Opener: Ancient texts, cryptic numbers, symbolic imagery depicting all some apocalyptic events. For many, the Bible and its prophecies seem shrouded in mystery. Words like Armageddon and tribulation frighten millions, while others wonder how to avoid the mark of the beast or being left behind when the Lord returns. Can we understand the Bible? Yes. And Jesus holds your key to unlock a future without fear. Join us now, as Amazing Facts presents The Prophecy Code. With Doug Batchelor. Today's study; History's Greatest Hoax.
John Lomacang: Good evening and welcome to another night here at Prophecy Code. I am always excited that you sit down every night as God inspires you to open his word and to follow along as we unfold continually prophecies that are getting all of us ready for the coming of Jesus Christ. And tonight it's titled, History's Greatest Hoax. Now friends, if there is a topic that's pivotal in this meeting, tonight's topic is, it's going to build on everything coming after this.
If somebody is deciding to leave right now, call them back, if they're going to be viewing the meetings, they need to get the information that Pastor Batchelor is going to share tonight about what this hoax is. And many sincere Christians don't know about it. Stay tuned for God to open our hearts and our ears tonight. Before we go any further, I'd like to invite you to bow your heads with me as we invite God's presence to be with us. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love and for your word that is, in fact, a lamp onto our feet and a light unto our paths. We thank you for the inspiration received every evening, as you have filled Pastor Batchelor's mind with the words that you want him to say. We thank you for your word, the sure word of prophecy. Tonight as we listen intently, we pray that we'll hear not only his voice, but that we will hear the voice of your Holy Spirit. Come and dine with us. Come and supper with us. Be in our presence that we may be drawn closer to you in Jesus’ name we pray Amen.
Join me once again as we invite our presenter, president, director and speaker of Amazing Facts. Pastor Doug Batchelor.
Doug Batchelor: Thank you, John. Good evening. Thank you so much. Well, we have a lot to cover tonight. I'm really looking forward to our time together, our study together. If you have Bible questions, we invite you to send those in, we try to cover as many as we can, as well as we can, as quickly as we can. At this time, it's time once again, for our, questions.
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Karen Batchelor: Good evening. What happened to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil after a man fell?
Doug: Well, there's no record. I'm hoping it was destroyed in the flood. We can assume we do know the tree of life, the Lord somehow assumed it was preserved, because in Revelation that tells us that tree will once again be in the new Jerusalem. There is no Bible record of what happened to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it was a test that man failed. We're assuming that will not be in the new earth because sin will not rise up again the second time, according to the book of Nahum.
Karen: Amen. If the anti-Christ is here and about us now, how do we discern if these people are doing miracles in the name of Christ or doing this with the power of Satan?
Doug: Oh, good question. Well, of course, we have in our next presentation, a study that focuses more specifically on who is the antichrist. Keep in mind the word antichrist doesn't even appear in the book of Revelation. It's mostly in the letters of John. Then he says there are many anti-Christs even now when he wrote that 1,900 years ago. People have many misconceptions, they think the anti-Christ is this half man half devil that's hiding in the government somewhere. But there is an anti-Christ power that is in the world today and will tell you more about that tomorrow.
Karen: Can the devil heal the sick?
Doug: Well, the devil does not have the power to create life, but the devil can make a person-- let's just ask you, how many of you agree that the devil can cause sickness? Jesus healed this one woman, he said that for 18 years, she's been bound by Satan. Can the devil cause boils for Job? Did he bring those plagues to Job? Then can the devil remove the affliction that he's causing? By simply removing the effort to inflict with sickness, it can create the illusion that he’s healing. See what I'm saying?
But the devil can't create life. That's one of the reasons he rebelled against God, he does not have that creative power.
Karen: All right. After the tsunami in Asia, many people are asking, does God let these things happen or does Satan cause these things?
Doug: Well, that's a really deep question because I almost have to answer by saying both. The devil can't do anything without God to some extent loosening his leash. Even when the devil went to afflict Job, he had to go to the Lord and ask that the Lord somehow breached the hedge about Job. Paul tells us that the whole creation is groaning and travailing, and I think as we near the second coming, Jesus said you'll see an increase of disruptions in nature. The planet is waiting to be delivered.
Some of what we're seeing is natural, the planet is groaning and travailing, some of it is the Lord withdrawing some of his protection. Revelation talks about these angels, four angels that are holding back the winds of strife, and God is asking them to hold. When they loosen their grip, metaphorically speaking, some of these things happen. But does the devil have the power to cause storms and tornadoes, and lightning? Bible says that he sent a whirlwind on the sons of Job again and brought the house down, killed them. The devil does have a degree of power over even the elements. Did I answer it?
Karen: I'm thinking. What do you think? Did he answer it? What is the Trinity? What is the Trinity? Is that God had three separate entities. Is the Holy Spirit separate from God or of God? Where in the Bible do you find that the Holy Spirit is part of the Godhead? And you have less than two minutes.
Doug: Several questions there. Wow that's a big question. The word trinity does not appear in the Bible, the Bible does teach that one God is composed of three distinct persons, being God the father, God the son, God the spirit. At the great commission Jesus says, “Go you, therefore, baptize in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit.” There is no conflict in saying there is one God comprised of three persons. In the Hebrew mind, one does not mean numerical quantity. Man and woman get married to become what?
Karen: One.
Doug: One flesh. That doesn't mean they be morphed into a two-headed monster. They are now united. Scary thought. But in the same way, God said, “Let us make a man in our image,” One god. There's no problem. Jesus prayed that the apostles might be one. Well, they're 12 of them. Some people struggle with this concept that our one God is comprised of three persons. They're trying to figure it out numerically and in the Hebrew mind, that was never a problem.
Karen: Did you have any specific scriptures you wanted to share?
Doug: Well, I read there are three that bear witness in heaven in 1 John, there are the baptism of Jesus, when Christ, in Matthew chapter 3, he came out of the water, god the son is in the water. God, the father said, “This is my beloved son.” God the spirit came down and filled him. There's quite a few, matter of fact, I've got a book I wrote in it called … What did I call it? The Trinity, Is It Biblical? I think you can even read it for free online if you just type in the title. A lot of people have posted it. The Trinity, Is It Biblical?
Karen: Thank you, our question time is up.
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Doug: We've got an exciting study tonight and I want to welcome you once again. Our lesson that corresponds with our presentation tonight is the last day of history, and it is synonymous with History's Greatest Hoax, which is the sermon title for tonight. A subject that is very important, very relevant for a prophesy seminar like this. I'm just going to tell you right now, pray please for yours truly because this is one of the very controversial subjects among Christians today. Why? I don't know. But you know that it is, and when we get into it you'll understand better.
