GIVING & SHARING NEWSLETTER                                                             May, 1994 No. 27

 

Six Papers on the History of the Church of God

 

      We are pleased to announce the printing of the revised edition of Six Papers on the History of the Church of God.  As a companion book to our History of the Seventh Day Church of God, Volume I, the Six Papers book covers the history of Sabbath-keepers from seventeenth century England to America, through the Adventist period and the formation of the modern Church of God (Seventh Day) and also covers the independent movement of G.G. Rupert, who seems to have had a great influence on Herbert W. Armstrong.  John Kiesz, elder statesman of the Church of God (Seventh Day), wrote paper number six.

      Why should you study Church history?  Because you cannot understand what is happen­ing today in the Sabbath-keeping Churches of God without a background of what has happened in the past.  Unless we learn the lessons of the past, we are destined to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors.  The history of God’s Church is both fascinating and educational.  “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22.  Beware of those who are now attempting to cover up church history.

 

America’s Godly Heritage

 

      Recently, I viewed an excellent VHS video, America’s Godly Heritage.  I was excited to see how the history of the United States of America is based on Christian Biblical principles in government and education.  In the early 1960s, when the Bible was taken out of our schools, the rampant moral decline began.  This video exposes the lie of a constitutional separation of Church and State.  For a copy, contact Wallbuilders, PO Box 397, Aledo, TX 76008.  Show this video to your children!  Keep God’s heritage alive in your family.

 

Pentecost, May 23, 1994

 

      This year was unusual in that Passover fell on a weekly Sabbath, which happens only once in ten years.  Passover fell on a weekly Sabbath in 1954, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1994, and will not occur on a Sabbath again until the year 2001.  When Passover falls on a weekly Sabbath, Wavesheaf Sunday, the start of the count of 50 days towards Pentecost, falls on the morrow after the Sabbath during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  In 1994, Passover was on the Sabbath, March 26, Wavesheaf Sunday was on April 3, and Pentecost is on May 23.

      I have written an extensive article proving these points, entitled “When Does the Pentecost Count Begin?”  We plan to include it in the next reprinting of our book, Biblical Holy Days.          Ω