Worshipping on the Sabbath

Just wanted to comment on an article I just read about the Sabbath. It would appear that you have given my fleshly nature every reason to completely disregard the Ten commandments. I’m sorry, but my Bible does not indicate that the Commandments were only for the Jews. … Christ himself worshipped on the Seventh day. As I looked at Acts 20:7 I never saw any evidence that they were having a church service. In fact, it would seem that if you look at the text it was an evening meeting because Paul was leaving the next day. And I Cor. 16:1, 2 say nothing about Sunday worship! That must be a misprint on your website, because that is a huge stretch to say that just because they were to save some money they were having church service. … I thought the Lord Himself said nothing was to every be taken out of the Bible or added to it. It would seem that some are doing both when it comes to preaching Sunday worship. … Sincerely, Aaron Brown Irrespective of what translation of the Bible one uses, Scripture states that the Israelites alone were the specific recipients of the Ten Commandments, and the entire Mosaic Law (Judaism). “12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt …

Exodus 32:32

I heard a preacher say (TV) yesterday that the dash in Exodus 32:32, was put there because some ancient Rabbi deleted some of Moses words? Have you ever heard anything about this? Thanks, Weaver Mills After consulting numerous written sources, I only encountered two instances where the “dash” was addressed. All other sources that I consulted, instead, simply treated the message contained in the verse and compared Moses’ statement with similar expressions throughout the Bible. Both references below to the “dash” in Exodus 32:32 discount the theory you heard on TV. However, the first citation below acknowledges that some critics come to a similar conclusion, which you heard on the program to which you referred. We are amazed at the scholars who make an ellipsis [sic] (an incomplete sentence) out of this. All it needs is proper punctuation, just as we have taken the liberty of rendering it here. Punctuation is altogether a human thing, anyway, and we have as much right to punctuate it accurately, as others do to make an ellipsis out of it by leaving out a comma! [“Exodus 32:30ff,” James Burton Coffman Bible Study Library. (Abilene: ACU Press) 1989.] For a similar form of expression, in which the conclusion is left to be supplied by the mind of the reader, see Dan 3:15; Luke 13:9; 19:42; John 6:62; Rom 9:22. [“Ex 32:7-35,” Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database. (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft, Inc.) 1997.] Personally, having complete confidence in God’s willingness and ability to communicate with mankind in written language and …

Will One Go to for Using Tobacco?

Will one go to for using tobacco? I know tobacco use can lead to death. I know we are the temple of the Holy Spirit & we are to take care of it. I have known some good Christians who used tobacco. I remember my original home congregation taking 5 or 10 minutes between Bible Study & Worship for some to have their tobacco. Are those men going to for that? ~ Lemoyne D. Dotson The passage of Scripture to which reference above is made is: “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). In this context, the apostle Paul refers to the sin of fornication (1 Corinthians 6:9) and gives the additional reason not to commit fornication that it harms …

The Music of the Early Church: The Testimony of Scholarship and Religious Leaders

“All ancient Christian music was vocal” (Dr. Curt Sachs, Columbia University). “Both the Jews in their temple service and the Greeks in their idol worship were accustomed to sing with the accompaniment of instrumental music. The converts to Christianity must have been familiar with this mode of singing, but it is generally admitted that the primitive Christians employed no instrumental music in their religious worship … Musical accompaniments were gradually introduced; but one can hardly be assigned to a period earlier than the fifth and sixth centuries. Organs were unknown in the church until the eighth or ninth century. Previous to this they had their place in the theater rather than in the church” (Lyman Coleman, Presbyterian). “Music in the church is as ancient as the apostles; but instrumental music is not” (Joseph Bingham, Church of England). “That instrumental music was not practiced by primitive Christians … is evident from church history” (The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge). “…Respected scholars simply say that in the early church no instruments were used. They came in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries, too late to be authorized by inspiration in the Scriptures” (The Shaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge). “Musical instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law” (John Calvin, originator of Presbyterianism). “Only singing … and no playing of instruments, was permitted in the early church” (Hugo Leichtentritt). “I have …

Gluttony

You may have heard of the woman who was so pleased when the preacher condemned drinking, gambling, fornication and various other sins that she said, “Amen” after each denunciation. When he began talking about dipping snuff and gossip, she said, “Now he has quit preaching and gone to meddling.” How long has it been since you heard a sermon on the sin of gluttony? If you did hear one, would you think the preacher had “gone to meddling?” Do you notice in the Bible that gluttons and drunkards are often classified in the same way? “And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard” (Deuteronomy 21:20). “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags” (Proverbs 23:21). “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34). An excellent preacher, “sound in the faith,” was neither ashamed nor afraid to preach against unscriptural marriages, strong drink and other sinful practices. He even made snide comments about smoking. He had a friend and brother (another preacher) who weighed about 300 pounds. When he ate, he often went back to fill his plate about three times, not counting desserts. He had another brother who took a glass of wine at …

Advice for Young Wives and Mothers; Bring Them Up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord

I have been a preacher’s wife for 29 years; during that time, we have been privileged to work and visit many congregations of the Lord’s people. Over the course of time, I have observed what appears to be an alarming trend within many congregations. It appears to me that the Bible knowledge and Bible interest of pre-teen and teenage children among families of the Lord’s church is waning. It seems that more and more children in this age group have a disinterest in studying God’s Word. (I know that there are pre-teens and teenagers who are interested in following and studying God’s Word. To these I give praise and admiration.) When a comparison of the number of students in the preschool classes to the classes for the pre-teen and teenage classes is made, one will see that the younger classes are consistently larger. I do not believe that this is solely because of a difference in births, but that the children in the older classes simply are not attending. This is sad and alarming. If we cannot convert our children to Christ, how do we hope to convert the world to Christ? There may be various reasons contributing to the disinterest of some of our young people. I believe that one reason is similar to that of many of our older members as well. We often hear, “I am too busy to be at the church building twice on Sunday and Wednesday evening for Bible study and worship.” I am afraid our …

Responsible for Believing a Lie?

The Gibeonites lied and the Israelites got in trouble for it — at least that is how some skeptics would look at it. The Israelites were commissioned to do battle against all nations inhabiting the land that had long ago been promised to them. They were to destroy the people and not leave anyone alive (Deuteronomy 7:1-2). Joshua and his troops are doing a pretty good job of that, and so the people of Gibeon become afraid. Rather than mustering their forces to fight the nation powered by Almighty God, they aim to outwit them. And that they do. The Gibeonites approach the Israelites in torn clothing with ragged luggage. They lie, claiming they are not inhabitants, but travelers through the land of Canaan. “Well,” reasons Joshua and his men, “if they are not inhabitants, we don’t have to destroy them.” In an apparently compassionate decision, God’s Word is disobeyed. The Israelites make a covenant with the Gibeonites, promising not to kill them. When their true habitation is exposed, Joshua has egg on his face. The oath now prevents him from proceeding to destroy the people. This was the first let-down of God’s command, and it couldn’t be “made up.” Once one group of people was permitted to stay, the snowball effect of influence and ensuing idolatry would not be stopped in Israel (see the book of Judges). But why, one might justifiably ask, was Joshua held accountable for responding — again, apparently compassionately — to a boldfaced lie? The …

Grumble, Grumble, Grumble

She was an incurable grumble. Nothing pleased her. But one day her neighbor heard of her excellent apple crop and figured at last he had found one thing she couldn’t complain about. “Well,” he said, “I know you’re happy. I’ve heard a lot about that apple crop.” The old woman glared at him as she replied, “Oh, I guess they’ll do, but where’s the rotten ones for the pigs?” You are probably thinking no one could be that bad, but I’m not so sure. I’ve met one or two who very easily could be the guilty grumbler. As I have noted before, these are the folks who feel bad when they feel good for fear that they will feel worse when they feel better. For them nothing is quite right, and they want the whole word to know it. They are so focused on the one thing they perceive to be wrong that they never see all the right things. How do you suppose God feels about grumblers? Did you know that exactly one month after leaving Egypt the Israelites were grumbling that they would have been better off if they had remained Egyptian slaves (Exodus 16:2-3)? It was in response to their complaints that God gave them manna to satisfy their hunger. On another occasion, now tired of the manna, they complained, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks and the onions, and the garlic: but now …

Walking With God

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). Thus, we see God’s summation of mankind’s situation in the world before the flood in the days of Noah. Although this is a picture of what the situation was like almost 6000 years ago, it could well describe the world in which we live today at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Our minds today are continually bombarded and polluted with all manner of evil. At work or school, it is difficult to escape this bombardment. Even our homes are not secure from this since much of the fare that is offered on television is unfit for human consumption and continues to worsen with some of the newer productions on the network channels as well as on some of the regular cable channels, to say nothing of the so called “premium” channels. The same can be said of most of the movies and many of the books that are available. Have you stopped to think how difficult it is to find a movie that is “G” rated to which you could take the whole family? Sometimes, even a movie that is rated “G” leaves much to be desired! Then, over the past few years the Internet has become very popular, although offering much that is good there is a dark side too and wickedness and evil is available with a few …

A Nameless Church

Many churches have special names, but the New Testament church has no name. Denominations have proper names. The word “denominate” means to “name” something. The New Testament church is called the house of the Lord, the family of God, the body of Christ and the kingdom of Christ (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 3:5-6; 1 Timothy 3:15), with no proper name. The individual members of the New Testament church have a proper name. Their name is not “disciple,” though they are disciples (Acts 9:1). Their name is not “brethren,” though they are brothers and sisters (Acts 9:30). Their name is not “saints,” though they are saints (Acts 9:32). Their proper and divinely given name is “Christian” (Acts 11:26; 1 Peter 4:16), but to call the church the “Christian Church” is to denominationalize that great institution. To speak of the New Testament church as “the church of Christ” is as right as it is to speak of it as “the church of God” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2), but neither is a proper name. To speak of “Church of Christ” congregations, “Church of Christ” preachers, is to denominationalize that church. The New Testament church has no proper name.

Jesus — The Fulfillment of Prophecy

In Luke 24:13-27, we read of two disciples of Christ on their way to Emmaus. Luke tells us this was the first day of the week (24:1, 13) and that it was the same day that the tomb in which Jesus had been laid following his death was found to be empty (24:3, 13). As they walked, they discussed these events. Along the way, they encountered what they supposed to be a stranger and discussed these matters with him. It is obvious from the response Jesus gave to their account that they expressed an amount of doubt in the testimony of the women that Jesus had risen from the grave and was alive. Notice what they said in verse 21, “we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” [emphasis mine, NF]. They spoke of their hope in the past tense, “were,” indicating that those hopes had died on the cross with Jesus. And even though we cannot hear the manner in which they relayed what the women at the tomb had told them, the doubt in their voices must have been evident for Jesus rebuked them for a lack of faith. This rebuke was given because of a lack of faith in “all that the prophets have spoken.” These men should have had no confusion in these matters for the prophets of old had given them great detail concerning these matters. And so, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures …

The Lord Has Given You Power

“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Someone has written the following admonition and Ichallenge you to consider it. All the water in the world,However hard it tried,Could never, never sink a shipUnless it got inside. All the evil in the World,The blackest kind of sin,Can never hurt you one least bit —Unless YOU let it in. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13) You have the power to make the right decision.

The Prayer for the Ephesians

In the Book of Ephesians there are recorded in chapters one and three, two remarkable prayers which were uttered by the great apostle Paul for the Christians in the city of Ephesus. One can hardly help but wonder what it would be like to have someone as righteous, good and zealous as the apostle Paul offering prayers at the throne of God for one. But that is what he did on behalf of the church at Ephesus, and a cursory look at those prayers will be good for Christians living today. Notice if you will, please, that he offered these prayers to God after he had heard of their faith in Jesus Christ, and their love for all the saints. It would do no good to offer prayers for people who did not have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, except to pray that they might gain such faith, but since these brethren already had such faith, Paul is ready to pray for them. In addition to the great faith which they had in Christ, they also had love for all the saints. Again, we need to point out that without love, no matter how great we are, or claim to be, our lives are as empty as a clanging brass cymbal. Since these Christians had that faith and love, Paul did not cease to give thanks for them, and to pray for them. For what did Paul pray regarding the Ephesians? The first thing for which he prayed was …

