Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sabbath
Biblical Sabbath
Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...

is an important part of the belief and practice of seventh-day Christians. These believers observe Sabbath on the seventh Hebrew day of the week, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, in similar manner as in Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, rather than Lord's day

Lord's Day

Lord's Day is a Christian name for Sunday, the day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament to have been witnessed alive from the dead early on the first day of...

on Sunday like a most forms of Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. They believe that keeping seventh-day Sabbath weekly and physically is a moral responsibility, equal to that of any other of the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

, that honors God as Creator

Creator deity

A creator deity is a deity responsible for the creation of the world . In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator deity, while polytheistic traditions may or may not have creator deities...

and Deliverer. The requirement to keep the seventh day holy is found in the fourth commandment of God's Law in the book of Exodus chapter 20 .

Sabbath is often the defining characteristic of these denominations, including Seventh Day Baptists, the larger Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-Day Evangelist Church

Seventh-Day Evangelist Church

The Seventh-Day Evangelist Church is a Christian denomination that recently grew out of the teachings that were embraced by a group of Sudanese people who formerly joined the Adventist Church. The church was founded in 1985 in South Sudan under the leadership of Moses B. Matthew. He was only 15...

, the Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference

Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference

The Church of God – Salem Conference is a seventh-day Sabbath-keeping Christian denomination. The Church of God observes the seventh-day Sabbath, which is ) the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition.-History:...

, and the United Church of God

United Church of God

The United Church of God, an International Association is a Christian denomination based in the United States with members in various countries around the world...

Biblical Sabbath

Sabbath was first described in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation. Observation and remembrance of Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

(the fourth in the Eastern Orthodox and most Protestant traditions, the third in Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions). Most people who observe first-day or seventh-day Sabbath regard it as having been instituted as a "perpetual covenant

Covenant (biblical)

A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...

[for] the people of Israel" and proselytes , a sign in respect for the day during which God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

rested after having completed Creation in six days .

Early church

According to Bauckham, the post-apostolic church

Ante-Nicene Period

The Ante-Nicene Period , or Post-Apostolic Period, of the history of early Christianity spanned the late 1st century to the early 4th century, with the end marked by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity during this time was extremely diverse, with many developments difficult to trace...

contained diverse practices as regards Sabbath. "In the first centuries the true (seventh day) Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were zealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts". "That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed."

Widespread seventh-day Sabbath observance by Gentile Christians prevailed in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

In the 4th century, Socrates Scholasticus

Socrates Scholasticus

Socrates of Constantinople, also known as Socrates Scholasticus, not to be confused with the Greek philosopher Socrates, was a Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret, who used his work; he was born at Constantinople c. 380: the date of his death is unknown...

Church History book 5 states:
On the seventh of March, A.D. 321, the Roman Emperor Constantine

Constantine I and Christianity

During the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great, Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Constantine, also known as Constantine I, had a significant religious experience following his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312...

issued a decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor stating:
"The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor’s policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment."

Also in the 4th century, Sozomen

Sozomen

Salminius Hermias Sozomenus was a historian of the Christian church.-Family and Home:He was born around 400 in Bethelia, a small town near Gaza, into a wealthy Christian family of Palestine....

Church History book 7 states:
Ellen White states "The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and world-loving churchmen he accomplished his purpose. Vast councils were held from time to time, in which the dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council the Sabbath which God had instituted was pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honoured as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism, and its observers were declared to be accursed."

The recovery of true Biblical Sabbath

Biblical Sabbath

Sabbath in the Bible is usually a weekly day of rest and time of worship. The Sabbath is first mentioned in the Genesis creation narrative. The seventh day is there set aside as a day of rest—the Sabbath. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in...

only became possible after the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, and would be a mark of the Remnant church

Remnant (Adventist)

In Seventh-day Adventist theology, there will be an end time remnant of believers who are faithful to God.The remnant church is a visible, historical, organized body characterized by obedience to the commandments of God and the possession of a unique end-time gospel proclamation...

