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Assemblies of Yahweh Ministries Newsletter

Issue No. 17                                         India                                                    March 2005

AOYM Calendar Conference

On Jan. 23. the elected Calendar Committee met and discussed the timing of the start of the Sacred Year, and upcoming festivals.  The committee members present were Y. Sunith Premanand, Tony B. Suckla, M. Hariem, G. Sarojini, P. Premananda, and P. Solomon Raju.  Other observers were present.  The Scriptural and historical evidences were considered for various calendars.  After discussion and vote, the committee unanimously accepted the following rules to base the start of the Sacred Year. 

  1. The month should be started by visible sighting of the crescent moon from the boundaries of the land of Ysrael.  If reports from Ysrael are not available for any reason, then local sighting will have to be used. 

  2. The moon should be clearly seen with the naked eye by at least two reliable witnesses;  blurry, intermittent sightings will not be given much importance.  The calendar committee will consider the evidence from the reports of the sightings and will announce the sighting of the moon to the rest of the body.

  3. The first crescent sighting to start the year should be the one following the time of the astronomical Vernal Equinox.

Based on the above rules the sacred year will most likely start at the end of Apr. 10 making Apr. 11 the Scriptural New Year day, or Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew.  This date will still have to be confirmed by actual observation, but this is the likely date.

Passover/Feast of ULB expected dates- Apr. 24-May 1.  Starting at the end of Apr. 23.

These dates are being presented as a united agreement by the various pastors of Andhra Pradesh.  But, we do not make these dates mandatory on those that have a sincere conviction otherwise.

Pentecost

The timing of Pentecost was also discussed;  Scriptural and historical evidence was considered and there was likewise a unanimous agreement on the timing.  It was agreed that the count to Pentecost should start on the morrow of the first Seventh-day Sabbath that falls during Passover/ULB.  Using this rule Pentecost will be on June 19 this year of 2005.

Question answered

In Newsletter #12 the Book of Yasher was quoted where it said, "And in the third month from the children of Israel's departure from Egypt, on the sixth day thereof, Yahweh gave to Ysrael The Ten Commandments on mount Sinai."  Jasher 82:6  

Some have concluded from the above quote that since the Jews celebrate Pentecost as the day of the giving of the Ten Commandments, that Pentecost must be kept on the sixth day of the third month each year (Sivan 6).  It must be pointed out that even the Rabbinical Jews today do not always keep Pentecost on Sivan 6.  Also, the above quote does not show that Pentecost was kept on Sivan 6 each year.  Pentecost can land on Sivan 6 whether someone uses the Pharisaic or Sadducean method for the count. 

For more info. on the technical aspects of the Sacred Calendar see Newsletter #4 which is posted on the internet at:  www.sevendayweek.com  Or write if you do not have internet connection.

Ten Things Yahweh won't ask...

  1. He won’t ask what kind of vehicle you drove;  He’ll see how many you drove who didn’t have transportation.

  2. He won't ask the square feet of your house;  He'll see how many people you welcomed into your home.

  3. He won't ask about the clothes you had, He'll see how many you helped to clothe.

  4. He won't ask what your highest salary was, He'll see if you compromised your character to obtain it.

  5. He won't ask what your job title was, He'll see if you performed your job to the best of your ability.

  6. He won't ask how many friends you had, He'll see how many people to whom you were a friend.

  7. He won't ask in what neighborhood you lived, He'll see how you treated your neighbors.

  8. He won't ask about the color of your skin, He'll look at the content of your character.

  9. He won't ask why it took you so long to seek Salvation, He'll lovingly take you to your mansion.

  10. He won't ask how many good works you did, He’ll see if you did them joyfully or grudgingly.

The Body of Messiah?

The Apostle Paul said, "Now you are the body of Messiah, and each one of you is a part of it." I Cor. 12:27 NIV.  What does it take to become a part of the body of Messiah?  If someone wants to become a member of any nation, he must profess loyalty to the nation and profess that he will live in accordance with the laws of that nation.  He must then go through a formal procedure to obtain citizenship.  It is the same with becoming a member of the body of Messiah.  Many Scriptures show that an acceptance of the Law of Yahweh, Yahshua as Messiah, and baptism are required to be a part of the body of Messiah, Jn. 8:11;  1Jn.3:4;  Rom. 6:1-3,15,16.    One must not only accept Messiah as His Savior from sin, but He must also agree to live in harmony with the law that he was forgiven for breaking, and make a formal declaration of that faith through the ceremony of immersion in water in the Name of Yahshua Messiah, Acts 2:38.

If someone wanted be become a member of a certain nation and they openly proclaimed that they would not obey some of the laws of that nation, they would never be accepted as a citizen.  Many people today proclaim to be members of the body of Messiah, but yet they reject the laws that govern the body.  Yahshua said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them,  I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”  Mt. 7:21-23  Yahshua plainly shows that those who disregard the law of Yahweh as the standard of their life were never known by Him(Yahshua) to begin with – they were never a part of His body.  The miracles they worked, were not by His power, but by the adversary.

Isa. 4:1 says that in the day of judgment, “…seven women shall take hold of one Man, saying, we will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by Thy Name, to take away our reproach.”  So it is today, many people want to have their sins forgiven, but they do not want anyOne to tell them what to do. 

