GIVING &
SHARING NEWSLETTER June,
1993 No. 22
Giving
& Sharing Returns to Missouri
Earl Lewis is
a member of the Board of Directors of Sharing & Giving, Inc., sponsor of
the Giving & Sharing book service to Sabbath-keepers. Effective
July 1, 1993, Earl plans to assume responsibility for mailing Giving
& Sharing books and articles. The
Almighty willing, I plan to spend more time writing. For Giving & Sharing Bookstore services, please write: Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck
City, Missouri 64849 USA.
Who
“Owns” Sabbatarian History?
History has
not as much to do with time, as with how we live and believe. Recently, I have been updating the book, Six
Papers on the History of the Church of God, part of which covers the
history of Sabbatarian Baptists in England and America from the 1500s to the
1800s. It is inspiring and encouraging
to learn that early Sabbath-keepers practiced nearly the same beliefs that we
hold today. Through the pages of
history, I have discovered our spiritual ancestors.
Yet some deny
my claims of spiritual kinship with early English and American
Sabbath-keepers. Don Sanford, official
historian of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, has recently written a revised SDB
history, A Choosing People: The
History of Seventh Day Baptists (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press,
1992). Sanford is antagonistic towards
other Sabbath-keepers who appropriate SDB history as their own (see Sabbath
Sentinel, October, 1992, pages 6-7).
Seventh Day
Baptists cannot validly claim exclusive “ownership” of the history of
Sabbatarians. SDB’s today do not
agree doctrinally with their Sabbatarian ancestors! Actually, today’s faithful Church of God
brethren are doctrinally closer to early English and American
Sabbath-keepers than are today’s liberal SDB’s. Early American Sabbatarians rejected Trinity and immortal soul
teaching, eschewed Christmas and Easter, promoted their faith much more than
SDB’s do today, and traced their spiritual ancestry directly to English
Lollards, Waldensians, and the First Century Church. Sanford’s book traces Seventh Day Baptists back to the Protestant
Reformation and the Roman Catholic Church.
The oldest existing Seventh Day Baptist Church, the London, England,
Mill Yard Church, began during the mid 1600s.
The Mill Yard Church has apparently always kept the “Lord’s
Supper” on the fourteenth day of the first Hebrew month. Almost no American SDB churches followed
this practice. Today, SDB’s accept
Christmas, Trinity, and immortal soul teaching.
Who “owns”
Sabbatarian history? Those who believe
and practice what early Sabbath-keepers believed and practiced, John 8:39.
The
Cross of Christ — a Christian Symbol?
Ralph Woodrow,
in his book, Babylon Mystery Religion (available from Giving
& Sharing), shows that the cross is one of the most important, pervasive,
symbols of the Roman Catholic Church.
The floor plan of the church is usually in the shape of a cross. Crosses proliferate Catholic churches and
homes. The priest makes the sign of the
cross 16 times during the Mass.
Protestants use the cross on steeples, pulpits and in various other
ways.
Early
Christians did not consider the cross a symbol of veneration and worship. They
considered it an accursed tree, the emblem of shame, Hebrews 12:2. Their faith was in what was accomplished by
the cross, the sacrifice of the Messiah for their sins. To use worship symbols such as the cross was
considered idolatry.
Not until paganism
became “Christianized” did the cross become a Church symbol. In A.D. 431, crosses in churches were
introduced, but crosses on steeples did not appear until about A.D. 586, when
Rome sanctioned the use of crucifixes.
The cross did not originate with Christianity, but was borrowed from
paganism, where it was used as a symbol of the god Tammuz by the Babylonians of
ancient Chaldea. Egypt, Greece,
Phoenicia, India, and Mexico used the cross as a religious symbol long before
the birth of our Saviour. The invading
Spaniards were amazed that the Mexican Aztecs had venerated the cross since
ancient times. The cross had entered
the professing Christian Church through Constantine, whose “vision of the
cross” led him to adopt the “Christian” faith in order to unify the Roman
Empire. Constantine also persecuted
Sabbath-keeping Quartodecimans of the true Church.
These facts
are well-documented and have been known by the Church of God for many, many
years. However, the Worldwide Church of
God has now accepted the cross as an important religious symbol (Paul Kroll, The
Plain Truth, April, 1993, page 15).
Joseph W. Tkach now says that the cross of Christ is the “central
reference point for every Christian” (The Plain Truth, May/June 1993,
page 1). The Church’s television
program has crosses prominently displayed.
