Bible Doctrine

The elect are spiritually begotten by the Word of God. We MUST have the Word of God available to us in order to begin our spiritual life, or journey. That’s WHY the Bible speaks of our “being born again…by THE WORD OF GOD” (See I Peter 1:23). “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching (God’s Word) to save them that believe” (I Corinthians 1:21). The angel told Cornelius to send for Peter, “who shall tell you words (God’s words), whereby you and all your house shall be saved” (Acts 11:14). That’s why the Hittite and the Jebusite, the Inca and the Mayan, etc., COULD NOT be saved at the time and in the places where they lived!! NONE of those living in times and areas without the Word of God were elected, or predestined by God to be called to salvation and fellowship with Him THEN! It would have been pointless. That’s WHY the Roman centurion Cornelius was THE FIRST Gentile to be called to join the body of Christ! Think of all the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, etc., who lived BEFORE Cornelius’ time! When Pharaoh told Moses: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” he was telling the truth. Pharaoh knew absolutely NOTHING about this “God of the Hebrews,” and that’s exactly what Moses and Aaron called THEIR God – the God of the Hebrews as God was not revealing Himself to any but them at that time!!!! (See Exodus 5:2-3). (Read the burning bush encounter one more time. Moses doesn’t even know who this invisible Being is who speaks to him from the midst of the burning bush, as Moses asks this invisible Personage, “When I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, ‘The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?’” (See Exodus 3:13). God could have replied, “Tell them Vishnu, or Allah, or Oprah Winfrey has sent you,” and Moses would have registered no surprise or alarm. He, like Pharaoh, honestly didn’t know who this Being was or if He even had a name!!! Was He male, female, neuter, eternal, short-lived, good or evil? Moses didn’t know YET!

Did you know that in 2 A.D., while Jesus Christ was still a little child, China conducted its first census, counting 57,671,400 people as inhabitants of that great, ancient empire? (Check an encyclopedia or the Internet). Over fifty-seven-and-a-half MILLION hurting, loving (and loved by God), curious, beautiful human beings, and not one of them elected to hear and respond to the truth – THEN!!! Their opportunity to inherit eternal life IS FUTURE – so says the holy scriptures. That’s what the overwhelming majority of this world’s “preachers” do not understand. They think whatever percentage of those Chinese reached adulthood and were not drastically mentally deficient are now screaming and twitching in the fires of hell and will be there trillions of years after the last Die-Hard battery goes dead! All those who died in infancy or as little children are now enjoying the splendors of heaven, so they believe. Life is one grand lottery. Die young enough and you’ll enjoy heaven and eternal life. Live past a certain point (a point in time preachers call the age of accountability) and die after that point without “giving your heart to Jesus”, and you’ll burn for eternity. That’s the best “plan of salvation” divine intelligence could devise!!???

The average believer buys hook, line and sinker whatever he is spoon-fed from his local pulpit. If the preacher assures him the Lord could “break through the blue” at any moment and snatch him away to glory, he shouts “Hallelujah” and “Amen” and has no doubt he is hearing a Holy Ghost anointed sermon straight from the throne of God. The possibility that Christ’s return could be a century, or more, away is just not feasible. Little does he know that Christopher Columbus thought the same thing. Read a good biography of Christopher Columbus. He was certain that the Second Coming would occur in his own lifetime,or not too long after his demise.

Do some research, Christian. You will find that believers throughout most every century since our Lord’s time have believed wholeheartedly, if not desperately, that the Lord Jesus Christ would return in their own time period. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct this erroneous belief that was becoming pervasive even in his own time! As the year 1000 approached multiplied thousands of believers were certain Christ’s return was imminent. You older believers, don’t you remember the prognostications bandied about as the year 2000 approached? Don’t you remember how certain Jack Van Impe was that the Lord Jesus Christ’s return was absolutely imminent? And how about December of 2012?? Weren’t we supposed to see the end of the world then? (Let me suggest you read your Bible a bit more energetically and with a truly open mind).

But doesn’t the Bible say that no one knows the day or the hour of our Lord’s return? It most certainly does. (See Matthew 24:36). NO ONE can pinpoint the exact time of Christ’s return. We know He can’t return tonight, though, as there is much prophecy that must be fulfilled before that event can take place, contrary to the LIE that all necessary prophecies have already been fulfilled. Let’s say a neighbor of mine calls me from Paris, France, where he has been vacationing, asking me to have the air conditioning turned on at his home so that it has cooled down prior to his arrival. Do I need to rush next door and turn on the air conditioning unit as soon as I get off the phone. Of course not. Much has to transpire before my neighbor will appear at his doorstep. He must travel from his hotel to the airport, board an aircraft, fly to the states, change planes, etc., etc., and this will take much time. Although I do not know the day or hour of his arrival. (He didn’t tell me). I DO know when he can’t or won’t arrive. I know he won’t be home for supper. So, too, although we cannot know the exact time of our Lord’s return, we CAN know when He will NOT return – and He will NOT return tonight! (May I suggest you save this article. Put it in a safe place. Take it out and read it ten years from now, even twenty. Pass it on to your son or daughter. Ask them to do the same.)

Friend, Satan is an expert at what he does – deception. Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith and a host of others prove that to be an unarguable FACT, so do thousands and thousands of preachers who preach contradictory and opposing doctrines around the clock, the Presbyterian minister saying one thing, the Lutheran pastor yet something else, and the Baptist still something far different from both of them.  And all is confusion.  Yet all these preachers are absolutely certain God “called” them to preach and that they are His duly ordained spokesmen! 

Our Lord told us “When you shall see ALL THESE THINGS (coming to pass, finding fulfillment), know that it (the end of the age and His return) is near, even at the doors” (See Matthew 24:33). Now read the previous 32 verses in that chapter. Make a list of all the things you see Jesus Christ enumerating in that text. Cross out those that have already occurred. Notice what you have left, then ask yourself, “Could the remainder of these things transpire in the next few days, weeks, months?” Then buy whatever you wish on the installment plan. If you do not die prematurely, you will have time to enjoy your purchase as well as pay for it. Christ said, “Behold, I have told you before” (verse 25, Matthew 24). Why not believe HIM?

A disturbing thing about human nature is that “believers” believe and keep on believing, that is raised a Baptist, you’ll die a Baptist. Raised a Presbyterian, you’ll most likely die a Presbyterian, that is unless you meet and fall madly in love with a Lutheran, then there’s a good chance you’ll become a Lutheran, or else your sweetheart will become a Presbyterian, adopting your belief system as their own. Tragic, isn’t it. Most believe what they do NOT necessarily because it is true, but because they were either reared to believe what they do, or they embraced their beliefs because their marriage partner believed that way! But WHY do they keep on believing as they believe year in and year out until death do they part? Well, primarily because they are instructed in their particular belief system and have verses of scripture and practices pointed out to them that supposedly support their beliefs. The Baptist is 100% confident he can show you FROM THE BIBLE that once saved, always saved is the clear teaching of scripture. He conveniently ignores the fact that there are several other denominations in the Christian faith that are absolutely 100% certain they can show the open-minded Bible student that one can most certainly lose their salvation based upon their conduct and practices. Rarely do they switch sides, the “once saved, always saved” adherent becoming a firm believer in the teaching that one can, indeed, lose their salvation, or vice versa, the believer who thinks one can lose their salvation coming to believe such a thing is an utter impossibility.

And that is the troubling thing about spiritual deception. I have often used the example, parable if you will, that I gleaned from a television commercial of several years ago. A company that produced a product that was designed to eliminate roaches in one’s home was called the roach motel, and their slogan was “the roaches check in, but they don’t check out.” That is the troubling thing about spiritual deception. Once one checks in, they generally do not check out. That is, once a person has accepted a doctrine, a spiritual teaching as true, believing it to be adequately supported by the scriptures, they will most likely continue to hold to and believe that teaching for the rest of their life. Nothing will sway them from that belief. They will not examine the opposite viewpoint. Why do so? They know, and know they know that they are right. Again, that is the troubling thing about spiritual deception, the deceived mind consistently sees the “other guy” as being in the wrong – never themselves! Their erroneous beliefs are further fortified especially if they find they are in the majority, that most “believers” believe exactly as they do in a given matter. And their beliefs are even further undergirded when they find that many highly respected leaders of their particular denomination believe and teach exactly as they do.  Their beliefs are then set in concrete when week after week they attend meetings where those beliefs are stated and and re-stated again and again.  How could they possibly be wrong??? And that’s exactly how the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and time thought and reasoned. Some rejected Christ BASED ON SCRIPTURE!!! Notice, “Many of the people…said, ‘Of a truth this (Jesus Christ) is the Prophet (spoken of by Moses).’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Shall Christ come out of Galilee? HAS NOT THE SCRIPTURE SAID, THAT CHRIST COMES OF THE SEED OF DAVID, AND OUT OF THE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM, WHERE DAVID WAS?’ So there was a division among the people because of Him.” Knowing that Jesus was from Capernaum of Galilee, many rejected Him as they knew scripture declared the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem of Judea. Had they done a little checking they would have discovered that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem! (See John 7:40-48).

Friend, I would suggest you do a little checking in the scriptures before rejecting someone as you just might be rejecting a spokesman sent to you by God!!!

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Pretend you are a preacher in the Christian church. Pretend the year is 40 A.D. (The church is not even ten years old at that time and there is NO New Testament at all, not one scrap of the Greek scriptures has been written). You want to convince your fellow believers that they should abandon Sabbath observance and begin meeting on Sunday and should make that a “holy” day. What scripture, or scriptures, would you cite to convince them Sunday is the day they should set aside as a day of rest and worship. (Remember you only have the Old Testament scriptures to draw from). You’re having a problem, aren’t you? OK, let me help you out a little. Let’s pretend you are a fellow who has total recall of everything you have ever heard spoken. Let’s pretend you were present each and every time Jesus Christ spoke orally to anyone at any time in any place. Now, with that fantastic help, what would you cite that Jesus Christ said in order to prove to these first Christians that they should abandon the seventh day holy eternal Sabbath and begin resting and worshiping on Sunday? You’re still having a problem, aren’t you. Friend, it’s the same problem you will have when you come face to face with Jesus Christ at the judgment of believers and He asks you why you spurned his holy eternal Sabbath day for Sunday observance. If I were you I would get my story together now for you do not know what a day may bring forth and your life could very well end before sunset!!!!

As I continue, “Let’s Play Pretend,” this preacher with total recall will take you through his experiences with the early church, his interactions with various apostles and show you how the early church, the First Century Church did NOT abandon God’s eternal seventh day sabbath, nor did the apostles begin honoring Sunday as God’s “new” sabbath. I will show you how this is a tradition of deceived men, admittedly a very old tradition but NOT a tradition of God’s anointed Holy Spirit filled and led apostles. You will get a bit more insight into the cleverness of Satan’s operation, how he has the ability to snag and deceive not only the wisest man who ever lived – Solomon, not only one of Christ’s twelve apostles – Judas, but the overwhelming majority of professing Christians. He, Satan, is good at what he does, very, very good. And he fully intends to take YOU down, too, and may have already succeeded to a large degree. Do not underestimate the lion or the serpent (both symbols of Satan in the scripture) or you will be bitten, filled with poison and finally devoured.

Remember, you are the First Century preacher with total recall of everything Jesus ever said during His earthly ministry. You want to convince your fellow Christians that they should abandon the observance of God’s holy eternal seventh day sabbath for Sunday observance. You recollect the first time you ever heard Him speak. It was when you and a multitude of others went up into a mountain and heard Him give a lengthy discourse that would later be called “the Sermon on the Mount.” You recall that He plainly said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 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.” (See Matthew 5:17-19).

You further recall that Jesus went on to cite word-for-word a couple of these commandments to which he referred, saying, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not kill…'” (verse 21, Matthew 5). And, again, ‘Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery…'” (verse 27, Matthew 5). It then dawns on you that he was referring to the Ten Commandments, that these were the changeless commandments of God that were to be obeyed and that others were to be taught to keep these commandments, that not one jot, not one tittle, not one iota we would say today, could be changed in these commandments. You further realize, therefore, that Christ’s fulfilling of the law could not mean He abolished or did away with the Ten Commandments, but that He merely showed they could and must be kept! Suddenly it dawns on you that the fourth commandment is the commandment that clearly states, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,” and that this is the only commandment of the ten that is emphasized with the beginning word “remember.” Did God, therefore, foresee that this is the one commandment satan would strive diligently and yet quite cleverly to get men to forget?!!!

Your mind then leaps forward in time to one of the last things you heard Jesus Christ say: “And Jesus came and spake unto them (His disciples), saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations (and ALL nations would eventually include America, too, as well as any other nation on earth), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU (from the very beginning of His earthly ministry forward), and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.'” (See Matthew 28:18-20).

You are a bit uneasy now as you recall that early on in His teaching He dogmatically stated that not one jot or tittle, not one tiny bit, could be altered, changed or forgotten about the Ten Commandments. Surely the sabbath command could not be changed to speak of an entirely different day of the week, moved from the seventh day to the first day of the week!! That commandment says clearly, “But the SEVENTH DAY is the sabbath of the Lord thy God….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 (the SEVENTH DAY) and hallowed it (made it holy)” (See Exodus 20:8-11).

Blessed with total recall I suddenly recall another instance where Jesus Christ spoke of the sabbath day and how He informed some finger-pointing Pharisees that His disciples had done nothing wrong in procuring food on the sabbath day and how He ended His remarks to them that day, saying, “For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (See Matthew 12:1-8). I think, “Wait just a minute. If Jesus is Lord of the sabbath day, that would mean the sabbath is the Lord’s Day!”

Get out your concordance and look up the term “Lord’s Day.” You will not find one single instance in the New Testament wherein Sunday, or the first day of the week, is called the Lord’s Day. That is an invention of men and flatly contradicts what Jesus told the Pharisees, that He was Lord of the sabbath day, not Sunday.

There is something else I recall. I recall Jesus Christ giving a long discourse (later to be called “the Olivet Discourse,” or “the Olivet Prophecy” as it was delivered “as He sat upon the mount of Olives” (See Matthew 24:3). And I remember how, in speaking of a time of trouble far into the future, He said “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, NEITHER ON THE SABBATH DAY!” (See Matthew 24:20). It then dawns upon me that Jesus Christ saw the sabbath as a sacred day long after He had been crucified, resurrected and ascended back to heaven!!

I am beginning to feel more and more uneasy about trying to convince my fellow Christians to abandon sabbath observance and begin meeting for worship on Sunday as I recall Jesus also saying, “He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad” (See Matthew 12:30). Friend, we don’t gather with the Lord when we preach or teach doctrines that are contrary to what He said and taught. We scatter or divide the body of Christ. We establish TWO bodies of believers – a sabbath day observing body, walking in the truth, and a Sunday keeping body, walking in error!

“Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). Sunday observing preachers, preachers who scorn sabbath keeping and trample all over God’s eternal holy day, will someday give account to the Lord of the sabbath as to why they chose that course. I am not going to be in that crowd, and any man I call my “pastor” is not going to be in that crowd either.

Remember, I am the First Century preacher with total recall, having been present every time Jesus Christ spoke. Suddenly I recall something else. I recall that Jesus said, “The sabbath was made for man!” (See Mark 2:27). This troubles me as I had begun to use the argument that the sabbath was a Jewish holy day, part of the Old Covenant and that Christians need not honor Jewish customs and laws. I think about how the sabbath was established at the time of creation centuries before the first Jew was born, centuries before the time of Moses and the giving of the Old Covenant! This fact gnaws at my conscience for having used such a phony argument to persuade my fellow believers to abandon sabbath keeping and begin giving honor to Sunday.

Christ’s words from His “sermon on the mount” come back to mind: “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” (See Matthew 5:19). I think on God’s infinite mercy, and how one who spurns His sabbath and leads others to turn away from sabbath keeping might yet be saved and given eternal life but will be considered one of the least in God’s kingdom. Hence would be forfeiting great eternal rewards by following such a course.

I then recall how Jesus Christ legislated or taught how God’s holy sabbath was to be kept, stating, “wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days” (See Matthew 12:12). Racking my brain I can remember NOTHING Jesus ever said that would diminish the sacredness and importance of keeping God’s sabbath, how He kept it Himself and said, “Follow me!”

I recall how angry He was with the scribes and Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and saying to them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition…..Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition…..This people draws near unto me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (See Matthew 15:1-9).

When one spurns God’s holy sabbath after much careful scriptural instruction in its validity and importance, choosing rather to call Sunday their “holy” day and follow instructors who do the same, well they have taken their first giant step into embracing far-reaching error. And the scary thing about spiritual deception is that once a person elects to pass through that doorway they rarely find the exit to come back out. They but go deeper and deeper into spiritual error and misunderstanding of the scriptures. They are quite comfortable, though, in the way that they have chosen as they look about them and find that they are indeed in the majority and have many millions who agree wholeheartedly with them in the doctrines and teachings they have embraced. And those who are in agreement aren’t criminals and killers, loose-living immoral types but usually rather clean living honest folk. Their instructors and spiritual guides are generally lauded by the world and viewed by even the irreligious as God’s spokesmen.

But, remember this, we must ALL give account someday to the Lord Jesus Christ for our beliefs and practices. Someday an angel might escort us before our Lord while whispering in our ear, “He wants to talk to you about Sunday.” And we might find He isn’t smiling.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

the only time the people of ancient Israel actually heard the voice of God was when He thundered the Ten Commandments from the heights of Mt. Sinai. I then spoke of how He carved out the stone tablets Himself and with His own hand wrote the Ten Commandments in enduring stone. When Moses, in anger at the rebellion of Israel threw down the tablets containing the Ten Commandments and broke them, God had Moses carve out two more tablets, and then God once more Himself with His own hand wrote the Ten Commandments again. (See Exodus 32 through 34). With that knowledge in mind, there is something very interesting said in the 111th Psalm, verses 7 and 8: “The works of His hands are verity (truth) and judgment. ALL His commandments are sure (including the fourth commandment). They stand fast FOREVER AND EVER and are done in truth and uprightness.” And the 10th and final verse of that short Psalm says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, A GOOD UNDERSTANDING HAVE ALL THEY THAT DO (OR KEEP) HIS COMMANDMENTS..”

How can any thinking person then say the fourth commandment, the commandment to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy, did not stand fast forever and ever, but only stood fast until the time of Christ’s resurrection at which time it was totally changed, actually abandoned and Sunday observance took its place???? And folks have a hard time accepting the FACT that Satan possesses awesome, mind-boggling BLINDING POWER! And that he exercises this power continually over the minds of professing Christians!!

“You have rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:21). Many Christian congregations are laboring under a curse from God and don’t even know it. Like Laodicea of old, they think they are “rich and increased with goods, having need of nothing, and know not that they are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked!” (See Revelation 3:14).

Jesus said, “the scripture cannot be broken.” (See John 10:35). It means what it says and says what it means. Men can doubt the scriptures, disbelieve the scriptures, mock the scriptures, even burn the scriptures – still the scriptures cannot be broken. God’s commandments stand fast and sure and not one jot, not one tittle, not one iota will pass from them as long as heaven and earth endure. It ten thousand times ten thousand deceived preachers speak words to the contrary it makes no difference whatsoever. God’s Sabbath still stands as sure and sacred today just as it stood in the dusty days of the long ago. He changes NOT! Neither does His holy Word.

Now perhaps you can understand more readily why there are dozens and dozens of differing denominations in the Christian religion. Notice how many of them ignore the fourth commandment, insisting it was made void and nullified two thousand years ago! They think texts like Acts 20, Romans 14, I Corinthians 16, as well as passages in Galatians and Colossians support them in their error when they decidedly do not. The Lord graciously opened my eyes to the true meaning of all these texts many decades ago. Has He opened yours?

Before our Lord returns the great harlot church spoken of in Revelation chapters 14 through 19 that boasts she authorized the abandonment of Sabbath observance for Sunday observance many centuries ago will cause the whole world to embrace Sunday observance. Those denominations that today continue to honor God’s Sabbath shall either be annihilated or deceived into accepting Sunday observance also. Only a tiny minority will continue to exist at that time faithfully keeping all of God’s commandments. (See Revelation 12:1-17). “And the dragon was angered with the woman (the true body of Christ), and went to make war with the remnant of her seed (the few survivors still honoring God in all things) WHICH KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and (therefore) have the testimony of Jesus Christ (who said, ‘I have kept my Father’s commandments.’)” Revelation 12:17 and John 15:10.

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Well, I’ll say it again: the average believer, even the average preacher isn’t a deep thinker at all.  They just aren’t PERIOD.

Case in point: Those who have a fair understanding of the truths contained in the writings of the two prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah must admit that the one sin that angered God exceedingly was the sin of sabbath violation.  It was the sin, you might say, that broke the camel’s back.  Those who have a fair understanding and knowledge of the four gospel accounts will agree that God finally had gotten through to His people regarding the sacredness of His sabbath.  They now finally, after centuries of careful instruction, saw how jealous God was of His sabbath and had begun keeping it religiously, so much so that they even forbid doing good works on the sabbath!  In these four gospel accounts, Jesus bends over backwards and risks His life to show that it was perfectly alright with God if His people did good works on the sabbath.

Now here is what the shallow thinker wants you to believe: Just when God’s people finally get into the habit of sabbath keeping God suddenly, and without any warning whatsoever, switches it on them, making the day of the sun His new sabbath!!!!

I am to believe that God starts His church off on the worst possible footing.  At that time, in the Roman Empire, which included Judea and Galilee, Sunday was a day sacred to all Roman worshipers of the sun, and a day anathema to the Jew as any kind of “holy” day.  And I am to believe that God now adopts the day of the sun god as His new sacred sabbath and does so in Jerusalem thereby instantly alienating any Jews that had come to believe Jesus just might be the promised Messiah!!!  Satan’s deceptive powers are staggering!

Yes, I DO get a bit testy with preachers who ignorantly lead unsuspecting, well-meaning believers into embracing gross error, encouraging them to spurn God’s holy sabbath and adopt an ancient Roman custom, a custom going all the way back to pagan Egypt.  They will answer to Jesus Christ someday for what they have done and their smooth speeches and pleasant smiles will not serve them very well at that moment.  God have mercy on their ignorance.

Satan’s blinding POWER is little understood even by most professing Christians.  The “first day of the week” (Sunday) is mentioned eight times in the New Testament: Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2 and 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1 and 19; Acts 20:7 and I Corinthians 16:2.  Six of these instances merely state that it was the first day of the week when Jesus was discovered missing from the tomb or that the disciples were hiding from the Jews on that day lest they be arrested and killed also.  One is left with only two instances mentioning the first day of the week as proof God’s eternal sabbath had been abolished and Sunday was now a “holy” day – Acts 20::7 and I Corinthians 16:2).  Acts 20:7 merely states that since Paul was advertising the fact that he was departing that area never to return it just so happened that it was on the first day of the week when the Christians in the area of Troas were able to finally gather themselves together to see and hear Paul preach one last time.  Nothing is said about that day being a new holy day or the Christian sabbath.  Likewise with I Corinthians 16:2.  The first order of business for the first day of the week, after the sabbath had passed, was for the Corinthians to harvest and gather together emergency food for the starving Christians in Jerusalem.  No mention is made of that day being a day of worship or rest.  It is clearly viewed as the first day they are able to return to work in the fields and gather emergency rations for those in need in Jerusalem. See Acts 11:27-30 with Romans 15:25-28).

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Do you know who spoke the above words? The Pharisees! Do you know who they were talking about when they said, “We find no evil in this man?” The apostle Paul. (See Acts 23:6-9). Do you know what that clearly and unmistakably implies? It means that the apostle Paul was keeping the Sabbath and most certainly not teaching God’s holy, eternal Sabbath had been abolished or moved to the first day of the week. This was in the year A.D. 55, about 25 years after the founding of the church. Using the events recorded in Acts 20 to “prove” Paul was a Sunday keeper is ludicrous. The coming together of believers on the first day of the week in that chapter does NOT describe what they did each and every Sunday. It had evidently been published about that Paul was departing the area never to return. (See Acts 20:38). It took until the first day of the week for all the brethren to gather together to hear him preach one last time. The 11th verse of Acts 20 clarifies for us that the phrase “to break bread” in verse 7 is not speaking of participation in the Lord’s Supper, but the mere eating of a meal. (See also Acts 27:35-36).

Notice once more in Acts 23:9, it was the scribes and Pharisees who said of Paul, “We find no evil in this man.” Now look at Luke 6, verse 7, speaking of Jesus Christ, “the scribes and the Pharisees watched Him, whether He would heal on the sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against Him.” Had Paul taught against the honoring of God’s eternal, holy sabbath you can well believe the scribes and Pharisees would have been well aware of such heresy and would have been the first to condemn him. “Therefore said some of the Pharisees (concerning Jesus), ‘This man is not of God, because He keeps not the sabbath.'” (See John 9:16). These Pharisees erroneously thought it was unlawful to heal on the sabbath and that Jesus had violated the sabbath by healing a blind man on that sacred day. They would have said the same thing about Paul had Paul been urging Sunday observance and a forsaking of sabbath keeping. In the very words of our Lord, “Come now, and let us reason together….”

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

What if you had a ninety year old uncle who lived a few hundred yards from one of the many lakes in Michigan. He had witnessed the freezing over of that small lake well over fifty times. It was winter and the lake was beginning to freeze again. The temperature was in the teens and the weather report said that it would remain in the teens for at least the next 5 to 7 days. This uncle told you that it would not be safe to go ice fishing on that lake for at least 72 hours, but that after 72 hours, if the temperatures remained in the teens, he himself would go out on the lake, towing his small fishing hut and begin ice fishing. Would you ignore your uncle’s warning and go out on the lake just a-day-and-a-half later? I think most would answer, “Of course not. I would wait for 72 hours, three full days and three full nights.”

God gave us wondrous mind power, thinking ability, the capacity and potential to reason and draw conclusions. Jesus said “by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” If my uncle says the lake will be frozen over in 72 hours and 72 hours later such is not the case, he is condemned by the words he spoke as being mistaken or untruthful. If 72 hours later the lake is frozen sufficiently for one to go ice fishing thereon, then my uncle is justified and proven to be accurate and truthful in what he said. IMMEDIATELY AFTER making the above statement about either being justified or condemned by what you say, Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that He was going to give them only one sign and one sign only that He was truly their long awaited Messiah. He said that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish’s belly, likewise He would be three days and three nights in the grave! (See Matthew 12:37-40). That was the ONLY sign He gave the Jewish people He definitely was their Messiah.

But what do multitudes of Christians believe? They say He was crucified on Good Friday and placed in the tomb as the sun was setting that Friday. They further say He was resurrected from the dead Sunday morning before sunrise! Please break out your abacus, your calculator, or limber up your fingers and start counting with me. How many days and nights are there between sundown Friday and sunrise Sunday? OK, you have Friday night and Saturday night – two nights, right? You have the daylight part of Saturday and that’s all – one day, right? So Christianity’s erroneous teaching makes Jesus a false Messiah, a liar, a deceiver, for most of Christianity says Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday morning. And it is this FALSE teaching that locks the Jewish people into rejecting Jesus as their Messiah, because He said He was giving them only one sign that He was indeed the Messiah – that sign being that He would remain in the tomb for three days and three nights. Do you think God is happy with the thousands and thousands of pastors who perpetuate this horrible falsehood? If they would only believe their Bibles they would know that there were TWO sabbaths crucifixion week, an annual Sabbath and the weekly Sabbath (See Leviticus 23). But, no, they contend, “We don’t get our doctrine out of the Old Testament.” They don’t get it out of the New Testament either. I would not want to be in any of their shoes at the judgment. I really wouldn’t. They are going to see an angry Messiah staring them in the face.

Do you know why these pastors hold to their erroneous Good Friday-Easter Sunday tradition? Because it is this tradition that they cite as their reason for abandoning God’s eternal holy Sabbath for Sunday worship. They say it is in honor of Jesus Christ arising from the dead on Easter Sunday that causes them to hallow that Sunday and every other Sunday as God’s new day of rest and worship. This, of course, is another devil’s lie. Jesus came out of the tomb Saturday evening, not Sunday morning. When the women got to the tomb a great while before day while it was still dark THEY FOUND HIM ALREADY GONE! Read it in your own Bible. (See John 20:1-2). Don’t believe man’s empty arguments, believe God’s Word. Placed in the tomb at sunset, three days and three nights later would end at sunset, not sunrise. Jesus came out of the tomb at sunset- not sunrise. That’s why the women found him gone before sunrise Sunday morning. He had been gone for many hours, going in to Galilee before returning to Judea and appearing to Mary Magdalene and the disciples. (See Matthew 26:32).

So hold to your errors and your falsehoods, if you wish. I guarantee you that you will let them go someday, but it may well prove to be too little, too late. Yes, I speak rather frankly sometimes, so did our Lord. If there ever was a Preacher who made it plain, it was Jesus. I’m just following in His footsteps and He blesses me mightily and continuously.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Satan has a tackle box full of lures within which he has a lure, a lust, a temptation, a draw, an enticement, a deception or suggestion that is tailored to every human personality on earth! He is without peer in the world of the spirit or this physical world in his ability to deceive and capture the minds of men. He is a master at his craft and has had thousands of years to perfect his act. Without Jesus Christ serving as your High Priest and the Holy Spirit empowering you, you are no match for Satan. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, can attest to that fact. (See I Kings Chapter 11).

The Roman Catholic Church is an excellent example of how Satan moves behind the scenes to thwart the will and plan of God. This is evident to the spiritually astute observer in the use of the Roman Catholic Missal used each and every Sunday when Roman Catholics come together to worship. The missal follows the “liturgical” year and that exact same missal can be found in use at every mass, in every Roman Catholic church or cathedral around the world. The missal is a small pamphlet that prescribes beforehand what scriptures are to be read and the subject of the sermon that will be delivered that Sunday by the priest. A priest in Paducah, Kentucky will cite the same scriptures and speak on the same subject as a priest in Boise, Idaho, Sacramento, California or Macon, Georgia. The Holy Spirit and God’s truth are hindered marvelously among the Roman Catholic congregations. Satan’s cleverness is never more apparent to the true spiritual mind. I give Satan his due. He is very good at what he does. His greatest deceptions are never seen for what they truly are.

And, if you think Satan has no such hindering power, think again. “But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire, wherefore we would have come unto you, EVEN I PAUL, once and again, BUT SATAN HINDERED US.” (I Thessalonians 2:17-18). Yes, the mighty apostle Paul was hindered by Satan from getting to the Thessalonian congregation again and again! (I can’t begin to number the times Satan has hindered me from getting God’s truth into the minds of those walking in darkness).  Don’t limit God, but don’t under estimate Satan either.

A Roman Catholic congregation might be desperately in need of hearing God’s truth concerning a certain doctrine or belief, yet their priest is bound to reading totally unrelated scriptures and speaking on a more mundane subject. Potential suicides in a congregation might need to hear God’s word that fully addresses their need and problem while the priest reads scriptures speaking about tithing and his message is geared to his flock giving more sacrificially.

Know your enemy, friend. Know your enemy.

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

“YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS!”

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17).

Either we are living in the last days or we are not. Either God’s Word is true or it is not.

