Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Key Differences Between the True Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar Versus the Counterfeit Roman Gregorian Calendar

by Sam Batten

This short document will seem strange to any Protestant “Saturday” Sabbatarian, no matter what their denominational affiliation or name happens to be -- especially if they are not used to doing any deep reflection concerning what they believe concerning why they have chosen to perpetually keep the Papal Gregorian 7th day in its bogus “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle that did not exist prior to the 1st week of Oct., 1582.  

Are ALL 7 day weekly cycles the same? NO they are not. Christians have been following a 7 day Roman weekly cycle since 31 C.E., but the Roman 7 day weekly cycle during the 1st Century C.E. was a “Saturday to Friday” weekly cycle in both of the two types of Roman Calendar formats in existence and in use throughout the Roman Empire since 45 B.C.E. to 321 C.E. Between that time span, the Roman civil Calendar was the 8 day Julian Nundinal Calendar which had a 7 day “Saturday to Friday” basic weekly cycle followed by an 8th day called “Market Day.”

In 321 C.E., Constantine the Great, made three changes to the Roman 8 day Julian Calendar: (1) he dropped the 8th day known as “Market day” turning the Roman civil 8 day Julian Civil Calendar into a Roman 7 day Civil calendar, and (2) he made “Sunday,” which was the 2nd day of the Roman Julian weekly cycle, the official worship day throughout the Roman empire for both Christians and pagans alike, and (3) he made “Sunday” the new official perpetual “Market Day” during the remaining 16 years of his reign (between 321 C.E. to his death on May 22, 337 C.E.).

It remained intact until the Church of Rome pressured Charlemagne, King of the Franks (768 – 814) and Holy Roman Emperor (800 – 814), to drop the practice of holding “Market Day” on Sunday at sometime during his 46 year reign -- which lasted overall from 768 to 814. Up until that point in time, there is no historical/ archeological evidence  that could confirm Papal claim that the Church of Rome ever changed the Roman “Saturday to Friday” weekly cycle to the “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle that we are all familiar with today.

In fact, as far as authentic historical documents from 45 B.C. to Sept. 30, 1582 are concerned, there is NO known historical/archeological evidence to corroborate either the claim of James Cardinal Gibbons that the Church [i.e., the Church of Rome] changed the day of Worship from “Saturday” to “Sunday” more than 1000 years before ever there was a Protestant, nor that lends support to the assertions by the Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.S.R., in his catechistic book entitled The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (copyright 1910 by Joseph Gummersbach, blessed by Pope Pius X on the 25th of January 1910 via Cardinal Merry Del Val, published by B. Herder Book Co, 15 and 17 South Broadway, St. Louis, Mo., and London, W. C. 33 Queen Square, in 1937, Twelfth Edition, page 50) where he states that

“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

Many SDAs, who have no knowledge of what the Roman Calendars during the 1st Century B.C.E/C.E. looked like -- or of the fact that ALL of the Roman weekly cycles during those two centuries in both Roman calendar constructs known to have been operating throughout the Roman Empire from 45 B.C.E. to 81 C.E. and onward until 351 C.E., (and as far as can be determined from historical sources, up until Sept. 30, 1582) --  quote that statement by the Rev. Peter Geiermann published in 1910 as proof that the Catholic Church changed the Sabbath from what it alleges to have been “Saturday” the alleged 7th day of the week, to “Sunday,” the alleged 1st day of the week. But as I stated previously, there is no corroborating evidence from the 4th Century C.E. that any such Catholic Church Council ever took place that year. 

Sylvester I, was Bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 to 31 December 335. As he died on Dec. 31, 335 C.E. he obviously did not preside over the “alleged,” but as yet unproven Council of Laodicea of 336 C.E.

He was succeeded by Pope Mark or Marcus (Birth Unknown – October 7, 336) who was Bishop of Rome or Pope from January 18, 336 to October 7, 336. As the successor of Sylvester I (who had reigned 21 years), Mark's time as the bishop of Rome lasted less than a year. There is no record of his ever presiding over the “alleged” council of Laodicea in 336 C.E.

The Bishop of Rome that followed Mark was Julius I, who was Pope from February 6, 337 to April 12, 352. There is no way that Julius I could have presided over the “alleged” Council of Laodicea in 336 because he didn’t even become Bishop Rome until Feb. 6, 337, the same year that Constantine the Great died on May 22 , which was two years after the death of Bishop Sylvester I on Dec. 31, 335 C.E. There was NO Council of Laodicea held at any time anywhere in 336 C.E. That there was, and that the Sabbath was changed from an “alleged” Saturday to Sunday at that time, is mere false and as yet unproven Papal propaganda.

Note the following vitally important facts related to the differences between the True Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar versus the counterfeit Roman Gregorian Calendar that all Saturday Sabbatarians in the 21st Century are currently using:

1). NO Roman calendar that has ever existed has ever had a single year with only 48 weeks in it.

2). NO Roman calendar that has ever existed has ever had a single year with 13 months in it.

3). NO Roman calendar that has ever existed has ever had a single name of any of the Biblical months mentioned in it. Make a mental note of that fact.

4). NO Roman calendar that has ever existed has ever had the 7th day of its week cycle designated as “the Sabbath.”

5). NO Roman calendar that has ever existed has ever had any of the Biblical Feast Days mentioned on it from 45 B.C.E. to the 1st Week of Oct., 1582, and as far as I know, NOT UNTIL sometime during the 20th Century did any of the Biblical Feast days get mentioned on the Gregorian Calendar due to Western Nations becoming pluralistic multi-faith, international communities.

Now the religious festival days of many world religions and other national groups are mentioned on the Gregorian Calendar: days observed by the Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Chinese, the Orthodox Christians, the Baha’i, the Buddhists, the Hindus, as well as certain Catholic holidays, etc.

NONE of those holidays honored by Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Chinese, the Orthodox Christians, the Baha’i, the Buddhists, the Hindus, existed in the 19th century on the Gregorian Calendar. This is a new 20th century practice reflecting the ecumenical mindset and a predisposition to the coming New World Order, no doubt.

6). None of the names of the months found in a Roman calendar exist anywhere in the Bible. Make a mental note of that fact.

7). No Roman calendar month has 29 days in it (except in a Roman Leap year, an event that occurs only once every 4th Roman yearly cycle, which adds a day at the end of the 2nd Roman month of February), and no Biblical month has 28 or 31 days in it. Make a mental note of this fact also.

8). 5 Roman months in most years have “5 consecutive Saturdays” in them, some-thing that is  totally impossible in the Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar which ONLY has 4 consecutive weeks and 4 consecutive 7^th day weekly Sabbaths per month -- NEVER 5 per month.

9). Very few Roman Gregorian months have something called the New Moon on day 1 of the month, and even then, it does not correspond to the Biblical New Moon Day but to the Conjunction Day when NO Lunar Phases can be seen from earth.

10). For the Gregorian Calendar to be the authentic Biblical Calendar the 1st day of every month would have to be a Biblical New Moon Day all 12 months of the year -- and the 1st of the 4 weekly Sabbaths per month would have to line up with what ever day the Biblical New Moon fell on and occur exactly 7 days subsequent to the Biblical New Moon Day. This NEVER happens on a Gregorian Calendar. If you are looking for the Biblical New Moon Day on a Gregorian Calendar you will not perceive it by mere observation of its monthly layout. It must be derived by systematic calculation relative to the Conjunction Day.

11). In most Gregorian 52 week yearly cycles, the Gregorian yearly cycle has 4 weeks too many that correspond to nothing in the Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar. In the 5 Gregorian months that have 5 consecutive Saturdays in them, the 1st Saturday in each of those months DOES NOT correspond to a legitimate weekly Biblical 7th day Sabbath! This makes a total of at least 9 Saturdays per Gregorian yearly cycle that CANNOT POSSIBLY BE a genuine Biblical 7th day weekly Sabbath even were the Gregorian “Saturday” the true Biblical Sabbath -- which is not the case most of the year!

The problem is, worship services conducted on days that the Creator has not specifically designated for that purpose do NOT honor Him because they are the fruit of rebellion against His revealed worship days as portrayed in His Worship Manual located in Leviticus 23. Those extra NON-EXISTENT “assumed” worship days are presently located on a Calendar system that He never authorized anyone to follow. This calendar system is that of His Spiritual Enemy Organization on earth -- Papal Rome -- the Biblically described Antichrist System (predicted more that 3500 years ago by the Hebrew Prophet Daniel in Dan. 7: 25) which would think to change “Times” = the Creator’s “set times of worship” and the LAW = the Moral Law. Therefore, those who continue to walk in lockstep with the Papal System -- following its bogus, counterfeit calendar for their worship practices -- will NOT be SEALED in this final generation because they are NOT following the LORD but Papal Rome on these worship issues.

12). There is NO mention of Friday, Saturday or Sunday anywhere in the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. This is because the Bible is written NOT from a Roman calendar’s weekly cycle perspective, but from a Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar perspective.  Friday, Saturday or Sunday are Roman Calendar weekday constructs totally foreign to the Word of God! Christians have erroneously come to believe that they are mentioned in the Bible ONLY because the only weekly cycle they have ever known since the 1st week in Oct., 1582 is the Counterfeit Papal Roman Gregorian Calendar’s bogus “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle, (which did not exist in Roman Calendar history until that 1st week in Oct., 1582), coupled with the 3 levels of false Papal calendar propaganda on the Sabbath versus Sunday issue.

13). The Biblical 4th Commandment demands that people work for 6 days -- which is immediately followed by the 7th day Sabbath. This is based on the Creator’s Template of working 6 days and resting on and blessing the 7th day of Creation Week. Ever since the Papal Gregorian Calendar was launched during the 1st week of Oct., 1582, all of Christendom -- as well as worldwide Jewry -- have both been following a bogus 5 day work week which goes from Monday to Friday with Saturday and Sunday operating as worship days. Neither Saturday as the alleged Biblical 7th day Sabbath by the various “Saturday Sabbatarian Church systems,” nor “Sunday” by the majority of the rest of Christendom (the Catholics, the Orthodox and the numerous Protestant Church systems) can be designated by them as “the Christian Sabbath” of the New Law! Neither can qualify as the true Biblical 7th day Sabbath because neither of them immediately follow a literal 6 day work week that the 4th Commandment of the Decalogue requires!

It is important for all Christians to note (especially the 7th day Sabbatarians who insist on an endless cycle of weeks end to end with no breaks between the weeks, which they assume can be interpreted to mean that we simply have to work six days in a row and keep the following day as the Sabbath in a perpetual endless series of 7 day cycles  in a manner that is totally divorced from or independent of the 29 or 30 monthly or lunar cycles), that YEHOVAH God -- who gave the Moral Law and the Covenant to Moses from Mt. Sinai -- had previously given them a concrete object lesson as to how His Divinely established 7 day week cycle and its weekly 7th day Sabbath was to be kept. This is clearly demonstrated and recorded in Exodus 16 in detail and is shown to be the case again in John 19.

He clearly placed His 7 day weekly cycle, at the end of which comes the weekly 7th day Sabbath, within the context and framework of a Lunar Monthly cycle construct -- as is clearly shown or demonstrated within the contents of both Exodus 16, in the Old Testament, and John 19 in the New Testament.

Hence, the True Biblical weekly 7th day Sabbath can ONLY be located from within a Lunar monthly context. It cannot be correctly located in any system that is a perpetual endless cycle of end-to-end weeks which allegedly -- according to 7th day “Saturday Sabbatarians” --  operates outside of the Creator’s template of a lunar monthly context. This causes the 4 weekly 7th day Sabbaths per month NOT to be located relative to the position of the Biblical New Moon Day -- the 1st day of every Biblical monthly cycle – a process which, in the True Biblical Calendar, causes the 1st weekly 7th day Sabbath to ALWAYS OCCUR on the 8th day of the Biblical month.

To insist that it must fall on the 7th day of the Biblical month would cause it to fall on the 6th regular work day of the 7 day Biblical weekly cycle and NOT on the 1st Biblical weekly 7th day Sabbath timeslot -- which means that the 7th day of the Biblical month does not correspond to either the Creator’s Creation Week Template, nor to the contents of the 4th Commandment of the Decalogue. The same argument applies to the 7th day of the Gregorian Calendar’s weekly cycle, because it does not follow the Creator’s Template of 6 work days followed by a 7th day Sabbath based on the inherent Biblical Lunar Calendar construct.

14). There would have to be 6 months that have 29 days and 6 months that have 30 days -- and NO months with 28 or 31 days in them -- with the 1st month of its yearly cycle beginning with a 30 day month and every other month being a 29 day month. The Gregorian Calendar does not follow this procedure either, nor does any Roman Calendar that has ever existed from 45 B.C.E. to our present year 2012.

15). The Gregorian 52 weekly yearly cycle can line up with the Biblical 52 year cycle only once every 3rd year when the Biblical Calendar has a 13 month 52 week yearly cycle – and even then, the only similarity is the exact number of 52 weeks per year! All other Biblical years have only 12 months and a 48 week cycle. Therefore, in every year within a 3 year cycle that is NOT a Biblical Leap Year, the Gregorian Calendar has 4 weeks too many. This means that if “Saturday” was the legitimate Biblical 7th day Sabbath, there would be 4 Saturday Sabbaths too many per year in most Gregorian yearly cycles since the Gregorian yearly cycle has a perpetual 12 month cycle with a perpetual 52 week yearly cycle in it every year since 45 B.C.E. to the present time. This is something that the Biblical yearly cycle only has had once every 3rd Biblical year, which is a Biblical Leap Year and which year has a 13 month yearly cycle to achieve that 52 week 13 month yearly cycle – something that the Gregorian Calendar or any Roman Calendar has NEVER had throughout Roman Calendar history.

16). Add to that the problem that from 45 B.C.E. to Sept. 30, 1582, “Saturday” was ALWAYS in the 1st day position of every single weekly cycle -- and NEVER in the 7th day of the week position where it has always existed since the 1st week on Oct., 1582 in the Papal Gregorian Calendar “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle. Both positions for “Saturday” in the history of Roman Calendation clearly show that “Saturday” CANNOT possibly be the true Biblical 7th day Sabbath because it would be mutually exclusive and self-contradictory to have the same day located in two diametrically opposite timeslots or ends of the Roman 7 day Weekly Cycle at two different times in the history of Roman Calendation.

17). One has to explain why the Saturday Sabbatarian Churches systematically worship on every one of the 52 times per year that “Saturday” appears in the 7th day position of each Gregorian monthly cycle, when there are 9 “Saturdays” per the Gregorian yearly cycle that DO NOT CORRESPOND to the True Biblical 7th day Sabbath -- even if we were to assume that “Saturday” was and is the True Biblical weekly Sabbath!

They have to explain just whom they are worshipping on during those 9 days that the Creator has NEVER designated as worship days in His Worship Manual located in Leviticus 23, where all of His worship days are preset as to their timing on His Biblical Calendar construct. If anyone assumes that they are worshipping the Creator of the Universe on any day that DOES NOT FALL on the weekly/yearly timeslots that He has specified in His Worship Manual located in Leviticus 23, they are definitely NOT worshipping the Creator of the Universe but a false god – Satan – the god of this world. It was Satan who prompted pagan Rome to set up its bogus “Saturday to Friday” weekly cycle from at least the Republican Period from 84 B.C.E., and continued on in the Julian Calendar format from 46-45 B.C.E. to 321 C.E. -- and onward from 321 B.C.E. to Sept. 30, 1582 as a 7 day Julian “Saturday to Friday” weekly cycle. Papal Rome then set up its bogus “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle during the 1st week of Oct., 1582.

18). 7th day Sabbatarian “dual calendar observers” – (i.e., those who perpetually keep “Saturday” on the Papal Gregorian Calendar as the weekly 7th day Sabbath -- yet also keep the Biblical yearly religious festivals with their year Holy Convocation Sabbaths -- but who also inconsistently ignore the Biblical New Moon Day as the 1st worship day and as a non-commercial day per month and who refuse to admit that the Biblical weekly 7th day Sabbaths are all Lunar Solar weekly Sabbaths) are consistently or systematically observing the 9 Saturdays per Gregorian yearly cycle even when they cannot possibly correspond to the True Biblical 7th day Sabbath in all  years that do not correspond to a Biblical Leap Year.

The only reason they do this is that their reasoning is inconsistent, illogical and emotionally based on the false concept that the Papal Gregorian “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle is the true 7 day weekly cycle set up by the Creator from Creation Week -- which simply is NOT TRUE. They would not do this if they were correctly applying the Biblical principle that the 1st weekly 7th day Sabbath falls exactly 7 days subsequent to where the Biblical New Moon Day occurs relative to the Gregorian Calendar that we have all been using since the Gregorian Calendar came on the scene during the 1st week of Oct., 1582. This is because if they were following that Biblical principle relative to the Biblical New Moon Day, they would realize that it is totally impossible to consistently observe the Papal Gregorian “Saturday” as the weekly 7th day Sabbath. 

The Biblical New Moon Day makes that practice TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE, whether one lived in the 1st Century B.C.E./ C.E. when “Saturday” was located in the 1st day position of every Roman Calendar weekly cycle, or whether they are living in our 21st Century C.E. and systematically keeping “Saturday” in the 7th day position of the Gregorian Calendar’s bogus “Sunday to Saturday” weekly cycle.

By trying to keep two mutually exclusive calendars that operate totally differently -- a pagan one for the weekly 7th day Sabbath versus the Biblical one only for the yearly Festivals and their associated Holy Convocation Sabbaths -- they are trying to fuse a profane calendar of pagan origin with the sacred Biblical calendar and, in doing this, they are offering up the equivalent of “strange fire” before the LORD. This He will never accept. In so doing they are walking in direct disobedience to His Divine worship directives all mapped out for humanity in His Worship Manual in Leviticus 23 -- obnoxiously and stubbornly choosing to make their own choice as to which calendar(s) they are going to follow for which Biblical worship days they are going to keep!

They may loudly and piously proclaim themselves to be “Commandment-Keepers,” but they are deceiving themselves and others on these issues and are either too proud or too spiritually blind to see it and/or to admit it.

Nobody is a true "Commandment-keeper” who is categorically and willfully refusing to observe all of the worship days outlined by the Creator in His Worship Manual in Leviticus 23, either because they find it inconvenient to do so in the work-place, or because they stubbornly refuse to admit the validity and authenticity of the inherent Biblical Lunar-Solar Calendar System. This would include ALL of the 7th day Sabbatarian “Naysayers” -- whether they are in the standard “Saturday” Sabbatarian 7th day Sabbath Camp, or in the Hybrid-Gregorian/Lunar-Solar calendar keeping branch of the Lunar-Solar Calendar Camp -- who are systematically trying to refute the Biblical concept of the Lunar calendar based weekly 7th day Sabbaths and who NEVER observe the Biblical New Moon Day as a Worship Day (as is clearly shown to be the case in Ezra 3:1-3, 6-8) and as a Non-Commercial day when NO work for financial gain is to be done (as is shown in Amos 8:5).

Though the New Moon Day is the 1st worship day of the Biblical month, it is not to be confused with the weekly 7th day Sabbath. Certain things are permitted to be done on New Moon Day (when it is not a Holy Convocation Day) that is NOT permitted to be done on the weekly 7th day Sabbath.

