Carnal Hypocrisy of Sabbath Commanders

[marksman]

What brethren? I defy, reject, and denounce your corrupt sabbath of exceptions and indulgences, as a childish blasphemy against the Lord's Sabbath.

Must be wonderful to be perfect.

 

[robert derrick]

I concede your points:

1. You don't know if I agree with your side of the hypothetical situation.

2. You don't know if I consider you a brother or not.

I have failed miserably to successfully make these things clear.

Brother

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It's called refusing to answer an honest yes/no question with yes/no answer:

The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.

And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell.

1. There are those who teach it is acceptable to work on a sabbath day, if it is required as part of their career, such as in the military, police, or emergency response.

When they do so, their pay for that day goes to the offering plate.

Do you agree with this kind of sabbath, or not?

2. Are you calling me brother, or not?

 

[BarneyFife]

It's called refusing to answer an honest yes/no question with yes/no answer:

The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.

And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell.

1. There are those who teach it is acceptable to work on a sabbath day, if it is required as part of their career, such as in the military, police, or emergency response.

When they do so, their pay for that day goes to the offering plate.

Do you agree with this kind of sabbath, or not?

2. Are you calling me brother, or not?

I concede your points:

1. You don't know if I agree with your side of the hypothetical situation.

2. You don't know if I consider you a brother or not.

I have failed miserably to successfully make these things clear.

Brother

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[robert derrick]

I don't care one thing about what you personally think of me. Really, it doesn't matter to me at all.

And so, back to the truth of things going on here:

@robert derrick The way you have approached this subject and have issued accusations and condemnations without following due diligence in investigating the truth of the matter, nor inquiring personally but made presumptions based on your own unenlightened theological errors,

There are those who teach it is acceptable to work on a sabbath day, if it is required as part of their career, such as in the military, police, or emergency response.

When they do so, their pay for that day goes to the offering plate.

Do you agree with this kind of sabbath, or not?

@robert derrick
You are being used as an emissary of the accuser of the brethren.

Are you calling me a brother, or not?

@robert derrick
The miracle-working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

When you begin healing the sick and wounded, and casting out devils in the name of Jesus on your sabbath, then I will glorify Christ in you.

Until then, the only miracle working you people are doing, is pushing off a phony sabbath among yourselves like children in a dirty sandbox.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.

@robert derrick
Satan's policy in this final conflict with God's people is the same that he employed in the opening of the great controversy in heaven. He professed to be seeking to promote the stability of the divine government, while secretly bending every effort to secure its overthrow.

The only ones seeking to establish government over other Christians is yourselves by commandment of a phony modernized sabbath..

I wouldn't show up at one of your sabbath meetings on pains of death. I don't play hypocritical games with the Lord.

@robert derrick
Under the rule of Rome, those who suffered death for their fidelity to the gospel were denounced as evildoers; they were declared to be in league with Satan; and every possible means was employed to cover them with reproach, to cause them to appear in the eyes of the people and even to themselves as the vilest of criminals. So it will be now. While Satan seeks to destroy those who honor God's law, he will cause them to be accused as lawbreakers, as men who are dishonoring God and bringing judgments upon the world.

And so, the goal of those rejecting your pseudo-sabbath, is to stop you from playing with each other on it.

Your delusions of persecution grandeur are as real as the play-play sabbath you keep.

@robert derrick
Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government.

Whoever this mutt is that you're channeling, his persecution complex no doubt made him feel good.

1. Those who reject a commandment to keep a sabbath, don't care if others do.

2. If any enforcers of the Lord's Sabbath do begin to hold power, then you would be one of the first to be shut down as profaning the sabbath by your excuse-ridden indulgence-filled corruption of it, The Pharisees will rise up and condemn your pathetic pretense of the Lord's Sabbath.

@robert derrick
The above was written 130 years ago, and the vast majority of Protestant commentators thought such a thing impossible. Yet here you are, operating in the same spirit as those spoken of.

Yes!!! Here I am!!!!



I am persecuting you by refusing to agree with your phony-baloney sabbath day, and I was prophesied 130 years ago!!!!!!

I am honored that you think me so effectively at variance with your false doctrine, that you now proclaim me the incarnation of a 130 year old prophecy by one of your forefathers.

"If the devil hates you, you must be doing something good for God."

@robert derrick The question is, how far are you willing to take this?

As far as you like. Frankly, things were getting stale with your redundant dissimulations with Scripture, and refusals to answer honest questions.

But now that I'm declared the fulfillment of your mutt-father's prophecy 130 years ago, then I'd love to see more.

Like the man said in 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid', "I love reading my name in the newspaper."

But frankly, I don't think you should begin rejoicing like the prophet's of old just yet.

I mean, being persecuted by being told your sabbath is phony, and refusing to obey it with you, is hardly the stuff of martyrdom.

It's pretty thin.

 

[robert derrick]

I concede your points:

1. You don't know if I agree with your side of the hypothetical situation.

2. You don't know if I consider you a brother or not.

I have failed miserably to successfully make these things clear.

Brother

.

No one can be this lukewarm.

I believe you purposely equivocate just to show how artful you are at it.

In any case, until you answer plainly, I have no more use for you.

 

[BarneyFife]

I don't care one thing about what you personally think of me. Really, it doesn't matter to me at all.

And so, back to the truth of things going on here:



There are those who teach it is acceptable to work on a sabbath day, if it is required as part of their career, such as in the military, police, or emergency response.

When they do so, their pay for that day goes to the offering plate.

Do you agree with this kind of sabbath, or not?



Are you calling me a brother, or not?



For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

When you begin healing the sick and wounded, and casting out devils in the name of Jesus on your sabbath, then I will glorify Christ in you.

Until then, the only miracle working you people are doing, is pushing off a phony sabbath among yourselves like children in a dirty sandbox.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.



The only ones seeking to establish government over other Christians is yourselves by commandment of a phony modernized sabbath..

I wouldn't show up at one of your sabbath meetings on pains of death. I don't play hypocritical games with the Lord.



And so, the goal of those rejecting your pseudo-sabbath, is to stop you from playing with each other on it.

Your delusions of persecution grandeur are as real as the play-play sabbath you keep.



Whoever this mutt is that you're channeling, his persecution complex no doubt made him feel good.

1. Those who reject a commandment to keep a sabbath, don't care if others do.

2. If any enforcers of the Lord's Sabbath do begin to hold power, then you would be one of the first to be shut down as profaning the sabbath by your excuse-ridden indulgence-filled corruption of it, The Pharisees will rise up and condemn your pathetic pretense of the Lord's Sabbath.



Yes!!! Here I am!!!!



I am persecuting you by refusing to agree with your phony-baloney sabbath day, and I was prophesied 130 years ago!!!!!!

I am honored that you think me so effectively at variance with your false doctrine, that you now proclaim me the incarnation of a 130 year old prophecy by one of your forefathers.

"If the devil hates you, you must be doing something good for God."


As far as you like. Frankly, things were getting stale with your redundant dissimulations with Scripture, and refusals to answer honest questions.

But now that I'm declared the fulfillment of your mutt-father's prophecy 130 years ago, then I'd love to see more.

Like the man said in 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid', "I love reading my name in the newspaper."

But frankly, I don't think you should begin rejoicing like the prophet's of old just yet.

I mean, being persecuted by being told your sabbath is phony, and refusing to obey it with you, is hardly the stuff of martyrdom.

It's pretty thin.

I've been told by hundreds of people that the 4th commandment has either been changed or cancelled. But very, very few of them exhibit the potential for actual persecution. You're special in that regard. It really is rather frightening to witness what's going on here. It reminds me distinctly of the scenes leading up to the burning at the stake of Jon Hus in a film adaptation of the story. Except that you seem to be amusing yourself a lot more than those folks were.

What really puzzles me is that you go on and on and on about the lack of a worshipful spirit in Sabbath-keepers and how you wouldn't go to an Adventist service under any circumstances (which of course allows you to let yourself off the hook, not being able to bear witness to what an Adventist worship service actually demonstrates in the way of "worship in Spirit"). Yet you exhibit no inclination toward worship, no love for Christ, and haven't done so in all the time I've encountered you on this forum. I don't say that you don't possess these attributes. Only that you must be suppressing them if you do.