A man from the
Philippines writes, “What has happened to the Worldwide Church of God?” The same thing that happened to the First
Century Church of God. They have
departed from the faith and become part of the Babylonian system of
religion. They have done what the
American people have done in their political system: changed traditional values for their own ideas. As U.S. President, Bill Clinton, said in his
inauguration speech, America has to change:
“Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an
American.” In defiance of unchanging
Bible absolutes, the majority in the Church of God today have redefined what it
means to be a Christian. The Trinity,
born-again theology, crosses, etc., are all part of a dramatic change in
religious values. Let us not give in to
the shifting tide. Let us worship God
without the “aid” of idolatrous, pagan, cross symbols.
NIV
or KJV?
We recommend
that you use the King James Version of the Bible. One reason is that all major Bible helps,
such as Strong’s Concordance, Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee
Concordance, Englishman’s Greek Concordance, Gesenius (or
Brown-Driver-Briggs) Hebrew Lexicon, and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, are
based on the King James Version. One
cannot engage in effective Biblical research, letting the Bible interpret the
Bible, without using the King James Version as the base for study. See our recently updated free article,
“Basic Bible Study Tools,” which shows you how to use Bible research tools.
Of course, if
you don’t want to check things out for yourself, but are willing to accept what
someone else says without proof, then you don’t need a King James Version (or
any Bible, for that matter).
A second
important reason for using the King James Version (KJV) is that it is based on
the Received Text, the best manuscripts, which are closest to the
original. Most modern versions, such as
the New International Version (NIV), are based on the Alexandrian text
from Egypt, which is corrupted.
See our article, “King James Version Errors,” Study No. 122, contained
in our free book, Bible Studies.
The New International Version omits a reference to the New Testament
Church keeping the Holy Days in Acts 18:21. Some 95% of all Greek manuscripts have this verse, but the NIV
omits it without a footnote! The NIV is
the standard version of the vast majority of Protestant Churches today.
A third reason
for using the KJV is that its language is often easier to understand than the
NIV. In our family Bible study, we have
found time and again that the KJV is, in many passages, easier for our children
to understand than the NIV! If you do
find the King James English difficult, we recommend the New King James
Version, which is also based on the Received Text, and brings some of the
archaic language up to date. The NKJV
corrects many KJV errors, such as Acts 12:4, which is wrongly translated
“Easter” in the KJV, but “Passover” in the NKJV. Even if you use a NKJV, you will still need the old King James
Bible in order to use Bible helps and Englishman’s Concordances.
As a sign of
their doctrinal decline, the Worldwide Church of God has abandoned the KJV
standard, and followed Protestants with the NIV as their standard version. In spite of admitting that, “The NKJV is the
only major modern translation to be based on the Textus Receptus, whose manuscripts
are part of the Majority Text,” the Worldwide Church recommends the NIV for
one’s first Bible. The WWC has, since
1982, abandoned the use of uppercase pronouns referring to God (see The
Plain Truth, May/June 1993, pages 11, 24-26).
Sparingly use
modern translations such as the NIV, but only in conjunction with your main KJV
wide margin, lifetime Bible. Don’t
become a Protestant. Stick with the
King James Version, or New King James Version.
Laodicean
Motto: It is Finished!
When the
Creator worked six days to complete the physical creation, His works were finished,
Genesis 2:1. But, His spiritual
creation was about to begin, as He thereafter blessed the Sabbath, verses
2-3. When the Messiah was about to
die on the stake, He said, “It is finished,” John 19:30. He had finished the spiritual work of
glorifying the Heavenly Father and qualifying to be our perfect Passover
sacrifice, John 17:4.
When the
Apostle Paul was nearing his execution, he said he had fought a good fight, and
had finished his course, had kept the faith, and looked forward to
receiving a crown of righteousness at the return of the Savior, II Timothy
4:6-8.
In the future,
when the voice of the seventh angel shall sound, the mystery of God will be finished,
Revelation 10:7. Part of this
“mystery” includes the resurrection of the dead, I Corinthians 15:51. The Two Witnesses shall prophesy for 1,260
days until their testimony is finished, Revelation 11:3‑7.
For years,
some in the Church of God have concluded that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has
been preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, in fulfillment
of Matthew 24:14. The work of
the Church, they believe, is finished.
They base this on the teaching of Herbert W. Armstrong. In 1984, shortly before his death, Armstrong
gave a sermon in which he claimed to have fulfilled Matthew 24:14. The Plain Truth was then going to
every nation except Laos and Cambodia. Armstrong quoted the verse and said:
Brethren,
that has happened. And that has
happened through this work, and through the telecast and through The Plain
Truth, and through other literature [such as United States and British
Commonwealth in Prophecy] . . . . But it is a fact, and has happened . . . that
gospel of the Kingdom has gone to all the world, and there is no other
voice that has taken it to all the world, and that is something that nobody can
contradict! That has happened! Now, the next thing is the Great Tribulation,
and after that will come the Day of the Lord.
