Introducing the new BSA President

Dr. Sidney L. Davis, Jr.

"It will be a snowy day in June before I accept Saturday as the Sabbath." So said my aunt when Elder Carroll Lombard, of the Rochester, NH SDA church, was conducting Bible studies in the living room of my home in Portsmouth, NH. It was on a Friday when she said that. It was also June. The next day it snowed. It was not long after that the first SDA church was established in Portsmouth, NH. The charter members of that church consisted mainly of members of my family, Nana and Granddaddy all the way down, including cousins and second cousins.

My family was staunch Baptists. Even though Grand-daddy boasted of our Ethiopian heritage, he said little of the Ethiopian tradition of Sabbath keeping until he became a Seventh-day Adventist. I remember him telling me stories of how he would always ask his father (a minister) about the Sabbath. He knew that the Sabbath was biblical and had always wondered why they did not observe it. But here is where my Sabbath keeping observance had its beginnings.

Since the awareness of the Sabbath and its connection to my Ethiopian ancestry dawned upon my consciousness, my life has been one characterized in a passionate quest for the validation of both. It has resulted in an ever-expanding field of research that has been intensely spiritual and rewarding. As a Seventh-day Adventist I have been profoundly affected by the writings of Ellen G. White and her inspired testimony regarding the Sabbath truth. Her visions in which she was shown the origin of sin and its final eradication give what, to me, is the unique contribution of Adventism to the proclamation of the Sabbath truth. We SDA's call that perspective The Great Controversy or The Conflict of the Ages. She was shown in vision the character of this controversy in the last days:

The Sabbath question is to be THE ISSUE in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part."Testimonies for the Church," Vol.6, 52 (1900). She also was shown: "I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and PROCLAIMED THE SABBATH MORE FULLY. This enraged the churches and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time God's chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us." Early Writings, p. 33.

My association with the Bible Sabbath Association has been in connection with the conferences and seminars that I, and a core group of others, have been conducting under the banner of the ministry that I have dedicated myself to: Proclaiming The Sabbath More Fully. The series of intra-Sabbatarian conferences and seminars, which I have been privileged to help organize and conduct all across the United States, has been for bringing attention to THE ISSUES that have to do with the proclamation of the Sabbath truth. This is what I see as the challenge facing Sabbatarians as we enter the 21st Century of the Common Era. As a representative of the BSA, I see my mission as assisting in bringing to a unified consensus all Sabbatarian fellowships to meet the challenge that is being mounted against the Sabbath truth by a united evangelical Protestant community led by the papacy.

This challenge that is being led by a united Christian church, with the papacy as it's voice and moral authority, seeks to invalidate the continuity and relevance of the Bible Sabbath truth and Bible Sabbath observance in the Christian community. The strategy of this challenge, as presented by the papacy, is to enlist the world's governments to legitimize or legalize the festivals of the Catholic Church as legal holidays for Christians to observe. Through this strategy the Catholic Church seeks to enjoin upon the worlds governments the sanctity and holiness of the Lord's day which the majority of the Christian world call Sunday.

Another challenge, which we as Sabbatarians are facing, comes from within. There are increasing pressures being brought to bear upon Sabbatarians and Sabbatarian organizations to abrogate the Sabbath truth in the face of what is called the New Covenant Theology. Such were the pressures which saw the abrogation of the Sabbath truth in the Worldwide Church of God and its subsequent disintegration. An inconsistent and indefensible Sabbatarian theology regarding the Law of God is being picked to pieces by evangelical Christians. Such are the pressures knocking on the door of the Church of God 7th Day and the Seventh-day Adventist church as individual members, and churches within, are gravitating these denominations toward embracing this so-called New Covenant doctrine. These are issues that must be adequately addressed and fully met, and we will both address and meet them.

Perhaps the momentous challenge against the Sabbath will be played out on the international scene. The state of Israel is the only nation on this earth that has the Sabbath legally enshrined within its constitution. Will the events of the Pope, declaring the year 2000 a sabbatical Jubilee year, have any legal consequences upon the state of Israel due to his calling upon the nations of the world to legalize Sunday as a day of rest and worship for Christians?

We are also standing on the threshold of increasing supernatural phenomena. So called revivals and deliverance ministries, with miracles, signs and wonders, testify to the validity of traditions and doctrinal positions that stand in direct opposition to the Sabbath truth and the validity of God's holy law. Are we ready for that challenge? Are we aware, do we know and are we ready for the theological and political issues involved?

There are practical ways in which I hope that we can present a united front to the Papal challenge. The Bible Sabbath Association needs to be the instrument to build bridges and tear down walls within the Sabbatarian community. We need to unite on our commonality and not be divided by our peculiarities. A new and updated directory of Sabbath Observant groups and organizations is needed and I ask that we all participate in sending in the names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of every organization that supports the Sabbath truth. We are hoping to have such a directory to be on-line - on the Internet - as well. These are daunting tasks that can be done with the support and contributions of our membership.

We also need to expand our membership of organizations and individuals to the BSA. We are asking that each one reach one in this effort. We want to take the BSA into the international arena. We want a representative in every country on the globe. We want to expand the readership of The Sabbath Sentinel. We want The Sabbath Sentinel in the hands of every legislator and every head of State. We need to improve on the quality and quantity of our articles and literature. We need to get The Sabbath Sentinel in every doctor's office, every waiting room and Laundromat. And finally we need to remember those in the PRISONS. We need to get this into our brethren in the prisons also.

There are Sabbath keeping communities in the United States and in every part\line of the world of which we need to become aware, and to embrace. Because each Sabbath keeping fellowship considers themselves a, it has bred an atmosphere of exclusivism that has perpetuated what I call a siege mentality among Sabbatarians. We do not know WE exist. I have met Adventists even today who believe that the SDA church is the ONLY Sabbath keeping church in the world!

There have been great advances in the understanding of the Sabbath truth and it's connection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we need to share with each other. The salvific nature of the Sabbath, as the sign of God's sanctifying power to save and redeem, needs to be proclaimed in louder and clearer tones. I believe that we each have a unique perspective to the proclamation of the Sabbath more fully.

There are Sabbath observant groups and societies that continue to be discovered all over the world, like the 1 million strong Jesus People of the Szechwan province of China. There are histories and discoveries of ancient Sabbath keeping traditions on the African continent.

I look forward in sharing in the mission of the Bible Sabbath Association by bringing to the fore all of these relevant issues of great consequence to us all. I am privileged to be a part of a leadership of the only Sabbatarian organization of its kind. I am in fine company with the board of directors of this organization, each of whose loyalty and dedication to the Sabbath, and commitment to the Lord of the Sabbath, is an inspiration to me. We solicit your prayers and support in the days ahead.

TSS

November - December 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel