'THESE ARE MY FEASTS!"

       "These are My Feasts," says Jesus Christ, Lord God of the Old Testament, and "you shall proclaim these to be holy convocations," Lev. 23:2-44. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Old Testament, says these Feasts outlined in Leviticus are His Feasts, and are His Holy convocations, and He was to be the center of the attention, worship and great honor on those days. God says His people are to come before Him and eat of the tithe and rejoice on His Feast Days. Here in these verses God outlines  His Feasts, which include His weekly Sabbath Feast, and His seven, annual Sabbath Feasts.

         God's Feasts present to man  opportunities  to come to know God and draw closer to God, and give man knowledge and understanding of God's great plan, and His great, spiritual work through the working of His Holy Spirit, and shows His great love and awesome blessings for man, and all of this is meant to be great, good news-His Gospel to man. However, man down through the ages has taken these Feasts Days and made them his feast days, by corrupting  and demeaning their purpose, their messages,  by making these days revolve around himself and his work,  as the center of exaltation and attention. Man and his ministry have made these feasts, times of furthering their own perverted work and plans, which drives Christ out of these Feasts, if Christ ever was worshipped as the center of any of those celebrated feasts. This all causes these days to come to be man's feasts, not God's Feasts.

        Are the feasts that the Churches of God keep and observe at their set dates each year, the Feasts of God, with the working,  enabling power, and inspiration of His Holy Spirit, with Christ in their midst? Or are they the feasts of men, with the working of the  power in the flesh of men, with all their covetousness of money, authority, offices of elevation, and power, all of which caters to the exaltation and lusts of the flesh? Is God, who consists of God the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, the center of attention at the Feasts of the Churches of God, and the ONES that have been and are honored, praised, exalted and worshipped at these commanded Feasts? Have they been the ONES people went and ate with and  met with in their presence at the FEASTS?

       Has it been God, and Jesus Christ, or has it been man  and his servants, who have been the ones that have received the hand-clapping praise, great exaltation, great honor, special chief seats and seating arrangements, the head of the table, special recognition, commanded and demanded masterful  (Mr.) greetings at their market place,  Mat. 23:6-10, which to their church corporation were the Feasts, and all their meeting places? Has the focus of the feast been man and his ministry, with the following and worship of their leadership, as the guardians of their "in the truth sacred cow," system of beliefs? Whose feasts are these that have been believed to be God's Feasts, but in reality, and by their fruit, are proven to be man's feasts? Have you ever asked yourself the question, just whose feast is it you have been observing? This is an important question that you must answer! Your eternal life could be hanging in the balance!

       Many brethren, after many, many years of going to these feasts, expecting to hear and learn about God,  to worship and praise Him and to be edified by the Spirit of God, just--were--not--fulfilled. However, the ministers tried to convince the brethren that  they were, and by always saying, it was the best feast ever, and it was from the ministry's stand point, because their corporation who they represent, got more money than ever, but to the brethren, it was not a spiritual feast, due to the messages lacking real  spiritual meaning, relating to the true Gospel, lacking substance, and truth from Christ, and all lacking inspiration in the sermons. Christ was just not in those feasts, and so they were not HIS FEASTS!

       Many brethren gave up believing that they could ever, or should ever expect any more than what they had been bored stiff with hearing at all the feasts. All of this was because of the sins, deceptions and failings of ministers and their worship of their "sacred cow leadership,"  and them not submitting themselves to Christ, and His Spirit for their inspiration, and they instead relied on the spirit of the flesh, that emanated from their "idol shepherd," and his hirelings. Testing the spirits has never had any applicable meaning to them and the brethren within the church! Why, because none dared to let it be known that they were proving and testing the spirits, or if they did, they were black balled, marked and eventually kicked out. The most the ministry could ever do at their feasts was just entertain the brethren, but not inspire them. They would have all kinds of activities serving the flesh, but nothing serving the spirit.

        Since this was, and has been the case from the beginning and for many years, many church members and families just look to the feast as a time to get together, to eat to their heart's desire. They have come to accept all the activities at the feast to be the feast,  along with enjoying some scenic, mountainous or beach resort, and listen, to be entertained by spiritless messages,  based on writings of men from other false churches, and all their philosophizing about God and His Kingdom. All of this gave no real spiritual and applicable understanding pertaining to their conversion, true righteousness and salvation, through the meaning and understanding of the Gospel.

      Some of the sheep-brethren, who really did, and do now desire more than has been provided at the Feasts, now wait to the last minute to plan for the Feast, hoping to hear about some who will have a true, spiritual Feast, of godly edifying, real instruction into righteousness. They believe that they, each one of them individually, are God's work and desire for God to finish His work in them. They desire a Feast that would help them develop true godliness, and that would help lead them to a true conversion and  to become a complete spiritual saint. These brethren desire this through the following and inspiration of   God's spirit, rather than vain jangling, profane and vain babbling of men following the flesh of men, that is dominated and muzzled by "their in the truth sacred cow," belief system, that has been generated from "their idol shepherd," and his hirelings. These brethren desire a Feast where God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, are the center of the messages, with praise, worship, and great reverence for Them, rather than man and his ministry, with their vain and perverted messages.

        In Ezek. 34:2-10,  God warns the shepherds by telling them, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. God goes on to say in these verses, "because His sheep were scattered and became meat to all the beasts: because the shepherds did not seek to help them, that God is going to require His flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouth that they may not be meat for them."

What does God say about man's feasts, and are these men-focused feasts an abomination to Him?