Further, you offer no kind of example of demonstration or explanation of this "Spirit of worship." You simply demand it of others, while claiming by the "argument from silence" logical fallacy that it doesn't exist.

All forms of debate and justice in the western world, at least, dictate that the burden of proof lies with the accuser.

You accuse Sabbather-keepers of keeping a self-styled, inauthentic, pseudo-Sabbath. Yet, as is consistent with your well-known method of discussion, you offer nothing but mockery, insults, condescension, and self-congratulation, along with rigid and narrow insistence upon setting down your own one-sided rules of exchange. It seems that this discussion would be no less enjoyable if you had it with yourself.

No one can be this lukewarm.

I believe you purposely equivocate just to show how artful you are at it.

In any case, until you answer plainly, I have no more use for you.

I rest my case (in terms of your preference to commune with yourself).

Your amateurish slicing and dicing of the 4th commandment will find no accomplice in me, Brother.

Refusing to facilitate your Pharisaical pigeon-holing and recognizing that circumstances alter cases is hardly what I would call equivocation. Judge as you see fit. How could I hope to dissuade you?

As for lukewarmness, Adventists are no stranger to the subject of the Faithful Witness's message to the church at Laodicea.

You're letting off an awful lot of steam for someone who claims not to care about much of anything.



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[Brakelite]

I don't play hypocritical games with the Lord

Riiight. Just with His children.

 

[robert derrick]

Riiight. Just with His children.

His children do not play hypocritical games with a pseudo-sabbath.

I at least would have some respect for keepers of the Lord's Sabbath as written in the law of Moses.

But once I found out you people aren't even doing so, but making playtime with a sabbath of your own, then the whole dispute about whether the Lord's Sabbath is still law becomes mute and foolish.

 

[robert derrick]

But very, very few of them exhibit the potential for actual persecution. You're special in that regard. It really is rather frightening to witness what's going on here. It reminds me distinctly of the scenes leading up to the burning at the stake of Jon Hus in a film adaptation of the story. Except that you seem to be amusing yourself a lot more than those folks were.

You wish. There's nothing more pathetic than wanna-be martyrs, who think they are being persecuted, because others don't want to come out and play with them.

What really puzzles me is that you go on and on and on about the lack of a worshipful spirit in Sabbath-keepers and how you wouldn't go to an Adventist service under any circumstances.

It's called the fact that you people never spoke of any spirituality to your pseudo-sabbath keeping, nor of the inner man.

Now, you give some lip service to it.

And I don't go to churches I already know teach false doctrine, out of curiosity. I go where I know the truth is taught and the Spirit of Christ is worshipped. I don't play games with silly sabbaths nor with erring churches.

Yet you exhibit no inclination toward worship, no love for Christ, and haven't done so in all the time I've encountered you on this forum. I don't say that you don't possess these attributes. Only that you must be suppressing them if you do.

Further, you offer no kind of example of demonstration or explanation of this "Spirit of worship."

Dissing your silly sabbath is not cursing you personally, which I do not do, being a lover of Jesus.

And if I knew who you were in public, I would love you by keeping my distance from you, and not bothering arguing with you about your silly sabbath keeping.

Which to you pseudo-martyrs is 'persecution'. What a joke.

All forms of debate and justice in the western world, at least, dictate that the burden of proof lies with the accuser.

The observation was made you people never ever spoke of anything spiritual about your sabbath keeping, but was all outward only.

And there is no debate about it, but simply proven by the fact none of you ever produced any evidence otherwise.

There is no debate here, but only that of your own persecuted mind.

The sabbath you teach and keep is false, and so there can be nothing spiritual about it in Christ, which is proven by never speaking of it in the past, and by your refusal to even acknowledge your sabbath is a corruption of the Lord's true Sabbath as written in the law of Moses.

Continue playing with your sabbath all you want. Doesn't matter to me.

 

[BarneyFife]

Doesn't matter to me.

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This is quite clear by now.
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[BarneyFife]

Which to you pseudo-martyrs is 'persecution'.

