“The Incurable Longing” (A Universal Story from The People's Republic of China)

 “The Incurable Longing” (A Universal Story from The People's Republic of China)

An excerpt from Chapter 5: “The East China Sea” from Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman, pgs. 91-93

 

Note: The following is a true story that took place in 1986 in The People's Republic of China, just after it opened up to the rest of the World! (Doubly meaningful to me as I taught English in the PRC 1986-87.)

...standing alone by the railing on the outer deck of the ferry, … I could hear hear the swishing against the hull, the leviathan throbs of the engines. … I had no idea where I was heading. None of the maps had Dinghai on them.

I felt a shiver of ecstatic terror. Except for [my other passengers] not a single person in the entire world knew that I was on board a ferry right now, plowing through the darkness in the East China Sea. … I stared at the black water forlornly. In the end, I realized, this was all there ever really was. … The true condition of anyone once you stripped them of their loved ones, their culture, and their passions was just this: Loneliness. An incurable longing. Insecurity. And grief.

Suddenly I started to cry. I felt foolish, but then, who would hear me? Who would even care? I leaned against the railing, feeling pitiful and forsaken. I pulled out a Kleenex and blew my nose unglamorously.

In the distance, a man begins singing. It took a minute for it to register. At first I was certain I was imagining it.

But from across the deck came the thin, fragile, unmistakable words:

Country roads, take me home,

To the place, I belong

West Virginia, Mountain Mama

… A few yards to my left, a slim young Chinese man in a white button-down shirt and Mao pants was pressed up against the railing. His head was thrown back, his eyes closed, his small, tapered hands pressed to his heart.

Take me home, country roads

“Country Roads” had been on of the preeminent songs of my childhood. My whole family sang it in the car when we drove up to Silver Lake—where we went to flee the heat every summer. … It was the song of uncomplicated happiness, of a time when my family was at its best. … It was the song from when I was six years old and felt loved and serene, when I never felt a yearning to be anywhere else. Now, halfway around the world, a young Chinese man just happened to be singing it beside me in the darkness aboard a ferry bound for a hidden recess of the People's Republic of China.

I hear her voice,

in the morning hour she calls me

The radio reminds me of my home far away

He seemed strangely unfazed when I drew up beside him and began singing along. We sang as if it were the most natural duet in the world, as if it had been pre-ordained, the two of us harmonizing without even glancing at each other, just gazing straight ahead at the sea in tandem.

When we finished the last verse, however, we turned and shook each other's hand. … “Oh my God. Do you know what that song means to me? I spent my whole childhood singing it.”

The young man smiled at me glassily. I realized that he had no idea what I was saying. He didn't speak a word of English.

How...had he learned an American folk song? This was 1986. People were still listening to record albums on turntables. … There was no independent television in China, no pop radio, now Western movies, and in some places, no electricity. And yet—John Denver?

Gesturing, I managed to persuade the young man to come with me to find Gunter [my amateur translator].

“Gunter, this man was singing a song from my childhood. Please, “ I begged when we found him. “Ask him how he learned it.”

Gunter translated. The young man's name was Wen. “Wen is saying that he has learned this song a long time ago from his English instructor. But he is saying that his instructor only teaches him the song phonetically. He says he does not know the meaning of the words. He is asking you to explain them, please.”

I had Gunter tell Wen that “Country Roads” is about a man who is far from his mountain home in West Virginia. Everywhere he goes, he misses it and hears its beauty calling to him. He yearns for the country roads to carry him back there.

… Wen looked at both of us sadly. [Then Gunter translated his response.] “He is saying he is understanding the song very well. He is saying in China, many people are being made to work very far away from their homes. He is saying that many people in the world are missing this West Virginia.”

The three of us were quiet for a moment. Some things need no translation at all.

"GOD is My Manager" (The 23rd Psalm)

 

The 23^rd Psalm

GC Version © 2006 by Gary L. Clendenon

Inspired by the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller

I am proud to say that GOD is my manager,

And I am completely satisfied with His management of my life.

My manager’s constant care frees me to focus on resting in quiet contentment.

