As the Passover season approaches, let’s review and reconfirm the fundamental doctrines Herbert W. Armstrong taught on the subject, specifically, when we should observe it.

The Worldwide Church of God (wcg) now teaches that the Passover lamb was sacrificed at the very end of the 14th of Nisan, instead of the beginning as Mr. Armstrong taught. And that the Passover meal was eaten in haste on the 15th of Nisan.

In order to make this change, the wcg had to first make a change in the Sabbath. According to them, the Sabbath now ends at dark instead of sunset.

This article will examine when the Sabbath begins and ends, on which day the Israelites kept the Passover in the Old Testament, and which day was kept by Christ.

Sabbath—Sunset or Dark?

In the May-June 1990, Pastor General’s Report, in the section “Reviews You Can Use,” Dr. Stavrinides wrote: “[T]he day comes to an end when the last trace of sunlight has completely disappeared from the horizon. The light of the sun determines the end of the calendrical day.”

Let’s briefly prove from the Bible when the day comes to an end. Referring to the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 23:32 says: “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.” The word “even” is number 6153 in Strong’s Concordance.

Let’s get the Bible definition of what this word “even” means. In Deuteronomy 16:6, that same word (6153) is used: “But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.”

Dr. Stavrinides says “the light of the sun determines the end of the calendrical day.” Deuteronomy 16:6 says the sun going down determines the end of the calendrical day. Who are you going to believe, Dr. Stavrinides or the Bible? When the sun goes down the day ends.

Look at Psalm 104:19. It says: “He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.” The context is that of marking time. The moon marks the seasons, and the sun, not darkness, marks the days.

In Genesis 1:14-16 God says: “… Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”

Two great lights are mentioned. The lesser light was to rule the night and the greater light was to rule the day (see also Psalm 136:8-9). The sun and moon are these great lights. They were created to divide the day from the night. It’s the sun that divides the day, not the light of the sun. These scriptures make it very plain that the going down of the sun determines the end of the day, not complete darkness.

But after all of this “new truth” on determining the end of a day, the wcg says it isn’t going to really change when it keeps the Sabbath. Mr. Tkach said in the May 7, 1990 Worldwide News: “It has long been the practice, and still is, of the Church of God to observe the Sabbath beginning at sunset.”

So if the wcg still keeps the Sabbath from sunset to sunset, why did it make the change in the first place? Dr. Stavrinides explained why in the May-June 1990 Pastor General’s Report: “Since the commanded time of sacrifice, known as ‘between the two evenings,’ came after sunset and before dark, it was at the end of the Passover day, not at the beginning.” Only after changing when the day begins and ends would they be able to make changes in the Passover.

Between the Two Evenings

As Dr. Stavrinides mentioned, the sacrifice was to take place “between the two evenings.” The passage he was referring to is Exodus 12:6: “And ye shall keep it [the lamb] until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

“In the evening” is better translated “between the two evenings.” It is referring to that period of time between sunset and dark. So the lamb was to be killed after sunset but before dark. Notice that they were to keep the lamb until the 14th, not after or toward the end. “Until the 14th” would be at sunset right after the 13th.

The wcg teaches that the lamb was killed just after sunset (which would still be the 14th to them since their day ends at dark). Then the Passover meal was eaten in haste in the night part of the 15th; God’s death angel passed over and the Israelites got out of Egypt before the sun came up for the day part of the 15th.

Deuteronomy 16:6 was quoted above. It says that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed “at even, at the going down of the sun ….” The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon says this about the term “at even”: “the time between sunset and deep twilight.”

So we have established when the lamb was killed: between sunset and dark. The wcg has the time of day right, but they have the wrong day.

Couldn’t Leave House Until Morning

Here is what Mr. Tkach wrote in his “Personal” in the May 7, 1990 Worldwide News:

That meal was originally eaten by the Israelites in haste and with their shoes on their feet and their staffs in their hands, prepared for travel (Exodus 12:11). After the death angel passed over at midnight, and they had disposed of all the leftovers from the meal, they left Egypt (Exodus 12:31-36, 51) by night (after midnight, but still in the very early hours of the morning before dawn).

What Mr. Tkach fails to cover is two very important reasons why they could not have left their homes that night. 1.) They were not to leave their homes until the morning. Exodus 12:21-22 explains why: “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.”

2.) They were to leave the leftovers until morning and then burn them. You can read that in verse 10: “And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.” The leftovers certainly included the fat and bones. Simply burning the bones would have probably taken a couple hours.

They weren’t to leave until the morning. Mr. Tkach Jr. has said that the term “morning” here “is an ambiguous term and does not refer exclusively to the period after sunrise.” The Hebrew word for “morning” is boqer, which means “dawn (as the break of day); morning,” according to Strong’s Concordance.

This same word for “morning” is used six times in Genesis 1. “And the evening and the morning were the first day” (verse 5). Here, morning actually means the whole daylight part of the day. There was the evening, or night, and then the morning, or day, and that was the end of the first day. The term “morning” is almost always used to mean the “break of day.”

As said before, the sun is what divides the day from the night. Even the context in Exodus makes it plain. They were to eat the Passover “in that night” (Exodus 12:8), and God’s death angel was to pass through “this night” (verse 12), and they were not to leave their homes until morning, or at the break of day (verse 22). That seems quite clear.

In, Not After, the 14th!

Now let’s look at more biblical proof of just when we are to observe Passover. Look at Numbers 28:16-17: “And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.”

The wcg teaches that the lamb was killed at the end of the 14th and the Passover meal was eaten at the beginning of the 15th, or in the 15th, when these Scriptures plainly say that it is in the 14th.

In Leviticus 23:27, we are instructed to keep the Day of Atonement on the 10th day of the seventh month. Now look at verse 32 of the same chapter: “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”

Atonement was on the 10th but it was to begin at the end of the ninth at even. In other words, it began when the sun went down. This is the way we have always observed all the holy days. We observe the Sabbath on the seventh day, but beginning at sunset at the end of the sixth day. We wouldn’t start the Sabbath at the end of the seventh day. Logic would tell us that if you begin all other holy days and the Sabbath the day before at even, why not the Passover? Why would the Passover be the only exception and start at the end of the 14th? If you use that line of reasoning, why not start the Days of Unleavened Bread at the end of the 15th which would then make it fall on the 16th?

Leviticus 23:5-6 say almost the same thing as the passage in Numbers: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” Throughout the Bible, there is a very clear distinction between the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. We can’t just lump them all together into seven days. The wcg would like for you to believe that the Passover and coming out of Egypt all happened on the same night.

Exodus 24 Hours After Passover

Remember, they weren’t to leave their houses until morning, but we know from Deuteronomy 16:1 that they left Egypt by night: “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.”

If we let the Bible interpret itself, the only possible explanation is that the Passover was on the 14th and they left Egypt on the night of the 15th. This is confirmed in Numbers 33:3: “And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.”

They departed on the 15th, “on the morrow of the Passover.” Again, God makes a distinction between the Passover and the leaving of Egypt. Here is how Mr. Armstrong explained it in the March 1979, Good News: “The Israelites were not permitted to leave their houses that night after eating the lamb. They remained in their own houses—up in the land of Goshen—until daylight. Then they went to their Egyptian neighbors, and borrowed from them and spoiled them. There were millions of them. It took time to notify them. It took time to do all this. It could not have been done after midnight, when Pharaoh rose up, and still have gotten out of Egypt the same night. The Israelites were in their houses in Goshen all that night. Exodus 12:10 further proves this. Whatever remained of their roasted lamb uneaten until morning they were to burn with fire. That shows they stayed in their homes until morning.”

There is another interesting point to consider in this same passage in Numbers 33. It says they “went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians” (verse 3). This was because the Egyptians were out burying their dead (verse 4). It would be rather strange for the Egyptians to have gone out the same night in which their firstborn died and dug graves. Surely the Egyptians wouldn’t rush out and bury their firstborn that soon after they died. However, it does make sense that they were out burying their dead the following afternoon and when the sun set and the 15th began, the Israelites left in their sight.

Spoiling the Egyptians

Another important point that seems to be left out of the wcg’s explanation is when the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians. Neither Mr. Tkach nor Dr. Stavrinides even covered this point when they wrote on the subject of the Passover. This is a major point because of the time involved. Something this significant cannot be overlooked. We are talking about millions of people. The Israelites had an estimated 2.5 million people. It would be virtually impossible to spoil the Egyptians after midnight in time to leave that night before dawn. Besides that, they weren’t permitted to leave anyway, which has already been explained. And even if they were permitted to leave, we can’t forget how long the burning of the leftovers must have taken.

