A Study in Scripture, Separating Truth from Fiction

By Travis Yonson

A study in scripture was an end product from a quest I had set out for many years ago to find the truth. I started this quest with one goal in mind, and that was to be able to separate the facts and truths in scripture from all the fiction and disorder that seem so prevalent today in Christian thought and teachings. Though not perfect, this work turned out to be a great study tool and starting point I still use often to further my quest. And I hope it may help you in yours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640030572

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A Study in Scripture

Separating Truth from Fiction

Travis Yonson

ISBN 978-1-64003-056-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64003-057-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 Travis Yonson

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1

The Hebrew Calendar, Events, and Festivals in Scripture

Chapter 2

Modern Ceremonial and Traditional Beliefs, Observances, and Teachings

Chapter 3

Exploring Words and Phrases Used in Scripture

Chapter 4

Part A

The Works of the Flesh

Part B

The Fruit (Works) of the Spirit

Chapter 5

Part A

Spiritual Gifts

Part B

Members of the Body

Chapter 6

The Covenants

Chapter 7

Part A

The World Today

Part B

The Tribulation

Part C

The Thousand-Year Reign

Part D

The New Earth and Heavens

Chapter 8

Other Facts of Scripture

A Note from the Author

What started me on the hunt for the truth, and hence the writing of this book, was the verse in Mat 15:9. This verse kept coming to my mind again and again through the months leading up to this book. So with this verse in the back of my mind, I started noticing throughout my studies many discrepancies, not in scripture but in a lot of teachings and Christian observances that are going on today in Christian churches and communities. Either these teachings or traditions do not line up with scriptural truth or you can’t even find them in scripture because they were made up altogether.

As I started doing research for this book, I began noticing many verses in scripture dealing with false worship or idol worship and mixing or incorporating false or pagan practices and observances with the truth and what God commands us to do or not to do. These are some of the verses that I initially began investigating as I started my research. I recommend reading these verses before you get into the rest of the book. They will give you an idea of what started my quest to know and search out the truth. The verses are as follows: Mat 15:2, 3, 6, and 9; Mk 7:3, 5, 7–9, and 13; Col 2:8 and 22; Deu 12:30 and 32; Isa 24:5; Isa 29:13; Ezek 33:31; and Rm 1:25. God also commands (as I also discovered) not to add to or tack away from his word (Deu 4:2, Deu 12:30–32, Rev 22:18, Prov 30:6). These and the former verses may be some of the main reasons why there is so much confusion in the world today. This may be why so many people today have a hard time understanding scripture, when it is not really that complicated. Really, if you think about it, it’s our own fault because we take other people’s word for it and do not take the time to study it out for ourselves (Act 17:11, 2 Tim 2:15).

The following pages in this book have been compiled and arranged in such a way (I hope) so as to make it easier for you to understand and to make it easier for you to be able to search out the information contained in it for yourself. There is nothing better and more exciting than to learn about God whom loved you enough to die on a cross and adopt you into his eternal family for those who believe and are born again. This has got to be the most profound and astonishing truth one could learn (it was for me anyway).

Salvation and the new birth are guarantied once you meet the requirements for them (Jn 3:16, Eph 2:8–9, Rm 10:8–10, 1 Jn 4:15, 1 Jn 5:10–12). This is not what is in question here, nor is it what this book is about. What is in question here is the rest of the scripture that has been distorted or twisted beyond measure throughout the centuries, and it will be these distortions and discrepancies that I (we) will attempt to rectify here in this book.

Chapter 1

The Hebrew Calendar, Events, and Festivals in Scripture

The calendar we use today, the solar calendar (Julian or Gregorian calendar), did not exist or was not adopted until 46 b.c. (the Gregorian in 1582). It was the lunar calendar that was used in the Old and New Testaments. It will be this calendar that we will be focusing on in the preceding pages. There was no such thing as a Sunday, Wednesday, January, December, etc., in scripture. The Israelites did not use our solar calendar. For example, the first day of the week was not Sunday because the Sunday on a calendar (any calendar) did not exist then. The Israelites did not name their days, so the one to argue that the Sabbath is on a Sunday or a Saturday would both be wrong. There are, if one would do a little research, several different types of calendars in use, even today, and one would do good to find out why and how the naming of the different parts of the Julian or Gregorian calendars came about. Most, if not, all the names of the days and months are after pagan gods! Therefore, most Christians today are going by a system that is primarily based on pagan gods and idol worship.

Chapter 1 of this book is set up as you would follow a calendar. You have the first through the thirteenth month. Then, under each month heading, you have a list of the different events and festivals that took place on the days of the month they fall on. The division of days, Sabbaths, and new moons are given separately up front because of their frequency within the calendar. Each event or festival following the page that starts the month is designated one page or section. For example, the Passover will have a whole page or two to itself. The Jews (according to some) used two kinds of calendars. One is a civil calendar, which is the official calendars of kings, child birth, and contracts. The other is the sacred calendar from which the festivals and Sabbaths were computed. However, throughout my studies, I found no reference to the use of a civil calendar in scripture.

The Hebrew year is strictly lunar, being twelve lunatations, with an average twenty-nine-and-a-half-day orbit around the earth, making 354 days in the year. Hence, the Hebrew calendar contains a thirteenth month or leap month of alternating twenty nine or thirty days, introduced seven times every nineteen years. Then, after nineteen years, the cycle repeats itself again, rendering the average length of the year nearly correct and to keep the seasons in their proper months. Also keep in mind that the lengths of the month is determined by the new moons. They may not necessarily be exactly twenty nine or thirty days in length. They may at times be a day shorter or longer. The leap months fall on the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth year of each cycle.

The day

Their days started at sunset. They went from sunset to sunset or as it says in Gen 1, the evening and the morning. The times in parenthesis are there just to give you an idea of the general time of day the above takes place. Their days were broken down into eight equal parts, four for the night and four for the day, Sunset being the start of a new day.

Deu 6:4–9 or the shema was read every day, whether in the home or in public settings. It is a daily call to worship. This would be a good thing to practice in the home today.

There were also daily offerings performed each day (Num 28:1–8, Ex 29:38–42, Eze 46:13–15). These physical offerings are no longer required.

First watch

(Sunset to 9 p.m.)

(Start of new day)

Second watch

(9 p.m. to midnight)

Third watch

(Midnight to 3 a.m.)

Fourth watch

(3 a.m. to sunrise)

First hour

(Sunrise to 9 a.m.)

Third hour

(9 a.m. to noon)

Sixth hour

(Noon to 3 p.m.)

Ninth hour

(3 p.m. to sunset)

(End of day)

Sabbaths

So few, if any at all, have been instructed in the calculations or the preservation of the original Sabbaths, which started being observed at the beginning of the exodus. So they may have been lost forever or at least until Jesus comes back and shows us how and when to keep the Sabbaths.

Today, the Sabbaths have been standardized on our solar calendar as falling on our Saturday, which is the seventh day of our week. So going by the solar calendar, Saturday would be the closest to biblical doctrine as you can get without knowing the calculations or observances of the original Sabbaths. However, they will still not fall on a Sunday every week, not only because our Sunday is the first day of the week but also our calendar is totally different than the one used in scripture. A Sunday Sabbath would go against the seventh-day Sabbath teachings that are so frequently mentioned throughout scripture regarding this issue. So a Sunday being observed as a Sabbath would therefore basically be a false doctrine or teaching.

I found no reference or any evidence of any kind to suggest the Sabbaths fell on a Sunday, on a Saturday, or on any day for that matter. Our calendar was never used in scripture to start with, nor could I, by studying all the relevant scripture to figure out how or when mosses and the Israelites in the Old Testament calculated the Sabbaths or exactly what days they observed them.

A portion from the law and prophets was read every Sabbath day, usually publicly and possibly privately as well. A different portion was selected for reading on each Sabbath (Mk 1:21; Luk 4:16, 17; Act 13:15; Mk 6:2; Luk 13:10).

Every Sabbath, the priest was to set in order the shewbread, being taken from Israel by an everlasting covenant (Ex 25:30, Lev 24:5–8). Back then, you would also be able to know when the Sabbath days arrive by observing the days the priest began setting in order the shewbread in the temple (Sam 21:6, 1 Chr 9:32).

There were also weekly offerings performed on the Sabbaths, though these are no longer required today, the physical ones anyway (Num 28:9–10, Eze 46:1–6).

