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Dancing with God #2

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paulwhut

#3621 Posted : Sunday, May 14, 2023 7:01:40 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the first workday of the week...also is called the RCC/Prot self-made "holy" day...man made of course.
Section 3

The Way to Christ

Chapter 28.

Bible Sanctification

1. WHAT inspired prayer sets the standard of Christian experience?
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." I Thess. 5:23.

2. How necessary is the experience of sanctification?
"Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb. 12:14, R.V.

3. What encouragement is held out as an aid in attaining this experience?
"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification." 1 Thess. 4:3.

NOTE.-Whatever is the will of God concerning us can be realized in our experience if our wills are in harmony with His will. It is therefore a matter of great encouragement to know that our sanctification is included in the will of God.

4. What distinct purpose did Christ have in giving Himself for the church?
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Eph. 5:25,26.

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5. What kind of church would He thus be able to present to Himself?
"That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Verse 27.

6. In the experience of sanctification, what attitude must one assume toward the truth?
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. 2,13.

7. What instruction shows that sanctification is a progressive work?
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18. See chap. 1:5-7.

8. What description of the apostle Paul's experience is in harmony with this?
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13,14.

9. By what is this cleansing from sin and fitting for God's service accomplished?
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb. 9:13,14. See also chap. 10:29.

10. What change is thus brought about?
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Rom. 12:2.

11. Can anyone boast of sinlessness?
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8.

12. What are we exhorted by the prophet to seek?
"Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Zeph. 2:3.

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13. In whose name should everything be done?
"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Col. 3:17.

14. In all we do, whose glory should we have in view?
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:31.

15. What classes of persons are necessarily shut out of the kingdom of God?
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Eph. 5:5. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 6:9,10.

16. What must be crucified and eliminated from our lives if we would be holy?
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." Col. 3:5,6.

17. When purged from these sins, in what condition is a man, and for what is he prepared?
"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Tim. 2:21.

NOTE.-"Sanctification is the term used to describe the work of God the Holy Ghost upon the character of those who are justified. We are justified in order that we may be sanctified, and we are sanctified in order that we may be glorified. 'Whom He justified, them He also glorified.' Rom. 8:30. The grace of God is given to make us holy, and so to fit us for God's presence in eternity; for 'without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' Heb. 12:14."-"The Catholic Religion" (Episcopal), by Rev. Vernon Staley, page 327.

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Does the papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?  It does.  The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: "It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to 'the Lord's day. Sunday.'" Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.  
Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the bible for santification of Sunday?  They do.  "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72,73.

How did Sunday observance originate?  As a voluntary celebration of the Resurrection, a custom without pretense of Divine authority.   Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?  Constantine the Great.  "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday".
By what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden and Sunday observance enjoined?  The Council of Laodicea, in Asia Minor, fourth century.  
What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?  "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927),p. 136.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday .... Now the Church ... instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made.
We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday."

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.
"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
"2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says,
Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says: 'No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

Todays' Sabbath school lesson: sunday....May 14
The Judgment, Creation, and Accountability
If we are merely a collection of randomly formed cells, simply the product of chance and an advanced African ape, nothing more, then life has little meaning. If we are merely one of the estimated eight billion people clawing at one another for living space on a planet called earth, life loses its purpose, other than mere survival. In contrast, the biblical Creation provides a reason to live and a moral imperative for living. We have been created by God and are accountable to Him for our actions. The One who made us holds us responsible. He has established abso- lutes, even in a world of “moral relativism.”

Read Revelation 14:7, Romans 14:10, and James 2:8–13. What does judgment imply about such issues as accountability and respon- sibility? How are the judgment, the commandments of God, and worship linked?
________________________________________________________
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The message of the three angels flying in midair in Revelation 14 announces that “ ‘the hour of His judgment has come’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). Since we were created by God with the capacity to make moral choices, we are responsible for the decisions we make. If we were merely a random col- lection of cells, products of our heredity and environment only, our actions would largely be determined by forces over which we had no control.

But judgment implies moral responsibility. In this crisis hour of earth’s history, the judgment hour, God calls us to make decisions in the light of eternity. The first angel’s earnest appeal to “ ‘worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of waters’ ” (Rev. 14:7, NKJV) acknowledges that the basis of all worship is the fact that we were created by God.

Meanwhile, our adherence to the seventh-day Sabbath demonstrates our belief that Jesus is worthy to be worshiped as our Creator. It reveals our acceptance of His Ten Commandment law as divinely inspired prin- ciples for living life to the fullest. Because the law is the foundation of God’s government and a revelation of His character, it becomes the standard of judgment. Our faithfulness to the Sabbath commandment is acknowledgment of our commitment to live obedient lives.

How does our understanding of Creation influence our behav- ior? What relationship do heredity and environment have to the choices we make daily? How can we, by God’s grace, overcome character defects that we didn’t choose to have in the first place?

Many wonder today why the Republican party does nothing to defeat the treasonous
schemes of the Democrats. It is because the pope’s Jesuits have thoroughly
infiltrated the Republican party as well as the Democratic party. Many wonder why
the news media lie so much to support and protect the Democrats. It is because the
pope’s Jesuits have thoroughly infiltrated the news media. The news media and
schools and colleges, with their lies and propaganda, have so conditioned the
people of the country that they are unable to recognize what has been done to them.
Victory for the Jesuits seems very near. The Jesuits are like a cancer that has
pervaded nearly every fiber of the society of the United States. We are being
defeated by the enemy within.

For many years the Jesuits have prevented the United States from developing
additional sources of energy within its own territory. Exploiting the vast oilfields on
the Alaskan north slope, that probably contain more oil than the entire middle east,
is forbidden. New nuclear power plants, the safest source of electric energy ever
discovered, are not permitted. There is no end to the lies people have been made to
believe about Nuclear energy. The environment is used as the club to subdue the
people of the country into going along with this idiocy. Modern technology is able to
develop these sources of power without any damage to the environment. France
gets 80% of its power from nuclear power plants without any problems. Needless to
say, without sufficient energy, the United States will not be able to defend itself. All
the papacy has to do is cut off the oil supply from the middle east.

The United States is now starting to feel the pinch of the energy shortage the Jesuits
have created. People have experienced blackouts over large areas as power is shut
off to stay within the limits of generating capacity. Today, instead of constructing
additional nuclear power plants, some of these plants are being dismantled! Will the
people of the United States be able to wake up in time to prevent the coming
national tragedy?

Not only in the United States is this treachery being perpetrated by the papacy, but
they are secretly at work all over the world to subvert all the nations of the world.

"And all the world wondered after the beast." Rev 13:3 last part.

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paulwhut

#3622 Posted : Monday, May 15, 2023 6:48:33 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the second workday of the week.

Section 3

The Way to Christ

Chapter 29.

Importance of Sound Doctrine

1. DOES it matter what one believes, so long as he is sincere?
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. 2:13.

NOTE.- Doctrine affects the life. Truth leads to life and God; error to death and destruction. No one would think of saying it matters not what god one worships, so long as he is sincere any more than he would think of saying it matters not what one eats or drinks, so long as he relishes what he eats and drinks; or what road he travels, so long as he thinks he is on the right road. Sincerity is a virtue; but it is not the test of sound doctrine. God wills that we shall know the truth, and He has made provision whereby we may know what is truth.

2. Did Joshua think it immaterial what God Israel served?
"Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:14,15.

NOTE.-The influence of all idolatrous worship is degrading. See Rom. 1:21-32; Numbers 15; 1 Cor. 10:20; 1 John 5:21.

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3. How may we determine the truthfulness of any doctrine?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. 5:21.

4. By what should we test, or prove, all doctrine?
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa. 8:20.

NOTE.-The Bible is the test of all doctrine. Whatever does not harmonize and square with this, is not to be received. "There is but one standard of the everlastingly right and the everlastingly wrong, and that is the Bible."- T .DeWitt Talmage.

5. Of what kind of doctrines should we beware?
"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine." Eph. 4:14. See also Heb. 13:9.

6. What is a "wind of doctrine"?
"And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them." Jer. 5:13.

NOTE.-Calling a doctrine a wind of doctrine does not make it such. That is a wind of doctrine which is not sustained by the Word of God.

7. For what is all scripture profitable?
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine." 2 Tim. 3:16.

8. What advice was given to Timothy while preparing for the gospel ministry?
"Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. . . . Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine." 1 Tim. 4:13-16.

9. What solemn charge was given him concerning his public work?
"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the word; . . . reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." 2 Tim. 4:1,2.

10. Why did the apostle say this duty was so imperative?
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Verses 3,4.

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11. What similar instruction was given to Titus?
"But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: . . . in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity." Titus 2:1-7.

12. What will sound doctrine enable the faithful teacher to do?
"Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." Titus 1:9.

13. What danger attends the teaching of false doctrine?
"Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some." 2 Tim. 2:18.

14. Who are the disciples of Jesus, and what gracious work does the truth do for those who receive it?
"If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:31,32.

15. Through what are they to be sanctified?
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17.

16. What kind of worship results from false teaching?
"But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9.

17. Can we close our ears to truth, and remain innocent before God?
"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Prov. 28:9.

18. What did Christ say of those who will to do God's will?
"If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself." John 7:17, R.V. See also Ps. 25:9; John 8:12.

19. What will God allow to come to those who reject truth?
"Because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thess. 2:10-12.

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20. By what doctrines are some to be misled in the last days?
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4:1. See 2 Peter 2:1.

21. What fate awaits blind teachers and their followers?
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Matt. 15:14.

22. To whom will the gates of the heavenly city finally be opened?
"Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in." Isa. 26:2. See also Rev. 22:14.

Truth is the gem for which we seek,
O tell us where shall it be found!
For this we search, and pray, and weep,
That truth may in our hearts abound.

We want the truth on every point,
We want it all to practice by;
Do thou, O Lord, our eyes anoint
With a fresh unction from on high.
CHARLOTTE HASKINS.

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Protestant Confessions
Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a sabbath.

Anglican/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day .... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it."

Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments , pp. 52, 63, 65.
"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday .... into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters.... The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday."
Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday .
We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church."

Baptist
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers' conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893.
"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not.

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question . . . never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.

"Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history . . . . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!"

William Owen Carver, The Lord's Day in Our Day , p. 49.
"There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance."

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Monday....May 15
The Sabbath and Creation
It is because our world so desperately needs the reassuring message of Creation that God gave us the Sabbath. In the mid-1800s when the evolutionary hypothesis was taking the intellectual world by storm, God sent a message of incredible hope. We have been studying this message, found in Revelation 14:6, 7.

Satan has made every attempt to distort the idea of Creation because he hates Jesus and does not want Him to receive the worship due Him as our Creator and Redeemer. The Sabbath is at the center of the great controversy over Christ’s worthiness to receive worship as our Creator. God’s last-day message is one that calls all humanity back to worship- ing Christ as the Creator of heaven and earth. The basis of all worship is the fact that He created us.

Read Genesis 2:1–3, Exodus 20:8–11, and Deuteronomy 5:12–15 in the context of Revelation 14:6, 7. How do we see in the Sabbath com- mandment the link between Creation and Redemption, as well?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Sabbath is an eternal symbol of our rest in Jesus. It is a special sign of loyalty to the Creator (Ezek. 20:12, 20). Rather than being an arbitrary legalistic requirement, it reveals that true rest from righteous- ness by works is found in Him. The Sabbath speaks of a God who has achieved for us what we could never do for ourselves.

Scripture calls us to rest in His love and care each Sabbath. Sabbath is a symbol of rest, not works; of grace, not legalism; of assurance, not condemnation; of depending upon Him, not upon ourselves. Each Sabbath, we rejoice in His goodness, and praise Him for the salvation that can be found only in Christ.

The Sabbath also is the eternal link between the perfection of Eden in the past and the glory of the new heavens and the new earth in the future (Isa. 65:17, Rev. 21:1).

The Sabbath calls us back to our roots. It’s a link to our family of origin. The Sabbath has been observed continuously since time began. It is an unbroken connection back through time to our creation. It keeps us focused on the glorious truth that we are children of God. It calls us to an intimate, close relationship with Him.

How is the Sabbath commandment hinted at in Revelation 14:6, 7, and why is it important to our end-time message? (See Exod. 20:8–11.)

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paulwhut

#3623 Posted : Tuesday, May 16, 2023 5:39:45 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the third workday of the week.

Section 3

The Way to Christ

Chapter 30.

Present Truth

1. BY what are men sanctified?
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. John 17:17.

2. To what knowledge would God have all men come?
"Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." 1 Tim. 2:4.

3. After receiving a knowledge of the truth, what must one do in order to be sanctified by it?
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. 2:13.

4. And what besides a mere belief in the truth is necessary?
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience." 1 Peter 1:2.

5. What effect does obedience to the truth have?
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." Verse 22.

6. How should the truth ever be cherished?
"Buy the truth, and sell it not." Prov. 23:23.

NOTE.-That is, buy the truth at whatever sacrifice or cost, and sell it under no consideration.

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7. Does the Bible recognize what may be called "present truth"?
"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth." 2 Peter 1:12.

NOTE.-Some truths are applicable in all ages, and are therefore present truth for every generation; others are of a special character, and are applicable to only one generation. They are none the less important, however, because of this; for upon their acceptance or rejection depends the salvation or loss of the people of that generation. Of this kind was Noah's message of a coming flood. To the generation to whom it was preached that message was present truth; to later generations it has been past truth, and not a present, testing message. Similarly, had the first advent message of John the Baptist, of the Messiah at hand, been proclaimed in the generation either before or after John's time, it would not have been applicable - would not have been present truth. The people of the generation before would not have lived to see it fulfilled, and to those living after, it would have been wrongly timed. Not so with general truths, such as love, faith, hope, repentance, obedience, justice, and mercy. These are always in season, and of a saving nature at all times. Present truths, however always include all these, and hence are saving in character, and of vital importance.

8. What was the special message for Noah's day?
"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood." Gen. 6:13,14.

9. How did Noah show his faith in this message?
"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." Heb. 11:7.

10. How many were saved in the ark?
"The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." 1 Peter 3:20.

NOTE.-Doubtless many who were lost in the flood held, in a nominal way, to faith in God; but the test as to the genuineness of this came with Noah's special message; and the difference between their faith and his was made plain when they rejected the saving truth for that time, - the warning message concerning the coming flood.

11. What special message was given to Jonah for Nineveh?
"So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. . . . And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Jonah 3:3,4.

