The
Incredible
PASSOVER PLOT
Thousands of years ago, about a thousand years
before the
present era, an
incredible plot was hatched to destroy and
bury the true
Passover. That masterful "Passover
Plot" has
continued down
through the centuries, growing and developing,
and deceiving
millions. Among its victims are even the End-Time
Churches of God! Truly Satan the devil, that arch-enemy of all
mankind, has
"deceived ALL NATIONS" (Rev.12:9).
Could YOU
be a modern victim of
his fiendish, mind-boggling "Passover Plot"?
William F. Dankenbring
Strange as it
may seem, there really was a "Passover Plot" that has been carefully
nurtured and fostered down through the ages to obscure and hide the truth of
God, and to replace the truth with confusion, and ancient PAGAN rites and
ceremonies! Very few understand the
significance of this fact, or know how the plot began, how it was perpetuated,
and how it continues, even down to our very day, today!
Truly, Satan
the devil has deceived "the whole world" (Rev.12:9). Are you, perchance, one of the deceived,
deluded victims of this insidious, nefarious, cleverly devised and concealed
PLOT to hide the plain truth about the Passover, and its correct time and
observance?
The Mysterious Passover Plot
How has Satan
the devil, the master of intrigue, disguises and deceptions, pulled off one of
his greatest deceptions and coups of all time?
One so beguiling and clever that even many of God's own
"elect" have fallen victim to its influence and error?
You need to
know and understand the TRUTH!
The time has
come for all God's people, and those who think they are God's own chosen and
elect few, to RE-EXAMINE this issue, very carefully. As the apostle Paul says, to "PROVE ALL
THINGS!" (I Thess.5:21). As
Paul also wrote, "Wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall" (I
Cor.10:12). Are you willing to look into
this matter, objectively, and with an open mind, to PROVE the truth of
God? Or will you just "assume"
that your present practice and belief is right, and continue right along in
error? Solomon wrote centuries ago,
"There is a way that SEEMETH right unto a man, but the END thereof are the ways of DEATH" (Prov.14:12; 16:25).
The Original Passover
God gave the
Passover to
This Feast
was to become a perpetual observance.
God declared, "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the
generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD -- a
lasting ordinance" (Exo.12:14).
That Passover
lamb was to be slain "between the two evenings" (Exodus 12:6) -- that
is, as the sun goes down in the afternoon, "in the evening AS THE SUN GOES
DOWN" (Deut.16:6) -- not after sunset, when the sun has already gone down. The Hebrew expression, "Between the two
evenings," is the time the priests were to sacrifice the second lamb of
the daily burnt offerings -- one in the morning, and the second one in the
evening, or literally, "between the two evenings" (Numbers 28:4, 8). Since each day begins at sunset, and ends at
sunset (see Lev.23:32), the second sacrifice of the "daily sacrifice,
which was offered "between the two evenings," had to be sacrificed
before sunset! Otherwise, if it was
killed after sunset, it would have been sacrificed at the beginning of
the next day, which began at sunset!
The Jews have
always understood this expression "between the two evenings" to mean
between
However, the
ancient sect of the Samaritans understood it differently, and so did the
Sadducees. Says the Critical
Experimental Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown,
"In the early period of their history
the Hebrews had no proper divisions
of time, and accordingly periods of the day were indicated
in a very loose
and general manner . . . 'Between the evenings' is a phrase
of similar
import, denoting the part of the day between the declining
and the
setting sun, or between
of the numerous victims required would of necessity occupy a
consider-
able time, no particular hour was specified . . . But in
order to be within
the limits defined, it was necessary that it should be begun
and
completed between the commencement of the first and the
termination
of the second evening. . . In later times a controversy
arose in reference
to the time thus marked.
The Samaritans and Karaites considered it
as the interval between sunset and darkness. But the Pharisees and
Rabbinists, who maintained that the first evening began after
and the second with the sunset, taught that the paschal lamb
was to be
killed in the interval between the ninth and eleventh hour,
which, at the
time of the equinox, corresponded to one, three and
Josephus
states that such was the practice of the Jews in the time of
our Lord" (vol.1, p.310).
Adam Clarke's Commentary elucidates this vital point of truth further:
"The Jews divided the day into
morning and evening: till the sun passed
the meridian, all was morning or forenoon; after that, all
was afternoon
or evening. Their
first evening began just after
continued till sunset; their second evening began at sunset
and
continued till night. . . .
"The
day among the Jews had twelve hours, John 11:9.
Their first hour
was about
By
this we may understand that the time in which Christ was crucified
began at the third hour, that is,
time for the DAILY MORNING SACRIFICE, and ended at the ninth
hour, that is,
EVENING
SACRIFICE, Mark 15:25, 33, 34, 37. Wherefore their ninth
hour was their HOUR OF PRAYER, when they used to go into the
temple AT THE DAILY EVENING SACRIFICE, Acts 3:1; and THIS
was the ORDINARY TIME for the PASSOVER" (vol.1,
p.350-351).
Many Scriptures show that the Passover was to be slain on
the 14th of Nisan, which ended at SUNSET.
For the Jews, each day begins and ends at SUNSET. Concerning the Day of Atonement, God inspired
Moses to write: "Mark, the tenth
day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you. . . On
the ninth day of the month at evening, FROM EVENING TO EVENING you shall
observe this your sabbath"
(Lev.23:26-32, the Tanakh).
Notice! The holy day of Yom Kippur, or Atonement, was
the 10th day, and it began at evening, or sunset. Yet the instructions of God clearly
state: "From the ninth day, at
evening." Thus in God's sight, the
"evening" portion of a day is the latter part of the day, or the
afternoon, before sunset! Thus we are to
celebrate Yom Kippur from the evening of the ninth day, sunset, which follows
the afternoon, till the evening (afternoon) of the tenth day, until
sunset.
The ninth day
ENDED at evening, or sunset, and the 10th day BEGAN at sunset, which began the
"second evening." Thus when
God told Israel to keep the Passover lamb until the 14th day of Nisan, and then
"kill it in the evening" (KJV), the evening of the 14th of
Nisan would have been the afternoon portion of the day, leading up to
sunset! Since the Passover was to be
killed in the "evening" of the 14th, it means it was to be killed in
the LATE AFTERNOON of Nisan 14. If the Israelites had slain the lamb after
sunset, it would have been Nisan 15 -- the following day! But God clearly said they were to keep the
lamb until the 14th of Nisan, and slay it on that day, not on Nisan 15 (Exodus
12:6). They were to slay it between
Further
evidence of this truth concerning the Passover comes to us from the
"Passover.
Heb. pesah from pasah
(to pass over in the sense of sparing)
. . . It was instituted in
in the redemption of
the Israelites (Ex.12;1, 14, 42;
THAT NIGHT was to be much observed to the
Lord, when he smote
all the firstborn in the
Israelites
where the blood had been sprinkled and the inmates were
standing, staff in hand, awaiting the deliverance promised
by the Lord.
