UNITYINCHRIST.COM

New Minor Prophets commentary

2012-01-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

New Minor Prophets Commentary now available--Jesus Christ calls for unity within the Body of Christ!

I have just uploaded a new commentary of the Minor Prophets (Hosea through Malachi) for this website. It is in the Prophecy section of the site. Be sure to check it out. Some very, very important nuggets of prophetic truth are contained in the Minor Prophets. I discovered one of those nuggets in Zephaniah 2:1-3. I discovered imbedded within Zephaniah a message from the pre-incarnate Christ to the Church, Body of Christ, for us believers in Jesus who would find ourselves living just before the Tribulation. Considering how the Body of Christ is composed of a bunch of bickering, squabbling denominations and individual churches, this is quite an amazing message for the Body of Christ. Since 1995, for example, the Sabbath-keeping Worldwide Church of God has divided into 375 separate, often times, bickering individual denominations. The amazing thing is that they all more or less believe the same as each other doctrinally. In many instances (but not always) it is their leadership who are responsible for the divisions within this part of the Body of Christ. Click on the title of this blog and scroll to Zephaniah 2:1-3 to read this amazing message from the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ to us right now. Now since Jesus gave this message, I would guess Jesus will help bring this unity to pass. Personally, I cannot see how it can occur without his bringing it to pass. But the leadership within the various denominations will have to be cooperative to Jesus' command here. And it is an emphatic command, repeated twice within the same verse. It can't be ecumenical unity either, the type unity the "liberal" dead and dying denominations so often attempt to unify by. Jesus may just use persecution to slam all of us together into one semi-cohesive unit. There are various forms of unity as well, such as unity of purpose, we may become all unified in supporting the proclamation of the Gospel, unified in our support of the non-denominational organizations that proclaim the Gospel to the world. Who knows, though? I don't know how Jesus is going to bring unity about, to help us fulfill his emphatic command for us. Knowing the opposition found within the various parts of the Body of Christ, I'm just as curious as to how Jesus is going to bring unity about as you are. It is kind of interesting I would discover the very verses that proclaim the theme of this website, "UNITYINCHRIST.COM", which continues to operate on an extreme shoestring. But isn't that the way God does things sometimes, starts out really, really small, like that tiny little cloud Elijah's servant saw forming out over the ocean, which turned into a giant flooding rainstorm? Be sure to read that Zephaniah 2:1-3 file, and mull over, meditate on Jesus' message for the Church, the Body of Christ.

Question for ex-Worldwide Church of God members

If you are an ex-Worldwide Church of God member, I have a very good article written about the Worldwide Church of God, which may help put our "Worldwide" experience into proper perspective, and it gives a few helpful suggestions as to where we need to be headed in our spiritual journey right now. The Worldwide Church of God section of this website also helps answer the vital question about unity in the Body of Christ raised by Jesus Christ, Yahweh, in Zephaniah 2:1-3. To log onto the Worldwide Church of God section, click on:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wwcofgod.html

Incredible Prophetic Events Occuring As I Write--A Question For Sunday-observers

2011-08-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Turmoil in the Middle East