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12. What saved the people from the predicted overthrow?
"So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. . . . And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not." Verses 5-10. See Jer. 18:7-10.

NOTE.-So likewise would God have spared the antediluvian world had they received Noah's message, and turned from their evil ways.

13. What was the special mission of John the Baptist?
"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe." John 1:6,7.

14. What answer did he return when asked concerning his mission?
"He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." Verse 23.

15. What did Christ say of those who rejected John's message?
"But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." Luke 7:30.

16. What did those do who were baptized of John?
"And all the people that heard Him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with, the baptism of John." Verse 29.

NOTE.-That is, they honored God by this act, which showed their faith in His truth for that time.

17. Did God's chosen people receive Christ when He came?
"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." John 1:11.

18. What reason did they give for not receiving Him?
"We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is." John 9:29.

NOTE.-That was the trouble; they had no faith in anything new. They knew that God spoke by Moses: it required little faith to believe that. They felt perfectly safe in accepting him, for everything had demonstrated that he was sent of God. All could see that. But here was One whom, although He had come in fulfillment of the prophecies of Moses and the prophets as their long-looked-for Messiah, they felt there was a risk in accepting, because they did not understand the prophecies relating to Him, and time had not worked out to their satisfaction the truthfulness of His claims. It required too much faith, as against their desire to walk by sight, to accept Christ. It also called for a change of views in some things, and a reformation in life. So they rejected Him. They believed in the flood, faith in which had saved Noah; they believed in Elijah also, and professed faith in all the prophets; but when it came to this special truth for their time, they refused to accept it. Thus it has been in all ages, and thus we may expect it to continue to be to the end.

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19. How did Christ say those who rejected Him reasoned?
"Ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." Matt. 23:29,30.

NOTE.-While they condemned the action of their fathers in slaying the prophets whom God had sent with messages of reproof and warning applicable to those times, they soon filled up the measure of the iniquity of their fathers by putting to death the Son of God. This showed that they would have done as did their fathers had they lived in their day. Thus we see that present truths are testing truths.

20. What was the result of the Jews' not accepting Christ?
"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." Luke 19:41,42. "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Matt. 23:38.

21. Is there to be a special message for the last days?
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?" Matt. 24:44,45.

NOTE.-In the last days a message will go forth which will be "meat in due season" to the people. This must be the warning concerning the Lord's soon coming, and the preparation necessary to meet Him. Because, such a message was not always preached, is no evidence that it is not now to be proclaimed. In his farewell address to the Pilgrim Fathers on their departure from Holland for America, John Robinson said: "The Lord knoweth whether I shall ever see your faces more; but whether the Lord bath appointed that or not, I charge you before God and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument or His, be as ready to receive it as you ever were to receive any truth by my ministry; for I am very confident that the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His Holy Word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the Reformed churches, who are come to a period in religion, and will go no farther than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go any farther than what Luther saw; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented; for though they were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God, but were they now living, would be as willing to embrace further light as that which they first received."

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22. What does Christ say of that servant who, when He comes, is found giving "meat in due season"?
"Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Verse 46.

NOTES.-The coming of Christ in glory has been the hope of the faithful in all ages.
• Luther declared: "I persuade myself verily, that the day of judgment will not be absent full three hundred years. God will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer. The great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown."
• Melanchthon said: "This aged world is not far from its end."
Calvin bade Christians "not to hesitate, ardently desiring the day of Christ's coming as of all events most auspicious;" and declared that "the whole human family of the faithful will keep in view that day." "We must hunger after Christ, we must seek, contemplate," he adds, "till the dawning of that great day, when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of His kingdom."
• Said Knox, the Scotch Reformer: "Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into heaven? and shall He not return? We know that He shall return, and that with expedition."
• Ridley and Latimer, who laid down their lives for the truth, looked in faith for the Lord's coming. Ridley wrote: "The world without doubt - this I do believe, and therefore I say it - draws to an end."
• Said Baxter: "The thoughts of the coming of the Lord are most sweet and joyful to me. It is the work of faith and the character of His saints to love His appearing, and to look for that blessed hope."

23. What will be the burden of the closing gospel message?
"Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. . . . Babylon is fallen, is fallen. . . . 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." Rev. 14:7-10.

24. How are those described who accept this message?
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Verse 12.

25. How earnestly is this work to be prosecuted?
"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." Luke 14:23.

NOTE.- This work is now going on. In every part of the world the sound of this closing gospel message is being heard, and the people are being urged to accept it, and to prepare for Christ's coming and kingdom. See readings in Chapters 56, 57, and 58 of this book.

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Congregationalist
Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments (New York: Eaton &Mains), p. 127-129.
" . . . it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath - . . 'Me Sabbath was founded on a specific Divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday .... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday."

Timothy Dwight, Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258.
" . . . the Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath."
9

Charles Spurgeon
Jesus did not come to change the law, but He came to explain it. (Mt 5:17-20) and that very fact shows that it remains, for there is no need to explain that which is abrogated. Assuredly there was no abrogation of law.

It was a wonderful exhibition of its’ far reaching sovereignty and of its searching character. Once more, that the Master did not come to alter the law is clear, because after having embodied it in His life He willingly gave Himself to bear its penalty, though He had never broken it, bearing the penalty for us, even as it is written, “ “Christ hath redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 KJV). But because the law asked only what it ought to ask…namely perfect obedience and exacted of the transgressor only what it ought to exact, namely, death, as the penalty for sin, death under divine wrath, therefore the Saviour went to the tree, and there bore our sins, and purged them once for all. (Charles Spurgeon, Perpetuity of the Law of God. pp 4-7)

Dwight L. Moody: Now man may cavil as much as they like about other parts of the Bible, but I have never met an honest man that found fault with the Ten Commandments. Infidels may mock the Lawgiver and reject Him who has delivered us from the curse of the law, but they can’t help admitting that the commandments are right…they are for all nations and will remain the commandments of God through the centuries…The people must be made to understand that the TC are still binding, and that there is a penalty attached to their violation….Jesus never condemned the law and the prophets, but He did condemn those who did not obey them (See Mat 5:17-20) Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting pp 11,15,16

The Character of God and His Law……

God Law

Just…Rom 3:26 Rom 7:2; Eze 18:5
True….John 3:33 Neh 9:13
Pure….1 John 3:3 Ps 19:7,8
Light…1 John 1:5 Prov 6:23
Faithful….1 Cor 1:9 Ps 119:86
Good…Nahum 1:7 Rom 12:7, 16
Spiritual…1 Cor 10:1-4 Ro 7:14
Holy…..Is 6:3; 1 Pet 1:15 Rom 7:12
Truth…John 14:6 Ps 119:142, 151
Life….John 14:6 John 12:50; Mt 19:17
Righteousness…Jer 23:6 Ps 119:172
Perfect Deu 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31 Ps 19:7, James 1:26
Forever… John 8:35, Heb 13:8 Ps 111:8; Luke 16:17

Dr. Carl Bath quotes in his church dogmatics……”Where the Holy Day becomes a day of man, society and humanity wither away and the demons rule”…De Quervain

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: May 16
A Not-So-Subtle Deception
In an attempt to destroy the uniqueness of our creation, the devil has introduced a not-so-subtle counterfeit. The counterfeit, accepted by even some among us, goes like this. God is the prime cause of creation, but He took long ages to bring life into existence. Evolution was the process He used. This approach attempts to harmonize “sci- entific data” with the Genesis account. It asserts that the days of creation are long, indefinite periods of time and that life on earth is billions of years old.

Read Psalm 33:6, 9 and Hebrews 11:3. What do these clear Bible pas- sages tell us about how God created the world?
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The biblical account is clear. God “spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9, NKJV). “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3, NKJV). The first chapter of Genesis affirms that God created the world in six literal days of 24 hours and rested on the seventh. The linguistic structure of Genesis 1 and 2 does not permit anything else. Even scholars who don’t believe in the literal six-day Creation acknowledge that the author’s intent was to teach the six- day Creation.

The Hebrew word for “day” in Genesis 1 is yom. Throughout the Bible, every time a number modifies the word yom as an adjective (third day, first day, and so on), it limits the time period to 24 hours. Without exception, it is always a 24-hour period.

Also, and to the immediate point, if God did not create the world in six literal days, what significance does the seventh-day Sabbath have? Why would God command it? It would make absolutely no sense at all to leave the Sabbath as an eternal legacy of a six-day Creation week if a six-day Creation week never existed to begin with. To accept long ages of creation is to challenge the very need for the seventh-day Sabbath. It also raises serious questions regarding the integrity of Scripture.

By attacking the Sabbath, Satan is challenging the very heart of God’s authority, and what could be more effective in destroying the memorial of the six-day Creation than denying the reality of the six-day Creation? No wonder so many people, including Christians, ignore the seventh-day Sabbath. What a setup for the final deception.

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paulwhut

#3624 Posted : Wednesday, May 17, 2023 6:50:42 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the fourth workday of the week.....mittwoch.

Section 3

The Way to Christ

Chapter 31.

The Obedience of Faith

1. WHAT did the Lord command Abraham to do?
"Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." Gen. 12:1.

2. How did Abraham respond to this command?
"So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." Verse 4.

3. Of what was Abraham's obedience the fruit?
"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance: and he went out, not knowing whither he went." Heb. 11:8, R.V.

4. What command did the Lord later give to Abraham?
"And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Gen. 22:2.

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5. Upon what ground were the previous promises then renewed to Abraham?
"And said, By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice." Verses 16-18.

6. What enabled Abraham to endure the test?
"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son." Heb. 11:17.

7. Of what were the works of Abraham an evidence?
"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" James 2:21.

8. By his works what was shown to be perfect?
"Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?" Verse 22.

9. In what statement of the scripture was Abraham's obedience really implied?
"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." Verse 23.

10. What kind of faith avails with God?
"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. 5:6.

NOTE.-The faith which justifies, is the faith which works. Those who say, and do not, are not men of faith. The obedience which is pleasing to God is the fruit of that faith which takes God at His word, and submits to the working of His power, being fully assured that what He has promised He is able also to perform. This is the faith which is reckoned for righteousness. See Rom. 4:21,22.

11. For what purpose is the mystery of the gospel made manifest?
"But now [the mystery] is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." Rom. 16:26.

12. For what purpose is the grace of Christ received?
"Through whom we have received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all nations, for His name's sake." Rom. 1:5. R.V.

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13. What example of obedience has Christ set for us?
"And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 2:8.

14. At what cost did even He learn the lesson of obedience?
"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Heb. 5:8.

15. To whom did Christ become the author of salvation?
"And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him." Verse 9.

16. How complete should this obedience be?
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2 Cor. 10:5.

17. What effect did the preaching of the apostles have upon the hearers?
"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7.

18. What effect did the preaching of the apostle Paul have upon the Gentiles?
"For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed." Rom. 15:18.

19. How highly does God regard obedience?
"And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams." 1 Sam. 15:22.

20. With what sins are rebellion and stubbornness classed?
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." Verse 23.

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21. Whose voice had more weight with Saul than had the commandment of God?
"And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice." Verse 24.

22. What charge did Jesus bring against the Pharisees?
"And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Mark 7:9.

NOTE.-Human tradition is simply the voice of man preserved in the church. To follow the traditions of men instead of obeying the commandments of God is to repeat the sin of Saul.

23. What will be the fate of those who do not obey the gospel of Christ?
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:7,8.

24. What condition is attained in obeying the truth?
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." 1 Peter 1:22.

25. What promise is made to the obedient?
"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land." Isa. 1:19.

26. Whose example are we urged to imitate?
"That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Heb. 6:12.

To obey is better than sacrifice, the Lord hath said;
To harken when He commandeth, than an offering made.

All ye who say, "There is naught to do since Christ doth save,"
Remember what He commands you in the Book He gave.

Remember only the doers of the word are blessed;
'Tis well to hear and believe it, but to do is best.
F. E. BELDEN.

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Medieval Scholastic philosophers and theologians, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, held that all the commandments are a part of the natural law and are therefore knowable to all thinking people. They maintained that God revealed the commandments to Moses to remind humankind of its obligations, easily forgotten because of original sin.
Actually, these scholars were echoing a similar idea expressed by early Fathers of the Church, such as Tertullian and Augustine, that the commandments had already been engraved on the human heart before they were written on the tablets of stone.
Parallels to the Decalogue are found in the laws of other ancient peoples. In Egyptian religion, for example, the observance of certain precepts (prohibitions against theft, murder, and injustice) was necessary for entrance into the shrine of Osiris, god and judge of the dead. Biblical scholars feel, however, that the Ten Commandments differ from the moral codes of other ancient religious systems in their explicit monotheism, their doctrine of God's awesome majesty and boundless goodness, and their extension of moral obligation to the most intimate and hidden desires of the human heart.

In the New Testament, all the commandments are mentioned but never in a list of ten.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?  A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.

A Doctrinal Catechism by the Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174

“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act,… (A quotation from a letter written in November, 1895, by Mr. H. F. Thomas, chancellor to Carkinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath.)
WHO CHANGED THE  SABBATH SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible "Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the Seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, all Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the Bible." Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947  
 "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73
 
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

 "Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?"  "Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
 
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?  By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)

"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.  " The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.  

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Wednesday....May 17
Creation, the Sabbath, and the End Time
The great controversy, which began in heaven millennia ago, was over the question of God’s authority. The challenge remains the same today, as well.

Read Revelation 14:7, 9, and 12. Summarize these verses by completing the sentences on the lines below.

Revelation 14:7 is a call to________________________________________

Revelation 14:9 is a solemn appeal not to________________________________

Revelation 14:12 describes a people who__________________________________________-

These passages make it clear that the central issue in the conflict in the last days between good and evil, Christ and Satan, is worship. Do we worship the Creator or the beast? And because Creation forms the ground for all our beliefs (after all, what do we believe that makes any sense apart from God as our Creator?), the seventh-day Sabbath—embedded in the Genesis Creation account itself (Gen. 2:1–3)—stands as the eternal and immutable sign of that Creation. It’s the most basic symbol of the most basic teaching. The only thing more fundamental to it is God Himself.

Hence, to usurp the seventh-day Sabbath is to usurp the Lord’s authority at the most prime level possible, that of His identity as Creator. It’s to get behind everything and uproot it at the core. It is, indeed, to seek to take the place of God Himself (2 Thess. 2:4).

Of course, the real issue in the last days is our love and loyalty to Jesus. But according to the Bible, this love is expressed in obedience to the commandments (1 John 5:3, Rev. 14:12)—and the Sabbath alone among the commandments is behind everything because it alone points to God as Creator (Exod. 20:8–11). No wonder it will be the outward symbol of the final divide between those who worship the Lord and those who wor- ship the beast (Rev. 14:11, 12). Considering how basic and fundamental the Sabbath is to everything else, it’s hard to see how the final issue of worshiping the Creator could be about anything else.

Many people argue that it makes no difference what day one keeps as the Sabbath, as long as we keep one. How do we answer that argument with the Bible?

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paulwhut

#3625 Posted : Thursday, May 18, 2023 6:16:25 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the fifth workday of the week....come sundown begins the preparation.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 32.

Birth, Childhood,
and Early Life of Christ

1. IN what promise was a Saviour from sin first revealed?
"And the Lord said unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." Gen. 3:14,15.

2. Through whom was a restoration of the lost dominion promised to Abraham?
"To thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." Gen.13:15.

3. Who was this promised seed?
"He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. 3:16.

4. Where was Christ to be born?
"And. . . he [Herod] demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea." Matt. 2:4-6. See Micah 5: 2.

5. Of whom was Christ to be born?
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isa. 7:14.

NOTE.-Immanuel means " God with us." See Matt. 1:23.

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6. Before His birth, what did the angel say to Joseph concerning the naming of the child?
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matt. 1:21.

7. At His birth, what message did the angel bring to the shepherds abiding in the field?
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10,11.

8. In what song of praise did a host of angels join?
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Verses 13,14.

9. What prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled at Christ's birth?
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder." Isa. 9:6.

10. What did the prophet say His name should be called?
"And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end." Verses 6,7.

11. What did the devout Simeon say when he saw the child Jesus?
"And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him after the custom of the law, then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel." Luke 2:27-32.

12. How did the aged prophetess Anna express herself at the sight of Jesus?
"And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Verse 38.

13. What did the wise men of the East do when they had found Jesus?
"When they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." Matt. 2:11.

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14. How came Jesus to live for a time in Egypt?
"And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child, and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him." Verse 13.

15. How does the revelator describe this satanic desire to destroy Christ?
"And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born." Rev. 12:4.

16. By what means did Herod seek to destroy Christ?
"Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under." Matt. 2:16.

17. After Herod's death, where did Joseph and his family live?
"And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." Verse 23.

18. What is said of Christ's childhood and early life?
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him. . . . And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject, unto them." Luke 2:40-51.

19. Upon returning from a feast at Jerusalem, how came Joseph and Mary to lose Jesus when He was twelve years old?
"But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him." Verses 44,45.

NOTE.-This is how many lose Jesus today. They suppose He is in their company, but do not see to it that He is with them personally. Through carelessness it takes but a day to lose Him; but, when once lost, it sometimes takes days of sorrowful searching, as it did Joseph and Mary, to find Him again.

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20. What was Jesus doing when they found Him?
"And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions." Verse 46.

21. How did His questions and answers impress those who heard Him?
"And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers." Verse 47.

22. With what words do the Scriptures conclude the record of Christ's early life?
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." Verse 52.

NOTE.-Christ's early life is a pattern for all children and youth. It was marked by respect and love for His mother. He was obedient to His parents, and kind to all. He hated sin, and to every temptation turned a deaf ear. He sought to understand the reason of things, and so increased in knowledge and wisdom. He was sympathetic and tender-hearted, and ever ready to relieve the oppressed, the sorrowing, and the suffering. If we love Christ, we shall love to talk of Him; our sweetest thoughts will be of Him; and by beholding Him we shall be changed into the same image. See note on question 17. of Chapter 20. of this book.

All praise to Thee, eternal Lord,
Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for Thy throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone!

Once did the skies before Thee bow;
A Virgin's arms contain Thee now:
Angels, who did in Thee rejoice,
Now listen to Thine infant voice..

A little child, Thou art our guest,
That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth,
That we may rise to heaven from earth.

Thou comest in the darksome night
To make us children of the light;
To make us, in the realms divine,
Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.

All this for us Thy love hath done;
By this to Thee our life is won;
For this we tune our cheerful lays,
And tell our thanks in songs of praise.
MARTIN LUTHER.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"  "I answer yes".
 "Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day, Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"  "I answer yes".  

"Did Christ change the day?"  "I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.   Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath.  
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."  John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51

What day is the Sabbath day?  Saturday is the Sabbath day.
 Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?  We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemity from Saturday to Sunday."  Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.  

"The Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.  
In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4   

"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213  
Exodus 20: 8-11,  (8) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: (10) But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (11) For in six days the Lord made the 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.   Colossians 2:8 warns us to:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

What power has claimed authority to change God's law?  The Papacy in Rome.  "The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even Divine Laws...The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), "Papa", art. 2.

Todays' Sabbath school lesson: Thursday.....May 18
The Sabbath and Eternal Rest
The Sabbath is a place of refuge in a weary world. Each week we leave the cares of this world and enter God’s retreat center—the Sabbath. The famed Jewish author Abraham Heschel calls the Sabbath “a palace in time.”—The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005), p. 12. Each seventh day, God’s heavenly palace descends from heaven to earth, and the Lord invites us into the glory of His presence for this 24-hour period to spend a time of intimate fellowship with Him.

In the introduction to Heschel’s book on the beauty and solemnity of the Sabbath, Susannah Heschel, his daughter, writes of the significance of the Sabbath in these words: “The Sabbath is a metaphor for paradise and a testimony to God’s presence; in our prayers, we anticipate a messianic era that will be a Sabbath, and each Shabbat prepares us for that experience: Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath . . . one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come.”—Page XV.

At Creation, Jesus built a special dwelling for us. We can find refuge there. We can be safe there. His work is complete. It is finished. When we rest on the Sabbath, we are resting in His loving care. We are resting in anticipation of our eternal rest in the new heavens and the new earth that are soon to come.

Read Isaiah 65:17, Isaiah 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21:1. How does keeping the Sabbath point us forward to eternity?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
The same God who created the earth the first time will create it again, and the Sabbath remains an eternal symbol of Him as the Creator (see Isa. 66:23). In fact, the Jews had seen the Sabbath as a symbol, a foretaste of what was called in Hebrew the olam haba, the world to come.

The message of three angels flying through the heavens appealing for us to worship the Creator is heaven’s answer to the hopeless despair of many in the twenty-first century. It points us to our Creator, the One who first made all things, and to our Redeemer, the One who will, after the judgment, after sin is eradicated, make all things new. “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful’ ” (Rev. 21:5, NKJV).

How can you personally make the Sabbath a foretaste of heaven in your own life and your family?

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paulwhut

#3626 Posted : Friday, May 19, 2023 9:33:43 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the preparation, the sabbath is drawing on.....

Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 26:5 (KJV)
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Isaiah 56:1-2 (KJV) 1 Thus saith the LORD,
Keep ye judgment, and do justice:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this,
and the son of man that layeth hold on it;
that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV) 13 If thou 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, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction
(Jeremiah 17:21-23 KJV)

The Bible holy day is the Seventh Day.

Genesis 2:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Exodus 20:
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 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.

Leviticus 23:3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Isaiah 58:
13 ¶If thou 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, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Section 9

The Sabbath

Chapter 96.

The Sabbath in the New Testament

1. ACCORDING to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1.

NOTE.-According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.

2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

3. What day is the Sabbath, "according to the commandment"?
"But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.

4. What was Christ's custom respecting the Sabbath?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.

5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.-The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A. D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See readings in Chapter 68. of this book.

6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?
"Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Acts 15:21.

7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." Acts 13:14.

8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." Verse 42.

9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?
"And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13.

10. What was Paul's manner respecting the Sabbath?
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.

NOTE.-It was Paul's manner, as it was Christ's custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.

11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?
"After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; . . . and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers." Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.

12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.

13. How long did he continue this work there?
"And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Verse 11.

NOTE.-Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul's day.

14. On what day was John in the Spirit?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?
"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." Ex.20:11.

18. Through whom did God create the world?
"God. . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, . . . by whom also He made the worlds." Heb. 1:1,2.

NOTES.-From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,- the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13,14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22,23.

The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16,17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.

The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.

It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What part of the law of God has the papacy thought to change?  The Fourth Commandment.  "Catholics alledge the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouth than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Harper), vol. 3, p. 64.
"It [the Roman Catholic Church] reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word and instituting Sunday as a holiday." N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415.

Does the papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?  It does.  The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: "It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to 'the Lord's day. Sunday.'" Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.  
Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the bible for santification of Sunday?  They do.  "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72,73.

How did Sunday observance originate?  As a voluntary celebration of the Resurrection, a custom without pretense of Divine authority.   Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?  Constantine the Great.  "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday".
By what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden and Sunday observance enjoined?  The Council of Laodicea, in Asia Minor, fourth century.  
What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?  "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927),p. 136.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday .... Now the Church ... instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made.
We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday."

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Friday.....May 19
Further Thought: “The reason provided . . . to worship God is that He is the Creator. In the heavenly liturgy, celestial beings expressed the idea in a very succinct way: ‘For You created all things’ ([Rev.] 4:11, [NKJV]). On earth, God’s creatorship needs to be emphasized as much as possible, so the angel says, ‘Worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters’ ([Rev.] 14:7, [NKJV]). It has been correctly indicated that the angel is using the language of the fourth commandment to justify the call to worship God (Exod. 20:11). . . .

“Within the Decalogue the Sabbath commandment stands as its seal in that it identifies who God is—the Creator; confirms the territory over which He rules—everything He created; and reveals His right to rule— for He created everything. In order for the dragon to succeed, he had somehow to set aside this memorial.”—Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, “The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages,” unpublished manuscript, pp. 40, 41.

Discussion Questions:
1. How does the message of the Sabbath answer the great ques- tions of life, such as where did I come from, why am I here, and what is my eternal destiny?

2. Dwell on the marvel of Creation. Dwell on the miracle of our own existence in this vast universe. What should the fact that the prime memorial of this Creation, the Sabbath, comes to us (as opposed to us going to it), every week without exception, teach us about how important the doctrine of Creation is?

3. In Daniel 3 and Daniel 6, how do you see the issue of worship being played out in these inspired accounts? What is found in these accounts that can help us prepare and anticipate the chal- lenge God’s faithful people will face during the crisis around “the mark of the beast”?

4. How do we show someone who believes in the millions, even billions, of years of evolution as the means of creation the irratio- nality of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial to that creation?

Inside Story Quandary of Two Books
By clifford goldstein
When I grew up in a secular Jewish home, the essence of my religious experience could be summed up by how we kept the holidays: They tried to kill us, they failed—let’s eat! Nevertheless, I was always a seeker for truth.
In the fall of 1979, my seeking took me down the path of the occult and spiritualism. I even had a few experiences with astral travel. Not knowing the source of these experiences, only that they were real, I decided to start reading about them. Thus, I walked over to the library at the University of Florida to get a book on the occult and start delving deeper into it.

At that point, I was a hungry writer who needed a job. As I was walking to the library, I stopped at a health-food store in order to ask for work. A man came out and, as soon as I said something about the supernatural, he blurted out, “What?” He dragged me into the store and locked the door. After I told him about my experiences, he tried to warn me about demonic influences. Well, he might as well have talked to me about Santa Claus as about the devil. Before I left, he handed me a book and said, “Please, read it.”

Thus, with his book in hand, I went over to the University of Florida library and found an occult book. Because I wasn’t in school, I could not check it out, so I sat down in the library, read the first chapter, and even practiced the first technique, all of which was very new to me. Then, I went and hid the book on the shelves so that I could be sure that no one would check it out before I was done reading it myself.

Anyway, here’s the rub: I was walking through the library with the two books. In one hand, I had, for the first time in my life, this book on the occult; in the other, for the first time in my life, I had the book that the man in the health-food store gave me. One book in one hand, one book in the other. Occult book in one hand, and what was in the other? The Great Controversy. At the time, I was clueless as to what was unfolding around me.

A few days later, after an amazing confrontation with the Lord, I gave my heart to Jesus and those occult experiences never came back. Soon afterward, I read The Great Controversy, a life-changing experience. No
question, the Lord arranged for this powerful, timely, and important book to come into my life. Yes, I was a seeker for truth, and I found so much of it there.

Join the global church in 2023 and 2024 in the mass promotion and distribution of The Great Controversy. Visit greatcontroversyproject.org for more information or ask your pastor.
Clifford Goldstein, a prolific author, has served as editor of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide since 1999.

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paulwhut

#3627 Posted : Saturday, May 20, 2023 2:47:12 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the holy sabbath day.....the Lords' Day.

Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 26:5 (KJV)
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Isaiah 56:1-2 (KJV) 1 Thus saith the LORD,
Keep ye judgment, and do justice:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this,
and the son of man that layeth hold on it;
that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV) 13 If thou 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, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction
(Jeremiah 17:21-23 KJV)

The Bible holy day is the Seventh Day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 33.

Christ's Ministry

1. WITH what words had John the Baptist announced Christ's ministry?
"He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Matt. 3:11.

2. How old was Jesus when He began His ministry?
"And Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age." Luke 3:23.

3. By what act and what miraculous manifestations was His ministry opened?
"And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him: and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11.

4. Before entering upon His ministry, through what experience did Jesus pass?
"And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto Him." Verses 12,13. See also Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13.

Page 149

5. With what was Jesus anointed for His work?
"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him." Acts 10:38.

6. Where did Jesus begin His ministry?
"And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." Luke 4:14,15.

7. How did He announce His mission while at Nazareth?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. . . . And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Verses 16-21.

8. How were the people impressed with His preaching?
"And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." Verse 22.

9. Why were the people at Capernaum astonished at His teaching?
"And [He] came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power." Verses 31,32.

10. Wherein did His teaching differ from that of the scribes?
"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matt. 7:28,29.

11. How did the common people receive Christ?
"And the common people heard Him gladly." Mark 12:37.

12. In His ministry, what work was closely associated with His preaching?
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." Matt. 4:23.

NOTE.-In His ministry, Christ combined plain, practical teaching with practical, helpful relief work.

Page 150

13. How extensive was His fame, and how many were attracted to Him?
"And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan." Verses 24,25.

14. What expression used frequently in narrating His ministry shows Christ's deep sympathy with mankind?
"But when He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick." Matt. 9:36; 14:14.

15. In what few words did Christ sum up the object of His ministry?
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

16. How did Christ feel over the impenitence of Jerusalem?
"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it." Luke 19:41.