The
festival began on the 14th of Abib AT EVENING, THAT
IS,
IN
THE BEGINNING OF THE 15TH DAY, with the sacrificial
MEAL
(Lev.23:5-6). A lamb or kid was slain
between the evenings,
that is, TOWARD SUNSET (Exo.12:6; Deut.16:6; cf. between the
9th
and 11th hours, Josephus, War, vi .9, 3) . . ."
("Passover," p.705).
During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, no leaven was to be
found throughout the homes of the Israelites.
God says, "For seven days you are to eat bread made without
yeast. On the first day remove the yeast
from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day
through the seventh must be cut off from Israel" (Exo.12:15). Some have been confused about which day this
would have been. The "first"
day, however, of the entire sequence of Passover events, begins with Nisan 14,
when the Passover lamb was slain.
Therefore, the leaven was to be put out on the 14th of Nisan -- not on
the first Holy Day of Nisan 15, a day in which no "work" was to be
done except that required for cooking (Lev.23:6-7). They could not have been instructed to wait
until Nisan 15, and then to put the leaven out, for verse 19 explains,
"For SEVEN DAYS NO YEAST IS TO BE FOUND in your houses." This does not say 6 1/2 days, or 6 days and
part of a seventh day, but SEVEN (WHOLE) DAYS.
The Jews have always understood it thus.
Hastings
Bible Dictionary points out:
"On the evening of the 13th [end of
the 13th) the head of the family
searched
the house with a lighted candle, that he might seek out all
the
leaven. The hour on the 14th at which
one must refrain from eating
leavened
cakes was variously fixed. It was always
before noon,
however,
the precise time being indicated by the disappearance of two
cakes
which were exposed before the temple.
When the signal was thus
given,
all leaven must be burned or scattered to the winds. . . . Work
ceased
on the morning, or at noon, of the 14th, save in a few occu-
pations (tailors, barbers, laundresses). . . .
"The
time of the Passover sacrifice is defined in the Law as 'between
the
two evenings' . . . This was interpreted by the Pharisees and
Talmudists
to mean FROM THE HOUR OF THE SUN'S DECLINE
UNTIL
ITS SETTING; and this was the LATER TEMPLE PRACTICE
. . . The Samaritans, Karaites,
and Sadducees, on the other hand,
held
that the period between sunset and dark was intended" (vol.3,
"Passover,"
p.691).
This ancient controversy, over the meaning of "between
the two evenings," and its erroneous interpretation by the Samaritans,
Sadducees, and their successors the Karaites in the
eighth century after Christ, has led to serious consequences and errors as to
the observance of Passover, even today among the end-time churches which have
sought to observe this holy celebration ordained by God!
Even today,
strangely, we see people attempting to keep and observe the PASSOVER -- and
they call it precisely that -- not at the time the Jews observe this annual
festival dinner, at night on Nisan 15, AFTER the Passover lambs were slain and
roasted. Rather, we see people
attempting to observe this sacred memorial at the BEGINNING of Nisan 14,
twenty-four hours too early! Why is
this? How did this happen? How did Satan the devil deceive so many into
following the errors of the Samaritans, Sadducees, and Karaites,
and misunderstanding the Passover?
Satan's Great Deception and
Hoax
The Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia states:
"Paschal Lamb. The Pharisees
and the Sadducees had a dispute as to the time when the slaughtering should
take place; the former held it should be in the last three hours before sunset
[near the end of the 14th], the latter, between sunset and nightfall [beginning
of 15th] . . . The Samaritans have retained the ancient rite to the present
day" (vol.8, p.406).
The
Samaritans and Sadducees claimed that they observed the laws of God according
to the strict "letter" of the law.
They, as well as the Pharisees and Rabbis, knew that the Passover was to
be slain on Nisan 14. However, since
they interpreted the expression "between the two evenings" as meaning
"AFTER
SUNSET," they waited until sunset, when Nisan 15
began, and then sacrificed the Passover, after preparing for the sacrifice on
the afternoon of Nisan 14.
We read in the book The Jewish
Festivals: History and Observance, by
Hayyim Schauss,
"The Samaritans and the Jews became
blood-enemies who hated and
despised
each other, just as in later years the Karaites and
the Rabbinic
Jews
hated each other.
"In
the days of the second Temple almost the entire central part of
Palestine
between Judah and Galilee, was thickly populated with this
Jewish
sect of Shechem; there were also many followers of
the sect
in
southern Syria and in other eastern lands.
Today, however, there
are
barely two hundred left; they speak Arabic and inhabit a special
quarter
in Nablus.
They have a synagogue there and a High Priest,
who
is their teacher and spiritual leader.
"These
two hundred Samaritans observe Pesach to this day on Mount
Gerizim, in a manner that other Jews ceased practicing
thousands of
years
ago. The custom of offering sacrifices
has died out with the
Samaritans,
except on the fourteenth day of Nisan, when they offer
the
ceremonial Pesach sacrifice" (p.61).
Schauss points out that these Samaritans go up to Mount Gerizim, and half an hour before sunset, as the 14th of
Nisan draws to a close, the High Priest leads the assembly in silent
prayer. "Exactly at sunset the High
Priest faces westward and reads that portion of the Pentateuch which orders the
slaughtering of the Pesach sacrifice.
About twelve or fourteen of the younger Samaritans busy themselves,
meanwhile, with preparing the sacrificial animals. They form a circle about the pit of fire,
holding the lambs between their legs, and as the High Priest utters the words,
'And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk,'
they utter a benediction and throw the lambs, throats to the pit, where they
are slaughtered by two ritual slaughterers.
Six or seven sheep are slaughtered" (p.63).
Who were
these strange people known in history as the "Samaritans"? And how did their practice influence people
of later generations, including end-time remnants of the Church of God?
Who Were the Samaritans?
The Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible declares
concerning the Samaritans and their observance of the Passover:
"The sacrifice still survives in the
dwindling Samaritan community at
Nablus, Jordan. This
schismatic Jewish group SEPARATED
from the
temple
at Jerusalem in ca. the fourth century B.C. . . . The slaughter is
made
at the foot of Mount Gerizim, precisely at sunset
rather than earlier
.
. . The actual communal eating of the sacrifice does not occur until
after
midnight and is done in great haste . . ." (article "Passover,"
vol.3,
p.665).
Putting the evidence together, it is obvious that the
Samaritans, who long preceded the Karaites and
Sadducees in existence, were the ones who began the observance of
"Passover" by slaying the Passover lamb after sunset of Nisan 14,
instead of in the afternoon of Nisan 14.
Thus they actually slew the Passover after sunset -- at the beginning of
Nisan 15. The Samaritans also had their
own calendar, and own leap year system, and did not follow the Jews of
Jerusalem. They even had their own
temple at Mount Gerizim where they sacrificed their
lambs.
