My Introduction to the Temple Calendar

[John]

Thanks GermanSaxon, I have diwnloaded some more of the web pages you refer to. I will look at them later when I get finished on a thread I’m still stuck on, in the forum I mentioned previously. This stuff is time consuming considering how short the correspondence is.

The good thing about being challenged, either sincerely or insincerely, is that in time you make less silly mistakes in the process of sharpening your wits. In this calendar issue you can’t speak off the cuff without making an occasional mistake, and I have now discovered it wise to proceed slowly, with extreme caution and with a calendar and Bible in front of you at all times.

There are numerous different ‘Biblical’ calendars based on different Biblical quotes. Until the restoration of all things, the preponderance of evidence at the end of the day is what should decide the calendar issue in the meantime.

The Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar was only surreptitiously leaked to outside academics in the mid or late 1980’s, who later published it to the world. I believe that it is the closest thing we have to concrete proof of the Biblical calendar, although I don't agree with its Omer and Pentecost dates. By and large it is swept under the carpet, resisted and ignored by almost everybody. I am pretty sure most people who wish to follow the true Biblical calendar don't even know it exists ! Certainly all the so called ‘Biblical lunar calendar’ advocates would not promote a Dead Sea Scroll’s solar Biblical calendar ! Neither would the pagan Roman solar calendar advocates with their lunar based Easter festival !

The original calendar series you refer to written by William Strittmatter, was it compiled before the Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar was made available to the general public ? If it wasn’t, I feel he would need to look at it again with the DSS’s calendar as a strong contender for first prize. However, I will look at it later when I am finally free to do so. Please be patient, I will get to it eventually and give you feedback on my thoughts.

[GermanSaxon]

John,
William has a email which you can email your questions to him on his website. I didn't suggest his calendar to challenge you but instead to direct you to his work and view that Moses introduced the Solar Calendar as the original calendar used by Israel and his evidence that the Lunar calendar was introduced later from the dispersion of Israel. Evidence in scripture holds superior to DSS, Book of Jasher or Enoch etc.

If you can show me where William is inaccurate of his use in scripture of which calendar was the original calendar I would gladly accept your evidence and it would be of great interest to me. And I am sure I am not the only one on this forum that glady appreciates all the hard work you are doing on your calendar research.

German Saxon

[John]

Thanks German Saxon.

Yes, I know from your tone that you are friendly and sincere. It is the other thread on another forum I was referring to, not you. However that thread has cleared my head and brought out some good results. I’m hoping to wrap it up soon.

I agree that there was a variety of different solar and lunar calendars in use throughout the ancient world in different areas and times, very often in the same area and time. The Israelites repeatedly lapsed into using false calendars or being forced to do so. At the time of Christ however, I feel that the correct Biblical calendar was practiced in the Temple by the Sadducees.

I feel that only after the destruction of the Temple and Sadducee authority did the Pharisees manage to reintroduce the Babylonian lunar calendar, cleverly modified to masquerade as the Biblical original. Their moving the Omer date to the 16th Abib at this time is to me a strong indicator of a move back to the false lunar calendar. Although strongly objecting, the Boethusian/Sadducean faction at this stage was powerless to stop them.

This is where I stand on some of these issues at the moment, based on the way I understand things now. That may change in the near future upon further investigation, and as I said I will look more into William Strittmatter website as soon as I am more free to do so.

[GermanSaxon]

John said "At the time of Christ however, I feel that the correct Biblical calendar was practiced in the Temple by the Sadducees."

The only problem with your statement is that Jesus celebrated Passover before the Sadducees Passover. So are you saying that Jesus celebrated the Passover on the wrong day? The Sadducees used Lunar Calendar and Jesus used Solar, isn't that correct?

