Fourteen Myths

FOURTEEN MYTHS ABOUT THE SABBATH

 

Following is a list of fourteen of the most popular arguments which are used against the observance of the Sabbath. We submit our defence in an article immediately following this list.  It is our earnest desire to help Gods people turn from tradition and myths to the truth as it appears in the holy scriptures.  Walking in truth rather than error is like the difference between light and darkness.

Myths, fables and traditions have all played a part in the present apostasy which is prevalent all through the professed Christian religion.  It is high time that those who desire to follow Jesus Christ open their eyes to the darkness into which the church has fallen due to its hanging on to the decadence of a sectarian system which is influenced by seducing spirits and doctrines of devils [2 Timothy 4:1.] Truth sanctifies: [John 17:17]; not myths and theosophical foolishness!

 

THE FOURTEEN MYTHS

 

1. The Sabbath was not observed before the law was given from Mount Sinai, it was only intended for ancient Israel.

 

2.  Jesus abolished the law.

 

3. Jesus rose from the grave on Sunday, making it the Lords Day.

 

4. The early church fathers observed Sunday.

 

5.  The apostles held their meetings on Sunday.

 

6. Pentecost occurred on Sunday, which proves God blessed Sunday.

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7.  Sunday, being the first day of the week is more appropriate for Christians because it speaks of a new life and a new week.

 

8.  We are to keep every day holy.

 

9.  Every person has a right to choose for himself which day to keep.

 

10.  One day in seven is all that counts.  The seventh day for one person may not be the seventh day for another.

 

11.  The calendar has been changed.  No one knows for sure, which day is the seventh.

 

12. What about the international date line?  Doesnt that prove that the days are unimportant?

 

13.  Jesus said there are twelve hours in a day. How can you count from sundown to sundown?

 

14. What about people living in the Arctics?  How can they count from sundown to sundown?

 

 

STRAIGHTENING OUT THE  MYTHS FROM SCRIPTURE

 

The setting aside of the seventh day as a blessed and holy day was done at the time of creation. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

[Genesis 2:2-3].  This was, of course, about 1,500 years before the Law was issued from Mount Sinai.

Notice that God sanctified the seventh day, that is, he set it apart and made it holy.  Whatever may have happened subsequent to the creation would not detract from the sacredness of the seventh day, unless it has been specifically stated by God himself.  And such a statement is nowhere to be found in the holy scriptures.

It is noteworthy to mention the fact that some months before the Ten Commandments were given, God gave absolute instructions concerning the Sabbath: He said that manna would fall to the ground six days but not on the seventh.  Exodus 16:23-26  23. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.  24. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.  25. And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field.  26. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.

God gave an indisputable testimony concerning the Sabbath.  Every sixth day the people were to gather twice as much manna as they had on the first five because there would be none on the seventh day.  Here was a weekly miracle which began before the Law was given from Mount Sinai, and continued on for the next forty years  [Exodus 16:35].

Perhaps this is the reason the Lord said,  Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. [Exodus 20-8-11]. They were already respecting it, and now they are reminded to remember it. God rested on that day and they were to do likewise.

Jesus clarified this issue in Mark 2:27-28 when he said, The Sabbath was made for man, [not the Israelite, nor the Jew], and not man for the Sabbath:  Therefore, the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.  God sanctified the Sabbath for mans sake, not for ancient Israel.

Is it logical to believe that when God blessed and sanctified the seventh day at creation that he did not inform Adam and Eve of the fact?  We think not! And remember, Adam was not an Israelite. He was man, and the Sabbath was made for man.

It is most apparent that God intended for mankind to cease from his own labours [as God did from his. Hebrews 4:10] on the seventh day of each week: that day has a special blessing upon it that is not shared by the other days of the week

It is not true that Jesus did away with the Ten Commandments, the Law.  He testified most emphatically that he had not come to destroy the Law but to keep it, or fulfil it.  Matthew 5:18  For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot [a dot] or one tittle [a small mark] shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. In view of this verse, why do we have ministers lifting the fourth commandment out of the Law and saying: This one has passed away!  Jesus own words make it plain that he did not, nor did he intend to, do away with any of his great moral standard, the Ten Commandments.  While it is true that the Mosaic Code [Moses law] was abolished because Jesus was the antitype of that typical code, he did not abolish the Ten Commandments, except to broaden or magnify them.  For example, Jesus taught that lust was as sinful as the act of adultery.  Sin, he affirmed, begins in the heart of man, and it must be dealt with; and sin John tells us, is the transgression of the Law [1 John 3:4].  Logic teaches that if there is no Law, there is no sin; if there is no sin, there are no sinners; if there are no sinners, then everyone is saved, and no one needs to be born again!

