Nowhere is the conflict between good and evil seen more clearly than in the issues surrounding the Biblical request to worship God on the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Most Christians regard the Sabbath as an insufferable detail of religious superstition. Sabbath keepers call it the cornerstone of God's authority throughout the universe, the very foundation of both religious and secular life. The Sabbath, which means in Hebrew "to rest," is today little understood.   Though well established in the Old as well as the New Testament (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:11; 31:17; Matt. 12:2,3; 24:20; Luke 6:5-10; 13:10-17; 14:1; John 5:9; 9:14; Acts 13:27,42,44; 15:21; 16:13;18:2; Heb. 4), its origin is not known to most people, and over the centuries has been lost and eventually rejected or ignored by most of Christendom.

    Sabbath began when God created the earth in six days and rested on the seventh (Gen. 2:3). It has remained His appointed day of worship since the beginning of the world. However, through a trick of deception by Satan to steal worship from the only God to whom it rightfully belongs, man has dared to defy God and change this day of worship.

    You see, Satan, the arch-enemy of Heaven, wants to be God (Isa. 14:13,14). If he can make man worship him, or merely cease from worshiping God, he has achieved his goal. And what better way to win the war against God than to make a change so subtle that no one realizes his worship is false?

    The Genesis account of creation gives the origin of the seven day weekly cycle, climaxed by a day of worship (the Sabbath), which proclaims its Heavenly origin. All other time measurements are set by the movement of the earth, sun, moon, and stars. The earth's rotation on its own axis sets the length of the days and nights. The moon's rotation around the earth sets the monthly cycles, and the earth's rotation around the sun sets the yearly cycle. The seven day week is the only time unit not set by some cycle of orbiting heavenly bodies. The unit we call a week exists only by God's decree. The seven day weekly cycle, with the Sabbath at the end of it, has continued unchanged from earth's creation to now.

    God explains in the book of Genesis how He gave the Sabbath as a remembrance of His creation of the world: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:1-3.

    The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason to worship God—because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. The Sabbath with the presence of the Spirit, therefore, lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth of creation and the love of God for man in the most impressive manner. Divine worship makes clear the distinction between the Creator and His creatures as nothing else can. This great difference can never become obsolete and must never be forgotten. "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture" (Ps. 100:3). (See Rev. 14:7.)
 

    The Sabbath was the day God set aside for fellowship with Him. It is like the birthday of the world. Given by God during creation week, it is sacred, the high point of the week, the most exciting, most interesting day of all because during its holy hours we meet the mind of God personally, individually; and God is intensely interesting. Disaster struck when sin cut off this delightful communion, and Adam and Eve ran to hide from God (Gen. 3:8). Adam and Eve could no longer worship on the Sabbath after they sinned because they immediately lost the Holy Spirit, which God had placed in them at creation (Gen. 2:7; Isaiah 59:1,2).

    This fundamental concept of the loss and regaining of the Spirit has never received the attention it deserves, for the Spirit alone keeps worship from being a lifeless form (2 Tim. 3:5). We begin to explain it here in broad strokes of history and later on in this text show how the Spirit comes to the individual seeker.  This most important element is a golden thread woven
throughout this book, to guide God's children into full restoration to Him. Without God's Spirit as the Instigator and Sustainer of that holy fellowship with Him, Adam and Eve were no longer holy and could no longer keep the Sabbath holy as God originally intended.
 

    In the history of this world God found it necessary to define or redefine the Sabbath and man's relationship to it seven times. From Adam and Eve to the end of time, God had to reintroduce the Sabbath principle and the Holy Spirit's relationship to it, to a world which had forgotten this commandment and what it stood for.

    The First Time: Immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve God initiated His plan to redeem and restore His indwelling Spirit. If Adam and Eve (and all mankind afterward) followed God's instructions, the Spirit could be replaced in their hearts. Then they could once again be holy, and thus be reinstated to that happy fellowship with God in true worship (2 Cor. 3:13-18).

    Eager to be restored to God's presence, our first parents did everything God told them to do, and waited and worshiped in faith that God would deliver them from their awful predicament. Though they were punished for their sin and expelled from the garden of Eden, God honored their repentance and love.  The Holy Spirit returned, though in a lesser way than before their sin, along with the communion they so ardently sought, particularly on the 7th day. For about 2,000 years after creation, the blessed Sabbath worship continued among God's people amid the ever-growing popularity of sun worship (2 Kings 23:5; Eze. 8:16; Song of Sol. 1:5,6), astrology, and necromancy (spiritism, conjuring demons in order to predict the future).
 

    As time went on, worldliness drove away the Spirit from the hearts of  many. Devoid of the Spirit, their worship was corrupted. Maintaining the  rituals and liturgy became well-nigh universal, having a form of Godliness but  denying the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5); but God in His love and mercy still  wanted to redeem man from his sins and restore him to fellowship with Himself.  He stooped from His throne, and through Abraham called a people (Hebrews, Jews) who had forgotten Him through apostasy and idolatry (Gen. 11,12), to worship on the seventh day.
 