German Saxon

[John]

OK, I’m free of that other forum thread now ! Remind me never to start a thread on a forum full of ‘Messianic’ Edomites ! It was a good warm-up exercise however. After that, hopefully I won’t be fooled into making stupid mistakes again, or shooting myself in both feet ! I hope that NicoChristian is still around to see me try and redeem myself. That run-around has opened my eyes to some of these “gate keepers” methods of confusion. Well did Christ say: “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” (Matthew 23:13)

Now I can start going over William Strittmatter website as you suggest, but for now I will make a few comments first, broadly explaining how I see things:

I agree with you that “Evidence in scripture holds superior to DSS, Book of Jasher or Enoch etc.” However, how the DSS’s used scripture to formulate their calendar should be of interest. For example, their interpretation of Genesis 1:14-19 to start their calendar annually on the 4th day of the Biblical week. Besides Genesis 1:14-19, they had other good reasons for doing this and I will mention them later.

We have to establish what calendar the Sadducees were using and what calendar Christ was using.

I may be wrong, but from what I have seen over the past couple of years, there is almost no record surviving of what calendar the Sadducees actually used. The only indication or clue we have, is that after the destruction of the Temple the Pharisees changed the day of the Omer to the 16th Abib. We know this from the surviving record of their dispute with the Boethusian/Sadducean sect over this very issue.

The Pharisees, who’s descendants later standardized the Old Testament into the Masoretic Text, are the same people who previously altered the Sadducee Temple calendar, after the Sadducees were disempowered by the destruction of the Temple. Strangely, in both cases all previous text materials were forever lost to history. This made it very difficult to get past their information firewall until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scroll’s. With the Masoretic Text the Pharisees established and gave us the ‘truth’ as they had doctored it, and they still managed to suppress the DSS’s for over forty years. Many of the DSS’s continue to be suppressed up until today.

I believe that it was the Edomite Pharisees who re-introduced the lunar calendar after the Temple was destroyed. Their changing the Omer date to the 16th Abib is proof enough for me that they were the culprits. This day change is the smoking gun, in their deceitful hands !

As you say, other people believe that the Passover feast is on the 14th Abib, including the Messianic Edomites I have just been debating.

Lets assume for the moment that the 15th Abib is the evening Feast of Yahweh’s Passover:

Having carefully read all the reasons used to support the false lunar calendar, and understanding its layout, I can see why it was so important for the Pharisees to move the Omer date to the 16th Abib. Remember, that to succeed in this change the 16th Abib could never have been a weekly Sabbath ! Within the Feast of Unleavened Bread they moved the Omer from the day after the weekly Sabbath, to the day after the 15th Abib Passover High Day Sabbath, and because it still followed a “Sabbath” many people, even today, foolishly accept it. For a whole year I was one of those people !

Leviticus 23: 37-38 makes it clear that weekly Sabbaths are not High Day Sabbaths !

The lunar calendar has to have the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th Abib as weekly Sabbaths to successfully and falsely masquerade as the Biblical calendar. These weekly ‘sabbaths’ aren’t even the true weekly Sabbaths of Abib, and this is the trap cleverly laid for any future generations like ourselves, who might try and get back to the Biblical calendar. This was their back-up Plan B ! (Plan A was the Pagan solar calendar with its lunar based Easter festival Sun–day, which also relies on a 14th Abib Passover Feast ! Interesting that historically Plan A leaders and supporters burnt all manuscripts that could be used today to easily prove Plan B false ! Doesn’t this indicate a common ‘Grand Master’ ?)

The Sadducees never had the Omer day on the 16th, and as long as it wasn’t on the 16th Abib the lunar calendar couldn’t be substituted for the truth. Can you see that ? Everyone knew that the Omer has to follow a weekly Sabbath, and when the Pharisees moved it to follow the 15th High day Sabbath instead of the weekly Sabbath, the Sadducees strongly objected. Subsequently, with the implementing of the lunar calendar, the 15th became both the High Day ‘sabbath’ and the weekly ‘sabbath’ combined, but was actually neither because it’s 1st day was lunar based and doesn’t synchronise with the Biblical solar 1st day of the year !

Can you see why I say their moving of the Omer day incriminates the Pharisees as the promoters of the lunar calendar, not the Sadducees ?

At least with a false Roman solar calendar, on some years the Sabbaths will partially overlap with Sundays for a whole year. This is how they managed to shift from the weekly Sabbaths of the true solar calendar, to the Sun-day ‘sabbath’ of the Roman pagan solar calendar. When Christians discover this Plan A deception, most of them then run to and are taken in by their rearguard back-up Plan B false lunar calendar, prepared for them two thousand years ago !

