Template:Pentecost

Those who actually believed in Jesus as the Christ, repented of the public religion set up by Herod and the Pharisees called Corban. When they received His Baptism at Pentecost they were put out of that system of Corban that was making the word of God to none effect. The people by necessity needed to immediately organize congregations through a Charitable network of servant ministers and elders in patterns of companies of tens in ranks of a hundred as Christ commanded. These free assemblies through the practice of Pure Religion by the way of fervent charity alone was unspotted by the world allowed the kingdom at hand appointed by Christ to becomes system of social welfare through charity instead of force and would lead to a Christian conflict with Rome.
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Pentecost

Pentecost (Greek: Πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], Pentēkostē [hēmera], "the fiftieth [day]") is the Greek name for the Feast of Weeks, a prominent feast in the calendar of ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. This feast is still celebrated in Judaism as Shavuot.

Later, in the Christian liturgical year, it became a feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ (120 in all), as described in the Acts of the Apostles 2:1–31.

Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."

Those who actually believed in Jesus as the Christ, repented and received the Baptism at Pentecost were put out of the system of Corban that was making the word of God to none effect. This would mean that there would be no financial aid or free bread coming from those benefactors who had provided those services through the Temples built by Herod or even Rome.

All aid in the time of need for individuals and society would now come by The Way of Christ through His Church network.

What changed for Christians at Pentecost?
What did they repent of?
Those who actually believed in Jesus as the Christ, repented of the "public religion" set up by Herod and the Pharisees through their version of Corban.
When people received the Baptism of Christ at Pentecost they were "put out" of the system of Corban that was making the word of God to none effect. The people by necessity needed to immediately organize congregations through a Charitable network of servant ministers and the elders of families in patterns of companies of tens in ranks of fifty and ranks of a hundred as Christ "commanded.
Gathering in this living network of free assemblies allowed the Christian community to care for one another in a daily ministration of charity without depending upon the "fathers of the earth" and their "covetous practices" of "legal charity" provided by the "welfare State".

The reason Pentecost was so important was because it was a time for the people to organize themselves in the tens, hundreds, and thousands. Christ had 'commanded that His disciples make the people sit down in this pattern before the distribution of the Loaves and Fishes. Without that Network bound by Freewill offerings or what we call Charity, Israel would never have become a nation.

John the Baptist had preached a system of charity that did not use force to provide for the people when they were in need like those nations who depend upon socialism. That is what repenting and receiving his baptism meant. Eventually, when Jesus was heralded as the highest son of David the those who sat in the seat of Moses ruled that anyone who received the Baptism of this man Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the king of Judea would but put out of that system of social welfare set up by the Hasmoneans, Herod and the Pharisees.

Jesus who was the rightful King of Judea according to Pontius Pilate. Fortunately, those appointed by Him as His Church worked daily in one accord in the temple providing a daily ministration according to the true meaning of Religion. They provided the entire social welfare of early Christians rightly dividing bread from house to house as needed.

To do this for people all across the world required a living network based on those original Tens. These free assemblies through the practice of Pure Religion by way of fervent charity alone unspotted by the world of force allowed the Church appointed by Christ to become a Kingdom of God at hand and would lead to a Christian conflict with Rome.

Every Pentecost had been a time when people came together in the spring to form that network of the faith so that congregations would not isolate their charity from all the thousands of those who were seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Acts 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.

1 Corinthians 16:8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.

Their Altars of charity is what bound them together.

The Corban of the Pharisees mad the word of God to none effect but the Corban of Christ was The Way of righteousness.

Podcast talk

The Pharisees had unmoored the metaphors contained in their ancient scriptures turning the pure Religion of the prophets into superstition until their ideology became their religious idol so distorted that by their traditions they would make the word of God to none effect.

Their blindness to the love of God, the weightier matters, and the perfect law of liberty kept them in darkness, brough them back into bondage and prevented them from recognizing Jesus as the Christ and following His way.

The modern Christians often see the Old Testament interpretation of the Pharisees and their [Altars]] of blood.

The Essenes read the same Torah and came to entirely different conclusion about the ways of Abraham and Moses. They did not practice animal sacrifice but were dependent upon a network of charity.

Many of their teachings and practice would line up with the Doctrine of Jesus.

Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the king who took the kingdom away from those who had traded the law of love and faith for the Lasciviousness and force.

Jesus would be called the Son of God and Savior and his daily ministration of fervent charity would soon come into conflict with the legal charity of the world of Rome.

While the crucifixion would seal the truth of that kingdom in His innocent blood it would also open a door to liberty under God that would set the captive free.

Pentecost would be a moment of truth for many who would Repent and seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

These first podcasts are in response to conversation recorded at: http://preparingyou.com/wiki/Talk:Pentecost

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Feast of Weeks

Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist and Jesus and the early Church advocated a Daily ministration for the needy of the Christian community that was dependent on Charity only and it was not like the system of Corban of the Pharisees nor the free bread of Rome. It was their Pure Religion that brought them into a Christian conflict with Public religion and the Covetous Practices of the World.

Shavuot, in Hebrew: שבועות‎, lit. "Weeks", known as the Feast of Weeks in English and as Πεντηκοστή (Pentecost) in Ancient Greek, is a holiday that occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan.

Besides its significance as the day on which the Torah was revealed by God to the Israelite nation at Mount Sinai (which includes the Ten Commandments), Shavuot is also connected to the season of the grain harvest in Israel. In ancient times, the grain harvest lasted seven weeks and was a season of gladness (Jer. 5:24, Deut. 16:9-11, Isa. 9:2).

Why was it important to count when the Barley was ripe?

Was it because a Lunar calendar did not work well?

It was practical to have feasts and festivals on a full moon when the light of the moon would illuminate the night. This practice was still common when the tithing-men of England would meet on the full moon "at the time of the filling of the butts".

But for planting crops and marking the seasons it was essential to use the sun and even the stars to mark the time.

All grain harvests are not at that time every year or in every place. We know because of geological and solar events harvest and planting times would shift worldwide. So was the Barley crop merely a natural-barometer for the seasons.

Is bringing in the sheaves or omer just a metaphor like becoming fishers of men?

So, what, was all the wheat sheaves and counting really about stalks of grain or was something lost in translation? Was the metaphor unmoored from the meaning? Was this really about grain or about men? Was it a grassroots census of men organizing themselves in a natural network of charity?

Jesus tells parables about harvests and the tears and the wheat and sowing seeds.

What is this feast really about?

As a nation operating on the bases of freewill offerings and charity with no king to rule over them nor parliament, congress or Sanhedrin to make new laws for them what was the social, economic and political significances of this feast.

Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

Deuteronomy 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty

2 Chronicles 8:13 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

Counting of the Omer

The counting of Omer is supposedly about counting sheaves and days.

What are sheaves but stalks of wheat or barley gathered in bundles. Are we each the seeds of grain gathered in families and then in groups counted during the seven weeks between the Passover and Shavuot or Pentecost?

Exodus 16:16 "This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents."

Exodus 16:18 "And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

Exodus 16:32 "And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations."

Exodus 16:36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

Josephus writes

"On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which they have reaped and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar an assaron for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest."

The omer offering was discontinued following the destruction of the Second Temple. But had the system of God that was intended by Moses already corrupted? Did people replace the principles expressed in a metaphor for mindless rituals?

Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, [who were] ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: 13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

The term Korban from the word Korab as found in the Torah in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban (קָרְבָּן) whether for an animal or other offering. Various words are used in the Torah. Their exact meaning can vary. The most common usages are animal sacrifice (zevah זֶבַח), peace offering and olah "burnt offering." In Hebrew the noun korban is used for a variety of sacrificial offerings described and commanded in the Hebrew Bible.

