January - February 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel

Letters to the Editor

Just received "The Sabbath Sentinel" - Sept/Oct issue. I tore it into pieces and thrown it into the rubbish. (T)his is Paul's answer to your remarks on his preaching concerning how women ought to behave: 1 Corinthians 14:37-38. And this is Peter's response: 2 Peter 3:15-16. Repent of your error! Please remove my name from your list. I don't any relationship with any False Teachers.

Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. [2 John 1:3].

Mariappan Eddiah -- Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

I read the scriptures you quoted and in response I would like to remind you of several scriptures. First, Proverbs 18:13, where it states that giving an answer before you hear it is foolishness. Second, 1 Corinthians 7:6, where Paul admits that he is speaking his own opinion, and not of a command of God. Third, in 2 Timothy 2:15, we are cautioned to study so that we can rightly divide the word of truth.

I found it interesting in your electronic mail message to me that you demand that I "stop twisting and perverting the scripture" yet you forwarded the same scriptures with which the article dealt as proof of your point. At the same time, you did not deal with how Paul could have written such things in the face of the clear manner in which God dealt with women in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New.

What you find written in the pages of The Sabbath Sentinel is not intended to be gospel. They are the writings of men and women that are intended to enlighten others--or at least to get others to consider scriptures in a different light. They are not intended as writings on which you should base your theology. Indeed, if you accept what is written in these pages as truth without independent study and verification, you are accepting the doctrines of men in place of the commandments of God.

One clear command is that we prove all things. Inherent in that command is that we disprove also. Your response was not a rational explanation of the error of the article, but was the irrational response of tearing up the magazine and throwing it in the rubbish. How then will you come to grow in knowledge if your response to any new understanding is to reject it out of hand and refuse to consider it in light of scripture? As a brother, I caution you to consider proving error, so that you can reject it.

That stated, I pray that nobody reading this magazine uses it as the basis of biblical understanding. Much truth is found within these pages, but nobody can perform a complete biblical study on any subject in the few pages allotted to a writer here. It is up to the readers to "prove all things."

Ed.

I read with great interest Mr. Wong's article on the Sabbath movement in China, as well as his following interview. However, I believe that there needs to be a correction. Mr. Wong stated that the first Christian group to reintroduce the seventh day Sabbath to China was the Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1896. Actually, Seventh Day Baptist history states that there was a Seventh Day Baptist sabbath school in Shanghai, China as early as 1884. Among the superintendents were D. H. Davis, Dr. Ella Swinney, and Gideon Henry FitzRandolph. Mr. FitzRandolph's wife, Lucy Greene FitzRandolph, gave birth to at least two of their children while living there. A Seventh Day Baptist Church building was built in 1910.

May you be blessed as you continue to spread the truth about the Sabbath of the Bible. Sabbatarian christians have much to gain by edifying each other in the name of Jesus Christ.

Kenneth Monroe

Thanks for the insight. Perhaps Paul Wong can look into your insight and bring some more information to TSS in a future article. Indeed, it sounds as if you have some background in this area yourself. How about an article from you?! Write me at the address below if you would be interested in doing an article! Or, email me at rmitchel@flash.net.

Ed.

A friend in California made us aware of a recent article in the Sabbath Sentinel magazine about Sabbath keepers in China. Would you be able to email us the article? Also, would you give us permission to reproduce the article in PETAH TIKVAH MAGAZINE? We will, of course, give full credits including the address for our readers to contact your publication for a subscription. Also, could you send us a copy of the China Sabbath issue? (By the way, we do supply you with Petah Tikvah Magazine.)

Rick Aharon Chaimberlin

Your crediting TSS and the Bible Sabbath Association for the article is appreciated. We are always looking for ways to spread the truth about God's Sabbath. With more people reading and helping, it will be easier to get the message out. Many hands do indeed make light work. In the event that you did not know, the subscription is free to the magazine. Subscribe on line at www.biblesabbath.org or write to Bible Sabbath Association, 802 N.W. 21st Ave. Battleground, WA 98604. You may also call at 307-686-5191.

Ed.

This is in answer to your recent article-"The Issue"- published in the Sept/Oct 2000 issue of the Sabbath Sentinel. It disturbs me that you seem to think we have to be able to give an answer to the New Covenant Theology (NCT), or anyone for that matter, as to why we keep GOD's HOLY SABBATH. Your article seemed to say to me that if we can't find new and convincing arguments, then we have to succumb to these folks. HOGWASH!! I don't keep the Sabbath with the idea I have to justify my actions to any man or manmade organization. I keep the Sabbath because GOD created it, sanctified it and set it apart as Holy (Gen. 2:2-3) I keep God's Sabbath because GOD placed it as a sign of his people as a perpetual covenant (Exodus 31:13-16).

I don't have to justify my actions to the NCT because Christ tells us to present the Gospel and if anyone doesn't accept it, to shake the dust off our feet and move on. I don't keep the feasts on a regular basis because there is nowhere in the old or new testaments that commands it according to the present day method of keeping them. There is no place in the Bible that says the Feast of Tabernacles stands for the millenial reign, for example. Or that the Feast of Trumpets stands for the last trumpet sound. The only explanation for the feast is given in the old testament and no one keeps them according to the instructions given. There is no authorization for man to choose at random different cities and towns as vacation sites and call them feast sites. And God says in Deut. 16:16 that three of them are to be kept in the city of Jerusalem and that's not being adherd too, either.

Eph. 2:15 tells us that the laws contained in ordinances were abolished and the Feast Days and the ceremonies that accompanied them were called ordinances in Numbers 9 and 10. We don't need to worry about whether we can justify our obedience to GOD according to the NCT or any other man made organization. We just need to worry about justifying our actions before GOD. If we please him, that's all that matters. If we seek him first and serve him with all of our being, GOD will take care of the NCT and others like them according to his time table, not ours.

Let's just keep the Sabbath and admonish others to do so according to the plain Bible truth. If they refuse to accept it, that's between them and GOD. Amen!!

Kenny James

Thank you for reading The Sabbath Sentinel and for your comments on the president's message. To be sure my articles provoke comments both pro and con. May God continue the strengthen your resolve to do his will and your conviction regarding his Sabbath truth.

Dr. Sidney Davis, Pres.

I want to sincerely thank you for the fine job you are doing as editor of TSS. I do have a question for you, and that is, I am having a little trouble interpreting the pictures on some of the magazine covers. You know how some magazines put a small picture of the cover on the inside with an explanation, "About Our Cover"? You may want to consider that, then dummies like me won't have to wonder what the message is, when you are obviously sending one on the cover....

I read your article on a woman's role in the church. Even if that were the best article I had ever read on the subject, and even if I agreed with every point you made, I would still ask the following question: Is the TSS the right vehicle for this type of article? I suspect the article will cause some subscribers to react in a negative way....

While no one does a perfect job, you have been doing an excellent job as editor, and you are my friend and brother in Christ. I have taken the liberty to express myself to you in love and respect and I hope you will receive it in that spirit.

Darl Arbogast

Thanks for your insight. I had not given much thought to whether or not our covers were understood, assuming that everyone was getting the idea that was being conveyed by the picture. Your idea about explaining the cover has merit, and I will try to incorporate an explanation as I have time and room. It could even become a short one page regular feature within TSS. I like your idea, and I really appreciate your taking the time to send it to us.

As to TSS being the right place for such an article on women's roles, I wonder, what more correct place could there be? You mentioned in your lengthy letter that some other publications might be more appropriate for the publication of that article. I appreciate your concern. There is only one publication that reaches across all corporate and organizational lines to Sabbatarians everywhere, The Sabbath Sentinel. The improper and inappropriate treatment of fellow children of God who happen to be born with internal instead of external reproductive organs crosses all of those same lines. It has resulted in stifling the gifts of God that He says we all have been given. With that in mind, what more appropriate place can there be at this time?

We have had a few negative responses. They have been outweighed by the many positive ones, from people who recognized the disparity of treatment of women by God and Christ, and what we interpreted from the writings of Paul. But I do recognize your concern and you may rest assured that I would not have broached the subject if I had not seen a need for it. Thank you again for your support and encouragement.

Ed.

TSS

January - February 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel