Samoa’s Dateline Paradox
Samoa’s Dateline Paradox
Divine Design or Witty Invention?
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The Samoan people went to bed on Thursday night, Dec. 29, 2011, but woke up the next morning on Saturday, Dec. 31st. The entire day of Friday, Dec. 30, had been skipped. In this way, they lost both a monthly calendar date and the sixth day of their continuous weekly seven-day cycle.
Great conflict arose among the islands’ deeply religious local Adventist Church members as they strove to reconcile this paradox and stay consistent with their core values. Their seventh-day Sabbath is intended to consistently fall on both a “Saturday” and the seventh day of the continuous weekly cycle that they believe has continued since creation.
Just as an archaeologist digs beneath the surface to discover buried treasure, so too must those seeking truth in the Scriptures. Only by digging deep in the mines of truth can the Creator’s true principles of time be found and restored. The Almighty Father’s spotlight is upon this topic as we prepare for our eternal home to expose the true reason for this confounding paradox and demonstrate how it can be resolved.
Could the Creator of the shamayim (heavens) and eretz (earth) be fully aware of the Samoan Island dilemma and made provision in advance? Might the people of Samoa rise up and walk in response as the loving Father calls them forth from the traditions and inventions of men into the new light of truth? By the grace of Yahuah, is it possible that this tiny island cluster has been given the task of leading the whole world back to the knowledge of our Creator’s true calendar and true Sabbath?
Samoa’s Dateline Paradox Questions to Consider
- Is the Pacific Ocean’s International Dateline (IDL) recognized by the Creator of time?
- In the beginning did our Creator identify a need for an IDL upon earth, and provide for it?
- If so, where is, or what is the Creator’s instrument for demarcating days, weeks, months and years?
- Since what our Creator makes can never be changed or altered, how is it that the IDL can be moved at the whim of mankind, or the day changed from Saturday to Sunday?
- Upon what premise can the continuous weekly cycle be broken to make adjustments?
- What is the common denominator between clocks, Saturday, the continuous weekly cycle, the paper wall calendar, and the International Dateline?
- For those who consider Ellen White a prophet, what does she have to say?
- What time-centric principles are established in the Scriptures for measuring time?
These questions and more will be answered as details are provided that will shed light on the Creator’s true and divinely ordained dateline marker.
Two Contradicting Options Equal One Paradox
It appears the Samoan S.D.A.s have only two choices, yet a third that supersedes both options can easily resolve this paradox forever. Might it be that in His great wisdom, our loving Father is using this timely IDL paradox on the little island of Samoa to draw the attention of the people of the earth back to the knowledge of the true principles of “time” as designed by Him at creation?
Ironically, not more than 150 years ago, these islanders kept time purely according to the rhythm of the shamayim (heavens). No paradoxical dilemma occurred before adopting westernized time-keeping with its traditions that include the clock, the wall calendar of Rome with its continuous cycling weeks, and the International Dateline (IDL).
Dateline Dilemma
Around the World in 24 Days
Twenty-four days later, the Samoan man who was left behind welcomed the return of the other two to the Island on the same day. Now, finally reunited in the little Samoan Island hut, each was anxious to give their report and announce the length of their journey.
- The Samoan explorer who journeyed westward announced he had traveled for a total of 23 days.
- The Samoan explorer who journeyed eastward announced he had traveled for a total of 25 days.
- The Samoan who remained at home on the Island shocked them both by proclaiming that precisely 24 days had elapsed.
How Might this Occur?
The man who journeyed eastward for 25 days, traveling in the opposite direction as the sun, actually lost a full day, arriving back at the Island with an added day longer. This is because each day he traveled, the sun set 1 hour earlier (1/24th of a day). Each lost hour added together over each day, adding an extra full revolution of the earth to his journey.
