Archive for the ‘Commandments’ Category

Is The Lunar Sabbath Biblical?

June 17, 2023

Recently we were somewhat shocked to see a longtime Seventh-day Adventist announce on her YouTube channel that she has given up the SDA faith because we don’t keep the right Sabbath. We knew that her presentations weren’t often a “Thus sayeth the Lord” study, but now we know she wasn’t grounded at all. One of our most basic doctrines is cut asunder for a new theory.

The Sabbath is omni-important as we read —

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”(Genesis 2:1-3)

So this being the case, do we not think our arch enemy will find a way to becloud and confuse God’s Sabbath keepers? Of course. And one of the most delusional and non-logical tricks he has foisted upon us today is the lunacy of the — Lunar  Sabbath.

Let us delve into this subject.

The Lord said to Moses, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Ex. 12:2. God did not say, “It shall also be the beginning of weeks to you.”

It is true that the names of the months and the days of the week are of mythological origin, but the cycle of the week, as we shall see is from time immemorial.

Let us remember that the moon was created on the 4th day and the Sabbath was the 7th day. This fact shall come in handy as we proceed.

The Sabbath which the Lord hallowed was celebrated on exactly the seventh day after the creation of the earth began, not on the seventh day after the creation of the moon began (Gen. 2:2). So the weekly cycle which God set in motion, and the Sabbath which He Himself celebrated, were not measured by the revolutions of the moon, but by the revolutions of the earth.

Understanding the Creation Week | Six Literal Days | Six-Day Creation | God's Creation

Had He intended the moon to fix the time of the holy Sabbath, He would have made it complete its revolution around the earth once either in exactly four weeks or in exactly one week. But since the moon does not do so, it cannot be taken as the Divine regulator of the weekly holy Sabbath day. Moreover, Sabbath begins at “even,” whereas the new moon may appear at any hour of day or night.

So God’s instruction of “even to even” of keeping the Sabbath holy, and as all the historical records prove, must be changed into something else if we observe the lunar sabbath. 

For instance, in the area where we live, the new moon starts this evening (June 17th) at 9;37 pm, past the time the sun sets at 7:59 pm! So are we to ignore the “even to even” time to start the Sabbath now? If that’s the case, then all the ancient customs of the Jews and Christians must have broken the Sabbath, as they both started and stopped the holy observance at the wrong time according to the lunar sabbath observance!

The following paragraphs briefly bring forth solar, lunar, and Biblical facts, not implications, that the weekly cycle never has been and never can be controlled by any lunar or solar calendar, and that the church under God’s direction has never either in the Old or in the New Testament kept a lunar Sabbath.

Had the Lord blessed and observed a Sabbath that is governed by the moon, then the Sabbath hours could not have fallen on the seventh day from the beginning of creation, but rather must have fallen within the tenth day, for the moon was not created and set in motion until after the fourth day of creation. (See Genesis 1:14-19). Since the week was not then governed by the moon, it certainly cannot be governed by it now and still be the week of creation.

As creation week was three days older than both the sun and the moon, the fact conclusively follows, therefore, that neither of these heavenly luminaries could have ever regulated the week of creation. Moreover, such a solar-lunar regulatory force would, except it be in cycles of tens, deprive Time and Creation of the first three days, leaving them as a phantom “lost period.”

The lunar month is not actually four weeks (28 days) long, but approximately twenty-nine and a half days. All the ideas of the weeks being dependent upon the monthly orbit of the moon, cannot hold up upon Biblical history, facts, and logic.

So we see had the Lord wanted us to use the lunar cycle as the Sabbath beginning, then by logic, it would have been the 10th day after creation, not the 7th day, to which we were to observe the Sabbath. The three prior days of creation must be days that count as nothing. God just eliminated them from history! So we see the complete folly of this idea.

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” (Jer. 23:16)

“The only ones that will endure to the end will be those who carefully watch their steps from being carried away either by his additions to, or by his subtractions from, the works of Inspiration.” (2 TG, no. 46, p.43-44)

Summary —

History does not support the lunar sabbath either from Scripture or logic. On the contrary, it reveals that the present Roman week is the same as the ancient Jewish and Christian week, that it has been and still is the world’s week from time immemorial from creation. If we fall for a spurious sabbath, then our enemy has snared us with the breaking of the 4th Commandment. The enemy has devised a false idea of true Sabbath worship snaring those who fail to be guided by the “Spirit of Truth”.

Posted in Commandments, Proper teachings, Sabbath, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Blocking eyes/hearts to the Truth

November 30, 2019

Image result for man not listening to bible

NOTE: Recently we were made aware that unfortunately for quite a while our blog has been infiltrated with numerous worldly ads from our WebHost. We know that has been a big distraction in reading our posts. We did not solicit these ads nor did we agree with what they are advertising. So we have made arrangements with our WebHost to cancel them. Please enjoy our ad-free site once more, like it was in the early years of our site. We have a serious message to give to God’s people and can’t afford to have distractions — Thank you!

