Newsletter 45, February, 1998
Giving & Sharing Enters Twentieth Year of Service
In 1998, Giving & Sharing marked its twentieth year of service to Sabbath-keepers around the world. Write, call, or E-mail us for a recent Order Blank.
Goals: to distribute Bibles, religious material at the lowest possible cost; to promote the Good News of the Kingdom, Biblical Law, Bible Sabbath and Holy Days, Tithing, Healing, Laws of Health, Marriage and Family; to oppose eating Unclean Meats, observing Holidays of Pagan Origins, Divorce and Remarriage, and Sexual Perversions.
History: Giving & Sharing was founded in 1978 in Portland, Oregon, by Richard C. Nickels. It is a religious service organization, not a church. The first items distributed were History of the Seventh Day Church of God by Richard C. Nickels, the KJV Bible on audio cassette, narrated by Alexander Scourby, and Bible Studies. We distribute Bibles, books, articles, tapes, and computer disks on a wide variety of Bible subjects. The Giving & Sharing Newsletter has been published since 1989, and now has a mailing list of about 1,200. We try to produce 4-6 issues per year, as time and finances permit. In 1993, Earl Lewis became Office Manager for the Giving & Sharing mail-order bookstore, headquartered in Missouri.
Operation: Giving & Sharing is an activity of Sharing & Giving, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation registered in Missouri. Its current Board of Directors are Richard C. Nickels, President; Earl Lewis, Vice President and Treasurer; Wanda Lewis, Steven J. Kieler, and John Guffey.
Our "suggested donation" approximately covers our wholesale cost. Contributions above our "suggested donation" are USA income tax deductible. If you cannot afford to send a donation, we will send an item free, or on loan. Earl Lewis receives a small monthly "order processing fee" to partially compensate him and Wanda Lewis for ordering, packaging, and mailing Giving & Sharing literature. Richard C. Nickels has never received any compensation for his services (about 15-25 hours per week, in writing, research, correspondence). G&S typically fills over 1,000 orders per year. In addition, we answer many personal letters and calls.
Bibles and Books: Our Order Blank lists recommended Bibles, and books of interest to Sabbath-keepers. We purchase standard Bibles and Christian reference books at wholesale from two primary sources: Riverside Book and Bible of Iowa, and Spring Arbor of Michigan. These are the main sources for all Christian bookstores in America, and give us the standard trade discounts of 40% plus postage, while individual items can vary from 30% to 55% discount. We purchase bulk quantities of hard-to-find books from other religious publishers. Giving & Sharing attempts to pass all discounts on to our customers.
Both Riverside and Spring Arbor will ship directly to our customers. You can order any book published by any major Christian publisher (Zondervan, Nelson, Baker, Tyndale House, Holman, Word, Oxford, Cambridge, National, etc.), by giving us the ISBN and/or catalog number, publisher, title, and retail price, with remittance for 70% of the retail price, and our suppliers direct ship the books to your address. Those outside the USA should add 10-15%, for overseas surface rate postage on special request items. Giving & Sharing is NOT a bookfinder service. You can find the ISBN or catalog number and publisher of any book from Books in Print at any public library, or your local Christian bookstore. If you find the book at a Christian bookstore, we likely can deliver it to you at discount. Minimum order on special requests is two books.
Special Books: Many unique items on our Order Blank are of special interest to Sabbath-keepers. Books and articles by Richard C. Nickels are featured items, as well as Early Writings of Herbert W. Armstrong, and Judah’s Sceptre & Joseph’s Birthright, a primary work on Anglo-Israel.
Disks and Tapes: Sharing Disks, led by John Guffey, distributes our articles and books on 3.5 inch computer disks, in ASCII (text) format, which can be read by any personal computer. Sharing Tapes provides audio tapes of an introduction to the Giving & Sharing service by Richard Nickels, narrations of Early Writings of Herbert W. Armstrong, and copies of old sermons and broadcasts of Herbert W. Armstrong. Internet: Giving & Sharing’s Order Blank, and some literature, is available on the Internet at Alan Ruth’s www.biblestudy.org web page and www.giveshare.org. (At the same site is an Order Blank for The Bible Sabbath Association, of which Richard C. Nickels is also President. There is no direct connection between Giving & Sharing and The Bible Sabbath Association. Shirley Nickels is Office Manager of the BSA. For a BSA order blank, write: The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718, or call toll-free 888-687-5191. The BSA accepts credit card orders.)