The Ancient Samaritans Unmasked
Just who were
the ancient Samaritans, who took it upon themselves to observe the Passover at
a different time than the Pharisees and the main body of the Jews?
In 718-721
B.C., Sargon, king of Assyria, conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and led
them off into captivity beyond the Euphrates River. Israel had plunged into Baal worship,
provoking the LORD to anger. Despite
repeated warnings, they remained obstinate in their rebellion and idolatry, and
would not listen to God's prophets -- which seems to be the eternal truth of
how Israel deals with true prophets of God.
The Scriptures say, "They followed worthless idols and themselves
became worthless. They imitated the
nations around them" (II Kings 17:15).
We read, "So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them
from his presence. Only the tribe of
Judah was left" (v.18). They were
exiled into Assyria.
Replacing the
Israelites in northern Israel, to occupy the vacated land, "The king of
Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them into the towns of Samaria to
replace the Israelites" (v.24).
However, lions had multiplied in the area, and killed some of the
people, creating fear. They saw that God
was responsible for the lions, so they besought the king of Assyria to send
them an Israelite priest to teach them the laws of the God of the land
(v.27-28). This priest was one of the
priests teaching the doctrines of Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin (compare
verse 16 with I Kings 12:25-33). He
lived at Bethel, the religious site for Jeroboam's false system of worship (I
Kings 12:33; II Kings 17:19).
As a result
of this policy, elements of the truth of Scripture, and misinterpreted
Scripture, began to be mixed together with elements of pagan worship and
idolatry. The priest taught them a
schismatic system to worship the Lord, the system imposed by Jeroboam to wean
his people away from the worship of the Jews and the Temple at Jerusalem. "Nevertheless, each national group made
its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the
shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places. . . . They
worshipped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to
officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. They worshipped the Lord, but they also
served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which
they had been brought.
"TO THIS
DAY THEY PERSIST IN THEIR FORMER PRACTICES. They neither worship the LORD nor adhere to
the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commandments that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel . . . [They] persisted
in their former practices. Even while
these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. TO THIS DAY their children and grandchildren
continue to do as their fathers did" (II Kings 17:29-41).
The
Samaritans were PAGANS to the core!
Their paganism was not rooted out of them. They had a false, perverted, syncretic system of worship -- combining their
interpretation of the "Torah" or five books of Moses with a huge dose
of PAGANISM! Subtle differences were
introduced in the observances and festivals of God. Instead of following the official Jewish practices,
as were maintained by the Pharisees, they opted for their OWN PRIVATE
INTERPRETATIONS. Rather than slay the
Passover lamb in the late afternoon of Nisan 14, they slew it AFTER SUNSET --
at the BEGINNING of Nisan 15! Therefore,
they ate their "Passover" very late on the night of Nisan 15, whereas
the faithful body of Jews in Judea ate the Passover earlier during the night of
Nisan 15, which they had slain late in the afternoon of Nisan 14!
Says the New
Westminster Dictionary of the Bible
about the Samaritans:
"They erected images of their gods on
the high places of the Israelites, and
COMBINED
their idolatries with the worship of Yahweh . . . This DUAL
WORSHIP
they kept up until after the fall of Jerusalem" ("Samaritans, p.823).
This authority continues:
"There was early an antipathy on the
part of most of the Jews to social and
religious
association with the Samaritans, and this feeling developed into
intense
antipathy as years rolled on (Ezra 4:3; Ecclus.50:25-26; Luke 9:
52-53;
John 4:9; 8:48). The Samaritans were
neither of pure Hebrew blood
NOR
OF UNCONTAMINATED WORSHIP. . .
"There
is no agreement on the date of the BREACH between the Samaritans
and
the Jewish community, but it seems to have started in the time of Ezra
and
Nehemiah and gradually widened. The
political separation of Judah and
Samaria
and the work of Ezra made the SCHISM inevitable. It may be that
the
Samaritans did not build a temple at the beginning of the cleavage because
they
hoped that someday they would secure at least partial control of the
Temple
in Jerusalem. Sanballat
declared his allegiance to Alexander the Great
and
asked to build a temple where his son-in-law might be the high priest.
Alexander
gave his consent and Sanballat built the temple. . .
.
"During
the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes they
declared that
they
were not of the same race as the Jews, and gratified the tyrant by
expressing
a desire that their temple on Mt. Gerizim might in
future be
dedicated
to Jupiter, the Friend of
Strangers (II Macc.6:2). About
128
B.C. John Hyrcanus took Shechem
and Gerizim, destroying the
Samaritan
temple (Jos. Antiq. XIII, 9, 1); but the
worshipers continued
to
offer their adorations on the summit of the hill where the sacred
edifice
had stood. They did so when our Lord was
on earth (John
4:20-21)"
(p.824).
The Samaritan
religion was a syncretic blend of paganism and
misinterpretations of the Torah, or the Law.
They outright rejected the prophets and writings, and only accepted
their version of the "Law" of Moses.
They rejected the "oral law" handed down from Moses through
the elders of Israel, the scribes, and to the Pharisees as not binding or
authoritative, despite the great problems this would create concerning the holy
calendar and holy day regulation! They
even devised their own sacred calendar, and tried to frustrate the Jewish
calendar authorities by imitating the fires the Jews originally used to notify
those far from Jerusalem of the new moons.
The
Samaritans, following the paganized footsteps of King
Jeroboam of Israel, REJECTED the revelation of God, and put their OWN
interpretations on the Passover and Pentecost, and the Word of God! But where did they obtain their heretical
views and practices concerning God's Holy Days?
The answer to this question reveals how subtle and sly that old serpent
the devil has been in deceiving and deluding one generation after another!
The Apostasy of King Jeroboam
This great Apostasy actually began during the days of
Jeroboam, king of Israel. After God gave
him ten of the tribes of Israel to rule over, because of the wickedness of King
Solomon, Jeroboam grew worried that the people of his kingdom might revert in
their loyalty to the King of Judah, Rehoboam, because
the Temple and Priesthood and religious center of worship for all Israel was
then in Jerusalem!
This caused
Jeroboam and his advisers no end of anxiety, doubt, and worry. Jeroboam, therefore, decided to set up a
COMPETING RELIGIOUS THEOLOGY, also based on the Torah, or five books of Moses,
but with an ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION of basic concepts and doctrines. Most importantly, his priests rejected the
teachings of the Jews, and Levites in the southern kingdom of Judah, and
presented to the people a contrary view of Passover and Pentecost -- as well as
a celebration taking the place of the Feast of Tabernacles which occurs in the
seventh month, delaying their harvest festival until the eighth month. Thus
Jeroboam introduced changes in all three of the "pilgrimage
festivals," so that the people would not go up to Jerusalem to keep God's
Laws. They undoubtedly kept
"Passover" at Mount Shechem or Samaria, or Gerizim, or at the place he placed his two golden calves,
one in Bethel and one in Dan. We read of
his plot to subvert the truth of God as follows:
"Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and
lived
there. From there he went out and built
up Peniel.