In John 12:40 we read —

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them.”

There is no doubt that the so-called Religious “Scholars” of Jesus’ day were about as blind as one could be –in knowing Truth.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Pilate in his inquiry of what is truth asked the Lord the all-important question. Of course, the King was not about to get into doctrinal matters with a heathen governor who was ready to issue an important part in the redemption of man plan.

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. (John 18:37-38)

So we know as Christians that–

1. Jesus is the Truth

2. All that really know Jesus knows Truth

Yes, this is very basic Christianity but so vast and deep. Although simple in it’s description, it is so numerous in its misapplication and true understanding. Let us look at an example.

Brother R has been a “street preacher” for several decades. He came to “know Jesus” by reading the Bible and attending regular Sunday services. But brother R has a stubborn “I know it all” attitude about the Lord, His love and His plan for mankind. 

We have had many discussions over the years, particularly on the “love” of Jesus. Recently this issue came up again via some email and he said words such as —

“Love sums up all the commandments. If i don’t have love for God and my brother, i have nothing. Bottomline. I have “no condemnation in Christ Jesus”. I have a relationship based on Christ’s righteousness, not my own. I live by the grace of God.”

This was in response to what I had sent him previously that said the following —

” If you LOVE ME , keep My Commandments” (John 14:15)   (a quick reminder the word “Commandments” is Entole, which means His 10 Commandments.)

I  was trying to explain that Jesus Himself says “how” we are to love Him. It can’t get any clearer than that! But as we showed in the above quote, their eyes and hearts are blinded. For some reason, they cannot read and comprehend straight clear words from the word of God. This got me thinking, “supping” with the Lord. Then an answer came to me.

You see brethren many today, especially Sunday keepers, I believe are held back from having the vail lifted from their eyes. The  Spirit of Prophecy explains —

“..the influence of these older church members will leaven those newly come to the faith. The Lord does not now work to bring many souls into the truth, because of the church members who have never been converted and those who were once converted but who have backslidden. What influence would these unconsecrated members have on new converts? Would they not make of no effect the God-given message which His people are to bear?” (Testimonies, vol.6, p.370)

If brother R  gives up his Sunday worship and comes into the Seventh-day Adventist church, after a short while,  what will he most likely find from some leaders and members we will show in pictures (they speak a thousand words).

Image result for young lady dress for church in short dress and high heels      Image result for thanksgiving dinner

Image result for pastor wearing rolex watch and rings

Image result for woman in jewelry in church

In summary, he will find women and men not dressing according to the Bible/ SDA teaching of modesty. Women, especially many younger ones, dressed in “nightclub” attire complete with nail polish. Men dressed in T-shirts and other common dress. He will find the eating of meat is practiced by some members(most of them privately beyond gazing eyes), even though it is against the SDA teachings. He will find jewelry and worldly fashions practiced by many, even the leaders.

But the most serious issue he will find is the “lukewarm” and carefree live and let live style that many SDA practice, not calling sin by its rightful name due to the “shepherd’s” unfaithfulness. THIS would be very hard to ignore and no doubt would hinder a “truth walk”.

The Lord has some dire Words for this situation, straight solemn words for our leaders (shepherds) —

“The word of the Lord came to me:  “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock.  You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured.

You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.  So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because My flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but cared for themselves rather than for My flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for My flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them.  As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.

I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.” (34:1-16)

In order for these blind ones to see God’s love/power within His people there will soon be a church judgment. The 144,000 will then be empowered to proclaim the Lord’s kingdom.

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

Soon the Loud Cry will come upon the earth, the Truth in all it’s luster and power will convict masses. Those who cannot see or understand now may indeed know the Lord then. SOP tells us more —

“In the eighteenth chapter of the Revelation the people of God are called upon to come out of Babylon. According to this scripture, many of God’s people must still be in Babylon. And in what religious bodies are the greater part of the followers of Christ now to be found? Without doubt, in the various churches professing the Protestant faith.” (GC, p.483)

In closing let us remain at our post of duty bringing the Elijah message to our brethren, but know that should the situation arise that we discuss the Lord’s truth with those of outside faiths, don’t be surprised  if they cannot grasp God’s truth now because according to God’s plan they may soon do so in the future.

 

Posted in Christian faith, Commandments, Loud Cry | Leave a Comment »

A Spiritual Virus

August 30, 2014

Spiritual virus

 

“Spiritual Virus”,  just what is that? Before we explain allow me to tell how this term came recently.

In Revelation 3:20 we read, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Here we see that the Lord will “come in” to us if we hear His voice and open the door. And an important part of this process is that we will “sup” with Him. This is a fascinating description of communicating with Him. Hopefully we can do a post soon on this subject alone, as it is very important.

To simplify “sup” is indicative of communicating with our Lord, and as such we hear Him speaking to us. As I often do each week, I drive several miles in my truck. For decades I would be playing the pop music or CD’s. Basically drowning out any possibility of hearing anything except that worldly music.