The Fall Holy Day season has just gone by us, and world events really heated up just in time for them, as usual. This year looks like a humdinger, and as I write Qadaffi is out of power and has been killed. As of today the 24th of October, 2011, the transitional leader of Libya just called for Sharia Law as Libya celebrates liberation (foxnews.com). I quote, "Abdul-Jalil set out a vision for the post-Qaddafi future with an Islamist tint, saying that Islamic Sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation in the country and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified." Next door to Libya foxnews.com reports "Signs of Strong Islamist Vote in Tunisian Elections" and "Egypt's parliamentary elections have been taking place this last week in November, with the Muslim Brotherhood scoring a whapping 36.6 percent, which when allied to any other conservative Islamic party will give them a clear majority in the Egyptian government." As of now, quoting from foxnews.com, "The High Election Commission [in Egypt] said the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party garnered 36.6 percent of the 9.7 million valid ballots cast for party lists. The Nour Party, a more hardline Islamist group captured 24.4 percent...The Brotherhood has emerged as the most organized and cohesive political force in these elections...The party itself has positioned itself as a moderate Islamist party that wants to implement Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms, and has said it will not seek an alliance with the more radical Nour party. The ultraconservative Salafis who dominate the Nour party are newcomers to the political scene. They had previously frowned upon involvement in politics and shunned elections. They espouse a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that of Saudi Arabia, where the sexes are segregated and women must be veiled and are banned from driving. Its members say laws contradicting religion can't be passed." That last statement was also made by the new leader of Libya right after Qaddafi was killed. Now for sure there appears to be a solid string of Islamic nations across North Africa, soon to come under Sharia law, all loosely united under the Muslim Brotherhood, or worse, the organization that brought this Arab Spring about through their well-organized protests, which started in Tunisia and spread throughout the Arabic world. Syria is next on their list. Now Basher Assad's regime in Syria looks to be in very serious trouble, and in danger of toppling. Such a group of nations may form into a caliphate of nations, with little Israel sandwiched inbetween them, with the possibility these nations could possibly morph into what is known in Daniel 11 as the "king of the south" (cf. Daniel 11:40-45). The prospect of Israel in a "Muslim Brotherhood Sandwich" does not spell peace in the Middle East at all. It may create a "situation which demands outside intervention" (European brokered 7-year peace treaty anyone?). How close to the abyss do we have to get before waking up spiritually to the signs of the times folks?

How Important Are God's Holy Days?--Did the Early Church Observe Them?

As a few of you already know, the Fall Holy Days symbolize the time of the great tribulation and subsiquent 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ (Trumpets), the locking away of Satan and the demons and Jesus' Atonement being applied to the whole world now (Atonement), and the arrival of the Millennial Kingdom of God (Feast of Tabernacles). Recent world events show us these events depicted by the Fall Holy Days are getting much closer. As a matter of fact, all of God's Holy Days commanded for ancient Israel in Leviticus 23, and observed by the early Christian Church for the first 300 years of their existence, symbolize important steps in God's masterplan of salvation for the whole world (and everyone who has ever lived in the world as well). Gentile Christianity mainly focuses on the meaning of the Spring Holy Days (Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, and the birth of the Church), although they don't celebrate the actual spring Holy Days per se, while ignoring the Fall Holy Days and their symbolic meaning altogether, not incorporating their rich meaning into their Gospel proclamation. What I suspect is that God wants the entire, complete picture of his plan of Salvation and His invitation to it to be given to the world. That is what makes the Holy Days so very important, because they picture that entire plan of salvation we should be making plain to the world. Why celebrate the Hebrew Holy Days of Leviticus 23? Simply because they rehearse God's master plan of salvation, step by step, as you observe them. They step beyond one's own salvation (Spring Holy Days), to how God is going to offer up salvation to the whole world. To see how the early Church looked, days of worship and all that, log onto:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm

The early Christian Church was nothing like what most imagine it as being like. The "ancient" Holy Days of God, and the Sabbath itself, convey far more spiritual meaning and knowledge than the Gentile Christian days of worship--Sunday, Christmas and Easter--which borrow heavily from pagan origins. And they knew that back then. What Sunday-observing believers really need to learn is the historic truth that Sabbath and Holy Days of Leviticus 23 were being actively observed as "days of worship" by the early Christian Church for the first 300 years of its existence, from 30AD to around 325AD, instead of believing the unhistoric fable that it went over to Sunday/Christmas/Easter as their "days of worship" almost immediately, from Acts 8 onward. That is a historic fallacy. But just because the Sabbath and Holy Days are shadows for what Jesus and the Holy Spirit have accomplished in us (Spring Holy Days), and will yet accomplish (Fall Holy Days), is that a reason to ditch their observance? Nahum said this to Judah, and by inference to all believers in Jesus, taken in context with part "a" of Nahum 1:15, "Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaim peace! [that's the Gospel, folks, those that bring the Gospel!] O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows." Yes, Sabbath and Holy Days are far better than Sunday/Christmas/Easter (which have pagan origins [see http:www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/00index.htm] ). The Holy Days of Leviticus 23 rehearse God's entire Plan of Salvation for mankind. As a matter of fact, Jesus at his return will make observance of the Holy Days mandatory for all of mankind (see Zechariah 14:16-19; Isaiah 66:22-23). You have a choice to make. Choose wisely, time is short.

