sabbath 2001 thethe may-june sentinel · may-june 2001 the sabbath sentinel 3 first, i would like...

May-June 2001 www.biblesabbath.org The Sabbath Sentinel 1

BSA — The Bible Sabbath Association“The Sabbath was made for man...”

- Jesus, the Christ

BSA — The Bible Sabbath Association“The Sabbath was made for man...”

- Jesus, the Christ

May-June

2001

May-June

2001SabbathSentinelSabbathSentinel

THETHE

2 The Sabbath Sentinel www.biblesabbath.org May-June 2001

The Sabbath SentinelMay-June 2001 Volume 53, No. 3 Issue 489

FEATURES

4 President’s Message —The SignDr. Sidney Davis

7 Keeping the Sabbath: Faith orSuperstition

Dr. Daniel Botkin

10 Who is my Enemy?Kenneth Ryland

14 Presentation to the Sabbath RootsConference

Dr. Sidney Davis

DEPARTMENTS

3 Editorial

6 News of Interest

16 The Church in the World

22 Letters to the Editor

23 Classified Ads

Cover Photo: The Celcius Library in Ephesus by Tom Jutte.Did the apostle Paul preach the gospel of Christ from thesevery steps?

Mr. Jutte’s photos are available on the Web at http://surf.to/tomjutte.

Last Issue’s Cover Photo: Alaskan Type I Incident Manage-ment Team. Photographer: John McColgan, Bureau ofLand Management, Alaska Fire Service.

For a FREE subscription in the U.S. And Canada, call(888) 687-5191, email us at [email protected] or visitour website at http://www.biblesabbath.org . Becauseof additional postage costs, we request that interna-tional subscribers donate $10 per year to defray thepostage costs for international mailing, if they are ableto do so.

The Sabbath Sentinel is published bimonthly by The Bible Sab-bath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718.Copyright © 1999, by The Bible Sabbath Association. Printedin the U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any formwithout written permission is prohibited. Nonprofit bulk ratepostage paid at Gillette, WY 82718.

Editor: Kenneth Ryland, [email protected]

Associate Editors: June Narber & Shirley Nickels

BSA’s Board of Directors for 1999-2003:

President: Dr. Sidney Davis

Vice Presidents: Ken Westby, Tom Justus, Calvin Burrell

Treasurer: Brian Burrell, [email protected]

Secretary: Rich Nickels, [email protected]

Webmaster: John Paul Howell

Recording Secretary: June Narber

Directors At Large: Daniel Botkin, Mike Galimore, JohnConrod, Darrell Estep

Subscriptions: Call (888) 687-5191 or (307) 686-5191, or writeto: The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette,WY 82718 or contact us at the office nearest you (see interna-tional addresses below). The Sabbath Sentinel is sent free ofcharge to all who request it. Your subscription is provided bythe voluntary contributions of the membership of the The BibleSabbath Association.

Donations are gratefully accepted and are tax deductible in theUnited States. Those who choose to voluntarily support thisinternational work to promote the Sabbath and proclaim gos-pel of the kingdom of God are welcomed as contributors.

Annual membership contributions: regular membership $25;Family Membership $30; Life Membership $500. All mem-berships include an annual subscription to The Sabbath Senti-nel. Make all checks, drafts and money orders payable to TheBible Sabbath Association. (VISA and MasterCard accepted).

The Bible Sabbath Association is dedicated to promote theseventh day Sabbath. As a nonsectarian association for Sab-bath-observing Christians, BSA accepts members who acknowl-edge Jesus Christ (Yahshua the Messiah) as their Savior, be-lieve the Bible to be the Word of the Eternal, and uphold theseventh day Sabbath. BSA takes no official position on othertheological issues, and publishes The Sabbath Sentinel as a fo-rum to promote understanding and to share items of interest toSabbath observing groups and individuals.

Opinions expressed in The Sabbath Sentinel are those of thewriters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Edito-rial Staff or of The Bible Sabbath Association.

BSA Worldwide Web Site: www.biblesabbath.org

Correspondence and manuscript submissions: Address allinquiries to: Kenneth Ryland, c/o The Sabbath Sentinel, 3316Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718. Phone: (307) 686-5191, E-mail: [email protected]

International addresses:

Australia: Bible Sabbath Associates, Jim & Lyn Carnochan, 7Sunny Ridge Rd., Arcadia NSW 2159, E-mail:[email protected]

Address Service Requested


First, I would like to thank Royce Mitchell for his ser-vice to The Sabbath Sentinel. As editor Royce set a highstandard. I will do my best to maintain that standard, al-though I hope our readers will indulge some miscues overthe next few issues. Back in the olden days (at least in mychildren’s minds) I used to be a magazine editor, but thatwas before the extensive use of computers in typographyand layout. In some ways this is like starting over fromscratch.

I am very thankful to the board of directors of the BibleSabbath Association for having enough confidence in meto offer me this opportunity. They have been nothing buthelpful in getting me through this transition period.

My journey as a Sabbath-keeper started in 1965. Atthat time I began attending the Worldwide Church of God inMemphis, Tennessee. When I started to study the Bible inearnest during my college years at the University of Missis-sippi, it made sense to me that keeping the Sabbath waspart and parcel with being a Christian. To my simple mindbeing a Christian meant that you did what Jesus did — andHe kept the Sabbath.

In spite of the many arguments against the Sabbathby Protestant and Catholic theologians, Jesus never sawany law-grace conflict in keeping the Sabbath. True, He didnot always observe it in the manner demanded by the Phari-sees, but He kept it, and in fact invested it with a spiritualquality that hearkened back to the Creator’s original intent.Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and that’show God created the Sabbath, as a gift for the physical andspiritual refreshing and renewal of man. In other words, thecreation of the Sabbath for man was an act of grace, andwhen observed in the spirit that Jesus observed it, the daytruly is a day of grace and peace.

One of my tasks as editor, I believe, is to broaden thereach of The Sabbath Sentinel. In the beginning, as I clois-tered myself in my dorm room at Ole Miss, I believed thatthere were probably Sabbath-keepers out there somewhere,but they were probably all in California or some “other” for-eign country. It’s amazing that often when we start to dosomething that God wants us to do, especially somethingthat may appear “funny” to those around us, we get theElijah syndrome: “I and I alone am left, and they seek mylife.” However, God always comes through and begins toexpand our fellowship to include other believers of like mind.

As the years have passed, I have come to observean almost endless variety of Sabbath-keeping, and my ownperspective has broadened as to what God is doing in thisworld. Since He is the Creator of variety, he is also the Master

of dealing with variety. What we may see as a threat to ourfaith, He is just as likely to see as an opportunity to bringHis refreshing presence into people’s lives. Truly, ourthoughts are not His thoughts.

My background is rooted in the traditional, conserva-tive lines of the Sabbath-keeping tradition. That is where Ifeel at home. However, it has become apparent to me thatmost of the growth in Sabbath-keeping churches has comeamong Messianic and Charismatic/Pentecostal Christiansover the past 20 years or so. And that is an area where weneed to expand our reach and our thinking.

There has been an interesting symbiosis betweenMessianic and Charismatic Christians. Many Jews, particu-larly in the old Soviet bloc, were converted to Christianity inprison by Charismatics. They have presented a terrible di-lemma for the government of Israel when they have emi-grated there and several attempts to ban their immigration.But the upshot of all this is that Messianic Jews, in turn,have brought many Charismatics into a proper understand-ing of the Law and its place in the life of a Christian. For thiswe can praise God.

In looking over past issues of The Sabbath Sentinel,I have noticed increasing attention to Sabbath-keepers inother countries. I am thankful that Royce gave attention tothe plight of Sabbath-keeping Christians around the worldbecause that is where my heart is. I would like to see infor-mation in print on what is happening to our brothers andsisters who do not live in Western cultures.

You will notice that one of the articles in this month’sThe Sabbath Sentinel is about the passing of RichardWurmbrand. Pastor Wurmbrand was truly one of my he-roes in the faith. His work in the underground church inRomania and as the founder and director of Voice of theMartyrs is truly inspiring. His book, Tortured for Christ,takes the reader into the thoughts and circumstances ofRomanian believers who endured prison and severe per-secution under the former communist regime of Romania.Pastor Wurmbrand’s book will paint a vivid picture for youof what many Christians — our brothers and sisters —around the world have to endure on a daily basis for theirfaith in Christ.

Also, with this issue we introduce a new Bible Sab-bath Association board member, Daniel Botkin. Daniel isan excellent writer and artist, and pastors a Messianic con-gregation in East Peoria, Illinois. Welcome aboard, Daniel.

Please don’t be shy about sending us your comments,your articles, and a donation from time to time. Thanks.— Kenneth Ryland, editor ❑

EDITORIAL

The Changing of the Guard


President’s Message

The SignDr. Sidney Davis

The science and study of signs is called semiol-ogy. By definition: “A sign is something that stands forsomething else to someone in some respect” (C. S.Peirce) Signs are selective and abstract. They do notrepresent all of the thing or experience to which theyrefer. Peirce, a celebrity in the field of semiotics pains-takingly catalogued the modalities of signs in detail inwhich there is a signifier, the signified and the refer-ent which will be illustrated. The sign of which thisarticle speaks about is related a divine concept.

The Enhanced Brown-Driver Briggs Hebrewand English Lexicon gives various meanings for theHebrew word for “sign” twa (owth) as: pledge (ortoken), omens (as pledges of predicted events), sym-bol, miracles (as pledges of divine presence), memo-rials and, pledge of covenant.

Strong’s Concordance gives various aspectsto the Hebrew word for sign.

226 twa 'owth oth oth probably from 225 (in thesense of appearing); TWOT-41a; n f AV-sign(s) 60,token(s) 14, ensign(s) 2, miracles 2, mark 1; 79 1)sign, signal 1a) a distinguishing mark 1b) banner

1c) remembrance 1d) miraculous sign 1e) omen1f) warning 2) token, ensign, standard, miracle, proof.

225 twa 'uwth ooth a primitive root; TWOT-53; vAV-consent 4; 4 1) (Niphal) to consent, agree.

The English word “oath” (to swear) derives fromthe Hebrew word for sign pronounced “ooth” which inOld English is it’s actual spelling. The relationshipbetween “swear” and “oath” will be commented uponlater. The significance of a sign is that it is somethingrecognized as visible. It can be seen. The root word“ooth” meaning to consent or agree implies somethingapplicable between two or more parties. This is howthe word in used in Scripture. A sign, then, is a visibleindication of an agreement or pledge between twoparties.

The Sabbath as a Sign

Exd 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children ofIsrael, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it[is] a sign between me and you throughout your gen-

erations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORDthat doth sanctify you.

Eze 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my Sab-baths, to be a sign between me and them, that theymight know that I [am] the LORD that sanctify them.

Eze 20:20 And hallow my Sabbaths; and theyshall be a sign between me and you, that ye may knowthat I [am] the LORD your God.

The semiotics of the Sabbath as a sign meansthat it does not stand on its own. It is part of a systemof meaning. The Creator God, who “rested” as theSignifier and the “seventh day” which was signified,work together in an inseparable bond to form the sign“Sabbath” to the referent you and me. This dynamicas a unit conveys a meaning, which is the unified sign;otherwise, the Sabbath as a sign is meaningless.

The Sabbath as a “sign” becomes the visibleindication of an agreement, pledge or covenant be-tween God and those he sanctifies. How the Sabbathbecomes a visible indicator will now be explained. Afterall, if you cannot see a sign what use is the sign?

First, it must be understood that the Sabbath es-tablishes the paradigm for holiness, sanctification or“setting apart.” In the setting apart of the seventh dayfrom the other six days of the week, the number sevenitself establishes the principle of sanctification basedupon the creation cycle of seven. Seven becomes thecovenant number. It is the number of completeness,of sanctification and of holiness. This understandingof the number seven permeates the Bible as it ap-plies to holy time, cleansing or purification, and com-pleteness.

The Sign of “sevening”

Strong’s defines the Hebrew, sheba (seven), as:

7651 sheba`ebv, sheh'-bah; or (masc.) shib`ah,shib-aw'; from 7650; a prim. cardinal number; seven(as the sacred full one); also (adv.) seventimes; byimpl. a week; by extens. an indefinite number:-(+ by)seven ([- fold], -s, [-teen, -teenth], -th, times).

7650 shaba ebv`, shaw-bah'; a prim. root; prop.to be complete, but used only as a denom. from 7651;


to seven oneself, i.e. swear (as if by repeating a dec-laration seven times):-adjure, charge (by an oath, withan oath), feed to the full [by mistake for 7646], take anoath, x straitly, (cause to, make to) swear.

The connection of the Hebrew words “sheba” or“shaba”(seven), “shabath” (rest) and “Shabbath” (Sab-bath) are inextricably bound together. The Sabbathas a sign -a visible indicator- cannot be separated from“seven” and “rest”.

God calls the Sabbath His “everlasting covenant”(Ex.31:16) It is here that we will see the connectionbetween the elements of swearing and oath to thesign. Remember that the Hebrew word for “swear”and “seven” are the same; “shaba” or “sheba (ebv).”The first time we see recorded in Scripture an actualcovenant being made between two men is withAbraham and Abimilech over the well that Abrahamhad dug. That well was called "Beersheba" whichmeans, the well of the "oath" or literally the well of"the seven" because there Abraham "sevened him-self" as the oath he made was sealed with seven lambs(Gen 21:28). The idea of making covenant by "swear-ing," by an "oath," or literally by "sevening oneself," isshown here in Abraham's experience as well as withIsaac (Gen.26:28-33;margin). This is what God didon the seventh day of creation. He literally “sevenedHimself” as the Signifier.

The “Visibility” of Sabbath as a Sign

Of all the ten precepts, the fourth is the only onethat is performed in a visible way. It is the only onethat is visibly demonstrated. All the other precepts canbe performed without any visible act or particular out-ward act. They are just statements that define spiri-tual and judicial morality. Though they can be per-formed in an ostentatious manner, they do not neces-sarily require it; in fact even the violation of them canbe hidden. This cannot be said of the Sabbath pre-cept. In the observance or non-observance of theSabbath precept, an outward act must be visibly per-formed. We either rest on the seventh day in observ-ing it, or we work on the seventh day in violation of it.Either way, a visible demonstration is effected so thatit is observable visually in its observance or non-ob-servance. The Sabbath precept alone of all the Tenrequires visible demonstration. It thus becomes a signthat the whole world can see. God’s sign is visiblydemonstrated in His people.

Just as one must be already good in order to dogood, one must be already holy to do holy. How cansinners perform the act of remembering the Sabbath“to keep it holy?” This is an impossibility unless wecan experience God, for it is God who makes us holy.

He who sanctifies the seventh day also sanctifies Hispeople. We cannot keep the Sabbath holy unless Godsanctifies us and makes us holy. As sinners we expe-rience God’s holiness by faith when we covenant withHim every seven days on the seventh day, not merelyone day in seven. The concept of one day in sevendestroys the elements of the sign and makes themeaning of Sabbath completely senseless. In keep-ing the Sabbath, God visibly demonstrates His sanc-tity and holiness in His people. He enables us to obeyand to respond to His holiness. He makes us holy tokeep the Sabbath holy. Keeping the Sabbath is ourresponse of faith in His making us holy. True Sabbathkeeping is the realization that in so doing we enterinto an experience with the holy God. The Sabbath isthe covenantal sign between God and those whoworship Him.

The Covenantal Sign

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst ofheaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach untothem that dwell on the earth, and to every nation,and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying witha loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for thehour of his judgment is come: and worship him thatmade heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the foun-tains of waters.”

The Sabbath is the only precept that declaresGod’s identity:

“For in six days the LORD made heaven andearth, the sea, and all that in them is, and restedthe seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed theSabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:11

In Revelation God gives messages representedby flying angels in heaven who preach the “everlast-ing gospel” to all men — messages that can only beresponded to in a visible way. The Sabbath then be-comes not only just the sign of the covenant he madewith Israel at Mt. Sinai; it becomes the sign of the re-newed covenant he makes with “every nation, andkindred, and tongue and people.” It becomes the signof God’s salvific act of making all mankind holy to Him.We become identified with Him. Is it no wonder thatthe enemy of mankind throughout history has soughtby secular and religious authorities to obliterate “thesign” with a substitute? The Sabbath as a sign is our“pledge of allegiance” to God and it is God’s pledgeand promise to save.

God intends that man participate in His holinessby imitating Him, by resting with Him and in Him. Hehas established it not only by precept but also by ex-

Continued on page 13


Meet Our New Board MemberDr. Daniel Botkin

Daniel Botkin became a believer in 1972. In the 1970s and in 1981, he and his wife, Teresa, spent twoyears in Israel, where they took groups of young people to study Hebrew and work on a kibbutz. They livedin El Paso, Texas in 1982 and did some missionary work in Mexico. In 1988 Daniel traveled to India topreach and teach. In 1992 the Botkin family moved to New York for two and one half years, where they livedin an Orthodox/Hasidic Jewish neighborhood. While in New York, Daniel was ordained as an elder in theMessianic congregation that they attended. In 1995, Daniel moved his family back to Illinois and startedpublishing Gates of Eden bimonthly and started Gates of Eden Messianic Congregation, which he currentlypastors.

Daniel has a B.S. in Art from Illinois State University and an honorary Doctor of Literature degree fromthe Evangelical Reformed Methodist Church. He has studied Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, and a little Greek.He has taken graduate-level courses in linguistics, the history of English, and teaching ESL (English as aSecond Language). Daniel taught ESL for seven years.

OBITUARY: Richard WurmbrandFebruary 19, 2001

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Mar-tyrs, went home to the Lord Saturday, February 17, 2001, in Glen-dale, California, following a long illness.

He was born March 24, 1909, in Bucharest, Romania. Hisparents died when he was young, and he spent many years adriftin society during World War I. He was educated at school inBucharest.

He met and then married Sabina Oster on October 26, 1936.While on a vacation later in 1936, both Richard and Sabina wereconverted and baptized in the Christian faith, joining the churchof the Anglican Mission in Bucharest. Richard became a ministerand pastored the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in Bucharest.

He and his wife were arrested several times by the Nazigovernment, and he began his underground ministry evangelizing Russian soldiers who were prisoners of war.After August of 1944, he continued this ministry with the Russian occupation forces. He and Sabina were activein working with the underground, unregistered church in Romania during World War II and throughout theCommunist regime.

Richard was kidnapped by Romanian authorities in February 1948 following the Congress of Cults, andimprisoned in the underground Central Interior Ministry Building prison area in the center of Bucharest. Whilethere he was subjected to brainwashing attempts, physical and mental torture, and threats to his family. In 1950,his wife Sabina was imprisoned as well, forced to serve as a laborer on the Danube Canal project. She wasreleased in 1953. Following her release, the Romanian authorities informed her that Richard had died in prison.

We Honor His Passing...

Richard Wurmbrand and wife Sabina

Continued on page 9


Keeping the Sabbath:Faith or Superstition?

byDr. Daniel Botkin

One definition of superstition is “a belief or prac-tice resulting from a false concept of causation”(Webster’s). Superstitious people believe that prac-ticing certain habits or possessing certain objects cancause good luck or bad luck. The superstitious pa-gans of Bible times believed that certain days of theweek were lucky or unlucky for certain activities. TheHebrews also had some beliefs about the days of theweek. They believed that Sunday through Friday weregood days to work, and Saturday, the 7th day of theweek, was a day to cease working and assemble forworship. This belief, unlike the pagan beliefs, was nota superstition, though. Keeping the Sabbath was andis an act of faith, because it was and is based on atrust in the one true God who gave the Sabbath to bea sign between Himself and His people throughouttheir generations forever. (Ex. 31:1 2ff) Keeping theSabbath can cause good things to happen and pre-vent bad things from happening. Breaking the Sab-bath can cause bad things to happen and prevent goodthings from happening. This is not superstition. Thisis what the Bible teaches when it promises good things(“blessings”) for keeping the Sabbath and bad things(“curses”) for breaking it.

We may not always see how the blessings orcurses are the result of our having kept or broken theSabbath, but that does not matter to the spiritual man.The spiritual man knows that there is an unseen spiri-tual dimension to life. Unlike the natural man, whobelieves only what his five senses tell him, the spiri-tual man knows that his actions in the physical realmaffect the unseen angelic and demonic powers thatare at work in the spiritual realm. Keeping or not keep-ing the Sabbath will cause things to happen, and it isnot necessary to understand how or why. If the Bibleteaches it, then the spiritual man accepts it as truth,because he trusts the Word of his Heavenly Father.

The rabbis teach that everything in the visible,physical world has a spiritual counterpart in the invis-ible, spiritual realm. In other words, things that we seein the earthly creation are reflections or shadows ofheavenly realities which we cannot see with our physi-cal eyes. (I have been told that Christian writer C.S.