Such sacrifices or acts of charity were offered in a variety of settings by the ancient Israelites but later their purpose was undermined by an apostate priesthood at the Temple in Jerusalem. A korban could be an animal sacrificed, such as a sheep or a bull which was often cooked and eaten by the offerer, the priests and shared as a burnt offering on the Temple mizbe'ah or altars. Sacrifices could also consist of doves, grain or meal, wine, or incense.

The Hebrew Bible tells us God commanded the Israelites to offer offerings and sacrifices on various altars, and describes the offering of sacrifices in the Tabernacle and in the Temple in Jerusalem until the First Temple was destroyed, and resumed with the Second Temple until it was destroyed in 70 CE. But these descriptions are based on private interpretations of religious groups that strayed from the meaning of the original words.

Bonds of Freedom

The Feasts of Israel were in-gatherings and played an essential role in maintaining a free nation.

Without these festivals there was no practical way to bring a nation together and to create bonds in society that were essential for a free state. There was no civilly enforceable contract to compel performance in a pure republic because the status or state of the people was independent because of the nature of a republican form of government.

Since religion was how you cared for others within your community and society these gatherings were essential for the maintenance of a governmental system based on liberty. Each elder of each family was required, by common sense, to participate.

Making this system work was dependent on everyone working and doing their part. There was no central leader forcing everyone to pay their share. What you contributed and how you participated set the path for success or failure and acceptance or rejection by your nation was founded in either the brotherhood of caring or the covetousness of controlling.

This Kingdom of God like all utopias depended on individual virtue and the nobility of character of every participant. Without the Character of God written on our hearts and minds there would be no salvation in this world nor the next. It also depended upon structure.

While the congregations were based in local communities the logistics of the whole network did not allow each level of the network to live next door.

Imagine a society where the people did not get paychecks every two weeks nor did they have wire transfers, debit cards, bank accounts, etc. There were no telephones and little in the way of daily mail service. Social bonds could only be renewed by actually going and visiting individuals and if you were to meet as groups a time for those meetings had to be set aside. These feasts were the only practical way to stay in touch and keep clear lines of communication open and functioning.

Society was not regulated by the tick of the clock but by the seasons, by sun up and sundown. Crops were ready according to their cycles and what you had to share was dependent upon those rhythms of nature. After winter needs were often at their greatest.

Remember the Levites had fields of their own but were not operating in a commercial realm or private enterprise or trade and business. Their business was to serve the needs of those congregations that they served.

There was local charity but in the case of calamity there could be a need for national charity which could require an emergency response.

Also most of the ministers up this chain of service did not see each other on a regular basis... They did not meet every Sabbath because they lived farther and farther apart as they were overseers in service of groups that covered a wider and wider area... There also could be complaints that needed to be aired to groups that could not meet every day or even monthly because of those greater distances.

This was a government and people in it needed to check in directly with individuals and their groups.

This did not change the individual right to choose at any time....Any time a group of ministers wanted to change their minister they could do it. Of course you could just shift to another minister but you would be leaving behind others who you were bound to by friendship and the bonds of brotherhood.

We often talk about just changing your vote for a different minister in the network anytime you wish but congregations are not a vacuum... Just changing your vote did not solve all the problems... the elders would want to stay together but if they saw problems they would want to address the matter... That often had to be done face to face and with an honest and open attempt to obtain a consensus.

These gatherings were festivals but there were serious issues that could be brought up such as when the tribe of Reuben appeared to be setting up a system independent of the other tribes.

Pentecost and Shavuot

Israel's harvest festival of Shavuot commemorates God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and the people at Mount Sinai fifty days after the Exodus. The modern Church often plays down the commandments, equating the law that was nailed to the cross with those commandments of God because they believe they are saved by faith.

• “And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:6

If this message of keeping the commandments of God is repeated over and over again in old and new testaments we must ask if you have faith in Christ but do not think you need to keep the commandments or at least strive to keep them, then what do you have faith in?

If it is Christ we should believe in then we should understand that faith in Christ would be believing what he said and doing what he said to do in order to inherit eternal life in this life and the next.

So, Jesus made it clear that we must strive to keep the commandments to inherit eternal life but we do read in John 3:15 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” But John also talks about deeds by which we can gauge the truth of what a man truly believes.

John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

If a man's “deeds were evil” then we should know that they do not really believe nor do they love the light. How do we know if their deeds are evil? Do they Keep the Commandments?

Most professing Modern Christians today do contrary to what Christ said to do and many ministers seem ignorant of some of the basic instructions given by Christ to those who would be His Church. The modern Church certainly does not do what the early Church did nor do they seem to understand why it is important to follow those directives and precepts of Christ and the early Church.

The modern Church excuses the coveting of their neighbor's goods as long as they do so through consent with their modern governments. They encourage the application to those governments to obtain benefits from men who call themselves benefactors but exercise authority one over the other. They have approved of the socialist state despite the words of Old and New Testaments.

Pentecost is sometimes said to be the "Birthday of the Church". The Church was established by Christ by His appointment and under His authority “to receive, preserve, and propagate his doctrines and ordinances.” If the modern Church is to claim Christ as the one who has established them, then they should not be established by any other authority. The ministers of Christ and His Church should be His servants alone and no one else.

The apostles had been appointed a kingdom by Jesus Christ. But they were not to be like the other governments who exercised authority in their service to the people. They still collected funds from the people and provided benefits to the people but this was all done by faith, hope, and charity.

This system required freewill offerings and a virtuous population that did not covet their neighbors' goods but actually loved their neighbor as they loved themselves. Such true love is rare today and when we find it amongst the people we must nurture it on a local and national level. This was the purpose of the feasts.

Pentecost was such a feast for the Israelite called Shavuot, literally meaning Weeks. Seven weeks after Passover which is about 50 days the people would gather. It was known by many names and may have gathered in many different places and even at different times.

The Day of the First Fruits was the last day of Feast of the Unleavened Bread and first day on which individuals marked the first fruits of their labor to be offered. It would be the day of resurrection.

From that day they counted fifty days to Pentecost [Festival of Weeks]. The Festival of Weeks was the completion of the Day of the First Fruits. This day and Festival served several functions in their national government under God. It was their opportunity to offer to God and His servants (Bikkurim) to the Temple in Jerusalem the substance needed to serve the nation. This giving was worship and one who was a worshiperwas one who served by giving.

Originally the temple was not in a city called Jerusalem, but was found in a tent that moved around. The living stones of that temple were the true living servants of liberty under God who were called the Levites. They had been the first to come out when the people began to create a central bank to bind the people in the camp of the golden calf.

These times of giving the Fruits of your labor in a national feast was the gathering of the people under the God of faith and charity. Three times a year the people would meet as a people to deal with matters of the government of Israel. Since they did not gather to rule over each other what was the purpose of their gatherings?

One purpose was to fund the government of God with free will offerings. This free will offering according to the will of God the Father was worship and those who gave in service to all were the worshipers of God. Three times a year the people gathered to pay their taxes to the government of God but unlike the governments of the world the people taxed themselves. The Levites were the government of the people and the people only chose to tithe to Levites who were men of service to their families and their congregations.

It was also a time to organize the network of public servants that was essential in a free government. The local congregations of ten families confirmed their minister before the assembly. That minster got together with other ministers like himself and chose someone to be their minister. This pattern continued until you had all the ministers of the government chosen up to the high priest, who could be called the prime minister of their government.

These were not offices of power to rule over the people. Their government was composed of servants who served the tents of the congregations of the nation. Family was the core of the nation but in order to bind the people as a nation and be faithful to God they could only bind them with love and honor. There is no other way if they were to remain a free people. These feasts allowed for that liberty under God and therefore it was called the kingdom of God.

This was a feast for everyone and everyone who came was expected to contribute their free will offering to the minister of his choice. They were reminded that the alternative of these free will offerings is that they will end up in the bondage of Egypt again like they were before if they do not cultivate the virtue of sharing and supporting the servants of their nations.

They did not drop these funds in a central treasury but gave them to the minister of their choice who in turn took a share of what he received to the minister of his choice. Because you are dealing with a whole nation of people networking together through servants of their choice some of the servants of that nation come from locations that are farther and farther apart.

This distance creates a greater need for national gatherings in order to make these choices that will link the whole nation in a network of charity and mutual concern. It was also a time for people to meet others from other areas of the national network. Other bonds were created through marriage and friendships. Remember, these ministers of national charity were also the appeals courts to ensure justice throughout the nations.The people that were in Jerusalem on the Pentecost 50 days after Christ's resurrection were there to pay their taxes or their tithe. They had two choices, stay with the baptism of Herod and the Pharisees or get the baptism of Christ. The Pharisees were forcing the contributions based on their membership in the Corban of the Pharisees which Jesus had already stated that their system made the word of God to none effect.

Jesus was very clear that his government, like that of Moses, was based on free will offerings. Whatever you could afford to pay by your own choice was considered paid in full.

Thousands chose the government appointed by Christ and were cast out of the government of the Pharisees and Herod. Early Christians did not go to any government that forced contributions from the people to obtain any benefit. If you had need you would go to church, not Caesar, nor the Pharisees.

Modern Christians covet their neighbors' goods through legal systems of Corban they create through their government. They then make applications to these governments and the men who call themselves benefactors. Now again they are entangled in the bondage of the world through “covet means”.

Had their ministers been serving Christ and tending to the weightier matters the people would not have returned to the bondage of Egypt.

Any government that does not rely on free will offerings is not a government of God, Moses, or Jesus Christ/Yeshua the Messiah. Those governments of the world created by men who covet their neighbor's goods and say let's have one purse and desire to eat at the table of ruler are allowed by God to punish the wicked who choose to reject God and create those systems. True Christians who believed in and loved Christ would not want to be a part of such system and we turn around and create the alternative which was the Church.

Chronology

The flow of the synoptic gospels suggests that Jesus traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem only once, at the time of the Passover which could lead to the conclusion that the ministry of Jesus lasted less than one year.

But what we know as the Gospel According to John differs suggesting by its context that Jesus appears to have traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem three times over several years (see John 2:13; 5:1; 12:12, there is also John 10:22 and then there is Passover mentioned in John 6.4). By John's account, the ministry of Jesus lasted for three years.

We see in Matthew, only mention of Jesus entering Jerusalem in chapter 21.

Mark, gives us one description in chapter 11.

In Luke 2:22 there is a presentation at the temple when Jesus was an infant. Again when he was 12 years old at the feast of Passover (2:41) and we can count the temptation by Satan(4:9); And His triumphal entry in chapter 19.

But in John, there are times in Jerusalem: Passover, cleanses temple at a feast of the Jews is listed in John 2:13. Then in chapter 5 verse 1 there is the incident at the healing at the pool. There is the Feast of Booths Dedication in 7:14-10. Then finally in chapter 12:12 we see the triumphal entry.

Scholars debate which, John or Luke, are more interested in organizing their material by theme, and which by chronology. There are questions about the early opposition to Jesus’ ministry in Galilee from the Jerusalem leaders which are likely if he has met them already when he had visited the city earlier. They argue that the Pharisees have already encountered Jesus numerous times and altering the way their lives were function.

Did Jesus have many connections and friends in Jerusalem? The preparations for the Passover, the man with the donkey, his instructions to ministers in the Royal treasury. How did Peter in Mark 14:45 get in the high priests' courtyard. And someone with Peter in John 18:15-16 is well known by these men in Jerusalem.

Scholars may go back and forth but it seems that Jesus was in Jerusalem often and not just for a few days.

Unfortunately for the Pharisees they had come to the conclusion that the whole nation was in jeopardy because of the Doctrine of Jesus, their righteous king, and the crucifixion was merely a violent impeachment of that king.