Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

by HOIM Staff

Thanks for sharing the research project of Mrs. Jessie Attenborough concerning the Passover. Please convey my thanks to her. It is obvious she has spent many hours in this endeavor. Since she did ask for input, mine is included in this communique.

It is no secret that we live in a world based on deception. It's everywhere. Advertising, the market, our economy, religion, education, entertainment -- I can't think of any facet of life in America or the world which isn't built around deception. Did the Messiah envision this? Rev. 9 says, "...that old serpent, Satan the devil, which deceiveth the whole world." Have we reached that level of deception?

Judaism has become just another worldly sect comparable to the Catholic Church. This is evident in their modification of history to support their traditions. In their effort to make a case for Bar Kochba being the Messiah, they dropped 243 years from history in the Persian Empire days. The Jews had all the information necessary to make a rational decision regarding the Messiah. Herod didn't doubt when told by the visiting Parthians that a king had been born. Not only Herod was troubled but "...all of Jerusalem..." Why? Turf.

The Jews involved in the kangaroo court pronounced their own curse on their children and sacrificed them on the "Turf Altar." "His blood be on us and on our children."

But the Jews will acknowledge their error and acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah before his 2nd coming. This will be covered in "The Greatest Story Never Told" which I will send you shortly.

I must respectfully disagree with Mrs. Attenborough's statement on page 22 that the "...first Feast of Unleavened Bread..." was in Egypt. Genesis 19:3 shows us that Lot was keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the days of Abraham.

I noticed also that Mrs. Attenborough quotes and or uses materials of the Sadducees and adds several times that they were in charge of the temple during the time of the Messiah. Was this God given authority? Or was this a political appointment by the Romans? Doesn't the fact that they didn't survive the 70 AD invasion by Titus show what YEHOVAH God thought of the Sadduccees? We can further see what YEHOVAH thought of them in Mark 12, starting in verse 18. "Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection and they asked him, saying . . ." Now it was nothing new that the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to trap him with his own words, but take a took at his answer. Verse 24. "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God..." Therefore, if the Messiah assigned no credibility to the Sadducees, should we?

Now what about the Samaritans whom she also quotes quite extensively. Is there a plausible case for assigning credibility to them? As I remember, the Samaritans were one of the earlier attempts of Gentiles (Satan) to dilute the blood lines of Israelites (not necessarily Jews). There was much enmity toward the Samaritans in the Messiah's day because of this mix. Even so, the Messiah was not one to lay stumbling blocks before them. He talked with the woman at the well as outlined in John 4, however, one of the things he told her was, "Ye worship ye know not what." It is obvious from the rest of the text that he was talking not just to the woman but to the Samaritans because he said, "We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." Obviously, the Messiah had little regard for the idolatry of the Samaritans and would assign no credibility to them.

Now what about the Pharisees? Did he ever criticize them for not knowing the Scriptures? Not that I'm aware of. He did criticize them for their hypocrisy and chided them for knowing better but not doing better. He also pinned your future and mine upon their knowing the law despite all the dust that has been thrown into the air by religious politicians, scholars and historians. Matt. 23:2-3.

"Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: 'All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not.'"

The rest of the chapter is a sermon built around "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites..." So Yeshua the Messiah is certainly not endorsing their actions but can anyone deny that this is an endorsement of their knowledge and authority? How can one claim to be "living by" "every word of God" and ignore this specific instruction given personally by the Messiah?

Are we really fathoming the mind and divine character of YEHOVAH God? The statement at the bottom of page 41 baffles me. "The time of the evening sacrifice (3 p.m.) should not be the criteria for the timing of the slaying of the Passover lambs." Perhaps not the criteria but wouldn't it be short sighted to think it was co-incidental that this was the time of the Messiah's death? If the Messiah was our sacrificial lamb and YEHOVAH God does things "decently and in order" can we also believe it was mere co-incidence that he died at the time the Jews were beginning to kill the sacrifices?

The lineup of evidence concerning the evening and "between the two evenings" is impressive but is it conclusive? When do the days of unleavened bread start.? If the Passover and Unleavened Bread are separate feasts, how do we account for Exodus 12:18 which says, "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even." It is obvious from the, context here that this is the evening closing out the fourteenth and not the evening beginning it.

Now, if we base our argument for a fourteenth Passover on the premise that this was the date the Messiah kept it with his disciples, the argument falls apart there also.

We could go into the word derivation of the word "desire" used by the Messiah in Luke 22:15 where he said "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer..." We could show that it comes from the Greek word epithumia which means "a desire or lust for that which is forbidden." We could even speculate that Yeshua knew he wouldn't be eating "this Passover" with them because he was to "be" that Passover. But rather than get into scholarly discussions and hair splitting on words and heavy etymological dissertations, let's just try to get a feel for the mind of YEHOVAH God by examining what is given in His word. (Not that I abhor outside sources because in many cases they can round out a mosaic which has missing pieces.)

If the Messiah was nailed to the tree at the third hour (Mark 15:25) of Nisan 14 and died that afternoon at the ninth hour (Matt. 27:46-50) then he did not spend the evening before with his disciples. He was in custody and appeared before Pilate at noon on the 13th. Are we to believe they turned him loose to spend that evening with his disciples'? John 19:13-14 -- "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, Gabbattha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour."

Since this could not have been on the day of his death (he was nailed to the tree at the sixth hour that day), it had to have been the day before or Nisan 13. The bread and wine ceremony with his disciples had to have been during the evening before or the beginning of Nisan 13.

I am familiar with some of the commentaries and how they wrestle with this scripture but perhaps the Jameson, Faucett, Brown Critical Experimental Commentary said it best:

"...and about the sixth hour. As it cannot be conceived that our Evangelist meant here to say that it was already noon, according to Jewish reckoning -- for Mark says (15:25), that the crucifixion itself took place at the third hour (nine o'clock our time). Two expedients have been resorted to for clearing up the difficulty, neither of which appears to us quite satisfactory. The one is to adopt the reading 'third' instead of 'sixth' hour...But the evidence for this reading is so weak, that it almost seems like a tampering with the sacred text to adopt it. The other way of solving the difficulty, is to suppose that our Evangelist here adopts the Roman method of computation, and means that it was about six o'clock, according. to our reckoning... But as there is no ground to suppose that in other cases our Evangelist adopts the Roman divisions of time, so the hour which that reckoning brings out can hardly be the right one; for it must have been considerably later than six in the morning when that took place which is here related."

If we, try to put together all the events which the Bible says happened during the Messiah's ordeal and couple them with distances traveled, meetings held, waiting time, etc., then, even if we haven't questioned it in the past, we should take a critical look at this and ask ourselves, "Could all this have really happened in the time frame we have assumed it happened in?" The conclusion I have reached is that this "beginning of the fourteenth Passover" was a backup plan devised by Satan for those who don't buy the "Easter Myth."

However, if we consider the possibility that the meeting with his disciples was at the beginning of the 13th, now the puzzle pieces fit together. Also we can begin to fathom the "mind of God" in assigning authority to the Pharisees.

Saul was the anointed of YEHOVAH God and vet YEHOVAH left him when he became important in his own eyes. YEHOVAH left him, as it were, when he began to consider his position and income more important than doing YEHOVAH's will. David was considered a maverick also while trying to keep Saul from killing him. YEHOVAH God doesn't leave us to wonder where the work is but tells us plainly, "...by their fruits ye shall know them..." And that, "...if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

Perhaps we should read, carefully and prayerfully, Hosea 9:8. "The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God." Then we should ask ourselves, "'Who is the watchman?" and "Who is the prophet?" Is WCG really the Church of YEHOVAH God or have they joined the ranks of Protestants?

Others will ask, "Really now, just how important is it that we split hairs over such small doctrinal points?" The perspective should clear up somewhat if we answer that with another question. "How important would it have been for the Israelites in Egypt to have observed Passover on the right day?" There will be a portion of YEHOVAH's people protected as the world condition worsens and life becomes well nigh intolerable. This is quite well documented in the Scriptures. What will YEHOVAH God use for criteria to decide who? Could we have a reenactment of the Passover?

When we look at the subtlety of Satan and all the scholars, historians, politicians and religionists he has working for him, we can begin to see why the Messiah gave the directions he did concerning the Pharisees. This way, I don't have to debunk all the deceptions of scholars and historians for the past 2000 years.

In my 40 year search for the Ark of the Covenant I have debunked enough myths to see that the very fabric of what we call civilization is woven of myths. I am incapable of researching all of them and setting the record straight in my own mind. With Revelation 12:9 to verify this deception of Satan and the Messiah's instructions on who to listen to, I don't have to debunk all of history, I only have to follow instructions.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Taking the Lead In the Search for Truth!

Hope of Israel Ministries P.O. Box 853 Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A. www.hope-of-israel.org

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