Program 81
Saturday in Scripture

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: Hello, everyone! I want to welcome you to another WLC Radio program. I’m your host, Miles Robey, and with me is Dave Wright.

Dave Wright: Greetings! We’re so glad you’ve decided to make us a part of your day. At WLC, we cover a variety of topics important to Christians Some of the topics might be new to you, but we’ll never ask you to take our word for anything, just because we said so. We’ll present evidence, but that’s just the starting point. We always encourage you to study everything out for yourself. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and convict you.

Miles: Truth can bear the weight of investigation.

Dave: It can. Some things we present, you may not agree with. That’s fine! We’re not here to convict you. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. We’re here simply to share with you information we have learned in the course of our study. So, take what’s good; lay aside the rest. But whatever you do: keep studying for yourself.

Miles: One thing we’ve learned is the importance of the divine names. Our Bibles repeatedly tell us to “Call upon the name of the Lord,” but “lord,” like “god,” is just a title. The original Scripture says to “Call upon the name of Yahuwah.”

“Yahuwah” or Yah, is a verb of being. We don’t use verbs of being for names. Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. Those aren’t names to us! But they are the Heavenly Father’s name, which is really beautiful because they are also a promise that whatever you need, the Father will BE to you and for you.

The Son’s name is also a promise. The Saviour’s name is Yahushua, which means Yahuwah saves.

Dave: That’s the importance of using the divine names. These beautiful meanings, these promises and assurances are lost sight of when generic titles like “lord” and “god” are used.

When reading quotes that refer to Yahuwah and Yahushua, either in Scripture or by Christian writers, and they’re clearly referring to the Father or the son, we substitute the actual, divine names. It’s important to use these faith-inspiring promise-names.

Miles: In previous radio programs, we’ve touched some on the issue of the Sabbath and the fact that our loyalty is revealed by our obedience.

We’ve also covered the evidence that the Sabbath of Scripture is not, actually, our modern Saturday. Even if you don’t worship on Sabbath, if you’ve always been taught the importance of celebrating Sunday as the day of Yahushua’s resurrection, this is important because if today’s Saturday is not the original, Biblical Sabbath, that means that Sunday is not the actual day of Christ’s resurrection!

Dave: That’s right, Miles. And yet, the assumption is so deeply ingrained that Saturday is the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible, that even dictionaries say it is so!

Miles: Really? I guess I never looked up “Saturday” in the dictionary.

Dave: One dictionary defines Saturday as, quote: “The seventh or last day of the week.” And then it adds, quote: “The Jewish Sabbath.” Even the 1995 edition of The World Book Encyclopedia states, under its entry for Saturday, quote: “It is named for the Roman god Saturn . . . Saturday is the Sabbath among the Jews and the Seventh-day Adventists.” Unquote.

Miles: Interesting. So, yeah. There’s a lot of assumptions going on. But this doesn’t prove today’s Saturday is the original Sabbath established at Creation.

Now, with our studies of the Sabbath in Scripture, the evidence for the Biblical calendar by which it was calculated, I’ve just been, well, assuming I’ll have to admit, that there are no references to “Saturday” in Scripture. But the other day you told me that there are. Could you say more? The evidence from Scripture, history, and even archeology is clear: today’s Saturday is not the Bible Sabbath.

Soooo … how can there be references to “Saturday”/it in Scripture?

Dave: Well, first of all, for listeners who may have missed our earlier programs—and you can still listen to those on our website or Youtube—the week we use today does not come from Scripture. It is a planetary week. In many languages, the days of the work week still refer to the various planets whose gods they represent.

Miles: Sure! Sunday: sun’s day. Monday: moon’s day.

Sure! Monday: moon’s day. Friday: Frigga’s day.

Dave: There aren’t very many languages that still use the planetary designations for the weekend days. A lot of languages today use Christian terminology to refer to the first and seventh days of the week. That’s where you get people referring to the first day of the week as the Lord’s day, and the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath.

But those aren’t accurate. The first day of the week was originally “day of the Sun.” The last day of the week was originally referred to as Saturn’s day.

