God Keeps His Promise
by Arthur Griffith

In 1942 I arrived in Portland, Oregon, and began looking for a job. I had some experience and training in machine shop work. The first boss I met was Andy. After questioning me, he said, "You're hired. Come to work Monday."

Then I remembered I had not asked about the Sabbath. I always kept the Bible Sabbath, which is the 7th day of the week on the calendar. The week has never changed. Andy frowned and said, "Your handicap is not deafness but your religion. I can't use you." His shop worked till noon on Saturday.

I finally found work in an electric switch manufacturing place. It paid 98 cents an hour, which was a good wage for a single person in 1942. But one afternoon at quitting time the shop union steward met me and asked to see my union membership card. I was not a member, I told him. He told me roughly to go and pay my back dues for the 5 months I had worked there or be fired the next day. I really didn't want to be forced to join the union because I would have to promise to support them in a strike, and do things I did not believe were right.

Carrying my lunch box, I was walking sadly toward my car, when I looked up and saw Andy walking in my direction. When we met, I asked him cheerily, "How's business?" He wrote me, "Business is great, but the army is taking my best men." I teased him, "They can't take me. I'm deaf." "Come and work for me," he said. "Remember, I don't work Saturdays," I answered. "It doesn't matter now. You can work five days," was his reply. "How much will you pay me?" I asked. He said "$1.20." "It's a deal," I said, and we shook hands.

I worked for Andy for three years, and married Alyce, the girl God led me to. Andy promoted me to foreman and increased my pay. I loved working for him. Later, my brother and I went into business that was successful, but I sold my share to him for enough money to buy our first new car and build a house. Then God led me into the ministry to the deaf. In old age, we have security and children who love and help us. God led us all the way. It surely pays to obey Him and stand bravely for what the Bible tells us to do.

But why a Sabbath? And does it make any difference which day we keep? God wanted His people to remember that He made our world and made us. The Sabbath celebrates the birthday of the world. Genesis 2:2-3. The seventh-day Sabbath is not Jewish. Jews came nearly 3 thousand years after God gave the seventh-day Sabbath to our first parents, Adam and Eve, for all people forever. It will be kept in heaven and the earth made new. Isaiah 66:23. So God put the Sabbath in the holy Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:8-11).

The Sabbath is a sign or seal that reminds us of God and helps us to prepare to live with Him. Ezekiel 20:12 and Revelation 21:3. Jesus kept the Sabbath. Luke 4:16. So did Paul. Acts 17:2 and Acts 18:4. Many years later, the church changed and copied the pagan sun worshipers. But God never changes. Satan (the devil) hates the Sabbath because it reminds him that he could not be Creator. Satan hated Jesus for the same reason. Jesus is the Creator. John 1:3. Satan was jealous.

Today, most of the world has forgotten the Sabbath. In United States, the public schools teach that God did not create the earth. It just evolved over billions of years from a hot ball of rock. This teaching is called "The Theory of Evolution." Satan uses it to destroy faith in God, because if God did not make the world as the Bible says, then people are just like animals. Psalm 49:20 makes no sense without the Ten Commandments, and there is no peace. One broken link breaks the whole chain. James 2:10 says that when we break one commandment, we break them all.

The Sabbath commandment is the only one that starts with the word "Remember" You cannot remember anything you never knew before. People knew about the Sabbath before God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone and gave them to Moses. Abraham kept it, but Israel could not keep it when they were slaves in Egypt. God gave them freedom and told them to remember it again. It is easy for people to forget God. The Sabbath keeps God fresh in their minds, and gives them time to worship and learn of Him. We all need the Sabbath.

An interesting fact to know is that the New King James Version (NKJV) Bible always spells Sabbath with a capital S when it means the seventh-day Sabbath. But when it is spelled "Sabbaths" with a small "s" it means the Jewish feast days. Notice this in Leviticus 23:38-39 and Colossians 2:16. Compare it with Acts 18:4. Now why did the makers of the NKJV Bible do this? They were just being honest with us to show us the difference, which is shown in the Greek language Bible.

Growing Up Under Free Choice
by Alfred Griffith

Being born into a hard life is not our choice but growing up into a happy and Christ-like person is. This free choice is made possible because of laws.

After my mother's many hours of hard labor I was born into this world. My parents had the freedom to choose which laws to use to raise me. They could have said, "Fred needs only water and a dark room to grow up in." Instead they made the choice to give me good food and a nice home to grow up in. Their two choices were either the law of selfishness or the law of love.

