www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/28/144385201/there-will-be-no-friday-this-week-in-samoa?ps=cprs
www.fijitimes.com/print.aspx?id=189586
www.jta.org/news/article/2011/12/30/3090969/samoa-calendar-change-impacts-sabbath-but-affects-few
What a major challenge for Samoan Seventh-day Adventists who may belong to the same Sabbath School class but live on opposite sides of the man-made International Date Line! They will be required, only hours from now, to choose between two different "sabbaths" (Saturday or Sunday). Interestingly, as the second link above reports, Samoan Adventists will now have two Sabbaths. This unique dilemma confirms yet again that the Mosaic Sabbath was intended to be observed only in the region of Palestine.
Moreover, in northern Alaska, Norway, Russia, and many other Polar areas the weekly Sabbath cannot be observed from sunset to sunset. Therefore, it is not surprising that the SDA Church finds it impossible to publish a weekly sunset calendar for those regions. Oh yes, don't forget to read Rabbi Heber's advice (click on third link above) about the Sabbath (Shabbat) dilemma in Samoa and neighboring Tokelau.
Interestingly, both Ellen White and Rabbi Heber agree that people should not live in areas of the world where weekly Sabbath observance is impossible. Rabbi Heber even recommends that Sabbath-observant Jews should avoid traveling to these island nations. With this unique turn of events, the latest polls indicate that the vast majority of Samoan Seventh-day Adventists will transition to Sunday as their new day of worship. However, there are a few dissenters who have organized an independent movement. This development is somewhat akin to the SDA underground movement that existed in the former Soviet Union.
Unlike the festal, weekly Sabbath that is impossible to observe in many regions of the world, an authentic "moral" law can be properly obeyed anywhere on this planet (24/7), every nanosecond of time, and not merely once a year, season, month, or week. Truly, God's righteous standards are not applicable or binding in merely an occasional or sporadic manner. Moreover, God's righteous standards can be faithfully obeyed on a space station and even by an astronaut orbiting the earth.
With Samoan Adventists and non-Adventists finally worshiping on the same day, how will this impact SDA evangelism? Will their "Sabbath School" be renamed as Sunday School? Will so-called "Sunday-keepers" no longer be derided as the "whores of Babylon" and as "apostate Protestants"? Will the "Mark of the Beast" still be inflicted upon those who worship on the Lord's day? Truly, those who still insist upon observing any shadow, pointing to the Redeemer, are actually diminishing the glory, majesty, and reality of Jesus Christ, the true Sabbath Rest (Matthew 11:28-30). When Jesus died, the Sabbath died (Colossians 2:16-17).
Resting in Him,
Dennis Fischer
www.fijitimes.com/print.aspx?id=189586
www.jta.org/news/article/2011/12/30/3090969/samoa-calendar-change-impacts-sabbath-but-affects-few
What a major challenge for Samoan Seventh-day Adventists who may belong to the same Sabbath School class but live on opposite sides of the man-made International Date Line! They will be required, only hours from now, to choose between two different "sabbaths" (Saturday or Sunday). Interestingly, as the second link above reports, Samoan Adventists will now have two Sabbaths. This unique dilemma confirms yet again that the Mosaic Sabbath was intended to be observed only in the region of Palestine.
Moreover, in northern Alaska, Norway, Russia, and many other Polar areas the weekly Sabbath cannot be observed from sunset to sunset. Therefore, it is not surprising that the SDA Church finds it impossible to publish a weekly sunset calendar for those regions. Oh yes, don't forget to read Rabbi Heber's advice (click on third link above) about the Sabbath (Shabbat) dilemma in Samoa and neighboring Tokelau.
Interestingly, both Ellen White and Rabbi Heber agree that people should not live in areas of the world where weekly Sabbath observance is impossible. Rabbi Heber even recommends that Sabbath-observant Jews should avoid traveling to these island nations. With this unique turn of events, the latest polls indicate that the vast majority of Samoan Seventh-day Adventists will transition to Sunday as their new day of worship. However, there are a few dissenters who have organized an independent movement. This development is somewhat akin to the SDA underground movement that existed in the former Soviet Union.
Unlike the festal, weekly Sabbath that is impossible to observe in many regions of the world, an authentic "moral" law can be properly obeyed anywhere on this planet (24/7), every nanosecond of time, and not merely once a year, season, month, or week. Truly, God's righteous standards are not applicable or binding in merely an occasional or sporadic manner. Moreover, God's righteous standards can be faithfully obeyed on a space station and even by an astronaut orbiting the earth.
With Samoan Adventists and non-Adventists finally worshiping on the same day, how will this impact SDA evangelism? Will their "Sabbath School" be renamed as Sunday School? Will so-called "Sunday-keepers" no longer be derided as the "whores of Babylon" and as "apostate Protestants"? Will the "Mark of the Beast" still be inflicted upon those who worship on the Lord's day? Truly, those who still insist upon observing any shadow, pointing to the Redeemer, are actually diminishing the glory, majesty, and reality of Jesus Christ, the true Sabbath Rest (Matthew 11:28-30). When Jesus died, the Sabbath died (Colossians 2:16-17).
Resting in Him,
Dennis Fischer
courtesy of
DENNIS FISCHER MINISTRIES
Worldwide Chaplaincy Services
E-mail: dfministries@gmail.com
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