The ONLY New Moon Day in any Biblical yearly cycle that is also a Holy Convocation Day is Tishri/Ethanim 1 -- otherwise known as the Feast of Trumpets or Shoutings. On that particular New Moon Day NO WORK WHATSOEVER is to be done, just like on the weekly 7th day Sabbath! Very few among the Lunar-Solar Calendar camp practice the New Moon Day correctly! Practically NOBODY in the traditional 7th day “Saturday” Sabbatarian groups keep the Lunar-Solar weekly 7th day Sabbaths -- nor do they keep the New Moon Day as the Word of God prescribes in passages like Ezra 3:1-3, 6-8.

So, how can any of them proudly and loudly, piously, and self-righteously go about proclaiming that they are “Commandment Keepers” when they NEVER knowingly keep the True Biblical weekly 7th day Sabbath (which is totally based on the LORD’s Lunar-Solar Calendar and NOT on the counterfeit Papal Gregorian calendar system), and NEVER observe the Biblical New Moon Day properly as the LORD requires it to be kept. Some of them decry the keeping of the yearly Biblical Religious Festivals -- with their accompanying yearly Holy Convocation Worship Days -- as “Damnable Heresy.”

So who is the true Heretic here? The one who obeys the LORD’s Divine Directives concerning all of His Worship Days outlined in His Worship Manual found in Leviticus 23, or the one who refuses to do so for whatever reason: social, political, religious, or an emotional attachment to a belief system that doesn’t teach the truth on these issues? Peer pressure, or the fear of going in want and of not being able to provide the basic necessities of life for themselves or their family are also factors if he or she complies with the Divine Directives on these issues outlined in Leviticus 23.

And how can the Leadership of 7th day Sabbatarian Churches, such as the SDA Church system, Biblically justify excommunicating church members who follow the Divine Directives on these worship issues when the church system itself (which claims to be led by the spirit of God or by Christ), actually categorically refuses to follow those Divine Directives found in His Worship Manual in Leviticus 23 -- and chooses to punish their own church members who do follow those Divine Directives? Their attitudes makes absolutely no Biblical, theological, logical, or moral sense! It’s all about “power and authority” and the illegitimate exercise thereof.

May the LORD guide you as you examine these issues. Follow the Truth -- NOT Papal false propaganda! Remember Ellen G. White’s Statements: 

“The great mass of professing Christians will meet with bitter disappointment in the day of God. They have not upon their foreheads the seal of the living God.” 7BC., p.  970.

“The Seal of God is placed upon those who conscientiously keep the Sabbath of the Lord.” 7BC, p. 980, 1897; LDE, p. 220.

“Those who would have the Seal of God in their foreheads must keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.” 7BC, p. 970, 1899; LDE, p. 220.

 “True observance of the Sabbath is the sign of loyalty to God.” 7BC, p. 981, 1899; LDE, p. 220.

“The fourth commandment alone of all the ten contains the seal of the great Lawgiver, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” 6T, p. 350, 1900; LDE, p. 220.

“The observance of the Lord’s memorial, the Sabbath instituted in Eden, the seventh-day Sabbath, is the test of our loyalty to God.” Letter 94, 1900; LDE, p. 220.

“None will be condemned for not heeding light and knowledge that they never had, and they could not obtain. But many refuse to obey the truth that is presented to them by Christ’s ambassadors, because they wish to conform to the world’s standard, and the truth that has reached their understanding, the light that has shone in the soul, will condemn them in the judgment.” 5BC, p. 1145, 1884; LDE, pp. 217-218.

* “Those who have an opportunity to hear the truth and yet take no pains to hear and understand it, thinking that if they do not hear they will not be accountable, will be judged guilty before God the same as if they had heard and rejected it. There will no excuse for those who choose to go in error when they might under-stand what is truth. In His sufferings and death Jesus has made atonement for the sins of ignorance, but there is no provision made for willful blindness. 

“We shall not be held accountable for the light that has not reached our perception, but for that which we have resisted and refused. A man could not apprehend the truth which had never been presented to him, and therefore could not be condemned for light he had never had.” 5BC, p. 1145, 1893; LDE, p. 218.

The Blessings of the LORD be with you all.

Sam Batten is a SDA Theology Graduate and Biblical End-Time Tribulation Events Researcher.

Nfld., Canada.

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