Beginning on the long road of growing up I used the law of selfishness to get what I wanted. The more I cried the more my mother would come to my room. As I became older my father said, "You need to learn to work (law of love). But my law of self said, "I do not want to work but I want to play".

In the spring my father said, "You can play after you plant corn." But the rows were long and the sun was hot so at the end of a row I buried half a bag of corn seed. A few days later my father took me to the end of the row where I saw many corn plants growing. The law of self had closed (blinded) my mind to what would happen when I buried the seed.

In the same way our heavenly Father tries to lead us from the law of selfishness to the law of love by giving us Jesus Christ and the Ten Commandments. Why does God give us both? Why not just give us Christ and forget the Ten Commandments?

When you look carefully at human history it is clear that the law of self has blinded us to what is right and what is wrong. For example Americans were asked these two questions.

(1) "If you found your neighbor's purse with $5.00 in it, would you give it back?" About 68% said yes.

(2) "If you found your neighbor's purse with 1 million dollars in it, would you give it back?" About 34% said yes.

Paul wrote, "The law said, 'Do not want [covet] what belongs to other people'." (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) If the law had not said that, I would not have known what it was like to want what belonged to others. Romans 7:7 NIrV.

Building our lives into happy and Christ-like people is almost the same as building houses. My wife and I decided to build a house in Garden Valley, Idaho. But I did not know every law (code) in the state of Idaho about building houses. I had to ask an experienced carpenter who knew the law to help me build my house. I could try to throw away the law book of the state of Idaho but that would not give me a strong and safe home to live in. The law book does not do the work of building my house but it does show me the difference between building a weak house and a strong house. The law book does not make me right with (accepted by) the state of Idaho but it does show me my mistakes. In the same way God's law is not what saves me (Christ is) but it shows me what my sins are (Romans 3:20).

Each day when you and I invite the Master Carpenter Christ into our hearts we are asking Christ to build our house (characters) by God's Ten Commandments. I had the free choice to try to build my house without inviting the Master Carpenter who knew how to do it. People invite Christ in but say I want to build by my law of self. But Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15

Building the house in Idaho took us many months. During that time we could have chosen to build the foundation with weak concrete. But we knew that winter was coming which would test the foundation with wind, rain, snow and freezing temperatures. The time is now and will continue a little longer when our character house is to be tested by the time of trouble. We have very little time left to build. Matthew 7:21-27 gives us a clear picture of what true house (character) building is.

Christ's warns those who say I follow God but do not want to keep God's law. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness [not keeping God's law]!'' (Matthew 7:23).

We see here that doing God's will is keeping God's commandments. Then Jesus makes the point stronger by telling us about two men. One who builds his house on the rock will stand through the time of trouble. But the other man who throws away (does not follow) the law builds his house on sand, but it falls down and is destroyed (Matthew 7:24-27).

Our house (Christian character) will stand strong if we depend on Christ the Rock and build our lives by the rules.

Satan is angry with God's children who by the grace of Christ keep the commandments of God. "And the dragon [Satan, the devil] was enraged [angry] with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring (children), who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17). This anger is being turned against God and His people. It will test every person's house (character).

The gospel (Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection and work in heaven now) gives us the freedom to choose whom to worship.

The eternal gospel (Revelation 14:6) calls us to worship God (under the law of true love) now because soon the Savior Christ will come and reap (take) His children to heaven (Revelation 14:14-16).

Revelation 14:8-11 calls us not to worship the beast under the law of self (Babylon = is trying to worship the true God and the god of self at the same time - see Revelation 14:8 "fornication" = to have two lovers). Again and again God gives us the freedom to choose by showing us both sides.

Finally God says look at the faithful saints and see how they chose to become children of God. They have faith in Jesus and that leads them to build solid houses (characters that will not fall down) based on God's character (keeping of the Ten Commandments) (see Revelation 14:12).

You and I need to make the daily choice of trusting in God's will. And we need to work with the Master Carpenter Christ in building strong houses (characters) by the rules that will stand forever.

What is our choice today?

The Ten Commandments
by Jen Witteborg and Bunny Hovey

Most of us are familiar with the movie "The Ten Commandments" starring Charles Heston and others. Every year around Easter time this movie comes on television. What most of us are not familiar with is the ACTUAL Ten Commandments: We will list the verses that indicate each of the commandments. Some commandments have more than one verse.

We will also include some explanation about what each of the commandments mean. All words in quotation marks " " are from the Bible. Whatever does not have a quotation mark is our added comments.

