Dear Brethren and Co-Workers in Christ:
Greetings from Grover Beach, California.
I did a few inquiries into ChatGPT this month. Specifically, concerning the Continuing Church of God and the Roman Catholic Church. Now, by doing this, I was fully aware of ChatGPT’s programming biases against small churches. That said, many of you should find the results interesting and helpful. Here is a link that has the results: ChatGPT concludes that Bible believers should be part of the Continuing Church of God, but those who prefer ‘authority of tradition’ the Roman Catholic Church.
On other matters, Carlos Aponte confirmed that we are expecting to have a very small Spanish language Feast of Tabernacles’ site in Chile. The region is two hours from the capital, Santiago. The area is called Curicó, Maule, Chile.
For more information, contact Carlos Aponte. His email is carlosaponte2007@hotmail.com
The Feast of Trumpets is past and the other Fall Holy Days will be here soon.
In addition to the Fall Holy Days, matters concerning French-speaking Africa have been on my mind.
Feast of Trumpets
The Feast of Trumpets went well here and I have only received positive reports from other areas, such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Kenya on it as well.
Furthermore, as I told the hostess on a podcast I did a couple of weeks ago, Jesus was not going to return on the Feast of Trumpets this year, despite a Protestant on YouTube claiming that He would. Jesus does not return until the LAST trumpet (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52) and since NONE of the seven trumpets of Revelation have yet sounded, Jesus could not have returned then, though He will return relatively soon.
The Fasting Day of Atonement
The Day of Atonement is another Holy Day. It runs from sunset October 1st through sunset October 2nd. Those physically able, fast on this day.
Most of the Greco-Roman churches generally do not keep the biblical holy days that often occur in the Fall. Yet, these Holy Days portray many pivotal events in God’s plan.
Above photo of people fasting on the Day of Atonement on front cover of the Asante Twi translation of the English language booklet Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?
Notice the following scriptures related to the Day of Atonement:
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” (Leviticus 23:26-32).
7 ‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work. (Numbers 29:7)
Fasting is historically mainly how the phrase “afflict your souls” has been interpreted by the Jewish and Church of God communities (this is also verified by such passages as Psalm 35:13; 69:10 and Isaiah 58:5) to mean fasting, unless one is somehow ill, and thus is already afflicted. Evening to evening means from sunset to sunset.
The New Testament itself calls the Day of Atonement, “the Fast” (Acts 27:9), which not only indicates that the Apostle Paul was keeping it (which he would be per statements in Acts 21:18-24; 28:17), but that Greek-named Theophilus (the Christian which the Book of Acts was addressed to in Acts 1:1), also must have been or another term would have been substituted.
Observant individuals affiliated with the Churches of God will fast from sunset this night until sunset the next night (if they are physically able–nursing mothers, small children, pregnant women, and various afflicted others are not expected to fast–this is consistent with Jewish practices in this area as well). In this fast we go without food or drink.
Oddly, one Protestant report claims that one reason Christians do not need to keep the Day of Atonement is because there is no Jewish temple today (Cocherell BL. SHOULD THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST FAST ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT?). Yet, the biblical reality is that the children of Israel kept the Day of Atonement for centuries before there was a temple and the other reality is that the New Testament shows that Christians are now the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement included a ceremony where the Azazel goat was sent to the wilderness (Leviticus 16:1-10). Christians see this sending of the Azazel goat away as picturing the time during the millennium when Satan will be bound and sent away for a thousand years in the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-4). This means that Satan will not be able to tempt and deceive during that time. The Azazal goat was not slain, nor is Satan pictured being slain.
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, a goat is not sacrificed by Christians to observe this day (cf. Hebrews 10:1-10).
Yet, although Jesus was our Passover lamb sacrificed for us (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) and He was slain only once (Hebrews 9:28), we also see a time other than Passover where Jesus is ceremonially slain.
Why?
Many have speculated, but there could be clues along with the fact that this sacrifice happens before the release of the second goat.
The original Passover only resulted in the children of Israel being passed over for their sins. In this age, those who are true Christians claim the sacrifice of Jesus on His final earthly Passover for paying the penalty for our sins. But real Christians are a small minority of the population of the world (Luke 12:32; Romans 11:5).
Since the Bible calls Satan “the god of this age” who has “blinded” the world (2 Corinthians 4:4), most have been blinded and have not yet been covered by the sacrifice of Jesus. Yet this will happen for nearly all who will be called–either in this age or the age to come (Matthew 12:32). Showing the sacrifice, ceremonially after the church age ends, helps demonstrate that the sacrifice of Jesus was not just for those called in the church age, as God’s plan includes offering salvation to all, and not just today’s elect.
By showing the sacrifice prior to the other goat being released, this shows that Jesus was not taking away the sins of Satan.
Jesus took the penalty of all human beings. But it doesn’t apply to humans until after God calls us and grants us repentance (John 6:44) and we come to be willing to repent and we come to believe. Not only in Jesus, but we believe the Son and we believe the Father, that is, we believe what They say. Also, we prove it by repenting, being baptized, being granted the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and actually trying to live as They would have us live (cf. 1 John 2:6).
The Day of Atonement was kept in the 4th century according to John Chrysostom who preached against it (John Chrysostom. Homily I Against the Jews I:5;VI:5;VII:2).
This can also be seen in Canon 69/70 of the Syrian Apostolic Canons near this time which tried to ban it (Seaver JE. Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-438), Issue 30 of University of Kansas publications: Humanistic studies. University of Kansas Publications, 1952, pp. 34-35).
A Muslim document, dated from the fifth through the tenth century, states that Jesus and His disciples kept the fast on the same days as the Jews. It indicates that Judeo-Christians were still keeping the Day of Atonement while the Greco-Romans came up with a 50 day Lenten-fasting period that Jesus did not keep (Tomson P. Lambers-Petry L. The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature, Volume 158, 2003, pp. 70-72; Stern SM. Quotations from Apocryphal Gospels in ‘Abd Al-Jabbar. Journal of Theological Studies, NS. Vol. XVIII, (1) April 1967: 34-57). Reports from other historians support this view (e.g. Pines, pp. 32-34). Furthermore, we see historical reports that it was still being kept in Transylvania in the 16th century (Liechty, pp. 61-62).
The old Radio Church of God observed the Day of Atonement (and the other Holy Days) throughout the 20th century. We in the Continuing Church of God continue to observe it today.
In its Statement of Beliefs, the Continuing Church of God states:
The Day of Atonement called “the Fast” in the New Testament (Acts 27:9), helps show our own weaknesses and need to be closer to God (Isaiah 58:5,11). This day shows that Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for our sins now (1 John 4:9-10; cf. Leviticus 16:15-16) and those that will be called in the “age to come” (Matthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 18:30; cf. Acts 3:21). It also helps picture that Satan has a role in the sins of humankind and that he will be punished by being bound for one thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3; cf. Leviticus 16:20-26; Isaiah 14:12-16).
Yes, the Day of Atonement should be highly relevant for Christians.
The Day of Atonement is one of God’s Feasts per Leviticus 23 and is referred to in the New Testament (cf. Acts 27:9).
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