Death is coming

The closer death creeps up upon me the less I am able to understand the reasons for life or living.

Yes I have experienced a close family member dying and unlike television it takes decades to handle such a thing. To think I am going to put my family through such a thing when I finally leave is more horrific to me than the thought of death itself.

My life was and is still a learning experience but when all said and done what am I to do with all this accumulated learning over my lifetime if I just die. There is no logic or reason to this.

Long ago I became aware that the God story that is sold to the majority is just a nice story to give mankind with a message of a basic layout of how nice life could be if everyone followed these ideas. Not many in life do and if one thinks about it the good and evil structures actually depend on each other. The good that can be experienced in life is only understood as good when there is it's opposite to compare it to. This is not rocket science only common sense in reality. I am not saying we need to experience bad but understanding in it is needed to appreciate the great things many of us can have in our lives. From birth to death there are many ways mankind helps his fellow man. How many ways can you help?


Saturday, April 21, 2012

What Does Jesus Say About The Sabbath

By Koko Ishe


This is an extremely undecided topic inside the Christian society. The misunderstanding comes from a critical misinterpretation of a New Testament scripture. Nevertheless, the heart of the Sabbath topic really comes down to a "marriage." The Bible explains what the Sabbath day is, what it is for, what to do on the Sabbath, and it even explains what the larger spiritual meaning of Sabbath day is. In this brief article we are not going to go into all of those; but will answer the question at hand. What does Jesus say about the Sabbath?

As God was set to create the world, God Almighty outlined His plans first. It was not until Genesis chapter two when the work actually began. The final day of God's plans is the seventh day, a day of rest that was hallowed, blessed, and set apart. It was special more so than the other days. Because God Almighty rested from all His work on the seventh day, it was made Holy. With literally hundreds of references in the scriptures that support the seventh day as the Sabbath day in both new and old testaments of the Bible; it makes one wonder why this is a topic of discussion. One of the foundational scriptures on this subject is in Exodus 20. This is the only time the God of Israel visited the earth in Power and full Strength.

The God of Israel made this visit to the Israelites to personally delivery His Ten Commandments, the agreement with humanity. The Sabbath is officially put to and in order here. The Sabbath is in the top four commandments of the covenant. We are supposed to learn by rote the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. We are reminded the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week, no work is to be done (except work that pertains to God Almighty - Today because this is not a global rule, you may have to work your job to stay from being fired or released.)

Bible scholars like to say Exodus chapter 20 is in the Old Testaments and not required for the new covenant God Almighty made with mankind (primarily in the New Testament after the death of Jesus Christ). While Jesus was alive the seventh day Sabbath was still being kept and honored by non-other than Jesus. It was Jesus custom to keep the Sabbath day as told in Luke 4 verse 16. When Jesus was executed (for the sins of mankind), the women followed to see where His body would be buried. Once they saw where, they left to keep the Sabbath day as commanded by Moses, before returning to perform the ointments and spices for Jesus' body. It was not only JESUS custom to keep the Sabbath; Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles also had this routine as well. Well after the death and resurgence of Jesus Christ Paul can be found keeping the Sabbath day.

Everywhere Paul traveled into; he reasoned and taught people on the Sabbath day (Acts 13 v14, Acts 18 v4). Much of the healing and teaching of the ministry of Jesus Christ took place on the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week (Luke 4 v31). This is because Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath day (Mark 2 v28). In the book of Isaiah, chapter 56, it says blessed is the man who holds fast to the Lord's Sabbath and stops him or herself from profaning it.

The Sabbath is very important to the Lord. He clearly states that it is a covenant forever and a sign between the God of Israel and His people (physical and spiritual) forever (Exodus 31 v13-17). Now the question for this article was what does the Bible say about the Sabbath? The references above are more than enough and we will refrain from going into where did we go from the Sabbath day to Sunday (first day of the week)? This change came from the early church out of Rome and not the apostles of Jerusalem. This distinction must be made clear for the reader to understand. The BIBLE only speaks of the seventh day Sabbath and speaks of it as a covenant forever.




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