All posts by AOCM

My name is Pastor Tony Catron I graduate from K.S.U. with a degree in electronic/electrical engineering. While doing that I became a Junior Deacon and also a musician in my dad's ministry in Cleveland, Ohio. Years later, my career took me to Michigan where I worked as a Electrical/Electronic Engineer. While in Michigan I became a Minister, then later went to Seminary training at Birmingham Bible Institute and became an Elder at a large Pentecostal church in Michigan called LLCC. I was called to the ministry by God. So I headed up an outreach ministry based on the End Times, dealing with restoration in people lives. Then my dad called me back to Ohio to help him Pastor his church. During that time, God changed my outreach ministry, turning it into a full-time restoration ministry. He gave me the name Ark of Covenant Ministries and the rest is history.
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Who are You In Bed With?

Isaiah 13:1-22, The Time of the End of New Babylon

The US has been deemed the New Babylon because of the sin and degradation of its society and the human emotional involvement, plus the vial effect of men and woman and their reprobate affections towards each other 2 Timothy 3:1-9.

The question you need to ask yourself is who are you in bed with? If you’re in bed with any individual, you tend to take on a serious relationship with that individual. Before you can get to the part where you are in bed with them, you must have had some kind of intimate relationship with them, a mental relationship and possibly even a physically relationship. There is no such thing as saying I don’t know whom I was in bed with. When you look at the whole big picture something drew you into that bed, looking from a natural sense. Whether the look in their eyes, shape of their bodies, financial or physical attraction, something drew you into that bed. For you to go as far as being in bed with that person, place or thing, you would have had to have let go of who you are to allow them into your personal and intimate space. I say again, who are you in bed with?

In this day and age, we look at the different countries, the different dilemmas, and fightings abroad and wonder who is causing all of this turmoil. We find out this country or that country is in cahoots with each other; they are allies. That is a key word: Ally. So whoever you are in bed with they have become your ally. So you are in agreement with them. Where a man’s treasures are, there lies his heart  Matthew 6:19-21. Who are you in bed with? The different countries around the world have been in bed with each other. If you remember Babylon that great city, in league with the nations around them, the Chaldeans, doing what they do best, corrupting, destroying, lying, warring with nations nearby to gain control of the natural resources, cheating for the benefits of the wicked men who were in power. Using their armies to overthrow other nations, not for the benefit of their country, but for the benefit of those who were in charge of the country. Some of us even say that “I love the Lord,” even to the point of saying “He heard my cry,” but they are in bed with Lucifer, the devil. When you point these things out that they are locked into in their lives that point to Satan rather than God, they will fight you, talk about you, dog you out, do everything possible to attack you because you showed them the truth, and allowed them to see really who they are in love with. The Bible says you are known by the fruits that you bear. I ask you who are you in bed with?

The older generation used to say if you lie down with dogs, you’ll wake up with flees. The flea doesn’t know the difference, it just looks for blood. Satan doesn’t care if you are a man, woman, child or baby, he does not care if you are saved or not saved, Satan says that he is looking for whom he may devour. When the Sons of God came before God, and Satan was among them, He asked Satan where he’d come from, and Satan said to and fro in and out from among the earth. Seeking whom he may devour Job 1:6, 2:1-2.

 

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:5-7.

 

As you are in relationship with whatever has occupied your time, your focus and your heart, that is who you are in bed with. That is who or what is going to control your emotions, your wellbeing, your heart, and will affect your goals and your purpose in life. So, you can’t serve two masters, so if you are in bed with Satan then you must hate the Lord or despise Him. Somehow you don’t like what the Lord is doing for you. The bible tells us a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways. Make up your mind. If you love the lord serve Him, if not serve satan. The Word of God tells us you are either hot or cold. In the Bible, it says I wish you were either hot or cold. Revelation 3:14-15.

You can’t serve two masters, you’ll either love the one or despise the other or visa versa. Who are you in bed with?If you love this world, whether it’s this country of whatever country it happens to be more than you love the Lord, then whatever you are a part of, you will love them and you will hate the Lord. So whatever punishment comes upon that nation will come upon you as well. It goes back to say one of he sermons I preach earlier, Reaping and unwanted harvest.

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Reaping an Unwanted Harvest

Galatians 5:25-26, 6:1-18

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

 

Galatians 5:7-8 Every man should bear his own burden.

If someone has a problem or burden and we take upon ourselves to listen to it or absorb it, then we will take on that process or that burden that individual is going through. When we do that, whatever results that individual gets from their burden, will also be given to you. When it says in the 8 verse, For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; If we allow ourselves to be affected by what someone says or acts or lives, then of those circumstances, we will reap the reward of those actions or circumstances, thereby reaping an unwanted harvest.

Galatians 6:7 God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. There is no question about it. If you allow yourself to be dragged into someones else’s mess, then their mess will be your mess. Whether family members, friends, working companions, business partners…we see it all the time. When people get together and start gossiping about someone else, whether it’s their marriage or living style, it usually winds up that they encounter the same thing in their own life and walk. Reaping from something that was not your business, will cause you to fail in God. The harvest that you received from someone else mess, you can’t deny it will be your mess; your harvest. So don’t get mad with God. The reaping that I’m saying is the reaping of sin.

If a brother or sister is going through growing pains of their Christian walk, we who are the Children of God should be more patient and understanding because we have been through. You can bear one another’s burden because you know what it takes to go through. Be there for them. But do not, do not take upon yourself, the sin burden of their walk.

We are not to judge the individual who is reaping the harvest from their mistake. It says in the book of Matthew 7:1-2 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

So often are we captivated by someone else’s misery that we tend to forget that anyone can be overtaken in a fault. So do not point your finger, do not criticize, do not ostracize those individuals who are reaping an unwanted harvest. Know this that where your treasure is there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).

 

Don’t allow someone else’s bad crops to become your harvest. Don’t reap someone else’s mess.

 

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Thank God for the JOINT

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

 

How many of you remember when you use to run jump and climb bend and stretch? Sometimes your parents use to tell you don’t do that too much because Arthur (arthritis) is going to get you. You never really realize how much you needed your ligaments, tendons, and cartilage that make up your joints until you get older or they get damaged.

How many of you have been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, torn ligaments, tendonitis or even damaged cartilage?  It is because of these very joint related ailments, which have lead our bodies to its crippling demeanor.
Some of us can’t even walk the way we use to, others can’t even move their arms legs, elbows, fingers….etc. as we need.

A study was done by the CDC of the US in 2016, and their findings where these:

Improving the Quality of Life for People With Arthritis At A Glance 2016.

In the United States, 23% of all adults, or about 53 million people, have arthritis. It is a leading cause of disability.
The term arthritis refers to more than 100 diseases and conditions affecting the joints. The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which affects more than 30 million US adults. Other forms of arthritis are gout, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Symptoms of arthritis are pain, aching, stiffness, and swelling in or around the joints. Some forms of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, can affect multiple organs and cause widespread symptoms.
Arthritis commonly occurs with other chronic diseases. About half of US adults with heart disease or diabetes and one-third of people who are obese also have arthritis. Having arthritis in addition to other chronic conditions can reduce quality of life and make disease management harder.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts research and supports programs for people with arthritis so they can work and do other daily activities, have less pain, manage their own care, and delay disability.

Public Health Problem Arthritis Limits the US Workforce
Almost two-thirds of US adults with arthritis are of working age (18-64 years). Arthritis can limit the type of work these men and women are able to do or keep them from working at all. In fact, 8 million working-age adults report that their ability to work is limited because of their arthritis.
The most common limitations that adults with arthritis report are difficulty climbing a flight of stairs or walking the equivalent of three city blocks. This means that adults with arthritis could have trouble walking from a parking deck or subway stop to their worksite.
The impact of arthritis on the productivity of US businesses will continue to grow as the percentage of people with this condition increases in the coming decades. By 2040, more than 78 million people (26% of the projected adult population) will have arthritis.

Many People Do Not Know How to Manage Symptoms
People with arthritis can reduce their symptoms in several ways, but many don’t know how. For example, people with arthritis can:
Join a self-management education program, such as the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, that teaches the skills and confidence to live well with arthritis every day.
Be physically active. Physical activity—such as walking, bicycling, and swimming—decreases pain and improves function, mood, and quality of life. People with arthritis should try to get at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. This activity can be done for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, or for as little as 10 minutes at a time. CDC-recommended physical activity programs—like Walk With Ease and EnhanceFitness—are community interventions that improve health for participants with arthritis.
Maintain a healthy weight and protect their joints.

People can reduce their risk of knee osteoarthritis by controlling their weight and avoiding types of activities that are more likely to cause joint injuries.

Talk with a doctor. Recommendations from health care providers can motivate people to be physically active and join a self-management education program. People with inflammatory arthritis, like rheumatoid arthritis, have a better quality of life if they are diagnosed early, receive treatment, and learn how to manage their condition.

