A Prophet like unto Moses

by Monte Judah

(This article is an excerpt from the March – April 2007 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

“When John the Baptist was in the wilderness, there was great expectation for several prophecies to be fulfilled. First and foremost, the Messiah was expected to come and throw out the occupying Romans. There was great hope that the Messiah would rise up from among the poor, the countrymen of the land. The primary prophetic text for this expectation was from Deuteronomy. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him'” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

The second great expectation concerned the prophet Elijah. The prophet Elijah was expected to somehow return and restore the families of Israel. The prophecy of Elijah is mentioned at every Passover; they even set a cup for Elijah anticipating his return. The primary prophetic text for this expectation was from Malachi. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6). There was also the expectation of another person who would come and be a part of the events leading to the Messianic age. No, I am not referring to John the Baptist himself, the “one crying in the wilderness.” The New Testament speaks of this expectation in the first interchange with John the Baptist.”

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 14, click this link:

http://biblesabbath.org/tss/524/tss_524.pdf

Meditation on Zechariah 8:16 – 17

By Lenny Cacchio

These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this—this is the Lord’s declaration. (Zechariah 8: 16-17, Holman Christian Standard Bible)

God makes four mandates here:

1. Speak truth to your neighbor.
2. Make true and sound decisions in your gates, “gates” being the place where legal matters were settled.
3. Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor.
4. Do not love perjury.

When I was reading those two verses, the state of my country’s political environment came to mind.  Imagine for a second a political campaign where each and every candidate applied these four rules. Imagine further our governmental institutions living by those principles during their deliberations. Such a milieu seems like a pipe dream given our contemporary experiences, but surely if enacted our viewing of the evening news would no longer be an exercise in blood pressure management.

But the blame for this state of affairs cannot be placed entirely at the feet of those in the public square. They act the way they do for one reason: it works! We the People allow them to succeed when they act like SOB’s because we condone such behavior when it is our SOB’s who are doing it.

If We the People have a role in the incivility of our times, We the People must take the lead in reversing it.

Currently I serve on two commissions established by the city in which I live. Because these appointments are overseen by city officials the deliberations have the risk of becoming politically charged. I was gobsmacked personally when I stumbled across that passage in Zechariah, and I took that as a mandate to personally repudiate today’s standard practices in favor of the model of the Four Mandates, and to model it in such a way that it will appeal to the better angels of the other commissioners’ nature. We can still disagree, for disagree we must, but we can at least raise the level of discourse so necessary in a civil society.

In the one-man show Give ’em Hell, Harry , the newly inaugurated President Truman is depicted writing a letter to his daughter Margaret. The letter is likely fictional, but the sentiment is real:

And finally, Margaret, to be a good president I fear that a man cannot be his own mentor. He cannot live the Sermon on the Mount. He has to be a Machiavelli, a Caesar, a Borgia, an unctuous religio, a liar, a what-not to be successful.  So I probably won’t be. But I’m having a lot of fun trying the opposite approach. Maybe it’ll win. Lots of love, Dad.

In a fallen culture where Machiavelli and Borgia are the virtual patron saints it will be fun to try this, whether it be in the coffee house, the White House, or City Hall.

Post Script:  If you are wondering how the world would look if we practiced the Four Mandates of Zechariah 8, read that chapter in its entirety.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Lenny Cacchio has a blog on the Bible Sabbath Association website. You can follow him at the following weblink: http://biblesabbath.org/index.php?pr=Lenny_Cacchio_Blog

This blog was originally posted on Saturday, February 20, 2016

The King’s Daughter and Other Stories For Girls

By J.E. White

This book contains stories to teach girls character and how to deal with difficult moral decisions. These stories were compiled from orphanage stories used in the United States many years ago. Fortunately, Godly character does not have a time period attached to it. These timeless stories will encourage girls to choose right from wrong. Read them to your children and even grandchildren!

To order this book, just click the link below:

https://biblesabbath.org/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=47&=SID

How My Family Found Out About the Sabbath

By Kelly Vonner

In the fall of 2008, my husband and I were active members at a small COGIC (Church of God in Christ) congregation in Clarendon, Texas named True. At the time, my husband was the assistant coach at the local junior college and I worked as a high school math teacher in the neighboring town of Memphis, Texas. We thought we had our lives planned out. My husband aspired to be a Division 1 Head Coach and I knew I could teach math anywhere. Needless to say, God had other plans.

My husband’s basketball team experienced the worst season ever, and Jeremy found himself spending more time at home. One day in prayer he asked to Lord to reveal His truth to him. I didn’t know about his request at the time, but the Lord had prompted me to create a prayer wall for our home. Within a few weeks Jeremy had added his request for truth to the prayer wall along with request for our eyes to be opened.

One night he revealed his struggle to understand the scriptures in the Bible. We prayed, we cried and we prayed some more. Our pursuit intensified that night. Within days we discovered God’s Learning Channel (GLC) on television and Jeremy dove head-first into the Book of Jeremiah. At the time God’s Learning Channel was a network that was committed to sharing the truth of God’s Word. It was this network that opened our eyes to the Sabbath. We would watch shows that featured Brad Scott, Bill Cloud, Dr. William McDonald, Tony Robinson, Avi Ben Mordechai, Uri Harel, Dr. Brad Young, and Jay Swallow. Jeremy would study all day. I was amazed at the zeal and fire that began to exude from his spirit.