Jeroboam
thought
to himself, 'The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of
David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at
the temple of the
LORD
in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord,
Rehoboam king of Judah.
They will kill me and return to Rehoboam.
"After
seeking advice, the king made TWO GOLDEN CALVES. He said
to
the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your
gods,
O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'
One he set up in Bethel,
and
the other in Dan. And this thing became
a SIN; the people went even
as
far as Dan to worship the one there.
"Jeroboam
built SHRINES on high places and APPOINTED PRIESTS
from
all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He INSTI-
TUTED
A FESTIVAL on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the
festival
held in Judah, and
offered sacrifices on the altar. This he
did in
Bethel,
sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also INSTALLED PRIESTS at the high places
he had made. On the fifteenth
day
of the eighth month, a month of HIS OWN CHOOSING, he
offered
sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel.
So he instituted the
festival
for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings"
(I
Kings 12:25-33).
This great Apostasy, therefore, began during the days of
Jeroboam, king of Israel, who began to reign in 975 B.C. We do not know a great deal about all the
alterations Jeroboam and his new hierarchy of priests made to the Laws of God
by direct evidence, as little has been preserved. However, we do know that the SAMARITANS got
their interpretations of the Torah and laws of God from the renegade priests of
Jeroboam's competing religion, because of their fear of being devoured by the
lions of the land (II Kings 17:25-28).
By carefully
studying the beliefs and traditions and
practices of the Samaritans, we can get an idea of just what the subtle and
devious doctrinal changes to the Laws of God, inaugurated by king Jeroboam,
actually involved! These changes even
Scripture says pointedly INVOLVED THE DATES AND TIMES OF GOD'S FESTIVALS! The celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles,
the great Harvest festival, was delayed one month -- to October/ November. There can be no doubt that Jeroboam also
altered the dates of Passover and Pentecost, since Pentecost depends on
Passover, and because Passover is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT of all the Jewish
or Hebrew Festivals, mentioned 77 times in the Scriptures, far and away more
often than any other Feast of God!
The
Samaritans, therefore, obtained their heretical, schismatic, divergent theology
of the "two evenings" and the time of slaying of the "Passover
lambs," and their "Sunday Pentecost," derived from counting the
"weeks" till Pentecost from the Sunday that fell during the Days of
Unleavened Bread, from the apostate king JEROBOAM and his heretical
advisers!
Those who
today follow the Samaritans, are therefore actually following the ancient,
original APOSTASY OF KING JEROBOAM who introduced the two calves into the
worship of the Northern Kingdom -- probably as two representations of the
two "Elohim" that brought Israel out of
Egypt, the two representations of the Godhead!
This was utter idolatry -- the
original APOSTASY! Continuing this
ancient heresy and apostasy, the Samaritans calculated Passover and Pentecost
differently from the Jews. They followed
a different, alternative path to that followed by the Jews, the Pharisees, and
Rabbinic Judaism -- that of the apostate Jeroboam and his priests personally
chosen by himself of the lowest of the people in the northern kingdom!
Interestingly
Jesus Christ Himself addressed the religious beliefs of the Samaritans, as we
find in the Gospel account of John. What
did He say about the religious teachings of the Samaritans? Did He endorse them, give them credit for
maintaining the truth, or show respect for their divergent teachings?
What Jesus Said about the Samaritans!
What was
Jesus' attitude toward the Samaritans?
Jesus had no racial prejudice against them or any other race or
group. He praised the "good
Samaritan" whom He used as an illustration of brotherly love and kindness,
because he stopped to help a man who had fallen among thieves, and was left
along the roadside wounded and bleeding (Luke 10:30-36).
However, when
it came to religious doctrine and teaching, Jesus said to a Samaritan woman
whom He met at Jacob's well: "You
Samaritans WORSHIP WHAT YOU DO
NOT KNOW; we [Jews] worship what we
do know, for SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS" (John 4:22).
How
plain! How crystal clear!
Jesus brooked
no nonsense. He didn't stop using plain
language just because the woman could become offended. He spoke the TRUTH. He made it absolutely PLAIN. The Samaritans, who observed different
Passover traditions, WERE SACRIFICING TO DEMONS, and not to the true God!
When they
continually observed "Pentecost" on a Sunday, the day of the SUN GOD
BAAL, they were guilty of IDOLATRY!
What
Jesus Said about the Sadducees
The teachings and doctrines of this ancient conspiracy
continued through the vehicle of the Sadducees, a sect of Jews during the time
of Jesus. The Sadducees were a sect of
Jews, primarily among the wealthy and aristocratic community, with a number of
the priests, who followed the Samaritan interpretation of many tenets of the
Law and belief. They, like the
Samaritans, considered "between the two evenings" to mean after
sunset, not before, and considered the day of the "wave sheaf
offering" to be the Sunday following the Sabbath which fell during the
Days of Unleavened Bread. They, like the
Samaritans, did not believe in a literal resurrection from the dead. Says The New Bible Dictionary about this Jewish heretical sect:
"In manner the Sadducees were rather
boorish, being rude to their peers as to
aliens,
and counting it a virtue to dispute with their teachers. THEY HAD
NO
FOLLOWING AMONG THE POPULACE, but were restricted to the
well-to-do. They were more severe in judgment than other
Jews. Many, but
not
all, priests were Sadducees; nearly all Sadducees, however, appear to have
been
priests, especially of the most powerful priestly families. . . . Under
the
Herods and the Romans the Sadducees predominated in
the Sanhedrin.
The
party died out with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Josephus
says
that, even when in power, the Sadducees were compelled for fear of the
people
to CONCUR WITH THE PHARISEES" (p.1124).
Unger's Bible Dictionary
adds,
"The price at which the Sadducees had
to secure themselves power at this
later
period was indeed a high one, for they were obliged in their official
actions
actually to accommodate themselves to Pharisaic views. With the
fall
of the Jewish state the Sadducees altogether disappear from history"
(p.954).
The Sadducees
disagreed with the Pharisees on religious matters! They were HERETICS! Says the James Hastings Dictionary of the
Bible of this ancient sect:
"The Sadducees were the spiritual
descendants of the priestly part in
Jerusalem,
which, toward the close of the Greek period of Israel's history,
was
ANXIOUS TO HELLENIZE THE PALESTINIAN JEWS. . . .
"The
successors of the Hellenizers, on the other hand,
were in full sympathy
with
the secular policy of the Hasmonean princes, and,
unlike the Pharisees,
took
no exception to the illegitimacy of their high priesthood. They entered
the
services of the new princes as soldiers and diplomatists, and . . . formed
the
party, to which was given their family name of Zadokites
or Sadducees.
