May 7, 2015 Member Letter

Dear Brethren,

In a few days, on Sunday, May 24, we will be observing the Feast of Pentecost, the third holy day of this year. Pentecost is determined by counting 50 days from the day of the wave-sheaf offering, which in ancient Israel occurred on the Sunday during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Because the count begins on a Sunday, the 50th day is also a Sunday. This year the wave-sheaf offering would have been on Sunday, April 5, making Sunday, May 24, the 50th day.

In the 1960s the Radio Church of God (later renamed the Worldwide Church of God) observed Pentecost on Monday, counting 50 days from the date of the wave sheaf, but not including that day in the count. In other words the Church taught exclusive counting, with day one being on Monday, which meant that day 50 was also on a Monday. In those years the observance of Pentecost generally involved three days—Sabbath, Sunday and Monday. Services were conducted on the weekly Sabbath and on Monday. And normally on the Sunday in between we had some type of Church gathering, a picnic or potluck. It was truly a concentrated time of fellowship and worship!

A change occurred in 1974 when there was a better understanding of a translation issue in the book of Leviticus where the instructions for counting the days are recorded. Leviticus 23:15 was the verse in question: “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.” In 1974 it was concluded that the Hebrew word translated “from” has more the meaning in English of “beginning with” or “beginning on.” From that point forward we have observed Pentecost on Sunday, resulting in back-to-back Sabbaths each year.

Changing an understanding of a scripture that affects a religious observance isn’t easy. This proved traumatic for some at the time, but the Church provided a considerable amount of study material to support the change. That was more than 40 years ago. While the date changed, it did not affect the meaning of the day. The Day of Pentecost still commemorates the anniversary of the founding of the New Testament Church, which includes God’s giving of the Holy Spirit and the sealing and harvest of the firstfruits. Traditionally, the Jews view it as the anniversary of the giving of the law from Mount Sinai (Exodus 20), which has some historical merit and adds another element of meaning to the day.

As a pastor, I did my best over the years to cover all of these themes during the back-to-back Sabbaths. But even with two Sabbaths, I always felt it was impossible to do justice to the meaning of this festival. In one sense, this can be said of all the festivals, but it seems to be especially true of Pentecost. As ministers, we strive to provide meat in due season (Matthew 24:45) when speaking on the holy days. For this reason I was always happy to have the two days to speak about the meaning of the day, but still never felt I could adequately cover it all. This day is particularly rich in spiritual lessons for us and merits our concentrated attention.

As we approach another Pentecost, I can report good news about the work of the Church. The number of unique visitors to LifeHopeandTruth.com continues to rise. We didn’t quite make 1 million in April, but we did get very close. And we are on track to reach that number again in May. Questions and contacts via email have tripled since the beginning of this year. And we concluded the first four months with a solid increase in our income over last year.

While the news from around the world is troubling, filled with violence and tragedy, we will be celebrating the positive message of Pentecost. This holy day is really a reminder that more work remains ahead of us. Consider what Christ said in Matthew 16:18: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Christ said He would “build” His Church. He didn’t speak of it in the past tense as though it had already been built. We see the work of building the Church continuing right up to the time of Christ’s return—and in reality, the work of building the Church will continue into the Millennium when many more will be converted.

We also selected this verse in Matthew 16 as the theme for our upcoming 2015 International Ministerial Conference, which takes place a week after Pentecost. The conference will consist of presentations expounding the theme of “building” the Church on the Rock (Jesus Christ), reports on the work of the Church here in the office, and reports from areas outside the U.S. We hope that the proximity of the conference to Pentecost will not be lost on any of us. We are part of the greatest work the world has ever known—preaching the gospel to the world as both a warning message and a message of hope, shared in a desire to see many sons and daughters brought to glory (Hebrews 2:10). The Church has been and continues to be the vehicle that God uses to bring His children to glory.

I pray that you and your family will have a wonderful Pentecost, and I ask that you pray for the success of the International Ministerial Conference, which is our third since we opened our headquarters office here in Dallas in 2012. We are excited about hosting 250 to 300 elders and wives; but more than the joy of seeing old friends, we hope to inspire the ministry and the entire Church about the work that is being done. It is important to God and should be important to us.

Thank you for your support. We always appreciate your prayers, and especially now for safe travel and the success of the conference!

Sincerely, your brother in Christ,

Jim Franks