While all three results are different, all three are correct according to the preset criteria to strictly use the “sun” for measuring time. This occurred based on the faulty premise that the “sun” is the sole natural time marker. Our Creator designed the sun to work together with the moon and stars. When they are separated from one another or part of them are ignored, artificial time is created, causing a paradox like this to occur.
Adding the Moon and Stars to the Time-Keeping Equation
- The sun measures the solar year’s length from one spring equinox to the next. It also measures the length of a natural day from sunrise to sunset, dividing the day from the night, and gives light for the journey. Genesis 1:5, Psalms 50:1-2.
- The moon was the chosen instrument of the creator to demarcate one astro-lunar-solar year from the next, one lunar month from another, one lunar week from another, and one lunar day from the next. This is done as it displays its 29-30 varying phases coupled with its location in the sky. Wherever one is on earth, he will know the day as the moon dictates. Therefore, in the case of the Samoan explorers,
no matter how many days they may be gone from their island home when they are reunited, it is the same lunar phase displayed in the sky for all three. Thus, time was consistent for all.
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Through the genius of the enemy of souls, man discovered that by removing the moon from the time-keeping equation, kings and nations were served up the silver platter of calendar options. Until this trick was exposed by the Egyptians and Romans, humanity, for the most part, had previously maintained utilizing the moon for the start of years, months, weeks, and days.
- The stars, in cooperation with the moon, help keep time for years and months. As a second witness to the sun, the stars also divide the day from the night and give direction when traveling by night (Genesis 1:16). The starry constellations were created as time divisions. The enemy of souls has counterfeited and warped their preordained purpose to mere astrological signs to be consulted by the unknowing and disbelieving.
Natural Time VS. Artificial Time
1. When traveling west in the direction of natural time (the sun, moon, and stars), time is always gained.
2. When traveling west utilizing artificial time (according to clocks, paper calendars and the IDL), time is always lost.
3. This illustration is all about traveling east or west in general without crossing the dateline.
- This illustration above, identifies the paradox that occurs when traveling east. Artificial time on your watch increases, yet you lose hours according to natural time (the sun, moon and stars), and don’t get to live them.
- It is also shown how the opposite occurs when traveling west. Artificial time on your watch decreases, yet you gain hours according to natural time (the sun, moon and stars), and get to relive them.
The second graphic identifies the phenomena and paradoxes that occur when crossing the artificial dateline. Literally, one leg can be in yesterday and the other in today, or one foot in today and one in tomorrow, a full 24 hours of artificial time apart. But again, what is occurring is that while there is the gain in natural time, in one step, it becomes a whole calendar date increase on the basis of the artificial dateline. The only thing lost is an artificial calendar date.
Parallel Conundrum in History within Conflicting Calendars
There was much controversy in the early church (A.D. 325 and later) as to the days on which our Lord’s [Yahusha the Messiah’s] Resurrection ought to be celebrated. The churches [Natsarim] of Asia Minor celebrated the death of [Yahusha] on the day corresponding to the fourteenth of the [original Hebrew astro-luni-solar] month Nisan, on which day, according to the opinion of the whole ancient church, the crucifixion took place. The western churches, on the other hand, were of the opinion that the crucifixion should be annually commemorated on the particular day of the [Roman calendar] week on which it occurred, that is Friday [promoting the new Roman planetary week]. The resurrection was accordingly commemorated by the former party on the day corresponding to the sixteenth of Nisan, and by the other party on “Sunday” following “Good Friday.” In addition to these two parties, both of which were within the old Catholic Church, there was another, repudiated by the church as heretical. This third party, an Ebionitic sect, agreed with the churches of Asia Minor in adhering to the commemoration of the days of the month [fourteenth and sixteenth of the lunar month of Nisan], but differed from them in insisting upon the continuance of the obligatory character of the ancient law, and the consequent duty of Christians [Natsarim] to celebrate the Jewish Passover. Both were called Quartodecimai, from the fourteenth (Latin, quartodecimus) day of the [lunar] month on which they commemorated the death of Christ [Yahusha the Messiah]. From McClintock & Strong’s Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, Easter Controversy-The Resurrection. As quoted in Approximate Chronology, by H. H. Perry, p. 12. [Emphasis mine]
Make no mistake, no matter which side of the dateline one lives on, the crucifixion and resurrection of our Messiah and Savior are at the epicenter of this calendation and true Sabbath conundrum. The conflict ensued over this issue because the Friday of the new Roman cycling week could not be harmonized with the 14th of the month in years A.D. 29, 30, 31, and 32. Scripture’s recorded day of the Messiah’s resurrection has been taken hostage and is known today as a Roman Catholic monument, which has been fixed to a plot of calendar real estate known only as “Easter Sunday.” This is because neither the terms Friday, Saturday, Sunday, nor Easter existed in Israel from when they entered Canaan with Joshua to the time of the Messiah.
History bears witness to the fact that Julius Caesar discarded Rome’s longtime affiliation with the astro-luni-solar calendar and instituted a new solar calendar in 45 B.C. This was accomplished for the purpose of removing Rome from any resemblance to the Jews and declaring their independence from the binding claims of their Creator. This new system of time-measuring was patterned after Egypt’s solar-only time reckoning, as it was wholly independent of the moon for time, specifically days, weeks, months, and years. A new market week was instituted on an eight-day cycle. Its early jurisdiction was Roman-conquered territories. Israel was not taken captive nor under Roman authority until A.D. 70.
In the mid-1st century B.C. Julius Caesar invited Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, to advise him about the reform of the calendar, and Sosigenes decided that the only practical step was to abandon the lunar calendar altogether. Months must be arranged on a seasonal basis, and a tropical (solar) year used, as in the Egyptian calendar. “The Julian Calendar,” Encyclopedia Britannica.
More lives have been lost in battle over this single subject than any other in the years between A.D. 325 and 1650, during which time Rome was bent on obscuring and supplanting the truth with this colossal lie. Ultimately, Rome succeeded.
Even after Constantine’s edict about Sunday, it took another generation or two for the seven-day week to catch on throughout the empire. The 24-hour system took longer, having to wait until the invention of the mechanical clock in the Middle Ages by monks anxious to observe with precision their canonical hours . . . Calendar, David Ewing Duncan, p. 47, New York, Avon Books, 1998. [emphasis mine]
. . . the Jewish festivals being regulated solely by the moon, may fall on any day of the [modern Roman] week. Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 Edition, Vol. 2, “Pentecost.” [emphasis mine]
This paradox will ever exist if the willful blind continue trying to put a square block (artificial time) in a round hole (natural time). The Roman Gregorian calendar can never be harmonized with the Scriptural Hebrew astro-luni-solar time reckoning. According to Yahuah’s CREATION and its preordained orchestration of sun, moon, and stars, the other is a combination of solar reckoning and man’s witty inventions to superimpose Caesar’s time overall that would be Yahuah’s.
To punctuate this point, the apostle Mark records a dialog between the Pharisees and the Yahusha, the Messiah, in a plot of trickery, yet His words in response caused them to marvel.
They inquired if they must pay the legislated taxes. He asked for a coin and questioned them about whose image and inscription were on it. In truth, they responded, Caesar’s. He then declared to them His famous words, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to Yahuah, the things that are Yahuah’s.” Mark 12:17.
So what things are Yahuah’s? Certainly, the laws and all principles of truth are His, but in addition, this includes all His creation and those wonders in the (heavens) shamayim that declare the glory of Yahuah, and time is His handiwork (Psalms 19:1). Is time not in a very real sense His divine signature, a portrayal of His image and the inscription upon which all sacred times of worship are prescribed? So, when it comes to time and money, one was invented by man, and Yahuah created the other.
How to Triumph Over the Dateline Paradox
From the following Scripture verses, it is found that the Creator designated the sun, moon, and stars to set the starting and ending points of each of His ordained units of time, but just how was this done?
