History's Greatest Hoax
Note: This is a verbatim transcript of the live broadcast. It is presented as spoken.
Question and Answer: Karen Batchelor
KB: Good evening!
DB: Amen (Audience says “good evening”)
KB—Question and Answer #1: What happened to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil after man fell?
DB: Well there’s no record (uhm) I’m hoping it was destroyed in the flood. We can assume--we do know the tree of life, the Lord somehow assumed it. It was preserved because in Revelation it tells us that tree will once again be in the New Jerusalem. There is no Bible record of what happened to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a test that man failed and so (uh) we’re assuming that will not be in the new earth because sin will not rise up again the second time according to the book of Nahum.
KB—Question and Answer #2: Amen. If the antichrist is here and about us now how do we discern if these people are doing miracles in the name of Christ or doing this with the power of Satan?
DB: Oh, good question! Well, of course, we have in our next presentation a study that focuses more specifically on who is the antichrist. (Uh) Keep in mind the word antichrist doesn’t even appear in the book Revelation, it’s mostly in the letters of John, and he says, “There are many antichrists even now” and he wrote that, nineteen hundred years ago. And so people have many misconceptions. They think the antichrist is this half-man half-devil that’s hiding in the government somewhere. But (uh) there is an antichrist power that is in the world today, and we’ll tell you more about that tomorrow.
KB—Question and Answer #3: Can the devil heal the sick?
DB: Well, the devil does not have the power to create life, but the devil can make a person--or let’s just ask you, how many of you agree that the devil can cause sickness? Jesus healed this one woman, He said that for 18 years she’s been bound by Satan. (Uh) Did the--can the devil cause (uh) boils for Job? Did he bring those plagues to Job? Then can the devil remove the affliction that he is causing?
KB: Yes.
DB: And so by simply removing the effort to inflict this sickness it can create the allusion that he’s healing. See what I’m saying? But the devil can’t create life. That’s one of the reasons he rebelled against God, he doesn’t have that creative power.
KB—Question and Answer #4: Alright. After the tsunami in Asia, many people are asking, does God let these things happen or does Satan cause these things?
DB: Well, that’s a really deep question because I almost have to answer by saying both. The devil can’t do anything without God, to some extent, loosening his leash. Even when the devil went to afflict Job he had to go to the Lord and ask that the Lord somehow breach the hedge about Job. Paul tells us that the whole creation is groaning and travailing. And I think as we near the second coming Jesus said, “You’ll see an increase of disruptions in nature.” The planet is waiting to be delivered.
So some of what we’re seeing i--is natural, the planet is groaning and travailing, some of it is the Lord withdrawing some of His protection. Revelation talks about these angels, four angels, that are holding back the winds of strife, and God is asking them to hold. And when they loosen their grip, metaphorically speaking, some of these things happen. But does the devil have the power to cause storms, and tornadoes, and lightning? The Bible says that he sent a whirlwind on the sons of Job again and brought the house down, killed them. And so the devil does have (uh) a degree of power over even the elements. Did I answer it?
KB: I’m thinking! Alright, (Audience laughs) what do you think, did he answer it? Okay.
DB: Okay.
KB—Question and Answer #5: Alright, what is the trinity? (Laughs) What is the trinity? Is the godhead three separate entities? Is the Holy Spirit separate from God or of God? Where in the Bible do you find that the Holy Spirit is part of the godhead?
DB: Okay, several questions there.
KB: And you have less than two minutes.
DB: Wow, that’s a--that’s a big question. The word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible. The Bible does teach that one God is composed of three distinct persons, being God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. (Uh) The great commission Jesus says “Go ye, therefore and baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” (uh) there is no conflict in saying there’s one God comprised of three persons. In the Hebrew mind, one does not mean numerical quantity. Man and woman get married to become what?
KB: One.
DB: One flesh, that doesn’t mean they be morphed into a two-headed monster. They’re now united. (Audience laughs) Scary thought. (Audience still laughing) (Uh) But (uh) in the same way God said, “Let us make man in our image,” one God. So there’s no problem. Jesus prayed that the apostles might be one, well there’re 12 of ‘em. And so some people struggle with this concept that our one God is comprised of three persons. They’re trying to figure it out numerically and in the Hebrew mind that was never a problem.
KB: Alright. Did you have any specific scriptures you wanted to share?
DB: Well I--I read (uh) there are three that bear witness in heaven. In (uh) I John there are (uhm) the baptism of Jesus when Christ, in Matthew chapter 3, He came out of the water, God the Son is in the water, (uh) God the Father said, “This is My beloved Son,” God the Spirit came down and filled Him, (uh) there’s quite a few. A matter of fact I’ve got a book I wrote on it, called (uh--uhm) what did I call it, “The Trinity, Is it Biblical”? And I think you can even read it for free online if you just type in the title. (Uh) A lot of people have posted it, “The Trinity, Is It Biblical”?
(Sound effects starts)
KB: Thank you. Our question time is up.
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Sermon Questions: Douglas Batchelor
We’ve got an exciting study tonight. And (uh) I wanna welcome you once again. (Uhm) Our lesson that corresponds with our presentation tonight is the lost day of history. And it is (uh) synonymous with “History’s Greatest Hoax,” which is the sermon title for tonight. (Uhm) A subject that is very important, very relevant, for a prophecy seminar like this. And I’m just gonna tell you right now, pray please, for yours truly, because this is one of the very controversial subjects among Christians today. Why? I don’t know. But you that it is. And when we go into it you’ll understand better. “History’s Greatest Hoax.”
If you go to Revelation 13, this is the heart of a lot of prophecy people wonder about, verse 15, we read, speaking of the beast power, “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Now is it clear from that passage to everybody that understanding something about right and wrong worship is an issue in the last days?
Remember that Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve, brothers, they both made an offering to God. One worshiped the way that God had prescribed, one did not. The one who worshiped the wrong way killed the one who worshiped the right way. In Revelation, we have a repeat scenario. The issue revolves around worship. The whole rebellion of the devil revolves around who do you worship? Who is your God?
And again, Daniel 7, speaking of the antichrist power, verse 25, it says, “He will speak great words against the Most High,” we’re gonna study more about this tomorrow, “and he will wear out the saints of the Most High,” persecuting power wear out the saints, “and think to change times and laws.” Now we talked a little bit about the law of God last night. Are you all aware there’s only one of the Ten Commandments that is both a time and a law? That’s the fourth commandment.
Let’s move on here. When you read in Daniel 3, in the prophecy code we’ve learned the key to unlock the prophecies of Revelation they’re always interwoven, they’re interlocked with what’s happening in other parts of the Bible. Look at the stories in the Old Testament. Nebuchad-nezzar, the Babylonian king, makes a golden image, tells everybody at the appropriate time they are to worship his image or be killed. You can read that in Daniel 3 verse 6, “And who so falls not down and worships, the same hour will be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Of course you remember their names, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, that’s the Hebrew name. Shadrack, Meschack and Abednego, the Babylonian names are more popular, that’s not fair.
