Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Mount
Baker
Beacon

Volume 02, Number 50
12/10/2023

Published by
Mt. Baker
church of Christ

Location:
   1860 Mt. Baker HWY

Mailing Address:
       P.O. Box 30821
  Bellingham, WA 98228
       (360) 752-2692

Sunday:
Bible Classes..........9:30 AM
Worship..10:30AM; 6:00PM

Wednesday:
Bible Classes.........7:00 PM

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Editor......John Bass

In this issue:

• SLIPPERY SLOPES OF SABBATARIANISM (1) - ANEMIC BEGINNINGS!
• SLIPPERY SLOPES OF SABBATARIANISM (2) - ABSURD CLAIMS!

"SLIPPERY SLOPES OF SABBATARIANISM (1)
ANEMIC BEGINNINGS!
Steven J. Wallace

With this article, we shall begin a series analyzing the slippery slopes of the Sabbatarian movement. These constitute problems with such denominations as the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. These things are not written out of malice or mischievousness, but out of the love for truth and enlightenment. 

When one looks at the church (not the divided denominational world of today but the pure church that Jesus Christ built and we read about in Scripture), one finds a beginning that can be classified as “powerful,” “explosive,” and “world turning” (Mk. 9:1; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4; 17:6). But when one looks at the beginning of Adventism, one sees a dismal, anemic, and disappointing beginning rooted in a fellow by the name of William Miller. 

The Lord’s church began about 30 A.D. It was built by the grand Architect and purchased with the blood of God (Acts 20:28). It was foretold hundreds of years in advance (see Is. 2:1-4). The church’s Founder was born of a virgin; He lived sinlessly but was murderously put to death. However, He resurrected and afterward assembled with men. Forty days later He was seen with human eyes ascending into the heavens (Acts 1:9-11)! On the other hand, Mr. Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on February 15, 1781, and died at Low Hampton, New York, on December 20, 1849. He is perhaps best known for his failed prophecy that predicted the Lord’s return in 1844. The church of Christ stands in stark contrast to the churches of men. 

With this, one can see a small snapshot of the fragile and broken beginnings of Adventism. Adventism has the wrong place, the wrong person, the wrong date, and mistaken prophesies. After serving as a minister in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination for 28 years, D.M. Canright penned 26 reasons for renouncing it. His first was, “It [Seventh-day Adventism, SJW] was born in a mistake. The origin of Adventism was in the Millerite time- setting of 1843 and 1844, which all know was a mistake” (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, 1914). Its origin is interlocked with falsehoods. Recall Moses’ words, “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously . . .” (Deut. 18:22).

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SLIPPERY SLOPES OF SABBATARIANISM (2)
ABSURD CLAIMS!
Steven J. Wallace

Sabbatarians make a universal Sabbath-keeping claim. They contend the Sabbath commandment was given for all men of all ages and are quick to point out that God sanctified the seventh day after the creation (Gen. 2:1-3). We do not object that God rested and sanctified the seventh day after the creation. Rather, we contend that God did not command the seventh day to be holy until years later. We ask Seventh-day Adventists to please show us in the Bible where someone other than a Jew was commanded to keep the Sabbath Day
holy. Let’s notice what the Holy Scripture says regarding who was to keep the Sabbath holy.

Moses should be well qualified to tell us. He calls the “Ten Commandments” the Lord’s Covenant. “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone” (Deut. 4:13). Yet, Moses unmistakably states, “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive” (Deut. 5:2, 3; emp. mine). So, the Ten Commandment-Covenant was not given before Moses. Now either a modern-day denomination (which originated amid mistaken prophesies is correct) or Moses is. Both cannot be right.

We also submit the testimony of Nehemiah, one of the great restorers in the Old Testament. He wrote, “You [Jehovah] came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws…You made known to them Your holy Sabbath…” (Neh. 9:13, 14). If Jehovah “made known to them,” then they couldn’t previously know this. The conclusion is clear: Before Moses, men didn’t know anything about keeping the Sabbath holy.
We can also add to the list the prophet Ezekiel. He wrote down the word of the Lord saying, “Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me…” (Ezek. 20:10-12). How can the Sabbath be for all nations of all times if it was a sign between God and one nation—Israel (see also Exod. 31:16, 17)?

The New Testament agrees. Paul taught being married to Christ means that we are dead to the law (Rom. 7:4-6). He identifies this “law” as the Ten Commandments, the very law given by Moses, saying, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Rom. 7:7, emp. added, SJW). “You shall not covet” is the tenth commandment written in the tablets of stone (Exo. 20:17).

Paul wrote of this ministry that was “written and engraved on stones” as a “ministry of death,” “of condemnation” and was “passing away” (2 Cor. 3:7-16). His inspired pen revealed that such was nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14).

The Bible teaches that the Sabbath belonged to only one nation for about 1500 years. It was not kept or known before Moses and was not commanded by the apostles after Christ’s ascension.

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Created by John Bass, last updated.  12/09/2023

The Mount Baker Beacon is a weekly publication of the Mt. Baker church of Christ, Bellingham, WA.
Send all questions, comments to the editor, John Bass at (360) 325-5149 or johnbass2468@gmail.com