With the lunar calendar the Sabbaths and Feasts will always be totally wrong !

What I think is that the Sadducees, as successors of the priests of the Book of Maccabees with their solar/Enoch calendar, probably practiced a very similar calendar to the Book of Maccabees based Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar, but with the definite exception of the Omer and Pentecost dates !

I think that the main reason why some people say Christ followed a different calendar to the Temple Sadducees, is their belief that the “Last Supper” was a Passover. I hope you will try read and enjoy the following document:

http://www.declarethedecree.com/marriag ... nkpg93.doc

There are a couple of references and comments in there that support the view that the “Last Supper” was not a Passover. The main reason I think that you should read it is because it tries to cover most of the bases to put the Passover and crucifixion in perspective. Hopefully you will be able to get used to the graphic artistic license in the Biblical prose, and relive the whole story.

Did Christ use the same calendar as the Sadducees in the Temple ?

The pros and cons concerning this question needs to be clearly laid out and a decision made.

Also, justification for how Exodus 12:18 is interpreted is probably decisive in determining whether the “Last Supper” was a Passover or not !

[GermanSaxon]

John,

Two thoughts to think about:

1. I think Bill has firmly established that the Sadducees were in control of the Sanhedrin and the Temple so it makes sense they controlled the Calendar. Solar Passover is always before Lunar Passover.

2. Jesus must die on the correct Passover date or he failed His mission.

You said “Also, justification for how Exodus 12:18 is interpreted is probably decisive in determining whether the “Last Supper” was a Passover or not !”

So now you must deal with what scripture says- the last supper was Passover –Luke 22:8 .

Let us look at a Timeline:

A.. Jesus celebrates Passover with disciples - Luke 21:15: It is after sunset on Passover Day.

Note that sunset in Jerusalem was somewhere between 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM- Beginning of new day. I am sorry but I haven’t had time to research exact sunset time on the actual day.

Luke 22:1, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.” 2, And the “chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him;” for they feared the people.
3, “Then entered Satan into Judas” surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
4, And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
5, And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
6, And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. (1) in the…: or, without tumult
7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed
8, And he sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.”
9, And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
10, And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.
11, And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, “where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?”
12, And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.
13, And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
14, And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
15, And he said unto them, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:” (2) With desire…: or, I have heartily desired
16, For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17, And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18, For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20, Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
21, But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.


B. Judas leaves and betrays Jesus. Jesus is arrested at night and taken away

Matt 26:30, And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. (2) hymn: or, psalm
31, Then saith Jesus unto them, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night:” for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

Matt 26: 34, Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, “That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”

Matt 26:47, “And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.”
48, Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
49, And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
50, And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
51, And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
52, Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
53, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54, But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
55, In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
56, But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
57, “And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.”

C. In Morning, after the arrest the night before-

Mat 27: 1, “When the morning was come”, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2, And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

D. Sometime about 12 noon in morning Pilate says “Behold your King” and Jesus shortly after led through street and crucified. Darkness is now upon Earth-

John 19:13, When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 And it was the preparation of the passover and “about the sixth hour:” and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

Luke 23:42, And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43, And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
44 And it was “about the sixth hour” and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. earth: or, land
45, And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

E. Around 3:00 PM Jesus is found dead-

John 19: 31, The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, “(for that sabbath day was an high day,)” besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32, Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33, But when they came to Jesus, and “saw that he was dead already,” they brake not his legs:


F. Buried before High day (Saduccees Passover.)

Jn 19:31 . . .“(for that sabbath day was an high day,)” besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

German Saxon

[John]

German Saxon, things are moving very slowly with me at the moment, but I have started going over more of William Strittmatter website as you suggested. It is definitely an excellent site from which I am learning a lot. I have still to read much more, especially regarding his interpretation of the calendar, but I feel that I can’t agree with it so far. It may be premature for me to comment on his calendar now before fully reading and wrapping my head around his views, but to keep this thread flowing I will comment in the meantime subject to revision and/or correction:

From what I can see in his “The Passover in the New Testament” it seems that it indeed was written before details of the Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar became available to us, because he refers to 1981, 1983 and 1984 as future events.

