The International Dateline Dilemma

The International Dateline Dilemma by D. J. Love, Minister, TSN, SBC upgraded 2-9-2002 (See Maps Below)

Have you ever considered the effect of The International Dateline upon our ability to "Keep The True Seventh Day Sabbath Holy?" Let's take a good look at this evil, that has been forced upon mankind, and see who is affected and who is not.

The True Sabbath begins Friday at sunset in Jerusalem, and the leading edge of this Sabbath Setting Darkness moves around the world from Jerusalem in the East to the West, as the Earth turns. If you will check your world maps and globes, you will notice that on the opposite side of the world from Jerusalem (almost 180 degrees) near the middle of the Pacific Ocean is The International Dateline. It lies between the American continents on its East and the Asian, Australian, and European continents on its West. Now what do you suppose happens to the Calendar Date in this traditional man made world when the leading edge of the approaching True Sabbath Setting Darkness crosses this imaginary Dateline (IDL)? Well, the Friday night sunset suddenly becomes a Saturday night sunset. Of course, this is not in accordance with our Creator, who established Jerusalem as the Holy City, and therefore, YHVH's International Dateline. With this knowledge it is easy to see that approximately one-half of the Earth is off by a day. All countries West of The International Dateline and East of Jerusalem should actually be keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath on Sunday, but most of them (Christopagans) by far don't know it, and are, therefore, guilty of breaking the Fourth Commandment by "The Intent of Their Heart." They actually believe they are observing a Sunday sabbath

when it is actually a Saturday Sabbath. Also, those Sabbath Keepers (West of the IDL and East of Jerusalem) who (out of ignorance) keep a Friday night to Saturday night Sabbath are not correctly observing the TRUE Sabbath. And even though they may not be guilty by "The Intent of Their Heart," every True Believer wants to correctly keep YHVH's Commandments, and to follow YHVH's ways and not mankind's ways. It is not until theSabbath Setting Darkness moves back to Jerusalem that the True Sabbath is over and theSabbath Setting Darkness becomes (Sunday) the first day of the week. Only those countries and people that are both West of Jerusalem and East of The International Datelineare choosing their Sabbath on the correct day. The "Intent of Their Hearts" is clear.

I have a new question now. If the True Seventh Day Sabbath isn't important, as the Catholics, Protestants, and some other religious groups say, then maybe we should investigate why so much effort has been placed into disguising the True Sabbath from mankind. It appears to me that the evil behind this is, also, the same evil behind removing YHVH's influence, YHVH's True Believers, and The Jews from the Earth. It is easy to see that only a self-centered Satan and his self-centered followers would try to prevent YHVH from being worshipped by His G-d Centered Believers. Of course, the reasons for all of these changes all follow humanistic reasoning and Satan's influence.

The Universal Roman Involvement In 1493 Pope Alexander VI issued a bull in which the meridian line located 100 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands would divide the spheres of influence of the Spanish crown (westwards of the demarcation line) and the Portuguese crown (eastwards of the same line). The demarcation line was moved to 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands in the following year by the Treaty of Tordesillas, sanctioned by Pope Julius II in 1506. European explorers who approached the Pacific Ocean by sailing to the east

such as the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the French, naturally kept their ship’s journals and diaries according to the day count of their home land and this was of course, also, adopted by the colonists who settled along the Asian perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. However, the colonization of the Pacific Ocean by the Spanish (catholic) occurred from the opposite direction and more specifically from the Spanish possessions in the Americas. The Philippine archipelago was discovered in March 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan and Spanish (catholic) dominion over the islands was first firmly established in 1565 by Miguel López de Legazpi (c. 1510 - 1572), the conquistador and first Spanish governor general of the Philippines. He had been equipped with five ships by Luis de Velasco, the viceroy of New Spain, and left Acapulco in 1564. In April 1565 he reached The Island of Cebu, and founded the first Spanish settlement on the site of modern Cebu City. In 1570 he sent an expedition to the northern island of Luzon and in the next year he founded the city of Manila, which became the capital of the new Spanish colony and Spain’s major trading port in East Asia. Since most of the shipping from the Philippines to Spain went over the Pacific Ocean to the Mexican port of Acapulco, was transported over land to the port of Veracruz, and then shipped to Spain. In order that the Spanish ships crossing the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and the Spanish Americas would not have to adjust the dates in their journals whenever they sighted land, the Philippines (at that time) observed the same day count as that of the Spanish (catholic) Americas. During the early 1840’s the commercial interests of the Philippine Islands turned more and more away from the Spanish Americas, and trading with the Chinese mainland, the Malay peninsula, the Dutch East Indies and Australia became increasingly important. So in order to facilitate communication and trading with its western and southern neighbors, the secular and religious authorities of the Philippines agreed that it would be advantageous to abolish the Spanish method of reckoning days (same as the Americas) and adopt the Asian method of reckoning. This in no way removed the influence of the International Date Line, but merely moved the Philippines to the West of the Date Line. This was achieved in 1844 when Narciso Claveria, the governor general of the Philippines, issued a proclamation announcing that Monday, 30 December 1844, was to be immediately followed by Wednesday, 1 January 1845 (One day ahead of the edge of the Sabbath Setting Darkness).

From about the 1740’s the north-western regions of North America had been explored by Russian adventurers and Russian whalers and fur trappers who subsequently settled there observed both the Asian day reckoning as well as the (catholic) Julian calendar upon which the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church was based. The neighboring Canadians however observed both the American day reckoning and the (catholic) Gregorian calendar and their time keeping therefore differed 12 days (13 days after 1800) with those of the Russians. In 1867 Alaska was sold to the United States, and the change to the American mode of time reckoning was put into effect by decreeing that Friday, 6 October, of the same year would be followed by Friday (sic), 18 October – a shift of 12 days due to the change to the (catholic) Gregorian calendar (Named for Pope Gregory XIII) plus one day on account of the day change and minus one day for the relocation of the date line to the waters of the Bering Strait. In October 1884 representatives from 25 countries convened in Washington DC at the International Meridian Conference to recommend a common prime meridian for geographical and nautical charts that would be acceptable to all parties concerned. When the meridian of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich was by nearly-common consent adopted as the prime meridian, it was remarked how convenient this choice was as it insured that the 180º meridian, where formally the Dateline should be located, mostly passed over water. However, no attempts were made during this conference to specify the exact course of the Dateline, when it happened to cross land or pass through island groups. Since that time there have been many minor adjustments of the IDL to accommodate islands and the borders of nations, but no one has sought to abolish the man made IDL, and re-establish YHVH's IDL in Jerusalem. Mankind has always done that which was convenient, and advantageous for making money. So where in this world is the desire to follow the ways of YHVH? The answer lies within the hearts of mankind.