History's Greatest Hoax. If you go to Revelation 13, this is the heart of a lot of prophecy people wonder about. Verse 15 we read. Speaking of the beast power, “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Now, is it clear from that passage to everybody that understanding something about right and wrong worship is an issue in the last days.
Remember that Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve, brothers, they both made an offering to God. One to worshiped the way that God had prescribed, one did not. The one who worshiped the wrong way killed the one who worship the right way. In Revelation, we have a repeat scenario. The issue revolves around worship. The whole rebellion of the devil revolves around, who do you worship? Who is your God?
And again, Daniel 7, speaking of the anti-Christ power, verse 25, it says, “He will speak great words against the Most High.” We're going to study more about this tomorrow, “And he will wear out the saints of the Most High-- persecuting power—wear out the saints, and think to change times and laws.” Now we talked a little bit about the law of God last night. Are you all aware there's only one of the 10 commandments that is both a time and a law. That's the fourth commandment, let's move on here.
When you read in Daniel 3, in the Prophecy Code, we've learned the key to unlock the prophecies of Revelation. They are always interwoven, they're interlocked with what's happening in other parts of the Bible. Look at the stories in the Old Testament. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, makes a golden image, tells everybody at the appropriate time that they are to worship his image or be killed. You can read that in Daniel 3:6. “And whoso falls not down and worships the same hour will be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
Of course, you remember their names; Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah. That's the Hebrew name, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego, the Babylonian names are more popular, that's not fair. They refused to bow down and worship the king, and the king's god, why? Because it conflicted with the commandments of God. For that, they stood up for their faith, they were a witness for the Lord in the midst of that vast assembly. They were thrown into a fiery furnace because they would not violate the commandments of God in order to worship the way this political-religious power told them to worship. This is going to happen again friends, so I hope we're all paying attention.
The king threw them in the furnace. Did they perish there or were they delivered through the fire? Then again, you read in Daniel chapter 6, another law is enacted. The middle Persian leaders told the king to sign a law, he didn't know what they were up to. That you shouldn't pray to anybody but the king for 30 days. Another time period connected with worship and if they don't, death decree, death decree. Here was not a furnace, it was a lion's den. But the king had not calculated that his faithful servant Daniel would not go for a law like that. Why? Because it conflicted with the law of God, the 10 commandments, “Thou shall not have other gods.”
Daniel chapter 3, “Thou shall not make graven images and bow down to them.” Do you see the devil wants God's people to break God's law? Because then he can point to them and say, “They don't love you, they're not listening to you. They're listening to me. They're mine, they're not yours.” See, that's how sin entered the world. God said, “Don’t eat it.” The devil said, “Eat it.” And when man chose to listen to the devil, the devil took possession of our planet.
In order for the lord to once again reassume the new heavens and the new earth, there must be a people who say, “We’re going to obey God and the meek will inherit the earth.” We have the same issue, Daniel goes to his room. He saw the writing was signed, he went to his house. His windows being open, wasn't hiding it, prayed three times-- he kneeled down on his knees and prayed three times, and gave thanks as he had always done.
And you know what happened, of course, the king commanded, Daniel 6:16, that he should go to the lion's den because he had to keep the law. Daniel had to make a choice, will I obey the law of God or what's popular; the laws of men? He was thrown in the lion's den, and he said, “Daniel, your God who you serve continually, he will deliver you.” Did God deliver Daniel? Did God deliver Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego? Will God deliver his people in the last days if they stand up for his law?
You know what? Even if you're killed for your faith, you're still delivered. Because Christians don't die, they just go to sleep and wake up with new bodies. You can’t kill the Christian. Jesus said, “Don't fear him who hurts the body but they can't touch your soul. Fear him who can destroy soul and body, and hell.” Some people are more afraid of what the devil is going to do than the power of God. Daniel said, “My God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouth, and that they have not hurt me.”
These same issues are going to be repeated in the last days. It revolves around how to worship God's commandments and when. Now, I promised an amazing fact every night. How many of you have heard of a senator by the name of David Rice Atchison? You didn't know. My boys memorized all the presidents and he doesn't know about this one. But you know, he was president of the United States. Here we are in Washington DC, I thought you should know this.
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For one day, evidently, back when the administration of James Polk was ending, it ended on a Saturday night because that's the end of the week. The incoming president, Zachary Taylor, said, “I don't want to have an inauguration on Sunday,” because of his religious convictions. And they have to have a president. So he was going to wait until March 5th, on Monday.
America can't be without a president even for 24 hours, and so they tried to debate what to do, and they said, “Well, according to the constitution, it's supposed to be the senator who is the pro tem senator and president pro tem, and so they said, “Atchison, you're in line.” Well, he worked so hard all through Saturday, finishing up the final bills in the administration of Polk that when he woke up Sunday morning as president, he didn't wake up. He was exhausted. He slept for 20 hours snoring through his entire presidency.
You can see his tombstone here, it says right there, president of the united states for one day and that was Senator David Rice Atchison. He spent the rest of his life boasting, he says, “I want everyone to know that I had the most honest administration of any president.” Can you imagine being president for a day and sleeping through the whole thing? Missing that. Sometimes God's people miss very important times and that's what we're talking about.
Now, I'm going to hit this head on, and I think that you folks know I like to be very honest and forthright. We're going to talk about one of the 10 commandments that is very misunderstood and is in question. If we are talking about the Bible tonight, I hope that nobody here will be offended, don't we all want to know what the Bible says? If it's in the word of God, if Jesus talks about it, and God talks about it, and the apostles talk about it we should not be afraid of it. I will welcome your questions on this subject.
I’m going to talk about what the Bible says regarding the Sabbath day. I don't want to offend anybody. I want to lay the groundwork by saying, I currently worship God on the -- Well, I worship him seven days a week but I don't keep all seven days as the Sabbath. That's a different issue. Some people say, “Well, I worship God seven days a week,” and I say that's fine. But if you keep the Sabbath seven days a week, you're lazy, you're not holy.
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But I know that there are many Spirit-filled Christians, they love the Lord, they’re godly people, they've been walking in the light that are worshipping on the first day of the week, what we commonly call Sunday. I am not trying to ridicule or criticize those people. I know there will be thousands if not millions of people who worship. What I believe is not the Bible Sabbath that will be in heaven, because they didn't know better.
So is everyone clear on this? That's when I used to go to church when I first accepted the lord. But as I studied the Bible, I found out no matter how popular something is, there's a lot of people that are doing something that isn't biblical, and I want to be a Bible a Christian. Amen. Let's look at this subject of the Sabbath, let's all do it friends. Amen. We can disagree without being disagreeable. That's sounds fair?
