Letters From the Church

 

I have been a member of the Four Square Denomination for over 22 years and before that I was affiliated with the Assembly's of God denomination.

 

For quite some time I've been feeling that the Christian church, as a whole, have drifted away from sound Biblical truth. There are so many different interpretations of Biblical topics or concepts in Christian circles today and many seem to contradict each other. For an example simply watch TBN, CBN or any Christian station and listen to what is being preached about the Rapture, The Anti-Christ, The Mark of the Beast, The Tribulation Period - (i.e. Pre, Mid, Post Tribulation beliefs), Hell, the State of the Dead and even End Time Bible Prophecy as it pertains to today. You will find that most ministers have differing ideas of these Bible concepts.

 

Since my background is in a spirit filled church environment, it's quite common to see fellow believers seek the Gifts of the Spirit. This is fine, but what I've seen on numerous occasions were many Christians seeking the Gifts of the Spirit not to help the rest of the church, but rather to get recognition from other Christians of how spiritual an individual was.  I suppose this happens in all churches where some who attend church, attend for the recognition of Man and not God.

 

Over time, I've gone to numerous Charismatic events and most were very uplifting but some, to put it bluntly, were similar to entering an amusement park where those seeking the Gifts of the Spirit were analogous to those seeking thrill rides or experiences. But even with some shortcomings in the Charismatic Christian circle, I was very happy with the Four Square Denomination and on a side note, deciding to leave the Four Square Church was really an accident rather than an active conscious act of looking for another church.

 

While watching a cable channel one night, I stumbled upon a station called 3ABN Network on my Verizon FIOS Cable. What I noticed on this channel was that Biblical teachings were very easy to understand and were very plumb line with Bible scriptures. In other words they used Bible scripture, in context, to interpret Bible scripture which made Bible truths easy to grasp. Not only that, this station was able to show that Bible Prophecy in the books of Revelation and Daniel were shown to be linked with known and indisputable historical facts which displays the true accuracy of the Bible as a book of prophecy. Every pastor on this channel made complete sense and I found their explanations of Biblical topics and concepts crystal clear in meaning as opposed to the variant teachings of the rest of Christendom.

 

This channel had clear answers to questions I've had about The AntiChrist, The Mark of the Beast, The truth about Hell, the truth about what happens after Death and many other Biblical concepts.  These and other topics were easy to grasp by the teachings taught on this channel. The truths I learned on this station were truths I"ve never heard anywhere else.

 

I was amazed and wondered why other churches or denominations seemed to be oblivious to these Biblical truths,  and I'm not referring to private interpretations... 

 

After viewing 3ABN for awhile I found out that this channel was a 7th Day Adventist station.   Now for some reason I used to think that the 7th Day Adventist church was a legalistic cult or fanatical sect of Christians but I have since found my beliefs about this denomination to be totally wrong and found their teachings to be very well balanced. I also thought they were called 7th Day Adventists only because they chose to worship on Saturday instead of Sunday. This is partly true, but their reason for worshipping on the Sabbath is Biblically based and I fully understand and agree with their reason for practicing their worship on this day. Also, they're called Adventists because they believe in the Advent of Christ, or in the soon second coming of Jesus.

 

In case you're wondering why the 7th Day Adventist worship on Saturday instead of Sunday, it's because this was the day that God Himself said in the Fourth Commandment to "Remember" as His day of worship. The reason why God wants us to worship on the 7th day is so we will not forget that the Sabbath was set aside as the day of rest after God had completed all Creation. In other words, the Sabbath day was chosen and blessed by God so we will remember His Creation and that He alone is the Creator of all things.. and worship on the Sabbath is not just for the Jews.

 

The reason churches today worship on Sunday is because in 321A.D. Constantine the Great, who favoured the Roman Catholic Church above all other Christian Churches, established the observance of Sunday as a legal duty, enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor. ("Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. "Sunday").  The Apostate Catholic Church Papacy adopted this day of Sunday observance as well in order to bring pagan worshippers into the Christian church and to accommodate pagan religious practices, the culture of that time.

 

(Note: The Apostate Catholic Papacy also removed the 2nd Commandment, i.e. not to worship idols, from the Cathloic Catechism; then divided the 10th Commandment into two commandments  to make up for the removal of the 2nd Commandment.  This was done to reflect the correct number of commandments for the 10 Commandments  -  See 10 Commandments link below) 

 

The Catholic Church has since made claim that the act of changing God's day of worship is their Mark of authority over religious matters and shows that they can change the Laws of God.   Now I ask you, can pompous and arrogant men change God's Laws?

 

 

 

There is no directive from God anywhere in the Bible to change the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday and since the Catholic Church stands on tradition and disregards Bible scripture, I chose to follow the Bible rather than the dictates of the Catholic Mother Church.

 

Also, the Bible says in Revelation that God's last day people or church, will keep His commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.  I used to think that keeping God's commandments was not as important today since Jesus brought us the New Covenant, but I have since found that keeping His commandments is a crucial issue in the last days. 

 

Most Christians do not realize they are not keeping all of God's commandments because they are not worshipping on the Sabbath day which God has commanded us to keep.  Remember, the 4th commandment starts with the word "Remember".  But we've forgotten and chosen to follow the substituted day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.  We've unknowingly changed our allegiance.

 

Click here to see the 10 Commandments of the Bible

 

In the final days before Jesus returns, mankind will have to make a decision on who they will give their allegiance to... Either worship God on His Sabbath, or the Apostate Catholic Papacy day of Sunday.  This will be the litmus test of who you trust for your salvation. 

 

Believe it or not, the day you choose to worship will become a stumbling stone in the coming days before the return of Jesus.  Your allegiance to worship on one day or the other is a serious decision that you must not take lightly. 

 

As hard as it may be for you to believe the following statement, given the spiritual climate of today, Sunday worship will one day be enforced and your decision has a consequence.  You'll either receive Apostate Catholic Papacy wrath or God's wrath.

 

 

More could be said here but I won't go into detail since this is supposed to be a letter explaining why I changed my church affiliation and is not meant to be a sermon.

 

I've really enjoyed meeting other SDA believers and find they are not the strict religious zealots I thought they were. They are just like you and I and are very dedicated to following Jesus in the manner He directs us to. They simply do not follow man's religious traditions but rather the dictates of Bible Scripture.

 

Now I want to make this perfectly clear, I am not bashing the Foursquare denomination. I love the friends and people I've met while attending the Foursquare church but after learning the truths taught by the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, some mentioned above, I could not in good conscious fellowship with the FS denomination. The Bible says to worship God in Spirit and Truth and current day churches do not do this.

 

I am also not proselytizing for the SDA Church, although I do believe they have the clearest and most truthful grasp of Biblical teachings and I strongly urge others to compare their beliefs and teachings with that of the SDA Denomination.  I believe you will also find surprising and amazing truths like I did in SDA Bible truths.

 

God Bless
Dennis - Oregon