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Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath

September 3, 2022June 28, 2025 by Laura Lee

by Nathaniel Burson (Big Sandy, Texas)
If I tell someone to start keeping the Sabbath, their first thought is “but how can I do that, if there are no Sabbath-keeping churches nearby??” It has become thoroughly ingrained in the mind of every Christian that keeping the Sabbath/Sunday holy means going to church. They believe that is the beginning and the end of the intent of God’s commandment on the subject. And yet… it isn’t. Because God never said that. In fact, He never once commanded you to go to church, not in the entire Bible. Think about that! So why did God never command anyone to go to church? More importantly, if it’s not important enough to Him to say something about it… why is it SO important to you, and everyone else? (Those of you who know your Bible will point to Hebrews 10:25, but that is a command not to stop going to church – not a command to go to church. You might think I’m splitting hairs, but there is actually a big difference in this case, as I’ll explain later.) When I tell you to “keep the Sabbath”, you instantly think “right, go to church!” … but that isn’t what I said. The idea that you can do one without the other is inconceivable to everyone today. Yet it’s actually possible to do either one without the other – you can keep the Sabbath without going to church, and you can go to church without keeping the Sabbath – and nearly everyone does! Let me explain how that’s possible, by starting, as always, with the first rule of Bible study “what exactly did God say?” Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it, and said “he that goeth not to church shall perish in hellfire”. That’s what you probably wish it said. That’s what you probably believe it meant. But that’s not what it said. After the word “hallowed it”, there is a period. In the law to keep the Sabbath not one word was said about assembly, congregating, gathering, or any other word that implies “going to church”. The COMPLETE letter of the law was that “thou (yes, you, and him, and her, and them) shalt not work”. Exodus 31:13-16 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.Ye shall keep the sabbath; therefore, for it is holy unto you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Over and over again, God commands them, on pain of death, to “keep the Sabbath”. To you, that means go to church. But it doesn’t say that here, does it? The ONLY definition given in this passage of “keeping the Sabbath”, is to make it a “Sabbath of rest”. Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Again, this odd phrase “Sabbath of rest”. In Hebrew, Sabbath means rest. The original Hebrew here is Shabbat Shabbaton, or “sabbathy sabbath”, or in modern English, a restful rest! Again, I must point out that it does not mention church, assembly, prayer, or any of the other ideas that are bound up with the Sabbath today. The Sabbath is mentioned 92 times in the Old Testament. The majority of those are commands not to work on it, or to “keep it”. There is only one in the OT that mentions an assembly on the weekly Sabbath day. Think about that – only 1 out of 92 verses talk about the thing that the world, and the churches of God, think is the absolute most important thing in the universe. Isn’t that significant? Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. This is the only time the word “convocation” (assembly) was used in connection with the weekly Sabbath. It’s a generic, passing comment that says nothing about what “assembly” meant. Did everyone come to the tabernacle? Or only the men? For how long? What did they do? All it says is “an holy assembly”, after underlining three more times that this was a Sabbath of REST. None of this proves we shouldn’t go to church. Nor is it intended to do so, contrary to what you might think. But it demonstrates the relative importance that “church” has, in comparison with “keeping the Sabbath”. We’ll come back to this verse again later. WHAT IS THE CHURCH? Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, The word “church” is the Greek ekklesia, meaning “called out ones”. But we know from other scriptures that to be written in heaven, to be a part of the church of the firstborn, you have to be called, AND chosen, AND faithful! All those who are called – even those truly called, not including tares and seat-warmers – are only at the FIRST STEP of salvation and are not the “saints” to compare yourself to! The reality is that most of those in any physical group of people called a church are not going to be in the first resurrection. (Acts 20:30-31, 2 Timothy 1:15 give some indication of this.) 3 John 1:9-10 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. John still called this “the church”, yet the evidence shows that Diotrephes is a false minister and casts the true brethren out of the church! Is this still a church of God? In name, yes! It is STILL a group of people who were once called! Thus, it is still a “true church”, since they were TRULY CALLED once – therefore they are a group of “called out ones”, an ekklesia – a church! But we have been conditioned to think of a church as a group of people who have been called, chosen, and faithful – and no such organization exists on Earth, nor has ever existed! Not even Jesus’ own disciples were all faithful! More importantly, that’s not what the Greek word meant! It doesn’t mean a group of faultless saints; it doesn’t even mean a group of people who are “trying” to obey God! It simply means a group of people whom God offered a chance at salvation – a chance some or all of them may or may not have already rejected! Because of this inherent weakness in classifying any group of physical beings, God refused to make the church the absolute arbiter of truth on this Earth. Churches don’t save you; God saves you. And God doesn’t save your church, God saves you. The aforementioned “church of the firstborn”, who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection, is the only body of people in the universe qualified to have the respect and admiration and obedience that you give to your own pale shadow of the true church of God. THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH A church, as in “the church at Corinth” or “the Living Church of God” means a physical group of possible saints, who might someday find salvation, who strive to overcome their carnal natures – mixed in with people who long ago decided they’d done enough and stopped growing… and those whom Satan deliberately put there to lead the rest of the church away (Matthew 13:24-30). But that doesn’t mean such a flawed church has no function. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those, and only those, who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). Churches are meant to be flawed, meant to teach heresy, again – so that those who are approved are made manifest (1 Corinthians 11:19). Churches serve two functions simultaneously. First, they teach you truth; then they try to take it away again. And both of those functions are enormously helpful. First, the teaching; the church is a mother. Galatians 4:26 shows Jerusalem, as contrasted with Sinai, as mother of the New Covenant church. And in that role, she protects the infants, comforts them, feeds them on milk, and loves them. These are all things a newborn Christian needs desperately. It’s HARD to leave behind Babylon with all her customs, and learn about the laws, and keep them. The church provides a group of people, a protective herd who makes it easier – sharing their stories, showing you how to do things, and most importantly – proving to you that you can indeed overcome these problems. And so, the babe grows up on milk, as all babes do. And yet there is supposed to be a time when babies grow beyond that and are weaned from the breast and start chewing solid food. There is supposed to be a time when children can face strangers without hiding in their mother’s skirts. Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN YOUR CHURCH should be qualified to be teachers and have long since outgrown milk! Yet how many are truly qualified to be teachers of the most basic doctrines, the “first principles of the oracles of God”? Go to your church and ask ten people to prove the most basic doctrines to you and see if they are not still milkaholics! No one should say “I’m not a scholar”, because everyone is supposed to be “ready always to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). And that answer shouldn’t be “well, I can’t prove it but here’s a booklet!” Hebrews 5:13-14 For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. It’s FINE to only digest milk when you’re a baby! But at some point, when you see a child of seven suckling his mother’s teat, you start thinking the child is retarded. In the literal sense – he is “less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age”, and also in the insulting sense “your church is just a bunch of retards”, which is essentially what Paul said. And what I say. BREAKING THE MILK ADDICTION But let’s ask the obvious question – who provides them with milk? Their mother, obviously – the church. Who provides them meat? Just as obviously, the Father – God Himself. Even today, cooking slabs of meat is a man’s domain. It is the mother who feeds them with comfortable rituals, with friendship and snuggling and support. But it is the father who kills the beasts and corrects their carnal nature. It is the father who gives them answers to hard questions their mother doesn’t know the answer to and dares not ask. So strong meat comes from the father. Therefore, it is the mother’s job – the church’s job – to raise them up to such an age that they are capable of digesting meat and then let the father handle their education from there! It’s one thing for a mother to help her young children cut up their meat for a few years, but eventually they’re supposed to be able to cut it and chew it themselves, processing and digesting the beast their father killed to give them. But how would YOU feel about a mother who does this for her 30-year-old? But most mothers don’t want their children to grow up and leave them, because they are desperate for the validation their children give them. So, they keep them dependent, shelter them from reality in every way they can, so they will never be able to leave the nest. They do this in the name of love, of protection, of wanting what’s best for them. But what’s best for them is to grow up to be men who answer to God and no one else. Every church in history has taught her sons to fear her husband, and to trust only her. They are jealous of their father’s role and want their children to learn only such meat as the mother has chewed, swallowed, vomited up again and fed them. Yes, I meant the metaphor to be gross because this is what churches do with God’s truth. You need to learn directly from God; God will teach you the things you need to know, at the speed you can handle it – which is much faster than your church thinks. She is inevitably frightened by this and will tell you to slow down, trust them, believe only things the ministry has proven to be true. But this denies the fact that God teaches everyone in the congregation individually – and worse, seeks to prevent it! God does not reveal things first to the apostle, then to the evangelist, then to the preacher, then to the deacon, then to the man, then to the woman. God reveals things to the hearts of people who have ears to hear, and respects no one’s office. Because frankly, people screw things up. God Himself called it the “foolishness of preaching”. God said when you lift your tool upon the stones of His altar, you defile it – however good your intentions. This is why He feeds meat to His children in person, and not through their mother’s mammary glands – and yes, I just called your minister a boob. God’s correction can be stern as only a father’s can be sometimes it hurts, but it’s for your good (Hebrews 12:5-11). Because every time your father corrects you, he kills a little of your selfish beast. He offers up a sacrifice of red meat for a sweet savor, and your soul is fed thereby – making you more of a man. THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH Only once in the Bible is there a command to assemble on the weekly Sabbath day, in Leviticus 23:3. But look at how God qualified that… Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which YE shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. These are God’s feasts… which MOSES commanded Israel to gather together for! It was not God who commanded an assembly on the Sabbath, it was Moses who proclaimed it to be a holy convocation! Do you realize what that means?? It means that these were things MOSES commanded Israel to gather for… which makes them a part of MOSES’ covenant! The feasts themselves are God’s, they are binding, and they must be “kept” – just like the Sabbath must be “kept”. But the idea of going to church on these days is a law of Moses! That’s why it is only mentioned once in the Bible, and why “holy convocation” is not a part of the fourth commandment or any other spiritual law – because this was a law for the Old Covenant! Think about it. Keeping the Sabbath requires that you rest – that’s all God ever said. But going to church requires that you physically go somewhere and try your best to stay awake. Thus, going to church is, by definition, a work of the flesh, a physical work of the law! Which is why the Jews had synagogues in every city all over the world! Because it was a part of their covenant! Choke that down, digest that meat – going to church is an Old Covenant institution! But why? Why would church be commanded only in the Old Covenant, and not in the New Covenant? Because it’s what Israel asked for! Deuteronomy 5:27Go thou near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us* all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it.* The entire FUNCTION of your church is to have a preacher who supposedly goes near to God and hears what He has to say and then shares it with the church – who dutifully write it down in their notebooks, and go home knowing they have fulfilled the works of the law for that week! But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help! Eating meat is about GOD teaching you, and correcting you, PERSONALLY! And for this to happen you don’t need a church! You don’t need a preacher, nor an apostle – you just need a heart willing to change and obey God! Which is why a disappointed God went on to say… Verses 28-29…they have well said all that they have spoken. [in demanding the OC; but…] O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! God wanted to speak to Israel directly, just as He did at first from Sinai. All Israel was supposed to be the temple of God, just as we are (Exodus 19:5-6, 1 Peter 2:5). So, there was no reason to go to church every week to hear God’s words from Moses! God’s words were supposed to be their constant meditation, everywhere, every day. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. But Israel “did not like to retain God in their knowledge”, so they demanded Moses instead. So rather than speak to them daily, whenever the need arose, God turned His back on them and spoke to them only through Moses. Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. And since they had to be together to hear Moses, He commanded them to gather into one place, to hear the letters of the law! But they could have been learning the spirit of those laws, if only they had trusted their father, and not their mother! *IS CHURCH REALLY* RESTFUL?** This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t “keep the Sabbath”. On the contrary, that was all God ever wanted. But what did He mean by it? The one and only stated purpose of the Sabbath was that you make it “a restful rest”. Now think about whether attending church as practiced today is in any way restful. Finding your best clothes, getting the kids dressed, bathed, spanked, and bathed and dressed again, getting in the car, driving to church – struggling to get there on time, only to set up chairs, sing, pray, keep the kids on their best behavior – only to turn around and go home… this is by far the most stressful day of the week for any family with kids. Even those who don’t have kids, because of the pressure to look perfect and show up on time, stay awake through the sermon on uncomfortable chairs, is anything but restful. Think about it – it’s hard to stay awake because you’re tired and NEED TO REST! (And because the sermon is boring, but mostly the other thing.) It may be fun, you may enjoy it, and you may not even be lying to yourself when you say that… but it is not restful in any sense. It is stressful, and tiring, and even if you sleep all afternoon, you’re poorly prepared for six more days of work just to do it all again. Most people would say I don’t keep the Sabbath because I don’t go to church; but I keep the Sabbath without going to church. It is you who go to church without keeping the Sabbath, for you fail to make it a “day of rest”. When you’ve had a hard week of work, and I say, “you should take a rest”, is your first thought “yes! I want to go to church!”? No, your first thought is to take a nap, veg out on the couch with a book, binge-watch Netflix, or just sit on the porch and stare out at the weeds you didn’t get cut in time. Or maybe hang out with good friends and chill. Going to church could be restful – but as I said, church as practiced is anything but. If churches cared more about substance and less about appearance, they wouldn’t have to have all their kids dressed in tight, uncomfortable suits; they wouldn’t have to dutifully sit there with a Bible in their laps for 2 boring, endless hours praying for a power outage. Isaiah 1:12-14 *When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, …the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is INIQUITY, even the solemn meeting.* Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. God calls their way of keeping the Sabbaths, in PARTICULAR the “calling of assemblies”, and the “solemn meeting” an “iniquity”! He HATED the way Israel was keeping the Sabbath and the feasts, and He demanded of them “who required you to do this??” Who commanded you to go to church this way, and make it such a soul-sucking experience? Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: I went to church for many years, and I never, never called it a delight. It was hours of boredom, of uncomfortable clothes and depressing music – “solemn meeting” indeed! The Sabbath should be FUN. Talking about the Bible should be INTERESTING! If church is not exciting, you’re doing it wrong. I don’t mean lots of hallelujahs and amens – I mean engagement and interaction. Church is not a time for a boring lecture – you can read Moses at home and should. And you’ll learn far more than you will following along with some pedantic minister from the pulpit! To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational. But no church on Earth practices that today. This is a daring idea. It’s scary, and it’s different – and it’s offensive for people who love church. But set your opinion aside, and ask yourself an objective question – who makes the seventh day a “restful rest” better, me or you? Be honest, now. NOT FORSAKING THE CHURCH When you’re first learning the truth, there is value in church, even if it’s poorly done. No one is ready for algebra their first day in kindergarten. The church is a mother, and that mother is supposed to feed her infants and protect them from danger… when they’re young. But then she is supposed to help them face a world without her protection, a world where they are independent adults who no longer need to suckle her teat. Churches teach you the truth and give you a comfortable environment to practice the basics of the law. But invariably, churches are insecure and need your absolute devotion – you can’t go to other churches, you can’t talk to people who aren’t of your flock – and some version of hell awaits those who leave the church! Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. As I said at the beginning, this doesn’t command you to go to church – and now you can see why. Rather, it commands that young Christian who has found flaws in his first mother not to slink away in the night, not to forsake those who helped him grow the first few years without first considering what’s wrong with his brethren and helping them do better! He owes this group of people the benefit of the understanding God has shown him – the Golden Rule requires it. If he sees something wrong with the teachings, he has a responsibility to provoke them to do good works instead of the evil works they’re doing now! And he has a responsibility to do this three times; after the first and second admonition, the heretic – whether member or minister, angel, or church – must be rejected (Titus 3:10-11, Galatians 1:8). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” doesn’t mean accept their sins and live with it for the sake of fellowship, like everyone thinks it does! It means if you’ve outgrown milk and are ready to be thought a man, ACT LIKE ONE and “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). If they help you find the door – and they will – then shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them in the day of judgment (Mark 6:11). It doesn’t mean stay there “because you HAVE to go to church somewhere”, because no such command exists in the Bible. It means be a man and help these people who helped you to see their sins, and if they don’t, know that Hebrews 10:26-27 awaits them now that you have corrected them, and turned their sins of ignorance into willful sins of rebellion. It’s easy to grow dependent on your mother, easy to become attached to your church. And God made sure the church is flawed precisely so that you will be faced with this choice, to see whether you love HIM or her more! Sadly, pretty much the whole world loves their mother more than their father. INVISIBLE CHURCHES Keeping the Sabbath is a test. It always was (Exodus 16:4). And the more people you have keeping it with you, the less of a test it is. “Keeping the Sabbath” – not working but resting instead – requires faith. It could cost you money, jobs, friends, and so on. But “going to church” requires no faith, it simply requires you to get in your car and show up. In fact, it makes “keeping the Sabbath” require less faith, making it less of a test! You are, in effect, crowd-sourcing Sabbath keeping. You get everyone to do it together, which means it’s easier for each of you to do as you share the burden, the fear, and the hardships of Sabbath keeping. It is this matter of faith that makes this such an offensive doctrine to churchgoers. Because they only know how to keep it with a group of like-minded people, and the idea of keeping it without a church is terrifying! It is frightening to be without the support of a mother, terrifying to be alone in the hands of God. Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Why? Because they don’t trust God? Because they can’t believe He’s good? No, of course not. It’s because they can’t see God! So, it’s harder to believe He’s there! But they CAN see the church, so it’s EASY to trust that it’s there, and that it cares about you! Hebrews 12:18-19 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words… Hebrews 12:22-23 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, Week after week, every Christian on Earth attends a mount that can be touched. A present, visible symbol of divinity that they can worship at, with physical “men of God” to look up to. A family to comfort you in times of need and friends to rejoice with you in times of prosperity. This requires no faith, only sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) But the true Christian church is invisible, and your comfort must come from an innumerable company of invisible angels, and we “go to church” with an invisible “general assembly and church of the firstborn”, most of whom are dead. It is the spirits of just men made perfect that welcome us as we keep the Sabbath, not because they are alive – but because we are one of their company, written in the same book as they are, worshipers of the same invisible God, who doesn’t trumpet words to us from a smoking, quaking mountain, but whom we believe in any way! Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. It requires faith to reject flawed churches that can be touched on every street corner, even when they have “some truth” and “good people”. It requires faith to stand alone and believe that God’s true church of the firstborn is with you no matter where, how, or with whom you “keep the Sabbath”. In short, it takes faith to properly keep the Sabbath, and truly find rest for your souls. BOTTOM LINE You ask why I don’t attend your church, or at least SOME church; it’s not because it teaches false doctrines, though it does. It’s not because it tolerates sin in its midst, although it does. It’s not because the teachers are boring and the people in it are dullards, though they are. It’s simply because your church, like all churches, is an Old Covenant church – and the people love to have it so. Which means there is simply nothing for me to do there – nothing to learn, no one to teach. Because I don’t drink milk anymore, and the people can’t eat meat unless their mother predigests it. And their mother hates me. She senses that I’m a threat to her control over her children, and I am. —————————————————————————- Reprinted with permission from: The Simple Answers https://www.thesimpleanswers.com —————————————————————————-