Yahshua said, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.” Jn. 15:22  Many believers in Messiah are ignorantly transgressing Yahweh’s commandments and so Yahweh overlooks their sins of ignorance.  But, once someone has known the truth, obedience is required.  See Jn. 9:41;  Acts 17:29,30.

Modern day “Sorcerers”?

The book of Revelation has quite a bit to say about “Sorcerers”.  Consider the following.  In Rev. 18:23 speaking of the reasons for the judgments on Babylon, we read, “…for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” KJV, see also Rev. 9:21; 21:8; 22:15.  The Greek word for “sorceries” in the above verse is, “pharmakeia” #5331 in the New Strongs Expanded Concordance, the definition is, “medication (“pharmacy”), i.e. (by extens.) magic (lit. or fig.)… Primarily pharmakeia signified the use of medicine, drugs, spells; then, poisoning; then, witchcraft (Gal. 5:20; Rev. 9:21; 18:23)”.  The Thayer’s Greek Lexicon definition of the same word is, “a.  the use or the administering of drugs  b.  poisoning Rev. ix. 21  c.  sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it:  Gal. v. 20”, see p. 649.  So we see that the primary meaning of this Greek word refers to the administering and use of drugs.  The English translation “sorcerers” gives the idea of witchcraft, which is not the primary meaning of the word.  Another Greek word used in Acts 8:11 and 13:5 is the Greek word that means sorcerer or witch.

This word could apply to people who are dealing in illegal drugs;  but could there is an application to legal drugs also?

Does drug use heal people?  Recently in one of our schools in Lankapalem,W.G. dt., a young girl contracted hepatitis, the doctor prescribed many medications for her, soon she was bleeding from the nose and mouth, soon after she died.  I, br. Mattithyah, contracted hepatitis about two years back, I took much rest and liquids, little food and no drugs.  In two weeks I was fine.

A couple of years ago I was in Chennai and I visited a man’s house and drank water from his tank, the next day we both contracted a bad headache and body pains.  He went to a doctor who gave him many drugs to use, in about 10 days he died of what the doctors called, “rat fever”.  I took no drugs but I ate many carrots, beets, wheat grass, brown rice, dal, onions and lots of water.  After about three or four hard days I recovered. 

In the W.G. dt. recently a pastor had a severe stomach acid problem.  The doctor put him in the hospital for five days gave him many drugs and charged him Rs. 2500.00.  The problem could easily have been cured by eating a big bunch of grapes, oranges, fresh lemons squeezed in water or any uncooked juicy fruit or vegetable.  Acid in the body is formed by large amounts of cooked foods such as meats, vegetables, dals, wheat, tea, coffee, pickle, etc…  The acid can be neutralized by uncooked fruits and vegetables, which are very alkaline.

These few examples do not prove all drug use wrong but usually there are simple natural remedies that will solve most health problems.  Most doctors are not trained in the use of natural remedies, they usually will resort to medications and operations to solve man’s afflictions.  Sometimes operations are necessary, but many times operations can be avoided by some natural treatment.  Recently a pastors wife in Palakol, W.G. Dt. was told by the doctors to have her gall bladder removed because of gallstones.  Instead, I had her go on a simple program of apple juice, olive oil and lemon juice.  Soon she passed many of the gallstones and no operation was necessary.  Of course, if she did not know about the natural treatment, the operation would have been necessary to relieve the pain.  The internet has become a information super highway for anyone desiring knowledge.  Through the search engines of the world wide web, the natural treatments for most any disease can be found.  Usually someone needs to make a complete lifestyle change, rather than just any one particular temporary treatment.

According to Rev. 18:23, many people are being deceived by drug-sorcerers, the solution is for a man to heed the message of the angel of Rev. 18:4.  “Come out of Babylon, lest you receive of her plagues”  The cultural lifestyle and diet of Babylon is refined grains, greasy foods, cigarettes, alcohol, overuse of coffee, tea, milk, white sugar, flesh meats, and trust the in the doctors pharmaceutical drugs.  The cultural diet of Mt. Zion is found in Gen. 1:29, - fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, unrefined grains, exercise, rest, unpolluted air, lots of pure water and trust in Yahweh.  Come out of her, My people…

Feast sites for Festival of Unleavened Bread 2005, India

An eight-day Passover/Festival of ULB will be held at the following places below, any others that are going to keep an eight-day feast should contact us so that we can announce to others.

Hyderabad, A.P. – Pastor Y. Sunith Premanand – 040-24072976

Vishakhapatnam, A.P. – bro. G. Raja Prasad – 0891-2575569

Eluru, W.G. Dt., A.P. – Pas. G.B. Benoni – 08812-235109

Churachandpur, Manipur, N.E. India – Pas. G. Israel - 03874-234360

Palakollu, W.G. dt. A.P. – Pas. M. Hariem – 08814-227571

Contact Information for Assemblies of Yahweh Ministries:

G. Raja Prasad                                                     bro. Mattithyah  08812-248030 (telefax)

9-9-43 Mangapuram Colony                               Yahweh@vsnl.com

Vishakhapatnam, A.P. 530017      >>>               www.sevendayweek.com

0891-2575569 or 9246614656

EMAIL : Yahweh@vsnl.com