The attempt to write off the viability of the Law of God is one of the most pitiful and weak arguments against Sabbath keeping which has been adopted by men of the cloth.  Such a position as this deprives the judgement of its legitimacy.  There must be a standard or criterion to which God holds men accountable, otherwise his day of reckoning would be a farce, or a day of injustice wherein Almighty God would reward some with eternal life while he arbitrarily condemned others to eternal damnation and destruction. But such is not the case.  His eternal precepts and principles stand forth as a beacon of light to those who will receive them.  True freedom is found in compliance and obedience to Gods divine Law, for it is in that state where God himself dwells.

Romans 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid: Yea, we establish the law. Who said that? None other than brother Paul who usually is pointed to as the one who disdained the Law.  We, Christians, saved by grace and not by works, establish, or build up, Gods Law.  How? By breaking it, abrogating it, banishing it from our lives?  No! We establish it by keeping it, observing it, obeying it, defending it!  And since the Sabbath is a part of the Law, we are compelled to include it right along with the prohibitions of adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, etc.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates  into the city.  Need we say more?

We are made to wonder if this claim has even the slightest credibility.  Let us suppose that Jesus rose on Tuesday. Now, can we possibly imagine anyone claiming that Tuesday is the Christian Sabbath because Jesus rose on that day?  Nonsense; this myth is a fairly modern one; it was not heard of when Sunday keeping became a Christian practice.  The resurrection of Jesus is not even remotely connected to the heathen practice of SUNday observance.  This false claim deserves to be named for what it is: a monstrous lie!

If Jesus resurrection changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day why didn’t at least one of the bible writers inform us of this important matter.  Nowhere in the New Testament is there the tiniest hint that God removed the blessing from the Sabbath and placed it on Sunday!  And yet we have millions of devout Christians who believe that Sunday is a holy day. Why? Who told them this big lie? [We will answer that later].

Truthfully, Jesus did not rise from the tomb on Sunday morning.  If we are to believe his own testimony, then he arose late on the Sabbath day, before sundown.  Read carefullyMatthew 28:1-2 in the KJV or a Greek Interlinear and see for yourself that before the first day of the week began, Jesus was out of the tomb.  The modern versions will not tell you the truth about Matthew 28:1-2, so dont go there for proof.

But even so, what right does anyone have to say that Jesus resurrection nullified the sacredness which God placed on the seventh day at creation?  Is this not an act of arrogancy on the part of those who promote such an unbiblical argument as this?  Think about it.

Johns use of the term Lords day in Revelation 1:10 does not, did not, could not, refer to the first day of the week.  It is quite possible that he alluded to the period of time in which the events he witnessed while in the Spirit took place.  If he meant a certain, literal, single day, he most certainly did not mean SUNday, for the simple reason that only one day was ever called his day: the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.  [Mark 2:28].  The seventh day then, is truly the Lords day.

There is no reliable documentation which declares that Christians observed Sunday in the first or second or third centuries A.D. By the middle of the fourth century it had become illegal to do any business or unnecessary work on the venerable day of the sun, as expressed by Constantine, the Roman Emperor.  But the first day of the week was not a part of the religious practices of the early Christians.  Not only did they not observe Sunday as the Sabbath, neither did they hallow Easter as the resurrection of Jesus.  Easter and Sunday were incorporated into the Christian religion straight out of paganism by none other than the Roman Catholic church.  They had no scriptural basis nor biblical authority for carrying out this diabolical plan, yet they were successful because they had the military force to back up their claims of power and doctrine. In fact, they make the boast that though they had no bible authority to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, the fact that the whole world, including Protestants, observes Sunday, proves that they possessed the divine right to make doctrines as they saw fit!

