Program 61: The Truth about the Calendar

The modern Gregorian calendar was devised by a Jesuit priest. It is an adaption of the pagan Julian calendar. It is impossible to find the original Sabbath on the modern calendar.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44] 

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: Hello! Welcome to WLC. I’m your host, Miles Robey.

Dave Wright: And I’m Dave Wright. Thanks for making us a part of your day!

Miles: As you know if you’ve joined us before, at World’s Last Chance, we prefer to use the personal name of the Creator, which is Yahuwah, or Yah. The name of the Son is Yahushua, so you can see the names are quite similar.

Dave?

Dave: Thanks, Miles. Today we’re going to be talking about a false assumption that a lot of Christians hold in common.

Miles: Ooo! Assumptions. Not a very good foundation for establishing a strong, unassailable belief system.

So, what is it?

Dave: Most Christians worship on Sunday. The reason for this practice is the belief that the Saviour was resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week. Jews and Protestants who worship on Saturday, do so because it’s the seventh day of the week. Both groups base their belief, and thus their practice, on an assumption.

The assumption is the modern week is identical to the Biblical week. Therefore, the quote/unquote “logical conclusion” is that Saturday is indeed the Bible Sabbath and Sunday is the day on which Christ arose from the grave.

Miles: Yeah, that’s a really wide-spread assumption. And if you come along and try and tell them that no, Yahushua was not actually resurrected on Sunday; no, Saturday is not actually the Biblical Sabbath, they’ll just dismiss you. Their understanding, their paradigm is so different from what you’re trying to share, that they can’t wrap their heads around it being different from what they’ve always known.

Dave: Sometimes, people will even get angry. I’ve encountered that reaction a lot, too.

Miles: It’s a fear response. No one likes to have his or her beliefs challenged. But this is an important topic: too important to just dismiss without actually taking a careful look at it.

Dave: One thing that often happens is that when you first share with someone that Sunday can be proven to not be the day of Christ’s resurrection—

Miles: So there goes your reason for going to church on Sunday.

Dave: And Saturday is not the Bible Sabbath—

Miles: So there goes your reason for worshiping on Saturday.

Dave: What happens is that people will start looking into it and they’ll get as far as 1582, and then they’ll dismiss the subject and triumphantly declare: “Ha! You’re wrong!”

See, in 1582, the Roman Catholic Church introduced the Gregorian calendar. That’s the calendar that is now the world’s de facto civil calendar. It’s used around the world for international treaties, government documents, daily life, etc., etc.

The calendar in use before the Gregorian calendar, at least in Christian countries, was the Julian calendar. When the Julian calendar transitioned to the Gregorian calendar, a week and a half’s worth of dates were removed from the calendar.

Miles: But no days of the week.

Dave: No, it didn’t affect the days of the week at all. Thursday, October 4, was immediately followed by Friday, October 15. This is the point at which most people stop studying.

Miles: We’ve all heard the well-known adage that those who forget history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. You’re saying that those who have never learned the facts of calendar history have built an entire belief structure on a faulty foundation: the assumption that weeks have cycled continuously and without interruption ever since Creation.

Dave: That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s a fact that no days of the week were lost when the Julian calendar transitioned to the Gregorian. But this isn’t conclusive proof that Sunday was Christ’s resurrection day, or that Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath. You have to go back a lot further to uncover the truth but when you do, you’ll be shocked.

Miles: If you had to pinpoint one area where the greatest misunderstanding takes place, what would it be?

Dave: Well … I’d have to say with the weekly cycle. Because time is continuous, people just assume that the method by which we measure time is also continuous. This has led to the assumption, widely held among Christians, that the seven-day week we have today has cycled down, uninterrupted since Creation.

That simply is not the case and I can prove it.

But let’s not start there. Let’s go back to Rome. Papal Rome gave us the Gregorian calendar, but it was pagan Rome that gave us the Julian calendar.

