Newsletter 81, September 2005

Newsletter 81 September 2005

A Multicultural Tool For Worldwide Evangelism and Sabbath Enrichment Tracing the History of the Sabbath From Eden to Eternity



Scenes from *The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History*
Seventeen years in the making, this Sabbath promotional series was the dream of the late James Arrabito. You will learn much about the exciting history of the Sabbath. Narrated by: Hal Holbrook. Five-part video series on the Sabbath. VHS (NTSC) or DVD. $20 for single copy, $18 for multiple copies, $90 for the entire five-part series. Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck City, MO 64849. Postage: add $2 per video for North America, $5 per video International. Circle the appropriate order code: VHS DVD V215-1 D215-1 Origins of the Sabbath, 52 min. V215-2 D215-2 Jesus and the “Change” of the Sabbath, 47 min. V215-3 D214-3 Sabbath Persists Through the Dark Ages, 48 min. V215-4 D215-4 The Reformation and the Revival of the Sabbath, 60 min. V215-5 D215-5 Explosion of Sabbath-keeping in Modern Era, 83 min.

The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History

PART 1 — From Creation through Old Testament times, 52 min. Did you ever wonder. . . If life on earth really began by accident? Why the week has seven days? If God considers one day of the week more special than the others? Part One of The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History looks back to the earliest written records to discover the foundations of human time. Host Hal Holbrook unravels the mystery of our origins and shows how the seven-day week ties us to our creation and our Creator. Loads of special effects, brilliant graphics, and historical documentation.

PART 2 — From the time of Jesus till the fourth Century, 47 min. Did you know. . . Church leaders conspired to kill Jesus Christ when He broke their Sabbath rules? Early Christians continued to keep Saturday as the Sabbath for hundreds of years? Roman sun worship led to Christians worshiping on Sunday? Part Two exposes the political and religious intrigue behind the Saturday/Sunday controversy in the early Christian Church. Little-known historical data and expert testimony are woven into a tapestry of compelling truth. The Seventh Day series is a powerful and provocative look on a timely and explosive topic.

PART 3 — From third century St. Patrick to the eleventh Century, 48 min. Fact: Ireland’s famous St. Patrick was neither Irish nor Catholic. Fact: The Pope was excommunicated for promoting fasting on the seventh-day Sabbath. Fact: A “letter from Heaven” threatened supernatural punishments for failing to keep Sunday holy. In Part Three of The Seventh Day, Hal Holbrook tells about the battle over the seventh-day Sabbath in medieval times. It’s a story riddled with fakes and forgeries, warped by legend and propaganda, and steeped in the schemes of patriarchs, popes, and kings. With the testimony of experts from England, Scotland, and the United States, Part Three of this five-part series presents new Revelations from the Lost Pages of History.

PART 4 — From early fourteenth century to late seventeenth century, 60 min. In Russia, Ivan Kuritsin and other Sabbath-keeping reformers were burned to death in Moscow’s Red Square. In Spain, Constantino Ponce de la Fuente, a prominent Roman Catholic priest, promoted the seventh-day Sabbath and died in an Inquisition prison. In Slovakia, after surviving several hours at the end of a hangman’s noose, Anabaptist leader Andreas Fischer escaped to continue preaching the seventh-day Sabbath. Part Four of The Seventh Day spotlights the resurgence of Sabbath observance in an era of religious upheaval — from the spiritual revolution in late fifteenth-century Russia, through the religious rebellion of the Protestants in the sixteenth century, to the radical Sabbath revival of England in the seventeenth century. In the Revelations from the Lost Pages of History series, Hal Holbrook and guest experts from around the world uncover amazing, seldom-heard stories about God’s special gift to the world, the seventh day.

PART 5 — Seventeenth Century into the eternal future, 83 min. In 1665, Seventh Baptists first planted the doctrine of the seventh-day Sabbath in New England. In 1742, a New York court fined German count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzindorf for violating Sunday protection laws. In 1888, Senator Henry Blair proposed a national Sunday law that threatened religious liberty in the United States. Sabbath revival has been worldwide in scope, ranging from the Taiping revolutionaries in China to the millions of indigenous Sabbatarians of Africa, to the remote village of Paruima in South America, from Roger Williams’ heroic stand for religious liberty in seventeenth-century America to the crisis of conscience faced by many of today’s Sabbath-keepers. This final episode of The Seventh Day projects the gift of Sabbath rest into the eternal future.

Order VHS or DVD Sabbath videos from: Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck City, MO 64849. $20 single copy, $18 for multiple copies, $90 for entire five-part set.

Check it Out!

In our day, “knowledge shall be increased,” Daniel 12:4, yet, untruth and lies, are seemingly increasing even faster. Sadly, some in the Church of God are becoming casual with the facts. It behooves us to check our sources.

It is commonly reported, erroneously, that Herbert Armstrong’s elderly neighbor lady, Mrs. Ora Runcorn, was instrumental in convicting Loma Armstrong to the seventh-day Sabbath, and later her husband. Actually, Mrs. Runcorn was the neighbor of Armstrong’s parents in Salem, Oregon (whom the Armstrong’s were visiting), according to Armstrong’s Autobiography, chapter 14.

Protestant Supporters of God’s Law

“The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God’s Law and show the nature of sin,” Martin Luther.

