Seven Thousand Year Plan

I've been wondering about the 7 annual Holy Days (as recognized by Armstrongism) and the teaching regarding "the 7,000 year plan of God." I plan on chewing on this subject a bit over the next several weeks, just in time for the Spring Holy Days. First, I had a few questions.

The seven Holy Days represent the 7,000 year plan of God? Why? Because, "7 Holy Days; 7 days in the week; 7,000 years"?? Where does it say that in the Bible?

Today, we are going to investigate this. First, we will look at each day to see what it means, then we will put it all together into a table to see how it all looks when we place the days together.

PART I - THE DAYS

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What are the seven Holy Days? We need to go over them each individually so we can see how they each fit, or do not fit, into the "7,000 year plan".

So what are the seven holy days?

1&2) The first and last days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (LEV. 23: 5-8; DEU. 16: 1-8).
3) Pentecost (aka the Feast of Weeks, also Feast of First Fruits) (LEV. 23: 15-22; DEU. 16: 9-12).
4) The Feast of Trumpets (LEV. 23: 23-25).
5) The Day of Atonement (LEV. 23: 26-32).
6) The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (aka Feast of Booths, also Feast of Ingathering) (LEV. 23: 33-43; DEU. 16: 13-15).
7) And lastly, the Last Great Day (aka. Last Great Day of the Feast of Tabernacles) (LEV. 23: 39; JOH. 7: 37).

There we are. Seven days. Seven "sacred assemblies".
Passover is not a holy day. We can skip it. The Day of Firstfruits, where they waved the Wave Sheaf offering, was also not a holy day. If it isn't a holy day to them then we must discount it here.

MEANINGS

Now, let's do a cursory review of what Herbert Armstrong taught that these days mean according to his version of prophecy:

-Passover & Unleavened Bread: Our being taken out of sin (Egypt), experiencing baptism (Red Sea), and our journey through this life and towards the coming Kingdom (40 year wandering & Promised Land).

-Pentecost: The start of the Church of God and the giving of the Holy Spirit.

-Trumpets: Armstrongism had very little to say about this day. To the Jews it's their New Year and a time to prepare for Atonement, but Armstrong never really cared about that. Originally it was taught to be the day Christ would return. The main thrust of why was taught was because Christ would return at the seventh trumpet blast, and this day was named "The Feast of Trumpets." Some people believe this is the day on which Jesus was born.

A controversy arose after the death of Herbert Armstrong regarding the timing of the Second Coming. This weighs heavily on Trumpets. Armstrong taught that Jesus would return on Trumpets, but after his death people have started teaching that Pentecost will be the day when Jesus will return. This controversy robs Trumpets of its Armstrongist meaning. To put meaning back in, people have speculated that Trumpets will be the day of the first trumpet blast. Others speculate that Jesus will return to gather His saints on Pentecost, have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (REV. 19: 7-9) while the vials of God's wrath are poured out on the world (REV. 15: 5-7, and following chapters), and then He will return to earth yet again to fulfill Rev. 19: 19-21.

In my opinion, this all just demonstrates that Armstrongism really has no deep understanding of the Feast of Trumpets at all.

-Atonement: Forgiveness of sins, the Beast and False Prophet would be destroyed, Satan would be imprisoned, and mankind would begin to experience the Millennial reign of Christ.

-Tabernacles: Pictures both the 7,000 year plan of God as well as the Millennial reign of Christ on Earth.

-Last Great Day: Pictures the time after the Millennial reign of Christ on Earth, when the Great White Throne Judgment would occur (REV. 20: 11), and the sum total of humanity that are saved will become part of God's Kingdom.

Now, with that background in place, I would like to move on to a few observations.

These explanations picture the 7,000 year plan? Where is Genesis in there? No fall of man. No Noah. No Abraham. According to the two dominant dating theories, the Exodus occurred around and abouts the year 1440 B.C. or 1290 B.C. That's a bit late for the start of the picture, wouldn't you say?

Or does the Exodus really mark the start of what was pictured in the holy days? Let us never forget that the Sabbaths and holy days were merely shadows pointing to Christ. And by this it is clear the Bible is referring mainly to His first Advent (HEB. 9: 9). Even Armstrongism accepts that the Passover pointed to Christ's death, Pentecost was fulfilled at that same time, and the majority of Atonement was fulfilled at that same time. So, depending on how we want to look at it, Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread do not point to the 1400's B.C. at all, but to the 30's A.D. This puts the beginning of the picturing of the plan ahead considerably.

If they picture a 7,000 year plan, I would suppose they would picture the whole thing. But as it stands, do the holy days picture the 3,000 year plan, beginning in the 30's A.D. and continuing on through the end of the Millennium?

Now let's move closer and take a better look at each of the holy days again. Let's look at them with a critical eye this time.

FIRST AND LAST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD

The point of Unleavened Bread was not to put sin out of your life but to demonstrate that you have sin to put out and that sin should be put out. This will happen for your lifespan, not 7,000 years. Problem is, these days are supposed to point to Christ, not us. And they do. They compare and contrast us with God, showing us our need for Him. But let's just say for the sake of argument that this refers to the bigger picture.
Did mankind possess any ability to truly put sin out of their own life? No. Nothing in man's power, nothing in the blood of goats, nothing in any of the world's many religions, is there anything remotely like the cross that takes away the sins of the world. Each and every one of the world's religious systems either denies sin, or employs a works-based system where a person is to earn their own way out of their past indiscretions. Christ and Christ alone is the propitiation that opens the way to the complete forgiveness and removal of sin. He is the only one of us who was truly perfect. He is the only one who can offer us perfection. Thus, they do point to Christ.

Unleavened Bread is not a single holy day, and they do not point to a single event but an ongoing condition. There is nothing we can cleanly put on a timeline or fit into a 7,000-year plan.

Here we are 2 holy days down, and we only have 7 total. 5 holy days remain to do something that pictures the 7,000 year plan.

PENTECOST

To Israel, Pentecost was a harvest festival. Any person who reads the New Testament can plainly see that Pentecost is the memorial of the giving of the Holy Spirit. Christ fulfilled the barley Wave Sheaf ceremony which happened during Unleavened Bread. At Pentecost, two loaves of wheat bread were waved. The Wave Loaf ceremony represents the Jews and Gentiles in Christ who are accepted by God. Pentecost memorializes the giving of the Holy Spirit - the indwelling of God within man. The time is focused on the 30's A.D. Where does this leave us for end-time prophecy?

Some say Jesus will return on Pentecost. Why? Does Revelation say that? Does Daniel say that? Does Jesus say that? No, no, and no. So it's pure speculation regarding timing. Nothing more. There is no substance to it other than some interesting idea we conjure up in our own minds. I'll readily admit it's an interesting thing to ponder. But I'm not going to base my doctrine on speculation.

I'm going to be proactive and discount this day since the New Testament already gives us a perfectly fine fulfillment. That's 3 down, 4 holy days left to do anything that pictures 7,000 years of plan.

TRUMPETS

Trumpets is just that kind of day where it's hard to nail down. It is the Jewish New Year celebration, and it is a memorial of blowing the shofar. A memorial; not a looking forward.

Judaism 101 says this about the Feast of Trumpets:

"The name "Rosh Hashanah" is not used in the Bible to discuss this holiday. The Bible refers to the holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the shofar)."

It would appear that Herbert Armstrong simply invented whatever he needed regarding the day. I do not personally subscribe to this treatment of scripture, and I won't affirm it. To make up anything you want in order to buttress your prophetic speculation? It's irresponsible. Even the Jews can't tell you what the Biblical significance of the blowing of the shofar is. Not a single thing of what Herbert Armstrong taught matches Jewish tradition. We never so much as owned a shofar, let alone sounded one. One time only in my life do I recall a brass trumpet being blown. Where did Armstrong get his teachings, then? Not from the scriptures, that's for certain! It's pure speculation based on a predetermined conclusion. I will discount the Armstrongist meaning of the day until someone gives me something more scriptural than "It's the day Jesus returns because it has the word 'trumpet' in the name."

Where are we at now? Three holy days that picture the 30's A.D., and one holy day that pictures the second coming immediately prior to the Millennium (for no better reason than because we say it does.)

4 down, 3 to go. Three holy days to tell the missing portions scattered throughout this 7,000 year plan.

ATONEMENT

Did you know that at various points of my time in Armstrongism I was taught that the Azazel goat (scapegoat of Leviticus 16) represented Satan? It's true! Let's look so closely at this teaching.

We will break into the middle of Leviticus 16, a chapter which gives the details about the two sacrificial goats offered by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement.

(LEV. 16: 29-22) 20 “And when he [the High Priest] has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar [with the blood of the first goat], he shall bring the live goat [the scapegoat aka Azazel]. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

Notice how the High Priest and first goat relate according to Hebrews:

(HEB. 9: 11-14) 11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The High Priest is fulfilled by Christ. The first goat is fulfilled by Christ. These two things were not in dispute in Armstrongism. But the second goat, the live goat, the scapegoat/Azazel, "the goat that goes away", was that Satan? Does Satan take away your sins?

It was reasoned that Satan was the cause of the sins, and he will be rightfully blamed, and therefore he is the live goat. The live goat had all of the sins of the people confessed onto it, and it was sent away. But it was not rightfully blamed. I want you to call to mind one of the most profound verses in all of the Bible.

(II COR. 5: 21) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Does that sound like Satan to you? Jesus Christ and none besides was made sin for us. Precisely as the sins of Israel were placed on the scapegoat, the sins of the world were placed on Christ. Jesus Christ, our Savior, is the One and only propitiation for our sins. God be praised!! I am going to take John the Baptist slightly out of context to make a point about who carries away the sins of the world:

(JOHN 1: 29) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

And since that was the case, since Jesus became sin for us, He quoted Psalm 22: 1 when He cried out in His agony, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me!" (MAT. 27: 46). Those sins were laid on Him, but not rightfully laid on Him. Even so, it pleased God to save us in this way. The scapegoat of Leviticus 16 is Jesus, and none besides. The very notion that the sins of the world will be placed on Satan's head - thus giving him a part in the salvation of mankind along with Jesus - is nigh blasphemous.

So, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is past. Christ has fulfilled it all. What more does it look forward to? Not to Satan. Will you say it looks forward to Satan simply because Atonement falls after Trumpets? God forbid! Thus we have a gaping hole in the middle of the "7,000 year plan pictured by the holy days" theory. We made it to Trumpets which pictures the second coming, and went right back to the 30's A.D.

It was taught that the fulfillment of the live goat could not come until either the beginning of the Millennium (because that is when Satan will be imprisoned), or the end of the Millennium (because that is when Satan will be destroyed). But if this goat is not Satan, then this explanation falls completely apart. This day, like the others, points to the 30s AD.

What's our tally thus far? Four holy days that picture the 30's A.D., one holy day wedged in out of order that supposedly pictures the second coming ('cause we say it does), and 2 holy days to go. Only two holy days to something that pictures the 7,000 year plan.

TABERNACLES

In Armstrongism, Tabernacles is seen as picturing the Millennium. Each year, while we feasted before the Lord and drank a great deal of wine or similar drink (I allude to Deuteronomy 14: 26), we were told this is what the Millennium would be like. The whole 7 day festival pictured the Millennium. Seven days for 1,000 years. Tabernacles was 7 days of Christmas and then some. I still think it cannot be rivalled for sheer enjoyment - if the daily church services were removed, that is. Some people like that part, too. At any rate, the Feast of Tabernacles was the culmination of the whole year. Not enough good could be heaped on it from the podium. Not only did it picture the entire Millennium in 7 days, it re-pictured the 7,000 year plan... all by itself. What a time!

But then cracks in the theory start to emerge.

First off, Tabernacles is not seven holy days; it is technically one - the first day. How do you get to picture all 7,000 years in one day? There is a holy day on the last day, the eighth day, but we will get to that in the next section.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a 7-day long festival, but it has only 1 holy day, and that being the very first day. If the Millennium is pictured on the holy day, why do you have six days after it? 

