F
Recently i received a email from a faithful SDA Brother in India with an article attached titled “The Great Calendar Controversy”. The authors are eLaine Vornholt & Laura Lee Vornholt-Jones , who seem to be related, faithful Seventh-day Adventists living in Oregon.
The very short summary of the book(let) is that they believe the calendar was changed in the past, so the 7th-day sabbath we observe now is NOT the one that God ordained. Basically, they try to make the case that every time a new moon is observed, a new month begins, with the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and maybe 29th days always being sabbaths. So for example, according to the Gregorian calendar, sabbath may fall on Tuesday this month, Thursday next month, and Sunday the following month.
This is very much mistaken. The idea that the Sabbath is not every 7th day since creation is serious error. In fact, the 7th day – sundown Friday to sundown Saturday (they also don’t believe the sabbath starts at sundown) – that we keep today is the same one that Jesus kept, the same one that Moses kept, the same one that Adam kept, and the same one that God kept after creating this world. We will keep this sabbath all thru eternity.
To read my entire review, check the “articles” section on the right side of this column.
Dear Brother Winters:
I received your email alerting me to your book review of The Great Calendar Controversy. Thank you for caring enough to take the time to write. I would like to encourage you to continue to study this topic more before you decide that it must be wrong. Certain of the points you make in arguing against what is said in the book, show an incomplete understanding of the subject.
Let me assure you that I do not want to be wrong. We have given our book to hundreds of ministers; church leaders from Doug Batchelor, Ty Gibson, and James Rafferty to Samuel Koranteng-Pippim and Jan Paulson (to name a few); as well as to Angel Rodriguez of the Biblical Research Institute. Just yesterday (9/17/08) we received a phone call from a minister telling us that The Great Calendar Controversy is being studied by a number of brethren at the G.C. Ellen White has given inspired council that new light is to be lain before experienced brethren. However, she also makes it clear that the experienced brethren have an obligation to study the subject with a “candid” mind and point out any error, if there is any. To date, we have never received a reply from any of the ministers to whom we have sent the book.
Because we do not want to be “off” would you be willing to post a copy of the book as a pdf file on your site with your review? I welcome feed back from those who have read it with a “candid” mind. Those who, in their investigation of truth, realize that you must “lay at the door of investigation your preconceived opinions and your hereditary and cultivated ideas [because] you will never reach the truth if you study the scriptures to vindicate your own theories.” (ST 10/3/1906; see also CW 50.) I would welcome feed back from those who have done this, showing me my error on two vital points.
1) In your review, you quoted:
GCC: The idea that there has been a continuous cycle of uninterrupted weeks ever since Creation is wrong.
Daniel Winters Review: Not only is there no proof at all given, but this is directly contradicting the Spirit of Prophecy, as noted above.
This is one thing that must be explained to show me my error. There was proof given and one of the sources was published by our own church, Southern Publishing in 1971. If the modern weekly cycle is identical to that from Creation, how do you reconcile the easily established historical facts that:
a) A continuous weekly cycle did not come into calendation principles until 800 BC (and in Babylon – a fact which should cause concern for every SDA); and,
b) The Julian calendar originally had an 8-day week and the first day of their week was Saturn’s day.
I want to worship God on His true Sabbath, so if anyone can demonstrate to me that Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath in light of these facts (and if you want to investigate further, go to the many sources cited in the footnotes) I woud be most grateful.
2) In your review, you also quoted:
GCC: it is impossible to have a Friday crucifixion in A.D. 31.
Daniel Winters: I don’t know about this. As far as i know, there is no inspired word anywhere saying Jesus died in A.D. 31.
Brother Winters, this is something every single Seventh-day Adventist should know. It is well documented in our church writings. The pioneers believed that 457 BC as the starting date of the 2300 years was a nail in a sure place because of the ease of establishing that date from extra-biblical sources. From 457 BC, the 2300 year prophecy reaches unto October 22, 1844. Ellen White makes it clear that the 70 week prophecy of Daniel 9 was the first 70 weeks that began the long 2300-day/year prophecy. When you start in 457 BC, 70 weeks of prophetic time point to autumn of AD 34 (the stoning of Stephen at which the probation of the Jewish nation closed.) All of this is clearly documented in our church writings of the pioneers. That leaves one year and one eyar only for the “cutting off” of Messiah in the “midst of the week”: the spring of AD 31.