It is now 4:37 a.m. I awakened from a very realistic and troubling dream over an hour ago. In that dream I saw what appeared to be all the military brass from the various military branches of this nation gathered together in a great auditorium. I then saw a room where over the door of that room appeared the words “War Room.” The door to that room opened and I observed that it was a tiny room with but one object of furniture, a small table. On that table lay one object – a slingshot. The meaning of the dream flooded my mind. When God’s hand of blessing and protection is removed from a nation, it matters not how great is that nation’s military might and preparedness. That nation is essentially defenseless.

When one considers the length of time spoken of as the “last days” in light of the length of time that has passed since God first inaugurated time many thousands of years ago, then the last days might well be a century or two, not a handful of years!

I am seventy-six years old. I rarely remember my dreams. Within seconds of awaking, my dreams drift swiftly into the mist of forgetfulness, but I remember that dream quite well. (Note: I am now 82 years old. I had the foregoing dream Sunday, April 28, 2019).

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Jesus told the Jews the temple would be destroyed. (See Matthew 24:1-2). He told them Jerusalem would cease to be the worship center. (See John 4:21). But He never once even hinted that the sabbath would be abolished or changed – not once! HE DID THE OPPOSITE! HE PROPHESIED THE SABBATH WOULD STILL BE VALID MANY LONG YEARS AFTER HE HAD RETURNED TO THE FATHER’S SIDE IN HEAVEN!!! (See Matthew 24:20). Look at Matthew 24:20 in context. You will see that Jesus expected the sabbath to be kept long after His ascension back to heaven. Read your gospels slowly and carefully. Notice how our Lord continually gave instructions as to how to properly keep the sabbath. (See Matthew 12:12; Matthew 15:3; Mark 6:2). Your Lord continuously risked His life showing men how the sabbath ought to be kept. (See Mark 2:27 and Mark 3:1-7).

There is no Sunday commandment in all your Bible. Not one verse, not one scripture authorizes believers to abandon God’s seventh-day sabbath and to replace it with Sunday observance! Christians religiously observe a day God did NOT ordain while spurning a day God DID ordain to be observed and honored FOREVER AND EVER! And you don’t think Satan has the cleverness and the power to deceive THE WHOLE WORLD – even YOU? (See Revelation 12:9).

How does one read Acts 20, verse 7, and get out of that verse, or chapter, the belief God’s holy sabbath ended at the cross (or resurrection) and was replaced with Sunday worship? First of all, the phrase “to break bread” is NOT synonymous with communion or the Lord’s Supper. The term “to break bread” merely meant to share a meal, TO EAT! (See Luke 24:30 and Acts 2:46). Acts 20, verse 7, does not say, does not even imply sabbath observance had been replaced by Sunday observance. This verse does NOT say these believers assembled EVERY first day of the week to hear someone preach. Read the entire chapter. Look at the context. Paul is passing through the area, telling the believers they will see his face no more (verse 38). They would have gathered together on ANY day of the week under such circumstances to hear Paul preach one last time. Notice verses 5 and 6. Paul tarries at Troas, waiting for the believers to all get gathered together. It takes them until the first day of the week (Sunday) to do so. They then assemble together to enjoy a common meal and to hear Paul preach. No scripture even hints this space of time was ever made holy by God or now became the “Christian” sabbath. That’s ridiculous! God help you if you follow the majority just because they have traditionally been going in that direction for centuries!

Over and over your Bible says the seventh day is the sabbath. (See Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 16:26, 29; Exodus 20:10; Exodus 31:15; Exodus 34:21). Never once is the first day of week, or Sunday, called the sabbath in the scriptures, or called holy time. Over and over again your Bible says the sabbath is the Lord’s day, that He is Lord of the sabbath. (See Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5. Your Bible clearly says the sabbath was made FOR MAN – not just the Jew, but for mankind as a whole. (See Mark 2:27). The sabbath was made when man was created, centuries before the first Jew appeared on the scene. (See Genesis 2:1-3).

Multitudes of professing Christians have illustrious and long revered spiritual leaders who warn them they are placing themselves back under “the law of Moses” if they dare honor God’s eternal and holy sabbath day! They cite a few New Testament texts that they expound upon and assure their congregations these New Testament passages indeed reveal God’s sabbath was abolished and replaced with Sunday as a day of rest and spiritual reflection. Why search any further? All these Roman Catholics, Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses can’t be wrong in this matter! Ditto for the myriad other denominations that teach the Sunday tradition. All these millions of people can’t be wrong! Well, what about the BILLIONS of atheists, can they be wrong? You are using the wrong measuring stick to determine what is truth or error, friend. God have mercy on those who get it wrong.

Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley