NO SABBATH - ARGUMENTS ANSWERED #4, #5, #6 #7 END

 

Sabbath Arguments Answered #4

The Worldwide Church of God has abolished the Sabbath commandment - I answer their arguments

MY COMMENT: Ah-AAAHHH, here we are at last with the standard argument used by the Protestants since they had to figure a way around not teaching as the Roman Catholic Church taught, namely: "We keep Sunday because the Church decreed the holiness of the Sabbath command would be transferred to Sunday." The Catholic Church says they have the authority by being the true church and the Pope being the vicar of Christ on earth, to change or make holy days. The Protestants rejecting this had to come up with other ways to get around the words of the 4th commandment, hence the argument Tkach now uses. This argument falls like a deck of cards when you understand HOW the Bible is written at times, and when you let the Bible speak for and interpret itself. 1. Turn to Matthew chapter 19. The Pharisees came to Jesus and asked Him if it was "awful for a man to put away his wife for EVERY CAUSE"? (verse 3). There was one school of the Pharisees that said it was lawful - a man could divorce his wife for burning the toast. Jesus answered from the BOOK OF GENESIS. From the account of the creation of Adam and Eve - from Genesis 2:18-25. Jesus said it was NOT LAWFUL TO DIVORCE FOR JUST ANY REASON. The Pharisees went to Moses and claimed he, a servant of God, led and inspired of God, did say it was lawful (verse 7). Jesus answered that argument by saying: ".....Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: BUT FROM THE BEGINNING IT WAS NOT SO" (verse 8). Jesus went back to the VERY BEGINNING and told them the ORIGINAL DESIRE AND INTENT OF GOD in making man and woman and bringing them together in marriage. The very words of Genesis chapter two, verses 13 to 25, carried WITHIN THEM, the intent of God that man could not put away his wife for any reason. Now look at those verses friend, those verses in Genesis do NOT SPELL OUT that original intent of God. It is not there in black and white, the words "put away your wife" are not there! The subject of divorce is NOT THERE! Do you see how the Bible is written AT TIMES? Certain specifics are not mentioned, but the INTENT is there! Jesus read those words in Genesis, looked deep into them, saw the clear intent of God in them, and answered the Pharisees by saying, "from the beginning it was not the intent or wish that man should put away his wife for every cause." So it was with the Sabbath friends. God blessed and hallowed and sanctified the 7th day of creation week, at the BEGINNING, for the INTENT that all mankind would remember it and keep it holy! You can look and look for God's law regarding marriage and divorce from Genesis to the time of the Old Covenant given to Israel, AND YOU WILL NOT FIND IT! It is not spelled out for you, but the law and intent of God was there in the beginning - Jesus said so! The intent and law of marriage from the beginning was that man have one wife only and that he could not put her away for every reason. Under the love and spirit of God it was the intent they remain married till death separated them. So it was with the Sabbath. Because you cannot find it spelled out for you in black and white until Moses and the giving of it to Israel DID NOT MEAN IT DID NOT EXIST AS A LAW OF GOD FOR ALL PEOPLE. The intent that God did make it a law for all men and women to follow and obey is found in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3. The excuse that Genesis does not lay down or record specific words of a command to human beings "regarding keeping the day as a Sabbath" is a daniel of the intent of God , and a "grasping at straws" of the rebellious carnal mind towards the laws and commandment of God. 2. Genesis does not use the word "Sabbath" but Exodus 20 does. Moses was inspired to say: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: WHEREFORE the Lord blessed the SABBATH day. and hallowed it" (verse 11). God calls (it was God speaking these words of the Ten commandments - Deut.5) , the seventh day He blessed and hallowed at the beginning - the Sabbath day! The intent is clear to those whose hearts are right with the Lord, to those who hear His voice. 3. The new covenant says Noah was "a preacher of RIGHTEOUSNESS." It also says Lot was a "righteous man" - see 2 Peter 2: 4 - 9. What is a Bible definition of righteousness? Here it is: "all thy commandments are righteousness" (Ps.119:172). I can show you that from Genesis to Moses, all of God's Ten commandments are mentioned directly or indirectly. Request the free article "The Ten Commandments before Moses." 4. It is written that God told Abraham his seed would multiply as the stars of heaven, that all nations through his seed would be blessed, BECAUSE.... " that Abraham obeyed my VOICE, and kept my CHARGE, my COMMANDMENTS, my STATUTES and my LAWS" (Gen.26:5). The child like in attitude and mind will see from all this that God's Ten commandments, including the FOURTH ONE, was in full force and effect FROM THE BEGINNING. As a young child of seven, eight, nine, ten years of age, reading my Bible I so understood it. Truly I repeat with Jesus the words: "Thank you Father that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes." 5. Now, finally on this point, let us use the word of God to interpret itself to us. Turn to Romans 6:23. Mark it - the wages of SIN is DEATH. What is sin? The Bible answers in 1 John 3:4 and Romans 7:7. Sin is the breaking of the law of God. Does that law have "points"? Yes, James answers in the book of James 2: 10,11. Where can we find all those points listed? In Exodus chapter twenty. Now turn to Romans chapter 5. Let's read verses 12 to 14. Sin entered the world, came on the scene for humans by one man - Adam. What is sin? The breaking of the law of God that has points - ten points, which includes the 4th. All humans from Adam on have sinned, and have come under the penalty of death. Verse 13, Paul is telling us that even before the law was given in a special way to Israel, SIN WAS IN THE WORLD! The law of God in its ten points was in existence before it was codified and given to the children of Israel. Sin, Paul says, is not imputed or charged to man if there is no law. You cannot be given a speeding ticket if there is no law to tell you that you cannot go faster than "x" miles an hour. God' s law must have been in existence from the BEGINNING because Adam and all mankind have sinned, and sin is the transgression of the law, which says "thou shalt not covet" which is the law of Exodus 20, that has ten points, which James says if we only break one we are guilty of all. Romans 5:14. Death REIGNED from Adam to Moses. All from Adam had sinned (verse 12) though it may not have been the sin that Adam committed, but it was sin and death came upon all people because ALL (from Adam on) have sinned. What is sin? Sin is the breaking of the law of God, the law that says "thou shalt not covet" - the ten commandment law that was codified into points and given to Israel under Moses at Mt. Sinai . But before that event happened, sin(the breaking of that law) was in the world, because Adam and everyone since Adam had broken that law - had sinned - and had come under the penalty of that law - death. I have painstakingly repeated myself as I have expounded to you the truth of what Paul is teaching in these verses. Using the Bible to interpret itself is one key to understanding it correctly. Paul says "......where no law is, there is no transgression" (Romans 4:15). Also he wrote: "for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). In all these verses Paul pointed to the law of God - the law that contained "thou shalt not covet" (Romans 7:7). He knew what law he spoke about, he knew his readers would know what law he was referring to. He had ample space to make it clear to them that from Adam to Moses there was only nine points to the law, no Sabbath command, IF that was the truth of the matter. But, no such explaining was given, no such explaining was needed, for it just was not so. The law of God (which defines what sin is) as given and codified to Israel in ten points, was in existence from the very beginning, from Adam to Moses. The Sabbath commandment was MADE at the beginning, and it was made for ALL MANKIND (Mark 2:27). TKACH AGAIN: Even if the Sabbath were a command from creation, which it isn't, Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that the Sabbath is a shadow, and that Christ is the reality to which it pointed. Now that the reality, Christ, has come, the shadow, as a binding law, is no longer in force, regardless of when it began.... MY COMMENT: Turn to Colossians 2:16,17. Does it say what Tkach tells you? I see words about "men judging" and "the body of Christ" (the word "is" does not appear in the original Greek). I see things mentioned that "are a shadow" - the word "are" is in the Present Indicative tense in the Greek - which are presently, today, continuing to be shadows. I see all this but I do not see words like "done away," "nil and void," " no longer binding as a law," "no longer in force," and I certainly see no such sentence as, "Sabbath is the shadow, and that Christ is the reality to which it pointed. Now that the reality, Christ, has come, the shadow, as a binding law, is no longer in force." I see no such language. Neither did Albert Barnes(who I have previously quoted from) see such language, and knowing as he did that the law of God was a moral law of perpetual obligation, did not believe Paul was here teaching that the 4th commandment was no longer binding on Christians. Peter said that SOME THINGS Paul wrote were HARD TO UNDERSTAND, and, "which they that are unlearned and unstable WREST, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). It is not the intent of this publication to expound the true meaning of Paul's writing in Colossians chapter two. I have a separate article on that subject free upon request. And you may also like to see what Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi writes about it in his well acclaimed book "Form Sabbath to Sunday." MORE WORDS FROM TKACH: We have, through faith in Christ, entered the spiritual reality of the Sabbath. MY COMMENT: Certainly there is a spiritual reality to the Sabbath. Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi in his book "Divine Rest for Human Restlessness" expounds all that in great detail. But the whole basic teaching of Tkach and his right hand men is the keeping of a Sabbath in a spiritual sense ONLY and not the letter or the physical. Their teaching is now that of the Jehovah's Witnesses and others. STILL MORE FROM THE WORLDWIDE NEWS OF JAN. 24th 1995: To think that it, as an old covenant command, is still a requirement for the people of God, is to miss the point of it, to minimize the coming of the Messiah, and is no better than going back into animal sacrifices and circumcision. . MY COMMENT: Keeping the Sabbath as related by all of God's word, is to minimize the coming of the Messiah, according to Tkach. NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH! He has either never read or has deliberately forgotten all that Dr. Bacchiocchi has written concerning the Sabbath and the Messiah. The point of the Messiah coming in the flesh, one very important point, was to DIE FOR THE SINS OF MANKIND! ! If sin could be just forgotten about with the waving of the hand of God, then Jesus did not have to come and give His life on the cross for you and me and all mankind. The coming of the Messiah to die for us was in part because we had BROKEN AND TRAMPLED ALL OVER GOD'S HOLY SABBATH DAY! When we start to look at things the way God looks at things, when we start to think as God thinks (Isaiah 55:7-9), then we will see this statement from Tkach is MOUNTAINOUS PIG SWILL! This man, this leader of the WCG, has the audacity to put the holy Sabbath day commandment contained in the perfect law of liberty, the law that is Holy, Just, and Good, the law that Paul said was SPIRITUAL. This man dares to put that Sabbath commandment in the same bag of goods along with "animal sacrifices" and circumcision, claiming that keeping the Sabbath as outlined by Exodus 20, is no better than doing physical sacrifices and physical circumcision. This teaching and blasphemy from his mouth shows how inept, incompetently inane, asinine, nonsensical, and foolish, is his reading of the Bible. Never, in my wildest crazy nightmares as a young boy, did I ever from my reading of the Bible, come up with the notion that the 4th commandment and the keeping of it, was no better than doing animal sacrifices. The Church of England school I attended, for the first half hour of the day was devoted to the reading and study of God's word, the teachers and Anglican priests, never taught such gibberish, babble, balderdash mumbo-jumbo. In those days during the 40's and 50's they taught us to stand and recite all the ten commandments as found in Exodus 20. They taught us they were God's perfect holy and righteous law. They taught us those laws were good, wonderful, and if obeyed would bring the world utopia. Never in all those years in Sunday School from the age of seven, was I ever taught that any one of the ten commandment, including the Sabbath command, if obeyed was no better than doing animal sacrifices. I never heard such language from any mouth of all those Bible teachers of mine. I read my Bible, I entered Bible quizzes and competitions, and won prizes and certificates for my efforts. It blows my mind that anyone claiming to be a Bible teacher and guide to others could ever come up with a comment that Sabbath keeping as given in the Ten commandment is "no better than going back into animal sacrifices and circumcision." This truly shows you the perverseness of the mind of Tkach Sr. Let us study for a while that which pertains to physical circumcision, the Sabbath, and the New Covenant. Question: When was circumcision introduced to the world? Answer: At the time of Abraham - Genesis 17. Question: When was the Sabbath introduced to the world? Answer: On the 7th day of creation week - Genesis 2. Question: To whom was circumcision given? Answer: To Abraham and his seed - Genesis 17:9-14. Question: To whom was the Sabbath given? Answer: To mankind - Mark 2:27. Question: Who spoke the Ten commandments with His own voice to Israel? Answer: God - Deuteronomy 5. Question: Was the law of circumcision included in those Ten commandments? Answer: No! See Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Question: Was this law of the Ten commandments so glorious that upon Moses carrying the tablets of stone containing them, his face shone so brightly, he had to veil it? Answer: Yes indeed - see 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Question: Did this law show what sin was? How many have sinned? What is sin's penalty? Was this the administration of death? Answer: The answers are found in these scriptures - Romans 3:20; I John 3:4; Romans 7:7; 3:23: 4:15; 7:10; 2 Corinthians 3. Question: Is there any scripture that says circumcision defines what sin is? Answer: Not one verse in the entire Bible - search it and see for yourself. Question: What did Paul teach about physical circumcision in comparison to the law and commandments of God? Answer: "Circumcision does indeed profit if you keep the Law; but if you habitually transgress the Law; your circumcision is made uncircumcision. But if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be credited to him (as equivalent to) circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the Law will condemn you who, although you have the code in writing and have circumcision, break the Law. For he is not a (real ) Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is (true) circumcision something external and physical. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and (true) circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal (matter). His praise is not from men but from God" (Romans 2:25-29 Amplified Bible). "For circumcision is nothing and counts for nothing, neither does uncircumcision , but (what counts is) keeping the commandments of God" (1 Corinthians 7:19 Amplified Bible). To Paul's eyes there was no comparison between physical circumcision and the commandments of God (which included the Sabbath command). They could not be put in the same bag of trash and thrown out or "done away with." Question: Did Paul ever teach that people should not get circumcised or have their children circumcised if they wanted? Answer: No, he certainly did not - read Acts 21:17-25; 24:10-27; 25:1-27; 26:1-28. Paul did not teach against circumcision, only that physical circumcision was not required for salvation. Question: Did some in the Church of God teach that you had to be physically circumcised to be saved? Answer: Yes - Acts 15:1. Question: Did Paul disagree with their teaching on this matter? Answer: Yes - Acts 15:2. Question: Did this matter of physical circumcision become a major issue in the Church? Answer: Yes - see Galatians 2:1-5; 3:1-3; 5:1-6,11,12; 6:12-15. Question: Did this circumcision teaching get so out of hand that the New Testament Church had to call a ministerial conference to decide the issue once and for all? Answer: Yes - see Acts 15. Question: What was the outcome of the issue? Answer: Physical circumcision was not required to be saved - Acts 15. Question: Is the keeping of the commandments of God required to be saved? Answer: Read Matthew 19:16,17; 1 John 2:4; Revelation 22:14. Question: Was physical circumcision a big part of Israelite life? Answer: It was such a dominant part of life, and such importance had been placed on it, that to say it was not necessary to be saved was looked upon by some in the church as heresy. The contention grew so great that a MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE in Jerusalem was called to argue the issue and to make a final church wide decision. All this trouble and effort over physical circumcision. Question: Was the observance of the Sabbath in the letter, a major part of Israelite life? Answer: Yes indeed it was. Any casual reader of the new covenant should be able to see the truth of that. The Jews (the religious Jew, especially of the Pharisee party) had made a fetish, an obsession, a passion, out of observing the Sabbath in the letter. It was an integral, indispensable, inherent requisite for the worship of the true God - Jew and Gentile alike were to keep the Sabbath if wanting to serve the God of Israel. Question: Do you think that anyone (including Paul) teaching in the new covenant Church that literal Sabbath keeping was "done away" or not needed, would face no stiff opposition from others, and from especially those of the Pharisee party within the Church? Answer: There was such a stir, a tumult, a huge commotion made about physical circumcision when Paul and others CHANGED IT to the spiritual heart and not the letter that was required for salvation, that a Jerusalem MINISTERIAL MEETING WITH THE WHOLE CHURCH IN ATTENDANCE HAD TO BE CALLED TO ARGUE THE MATTER INTO A FINAL DECISION. There would have been NO LESS A COMMOTION MADE OVER SOMEONE TEACHING THE LETTER OF THE SABBATH COMMAND WAS NO LONGER BINDING!! The commandments of God in Paul 's eyes and the other apostles were MUCH GREATER in spiritual importance than physical circumcision. Can you imagine any CHANGE or "doing away with" the Sabbath command going UN- NOTICED, without a stir, causing no arguing, no disputing, no ministerial conference in Jerusalem to debate the issue? If you can believe this was the case then you surely are out of touch with the reality of reading the new covenant, and are blissfully dreaming away in never-never-land with bugs-bunny as he chomps away on his carrot. I have shown you from the book of Acts, the religious Jews COULD FIND NO FAULT IN PAUL, NEITHER IN HIS TEACHING OF MOSES AND THE LAW, OR IN HIS LIFE! The only thing they could bring against him was that he taught about one called Jesus and the resurrection from the dead. With that knowledge any FIRST GRADER would see that Paul did not "change" or " do away" with the observance of the Sabbath as found in the Ten commandments and old covenant. He taught a CHANGE in the law of circumcision - from the physical to the spiritual heart - to be saved. He did not teach you could not be physically circumcised, only that it did not save you. THE JEWS COULD FIND NO FAULT IN HIM! If Paul had changed the Sabbath into something only "spiritual in Christ", if Paul had "done away" with the letter of the Sabbath altogether, if he had been teaching you could CHOOSE ANY DAY for the Sabbath (as some today claim he taught in Romans 14), if he had been ridiculing, scoffing at, correcting those that were keeping old covenant Sabbaths, if he had been teaching such people to forsake such days, if he had been preaching that those days were all fulfilled in Christ, were only a shadow and now "nailed tothe cross" in Christ and not to be observed in the letter, if he had been teaching and living that breaking old covenant Sabbath days was no longer a sin, if he had been TEACHING AND LIVING ANY OF THIS, YOU CAN BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR THE JEWS WOULD HAVE BEEN ON HIS CASE, DOWN HIS NECK, PINNING HIS HIDE TO THE DOOR SO FAST IT WOULD HAVE MADE YOUR HEAD SPIN INTO BLUBBER!! It is the height of madness to stand the law of physical circumcision on the same platform as the law of the Ten commandments which includes the 4th commandment concerning the Sabbath day. Only deceivers and wolves in sheeps clothing coming to devour the flock and get a following after themselves, would try such oratory tactics. Let us now study that which pertains to animal sacrifices, the Sabbath and the New Covenant. Question: Was there any animal sacrificing before Moses? Answer: Yes, there was. Genesis chapter 4 is the first account. Cain and Abel offered sacrifices. They must have learned to do this from their parents - Adam and Eve. Animal sacrificing does go back to the beginning. Question: Can we find in God's word any instruction regarding a detailed Priesthood/Sacrifice system, before the time of Moses? Answer: No! From the accounts recorded before the time of the old covenant priesthood/sacrifice system given under Moses to Israel, it would appear physical sacrificing to God of animals was ( 1) voluntary ( 2) done by individuals, or heads of families ( 3) performed when God commanded it to be done. Question: Is there any instructions about a systematic priesthood/animal sacrifice law, in Exodus chapters 12 to 15, as Israel came out of Egypt? Answer: No there is not! Question: When God revealed the 7th day Sabbath to Israel (they had lost the knowledge under Egyptian slavery), in Exodus 16, was there anything about animal sacrifices included in obeying this law of God? Answer: This law of the Sabbath is revealed to Israel without any instructions regarding a laborious daily sacrificial system by a set priesthood. Question: How important did God think His TEN commandments was when He revealed them to the children of Israel? Answer: So important that He SPOKE THEM WITH HIS OWN VOICE, and the people of Israel HEARD THAT VOICE - see Deut.5. Question: Was it originally God's intention to give Israel a detailed daily sacrificial system? Answer: No it was not! See Jeremiah 7:21-24. Question: What did God want the Israelites to do? Answer: They were to obey the Lord and walk in all His ways that He commanded them. Question: What were the foundational commands He wanted them to obey, and the ones He felt so important that He spoke them to Israel with His own voice? Answer: The TEN COMMANDMENTS! Question: Is the Sabbath command one of those Ten Commandments? Answer: Yes, it is the 4th commandment Question: Did animal sacrifices FORGIVE sins? Answer: No! Physical sacrifices never took away sins - see Hebrew 10:1-4. Question: What did animal sacrifices do? Answer: They reminded the people how they were sinners. Question: If we look at animal sacrificing and look at obeying God, which comes out on top in God's eyes? Answer: Obeying and doing the will of the Lord - see Hebrews 10:1-5. Question: Was it foretold which Jesus would do - animal sacrifices plus the will of God, or the will of God without animal sacrifices? Answer: Is found in Hebrews 10:1-5. Question: Did Jesus ever sin? Answer: 1 Peter 2:21,22. Question: Did Jesus set us an example to follow? Answer: 1 Peter 2:21. Question: Those who say Jesus is living in them are to walk in whose footsteps? Answer: 1 John 2:6. Question: Did Jesus observe the 4th commandment, even in the letter as is fitting in the eyes of God? Answer: Read Luke 4:16 and the entire four gospels. Question: What is the new covenant definition of sin? Answer: 1 John 3:4; Romans 7:7; James 2:10-12. Question: What law contains "thou shalt not covet"; "Do not kill"; "Do not commit adultery" ? Answer: The Ten commandment law as found in Exodus 20. Question: Did Jesus ever break that law? Answer: No never! Jesus kept the law of the Ten commandment PERFECTLY in the letter and the spirit. He never sinned in thought, word, or action. He observed the Ten commandment, including the Sabbath command PERFECTLY. He did the will of God. Never offered an animal sacrifice, but obeyed the law of God that has points - ten points, and He set us a flawless example in doing so. Question: Is Jesus the same today as He was yesterday? Answer: Hebrews 13:8. His obedient character towards the Father and His commandments is the same today as when He walked this earth. Question: Did Jesus give a specific answer to the young rich man who asked Him what he should do to inherit eternal life? Answer: Yes, He got very specific in His answer - see Matthew 19:16-19. Question: Which commandments was Jesus referring to? Answer: Obviously the Ten Commandments. Jesus did not quote every one of the ten, but the young man would get the point, just as any person with a right heart towards God today, would understand Jesus meant all Ten commandments. I was able to understand this when I read it as a boy of nine years old. James also was inspired to tell us that if you break any one of the points of this law you are guilty of all, and that law will judge you. Question: Did Jesus tell the young rich man that to inherit eternal life he would also have to keep the animal sacrifice law? Answer: No way! No such language can be found anywhere in the words of Jesus Question: Did the Temple rituals/Priesthood/Sacrifices come to a stop when Jesus died on the cross? Answer: Not at all! A quick glance over the book of Acts will show you that all the temple rituals continued as before even after the death of Christ. What shocks some Christians is the realization that under the request of James and the elders, Paul and four others partook of temple rituals and offerings, see Acts 21:17-26. It was not a sin to participate in temple sacrifices and rituals. Paul did not teach that people should not circumcise their children or participate in temple sacrifices and rituals, while the priesthood and temple was still operating. What Paul taught was that those physical things were not required to do in-order to be saved. And to prove that this is what he really taught, Paul performed and participated in some temple rituals. While the temple stood and while the priesthood was still functioning, a Christian could, if they