Then Alahim/Elohim said, “Let there be LIGHTS in the firmament of the shamayim to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs [Sabbaths] and seasons [lunar months or New Moons], and for days and years . . . Genesis 1:14
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of LIGHTS, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning [full sun, full stars, full moon]. James 1:17
According to Psalms 19 below, was it an artificial man-made International Dateline the Creator placed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at creation or was His measuring line, from start to finish, to be declared by the sun, moon, and stars?
“The shamayim (abode of the sun, moon, and stars) accurately counts from the honorable Almighty Alahim/Elohim, and the undertakings of His power, and from the conspicuous expanse of the firmament.
Day unto day gushes forth promises and night unto night demonstrates knowledge. Without promises and without SIGNS, their voice we shall not hear, understand, nor obey. Their rule of measuring proceeds forth to all the earth, and their discourse to the end of the world.
To the EAST Yahuah’s tabernacle was fixed and ordained. And Himself as the bridegroom shall proceed forth from His canopied chamber. He shall rejoice as a mighty warrior to hasten along the well-worn pathway.
From one border of the shamayim His going forth is in the east, and His revolution—a circuit of time in space unto the end, and nothing shall be hidden from His wrath!” Psalms 19:1-6 The Creator’s Calendar Restored Hebrew Text Psalms 19:1-4. Link to Hebrew word study coming soon.
What was it the Creator ordained for a spherical world to signal the beginning of each New Year and new month, count to weeks, and demarcate one day from the next?
Thus saith Yahuah . . . “And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says Yahuah. Isaiah 66:22-23
The month of the Jews was, as we have said, a lunar month, and extended from one appearing of the new moon to another. The time elapsing between one astronomical new moon and another consists of 29.5 days. . . But since the month consisted of entire days, they counted it with pretty regular alternation as 29 or 30 days. A month of 30 days was called a full month; if it had only 29 days, it was called an imperfect month. The Jewish month could never have more than 30 days, and never fewer than 29. Chronological Basis of the History of Jesus Christ, p. 5. [emphasis mine]
The [early] Hebrews employed lunar seven-day weeks, which ended with special observances on the seventh day, but none the less were tied to the moon’s course. Rest Days, p. 254-255 by Hutton Webster
. . . the Jewish festivals being regulated solely by the moon, may fall on any day of the [Roman] week. Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 Edition, Vol. 2, “Pentecost.” [emphasis mine]
The Creator preordained the full moon as the original New Moon to beacon the commencement of each new month and New Year. It is the “Creator’s Lunar International Dateline” (CLID). Beginning with the “full moon,” each lunar phase that follows demarcates the numbered divisions of days until the next “full” New Moon is witnessed the same in both hemispheres, commencing the new month in an altogether new location. Wherever the moon is visible on Earth, it declares the true date of the Scriptural lunar month. So, it is impossible to be out of sync with dates, weeks, months, and years with anyone else in the world when the same highly visible full moon is observed for the demarcation of days, months, and years. So while the sun gives us the divisions of days, the lunar phases begin with the “full” moon, the (CLID), and declare each specific date to earth. Every night, the moon displays a unique lunar phase for the month, which is consistent with the numbered date. Only in this way does a Sabbath come to us in a ball-shaped world. The Sabbath is therefore beaconed by the mobile sun, moon, and stars and by no other method under shamayim.
Does the full moon establish the (CLID), in both time and location? Yes.
Many Jewish and Messianic folks believe a stationary dateline must be established in Jerusalem instead of an arbitrary dateline in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, neither option can be effective as they are both man-made devised instruments of measurement. This is because the instrument our Creator has ordained to signal His new months and demarcate each calendar date from the next is His perpetually revolving full New Moon in the sky. This is the only effective method of dividing time in a revolving round world. Each month, the (CLID) comes to us in a new location. In other words, the CLID is mobile because both the earth and the moon are mobile. The CLID remains in one marked location for an entire lunar month, after which time a new full moon is witnessed in an altogether different location than is witnessed by those in that location.
Thus says Yahuah, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night . . . Jeremiah 31:35 NKJV
On this round world, three ordained time units must have a defined starting and ending point, a measuring line for the globe of the earth: this includes the civil calendar date, the Scriptural lunar month, and the Scriptural lunar-solar year, according to the Creator’s calendar. Recognizing this fact, while ignoring the celestial bodies’ time signals, has caused a need for mankind to arbitrarily place a fraudulent IDL out in the Pacific Ocean. Any mention of days, months, or years automatically presumes a count to the next day, month, or year, whether they are man-made or time units ordained by the Father of Lights. However, many still resist believing the months spoken of in Scripture are always lunar. The visual aid of its changing phases is unique to lunar months, demarcating each day from the next, as well as each lunar month and lunar-solar year from the next. This way, the true full New Moon establishes the (CLID).
The Creator’s Lunar International Dateline (CLID)
Just as the sun marks an imaginary line from the North to the South Pole as the earth rotates to begin each new day, the sighting of the full New Moon also marks the CLID. Whether one is in the northern or southern hemisphere, the full New Moon will be seen and sets an imaginary line from pole to pole.
This allows the entire world to harmonize with the definitive lunar phases, with one phase followed by the next. In this way, the earth revolves only once for each lunar phase, from the rising of the full New Moon through to the next full New Moon phase. The entire world will experience the full New Moon during a single revolution of the earth, allowing commerce and trade to occur across borders. The next morning at sunrise, New Moon day is celebrated. See the illustration below.
(The process of dividing the world into the blue or orange divisions on our monthly calendar based upon the CLID is no longer being done by this website, but the principles still apply, so the chart above is important to understand.)
Illustrated above, two Gregorian dates bisect most lunar dates as the sun crosses the man-made IDL. The same applies to the Creator’s astro-luni-solar years and lunar months.
The full New Moon sets the dateline for an entire lunar month, from one New Moon to another (Isaiah 66:23). The weeks and Sabbaths fall within the parameters of the New Moons.
The Sabbath which came down to the Jews from pre-historic [prior to Moses] times was the seventh day of the lunar week. The lunar week and the lunar month gave the simplest form of time division to early man . . . Moon and month meant the same thing. The division of the month into four weeks of seven days . . . and the weekly division begun again at the time of the next new moon. Sunday the World’s Rest Day, “The Sabbath, the Day Which Divine Love Established and Human Love Must Preserve,” Theodore Gilman, p. 479. Published for the New York Sabbath Committee, Doubleday, Page and Company, New York, 1916. [emphasis mine]
It is easy to think there are only two kinds of days- workdays and Sabbaths- if you read only the Genesis account of creation or the Fourth Commandment, as they have been translated. Yet, in its entirety, the Scriptures outline a time system that utilizes three kinds of days– New Moon days, workdays, and Sabbath days. This is recognized among Scriptural scholars and historians as the astro-luni-solar calendar or Hebrew calendar. It alone is the time system utilized by all early nations and cultures and epitomized in the Scriptural rendering of the earthly and shamayim Sanctuary above.
As recorded in Scripture, this was the only measurement of time acknowledged by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Job, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, Zechariah, Haggai, Luke, John, Paul, James, the Israelites as a nation when under divine authority, and our Messiah, Yahusha (Jesus).
The New Moon (or lunar month) is listed over 300 times in Scripture, nearly twice as often as the Sabbath. It has remained elusive to the surface reader, as it is often translated simply as a month. As a result, our translated Bibles appear to harmoniously refer to our modern Roman wall calendar, “solar month.” Who would have noticed the subtle translation change?
Note that the New Moon (Chodesh #2320) in Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary is the first day of the lunar month.
