Q. Should the Sabbath count start with the sighting of the new moon?

A. Many people are coming to the conclusion that the Fourth commandment is valid and the Sabbath should be kept. For some that day was “changed” from the seventh day to the first day of the week and that error has been exposed and dealt with many times in these articles in the past. There is another error being taught in some circles and that is the teaching called “The Lunar Sabbath .” This teaching says that once you sight the new moon every month, it is called ”New Moon Day”. The next day is day one and you count of seven days and that is the true Sabbath, which is really day eight. Then the 15th, 22nd and 29th day of the month are “Sabbaths.” There some variations the all this but I will try to keep it simple. There is no scriptural support for all this and the followers of this false doctrine rely on the writings of men for their support. But, we should use the Word of God for our support not commentaries, Jewish or non-Jewish encyclopedias and other things for our support if it contradicts the Scriptures. I know some of the proponents of this doctrine and they all have a serious misunderstanding of the scriptures in common. Some are new to the faith and false teachers got a hold of them early and indoctrinated them in error and some are false teachers themselves who I have dealt with personally. They are the ones who never saw a wrong answer they didn’t like as long as someone listened. They write books, go on radio and the Internet and appear knowledgeable but they are hidden reefs and clouds without water. So, this question is going to come up among Sabbath observers so this article will help you to identify and confront this error with simple, biblical truth. To test this doctrine one only needs to consult the Word of God and the Lord gave us an answer in the first book of the Bible-Genesis. God sanctified the seventh day as a Sabbath and rested from all His works. Now which of the creation days did the moon appear? Was it the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth day? Genesis 1.14-19 clearly states that the moon was created on the fourth day. If the Sabbath was to be reckoned from the sighting of the new moon called a “Lunar Sabbath” then why did God rest on the seventh day of creation and not the 10th? Proponents of the new moon say that the new moon is also a Sabbath day of rest, but if it is why didn’t God rest on the fourth day when he created the moon? The truth is the week began without a new moon so it is irrelevant to the Sabbath. God said in Exodus 20.8-11 that we are to work six days and rest on the seventh day. Why? Because He created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day (of creation)! We are to follow His example. We are to have six days of labor between Sabbaths, not seven or eight like Lunar Sabbatarians. This is consistent with the Scriptural mandate for determining the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) also. The count is to begin “on the morrow after the Sabbath”, it is to contain seven Sabbaths, and the count is be 50 days. Another scriptural way of disproving the Lunar Sabbath theory is the collection of the manna in the wilderness.. God sent manna 6 days and didn’t on the Sabbath. Israel has kept track ever since. There is not one shred of historical evidence that disproves that Israel has been keeping the wrong Sabbath day. In fact, the false religions themselves know when the Sabbath day is because they changed it to another day in order to not be identified with the Jewish people. Some Lunar Sabbatarians say that after the Babylonian captivity the lunar calendar was changed due to pagan influence but that isn’t true. Yeshua and the first century believers kept the same Sabbath day as everyone else. After all, He was there when it was created so He should know and he endorsed the seventh day Sabbath by His obedience. So, for the above reasons alone no serious consideration should be given to the Lunar Sabbath teaching.