Middle ages

The "Sabbath in Africa Study Group (SIA)" was founded by Charles E. Bradford in 1991. (See also: Sabbath in Christianity#Africa) Bradford has argued that Sabbath has existed in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

since the beginning of recorded history

Recorded history

Recorded history is the period in history of the world after prehistory. It has been written down using language, or recorded using other means of communication. It starts around the 4th millennium BC, with the invention of writing.-Historical accounts:...

. Christians in Abyssinia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

kept seventh-day Sabbath as early as the 14th century. The legendary Zara Yaqob

Zara Yaqob

Zar'a Ya`qob or Zera Yacob was of Ethiopia , and a member of the Solomonic dynasty...

convened a conference one century later to discuss the Sabbath question.

In Bohemia, as much as one-quarter of the population kept seventh-day Sabbath in 1310. This practice continued until at least the 16th century, when Erasmus wrote about the practice.

A split from Unitarianism

Unitarianism

Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....

in Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

to adopt Mosaic law and customs, including the Judaic Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, was founded in Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

at the end of the 16th century by a Eössi András. The Unitarian Church

Unitarianism

condemned Sabbatarianism as innovation (forbidden by the Transylvanian law on religious toleration) in 1618. The last Sabbatarian congregation in Transylvania disappeared in the 19th century and the remaining Sabbatarians, who were known as "Somrei Sabat" (the Hungarian transliteration of the Hebrew words for "Sabbath observers") joined the existing Jewish communities, into which they were eventually absorbed. Sabbatarianism also expanded into Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, where its adherents were called Subbotniks

Subbotniks

Subbotniks are one of the Russian religious bodies known under the general name of "Judaizing Christian sects". On the whole, the Subbotniks originally differed probably very little from other Judaizing societies. They first appeared during the reign of Catherine II, toward the end of the...

, and from there, the movement expanded into other countries. Some of the Russian Subotniki maintained a Christian identity doctrinally speaking, whereas others also formally converted to Judaism and assimilated within the Jewish communities of Russia. Some of the latter, however, who had become Jewish, although they and their descendants practiced Judaism and had not practiced Christianity for nearly two centuries, still retained a distinct identity as ethnic Russian converts to Judaism until recent times.

A small number of the antitrinitarian Socinian

Socinianism

Socinianism is a system of Christian doctrine named for Fausto Sozzini , which was developed among the Polish Brethren in the Minor Reformed Church of Poland during the 15th and 16th centuries and embraced also by the Unitarian Church of Transylvania during the same period...

churches of Eastern Europe and the Netherlands adopted Saturday as the day of worship.

There is historical evidence of some observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the Waldenses. A report of an inquisition before whom were brought some Waldenses of Moravia in the middle of the fifteenth century declares that among the Waldenses "not a few indeed celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews."

Reformation

There is also mention in much Adventist material of the alleged role played by sects such as the Waldenses, Albigenses and Leonists in retaining Sabbath observance in Europe throughout the last few millennia. There is also mention of groups such as the Ti Ping Revolution keeping it alive in China, and the Goa Inquisition

Goa Inquisition

The Goa Inquisition was the office of the Inquisition acting in the Indian state of Goa and the rest of the Portuguese empire in Asia. It was established in 1560, briefly suppressed from 1774–1778, and finally abolished in 1812. The Goan Inquisition is considered a blot on the history of...

attacking Sabbatarian Saint Thomas Christians

Saint Thomas Christians

The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians from Kerala, India, who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They are also known as "Nasranis" because they are followers of "Jesus of Nazareth". The term "Nasrani" is still used by St...

.

At the time of the Protestant Reformation some Anabaptists, such as Oswald Glait, argued that the seventh day should be observed as Sabbath and that Sunday was an invention of the Pope.

Seventh-day Sabbatarianism was revived in seventeenth-century England. Early advocates included John Traske (1586–1636) and Thomas Brabourne. The majority of seventh-day Sabbatarians were part of the Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptists are Christian Baptists who observe Sabbath on the seventh-day of the week in accord with their understanding of the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition...

church, and they experienced harsh opposition from Anglican authorities and the Puritans. The first Seventh-day Baptist church in the United States was established in Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

in 1671.

The Seventh-day Adventist church arose in the mid-19th century in America, having inherited seventh-day Sabbatarianism from the Seventh-day Baptists.

Seventh-day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptist are Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

Baptists who observe seventh-day Sabbath. The Seventh Day Baptist World Federation today represents over 50,000 Baptists in 22 countries.

It is the oldest modern Sabbatarian denomination. The first recorded Seventh Day Baptist meeting was held at The Mill Yard Church in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

in 1651 under the leadership of Dr. Peter Chamberlen. However many Seventh Day Baptists believe that records showing that it had originated in 1617 were lost in a fire.

Seventh-day Adventism

The Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

is the largest modern seventh-day Sabbatarian denomination, with about 16 million members and hold the Sabbath as one of the Pillars of Seventh-day Adventism

The Pillars of Adventism

The Pillars of Adventism are landmark doctrines for Seventh-Day Adventists; Bible doctrines that define who they are as a people of faith; doctrines that are "non-negotiables" in Adventist theology.-The Pillars of Adventism:...

. Seventh-day Adventism grew out of the Millerite

Millerites

The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in roughly the year 1843.-Origins:...

movement in the 1840s, and its founders were converted to Sabbatarianism under the influence of Rachel Oakes Preston

Rachel Oakes Preston

Rachel Oakes Preston was a Seventh Day Baptist who persuaded a group of Adventist Millerites to accept Saturday, instead of Sunday, as Sabbath. This Sabbatarian group organized as the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863.Born in Vernon, Vermont, Rachel, daughter of Sylvanus Harris, first joined...

, a Seventh Day Baptist. They have traditionally taught that seventh-day Sabbath will be a test, leading to the sealing of God's people during the end times, though there is little consensus about how this will play out. The church has traditionally taught that there will be an international Sunday law

Blue law

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...

enforced by a coalition of religious and secular authorities; all who do not observe it will be persecuted and killed. This is taken from the church's interpretation of and , ; ; , where the subject of persecution in prophecy is thought to be about the Sabbath commandment.

Seventh-day Adventists observe Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. During this time, Adventists avoid secular work and business, although medical, relief and humanitarian work is accepted. Though there are cultural variations, most Adventists will also avoid activities such as shopping, sport and certain forms of entertainment.

Adventists typically gather for their church services on Saturday morning. Some will also gather on Friday evening to welcome in Sabbath hours (sometimes called "Vespers

Vespers

Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...

" or "opening Sabbath"), and some will similarly gather at the close of Sabbath, "closing Sabbath".

Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists hold that the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

(including the fourth commandment concerning Sabbath) are a part of the moral law of God, not abrogated by the teachings of Jesus Christ, which apply equally to Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

s. This was a common Christian understanding before the Sabbatarian controversy led Sunday-keepers to adopt a more radical antinomian position.

Adventists have traditionally distinguished between "moral law" and "ceremonial law", arguing that moral law continues to bind Christians, while events predicted by the ceremonial law were fulfilled by Christ's death on the cross.

History

Sabbath was introduced to the Adventist movement of William Miller

William Miller (preacher)

William Miller was an American Baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid-nineteenth century North American religious movement now known as Adventism. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists and Advent Christians...

and his followers

Millerites

The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in roughly the year 1843.-Origins:...

by the Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptists are Christian Baptists who observe Sabbath on the seventh-day of the week in accord with their understanding of the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition...

s. The group of "Sabbatarian Adventists" emerged from 1845 to 1849 from among the Adventist groups, later to become the Seventh-day Adventists. Joseph Bates

Joseph Bates (Adventist)

Joseph Bates was an American seaman and revivalist minister. He was the founder and developer of Sabbatarian Adventism, a strain of religious thinking that evolved into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Bates is also credited with convincing James White and Ellen G...

was the foremost proponent of Sabbath amongst this group.

A young Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptist

Seventh Day Baptists are Christian Baptists who observe Sabbath on the seventh-day of the week in accord with their understanding of the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition...

layperson named Rachel Oakes Preston

Rachel Oakes Preston

living in New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

was responsible for introducing Sabbath to the Millerite Adventists. Due to her influence Frederick Wheeler began keeping the seventh day as Sabbath after personally studying the issue in March 1844 following a conversation with Preston, according to his later report. He is reputed to be the first ordained Adventist minister to preach in support of Sabbath. Several members of the church in Washington

Washington, New Hampshire

Washington is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,123 at the 2010 census. Situated in a hilly, rocky, forested area, and with 26 lakes and ponds, Washington is a picturesque resort area...

, New Hampshire he occasionally ministered to also followed his decision, forming the first Sabbatarian Adventist church. These included William Farnsworth (biography) and his brother Cyrus. T. M. Preble

T. M. Preble

Thomas Motherwell Preble was a Free Will Baptist minister in New Hampshire and a Millerite preacher. After accepting the teachings of William Miller, Preble was excommunicated from his church....

soon accepted it either from Wheeler, Oakes, or someone else at the church. These events actually preceded the "Great Disappointment

Great Disappointment

The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history of the Millerite movement, a 19th-century American Christian sect that formed out of the Second Great Awakening. Based on his interpretations of the prophecies in the book of Daniel The Great Disappointment was a major event in the history...

" which followed shortly after, when Jesus did not return as expected on October 22, 1844.

Preble was the first Millerite to promote Sabbath in print form; through the February 28, 1845 issue of the Hope of Israel in Portland

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. In March he published his Sabbath views in tract form as A Tract, Showing that the Seventh Day Should be Observed as the Sabbath, Instead of the First Day; "According to the Commandment.". This tract led to the conversion of J. N. Andrews

John Nevins Andrews

John Nevins Andrews , was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, missionary, writer, editor, and scholar...

and other Adventist families in Paris

Paris, Maine

Paris is a town in and the county seat of Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,793 at the 2000 census. The census-designated place of South Paris is located within the town. Because the U.S. Post Office refers to the entire town as South Paris, the town as a whole is commonly...

, Maine, as well as to Joseph Bates (in 1845). These men in turn convinced James

James Springer White

James Springer White , also known as Elder White was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and husband of Ellen G. White...

and Ellen White

Ellen G. White

Ellen Gould White was a prolific author and an American Christian pioneer. She, along with other Sabbatarian Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, would form what is now known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Ellen White reported to her fellow believers her...

, as well as Hiram Edson

Hiram Edson

Hiram Edson was a pioneer of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, known for introducing the investigative judgment doctrine to the church.-Early life:Edson's first wife died in 1839, leaving him to care for three children...

and hundreds of others. Preble is known to have kept seventh-day Sabbath until mid-1847. He later repudiated Sabbath and opposed the Seventh-day Adventists, authoring The First-Day Sabbath.

Bates proposed that a meeting should be organized between the believers in New Hampshire and Port Gibson. At this meeting, which occurred sometime in 1846 at Edson's farm, Edson and other Port Gibson believers readily accepted the Sabbath message and at the same time forged an alliance with Bates and two other folk from New Hampshire who later became very influential in the Adventist church, James

James Springer White

James Springer White , also known as Elder White was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and husband of Ellen G. White...

and Ellen G. White

Ellen G. White

. Between April 1848 and December 1850 twenty-two "Sabbath conferences" were held in New York and New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

. These meetings were often seen as opportunities for leaders such as James White, Joseph Bates, Stephen Pierce and Hiram Edson to discuss and reach conclusions about doctrinal issues.

Also in 1846, a pamphlet written by Bates created widespread interest in Sabbath. Shortly afterwards Bates, James White, Ellen Harmon (later White), Hiram Edson, Frederick Wheeler and S. W. Rhodes led the promotion of Sabbath, partly through regular publications.

The Present Truth magazine was largely devoted to Sabbath at first. J. N. Andrews was the first Adventist to write a book-length defense of Sabbath, first published in 1861.

Two of Andrews' books include Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries Concerning the Sabbath and the First Day and History of the Sabbath (HTML version).

