Today, many people continually work on Sundays. Some people actually have to in order to pay for bills and support families. When you work on the Sabbath, you are breaking the fourth commandment, and a covenant that the Lord made with His people. That’s right. The Sabbath was a covenant made by the Lord so that His people could remember Him and revere Him.
“This will be a sign between me and you for the generations
to come, so you may know that I am the
Lord, who makes you holy.”
-Exodus 31:13
“There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day
is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You
are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord.”
-Leviticus 21:11
The Lord had created the earth in six days, and on the seventh day He rested and declared it a holy day. In the book of Exodus, the Lord tells Moses to inform the Israelites to observe the Lord’s Sabbath. The Law says that anyone who works on the Sabbath shall be put to death and be separated from their people. Whoever works on the Sabbath has broken the covenant and is an outlaw. They shall not receive the privileges that everyone else receives. The Sabbath day, recognized as Saturday by the Jews and Sunday by the Christians, should not just be seen as another day of the week. It should be seen as a holy day to revere the Lord and to respect the covenant that God had made for rejuvenation and rest.
But does this law still apply? Jesus and his disciples worked and performed many miracles on the Sabbath day, receiving criticism from the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Some say that according to Paul, in a letter to the Colossians, it is not punishable if someone does not observe the Sabbath; it is their own choice. Christ has made them complete, not their observance of a holy day.
“Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,
or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”
-Colossians 2:16
There is no evidence from this passage that he would teach that there was no obligation to observe any holy time, for there is not the slightest reason to believe that he meant to teach that one of the Ten Commandments had ceased to be binding on mankind. If he had used the word in the singular term - "the Sabbath," it would then have been clear that he meant to teach that the commandment had ceased to be binding, and that a Sabbath was no longer to be observed. But the use of the term in the plural number, and the connection, shows that he had his eye on the great number of days which were observed by the Hebrews as festivals, as a part of their ceremonial and typical law, and not to the moral law, or the Ten Commandments. No part of the moral law - not one of the Ten Commandments could be spoken of as "a shadow of good things to come." These commandments are of perpetual and universal obligation. It can never be superseded but by the final termination of time. As it is a type of that rest which remains for the people of God, of an eternity of bliss, it must continue in full force.
Many people call me a daddy’s girl. I work with my father every opportunity I get. I’m almost 20 but I still call him daddy. We have the same interests and taste in music. We have the same allergy and we even both have acute asthma. But what does “Daddy’s” really mean? Is it a possessive form that affirms that Daddy is my owner?
The answer to this question will bring us to the answer to the propriety of courtship for a daughter’s pre-marriage relationship. In today’s society, many daughters do not feel that their father has any right to have a say in her dating life, especially once she is 18. Courtship is an establishment of a relationship with a father agreeing to work with the young man to win his daughter’s heart. The father’s approval is needed. I once felt that I did not need my father’s approval but now I see that I am owned by my father until he gives my hand in marriage to an approved man. I now rejoice in that truth and if someone is interested in me, he should see him not me.
This might make you cringe and might say to get with the times. But, let’s not dismiss the idea. The Christian worldview is informed by scripture and no part of life is exempt from God’s sovereignty. We must obey His law even if it means opposing popular culture and going against the grain. But the Bible tells us that we need to be ready to live against the norms of unbelief. The word of God teaches us that the creator of something has certain rights. For example, God is sovereign over all things because he created all things.
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell
in it, for He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.”
-Psalm 24:1
The same idea is seen in Romans 9:21. The potter can do as he pleases with the pottery that he makes, since he created it. Human ownership is always under the ownership of God. However, God has declared that the rights of the parents are to be honored and revered for the fact that they are the immediate generative source of individuals.
Fathers are supposed to have a different relationship with their daughters than they do their sons. He must raise his sons to be a provider while he has to raise his daughters to be submissive, godly wives. Independence is not something that should be seeked for by a woman of God. She is supposed to allow headship to her husband. But if she does not agree with that than she will certainly not agree with the father having authority over her. They will find the idea of courtship offensive. But those who acknowledge God’s way is right will come to terms and agree with it.
“All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged
that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by
John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose
for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.”
