A False Doctrine Spreading Among Sabbatarians
By Kelly McDonald, Jr.
There is a false doctrine spreading among Sabbatarians that directly contradicts the True Sabbath. It is called the lunar sabbath. What is the lunar sabbath?
It is the belief that the true Sabbath is kept on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days from the appearance of the New Moon. While this belief has spread in recent years in the Body of Christ, it is certainly not new. A.H. Sayce was an archeologist who did work in the Middle East. He gives us insight into the origins and ancient practice of the lunar sabbath:
“An old list of Babylonian festivals and fast-days tells us that on the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of each month the Sabbath-rest had to be observed” (Sayce, The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments, p 74).
The only difference between the ancient practice of lunar sabbaths and its modern reappearance is that the ancient Babylonians rested on the nineteenth day as well. Despite this difference, the practice of honoring the Sabbath based upon the appearance of the moon is still Babylonian.
In the Bible, we are instructed to come out of Babylon, not to go into her. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins…” (Rev. 18:4).
How does this teaching contradict the Bible?
First of all, the Sabbath is honored every seventh day of the week (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). It is not honored on the seventh day of each month. God makes this very clear in the Bible. Let’s look at some examples from Scripture.
When God gave the Fourth Commandment, He said: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” Exodus (20:9-10a, 11). Notice that a month is not mentioned in these verses. The Sabbath is called a specific day.
In Leviticus chapter 23, God discusses His Feasts. The first of these special days is the Sabbath. Nowhere in His description of the Sabbath is the term “month” found; it is found on the seventh day of every week. “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3).
When we read the rest of Leviticus chapter 23, the Annual Festivals ARE based upon specific months of the year. Consider Passover as an example: “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover” (Lev 23:5). God specifies the difference between a festival that occurs on a day of the week (the Sabbath) versus one that is related to a specific day of a specific month (such as Passover).
There are no verses that say the Sabbath is held on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty first, and twenty-eighth day of the month.
Secondly, the lunar month is not divisible by seven. The lunar cycle is approximately 29 ½ days. This means that if one kept the lunar sabbath, then there would be four weeks of seven days followed by one week of either eight or nine days. This means that the sabbath would not fall every seventh day. This breaks God’s continuous weekly cycle of seven days.
I have heard proponents of the lunar sabbath claim that the days between the fourth lunar Sabbath and the appearing of the next New Moon do not count as days. This also contradicts the Bible. God defines a day as evening followed by daytime. “…evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen 1:5b). God reckons this as a day whether we want it to be or not. We can’t just say ‘they don’t count’ without God instructing us about it!
For another Biblical illustration of the seven day week, consider the manna in the desert. God gave one portion of manna for five days, twice as much on the sixth day, and none on the seventh day. This weekly cycle of manna lasted for 40 years. God did not allow a break in this seven-day cycle to wait for the new moon to appear.
Third, there is no way to honor Pentecost under such a system. Pentecost is reckoned by counting seven Sabbaths from the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread (Lev. 23:15-21). The day after the seventh Sabbath is called Shavuot or Pentecost; this is the fiftieth day. There is no manner of reckoning time under the lunar sabbath system where the day after the seventh lunar sabbath is the fiftieth day. God reckons Pentecost based upon a seven-day week regardless of the month.
Fourth, there are dozens of languages that preserve which day of the week is the Sabbath. Consider the words for Saturday in the following languages: Indonesian (Sabut), Tagalog (Sabado), Italian (Sabato), Spanish (Sabado), Greek (Sabatoh), Arabic (Al Sabt), and Mandingo (Sibiti).
CLICK HERE to read more about languages which confirm the seventh day of the week.
As the writer of Hebrews warned us: “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1). Like a boat that drifts slowly from the shore, we can drift away from God’s purpose for our lives. The lunar sabbath causes this sort of drifting. It disconnects people from the reality of God’s Creation; it causes people to miss the true Sabbath. Furthermore, the notion disregards the Word of God and the seven-day weekly cycle established by God.
CLICK HERE to learn more about other historical attempts to change the seven-day weekly cycle.
Unfortunately, I have had friends who have been deceived by this false doctrine. I pray for them to turn away from it. Please share this article and help others avoid this doctrine which has led many astray and shipwrecked their faith.
Kelly McDonald, Jr.
BSA President – www.biblesabbath.org
The Sabbath Sentinel 
Thank you for posting. This has been everywhere lately, and it tends to divide the body. Hard enough when people think the sabbath is such a weird concept 🙂
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You are so welcome! Thanks for reading Paul! You are exactly right – the world already struggles to understand the true Sabbath. This false lunar sabbath just makes the rest of us look bad!
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Good article, and one believers and Sabbatarians need to read and heed.
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When you know people that keep the lunar sabbath, you come to learn. It’s not about what’s right and biblical, what’s truth. It’s about them being right and everyone else being wrong. And as more people start following the false doctrine, with the only evidence being YouTube videos by people that also following the false doctrine and don’t really show any proof, other than the created false evidence which was created by the lunar sabbath keeper’s cult and their forcing scripture to fit their false doctrine. That being there only things to back up their doctrine. I have people that I know that are exactly like that. No matter how much proof and evidence you show them to prove it’s wrong, to turn them away from the cult. They just think their right and your wrong, they been brain washed to think like the lunar sabbath keeper’s cult. It’s clever how the cult easily tricks and deceives people, when the truth is right there in people faces, but they just not seeing it. I don’t see those people anymore as God told me to not associate with them any longer, he saw how much I was trying to bring them back to the truth but they just wasn’t letting go, they were right and I and everyone else was wrong and seeing as we’re made out to be wrong they also make God out to be wrong, God not being right on when his sabbath is. God told me to not see them anymore, he kept me from going to see them and associate with them. They didn’t want to listen to truth and see the evidence and proof which would make their whole doctrine they follow fall apart. They just always wanted to debate and the only proof to back them up was YouTube videos by either seventh trumpet prepper or some other people. It’s all they have. Just like many lunar sabbath keepers in the world. All they have is YouTube videos by other people to back up their doctrine. They don’t even know when lunar sabbath keepers really began, it wasn’t that long ago. It was like 1800s if I am correct, correct me if I am wrong. And a lot of Babylon pagan stuff were used in the creating of the lunar sabbath. The worship of the moon goddess. So much written evidence on the web which digs into the true origins of lunar sabbath and other info. And so much evidence that proves that Friday to Saturday sunset is the true seventh day sabbath which was kept since creation. It’s sad too how people go from keeping one false doctrine (Sunday 1st day of the week) to following another false doctrine the lunar sabbath. Oh, by the way those people I was talking about are my mum, well I don’t class her a s a mum as she was always a lousy one at that anyways. Her partner and my two half-brothers. Well those boys been forced into following the false doctrine, and they suffer from ADHD and what not. They control their lives in so many ways, won’t even let them go out and work as they want to keep them on benefits, even though they both want to work and do what they want to do in life. It’s a shame, but I’m sure they will finally have enough soon, I mean ones 18/19 and the other is like 17. But yeah, I don’t see them, I just can’t be part of that whole un godly situation. They even allow drugs in the house and use the excuse of “God created the plant and it has health benefits” Yes, God did create the plant and yes there are health benefits, in the oil though not by smoking the buds. God didn’t put things on the earth to smoke. Smoking things, inhaling smoke and what not is doing damage to our body which is a temple of Gods spirit. But yeah, so many reasons God wanted me to stay away, he saw they were just fakes and not obeying him, not following Yeshua (Jesus) but rather following a false doctrine and their own lusts and pleasures. I obey our heavenly father and trust him no matter what and know that it was the right thing. All those that are following the false lunar sabbath doctrine will soon see that it’s a false doctrine when so many people are being killed for keeping Gods true sabbath (Saturday) but yet nothing happening to those following the false lunar sabbath. Then again, they probably come up with something to explain that, just to make out their doctrine is still the true one. LOL… Anyways, thought I share that with you all. God bless.
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I also think this doctrine is a symptom, and not the disease itself. This new generation of ‘come outers’ has a root of, if I was lied to once everything has to be a lie. So everything EVERYBODY believes has to be false doctrine, and only I with my unyielding skepticism and cynicism, can get to the truth. And only those who believe in the conspiracy behind everything to the degree I do are worthy of my fellowship. This has kept them in line with other extremist traditions though, the tradition of endless splintering of groups, and moving to remote locations with some degree of living off the land, to be separate and called out. The pride never died, it just got amplified.
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The Essenes also fell into this false doctrine.
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Wow! I did not know that. Thank you for sharing that Lenny!
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That’s one of the main “proofs” people use when discussing this. Here’s the DuckDuckGo search: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=essenes+lunar+sabbath&t=brave&ia=web
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Fascinating! To your knowledge are there any indirect or direct references to the Essenes in the New Testament?
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None that I know of.
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Considering the wealth of historical information about Jewish people in the New Testament, that is pretty amazing that the Essenes were left out. Perhaps some of their beliefs, like the Lunar Sabbath, led to that omission?
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