He believes that the Sabbath floats by stating that:

“The weekly seventh day Sabbath occurring during the days of unleavened bread can be on any day from the 15th to the 21st.”

I believe as the DSS’s, that this Sabbath is always fixed on the 18th Abib, and interestingly, although William Strittmatter believes that according to his calendar version the Sabbath floats, he shows it as also occurring on the 18th at the first Exodus Passover, as well as again on the 18th at the crucifixion Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. He states regarding an 18th Sabbath at these two events:

“The interesting point is that both years the pattern was the same.” ! ! !

Yes, maybe because like the DSS’s calendar this was the case every year, which would mean that the 1st Abib is always the 4th day of the week. However he believes in floating Sabbaths which happens to periodically reoccur on fixed dates, as with your birthday on the Roman calendar.

The DSS’s believe that Sabbaths are fixed on the same dates in all years, because the year and calendar always starts afresh when the calendar is reset to the same day of the week, on the first day of every solar year ! The week is reset along with the year ! Why should the years months be reset but not the weeks ? Why can’t the whole calendar be reset at the start of every year ?

( The false lunar calendar is also reset, but at the beginning of every lunar month, and again every few years it’s false Abib month and year is also re-synchronized to start as close as possible to the spring equinox from which it continually strays ! )

William Strittmatter’s first Exodus Abib agrees with all the DSS’s Abib’s which have fixed Sabbaths. All his subsequent Abib’s will have different Sabbath days for several years, depending on a leap year, until they eventually again reoccur on these same Abib days. During this period surly his Abib’s weekly resting Sabbaths will sometimes fall on the 10th or 14th working days, when the Passover lambs are separated and killed, contrary to the weekly Sabbath commandments; and they will also sometimes fall on the 15th and 21st (which are High Days), contrary to Leviticus 23: 37-38.

This is the problem with the continuous ad infinitum every seventh day floating weekly Sabbaths (just like the Roman Sunday): they will often fall on Biblical days that require work and the kindling of fire/cooking, which is forbidden on the weekly Sabbath, or they will fall incorrectly on High Days ! This doesn’t happen with the fixed Sabbath calendar because it also resets the weeks along with the months at sunset starting the new year after witnessing and confirming the northern hemisphere spring equinox on the last day of the year.

William Strittmatter also starts the Biblical day at midday. I would like to see more convincing proof for this and also feel that it would be very impractical to implement in everyday life.
There are always Biblical verses which may seem to indicate different interpretations, but based on the preponderance of evidence I go with the general consensus of a sunset to sunset day. In the Old Testament “evening” can mean any time between midday and sunset. In the New Testament “at evening” can also mean before sunset. For example after Christ appeared to the women near the tomb around sunrise:

“Then the same day at evening <Strong’s no. 3798> . . .” (John 20:19), Christ again appeared in the late afternoon ! The Biblical “same day” means before sunset, and this verse obviously also excludes a midday day change ! Strong’s no. 3798 for “evening” can support this view.

So although not detracting from his other interesting work thus far I feel his calendar is faulty according to the preponderance of evidence, although I admit that I have yet to completely read all his work on it.

Regarding William Strittmatter’s two calendar theory of solar and lunar parallel Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread crucifixion events you are referring to:

Jesus must die on the correct Passover date or he failed His mission.

The “Last Supper” occurred in the evening. Later that same night, Christ was arrested, tried, later crucified, and died about 3p.m. the next afternoon.

Even if the “Last Supper” was the correct solar Passover, then surly Christ did fail in His mission because then He actually died about 18 hours or more after this “Last Supper” Passover Feast, and therefore at least 24 hours after the Passover Lamb was supposedly killed !

Christ Himself was supposed to be that perfect unblemished Lamb of the Sacrifice of the Feast of Yahweh’s Passover, which He couldn’t be Himself and also simultaneously eat it with the disciples at the same time, as Luke 22:15-16 actually alludes to !