Please, brother, investigate this before you go on record as denouncing it as wrong. It is an impossibility for Nisan 14 (the date of the passover and the date of the crucifixion) to fall on a Friday in AD 31, the ONLY year in which Christ could have been crucified. All of this is well documented from our church archives and listed in our book. You can either give up faith in Ellen White and October 22, 1844 as the ending date of the 2300 year prophecy (because she confirms that date) or you can give up a Saturday Sabbath on a pagan/papal calendar. Until shown my error, I have chosen to give up a pagan calendar and retain my faith in the truth once delivered to the saints.
Finally, just for your own information, one final point:
You quoted:
GCC: When God’s people do this, they gratefully obey the warning of the fourth angel:
Daniel Winters: This is a small point, but nowhere in inspired writings can you find anything about the “4th angel”. “4th angel” implies a “4th message”, and there is no new “4th” message before the end.
This is, again, well-established SDA doctrine. How do you define “inspired writings”? Would we agree that Ellen White qualifies? Based on the amount you quote from her, I believe it is safe to assume that you would agree that her writings are inspired. The “4th angel’s message” is given in Rev. 18 and is a repeat of the 2nd angel’s message. In An Exhaustive Ellen G. White Commentary on Revelation, there are gathered together many, many quotes from the writings of Ellen White that refer to the angel of Rev. 18 as “that other angel that is to lighten the earth with its glory.” Most Adventist have typically referred to it as the “4th angel”. If you feel more comfortable referring to it as “that other angel” that is fine with me: they both refer to the same scripture passage.
In 2SM, 116-117 is a fascinating quote from the pen of Inspiration:
“Thus the substance of the second angel’s message is again given to the world by that other angel who lightens the earth with his glory. These messages all blend in one, to come before the people in the closing days of this earth’s history.” She also states that the brethren in 1888 shut off that great light which “that other angel” was trying to bring.
Again, I urge you to study more thoroughly this subject, and if you would be willing to post The Great Calendar Controversy pdf on your website so that others, too, may have ideas to help me reconcile these points, I would be most grateful as all I desire to know and obey is the truth.
Sincerely yours, in the blessed hope,
Laura Lee Vornholt-Jones
url deleted sep.26
Hello Laura Lee Vornholt-Jones,
The Indian Brother who originally sent me your pdf book told me last week that a retired pastor who had embraced your views repented and returned to the Biblical Sabbath – praise God!
Your blog comment/email does not address the main issue. The main issue is: Is the day Seventh-day Adventists and Jews keep as the “Sabbath” (generally called Friday sundown to Saturday sundown in the English language) the correct day that God wants everyone to keep holy?
—————–
You wrote: “The idea that the Jews have never lost track of the true Sabbath is as erroneous as the idea that the weekly cycle in use today is the same one since Creation.”
But God says:
Important Facts of Faith… (Spiritual Gifts Volume 3): The weekly cycle of seven literal days, six for labor, and the seventh for rest, which has been preserved and brought down through Bible history, originated in the great facts of the first seven days.
——————-
You did not reply concerning this main issue.
I cannot speak for all the pastors you sent your book too, but i submit that they have more important things to do than to spend time battling every crazy doctrine that comes along. Personally, i would not be spending the time God has given in this manner either, except that my friend asked me to. He did not ask me to point out the error, he just sent your book to me, so i read it with an open mind. I found it is totally against the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.
You were shown your error directly from the Bible and SOP in my book review, and if you are truthful to your word, you will renounce this Satan-inspired idea that the 7th day Sabbath the “Seventh-day” Adventist church was founded on is not the one God made on the 7th day of the first week of this world’s history, and has been kept intact all thru these millenia.
