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posted 08-28-1999 02:14 PM         

To My Brothers and Sisters in Messiah,

I am sorry that I cannot be there this year in body, but be sure that I am there in spirit. Thank you all so much for your prayers. Yahweh has blessed my family and me abundantly this past year. I am so grateful for His love and mercy and for each one of you. I’m sure you thought this year would be quiet without me there, but surprise! Here I am!

This year, there have been a lot of questions about Passover and green ears in Israel. Because of the equinox factor, every three years, there is a difference in when Passover is held. This year, they had some help from a report on the internet from the Karaite Jews in Israel. I had to read that report at least six times before I realized what it was saying. There never was a question on whether barley ears were present. The question was, were those ears in the right stage?

I have never read in Scripture where it says anything about what stages the ears should be in. But, that’s typical of the Jews. They never accept what Yahweh says. They always try to make it say something else. If there was an acceptable stage, then I should be able to go to the Scriptures to find it.

If anything determines what stage is acceptable, I guess I’d have to go with Exodus 9:31-31, “The barley and the flax were smitten because they were in the head. But the wheat and the rye were not because they were not grown up yet.” That is what Yahweh accepted and declared - Abib. So if the wheat in Israel was out in March of ’99, then the barley that was there was Abib -“green ears.”

See how easy it is when you let the Scriptures do the interpreting? When men get involved, each one has an opinion and all we end up with is a complicated mess.

Conclusion: The month of green ears in 1999 was from March 19th to April 17th. On April 4th, a sheaf was waived. Anytime after that, the harvest could take place. It never says when the harvest has to begin. It just says wave the sheaf when the green ears are there, After that, when they are ripe, you harvest them.

Nothing says that the ears need to be ripe within the month either. That is all man’s conjecture. Green ears had to be present from March 19th to April 17th to qualify it as the MONTH of green ears. It does not say ripe ears before or on the waving of the sheaf. It says the MONTH of green ears. So if green ears developed on April 16, 1999, it would still qualify as the month of green ears.

I realize I’m butting heads with two specific groups here: those who hang on everything the Jews do and say and those who rely solely on the equinox factor. To the 1st I would say: I have a problem with just about everything the Jews do. They are steeped in traditions, not truth. Anyone who disagrees with that should talk with a Jew. Find out what he believes in and why. Find out how he keeps the calendar, the Holy Days and anything else scriptural. You will be surprised to find we have very little in common with them. Oh yes, they keep some of the same laws, but which ones, and how do they keep them? Find out for yourself.

To the 2nd group, I would say the same thing I’ve said before. Equinox and “tkufah” are not the same. There is no word for equinox in the Hebrew. The word “tkufah” means a revolution, a circuit, to come about. Equinox means when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are equal. So one means a circuit and one means equal. How can two words with different meanings be used synonymously? It is literally impossible.

If you look at the four places in Scripture where the word “tkufah” is used, it has absolutely nothing at all to do with when the year begins. Why should someone want to stretch it to mean something it does not mean, while totally ignoring Exodus 12:2, which says, “This will be the beginning of months to you.”

Did you realize that the world spins on its axis and also revolves around the sun? So the sun really doesn’t move at all. If the earth (which is tipped on its axis now) should ever straighten up, there will be no more seasons, as we know them today. There will only be moedim as Scripture says. Moed, #4150, is an appointed, fixed time, season or festival; conventionally, a year by implication. How does Scripture say we will be able to figure out when those times occur? Psalm 104:19 says that the moon will tell you-not the sun crossing the equator-but the moon.

I have been doing some reading on the equinox and have found some very interesting facts. Did you know that the equinox is not an exact science? It varies each year and it only varies in one direction. It does not go back and forth. From the beginning of time to the present date, it has varied 4.3%. (Please see page from Funk & Wagnalls Encarta Encyclopedia.)

I do not think Yahweh would use a system that is not exact and/or constant. He would not use something unless it was precise, like everything else He does. He is exact, with zero variance. There is not one place in the Scriptures where the beginning of the year (Exodus 12:2) is used in conjunction with the equinox. But there are at least a half a dozen places where Abib (month of green ears) is used in conjunction with the exodus from Egypt, including Exodus 12:2.

One other thing that I noticed this year. Those who are counting from the vernal equinox will have their Pentecost on June 2oth. I had to travel to Illinois on June 9th to attend a family funeral. I noticed that central Missouri and southern Illinois were already harvesting their wheat crop. Wouldn’t it be difficult to have a firstfruit wave sheaf on June 20th when the crop was being harvested almost two weeks earlier? The Karaite report on green ears also stated (page 3, middle of the page) that the wheat in Israel would be ready for harvest somewhere around May 16th. That, too, is a long way from June 20th!

Yahweh’s blessing to all. Hope to see you all next year, Yahweh willing.

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