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DO NOT WORRY HOW OR WHAT YOU SHOULD SPEAK. FOR IT WILL BE GIVEN YOU IN THAT HOUR WHAT YOU SHALL SPEAK

MATTHEW 10:19

SEVEN SALLIE

I had never been more nervous doing a broadcast or podcast. Dr. Darius Doom requested the interview I do with him, Devin Easton, and my daughter be live. I suppose out of fear that I might edit it in my daughter’s favor. But he didn’t know Sevenia. She wouldn’t let me manipulate a recording even if I wanted to.

I noticed when I picked up a pen, my fingers trembled slightly. I could also feel a little tremor in my upper lip. Yet as I looked at my daughter, her face looked as peaceful as could be when Darius Doom and Devin Easton entered the room.

Dr. Doom was a good looking guy who reminded me of the basketball player Stephen Curry. He had a big smile and a charming personality to match. When he aimed his charisma at my daughter, Sevenia was as relaxed and friendly as she is with a small child or a senior citizen.

“Ahhhhh, Sevenia Sallie,” Darius gushed. “So nice to finally meet the girl prophetess.”

He said girl prophetess with an air of the unconvinced.

“Hello, Dr. Doom,” she said pleasantly. “Girl prophetess is not something I have ever called myself, or claimed to be.”

“Well, I can’t say that I’ve never called myself a doctor,” he said, and then laughed heartily. “But I do have a PhD.”

I frowned. I wondered if he was ever so subtly trying to intimidate her. If he was, it didn’t seem to be working.

Once we started the podcast, we began with Darius Doom’s background, the mega church he pastors, and his work with environmental organizations. Interestingly, Doom was quite conservative, but I don’t mean politically. He was vehemently anti-abortion and also preached abstinence. Yet his large following consisted mostly of generation Z’s and millennials.

Next I told of my daughter’s public speaking and teaching endeavors, which, from a worldly perspective, paled in comparison with Dr. Doom’s. large following.  Then we shifted to Devin’s encounter with what he and Darius referred to as an angel named Dalial. Then Devin announced that Dalial had a special message specifically for Dr. Doom.

“Brother Easton’s encounter with Dalial is on the order of Fatima,” Darius said with a dramatic flair. “By that I mean she has given us a special warning for these chaotic times. Although the circumstances and messages of Fatima remain unclear, Dalial’s message is crystal clear.”

“And that message would be?” I inquired.

“A return to the fourth commandment,” Dr. Doom declared boldly.

“You’re referring to the ten commandment law of God?” I continued, puzzled. I looked at Sevenia, but she simply studied Darius Doom impassively with her fingers calmly interlaced.

“Indeed I am,” Darius replied boldly, and then glanced at Devin. “Brother Easton, why don’t you tell me what Dalial instructed you during your last encounter?”

“She instructed me to go to the good Doctor here with a message that he is to deliver to the masses, to those in political power. It’s a critical warning concerning our planet.”

“And that message would be?” I asked.

“Sabbath reform,” Darius and Devin said at the same time, and then Darius continued solo. “In the beginning of the pandemic, when things were mostly shut down, it was proven that the earth had a chance to breath. It was a moment of celestial cleansing that we need to make obligatory. We do that by mandatory shutdowns on Sundays.”

“I thought you guys said Sabbath reform?” Sevenia spoke up for the first time.

“I did,” Darius and Devin said at the same time.

“Are you referring to Sunday?” Sevenia asked.

“Of course,” Dr. Doom replied.

“But Saturday is the Biblical Sabbath,” Sevenia said. “Other languages are closer to the real meaning than our English Saturday. For instance, in Spanish, Saturday is pronounced Sabado. In Italian it’s Sabato. In Czech and Polish it’s Saboto.”

“You’re talking about the Jewish sabbath,” Darius said. “Everyone knows the Christian sabbath is Sunday.”

“Do you know how Sunday became a Christian tradition?” Sevenia asked.

“It’s not just a tradition. It’s a doctrine,” Darius responded. “We keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection.”

“Could you show me from the Bible where it says we are to keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection?” Sevenia wanted to know as she handed Dr. Doom her Bible. He made no move to take it and eyed it as if it might explode.

“This is about Dalial and her special message, not semantics,” Darius Doom replied.

“But you said that message was about Sabbath reform,” Sevenia said. “So we better be clear what the Biblical Sabbath truly is.”

Darius laughed. “Are you seriously gonna go down this road? Ninety something percent of Christianity keeps Sunday.”

“How often is the majority right?” Sevenia petitioned. “It was a herd mentality that put our Lord and Savior to death.”

“The most revered preachers of our day keep Sunday.”

“Revered? Holy and Reverend is My name says the Lord. Psalm 111:9.” Then added. “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? John 7:48.”

“So you’re more enlightened than Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, or myself?”

“I am not,” Sevenia said boldly, causing Darius to frown. “But the Bible is.”

“That’s right, Sweetheart,” Darius said with a snide sneer, and I felt my jaw clench. “The Good Book is complex, and it all depends on the interpreter. You’re obviously looking at it from a legalistic standpoint, and I, along with many colleagues, focus on grace.”

“Grace is the most abused concept in the Bible.”

“Really! So you’re gonna sit there and tell me that we’re not saved by grace through faith?”

“Not at all!” Sevenia replied, incredulous. “Absolutely we are saved by grace through faith. But let’s not forget what the Apostle Paul also taught in Romans 3:31. Do we then make void the law through faith? No, we establish the law. Doctor Doom, what you call legalism, I call love.”

“Say what?”

“You are correct in one aspect,” Sevenia explained. “If you’re obeying the law of God to be saved, that’s legalism. If you’re heart sings like the psalmist in chapter 119, then you are obeying out of love. You are following The Master when He says, If you love me, keep my commandments, John 14:15.”

Dr. Doom snorted, smirked, and sat back in his chair and folded his arms. But then he spoke with an eerie calm. “Look, we’re getting sidetracked. We came here to discuss the miraculous encounters Devin Easton has had, and the important message learned. We want to save our planet, and along with it, hopefully revive morality and sanity to this great country of ours. It’s a simple message, really, and that is to shut down one day a week. It will be a time of rest for our planet and ourselves. It was proven during the pandemic that this beautiful planet God created was able to breath. Do you not think that was a good thing? Do you not love our planet, Miss Sallie?”

“Very much so, Sir,” my daughter replied. “What I’m saying is there shouldn’t be an enforced Sunday law. It’s a slippery slope when you start to take away people’s rights. First you won’t let people do business on Sunday, then the next thing you know, you’re making people bow down in some form of worship like King Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel chapter 3.”

Darius laughed sarcastically. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m not talking about forced worship. I’m saying businesses should be closed, and your cars stay parked just one day out of seven. I’m not saying people should be required to go to church. However, I am saying that the vast majority recognize Sunday as the sabbath, so we really have no other choice for what day is used. If you don’t want to honor the resurrection, that’s your choice. But what is wrong with simply not doing business on Sunday?”

“First of all, I honor the resurrection every moment of my life as, by the grace of God, I bring every thought into the obedience of Christ. But tell me, if we are to keep Sunday in place of the Biblical seventh day sabbath, why did Jesus say, regarding the destruction of Jerusalem several decades after He was crucified, to pray that the believer’s flight be neither in the winter or the sabbath?”

“It’s just a day,” Darius snorted.

“It’s not just a day. It’s a day that signifies God’s Creatorship. It’s the day He chose to rest. It’s the day He blessed and declared Holy. Who is man to change it? Jesus said, in vain they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Matthew 15:9.”

Darius looked both puzzled and irritated. He looked at Devin whose wide startled eyes gave him no help. “The authority of the church, through Christ changed the sabbath to Sunday.”

“Do you know when Sunday keeping actually began?” Sevenia inquired.

“I suppose you do?” Darius said bitterly.

“It became a common practice when the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. He was the first Roman emperor to stop persecuting Christians. Not only that, but he also made Christianity Rome’s legal religion. When this happened, the people brought with them many of their pagan rituals. Among them were some practices regarding sun worship. The venerable day of the sun, Sunday, was an important day for them. So when they converted, at least in name, to Christianity, instead of worshiping the sun god, they switched to the Son of God.”

“Remarkable,” Devin Easton declared. “How come nobody really knows about all this?”

“Enough!” Dr. Doom barked as he slammed his hand on the table. “We are supposed to be discussing the divine instruction from Dalial to save our planet. This is turning into dogmatic lunacy. Stop the recording.”

“This is live,” I told him. “You didn’t want to do it prerecorded.”

“Well, go to a commercial,” he instructed.

“This is a commercial free podcast.”

“Well, I’m done if we can’t have a recess,” he declared. “I was led here under false pretenses. I thought we would be discussing an amazing angelic encounter, coupled with saving our planet. Instead we’re quibbling over things that transpired two thousand years ago. You need to evolve, children. Get out of that horse and buggy, and climb into the big old jet plane called enlightenment.”

Dr. Darius Doom pushed away from the table and stormed out of the room.

(DESTINY’S BIBLE STUDY NOTES AND QUOTES)

(THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT PART 10)

“If… thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Matthew 6:22

Singleness of purpose, wholehearted devotion to God, is the condition pointed out by the Savior’s words.

Real piety begins when all compromise with sin is at an end.

When the eye is blinded by the love of self, there is only darkness.

Yielding to temptation  begins in permitting the mind to waver.

The prevalence of a sinful desire shows the delusion of the soul.

He who abides in darkness will at last lose the power of vision.

No soul is ever deserted by God! Man turns from God, not God from him!

“No man can serve two masters.” Matthew 6:24

On one side of the line is the self-denying follower of Christ; on the other side is the self-indulgent world lover.

“Be not anxious.” Matthew 6:25

“No sparrow falls without His care

No soul bows low but Jesus knows

For He is with us everywhere

And marks each bitter tear that flows

And He will never, never, never

Forsake the soul that trusts Him ever.”

He has filled the earth and air and sky with glimpses of beauty to tell you of His loving thought for you. The beauty of all created things is but a gleam from the shining of His glory.

It is the word of God that has created the flowers, and that same word will produce in you the graces of His Spirit.

God’s law is the law of love. He has surrounded you with beauty to teach you that you are not placed on earth merely to delve for self, but to make life bright, joyous, and beautiful with the love of Christ—like the flowers, to gladden others lives by the ministry of love.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Matthew 6:33

God’s everlasting arm encircles the soul that turns to Him for aid, however feeble that soul may be.

“Be not therefore anxious for the morrow… Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Matthew 6:34

The events of tomorrow, which are hidden from your view, are open to the eyes of Him who is omnipotent.

We may well have anxiety and anticipate danger and loss, for it is certain to befall us. But when we really believe that God loves us and means to do us good, we shall cease to worry about the future.

We shall trust God as a child trusts a loving parent. Then our troubles and torments will disappear, for our will is swallowed up in the will of God.