They refused to bow down and worship the king and the king’s god. Why? Because it conflicted with the commandments of God, and for that they stood up for their faith. They were a witness for the Lord in the midst of that vast assembly. They were thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not violate the commandments of God in order to worship the way this political religious power told them to worship. This is gonna happen again friends so hope we’re all paying attention. So the king threw them in the furnace. Did they perish there or were they delivered through the fire?
Then again you read in Daniel chapter 6, another law is enacted. The Medo-Persian leaders told the king to sign a law. He didn’t know what they were up to—that you shouldn’t pray to anybody but the king, for 30 days. Another time period connected with worship, and if they don’t—death decree. Death decree here was not a furnace it was a lion’s den. But the king had not calculated that his faithful servant, Daniel, would not go for a law like that. Why? Cause it conflicted with the law of God, the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not have other gods.” Daniel chapter 3, “Thou shalt not make graven images and bow down to them.”
You see, the devil wants God’s people to break God’s law because then he can point to them and say, “They don’t love you. They’re not listening to you, they’re listening to me, they’re mine, they’re not yours.” See, that’s how sin entered the world. God said, “Don’t eat it,” the devil said, “Eat it.” And when man shows to listen to the devil, the devil took possession of our planet. In order for the Lord to once again reassume the new heavens and the new earth, there must be a people who say, “We’re gonna obey God,” and the meek will inherit the earth.
(Audience says amen)
So we have the same issue. Daniel goes to his room, he saw the writing was signed, he went to his house, his windows being open, wasn’t hiding it, prayed three times, he kneeled down on his knees and prayed three times, and gave thanks as he had always done. And you know what happened of course the king commanded, Daniel 6 verse 16, that he should go to the lion’s den cause he had to keep the law. Daniel had to make a choice, “Will I obey the law of God or what’s popular, the laws of men?” And he was thrown on the lion’s den. And he said, “Daniel, your God who you serve continually, he will deliver you.”
And did God deliver Daniel? Did God deliver Shadrack, Meschack, and Abednego? Will God deliver His people in the last days if they stand up for His law? And you know what, even if you’re killed for your faith, you’re still delivered. Because Christians don’t die, they just go to sleep and wake up with new bodies. (Audience says amen) You can’t kill a Christian. Jesus said, “Don’t fear him who hurts the body but they can’t touch your soul, fear him who can destroy soul and body in hell.” Some people are more afraid of what the devil’s gonna do than the power of God. And Daniel said, “My God has sent His angel and has shut the lions’ mouth and that they have not hurt me.” These same issues are going to be repeated in the last days. It revolves around how to worship God’s commandments and when.
Now I promised an amazing fact every night. How many of you have heard of a senator by the name of David Rice Atchison, very--you didn’t know? My boy has memorized all the presidents and he doesn’t know about this one. But do you know he was president of the United States, here we are in Washington D.C. I thought you should know this, (Audience laughs) for one day. Evidently, back when the administration of James Polk was ending, it ended on a Saturday night cause that’s the end of the week. And (uh) the incoming President, Zachary Taylor, said, “I don’t want to have an inauguration on Sunday,” because of his religious convictions. And they have to have a President so he was gonna wait until March 5th, on Monday.
America can’t be without a president even for 24 hours and so they tried to debate what to do and they said, “Well, according to the constitution it’s supposed to be the Senator who is the pro tem Senator,” and President pro tem and so they said, “Atchison you’re in line.” Well he worked so hard all through Saturday finishing up the final bills in the administration of Polk that when he woke up Sunday morning as president, he didn’t wake up. He was exhausted. He slept for 20 hours snoring through his entire presidency. (Audience laughs) And you can see his tombstone here, it says right there, “President of the United States for one day.” And that was Senator David Rice Atchison. He spent the rest of his life boasting he says, “I want everyone to know that I had the most honest administration of any president.” (Audience laughs)
Can you imagine being President for a day and sleeping through the whole thing? (Audience laughs) Missing that? You know sometimes God’s people miss very important times and that’s what we’re talking about. Now I’m gonna hit this head on. I think that (uh) you folks know (uh) I like to be very honest and forthright, we’re gonna talk about one of the Ten Commandments that is very misunderstood and is in question. If we are talking about the Bible tonight I hope that nobody here will be offended. Don’t we all want to know what the Bible says? (Audience says amen)
If it’s in the word of God, if Jesus talks about it and God talks about it and the apostles talk about it, we should not be afraid of it. And I will welcome your questions on this subject. Going to talk about what the Bible says regarding the Sabbath day. And I don’t want to offend anybody. I wanna lay the ground work by saying I currently worship God on the s--well I worship Him seven days a week but I don’t keep all the seven days as the Sabbath, that’s a different issue, right?
Some people say, “Well I worship God seven days a week.” And I say, “That’s fine,” but if you keep the Sabbath seven days a week, you’re lazy, you’re not holy (Audience laughs) right? But I know that there are many spirit-filled Christians, they love the Lord, they’re godly people, they’ve been walking in the light, that are worshiping on the first day of the week, what we commonly call Sunday.
I am not trying to ridicule or criticize those people. I know there will be thousands if not millions of people who worship the Lord—and what they believe is not the Bible Sabbath that will be in heaven, cause they didn’t know better. So is everyone clear on this? That’s when I used to go to church when I first accepted the Lord, but as I studied the Bible I found out no matter how popular something is, there’s a lot of people that are doing something that isn’t Biblical and I want to be a Bible Christian, amen? So let’s look at this subject of the Sabbath, let’s all do it as friends, amen? We can disagree without being disagreeable, right? That sounds fair? Alright.
DB—Sermon Question #1: Question number one. On what day, and you’ll find out how this interlocks with the last day prophecy in the very real way. On what day did Jesus customarily worship? Question one.
Answer? Luke 4 verse 16, “And He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up and as His custom was,” what’s a custom? Something you do once or twice or it’s a pattern, His pattern was, “He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and He stood up to read.” Jesus had a pattern of going to church every Sabbath day and reading the Scripture. The word synagogue is the Hebrew equivalent of church. It means the gathering place. And so this was His pattern.
DB—Sermon Question #2: Now, question number two. But which day of the week is the Sabbath, or the Bible Sabbath?
Well, you can find the answer to this in the very beginning of your Bible if you turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 2, and we’ll read verses 2 and 3. I’ve got it on the screen. You might want to read it out of your own Bible. Some people think that the Sabbath day was invented by Moses and it’s something for the Jews. It’s part of creation. “And on the seventh day,” this is (uh) second verse of Genesis chapter 2, “God ended His work which He had made and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made and God blessed the seventh-day and sanctified it.”
Now, don’t miss this, this is very important. First time in the Bible, any number is repeated three times. Three in the Bible is a symbol for the Holiness of God. The angels say, “Holy, holy, holy,” a symbol of Holy for the Father, for the Son, for the Holy Spirit. When God says, “The seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day,” three times, that should be significant. In the beginning of the Bible, the first book of the Bible, God talks about how to worship Him, when to worship Him, He establishes and blesses a time, and He says, “The seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day.”
You get to the last book of the Bible, there’s another number that’s repeated three times, what’s that number? That’s supposed to be a number for the counterfeit, you getting that? (Uh) Numbers mean something. We had some questions about that. Now you might be asking, “Well Doug, I—we have no problem with worshiping God on the seventh day but which day of our week is the seventh day”? Look at any dictionary that’s normal and it will tell you, Saturday, seventh day of the week. Look up Sunday, Sunday, first day of the week. If you look at a normal calendar—I know in some countries they changed it for the work week. Matter of fact they have computer programs, if you have Microsoft outlook, you can have it start your week on Monday if you want but that’s not the first day of the week. Monday is the second day of the week. (Uhm)
And by the way, the days of the week in the Bible are not named Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday so forth. Those are the Roman names after the heavenly bodies and the gods. Sunday was the day of the sun, Monday was the day of the moon, Thursday was the day of Thor’s day, Thor god of thunder, Woden was Wednesday Woden’s day, and Friday was Frigga, Saturday was what? Saturn. So these are Roman names. The Bible doesn’t use any of those names. God’s people had a number for the--each of the days of the week. And the seventh day is Saturday, what we commonly call Saturday or the Sabbath.
Matter of fact, in a hundred and five languages in the world, the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. I’ve traveled all over the world and I find this true virtually everywhere I go. Quien Te hablo espanol, Sabado is what day? Saturday! If you speak Russian, subbota! Sabat. I mean many different languages that it traces back to a common tongue where our--universally everybody recognize the seventh day of the week as the day of rest or the (uh) the day of repose.
And people are right now, I can hear your wheels spinning, “But Doug, how could it change with so many--what--something happened in the Bible”? We’re gonna look at it. Look at a normal calendar it will tell you Saturday is the seventh day of the week, and it’s in the dictionary. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Well, but Doug, there’ve been so many changes to the calendar that we just really can’t be sure which day is the seventh day anymore.” That is a trick question. It’s an allusion. Let me explain why.
No matter what you do to the calendar, it never has any effect on the weekly cycle. Calendar has been adjusted several times. I think back in 1582, we shifted over to the Gregorian calendar and Thursday the 5th of October was followed by Friday the 10th. Now was the calendar changed? Yeah. Did it affect the weekly cycle? Not a bit, because no matter what you do to the calendar to adjust the months, you never have to change the simple cycle of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, that’s the week. Why would you ever change the week to change the calendar?
We get confused cause we see them on the same piece of paper, we think when you change one you mess up the other. They’re completely separate and distinct. You never need to change the week when you change the calendar. The cycle has been in perfect continuity all the way back as far as recorded history. Matter of fact, somebody wrote a letter to the US Naval Observatory and here’s the actual quote from it regarding the question about the weekly cycle and its continuity, it says: “We have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of (uh) specialists and chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.” There’s never been a change in the calendar that affects the weekly cycle. That’s a myth. I hear something often enough and people are inclined to believe it but it’s just not true.
DB—Sermon Question #3: Question number three. Who made the Sabbath, was it Moses?
Let’s read it. Again, Genesis chapter 2 verse 1, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them and God blessed...” Who did it? God, not Moses, God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. He made it holy. Did He make it holy for Himself or does Jesus say, “The Sabbath was made for man”? You notice Jesus could have used the word Jew or Israelite but He didn’t, He said man. It is made to be a blessing for man. It’s the time in which we are to worship God in a special way.
Now let me share with you why I think this is so important for us to understand. How many days did God occupy in creating the world? Six days. How many days in the week? (Audience answers seven) Why? Because God created another day and what did He make on that day? He made a period of time for us to develop a love relationship. If you understand what I’m about to say all of this will just click. The purpose of the Sabbath is for a love relationship with God, that’s why the devil hates it. You see, you and I exist in something—a dimension called time. We live in time. It’s like Ben Franklin said, “Time is the stuff that life is made of.” And when God created another day and said, “You’ve got these days to work in the garden, to dress and do your thing. But this day we are to walk and talk together. We’re to develop our love relationship.”
God wants to be with us. He wants to have this love relationship with us. What happens in marriages where there’s not quality time? Does the love relationship start to get strained, starts to get thin? And you could always hear that, “Well we’ve been growing apart.” You can tell when that happens they’re not spending time together and that’s why they’re growing apart. Not only happens in marriage relationships, it happens between parents and children, friends stop spending time together and the friendship starts to evaporate. Relationships are built in time.
And so what God said is, “I want,” we--we use this word, “quality time with you.” The Sabbath is all about holy, quality time for our relationship with God and to show that He is our God. See, every Sabbath, it’s a memorial that He is the Creator. And let me ask you friends, isn’t it true that the creation is obligated to the Creator? Every Sabbath is to remind us that He is the boss. That He is God. We are the creatures, He’s the Creator, and we’re to worship Him. The devil hates that concept. And so he’s been trying to destroy the relationship by destroying the Sabbath time.
And I think that most of us will freely admit even those who keep the first day of the week as the Sabbath very rarely do they keep it holy. And I should add I--again, I want to (uh) be able to relate to virtually everybody. I have preached in possibly hundreds of different denominations in their churches. I used to teach Methodist Sunday school. I’ve preached in Baptist churches. I’ve preached in Church of Christ, it’s hard to get in there if you’re not a member, I have. I’ve preached in (uhm) Episcopal churches in Four Square, Nazarene, Assembly of God, and I can just go on and on down the line, godly people—I’ve got friends in many different persuasions and there’s no question about that. But I’ve actually gotten to the door after the sermon I’ve had them say, “Why did you go so long the football game’s starting,” or “There’s a sale at the mall,” “I’ve got to go mow my lawn,” and very few people even keep Sunday as a holy day, am I right? And boy do we need, we need that time of rest now, don’t we?
DB—Sermon Question #4: Number four. What does God say about Sabbath-keeping in the Ten Commandments?
Remember, these aren’t the ten suggestions. This is from Exodus 20 verse 8 through 11, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hollowed it.” You notice God didn’t say, “I want you to make the Sabbath day holy.” Does the command-ment say that God decides to make it holy or it already was holy? If I invite you to my house—it’s winter time, it’s cold, and we heat our house with firewood, and I say, “I’ve got to run to the store, keep the fire going.” You say, “No problem, Doug.” And I tell you where the wood is you say, “Okay,” and I leave. See, you go to check on the fire, and there’s no fire. And you’re thinking, “Why did Doug say keep the fire going, why didn’t he just say start a fire”? Said keep it going, you assume that there’s already a fire from asking you to keep it going, right?
So when God says in the commandment, “Keep it holy,” He’s saying it already is Holy. When did He make it holy? Back in creation! It’s a memorial of creation. So we’re not--we’re not creating something new, He says, “It is holy, I want you to keep it th--that way.” Notice what happened in creation and in the Sabbath commandment connected with the Sabbath that’s unique, it says, “God rested.” God rested, was He tired? Or does Jesus do things as an example for us? He rested, He blessed it, He sanctified the seventh day.