A Sincere Question for Sunday-observers

Some of the Body of Christ on the Sunday observing side are literally on fire in their promotion of the Gospel, and that is a good thing--the Sabbath-observing believers could certainly learn a thing or two from you guys on this score. Just as an example take a look at Calvary Chapel's Greg Laurie Anaheim Harvest Crusade. It's a couple hours long, featuring a few Christian rock bands for the first hour and a half, and then Greg Laurie's sermon. This gives you an example of what a Calvary Chapel service is like, except in place of the rock bands, they just have a praise & worship team on stage behind the pastor's podium and the pastor usually preaches connective expository sermons going through the Word of God. Their method of preaching through the Word of God giving what I term "connective expository" sermons is also one of the most powerful methods of spiritually nurturing a congregation--something else the Sabbath-observing believers could learn from as well (I feature transcripts of some of these [by permission] on this site, Gospel of Matthew, Mark, John, and some of the Epistles so far). But if you have some time, log on and watch this one: http://www.harvest.org/crusade/2011/anaheim/webcast/saturday.html (click on the Anaheim Crusade, and click on the Saturday night one.) For you Sabbath-keepers, wouldn't it be awesome to have a Feast of Tabernacles event like this one? But here's a serious question for you Calvary Chapel people: One of your pastors of Jewish lineage, Dr. David Hocking, made the statement to some of your pastors (I think in a pastors meeting) that 'they [Calvary Chapel pastors] should start getting used to the idea of Sabbath/Holy Day observance, because in the Millennial Kingdom of God we're all going to be observing them.' That's what he said. And Dr. Hocking's message was favorably received, because a local Calvary Chapel pastor relayed what Dr. Hocking said to his congregation (I was sitting in the congregation and heard him repeat Dr. Hocking's words). My sincere question is: Seeing that Sunday/Christmas/Easter truly have repugnant pagan origins, Why wait till Jesus' return to start observing the days Jesus himself will re-institute for the Church? That's my question.

The Plain Truth About The Worldwide Church of God

2011-06-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

My Israeli webhost just posted my article (recently researched and written) about what brought about the demise of the Worldwide Church of God as a Sabbatarian Church of God. Although painful for some to read, it was written because many if not most ex-Worldwide Church of God members do not realize why God allowed the Worldwide Church of God to be destroyed. Obviously this is true because the major splinter denominations which split off of WCG in 1995 still continue to make the very same mistakes and treat people the same way WCG did. Why? Because no one has really taught them why God was so displeased with the WCG and why he destroyed the WCG. We all tend to think that a man (or two of them) destroyed the Worldwide Church of God (and they certainly had a good hand in it), but it was really God who allowed them to do it, because he didn't like what he saw or what leadership within the Worldwide Church of God had been doing to those under them. This article was written because there is a need to know for those poor exWCG members who had to go through all of this. There is a need to know because the mistakes that led to the demise of the Worldwide Church of God continue to be made. If that weren't true, there would be no need to write and publish this article, and doing so would be worse than gossip. But this article has redeeming value because it not only names the sins, but points a way out of them, for those who are willing to listen. Click on the title to this blog to take you to the article. By the way, I was a loyal member of the Worldwide Church of God from April of 1970 to around 1996-7, having contributed multiple tens of thousands of dollars in tithes and offerings to God through the WCG. Most longtime WCG members, like me, were truly financial investors in the WCG in that sense, and I would say because of our time and money "invested", we all have the right to know the plain truth about what really happened and why. In spite of the errors (which were in the nature of the hierarchal non-Biblical governmental structure of the Worldwide Church of God), Mr. Armstrong did lay a good foundation doctrinally for Sabbath-keeping Churches of God. But like all foundations, buildings must be built upon them. Right now that foundation sits there, with nothing built upon it. Have you ever seen people (usually ones in the country, out in the woods) who don't have sufficient funds to build their house right away, so they build their foundation, cover over the top of it and live in it until they have the funds to build the house? That is about what we have in the various Sabbath-keeping Churches of God right now. What is it God would have us build on that foundation we were given, and what would God have us avoid in building materials? Check out the upper nav bar buttons on the Worldwide Church of God section for some really good answers to those two timely questions.

