how people are misled by the idea of a “LUNAR SABBATH” through twisted interpretations.

Definition of terms:MOEDIM (appointments)QODESH MIQRA (set-apart calling) In recent years, the idea has been promoted that the phases of the moon are

the original “signs” of when a weekly Sabbath occurs, and this is a new idea based on interpretations carefully assembled from various texts found in Scripture. Concerning the creation of the Sun and Moon we read:

“And Elohim said, ‘Let lights come to be in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs (OTH, mark or signal) and appointed times (MOEDIM, appointments), and for days (YOMIM) and years (SHANIM), and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the Earth.’ And it came to be so.” (Gen/Bereshith 1:14,15)

The greater light (Sun) and lesser light (Moon) are signals (signs for marking patterns), and we are to watch their movements to determine Yahuah’s MOEDIM, or appointments, often translated “seasons”. The “weekly” appointment, the Sabbath (7th day) is commemorated as a day of rest, imitating Yahuah as He rested (Hebrews 4:4). In the following texts, we see the weekly Sabbath mentioned (not involving the moon), followed by annual Sabbaths (that do involve the moon):

“And Yahuah spoke to Mosheh, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Yisrael, and say to them,

“The MOEDIM (appointments) of Yahuah, which you are to proclaim QODESH MIQRA (set-apart calling), these are My MOEDIM (appointments): Six days work is done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a QODESH MIQRA (set-apart calling). You do no work, it is a Sabbath to Yahuah in all your dwellings.” (take note, the 7th day is observed in “all your dwellings”).(Lev/Uayyiqra 23:1-3) (next, notice the moon gets involved in the following MOEDIM):

These are the MOEDIM (appointments) of Yahuah, QODESH MIQRA (set-apart calling) which you are to proclaim at their MOEDIM (appointments).” “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is

the Passover to Yahuah.And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to

Yahuah – seven days you eat unleavened bread.” (Lev/Uayyiqra 23:4-6)

The 7-day week has persisted in every culture on Earth since the beginning of time. We find the basis for the 7-day week in the first book of Scripture, and the 7th day was blessed, forever to be remembered and kept set-apart as a mark or sign that acknowledges Creation, and the Creator Yahuah Who rested from all His work on that day (Heb 4:4). Not a single day has been lost in this 7-day tempo, and certainly no change has occurred since Yahusha walked among us over 2000 years ago. At that time, the weekly Sabbath followed the same pattern we see today. The week (SHABUA) in Hebrew is based on the word for 7, SHEBA. The lights in the sky don’t show this pattern, otherwise there would have been no need for Yisrael to be taught the Sabbath using MANNA for 40 years. Adherents to the new idea that the moon phases re-set the weekly Sabbaths claim a variety of changes occurred in the past, although no one can cite when, where, or by whom. Some say their captivity in Babylon caused the Yahudim to adopt the current 7-day week. Others blame the Roman Empire for the 7-day pattern, even though there is no record of such a bold change ever being attempted. What is recorded: the Roman culture attempted to alter the pattern to an 8-day week and failed. The Chinese culture, perhaps the most isolated and long-lived of any people on Earth, have a 7-day week. No sane person could possibly believe that Rome influenced their week. There is not a whisper of any change in the 7-day weekly pattern before or after Yahusha’s first coming. He was in complete accord with the Sabbath as it was then, the 7th day of the week, and remains unchanged through today. There was no molestation of the week attempted except for the Romans, and we know that failed. Constantine I imposed another type of change in 321 CE, making the 1st day of the week a day of rest for the Roman Empire, honoring the “Day of the Sun”, known in Latin as Dies Solis. He did not alter the week, but recognized the 1st day of the week. Even the word “week” meant 7 days to this Pagan ruler; and to him the first day of the week was known as “Dies Solis”, the venerable Day of the Sun! The Pagan sun-worship was slowly mixed with the sayings of Yahusha, but such things as the Sabbath and Passover were outlawed very early. They even re-named the image of Jupiter “St. Peter”:

THIS IMAGE OF JUPITER (IU-PATER, ZEUS-FATHER) IS IN ROME, ITALY

CONTEMPORARY COIN SHOWING CONSTANTINE AND 2 SONS – NOTE RAISED HAND, “GESTURE OF JUPITER”

Here is the first Sunday law in history, a legal enactment by Constantine I (reigned 306-337):

“On the Venerable Day of the Sun [“Venerable die Solis”—the sacred day of the Sun] let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.”—given the 7th day of March [A.D. 321], Crispus and Constanstine being consuls each of them for the second time.”—The First Sunday Law of Constantine I, in “Codex Justianianus,” lib. 3, tit. 12,3; trans. in Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380.

The Romans ignored the REAL MOON, and “proclaimed” (Latin, calends) the beginning of each month. And yet, they knew the pattern of the week. The following statement was made 100 years after Constantine’s Sunday Law was passed, and notice the word “week”: “Although almost all congregations throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.”—Socraties Scholasticus, quoted in Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, chap. 22 [written shortly after A.D. 439].

“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”

—Hermias Sozomen, quoted in Ecclesiastical History, vii, 19, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, Vol. 2, p. 390 [written soon after A.D. 415]

“Constantine’s decrees marked the beginning of a long though intermittent series of imperial decrees in support of Sunday rest.”—A History of the Councils of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 316.

“What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended as a Christian regulation; and a long series of imperial decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth, centuries, enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from labor on Sunday.”— Hutton Webster, Rest Days, pp. 122-123, 270.

Here is the first Sunday Law decree of a Christian council, given about 16 years after Constantine’s first Sunday Law of A.D. 321:

“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [in the original: ‘sabbato’—shall not be idle on the Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall by shut out [‘anathema,’ excommunicated] from Christ.”—Council of Laodicea, c. A.D. 337, Canon 29, quoted in C.J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, Vol. 2, p. 316.

“The keeping of the Sunday rest arose from the custom of the people and the constitution of the [Catholic] Church . . Tertullian was probably the first to refer to a cessation of affairs on the Sun day; the Council of Laodicea issued the first counciliar legislation for that day; Constantine I issued the first civil legislation.”—Priest Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, p. 203 [a thesis presented to the CatholicUniversity of America].

“About 590, Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not to be done on the seventh day.”—James T. Ringgold, The Law of Sunday, p. 267.

A Catholic “answer man” provides the following defense of the Sun-day doctrine started by Constantine:“Now the [Catholic] Church . . instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. The same Church, by the same divineauthority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory . . We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.”

—Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked about, 1927, p. 236.

A Catholic “cardinal” made these remarks:“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sunday] was her act . . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”—From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.-From the writings of Eusebius, we have the result of Constantine's edict (321 CE) clearly shown to us:"All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day." (Eusebius, Commentary on the Psalms, quoted by Moses Stuart, Commentary on the Apocalypse, vol. II, 9.40.)NOTE: "Lord" is the definition of the Hebrew word, Baal.Eusebius states that Constantine had "transferred" the "duties" of the Sabbath to Sun-day. It was an edict enforced under pain of death. When Yahusha told us, "pray that your flight not be in winter, or on a Sabbath" (Mt. 24), do you imagine He was only talking to future "Judaizers" that may still be clinging to the "non-Catholic" error of resting on the real Sabbath? If we were trying to solve a mystery, or a calculus formula, we'd make certain of getting the correct answer, no matter how many variables there were. This should be a no-brainer to solve. Surely, Yahusha has only one body He is speaking to, not two that live by different standards. The implication here is clear: Christianity as it has developed is the apostasy, or falling-away from the original faith (Torah). Now, ha shatan has infested the Natsarim with his false teachings, division, strife, and hatred. We love those who have fallen away, and want to see them restored. Yahuah does not change or vary His ways, yet people can't seem to solve the most simple of puzzles concerning how the true Sabbath became "Satyr-Day", and the Pagan's "Day of the Sun" became Rome's day of rest. Constantine did not outlaw Pagan practices in the least, but "universalized" the diverse beliefs of his empire. Now, we are seeing the Sabbath molested in a completely NEW WAY, using the phases of the moon. One can see why we are called “SHEEP” by Yahuah. Left to our own devices without a shepherd in the world, we stray very easily, and will certainly perish. Listen only to the Voice of the true Shepherd, not the wolves that wear sheep’s clothing who walk among us, or the false shepherds that would likewise devour the herd.

“Now the goal of this command is love from a clean heart, from a good conscience and a sincere belief,

which some, having missed the goal, turned aside to senseless talk, wishing to be teachers of Torah, understanding neither what they say nor concerning what they strongly affirm.

And we know that the Torah is good if one uses it legitimately . . .” (1 Ti 1:5-8)Just as many Christian scholars have to struggle to defend their doctrine of “Sun-

day”, without a single shred of evidence from Scripture, those adhering to the “Lunar Sabbath” doctrine have to strain to defend their doctrines.

“In the sight of Elohim and the Master Yahusha Messiah, who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His reign, I earnestly charge you:

Proclaim the Word! Be urgent in season, out of season. Reprove1, warn, appeal, with all patience and teaching. Footnote: 1Or: confute, or prove them wrong.

For there shall be a time when they shall not bear sound teaching, but according to their own desires, they shall heap up for themselves teachers tickling the ear, and they shall indeed turn their ears away from the Truth, and be turned aside to myths.

But you be sober in all matters, suffer hardships, do the work of an evangelist, accomplish your service completely.” (2 Ti 4:1-5)

The "Lunar Sabbath" ~ This new wind of doctrine is extremely divisive, and is rapidly becoming a new custom within our generation. We must watch, and stand fast and hold to the traditions which you were taught, and be without wrath and disputing. (see 2 Thess. 2:15, 1 Tim. 2:8).The languages of Earth affirm the universality of the 7-day week, and 108 of them have based their name for the 7th day on the original Hebrew word: Ancient Syriac: shabatho, Babylonian: sabatu, Arabic: assabt, Etheopic: sanbat, Armenian: shapat, Polynesian: hari sabtu, Swahili: assabt, Latin: Sabbatum, Italian: Sabbato, Spanish: Sabado, Russian: Subbota, Polish: Sobota, Assyrian: Sabata, Tigre: Sanbat, Kurdish: Shamba, Georgian: Shabati, Morduin: Subbota, Portuguese: Sabbado, New Slovenian: Sobota, Prussian: Sabatico . . . and many more.

The Truth in love,brother Lew

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Psa 138:2 “I bow myself toward Your set-apart Hekal, And give thanks to Your Name For Your kindness and for Your Truth; For You have made great Your Word, Your Name, above all.”A brother recommended an improved subtitle for the 10th edition of FOSSILIZED CUSTOMS:

FOSSILIZED CUSTOMS"A Tough Love Journey Through The Pagan Origins Of Popular Customs"