In the morning, my manager gives me purpose and direction. He leads me through a 

perfect daily schedule—His timing never failing to meet my needs.

When I stray from my manager’s guidance and end up flat on my back—arms and legs 

flailing, He finds me, frees me, and then holds me ‘til I’m back on my feet again.

Knowing my tendency to get stuck in unproductive ruts, my manager leads me on the 

right path for me. As I follow, I learn that His reputation as “Best Manager” is well 

deserved.

Yes, even when led through the deepest, darkest, most difficult days, I know no fear. For 

You—Knower of the Best Way—are with me.

Your weapon—the power and authority of your word—protects me, disciplines me, and l

ays bare the secrets of my soul; while, at the same time, your gentle Spirit reassures me 

with the constant comfort of your presence.

You go before me and beat back my enemies as you prepare for me the best place. I 

flourish there in the confidence that you’ve got me covered!

You continuously anoint my mind with your Spirit, freeing me from the distracting buzz 

of life’s ever-present and annoying irritations. I am overwhelmed with gratitude!

I am sure that whatever happens in my life will, thanks to my manager’s mercy, turn 

out…“good”.

I plan to stay with my manager for the rest of my life!

Grace Note #97 “America’s Problem with Christians”

 

Grace Note #97 “America’s Problem with Christians”

Adapted from Phil Vischer’s blog post: “Business and Ministry (Pulling Back the Curtain – Part 2)” Mar 4, 2008

[NOTE: If you don’t know, Phil Vischer was the brains behind VeggieTales and Big Idea.]

So after the bankruptcy of Big Idea Productions I spent a lot of time looking at the world and praying. And after a period of months, it was clear that God had laid on my heart two problems that needed solving. Two problems that, it appeared, perfectly matched my gifting. Suddenly, I knew what I was supposed to do next.

So what are they? What are the two problems that are driving all our work here at Jellyfish Labs? [Phil’s new company.] Today I’ll describe the first one:

In a nutshell, Christians in North America are failing. We’re failing to positively engage our culture. We’re failing to raise new generations of Christians who know their faith and what it means to live it out in our society. For reasons having a great deal to do with the perceived moral decline of America in the 1960s, culminating with the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, we have come through a generation of Christian leaders who made it their primary focus to organize conservative Christians as a voting block. Political activism has been the rallying cry of the church for the last 30 years. As a result, we conservative Christians managed to remake congress, reshape the Supreme Court, and elect a President. Twice. We have engaged our culture in a war. (We call it “the culture war.”) And we have won many victories.

But there has been a price for this political focus. Today, 80% of non-Christians in America have a negative view of Christianity. When asked what word first sprang to mind when the term “Evangelical Christian” was mentioned, the number one answer from young adults in America was not “loving” or “self-sacrificing,” but rather, “homophobic.”

For an entire generation of Americans, Christians have become defined by what we are against. By what we hate. By whom we oppose. Jesus’ call that we would be known “by our love” has been lost in our generation. Even more concerning, this 30 year focus has left us very clear on how we are supposed to vote, but very unclear on how we are supposed to live. And the results are striking. Conservative Christians in America divorce at the same rate as the general population. We use internet porn at the same rate as the general population. We long for the same houses, the same cars, the same vacations. We are, research has shown, statistically identical.

We hail a film like “The Passion of the Christ,” calling it “the biggest evangelism opportunity in 2000 years.” And our neighbors watch the film, drawn by the celebrity of the filmmaker and, most likely, pure curiosity. And while the story engages them, when they leave the theater and look at us – the Christians down the street – they see we are no happier than they are. We’re pursuing the same materialistic fixes. Going just as deeply into debt to inflate our lifestyle. “Whatever they got from following this Jesus doesn’t seem to do any good. They’re no happier than we are.”

So an amazing film about Jesus attracts everyone’s interest, and, research will later show, accomplishes nothing. Why? Because the world doesn’t learn about God by watching Christian movies. The world learns about God by watching Christians. And we Christians are failing to show the world the love of God. We've failed to make an invisible God visible. We’ve shown them cranky Christians. Politically-savvy Christians. Market-driven Christians. Ambitious Christians. What we haven’t shown them, are loving Christians. And since Jesus said they would “know you by your love,” I think it’s safe to say the world doesn’t know what a Christian is. And sometimes I suspect we don’t either.