The United Church of God Splits In Two

2010-12-29T03:21:00.000-08:00

A very interesting, but sad thing is happening to the "United Church of God, an International Association". It is splitting into two separate but distinct denominations of their own, one retaining the old name, "The United Church of God, An International Association" and the other, "Church of God, A Worldwide Association." Sadly, the members all believe pretty much the same in doctrinal areas. But this split or divorce was a planned thing from the beginning by their elders, who hold one of two opposing views about evangelism and the general direction of the church. It all goes back to the hierarchal structure of this Sabbatarian Church of God. My previous blog about this type of situation can be seen by scrolling down to the blog on 'The Church's Birthday'. God in Zephaniah 2:1-3 shows he wants the Body of Christ to 'gather together', and he repeats that statement twice in verse 1, right before the Tribulation starts, not split apart. I think the leaders of all the Sabbatarian Churches of God need to take a hard look at that short three verse passage, and do some serious repenting. To read about Christ's command given in Zephaniah 2:1-3, telling his body of believers, the Church, to unite, click on:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/Zephaniah1.htm

This is a very serious command of Jesus, and I would say it is addressed to Church leaders. How is Jesus going to bring this unity about? I haven't a clue. But I suspect he's going to go after the Church leaders in one way or another. Have you ever heard Paul's saying in Hebrews 'It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God'?

Synopsis of Kings & Chronicles

2010-11-10T03:25:00.000-08:00

For all you history buffs, and especially Bible history buffs, I just put up a six-part series on Kings & Chronicles, going from the time of king Solomon all the way to Judah's king Zedekiah up to Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem and Jeremiah's mysterious disappearance along with his scribe Baruch and Zedekiah's daughters. It follows both the House of Israel's and the House of Judah's lines of kings from Jereboam and Rehobiam to Judah's last king, Zedekiah, and clearly shows why God had first one nation, the House of Israel, and then the other, the House of Judah, defeated militarily and then deported from their lands. It kind of ties right into what we're doing in the US as a nation right now, since the 1960s onward. This will make Old Testament history come alive for you, so enjoy. Next series to follow is a commentary on the Book of Jeremiah, which will dove-tail directly into the last part of this series quite nicely. Just click on the title of this blog and it will take you to the first part of this six part series. Each part is linked to the next one at the bottom of its last page.

What is the Gospel--the Gospel of Christ?

2010-08-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

For years the Worldwide Church of God which I was a member of taught a message about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, thinking this was the Gospel which Jesus told us to preach and that it was this 'Gospel' which when preached brought people into a knowledge of Salvation. I have learned since that we were preaching the "Jewish" gospel which the evangelistic Diaspora Jews had been preaching from the time of the Maccabees to the time of Christ. But the simple Gospel the apostle Peter preached in his first sermon in Acts 2 was about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The result of Peter's sermon preaching this 'Gospel' brought 3,000 souls to repentance and baptism. So what really is the "Gospel of Salvation," called alternately "the Gospel of Christ"? Click on the title of this blog to log onto an article I just posted about what the Gospel of Salvation really is. The Jewish gospel drew many Gentiles into their synagogues, and caused those Gentiles to believe in the One true God of Israel, Yahweh, and many believers have come into the Sabbatarian Churches of God due to the preaching of a similar gospel about the coming Kingdom of God, but it is not the Gospel preached by Paul, John, Peter and the other apostles. All believers ought to be on the same page with this essential information, for it is this very Gospel which Jesus commanded us to be preaching to the entire world before he would come again (Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-18). Be sure to click on the title of this blog to link to an article which clearly defines the Gospel of Salvation. A major Sabbatarian Church of God leader has read it and approves of it 100 percent, interestingly. We all need to be on the same page with this one, as Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15 and Matthew 24:14 put some pretty serious emphasis on it.