NOTE.-In no other place did Christ appear so much a reformer as in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the Jewish religion, which religion, though having come from Christ Himself, had degenerated into mere formalism and a round of ceremony. Both the beginning and the close of His ministry here was marked by a cleansing of the temple. See John 2:13-18 and Matt. 21:12-16.

O Blessed Christ! my Strength, my King,
He is my comfort and my stay;
In Him I hope, of Him I Sing,
While toiling o'er life's rugged way.
Chiefest among ten thousand He,
For Christ, my King, is all to me.
MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

Medieval Scholastic philosophers and theologians, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, held that all the commandments are a part of the natural law and are therefore knowable to all thinking people. They maintained that God revealed the commandments to Moses to remind humankind of its obligations, easily forgotten because of original sin.
Actually, these scholars were echoing a similar idea expressed by early Fathers of the Church, such as Tertullian and Augustine, that the commandments had already been engraved on the human heart before they were written on the tablets of stone.
Parallels to the Decalogue are found in the laws of other ancient peoples. In Egyptian religion, for example, the observance of certain precepts (prohibitions against theft, murder, and injustice) was necessary for entrance into the shrine of Osiris, god and judge of the dead. Biblical scholars feel, however, that the Ten Commandments differ from the moral codes of other ancient religious systems in their explicit monotheism, their doctrine of God's awesome majesty and boundless goodness, and their extension of moral obligation to the most intimate and hidden desires of the human heart.

In the New Testament, all the commandments are mentioned but never in a list of ten.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?  A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.

A Doctrinal Catechism by the Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174

“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act,… (A quotation from a letter written in November, 1895, by Mr. H. F. Thomas, chancellor to Carkinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath.)
WHO CHANGED THE  SABBATH SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible "Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the Seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, all Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the Bible." Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947  
 "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73
 
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

 "Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?"  "Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
 
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?  By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)

"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.  " The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.  
 "Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"  "I answer yes".
 "Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day, Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"  "I answer yes".  
"Did Christ change the day?"  "I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.   Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath.  
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."  John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51
What day is the Sabbath day?  Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: sabbath.....*May 20–26
A City Called Confusion
Sabbath afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 17:1, 2, 15; Rev. 18:1–4; Rev. 17:4–6; Matt. 16:18; Jer. 50:33–38; Ps. 115:4–8.
Memory Text: “ ‘These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful’ ” (Revelation 17:14, NKJV).

The great controversy theme is summarized in Revelation with the symbolism of two women: one clothed with the sun, in Revelation 12, and one dressed in scarlet, in Revelation 17.

The striking symbol of the woman clothed with the sun, in the daz- zling glory of Christ, is found in Revelation 12. She is faithful to her true Lover, Jesus. She is not defiled with the corruption of false doc- trines. Throughout the Bible, a pure woman symbolizes the bride of Jesus, or the true church. In Jeremiah 6:2, the prophet says, “ ‘I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman’ ” (NKJV). The prophet uses the expression “daughter of Zion” or a faithful woman to describe God’s people. (See also Eph. 5:25–32 and Hos. 2:20.)
In contrast, the Bible likens apostasy to harlotry or adultery (James 4:4). Speaking of Israel’s rebellion and unfaithfulness, Ezekiel laments, “ ‘You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her hus- band’ ” (Ezek. 16:32, NKJV).

In this week’s lesson, we will study these two women of Revelation and probe, more deeply, the conflict between truth and error.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 27.

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paulwhut

#3628 Posted : Sunday, May 21, 2023 6:30:02 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the first workday of the week.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 34.

Christ the Great Teacher

1. WHAT report did the officers bring who were sent out by the chief priests and Pharisees to take Jesus?
"Never man spake like this man." John 7:46.

2. How did Christ teach the people?
"He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matt. 7:29.

NOTE.-"The teaching of the scribes and elders was cold and formal like a lesson learned by rote. To them the Word of God possessed no vital power. Their own ideas and traditions were substituted for its teaching. In the accustomed round of service they professed to explain the law, but no inspiration from God stirred their own hearts or the hearts of their hearers."

3. Why was Christ's preaching so impressive?
"For His word was with power." Luke 4:32.

4. With what was He filled?
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." Verse 1.

5. How freely was the Holy Spirit bestowed upon Him?
"For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." John 3:34.

6. How had Christ's teaching by parables been foretold?
"I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old." Ps. 78:2.

Page 152

7. How was this fulfilled?
"Without a parable spake He not unto them." Matt. 13:34.

8. What question did Christ's wonderful teaching call forth?
"And when He was come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? " Verse 54.

9. What did Isaiah say Christ would do with the law?
"He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21.

10. Because some thought He had come to destroy the law, what did Christ say?
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 5:17-20.

11. What testimony did Nicodemus bear concerning Him?
"Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." John 3:2.

12. What did Christ's words at Jacob's well lead the woman of Samaria to ask?
"The woman then left her water-pot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" John 4:28,29.

13. How were the two on the way to Emmaus affected by Christ's conversation with them?
"And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" Luke 24:32.

Page 153

14. In His teaching, to what did Christ direct attention?
"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." "And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." Verses 27,44,45.

15. How did He encourage His disciples to look for the fulfillment of prophecy?
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand happy

then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." Matt. 24:15,16.

NOTE.-Christ was a faithful student, a consistent user, and a perfect expounder, of the Scriptures. He met temptation with the Scriptures; He proved His Messiahship by the Scriptures; He taught from the Scriptures; and He told His disciples to look to the Scriptures as their counselor and guide for the future.

Blest they who seek
While in their youth,
With spirit meek,
The way of truth.
To them the Sacred Scriptures now display
Christ as the only true and living way;
His precious blood on Calvary was given
To make them heirs of bliss in heaven.
And e'en on earth the child of God can trace
The blessings of his Saviour's grace.
For them He bore
His Father's frown;
For them He wore
The thorny crown;
Nailed to the cross,
Endured its pain,
That His life's loss
Might be their gain.
Then haste to choose
That better part,
Nor e'en refuse
The Lord thy heart,
Lest He declare
"I know you not,"
And deep despair
Should be your lot,
Now look to Jesus, who on Calvary died,
And trust on Him who there was crucified.

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Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?  We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemity from Saturday to Sunday."  Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.  
"The Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.  
In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4   

"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213  
Exodus 20: 8-11,  (8) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: (10) But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (11) For in six days the Lord made the 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.   Colossians 2:8 warns us to:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

What power has claimed authority to change God's law?  The Papacy in Rome.  "The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even Divine Laws...The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), "Papa", art. 2.
 What part of the law of God has the papacy thought to change?  The Fourth Commandment.  "Catholics alledge the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouth than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Harper), vol. 3, p. 64.
"It [the Roman Catholic Church] reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word and instituting Sunday as a holiday." N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415.

Does the papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?  It does.  The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: "It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to 'the Lord's day. Sunday.'" Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.  

Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the bible for santification of Sunday?  They do.  "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72,73.

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: sunday.....May 21 Two Contrasting Systems
Read Revelation 12:17 and Revelation 17:14. How is God’s church described, and what is Satan’s reaction to it?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Down through the centuries, God has always had a people who have been faithful to Him. Revelation 12:17 describes the faithful as those who “keep the commandments of God,” and those who are elsewhere depicted as “ ‘called, chosen, and faithful’ ” (Rev. 17:14, NKJV).
Read Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 17:1, 2. What solemn announce- ment does the angel make? And what did Babylon do to warrant such an announcement?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
John wrote the book of Revelation at the end of the first century. By this time, the ancient city of Babylon was a dust heap. When John wrote down the messages in the book of Revelation, the literal city of Babylon had been destroyed for more than several centuries.
In Revelation, the ancient city of Babylon is taken to be a type, or sym- bol, of the end-time Babylon. In the prophecies of Revelation, Babylon represents a false religious system that will have similar characteristics to Old Testament Babylon. The principles that guided ancient Babylon will be the undergirding structure of modern, spiritual Babylon.

In Revelation 17:1–6, a woman dressed in purple and scarlet strides across the landscape of time. This woman rides upon a scarlet-colored beast. The Bible calls her a harlot. She has left her true Lover, Jesus Christ. Here the apostle John gives us a graphic portrayal of an apostate system of religion that has powerful influence in the world. Look at the wording: this power was one with “ ‘whom the kings of the earth com- mitted fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication’ ” (Rev. 17:2, NKJV). Drunk? Always a negative in the Bible. And fornication? Symbolic of the false teachings, false doctrine, and practice.
Both leaders and the common people alike have been negatively influenced by this power. What’s our only protection? (Read Eph. 6:10–18.)

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paulwhut

#3629 Posted : Monday, May 22, 2023 5:50:15 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the second workday of the week.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 35.

Parables of Christ

1. WHAT reference is made in the Psalms to Christ's use of parables?
"I will open My mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old." Ps. 78:2.

NOTE.-A parable primarily means a comparison or similitude; specifically it is a short story or narrative drawn from life or nature, by means of which some important lesson is taught, or some moral drawn.

2. From what sources did Christ usually draw His parables?
From nature and from every day experiences.

3. For what are His parables noted?
"Our Saviour's parables are distinguished above all others for clearness, purity, chasteness, intelligibility, importance of instruction, and simplicity. They are taken mostly from the affairs of common life, and are intelligible, therefore, to all men." -Dr: Albert Barnes, on Matt. 13:3.

4. Following one of His parables, what did Christ say?
"Who hath ears to hear let him hear." Matt. 13:9.

5. What question did the disciples then ask?
"And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" Verse 10.

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6. What reply did Christ make?
"He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Verses 11-13.

NOTE.-Christ's object, therefore, in using parables was to teach the mysteries, or truths, of the kingdom of heaven,-truths not necessarily difficult to understand, but which had long been hidden or obscured by sin, apostasy, and tradition,- in such a way that the spiritually minded and those desirous of learning the truth, might understand them, and the worldly-minded and unwilling would not. When asked the meaning of any parable, Christ readily explained it to His disciples. See Luke 8:9-15; Matt. 13:36-43; Mark 4:33,34.

7. After giving instruction by the use of parables, what question did Christ ask His disciples?
"Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord." Verse 51.

8. How extensively did Christ make use of parables?
"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them." Verse 34.

NOTE.-Parables are simply stories. All, young and old, like to hear a story. Story-telling is one of the most successful means of awakening an interest, securing attention, and teaching, illustrating, and enforcing important truths. Christ, the greatest of all teachers, recognized this, and therefore made constant use of this method of instruction. See reading on "Preaching the Gospel" in Chapter 150 of this book.

9. How did Christ suggest that His disciples follow His example in teaching gospel truth?
"Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Verse 52.

10. Which are some of the most touching and soul-winning of Christ's parables?
The parable of the lost sheep, and that of the prodigal son. Luke 15:3-7, 11-32.

NOTE.-Each parable is designed to teach someone great and important truth. The first twelve in the list here given are intended to teach the following lessons, respectively: (1) Good and evil in life and judgment. (2) Value of the gospel. (3) Seeking salvation. (4) The visible church of Christ. (5) Truths new and old. devil

Duty of forgiving others. (7) Call at various epochs. (8) Insincerity and repentance. (9) Need of righteousness. (10) Watchful and careful profession. (11) Use of abilities. (12) Final separation of good and bad.

Page 156

CHRIST'S PARABLES.

I. Recorded in only one Gospel
The Tares - Gennesaret - Matt.13:24-30
The hid treasure - Gennesaret. - Matt. 13:44
The goodly pearl - Gennesaret - Matt. 13:45,46
The draw-net - Gennesaret - Matt. 13:47-50
Householder and treasure - Gennesaret - Matt. 13:52
The unmerciful servant - Capernaum - Matt. 18:23-35
Laborers in the vineyard - Jerusalem - Matt. 20:1-16
The two sons - Jerusalem - Matt. 21:28-32
Marriage of the king's son - Mt. of Olives - Matt. 22:1-14
The ten virgins - Mt. of Olives - Matt. 25:1-13
The ten talents - Mt. of Olives - Matt. 25:14-30
The sheep and goats - Mt. of Olives - Matt. 25:31-46
The seed growing secretly - Gennesaret - Mark 4:26-29
Householder and servants - Gennesaret - Mark 13:34-37
The two debtors - Galilee - Luke 7:40-47
The good Samaritan - Jerusalem - Luke 10:25-37
The friend at midnight - Jerusalem - Luke 11:5-13
The rich fool - Jerusalem - Luke 12:16-21
The wedding-feast - Jerusalem - Luke 12:35-40
The wise steward - Jerusalem - Luke 12:42-48
The barren fig-tree - Jerusalem - Luke 13:6-9
The seat to take - Jerusalem - Luke 14:7-11
The great supper - Jerusalem - Luke 14:15-24
Tower; king going to war - Jerusalem - Luke 14: 28-33
The piece of money - Jerusalem - Luke 15:8-10
The prodigal son - Jerusalem - Luke 15:11-32
The unjust steward - Jerusalem - Luke 16:1-12
Rich man and Lazarus - Jerusalem - Luke 16:19-31
The unprofitable servant - Jerusalem - Luke 17:7-10
The importunate widow - Jerusalem - Luke 18:1 thru 8
Pharisee and publican - Jerusalem - Luke 18:9-14
The pounds - Jerusalem - Luke 19:11-27

II. Recorded in two Gospels
House on rock and sand - Galilee - Matt. 7:24-27, Luke 6:47-49
The leaven in meal - Gennesaret - Matt. 13:33, Luke 13:20,21
The lost sheep - Jerusalem - Matt. 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7

III. Recorded in three Gospels
New cloth on old garment - Capernaum - Matt. 9:16, Mark 2:21, Luke 5:36
New wine in old bottles - Capernaum - Matt. 9:17, Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37
The sower - Gennesaret - Matt. 13:3-9, Mark 4:3-9, Luke 8:4-15
The mustard-seed Gennesaret - Matt. 13:31,32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18,19
The wicked husbandmen - Jerusalem - Matt. 21:33-43, Mark 12:1-9,
Luke 20:9-16
The fig-tree - Mt. of Olives - Matt. 24:32,33, Mark 13:28,29, Luke 21:29-31

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
How did Sunday observance originate?  As a voluntary celebration of the Resurrection, a custom without pretense of Divine authority.   Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?  Constantine the Great.  "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday".
By what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden and Sunday observance enjoined?  The Council of Laodicea, in Asia Minor, fourth century.  
What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?  "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927),p. 136.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday .... Now the Church ... instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made.
We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday."