 

Following are quotations from the Catholic Mirror, September

 

1893, in which the author berates the bible believing Protestants, for following Roman Catholic doctrine: for, inasmuch as Saturday was the day kept and ordered to be kept by God, divine authority alone, under the form of a cancelling decree, could abolish the Saturday covenant, and another divine mandate, appointing by name another day to be kept holy, other than Saturday, is equally necessary to satisfy the conscience of the Christian believer.  The bible being the only teacher recognized by the biblical Christian, the Old Testament failing to point out a change of day, and yet another day than Saturday being kept holy by the biblical world, it is surely incumbent on the reformed Christian to point out in the pages of the New Testament the new divine decree repealing that of Saturday and substituting that of Sunday kept by biblicals since the dawn of the reformation.

Examining the New Testament from cover to cover, critically, we find the Sabbath referred to sixty-one times.  We find, too, that the Saviour invariably selected the Sabbath [Saturday] to teach in the synagogues and work miracles.  The four gospels refer to the Sabbath [Saturday] fifty-one times.

In one instance the Redeemer refers to himself as the Lord of the Sabbath, as mentioned by Matthew and Luke, but during the whole record of his life, whilst invariably keeping and utilizing the day [Saturday], he never once hinted at a desire to change it.  His apostles and personal friends afford to us a striking instance of their scrupulous observance of it after his death, and, whilst his body was yet in the tomb, Luke 23:56 informs us: And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment.

We now approach the investigation of this interesting question for the next thirty years, as narrated by the evangelist, St Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles. Surely, some vestige of the cancelling act can be discovered in the practice of the apostles during that protracted period.  But, alas! We are once more doomed to disappointment.  Nine times do we find the Sabbath referred to in the Acts, but it is the Saturday [the old Sabbath].  Should our readers desire the proof, we refer them to chapter and verse in each instance.  Acts 13:14,27,42,44.  Once more, Acts 15:21; again, Acts 16:13; 17:2; 18:4. And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.  Thus, the Sabbath [Saturday] from Genesis to Revelation!.

It is impossible to find in the New Testament the slightest interference by the Saviour or his apostles with the original Sabbath, but on the contrary, an entire acquiescence in the original arrangement; nay, a plenary endorsement by him, whilst living; and an unvaried, active participation in the keeping of that day and no other by the apostles, for thirty years after his death, as the Acts of the Apostles had abundantly testified to us.

The Gentile converts were, as we see from the text, equally instructed with the Jews, to keep the Saturday [Sabbath], having been converted to Christianity on that day, the Jews and the Greeks, collectively.  Gods written word enjoins his worship to be on Saturday, absolutely, repeatedly, and most emphatically, with a most positive threat of death to him who disobeys.  Proposing to follow the bible only as teacher, yet before the world, the sole teacher is ignominiously thrust aside, and the teaching and  practice of the Catholic Church adopted, despite the most terrible threats produced by God himself against those who disobey the command, Remember to keep holy the Sabbath, The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.

We say, by virtue of her divine mission, because Jesus who called himself the Lord of the Sabbath endowed her with his own power to teach, he that heareth you, heareth me.  The only recourse left to the Protestants, is either to retire from Catholic territory where they have been squatting for three centuries and a half, and accepting their own teacher, the bible, in good faith, as so clearly suggested by the writer of the Appendix, commence forthwith to keep the Saturday [Sabbath], the day enjoined by the bible from Genesis to Revelation; or, abandoning the bible as their sole teacher, cease to be squatters and a living contradiction of their own principles, and taking out letters of adoption as citizens of the kingdom of Christ on earth, his church, be no longer victims of self-delusive and necessary self-contradiction.

Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.

Constantine, the Roman Emperor, legalized Sunday as a day of rest in 321 A.D.  Pope Sylvester in 325 A.D blessed Sunday, and in 364 A.D the R.C. church made Sunday keeping mandatory.  The early Protestants did not question the Sunday observance for a lack of biblical knowledge, but modern Protestants have fabricated all sorts of excuses to justify their keeping of the R.C. holy day, thus creating a hybrid religion which is part Protestant and part Roman Catholic.  We agree with the Catholic scribe: either become a Sabbath-keeping Protestant, or a Sunday-keeping Catholic: Compromise is impossible.

