It Can Happen
by Mike James
Many of us in God’s Church can become discouraged in sharing our beliefs due to a lack of success in having others listen to us. It’s normal to draw inward after just a few unsuccessful attempts at sharing your faith with others. I want to encourage everyone to continue to share your beliefs with others because it is your duty as a Christian. Sometimes you may never even see the positive results that may flow from your sharing.
Let me provide an example from my own experience. In high school I first heard about the pagan origin of Christmas from a Jehovah’s Witness friend of mine. I asked my mom about what my friend related to me and she informed me not to concern myself with this new information. A few years later I began to read and study information on Christmas and Easter, and my initial interaction with the Jehovah’s Witness friend helped solidify my further study on the matter. What you tell others may bear fruit years later. Keep enduring to the end.
I recently read an article in the Deakle News Herald from October 30, 2019 that also relates to the subject for this blog. The article addressed the St. Luke Church of Opportunity in Morgantown, West Virginia. On July 7, 2019 the church switched to Saturday Sabbath services.
According to Aaron Hooper, the bishop of the church, “During our Wednesday night, ‘Let’s Talk Bible,’ brother Russell Corpening asked why we did not observe the holy Sabbath.” Hooper continued, “All of us come from a Christian background, and have roots in several other denominations, still we are consistently taught ‘We go to church on Sunday.’ During conversations, we came to understand the most common explanation for this was [because] Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was on Sunday [CGI teaches the resurrection of Jesus occurred Saturday at dusk—order our booklet Three Days and Three Nights to learn more). We had not given much thought that Sunday was the first day of the week.”
Now the article does not say why Mr. Corpening brought this point up, but we need to recognize that it is possible for Sunday-keepers to hear us out on our Sabbath beliefs. Mr. Corpening may have heard something from a Seventh-Day Adventist; he could have read an article online from a Church of God group; or in reading his Bible one night and doing a little research he may have figured something out about the Sabbath. Don’t ever think it is pointless to share your beliefs.
The article in the paper goes on to say that the group searched history books to see why Christians started Sunday worship services. It was discovered that in 321 A.D., Constantine, a Roman emperor, established a Sunday worship service to gain pagan worshipers of the sun god. “Understanding that the God-given time of public convocation is Sabbath as stated in Leviticus 23:3, and that both Jesus and his disciples observed the holy Sabbath, as stated in Mark 1:21, Mark 6:2, Luke 4:16, Mark 2:27, Luke 6:6, Acts 13:14, and Acts 18:4 we were moved to do the same,” Hooper said.
The important point here is one person didn’t change from Sunday to Sabbath worship, the whole church did. This is hard evidence for us to maintain the fight of letting people know what we believe in regard to the Sabbath, holy days, the law, what happens when you die, etc., etc.
I’d like to close this blog with an important scripture on this matter. In Mark 9:38-40 we read the following: “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.” I believe many Christians are sincere in their worship of God. Many of us were formerly in Christian churches with different beliefs from what we now believe. We have to keep talking to ALL people when the opportunities present themselves to express our beliefs.