But since my conversion, I no longer listen to that music and as such have my ears ‘wide open” to hear His voice. I explain all this to show how this word “Spiritual Virus” came. It came as I was “supping” with the Lord. It just came into me.

So that being said, I kept hearing that as days went by. So I knew that this was a topic the Lord wanted me to discuss.So let us look at this subject and how we must be on guard and take precautions not to develop this most serious plague.

Just as there exists many physical viruses, so too, there are many spiritual viruses. And as the physical ones lodge within us and are sometimes hard to eradicate, same with the spiritual. While there are certainly many “strains” or symptoms of spiritual viruses such as habitual sinning, they can begin the same way. His Inspired word shows us how they develop.

Let us look at how they can develop.

Christ our King showed us the importance of “knowing” Him. In 1 John 2:3-4 we read, “This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his Commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

Any true Christian must first “know” the Lord, yes? And if we are to know Him, we see clearly that keeping His Commandments are the key. So the very first steps in our walk is to repent and then to  “walk” in His Commandments. Therefore, the ones who are susceptible to a spiritual virus are the ones who really don’t know Christ. They may talk of Him and profess to know Him yet we know they are lying if they do not keep His Commandments. 

It’s similar to someone walking around with a bull’s-eye target on their back. The Satanic forces can see it in the spiritual realm and zero in on them. So our first area of defense from the viruses, is to know and keep His Commandments.

Sadly, as I have continued to walk along the path of the Lord’s leading, I have found that even those who proclaim the Elijah message (the Lord’s highest light) are no exception to these terrible viruses. What does that tell us? It can only mean that Satan and his workers have tricked them into being careless in their walk.

In other words, a deception has crept in and that is that they are the Lord’s messengers and thus they don’t need to be careful daily in walking in His Commandments.

Inspiration points out how important it is to keep faithful in obeying them —“When one commandment of the Decalogue is broken, the downward steps are almost certain.” (Signs of the Times, July 1, 1903)

You see, it is a ‘gift” from the Lord to have His “Spirit of Truth”. In John 16:13 we read, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

Those who know Him can thus be guided to know the Truth. This goes even to the fact that those who know Him can tell sinner from saint! The Elijah prophet said,  “For  only a true Christian, one who has a personal experience with God, a perfect knowledge of His Word, and who is filled with His Spirit, can discriminate saint from sinner.  He, only, can recognize who has the seal and who does not have it, when the latter is cloaked in a counterfeit robe of righteousness.” (Tract 5, p.63)

One of the most important areas to check in regards to our faithfulness in keeping His Commandments, is to investigate our Sabbath keeping. We often should check up on ourselves in this area.

Let us look at some questions we can ask ourselves–

1) How is our appearance on the Sabbath day? Do we dress our “best”? Are we well-groomed and bring the Lord honor by going into His house a good representative of Him?

2) Are we abstaining from the numerous temptations that Satan brings on the Sabbath? Buying and selling? Worldly pleasures such as TV and music? Discussing business?

3) Are we careless like Eli was and overlooking, or worse yet contributing, to our family and friends willful transgressing of the Sabbath

Let us expand on this point. If we have a wife or husband, or children, and they often do things that are not right in the Lord’s sight on the Sabbath, how do we respond? Do we wink at it or even participate in it?

Suppose we are on the way to the church service on the Sabbath and our wife says. “oh honey I just remembered  I promised to bring a salad to the lunch today. Could we stop by the grocery store on the way to church and buy the salad?  What is the husband to do? Be like Eli and wink at this and go along with this willful breaking of the Sabbath? Or does he protect the wife and himself from falling for this devil trick , thereby saving themselves from trampling His holy Sabbath?

Just so we know the Lord’s will in  this regard, let us read His instruction, “In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I admonished them on the day they sold food. Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the Sabbath day?

“Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. It came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and that they should not open them until after the Sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the Sabbath day.” (Nehemiah 13:15-19)

What a beautiful story of true respect and admonishment from the prophet! He cared enough for the Lord’s honor to make known the error of the people. Are we doing this with any of our friends or family who happen to carelessly honor the Lord on His holy day? If we are not, we may be compromising our “defense system” and allowing a virus to develop. Why? Because we are also committing transgression just as we allow those within our reach and care to do.

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence..” (Isaiah 62:6)

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.(Ezekiel 3:18)

So what is our point here? It is that the strongest defense in not obtaining a spiritual virus is to keep His Commandments. This is first and foremost. Let us not forget that we also show the Lord we “love” Him.

“If ye love Me, keep My Commandments.” (John 14:15)

So now that we know what  helps us as a healthy line of defense, let us look at some specific symptoms of these viruses.

1) Repetitive breaking of the Sabbath.

This can include but not limited to: Doing business on the Sabbath, such as phone calls, writings, job appointments, worldly TV and music, lack of reverence in His house such as, talking loudly in sanctuary, playing games on cell phone in sanctuary, lack of presentable attire in His sanctuary (this one is especially specific to the ladies for dresses and shoes and proper head-covering)

2) Proclaiming false teachings and beliefs.

