While I'm on the subject of days...
When I visited the World Mission Society Church of God with my sister on their Tuesday evening service, I heard the pastor refer to "this Holy Third Day." So I started asking, What makes Tuesday a holy day?
The answer from my sister at the time was, "I'm not sure, but haven't you wondered why every church has a midweek service? There must be a reason for it." (Most churches do have a midweek service, usually Wednesday, but I always thought it was because we didn't want to wait all the way to the weekly service to get our "spiritual tanks" filled.)
Later her answer was that it had something to do with cleansing and purifying water. Another person said it was somewhere in Numbers, and another gave me the kind of cryptic, roundabout answer, which unfortunately is all to common in my experience: "If you came to the CoG and studied Clean and Unclean maybe you would know…..hmmm theres a thought…."
Turns out that Holy Tuesday is based on a faulty interpretation of Numbers 19:12.
If you search for "third day" in the Bible, you'll see there are 39 verses about the “third day,” and they are overwhelmingly about the third day in the passage of time, such as when they are traveling for three days and on the third day they arrive. Rarely it is the third day of the month, as in Ezra 6:15. Never does it specifically, refer to the third day of the week (Tuesday).
Then there is Numbers 19:12 which says, “He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.”
If you read the context of the chapter, you’ll see that the “third day” and “seventh day” here refers to the passage of time, NOT Tuesday and Saturday. Verse 11 says, “He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.” In order to become clean again, he must purify himself on the third and seventh days of his seven days of uncleanness. If it meant Tuesday and Saturday, what would he do if he touched the dead body on Friday?
The same logic that would make Numbers 19:12 mean Tuesday and Saturday would also say that Jesus rose from the grave on a Tuesday. Did Jesus rise from the grave on a Tuesday? No, it was the first day of the week, Sunday. There are several verses in which Jesus says He will rise on “the third day”. It is not Tuesday. It is the third day from the crucifixion.
The World Mission Society Church of God has a history of taking verses out of context, thereby distorting their meaning. If you study with them, be sure to read many verses around the one they show you, even the whole chapter or book. That way you'll get a clearer picture of what the Biblical writer meant.
Biblical Answers to the World Mission Society Church of God
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.--1 John 4:1
Are you or a loved one struggling with this group? Do you need Biblical answers about the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG or CoGWMS), their founder Ahnsahnghong (Ahn Sahng/Sang-Hong) or their current leader "Mother Jerusalem" (a.k.a. "Heavenly Mother God," Zang/Zahng Gil-Jah, or Chung Gil Cha)? Thank you for coming here. I hope my blog helps you. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Are you or a loved one struggling with this group? Do you need Biblical answers about the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCoG or CoGWMS), their founder Ahnsahnghong (Ahn Sahng/Sang-Hong) or their current leader "Mother Jerusalem" (a.k.a. "Heavenly Mother God," Zang/Zahng Gil-Jah, or Chung Gil Cha)? Thank you for coming here. I hope my blog helps you. Questions and comments are always welcome.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Topics
|
Quotations are from the NIV or NKJV unless otherwise noted.
The only thing I really know about Tuesday potentially being a Holy day is that the calender of the Book of Enoch it is estimated the seventh day fell on a Tuesday. Now, while I did point this out to a friend who is deeply involved in the WMSCOG, I have recently noticed my mistake. However her excuse was that it was not according to the Gregoorian calender (now this is BS, as we both know the ancient hebrews weren't keeping time via the Gregorian calender, either).
ReplyDeleteBut my mistake was at the time the Book of Enoch the old covenant had not been established yet so there was no Sabbath. The Book of Enoch was later taken out, mainly because it was all prophecies that were fulfilled in what is now the official bible (great flood, rise oof King David, the messiah, ect) and also because it dealt mainly with the hierarchy of angels. And while that is interesting, it had nothing dealing with our salvation. Why should we be so concerned about the order of the angels when we should be more concerned about the salvation of mankind?
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAre you the same one who commented about the Book of Enoch on the "Pope is not the Antichrist" article? I appreciate your taking the time to read and comment.
I don't know much about the Book of Enoch, but I do know in general that there were reasons particular books were excluded from the Bible. It would be an interesting topic to research.
I hope your friend in the wmscog will realize the truth soon.
Hal, September 18, 2012 11:06 AM said,
ReplyDelete"3rd day services as WMSCOG posts is that the spirit or soul has become unclean since Saturday. How did the spirit or soul become unclean? Did the spirit or soul somehow defile itself with animal carcasses or touching of the dead body or be rife with blood? Again another taken out of context post. In the days of the Temple and sacrifices, if one was a butcher or a mortician, then they would be considered unclean and would not be allowed into the Temple without proper cleansing as noted in Bambidar (Numbers). This only applied to the Temple and not Bet Teffillah (House Of Prayer). Again, with the WMSCOG "Temple" being in South Korea, these prohibitions would not apply and would technically null and void the need for a 3rd day service as there would be no need for the service to "cleanse" anyone because they have not been made unclean as set forth. "
I heard that they need Tuesday for cleansing of the soul, and they back that up with Number 19. They also believe that the mother is the red heifer that cleans them. I also heard that we need to be imitators of Paul the same way he imitated Jesus, so can anyone explaing why was Jesus in a Wedding on the Third day? According to John 2:1-10 He was on a wedding and this was the first miracle that He performed. In verse 6 we can even see that there was some water for the Jewish custom of purification. It was a custom not a comand.
ReplyDelete