Question number one, on one day … and you'll find out how this interlocks with the last prophecy in a very real way. On what day did Jesus customarily worship? Question one. Answer, Luke 4:16, “And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was.” What’s a custom? Something you do once or twice, or it's a pattern. His pattern was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. Jesus had a pattern of going to church every Sabbath day and reading the scripture. The word synagogue is the Hebrew equivalent of church, it means the gathering place. So this was his pattern.
Question number two. But which day of the week is the Sabbath or the Bible Sabbath? Well, you can find the answer to this in the very beginning of your Bible, if you turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 2 and we'll read verses 2 and 3. I’ve got it on the screen. You might want to read it out of your own Bible. Some people think that the Sabbath day was invented by Moses and it's something for the Jews, it's part of creation.
“And on the seventh day,” and this is second verse of Genesis chapter 2, “God ended his work which he had made and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Now, don't miss this, this is very important. First time in the Bible any number is repeated three times. Three in the Bible is a symbol for the holiness of God. The angels say holy, holy, holy, a symbol of holy for the father, for the son, and for the Holy Spirit. When God says the seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day, three times, that should be significant.
In the beginning of the Bible, the first book of the Bible, God talks about how to worship him, when to worship him. He establishes and blesses a time, and he says the seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day. You get to the last book of the Bible and there's another number that's repeated three times. What's that number? That's supposed to be in number for the counterfeit. You’re getting that? Numbers mean something, we had some questions about that.
Now you might be asking, “Well, Doug, we have no problem with worshipping God on the seventh day, but which day of our week is the seventh day?” Look at any dictionary that's normal and it will tell you, Saturday, seventh day of the week. Look up Sunday. Sunday, first day of the week. If you look at a normal calendar, I know in some countries they change it for the work week. Matter of fact, they have computer programs, if you have Microsoft Outlook, you can have it start your week on Monday if you want, but that's not the first day of the week. Monday is the second day of the week.
By the way, the days of the week in the Bible are not named, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday, so forth. Those are the roman names after the heavenly bodies and the gods. Sunday was the day of the sun. Monday was the day the moon Thursday was a day of Thor's day, Thor, god of thunder. Odin was Wednesday, Odin's day, and Friday was Frige. Saturday was what? Saturn. These are Roman names, the Bible doesn't use any of those names.
God's people had a number for each of the days of the week, and the seventh day is Saturday. What we commonly call Saturday was the Sabbath. Matter of fact, in 105 languages in the world, the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath. I’ve traveled all over the world and I find this true virtually everywhere I go. [foreign language] is what day? Saturday. If you speak Russian, [Russian language] ,and there's so many different languages that it traces back to a common tongue. Where are universally everybody recognized the seventh day of the week as the day of rest, or the day of repose.
People are right now, I can hear your wheels spinning, “But Doug, how could it change with so many-- what something happened in the Bible.” We're going to look at it. Look at a normal calendar. It'll tell you Saturday the seventh day of the week and it's in the dictionary. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Well, the Doug, there have been so many changes to the calendar that we just really can't be sure which days are seventh day anymore.” That is a trick question. It's an illusion, let me explain why.
No matter what you do to the calendar, it never has any effect on the weekly cycle. Calendar has been adjusted several times. I think back and 1582, we shifted over to the Gregorian calendar and Thursday the 5th of October, was followed by Friday the 10th. Now, was the calendar changed? Yes. Did it affect the weekly cycle? Not a bit. Because no matter what you do to the calendar to adjust the months, you never have to change the simple cycle of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, one, two, three, four, five six. That's the week. Why would you ever change the week to change the calendar?
We get confused because we see them on the same piece of paper, we think when you change one ,you mess up the other. They are completely separate and distinct, you never need to change the week when you change the calendar. The cycle has been in perfect continuity all the way back as far as recorded history. Matter of fact, somebody wrote a letter to the us naval observatory. Here's actual quote from it, regarding a question about the weekly cycle and its continuity.
It says, “We have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists and chronology, and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt about the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.” There's never been a change in the calendar that affects the weekly cycle. That's a myth. You hear something often enough and people are inclined to believe it but it's just not true.
Question number three, who made the Sabbath? Was it Moses? Let's read it again, Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them, and God blessed.” Who did it? God, not Moses. “God bless the seventh day and sanctified it, he made it holy.” Did he make it holy for himself or does Jesus say the Sabbath was made for man? You noticed Jesus could have used the word Jew or Israelite but he didn't, he said man. It is made to be a blessing for man, it's the time in which we are to worship God in a special way.
Now, let me share with you why I think this is so important for us to understand, how many days did god occupy in creating the world? Six days. How many days in the week? Why? Because God created another day. What did he make on that day? He made a period of time for us to develop a love relationship. If you understand what I’m about to say, all of this will just click. The purpose of the Sabbath is for a love relationship with God, that's why the devil hates it.
You see you and I exist in something a dimension called time. We live in time. It's like Ben Franklin said, “Time is the stuff that life is made of,” and when God created another day and said, “You’ve got these days to work in the garden, to dress and do your thing. But this day, we are to walk and talk together, we're to develop our love relationship.” God wants to be with us, he wants to have this love relationship with us.
What happens in marriages where there is not quality time? Does the love relationships start to get strained? Starts to get thin and you can always hear, “Well, we've been growing apart.” You can tell when that happens, they're not spending time together and that's why they're growing apart. Not only happens in marriage relationships it happens between parents and children. Friends stop spending time together and the friendship starts to evaporate.
Relationships are built in time. What God said is I want-- you we use this word quality time with you. The Sabbath is all about holy quality time for our relationship with God and to show that he is our God. See, every Sabbath, it's a memorial that he is the creator. Let me ask you friends, isn't it true that the creation is obligated to the creator? Every Sabbath is to remind us that he's the boss, that he is God. We are the creatures, he's the creator and we're to worship him.
The devil hates that concept. And so he's been trying to destroy the relationship by destroying the Sabbath time. I think that most of us will freely admit, even those who keep the first day of the week is the Sabbath very rarely do they keep it holy. I should add, I want to be able to relate to virtually everybody, I have preached in possibly hundreds of different denominations in their churches. I used to teach Methodist Sunday school, I preached in Baptist churches.
I preached in church of Christ. It's hard to get in there if you're not a member. I preached in Episcopal churches and foursquare, and Nazarene, Assembly of God and I could just go on and on down the line. Godly people have got friends in many different persuasions and there's no question about that. But I’ve actually gotten to the door after the sermon, I’ve had them say, “Why did you go so long? The football game’s starting, or there's a sale at the mall. I’ve got to go mow my lawn.” Very few people even keep Sunday as a holy day. Am I right? Boy do we need, we need that time of rest now, don't us.
