The Dangerous Leaven of Antinomianism, Part I

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“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:15-21).

February 12, 2005 – It is judgment indeed upon a wicked and perverse people that they leave one of the most plain and specific warnings ever to come from the mouth of God on earth ignored and unheeded.  In these scriptures in the Gospel of Matthew we have the words of Jesus Christ warning us about a specific kind of people that will never enter in to the Kingdom of Heaven:

1.     They wear sheep’s clothing.  They profess to hold to the best doctrine, and to be of Christ’s own flock.  They take upon themselves the name of “Christian” and expect to be ushered into heaven.

2.     They say, “Lord, Lord” as if Jesus Christ belongs to them, and they to Him.

3.     They are corrupt trees and foul vines.  They bring forth fruit, but it is not the fruit the Bible requires.  They produce anti-fruit: thorns and thistles.

4.     They are clothed in the attire of the Christian, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  A wolf consumes sheep, and these particular wolves consume sheep by replicating themselves.  They cannot stand to see true fruit produced, because true fruit condemns them.  True Christians are fruit bearers.  Revelation 14:13 says that True Christians rest from their works only after they are dead, “and their works do follow them”.

Paul teaches us in Romans that in these analogies “fruit” and “works” are synonymous.  Sin is the fruit of the works of the carnal man, and the curse of serving the law through the works of the carnal man was death:

“For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death” (Romans 7:5).

The works of service done by the unregenerate flesh while still in sin did bring forth fruit unto death.  But what of the regenerate man?  The new man, being delivered from the curse of the law as a covenant of works, having died to that form of dead service, would be renewed in the spirit to serve and keep the moral law by spirit and not by letter:

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:6)

Paul goes on to explain that the law of God is spiritual, and could never have been properly served by the carnal man.  The law of God, which is good, served to kill the carnal man so that the spiritual man could rise and serve God and keep His commandments in newness of spirit.  Christ warned that there would come dangerous and wicked wolves, calling themselves Christians, and that these wolves would never produce any good fruit.  Paul claims that true spiritual works (fruit) would only ever be produced by those who had been revived by the Spirit of God to serve God in spirit and truth.

In our ministry we are constantly warning against the two soul murderers named Legalism and Antinomianism.  The ignorance and comfort of modern “christians” makes them prey for the latter more than the former, so we will take a close look at Antinomianism and the wicked leaven contained therein.

“The Gospel, like its blessed Master, is always crucified between two thieves -- legalist of all sorts on the one hand and Antinomians on the other; the former robbing the Saviour of the glory of his work for us, and the other robbing him of the glory of his work within us." - James Henley Thornwell

The first and most wicked heresy to strike the early colonies on this continent was the famous attack of the Antinomians.  The true Church of Jesus Christ had just been established in the untamed frontier of the New World (having fled from the rage of the religious beasts in Europe) when they learned firsthand that, although they had fled from great dangers at the hand of the legalist Church of England back home, they were to be in perils in the wilderness as well.  Here we have one of the greatest historical examples of the works of the devil in attempting to crucify true Christianity between these two thieves.  Charles Spurgeon said:

"The black devil of antinomianism is just as wicked and destructive as the white devil of legalism."

Having fled from the face of the white devil in England, the black devil was quick to try to overcome the Church in New England.  As soon as the peace and tranquility of the Puritan Church was established in the wilderness, the devil raised up a siren song from amidst the newly formed Church.  The devil in this case did not take on the form of the serpent in the Garden, but put on the dress and clothing of a zealous and arrogant woman named Anne Hutchinson.

It is important that we get a proper historical view of the Antinomian controversy in early New England because the voices of heresy in modern education (feminists, Unitarians, lesbians and other such rebels) have had centuries to canonize Mrs. Hutchinson as a dissenting hero and as an martyr to theological tyranny, while at the same time slandering and demonizing the faithful Puritans who exposed and banished her.

Anne Hutchinson arrived in Boston with her husband in the autumn of 1634.  She and her husband were avid fans and supporters of the Puritan preacher John Cotton.  Mrs. Hutchinson, a woman of “masculine understanding and fiery zeal”, had embraced Mr. Cotton’s teachings on predestination, election and the freedom from the curse of the law.  From this teaching, in her own mind, she extrapolated out that since true Christians were freed from the law as a covenant of works towards their salvation, then any attempt to obey the law or commands of God at all was a form of legalism and a denial of the finished work of Christ.  To Anne Hutchinson, all who taught self-examination, Sabbath keeping, the perennial nature of the moral law, mortification of sin, etc., were “legal men” who were Pharisees and ignorant of the New Covenant.

As in most cases of heresy, Mrs. Hutchinson’s heresy started in the darkness of her own heart and was exploded outward by her pride and vanity.  When she first arrived in Boston, she was highly esteemed by many of the leaders of the Massachusetts colony (including its Governor), and she was highly lauded at the time by Mr. John Cotton, her favorite minister and teacher.  Unsatisfied with being the meek, humble and silent student of Mr. Cotton, Mrs. Hutchinson decided to start a women’s meeting, supposedly to obey the command that the elder women teach the younger women.  Because of her fame in the colony and because of the fact that she had studied under Mr. Cotton, Hutchinson soon drew 60-80 at each of her teaching sessions.  At first she purposed to “explain” the teachings of Mr. Cotton, but soon her vanity and pride took over and she was teaching on her own, extrapolating and inferring things from his teaching that he later had to publicly condemn and reject.  Soon, the Antinomian teachings of Mrs. Hutchinson had garnered a large following, and many prominent men and even some Church leaders were turned aside to her false teachings.  The foul doctrine of Antinomianism was said to be poisonous “physicke” (medicine) secretly administered to unsuspecting seekers in "stronger & stronger potions, as they found the Patient able to beare." (Thomas Weld, quoted in John Winthrop's 1644 Short Story of the Rise, reign, and ruine of the Antinomians)

The principle teacher to rise up and combat the growing Antinomian forces was the great Puritan preacher Thomas Shepard.  In Shepard’s biography we find a list of the wicked beliefs taught by the Antinomians:

“The fundamental position which she assumed, and maintained with fierce enthusiasm, was, that a Christian should not look to any Christian graces, or to any conditional promises made to faith or sanctification, as evidence of God’s special grace and love toward him, -- this being a way of works, -- but, without the appearance of any grace, faith, holiness, or change in himself, must rest upon an absolute promise made in an immediate revelation to his soul.  In connection with this doctrine, and as the legitimate results of it, she taught that the Holy Ghost dwells personally in a justified person; that the command to work out our salvation with fear and trembling is addressed to none but such as are under a covenant of works; that personal holiness is not to be regarded as a sign of a justified state; that there is no such thing as inherent righteousness; that immediate revelations respecting future events are to be expected by believers, and should be received as equally authoritative and infallible with the Scriptures; together with many other absurd and foolish notions, which it would seem that none but persons extremely ignorant, or partially insane, could possible believe.” (Life of Thomas Shepard, Works Volume 1)

When Mr. Cotton came to understand the fullness of the error preached by the Antinomians, and that his name was being attached to that error for authority, he renounced and rebuked the opinions of the Antinomians and made plain statements in support of the orthodox party.  This, of course, caused the Antinomians to be very angry with their former teacher, and to reproach him bitterly and to renounce him as a coward, a “blind guide” and a false teacher.