Lewis also believed this, and that is why the story ofhis earthly life is called “Shadowlands.”) Some Chris-tians may think this idea is a bit far-fetched, but theNew Testament teaches in Hebrews 8-10 that theearthly Tabernacle with its priesthood and worship wasa “shadow,” patterned after a Tabernacle that existsin the heavenly realm, with its priesthood and wor-ship. God gave Moses this warning when he was aboutto make the Tabernacle: “See that thou make all thingsaccording to the pattern showed to thee in the mount”(Heb. 8:5).

God has a pattern for worship, and since the firstweek of Creation, that pattern has included the 7thday of the week as the Sabbath. Some Christians ar-gue that the Sabbath is only a “shadow,” an outwardsymbol of the inward rest unto the soul that Jesuspromised. The fact that the Sabbath is, indeed, ashadow of the Messiah should not motivate us to throwaway the Sabbath. On the contrary, it should moti-vate us to step into that shadow by keeping the Sab-bath. The shadow has a solid reality behind it in thespiritual realm. When we step into that shadow, oursoul steps into the spiritual reality which is casting theshadow. As the Bride says of the Bridegroom in theSong of Solomon, “I sat down under his shadow withgreat delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste” (2:3).

When it comes to keeping the Sabbath, God’speople just don’t get it. In Deuteronomy 29 Moseswarned God’s people that if they disobeyed the com-mandments, they would go into exile. The people dis-obeyed and went into exile in the Babylonian Captiv-ity. The Sabbath was not the only command they haddisobeyed, but the Sabbath was specifically mentionedby the Prophets as one of the major reasons for theBabylonian Captivity. Isaiah had pleaded with themto keep the Sabbath. (See chapters 56 & 58.) Jeremiahtold them Jerusalem would be spared if they wouldquit breaking the Sabbath, but fall if they continuedbreaking it. (Jer. 17:1 9ff) After they went into exile,Ezekiel was told to “cause them to know the abomi-nations of their fathers” (Ezk. 20:3; 22:2; 23:36). Oneof the abominations that Ezekiel discussed at lengthwas their refusal to keep the Sabbath, which, he re-


minded them, had been given to be a sign betweenGod and His people.

“Her priests have violated My law, and have pro-faned My holy things,” God said through His prophet.“They have put no difference between the holy andprofane, neither have they showed difference betweenthe unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyesfrom My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”(Ezk. 22:26. See also Ezk. 20:10-22; 22:8; 23:38.)

After the seventy years in Babylon ended andthe people returned to the Promised Land, they stilldid not grasp the importance of the Sabbath.Nehemiah had to take strong measures to make thepeople in Jerusalem stop breaking the Sabbath. (SeeNeh. 13:15-22.)

Satan works hard to convince God’s people thatthe Sabbath is not important, and he is quite success-ful. Why does Satan want God’s people to think theSabbath is not important? Because he knows howimportant it really is. Satan knows that keeping orbreaking the Sabbath affects what takes place in thespiritual realm.

Art Cox, an elder in our congregation, has aninteresting idea about how our observing Torah af-fects the spiritual realm: In whatever particular waythe Torah blesses us, in that exact way it curses thepowers of darkness. In other words, it does the exactopposite to the demons of what it does for us. Whenwe enjoy rest on the Sabbath, it deprives the demonicpowers of rest and causes them to have to workharder. When we start each lunar month out with aNew Moon celebration and look forward with eager-ness to the blessings we will enjoy in the comingmonth, it causes them to look forward with dread tothe misery they will experience in the coming month.When we joyfully celebrate the annual Feasts thatremind us of God’s great redemptive acts in the pastand the future, it causes them to fearfully rememberthese acts of God and thus robs them of courage.When we strengthen our physical health with a ko-sher diet, it robs them of their spiritual food and weak-ens them. It’s an interesting theory. I think it’s morethan a theory, though. I think it’s a Divine revelation.

Satan knows that keeping the Sabbath is not amere superstition that makes no difference in the livesof God’s people. Satan knows that keeping the Sab-bath will bring curses to the powers of darkness andblessings to the people of God.

Of course God can and does bless His peopleevery day. However, there are some specific bless-ings which can be received only by stepping into theshadow of God’s specifically appointed times. This

truth is hinted at in Ezekiel’s vision: “Thus saith theLord God: The gate of the inner court that looketh to-ward the east shall be shut the six working days; buton the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day ofthe new moon it shall be opened” (Ezk. 46:1).

In the spiritual realm there is a gate that we canenter only on Sabbath or New Moon. Are you trying tokeep the Sabbath by going to church on Sundays?Sorry, but it won’t work. In the spiritual realm the Sab-bath gate is closed that day. The church doors maybe opened for Sabbath services on Sunday, but theshadow into which you are stepping is not the shadowof the Messiah. The Sunday Sabbath is a counterfeit,substitute sabbath, and it is therefore a shadow beingcast by a different entity, an entity that is determinedto prevent God’s people from stepping into the 7th-day Sabbath, the true shadow of the true Messiah.

Elisha’s instructions did not make sense toNaaman, so he went away in a rage. However, hisfriends convinced him to follow the prophet’s instruc-tions. Naaman dipped seven times in the Jordan andreceived the blessing: his leprosy departed.

If Naaman had dipped in some river other thanthe one specified by God’s prophet, he would not havereceived the blessing. Christians who try to keep theSabbath on some day other than the one day speci-fied by the Word of God will not receive the blessingsthat result from keeping the Sabbath. Furthermore, itwas the seventh dip, not the first dip, that brought theblessing and healing that Naaman needed. In likemanner, it is keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day,not on the first day of the week, that will bring theblessing and healing that the Church needs.

Naaman and his friends had no idea how or whythe seventh dip in one particular river would make adifference. But they had faith in the word of God’sprophet — a lot more faith than many Christians whorefuse to step into the Sabbath have.

“But Daniel,” some might object, “for most of itshistory the Christian Church has not kept the 7th-daySabbath, and look at all the good it has done! Hasn’tGod blessed and used the Church, even though ithasn’t kept the Sabbath?”

Of course. God blesses and uses people in spiteof their flaws, especially when their flaws are due to alack of knowledge and not a result of willful rebellion.God has definitely blessed and used the Church. How-ever, let me close with this thought:

If God has given all this glory to a Church thathas not kept the Sabbath, how much more glory willHe give to the Church when she does start keepingthe Sabbath? The answer to this question can be foundin Isaiah chapters 56 & 58:


“Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, andmake them joyful in My house of prayer.”

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in Yahweh; and Iwill cause thee to ride upon the high places of theearth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thyfather: for the mouth of Yahweh hath spoken it.”

———————————

Daniel Botkin, board member of the Bible SabbathAssociation is the founder, publisher, and primarywriter for Gates of Eden magazine, a bimonthly pub-lication that addresses theological issues.

Gates of EdenP. O. Box 2257East Peoria, IL 61611-0257Internet: http://www.gatesofeden.org/ q

Richard was discovered alive in prison by a doc-tor masquerading as a Communist Party member. Hewas released in 1956 and served as church pastor inOrsova. During this time he once again worked withthe underground church. He was rearrested in 1959and was sentenced to 25 years for preaching Scrip-tures that were contrary to the Communist doctrine.Due to increased political pressure from Westerncountries, he was released in 1964.

In December 1965, the Norwegian Mission to theJews and the Hebrew Christian Alliance paid $10,000in ransom to the Communist government in order forthe Wurmbrand family to leave Romania. This wasmore than five times the standard payment price forpolitical prisoners. Although reluctant to leave Roma-nia, other Romanian underground church leaders con-vinced him to leave and become a Voice for the un-derground church to the world. Richard, Sabina, andtheir son Michael left Romania.

The following May Richard testified before theU.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee about hisexperiences in prison. In 1966 he continued to keephis promise to the Romanian underground church tobecome their voice when he embarked on an interna-tional speaking tour. In October 1967 he publishedthe first issue of “The Voice of the Martyrs” newslet-ter, and began to establish the international officeswhich would assist him in efforts to inform Christianseverywhere about persecuted Christians. By the mid-1980s his work was established in 80 restricted na-tions with offices in 30 countries.

In 1990 Richard and Sabina returned to Roma-nia after 25 years of exile. He retired from the day today work of The Voice of the Martyrs in 1992, but re-mained as a member of the Board of Directors andconsultant until his death. His wife Sabina died Au-gust 11, 2000.

During his ministry, Rev. Wurmbrand wrote 18books in English, others in Romanian, which havebeen translated into 38 languages. His most well-known book, Tortured for Christ, is about his prisonexperiences. He received numerous honors and cita-tions for his work during his lifetime. His contributionto the work of Christianity will continue through hislegacy of missions established around the world andthe vision he provided for their leadership.———————————

The Voice of the MartyrsP.O. Box 443Bartlesville, OK 74005Tel. (918) 337-8015Fax (918) 338-0189Email: [email protected] page: http://www.persecution.com/ q

Wurmbrand — Continued from page 6

The Seventh Day

Revelations from the Lost Pages ofHistory - Part One, with Hal

Holbrook, 52 min. VHS NTSCvideo, $25.00, or $5.00 for 14-dayLOAN. Also available in PAL for-mat for $30.00. First in a five-part

series of the history of the Sabbath.(V215)


“Let the bloodletting continue!” As Christians thatshould be our announcement to the world.

One of the amazing characteristics of the Chris-tian Church of the twenty-first century is that we areunable to define our enemies. But worse yet, we can-not even seem to identify our friends. It is a constantsource of bewilderment to me to see how Christianpeople who were the best of friends one day can ac-cuse each other of being “agents of the devil” the next.I have been a Christian for over 35 years and couldwrite volumes on the abuse that Christians suffer atthe hands of their brethren. The devil has little to dothese days because Christians are doing all his workfor him. Occasionally he may have to step in and tidyup a few “loose ends” after brother has skeweredbrother, but essentially, he allows us to do his workfor him — and we seem more than willing to do all thedevil’s work “in the name of the Lord.”

As a Sabbath-keeper I have belonged to groupsthat have made sport of Sunday-keepers over theirlack of “knowledge of the Truth” about the Sabbath. Ihave also been shunned by Sunday-keeping “friends”who were horrified when they discovered that I attendchurch on Saturday and refused even to sit down asfriend with friend to discuss the matter — presumablyfor fear that they might be contaminated by the devilhimself. After all, how could I “turn from grace” backto the law?

