Days of Unleavened Bread. Easter Gets Scrapped in the End. What Would Christ Say To Us Now?

 

For "Scripture Sunday":

Days of Unleavened Bread were kept by Paul and New Testament Church

Commanded in New Testament

   "And now we wish to show a NEW TESTAMENT COMMAND — more plain, more direct, than any we can find for the weekly Sabbath — to keep these annual HOLY DAYS!
  

Observe again Numbers 28:16-17: "...IN the fourteenth day of the first month is the PASSOVER of the Lord. And IN the fifteenth day of this month is the FEAST: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten."
  

This FEAST was not the 14th, but the 15th. It was the PASSOVER, when the LAMB was killed, the 14th. The daylight part of the 14th was the PREPARATION for the FEAST. (Mat-thew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14.) (NOTE, in Jesus' day the Jews celebrated their Passover one day late according to the tradition of the elders — John 18:28.)
  

Let us get this point thoroughly established in our minds, for if this is true, as it is, THEN ALL OF THESE DAYS ARE STILL BINDING UPON US BY NEW TESTAMENT as well as Old Testament AUTHORITY!
  

Notice Matthew 26:5: The Jews, conspiring to kill Jesus, said: "...Not on the FEAST DAY, lest there be an uproar among the people." They hastened so they could take and kill Him the day before the feast, or on the 14th Nisan.
Mark 14:2 says the same thing. Now to establish that the Feast day was the day after the Passover Festival, and that it was the high-day Sabbath — the day AFTER Jesus was crucified, notice John 13:29: "For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag — was treasurer  -- that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the FEAST..." This was at the Passover supper. They thought Jesus was sending Judas out to buy provisions to prepare for the FEAST. Surely this proved the FEAST was the following day — the 15th Nisan, as all these scriptures positively affirm.
   Now let us examine carefully I Corinthians 5:7-8……..

   "It is faithfully recorded in the New Testament that, during the period its history covers, the Church was keeping those days!
  

  In Acts 20:6, "...we sailed away from Philippi AFTER THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD..." Paul and companions plainly had observed the Days of Unleavened Bread at Philippi. The Holy Spirit could never have inspired such words otherwise.

  Notice also Acts 12:3-4: "... Then were the days of unleavened bread... intending after PASSOVER [see Greek] to bring him forth to the people." Could the Holy Spirit have inspired the direct affirmation, "Then WERE the days of unleavened bread" if those days had, in God's sight; ceased to exist?

Painting by English artist Margaret Tarrant, 1888-1959.
It illustrates the nature of the coming rule of Messiah.

Notice, it is not any blinded Judaizers, ignorant of what was abolished, making this statement — it is Almighty God saying it through inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This was YEARS after the crucifixion. The Days of Unleavened Bread still existed, or the Holy Spirit could not have inspired "Then WERE the days of unleavened bread." From: http://www.hwalibrary.com/cgi-bin/get/hwa.cgi?action=getmagazine&InfoID=1374675569#.VSrYySvAtSg

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THE FIRST AND THE SEVENTH DAYS OF THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD
THESE ARE CONSECRATED HIGH HOLY DAYS OR SABBATHS.

"Christians today are only just beginning to get a handle on this matter of the weekly Sabbath and the "high day" Sabbaths, the holy days. Many are beginning to see the vital importance of this as a blood covenant matter. 

Unfortunately they have been led to believe the standard medieval Christian teaching that the seventh day Sabbath is just a Jewish Saturday worship tradition and merely a matter of "the Law of Moses" which should no longer concern us as Christians. In this they are not being given the Biblical truth.

This matter of certain holy days being referred to in scripture as a Sabbath is most important. Christians for the most part, even Biblical Christians are unaware of the importance of these special "high" days and that a Sabbath, a day sanctified and set aside for rest and for devotion to God, can be any day of the week. During the passion year the first day of Unleavened Bread, a Sabbath, happened to come on a Friday. Christians are still kept under an ecclesiastical fog about this. They think a Sabbath must always be the weekly Sabbath, a Saturday. But the fourth commandment also applies to these holy consecrated feast day Sabbaths as well.

"Remember the Sabbath day,
            and keep it holy". - Exodus 20:8

The fourth commandment still stands. It was a statute given for as long as there are people on this earth. These Old Covenant matters are still important, even though the Church departed from them after the Neo-Platonist allegorizations of holy Scripture by Origen in the third century, the Church going to bed with the Roman Caesar Constantine at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and the anti-Throne of David (anti-Semitic) Replacement theology spawned by Augustine."

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Spoiler Alert: Easter Gets Scrapped in the End

"Easter is one of the most important days in modern Christianity. But this holiday is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. Does it meet God’s standard of worship?

I’ll be blunt.

If you believe that the Bible is truly the inspired and inerrant Word of God, then you should think twice about keeping Easter ever again.

And by thinking twice, I mean study the Bible to see just what God’s standard is for how we worship Him.

(Spoiler alert: This may affect your Easter plans next year.)

The problem with Easter

Actually, there is more than just one problem with Easter. The holiday’s incorporation of pagan symbols is one problem. Another reason to not observe this day is its obvious contradiction of the words of Jesus Christ, who stated that He would be entombed for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). Easter and Good Friday disagree with Christ’s words by portraying His entombment as one day and two nights. To learn more about this issue, read “Sign of Jonah: Did Jesus Die Good Friday, Rise on Easter?”