by Nathaniel Burson (Big Sandy, Texas)

If I tell someone to start keeping the Sabbath, their first thought is “but how can I do that, if there are no Sabbath-keeping churches nearby??” It has become thoroughly ingrained in the mind of every Christian that keeping the Sabbath/Sunday holy means going to church. They believe that is the beginning and the end of the intent of God’s commandment on the subject.

And yet… it isn’t. Because God never said that. In fact, He never once commanded you to go to church, not in the entire Bible. Think about that! So why did God never command anyone to go to church? More importantly, if it’s not important enough to Him to say something about it… why is it SO important to you, and everyone else? (Those of you who know your Bible will point to Hebrews 10:25, but that is a command not to stop going to church – not a command to go to church. You might think I’m splitting hairs, but there is actually a big difference in this case, as I’ll explain later.)

When I tell you to “keep the Sabbath”, you instantly think “right, go to church!” … but that isn’t what I said. The idea that you can do one without the other is inconceivable to everyone today. Yet it’s actually possible to do either one without the other – you can keep the Sabbath without going to church, and you can go to church without keeping the Sabbath – and nearly everyone does!

Let me explain how that’s possible, by starting, as always, with the first rule of Bible study “what exactly did God say?”

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it, and said “he that goeth not to church shall perish in hellfire”.

That’s what you probably wish it said. That’s what you probably believe it meant. But that’s not what it said.
After the word “hallowed it”, there is a period. In the law to keep the Sabbath not one word was said about assembly, congregating, gathering, or any other word that implies “going to church”. The COMPLETE letter of the law was that “thou (yes, you, and him, and her, and them) shalt not work”.

Exodus 31:13-16 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.Ye shall keep the sabbath; therefore, for it is holy unto you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Over and over again, God commands them, on pain of death, to “keep the Sabbath”. To you, that means go to church. But it doesn’t say that here, does it? The ONLY definition given in this passage of “keeping the Sabbath”, is to make it a “Sabbath of rest”.

Exodus 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Again, this odd phrase “Sabbath of rest”. In Hebrew, Sabbath means rest. The original Hebrew here is Shabbat Shabbaton, or “sabbathy sabbath”, or in modern English, a restful rest! Again, I must point out that it does not mention church, assembly, prayer, or any of the other ideas that are bound up with the Sabbath today.

The Sabbath is mentioned 92 times in the Old Testament. The majority of those are commands not to work on it, or to “keep it”. There is only one in the OT that mentions an assembly on the weekly Sabbath day. Think about that – only 1 out of 92 verses talk about the thing that the world, and the churches of God, think is the absolute most important thing in the universe. Isn’t that significant?

Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

This is the only time the word “convocation” (assembly) was used in connection with the weekly Sabbath. It’s a generic, passing comment that says nothing about what “assembly” meant. Did everyone come to the tabernacle? Or only the men? For how long? What did they do? All it says is “an holy assembly”, after underlining three more times that this was a Sabbath of REST.

None of this proves we shouldn’t go to church. Nor is it intended to do so, contrary to what you might think. But it demonstrates the relative importance that “church” has, in comparison with “keeping the Sabbath”. We’ll come back to this verse again later.

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

The word “church” is the Greek ekklesia, meaning “called out ones”. But we know from other scriptures that to be written in heaven, to be a part of the church of the firstborn, you have to be called, AND chosen, AND faithful!
All those who are called – even those truly called, not including tares and seat-warmers – are only at the FIRST STEP of salvation and are not the “saints” to compare yourself to! The reality is that most of those in any physical group of people called a church are not going to be in the first resurrection. (Acts 20:30-31, 2 Timothy 1:15 give some indication of this.)

3 John 1:9-10 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

John still called this “the church”, yet the evidence shows that Diotrephes is a false minister and casts the true brethren out of the church! Is this still a church of God? In name, yes! It is STILL a group of people who were once called! Thus, it is still a “true church”, since they were TRULY CALLED once – therefore they are a group of “called out ones”, an ekklesia – a church!

But we have been conditioned to think of a church as a group of people who have been called, chosen, and faithful – and no such organization exists on Earth, nor has ever existed! Not even Jesus’ own disciples were all faithful!

More importantly, that’s not what the Greek word meant! It doesn’t mean a group of faultless saints; it doesn’t even mean a group of people who are “trying” to obey God! It simply means a group of people whom God offered a chance at salvation – a chance some or all of them may or may not have already rejected!

Because of this inherent weakness in classifying any group of physical beings, God refused to make the church the absolute arbiter of truth on this Earth. Churches don’t save you; God saves you. And God doesn’t save your church, God saves you.

The aforementioned “church of the firstborn”, who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection, is the only body of people in the universe qualified to have the respect and admiration and obedience that you give to your own pale shadow of the true church of God.

THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH
A church, as in “the church at Corinth” or “the Living Church of God” means a physical group of possible saints, who might someday find salvation, who strive to overcome their carnal natures – mixed in with people who long ago decided they’d done enough and stopped growing… and those whom Satan deliberately put there to lead the rest of the church away (Matthew 13:24-30).

But that doesn’t mean such a flawed church has no function. It pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those, and only those, who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21). Churches are meant to be flawed, meant to teach heresy, again – so that those who are approved are made manifest (1 Corinthians 11:19).

Churches serve two functions simultaneously. First, they teach you truth; then they try to take it away again. And both of those functions are enormously helpful. First, the teaching; the church is a mother. Galatians 4:26 shows Jerusalem, as contrasted with Sinai, as mother of the New Covenant church. And in that role, she protects the infants, comforts them, feeds them on milk, and loves them.

These are all things a newborn Christian needs desperately. It’s HARD to leave behind Babylon with all her customs, and learn about the laws, and keep them. The church provides a group of people, a protective herd who makes it easier – sharing their stories, showing you how to do things, and most importantly – proving to you that you can indeed overcome these problems.

And so, the babe grows up on milk, as all babes do. And yet there is supposed to be a time when babies grow beyond that and are weaned from the breast and start chewing solid food. There is supposed to be a time when children can face strangers without hiding in their mother’s skirts.

Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN YOUR CHURCH should be qualified to be teachers and have long since outgrown milk! Yet how many are truly qualified to be teachers of the most basic doctrines, the “first principles of the oracles of God”?

Go to your church and ask ten people to prove the most basic doctrines to you and see if they are not still milkaholics! No one should say “I’m not a scholar”, because everyone is supposed to be “ready always to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15). And that answer shouldn’t be “well, I can’t prove it but here’s a booklet!”