Contributions: Contributions above our suggested donation are welcome, and USA income tax deductible. Donors receive an annual donation receipt letter, with a summary financial statement. A detailed financial statement is available upon request. Our books are open to the public. We have no full-time paid staff, as most work is done on a voluntary basis. Volunteers are welcome, especially those with computer, word processing, narration, and translation skills. Most contributions to G&S are less than $50. At times, it is difficult to keep our literature in print. Can you help us help others? We appreciate your prayers, labor, and donations!
International Offices: Giving & Sharing’s International offices are primarily designed to receive orders in local funds, so that International requestors do not have to go through the expense or trouble of currency conversion. Our International representatives forward most orders via E-mail to the USA for shipment. Postage rates from the USA to other countries are often cheaper than local postage rates in those countries. Shipments are sent surface rate, and may take 90 days or more to arrive. International offices have limited supplies of our articles and special books. Some International offices copy and distribute our Newsletter, on A4 metric paper.
Mailing Addresses: Giving & Sharing uses "distributed processing." We have various offices which perform different functions. This distributes the work load among several people. Effective in 1998, all requestors sending US dollars should send orders to our main office. Write Earl Lewis at:
Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck City, MO 64849
Telephone (417) 525-4211, E-mail: celewis2@juno.com
For correspondence contact Richard C. Nickels, at 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718, telephone (307) 686-5191, E-Mail: info@giveshare.org
International addresses (for local currency orders):
AUSTRALIA: Jim & Lynn Carnochan, 7 Sunnyridge Road, Arcadia NSW 2159
E-mail: lyn_carnochan@hotmail.com
SOUTH AFRICA: John Clifford, 21 Cockburn Street, Glencairn Hts,
Simon’s Town 7975, E-Mail:blockdoc@norton.ctech.ac.za
UNITED KINGDOM: Barbara Fenney, 98 Severn Road, Culcheth, Warrington,
Cheshire WA3 5EB, England, E-mail:100557.1765@compuserve.com
Description of Giving & Sharing Material
Essential Bible Study Tools is a group of six recommended items for personal Bible Study, that EVERY believer should have and use. The seventh essential tool, the Holy Spirit, is available only from the Almighty!
· King James Version Wide Margin Bible is the best quality Bible available. Using an accountant’s fine point pen, you can write personal notes in the wide margins. This is your lifetime Bible, your main reference source, which leads to the other essential tools. Oxford is our recommended publisher, although Cambridge and Nelson also publish excellent wide margin Bibles.
· Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, contains every word in the KJV Bible, with the corresponding Hebrew or Greek word number. Use this concordance to look up scripture passages, when you only know a word or two; or, begin study of a specific topic.
· Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance, and Englishman’s Greek Concordance are coded to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek word numbers. Use these concordances to look up all Bible uses of Bible words, and complete a comprehensive topical study.
· Franklin Bookman Electronic Bible is a hand held Bible computer. Look up scriptures super fast by entering the book and verse, or do word searches. Optional cards give you additional Bible versions and interesting Bible games. This is a fun tool for young and old.
· Interlinear Bible, the one-volume edition, gives you the entire Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, with literal English above it, and the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek numbers, plus a literal English translation. This invaluable tool enables novices in Biblical languages to ferret out translation errors and perform in-depth Bible study. The Masoretic and Received Texts are the base for this sixth, and most advanced, essential Bible Study tool.
The Companion Bible, by E.W. Bullinger, is a study Bible frequently used by Sabbath-keepers. Its excellent Appendix is fascinating, and supports many Church of God doctrines, including the Wednesday crucifixion.
Josephus: Complete Works, is the most noted Old Testament commentary and history, written by a First Century Jewish historian. We also have a free index to Josephus, from a Sabbath-keeping perspective.
History of the Seventh Day Church of God, Volume I, 158 pages, is a comprehensive history of the Seventh Day Church of God from 1800-1996. Originating in the Adventist Movement and The Messenger Party, the Seventh Day Church of God rejected the "Shut Door" teaching of Ellen G. White and her visions. Headquartered in Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, and Denver, the Church of God, Seventh Day, had splits in 1905 and 1933. Most factions merged in 1949 only to produce more splits. Although numbering only about 5,000 in the United States, their numbers overseas are tens of thousands and growing. This book traces the doctrines and personalities of the Seventh Day Church of God.
Six Papers on the History of the Church of God, 354 pages, covers Sabbatarian Baptists in England; Sabbatarian Baptists in America; The Adventist Movement: Its Relationship to the Seventh Day Church of God; Sabbath Adventists, 1844-1863; The Remnant of Israel: An Analysis of G.G. Rupert and His Independent Church of God (Seventh Day) Movement, 1915-1929, who influenced Herbert W. Armstrong’s theological understanding; History of the Church of God (Seventh Day) by John Kiesz, with quotes from early issues of The Bible Advocate, published since 1863. This book gives detailed background to Church of God, Seventh Day, history.