Also if the “Last Supper” was the correct solar Passover date, then was Christ incorrectly sacrificed much later on a false possibly lunar calendar as the Sacrifice of the Feast of SATANS Passover ? ? ! !

Think of that ! ! !

Or was the “Last Supper” simply Christ's last opportunity to teach His disciples before He was later correctly sacrificed on the Biblical solar Sadducee calendar, as the perfect unblemished Lamb of the Sacrifice of the Feast of Yahweh’s Passover ?

After all, the lamb is always killed first before the Passover Feast of the same roasted lamb !


With the Passover/”Last Supper” issue there are different Gospel verses which seem to indicate different timelines. We have to resolve the differences and/or go with the preponderance of evidence, which suggests that correctly speaking the Passover is killed on the “Preparation Day” and is eaten between sunset and midnight on the following High Feast Day evening.

In addition some people have pointed out that by the time of Christ the Passover festival as a whole was viewed as being an eight day period starting on the “Preparation Day” when all leaven was removed, the venue prepared, unleavened bread baked etc, and the Passover lamb killed, skinned, hot coals prepared and the roasting of the lamb started. That was followed after sunset by the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread initiating the actual Feast of Yahweh’s Passover with bitter herbs and fresh unleavened bread.

By the context is it possible in both Testaments to see if the “Passover” is referring to the killing of the lamb or the feast of the lamb, or both ? If so, the actual days referred to can respectively be either the first “Preparation Day”, the following High Day with its evening Passover Feast, or both in succession.

It is my belief at the moment that at the time of Christ the Passover Feast was eaten near home, that they ate it standing up dressed ready to leave, and marched the short distance back home after midnight, thus simulating the original Passover when leaving Egypt. I have read that there are early references to this practice in Jerusalem.

“Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.
And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. (Deuteronomy 16:5-7).

Christ Himself chose the upper room then, and today does He not wish to put His name in our foreheads, the upper room of our Temples ?

The “Preparation Day” starts at sunset and is not a Sabbath, but was considered part of the festival period because so much is done on this day for the following evening Feast. ( Compare this Biblical Passover festival with the preparations for all our nonsense pagan practices today. Even your genuinely honorable “Thanksgiving” requires a lot of family, cooking and venue planning before the time, followed by many of the participating relatives and neighbors walking or driving home later in the evening. They may also remain completely dressed ready to leave afterwards, except that they eat the meal sitting down with their shoes on.)

So the whole Passover Feast “period or festival” started with the Preparation Day in which after sunrise they would ensure that all leaven is removed whilst doing all the other necessary preparations. It’s “festival” ended with the last of the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread eight days later, on another High Day. The first High Day “Passover Feast of Yahweh” was after sunset starting the second day, which was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. ( ‘our’ Pagan festivals also extend past the actual days celebrated.)

Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?

Regardless of when the day changes this is not referring to the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread because that occurs only on the 15th after the Passover Lamb is already slaughtered on the 14th !

I.e. although on the first day of this “feast/festival period”, i.e. on the “Preparation Day”, they were not forbidden to eat unleavened bread because the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” only started at the next sunset, they may still have considered it a day of unleavened bread because they spent a portion of the day ensuring that there was no longer any trace of leaven or leavened bread to be found in their households by the end of the day – yet this was the day that the Passover was killed !

Again this explains the seemingly contradictory statement of Luke 22:7 “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.” Alternatively this might be more broadly interpreted as indicating that “Then came the period/time/festival of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed”, always remembering that the Passover Lamb is killed first, and then the Passover Feast takes place on the following evening of the first day of the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So although technically not one of the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread, from its sunrise the “Preparation Day” could have been considered a day of unleavened bread by virtue of the fact that they sought out and removed all leaven and leavened bread in preparation for the Feast. Nevertheless, from its earlier start at the previous sunset, there is nothing about the Preparation Day that prohibits it from accommodating Christ's “Last Supper” in the upper room booked as the venue for the rest of the Preparation Day preparations and following evening Passover Feast !

