Memento Mori

The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. And wherever, in the Bible, His claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is presented, there is cited the evidence of His creative power. "All the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens." Psalm 96:5. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things." "Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: . . . I am the Lord; and there is none else." Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18. Says the psalmist: "Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalms 100:3; 95:6. And the holy beings who worship God in heaven state, as the reason why their homage is due to Him: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things." Revelation 4:11.

In Revelation 14, men are called upon to worship the Creator; and the prophecy brings to view a class that, as the result of the threefold message, are keeping the commandments of God. One of these commandments points directly to God as the Creator. The fourth precept declares: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:10, 11. Concerning the Sabbath, the Lord says, further, that it is "a sign, . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20. And the reason given is: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Exodus 31:17.

"The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God"--because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. "The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this. The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten."--J. N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27. It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial. Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man's thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel. The keeping of the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to the true God, "Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." It follows that the message which commands men to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call upon them to keep the fourth commandment.

Full text here

Never really thought about it this way, but I have found a couple verses on my own already to add to the list of ones that connect God's creative power to His right to be worshipped.

I have itchy issues since we went on a walk. I think they are imaginary itchy issues, but I have a healthy imagination. If they are *not* imaginary, we can blame Spot because he decided to wallow liberally in poison oak all the time we were walking until I picked him up and carried him the last little while. So now I have poison oak oil on my coat and probably from Spot's fur all over my skin. I did wash when we got home and we washed Spot with a wet cloth. He hated it. If I wake up with poison oak on my NOSE because I kissed him on the walk, Spot is the guilty one.

He licked himself dry and is sleeping in His Chair. We are sitting on the couch listening to some Loudly Speaking Dude over in the Elks Building's voice wafting this way. It's almost 10. Time for him to hush.

And, on a less insane note, we had smoothies* with popcorn** tonight for dinner.

*kiwi-pear-pineapple-apple-plain yogurt.

**With olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and Spam Spray.

And I am feeling very introspective.

I love the Bible. I love its simplicity and its truth and how very, very easy it is to understand now that God has led me to a place where people teach the Bible, and the Bible alone. I believe I've said before that coming to the Adventist church from the kind of Christian I was before is like switching from a PC to a Mac. Suddenly everything is so plain, so simple, so uncluttered, that I have to ask myself why I didn't see through to it sooner.

Someone on Facebook believes that on May 21, 2011 the Christians will be raptured. She sent me to a very long-winded writeup about her beliefs, and I read through part of it and read some of it to Dan and we both were like... okay, first of all, the Bible clearly states that no man knows the day nor hour of Christ's return (at which time the Bible says the rapture will take place, in 1 Thess. 5). We have only the signs pointing to its approach to give us our indicators. So that's just straight-out unBiblical.

I haven't read through all of the writeup by any means. It looks so complicated and confusing and, to be honest, deceptive. I do want to go over it more because I feel I should at least know where she's coming from. I'm not going to just dismiss it without looking at it more.

But for me, I'll take simplicity. I'll take the Bible for just what it says, and no more, and only accept a doctrine if the entire Bible backs it up. The time prophecies in Daniel are not hard to understand at all... and they don't end in 2011. The "time of the end" began in 1844, according to the Scriptures. I agree with this girl 100% that time is almost up, but not for the same reason. We are in the final days of earth. It could all end in five years or five months. We don't know (although once the Sunday law is passed, I believe that's a pretty good indicator that Jesus will be showing up at any moment - and until it happens, He won't show up).

I've spent much of my life being told what to believe, and this is the first time I'm not Being Told. I was just shown what God says, left to decide for myself, and because I love God, I want to keep His commandments only, and not man's - and certainly not some strange, twisted doctrine that is not of God. Satan is very busy. He is trying to deceive people in these last days to believe almost-correct doctrines, and he's doing a good job of it. As Shawn Boonstra puts it, "If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense or you'll wind up with nonsense."

Good article on The Abomination of Desolation

The husband is out on a run to get some Wal-Born (or the Rite-Aid equivalent thereto) before sundown, and I never did audio or washed the floor. I did finish the doll dresses, though.

He still has a cold, so we'll forego Bible study with the Richardses tonight and possibly church tomorrow. This will be okay if we have to do that because it will give me an opportunity to work more on my Satan study. That sounds really bad. We should know our adversary, though, right - and what we're up against?

It was misting quite heavily while I was eating my breakfast a few minutes ago. It is not now.

After yesterday, I certainly am glad it is Sabbath. God was so good to plan for us a day of rest and recuperation from the week's work. Added bonus... we get to spend time with Him.

This past week I've been thinking about how I never understood persecution before. Paul says to Timothy that "all who will live godly will suffer persecution". As a Sabbath-keeper, and understanding the prophecies that point to a coming Sunday law in this very nation, it's enough to strike fear into anyone's heart to think that to obey God will mean drastic measures - death, perhaps, or a life of hiding in the wilderness and dens and caves of the earth. It is coming soon, and it is scary.

Yet at the same time, I'm not afraid. Because to me obeying God is more important, and eternity with Him will be worth sticking up for the truth here.

I've been watching the political drama with more interest this year merely on the basis of wondering, who will be the one to pass the Sunday law? Will it be Obama, who claims to be a Christian? Or will it swing back to Republican in four years and happen then?

I'm glad I don't know for sure, but I do speculate. It will not take much. All that needs to happen is one more forged disaster a la 9/11 - They will say that God is punishing us for not keeping Sunday and the people, motivated by fear, will pass a law. It's not far off. And after it happens, Jesus is coming soon.