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.
"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
"2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says,
Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says: 'No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

Protestant Confessions
Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a sabbath.

Anglican/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day .... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it."

Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments , pp. 52, 63, 65.
"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday .... into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters.... The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday."
Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday .
We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church."

Todays' Sabbath school lesson: Monday.....May 22 The Wine of the Wrath
Read Revelation 17:1, 2, 15 and Revelation 18:1–4. How extensive is Babylon’s influence?
________________________________________________________
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The fallen church system has an international reach, influencing people around the world with her deceptions. Satan is enraged that the gospel will be proclaimed to every “nation, tribe, tongue, and people” and that this “ ‘gos- pel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world,’ ” so he employs every possible deception to captivate the minds of the “ ‘inhabitants of the earth’ ” (Rev. 14:6, Matt. 24:14, Rev. 17:2, NKJV).

Revelation 17:2 continues its explanation of the mystery of Babylon the great by declaring that she has “committed fornication” with the kings of the earth. What is fornication? It’s an illicit union. It is the fallen church system uniting with the state. In the true church system, the church is united with Jesus Christ. The fallen church looks to the political leaders of the earth for power and authority. It seeks the state to enforce its decrees. Rather than drawing her strength from Jesus as her true Head, she looks to the state for support.

Revelation 17:2 continues its dramatic portrayal: “ ‘And the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication’ ” (NKJV). The symbolism of the pure juice of the grape is used throughout the New Testament to represent the untainted, pure blood of Christ poured out for our salvation on the cross (Matt. 26:27–29). In Luke 22:20, Jesus says, “ ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood’ ” (NKJV). When the pure, new wine of the gospel is distorted, and the teachings of the Word of God are replaced with the teachings of human religious leaders, it becomes the “wine of Babylon.” (See Matt. 15:9.)

Notice, too, that God calls His people out of Babylon. In other words, no matter how corrupt and evil the system is, its reach is so wide that it encompasses, at least for a certain time, His faithful ones, or “my people” (Rev. 18:4), as He calls them. Yet, the time is coming when God will call them out of that corrupt and evil system, which is about to fall because of its corrupt and evil nature, this “ ‘dwelling place of demons’ ” and “ ‘cage for every unclean and hated bird’ ” (Rev. 18:2, NKJV).

What role do those who proclaim the three angels’ messages have in being used by God to call “My people,” His people, out of Babylon?

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paulwhut

#3630 Posted : Tuesday, May 23, 2023 7:07:18 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the third workday of the week.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 36.

Miracles of Christ

1. WHAT testimony did the chief priests and Pharisees bear concerning Christ's work?
"Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles." John 11:47.

2. By what did Peter, on the day of Pentecost, say that Christ had been approved by God?
"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." Acts 2:22.

3. By what means did Christ claim to cast out devils?
"But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you." Luke 11:20. Matt. 12:28 says "by the Spirit of God."

NOTE.-Under the third plague in Egypt,-that of turning the dust into lice,-the magicians, failing to duplicate it, said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." Ex. 8:18,19.

4. Upon what ground did Nicodemus rest his belief that Christ was a teacher from God?
"Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." John 3:2.

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5. After the healing of the blind man, upon what charge did some of the Pharisees seek to prove that Christ was not of God?
"Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day." John 9:16, first part.

NOTE.-This was a false charge. Christ did keep the Sabbath, but not according to the Pharisees' idea of Sabbath-keeping. See reading on "Christ and the Sabbath," in Chapter 95 of this book.

6. What question did others raise in opposition to this view?
"Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them." Same verse, John 9:16 last part.

7. What was the result of Christ's working miracles at His first Passover?
"Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast-day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did." John 2:23.

8. What question did the performing of these miracles lead many to ask?
"And many of the people believed on Him, and said, When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than these which this man hath done"' John 7:31.

9. Why were many attracted to Christ?
"A great multitude followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He did on them that were diseased." John 6:2.

NOTE.-A miracle is the display of divine or superhuman power in some unusual or extraordinary manner; hence its nature to attract attention. Christ fed the five thousand with the multiplied loaves and fishes, and all men wondered. Every day God feeds millions of humanity with the multiplied fruits of the earth, and no one marvels. Christ, by a shortened process, changed water into wine, and everybody was astonished; but every year God does this in the usual way-through the vine-in almost limitless quantities, and no one is astonished. A divine miracle, therefore, whenever performed, is wrought to heal and to save, and to call attention to the source of divine power.

10. What did the people say when they saw these things?
"He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak." Mark 7:37.

11. What kinds of disease and sickness did Jesus cure?
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." "Great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all." Matt. 4:23; 12:15.

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12. Who were brought to Him for healing?
"And they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them." Matt. 4:24.

13. To the woman who had been healed by touching His garment, what did Christ say made her whole?
"Thy faith hath made thee whole." Matt. 9:22.

14. What did He say to the two blind men as He healed them?
"According to your faith be it unto you." Verse 29.

15. To another whose sight He had restored, what did Christ say?
"Thy faith hath saved thee." Luke 18:42.

16. Why did not Christ work many miracles in His own country?
"And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Matt. 13:58.

17. What lesson did Christ design to teach in healing the man sick of the palsy?
"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house." Luke 5:24.

NOTE.-By His miracles, therefore, Christ designed to teach faith in the power of God not only to restore the body, but to heal the soul.

18. What effect did Christ's miracles have upon the individuals restored, and the people who witnessed them?
"And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God." "And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him." Luke 18:43; 13:17

19. What message did Christ send to John the Baptist while John was in prison, to strengthen his wavering faith?
"Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me." Matt. 11:4-6.

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20. In what miracle did Christ bring to a climax His works on earth?
"And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." John 11:43,44.

21. What was the result of this great. miracle?
"Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him." Verse 45.

22. Because of the interest which this miracle created in Him, what did the Pharisees say?
"Behold, the world is gone after Him." John 12:19.

23. What did Jesus present to the people as a basis of confidence in Him?
"If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake." John 10:37,38; 14:11.

24. Did Jesus ever make use of ordinary means in performing His miracles?
"When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." John 9:6,7. See also Mark 7:33-35; 8:23-25; 2 Kings 5:1-14.

25. Why were the miracles of Christ recorded by the inspired writers?
"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." John 20:30,31.

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CHRIST'S MIRACLES.

I. Recorded in only one Gospel
Two blind men healed - Matt. 9:27-31
A dumb demoniac healed - Matt. 9:32,33
Piece of money in mouth of fish - Matt. 17:24-27
Deaf and dumb man healed - Mark 7:31-37
A blind man healed - Mark 8:22-26
Passed through throng unseen - Luke 4:28-31
Draft of fishes - Luke 5:1-11
Raising the widow's son - Luke 7:11-17
Healing woman with infirmity - Luke 13:11-17
Healing man with dropsy - Luke 11:1-6
Healing ten lepers - Luke 17:11-19
Healing ear of Malchus - Luke 22:50,51
Turning water into wine - John 2:1-11
Healing nobleman's son - John 4:46-54
Healing impotent man - John 5:1-16
Healing man born blind - John 9
Raising of Lazarus - John 11:1-46
Draft of fishes - John 21:1-11

II. Recorded in two Gospels
Healing centurion's servant - Matt 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10
Blind demoniac healed - Matt. 12:22-30, Luke 11:14-26
Healing Syrophenician maiden - Matt. 15:21-28, Mark 7:24-30
Feeding the four thousand - Matt. 15:32-39, Mark 8:1-9
Cursing the fig-tree - Matt. 21:17-22, Mark 11:12-14
Demoniac in synagogue healed - Mark 1:23-28, Luke 4:33-37

III. Recorded in three Gospels
Healing the leper - Matt. 8:2,3, Mark 1:40-42, Luke 5:12,13
Healing Peter's mother-in-law - Matt. 8:14,15, Mark 1:30,31, Luke 4:38,39
Stilling the storm - Matt. 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25
Legion of devils cast out - Matt. 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-37
Healing man sick of palsy - Matt. 9:1 music

, Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-26
Healing woman with issue - Matt. 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48
Raising Jairus's daughter - Matt. 9:18-26, Mark 5:22-43, Luke 8:41-56
Healing man's withered hand - Matt. 12:10-13, Mark 3:1-5, Luke 6:6-10
Walking on the sea - Matt. 14:22-33, Mark 6:48-51, John 6:16-21
Curing demoniac child - Matt. 17:14-21, Mark 9:14-29, Luke 9:38-42
Curing blind Bartimaeus - Matt. 20:30-34, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43

IV. Recorded in four Gospels
Feeding the five thousand - Matt. 14:15-21, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17,
John 6:5-14

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Baptist
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers' conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893.
"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not.

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question . . . never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.

"Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history . . . . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!"

William Owen Carver, The Lord's Day in Our Day , p. 49.
"There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance."

Congregationalist
Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments (New York: Eaton &Mains), p. 127-129.
" . . . it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath - . . 'Me Sabbath was founded on a specific Divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday .... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday."

Timothy Dwight, Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258.
" . . . the Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath."
9

Charles Spurgeon
Jesus did not come to change the law, but He came to explain it. (Mt 5:17-20) and that very fact shows that it remains, for there is no need to explain that which is abrogated. Assuredly there was no abrogation of law.

It was a wonderful exhibition of its’ far reaching sovereignty and of its searching character. Once more, that the Master did not come to alter the law is clear, because after having embodied it in His life He willingly gave Himself to bear its penalty, though He had never broken it, bearing the penalty for us, even as it is written, “ “Christ hath redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”

6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 KJV). But because the law asked only what it ought to ask…namely perfect obedience and exacted of the transgressor only what it ought to exact, namely, death, as the penalty for sin, death under divine wrath, therefore the Saviour went to the tree, and there bore our sins, and purged them once for all. (Charles Spurgeon, Perpetuity of the Law of God. pp 4-7)

Dwight L. Moody: Now man may cavil as much as they like about other parts of the Bible, but I have never met an honest man that found fault with the Ten Commandments. Infidels may mock the Lawgiver and reject Him who has delivered us from the curse of the law, but they can’t help admitting that the commandments are right…they are for all nations and will remain the commandments of God through the centuries…The people must be made to understand that the TC are still binding, and that there is a penalty attached to their violation….Jesus never condemned the law and the prophets, but He did condemn those who did not obey them (See Mat 5:17-20) Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting pp 11,15,16

The Character of God and His Law……

God Law

Just…Rom 3:26 Rom 7:2; Eze 18:5
True….John 3:33 Neh 9:13
Pure….1 John 3:3 Ps 19:7,8
Light…1 John 1:5 Prov 6:23
Faithful….1 Cor 1:9 Ps 119:86
Good…Nahum 1:7 Rom 12:7, 16
Spiritual…1 Cor 10:1-4 Ro 7:14
Holy…..Is 6:3; 1 Pet 1:15 Rom 7:12
Truth…John 14:6 Ps 119:142, 151
Life….John 14:6 John 12:50; Mt 19:17
Righteousness…Jer 23:6 Ps 119:172
Perfect Deu 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31 Ps 19:7, James 1:26
Forever… John 8:35, Heb 13:8 Ps 111:8; Luke 16:17

Dr. Carl Bath quotes in his church dogmatics……”Where the Holy Day becomes a day of man, society and humanity wither away and the demons rule”…De Quervain

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Tuesday.....May 23
Mystery, Babylon the Great
Read Revelation 17:4–6. What do these verses teach us about the nature of this evil system?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
As we have seen, Revelation 17 describes an apostate religious system that introduces into Christianity many of the teachings of Old Testament Babylon.

“In order to search for an understanding of the nature of Babylon, we need to go back to its first reference in the biblical record, in Genesis. It all began on the plain of the land of Shinar, a region in the southern part of Mesopotamia, today south Iraq, called Babylonia. It is there that the Tower of Babel was built, a symbol of human self-sufficiency, self-preservation, and independence from God ([Gen.] 11:1–4).” —Ángel Manuel Rodríguez, “The Closing of the Cosmic Conflict: Role of the Three Angels’ Messages,” unpublished manuscript, p. 43.

The Tower of Babel, the site of ancient Babylon, was built in direct defiance to the word of God. The Babel builders built this monument for their own glory, and God confused their languages. The Genesis account puts it this way, “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth” (Gen. 11:9, NKJV).

So evil is this system that it is depicted as having been “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev. 17:6, NKJV)—horrific images of just how corrupt Babylon is (see also Isa. 49:26).
In essence, spiritual Babylon represents a religion based on human teachings, established on human ideas, and supported by human tradi- tions. It is a form of human-made religion built by, perhaps, brilliant human religious leaders, but it stands in opposition to the power of the gospel and the church that Jesus built, a church built on love, not violence.

The book of Revelation describes these two systems of religion. The first reveals total trust in Jesus and dependence on His Word. The second reveals trust in human authority and dependence on human religious teachers. One is a Christ-centered faith with total dependence on Christ’s grace, sacrifice, and atonement for salva- tion. The other is a humanistic approach to faith that replaces the total dependence on Christ for salvation with a dependence on the traditions of the church.

How can we protect ourselves from the subtle influences of Babylon, such as the tendency, easy as it is, to depend upon our- selves and not wholly upon God?

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paulwhut

#3631 Posted : Wednesday, May 24, 2023 6:09:59 AM

Rank: Advanced Member

Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the fourth workday of the week.....mittwoch.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 37.

Sufferings of Christ

1. FOR what purpose did Christ come into the world?
"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Tim. 1:15.

2. What constrained God to give His Son to die for man?
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16. See 1 John 4:9,10; Rom. 5:8.

3. What did the prophet say Christ would be called to endure?
"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken." Isa. 53:7,8.

4. Did Christ know beforehand the treatment He was to receive?
"Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and, they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death." Luke 18:31-33.

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5. How heavy was the burden which rested on His soul on the night of His betrayal?
"And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me." Matt. 26:37,38.

6. What prayer of Chris shows that the redemption of a lost world trembled in the balance in that terrible hour?
"And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Verse 39,

7. How great was the agony of His soul?
"And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44.

8. After He had prayed this remarkable prayer three times, what occurred?
"And while He yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" Verses 47,48.

9. To what place was Christ taken?
"Then took they Him, and led Him, and brought Him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off." Verse 54.

10. While at the high priest's house, how did Peter deny Him?
"Another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with Him: for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter." Verses 59-61,

11. To what insults was Christ subjected at the house of the high priest?
"And the men that held Jesus mocked Him, and smote Him. And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote Thee?" Verses 63,64.

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12. Where was Christ next taken?
"And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led Him into their council." Verse 66.

13. What admission did they secure from Him as the basis of condemning Him?
"Then said they all, Art Thou then the Son of God? And He said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of His own mouth." Verses 70,71.

14. What was the next step in their plan to secure lawful authority to carry out their unlawful purpose?
"And the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him unto Pilate." Luke 23:1.

15. When Pilate desired Christ released, how did they remonstrate?
"And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place." Verse 5.

NOTE.-This has ever been a favorite accusation of the enemies of truth against the work of true reformers. The Romans at this very time had a law forbidding the teaching of any new religion "whereby the minds of men may be disturbed."

16. When Pilate heard that Christ was from Galilee, what did he do?
"And as soon as he knew that He belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time." Verse 7.

17. Who appeared to accuse Christ before Herod?
"And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him." Verse 10.

18. To what indignities did Herod subject the Saviour?
"And Herod with his men of war set Him at naught, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate." Verse 11.

19. What did Pilate propose to do when Christ was again brought before him?
"I have found no cause of death in Him: I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go." Verse 22.

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20. Instead of consenting to His release, what did Christ's accusers now demand?
"And they were instant [earnest] with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed." Verse 23.

21. Although Pilate had declared his belief in Christ's innocence, yet what cruel punishment did he inflict upon Him?
"Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him." John 19:1.

22. What shameful treatment did Christ receive from the soldiers?
"And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head." Matt. 27:29,30.

23. After bringing Him to the place of crucifixion, what drink was offered Christ to stupefy Him?
"They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink." Verse 34.

24. In what prayer for those who crucified Him did Christ manifest the true spirit of the gospel,-love for sinners?
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34.

25. With what words did the chief priests and others mock Jesus while on the cross?
"Likewise also the chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." Matt. 27:41,42.

NOTE.-In their blindness they could not see that Christ could not save others and save Himself at the same time.

26. As He cried out in agony on the cross, and said, "I thirst," what was given Him?
"And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave Him to drink." Verse 48. See John 19:28,29.

27. What closed this terrible scene?
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost." John 19:30.

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28. By what miracle, and phenomenon in nature did God indicate the character of the deed which was being committed?
"And it was about the sixth hour [noon], and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." Luke 23:44,45.

29. What divine purpose was wrought out in the sufferings of Christ?
"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Heb. 2:10.

30. For whom did Christ suffer all these things?
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isa. 53:5.

31. How much was included in the gift of Christ for the salvation of man?
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32.

'Tis midnight; and on Olives' brow
The star is dimmed that lately shone:
'Tis midnight; in the garden, now,
The suffering Saviour prays alone.

'Tis midnight; and from all removed,
The Saviour wrestles lone with fears;
E'en that disciple whom He loved
Heeds not His Master's grief and tears.

'Tis midnight; and for others' guilt
The Man of Sorrows weeps in blood;
Yet He who hath in anguish knelt,
Is not forsaken by His God.

'Tis midnight; and from ether plains
Is borne the song that angels know;
Unheard by mortals are the strains
That sweetly soothe the Saviour's woe.
WILLIAM. B. TAPPAN.

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Medieval Scholastic philosophers and theologians, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, held that all the commandments are a part of the natural law and are therefore knowable to all thinking people. They maintained that God revealed the commandments to Moses to remind humankind of its obligations, easily forgotten because of original sin.
Actually, these scholars were echoing a similar idea expressed by early Fathers of the Church, such as Tertullian and Augustine, that the commandments had already been engraved on the human heart before they were written on the tablets of stone.
Parallels to the Decalogue are found in the laws of other ancient peoples. In Egyptian religion, for example, the observance of certain precepts (prohibitions against theft, murder, and injustice) was necessary for entrance into the shrine of Osiris, god and judge of the dead. Biblical scholars feel, however, that the Ten Commandments differ from the moral codes of other ancient religious systems in their explicit monotheism, their doctrine of God's awesome majesty and boundless goodness, and their extension of moral obligation to the most intimate and hidden desires of the human heart.

In the New Testament, all the commandments are mentioned but never in a list of ten.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?  A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.

A Doctrinal Catechism by the Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174

“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act,… (A quotation from a letter written in November, 1895, by Mr. H. F. Thomas, chancellor to Carkinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath.)
WHO CHANGED THE  SABBATH SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible "Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the Seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, all Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the Bible." Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947  
 "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73
 
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

 "Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?"  "Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
 
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?  By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)

"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.  " The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.  
 "Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"  "I answer yes".
 "Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day, Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"  "I answer yes".  

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Wednesday.......May 24 A Call to Commitment
Revelation’s appeal is an urgent call to commitment, summarized in the symbolism of the two women in Revelation. Although at times it will appear that God’s people will be defeated in this cosmic con- troversy between truth and error, God promises that His church will triumph in the end.
Compare Matthew 16:18 and Revelation 17:14. What promise did Jesus give His disciples regarding His church?
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Christ is the solid foundation His church is built upon. His church is based on the teachings of His Word and guided by His Spirit. On the contrary, Babylon, as we have seen, is rooted in human-made teachings and traditions. Any religious leader who substitutes human opinions or traditions in the place of, or above, the revealed will of God in the Scriptures is simply fostering Babylonian confusion.

In the days of ancient Babylon, church and state were one and the same thing. When King Nebuchadnezzar sat in his temple on his royal throne, he supposedly spoke for the gods. On one occasion, as an act of defiance toward the true God, the Babylonian king passed a universal decree enforcing worship and commanded all his subjects to bow to his decree, a powerful symbol of what God’s faithful people, who refuse to worship the false image, will face in the last days. (See Daniel 3.)

In the last days of earth’s history, a church-state system will arise, spiritual Babylon, with a spiritual leader claiming to speak as God. His word will be declared to be the very word of God and his commands the commands of God. Throughout the centuries, the Roman pontiffs have declared that they stand in the place of God on earth. In his encyclical letter of June 20, 1894, Pope Leo XIII stated, “We hold upon this earth the place of Almighty God.” The Ferraris Ecclesiastical Dictionary adds, “The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God and the vicar of God.” The apostle Paul adds these words exposing this power “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4, NKJV).

Because we have already seen that God has faithful people in “Babylon,” why must we be careful in how we talk about it, and why must we be careful not to judge people as individuals, as opposed to the system itself?

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paulwhut

#3632 Posted : Thursday, May 25, 2023 3:27:57 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the fifth workday of the week. come sundown begins the preparation.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 38.

The Resurrection of Christ

1. IN what psalm was the resurrection of Christ foretold?
"For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell [Heb., Sheol, the grave]: neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." Ps. 16:10.

2. In what way was Jonah a type of Christ?
"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt. 12:40.

3. In what plain words did Christ foretell His resurrection?
"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." Matt. 16:21. "And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again." Matt. 17:22,23. "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day." Luke 9:22. See also Matt. 20:17-19; Mark 8:31; 9:31,32; 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34.

4. When asked by the Jews for a sign of His Messiahship, what did Jesus say?
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19.

Page 170

5. To what temple did He refer?
"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three days? But He spake of the temple of His body." Verses 20,21.

6. After His resurrection, what effect had this prediction upon His disciples?
"When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." Verse 22.

7. How did the chief priests and Pharisees seek to prevent the fulfillment of Christ's words concerning His resurrection?
"Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night, and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first." Matt. 27:62-64.

8. How did Pilate comply with their request?
"Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." Verses 65,66.

9. How futile was all this?
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead." Matt. 28:1-7. See also Mark 16:1-16; Luke 24:1 music

, 44-46; John 20:1-9.

10. Was it possible for Christ to be holden of death?
"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it." Acts 2:23,24.

Page 172

11. How does Paul speak of the resurrection of Christ?
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. 15:3,4.

12. Who does the apostle say saw Christ after He was risen?
"He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; . . . after that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time!' Verses 5 music

.

13. What importance is attached to Christ's resurrection?
"If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . . . Ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Verses 14-18.

14. What positive assurance of the resurrection is given?
"But now is Christ risen from the dead; and become the first-fruits of them that slept." Verse 20.

15. What great truth therefore follows?
"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Verse 22.

16. What cheering message has Christ sent to His people touching His resurrection?
"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev. 1:10.

17. What is the measure of the power of God which believers may experience in their daily lives?
"That ye may know. . . . the exceeding greatness of His power to us ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." Eph. 1:18-20.

18. What Christian ordinance has been given as a memorial of Christ's burial and resurrection?
Baptism, the symbol of the new birth. Rom. 6:3-5.

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"Did Christ change the day?"  "I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.   Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath.  
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."  John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51

What day is the Sabbath day?  Saturday is the Sabbath day.
 Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?  We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemity from Saturday to Sunday."  Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.  

"The Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.  
In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4   

"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213  
Exodus 20: 8-11,  (8) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: (10) But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (11) For in six days the Lord made the 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.   Colossians 2:8 warns us to:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

What power has claimed authority to change God's law?  The Papacy in Rome.  "The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even Divine Laws...The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), "Papa", art. 2.

 What part of the law of God has the papacy thought to change?  The Fourth Commandment.  "Catholics alledge the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouth than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Harper), vol. 3, p. 64.

"It [the Roman Catholic Church] reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word and instituting Sunday as a holiday." N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415.

Does the papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?  It does.  The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: "It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to 'the Lord's day. Sunday.'" Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.  

Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the bible for santification of Sunday?  They do.  "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72,73.

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Thursday...May 25
Babylon: The Center of Idolatry
Here is another clue in clearly identifying the “mystery of Babylon the great.” Idolatry was at the heart of Babylonian worship.

Read Jeremiah 50:33–38 and Jeremiah 51:17, 47. What do you dis- cover in these verses about ancient Babylon’s worship of images and God’s response to it?
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Jeremiah 50 and 51 predict Babylon’s destruction by the Medes and Persians. One of the reasons for Babylon’s demise was its idolatry. The Babylonians believed that these images were representations of their deities. In Babylonian religion, the ritual care and worship of the statues of deities was considered sacred; the gods lived simultaneously in their statues in temples and in the natural forces they embodied. The pillaging or destruction of idols was considered to be loss for the people of divine patronage. For example, the Chaldean prince Marduk-apla-iddina II fled into the southern marshes of Mesopotamia with the statues of Babylon’s gods to save them from the armies of Sennacherib of Assyria (Jane R. McIntosh, Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives [Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2005] p. 203).

The Bible prophets contrasted the worship of these lifeless images with the Creator God, who is both alive and life-giving (Jer. 51:15, 16, 19).

Read Exodus 20:4–6 and Psalm 115:4–8. What do they teach about idolatry?
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Though the issues of the idolatry of spiritual Babylon go deeper than just bowing before images of wood and stone, spiritual Babylon does parallel ancient Babylon with the images introduced into its worship service. The use of images as objects of worship, or so-called “ven- eration,” is a violation of the second commandment because it limits the ability of the Holy Spirit to impress upon our minds the things of eternity and reduces the majesty of God to a lifeless statue. These images were introduced into Christianity in the fourth century to make Christianity more acceptable to the pagan populace. Unfortunately, these images are often given the sacredness and homage that belongs to God alone, which makes the whole thing spiritually degrading.

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#3633 Posted : Friday, May 26, 2023 5:09:40 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the preparation, the sabbath is drawing on.

Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 26:5 (KJV)
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Isaiah 56:1-2 (KJV) 1 Thus saith the LORD,
Keep ye judgment, and do justice:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this,
and the son of man that layeth hold on it;
that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV) 13 If thou 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, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction
(Jeremiah 17:21-23 KJV)

The Bible holy day is the Seventh Day.

Genesis 2:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Exodus 20:
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 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.

Leviticus 23:3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Isaiah 58:
13 ¶If thou 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, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Section 9

The Sabbath

Chapter 96.

The Sabbath in the New Testament

1. ACCORDING to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1.

NOTE.-According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.

2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

3. What day is the Sabbath, "according to the commandment"?
"But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.

4. What was Christ's custom respecting the Sabbath?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.

5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.-The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A. D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See readings in Chapter 68. of this book.

6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?
"Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Acts 15:21.

7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." Acts 13:14.

8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." Verse 42.

9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?
"And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13.

10. What was Paul's manner respecting the Sabbath?
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.

NOTE.-It was Paul's manner, as it was Christ's custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.

11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?
"After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; . . . and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers." Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.

12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.

13. How long did he continue this work there?
"And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Verse 11.

NOTE.-Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul's day.

14. On what day was John in the Spirit?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?
"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." Ex.20:11.

18. Through whom did God create the world?
"God. . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, . . . by whom also He made the worlds." Heb. 1:1,2.

NOTES.-From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,- the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13,14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22,23.

The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16,17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.

The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.

It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

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How did Sunday observance originate?  As a voluntary celebration of the Resurrection, a custom without pretense of Divine authority.   Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?  Constantine the Great.  "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday".
By what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden and Sunday observance enjoined?  The Council of Laodicea, in Asia Minor, fourth century.  
What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?  "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927),p. 136.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday .... Now the Church ... instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made.
We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday."

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.
"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
"2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says,
Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says: 'No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

Protestant Confessions
Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a sabbath.

Anglican/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day .... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it."

Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments , pp. 52, 63, 65.
"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday .... into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters.... The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday."
Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday .
We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church."

Todays' Sabbath school lesson: Friday...May 26
Further Thought: “The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message follows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone, for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 383.

Daniel 3—the story of the three Hebrews who had been ordered to “ ‘worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up’ ” (Dan. 3:5, NKJV) in ancient Babylon—stands as a symbol, a model, of what will happen when spiritual Babylon, in the last days, will enforce worship of a false “image,” as well (see Rev. 13:15; Rev. 14:9, 11; Rev. 16:2; Rev. 19:20; Rev. 20:4). How interesting that the command- ment that the three Hebrews would have violated, had they obeyed the king, the second commandment (Exod. 20:4, 5), was one of the two commandments that this power, depicted in another place as seeking “ ‘ “to change times and laws” ’ ” (Dan. 7:25), had tampered with.

What was the other commandment it tampered with? Of course, the fourth commandment, which, as we have seen and will see again, sits at the heart of the whole question of worship and will be central in the final crisis when we face the question of whether we will worship the One who “ ‘made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day’ ” (Exod. 20:11, NKJV; see also Rev. 14:7) or the beast and his image.

Discussion Questions:
1. What relationship does the Tower of Babel have to modern spiritual Babylon? What are the similarities between the two?

2. How do you harmonize two contrasting ideas? Jesus has given authority to His church, but it is dangerous to place our religious experience in the hands of any spiritual leader. What are the limits of church authority?

3. How can we learn that idolatry, one of the sins of Babylon, isn’t just bowing down to statues? In what ways can even Protestants fall into idolatry?

4. What are some other parallels you can find between Daniel 3 and the forced worship there, and what we have been warned about in the last days?

Inside Story Bike and Bible: Part 1
By M. B., as told to KAtHie licHtenwAlter
I wish you could meet Hussein, the security guard for the building where my wife and I live as missionaries in the Middle East. From the time we first met, we could see he observed his faith carefully and lived with sincerity. I liked him. Hussein visited our home many times, and he invited us to his. We often conversed about the simple things in life and even sometimes about spirituality. At our initiative, he graciously joined us in prayer.

As our friendship grew by God’s grace, we sought to take a new step in our friendship. We began to pray for the right moment to give him a Bible.

One day, I noticed that Hussein was upset. He impatiently explained that his bicycle, his only transportation to work, had been stolen. He was preoc- cupied with trying to find a bicycle to borrow. That’s the day that I began praying for a bicycle for my friend. Several months passed, and we received an unexpected gift of U.S.$40. I was puzzled. It seemed like God had sent the money directly from heaven. As I was praying a short time later, the distinct thought came to me, “Show Jesus to your friend. Buy a bicycle for Hussein.” I set aside the $40 and began adding to it.

But the country’s economy worsened by the day, and no matter how much money I saved, I did not seem to have enough to buy a bicycle. But I kept praying and saving. I also went to many second-hand bicycle shops. I began imagining what it would be like to give Hussein a bicycle for his birthday!

When Hussein’s birthday came, my wife baked a cake, I planned a special menu, and we invited him for supper at 5:30 p.m. Certain that God could still answer with a miracle, I went out looking for the bicycle that we had prayed about for so long. At 5:00 p.m., I returned home, unsuccessful and discour- aged. My wife reminded me that God knew how much we wanted to help and had prayed. “He’s taking care of the situation,” she said.

The supper was a perfect surprise. Hussein was delighted! He told us how blessed he was to have us in his life. We enjoyed the meal together, presented him with the cake, and had a special prayer for him, thanking God for his life. But we had no bike. No gift.

The next day, still searching for a second-hand bike, I was startled by an online post indicating that a Russian man had listed a bicycle for sale only 10 minutes earlier. I couldn’t believe the price, the photo, and the condition of the bicycle. I grabbed my phone, contacted the owner, and even bravely asked for a discount. The deal was made. As I lifted the bicycle into my car, I knew God had answered our prayers. The bicycle had cost the exact amountthat I had saved over many, many months. The mission story concludes next week.

Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at AdventistMission.org.

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#3634 Posted : Saturday, May 27, 2023 5:44:34 AM

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#3635 Posted : Sunday, May 28, 2023 6:00:27 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the first workday of the week......the RCC/Prot man made "Holy" day....

When the Pilgrims came to America they brought with them two teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

sunday sacredness and the immortality of the soul.

neither of these two teachings are found in the Bible, and we do not get immortality until the first resurrection when Jesus comes.

First day texts in the NT:

Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mark 16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Luke 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Acts 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

1 Corinthians 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

The sabbath of the Bible is a testament to Jesus’ monument to His creation of heaven and earth.

For satan to substitute another day is an insult to God

Hebrews 4:1-12 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

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The Character of God and His Law……

God Law

Just…Rom 3:26 Rom 7:2; Eze 18:5
True….John 3:33 Neh 9:13
Pure….1 John 3:3 Ps 19:7,8
Light…1 John 1:5 Prov 6:23
Faithful….1 Cor 1:9 Ps 119:86
Good…Nahum 1:7 Rom 12:7, 16
Spiritual…1 Cor 10:1-4 Ro 7:14
Holy…..Is 6:3; 1 Pet 1:15 Rom 7:12
Truth…John 14:6 Ps 119:142, 151
Life….John 14:6 John 12:50; Mt 19:17
Righteousness…Jer 23:6 Ps 119:172
Perfect Deu 32:4; 2 Sam 22:31 Ps 19:7, James 1:26
Forever… John 8:35, Heb 13:8 Ps 111:8; Luke 16:17

Dr. Carl Bath quotes in his church dogmatics……”Where the Holy Day becomes a day of man, society and humanity wither away and the demons rule”…De Quervain

Todays' Sabbath School lesson study,.....sunday......May 28
The Way That Seems Right in a Man’s Eyes
In the context of the last days, Jesus uttered a powerful warning, “ ‘For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect’ ” (Mark 13:22, NKJV). Who are “the elect”? He later says, “ ‘And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other’ ” (Matt. 24:31, NKJV). A little scary, isn’t it, when the deception in the last days will be so great that even the faithful ones will be in danger of being deceived?

Read Revelation 12:9. Who is deceived by Satan? How do we under- stand these words?
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________________________________________________________
Obviously, God is going to have some faithful people in the last days, as He has had all through the ages. However, the wording here shows just how widespread Satan’s deception really is.

Read Proverbs 14:12. What powerful warning is presented here? ________________________________________________________
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People are often told to follow their own conscience in order to determine for themselves what is right or wrong, good or evil, and then live accordingly. But the Scripture says that we are all sinners, all cor- rupted (Jer. 17:9, Rom. 3:9–18), and so to trust our own sentiments is almost a guaranteed way to, sooner or later, get it wrong and even to do wrong. A lot of evil has been perpetrated through the ages by people utterly convinced of the rightness of their cause. That is, they followed the “way that seems right” to them.

Instead, we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God, and from His Word, as we surrender to the Holy Spirit, learn truth from error, right from wrong, good from evil. Left to our own devices, or even to our own senses, we can become easy prey to Satan’s deceptions.

Think through examples of people who have acted based on what they themselves believed was right, or even what they believed was God’s will but have done evil things. What can we learn from these tragic events?

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#3636 Posted : Monday, May 29, 2023 6:09:02 AM

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Good Morning. Today is Memorial Day.

Huge thank yous to all who wear the uniform. Who died and those living today, serving the USA.

Today is a yearly Memorial Day....our God has a weekly Memorial Day.

Jesus died a horrible death for each of us.

The Word of the Lord is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow,,,

and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart...Heb 4:12

Around the world the thoughts and affections will be fastened upon those who died in service to our country.

Gods' weekly reminder is mostly unnoticed......

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God:
in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 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.

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Medieval Scholastic philosophers and theologians, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Bonaventure, held that all the commandments are a part of the natural law and are therefore knowable to all thinking people. They maintained that God revealed the commandments to Moses to remind humankind of its obligations, easily forgotten because of original sin.
Actually, these scholars were echoing a similar idea expressed by early Fathers of the Church, such as Tertullian and Augustine, that the commandments had already been engraved on the human heart before they were written on the tablets of stone.

Parallels to the Decalogue are found in the laws of other ancient peoples. In Egyptian religion, for example, the observance of certain precepts (prohibitions against theft, murder, and injustice) was necessary for entrance into the shrine of Osiris, god and judge of the dead. Biblical scholars feel, however, that the Ten Commandments differ from the moral codes of other ancient religious systems in their explicit monotheism, their doctrine of God's awesome majesty and boundless goodness, and their extension of moral obligation to the most intimate and hidden desires of the human heart.

In the New Testament, all the commandments are mentioned but never in a list of ten.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?  A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.

A Doctrinal Catechism by the Rev. Stephen Keenan, p. 174

“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act,… (A quotation from a letter written in November, 1895, by Mr. H. F. Thomas, chancellor to Carkinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath.)
WHO CHANGED THE  SABBATH SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible "Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the Seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, all Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the Bible." Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947  
 "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73
 
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day, that is Saturday. In keeping Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Monday...May 29
The Old Lie of Immortality
Read Revelation 16:13, 14 and Revelation 18:2, 23. What allusions to spiritualism do you find in these verses?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Such expressions as the “dwelling place of demons” or the “spirits of demons” and “sorcery” all indicate demonic activity. No wonder we have been warned that of the two great deceptions in the last days, one will be “the immortality of the soul” (Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588).

Of course, that’s so easy to see today. Even in the Christian world, the idea of the soul being immortal is all but staple Christian doctrine. Many Christians believe that, at death, the saved go soaring off to heaven, and the lost descend into hell. How often, for instance, after the great evangelist Billy Graham died, did we hear that “Billy Graham is safe now in heaven, in the loving arms of Jesus,” or the like? This kind of thing is taught all the time from pulpits; in classrooms; and, especially, at funerals.

Read Ecclesiastes 9:5; Job 19:25–27; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; and Revelation 14:13. What clear instruction did God give His people about life after death, and where do we find our hope?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
One of the pillars of Babylonian deception is a false understanding of death, which, centered in the idea of the immortality of the soul, prepares the way for the deceptive influence of spiritualism. If you believe that the dead, in some form, live on and might even be able to communicate with us, then what protection do you have from any of the myriad deceptions that Satan has? If someone who you thought was your dead mother or child, or someone else beloved, was sud- denly to appear and talk to you, how easy would it be to be fooled by your senses? This has happened in the past; happens now; and, certainly, as we near the very final days, will happen again. Our only protection is to stand firmly rooted in what the Bible teaches and to cling to the biblical teaching about death as a sleep until the second coming of Jesus.

What examples of modern spiritualism exist in your culture today? Why is firm adherence to the Word of God our only pro- tection?

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#3637 Posted : Tuesday, May 30, 2023 7:10:19 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the third workday of the week.

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 39.

A Sinless Life

1. WHAT testimony is borne concerning Christ's life on earth?
"Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:22.

2. What is true of all other members of the human family?
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23.

3. With what question did Christ challenge His enemies?
"Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" John 8:46.

4. To what extent was Christ tempted?
"[He] was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. 4:15.

5. In His humanity, of what nature did Christ partake?
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb. 2:14.

Page 174

6. How fully did Christ share our common humanity?
"Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Verse 17.

NOTE.- In His humanity Christ partook of our sinful, fallen nature. If not, then He was not "made like unto His brethren," was not "in all points tempted like as we are," did not overcome as we have to overcome, and is not, therefore, the complete and perfect Saviour man needs and must have to be saved. The idea that Christ was born of an immaculate or sinless mother, inherited no tendencies to sin, and for this reason did not sin, removes Him from the realm of a fallen world, and from the very place where help is needed. On His human side, Christ inherited just what every child of Adam inherits,- a sinful nature. On the divine side, from His very conception He was begotten and born of the Spirit. And all this was done to place mankind on vantage-ground, and to demonstrate that in the same way every one who is "born of the Spirit" may gain like victories over sin in his own sinful flesh. Thus each one is to overcome as Christ overcame. Rev. 3:21. Without this birth there can be no victory over temptation, and no salvation from sin. John 3:3-7.

7. Where did God, in Christ, condemn sin, and gain the victory for us over temptation and sin?
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Rom. 8:3.

NOTE.-God, in Christ, condemned sin, not by pronouncing against it merely as a judge sitting on the judgment-seat, but by coming and living in the flesh, in sinful flesh, and yet without sinning. In Christ, He demonstrated that it is possible, by His grace and power, to resist temptation, overcome sin, and live a sinless life in sinful flesh.

8. By whose power did Christ live the perfect life?
"I can of Mine own self do nothing." John 5:30. "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John 14:10.

NOTE.-In His humanity Christ was as dependent upon divine power to do the works of God as is any man to do the same thing. He employed no means to live a holy life that are not available to every human being. Through Him, everyone may have God dwelling in him and working in him "to will and to do of His good pleasure." 1 John 4:15; Phil. 2:13.

9. What unselfish purpose did Jesus ever have before Him?
"For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." John 6:38.

HAVE I need of aught, O Saviour!
Aught on earth but Thee?
Have I any in the heavens,
Anyone but Thee?

Though I have of friends so many,
Love, and gold, and health,
If I have not Thee, my Saviour,
Hold I any wealth?
CORIE F. DAVIS.

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"Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?"  "Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the Seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
 
How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?  By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)

"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.  " The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.  
 "Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10 Commandments?"  "I answer yes".

 "Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th day, Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?"  "I answer yes".  
"Did Christ change the day?"  "I answer no!" Faithfully yours, "J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.   Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted Sunday for the Sabbath.  
But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days."  John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51

What day is the Sabbath day?  Saturday is the Sabbath day.
 Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?  We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemity from Saturday to Sunday."  Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25, 1910.  
"The Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.  
In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4   

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Tuesday....May 30
Babylon: The Center of Sun Worship
Sun worship was prominent in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and certainly Babylon. In his book The Worship of Nature, James G. Frazer makes this observation, “In ancient Babylonia the sun was worshipped from immemorial antiquity.”—(London: Macmillan and Co., 1926), vol. 1, p. 529. It may seem surprising, but at times, Babylonian sun worship influenced the worship of God’s people in the Old Testament.

Read Ezekiel 8:16 and 2 Kings 23:5, 11. What did the prophets write about the influence of sun worship in Israel and Judah? (See also Rom. 1:25.)
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________________________________________________________
The prophet Ezekiel, a contemporary of Daniel, pictured some of God’s people with their backs toward the temple of God worshiping the sun toward the east. Rather than worshiping the Creator of the sun, they worshiped the sun instead.
In Revelation 17, John described a time when the principles of Babylon, including sun worship, would enter the Christian church during an age of compromise. The casual conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great joy in the Roman Empire. Constantine had a strong affinity for sun worship.

Edward Gibbon, the renowned historian, writes, “The Sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine.”—The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (London: J.O. Robinson & Co, Ltd., 1830), p. 12. In a.d. 321, Constantine also passed the first “Sunday law.”This edict stated, “On the venerable day of the Sun let the Magistrates and the peo- ple residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.”—Edict of Constantine, a.d. 321. This was not a law enforcing Sunday observance for all of Constantine’s subjects, but it did strengthen the observance of Sunday in the minds of the Roman population.

It was in succeeding decades that emperors and popes continued through state decrees and church councils to establish Sunday as the singular day of worship, which it remains today, as well, for the majority of Christians. What a powerful example of the hard truth that just because the majority of people believe in something, or practice it, doesn’t make it right.

Look around at how prevalent Sunday worship is in Christian churches. What should this fact teach us about how pervasive Satan’s deceptions are? Again, as with the state of the dead, what is our only safeguard?

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#3638 Posted : Wednesday, May 31, 2023 6:30:39 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the fourth Workday of the week.....mittwoch

Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 40.

Our Pattern

1. IN whose steps should we follow?
"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21.

2. How should the Christian walk?
"He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." 1 John 2:6. See Col. 2:6.

3. What mind should be in us?
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Phil. 2:5.

NOTE.-The mind of Christ was characterized by humility (Rom 5: 6 thru 8), dependence upon God (John 5:19,30); a determination to do only the Father's will (John 5:30; 6:38); thoughtfulness of others (Acts 10:38); and a willingness to sacrifice and suffer, and even to die, for the good of others (2 Cor. 8:9; Rom. 5:6 thru 8) 1 Peter 2:24).

4. As a child, what example did Christ set in the matter of obeying His parents?
"And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." Luke 2:51.

5. How are His childhood and youth described?
"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." Verse 52.

Page 176

6. What example did He set concerning baptism?
"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbade Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him." Matt. 3:13-15.

7. How did Christ teach the prayerful life?
"He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:12. "He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray." Luke 9:28.

8. To what kind of work did Jesus devote His life?
"Who went about doing good." Acts 10:38.

9. For whom and why did Christ leave the riches of heaven?
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. 8:9.

10. When reviled and mistreated, what did He do?
"Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." 1 Peter 2:23.

11. How did He pray for those who crucified Him?
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34. See Acts 3:17.

12. What is the inspired testimony concerning Him?
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows." Heb. 1:9.

Majestic sweetness, sits enthroned
Upon the Saviour's brow;
His head with radiant light is crowned,
His lips with grace o'erflow.

No mortal can with Him compare,
Among the sons of men;
Fairer is He than all the fair
That fill the heavenly train.
SAMUEL STENNETT.

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"The Catholic Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant, claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.  
In this matter the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant. The Catholic Universe Bulletin, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4   

"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p. 213  
Exodus 20: 8-11,  (8) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: (10) But the Seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (11) For in six days the Lord made the 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.   Colossians 2:8 warns us to:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

What power has claimed authority to change God's law?  The Papacy in Rome.  "The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even Divine Laws...The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), "Papa", art. 2.

 What part of the law of God has the papacy thought to change?  The Fourth Commandment.  "Catholics alledge the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouth than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Harper), vol. 3, p. 64.

"It [the Roman Catholic Church] reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word and instituting Sunday as a holiday." N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415.

Does the papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath?  It does.  The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: "It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to 'the Lord's day. Sunday.'" Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan's translation, 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402.  

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Wednesday....May 31 A Call to Faithfulness
The message of the second angel in Revelation 14 is “ ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen.’ ” In Revelation 17, the woman identified as spiritual Babylon, dressed in purple and scarlet, rides upon a scarlet-colored beast, passes around her wine cup, and gets the world drunk with error. Church and state unite. Falsehood prevails. Demons work their miracles to deceive. The world catapults into its final conflict.

At the same time, the people of God are maligned, ridiculed, oppressed, and persecuted, but in Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit, they are steadfast in their commitment. All the powers of hell and the forces of evil cannot break their loyalty to Christ. They are secure in Him. He is their “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1).

God is calling an end-time people back to faithfulness to His Word. Jesus prayed, “ ‘Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth’ ” (John 17:17, NKJV). The truth of God’s Word, not human opinion or tradition, is the North Star to guide us in this critical hour of earth’s history.

Here is a remarkable statement by Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, the author of the Standard Manual for Baptist Churches. In 1893, he addressed a group of hundreds of Baptist ministers and shocked them as he explained how Sunday came into the Christian church.
“What a pity that it [Sunday] comes branded with the mark of pagan- ism, and christened with the name of the sun god, then adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!”—Before a New York ministers’ conference, November 13, 1893.
Read Ezekiel 20:1–20. What is the gist of Ezekiel’s message here, and how does the Sabbath fit in with this call to faithfulness?
________________________________________________________
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Ezekiel 20 is an earnest appeal for Israel to forsake pagan practices and to worship the Creator instead of false gods, in this case the “idols of Egypt.” In the message of the three angels, God is making a similar appeal for us to “worship the Creator,” for “Babylon is fallen.” And, too, as we know, the Sabbath, and faithfulness to it, will play a big role in final events.

What lessons can we take away for ourselves from what has been written in Ezekiel 20:1–20? (See also 1 Cor. 10:11.)

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paulwhut

#3639 Posted : Thursday, June 1, 2023 5:59:00 AM

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Joined: 1/17/2008
Posts: 9,272

Good Morning. Today is the fifth workday of the week....come sundown begins the preparation...Section 4

Life, Parables, and Miracles of Christ

Chapter 41.

Our Helper and Friend

1. THROUGH Christ, what has been opened to the house of David?
"In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." Zech. 13:1.

2. Who has borne our sins, and stands ready to help us?
"I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Isa. 63:1. last part.

3. For what purpose did Christ come to this world?
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10.

4. Through what was Christ made a complete and perfect Saviour?
"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Heb. 2:10.

5. Because of this, what is Christ able to do?
"For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." Verse 18.

6. How complete a Saviour is He?
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Heb. 7:25.

Page 178

7. From what is He able to keep us?
"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 24,25.

8. What does He call those who accept Him?
"Henceforth I call you not servants; . . . I have called you friends." John 15:15.

9. What kind of friend is He?
"There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Prov. 18:24.

10. What is the mark of a true friend?
"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." Prov. 17:17.

I Will sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me,
How He left His home in glory,
For the cross on Calvary.

I was lost, but Jesus found me,
Found the sheep that went astray;
Threw His loving arms around me,
Drew me back into His way.

I was bruised, but Jesus healed me,
Faint was I from many a fall,
Sight was gone, and fears possessed me,
But He freed me from them all.

Days of darkness still come o'er me,
Sorrow's paths I often tread,
But the Saviour still is with me,
By His hand I'm safely led.

Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
Of the Christ who died for me,
Sing it with the saints in glory,
Gathered by the crystal sea.
FRANCIS H. ROWLEY.

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Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the bible for santification of Sunday?  They do.  "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72,73.

How did Sunday observance originate?  As a voluntary celebration of the Resurrection, a custom without pretense of Divine authority.   Who first enjoined Sunday keeping by law?  Constantine the Great.  "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor." Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday".
By what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden and Sunday observance enjoined?  The Council of Laodicea, in Asia Minor, fourth century.  
What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God's commandments?  "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9

Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?"Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927),p. 136.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday .... Now the Church ... instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made.
We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday."

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.
"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
"2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says,
Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says: 'No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Thursday...June 1
Grace for Obedience
The woman in scarlet and purple, riding on the scarlet-colored beast, has passed around her wine cup, and the world is drunk with Babylon’s false doctrines. Speaking of the “wine of Babylon,” Ellen G. White makes this clear comment: “What is that wine? Her false doctrines. She has given to the world a false Sabbath instead of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and has repeated the falsehood that Satan first told to Eve in Eden,—the natural immortality of the soul.”—“Let the Trumpet Give a Certain Sound,” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 6, 1892. These erroneous teachings have deceived millions. As a result, God is giving His people, still entrenched in error, a final last-day appeal.

Read Revelation 18:4, 5. What is God’s appeal to multitudes still in fallen religious organizations?
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As we already have seen (but worth repeating), many of God’s people are in religious organizations that have compromised biblical teachings. They do not understand the truths of Scripture. God’s loving appeal is straightforward: “ ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues’ ” (Rev. 18:4, NKJV).

Read 1 John 3:4 and compare it to Romans 14:23. How does the Bible define sin? How do these Bible passages harmonize?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Sin is the transgression or the breaking of God’s law. The only way anybody can obey the law is through faith in the power of the living Christ. We are weak, frail, faltering, sinful human beings. By faith when we accept Christ, His grace atones for our past and empowers our present. He gives us “grace and apostleship for obedi- ence” (Rom. 1:5, NKJV). Heaven’s appeal to His people in churches that do not respect and obey the law of God is to step out by faith. His appeal to Adventists in Sabbath-keeping congregations is to forsake all self-centered, human attempts at obedience and live godly lives by faith in the grace of Christ, which delivers us from sin’s condemnation and its domination. And just as Israel’s faithful- ness to the law (Deut. 4:6) would have been a powerful witness to the world, our faithfulness, too, can be a powerful witness and help guide people out of Babylon.

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paulwhut

#3640 Posted : Friday, June 2, 2023 6:36:05 AM

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Good Morning. Today is the preparation, the sabbath is drawing on.

Genesis 4:7 (KJV)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 26:5 (KJV)
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Isaiah 56:1-2 (KJV) 1 Thus saith the LORD,
Keep ye judgment, and do justice:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this,
and the son of man that layeth hold on it;
that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV) 13 If thou 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, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord;
and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction
(Jeremiah 17:21-23 KJV)

The Bible holy day is the Seventh Day.

Genesis 2:
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Exodus 20:
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 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.

Leviticus 23:3
Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Isaiah 58:
13 ¶If thou 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, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Section 9

The Sabbath

Chapter 96.

The Sabbath in the New Testament

1. ACCORDING to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1.

NOTE.-According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.

2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

3. What day is the Sabbath, "according to the commandment"?
"But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.

4. What was Christ's custom respecting the Sabbath?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.

5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.-The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A. D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See readings in Chapter 68. of this book.

6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?
"Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Acts 15:21.

7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." Acts 13:14.

8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." Verse 42.

9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?
"And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13.

10. What was Paul's manner respecting the Sabbath?
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." Acts 17:1,2.

NOTE.-It was Paul's manner, as it was Christ's custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.

11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?
"After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; . . . and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers." Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.

12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.

13. How long did he continue this work there?
"And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." Verse 11.

NOTE.-Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul's day.

14. On what day was John in the Spirit?
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev. 1:10.

15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
"The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.

16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?
"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." Ex.20:11.

18. Through whom did God create the world?
"God. . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, . . . by whom also He made the worlds." Heb. 1:1,2.

NOTES.-From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,- the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13,14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22,23.

The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16,17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.

The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.

It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

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Protestant Confessions
Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a sabbath.

Anglican/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism , vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day .... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it."

Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments , pp. 52, 63, 65.
"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday .... into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters.... The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday."
Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday .
We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Church."

Baptist
Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers' conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893.
"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not.

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question . . . never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated.

"Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history . . . . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!"

William Owen Carver, The Lord's Day in Our Day , p. 49.
"There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance."

Congregationalist
Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments (New York: Eaton &Mains), p. 127-129.
" . . . it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath - . . 'Me Sabbath was founded on a specific Divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday .... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday."

Timothy Dwight, Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258.
" . . . the Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath."
9

Todays' Sabbath School lesson: Friday...June 2
Further Thought: “ ‘Babylon the great’ in the book of Revelation designates in a special sense, the united apostate religions at the close of time. . . . ‘Babylon the great’ is the name by which Inspiration refers to the great threefold religious union of the papacy, apostate Protestantism, and spiritism. . . . The term ‘Babylon’ refers to the orga- nizations themselves and to their leaders, not so much to the members as such. The latter are referred to as ‘many waters.’ (Rev. 17:1, 15).”—The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 851, 852.

“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter cre- ates a bond of sympathy with Rome.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 588.

In the Old Testament, the spirits of the dead played a major part in Babylonian religion. The Babylonians had a strong belief in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. They believed at death, the soul entered the spirit world. The concept of the immortal soul is foreign to the teach- ings of Scripture. The Jewish Encyclopedia clearly identifies the origin of the false idea of the immortality of the soul. “The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is . . . nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture. . . . The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended.”—Kaufmann Kohler, “Immortality of the Soul,” (1906).

Discussion Questions:
1. Why is an understanding of the truth about death so critically important? What does it protect us from? Why is it so comforting too?

2. Some of the devil’s deceptions are obvious, others more subtle. How can we avoid being deceived by either?

3. In class, talk about the question, touched on in Sunday’s study, about those who do evil believing that they are following the will of God, as revealed in the Bible. How do we explain this? What role should the law of God play in the explanation?

Inside Story Bike and Bible: Part 2
By M. B., as told to KAtHie licHtenwAlter

My wife and I had saved money for many, many months to buy a bicycle for Hussein, the security guard for the building where we live as missionar- ies in the Middle East. God answered our prayers and helped us to buy a bicycle. As we inspected the answer to our prayers, we wondered out loud to each other, “What if we give Hussein a Bible with the bicycle?”

We wrote a note in a card and wrapped a Bible that we had bought many months earlier. We prayed for the best moment to present him with the gifts. I carefully planned what to say. I knew that the bicycle would be meaningful. I hoped that the Bible would be a sensitive step toward sharing truth.
Hussein was overwhelmed with emotion when we arrived at his door with the bicycle. The bicycle looked impressive! But I never expected the expres- sion on his face as he gently held the Bible and carefully turned its pages. He was in awe. He was delighted. But I don’t know who was happier—him or me. After two years of friendship, I was finally giving my friend and brother a Bible, the gift I had prayed about the most! My joy was indescribable.

A few days later, Hussein invited me to his home for tea. When I arrived, I found him reading Genesis. His eyes sparkled. He explained that he had never read the Creation story before. I knew we had much to talk about, and I prayed for the Holy Spirit to give me the right words. That evening, we spoke of heaven and death. I showed Hussein some beautiful verses in his new Bible. As we spoke, Hussein kept quietly leafing through the pages of the Bible. He seemed so engrossed with the Bible that I sensed God urging me to offer to study the Bible with him. I heard myself giving that wonderful invitation, “Would you like to study the Bible together?”

To my astonish- ment, he accepted—and with great eagerness. That week, we began our Bible studies. That week, God continued His amazing work, and He is still working. Hussein and I are both growing closer to God and to each other.

My heart is filled with thanksgiving to God. I am filled with awe by the privilege of sharing God with Hussein. I am thankful to my wife for her kind and faith-filled support. I am thankful to relatives in my homeland who have prayed with us for Hussein. I am thankful for believing friends who have
prayed for us during this experience. I thank God for sending us the money to buy the bicycle and for giving us the courage to share His Word with someone who is thrilled to learn about God from a new perspective.

Thank you for your mission offerings that help spread the gospel in the Middle East and around the world.
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath Scho

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MyBasicISP » MyBasicISP Forums » Religious Corner » Dancing with God #2

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