Friday brought another blue sky day. On the way to the venue, I stopped and bought some Hershey ‘Kisses’ for the booth. We like to spell out F7 with kisses on the table, and have people answer a Bible question before getting a kiss (Hershey, of course). As Hans Deihl would say “You can have one kiss.”
There was a panel with Gwen Shorter and Danny and Yvonne Shelton. It was very good, covering the testimonies of the ladies.
Then there was a beautiful song by Hope Shorter, complete with accoustic guitar. I like that sort of thing.
Some Tidbits
Vanessa from Lithuania, talked about pharmaceutical corruption. She talked about CBD used sometimes for cancer, but mostly used wrongly.
The East is invading the West in the area of spirituality, a point I endeavored to make in 2014 at Sacramento Central.
Yoga means ‘yoked’. When you get involved with eastern medicine your are yoked to the wrong power. It is a false religion.
Modern religion robs Jesus of the resurrection by placing people in heaven or hell before the judgment or resurrection has even happened.
Afternoon
Charlie Kirk
Charlie grew up Presbyterian. Discovered the Sabbath in the Bible. Also heard a radio speaker talking about the blessings of Shabbat. They started keeping it. He loves to talk about the sabbath; he gets tired of politics. He is writing a book on the sabbath. Stop in the name of God.
Sabbath helped him immensely. Before he started keeping it, he was sleeping poorly and burning the candle at both ends. He heard Dennis Prager talk about keeping the Sabbath. He got jealous of him after hearing about God’s divine stop sign. They made a commitment to start keeping it.
The Sabbath is a prioritizing of who is in the church. Genesis 1:1 sets the tone for God’s requirements and authority. The Catholic church tried to change the Sabbath to Sunday. It is the most ignored Commandment of the Decalogue. Honoring the sabbath helps you keep the other 9.
Dr. James Marcum shares the Sabbath with patients who are faced with health crisis. People use dopamine to make up for a lack of Bible truth in their lives. True worship activates a healthy part of the brain, that includes the Sabbath.
Charlie turns off his phone Friday night till sabbath night. Turns it off, his family uses electric on Sabbath. No news on Sabbath. If I can turn my phone off you can too. Charlie has 1500 employees. They know not to try calling him on the Sabbath. He turns his phone off. One time the President tried calling him on Sabbath. Charlie did not answer it. This day is for the Creator God and his Saviour.
Sabbath keeps you distinct from other people. Sometimes other Christians give you a hard time for keeping it. If I walk into your house on Sabbath, can I tell something different is happening? All family, all Jesus.
Ivan asked “How do you connect Jesus to Sabbath?”
Charlie: There is some sloppy teaching that Jesus broke the Sabbath. Two miracles, creation and resurrection affirm the Sabbath.
There are two types of people.
We are an unhappy accident.
Or creation. We are a miracle. By honoring the sabbath we are pushing back against dark nihilism in our world.
Never worship creation. Worship the creator. Romans 1.
Flesh fights the Sabbath. The enemy wants to prioritize materialism over the Creator.
Danny Shelton joined the interview. Gave Charlie a book, The Ten Commandments Twice Removed.
Charlie said only slaves work 7 days a week (Deuteronomy). You cannot have a free society if you are working 7 days a week. He said he wasn’t really opposed to blue laws if they are trying to curb materialism and nihilism in our culture. That generated further discussion, polite of course. It represents a disconnect between Sabbath keeping and personal liberty. He said when Americans started keeping their business open on Sunday we began to go into national debt. Society is better without unbroken commerce. True, but it must happen by choice, not coercion.
He is on a journey and his strong commitment to honoring the Sabbath should eventually help him see blue laws for what they are. I believe it will, because he stated that he was troubled by the violations of personal liberty during Covid.
Charlie asked a question “How do you respond to people who say the Ten Commandments are nailed to the cross. He was sincerely asking. He has endured some reproach by other believers for keeping the Sabbath.
Danny Shelton said ask them if it’s ok to steal. He said no amount of works can get you into heaven. But if the Law of God is done away with, there is no restraint on human disobedience.
Charlie said he has learned Sunday started with the Catholic Church. Wow. Some people believe that humans are the creators of time. Only God can create time.
Sabbath is one of the greatest expressions of your faith. Honoring the Sabbath is some of the greatest examples of fruit to a broken world. Ron Kelly was supposed to participate in this interview, but was resting in the rental house from a bug he caught while on a trip to South Africa. Such is the price of world travel, sometimes.
Ricky Kearns came out and talked about AT Jones and the Blair Bill and Roger Williams. From Rhode Island came separation of church and state.
Charlie responded that if we don’t claim the public square, our wicked culture will. Friendly debate ensued. Charlie did say that he was more interested in the Bible than Roger Williams or AT Jones. The audience responded favorably to that.
Charlie asked what is the church. Ekklesia. Called out ones. If you believe in Christ you are part of the collective church. If Jesus is king of your life. you are the church.
Charlie. The Fourth Commandment also wants us to work six days. Don’t forget that. That would cure laziness in our culture.
Charlie. Churches are missing out by not honoring the Sabbath. People are so distracted today. He likes to ask people “Do you believe there is a god, are you him?” I don’t have to keep the Sabbath, I get to keep it. Kids are blessed by it. Shabbat means stop.
Charlie summed up by saying “You guys are the nicest people I have been around. The Sabbath is not just Jews, it is for everyone.”
Graham Hood
He was pressured to fly on Sabbath as a pilot. He didn’t call in sick because didn’t want to lie to keep the Sabbath. Break one Commandment to keep another one? Not righteous.
Graham was invited to speak at a big rally in Sydney. 350k people. On sabbath. He prayed for the people, and told them he was keeping the Sabbath and they were his church family for the day. They passed out thousands of Great Controversy’s.
Shepherds Not for Sale
Megan Basham interviewed Graham Hood and Artur Pawlowski. Ron Kelly was supposed to be on this panel, but was ill.
Tyrants want us to forget Covid. The blood of the people who died demand restitution. We must hold their (tyrannical leaders) feet to the fire to avoid future tyrannical oppression.
People watch you when you stand up for truth and freedom. They wonder, Why are you not afraid? It is a witness for God.
Graham: If I’m not getting pushback from the church, I’m not doing my job.
Neil Nedley
Neil talked about depression and had some interesting biblical analogies. It was a good presentation.
More could be said about unresolved bitterness and moral failure contributing to depression, but Neil is focused more on physiological causes of depression. He did a good job.
Summary of the Day
What can we learn from Charlie? In some ways he is a better sabbath keeper than many of us. I don’t turn my phone off on Sabbath, usually. We appreciate his courage to keep the Sabbath even when others criticize him for it.
I appreciate his desire to help people disentangle themselves from this evil culture (Acts 2:40). It is a commitment that we should share. He asked privately, “Adventists focus almost exclusively on end times, what are they doing to help people struggling with sin and cultural wickedness today?” It’s a good question, and the answer is we should do both.
What can Charlie learn from us? He can learn the deeper value of freedom of religion. If it’s wrong for the government to to shut our churches down during Covid, it’s wrong for them to tell us when we must worship in the future. He’s on a journey, and the score in the second inning is rarely the score in the ninth inning. He was personally given a Great Controversy book by Ivan at the end. He could also see in us (hopefully) the sweet spirit of Jesus Christ and an humble concern for all others. That will be contrasted by the spirit of coercion in the time of the end.
Atheists and liberals despise Charlie Kirk because he is conservative. Some Adventists do too. Our goal is to allow him to see Jesus in us.
It was a very interesting day. People were made to think, enlarge their minds, and go back to the Bible to see if these things were so. We want to be made whole.
One more. Three black women were up on a nearby mountain praying yesterday. They felt impressed to go to the Dream City church for some reason. They showed up at 6 pm last night. They learned about the Sabbath and resolved to begin keeping it. They gave a very generous cash donation to the Wisdom Pearl at the end of the day.
Stay tuned, there is more. Lots more!
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