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I don't consider what you've done up to this point to be persecution. I simply observe that your disdainful, insulting spirit is very much like those who eventually do persecute. You seem to have trouble distinguishing practical things. Straw men and your presumed ability to read minds are quite tiring, along with your incessantly droning false accusations. You are indeed most unkind and verbally abusive. You exhibit nothing of the love of Jesus that you profess. I've had my fill of your ill will. But I pray for peace with you.

You may now proceed to cavil, ridicule, and mock. It will illicit no more response from me.
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[BarneyFife]

You wish. There's nothing more pathetic than wanna-be martyrs, who think they are being persecuted, because others don't want to come out and play with them.



It's called the fact that you people never spoke of any spirituality to your pseudo-sabbath keeping, nor of the inner man.

Now, you give some lip service to it.

And I don't go to churches I already know teach false doctrine, out of curiosity. I go where I know the truth is taught and the Spirit of Christ is worshipped. I don't play games with silly sabbaths nor with erring churches.



Dissing your silly sabbath is not cursing you personally, which I do not do, being a lover of Jesus.

And if I knew who you were in public, I would love you by keeping my distance from you, and not bothering arguing with you about your silly sabbath keeping.

Which to you pseudo-martyrs is 'persecution'. What a joke.



The observation was made you people never ever spoke of anything spiritual about your sabbath keeping, but was all outward only.

And there is no debate about it, but simply proven by the fact none of you ever produced any evidence otherwise.

There is no debate here, but only that of your own persecuted mind.

The sabbath you teach and keep is false, and so there can be nothing spiritual about it in Christ, which is proven by never speaking of it in the past, and by your refusal to even acknowledge your sabbath is a corruption of the Lord's true Sabbath as written in the law of Moses.

Continue playing with your sabbath all you want. Doesn't matter to me.

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I thought you had no more use for me.
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[robert derrick]

Must be wonderful to be perfect.

Only the saints in heaven are perfected in Christ, while the saints on earth are only righteous as He was, not perfect in mind and body.

And phony sabbath play-games is only for the hypocritical, who are also beyond self-righteous in judging the saints, that righteously reject their silly sabbath of exemptions and indulgences.

I do not curse you, but only reject your cursed sabbath.

I love you by doing so.

But, those who prefer hypocrisy do not love righteous correction.

A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

 

[robert derrick]

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I don't consider what you've done up to this point to be persecution. I simply observe that your disdainful, insulting spirit is very much like those who eventually do persecute. .
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Your neither a martyr nor even know what persecution is, which is not surprising since you don't even know what the Lord's Sabbath is, but only play-play with your own version of it.

Persecutors are not disdainful, which is to not bother to deal with others.

Persecutors are attackers of those they hate. The last place I want to be on earth right now is among your playtime sabbath church.

.Straw men and your presumed ability to read minds are quite tiring, along with your incessantly droning false accusations. .

I don't read minds, except by knowing them by what they write for all to read.

Your exemption/indulgence ridden sabbath is not a false accusation, since it is true, and you do not deny your sabbath is with exemptions and indulgences.

You confirm your sabbath is false.

You just get your feelings hurt when it is pointed out, and your sabbath commandment is stripped of all it's fluffy words and fair speeches about honoring God on a corrupt sabbath.

. You are indeed most unkind and verbally abusive. .

Boo hoo.

I judge your pretentious sabbath and your commanding of it to condemn others by, to be abusive to the Lord's sabbath and His saints.

. But I pray for peace with you..
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This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

.You may now proceed to cavil, ridicule, and mock. It will illicit no more response from me.
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So long as you continue to provide the fodder, I will continue to burn it.

As a moth to the flame, you obviously can't help yourself. How many times is this, that you have said goodbye, and yet, I keep getting these reply notices from you.

When I say I will do something, I must do it, so that I do not mock my Lord Jesus with childish games.

 

[BarneyFife]

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Finding peace and nurturing relationships in a chaotic world:

The gracious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts. Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; 31:13-17; Leviticus 23:32; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Isaiah 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Ezekiel 20:12, 20; Matthew 12:1-12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; Hebrews 4:1-11

As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished Israel when they came out of Egypt to enter the earthly Canaan, so it is the sign that now distinguishes God's people as they come out from the world to enter the heavenly rest. The Sabbath is a sign of the relationship existing between God and His people, a sign that they honor His law. It distinguishes between His loyal subjects and transgressors.

From the pillar of cloud Christ declared concerning the Sabbath: “Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” Exodus 31:13. The Sabbath given to the world as the sign of God as the Creator is also the sign of Him as the Sanctifier. The power that created all things is the power that re-creates the soul in His own likeness. To those who keep holy the Sabbath day it is the sign of sanctification. True sanctification is harmony with God, oneness with Him in character. It is received through obedience to those principles that are the transcript of His character. And the Sabbath is the sign of obedience. He who from the heart obeys the fourth commandment will obey the whole law. He is sanctified through obedience.

To us as to Israel the Sabbath is given “for a perpetual covenant.” To those who reverence His holy day the Sabbath is a sign that God recognizes them as His chosen people. It is a pledge that He will fulfill to them His covenant. Every soul who accepts the sign of God's government places himself under the divine, everlasting covenant. He fastens himself to the golden chain of obedience, every link of which is a promise.

What is the Sabbath?

The Sabbath is the memorial of God’s creation of Planet Earth. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, states that God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh day (Saturday). The Hebrew word for Sabbath is "Shabbat," meaning “to rest from labor” or “day of rest.” God also blessed and sanctified it making the day holy. After Adam and Eve sinned, God intended that true Sabbath observance would set His people apart as His forever. Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 16:23; 31:16, 17; Ezekiel 20:20

In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and their rightful Sovereign; that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His authority. Thus the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to all mankind. There was nothing in it shadowy or of restricted application to any people.

God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and aims for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.

God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of men to the contemplation of His created works. Nature speaks to their senses, declaring that there is a living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of all. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” Psalm 19:1, 2. The beauty that clothes the earth is a token of God's love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in the opening buds and the delicate flowers. All speak to us of God. The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids men open the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power, and the love of the Creator.
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[BarneyFife]

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The Sabbath was made by God for all people, in all places, in all times. It was given in Eden as a memorial of Creation long before there was a Jew or other nationality. God intended the Sabbath to be a perpetual special day in which we can enter a deeper relationship with Him. Isaiah 56:2, 6, 7; 66:22, 23; Mark 2:27; Hebrews 4:9-11

The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been founded at creation. It is to be remembered and observed as the memorial of the Creator's work. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it distinguishes the true God from all false gods. All who keep the seventh day signify by this act that they are worshipers of Jehovah. Thus the Sabbath is the sign of man's allegiance to God as long as there are any upon the earth to serve Him. The fourth commandment is the only one of all the ten in which are found both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It is the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given. Thus it contains the seal of God, affixed to His law as evidence of its authenticity and binding force.

God has given men six days wherein to labor, and He requires that their own work be done in the six working days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath, the sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for; but unnecessary labor is to be strictly avoided. “Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and ... honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure.” Isaiah 58:13. Nor does the prohibition end here. “Nor speaking thine own words,” says the prophet. Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes all within our gates. The inmates of the house are to lay aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by willing service upon His holy day.

The Sabbath symbolizes our rest and confidence in our Creator and Savior, Jesus. We trust Him for our salvation, and not our own righteousness. The purpose of the Sabbath is not to save us, but to show our gratitude to Jesus for His marvelous grace! To worship on the seventh day is to accept the authority of our Creator Lord, who commanded the day be kept. Jesus invites us into His rest on the Sabbath, freeing us from the stress and burdens of our work week. Jesus rested at creation and in the tomb both as a culmination of His creative and redemptive work. Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; John 14:15; Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 4:4-6, 9, 10

According to the sacred Scriptures, the Sabbath begins at sundown Friday evening and ends at sundown Saturday evening. Every person is privileged to enter a deeper relationship with Jesus during the hallowed hours of the Sabbath. When we love and obey Jesus, we become part of His family, receiving the blessings of the ancient covenant between God and Abraham! He especially longs to bless us with His presence during the Sabbath hours. Leviticus 23:32; Nehemiah 13:19; Galatians 3:28, 29

We should jealously guard the edges of the Sabbath. Remember that every moment is consecrated, holy time. Whenever it is possible, employers should give their workers the hours from Friday noon until the beginning of the Sabbath. Give them time for preparation, that they may welcome the Lord's day with quietness of mind. By such a course you will suffer no loss even in temporal things.

There is another work that should receive attention on the preparation day. On this day all differences between brethren, whether in the family or in the church, should be put away. Let all bitterness and wrath and malice be expelled from the soul. In a humble spirit, “confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” James 5:16.

Before the Sabbath begins, the mind as well as the body should be withdrawn from worldly business. God has set His Sabbath at the end of the six working days, that men may stop and consider what they have gained during the week in preparation for the pure kingdom which admits no transgressor. We should each Sabbath reckon with our souls to see whether the week that has ended has brought spiritual gain or loss.

"The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God”—because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. “The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten.”—J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27.

It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, “Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” It follows that the message which commands men to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment.

In contrast to those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, the third angel points to another class, against whose errors a solemn and fearful warning is uttered: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Revelation 14:9, 10. A correct interpretation of the symbols employed is necessary to an understanding of this message. What is represented by the beast, the image, the mark?

The line of prophecy in which these symbols are found begins with Revelation 12, with the dragon that sought to destroy Christ at His birth. The dragon is said to be Satan (Revelation 12:9); he it was that moved upon Herod to put the Saviour to death. But the chief agent of Satan in making war upon Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian Era was the Roman Empire, in which paganism was the prevailing religion. Thus while the dragon, primarily, represents Satan, it is, in a secondary sense, a symbol of pagan Rome.
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[marksman]

Only the saints in heaven are perfected in Christ, while the saints on earth are only righteous as He was, not perfect in mind and body.

And phony sabbath play-games is only for the hypocritical, who are also beyond self-righteous in judging the saints, that righteously reject their silly sabbath of exemptions and indulgences.

I do not curse you, but only reject your cursed sabbath.

I love you by doing so.

But, those who prefer hypocrisy do not love righteous correction.

A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

how wonderful to be perfect.

 

[BarneyFife]

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How should the Sabbath be kept?


Jesus reserves some of His best promises for those who make God the center of their thoughts, words, and even conversation on His holy day. The Sabbath is not a day for buying, selling, farm or housework, competitive sports or business transactions. Rather, it is a day to center our minds on God and His amazing love and power, cultivating our relationship with Him in joyous celebration. Focusing on heavenly themes could include corporate worship in church, private worship in nature, spending time in prayer, Scripture study and spiritual song, visiting the sick or lonely, and enjoying family time. Exodus 16:23; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Isaiah 58:13, 14; Mark 3:1-6

How do we know today’s seventh day is the Sabbath of Jesus’ time?

Here are four ways we can know that Saturday today is the Sabbath of the Bible: (1) Historical records kept by the Jewish people through the centuries indicate they have observed the same weekly Sabbath as their ancestors; (2) Jesus was crucified on the preparation day (Friday); His followers rested as commanded on the Sabbath (Saturday); Jesus rose from the dead on the first day (Sunday); (3) In over 106 languages in the world, the word for the seventh day is “Sabbath”; (4) Leading astronomers observe that the weekly cycle has never changed. The U.S. Naval Observatory in the United States and The Royal Observatory in Greenwich England both affirm a perpetual weekly cycle. Luke 23:54-56; 24:1; Hebrews 13:8

“Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter; neither on the Sabbath day,” Christ said. He who made the Sabbath did not abolish it, nailing it to His cross. The Sabbath was not rendered null and void by His death. Forty years after His crucifixion it was still to be held sacred. For forty years the disciples were to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath day.

From the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ passed on rapidly to the greater event, the last link in the chain of this earth's history,—the coming of the Son of God in majesty and glory. Between these two events, there lay open to Christ's view long centuries of darkness, centuries for His church marked with blood and tears and agony. Upon these scenes His disciples could not then endure to look, and Jesus passed them by with a brief mention. “Then shall be great tribulation,” He said, “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.” For more than a thousand years such persecution as the world had never before known was to come upon Christ's followers. Millions upon millions of His faithful witnesses were to be slain. Had not God's hand been stretched out to preserve His people, all would have perished. “But for the elect's sake,” He said, “those days shall be shortened.”

Now, in unmistakable language, our Lord speaks of His second coming, and He gives warning of dangers to precede His advent to the world. “If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” As one of the signs of Jerusalem's destruction, Christ had said, “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” False prophets did rise, deceiving the people, and leading great numbers into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming miraculous power, drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But this prophecy was spoken also for the last days. This sign is given as a sign of the second advent. Even now false christs and false prophets are showing signs and wonders to seduce His disciples. Do we not hear the cry, “Behold, He is in the desert”? Have not thousands gone forth into the desert, hoping to find Christ? And from thousands of gatherings where men profess to hold communion with departed spirits is not the call now heard, “Behold, He is in the secret chambers”? This is the very claim that spiritism puts forth. But what says Christ? “Believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

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[BarneyFife]

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Which day did Jesus and His disciples observe?

Jesus was a faithful seventh-day Sabbath keeper. In fact, Scripture refers to the seventh-day Sabbath as the Lord’s Day. Jesus expected His disciples to still be keeping the Sabbath at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., an event thirty-five years after His death. After His resurrection, Jesus’ disciples continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Matthew 12:8; Luke 4:16; 23:54, 56; Acts 13:42-44; 15:21; 16:13

As the Jews departed from God, and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan was seeking to exalt himself and to draw men away from Christ, and he worked to pervert the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders accomplished the will of Satan by surrounding God's rest day with burdensome requirements. In the days of Christ the Sabbath had become so perverted that its observance reflected the character of selfish and arbitrary men rather than the character of the loving heavenly Father. The rabbis virtually represented God as giving laws which it was impossible for men to obey. They led the people to look upon God as a tyrant, and to think that the observance of the Sabbath, as He required it, made men hard-hearted and cruel. It was the work of Christ to clear away these misconceptions. Although the rabbis followed Him with merciless hostility, He did not even appear to conform to their requirements, but went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.

Upon one Sabbath day, as the Saviour and His disciples returned from the place of worship, they passed through a field of ripening grain. Jesus had continued His work to a late hour, and while passing through the fields, the disciples began to gather the heads of grain, and to eat the kernels after rubbing them in their hands. On any other day this act would have excited no comment, for one passing through a field of grain, an orchard, or a vineyard, was at liberty to gather what he desired to eat. See Deuteronomy 23:24, 25. But to do this on the Sabbath was held to be an act of desecration. Not only was the gathering of the grain a kind of reaping, but the rubbing of it in the hands was a kind of threshing. Thus, in the opinion of the rabbis, there was a double offense.

The spies at once complained to Jesus, saying, “Behold, Thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.”

The Jewish teachers prided themselves on their knowledge of the Scriptures, and in the Saviour's answer there was an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the Sacred Writings. “Have ye not read so much as this,” He said, “what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him; how he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread,... which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?” “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” “Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.” “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:3, 4; Mark 2:27, 28; Matthew 12:5, 6.

If it was right for David to satisfy his hunger by eating of the bread that had been set apart to a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to supply their need by plucking the grain upon the sacred hours of the Sabbath. Again, the priests in the temple performed greater labor on the Sabbath than upon other days. The same labor in secular business would be sinful; but the work of the priests was in the service of God. They were performing those rites that pointed to the redeeming power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the object of the Sabbath. But now Christ Himself had come. The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God's service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day.

Christ would teach His disciples and His enemies that the service of God is first of all. The object of God's work in this world is the redemption of man; therefore that which is necessary to be done on the Sabbath in the accomplishment of this work is in accord with the Sabbath law. Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath,”—One above all question and above all law. This infinite Judge acquits the disciples of blame, appealing to the very statutes they are accused of violating.

Jesus did not let the matter pass without administering a rebuke to His enemies. He declared that in their blindness they had mistaken the object of the Sabbath. He said, “If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” Matthew 12:7. Their many heartless rites could not supply the lack of that truthful integrity and tender love which will ever characterize the true worshiper of God.
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