My statement stands: “As far as i know, there is no inspired word anywhere saying Jesus died in A.D. 31.” You did not provide any inspired word showing this either. Yes, i believe the inspired word to be all God’s words in the Bible and in Ellen White’s published works. Also, you give no quote from inspired sources showing a “fourth angel”.
Still i am angry that you try to “leech” on inspired writings by using the words “The Great Controversy” in your Satanic-inspired writings.
Please repent and turn to God.
Daniel Winters
Here is her “non”-reply
—————-
Dear Brother Winters:
The answers to your objections can be found by following SOP council to lay at the door of investigation all of your hereditary and cultivated ideas, carefully and consistently applying the rules of Biblical Interpretation laid down by William Miller (see The Midnight Cry, Nov. 17, 1842, available on the LLU website.)
.
Attached is an article that may be of assistance to you in doing this.
Sincerely,
Laura Lee Vornholt-Jones
What are the rules of biblical interpretation “laid down by William Miller”?
The main person promoting this seventh day of the new moon theory is Kerrie French. I suppose this could become the new “French Revolution Controversy” Every time I see this name in my inbox, it gets deleted. Their argument is based on specific texts that do count the days from a new moon, but there is no evidence that this applies to the week. The Feast of Weeks also counters their argument for it counts fifty weeks from PAssover to Pentecost, which transcends three different months, all the while counting weekly Sabbaths and not the seventh, fourteenth, twenty first and twenty eighth days of the months.
The weekly Sabbath being calculated from the New Moon is as much a fact of Jewish Calendation as it is in both secular and Christian history. The notion that a Christian is bound to observe it is certainly heresy.
Titus Flavius Clemens otherwise known as “Clement of Alexandria”, a Church Father who died in the year of Our Lord 215 clearly stated in his “Stromota” , QUOTE TO FOLLOW………………
And that IT IS SAID that we and the Greeks know the same God, though not in the same way, he will infer THUS, “NEITHER WORSHIP AS THE JEWS; FOR THEY, THINKING THAT THEY ONLY KNOW GOD, DO NOT KNOW HIM, ADORING AS THEY DO ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS, THE MONTH AND THE MOON. AND IF THE MOON BE NOT VISIBLE, THEY DO NOT HOLD THE SABBATH, WHICH IS CALLED THE FIRST, NOR DO THEY HOLD THE NEW MOON, NOR THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, NOR THE FEAST NOR THE GREAT DAY. Then he gives the finishing stroke to the question, “so that do ye also, learning holily and righteously what we deliver to you; keep them, worshiping God in a new way, by Christ. For we find in the scriptures, as the Lord says, “Behold I will make you a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers in mount Horeb. He made a new covenant with us, for what belongs to the Greeks and the Jews is old.”
maimonides, There is a weekly Sabbath that was instituted on the 7th day of Creation, which has never been revoked, and which Christians and everyone must keep.
.
There were festival “Sabbaths” in the Jewish economy which were done away with at the cross, which Flavius is talking about.
R. Thomas, William Miller’s Rules of Interpretation can be found here:
William Miler’s Rules of Scriptural Interpretation
Daniel,
A weekly Sabbath was not instituted on the seventh day of creation, it was instituted subsequent to the Exodus therefore Adam, Abraham, etc was ignorant of the Sabbath.
The permeation of a lunar calculated Sabbath is simply one by-product of established Seventh-day Adventist theology, in addition to that it’s a mathematical certainty.
In your review of the lunar Sabbath you state that you were not aware of 31 A.D. being “the date”. As a Seventh-day Adventist you should know that the investigative judgment doctrine of the denomination depends on 31 A.D. for it’s existence. Without 31 A.D. the I.J. falls, and along with it, it’s Mother (the Seventh-day Adventist Church).
I’ve read the Grace Edith Amadon report along with it’s ancilary documents. What this General Conference initiated report shows is that the hard numbers used to calculate the Investigative Judgment whereas calendation is cocerned, departed from both Rabbinic AND Karaite Judaism and given one fails to count backwards by cycles of 7 days to the crucifixion event what is left is the calendation in the report used to confirm the Millerite assertion. It’s either the Saturday Sabbath or the 1844 I.J. doctrine.