Feast Day Comparison Chart Link
Your Paradox Questions Answered
Question 1 – Is the Pacific Ocean’s IDL recognized by the Creator of Time?
Answer – No. The Creator preordained the sun, moon, and stars to rightly divide His units of time, not the imaginary man-made dateline in the Pacific Ocean that is wholly disconnected from any astronomical markers.
Question 2 – Did our Creator identify a need and proactively provide for an International Dateline upon the earth at creation?
Answer – Absolutely.
Question 3 – If so, where is that line on earth, or does it exist in the shamayim?
Answer – The Creator never placed a permanent line on earth. Rather, He divinely designed His IDL beacon to be beaconed by the LIGHT of the full moon New Moon for a round and mobile world. We refer to it as the Creator’s Lunar International Dateline or CLID.
Question 4 – Since what our Creator ordains can never be altered or changed, how is it that the IDL can be moved at the whim of mankind, or the day changed from Saturday to Sunday?
Question 5 – On what premise can the continuous weekly cycle be altered?
Answer – One distinguishing sign that the continuous weekly cycle is an artificial man-made unit of time is that man has the power and freedom to manipulate it to suit his needs. In contrast, the Creator’s regulators for time, the sun, moon, and stars, are all out of the reach of man or beast to mess with for any purpose.
The second sign that the continuous weekly cycle is the brainchild of man and has never cycled without end since creation is because, according to “thus says Yahuah” in Ezekiel 46:1, the weekly cycle is broken each and every lunar month by the New Moon day. The New Moon day is the third kind of day that is never a workday or a seventh-day Sabbath. All have assumed that because the Genesis 1 story only speaks of two kinds of days, six workdays followed by the Sabbath, the weeks must cycle without end. While based on Genesis 1, this assumption is proven false in countless other places throughout Scripture as presented in the following articles: Three Months in a Row; Sabbaths Consistent Monthly Dates; Number All Sacred Days from the Same Lunar Measure.
“It is powerfully urged by the believers in a primitive Sabbath, that we find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of 7 days among all nations — Egyptians, Arabians, Indians — in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of this week of 7 days, for which it is difficult to account without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors [Adam and Eve] of the human race. Among all early nations the lunar months were the readiest large divisions of time. . . In order to connect the reckoning by weeks with the lunar month, we find that all ancient nations observed some peculiar solemnities to mark the day of the New Moon. Accordingly, in the Mosaic law the same thing was also enjoined (Numbers 10:10; 28:11, etc.), though it is worthy of remark that, while particular observances are here enjoined, the idea of celebrating the New Moon in some way is alluded to as if already familiar to them. In other parts of the Bible, we find the Sabbaths and New Moons continually spoken of in conjunction; as (Isaiah 1:13, etc.) the division of time by weeks prevailed all over the East, from the earliest periods among the Assyrians, Arabs, & Egyptians. It was found among the tribes in the interior of Africa….The Peruvians counted their months by the moon, their half-months by the increase and decrease of the moon . . . without having any particular names for the week days.” The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia 1904. Vol. 3, p. 1497.
“And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says Yahuah. Isaiah 66:23
Thus says Yahuah . . . “Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before Yahuah on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.” Ezekiel 46:1-3
Question 6 – What was it the Creator ordained to rightly divide His days, months, and years?
Question 7—Could Ellen White and the Seventh-day Adventist Church have erred regarding timekeeping and the Sabbath?
There is no excuse for anyone in taking the position that there is no more truth to be revealed, and that all our expositions of Scripture are without an error. The fact that certain doctrines have been held as truth for many years by our people, is not a proof that our ideas are infallible. Age will not make error into truth, and truth can afford to be fair. No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation. Councils to Writers and Editors, p. 35.
Those who cling to old customs and hoary errors have lost sight of the fact that light is ever increasing upon the path of all who follow Christ; truth is constantly unfolding to the people of God. We must be continually advancing if we are following our Leader. It is when we walk in the light that shines upon us, obeying the truth that is open to our understanding, that we receive greater light. We cannot be excusable in accepting only the light which our fathers had one hundred years ago. If our God-fearing fathers had seen what we see, and heard what we hear they would have accepted the light, and walked in it. If we desire to imitate their faithfulness, we must receive the truths open to us, as they received those presented to them; we must do as they would have done, had they lived in our day. Historical Sketches, Ellen White, p. 197.
I saw that God had children, who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They had not rejected the light on it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the church and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time, God’s chosen, all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us. Word to the Little Flock, p. 18.
“The greatest enemy of true knowledge is not ignorance,
it is the illusion of knowledge.”
Steven Hawking
Today, the Creator is refocusing all the world’s attention upon His original units of time and how to measure them, beginning with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He has achieved this with the IDL fiasco occurring in Samoa. Our Eternal Father has chosen to use this platform to proclaim His true and untouchable time-measuring model, which He placed out of reach of man or beast. Each person, the world over, who seeks to be in time-centric harmony with the Creator of the shamayim (heavens) and earth must ask – “How can I be certain which ‘day’ is the true seventh-day Sabbath?”
The answer is: His true Sabbath cannot be manipulated by mankind AND IS TO BE COUNTED FROM ONE NEW MOONLIGHT TO ANOTHER. (Isaiah 66:23)
Question 8—Do the Scriptures actually teach the popular seven-day week, which has cycled without end since the first week of Creation?
And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says Yahuah. Isaiah 66:23
For an in-depth study and shocking revelation of this verse, refer to New Moon by New Moon You Shall Keep
When a brother receives new light upon the Scriptures, he should frankly explain his position, and every minister should search the Scriptures with the Ruach of candor to see if the points presented can be substantiated by the inspired word. The servant of Yahuah must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if Yahuah peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. And that they may recover themselves out of the trap of Satan, who are taken captive by him by his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26.
And they that shall be of thee, shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. Isaiah 58:12
Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:13-14
In Conclusion
The full New Moon is the ordained mobile International Dateline (CLID), working harmoniously with the sun and stars to demarcate days, weeks, months, and years. Nothing else in the shamayim or earth can substitute for bringing the entire universe together upon the correct day to worship the Creator, Redeemer, and King of Kings. His timepiece removes all need for an imaginary line on Earth to divide days, months, and years. The CLID pre-existed man’s fabricated imitations and will be fully restored in His Kingdom. These alone are the principles that rule in the heavens, as they will continue throughout all eternity.
No matter what council the Adventist Church leadership gives the obedient Samoan followers regarding whether Saturday or Sunday is the true Sabbath, it will be despairingly flawed for the ten reasons cited above.
You may be surprised to discover that the Seventh-day Adventist Church leadership has known the truth about the lunar Sabbath for many years. For more on this, refer to the article, The Hiding of the Lunar Sabbath by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Also, refer to the article, The Great Easter Controversy Cover-up.
If the Samoan explorers in the story above were to reestablish their circumnavigation criteria upon the natural rhythms of the shamayim (heavens), they would be reunited on their island shores in one accord. With a joyful shout of HalleluYah! They would find themselves in sync on the same weekly schedule and harmonious Sabbath day. This is only possible when the basis for their weekly count is anchored in the full moon of His creation. The true Sabbath of our Creator cannot be established upon any earthly artificial witty invention of man, as this exists only in the minds of those who have bought into the lie.
Whether a New World Calendar is instituted in the near future or not, by divine appointment, the Samoan Islands have inadvertently become the theater for this marvelous revelation of truth. Might Yahuah’s divinely appointed astro-luni-solar worship schedule be the final test of His obedient followers for all who are preparing for an eternal home? Will the people of Samoa rise and walk as the loving Eternal Father calls them forth, from out of the traditions and inventions of men, through the pathway of the true heavenly Sanctuary, not made with hands? With His guidance, might those honest and obedient believers from this tiny island cluster lead the whole world back to the knowledge of the Creator’s true calendar and natural rhythms of His sacred and set-apart Sabbath as the entire universe looks on?