Miles: Yeah, only English, Welsh, Breton, and … one other language I don’t remember use the planetary designations for the first and seventh days of the modern week.

Dave: Just to keep things clear, so there’s no confusion between the true, Biblical Sabbath and the modern Saturday that is assumed to be the true Sabbath, we’re going to use the original planetary designations for this program.

Now, before we go on, I want to make one thing clear: while it is possible to find references to worship on Saturn’s day in the Bible, it must be clearly understood that all such occasions occurred when Israel was in apostasy and rebellion against their Creator.

Miles: Hm. Interesting.

Dave: Saturn appears in scripture as the evil, child-sacrificing Molech or Milcom. 1 Kings 11, verse 7 refers to Molech as, quote, “abomination of the children of Ammon.”

The first reference to Yahuwah’s people worshipping Saturn appears in Exodus 32: the apostasy at Mount Sinai with the golden calf.

Miles: No way! That was actually the worship of Saturn?? Where do you get that?

Dave: Most people aren’t aware that the apostasy of the golden calf was actually the worship of Saturn, but references to that appear in Amos 5:26 and Acts 7:43. We’ll look at both of those passages in just a minute.

Miles: The Israelites obviously got their golden calf worship from Egypt, right?

Dave: Yes. They’d been surrounded by the idolatry of the sun-worshipping Egyptians for several hundred years. During this time, the Israelites lost their original method of calendation by which the Sabbath is calculated. It was necessary for Yah to reeducate them, which He did just before the exodus.

Miles: I want to insert a quick explanation: the Egyptian year began with the emergence of the star, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major. This was roughly around the summer solstice, or our modern June 21/22. On the other hand, the Creator’s calendar begins in the spring. In Exodus 12, verse 2, Yah told Moses: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”

Dave: Moses taught the Israelites that if they wished to benefit from Yah’s blessings and claim His promises, the first requirement was obedience. This is why in Exodus 5, verse 4, Pharaoh accused Moses and Aaron of keeping the people from their labor.

Now, having been immersed in pagan Egyptian calendation, the Israelites were very quick to return to the familiar when, later at Sinai, they thought Moses had died or deserted them in the desert. Would you turn to Exodus 32 and read verses 1, 3 and 4 for us?

Miles:

Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

Dave: This wasn’t just any animal arbitrarily made out of gold. This was an Egyptian diety: the calf, Apis.

Alexander Hislop, in his book, The Two Babylons, wrote about it. I’ve got a copy of the book here. Would you read the marked paragraph on page 45, please?

Miles:

The ordinary way in which the favourite Egyptian divinity Osiris [Nimrod] was mystically represented was under the form of a young bull or calf – the calf Apis – from which the golden calf of the Israelites was borrowed. There was a reason why that calf should not commonly appear in the appropriate symbols of the god he represented, for that calf represented the divinity in the character of Saturn, “The HIDDEN one,” “Apis” being only another name for Saturn.

Dave: Now, let’s read Exodus 32:5. It’s very revealing.

Miles: “And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to Yahuwah.” Unquote.

Wow. See what Aaron did there? He’s set up pagan worship, but he does it in the name of Yah! Incredible.

Dave: And Christians today are doing the exact same thing.

Now ask yourself: Why the next day? Why did Aaron call the people to worship on that particular day?

Miles: Well, they were only a few months out of Egypt. They clearly hadn’t forgotten Egyptian worship or calendation.

Dave: It’s more than that, though. Robert Odom, in his book, Sunday in Roman Paganism, explains, quote: “Prayer to the planets on their respective days was a part of the worship of the heavenly bodies.”

Miles: Oooh. Aaron was calling the people to come worship Saturn on Saturn’s day.

Dave: This is an important point. Israel’s religious apostasies were repeatedly over Saturn. A god was worshipped on his particular day, and when Aaron told the Children of Israel, “Tomorrow is a feast to Yahuwah” he was, as you pointed out, passing off worship of Yahuwah on a pagan feast day!

This was rebellion on such a grand scale that it claimed the lives of approximately 3,000 Israelites and centuries later was still held out as the ultimate example of moral revolt and religious rebellion against Yahuwah.

Let’s take a look at that now. Turn in your Bible to Amos chapter 5. In speaking of Israel’s continued obstinate desire to worship Saturn on his day, Yahuwah refers back to this event.

Once you have Amos 5, read verses 25 to 27.

Miles:

Have ye offered unto Me sacrifices and offering in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Yahuwah, whose name is The Elohim of hosts.

Dave: This passage is telling. When verse 26 says “ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images” it is again referring to the idolatrous worship of Saturn. I’d like you to read this same passage from The Hebrew-Greek Interlinear. Right here.

Miles:

Have you brought near sacrifices and food offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Yea you have carried the booth of your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. Therefore, I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus, says Jehovah the God of Hosts is His name.

Dave: While one version refers to “your king”, the other version says “your Moloch.” The name “Moloch/Molech” originated as a title for Nimrod and meant “king.” Now, this is where it gets really interesting. According to Strong’s Concordance, Chiun, or Kiyyun is, quote: “another name for the god Saturn.”

Miles: It’s interesting that Yah is reminding Israel that these were “gods which you made for yourselves.” That’s exactly what the Israelites had said in Exodus 32: “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us.”

Dave: The idolatry that Israel brought with them out of the land of Egypt was the worship of Saturn on his day.

Even the apostasy at Baal-Peor just before Israel entered Canaan, can be linked to the worship of Saturn.

Now, let’s look at their later history. Would you read 1 Kings 11:4?

Miles: “When Solomon was old, . . . his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with Yahuwah his Eloah, as was the heart of David his father.”

Dave: What follows is a long list of the idolatrous religions Solomon went whoring after, including that of Molech. Verse six clearly states this was “evil in the sight of Yahuwah.” The result, verse 9, was that “Yahuwah was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from Adonai Yahuwah of Israel.”

Miles: I see here in verses 11 to 13, Yah says his punishment would be to have the kingdom broken up.

Dave: Yes. After Solomon’s death, Israel was split in two, with only two tribes remaining to Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. The other 10 tribes went to Jeroboam.

Miles: Let’s talk about that some more right after this quick break.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: It’s amazing to me that this substitution of Saturn for Yah reaches so far back in history.

Dave: You’d think after Jeroboam saw the kingdom torn apart, after Yah graciously gave him 10 of the tribes, you’d think he’d remain faithful to Yah. But that’s not what happened.

Miles: That’s insane! Jeroboam knew Solomon’s idolatry was why he’d been given 10 tribes that should have gone to Rehoboam but he led the people straight back into the worship of Saturn? Why?

Dave: Jeroboam was afraid the people of his new nation would return to Jerusalem and worship there. Read 1 Kings 12, verses 26 and 27.

Miles:

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of Yahuwah at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their eloah, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Incredible. So, he just wanted more control!

Dave: Exactly. In order to prevent that, he and his advisors decided to establish a counterfeit system of worship – the same worship over which Israel had apostatized at Sinai.

Miles: The same?

Dave: That’s what it says. Read verse 28.

Miles: “The king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

Wow! That’s a word-for-word quote of what Aaron said back in the Wilderness apostasy!

Dave: The object of worship, a golden calf, was also the same: a symbol of Saturn, just as it had been at Sinai.

Miles: I was just reading ahead here. You’re right. Jeroboam set up a counterfeit system. Listen to verse 31. It says, quote: “This thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.”

Dave: He didn’t stop there! He attempted to realign all the feasts with his idolatrous worship by the counterfeit calendar. Read verses 32 to 33.

Miles:

And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah [which took place on the fifteenth day of the seventh month], and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made . . . So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel.

Dave: This was not one of the feasts of Yahuwah. This was a feast he “devised” in his own heart.

Miles: It was blasphemous!

Dave: It was! Just as people today replace Passover with the pagan Easter, Jeroboam was replacing Yah’s Feast of Tabernacles with his own feast, a month later!

