'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. Here in these verses God outlines His weekly Sabbath Feast and His seven annual Sabbath Feasts. God's Feasts presents to man His great plan, His great spiritual work through the working of His Holy Spirit, His great love and blessing 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 their purpose, their messages, and made these days revolve  around himself and his work and have come to be man'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 the midst, or the feasts of men, with the working of the  power in the flesh of men with all their covetousness of money, power, and the exaltation of the flesh? Is God, who consists of God the Father, and the Son, Jesus Christ, now 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? Has it been God, and Jesus Christ, or 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 greetings at their market place, which to the church corporation was the Feasts, and all its meeting places? Has it 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,  the focus of the Feasts? 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?

         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 saying it was the best Feast ever, and it was from the ministry's stand point, because their corporation who they represent got more unearned money than ever, but to the brethren, it was not a spiritual Feast, due to the messages lacking substance,  and truth, and the lack of inspiration in the sermons. Christ was just not in those Feasts, and they were not HIS FEASTS! Many brethren gave up believing that they could ever, or should ever expect any more than what they have been bored stiff with hearing at all the Feasts. All of this was because of the sins and deceptions, and failings of ministers and their worship of their "Sacred Cow Leadership," of not submitting themselves to Christ, and His Spirit for their inspiration, and 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. 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, enjoy some scenic, mountainous or beach resort. Yes they would attend services, and listen, to be entertained by spiritless messages from the non-church writings of men, and their philosophizing about God and His Kingdom, giving 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. They desire a Feast that would help them develop true godliness, and that would help lead them to a true conversion. These brethren desire this through the following and inspiration of the 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 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.

What does God say about man's feasts  and are they 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 and get serious): it is iniquity (it is about man worship, idolatry and man's coveteousness and greed for power, money, and office), even the solemn meeting (profaning the Sabbaths by hiring people to work for you on the Sabbath). Your new moons and your appointed 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 not  taking the responsibility for warning brethren of their sins that will bring the shedding of their blood in the judgment).

         God goes on to say  in 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 and obey it): seek judgment (seek what is this weightier matter  of the law so you won't have to expierence it): relieve the oppressed (stop the domination of people's lives and undo the uncommanded addtional added tenths-tithes for your living put on the poor sheep;  in other words, ministers  relieve the oppressed by getting yourself a job): judge (defend) the fatherless, (point members to their true  spiritual Father and away from their pastor father),  plead for the widow, (help the widow  in her need in doing the work of God in her life, rather than sending added tithes and offerings to vain, unprofitable, and useless ministers teaching error as well as teaching the widows to look to Christ as her spiritual husband and husband to be that really cares for her).

"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. 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, 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. Is Jesus Christ in all these Feasts, or are these people really kidding themselves and are in reality just keeping their own Feast at the same time 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 Vers 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 jugment 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 what it means even to be converted. All of this has been left out at the Feasts.  Were they really God's Feasts?  Church government was the focus of the messages at the feast which was man's government and a members' submission to it, not how one can be assured he will be in God's Kingdom and being assured of confidence of being able to give that life saving information to some other new interested person.

When is the Feast, man's Feast, instead of God's Feast?

When a man or men  at the feast is praised, worshipped, and exalted and influences the church brethren to believe  that their idol shepherd is God's great teacher, and is reverenced and this all 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 accept it to be so without proving it to be so.

When  the feast is not about restoring and delivering the faith that was once delivered to the early church but a faith in beliefs that is created, accepted and restored from a foolish idol shepherd.

When the Feast teachings revolve around the perverted gospel, that commands submission to a" church government" in order to be saved which is a feast that is filled with deception and the lies of men.

When the Feast days  become opportunities to fleece the sheep over and above what God commands to be given by creating a church hierarchical headquarters that seduces the brethren into believing they must send an extra tenth and special offerings to them to subsidize their living and livestyle and their perverted work that they call God's Work.

When the place of the Feast and its activities becomes the number one priority in attracting brethren in their selecting a feast site, rather than the true inspiring teaching of God's Word.