“Hypocrites, indeed, may grow in hypocrisy, Pharisees in self-righteousness, Arminians in fleshly presumption, self-deceivers in delusion, and the untried and unexercised in vain confidence.  But the dead never grow in the divine life, for “the root of the matter” is not in them (Job 19:29).” (J.C. Philpot, Winter Afore Harvest)

The most important mark of the Antinomian is his lawlessness.  The Antinomian everywhere preaches against the law, or spiritualizes it out of existence, -- anything to minimize its condemning effect on the conscience and its mortifying effect on the carnal man.  The Antinomian must preach that the law is abrogated (either in fact or effect) because the perpetual moral law shows forth the lack of fruit in the wicked.  The Antinomian has no evidences of a work of grace, because no work of grace has been wrought in him.  So he teaches against “evidences” as acts of legalism.  Anne Hutchinson wanted to be a teacher, and wanted to be highly respected and esteemed; but she never would have been able to conjure up any semblance of true fruit, so she eventually had to go off on her own and condemn fruit as the product of the legalistic heart.

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it” (Mark 11:12-14).

When Jesus becomes hungry, and desires to see the fruit and product of His orchard, He comes and examines the tree.   Note that:

a.)     Christ was hungry.  He had a desire, and that desire would be satiated by good fruit coming from a good tree.

b.)    It is a fig tree.  It is designed to produce fruit.  It is designed to satiate the hunger of the husbandman.

c.)     He saw the fig tree afar off.  He knew from a distance what the tree professed to be.  From a distance, one cannot know whether a certain tree is producing fruit, but quite often the assumption is made that since it is a fig tree, it will produce good figs.  This is a dangerous assumption.

d.)    Christ may come at any time, and it is right that he expect fruit and not abundance of leaves from His trees.  At the time of visitation of this tree, “the time of figs was not yet”; but Christ does away with these excuses and demands fruit or will curse the tree to be withered away.

THE GHOSTS OF ANNE HUTCHINSON

Anne Hutchinson and the Antinomians, along with their modern counterparts, reject the necessity of fruit as evidence of graces among God’s elect.  Rod Jordan, modern High Priest of the Antinomians, argues that the commandments are abrogated because Christ kept (or became) each commandment for His elect.  The natural result of this theology is that you may steal freely, because Christ has perfectly kept the commandment in Exodus 20:15 that a man shalt not steal.  A man may freely murder or covet or commit adultery since Christ has perfectly kept those commandments for His elect.  Antinomians believe that the Christian is freed from observance of the moral law when God’s grace is active.  Mr. Jordan preaches this:

“Folks, let no man judge you because you do not keep a carnal Sabbath... The truth is, that it is now Christ, our great Redeemer, who has become our true Sabbath rest. It's cut and dried. he has NOT done away with the "Keep the Sabbath" commandment, but rather He, our Lord Jesus Christ, has become the final fulfillment of THE SABBATH TYPOLOGY.”

To the Antinomian, the moral law is “typology”.  Anne Hutchinson could argue that the law was not abrogated, but fulfilled in Christ – therefore it was no more binding on the Christian.  Just as Anne Hutchinson quoted freely from John Cotton (even though he rejected and rebuked her teaching) Rod Jordan, Bob George and other Antinomians love to quote freely from Grace Preachers in support of their aberrant views.  Rod Jordan quotes incessantly from A.W. Pink, even though Pink wrote many of the best and most effective works ever written against Antinomianism.  Here is what A.W. Pink has to say about Antinomians like Rod Jordan:

“It has been said that every unregenerate sinner has the heart of a Pharisee.  This is true; and it is equally true that every unregenerate sinner has the heart of an Antinomian. This is the character which is expressly given to the carnal mind: it is "enmity against God"; and the proof of this is, that "it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). Should we be surprised, then, if we find the underlying principles of Phariseeism and Antinomianism uniting in the same mind? Surely not. There is no more real opposition between these apparently opposing principles, than there is between enmity and pride. Many a slothful servant has hated his master and his service, and yet had he pride and presumption enough to demand his wages. Phariseeism and Antinomianism unite, like Herod and Pilate did, against the Truth.

