Sabbath 17/6/29/120
Dear Friends,
There has recently been a multi-religious convention in Kyoto, Japan. It was
attended by religious leaders of all forms and persuasions including the King
of Benin as the head of indigenous religion there, and also the Crown Prince
of Jordan as an advocate for Islamic inter-religious tolerance. Representatives
of most religions were present; except for the Churches of God.
This week also the Prime Minister of Australia sparked off a row over Muslims in Australia. There is a serious radicalisation of Islamic youth occurring in the West. Muslim youth in West Sydney were confronting shoppers with cries of Allah Ho Akbar, or God is Great. Aside from creating the illusion of mindless chanting of the form that one associated in times past with the drumming and chanting of the Hari Krishna sect, such street corner evangelism does very little for the promotion of understanding and tolerance. Whilst most people advocating a belief in God would argue that the statement is true, however, it does little to advance the cause of peace and harmony to have it shouted at you in Arabic, in a Sydney shopping mall. Some strange ideas are also being advanced by Muslim youth in Britain. Muslims are arguing that because British foreign policy had placed the army in Iraq, then their terrorism is justified in Britain. The IRA advanced the same terrorism and arguments because they could not win at the polls. The Muslim youth of West Sydney were also talking, of all things, of introducing Sharia law into Australia. Now, that idea is specifically outlawed by Scripture. No person, Jew or Christian (or Buddhist for that matter) could or would tolerate it.
The law of God says:
One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger
that sojourns with you, an ordinance forever in your generations: as ye are
so shall the stranger be before the Lord. 16. One Law and one manner shall be
for you, and for the stranger that sojourns with you (Num. 15:15-16).
God went on to proclaim through Moses that:
You shall have one law for him that sins through ignorance, both for him that
is born among the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourns among
them (Num. 15:29).
The text then goes on to proclaim the punishment for those that despise the
word of the Lord.
But the soul that does ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land,
or a stranger, the same reproaches the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off
from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has
broken His commandment (Num. 15:30-31).
God set down the laws regarding worship and operation of the Faith and the laws regarding conduct in the nation for all time. Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and Moses and Christ, and all the prophets of God spoke according to the Law and the Testimony. Those that did not were false prophets and there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20).
Christ did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfil the Law in the aspect of the sacrifice. He died once and for all to save sinners, and that message is proclaimed by both OT and NT and by the Koran. The Muslims, Jews and Christians have no excuse for their disobedience and are judged by that fact. The disobedient, who break the Commandments of God are cut off from Israel which is the spiritual body, the Church of God in the First Resurrection.
There is no negotiation and no respect of persons with God. You either do what He has laid down as the requirement or you will not be part of the Government of God (see the paper The Government of God (No. 174)). The choice is yours alone. No priest or minister can mitigate what he has said, and those people will not be in the Kingdom of God. Nor will those who listen to them be in the First Resurrection either.
We see people masquerading as members of the Churches of God pretending to be Christians, but proclaiming that: God’s Laws do not have to be kept; the Sabbath is no longer the Sabbath but rather Sunday is now the Lord’s Day, and so has replaced the Sabbath; and the tithes are done away because Levi is only concerned with Judah and is not the Church, when Hebrews clearly says that Christ entered the sanctuary with his own blood and not the blood of bulls, and became the High Priest after the order of Melechisedek forever (see also Melchisedek (No. 128)). The Book of Revelation says that he ransomed us to be a nation of kings and priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10) and the early Church taught that we had the rights of inheritance transferred to the Church from Levi, which was then to become part of the Church (see the paper Tithing (No. 161)).
In the same way, we see Muslims say that: yes the Laws of God have to be kept, because they admit that is what the Koran says. They then say that the Bible was lost and what is now available is not correct and so does not have to be obeyed. Is God so feeble that He can’t keep track of His own utterances through the prophets and His own Laws by which we are all judged? Not one jot or tittle will pass from the Law until all is accomplished; until heaven and earth pass away. Is that clear enough? One would have thought so. The Koran says that if you do not keep the Sabbath you are an ape. They are strong words but true. You are not in the First Resurrection and end up in the Second and if you do not keep it, and then you will face the second death from which there is no recovery, just as the apes will have no recovery (see the papers The Sabbath in the Koran (No. 274) and The Juma’ah: Preparing for the Sabbath (No. 285)). You can argue all you like about not having to keep the Sabbath, whether you are a Hezbollah fanatic, a Jehovah’s Witness, or a Roman Catholic or Protestant. You will die and you will be resurrected to the Second Resurrection and not the First. And if you don’t keep God’s Laws you will die again and not be resurrected and that will be the end of the discussion. You get two chances at it and that is all. Firstly, you need to be baptised as a repentant adult (see the paper Repentance and Baptism (No. 52)). Then you must keep the Sabbaths of God and each year you must take the Passover again (see the paper God’s Calendar (No. 156)).
Each of us gets only one chance at the First Resurrection and to do that we must be baptised. We either succeed or fail. If we fail we are simply not resurrected until the Second Resurrection. You will know which resurrection you are in when you awake from the dead. If you remain in physical form then alas you did not make the First Resurrection. There is no such thing as an immortal soul and there is no such thing as heaven and hell as an abode of the dead. Hell is the grave. Tartarus is the abode of the Fallen Host reserved for judgment. Gehenna is the rubbish pit outside of Jerusalem where they burnt dead dogs and other refuse. The same fire is reserved for the dead of the Second Resurrection (see the paper The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143)). There is no such thing as a third resurrection (see the paper The Fallacy of the Third Resurrection (No. 166)).
A false witness will not go unpunished (Prov. 19:5,9) and shall perish (Prov. 21:28). We should be very careful of what we say. Those who attack and berate one another are not of God and do not speak in the Holy Spirit. God deals with that attitude in the most appropriate way.
The time is coming when you will not be able to practise any religion except
that of the One True God, and the worst persecutors of the Church will be those
who claimed to have once been of us. No lie and accusation is too great for
them.
The alienation of the religious minorities is underway through fanatical ignorance,
and that will get worse as the false teachings increase and the divisions are
emphasised by the ignorant.
Be tolerant and speak the truth in all things. God will protect us.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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