Friday, January 20, 2012

Keeping Sundays Holy

I previously wrote about Resting God's Way.  In that post, I tried to explain the need to keep the Sabbath holy, and proved from Scripture that God expects us to do so.

Since that time, I have been reading an amazing book by brother Yong-Doo Kim, called Baptize by Blazing Fire.  In Book three, he documents how he inquired of the Lord about the matter of Sundays, and the answer he received from the Lord Jesus Christ will probably shock you.


I would like to now include an excerpt directly from his book about this:

Excerpt from the book:
*Keeping Sunday Holy, Do Not Spend Money On Sundays

    I decided to ask the Lord about Sundays, the Sabbath day: how we should keep it Holy and if we are to spend any money on Sundays. I wondered how He thought about it. “Lord! Currently, I see many churches and saints not keeping Sundays holy. Sundays are utilized by families to eat out, as a day for recreation, and to spend time on their hobbies. They say that if those things are done for the sake of the gospel, it is justified. Their conviction of keeping Sundays holy is lackadaisical at best. Moreover, their faith has no convictions to God‘s Word. The servants of God are not emphasizing the importance of this subject in their sermons. Furthermore, Sunday evening services are gradually decreasing and being eliminated. Most only have day services. Please give me your thoughts on this subject.”

    As soon as I asked, the Lord became quickly angry. His expression changed and His anger showed on His face. The Lord wanted me to reference and document scripture: scripture that described kindling a fire to those who do not keep Sunday holy.

        “But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates of thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 17:27)

        “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call a Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the Lord, honorable and shall honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Then shall thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13-14)

        “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” (Matthew 12:8)

        “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” (Matthew 12:12)

    The Lord had commanded us to keep Sundays Holy in every way. He rebuked watching television, dining out with family, and other secular activities. Furthermore, the Lord did not permit Christians to run any business of any kind for profit on Sundays. He also did not approve Saints to do any shopping on Sundays.

    As a matter of fact, only a few saints barely made it to heaven that did not keep Sundays properly. And on the contrary, there were an over flowing number of saints who were in hell for not keeping Sunday holy. The saints in hell were shouting in anguish. They were experiencing countless degrees of torment.

    The Lord commanded: “Look at those souls! Those souls did not consider my day with much relevance. They had made my day unclean. Look very closely.” The church congregation and I had witnessed a shocking scene. We were in total shock. After witnessing the scene, I concentrated on repenting of not keeping Sundays Holy in every way.

    We need to adjust our concept of Sundays. There are numerous saints who think that spending money on Sundays is justified if it is for the sake of the gospel. With that thought, they spend money on Sundays.

        “And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

    If we simply justify spending money for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of people, then everybody will validate with their own reasoning to spend money on Sundays. Eventually, they will continuously create more special cases or reasons to spend money. Within time, people will create their own excuses to spend money on Sundays.

    The Lord had clearly clarified the reality of the church’s deception.

    The Lord stated. “People obfuscate, misuse, and abuse the commandment of Sunday for the sake of the gospel. They do it consistently. Do not spend money on Sundays! Once men have decided to do what is in their hearts, they present their reasons or justifications to break the commandment at any cost.” The Lord looked very serious. His majesty overflowed. His seriousness and majesty vividly touched me.

    Moreover, on Sundays, Jesus did not want us to spend any money on the coffee machine before or after a meal in church. The Lord desired us to raise money for missions and missionaries on weekdays and not on Sundays. The Lord told me to document this problem. Currently, the people throughout the churches cry out for revival and reformation but the ministers and church congregations must first be changed. They must fearfully repent. They do not properly teach or proclaim keeping Sunday Holy. In fact, they treat this matter with negligence. The Lord had given a stern warning.

    Any kind of events held in the house of God must be free of charge. Many churches today sell meal tickets since they have numerous attendants. Purchasing meal tickets is not keeping Sundays Holy. The Lord meticulously showed me how Korean churches and the saints therein are not approved by our Holy God -- just by not keeping Sunday Holy.

    The Lord also wanted the church to feed any guest speakers at either the Pastor’s house or a saint’s house if the special event is held on Sundays. The Lord did not want the church to take the guest speaker out to a restaurant on Sundays. If the church had a kitchen, the guests could be fed there. The Lord ended His admonition by stating that He forbade us to spend money on Sundays.

    I would like to disclose an event a church member experienced in church. My son, Joseph, evangelized to his friend, Oh, Seung-Young. He had invited him to our church. While we laid our hands on him and prayed, his spiritual eyes opened. He was not aware or ignorant about keeping Sundays holy. Out of habit, he continued to casually buy bubble gum on Sundays. Then one evening on Sunday during church service, he was brought before the throne of God.