"The Remnant of Israel, 1915-1929," 36 pages, paper #5 of Six Papers on the History of the Church of God, compares teachings of G.G. Rupert and Herbert W. Armstrong, and is available separately due to the wide interest in this subject. Rupert’s books, such as Yellow Peril, Time Tradition and Truth, and many of his booklets, are available as reprints. For information, see page 349 of Six Papers.
A History of the True Church, by Andrew N. Dugger and Clarence O. Dodd, 108 pages, is a reprint of the classic Church of God, Seventh Day, view of Church history from First Century to the 1930s.
The Bible Home Instructor, by Andrew N. Dugger, 182 pages, is designed for Home Bible Studies in question and answer form. Originally published in 1917, it covers the doctrines of the Church of God, Seventh Day.
Biblical Doctrine, 92 pages, analyzes the Fundamentals of Belief and Doctrines of Various Sabbath-Keeping Groups, including Seventh Day Adventists, Church of God Seventh Day, Sacred Name Groups, and the Worldwide Church of God and its many offshoots, as well as the doctrinal changes of the Worldwide Church of God.
Biblical Holy Days, about 500 pages, covers the Sabbath, Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, New Moons, Sacred Calendar, and Pagan Holidays.
Biblical Health and Healing, 138 pages, details Health from the Biblical viewpoint, Anointing the Sick for Healing, God Does Heal Today, Clean and Unclean Meats, Whole Grain Recipes, Back to Eden, Medical Heretic, and more.
"Basic Bible Study Tools" explains how to use various Bibles and Bible helps, giving examples from each source, including the Essential Tools.
Biblical Law, 68 pages, shows how Bible statutes and judgments magnify the Ten Commandments. It explains which Old Testament laws are in force today and details Biblical Law by topic and scripture order.
Biblical Marriage and Family, 92 pages, includes: Marriage, Theme of the Bible; Divorce and Remarriage, by Herbert W. Armstrong; Women’s Adornment and Make-Up; Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother; Biblical Childrearing; more.
"What Should We Be Doing?" 32 pages, is a challenge to all Sabbath-keepers to do the Almighty’s Work. What are you DOING spiritually?
The Tithe in Scripture, by Henry Lansdell, 60 pages, is a reprint of the classic book, originally published in 1908, the most comprehensive book on tithing ever written. Lansdell supports first, second, and third tithing.
Early Writings of Herbert W. Armstrong, 236 pages, has uncut, uncensored, originals of Armstrong’s public domain articles, written from 1928-1953. Many current and former members of the Worldwide Church of God have never read Armstrong’s original writings. His classics, such as Divorce and Remarriage, What is Faith? and The United States in Prophecy and other articles, have been shelved by the Worldwide Church of God, in rejecting Armstrong’s original teachings.
"The Elijah to Come," 12 pages, compares Herbert W. Armstrong to the prophet Elijah, finding great dissimilarities.
Judah’s Sceptre and Joseph’s Birthright by J.H. Allen, is the classic study of Anglo-Israelism, originally published in 1902.
Back to Eden, by Jethro Kloss, is an update of the classic book on natural health and herbs. A virtual health encyclopedia, this book is a useful reference to combat health problems, and maintain good health.
Our Authorized Bible Vindicated, by B.G. Wilkinson, gives historical proof that the Received Text, the basis for the KJV and NKJV translations, is superior to corrupted Bible versions such as the Catholic Vulgate and NIV. A related article, "King James Version Errors," corrects KJV errors and outdated language.
Fifty or sixty medicinal herbs are readily accessible to the average person. A few herbs should be avoided, and others carefully used. A simple guide to the use of herbs, and their potential benefits, is given in the 72-page booklet, Prevention’s 200 Herbal Remedies, which is free to new subscribers of Prevention, a well-known health magazine ($18.95 per year for 12 issues, call 800-666-2503, or write Prevention, PO Box 7319, Red Oak, IA 51591-0319). Prevention’s web site is www.healthyideas.com. You may also borrow the herbal remedies booklet free, from Richard Nickels, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718.
The December, 1997, issue of Prevention contained an article describing medical research which indicates that frequent use of common headache relief pills can actually cause more headaches. I can vouch for this through personal experience. After I was baptized in 1969, I stopped taking aspirin or other headache relief medicine. The frequency of my headaches began to diminish. Now, I rarely if ever have a headache. Are the giant pharmaceutical companies and sellers of herbs more interested in your health and well-being, or in their own profits? (You should ask the same question of religious organizations as well.)