One half of all adult Protestants can’t define the word “grace,” a concept that was pretty central to the Protestant Reformation. “For by GRACE are we saved through faith….” So here’s a question: How exactly are we supposed to live out God’s saving grace in front of a watching world if we can’t even define the term? George Gallup, the pollster who discovered this and many other points of ignorance within the American church, concluded that most pastors have no idea how little many American Christians know about their faith. It isn’t that we know what we should do and are refusing to do it – it’s that we really don’t have a clue.

So… what do we do about this? We need an education. We need to know our faith, and the demands it makes on our lives. We need to understand what we believe, and how those beliefs should manifest themselves every day of the week, in every arena of our lives. We should know the incredible gift we’ve been given – what we’ve been “saved” from and the amazing life we have access to – so we can joyously live this truth in front of the world. So they’ll say, “Oh–so THAT’S what this is about. Is there room in there for me?”

So where do we start? With our kids. “Of course you’d say that! You make children’s media!” No, wait. Hear me out. I’m a middle-aged Christian. (It’s true – I am.) I was raised in the church. Am I going to raise my hand and say, “Hi, I’m ignorant about my faith – please teach me”? No, I’m not. Because that would be really embarrassing. I grew up in church! Of course I know my faith! But wait… my kids. Do I want them to learn what it really means to be a Christian? Absolutely. I mean – they don't know yet! They’re kids! Is 20 minutes of Sunday School a week really teaching them everything they need to know about their faith? Of course not. And frankly, I’m not sure I’m such a hot teacher either. I could really use some help with this–for the sake of my kids.

And so it plays out in millions of Christian homes across the country… “We want to teach you more about your faith.” “No thank you, I'm a grown-up. I already know it.” “Okay… We want to help you teach your kids more about your faith.” “Wonderful! Come right in!”

The key to raising a generation of Christians who know what it means to live the Gospel in front of the eyes of a watching world is to work WITH parents to teach kids. The opportunity lies with the next generation. (Though, quite frankly, a lot of grown-ups will learn a thing or two along the way, if our experience with VeggieTales taught us anything.)

So there is the first problem we are hoping to help solve: North American Christians are—through no fault of their own—failing to live the Gospel. Our proposed solution is to help raise a generation that knows their faith, and knows how to live it.

As a part of Phil's solution, he has created "Mr. Phil TV".  (Click to see more.)

The Sad Story of Judas: Part 2

 

"The Sad Story of Judas"

(Part 2 of 8)

Click here for Chapter 1

From The Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White

Adapted by Gary L. Clendenon, May/June, 2020

(All Bible quotations from the NIV, unless otherwise stated)

“The Redeemer does not want to lose one soul; His experience with Judas is recorded to show His long patience with perverse human nature.”

(Christ Object Lessons, p. 74)

Chapter 2: “The Last Straw!”

Jesus and His friends were invited to Simon's feast. At the table the Savior sat with Simon, whom He had cured of a loathsome disease, on one side, and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead, on the other. Martha served at the table, but Mary was earnestly listening to every word from the lips of Jesus. In His mercy, Jesus had pardoned her sins, He had called forth her beloved brother from the grave, and Mary's heart was filled with gratitude. She had heard Jesus speak of His approaching death, and in her deep love and sorrow she had longed to show Him honor. At great personal sacrifice she had purchased “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume” with which to anoint His body (Mark 14:3). But now many were declaring that He was about to be crowned king. Her grief was turned to joy, and she was eager to be first in honoring her Lord. Breaking her box of ointment, she poured its contents upon the head and feet of Jesus; then, as she knelt weeping, moistening them with her tears, she wiped His feet with her long, flowing hair.

Mary had sought to avoid observation, and her movements might have passed unnoticed, but the ointment filled the room with its fragrance, and published her act to all present. Judas looked upon this act with great displeasure. Instead of waiting to hear what Christ would say of the matter, he began to whisper his complaints to those near him, throwing dishonor upon Christ for tolerating such waste. Craftily he made suggestions that would be likely to cause disillusionment.

Judas was treasurer for the disciples, and from their little store he had secretly drawn for his own use, thus narrowing down their resources to next to nothing. He was eager to put into the bag all that he could obtain. The treasure in the bag was often drawn upon to relieve the poor; and when something that Judas did not think essential was bought, he would say, “Why this waste? Why was not the cost of this put into the bag that I carry for the poor?”

Now the act of Mary was in such marked contrast to his selfishness that Judas was put to shame; and according to his custom, he sought to assign a worthy motive for his objection to her gift. Turning to the disciples, he asked, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” (He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it). (John 12:5-6) Judas had no heart for the poor. Had Mary's ointment been sold, and the proceeds fallen into his possession, the poor would have received no benefit.

Judas had a high opinion of his own executive ability. As a financier he thought himself greatly superior to his fellow disciples, and he had led them to regard him in the same light. He had gained their confidence, and had a strong influence over them. His professed sympathy for the poor deceived them, and his artful insinuation caused them to look distrustfully upon Mary's devotion. The murmur passed round the table, “Why this waste? This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” (Matthew 26:8-9)

Mary heard the words of criticism. Her heart trembled within her. She feared that her sister would reproach her for extravagance. The Master, too, might think her wasteful. Without apology or excuse she was about to shrink away, when the voice of her Lord was heard, “Leave her alone.” Jesus saw that she was embarrassed and distressed. He knew that in this act of service she had expressed her gratitude for the forgiveness of her sins, and He brought relief to her mind. Lifting His voice above the murmur of criticism, He said, “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” (Mark 14:6-10)

Kingdoms would rise and fall; the names of monarchs and conquerors would be forgotten; but this woman's deed would be immortalized upon the pages of sacred history. Until time should be no more, that broken alabaster box would tell the story of the abundant love of God for a fallen race.

Mary did not know the full significance of her deed of love. She could not answer her accusers. She could not explain why she had chosen that occasion for anointing Jesus. The Holy Spirit had planned for her, and she had obeyed His promptings. Inspiration stoops to give no reason. An unseen presence, it speaks to mind and soul, and moves the heart to action. It is its own justification.

Mary's act was in marked contrast with that which Judas was about to do. What a sharp lesson Christ might have given Judas who had dropped the seed of criticism and evil thinking into the minds of the disciples! How justly the accuser might have been accused! He who reads the motives of every heart, and understands every action, might have opened before those at the feast dark chapters in the experience of Judas. The hollow pretense on which the traitor based his words might have been laid bare; for, instead of sympathizing with the poor, he was robbing them of the money intended for their relief. Indignation might have been excited against him for his oppression of the widow, the orphan, and the hired hands. But had Christ unmasked Judas, this would have been urged as a reason for the betrayal. And though charged with being a thief, Judas would have gained sympathy, even among the disciples. The Savior reproached him not, and thus avoided giving him an excuse for his treachery.

But the look which Jesus cast upon him convinced Judas that the Savior penetrated his hypocrisy, and read his base, contemptible character. And in commending Mary's action, which had been so severely condemned, Christ had rebuked Judas. Prior to this, the Savior had never given him a direct rebuke. Now the reproof festered in his heart. He determined to be revenged. From the supper he went directly to the palace of the high priest, where he found the council assembled, and he offered to betray Jesus into their hands.

Judas had indulged greed until it overpowered every good trait of his character. He resented the offering made to Jesus. His heart burned with envy that the Savior should be the recipient of a gift suitable for the monarchs of the earth. For a sum far less than the box of ointment cost, he betrayed his Lord.

Source: Desire of Ages, pages 558-64.

CLICK HERE FOR "PART 3"

My Morning Prayer!

 

My Morning Prayer

By Gary L. Clendenon, 2019-20

Good morning, Universe! My name is Gary Lynn Clendenon and I am here to publicly announce my alliance and allegiance with and to the Kingdom of Almighty GOD YeHoVaH.

I am able to make this announcement because of the Mercy, Grace, Love, and Forgiveness shown to me by the GODhead through Their personal representative Yeshua Hamashiach—my Creator, Redeemer, and Friend . . .

. . . whose perfect sinless life and blood sacrificial death purchased and redeemed my life from certain eternal death.

I receive this gift now:

In the name and blood of Jesus, I receive the Robe of Righteousness that covers me and washes away my sins.

I receive the Restoration of Relationship between myself and the GODhead through the infilling, indwelling Spirit of Almighty GOD—filling me now from my head down to my toes and from my heels up to my nose.

And, as I’m filled with the Spirit of Almighty GOD, anything not in harmony with the will of Almighty GOD in my life must—in Jesus name—either flee, be cast out, be healed, or be destroyed.

As I’m being filled with the Spirit of Almighty GOD—down to the cellular and subatomic levels—every nerve, cell, organ, gland, muscle, tissue, and bone is being made whole, pure, and perfect. My whole body is being restored to optimum health, harmony, and function.

This is being done right now through the Power of Almighty GOD and through the power of my conscious and subconscious minds.

Thank you YeHoVaH, Yeshua, and Almighty Spirit!

Thank you for my life. Thank you for this day . . .

I surrender it to you come what may.

Thank you for this Shelter I am Blessed to live in.

Thank you for the Food I am blessed to have and eat to fuel my body.

Thank you for the money I have to pay my bills.

Thank you for my car—and the miracle that brought me to it.

Thank you for the city, state, and country that I am blessed to live in. I know it has many faults, but I have been to, and lived in, other countries and, in comparison, I couldn’t do much better. I pray for all the citizens and leaders of my city, state, and country that they will be given Wisdom from on High to lead, rule, and legislate according to the principles of the Founding Fathers and your Kingdom.

I pray now for the people, groups, and organizations that promote, support, and defend Liberty. I pray for those I know by name now . . .

Thank you for my life and all that I have.

I pray that everything I have and am will be a blessing to others because You have so blessed me.

Thank you for my Children. I pray for them now . . .

Thank you for my immediate family. I pray for them now . . .

Thank you for the rest of my family. I pray for them now . . .

Thank you for my Friends. I pray for them now . . .

Loss is way too common in this world that we live in. I pray for all who grieve. For each one, be the Comforter you promised to be. Lead and Guide their Grief Journey. May they find their home in You.

I pray for those I know are grieving by name now . . .

I pray for by name now those who have requested prayers for health, sickness, medical procedures, and recovery. I pray that you will honor the prayer requests of those I have seen and forgotten. May your healing hand be upon them all. If it is not your will to heal, then I pray your presence and peace be with all who hurt and struggle.

Thank you for my Men’s Group—former and current. I pray that each one will understand and know what it means to be a GOD-ly Man and have the Courage and Wisdom to be that Man.

Thank you for my Single Friends. GOD, you have said it is not good for us to be alone, and yet we are. Be Emmanuel—GOD with us—to us so that we may be kept from evil. Be our “Helpmate”—so that we may be a blessing to You and Others. Reach each of my friends with an understanding of Your Love for them in whatever ways they can relate to and understand.

I pray for my single friends by name now . . .

GOD, I pray for every single human being on this planet today. I pray that they will receive You into their lives as much as they will allow and that that receiving will be a blessing to their lives and they will—over time—come to love and trust You as their relationship with You grows until the day when You can fully reveal Yourself as their GOD and Savior, and they will gladly step fully into your Kingdom as my Brothers and Sisters.

These are my prayers today in the name of Jesus Christ my LORD, and according to the Will of Almighty GOD I pray them all.

AMEN.

Why I Honor the Seventh-day Sabbath: Part 1

 

Why I Honor the Seventh-day Sabbath: Part 1

By Gary L. Clendenon (c) 2013

History, Design, and Intent

From time to time I encounter people, many of them friends, who are surprised to find out that I go to Church on Saturday or still keep the seventh-day Sabbath! As I have interacted with these people, I have begun to sense a theme in their understanding of the Sabbath (or even from my perspective, a potential mis-understanding), and so I felt compelled to make an attempt to share my understanding of the Sabbath. Not in the sense of “Hey, you're wrong!” but in the sense of “Hey, I'd like to share with you a different perspective for you to consider—in case you haven't.”

