UCG Sabbath Paper Still Available Online

I will keep this post short, but I want to give links to a couple of posts of interest in other blogs.

Apparently there are a number of ministers in United Church of God who have not read the Sabbath paper that UCG published, then withdrew from publication. This paper has been and I think will continue to be a source of controversy because it shows that the authors of the paper and those in UCG who chose to publish it seem to be teaching that it is OK under certain circumstances for a Church member to own and operate a business that is open and employs people to work on the Sabbath at certain times during the year. This would be a doctrinal change over what UCG has taught before, and it is a source of controversy, bigger than the immediate issue itself, because it lends credence to charges that the Dennis Luker, Melvin Rhodes, and a majority of the current Council of Elders are planning to liberalize doctrine, a charge which they have denied.

For those who have not read that paper but wish to do so, John Carmack has posted a link to it in his Church of God Perspective blog. Here is a link to his post:
http://blog.cogperspective.org/2010/10/ucg-have-your-elders-seen-sabbath-paper.html

In an unrelated matter, Bob Thiel has posted about end time events and four of the seven churches in Revelation, and in his post he mentioned something that I had not heard before, but I find interesting. He says that during the tribulation, a Philadelphia remnant which will have been taken to a place of safety will somehow preach the gospel to some nations outside the place of safety. He quotes a scripture in Isaiah to support this. Here is a link to his post:
http://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/ucg-president-asks-whats-ahead-for-the-church-of-god/


More to come...


Here are links to related sections in Preaching the Gospel:

The Weekly Sabbath Day, Chapter 2