SABBATH SYMBOLS IN SCRIPTURE by Teresa Beem

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky... Matt. 24:29-30

We cannot rightly interpret the Old Testament if we do not understand the language and culture of Israel.

The Hebrew language is highly mystical, symbolic and literarily beautiful. Letters are used for multiple purposes, such as numbers and symbols. The language is replete with play-on-words and layers of meaning. This is especially important to keep in mind when we read the prophets and the genre of apocalyptic writings such as Daniel and Revelation. Often prophecies have dual or even more meanings and fulfillments. Last-days prophecies are overpopulated with these symbols via numbers and monsters and antichrists and heavenly catastrophes.

One type of symbolism in scripture is when material realities symbolize non-material realities. The symbol itself has a physical form while what the symbol means or points forward to is a non-physical, yet nonetheless, reality. The Bible is full of these types of symbols yet the most pertinent of these types of symbols is the Bible’s reference to the sun, moon, stars. 

Sabbath Symbols: Sun, Moon, Stars

In scripture, the sun, moon and stars

symbolized a liturgical cycle of holy days and seasons. To Israel, the heavens were a huge religious calendar. This goes back to the creation week when God said of the heavenly bodies, “Let them be for signs (remembrance, warnings, omens) and for seasons (appointed meetings, sacred times, set feasts).” (Gen. 1:14) On the fourth day, the heavens were set in place to point to Israel’s holy convocations and sacred assemblies. And on the seventh, God appointed the first holy time--a rest--that would later be called a sabbath for the Jews. 

The sun was to show an evening and morning--a day. It also helped set the time of yearly seasons. The moon was for weeks and months and the stars for seasons and years. For Israel the phrase "sun, moon and stars," was symbolic code to mean days of the week, months and years (seasons). 

The Hebrew word used in Genesis for seasons is the exact same word used in Leviticus 23 for appointed times, therefore it directly connects the sun, moon and stars with Israel’s sabbath.

The Lord’s appointed times (Gen. 1: 14 “seasons”) which you shall proclaim as holy convocations. My appointed times (seasons) are these: For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings. (Lev. 23: 2-3)

Genesis’ word for seasons = appointed times =  sabbaths. 

Besides the weekly sabbaths, Leviticus 23 identifies Israel’s other sacred appointed times/seasons as: the Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of the Tabernacles. These are also called sabbaths and no labor is to be done during those days. 

Israel’s leaders would gage the weekly and

seasonal holy sabbath assemblies by looking to the sky--to the sun, moon and stars. In fact, Israel was warned not to fall prey to heaven-worship because their calendar was above their head sparkling and shining mysteriously. (Deut. 4: 19)

Darkening of the Heavenly Bodies

When God speaks about the darkening of the sun, moon and stars it is usually a portent of evil. "And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light. Eze. 32: 7 (See also Eccl. 12: 2.)

There is even a strong connection between the darkening of the heavenly bodies with the “day of the Lord” (the Lord’s coming) and judgement.

I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, to execute My anger. The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle....to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty....Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. (Isa. 13: 4-11) 

Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near. A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness....Like a mighty people arranged for battle. Before them the people are in anguish. All faces turn pale...Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness....The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? Joel 2: 1-11. 

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war...Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. Joel 3: 9-15.

Christians often interpret these passages to be the futuristic second coming of Christ. And indeed, they are probably a dual prophecy. But Israel saw these as portents of the day of the Lord, the coming of the Messiah, which would accompany war and judgement in their time. Afterwards, Jerusalem would become the capital city of the new Kingdom of Heaven. Christ supported that position as He connected the darkening of the sun, moon and stars to His time. (As did John in Revelation 8.) 

When His disciples asked when the Messiah’s kingdom would commence, Jesus replied that Jerusalem would be destroyed. “Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” Matt. 24: 2. That must have shocked them, for they were awaiting the restoration of all things, not the temple’s destruction. Jesus warned them that at that time when these things occurred His disciples must flee Jerusalem, for a great tribulation was coming when the sun would be darkened and the moon and stars fall. (Matt. 24: 29). Then Jesus said a very startling thing, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Matt. 24:34. (See Luke 21.)

These signs were for their day, to be fulfilled in one generation. And the signs began at the Cross. Luke tells us that the sun was obscured. (Luke 23:45). Yet, we must be very careful not to take these symbols too literally. They meant something far more important. They meant that the Jewish Temple system and the Old Testament prophecies had been fulfilled. The great and terrible day of the Lord had come and and the Jews were now being judged.

Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 relates Joel's prophecy of the sun, moon and stars falling to their time. It was the end of Israel’s world and it had come to pass in less than forty years. In AD 70, Roman soldiers destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Hundreds of thousands of God’s people were massacred. Israel connected this war with the Messiah’s arrival. When those on Jerusalem’s walls watched the Roman’s artillery lobbed in their direction, they cried out, “The son cometh!” (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, Book 5, Chapter 6.)

When the Temple fell, it was so great a fall that symbolically the heavens and their liturgical calendar fell with it. The Sabbaths were swept away with God’s wrath. The seasons of the sacred assemblies, portrayed as the vanishing of the sun, moon and stars, could never again return. For there was no temple for Holy Convocations, no temple for worship with its offerings and sacrifices. No longer could fresh wine be put into old wineskins.

In came the new order of things. The New Covenant was instituted through the Cross and a New Heaven and a New Earth began. Hence why Paul can so confidently tell the Christians that the Old Covenant holy days with its sabbaths were and are no more. (Col 2: 16, Rom. 14:5)

Scholars suggest that when Jesus commanded His followers to flee Jerusalem at its destruction, He was not simply meaning to run to another city but flee the whole system of Judaism. The law and prophets had been fulfilled in Christ.

The symbolism of the darkening of the sun, moon and stars is God’s code for the first-century believers that when the day of the Lord arrives, the Jewish judgement day, the New Covenant would take precedence over the Mosaic covenant. And specifically it would mean that the holy days, sabbaths and sacred assemblies would be done away with. And this happened at the Cross.  

Sources: The Apocalypse: The Perennial Revelation of Jesus Christ (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1983) and Barber, Michael (2006-01-02). Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today. Emmaus Road Publishing. 

Christians Agree that There is Man-Made Climate Change

The United States government recently reported that climate change is having a severe effect on the globe: sea-levels rising, flooding, storm surges, hurricanes, drought. And man has caused it.

Christians all over the world should shout a hearty “amen,” not with joy as if we want it, but in agreement that is truly is happening....an agreement to the news that the earth is headed for disaster because of man. We absolutely believe in man-made climate change. Christ warned that before His Second Coming we would see a rise in wars, rumors of wars, plagues, famines, earthquakes. 

To the Laodicean Christians this is all a yawner, “ho-hum.” For we have been expecting this for two thousand years. We know that one of the reasons Christ is returning is to destroy those who have polluted the earth.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come...[God] shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. Rev. 11: 18

So yes, Christians are believers in man-made climate change, we are not “deniers.” In fact, ever since the slaying of the first man, Abel, the soil itself has been crying out to curse those who pollute the earth. (Gen. 4: 11) 

[F]or the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now. Rom. 8: 20-22

Where Christians might differ from some environmentalists is how to deal with man-made climate change. 

The secular world is advocating population control by more sterilization, contraception, better availability of “reproductive rights”(abortion). Destroy marriage and families so that there will be less procreation. Drastically reduce man’s environmental footprint by lowering the number of feet.  

Christians, however, know why the earth is puking up methane and spewing forth carbon dioxide. We know why the foundations of the world are roiling and the sun and moon grow blood red with atmospheric pollution. 

No matter what the movie “Noah” suggests, the earth is not angry at human over-population, it is sickened with sin. Scriptures tell us what happens to the environment because of man’s wickedness:

He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. Ps. 107:33-34 

How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither? For the wickedness of those who live in it the animals and the birds are swept away, and because people said, "He is blind to our ways." Jer. 12: 4

Evidence of their wickedness still remains: a continually smoking wasteland, plants bearing fruit that does not ripen, and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul. Wisdom 10:7

Man has corrupted the earth with strife and division. Our souls are blinded with selfishness, with lies and deception, greed and love of money, envy, disrespect, pride, immorality and wanton vulgarity. The earth is still crying out because it is being glutted with the innocent blood of hundreds of millions unborn babies since murdering one’s own child started becoming legal around the world.

We do not need more population regulation we need more population repentance. The wickedness of the earth is great. Sin is what we need to be afraid of. Heal our hearts and we will heal our land.

POPE HAS SDA BROTHER THAT ANNOUNCED FRANCIS WAS COMING AFTER ADVENTISTS?

“A GLOBAL LAW IS COMING TO MAKE SUNDAY THE DAY OF REST and I’m going to order that it’s approved!” the current Pope said this to his Adventist older brother, according to Argentinian Pastor Hugo Gambetta. El Evangelio Esterno, who produced the video, claims to be an independent Adventist ministry led by Gambetta which focuses on last-day events. A spokesperson for the ministry recently confirmed that the Revelation Seminar-type sermon was held at a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Perth Amboy, New Jersey [Sabbath, June 8, 2013].

Gambetta continued claiming that the pope’s much older brother “has for 52 years been a SDA," then gives a detailed story about how the young Bergoglio, who would later become Pope Francis, spoke for three days with his SDA brother about Adventism. The elder brother gave the young priest Ellen White's books including the Great Controversy which he read.



To which the young Bergoglio responded that Ellen White was a plague and a witch. The pope then shunned his brother and the family even had the SDA ejected by police at his mother's funeral. The last words his brother heard from Jorge Bergolio were, "You are too insignificant for me to avenge myself on you. It is against your church that I will avenge myself.” Then later the SDA brother learned the pope had vowed, "Very soon--see what God does. A global law is coming to make Sunday the day of rest and I’m going to order that it’s approved!”



The Bergoglio family with Jorge, a priest at the time second to the top left.

The General Conference of SDA's spokesperson said that the their phone lines have been glutted with questions about this video which they called a "hoax" and admitted Gambetta's allegations about Pope Francis are totally false. They distanced themselves from it, putting up this notice at their news site: POPE'S BROTHER NOT ADVENTIST

Yet, El Evangelio Eterno claims the sermon was given in an SDA church to an Adventist audience. Even though Gambetta, an SDA pastor until 2005, had his credentials revoked, his Los Angeles-based independent ministry continues to have a large Spanish audience among Seventh-day Adventists.

Let's uncover the errors of this video:

1. Since Pastor Gambetta claims few know this information, he should clearly reveal his sources. Did he get this knowledge first-hand from the pope's brother? The pastor gives no primary sources of this slander against the pope.

2. Both Pope Francis brothers were deceased at the time of the pope's election and the pastor seems to indicate this SDA brother was alive with present verbs such as, "the brothers do not talk" and "he's been an Adventist for 52 years."

3. Gambetta claimed the SDA brother was much older, yet Jorge was the eldest sibling.

4. If this is true, every SDA church would be inviting the pope's Adventist brother to speak and every SDA publication would be in line for an interview.

While it is good the GC is distancing itself from such ridiculous information, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree. The SDA Church has been bearing false witness against its Catholic neighbors since the beginning. Most SDA leadership today are unaware they are passing on misinformation and historical distortions but they should at least be culpable for not doing thorough research into Christian history. They rely too heavily on the SDA history books.

Look at another false (hopefully a joke) report recently put out by some SDA: 

Pope Praises Adventists at St. Peter's tomb at Vatican, Offers Ellen G. White Beatification By FRANCES D'EMILIO together with Juancito Perla y Perla | Associated Press – April 1, 2013

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is spending today's Vatican holiday praying at the tomb of Peter, the church's first pontiff, during a visit to the excavated necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica. During today's events His Holiness brought out a little red book by his favorite author, the Adventist prophetess, Ellen G. White, who died in 1915. Pope Francis announced that he will beatify the 19th century Adventist writer and establish a joint committee for the promotion of full ecumenical fellowship with the SDA denomination. Rev. Ted Wilson, world leader of the nearly 16 million-member sect is said to consider "Unity" within the broader Christian community his number one priority. Both Wilson and Francis are opposed to ordaining women to the pastoral priesthood, it was noted.

http://clubadventist.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/622266/Pope_Praises_SDAs_and_Offers_E.html

After the recent Carter Report video of the bishop supposedly "coming clean" and admitting the church changed the sabbath to Sunday that turned out to be a scam, Adventists need to beware Catholic exposé videos. They tend to be rubbish. If you don't find it coming from the Vatican's official website or the USCCB website. Don't believe it.


Update: The video clip above is part of the full clip found here.

Catholics View of the Sabbath: The Official Documentation

Many priests, bishops, scholars and popes have written or spoken opinions about the Sabbath, which they are free to do. But if someone wants to understand the official position Catholics have about the Sabbath, go to the Catechism.

