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June-July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
Keeping the Sabbath; Breaking the Sabbath
by Richard C. Nickels
How did the Worldwide
Church of God get to its present position, that the seventh-day
Sabbath is no longer a requirement for Christians? In the
Twentieth Century, Herbert W. Armstrong and his Worldwide Church
of God promoted the Sabbath in a powerful way, throughout the
world. After Armstrong's death in 1986, his successor Joseph
Tkach led an assault on all of Armstrong's teachings. This
attack resulted in an abandonment of teaching that the Sabbath
is a commandment of God, acceptance of the Trinity, Christmas
and Easter, and in short, a wholesale departure from nearly
every one of Armstrong's distinctive teachings. Some Worldwide
Church of God congregations today meet on Sunday, or other days
of the week. They believe that no day of the week is holy time.
How did this change come about? It did not start after 1986.
It began decades earlier. Paul Royer, one of the leading
ministers in Pasadena for many years, left the Worldwide Church
of God in 1975 and currently heads The Church of God, Sonoma in
California. In a 1976 sermon tape entitled "Keeping the
Sabbath," Royer claims that breaking the Sabbath was the
beginning of the downfall of the Worldwide Church of God. Royer
maintains that one of the major ways we show our respect for God
is how we keep the Sabbath.
In the late 1960s, Royer noticed students jogging at Ambassador
College just before sundown on Friday evening, and others
shopping at El Rancho supermarket on Sabbath afternoon. He
remarked to his friend Rod Meredith, "Give us 15-20 years, and
this Church will not even know the Sabbath." Meredith thought
it would take 40 years.
Garner Ted Armstrong hunted on the Sabbath, and at one time even
commandeered the Church pilot to fly him in to hunt on the
Sabbath. According to Royer, both Garner Ted and Herbert
Armstrong broke the Sabbath for years. HWA watched the Lakers
play basketball on the Sabbath. According to a man in
the Northeast, in the 1960s, Evangelist Raymond Cole asked
Church volunteers to work on the Sabbath in order to complete
the Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania, feast site in time for the
festival. [1]
Workers for the "House for God" auditorium in Pasadena worked on
the Sabbath. When the workers were behind schedule, Herbert
Armstrong commissioned Sabbath overtime work at overtime pay, in
order to have the building finished in time. When I worked in
Big Sandy in 1972, construction workers were laboring as we
entered the building for Sabbath services. When I questioned
the ministers about this practice, they said that the Church had
a contract with the construction company, and the Church could
not dictate their working hours. Years later, when I personally
had some major repair work done on my house, I had no problem
enforcing the rule that workers quit at 4:00 PM on Friday.
After all, I was paying the bill! The ministers had lied to me.
Paul Royer asks the question: "Can you keep the knowledge and
fear of God without keeping the Sabbath?" His answer is "NO!"
Israel went into captivity for breaking the Sabbath,
Ezekiel 20. The first thing God revealed to
Israel when they came out of Egypt was the Sabbath,
Exodus 16. Breaking the Sabbath was the
beginning of the downfall of the Worldwide Church of God.
Paul Royer's tape, "Keeping the Sabbath," describes
many practical ways to make the Sabbath an enjoyable spiritual
experience. It is available from The Bible Sabbath
Association.
Another excellent sermon tape was given by Dean Blackwell in
1978, which I have entitled, "Defense of the Sabbath."
Blackwell demonstrates keen logic in showing that the Sabbath is
found throughout the Bible. It is no coincidence that many of
Jesus' activities were centered around Sabbaths and Holy Days.
The Sermon on the Mount was given on a Sabbath. The Gospel of
John, the whole book, is about the Sabbaths and Holy Days
observed by Christ. There was no "Palm Sunday," it was really
"Palm Sabbath." Dean Blackwell's humor, and practical,
down-to-earth east Texas drawl make this tape one of my all-time
favorites.
Paul Royer's audio tape, "Keeping the Sabbath," C205,
and Dean Blackwell's tape, "Defense of the Sabbath,"
C206, are available for $2.50 each (or $3.50 for both tapes),
from: The Bible Sabbath Association, 3316 Alberta Drive,
Gillette, WY 82718. Toll-free phone,
888-687-5191, E-mail: <biblesabbath@comcast.net>.
More needs to be said about improper Sabbath observance and the
downfall of the Worldwide Church of God. There was certainly
Sabbath-breaking extant, from the top leadership down to the
membership. But an opposite problem was also a
significant factor. Some parents in the Church made the Sabbath
a burden of restrictive do's and don'ts, thus turning off their
children to the joys of true Sabbath-keeping. It is said that
Joe Tkach, Jr., resented his childhood experiences of the
Sabbath, which he viewed as restrictive. When he got the
chance, he threw out the baby with the bath water. The Sabbath
is not a day to watch the Lakers play basketball or hire workers
to labor for you, but it is, and can be, a day of joy for the
whole family.
Perhaps the best book Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi has written is one
that has received the least attention. It is entitled,
Divine Rest for Human Restlessness. This
masterpiece shows the beauty of the Sabbath, which truly is
"good news," and not "bad news" as Tkach was led to believe.
Bacchiocchi's three best books, Divine Rest for Human
Restlessness, From Sabbath to Sunday,
and his newest book, The Sabbath Under
Crossfire, are available from The Bible Sabbath
Association for a $15 donation each.
What is going to be for you? Are you going to make the Sabbath
a harsh, mean, restrictive, burdensome day, that any thinking
young person would automatically reject? Are you going to throw
out the Sabbath, and "do your own thing" on God's Holy Day? Or,
are you going to call, and make, the Sabbath a delight, and
honor the Creator, speaking His words and doing His spiritual
work on the day of divine rest that pictures the Kingdom of God?
You are either going to be keeping the Sabbath, or breaking the
Sabbath. Which one will it be for you?
TSS
[1] After this article was published, two witnesses contacted
the author to contridict this statement. The author has
requested that this fact be noted in the html version of the
article. The PDF version will also be changed to note this
correction once the sources needed to produce a new PDF version
are found. (12 December 1999)
June - July 1999 The Sabbath Sentinel
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