Israel was returning to the same worship of Saturn that the children of Israel had apostatized over with the golden calf in the wilderness, so, Yahuwah sent a warning through the prophet Amos in which He referred back to that rebellion. He said He would not accept their counterfeit worship, no matter how many times they claimed to be worshipping Him. It’s a powerful passage. I’d like you to read it from the Septuagint. Again, that’s in Amos 5. Go ahead and read the marked passage.

Miles:

I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell your meat-offerings in your general assemblies. Wherefore if ye should bring Me your whole-burnt-sacrifices and meat-offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I have respect to your grand peace-offerings . . . Have ye offered to Me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Ræphan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves. And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith Yahuwah, the Almighty Eloah is His name. [Amos 5:21-22, 25-27]

Dave: We must always remember that the battle between the Creator and Lucifer is over worship. This is clearly expressed in Amos’ warning. I marked a few more verses in Amos 6. Go ahead and read them now.

Miles: “Woe to them that set at nought Sion—“ [Amos 6:1]

Dave: Those who set aside true worship by accepting the counterfeit.

Miles: “—and that trust in the mountain of Samaria: . . . Ye who are approaching the evil day, who are drawing near and adopting false Sabbaths . . . Therefore now shall they depart into captivity.” [Amos 6:1, 3, 7]

Dave: The people of Israel were not atheists. In fact, they even claimed to be worshipping the Eloah Who’d brought them out of Egypt! The problem was they were worshipping Him on Saturn’s day. This is why He would not accept their worship.

Miles: Moloch worship—or Saturn worship—was a really dark religion.

Dave: And it led the Israelites right back into the same degrading rites performed by the Canaanites. The same rites for which crimes Yahuwah drove them out in the first place!

If you have a corrupt belief system, your practices will also be corrupt. This is what happened when the Israelites turned to worshipping Saturn, or Molech. This is precisely why they were led into Babylonian captivity! Read Jeremiah 32:35. It’s very revealing.

Miles:

They built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Dave: Again, the “abomination” of the children of Ammon was the worship of Moloch/Saturn.

Miles: That’s sickening. I’ve studied into this. These rites included child sacrifice. Babies and children, heavily veiled, were placed on the downward sloping, outstretched arms of the idol, their little bodies rolled down and dropped into a roaring fire beneath. This was called “passing through the fire.” Parents were told that doing this assured their children a place in paradise. Even the people of Israel did this!

Listen to this: 2 Kings 16: 2 to 3 says:

[Ahaz] walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom Yahuwah cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

Dave: Ahaz’ son, now, King Hezekiah, led a reformation. He had all the groves cut down, and the altars and places of worship destroyed. He restored the worship of the temple and reinstituted the Passover.

Miles: If I remember right, though, Hezekiah’s son reverted back to heathenism, didn’t he?

Dave: Yes. Let’s read it in 2 Chronicles 33.

Miles:

[Manasseh] did that which was evil in the sight of Yahuwah, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom Yah had cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven [the sun, moon, and stars], and served them. . . . And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahuwah. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used withcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Yahuwah to provoke him to anger . . . So Mannasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom Yahuwah had destroyed before the children of Israel. [2 Chronicles 33:2-9]

Dave: That’s quite an indictment: Manasseh caused the Israelites to sin worse than the heathen!

You read through Scripture and you quickly come to see that the worship of Saturn featured predominantly in the Israelites’ religious rebellions.

Of course, modern Saturday-Sabbatarians don’t worship by burning their children, but the fact remains that the day on which one worships, honors the god of that day. It’s always been that way. Saturn is the god of Saturday/Saturn’s day. Yahuwah, the Creator, is the God of the seventh-day Sabbath, calculated by His luni-solar calendar. Worship on any other day, calculated by any other calendar, gives honor to a god other than the Creator.