The term Antinomian signifies one who is against the Law, hence, when we declare that ours is an age of lawlessness, it is only another way of saying that it is an age characterized by Antinomianism. There is little need for us to pause and offer proof that this is an age of lawlessness. In every sphere of life the sad fact confronts us. In the well-nigh total absence of any real discipline in the majority of the churches, we see the principle exemplified. Not more than two generations ago, thousands, tens of thousands, of the loose-living members whose names are now retained on the membership rolls, would have been dis-fellowshipped. It is the same in the great majority of our homes. With comparatively rare exceptions, wives are no longer in subjection to their husbands (Eph. 5:22,24); and as for obeying them (1 Pet. 3:1,2,5,6), why, the majority of women demand that such a hateful word be stricken from the marriage ceremony. So it is with the children - how could it be otherwise? Obedience to parents is almost entirely a thing of the past. And what of conditions in the world? The abounding marital unfaithfulness, Sunday trading, banditry, lynchings, strikes, and a dozen other things that might be mentioned, all bear witness to the frightful wave of lawlessness which is flowing over the country.

What, we may well inquire, is the cause of the lawlessness which now so widely obtains? For every effect there is a cause, and the character of the effect usually intimates the nature of the cause. We are assured that the present wide-spread contempt for human law is the inevitable outgrowth of disrespect for Divine Law. Where there is no fear of God, we must not expect there will be much fear of man. And why is it that there is so much disrespect for Divine Law? This, in turn, is but the effect of an antecedent cause. Nor is this hard to find. Do not the utterances of Christian teachers during the last twenty-five years go far to explain the situation which now confronts us? (A.W. Pink, The Law and the Saint)

The Antinomian will make hay by calling everyone who isn’t an Antinomian a “self-righteous Pharisee”.  The Pharisee label is pinned on anyone who believes in the fullness of the Gospel which consists of both our freedom and our responsibility.  The corruption and wickedness of lawlessness fruit deniers are made obvious when you come to that tree for fruit and find nothing but leaves.  Christ came and found a promising tree, that spoke well of itself, but that could not produce fruit.

“For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:43-49).

Christ asks His disciples to do what he says.  Christ says “do”.  The Christian keeps the moral law out of love and duty towards Jesus Christ who was obedient to the cross for him.  So the true Christian says “do, because Christ has done”.  The Antinomian says, “Do not because Christ has done”.  But the one who obeys the commandments of God, and who does those things which the Lord commands, is likened to a house built on the foundation of solid rock.  When the flood rises; when the stream beats vehemently upon the house, it cannot be shaken.  But you will notice that the Antinomian cannot leave the world and obey the commandments of God.  When the stream rises, the Antinomian is carried away with the stream.  The world beats vehemently for professing Christians to do as the world does.  The world cannot keep the Sabbath of God, so the light professor cannot keep it either.  The Antinomian must say he obeys the commandments only “spiritually”, because he refuses to keep them obediently.  The Antinomian cannot bend the man to the law, so he bends the law to fit the man.  Rather than convict himself for his inability to obey God, he convicts the law and changes the law so that he can keep it and satiate his seared conscience.  Let us look again at the Sabbath:

“This Commandment makes it clear that God is to be worshipped in the home, which, of course, inculcates the practice of family worship. It is addressed more specifically than any of the other nine Commandments to heads of households and to employers, because God requires them to see to it that all under their charge shall observe the Sabbath. To them, more immediately, God says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." It is to be strictly set apart to the honor of the thrice holy God, spent in the exercises of holy contemplation, meditation, and adoration. Because it is the day which He has made (Ps. 118:24), we must do nothing to unmake it. This Commandment forbids the omission of any duties required, a careless performing of the same, or a weariness in them. The more faithfully we keep this Commandment, the better prepared shall we be to obey the other nine.” (A.W. Pink - The Ten Commandments)

Anne Hutchinson loved John Cotton until John Cotton reproved and rejected her.  Strangely enough, she held on to her twisted views of his teaching and quoted him profusely, as if his words were hers, although she hated, slandered and bitterly rejected the man.  Rod Jordan places daily Spurgeon quotes, prayers and devotionals on his website.  Look what Spurgeon had to say about Sabbath-rejecters and Antinomians:

“How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Le 23:3), and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship (Ps 92:1,2 Isa 58:13,14), except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy (Mt 12:11,12).” (Spurgeon’s Catechism).

Spurgeon said,

“...the reason why people become Hyper-Calvinists and Antinomians, is because some, who profess to be Calvinists, often keep back part of the truth, and do not, as Paul did, "declare all the counsel of God"; they select certain parts of Scripture, where their own particular views are taught, and pass by other aspects of God's truth. Such preachers as John Newton, and in later times, your own Christmas Evans, were men who preached the whole truth of God; they kept back nothing that God has revealed; and, as the result of their preaching, Antinomianism could not find a foot-hold anywhere." (Charles Spurgeon, Gospel of Sovereign Grace).

The Antinomian Rod Jordan considers that Charles Spurgeon and A.W. Pink (the very preachers he incessantly quotes and heralds) were “hung up on dead works”, saying that any teacher who makes “an important thing out of keeping a carnal Sabbath” is nothing but a “modern Pharisee” who is “devoid of the Holy Spirit and true Agape love” (Quotes from Rod Jordan – Keeping the True Sabbath).

We really can learn a lot from history.  Some tactics of the devil never change.  The ghosts of Anne Hutchinson walk the land.  Here is the some more from Thomas Shepard’s biography concerning the Antinomian controversy:

“Absurd, licentious, and destructive as those opinions were, they spread among the people with astonishing rapidity; and wherever they took root they produced the bitter fruits of alienation, hatred and slander.  The converts to the new opinions were, as Shepard justly called them, “the scourges of the land, and the most subtle enemies of the power of godliness.”  By their clamor, “the ancient and received truths came to be darkened, God’s name to be blasphemed, the church’s glory diminished, many godly persons grieved, many wretches hardened, deceiving and being deceived, growing worse and worse.”  They labored to destroy the reputation of all those ministers who held the commonly-received doctrines, stigmatizing them as legal preachers who were under a covenant of works, who never knew Christ themselves, and who could not be the instruments of bringing men into the light and liberty of the gospel.” (Life of Thomas Shepard, Works volume I).

Why is this issue so important today?

There is nothing new under the sun.  When the black devil of Antinomianism lifted his head to consume the Church in the middle 1600’s, God saw fit to have many brave, Godly, prepared Puritan ministers who were ready and able to combat him.  The battle was joined by Mr. Shepard and the other Massachusetts Puritans who defended the flock of Jesus Christ against ignorance, error and prideful lawlessness.  Where are the great warriors of today?  Oh Lord, we need them!  We live in very perilous times, because, rather than being attacked by a small sect of zealots led by a woman, Antinomianism today has infected the entire professing Church, and that black devil even intends to try to infect the remnant as well.  The people, like the Antinomian leaders, are too ignorant, lazy and comfortable to put up a meaningful resistance.  Only a very few will be spared the dangerous leaven of Antinomianism today.  What are the stakes?  Let us look to an un-attributed story told by a contemporary historian.  This story can be found in the History of Cambridge, at www.harvardsquarelibrary.org.