Such as no Trinity exists, no Elijah prophet message needed, no need to strive with all power God has given us to be among the 144,000 (Review and herald, March 9, 1905), Elijah prophet is not to be the last, continual proclaiming of peace and safety message. No church judgment to come, only the next coming of Jesus in the clouds at end of plagues, etc.

Let us expound on this point. Our Master told us the following:

“If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether  I speak of myself.” (John 7:17)

This again shows that first we must “do His will” THEN we shall know His true teachings. This is why some get tripped up in their walk, they fail to do “first things first” and falsely presume that the Lord allows then to “jump over the threshold”.Even though they may know quite a bit of the word of the Lord.

The prime example of this was the Pharisees. Jesus admonished them, even though they knew all the Scriptures and professed to know God, He exposed them for not doing the basics.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier  matters  of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (John 8:32)

From another angle we see an excellent example of women “laden with sins”unable to learn properly. Although it mentions silly women, the concept applies to all sinners.

“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim. 3:6-7)

Our prophetess also explained, “God never honors unbelief and questioning and doubt. When He speaks, His word is to be recognized and carried out in the daily actions. And if the heart of man is in living connection with God, the voice that cometh from above will be recognized…There is need that we reverence the Word of God and recognize His voice in the living oracles, that we may practice its precepts and live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.(Testimonies on Sabbath School Work, p.64)

3) Robbing God.

Being unfaithful in returning His Tithes and offerings per Mal. 3:10. Thus not providing your funds so that He may have “food” in His house. The food being spiritual food as in His present truth for us right now–today. Supporting instead an old message that was present truth for generations past.

4) The Laodicean spirit

This is perhaps the greatest virus of all. It paralysis the host. They are unable to get out of their “rich and increased with goods” attitude and therefore they fail to advance in the Lord’s light.

Our King knew these people well and warned:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”(Rev. 3:14-18)

“The only hope for the Laodiceans is a clear view of their standing before God, a knowledge of the nature of their disease. They are neither cold nor hot; they occupy a neutral position, and at the same time flatter themselves that they are in need of nothing. The True Witness hates this lukewarmness.

He loathes the indifference of this class of persons. Said He: “I would thou wert cold or hot.” Like lukewarm water, they are nauseous to His taste. They are neither unconcerned nor selfishly stubborn. They do not engage thoroughly and heartily in the work of God, identifying themselves with its interests; but they hold aloof and are ready to leave their posts when their worldly personal interests demand it.” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p.87)

Obviously there are many more viruses that can lodge into our soul  and those are just some primary ones.

In closing, let us be mindful that we cannot fool God. We may very well fool others but the One that is watchful–we can’t. A “spiritual virus” can be avoided and even eradicated, if we humbly repent of our wrong doing and submit to Christ, keeping His Commandments as best we can daily.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

Free, even from a “spiritual virus”.

 

Posted in Commandments, Delusion, Proper teachings | 1 Comment »

If we talk the talk, we must walk the walk

July 9, 2011

As many know, the last book of God’s word describes those who will be saved (Rev. 22:14) ” Blessed are they that DO His Commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life”.

The Lord  guided me to do this post to more throughly show examples of keeping His Commandments. To get a clearer view on what it means to “Walk the walk”. When it was recently revealed to me about the 144,000 ( post “The 144,000” listed under Salvation), it really sent me to do some soul searching and to realign my path to help bring the truth out more fully and seriously. Partial obedience WILL NOT satisfy. It is of the DEEPEST concern for our spiritual welfare to know what is required of us.

Jesus said few will enter into the eternal kingdom. Ellen White (our last Prophetess) said the same thing. They are not lying. So we must have a healthly fear (reverence) and look at our lives and ask–  Am I doing enough to be found worthly of His kingdom?  As we read above,  His word makes it clear His Commandments are key. The following guide will make it very plain to examine your life to see if you are indeed DOING His Commandments and not just going through the motions. Let us break down the “walk”.

#1   “Love the Lord your God with all your heart , mind and soul”

Are you doing these things— Reading His word daily?  Praying daily?  Telling people about Him daily  or at least very frequently?Do you pray frequently a similar prayer as this?  “Father, help me to keep your Holy Commandments, and if I error please let me know about it”.  If you are, you’re well on your way to doing  the first one.

#2   “No other God’s before Him, or worship Idols”

Do you have a certain hobby or pursuit that constantly is taking most of your spare time?  Are you placing objects or persons before Him?   We must be careful to use our time wisely and not devote our spare time to continually putting things or even loved ones in front of  our Lord.  Let me give you an example.

Let’s say your spouse has worked hard for a long time in pursuit of a certain degree. Their graduation is next Saturday. They are excited to “finally” get the degree. You think long and hard about attending, you say to yourself   ” It’s just this once, God will understand, I’ll go”.   No!  You have now put your spouse BEFORE God. This is particulary bad  because it’s a “premeditated sin”. If you make little “exceptions” like this and put people or things in front of Him, you are carelesly tossing aside His word- not good!

Read (Numbers 15:32) for alittle story of a man who put his family before God and His Law (harmlessly collecting sticks, so he thought). And he didn’t get a second chance!

#3   “Do not take His name in vain”

This is pretty clear cut but what many don’t realize is the following. When you HEAR someone in your presence take the Lord’s  name in vain you MUST correct Him. If you do not, YOU have just silently agreed with what they have done. You don’t have to go into a sermon with them , it can be a simple  “You know it’s better to say Jeepers Creepers”   and leave it at that. Ofcourse they may want more info, and it’ll be  a chance to spread His word!(that’s why it’s a good idea to have cards with your  name and number with you-for studies)

#4   “Keep the Sabbath Holy”

By keeping it “Holy” it is meant that we are not to do our normal activities (work, pleasure and such). This Is the Lord’s Day. It’s amazing how often He called it  “My Sabbaths”  in the Old Testament. Proper worship and respect is our duty for this day. But some think ” Oh, I’ll run to the store real quick and buy that little item I forgot to get for lunch” No!  Or they will say ” I’ll stop at the gas station because I forgot to do it yesterday, He’ll understand”. No!   These “little” things are NOT LITTLE to God. You  might as well go to the keg party because in God’s sight YOU JUST DID! 

 Read again the little sticks story (Numbers 15:32-36). If you continue to do these little breaks here and there, you’ll be grieving the Holy Spirit.

#5   “Honor your Father and Mother”

This one isn’t a part-time one when YOU feel like it. It mean always honoring them. You don’t yell at them or generally dis-respect them. Here’s an example.  Your Father promised to help you on that loan payment, but he didn’t do so. Father’s day is coming up in a couple days. You say to yourself  ” Forget him! He doesn’t deserve any call from me!”  That would be bad to the Lord. Instead you should swallow your pride and call him anyway. Honoring takes precedence over “our” feelings.

#6   ” Do not murder”

Thankfully we need not worry (almost  everyone) about the “literal” act of doing this. But the spiritual one , explained by our Lord (Matt 5:21-22) is where we shouldn’t get into  heated exchanges with people. Murder in our eyes is considered as “breaking” this Commandment.

#7  “Do not commit adultery”

Again this one is pretty clear cut. But it would include “any” sex outside of marriage. Because His word says fornicators will not be allowed in the God’s Kingdom (Eph 5:5).

#   “Do not steal”

This one is wider than many think. For example if you hire someone to do work for you and you short-change him in what’s right for the work he did–you have “stolen” labor from him. You see how this has ALOT of variations? When you go to do your taxes DO NOT short change the government. If you do, you have stolen from the government. Remember Jesus said “render what is Ceasars  to Ceasar and to God what is God’s” (Luke 20:25). This one really requires you keep a mindful watch that you do not steal.

#9     ” Do not bear false witness against your neighbor”

This one I believe comes up the least often. But when someone does it , it is really bad to the Lord. It covers lying AGAINST someone.  Not just the typical lying that is done. Although that is called an abomination to God (Prov. 12:22)

#10    ” Do not covet”

This is another of those wide open ones. It covers ALOT. We must be careful that we don’t want, want, want.  We can want money, things, people’s approval over God’s approval, etc. above and beyond what we truly need. The ultimate breaker of this one was Satan. He wanted (coveted) worship, power, exaltation. His coveting was his undoing. So we too must be sure we aren’t coveting. This is a sneaky one , for sure!

Hopefully this is a good guideline for your “walk” and possibly it has made you aware of some little things that are really BIG things to God.. The Lord doesn’t want ANY to miss His kingdom. But His pardon for you and I meant we are given a clean slate. The Holy Spirit comes in and helps us walk uprightly. We dare not go on messing our clean slate  up (continual sinning) if we truly love Him(John 14:15) and want to be called into His Kindom.Remember we are told we only have two duties (Ecc 12:13) “Fear God and keep His Commandments”. The “fear” part comes in when we don’t want to do those little “breakings” for fear our walk will not be right with Him.Let us go to bed each night knowing we did our best according to His word.

 In Christ,  Rob

Posted in Christian walk, Commandments | 10 Comments »

“Let our works save us”

June 25, 2011

Unbelievably as this sounds, many believe this today, even unbeknownest to themselves. Some think they can earn their way to heaven. But it is a very “sneaky” trap by the devil. Let us look at this most close delusion of the truth.

Keep this most revelant scripture in mind as you read this (Ezekiel 33:13) “When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in HIS OWN righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered, but because of the iniquity that he has committed , he shall die”. Here it basically says that righteous works MUST be according to His word not done by what WE think is right.

I have know “Jan” (her name has been changed) since about 2004. She and her husband run a ministry for poor and dis-advantaged children and families. It’s an actual real life building and large property and is well known through out the area. I had been a regular donater. About a year ago, the Lord had inspired me to contact her via email to let her know about my walk with the Lord and to possibly shed some new light to her as well.