In the world of Sunday-keeping Christians manyanti-rapturists absolutely detest the rapturists. Somesay that if you speak in tongues, you are of the devil;others contend that if you don’t, you are of the devil.Then there are the once-saved-always-saved Calvin-ists against the Arminian-Wesleyan groups. If there isany pretext for division, those who call themselvesChristians will find it.

Of course, we cannot overlook the horrifyingatrocities that some Sabbath-keepers have commit-ted against other Sabbath-keepers. Families havebeen ripped apart, jobs lost, fortunes squandered, andlives simply burnt up and thrown away like spentmatches.

Chances are, I have just described a situationthat you have either gone through or one of whichyou have first-hand knowledge. In reality, this kind ofbehavior among Christians is often the rule rather thanthe exception.

I’m sure that most reading this article will alreadyhave begun rehearsing some similar, unpleasant ex-perience in their Christian walk. As you muse on this,please let these simple words of our Lord ring in yourthoughts:

“By this shall all men know that you are my dis-ciples, if you have love one for another.”(John 13:35)

My question to you is, do men, i.e., the peoplearound us, know that we are the disciples of Christ?Is it obvious to the unchurched? And, just how impor-tant is it to you that the people around you know thatyou are His disciple? If a non-Christian neighborwanted to know about Christ, would he or she cometo you? I tend to think that if it we really considered itimportant that the unregenerate masses around ussaw Christ in us, we would not try so hard to hide Hislight in us.

Francis Schaeffer Revisited

Recently I pulled one of Francis Schaeffer’sbooks off the shelf for a reread. Francis Schaeffer wasa Christian philosopher who died in the late 1980’s.The book was titled The Great Evangelical Disas-ter, written in 1984. Since I had not picked the bookup in many years, I thought I would read it over to seewhether I could still glean something out of it and tosee what relevance it had for today. What struck mewas not that the book was now passé, but rather, howmuch of its relevance I had missed.

However, my purpose in writing this article is notto review Dr. Schaeffer’s book, but to focus on a coupleof salient points he makes in the book’s last chapter,which is titled, “The Mark of the Christian.” What hewrites is very much to the point of understanding howwe are to live our Christian faith before a watchingworld.

Dr. Shaeffer points out that Jesus left us one markby which the world would know His disciples. Further,

Who Is My Enemy?by Kenneth Ryland


Jesus made it very clear that the world has a right tojudge whether He truly came from the Father by us-ing this measuring stick. The truth of these two state-ments is contained in Jesus’ words in John (13:35),“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples ifyou have love one for another,” and “... that they alsomay be one in Us, that the world may believe that Yousent Me.” (John 17:21)

Our oneness with other believers which growsout of our love and respect for our spiritual brothersand sisters is the measure by which we are judged. Ifthe Christian faith is true, it will display itself to theworld in the love that Christians have for each other.Or, to put it in the negative, if you and I treat eachother with contempt, the unconverted around us havea right to conclude that Jesus was not sent by theFather, i.e., that Christianity is a sham. Can you notsee how important it is for brethren to dwell in peacewith each other!?

The story of the Good Samaritan teaches us thatall men are our neighbors, and that as Jesus’ follow-ers we are to do good to all men. “Love your neighboras yourself.” Even more so should we seek to do goodto those of “the household of faith.” Yet, it is in thisvery arena of life that we seem to do our worst work.“With the same tongue we bless God and curse men,”as the apostle James puts it. Let there be a disagree-ment in the church over doctrine, or the building fund,or over who will be deacon, and you will see some ofthe most venomous hatred imaginable betweenpeople who profess the name of Christ before thewatching world. I do believe that were it not for ourneed to keep up the front of a charitable face beforeothers in the church, some might resort to violence oreven murder in order to maintain their control or posi-tion in the congregation. Do I exaggerate? No, not atall! It’s just that we are loathe to admit the truth —even though we profess to live by the truth.

A Change of Scene

Let me describe a magazine cover that I am look-ing at right now. An elderly woman lying on her backin a hospital bed, tightly and affectionately clutchesthe hand of a young man who is leaning over her. AnIV tube runs down from above her to her left side un-der the covers. Superimposed over the lower left-handcorner of the picture is a blood-stained Bible openedto 2 Corinthians chapter 4. In spite of the smudges ofblood on the page, visible are circles drawn aroundverses 7, 8, and 9.

This woman and several others died from a bombblasts that destroyed their church in Dushanbe, thecapital of Tajikistan. This former republic of the SovietUnion is mainly Muslim and very hostile to anyonewho claims Christ as Lord. Over the past several yearsliterally thousands of Christians of all stripes have fledthe country to find refuge in Russia and the Ukraine.Many have had to leave their homes and all theirworldly possessions behind in order to save their lives.Unfortunately, not all have been able to leave. Thoseleft behind have been easy targets in the crosshairsof radical Muslims who seek to wipe out the name ofChrist from the entire earth.

In case you have not had a chance to look upthe verses in 2 Corinthians 4 that the dying womanhad circled, let me quote verses 7 through 9: “But wehave this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excel-lence of the power may be of God and not of us. Weare hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; weare perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but notforsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” Let me addverses 10 and 12 to her reading: “— always carryingabout in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that thelife of Jesus also may be manifested in our body... Sothen death is working in us, but life in you.”

For us in the Western world there are some ques-tions we need to ask ourselves. First, to the Muslimswho planted the explosives in the church, did it makeany difference whether the Christians were Sabbath-keepers or Sunday-keepers? Did the Muslims knowwhether the Christians were Calvinists or Arminians.Did the Muslims care whether these Christians spokein tongues or not? What was so objectionable aboutthese humble Christians in Tajikistan that Muslimswould try to kill them all? It was the name of Christ.They did not want the name of Christ proclaimed intheir midst, and everyone who entered that church inDushanbe was a walking display of allegiance toChrist. In such a darkened culture as that of Tajikistanit was as if these people were carrying around neonsigns flashing the name of Christ wherever they went.Our faith in the face of death should be so bright!

It’s All about Priorities

As a Sabbath-keeper I cannot diminish the im-portance of keeping the Ten Commandments. Untilheaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle willpass from the law of God (Matthew 5:17). The holy,royal law of God remains as long as heaven and earthremain. But, as a Sabbath-keeper neither should itescape my attention that the Sabbath along with the


Holy Days are shadows of Christ (Colossians 2:17).He is the One, the substance, that casts the shadow.When we observe His shadow in the Sabbath, we aredrawn to Him because He is the light source that caststhe shadow. The shadow is a constant reminder, areflection, of who He is. But, our faith is not in theshadow that reflects His glory; our faith is in Him.

I tend to think that most of our quarrelling is dueto allowing our attention to be drawn away from ourSavior to the things that we associate with Him,whether that be our Sabbath-keeping, our once-saved-always-saved doctrine, our deaconship, our meetingplace, and a thousand other things that are not Christ.

There is a lot of room for diversity in our relation-ship with Christ and the manner in which that diver-sity is acted out in worship. This only indicates thatGod created as many personalities and temperamentsin man as there are stars in the heavens. Yet, as di-verse as the cosmos is, there is not one part of thecreated physical Universe that is out of harmony withthe will of its Creator — that is, except man himself.That is because each human being must voluntarilysubmit his will to that of his Creator, and we are notmuch inclined to do that. In fact, often those who sup-pose themselves to be most intimate with the God ofthe Universe also suppose they know His mind betterthan anyone else and need to be in charge of theLord’s people in order to guarantee that all will workaccording to the divine will, which they are sure theyknow best. It is this kind of hubris that quickly sets usat war with our friends and causes us to forget theidentity of our real enemies.

I would challenge the reader to give careful studyto the words of the apostle Paul when he admonishedthe Christians in Rome not to judge another man’sservant. The passage is contained in Romans 14:4“Who are you to judge another man’s servant. To hisown master he stands or falls. And he will stand, forthe Lord is able to make him stand.” Yes, each of us isultimately answerable to Christ alone, and He aloneis qualified to judge whether someone is in His bodyor not. While it is true that each of us has the option ofdeciding where and with whom we will worship, wehave no right to try to determine who stands or fallsbefore the Lord.

By What Standard?

There are two bedrock beliefs (convictions, if youwill) that form the foundation of Christianity, and it isthese beliefs that separate us from “the world,” andfrom “the worldly Christian.” First, we believe that the

Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God and the sac-rifice for all the sins of all mankind came at a specifictime and place in history and fulfilled all that the proph-ets of God said about Him. Second, we believe thatthe Bible is the inspired word of God and is the onlyultimately genuine standard of Truth and behavior forall mankind in all ages. Further, we believe that theBible is true not just in its religious statements, but inits statements concerning history, politics, government,community life, marriage, sexual behavior, child rear-ing, and all other matters concerning human behaviorand our physical universe. I’m sure that every readercould come up with his own set of “essential beliefs ofChristianity,” but the two mentioned above would al-ways be included.

Too often we make enemies of others who areas deeply convicted as we are to the truth of the Bibleand the saving work of Christ. We fail to recognizethe fact that all Christians, even those we do not like,are locked in life-or-death struggle against a human-istic way of thinking that even now threatens the en-gulf the hearts and minds of our entire culture. Ourone-time Christianized Western culture has beenturned on its head, and it seems that many Christianshave faced the evidence of our decadence with ashrug, hardly even noticing that they would be com-pletely horrified by the ideas and events of today ifthey had seen them 30 or even 20 years ago.

The face of our enemy is not that of the one whoattends church on Sunday or is a Calvinist or believesin the rapture; nor for the Sunday-keeper is it theSabbatarian or the post tribulation premillenialist. Theenemy of the people of God is the one who seeks tosubvert or tear down every identifiable reminder ofthe name and work of Christ in our culture. He is theone who strives to silence every mention of the nameof Christ in our courts, our schools, and our halls ofgovernment. On occasion he may agree that it is al-lowable to speak of “deity” or of God, but you mustnot speak the name of Christ. In short, our enemy isthe one who attempts to drive the name of Christ fromevery corner of our culture.

Many Christians, when confronted with the dif-ferences in doctrine and practice in other Christians,have adopted the medieval attitude of “kill them all,and let the Lord sort them out.” Yet, Jesus commandedus to love our enemies and do good to those thatdispitefully use us, and we are commanded to do goodto all men, especially those of the household of faith.Our commitment to live by this kind of demonstrablelove is the very thing that should differentiate us from


our real enemies and make Christianity attractive tothem. If every man is our neighbor, then how can wepossibly treat others the way our enemies treat us?Of course, the irony here is that there is at times atendency to treat our worldly detractors much betterthan we treat our brethren in the faith. If we are out-raged, it should be against the sin that is so prevalentin our culture — not against those that differ with usover matters of doctrine and worship.

