How I Became a Full Moon Lunar Sabbatarian

 

Being a sensitive, curious child with endless questions, it was unfortunate that my family didn’t gently nurture these qualities. Instead, I was taught to blindly accept whatever doctrine was pushed at me. I was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Catholic grade school. Mass was a prerequisite before my classes started, five days a week, and on Sunday my family took me to church. Growing up, I had never thought about anyone keeping a day holy except for Sunday. And it’s no wonder; people who didn’t worship as I did (i.e. as a Sunday-worshipping Roman Catholic) were the scornful subject of gossip or just plain ignored/dismissed as sinners. At school, I was taught early on to never overstep the authoritative knowledge (?) of the priests and nuns, and certainly the Ten Commandments weren’t something I was ever encouraged to examine for myself.

But one day, when I was in my mid-twenty’s, that’s exactly what I did. I was flipping channels on TV and stopped to watch an elderly man preaching passionately about the Ten Commandments. His name was Herbert Armstrong. I connected with him immediately because he stared straight into the camera as if looking directly at me… and then he boldly put forth a challenge I couldn’t refuse. He said that I shouldn’t believe anything he (or anyone else) says about the Bible, but rather I should dust off my own copy, open it up, carefully read what it says, and prove those things therein for myself. Wow! Something in that man’s eyes and his insistent tenor was enough to convince me. Free literature about the Ten Commandments (from the Worldwide Church of God/WCG) was offered at the end of the TV show, and so I eagerly ordered a booklet.

It quickly arrived in the mail, and soon afterwards, I purchased KJV and NKJV Bibles at a bookstore and began to read them, putting special focus on the Ten Commandments. What a surprise it was to see a different version of the commandments than what I was taught! After studying a bit, I wanted to commit to keeping all of the commandments as best I could. I started to observe the Sabbath on the so-called seventh day, just as the Ten Commandments booklet had instructed. I kept my seventh day observance in line with what the WCG taught — Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, every repeating week, based on the Gregorian calendar. This was a very difficult thing to do all on my own. I was married at the time, and my husband (who was also raised as a Catholic) was very reluctant to join me in my new faith.

As my thirst for Bible understanding increased, I began to do independent research on Bible topics and related etymology, language studies, mythology, star lore, and esoteric sacred writing/art. This was greatly rewarding. As I advanced, I was moved by the Ruach Alahiym (Spirit) to adopt veganism (i.e. a compassionate “do no harm” anti-exploitation/anti-violence lifestyle that embraces reverence for ALL life) in response to Genesis 1:29-30 and Isaiah 11:9. In time, as a result of my studies and findings, I grew to be suspicious of the WCG, disagreeing with some of their core teachings and prejudiced practices. I broke ties with them and continued on my own. I have never looked back!

A few years later, in February of 1992, I had a unique after death experience, which shed new light on everything in my life. Four years later, my husband and I filed for a marriage dissolution. We remained amicable and respectful of each other through the ordeal, which I am very grateful for. When I found myself single again, I realized that I could pursue my Biblical research and practice my faith at a deeper, more intimate level than I was doing before, as I had no more worries about my husband’s reluctance or rejection of such. However, I discovered during this time of independence that I lost friends and family ties as I furthered both my ruach-driven faith and dedication to authentic vegan principles and practices.

After 19 years of going solo (with a few minor sidetracks and painful bumps along The Way), I felt something amiss with my Armstrong inspired Sabbath keeping. One amazing day, while doing out-of-the-ordinary research on the Internet, I came across a 3-part YouTube video about the lunar Sabbath. I watched the videos in succession and was intrigued. I decided to spend some additional time reading the comments posted below each video… and found that one commenter named Tony Maynard stood out among the others. His multiple comments made so much sense that I immediately went to the website he mentioned in one of them. It was www.thecreatorscalendar.com! Here is the YouTube link to the 2nd Lunar Sabbath video, below. Look carefully in the comments section at that page to locate Tony Maynard’s comment in which he mentions The Creator’s Calendar website. You’ll need to count seven comments down to find Tony’s; be sure to click on the “Show more” option in blue ink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfZt3Cmm6eQ
(In Defense of the Lunar Sabbath \ Part 2 – by www.worldslastchance.com)

When I looked at some of the many pages at www.thecreatorscalendar.com, I was driven to study all the more, having a huge appetite for every new (and old) Biblical reference therein. And oh, how my eyes have been opened! That was back in mid-April 2015. To honor the Creator’s calendar, I celebrated the first day of the year (as indicated by the full new moon) and kept my first Passover and days of Unleavened Bread. I even baked my own unleavened bread from the delicious, easy recipe provided in the May 17, 2015 Sabbath Message I received in an email from thecreatorscalendar@wildblue.net (titled Keeping Passover). I am looking forward to keeping all the other Sabbaths, (full) new moons, and holy appointments throughout the year, though I may have to observe them alone till things change for me in that regard.

That’s the (condensed) story of how I came to you, Kerrie French and friends in the faith, with a renewed heart leaping for joy! Psalm 42:1-2 sums up my feelings for finding you as much as my newfound Sabbath observances and my increasing understanding, LOVE and reverence for the Creator’s calendar:

As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O Alahim.  My soul thirsts for Alahim, for the living Al. When shall I come and appear before Alahim? Psalm 42:1-2 KJV

Thank you most kindly for all of your teachings and challenges to prove all things.

Victoria from Ohio