Hebrews 5:13-14 For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

It’s FINE to only digest milk when you’re a baby! But at some point, when you see a child of seven suckling his mother’s teat, you start thinking the child is retarded. In the literal sense – he is “less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age”, and also in the insulting sense “your church is just a bunch of retards”, which is essentially what Paul said. And what I say.

BREAKING THE MILK ADDICTION
But let’s ask the obvious question – who provides them with milk? Their mother, obviously – the church. Who provides them meat? Just as obviously, the Father – God Himself. Even today, cooking slabs of meat is a man’s domain.

It is the mother who feeds them with comfortable rituals, with friendship and snuggling and support. But it is the father who kills the beasts and corrects their carnal nature. It is the father who gives them answers to hard questions their mother doesn’t know the answer to and dares not ask.

So strong meat comes from the father. Therefore, it is the mother’s job – the church’s job – to raise them up to such an age that they are capable of digesting meat and then let the father handle their education from there!

It’s one thing for a mother to help her young children cut up their meat for a few years, but eventually they’re supposed to be able to cut it and chew it themselves, processing and digesting the beast their father killed to give them. But how would YOU feel about a mother who does this for her 30-year-old?

But most mothers don’t want their children to grow up and leave them, because they are desperate for the validation their children give them. So, they keep them dependent, shelter them from reality in every way they can, so they will never be able to leave the nest. They do this in the name of love, of protection, of wanting what’s best for them.

But what’s best for them is to grow up to be men who answer to God and no one else. Every church in history has taught her sons to fear her husband, and to trust only her. They are jealous of their father’s role and want their children to learn only such meat as the mother has chewed, swallowed, vomited up again and fed them. Yes, I meant the metaphor to be gross because this is what churches do with God’s truth.

You need to learn directly from God; God will teach you the things you need to know, at the speed you can handle it – which is much faster than your church thinks. She is inevitably frightened by this and will tell you to slow down, trust them, believe only things the ministry has proven to be true. But this denies the fact that God teaches everyone in the congregation individually – and worse, seeks to prevent it!

God does not reveal things first to the apostle, then to the evangelist, then to the preacher, then to the deacon, then to the man, then to the woman. God reveals things to the hearts of people who have ears to hear, and respects no one’s office.

Because frankly, people screw things up. God Himself called it the “foolishness of preaching”. God said when you lift your tool upon the stones of His altar, you defile it – however good your intentions. This is why He feeds meat to His children in person, and not through their mother’s mammary glands – and yes, I just called your minister a boob.

God’s correction can be stern as only a father’s can be sometimes it hurts, but it’s for your good (Hebrews 12:5-11). Because every time your father corrects you, he kills a little of your selfish beast. He offers up a sacrifice of red meat for a sweet savor, and your soul is fed thereby – making you more of a man.

THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH
Only once in the Bible is there a command to assemble on the weekly Sabbath day, in Leviticus 23:3. But look at how God qualified that…

Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which YE shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

These are God’s feasts… which MOSES commanded Israel to gather together for! It was not God who commanded an assembly on the Sabbath, it was Moses who proclaimed it to be a holy convocation! Do you realize what that means?? It means that these were things MOSES commanded Israel to gather for… which makes them a part of MOSES’ covenant!

The feasts themselves are God’s, they are binding, and they must be “kept” – just like the Sabbath must be “kept”. But the idea of going to church on these days is a law of Moses! That’s why it is only mentioned once in the Bible, and why “holy convocation” is not a part of the fourth commandment or any other spiritual law – because this was a law for the Old Covenant!

Think about it. Keeping the Sabbath requires that you rest – that’s all God ever said. But going to church requires that you physically go somewhere and try your best to stay awake. Thus, going to church is, by definition, a work of the flesh, a physical work of the law!

Which is why the Jews had synagogues in every city all over the world! Because it was a part of their covenant! Choke that down, digest that meat – going to church is an Old Covenant institution! But why? Why would church be commanded only in the Old Covenant, and not in the New Covenant? Because it’s what Israel asked for!

Deuteronomy 5:27Go thou near and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it.

The entire FUNCTION of your church is to have a preacher who supposedly goes near to God and hears what He has to say and then shares it with the church – who dutifully write it down in their notebooks, and go home knowing they have fulfilled the works of the law for that week!

But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help!

Eating meat is about GOD teaching you, and correcting you, PERSONALLY! And for this to happen you don’t need a church! You don’t need a preacher, nor an apostle – you just need a heart willing to change and obey God! Which is why a disappointed God went on to say…

Verses 28-29…they have well said all that they have spoken. [in demanding the OC; but…] O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!

God wanted to speak to Israel directly, just as He did at first from Sinai. All Israel was supposed to be the temple of God, just as we are (Exodus 19:5-6, 1 Peter 2:5). So, there was no reason to go to church every week to hear God’s words from Moses! God’s words were supposed to be their constant meditation, everywhere, every day.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

But Israel “did not like to retain God in their knowledge”, so they demanded Moses instead. So rather than speak to them daily, whenever the need arose, God turned His back on them and spoke to them only through Moses.

Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

And since they had to be together to hear Moses, He commanded them to gather into one place, to hear the letters of the law! But they could have been learning the spirit of those laws, if only they had trusted their father, and not their mother!

IS CHURCH REALLY RESTFUL?
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t “keep the Sabbath”. On the contrary, that was all God ever wanted. But what did He mean by it? The one and only stated purpose of the Sabbath was that you make it “a restful rest”. Now think about whether attending church as practiced today is in any way restful.

Finding your best clothes, getting the kids dressed, bathed, spanked, and bathed and dressed again, getting in the car, driving to church – struggling to get there on time, only to set up chairs, sing, pray, keep the kids on their best behavior – only to turn around and go home… this is by far the most stressful day of the week for any family with kids.

Even those who don’t have kids, because of the pressure to look perfect and show up on time, stay awake through the sermon on uncomfortable chairs, is anything but restful. Think about it – it’s hard to stay awake because you’re tired and NEED TO REST! (And because the sermon is boring, but mostly the other thing.)

It may be fun, you may enjoy it, and you may not even be lying to yourself when you say that… but it is not restful in any sense. It is stressful, and tiring, and even if you sleep all afternoon, you’re poorly prepared for six more days of work just to do it all again.

Most people would say I don’t keep the Sabbath because I don’t go to church; but I keep the Sabbath without going to church. It is you who go to church without keeping the Sabbath, for you fail to make it a “day of rest”.

When you’ve had a hard week of work, and I say, “you should take a rest”, is your first thought “yes! I want to go to church!”? No, your first thought is to take a nap, veg out on the couch with a book, binge-watch Netflix, or just sit on the porch and stare out at the weeds you didn’t get cut in time. Or maybe hang out with good friends and chill.

Going to church could be restful – but as I said, church as practiced is anything but. If churches cared more about substance and less about appearance, they wouldn’t have to have all their kids dressed in tight, uncomfortable suits; they wouldn’t have to dutifully sit there with a Bible in their laps for 2 boring, endless hours praying for a power outage.

Isaiah 1:12-14 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, …the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is INIQUITY, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

God calls their way of keeping the Sabbaths, in PARTICULAR the “calling of assemblies”, and the “solemn meeting” an “iniquity”! He HATED the way Israel was keeping the Sabbath and the feasts, and He demanded of them “who required you to do this??” Who commanded you to go to church this way, and make it such a soul-sucking experience?

Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

I went to church for many years, and I never, never called it a delight. It was hours of boredom, of uncomfortable clothes and depressing music – “solemn meeting” indeed! The Sabbath should be FUN. Talking about the Bible should be INTERESTING! If church is not exciting, you’re doing it wrong.

I don’t mean lots of hallelujahs and amens – I mean engagement and interaction. Church is not a time for a boring lecture – you can read Moses at home and should. And you’ll learn far more than you will following along with some pedantic minister from the pulpit!

To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational. But no church on Earth practices that today.

This is a daring idea. It’s scary, and it’s different – and it’s offensive for people who love church. But set your opinion aside, and ask yourself an objective question – who makes the seventh day a “restful rest” better, me or you? Be honest, now.

NOT FORSAKING THE CHURCH
When you’re first learning the truth, there is value in church, even if it’s poorly done. No one is ready for algebra their first day in kindergarten. The church is a mother, and that mother is supposed to feed her infants and protect them from danger… when they’re young. But then she is supposed to help them face a world without her protection, a world where they are independent adults who no longer need to suckle her teat.

Churches teach you the truth and give you a comfortable environment to practice the basics of the law. But invariably, churches are insecure and need your absolute devotion – you can’t go to other churches, you can’t talk to people who aren’t of your flock – and some version of hell awaits those who leave the church!

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

As I said at the beginning, this doesn’t command you to go to church – and now you can see why. Rather, it commands that young Christian who has found flaws in his first mother not to slink away in the night, not to forsake those who helped him grow the first few years without first considering what’s wrong with his brethren and helping them do better!

He owes this group of people the benefit of the understanding God has shown him – the Golden Rule requires it. If he sees something wrong with the teachings, he has a responsibility to provoke them to do good works instead of the evil works they’re doing now!

And he has a responsibility to do this three times; after the first and second admonition, the heretic – whether member or minister, angel, or church – must be rejected (Titus 3:10-11, Galatians 1:8). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” doesn’t mean accept their sins and live with it for the sake of fellowship, like everyone thinks it does!

It means if you’ve outgrown milk and are ready to be thought a man, ACT LIKE ONE and “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). If they help you find the door – and they will – then shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them in the day of judgment (Mark 6:11).

It doesn’t mean stay there “because you HAVE to go to church somewhere”, because no such command exists in the Bible. It means be a man and help these people who helped you to see their sins, and if they don’t, know that Hebrews 10:26-27 awaits them now that you have corrected them, and turned their sins of ignorance into willful sins of rebellion.

It’s easy to grow dependent on your mother, easy to become attached to your church. And God made sure the church is flawed precisely so that you will be faced with this choice, to see whether you love HIM or her more! Sadly, pretty much the whole world loves their mother more than their father.

INVISIBLE CHURCHES
Keeping the Sabbath is a test. It always was (Exodus 16:4). And the more people you have keeping it with you, the less of a test it is. “Keeping the Sabbath” – not working but resting instead – requires faith. It could cost you money, jobs, friends, and so on.

But “going to church” requires no faith, it simply requires you to get in your car and show up. In fact, it makes “keeping the Sabbath” require less faith, making it less of a test! You are, in effect, crowd-sourcing Sabbath keeping. You get everyone to do it together, which means it’s easier for each of you to do as you share the burden, the fear, and the hardships of Sabbath keeping.

It is this matter of faith that makes this such an offensive doctrine to churchgoers. Because they only know how to keep it with a group of like-minded people, and the idea of keeping it without a church is terrifying! It is frightening to be without the support of a mother, terrifying to be alone in the hands of God.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Why? Because they don’t trust God? Because they can’t believe He’s good? No, of course not. It’s because they can’t see God! So, it’s harder to believe He’s there! But they CAN see the church, so it’s EASY to trust that it’s there, and that it cares about you!

Hebrews 12:18-19 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words…

Hebrews 12:22-23 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Week after week, every Christian on Earth attends a mount that can be touched. A present, visible symbol of divinity that they can worship at, with physical “men of God” to look up to. A family to comfort you in times of need and friends to rejoice with you in times of prosperity. This requires no faith, only sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) But the true Christian church is invisible, and your comfort must come from an innumerable company of invisible angels, and we “go to church” with an invisible “general assembly and church of the firstborn”, most of whom are dead.

It is the spirits of just men made perfect that welcome us as we keep the Sabbath, not because they are alive – but because we are one of their company, written in the same book as they are, worshipers of the same invisible God, who doesn’t trumpet words to us from a smoking, quaking mountain, but whom we believe in any way!

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

It requires faith to reject flawed churches that can be touched on every street corner, even when they have “some truth” and “good people”. It requires faith to stand alone and believe that God’s true church of the firstborn is with you no matter where, how, or with whom you “keep the Sabbath”. In short, it takes faith to properly keep the Sabbath, and truly find rest for your souls.

BOTTOM LINE
You ask why I don’t attend your church, or at least SOME church; it’s not because it teaches false doctrines, though it does. It’s not because it tolerates sin in its midst, although it does. It’s not because the teachers are boring and the people in it are dullards, though they are.

It’s simply because your church, like all churches, is an Old Covenant church – and the people love to have it so. Which means there is simply nothing for me to do there – nothing to learn, no one to teach. Because I don’t drink milk anymore, and the people can’t eat meat unless their mother predigests it. And their mother hates me. She senses that I’m a threat to her control over her children, and I am.

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Reprinted with permission from: The Simple Answers
https://www.thesimpleanswers.com
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Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
I would have been quite amused with this article if it hadn’t been so disgustingly off the mark. What I learned is that ministers, which would include, Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, Bishops, local ministers (teachers), and elders are all boobs. That the brethren are retarded sinners. Those women, and that would of necessity include your wife, (I assume she is a woman), are too stupid to teach their children and therefore not qualified to teach any one in God’s Church. That men are superior to the “weaker vessel” and all women can do is breast feed children until they are seven, so they never leave the nest. That you can binge watch Net-flix on the Holy Sabbath of God. That all I need is God and the Bible to teach and instruct me in the way that I should go and of course the author of this article would not be necessary as well. Because, by his own argument I need no one to teach me, therefore I have no need to read and or study any of his material, including his website with all the trimmings such as, correspondence course, articles, and other bunk. And of course, no church goers are going to be in the first resurrection because the judge (with a little j) has judged us church goers as sinful and not worthy of God’s Kingdom, which would include the apostle Paul for he taught many sabbaths in the synagogues, so he too was a boob along with Peter, Timothy, and others. So, for all you ministers out there, you all just have been declared nothing but boobs. That should make you all feel better about yourselves now. In conclusion, don’t go to “church” else wise you defile the sabbath rest by hobnobbing with sinners and there by defiling yourself also. There, I have learned a lot and am so pleased that I can rest peacefully every Sabbath now and “binge-watch”, once and for all time. What a relief. I feel like Pepto-Bismol is in order.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

I would have been quite amused with this article if it hadn’t been so disgustingly off the mark.

What I learned is that ministers, which would include, Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, Bishops, local ministers (teachers), and elders are all boobs. That the brethren are retarded sinners. Those women, and that would of necessity include your wife, (I assume she is a woman), are too stupid to teach their children and therefore not qualified to teach any one in God’s Church. That men are superior to the “weaker vessel” and all women can do is breast feed children until they are seven, so they never leave the nest. That you can binge watch Net-flix on the Holy Sabbath of God. That all I need is God and the Bible to teach and instruct me in the way that I should go and of course the author of this article would not be necessary as well. Because, by his own argument I need no one to teach me, therefore I have no need to read and or study any of his material, including his website with all the trimmings such as, correspondence course, articles, and other bunk. And of course, no church goers are going to be in the first resurrection because the judge (with a little j) has judged us church goers as sinful and not worthy of God’s Kingdom, which would include the apostle Paul for he taught many sabbaths in the synagogues, so he too was a boob along with Peter, Timothy, and others. So, for all you ministers out there, you all just have been declared nothing but boobs. That should make you all feel better about yourselves now.

In conclusion, don’t go to “church” else wise you defile the sabbath rest by hobnobbing with sinners and there by defiling yourself also. There, I have learned a lot and am so pleased that I can rest peacefully every Sabbath now and “binge-watch”, once and for all time. What a relief. I feel like Pepto-Bismol is in order.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
Oh Nathaniel, where do I begin? First of all, I see no meat whatsoever in this article. I see instead, first a child who hated going to Sabbath Services and prayed for a power outage while he was there. This child in body grew into what he thinks is a man by going to various Sabbath Services and arguing with the people there until he gets thrown out on his keester. He now decides he is right with God because they all did not want to listen to his version of scripture, so he starts his own web site and teaches the gentiles this garbage. Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. Where does it say in those three verses that Moses is the one that commanded the “holy convocations”? It says that the LORD told Moses what to speak and Moses spoke it. Moses never had a law or a covenant and when you start teaching that Moses somehow had a law or a covenant separate from God you are teaching a false doctrine which is neither milk nor meat. All you do with this article is steer people away from God and hand them over to Satan. Those Sabbaths complete with the “holy convocations” are commanded by God, not by Moses. So apparently though you believe that you only need God and your Bible you aren’t learning much. Since you believe that all you need is God and your Bible why would anyone use your website or need you to guide them in any way. Sort of sounds hypocritical. People can only learn things from Nathaniel Burson but not from other sabbath keeping churches or their ministers. Is that because only Nathaniel knows the truth and no one else does so therefore you cannot learn anything from anyone. I think you missed learning the milk of scriptures when you went to sabbath services and prayed for a power outage. Whether you were sitting on the floor as many children did or whether you got a chair to sit in, apparently you were only warming that chair because you didn’t seem to learn a lot about what God wants from you. You called ministers “boobs” which is denigrating to both women and ministers. The people yet attending sabbath services are dullards. Nathaniel says: “But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help!” Herein lies your problem. When you have no one to bounce scripture off of you become an island unto yourself and just make up your own stuff and you have done exactly that. The reason you have a “holy convocation” with other dullards is so you can bounce things off of them. Other people keep us grounded and on the right track because all of us dullards are working toward the same goal which is at this time to be considered worthy by God to be in that first resurrection and be with God and Christ forever. What exactly is your goal, Nathaniel? Most all of the articles I have read that you have written are milk that do not go into any great detail. At least your older articles were more respectful of people. These new ones you are writing are mostly unbiblical and disgusting. I really think you could describe the church without remarks that denigrate not just women, but ministers and people who attend sabbath services. Paul and Christ both taught in the synagogue (church) are they boobs too? Should we have gone to hear them and prayed for a power outage? I could say so much more about what is wrong with this article but what I would say about it would be twice as long as what you wrote in the first place. It is more like, what isn’t wrong with this article, and I couldn’t find much of anything that wasn’t wrong with it. Nathaniel, take my advice, if you are able to meet with other sabbath keepers on Saturday, do it at least a couple of times a month. Most sabbath groups do not have the strict dress codes that Worldwide Church of God had. So, wear your regular semi dress clothes and go there with a different attitude. Go there thinking that with each experience you have you can learn something good from it. I learn new stuff from other people just about every single day because I want to learn. Yes, some stuff is not good or right, but the stuff that is good and right is so valuable. In some areas people have no other sabbath keepers to meet with, so if you are blessed to have groups near you by all means go but don’t go there with the attitude that you know everything, and they know nothing.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

Oh Nathaniel, where do I begin?

First of all, I see no meat whatsoever in this article. I see instead, first a child who hated going to Sabbath Services and prayed for a power outage while he was there. This child in body grew into what he thinks is a man by going to various Sabbath Services and arguing with the people there until he gets thrown out on his keester. He now decides he is right with God because they all did not want to listen to his version of scripture, so he starts his own web site and teaches the gentiles this garbage.

Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Where does it say in those three verses that Moses is the one that commanded the “holy convocations”? It says that the LORD told Moses what to speak and Moses spoke it. Moses never had a law or a covenant and when you start teaching that Moses somehow had a law or a covenant separate from God you are teaching a false doctrine which is neither milk nor meat. All you do with this article is steer people away from God and hand them over to Satan.

Those Sabbaths complete with the “holy convocations” are commanded by God, not by Moses. So apparently though you believe that you only need God and your Bible you aren’t learning much. Since you believe that all you need is God and your Bible why would anyone use your website or need you to guide them in any way. Sort of sounds hypocritical. People can only learn things from Nathaniel Burson but not from other sabbath keeping churches or their ministers. Is that because only Nathaniel knows the truth and no one else does so therefore you cannot learn anything from anyone.

I think you missed learning the milk of scriptures when you went to sabbath services and prayed for a power outage. Whether you were sitting on the floor as many children did or whether you got a chair to sit in, apparently you were only warming that chair because you didn’t seem to learn a lot about what God wants from you.

You called ministers “boobs” which is denigrating to both women and ministers. The people yet attending sabbath services are dullards.

Nathaniel says: “But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help!”

Herein lies your problem. When you have no one to bounce scripture off of you become an island unto yourself and just make up your own stuff and you have done exactly that. The reason you have a “holy convocation” with other dullards is so you can bounce things off of them. Other people keep us grounded and on the right track because all of us dullards are working toward the same goal which is at this time to be considered worthy by God to be in that first resurrection and be with God and Christ forever.

What exactly is your goal, Nathaniel? Most all of the articles I have read that you have written are milk that do not go into any great detail. At least your older articles were more respectful of people. These new ones you are writing are mostly unbiblical and disgusting. I really think you could describe the church without remarks that denigrate not just women, but ministers and people who attend sabbath services. Paul and Christ both taught in the synagogue (church) are they boobs too? Should we have gone to hear them and prayed for a power outage?

I could say so much more about what is wrong with this article but what I would say about it would be twice as long as what you wrote in the first place. It is more like, what isn’t wrong with this article, and I couldn’t find much of anything that wasn’t wrong with it.

Nathaniel, take my advice, if you are able to meet with other sabbath keepers on Saturday, do it at least a couple of times a month. Most sabbath groups do not have the strict dress codes that Worldwide Church of God had. So, wear your regular semi dress clothes and go there with a different attitude. Go there thinking that with each experience you have you can learn something good from it.

I learn new stuff from other people just about every single day because I want to learn. Yes, some stuff is not good or right, but the stuff that is good and right is so valuable. In some areas people have no other sabbath keepers to meet with, so if you are blessed to have groups near you by all means go but don’t go there with the attitude that you know everything, and they know nothing.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Ray Daly (Lincoln, North Dakota)
Just finished the “long, long, long” article by Nathaniel Burson of Big Sandy, Texas. He basically was saying what I brought up to you, and you could not see it. I appreciate you using the article, but the number of pages to explain the topic was way too much. As mentioned, you did not see the “assembling” of believers as I mentioned, but now, with the much LONGER explanations, have you perhaps considered it differently? After all, salvation is a personal effort, and not a “group effort”. (Editor’s Note: Only the parts of this email pertaining to the above-mentioned article are included here. The rest of the email was removed. Laura Lee)

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Ray Daly (Lincoln, North Dakota)

Just finished the “long, long, long” article by Nathaniel Burson of Big Sandy, Texas.

He basically was saying what I brought up to you, and you could not see it. I appreciate you using the article, but the number of pages to explain the topic was way too much.

As mentioned, you did not see the “assembling” of believers as I mentioned, but now, with the much LONGER explanations, have you perhaps considered it differently? After all, salvation is a personal effort, and not a “group effort”.

(Editor’s Note: Only the parts of this email pertaining to the above-mentioned article are included here. The rest of the email was removed. Laura Lee)

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
“Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” is an article that neither Darwin nor I agree with at all. It is one of the most disrespectful articles either of us have ever read and the content contained within it is a false doctrine. Moses did not have his own law or his own covenant with God’s people. Moses did not invent Feast Days or Holy Convocations. God is the one who invented Feast Days and Holy Convocations and had it written into His (God’s) Law, for Moses does not have a Law separate from God’s law. Who is talking in this set of scripture? Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Lev 23:2 (The Lord said) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. It is God telling Moses to tell the children of Israel to keep God’s Feast Days and to have holy convocations. God is the author of the Holy Days and of the Holy Convocations (Meetings). So “No” we did not change our mind in regard to there being Holy Convocations (Meetings) on the Sabbath. What you and Nathaniel Burson are spreading throughout God’s people is a false doctrine and we sincerely hope no one falls for this. If you had been following along, we told everyone we would refrain from attaching an “Iron Sharpening Iron” to any article until two weeks after said article is printed. However, we did put a special heading on those articles. “What is Right and Wrong with this Article and Why?” It was meant to encourage other people to respond with an “Iron Sharpening Iron”. Starting with Issue #84 and forward, we will mark these articles differently.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

“Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” is an article that neither Darwin nor I agree with at all. It is one of the most disrespectful articles either of us have ever read and the content contained within it is a false doctrine. Moses did not have his own law or his own covenant with God’s people. Moses did not invent Feast Days or Holy Convocations. God is the one who invented Feast Days and Holy Convocations and had it written into His (God’s) Law, for Moses does not have a Law separate from God’s law.

Who is talking in this set of scripture?
Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Lev 23:2 (The Lord said) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

It is God telling Moses to tell the children of Israel to keep God’s Feast Days and to have holy convocations. God is the author of the Holy Days and of the Holy Convocations (Meetings).

So “No” we did not change our mind in regard to there being Holy Convocations (Meetings) on the Sabbath. What you and Nathaniel Burson are spreading throughout God’s people is a false doctrine and we sincerely hope no one falls for this.

