Godsloveandlaw's Blog

Let’s review what we learned in part 1. We saw that John correctly made a decided effort to search out more Truth. He knew that just as the parable showed, we needed the “extra oil” in our vessels to make it to the kingdom.

However, John apparently had not been in tune with the “Spirit of Truth” for he was guided to a Biblical feasts keeping site that blended the S.D.A faith with that of ceremonial feast keeping. Having read and listened to one John Vandenberg, he became convinced of his arguments as to the need of keeping the feasts in order to be “righteous” before the Lord today.

With this back drop he later found the Lord’s Rod message (Micah 6:9) and became further convinced of the truth of this as well. John , unfortunately is typical of a fair amount of so-called “present truth” believers. Today we are witnessing some electronic media sources proclaiming the Rod message yet also proclaiming we are to keep the feasts. In other words a blend  or hybrid teaching. Hybrid indeed! We shall now carefully breakdown this mis-calculation, this mixing falsehood with Truth.

You see brethren, the Lord knew very well that some day the most deliberate tricks would be foisted upon us. And this feast keeping trick is not upon the Elijah messengers alone, but upon the Seventh-day Adventist community at large.

Ok let’s review the points and arguments that John stands on from our prior post —

Nah. 1:15 — “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!  O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”

   Here you see that the announcement of this long-expected event is to be made by someone’s publications.  Moreover, he publishes peace and thus announces the restoration of the Kingdom.  This is the only peace that the world can have.  There is to be no other.  Those who keep God’s solemn “feasts” and perform their vows shall have this peace.  None others shall. (Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 42 p.41)

“Now commands the Lord: “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15. — {4 Jezreel Letter p.4.}

We remember that John read the above references and believed that the Rod message confirmed his belief in keeping the feasts. But as mentioned John had not read the Lord’s complete Rod. In It we find clarification.

Regarding Nahum 1:15, we find the Rod does indeed clarify. As the Scripture tells “Judah” to keep the solemn feasts and perform their vows, what does “Judah” represent?

“..the Truth of the Judgment of the Living, the which is to forever separate the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:30), the good fish from the bad (Matt. 13:47, 48), the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32), and the wise virgins from the foolish ones (Matt. 25:1-12). These shall “no more pass through” the church, declares the scripture, they are “utterly cut off.” Thus urging Judah, the church, to keep this antitypical atonement feast and to perform her vows to God so as to be found worthy of escaping the judgments of God.( TG, Vol. 1 No. 3, p.15)

Judah means –the  SDA church.

Ok, so Nahum 1:15 is instructions to us as Seventh-day Adventists. Next we want to know what does “keep thy solemn feasts ” mean? Is this a literal keeping or what? Now, let’s really zoom in here!

“Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts [the truth of the sanctuary], perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15. (Tract 4, p.61)

Ah, we see so clear and unmistakable that the Rod declares that keeping the feasts is keeping ”the truth of the sanctuary.” Our Lord did not let us down He inspired His Elijah prophet to make it straight and clear.

Our next important question then is —  What does “the truth of the Sanctuary”  mean?

“The Bible is the revelation of creation and redemption in Christ – Creator and Redeemer. Therefore, the Sabbath and the Sanctuary constitute “The Truth.” (See Hebrews 9:10, 4:4-10.) Thus these two doctrines are coupled together, cannot be separated, and bear the whole truth.   How do we keep the Sanctuary truth? It is kept, not in type, but in anti-type. By faith we believe that Christ, our High Priest, in the heavenly sanctuary is officiating in our behalf, as it was taught in type by the earthly sanctuary, built by Moses. As Israel complied with the requirements of its service in the type, so we must in the anti-type. Thus we “proclaim the truth [Sabbath and Sanctuary] more fully.” (2 SROD, p.138-139)

Praise the Lord! We can see that our anti-type keeping of the feasts, is our believing by faith that Christ is now doing all requirements on our behalf, the WORTHY high Priest! We thus believe and proclaim the Truth (Sabbath and Sanctuary).