    Hundreds of years after Abraham died, when the Hebrew people were  delivered from slavery in Egypt, the Lord defined the Sabbath again in an  object lesson that lasted forty years. When the Israelites wandered in the  wilderness He sent manna for food. Each night the sweet white substance fell  from the storehouse of God. Each day the Israelites gathered as much as they  could use that same day, early in the morning. It melted in the glare of the sun and became wormy if left in the cupboard overnight. A fresh supply had to be gathered daily, with one exception. That which was gathered on Friday stayed fresh through the Sabbath. None fell on the Sabbath. Thus the people learned that Sabbath was not only different, it was HOLY (Exodus 16). During this same time at Mt. Sinai, God further redefined the Sabbath, spelling it out on tables of stone, written with His own finger, and gave much miraculous evidence of His Spirit's presence. Here He gave them the Ten Commandments and told them specifically to remember the Sabbath day on which He wanted them to worship (Ex. 20:8-11). And to make sure they (and we) knew which day was Sabbath, He counted the days. One through six were man's, but God, willing to wait till last, took the 7th and made it holy.
 

    God again sought to establish contact with man on His Sabbath day by  sending His only begotten Son to show us how to live the Sabbath experience. Even in His death He kept the Sabbath by resting in the grave. A fifth time came in the Reformation, and a sixth in the 1840's with a worldwide revival and increased awareness of Bible truths, including the Sabbath.

    This Sabbath revival is now arising again the seventh time, at the end of the world. It is the loud cry of Revelation 14:6,7, which calls you to worship YOUR Creator here and now in love, in spirit, and in truth (John 4:23,24), and throughout eternity in a re-created world "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain." (Isa. 66:22) This will be a world of love, peace, prosperity, and interest unfathomed by human imagination or experience (1 Cor. 2:9).
 

    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor,  and do all thy work: But the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the 7th day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Ex. 20:8-11 This passage is the fourth of the Ten ommandments as it appears in the King James Version of the Bible. It is God's seal. An official seal is the sign of the authority of a ruler, his coat of arms. It must show 3 things: 1) the name of the ruler, (2) his official position, (3) the extent of his domain. Only the fourth commandment contains the name - "The Lord thy God"; His position - "Creator;" and His domain - "heaven and earth." This is His seal, given to us by the power of the Spirit (Gen. 1:1,2; Psalms 51:10-13). "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord... and I will look for Him [His coming]" (Isa. 8:16,17).
 

     "Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.... It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever" (Exodus 31:13,17). "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them" (Eze. 20:12). The Sabbath is to be a sign (signature, seal, or stamp) between us and God forever, a sign that the Lord created the earth and sanctifies us.
 

    Keeping the Sabbath holy is, and will be, a sign of the approval (seal) of God (Ex. 31:14-17; Eze. 20:12: Rev. 7:2,3). It is the opposite of the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16). You will receive the seal of God and become a joint heir with Christ as you keep the Sabbath (Gal. 3:29, 4:7; Rom. 8:17; Heb. 1:14; 11:7; James 2:5). THE SABBATH IS A SIGN OF YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH JESUS AND HIS SPIRIT, a sign of your allegiance and a heart that loves God (John 14:15). THE SABBATH WILL BE THE FINAL TEST FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD. Once experienced, anyone with the Spirit in residence will never want to give up the sacred experience of keeping the Sabbath, the symbol of a living, holy, sanctified relationship with our Creator.

    In Exodus 31:13 and 17 God says that keeping the Sabbath is a sign of obedience and the presence of the Spirit in the children of Israel "FOR EVER." Galatians 3:29 tells us that Christians are "spiritual Israel." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Therefore the command to keep the Sabbath holy "for ever" applies to all who are Christians.

    The Bible is very explicit about keeping the 7th day Sabbath of the 4th commandment. NOWHERE do the Scriptures say that the day of worship was changed from Sabbath to Sunday. Cruden's Concordance lists about 75 entries for "Sabbath(s)," and not a single one refers to Sunday, the first day of the week, as the day of worship.

    To Worship God As He Has Appointed: God is our Creator; we must worship Him in the way He appointed. The sad fact is that the minute the Spirit starts guiding a person into the complete Sabbath truth and holiness, another spirit arises to oppose. Without recognizing that an evil spirit is the source of their disagreement, men have countered the beautiful invitation to worship our precious Savior on the 7th day with Twisted distortions of Scripture and interpretations which claim the day has been changed are of satanic origin, designed to receive and lead people away from this truth.
 

    Keeping The Sabbath Is Not Keeping A Day Of The Week. It is an expression of an inner experience. Without the inner experience, keeping the day is a meaningless rite. If the person has not truly entered into heavenly rest by asking and receiving the Spirit, he has not been recreated in the spiritual image of God, he has not entered into the spirit of the Sabbath. To receive you must ask, seek, and knock. If the experience is lacking, the Sabbath cannot be a memorial of the recreative power of God upon the heart. TRUE SABBATH OBSERVANCE IS NOT JUST KEEPING A DAY, BUT IS AN OUTWARD SIGN OF AN INNER EXPERIENCE the rest we enter into when the Spirit has established residence within the most holy place of the body temple.

    Sabbath Is An Experience With Jesus And His Holy Spirit, a sign of allegiance and of a heart that loves God. Sabbath can be prepared for and kept holy ONLY by having the indwelling Spirit. If a person does not have the Spirit, the Sabbath is not holy to him. "[I] will put My Spirit within you, and ye shall live" (Eze. 37:14). "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23,24).