This topic was partially covered by Number 4, but we will point to a few popular claims which are made by many people:  John 20:19: Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst  This, very plainly, was not a worship service nor even a religious meeting.  These men were huddled together in fear, not exultation: no singing, praying, preaching or reading the scriptures.

The next mention of a Sunday meeting is in Acts 20:7-8 where we find upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.  And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.  Obviously, this was not a Sunday day-time service.  As we all know, days were reckoned from sundown to sundown, not midnight to midnight.  Therefore, this meeting was held on what we call Saturday night, since the first day of the week began at sundown, and Paul preached until midnight and left on Sunday during the day.  There is no record of the apostles ever having a religious service during the day on Sunday, the first day of the week.  In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Paul gave instructions for carrying out a mission for the destitute saints in Jerusalem who were victims of a severe drought.  Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.  Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.  And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. It is absolutely incredible to classify the above as a religious meeting, or a worship service, or any other kind of assembly.  Those who use these verses as proof that the early church gathered for religious meetings on Sunday are engaged in an exercise of dishonesty and deception.  It is most clear that Sunday [the first day of the week] was considered a normal working day, a day upon which to gather together food stuffs, clothing, and other items to send to the poor saints in Jerusalem.  This would involve harvesting of crops, by hard, hand labour, packaging them for transport, and perhaps even preserving some perishables.  Not the slightest suggestion exists in favour of a Sunday religious service!

But, we have read numerous rantings by respected bible authorities who loudly proclaim that Paul commanded the Corinthians to have Sunday worship services!  Again, we affirm that this is blatant dishonesty. It is a detestable demonstration of the depths of deceit to which some will descend in order to defend their defenceless traditions.

There are no other references in the New Testament in regard to the first day of the week.  NONE!  If modern Christians [Protestants, that is] wish to follow the practices of the early church as a precedent, then they should have their meetings on Saturday/Saturday night and never on Sunday during the day. [Saturday night, at sunset, is the beginning of the first day, and was the time of the meeting recorded in Acts 20:7-11].

Pentecost, along with other annual events, did not fall upon the same day of the week every year.  This concept [that Pentecost is always on Sunday] sprang forth as an added proof that Sunday was blessed of God as a holy day.  But let us reflect upon this momentarily. If the Pentecost in Acts 2 was on Sunday, and the basis for this is found in Leviticus 23, then Pentecost had always been observed on Sunday, a fact which voids the sanctity of Sunday, because Pentecost had been observed since the time of Moses!

However, Pentecost was a rotational observance along with Passover, Unleavened Bread, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles.  It was not a first day of the week celebration, nor did it occur on Sunday in Acts 2. In Leviticus 23, Moses set up the times and dates of the feasts of the Lord.  The first month of the year was the time for the combined feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread.  Passover day was a Sabbath, a day of rest when no servile work was to be done.  The next day was the first day of Unleavened Bread, and was the day upon which the priest was to wave the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest before the Lord.  As stated in Leviticus 23:11, on the morrow after the Sabbath shall the priest wave it.  The Sabbath referred to here is not the weekly Sabbath, but the Passover Sabbath, the day before the waving of the sheaf. Pentecost, then, was counted from that day, the day of the waving of the sheaf, [Leviticus 23:15-16] fifty days.  The fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost, [Pentecost means fifty]. Thus, whatever day of the week the sheaf waving occurs, Pentecost will fall on that same day.  [seven weeks and one day].

In order to determine the day upon which the Acts 2 Pentecost occurred, we need only to find the day of Passover and the day of the sheaf waving for that year.  For the sake of brevity, we will state that Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover. [He had eaten Passover with his apostles the night before].  We also assert that that day was Wednesday, the middle of the week and that Thursday was the day of the sheaf waving. It is evident that the Jews were one day off on their reckoning because they were preparing for the Passover the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, and he had already observed Passover the night before!  We must proclaim that Jesus was right and they were wrong. Thursday, then, should have been the day for the priest to wave the sheaf before the Lord. It was also the day to begin counting fifty days to arrive at Pentecost, which, of course, occurred on Thursday that year. Pentecost follows Passover and occurs in the same pattern of annual rotation; it may fall upon any one of the seven days of the week, depending upon the day of Passover. Shall we consider Thursday a special day because the Holy Ghost fell upon the saints in Jerusalem on that day? Of course not!  The Holy Spirit is not limited by time or space; he may fall upon God’s saints any day of the week. [even on Sunday]. Isn’t it strange how man is so adept in concocting fanciful fantasies to bolster his acts of rebellion against God’s holy word?