From the above and from Christ Himself through His Elijah message we see want constitutes feast keeping today. Thus had John been fully grounded in the Rod he would have seen the “whole picture” and saved himself and others whom he no doubt influenced–much trouble and possibly losing out on eternal life.

The Spirit of Prophecy is clear about false righteous ones in describing the horrible time when they will be haunted for practicing their ideas against God’s clear instructions through His prophet —

“In these scriptures two parties are brought to view.  One party permitted themselves to be deceived, and took sides with those with whom the Lord has a controversy.  They misinterpreted the message sent them, and clothed themselves in robes of self-righteousness.  Sin was not sinful in their eyes.  They taught falsehood as truth, and by them many souls were led astray.” — “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. 9, page 268. (SOP regarding Rev. 6:12-17)

We want to point out that the message does tell us that apparently we will be keeping the “Feast of Tabernacles” in the pre-millennial kingdom as spoken of in Zech. 14:16 —

“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

“This sentence of Scripture emphatically implies that all who at that decisive moment refuse to be converted to the Lord, shall perish; only those who worship the Lord at Jerusalem on the feast of tabernacles, shall be spared.” (TG, vol. 1, no.20, p.13)

The above is the extent of which the Rod confirms feast keeping.

A short while back we held a phone conference study which we discussed the pre-millennial kingdom. In the study our brother who presented discussed Nahum 1:15. After the study we , as usual, opened the phones up for questions and answers. One brother took issue to what was discussed in the study. Namely that we were wrong to teach that we were not to literally keep the feasts, and that specifically Nahum 1:15 was encouraging us to keep the feasts literally.

His argument was as follows. He said that according to the Rod message in Answerer, vol. 3, p.9, Q-50 he had “proof” that brother Houteff supported and encouraged us present truth believers to keep the feast days.

WHEN DOES THE HEBREW YEAR BEGIN?

Question No. 50:

Can you tell us the Hebrew New Year’s day and the days Or their sacred feasts, In terms of our Roman calendar?

Answer:

While leading the Hebrew host from bondage to freedom, the Lord was firmly establishing them in the truth of all things, including the truth of the day on which the year begins, of the day on; which the month begins, and of the day on which ‘ the week begins. Obviously, the Hebrew religion had largely to do with the days of the week, of the month, and of the year.

“The Hebrews were forever to keep holy, 
(1) not a seventh, but the seventh, day of each week, the Sabbath; 
(2) the days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first day of the first month, the Passover week; 
(3) the fiftieth day after the sheaf of the j first fruits was offered, the Pentecost; 
(4) the tenth day of the seventh month, the Atonement; 
(5) the days from the fifteenth to the twenty-first ‘day of the same month, the Feast of Tabernacles; . and (6) the feasts of the new moons. 
Thus the All-knowing One, He who created the heavenly bodies and knows the very moment He set them in motion to govern the day, the month, and the year, decreed that the holy feasts be observed in the very month and on the very day on which they were first ordained…

…To prevent His people from bringing upon themselves such a catastrophe, and to have them intelligent as to the time the year begins, the Lord gave to Moses the sacred yearly calendar, which cannot be lost or miscalculated so long as the earth remains. He told him that the  day which preceded the exodus was the fourteenth day of the first month- and that forever  thereafter, they were to commemorate the Pass over on that very night each year, the night following the fourteenth day….

…And so it is that the Passover, the Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (the three most important feasts in the year), besides other feasts, are controlled by the solar year and by the lunar month; the weekly Sabbath by the day on which creation began; and the year itself by the vernal equinox, the immovable signpost.” (Answerer, vol. p.9, Question 50)

As can be seen the question is directed to knowing about the Hebrew time clock NOT about feast keeping and whether it still was required. In order to answer this question brother Houteff found it necessary to relate it to the feasts and the new moons.