Taught
by experience, this party made no violent attempts to introduce Greek
customs;
but they were a PURELY POLITICAL PARTY; their main interest
was
in the Jewish State as an independent State, and not, like that of the Phari-
sees,
in the LEGAL PURITY OF THE JEWS as a religious community. . . .
"Herod
further diminished their influence by appointing and removing high
priests
according to his own pleasures, and by filling the Sanhedrin with his
own
creatures. . . [The Pharisees] were the real possessors of power; for, in
order
to render themselves tolerable to the people, the Sadducees were
compelled
to act IN MOST MATTERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH PHARI
SAIC
PRINCIPLES. And when Jerusalem was destroyed and
Israel ceased
to
exist as a nation, they speedily disappeared entirely from history"
(vol.4,
"Sadducees,"
p.349).
The Sadducees
never had power over the preservation of God's Word or Laws. They were a political, Hellenistic party,
which is why they curried favor and obtained it from the Herod family and the
Romans. Their beliefs never took hold of
a large following among the faithful Jews. But what did Jesus Christ, our
Messiah and Saviour, have to say about this
Hellenizing, pagan-influenced religious sect?
The
Words of Jesus Christ about the Pharisees
Jesus plainly
tells us that in all matters of the LAW of God, we should follow the teachings
of the Pharisees -- NOT the Sadducees or
Samaritans! He, our Messiah and Savior,
declared:
"The
teachers of the law and the PHARISEES sit in Moses' seat.
So
you must obey THEM [that is to say -- the Pharisees!] and do
EVERYTHING
THEY TELL YOU. But do not do what they
do,
for they do not practice what they preach" (Matt.23:2-3,
New
International Version).
Notice! Jesus did not say that the Sadducees or
Samaritans sat in "Moses' seat" -- only the PHARISEES! Jesus plainly showed that the Pharisees were
the legal, authoritative descendants of Moses, as the rulers and leaders of the
Church of God of that time. They sat in
Moses' seat of authority over religious matters.
But of the
Sadducees, who numbered some among the priests and ruling classes, who even
denied the truth of the resurrection and the existence of angels, He said,
"YOU ARE IN ERROR because YOU
DO NOT KNOW THE SCRIPTURES or the
power of God" (Matt.22:29). Or as
the King James Version has it, He told them, "Ye do err, not
knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." They were "off base," as another
translation has it. They were WRONG! They were IGNORANT of the Bible!
Why, then, do
some modern end-time churches of God choose to follow their example, and
practice? Why, why, why? The very idea leaves me cold. It astonishes me. It leaves me perplexed. Truly, Satan has deceived the "whole
world" -- and many of God's people have been led off the right path, and
seduced, in this manner, by his subtle and malicious errors!
Jesus said
the Sadducees were ignorant of the Scriptures -- yet they, like the Samaritans,
sacrificed the Passover after sunset, and always observed Pentecost on
Sunday! They were so far out of the
picture that they denied the existence of a spirit world, angels or demons
(Acts 23:8). But Jesus rejected the
Sadducees, and plainly said only the scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses' seat
-- not the apostate Sadducees!
The Old Heresy Revived by the Karaites
Even though the Sadducees perished when the Temple was
destroyed, their beliefs and teachings were resurrected in the eighth century
by another heretical sect of the Jews -- the Karaites. In 762, when the Jewish leader Solomon the Exilarch died, his nephew Anan ben
David was in line for the succession, as the new governor of the Jews
throughout Arab lands. However, the
leaders of the two primarily Jewish colleges at Sura
and Pumbeditha instead turned to Anan's younger
brother as the new Exilarch.
After this
bitter defeat and political powerlessness staring him in the face, Anan
denounced the centers of Jewish learning, which carried on the teachings of
Judaism and preserved the Scriptures, and fled to Palestine where he
established his own synagogue and taught once again that only the Torah was to
be obeyed, denouncing the oral laws and traditions of the Jews. The Karaites became
numerous in Palestine, Egypt and Spain.
They declined in the twelfth century, and only a small surviving core ,
a vanishing remnant, survived in Turkey, South Russia, and Arabia. They have made a comeback, however, during
the present end of the age, and it is they who currently regulate the
liturgical calendar by observing the new moons in Israel and beginning a new
month with a literal new moon.
Enter the Twentieth Century Churches of God
But, strange
as it may seem, the peculiar heterodoxy of the Karaites,
Sadducees, and Samaritans, did not die out with the meager remains of that
sect. Not at all! In this modern twentieth century, factions
and groups of the End-Time Church of God have bought into some of their
perverted beliefs and practices, as they concern the Holy Days of God!
Today, groups
such as the Worldwide Church of God, Church of God International, Philadelphia
Church of God, Global Church of God, and United Church of God, and other
smaller groups, have determined to follow the Sadducean
practice of assuming the Passover lambs were killed after sunset. Herbert
Armstrong taught that "between the two evenings" meant after sunset,
between sunset and dark. This led him to
believe that the lambs had to be slain after sunset of Nisan 13, when the 14th
of Nisan began. He believed that the
Jews of Jesus' time had lost track of the true Passover, and were observing it
a day late, eating it on the 15th of Nisan!
Thus Herbert
Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God observed a "Passover" consisting
of the elements of unleavened bread and wine at the beginning of Nisan
14. He also followed the Sadducean practice of counting Pentecost from the weekly
first day -- Sunday -- that falls within
the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
Thus this
age-old Satanic conspiracy -- which I call the real "PASSOVER PLOT"
-- has taken hold once again in this END-TIME!
Once again the pagan beliefs and heretical practices of Jeroboam the
Apostate, and the pagan Samaritans, have been dusted off, shined up, and polished,
as if they were the truth of God, deceiving THOUSANDS!
The Mystery of
Iniquity -- a FALSE
"Passover"!
What more
diabolical deception could the devil concoct than to deceive the very Church of
God as to the REAL PASSOVER? The
Passover symbolizes our very belief and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ, our Passover Lamb, for the payment of the penalty of all our sins (II
Cor.5:21). Jesus Christ DIED for us! The original Passover FORESHADOWED that
awesome event -- the original Passover lambs foreshadowed God's Perfect
Passover Lamb! As the apostle Paul
wrote, "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (I
Cor.5:7). "So Christ was sacrificed
ONCE to take away the sins of many people" (Heb.9:28).
To be mixed
up on the right time and day to eat the Passover is a very serious error,
indeed! Yet two errors contributed to
Herbert Armstrong's selection of the beginning of Nisan 14 as the time to
celebrate the "Passover." He
was deceived by the deception that "between the two evenings" meant
after sunset, dusk, or late evening. And
he assumed that the final meal Jesus ate with His disciples was the original
Passover, celebrated at the normal, customary time! As it turns out, neither assumption was
correct, and therefore scores of thousands of people have been celebrating a
false Passover at the wrong time for the last fifty or more years, during this
twentieth century!