Thomas Edison wrote, "The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease." That time should be NOW for the Almighty’s people.
Should You Frequent Restaurants on the Sabbath?
Those of you who have read our book, Biblical Holy Days, know that we believe that a general practice of eating out on the Sabbath and Holy Days is not right. I have found it very difficult to convince other Sabbath-keepers of this understanding, especially those who are former Worldwide Church of God members.
When I attended the Worldwide Church of God, it was a custom to go to restaurants on the Sabbath, and to buy food in the grocery store on the Sabbath. Indeed, going to a restaurant on the Sabbath, and especially on the Holy Days, was a major custom in the church when I attended in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Now, however, I have come to believe that restaurant-going is improper Sabbath conduct, for three reasons: (1) Exodus 16:23 says that heavy baking and cooking is to be done on the day before the Sabbath. This means ourselves and anyone that fixes meals for us, our servants. (2) The fourth commandment (Exodus 20:10) says that we and our servants must rest on the Sabbath. By going to a restaurant on the Sabbath, one is actively hiring servants to work for him. They would not be employed if people were not in the restaurant. (3) Nehemiah shows that we must not buy food or produce on the Sabbath days, Nehemiah 13:15-22.
Arguments have been raised against our position. One man said that Exodus 16:23 was only a requirement of Israel in the wilderness. When dining out, he says, he is doing no cooking at all, and the cooks and waiters are hired by the restaurant owner. Ronald Dart says Nehemiah’s rules were only applicable to Nehemiah’s day, not ours. He wrote, "it is not wrong for you to benefit directly or indirectly from the work of others" on the Sabbath, pointing to the example of electricity.
Use of electricity and restaurant-going on the Sabbath are tied together by those who say it is not wrong to go to a restaurant on the Sabbath. Certainly the human need of food and warmth from the cold, at times requires us to use electricity in this modern age, although our forefathers got along just fine without electrical power. Electric power companies could switch to a low maintenance power supply mode on the Sabbath, which would require few if any personnel. We Sabbath-keepers should limit our usage of electric power on the Sabbath. In the millennium, there will not be huge, polluting, power plants and miles of distribution lines. The energy system for the world tomorrow will be vastly different than what we have today.
Food service is one of the largest businesses in the western world. As people become more affluent, they cook less and less at home and eat out more often. The life of the true Bible believer is at variance with such worldly trends. We should cook natural foods at home, and prepare Sabbath meals before the Sabbath begins. A Sabbath-keeper regularly going to a restaurant on the Sabbath, or any other day, is demonstrating his disregard for the Eternal’s laws of health. As Ron Dart correctly says, "The commandment forbids you to require work of anyone who is under your control." You can control whether or not restaurant cook and servers, "strangers" to you, prepare and serve YOUR food on the Sabbath day.
Samuele Bacchiocchi states: "The Fourth Commandment enjoins us to grant freedom to all on the Sabbath, including the stranger. Any attempt to enjoy the freedom and joy of the Sabbath at the expense of others represents a denial of the values of the Sabbath." He goes on to show that a Sabbath-keeper who buys goods and services on the Sabbath sanctions these business transactions, which the scriptures in Jeremiah 17:21-23 and Nehemiah 13:19-22 clearly condemn. "Purchasing goods or services on the Sabbath, such as eating out in restaurants, will turn the mind of the believer away from the sacredness of the Sabbath to the secularism and materialism of the world." Yes, there may be situations where one must buy food on the Sabbath. With proper planning, this situation should rarely occur. (See The Sabbath of the New Testament, pages 242-243, available for $12.50 from The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive, Gillette, WY 82718.)
Randy Rondeau of the Winnipeg Church of God Box 7, GRP. 26, RR 1, East Selkirk, Manitoba, R0E 0M0, CANADA, has produced a 34-page booklet, "Should Christians Frequent Restaurants on the Sabbath?" We encourage you to write him for a free copy. I hope that many more will see the wisdom of generally NOT eating out on the Sabbath day.
Writers Wanted for The Sabbath Sentinel
The Bible Sabbath Association needs good articles and material to publish and recommend. The new editor of The Sabbath Sentinel, Lars Harrison, is brimming with original ideas for utilizing the talents of many to promote the Bible Sabbath. Would you like to contribute?
Here are writer’s guidelines for magazine articles: (1) follow the mission of the BSA, i.e., to promote understanding and mutual respect among Sabbath-keepers, and the knowledge, acceptance, and observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among all Bible believers; (2) be Biblically based; (3) promote the Sabbath and commandment-keeping; (4) not seek to undermine or promote the agenda of any group; (5) follow the principles Paul explained in II Timothy 3:15-17; (6) not a series of articles or a long paper (ideal size for the magazine is 2-3 full-length pages, about 1,500-1,800 words). Send your articles for review to: Royce Mitchell, Editor, The Sabbath Sentinel, 10231 Hanselman Road, Manvel, TX 77578, or E-mail articles to Royce at rmitchell@flash.net, in Word or ASCII.