When a bullet enters the brain the body, for a time, often continues to operate as if it still had life – this is the situation currently. The I.J., by simple math, has been proven to require that time be calculated in a specific way and that way requires the termination of either the I.J. itself or a Saturday Sabbath.
“A weekly Sabbath was not instituted on the seventh day of creation” maimonides says, but the Bible says: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it”.
.
There are many trying to tear down the pillars of faith, but let’s keep true to the Word of God.
“It’s either the Saturday Sabbath or the 1844 I.J. doctrine.”
It is dishonest to present people with an either or choice when there are other options.
http://www.pickle-publishing.com/papers/harold-hoehner-70-weeks.htm
The Sabbath
All my life I have heard the following insisted upon by Seventh-day Adventists as absolute–total insistence–without proof, that the seventh-day has been kept as the Sabbath from creation on without any break, and that Saturday is that seventh day; the same day that Jesus and all the Jews kept, and the early Christians too, and the Catholics too, until the Pope transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. All of these assumptions are false. There is no facts existing for any of these beliefs, none whatsoever, no history of Saturday ever having been the seventh day or the Sabbath.
The passover always occurred on the full moon sabbath–the high sabbath–always. Never did they use the seven day weekly cycle of the Egyptians or the Romans, and if they did, Friday would have been the seventh day, not Saturday. This is simple fact. There is no argument, no evidence to prove anything else. It was the seventh-day Baptists, not God, that convinced the second Adventists, and Ellen White, that Saturday was the seventh day, and they got it from the Roman calendar. In 321 AD the Roman calendar was changed so that Sunday would become the first day of the week instead of Saturday, which has always been the first day of the planetary week. Saturday was not the seventh day when Jesus was here as a man on earth. The pope never changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and Saturday was never used by Catholics as a sabbath day.
The Romans began calling Sunday the first day of the week to honor the sun-god; not because it was the resurrection day. The first day of the Jewish week was not Sunday, but the day following the Sabbath, which was always a lunar month of 28 days. Some years had twelve months and some had thirteen months, but there was not a 29th day in the Jewish month. The Jews also did not follow the SDA tradition of beginning the sabbath at sunset.
If anyone has more information, or wants to discuss this issue with me, send me an email to davidbreedlove@yonderfamily.org
Exo 16:29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
Exo 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
.
Nearly everything you wrote here is wrong. Please come into the light.
Satan is a very clever source of false information………you who embrace this infamous lie should retrieve your membership and not ever refer to yourselves as SDA’s again. Vacate our ranks and our name if you want to pursue the adversary, he will welcome you all with open arms but be prepared to pay the price for deception and pride of opinion.
Reading these comments shows how unbelievably people can be convinced against all readable and holy information given. This is not “rocket science”. The Sabbath is not this difficult to know when it occurs. The bible is clear on this. For those who want to be “honest of heart”, read the simple words asking the Holy Spirit and pray not to be “self deceived”.
This is not complicated but it takes an open mind to see and accept it. I’m going to make it very simple although I have many bible references which I will use if the need arises. Passover was always on the 14th of the 1st month in the Israelite calendar [Lev 23:5] and the next day the 15th was always the sabbath [Exo 12:16]. They were delivered from bondage on the Sabbath [Num 33:3, Deut 5:15, Deut 16:1] and left Egypt on the following night. Therefore using our calendar it is IMPOSSIBLE that the passover 14th will always fall on the same DAY every year for thousands of years which also means that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the coinciding sabbath on the 15th to fall on the same DAY every year. Take a good look at the calendar and see. So what does this mean? Using our calendar as the frame of reference we cannot have the sabbath falling on the same day every year which means that the sabbath cannot be a set day but a set DATE instead. It was the date and not the day that was important. Look at the old testament and you will see that it was the month that was used as the frame of reference, always. It was always the 10th, the 15th, 23rd of the X month or what ever date it was. But it was always the month that was being referenced and not the week. And if you believe that this sabbath was just an annual one I have the biblical proof it was not so be careful. It was not just an annual sabbath.