Please prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to help you sift through my words with Godly clarity to see whatever truth, if any, is here. It is not my intent to argue or Bible Battle with you or anyone. That's not how I want to roll. (I have attempted to keep my own quoting of Scripture to a minimum so as not to come across in that way to you.) I just ask you to consider my words and my perspective to perhaps round out yours. Thanks. Here goes!

First of all, a Disclaimer: Although I am a 4th-generation Seventh-day Adventist, I want to make it very clear that what I am about to share with you are my opinions, understandings, and beliefs. Naturally, there may be some overlap between what I share and what the SDA Church teaches, but I am not speaking for my Church nor am I intentionally or knowingly following any SDA “Talking Points”. My intention is, as much as possible, to make this about my thoughts and understandings—especially in relation to some of the typical responses I have observed towards Sabbath-keeping, as I stated earlier.

As I have sifted through my own Biblical beliefs over the years, I have come to the understanding that looking at the beginning of the Story is extremely helpful for me in making sense of it all. I ask questions like: How did this all begin? Since everything was perfect in the beginning, what was the Creator's original plan or intent for this? If everything had gone on without sin entering into the picture, how would this be now? When I answer these questions, I find clarity and that helps put the rest of the sometimes confusing Bible in a more meaningful context and perspective.

With these questions in mind, when I look at the origin of the Sabbath, I end up all the way back at the Creation Story—naturally, the very first story in the Bible. I find GOD creating in six days our Earth and Solar System, the plants, animals, us humans and everything needed to make it all function perfectly. Then, on the day 7, GOD “rested”. Now, it seems pretty obvious that when you're done with something big and it's finished, that you would stop and rest; and yet, the Bible makes a big deal about this—very specifically telling us about it and that it was apparently a big deal to GOD—this resting thing.

So, that's the first thing I notice about the 7th day: For some reason, it's a big deal! It's important. Genesis says that GOD made this day a “Holy Day”. This is the phrase from which we get the word “Holiday”. Wikipedia defines “Holiday” as: “a day set aside by custom or by law in which normal activities, especially business or work, are to be suspended or reduced. Generally holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate something of cultural or religious significance.”

Wow, so I never thought of this before, but the 7th day “Sabbath” was the “World's First Holiday”!! What does this tell us about GOD? GOD likes to celebrate; GOD likes to party! GOD—get this—created the concept of taking holidays, celebrating, and partying! Now, as you know, in our world, we celebrate holidays once a year, and we think that's cool and all, but GOD's like “Once a year? Pfft. C'mon people, I got this: once a week! We're going to take this holiday once a week!” No stingy God here!

Now, I know that thinking of GOD as a “Party Animal” is going to come to some of you as quite a shock, but the evidence is strong. No “once a year” holiday to honor the Creation of the Earth here. Not even once a month would do. Once a week! How does that not say “Party Animal” to you? GOD chose to make every 7th day of the week a perpetual reminder of the Birth-day of our world! He wanted us to take this one-day-holiday from working and celebrate with Him the birthday of this planet and all that was created on it so that we would never forget the story of how all this began and who it was that began it!

This 7th-day “Sabbath” was celebrated and put in place as a permanent holiday that very first week of this world's history and celebrated by GOD, Adam and Eve, and their descendants to this day! Well, mostly, that is. After sin entered the picture, there were some detours, some getting off track, some forgetting over time, and by some, a choice was made to not follow GOD or His ways at all. But, through all those years, the continuation of the 7-day weekly cycle stood strong as a silent witness to the Creation of the World and its weekly Birthday Holiday!

Think about this: The 24-hour day is shown by the coming and going of the Sun. The month is measured by the repeated appearance and disappearance of the Moon over a period of 28 days. A year is measured by how long it takes us to go around the Sun one time. Here's my question for you to ponder: “What does the week measure?” As far as I know, there is no scientific or other explanation for the weekly 7-day cycle except the one offered by GOD in His Word: “For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.” . . . Holiday!