The calendar of the Roman Republic was based on lunar phases, just like the calendar of Creation.

Miles: I’ve heard that if you go back far enough, all ancient calendars used the moon for tracking time.

Dave: Yes. That’s the calendar that came down from before the flood, with Noah and his sons.

On the Gregorian calendar, we have to intercalate a leap year every four years on February 29. But on a luni-solar calendar, where the months were lunar and the years solar, they had to intercalate an entire extra month every few years.

In Rome, pagan priests, called pontiffs, were responsible for intercalating when needed. These pontiffs could also hold political office. You can see how they could manipulate the situation. Intercalating an extra month could keep favored politicians in office longer, while not intercalating could shorten terms of political opponents.

Miles: I’ve heard the reason Julius Caesar instituted his “Julian” calendar was due to the months being out of alignment with the seasons.

Dave: They were hopelessly out of alignment. In order to intercalate a month, the pontifex maximus had to be in Rome. Well, Julius Caesar was pontifex maximus, but he was off busy with Cleopatra, and fighting all his wars, so the calendar had become really skewed.

Miles: How’d he reform the calendar?

Dave: I printed off a quote from the Encyclopedia Britannica that explains how it was done. Go ahead and read it.

Miles: “In the mid-1^st century B.C. Julius Cæsar 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 was used, as in the Egyptian calendar . . .”

Dave: Notice that Sosigenes' big innovation was an abandonment of lunar calendation. That change is what has led to the modern assumption that the week as we have it today has come down unbroken from Creation.

Go ahead and read the rest of it.

Miles: “The great difficulty facing any [calendar] reformer was that there seemed to be no way of effecting a change that would still allow the months to remain in step with the phases of the Moon and the year with the seasons. It was necessary to make a fundamental break with traditional reckoning to devise an efficient seasonal calendar.”

Dave: To bring the new calendar into alignment with the seasons required adding an additional 90 days to the year. This was done in 45 B.C., creating a year of 445 days.

Miles: Wow! That’s an additional three months! They were really off, weren’t they? I didn’t realize that’s how far the months had drifted from the seasons.

Dave: It really had.

Now, the first thing you need to understand about the early Julian calendar, is that the Julian week of 45 B.C., did not look like the Julian week when Pope Gregory XIII modified it. This is the first assumption made by both Jews and Christians, regardless of the day on which they worship.

Miles: So, in other words, it didn’t look like our week today.

Dave: No, it didn’t.

Miles: What was the difference?

Dave: The length of the week. The Julian calendar, like the calendar of the Republic before it, originally had an eight-day cycle.

Miles: The week was 8 days long. Are you serious?

Dave: Yep. The early Julian calendar had an 8-day market week. Eviatar Zerubavel is a scholar that wrote a book on the history of the week. In his book, The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, he explained how it worked. He said, quote:

The Roman eight-day week was known as internundinum tempus or "the period between ninth-day affairs." (This term must be understood within the context of the ancient Roman mathematical practice of inclusive counting, whereby the first day of a cycle would also be counted as the last day of the preceding cycle.) The "ninth-day affair" around which this week revolved was the nundinæ, a periodic market day that was held regularly every eight days.

Miles: That’s weird. I mean, I’ve heard of differing lengths of weeks. There were societies in the Americas that had 4 and 5-day weeks. I never knew the Julian calendar, though, had anything but a seven-day week.

So, what were the weeks like? Now, we’ve got Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. What planet did they name the eighth-day after?

Dave: Actually, they didn’t. The days of the week were simply indicated by the letters A through H. Now, at this time, the Julian calendar did, in fact, have a continuous weekly cycle.

Miles: Are there any early Julian calendars still in existence?

Dave: Yes! In fact, you can Google images of them. The Fasti Antiates is the only calendar of the Roman Republic still in existence. But there are a number of early Julian calendars still in existence.

Miles: Helpful, I’m sure, that the Romans tended to carve everything into stone.