Further, we brought this up in the phone conference, that if VTH had indeed meant in that reference that we are to keep the feasts today then we have two BIG problems.One, as stated already the message clears the understanding of what constitutes keeping them in anti-type. Two, we know from not only the writings but from two still living eye witnesses that during the approx. 20 years while brother Houteff lived on Mt. Carmel in Texas, he NEVER, not once kept any feast days, nor taught to keep them.

The brother’s response was “Well if brother Houteff didn’t keep them , then are you going down with him also”? What?? After using the Rod as a reference to support his “proof”, once exposed he quickly accuses its writer of non-compliance to the Lord’s instructions! There is no end to the foolishness that Satan has with his workers of iniquity.

To summarize —

The Lord asks us to keep the feasts (ceremonies) in anti-type only. Those who want to use the Lord’s Rod to justify keeping them literally are just fooling themselves and those they proclaim this false righteousness to. The High Priest who is worthy is now officiating in our behalf and thus we , by faith, proclaim the sanctuary truth. Let us be serious students of the Lord’s anti-type ceremonial message as brought by the two final prophets to our church. If we are found to be in error on a doctrine, we get straight and stay clear from false self-righteousness. There is too much over whelming evidence against the literal keeping for us to ignore. Let us not for a moment think God did not foresee this contentious issue and the need to clear it. In His all-seeing vision He sent His Elijah to “restore” our understanding of this issue, let us praise Him!

“In the Galatian churches, open, unmasked error was supplanting the gospel message. Christ, the true foundation of the faith, was virtually renounced for the obsolete ceremonies of Judaism. The apostle saw that if the believers in Galatia were saved from the dangerous influences which threatened them, the most decisive measures must be taken, the sharpest warnings given…..
…The apostle urged the Galatians to leave the false guides by whom they had been misled, and to return to the faith that had been accompanied by unmistakable evidences of divine approval.

The men who had attempted to lead them from their belief in the gospel were hypocrites, unholy in heart and corrupt in life. Their religion was made up of a round of ceremonies, through the performance of which they expected to gain the favor of God. They had no desire for a gospel that called for obedience to the word, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. They felt that a religion based on such a doctrine, required too great a sacrifice, and they clung to their errors, deceiving themselves and others.

To substitute external forms of religion for holiness of heart and life is still as pleasing to the unrenewed nature as it was in the days of these Jewish teachers. Today, as then, there are false spiritual guides, to whose doctrines many listen eagerly. It is Satan’s studied effort to divert minds from the hope of salvation through faith in Christ and obedience to the law of God. In every age the archenemy adapts his temptations to the prejudices or inclinations of those whom he is seeking to deceive.

In apostolic times he led the Jews to exalt the ceremonial law and reject Christ; at the present time he induces many professing Christians, under pretense of honoring Christ, to cast contempt on the moral law and to teach that its precepts may be transgressed with impunity. It is the duty of every servant of God to withstand firmly and decidedly these perverters of the faith and by the word of truth fearlessly to expose their errors.” (Acts of the Apostles, p.385.386.387)

“There are many who try to blend these two systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been abolished; but this is a perversion of the Scriptures. The distinction between the two systems is broad and clear. The ceremonial system was made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His priesthood. This ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be performed by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, p.365)

Once more the seriousness of the feast keeping situation has come around. This issue is getting more and more prevalent, similar to the subject of the Trinity. There is no doubt that in these last hours of probation our enemy has zeroed in on these two subjects. Even so far as to be a concern among some present truth believers.

Let us look into what the Lord’s Elijah message, the restoring truth message,  has to show us from the view of observance in anti-type of the ceremonial feast days. There is some very interesting references that we need to look at and delve into.

What makes this subject so intriguing is that if one desires to surface read or skim the message and hold on to a few selected references, one can actually think he has support for the idea of keeping the ceremonies (sans the sacrifices). Yes this can be supposedly supported and we’ll show how.