Was the Church really like that? Happy Birthday, Body of Christ!

2010-05-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, the Church's (Body of Christ's) birthday is on the day of Pentecost, May 23rd, 2010 this year. Few realize what the history of that early Church was really like. I have a full-length history research paper on the subject, showing what the early Body of Christ was like. I have just updated part III of that research paper, expanding it from a short piece about Constantine, to one that shows the birth and development of the Catholic Church, whose beginnings go as far back as 96AD with their first "Bishop of Rome", Pope Clement. It's an interesting piece, because this history, taken from Paul Johnson's "A History of Christianity" shows how the hierarchal structure of church government slowly but steadily took over that 'universal' church, much to it's own detriment. This hierarchal church government structure in the Church in Rome allowed an 'old boy' network to develop and exist which allowed a high level of corruption to exist in that developing church. The updated section of this early church history article can be found on this link:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch3.htm

To log on that link above, just click on the above main title of this blog ("Was the Church Really Like That?"). So be sure to check that link out. The next question that begs asking is: 'Was this the structure to be found within the early Church of God in Jerusalem, or the churches of God that the apostle's Paul and John planted in Corinth and Asia Minor?' The answer: 'No, it was not.' Their congregations, as best as can be determined by searching the Epistles, were semi-autonomous, all coming under the gentle guidance and oversight of the apostles (Paul and John in Asia Minor and Gentile areas, Peter in Judea). Jerusalem up until 70AD was the central HQ church, but church governmental ties to this 'Mother Church' were very loose. General funds and tithes, except for occasional poor offerings sent to Jerusalem, were kept within each congregation, and obviously assisted in local evangelism, which helped grow these congregations. Pastors were chosen by local church members within each congregation, because it was these very same local members who would best know if the one they were choosing to be their pastor met the guidelines laid out by Paul in 1st Timothy 3:1-7. The word "bishop" found in that passage really meant "overseer" or "pastor" at the time Paul penned 1st Timothy. Compare this with the information found on the above link. Sadly, not only the Catholic Church followed this damaging hierarchal structure for church governance, but the Church of England and many Reformation churches followed it as well. Of recent, even some Sabbatarian Church of God denominations have followed it, much to their own hurt. They should look back to how the early Sabbatarian Churches of God in Rhode Island and New Jersey chose their pastors. In the early 1700s the tiny congregation of a Church of God was forming up in Piscataway, New Jersey. The members of this tiny congregation chose one of their own members, an Edward Dunham. They then sent him north to Newport, Rhode Island to have hands laid on him (his formal ordination), and then he was sent back to pastor the congregation that had chosen him (I would strongly suspect they chose him based on Paul's instructions in 1st Timothy 3:1-7). To see what the early Church was like in the 1st through 4th centuries AD, log onto and read:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm

An interesting sermon transcript I just put on the site goes into this question of traditions and hierarchal structure verses preaching and following the Word of God, and is to be found at this link:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/mathew/Matthew15-1-20.htm

Be sure to log onto that as well. If any of you are part of one of these hierarchal Sabbatarian Churches of God that has all their tithes sent to their HQ church, and you are wondering: 'How might that structure change over to the original apostolic template, pattern?' Easy, the answer is to be found in the Old Testament. The Levites, living anywhere in Israel, could collect tithes within their local villages, later those villages where they worked in a synagogue. A tithe of their tithes were to be sent to support the high priest. So the template is already there, for those who care to see it. It's simple, most of the money a HQ church sends out to pay their pastors, this pay would now be payed out now by each local congregation to pay its own individual pastor, as they become semi-autonomous. Each congregation (pastor responsible for this) would send a "tithe of their collected tithes" to the HQ church for the running of their organized evangelistic works, such as magazines and printed documents sent to prospective new-believers, believers and the world in general. As for the selection process of choosing pastors, elders, that was already explained previously in this blog.

