us to catch up what’s happening. And do you have the impression that things are accelerating at speeds that we have not really experienced in our own lifetime before?
And that that that makes us feel that God is calling us to head into these times not only well informed but with
our hearts well prepared. We need both discernment and heart preparation.
So before we start our um presentation now let’s just have a word of prayer together. Our father in heaven, we thank you that we can come here this morning
to explore and reflect upon issues that we’re facing in our nation and globally
things accelerating at greater and greater speeds. Lord, we want to be equipped not only mentally, spiritually,
but also in our hearts and souls. And as we engage the topic that uh has been prepared for now, may you open our
minds, may you open our hearts. May every one of us have something for him or herself that will be a blessing, an encouragement, and an enlightenment. And
we thank you for your presence in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
We’re going to reflect in this topic on uh in this uh presentation on a few themes that are acceleratingly
challenging every Christian in this nation and even beyond our borders.
uh first I’ll give you introduction on a couple of themes that are all important for us and then we’ll focus on this
topic right here and uh if you move go to the next slide uh the
main theme today is Sabbath at the crossroads of authority who has the final word
who has the final word and as you know uh as things go towards Towards the end of history, authority will be one of the
big issues. Who really has the final word? Because we have to when we face crossroads, when we have to make decisions, we’re having options to
choose from. We want to know who we’re listening to, what guide we are following.
So, let’s see if it works now. There we go. So, the question is, who has the final word in matters of faith and practice? What would you say when you get that question?
And most Christian would say God, right?
But it’s not as trivial as that if you would ask around in American society what the general American thinks. The picture might look quite different
actually. So what happens when authorities give different answers? Have you heard somebody here says do this,
somebody here says do not do it. What do you then do? What is your choice?
and we might face those challenges and grapple and wrestle and not be sure really maybe what path to take.
So there are a couple of current themes where we all are facing different kinds of authorities.
Let me just start out here and I I I made some I I custom made this here for the presentation. These are boxes here. They’re going to have labels on it.
We’re going to use all of them. It’s going to be very physical presentation.
Um, we’ll see how it works out. It’s kind of an experiment, but we have the three big boxes here are authority.
I’m going to place it over here so that those who sit on the sidelines can um um see what would you say is one huge
authority for Christians as they make decisions?
The scripture, right? So first authority is scripture and we’ll put this box uh right here.
Scripture is a very important authority.
Now what are some other authorities that we actually might face as we live in our society?
For example,
okay, Holy Spirit maybe that goes together with scripture. But what other authorities that society and culture or society likes to listen to?
government, pardon, civil authorities, maybe church authorities,
maybe science,
maybe culture. Now, would you would you say those are part of scripture?
So, let’s put up another box. And what would be a good label for those authorities that are not in scripture?
Let’s call them external authorities. We’ll place them right over here.
External authorities.
I hope you can read the boxes where you sit. So, I have these two authorities here and there’s a tension between them.
And which authority exerts more pressure on the other as you see society today? Do you have
the impression that culture and society is exerting pressure on those who want to follow scripture or is the other way around?
Well, maybe it’s kind of changing. The landscape is shifting the videos we saw.
It might kind of perhaps level up. We’ll see how that works. But what are three themes? There are three themes that come out of scripture from the first chapters
in scripture that all are related to authority. What themes come to our minds?
Well, one theme that is related to authority and the authority we choose will often determine how we view things
and will determine also how we go about our lives. One topic is for example origins
and if you follow the scriptural authority then you would realize there’s a seven-day creation.
Now the authority that is not based on scripture, what would they say about the origins?
They would call it what?
They would call it in regards to origins, they would call it not creation.
What would atheists call it? They would call it evolution based on naturalism.
So we got here these opposite poles.
Scripture reveals creation. Science promotes evolution.
And there’s kind of showdown on this theme. Maybe it’s not as visible and maybe not as tangible and felt in
everyday life as other but still very prominent because the view and origins will determine your entire worldview,
your values and many other things. It’s kind of like a in the background influence upon all of society. Now
there’s another issue that comes out of or another theme that comes out of a Genesis that also
is under pressure from different authorities. What theme could that be?
We have here gender.
Now scripture would reveal to us what about gender male and female.
So there we have that theme. Now if you go into culture and society secular what would they call it?
Male and female binary or would they call it something else?
What’s the popular label that we have right now since 10 15 years?
It’s called LG LGBT2 plus. I just left out the plus there.
So the second theme now there’s probably more tension on this theme than on origins, right?
Are have you noticed that in the last 15 years the tension between the creation story male and female and LGBTQ is increasing exponentially.
you get cancelled if you’re not on the LGBTQ train very quickly. So there we have now it would be great if we just
had scripture and then external non-scripture science or culture others but there’s something
that makes this more complicated and now it gets really confusing.
What is missing so far in these stacks?
There’s a lot of space between the two, right? Is there something missing?
It’s not called scripture. It’s not called external. It would be called,
you know, when culture society is ex is is is uh having a lot of pressure on believers,
what often happens to the believers? Do in what direction do they drift?
They drift this way and eventually they end up right here now. It’s not called scripture. It’s not called external. What would you call it?
Do you have a suggestion?
There were a number of words. Some were too long to fit. I just said mixed,
which is another simpler word for synretatism, which means you mix. So here is where the problems start now
because now you have ideas and ideologies that are neither
truly scriptural neither truly non-scriptural. They’re sort of in the middle. Now for the topic of origins,
when Christians start flirting with naturalism and evolution and think that’s a great way to go and mix it with Christian faith,
what do we call that view on origins? We call it theistic evolution.
And you would be surprised how evangelicals today are drifting into this big time. Bologos is a is an
organization um maybe it’s in Michigan or somewhere else where they have their their faith their their statement about
themselves. It says we affirm the authority of the scripture the authoritative word but we also
affirm the authority of evolutionary science.
And they say it in two sentences right next to each other.
Evangelicals, mainline Christians, you have it even more. But it’s drifting into the churches. Now for gender,
what do we have here? Well, here we have now LGBTQ integrated. That means they
have a Christian worldview, but it’s mixed with LGBTQ gender ideology and identity. It’s like Christian LGBTQ.
Episcopal Church, for example, or the Lutheran Church of Sweden, they are fully open for same-sex marriages. Uh,
LGBTQ women or men can all be ordained to the ministry.
So, we’re having here two areas with a lot of pressure points, but the confusion is here because it mixes two world views. Now,
is there another theme in Genesis that would be the third theme
besides origins and besides gender and identity? What would that be?
It would be about which day of the week is sacred.
Scripture would say it’s a seventh day Sabbath.
Now for the external we will not now go to society of secularist because an atheist doesn’t really care about which day is sacred.
So external in this case would not mean culture and society. it would mean something else
and would say it’s Sunday.
Now the Catholic Church is having that position. So we have here scripture 7th day Sabbath, Catholic Church Sunday.
But which of the three did we realize was the more confusing one that really gets people not knowing where to go?
The middle stack. It’s not scripture.
It’s not Catholic church. What is it?
What’s that box? That missing box in the middle.
It is also Sunday but slightly different kind of Sunday. I
call it inherited because it didn’t come from here where there’s a mix again between
scriptural ideas and theology but also things from outside of scripture.
So we have these three themes all from Genesis.
And my impression is that the themes that come out of Genesis, the first two chapters, will also be the themes in the final showdown at the end of history.
Satan is using attacking those three core truths that came out of Genesis 1 and two and is attacking all three of
them in different ways because attacking each one of these will take down faith,
will make people lose sight of God, and then make wrong decisions and be lost.
But the question is which one is in part more effective
the external or the mixed in diluting faith and confusing minds.
So these are the authorities and the three current themes. So we will from now on
only focus on the sacred day. So I will remove now data boxes
from each and put them over here in the back.
And from now on we’ll just focus on the theme of the Sabbath and Sunday
because we know from prophecy
that a large part or the final showdown will be on this very topic.
If you meet a Christian that holds to Sunday,
do you have the tools to engage in that conversation? And often we feel like intimidated,
right? We’re perhaps used to talk among each other. But encountering others, evangelicals,
Lutherans, mainland Protestants, even Catholics, do we feel that we’re equipped?
And today, I want to help you to understand the bigger picture.
And in the hope that this might equip us and to understand the things that are happening.
Now for each for each of the three authorities here scripture,
mixed and eternal external.