But those who want the “full Truth and nothing but the full Truth” will desire their Truth house built solidly upon the Rock of Jesus –the undeniable Truth. We shall endeavor to show from His divine Word.

The message explains —

   “Those who are willing to risk all on the ground of one inspired statement and disregard another in order to carry out certain cherished ideas of their own, are doing it on the same basis as those who entertain the idea of the conscious state of the dead, the eternal torment of the wicked, the baptism by sprinkling, the Sunday observance for the Sabbath, the condition of the millennium, etc….We would never try to establish an idea on the basis of agreeing with one passage of Scripture while disagreeing with another, for such a conclusion is as sure to be erroneous as if one should conclude that when the sun sets in the evening, it will never arise in the morning.” (Sym. Code, vol. 2, no.1, p.5)

In speaking of the writings of the Rod and SOP we read —

” …as there are no useless words in either of the writings, those who desire to know the truth must carefully mark every word, otherwise they will never comprehend the truth and, as a consequence, they will be driven by the winds as the waves of the sea until the winds cease blowing (probation closes), and they be left to sink down in their sins as do the waves in the sea.” (Sym. Code, vol. 2, no.7-8, p.10)

The above counsel is deep and far-reaching and when we use it, we prosper!

In part one we’ll look at the situation from “John’s” point of view. How he views the feast keeping doctrine today. He’ll show us how he blends the Rod message into his belief of keeping the feasts. In part two we’ll look at the opposing view and what many who have studied the message see as the Rod’s truth about it.

Ok let’s began with brother John. John is a long time Seventh-day Adventist who was not content with the lukewarm sermons and Sabbath school lessons. Something told him that there must be more to the Lord’s plans for us. After all he read Scripture like the following and truly wondered its timeline and significance for the SDA church.

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:1-3)

John asked around the church and did not get many answers, mostly ‘I’m not sure”. Then he happens to be online one day and heard about a report on end time events and what it means to the SDA church. Bingo! Right up his alley, he thought.

Long story short John was thrilled to review the report as it was all supported by Scripture and SOP. Even had some new unknown references, though he didn’t know what, stacked up to the Bible and SOP as well. He went on their site and saw that it was about the “Shepherd’s Rod”. Um, he remembered last year hearing about this term from another church leader but it was not in a good light. Something bad if he recalled.

Yet John  loved the Truth. He found himself frequently going to his new-found site, learning more and more about end time events. But John unfortunately was active in another well-known alternative website led by John Vandenberg of Bible Explorations from California. This is a well-known ministry that promotes SDA doctrine along with Biblical Feast keeping, in order to please the Lord today.

Their theory goes that although Jesus died and fulfilled our payment for sin, that fulfilled the sacrifice part of the feasts. Yet, the Lord still requires us to observe the ceremonies because among other things, His word made promises such as keeping the Passover forever —

“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.”(Exodus 12:14)

Fast forward a couple of years, John has now studied the “Rod” and believes in its teachings. But he also has not let go of his prior teachings, those of Vandenberg on keeping the Feast days. But soon John reads the following from the Rod and his joy is unspeakable!!

Nah. 1:15 — “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!  O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.”

   Here you see that the announcement of this long-expected event is to be made by someone’s publications.  Moreover, he publishes peace and thus announces the restoration of the Kingdom.  This is the only peace that the world can have.  There is to be no other.  Those who keep God’s solemn “feasts” and perform their vows shall have this peace.  None others shall. (Timely Greetings, Vol. 2, No. 42 p.41)

“Now commands the Lord: “Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee he is utterly cut off.” Nah. 1:15. — {4 Jezreel Letter p.4.}

You see one thing had been bothering John, although he was learning the Rod message he was finding opposition to the idea of keeping the Feast days from fellow Elijah messengers. They would tell him  “no, no, we are NOT to keep them” and they would provide references. But John , being already convinced upon the duty of Feast keeping would not accept their arguments.

So reading the Rod references above, he was excited and now felt fully justified in keeping them as Vandenberg had taught. True confirmation he thought!