During this time we were still very active with our church. We would set apart Friday sundown to Saturday sundown but still attend services on Sunday. Jeremy was ready to stop attending altogether, but I encouraged him to speak with our pastor and see his point of view. Jeremy had decided that we would speak with our pastor on the next Wednesday night Bible Study. Coincidentally, the title of the lesson was Choosing God or man. The pastor couldn’t understand or grasp what we were trying to say, but by the end of church on Sunday, I knew that it was time to move on. Jeremy had one more conversation with our pastor that ended with him asking Jeremy why he couldn’t just accept the good with the bad. At that moment the line was drawn and we had chosen as a family to stand on the side of truth.

I praise God for my husband; he yielded to the voice of the Lord and ushered his family into a way of life that has brought liberty, understanding, light and truth into our realm. It has not been easy, but living this truth becomes more and more precious at each and every Friday sunset. The Sabbath, the day my God sanctified and blessed is weekly being etched in my heart and mind as peace and joy personified. The Sabbath, the day my God rested from His work leaves me refreshed, whole, and rejuvenated. His rest is my rest. His yoke is upon me and His burden is life. The Sabbath reminds me that it is my duty and my reasonable service to honor and obey my King. It is in our obedience that we truly display a boldness for Him; therefore, I rest in Him on the Sabbath.

Kelly and her husband Jeremy have been observing the Sabbath together for many years. 

Sabbath Truth – Free Videos!

This free website has instructional videos and articles about the Sabbath. One of the prominent features available through this group is a 10-part series understanding the history of the Sabbath.

Just click the link below to access this FREE resource!

http://www.sabbathtruth.com/free-resources/seventh-day-video-series/id/966/the-seventh-day-part-1

Cause & Effect

by Brian Knowles

(This article is an excerpt from the May-June 2006 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

“Life, as it daily unfolds on this planet, is largely a matter of cause & effect. Things don’t just happen – they happen for reasons. We don’t always know the reasons, but if we probe deeply enough, we may discover at least some of them. My wife, for example, suffers from migraine headaches (as do some 23 million other Americans). She knows some of the reasons why she gets these devastating headaches – food allergies for example – but she doesn’t yet know the main reason. She can reduce the number of headaches she gets by avoiding the offending foods, but she cannot eradicate them entirely, because there is some deeper cause of which she is as yet unaware. For many years, I have been subject to asthmatic attacks. I know virtually all of the triggers for these attacks, so, for the most part I am able to avoid them.

There are some things – like smog and pollen – that I can’t realistically avoid, so when those are bad, I experience symptoms. I do what I can to control those symptoms with patent medicines and efforts to eat “clean” and detoxify my body. (Yes, I realize that the use of patent medicines and detoxification are mutually exclusive ideas.) I stay away from certain kinds of dogs, all cats and horses, and, where possible, dust. These are minor examples of cause & effect. The condition of the whole world is the cumulative result of a myriad of cause & effect factors, many of which we don’t fully understand, some of which we do, and others about which we are in denial. Some of the causes of present day problems were set in motion centuries – perhaps millennia – ago. Like ripples in a lake, they spread out until they finally hit the shore. When we, as Christians, seek to analyze these cause & effect factors, we are sometimes guilty of gross oversimplification. In many cases, causes are multiple and complex. Everything bad that happens is not simply the result of “sin.” Sometimes it’s a lack of expertise or knowledge on the part of someone who’s causing something…”

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 8, click this link:

http://biblesabbath.org/tss/519/tss_519.pdf

Is Christ the “End” of the Sabbath? (Romans 10:1-4)

By Kelly McDonald, Jr.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:1-4 – NKJV)

The Greek word for “end” is teleos, and it can mean “to terminate, a goal, the purpose at which something is directed, or a tax.” Some put forth the idea that this verse means that Christ is the termination of the Law. What does it really mean?

One thing to keep in mind when we study the Bible is that every verse has a context. The meaning of this verse can be ascertained by previous statements by Paul in the letter to the Romans and also by the Words of Jesus.

In an another blog, we explained that Jesus did not come to destroy, terminate, or loosen the law (CLICK HERE to read this article). He came to fulfill it or fill its meaning to the full. When Jesus came, the meaning of the Law became magnified.

In Romans 3:31, Paul provided more context for us that clarifies this subject. “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.” The Greek word for void is katargeo, and it means “to render idle, unemployed, inactivate, inoperative – to deprive of force, influence or power… to cause a person or thing to have no further efficiency or terminate”. So, our faith in Christ does not weaken the power or influence of the Law. It does not terminate the law’s effectiveness. Instead, the law is upheld or established by our faith. It is made more firm.

In Romans 3:31, Paul established a foundation of understanding for us to properly interpret Romans 10:1-4. From the context of Paul’s own letter and the words of Jesus, we can see that the proper interpretation of Romans 10:4 is that Christ is the goal or purpose of the Law.

Our Salvation in Christ should result in obedience to the Law, not terminate it. This is definitely true for the Sabbath; Jesus declared Himself Lord of this day (Mark 2:27-28).  This means that the purpose of the Sabbath is Christ, who honored it throughout His life.

Kelly is the President of the BSA www.biblesabbath.org