And what then of those regular days? We must discount them. Remember, it's the holy days that picture the 7,000 year plan, not the regular days. If we start counting in all the regular days, then there would be 19 days (7 holy days, plus 6 days of UB, plus 6 days of Tabernacles). God's 19,000 year plan!

Tabernacles cannot truly picture the entire 7,000 year plan because most of it would be about sin. Is it dual, then? Does the holy day at the start picture the start of sin? We are partying while we should be remembering the expulsion from Eden, Noah's Flood, the Tower of Babel, or the death of Christ? What of the 1,900 years where the gospel supposedly wasn't preached until God supposedly sent Herbert Armstrong to supposedly preach it and usher in His return ...which we still await? Yet Tabernacles was 7 days of fun for us.

Everyone understood it was the Millennium that the Feast of Tabernacles pictured, specifically, not those other times. We tossed the 7,000 year picture onto it because there were 7 days ...six of which were regular days. But, how can you have 7 days picture 1,000 years?
Does it really picture the Millennium, then? We'll find out, I guess.

See some of those cracks yet?

To recap ...
Four holy days (First and Last days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Atonement) and a Memorial (Passover) that picture the 30's A.D., one holy day out of order that even though it is a memorial looking backwards most people would say it is part of the Millennium which is forwards (Trumpets), and one holy day that pictures the Millennium (first day of Tabernacles), with one left to go.
Nothing so far has pictured the time from creation to the Exodus, from the Judges to Jesus, or from the Apostles to the second Advent. This last holy day has a lot of gaps to cover!

LAST GREAT DAY

There are two ways to view this day: 1) the Feast of Tabernacles is seven days and there is a separate holy day immediately afterward, or Tabernacles is eight days long.

(LEV 23:33-34) 33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord.'

(LEV. 23:39) 'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest.'

Scholarly consensus is on the Feast of Tabernacles being eight days, with the first seven being the feast proper, followed by a holy assembly on the eighth day.

Armstrongists call it the Last Great Day because of John 7:

(JON. 7:37) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.

So, eight thousand year plan?

Here is something that I knew and even taught during my time in Armstrongism, but I never grasped the full effect of it: the Last Great Day does not picture the Millennial period. (Remember, this is according to Armstrong's timeline.)

The Millennium is done and gone by the time the Great White Throne Judgment period would arrive. Tabernacles is over, the Millennium it pictured has ended, the time of mankind is over, Satan has come to his end, the dead small and great have been resurrected to judgment, and the elements are soon to melt with fervent heat (this is according to Armstrongist understanding). Is not the Last Great Day another holy day entirely apart from Tabernacles? Were there not 7 days in the Feast of Tabernacles, and now the Last Great Day is an eighth day? It is a different day! It does not belong to the seven previous days. It is the eighth. Are we to understand that there is an 8,000 year plan? Not exactly. This day will never end. A new thing. A new day. Regardless, it is one of the seven holy days. We can hardly say "seven holy days means 7,000-year plan" if one of those holy days does not fit into that time period.

So, somehow, we've skipped huge gaps in the first 6,000 years, focused heavily on the 7,000th-year period, and now we have to deal with the time after that.

Kinda blows the theory all to pieces, doesn't it?

Unless! Unless we rearrange things yet again and teach that the Great White Throne Judgment period must fall within the Millennium because the resurrected people who have never known God must get a shot at obedience before the end of a thousand years of Christ's reign. 
According to Herbert Armstrong there is supposed to be a 100 year period right at the end of the Millennium. But where do we get that? Do you really not know where Herbert Armstrong got that teaching?

(ISA. 65: 20) No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

That's it. There's the evidence for this teaching. Nothing more. Isaiah 65: 20 mentions "one hundred years" and Armstrong runs off with it. Not a lot to build a doctrine on, wouldn't you agree?

Now, let's take what we've gone over and see that in visual form.

PART II - THE TABLES

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Now, let us think about this together. The point of this section is to show the absurdity of the '7,000 year plan' theory with the help of some visuals. Yes, I know this will be confusing. I ask you to understand the confusion isn't something I've invented, it is a natural result of the claims themselves. I am simply showing you what the claims really look like.

Here is how most people think of the holy days. 7 holy days = 7,000 years.

0-1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000
1xDoUB	1xDoUB	Pentecost	Trumpets	Atonement	FOT	LGD
						MILENNIUM

But, as you can quite see already, this makes no sense if we look at the meanings and fulfillments of the holy days. What does the second holy day of Unleavened Bread have to do with Noah? Nothing.

Instead, according to the original and traditional Armstrongist view, an even better rendition would be:
Three holy days that picture the first 6,000 years (2xUB & Pentecost), three holy days to picture the last 1,000 years (Atonement, Tabernacles, and Last Great Day), and probably a fourth holy day as well depending on your personal opinion (Trumpets).

0-1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000
2xDoUB Pentecost	2xDoUB Pentecost	2xDoUB Pentecost	2xDoUB Pentecost	2xDoUB Pentecost	2xDoUB Pentecost Trumpets?	Atonement FOT LGD Trumpets?
						MILENNIUM

Do you see how this makes little sense? Pentecost and Unleavened Bread still don’t fit that way. Why would Pentecost represent the first 6,000 years? It should not. 

Let's try to fix that by placing the days into the timeline according to what each day is supposed to mean, and let's see how it can make even less sense yet.

If we pay attention to what was taught regarding the meanings of these days, everything should fit into only 3,000 years. Now we're left with a choice regarding which days go where. I can see at least three options.

A) Is it:
Three holy days to picture the 30's A.D. rather than the past 6,000 years (2xUB & Pentecost), one holy day that pictures the second coming immediately prior to the Millennium (Trumpets), and three holy days that picture the Millennium (LGD, Tabernacles, Atonement)?

0-1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000+
				2xDoUB Pentecost	Trumpets	Atonement FOT LGD
						MILENNIUM

B) Or is that:
Two and two half holy days to picture the 30's A.D. (1/2 Atonement, 1/2 Pentecost & 2xUB), one and a half holy days that pictures the second coming immediately prior to the Millennium (1/2 Pentecost & Trumpets), and two and a half holy days that picture the Millennium (LGD, Tabernacles, 1/2 Atonement)?

0-1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000+
				(½ Atonement) 2xDoUB (½  Pentecost)	Trumpets (½ Pentecost)	FOT LGD (½ Atonement)
						MILENNIUM

C) Or could it be:
Three that picture the 30's A.D. (2xUB & Pentecost), one that could be part of the Millennium or a few days before (Trumpets), two that picture the Millennium (Atonement & Tabernacles), and one holy day that pictures a time after the 7,000 year plan (LGD)? Now is it an 8,000 year plan??

0-1,000	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	7,000	8,000+
				2xDoUB Pentecost	Trumpets?	Atonement FOT Trumpets?	LGD
						MILENNIUM

Now, if you want an extra kick in the seat, according to traditional Armstrongist understanding, Passover was not supposedly fulfilled until the Millennium because we were told these three verses (Mat. 26: 29; MAR. 14: 25; LUK. 22: 18) indicated Passover would not be fulfilled until we were with Christ in the Millennium. How's that for a mind bender!

Did any of that confuse you? Are you thoroughly confusticated? Of course it did! Of course you are! Because it is confusing. And why would that be? Because none of this fits! If it worked, it would snap into place nicely, neatly, understandably. Did it? No! Look at the empty millennia. Look at the conflicting options. The teaching about the holy days does not fit the teaching about the 7,000 year plan!

I bring this up to emphasize the titanic leaps of human reasoning, the disfiguring contortion of scripture, the wild and unconstrained speculation that must occur to force the holy days to fit this theory.

Now do you see any of those cracks?

IT DOESN'T FIT

What's the big deal about this topic anyway? I will tell you that my reason for this post is because there are a lot of Armstrongists out there feeling confident enough in this teaching that they are judging and condemning people who do not adhere to it. "Those people don't keep the Sabbath and holy days because they have forgotten God's 7,000 year plan." (Forgotten?? I wish I could forget it.) It has become a convenient excuse to bring other God-fearing people down (the unavoidable converse of that is setting one's self up.) It has transitioned from prophetic speculation to doctrine to doctrine required for salvation. It's not just "God's 7,000 year plan." No sir. It's "God's 7,000 year plan for salvation." This is incredibly dangerous territory!