    God immediately said, “Seung-Young! Why have you made my day unclean? Why have you not kept Sunday holy? My heart is woeful and breaks.” God then laid him on his stomach and spanked him six times. Seung-Young felt the tingles on his butt as he laid on his stomach. Then God ordered him to do push ups.

    While Seung-Young was being punished, the other church saints were praying. Seung- Young was also praying in his physical state. While we all prayed, Seung-Young, out of the blue, gasped. I asked, “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be praying?” Seung-Young shouted, “Pastor! I bought a bubble gum this afternoon and now God is punishing me for breaking His commandment of keeping Sunday holy. I am being punished right now.”

    After being disciplined, Father God said, “Seung-Young! Since my heart is woeful, cheer me up now. Appease and gratify Me!” Seung-Young stopped his push ups and began dancing in a humorous way before the Lord. God became very delighted.

    God commanded Seung-Young never to purchase any gum or snacks on Sunday. God proclaimed that Sundays are Holy and must be kept holy. Seung-Young continuously said, “Amen!” He obeyed God.

    As a Pastor, I had never properly taught my congregation about keeping Sundays Holy. I, myself, have not kept Sundays Holy as well. Therefore, I repented. Now with a fearful and trembling heart, I wholly keep Sundays Holy. My family and I, including the church congregation, avoid going out for personal pleasures of any kind. Now on Sundays, we gather together in church to have service and evangelize. We gain rest from it.

[End of excerpt from Baptize by Blazing Fire, Book 3.]

You can read more of a Scriptural explanation for keeping Sundays holy on my other post called Resting from Work.  And Part II of this article is now posted online at Keeping Sundays Holy - Part II

Putting it All Together

Here are the lessons I've learned from this part of the book, which are essentially quotes:
  • We entangle ourselves with various kinds of business and/or recreational activities and give the excuse that we are too busy for the Lord. We then often forget the Lord. Rather than relying on the Kingdom of God, we rest on our current physical world. As a result, we miss hearing the voice of God. Slowly and gradually, we change and follow the life that is irrelevant to the Lord.
  • Always put the Lord and His business first.
  • We need to adjust our concept of Sundays.
  • People obfuscate, misuse, and abuse the commandment of Sunday for the sake of the gospel. They do it consistently. Do not spend money on Sundays!
  • If we simply justify spending money for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of people, then everybody will validate with their own reasoning to spend money on Sundays. Eventually, they will continuously create more special cases or reasons to spend money. Within time, people will create their own excuses to spend money on Sundays.
  • The Lord desires us to raise money for missions and missionaries on weekdays and not on Sundays.
  • The Lord also wants the church to feed any guest speakers at either the Pastor’s house or a saint’s house if the special event is held on Sundays. The Lord does not want the church to take the guest speaker out to a restaurant on Sundays. If the church has a kitchen, the guests could be fed there. The Lord ended His admonition by stating that He forbade us to spend money on Sundays.
  • The Lord had commanded us to keep Sundays Holy in every way. He rebuked watching television, dining out with family, and other secular activities. Furthermore, the Lord did not permit Christians to run any business of any kind for profit on Sundays. He also did not approve Saints to do any shopping on Sundays.
It's time for us to repent, church!  I have not kept Sundays holy, although I may have thought I was doing so.  Up until now, I have justified my own actions, and assumed that what I was doing was alright.  But the Lord has used this book to bring me to repentance, and as I write this, I am still in the process of repenting.  I hope you will allow it to do the same in your heart, too.

You cannot rely on your obedience to the Law to save you, because it is only by grace that you are saved through faith (Eph 2:8-10).  Always remember that we can do nothing apart from the Lord Jesus (Jn 15:5), but if you keep His commandments, you will abide in His love (Jn 15:10). 

If you are a pastor, I recommend you diligently search the Scriptures, pray and ask the Lord for guidance, and then be led by the Spirit in obedience to the Word.  If you are not a pastor, then submit to your leaders and honor the day they designate for worship.  

Author's Note: Please see Opportunities to Serve the Body of Christ.  I also recommend reading David Wilkerson's message, Honoring the Sabbath, which I discovered after writing this article. If you enjoyed this message, you may also be interested in the other posts on this blog, available through the archives on the Home page, especially Resting from Work, Faith Works!, Christian Sabbath is Sunday, not Saturday, and Is Practical Righteousness a Lost Truth?
I also recommend Restored Truth, Pleasing the Lord, and invite you to visit my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

23 comments:

  1. I saw your comment on the Lords Church website, so I clicked on your link. I like your website! We must truly learn to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus! Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect, will of God! Keep up the good work and may the Lord prosper you in His business! God bless! Here is my website; www.tenwaiting4jesus.blog.com

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  2. Thanks. I checked out your website and it's a blessing! The love of God be with you and the grace of our Lord Jesus, too.

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  3. Shalom! Wonderful words and am blessed! But my question is, if I do not have a car and our church is at a distance. There is a need for me to get taxis there, then I pay the taxi man, did I break the commandment of keeping Sunday Holy?

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    1. Dear Olerato Goabaone Oitsile, thanks for reading and leaving a comment. I personally would not suggest spending any money on Sunday unless it is an emergency. Getting to church is something you plan for. This would be an opportunity for God to provide a ride to church some other way in answer to your prayers, which will be a great testimony when He does that for you, and it will teach those who hear you how much the Lord is pleased when you honor the Sabbath that way. If you make your need known to those at the church, perhaps someone would offer to give you a ride. Pray about it, and I will pray the Lord provides like that. Also see http://kogislikethis.blogspot.com/2014/02/gods-supernatural-provision-using-people.html. Shalom!

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  4. Shalom! I only have 1 question:
    WHERE in the Bible written to keep the sundays holy??
    The bible very clears that it's written to keep the Sabbath Holy.
    and if you are dilligently seeking Sabbath is refers to Saturday NOT SUNDAY.
    many countries languange refers Sabbath as Saturday. If the Sunday refered to be the Sabbath, there will be no word sunday also in the Bible, which means there are Sabbath and Sunday also. And BIBLE NEVER STATED THAT SUNDAY IS SABBATH. Please pray and ask this to God.

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    1. Dear Sorta, Please let me encourage you to read the following blogs that address your concerns:
      http://workinggodsway.blogspot.hu/2012/06/christian-sabbath-is-sunday-not.html
      http://workinggodsway.blogspot.hu/2012/07/famous-christian-sabbath-observers.html
      The Lord bless! Shalom!

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  5. Sorry for writing again but I got another two questions that need answering. Sorry for taking up your time and thanks for helping. May I know if it's sinful to answer a phone call on sundays? What if it were a non-God related conversation? We shouldn't have non-God related conversations right? Is it a sin to use electricity during sundays? Cause my parents pay for it? So can I talk to my family? 0.0

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    1. Dear Believer in Christ, I invite you to attend Doulos Training School, opening on September 1 for all who are interested in online distance education in discipleship! See link for details at http://writingforthemaster.blogspot.com/2015/07/doulos-training-school.html. Spread the word. Shalom!

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  6. Dear believer in Christ, first of all, it is not men who bring conviction of sin, but the Holy Spirit that deals with and convinces man of his sins. It is the Lord who touches hearts. It is He who deals with the hearts of man. The Holy Spirit will guide us on what we can and cannot do on Sundays through His conviction. And we have an abundance of Scriptures to help us, too.

    Jesus said it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. So if you want to talk to someone about the Lord, evangelize them, encourage them in the Lord, pray for their healing, edify them, or glorify God in some way, that's good. If you know that someone is calling you to have that kind of interaction with you, that would be good. But if it is simply for coffee talk, then it would not be good. Please see Isaiah 58:13-14, esp v 13b. You are to "Turn your foot from...speaking your own word."

    Part of the problem is that in today's culture, even the Christian culture, we have become so much like the world that we no longer know the difference between the holy and the profane. Look up the definition of profane. Read Ezekiel, and you will get a good idea. You will see the clear separation between the two. On the Lord's holy day, we are to only say and do that which is holy. Amen?

    Another thing about phone calls and visits from family is that they can be a tool of the enemy to distract you from worshiping the Lord. If you are praying, that's when the phone rings. Discipline yourself to let it go to voicemail and you can return the call later, unless it is a true emergency that they need your help with immediately, and then you can do good. But usually it can wait for later. I have also seen a believer who made an excuse for not coming to Sunday worship, saying that family came over for a visit. Again, that is a distraction from God's priority on Sunday. We must hate father, mother, etc. "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." (Luk 14:26). That means that while we love them as we love ourselves, we love God so much more than them that we are willing to ignore them for His sake. See Mat 12:47-50 to find out how Jesus handled it when his family came asking for Him while He was teaching.

    As for electricity, I don't see anything about that which would be unholy, unless you are using it to do evil or something profane on the Sabbath, such as watch secular TV or videos that do not glorify the Lord.

    I hope this helps. The Lord bless you as you seek Him.

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    1. Thanks so much I feel so happy reading your reply for some reason. If possible may I have your e-mail because I really need a lot of help in my faith. I have so many questions that need answering.

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    2. Feel free to ask a question on this forum. You will find plenty of help in your faith by reading my blogs at http://writingforthemaster.blogspot.com.

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  7. Hello Len, I was wondering about working on Sundays. I live on a dairy farm and the whole family needs to work everyday to take care of the cattle. Would it be sinful to work on Sundays to take care of the animals? Thank you for your articles. As well, I don't understand why God would spank Seung-Young for buying gum on Sundays and ask him to appease Him/to dance before Him? This doesn't seem biblical to me.