          God says in Isa. 1:12-15, "When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts (to keep my feasts)? Bring no more vain oblations (the vain giving of your time and money), incense (prayer) is an abomination unto me: the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with (stop playing church, get serious and be converted): it is iniquity (it is about man worship, idolatry and man's coveteousness of his greed for power, money, and exalted church office), even the solemn meeting (profaning the Sabbaths by working someone on the Sabbaths). Your new moons and your appointed feasts  (man's feasts) my soul hates; they are trouble unto me: I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands (extending one's hands to God in prayer) I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood, (ministers  being not responsible for warning brethren of their sins, that will bring the shedding of blood in the judgment of the brethren and the professed ministry).

       God goes on say  in the continuation of Isa. 1:16-20  what man needs to do if he is to observe His Feast: "Wash you, make you clean: put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil. Learn to do well (know, study, and understand God's law, His commandments,  as it builds love and obey it): seek judgment (seek what is this weightier matter  of the law so you won't have to experience it): relieve the oppressed (stop the domination of people's lives and undo the uncommanded, additional or added tenths-tithes of burdens upon the sheep)  judge (defend) the fatherless, (help those without a father and point members to their true  spiritual Father),  plead for the widow, (help the struggling widow  in her need and doing the work of God in her life,  be a good steward of the tithe, and stop providing free living for vain and useless ministers, who are perverting God's truth and teaching error;  help the widow to look to Christ as her spiritual husband and husband to be, that really cares for her instead of some vain, false minister as her leader).

      "These are my Feasts," says Jesus Christ, Lord God of the Old Testament, and "you shall proclaim these to be Holy convocations," (commanded meetings), Lev. 23:2. Has the Church of God ever really proclaimed the FEASTS of God with Christ as the center of those FEASTS? God commands His people to keep His Holy Days and Feasts, not man's feasts. Yet, today the Churches of God are not as one body, or one spirit, and are so divided and confused, that many different groups of them are keeping a "confessed to be" God's feast, all in the same area, or city, and all believing them all to be God's FEASTS. Is Jesus Christ in all these Feasts, or are these people really kidding themselves, and are in reality, just keeping their own feast, man's feast, at the same time that God has appointed the keeping of His Feast?

          God  says more in regard to man's feast.. In Amos 5:21-24, God says, --"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies." God will not  savor the prayers and worship at these meetings. In Verse 22, God says, "Your offerings and sacrifice of coming before Him, He will not accept." The Lord continues with His non-acceptance of these Feasts by saying, "take you away from me the noise of your songs: for I will not hear the melody of the viols (musical instruments). Verse 24, But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

     Many brethren of the churches  of God cannot even explain what is judgment and righteousness, as well as what is the Gospel, or  even what it means to be converted. All of this has been left out at the feasts. Why? Was it because they really were man's feasts by the fact they were too involved in worshipping their "in the truth sacred cow," and guarding  that system of beliefs? Church government was the focus of the messages at the feast, which was man's government  in the church, and a member's submission to it. The feasts were ruled with force and cruelty, not information of how one can be assured he will be in God's Kingdom and being so filled with confidence of Christ's saving message, that he is able to give that life saving information to some other new, interested person. Most today, which includes the ministers, cannot even explain the true focused Gospel of the Kingdom, that could lead a  stranger to Jesus Christ.

When do the Feasts given in God's Word, become man's feast, instead of God's Feasts?

• When  the Feast is  not  centered  on God,  the Father, and Jesus Christ, giving Them the great honor, praise and great worship, and on Their saving messages, through Their Word.  

• When a man, or men,  at the feast is praised, worshipped and exalted, and the ministry influences the church brethren to believe  that their idol shepherd is God's great teacher, and is so reverenced, that he supersedes the place of God, and the great honor and worship to Him.

• When  the feast is about man's word and his system of beliefs that is exalted, believed and accepted above and over the Word of God, and the poor sheep are so belittled  and intimidated, that they accept it to be so without proving it. These are the  feasts of men where there is the fear of man, rather than the fear of God!

• When  the feast is not about restoring and delivering the faith that was once delivered to the early church, but  a feast about a faith in beliefs  of a foolish shepherd that have been created, accepted, not based on God's Word, but man's word, and are  false teachings that are still being taught and restored by the hirelings of the foolish, idol shepherd.

• Where the feast teachings revolve around the perverted gospel, that commands submission to a "church government" in order to be saved, which creates a feast that is filled with deception and the lies of men, and by this, becomes man's feasts.

• When the feast days  become opportunities to fleece the sheep  of tithes over and above what God commands to be given to do His work, by creating a church hierarchical headquarters, that seduces the brethren into believing they must send all of God's tithe and offerings to them, and then commands the brethren to set aside another extra tenth for the feasts. This is an "extra tithe, created ministry" led by the flesh, not a God created ministry that is led by His Spirit, but a ministry who commands an extra tithe burden. This is an added burden that is put on the poor sheep to subsidize this tithe created ministry's living and lifestyle and their perverted work, that they call God's Work, which has deceived thousands of brethren.

• When the place of the Feast and its activities becomes the number one priority in attracting brethren in them selecting a feast site, rather than the true, inspiring teaching of God's Word through the power of His Holy Spirit.                                                                                                                            

• When brethren are called to come to meet and eat before men and their people, rather than being called by God to bring their tithe and offerings to eat before God the Father, and Jesus Christ, and Their brethren as They have commanded.

Whose Feasts do you keep and observe? Is it God's Feasts, or man's feasts!!!