Number four. What does God say about Sabbath keeping in the 10 commandments? Remember, these aren't the 10 suggestions. This is from Exodus 20:8-11. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Lord blessed the Sabbath in hallowed it.” You notice God didn't say I want you to make the Sabbath a holy. Does the commandments say that God decides to make it holy or it already was holy?
If I invite you to my house, it's wintertime, it's cold and we heat our house with firewood and I say, “I’ve got to run to the store, keep the fire going.” You say, “No problem Doug,” and I tell you where the wood is, you say okay and I leave. So you go to check on the fire and there's no fire. You’re thinking, “Why did Doug say keep the fire going? Why didn’t you say start a fire? You said keep it going. You assume that there's already a fire from asking you to keep it going.
So when God says in the commandment, “Keep it holy.” He’s saying it already is holy. When did he make it holy? Back in creation. It's a memorial creation. We're not creating something new, he says, “It is holy, I want you to keep it that way.” Notice what happened in creation and in the Sabbath commandment connected with the Sabbath that's unique. It says God rested, was he tired? Or does Jesus do things as an example for us? He rested, he blessed it, he sanctified the seventh day.
Now, when God gives that kind of attention to a dimension a time that he has specified to meet with us in a holy, sacred way, should we acknowledge that? Or can we shrug our shoulders and say, “I realize the Lord's made an appointment with us in this holy time that he has set aside, that he is blessed this time period. But it's not convenient for me God, or I might be ostracized and so I’m going to do what everyone else does. Or I’m just going to change it to what’s more convenient for me.”
What if Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when everyone bowed down to worship the golden image, if they had said, “we really don't want to go to the fiery furnace, that's not too convenient. While they're all praying to the golden statue, let's all tie our shoes right now. We'll look like we're praying.” They wouldn't even compromise. Daniel could have said, “Well, I don't want to look like I'm not praying to the king, so I'm going to shut my windows.” But he opened his windows.
We should be unapologetic and unashamed about doing what God says. I'm not ever afraid to preach this subject because everybody ultimately has to ask the question, “Who are we wanting to please?” Jesus began his ministry by warning against being more concerned with pleasing man. The Pharisees fast to be seen of men. They give to be seen of men. They pray to be seen of men. They want the praise of men. Jesus says, “When you fast, when you give, when you pray, do it for the sake of the one who is watching, God.”
When I cover the subject, I'm not apologetic at all, because a Christian is a follower of Christ and the example of Christ was every Sabbath day he kept, he went. He read the Bible, he worshiped. It's slowly been changed by man, not by God, over time we're going to get more of that. Some think the Sabbath was created at Mount Sinai when Moses gave the Ten Commandments, another myth.
Read your Bibles, look in Exodus chapter 16 when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, before they ever got to Mount Sinai, they ran out of food. You can read in chapter 16. And they were told to gather manna, and they would gather manna and it says, “And Moses said, “Eat that today for today is the Sabbath unto the Lord.”” The manna fell down, how many days a week? Six days a week, the manna fell the Sabbath there was none, God was reinforcing.
Some of them went out looking for manna and he said, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments?” Before they ever got to Mount Sinai, God said that the Sabbath was holy and they were to keep it holy and it was one of his laws, not their laws. Matter of fact Moses had not uttered it prior to that, which makes us assume that it was already in existence. It's the Sabbath of the lord, not the Sabbath of the Jews. Exodus 16 is where you've got this manna experience, Exodus 20 is where you find the Ten Commandments being spoken by the lord.
Question number five. But haven't the Ten Commandments been changed? How many of you have heard this one? Have the Ten Commandments been changed? If so, which ones? None of them have been changed. They're not subject to change, they're in heaven. Heaven and earth Jesus said will pass away before one tittle of the law fails. Is heaven and earth are still there? Ten Commandments are eternal. They’re the principles of God, and that would include the fourth commandment.
Now, I want to be gracious because when I first heard these things, if you were at all like me and if I offend you tonight forgive me, I don't want to do that. I get worked up because when I first heard this, I was very disturbed. I felt deceived. For one thing, I had a Jewish background, you think I would have known better. After I became a Christian, here I am going to church on Sunday. When I started asking around about why when I first had this brought to my attention, I went to some of the pastors and said, “Why did we go to church on Sunday?”
What ended up convincing me was the different pastors I talked to. I'd asked 10 different pastors why we worship on the first day of the week, I get 11 different answers. They all disagreed with each other. Most common ones were, “Well, we worship on the first day of the week because that's the day that Jesus rose and it's the Sabbath.” I'd say, “Where's the commandment that says it's the new Sabbath?” Well, they say, “There's really no explicit commandment that says it, but we do have the example in the Bible of Jesus rising and we can find where the disciples met on the first day of the week.”
Well, we can also find where they met on Thursday. You can find where they met on many days of the week. Does that make it a new Sabbath command? I said, “Well that doesn't make sense to me.” I talked to another pastor and he said, “Well Doug we're not under the law now, we're under grace.” I said, “Well, does God want us to keep the Ten Commandments or not?” And I remember one time a guy actually interrupted a meeting like this, said, “Pastor Doug, you're putting these people under bondage. You're preaching the law, it's work oriented.”
I said, “Wait a second now,” I said, “I'm talking about rest.” “You're telling them not to rest, you’re works oriented.” And then I said, “You tell me something, are we supposed to keep the Ten Commandments or not?” And his face was turning red because he was a little nervous about interrupting the seminar, and he said no. And then you realized that sounded bad for a preacher to say you're not supposed to keep the Ten Commandments, because you think about that, is it okay to kill, and lie, commit-- and he said, “Yes.” But then he knew that would include the fourth.
Then he said, “Nine of them.” And so I said, “So you're telling me the one commandment God wants us to forget is the only commandment that begins with the word remember?” That didn't make sense. I met another pastor, he’s very creative. He said, “Pastor Doug I've got your answer.” He said, “Back in the days of Joshua he prayed and the sun stood still, Saturday turned into Sunday.” Lad is creative, the problem was nobody did anything about it for another thousand years.
So I heard so many different things, it started sounding very peculiar to me that they couldn't get this together. The Bible tells us the beast power, as I've quoted, Daniel 7:25, would think to change times in-laws, and we're going to learn more about this attempt to alter many aspects of God's law. But God's Sabbath hasn't changed. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Every word of God, Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure, add thou not to his words lest he reprove the now be found a liar.”