The story is the story of a man landing in New England for the first time, anxious and hoping to “finde the powerful presence of Christ in the preaching of the word”.  The fiery and effective preaching of the New England Puritans had become legendary around the world, and many people fled the continent of Europe, not to avoid persecution and imprisonment, but to have their hearts lifted and their souls stirred to duty by the wonderful and searching preaching of the Puritans.  This person was met, immediately upon landing and disembarking his ship, by “some of Mrs. Hutchinson’s disciples, who were zealous to proselyte him to their doctrine”.  He found this new teaching to be “every man’s discourse” and, himself, being unable to understand or embrace the doctrines, he decided to flee for some peace and quiet.  He found a narrow Indian path that led him into the wilderness, and here among the rocks and trees he attempted to understand and have his heart eased of the things he had heard.  He finally decided not to be committed to an opinion, but instead decided to find a town or village where he might hear one of the able ministers of New England preach.  He prayed that the Lord would let him hear the truth clearly before he would be called upon to make up his mind or get back on a ship returning home again.  Deciding thus, he again began his walk along the path to the next town.  As he entered the town, he heard the beating of a drum.  Curious, he enquired of a local man what the meaning of the drumbeat was.  The townsman replied that since they had as yet no bell to call the men to meeting, they were using a drum instead.  The man asked, “Who lectures at this town?”  The reply came, “I see you are a stranger, new come over, since you know not the man. It is one Mr. Shepard.”

“I am new come over,” said the stranger, “and have been told since I came, that most of your ministers are legall preachers, onely if I mistake not they told me this man preached a finer covenant of works than the other. However, I shall make what haste I can to hear him. Fare you well.” Hastening to the place, he pressed through the thickest crowd into the church, “where having stayed while the glasse was turned up twice, the man was metamorphosed.” He was frequently melted into tears, during the service, and overwhelmed with gratitude to God, whose “blessed spirit caused the speech of a poore weake pale complectioned man to take such impression in his soul.” The preacher “applied to the word so aptly, as if hee had been his privy counseller; cleering Christs worke of grace in the soule from all those false doctrines, which the erronious party had afrighted him withall.” Finding that there was here not only a zeal “for the truth of the discipline, but also of the doctrine,” of the gospel, “he now resolves (the Lord willing) to live and die with the ministers of New England.” (The History of Cambridge, Years of Thomas Shepard).

True repentance; true conviction and compunction for our sins; true conversion from sins; these things are rejected in the Antinomian theological view.  Since the Antinomian (by act and by inference, if not by direct statement) teaches that the Law has been abrogated, the Law cannot work death in the man, and therefore no Grace and fruit can be made evident.

A.W. Pink again,

“But some may ask, ‘Has not the Law been fully abrogated by the coming of Christ into the world? Would you bring us under that heavy yoke of bondage which none has ever been able to bear? Does not the New Testament expressly declare that we are not under the Law, but under Grace; that Christ was made under the Law to free His people therefrom? Is not an attempt to overawe men’s conscience by the authority of the Decalogue (ten commandments) a legalistic imposition, altogether at variance with that Christian liberty which the Savior has brought in by His obedience unto death?’ We answer thus: So far from the Law being abolished by the coming of Christ into this world, He Himself emphatically stated, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets (the enforcers thereof): I am come not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17, 18) . True, the Christian is not under the Law as a Covenant of Works nor as a ministration of condemnation, but he is under it as a rule of life and a means of sanctification.” (A.W. Pink - The Ten Commandments)

“Cleering Christ’s worke of grace in the soule from all of those false doctrines” is the work of the Gospel preacher.  Christ warned that false teachers would come, wearing sheep’s clothing, even though inside they are ravening wolves.  He warned that there would be many who would proclaim Him as Lord and King, while rejecting His commands and refusing to do what He ordered them to do.  Jesus said that only those who do the will of His Father would enter into the Kingdom.

Would you, as Christ has commanded, enter into the Kingdom?

I will endeavor in Part II of this teaching, to expose to the light of the truth the main tool used by today’s wicked Antinomians to bar seekers from being converted and from entering into the Kingdom of God.  The Antinomians teach that because Christ kept the commandments perfectly, and (according to them) Christ became our Sabbath’s rest, then we are not responsible for obeying the commandment of God if we have entered into what they call “The True Sabbath”.  We will examine their arguments in light of scripture and in the end we will find out if there is, like the stranger in New England, a remnant left on this continent with “a zeal for the truth of the discipline, but also of the doctrine of the gospel”.

I am your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker