April Fools

Africa needs Jesus. Give a radio and give hope. Many parts of Africa do not have the means of connecting to the Internet, so join with the Truth Network and Transworld Radio to put the Word of God straight into the hands of those most in need in Africa. Visit truthnetwork.com and click on the Africa Needs Jesus banner, or call 888-988-5656 to pledge your gift to put a wind-up radio into the grateful hands of people desperately in need.

On Finishing Well, we help you make godly choices about Medicare, long-term care, and your money. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. We have another amazing lineup of speakers, including football legend Perry Tuttle from the national champion Clemson Tigers, Stu Epperson, founder of Truth Radio, a champion for truth, pastors Chris Reed and Rick Joyner, champions for Jesus, Sean and Krista Smith, champions for the family, radio show host Robbie Dilmore, and last but not least, comedian Lee McBride. I want to challenge every man to attend and every dad and granddad out there to bring your son or grandson of any age.

We're going to do something special just for you. It is Father's Day weekend, so get registered today. You don't want to miss a champion summit. Why?

Because it's time to man up. Go to NikitaKolov.com for more information or to sign up today. Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is set for one flaw.

Introducing first from Lithuania, he weighs 123 kilos, the Russian nightmare, Nikita Kolov. Now, the Devil's Nightmare. Welcome back to another episode of It's Time to Man Up. Hey, I'm going to come after you and I'm going to tear your head right off your body. If you don't tune in to the Man Up show with Nikita Kolov and listen to Q&A with Kolov.

Question how you say answer. Yeah. Hey, there you go. A little extra special treat for you today. Hey, did you pick up on the fact that it's, well, that this might be just an extra special show centered around April Fools? That's right. A special show highlighting April Fools.

Don't know how much you pay attention to that. But in studio with me today is Stu Epperson. Oh, April Fools. Just kidding. Robbie Dilmore is in the studio with me today.

I think I was typecasted as April Fool. Robbie Dilmore, if you're not familiar with him, man, listen, he has one of the best shows on Truth Radio Network, The Christian Car Guy, as well as The Masculine Journey. And Robbie, what are some of the, I mean, that's just a couple of the one.

Man, you're telling people what all you've got. One of the neatest ones I get to do really, I do get to do a lot of neat shows, but Lantern Rescue is this group of people that go around the world rescuing people out of sex trafficking. I just host that show.

I don't actually go on the rescues, but man, what an honor it is to hear these stories of these people, not just sex trafficking, but lately they've been in the Ukraine, they're in Afghanistan, all these different wonderful stories. That show's called Lantern Rescue. And just like you always mentioned, you can get those on their Truth app.

Like if you download the Truth app or you listen on the Truth Network on any of our stations, which growing, growing, growing more and more stations. Yeah. Amen.

Thank you, Lord, for that. And so, you know, be sure to check out some of Robbie's shows and you'll enjoy it. Of course, if you're a regular listener to the Man Up show, then, you know, you've heard other specials that I've done in the past. Yeah, I've done Easter specials, Valentine's specials, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Fourth of July. Fourth of July.

I forgot about the Fourth of July specials. And so just so, so much fun to have you in this studio. Just if you want to say tag teaming with me on all these shows. But, but this, so this, the focus of this show in particular centers around April 1st and April Fool's Day, which, you know, I just thought it'd be fun, Robbie. I don't know how much any people like do pay attention to you or, or if they even still do like, like, let me ask you, like, do you have like some, some, some favorite April Fool's jokes or have you ever, have you ever pulled an April Fool's prank on somebody? And if so, what, what comes to mind that you may, may, may have done?

Boy, I, you know, I, I have lots of family members that pull those things, you know. On, on you? On me. Okay. Right.

Like, you know, I'll get a text that somebody died and, you know, something heavy duty. Oh no. For real? Oh yeah. Yeah.

I mean, some, some of my family members, they pull no punches when it comes to, you know, it's you have to be really ready on the first of April. Yeah. That is a heavy one. Hey, just wanted to let you know Uncle Joe died. Yeah.

Don't try this one at home. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You might, yeah. But you're like, what the heck?

Uncle Joe just got a report he was healthy as a horse. Right, right, right. It's not good. Yeah. Yeah. Don't go, do you, what, remember any, like, I'm trying to remember like, Oh, my mother was a short sheeter. Okay.

Are you familiar with that one? Ah, I'm not. Oh, there's a way that you can make your bed sheets so that you, when you go to get in your bed, you can't get in. Okay, okay. And my mother called that short sheeting and so it would not be an unusual thing on April 1st day when you're tired and you've had a whole day of being fooled. Right, right.

And if you're me and it's pretty easy to fool me. You know, last thing you do is you pull back the covers and you about break your toes trying to get in. Trying to get in the, under the covers. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. No, I may have to research that one and figure that one out.

Short sheeting. Yeah, she could do it. I couldn't tell you the technology, but my mother was, you know. She knew how to do it. She was a jokester, as you might imagine. Oh, my gosh. Well, you've got a great sense of humor. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, so. So you have really more pulled on you than you've pulled on I have.

Right, I don't wake up in the morning and go, now who can I, but for some reason I'm just a, people like to see my expression, I guess, or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, we're going to do this to Robbie, you know, let's hear it. So April Fool's Day, I'm going to cover, Lisa, you know, I did a little research here. I'm shocked. I did a little research and we'll see, hopefully it's pretty accurate.

I don't know, we'll see. Yeah. We'll see how accurate it is, but did you know that in addition to April Fool's Day, that it's also, can be called something else? Did you know that? I've heard a rumor that it was National Atheist Day.

Well, no, it wouldn't go down that path, but that one could have, I'm sure, certainly apply. So in addition to being April Fool's Day, it's also called All Fool's Day. I did not know that. Yeah. See, I knew I'd learn stuff today. All Fool's Day.

All Fool's Day. Oh. And so that really can apply really probably to all of us, because at least I'll just speak for myself. I'm not going to speak for you. Oh, you got me. Or any of our listeners out there, but I can say for certain, 100%, with 100% certainty, I can look back and say, well, I was a real fool that, you know, in this, that, or whatever, in that situation or whatever.

Here's a little Hebrew lesson for you. I did a little research, too, for a change. Oh, wow.

So here's a really cool, fun fact that you can try on people today. Okay. You know, April Fool's Day, right? The word fool in Hebrew, especially the one that Solomon used throughout the book of Proverbs, is pronounced evil. Okay. It starts with an aleph and then a vav, which would be that e sound next to a vav, and then it ends in a lamed, which makes it the sound of evil.

Okay. And the concept of those letters, when you put them together, if you look at the deep definition of the word fool, has to do somebody going after their own desires rather than the desires of God. That makes sense.

And selfish. Which is interesting because, you know, obviously, you know, the Jews pronounce the months of the Hebrew is... Yeah, each...you know, it's not April, May, June. I mean, they have... Right, right. They have a whole different calendar. Whole different calendar.

Yeah. You know, the month of Adar and all that stuff that were, you know, significant. But they don't...I'm not...I'm just talking about the idea of foolishness or, you know, what was talked about as a fool would be literally to pronounce it in Hebrew would be evil. And the idea, again, being that I'm being self-centered rather than God-centered, which...and how many times a day do I face my foolishness? For me, more times than I could count. That's for sure. There have been plenty of times I have been a fool and or made some foolish mistakes or done some foolish things, right?

And I'm gonna guess...go out on a limb and guess that every one of our listeners can probably identify in their own life journey with some of that. So, yeah, so in most countries outside of America, I guess, the 1st of April is known as All Fools' Day. Oh, like All Saints' Day, only this is All Fools' Day. I guess, yeah.

I hadn't even thought about it. I think the 1st of November is supposed to be All Saints' Day. And so it may be related.

I'm learning stuff here. Well, and so here's the deal, because, you know, calendars do play an important role in all of this. You know, we mentioned the Jewish calendar is completely different from, you know, from our current calendar. Gregorian calendar, right.

