March, 2005

Fred R. Coulter, Minister

March 9, 2005

Dear Brethren,

In February, I traveled to Texas, where I spent four days with Chad, Rachelle and Jeremy, our grandson.  Then, on Sabbath the 12^th, we had morning and afternoon services in Waco with a great Texas BBQ meal.  This was the eighth year that I have had the privilege of going to Waco. We had 90 brethren in attendance. I gave the sermons The Law of Moses without the Veil # 2 and Holidays vs. Holy Days by Whose Authority # 2.  We all had a tremendous time, and the fellowship was great.  After services, Glenn Daniel, with his wife Phyllis, drove me to Houston, where we stayed at the airport Holiday Inn.  On Sunday the 13th, we had morning and afternoon services with a meal in-between.  Twenty-six brethren attended.  We were thankful that this year there was no Pentecostal revival bash going on next to our meeting room.

I was not able to travel as much last year because we were busy finalizing the New Testament for its second printing and The Day Jesus the Christ Died.  However, this year I have been and will be traveling quite extensively.  I went to Monrovia, California in the month of November. In December I traveled to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, where we ordained Norbert Bohnert as an elder.  In January I went to Monrovia, California again and of course, in February I was in Texas.  I will be in Seattle Washington on March 11-12 and in Spokane on March 13.  On April 9 I will be in Monrovia, and the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, April 30, I will be in Phoenix.  We will have the elders' conference in Cincinnati May 13-15 with double Sabbath services on the Sabbath May 14.  In June, I will be in Georgia and Manchester, NH.  Finally, in July I will be in Tulsa, OK.  It is always a great joy to meet all the brethren and fellowship with everyone.  Each occasion is like a mini-Feast.

Passover and Unleavened Bread: The Passover is only six weeks away.  To help you prepare for the Passover, we havefive Passover Preparation tapes along with the Words of the New Covenant.  At one time we had this series on four tapes.  However, I did the series again in February 2003 after I had finished translating all the Scriptures.  The new series came out one tape longer.  If you do not have these tapes, please write, call or e-mail us, and we will send them to you right away.  Also, we will post them on the CBCG website.

The Christian Passover Service: We have a complete Passover Ceremony Booklet that you can use as a guide for observing the Passover.  If you do not have one, let us know, and we will send you one immediately.  Also, Wayne Stenhouse has just finished a new booklet as a guide for The Night to Be Much Observed.  We will mail this new booklet out to everyone in the next couple of weeks, so you will not have to request it.

Passover/Unleavened Bread Coloring Book for Children: This year we have a wonderful coloring book for children.  This was created by Don and Bonnie Burrows. It tells the biblical story of Passover, beginning with Abraham forward to the account of Moses, Pharaoh, the children of Israel and the last Passover of Jesus Christ.  This excellent work is 84 pages.  Please write us immediately, and we will send as many copies as you need.

The Christian Passover Book: This is the most complete book ever written about the Passover from both the Old and New Testaments.  It covers every aspect of scriptural and historical truth about the Passover in the Bible.  The second edition, published in 1999, is 500 pages.  Nothing has been left out, including the erroneous theories of Judaism.  Unfortunately, some ministers of the various churches of God have accepted Judaism’s false doctrines concerning the Passover.  They fail to realize that since Judaism has rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah, it is left with nothing but traditions and false interpretations of the Old Testament.

Jesus Christ condemned the traditional practices of Judaism as commandments of men: “And He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.”  But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.  For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men, such as the washing of pots and cups; and you practice many other things like this.’  Then He said to them, ‘Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition’ ” (Mark 7:6-9).

Every year it seems that some minister will come up with a different explanation or theory about the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This year is no exception.  I received a paper in the mail written by a church of God minister in Utah declaring that the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread are combined and should be observed on the 15^th and not on the 14^th.  In TheChristian Passover, this topic is covered in great detail, showing why God’s command to observe the Passover on the 14^th is correct, and why Judaism errs in observing it on the 15^th.  Remember, Jesus Christ warned us to beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, which are their false doctrines (Matt. 16:11-12).  Two of their major false doctrines are a 15^th Passover and a Sivan 6 Pentecost.  Most of the false teachings coming from supposed ministers of a church of God are only a rehash of these false doctrines of Judaism.

Since The Christian Passover was first published in 1993, no one has been able to refute even one thing in it.  In fact, no one has been able to disprove any scriptural answer presented in it.  There have been some that have condemned or reviled it, but they have proved nothing that would change anything in this book.   TheChristian Passover is the only book that explains that the Passover actually began with Abraham and not with the children of Israel in Egypt.  If you do not have this book, please request it, and we will send it to you.  If you have not read it for several years, it might be good to review it again before the Passover comes.

This Year’s Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread: This year is one of those rare years when the first day of the Feast falls on a Sunday, and the last day of the Feast falls on the weekly Sabbath.  In the last century there were eleven years when the first holy day fell on a Sunday and the last holy day fell on the weekly Sabbath.  In this century, this sequence occurred in 2001.  Within the next twenty years, the same sequence of days for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread will occur in 2005, 2008, 2021 and 2025.

When the days fall in this sequence, the “morrow after the Sabbath” during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the first holy day.  Therefore, the first holy day, which falls on a Sunday—the first day of the week— is also the wave sheaf offering day.   While for some this may be hard to understand, it can be simplified by remembering that: 1) the wave sheaf must be offered during the Feast of Unleavened Bread—not after.  2) New grain was to be eaten during the feast as well; therefore it had to be waved during the feast—not after. 3) Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering ceremony that was conducted at the tabernacle/temple on the first day of the week during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  4) Jesus’ acceptance by God the Father in heaven above as the Lamb of God. Who takes away the sins of the world must occur during the feast.  (The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the removal of sin, which only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His resurrection can do.)

Because the wave sheaf must only be offered on the first day of the week during the Feast, it must be offered on the first Sunday.  If it were offered after the last holy day, which falls on the weekly Sabbath, it would be offered on a Sunday that occurs outside the Feast.  Thus, we would not be able to eat of the new barley harvest until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Furthermore, the Feast of Pentecost would be a week late.

Some ministers have completely misunderstood these important facts and have developed false explanations to make their theories appear true, but they all fall short and end up in error.  It has been my observation that when ministers and brethren observe the Passover on the wrong day (on the 15^th instead of the 14^th) or at the wrong time of the day (as God commanded and Jesus kept), they always come up with other false doctrines.  It never fails to happen because “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

The false doctrines of men always cause confusion.  However, God is not the author of confusion.  He does not want us to be in doubt.  Therefore, God inspired the record in Joshua Five of the Passover occurring on a weekly Sabbath and the wave sheaf being offered on the first holy day.  There the sequence of events shows us that in the year the twelve tribes of Israel entered the Promised Land, the wave sheaf was offered on the first holy day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  To help you understand this vital truth, we are sending you a tape The Wave Sheaf and Joshua Five that fully explains all the details and reveals why any other time is not correct.  We have enclosed this tape in this mailing.  Along with this sermon tape we have included a chart that will clearly show the chronology of events before and after the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as recorded in Joshua Five. Joshua Five clearly establishes that when the first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread falls on a Sunday, that day is the wave sheaf offering day; hence, it is the first day in the fifty-day count to Pentecost.

Very few brethren realize that the children of Israel did not eat bread for the forty years that they wandered in the wilderness.  They had manna—bread from heaven—to eat.  Note that the command God gave them concerning the wave sheaf offering was that it was not to be offered until they had entered the Promised Land.  Why?  Because there were no grain fields in the wilderness from which to harvest any grain!  This is why this command could not apply until they had entered the land: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it … And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (Lev. 23:9-14, KJV).

The account in Joshua shows that they ate the new as well as the old grain on the morrow after the Passover, which was on a weekly Sabbath.  Not only was the old grain used (from the stored harvest the previous year), but the new grain harvested that year was also used for the wave sheaf offering.  Remember, they could not eat grain of any kind—old or new—until the priest had offered the wave sheaf on the morrow after the Sabbath after they had come into the land.  The new grain that was used had been planted by the Canaanites in the fall before they entered the land, but the children of Israel harvested it because they had conquered that portion of the land east of the Jordan River where there were grain fields.  “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.  And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn [new grain] in the selfsame day.  And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Josh. 5:10-12, KJV).

The Scriptures state that they ate of the fruit of the land that year. They did not wait until the next year as a minister in a church of God has claimed. This is in accord with the command that God had given them in Leviticus 23, “When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof” (verse 10).  It clearly says, “the harvest thereof,” not “the harvest you have planted,” or “your harvest.”  This means that they were to harvest the grain fields that the Canaanites had already planted.

They entered the land on the 10^th day of the first month, which was in the spring.  That was the only time they could have harvested the new grain to eat!  Please listen to the tape in its entirety and follow along with the chart.  This will clearly show all the details of the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread that the children of Israel observed when they entered the Promised Land.

Manna Was the Bread Used for Their First Passover In the Land: All during their 40-year wanderings in the wilderness, the chilrdren of Israel ate manna.  It was God’s bread from heaven which He sent daily, except on the Sabbath.  Since they could not eat any grain during this period of time (Lev. 23:9-14), for those who kept the Passover [as only those men who were circumcised could partake of the Passover], they had to use manna for the unleavened bread for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Finally, for their first Passover in the Promised Land, after the second circumcision on the 10^th day of the first month, they used manna for the last time—then all partook of the Passover.  After the wave sheaf was offered by the priest, the next day the manna ceased: “And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn [new grain] in the selfsame day.  And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land [and the new grain]; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year” (Josh. 5:11-12, KJV).

Websites Activity: The number of visitors to our websites has been increasing every month.  At the present rate, more than 330,000 people will use our websites this year.  The total number of visitors to CBCG.org in January was 23,556 and in February, 21,907.   Biblical Truth Ministries logged 1,119 visitors in January and 3,865 visitors in February.  The dramatic increase in visitors was due to the advertisement for The Day Jesus the Christ Died.  We are adding new material to BTM all the time.  To help visitors to the BTM site learn about our other site, we have click throughs to the cbcg.org site, where they will find a wealth of information.

We have had a good response to our advertisements for the book offers for Harmony of the Gospels and The Day Jesus the Christ Died.  In February, we mailed out nearly 1,500 Harmony of the Gospels and over 2,200 The Day Jesus the Christ Died.  We have had many good comments about these books from the new people.  We are sure that from these people God will add brethren to the Church.  When we first started to listen to the radio program or the television program World Tomorrow, it took us some time to prove all things before we answered God’s calling.  In the same way, it will take some time for new people to prove all things and answer God’s calling.  God is the one Who does the calling.  We will preach the Gospel, casting our bread upon the water, and God will prosper it wherever it goes.

Once again, brethren, thank you for all your love and prayers and continued support in reaching out to new people as well as to brethren who are in need.  Together we are making a difference and preaching the truth of God’s Word to the brethren and to the world.  May God’s love, grace and blessings be upon you and yours.

With love in Christ Jesus,

Fred R. Coulter

FRC