First Commandment:
"I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves. Do not put any other gods in place of me." (Exodus 20:2, 3)

This is God speaking of the fact He saved His people from slavery. This is still true for us today. Some of us are still slaves to drugs, to work, to abusive lifestyle and need to be saved.

God does not want us to put anything in front of Him. Our priorities (what we pay attention to or put most value on) has to be #1 for Him above everything else.

Second Commandment:
"Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. Do not bow down to them or worship them. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the children for the sin of their parents. I punish the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who hate me. But for all time to come I show love to all those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)

God does not want us to make statues of anything, and He does not want us to bow to anything OTHER than GOD Himself. The reason is that people too often pay attention to something that is right in front of them. Faith means we believe in things we cannot see. God wants us to put Him first in everything. He remembers those of us who love Him and keep His commandments.

Third Commandment:
"Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will find guilty anyone who misuses his name." (Exodus 20:7)

This means not to say His name when you are not even talking to Him. This is very important. We would hate it if someone had said all the time when they're angry or when they are happy "OH JENNY!" And I may not even be in that room. "OH JENNY!" or "OH BUNNY!" That would seem silly and make us feel weird. How much more important it is with the Creator of the universe, that we respect His name.

Fourth Commandment:
"Remember to keep the Sabbath day Holy. Do all of your work in six days. But the seventh day is a Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. Do not do any work on that day. The same command applies to your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and your animals. It also applies to any outsiders who live in your cities. In six days I made the heavens and the earth. I made the oceans and everything in them. But I rested on the seventh day. So I blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:8 -1)

This is a very important commandment. Not only does it have many verses but it is the ONLY one that says "REMEMBER." God is telling us to remember to keep the seventh day HOLY because He created all things in six days and rested on the seventh day.

Let us stop and explain something about a word that most of us use every now and then: "Holy." What does this word mean? If you look it up in the dictionary it means "set apart for worship."

God blessed the seventh day for us to remember Him and His Creation. When you stop and think of God creating the world in 6 days - how awesome it is that He then sets the seventh day for us to REMEMBER HIM!

If you are confused about the seventh day: look in the dictionary again: Saturday is the seventh day. Also look at the calendar which starts with Sunday (first day of the week) .... to Saturday (the seventh day of the week).

Fifth Commandment:
"Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12)

We need to remember to treat our parents with respect, even if we do not agree with them. We should honor them as long as they live.

Sixth Commandment:
"Do not commit murder." (Exodus 20:13)

Jesus in Matthew 5: 21-26 says that even if we are angry with someone, then we are guilty of murder - Jesus encourages us to make peace with that person.

Seventh Commandment:
"Do not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14)

Jesus in Matthew 5:27-32 says that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. This means we can be guilty of adultery even if we just think about having sex with someone that we are not married to.

Eight Commandment:
"Do not steal." (Exodus 20:15)

This includes cheating on our income tax returns, taking things from our work or family members that do not belong to us, and everything else like that is wrong.

Ninth Commandment:
"Do not give false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)

If you stop and think about it, gossiping about something that you know is not true can be considered a lie. It is very hard to control our words but it would be very smart to keep quiet when our words can hurt others.

Tenth Commandment:
"Do not long for anything that belongs to your neighbor. Do not long for your neighbor's house, wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey." (Exodus 20:17)

The Lord our God loves us. He created us. He knows what is best for us and what will make us happy. He tells us to be happy with what we have; what He blessed us with. If we keep looking at other people and think "I want that!" or "I wish I had that!" or "Why is my life harder than that other person's life?" then we become unhappy. Why does this make us unhappy? Because we are looking at other people or things to make us happy instead of looking at our Lord.

We need to be content NO MATTER if we are rich or poor; married or single; with children or without children; with a house or without a house; with a car or without a car.

Even very, very rich people who do not look to the Lord for their happiness are not happy. So being rich is not our goal in life. Being ONE with God is the goal.

The first four commandments talks about our relationship with God, the last six commandments talk about our relationship with each other. We cannot keep the Ten Commandments on our own because we are weak people. But God, if we ask Him to, will give us strength to make the right choices in our lives. Those choices will glorify Him and His character.