The Gregorian calendar as we know it. But it received its name, I guess, from the custom of playing practical jokes on this day, so that's where it kind of got its origin, you might say. You know, for example, you know, telling friends that their... For example, here's one for a second. Telling friends, you know, that their shoelaces are untied or sending them, you know, in a so-called fool's errand. Hmm. Oh, yeah. Right.

I had that happen. Oh, that reminded me of, oh, when I first went in the parts business, you know. Okay. And they sent me after these, you know, the Freon hangers.

Okay. Freon's a gas, and so you don't get Freon hangers. But, you know, they had me looking it up for hours trying to find, you know, in these books, they were thick as, you know, all get out these old parts manuals. Like, man, you got to find the Freon hangers. Like, what? So, you know, this kind of thing. Yeah.

Freon hangers. Yeah, there you go. Okay. So, right now, we're prompting somebody right now to send somebody on a fool's errand. You can try that one at home, yeah.

I'll take it. So, yeah, that one you could, yeah, try that one at home. What was that one that you did on all your friends, you know, what they call it, a hunt, and you hunted the bird, what was it? Snipe hunt. The snipe hunt. The snipe hunt. The snipe hunt.

Hey, can you find me a snipe? Yeah. What? Yeah, right? Well, although the day's been observed for centuries, it is interesting, I found that the true origin is really kind of somewhat unknown. Really?

Yeah, the real true origin, or you might say effectively unknowable. Wow. Right? But that said, it does resemble, it resembles some of the festivals, and I'll probably, I'll butcher some of the, a festival called Hilaria, something of that nature, which is Latin.

Are you familiar with that? Sounds hilarious. It ties right in with making some jokes here, come on, which is Latin for joyful. Okay, makes sense.

So that makes sense to Hilaria, right? Joyful. Going back to ancient Rome, which is actually, was held like, I guess March 25th, close to April 1st, right? Involved people dressing up in disguises, and even mocking, like mocking. Like making a fool here.

Yeah, like making a fool of, I guess, like a fellow city, citizens. Another word called, H-O-L-I, I guess pronounced, maybe holy or holi, you know, but was a celebration in India. Really? Yeah, which ended on March 31st.

So again, kind of leading into, I guess, April 1st, right? Some have proposed that the modern custom originated in France. Would you have thought that?

I would not. In France, of all places. Oui, oui, monsieur. Officially with the Edict of Roussillon, and I'm sure I'm not even... Oh, wow, that was good. I liked it.

Did that sound funny? My attempt at parti vous français. Promuligated in August of 1564. Oh, wow. So going back in which Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter. Oh, wow. Right? And again, now tying in the calendars to all this, as had been common throughout Christendom, but rather that the calendar would begin on January 1.

Wow. So, I mean, right, because in our modern world, our new year, right? Right. Like, right, December 31st, New Year's Eve, January 1st becomes the new year. But when you research back, you mentioned the Gregorian calendar, and I'm gonna actually talk about as well as the calendar that preceded that, do you know the name of that one? No.

The Julienne. Oh, wow. Calendar. Yeah.

So you have the Jewish calendar, you have the Julienne calendar, and then Charles, I guess, was responsible for transitioning to the Gregorian calendar. You're listening to The Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolof here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement?

Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. But anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolof Fans, and like it and follow today. If you would like to support Kolof for Christ Ministries, for a gift of $25, Nikita will send you his two CDs, Adoration and Declaration. For a gift of $50, Nikita will include his book, Wrestling with Success. And for a gift of $100 or more, Nikita will include a signed copy of his newly updated life story, A Tale of the Ring and Redemption.

Go to www.kolof.net and donate today. You're listening to The Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. That is wild, because when you think about it, the Jews celebrate their New Year's in late September, October, right? Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah. Right. Yep. And so if that previous calendar was taking Easter, that's really cool, as the beginning of the year.

That makes more sense to me. And it's kind of hard to wrap your head around all this, like even in my research, Rob, because I'm like, even like the 365 days as we know it now, wasn't always a calendar, wasn't always 365. In fact, again, the Jewish calendar, their calendar year runs from basically, like you're saying, from fall to fall. Not from January 1 to December 31, as we in America celebrate it, right?

I mean, really, I mean, it's really kind of mind boggling when you think about it. So going back to Charles IX, so Easter was tied in with the lunar, like the moon, so a lot of the calendar... It was because Passover is the same concept of Easter, obviously, that that's the whole deal. Yep. So, wow.

So, which is why... So every year, Easter is different, right? Yeah. You know why it's different? Because it ties into the moon, it ties into the lunar... Right. Our calendar doesn't follow the moon the way that it once did. Right. But back in those days, Easter was a lunar event, and therefore a movable date, which is why Easter shifts every year for us. So we do kind of still kind of follow that.

Right. And so Charlie wanted a more concise way to get his new year together, so it'd come on the same day every year. I see Charlie, what was he, Charles IX? Charles IX. But those who now... Do you ever think any can cling to old traditions?

So check this out. So there were some who wanted to cling to old traditions and... I'm guessing those were the fools? They were henceforth... April. April fool. They were all fools. They were April fools. They were foolish for wanting to cling to their idea of a calendar, right? Yes. So check this out. So some historians will speculate that April fool's day dates back to 1582, okay? And back then France...

So here you go. So France at that time switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as was called by the Council of Trent in the 1500s, okay? In the Julian calendar, the new year began in the spring equinox around April 1st.

Interesting. I mean, I don't know. You know, it's significant on all sorts of levels because, you know, Passover is the oldest celebrated, you know, holiday, you know, period, domain, kind. And it came on that equinox. I mean, obviously, Passover is... And it's celebrated that way by the Jews and held to this day, and God asked it to be celebrated, right?

As far as Passover... Centuries later, right? Yeah. And so here we go. So, you know, that's really fascinating.

And then now that's really new information. Well, and there was 360 days to a year. Really? Not 365. And even... Because I've always kind of been puzzled about, like, even every four years there's a leap year. Right.

Because you can't divide it. Right? Like, so they add a 29th day... How about the people who were born on February 29th?

So they celebrate their birthday once every four years? Yeah. It's Stu's daughter, by the way. Really? Yeah.

Why is her daughter born on leap year? Oh my gosh. That's... Some of these things... So she's like six, even though she's 25.

Right? So some of these things just puzzle me, right? So you had the Jewish calendar, the Julian calendar, which I didn't go into a lot of history on how that one came about, but then eventually I just wanted to get to more... Focus more on the Gregorian calendar that we currently, today, in modern day, center our whole lives around, right? The Gregorian calendar. So why isn't it called the Charlonian calendar? I don't know why it's... I don't know why... You guys think it was Charles? They didn't name it after...

I don't see Greg in this. I don't know, but I want to try to share six things with you that our listeners didn't know or don't know about the Gregorian calendar, right? Okay.

Six things you didn't know. Okay. Here, number one, the original goal of the Gregorian calendar was to change the date of Easter. Are you serious? Yes. So that was the original goal of the Gregorian calendar. Because there was, again, because it was a floating holiday, right?

And so to make it more, I guess, more, what, concise or just more... Predictable? Yeah. On a regular basis, leap year... So here's the second, leap years don't really occur every four years in the Gregorian calendar. Well, I don't know. What?

Right? The Gregorian calendar included an extra day in February every four years. So in a sense, even though we're operating under the Gregorian calendar, we're really, there's some shades of the Julian, right? Some influence, I'll say.

Julius is still going strong. It still applies, right? Number three, the Gregorian calendar differs from the solar year by 26 seconds per year. What are you going to do with that? I don't know. I just came up with this food for thought here, right? Some Protestants reviewed the Gregorian calendar as a Catholic plot.

That was like, oh, this is like... Not to beat up all the Catholics, but they just saw it as this whole shift from the Julian. Now they've done it. Yeah. Right?

And they made them April Fools. I bet. Yeah.

Britain's adoption of the Gregorian calendar sparked riots and protests, they anticipate. Yeah. Again, people get stuck in tradition, right? Well, that's it.

You know, changing the calendar. Can you imagine like, okay guys, from now on, can you imagine? No. It's like crazy, right? It would spark a...

I'd be upset about it. Yeah. And number six, before the Gregorian calendar adoption, the English new year began March 25th, or what's known as Lady Day. Lady Day celebrates the Virgin Mary.

Wow. Lady Day. Lady Day. Boy, we're just learning today. It's good that you didn't ask me on Lady Day if I wouldn't have known. That's right.

That's right. There's a whole history lesson today on April Fools Day. There are variations between countries in the celebration of April Fools Day, but all have in common an excuse to make someone play the fool. Right? So they have that common theme. In France, for example, the fooled person is called Poisante Avrea.

I tried, I tried. Which is translated into April Fish. Really? Yeah. Perhaps in reference to the young fish, and hence to one that is easily caught, and in common the French children pin a paper fish on the backs of unsuspecting friends. Stuffed people. We're talking about praying practical jokes, right?

Yeah. In the day of the Fools, in Scotland, the day is called Gaukey Day. Gaukey. No, I never want to guess that.

I can hardly wait until next year's show. I'm going to be tested. Why was Scotland Gaukey Day? Gaukey Day. Of course, in modern times, people have gone to great lengths, as you and I have discussed today. Sometimes, you know, elaborate April Fools Day hoaxes, I mean from newspapers to radio, TV stations, websites, all participating in the April 1 tradition of just reporting outrageous fictional claims that have just fooled their audiences. Yeah, and unfortunately, my best friend that invited me to, excuse me, that introduced me to my wife was born on April Fools Day. And so it was great from a standpoint of, you know, like I always knew when Vic's birthday was.

So did you do something like knowing that? Was there something extra special? Oh, yeah, yeah.

He was a dear, dear friend. So we always had fun with that, but yeah, it is an annual event, isn't it? And wow, as originally, it was apparently an attempt to shame those who would not conform. Yeah, in a sense, yeah. Right? And what's more fascinating, maybe I just need to do a whole show sometime on this whole, you know, Jewish calendar, Julian calendar, Gregorian calendar, leap year, and the celebration of it. And really, it kind of ties in, and have you ever figured this out, Robbie, about the, you know, when the man of God called the sun to stand still for the battle? Right.

Oh, yeah. How... Change the calendar, right? That would change the calendar, wouldn't it? And here's another little fun fact I'll give you on calendar, since you're talking about it.

I think it's really cool. So Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, from the Jews standpoint, is the day that God created Adam. So it's not the first day of creation. It was the sixth day of creation that was... So you can go back six days from Rosh Hashanah, and that's the day where, you know, God began to create. But they marked the day that God created Adam as the beginning of their calendar year.

Was that a fun fact? So I mean, just all this, right? So I mean, all these... Whether we're talking about April Fool's Day, or of course, you know, I mentioned, you know, whether it's Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, right? I mean, just go through a lot of the... That's all in the calendar.

It's all tied into a calendar, right? Anyway, tune in for another episode of It's Time to Man Up, and we just appreciate you each and every week. And also go listen to The Christian Car Guy, Masculine Journey, Lantern Rescue, and all these other shows that Robbie's a part of. So God bless you. Thanks, Robbie. Thanks. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you for your support and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to Kolov.net and donate today.

Hi, Nikita Kolov. Be sure to check out The Man Up Show, now available on television, broadcast, and podcast. Go to MorningStarTV.com or the Truth Radio Network. Check out your local listings, or better yet, download the Truth Network app today. If you are enjoying The Man Up Show, would you help us spread the word, tell your family, tell your friends, tell your neighbors to download, subscribe, and leave a comment? Nikita Kolov here.

If you're needing to buy a car and have marginal credit and considering using buy here, pay here, that's worse than taking the Russian sickle. Winston-Salem Motor Cars will put you behind the wheel of a car you can rely on while helping rebuild, repair, or establish your credit score. Conveniently located on Silas Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem, be sure to check them out today at wsmc1.com because you are number one. Hi, Nikita Kolov, and I am excited to announce that I will be hosting my first ever Holy Land Tour. That's right, a trip to the Holy Land with the Russian nightmare, and I'm extending a personal invitation to you. Join me December 27, 2023 to January 5, 2024 for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Go to NikitaKolov.com and get registered today for the Holy Land Tour. This is the Truth Network.