Recently, however, the wcg has finally written something on this subject of spoiling the Egyptians. It is in a letter from Mr. Tkach Jr. to one of the members in the Philadelphia Church of God, dated Nov. 12, 1991: “When did the Israelites ‘spoil’ the Egyptians (Exodus 12:35-36)? This occurred in the days before the Passover. God told Moses prior to sending him to Egypt that this was to occur (Exodus 3:21-22). Moses mentioned it at his last meeting with Pharaoh (Exodus 11:2-3).”

Yes, that’s true. God did tell Moses that this will occur. And after that occurs, the Israelites will go. That’s the whole point, because it hadn’t happened yet. Just think about this logically for a moment. The Pharaoh had been through nine absolutely horrible plagues. And yet he was still so stubborn and stiff-necked that he wouldn’t let the Israelites go. Then why would he even think about allowing the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians in the days prior to the Passover, when at that point he wouldn’t even let them leave Egypt?! Pharaoh did not allow this until God’s death angel passed over. Then he was willing to give them anything, just so they would leave (Exodus 12:33-36).

A Unique Sacrifice

Let’s briefly go back to the instructions God gave Moses in the first part of Exodus 12.

“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house” (verse 3).

Notice that the head of every household was to take a lamb. This was a unique sacrifice. Here is a quote from the September 1965 Good News:

Was this sacrifice a part of the sacrificial system established later? No! This particular sacrifice is totally unlike any other mentioned in the whole of the Old Testament. This is one sacrifice which was eaten by the offerer as a meal in his own residence. It did not have to be offered in the presence of a priest nor did it have to be killed on the altar in the sanctuary. The Passover sacrifice was a family responsibility.

It is clear that the Passover sacrifice was unique in itself and that it was not an integral part of the sacrificial system, for it was ordained almost a year before. And it was totally unlike any of the sacrifices mentioned in the book of Leviticus. It was not a sacrifice to atone for any particular sin. Rather, it was symbolic of the Messiah who was to come and His sacrifice for our sins.

As mentioned in the quote, the sacrificial system was not ordained until a year later. You can read of this in the 40th chapter of Exodus (also see Jeremiah 7:21-23). Notice Exodus 40:17: “And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.”

Up until this point, the Israelites did not have a tabernacle or an alter. Also, Aaron and his sons were not yet ordained into the priesthood. After Exodus 40, then all of the sacrifices were to be done in the tabernacle in the presence of the priest.

Since the Passover was a unique ceremony, it was very possible for every head of household to kill the lamb precisely between sunset and dark.

Celebration or Solemn Occasion?

Let’s look at another quote from Dr. Stavrinides taken from the same PGR: “The cleaning and preparation of the lamb, followed by the slow roasting, would have brought the Passover meal close to midnight of the 15th of Nisan, about the time God smote the firstborn of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:12) ….

“The 15th of Nisan is therefore described as ‘a night to be much observed’ (Exodus 12:42), because it marks the historical departure of the Israelites from the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:41).”

Ask yourself: Would God have them eat the Passover meal on or after the Passover? And why would He have them eat the Passover meal on a joyous night that was to be much observed? Passover pictures the death of Christ for the remission of our sins. That is the most sober occasion of the year.

God would not put the Passover meal on a night that pictures coming out of Egypt. First our sins must be forgiven (pictured by the Passover) or we don’t go out of Egypt! The Passover pictures death. The night to be much observed pictures coming out of sin. What could be more clear? To lump these two memorials together is nothing but confusion.

Jewish History

Today, the Jews combine the Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread into one festival. However, some Jews today will admit that originally the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread used to be separate. Here is what the Jewish Encyclopedia (Vol. 9, Funk and Wagnalls, 1905) says (emphasis mine): “Comparison of the successive strata of pentateuchal laws [first five books of the Bible] bearing on the festival makes it plain that the institution, as developed, is really a composite character. Two festivals, originally distinct, have become merged ….”

Josephus is perhaps the most well-known Jewish historian. Here is what he said regarding the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread (emphasis mine): “[H]e kept them together in one place: but when the 14th day was come, and all were ready to depart, they offered the sacrifice, and purified their houses with the blood …. Whence it is that we do still offer this sacrifice in like manner to this day, and call this festival Pascha, which signifies the feast of the passover; because on that day God passed us over, and sent the plague upon the Egyptians; for the destruction of the firstborn came upon the Egyptians that night ….”

Notice the context is all within the 14th day. And Josephus says “on that day God passed us over.”

Josephus states in another place, “we keep a feast for eight days, which is called the feast of unleavened bread.” It lasted eight days. It’s clear that Josephus understood that the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread were separate, for he states again in another place: “[A]nd so do we celebrate this Passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the day following. The feast of Unleavened Bread succeeds that of the Passover, and falls on the 15th day of the month, and continues seven days ….”

Isn’t it clear that after the Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread was to continue seven days as a separate Feast?

Josephus wrote just after the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. We know from the Gospels that most of the Jews in Christ’s day were observing the Passover on the 15th. So there must have been confusion among the Jews even in Christ’s day as to when the Passover was to be observed. If the Jews kept it on the 14th in the Old Testament, the question often asked is, when did all the confusion concerning the Passover occur?

Where Did the Jews Go Wrong?

There is no historical record as to when this happened. We know that the Jews were still keeping the Passover on the 14th in Ezra 6:19. In verse 22, it talks about the Days of Unleavened Bread as a separate event. This would have been around 519 b.c.

In April 1963, the Good News explained that the change may have occurred when the Palestine Jews were under the control of the Egyptians from 301 to 198 b.c. This would fit into the time frame, because we know it had to happen between the time of Ezra, when they were keeping the right day, and the time of Christ, when there was confusion over which day was the Passover. Here is a quote from that Good News:

While the Egyptians allowed the Jews to retain their ancient calendar, there was a change made in the beginning of the day—it became common to begin the day at sunrise. This custom was adopted and persisted among the Jews even down to New Testament times (see The Jewish Quarterly Review, April 1946). We (God’s ministry) have had personal information from the Hebrew Union College admitting this fact. (The proof of this is also given in The Expository Times, June 1948.)

A single diagram will explain what the new sunrise reckoning did to the Passover! …

With the 14th of Nisan supposedly beginning at sunrise, that puts what God calls the evening of Nisan 15 as still being on Nisan 14. This is where the problem arises. Even later on, when the Jews finally got back to an evening-to-evening reckoning for the day, they refused to abandon what had become the traditional way of observing Passover.

The diagram mentioned in the quote has been reproduced below. If you carefully examine it, you can see how the controversy developed.

Dilemma in John’s Gospel?

Dr. Stavrinides claims there is a dilemma in the synoptic Gospels concerning the Passover. Passages in Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16 and Luke 22:7-15 describe the Passover as happening the night Christ was betrayed. But John mentioned the Passover occurring 24 hours later (John 18:28). John only referred to the night before as a supper.

Dr. Stavrinides said: “If one grants the accuracy of Jesus’s Passover and the inaccuracy of the Jewish customs, he would have to maintain that the Passover of the Exodus fell on the night chosen by Jesus.” This is what we have believed all along while Mr. Armstrong was teaching it. But “this kind of thinking cannot possibly resolve the dilemma,” Dr. Stavrinides wrote.

Let’s look at the apparent “dilemma” in the Gospels. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, the night of Judas’s betrayal is referred to as “the Passover.” Dr. Stavrinides says that John 18:28 “presents the Passover as an event that occurs 24 hours later.”

Let’s first look at John 18:28. “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the [Jews’] passover.”

Mr. Armstrong taught that this was the day the Jews kept. He wrote in Pagan Holidays or God’s Holy Days—Which?: “[I]n Jesus’s day the Jews celebrated their Passover one day late according to the tradition of the elders (John 18:28).” Read John 18:28 again. Notice how many times the word “they” is used. Mr. Armstrong also taught that the Bible speaks of the true Church in terms like “you” or “we.” In this verse, “they” refers to the Jews.

Dr. Stavrinides gives the impression that there can be several different answers as to when the Passover is. He said that “the often asked question ‘Was the Passover to be kept on the 14th or on the 15th?’ can receive various correct replies, depending on the way one takes the ambiguous term Passover.” They are calling God’s Passover “ambiguous.”

That’s another way of saying that it’s OK to keep the Passover on the 14th or 15th. But the Bible, Josephus and even some Jewish authorities make a very clear distinction between the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread as being separate.

Christ’s Passover

Most people are in agreement when Christ was killed. It was in the afternoon of the 14th. This is what the wcg teaches. But when did Christ keep the Passover? It was in the night portion of the 14th. Or, the night previous to the day Christ was crucified. Some might argue that because John mentions the Passover as occurring on the evening after Christ’s sacrifice, that the Passover Christ kept the previous evening was just a “last supper” or some kind of “love feast.” But Christ makes it very clear in Matthew, Mark and Luke that the disciples were to prepare the Passover.

Notice Matthew 26:2: “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” Let’s stop there for a moment and see what Clarke’s Commentary says regarding this verse: “This feast began on the 14th day of the first moon, in the first month, Nisan, and it lasted only one day; but it was immediately followed by the Days of Unleavened Bread, which were seven, so that the whole lasted eight days, and all the eight days are sometimes called the feast of the Passover, and sometimes the feast or Days of Unleavened Bread.”

It’s interesting to note that even Clarke’s Commentary says the two are separate. But that is not the point we want to make here. The point is that these days were generally called the Passover or the feast of Unleavened Bread, meaning the whole eight days, including the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. Matthew wrote that “after two days is the feast of the passover.” In Mark 14:1 it says, “After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread.” And in Luke 22:1 it says, “Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.” All three use slightly different terminologies but the meaning is the same.

Now let’s continue with the story. In Matthew 26:17 it says: “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread [or, at the beginning of the eight days, as the Passover was approaching] the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?”

Christ gave them instructions, and the disciples did as He commanded and they went and “made ready the passover” (verse 19).

Let’s pick up the story in Luke’s account: “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15).

This makes it plain that when Jesus gathered with His disciples the night he was betrayed by Judas, it was indeed the Passover.

The next morning, after the betrayal, the Jews brought Jesus before the Sanhedrin. “Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover” (John 18:28).

This was before the Jews’ passover. The holy day was to start at sunset of that evening. Remember, the Jews did not want to kill Him on a feast day for fear of what the people might do (Matthew 26:5). They also wanted to be sure that the bodies did not remain on the stake during the holy day (John 19:31).

Then at 3:00 in the afternoon on the 14th, Christ died (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). The Passover meal and sacrifice all occurred on the 14th of Nisan.

Paul Explains Further

While Christ was with His disciples the last evening, He changed the symbols of the Passover (Matthew 26:26-30; Luke 22:15-20). Paul also explained later that Christ is our Passover. Let’s notice that verse: “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Paul further explains the Passover in 1 Corinthians 11:23: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread.”

Paul and God’s people at that time were to eat the bread and drink the wine. When? On “the same night in which he [Christ] was betrayed” (verse 23). Or, the evening of the 14th.

Again, the time setting is the evening of the 14th: the night Jesus was betrayed by Judas. This has already been explained thoroughly. Paul goes on to explain the changed symbols: “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (verses 24-25).

There can be no doubt that what Paul is talking about is the Passover Christ kept with His disciples. Paul instructed God’s Church to keep the Passover at the same time and the same way that Christ kept it. It was to be kept in remembrance of Christ. It was not some kind of “love feast.”

Now notice the next verse which makes it very plain: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (verse 26).

Some assume that since Christ was crucified on the afternoon of the 14th that the lamb must have been slain in the afternoon of the 14th in the Old Testament and that the Passover meal must have been that night on the 15th.

The night Christ was betrayed, which He plainly called the Passover, they ate the bread and drank the wine for what? To “show the Lord’s death till He come”!

Paul’s group followed that example precisely.

In the New Testament, Christ changed the symbols, not the day!

Conclusion

The Passover controversy has been debated for many years. And it will probably continue to cause great debate until Christ returns. What we always need to keep in mind is that God reveals truth. And that truth is proven in the Bible. While most were debating over which day the Passover should be kept, God revealed that truth to Mr. Armstrong and it’s our job to hold on to that truth.

Remember what Mr. Armstrong said about the doctrinal committee in the 1970s? He said “What started as an honest effort to find and establish real truth in due time turned into a group of ‘would-be scholars’ not appointed by me, seeking to destroy the true doctrines of the Church” (Worldwide News, June 24, 1985). In other words, instead of sincerely trying to find truth, they were trying to disprove real truth.

As the Passover approaches, let’s hold fast to the precious truth God revealed through Mr. Armstrong.

The Philadelphia Church of God is continuing to proclaim that same truth.