This was not
the first time Armstrong claimed that he had fulfilled Matthew 24:14. In 1972, after the failure of Armstrong
prophecies concerning the time of the return of Jesus Christ, the Worldwide
Church of God reinterpreted January, 1972, as the end of a second nineteen-year-time-cycle
and the fulfillment of preaching the gospel to the whole world. As a result, the Church let down and lapsed
into lethargy and liberalism, from which it has never recovered (with only a
weak respite in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when an attempt was made to get
doctrinally “back on track”).
If Armstrong
was correct that he had fulfilled Matthew 24:14, then the Church does
not now have a mission. It might as
well pack up and go home, instead of go into all the world with the gospel message. When the prophesied Great Tribulation did not
occur, the Church was driven inexorably into Laodiceanism, a spiritual
condition of laziness and letting down.
That is why I believe that “Matthew 24:14 is finished,” or “it is
finished,” is the motto of spiritual Laodiceans.
Should we
believe Armstrong’s bold claim? If he
was correct about his fulfilling Matthew 24:14, Armstrong should have
also been correct about another bold prophetic statement of his in the same
1984 sermon:
The
United States has won its last war. We
will not win any more [wars].
The American
victory in Panama against Noriega, and the smashing 1991 victory against Iraq’s
Sadaam Hussein over Kuwait, shows the falsehood of Armstrong’s 1984 claim. So, why should I believe what he said about Matthew
24:14? What does this verse
mean? Does sending a few magazines to
every country in the world fulfill the Eternal’s purpose in preaching the
gospel to the whole world?
In the Book of
Revelation there are a number of insets to the general chronological
progression of prophecy. Revelation
12, a general history of the Old and New Testament Church, is such an
inset, not tied to the chronology of the seven seals, seven trumpets, or seven
last plagues. Likewise, Matthew 24:14 might be an inset in
the Olivet Prophecy of our Savior. If
it is not, you must admit that it does not say who will fulfil the
preaching of the gospel as a witness to all nations. The Bible indicates there are at least two main events which will
result in the gospel being preached to all the world, neither of which pertain
to Herbert W. Armstrong nor the Church of God in general.
(1) The Three Angels of Revelation
14:6-12 will be used by the Almighty to thunder His end-time message to the
entire world. The first angel has the
everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, telling people to repent and
worship God. The second angel announces
the fall of Babylon and why she received God’s wrath. And, the third angel warns people not to worship the Beast and
his image, nor receive his mark, lest they suffer the seven last plagues of the
wrath of God. Some churches, such as
the Church of God (Seventh Day), teach that the Church is proclaiming the
“Third Angel’s Message.” My Bible says
the third angel, not a human being, will proclaim this message in the future.
(2) The Two Witnesses of Revelation 11:1-12
will be mightily empowered by the Eternal to preach for 1,260 days. The whole world will be affected by their
gospel preaching. When the Two
Witnesses have finished their testimony, the Beast will kill them, and
the earth’s rebellious people will rejoice at their deaths. Then, after three days they shall be
resurrected, just before the Third Woe.
Both the Three
Angels and the Two Witnesses will have a powerful impact on all peoples on
earth. This will be a far greater
effect than a few million copies of The Plain Truth magazine with a weak
message. Let us not make bold,
unsubstantiated predictions bragging about how well we have done in preaching
the gospel to the world. Let us be
honest and admit that the Church, since the great start in the First Century,
has done a miserable job of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to all
the world for a witness. The First
Century Church lost its first love.
Church history has been mostly downhill ever since.
Many people
give up just before they would succeed.
Instead, they are failures. I am
happy that Paul did not give up preaching the gospel, II Timothy 4:7. Neither should we give up, but be always
abounding in the work of the Lord, I Corinthians 15:58.
The work of
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to the world for a witness has
not been finished. Any church group
which claims that it has, is in a Laodicean condition of lukewarmness and
lethargy. “It is finished” is the motto
of Laodiceanism.
Wavesheaf
and Unleavened Bread
“The question [I have] is: since we are commanded to eat unleavened
bread for the 7 days & we know this eating could not take place until the
wave sheaf offering was made, what happens if the Feast [of Unleavened Bread]
begins in mid-week? How can we eat
unleavened bread if the wave sheaf won’t be offered for several more days?” D.J.S., Chicago
ANSWER: We are commanded to eat unleavened bread for
seven days, Leviticus 23:6. There is no stipulation that the bread we eat during the seven
days of unleavened bread has to be from the new harvest. Unleavened bread is used in the Passover
service, before the wavesheaf, and this unleavened bread is obviously from the
old, last year’s, harvest. The
regulations given in Leviticus 23:9-14 concerning the wavesheaf do not
clearly specify when the wavesheaf is to be offered. The events of John 20:17, which
fulfilled the wavesheaf, help us to pinpoint the Sunday after the Sabbath
during the Feast of Unleavened Bread as the correct wavesheaf day.
Even if Sivan
6 Pentecost advocates are correct, which they are not, wavesheaf day would be
Nisan 16. Obviously, on Nisan 15, the
first holy day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we would have to eat
unleavened bread from the old harvest.
God does not require us to do the impossible. Your statement, “we know this eating [of unleavened bread during
the Feast] could not take place until the wave sheaf offering was made,” is not
true.
The “bread,
parched corn, and green ears” of Leviticus 23:14, is not the same bread
as the unleavened bread of verse 6.
The Passover unleavened bread is symbolic of the sinless body of the
Messiah. The bread of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread has a different religious purpose, to remind us that we
are to be unleavened (without sin) before the Almighty. The “bread, parched corn, and green ears” of
Leviticus 23:14 does not have the same religious purpose; it appears to
refer to ordinary food to eat. We must
dedicate the wavesheaf to the Eternal before we eat of the new harvest. So here we have three different breads,
three different object lessons from our Creator.
Stories
For Family Study
For years, our
children have enjoyed stories from “The Children’s Bible Hour,” a religious
radio broadcast from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Available on cassette tape, these stories have entertained and educated
our children, especially on long automobile trips. Many of these stories have been put in written form, now
available in three volumes, $10 each, entitled The One Year Book of Family
Devotions. Each volume contains 365
stories based on a Bible passage. These
practical stories are an ideal springboard for family Bible Study and
discussion. A few stories require
parental editing, to eliminate Protestant doctrine. For more information on books and tapes, write: Children’s Bible Hour, P.O. Box 1, Grand
Rapids, MI 49501.
New
Biblical Health and Healing Book
After many
months, we have completed a major update of our material on Bible Health and
Healing. I wanted to write a
comprehensive article on Clean and Unclean Meats, because I have never seen a
thorough presentation of this subject.
A new, 46-page article, is included in our latest book, Biblical
Health and Healing. In addition
to material on Clean and Unclean Meats, the book contains several articles we
have distributed over the years on Bible health and healing principles,
including a review of Herbert W. Armstrong’s classic article, “Does God Heal
Today?”
We are pleased
to offer, free of charge,
our 138-page book, Biblical Health and Healing. Here is a summary outline:
Summary
of Biblical Health and Healing
Health From the Biblical Viewpoint (Study No. 18)
There are
many scriptures which lay the framework for Biblical Health.
Anointing the Sick for Healing: Who? What? Why? How? (Study No. 23)
A detailed
analysis of James 5:14-16 shows that we have much to learn about the Almighty's
healing power.
What is the Gift of Healing? (Study No. 115)
Some modern
“faith healers” abuse the gift of healing.
Is it always God's will to heal?
Why does God allow sickness?
God Does Heal — Today!
A review of
the 1952 Herbert W. Armstrong booklet, “Does God Heal Today?” shows that the
doctrine of divine healing is part of the Gospel commission. We “break bread” at Passover to symbolize
our faith in Christ’s body, beaten for our healing.
Clean and Unclean Meats
This 46-page
article is a comprehensive study of the Bible teaching about clean and unclean
meats. The Law of Clean and Unclean is
NOT just a principle of good health, but a vital part of the Ten Commandments.
Should Christians Be Vaccinated? (Study No. 72)
Vaccines are
made from unclean substances and Christians should not be vaccinated. We should trust YHVH as our healer.
Whole Grain Breads:
Proven Recipes, by Shirley Nickels
These are
natural recipes we actually use. If you
haven’t eaten Shirley’s delicious whole wheat Sabbath waffles, you haven’t
lived!
A Time to Be Born—Naturally (Study No. 77)
We went
through a tremendous trial during the birth of our daughter Amanda. The Bible has many scriptures regarding
childbirth. Natural childbirth and
breast feeding are part of God’s design.
Be Ye Clean
(Study No. 91)
Being clean
involves more than just washing one’s hands before meals. God wants us to be clean from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit.
Reviews: Confessions
of a Medical Heretic, Back to Eden, and None of These Diseases
Dr. Robert
Mendelsohn warns us to stay away from doctors, operations, hospitals and
vaccinations except under extreme emergencies.
Natural doctor Jethro Kloss wrote the encyclopedia on herbal
remedies. Dr. S.I. McMillen shows that
scientific evidence supports Bible Health Laws.
The Attack Against Healing and Health
Review of anti-healing
material (by Ernest Martin, David L. Antion, Herbert W. Armstrong, Joseph W.
Tkach, and Church of God, The Eternal). The doctrine of healing is critical
because it requires the faith of God, which is necessary for salvation. Ω