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    1. Jan, to your question about Seung-Young, I'll try and address that. While I am not here to defend everything in brother Yong-Doo Kim's books, including all that happened in that account, I can say this. It is consistent with what the Scriptures says in Ac 3:19 that when we repent, then times of refreshing come from the Lord. It is also consistent with 1 Jn 1:9 that says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." And it is consistent with Ps 30:5 that says, "For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." And it is consistent with Heb 12:5-10 that says, "My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness." It is also consistent with Ps 51, in which we observe David's repentance, followed by cleansing, sins blotted out, a steadfast spirit renewed, then the joy of the Lord's salvation restored (v 12), and praise to God (v 15).

      It is also consistent with the way a loving father disciplines his son. Once the punishment has been given, and there is brokenness and repentance and prayer, he forgives his son and ends on a positive note, so that the child does not stay in the state of mind whereby he feels like his father is angry with him. When it's over, it's over. Both the parent and the child need to bring closure and put it behind them at once. Then the joy between father and child is restored. A father may even tickle the child or do something else to try and get his son to smile, so that both their hearts may be cheered once again. The discipline process is not pleasant for a father, and it helps to have a loving or happy moment together afterward. I hope that helps! Shalom!

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    2. Jan, in response to your question about farming, I know very little about that field, so I am not the best person to ask. But from a biblical perspective, we should not do anything that is considered normal, workday business on the Lord's day. We must not do those tasks that we perform for a living, since we have six days to work and the seventh day is a day of rest and worship.

      Certainly according to our Lord Jesus, it is lawful to do good on that day. An act of kindness to an animal could be considered a good deed. I would limit that to basic necessities like feeding, etc.

      I do not know what your dairy business involves and don't really need to know or care to. But I suspect that in today's world, the agricultural business has changed into something different than what it was in Bible days. Back then, animals were allowed free range to eat from the grass and so forth, and relieve themselves out there. Today it seems it become quite an industry that treats them in a less humane manner, keeping them penned up in stalls and treating them like machines or mere objects. I am not saying you do that to your cows. But I am saying we should look at what we do and question our practices to see if they are really necessary or just assumed to be so, because of our modern culture and modern, accepted business practices. Just because everyone else does it this way, doesn't mean we have to. We should rethink it. And in my opinion, I would steer clear of any job that required me to work seven days a week. We were not made to work without rest. Shalom!

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    3. Yes, thank you for your response. I completely agree with your support using Scripture concerning the confession, discipline of a father, repentance, etc. in the testimony of Seung-Young, it was just the push-ups he was doing, being spanked by God and dancing to appease God which confused and seemed very strange to me. As well, something specifically, I'm asked to help my father work on Sunday mornings to clean up after milking to prepare for in the evening. My conscience stands against me when I go to work, but I don't wish to rebel against my dad. I work out of fear and I asked my mother to switch it to Saturday mornings. She says I'm "alright" and there needs to be no concerns for helping on Sundays. But even if I were to work Saturday's, someone else would have to work on Sunday, so I feel I would be "pushing the sin" on someone else. We do keep our cattle penned up in the barns and I do my best to keep the work as minimum as possible, but I still need help discerning how far to go concerning work on the farm. I don't mean to push my problems on you like this, I just need wisdom. Thank you, brother Len.

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    4. Jan, I don't have anything further to add to my previous comment about working for a living on Sundays. The best thing to do is talk to the Lord about it, and ask Him to give you wisdom. Why must they be milked seven days a week? Is that the way the Creator made them to be? Shalom!

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    5. Thank you, brother Len.

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  8. Let's just say that I want to own a T.V. and radio station enterprise. Even if I air some religious programming and some secular programming too, do you think it's a sin to go on the air?

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    1. This is off topic from the article. But I would not recommend secular programming. Shalom!

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  9. Bro Len, is Sabbath Saturday or Sunday?

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    1. Bro Josh, it is my opinion based on Scripture and what the Lord showed me that it begins at sunset on Saturday and ends at sunset on Sunday. Sunday is the Lord's day and (as all days do) it begins at sunset the night before, according to Gen 1. Please see these two articles:
      http://workinggodsway.blogspot.com/2012/06/christian-sabbath-is-sunday-not.html
      http://workinggodsway.blogspot.com/2012/07/famous-christian-sabbath-observers.html

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  10. Meaning to say that If it begins at sunset on Saturday and ends at sunset on Sunday, then both Saturday and a part of Sunday is Sabbath.

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    1. That is correct when using the usual 12:00 to 12:00 way of determining days.

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If this blog has been a blessing to you or if you have a question, please leave a comment. If you disagree with this article, please refer to Scripture in any comment, since we want to look at what the Bible says, not man's opinions.