I was well aware of her fine minstry, as I often received their monthly mailer telling of individual heart moving stories of dis-advantaged families and the children’s plight and sometimes their success in finding Jesus. I was moved on more than a few of them. So it was with a real hope and desire I contacted her to see if it was possible that they might be able to teach the kids about God’s Holy Day-the Sabbath.

So I heard from her and we agreed to do a “online bible study”. As I usually do , I first explained how God gave me a direct sign at the end of my first Sabbath. I felt it is good to let people know I am not “raised” a Sabbath keeper, so I don’t have a prejustice to it. I SAW God’s hand work and His sign letting me know His Sabbath is for real. She appreciated it and our study began.

God had given me this vision of her big ministry bringing the many kids into the light of the Sabbath. But as the study went on, my soul became more despondent. For all the many truths I showed her was like water on a duck’s back. It just flew right off her. God knows I really tried. I poured out my spirit in trying to show her the “truth”. But she continued to refuse the light, she was steadfast in her reasoning that “The Sabbath wasn’t biblical” as she put it. This got me to thinking -what was exactly going on in this woman’s head?

Recently, with another person I know making this same error, I felt it was time to bring awareness to this very “real looking” deception.It has to do with “works”. In the book of James we learn how works is a MUST in our Christian walk. (James 2:17) “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone”. The BIG PROBLEM is when we think “our” works can replace works that glorify God.

So I got to thinking about “Jan’s” situation. I mean here is this lady who is doing VERY GOOD things in the name of the Lord. Providing a most gracious giving enviroment for the dis-abled and dis-advantaged. YET she has turned downed the LIGHT God showed her through me, His servant. What are we to make of this?? Let me tell you the God’s truth in this matter.

Many remember the Saul story. Israel’s first king. In the book of Samuel, we learned that Samuel had told Saul( at God’s specific direction) to go into this evil village and destroy EVERYTHING, leave nothing or no one alive. Saul agreed. But Saul became presumptous. Instead of doing as God instructed through His Prophet Samuel, Saul decide to “spare” the finest animals as HIS SACRIFICE to the Lord . BIG  BIG MISTAKE! Saul in effect decided HIS way was better than God’s word. God was very upset and was grieved!

This story has BIG implications for us. In (Samuel 15:22) we read “…to OBEY is better than sacrifice..”  This is a profound statement. That means God want’s  us to obey rather than sacrifice ANYTHING! That means our time , our money, our anything! Is that not what Jan is doing? She is in effect saying “God, I won’t  obey your Commandments BUT here’s what I will do. I’ll do many good works for you, “sacrifice” my time and devote my life to doing good works in your name”. She has placed BIG FAITH in her works pleasing God. Is it really? Instead can we not see how God’s face would smile if she did these works IN ADDITION to obeying His word! Wow, that would be the ticket!!

Many today are saying “We are close to the Lord, look at all the things we do for Him”. Yet the very next Sabbath they can be found shopping at the mall, or watching the ballgame. Just trampling HIS Holy day and making it of no effect! His word means nothing, their works have justified them, so they think.

Sadly, a most fitting scripture describes these people (Romans 10:3) ” For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not SUBMITTED to the righteousness of God”. His holy 10 Commandments is  His ultimate “righteousness”.

For kind of a last word to Jan I told her this. “Jan, suppose I am right and that God really does want His Commandments kept. Do you think if you’ll die, He will say ‘Jan, you did a foolish thing, you kept those old outdated Commandments, sorry you can’t come into my Kingdom”?  Ofcourse not.

To summarize, let us always remember that “our” works are to be done as “supplement works” AFTER   “His”  great Commanded works-His Holy 10 Commandments!   In Christ, Rob

Posted in Commandments | 5 Comments »

Can you imagine?

June 12, 2010

The word says that if we see our brother and sister living in “sin” it is our responsibility to help them see the error of their ways. This post is to help show those who are living in error, their wrong ways.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, stealing week after week, from their friends, then proclaiming  “Oh, I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, having sex week after week, with someone other than their spouse, then professing “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, cussing profanely God D this or JC that,week after week,  then proclaiming “Oh, I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, saying “Oh I hate my Dad, he’s such a so and so, week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, angrily yelling at people with murder in their eyes, week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, wanting more and more “things”, a new car,a craving for more money, more pleasure toys, etc., week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, lying and telling falsehoods about their fellow human beings, week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, bowing down to a statue of Buddha, week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, spending so  much time living his life with all the pleasures he can find, dedicating very little time to God, week after week, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”.

After reading all the above most Christians today would definitely say “God forbid!” They would readily say ” That is not right, that  is  real hypocrisy”.  “Please stop this sinning  and live righteously with God.” Each of the  above  examples are of breaking God’s Holy Commandments. Christendom is unanimous in this agreement of condemnation. Now let’s look at the last example.

Imagine a Christian brother or sister, every seventh day (Friday evening to Saturday evening) doing their “own” thing. Enjoying their pleasures, going to parties or even working, then proclaiming “Oh I love Jesus”. Yes! We can imagine this and we see it ALL OVER Christendom!

