The neglect of the fourth commandment to rest on the Sabbath and keep it holy is an act of rebellion which has caused many believers to be out of alignment with God’s will.
This was one of the observation made by Apostle Dr. Jeffrey Shuttleworth during a lecture titled Wars, Wars and Rumours of War:Global Attack on Family, Food and Fellowship, which he presented at the Tarrant Baptist Church on August 2. The lecture was apart of activities to mark the Freedom Come Rain newspaper sixth anniversary series.
The senior pastor noted that most Christians agree that the 10 commandments are applicable to daily living, however, some conveniently overlook the Sabbath.
“It is an appointed time set by God where he wants you to meet Him and to be available to Him. On that day, there must be no other appointment that competes with your appointment with God on the Sabbath, so all other appointments can be set for other days but not the Sabbath. The Lord says this day is set apart; that’s what holy means,” he explained.
Apostle Shuttleworth explained that he will be doing further teachings on the topic in the days ahead, since he was merely “scratching the surface” during the lecture. He noted that the observation of the Sabbath is overwhelmingly and incontrovertibly rooted in biblical support. On the contrary, the shift towards observing Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” was a dictate from men.
Delving in the history a bit, Apostle Shuttleworth explained that Sunday became the prominent day of worship for many Christians because of Empire Constantine at the Council of Laodicea . Constantine had issued a civil decree acknowledging Sunday (“the venerable day of the sun”) as the official day of rest in the Roman Empire.The venerable day of the sun is associated with the Roman Sun God called Mithra. In AD 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday the Lord’s Day and in AD 338 Eusebius reinforced this.
Apostle Shuttleworth noted that this shift to recognising Sunday as the Lord’s day was an attack on fellowship and worship. While acknowledging that nothing is wrong with going to church on Sunday, he said it is important that Saturday is maintained as the Sabbath.
“The seventh day which is universally recognized as the Sabbath day was blessed and peculiarly set apart by God. Only God can separate or sanctify a day, not man; no matter what the title of that man or woman is,” the senior pastor declared.
In the case of the the Tarrant Baptist Church, services are held seven days per week. The church is opened for 24 hours each day. This is in keeping with a directive that was given by God several years ago.
Currently Seventh Day Adventists attend church on the Sabbath, but Apostle Shuttleworth emphasised that the Sabbath is not a denomination, but a principle. He hopes Christians will walk in obedience to God’s instructions.
“Obedience is better than sacrifice and in many regards, many of us have missed God because we are walking in disobedience. Many of us, we have underachieved, we are just achieving marginally and experience marginal blessings from God because we are not walking in full obedience. Well this is the year of alignment and realignment and my duty have been called by the Lord to set the record straight,” Apostle Shuttleworth stated.