Armstrongism

Seventh-day Sabbatarianism was a key feature of the former Worldwide Church of God

Worldwide Church of God

Grace Communion International , formerly the Worldwide Church of God , is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Glendora, California, United States. Since April 3, 2009, it has used the new name Grace Communion International in the US...

, founded by Herbert Armstrong

Armstrongism

Armstrongism refers to the teachings and doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong while leader of the Worldwide Church of God , and is professed by him and his followers to be the restored true Gospel of the Bible. Armstrong said they were revealed to him by God during his study of the Bible....

, and its various descendent movements.

Other groups

The Elizabethan Seventh-Day Men and Traskites were popular seventh-day movements in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The primarily Chinese True Jesus Church

True Jesus Church

The True Jesus Church is a non-denominational Christian church that originated in Beijing, China, in 1917. The current elected chairman of the TJC International Assembly is Preacher Yong-Ji Lin. Today, there are approximately 2.5 million members in fifty three countries and six continents...

supports Saturday Sabbath, and has approximately 2 million believers worldwide. Initial founder Ling-Sheng Zhang

Ling-Sheng Zhang

Zhang Lingsheng , was born in Shandong county, China.In 1900, Zhang converted to Christianity at the age of thirty seven and became a member of the Presbyterian church for seven years and was then appointed as a Deacon for the following three years.On September 1909 after hearing a testimony from...

accepted Sabbath after studying Seventh-day Adventist theology, and co-founder Paul Wei

Paul Wei

Paul Wei , previously known as Wèi Ēnbō , was born in Hebei province, China. He was a farmer from a poor family background and had very little education. In 1902 he migrated to Beijing where he later became a prosperous silk and merchandise dealer.By his own accounts, he was previously a...

was originally a Seventh-day Adventist. An American missionary named Berntsen, who was from a Sabbath-keeping Church of God, was also influential upon the founders.

Other minor Sabbatarian churches include:

Seventh-day Remnant home-churches(see http://www.SDRVoice.org )
Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference
Church of God (7th day) - Salem Conference
The Church of God – Salem Conference is a seventh-day Sabbath-keeping Christian denomination. The Church of God observes the seventh-day Sabbath, which is ) the Biblical Sabbath for the Judeo-Christian tradition.-History:...
Logos Apostolic Church of God in the UK, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Sudan.

Eschatology

The pioneers of the church taught that seventh-day Sabbath will be a test, leading to the sealing of God's people during the end times. Ellen G. White

Ellen G. White

interpreted , , Revelation 7, Ezekiel 20: 12, 20 and Exodus 31:13 this way. Where the subject of persecution appeared in prophecy, it was thought to be about the Sabbath commandment. Some early Adventists were jailed for working on Sunday, in violation of various local "Sunday laws" or blue law

Blue law

s which legislated Sundays as a day of rest. It was expected that a universal Sunday law would soon be enforced, as a sign of the end times.

External links

Sabbath articles from the Biblical Research Institute
"Sabbath and the New Covenant" by Roy Gane
An Exegetical Overview of Col 2:13-17: With Implications for SDA Understanding by Jon Paulien
Jon Paulien
Jonathan K. Paulien is a Seventh-day Adventist theologian specializing in the study of books by John in the New Testament . He was the professor of New Testament Interpretation at Andrews University...
Guidelines for Sabbath Observance, document voted by the General Conference Session
General Conference Session
The General Conference Session is the official world meeting of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. The first session was held on May 20, 1863 with 20 delegates in attendance, and it is now held quinquennially ....

of 1990
"The Da Vinci Code, Constantine and Christians" by Robert McIver. Signs of the Times (Australian version) 120:9 (September 2005), p52–55
Sabbath articles as cataloged in the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index (SDAPI). See also Sabbath articles in the ASDAL guide
http://www.sabbathtruth.com/ Comprehensive site regarding Sabbath Q&A

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Biblical Sabbath

Early church

Middle ages

Reformation

Seventh-day Baptist

Seventh-day Adventism

History

Armstrongism

Other groups

Eschatology

See also

Further reading

External links