Lunar Sabbath breaks 7-day Cycle - Origin from Babylon
Because the truth and beauty of the feasts and new moons has been obscured from us due to the Papacy "changing times and laws" (Daniel 7:25), many are digging deep into conspiracy theories to find further truth. That is fine, but we must remember that Satan knows that some will escape his Papal mainstream box and therefore he has deceptions for all those who break out of his box. A parallel to this is in the alternative media - the Jesuits and the CIA know that many will not believe mainstream media, and they have already prepared alternative sources for people to swallow. The 9/11 truth movement is infested with them; in fact I believe some of the first videos in the 9/11 movement were made by the CIA because they want to be in control of the narrative.
The Lunar Sabbath is one such pitfall some can fall into. The idea is that if the new moon (which is the first appearing of the crescent moon after the dark moon, not the modern usage of the term 'new moon') is the first day of the month, then we count seven days and we get the Sabbath. The reason we aren't doing that is because we are trapped in the Papal Gregorian calendar. Simple, right?
No. There are exceedingly many problems with this:
- It is not exactly 4 weeks between each new moon. In reality, between new moons there are 29.5 days. This means that after the forth lunar sabbath at day 28, there are days left over; we have not yet reached the next new moon. What to do with these days? Many call these dead days and are just to be ignored. This destroys the 7 week cycle.
- No such thing was ever done in Ancient Israel. While it is true that they celebrated new moons, as do us here at Maranatha Media, this lunar cycle is separated from the weekly 7 day cycle of the Sabbath. The Ancient Israelites did not count day 1, day 2, day 3, from the new moon, nor is there any term in their language or evidence in their history for these dead days at the end of the month. New moon day began the month but it could be on any day of the week. New moon day didnt become day 1 of the week ie Sunday; if new moon was on Wednesday it didnt abruptly interrupt the weekly cycle and make that day Sunday and start the count from there.
- So where does the idea come from? It is Babylonian. This is what the article on the Ancient Babylonian calendar in wikipedia says:
Counting from the new moon, the Babylonians celebrated every seventh day as a "holy-day", also called an "evil-day" (meaning "unsuitable" for prohibited activities). On these days officials were prohibited from various activities and common men were forbidden to "make a wish", and at least the 28th was known as a "rest-day". On each of them, offerings were made to a different god and goddess, apparently at nightfall to avoid the prohibitions: Marduk and Ishtar on the 7th, Ninlil and Nergal on the 14th, Sin and Shamash on the 21st, and Enki and Mah on the 28th. Tablets from the sixth-century BC reigns of Cyrus the Great and Cambyses II indicate these dates were sometimes approximate. The lunation of 29 or 30 days basically contained three seven-day weeks, and a final week of eight or nine days inclusive, breaking the continuous seven-day cycle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_calendar
- The Jews now keep Saturday as their 7th day Sabbath. There is no proof in history that this was ever changed from a Lunar Sabbath system. A big part of the power of our witness is that the Jews have kept the law in the right way, and that it was changed from Saturday Sabbath as the holy day to Sunday as the holy day. To say that the Papacy changed it from this lunar system when there is no evidence makes a mockery of the end time message. We have no witness from the Jews or from history, and we are left as cranks keeping Sabbath on our own.
- It becomes impossible to be employed by anyone when we keep the Lunar Sabbath. Imagine telling your employer that every month you need a different day of the week off. And that you dont even know which day of the week that will be because you have to wait to see the new moon first and then you will start the weekly count. No one will hire you. This makes Lunar Sabbatarians isolated and jobless, a recipe for all sorts of problems. Also, Lunar Sabbatarians also have major disagreements about when to start the count, making what is already a near impossible task of fellowshipping with other believers even harder.
- The word for Saturday, the 7th day of the week, in many languages is some variation of 'sabbath'. These are ancient languages and not influenced by the Gregorian calendar. If the Papacy had influenced this supposed error as the Lunar Sabbarians say, why isn't the word for Sunday 'sabbath' when the Papacy teaches that Sunday is the Sabbath. The reason why all these languages have the 7th day of the week as the Sabbath is that the 7 day weekly cycle has been unbroken since the beginning of time, and that it is the preaching of the Jews all over the world that has caused the Sabbath to be so widespread.
I preached a sermon showing all the historical sources for this here:
- The historian Josephus says, "We have already demonstrated that our laws have been such as have always inspired admiration and imitation into all other men…the multitude of mankind itself have had a great inclination of a long time to follow our religious observances. For there is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come, and by which our fasts, and lighting up lamps, and many of our prohibitions as to our food, are not observed.”
- “Moreover, [they spoke] concerning the seventh day, which all men acknowledge; but the most know not that what among the Hebrews is called the “Sabbath,” is translated into Greek the “Seventh” (ebdomas), a name which is adopted by every nation, although they know not the reason of the appellation” (To Autolycus, book 2, Chapters 11-12).
- “But the seventh day is recognised as sacred, not by the Hebrews only, but also by the Greeks; according to which the whole world of all animals and plants revolve…” (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book 5, Chapter 14).
We see that the testimony was that the 7th day was recognized as sacred, and that it was not done on a lunar system counting from the first day of the new moon, nor is there any mention of dead days in these ancient historians.
Here is a short list of languages that have the word for Saturday as Sabbath:
Indonesian – Sabtu
Tagalog (Philippines) – Sabado
Latin – Sabbatum (ancient Latin also used Sabata)
Italian – Sabato
Spanish – Sabado
Portuguese – Sabado
Greek – Savatoh
Koine Greek – Sabbata and Sabbaton (koine Greek was spoken from about 300 BC to 300 AD)
Russian – Subota
Polish – Sobota
Arabic – Al Sabt
Somali (East Africa) – Sabti
Mandingo also called Mandinka (West Africa) – Sibiti
Ormo or Galla (East Africa) – Sanbata tenna
Kisii, also called Gusii or Ekegusii (Africa) – Esabato
In modern Greece, Friday is called paraskevi or Preparation day. It comes from the ancient Jewish and Christian custom of preparing on Friday to keep the Sabbath. One reason why this happened is because the Sabbath begins Friday at sunset. In the Bible, days begin/end at sunset.
For a chart of more ancient langagues, check here
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Lastly, Frank Klin has done some excellent research on the modern origin of the Lunar Sabbath. It comes from a white supremacist anti-Semite:
Long-time Christian music producer Jonathan David Brown (pictured at left with Twila Paris) was convicted Aug. 20 of helping two men avoid prosecution for a 1990 drive-by shooting of a synagogue, and of two counts of perjury to a federal grand jury...
In 1992, Jonathan David Brown was sentenced to a 27-month federal prison term and fined $10,000 for accessory after the fact to a conspiracy to violate civil rights and for perjury. It was while in prison that Brown heard what he described as “the still small voice” that gave him a “prophetic revelation.”
After his release from prison Mr. Brown prepared the revelation and in 1998 published Keeping Yahweh’s Appointments, the original study promoting the belief that Yahweh ordained the observance of lunar sabbaths. He states in his book,
I tell you that Yahweh’s people are destined to return to all of His Natural Laws which were not added to merely atone for sin. It is my prophetic revelation that this is part of what is referred to as “the restitution of all things.” Acts 3:21
It was becoming more apparent to me that the “seven-day cycle” of the week was not even in line with the pagan Julian calendar months, January through December. Birthdays fall on a different day of the week each year, don’t they? At some point thereafter I heard the still small voice say, “the weekly sabbath is in the quarters of the moon where all the other feast days are.” I followed the voice.
Read Frank's article, The Lunar Sabbath: Lost Ancient Truth? or Modern Invention?
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The fact that the only historical evidence for this type of system being done is in Ancient Babylon should make Lunar Sabbatarians wonder. Are they being subtly influenced by "Mystery, Babylon" to destroy the witness of the seven day weekly cycle and God's blessed Sabbath? Are they warring against the 7-day weekly cycle that has gone on unbroken since the creation of man? Selah.
We follow the Karaite system of feasts and times. See this booklet on this history of the Adventist Pioneers and the Karaite calendar.
Blessings