wanted, practice those physical rituals. It was not required to be saved, it added nothing to your standing with God, those sacrifices and rituals did not take away your sins, at best it was only a reminder you were a sinner and its shadow of blood led you to the real blood that could take away your sins - the blood of Jesus. After 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed by the Roman armies, and the priesthood ended, it was impossible to partake of those rituals even if you wanted to. It is a fact of history that after 70 A.D. when there was no more temple sacrificing, the Sabbath Day command was still being observed by Jewish and Gentile Christians. Even when the false church grew and gained predominance and Sunday worship was practiced by the majority of those who called themselves Christian, the argument was not so much that NO Sabbath day was to be observed, or that you could choose whatever day you desired, but the argument was that Sunday, the first or eighth day (whichever way you looked at it) was the new covenant "Lord's Day." Again let me repeat: Church History proves my last sentence to be correct. Neither the true or false Church of God believes that when animal sacrificing came to an end in 70 A.D. at the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, so also was there an end to keeping a Sabbath day holy to the Lord. The contention eventually became WHICH day - Saturday or Sunday - the 7th or 1st day of the week - which was the new covenant Sabbath to be observed by Christians? Question: In connection with the ceremonial, sacrificial, and administrative laws associated with the Levitical priesthood and temple, were such words used as: obsolete, set aside, ready to disappear, growing old, taken away,? Answer : Yes - see Hebrews 5 7:1 8 ; 8 :13; 1 0 : 9. Question: What does this same book of Hebrews say about the Sabbath command? Answer: Hebrews 4:9 The original Greek uses the word Sabbatismos, meaning Sabbath keeping. The Greek is also in the present tense - a "Sabbathkeeping, remains for the people of God." If the one is "obsolete" and the other "remains," they DO NOT BELONG IN THE SAME CATEGORY! Question: Is the Sabbath and animal sacrifices both referred to as "shadows" ? Answer: Yes they are. See Colossians 2:16,17 and Hebrews 10:1 Notice in Colossians chapter two no such words are used for the Sabbath as "obsolete," "set aside ," "ready to disappear," "taken away." These words are only used in connection with the temple rituals and physical sacrifices. The Sabbath is a "shadow of things to come" as it not only portrays the redemptive rest in Christ, but also foreshadows and pictures the FUTURE rest (Hebrews 4:11) that Christians will experience when Jesus establishes God's Kingdom on earth. This reality (future immortality in God's Kingdom) has not yet taken away the shadow. That's why Paul used the PRESENT TENSE in Colossians 2:17 for the word "are." The Sabbaths of God picture something that is YET to come. It is therefore incorrect and erroneous to consider the Sabbath an "obsolete shadow." Question: Does am apple cast a shadow? Does the statue of Liberty cast a shadow? Answer: Yes they both cast shadows of themselves. Question: Would you classify an apple and the statue of Liberty as being in the same category of things? Answer: No! Unless you have a wild imagination. An apple would be categorized with and among perishable fruits and vegetation. The statue of Liberty would be categorized as long lasting lifeless physical object. Both cast a shadow, but they certainly do not belong in the same category. An apple will, if left out in the sun to cast a shadow soon "grow old," be "ready to disappear," and be "taken away" and stop casting its shadow when it has reached its purpose for being and goes back into the ground. The shadow of the statue of Liberty will last MUCH LONGER as it is naturally different than an apple. Under normal conditions it would last many centuries longer than an apple or a bail of straw. Sure, in time the weather would bring the statue of Liberty to powder, but if maintained for its purpose, it would last (we are of course excluding all events such as earthquakes) until its purpose was deemed finished, then it could be destroyed. Its shadow and reality could then come to an end. So it is with the Sabbath day. It still casts a shadow because part of its reality has not yet been fully completed - the rest of the Kingdom to come that physical mankind will experience. When there is no more physical humans then and only then could it be said that the Sabbath's shadow and reality has been completed and it is no longer needed. The Sabbath was made for mankind, when there is no more physical mankind, there will be no more need of the Sabbath, but not until then. WORLDWIDE NEWS JANUARY 24th, 1995: But the Sabbath and Holy Days, along with the other ceremonial observances of the old covenant, are fulfilled in Christ and are not binding in their physical observance in the new covenant. MY COMMENT: Once more the Protestant teaching of lumping the Sabbaths of God with the ceremonial rituals and dumping them into the same bag to be thrown out with the trash, comes out from Tkach in the above statement. This kind of theology from the Protestants gained wide support only in relatively recent decades. As I have shown you, the old Bible commentators such as Albert Barnes did not teach or believe that the Sabbath command of the Ten commandments was just "ritual" or "ceremony" and came to an end at the cross. MORE FROM THE JANUARY 24th 1995 WORLDWIDE NEWS: The Sabbath and Holy Days become holy time for us as we devote them to God, but they are not holy time in the sense that the old covenant is still in force. When the people of God, who are made holy through faith in Jesus Christ, devote time to the worship of God, that becomes holy time. It becomes holy time because it is devoted to God, who is holy, not because that particular time is itself holy. MY COMMENT: Ah, it is so good that this bold faced heretic has put his words on paper. This is no "hear say." His teaching is out on plain display for anyone to see. Do you see what Tkach says here friend? THERE IS NO HOLY TIME THAT GOD SAYS IS HOLY BECAUSE HE PUT HIS PRESENCE INTO IT, SANCTIFIED IT, AND HALLOWED IT - MADE IT HOLY, Tkach says. it never happened, or if it did at one time, it is not so any more, according to Mr.T. Now this leader of the WCG says time only becomes holy as we decide to devote whatever hours to worship God. Then that time becomes holy. So it could be the hours of Tuesday, or Friday, or Sunday, or Saturday. This is Jehovah's Witnesses talk, as well as most Protestant groups. There are no hours, there is no day of the week that is of itself holy because God said it was holy, in Tkach's mind or teaching. But what says the Lord? It is written: "And God BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, and SANCTIFIED IT (set it apart): because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made" (Genesis 2:3). Once more I must go back to my childhood in Sunday School and the Church of England School I attended. As a child of 7, 8, and 9 years old, I could understand this verse in Genesis. It was so obvious to me. God, on the seventh day of creation rested from the physical work He had been doing and BLESSED and SET APART that day as special to Him, a day that His presence was IN, in a special way. I had been taught in religious classes about Moses and the BURNING BUSH, how God spoke to him and told him to take off his shoes because the GROUND on which he stood was "holy ground" (Exodus 3:1-5). Oh, some may argue that God is everywhere, in everything, so the universe is holy. Let them reason so if they must, but this verse in Exodus tells me that God put His very presence into that piece of ground in a special way, and that area of earth became HOLY GROUND, and Moses was to take off his shoes! God has the right to make something HOLY if He chooses, for He is God. Man is not God, God is God, and He made the ground Moses was standing on HOLY ground. He also made the seventh day of creation week a BLESSED and SANCTIFIED day, set apart from all other days. As a young child I had read Mark 2:27 where Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man - mankind. I had read Psalm 111:7,8. I had read Matthew 19:17-19. How simple it was, how easy to understand, the 7th day was hallowed from the beginning, it was a part of the wonderful, holy, good, Ten commandments, and as long as there was human kind on this earth those commandments which contained the 4th one, were FAST FOREVER, WERE SURE! It was so simple to understand for the simple minded who had no argument to argue with God, who had no commandment they wanted to get around, who only saw how wonderful the world would be if all people and nations would obey those ten points of that holy law. Did God HALLOW - make HOLY that seventh day of Genesis chapter two? Turn to Exodus 20 and verse 11. Read it friends! Mark it well! Remember it! The Lord rested the seventh day, He blessed the Sabbath day, and He HALLOWED IT! Tkach can say all he wants to say. He can talk till he is blue in the face. He can repeat over and over to you until the cows come home, that there is no holy time. He can tell you this till he is blue or green or red in the face AND IT WILL NOT ALTER THE SCRIPTURES! It will not make the hours of the 7th day when they arrive for you, UN-holy time. Tkach backs up his statement WITH NO SCRIPTURE! He talks and talks with his statements of dogma, as if HE WERE GOD MAKING THE RULES AND DECIDING WHAT IS HOLY AND WHAT IS UNHOLY. The 7th Day Sabbath was made holy from the beginning. It was holy under the old covenant. I see not one verse of the new covenant that says it is NOW UN-holy. Those who come to the beginning of the Sabbath day and because of the hardness of their heart, or because they are deceived into believing lies that it is no longer holy, WILL NOT MAKE IT SO! They can break it, trample all over it with their dirty shoes, ignore it, scoff at it, do their secular work on it, find their own pleasure during it, but it WILL STILL REMAIN AS HOLY TIME. All they will have done is SIN by breaking that 4th point of God's holy law. All they will have done is put themselves UNDER THE PENALTY OF ETERNAL DEATH (Romans 6:23), unless they acknowledge their sin, repent of it, and cry out to God for mercy and grace through the blood of Jesus, who died because of sin, because the holy law that defines sin could not be cast aside or done away with. The wages of sin is still death: "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26,27). ONCE MORE FROM TKACH: But we do not need to, and should not, judge one another with respect to the days we devote to God (Colossians 2:16; Romans 14:5). MY COMMENT: Again and again Tkach hits this ball for you to catch - no judging, no judging, no judging each other when it comes to the holy days that God set apart and made holy. We are to believe that Paul told the Galatians he did not want them to turn and observe these "beggarly elements" of old covenant days (remember the words "old covenant holy days" do not appear in that book). Paul is supposed to be saying the same kind of thing to the Colossians, we are to believe. Then to the Romans we are to understand Paul is saying it is okay to observe days and devote them to God as we ourselves choose. They were not told that such were "beggarly elements" or that doing so would be "in bondage." And if it was fine for the Jews and Gentiles of Rome to observe days, surely some would have chosen the holy days of the old covenant, certainly the Christian Jews would have been inclined to have chosen those days, as it was part of their heritage. There is far too much contradiction, confusion in these three passages of Paul to understand them the way that certain Protestant funny-mentalists explain them. And they are even more contradictory in the light of other new covenant passages such as James 2:10-12. But such is the reading of the Bible from the daughters of BABYLON MYSTERY RELIGION. Their reading of the Bible is a mystery and it is confusion (that 's what the word Babylon means). Let me give you a key to the reading and understanding of the new covenant. The first books you should read are the four Gospels, then the book of Acts, after them the books known as "the general epistles" - James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1,2,3, John, and Jude, then Hebrews. Those books will give you the basic foundation of the new covenant, basically easy to understand. Then after digesting the fundamentals and having a firm foundation of truth you are ready to begin to tackle the deeper theology of Paul and his epistles. You will have already read that Peter said some things of Paul are hard to understand, and many who are unlearned do twist and pervert to their own destruction. Those "unlearned" as Peter called them, are those who have not even come through grade school - who have no basic foundation of solid truth to stand on, and because of their carnality towards the law and commandments of God, are easily led by Satan to pervert the writings of Paul and be taken away into practicing sin. In studying Paul you will be wise to refer to such works as before mentioned, works like " Barnes' Notes on the New Testament." Barnes is not 100% accurate on all things he comments about, but he did have his foundation correct, namely the Ten commandments are all God's moral law which is not in ANY part "done away with" under the new covenant. You will also be wise to build your foundation on the life and writings (the Psalms) of David, the man whom the Lord said was a man after His own heart. If you think "grace" is only new covenant then you have never read the Psalms of David. The Psalms of David will show you the truth of the matter regarding "law" and "grace" and how both are indispensable to salvation and inheriting eternal life. These foundational parts of the word of the Lord (also including the book of Genesis) was what I was raised on as a child. I had so many years feeding on this basic teaching of God that when I was 18 and came to North America and ran smack dab into the funny-mentalists (as I call them) of Protestantism with all their arguments from Paul (perverted understanding) as to why the 4th commandment is "changed" or "done away" under the new covenant, I was able to LAUGH at them, and answer from the simple foundation of God's word. Yes, I literally did laugh at some of the ministers and church leaders who talked to me about such theology. I answered them from the grade school scriptures and asked them if the Bible contradicted itself - they WERE SPEECHLESS AND COULD NOT ANSWER ME! Actually it was not until after these encounters that I delved into deep study of the writings of Paul and his (as Peter said) hard to understand passages. I had the foundation and I KNEW that Paul could not possibly contradict either himself or the other scripture. The well known old theologians like Barnes were a help. Tkach uses the book of Galatians, as do many of the other unlearned, to pervert the truth of the old and new covenant and the 4th commandment. By and large these men talk about things they haven't got a clue about - they are theological dunces, wolves in sheeps clothing, whitened graves full of dead men's bones, who come to destroy and devour the flock of God. They themselves will not go into the Kingdom and they prevent many who would, from entering. The majority of the religious leaders of the masses during Christ's time would not hear Jesus, they said He was a crazy man, inspired of the Devil. The plain truth was it was they who were mad and led of the Devil. The masses of people would not or could not understand Jesus, but He said the true sheep heard His voice and knew who spoke the truth of the word of the Lord. It is still the same today. Those who have their nose in the Bible, who read it from cover to cover, who love the Lord with all their heart and soul and mind, who have the attitude of a David in loving the law and grace of God, will KNOW THAT TKACH IS A FRAUD, A FALSE PROPHET, AN ANI-CHRIST! THEY WILL KNOW THAT WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN IS THE PLAIN TRUTH OF THE MATTER. They will not hear or follow those who offer them liberty but are themselves the servants of sin and lawlessness. They will serve and obey the will and commandments of the Lord, while knowing they are truly saved by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast.                                      .....................................................  TO BE CONTINUED Written April 1995   Sabbath Arguments Answered #5 The Worldwide Church of God has abolished the Sabbath commandment - I answer their arguments THE HEART OF THE OLD COVENANT TO THE NEW COVENANT This section is not an in-depth expounding of the two covenants. We are, since the death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the feast of Pentecost, under the NEW COVENANT, no question about it, no argument needed. A lot can be written about the old covenant and all its laws, some individual, some national, some for health, some for farmers, some for the priesthood and tabernacle, some for the king etc.etc. I want to answer the question as to what is the basic heart of going from the old to the new covenant. The new covenant was not the idea of the apostles, nor was it some new "thought up" teaching of the early A.D. Church of God. The coming of a NEW covenant was proclaimed and foretold in the writings of the OLD covenant. There were two things very evident about the old covenant - 1. Personal salvation for the masses was never promised (Numbers 11:16-29) and, 2. The Israelites did not have the heart to obey God (Deut.5:29; 29:4). So the coming of a NEW covenant was foretold, yes it was, I will give you the passage shortly. But before we turn to it we need to ask: Will the foretelling of this new covenant also give us the basic HEART of it? Let us turn to where the foretelling of the NEW covenant is found - Jeremiah 31 and verses 31 to 34. Read it carefully friend - mark it well. "Behold, the days come saith the Lord, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, AND WRITE IT IN THEIR HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will FORGIVE THEIR INIQUITIES, and I will REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE." Aaaahhh! There it is friends, forget about all the fine points about which old covenant laws are not applicable within the new covenant, put aside all that fine tuning, look at the HEART of the matter - the basic foundation of the new covenant. Law is not "done away" under the new covenant. IT IS PUT INTO THE INWARD PARTS - WRITTEN INTO THE HEART - SALVATION WOULD BE EVERYWHERE AND PERSONAL - SINS WOULD BE FORGIVEN AND FORGOTTEN! Do you see it friend? Do you see the new covenant was all about LAW AND GRACE! It was not to be Grace OR Law, it was not to be Grace WITHOUT Law. The NEW covenant was to be Grace AND Law. The new covenant was not to be external laws taught to you from a priesthood, but personal salvation - a personal relationship with God where His laws would be written in your heart and where your sins would be forgiven - a covenant of law AND grace. The heart of the new covenant is NOT "doing away with" law but ESTABLISHING it much deeper than under the old covenant. That is why it was also foretold that the Messiah would come not to abolish law but to MAGNIFY IT and make it HONORABLE (Isaiah 42:21). What was the BASIC fault with the old covenant? Was it all the laws that people want to argue over? Not according to the writer of new covenant book of Hebrews. Yes the first covenant was not perfect - it did have a MAJOR fault, but that fault was not the laws per se - read it yourself in your Bible, It has been there all along friend, I didn't come last night and write it in your Bible, it's been there for centuries. What was the fault of the old covenant? Hebrews 8:8, "For FINDING FAULT WITH THEM." The fault was with the PEOPLE, not the laws as such of the old covenant. The people Moses said WERE NOT GIVEN THE HEART TO OBEY THOSE LAWS, they were NOT GIVEN THE SPIRIT OF GOD EN MASS - personal salvation with God's Spirit writing those laws on their heart and coming under His grace WAS NOT GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE AS A WHOLE. God was now, under the NEW covenant, going TO RECTIFY THAT FAULT! The New covenant would be a better covenant, established upon better promises. The writer of Hebrews (many believe it was Paul ) then goes on to quote from the passage we have read in Jeremiah 31. How clear, how plain, a child can understand. The New Covenant is Law AND Grace! There is one more thing - very important - to the heart of the NEW covenant. The prophet Ezekiel was inspired to give us the specifics. "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a NEW SPIRIT WITHIN you; and I will take away the stony heart of the flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may WALK IN MY STATUTES, AND KEEP MINE ORDINANCES, AND DO THEM: and they shall be my people and I will be their God...... A NEW HEART also will I give you, and a NEW SPIRIT WILL I PUT WITHIN you...... And I will PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN you, and cause you to WALK IN MY STATUTES, AND YE SHALL KEEP MY JUDGMENTS, AND DO THEM......(Ezekiel 11:19,20). The prophet Joel was also given this wonderful message of the New Covenant promise of the Spirit of God to come for the masses of the people. A better promise for a better covenant. Read it in Joel 2:28-32. This began to be fulfilled on the feast of Pentecost recorded in Acts chapter two. Peter referred to this very prophecy of Joel in what was taking place on that great festival day. The HEART of the NEW covenant is not doing away with law, it is ESTABLISHING the law of God not in stone or on paper, but in the heart of man, it is giving the heart and mind of man the very Spirit of God which enables man to think and act as God does. The HEART of the NEW covenant also is Grace and Mercy - the forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of God, who became man in order to over-come sin by living a sinless life, and giving His life on the cross for the sins of the whole world. The HEART and CORE of the NEW covenant is to ESTABLISH LAW through the SPIRIT of God, and to be FORGIVEN by the BLOOD of God when we break that law and sin. WILL ALL SINCERE CHRISTIANS BE IN THE KINGDOM AT CHRIST'S RETURN? Have you ever been a part of the Sunday keeping Christians? I have. Do you have friends, or relatives that are part of the 1st day observing Christians? I do. Occasionally at the request of one of these friends, for some special reason or event, I will attend a Sunday service (Sunday School and Worship hour). Occasionally I am invited to a friend/relative wedding of one of their children in a Catholic or Protestant church. There have been many changes over the last 30 years in many Catholic/Protestant churches as to HOW services are conducted, but there is still an overall message that has not changed that much from the days I was a faithful Sunday observer. Most Catholic and Protestant churches still teach that Christians should obey 9 of the Ten commandments, and there are some that still teach the 4th commandment was transferred to the FIRST DAY of the week. My wife and I are around and have friends who teach these things, so we know first hand what the Catholic/Protestant groups by and large teach about the Ten commandments. There are millions and millions of sincere Christians who observe Sunday as the day of rest, who believe and teach it is wrong to lie, to steal, to covet and lust, to murder, and to break the Ten commandments, including the 4th (but they say it is now Sunday). Now if the Sabbath command is either "done away" or "changed" under the new covenant, and all these hundreds of millions of Christians are trying not to break the other nine commandments, if they teach you should not break them, does the other differences of doctrine really matter that much? Many will say it does not matter. Many will say it does not matter if you believe you do not go to heaven at death and I do. Many will say because you believe in baptism by full immersion in water and I think sprinkling is okay, it does not matter, we will all get into the Kingdom. These millions will tell you as long as Jesus is accepted as Savior, that we are saved by His blood, by His grace through faith, and that we try to live by the golden rule of the Ten commandments, NOTHING ELSE really matters, we are all part of the body of Christ and headed for the Kingdom or heaven. How many Christians are there in the world? Well the Roman Catholic church has nearly a BILLION and half for starters. All the Protestant churches around the world may add up to about another billion. Quite a sum of people would you not say, yes I think so. The majority of all these people are SINCERE in their Christian life, sure some are phony and just hang on to the churches for a free meal or whatever physical gain they can obtain, but the majority are wanting to serve the Lord to the best of their knowledge, to the best they know how. If the Sabbath Day question makes no difference and it is one of the BIG TEN, then the other differences all these churches have between themselves make even less of a difference. If this is true, and for our argument we will say it is true, then a HUGE SEGMENT OF THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD, and a MAJORITY part of those who call themselves "Christian" SHOULD BE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD AT JESUS' RETURN! To believe this view then one has to do some pretty fancy foot work around some clear and blunt statements of Jesus that teach it is NOT THE MANY BUT THE FEW that will make it into the Kingdom at His return. Jesus told His disciples that unless their righteousness EXCEEDED that of the scribes and Pharisees they would not get into the Kingdom (Mat.5:20). Now the scribes and Pharisees were very very careful in trying to observe the letter of the law of God, but they fell short in the "spirit" of the law. Nevertheless, it does not sound like Jesus was making entry into the Kingdom as easy as "falling off a log." Then a little later in this "sermon on the mount" as it is often called, Jesus said this: " NOT EVERY ONE that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, SHALL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM of heaven; BUT he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Mat.7:21). So some who were thinking they were serving the Lord, who knew Jesus was the Lord, who NO DOUBT called themselves "Christian" and thought they should be in the Kingdom, WOULD NOT MAKE IT! They did not make it because they some how did NOT DO the WILL of the Father. So there is a condition then to being saved by grace through faith, HOW ELSE would you understand this very plain statement of Jesus? Christ went on to say: "MANY will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in THY NAME done many wonderful works?" (verse 22). These were probably very sincere Christians, who thought they were saved by grace through faith, who told people they were children of the Lord, who were busy doing what they considered the "work of the Lord." They were probably what we would call "good" people. They