Dave: Indeed. But here is where it gets really interesting. All of the early Julian calendars still in existence date from the reigns of Caesar Augustus and Tiberius Caesar.

Miles: How long of a time span are we talking about here?

Dave: That’s from 27 BCE through 37 CE.

Miles: Now that’s fascinating. That completely encompasses the time period when Yahushua was on earth. I never really thought about it before, but obviously, the Jews wouldn’t have been using the calendar of their Roman oppressors, were they? They’d have used the Biblical calendar.

Dave: You see where I’m going with this! Yes, you’re right.

If the assumption is correct that the modern Saturday is the Bible Sabbath simply because the weekly cycle was not interrupted at the calendar change from Julian to Gregorian, than we should be able to prove this easily from the early Julian calendars still in existence.

Now, obviously, we’re on radio. I can’t project a picture to all our listeners. But I would again urge every one of you to get online and Google “early Julian fasti” and click on images.

Miles: How do you spell that?

Dave: F-A-S-T-I. Or, you could just Google “early Julian calendars.” You’ll find some images of the Fasti Antiates, which, remember, is actually the last surviving sample of the calendar of the Roman Republic.

Look for the images that show letters engraved on stone. Those are the early Julian fasti. You’ll be able to clearly discern on them the letters A though H, proving that the eight-day week was still in use by the Romans during and immediately following the life of Christ.

Miles: This is really significant. There’s no way the Jews would have worshipped on the 8^th day of the Julian calendar. You know they had to have been using the luni-solar calendar established at Creation.

Dave: Right, right.

Miles: Okay, don’t go away. We’ll be back in just a moment.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: I’m really fascinated by the fact that the Romans were using a calendar that so clearly differed from anything the Jews would have used.

Dave: Yes. It’s important to remember that the Biblical week as an individual unit of time defined in Genesis 1, consisted of only seven days: six working days followed by a Sabbath rest on the last day of the week. The eight-day cycle of the Julian calendar was in use at the time of Christ!

Miles: There’s just no way the Israelites would have used the pagan, solar Julian calendar with its 8-day week. You know that! It would have been idolatry to them.

Dave: They couldn’t have and still kept the Sabbath. Even if they worshipped on the seventh day of the Julian week, that extra day in there would have thrown the count off.

More importantly, though, is that the Biblical calendar used the moon for months, and that’s the very thing the Julian calendar did away with. They didn’t want a calendar that used the moon in any way.

Even later, though, when the Julian week shortened to seven days, it still did not conform to the weekly cycle of the Biblical week nor did it resemble the modern week in use today.

Miles: When did the Julian calendar adopt a seven-day week? Why do you say it wasn’t like the Biblical week?

Dave: The weekly cycle on the Biblical calendar, remember, restarted at the New Moon every month.

Miles: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! So, how was it different from our modern week, than?

Dave: The decline of the eight-day Roman week began in the first century and was caused by two factors:

First, the expansion of the Roman Empire. This exposed the Romans to other religions and led, in turn, to the second factor: the rise of the cult of Mithras.

Miles: Now that’s interesting. Mithraism was a strong competitor of early Christianity. What did Mithraism have to do, though, with restructuring the Julian week? It was a seven-day week by this time, right?

Dave: Yes, but it still was not identical to our modern week. R. L. Odom, in his book, Sunday in Roman Paganism, said, quote: “It seems as if some spiritual genius having control over the pagan world had so ordered things that the heathen planetary week should be introduced just at the right time for the most popular Sun cult of all ages to come along and exalt the day of the Sun as a day above and more sacred than all the rest. Surely this was not accidental.”

Miles: Interesting. It sounds like the devil deliberately brought in Mithraism just to obfuscate the issue.

Dave: I think so. Under these two factors of expansion and exposure to Mithraism, the Julian week began a centuries-long evolutionary process that ended in the week as it is known today. But it wasn’t an overnight change, nor did it happen everywhere in the Roman Empire all at once.

But let’s talk about the planetary week now. The original seven-day planetary week is the final piece of evidence proving that Saturday is not the Bible Sabbath, nor Sunday the first day of the Biblical week.

As I said, this transformation took several hundred years. Franz Cumont was a Belgian archeologist and historian. He was widely considered to be a great authority on Mithraism.

In his writings, he linked the acceptance of the seven-day week by Europeans to the popularity of Mithraism in pagan Rome. I’d like you to read this quote taken from one of his books.

Miles: Okay, it says: “It is not to be doubted that the diffusion of the Iranian [Persian] mysteries has had a considerable part in the general adoption, by the pagans, of the week with the Sunday as a holy day. The names which we employ, unawares, for the other six days, came into use at the same time that Mithraism won its followers in the provinces in the West, and one is not rash in establishing a relation of coincidence between its triumph and that concomitant phenomenon.”

Dave: To put it more simply, he is saying, the influence of Mithraism in the west was what led to the adoption of a week that placed Sunday as a holy day. Furthermore, he adds, the modern names for the days of the week entered the calendar at the same time Mithraism—which originally was a Persian mystery religion—began gaining converts in the Western Roman Empire.

In his book, Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans, Cumont emphasizes again the pagan origins of the modern week with the adoption of Sunday as a holy day. This does not stretch back to the apostles, or Creation. It’s an adoption direct from a pagan mystery cult. Here, read this quote now.

Miles: "The pre-eminence assigned to the dies Solis [or, day of the Sun] also certainly contributed to the general recognition of Sunday as a holiday. This is connected with a more important fact, namely, the adoption of the week by all the European nations.”

Dave: This is hugely significant. Do you get what this is saying here?

Miles: Uh—tell me; go ahead and tell me.

Dave: Simply stated, this means that Sunday cannot be the day on which Christ arose from the dead, because Sunday did not exist in the Julian calendar of Christ's day. Nor can Saturday be the Biblical seventh-day Sabbath because … get this: the pagan planetary week originally began on Saturday.

Miles: What? Saturday was the first day of the week?

Dave: Yep.

Miles: Well, what was the last day of the week?

Dave: Friday.

Miles: Seriously.

Dave: Yes, in fact there are Julian calendars that show this configuration of the days. The Baths of Titus were public baths built in Rome in 81 CE. Displayed on a wall there was what is called a “stick” calendar. It’s really fascinating. When you have time, you should Google it. Just type in: Baths of Titus Stick Calendar.

Miles: All right, I’ll do that. For now, can you just give us a brief description of it?

Dave: Sure! In the middle, there is a circle displaying the 12 signs of the zodiac. A little metal peg was moved from sign to sign to show which month it was.

On either side of the zodiacal signs were columns of numbers: one through fifteen on the left; sixteen through 30 on the right. Again, a moveable peg kept track of the dates of the month.

Miles: Sounds quite ingenious.

Dave: What’s really interesting, though, are how they kept track of which day of the week it was. Across the top were drawings of the seven planetary gods. The very first god listed was Saturn. He was the god of the first day of the week: Saturn’s day. As the god of agriculture, he can be seen in this preeminent position of importance, holding his symbol, a sickle.

Next, is a picture of the sun god, since he was the god of the second day of the week. He’s got rays of light extending from his head.

Miles: Sunday: our first day of the week, their second day. Amazing!

Dave: Third day of the week had a drawing depicting the moon goddess, Luna. You can see her clearly wearing her diadem of a crescent moon.

Miles: Which, of course, equates to today’s second day of the week: Monday – or “Moon’s day.”

Dave: It continues on through the various planetary gods for the rest of the week. There’s dies Martis (day of Mars) or our Tuesday; dies Mercurii (day of Mercury) which is our Wednesday; dies Jovis (day of Jupiter)—Thursday; and the very last day has a drawing showing the goddess, Venus, for dies Veneris. This equates to our modern Friday, but on the stick calendar, in the position of the seventh, not sixth, day of the week.

