I would like to start by stating I enjoy the articles by all the doves, even when I may disagree.  There are many here who are willing to take risks to explore all the possibilities in God's word.  I have found myself that when I stray from the word and fall into sin, that I learn more deeply the lessons of the One who loves me.  My explorations though they cost me pain have brought a deeper understanding of my Creator.  His magnificence is displayed throughout all facets of the creation, but perfect truth and the answers which we seek are in God's word and I might add rather plainly.  If you will read through to the end, some of you may begin to smile again.  We are not on the final lap, we are down to the final sprint.  For those who can't run, hang on and He will carry you.

The purpose for which I write is not to criticize, but an attempt to bring us back to center in our search for the rapture date.  In all creation, from the atom to the universe, there is a pattern in which movement takes place around what would appear to be a still center.  God tells us the most enduring thing in all creation is His word.  God and His word is the still center.  From the prophets to the disciples, Jesus appointed simple men to take His words to the people.

Scripture follows a pattern much like building a house.  There is a foundation and the pattern laid there is the pattern which the walls and eventually the roof must follow.   We see the foundation pattern laid out in Genesis, even chapter 1 and the laws established throughout the Torah confirm that laid out in Genesis.  When Moses had them establish a tabernacle, the pattern of week one was the pattern of the candle which provided the light, the menorah.  When Jesus came, He came building on the laws and the prophets.  When we get to Revelations chapter 1, we still see the pattern of the 7 day creation week in the 7 Spirits before the throne and the 7 candles representing the churches.

The laws of blessings and cursings for obediance and sin remain a constant throughout for both nations and individuals.  Every king of both Israel and Judah had the same opportunity to receive the positive or negative of God's never changing requirements.  The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still center stage today and the requirement for obediance falls on them above others because God always cleans His own house first.

I believe God has told us in plain language all we need to know to be ready for His  gathering the chosen bride and His second coming, albeit He uses parables, symbolism and figurative examples.  Our problem is we are allowing the deceiver to convince us that God made changes to the plan of the house as time went along because of man's failures.  We don't believe in the patterns nor the blessings given to the children of the patriarchs.  We don't believe God's laws of blessing and cursing either.

Satan and man messed up God's plan so much that the laws had to be scrapped and Jesus sent to save by grace every man who cries Lord, Lord. You can see I am intentionally mixing God's word with sarcasm and untruth.  It is to show the state of men and the world today, to include many who claim christianity.

Jesus brought us a new covenant and new testament based on faith and grace, yet He said not one tittle of the law would pass away.  All of God's word accomplishes that in which He sent it. His word does not come back void and will not pass away.  When we get to Revelations, we see the same patterns God laid out in Genesis and in the Torah.  My point is God is consistent.  His word, His promises, His blessings, His cursings and importantly in our search for the rapture date, He is consistent in His patterns and in His calendar.

"And God spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." Exodus 12:1-2.   In the next chapter, vs 4, the name of this month is identified as Abib.  Neh 2:1 & Es 3:7 refer to it as Nisan.  It is in the spring and the first major event in it is Passover.

The Israelites had been in captivity in Egypt for some time and had been indoctrinated into the Egyptian calendar.  Even during Abraham's day, the Babylonian calendar was the standard and men just like today follow the world's standards without question.  God was simply re-establishing His ordained calendar.  He is an unchanging God.  His rules and laws, His conditions for blessing and cursing never change.  If He made a change to the calendar, I do believe He would have so stated in His Holy word.  There is no mention of a change anywhere. Holiness and justice require consistency and if He is anything, He is consistent.  Throughout the old testament, the first month is Abib/Nisan, the second month Zif and so on.  The seventh month is Ethanim, the eight month Bul etc.

There is no record in the old or new testament that God ever changed His calendar.  Cruden's concordance of the old and new testaments says Abib means green fruits or ears of corn.  It is associated with spring budding and growth.  God leads us often to examine the creation and compare it to His word and laws.  Jesus used these examples often in His parables.  Spring is a time of new beginnings for both plants and animals.  Surely, it should be the beginning of the year.

God is not an author of confusion.  We can look to the enemy for that.  The enemy is the one full of lies and deception.  From the time Satan met Eve, he was in the business of changing what God said, i.e. what God established.  God's word is a model of consistency throughout.  His calendar doesn't arbitrarily jump around either.

