The Great and Mighty Day of the Lord!

The Nightfall of the Old Covenant

Hebrews 8: 13, "When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear."

Hebrews 10: 20, the New Covenant is given to us not by a stone but, "by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh."

This New Covenant is not to be patched onto the Old. (Mark 2: 22)

Those under the laws of the New Covenant are not obligated to keep the holy days of the Old Covenant. (Romans 14: 1-6, Colossians 2: 14-17 and Galatians 4: 10-11, 21)

Now, as a New Covenant Christian we are free to keep or discard a holy day. So the early Christians, even the Apostles themselves, began to worship on all days. However, because the work of all time, the work of our Salvation was fulfilled on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection, they began to celebrate it. That was a fitting and honorable thing to do. There is nothing in scripture anywhere that would suggest something like this would be wrong. A celebration of the day of Christ’s conquering death and hades is worth a memorial!

There is no Biblical nor historical evidence (in the first two centuries) anywhere that suggests worshipping on Sunday was considered the Sabbath or was considered wrong. If worshipping on Sunday were wrong, why would the Apostles do it? Why would not the Apostle John in Ephesus, alive till the turn of the second century, chastise the early Christians for it? There is no shred of evidence anywhere that says Sunday was the fourth commandment seventh day. In fact, many Christians--the Jewish Christians--for centuries kept both Saturday and celebrated Sunday (Sabbath and The Lord’s Day) as well as the Passover and other Jewish holidays.

Early Christian debates were not about Sabbath versus Sunday but keeping the Jewish festivals (including Sabbath and Passover) or not keeping them. There was never at any time a debate about the celebration of Sunday and the Resurrection of our Lord.

The Dawn of the New Covenant

There was nothing in the life and death of Jesus that could save us. There was nothing in the law that could save us. Living the example of Jesus life could not save us. Attending worship every Sabbath from the beginning to the end of eternity can do nothing to save us.

There is only ONE extraordinary, immense and redemptive act upon which the salvation of ALL MANKIND depends. Only one act that man must rejoice in as the act that saved us from everlasting damnation and that is JESUS WAS RESURRECTED! (I Corinthians 15: 17, 18; Romans 1:4, John 2:18-21, Matthew 12:38-40.)

The Divine infinite and salvific resurrection! And Jesus wasn’t accidentally raised on Sunday. It didn’t just slip His mind and then afterwards, cringe an “uh oh, boy is this going to be a problem. I am going to have to depend upon the Seventh-day Adventists to straighten out the unfortunate incident of being raised on Sunday.... and explain the importance of Sabbath.”

NO from the foundation of the earth, the great mystery of Salvation was planned exactly. He chose and determined the great day of our Redemption to be on Sunday--the DAY OF THE LORD!!

The early church understood this great and mighty day, foretold from the beginning. Known as the eighth day, the first day in the eternal cycle of grace and mercy.

Death, where is thy sting?! Now the powers of hell were broken, the cosmos again could rejoice in the victory as on Sunday, the Lamb that was slain stood before the Great and Almighty Father and offered His blood for our salvation in the Heaven of Heavens (John 20:17, Revelation 1:18).

Sunday Jesus met with His disciples and ordained them, breathing upon them the Holy Spirit and pronouncing peace. (John 20:19-22)

Sunday, many dead arose and were seen. (Matthew 27:51-53)

Sunday, the first NEW COVENANT gospel was preached. (Luke 24:34)

Sunday, Jesus opened the minds of His disciples to understand the gospel. (Luke 24: 27, 45).

Sunday is when our Salvation was complete. It became the day at Pentecost when the tongue of fire ignited the church.

Adventists, we who celebrate Sunday wish you greetings as you drive to church on Sabbath. But for you who believe that worshipping and celebrating Sunday as the LORD’S day is somehow not biblical and even consider it an evil, please rethink your position. It is not Biblical.

It is good to celebrate the day the Lord was risen from the dead. Hallelujah!!

Note: This is for those who believe the New Testament scriptures are the infallible, Spirit-breathed, Word of God. Thank to Reverend D. M Canright and his book, Observance of Sunday in the First Centuries.

What's So Wrong With Being Wrong?

There on fourth street in Keene, Texas lived my Aunt Lila Beth Creel. If you lived for anytime in Keene and went to public school you knew her. On Sabbath afternoons, after potluck at her old, old house (now torn down for the Hopps development) the Hopps men--Herbert, Cecil, Jim, John, Frankie and the cousin Frys--David, Ed and Kenneth would congregate in her living room and discuss politics and religion. When all the kids my age and younger were out playing, I would be sitting on Lila Beth's swiveling dark stained piano stool--listening. I loved, couldn't wait for, family gatherings because I would sit there like Sponge Bob absorbing all the different perspectives and arguments.

Occasionally the little skinny and only girl in the corner (me) would pipe up and say something--usually to the great irritation of the men--and I would immediately be shut down, exposing my youth and ignorance. I was wrong and needed to shut up and listen to wisdom and knowledge.

Through the years, if they would have ever noticed and I doubt they did, I grew up listening, listening and calculating and examining their arguments, learning how to check for possible weaknesses in their points. And more I would venture to add my own comments--the older teenager in the corner (now my feet could touch the floor sitting on the old swivel chair). My siblings and cousins long ago giving up on getting me to come play with them outdoors, now it was the women who wanted me to come help clean up potluck. I helped, but hurried back into the discussion room (usually men-only) as fast as I could in case I missed some brilliant point.