One reason I teach this and I believe it, is because I do not ever have to be embarrassed about what the Bible says on this subject. Hebrews 4: 9, it says, “There remains, therefore, a rest to the people of God.” If you look at the Greek for that word, it’s sabatismos, which means the keeping of a Sabbath. Here you are in the New Testament, “It says the remains the keeping of a Sabbath for the people of God.”
Think about this for a moment, Ten Commandments, when God delivers them to his people, speaks them from a mountaintop. The folks are terrified for their lives, thundering with his own vocal chords, God speaking not to one person, the whole nation. Writes in stone, arc welding with his fingers in granite. Does everything he can to show that this is law. They observe it for centuries.
If God was going to change something that he established with such majesty, wouldn't it be clear in the Bible? would there be all these nebulas wondering about where it is? If I should tell you right now they've changed the speed limit on the beltway around DC, it's now 90 miles an hour. Not only that, they've reversed the flow of traffic so now we're going to drive like they do in England, other side of the road. Anyone here believe me?
You know why you don't believe me, it's absurd that the government would change a law that has been so entrenched that would affect people's lives so radically without very thoroughly broadcasting, trumpeting that change. If God was going to change one of the Ten Commandments, especially the one that begins with a word remember, don't you think that you would really hear a deafening roar in the New Testament on that subject. But instead, there's a deafening silence. You know why? We must assume it didn't change. It was so obvious all through the Bible that it was still intact.
Question number six. Let's go about what the Bible example is and the teachings. Did the apostles keep the Sabbath day? Answer. “Paul as his manner was, he went unto them three Sabbath days and he reasoned with them out of the scriptures.” Every Sabbath they were preaching, a matter of fact Acts 18:4, “He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath day and persuaded Jews and Greeks.” It wasn't just the Jews. Jews Greeks.
If God's people were not going to be keeping the Sabbath in the last days, then why in Matthew 24 were Jesus is talking about the end of the world, did he say very clearly, “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day.” That would have been a good time for Jesus to say, “Well, don't worry about the Sabbath day.” But he said, “Pray that you won't have to flee for your life on this holy day.” It's very clear that the lord understood his people will still be keeping his day.
Let me remind you in case you weren't here, who wrote the Ten Commandments. “All things that were made were made by him, without him nothing was made that was made.” It's not the law of God the father that is separate from the law of God the son, Jesus was part of giving this law. Another reason that you might consider this. Why would God change it? Was the seventh day a bad day and he needed to swap it? Now, do we all agree it's very important that Jesus rose? I praise God for that truth. On the first day of a week.
Is it also equally important that he died for us on Friday? Of course, he instituted the new covenant at the last supper on Thursday night. Does that make Thursday Friday or Sunday a new Sabbath day? No, there's nothing in it that happened that made it a new Sabbath day, happened very slowly over time and it was done by man.
Number seven. Did the Gentiles also worship on the Sabbath? Yes. Acts 13:42. “When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the gentiles besought these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” They were having the apostles preach to them and this is many years after Christ ascended to heaven every Sabbath day. In fact, Mark 2:27, "And He said unto them, 'The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.'" Not Jew, mankind. Do only Jews need rest? That's why Jesus said, "Your son and your daughter, even your beasts of burden, the servants, the stranger within your gate. It was for everybody." You can read in Isaiah 56 a similar promise, "And also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord. Anyone who accepts the Lord, they may not be Israelites."
Notice this, "To serve Him, to love the name of the Lord." This would be Gentiles. "To be his servants. Everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." That means taking something holy and treating it as common. "And takes hold of my covenant," that'd be the new covenant." It says, "Even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer." Make them what? God says this is for everyone, all nations. Sabbath was made for man, we all need that. In our fast-paced society, today do we need a day of rest?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: I'll tell you, friends, never in the history of the world have there been a people that are more strained and stressed than this generation, amen? Part of the reason for that is people aren't taking that time of rest that we need. Number one selling medication is stress related, antacid and all these drugs for sedatives because people are so wound up and uptight. God said that if we would be still and know that He is God, once a week He set aside a time.
Number 8. "But wasn't the Sabbath changed to Sunday at Christ's death or resurrection?" I've touched on this. Let's find out what the Bible says. Read the passage with me here, Luke 23:54. I'll be reading on through verse 24 in chapter 1, "And that day that Christ died was the preparation." That's the sixth day of the week, what we call Friday, we call it Good Friday sometimes. "And the Sabbath drew on." Now you might wonder when does the Sabbath begin? The Bible is very clear, Sabbath doesn't begin at 12 midnight or 12 noon.
In the Bible, it was, "From even unto even you'll celebrate your Sabbath." "At sundown," the Bible says that's when the Sabbath begin. Mark 1:32, "Even at even when the sun did set." The sun is going down Friday afternoon, Christ has died on the cross. You can read on in Luke 23, "And they returned and prepared spices and ointments and they rested the Sabbath day according to the tradition, the ordinance, the statute." According to what? The commandment.
Wait a second here, you mean after Jesus taught the disciples and the apostles for three and a half years walking with Jesus day in and day out they never heard anything fall from his lips that gave them the slightest impression that how he valued the Sabbath had diminished? Matter of fact so much so that they would not even complete their act of love in embalming his body as the Sabbath was approaching. They said, "We'll have to wait until the Sabbath is over. Jesus would not be pleased our doing this on this holy day."
Now I'm not condoning or condemning what they did. I'm just telling you, you can never tell me it wasn't important to the disciples because look how much they love the Lord, they would not even finish embalming his body. Anyone who's teaching that Jesus taught the disciples the Sabbath didn't matter, I don't know where they're getting that. They went home and kept it according and this is written by a Gentile, what a good place for Luke to interject the old Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath.
He said, "The commandment," commandment of God. On the first day of the week very early in the morning, they came under the sepulcher, He rose, what we call Easter Sunday, first day of the week. We're all together so far? I want you to notice something here. Jesus died on what we would typically call preparation day Friday. This is just marvelous, Christ completed his work of redeeming man. He said, "It is finished." He went to sleep as the Sabbath began. He kept the Sabbath in His death.
Audience: Amen.
Doug: He waited until it was passed and He rose again Sunday morning not to begin resting but to begin interceding. He commenced His new work for us as our High Priest. Even in His death, He kept the Sabbath. Sabbath day He spent in the tomb, Sunday morning of course He rose. There's no question about which day of the week it is. It's the day that falls between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is what we would call Saturday. You may say, "But Doug it's been changed."
You might convince me that one or two Jews got stranded on a deserted island and lost track of time but you're not going to convince me that the whole nation woke up one day and forgot the holiest day of their week. You know what the Jews say, let me tell you how they valued it. Remember how I talked the other day about the temple? I said, "Holy Land Israel, in the holy land you've got the holy mountain city Jerusalem, in the holy city you've got the holy mountain Mt. Zion, then you've got the Holy Temple on the holy mount, then you've got the holy place in the holy temple.
Then you get the Holy of the Holies, then you've got the Holy Ark in the Holy of Holies and in the Holy Ark is the holy law, the Covenant." What do you think is in the middle of that law? The longest of the Ten Commandments, the only commandment that begins with the word remember and the one the devil hates the most because it has to do with who we worship. He has bamboozled many Christians regarding the importance of this truth. It all has to do with who is your God? Who do you obey? Doesn't matter how popular, doesn't matter how you might be ostracized, the truth is the truth. Amen?
Audience: Amen.
Doug: A real Christian will love the Lord more than popularity of people. Now I know that this is a struggle, I've been through it because when I first learned these things and I started sharing them within the friends of the church I went to on Sunday I got ridiculed. They said, "Doug you're all mixed up and you're being legalistic." Accused of all kinds of things and I kept saying, "Show me from the word, my commitment is to the word. I don't care where I go, I just want to be able to say thus saith the Lord."
That's the bottom line. When Jesus comes, "Hey I'm not in trouble, you can't come to me." I mean if I stand before the Lord he says, "Doug why do you keep the Sabbath?" They all say, "Father because your son did, because it's one of the Ten Commandments." You think I'm in trouble? If you're ever in doubt friends don't forget this, this rule applies in many areas. If you're ever in doubt do the safe thing. You do what God says in His word and if you can -- I'm going to put my neck out right now.
Here we are international live broadcasts, flip a camera around Doug. Will someone please produce for me one commandment in the Bible where we are told to keep the first day as the Sabbath? Now I've been visiting with you out in the foyer we've got people here from all different religious backgrounds. Amen? That silence that we are recognizing right now ought to tell you something, one commandment in the Bible to keep the first day as the Sabbath.
Are there commandments to keep the seventh day? History's greatest hoax, people have missed the day. A lot of folks are sleeping through God's holy time so to speak. Number 9. "Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God's new earth." Is this correct? I believe so. Let's review a little bit. We've already seen if we agree, God gave it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, creation. Where we're together say amen.
Audience: Amen.
Doug: Moses and the Jews kept it, we all agree with that?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: Jesus and the Apostles did they keep it?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: You know what the Bible says about when we're in heaven? "For as the new heavens," Isaiah 66:22, "As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain and it will come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh, all Jews, all flesh come and worship before me."
Those in the new earth will be worshipping God on the Sabbath day there. Do you think it matters to the Lord? I believe it's very important friends. By the way, the purpose of the plan of salvation is to restore things to God's original plan. When God created the Sabbath day how much sin was in the world? Was the world perfect? I'm not talking about the ceremonial Sabbaths and the Jewish holidays.
That's a whole complete different distinct set of laws, but the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments. God in the Ten Commandments says, "For in six days the Lord created the heaven and the earth." He traces that Sabbath back to a perfect plan when everything was good, good, very good. Why would he change it? When we get to the Garden of Eden, Revelation it says he's restoring everything to its original plan. Amen.
Audience: Amen.
Doug: We're going to be keeping it even in heaven and would you like to guess who the preacher is going to be when we have our Sabbath worship in heaven? Nobody's going to sleep during the sermon then, amen.
[laughter]
Doug: Won't that be something? They come and gather together before the Lord during that holy time. Will we be dreading it? "We got to go listen to Jesus preach."
[laughter]
Doug: Or will we be dusting off our fiery wings and wanting to go to the holy city and listen to Jesus on His throne? It would be a joyful time, the Bible tells us. Number 10. "But doesn't it say in the New Testament that Sunday's the Lord's Day?" The phrase, by the way, you find that in Revelation 1:10, the phrase Lord's day in Revelation is only found one time in the Bible, Revelation 1:10. Many have always said, "Yes that's the Lord's -- yes that means Sunday is the first day of the week."
There is not an ounce of evidence anywhere in the Bible that John was referring to the first day of the week, not a shred. If we want to know what day the Lord's day is let's let the Bible explain itself, fair enough? What does it say? Exodus 20:10, what day is the Lord's day? Right in the Ten Commandments but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, that was the Lord's Day. Isaiah 58:13, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath."
What that means is your foot in the Bible, if you trample on something it was called disrespect and so it means treating something holy disrespectfully. "Turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day," that also represents going your own direction. "Doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight." What day is His day? The Sabbath, my holy day. Again it tells us, therefore, Jesus said Mark 2:28, "The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath."
You know what this means friends, John when he was a prisoner on Patmos during the Revelation some traditions tell us that they had mines there, well we know they have mines there, that he was being forced to work in the mines but he refused to work on the Sabbath and God gave him the vision of Revelation on the Sabbath day. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Even the very revelation came to him during that holy time. What is the Lord's day? The evidence in the Bible is very powerful.
Number 11. "Shouldn't I keep Sunday in honor of Christ's resurrection?" Again we've touched on this a little bit. What do we do in honor of the resurrection? Did God give us something? Yes, it tells you right in the Bible, Romans 6:4, "Therefore we are buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we should also walk in a newness of life."
Baptism is a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. This is what Jesus gave us to remember his resurrection, not a new Sabbath day. There was nothing wrong with the old one. How could one 24 hour period be better than another? He didn't need to change it. Number 12. "Well if Sunday keeping isn't in the Bible whose idea was it? Where did this come from?" I'm just going to touch on this briefly tonight. Matthew 15:9, "And in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
Tonight in preparation for this message I began to review some of the history of the Sabbath and I have got volumes of things to share with you. Matter of fact I'm going to recommend a website. You might just jot it down, it's really easy. Sabbathtruth.com, a phenomenal amount of information on this subject, the history of it. It's called sabbathtruth.com. Good scholarship there, quotes from Christians and scholars from all different denominations on what they say on the subject.
Virtually all of the scholars agree there's not a shred of evidence in the Bible that tells us that the Sabbath was changed, it was done by man, not by God. Here's a quote from just Encyclopedia Brittanica. I just pulled this out I thought it was unbiased enough. "The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday is a constitution of Constantine in 321 AD in acting that courts of justice, inhabitants in towns and workshops were to be closed."
It was over 300 years after Christ, Constantine's supposed conversion to Christianity he began to impose his day of worship that was famous throughout the Roman Empire on the Christians. For a long time, they kept both days gradually because the Jews became unpopular. They abandoned the day that Jesus kept and they started adopting the day the Romans kept and it happened so slowly that many were deceived by it.
Colossians 2:14 some are going to say, "Pastor Doug, what about this verse?" It tells us that it's been done away with. It says here, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to the cross." Then he goes on to say, "Therefore let no man judge you in regard to meat or drink or new moons or Sabbath days."
What Sabbath days and ordinances were nailed to the cross? It tells us here in Colossians, those that have to do with the ordinances. 2 Chronicles 33:8, there are two different laws. "They will take heed to do all that I have commanded them according to the whole law and by the ordinances by the hand of Moses." Notice handwriting. Colossians says the handwriting, those were the ceremonial laws. Again Deuteronomy 31:26 he says in Colossians, "These were against us."
What was nailed to the cross that was against us? Take the book of the law and put it in the side of the Ark. The ceremonial laws were they in the ark or in the side? It was in a pocket in the outside, "as a witness against us." When Paul talks about the Sabbaths and the ceremonial laws that were against us that were nailed to the cross isn't the Ten Commandments Sabbath or the ceremonial annual Sabbaths? Some people have tried to twist the word of God and they used a couple of these misconstrued subjects.
You can't nail stone to anything, two completely separate and distinct laws between the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments that was before sin and the ceremonial annual Sabbath that came after sin. Think about it, when God created this law, spoke it with His voice, wrote it with His finger. Stone is a symbol of something that is permanent and unchanging. Number 13. "But isn't it very dangerous to tamper with God's law?"
Absolutely. Matthew 5 Jesus says in verse 19, "Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so." You know that means? You look through the Ten Commandments. You figure out which one you think is the least important. By the way, you might be surprised the one you pick is the least important could be one of the most important.
Some people think, "It doesn't matter with Sabbath you know." But it revolves around time and worshipping God. It's a sign that he's our Creator. "Whoever thinks to change even the least he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven." That doesn't mean he'll be there that means of those in the kingdom of heaven call that person the least individual. "But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Friends, are you upset with Pastor Doug tonight for sharing this?
Audience: No.
Doug: Take it up with Jesus, He said He wants me to do it and to teach it and I'm doing my best to be faithful. Number 14. "Why did God make the Sabbath anyway? What's the purpose of it?" I've already told you it's about our love relationship with him. Ezekiel 20:12, "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbath to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them." See the Sabbath day is a sign of God's sanctifying power.
Every Sabbath day it's a sign of His creative power, it's a memorial of His creation. Question number 15. "How important is Sabbath keeping?" Answer, James 2:10. "For whosoever, shall keep the whole law." He has just quoted two of the Ten Commandments if you read the previous verses we know what law he's talking about. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend," how many points? One point is guilty of all.
What if I should stand before the judge and I'm guilty of burglary and the judge says, "'You're convicted of burglary here and how do you plead?" I said, "Well, I did break into that store and steal that computer but I want you to know in every other respect Judge, I am a good citizen. I keep all the other commandments." Will that be a good defense? You break the law. The law is like a golden chain, it's all linked together. You break one and it destroys the relationship.
That's why this is important that God is going to come for people that have been restored to the faith that was delivered to the Saints. When the space shuttle Columbia blew up just a few minutes away from touchdown they wondered if those tiles, there's 24,000 very high protective tiles or heat-resistant tiles on the belly of the shuttle to resist that incredible heat when it comes through the atmosphere and the engineers thought, "Well, they can probably spare a few, we may have knocked a few off but that shouldn't be a problem."
They've reassessed their conclusions. A little bit does make a difference. The idea that God doesn't care about this one command, why would it be the only command that he begins with the word remember? Could it be that he knew we might forget? Be honest friends and I know the answer. I have friends in many churches. I could go to virtually any Christian church in the Washington DC area, any denomination and I could stand up and preach a sermon on honor your father and mother or don't steal and I get an amen, right?
I could preach a sermon on don't worship other gods and don't pray to idols well most churches would be okay with that. There are a few. I could preach a sermon on don't covet. I could preach a sermon on don't steal and don't commit adultery folks would be quiet but they'd agree but then you preach a sermon on remember the Sabbath day, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord and folks say, "Legalism." Is something wrong?
You could do an altar call in some of these churches and someone could come forward and pray during the altar call and they say, "Pastor I want to give my life to Jesus. I've been convicted by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to quit lying." The Pastor says, "Praise the Lord the Holy Spirit is working on you." "I'm going to quit stealing." "Amen, we're so thankful that's the evidence of God." "I've been living with my girlfriend and we're going to break it off until we get married."
"That's the Holy Spirit God's working on your heart." "I'm going to start keeping the Sabbath day." Pastor says,"Don't do that. That's legalism." Am I right? Isn't that what would happen? Many churches, is something wrong? Something's woefully wrong with our attitude about one of the commandments. Revelation, this is a prophecy seminar. Three angels give these messages before Jesus comes back, Chapter 14:6, “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them."
We shared the gospel with you on earlier night. "To them that dwell on the earth to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” Bless God this seminar is actually in some degree a fulfillment of that. We're going all over the world saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come,” Christ is about to come. He is our judge, “and worship Him,” who are we to worship?
"That made, created the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters.” That phrase in Revelation is drawn from what? It’s drawn from the fourth commandment. It's drawn from Genesis 2. God is saying that a message that is to go to the world prior to Christ's return is one to return to the worship of the creator and every Sabbath is a memorial that God is the creator. Amen?
Audience: Amen.
Doug: It is an important issue friends. “Doug you're making such a big deal about this one command.” If the pastors in our culture were teaching their people it's okay to dishonor their parents, you’d hear me say a lot about that. If our pastors were teaching their people idolatry is okay, you’d hear me talk about that. This is an issue that needs attention and God wants me to scratch where the itch is. Amen?
Audience: Amen.
Doug: We want to return to the Word of God and it's a memorial of God's creative power. Question number 16. "Does Sabbath keeping really affect me personally? What does it mean to me?" Now by the way, whether it means anything to you or not, it does. It ought to be important to you because God commands it. Should we only obey a command of God if we understand it or should we trust the Lord? Do you only want your children to obey you when you can explain everything to them? “Why can't I stick the screwdriver in the socket mommy?”
You try to explain the electrons and how all that works. “But why? I don't understand.” Sometimes how many of you have ever said to your kids, “Just listen to me because I say so. I'm the parent, you're the kid. You listen to me." I used to hate that when my parents said that to me and now I hear myself say that to my parents, “I’ve become like my parents.” When God says do something, even if you don't understand, if you do it you'll be blessed.
Audience: Yes.
