Open letter to our Conservative government in Britain: You stated before the May election that Sunday trading laws would not change. Here we are four months later and you are making noises about possibly changing them, asking in a survey for people's opinions! How about God's opinion?
God is so good! He is the one who instituted a day of rest. He Himself rested on the seventh day, after creating everything from nothing in six literal 24 hour days. Was He tired? Of course not! He was setting a pattern of sevens. Six days work, seventh day rest, eighth day new week, new beginning.
And He could not completely stop working Himself, because He holds everything together by His own power, every single atom. If He stopped, the universe would fly apart.
And He loves us so much that He particularly restated this pattern of sevens, giving the children of Israel a day of rest in the Old Testament when people, even slaves in those days, could just kick back and relax for a whole day. That was every Saturday, Sabbath day. It was a very great gift from God to people. Then in the New Testament, Sunday became the generally accepted day when people got together to worship the Lord, to give whatever money offerings they had decided (no more tithing), to pray together, to take the bread and wine, and to learn more from the scriptures. The Bible commands us to do these things, and warns us not to forsake our assembling together. We do not have to do it on any particular day, not a Saturday or a Sunday, as long as we assemble together sometime, and our culture has made it on a Sunday. In Israel it is still Saturday, and Christian Jews there meet on Saturdays. Catholic Arabs meet on Sundays there.
So please, Conservative government, don't change the trading laws. God gave us a day for rest and you should let it alone. People are under so much pressure these days; they need a day of rest. Going against God's ways always leads to bad consequences, and it will certainly hurt the family life of Christians. Many already have to work on Sundays...and will they have to work longer hours in future?
My prayer:
Heavenly Father, I am so ashamed. We in the Western nations have turned our backs on You. We have kicked You out of government, courts, hospitals and schools. We have murdered millions of your babies, 7.5 million in Britain, over 50 million in America. We richly deserve the terrible judgement that is coming. We have kicked You out of the media, which NEVER acknowledges You as the Creator of all things. Your name and Your Son's holy name are blasphemed on practically every programme. We have brought in bad laws which go directly against Your holy laws. We have even kicked you out of Sunday! Our leaders will be covered in shame when they stand before You, but by then it will be too late for them to change.
Please, dear Father, change their hearts now, as You changed my own heart. Please open their eyes, even as You opened my blind eyes. Please turn them back to the Bible and reveal to them that it is all true. Please grant them repentance, as You did with me, and as You do with every sinner who turns to you. Please motivate them to roll back the bad laws and bring in good laws. Please give us one last chance to do things Your way, dear Father. Please give us one final revival.
Note: To learn more about the seventh day (and lots more) click on the important link, http://twft.com/?page=c2000 It is a list of the teachings of Pastor Chuck Smith, who went through the entire Bible with his Calvary Chapel church in California, and put it all on the web free for anyone who wants to study the Bible and cannot find a good church. I listen to him a lot. This will take you straight to the list starting with the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. You can open each one directly and listen, or right click on each one and 'Save target as' to your desktop or documents and open it later. Best of all, get a little MP3 (Walkman device)and plug it in to your computer, open it in Devices, and drag Chuck's teachings on to it. Then you can listen any time you like, anywhere you like.
http://twft.com/?page=c2000