It’s Time to Change Focus

Beliefs have consequences, as can clearly beobserved in our culture’s moral slide. The humanisticset of beliefs that now prevails starts with the convic-tion that there is no God and that every man mustdecide for himself what is right or wrong — that thereare no universal moral absolutes. Further, the human-ist believes that what we call the “physical creation” isnothing more than the chance occurrence of the colli-sion of atoms after many billions of years of exist-ence.

Every venue in our culture has been taken overby the humanist’s anti-supernatural bias. That is whythere is an increasing hostility toward the mention ofChrist in our schools, in our government buildings,and in our courts. The true enemy of the Christian isthe one who will not rest until all mention of Christ isexpunged from public consciousness. This is the truebattleground of the Christian. This is the arena in whichour greatest work must be done. It is the duty of theChristian to hold back those who are being drawn to-ward death and destruction (Proverbs 24:11-12) andrescue as many as possible for the coming Kingdomof God.

Of course, this has always been the true arenaof combat for the Christian. Yet we fight not with fists,guns, and knives, but with persuasion born in the bo-som of God and planted into our spirits by His HolySpirit. We know the ultimate outcome of this world-wide conflict, but do not know who will be there whenthe final battle lines are drawn. Our duty in carryingthe life-giving gospel to the world — and that meansinto our own culture and our own neighborhood — isto win as many of the enemy as possible over to theside of our coming King. When we fight, quarrel, anddevour our fellow believers, we are squandering pre-cious time and energy that should be directed at res-cuing the unbeliever from the path that leads to death,and turning him toward the only Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace Igive to you...” (John 14:27) This should be our battlecry. q

ample. The Sabbath is the covenant of eternal life thatGod made with man because man entered into eter-nity on his first full day of life on the seventh day, theSabbath. Adam broke this covenant. Ever since itwas broken God has endeavored to re-establish it withman until the present time. Thus the book of Hebrewssays, “So that there is still a Sabbath-keeping(sevening) for the people of God.”(Heb 9:4 BBEparen. mine) that is entered into by faith as we con-tinue to keep Sabbath.

Although Israel kept Sabbath in the wilderness,yet they did not keep it by faith. They rebelled by theirunbelief in God’s ability to give them rest. When werest in God, He works in us. The Sabbath is the signof God's agreement with us and our agreement withhim. Every seventh day of the week we keep Sab-bath on the seventh day as He did. We "seven our-selves" together with our God by an "perpetual" oreverlasting covenant. We become an integral aspectof the sign. q

President’s Message —Continued from page 5

Why the Seventh-day Sabbath?

This 12 page brochure provides clear insight into thereasons for keeping God’s Seventh Day Sabbath! It also

contains an area where your local congregation can stampits address and phone number making it easy for potentialbrothers and sisters to contact you for more information.

They are priced at only $.20 each, but you can get them inpackages of 100 for only $17.00. You will also be helping

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do the other fine work of BSA! (P205)


Presentation to theSabbath Roots Conference

Los Angeles – Dec. 2000

Recognition of the tremendouswork of Dr. Bradford represented inSabbath Roots - The African con-nection and other scholars whohave contributed substantially in thefield; W. R. Robinson, BeckeleHeye, Kofi Mensa and others. Spe-cial mention is made of Ellen G.White, but especially I honor thelegacy my maternal grandfatherArminious Reginald Leslie Ramsaywhose constant rehearsal of myEthiopian ancestry and heritage inmy ears has since ever been thevoice motivating me to the truth ofmy Sabbath heritage. My thesis con-sists of seven modules of which sixwill presented at the conference.

I. The Changing Face ofChristianity

The early icons of the Chris-tian church show a face of Christian-ity that betrays the dominant anduniversal presence of Christianitytoday. Christianity is returning backto its roots and it roots are very Afri-can as they are Hebraic. The Afri-can presence in Christianity as rep-resented by the ancient icons of theChristian church are being reflectedin an increasing dominating pres-ence of the African in Christianitytoday. It’s as if Christianity is com-ing full circle. The origin of theseiconastic images originate fromchurches who observed the Sab-bath.

II. Evidences of a pre-Sinaitic Observance of the

Sabbath In Africa

This is from the Biblical per-spective. The Sabbath was givento man (mankind) in Eden (Genesis2:2). The location of the Garden ofEden is shown to be in Africa. TheBiblical boundaries of Eden pre-sented in Scripture (Genesis 2:10-14), the tradition of the Hebrewsages, (as documented in the Tal-mud), and the consensus of recentscientific research on the origins ofman put Eden in Africa where theSabbath began. The Sabbath wasreiterated in a covenant to AfricanHebrews while still in Africa in Mizr(or Egypt) (Exodus 5:5; Exodus16:25;20:8; Psalms 81:1-5). Africais the home of the Sabbath and aSabbath-keeping tradition that hasbeen exported to the world.

III. The Sabbath In Africa asseen through the Hebraic

Dispersion

There are four major elementscontributing to the Hebraic Disper-sion throughout Africa and hencethe spread of the Sabbath through-out the land of Cush. These ele-ments of dispersion were initiallythrough, (1) Trade. Multiple traderoutes, on land and sea (they wereintimately connected with the sea-faring Phoenicians from the 8thcentury BCE, who were known fortheir large-scale maritime traderoutes), which were eventually colo-nized by the Hebrew Israelites(1Kings 9:27), who according toJesus (Matthew 23:15) were also

involved in (2) Aggressive mission-ary activity. These trade and mis-sionary activities resulted in conver-sions of whole people groups i.e.,the Moors and Berbers of North Af-rica, and subsequently intermar-riage with the local population. (3)Conquest. In his quest to find theGarden of Eden, Alexander was di-rected by “the elders of the South(i.e. Africa) to where he might findit. He employed Jewish warriors inhis conquest of North Africa and hisexpanding conquest of lands towardthe Indian subcontinent. At the de-struction of both temples in 527 BCEand 70 CE, many Hebrew Israelitesattempted to escape enslavementand death when they migrated withJeremiah (Jeremiah 43:1-7) into Af-rica and thereafter to many Africancities where other Hebrews were al-ready living in prosperity. ( 4) Per-secution. It has been discovered thatwhen Christian and Moslems at-tempted to force conversions to theirrespective faiths, many Hebrewsresisted and fled into the mountainsand interior desert regions of Africa,for which there is much documen-tation today, howbeit the majority ofwhich is in foreign languages.

Additionally, the only siteother than Jerusalem, where atemple of the Most High YHVHexisted with the very same ritesand ceremonies was in Africa, atthe Egyptian colony of Elephan-tine. Each of these elements whenexamined show powerful evi-dences of how through the He-braic dispersion the Sabbath rootswere affirmed in Africa.


IV. The African roots of BiblicalJudaism and Christianity.

The earliest Biblical evidenceof a Hebraic presence in Africa be-gan with Abraham’s sojourn intoEgypt (Genesis 26:2), and later thesons of Israel (Genesis 41:41;Exo-dus 1:5). The interaction betweenthe Hebrews and the sons of Cushon the African continent is evidentin the Hebraisms of many Africancultures. This is been a matter ofmuch documentation and researchfor which much has been uncoveredand more still remains to be discov-ered. Christianity was firmly plantedin Africa, just after the day of Pente-cost. We see devout men “out ofevery nation under heaven” (Acts2:5) attending, with special notationmade of men attending from Africancities and regions of Egypt, Libya,Cyrene (Act 2:10).

These areas were vast ex-panses of territory much greaterthan what we see on today’s maps,in fact anciently the whole continentof Africa before it was known by thatname was called “Libya” by the Ro-mans. These men returned to Africa,and shared their faith with those intheir homelands. Most certainly,however, Christianity was broughtinto Africa with the conversion of theEthiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:27), some50 years before the gospel was pro-claimed among “the Gentiles” byPaul. The New Testament also men-tions African Hebrew prophets in theChristian church (Acts 13:1). TheChristian church in Africa is 2000years old, as old as Christianity it-self.

Before the Islamic invasion ofAfrica, Biblical Judaism and BiblicalChristianity stood side by side andboth were more dominant on thecontinent of Africa than anywhereelse in the world including the landof Israel. Both groups enjoyed acommon Sabbath-keeping tradition

which is attested to by the earlychurch documents. The Romanpersecution of the Jews in the firstthree centuries also included theearly Christians or Nazarenes (Acts24:5) whose leaders were not onlyethnically Hebrew but whose uni-versal practice wherever the gos-pel was preached was that of Sab-bath observance (Acts 15:27; He-brews 4:9). Whether ethnically aJew or religiously a Sabbath ob-server these were links that markedone for persecution. These led tothe separation of non Jewish be-lievers not only from ethnic asso-ciation with Jewish believers buteventually from the Sabbath itself.However throughout Northern Af-rica and especially Ethiopia be-cause of the relative isolation andother factors, the Hebraic and Sab-bath keeping roots of the Christianfaith were maintained.

V. The Indigeny of the Sab-bath In Africa

The Sabbath in Africa canclearly be traced and establishedfrom it’s Edenic roots, through theHebraic dispersion and its nativeHebraic and Christian origins. Itis also evident in the Sabbathlegacy of the Ethiopians andmany other African tribes whoselink to the Sabbath are estab-lished Biblically, historically,archeologically, (i.e., inscriptionson ancient tombstones) ethnicallyand ethnographically, anthropo-logically, geographically, scientifi-cally and not least of all geneti-cally with the phenomenal discov-eries that have confirmed theHebraic origins of African tribes,a fact always known and acknowl-edged by Africans themselves –especially in many of their oralhistories.

These all testify to the primacyof the Sabbath in Africa. This part

of the presentation briefly addressthose areas in Africa where suchdiscoveries have been made in thepast, recently and other indicationsthat show promise of an ever ex-panding revelation that declare theSabbath in Africa.

VI. Conclusion

The Sabbath in Africa, sowhat? What does this mean in thecontext of the changing face ofChristianity? What does this haveto do with our Christian faith andour Judaic orientation? This partof the presentation attempts to ad-dress the meaning of what theSabbath In Africa is all about andhow these revelations as Dr. KeithBurton has said “could revolution-ize the meaning of the Sabbath forthe universal black nation in par-ticular, and the world at large.”That the descendants of slaves inthe Americas are the progeny ofan already dispersed Hebrew aswell as Sabbath-keeping Christianpresence in Africa is the contentof module VII of this thesis. Thiswill gives the truth against the liethat Christianity is a “slave reli-gion” or the white man’s religion,the lie that the Sabbath was madefor the “Jews” only and that the di-lemma of the African is chronicledin the prophetic word of Scriptures(Deuteronomy 28:68).

Indeed the face of Christianityis not only changing, but the legacyand destiny of an African people iscoming full circle bringing the truefaith and practice of the Christianfaith to light.

— Dr. Sidney L. Davis, Jr. - Presi-dent

The Bible Sabbath Association

“Proclaiming The Sabbath MoreFully” q


The Church in the World

El Salvador is Devastated by Earthquakes

The tiny nation of El Salvadorhas been devastated in the last fewweeks by powerful and destructiveearthquakes. On Saturday, January13, 2001, a 7.6 magnitude earthquakehit offshore, about 65 miles from thecapital. At least 844 people were killedand 4,723 injured as whole neighbor-hoods were buried in landslides andmudslides and homes and buildingscollapsed. An estimated 358,745homes were destroyed.

One month later, to theday, on Tuesday, February13, the still crippled nationwas hit inland, just 13 milesfrom the densely populatedcapital, with another quake.This was actually two sepa-rate quakes, a couple of sec-onds apart, registering 6.6and 6.1 on the Richter Scale,and it left an 8 mile deep faultline. 322 more people werekilled and 2,937 injured.34,500 more homes weredestroyed.

That same week, onSaturday, February 17, a 5.4quake hit, causing freshpanic and more destruction.Almost 4,000 aftershocks have rattledthe country since the January 13quake. Many are between 4.0 and 5.5on the Richter Scale.

El Salvador is a small nation,about the size of Massachusetts. Itspopulation as of 2000 was approxi-mately 6.6 Million. Its Gross DomesticProduct is approximately $18.1 billionper year. The average income in 1996was $101 a month. The poverty levelwas $65 a month. An estimated $2.8billion in damages have been causedby the quakes, sending the progressof the nation back by decades.

At least one million are homeless(about 15% of the population). People

are sleeping on the streets or in make-shift tents made of plastic tarps. Manypeople who still have their homes aresleeping on the streets for fear of theirhomes collapsing on them in the night.Hundreds have been buried in massgraves, many before identification, tostave off disease epidemics. Thequakes have damaged much of thecountry’s water supply network andvital wells have been knocked out inmany areas. An estimated 350,000people are urgently in need of food.

Disease epidemics are feared fromcontaminated water and poor sanita-tion. Some children and adults haveturned to scavenging through garbagedumps for food, and for valuables thatthey hope to use to buy food, water,and other necessities, increasing thedanger of starting an epidemic.

So many roads are blocked bylandslides or collapsed buildings, orcracked from the faults, that rescueand relief efforts are severely ham-pered. Panicked people flee frombuildings several times a day in fearof damage from aftershocks. The RedCross announced on February 13 thatthey were out of blood. Patients are

being treated in parking lots and onthe streets because hospitals are over-flowing with earthquake victims. Thisis winter and also the rainy season.People sleeping on the streets are tor-mented with rain and cold nights. Theirflimsy makeshift shelters afford littleprotection. Thousands have beenevacuated from unstable areas. Todate, the country’s volcanoes have re-mained quiet, although ash from a vol-cano on the edge of the capital, SanSalvador, fell after the third earthquake.

Many homes weredestroyed because theywere built out of adobeclay bricks, and adobeturns to dust when it falls.Trapped people are as-phyxiated when theybreathe it in. Many peoplewish to reconstruct theirhomes with more stablebricks and concreteblocks. These buildingmaterials are more ex-pensive and most cannotafford them.

Although emer-gency aid from abroadhas been arriving almost

daily, aid is not coming quickly enoughto many people. Survivors are facedwith the long-term process of rebuild-ing, an overwhelming task in a coun-try already plagued by deep poverty.Cash donations are preferred becausethey allow humanitarian aid groups tobuy food, blankets, medicines, build-ing materials, and other goods locallyor regionally. This helps the localeconomy and eliminates shipping de-lays. It is best to donate to asabbatarian church organization, be-cause most aid groups in the countryoperate with ulterior religious or politi-cal motives, and do not use donationsto help the people. They use the do-


nations to help their own personalcauses.

Reports from Sabbath-Keepers

Two of the three major earth-quakes have occurred on the Sabbath.God has protected His people almostcompletely from harm.

United Church of God — TheIglesia de Dios Unida, pastored byHerbert Cisneros, has two congrega-tions and 175 members in El Salva-dor. No members have been killed orinjured, but at least five members andtwo prospective members have losttheir homes. A majority of membershave sustained minor or major dam-age to their homes, such as cracks inwalls and roofs. By far the most sig-nificant effect has been in loss of jobsand work. Many parents were unableto pay for this semester’s school anduniversity tuition and for school sup-plies for their children. A high percent-age of the members live in the forestareas, or poorer regions of the coun-try, where food and water shortagesare widespread.

Church of God (Seventh Day) —There are 98 churches and approxi-mately 38 pastors and 3312 baptizedmembers in El Salvador. The presidentof the General Conference in El Sal-vador, Alfredo Castellón, has reportedthat damage to the membership andproperty includes: eight churches dam-aged or destroyed; 47 families home-less; one child hospitalized in criticalcondition; and eight dead.

Seventh Day Adventists —There are approximately 262 Adventistchurches with a membership of morethan 50,000. Of the casualties from theearthquake, five people were AdventistChurch members. Many memberswatched as their homes were de-stroyed or heavily damaged. Accord-ing to the El Salvador Conference, 258homes were destroyed and 166 par-tially damaged. Many churches werealso affected in the earthquake.

Preliminary reports indicate that17 Adventist churches were com-pletely destroyed and 55 incurred sig-nificant damage. Otoniel Zelaya, presi-

dent of the Seventh-day AdventistChurch in El Salvador, says theAdventist Church was able to respondto the emergency immediately. “TheAdventist Church is taking a leadingrole in terms of local response. We areproviding food, fuel, transportation, andshelter to assist the emergency ef-forts.” Adventist medical teams whoare assisting in disaster response ef-forts have been allocated helicoptersby the government. Church membershave coordinated their resources andare opening churches and schools asshelters to aid those who have lost theirhomes. While the Adventist Church inEl Salvador has joined the disasterresponse effort and provided as muchassistance as possible, church mem-bers “will have difficulty rebuilding theirhomes and we will need help to repairand rebuild churches,” says Zelaya.Zelaya has presented a request forhelp to Maranatha Volunteers Interna-tional, a lay Adventist organization thatbuilds urgently needed schools,churches, and community buildingsaround the world.

None of the 130 children at theorphanage were injured and no sig-nificant damage was incurred. The or-phanage has been able to assist manypeople who lost homes and familymembers. Already children are beingbrought to the orphanage who nolonger have families to care for them.

In the mid-1990’s Maranathaconstructed 50 new churches and tenschools in El Salvador, including theOur Children International Orphanage.Initial reports indicate that none of thechurches or schools constructed byMaranatha were destroyed, while sev-eral suffered minor damage. The firstquake was less than 30 miles from theorphanage. No injuries were sustainedat the orphanage and no significantdamage was done to the complex. Theorphanage has withstood all of thesubsequent seismic activity, and all ofthe children are safe and secure. How-ever, as a result of the earthquakes,the Our Children International Orphan-age is receiving many requests forhelp. Currently 135 children are cared

for at the orphanage, 14 of which haveno sponsors. The orphanage is re-sponding to the urgent needs of thecommunity as best it can with limitedresources and likely will be called onto accept more children in the future.Additional sponsors are needed to helpmeet these needs. The most recentadditions to Our Children Internationalwere three siblings found living alonein a cemetery. The children, badly mal-nourished and sick, were given medi-cal attention and brought to the or-phanage. “Even though we alreadyhad ten children needing sponsors, noone had the heart to turn these chil-dren away,” says Tiffany Thompson,orphanage assistant. “We believe thatsomeone will want to help these chil-dren and ensure that they have a safe,stable, Christian environment in whichto grow up.”

How You Can Help

To help the brethren in the UnitedChurch of God: For a tax-deductiblereceipt: Make check out to: LifeNetsEl Salvador and mail it to: LifeNets, POBox 88165, Indianapolis, IN 46228-2095.

To help the brethren in theChurch of God (Seventh Day): Sendchecks to: The Disaster Relief Fund“EL SALVADOR,” Church of God (Sev-enth Day), P.O. Box 33677, Denver,CO 80233-067.

To help Our Children Interna-tional: If you would like to respondto the urgent needs of children atOur Children International Orphan-age in El Salvador, please contactTiffany Thompson [email protected] or callher at 916-290-1000. Currentlythere are 135 children at the or-phanage. The orphanage currentlyhas 14 children in need of a spon-sor. Information about the orphan-age can be found on the internetat: http://www.forthechildren.com/

— written by Barbara Nickels

Barbara Nickels, daughter ofRich and Shirley Nickels of Gillette,Wyoming, lives in Ocala, Florida, andattends the United Church of God.

q


The Underground Church in North Korea

The Washington Post NewsService writer penned a recent articleon the condition of the Church in NorthKorea that echos many of the factsmade about the Church by OpenDoors, Voice of the Martyrs, and otherministries that work underground tobring the gospel and essential sup-plies to Christians in the hostile anddeadly environment of North Korea.

Reporter Doug Struck starts hispiece: “Alone, at night, the familywould gather. Afraid of being ob-served, they would huddle under ablanket. There, they would whisperChristian hymns from memory andoffer prayers that, if overheard, couldget them killed.” The report continuesdescribing the harrowing experienceof one family trying to practice theirChristian faith in the poisonous cli-mate of North Korea. Commenting onlife in North Korea, the wife states:“We were so scared. If you werecaught, you would disappear. Wedidn’t know where you would go, butwe knew it was prison or execution.”

The family was part of an under-ground church whose members risksevere persecution for practicing theirChristian faith.

Due to severe shortages of foodand other basic commodities, the gov-ernment of dictator Kim Jong Il in theNorth Korean capital of Pyongyanghas begun to crack open its doors tooutsiders, and as it does, manychurches in South Korea and otherparts of the world have stepped uptheir efforts to smuggle Bibles andother necessities to Christians andother needy North Koreans.