What I learned is that ideas thrown out for public exposure get shot down--even if they are right. But the greatest thing is that they are easily shot down when they are WRONG! As embarrassing as it is to have your ideas and thoughts ridiculed, it still helps you to see the errors of your thinking. It is never fun to be wrong, but what a thrill to be set on the right track!

For a time I was sent off to an SDA boarding school-- Valley Grande Academy near the Mexico border. There were some girls there who were very vocal about their dislike of me. They called me stuck up. I became incredibly defensive and then I thought about Aunt Lila Beth's house. Whether or not the idea was hurtful, the more important point for me to focus on was whether the criticism was right! If I examined it objectively and change where I needed to change, I had turned what the girl meant for harm and insult into a great advantage and positive effect in my life.

Being wrong isn't the worst thing in the world--embarrassing, humiliating, maybe even heartbreaking and horrifying at times, but the worst thing would be to continue to be wrong when you could have been right.

On my blogs and facebook, we get into a lot of discussions about politics and religion. There are some people out there who are mortified by disagreement, by exposing someone's faulty thinking or hurting their feelings. To me it is enlightening, I feel I am back, sitting on my corner piano stool listening in and learning--but this time to a whole new set of thinkers. I throw out my opinions like skeet and watch how people try to shoot them down. Some hit the target and I have learned from the experience. I am wrong--so what? Now I can walk away from my "wrongness" and figure out what is right. The person has HELPED me!!

I naively assume others are like myself--my husband constantly telling me I am wrong again! Very few people, he assures me, actually want to know if they are wrong. Most people only want to snuggle up to those who agree with them and live peacefully in error-land, never looking under rocks or past the foggy illusions of their beliefs. They live in a type of smothered fear, learning precisely which stones to step on in their way, for to try any new stone, to look up in any new direction would mean having to admit they were wrong.

I say bahumbug! Be wrong! It only hurts for a minute. So what? Who are we to protect our little precious opinions and guard the gates of our prejudices! Open wide the windows of your mind and let in a little sunlight and salty sea air. You may cough a few times, but its okay! We all survive wrongness and the embarrassment that accompanies it. It just proves to ourselves that we are not God.

Commandment: Do Not Bear False Witness

I know... I know that Adventists are sincere. 

They do not mean to bear false witness against their neighbor. But they do it all the time. Their entire sect is based upon the idea that it is wrong to worship on Sunday and that Constantine changed the Sabbath to Sunday...

NONE of this is true. Christians have always, since the day of Resurrection worshipped on Sunday.

Jesus rose on Sunday. (Matt. 28: 1; Mark 16:2, 9; John 20:1)

That evening, He appeared to His disciples who were behind a locked door and consecrated them for His service. SUNDAY.

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. John 20: 19-22.

A week later (John 20:26) the disciples were again together worshipping and Jesus appeared to them. SUNDAY.

Pentecost was on a Sunday, which many point to as the beginning of the Christian church.

The New Testament records they attended worship services on Sunday. (Acts 20: 7; I Cor. 16: 2.)

The Lord's Day (Gk, kyriake hemera) was a common phrase for Sunday. This was used by John in Revelation. (I have heard Adventists say this was a reference, not to Sunday but to the final day of Judgment. However, the common phrase for that was hemera tou kyriou, never kyriake hermera).

There are also references in first and early second century Christian writings that affirm Christians worshipped on Sunday.

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles or Didache 14, "But on the Lord's Day, after that ye have assembled together, break bread and give thanks, having in addition confessed your sins, that your sacrifice may be pure." This is a reference to the Acts two breaking of the bread on the first day.

110 A.D., St. Ignatius of Antioch (letter to the Magnesians) "If, then, those who had walked in ancient practices attained unto newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living according to the Lord’s life . . ."

The mid-second century, Gospel of Peter, (even though the work was not written by Peter and was not included in the canon, it is a historical document) records the early church worshipping on Sunday.

There is also the writings of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth in his letter to the Romans (2nd. century) "Today we have kept the Lord's holy day" The Lord's holy day being the same words as used for Sunday.

Another second century document, Acts of Peter, calls The Lord's Day (Dies Domini) "the next day after the Sabbath."

Justin Martyr wrote of the Lord's Day, Sunday, as fulfilling the eighth day symbolism in scripture. (2nd century).

There was a clear distinction by the second century between The Lord's Day and Sabbath. They WERE NOT the same day, nor was Sunday considered a "sabbath." From the beginning Christians celebrated Sunday as a memorial of the resurrection. In fact they worshipped every day of the week. Constantine never changed Saturday worship into Sunday worship because the early church had ALWAYS worshipped on Sunday (and Saturday--that is how we get our weekend!). Constantine merely signed a law of tolerance so it would be legal for the Christians to do what they had ALWAYS done--worship on Sunday.

It is a terrible false witness to teach that Christians who worship on Sunday are breaking the commandments and that Christians never worshipped on Sunday until Constantine. It is a terrible false witness against your neighbor to teach that one day those who worship on Sunday will receive the mark of the Beast. No Biblical texts come close to saying that.

I know I am getting redundant here, but it bears repeating to Adventists:

The Apostles worshipped on Sunday! (Actually every day!) If you believe the Apostles got it wrong, then you have to dismiss all the New Testament as false. Please note this: THE APOSTLES WORSHIPPED on SUNDAY! It's okay to worship God on Sunday. It's okay to worship God any day of the week.

Adventists, we beseech you as our brothers and sisters in Christ to repent of this terrible lie repeated generation after generation. You teach that the Ten Commandments are God's law for today, well using your own standard, one of these eternal laws is DON'T BEAR FALSE WITNESS! Please, for the sake of your own souls, please cease misrepresenting scripture and misrepresenting history, stop the slander against your neighbor.