Miles: I’m really going to look that up!

Dave: I hope you do. It’s very revealing. One thing I want to talk about is these names for the days of the week.

We still see the influence of the pagan astrological day-names in the names of the days of the week in our Gregorian calendar. Latin-based languages, such as Spanish, retain astrological names for Monday through Friday, with the Christian influence being seen in their words for Sunday (Domingo, or Lord's day) and Saturday (Sabado, or Sabbath.)

Miles: There are a number of languages around the world that use some form of “Sabbath” for referring to Saturn’s day, our modern seventh-day of the week. How do you explain this?

Dave: You’re right, and some people try to use that as a reason to insist that our modern week has come down, uninterrupted from Creation. Here is what they don’t understand: when missionaries took Christianity around the world, they took with them the Julian calendar, first. More recently, they have taken the Gregorian calendar.

The fact that the modern Saturday is frequently called “Sabbath” and Sunday is referred to as the Lord’s day, can be traced back to Pope Sylvester the first.

Miles: How’s that?

Dave: Well, according to Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, Germany in the 8^th century, Pope Sylvester I attempted to rename the days of the planetary week to correspond with the names of the Biblical week.

The pagan week is named after the pagan planetary gods, but days of the week, as easily seen in Scripture, are simply numbered: first day, second day, third day, etc. Well Sylvester wanted to do that for the Julian week, too.

Miles: Can you imagine how much more confusing and deceptive that would have been if he had been able to succeed at that? Wow!

Dave: I think Yah prevented him from doing that. A seventh-century scholar, Bede the Venerable, also reported the pope’s attempts to change the pagan names of the days of the week to the Biblical names.

Here, read this quote from De Temporibus. This is Bede talking.

Miles: "But the holy Sylvester ordered them to be called feriæ, calling the first day the ‘Lord's [day]'; imitating the Hebrews, who named [them] the first of the week, the second of the week, and so on the others." Unquote.

Now that’s interesting. He just states right out that it was in imitation of the Hebrews.

Dave: If the week truly came from the Hebrews, they wouldn’t have had to try and imitate them because the week days would already have been numbered instead of named!

Miles: That’s true. So what happened?

Dave: Well, the astrological names were too deeply ingrained. Now, officially within the Roman Catholic Church, their official terminology is Lord’s day, Second Day, Third Day, etc., most countries stayed in whole or in part with the original pagan planetary names for the days of the week. Based on my research, only the Portuguese adopted numbering for all their days of the week.

What’s interesting is that this astrological influence for naming the week days is even more obvious around the fringes of the Roman Empire.

Miles: Well, yeah. Christianity only arrived much later. Are there any languages that have retained the pagan names for all seven days of the week?

Dave: Yes. English, Dutch, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton are the only European languages that have retained the original pagan, planetary names for all seven days of the week.

But again, these are in areas that were largely, if not entirely, free from any Christian influence during the period of time when the seven-day astrological week was spreading in the Empire.

Do you have your Bible there? Could you turn over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2?

Miles: All right.

Dave: The fact that both the Julian calendar and the pagan planetary week have been accepted for use by Christians reveals a profound amalgamation of Christianity with paganism. Paul warned about this in 2 Thessalonians. Go ahead and read verses 7 to 12.

Miles: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom Yahushua will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason Yah will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Dave: The pagan planetary week, like the Julian calendar that adopted it, is irreparably pagan. History, archeology reveal that neither the Biblical Sabbath nor the Biblical First Day can be found using the modern calendar.

Now ask yourself: Why do you go to church on Sunday? In honor of Christ’s resurrection?

Why do you worship on Saturday? Because Yahuwah says to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”?

If it’s important to worship on a specific day, than it’s also important to know which calendar to use to find that precise, specific day.

Miles: I’m just going to chime in here, Dave, with this one thought: we’re not saved by our works. But we’re not saved when in conscious rebellion against the known will of Yah, either.

