We want the world to be redeemed. We want governments to be truly for the people. We want good to overrule evil. We want justice, and fairness, we want peace in our world. We live in such a fractured time, but I honestly believe that most people say that of the times they live in. We have a long, long history of chaos. In fact, some movies depict alien races reviewing our history and deciding we aren't worth saving, we are too violent as a rule, our leadership is so poor there has never been worldwide peace. Just like those fiction writers can make their characters see our world from an other worldly point of view, they do so with the other world having achieved peace. Of course as stories go, just for the sake of trying to redeem our human race the writers will have that other worldly race have its own problems- they make them have underlying evils that are just hidden by a façade of peace and so on and so forth.
We're a broken world, and we will remain a broken world until it is made new.
We have a history book that first of all tells us of past history, then it gives us prophetic history. The book has a perfect record of its prophetic word. So of course people who have studied this book want to know if it still contains prophetic history to yet be unfolded. It does. Having a perfect track record enables the people to realize that anything that is still in store for this world that has been written in this book will come to pass in the future, without a single doubt.
This book tells us that there will be chaos in our world until the world is redeemed. There is no prophecy for world peace prior to this redemption. We are told prophetically great evil is in store, evil that will rival any prior evil- right before the Redeemer returns. Trouble such as never was seen.
Dan_12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
That time of trouble is looming larger and larger to life. The thing is, many people are imagining how that time of trouble will come and their imagination is leading them astray. They are very confident that they are following all of God's truth, of His commandments, His royal law- but in truth they are following blindly the laws man has substituted for God's laws- and very convincingly so. I've actually heard someone once say to me that if so many people believe it, then it has to be right. Like a knife to the gut those words hit me because that is a Satanic deception that has blinded the eyes of so many people. They read these words of God that mean this-- that broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many go that way- and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few go that way-- and they still don't comprehend the truth. Their words of so many believing it has to be true are saying….the broad path to destruction is truth. Blind, wanting to remain blind, even as God's word cries out to be comprehended. Ultimately, God allows mankind to be blind knowing that is the choice of the mankind- God forces truth upon no one
God help us ALL! Open our eyes LORD, open our understanding! Let us see the truth and only the truth even if it means knowing the majority of people will NOT follow Your truth, but their cherished traditions and fables, all fabricated by Satan.
Save us, Lord! Save us from ourselves! We believe, help Thou our unbelief!!!!!!!
All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, NOW and FOREVER! Amen.
1Jn 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1Jn 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
The whole world lies in wickedness.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Many go to destruction, few go to find life.
1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jn 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Of the world, or of God.
Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also
The world hates those chosen to be out of the world. We are not of the world.
Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father
He will deliver us from this present evil world.
Tit 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
Tit 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life
According to HIS MERCY.
(Excerpt)
CHAPTER II. “THE CHRISTIAN WORLD MUST STAND CONVICTED OF ERROR.”
Having shown that the Sabbath was given “at the beginning of human history,” “for the whole human race, and should be observed by every human being;” having shown that the law of the Sabbath not only has never been abrogated, but that it “can never be abrogated,” Mr. Waffle proceeds thus:—
“Accepting the conclusion that the fourth commandment is still in force, it may very properly be asked, ‘Why then do not Christians obey it by keeping holy the seventh day of the week, as it directs? By what right is this plain precept disregarded and the first day of the week observed?’ This question is a natural one, and unless a satisfactory answer can be given, the Christian world must stand convicted of error.”—P. 184.
Here are some important acknowledgments. It is acknowledged (1) that the fourth commandment “directs” that “the seventh day of the week” shall be kept holy. This is important in this connection in view of the claim so often made nowadays by Sunday-keepers that the fourth commandment does not refer to any particular day. And (2) it is acknowledged that this “plain precept” is “disregarded” by Christians. We think he does well to state that “unless a satisfactory answer can be given” to the question as to why this is, “the Christian world must stand convicted of error.” We are perfectly satisfied that the Christian world must stand convicted of error on this question. And to prove that this is so, we need nothing better than Mr. Waffle’s one-thousand-dollar-prize essay; and that is the use that we propose to make of it in this chapter.
The fourth commandment, which Mr. Waffle here admits “directs” that “the seventh day of the week” shall be kept holy, is the law of the Sabbath. Says Mr. Waffle, “The law of the Sabbath can never be abrogated.”—P. 157. Now as the law of the Sabbath directs that the seventh day of the week shall be kept holy, and as that law can never be abrogated, it is plainly proven that the “Christian world,” in disregarding “this plain precept,” must stand convicted of error.
Again, Mr. Waffle says:—
“Unless it can be shown that the law of the Sabbath, given at the creation, has been repealed by a new legislative act of God, it is still binding upon all men who learn of it.”—P. 136.