Be sure to log onto and read those links, you will find them most enlightening, maybe disturbing for some, as it's a paradigm-breaker. Happy Birthday Body of Christ, or Happy Pentecost, (Happy Shevuot to our Messianic Jewish brothers in Yeshua)!

Christian Passover time has come again

2010-03-25T07:44:00.001-07:00

It is that time of year again, a time of year when all Worldwide Church of God members would be cleaning all the leaven out of their homes, vigorously vacuuming their cars out. This site has three really good articles for this season.

1) http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/exodus1.html goes through the entire subject of Passover and the original one in Egypt, relating it to Jesus's sacrifice as our Passover Lamb.

2) Another good one on Leaven can be found at:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/Leaven.htm
(read it and find out that getting the leavening out has tremendous symbolic meaning for the Christian.)

3) Another really good study about the last six days in Jesus life before his crucifixion can be found at:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/lamb/lastsix.htm

Enjoy

Coming World Famine?

2010-03-25T07:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished another research article/paper titled COMING WORLD FAMINE? This paper shows pretty clearly that Normal Borlaug's green revolution, which has helped stave off starvation for the past 40 years, and allowed the world population of 2.52 billion people in the 1950's to comfortably climb to 6.8 billion people in 2010, has begun to flat-line, and if all prevailing conditions continue, to start to fail. What does the future hold if these conditions continue? Look up the article and read it for yourself. The nav button is just above the Global Warming nav button. It's about 24 pages, not too long, but very informative.

New Book of Revelation Commentary (pretty awesome, if not a bit controversial)

2010-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

There is a new section on the site. I have put together a commentary on the Book of Revelation (with the help of J. Vernon McGee and other sources, and of course the most important source, letting the Bible interpret its own symbols). The church history section (Revelation 2-3) to start off with, is a bit controversial, taking a hard look at both Sabbatarian Churches of God and Gentile Sunday observing Christian revivals, going back to Asia Minor and Judea of the first Church era. Like I said, some of the conclusions are controversial, but I think they bear some merit, or at least some honest consideration. You'll love that last two chapters, Revelation 21-22 as well, a real encouraging future for the entire Body of Christ. The nav button for this Book of Revelation commentary on the left-hand nav bar is just below the nav bar button of Daniel. Enjoy. I'm glad I'm finished, gave me some restless nights. Why was I inspired to do Revelation? Search me. I think the Lord may want parts of his body of believers to wake up and get with it, maybe, considering how close we may be to the end of this "age of man." Don't know. Anyway, enjoy.

Baptist and Sabbatarian history, the riddle solved!

2009-01-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

While researching a link going to a Baptist history site that went dead on this website, I was forced to look up another link. I read through one of the links of this denomination which was about their history, thinking it looks promising. I read through it, spot checking it, especially where they mentioned their history in 1100s France, knowing the Baptists claim the same lineage through Peter de Waldo, the Henricians, the Cathari and the Albigensians, the groups we know as Sabbath and Holy Day observing groups in France. The Baptists also trace a history from Asia Minor through the Bogamils in Yugosalvia, entering southeast Europe the way the Sabbatarian Churches of God do. I have always wondered how two church denominations, one Sabbath and Holy Day observing Judeo-Christians, the other Baptist Sunday observers, could lay claim to the same historic line, going from Asia Minor, through Europe and France, then to England, and then America. At first, I thought, someone must be lying. But I immediately thought better of that, two Holy Spirit inspired groups like that wouldn't knowingly tell lie about their history. Then I focused on France of the 1100s AD. These tiny groups, but especially the Waldensians, were preaching up an evangelistic storm in France, and they had even translated the four Gospels, some of the Epistles, the book of Job, amongst other parts the Bible into the vernacular French. The Catholic church was feeling the heat of their preaching. So the Catholic pope of the time launched the first Inquisition in France, with others to follow. Most think of the Spanish Inquisition, but these started in France. Ralph Woodrow's Babylon Mystery Religion, gives the bloody gruesome details of the French Inquisitions. I'll quote on tiny section from his book which focuses in on one such event. "One of the documents that ordered such persecutions was the inhuman 'Ad exstirpanda' issued by Pope Innocent IV in 1252. This document stated that heretics were to be 'crushed like venomous snakes.' It formally approved the use of torture. Civil authorities were ordered to burn heretics. "The aforementioned Bull, 'Ad exstripanda' remained thenceforth a fundamental document of the Inquisition, renewed or reinforced by several popes, Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicholas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1304), and others [these times all cover the French Inquisitions]. The civil authorities, therefore, were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication [which would put their lives under the same danger] to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake...At Lavaur in 1211 [just as all this was getting going] the governor was hanged on a gibbet and his wife thrown into a well and crushed with stones. Four hundred people in the town were burned alive. The crusaders attended high mass in the morning, then proceeded to take other towns of the area. In this siege, it is estimated that 100,000 Albigenses fell in one day. Their bodies were heaped together and burned." (pp. 105, 108 Ralph Woodrow's Babylon Mystery Religion.) When persecutions got really hot, many within these Sabbath-keeping groups in France switched to Sunday observance in the hopes of not being spotted by the Inquisitors and Catholic priests, in an effort to save their lives. This was in a history of the Sabbatarian revivals I transcribed and put on this website. In the Sabbatarian Churches of God in Rhode Island history article I have on this website, while researching that history I found in another church history link the story of the Cottrell family, who were French Albigensians, who escaped to England. Their family continued there in one of the Sabbatarian Churches of God near London. In 1638 John Cottrell moved to the Colony of Rhode Island and ended up in the Church of God congregation in Newport Rhode Island and his son ended up in the Westerly congregation. The Cottrells ended up migrating with other church members to the midwest of the United States. They have never as a family, from France to the midwest of the United States, ever stopped worshipping on the 7th day Sabbath. So they are a historic link to these same slaughtered Albigensians in France. They escaped. Also, we know that most of the churches in Asia Minor up to around 250 AD were Judeo-Christian Sabbath-keepers. So the church line going into France must have been Sabbath-keepers. It was a single historic line, which both Baptist and Sabbatarian Churches of God were laying claim to. But if this historic line left Asia Minor as Judeo-Christian Sabbath-keepers, which is the more likely case, it must have been Sabbatarian in France at first. But the white hot intensity of these Inquisitions made many in these groups in France rethink their choice for days of worship, with their physical survival at stake. While reviewing this Baptist history link, I zeroed in on the part dealing with France in the 1100s, and found a statement, a quote from a Catholic source (obviously part of the Inquisitors records), where they weren't calling the places these people met "churches", but they called them "synagogues". Now these Catholic persecutions and Inquisitors would not be calling the places of worship of anyone observing Sunday as a "synagogue", but they certainly would be calling people who met on the Saturday Sabbath, observed the Jewish Holy Days and circumcised their children "synagogues". So what I believe is that the historic line of both our Sabbatarian Churches of God and the Baptists was a single line up until it reached the period of the first and second Inquisition in France. Then the line split, one going to Sunday observing "Baptists" or "Anabaptists", and the other remaining Sabbath, Holy Day observing Sabbatarian Churches of God, most of which got slaughtered, but some escaped first to Holland, and then to England in the 1300s (the Lollards). Both these groups, Baptists and Sabbatarian Churches of God adamantly believe in baptism of adults only by full immersion. In England, the Sabbatarian Churches of God would often evangelize amongst their Baptist "friends", helping to maintain and grow their numbers in England. This practice continued into America. So when the Baptists claim to be a "really old church denomination" going back to Asia Minor, they are right. When the Sabbatarian Churches of God claim the same thing, they are correct as well. Actually they all were Sabbath-observing full-immersion baptists all the way back to Asia Minor. But the split in the historic line came in France due to white-hot persecution and slaughter of their numbers. The Baptists will never claim to have originally been part of the Sabbatarian Churches of God to have come out of Asia Minor through Yugoslavia. After France the the 1200s when the Baptists had been Sunday observing long enough, they finally discovered the freedoms we have in Christ over days of worship explained in Romans 14. Now we have too, but still prefer Sabbath and Holy Days voluntarily. The link to the Baptist history will be up soon on this website in the Church History section. Be sure to watch for it. Then compare it to the information in the Sabbatarian's histories at:

http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/revivals.htm and http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/historycog1.htm and also http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm .

The current Worldwide Church of God under Joe Tkach Jr. claims we came from the Baptists in England. It would appear, realistically, that the Baptists came from Sabbatarian Churches of God much earlier, in France. His view of this history appears to be 180 degrees out from the actual truth. As far as I'm concerned, the riddle is solved.

Dinosaurs and man, what's it mean

2008-08-13T03:37:00.000-07:00

If any of you are unbelievers, or don't know whether the world was created, with all life on it, or just evolved like everybody says nowadays, consider this. The dinosaurs died 65 million years ago, as a direct result of two, not one, but two global-killer asteroids hitting the earth, one in the Yucitan Peninsula, (6.25 square miles in size), and another in the Bay of Bombay (25 square miles). The resulting ash thrown into the atmosphere directly, and also later from 500,000 years of resultant volcanic activity in the Indian subcontinent, completely blanked out the suns rays in a thick ash-cloud, killing all, yes all photosynthesis. All life died (probably within two weeks of the asteroid hits). All life on land, all life in the oceans died. Without photosynthesis, life dies, all life. Ask any biologist. Now dinosaurs have complex DNA, just like we do. The complexity of DNA, if it evolved at all, would take more than a mere 65 million years to "re-evolve". It goes against the laws of probability for DNA to have "re-evolved" within such a short geological time-span, Then at the end of this 65 million year time-span between their death and the beginning of the recorded history of man, mankind and all the animal and plant life we're familiar with suddenly appears (some scientists say within the last 100,000 years of that 65 million years). Is there a probable explanation other than direct creation? To view a more complete treatment of this subject, log onto www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM and click on the link at the bottom of the Homepage that deals with the dinosaurs. Oh, and for you that are new-earth creationists, why would God use the record of the rocks to fabricate a lie? The record of the rocks plainly show dinosaurs lived 65 million years ago, yet you say they lived with man, and propose that the record of the rocks is a clever hoax. A hoax of who? God created earth, God created dinosaurs, God created man. Geologists are trained scientists. They know the record of the rocks is accurate. God doesn't lie, even in the record of the rocks. Comments, anyone?

Hi everyone

2008-08-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I'm Pete and I'm totally new at this blogging thing, but I figured it may be one of the best and easiest ways to create an active discussion group for UNITYINCHRIST.COM. Everyone is free to post comments on this blogsite, believer, non-believer, friends, and not so friendly ones. Through the comments section you can have an honest and open discussion forum. But please keep your comments within the lines of common decency, regarding other's beliefs and sensitivities, i.e. no nasty stuff. Have any questions, doctrinal, personal, you name it, feel free to post a comment asking me. I have a varied spiritual background that spans both the Gentile and Jewish side of the body of Christ, with Sabbatarian Church of God being in the middle of those two. I spent 25 years in a Sabbatarian Church of God (observing Sabbath and Holy Days) for 25 years, then a Calvary Chapel for 10 and a Messianic Jewish congregation for 2.5 years.

The Fall Holy Day season of the Jews, Messianic Jewish believers in Jesus and Sabbatarian Church of God believers is almost upon us. Most Gentile Christian believers are woefully ignorant of the greater plan of salvation these Holy Days of ancient Israel portray. Do you know what they represent symbolically?--Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernalces? The answers are on the website, but if you think you can explain what they mean, I'd like to see what you think they mean. They were important enough for God to give them to all of Israel to keep in perpetuity. The ancient Judeo-Christian body of Christ kept them. So what do they mean?