Dave: Part of worship is obedience. Satan and Adam both fell through rebellion. We can’t be saved if we’re knowingly flouting the will of Yah. Who we obey reveals who has our loyalty. Ultimately, it reveals who we are worshiping.

Miles: Both Saturday and Sunday (as well as Friday) are pagan worship days.

Which calendar will you use to establish your worship day?

* * *

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* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Bekele Massala from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia has sent in a great question for our Daily Mailbag. It’s something I’ve wondered about, too. He writes: “Greetings brothers in the name of our wonderful Saviour, Yahushua. Could you please explain what it means to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling? This confuses me.”

Dave: That can be a confusing statement. I’m glad you asked, Bekele.

First, let’s take a moment to clarify that salvation is a gift. It’s not something we can earn by works. Scripture is very clear on this point. Miles, would you read Titus 3, verses 3 to 7?

Miles: Titus … Titus. That’s a hard little book to find.

Here we go. It says, quote: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of Eloah our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Yahushua Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Dave: You can’t get any clearer than this. We are not saved by “works of righteousness which we have done.” Instead, it is “according to His mercy” that we are saved.

Therefore, when Paul says that we’re to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, he must be referring to something else. Let’s go read it in context. Turn to Philippians chapter two, verse 12.

Miles: Got it. It says: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Dave: Okay, that’s the text. But the word, “wherefore” indicates that it’s referring to something else that was just said. Let’s back up and read verses 9 to 13.

Miles: “Wherefore Yah also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Yahushua every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Yahushua Christ is Lord, to the glory of Yahuwah the Father.

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is Yah which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Unquote.

Well, looks like we’ve got another “Wherefore” there.

Dave: That’s all right. Paul does this. His well-educated mind builds these long, complex arguments. “Wherefore because of this, therefore that is the result.” And that’s what he’s doing here.

When you look at the context of what you just read, you find that the chapter starts with another statement that refers back still further. Chapter two starts with the statement: “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” [Philippians 2:1-2]

Miles: So the chapter itself starts with a “if therefore” statement that refers back to the previous chapter.

Dave: Yes. This refers to a thought or statement expressed in chapter 1 that we must take into account. Now, we’re not going to read it on air. If you want, you can do this at home with your own Bibles. But, briefly, in the first chapter of his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul told them that he has always prayed joyfully for them, for their fellowship in the gospel. In verse six, he calls this fellowship in the gospel a “good work” and says that Yahuwah began it in them and will continue to do this good work in them until the day they see Yahushua.

This is the theme that continues throughout the rest of the chapter, this theme of fellowship based on love.

Miles: I see Paul then goes on and shares some of the hardships he’s encountered.

Dave: Yes, and he happily notes that these hardships actually helped further the spread of the gospel. Then he adds that there’s still a lot of work to be done and that all believers must strive together for the faith of the gospel and not be afraid of their enemies.

Miles: I’m seeing here that he ends the chapter by saying that they’re not just to believe on Yahushua, but to suffer for Him as well?

Dave: Right. This is the context that sets up Philippians 2, where we find him telling them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. He is telling them that they should put certain principles in place, so they can all work unitedly to spread the gospel.

In verses 1 to 4 of chapter 2, Paul tells them they must be of one mind and purpose and be willing to humble themselves for the sake of each other. Than, in verses 5 to 11, he tells them they need to allow the mind of Yahushua to be in them. This will give them a servant’s heart so that they can give their lives to the gospel, just as Yahushua did.

Miles: So, to summarize, Paul is saying that there is so much more work to be done, they all need to cooperate together, and fully surrender themselves to the work of the gospel just like Yahushua did. Am I getting this right?

Dave: Yes. So, with this context in mind, Paul then says in Philippians 2, verse 12, that because of what Yahushua did to save them, they should, in turn, always be willing to obey the call of Yah to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” He then goes on to explain that Yah Himself is at work in them and has planted both the desire to do it, and the strength as well, because it pleases Yah.