According to the following letter, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has required that the faithful Seventh-day Adventists of the Samoan Islands keep Sunday as the sacred Sabbath from now on, right along with the Sunday keepers. While some of the Islanders follow the instructions given by the S.D.A. leadership, others continue clinging to the previous day, aligning with their previous paradigms. But can they both be wrong because they can’t both be right?
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VIDEO: News Broadcast of the Dateline change and how it affected the Seventh-Day Adventist Church
VIDEO: The International Dateline Reveals Bible Truth About the Saturday Sabbath.
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The following is a letter from a concerned and faithful Seventh-Day Adventist requesting help from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists approximately one year after the Samoan Dateline time change.
Dr G T Ng – Executive Secretary
SDA Church Headquarters
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, Maryland 20904
United States
20 March 2013
Dear Dr. Ng,
Please help us here in the South Pacific Division.
This situation is unsustainable and destructive to our global mission to spread the message of the three angels to every tribe, language, and people . . .
. . Also, in the article, we were told that a group of Adventists in Samoa were refusing to keep Sunday, so now Seventh-day Adventists keep both Saturday and Sunday as the seventh-day Sabbath in Samoa. They cannot both be right.
The Saturday Sabbath-keepers continue to return tithe to the Samoas-Tokelau Mission despite being completely isolated from pastoral care, resources, church buildings, or other STM support. Yet this isolation has not been taken so far that the Mission disfellowships them. These Saturday-keeping Adventists are still considered members in good and regular standing but are being treated as rebels by the leadership.
These people have been locked out and refused to use SDA churches on Saturdays by the STM (Samoa’s-Tokelau Mission). The latest news is that the STM has warned the Saturday Sabbath keepers through their lawyers in Samoa that they must refrain from using the church facility in Leauvaa. Failure to comply within seven days will result in the matter being taken to the High Court for an order regarding ownership, demolition, and removal by the church of assets. So, the SDA Church has gone from planting churches to demolishing them all because of the faulty decision to worship on Sunday. This fruit is not good.
Although your geographical distance from this issue and a full diary may be keeping the issue of Sunday-keeping in the Pacific out of your focus, many of us in the region feel that the only way this issue will be resolved is if the General Conference intervenes and directs the SPD to come back to Sabbath-keeping in unity with the world church. Does our church structure have the facility for the buck to stop at the General Conference when a Division fails in its duty?
A further concern is that any remits submitted to our conferences calling for clearly defined unity regarding which day is the Sabbath will not get past our Union and Division to the General Conference session in 2015.
This Sunday decision by the Division leadership has caused ongoing heartache and tension in Samoa and many parts of the world where Samoan Adventists live. Families and congregations have been torn apart. Pastors and their congregations have taken opposite views, and dialogue has been shut down. The problem keeps growing, and the longer it continues, the harder reconciliation will be. Yet all that is required is a little humility and the admission by leaders that they made a mistake. This kind of action would be greatly respected by many, yet currently, we have silence from our leadership. Even our church paper has not mentioned it since 4 Feb 2012.
The proponents of Sunday-keeping respond with much hostility but very little logic to refute our arguments, so I can only assume that they do not have any. I have enclosed copies of documents prepared by laymen to help people understand the issue, refute the SPD reasoning, and to give courage to the faithful in the islands. We cannot get the SPD leaders to rebut these documents despite requests to do so. Because our voices are being ignored here in the SPD, we feel we must reach out to leaders and members outside our region for your help. Please read our papers and respond with your comments as soon as possible.
Please understand that we are loyal and actively involved Seventh-day Adventists who love this Church. We have never been involved in independent offshoot groups opposing the church.
Yours faithfully,
Xxxxxx – New Zealand