It does not mean this at all.
This year, the Church of God and
the Orthodox Catholic and Protestant world kept Pentecost (meaning:
count 50) on Sunday, June 4. But this is merely coincidental. There are
many years when the Church of God and the Orthodox Christian world
celebrate Pentecost on different days. Why? Because the Church of God
determines the correct date for Pentecost by counting 50 days from the
Sunday [after the weekly Sabbath] which falls within the annual Holy
Days of Unleavened Bread, as instructed in the Bible (Leviticus 23:11).
In other words, we are not to count from the weekly Sabbath that falls
within the seven Days of Unleavened Bread, but from the SUNDAY on which
the wave sheaf was offered — and it is that SUNDAY, that must fall
within the seven Days of Unleavened Bread (compare Leviticus 23:14-15;
Joshua 5:11).
However, the Orthodox Christian world does not
count in this way. It determines the date of “Pentecost” by using
Easter as a starting point for counting 50 days. Easter, however, is
not the correct starting point, as it is not even mentioned in the
Bible, and as it is not a feast to be kept by true Christians.
There
are further obvious distinctions between the Biblical Pentecost which
is to be kept by true Christians, and the Pentecost of this world,
which was designed by the Roman Catholic Church and included numerous
pagan customs.
The following article from USAREUR Public
Affair, dated May 31, 2001, is very revealing. It is titled: “Customs
and Traditions: Pfingsten in Germany.” In the article, it is pointed
out:
‘Pfingsten,’ known in English as Pentecost or Whitsunday, is
one of the principal moveable feasts of the Christian church. The
holiday is celebrated 50 days after Easter, thus the name Pentecost,
which is derived from ‘pentekoste,’ the Greek word for ‘fifty.’
Pentecost was a popular time to baptize new members of the church.
During the baptism, the members wore special white garments – thus the
name ‘White Sunday’ or ‘Whitsunday.’ Depending on the Easter holiday,
Pfingsten falls in late May or early June… There are many old Pfingst
traditions in the German language regions. In some areas a young man of
the village was disguised with branches, green leaves and a mask and
then brought into the village. While he was cleaned up the villagers
had to guess who was hidden under the disguise. In rural Germany,
Whitsunday often marked the beginning of the outdoor season for the
livestock. An ox was decorated with a flower wreath and called the
‘Pfingstochse’ (Pentecost ox).
“In
Tyrol, Austria, Pfingsten
was celebrated with a big portion of ‘Maibutter’ (whipped cream or
butter with sugar and cinnamon). In a display of skill and strength,
young men of the village, the ‘Goaslschnalzer,’ would crack their whips
in a special rhythm without getting them tangled up. Another tradition
barely seen nowadays was the ‘Heiliggeistschwingen,’ the ‘swinging of
the Holy Ghost,’ where a wooden dove on a rope was sent swinging above
the heads of the congregation during the festive church service on
Pentecost Sunday. Many towns in Germany celebrate the holidays with a
‘Pfingstmarkt,’ an outdoor market that can be anything from a market
for household goods and pottery to a livestock or horse market. Often
this market is combined with a fair with rides and other entertainment.”
We
might clarify here that in addition to the other obvious distinctions
between keeping the Biblical Holy Day of Pentecost and the worldly
holiday of Whitsunday, the Biblical Holy Day of Pentecost is an annual
“Sabbath”–on which no commerce should take place. To conduct an
outdoor or farmer’s market on God’s Holy Day is in absolute defiance of
God’s clear and express instructions. For proof, read our free booklet,
“God’s Commanded Holy Days.“
Excerpts
from the following article on Pentecost (Whitsunday), which can be
found on the Shea-site, also emphasize this blatant disobedience of
God’s Law:
“Depending on Easter, Whitsunday falls into late May
or early June, and in Germany it is an official two-day (Sunday and
Monday) holiday. A vast array of different kinds of celebrations abound
throughout the German-speaking areas, however they all deal with the
central theme of ‘thanksgiving.’ Thanksgiving for the fruit of the
earth as an agricultural festival, and thanksgiving for the gift of the
spirit, flow together in a thanksgiving festival, celebrated in the
market place and in the church.”
The article continued:
“Dictated
by the northern climate, in some areas Whitsunday has taken the place
of the ‘Maifest.’ In Silesia, for instance, the Maypole was not erected
until Pentecost. As the young green was brought in from the woods to
decorate buildings and streets, there was discovered in the woods a
fantastically dressed creature, which was brought with jubilation and
cheering into the village where it would be thoroughly cleansed and
washed. Part of the ritual was to guess who was hidden under the guise.
Most of the time it was a young man of the village, who was covered
with green branches and bundles of reed with a mask of tree bark
covering his blackened face. In southern Germany he is called
‘Pfingstl.’ In the Harz it was the May King with a crown on his head,
and in Thuringia it is the ‘wild man.’ The water, the young green,
leaves and flowers in these rituals symbolize cleansing, renewal and
fruitfulness.
“In Thuringia young girls celebrated the day with
a game called ‘Topfschlagen’ (strike the pot). A blindfolded girl had
to find and hit a pot or pan (turned upside down) with a stick or a
long-handled wooden spoon. The main [prize] was the ‘Pfingsthahn,’ a
rooster on a perch… For most rural areas Whitsunday was the day when,
for the first time that year, the livestock would be taken out to
pasture. The first or the last animal would be decorated with a wreath
of flowers and was the ‘Pfingstochse’ (the Whitsunday Ox). And there
were also special foods. In Tyrol one celebrated with a big portion of
‘Maibutter’ (whipped cream or butter with sugar and cinnamon)…”
One
of the most revealing articles, perhaps, which really shows how the
Catholic Church has been intent on changing times and seasons as well
as the Biblical meaning of Pentecost and other laws and statutes
(compare Daniel 7:25), can be found on one of the Catholic websites
(www.holytrinitygerman.org), under Paschaltide:
“… the
[Catholic] Church proclaims Easter Sunday the greatest day of the year.
For the Christian believer every day is, of course, a celebration of
Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, as is every Mass. Yet daily
rejoicing pales in comparison to that of the Sunday Mass, since Sunday
is the day that the resurrection took place, the ‘eighth’ day of the
week signifying a new creation and a new life. And these Sundays of the
year, in turn, are dwarfed by Easter, the Feast of Feasts celebrated in
the newness of the vernal moon and in the rebirth of springtime. Easter
is the Christian day par excellence… The commemoration of our Lord’s
physical resurrection from the dead provides not only the crucial
resolution to the Passion story, but to several liturgical themes
stretching back over the past two months. Easter ends the seventy days
of Babylonian exile begun on Septuagesima Sunday by restoring the
Temple that was destroyed on Good Friday, i.e., the body of Jesus
Christ… The feast [of Pentecost or Whitsunday] is fitting for a
number of reasons. First, it corresponds to the Jewish feast of
Pentecost, the great religious and agricultural festival of First
Fruits. The Christian Pentecost, on the other hand, celebrates the
first fruits of the Holy Spirit and of all our Lord’s promises… And
just as the Jewish Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Passover,
the Christian Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter
(‘Pentecost’ is the Greek word for fifty). God also revealed the Law to
Moses on Mount Sinai fifty days after the first Passover, and so it is
fitting the New Law was promulgated by the Apostles fifty days after it
was ratified by the Lamb of God’s self-sacrifice.”
We would like
to just make a few comments, pointing out some of the glaring errors in
Orthodox Christianity, as set forth in the above-quoted article:
(1)
“Easter Sunday” is not Biblical. The Bible does not mention Easter.
Further, Christ was not resurrected on a Sunday, but on a Saturday. For
proof, please read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery.”
(2)
Sunday is not the “eighth” day of the week. As everyone knows, our week
has seven days–not eight days–and the LAST or SEVENTH day of the
week, which needs to be observed by true Christians, is Saturday (the
weekly Sabbath, to be held from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset), not
Sunday, which is the FIRST day of the week. Sunday was never a day set
aside by God as holy. For proof, read our free booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days.“
(3)
Christ was not crucified on “Good Friday”–or on a Friday–but He was
crucified on a Wednesday. If He had been killed on a Friday afternoon
and in the grave until Sunday morning, as taught by Orthodox
Christianity, He would not have fulfilled the only sign that He gave
that He was the Messiah–that He would be three days and three nights
in the grave (compare Matthew 12:38-40). The time from Friday afternoon
to Sunday morning simply does not amount to three days and three
nights, or 72 hours. For proof, read our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery.“
(4)
The above-quoted article ADMITS that the Catholic Pentecost is NOT
determined by counting fifty days from the Passover season [the Days of
Unleavened Bread], but it is determined by counting 50 days from
Easter. This man-made tradition is NOT in accordance with Scripture. It
is therefore to be rejected.
(5) The above-quoted article claims
that Christ and the early apostles brought and taught a “New Law” which
apparently abolished the “Old” Law–including the Ten Commandments.
This is a terribly deceitful and unbiblical concept. Christ did NOT
bring a “New” Law–rather, He continually taught that we will not even
enter the Kingdom of God and inherit eternal life if we don’t keep the
Ten Commandments and the statutes and judgments which further explain
the Ten Commandments. Christ came–not to destroy the Law, but to make
it more honorable, by explaining to us the spiritual intent behind the
Law. For instance, not only do we break God’s Law when we kill, but we
already break it when we hate. For proof, please read our free booklet,
“And Lawlessness Will Abound…“
In
conclusion, the worldly celebration of “Pentecost” or “Whitsunday” is a
counterfeit to God’s Biblical Holy Day of Pentecost. We are to keep
God’s Holy Days, but reject man-made holidays, which are filled with
pagan customs, even though they claim to worship the true God. God has
told us how to worship Him, and He does not accept any other form of
worship. Christ said that we worship Him in vain when we teach as
doctrines the commandments of men, and when we follow man’s traditions
in an attempt to worship God (compare Mark 7:6-9).
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