Now when God gives that kind of attention to a dimension, a time that He has specified to meet with us in a holy, sacred way, should we acknowledge that (??), or can we shrug our shoulders and say, “I realize the Lord’s made an appointment with us on this holy time that He has set aside that He has blessed this time period but you know it’s not convenient for me God. (Uh) Or I might be ostracized and so I’m gonna do what everyone else does. Or I’m just gonna change it to what’s more convenient for me.”
What if Shadrack, Meschack, and Abednego when everyone bowed down to worship the golden image if they have said, “You know we really don’t wanna go to the fiery furnace that’s not too convenient so while they’re all praying to the golden statue let’s all tie our shoes right now, we’ll look like were praying.” (Audience laughs) They wouldn’t even compromise. Daniel could have said, “Well, I don’t wanna look like I’m not praying to the king so I’m gonna shut my windows.” But he opened his windows. We should be unapologetic and unashamed about doing what God says. (Audience says amen) You know, I’m not or ever afraid to preach this subject because everybody ultimately has to ask the question, “Who are we wanting to please”?
Jesus began His ministry by warning against being more concerned with pleasing men, said the Pharisees fast to be seen of men. They give to be seen of men. They pray to be seen of men. They want the praise of men. And Jesus says, “When you fast, when you give, when you pray, do it for the sake of the One who is watching, God.” And so when I cover this subject, I’m not apologetic at all because a Christian is a follower of Christ. And the example of Christ was every Sabbath day He kept, He went, He read the Bible, He worshiped, it’s slowly been changed by men not by God over time. We’re gonna get more to that.
(Uh) Something with the Sabbath was created at Mt. Sinai when Moses gave the Ten Commandments, another myth. Read your Bibles, look in Exodus chapter 16. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, before they ever got to Mt. Sinai they ran out of food, you can read in chapter 16, and they were told to gather manna. And they would gather manna and it says--and Moses said, “Eat that today for today is the Sabbath unto the Lord.” The manna fell down how many days a week? Six days a week the manna fell. The Sabbath they were—there was none.
God was reinforcing and some of ‘em went out looking for manna and He said, “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments”? Before they ever got to Mt. Sinai God said that the Sabbath was holy and they were to keep it holy and it was one of His laws not their laws. Matter of fact, Moses had not uttered it prior to that which makes us assume that it was already in existence. And so it’s a Sabbath of the Lord, not the Sabbath of the Jews. Exodus 16 is where you’ve get this manna experience. Exodus 20 is where you find the Ten Commandments being spoken by the Lord.
DB—Sermon Question #5: Question number five. But haven’t the Ten Commandments been changed?
How many of you heard this one? Have the Ten Commandments been changed? If so, which ones? None of them been changed. They’re--they’re not, they’re not subject to change. They’re in heaven. “Heaven and earth,” Jesus said, “will pass away before one tittle of the law fails.” Is heaven and earth still there? Ten Commandments are eternal. They’re the principles of God. And that would include the fourth commandment.
Now I wanna be gracious cause when I first hear these things if you at all like me, and if I offend you tonight please forgive me. I don’t wanna do that. I get worked up because when I first heard this I was very disturbed. I felt deceived. For one thing, I had a Jewish background you’d think I would have known better. And after I became a Christian, here I am going to church on Sunday and when I started asking around about why—when I first had this brought to my attention, I went to some of the pastors and said, “Why do we go to church on Sunday”?
You know what ended up convincing me was the different pastors I talked to. I’d asked ten different pastors why we worship on the first day of the week, I’d get 11 different answers. (Audience laughs) They all disagreed with each other. Most common ones were, “Well, we worship on the first day of the week because that’s the day that Jesus rose and it’s the new Sabbath.” And I’d say, “Ah, where’s the commandment that says it’s the new Sabbath”? “Well,” they say, “there--there’s really no explicit commandment that says it but we do have (uh) you know the example in the Bible of Jesus rising and we can find where the disciples met on the first day of the week.” But we can also find where they met on Thursday. You can find where they met on many days of the week. Does that make it a new Sabbath command?
And I said, “Well it doesn’t make sense to me.” I talked to another pastor and he said, “Well Doug, we’re not under the law now, we’re under grace.” I said, “Well, does God want us to keep the Ten Commandments or not”? And they--I remember one time a guy actually interrupted a meeting like this said, “Pastor Doug, you’re putting this people under bondage, you’re preaching the law, it’s works-oriented.” I said, “Wait a second now,” I said, “I’m talking about rest, you’re telling ‘em not to rest, you’re works-oriented.” (Audience laughs) And then I said, “You tell me something, are we supposed to keep the Ten Commandments or not”? And his face was turning red because he was a little nervous about interrupting the seminar and (uh) he said, “No.” And he realized that sounded bad for p--preacher to say, “You’re not supposed to keep the Ten Commandments” because just think about that, is it okay to kill and lie and commit adul—and then he said, “Yes,” but then he knew that would include the fourth. And then he said, “Nine of them.” (Audience laughs) And so I said, “So you’re telling me the one commandment God wants us to forget is the only commandment that begins with the word ‘remember.’” (Audience laughs) That didn’t make sense.
I met another pastor, he’s very creative. He said, “Pastor Doug, I’ve got your answer.” He said, “Back in the days of Joshua he prayed and the sun stood still, Saturday turned into Sunday.” (Audience laughs) What? It’s creative. The problem was nobody did even think about it for another thousand years. And so I heard so many different things it started sounding very peculiar to me that (uh) they couldn’t get this together.
The Bible tells us, “The beast power,” as I’ve quoted Daniel 7:25 “would think to change times and laws.” And we’re gonna learn more about this attempt to alter many aspects of God’s law. But God’s Sabbath hasn’t changed. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Audience says amen) “Every word of God,” Proverbs 30 verse 5 and 6, “Every word of God is pure, add thou not to His words lest He reprove thee and thou be found a liar.” You know one reason I teach this and I believe it is because I do not ever have to be embarrassed about what the Bible says on this subject.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9. It says, “There remains therefore a rest to the people of God,” and if you look at the Greek for that word, ‘Sabatismos’ which means the keeping of a Sabbath. Here you are in the New Testament it says, “There remains a keeping of the Sabbath for the people of God.” And think about this for a moment. Ten Commandments, when God delivers them to His people, speaks them from a mountaintop so the folks are terrified for their lives, thundering with His own vocal cords, God speaking not to one person, the whole nation, writes it in stone, arch-welding with His fingers in granite, does everything He can to show that this is law—they observed it for centuries. If God was going to change something that He established with such majesty, wouldn’t it be clear in the Bible? Would there be all this nebulous wondering about where it is?
If I should tell you right now they’ve changed the speed limit on the belt way around DC it’s now 90 miles an hour, (audience laughs) and not only that, they’ve reversed the flow of traffic so now we’re gonna drive like they do in England, other side of the road. Anyone here believe me? You know why you don’t believe me? It’s absurd that the government would change a law that has been so entrenched that would affect people’s lives so radically without very thoroughly broadcasting, trumpeting, that change.
If God was gonna change one of the Ten Commandments especially the one that begins with the word “remember,” don’t you think that you would really hear a deafening roar in the New Testament on that subject? But instead there’s a deafening silence. You know why? We must assume it didn’t change. It was so obvious all through the Bible that it was still intact.
DB—Sermon Question #6: Question number six. Let’s go by what the Bible example is in the teachings. Did the apostles keep the Sabbath day?
Answer? “And Paul as his manner was, he went unto them three Sabbath days and he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Every Sabbath they were preaching. A matter of fact, Acts 18 verse 4, “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath day and persuaded Jews and Greeks.” It wasn’t just the (uh) the Jews, Jews and Greeks. If God’s people were not going to be keeping the Sabbath in the last days then why in Matthew 24 where Jesus is talking about the end of the world, did He say very clearly, “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day.” That would have been a good time for Jesus to say, “Well don’t worry about the Sabbath day.” But He said, “Pray that you won’t have to flee for your life on this holy day.” It’s very clear that the Lord understood His people will still be keeping His day.
And let me remind you in case you weren’t here. Who wrote the Ten Commandments? “All things that were made were made by Him, without Him, nothing was made that was made.” It’s not the law of God the Father that is separate from the law of God the Son, Jesus was part of giving this law. Another reason that you might consider this, why would God change it, was the seventh day a bad day and He need to swap it? Now do we all agree it’s very important that Jesus rose? I praise God for that truth, on the first day of the week. Is it also equally important that He died for us on Friday? And of course He instituted the New Covenant at the last supper on Thursday night. Does that make Thursday, Friday, or Sunday a new Sabbath day? No! There’s nothing in it that happened that made it a new Sabbath day. It happened very slowly over time and it was done by man.
DB—Sermon Question #7: Number seven. Did the Gentiles also worship on the Sabbath?
Yes. Acts 13:42, “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” They were having the apostles preach to them and this is many years after Christ ascended to heaven, every Sabbath day. Matter of fact, Mark chapter 2 verse 27, “And He said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” Not Jew; mankind. Do only Jews need rest? That’s why Jesus said, “Your son and your daughter, even your--your beast of burden, the servants, the stranger within your gate, it was for everybody.”
You can read in Isaiah 56 a similar promise. “And also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord.” Anyone who accepts the Lord, they may not be Israelites. Notice this, “To serve Him, to love the name of the Lord,” this would be Gentiles, “to be His servants.” “Everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,” that means taking something holy and treating it as common, “and takes hold of My covenant.” That’d be the new covenant. It says, “Even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Make ‘em what? God says, “This is for everyone,” all nations. Sabbath was made for man, we all need that.
And in our fast-paced society today, do we need a day of rest? (Audience says yes) I’ll tell you friends, never in the history of the world have there been a people that are more strained and stressed than this generation, amen? And that’s one--you know part of the reason for that is people aren’t taking that time of rest that we need. Number one selling medication is stress related—antacid and all these drugs for sedatives because people are so wound up and uptight. God said that if we would be still and know that He is God once a week He set aside a time.
DB—Sermon Question #8: Number eight. But wasn’t the Sabbath changed to Sunday at Christ’s death or resurrection?
I’ve touched on this. Let’s find out what the Bible says. Read the passage with me here. Luke chapter 23 verse 54. I’ll be reading on through verse 24 in chapter 1, “In that day the Christ died was the preparation.” That’s the sixth day of the week, what we call Friday, we call it Good Friday sometimes, “and the Sabbath drew on.” Now, you might wonder, “When does the Sabbath begin”? The Bible is very clear. Sabbath doesn’t begin at 12 midnight or 12 noon. In the Bible it was, “From even unto even you’ll celebrate your Sabbath.” “At sundown,” the Bible says, that’s when the Sabbath began.
Mark chapter 1 verse 32, “Even at even when the sun did set.” So the sun is going down Friday afternoon Christ has died on the Cross. You can read on in Luke 23, “And they returned and prepared spices and ointments and they rested the Sabbath day according to,” the tradition, the ordinance, the statute, according to what— “the commandment.” Wait a second here. You mean after Jesus taught the disciples and the apostles for three and a half years walking with Jesus day in and day out they never heard anything fall from His lips that gave them the slightest impression that how He valued the Sabbath had diminished? Matter of fact, so much so that they would not even complete their act of love in embalming His body, as the Sabbath was approaching they said, “We’ll have to wait until the Sabbath was over. Jesus would not plea--be pleased our doing this on this holy day.”
Now, I’m not--I’m not condoning or condemning what they did. I’m just telling you, you can never tell me it wasn’t important to the disciples because look how much they loved the Lord, they would not even finish embalming His body. Anyone who’s teaching that Jesus taught the disciples the Sabbath didn’t matter I don’t know where they’re getting that. They went home and kept it according--and this is written by a Gentile. What a good place for Luke to interject the Old Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath. He said, “The commandment,” commandment of God.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning they came unto the sepulcher, He rose, what we call Easter Sunday, first day of the week, right? We all together so far? I want you to notice something here. Jesus died on what we would typically call preparation day, Friday. You know this is just marvelous. Christ completed His work of redeeming man. He said, “It is finished,” and He went to sleep as the Sabbath began. He kept the Sabbath in His death, (Audience says amen) and he waited until it was passed, and He rose again Sunday morning, not to begin resting but to begin interceding. He commenced His new work for us as our High Priest.
Even in His death He kept the Sabbath. Sabbath day He spent on the tomb. Sunday morning of course, He rose. And so there’s no question about which day of the week it is. It’s the day that falls between Friday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, is what—what we would call Saturday. You may say, “Oh, but Doug, it’s been changed.” (Uhm) You know you might convince me that one or two Jews got stranded on a deserted island and lost track of time, but you’re not gonna convince me that the whole nation woke up one day and forgot the holiest day of their week.
And you know what the Jews say? Let me tell you how they valued it. Remember how I talked the other day about the temple? And I said Holy Land, Israel; in the Holy Land you’ve got the Holy Mount--City, Jerusalem; in the Holy City you’ve got the Holy Mount, Mt. Zion; then you’ve got the Holy Temple on the Holy Mount, then you’ve got the Holy Place in the Holy Temple, then you got the Holy of Holies; then you’ve got the Holy Ark in the Holy of Holies; and in the Holy Ark is the Holy Law, the covenant. What do you think is in the middle of that law?
The longest of the Ten Commandments, the only commandment that begins with the word remember and the one the devil hates the most because it has to do with who we worship. He has bamboozled many Christians regarding the importance of this truth. It all has to do with who is your God? Who do you obey? Doesn’t matter how popular, it doesn’t matter how you might be ostracized the truth is the truth amen? And a real Christian will love the Lord more than popularity of people.
Now I know that this is a struggle and I’ve been through it. Because when I first learned these things and I started sharing them within the friends in the church I went to on Sunday, I got ridiculed and they said, “Oh Doug, you’re all mixed up and you’re being legalistic,” and accused all kinds of things and I kept saying, “Show me from the word.” My commitment is to the word. I don’t care where I go I just wanna be able to say, “Thus sayeth the Lord.” That’s the bottom line. When Jesus comes—hey, I’m not in trouble. You can’t come to me, I mean if I stand before the Lord, and He says “Doug, why did you keep the Sabbath day”? I’ll say, “Father, because your Son did. Because it’s in your—it’s one the Ten Commandments.” You think I’m in trouble?
If you’re ever in doubt, friends don’t forget this, this rule applies in many areas. If you’re ever in doubt, do the safe thing. You do what God says in His word and if you can—oh, you know I’m gonna put my neck out right now, here we are international live broadcast, flip a camera around, Doug. Will someone please produce for me one commandment in the Bible where we are told to keep the first day as the Sabbath? Now we--I’ve been visiting with you out in the foyer. We’ve got people here from all different religious backgrounds, amen? That silence that we are recognizing right now ought to tell you something, one commandment in the Bible to keep the first day as the Sabbath. Are there commandments to keep the seventh day? History’s greatest hoax—people have missed the day. A lot of folks are sleeping through God’s holy time so to speak.
DB—Sermon Question #9: Number nine. Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God’s new earth, is this correct?
(Uh) I believe so. Let’s review a little bit. We’ve already seen, if we agree, God gave it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, right? Creation, are we together? Say, amen. (Audience says amen) Moses and the Jews kept it, we all agree with that? Jesus and the apostles, did they keep it? You know what the Bible says about when we’re in heaven, “For as the new heavens,” Isaiah 66:22, “as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me sayeth the Lord, so shall your seed in your name remain and it will come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh,” all Jews? “All flesh come and worship before Me.”
Those in the new earth will be worshiping God on the Sabbath day there. Do you think it matters to the Lord? I believe it’s very important friends. And by the way, the purpose of the plan of salvation is to restore things to God’s original plan. When God created the Sabbath day how much sin was in the world? Was the world perfect? So I’m not talking about the ceremonial Sabbaths and the Jewish holidays, that’s a whole complete, different, distinct, set of laws—but the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments. God in the Ten Commandments says, “For in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth.” He traces that Sabbath back to a perfect plan when everything was good, good, very good. Why would He change it? When we get to the Garden of Eden in Revelation it says “He’s restoring everything to its original plan, amen”? (Audience says amen)
So we’re gonna be keeping it even in heaven. And would you like to guess who the preacher is gonna be when we have our Sabbath worship in heaven? Nobody’s gonna sleep during the sermon then, amen? (Audience laughs) Won’t that be something, to come and gather together before the Lord during that holy time? Will we be dreading it? “Oh, we gotta go listen to Jesus preach,” (audience laughs) or will we be dusting off our fiery wings and wanting to go to the Holy City and listen to see Jesus on His throne? “I--it would be a joyful time,” the Bible tells us.
DB—Sermon Question #10: Number ten. But doesn’t it say in the New Testament that Sunday is the Lord’s Day?
The phrase, oh by the way, you find that in Revelation chapter 1 verse 10. The phrase, “Lord’s day” in Revelation is only found one time in the Bible, Revelation chapter 1 verse 10. Many have always said, “Oh, that’s the Lord’s—yeah, that means Sunday the first day of the week.” There is not an ounce of evidence anywhere in the Bible that John was referring to the first day of the week, not a shred.
If we want to know what day the Lord’s Day is, let’s let the Bible explain itself, fair enough? What does it say? Exodus 20 verse 10, what day is the Lord’s Day? Right in the Ten Commandments, “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” That was the Lord’s Day. Isaiah 58:13, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,” what that means is your foot in the Bible if you trampled on something it’s called disrespect so it means treating something holy disrespectfully. “Turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on My holy day,” that also represents going your own direction. (Uh) “Calling m—(uhm) doing your pleasure on My holy day (uhm) and call the Sabbath a delight.”
So what day is this day? The Sabbath, My holy day. And again it tells us, “Therefore,” Jesus said, Mark 2:28, “the son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” You know what this means friends, John, when he was a prisoner on Patmos during the Revelation, (uh) some traditions tell us that they had mines there, well we know they have mines there, that he was being forced to work in the mines but he refused to work on the Sabbath. And God gave Him the vision of Revelation on the Sabbath day. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day.” So even the very revelation came to him during that holy time, so what is the Lord’s Day? The evidence in the Bible is very powerful.
DB—Sermon Question #11: Number 11. Shouldn’t I keep Sunday and honor of Christ’s resurrection?
Again we touched on this a little bit. What do we do in honor of the resurrection, did God give us something? Yes. It tells you right in the Bible, Romans chapter 6 verse 4, “Therefore we are buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we should also walk in a newness of life.” Baptism is a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. This is what Jesus gave us to remember His resurrection, not a new Sabbath day. There was nothing wrong with the old one. How could one 24-hour period be better than another? He didn’t need to change it.
DB—Sermon Question #12: Number 12. Well if Sunday-keeping isn’t in the Bible, whose idea was it? Where’d this come from?
I’m just gonna touch on this briefly tonight. Matthew chapter 15 verse 9, “And in vain they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Tonight in preparation for this message I began to review some of the history of the Sabbath and I have got volumes of things to share with you. Matter of fact, I’m gonna recommend a website. You might just jot it down, it real easy, sabbathtruth.com, a phenomenal amount of information on this subject, the history of it, it’s called sabbathtruth.com, good scholarship there, quotes from Christians and scholars from all different denominations on what they say on this subject. And virtually all of the scholars agree there’s not a shred of evidence in the Bible that tells us that the Sabbath was changed, it was done by man, not by God.
(Uh) Here’s a quote from just Encyclopedia Brittanica, I just pulled this out I thought that was unbiased enough. “The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday is (uhm) a constitution in--of Constantine in three twenty-one (321) AD, enacting that Courts of Justice, inhabitants in towns, and workshops, were to be closed. It was over 300 years after Christ. Constantine’s supposed conversion to Christianity he began to impose his day of worship that was famous throughout the Roman Empire on the Christians. For a long time they kept both days gradually because the Jews became unpopular, they abandoned the day that Jesus kept and they started adopting the day the Romans kept and it happened so slowly that many were deceived by it.
Colossians chapter 2 verse 14, now some are gonna say, “Oh Pastor Doug, but what about this verse, it tells us that it’s been done away with.” It says here, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to the cross.” And then he goes on to say, “Therefore let no man judge you in regard to meat, or drink, or new moons, or Sabbath days.” What Sabbath days and ordinances were nailed to the cross? It tells us here in Colossians, those that have to do with the ordinances.
II Chronicles chapter 33 verse 8, there are two different laws. “They will take heed to do all that I’ve commanded them according to the whole law and by the ordinances by the hand of Moses.” Notice hand writing, Colossians says, “the handwriting,” those were the ceremonial laws. And again, Deuteronomy 31 verse 26, he says in Colossians, “These were against us,” what was nailed to the cross that was against us? Take the book of the law and put it in the side of the ark. The ceremonial laws, were they in the ark or in the side? It was on a pocket in the outside, “as a witness against us.” So when Paul talks about the Sabbaths and the ceremonial laws that were against us that were nailed to the cross, is it the Ten Commandment Sabbath or the ceremonial annual Sabbaths?
Some people have tried to twist the word of God and they use a couple of this misconstrued subjects, you can’t nail stone to anything. Two completely separate and distinct laws between the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments that was before sin, and the ceremonial annual Sabbaths that came after sin. Think about it, when God created this law—spoke it with His voice, wrote it with His finger, stone is a symbol of something that is permanent and unchanging.
DB—Sermon Question #13: Number 13. But isn’t it very dangerous to tamper with God’s law?
Absolutely! Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says in verse 19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so,” you know what that means? You look through the Ten Commandments, you figure out which one you think is the least important. And by the way, you might be surprised the one you picked as the least important could be one of the most important. Some people think, “Oh, it doesn’t matter uh—the Sabbath you know.” But it revolves around time and worshipping God. It’s a sign that He is our Creator. “Whoever thinks to change even the least, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” That doesn’t mean he’ll be there, that means those in the kingdom of heaven call that person the least individual. “But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” So friends, are you upset with Pastor Doug tonight for sharing this? (Audience answers no) Take it up with Jesus, He says He wants me to do it and to teach it and I’m doing my best to be faithful.
DB—Sermon Question #14: Number 14. Why did God make the Sabbath anyway? What’s the purpose of it?
I’ve already told you it’s about our love relationship with Him. Ezekiel 20 verse 12, “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them.” See, the Sabbath day is a sign of God’s sanctifying power. Every Sabbath day, it’s a sign of His creative power. It’s a memorial of His creation.
DB—Sermon Question #15: Question number 15. How important is Sabbath-keeping?
Answer? James chapter 2 verse 10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law,” and He has just quoted two of the Ten Commandments if you read the previous verses so we know what law He’s talking about. “Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in,” how many points? One point, “he’s guilty of all.” You know what if (uhm) I should stand before the judge and I’m--you know I’m guilty of (uh) burglary. And the judge says, “You know you’re convicted of burglary here and how do you plead”? And I say, “Well you know I did break into that store and steal that computer but I want you to know in every other respect, Judge, I am a good citizen, I keep all the other commandments.” Would that be a good defense? No, see you break the law. And the law is a golden chain that’s all linked together and you break one and it destroys the relationship. That’s why this is important that God is gonna come for a people that have been restored to the faith that was delivered to the saints.
You know when the space shuttle Columbia blew up just a few minutes away from touchdown they wondered if those tiles you know those 24,000 very high protective tiles, they’re heat resistant tiles on the belly of the shuttle to resist that incredible heat when it comes through the atmosphere. And the engineers thought, “Well I could--they can probably spare a few with may have knocked a few off but that shouldn’t be a problem.” They’ve reassessed their conclusions. A little bit does make a difference. So the idea that God doesn’t care about this one commandment, why would it be the only commandment that begins with the word, remember? Could it be that He knew we might forget?
Be honest friends, and I know the answer I’ve—have friends in many churches. I could go to virtually any Christian church in the Washington DC area, any denomination, and I could stand up and preach a sermon on honor your father and mother, or don’t steal, and I get an amen, right? I could preach a sermon on don’t worship other gods, and don’t pray to idols, well most churches would be okay with that, there are few. I could preach a sermon on don’t covet, I could preach a sermon on don’t steal, and don’t commit adultery, folks would (uh) be quiet but they’d agree. (Audience laughs) But then you preach a sermon on remember the Sabbath day, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord and folks say legalism. Is something wrong?
You could do an altar call in some of these churches and someone could come forward and pray during the altar call and they say, “Pastor, I wanna give my life to Jesus. I’ve been convicted by the Holy Spirit. I’m gonna quit lying.” Pastor said, “Praise the Lord the Holy Spirit’s working on you.” “I’m gonna quit stealing.” “Amen. We’re so thankful. That’s the evidence of God.” “I’ve been living with my girlfriend, we’re gonna break it off until we get married,” “That’s the Holy Spirit. God’s working on your heart.” “I’m gonna start keeping the Sabbath day,” Pastor say, “No don’t do that, that’s legalism.” Am I right? Isn’t that what would happen? Many churches, is something wrong? Oh, something is woefully wrong with our attitude about one of the commandments.
Revelation, this is a prophecy seminar, three angels give these messages before Jesus comes back, chapter 14 verse 6, “I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach them,” we shared the gospel with you an earlier night, “to them that dwell on the earth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,” bless God this seminar is actually in some degree a fulfillment of that, we’re going all over the world, “saying with a loud voice, ‘fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come.’” Christ is about to come. He is our judge. “And worship Him,” who are we to worship? “That made, created the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters,” that phrase in Revelation is drawn from what? It’s drawn form the fourth commandment, it’s drawn from Genesis chapter 2.
God is saying that a message that is to go to the world prior to C--Christ’s return is one to return to the worship of the Creator and every Sabbath is a memorial that God is a Creator, amen? It is an important issue, friends. “Oh Doug, you’re making such a big deal about this one commandment.” If our culture was all—if the pastors in our culture were teaching their people it is okay to dishonor their parents, you’d heard me say a lot about that. If our pastors were teaching their people idolatry’s okay, you’d hear me talk about that, and this is an issue that needs attention and God wants me to scratch where the itch is, amen? We wanna return to the word of God and it’s a memorial of God’s creative power.
DB—Sermon Question #16: Question number 16. Does Sabbath-keeping really affect me personally? What does it mean to me?
Now by the way, whether it means anything to you or not, it does! It ought to be important to you cause God commands it. Should we only obey a command of God if we understand it? Or should we trust the Lord? Do you only want your children to obey you when you can explain everything to—“why can’t I stick a screwdriver in the socket, mommy”? And you try to explain the electrons and how all that works, “But why, I don’t understand”? Sometimes, how many of you have ever said to your kids, “Just listen to me. Cause I say so. I’m the parent you’re the kid you listen to me.” Right? I used to hate that when my parents said that to me, now I hear myself say that to my parents I go, “Oh, I become like my parents.”
When God says, “Do something,” even if you don’t understand if you do it you’ll be blessed. (Audience says amen) You’ll be better off. But there are reasons, you will be blessed personally. Ezekiel 22 verse 26 and verse 31, “Her priest have violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane. They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths.” That happened back in the Old Testament time, is it happening in our own day again? Are there ministers out there that are hiding their eyes? Why? Cause it’s not popular and it’s tough to change. Every reformation movement in God’s church has been a real travail. Whenever there is the birth of a new movement, it is often a painful experience because it throws things out of their norm.
In Iraq right now people are dying because they are going through a new birth. It’s a painful experience, right? And God’s church needs a rebirth. We need to return to the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Jesus said in Luke 6 verse 46, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say”? He says, “There’ll be many come to me in that day saying Lord, Lord,” and they do not what He says. Can you please show me a commandment where Jesus says to keep the first day holy? I mean God’s voice was heard telling us to keep the fourth day.
I have a friend of mine who’s a Pastor, I believe Pastor Philips, is what (uh) 94 years old now and he told me this story, might be watching in Covelo, California right now, say hello to my friends there. He was sitting with the ministerial council. This is a Sabbath-keeping minister, Pastor Philips. Visiting with ministers from other churches that kept the first day of the week, Sunday, and the ministers were sort of bemoaning that they can’t get their members to come to church on Sunday when the weather is nice, they go out golfing, they go out water skiing, and whatever, and one of them said, “Pastor Philips, how do you deal with this”? And before he can even answer one of the other Sunday-keeping minister said, “He doesn’t have a problem getting them to church on Sabbath because he has a, ‘Thus sayeth the Lord for Saturday and we don’t, (Audience laughs) we don’t for Sunday.’” They know that. I want a ‘Thus sayeth the Lord’ for what I do friends. (Audience says amen)
DB—Sermon Question #17: Number 17. Does Sabbath-keeping really affect me personally?
What does the Bible say? Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that are heavy-laden and I will give you,” what? (Audience answers yes) This is what it’s all about. It’s a day of rest. Do we need that rest? Have you been missing that rest that Jesus wants to offer us? Friends, this is a much more important (uh) subject in connection with prophecy than you think because in the last days when the Lord returns, it says that He’s coming for people that are obedient. You can read this, matter of fact, I think this is one of my (uh) next slides.
Hebrews chapter 4 verse 5, the promise is, “We will enter into His rest.” And then furthermore, he tells us in Matthew 11 verse (uh) I’m sorry in Revelation 12:17, who is the dragon angry at? This is in the last days. The dragon is who? (Audience answers Satan) “Is wroth,” what is wroth mean? That’s King James for infuriated, enraged, with who? (Audience answers woman) The woman is who? (Audience answers church) This the good woman or bad? (Audience answers good) True church or false? (Audience answers true) The very fact that the dragon is angry at her is a good sign, she must be doing something right. Who is he angry at? “The woman and the remnant of her seed,” that means the remainder of her descendants, her children. What is the identifying characteristic? “That keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
God wants a people who are not only hearers but doers of His word. (Audience says amen) Would that include all the commandments? (Audience answers yes) All ten? (Audience answers ten) Again, Revelation 14 verse 12, another corresponding passage. “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and that have (uhm) here that kept the commandments of God and (uhm) have the faith of Jesus.” And then again Revelation 22 verse 14, three times in Revelation, it identifies who the saved are. “Blessed are they that do His commandments that they might have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city.” What do you think friends, is this something that’s important to the Lord? I hope it’s important to you.
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Friends, I know that you’ve heard something tonight that may be new, a little bit shocking, and if you’re at all like me, if this is the first time you’ve heard this subject presented this way, it may even be a little disturbing. I trust that the Holy Spirit is working on your heart. Ultimately, how are we gonna make decisions? What does the Bible say, amen? Are we gonna wait until the truth is popular? I’ve got news for you friends, it is never gonna be popular. Matter of fact, you heard me read the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war. I’ll make a prediction right now God brought you to this seminar because He’s got a special plan for your life.
The Sabbath day, it is a cursing or is it a blessing? Did He curse the day or did He bless the day? If God showed this to you, it’s not because He wanted to create a burden for you, He wants to bless you. He has good plans for you. But I’ll predict that the dragon is wroth that you’ve heard these things. I’ll predict that He’s gonna send somebody or--or doubts to try to steer you away from this. Because you know what it’s all about, it’s all about who do we worship, amen?
Keep in mind in the last days it’s gonna be those who do not worship the way the government, beast power prescribes, cannot buy and sell first, and ultimately they will be killed. Do we owe it to ourselves to study this out and find out what the truth is? I would like to ask you, all of you those who are watching and those who are present here, please hear the whole story. You’ve heard some things. If you think that there are points of truth that have been presented tonight then you owe it to yourself to hear the rest. Really what you’ve heard tonight is part one.
In our next presentation, tomorrow night, we’re gonna be talking about the antichrist. And then in our meeting on Tuesday, we’ll be talking about the mark, and we are going into industrial strength prophecy study. You’re gonna find out how these principles of worship in the gospel and the law are all integral to the last day prophecies. Haven’t we shown you? In the book of Daniel, if they didn’t worship the way that they were told to worship they would be killed. In the book of (uh) not only in Shadrach, Meschach, but the Daniel and the lions, how many of you have read the book of Esther? A law is made to exterminate all the Jews. Why? Because one of them would not bow down to Haman.
What do you think it’s gonna be in the last days? It’s the same issue. The devil is infuriated with those who give their worship to God. And he didn’t want you to hear this, and he may have some very sweet, silver-tongued emissaries that are gonna try to--to discourage you, I would plead with you please make your decisions based on the Bible. If you know you’ve got a “Thus sayeth the Lord” with what you’re doing, you have nothing to fear, amen? (Audience says amen)
Would you allow me please to have a special prayer for you before we close. Matter of fact, I’d like to ask, for those who are watching, wherever you might be, and for those who are here, if the Holy Spirit has touched your heart tonight, and you think you’ve heard truth from His word, then would you like to stand and we’ll ask God to help us be doers of the word rather than just hearers of the word. I would like to ask a special blessing on you as we close.
Father in heaven, we believe this subject is of profound importance because it is in the very midst of your law. It’s a commandment you obviously knew people would forget because you began with the word remember. Lord, we know that you love us and you want to have a growing love relationship with us. We can’t know you if we spend time with you, quality time. We can’t obey you if we don’t love you. And we’ll never love you without this time. Lord, help us to understand this issue. Help us know what it means what real worship is all about.
We know the dragon is angry and we pray that you set a hedge set about each of these people. You want to bless them and I pray that you’ll protect them. Lord, bring them back. I pray that the answers will be founded on your word. And for those who are struggling with these issues and some who maybe have been disturbed by the things that they heard or even shocked, I pray that the subject of history’s greatest hoax that they won’t be fooled anymore but that they will know what the truth is.
Ultimately Lord, we wanna follow Jesus, He’s our example. Help us to set Him before us in all things. Now I would pray that your Spirit would rest on these people. Lord, bless them in their homes. You’ve promised a blessing on those who hear, read, and keep the words of this prophecy. Bless them and their families. Bless them if they’re struggling financially. Bless them in their health, Lord. Help them to experience the blessings. And then I pray that you’ll draw a line from these studies and this prophecy seminar to those blessings, they’ll see the connection. Be with us as we go from this place and we pray in Christ’s name you’ll bring us back again, in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.