Miles: I’m remembering Stephen the Martyr’s last sermon, just before he was killed. He understood this, didn’t he? In fact, he even quoted Amos’ warning to Israel. Let me read this from Acts, chapter 7. Again, this is Stephen’s statement of defense before the Sanhedrin just before he was stoned. It says:

This is he [Moses], that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai . . . To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then Yahuwah turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to Me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. [Acts 7:38-43]

Dave: Remphan is simply the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word, Chiun. Because of their apostasy in worshipping Saturn on his day, Yah said that He would allow them to be carried away “beyond Babylon.” Babylon originated with Nimrod and is the very foundation of all idolatrous religions coming down through time ever since.

The result of trying to worship the Creator by a counterfeit system of worship, calculated by a counterfeit method of calendation, is to be given over to that counterfeit system and have the knowledge of the true Sabbath completely lost!

Miles: That’s serious.

Dave: It is! In Hosea 2, Yah describes His people as an unfaithful wife who goes whoring after other lovers (or gods). Let’s read what the punishment is. Hosea 2, verse 11.

Miles: “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts.”

Dave: The fact that Israel at times worshipped either on Saturn’s day or later by a continuous weekly cycle is no evidence that the modern Saturn’s day is the Sabbath of Creation. The accumulation of scriptural and historical evidence proves that Israel was always in apostasy and moral rebellion when worshipping Saturn on his day.

Miles: It’s obviously not coincidence that the seventh-day of the modern planetary week, the day on which the majority of sabbatarians worship, is none other than Saturn’s day.

Dave: Satan’s behind it!

The truth is that worship on the seventh-day of a pagan calendar does not direct one’s worship to the Creator. When you worship on Saturday/Saturn’s day, you’re honoring the god of that day, the cruelest, most blood-thirsty of all the gods: Saturn.

Those who wish to honor the Creator have no business worshiping on either Saturday/Saturn’s day or Sunday/Lord’s day, the day of the sun. That has always been an act of rebellion done only when Yah’s people were in apostasy.

Miles: I don’t think most of us have realized the importance of worshipping on a precise day, but when you realize that worshipping on other days gives allegiance to the god of that day, it really throws a whole new light on the situation.

Stick around, folks. Up next is our Daily Mailbag.

* * *Mid-point call letters

You are listening to World's Last Chance Radio.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Time for a question from our Daily Mailbag. This one is from Mexico! Have we had a question from Mexico before?

Dave: Uh … I can’t remember.

Miles: Did you know the largest pyramid in the world is found in Mexico?

Dave: It’s not the great pyramid of Giza?

Miles: Nope! It’s the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico. I can’t pronounce its name in the native tongue, but it means “artificial mountain” and it’s gigantic. Giza may be taller, but Cholula is more massive. Its base is four times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Ancient legends say it was built by giants.

Dave: Whew! It would have to be! So what question do we have from Mexico?

Miles: Well, Santino Losa of Durango says: “The Bible teaches that there is no consciousness after death and I accept that. However, recently my daughter read 1 Peter 3 where it talks about Yahushua preaching to the dead. How do we reconcile this with no consciousness after death?”

Dave: I love this question! There are a number of verses like this in the Bible that can be very confusing and this is one of them. I really enjoy having the chance to clarify what’s being meant and show that it does not, in fact, contradict what the Bible reveals about the state of mankind after death.

Miles: Let me break in here for just a moment, just so we’re clear. At WLC, we do not believe that humans have immortal souls. Paul states very clearly in 1 Timothy 6, verse 16, that only Yahuwah has immortality. Immortality is a gift that will be given the redeemed.

In the meantime, those who die, sleep in the grave.

Dave: Thanks, Miles. Do you have Ecclesiastes 9 there? Could you read verses 5 and 6?

Miles: Sure! It says: “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.”

Dave: Great. Thanks. So this is the dichotomy we’re dealing with here. On the one hand, Scripture is clear: “The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing.”

At the same time, Peter appears to claim that Yahushua went and preached to the dead. How do you reconcile these two apparently contradictory passages of Scripture?

Miles: I’m interested in hearing what you have to say, as well. Because I know that truth is not, in actuality, contradictory.

Dave: Let’s take a moment to read the precise passage Santino is talking about. Would you read it for us, please? It’s found in 1 Peter, chapter 3, verses 18 and 19.