We will now go a little bit more in depth
and to study um what these different days of these different theologies are about.
So five p perspectives for each stack.
If we go to scripture and talk about Sabbath, we realize that
the root of Sabbath is where is in the creation story. So it is creation rooted.
And that’s good news because that means we’re at the beginning of history. And my question to you is was Sabbath given
to man before or after sin came? Of course before. And that make gives it a very unique status uh that we all should
remember. We know the text in Genesis 2:es 2 and 3 where it says on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it rested from all his work which God had created and made. So the seventh day is rooted in
creation. You cannot separate the two of them. They just belong together.
Predates sin. Predates the Israel nation by many many years at the very very first week in the history of this planet.
Now that is where the Sabbath began.
Now there’s another perspective. So this is the origin of the Sabbath. Another perspective is what is now
the authority that is connected with the seventh day Sabbath that came from creation.
Who is giving that day its authority? It’s God himself. He’s the creator.
So we go here and have then perspective number two next to origin
who is now the authority and I was supposed to scroll the screen here. So
we have here where does it come from and then who defines uh what the Sabbath is all about. And
you know, it’s interesting in Exodus 16 and verse 23, even before the ten commandments are issued in conjunction
with the mana falling down for the first time. In Exodus 16, it goes like this.
This is what the Lord has said. Who has said it? The Lord.
Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will,
bake today, and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until the morning.
That was instruction four chapters before the ten commandments come in Exodus 20. God speaks. That was the
command. So that means then that God commanded um everything in relationship to the Sabbath.
The next question we can ask is then well
where else do we find here some uh moral um
perspectives in regards to how the Sabbath is observed and uh where we find that. So if we go further down into the
story in Exodus and end up in Exodus 20 where we have the ten commandments,
then we realize that the Sabbath is embedded right there in the decalogue,
not anywhere else. Commandment number four out of 10, embedded in that law of God that was written by God’s finger on
material of stone, indestructible. Only God could change it. He was the author. Man could not even touch it.
And there he was. and did that. So he realized that um in the moral law it’s embedded that
six days shall you work and the seventh day is the day is the day is the Sabbath the day of rest and there are other
texts that support that same theme. If you continue in a scriptural perspective how long Sabbath will last and we could
go through many texts we realize that Sabbath will last how long?
Well, we have that wonderful text in Isaiah chapter 66 that tells us that Sabbath will even be
celebrated in eternity. It will not change. For as the new heavens and the new earth, Isaiah 66:22-23,
For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, so shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass
that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me. And Jesus said in Matthew 5, you remember,
not one jot or one title will uh will go away from from the commandments um until heaven and earth pass away.
And the final and the fifth perspective that we find here and we could find others but actually most sub perspectives can then be projected into
any of these five. The next one is then what is then the significance and this is big big and very important. There’s
something connected with the Sabbath that’s very unique. Not only is it bound to creation but it’s also a special sign of the covenant.
And that that’s a very strong and deep meaning there. And we know the text in Exodus 31 where it says it is a sign
between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. That was verse 17. And the verse before that said therefore the
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. And covenant is very
important because it signifies something about the depth. Sabbath is not an intellectual exercise. Sabbath is not just a theoretical knowledge. It’s very
deep. It’s about the relationship between us and God.
And you know we we can go to church every single Sabbath, but you know it can become a habit.
It can become like a checklist.
Our hearts may not be really fully in, but this tells us it’s not only about
knowing who the creator is and what day he has blessed and made sacred. It’s about living a life together with Jesus.
Otherwise, it’s just mechanical.
Otherwise, it’s just being a traditional Christian. Otherwise, it’s just being a checkbox believer.
So there’s depth, there’s power,
there’s a blessing in the Sabbath as in no other day.
And you know here in our local community,
uh we had Dr. Bakayoki whom wrote many books on the Sabbath which are a true blessing to read and you know open up
many perspectives on what the Sabbath could mean and has is intended to mean for each one of us.
Now,
if you’re going out to the Catholic Church,
they say that we have authority that’s outside of scripture.
And so when we ask the first question about their view on the Sabbath,
they will not say creation rooted. What will they say?
They will say well that or originated within the church itself among the believers.