Now, think about this. To many Christians,  Jesus has come to release ONE Commandment at the cross. It was the Sabbath! Jesus wants us to “forget” the only Commandment He said to “Remember”. Does this make sense? After all we just established that Christians hold all Commandments in truth of Jesus’ righteous living, but ONE Commandment has no truth(?) One Commandment is not to be obeyed?

Please send this post to your Christian friends and family,  just maybe it will make them think. For Jesus said “Whoever breaks the LEAST of the Commandments, and teaches others to do so, shall be called least in heaven, BUT, whoever does them, and teaches others to do so, shall be called GREAT in heaven”. (Matt.5:19) . We break ONE we break them all.

Posted in Commandments | 18 Comments »

What the world would be like

April 4, 2010

Imagine if you will that the people of the world feared God and obeyed His Commandments. Let’s look at the results.

Many remember just recently the tragic and worldwide financial and real estate disaster. It all basically started on Wall Street, with all the big money wheelers and dealers doing their deeds behind the scenes. But just what were their deeds?  It was STEALING and COVETING!  Yes, they were breaking God’s number 8 and number 10 Laws. What would have been the result if they had OBEYED those Commandments?  It would have NEVER HAPPENED! So much misery and suffering would have been avoided. Can you see God’s “reason” for such wisdom in those Laws?

Now, how about Commandment number 6 “Thou shall not murder”  How would the world be if everyone stopped murdering. Think of the terrorists? The burglers? The warring nations and their killings? This one Commandment is SO obvious, it can only be explained that the dark forces have blinded many souls through-out history.

How about stealing? Can you imagine everyone going to bed at night and NOT locking their doors?  Or Cars? Things being left out in the open and keys and locks being thrown away?

Look at today’s marriages. It is said that the divorce rate is close to 50%! And a vast majority of thoses stem from unfaithfulness. If only everyone who is married obeyed God’s 7th Law “Thou shall not commit adultery” Our divorce rate would plummet. No more sex shops, sex magazines,call girls, etc.

The old tradition of weekly family get togethers would be strongly helped if people would obey His 5th law “Honor your Father and Mother” No more disgracing the parents and respect would be the normal way, from children to parents.

And how about the FORGOTTEN Law , number 4 “Thou shall keep the Sabbath day holy”   Many around the world are “workaholics” and never really rest. How would the world be if EVERYBODY took the seventh day “off” and paid homage and worshipped He who created us? By trusting HIS WORD on “which” day to worship.   There would be unity around the world and such peace and rest upon us that we would be miraculously ‘recharged” and bouyant with His love.

My friends, you have just saw a little bit of what heaven will be like.

Posted in Commandments | 4 Comments »

“I will reveal myself”

February 27, 2010

The following is based on my true experience. I saw it and can testify it happened!

For many years, actually decades, I did my “own” thing. I sinned and sinned continually. Ignoring  the Lord and pursuing my own desires (money, women, fun times, etc.) Then, alittle over a year ago,one night,  I was inspired to read the bible (front to back) for the first time in my life. I  read it carefully, taking it all in and learning just what Almighty God had to say. After the second or third night, I read about the “Ten Commandments”. While I knew about them, I really wasn’t familiar with ALL of them. The one that “stuck out” at me was ” You shall keep holy the Sabbath day”. I pondered this and was guided by the Holy Spirit to “try” this.

In my appliance business Saturday is a very busy day for me. So I basically decided to do it “on faith”. Not knowing much about the Sabbath, except that we were NOT to do our own thing but rather to communicate with our Lord and honor Him as our creator and Lord.  So for the FIRST time in my life, I obeyed His holy Sabbath the following Friday evening. I took that first Sabbath shower, and I remember taking a real long one to get really clean for His holy day. The rest of the evening I read the bible. It was a nice quiet evening. I ended up sleeping 11 hours that night!  Talk about Sabbath rest,lol.

The Sabbath was spent quietly and mostly reading the bible and watching some Christian TV. I refused all business and calls. Then the evening was approaching and I was hungry. So I cooked dinner and sat down at the dining room table. While I was pleased that this first Sabbath was nice I really didn’t feel anything unusual. Unbeknown est to me,  I was very quickly to be shown otherwise!

It was getting dark and I reached over to the dining room lights and turned them on. I began to eat. Shortly after, the lights above me went off, then they came on, then they went off, then they came back on, then they went off  again, and then finally they came back on.  ALL BY THEMSELVES 3 times!!  I thought , what was that???  Then it hit me!  GOD had noticed my FIRST EVER Sabbath! I was stunned. God was speaking to me by showing me this sign to let me know He was watching. This was so amazing in so many ways.

This “lights” sign spoke volumes to me. First,  it showed that His ever watchful eye notices our obedience. Second, God wanted to tell me I was doing the “right thing” in obeying His holy Sabbath. Third, God’s purpose was to “open” my eyes to His holys Laws and to go and spread His truth to the people.  God has said in (John 14;21) “He that has my Commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and shall be loved by the Father, and I will love him, and WILL REVEAL MYSELF TO HIM”.  And (1 John 2:  3-4) ” This is how we KNOW we know Him, if we keep His Commandments, he that says  ‘ I know Him’  and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”   Yes, Lord,  we know you by what you said in these verses.               AMEN!   I saw it Lord, personally,  and I praise you and declare your words are true.

So once we OBEY Him and  His Commandments, HE WILL REVEAL HIMSELF TO US.  Don’t ever forget this. I have often heard from professing  Christians that “Oh, we can’t keep them, it’s impossible” or “They aren’t really needed to be obeyed”  This is, in my opinion, foolishness because HE has promised to send a helper (the Holy Spirit) and it becomes very DOABLE, Praise God! And the WHOLE PURPOSE  of obeying Him is to show WE LOVE HIM! If you do not feel close to Him, just review your life and come to Him as He has commanded and he won’t let you down!     Amen.

Posted in Commandments, God's signs, Sabbath | 4 Comments »

Enter Life

February 6, 2010

Perhaps one of the most important  questions we as  Christians need to ask is —How do we enter eternal life?  Well, the most obvious starting point is to ask  our Lord himself! Let’s inquire from Him.

In (Matt:19;17-21) there came a man to inquire of our Lord just this exact question. He asked ” Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have ETERNAL LIFE?” According to many “Christians” today, you would think the Lord had said “Just love me and profess me among men, and you will have eternal life” Afterall that is what I hear constantly among today’s “Christians”. But no! Look at what our Lord SAID. He said “…If you wish to enter into life,KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS ” Look Just how important the Commandments are! LOOK! I feel like I must repeat this a thousand times to some of our “Christian” friends. They simply don’t believe that the Commandments are important. I can only think they are being deceived by the great deceiver. Once the devil can convince them, to quote the beatles “all they need is love”, then they start IGNORING what our Lord said! It is indeed possible to love my fellow man and NOT love God. How? By disobeying His Commandments. What good is it to gain the whole world and ignore God’s word?(prov 14;12) “There is a way which seems right unto man, but it’s end is the way of death”

Then the man was curious and asked ” which?” Meaning he knew Jesus was talking about the holy moral 10 Commandments. Jesus replied ” Thou shall not murder, thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not bear false witness, honor thy Father and Mother, love they neighbor as thyself” Here it is made clear. The Lord is telling the man (and us) that the Commandments must be kept  to enter eternal life. They are the Commandments of God and even Jesus professed to have kept them. (John 15;10) “If you keep my Commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I HAVE KEPT MY FATHERS COMMANDMENTS, and abide in His love”

To summarize, if we wish to enter eternal life let us never forget that His Commandments are to be kept. EACH ONE OF THEM! Not 9 0f 10, like most Christians want to do today.

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God’s commandments are for our benefit

January 30, 2010

In my spiritual journey I am quite amazed when I speak about the “Commandments of God”. Most agree they are holy and good. However there are MANY Christians today who scoff at them. Saying “Oh don’t be legalistic, God has replaced His Commandments with the Blood of our Lord Jesus”. This to me is so amazing.

If we study the Commandments(the Great 10 Moral Laws) we find NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR GOD! (first 4) and love for man (remaining 6). Now, some one please tell me how Jesus has replaced God’s rules of “love”? They are so misguided and blinded, I can only think of WHY that is(?)The blindness I believe comes from not “opening” up their hearts to the truth.

Anytime we witness to some one about the Law, we should find a willing and open ear. In (proverbs28:9) we read “If anyone turns his ear from hearing of the Law(rules of love) even his prayers are an abomination”  Wow, powerful stuff from God! God says that those people are not right in there heart and therefore even their prayers are not in truth and spirit. God’s rules of love are indeed righteous and pure, so why would a spirit filled person want to turn away from hearing about this?  It must be blindness and stubbornness!

We must continue to pray for those who mock and disbelieve in His Moral Commandments. A good prayer to use is something like this  “Please Father, remove their blind glasses, so they can see CLEARLY your word” But they must want to receive the truth, before they can understand it. Therefore they must not close their eyes to scripture, or ignore scripture. You see, if the Christian is obeying the Commandments of God (and that includes the Sabbath) scripture says  the Lord will THEN REVEAL Himself to us. (John 14:21) “He that has my commandments and KEEPS them, he it is that loves me and shall be loved by the Father, and I will love him, and WILL REVEAL MYSELF to him”. Notice our Lord saying how important it is to keep His Commandments?

I know of a prominent Radio speaker who daily talks about God. Yet , he adamantly calls people who obey God’s commandments-“Legalistic”. We must pray for this person, particularly because he is “teaching” others in this great error. It is one thing to not believe that the Moral Law is in effect today, it’s another to “teach” about it. I believe it is VERY bad to the Lord. Let us be the opposite and TEACH about His Laws as we enjoy obeying them! Amen.

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