Audio Bible CD by Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby is known as "the voice of the Bible." His incomparable narration of the King James Bible has been a classic for forty years. Scourby’s Bible audio cassettes have won international acclaim as "the finest recording ever produced." Giving & Sharing began in 1978 when I discovered that I could obtain Scourby’s audio tapes at discount, and pass these savings on to Sabbath-keepers. Giving & Sharing’s purpose is to deliver Biblical tools at the lowest possible cost.
Scourby’s reading is now on computer compact disc (CD) for Windows 95 (IBM compatible PC’s). To order, go to http://www.audio-bible.com/orderform.txt.
Mr. Scourby wrote: "Although I have narrated more than 500 books, I consider the Bible my most important work. Why? Because it is the one book that has the power to inspire, encourage, comfort and change the life of the person who hears it. I know this because during the many years since I narrated the Bible, numerous people have written thanking me for creating such a beautiful reading. I have been greatly humbled and moved by the many letters I have received from people around the world telling me how God used the Bible narrations to change their lives and the lives of their loved ones, encourage them in their hour of need, and even healed them as they listened to the Words of Life.
"I am very honored that God chose me as an instrument to narrate his eternal Word . . . I am also proud that I recorded the King James Version. Although many other versions of the Bible have been written, the King James Version in my favorite. It is still recognized by Bible scholars and academics as the most accurate and most beautiful rendition . . . and for the sheer beauty of the English Language the King James version has no equal. I know that you will love it."
The minimal System Requirements are: IBM PC compatible computer, 486 or greater; Microsoft Windows 95; minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM; CD-ROM Drive; VGA monitor; SoundBlaster compatible sound card; available hard drive space of 10 megabytes for minimal installation of Audio Bible (35 mb recommended); Mouse.
Features of this CD are: 72 hours of Alexander Scourby’s audio recording of the entire Bible on one CD, indexed on a verse level. Plays any verse instantly. Continuously play the entire Bible over and over without stopping, even when you are working on another program in Windows. Save your place and continue listening later. Synchronize text and audio. Look up the definition of words instantly. Complete Greek and Hebrew lexicon. Add or change word definitions. Find every occurrence of a particular Greek or Hebrew word in the English text. Easy navigation with the table of contents. In addition, there is a powerful search engine. Do single word searches, AND, OR, NOT searches, phrase searches, ordered and unordered proximity searches, single and multiple character wild card searches, stem and thesaurus searches. It even has a query history. There are full printing and exporting capabilities. Save your study notes in the same format as the Bible, then search it. It searches the Bible, lexicon or personal text. You can personalize your Bible with, notes, bookmarks, highlighter, links, groups and fields. The CD has customizable fonts for the visually impaired. We recommend the Audio Bible CD by Alexander Scourby, $85.45 delivered from Giving & Sharing (you will receive a $30 credit for other G&S items).
With this Newsletter, we begin a series of articles on the seven Churches of Asia of Revelation 2-3. Perhaps no other portion of Scripture has greater relevance to today than the messages of the risen, glorified, Savior, to the seven representative Churches of Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These messages to the seven Churches are historical, prophetic, and contemporary lessons for us today. Will we hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the Churches?
There are many valuable sources of information on the seven Churches. Two of my favorites are now available through Giving & Sharing: The Seven Epistles of Christ by Taylor G. Bunch (Review & Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., 1947), reprint of 255-page book; and The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia by William M. Ramsay (1904 edition), 221 page reprint (plus pictures). Photocopies of these interesting books are available for $10 and $15 respectively, Or, you may obtain them on computer disk, Disks #D010 and D011, in ASCII (text) format, for $2.50 each, from Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck City, MO 64849. As a bonus, disks have additional miscellaneous church history material.
Church histories we recommend are: What Became of the Church Jesus Built? by Lawson Briggs (1972 Ambassador College thesis, 299 pp.); A Handbook of Church History by Dean C. Blackwell (1973 Ambassador College thesis, 397 pp.); and Now Revealed — The True History of the Early Christian Church, by Ronald D. Kelly (1967 Ambassador College thesis, 167 pp.). If interested in these resources, call Richard Nickels at (307) 686-5191, weekends only, please.
An understanding of Church history is vital to our continued existence as a people. We encourage you to study Church history. The spiritual instruction contained in Church history is invaluable today.