Oddly enough, one of the strongest pieces of evidence confirming the 7th-day Sabbath is found in every person's daily life. It is referred to often and, for some, always kept close at hand. You know it well. It is the calendar. It starts with Sunday, the 1-st day and goes to Saturday, the 7-th day. The weekly cycle on the calendar is a never-ending reminder of GOD's six days of creation and one day of rest. Ironically, and for some unknowingly, every human being on Earth acknowledges—every day—the 7-day weekly cycle, and thus, the GOD behind it all.

A couple of thousand years after Creation, when GOD pulled his people out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt, their knowledge of Him was mixed up with all those years of forgetting plus hundreds of years of living in a culture that worshiped many other gods in many different ways. Because of that, GOD basically had to start over, to teach these people who He was, what He intended for this Earth and all its people from the beginning, and how to go about making that happen. To do this, GOD spelled it all out—in detail—to Moses, the leader of the people now known as “Israelites”. GOD had Moses write it all down so that there would be no confusion or chance of forgetting again. For the most important rules, GOD called all the people together to hear GOD speak them with His own voice.

The 10 rules that GOD personally spoke to the people of Israel were called the “Ten Commandments”. They were the rules that GOD intended for people to use to govern their behavior in relationship with GOD and all people. These rules were the rules over all other rules. They were for all the people in the world who ever wanted to follow the God who created them and the Earth they lived on. They were so important that GOD wrote them on stone with His own finger and had them placed in a very special gold-plated portable container called “The Ark of the Agreement”.

Number 4 of these 10 rules: “Remember the Sabbath day....” was unlike the other nine. Almost all the other rules were stated as negatives: Don't do this. Don't do that. These negative rules were references to harmful things that humans were tempted to do after sin entered the picture. But the fourth rule was stated as a positive because it was referring to something that happened before sin—when things were still positive.

The Sabbath Rule was the only rule of the 10 that started with the word “Remember”. This word had dual meanings. First, it meant “This is something that has already existed—since the dawn of time—that I am reminding you of. To confirm this meaning, the very next words in the rule explicitly tie the remembering to the Creation Story: “For in six days, ….” The second meaning of “Remember” was “keep remembering” or “continue to remember”.

It is interesting to me that when GOD finished speaking all the rules to Moses on Mt. Sinai, the last thing GOD said was to reiterate the importance of the Sabbath—calling the Sabbath “a a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” (1) Hundreds of years later, in Ezekiel 20, GOD, in great sadness, mentions these exact words again in the context of grieving that His words had not been followed. GOD then reiterates again in verse 20 “Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

Throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath is mentioned over 100 plus times, and finally, in the last chapter of Isaiah where the return of GOD in the end days and the New Jerusalem is described, “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. Sabbath Holiday forever celebrated, it would seem!

At the beginning of this writing, I applied my “Three Key Questions” to the topic of the Sabbath: How did this all begin? Since everything was perfect in the beginning, what was the Creator's original plan or intent for this? If everything had gone on without sin entering into the picture, how would this be now? Based on the answers I found it seems very clear to me that the Sabbath was very much a part of the original creation (even having its own day!), was made a weekly holiday (which implies a continued and continuing celebration), and given its re-introduction and re-emphasis in God's 10 Rules and the rest of the Old Testament, it seems fairly clear that GOD intended its continued celebration.

Therefore, I conclude that the Sabbath and its celebration was created and began the first week of our world's history. If the world and its inhabitants had continued without sin, there would have been no Ten Commandments; and yet, the Sabbath would still be celebrated as a weekly holiday to this day—for the Birthday Celebration of our Earth's Creation stands alone, with or without any Ten Commandments, or the rest of the Bible.

For me, the Creation story is all that I need to want to continue the celebration of the Sabbath Holiday, but for others, the inquiring types, there needs to be more discussion and more questions answered: But, what about this...? And what about that...? For those, I am writing Parts 2 & 3 on this topic. Stay tuned.

(1) Exodus 31:13