In an article published on The Lord’s Day Alliance website, Merv Knox reviewed a speech given by Matthew Sleeth, the director of Blessed Earth, a non-profit that emphasizes stewardship of the earth. Sleeth advocated keeping Sunday as the Sabbath, at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship annual general assembly in Atlanta this summer.
“We really, really need to keep the Sabbath,” Sleeth said to the group. “Time is something the whole world is having trouble with…”
Claiming that America is the most depressed nation on earth, Sleeth argued that Sunday rest would cure at least some of the malady. A “stop day” is a good antidote, he said.
“In the Ten Commandments, it’s the link between heaven and earth,” said Sleeth. “Keeping the Sabbath is fundamental to keeping the other commandments.” He also said that the Sabbath has been God’s plan since Creation…
“Fact is, keeping the Sabbath seems like the easiest of the Ten Commandments to break,” he added. “The first three—put God first, no idols, no cussing—feel frightful to break. The last six—honor your parents and don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or covet—look downright heinous.
But breaking the Sabbath? What could it hurt? Jesus’ disciples ‘broke’ the Sabbath. Even church can wear us out on Sundays… With all the stuff that goes on nowadays, it’s almost impossible not to break the Sabbath.”
“Don’t you think God designed the Sabbath not as one more rule to keep but the cure for much of what ails us?”
Sleeth provides some tips.
• If you absolutely cannot keep the Sabbath on Sunday, schedule another Sabbath, another “stop day.”
• “Keeping the Sabbath is like exercise. It builds up,” he insisted. “You do it for a couple of weeks, and you don’t notice. You do it for a year, and it changes your life. It changes your character.”
• “Try to do it with somebody else,” he advised.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15
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