❊ key> People of God we are literally falling apart naturally!

Let’s talk about your spiritual Arthritis with regard to ligaments, tendons, and cartilage that make up your joints for your spiritual body and the ministry you’re in or over.

Ephesians 4:14 -17 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind…

I would like to ask some questions?
1) How many of you are in a ministry?
2) How many of you have joined and committed yourself to that ministry?
3) How many of you have joined an auxiliary or office?
4) How many of you are active at that ministry?
5) And last, but not least, how many are not satisfied where you are in ministry?

The natural body is sick due to your joints not functioning right and being taken care of the right way. When a saint doesn’t know if they’re loved, and the work they do, is not appreciated, when you’re overworked in the ministry, used and abused, lied on, set up for failure, no place to grow, looked down upon, talked about at the ministry and you feel that your voice is not being heard; This is where saints become torn, damaged, pulled, scarred, overtaxed; Then the body is not jointly fitted together, you’re literally coming a loose at the seams and there are other factors that compound this state that contributes to this equation as well. Then there is no growth in the church or in saints, then what you have is a dysfunctional entity going nowhere fast. You must understand as humans we tend to replicate people like ourselves or congregate around people like us. In other words, there is a commonality that they share. Abused people are drawn to abused people or abusers. You’ve heard the old term “birds of a feather flock together?”

 

Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

 

There are three main joints in the natural body, the neck, the spine, and hips. There are three main spiritual joints that need to be restored in your spiritual body: your faith, your commitment, and your action! How can the Holy Ghost move in you when your faith has been damaged or your commitment has been lost?  How can the Holy Ghost use you when you don’t know when to go or how to go?

It’s ok just to be ok. You don’t have to be the super-saint or the super well know Pastor!

 

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

 

It’s time to become a functional joint again so that the body can function as Jesus planned from the beginning. Won’t you recommit your heart back in the ministry be the joint Jesus is looking for?

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What you See is not what You Get

The following is from an article entitled “The Catholic Church Admits They Made the Change,” from www.sabbathtruth.com.

Was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day? Well, yes and no. Let’s deal with the “no” first.

God, “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17), does not change (Malachi 3:6). The Israelites received two laws from Moses: the law of Moses, that of ordinances and ceremonies; and the Law of God, embodied in the Ten Commandments, which is an expression of God’s character. If God does not change, neither will His Law. “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34). “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness” (Psalm 111:7, 8).

God gave His Law to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Amid thunder and lightning, a thick cloud covered the mountain, and a trumpet blasted. Smoke billowed up as from a furnace and the whole mountain shook as the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses led the Israelites out of their camp to meet with God, and every one of them trembled. Then God spoke (Exodus 19:16-19, 20:1). If this Law were to be changed, it would be reasonable to expect God Himself to announce it, and give reasons for its alteration, amid the same amount of ceremony. Yet there is no indication in Scripture of such an announcement.

What About the New Testament?

In the New Testament, the seventh day of the week is called the Sabbath; it is mentioned 58 times. The first day of the week is mentioned eight times. It is simply called the first day of the week, and it is always differentiated from the Sabbath. This in itself is evidence for the continued validity of the seventh-day Sabbath.

The gospel writers record Jesus and the apostles going to the synagogue on Sabbath as their “custom” (Luke 4:16 ). Jesus said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). The women who went to anoint His body after his death “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). Nearly all of the incidents reported of the apostles’ preaching occurred on the seventh-day Sabbath. Of all the accusations the Jews made against the apostles, never once did they accuse the apostles of breaking the Sabbath.

Some teach that after Christ’s death and resurrection, the Old Testament law was done away with and a new covenant took its place. But Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18). The law of Moses, which foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice, was indeed made irrelevant, but Paul maintains that the Law of God is to be kept, though we now be under grace. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).

How It Happened…

Yet for nearly 2,000 years now, millions of Christians have worshiped on Sunday. So was the Sabbath changed from the seventh to the first day of the week? Let’s look at the “yes” now.

“The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5). Here Jesus staked His claim and forbade anyone to meddle with the Sabbath. Yet He knew there would be those who would claim the power to change God’s Law. Through Daniel he warned of just such a man. Describing a “little horn power” (Daniel 7:8), Daniel says, “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws” (Daniel 7:25). Paul made a similar prediction: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God, or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7).

Paul warned that this blasphemy was already at work, and that it would come not from an outside influence, but from within the church (2 Thessalonians 2:7, Acts 20:28-30). Sure enough, not long after Paul’s day, apostasy appeared in the church.

About 100 years before Christianity, Egyptian Mithraists introduced the festival of Sunday, dedicated to worshiping the sun, into the Roman Empire. Later, as Christianity grew, church leaders wished to increase the numbers of the church. In order to make the gospel more attractive to non-Christians, pagan customs were incorporated into the church’s ceremonies. The custom of Sunday worship was welcomed by Christians who desired to differentiate themselves from the Jews, whom they hated because of the Jews’ rejection of the Savior. The first day of the week began to be recognized as both a religious and civil holiday. By the end of the second century, Christians considered it sinful to work on Sunday.

The Roman emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity, though his subsequent actions suggest the “conversion” was more of a political move than a genuine heart change. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321.

On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. —Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75.

Note that Constantine’s law did not even mention Sabbath but referred to the mandated rest day as a “the venerable day of the sun.” And how kind he was to allow people to observe it as it was convenient. Contrast this with God’s command to observe the Sabbath “even during the plowing season and harvest” (Exodus 34:21)! Perhaps the church leaders noticed this laxity as well, for just four years later, in A.D. 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday “the Lord’s Day,” and in A.D. 338, Eusebius, the court bishop of Constantine, wrote, “All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) we (Constantine, Eusebius, and other bishops) have transferred to the Lord’s Day (the first day of the week) as more appropriately belonging to it.”

Instead of the humble lives of persecution and self-sacrifice led by the apostles, church leaders now exalted themselves to the place of God. “This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:3).

The Catechism

Recall the ceremony with which God made known His Law, containing the blessing of the seventh-day Sabbath, by which all humanity is to be judged. Contrast this with the unannounced, unnoticed anticlimax with which the church gradually adopted Sunday at the command of “Christian” emperors and Roman bishops. And these freely admit that they made the change from Sabbath to Sunday.

In the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, we read:

Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….
Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.
Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday?
A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her!
—Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

In Catholic Christian Instructed,

Q. Has the [Catholic] church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
A. …Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.
—The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204.

In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,

Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
Q. How prove you that?
A. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest [of the feasts] by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.
–Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D. (R.C.), (1833), page 58.

In A Doctrinal Catechism,

Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.
–Rev. Stephen Keenan, (1851), p. 174.

In the Catechism of the Council of Trent,

The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday!
–p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937.  (First published in 1566)

In the Augsburg Confession,

They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.
—Art. 28.

God warned that a blasphemous power would “seek to change times and laws,” and the Catholic Church openly admits doing it, even boasts about it. In a sermon at the Council of Trent in 1562, the Archbishop of Reggia, Caspar del Fossa, claimed that the Catholic Church’s whole authority is based upon the fact that they changed the Sabbath to Sunday. Does this not fulfill the prophecies of Daniel and Paul?

“For centuries millions of Christians have gathered to worship God on the first day of the week. Graciously He has accepted this worship. He has poured out His blessings upon Christian people as they have sought to serve Him. However, as one searches the Scriptures, he is forced to recognize that Sunday is not a day of God’s appointment… It has no foundation in Scripture, but has arisen entirely as a result of custom,” says Frank H. Yost, Ph.D. in The Early Christian Sabbath.

Let us ask the question again: Was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of the week to the first? The Bible is clear: “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Genesis 2:3).  “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). If God intended for another day to become the Sabbath, He must have removed the blessing from the seventh day and placed it on the day which was to replace it. But when God bestows a blessing, it is forever. “…You, O Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:27). “I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it” (Numbers 23:20). Your birthday, a memorial of your birth, can’t be changed, though you may celebrate it on a different day. Neither can the Sabbath, a memorial of creation (Exodus 20:11), be changed, though some may celebrate it on a different day.

God instructed Moses to construct the earthly sanctuary, all its furniture, and the ark according to “the pattern” he was shown. (Exodus 25:9, 40) The ark was called the “ark of the covenant” (Numbers 10:33, Deuteronomy 10:8, Hebrews 9:4), and the “ark of the testimony” (Exodus 25:22), because in it Moses placed the tablets of stone on which God wrote His Law. (Exodus 25:16, 31:18) John, in Revelation 11:19, describes the scene before him when “the temple of God was opened in Heaven.” John saw the ark of the covenant in the heavenly sanctuary. David wrote, “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). It is safe to assume that God’s Law remains, contained within the ark of the covenant in the heavenly sanctuary.

When God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10), that ends all controversy. We cannot change God’s Word for our own convenience. “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).

– Emily Thomsen