They will refer to the first Christians in the hundreds, 200s and 300s AD
after the apostolic age and they will make a big emphasis on a
couple of historic writings, Justin Martyr for example or others. But if you read those writings, you realize that there’s just a sentence here or there.
It’s not much substance. So the references are far and few between. But we do know that there were changes taking place historically. And they
refer to that and make that a a a a decided authoritative source for their decisions.
Then for the church authority,
who defines it? Well, for the Catholic case, who is it?
Is it the is it God commanded like for scripture? No, it is church authority.
So human authority comes in there and then makes different claims and sets different uh theologies up and
requirements and expectations towards the believers.
We can read about that in the catechism for example page 97 in the latest catechism from 1994 that’s the current one. It goes
like this quote sacred tradition and sacred scripture make up a single sacred deposit.
So that means tradition what people were doing by habit is equally strong as scripture in the Roman Catholic Church.
That’s why what happens in the origins has immediate authority for the church.
What they did was an expression of truth.
And they would claim that then Christians were increasingly gathering on Sundays which they did but use that
as a proof that um this was the right direction to go.
Now for the third for the third um third one there um how is Sunday observed for the Catholic Church?
Um,
maybe you didn’t know, but the catechism actually requires every member to attend church. It is a grave sin not to attend mass on Sunday.
They’re very serious about that. It’s a church obligation and it’s a considered a great sin not to attend mass on Sundays.
The catechism again says on Sundays the faithful are bound to participate in the mass. It’s an
obligation on Sundays and other holidays to participate in the mass. That was
paragraph 1247 and 2180 in the current catechism.
Now if you ask the Catholic Church what about the continuity of Sunday or or Sabbath and how do they connect together
they will say that Sunday is has basically taken over
the place that Sabbath had in sense of authority in the sense of its um presence and
validity. So it’s a Sabbath has shifted from the seventh day Sabbath to the first day Sunday.
It’s not like the Sabbath just disappeared and something new came up.
It has been shifted as a package. And this is important to understand when we then uh will reflect about some other things in just a few moments.
Now there’s one more thing here in regards to significance here. it was it’s a covenant sign for external what
would it be and there’s something interesting it’s very important in Catholic theology uh and it’s deeply embedded in the DS Domin apostolic
letter that Pope John Paul brought out in 1998 and it’s the theology of the eighth day
have you heard about that you will read in that DS Dominique eighth day eighth day all over the place
and that’s kind of a new twist in their Sunday theology. What are they talking about here? We’re talking about
covenant sign. They are talking about something very different. What is the day before 8?
Seventh. So you’re So they’re saying it’s not only about the first day, it’s also the eighth day. That means eth day means we have now moved on from the
seven days and we’re now in a new new creation that goes from here into eternity. That’s why we are not in end
of the first seven days. We are on day eight something new.
Um and that is a big thing in Catholic theology the eighth day um concept
and that can be read about a lot in their DS dominate document from 1998.
So now we have here based on scripture and here based on church authority based on human tradition.
Will most of America be found in one of those two? Yes or no?
Will most of America be found in one of those two?
Where will America be found? Most of the citizens and those living here.
something in the middle. So what is that mix now representing in regards to Sabbath? Well,
let’s now present that also. Then we had all the stacks here in place and then can go a step deeper from there.
So the mix stack is not fully scriptural,
neither is it fully church authority. It is both.
Where do we find that in American society Protestants and evangelicals?
So when they talk about the origins of Sunday,
they also say well early practice you if you read them they were talking about what those early church fathers
wrote in the hundreds and 200s and the 300s AD and they say well if we look out here in the sources we see that well
they are actually coming together on Sundays. That’s basically what I typically say. It’s coming together on Sundays.
Now,
church early practice is not quite the same as church origin.
In the Sunday debate, we need to be careful understand the difference between this column and this. We often
blend them and that takes away an insight and understanding in us how the Protestant America ticks on this question.
Catholic church says we as a church as an organized body made a decision
here they would say we drifted into it circumstantially.
There’s a difference there. Are you are you following me?
There’s no church authority here. She’s a drifting of habits. It’s like you would say, well, we came to prayer meeting on Tuesdays and eventually that
became our day to worship. Kind of drifted into it, but there was no formal legal magisterial ecclesiastical
authority making that decision as a big uh um and um united body.