“Before I preach love, mercy, and grace, I much preach sin, Law, and judgment,” John Wesley. He also said, “Preach 90% Law and 10% grace.”

“They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law,” Charles H. Spurgeon.

“Evermore the Law must prepare the way for the Gospel; to overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the Church with false converts,” Charles Finney.

“The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the Law of God,” John Wycliffe.

“God being a perfect God, had to give a perfect Law, and the Law was given not to save men, but to measure them,” Dwight L. Moody.

— Ron Moseley, The Spirit of the Law, page 21.

Food as Medicine

If even a portion of this advice works for you, these foods may prevent you from taking drugs of questionable value. Discuss with a naturopath or natural food consultant.

Condition	Helpful Food
Arteries clogged	Mono unsaturated fat in avocados lowers cholesterol.
Arthritis	Salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines actually prevent arthritis.
Asthma	Eating onions helps ease constriction of bronchial tubes.
Bladder infection	Drink cranberry juice.
Blood sugar imbalance	The chromium in broccoli and peanuts helps regulate insulin and blood sugar.
Bone problems	Bone fractures and osteoporosis can be prevented by the manganese in pineapple.
Breast cancer	Eat wheat, bran and cabbage to help maintain estrogen at healthy levels.
Colds	Clear up that stuffy head with garlic.
Coughing	A substance similar to that found in the cough syrups is found in hot red pepper. Use red (cayenne) pepper with caution — it can irritate your tummy.
Diarrhea	Grate an apple with its skin, let it turn brown and eat it to cure this condition.
Hay Fever	Eat lots of yogurt before pollen season. Also-eat honey from your area (local region) daily.
Headache	Eat plenty of fish — fish oil helps prevent headaches; so does ginger, which reduces inflammation and pain.
High blood pressure	Olive oil has been shown to lower blood pressure. Celery contains a chemical that lowers pressure too.
Insomnia (can’t sleep)	Use honey as a tranquilizer and sedative.
Lung cancer	A good antidote is beta carotene, a form of Vitamin A found in dark green and orange vegetables.
Memory problems	Take zinc.
Pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS)	Women can ward off the effects of PMS with cornflakes, which help reduce depression, anxiety and fatigue.
Stomach, upset	Bananas settle an upset stomach; ginger will help morning sickness and nausea.
Stroke, prevention of	Prevent build-up of fatty deposits on artery walls with regular doses of tea.
Ulcers	Cabbage contains chemicals that help heal both gastric and duodenal ulcers.

See also our free article, “Biblical Health and Healing.”

Islamic Reformation?

Some today believe that there is a growing movement among Muslims to reform the faith which formerly supported war, persecution, and terrorism. Many Muslim intellectuals and business leaders are against the violence of “extremists” who are giving Islam a bad name.

Dave Hunt, in his new book, Judgment Day: Islam, Israel, and the Nations, says it is impossible for Islam to experience a “reformation,” like the Sixteenth Century Protestant Reformation, because the latter involved an attempt to get back to the true teachings of the Bible and the love, joy, and peace that it produces. Any “reformation” that would return Muslims to the true teachings of Islam would only increase violence and terrorism.

Such a “reformation” is in progress, a return to the fundamental teachings of the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad and his early successors, the caliphs. It calls for exterminating the Jews and all others who refuse to convert. Terrorists are not extremists but fundamentalists who practice true Islam as Muhammad founded it and as the Qur’an requires. To get rid of terrorism, Muslims would have to scrap Muhammad as a prophet and the Qur’an and Hadith as authoritative holy books. Any violence done in name of Christ is a violation of His teachings and example. Violence and terrorism done by Muslims, however, are in obedience to the teachings of the Qur’an and of Muhammad and the example he set.

Write for our article, “Islam Versus the Bible,” by Richard C. Nickels, 56 pages, $5 plus postage, from Giving & Sharing, PO Box 100, Neck City, MO 64849.

Modern Babylon (Revelation 17:5) and the Roman Catholic Church

The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, paperback, 352 pages, $12 plus postage from Giving & Sharing.

Where did the practices and beliefs of Roman Catholicism come from? In this scholarly classic, first published over eighty years ago, Alexander Hislop reveals that many Roman Catholic teachings did not originate with Christ or the Bible, but were adopted from the ancient pagan Babylonian religion, and given Christian names.

This book accurately provides a fascinating historical in-depth examination of the shocking similarities between the practices of ancient Babylon, and those of today’s Roman Catholic Church.

When You Read the Bible Through

I’d supposed I knew my Bible,

Reading piecemeal, hit or miss,

Now a bit of John or Romans,

Then a snatch of Genesis.

Certain chapters of Isaiah,

Certain Psalms (the twenty-third)

Twelfth of Romans, first of Proverbs,

Yes, I thought I knew the Word.

But I found that thorough reading

Was a different thing to do,

And the way was unfamiliar

When I read the Bible through.

You who like to play at Bible,

Dip and dabble here and there,

Just before you kneel, aweary,

And mutter through a hurried prayer,

Try a worthier procedure,

Try a broad and steady view.

You will kneel in very rapture

When you read the Bible through.

— Amos R. Wells

We encourage all to read straight through the Bible!

— by Richard C. Nickels Ω