The Laodicean Times
The 13th Month
by
Ray Serrano
Updated 3/10/05
          When to add the 13th month seems to be another one of those dividing issues in the churches of God.  The fact that we have all been accustomed to using the Gregorian calendar, which begins the year and the month at the same time, compounds the problem and clouds our understanding of the holy calendar.  January first not only begins the month but also the year.  This is due to the fact that the Gregorian calendar ignores the moon altogether.  The holy calendar however uses the sun and the moon to set the times.  One complete circuit (revolution) takes 365 and 1/4 days.  If you start counting from the beginning of spring (as you should), one has to reach that same point (365 1/4 days later) to then start the next year.  Although it does not matter when you begin the  year, you must reach the same point in time before you can commence the next year.  Meaning that 365 and 1/4 days must elapse.  The moon plays no roll in this matter.  The moon only determines the beginning (and by default the length) of the months.  Note that in the book of Exodus the scripture  relates to the first month of the year which had to have already started.
    
     This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
     (Exodus 12:2 KJV)

Notice that the scripture states "shall be unto you the beginning of month:" not the beginning of the year.

The Book of Enoch goes into somewhat more detail.

      At that time it appears, (speaking of the moon) and becomes to you the beginning of the month.
      (Enoch 72:5)
    
      And when it is wholly extinguished, its light is consumed in heaven; and on the first day it is called   
      the new moon, for on that day light is received into it.
      (Enoch 77:14)

      So that the year is completed in three hundred and sixty-four days.   
      (Enoch 81:7) see note No. 1

So lets take this one step at a time.

1.  According to scripture the heavenly bodies are to set the appointed times, years, months and days. (The "appointed times" or feast days must fall in their proper seasons so by default the heavenly bodies also set the seasons.)
          
          Genesis 1:14 "And God said, 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: the day...: Heb. between the day and between the night."

2.  The beginning of a month is determined by the moon.  However the moon can not be used to determine the different seasons of the year.  The seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter) are determined by the sun.)

3.   The sun's relationship with the earth determines the seasons.  The year cannot begin until winter is over and spring has started.  The year starts in the spring and not before.  (One cannot begin a new year until the old one is over. In other words the earth must complete a full revolution around the sun. Enoch 81:7)  If one uses a month that contains both winter and spring, the year can be said to have started in the winter.  (Before a full revolution is complete.)  If a month contains both winter and spring it cannot be considered the first month of the year.  The entire month must fall in the spring in order for a month to be a spring month.  

4.   By using the first crescent moon after the start of spring  there will not be any need to concern ourselves with the problem of intercalation because another month will automatically be added every time it is needed.  That is the case this year. (2005) See note No. 2

   There is only one rule for the holy calendar:

1- The first month of the year starts with the first crescent moon in the spring. 

What can be simpler?     Watch short video on the Holy Calendar Here


What about the the Barley?


                                       

From Another Source
Finding the first month of the new year is a little more complex, but is not out of reach for any member of the church. We know God told Moses, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:2).

The question is-which month, which visible new moon? It becomes like a puzzle to us because we are living about 3500 years later than Moses, but this puzzle can be solved quite easily from your own Bible.

First, this new moon was just prior to the barley harvest, but long before the wheat harvest time in Egypt.

  "And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled [in
   bud]. But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up" (Exodus 9:302).

So the time of the year was in the spring just when the barley was beginning to ripen, but before its harvesting.

  Second, we know that Moses was later told to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread during this first month.  During the week of unleavened bread, the third week of that month, there was to be a sheaf of grain (barley) waved as part of the ceremony. The harvest could be under way during the time of this ceremony, but none of it could be eaten until after the ritual.

  "When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye
   shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf
                             before the Lord..." (Leviticus 23: 10,11).

It is important we understand that the barley harvest was then in process, because this is a necessary clue to determining which new moon to use as the first month.

According to all the histories we have investigated, at the earliest, barley harvest begins in the first half of April by today's calendar. As an example, we offer the following:

  "Barley begins to ripen in Palestine with the beginning of April, and in the lower and warmer parts
  the cutting is begun at the end of the same month. Hence we see that the first new moon, which
  began the first month and the Jewish year, could only take place in the last days of March at the
  earliest, and sacrifice of the 'omer' (wave sheaf) at the earliest only some days before the end of the
  first half of April"
  Astronomy In the Old Testament, Giovanni V. Schiaparelli, 1905 Oxford, Clarendon Press, London.
What about the the Barley?
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