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serve che name of WEDN, or WODEN,
which was a Norsc equivalenr of
MERCURY. In Spanish, che name for
Wednesday is MIERCOLES.
There's much more, buc let's come
ro che sevench day of che week, che
day of which Jesus is che real LoRD
(Mark 2:27-28), bur which che pagan
calendar calls che day of SATURN,
anocher name for che hunrer NIMROD
(Gen . 10:8-9).
Had you ever faincly realized chese
rhings before? If che Wescern world
is a really "Christian" sociecy, why do
we srill liberally sprinkle our very
basic customs wirh pagan deicies of
bygone heathen religions? Even our
huge missiles are named afrcr rhese
ancienr pagan gods.
But whac abour rhe monchs? The
very same ching has happened. The
professing Christian world in che
Roman Empire adopted che same old
pagan calendar wich which rhey grew
up. They called che names of che
months, NOT afcer che divinely
revealed patrern of che Bible, bue afrer
Roman gods and goddesscs - for
example "Janus" or "Juno," or tn
honor of pagan emperors, such as
Julius or Augusrus.
Even the Years Are Wrong
But whac abouc che date coday?
Are we really living in che Onc Thou–
sand Nine Hundred Sevency-second
year
since
Chrisc's birth?
No! We are noc. Accually, until
abouc Sepcember of "1972," we will
havc been living in che 1975ch year
since che birth of Chrisc. Then we
will be living in che l976th year.
Lec's underscand. God did nor
insrruet man regarding che manner of
reckoning time according ro A.D. or
B.C. This is a devising of MAN. And
jusr like nearly everyching man has
acrempred ro do, ir is corrupc.
Do you see? There was noching
bur chaos and confusion. Buc God is
noc che auchor of confusion in rime
reckoning. (I Cor.
14:33.)
The presenc-day mcchod of calcu–
lating years and epochs was first
escabl ished by Dionysi us che
Li
crle, a
PLAIN TRUTH
September-October
1972
Roman abbor, and began ro be used
only in pares of lraly. Ir did nor reach
France uncil che 8th cencury.
The Florenrines concinued ro use a
cocally differenr mechod of reckoning
che passage of years, uncil as late as
che 18th cencury. Furcher, differenc
peoples, according ro locacion and
religion, began che years on differenc
dates, and in differenc monchs.
Ir was Dionysius who began
assigning che years prior ro Chrisr as
rhose ·'Ante Chrisrum," or, in
English, "Before Chrisr," and chose
A.U.C.*
B.C.
749
S
750x
4
751
3
752
2
753xx
1
754 A.D. 1
755 A.D. 2
•Ab
urbe condita, "from the
fo undation of the city" of
Rome
xActual year of Jesus' birth
xxDionysius Exiguus errone–
ously dates birth lo this year
on December 25th
CALENDAR YEARS
since the founding
of Rome (A.U.C.) and the years B.C.
and A.D.
fo llowing che supposed date of His
birrh as "Anno Domini" or, " In che
Year of Our Lord. "
Who was Dionysius) He was a
Roman Catholic abbor who lived in
che 6th cencury. His mechod of divid–
ing che years wich che supposed rime
of che birch of Chrisr has led ro
counrless difficulries.
For inscance, asrronomers, counr–
ing eicher backward or forward, inserr
a year
"O"
berween A.D.
l
and
1
B.C.
Chronologers and hisrorians do noc.
Isn'r ir a licde confusing ro use rwo
rorally differenc sysrems, che one che
exacr opposice of che orher, when
reckoning rime?
Nor only do historians and chro-
nologers rcsorc ro a double manner of
reckoning, but chey muse also remem–
bcr rhar che cycles of che leap years
are rorally differenr in che years
"B.C."
Dion)•sius was supposedly a
learned man. He was a highly skilled
rheologian according ro che
E1zcyclo–
paedia Britannica.
Buc leamcd in
whac? Why, in che
traditions
he had
always heard, in che pracrices and cus–
roms of rhose around him, and in che
"knowledge" he gleaned from che
accepced ideas of ocher human beings
of his day. He was exactly like any
ochcr human being, born inro a
"ready-made" sociery, simply
taking
for granted
che rhings he had been
caughr.
Whar abour ir? Was Dionysius
able ro be complerely objeccive? Was
he complecely honesr wirh himself–
driven only by che intellecrual and
philosophical pursuit of new knowl–
edge and rrurh? Or was he srriving ro
see how he could devise a method
which would blend che pagan cus–
coms wirh che "Christian" ones?
To chis Hislop replies: "The instru–
menr in accomplishing rhis amalga–
marion [concealing PAGANISM by
calling it "Chrisrian"] was che abbor
Dionysius rhe Lirde, ro whom also
we owe ir, as modern chronologers
have demonsrrared, that che date of
che Christian era, or of che
birth of
Christ Himself
was MOVED FOUR
YEARS FROM THE TRUE TIME!" (AJex–
ander Hislop,
The Two
Babylons,
p.
105,
emphasis mine.)
There ir is! You live in a man–
made sociery. Ir is ordered, devised,
consrrucced, planned and builr by
human
beings, who have rorally
departed
from rheir God.
These ancienr chronologers did nor
lose four years, as sorne have feared.
They jusr misplaced Chrisc's dace of
birch on che calendar rhey devised.
Larer chronologers recognized che
error and were forced ro assign che
birrh of Jesus ro an earlier date, buc
tbey didn'r change rheir calendar.
Thar's why rhey commonly designare
Jesus' birrh as being in
4
B.C.
O
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