Cremation Considerations

[West Virginia Christian, Volume 8, No. 6, June 2001] “Dear Aebi: “How should a Christian feel about cremation? Will cremation affect the soul? Also, is it proper for a Christian to leave his body to science, or parts of his body to anyone else?” First of all, it is important to understand that the body without the spirit or soul is dead (James 2:26). When the spirit returns to God who gave it, the body returns to dust or earth (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The body is composed of dust and decays and returns to dust (Genesis 3:19). Scientifically, there is little difference between slow decomposition (decay) and rapid decomposition (cremation or fire). The end result is the same — dust. When a Christian dies, his soul or spirit — his real being — is commended into the hands of God (Luke 23:46) and enters into the presence of Christ (Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:1-9). This being the case, whatever happens to the body after death has no effect on the soul, which has already departed from the body. Whether the body returns to dust by way of slow decay in the grave or rapid decomposition by cremation, explosion or other catastrophe is irrelevant to the status of the soul. And if the body is given to science, it ultimately arrives at the same end — decomposition, one way or another. If parts of the body are given to others who can use them as tissue or organ transplants, when the recipients …

The Altar of the Tabernacle

Inside the courtyard of the Tabernacle was the altar. God had shown Moses exactly what it looked like and exactly how to make it when he was on Mount Sinai. Moses was to exactly follow the instructions (Exodus 27:8). The altar also represents Christ. The altar was to be made of (acacia) wood. The wood was to be covered in brass. It is possible that the wood represents Christ’s humanity while he was on earth. The acacia wood was a very durable wood. And the brass represents his divine nature. Brass also represents victory through suffering and sacrifice. It was to be built hollow. This may represent the fact that Christ emptied himself when he came to earth to live as a man (Philippians 2:7). He made himself of no reputation to come to earth. Yet, he was still God in the flesh. The altar had four horns, one on each corner. The horns represent strength, honor and victory. They also represent authority. When the sacrifice was brought into the court, it was tied up and then tied to one of the horns. We are to present our bodies living sacrifices when we come to worship God. We must be tied to Christ through our obedience to his word. If we make sure we are always tied to him, then we will live with him one day in heaven. There was a grate that sat upon the altar. This grate was one and a half cubits high. This is the …

The Laver of the Tabernacle

The laver was another important part of the Tabernacle. It was made of brass. But it was not made of any brass. It was made of the brass from the looking glasses or mirrors of the women. This brass was of particularly pure metal. It would allow people to see their reflections in it. You can read about the laver in Exodus 38:9 and Exodus 30:18-21. The priests had to wash at the laver before they could serve in the courtyard of the Tabernacle. They were already members of the priesthood but they still had to wash before they could serve in the worship. We are told in James 1 that we are to look into the perfect law of liberty and continue in it. We are told this is similar to looking in a mirror. The laver may represent the Word of God, which is the Word of Christ. It is the Word that will show us what to do to be pure and clean in the eyes of God. The water contained in the laver is also representative of Christ. When we are Christians we still need to be washed clean when we sin. In 1 John 1:9, we are told that if we confess our sins, he will cleanse us from those sins, just as the priest was cleansed when he went to the laver to wash. It is amazing how God gave us pictures of the church and Christ in the Tabernacle. It shows that God …

The Speaking Dead

In that wonderful eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the writer says of faithful Abel, “and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Vs. 4). The longer we live the more we learn how this is true of others. For a number of us, our parents being dead yet speak. I don’t suppose that a day goes by that I don’t reflect upon my deceased parents. For many of us our parents remain the greatest influence upon us, even many years after they are gone. Whether consciously or not we still apply to our life decisions the standards and principles that they taught us. Many a teacher, being dead, yet speaks. Every good teacher always becomes immortal to someone. Our college and university professors leave their marks on us, and perhaps even more so do the humble teachers of our childhood years. Especially do our Bible school teachers, who, though they may be gone, still speak. Many a friend, being dead, yet speaks. The influence of a good friend is something that transcends death. It is not terminated with the death of a friend. Many a preacher, being dead, yet speaks. No Gospel preacher ever knows where the Gospel he preaches is going or how far reaching it may be. Some, though they have never told him so, owe their lives to the preaching of some faithful man of God that the world at large will never know. Every person being dead yet speaks.

Does God Have Your Attention?

God is sovereign over the universe by virtue of his having spoken it into existence and maintains it (Exodus 20:11; Psalm 33:8-12). Jesus often admonished, “He that hath ears to hear let him hear” (Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8). God from heaven in thunderous tones said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5-6). God promised Moses that he would raise up a prophet like him from among the Jews and would put his (God’s) Word in that prophet’s mouth and hold the people accountable for hearing what that prophet, Jesus, had to say (Deuteronomy 18:15-18; Acts 3:22). Hebrews 1:2 informs us that God speaks to people today through his Son, Jesus, the Christ. While on earth, Jesus said that his Word was what God the Father told him to say (John 8:26). When acknowledged as the Son of God by the apostle Peter (Matthew 16:18), Jesus responded by promising to build his (Christ’s) church upon the bedrock truth (v. 18). This was accomplished on the first Pentecost feast in Jerusalem after Jesus rose from the dead (Acts 2). As God’s message of salvation was preached, three thousand responded to the Holy Spirit inspired call to ‘repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins’ (Acts 2:36-39) and were by the Lord himself added to the church that Jesus said he would build (Acts 2:47). This church is God’s family. All of God’s children are in his family. …

Fatal Error

One of the worst experiences one can have with a computer is a Fatal Error message. It is often called “the blue screen of death” by many in the computer science field, because it means whatever you are doing has just come to a halt and the best you can hope for is to reset the machine, and maybe it will reboot the way it was before the error occurred. Sometimes, the error is so severe it requires new hardware or software to fix the problem. We are reminded of some “Fatal Errors” that are recorded in the Bible. These are sins that people committed and resulted in their deaths because of their disobedience. Yet, there is no new software to install or hardware to replace that could restore life to them. Unlike computers that can be turned off and on, human beings only have one life, and when it is gone, physical existence is over for that person! Hebrews 9:27 states, “…it is appointed unto a man once to die, and after this the judgment…” (Emphasis mine, SPS.) Consider Nadab and Abihu, the first priests to serve in the tabernacle in the wilderness. One can read the full account in Leviticus 10. God had commanded the priests to use coals from the brazen altar of sacrifice to start burning incense, but actually, the sins of Nadab and Abihu were many. Coffman writes: All that they did here was SINFUL. Their taking of censers, unbidden, their putting incense upon censers carried by themselves, …

The 25th Sect

By the time of Christ, Judaism had become a badly divided, bitterly disputed religion from within its own ranks. For instance, in about 94 B.C., the Pharisees and the Sadducees were locked in a brutal civil war with each other. The Sadducees prevailed and crucified 800 Pharisees in the presence of their families, who then were executed as those being crucified helplessly looked on from the crosses to which they had been fastened, and on which they themselves were dying in indescribable pain. There were 24 Jewish sects within Judaism in the first century, most of which are not mentioned in the Bible; only the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23; Acts 23:6), the Pharisees (Matthew 19:3; 23:23ff; Luke 11:39), the Herodians (Mark 12:13) and the Zealots (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) appear in Scripture. Beginning in 63 B.C., when the Jews were warring with each other again (Aristobulus vs. Hyrcanus, siblings), through the general Pompey, the Roman Empire took control of Palestine and restrained the Jews from civil war, by subordinating all the Palestinian Jews to Roman rule. Rome lost control of Palestine for a while in 40 B.C. to the Parthians from the East. However, in 37 B.C., Rome regained control of Palestine, which control it maintained throughout the New Testament era and beyond. Hence, the Roman Empire with its iron-fisted control of Palestine in the first century kept the embittered Jewish sects in check. During the ministry of Jesus and the subsequent ministries of the apostles, the Jewish sects embraced an …