A Mournful Wake and Funereal?
But in
addition to observing the Passover at the wrong time, the churches of God have
been observing it in the wrong manner!
The original Passover, as observed by the Jews down through the
centuries, and by Jesus and His family, "after the custom of the feast"
(Luke 2:41-42), was a joyous affair -- a family celebration of deliverance and
freedom, rescue from oppression and slavery.
It was celebrated by a few families together, or about 10-20, as many as
could eat one lamb (Exodus 12:3-4). It
was not a big "church" event, much like a church service, with no
talking, no laughter, no fun and games, no enjoyment!
But the
churches of God in this end-time, omitting the true Passover from their
observance, instead celebrated what more or less imitates a Roman Catholic
"mass" -- a solemn, sanctimonious and quiet "Communion"
with worshippers reflecting on their sins and being remorseful and
sorrowful. How sad. How tragic. Those kinds of introspections and thoughts
more properly belong at the "Season of Awe," the time from Rosh
Hashanah till Yom Kippur, the time which celebrates God's coming judgment upon
us all!
Why is it
that the churches all keep a mournful "wake" version of Passover, on
the eve of Nisan 14, instead of a Passover FEAST celebrating joy and
deliverance? Should we not be
celebrating our deliverance from the bondage to SIN, and freedom from the
clutches of SATAN, the god of this world?
Shouldn't we be rejoicing in the GREAT GIFT of eternal life that Jesus
Christ has bought and paid for, redeeming us from
the penalty of SIN?
The
Real Meaning of the "Last Supper"
At the
"Last Supper," Jesus and His disciples did not partake of the
Passover -- they were still making plans for it, since it was scheduled to come
the NEXT evening. So when Judas left
that dinner early, the other apostles thought he was going out to do more food
purchasing, for the up-coming Passover (John 13:25-30). The true Passover had not yet come (John
13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14, 31). They all
thought they would be observing it the following evening. They must have thought this
"dinner" before the true Passover was a special celebratory meal before
the Passover. There is no evidence
or indication that Jesus Christ told them in plain language anything different!
Notice!
The
"Last Supper" Jesus held with His disciples was not a true
"Passover." Although there
were some similarities, there were also distinctive differences. Notice!
In John 13:1 we read that this "last supper" occurred
"BEFORE the feast of the Passover"!
Therefore, it could not be a regular, normal, usual Passover! Secondly, John nowhere calls it the
"Passover." He most certainly
knew the difference! He simply calls it "supper"
(John 13:2, 4). Thirdly, there is no
mention of LAMB being served at this meal, yet lamb would have been necessary
for it to have been the Passover, celebrated in Jerusalem (compare
Deut.16:6). It was the central feature
of the feast! Fourthly, they ate
"bread" at that meal. Jesus
gave a "sop" -- a morsel of bread dipped in sauce or gravy -- to
Judas (v.26-27). This was regular bread,
or artos in Greek, as is shown by the
gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Regular bread, or leavened bread, was never eaten at the true Passover,
but only UNLEAVENED bread, called azumos in
the Greek!
Fifthly, when
Judas got up to go and betray Christ, leaving in the middle of the dinner, none
of the other disciples wondered how he could be committing sacrilege by leaving
the Passover celebration before its conclusion.
They thought he was going to go out and buy groceries and things needed
for the upcoming Passover (John 13:29).
They would have been
horror-struck if this had been the actual Passover itself, and would
never have assumed he was going for groceries in the middle of the
celebration of the Passover seder!
The Holy "Kiddush"
Rather, this
final "meal" Jesus held with His disciples was a kind of
"going-away" banquet. It was
similar to the Passover, because He considered the disciples as
"family." He taught them
during this final dinner. He gave them a
new ordinance, the washing of feet, to observe.
He also gave them the Kiddush -- a very special bread and wine
ceremony -- explaining to them that the bread represented His body given for
us, and the wine represented His blood, shed for us (I Cor.11:24-25). This ancient tradition actually goes back to
the time Melchisedek met Abraham. Melchisedek, the
king of Salem -- the One who actually was the Logos, and who became Jesus
Christ (compare Heb.7:1-4 and John 1:1-3) -- "brought forth bread and
wine" (Gen.14:18). How interesting
that some 2,000 years later, this same "Person" brought forth bread
and wine to His disciples, but enveloping it with new significance and
revelation!
This Kiddush
the apostle Paul explains should be celebrated "often" during the
year -- it is not referring to the annual celebration of the Passover, with
unleavened bread, bitter herbs and vegetables, and lamb (Exodus 12:8). It is a very special observance which has
been confused with the Passover and therefore neglected by multiple thousands
of end-time Christians and people of God!
How wonderful it is to partake of this ceremony, many times during the
year, each time reflecting on the NEW and PROFOUND meaning and significance it
has for us as Christians who follow Christ the Messiah, knowing the bread
represents His body, and the wine His blood!
Paul PLAINLY shows this should be observed often during the year, for he
says, "For AS OFTEN AS ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come" (I Cor.11:26).
Satanic Deception and the Early Church
But after the
time of Christ and the early apostles, the church came into vicious
persecution. After the destruction of
the Temple by the Romans, the Jews themselves cast the Christians out of the
synagogues and pronounced them as "cursed" in their daily Amida synagogue prayer. Likewise, in 135 A.D., when Emperor Hadrian
defeated the Jewish rebellion under Simon Bar Kochba,
he expelled all Jews from Jerusalem, and cast out the Jewish-Christian church,
replacing it with a Gentile church which observed Sunday, and had nothing to do
with "those detestable Jews."
The split between Christians and Jews widened into a chasm and more and
more the remaining Christians forsook their natural ties to Judaism, the Jewish
Scriptures, and the Jewish Sabbath and Holy Days.
In the latter
part of the second century, Samuele Bacchiocchi points out in his new book God's Festivals
in Scripture and History, the Christians who had been celebrating and
keeping Passover along with the Jews, on Nisan 15, now began to introduce
subtle changes! He writes: "We have found that Christians
celebrated Passover at the same time as the Jewish Passover, beginning
at sundown on Nisan 14 and continuing their vigil until the next morning. For this reason they are called 'Quartodecimans,' the Latin for 'fourteeners.' They did not eat the Passover lamb but fasted
in memory of Jesus' death and, possibly, in reparation for the rejection of
Jesus by the Jews. They read and expanded
the Passover story in Exodus 12, applying it to the suffering and death of
Jesus. They engaged in prayers and
singing until dawn when they broke their fast with the Lord's Supper,
commemorating Jesus' expiatory suffering and death" (p.126).
Bacchiocchi further states:
"Most of the early Christians were
Jewish converts accustomed to
the
Jewish calendar. Consequently, they
observed Passover at the
same
time as the Jews, irrespective
of the day of the week. Like
the
Jews, they began their celebration of Passover on the evening
of
Nisan 14 and continued until the early morning of the 15th. But
UNLIKE
THE JEWS, who spent their Passover night 'feasting' on
their
Paschal meal of the roasted lamb, bitter herbs, unleavened bread,
and
other ceremonial foods, the Christians FASTED DURING THE
NIGHT
UNTIL DAWN when the fast was broken with the celebra-
tion of the Lord's Supper" (p.130).
But why would
the Christians turn to "fasting" on this holy festival night,
ordained by God to be a "memorial," a "feast to the LORD"
to be kept "by an ordinance FOR EVER" (Exodus 12;14)? Should men FAST when God commands FEAST? The Passover was commanded by God to be a
'FEAST" of the LORD, not a "FAST day"! What occurred, to cause
"Christians" to begin to deviate from the plain Word of God and the
sacred and holy observance of the Passover?
Bacchiocchi goes on, partly giving the answer:
"Anti-Judaism reached a high point
when Emperor Hadrian ruthlessly
crushed
the Barkokeba revolt (A.D. 135), rebuilt a new Roman
city,
Aelia Capitolina, on the ruins of Jerusalem, and promulgated
the most
repressive
anti-Judaic legislation prohibiting the practice of Judaism, in
general,
and Jewish festivals, in particular.
JEWS AND JEWISH-
CHRISTIANS
WERE EXPELLED FROM JERUSALEM, and only
Gentile
Christians were allowed to settle in the city.
"The new Gentile Christians who
settled in Jerusalem after A.D. 135
apparently
differed from the Jewish-Christians not only ethnically but
also
theologically. According to the
Palestinian historian Epiphanius
(ca
A.D. 315-403), they stirred up the PASSOVER CONTROVERSY
by
adopting and promoting Easter-Sunday. This action was apparently
motivated
by a desire to show separation and differentiation from the
Jewish
religion that at that time was considered illegal" (p.127).
How plain!
Persecution set in, and to protect themselves, Christians began to
compromise with the Roman authorities.
They began to "cave in" and water down and dilute the truth of
God, and even entertain pagan practices and holidays. This shift insofar as the Passover was
concerned at first involved changing the celebration from one of God-ordained
family festival joy and rejoicing to one of fasting and self-denial, all
evening and all night long. You can
imagine how this changed the "Passover" from something desirable and
glorious to something hated, despised, repudiated, and rejected -- thus paving
the way for the substitution of the pagan Easter Sunday in its place!
Sabbath
Fasting Replaces Sabbath Feasting
The devil
inspired the same diabolical trick concerning the Sabbath day, which God
ordained to be a day of rest, rejoicing, celebration and feasting. In the Roman Empire, the Sabbath became a day
of mourning, fasting, and sadness to professing "Christians," whereas
Sunday became a "little Easter," with rejoicing each week in place of
the Sabbath! Samuele
Bacchiocchi writes in From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of
Sunday Observance in Early Christianity:
"That the weekly Sabbath fast was
introduced early in Rome is clearly
implied
by a statement of Hippolytus (written in Rome between
A.D.202-
234)
which says: 'Even today some . . . order
fasting on the Sabbath of
which
Christ has not spoken, dishonoring even the Gospel of Christ.'"
Bacchiocchi continues:
"Hippolytus
does not explain who are those who 'order fasting on the
Sabbath.' However, since such a liturgical custom such
as Sabbath
fasting
could be rightfully enjoined only by official ecclesiastical auth-
ority, and since Bishop Callistus,
according to the Liber Pontificales,
did
intensify at that time a seasonal Sabbath fast, it would seem rea-
sonable to assume that the writer was indirectly referring
to the very
hierarchy
of the Roman Church as responsible for the ordinance"
(p.191).
The Roman "custom of fasting on the Sabbath was not
however unanimously accepted by Christians everywhere. Opposition to it, in fact, seems to have been
known even in Rome" (ibid., p.192).
The Sabbath fast spread beyond Rome.
The Christians were enjoined to fast on Sabbath "on account of the
disobedience of our brethren [i.e., the Jews] . . . because thereon the People
killed themselves in crucifying our Saviour"
(quoted from Apostolic Constitutions, 5, 18, ANF VII, p.447). Pope Sylvester, in fact, declared:
"If every Sunday is to be observed
joyfully by the Christians on
account
of the resurrection, then every Sabbath on account of the
burial
is to be regarded in execration of the Jews. . . . In fact, it is
not
proper to observe, because of Jewish customs, the consumption
of
food and the ceremonies of the Jews" (quoted by S. Bacchiocchi
from
S.R.E. Humbert, Adversus
Graecorum calumnias 6,
PL, 143,
` 937. Cardinal Humbert
wrote the treatise in about 1054 in an attempt
to
persuade the Greeks to stop venerating the Sabbath, etc.).
Says Bacchiocchi,
"Christians are enjoined to mourn and abstain from food on the Sabbath,
not only on "account of the burial" of Christ, but also to show
contempt for the Jews and for their Sabbath feasting" (From Sabbath to
Sunday, p.195).
Samuele Bacchiocchi concludes on
this subject:
"In the light of the cumulative
evidence, it appears that the Church of
Rome
played a key role in early Christianity in emptying the Sabbath
of
its theological-liturgical significance and in urging the abandonment
of
its observance. The injunction to fast
on the Sabbath, accompanied
by
the prohibition to celebrate the Lord's Supper and to hold religious
meetings
on this day, represent definite measures taken by the Church
of
Rome, on the one hand, to wean Christians away from the veneration
of
the Sabbath, and, on the other hand, to enhance Sunday worship exclu-
sively. The reason
for such an intransigent attitude toward Jewish insti-
tutions such as Sabbath-keeping can be found in the need
for a radical
differentiation
from Judaism which was particularly felt in
the early
part
of the second century" (ibid., p.197-198).
Satan subtlely introduced
"fasting" in place of Feasting, on both Passover, and the seventh-day
Sabbath, to "wean" Christians away from observing God's Holy
Passover, as well as the Sabbath day of God, both of which are "THE FEASTS
OF THE LORD" (Leviticus 23;1-6, etc.).
Satan the
devil has had a "field day" in promoting his "holidays" in
place of God's holy days and commanded celebrations and observances. He has suckered the "whole world"
into following him, masquerading as "an angel of light" (II Cor.11:13-15). His ministers also, therefore, appear "as
ministers of righteousness," while they deceive and delude millions (same
verses).
End-Time
Deception
Paul foretold
that Satanic deception would even enter the very Church of God. He wrote to the Thessalonians, "For the
secret power of lawlessness is ALREADY AT WORK; but the one who now holds it
back [the apostles themselves] will continue to do so till he is taken out of
the way" (II Thess.2:7). The King
James has this verse, "For the MYSTERY OF INIQUITY doth already work: only he who now letteth
[hinders] will let [hinder], until he be taken out of the way" (verse 7).
It was Paul
himself, and James, and the other apostles, who stood in the way of this
secret, clandestine, surreptitious attempt of the devil to overcome the Church
and substitute FALSE BELIEFS for the Truth of God! The apostles would never fall for a false
Passover. They had observed the correct
Passover ALL THEIR LIVES, and for three years they kept it with Jesus Christ,
at the very same time as ALL THE OTHER JEWS!
They observed it with new joy, knowing that all the hidden meanings of
the Passover were spiritual, referring to Christ as our Passover lamb, Egypt as
a type of Satan's world and the kingdom of SIN, and our "deliverance"
being from the power of "Pharaoh"-Satan and his minions, and from the
corrupting and deceptive power of "sin."
But Satan
quickly moved to replace both the weekly Sabbath, and the annual Holy Days,
especially the Passover, with his devilish counterfeits of Sunday, Easter, and
Christmas, etc. He did this in stages,
beginning by converting the Sabbath and Passover into days of mourning and fasting instead
of joy and feasting!
Why then do
even modern remnants of the Church of God erroneously observe the Passover, at
the wrong time, and in a mournful, sad routine, which utterly destroys the true
meaning of the Passover?
Why have they
followed the error of the Samaritans, Sadducees, and Karaites
in wrongly understanding "between the two evenings," and counting
Pentecost from the day which corresponds to "Easter-Sunday"? It is indeed a very strange thing!
The truth is, Satan the devil has masterfully hatched and
conceived a most ingenious plot -- a conspiracy -- he has cleverly devised a COUNTERFEIT
PASSOVER!
It is not
God's TRUE Passover -- which is observed on the eve of the 15th of Nisan with
great joy and rejoicing. It is an
altogether DIFFERENT "Passover" -- a phony "Passover"
concocted by Satan the devil to deceive!
Whereas God's true Passover involves eating a FESTIVE MEAL with family
and friends, around the Passover dinner table, with the recitation of the
history of Israel, and God's plan of redemption, the FALSE pagan Passover is a
solemn, painful, sorrowful, quiet, stark ceremony much akin to a Roman Catholic
(Satanic) MASS, with the congregation huddled quietly, listening to the
ministers as they solemnly genuflect and intone their solemn vocalizations, and
then quietly eating a piece of wafer, like the mass, and drink a tiny vial of
wine.
In the
Catholic mass, the believers are required to believe that the little piece of
unleavened bread IS the literal body of Christ, and the wine literally becomes
the BLOOD of Christ. Thus each time they
take of the mass, they sacrifice Jesus Christ all over again! When the priest supposedly changes the bread
and wine into Christ's body and blood, he intones the phrase, "Hoc est corpus me us."
This is evidently, the expression from which we obtain the term
"HOCUS POCUS" -- a seventeenth century mock Latin incantation used by
jugglers as a set formula -- which means, "impostor, cheat,
nonsense." It connotes a magician's
trickery, deception and fraud. Satan the
devil replaces God's Sabbath, His Passover, and His true Pentecost -- and says
to the end-time churches of God -- "HOCUS POCUS"!
Are you,
yourself, one of those who have been deceived?
The Catholic
doctrine of transubstantiation goes back long before Christ died on the
stake. It is a prime ingredient of
ancient primitive pagan religion! A type
of "eucharist" was celebrated in ancient
Egypt, where a cake was consecrated by a priest and was supposed to become the
very flesh of Osiris.
This was eaten, and wine was partaken of, as part of the ritual. The cake and drink of Mithraism, also, with
the idea of transubstantiation, was similar to the Catholic "eucharist" and its varying formulations in
Protestantism, today!
In Prescott's
History of the Conquest of Mexico, he writes that when the Roman Catholic
missionaries first arrived in Mexico:
"Their
surprise was heightened, when they witnessed a religious rite
which
reminded them of the Christian COMMUNION. On these
occasions,
an image of the tutelary deity of the Aztecs was made of
the
flour of maize, mixed with blood, and AFTER CONSECRATION
by
the PRIESTS, WAS DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE PEOPLE, who,
AS
THEY ATE IT, 'showed signs of humiliation and SORROW,
declaring
it was THE FLESH OF THE DEITY'! How could the Roman
Catholic
fail to recognize the awful ceremony of the Eucharist?"
(William
H. Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico, appendix,
Part
I, p.696, Modern Library, New York).
Doesn't this
sound like the traditional "Passover" of some of the
"end-time" churches of God? Doesn't
that also resemble closely the communion service of most Protestant and
Catholic churches, INCLUDING many Sabbath-observing remnant churches?
Ralph Woodrow
wrote in Babylon Mystery Religion:
"In one form or another then, the
idea of eating the flesh of the god spread
to
many nations and tribes. When Rome
conquered the world, it absorbed
many
of these rites into its religious system.
Later, when Christianity swept
into
the Empire, many noticed there were some points of similarity between
the
rites of the pagans and those of the Christians. Eventually the TWO
SYSTEMS
WERE MERGED TOGETHER. Church leaders of
the fallen
CHURCH
DISGUISED THE PAGAN RITES with Christian sounding
names
and this DECEPTIVE MIXTURE HAS DECEIVED THE
WORLD!"
(p.131).
Could YOU have been deceived, and mistakenly been partaking
of a pagan, fraudulent "Passover," kept at the wrong time, observed
with all the elements of paganism, stirred up together with scraps of Christian
doctrine?
Those who
observe the "Eucharist," or "Lord's Supper," or
"Passover," as they may call it, on the eve of Nisan 14, who imitate
the Roman Catholic "mass," are not following Christ or the early
apostles. Whether they realize it or
not, they are walking in the footsteps of the apostate Jeroboam, the apostate
Samaritans, the apostate Sadducees and Karaites. They are spurning the example and commandment
of Christ Himself, who commanded us to look to the Pharisees as the authentic
voice of Judaism for instruction from "Moses' seat"
(Matt.23:1-2). Such
"Christians" are succumbing to the wiles of the devil, and are
falling, hook, line and sinker, for the greatest HOAX ever perpetrated by
Satan! They are unknowingly observing a
slick, smooth, ingenious COUNTERFEIT of the true Passover!
No matter
what you may call it, it is still a FRAUD! It is a SATANIC COUNTERFEIT! It is nothing more than Satan's own "hocus
pocus"!
Truly, Satan
the devil has perfected a masterful "Passover Plot." It has succeeded in deceiving thousands and
millions. It has grown and expanded over
the centuries, taking in more and more gullible victims.
But now God
Almighty has exposed his plot!
Jesus Christ declared, "The true worshippers shall worship the
Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22). Now you know the truth. And you know what God commands you to do
about it. Isn't it about time we
"earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints"? (Jude 3). God will richly
bless those who worship Him "in spirit and in truth" (John
4:23-24).