The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign between you and God (Ex 31:3, Eze 20:11–12).

The Sabbath observances are to be kept as a perpetual covenant (Ex 31:6).

The Sabbaths are to be kept holy (Ex 20:8).

The Sabbath days will be observed in the thousand-year reign and most likely on the new earth (Isa 66:23, Eze 46:3–5).

From the days of old man wanted the Sabbath observances done away with (Am 8:5).

Jesus taught in the temple and in the synagogues on the Sabbath days (Mk 1:21; Mk 6:2; Luk 4:16, 31; Luk 6:6; Luk 13:10; as was his custom, Luk 4:16).

We will worship at the gate before the Lord on the Sabbath day (Eze 46:1–3). This may be a picture or preview of what will be taking place on the new earth.

Paul and the apostles taught and worshipped in the temple and in the synagogues on the Sabbath days. Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul, the apostles, and many of the early church leaders observed the Sabbath on the day it was commanded to be observed in the Old Testament (Act 13:14, 27, 42, 44; Act 15:21; Act 16:3; Act 17:2; Act 18:4).

The Sabbaths are to be a day of rest, and they are to be holy convocations (Lev 23:3).

Remember, the Sabbath did not always fall on the same day as our calendar. Our calendar was never used in scripture. They went by the lunar calendar.

It would seem that a Sabbath would fall on the fourteenth day every year, the first Sabbath being on the seventh day of Nison, which would make the eighth, fifteenth, and so on, the first days of the week. Consider God just told the Israelites to begin their year at this particular time, and their Sabbath days should have started at this time as well (because they were not observing them at all prior to this or at least it doesn’t say) (Ex 12:2, 6, 16–18).

Consider this also, the fifteenth day of Nison is a no work day and/or no servile work day and so in a sense is a Sabbath (being the first day in the feast of unleavened bread) (Ex 12:16, Lev 23:7–8, Num 28:18). This could have been the case when the two Mary’s waited after the Sabbath to go anoint Jesus in the tomb (Mat 28:1, Mk 16:1, Jn 20:1). This event would seem to some to have taken place on the sixteenth day early in the morning, because of the fifteenth day being a no work and/or servile work day, but this may not have been the case. The next verses in Mk 16:2 and 9, Mat 28, and Jn 20:1 say it was the first day of the week. So this event would most likely have taken place on the fifteenth day, not the sixteenth, seeing as how it is the Passover and a Sabbath, which would make the fifteenth day the first day of the week (Jn19:14, 31, 42).

For further study, see the following:

Ex 12:2

Ex 31:2–17

Ex 35:1–3

Lev 23:11 and 15–16

Num 16:1, 23, and 26

Deu 5:15

Deu 16:9 and 10

Isa 56:1–7

Isa 58:13–14

Jer 17:21–27

Eze 20:11–16

Eze 22:26

Mat 27:62

Mat 28:1

Mk 15:42

Mk 16:9

Luk 16:1

Jn 19:14, 31, and 42

New moons

The new moons are to be the beginning of months (Num 28:11, Nun 10:10).

The new moons are to be a day of blowing the trumpet and they are to be observed as a memorial before God (Num 10:10, Ps 81:3–4).

God appointed the moon to keep track of seasons (Ps 104:19).

There will be new moon observances in the thousand-year reign and likely on the new earth (Isa 66:23).

From the days of old man wanted the new moon observances done away with (Am 8:5).

A silver trumpet was to be used to sound the appearance of the new moon or the start of the month. These silver trumpets were to sound all the new moons. (A ram’s horn may also have been used in the seventh month for the feast of trumpets (Num 10:1–10).

We will worship at the gate before the Lord on the day of the new moon (Eze 46:1–3). This may be a picture or a preview of what will likely take place on the new earth.

All feasts and festivals are to be holy convocations, including the new moon observances (Lev 23:3, 4, 37).

The new moons, or the beginning of the new month, may start at the first sight of light that appears on the moon after it has gone dark, in which you will likely see this light as the sun sets in the west around that time. The ones who were appointed (most likely the priest) in ancient times to observe or to look for the first light on the moon, done so visually, so to be accurate one should study ancient Hebrew history and how they reckoned the beginning of their months so you can number or keep track of your day correctly.