Now if you continue here with the mixed authority where here had um God commanded and over there we had church
authority. What could it now be for the mixed stack?
Well,
it’s both Bible and tradition.
and they will refer to certain Bible texts to try to make their case but then will also refer to the early practice and they make a blend of the two.
Now, in regards to the observance, how it is observed, here’s a huge difference, and I think this might be a very important point that you want to
consider in regards to this third layer here where the Bible says it’s embedded in the ten commandments, but the
Catholic Church says it’s a church obligation by the church. It’s not something we see in the Bible. It’s a church obligation.
What are here Protestant and evangelical Christians saying about the validity or
how this how the Sunday should be observed?
And I’m going to give you a key word that’s crucial to understand.
They call it the Sabbath principle.
When you get that point, there’s an aha effect.
We have both have Sunday but different dynamics how they come about. Here is a church obligation. Sunday inherited
everything from Saturday in the sense of transferring the authority over to Sunday. Here is only sabbath principle.
Now what does that mean?
Sabbath principle means it’s just the idea of resting but not connected to a specific day.
You can rest once a week. If it’s Monday for you, that’s fine. If it’s Thursday for you, that’s fine. So when you engage evangelicals,
they they may talk Sabbath vocabulary.
You might get all excited. Wow, they are in for the Sabbath. And you might enter for up for a big uh awakening when they
when they talk about Sabbath principle because you think, “Wow, that means when they see principle, you think, oh, like they’re they’re like on this page here.”
No, they’re not. That means it’s just a principle of resting on a regular basis, not tied to specific day.
You will hear evangelicals today, they might be writing books or influencing others or pastors, non-denominationals,
um evangelicals, they’ll talk about the Sabbath. You might you might get, “Wow,
this is exciting.” But they talk about Sabbath principle and they might actually talk against
this deck, but still talk about the Sabbath principle.
It’s not about a specific day. It’s just about the principle of resting.
And that is very important to understand. That’s a huge difference here between Protestants and evangelicals and Catholics.
The dynamics in how they engage with Sunday is different.
The conversations go differently if you meet one or the other. Now level four here, the fourth one.
What about continuity?
There’s also a difference here because for the Catholic church, Saturday what was connected with Sabbath was
transferred to Sunday. It was like a wholesale shift. Is that the case for the mixed column as well?
They’re not talking about a shift. They’re just talking about a recasting.
So, we’re talking about Sunday and perhaps Sabbath princ Sabbath principles and we’re kind of recasting them and then out comes Sunday, but it’s not like
Sabbath shifted to Sunday because it could be any day in the week. It could also be a Monday, Wednesday. So, there’s no shift. It’s just the recasting and
refraraming maybe reinterpretation.
Also, there there’s a difference between the Catholic view and the evangelical view. Sunday
they might use Sabbath vocabulary but in essence they’re refraraming the whole situation
when here it was about covenant and then for the Catholics it was about the eighth day what is it about mostly for
Protestants and evangelicals what will they talk about Catholics will also talk about it but
not as much as Here it’s going to resurrection the meaning about Sunday is the day of resurrection uh they say uh
when right Jesus rose from the dead so we have here in the top level for those who follow scripture it’s a covenant
between me and the creator god then we have here the catholic churches says we have moved on from the seven days we’re
now in the eighth days it’s like a new dimension looking forward there’s we’re in a new era And then you have the evangelicals and
Protestants who say, “Well, we’re doing this because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday.”
Now, we have these three stacks here, and the question is,
are they all stable? Are they stable?
Are they consistent within themselves? And there’s actually a tension here.
There’s a tension here.
And one of these columns is sensitive to pressure and can cave easily.
Which of the three is it?
There’s a built-in contradiction that cannot be resolved.
It’s a fragile mix of components that don’t do not really attract each other. Which of the three columns would it be?
The mixed column has an issue.
I forgot to forward here. It’s not working anyway. Okay. Okay.
It’s a bit shifted.
We are kind of way behind here. Let’s move forward a bit here.
So we are now here the tension.
