"Pentecost On the 16th?
You Can Count On It!"

N my original article, Pentecost -- The Final Solution! (Published originally in Sept. 1994, No. 11 issue of The PURE TRUTH magazine) I graphically showed how impossible it is to reconcile this belief and teaching of so many with the scriptural facts revealed in Exodus 16 and 19.

    Exodus 16 alone, generally ignored by most would-be calendar "restorers," holds several of the keys to the entire calendar restoration topic, including the questions of whether the calendar was solar, lunar or luni-solar, and the question of whether or not the "weeks" between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were actual sabbaths.

    And finally, whether those sabbaths were "day of the week" or date of the year sabbaths, as some Jewish Encyclopedia authors and other older sources on the subject have said all along.

Why Is This Even Important?

    Unlike decaying maps to rusting, cobweb and dust-covered, crumbling and decaying long lost fabled and perhaps even fictional treasure, the clues and the truth they reveal about Pentecost unlocks the vault of a vast and limitless, very real future treasure of the coming Kingdom on earth.

    Only those truly wise and open to understanding, able to see and hear the evidence you are about to discover in this arcane article, built upon the solid foundation of three decades of research into the ancient manuscripts and scriptures dating back to Moses, with inspiration direct from the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, could possibly accept and receive the unequaled riches of this rewarding study.

    If you have the spirit of adventure and are able to stand firm in spite of every obstacle, adversary and false path leading away from the ultimate conclusion of the quest before you, here is your exciting and rare peek behind the curtains of world history and future events, about to unfold.

    Hang on, because the going may get a bit rough from here, but neither faint heart nor insecure motive will gain what you should seek with all your heart, mind and being!

    When is a "week" not a week?

    Some have taught, in blatant contradiction of scripture, that Pentecost -- called "the Feast of Weeks," in some English scripture translations, that falls a day after "seven weeks" according to the King James and New International Version translations of Numbers 28:26 and Deuteronomy 16:9-10 -- is not actually counted after seven sabbaths at all, as both translations clearly state in Leviticus 23:15-16.

    Those who have embraced this error, including many offshoots of the former Worldwide Church of Herbert and Garner Ted Armstrong, and current claimants as "legitimate" heirs of their once semi-popular teachings, claim and would have you believe that the seven "weeks" were not really sabbaths.

    Why do they teach this?

    Simply because they have found and find it impossible to reconcile modern Jewish "day of the week" Saturday "sabbaths" with the obviously yearly-date sabbaths or "weeks" that determine when Pentecost must be observed.

    So these ever deceitful ministers who teach their followers to believe in flawed and inaccurate attempts to "restore" the "sacred" calendar, have said that the word translated "weeks" is not the same word translated sabbath(s), and therefore it must mean only 7-day periods entirely unconnected with actual sabbath weeks.

    Only in this way can the ever-changing Saturday "sabbath," which falls on different yearly dates in relation to the solar year, and even the secular Gregorian calendar year, be forced to "fit" into the scriptures that clearly contradict this (this is why all perpetual calendars have fourteen different calendars, one for each day of the pagan/secular planetary "week" for both regular and leap years).

Sabbath = Week?

    Most people who read the word "week" in scripture automatically assume, without thinking or proof (as the translators who used this word in their English versions of the Bible did) that this is the exact same thing as the modern pagan/secular calendar "week."

    The Jews have reinforced their mistaken assumption by declaring, also without adequate scriptural or historical proof, that Saturday is their "sabbath."

    In fact however, despite similar assumptions relating to the English translation words "first day" as supposedly meaning the same as "Sunday," there is absolutely no way to prove any pagan/secular calendar "week" day with any scripture.

    The only "evidence" cited is a long-held tradition with no provable historical connection with the sabbath week revealed in scripture.

    Those who falsely claim this is sufficient "proof" ignore the overwhelming evidence of the many scriptures that jointly testify over and over again that the Yasraelites continually forgot the sabbaths, and refused to observe them steadfastly (see, e.g.: Ezekiel 20:12-16, 21-24, 22:26, 23:38; Isaiah 1:13 and Lamentations 2:6).

    In fact, the Creator Himself is quoted as prophesying He would cause all the sabbaths, feasts and other celebrations to cease (Hosea 2:11).

    And the fact of the matter is that, if the modern "week" were to ever be forgotten, there is no way it could ever be restored with any confidence.

    What would you use to undertake such a task successfully?

    Yet the Feasts and sabbaths were going to be restored -- and in fact, already have been restored, since 1979 -- and this can be adequately proved with the scriptures alone!

    Here's how . . .

Looking to Inspired Scripture

    In The Pentecost Puzzle!, an article originally published in the July 1994, No. 9 issue of The PURE TRUTH magazine, I revealed how the count to Pentecost upsets all of the "Saturday sabbath" and non-sabbath "weeks" advocate's applecarts.

    And in Pentecost -- The Final Solution!, I gave graphic calendar examples of where all the calendar "restorers" and calendar traditions are just plain wrong, misguided and deceived.

    The facts of scripture destroy and blow entirely out of the water all the pet theories, convoluted reasonings and confused arguments about both the "true" sabbaths and when Pentecost is supposed to be kept and observed.

    Like so many other real scripturally-provable truths, however, over the years these easily verifiable facts have been largely ignored, generally despised and quickly "forgotten" by the purveyors of falsehood whose "sacred truths," "revelations" and supposedly "inspired teachings" have all been held to be more important and allegedly "truthful" than original inspired scripture itself!

    Let's look at the sabbaths/weeks leading up to Pentecost and learn the Pure Truth about what the scriptures have to teach us on this pivotal point of whether or not sabbaths are weeks, and how they fit in with the yearly Feast sabbaths of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, in particular.

    First, despite those who vociferously cry out and proclaim that the seven weeks before Pentecost are "not" sabbaths, let's look at the word translated "week" or "weeks" in relation to counting up to that Feast Sabbath event, as it relates to the word translated "sabbath" or "sabbaths" in inspired scripture.

    In the King James and New International Version translations the word "weeks" in Exodus 34:22, Numbers 28:26, Deuteronomy 16:9-10, 16 and II Chronicles 8:13 is saba (Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Hebrew Dictionary listing #7620), meaning: "sevened."

    This definition is best seen in other scriptures where the use of this word very obviously has nothing to do with either sabbaths or weeks, such as Genesis 29:27-28; Leviticus 12:5 and Daniel 9:24-27.

    Of course, in the last cited scripture of Daniel this word most likely refers to sabbatical years or even Yavbels ("Jubilees") periods covering a vast span of time.

    However, in reference to Pentecost specifically, the word sabbath (#7676) is used in several key scriptures.   I've highlighted it in the following verses so that you can know exactly where it occurs:

    This is the very same word used to refer to the regular sabbath in verse 3: "Work is to be done six days, but the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly.   You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to Yahveh" (Leviticus 23:3).

    In Leviticus 23:15 the word translated "full" (NIV), "complete" (KJV) and "perfect" (J.P. Green Interlinear) is the exact same word (#8649, Tamyam) used in Leviticus 25:30, where each of these three translations consistently and unambiguously translated it "full" in reference to a "full year."

    Obviously, since Pentecost was the fiftieth day, and the day after seven full sabbaths, or 49 days, those must be full or complete seven-day sabbaths!

    Pentecost, for instance, is an example of a sabbath that is not a full seventh day sabbath, since it immediately follows the day after a regular sabbath, with no work days in between the two sabbaths.

Which Sabbath?

    The big question on the minds of most would-be calendar "restorers" is which sabbath is meant in verse 15 as the day after which the wavesheaf was to be observed, which is when the count toward Pentecost begins.

    Various traditions claim this is either the first sabbath of Unleavened Bread or some alleged "Saturday sabbath" during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but neither of these claims qualify, as you'll soon see.

    First, in both cases the fact that the second Feast sabbath of Unleavened Bread must be kept on the 21st day, and not the 22nd, makes the Feast week an "imperfect" one, as the second Feast sabbath is just six days after the first Feast sabbath on the 15th, with only five days in between, a total period of seven days inclusive of both sabbaths (Exodus 12:18-19; Leviticus 23:6-8; Numbers 28:16-18, 25; Deuteronomy 16:3-4, 8).

    Deuteronomy 16:9-10 simply says: "Count off seven sevens*  from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to count seven sevens*.   Then celebrate the Feast of sevens* to Yahveh your Almighty One..." (*#7620).

    Trying to count forward from either of the two proposed starting points during the Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately reveals a major problem for those who also accept and believe in a luni-solar calendar with "months" of 29 or 30 days each, alternately.

    For instance, here is where the 50th day must fall from the first Feast sabbath of Unleavened Bread, assuming such "months" are true, counting forward:

Apparent Errors

    Several things are apparent here: first, although the 50th day in both instances always falls on the sixth day of the third alleged "month," as the Jews believe, in neither case is this the day after a seventh sabbath, as Leviticus 23:16 clearly stipulates.

    And since the 49th day is clearly a regular sabbath, so must every seventh day prior to it.   And that takes us back to the day following the last Feast sabbath.

    Clearly, this cannot be either a regular sabbath day or even a full sabbath, because it is the day after a Feast sabbath!

    In other words, to be called a "sabbath" the day after a Feast sabbath must first violate the sabbath command that requires six days of work before every regular seventh day sabbath observance (Exodus 20:9-10; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:13-14).

    Also, any day other than the day after the first Feast sabbath reveals that the Jew's date for Pentecost of always falling on the sixth day of the third "month" is obviously false.

    Lastly, notice the dates of the alleged seventh days in the second so-called "month" according to this calendar scheme.

    Since we have already seen how scripture undeniably teaches us that each of the seventh days in the 49-day count to Pentecost are actually regular sabbaths, then Exodus 16 reveals pivotal facts about when two of those sabbaths occurred during the second actual month immediately after the Exodus.

    In verses 1-2 we learn that the Yasraelites complained against Moses on the 15th day (a sabbath, as you will soon discover), which was followed directly by the provision of the quail "in the evening" following that sabbath day (verses 8, 12-13).

    Then, the very next morning, on the 16th day of the second month, began the miracle of the manna (verses 8, 12-15).

    That was the first day of a new sabbath week, meaning that the sixth day of manna fell on the 21st day of the second month, and the first sabbath day following the first week of the miracle of manna had to be the 22nd day of that month.

    Counting backward from the sabbath day on the 15th we find that the 8th and 1st days of the second month were also sabbaths, which accounts for four of the seven sabbaths prior to Pentecost the year of the exodus.

    Comparing these revelations to the previous calendar attempts you will find that none of these dates coincides with any of the false and now thoroughly disproved luni-solar or lunar month calendar schemes.

    The "seventh" days in the Jews' false count to their pseudo-"Pentecost" fall either one or two days prior to these dates, and in no case does one fall anywhere near the 1st day of their second lunar "month."

    Thus the lunar calendar and Saturday supposed "sabbaths" are proved to be an unscriptural concoction of rebellious "religious" yet carnal men, rather than a truthful, reliable or trustworthy tradition we are "bound" to accept and follow.

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

    In  The Pentecost Puzzle! I revealed for the first time the scriptural coup de grace to the enduring Pentecost enigma.

    Laying to rest all the arguments to the contrary for all time is Exodus 19, which relates the handing down of the Ten Commandments from Creator Yahveh on Sinai to Moses and the children of Yasrael, which by a tradition dating back to that historic event took place on the first Pentecost following the exodus.

    Looking closely at verse 1 we learn that: "In the third month after the Yasraelites left Egypt -- on the very day -- they came to the Desert of Sinai."

    Clearly, since the Passover in the first month was observed following the 14th day, when the Yasraelites spiritually departed from Egypt -- separating themselves from the Egyptians by putting out all leaven on that day, in preparation for their physical departure the very next day, on the first Feast sabbath of Unleavened Bread on the 15th day (Exodus 12:6, 8, 10-12, 14-17) -- Exodus 19:1 must mean either the 14th or 15th day of the third month, and no sooner!

    In Exodus 19:10 we see the Yasraelites were told to sanctify themselves that same day and the next day, in preparation for the third day: "...because on that day Yahveh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people" (verse 11).

    Again, verse 15 reiterates that they were to: "Prepare . . . for the third day."   And finally, verse 16 reveals that: "On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast.   Everyone in the camp trembled."

    That is when the event of Creator Yahveh descending upon Sinai in fire (lightning) and billowing smoke, in the sight of all the Yasraelites, with the entire mountain trembling violently (verses 17-19), took place.

    And this set the stage for the first giving of the Ten Commandments, as related for the first time in Exodus 20 and reiterated in Deuteronomy 5, on the Feast sabbath of Pentecost, according to ancient tradition.

     Clearly, that tradition -- if true -- along with the timing of these events as related in Exodus 19, thoroughly contradicts the dating of Pentecost in the modern Jewish luni-solar calendar.

    It helps to have a graphic representation of how these scriptural facts match, or contradict, the so-called luni-solar calendar.

    The following illustration sets the sabbaths revealed in Exodus 16 into such a calendar, in both possible sequences, along with the date for Pentecost revealed in Exodus 19 and the Feast sabbaths of Unleavened Bread commanded in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23.

    See for yourself how well these facts all fit into a luni-solar calendar:

    Obviously, nothing seems to fit here.

    There are too many sabbaths between Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, there are several days between Unleavened Bread and the first conjectural "sabbath," or three days before the first day of the count toward Pentecost beginning immediately after a sabbath (Leviticus 23:11-12), there is no seventh sabbath immediately prior to "Pentecost," and there is no way that the 6th day of the third month can be Pentecost, because this date never falls immediately after a seventh sabbath in such a calendar.

    This is why there has been so much controversy and confusion over this subject for so many years.