Dear Friends,

It is appropriate that we remember the Faith and the protection that God places upon us. He tells us we are to keep a series of Sabbaths and Feasts. We have the weekly Sabbath, the New Moons and the three Feasts of Passover/Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and also Tabernacles.

God gives us a promise that we are to keep them and that no one will desire our property while we keep them.

Some years ago, in 1991, it became obvious to a number of members of the Worldwide Church of God (when WCG was keeping the Feasts) that the Hillel or Jewish calendar was out of synchronisation with the Moons and the ancient Temple system. I was asked if God honoured such a system. I said to them: No! He did not as far as I was aware but that we would test it by Gideon’s prayer, as that year the Feast was a day out and the Last Great Day was thus a day later than the Holy Days as set by the conjunction of the New Moon. I said that the problem was simple to solve. We would all give a Gideon’s prayer and ask God for His judgment. We then asked God to show us clearly if He was indeed honouring the Hillel calendar and its corruption of the Temple system.

On the Last Great Day of the Hillel system that year, at a large auditorium, I attended and watched what was to occur. I had asked God to make it plain to these people and all of us in relation to His own Laws what He desired, and whether their changes were acceptable to Him.

Before services it was announced that two accidents had occurred on the way to services, one of which concerned a minister. It was also announced that an attempted burglary had occurred in the accommodation of one of the people assisting at the Feast that evening, which was the same day. These are direct breaches of the promises made by God in the protection of the brethren in going to His Feasts. What God was saying was that the people were not under protection over that period in attending services. This was a Gideon’s answer by three clear examples that should not have occurred had they been under God’s protection.

The next promise we were to test was whether His ministry was heard over that period and the services blessed by God. The services commenced and they were disrupted three times by the complete failure of the electrical systems and the air conditioning. Then services had to be halted and the doors opened and they stopped until the maintenance people could get things restored and working. I will emphasise that this was a modern, fully-functioning and operational auditorium, approximately two years old at the time. This happened three times and each interruption was approximately of the same duration, and they were quite lengthy.

On the third breakdown I rose from my seat and walked down to the people who had asked the question of me and said: “Well, do you have your answer now as to whether God honours these postponements?” They replied words to the effect of: “Yes, we sure do. This is amazing”. The other people around were puzzled by the exchange but gathered it had something to do with what was happening.

Next year (2008), the Hillel calendar intercalates where the Temple calendar does not and the whole of the three Feasts are in the Second, Fourth and Eighth months, as are the Samaritan Feasts. May God make it clear to all that He does not honour these postponements.

You are protected in the keeping of the Feasts. It is a promise of God that no one will desire your property while you are away attending the Feasts (Ex. 34:24b).

Sometimes we go back home and we face crises in our employment. We have seen many people lose employment through keeping the New Moons and the Feasts.

In every case where we have seen a person punished by their employer for obeying God we have seen that person restored to a better working environment. Sometimes they get a better job under a better employer. Sometimes God retrains them for higher responsibility while keeping them financially secure.

It boils down to the tests God places on us to see if we will obey Him. We do not know if God will intervene to protect us or even to save our lives. Our test is to obey anyway.

This last Feast saw this happen again and the prayers of the faithful were answered.

Do not be discouraged. God will never leave us or forsake us (Deut. 4:31).

All things work together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow He predestined to be conformed to the image of His son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Those he predestined he then called [each in their time] and those he called He then justified [in the image of His son] and these that he justified He also glorified. What are we to say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that did not spare His own son but delivered him up for us all; how will He not, with him also, freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:28-32).

God is conforming us to the image of His son and we will become elohim (see the paper The Elect as Elohim (No. 001)) just as he is and just as the loyal Host are elohim with us in the City of God, where the measure of a man and an angel are the same. We are all, men and angels, identical spirit beings under Christ who is like us as elohim (cf. the paper The City of God (No. 180)).

We will be resurrected as Christ was, and translated just as Christ was into an eternal spirit being, an elohim (cf. the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143)).

Last Sabbath you studied the Calendar and some papers associated with it. This Sabbath please go on and concentrate on the remaining papers in the Calendar series.

May God bless and keep us all. May He lift up the light of His countenance upon us and give us peace.

Wade Cox
Coordinator General