Doug: You'll be better off. But there are reasons you will be blessed personally. Ezekiel 22:26&31, “Her priests have violated my law and have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane. They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths.” That happened back in the Old Testament times. Is it happening in our day again?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: Are there ministers out there that are hiding their eyes, why? Because it's not popular and it's tough to change. Every reformation movement in God's church has been a real travail. Whenever there is the birth of a new movement, it is often a painful experience because it throws things out of their norm. In Iraq right now people are dying because they're going through a new birth. It's a painful experience. God's church needs a rebirth. We need to return to the faith that was once delivered to the Saints.
Audience: Yes.
Doug: Jesus said in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say?” He says, “There'll be many come to me in that they saying, Lord, Lord,” and they do not what he says. Can you please show me a commandment where Jesus says to keep the first day holy? God's voice was heard telling us to keep the fourth day? I have a friend of mine who's a pastor. I believe Pastor Philips is what? 94 years old now.
He told me this story. He might be watching in Covelo, California right now. Say hello to my friends there. He was sitting with a Ministerial Council, this is a Sabbath-keeping minister Pastor Philips. Visiting with ministers from other churches that kept the first day of the week, Sunday. The ministers were sort of bemoaning that they can't get their members to come to church on Sunday when the weather is nice. They go out golfing and they go out waterskiing or whatever.
One of them said, “Pastor Philips how do you deal with this?” Before he even answered one of the other Sunday-keeping ministers said, “He doesn't have a problem getting them to church on Sabbath because he has a thus saith the Lord for Saturday and we don't. We don't for Sunday.” They know that. I want a thus saith the Lord for what I do friends. Number 17. "Does Sabbath-keeping really affect me personally?" What does the Bible say? Jesus says, “Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you" what?
Audience: Rest.
Speaker: This is what it's all about. It's a day of rest. Do we need that rest?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: Have you been missing that rest that Jesus wants to offer us? Friends this is a much more important subject in connection with prophecy than you think because in the last days when the Lord returns it says that He’s coming for people that are obedient. You can read this. Matter of fact I think this is one of my next slides. Hebrews 4:5, “The promise is we will enter into His rest.” Then furthermore He tells us in Revelation 12:17 who is the dragon angry at? This is in the last days. The dragon is who? Is wroth. What is wroth mean? That's King James for infuriated, enraged with who? The woman is who?
Audience: The Church.
Doug: This a good woman or bad? True church or false? The very fact the dragon is angry at her is a good sign. She must be doing something right. Who is he angry at? "The woman and the remnant of her seed." That means the remainder of her descendants, her children. What is the identifying characteristic? "That keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." God wants a people who are not only hearers but doers of his word. Would that include all the commandments?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: All 10?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: Again Revelation 14:12, another corresponding passage. “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.”Then again Revelation 22:14, three times in Revelation it identifies who the saved are, “Blessed are they that do His commandments that they might have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city.” What do you think friends, is this something that's important to the Lord?
Audience: Yes.
Doug: I hope it's important to you. Friends I know that you’ve heard something tonight that may be new, a little bit shocking. If you're at all like me, if this is the first time you've heard this subject presented this way, it may even be a little disturbing. I trust that the Holy Spirit is working on your heart. Ultimately how are we going to make decisions? What does the Bible say, amen? Are we going to wait until the truth is popular? I've got news for you friends. It is never going to be popular. Matter of fact, you heard me read the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war.
I'll make a prediction right now. God brought you to this seminar because He's got a special plan for your life. The Sabbath day is it a cursing or is it a blessing? Did He curse the day or did He bless the day? If God showed this to you, it's not because He wanted to create a burden for you. He wants to bless you. He has good plans for you. But I'll predict that the dragon is wroth that you heard these things. I’ll predict that He's going to send somebody or doubts to try to steer you away from this because you know what it's all about? It's all about who do we worship. Amen?
Audience: Amen.
Doug: Keep in mind in the last days, it's going to be those who do not worship the way the government, beast power prescribes cannot buy and sell first, and ultimately they will be killed. Do we owe it to ourselves to study this out and find out what the truth is? I would like to ask you, all of you those who are watching and those who are present here, please hear the whole story. You've heard some things, if you think that there are some points of truth that have been presented tonight then you owe it to yourself to hear the rest.
Really what you’ve heard tonight is part one. In our next presentation, tomorrow night, we're going to be talking about the anti-Christ. Then in our meeting on Tuesday, we'll be talking about the mark, and we are going into industrial-strength prophecy study. You're going to find out how these principles of worship in the Gospel, in the law are all integral to the last day prophecies. Haven't we shown you? In the Book of Daniel.
If they didn't worship the way that they were told worship, they would be killed. In the book of not only in Shadrach, Meshach but Daniel in the lions’ den, how many of you have read the Book of Esther? A law is made to exterminate all the Jews. Why? Because one of them would not bow down to Haman. What do you think it's going to be in the last days? It's the same issue.
The devil is infuriated with those who give their worship to God. He didn't want you to hear this and he may have some very sweet, silver-tongued emissaries that are going to try to discourage you. I would plead with you please make your decisions based on the Bible. If you know you've got a "thus saith the Lord" for what you’re doing, you have nothing to fear. Amen?
Audience: Amen.
Doug: Would you allow me please to have special prayer for you before we close? Matter of fact I'd like to ask for those who are watching, wherever you might be and for those who are here, if the Holy Spirit has touched your heart tonight and you think you've heard truth from His word, then would you like to stand and we'll ask God to help us be doers of the word rather than just hearers of the word. I would like to ask a special blessing on you as we close.
Father in heaven we believe this subject is a profound importance because it is in the very midst of your law, it's a commandment you obviously knew people would forget because you began with the word, remember. Lord, we know that you love us and you want to have a growing love relationship with us. We can't know you if we don't spend time with you, quality time. We can't obey you if we don't love you, and we'll never love you without this time. Lord help us to understand this issue, help us to know what it means, what real worship is all about.
We know the dragon is angry and we pray that you'll set a hedge about each of these people. You want to bless them and I pray that you'll protect them. Lord bring them back, I pray that the answers will be founded on your word and for those who are struggling with these issues and some who maybe have been disturbed by the things that they've heard or even shocked, I pray that the subject of history's greatest hoax that they won't be fooled anymore, that they will know what the truth is. Ultimately, Lord, we want to follow Jesus, He's our example. Help us to set Him before us in all things.
Now I would pray that your spirit would rest on these people Lord, bless them in their homes. You promised a blessing on those who hear, read, and keep the words of this prophecy. Bless them in their families. Bless them if they're struggling financially. Bless them in their health Lord, help them to experience the blessings and then I pray that you'll draw a line from these studies and this prophecy seminar to those blessings. They'll see the connection. Be with us as we go from this place and we pray in Christ's name you'll bring us back again. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.
Audience: Amen.
[music]
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