-Luke 7:29-30
People who are secular find it repulsive that as Christians we give our life and spirit to Jesus Christ and we are not our own. They say that means we can’t do what we want but that is not true. God gives us our own will to do as we please. We give ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord willingly.
Now, back to authority over a daughter. A daughter is not obliged to obey commands from any source binding her to sin, even her own father. Some argue, “What is God tells the girl through signs and visions that she is to marry a particular man? Wouldn’t God’s will supersede her earthly father’s will?” Simply no. In a relationship of father and daughter, God takes a back seat. God has created hierarchy that the daughter is directly answerable to her father and then her father answers to God. This make the father responsible for himself and his daughter.
You may say that there is scripture that states that the child is not punished for the parent’s sin and the parent is not responsible for the child’s. However, with the way God has set up this form of relationship, the daughter is not punished for anything her father has done. The father may tell a daughter to or not to do something so therefore it is not her own will and doing so he answers because it was his will.
“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall
children be put to death for their father.”
-Deuteronomy 2:16
The father’s ownership is so he can raise her to fear the Lord, protect her from harm, other men, and even from herself and foolish decisions she may make. Numbers 30 helps us understand God’s view of the father/daughter relationship.
“When a young woman still living in her father’s house makes a vow to the Lord
or obligates herself by a pledge and her father hears about her
vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every
pledge by which she obligated herself will stand.
But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she
obligated herself to will stand; the Lord will release her because
her father has forbidden her.”
-Numbers 30:3-5
The girl has promised something to the Most High but is forgiven because her father has forbidden her from completing the promise. God says “You heard your father. No.” The will of the father is the will of God if he is living according to biblical terms and God’s own will on his life. In modern “dating” the girl is seen as being to herself. Therefore, most people believe the man just has to ask her permission. But, according to rules of God, the young man must also seek the father’s approval. Since the father has to give himself approval, the man knows he’s being watched and will prove himself worthy of a beautiful gem (Proverbs 31:10). Simple things like sweet words might win over the daughter but that is because she goes by emotions as most other woman. But to get past Daddy’s tests is going to be tougher because he goes by reasoning and wants to make sure the man that takes his daughter’s hand is worthy. A godly father is aware of his daughters abilities and needs and can often determine if the man and daughter complement each other well.
No man can approach me as my own boss because I belong, until marriage, to my father. That is why the father walks the bride down the aisle. At the time of my marriage, my father gives me to my husband through a lawful change of ownership. Reading further into Numbers 30 we see there is no free time for the female to gallivant on her own apart from a covenant head. How do we know the daughter belongs to the father until marriage? Further into Numbers 30, the husband gains the same authority over the wife that the father once had.
“If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by
a pledge under oath and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and
does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by
which she obligated herself will stand. But if her husband nullifies
them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges
that came from her lips will stand. Her husband
has nullified them, and the Lord will release her. Her husband may
confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn
pledge to deny herself…If however
he nullifies them some time after he hears about
them, then he is responsible for her guilt”
-Numbers 30:10-13…15
You might not be completely in sync with your Dad. Maybe you’re just like your mom or are a mix of both. But you should be no less of a Daddy’s girl than any other young female. You may get married at 18 or you might not get married at all. Either way, you are under your father’s care until you are given into marriage or the Lord takes you from this life. Your responsibility as a daughter is this: Do the will of your father on earth so that you may do the will of Your Father in heaven.
Unless you live in Amish country or don’t tune in to news on a somewhat regular basis then you know about the millions of illegal immigrants pouring into our country. About a month ago, the President gave amnesty to approximately 1,000,000 illegal immigrants. When I was younger, immigration was a big joke to me. In the summer of 2005 my family and I took a trip to South Padre Island, Texas. While we were visiting, we decided to take a trip into Mexico. While walking past customs and border patrol over the bridge we saw about five Mexicans backstroking across the Rio Grande River. You may think I’m making a joke or telling a lie. But I’m not. We stopped on the bridge and were just looking down at the river when we saw the Mexicans swimming and climbing onto United States soil. They saw us watching, and they must’ve had a guilty conscience because they proceeded to shout up at us, “This is just a hobby of ours! We no cross border!” I laughed. After all, I was only twelve. But that opened my eyes to realize that immigration is a major and controversial issue.
To date, there are well over 11,000,000 illegal immigrants that we know of. Imagine how many more there are that are in hiding and we don’t know about. I’d like to remind you not to just focus on Latino immigrants because a lot of these immigrants are also of Asian, European, and Canadian descent. These aliens hurt the country and the taxpayer. There is an estimated $113 billion drain on American taxpayers annually. Our funds are going to pay for their healthcare and education. They are given permanent jobs while many Americans are forced into welfare and unemployment or trying to get money out on the streets. This in turn leads to more crime because poverty is increased. Also, many businesses that refuse to put illegals to work are put out of business because they can’t compete with the cheap rates of other businesses. Illegals accept lower wages and harsh work condition and American workers suffer because of that. They are required to take pay cuts and poor work environments.
So what am I getting at? Why should we allow illegal immigrants into our country if God doesn’t allow illegals in Heaven? That’s right: You must have the right documentation to get into Heaven.
Some people have the wrong idea that there is a welcoming committee once they pass away from this life. That’s a falsity. First, we are to wait in a holding place until Christ’s second coming (Luke 16:22-24). Then we are to face judgment before God.
“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne, and books were opened. Another
book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead
were judged according to what they had done as
recorded in the books.”
-Revelation 20:12
So, you think you’ll enter Heaven just because you do good deeds or feel you have good morals? Wrong. For it is not by good deeds that you are saved but by faith. You can’t just read the bible. You have to act it out in your life (James 1:22-24). How do we know God does not allow illegals into Heaven? Revelation 21 tells us so.
“On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there
will be no night there. The glory and
honor of the nations will be brought unto it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will
anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but
only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
-Revelations 21:25-26
Our robes must be washed clean by the blood of Christ. How do we get our name in the Lamb’s book of life? By inviting Christ into our life and doing God’s will. That is, we must declare Christ as our savior. How can We relate this to our immigration problem here in America? Immigrants must go through customs to be declared a citizen! They must go through a background check (much like God’s judgment) and then receive verification and forms. What is the verification we receive in Heaven? A white robe. It signifies our righteousness and place in Heaven.
How is the kingdom of Heaven protected? There are pearly gates and high walls. A person can’t climb over the walls of Heaven or slip through the gates unnoticed. There are angels constantly keeping watch. We too must keep a constant watch and increase our border patrol. God doesn’t play favorites or base a person’s admittance on skin color or nationality. So why do we play favorites to people just based on skin color and give them amnesty? We are no less compassionate or ungodly if we deny access to our country. How do we know this? There are certain laws that were set in place years ago that forbid illegal immigrants from remaining in the country. Therefore, if someone doesn’t get granted citizenship then they are breaking a law. And God despises law breaking.
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority
instituted among men: whether to the king, as the
supreme authority, or to the governors, who are sent by him to
punish those who do wrong and to commend those
who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing
good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
This brings me to another situation. The governor of Arizona wanted to put new laws into effect to increase border protection. Arizona wanted to make it a crime for an illegal to obtain a job and to make warrantless arrests for those suspected to be deportable. These laws were rejected. Another issue? The Department of Homeland Security is only focusing on those illegal immigrants who have criminal records while halting those who have no record. Why is this an issue? Because the majority of illegals don’t pay taxes! This hurts our country. We keep putting out money for the benefits of the immigrants while there is an increase in our national debt. We are supposed to pay taxes and while CEOs and politicians are being targeted for tax evasion, these immigrants get away with residing here and not paying a red penny.
“This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities
are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe
taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue;
if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”
-Romans 13:6-7
I just want to let you know, this doesn't make me an uncompassionate person. I don't hate illegal immigrants nor will I treat them any differently than a natural born citizen. I just want to point out that what is happening is wrong. But I will continue to keep this nation and these controversial issues in my prayers.
It really is a kick in the teeth to those who came legally, for the illegals to be handed rights. Everyone else did their job to become legal. All of our families somewhere down the line were immigrants. The thing is though they came legally and went through the process. American rights are for Americans and that’s the great thing about our country. Everyone has that right as long as they become a citizen. Asking them to become naturalized is in no way the same thing as kicking them out. They have the choice to become naturalized or leave. We need to stand firm in this or continue to look like a weak nation.
Everyone says that illegals do the jobs that no Americans want to do. Were legal citizens given the choice to do those jobs, or is everyone just assuming no one wants to? Just because some people won’t do the jobs doesn’t mean someone else won’t who’s in desperate need of a job. On the other hand maybe it's the lower pay they'll settle for that we can't live on, which I guess would be the fault of whoever decides the salary combined with whether or not they're actually living here versus using the money across the border somehow. Most illegals send their money back to families across borders which hurt our economy. If we give these jobs to American citizens who are on unemployment or welfare than we will once again be a prosperous country!
We need to bring our concerns over this topic to our state legislature. We are constantly keeping our mouths shut when we need to have our voices be heard. Bring God back into the country and we will again be a great nation full of prosperity. Ronald Reagan once said, “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be one nation gone under.” Where do you want America to head?
The presidential elections are being held this year in November and the candidates are going on their campaigns. Everyone is starting to decide who to vote for and others are choosing to remain loyal to their registered party. But for a moment, let’s forget about political parties. What’s really important is what the person stands for and what their moral values are. Who is going to bring God back into our country? Is there anyone at all? What needs to happen is for the voters and citizens of our country to listen to what the candidates have to say and what’s important to them.
Who should Christian voters vote for in 2012? All of the candidates profess faith in Christ, but faith does not equate to a calling to be President, nor does profession of faith equate to faith. In the past, many have touted their relationship with Jesus to draw support and votes from Christians during the primaries, only to turn their backs on us during and/or after the general election. America does need a righteous leader, one who is wise and capable and experienced, one with strong leadership ability. Ultimately, elected officials remain responsible under God for their actions and decisions, and we need to pray for whoever ends up in office.
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers,
intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings
and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives
in all godliness and holiness.”
-1 Timothy 2:1-2
The issue is not whether we want a God-fearing president who will lead America well. Of course we do. The issue is that a church leadership or church body might back one candidate over all the others, as though the voice of God had spoken. One pastor may support the candidacy of Rick Perry and another pastor might support Barack Obama. The fact that a church leader backs a particular candidate does not necessarily give God’s view on the matter. Voters need to do their homework.
First, we must recognize that God ordains who should lead.
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority except that which God has
established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
-Romans 13:1
The bible constantly states that leadership is a position given by God. That does not mean that those who became leaders obeyed God or served Him well. There are plenty of kings and rulers in Israel who turned away from God and followed their own desires. Yet, God still gave them the position for His purposes.
The United States is a representative form of government, which means that the people of America have far more control and responsibility over what happens in their government than do the citizens of a dictatorship or a kingdom. The United States was formed as a government of, by, and for the people, and Christians have the same civic duties as all citizens. However, it seems that the leaders of our country, whether in the judicial, legislative, or executive branch, are becoming more tyrannical. Wicked leaders cause a country to fail, and that is what is starting to happen to America.
“By justice a king gives a country stability, but one
who is greedy for bribes tears it down.”
-Proverbs 29:4
“A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving
rain that leaves no crops.”
-Proverbs 28:3
“Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked
man ruling over a helpless people.”
-Proverbs 28:15
“When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;
but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.”
-Proverbs 28:28
Also, our nation’s government should not be so large. A smaller government is better for the country as a whole. Once one man becomes wicked, he poisons the whole system (Proverbs 29:12).
“When a county is rebellious, it has many rulers,
but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains order.”
-Proverbs 28:2
Regardless of how leaders conduct themselves, either in their personal lives or in carrying out their official duties, they must be obeyed. But their ungodly examples are not to be copied. By respecting those who hold offices through the authority and permission of God, we actually show respect to God Himself. While their personal conduct may be far from praiseworthy, even to the point where some corrupt the very government that they represent, they are still appointed by God to preserve order and punish law-breakers and wrongdoers.
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must
obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what
they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up
heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are
not willing to lift a finger to move them.”
-Matthew 23:2-4
However, the salvation of the world ultimately lies in Jesus Christ, the Messiah, not the messy thing we call politics. Government decisions are important but only the blood of Jesus can save us.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
-John 14:6
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given