If you had been following along, we told everyone we would refrain from attaching an “Iron Sharpening Iron” to any article until two weeks after said article is printed. However, we did put a special heading on those articles. “What is Right and Wrong with this Article and Why?” It was meant to encourage other people to respond with an “Iron Sharpening Iron”. Starting with Issue #84 and forward, we will mark these articles differently.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Sherry Blackledge (Sonora, California)
Thank you so much for your writing on the Sabbath. I’m sorry that some didn’t understand the point you were making. The Sabbath is so much more than going to church. The 4th Commandment says: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8.) How many times did you go to church and not one mention of God, or Christ or anything spiritual was mentioned after the service? Most of the conversations involved what we did during the week or projects we were hoping to accomplish or the most important one, where should we go for lunch? Don’t misunderstand, I love talking to my brethren and catching up, but is that what the Sabbath is about? On the Sabbath we’re not to talk of idle things. Besides a day of rest, aren’t we to focus on our Creator and our Savior? You said too many people rely on the church for growth and understanding. So true! How can we grow if we only receive milk. Most people don’t want to discuss anything that is deep. Most people don’t want to hear anything that is different from what they have been taught from booklets. Are we so afraid to listen to something different because it might make sense? Isn’t that why God gives us His Holy Spirit, so that we can discern truth from error? Are we not strong enough yet? Yes, the church is the mother. She is to help us with learning the basics. But we are to go on from there to the meat. God wants a personal relationship with each of us! He will work with each of us according to His good will. The question is will we answer? Or do we need permission first from the mother? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be so harsh. But what will happen if at some point we as brethren are not allowed to meet together? Will we lose faith? Will we fall away? It is only our strength in Christ that will get us through. How are we strengthened in Him? We keep the commandments and build a relationship with Him. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. A very important commandment that many don’t truly appreciate. I believe there is a right way to meet together on the Sabbath. But it is hard to find those who want to keep it in a way that honors our Father. Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words You said : To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational. I agree with you! It can also be a time to discuss with others what our Father has shown us. The Holy Spirit moves in those who are obeying and listening. Keeping the Sabbath Holy isn’t the same as going to church. Thank you, Nathaniel, for this writing.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Sherry Blackledge (Sonora, California)

Thank you so much for your writing on the Sabbath. I’m sorry that some didn’t understand the point you were making. The Sabbath is so much more than going to church. The 4th Commandment says: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8.) How many times did you go to church and not one mention of God, or Christ or anything spiritual was mentioned after the service? Most of the conversations involved what we did during the week or projects we were hoping to accomplish or the most important one, where should we go for lunch?

Don’t misunderstand, I love talking to my brethren and catching up, but is that what the Sabbath is about? On the Sabbath we’re not to talk of idle things. Besides a day of rest, aren’t we to focus on our Creator and our Savior?

You said too many people rely on the church for growth and understanding. So true! How can we grow if we only receive milk. Most people don’t want to discuss anything that is deep. Most people don’t want to hear anything that is different from what they have been taught from booklets. Are we so afraid to listen to something different because it might make sense? Isn’t that why God gives us His Holy Spirit, so that we can discern truth from error? Are we not strong enough yet?

Yes, the church is the mother. She is to help us with learning the basics. But we are to go on from there to the meat. God wants a personal relationship with each of us! He will work with each of us according to His good will. The question is will we answer? Or do we need permission first from the mother? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be so harsh. But what will happen if at some point we as brethren are not allowed to meet together? Will we lose faith? Will we fall away? It is only our strength in Christ that will get us through. How are we strengthened in Him? We keep the commandments and build a relationship with Him. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. A very important commandment that many don’t truly appreciate.

I believe there is a right way to meet together on the Sabbath. But it is hard to find those who want to keep it in a way that honors our Father.

Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words

You said :

To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational.

I agree with you! It can also be a time to discuss with others what our Father has shown us. The Holy Spirit moves in those who are obeying and listening. Keeping the Sabbath Holy isn’t the same as going to church.

Thank you, Nathaniel, for this writing.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
Our advice to anyone reading Nathaniel Burson’s articles is to be careful as some of the things he says to encourage people to break the law of God are very subtle. Through the years we have seen some of these subtleties but have let them pass not feeling they were a big deal in light of the overall message of some of his articles. Some of his older articles were much better than what he is teaching in his newer articles. Nathaniel does have a background in the Churches of God and is probably second generation. We generally do not put out such warnings in regard to all articles that a person has written but we feel that in light of, especially his article called “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” and the response we received in regard to it, we feel a warning at this time is appropriate. We here, did not misunderstand Nathaniel Burson’s article titled “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”, we understood it all too well. For those who are praising this article, we would ask you to take another look, because deceptions such as are promoted in this article are what will keep some of you from making that first resurrection. Remember it is very easy to fall prey to things which have just enough truth mixed in with the lie or deception. This is such an article. What follows is what we have to say in regard to this article and the one teaching it. We will clearly mark when we are quoting from Nathaniels article by highlighting it in yellow. If I tell someone to start keeping the Sabbath, their first thought is “but how can I do that, if there are no Sabbath-keeping churches nearby??” It has become thoroughly ingrained in the mind of every Christian that keeping the Sabbath/Sunday holy means going to church. They believe that is the beginning and the end of the intent of God’s commandment on the subject. Here he seems to be lumping Sunday worship with the Sabbath and insinuating that Sunday worship is the same as Saturday Sabbath worship. And yet… it isn’t. Because God never said that. In fact, He never once commanded you to go to church, not in the entire Bible. Think about that! So why did God never command anyone to go to church? More importantly, if it’s not important enough to Him to say something about it… why is it SO important to you, and everyone else?… Here he is teaching that you cannot find a command any place in the entire Bible to meet for worship on the Sabbath. This is totally untrue. See Lev. 23:1-3. Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. This is the only time the word “convocation” (assembly) was used in connection with the weekly Sabbath. It’s a generic, passing comment that says nothing about what “assembly” meant. Did everyone come to the tabernacle? Or only the men? For how long? What did they do? All it says is “an holy assembly”, after underlining three more times that this was a Sabbath of REST. He claims that “an holy convocation” is a generic, passing comment. Wake up people, the command to assemble on the Sabbath day is a command from God and it is written in the Law of God. It is to be kept. It is not a generic, passing comment as Nathaniel claims. The aforementioned “church of the firstborn”, who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection, is the only body of people in the universe qualified to have the respect and admiration and obedience that you give to your own pale shadow of the true church of God. Here Nathaniel is totally putting down The Church of God and at the same time telling us the only true church consists of those “who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection”. There is no one sleeping in heaven awaiting the resurrection. All of God’s Saints are either dead in the ground on earth awaiting the resurrection or they are alive keeping God’s commandments as best they know how and more than likely associated with other Sabbath Keepers whether of their own family by birth or through The Church of God. THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH Only once in the Bible is there a command to assemble on the weekly Sabbath day, in Leviticus 23:3. But look at how God qualified that… Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which YE shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. These are God’s feasts… which MOSES commanded Israel to gather together for! It was not God who commanded an assembly on the Sabbath, it was Moses who proclaimed it to be a holy convocation! Do you realize what that means?? It means that these were things MOSES commanded Israel to gather for… which makes them a part of MOSES’ covenant! *The feasts themselves are God’s, they are binding, and they must be “kept” – just like the Sabbath must be “kept”. But the idea of going to church* on these days is a law of Moses!** That’s why it is only mentioned once in the Bible, and why “holy convocation” is not a part of the fourth commandment or any other spiritual law – because this was a law for the Old Covenant! So, let me get this straight, God only has ownership of the Feast Days but the “Holy Convocations” are only a part of Moses “Old Covenant” Law? Nathaniel is teaching you to break the Law of God by telling you that the commanded assemblies are Moses Law and not God’s Law. It is God telling Moses what to say. Moses has no law and Moses has no covenant. The Law is God’s Law, and the “Old Covenant” is God’s covenant. Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. And since they had to be together to hear Moses, He commanded them to gather into one place, to hear the letters of the law! But they could have been learning the spirit of those laws, if only they had trusted their father, and not their mother! For those who understand this point, you cannot keep the spirit of the law without keeping the letter of the law. So here again Nathaniel is teaching you that you only need to keep the spirit of the law. He is claiming that Moses Law was the letter of the Law and God’s Law is the Spirit of the Law and Moses Law is obsolete. Again, Moses does not have a law anymore than Donner own’s Donner’s pass. Moses delivered and wrote down the law for God, but it was God’s Law. The only difference between God’s Old Covenant and God’s New Covenant is that they were unable to keep the Old Covenant for very long on their own. In the New Covenant the Letter of the Law is still to be kept but an addition to that was added in that you now must also keep the “Spirit of the Law”. For example, the letter of the law meant that if you physically murdered someone you broke the Law of God. With the New Covenant you now commit murder by just thinking to murder someone. The law has now become more difficult to keep except for one thing. Now we have God’s Holy Spirit to help us keep the Law of God. Under the Old Covenant very few people were ever given God’s Holy Spirit, but now all who are called and chosen have God’s Holy Spirit to help them keep both the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law. Just to be clear, if you physically murder someone, you have broken both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, and this applies to any sin that you commit. To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational. But no church on Earth practices that today. When Nathaniel makes the statement “no church on Earth practices that today”, I believe he is talking nonsense. In 1995 when Worldwide broke into pieces many of those who stopped keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days were happy to be leaving just for many of the reasons Nathaniel lists in this article. Those of us who chose to continue to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days were disappointed to say the least, because who would we now keep these days with? Who would we meet with and who would teach us. Most of us did not find them to be a burden and we were happy to meet with others and discuss the sermon or other scripture. Most of us loved the Sabbath and the Brethren and we hung out with each other a lot. I remember getting some sort of letter from Worldwide saying they were taking my name from their roles and when United formed, both Darwin and I joined them and by 2000 we were disfellowshipped from there and although we both attended with Living for a while, they at one point told us we would have to call the Minister in Minnesota if we ever wanted to attend again. Both United and Living here in North Dakota locked their doors so you could not attend if you were even one minute late. And no these are not or should not be the things that happen in assembling for Sabbath Services. So, people who had to live through these sorts of practices were being tested and could have used them as excuses to leave the Sabbath Assemblies and Holy Days all together. We did not, we advertised in the local newspaper for people to attend Bible Studies and later Sabbath Assemblies at our house. Though we didn’t get much response for that, we started the newsletter in 2001 and we got a great response to that, and it helped many of the scattered brethren all over the world. We sought people to assemble with whether through bible study, home Sabbath Assemblies or through the newsletter. Why would we do that? Not just because it is a command but because you need those relationships in order to grow. I don’t care if you always agreed or not, but at least we had others to bounce our crazy ideas off of and to in the end hopefully all end up coming to the same conclusions as the Law of God is concerned. In the end we all have to be one in purpose and one with the law of God. We all need not just God but other brethren to get us there. So, Sabbath Assemblies are commanded for a reason. Attend when and if you are able to. There are still phone hookups and streaming out there even today if you have no one else to attend with. The main thing is to keep in touch with other Sabbath Keeping people. Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. As I said at the beginning, this doesn’t command you to go to church – and now you can see why. Rather, it commands that young Christian who has found flaws in his first mother not to slink away in the night, not to forsake those who helped him grow the first few years without first considering what’s wrong with his brethren and helping them do better! He owes this group of people the benefit of the understanding God has shown him – the Golden Rule requires it. If he sees something wrong with the teachings, he has a responsibility to provoke them to do good works instead of the evil works they’re doing now! And he has a responsibility to do this three times; after the first and second admonition, the heretic – whether member or minister, angel, or church – must be rejected (Titus 3:10-11, Galatians 1:8). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” doesn’t mean accept their sins and live with it for the sake of fellowship, like everyone thinks it does! It doesn’t mean stay there “because you HAVE to go to church somewhere”, because no such command exists in the Bible. It means be a man and help these people who helped you to see their sins, and if they don’t, know that Hebrews 10:26-27 awaits them now that you have corrected them, and turned their sins of ignorance into willful sins of rebellion. Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? We are to assemble to provoke each other unto love and good works. It doesn’t say go to the assembly and look for sins and then hit them over the head with the Bible until they see it all your way. Who told you that your way matched what the Bible says. Look at verse 28 which Nathaniel skipped altogether here. If you are teaching against Moses law, you despise that law or in other words you despise the Law of God. It doesn’t matter if Nathaniel believes Moses law should be kept or not, when you are teaching against Moses Law as Nathaniel is doing in this article you are the one who is sinning, and the Law of God applies to you whether you believe it or not. INVISIBLE CHURCHES Keeping the Sabbath is a test. It always was (Exodus 16:4). And the more people you have keeping it with you, the less of a test it is. “Keeping the Sabbath” – not working but resting instead – requires faith. It could cost you money, jobs, friends, and so on. But “going to church” requires no faith, it simply requires you to get in your car and show up. In fact, it makes “keeping the Sabbath” require less faith, making it less of a test! You are, in effect, crowd-sourcing Sabbath keeping. You get everyone to do it together, which means it’s easier for each of you to do as you share the burden, the fear, and the hardships of Sabbath keeping. It is this matter of faith that makes this such an offensive doctrine to churchgoers. Because they only know how to keep it with a group of like-minded people, and the idea of keeping it without a church is terrifying! It is frightening to be without the support of a mother, terrifying to be alone in the hands of God. Think about it. Keeping the Sabbath requires that you rest – that’s all God ever said. But going to church requires that you physically go somewhere and try your best to stay awake. Thus, going to church is, by definition, a work of the flesh, a physical work of the law! Which is why the Jews had synagogues in every city all over the world! Because it was a part of their covenant! Choke that down, digest that meat – going to church is an Old Covenant institution! But why? Why would church be commanded only in the Old Covenant, and not in the New Covenant? Because it’s what Israel asked for! Don’t fall for this one. It takes more faith to publicly show people that you keep God’s Law by showing up in Sabbath Assemblies. It requires no faith at all to sit home and sleep (rest) all day. The test of the Sabbath is that you keep it publicly because the rest of the world does not. It is a test to others in regard to what the Bible says and that there are actually people willing to be ridiculed and put to death for their faith in God. God did this for a reason. It is to show others the truth of God. How do you do that if you are sleeping all day. But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help! And this is how we get strange untrue doctrines because you have set yourself up to live life unopposed by anyone. This article “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” is not meat, it isn’t even milk. It is a false doctrine in more than one way. When I originally said, “What isn’t wrong with this article,” I meant it. I did not misunderstand a single thing in this article. For those who do not know what a “New Covenant Christian” is go to: New Covenant Theology from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Covenant_theology New Covenant theology (or NCT) is a Christian theological position teaching that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the central focus of the Bible.^[1] One distinctive assertion of this school of thought is that Old Testament Laws have been abrogated ^[2] or cancelled^[3] with Jesus’ crucifixion, and replaced with the Law of Christ of the New Covenant. It shares similarities with, and yet is distinct from, dispensationalism and Covenant theology.^[4] The hermeneutic of the New Covenant theologian is Christocentric: to let the New Testament interpret the Old Testament. This means that when the NT interprets an OT promise differently than the plain reading, then NCT concludes that that is how God interprets his promise—and it may be surprising to us.^[5] The Old Covenant[edit] The conditional (Exod. 19:5-6) treaty which God established with the ethnic descendants of Jacob at Mount Sinai – a covenant which formed the nation of Israel as a geopolitical entity, the sign of which was the Sabbath (Exod. 31:15–17), which was temporary in terms of its purpose and duration (Heb. 8:7–13), and which was superseded by the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31–33). (End Wikipedia) In other words what a “New Covenant Christian” is, is someone who uses the New Testament as their foundation and tries to fit the Old Testament into that. (Just the opposite of Sabbath Keepers). They believe the law of Moses has been canceled and now keep what they call the Law of Christ as defined by the New Testament. My description of a “New Covenant Christian” is as follows. It is a person who has morphed into a cross between a Saturday Sabbath Keeper and a Sunday Keeper. This is why Nathaniel teaches what he does. We knew for years there were problems with the things he sometimes said but until this article it was not absolutely clear where he was always coming from. When we believe, we are talking to or interacting with a Saturday Sabbath Keeper we don’t always question some of the questionable things they say until it becomes real clear. Nathaniel isn’t the only one among us that has thrown out or canceled what they call Mosaic Law. Mosaic Law is God’s Law and don’t any of you forget it. Because of Nathaniel’s morphed “New Covenant Views” he is probably not getting along with Sunday Keepers any better than he does with Sabbath Keepers and if he has been in your assembly or church teaching these things, I hope you didn’t fall for it as some fell for this article called “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”. Isaiah 1:12-14 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, …the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is INIQUITY, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. God calls their way of keeping the Sabbaths, in PARTICULAR the “calling of assemblies”, and the “solemn meeting” an “iniquity”! He HATED the way Israel was keeping the Sabbath and the feasts, and He demanded of them “who required you to do this??” Who commanded you to go to church this way, and make it such a soul-sucking experience? Isaiah Chapter One is talking about a rebellious people who are doing nothing but sinning and breaking God’s Law. You cannot use these scriptures to declare that God is against sabbaths and assemblies as Nathaniel has done here. It is just another way he teaches against both Sabbaths and assemblies. Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. In Conclusion: As I have always said, we can’t possibly catch all error that goes into this newsletter, that is why when someone sees something that is wrong, they need to speak up. In the case of “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”, more people liked the article than those who did not. If you are a true Sabbath Keeper and read this article you should have been able to use God’s Holy Spirit to discern at least some of the things wrong with this article. If you actually thought, it was a great Sabbath article I would advise you to look at it all again with a Bible in one hand and internet access in the other hand. The premise of this article is to teach people to break the Saturday Sabbath Law and throw out God’s Law any place it is called Moses Law. Moses Law is God’s Law. Mat_13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Mat_13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. Mat_13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? Mat_13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Mat_13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Mat_13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. Mat_13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; Mat_13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. All is not lost. Perhaps Nathaniel was always a gentile and never had God’s Holy Spirit. Anyone can understand the ways of a Sabbath Keeper without actually ever being one. After all he did say the following: Going to church could be restful – but as I said, church as practiced is anything but. If churches cared more about substance and less about appearance, they wouldn’t have to have all their kids dressed in tight, uncomfortable suits; they wouldn’t have to dutifully sit there with a Bible in their laps for 2 boring, endless hours praying for a power outage. Please pray for Nathaniel Burson and anyone who thought this article was great.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

