“In the Spirit and Power of Elias”
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old-fashioned, mystical, and unworthy of the intelligence of modern
thinkers.
In the beginning, God gave His law to mankind as a means of
attaining happiness and eternal life. Satan’s only hope of thwarting
the purpose of God is to lead men and women to disobey this law, and
his constant effort has been to misrepresent its teachings and belittle
its importance. His master stroke has been an attempt to change the
law itself, so as to lead men to violate its precepts while professing to
obey it.
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One writer has likened the attempt to change the law of God to an
ancient mischievous practice of turning in a wrong direction a signpost
erected at an important junction where two roads met. The perplexity
and hardship which this practice often caused was great.
A signpost was erected by God for those journeying through this
world. One arm of this signpost pointed out willing obedience to the
Creator as the road to felicity and life, while the other arm indicated
disobedience as the path to misery and death. The way to happiness
was as clearly defined as was the way to the city of refuge under the
Jewish dispensation. But in an evil hour for our race, the great enemy
of all good turned the signpost around, and multitudes have mistaken
the way.
Through Moses the Lord instructed the Israelites: “Verily My
Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout
your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth
sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto
you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever
doeth any work ... in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the
Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a
sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the
Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and
was refreshed.”
Exodus 31:13-17
.
In these words the Lord clearly defined obedience as the way to
the City of God; but the man of sin has changed the signpost, making
it point in the wrong direction. He has set up a false sabbath and has
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caused men and women to think that by resting on it they were obeying
the command of the Creator.