People sometimes say that Jesus' death on the cross has abolished (removed) the Ten Commandment. But when we read Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said:

"Do not think I have come to get rid of what is written in the Law or in the Prophets. I have not come to do that. Instead, I have come to give full meaning to what is written. What I am about to tell you is true. Heaven and earth will disappear before the smallest letter disappears from the Law. Not even the smallest stroke of a pen will disappear from the law until everything is completed. Do not break even one of the least important commandments. And do not teach others to break them. If you do, you will be called the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. Instead, practice and teach these commandments. Then you will be called important in the kingdom of heaven."

God gave us the Ten Commandments because He loves us and wants to protect us. What would happen if there was no speed law? Or what about when parents do not set any rules for their children? When there are no rules or laws, it becomes chaos and confusion. We need rules and laws to protect us and keep us safe. So that is why we have the Ten Commandments.

So, let us thank the good Lord that He has given us His Ten Commandments so that we know what is right and what is not. He has promised to stay with us, "lo, even to the end."

A Day of Rest
by Jen Witteborg

Sometimes it seems like life does not slow down. We wake up in the morning with a list of things to do, and go to sleep at night with very little done. Sometimes we really feel STRESSED because there is so much to do, and so little time to get it all done.

Scientists have found that if we keep going at a busy high-speed life style, we do not do very well. Our immune system (which keeps us healthy and less likely to become sick) becomes weak so we get sick more often. Scientists have determined that everyone needs to take a full day off from worrying, from work and from errands.

But God has already set up a time for us to take a break. It is called the Sabbath. From sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening is a special day - a holy day. On this day, we take a time out from our work, our worries, our errands. On this day we remember WHO created us. Take some time on His Holy Day and think of all the things He has done for you. He asks us to REMEMBER the Sabbath day. (See "The Ten Commandments" article above.)

Isaiah 58:13 says: "Do not work on the Sabbath day. Do not do just anything you want to on my [God's] holy day. Make the Sabbath a day you can enjoy. Honor my holy day."

This special day becomes a delight. It becomes a day where we realize we are not carrying the world alone on our shoulders - God is in charge because He is the Creator. It is a day that we can rest from the busy world around us in order to catch our breath. It is a day that we can remember that everything we do will one day be gone, and the only thing that remains is our relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Children's Story: Ms. Wanda's Ears
by Esther M. Doss

Ethan loves going to church. He likes to make new friends with people he has never met before.

One Sabbath after potluck, Ethan saw a woman he had never met before. She was an older woman with glasses. Ethan decided to make friends with her.

"Hi! I'm Ethan! What's your name?" He smiled politely at the woman.

Ethan waited for the woman to say something. But she just looked at him and smiled. Why doesn't she say something? he thought.

Then the woman waved to a young girl. When the young girl turned and looked, the woman began moving her arms around in strange ways. Ethan didn't know what to think! What was this woman doing?

The young girl walked up and smiled at Ethan. "Hi! My name is Abbie. This is Ms. Wanda. She can't hear you. She's deaf. What did you say to her?"

Ethan wrinkled his brow. He wasn't sure what deaf meant. Ethan told Abbie what he had said to Ms. Wanda. "Hi! I'm Ethan. What's your name?"

Abbie began moving her hands wildly around. Then Ms. Wanda started moving her hands this way and that.

What are they doing? Ethan wondered.

Abbie began to speak, "My name is Ms. Wanda. It is so nice to meet you."

Ethan could not stand it anymore. He blurted out, "Why can't she talk?"

Abbie explained, "Well, she can't hear. That is why I use my hands to talk to her. It is called sign language. She can see my hands, but she can't hear my voice." While she was talking, she was moving her hands again.

Ms. Wanda tapped Ethan on the shoulder. She pointed to her ears. Then she made her hands into fists and put them side by side. It looked like she was holding something, like a stick. Then, when she moved her hands, it looked like she broke the stick.

Abbie told Ethan what Ms. Wanda was signing. "My ears are broken."

"Is that all?" Ethan asked. "I'll get my daddy. He can fix anything!"

"I don't think your daddy can fix Ms. Wanda's ears. She is deaf and will be for the rest of her life."

Ethan felt sad.

"Don't worry," Abbie said. "Jesus can fix Ms. Wanda's ears. Jesus will fix her ears when He comes again!"

Ethan did not want Ms. Wanda to have to wait for her ears to be fixed, but he knew that Jesus really could fix them.

Ethan became good friends with Ms. Wanda. He learned to sign a few words so he could talk to her. He also learned a song in sign language, and he would sign it to her.

Ethan loves talking to Ms. Wanda. And Ms. Wanda is always happy to listen to Ethan. And they both can't wait for Jesus to come and fix Ms. Wanda's ears.