Lunar Sabbath Rebuttal 8
Leviticus 23:15-17 (NKJV) “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. 16Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to Yahweh. 17You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to Yahweh.”
This Scripture passage should already be familiar to anyone in the Hebraic roots or Messianic movement. This Scripture describes the Law concerning the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost. In this teaching, which continues down through verse 21, Yahweh tells Israel to COUNT fifty days, beginning on the day after the regular weekly Sabbath that falls out during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (1-15 through 1-21 in the spring of every year), to the day after the seventh Sabbath. You start counting on a first day of the week, or shabuwa, and then Pentecost, the fiftieth day, is ALWAYS on the first day of the week after the seventh Sabbath. I am proclaiming to you today that Yahweh showed me that the lunar Sabbath violates Yahweh’s command to COUNT the Sabbaths/days for the Feast of Weeks.
Now we know that in Exodus 16, Yahweh resynchronized Israel with His eternal Sabbath weekly calendar, using the simple manna miracle. Since we know which day was that first observed Sabbath by the newly freed slave nation of Israel, we can roll forward or backward in time one week at a time and know which day is the Sabbath. In a previous post I showed how I tied that first Sabbath to the Sabbath before Super Bowl Sunday, 2013 CE. So, using the same spreadsheet that I included in a previous post, we can roll backwards just a few weeks and see on which LUNAR DAY of the month the Sabbath during the FIRST FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD (the flight from Egypt) occurred. There is NO squirm room here. The Sabbath that occurred during the FIRST FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD week occurred on 1-17, ON ALL THREE LUNAR CALENDARS LISTED IN MY SPREADSHEET. From that day, it is a simple procedure TO COUNT forward to see on which first day of the week the Feast of Shavuot would have occurred, if Yahweh had wanted Israel to observe it that year. I’ll list the lunar date of each Sabbath for your convenience: Sabbath 1 = 1-24; Sabbath 2 = 2-1 or 2-2, depending on which lunar calendar you’re using; Sabbath 3 = 2-8 or 2-9; Sabbath 4 = 2-15 or 2-16; Sabbath 5 = 2-22 or 2-23 (This was the FIRST MANNA MIRACLE SYNCHRONIZED SABBATH.); Sabbath 6 = 2-29 or 2-30; Sabbath 7 = 3-6 or 3-7, depending on which lunar calendar you’re using. Therefore, on Yahweh’s calendar, the Feast of Shavuot would have occurred on 3-7 or 3-8, being the first day of the week AFTER the seventh sabbath.
One faction of lunar sabbatarians claim that the 7th day of the month IS the Sabbath, but most lunar sabbatarians claim that the first Sabbath of the month is on the 8th day. Shavuot would have occurred that year on 3-7 on the 360 day calendar, or 3-8 on the 354 day calendar. So, for the sake of argument and equal time, I’ll count 50 days forward on each calendar, one time for the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th day Sabbath fans and once for the 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th day Sabbath fans. So here goes, our assumption for the 15th day is a Sabbath crowd means that the Sabbath that occurred during Unleavened Bread in the year of the Exodus was on 1-15, the day Israel left Egypt. So let’s begin our count to Shavuot from 1-16 and see which day of the month Shavuot should have fallen on. By this count, 50 days later, using 1-16 as day 1, the 50th day, or Shavuot, would have fallen on 3-5 or 3-6, WHICH IS NEVER A 1ST DAY OF THE WEEK ON THIS LUNAR SABBATH CALENDAR, so it CAN NEVER BE SHAVUOT! Therefore, we see that the lunar sabbatarians, using their own calendar, BREAK YAHWEH’S COMMAND TO COUNT to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
Now, let’s count forward using the assumption of the 14th day is a Sabbath crowd, so the Sabbath that would have occurred during Unleavened Bread in the year of the Exodus would have been on 1-21, so we’ll start our count from 1-22 as the first day of the week and see where Shavuot would have fallen out for this lunar sabbatarian faction. Counting forward from 1-22 as the first day of the week, we come to 3-11 or 3-12, WHICH IS NEVER A FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK on this faction’s lunar calendar, so it CAN NEVER BE SHAVUOT!! Therefore, we see again that this faction of lunar sabbatarians, using their own calendar, also BREAK YAHWEH’S COMMAND TO COUNT to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
Please remember, that according to the definition of the Shabuwa, or Sabbath week, as defined by the manna miracle, is to work six days and rest on the seventh day, week in week out, a continuous 7 day weekly cycle that has never changed throughout eternity. Lunar Sabbatarianism is a cult and a heresy. But now I’ll share with you what else Yahweh is calling this FALSE TEACHING!!
I want you to know, I am trembling inside as I share this. This is what Yahweh showed me and it scares the HELL out of me. According to the lunar sabbatarian cult, Yahshua was crucified on 1-14 in the year 31 CE, which would have been Wednesday, April 25, on the Roman Julian calendar in use at that time. They say that astronomical information is taken directly from the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Tables. I have not found a calendar conversion software program that can confirm that information. Nevertheless, turn in your Bible to the book of Acts. Acts 1:1-3 (NKJV) “The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Yahshua began both to do and teach, 2until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of Yahweh.” Some say Yahshua ascended to heaven on the 40th day of the Omer count to Shavuot, or Pentecost, and that seems to be a reasonable conclusion from this passage. Acts 1:12 (NKJV) “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey.” From this statement, some deduce that Yahshua ascended on a Sabbath, but it wasn’t a Sabbath, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. The 40th day of the Omer count in 31 CE was Thursday, June 7, Julian calendar.
But 10 days later, which would be the 50th day, or the Feast of Shavuot, the Holy Spirit was poured out from Yahweh upon the disciples in Jerusalem. Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV) “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Now, according to what we saw above, the lunar sabbatarians believe Shavuot occurs on 3-5 or 3-6, or on 3-11 or 3-12, WHICH IS NEVER A 1ST DAY OF THE WEEK, ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN CALENDAR!! But Shavuot must ALWAYS BE ON A FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, ACCORDING TO YAHWEH’S COMMANDMENT IN LEVITICUS 23. Now listen closely to what Yahweh showed me. The lunar sabbatarians are not just a heresy or a cult, they are bordering on blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, by declaring that the Holy Spirit was poured out on a day when He was not poured out! When Yahweh showed me this, my knees started shaking and I almost buckled to the floor! I fear for my brethren caught up in this heresy.
To verify my findings I again made a spreadsheet to get a visual depiction of the truth of Sabbath/Shavuot versus the false lunar Sabbath and their Shavuot. One more thing exploded into view as I finished this spreadsheet. The seventh Sabbath, essential to discover for knowing when to celebrate the Feast of Shavuot, did not occur on the lunar Sabbath calendar UNTIL 2 DAYS AFTER THE LUNAR SABBATARIANS’ 50 DAY COUNT TO SHAVUOT WAS FINISHED!! For the 8th day lunar sabbatarians, their 7th Sabbath occurred on 3-8, though Shavuot would have to be celebrated on 3-6, the 50th day! For the 7th day lunar sabbatarians, their 7th Sabbath occurred on 3-14, though Shavuot would have to be celebrated on 3-12, the 50th day! This is just another nail in the heretical coffin of lunar sabbatarianism. If you would like a copy of either of my spreadsheets on Sabbath truth, the Exodus manna miracle one or the Sabbath to Pentecost in the year of the crucifixion/resurrection/outpouring of the Holy Spirit one, just let me know.
Friends, please pray for all believers who may be caught up in the lunar Sabbath heresy/cult. It’s not just getting tough to reach pagans with the Gospel, it’s getting tough to reach believers with the truth! Yahweh is not just pleading or asking those caught up in this cult, He is commanding them to repent and turn to Him for salvation and deliverance. These are the final days of human history as we’ve come to know it. We must draw nearer to our great loving Creator now more than at any time in history. Yahshua is coming back soon; will He find faith on this earth?
Gene Benjamin II
March 22, 2013 CE
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