    We are to honor Him by obedience, glorify His precious Name by humbly following His example, and commune with Him, especially on the Sabbath. But there is more. The Sabbath is not just a holiday from work so we can go to church. We are to hallow the 7th day and keep it holy.  Ezekiel 20:20 says, "Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Holiness (hallowedness) is characterized by spiritual rest found in Jesus by faith and love through the Spirit. It is an experience with Jesus. Keeping the day is only an outward sign of an inner experience of holiness, of oneness with God. Anything less is hypocrisy.
 

    The Sabbath is the sign of obedience to ALL the commandments, not just some of them. Obedience is sometimes rather difficult, as in extreme situations when you are ostracized by friends and family, or told you are crazy and threatened with bodily harm. It is especially hard if obeying means having to leave your family, going to prison, or losing your life. The arch-enemy is out to see that you accept his Sunday substitute day of worship, and will use any means at his disposal.

    As the enemy takes full control of this world, obeying God and conscience will be an intense struggle between eternal life or death, between truth and trickery, light and darkness. Do we overstate the case? Not at all. But for every adversity that obedient believers will go through, there is a corresponding gift of the Spirit, given as power to obey, as courage for the moral crisis. "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." It is God who takes the responsibility for our obedience when this new heart and new spirit are given. (Eze. 36:26, 27). He says, "I will...cause you to walk in my statutes."

    Do we then lose our choice? Do we become slaves of a higher power? Certainly we do not! We can abandon every belief if we want to at any time. But with God's Spirit dwelling within, we won't want to! That's why God can so confidently say that He will cause us (give us the reason and motive) to keep His laws. The only reason you would not obey would be because you ignored His Spirit. Without the Spirit you are on your own, or worse, spirited by the enemy of righteousness.

    God will reluctantly let you go any time you want to, but not so the enemy. He uses trickery, coercion, abuse, every cunning device he can think of to keep you in his clutches, even after you have chosen to obey God. With the enemy in charge, you really don't have the power of choice, for he doesn't respect your wishes at all.

    Ellen White, an inspired writer, said: Those who obey this commandment take upon themselves His name, and all the blessings it involves are theirs.... The Sabbath is a golden clasp that unites God and His people.... FAR MORE SACREDNESS IS ATTACHED TO THE SABBATH THAN IS GIVEN IT BY MANY PROFESSED SABBATH-KEEPERS.... We are not merely to observe the Sabbath as a legal matter. We are to understand its spiritual bearing upon all the transactions of life" (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, by Ellen G. White, pp. 350-353).
 

    In Hebrew the terms "sanctify," "hallow," and "holy" mean "to set apart." So when you are being sanctified by the Spirit, it means you are being set apart by God. What are you set apart from? From the "covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having the form of godliness, but denying the power [Spirit] thereof" (2 Tim. 3:2-5).
 

    Here God specifically says that keeping the Sabbath will sanctify us (make us holy). Shortly we shall see how this can be. It is the "sign" that we belong to Him and share His Spirit. In a short time those who worship on any other day will also bear a sign—the number 666—and be opposed to God, a possession of Satan. But man cannot make himself holy or sanctify himself. This is God's work that only His Spirit can do this for us. Therefore, before we can keep holy the Sabbath, we must first receive His Holy Spirit.

     The Sabbath experience is inseparably tied to the work of the Holy pirit in a persons life. ONLY THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED BY THE SPIRIT CAN SANCTIFY AND KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY. Inversely, a person not sanctified by the Spirit within cannot keep the Sabbath holy. for man cannot sanctify it (keep it holy) himself, without the power of God's Spirit. True sanctification is harmony with God, oneness with Him in character. Sanctification is a constant abiding with God, absorbing His character and imitating His love, His humility, His wisdom, His purity. It changes us from being a follower of the crowd (Mark 7:9; Col. 2:8) to a follower of the cross.

    As we are changed into Christ's character, we then begin to keep the Sabbath holy. Sanctification is not like your best clothing which you wear on Sabbath, remove Saturday night, and wear lesser clothes the rest of the week. A person cannot wear anger on Tuesday and expect to be sanctified on Sabbath. He cannot wear irritation on Wednesday and keep the Sabbath holy; nor can he wear dishonesty on Thursday and keep the Sabbath holy. One cannot wear gossip on Friday, or grudge, or grumble, or any of those things and still keep the Sabbath, because they are not Christ's garments of sanctification, which we must keep on all week (Gal. 5:22-26; Matt. 22:11-12; James 5:2-9; Rev. 3:4-5). People can't live like the devil six days and live like God on the seventh. Sanctification (putting on of Christ's character) brings permanent change, little by little changing us from glory into fuller glory every day of the week.

    True and complete Sabbath worship demands that we be fully sanctified by the HOLY SPIRIT. Self must be totally dead, and the person resurrected by GOD'S SPIRIT and power, a new spiritual man. This is not an instantaneous thing that happens, but the work of a lifetime.

    Until the Spirit can accomplish this change in us, our Lord covers our humanness and accepts our selfish worship because of our faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus. This can only happen if we daily give ourselves to Him letting His Spirit work in us His wonderous works. The principle of being sanctified, or set apart, by the Holy Spirit is an inseparable part of the Sabbath. To sanctify or set apart the Sabbath is the heart, core, and soul of the Christian's daily experience in preparation for fellowship with God on the Sabbath. This concept of daily, continual sanctification (obtaining Christ's character) and becoming set apart from both professing Christians having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, and godless sinners, as are listed by Paul in 2 Timothy, can happen only when the Spirit of God sets up His kingdom in your heart.
 

    Holy Spirit And Man's Spirit: Man's spirit, which is where the Holy Spirit resides, is like a vacuum. Where the Spirit of God does not reside and does not control, the spirit of the enemy swoops in to fill the vacuum, and thrives. With an evil spirit in control, no man can worship and keep holy the 7th day Sabbath or any other day, even though he might go to church and appear to do the same things that real Spirit-filled believers do. God is seeking to restore His Spirit as it was with Adam and Eve before the fall. All who are willing will be made whole again.
 

    How is the Spirit restored in us? The Spirit comes only when we give up our body with all its fleshly, carnal desires and lusts as a willing sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). This means giving up all of our self centered (I, me, my, mine) interests, goals, aspirations, worldliness, and fleshly lusts which war against the Spirit of God (1 Pet. 2:11). Only when self is out of the way can the Spirit enter fully and work out God's perfect will in the life, and assume complete control. "Self" (the inherited carnal nature) is not something you can give up by yourself.

    Only with the help of the Spirit can "self" be crucified completely. In fact, the Holy Spirit does the work, but only as you give Him permission and cooperate. Any human effort alone without the Spirit is doomed to failure. ANY effort on your part to work out your salvation (by yourself), to save yourself, will end by you receiving the number of the beast, just as surely as if you had trusted in human strategies or Satan Legalism (strict obedience to the law by one's own will power) will fail. Works and good deeds without depending wholly upon God to complete His character of love in you, by the work of the Spirit, will also fail (1 Cor. 13).

    If the presence of the Spirit and death to self is crucial, how can one establish this kind of relationship? Without Holy Spirit, Sanctification Impossible: Without help of God's Spirit you can be neither sanctified (made free from sin) nor made holy, nor can you keep the Sabbath holy, as just pointed out.  "BE YE HOLY; FOR I AM HOLY."
 

    It is just as impossible for us to be holy, as it is for the Leopard to change his spots. What then are we to do? We don't want to be unholy, but we are born in sin, our natures are inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. But that does not mean our condition is hopeless. See what God will do for us. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Eze. 36:26, 27; Luke 15:22). "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:15,16). He will give us a new heart - His heart; a new garment - His righteousness (obedience); a new Spirit - His Spirit, and cause us to walk in His statutes!

    There's the solution to our human problem! -a new heart, a new Spirit, a new robe of His righteous character which will never be soiled (Eph. 5:26,27). Then we can obey Him, love Him, receive His character, and be sanctified. Then we can keep the spirit of the Sabbath every day of the week. "I will put my Spirit within you, and ye shall live" (Eze. 37:14). God's character is received through the Spirit within, Who brings obedience to those principles of love to God and man that are the transcript of His character.
 

    Many people believe they can be saved by their works. This applies especially to church attendance and worship. But the truth is that God's Sabbath cannot be kept holy by any works or effort of man. From ancient times the Jews tried to keep the letter of the law including the Sabbath. They ended up with over 400 laws concerning the keeping of the Sabbath, yet accused the Lord of the Sabbath of breaking it, and ended up crucifying Him. Without love it is impossibe to keep any commandment of God, for God is love and His law a reflection of that love.
 

    To keep the Sabbath by any self-effort or ritual is to keep it by works, and counts as nothing before the God of heaven. One of the greatest evidences of how not to keep the Sabbath holy is how people today keep their respective days of worship, whether Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. As pointed out, it is an utter impossibility for man to follow the Biblical admonition to sanctify or keep holy the Sabbath by any works he may do.

    This gets right back to the matter of sanctification. Under these conditions-without the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, trying keep the Sabbath holy becomes an endeavor of salvation by works. Only the indwelling Spirit of God can make it possible to worship God aright on His holy day. The only thing God asks of man is that He give up his will, yielding ALL of himself (body, soul, and spirit), laying himself on the altar, a willing sacrifice. To attend church on Sabbath (even the 7th day), going through motions of Sabbath keeping without heart preparation makes Sabbath keeping a spurious worship, one of works, of having the "form of godliness without the power thereof."
 

    Readers who desire an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, the only kind that will lead to holiness (sanctification) may need some initial guidance in approaching the Lord and seeking His Spirit. The following simple principles are crucial:
 

    The Spirit is given only if you ask, seek, and knock (Matt. 7:7-8). All who ask will receive. "The Father is more willing to give us His Spirit than parents are to give good gifts to their children" (Matt. 7:11).
 

    Seeking, we define as continual commitment. Some fear this second step because the Spirit might ask them to do something they do not want to do. They do not want to be totally committed to the Spirit of God. Unwilling to give complete control to the Spirit, these poor individuals will never experience peace or eternal life. Do not be fearful of receiving the God's Spirit. Without the Spirit you cannot have eternal life.

    The gift of the Spirit will come to those who seek Him with ALL their heart. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13). This means total commitment each day. God is a jealous God and will not respond if you put anything else before him - family, possessions, work, or recreation. You must give all your loves, even your human love for family to Him.

    Paradoxically, this is no loss, because the more love you give to God, the more His love returns to you. The love He gives back to you greatly exceeds your human love. "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness," (Matt. 6:33) means that His Spirit should be your first desire and interest. Nothing should interfere with this relationship.
 

    Now you must wait on God; that is the knocking. You are to wait patiently for Him (Ps. 37:7), always as if asking for the very first time. What is this waiting? And how are you to wait? You are waiting for the fuller infilling of the Spirit. On the ascension morning Jesus said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22), but they had to WAIT for the full baptism of fire and of power (Acts 2:8). Each person must battle with "self" and guard continually to keep self out of the way. "Daily annoyances beset the path of young and old. Those who would live patient, loving, cheerful lives must pray. Only by receiving constant help from God can we gain the victory over 'self.' " Each morning consecrate yourselves and your children to God for that day.

    "Make no calculations for months or years; these are not yours. One brief day is given you. As if it were your last on earth, work during its hours for the Master. Lay all your plans before God, to be carried out or given up, as His providence shall indicate. Accept His plans instead of your own, even though their acceptance requires the abandonment of cherished projects.  Thus life will be molded more and more after the divine example." (Testimonies Vol. 7, p. 44, E.G. White)

    You are to offer up a living sacrifice - yourself (Rom. 12:1). That living sacrifice of self must be burned up by God and completely destroyed by trials until there is only nothingness and emptiness left. When this point is reached, God sees that you have nothing else to offer, for you have surrendered all of self. He sees that act of waiting as a confession that you are now an empty vessel waiting to be filled with the Spirit, that you of yourself are nothing, and that you have nothing to offer except your love. Begin with faith and assurance. Waiting shows your true spiritual poverty and need, your utter weakness and emptiness. Then and only then are you ready to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Then step by step, moment by moment, comes the all-sufficient riches and strength of God's Spirit. By faith believe that God has answered by giving His Spirit generously. Then in the quietness of your soul, be silent and know that He is God.

    Give the Holy Spirit time to quicken and deepen in you. With the faith and assurance of Jesus, know that the Spirit is dwelling in you. Acknowledge this fact to your Father and give Him thanks for this wonderful gift. By the continuing miracle of the presence of the Spirit, you have become God's Holy temple, His sanctuary where His Spirit has set up residence.

    When God gives His Spirit, He gives His inmost self. In this divine gift lies the power of eternal life, continuous, uninterrupted, and never ceasing. You most likely will not feel any different.  Do not look for waves of ecstasy or some other sensation. You will know the Spirit is present because you will see yourself gaining victory over sins that formerly caused you to fall.
Each time you recognize a temptation or faulty habit pattern, ask the Holy Spirit to take control and give you the mind of Jesus. Keep thinking about Jesus - His love for you, His sacrifice for you - and the victories of Jesus will be yours too. When Jesus gives the promise of an ever-springing fountain of ever-flowing streams, He speaks not of just one single act of faith in which you become for all time an independent possessor of the Spirit. That one act is not your complete sufficiency.

    The reception of the Spirit requires the continuing obedience to Jesus in a daily union with Him and the Father - a daily request, a daily waiting. Keep up this waiting disposition as a part of your daily life and duty.  Begin by consecrating your life the first thing in the morning by going down on your knees before the throne of grace and asking your Heavenly Father for your portion of His Spirit. Remember to wait on God. Wait for the Spirit. "Wait, I say, on the Lord" (Ps. 27:14).

    The Spirit is not given as a possession over which you have charge and mastery, which you can use at your discretion. Oh No! The Spirit is given to be your loving guide, to lead you into all righteousness. He is indeed yours, but only to make you His. Your position toward Him is that of deep and entire dependence on One who gives to every one, even as He wills. He will not leave unless you break this relationship. New ideas can't make Him leave, misinterpretations can't force Him out; confusion can't evict Him. Only rejecting Him and spurning His love will cause Him to leave.

    Seek Him now with all your heart, and you will never be the same again (Rom. 5:5). With the Spirit dwelling within, every day will be a day of rest, a reminder of God's creative power working in your life. On Sabbath you will come with a heart overflowing with love for our wondrous creator who, through His creative power is imparting His character, will, and heart to you. This is the true meaning of Sabbath.
 

    Since the 7th day Sabbath is Saturday, why does most of the Christian world worship on Sunday? From Creation, to Sinai, to Christ, and until the fourth century after He returned to Heaven, the Sabbath was kept on the 7th day, but not without perversion. As early as Cain, the son of Adam, we find alternate forms of worship being offered to God AND BEING REJECTED BY HIM (Gen. 4).

    All forms of worship which are at variance with God's specifications are paganism, which has crept in through the church door, stealthily hurried up the aisle, and treacherously overtaken even the altar. False worship has maintained its popularity by deceit and disguise, resorting to force when lesser measures failed, AND IS ABOUT TO DO SO AGAIN.
 

    To draw pagans into the Christian church, the Roman emperor Constantine issued the "Edict of Constantine" in March of A.D. 321, thus formally instituting a change in the day of worship from Saturday, the Biblical day of worship, to Sunday, the day the pagans worshiped the sun. However, in actual practice, the Sabbath to Sunday change was accepted gradually over several hundred years.   A dwindling number of Christians scattered around the world continued to honor the authority of God by keeping the 7th day sacred. They repented from their sins, reformed their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit, and worshiped on the day He had declared sacred. (History shows one Sabbath keeper to have been St. Patrick of Ireland.) The rest found it convenient to save their heads or reputations and conform to Sunday worship.

    This condition prevailed in varying degrees another 1700 years up to and including the present time.  A major factor in the change was that most of the pagans living in Rome and elsewhere were against the Jews and anything, such as the 7th day Sabbath, associated with them. This anti-Jewish attitude, along with their Sunday traditions, made them want even less to worship on Sabbath if converted to Christianity. So there was pressure on Christians (especially in Rome) to work on Saturday and observe Sunday. It is significant to recognize that Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews." Jesus was a Jew and the true Christian will not have the spirit of bigotry, or racial bias.
 

    Sunday eventually became the popular day of worship, with few people being aware of the real reasons, even though the papacy is unashamed to take the credit for this illegal act of treason against God. The Catholic catechism boasts that they have no Biblical justification for doing so, but that it is a mark or her authority. Sadly, most other denominations have followed them into Sunday worship along with other Catholic instituted holidays such as Easter, Christmas, etc., thereby giving homage to the Catholic church. Daniel 7:25 prophesied that the same beast power as the one found in Revelation 13:1-10, was to "change times and laws." And sure enough, about a thousand years after Daniel's prophecy, a man's decree (Constantine's) changed God's law (Ex. 20:8- 11), and Sunday replaced God's holy Sabbath.
 

    Not only was the time (day) of worship changed, but also the fourth commandment of the law of God was nullified. Some Bibles, notably the Catholic Douay, greatly abridge this commandment, It omits the second entirely, and divides the tenth into two, so they still end up with ten commandments. The fourth commandment has also been altered, omitting verses 9-11, using only the first sentence of verse 8, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." It is obvious why the Catholic church would want to change the laws of God: to make them agree with Catholic doctrine. Changing, or at least thinking to change the laws (Dan. 7:25) also demonstrates the authority they believe God gave them to do so.

    Less understandable are Protestants who excuse their worship on Sunday as worshiping on the day Jesus was resurrected. Jesus said: "For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, on jot (dotting of an "i") or one tittle (crossing of a "t") shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matt 5:18) "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." (Luke 16:17) "All His commandments [including the fourth] are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever" (Psalms 111:7,8; 112:1). They are "pure" and "perfect" (Psalms 19:7,8), "holy,...just, and good" (Rom. 7:12). They are called "the royal law" (James 2:8), "the testimony" (Ex. 31:18; 40:20; Ps. 119:1-7), "the law of liberty" (James 1:25; 2:12), "the law of the Lord" (Ps. 1:1,2; 119:1).

    As plain as God's instruction is, most do not observe the day He asked us to remember, even though He wrote it with His own finger on tables of stone. The Sabbath commandment is the only one that has the word "remember," because our Lord knew that His children would forget.  Because they have forgotten the day our Lord asked us to remember.  Most will be deceived by the very clever tricks of false christs, and finally the cosmic christ (an impostor god, THE antichrist, Satan himself), who will claim that he has changed the day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday.

    We see the beginnings of the cosmic christ now, and as this deceit unfolds over the next few years, in spite of God's warnings and appeals which will cover the earth (Isa. 11:9), we will watch in dismay as millions will be drawn into its lethal trap. The real Christ, whose commands never change (Heb. 13:8; Matt. 5: 17,18), asks us to worship Him on the 7th day of the week. He calls the 7th day Sabbath (Ex. 20:10); our calendars call it Saturday (though this may change too, if some one-world authorities are able to push through a worldwide calendar change).

    Those who choose to obey God will be blessed by the Spirit with peace and rest. They will stop breaking the Sabbath and all the rest of God's ten commandments. The Lord commands us to "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy." Those who do will receive eternal life (1 John 3:5,6,24; John 10:27,28). (For further reading on this subject, please write for The Great Controversy, by E.G. White (600 pages), and The National Sunday Law, by Jan Marcussen (100 pages). Both are in paperback and bear vital messages.
 

    The prophetic Word of God indicates that the Sabbath day will soon become an issue for the whole world (Rev. 13:2,3,8,11-18; 14:6-12). The issue will be whether to keep God's holy 7th day Sabbath, or Sunday, the enemy's counterfeit. Only those who have sought for the Spirit and been filled by it will have the spiritual discernment to recognize their obligation to God when this issue becomes a life-threatening struggle between God's instruction or man's tradition, between obedience and compromise. All will be tested for loyalty to God's principles - soon, and severely.

    Those with the Holy Spirit will take their stand on the side of truth and observe the Sabbath in all of its glory. Those who do not have the Spirit of truth will accept Satan's masterful deception of Sunday worship and receive the mark of the beast, which will be required for buying and selling (Rev. 13:17; 14:9). Those with the Spirit in residence will have no part in this scheme. The only purpose of Satan's delusions, but particularly the change in the day of worship from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day of the week (Sunday), is to deprive God of the worship due Him. Sunday is Satan's challenge to the authority of God to tell you how and when to worship, and get you to worship him (Satan) instead! (See Isaiah 14:13-14.)
 

    To accomplish his devilish ends, Satan need do nothing more than change the day of worship, retaining all of the outward observable features, the pretense of piety, the glorious appeal of sight and sound and the scent of religious fervor - everything to satisfy the senses; but God is absent. This is not to say that all who ever worshipped on Sunday will be lost in disobedience and rebellion - far from it, for God judges each by their understanding and love for Him.

    God is fair and will not hold a person responsible for something he had no way of knowing (Ps. 87:4-6). But when the issues are made plain before the world, as they soon will be, God will require obedience. The Spirit within sanctifies you by the truth, and makes it possible for you to keep the Sabbath holy and keep all other requirements of God. When any law is enforced that requires you to keep Sunday and reject the Sabbath, then all will clearly see the distinction between those who have the kingdom of the Spirit dwelling within and those who have accepted another spirit.  The righteous will heed the call to come out of Babylon's Sunday worship and not be partakers of her sins (Rev. 18:4).

    During a testing time the Spirit, signified by Sabbath worship, will be established within each individual permanently. The Spirit within will give you the strength of character you need to make moral choices that will bring you face to face with physical death (Rev. 13:12,15). If you are filled with the Spirit, you will rather die if necessary than dishonor your Creator by breaking any commandment, especially by worshiping on a day of convenience and pagan customs and traditions, at Satan's command.

    Ultimate Test Is Coming for every person in this world. All who are living at the time will be asked to receive the mark of the beast in the forehead or in the hand, and commanded to worship on Sunday, or be unable to buy or sell, and then threatened with death. An international Sunday law will be decreed by all the nations of the world, initiated by the United States in conjunction with the Church of Rome and the ecumenical churches of the world, who will ave by this time joined together to form a mega world church.

    As the Catholic church has done in the past, so will this world church body do in the future. The number "666" and the cashless society will play a major part in this drama.  In recent years this movement has made great gains and indicates that it is very near to being fulfilled. All it will take will be for some international crisis and catastrophe to hit the world, to bring
about its fulfillment. These events coupled with all the other horrible things that will be taking place in the world will trigger this Sunday law. The cry will go out, that we have strayed from the Lord, and that what is happening in the world is the result of not obeying or worshipping God. The world will be in such pain that they will accept this as a true explanation, and thus the long predicted Sunday law will come as an overwhelming surprise to the peoples of the world. It will be looked upon as the answer to the world's problems.
 
    The Papal Medal and quotations below depicts what it has done in the past to so-called heretics. The Bible predicts that with the support of local, national, and the international civil authorities, she will do again, only this time on a worldwide basis. Toward this end she has been diligently working for hundreds of years. Even now she is drawing all churches to her (called the ecumenical movement) under the banner of unity, love and peace. But those who know what God says, and are His followers, will know exactly what is happening, and what awaits them if they refuse to go along with this decree. The death penalty will be ordered against this small group who are accused of being the cause of the trouble that has come upon the world. They will be called stubborn, resistant, and defiant, a group who must be done away with if the planet is to survive.

    At this time the true believer, in order to survive this holocaust must have faith and trust that God is faithful according to His promises, and will protect and see those who are His through to the end, and give them strength and fortitude to withstand the trials and persecutions which will come as a result of following God's instructions to not worship the beast or his image.
 

    Sunday was not the only day decreed as the Sabbath. About 300 years later in the 7th century another foe arose to the Bible Sabbath in the person of Mohammed. To distinguish his followers alike from those who observed the Sabbath and those who observed the festival of Sunday, he selected Friday, the sixth day of the week, as their religious festival. And thus the Mohammedan's and the Romanist's crucified the Sabbath, as the Jews and the Romans did the Lord of the Sabbath, between two thieves, the sixth and first days of the week.

    Even though the Sabbath has been crucified by Rome and Islam, its resurrection is taking place, for man (inspired by Satan) cannot usurp God in anything when the time comes for Him to vindicate His authority. With simple means the Holy Spirit is calling on the hearts of hundreds of thousands to abandon the Sunday charade for Sabbath worship.

    All around the world whole churches with their pastors and priests are changing, not only in America but also in other parts of the world. The impetus to worship on the 7th day for most has come from small pamphlets or books.  Others have had dreams or angel visitors telling them to keep holy Saturday, the 7th day of the Lord God. People from all nations, all walks of life are hungering to learn about the Sabbath, along with other Bible truths. No church organization has had any part in this.

    Humble layman have given printed material, and the Spirit has guided and taught those who were willing to follow wherever the Lord led. This is the long-expected great awakening, as the glory of the Lord lightens up the whole earth (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18; Isa. 60:1-3; 52:15; Hab. 2:14). It is the promised latter rain, the refreshing from the Lord (Hos. 6:3; James 5:7; Joel 2:23; Prov. 16:15; Zech. 10:1). It is also the loud cry of the angels of Revelation 18 and 14:9. Psalms 119:126 is being fulfilled today: "IT IS TIME FOR THEE, LORD, TO WORK; FOR THEY HAVE MADE VOID THY LAW."
 

    1. THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME: Keeping Sunday as the Sabbath is a tradition of man. Honoring a tradition is a species of idolatry, an other god before the God of heaven. Keeping the seventh day Sabbath constitutes obedience to the first commandment.

    2. THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGES: Keeping Sunday is making an image to the beast mentioned in the book of Revelation. To keep the true Sabbath is to obey the second commandment.

    3. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN: Sunday comes from pagan tradition, it is a commandment of man's devising. "But IN VAIN THEY DO WORSHIP ME, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN." Matthew 15:9. To reject Sunday worship in favor of the true Sabbath is to obey this commandment.

    4. REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY:... Sunday worship is a choice. It is a decision to bend to human authority, rejecting God's authority (Truth), in order to keep a tradition. Sunday does not contain a "Thus saith the Lord!"

    5. HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER...: If GOD IS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, we honor Him by obeying Him by worshiping Him on His Sabbath.

    6. THOU SHALT NOT KILL: The Scriptures tell us that in order to have eternal life we are to obey the commandments of God. When it becomes the final test for the world, breaking the fourth Sabbath commandment will mean to choose eternal death. This is suicide. To keep holy the Sabbath means the person has chosen to NOT KILL himself, thus he is obeying this commandment.

    7. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY: To keep the Sabbath holy, means to have God's Spirit within. This means the person WILL NOT form an adulterous relationship with the harlot woman of Revelation by worshiping the sun god on Sunday the sun's day. To worship this god (derived from idolatrous paganism) on its day is to commit SPIRITUAL ADULTERY. To worship on Sabbath is to fulfill keeping this commandment.

    8. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL: The SEVENTH DAY SABBATH IS GOD'S TITHE ON OUR TIME. The enemy has stolen the term, "Sabbath", and has switched it to another day, just like the Bible says in Daniel 7:25. To worship on the enemy's counterfeit Sabbath is to become an accessory to his lie, is to steal time that belongs only to the Lord. To keep the seventh day Sabbath is to obey this eighth commandment.

    9. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS: To worship on Sunday is to BEAR A FALSE WITNESS. Worship on Sabbath is BEARING A TRUE WITNESS. This is how keeping the Sabbath obeys this 9th commandment.

    10. THOU SHALT NOT COVET: The Sabbath truth has been outlined in the law of God. To COVET ONES OWN DESIRES, BY CHOOSING ANOTHER DAY IS TO COVET ONES OWN IDEAS ABOVE THE WILL OF GOD.
 

    From time to time arguments in favor of Sunday worship have surfaced to negate the true seventh day Sabbath. One of these was using the "first day" texts in the Bible to do this. The word "Sunday" is not found in the Bible, but the term "the first day of the week" is found eight times: Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1,2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; and 1 Cor. 16:1,2. None of these attribute any sacredness to any day except the seventh day Sabbath of the Lord. The first six texts refer to events connected with Christ's resurrection. Acts 20:7-12 tells of a special meeting held by the apostle Paul at Troas. Verses 7 and 8 show that this was a night meeting,
since the day began at sunset (Gen. 1:31; Lev. 23:32; Mark 1:32). It was held on what we call Saturday night. The next day (Sunday) Paul walked 19 miles to Assos, a distance too far for him to walk if that day were considered holy. 1 Cor. 16:1,2 says that a collection (of produce and money) for the poor saints was to be "laid by in store" at home. This was so that it would be ready when someone came to pick it up, and has no reference to any public meeting.
 

    Another argument used to justify keeping Sunday is that it commemorates the resurrection of Jesus. This is a very pervasive belief among Christians. But neither Jesus nor any Bible writer has asked us to commemorate it by making such a change.  Paul tells us that we are to honor and REMEMBER OUR LORD'S RESURRECTION (AND HIS DEATH ALSO) THROUGH THE RITE OF BAPTISM (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), not Sunday keeping. When a new Christian is raised from this "watery grave" to a new life in Christ, he commemorates our Lord's resurrection. Therefore the Bible shows that BAPTISM, not Sunday observance, is how we honor Christ's resurrection. Another memorial to Jesus death is The Lord's Supper. Both these rites honor our Lord's death and resurrection.
 

    Some choose Sunday worship because John wrote, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" (Rev. 1:10). They fail to recognize that the Lord's day was the 7th day Sabbath, which He kept even in His death. Jesus said, "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day" (Matt. 12:8), and we know the 7th day was His Sabbath (Luke 4:16; Heb. 13:8).  "God...created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:9). "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (John 1:10). These verses show that Jesus is our loving Creator, and as such, He "made heaven...with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein" and "camest down also upon mount Sinai....and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath" (Neh. 9:6, 13,14). The Ten Commandments were known before they were written on Mt. Sinai. Cain knew it was a sin to murder, and God said, "Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Gen. 26:5). "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:13.
 

    God is now calling those who will listen to return unto Him, seeking Him with their whole heart, holding nothing back. His Holy Spirit is now making a great effort to infill people who will ask, seek, and knock. This inner experience when it is established will, as the time of testing comes, be evidenced outwardly by the keeping of all the commandments of God especially the Sabbath. The 4th commandment Sabbath will be the final point of testing which will separate the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the wicked. This test will come when an international Sunday law is proclaimed with a death penalty for anyone who refuses to receive the mark.