And:—
“Up to the time of Christ’s death no change had been made in the day.” “The authority must be sought in the words or in the example of the inspired apostles.”—P. 186.
Then he quotes Matthew 16:19, and John 20:23, and says:—
“It is generally understood that these words gave to the apostles supreme authority in legislating for the church.... So far as the record shows, they did not, however, give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week.”—P. 187.
Now as “the law of the Sabbath” “is still binding upon all men who learn of it” “unless it has been repealed by a new legislative act of God;” as that law “directs” the observance of “the seventh day of the week;” as “up to the time of Christ’s death, no change had been made in the day;” as “the authority [for the change] must be sought in the words or in the example of the inspired apostles,” to whom (according to Mr. Waffle’s claim) was given “supreme authority in legislating for the church;” and as in the exercise of that legislative authority, “they did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week;” as, therefore, there has been no new legislative act of God—by Mr. Waffle’s own words it stands proven to a demonstration that the law of the Sabbath which enjoins the observance of “the seventh day of week” is still binding upon all men, and that in disregarding “this plain precept” “the Christian world must stand convicted of error.”
Again we read:—
“If the law of the Sabbath, as it appeared in the ten commandments, has been abolished, it must have been done by some decree of Jehovah. Where have we the record of such a decree? Through what prophet or apostle was it spoken?” “We can find no words of Christ derogatory to this institution as it was originally established, or as it was intended to be observed.” “There is nothing in the writings of the apostles which, when fairly interpreted, implies the abrogation of the Sabbath.”—Pp. 160, 165, 183.
The law of the Sabbath, “as it appeared in the ten commandments,” is the fourth commandment. And that commandment, by Mr. Waffle’s own interpretation, “directs” that “the seventh day of the week” shall be kept holy. Now as the abolition of that commandment would require some decree of Jehovah; and as no such decree has ever been recorded, nor spoken, neither by prophet nor by apostle, the obligation of the fourth commandment still remains upon all men to keep holy “the seventh day of the week.” Therefore, in disregarding this “plain precept,” “the Christian world must stand convicted of error.”
We must recur to a sentence before quoted. It is this:—
“The authority [for the change from the seventh to the first day of the week] must be sought in the words or in the example of the inspired apostles.”
Now with that please read this:—
“A law can be repealed only by the same authority that enacted it. It certainly cannot be done away by those who are subject to it.”—P. 160.
Was the law of the Sabbath enacted by the authority of the words or the example of the inspired apostles? Was it enacted by the authority of inspired men of any class, or at any time? No. The very idea is preposterous. Then it can never be repealed by the authority of inspired men, be they apostles or what not. That law was enacted by the living God in person. And it can never be repealed except by the personal act of the Lord himself. Any attempt of an inspired man to nullify any portion of the moral law would vitiate his inspiration. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:20. This is also conveyed in Mr. Waffle’s argument: “It certainly cannot be done away by those who are subject to it.” The inspired apostles were subject to the law of the Sabbath, as well as to all the rest of the law of God. And to charge to their words or to their example, the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, is to deny their inspiration, to declare that there is no light in them, and to place them beyond the pale of being men of God. This, too, is even admitted in Mr. Waffle’s argument. He says:—
“There is nothing in the example of the apostles to oblige the most tender conscience to abstain from secular employment on the first day of the week, if there is no other authority for observing a weekly Sabbath.”—P. 160.
Please bear in mind (1) that the aim of this one-thousand-dollar prize essay is to prove that the first day of the week is the true, genuine, and only weekly Sabbath; (2) that the author of the essay admits that the fourth commandment “directs” that “the seventh day of the week” is to be kept holy; (3) and that he likewise declares that the apostles, as supreme legislators for the church, “did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week.” Then it is plain that all that remains to which he can appeal, and in fact the only thing to which he does appeal as authority for keeping the first day of the week, is the example of the apostles. Then when even this he sweeps away with the declaration that “there is nothing in the example of the apostles to oblige the most tender conscience to abstain from secular employment on the first day of the week,” his argument leaves not a vestige of authority upon which to rest the observance of the first day of the week. Thus, again, he demonstrates that in disregarding the “plain precept” of the fourth commandment, which “directs” the “keeping holy the seventh day of the week,” and which is “still in force,” “the Christian world must stand convicted of error.”
That is exactly what we have believed for years. It is just what we are constantly endeavoring to set before the “Christian world,” as well as before the world in general. And we are thankful that the American Sunday-school Union, by its one-thousand-dollar prize, has enabled us to lay before our readers such a conclusive demonstration of it. We are not prepared to say but what the Union has done a good work in awarding the one-thousand-dollar prize to the essay of Mr. A. E. Waffle, M. A., Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature, etc., etc.; for we cannot see how it would be possible to put together an argument for the first day of the week which could more positively convict the Christian world of error in disregarding the plain precept to keep the seventh day. (End Excerpt)
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