Am I saying there is no 7,000 year plan at all? I'm not saying that. There has been talk of a 7,000 year plan since Irenaeus. Irenaeus never used the holy days as evidence for it, though. (Armstrongists call him the "heretic Irenaeus" because nearly everything else he says contradicts their beliefs - but since he agrees here, they're more than happy to quote a heretic.) I'm saying it's all speculation - even interesting speculation - but speculation none the less.

I would like to caution people to pay close attention to those cracks in the theory. Notice how unsteady the foundation is. It's definitely not built on Christ. Interesting, perhaps, but please reject the temptation to make this a salvational issue.

As an aside, what about the seasons?

We were taught that there are three "holy day seasons." This was nothing else besides an attempt to turn Deuteronomy 16: 16 into an excuse to extract money from the congregation on all seven holy days. 

Rather than reading the Bible and letting it interpret itself, Herbert Armstrong changed the meaning of the verse. Deuteronomy 16 works with Exodus 34 and tells us that three pilgrimages were to be made every year to the place where the Lord puts His name, which can be shown to mean the tabernacle (which most of the time was the Temple in Jerusalem, but is not any longer.) It does not in any way tell us there are three "holy day seasons" during which people were commanded to give 7 holy day offerings.

Two things resulted from this reinterpretation: 1) We unaware of any command to travel three times a year as opposed to just once at Tabernacles, 2) The congregation was obligated to give "holy day offerings" in the form of money at each of the seven holy days. The seven holy days all fell within the three holy day seasons, you see.

Now, let me ask you this: which is the summer holy day?

Pentecost comes in May or early June. Summer doesn't start until June 21st. Technicality? I think not. Trumpets usually falls in mid to late September. Summer ends September 21st, so technically Trumpets falls in the summer months some of the time. BUT some of the time it does not. It fluctuates from year to year. In 2013 even the Feast of Tabernacles will begin before the end of summer, but the majority of the time it falls after the beginning of Autumn. It was a harvest festival after all. 
There is no definitively "Summer holy day." Even when we referred to the holy days in our own vernacular it was "Spring holy days" and "Fall holy days." It was obvious to all that there is no Summer or winter holy day. That didn't stop us from redefining Deuteronomy 16: 16.

As I type this, I recall another question. What year is it anyway?

MikeDDTFA reminds us that, according to the Hebrew Calendar (which many Armstrongists refer to as "God's Sacred Calendar") it is only the year 5770. In a 7,000 year plan, do we really even know what year it is?

CONCLUSION

It is clear there was a plan in the holy days, but it is not at all clear that plan was a 7,000-year plan. If we look at what actually happened, and listen to Jesus, the plan was about Him.

The inconsistency in Armstrongism never ceases to amaze me. In one breath they proclaim the accuracy of the Jewish keeping of the seventh day. "They were given the oracles of God," we would say. But in the next breath, we proclaim how nearly every other detail about Jewish timekeeping was incorrect. 

On one hand, we proclaimed the accuracy of Herbert Armstrong’s Biblical predictions (that’s “predict” as in fortune-telling, not “prophesy” as in speaking under inspiration of God). On the other hand, we ignored the legions of his predictions that failed. In excess of 200 failed predictions.

At any rate, one thing is for certain - these teachings of Armstrongism are inconsistent when we closely investigate them.

The Millennium isn't the most important part of our future anyhow (assuming a Pre-Millennial view of prophecy is correct). It is an important part, yes, but not the most important part. Yet we made a massive deal about the Millennium. Why? Because! Wasn't it obvious? The followers of Herbert Armstrong were to rule the Earth at that time. We were to be the stars of the show. Tabernacles was all about us! It's the carrot on the stick. That's why we emphasized it so heavily.

Does all of this speculation and droning on about calendars glorify God? If not, then it isn't part of His plan. I pray God blesses you with His love through faith. Not in speculation, but in His only begotten Son Jesus - our only salvation, our only propitiation, our only redemption, our only substance, our only way and truth and life. God speed you into His New Covenant and His wonderful eternal promises.

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom.

Acts 17:11

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