International Dateline and the start of the Sabbath

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Jan 18, 2018

News Letter 5853-042
The 1st Year of the 4th Sabbatical Cycle
The 22nd year of the Jubilee Cycle
The 2nd day of the 11th month 5853 years after the creation of Adam
The 11th Month in the First year of the Fourth Sabbatical Cycle
The 4th Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Sword, Famines, and Pestilence

January 20, 2018

Shabbat Shalom To the Royal Family,

The New Moon Sighted

The new moon of the 11th month was sighted from Israel Thursday evening, 18 January 2018!

* From Tiberias by Dennis Chkolnik at 5:15pm followed by Maureen Chkolnik.
* From Arad by Tamara Afor and Judith Rood at 5:23pm.
* From Caesarea by Kenny Russell and Judith and Jakov Damminga.

This makes Thursday evening and Friday Day the 1st day of the 11th month.[

In the mail this past Year

In the book of Luke, Yehshua gave a parable of the Persistent Widow.
Luke 18:1-8 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
There has been one reader who has had a question that I have not addressed and I have asked her to keep reminding me until I do. It is now that time to address this question. Whether or not she likes my answer will be another subject. And she is not the only one to raise this. Most times I have just ignored it. But she is not the only one to write me and my response is to those others who are misleading her.
Here are her emails.
Oct 1, 2017 Shalom Joseph
Looks like I have been bumped off communications lists as I don’t get into the comments section at all & I have not had any replies to emails for a while.
You had asked me to keep reminding you Re: for the looking into of the timing of Weekly Sabbaths in relation to the International Dateline.
I am using another email account in the hope you will receive.
If I were to keep Yom Teruah according to a sighted moon alone I could keep it BEFORE Jerusalem if I sighted it in Australia or if someone sighted it in Hawaii etc  before Israel.
So hooking any calculation to Sighting in Israel is SIGNIFICANT. If months are hooked to Israel why do we insist on not following Israel for the regular weekly Sabbath also.
Why do we insist on using the pagan idol calendar & dateline for this calculation of Holy Time weekly Sabbaths and for all other Holy Time Israel is the benchmark?
That is it in a nutshell.
In my prayers & Support for truth to be proclaimed for all to choose whom will be their King.
Love in Messiah
F
if you don’t want me to contact  you…… just say and I will desist. Thankyou Joseph

 

Hi Joseph

Nov 15, 2017 Shalom,

F again. Just asking how your response is going to the International Dateline and Sabbath query I have been bringing to your attention?

Let us reason together reasonably is my hope. I just can’t see a way to come up with a different conclusion as the Truth goes forth from Zion every day so scripture says.. from my perspective that precludes the IDL from determining anything about truth or counting days.

Bye for now
Still seeking to be founded on The Rock of the Word of God.
Be blessed
F

 

Dec 16, 2017

Dear Joseph, Shalom
Finally I am getting back to you about my Sabbath Question.  I am not sure what else to say about it to you. Do have any of my correspondence still?
There are (2) links below that may assist in what I have been challenged to test.
What comes to mind is that most H.R people’s time reckoning, including the orthodox Jewish calendar of reckoning time, enlist syncretic practice and embrace the assumption that the pagan days named Monday through Sunday line up with the biblical 7day Sabbaton. Day 1 , Day 2 , Day 3 etc.  This may have by accident been correct historically but from my perspective can no longer reflect that reality because the International Dateline relies on a mandated manmade line to begin the pagan week at midnight more than 12 hours before Israel.
If you ( &  I) determine true practice is to rely on the sighted moon from Israel to determine the beginning of a biblical month, logically and consistency then behooves that the beginning and ending of a day in biblical time must also be reckoned from Israel.
The scripture Isa 2:3 ,
My understanding is The true calendar should be reckoned according to God’s will, with no syncretic practice compromise in all its aspects.
If perchance your 7th day in Canada as a country that follows Jerusalem’s Sabbath is given the pagan day names of Friday Sunset to Saturday Sunset to identify it in a calendar language that is commonly understood but not biblical & my Sabbath following Jerusalem that sends forth the Law of time is called Saturday evening to Sunday evening we are both keeping God’s 7th day in purity according to the command of God and not being syncretic.
Again…
My understanding is Israel determines the Sabbath just as she does determine the month and therefor because ‘pagan timekeeping’ has me on the pagan named day of ‘Sunday’ because of an International Dateline, in truth’ the reality for me residing in Australia is that this day is actually my biblical 7th Day.
May our Eloah teach us His paths and keep the fellowship of the Faith of Truth between us by mercy.
Take care Joseph

Looking forward to hearing from you and may we have courage to seek Him and not posture in positions but seek to draw nearer to truth.

Sorry if my words seem forceful and rude at times. I fail to be humble when it is most necessary….I do get frustrated with many difficulties and unfortunately am not disciplining myself enough in prayer and praise and so the “rats in my cellar” are not diminishing as quickly as should be my desire.

Love F

Praise our King.

http://www.triumphpro.com/international-date-line-and-sabbath-new.pdf
A New Look at the International Date Line – Triumph Pro
www.triumphpro.com
23 A New Look at the International Date Line . The world’s International Date Line is about 10 hours EAST . of Jerusalem. How does this fact affect the observance of …
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1736567/jewish/The-Sabbath-the-International-Date-Line-and-Jewish-Law.htm

The Sabbath, the International Date Line and Jewish Law …
www.chabad.org
Now that the Pacific island of Samoa has changed from the east side of the International Date Line to the west—to be in sync with Australia and New Zealand, its …

 

Jan 7, 2018 Shalom Joseph

have got 2300 days and have an inundation of material to Bereanise! What with the posts and the studies & life in general.

I still am really wanting you to look into the Sabbath and how the timing of this day  determined. It is strongly impressed upon me that it must be said.

This is so very important as you are lighting the Way with Sighted Moon so that many will turn from Christian & Judaic & Pagan error into greater truth. All care must be taken to remove any leaven from the lump used for teaching.

I am not trying to be rude but am trying to plead my case again fervently in the hope it will not be forgotten. Please know that.

I am sure it will sound rude but it is done in love for you have a wide influence for good.

I too believe the Sabbath is the 7th day.   All day, as evening to evening.

If we agree that Jerusalem is the centre of God’s plan and is where the Heavenly Jerusalem will come down to…

And Sighted Moon is insistent that the Month’s beginning is measured from Jerusalem’s physical location that Elohim chose as His dwelling place on earth……

Why is the International Dateline which was created by men used to inform Elohim’s children where & when a day starts and finishes?

….isn’t it about time we bit down on this truth that the 7th day starts & finishes in Jerusalem….

instead of the one size fits all; syncretic Friday/Saturday Sabbath worldwide measured from the pagan dateline.

This really is not that hard to grasp but no-one is able to grasp it if they hold onto traditions of men, instead of the pure Word of El.

It is just as you teach Christians in relation to Easter and Christmas that no where in the Bible is a dateline of the 18th Century CE said to have veracity of Elohim to guide us in our calendar determinations.

Let us get to the Sabbath El set apart and be in covenant in this area as well.

Hope not to cause offense for you have opened the eyes of many to begin looking. May each of us see more clearly.

Love in Messiah

Be blessed. F

A New Look at the International Date Line

The world’s International Date Line is about 10 hours EAST of Jerusalem. How does this fact affect the observance of God’s weekly Sabbath Day? Should the Sabbath day begin with the sighting at Jerusalem? What about those people living west of the International Date Line but before Jerusalem? Should the International Date Line be moved to Israel, so that the Sabbath Day begins first in Israel? Why so much confusion? Here is The PLAIN TRUTH!
William F. Dankenbring

Since according to God’s calendar, New Moons — the first visible crescent of the New Moon — is the beginning of a new Biblical month, and must be sighted from Jerusalem, this poses a dilemma — at least on the surface — for people who live around the world – but especially for those living eastward from Jerusalem as far as the Mid-Pacific Ocean. This would include people from Iran to China, from India to Australia and New Zealand.

What is the problem?

Simply this: The nations of the world agreed during the late 1800s to establish an “International Date Line” half-way around the world from the Greenwich Meridian, running north to south in the mid-Pacific ocean! This means the hours of a new day begin first in the mid-Pacific, and then sweep westward, coming to Jerusalem about 10 hours later than in eastern countries west of the IDL.

Since the New Moon sighting must be done by God’s people, from Jerusalem or Israel, this means that by the time it is sighted there, the New Moon has already begun in these areas, retroactively, as it were!

Of course, in today’s modern world with instant communication, and the knowledge that every seventh day of the week is a Sabbath day, there is no problem in knowing which day is the Sabbath.

But nevertheless, some argue, the day should begin in Israel, then sweep around the world, so they say the International Date Line is in the wrong place, and that we MUST move it to Jerusalem, or Israel, so that the Sabbath is first observed there, and not 10 hours east of Jerusalem!

Holy Horrors, Batman! Does this mean that people east of Jerusalem should keep the Sabbath AFTER it is first observed in Israel? But since the International Date Line is 10-12 hours EAST of Israel, does that mean it is pagan, and those people living west of the IDL but east of Jerusalem are keeping the WRONG DAY?

Horrors to Betsy! Should people in New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines be keeping SUNDAY as the seventh day Sabbath?

Have the world’s nations totally messed up the calendar? Have the Jews been keeping the WRONG day as the Sabbath in Australia? And have the Catholics and Protestants been keeping the seventh day Sabbath, by mistake? Wow!

What is the real truth? What is the solution to this matter – this mystery?

What IS the “International Date Line”?

First, let’s look at the International Date Line itself. This is an imaginary line on the earth extending from the north pole to the south pole, where the nations have decided that a new calendar day begins. Thus, the calendar date to the west of the line is one day later (newer) than the date to the east of the line. For example, it would be Sabbath to the west of the line, but Friday to the east of the line, at the same moment.

Says the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is “an imaginary line extending the North Pole and the South Pole and arbitrarily demarcating each calendar day from the next. It corresponds along most of its length to the 180th meridian of longitude but deviates eastward through the Bering Strait to avoid dividing Siberia and then westward to include the Aleutian Islands with Alaska. Southward of the Equator, another eastward deviation certain island groups to have the same day as New Zealand.”

It declares, “A traveller going completely around the Earth, carrying a clock that he advanced or retarded by one hour whenever he entered a new time zone and a calendar that he advanced by one day whenever his clock indicated midnight, would find on returning to his starting point that the date according to his own experience was different by one day from that kept by persons who had remained at the starting point.”

The International Date Line follows the 18th meridian for the most part, but zig zags occasionally. The meridian is half way around the world from the Greenwich meridian (or prime meridian) which is 00
longitude and runs through Greenwich, England (a borough of London).

As the sun seems to travel over 15 degrees of the earth’s surface each hour, for every 15 degrees west of Greenwich meridian, the time is set back one hour; for every 15 degrees one travels eastward, the clock is advanced one hour. Therefore, if two travelers — one going east and one going west — meet at the 180 degrees meridian (the International Date Line), the one going west will have passed through 12 time zones and lost 12 hours, whereas the person going east will have passed through 12 time zones and gained 12 hours. At the Date Line, if one stood on one side and the other on the other side, the one on the western side will be 24 hours ahead of the person on the east side!

A new date first begins on the western side of the date line. As the earth rotates on its axis, this new date sweeps westward across the globe, and covers the entire earth in 24 hours. As the earth is approximately 24,000 miles in circumference, this means in one hour the sun will sweep over about 1,000 miles — thus each time zone is about 1,000 miles wide.

According to this arrangement, January 1 occurs first just to the west of the date line. As a result, people in New Zealand, just to the west of the date line, would celebrate New Year’s Day 22 hours before people in Hawaii, on the eastern side of the date line.

How did the International Date Line originate? The location of the date line was established by agreement among the world’s larger nations, to facilitate international commerce and trade, and international relations. When created by the nations, it was decided to make the date line zig zag in order to prevent the line from falling within single nations. Thus although the northeastern corner of Siberia extends 100 east of the 180th meridian, so the date line was moved to run east of Siberia. Since part of the Aleutian islands belonging to the United States extends west of the 180th meridian, the date line was curved to cause all the Aleutians to fall east of the date line. The date line jogs again, to allow all the Fiji islands to fall on one side of the line, so they would all be on the same day.

How does this convention affect Biblical days and time keeping?

What the Scriptures Reveal

We read that when the Messiah returns, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (Luke 1:32). The throne of David was in Jerusalem! In fact, the Messiah will rule over ALL the nations FROM His royal city of JERUSALEM!

Isaiah the prophet tells us:

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of ZION shall go forth the LAW, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3).

Micah the prophet also records a very similar prophecy:

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Micah 4:1-2).

I am going to break into Mr Dankenbring’s article at this junction. For the record, he also concludes as I do on this matter.

From my own mail over the years the only people who are concerned over this issue are some small groups and individuals from Australia and New Zealand. I have never received this type of email from the Philippines or from China or India or any of the Pacific Islands that are on either side of the International Dateline. This is why it is very important for each of you to know who it is that you are allowing to feed you.

Those people who are putting this line of thinking forward, do so in order for them to keep the Sabbath on Sunday.  Because they are ahead of Jerusalem time then they can wait one 24 hour period of time and work what the people in their area call Saturday and then they can take off Sunday like the rest of the Christians in their area but now call that the Sabbath. To help justify their cause they also bring in the fact that the moon must be sighted in Israel first before declaring the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the new moon, which means they will be about 10-11 hours already ahead of Jerusalem and be already keeping it or keeping it at the wrong time too early.

The down to earth facts are, they do not want to change or to be seen as different by those around them, so they have twisted the truth in order to conform with those around them.

At work, the men play a game of poker in which they tell the other men what they have in their hand. They may have some or none or all of what they have stated. The other men then must either agree after looking into their own hand and match the bet or they call “Bullshit”. I could have said cow dung for some of you but you would miss the point of this. The man making the claim then says his claim louder in order to convince the others and the arguing ensues. It is not until they all lay out their hands that the truth is then known.

Ever since I have heard this sort of thing from Australia and New Zealand I have been calling it “Bullshit”. If you want to say balderdash then go ahead. Or you can use the Hebrew word for crap coming out of the mouth.

H6848    tsepha?  tsiph?o^ni^y       tseh’-fah,tsif-o-nee’

From an unused root meaning to extrude; a viper (as thrusting out the tongue, that is, hissing): – adder, cockatrice.

H6832   tsephu^a?    tsef-oo’-ah

From the same as H6848excrement (as protruded): – dung.

You can look up the expression in Ezekiel 4:15.

Before the modern times, there were a group of Jews who thought the Barley was ripe in Israel and they kept the Passover that year. A couple weeks later a man who was in Israel and was a trusted believer,  came through and told them the barley was not found and that Passover would be one month later. These Jews who had already kept the Passover then prepared to keep a second Passover as if it was the first one. Why would they do this, because they sought to obey Yehovah.

So if Australia or New Zealand prepare for the Feast of Trumpets and had to wait on the new crescent moon being seen from Isreal, which means they could be as much as 11 hours ahead of Jerusalem in New Zealand and they find out the Moon is not seen, then, they will  be able to keep it all over a second time starting the next night. If you want to complain then you must ask are you really wanting to follow Yehovah or is this just another religious thing you’re doing?

It is precisely for this very reason that Judah has ever since the diaspora been keeping the Feast of Trumpets for two days. I have for years booked two days off at this time and at the last minute let my employer know that there is a change and I can work on one of those two days I have asked off for.

To not know which day the Feast is going to be on is part of the excitement of keeping the Feasts.

Mat 24:36 No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

To use this Feast day as justification to keep the Sabbath on Sunday because you want to have the international dateline started in Jerusalem is tseh’-fah, tsif-o-nee’. You are looking for any excuse to remain the same so your friends and your neighbours and your employer will not notice any change because you will still be keeping Sunday like all those around you.  Tseh’-fah, tsif-o-nee’!

You are deceiving yourself. And when the Messiah does come on the Feast of Trumpets He is going to say to you and to many others, ‘Be gone you, workers of lawlessness, I never knew you’.

Each of you has been called to be a King or a Priest in the Kingdom of Yehovah. That is your calling. The sheep are going to be slaughtered. So either you are in training to be a King or you’re a sheep. You are to look for ways to obey and not for ways to justify the staying the same as you were.

So how would YOU, as a King, figure this out?

Starts at 180 degrees; this is also where a NEW DAY (new DATE) begins i.e. 12 Midnight. It is the OPPOSITE of the Prime Meridian (zero degrees longitude) in Greenwich i.e. 12 Noon. There is a difference of 12 hours between the Prime Meridian (zero degrees) and the International Date Line (180 degrees longitude)

You have the picture of the dateline above to lead off this article.  On the Right-hand side or the East side is Saturday and on the left-hand side or the west side is Sunday. Those Island nations where the dateline swings to the right have chosen to be included in the same sphere as other nations in Asia, so they can be working together on the same day.

In 2011 Samoa switched time zones for economic reasons and in so doing lost a full day.

The tiny South Pacific island is moving west over the international dateline, and its citizens will lose a day of their lives as they jump 24 hours ahead.

When the clock struck midnight on Thursday, the calendar flipped over to Saturday, switching from the same time zone as the U.S. to that of Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

 

SAMOA-TIME/ – Map locating Samoa and the international date line. The Pacific island nations is changing its date on Friday. RNGS. (SIN01)

 

If you were to move the international dateline to Jerusalem as a few in Australia and New Zealand are suggesting, then you would, in fact, have west Jerusalem starting to keep the Sabbath and East Jerusalem not starting until 24 hours later. How absurd!!! With the international date line set in the middle of the Pacific ocean, nations are then able to be on the same day together.

I know when I flew from Canada to the Philippines I would jump into the next day even while the sun remained up the whole time I was flying. It was a strange thing to know. And when I flew home I had a 48 hour long one day. Again very strange to do.

So now let us look at the sunlight on Jerusalem.

 

 

The Sabbath begins at sunset. So the dark area is where the Sabbath has already begun over North America. The areas where the sun is out is Saturday and it is the Sabbath. Note that both Australia and New Zealand are having the same daylight hours as Jerusalem the exact same time of the Sabbath.

Now in the following map, the end of the Sabbath has now come over Australia and New Zealand and the Sabbath is going to be over in Jerusalem in a few hours time.

 

Again what those people are doing who teaching this Tseh’-fah, tsif-o-nee’ are doing so in order to justify them working on the Sabbath and keeping Sunday as the Sabbath. Everyone around them calls Sunday the Lords day and the first day of the week, Sunday. Everyone around them calls Saturday the Sabbath and the 7th day.

Very few realize that the word “Sabbath” and the concept of resting from work on the seventh day of the week (Saturday) is common to most of the ancient and modern languages of the world. This is evidence totally independent of the Scriptures that confirms the Biblical teaching that God’s seventh day Sabbath predates Judaism. The concept of a Saturday holy day of rest was understood, accepted, and practiced by virtually every culture from Babylon through modern times.

In the study of the many languages of mankind you will find two important facts:

1. In the majority of the principal languages the last, or seventh, day of the week is designated as “Sabbath.”

2. There is not even one language which designates another day as the “day of rest.”

From these facts, we may conclude that not only those people who called the last day of the week “Sabbath,” but all other peoples and races, as far as they recognized any day of the week as “Sabbath,” rested on the seventh day. In fact, it was recorded by the great historian, Socrates, that in his time the whole known world, with the exception of Rome and Alexandria, observed the seventh day of the week. (Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.)

Another interesting fact is that the words in the original languages that are used to designate the seventh day of the week as the “Sabbath” have continued to be very similar while the other words have been so changed over time that they are unintelligible to people of other language groups. This is just another proof that the Sabbath and the words used to designate the seventh day of the week as the “Sabbath day” originated at Creation in complete harmony with the Biblical record found in Genesis 2:1-3.

The Arctic Circle and the Sabbath

So what do you do about the Sabbath in the Arctic Circle or what about the Antarctic Circle?

If we go far enough north or far enough south we would come to the point where the sun does not set or the sun does not come up for months. This is another extreme but if we were to be in these cases what would we do in order to keep the Sabbath? And there are brethren in these places.

 

 

There are countries around the world that do find themselves in this situation with darkness for months and light for months at a time. So what are you to do in order to keep the Holy Days and the Sabbath at the right time?

There are Meridians that connect the North Pole with the South Pole. Each can be seen on the following maps. Whichever one you find yourself in then you would use the nearest place to you outside that artic or antarctic circle and the time zone for that area to start and end your Sabbath by.

If you are in Greenland then go directly south; if you in Baffin Island Canada go directly south of you; if you in Northern Alaska go directly south to that time zone and you keep the Sabbath when the sun sets in that time zone. If you are in the Antartic then you would go north in the meridian zone and keep the Sabbath according to that time zone.

 

 

 

Brethren do not allow anyone to lie to you about when the Sabbath is or let them try to change it because of international date lines. Do not let them tell you that you cannot keep it because the sun never sets in the arctic circle. If anyone tries to lie to you about this all you have to do is call out tseh’-fah, tsif-o-nee’

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