The root of the problem with Easter is the idea that God gave men authority to add to or adapt His standards of worship.  But at the root of it all, the problem with Easter is the idea that God gave authority to men to add to or adapt His standards of worship.

It’s a historical fact that Catholic leaders adopted Easter (and other holidays) in the third and fourth centuries A.D. to differentiate Christian worship from Jewish worship and to appeal to the pagan masses to convert to Catholicism. To learn more of this history, read “Origin of Easter.”

But what’s the problem with that?

The bottom line is that only God has authority to establish His law, which defines the way He desires to be worshipped and obeyed. That law does not, indeed cannot, change without God’s say-so. Where did God declare that the holy days He established were superseded by holidays devised by men?

Nowhere!!" 

More at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/blog/spoiler-alert-easter-gets-scrapped-in-the-end/ by Jedd Cole 

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Seven Last Sayings of Jesus

"All of Christ’s teachings were powerful words of life. But His seven last sayings as He died for us are worthy of intense consideration. They should change our lives.

[From the March/April 2014 issue of Discern.]

"Had you stood in the crowd that day watching Jesus die, you would have heard Him utter seven astounding statements. Remarkable words, not only due to His duress, but because of the deep meaning they conveyed. And in these seven last statements of Christ we find a lasting example of how we must also think and live!

What would Christ say to us now?"

Complete article at: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/god/who-is-jesus/seven-last-sayings-of-jesus/ by Clyde Kilough

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Update:

Where did this week go?  Ray had to leave again, and I was volunteered to feed his three cats, as his son was also away.  

A new arrival: I have a new foster-cat, "Phoebe".  She is 17 years old, a tabby with a very long tail, and very skinny.  Her previous Mom was put in a nursing home, and Phoebe couldn't go with her.  Phoebe drinks and drinks water, then pees and pees, and eats and eats, but doesn't put on any weight, so she is going to the vet on Thursday.  She was fed dry food all of her life and that is what damages cat's kidneys.  I have her on canned food now, (the good kind with NO by-products)  so hopefully she will improve.

She is very sweet and purrs every time I go near her, but she stays mostly in the 'cave' in the four storey kitty condo that is in my bathroom.  She has ventured out into the living room, and one time even into the garage.  But that cave is her sanctuary and she feels safe there.  She is very cautious, as she is declawed (how cruel) and isn't able to defend herself.  She makes little growly hisses when she sees Nala, my other foster cat, or BabyGirl my foster dog.  I think she is trying to sound macho. Fortunately, she hasn't developed the habit of biting, that many declawed cats have.

Jay did manage to get away from his disabled mother on Wednesday, so we went shopping.  Not much at the thrift shops, but I did snag a white purse for me, and a nice children's Bible.  It will make a good gift.

Ray didn't go to church as he was visiting with his son, and Jay had to stay with his disabled mother. For the potluck, I made Quinoa and Pine Nuts, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/quinoa-toasted-pine-nuts  and also small white lima beans, because I didn't have any red ones!   http://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/red-beans-quinoa/ .   I had intended to mix them together, but took them in two little crock pots, so people could mix them if they wanted to. Some folks had never had quinoa, (!!) so it gave them the chance to taste it by itself.  It disappeared quicker than the beans.

Of course, there was no leavened bread, or anything with yeast or baking soda in it.  Several people had made unleavened bread with wheat and/or white flour.  Some were really crispy and some were softer, all a matter of choice. 

The Bible readings were Psa. 111, 112, Exo. 14:15-26, Num. 28:16-25, 2 Sam. 22:1-51, and 1 Cor. 5:6,  Mostly about the traditions behind the Passover and Unleavened Bread.

The Teaching was about Amalek, Esau's grandson, who gave the Israelites a lot of grief until the Simeonites finally defeated the Amalekites, and they became a dispossessed people.

"The Defeat of Amalek

While the Jews were still in Rephidim, the Amalekites, a mightily and fierce people, descendants of Esau, and well-trained in the art of warfare, suddenly attacked the people of Israel. It was an unprovoked and cowardly attack upon a tired and weary people, just liberated from slavery, on the way to their homeland.

Moses put his disciple Joshua in charge of the troops who were to fight against the Amalekites. Then Moses, together with his brother Aaron and nephew Hut, went up to a hill, to pray for God's help in the battle. The battle lasted a whole day until the Amalekites were finally defeated and routed. God ordered Moses to record the treacherous attack of the Amalekites for everlasting memory. Together with this memory went an oath to wipe the Amalekites -- the incarnation of all evil -- off the face of the earth. There could be no peace between Israel and Amalek for all time to come."

The potluck was plentiful, even though there were several visitors.  Everyone had a great time chatting and eating in the dining hall.  As my foster dog was enjoying some playtime at a nearby ranch, I was able to stay and help the pastor's wife clear up after the meal.  She is a very sweet old lady, and never complains about how much work it is to feed the congregation each Sabbath.  It is a privilege to help her as much as I can, before and after the potluck.

Oh! Jay and I got the hedge clipped, before it started raining again today!