Preparing to Depart

Joseph Herrin (04-13-2012)

Exodus 12:11
“Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste -- it is Yahweh’s Passover.”

A number of people have written to me, or forwarded to me links to videos and teachings, indicating that they sense a special significance to this year’s Passover Festival. Passover is not to be confused with the pagan Easter (Ishtar, Astarte, Astoreth) celebration. Passover is a Biblical festival established by Yahweh while Easter is a pagan celebration that originated in ancient Babylon as the worship of the Sun and the goddess of fertility (hence the symbols of fertility like bunny rabbits, Ishtar eggs, flowers, and Sunrise services). To read more on Passover and Easter, and their incompatibility, I recommend the following writing.

http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/fat-tuesday-mardi-gras-ash-wednesday.html

Related to this, I would like to share a note for your consideration and prayer. Steve Kaempf, a brother in Christ I was blessed to meet in my travels across the nation in 2010, wrote and shared that he sensed this Passover season, and the following “counting of the omer” to hold special significance this year. One thing Steve noted is that 430 years ago the Gregorian calendar was adopted, replacing the Julian calendar.

You may ask, “Why is this significant?” The Gregorian calendar was created for the express purpose of establishing permanently a civil and religious calendar that insured Easter would always be observed at the appropriate time. The central focus of this calendar reform was getting th Easter date right.

It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582...


The motivation for the Gregorian reform was that the Julian calendar assumes that the time between vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days, when in fact it is presently almost exactly 11 minutes shorter. The error between these values accumulated at the rate of about three days every four centuries, resulting in the equinox being on March 11 (an accumulated error of about 10 days) and moving steadily earlier in the Julian calendar at the time of the Gregorian reform. Because the spring equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Roman Catholic Church considered this steady movement in the date of the equinox undesirable.


The Gregorian calendar reform contained two parts: a reform of the Julian calendar as used prior to Pope Gregory's time and a reform of the lunar cycle used by the Church, with the Julian calendar, to calculate the date of Easter... Lilio also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the annual date of Easter, solving a long-standing obstacle to calendar reform.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar]

I hope the fact was not lost upon the readers of this blog that President Obama, a man who has proven by his words and actions that he is anti-christ; who has championed the murder of the unborn; who has exerted great influence to promote homosexuality in the military and in society; a man who calls evil good and good evil; who has defended Islam as a religion of peace and faith while choosing to not participate in the Christian day of prayer; a man who has supported the removal of all things overtly Christian from society did indeed celebrate Easter at the White House with much enthusiasm. Why? Because Easter is not Christian. It is a continuation of pagan Sun worship and is attended with many obscene symbols, rites and practices. (I encourage the interested reader to study the connection to Carnival in Brazil and other nations, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, etc., to discern how many debauched practices are associated with the fertility goddess Ishtar/Easter.)

Barack Obama with Easter Bunny

I guarantee you there was no Passover observance at the White House. There was no commemoration of the death, burial and resurrection of Yahshua. The focus was upon the Babylonian Easter festival.

Barack Obama - Rolling Easter Eggs on the White House Lawn

It is rather telling that a Roman Catholic Pope would place so much emphasis upon getting the date of Easter right. It reveals that the Roman Catholic Church is truly the ancient Babylonian Sun religion thinly disguised as being Christian. See the following post:

http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/syncretism-part-four-apostles-of-sun.html

It was Pope Gregory the 13th who codified the new calendar into law. The number 13 holds an evil connotation for society at large, but few realize that the number from the earliest times has been used of Yahweh to denote rebellion and apostasy. I refer the reader to E.W. Bullinger’s study of the Biblical significance of this number.

http://www.philologos.org/__eb-nis/eight.htm#205

The year 2012 marks 430 years that the church (Roman Catholic and Protestant) has adhered to the Gregorian calendar that was devised to promote the celebration of the fertility rites of Easter at the precise time when the Sun (Spring equinox) and the lunar cycle were perfectly aligned for the correct Babylonian celebration. Like the Israelites in Egypt, the church has been brought under the sway of a fallen world system that made central the worship of pagan deities. (There is a reason that the Biblical Sabbath has been reinterpreted as falling on SUNDAY, rather than the date Yahweh established it to fall upon. It was the influence of Rome with its Sun worship that led to the change.)

It was the will of Yahweh that after 430 years of dwelling in Egypt that His chosen people should leave that pagan nation with all of its false religious practices.

Exodus 12:40-41
Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt.

Is it possible that after 430 years under the influence of the Gregorian calendar, a period in which the church has dwelt in spiritual Babylon and Egypt, that Yahweh is calling her out and that a wilderness journey lies before her at this time? I have considered this, noting specifically that Yahweh has testified to me that I should be used of Him as a guide to His people through their wilderness journeys. I have shared previously that vehicles symbolize ministry, and Yahweh has provided for me a bus (Carpenter Body Works) that was built in 1972. The bus is 40 years old this year. Forty is a number associated with wilderness journeys, for the Israelites were led through the wilderness for forty years, and Christ fasted in the wilderness for forty days.

