June-July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
Letters to the Editor . . .
I do not really disagree with your article [The Christian and Military
Service]. [But] I'm sure you realize Our Father was with His
people Israel in many wars.
If it hadn't been for the greedy and ungodly men to oppose
Adolph Hitler, to stop the killing of Sabbath Observing Jews,
and if he had been allowed to continue, how many righteous
conversions and children of God would have been produced? How
many Sabbath observing people would have survived until now?
George Goltry
Golden, MO
Thank you for your response to my article on Military
Service. Yes, at times, God was with Israel in war. But they
did not need to fight, because He fought for them. At times,
they fought contrary to His will. The USA does not have
righteous rulers like King David. You can be sure that God did
not tell Woodrow Wilson to get us into WW I, nor did He tell
Franklin D. Roosevelt to get us into WW II. In fact, the US
government knew of the coming sneak attack of the Japanese,
and, to counter the popular anti-war sentiment of Lindbergh's
peace movement, allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor to
rally the American people to support the war. In order to
defeat Hitler, Roosevelt decided to throw American support to
another bloody dictator, his friend, Communist Russia's Joseph
Stalin. There is nothing righteous in this whole human
debacle! God's people should stay clear of such wickedness.
You imply that God needed to use "greedy and ungodly men" to
stop Hitler. God did perform many miracles to help the Allies
defeat the Nazis and the Japanese. But, He is not dependent on
using the American army, or any human institution. It is an
historical fact that the Roman Catholic Church was
instrumental in the rise of Adolph Hitler to power, and
Catholics aided the safe escape of many Nazis after the war,
through the infamous "ratlines." Evil men caused Hitler to
come to power, allowed him to continue through compromise, and
now sanitize him in the minds of a younger, naive, generation
who murder their school classmates at will. God did not need
human armies to defeat Hitler because He could have prevented
Hitler from appearing on the scene in the first place. The
defeat of Hitler was a major setback for the Catholic program
to revive the Holy Roman Empire. It was not according to the
Almighty's timetable, so He did not allow it to happen
then. There was more gospel work for the Church to do. The
Heavenly Host of God is stronger than any human army. Unless
we have the faith to stand up to today's Hitlers in spiritual,
not carnal, warfare, we might as well toss out our Bibles and
become atheists.
Rich Nickels
Great issue! I especially enjoyed Bob Sumner's two articles. And
thanks for printing mine. Now about Daryl (Darl) Arbogast's suggestions on increasing
circulation; it could be dangerous to arbitrarily send
copies to private businesses such as Doctor's, Dentist's, beauty
salons, etc. These private operators have their own religion and
usually it is their policy not to discuss religion or politics
in their businesses as these two subjects are highly
controversial and could cause the loss of customers. I
personally know of some doctors and garage men who keep a close
watch on the magazines that people leave in their waiting rooms
and they immediately throw out all religious material - not
because they are against religion, but because one church's
material may be offensive to customers or patients of other
persuasions. May I suggest that you follow the suggestion that I
offered a few years ago and that former editors have used. That
is to sponsor subscriptions to hospitals, nursing and rest
homes, and prisons. These institutions are not private and they
all contain patients of all different persuasions - none at all
but who need to learn of God. These institutions are always
happy to receive and display any churches material; and in
sending TSS to them, you fulfill the request of Jesus to visit
the sick and in prison.
John Shirn
"I had supported the paper [The Sabbath Sentinel] for a number
of years, but dropped it because of the use of the NIV Bible by
its editor. The 7th [day] Sabbath is `the' Sabbath [KJV], and is
not just `a' sabbath [NIV]. Exodus 20:10."
Clark Chamberlain
Ontario, Canada
The original Hebrew of Exodus 20:10 says, "And day the
seventh, Sabbath." The definite article "the," which is "ha"
in Hebrew, is used both in verse 8 and verse 10. This is only
one instance of the inferiority of the NIV translation versus
the KJV (or NKJV). Roderick C. Meredith, leader of the Living
Church of God, appropriately terms the NIV as the
"Non-Inspired Version."
Rich Nickels
"Thank you very much for fatihful sending the Sabbath
Sentinel. It arrived during my missionary trip to [an]other
area. It is useful fro my missionary and to show the Sunday
keepers. It [is] spiritual food for me. It will be used for my
guide in the work of the Lord and Sabbath Truth for preaching in
my area. We are the Mizo [tribe]....The Sabbath keepers are
minority in our country [where Christians are only 5.5% of the
population]....Sometimes we have found difficulties for the
Sabbath Truth. The Sabbath keepers family are poor. The Sunday
keepers hated the Sabbath Truth much in my area. Please remember
us all your prayers for our ministry in Myanmar."
Pastor Chhunhranga
Apostolic Church of God 7th Day of Myanmar
Gifts of tracts and other literature for Myanmar (formerly
Burma) may be sent through The Bible Sabbath Association for a
donation to cover postage.
I view the resignation of Lars Harrison as editor of TSS with
mixed emotions. I thought he did a fine job in trying to bring
many sabbath-keepers into Christianity. The bad news is that
voice, and influence, is stilled. The good news is he is free of
the authority of such a Pharisaic board of directors.
I feel the last two editions of TSS to be exceptionally
disheartening. The March-May 1999
issue, in particular, was limited to two
spiritually-oriented articles, one by John Shirn and one by Robert Sumner. The
rest could have been written forty years ago and fit nicely into
the Church of God, 7th Day. In those days the New Testament was
used accidentally by many who didn't understand the Gospel
message, or didn't agree with it.
By my count, which may be off somewhat, and exclusive of the two
authors referenced, there were in the order of 138 references to
the Sabbath, or sabbath-keeping. There were about 13 references
to Jesus or Christ. A ratio of about 11:1, It seems the day
created by God is worshipped, while the Lord of the Sabbath is
virtually ignored.
I also take issue with your doctrine of salvation by works,
despite all the weasel-words to the contrary. Paul has nice
words for this preaching in Galatians 5:4. I went through all
this detritus doctrinal focus forty years ago. A re-visit is not
acceptable. Please remove my name from the distribution list.
Ernest P. Bergmann
I certainly understand your concern about wanting to see more
about the Lord of the Sabbath, or at least not see Him
ignored. That has been the concern of others as well. Please
understand that TSS has been undergoing a change since the
departure of Lars, and it will take a little while to replace
one of his calibre (if it can be done at all!), and to get TSS
back on an even keel, so to speak! The search for a permanent
editor continues this month.
In the interim, I hope that you understand that nobody is
served by your departing our fellowship here at TSS, and I ask
that you reconsider your request for removal. Instead, could
you perhaps recommend article topics that would be of interest
to you. Obviously, there is much that can be said of many
different Sabbath keeping groups which exist, and TSS will
continue to do that. Such is not so much the case this month,
with our emphasis on children. But, we would very much
appreciate your positive input on articles that would be of
interest to you.
Please feel free to contact me directly at rmitchel@flash.net
Royce Mitchel
TSS
June - July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
|