I.e. The upper room could have easily been booked from the Preparation Day starting at sunset for Christ’s “Last Supper”, to after the 14th Preparation Day crucifixion/lamb killing and 15th Abib Passover Feast.

Wishing to making ready for the Passover, their lamb would have been chosen already and kept separate. They secured the venue, and prepared the “Last Supper” to be eaten there as Christ wished. This was still the beginning of the Preparation Day in the upper room venue where the Passover would be eaten after all the preparations were completed about 24 hours later on the 15th Abib.

At the “Last Supper” they ate bread:

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread <740>, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.” ( Matthew 26:26 )

“bread” here is Strong's no. 740 which indicates leavened bread - 740 artov artos ar'-tos
From 142; bread (as raised) or a loaf:- (shew-) bread, loaf.

This is confirmed by the “sop” of bread:

“Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.” ( John 13:26 )
A “sop” of bread is able to “sop up” and become “sopping wet”, yet the Passover is roasted dry, without water in any way, and is eaten with unleavened bread with which it is difficult to make a “sop”.

Justification for how Exodus 12:18 is interpreted is probably decisive in determining whether the “Last Supper” was a Passover or not !

If the “Last Supper” was a Passover according to Exodus 12:18, then they would have eaten unleavened bread that day and up until the twenty first, making it a Feast of eight days Unleavened Bread and not seven days !

I believe Exodus 12:18 is correctly interpreted in the same way as explained in the Biblical interpretation of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23: 27-32. Verse 32 ensures that the 10th referred to in verse 27, starts at the end of the 9th so that there can be no mistake ! ( If it started at the beginning of the 9th then it wouldn’t be the 10th ! ! ! )This supports the similar Greek expression of John 20:19 previously mentioned above.

Joseph of Arimathaea was also a disciple of Christ and helped comply with the Temple calendar:

“And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.” (Mark 15:42-43 )

The context of the text appears to indicate that he does it in agreement with the Sadducee Temple calendar.

Only much later when the Sadducees were disempowered, did the Pharisees opportunistically change the Omer from the Sadducee’s date to the 16th Abib after the Temple was destroyed, indicating that this was the first crucial step to re-introducing the false Babylonian lunar ‘Biblical’ calendar well after the crucifixion.

So basically, although I stand to be corrected, I think that the preponderance of evidence is in favor of this view at the moment, although I still have to finish much of William Strittmatter website and may be missing something in the meantime.

[GermanSaxon]

A. Whether Christ is celebrating the Last Supper hinges on Luke 22:

11, And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, “where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?”


13, And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

B. The reason Passover floats is that the count off day starts at Solar Equinox which changes yearly. Didn't you read this section on William Strittmatter site?

C. Concerning when a day starts- William Strittmatter I believe errs in this area as is clearly pointed out in my timeline. Did you read my Timeline?

D. Whether you can "sop" with unleaven bread is quite clear a yes, -if you have hand made and baked unleaven bread. You also say "A “sop” of bread is able to “sop up” and become “sopping wet”, yet the Passover is roasted dry, without water in any way, and is eaten with unleavened bread with which it is difficult to make a “sop”."

Did you ever consider the sop could be wine? Now remember Jesus is not eating the sop or morsel but he dips it and hands it to Judas.


E. You say- "Also if the “Last Supper” was the correct solar Passover date, then was Christ incorrectly sacrificed much later on a false possibly lunar calendar as the Sacrifice of the Feast of SATANS Passover ? ? ! ! " Did you read my timeline? If a day starts at sundown, Christ die the afternoon of of same day. So how is that "Satans Passover?" His body had to be removed before sundown before the Jewish Passover started that evening. Read my timeline John.

D. At the beginning of your most recent email you say- "I have still to read much more, especially regarding his interpretation of the calendar, but I feel that I can’t agree with it so far. "

At the end of your most recent email you say- "So basically, although I stand to be corrected, I think that the preponderance of evidence is in favor of this view at the moment, although I still have to finish much of William Strittmatter website and may be missing something in the meantime."

How can you make a statement like this when you haven't even finished reading his website?