Monthly offerings were performed on the day of the new moon. We no longer are required to do those (Num 28:11–15, Eze 46:1–6).

I found no evidence in scripture to suggest the observances of the new moons have been changed or done away with. To my understanding, they were still being observed in the New Testament times or at least I found no evidence that they were changed or stopped. They (the New Testament people) still went by the lunar cycle. The only ones to begin observing the Julian calendar to keep track of time were the gentiles or heathens, the roman government, and the Catholic Church. We as Christians were instructed not to be like them or learn their ways (Jer 10:2, 3, Lev 18:3–4, 2 Cor 6:14, 17).

For further study, see the following:

1 Sam 20:5, 18, and 24

2 Kin 4:22–23

Eze 46:1–3 and 6

Num 28:11–15

Eze 45:17

Ex 13:4

Col 2:16–17

Joel 2:23

The Hebrew calendar

1st month: Nison/Abib

(Mar–Apr)

2nd month: Zif/Ziv

(Apr–May)

3rd month: Sivan

(May–June)

4th month:

(June–July)

5th month: Ab

(July–Aug)

6th month: Elul

(Aug–Sep)

7th month: Ethanim

(Sep–Oct)

8th month: Bul

(Oct–Nov)

9th month: Chisleu

(Nov–Dec)

10th month: Tebeth

(Dec–Jan)

11th month: Sebat

(Jan–Feb)

12th month: Adar

(Feb–Mar)

13th month: Veadar

(Mar–Apr)

(Leap month)

The thirteenth month is a leap month. The lunar calendar is based on a nineteen-year cycle. The leap month falls on each of the below years within this cycle. After nineteen years, the cycle repeats itself—3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th.

First month

Nison/Abib—1st sacred, 7th civil, thirty days (Mar–Apr)

1st day = new year (sacred)

1st day = new moon

13th day = the preparation day

14th day = the feast of Passover

15th–21st = the feast of unleavened bread

= the wave of the sheaf offering

= the first of the firstfruits

Nison/Abib is to be the beginning of months. It is the first month of the year (Ex 12:2).

This month is mentioned by both names in Est 3:7, Ex 13:4, and Deu 6:1.

It is the rainy season of the latter rain (Joel 2:2–3).

The tabernacle was raised and then completed on the first day of this month, as was commanded by God (Ex 40:2, 17).

13th day = the preparation day

It would seem that in the year Christ died that the Passover and Sabbath fell on the same day (Jn 19:14, 31, 42). So according to John, the preparation day is said to be before the Sabbath and the Passover.

It also states in Jn 19:31 that this Sabbath was a high day. What made this particular Sabbath so special is that the Sabbath must have fallen on the 14th day (the Passover) or perhaps on the 15th day (the beginning of unleavened bread). Either one could be considered high days because they were both special festivals.

You must also remember that Christ would not be allowed to remain on the cross on a Sabbath day or on the Passover (Mat 26:4, 5).

So in light of the previous statements, the preparation day may fall on the 13th day or at least I am convinced it did in the year that Christ died.

The events from the garden of Gethsemane to the burial of Jesus took place on the same day as the preparation day, which should have been on the 13th day of Nison (Mat 26:36–Mat 27:66, Mk 14:32–Mk 15:47, Luk 22:39–Luk 25:56, Jn 18:1–Jn 19:38).

For further study, see the following:

Jn 19:14, 31, and 42

Mk 15:42

Mat 27:62

Luk 13:32

Luk 23:54

14th day = the Passover

The Passover observance is to be kept as a memorial and was given as an ordinance to be kept and observed forever (Ex 12:14, Ex 13:9).

The Passover was to be slain and eaten before the sun sets on the 14th day (Ex 12:14, Ex 13:9).

This day (the 14th) or the day prior (the 13th) was considered to be the preparation of the Passover (Luk 23:54, 56, Mk 15:42, Mat 27:62, Jn 19:14, 31, 42).

Seeing as how the Passover was to be killed and eaten before the sun sets on the 14th gives me reason to believe that the Jews considered this day (the 14th) as the preparation day, for they would have had the whole day to prepare for that evening. However, I am also led to believe that Jesus was crucified and buried on the evening of the 13th. That way, when the 14th day rolled around (which started