An Open Letter
to
Dave Hunt
&
The Berean Call
 
 
 
 
 

The following is a quote from your newsletter outlining "three basic questions we must ask to help us discern the truth or error of any spiritual teaching":

"1) Is it taught directly in God’s Word?   2) Is it presented indirectly, especially by way of example in lives of believers found in the Scriptures?   3) Can the doctrine, even when not directly stated, be clearly and substantially supported by the Scriptures?  A no or an unconvincing or wishful yes to these questions is a strong indicator that the teaching should be rejected as unbiblical."
~ The Berean Call, June 1998.

Let us apply your tests to the keeping of Sunday as a day of worship and rest as taught by you and so many others:

The answer is an unequivocal NO!  There is no mention whatsoever in all of Scripture of the first day being set aside as a day of worship and rest.  In 1Cor. 16:2 it is specified only "Upon the first day of the week" that every one was to "lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come".  The word ‘day’ was supplied to the original translation, so Paul’s instruction could have very well meant the first or even the second day of the week, but still there is no mention here of a religious observance for the church on any particular day.  Similarly, in Acts 20:7 the same reasoning applies:  "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them...."; the word ‘day’ again is supplied, so the disciples could have come together to break bread on the first day or the second day.  The verse says nothing of a general convocation on whatever day they came together and indeed, the disciples and Jesus, Himself, broke bread together on every day of the week.  The Lord broke bread together with the disciples on Passover eve, the night before His crucifixion, why then, isn’t Thursday declared to be a holy day?  There is no verse in Scripture that commands or urges the follower of Christ to keep Sunday because He was resurrected on that day.  Indeed, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism by immersion was given to His followers to commemorate His death, burial, and resurrection.  And every day His true followers should be "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the [resurrection] life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" See 2Cor 4:10.

The answer again is an unequivocal NO!  To the questions of His disciples:  "What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?"  part of Jesus replied included the admonition:  "pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day:  for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24: 3, 20, 21. It is plain from His Words here that He expected His true followers to be keeping the Sabbath even until His coming again and up until the end of the world!  If Jesus changed the Sabbath day to Sunday or the first day, He certainly never told any of His disciples.  He didn’t say “Sunday or the first day was made for man”, but He did day:  "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."Mark 1: 27.  Even Luke, a Gentile, records how that right after Jesus body was taken down from the cross and laid in the grave, because the Sabbath was drawing near, rather than preparing His body for burial right then, "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment".See Luke 23: 53-56.  In the New Testament, by my count, there are no less than 59 references to the Sabbath.  The book of Acts [written by Luke, a Gentile] records Sabbath after Sabbath after Sabbath on which the Apostle Paul and his associates rested and worshipped, yet there is not one word in the entire Bible authorizing Sunday keeping.  And these Sabbaths were not just for the Jews, but the Gentiles worshipped with them also: "And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks."Acts 18: 4.  One Sabbath is noted in Acts 16:13 when Paul and his disciples went out of the city and kept the Sabbath by a riverside!

I suspect you added this escape clause especially for your teaching of Sunday sacredness, but I will answer from the Scriptures the arguments you use under this clause to justify Sunday keeping not being taught in the Scriptures.  You say in a condescending and an arrogant way in your newsletter: “We have dealt with this before, but it keeps coming up” ~ [TBC, May 1999].  The “this” and the “it” you disdainfully refer to is the Holy Sabbath of God’s Law.  It is the Seventh-day Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment.  The reason you keep having to deal with this is that you do not deal with it rightly and honestly according to the Scriptures.  In the same article you go on to say:  “Yes, Gentiles have the Law written in their hearts. [Rom.2:15]. That this is only what God had written in every conscience since the beginning, and not the covenants given to Israel at Mt. Sinai, is proved by the fact that human conscience is limited to the moral laws.  No one has it written in his conscience to keep the Sabbath, ...”

First of all, the Sabbath was given and made in the very beginning as the grand finale of creation week to be a memorial of creation and a reminder of our Creator.See Genesis 2: 2,3.  It was not just “given to Israel at Mt. Sinai” but was given and made almost 2000 years before the first Israelite ever lived.  This is why the Creator and Lawgiver says in the Fourth Commandment,  "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy..." because His holy day had been forgotten, and He also foresaw a falling away after Christ when many would pronounce it sound doctrine to disobey the Fourth Commandment and forget the Sabbath .  Secondly, does a baby or a small child have it written in his conscience not to steal, not to bear false witness, or not to covet?  We all know an uneducated child does all these things naturally!  The conscience can and must be educated!  And it must be educated according to ALL TEN of God’s moral Laws, not just the ones you or any other man deem to be moral.

If you say that the 7th day Sabbath is not of God’s moral Law, then you have to say that the first three of the Ten Commandments are also not moral even though the first four were written for us "with the finger of God"[Exodus 3:18] as our all encompassing moral duty to Him.  Indeed, all Ten Commandments were written by His finger, the last six being our moral duty to our fellow man.  Since when has it only been moral to perform our duty to man, but it is not moral to perform our duty to God?  If it’s not okay to have other gods before the Lord, to make graven images, or to take the Lord’s name in vain, then why is it you think it morally permissible not to keep the 7th day holy?

You are using specious, but hypocritical arguments to prove your unbiblical teachings regarding Sunday and the Sabbath of the Lord [notice that nowhere in the Scriptures is the Sabbath called the Sabbath of the Jews, and the Lord even speaks of it as "My Holy Day" in Isaiah 58:13]; to wit you have written:  “The great tragedy in the church today is that many top leaders, instead of standing firm upon It is written, doubt what God has unequivocally declared... Jesus said, It is written!  Satan can quote the Bible, too, and did so, but his application was false and Christ countered it with another Scripture which refuted the perversion.  Satan’s ministers also quote and pervert Scripture.  The antidote to such perversion is bringing the rest of the Bible to bear:  man lives not by one favorite verse twisted out of context, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God....It is written is our anchor in the storm of false doctrine, humanistic theories and worldly temptations raging around us.”~ TBC, February 1999.

The mouth of God “unequivocally declared” the 7th day to be the Sabbath and no where in Scripture did He declare any other day.  Your “false application” of Scripture regarding the Law of God is also a “perversion” of what He declared, so whose minister does that make you?

Christ declared about the Law of God: "Do not think I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5: 17-19.  How does Jesus declaring He is "Lord of the Sabbath" [Luke 6:5] do away with the Sabbath?  How does it do away with the Sabbath for Jesus to proclaim that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" [Mark 27], or when He asked the question, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life or to kill" [Mark 3:4], or when He stated that "it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days"[Matthew 12:12]?  How does any of these statements of the Lord do away with the only one of the Ten Commandments that Christ especially says to Remember?  Yes, it was Jesus Christ Who spoke and wrote the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai:  "for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth,...all things were created by Him and for Him"
[Col. 1:16], and "without Him was not anything made that was made".[John 1: 3].

By perverting the Scriptures, you try to lump the Sabbath in with the old covenant and the animal sacrifices of the ceremonial system:   “Under the old covenant, animal sacrifices were offered which can never take away sins (Heb 10:11) ...If you are going to keep the Sabbath, then you must offer the
prescribed animal sacrifices as well.” ~ TBC, May 1999.  But you don’t explain how this could be so since the Sabbath existed before sin entered the world. The animal sacrifices were added because of sin and pointed to Christ’s sacrifice. Those ordinances centering around animal sacrifices were what
was nailed to the cross, not the holy Law of God.  There never was nor will there ever be any relationship between the weekly Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment and animal sacrifices. This is such a perversion of the Scriptures that it makes me wonder if you aren’t being outright deceitful.

The New Covenant began with Abraham who was the father of the faithful:  "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before [or in advance] the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."[Gal. 3: 7,8].  Why was Abraham blessed?  Because of his faith? Yes, because Abraham [according to Jesus in John 8:56] "rejoiced to see My day", but Abraham was blessed also because he saw also the right relationship of faith to God’s Law:  "And the Lord appeared unto him [Isaac], and said,...I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy father,...and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, BECAUSE that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."Genesis 26:2-5.

Yes, cursed is everyone who thinks to be justified without Faith in Christ Who was "made a curse for us"[Gal. 3: 13], but like their father Abraham ["if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise"Gal. 3:29], every true and faithful Christian will answer the questions about
Grace and Faith and their relationship to the Law in the same way Paul answered them:  "Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid..."[Gal.3:21]and "Do we then make void the Law through faith?  God forbid:  yea, we establish the Law." [Rom. 3:31].God says the 7th day is the Sabbath, and
advocating Sunday sacredness, no matter what the reason given without an “unequivocal declaration” from God for such advocacy is truly just a tradition and a commandment of men which Jesus emphatically declared to be vain worship:  "You have made the Commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.  In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matthew 15:6,9.

According to Romans 3: 31, Faith establishes the Law.  Does Sunday, the first day of the week as the day of rest and worship, establish the Law?  Not in the slightest.  Sunday, rather, destabilizes the Law of God.  It is a tradition of men and the traditions of men are the works of men; they are righteousness by works, not righteousness by faith.  Sunday sacredness, therefore, is righteousness by works and it is unfaithfulness to urge others to keep Sunday instead of the Seventh day.  The Sabbath is righteousness by faith in Christ because it is the day He made in the beginning, the day He said "Remember" on Mt. Sinai, and even the day He kept holy after His crucifixion resting in the grave and waiting until the first of the week after the Sabbath was over for His resurrection.  Ministers of unrighteousness say it’s okay to work the 7th day and accuse others of legalism for advocating rest on that day, when they, themselves are the ones guilty of legalism and righteousness by works.  You say: “There will be no more sabbath because there [in the new universe] will be no night there” (Rev. 21:25)  ~ TBC, May 1999, but the Lord says:  “In the new heavens and the new earth that I make...From one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before Me, says the Lord.” Isa. 66:22,23.

I don’t judge you about the Sabbath anymore than I judge someone who worships a graven image,  or who takes the Lord’s name in vain, for that is the Lord’s responsibility, but I can judge your teaching according "To the Law and to the Testimony , if they speak not according to this Word there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20.  Honoring Sunday because Christ rose on that day flunks all three provisions of your own test.  This teaching of yours receives a big, fat “F” for failing to make the grade and in the words of your test it “should be rejected as unbiblical”.   The Sabbath, however, passes each of your three tests with flying colours.  "For He spake in a certain place of the Seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the Seventh day from all His works....For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, AS GOD DID FROM HIS." Hebrews 4: 4,10.

What example did Jesus leave for us regarding the Sabbath and what else did He teach about it?  "As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16.  Jesus custom was to be in church for the worship services. Jesus declared:  "If ye love Me, keep My Commandments." [John 14:15], and "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments."Matthew 19:17.  The Sabbath was kept by all the apostles and disciples of Jesus for hundreds of years after His resurrection until the falling away and the setting up of the papal regime which still today claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and even today threatens the violator of Sunday sacredness to be “punished as a heretic”.
 
 

Yours in the Spirit and the Truth, and to God be the Glory,

Jon Zwayer
 
 

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