During the past month and a half the Father has been indicating to me that a time of transition is at hand. I had spent 14 months prior to this camped in one spot in Perry, Georgia. Since that time I have been led to relocate and to make certain renovations to my bus to ready it for travel and usage in coming days. Quite beyond any choosing by myself (the reservations were made by friends) I find that my very first time of travel will be on the morning of April 15th. Passover ends April 14th. Thus, even as the Israelites found themselves traveling on this date 3,500 years ago, I find that I will also be at the beginnings of traveling in my bus.

I am not stating that the wilderness journey of the church in the wilderness will begin at this time. God has not given me any specific dates, or shown me events what will precipitate the departure of His people from their dwellings in Babylon and Egypt to enter into a wilderness period. I do believe, however, that we are at a special point in time when a remnant of God’s people are hearing the call to come out of Babylon and to surrender to be led of the Spirit in all they do even as the Israelites were led by the pillar of fire and cloud.

What would you be doing if you were an Israelite in Egypt 3,500 years ago and God had been telling you to get ready to depart? The Israelites were told to be in readiness, having their sandals on their feet and their staffs in their hands. They were to have all their possessions packed. What is often not considered is that they had to cut many ties to the world they had been living in. For more than four centuries the Israelites had been dwelling in Goshen, a fertile section of Egypt that was suitable for flocks and herds.

The Israelites had dwelt in this place for many centuries. They had built homes. They had planted gardens. They had become a settled people, thoroughly under the influence of Egypt. They knew God to be saying to them that they were to be ready to leave it all behind.

Back in 1999 the Father led me to leave everything behind that I had known. I was led to leave my employer of fourteen years and to follow wherever His Spirit led me. This resulted in my being led to surrender my house, furnishings, and many worldly possessions. I had to leave family and friends behind in order to walk with Yahshua. At that time I became a wilderness wanderer upon the earth. The following passage seems especially pertinent at this time.

Hebrews 11:24-28
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

The apostle Paul then continues by writing of others who walked similar paths as they followed God in obedience.

Hebrews 11:36-38
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Wanderers in desert places. Just like those who departed from Egypt 3,500 years ago. The wilderness places the Spirit of Christ has led me through in the past decade and more have at times included actual wilderness places, but more often I have been in the cities and towns as I have followed the Spirit. There have been mockers, afflictions, and destitution at times. There has even been imprisonment. Similar things are ahead for the sons and daughters of God who will follow the Spirit faithfully in this hour. There is a wilderness way to be trod. It is an afflicted path, but there is sufficient grace all along the way. The God of all comfort will walk with His people.

In recent days the Spirit has been directing me to specific preparations. I do not fully understand what they are for. I do not know the specific character of coming days, or the needs that will be present. Nevertheless, I have sought to obey that leading I have discerned of the Spirit. In a sense, I have experienced what those Israelites in Egypt must have felt when they knew that their departure from Egypt was nearing. Decisions had to be made, and preparations taken, to prepare for a journey whose details were unknown to them. They only knew they had to be mobile. They had to let go of those things that bound them to Egypt. They needed to be free to go wherever the Spirit of Yahweh led them.

The Spirit is indicating that a similar journey is near at hand for His people. The Scriptures testify of such an experience.

Revelation 12:6
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Revelation 12:14
But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

For a long period of time the church has taken her nourishment in the presence of the serpent. Satan had introduced many unclean foods for the church to feed upon. The doctrines of the church have been thoroughly leavened with falsehood, idolatry, and immorality. The church must experience a period of time when she is fed with pure food, that she might be established in righteousness and truth. This feeding will occur in the wilderness as the Ekklesia, the called out ones, are borne along by the Spirit of Christ.

For those who embrace it, the journey ahead will appear to be a wilderness way. The abundance of material things, of ease, comforts and pleasure, will be absent. The remnant of God’s people must endure hardship. They must have their minds girded up to follow a difficult path without murmuring or complaint. They need to encourage themselves with the knowledge that this will be a transforming journey. It will be a journey that takes fleshly men and women with minds set upon things of the earth and transforms them into spiritual beings with the mind of Christ.

I encourage you to be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit in this hour. Ask Him to show you how to make ready for that wilderness journey ahead of you. Ask Yahweh to show you what you must do to be enabled to depart from Egypt, from Babylon, and to begin that journey to Zion. Let the Spirit of Christ be your guide.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

P.S. I will most likely not be posting anything for the next two weeks as I will be traveling from the 15th through the 22nd. I am making final preparations now, and will be busy for some days after this time period.


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Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063