Our advice to anyone reading Nathaniel Burson’s articles is to be careful as some of the things he says to encourage people to break the law of God are very subtle. Through the years we have seen some of these subtleties but have let them pass not feeling they were a big deal in light of the overall message of some of his articles. Some of his older articles were much better than what he is teaching in his newer articles. Nathaniel does have a background in the Churches of God and is probably second generation.

We generally do not put out such warnings in regard to all articles that a person has written but we feel that in light of, especially his article called “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” and the response we received in regard to it, we feel a warning at this time is appropriate.

We here, did not misunderstand Nathaniel Burson’s article titled “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”, we understood it all too well. For those who are praising this article, we would ask you to take another look, because deceptions such as are promoted in this article are what will keep some of you from making that first resurrection. Remember it is very easy to fall prey to things which have just enough truth mixed in with the lie or deception. This is such an article. What follows is what we have to say in regard to this article and the one teaching it. We will clearly mark when we are quoting from Nathaniels article by highlighting it in yellow.

If I tell someone to start keeping the Sabbath, their first thought is “but how can I do that, if there are no Sabbath-keeping churches nearby??” It has become thoroughly ingrained in the mind of every Christian that keeping the Sabbath/Sunday holy means going to church. They believe that is the beginning and the end of the intent of God’s commandment on the subject.

Here he seems to be lumping Sunday worship with the Sabbath and insinuating that Sunday worship is the same as Saturday Sabbath worship.

And yet… it isn’t. Because God never said that. In fact, He never once commanded you to go to church, not in the entire Bible. Think about that! So why did God never command anyone to go to church? More importantly, if it’s not important enough to Him to say something about it… why is it SO important to you, and everyone else?…

Here he is teaching that you cannot find a command any place in the entire Bible to meet for worship on the Sabbath. This is totally untrue. See Lev. 23:1-3.

Leviticus 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

This is the only time the word “convocation” (assembly) was used in connection with the weekly Sabbath. It’s a generic, passing comment that says nothing about what “assembly” meant. Did everyone come to the tabernacle? Or only the men? For how long? What did they do? All it says is “an holy assembly”, after underlining three more times that this was a Sabbath of REST.

He claims that “an holy convocation” is a generic, passing comment. Wake up people, the command to assemble on the Sabbath day is a command from God and it is written in the Law of God. It is to be kept. It is not a generic, passing comment as Nathaniel claims.

The aforementioned “church of the firstborn”, who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection, is the only body of people in the universe qualified to have the respect and admiration and obedience that you give to your own pale shadow of the true church of God.

Here Nathaniel is totally putting down The Church of God and at the same time telling us the only true church consists of those “who sleep now in heaven awaiting the resurrection”. There is no one sleeping in heaven awaiting the resurrection. All of God’s Saints are either dead in the ground on earth awaiting the resurrection or they are alive keeping God’s commandments as best they know how and more than likely associated with other Sabbath Keepers whether of their own family by birth or through The Church of God.

THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATH
Only once in the Bible is there a command to assemble on the weekly Sabbath day, in Leviticus 23:3. But look at how God qualified that…

Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which YE shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

These are God’s feasts… which MOSES commanded Israel to gather together for! It was not God who commanded an assembly on the Sabbath, it was Moses who proclaimed it to be a holy convocation! Do you realize what that means?? It means that these were things MOSES commanded Israel to gather for… which makes them a part of MOSES’ covenant!

The feasts themselves are God’s, they are binding, and they must be “kept” – just like the Sabbath must be “kept”. But the idea of going to church on these days is a law of Moses! That’s why it is only mentioned once in the Bible, and why “holy convocation” is not a part of the fourth commandment or any other spiritual law – because this was a law for the Old Covenant!

So, let me get this straight, God only has ownership of the Feast Days but the “Holy Convocations” are only a part of Moses “Old Covenant” Law? Nathaniel is teaching you to break the Law of God by telling you that the commanded assemblies are Moses Law and not God’s Law. It is God telling Moses what to say. Moses has no law and Moses has no covenant. The Law is God’s Law, and the “Old Covenant” is God’s covenant.

Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

And since they had to be together to hear Moses, He commanded them to gather into one place, to hear the letters of the law! But they could have been learning the spirit of those laws, if only they had trusted their father, and not their mother!

For those who understand this point, you cannot keep the spirit of the law without keeping the letter of the law. So here again Nathaniel is teaching you that you only need to keep the spirit of the law. He is claiming that Moses Law was the letter of the Law and God’s Law is the Spirit of the Law and Moses Law is obsolete. Again, Moses does not have a law anymore than Donner own’s Donner’s pass. Moses delivered and wrote down the law for God, but it was God’s Law.

The only difference between God’s Old Covenant and God’s New Covenant is that they were unable to keep the Old Covenant for very long on their own. In the New Covenant the Letter of the Law is still to be kept but an addition to that was added in that you now must also keep the “Spirit of the Law”. For example, the letter of the law meant that if you physically murdered someone you broke the Law of God. With the New Covenant you now commit murder by just thinking to murder someone. The law has now become more difficult to keep except for one thing. Now we have God’s Holy Spirit to help us keep the Law of God. Under the Old Covenant very few people were ever given God’s Holy Spirit, but now all who are called and chosen have God’s Holy Spirit to help them keep both the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law.

Just to be clear, if you physically murder someone, you have broken both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law, and this applies to any sin that you commit.

To make the Sabbath a delight, a day of rest, “church” should be a time to hang out, in a comfortable environment, and talk about the Bible with brethren/friends. That can be restful, AND fun, AND educational. But no church on Earth practices that today.

When Nathaniel makes the statement “no church on Earth practices that today”, I believe he is talking nonsense. In 1995 when Worldwide broke into pieces many of those who stopped keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days were happy to be leaving just for many of the reasons Nathaniel lists in this article. Those of us who chose to continue to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days were disappointed to say the least, because who would we now keep these days with? Who would we meet with and who would teach us. Most of us did not find them to be a burden and we were happy to meet with others and discuss the sermon or other scripture. Most of us loved the Sabbath and the Brethren and we hung out with each other a lot.

I remember getting some sort of letter from Worldwide saying they were taking my name from their roles and when United formed, both Darwin and I joined them and by 2000 we were disfellowshipped from there and although we both attended with Living for a while, they at one point told us we would have to call the Minister in Minnesota if we ever wanted to attend again. Both United and Living here in North Dakota locked their doors so you could not attend if you were even one minute late. And no these are not or should not be the things that happen in assembling for Sabbath Services. So, people who had to live through these sorts of practices were being tested and could have used them as excuses to leave the Sabbath Assemblies and Holy Days all together.

We did not, we advertised in the local newspaper for people to attend Bible Studies and later Sabbath Assemblies at our house. Though we didn’t get much response for that, we started the newsletter in 2001 and we got a great response to that, and it helped many of the scattered brethren all over the world. We sought people to assemble with whether through bible study, home Sabbath Assemblies or through the newsletter. Why would we do that? Not just because it is a command but because you need those relationships in order to grow. I don’t care if you always agreed or not, but at least we had others to bounce our crazy ideas off of and to in the end hopefully all end up coming to the same conclusions as the Law of God is concerned. In the end we all have to be one in purpose and one with the law of God. We all need not just God but other brethren to get us there. So, Sabbath Assemblies are commanded for a reason. Attend when and if you are able to. There are still phone hookups and streaming out there even today if you have no one else to attend with. The main thing is to keep in touch with other Sabbath Keeping people.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

As I said at the beginning, this doesn’t command you to go to church – and now you can see why. Rather, it commands that young Christian who has found flaws in his first mother not to slink away in the night, not to forsake those who helped him grow the first few years without first considering what’s wrong with his brethren and helping them do better!

He owes this group of people the benefit of the understanding God has shown him – the Golden Rule requires it. If he sees something wrong with the teachings, he has a responsibility to provoke them to do good works instead of the evil works they’re doing now!

And he has a responsibility to do this three times; after the first and second admonition, the heretic – whether member or minister, angel, or church – must be rejected (Titus 3:10-11, Galatians 1:8). “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” doesn’t mean accept their sins and live with it for the sake of fellowship, like everyone thinks it does!

It doesn’t mean stay there “because you HAVE to go to church somewhere”, because no such command exists in the Bible. It means be a man and help these people who helped you to see their sins, and if they don’t, know that Hebrews 10:26-27 awaits them now that you have corrected them, and turned their sins of ignorance into willful sins of rebellion.

Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

We are to assemble to provoke each other unto love and good works. It doesn’t say go to the assembly and look for sins and then hit them over the head with the Bible until they see it all your way. Who told you that your way matched what the Bible says. Look at verse 28 which Nathaniel skipped altogether here. If you are teaching against Moses law, you despise that law or in other words you despise the Law of God. It doesn’t matter if Nathaniel believes Moses law should be kept or not, when you are teaching against Moses Law as Nathaniel is doing in this article you are the one who is sinning, and the Law of God applies to you whether you believe it or not.

INVISIBLE CHURCHES
Keeping the Sabbath is a test. It always was (Exodus 16:4). And the more people you have keeping it with you, the less of a test it is. “Keeping the Sabbath” – not working but resting instead – requires faith. It could cost you money, jobs, friends, and so on.

But “going to church” requires no faith, it simply requires you to get in your car and show up. In fact, it makes “keeping the Sabbath” require less faith, making it less of a test! You are, in effect, crowd-sourcing Sabbath keeping. You get everyone to do it together, which means it’s easier for each of you to do as you share the burden, the fear, and the hardships of Sabbath keeping.

It is this matter of faith that makes this such an offensive doctrine to churchgoers. Because they only know how to keep it with a group of like-minded people, and the idea of keeping it without a church is terrifying! It is frightening to be without the support of a mother, terrifying to be alone in the hands of God.

Think about it. Keeping the Sabbath requires that you rest – that’s all God ever said. But going to church requires that you physically go somewhere and try your best to stay awake. Thus, going to church is, by definition, a work of the flesh, a physical work of the law!

Which is why the Jews had synagogues in every city all over the world! Because it was a part of their covenant! Choke that down, digest that meat – going to church is an Old Covenant institution! But why? Why would church be commanded only in the Old Covenant, and not in the New Covenant? Because it’s what Israel asked for!

Don’t fall for this one. It takes more faith to publicly show people that you keep God’s Law by showing up in Sabbath Assemblies. It requires no faith at all to sit home and sleep (rest) all day. The test of the Sabbath is that you keep it publicly because the rest of the world does not. It is a test to others in regard to what the Bible says and that there are actually people willing to be ridiculed and put to death for their faith in God. God did this for a reason. It is to show others the truth of God. How do you do that if you are sleeping all day.

But if you’ve been around the truth for more than a few years, and think of yourself as a New Covenant Christian, you’re expected to be able to chew meat – solid food dug directly out of the Bible, or revealed by the Father to you, without anyone else’s help!

And this is how we get strange untrue doctrines because you have set yourself up to live life unopposed by anyone. This article “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath” is not meat, it isn’t even milk. It is a false doctrine in more than one way. When I originally said, “What isn’t wrong with this article,” I meant it. I did not misunderstand a single thing in this article.

For those who do not know what a “New Covenant Christian” is go to:

New Covenant Theology from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Covenant_theology

New Covenant theology (or NCT) is a Christian theological position teaching that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the central focus of the Bible.^[1] One distinctive assertion of this school of thought is that Old Testament Laws have been abrogated ^[2] or cancelled^[3] with Jesus’ crucifixion, and replaced with the Law of Christ of the New Covenant. It shares similarities with, and yet is distinct from, dispensationalism and Covenant theology.^[4]

The hermeneutic of the New Covenant theologian is Christocentric: to let the New Testament interpret the Old Testament. This means that when the NT interprets an OT promise differently than the plain reading, then NCT concludes that that is how God interprets his promise—and it may be surprising to us.^[5]

The Old Covenant[edit]
The conditional (Exod. 19:5-6) treaty which God established with the ethnic descendants of Jacob at Mount Sinai – a covenant which formed the nation of Israel as a geopolitical entity, the sign of which was the Sabbath (Exod. 31:15–17), which was temporary in terms of its purpose and duration (Heb. 8:7–13), and which was superseded by the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31–33). (End Wikipedia)

In other words what a “New Covenant Christian” is, is someone who uses the New Testament as their foundation and tries to fit the Old Testament into that. (Just the opposite of Sabbath Keepers). They believe the law of Moses has been canceled and now keep what they call the Law of Christ as defined by the New Testament.

My description of a “New Covenant Christian” is as follows. It is a person who has morphed into a cross between a Saturday Sabbath Keeper and a Sunday Keeper. This is why Nathaniel teaches what he does. We knew for years there were problems with the things he sometimes said but until this article it was not absolutely clear where he was always coming from.

When we believe, we are talking to or interacting with a Saturday Sabbath Keeper we don’t always question some of the questionable things they say until it becomes real clear. Nathaniel isn’t the only one among us that has thrown out or canceled what they call Mosaic Law. Mosaic Law is God’s Law and don’t any of you forget it.

Because of Nathaniel’s morphed “New Covenant Views” he is probably not getting along with Sunday Keepers any better than he does with Sabbath Keepers and if he has been in your assembly or church teaching these things, I hope you didn’t fall for it as some fell for this article called “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”.

Isaiah 1:12-14 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, …the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is INIQUITY, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

God calls their way of keeping the Sabbaths, in PARTICULAR the “calling of assemblies”, and the “solemn meeting” an “iniquity”! He HATED the way Israel was keeping the Sabbath and the feasts, and He demanded of them “who required you to do this??” Who commanded you to go to church this way, and make it such a soul-sucking experience?

Isaiah Chapter One is talking about a rebellious people who are doing nothing but sinning and breaking God’s Law. You cannot use these scriptures to declare that God is against sabbaths and assemblies as Nathaniel has done here. It is just another way he teaches against both Sabbaths and assemblies.

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

In Conclusion:
As I have always said, we can’t possibly catch all error that goes into this newsletter, that is why when someone sees something that is wrong, they need to speak up. In the case of “Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath”, more people liked the article than those who did not. If you are a true Sabbath Keeper and read this article you should have been able to use God’s Holy Spirit to discern at least some of the things wrong with this article. If you actually thought, it was a great Sabbath article I would advise you to look at it all again with a Bible in one hand and internet access in the other hand. The premise of this article is to teach people to break the Saturday Sabbath Law and throw out God’s Law any place it is called Moses Law. Moses Law is God’s Law.

Mat_13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

Mat_13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

Mat_13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

Mat_13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Mat_13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Mat_13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

Mat_13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Mat_13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

All is not lost. Perhaps Nathaniel was always a gentile and never had God’s Holy Spirit. Anyone can understand the ways of a Sabbath Keeper without actually ever being one. After all he did say the following:

Going to church could be restful – but as I said, church as practiced is anything but. If churches cared more about substance and less about appearance, they wouldn’t have to have all their kids dressed in tight, uncomfortable suits; they wouldn’t have to dutifully sit there with a Bible in their laps for 2 boring, endless hours praying for a power outage.

Please pray for Nathaniel Burson and anyone who thought this article was great.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Ray Daly (Lincoln, North Dakota)
Was reading your comment on Burson saying there is no place in Scripture in which it is commanding believers to assemble on the weekly Sabbath. You know my thoughts on this. But note also yours. For you use Lev. 1-3 as being a command to assemble on said weekly Sabbath. But Laura, that is not what these verses are telling us. For if you will look at them again, then take note of the words as they are recorded. “Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy CONVOCATIONS [assemblies], even these are my feasts.” Consider that the weekly Sabbath is not referred to as a “feast”. The Holy Days are feasts, not weekly meetings. And even then, if one would do a thorough search of the book of the law, they would find that the only thing that was to be “observed” on said Holy Days was, that all had to attend in order to “eat a meal”. Seriously, I have searched and searched, and have never found any command to do anything on the Holy Days, except to go into the Temple or Synagogues, and eat. This is what the Levites worked at on the Holy Days. They killed many animals on the afternoon before the Holy Day, and then spent most of the night preparing the meat and other offerings, so that they could feed the crowd that would assemble. They cooked, served, cleaned off tables, washed the dishes, etc. Can you find anywhere in the book of the law where “all assembled”? I cannot. Now I do find where the “leaders” [elected representatives of the citizens] did assemble in the Synagogues on the Sabbath. But never to hear sermons. Rather it was to meet with other elected representatives, in order to help the citizens, work out problems that they could not solve in their normal meetings. An example of said elected representatives meeting on the Sabbath would be the two women that claimed the living baby as theirs. This would normally have been handled by the citizens themselves in gatherings of tens. (Am not sure how each of the tens were laid out. Numbers of families, miles, etc.) But when the single group/assemblage could not come to a conclusion by meeting in the above groups of ten (let’s say a precinct?), then they went to the 50 level (let’s say a county). If they could not agree, they went to the 100 level. (the state?) No agreement, then they went to the level of 1000. (regional/national?) Only then did they go to the judge/king.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Ray Daly (Lincoln, North Dakota)

Was reading your comment on Burson saying there is no place in Scripture in which it is commanding believers to assemble on the weekly Sabbath. You know my thoughts on this. But note also yours. For you use Lev. 1-3 as being a command to assemble on said weekly Sabbath. But Laura, that is not what these verses are telling us. For if you will look at them again, then take note of the words as they are recorded. “Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy CONVOCATIONS [assemblies], even these are my feasts.”

Consider that the weekly Sabbath is not referred to as a “feast”. The Holy Days are feasts, not weekly meetings. And even then, if one would do a thorough search of the book of the law, they would find that the only thing that was to be “observed” on said Holy Days was, that all had to attend in order to “eat a meal”. Seriously, I have searched and searched, and have never found any command to do anything on the Holy Days, except to go into the Temple or Synagogues, and eat. This is what the Levites worked at on the Holy Days. They killed many animals on the afternoon before the Holy Day, and then spent most of the night preparing the meat and other offerings, so that they could feed the crowd that would assemble. They cooked, served, cleaned off tables, washed the dishes, etc.

Can you find anywhere in the book of the law where “all assembled”? I cannot. Now I do find where the “leaders” [elected representatives of the citizens] did assemble in the Synagogues on the Sabbath. But never to hear sermons. Rather it was to meet with other elected representatives, in order to help the citizens, work out problems that they could not solve in their normal meetings.

An example of said elected representatives meeting on the Sabbath would be the two women that claimed the living baby as theirs. This would normally have been handled by the citizens themselves in gatherings of tens. (Am not sure how each of the tens were laid out. Numbers of families, miles, etc.) But when the single group/assemblage could not come to a conclusion by meeting in the above groups of ten (let’s say a precinct?), then they went to the 50 level (let’s say a county). If they could not agree, they went to the 100 level. (the state?) No agreement, then they went to the level of 1000. (regional/national?) Only then did they go to the judge/king.

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
Ray Daly’s, “iron sharpening iron”, it’s obvious that when one wants to believe what they want to believe, scriptures to the contrary that show otherwise that they will still hang on to their pet doctrine no matter what. To me scripture is quite clear: Le 23:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Le 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, *which ye shall proclaim to be* holy convocations*, even* these are my feasts. Hebrew, Strong’s Concordance definition of convocation: #4744, “assembly, calling the community together, usually for a religious ceremony-convocation (16), convocations (3), assemblies (2), calling (1), reading (1). On the seventh day we are to have an “holy convocation”. Le 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. The other seven feasts are commanded convocations too. Le 23:4 ¶ These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. Le. 23 to end with verse 44 stating, “Le 23:44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD”. Verse 7 states, “You shall have an holy convocation” (assembly). I can only conclude like a petulant child, a four-year-old or other having a tantrum, falling on the floor, rolling around, screaming, pounding its little fists, crying “I won’t do it” until it’s lost its voice. Adamant that he-she won’t do it no matter what! Is that the picture that Jesus painted (?) when He said? Mr 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. It’s obvious that Jesus was talking about an attitude of a child believing what dad and mom say and a willingness to do it without question. Nevertheless, we all know that works. Yes, there are some few exceptions of some that are not given to persuasion. Conversely, look at the Muslim community as a whole, when they teach their children to hate-jews. What does the child end up doing? Hate Jews. So, to, if one teaches their children to love and love God, they end up, what? They love and love God. Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. By the way to love God is to keep his commandments. Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. The New Testament is replete with examples that people met in the synagogues and elsewhere, as in homes. Joh 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. Ac 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Ac 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. Ro 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ. 1Co 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. 1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1Co 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. Col 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. Col 4:16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. Phm 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: (Emphasis throughout). We know they weren’t primarily meeting on Sunday. They already knew what the fourth commandment was all about. Re 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Furthermore, what purpose does the ministry have if there is no gathering place? After all, when the New Testament Church was begun, there was no internet where all could gather on a computer screen and fellowship. Just what is wrong with fellowship? Well, if one argues and fights with words, that is not good, but we’re talking about adults in the room-house-assembly, be it in a local public library or rented hall for a place to assemble. The ministry has a purpose and place and various other functions for all in the church. If I hadn’t “convocated”, I would never have met my lovely wife. I would still be at my apartment kissing my dog as she worshipped me! (That is if she were still alive after 23 years since getting married.) Of course, I could have had another option that of hitting bars on Friday nights and perhaps meet some floozie, get married and we could both convocate Sunday mornings to make ourselves feel good after having had to many drinks considering Sabbath gatherings would just be a bore, but Sunday meetings, not so much. Our calling is more than just “me and God”, but also fellowship with others God called for His Kingdom. What other time would you mainly gather and fellowship than on the Sabbath? If not on the Sabbath, then it wouldn’t happen much if at all. Building relationships with others God called-calls should be something you want to do besides with God and Jesus and your family. Mal 3:16 “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”. Just when would this “spake often” take place if no one ever met on the Sabbath? Lies abound and seems like people are easy prey to fall for them. Just one more thing, “tricky dick” (Satan) hasn’t changed his tactic since his encounter with Eve. As with Eve, his method that worked so well for him, (not so much for Eve) still is his play book to this day, which is, “Hath God said”. In other words, “did God really say that ‘come on man’, that’s not what He said”. Eve took the “bait” as many have followed in her footsteps since that day long ago. 2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: There is real value for brethren getting together and learning, rejoicing together, encouraging one another. Staying at home purposely is but a true bummer and isn’t Biblical. If you have others of like mind to share God’s calling, meeting on the Sabbath and Holy days, that is a blessing, not a curse! One can do extra personal bible study during the other six days and one can call the sabbath(s) assembling a delight or a “soul sucking experience”. You choose what best fits you!

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Darwin Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

Ray Daly’s, “iron sharpening iron”, it’s obvious that when one wants to believe what they want to believe, scriptures to the contrary that show otherwise that they will still hang on to their pet doctrine no matter what.

To me scripture is quite clear:
Le 23:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Le 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Hebrew, Strong’s Concordance definition of convocation: #4744, “assembly, calling the community together, usually for a religious ceremony-convocation (16), convocations (3), assemblies (2), calling (1), reading (1).

On the seventh day we are to have an “holy convocation”. Le 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

The other seven feasts are commanded convocations too. Le 23:4 ¶ These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. Le. 23 to end with verse 44 stating, “Le 23:44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD”. Verse 7 states, “You shall have an holy convocation” (assembly).

I can only conclude like a petulant child, a four-year-old or other having a tantrum, falling on the floor, rolling around, screaming, pounding its little fists, crying “I won’t do it” until it’s lost its voice. Adamant that he-she won’t do it no matter what!

Is that the picture that Jesus painted (?) when He said? Mr 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

It’s obvious that Jesus was talking about an attitude of a child believing what dad and mom say and a willingness to do it without question. Nevertheless, we all know that works. Yes, there are some few exceptions of some that are not given to persuasion. Conversely, look at the Muslim community as a whole, when they teach their children to hate-jews. What does the child end up doing? Hate Jews.

So, to, if one teaches their children to love and love God, they end up, what? They love and love God. Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. By the way to love God is to keep his commandments. Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

The New Testament is replete with examples that people met in the synagogues and elsewhere, as in homes.

Joh 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.

Ac 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. Ac 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

Ro 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

1Co 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

1Co 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.

Col 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. Col 4:16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

Phm 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: (Emphasis throughout).

We know they weren’t primarily meeting on Sunday. They already knew what the fourth commandment was all about. Re 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Furthermore, what purpose does the ministry have if there is no gathering place?

After all, when the New Testament Church was begun, there was no internet where all could gather on a computer screen and fellowship. Just what is wrong with fellowship? Well, if one argues and fights with words, that is not good, but we’re talking about adults in the room-house-assembly, be it in a local public library or rented hall for a place to assemble. The ministry has a purpose and place and various other functions for all in the church.

If I hadn’t “convocated”, I would never have met my lovely wife. I would still be at my apartment kissing my dog as she worshipped me! (That is if she were still alive after 23 years since getting married.) Of course, I could have had another option that of hitting bars on Friday nights and perhaps meet some floozie, get married and we could both convocate Sunday mornings to make ourselves feel good after having had to many drinks considering Sabbath gatherings would just be a bore, but Sunday meetings, not so much.

Our calling is more than just “me and God”, but also fellowship with others God called for His Kingdom. What other time would you mainly gather and fellowship than on the Sabbath? If not on the Sabbath, then it wouldn’t happen much if at all. Building relationships with others God called-calls should be something you want to do besides with God and Jesus and your family. Mal 3:16 “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name”. Just when would this “spake often” take place if no one ever met on the Sabbath?

Lies abound and seems like people are easy prey to fall for them.

Just one more thing, “tricky dick” (Satan) hasn’t changed his tactic since his encounter with Eve. As with Eve, his method that worked so well for him, (not so much for Eve) still is his play book to this day, which is, “Hath God said”. In other words, “did God really say that ‘come on man’, that’s not what He said”. Eve took the “bait” as many have followed in her footsteps since that day long ago. 2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

There is real value for brethren getting together and learning, rejoicing together, encouraging one another. Staying at home purposely is but a true bummer and isn’t Biblical. If you have others of like mind to share God’s calling, meeting on the Sabbath and Holy days, that is a blessing, not a curse! One can do extra personal bible study during the other six days and one can call the sabbath(s) assembling a delight or a “soul sucking experience”. You choose what best fits you!

Iron Sharpening Iron In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath Article by Nathaniel Burson Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)
Ray writes: Was reading your comment on Burson saying there is no place in Scripture in which it is commanding believers to assemble on the weekly Sabbath. You know my thoughts on this. But note also yours. For you use Lev. 1-3 as being a command to assemble on said weekly Sabbath. But Laura, that is not what these verses are telling us. For if you will look at them again, then take note of the words as they are recorded. “Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy CONVOCATIONS [assemblies], even these are my feasts.” Laura writes: Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. Perhaps you should look at the wording. In verse two it says, “these are my feasts” and then in verse 3 it talks about the Sabbath. Looks like a Feast Day to me. Ray writes: Consider that the weekly Sabbath is not referred to as a “feast”. The Holy Days are feasts, not weekly meetings. And even then, if one would do a thorough search of the book of the law, they would find that the only thing that was to be “observed” on said Holy Days was, that all had to attend in order to “eat a meal”. Seriously, I have searched and searched, and have never found any command to do anything on the Holy Days, except to go into the Temple or Synagogues, and eat. This is what the Levites worked at on the Holy Days. They killed many animals on the afternoon before the Holy Day, and then spent most of the night preparing the meat and other offerings, so that they could feed the crowd that would assemble. They cooked, served, cleaned off tables, washed the dishes, etc. Laura writes: Are you actually reading your Bible? Read this scripture: Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: Do you know what that means? It means that in the temple the scribes and Pharisees sat in front in the temple and read the law to those who came to the temple. There are numerous scriptures in the New Testament where Christ spoke to the people as well as Paul. Men, Women and Children all attended these assemblies and not just to eat. Ray writes: Can you find anywhere in the book of the law where “all assembled”? I cannot. Now I do find where the “leaders” [elected representatives of the citizens] did assemble in the Synagogues on the Sabbath. But never to hear sermons. Rather it was to meet with other elected representatives, in order to help the citizens, work out problems that they could not solve in their normal meetings. An example of said elected representatives meeting on the Sabbath would be the two women that claimed the living baby as theirs. This would normally have been handled by the citizens themselves in gatherings of tens. (Am not sure how each of the tens were laid out. Numbers of families, miles, etc.) But when the single group/assemblage could not come to a conclusion by meeting in the above groups of ten (let’s say a precinct?), then they went to the 50 level (let’s say a county). If they could not agree, they went to the 100 level. (the state?) No agreement, then they went to the level of 1000. (regional/national?) Only then did they go to the judge/king. Laura writes: Here is the problem with your logic Ray. The Sanhedrin operated both as a court and as a temple. The court did not convene on Feast Days including the Weekly Sabbath. Men, Women and Children attended the reading of the law in the temple and Christ taught in the Temple. The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel, made up of 70 men and the high priest. In the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin met in the Temple in Jerusalem. The court convened every day except festivals and on the Sabbath. The Sanhedrin as a body claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have. As such, they were the only ones who could try the king or extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem and were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put. The last binding decision of the Sanhedrin was in 358, when the Hebrew calendar was adopted. The Sanhedrin was dissolved after continued persecution by the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, there have been attempts to revive the institution, such as the Grand Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon Bonaparte. What was the Sanhedrin? \| GotQuestions.org What you are teaching people about the Sabbath is just not true according to scripture.

Iron Sharpening Iron
In regard to: Keep The Sabbathy Sabbath
Article by Nathaniel Burson
Comments by Laura Lee (Bismarck, North Dakota)

Ray writes:
Was reading your comment on Burson saying there is no place in Scripture in which it is commanding believers to assemble on the weekly Sabbath. You know my thoughts on this. But note also yours. For you use Lev. 1-3 as being a command to assemble on said weekly Sabbath. But Laura, that is not what these verses are telling us. For if you will look at them again, then take note of the words as they are recorded. “Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy CONVOCATIONS [assemblies], even these are my feasts.”

Laura writes:
Lev 23:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Perhaps you should look at the wording. In verse two it says, “these are my feasts” and then in verse 3 it talks about the Sabbath. Looks like a Feast Day to me.

Ray writes:
Consider that the weekly Sabbath is not referred to as a “feast”. The Holy Days are feasts, not weekly meetings. And even then, if one would do a thorough search of the book of the law, they would find that the only thing that was to be “observed” on said Holy Days was, that all had to attend in order to “eat a meal”. Seriously, I have searched and searched, and have never found any command to do anything on the Holy Days, except to go into the Temple or Synagogues, and eat. This is what the Levites worked at on the Holy Days. They killed many animals on the afternoon before the Holy Day, and then spent most of the night preparing the meat and other offerings, so that they could feed the crowd that would assemble. They cooked, served, cleaned off tables, washed the dishes, etc.

Laura writes:
Are you actually reading your Bible? Read this scripture: Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:

Do you know what that means? It means that in the temple the scribes and Pharisees sat in front in the temple and read the law to those who came to the temple. There are numerous scriptures in the New Testament where Christ spoke to the people as well as Paul. Men, Women and Children all attended these assemblies and not just to eat.

Ray writes:
Can you find anywhere in the book of the law where “all assembled”? I cannot. Now I do find where the “leaders” [elected representatives of the citizens] did assemble in the Synagogues on the Sabbath. But never to hear sermons. Rather it was to meet with other elected representatives, in order to help the citizens, work out problems that they could not solve in their normal meetings.

An example of said elected representatives meeting on the Sabbath would be the two women that claimed the living baby as theirs. This would normally have been handled by the citizens themselves in gatherings of tens. (Am not sure how each of the tens were laid out. Numbers of families, miles, etc.) But when the single group/assemblage could not come to a conclusion by meeting in the above groups of ten (let’s say a precinct?), then they went to the 50 level (let’s say a county). If they could not agree, they went to the 100 level. (the state?) No agreement, then they went to the level of 1000. (regional/national?) Only then did they go to the judge/king.
Laura writes:
Here is the problem with your logic Ray. The Sanhedrin operated both as a court and as a temple. The court did not convene on Feast Days including the Weekly Sabbath. Men, Women and Children attended the reading of the law in the temple and Christ taught in the Temple.

The Great Sanhedrin was the supreme court of ancient Israel, made up of 70 men and the high priest. In the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin met in the Temple in Jerusalem. The court convened every day except festivals and on the Sabbath. The Sanhedrin as a body claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have. As such, they were the only ones who could try the king or extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem and were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put. The last binding decision of the Sanhedrin was in 358, when the Hebrew calendar was adopted. The Sanhedrin was dissolved after continued persecution by the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, there have been attempts to revive the institution, such as the Grand Sanhedrin convened by Napoleon Bonaparte. What was the Sanhedrin? | GotQuestions.org

What you are teaching people about the Sabbath is just not true according to scripture.

Holy Days 2026
Passover (Observed at Sunset the Evening Before.)	April 2, 2026
Passover/Unleavened Bread	April 2-8, 2026
Pentecost	May 22, 2026
Trumpets	September 12, 2026
Atonement	September 21, 2026
Tabernacles	September 26 to October 2, 2026
Last Great Day	October 3, 2026

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