were people you would like as neighbors and friends. They probably taught that at least 9 of the Ten commandments should be obeyed and they may have taught even the 4th one should be also, except it was changed (they were told by their ministers or priests) from Saturday to Sunday under the new covenant, or it was totally "nailed to the cross" under the age of grace. These were probably very sincere Christians. They will be arguing with Jesus as to why they should be in the Kingdom. I'm sure there will be many more arguments put forth than the ones Jesus gives us in this little massage. But notice the answer Christ gives them. He did not say they did not understand what "grace" was, or what "faith" was, or why He had to shed His blood, or that they did not know what the "fruits of the Spirit" were. No, it was none of that. He will answer them: "I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that WORK LAWLESSNESS" (verse 23, original Greek). Somewhere along the line they had been living and practicing the BREAKING OF THE LAW! I didn't say it friend. Don't get angry at me. I didn't come last night and write it in your Bible. It has been there all along for you to read. It was there when I read it at the age of 7, 8 and 9. These were people who possibly thought or were taught that one or more of the laws of God were "void" or "changed" under the New covenant. They may have been sincere, but you can be sincere and be sincerely WRONG! Whatever the case, these people thought they were at liberty to practice as a way of life, LAWLESSNESS - the breaking of the law of God. Jesus did not say they had not earned enough brownie points to work their way into salvation, of course not, Jesus knew salvation could not be earned by obedience to laws, but Jesus was making it plain that to live lawlessly would keep you out of the Kingdom, would disqualify you from the gift of grace that does save you. Jesus did not end it there. He went on to say that you must build upon the ROCK - Himself. His teachings - hearing and DOING THEM. Those that did not do that were building their house on the SAND and when the test would come they would find themselves blown away (verses 24-27). Again let me repeat, it seems so obvious, but I must repeat it for those who, cannot see the obvious. This teaching of Jesus' is straightforward, simple and easy to understand, even a child can comprehend it, no theology degree needed, just read it and believe. Living a life of lawlessness - believing you can practice as a way of life, breaking the law of God, any one of its points as James put it, would keep you out of the Kingdom of God, no matter how sincere a Christian you were. Sincerity was not enough according to Christ. There is something that does make a difference. Not all by any means who carry the name of Jesus, who call Him Lord, will make it into the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus talked about HEARING and DOING His sayings and teachings. Now you look in the four gospels, you look into all the teachings of Jesus as He expounded the New Covenant, and you see if you can find where Jesus taught the Sabbath command as written in the old covenant, as written in Exodus 20, was "done away" or going to be done away with at His death, or when the Holy Spirit would be sent, or any time after, for that matter. Jesus taught NO SUCH THING! He taught by His words and by His example, complete perfection of 7th day Sabbath keeping. Look, you want to believe Paul "did away with" the 4th commandment (you are 100% wrong in your thinking), then you follow this false idea, but I will follow CHRIST. I call myself a CHRISTIAN because I follow Christ not your imagined Paul. I can even show you where Paul said HE FOLLOWED CHRIST! Many today need to start calling themselves after their false idea of Paul - a Paulian, and stop calling themselves CHRISTian, because following Christ they are not if they do not observe the 7th day Sabbath. They may think they are Christian, they may think they belong to Christ, they may call Him, "Lord" - but if they are lawless people and will not repent, they will hear these shocking (to them it will be) words: DEPART FROM ME, ye that WORK LAWLESSNESS! If all the living hundreds of MILLIONS (and there are hundreds of millions who have died) who call themselves by the name of Christ, who believe you should keep at least 9 of the 10 commandments (and tens of millions believe the 4th one is still in effect,   only it has been changed to the first day of the week, or you can choose whichever day you like so they choose the first day),   if they are going to be in the Kingdom at Jesus' return that is a very large segment of the world as I have said before. If all those sincere (most of them are no doubt) people are truly a part of the body of Christ, then how does that square with Jesus' statement in Luke 12:32? Jesus said to His followers, "Fear not LITTLE FLOCK; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." The original Greek here is a double diminutive which really means, and what Jesus really said was, "fear not LITTLE LITTLE flock" or as we may say it today, "fear not VERY LITTLE flock...." This does not sound to me like Jesus ever taught that His true followers would become a HUGE segment of the world's population. Somewhere there would be a difference drawn in the eyes of Jesus between those who called themselves Christian and those who really WERE Christian. We have already seen Jesus names the difference as a willingness to not only HEAR the word of the Lord but to also DO IT! Jesus has already said the difference would be between those who were LAW ABIDING and those who were LAWLESS! The difference would be between those who would OBEY the Law and word and sayings (teachings) of Jesus, and those who would only give lip service to God but would rebel at some point of the Law and so be classified by God as "doing lawlessness" - iniquity. It should be evident by now that Jesus put the difference between true Christians and false Christians as a BASIC attitude and life style of DOING and PRACTICING His word and the laws of God, or NOT DOING THEM! Jesus did not say the difference would be in knowing the truth about whether you have an immortal soul or not, or about if you will ever get to heaven or not, or the truth about when you are really born again, or the truth about the identity in Bible Prophecy of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. Jesus did not say the difference would be understanding all the many prophecies concerning the reign of Christ on the earth in the coming millennium. I'm not saying that we should not know the truth to all these things, for the truth on these matters is contained in the word of the Lord. What I am saying is that knowing the truth on these topics will not put you into the Kingdom! It is nice to know the truth on these things, but the difference between a true Christian and a deceived Christian is much more basic and much more fundamental, and much more "down to brass tacks" than mere intellectual mind knowledge. The difference is based on the Holy, Righteous, Good, Perfect, Spiritual law of God, the law that James TWICE called the "law of LIBERTY." The difference is between those who would DO and TEACH others even the least commandments, and those who would BREAK and teach others to break these commandments (Matthew 5:17-20). Did Jesus ever say that it would be the MANY who would be deceived into a false Christianity by teachers that would come in the name of Christ? Indeed He did! "And Jesus answered and said unto them, TAKE HEED that no man DECEIVE YOU. For MANY shall come IN MY NAME, saying I am the Christ; and shall DECEIVE MANY" (Matthew 24: 4, 5). So, it is possible to come in the name of Jesus, to say that Jesus is the very Christ, to teach in His name, yet DECEIVE MANY! Notice the emphasis Jesus gave on the word "many." It was many not the few who would come in Jesus' name, and it was the many not the few who would be deceived. The deception within a so called Christianity - using the name of Christ, would become so great that even the very elect would be deceived IF it were possible (verse 24). How do you read your Bible? Do you see and do you believe what Jesus said? Or do you think He was mistaken, that He just did not know what He was talking about? These words of Jesus do not sound to me that the majority of those who use the name of Jesus are really the called and elected of Jesus. It sounds to me that Christ taught it would be the MANY - the majority - who would be, calling themselves Christian but would in fact be deceived. We have seen Jesus said that MANY would call Him Lord but would not make it into His Kingdom at His return, and Jesus said He would claim not to know them because their work was "lawlessness." So, you know that there are perhaps about 1 to 2 billion people alive today who call themselves Christian. Would you like to ask Jesus a very specific question, like, "Are there few that will be saved out of this huge Christian population"? Well, there was a man who saw the same situation in his day and did ask Jesus this very question. Turn to Luke the thirteenth chapter and begin to read in verse 22. "And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying towards Jerusalem. Then said one unto Him, Lord, are there few that be saved?" Here was the golden opportunity for Jesus to make it plain to all people for all times, HOW EASY IT WAS TO BE SAVED, how it was just a matter of accepting Him as the Messiah, believing in His death for sins, just accepting grace, sort of willing to obey nine of the Ten commandments, but not the 4th because it would become "void" at the cross. Jesus has this wonderful chance to say all these things and "put the record straight" that getting save had nothing to do with obedience to law, and the MANY - THE VAST MAJORITY who walked down the isle to accept Jesus into their heart, would be saved. According to the popular preachers of today, to hear them answer this question, that should have been the kind of answer Christ should have given to this inquiring man. These preachers would have us believe Jesus answered something like, "Sure, the many will be saved" or, "It is as easy as breathing to be saved" or, "Having me in your mind will save you, so billions upon billions through the ages will be saved." Shocking as it may seem to you, JESUS ANSWERED WITH NO SUCH WORDS!! Let's read how Christ answered this very specific, precise, pointed and pertinent question. "And He said to them, STRIVE to enter by the NARROW DOOR - force yourselves through it - for MANY, I tell you, will try to enter and WILL NOT BE ABLE" (verses 23, 24 Amplified Bible, emphasis mine). HHHOOO! What an answer! I is a shocking answer to many that have never read it, or that have been fed by the preachers the "believe on the name of Jesus and you shall be saved" verses of scripture only. I had read this answer of Jesus from my youth up. I remember the stunned look on the faces of fundamental Protestants when I gave them this section of scripture when they tried to tell me being saved was as easy as blinking your eye lid. I was stunned that they had never read this answer from Jesus. They could not figure out how to put those two answers on being saved, together. The one from Christ and the one that said, "if you believe with all your heart you shall be saved." It seemed like a huge contradiction to them. It is not a contradiction, not at all. Jesus just simply expounded in practical terms the kind of belief with your heart you must have to be saved. Let's continue to read how Jesus amplified believing with all your heart. "When once the Master of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door (again and again) saying, Lord open to us. He will answer you. I do not know where (what household, certainly not Mine) you come from. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where (what household - certainly not Mine) you come from; depart from Me, all you wrongdoers!" (Luke 13:25-27 Amplified Bible). VERY SOBER WORDS INDEED from Jesus. Why are not these words read to the new converts in the churches of our land? Why do people want to pick and choose the parts of the Bible that tickles them and puts them to sleep with day dreams of how inheriting eternal life is like the "lazy old sun that has nothing to do but roll around heaven all day."? As I have said, you can not EARN salvation by your works, Jesus certainly never taught that idea, yet you have just read one of His teachings. Those who work at, live at, practice as a life style, WRONGDOING, will be on the outside looking in. The Amplified Bible renders the Greek translated as "iniquity" in the KJV, as wrongdoers. They were sincere no doubt, but they were sincere WRONGDOERS! They were doing and practicing a thing or things that were contrary to the laws and will of God, they were disobedient to God somewhere in their way of life. The INTERLINEAR GREEK NT by George Berry translates this word as "unrighteousness." These people were not practicing righteousness - they were UN-righteous. They believed in Jesus, they called Him Lord, they thought they were within His presence, they thought He was teaching them, but it is obvious from Jesus' words, they were teaching and living contrary to the righteousness of God. What is a Bible definition of righteousness? Turn to Psalms 119:172 and you will see that ALL of God's COMMANDMENTS are righteousness. And that was written in the Old Covenant where the command concerning the Sabbath Day is found. So the MANY - the majority - will not be in the Kingdom at Christ's return, it will be only the few. Now what specific law of righteousness do the MANY within Christianity ignore or claim is "done away" or is changed? Most are willing to teach and practice 9 of the 10 commandments, but the one most refuse to obey and to practice is the 4th commandment, and in not obeying it they practice as a way of life - iniquity, sin, unrighteousness, lawlessness. Yes this large group of Christians who will be on the outside looking in, will include those who teach and practice other sins such as Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Fornication, Abortion, and the like. But the number of Christians who believe you can do these things and be in the good graces of the Lord are VERY FEW in relation to the hundreds of millions today and in the past who have believed and practiced the sin of breaking the 4th commandment. Let me again say: Most professing Christians and their ministers teach you should obey NINE of the Ten commandments, it is only the 4th they have trouble with, put down, change, or cast out completely. After reading what Jesus said, after reading all of this expounding of mine, most of Christianity would still say I'm over-reacting, being fanatical, and just continue on their merry way as before. Jesus knew this would be the case that is why He went on to say that those who called themselves Christians and would not be in the Kingdom, would be WEEPING AND GNASHING THEIR TEETH - they would be in UTTER SHOCK to hear Jesus tell them He never knew them. Oh yes, very SOBER words from Jesus indeed. Let me close this section by saying that Jesus and the word of God also makes it very clear that you could be a Sabbath - 7th Day observer, keep it in the letter and spirit very well, and not be in the Kingdom at Christ's return. Your attitude and practice of another of the commandments (like the rich young man of Matthew 19) may be unrighteous, wrongdoing, and lawlessness. Sabbath keeping is a PART of true Christianity, but it is only a PART! True Christianity is a constant humble and repentant attitude for being a sinner (under grace) and a desire to become perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect (believing to righteousness - Romans 10:8-10). Such that be a DAVID will inherit the Kingdom of God, and today those are not the many but the FEW! HOW TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE - ACCORDING TO JESUS I have before turned your attention to how Jesus answered the rich young man who asked Him how to inherit eternal life. But we need to look at that section of scripture in Matthew 19 another time, we need to ask a few more questions and find the answers. An argument put forth is that Jesus, in listing certain commandments that needed to be observed in order to inherit everlasting life, did not mention the 4th commandment - the Sabbath command. So the carnal mind reasons that the observance of the fourth commandment is not obligatory on Christians under the New Covenant. TO BE CONTINUED Written April 1995 All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published, e-mailed, and distributed as the Spirit leads. Mr. Hunt trusts nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation errors) without his consent.   Sabbath Arguments Answered #6 The Worldwide Church of God has abolished the Sabbath commandment - I answer their arguments But wait a minute! Jesus did not state the FIRST commandment either. The commandment not to take the name of the Lord in vain was not mentioned by Him, nor was the command "thou shalt not covet." The SECOND commandment was not listed by Christ either! Does this mean (and following the logic of the argument above it would) we can break these other commandments with impunity and inherit the Kingdom? No Christian church that I am aware of openly teaches its members that they can use "profanity," carve some idol out of wood, set it up in their house or back yard, worship it, and have eternal life. Please let me reiterate, remember that God does not have to repeat Himself in FULL all the time. There is at times enough said by the Lord in His word for you to be able to get the CLEAR INTENT of His message to you. This I have expounded, before with the example of Divorce and Remarriage when Jesus took the Pharisees back to the intent of God from the beginning in Genesis 2. The answer of Christ to the rich young man, and the commandments He did list, show the intent of Jesus. The young man and the disciples would have got "the picture" - they knew what law of God Jesus was referring to. They knew it was the TEN commandment law! And if we are willing to be honest, we KNOW IT ALSO! It is not so hard to understand. Suppose you were born into a family where your father had been an alcoholic at one time but was now a member of the AA. From a child you had seen him every week go off to attend AA meetings. As you grew older you became aware of what that organization was all about, and how they had a set of commandments its members should follow if they want victory over their alcohol problem. You may have seen your father fall at times and get drunk, repent of it, go off to the AA meeting for more help and encouragement to overcome. You had grown up in this environment, you knew the basic rules and the list of commandments the AA had for such persons as your father. Then one day after your father had been overcome by alcohol, he comes to you crying and asking what he should do to gain life from this problem. You answer him by saying he must follow the rules, commandments, of his AA organization. He answers you further by asking "which" commandments. You reply by quoting three or four of their basic well known list. You would NOT HAVE TO QUOTE THEM ALL for your father to get the point - the intent - that you mean ALL OF THEM! It is a common usage of speech. The intent is clearly understood in such a situation. Nobody is trying to teach that commandments are "done away" with under those circumstances of conveying your intent of speech. And so it was with Jesus' speech and answer to the question posed by this rich man on how to have eternal life. The intent of the answer was "keep the commandments - all ten of them." Then we should be willing (unless we have some carnal axe to grind) to realize from this passage that Jesus had the golden opportunity to state that under the New Covenant, all of the Ten commandments should be obeyed EXCEPT the 4th one, for it would be abolished at the cross - at His death, or when the NEW covenant came into effect. Yes, what an opportunity for Christ, but He didn't even give it a "close encounters" of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or any kind. The intent of Jesus was not to void any of the big ten, but to establish them! Ah, and that was one of the things the prophets foretold the Messiah would do when He came. He was to ESTABLISH and MAGNIFY the law, and make it HONORABLE - Isaiah 42:21. Then we should also realize that the gospel of Matthew was not written as Jesus actually said these words, but many YEARS AFTER Christ had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven. If some new revelation had been given to the early apostolic Church of God concerning the abrogation and revoking of the 4th commandment, after the ascension of Jesus, then here was an occasion for Matthew to INSERT in parentheses a remark to clarify the NEW covenant position of no Sabbath command. Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, could have easily written something like: Jesus said, Thou shalt not murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Thus Jesus was showing we should obey the Ten commandments - nine of them for we now know the 4th commandment is abolished). How easy it would have been for the writers of the four gospels to somewhere in the course of Jesus talking about the commandments of God, to have inserted a parenthetical statement to the effect that the Sabbath command was under the New covenant, either void or changed to any one day in seven. It would have been so easy to do if that had been the case, BUT IT WAS NOT DONE BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENED. JESUS NEVER TAUGHT THE SABBATH COMMAND WOULD BE ABOLISHED OR CHANGED. ON THE CONTRARY, JESUS TAUGHT THE SABBATH WOULD BE OBSERVED BY HIS FOLLOWERS RIGHT DOWN TO THE TIME OF HIS RETURN TO EARTH AND THE FIRST RESURRECTION! JUST BEFORE JESUS' RETURN - THE SABBATH IN EFFECT Matthew chapter 24 is a prophetic chapter that concerns the TIME JUST PRIOR TO AND UP TO THE COMING OF JESUS IN GLORY TO THIS EARTH. This chapter has really nothing to do with 70 A.D. and the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome. The intent (there's that word again) of this prophetic message of Christ's was NOT FOR 70 A.D. The very beginning words give you the plain truth of the matter. Read them friends, they say what they mean and mean what they say, you just have to believe them! "And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY COMING, AND OF THE END OF THE WORLD?" Jesus had just told them that all the stones of the Jerusalem Temple would be thrown down to the ground - not one stone left upon another (verses 1,2). THAT HAS NOT YET TAKEN PLACE FRIEND!! The so called "wailing wall" now standing in Jerusalem WAS APART OF THE TEMPLE IN JESUS' TIME. THOSE STONES ARE STILL ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER! This prophecy of Christ's is YET TO BE FULFILLED. IT WAS A PROPHECY. THIS WHOLE CHAPTER 24 OF MATTHEW IS FOR THE END TIME, SHORTLY BEFORE AND LEADING UP TO THE RETURN OF CHRIST AND THE FIRST RESURRECTION. The disciples asked Jesus for SIGNS of His COMING and the END OF THE AGE (original Greek). Jesus went on to give them the signs to watch for. A child can see this. I was a child once. I had a red letter Bible then as I do now - all the words of Jesus are in red letters. As a child I had read over and over again the words of Jesus as recorded in the four gospels. I had read Matthew 24 many times as a child. I did not understand it like I do today, but one thing was VERY PLAIN to me. THIS WAS A PROPHECY CONCERNING THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, AND THE SIGNS TO WATCH LEADING UP TO HIS RETURN AND THE RESURRECTION. As a child I knew NOTHING OF 70 A.D. I had never been taught it in my grade school (remember I was attending a Church of England school) or Sunday school. I was completely oblivious to the history of some Roman armies devastating Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But I was not oblivious to what I could read with my own eyes in the first few verses of Matthew 24. There it was as plain as the nose on your face. The disciples asked Jesus about HIS COMING AND THE END OF THE AGE! You need to forget about this 70 A.D. business. Someone has put it in your head. It probably was not there before someone came along and fed it to you. 70 A.D. is GONE - it came and went a LONG TIME AGO - forget about it. This prophecy of Christ's is FOR OUR TIME AND BEYOND! There is YET coming an ABOMINATION that makes desolate the city of Jerusalem - armies will yet surround Jerusalem and destroy it - see the parallel account as given in Luke 21 and note verses 20, 21. When this is about to take place, when the time is very near that Jerusalem is to be desolated and the stones of the temple of Jesus' day will be thrown to the ground, "not one left upon another," THEN THOSE CHRISTIANS LIVING IN JERUSALEM AND JUDEA ARE TO FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS! Notice what Jesus said should be a part of the prayers of His people at this END TIME, THE TIME LEADING TO HIS COMING AND THE RESURRECTION: "But pray that your flight be not in the winter, NEITHER ON THE SABBATH DAY" (verse 20). This is FOR THE END TIME. The next verse also proves it. Verse 21 - at that time there is to come a time of trouble such as "was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." This is the SAME TIME as foretold by Daniel in his 12th chapter and verse one. Also by the prophet Jeremiah, chapter thirty, verses one to nine. The time of trouble in 70 A.D. for Jerusalem was bad but not as bad as the Second World War of 1939-45. The Second World War did not lead up to the coming of Christ and the Resurrection, so this prophecy of Matthew 24 is still YET FUTURE! And the desolation of Jerusalem is yet to take place. When it does God's true people living in Judea are to be praying their fleeing to the mountains will not be on THE SABBATH! The Sabbath day is Holy, it is to be kept holy, it is not to do "our own thing" on. It is a day to rest physically, to worship the Lord in spiritual ways, and not a day to be concerned about saving your physical neck. AT THIS TIME IN HISTORY, AT THE END TIME, WHEN ALL THAT HAD BEEN NAILED TO THE CROSS AND "DONE AWAY WITH" WAS LONG TIME AGO CAST OUT WITH THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES AND CIRCUMCISION, WHEN THE 4TH COMMANDMENT WAS LONG TIME FORGOTTEN ABOUT, JESUS IS TELLING HIS FOLLOWERS TO PRAY THEIR FLIGHT WILL NOT BE IN THE WINTER (winters are still taking place today) NOR ON THE SABBATH DAY! JESUS EXCEPTED HIS CHRISTIANS TO BE OBSERVING THE SABBATH - TO BE REMEMBERING THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY - IN THE DAYS SHORTLY BEFORE HIS RETURN AND THE RESURRECTION (verses 22-31). ISAIAH'S PROPHECY ABOUT JESUS' RETURN IN GLORY AND THE SABBATH COMMAND The prophecy of Isaiah in chapters 54, 55, and 56, is in the main one large prophetic utterance that is dealing with the end time - the last few years before the Messiah's coming in glory to rule and re-establish the 12 tribes of Israel, at the beginning of the Kingdom of God on earth. All the prophets foretell that at the coming of Christ in power and glory, the tribes of Israel are in captivity in their enemies lands, from which the Messiah delivers them and brings them back into the Holy Land - the Promised Land of Palestine. There He rebuilds and blesses them, pours out His Spirit on them and they blossom as a rose garden to be a light of truth and salvation for the nations of the world. Chapter 54, verses 1-8 tell this truth just mentioned. Notice verse 10. There will come great physical changes in the earth but God's covenant of peace will never be removed. This has not yet taken place - the tribes of Israel do not today have perpetual peace. The children of the Israelites are not today being taught of God by and large and peace and oppression and terror has not yet ended, verses 13-17. When the Messiah Christ comes it will. Nations of the earth are not now running unto Israel to learn of God. When these prophecies are fulfilled and Israel is glorified the nations will run to them for knowledge of the true God - chapter 55:1-13. Now chapter 56. Notice what the first verse says: "Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for MY SALVATION IS NEAR TO COME, and my RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BE REVEALED." This is a special time in history, a time when God's salvation and righteousness is to go forth in a way that it never went forth before. If you want to argue that this was foretelling the start of the NEW covenant spiritual Church of God, fine, I will accept your view, in fact that view will add double weight to the permanence of the 4th commandment, so believe it that way if you will and see the Sabbath firmly established for the age of grace. The context shows this to be at the end time, when the Messiah comes to bring a time of salvation and righteousness that is different than at any other time in history. A time when salvation and righteousness will go forth to all nations as never before, when Israel will go forth with joy, and be led forth with peace, when the mountains and the hills break forth with singing, when the Holy One of Israel shall be called the God of THE WHOLE EARTH (chapters 55:12; 54:5). In this setting, when salvation will go forth to all nations, what does the Lord choose as THE commandment with a special covenant relationship between Him and those who will serve Him? Does He choose the commandment about lying, or the command not to covet, or the one that says "honor thy father and thy mother," or the command not to take the Lord's name in vain? No! God chooses the command that by the time the Messiah will come in glory and power, the world at large, and even the people who call themselves God's children, will, for the MOST PART, have forgotten and have not remembered - the FOURTH COMMANDMENT that says "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy...." God says, "Blessed is the man that doeth this, that KEEPETH THE SABBATH FROM POLLUTING IT...." (verse 2). How important does God think His Sabbath command is? Look at the words He uses in connection with this "covenant" of His. "For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs (those cut off from God) that KEEP MY SABBATHS, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of MY COVENANT; Even unto them will I give IN MY HOUSE AND WITHIN MY WALLS a place and a name BETTER THAN OF SONS AND OF DAUGHTERS: I WILL GIVE THEM AN EVERLASTING NAME, that shall not be cut off" (verse 4, 5). Wooowww! Does God look upon the Sabbath command as the "least of the commandment" as some today do? These words here sure do not give me that impression. Acquiring from the Lord a name BETTER THAN SONS OR DAUGHTERS is mind numbing, and the Lord ties that language and promise of His TOGETHER WITH SABBATH KEEPING!! A prophecy about Sabbath keeping, written under the OLD covenant, for the NEW COVENANT! Will the New covenant be in force shortly before the Messiah comes in glory? Sure it will! As the reign of Christ begins on this earth, will the New covenant CONTINUE? Sure it will. Notice what the Lord continues to promise: "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to SERVE Him, and to LOVE the name of the Lord, to be His SERVANTS, every one that KEEPETH THE SABBATH FROM POLLUTING IT, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer....... the Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather other's to him, beside those that are gathered unto him" (verses 6-8). The world at large will have forgotten God's Sabbath command by the time Jesus the Messiah comes to reign and rule this earth and the nations upon it. The Lord's word shall go forth at this time, it will not return to Him void (chapter 55:11). A part of that word of salvation and righteousness will be for all nations and peoples to REMEMBER "the Sabbath from polluting it." The Eternal God has not promised in His word that being His child, being a Christian, would be like eating an ice-cream sundae - all sweet, smooth, and enjoyable. Sometimes Christianity is an ABEL - you may be persecuted and killed by those closest to you. There may be times when Christianity is a NOAH - the vast majority may be going the other way, while laughing and ridiculing your stand for God and His righteousness. At times Christianity may be an ABRAHAM - needing lots of faith to obey God. Then at other times Christianity may be a DAVID - loving the commandments of the Lord to where you shed tears over seeing how people make them void. Sometimes Christianity will be a DANIEL - obeying and doing the simple things like praying, knowing it could cost you your life. It is possible Christianity is like a SHADRACH, MESHACH, and ABEDNEGO - willing to die before giving in to the pressure of breaking one of the commandments of God. Being a Christian may be like an apostle John - relatively unharmed, living to a golden age and dying a natural peaceful death. Jesus never said it would be easy to follow Him - to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind. Jesus never said it would be necessarily smooth and sweet to live by every word of God, as He taught man should do (Matthew 4:4). In His Olivet Prophecy He foretold that at the time of the end (the years of today), because of the many false prophets deceiving the many (Mat.24:11), "......iniquity SHALL ABOUND, the love of many SHALL WAX COLD" (verse 12). Sin - iniquity - in the last days would ABOUND. The breaking of the commandments of God would greatly increase at the time of the end because false prophets would teach many that they were at liberty to do - to practice - sin, lawlessness, and still be saved by grace through faith. This heresy teaching would lead many to wax COLD with love. And love - the love of God is ".......that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3). Truly the attitude of the Church of God at Laodicea is upon us today. God says: "I know thy works, that thou art neither COLD nor HOT... So then because thou art LUKEWARM, and neither cold nor hot, I will SPUE THEE OUT OF MY MOUTH" (Revelation 3:15,16). Drinking ice cold or hot tea can be both enjoyable, but lukewarm tea - yuck! Many today in the Church of God are spiritually saying, "....I am rich, increased with goods, and have need of nothing" (verse 17). Many are saying they can break the commandments of God with impunity and are still under the grace of God in the New covenant. Jesus answers them: ".....knowest not that thou art WRETCHED, and MISERABLE, and POOR, and BLIND, and NAKED. I counsel thee to buy of me GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE, that thou mayest be rich; and WHITE RAIMENT, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear..." Those who do lawlessness will have no white garment when Jesus returns. They will be shocked and ashamed when they hear "depart from me, I never knew you." To all such people with such lukewarm attitudes Jesus went on to say, "and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, THAT THOU MAYEST SEE" (verse 18). Lukewarmness needs to be cut away with the word of the Lord that is powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). It was foretold in the pages of the NEW covenant that false ministers, false prophets, and elders of the Church of God, would arise within the body of Christ, who would bring in DAMNABLE HERESIES! It was also foretold that MANY would follow them to their own destruction. You need to read Matthew 24; Acts 20; 2 Peter 2; 1 John 2; and Jude. If you are reading all the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, if you are as a little child in belief and understanding of the word, you will not be deceived, you can be a part of the very elect. The leaders of the WCG have already turned the Godhead into that which is as the physical wind - a nebulous, impalpable, ambiguous, confused, and intangible NOTHINGNESS! To them the Godhead is now like the WIND, something that is an everywhere..... NOTHING. Now, they say the Sabbath Day command is also a spiritual nothingness. Like God, it also to them has no body - no substance - no letter - no law. The leaders of the WCG now teach you are not really the offspring of God, not really His children, but something less than that. What you are is also ambiguous, but they say you certainly are not a child (literal son and daughter) of God. Oh, if the great apostle Paul was here today, he would again be shouting out these words of his: "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as certain also of your own poets have said, FOR WE ARE ALSO HIS OFFSPRING. Forasmuch then as WE ARE THE OFFSPRING OF GOD, we ought NOT TO THINK that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and MAN'S DEVICE. And the TIMES OF THIS IGNORANCE God winked at; but NOW COMMANDETH ALL MEN EVERYWHERE TO REPENT" (Acts 17:27-30). TO BE CONTINUED WITH A POSTSCRIPT Written April 1995   Sabbath Arguments Answered #7 The Worldwide Church of God has abolished the Sabbath commandment - I answer their arguments POSTSCRIPT There are those in certain schools of Theology (which the leaders of the WCG have now espoused) that like to try and tie up Biblical things such as Covenants, into neat defined packages. They like nothing to overlap, no "blurring" of things, no "searching effort" of the mind to be employed, no "studying" of the word to show yourself approved unto God. They just want to put the Old covenant and the New covenant into neat separate boxes, throw the old out with everything it contained, grab the new only and run with it to the finishing line. I guess this gives them a certain sense of peace of mind and security. They then have to pay very little attention to what is written in the Old covenant, it can be used as just a good story book for their children. Of course people who think this way also close their eyes and mind to specific verses in the New covenant that would fray the edges of their neat little box. I have already in this thesis stressed one of those verses. A command of the Lord that was first given in the Old covenant, but also taught again in the New covenant by Jesus Christ Himself, and that is: MAN IS TO LIVE BY EVERY WORD OF GOD AND NOT JUST BY PHYSICAL BREAD ALONE (Matthew 4:4). Under that instruction it is not possible to espouse a theology of one neat New covenant box, that says we will live by and practice only those things REPEATED in the New covenant. Any such theology DEFIES the very words and teachings of the New covenant SAVIOR that those people proclaim to follow. That plain teaching of Jesus as found in Matthew 4:4, instructs us to read the books of the Old covenant and LEARN from them HOW TO LIVE! We are to learn from the Old, things that we are to live in our daily lives while under the New. There are then no neat little boxes with neat edges, that we can totally discard one in all its entirety, while clinging only to the other. Jesus obviously did not come along to perform some spectacular MAGIC TRICK like, here is the Old box all packaged up and tied with ribbons, here is the New box - at the wave of the wand, the entire old has vanished, everything as a package is "done away" and only the new box remains to be opened to see what laws and commandments it proclaims. Jesus did not teach anything so neat and simple as that modern "simpleminded"(not the same as being childlike to enter the Kingdom) funny-mental (funny if not so serious) theology, as taught by some today, in the world of fundamental Christianity. To live by every word of God, as Jesus taught, means what it says and says what it means. You will have to read the WHOLE Bible from Genesis to Revelation, understand the Old covenant by the New covenant, and the New covenant by the Old covenant. You will have to "study" diligently to correctly know HOW and WHAT and WHEN to live as a Christian. It will take "searching the scriptures daily" to be a workman that needeth not be ashamed. It will take some meditation, some fasting, some prayer. It will take the Spirit of God "guiding you into all truth" as Jesus promised it would for His true disciples that knew His voice, and would not follow the voice of a stranger. It would take some EFFORT and some STRIVING to enter in by the straight or NARROW gate, Christ said. To understand WHAT laws, commandments, statutes, and precepts, found in the Old, are still for us to live by today, would take some humble but wise fear of the Lord study, along with the New covenant words (i .e. New covenant words show physical circumcision is not required to be saved). How important is the Old law and the Old prophets? Let Jesus Himself answer. THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS UNTO REPENTANCE Turn to Luke the sixteenth chapter - read verses 19 to 31. We are not here concerned with the parable and all its meaning, but with the CLEAR LESSON of the last number of verses. The rich man who is representing the unrepentant sinner, the lost soul who will face the lake of fire and eternal death, is here, for the purpose of the lesson, pictured as pleading with Abraham (who is in the Kingdom having inherited eternal life) that someone from the dead - a great miracle - should go and preach to his brothers the truths of God, so they would REPENT and not come into condemnation. This rich man wanted his brothers to repent and thought the best way was for a great miracle to be performed - some saved saint coming from the dead to preach to them. Ah, did you see how Abraham answered? "They have MOSES AND THE PROPHETS; let them HEAR THEM" (verse 29). Jesus uses Abraham in this parable to preach to this unrepentant rich man, that his brothers could come to REPENTANCE by reading the OLD COVENANT!! Repentance my friend leads to SALVATION and ETERNAL LIFE! The rich man wanted some outward sign, some outward miracle, like a person from the dead preaching to them. Wooww, he thought, that would really do it, that would bring them to see God. Then Jesus sums it all up by having Abraham answer: "If they HEAR NOT MOSES and the PROPHETS, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (verse 31). Jesus was here clearly teaching that the Old covenant was not as a packaged box with ALL its contents, "done away" with, but was emphasizing its unchanging relevance in leading to REPENTANCE and SALVATION. Of course Christ knew this truth, He was the one who would later inspire the apostle Paul to proclaim that having Jesus and only the OLD covenant scriptures WOULD LEAD YOU TO SALVATION! 2 TIMOTHY 3:15 "And that from a child thou hast known the HOLY SCRIPTURES, which are ABLE TO MAKE THEE WISE UNTO SALVATION THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS." The ONLY written Scriptures that Timothy had when growing up - the only God breathed inspired Scriptures - were the Scriptures of the LAW, the PROPHETS, and the WRITINGS (Luke 24:27,44). The WHOLE OLD COVENANT as we call it today - the Holy Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi. These Scriptures Paul said to Timothy were able to make him WISE UNTO SALVATION THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS. If someone found themselves with only the OLD TESTAMENT and Jesus, they could find SALVATION! Physical circumcision, Temple priests, rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices, NEVER DID give salvation or eternal life to those who partook of them, as we have previously proved. But the acknowledgment of sin, the repentant heart, and a humble attitude of willingness to obey the commandments of the Lord, was required to obtain MERCY, the HOLY SPIRIT, and SALVATION, for those called and chosen to eternal life under the Old covenant. OLD AND NEW COVENANT - HOW THEY INTERTWINE There is an attitude, a belief, a doctrine even, that many people have, which is this: The phrase "law of Moses" is not the same as the "law of God." They have a neat little box in their mind about what they think is the law of Moses, and a neat little box about what they think is the law of God. To them they are NOT THE SAME, nothing can overlap for them, so with a shrug of the shoulder they can cast away all laws that they consider part of the law of Moses, and go happily humming their tune down the pathway of their lovely rose garden. The problem is they do not see the LION waiting to devour them behind the mulberry bush. They have not read their Bible carefully enough to see that there is no real distinction between the law of Moses and the law of God. Clear proof of this is found in Luke 2:22-24. "And when the days of her purification ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF MOSES were accomplished, they brought Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord. (As it is written in THE LAW OF THE LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the LAW OF THE LORD. A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Do you see that friend? Read it again! Mark it with a colored pen. Sacrificial laws of the law of Moses are also called THE LAW OF THE LORD! And why not? ALL THE LAWS given to ancient Israel were FROM THE LORD, given from God through the mediator Moses. It was not Moses who invented them, made them up, asked for God's approval on them, no not at all. It was the Eternal God who TOLD MOSES WHAT THE LAWS WOULD BE FOR THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL TO FOLLOW UNDER THE OLD COVENANT! Read Exodus chapter 24, and note verses 3, 4, 7, 12. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter one and read verses 1 and 2. Then go over to chapter five, read all of it, taking note especially of verses 22 to 33. It should be clear from the above sections of scripture (let alone many others) that the law of Moses is also the law of God. They were laws of God given to Israel through Moses the man mediator. You want a little more proof? Many would say the Feast of Unleavened Bread that ancient Israel was to observe in the first month of the year for seven days, was a law of Moses' laws. Well, turn to Exodus chapter thirteen, read verses 1 to 8. Now notice what is written in verse 9, "And it (this feast of 7 days of Unleavened Bread) shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, THAT THE LORD'S LAW may be in thy mouth. Did the New Testament Apostolic Church of God believe and teach that ALL THE LAWS in the Old covenant - law of Moses - were "done away" at the cross of Christ? Let's go again to Acts 15 and see some very revealing verses. This ministerial conference of Apostles, Elders, and Church Members, were led by the Spirit of God and the Words of Scripture, to see that physical circumcision of the Old covenant (law of Moses/law of God) was NOT REQUIRED to be saved. Did this mean to them that ALL the laws of Moses were "abolished"? Well, in writing to the Gentiles in the Church, and giving them some specific on things that gentiles practiced as a common way of life, they gave them instructions to obey things right out of THE LAWS OF MOSES! Look at verse 20. Mark this one well also. "But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood." Now fornication some could argue is from the Ten Commandments, but POLLUTIONS OF IDOLS, THINGS STRANGLED, and BLOOD? They are certainly not from the Ten Commandments, but they are from the LAW OF MOSES! Was this all that the Gentiles were to heed from the law of the Lord, or were they to read Moses and learn how to live by every word of God? The answer is found in verse 21. "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues EVERY SABBATH DAY." The Gentiles were expected to attend the synagogue on the Sabbath and learn the ways of the Lord - learn how to live by God's word - through the reading of the books of Moses - the law of Moses - the LAW OF GOD! Certain saints of the Church were in need of physical help at one point of time. Paul in chapters 8 and 9 of his second letter to the Corinthians, encourages them to GIVE of their substance to meet the needs of these saints. This was to be a "love offering" as we might call it today, it was to be a freewill offering, given with cheerfulness (chapter 9: 7). Paul was also trying his best to get them to give GENEROUSLY, and to accomplish that he had no hesitation to quote principles given by and inspired by God, from the OLD covenant - verse 6 of chapter nine is from PROVERBS 11:24, and verse 9 from PSALMS 112:9, verse 10 from ISAIAH 55:10 plus HOSEA 10:12. Paul did not believe the Old covenant as a package, with all it's laws, commandments, statutes, precepts, and principles, was "nailed to the cross" and thrown out on the garbage pile along with physical circumcision and animal sacrifices. He used it many times to uphold a LAW OF THE LORD and stir brethren up to perform THE WAY of the Lord. The question arose with the brethren at Corinth about whether Paul and Barnabas had the authority to be full time, paid ministers, living off the funds of the Church. Paul answers this question for them in chapter nine of 1 Corinthians. He answers them by stating the ministers of the gospel do have the authority to be full time and live off the physical funds of the Church. He first proves this by a few examples of logic taken from the society of the world, then he hits them between the eyes with quotations taken from THE LAW OF MOSES (verse 9). He quotes not from the Ten commandments, but from a part of the books of Moses - the law of Moses - the law of the Lord! He quotes from DEUTERONOMY 25: 4. Paul then went on to say to them, was this law given JUST for the oxen, or was it not given for a much DEEPER reason? Was it just for those under the Old covenant? NOT AT ALL! Paul said this law of Moses was given FOR US , "For OUR SAKES, no doubt this is written..."(verse 10). Paul looks into this part of the law of Moses and pulls it out to prove his point, states it was written for US TODAY under the New covenant! This part of the law of Moses was not "done away with" in Paul's mind, it was quite relevant to the New covenant. It proved to Paul that the law of God's ministers living off the physical substance of those they served, was still in full force and effect under the present New covenant age of grace. Paul used the books of Moses. He quoted from the law of Moses to uphold the truth and doctrine that women in the Church cannot be ordained teachers and preachers - see 1 Cor.14:34; 1Tim.2:11-14. Paul quoted from the OLD covenant - the law of Moses - the law of the Lord. Over and over again to prove his point, to uphold and establish laws for the New covenant. He practiced what Jesus told us to do. Paul lived by EVERY WORD OF GOD! Paul knew that the OLD and the NEW covenants were INTERTWINED. PAUL AND HIS BIBLE From the book Paul's Use of the Old Testament by E.Earle Ellis, chapter one, are these pertinent sentences. Quote: The writings of the apostle Paul reveal a person immersed in the content and teachings of the OT. H.A.A.Kennedy, after a study of Paul's religious terminology, found that practically every leading conception in this field of Paul's thought had its roots definitely laid in OT soil. Whether he is giving a dogmatic proof, an analogy, or an illustration, or merely using language with which to clothe his own thoughts, the OT appears frequently throughout the Pauline epistles....... The Pauline use of the OT appears in three distinct forms: quotations proper, intentional and casual allusion, and dialectic and theological themes. The task of defining 'quotation' in the Pauline literature is rather difficult, and the decision in the end is somewhat arbitrary. The apostle probably did not have our concept of quotation marks; he certainly did not give to it the sanctity which characterises our literary usage. Some references which are introduced with an explicit citation formula echo only the tenor of the passage; others, not given even the dignity of an introductory conjunction, follow the OT text verbatim ac litteratim. The gradation from quotation to allusion is so imperceptible that it is almost impossible to draw any certain line....... "Paul quotes the OT ninety-three times.......Although the quotations are drawn from sixteen OT books, three-fourths of them are from the Pentateuch (thirty-three), Isaiah (twenty-five), and the Psalms (nineteen). The citations appear both singly and in combination ....... "Paul's use of the OT cannot be understood apart from his attitude towards it. To him the Scriptures are holy and prophetic; they constitute the very oracles of God, and they 'were written... for our learning.' "Paul's phrase 'God-breathed' could hardly be improved upon. In his view of the OT the apostle is in agreement not only with Christ and the NT writers, but also with the whole of Judaism and the early Church. "The essential difference between Paul and the Jews in their employment of Scripture was an interpretive one....... In Paul's eyes the Jews stood on the Scripture; though they extolled it, they erred because they did not know it.......In First and Second Corinthians Paul teaches expressly that a correct understanding of Scripture is impossible without the Holy Spirit....... The place of the Spirit does not lesson the authority of the OT for Paul; nor is there any antithesis between the Scripture and the Spirit....... "Besides the Scripture there are several other authorities to which Paul appeals to support his assertions. There are the law of nature, the conscience of the individual, his own revelation from Christ or the Holy Spirit, and the teaching of Christ as received through oral or written apostolic tradition....... "This appeal to different authorities is at times found in close combination though there seems to be no consistent pattern of association. For example, in 1 Cor.9:7-14 Paul proceeds from the analogy of nature to the witness of the OT; immediately he returns to another analogy, the practice of the temple, and clinches the whole argument citing the command of Christ directly bearing on the subject. 1 Cor.15:3-11 is even more noteworthy: Christ's resurrection is grounded in the OT, the apostolic tradition, and Paul's personal revelation....... "But the OT was not one of those things which Paul counted loss for the sake of Christ; indeed, it could be understood only in the light of Christ....... "For Paul, Jesus was above all, the Christ; to divorce the Messiah from the "book-religion" of the OT was hardly a task for a Jew - even one converted through personal revelation......."           End quote  ................................................................. Written in 1995 All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published, e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr.Hunt trusts nothing will be changed without his consent.