In spite of President Kim’s recentshow of religious tolerance, prosely-tizing is viewed as a serious threat tothe dictator’s regime and can be pun-ishable by death. There are now threeofficial government sanctionedchurches of Pyongyang. In each, pic-tures of Kim Jong Il are prominentlydisplayed while portraits of Jesus are

held in infamous Prison No. 15, andthere is little hope that any of theseprisoners will ever be released.

Our mandate is clear: Preachthe gospel to all creatures. While wemay not be in a position to go to NorthKorea, we can hold up those who dareto risk their lives for their brothers andsisters in the North by our prayers andfinancial support whenever possible.

—Kenneth Ryland, editor

relegated to less conspicuous areas.Clearly the government is making aplay for desperately needed outsideaid, which comes mainly from SouthKorean and other foreign Christianministries.

Reporter Struck goes on to tellof the plight of one North KoreanChristian family: “A husband and wifewho fled North Korea in 1997 de-scribed the life of Christians there.They asked that their names not bepublished, saying it would further en-danger two grown daughters living inNorth Korea who, because of theirparents’ flight, already have beenstripped of their urban jobs and sentto the countryside where life is hardand food is scarce. A son, 30, tried toleave with the couple but was caughtin China and returned to North Korea.As his mother talked of him, her gentlesmile froze, her grief and fear appar-ent. ‘He is in prison,’ she said. ‘I ex-pect he will die in prison.’

“‘My mother taught me the TenCommandments, and we memorizedhymns,’ she said. ‘Of course, we couldnever keep a Bible in the house. TheCommunist Party would regularly raidthe house and go through all the be-longings, looking for foreign books. Ifthey found a Bible, you could be ex-ecuted,’ she said. ‘My mother alwaystold me I could not show my belief inGod, I must keep it inside.’

“The family knew only a fewother Christians. The husband wassurprised to find that one of his bestfriends for decades shared his faith.‘He would listen to a Christian radioprogram broadcast from South Korea.He would make notes and hide themin his hat and come to my house,’ hesaid. ‘We had to do it in secret.’”

No one knows for certain howmany Christians there are in NorthKorea. Some say 10,000; others say300,000. All are in jeopardy. Reportsfrom the South indicate that there areas many as 6,000 Christians being

BSA in NigeriaDear Dr Davis,

Greetings in the most adorablename Yahshua ha-messiah. Thank-ing you for all your mails and hopingthis meets you all over there in healthand in the faith. I am making progressin the formation of Nigeria branch ofBSA. The name of the organisationhas been fixed: Nigeria Bible SabbathAssociation (NIBSA). A plan is alsoaloft to have the name verified withthe corporate Affairs Commission(CAC) Abuja.

Meanwhile, I have preparedheaded papers with the said namewith which some brethren have beencommunicated with the idea of theorganisation. As soon as repliescome in, an inaugural meeting of the body shall be convened. ThereafterI hope to arrange for visiting to sab-bath groups as resources will permit. This task is onerous but I am confi-dent, with your prayers to succeed. Ihave also sent out information for sub-scription to The Sabbath Sentinelmagazines which I hope will arrivesoon, as promised. My love to all BSAdelegates meeting at Denver. Trust-ing this will be received before meet-ing disperses.

Thank you and God bless.

Yours ever in Him,

Elder B. E. Akpan


Michael Onyewuchi Iheme

My full name is MichaelOnyewuchi Iheme. I am 1.68 metrestall. I am the first in a family of 5 (twoboys and three girls).

I was born on the 26th of June1969 in Aba, Abia State, Nigeria. I ama native of Umuchoke Obazu Mbieriin Mbaitoli local government area ofImo State, Nigeria. My parents areCatholic but I left the Catholic Churchfor the Pentecostal Ministry in the late1980s. However, I have now found myfaith in the Sabbath as it is very nec-essary we obey and do God’s law(commandments) rather than that ofman. I now worship with the 7th DayChurch of God here in Owerri, ImoState.

I had my primary education atShell Camp Primary School Owerri,Imo State.

I proceeded with my Secondary(high school) education at MountCarmel College Ilorin, Kwara State,Nigeria where I graduated in Novem-ber 1988. I gained admission into theUniversity of Jos, Plateau State, Ni-geria in the 1991/92 Session, to studyReligious Studies. I graduated fromthe University of Jos in November1996 after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts

(Education) B.A. (Ed) honours degreein Religious Studies. I had a secondclass lower division (22) honours de-gree.

I proceeded thereafter for myNational Youth Service Programme (acompulsory programme for all Univer-sity graduates in Nigeria). I had myone year service programme in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Dur-ing this period I served with AfriBankof Nigeria PLC Trans-Amadi branchPort-Harcourt, where I had a lot ofBank job experience. My service pe-riod was from June 1997 - June 1998.

Evangelist Michael OnyewuchiIheme, 19 Ejiaku Street, Owerri, ImoState, NigeriaE-mail:[email protected]:[email protected]

Evangelist AsuquoUmene Akpan

I was born on 7 July 1963at Ogu Itu Mbon Uso. Although Iam not from a Christian home, Ipicked up interest to be a Chris-tian by joining some of my friendsfrom a Christian family to thePresbyterian church every Sun-day, which was the only churchin the village. In 1970, I startedmy primary school. Because ofthe Bible classes which we usedto have in the school, I becamecaptivated and started huntingfor the Truth. In 1973, by then Iwas in Elementary three in theschool, it was then I joined theRemnant Church of God 7th Day.I picked up interest the join theChurch because of the methodthey used in attracting the youngones, especially by playing local

drums and other local musical instru-ments. The church started as a prayerhouse…[resulting in] withdrawingmost of us from Sunday to Saturdayworship of God. The church also dida lot of spiritual work. Due [to] manysigns and miracles performed by thechurch, I then decided to settle withthem till 1981. By this time I had fin-ished my secondary school.

In early 1982, there was aproblem among the leaders in thechurch which resulted in my then Pas-tor cutting link with the state headquar-ters of the church. Since I could notknow exactly what was the root causeof this problem as young as I wasthen, I decided to join the Church ofGod 7th Day. Later that same yearbecause by comparing the doctrine ofthe Remnant Church with that ofChurch of God 7th Day, I found thatthey are almost the same.

Evangelists in Nigeria Associate with BSA

In their own words


I was baptized in the churchin 1983 at Ndue Edu Eket in AkwaIbom State by the late Pastor TempleEkpo. From 1983 to 1986, I was inUniversity of Calabar in Cross RiverState as an undergraduate. There Ijoined the brethren and continued withthem. In the church at Calabar, I wasa member of the planning committeeof the Zion Rays Bible Correspon-dence school. In fact, the schoolhelped us to get in touch with otherswho did not know something about 7th

Day Sabbath through exchange ofletters and magazines printed in theschool.

In June 1987, I had my Bach-elor of Science degree in mathemat-ics/statistics and was posted out toPlateau State to serve the nation forone year. There in the state I used toworship with Adventists because therewas no Church of God in that state.In October, 1988, I joined the stateteaching service as a classroomteacher. Since then, I have been com-bining the Lord’s work with my job toend a living. In June, 1997, the localchurch at Ogu Itu Mbon Uso, where Iwas posted to teach in one of theschools, recommended me to be or-dained as an evangelist for thechurch. Ogu church is my homechurch. In 1999, I was posted out fromthere as my service demand to IkonoPeople’s High School, Ndung Ukim.Here I am heading a little group ofbelievers with two baptized womenand two unbaptized men. I am mar-ried with four children, two boys andtwo girls.

On August 29, 1999, I wasappointed as secretary of the Uyo Dis-trict churches. My recent appointmentnow as secretary, Field Workers com-mittee took place at Ikot Inyang churchon July 30, 2000. The aim of the fieldworkers committee is to plan and or-ganize people for evangelistic work.I therefore solicit your support in thisarea.

Evangelist Asuquo UmeneAkpan, c/o PO Box 402, Ikot Ekpene,Akwa, Ibom State, Nigeria

He distributes The Sabbath Sen-tinel to Church of God 7th DayChurches in Ikot Inyang, Ikot Ekpene,Ogu Mbonuso, Calabar, and Eket,Nigeria. q

I – Our History in PortugalHistorically, Portugal is a catho-

lic country where the Protestant Re-form was slow to make itself felt.

As far as we know, there weren’tany Christian organized movementsin our country, that kept the seventhday before the beginning of the 20thcentury when a Swiss missionary ofthe 7th Day Adventist Church namedPaul Meyer, arrived in this countrywith the purpose of establishing amission of this organization in Portu-gal.

In his contacts, Mr. Meyer madethe acquaintance of Mr. AlbertoMendes and several others who wereinterested in the study of God’s Word.It was with the help of those peoplethat the first and main AdventistTemple opened in Lisbon.

In 1928 Mr. Alberto Mendes,Francisco Navalho and other breth-ren decided to leave the 7th DayAdventist Church because they dis-agreed with the importance given bythis church to the writings of Mrs.Ellen White.

These brethren created in 1931two Sabbatharian organizations, the“Igreja Universal de Jesus Cristo”(Francisco Navalho) and “Igreja deCristo” (Alberto Mendes) (picture 1).

These organizations cooper-ated with each other during the firstyears of their existence, but in the1940’s several personal and doctri-nal disagreements arose,that weakened thechurch and whose con-sequences can still befelt today.

Three denomina-tions of non-AdventistSabbath ObservingChurches are left today inPortugal as a result ofthose dissidences:“Igreja Universal deJesus Cristo” (IUJC),“Igreja de Cristo” and

“Congregação Cristã de Portugal”(CCP) (founded in 1941 by JoséMarques Tomé after a split from the“Igreja de Cristo”).

During the period of 1954 –1956 several contacts were madebetween our first pastor (FranciscoNavalho) and some directive mem-bers of the CG (Denver), namely, C.Taylor, W. Olson and A. Craig. Wedon’t know why the contacts were notpursued further.

Since 1995, IUJC and CCPhave made cooperation efforts, withthe certainty that these will help de-velop the Work of God in Portugal.This cooperation led to the establish-ment of a joint management, to thepublishing of literature, to the ex-change of preachers and to the real-ization of joint religious services.

In spite of its directive structuremade up by pastors, deacons anddeaconesses, all the members of thechurch are called upon to executetheir duty as “ministers and ambas-sadors of God”. The highest organinside IUJC and CCP is the GeneralAssembly of all church members,which usually takes place once ayear. By tradition, the church mem-bers (pastors and deacons) arepeople that, beside their activity in theministry, have their own professionalactivity in society and do not get paidfor any services performed or ren-dered to the church. Maybe, in the

The History and Work of the SabbathObserving Churches in Portugal

A baptism in the river Tejo (near Lisbon)


future, this will be an aspect to trans-form in our work, to permit a fasterexpansion of the Church.

IUJC and CCP don’t considerthemselves as the real church, but asa part of the real church.

In the year of 2000 IUJC andCCP made two important resolutions:

To create an Alliance betweenIUJC and CCP which will be desig-nated as “Aliança das Igrejas de Deusdo Sétimo Dia de Portugal” (Allianceof the Churches of God 7Th Day ofPortugal).

To request the admission tothe International Ministerial Con-gress based in the Congress By-laws of this organization. Our ob-jective is to promote cooperationbetween Churches identified withthe “seal of God” (Revelation12.17; 14.12), unifying the effortsto preach Christ all over the worldusing the only form of spreadingthe true Gospel (the love ofChrist and the faithfulness to theCommandments of God).II – Our Evangelistic Goals

In spite of our present smallnumber of members, we have cleargoals to achieve with our evangelis-tic practice. By it we mean to reachthe following groups of people:

Our selves: without assumingChrist in our lives, we (and thereforethe church) can not fulfill our missionof spreading the true Gospel. Weneed to grow as Christians and toachieve an increasing maturity as ser-vants of God. Prayer, study of theBible, meditation, fasting, commun-ion and, above all, the presence ofGod in us through His Spirit, are es-sential conditions (1Peter 2.9) inachieving that maturity.

Atheist and no religious: ev-eryone is called to God‘s salvation. Itis our mission to spread the true Gos-pel, which permits the achievementof true happiness (John 3.16; Mat-thew 28.19-20).

Other members of Christian-ity: Many of these are sincere believ-ers who want to know Christ and as-sure their salvation. However, Christsaid that worship not based on the

truth and lacking obedience to God’swill is vain and leads to eternal death(Matthew 7.21-24). It is our missionand duty to alert them to the dangerof worshiping without fidelity to God’swill (Revelation 18.4). In this, the Sab-bath plays a key-role.

Other beliefs : only throughJesus can we achieve eternal life andsalvation (Acts 4.12; John 14.6). Thetrue Church has the mission of an-nouncing and pointing out to everybeliever in other ways that the onlytrue way to God is through the ac-

ceptance of Christ as Savior and Lordof our lives.

III - Summary of our activity inPortugal

Portugal: 10 million inhabitantsMain Religion: Catholicism

(about 80%, mostly inactive)Aliança das Igrejas de Deus do

Sétimo Dia de Portugal (Alliance ofthe Churches of God 7Th Day of Por-tugal)

This Alliance was created in2000 with the adherence of two Por-tuguese organizations:• Igreja Universal de Jesus Cristo• Congregação Cristã de Portugal

These two churches haveworked together for the past years.

Number of Pastors (4): ManuelMartins, Manuel Santos, PauloCoelho, Modesto Aguiar (all lay pas-tors).

Churches and missions:Lisboa (Lisbon): two churches

– about 70 members

Almada (10 km from Lisbon):one church – about 30 members

Barreiro (30 km from Lisbon):one church – about 20 members

Alverca (20 km from Lisbon):one church – 6 members

Porto (second main city of Por-tugal, 300 km from Lisbon): onechurch – about 20 members

Torres Vedras (50 km fromLisbon): periodical preaching with anaverage attendance of 20 people.

Church homepage (Portugueseand English): www.iujc.ptRadio broadcast:30 minutes each week in a localradio.One recording studio in the mainchurch of Lisbon.One Gospel group – Jubal –with one CD (Nos braços daPaz)Written tools (Portuguese):• Magazine: Compreender (“un-derstanding”)• Boletim Informativo (monthlypaper on Church news)• Biblical School (every Sabbathbefore the sermon)

• Courses for the Understanding ofGod‘s Word

• Booklets:Present main tasks:

• Prayer• Evangelization• Theological and practical train-

ing to pastors and to general minis-try.

IV - Contact

Should you want to contact us,you can do it through the followingaddresses:E-mail: [email protected];[email protected]: Apartado 9827

1911 LISBOA CODEXPORTUGAL

We would be very pleased tohear from you.

GREETINGS IN JESUS NAMEFROM THE CHURCH IN PORTU-GAL

– Paulo Coelho, Rui Quintaq

Hearing the Gospel at Campmeeting


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Church In Malaysia

Mr. Jonathan wrote that thereis no church in Malaysia which prac-tises the Sabbath. The True JesusChurch in Malaysia keeps Saturdayas a day of worship since the twen-ties and there are churches inPenang, Taiping, Ipoh, Bercham,Kampar, Kuala Lumpur (5), Malacca,Sungei Siput, Singapore and othertowns. He should look up the tele-phone directory. I have here an e-mailaddress in Petaling Jaya, a suburbof Kuala [email protected] and the addressof the church is:

61 Jalan Templer, 46000Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

If he does not live in the area,he can contact the e-mail addressand ask for particulars regarding thetown he is in. As regards a 5 dayweek job, there are few jobs offered. If he is a teacher, he can work 5 daysa week or as a professional, he canoffer to work extra time Monday toFriday to make up for the lost timeand bargain with this boss. I hope theletter is of some help to him.

Shalom! In Christ,

Nornie Wong

Dear Mr. Royce Mitchell, Jr.:

First, thank you for a most in-formative and helpful magazine. Iappreciate each and every issue, andread them cover to cover. You, aseditor, will be missed, I am sure.

Enclosed is an article titled, “...”

Thanks you for your consider-ation, and I hope you enjoy the ar-ticle.

Vickie Howard

Yes, Royce is indeed missed.As I work my way through putting to-gether my first issue of The SabbathSentinel, I have had a thousandquestions I would like to ask Royce.He set a good standard for the publi-cation.

Thank you very much for yourarticle. It will be considered seriously

for publication. At the same time, Iwould like to reiterate our desire atTSS to make the magazine an “open”publication. That is, we desire ourreaders who are so inclined to add tothe content of the magazine as well

as read it.

— Ed

The Israel of the Alps

The story of theWaldenses, “The People of

the Valleys,” VHS NTSCvideo, LLT Productions, 85min., $30.00, or $5.00 for

14-day rental. Amongthese faithful witnesseswere Sabbath Keepers.Beautiful film of Alpine

Waldensians.(V201)

Are you ready to try something new?

Sign up for our brand new electronicnewsletter, the eSENTINEL. Just go to

The Sabbath Sentinel eNewslettersign-up page at

http://esentinel.listbot.com.

We’ll keep you up-to-date with importantevents, news, activities, and prayer requests.


“ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA” 11th Edition CD-ROM set only $99.95. Interested? Visitwww.ClassicEB.com for information. (June 01)

CALENDAR OF THE LORD 2001FREE: Specifically of those events in the Old and

New Testaments, particularly of Christ Jesus. A briefexplanation is included. Order for you and others inter-ested. For foreign countries a limit of 10 please, due tohigh airmail postage. Write to:

Church of God (New Testament), AL74-4963A Mamalahoa HighwayHolualoa, Hawaii 96725 U.S.A.

(June 01)

We are a Messianic congregation, located in thePuget Sound area (west of Seattle on the Kitsap Penin-sula): seeking part-time pastor (quickly to move to full-time). We are committed to the restoring of our Hebrewroots of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and arelooking for a leader of our flock. Knowledge of Hebrewdesired. Please send letter of interest and resume to:[email protected] (June 01)

Professional woman, 61, seeks life long friendshipwith an intelligent man of integrity who is deeply con-verted, who loves God with all his heart, honors theSabbath and Holy Days, and who lets the Bible, not man,be his guide. Nancy Owens, Box 136, 8400 Menaul,Albuquerque, NM 87112 (June 01)

Support BSA and our

efforts to promote God’s Sab-bath! Become a

Member Today!

Regular Membership

$25; Family $30; Life $500

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Classified ads (20% discount for second time,30% thereafter) are available at the rate of $1.00per word (including each word and each group ofnumbers in the address - telephone numberscount as one word) for each issue in which thead is published.

Display ads are available at $150 per quarterpage for each issue the ad is published. Wherepossible your camera-ready copy will be utilized,or we will design your display ad for you. Sendcopy for all ads and payment to The Bible Sab-bath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY82718.

Discounts- Advertise in the TSS Classified Adssection for more than one issue andreceive discounts: $1.00 per word 1st issue, then20% off for 2nd issue and 30% off for subsequenttimes.

Ad copy without payment will not be accepted forpublication. Deadline is two months prior to pub-lication (i.e. if you want your ad to appear in theSeptember/October issue we must receive it be-fore July). BSA reserves the right to reject or editany ad copy. Publication does not necessarilyimply endorsement by The Bible Sabbath Asso-ciation or The Sabbath Sentinel.

The Directory ofSabbath-observing Groups

is in the last stages of editing. We hope to have thedirectory available by June. If you wish informationand price, please call our offices in mid-June at1-888-687-519.

Material from BSA For Children:Sabbath at Sommerhase (B202)Lettie Siddens, 128 pp. Children’s Sabbath storybook, lessons, $7.00. Order from The Bible SabbathAssociation, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718.

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HC 60 Box 8, Fairview, OK 73737 USA

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Don’t Forget!Be sure to look at your addresslabel. It may be time to renew!

BSA Members: Unless you are a LifetimeBSA Member (who has contributed $500 ormore in any year), your BSA Membershipexpires on the date shown on your addresslabel, to the right of your last name. Forexample, if you see “M 200106,” on youraddress label, this means that you are acurrent Member whose membership expiresin June of 2001. Please don’t forget to renew!

Lifetime BSA Members are designated with“LIFE” following their last name, and do notneed to renew. All BSA Members automati-cally receive The Sabbath Sentinel maga-zine.

Sabbath Sentinel subscribers who are notBSA members: You mailing label has a dateshowing the last time we have heard fromyou. If this date is 1999 or earlier, you willautomatically be dropped from receiving TheSabbath Sentinel magazine at the beginningof 2002. To keep the magazine coming,please contact us as soon as possible.

Primitive Christianity in Crisis

Now available from the Bible Sab-bath Association for only $15! AlanKnight’s 273 page insight into the roots oftoday’s religious practices is a must readfor those seek to know the how and whyof those practices. Check the address onthe inside cover for mailing information.Or, go to www.biblesabbath.org to findthe current order form.

sabbath 2001 thethe may-june sentinel · may-june 2001 the sabbath sentinel 3 first, i would like...

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