Clearly, everyone is welcome to their beliefs. No good organization or Work of God is out to convince anybody of
anything. Only God can bring someone to truth (John 6:44). That actually makes it easy for all professing Christians and
Christian Works (organizations). Simply preach the gospel and allow God to do His Work. Even Christ said that.
John 4:34
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Now, we disagree with the notion about Sabbath days and Holy Days saving anyone or being taught that you must
keep a Sabbath day to be saved. Not directly. What saves a person is:
Repentance from sin
Obedience to God
REPENTANCE
That is what we teach. We teach it from the Word of God...
Luke 13:3
3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Acts 2:38
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 3:19
19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord;
Rev 2:16
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
OBEDIENCE
Rom 6:16-18
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin
unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which
was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Note: Doctrine was delivered.
2 Cor 10:5
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Acts 5:29
29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:32
32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
1 Pet 4:17-19
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of
them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as
unto a faithful Creator.
So, Repent and Obey God. That is what we teach. It just so happens that God commands that we keep the Sabbath and
Holy Days. He commanded that we keep them in the Old Testament. The New Testament church kept them and they
will be kept in the Millennium.
I get lots of arguments about the Old Covenant being done away by a New Covenant but none of the arguments hold
water. Ask for our doctrinal statement on Covenants. You clearly do not have to believe it. It is our belief. Each
member has proved it for him and her self.
If you desire, we will send you our entire doctrinal statements on the Sabbath and the Holy Days.
No, the Holy Days and the Sabbath do not directly save anyone. They were designed to show us the Plan of God
WHICH DOES SAVE US.
Every person who has ever lived will one day know the entire and absolute truth of God. Each will have an opportunity to
be saved. Most will be. Only a fraction (by comparison) will decline the opportunity.
2 Pet 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
THE FIRST GREAT EDICT
Mr. Armstrong gave a sermon about how the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept in the Millennium. You may listen to this
sermon by going to the web site and clicking the "Play" or "Download" button. The address is:
http://www.garnertedarmstrong.orgsermons.shtml
Go to the bottom of the page and you will see, "Sermon, the First Great Edict". In that sermon, Mr. Armstrong directs
everyone to read Zechariah 14 which is end time prophecy and shows what will happen after Christ returns and begins to
reign for 1000 years.
In my Bible, Zechariah 14 has the title "The Lord Will Rule". Note some key scriptures:
Zech 14:1-3
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women
ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Clearly looking at the future...
Zech 14:4
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and
half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Plainly, this has not happened yet.
Zech 14:9
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
No, this has not happened yet.
Now notice, after the fighting is all done and Christ has taken over the governments of the world that He will command
something...
Zech 14:16-19
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up
from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the
LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD
will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles.
WE WILL BE KEEPING THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES............HOLY DAYS........WOW!!
Note that if they do not keep the Feast, they will have no rain and there shall be plagues.
Now the question.
If the Holy Days were done away by some clever argument of Old and New Covenants, then why are we keeping them
in the Millennium?
Why take away the Holy Days, who's only purpose is to show the Plan of God, and then bring them back for some
strange reason?
Why did Christ keep the Sabbath and Holy Days?
Why did Paul keep the Sabbath and Holy Days?
God is not in the business of doing away with so many things like Holy Days, Sabbaths and laws as if it had been some
huge mistake on His part. I just do not see the Great All-Knowing, All-Seeing God saying, "Oops".
Reference:
Sabbath:
Paul keeps Acts 13:14
Disciples keep: Acts 16:13
John keeps: Rev 1:10
Holy Days:
Jesus keeps:
Mat 26:17-20
Luke 2:41-42
Luke 22:15
John 2:13
John 2:23
John 5:1
John 7:10
John 10:22
John 7:2
John 7:14
Paul keeps:
Acts 18:21
Acts 19:21
Acts 20:6
Acts 20:16
Acts 24:11
Acts 24:17
Acts 2:1
1 Cor 16:8
So, this is what we believe and teach.
Some might may disagree and there is no problem in that. They may continue to believe what they will. We look forward to
the day when Christ returns and we (all of us alive and dead) believe just one thing....the truth. That day is coming.