So there’s a biblical pressure here because they say that we are using Bible and tradition and those who believe in
scripture will say you know how can you claim you’re using Bible
as soil as scriptor because they will all say so scriptor mostly like Luther but at the same time while you’re
claiming so as scriptor scripture alone you’re still reaching out to tradition
and using it somehow as an orientation and a justification for changing or worshiping on Sunday. Does that really hold?
Can you have Bible so scriptura and tradition and mix it and it stays stable? Can you have that?
Something will eventually fall apart.
And the Catholic Church made a huge point out of that. Twice in history,
twice in history, the Catholic Church made a made a two a challenge. One was
about 500 years ago, one was about a hundred years ago. 500 years ago, the Catholic Church came out and challenged Luther.
And it was one of the main star theologians at of Luther’s time. His name was Johan Ek.
He was the principal opponent of Luther in some of those public discussions. He wrote a book called Enkiron.
It’s in German. I downloaded it. I checked the German text in original. So
the translation in English is verified and he says something interesting and challenged Luther because Luther was
sort of here right he talked about so scriptor but still kept on Sunday
inherited that from the Catholic church and in this um book in Kiridon which became one of the best sellers in
Germany. It was a very popular book. It was written in 1530.
And u and here are the four pages in that book. I highlighted with yellow. And he says something interesting there.
And this is probably too small, but I’ll zoom in in just a moment. Here is the title page again. And here he said the following concerning the authority of
the church. The scripture teaches that. And I see it’s going over the line there. So I need to read from here. The
scripture teaches, remember that you keep the Saturday, six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
your God. However, the church has transferred the observance from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her what? Own
power authority right over there and from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own
power without scripture without doubt under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Woo. So he’s standing there and debating Luther. I don’t know if this was done verbally or in written, but at least he was challenging Luther. You know, the
church changed to Sunday without scripture. And you’re talking so scriptor. Oo.
Then he goes on next paragraph. The Sabbath is commanded in various places in scriptures. But there is no mention of the sessation of the Sabbath and the
institution of Sunday in the gospels or in Paul writings or in all the Bible.
Therefore, this has taken place by the apostolic church instituting it without scripture.
So he’s trying to really nail Luther down here even more. Next paragraph. If however the church has had power to change the Sabbath then it talks a bit
more then it comes to the end. If you omit the latter and turn from the church to the scriptures alone last two three
rows then you what does it say? You must keep the Sabbath with the Jews which has
been kept from the beginning of the word. Wow. That was just like 13 years after he nailed those thesis on the doors.
The church Catholic Church has been very quick to challenge anyone in this stack here.
The next thing big thing like this happened 100 years ago in Chicago.
Challenge number two. Did you hear about the 1893 Colombian exposition as to world fear that took place in Chicago in 1893?
And there was a big demand and Christians were upset in Chicago and collecting signatures and sending into government that the fair would be open
on Sundays and they requested government and Congress to make a decision to close the world fair on Sundays. It went to
the Congress um and a decision was made um and um to actually shut down the
world French Chicago on Sundays. James Edison, the inventor,
and others sent in a petition to lift that um to lift that um Sunday closing
the world fair and and here is also the text of the petition there. We’ll not go into the details there here, but they
sent it into Congress together with their signatures and other big influencers next to Thomas Edison. Here you see his signature there up to the left.
And then also at the same time there was an appeal sent in from the religious liberty association from the Adventist church.
And uh they also made a protest against that. And that all came in then and um
in that um SDA writing they said among others that government has no right to control in matters of religion or
religious observation of any kind or degree. So they all came to Congress and of the Catholic Church remembering what
they had done with Luther and seeing many of the Methodists and other evangelical um donations sending
in and protesting against um against Sunday open and promoting Sunday closure. The Catholic Church awakened to
Johan X’s move 400 years before or 500
and they wrote then a series of four articles in the Catholic mirror all
about Protestants being inconsistent when um worshiping and going to church on Sundays and using that as their sacred day.
They also then put that together in a pamphlet which looks like this. And actually I downloaded those original fact pages from the Catholic mirror.