Here are sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that explain what we believe about the Sabbath day:

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

345 The sabbath—the end of the work of the six days. The sacred text says that “on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done,” that the “heavens and the earth were finished,” and that God “rested” on this day and sanctified and blessed it.213 These inspired words are rich in profitable instruction: (2168)

346 In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God’s covenant.214For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it. (2169)

347 Creation was fashioned with a view to the sabbath and therefore for the worship and adoration of God. Worship is inscribed in the order of creation.215 As the rule of St. Benedict says, nothing should take precedence over “the work of God,” that is, solemn worship.216 This indicates the right order of human concerns. (1145-1152)

348 The sabbath is at the heart of Israel’s law. To keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God as expressed in his work of creation. (2172)

349 The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ’s Resurrection. The seventh day completes the first creation. The eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption. The first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendor of which surpasses that of the first creation.217 (2174, 1046)


ARTICLE 3
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT


Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.90

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.91

I. The Sabbath Day

2168 The third commandment of the Decalogue recalls the holiness of the sabbath: “The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD.”92

2169 In speaking of the sabbath Scripture recalls creation: “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.”93 (2057)

2170 Scripture also reveals in the Lord’s day a memorial of Israel’s liberation from bondage in Egypt: “You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with mighty hand and outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.”94

2171 God entrusted the sabbath to Israel to keep as a sign of the irrevocable covenant.95 The sabbath is for the Lord, holy and set apart for the praise of God, his work of creation, and his saving actions on behalf of Israel.

2172 God’s action is the model for human action. If God “rested and was refreshed” on the seventh day, man too ought to “rest” and should let others, especially the poor, “be refreshed.”96 The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money.97 (2184)

2173 The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day.98 He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.”99 With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing.100 The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God.101 “The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”102 (582)


II. The Lord’s Day

This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.103

The day of the Resurrection: the new creation

2174 Jesus rose from the dead “on the first day of the week.”104 Because it is the “first day,” the day of Christ’s Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the “eighth day” following the sabbath,105 it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord’s Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica)—Sunday: (638, 349)

We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the Jewish sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead.106

Sunday—fulfillment of the sabbath

2175 Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ’s Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man’s eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ:107 (1166)

Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the sabbath, but the Lord’s Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his death.108

2176 The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship “as a sign of his universal beneficence to all.”109 Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people.

The Sunday Eucharist
2177 The Sunday celebration of the Lord’s Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church’s life. “Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church.”110 (1167, 2043)

“Also to be observed are the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christi, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of Saint Joseph, the feast of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints.”111

2178 This practice of the Christian assembly dates from the beginnings of the apostolic age.112 The Letter to the Hebrews reminds the faithful “not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage one another.”113 (1343)


Tradition preserves the memory of an ever-timely exhortation: Come to Church early, approach the Lord, and confess your sins, repent in prayer.... Be present at the sacred and divine liturgy, conclude its prayer and do not leave before the dismissal.... We have often said: “This day is given to you for prayer and rest. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”114

2179 “A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop.”115 It is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. The parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ’s saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love: (1567, 2691, 2226)

The Sunday obligation

The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass.”117 “The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.”118 (2042, 1389)

You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests.116

2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor.119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. The faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God’s holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (815)

2183 “If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the Liturgy of the Word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.”120

A day of grace and rest from work

2184 Just as God “rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,”121 human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord’s Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.122 (2172)

2185 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.123 Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. The faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health. (2428)

The charity of truth seeks holy leisure; the necessity of charity accepts just work.124

2186 Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery. Sunday is traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly. Christians will also sanctify Sunday by devoting time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life. (2447)

2187 Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort. Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord’s Day. Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure. With temperance and charity the faithful will see to it that they avoid the excesses and violence sometimes associated with popular leisure activities. In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees. (2289)

2188 In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church’s holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country’s legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this “festal gathering,” this “assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.”125 (2105)

2189 “Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Deut 5:12). “The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord” (Ex 31:15).

2190 The sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.

2191 The Church celebrates the day of Christ’s Resurrection on the “eighth day,” Sunday, which is rightly called the Lord’s Day (cf. SC 106).

2192 “Sunday... is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church” (CIC, can. 1246 § 1). “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass” (CIC, can. 1247).

2193 “On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound... to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body” (CIC, can. 1247).

2194 The institution of Sunday helps all “to be allowed sufficient rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives” (GS 67 § 3).

2195 Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord’s Day.

90 Ex 20:8-10; cf. Deut 5:12-15.

91 Mk 2:27-28.

92 Ex 31:15.

93 Ex 20:11.

94 Deut 5:15.

95 Cf. Ex 31:16.

96 Ex 31:17; cf. 23:12.

97 Cf. Neh 13:15-22; 2 Chr 36:21.

98 Cf. Mk 1:21; Jn 9:16.

99 Mk 2:27.

100 Cf. Mk 3:4.

101 Cf. Mt 12:5; Jn 7:23.

102 Mk 2:28.

103 Ps 118:24.

104 Cf. Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1.

105 Cf. Mk 16:1; Mt 28:1.

106 St. Justin, I Apol. 67: PG 6, 429 and 432.

107 Cf. 1 Cor 10:11.

108 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Magn. 9, 1: SCh 10, 88.

109 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 122, 4.

110 CIC, can. 1246 § 1.

111 CIC, can. 1246 § 2: “The conference of bishops can abolish certain holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday with prior approval of the Apostolic See.”

112 Cf. Acts 2:42-46; 1 Cor 11:17.

113 Heb 10:25.

114 Sermo de die dominica 2 et 6: PG 86/1, 416C and 421C.

115 CIC, can. 515 § 1.

116 St. John Chrysostom, De incomprehensibili 3, 6: PG 48, 725.

117 CIC, can. 1247.

118 CIC, can. 1248 § 1.

119 Cf. CIC, can. 1245.

120 CIC, can. 1248 § 2.

121 Gen 2:2.

122 Cf. GS 67 § 3.

123 Cf. CIC, can. 1247.

124 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 19, 19: PL 41, 647.

125 Heb 12:22-23.

Part II SDA Camp Mock up of Last Day Events

The following is an email I sent to the Michigan Conference of SDAs about the photo that has gone viral. Then I posted the response.

photo.php

Dear Michigan Conference,

We saw a photo that appeared to be a terrorist-type capture and assassination of some youths posted on the internet taken by Pastor Alden J. Ho, whom I have personally contacted. He responded with the following:

"This image I took was from Camp Au Sable in Michigan Conference. It was the last Sabbath of camp, and this was one of the stations that they had to portray the events that will surround God's people in the last days during the time of persecution that will take place."

This Image is very disturbing for several reasons. I understand that your religion teaches that this in an inevitable future event based upon your prophetess Ellen White, but even within that context, why would you want to pre-enact it? That would be similar to the youth of Norway pre-enaacting their massacre. What could possibly be the point of this? Was this a part of survival techniques for the last days? It is coming across to Christians outside your church as brainwashing techniques, as there seems to be no purpose for this type of theatrical display other than to instill fear.

What you are doing at this camp comes across radical and reinforces many Christians' opinions that the SDA church is a cult. It can also be psychologically and spiritually abusive to these young people. Many children will be terrorized for life. I suggest that you make counseling available for these kids to avoid a lawsuit in the future.

We also strongly advise you to cease from this type of mock up in the future.

God bless you,

Arthur and Teresa Beem

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From Jay Gallimore:, President Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists:

Thank you for your inquiry. You might be interested to know that Adventists are basically pacifists. See the Desmond Doss, Congressional Medal of Honor, story of WW2.

Camp AuSable has been around for over 60 years and has long put on camp fire skits etc, as many Christian camping programs do, usually with some moral story that involves the nation's beginnings, hence the costumes. Sometimes they may have a skit urging campers to be faithful to Christ in face of persecution such as this one. This camp has a great staff.

Many people, who are not of our faith, attend and return over and over. To suggest that Christians cannot coach youth to be faithful to Christ in face of persecution directly opposes the teaching of Jesus. See Matthew 10.

End time persecution themes among Christians are not new or scarce. The Left Behind Series which sold by the millions in the most popular book stores, including airports, had a theme of end time persecution of Christians by the Anti-Christ and his followers. The books and films also promote a scenario, that in the event of the rapture, that planes, trains and cars crash with their human passengers crash. Catholics, Evangelicals and Protestants nearly all teach to be faithful to Christ in face of end time persecution and for good reason. The Christian Church was born in persecution - it's Savior was crucified! Many films have shared in graphic detail the story of Christ. During the dark ages many Bible believing Christian were burned at the stake and tortured for

their faith including William Tyndale, the translator of the English Bible. Many books, films and plays have graphically told their stories. The Bible predicts the final events will contain more of the same.

In addition, Seventh-day Adventists have a representative form of church government as most Protestant denominations do. Also our churches practice open communion with people of all Christian faiths. Hardly the stuff of cults.