It’s for this reason, Paul explains, that they should all work together without squabbling and infighting so that they can be lights in the world, and a shining example to unbelievers around them.

Miles: So, Philippians 2:12 isn’t about doing good works to earn our salvation at all. Instead, it’s saying that because of the gift of salvation, we have been given both the desire and the power to do good works which, of course, will be used to share the gospel with others.

Dave: Exactly! To put it another way, Yahuwah is telling us to “work out” or exercise our salvation. We’re not to settle back at ease and let others take up the work of spreading the gospel. We’re to do our part, too. We are to exercise the desire and the power Yah has given us to save others. And we are to do this so that others will not suffer the same fate we would have suffered, if the grace of Yah hadn’t saved us.

It’s all about putting our faith to work for the sake of helping others. Yah has planted in us the desire to save others, and He’s given us the power to do it as well, so don’t just sit there! Get busy and go help others learn of salvation!

Miles: So what does this look like in real life, this working out our own salvation?

Dave: Paul gives us the answer in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 2.

Miles: All right, just give me a second to look that up …

It says, quote: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.”

Dave: This is how we exercise our own salvation. We put it to work by sharing truth. Whenever we have an opening in our day-to-day lives, to share truth, to encourage, to point someone to the Saviour, to live out Yah’s forgiving love in our own lives, we need to do it, and when we do this we are cooperating with Yah for the salvation of souls. We are working out our own salvation.

Miles: I think another way we can work out our own salvation, or exercise our own salvation, is by being patient with others failings. Sharing the truths we know; seeking more truth, so we can be doctrinally pure. Those are all ways we can put our salvation to work in spreading the gospel.

Dave: And when we do this, just like someone who exercises his body faithfully, we will become stronger in our walk with Yah. We’ll be able to do more, accomplish more for the salvation of others, and all because of our love and gratitude to the Father.

Miles: We’ll love much because we have been forgiven much, and we’ll want to pass that on.

Dave: Exactly. That is putting our salvation to work for us; “working out our own salvation.”

Remember this: any time a single verse seems to contradict what multiple other passages of Scripture say, we have to look for an interpretation that is consistent with everything else. Truth is not contradictory. It can appear to be so if we don’t understand it correctly, but truth itself is always consistent.

When we look at the topic of salvation in Scripture, we quickly see that the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is a free gift

Miles: Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Yah, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Dave: Precisely! So, when viewed with all the other passages of Scripture, we can know that this one verse in Philippians 2 about working out our own salvation, has nothing to do with salvation by works. It does, however, have everything to do with being so full of love and gratitude for our salvation, that we’ll cooperate with Heaven in working for the salvation of others because we are saved.

Miles: That actually makes a lot of sense. It’s consistent. And that’s what we’ve always got to remember. If we find an apparent contradiction, that’s our red flag that we need to keep digging because there’s something we’re not understanding, or some bigger truth here that we need to dig out.

Thanks for the question, Bekele. I learned something new, too!

If you’ve got questions or comments, send us a message! Go to our website at WorldsLastChance.com and click on Contact Us. We really do enjoy hearing from our listeners.

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with your Daily Promise from Yah’s Word.

One of the most exhausting trips I’ve ever taken was comprised of three, back-to-back flights, that took me from one side of the world, to the other, and from one hemisphere, to another. It took twenty-three very long hours.

While it was tiring, it wasn’t all that stressful. Boring, yes; stressful, no. You see: I had reservations.

Next time you are in an airport, take a moment to observe the differences between passengers who are holding confirmed tickets versus those that are flying on standby.

People who have confirmed tickets read or text. They chat with their friends. Some of them even sleep!

On the other hand, the ones flying standby hover around the ticket counter. They’ll pace back and forth, tap their feet, jingle the change in their pocket, smoke (if it’s allowed), and pace some more.

The difference between the two groups is simply the assurance factor. One group knows they’re going to get to their desired destination at the expected time. The other is tense and stressed because they don’t know when—or even if—they’ll be able to make all their desired connections.

The Bible offers tremendous assurance to believers. While a lot of people are quick to believe when they first accept Yahushua as their Lord and Saviour, often that assurance can fade when they make mistakes and stumble into sin—again.

Hebrews 10, verses 35 and 36, urges believers, quote: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of Yah, ye might receive the promise.”

The believer’s assurance is a tremendous gift! If you knew that tomorrow you would be called to stand before the judgment seat of Yah, what would be your reaction? Would you be nervous, pacing back and forth? Would you be afraid He’d say: “I never knew you. Depart from me”?

Or would you rest in the assurance that the blood of Yahushua has covered your failings and you will stand before Yah as though you had never sinned?

That is the gift Yahuwah is offering you. Philippians 1, verse 6 says: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Yahushua the Anointed.”

Go to the Father. Give Him your will. Ask Him to get you ready and He will!

We’ve been given great and precious promises. Go, and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: I want to thank you, Dave, for taking the time to share facts. Documentable facts we can all look up for ourselves. I’ve always enjoyed history, but this is history I’ve never heard of before!

Dave: It’s been deliberately hidden. The devil has played the long game, here. It’s a deception that has been millennia in the making—literally!

But he knew that if he could establish a calendar with a continuous weekly cycle, and if he could get it so widely accepted that people just took it for granted, he knew they would never even think to question it. And that’s exactly what’s happened.

Like we said earlier, because time itself is continuous, and because the papal Gregorian calendar has a continuously cycling seven-day week, people have simply assumed that today’s seven-day week has come down to us from Creation. So they worship on Saturday, they go to church on Sunday, thinking they’re honoring Yah, when all the time, in reality, they are ignorantly honoring Satan.

Miles: This is serious, folks. This is really serious. How many sincere people are going to the Mosque for prayers on Friday, or dressing up for church or synagogue on Saturday; how many are going to church on Sunday, completely ignorant of the fact that they are honoring false days of worship established by none other than the devil himself?

Dave: They don’t know what they don’t know. And you’re right: it’s very serious.

Listen, friends: we’re not asking you to take our word for it. We’ll never do that. In fact, anytime someone tells you:

“Just take my word for it, I have a doctorate of divinity.”

“Just take my word for it, I’m your priest, your pastor.”

“Just take my word for it, I’m a Bible scholar—“

Miles: Let it be a red flag. A warning to go study for yourself.

Dave: Absolutely. And that’s what we’re asking you to do: don’t take our word for it. Go study it out for yourself.

We have a lot of videos on YouTube, we’ve got lots of articles on our website explaining how the Biblical calendar works, showing from Scripture the binding nature of the law of Yah. You can start there, but even then, don’t stop there. Keep studying. Use what’s on our website as a springboard for delving into even deeper study.

Miles: A lot of our articles have endnotes. Go to the sources for yourselves. Read it in context. We’re not trying to hide anything or cover anything up. We’re simply trying to share what we are convinced is the truth.

Dave: It’s not a very popular truth, but it is the truth. Miles, if you’ve still got your Bible close, would you start reading Isaiah 58 for us?

Miles: Got it right here: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” [Isaiah 58:1]

Dave: This message is for Yah’s people. They are the one’s Yah is trying to show their transgressions. And yet, you keep reading, they’re ignorant of their sins!

We don’t have time to read the whole chapter, but it’s very good. Skip down and read on from verse 12.

Miles: “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.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Yah, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in Yahuwah; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father.” [Is. 58:12-14]

Dave: This is the work we are to do. We’re to build the old waste places, to repair the breach made in the law of Yah.

Miles: Adam was given a choice: to eat or not to eat. We’re being given a choice, too. For both, it gets down to obedience. Do you love Yah enough to obey Him?

Join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage. 

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.