It’s like ledger size here and it’s really interesting to read that in original. They put it together in a pamphlet and the pamphlet was called
uh was about the claims of Protestantism to any partner improved to be groundless,
self-contradictory and suicidal meaning that you cannot ask Congress to shut down the world fair on Sunday and
stay say at the same at the same time say you are honoring solar scriptura. So we challenged that in four big articles
put it together in that pamphlet that had this color here. It looked like that. And then they added another uh
additional article which did not make it into the pamphlet in December. And that fifth article really really came down
strong. I mean the pamphlet already did but that fifth article really came down strong. One of the sentences in that article goes like this. If Protestantism
would follow the Bible, it should worship God on the Sabbath day. In keeping Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church. Then they
continued here, and this was the last paragraph in that fifth article, and it’s kind of out of view here, so I have
to go over here just a moment to see it on my own handout here. In that last
paragraph, it goes like this. I’ll read it to you.
The arguments contained in this pamphlet are firmly grounded on the word of God and having been closely studied with the Bible in hand leave no escape for the
conscientious Protestant except the abandonment of Sunday worship and the
return to Saturday commanded by their teacher the Bible
but unwilling abandoned the traditional Catholic Church which enjoins the keeping of Sunday and which they have accepted in direct opposition to the
teach their teacher the Bible. They um are actually by worshiping on Sunday accepting all her teachings. Now reason
and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives either Protestantism
and keeping whole of Saturday or Catholicity and keeping of Sunday.
Compromise is impossible. Those were the final three words.
Wow. They did the same thing as they did to Luther. now nailing down the evangelicals and saying you can’t
compromise. If you claim solar scriptor that your faith is based on the word of God, you cannot show up on Sunday.
You’re violating your solar scriptura principle. But Sunday is nowhere found in all of scripture. Catholic church
says and we would affirm that statement as well and hold it valid. So there they were
and made a second showdown with the Protestants regarding the inconsistency of keeping Sunday though claiming to
have scripture as their authority.
So this leaves us now with the following.
This stack here has to go.
It does not hold. It is internally unstable. It is inconsistent.
We cannot keep it here. It has to be removed.
There’s no way that that works.
You cannot be so scriptor claim the Bible as authority and at the same time be honoring Sunday.
What this means is that when engaging Protestants in these conversations
is very important to understand what is happening here. But we only have two left now. scripture or not scripture.
And you would affirm that the words that they wrote either the Bible and Sabbath
or the church and Sunday compromise is impossible. These are options.
So who has the final word? A Sabbath is at the crossroads of authority. Who has the final word here? And I’m hoping I
get my final slides here, but it’s not working. Who has the final word?
Well, we have to choose between either accepting scripture or accepting church authority.
Those are the only two options. We cannot be Protestants and hold to Sunday. We’ll never work. We’ll never be consistent.
So when we engage the Christian community in America, it’s very important to understand the differences between those two stacks that we studied here this morning.
They work in two different ways. They must be discussed also in two different ways.
So the mixed column collapses and now there’s a choice and the Bible tells us
what to choose. Isaiah 8 and verse 20 says the following
to the law and to the testimony.
If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there’s no light in
them. So, we’re facing here there two there are two claims, but based on
Isaiah 8:20, only one of these can still stand.
Which one affirms the law and the testimony?
only scripture. So this stack has to go as well.
And we’re left with only one.
If we want to honor the creator, our savior,
to be in a permanent relationship with him into eternity,
Sabbath is the sign. Here is the blessing.
Here is the power. Here’s the connection to the creator. Here’s the connection to our savior. This is the only one
that can stand into eternity. May we always be faithful to God our creator
and to the blessed Sabbath day. And may we be empowered to engage all the other views in a way to win them for Christ
and for eternity as well. Amen. Let’s pray together. Our father in heaven,
we’re seeing that the showdown in this country about what day to honor is ever increasing
and realize our necessity to understand the issues involved to know what all
the things are that are entailed in these conversations. So give us wisdom, give us discernment,
give us enlightenment so that we can be witness and the light to those around us,
those of other faiths within Christianity or even beyond that they will be attracted to the beauty of the
Sabbath day that they will be drawn to Christ and realize that the
true blessing is only to be found in the day that you as creator established.
at the beginning of the history of this planet and that everything else is just a human a human replacement
that does that is hollow and that doesn’t offer any eternal fulfillment.
So Lord, help us to be the witnesses that you need us to be. May we be um growing in discernment and abilities to
share the good news of the Sabbath to many others. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.