It is man with the help of the prince of this world who sets up his own calendars which bring in the confusion.  We will get nowhere trying to stick God's word and prophecies onto man's calendars.  Ah, but you say the Jews did it and this makes it right.  Scripture is full of examples of the Hebrews, Israelites and the Jewish violating God's ordinances.  It always cost them dearly.  When Jesus came on the scene, He was a gentle, kind and most times soft spoken person.  He handled the sinner so regardless the seriousness of their sin.  If you were truly repentent, Jesus was quick to forgive.

But, take a strong look at how He talked to the Pharisees and Saduccees, who were both the religious and civil leaders of Judah at the time.   As you read, remember, it is not me who is saying these things, but Jesus.  In John 8:44, Jesus says they are liars and their father is the Devil.  In Mat 12:27, Jesus says it is they who cast out demons by the power of devils.  Further, in vs 31, Jesus links their accusation that He cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub to the unforgiveable sin because Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Ghost.  Now read Mat 23:23-33.  Jesus calls these Jewish leaders hypocrites, murderers, serpents etc and asks them how they can escape the damnation of hell?  In Mat 21:19, Jesus cursed the fig tree (synonimous with the nation Judah).  He said, "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever."  I can only add, whoa!

I love the Jews and I love the nation Israel because God told me to.  I pray for them because God told me to.  I have given money to charities in Israel and to christian ministries to them.  I once was put on alert as a member of the 101st and was in the process of loading out to defend them from their enemies when it was called off at the last minute.  I would gladly fight alongside or with the armies of Israel should the situation arise.

But, when it comes to the matter of my salvation and to the interpretation of God's scriptures, I would not follow the Jewish secular nor religious leaders.  This is not meant to offend and there are some wonderful and learned christians among them.  I truly consider them my brothers and  put their national and individual friendship and allegiance above all other nations.  But, Jesus told them they did not recognize the sign of their times.  Indeed, they did not recogize the man who fulfilled their scriptures.  They refused God almighty while looking Him in the face and witnessing countless awesome miracles that no other could do.  Jesus tells us that 2000 years later, they would still not understand the signs because they will accept the antichrist.  We can wrangle our hands over coming events in the mideast, but Israel is where she is because she rejects the word of the Lord.  The path that the U.S. and G.B has been on during this last generation is similar.

Their civic calendar begins in the 7th month and they call it the 1st month.  That is man's doings, not God's.  It is not God's calendar whether a Pharisee, Sadduccee, scribe, priest or Jewish governmental authority established it or no.  If anyone can, please show me in scripture where the 7th month was ever the first month or where in scripture there was ever a change.  The pages of my Bible are worn thin and I fail to find it.  Please do not refer me to the traditions of men, the Jewish Cabala or anything other than God's written word.  It is God's word that I have His faithful promise that it shall not pass away and it will not change.

Coronation of kings tended to be in the fall, but nowhere in scripture did that event cause the 7th month to be called the 1st month.  The Jewish civil calendar is man's doings, not God's.  God only has one calendar and there is no record of His changing or flip flopping it.

What I keep hearing is God made the world in the fall.  Why on earth would God make a beautiful, green and fruitful world during a week in the fall?  Just so the leaves could immediately fall off and it turn cold, dark and dreary and the animals have to immediately go into hibernation?  It is totally out of character and outside the example God gives us in creation where springtime is the model of the annual new beginning.  There is no scripture which supports such.  God and Moses were the authors of the Torah and the same model for the calendar was used throughout.  There is no mention of a change from Noah's day to Moses'.  God is not a trickster.  Why should He be?  He has a plan and is in control.

Let's look at creation week.  Day 4 is the day God made the sun, moon and stars.  These He appointed not only to divide day and night, but as calendars by which to mark time.   Well, how did He mark the first three days?  Without the sun, moon and stars, how could 24 hour earth days be measured?

Gen 2:4 gives us insight into how God expected us to view this figurative week.   "These are the generations (pl) of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created, in the day (sg) that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens."  The figurative week obviously covers a long period of time, many generations before man.  God says that to Him a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.  Jesus often talked in parables, i.e. written symbols.  It is figurative language in which God can explain things to man without getting into all the details.  We have no problem understanding the days of man as 6000 years based on creation week.  We have no problem understanding the 7th day is 1000 years.  We have no problem understanding when Jesus said He would return after 2 days that He meant 2000 years. What is the problem in grasping this concept in creation week?

Both in scripture and in my personal life, it is my astute observation that God very rarely if ever does anything in a hurry.  He does everything carefully and with consideration and lets us long consider the foolishness of many of our decisions.  He may have the ability, but I do not believe He slung the universe and all creation together in 6 each 24 hour days.  Why would God chastise Job by asking him where he was when He hung the constellations, thereby implying that this event took place a long time prior to him or man?  If these were 24 hour days, man would still be waiting for the light of these far stars to arrive at the earth.  Ah, but God can do anything?  I agree, but He has shown that He follows His laws, both spiritual and physical.

The sin issue is apparent on day one when light was divided from darkness.  Man didn't arrive on the scene until day six.  Man is a johnny come lately to the creation and there is ample record both in the earth and in scripture that this planet has been around a long, long while, many generations before man.  It is through man that God's final solution to sin would be reached.

Creation wasn't done in a 144 earth hour 6 day week.  This is figurative speech which establishes God as the creator, gives man an overview and establishes a 7 day symbolic pattern for God's dealings with man, fallen angels and the issue of sin.  The idea that this was accomplished in the fall is not found in scripture either and is contrary to the examples of the old testament Yahweh and the new testament Jesus Christ.  Spring is always the example of new beginnings.

Now we can turn to the spring feasts, where all scripture puts first fruits.  Fruits of the ingathering are mentioned in the fall feasts, but first fruits are solely identifed with the spring.  First fruits must be surely identified with those of the first resurrection, Rev 20: 4-6, albeit there are 3 parts.  Along with the sign of the fig tree and the sign of the bush, Jesus told us this special rapture day was as in the days of Noe.  They loaded the ark and the flood began in the 2nd month of God's calendar, not the Jewish civil calendar.

It is in this month that you will find the Second Passover sitting at the exact cardinal midpoint of the 4th Sabbath Omer of the Feast of Weeks.  It is this day 4 (midweek) of the creation week (associated with light, darkness, division, rulership and marking of all time) and the 4th candle (midpoint divider) of the menorah which are preimminent of the 7.  It is at the 4th seal that the antichrist (Death) and false prophet (Hell) appear and the tribulation begins.  It is at the 4th trumpet that the 8th beast (false prophet) takes over and the two witnesses die.  Here the tribulation saints are resurrected and the great tribulation begins.

Concerning the 2nd Passover (midpoint of the Feast of Weeks):  On the 10th day of the second month of Zif you bring the lamb into the house.  It is the same day Noah began loading the ark.  God is a model of consistency.

Shortly, I will write a letter discussing the sign of the fig tree and the remarkable number of 40.  The 4 and the 40, hmmm.  The 40 must surely be the most used pattern in all scripture.  There is not one instance where it is shortened or lengthed.  It is always right on time.  Along with the fig tree, the symbol of Judah, there is another sign contained in the other branch of Jacob's children.  It is the sign of the bush and it is right on time with the fig tree and the 40.  I will discuss it later, but for those who want to take a little peak, see the following scripture:

Lk 20:37-38, Mk 12:26-27:  Compare these to Ex 11:4-7 and 12:29-30 and see the link to the resurrection of the dead in 1 Thes 4:13-17.  See if you cannot see the link to the "I am not a God of the dead, but a God of the living."   From the passover in Egypt, to Jesus' death and resurrection (along with many worthy saints) to the resurrection of the dead found in the Luke, Mark and 1 Thes passages, God seems to be involved in passovers.

Now let's look at the link to Joseph (specifically Ephraim).  Read Deut 33:13-17 with emphasis on vs 16 as well the actions of Ephraim and Manasseh after the events of vs 16 in vs 17.  See the linkage with the blessings of Jacob in Gen 49: 22-26.  Note 49:1 says these blessings are for the last days.  They go hand in hand with the blessings on Joseph's children in Gen 48:14-22.  Compare the remarks in Gen 49:26 to Deut 33:16 and think about God's requirement for Israel to come out from among the heathen nations and be separate and peculiar and Jesus requirements for His followers to come out of this world and be a separate people.

Examine Joseph in Gen 37: 3, 23 & 32.  See how the coat his father gave him compares to those around the throne in Rev 5:9 and 7:9.

While you are at it look at Rev 18: verses 4 and 23.  Now re-read Ex 11: 7 and Mk 12:27 and Lk 20:38.  You surely ought to see a pattern.

When God gives a sign, there is usually a double.  Job 11:6 tells us the secrets (pl) of wisdom are double to that which is.  We are at Bush # 2, 2nd term.  The sign of the fig tree (June 67 war of Israel/Judah) + 40 dovetails nicely with the sign of the bush.   Moses, the bush, the resurrection of the dead and the passover are linked closely together.  There is a lot in the name passover.  It is a spring event, just like green leaves and first fruits.  Remember, there is no Biblical record of any 40 ever being shortened or lengthed.  Surely, our salvation draweth near.

Your friend in Christ, Steve