We have heard all sorts of allusions describing the beauties of a glorious sunrise which comes with the breaking of a new day [ which is somehow transferred to the breaking of  a new week], all of which is meant to inform God that he made a mistake by resting after having worked for six days. Man has succeeded in improving on God’s way! He rests first, then goes to work.  How nice! But what does a new life in Christ have to do with a new week?  If carnal man can’t come up with something better than this he ought to resign or at least stop using such flimsy arguments to support his brazenness. It is impossible to keep something holy which is not already holy.  And man isn’t capable of making anything holy.  The seventh day is holy because God made it so. While it is true that we should live holy lives before God every day, this is not the same as keeping a day holy.  Ceasing to work on Sunday doesn’t make it holy; going to church on Sunday doesn’t make it holy; God himself hasn’t made it holy, so it is not a holy day.  It is a pagan holiday, and it has not been blessed by God.  So the term, keep every day holy is not only unscriptural, it is an impossibility. Man just can’t do it!

If every person has the right to choose for himself about such an important issue as this, then he should be free to decide whether to obey any of the other commandments of God?  We say this is an important issue because it is a vital part of the decalogue. No one has the liberty to pick and choose which of the Ten Commandments he will obey. As James puts it: For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all [James 2:10]. The idea of choice on this subject comes from Romans 14:5-6 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.  Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. This is no invitation to take it or leave it, or do as you please! No, he more fully explains his reasoning in verse 6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord, he doth not regard it.  He is here placing responsibility upon each individual.  He is not approving disregard of the law, he is stating that it is to the Lord that the person will answer for his negligence to obey.  That explains why he said, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  Paul is not saying that it is okay to esteem every day alike.  To the contrary; he affirms the fact that he that esteems every day alike is accountable to the Lord for his actions.  He states an undeniable truth in Romans 2:13 where he says, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

While it is true that we are free moral agents and have the right of free choice, we must accept the consequences of our choices.  To suggest that anyone can decide for himself whether to accept or reject obedience to Gods commands without consequence is a dangerous falsehood.  Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind means that you hold your eternal future within the power of your own free will:  Your choice is of great importance!

It has been our experience that people who resist and fight the truth of the Sabbath have serious troubles in other areas of their lives which may be even more important than the keeping of the Sabbath.  Rebellion begets rebellion and no Christian has the right to live in rebellion. This flimsy argument hardly deserves an answer, for God blessed, hallowed and sanctified the seventh day, not just any day. It is plainly set apart from the other days in both the Old and New Testaments as a day recognized by heaven as a special time:  If thou turn away thy foot from doing thy pleasure on My Holy Day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:”  [Isaiah 58:13.] Notice Gods viewpoint of this day; he calls it My Holy Day.  It would be totally impossible to count one of the other days as the seventh, or regard it as the Sabbath.

There have been many attempts to change the days of the week, but all have failed.  While it is true that the calendar has been changed pertaining to the months of the year, the seven days of the weekly cycle have continued unchanged throughout the history of mankind. Astronomers refer to the week as the seven-day yard stick which is used to calculate both the past as well as the future. It is an unerring record of time which has continued from creation to the present. It is remarkable that some of the folks who make this false claim seem to have no trouble at all in knowing when the first day of the week arrives.  Their only problem seems to be with the seventh day!

The International Date Line is irrelevant insofar as the Sabbath is concerned.  God created the earth as a sphere with the full knowledge that daylight would not be visible in all places at the same time on the globe.  Nevertheless, he commanded that a certain day be remembered as a holy day wherever man may find himself. When humankind were few in number and were located in a small general area, the observance of a certain day posed no real problem.  But once man had discovered the shape of the earth and began to navigate its surface, the problem of time-keeping became a reality.  Man realized that in order to avoid confusion from one area to another, it was necessary to establish an imaginary point at which one day ends while another begins. Thus the International Date Line.

If any one wishes to anchor a ship near the International Date Line and traverse back and forth over that line, he could end up with either six days or eight days, depending upon the direction of his travel. However, that would not change the rest of the world which would continue on its ever-faithful course of making seven full days per week.  The important thing is to go by the sun in whatever time zone you happen to live. Every person who keeps the Sabbath holy does so according to the time when the sun sets in his zone.  Since God created the earth, he took into account the problems and possibilities and he provided the means to cope with any problems; and if he is not perplexed by it, why should we be?

Truly, Jesus did make the statement, Are there are not twelve hours in a day?  [John 11:9]  The Jews observed time much as we do: twenty-four hours broken into two twelve hour segments.  However, they counted from the time the sun sets to when the sun comes up, and from when the sun comes up to when the sun sets.  Normally, there would be about twelve hours of darkness and twelve hours of daylight, although seasonal changes would lengthen and shorten the sunlight hours as per the time of the year; but each day included a night time of darkness. This in no way affects the Sabbath. [Levticus 23:32].

Those who live in the Arctics where days alternate from twenty-four hours of sunshine to twenty-four hours of darkness still are aware of the time in relation to the rest of the world.  It is not as if they are on a different planet.  It still takes twenty-four hours to make a complete rotation on a common axis with the rest of the earth.  The time zones extend from pole to pole so that those people who live near or above the Arctic circle [or Antarctic circle in the southern hemisphere] observe time in accord with the rest of the people in any given time zone. So whats the problem?

 

The importance of the Sabbath

While the Sabbath is a great truth, the observance of it does not guarantee salvation for anyone.  No one is saved by keeping the Sabbath anymore than people are saved by not stealing.  It is not the seal of God, it is not a surety.  It is a divine command which man has been ordered to obey.  The penalty for breaking this command is the same as that for breaking any of the other commands of God: death!

The Sabbath is a shadow of things to come; it is a sign of the rest into which God has called his people, the rest of ceasing from our own works as God did from his. [Hebrews 4:1-11].  It is a weekly reminder that there is a rest for the people of God which is available now, in this life time.  It is possible for man to walk so closely to God, in obedience to the Fathers perfect will, fully surrendered to the perfect will of the living God, that he no longer does his own will, but lives as Jesus lived: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.  [Matthew 3:17].  Jesus always did the will of his Father. Even the words that he spoke and the works that he did were from his Father.  His commitment to the Father was total; his surrender was complete.  He ceased from his own works as God did from his.  He wants us to do the same, and he has given us the seventh day as a weekly jolt to inspire us to cease from our own works and enter into that glorious rest, the rest which is signified by the holy seventh day.

 

  Appendix 1

 

It is a well known and documented fact that the substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath is not the only pagan observance the apostate church is responsible for. Both Christmas [Christ mass] and Easter are of pagan origin and were incorporated into Christianity via Rome.  They were both celebrations of ancient heathen peoples and date back centuries before Jesus came on the scene. Christians should not observe pagan holidays which have absolutely no connection whatever with Jesus Christ and his word.  Unsaved people spend excessive amounts of money observing these heathen holidays, people who would not think of obeying the words and commands of the Saviour.  Have you ever wondered how God sees all the foolishness which is carried on in the name of the Lord?

The writer of the book of Hebrews spoke of the mother of harlots.  Today she has many children who have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.  The church has gone astray and she must return to her first love. She must reject the rebellion set up by the devil, and choose to serve her Lord in accordance with his word.  The church must put away excuses and lies and be determined to line up with Gods word.  The devil is under our feet when we walk in obedience to the word of the Lord.

Revelation 17: 1-6, 15-18  1. Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters [keeping down many people by her lies]:  2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.  3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.  5. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.  6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.  15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.  18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

God has seen, and is seeing, all that satan and his emissaries are doing to corrupt the holy things. However, the Lord has set a time in which he will judge the world in righteousness, and cast satan and his co-workers in the lake of fire, which burneth with brimstone.

Revelation 19:20-21  20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

 

Contact details:

Apostle D M Lake

Apostolic Church of God 7th Day Ministries

22 Eastleigh Avenue

South Harrow

Middlesex

HA2 OUF

Telephone: 0208 864 3355

07939 813 819

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