VICTORIOUS SABBATH-KEEPERS IN CHINA by Paul Wong

“Healing enabled a young man to change worshiping on Sunday to the Sabbath. When I attended Sabbath Service at the True Jesus Church in Fuzhou our brothers and sisters introduced me to a young man who had previously been a member of a Sunday-keeping church. He had a strange mental sickness that seemed to be incurable. The whole church prayed for him but to no avail. They asked permission from the Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) Council and brought him to other Sunday-keeping churches for prayer. Still there was no cure for his sickness. They decided to bring this young man to attend the Sabbath service of the True Jesus Church. The TJC straightaway recognized the young man’s mental sickness was demon possession. The minister urged the whole congregation to fast and pray. They cast out the demon in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and within the same hour the young man was totally restored to his normal self. According to TSPM’s rules the young man should return to the Sunday-keeping Church after the healing, but he voluntarily made an application to stay with the TJC. Here is an exceptional case in Fuzhou where the TSPM allowed one Christian to change church denominational membership…”

(This article is an excerpt from the Jan-Feb 2001 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 12, click this link:

http://biblesabbath.org/tss/487/tss_487.pdf

How I Learned About the Sabbath

By Sister Willis

The Lord stared dealing with me right after I was filled with His Spirit about the Sabbath. He also showed me about the pagan holidays.  Of course I went to my pastor and talked with him about it.  He said that I was falling into false doctrine and that I needed to forget about it.  I had been taught to obey those who have rule over you, so I tried to forget it. However, the Lord kept bringing it to my mind and I would study some more.  It was so plain; I could not see why they did not want to believe it.

Well, one day I prayed, “Lord, if this is really true, you show me a church that keeps the Sabbath, Baptism in Jesus Name, the Holiness Standards, and no Pagan Holidays and I will go.” Guess what?  He did on March 9^th l985.

Sister Patsy who went to the Peru, Indiana church with me asked if I would like to go meet her mother and family up by Knox. I said I would.  We went up to her family’s home and spent the day.  Late in the afternoon she asked me if I would like to go to the church where she was filled with the Holy Ghost.  Of course I did, so we went.

Sister Grace Irwin (the Pastor’s daughter) testified, and when she did, she mentioned the Sabbath. I do not know what she said about it only my ears shot up when she said, “Sabbath.”  I poked Sister Pasty and she grinned at me, for we had studied about the Sabbath together, she also had a good friend that used to go to church at Peru who believed in the Sabbath.  She had moved before I started going there.

After the service, we were in the car to go home when Pastor Cleda was coming down the steps. I pulled up and rolled down the window. “Sister Cleda, what do you believe about the Sabbath?”  “It’s Saturday; we keep it!” was her reply.

“Praise the Lord, what about the holidays?” I quickly asked. “They are pagan!” she replied. Well, I already knew they Baptized in Jesus Name and kept the Holiness Standards. I could not believe it! God had answered my prayer, now it was up to me to keep my word to Him, but it took me from March to September to go.

I went to Knox Indiana, in September 1985, and started attending the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was a Jesus Name, Holiness, Sabbath keeping Church. Sister Cleda Fahlgren was my Pastor; there are seven United Pentecostal Jesus Name Churches that came out of her church in that area. It was like going to Bible School; we would sit up all night talking about the Word of God.

The Lord had called me into the Ministry October 10th 1984. I had told Sis. Cleda about that, and she started letting me Preach and teach Bible Study, then July 8th 1990 Pastor Cleda Fahlgren and Pastor Jimmy Whitfield Ordained me. I Praise the Lord that my mother got to be there with me.

I do not take this lightly for I am a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ and He has seen fit for me to be an Ordained Minister used of Him.

Isaiah 61:1 – “The Spirit of the Lord God (is) upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to (them that are) bound;”

This testimony was given by Sis Willis of the Apostolic Revival Center in Peru, Indiana. It is an excerpt from a book that she is presently working on, but not yet published.

http://www.revivalcenterperu.com/

52 Sabbath Activities for Teen Groups

By Don Pate

Here are 52 proven, surefire, guaranteed ─ fun activities to make Sabbath really special for teens! Each activity section gives you step-by-step instructions for making it happen and tells you what preparation and materials you’ll need and the minimum time required for the activity. Whether you’re a youth leader, teacher, or pastor, you’ll find this book a valuable resource for creating Sabbaths that bring teens exciting fellowship with God and Christian friends.

To order this book, just click the link below:

https://biblesabbath.org/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=104&=SID

Who Is My Enemy

Kenneth Ryland

“Let the bloodletting continue!” As Christians that should be our announcement to the world. One of the amazing characteristics of the Christian Church of the twenty-first century is that we are unable to define our enemies. But worse yet, we cannot even seem to identify our friends. It is a constant source of bewilderment to me to see how Christian people who were the best of friends one day can accuse each other of being “agents of the devil” the next. I have been a Christian for over 35 years and could write volumes on the abuse that Christians suffer at the hands of their brethren. The devil has little to do these days because Christians are doing all his work for him. Occasionally he may have to step in and tidy up a few “loose ends” after brother has skewered brother, but essentially, he allows us to do his work for him — and we seem more than willing to do all the devil’s work “in the name of the Lord.”

As a Sabbath-keeper I have belonged to groups that have made sport of Sunday-keepers over their lack of “knowledge of the Truth” about the Sabbath. I have also been shunned by Sunday-keeping “friends” who were horrified when they discovered that I attend church on Saturday and refused even to sit down as friend with friend to discuss the matter — presumably for fear that they might be contaminated by the devil himself. After all, how could I “turn from grace” back to the law? In the world of Sunday-keeping Christians many anti-rapturists absolutely detest the rapturists. Some say that if you speak in tongues, you are of the devil; others contend that if you don’t, you are of the devil. Then there are the once-saved-always-saved Calvinists against the Arminian-Wesleyan groups. If there is any pretext for division, those who call themselves Christians will find it…”

(This article is an excerpt from the May-June 2001 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 10, click this link:

http://biblesabbath.org/tss/489/tss_489.pdf

What is the meaning of Colossians 2:16?

By Calvin Burrell

This second chapter of Colossians contains a series of warnings against false teachings that threatened the church in Colosse. “Let no one deceive, or cheat, or judge, or spoil you,” Paul says, “with persuasive words” (v. 4), by philosophy and man’s traditions (v. 8), in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,” (v.16), or “in false humility and worship of angels” (v.18).

Scholars recognize in these terms the elements of a syncretistic brand of first-century faith that would later be called gnosticism.  It blended Christian and Judaic elements with astrological, angelic, philosophical and ascetic influences.  Paul objected to this perverted mixture of man-made religion because it refused to recognize the supremacy of Jesus and the salvation He brought.

Note the emphasis given to Christ throughout this passage:

* in Him are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge (v. 3);

* in Him all the fullness of the Deity lives (v.9);

* we are complete in Christ (v. 10);

* He is the true circumciser and baptizer (vv. 11, 12);

* He raises us, forgives us, and defeats our enemies (vv. 13-15);

* Jesus is our head (v. 19).

Paul’s primary burden in this chapter is to uphold the essential nature of faith in Christ, when compared with other forms of religious expression.

Not that all other expressions are wrong.  Many of the elements Paul mentions in Colossians chapter 2 have a place in the life of faith:  good philosophy, Christian baptism, wholesome eating and drinking, the fruit of self-control, and respect for the role of angels.  It is not the use of food and drink or holy days that Paul deplores in verse sixteen, but their misuse. Why, then, should we employ this text to abolish the joyful observance of a weekly Sabbath kept in honor to Christ?  No, we need not force the text in this manner!

The message of this book is that none of these religious elements separately, or as a package, can take the place of Christ.  Paul is no more against the Sabbath here than he is against eating and drinking.  He is, however, against anything that effectively dislodges Christ from the central and pre-eminent position in our faith (see Colossians 1:13-19; 2:2, 3, 9, 10, 17; 3:1, 11).

Paul consistently supports the moral law of God as a standard for human conduct, but not as a method for personal salvation.  In Colossians alone, he alludes to nine of the Commandments–and to all ten if the meeting in 2:16 is on Sabbath.

Understood in this way, these tough texts agree fully with other Scripture, and the Bible is unanimous:  the Sabbath is God’s gift for the benefit of His people, designed for ceasing routine labor and practicing the priority of Christ and His Kingdom.

Enjoy the gift!

Calvin presently serves as the secretary of the BSA board.