After all does it not say “Those who keep God’s solemn “feasts” and perform their vows shall have this peace.  None others shall.” ? And  “Now commands the Lord:… keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows” ? No one, John thought, can misunderstand these plain Inspired injunctions.

To John’s mind he has successfully dealt with “the big reference” which deals with this feast keeping as follows —

“Broadly speaking, the law of Moses consists of three parts.  The first is the Ceremonial law, the law of the temple — the sacrificial law.  This law, of course, we today must not observe, except in antitype, for it foreshadowed things to come, particularly Christ’s first advent.  Thus it is that if we had lived in Old Testament times and had failed to comply with the sacrificial law and system of that day, we would thereby have demonstrated unbelief in Christ, Who was to come.  But since we are living in the Christian era, if we should now observe the typical sacrificial law and system, we should thereby demonstrate unbelief in Christ, Who has come.

   And so, as this law was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14), we need not, and must not, observe it now.

   The second part of Moses’ law, is the law by which Israel was to rule its people, the civil, or legal law, — the law which defines what penalty the government should impose upon those who are caught stealing, killing, or the like.  Now, since we as Christians do not have a government of our own, but are still under the governments of the nations of today, we personally, or as a group are not required to enforce the legal law of Moses either.

   The only law of Moses, therefore, that we can possibly be admonished to remember, is the third part of his law: the moral law, which consists of the things that pertain to us as individuals, the things that we as individuals must perform, the things that perfect our character, the things that make us a peculiar people.  We therefore need to search out and do the things contained in the moral law of Moses — “The commandments, and the statutes and the judgments.” Deut. 5:31.(TG, vol. 2, no.37, p.14-15)

John has read this many times and he counters those who use it to point against keeping the ceremonies, that what the Rod is saying is that we are not to keep the “sacrificial law”. In other words John thinks that the Rod found it necessary to warn against doing sacrifices!

This to the listeners of John’s argument makes them shake their head in amazement. They tried to tell John that even the vast multitude of protestant Christians know that we do not have an issue today, nor since Christ, with doing sacrifices. So with the Lord’s restoring message is HE going to tell His prophet to warn against keeping sacrifices?? No, there is only one conclusion – it’s a warning to not keep the ceremonies.

But John has not read ALL the Rod. He has severely limited his understanding of the Lord’s message by reading a portion instead of the whole.

The Lord’s Rod explains —

“The most common cause of doctrinal confusion among Bible students lies in their so very frequently failing to view a subject in full perspective from the writer’s point of view, — a failing which results in their seeing it from some foreign standpoint so narrowing their view that instead of gaining the writer’s idea on the subject, they gain a false idea on it. And if the idea be to their liking, they magnify and zealously promote it as truth, whereas if it be not to their liking, they vigorously oppose it, and then lay it to the responsibility of the writer!” (Tract 3, p.91)

Allow us to give another example of how reading a reference without studying the whole subject can throw us off.

The following is so perversely misunderstood that it has caused a vast multitude of protestant Christians to have a misguided understanding. Thinking that despite the unbelieving Jews in Israel today, God will magically save them.

“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Romans 11:26)

The message clarifies this —

Question No. 64:—Romans 9:27 says that a “remnant” of Israel will be saved, but Romans 11:26 says that “all” Israel will be saved. I do not understand this. Can you help me? 

  Answer:—Romans 9:27 is speaking of Israel as a nation, of which only a remnant will be saved; whereas Romans 11:26 is referring to the elect of Israel as individuals, all of whom will be saved.  (Answerer, vol. 3, p.51)

Additionally we have our Lord’s Word Himself —

Jesus saith unto them, ‘Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. ..And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. “(Matt 21:42-43, 45)

In part two we’ll look at the anti-type observance of keeping the feast days which is the dominant position of present truth believers today. God in His all-knowing wisdom did not leave these powerful and clear instructions unwritten for us.