My conclusion are that it doesn't matter what William Strittmatter presents or what evidence I present but you have already made up your mind on the subject. I stand to be corrected but it seems I am wasted hours of my time as you clearly didn't even read my timeline either before jumping to your conclusions.

Am I guessing correctly that John that you are "Michael John" and the "Michael" who has been arguing this Temple Calendar subject of several CI & non CI forum websites? And this is based on a booklet you already published on the subject?

If you are "Michael" maybe I should ask you the same questions that Obadiah 1:18 asked you but you failed not answer -"Michael, I've read parts of your book but still aren't exactly sure what you believe. Do you believe, as we Dual Seedline Christian Identists do, that Yahshua came only to redeem the lost sheep of the house of Israel, i.e. the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, and kindred people, or do you believe He came to redeem non-whites as well? And what is your view on the Jews?"

German Saxon

[John]

German Saxon, I haven't read your “Timeline”, is it included somewhere in William Strittmatters website ?

I repeatedly tried to make it clear that I hadn’t read enough of William Strittmatters website to comment on everything regarding his calendar, only on where I stand and what I know at the moment, and on what I had read of his calendar “so far” etc, etc . . .

Any ‘Biblical’ calendar only has to be out on one thing to be in error: “a miss is as good as a mile !”. However, when that one thing is corrected it will be 100% correct, yet four or five misses will make it as good as a thousand mile miss !

You yourself say William Strittmatter errs in when the day starts, therefore his entire calendar is in error if the day starts at sunset, as it seems you are saying. I agree with a sunset start of day probably for the same preponderance of evidence you agree with a sunset start of day. I agree this doesn’t mean that William Strittmatter doesn’t have a lot of good points to make which may throw new light on many issues, including the calendar.

As I also said, things are moving very slowly for me at the moment. I haven’t read much more of his work, but enough to see one or two more points where he differs with the Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar in the first three months. He actually agrees with the probable Sadducees Omer day, but his total number of days for the months differs from the DSS’s, and his weekly Sabbaths float. Right or wrong, this obviously affects the whole calendar !

With the little I have read on William Strittmatters first three months so far, some things he says actually fits in more perfectly with the Dead Sea Scroll’s, a 19th Abib Omer with a 8th Sivan Pentecost ! ( Counted with 30, 30 and 31 days respectively for the number of days in the first three months.)

As I previously pointed out: “From what I can see in his “The Passover in the New Testament” it seems that it indeed was written before details of the Dead Sea Scroll’s solar calendar became available to us, because he refers to 1981, 1983 and 1984 as future events.”

I believe that all people working on the Biblical calendar should take cognisance of the Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar in their work. If they don't, they are discarding the only original authentic unadulterated copy of a complete calendar based on the Bible, that existed at the time of Christ and up to two hundred years before ! However, I don't believe that they had the calendar 100% correct, and I have modified it to reflect what I believe the Sadducee Omer date was, the 19th Abib. Surprisingly this results in Pentecost on the 8th of the third month, after the 7th Sabbath on the 7th, being 8 Sabbaths in total with the one just before the Omer !

I find this pattern extraordinary !

It is probably best for me to finish reading William Strittmatters website and your “Timeline” before we continue, that way we won’t both get bogged down in any unnecessary extra work.

Yes, my first name is Michael and my second name is John. Bill gave me John as my name on this forum because Michael was already taken.

Yes, I have also been promoting this Dead Sea Scroll’s calendar adapted to a Sadducee 19th Abib Omer date, as illustrated and explained in the website http://www.declarethedecree.com in the following document: http://www.declarethedecree.com/the_temple_calendar.doc (I still have to make a correction in this one).

Obadiah 1:18 did pose the questions you quote, and if I remember correctly I explained to him that he enjoys more freedom of speech where he is, and if he reads the website carefully he will see exactly where I stand, what I believe and what I am promoting. I recommend that you click on the following three links to put your mind at rest:

http://www.declarethedecree.com/marriag ... uction.doc
http://www.declarethedecree.com/marriag ... kpg116.doc
http://covenantpeoplesministry.org/foru ... p?5500-DOG’S-IN-THE-TEMPLE