Miles: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to Yah, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.”

Dave: All right. This is the passage that some people use to “prove” the immortality of the soul, despite Paul’s clear statement that only Yah hath immortality. So, the first thing to do is understand that however this is to be interpreted, it’s not applying to the dead.

In Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, Solomon is explaining what happens when a person dies. He says, quote: “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to Yah who gave it.”

So, if Peter were actually speaking about the dead, well, he simply couldn’t be. Because if our “spirits”—that “breath of life” that makes us living souls—returns at death to Yah who gave it, how can anyone say that these “spirits” are in prison? They’re with the Father! How can that be in prison?

Miles: Well, that’s true. Not only that, but here’s another point. If Peter were trying to say that Yahushua went and preached to the dead, obviously the only reason the Saviour would preach would be to try and draw souls to repentance, right? But Ecclesiastes makes it clear that the “dead know not anything.” Even their memory is forgotten.

So, yeah. I think it’s pretty clear Peter could not be speaking of the dead in this passage. How do you interpret it, then? What is he speaking of?

Dave: Peter is talking about sinners! We’re all prisoners to sin. Get your Bible ready. We’re going to look at a number of verses. And if any of our listeners want to grab a paper and pen, you can jot down these texts as well.

Again, sin enslaves us. It enslaves our will. Peter understood this. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2, and read verse 19.

Miles: Okay … uh, “"For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."

Dave: Now turn to Romans 7 and read verse 14. Paul said the same thing: sin enslaves us.

Miles: Romans 7:14. It says: “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.”

Dave: The prison in which all people are bound is sin. Sin is addictive. In speaking of His divine mission to save the world, Yahushua used the same analogy. Read it for us, would you? It’s in Luke 4, verse 18.

Miles: "The Spirit of Yahuwah is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

Dave: Preaching deliverance to the captives was the Messiah’s mission! That’s what He came to do!

Miles: So, Peter’s talking about when the Saviour was on earth?

Dave: It can certainly have a secondary application to that, but if you go back and read it in context, you’ll see that what Peter is actually talking about were the antediluvians, those who lived before the flood.

The verses Santino is asking about, and the verses you read before, actually stopped in the middle of a sentence. Let’s go back and read 1 Peter 3:18 and 19, but this time, let’s read through verse 22 as well. Let’s read it in context.

Miles:

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to Yah, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward Yahuwah), through the resurrection of Yahushua Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of Yah, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

Dave: Yahushua’s “preaching,” his drawing of the soul, is always intended to lead to repentance. Genesis 6, verse 3, tells us of Yahuwah’s drawing of the antediluvians. It says: “And Yahuwah said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years."

The spirit of Yahuwah strove with the sinful antediluvians, drawing them to repentance. It moved Noah to build the ark so he and his family were saved. Later, Yahushua was born “in the flesh” as John puts it, and while in the flesh, he suffered death.

The Children of Israel through the wilderness [that same spirit of Yahuwah was working on hearts. It was Yah’s spirit, in the “Angel of Yahuwah” that led the Children of Israel through the wilderness.]

Miles: Do you have a text for that? I know this is going to be a new concept for some people.

Dave: Yes. Read 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1 to 4, would you? Let’s see what Paul says.

Miles:

Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them Yahuwah was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Dave: Yah’s representative, stayed with the Children of Israel during their wilderness wanderings. Also gave power to Noah’s warnings, trying to draw the hearts of the antediluvians to repentance. This is what Peter was talking about.

That’s all. It’s not talking about preaching to the dead or that Christ had a pre-incarnate existence. The spirit that actuated both Christ and Noah was the spirit of Yah, preaching to those in bondage.

Miles: You know, when you let Scripture interpret itself, you never find contradictions. It’s beautiful: truth is harmonious and it never contradicts itself! Thanks for this explanation. I found it interesting, too.

If any of you have questions or comments, know that we’d love to hear from you as well. It’s fast and easy. Just go to our website at WorldsLastChance.com and click on Contact us. We enjoy hearing from our listeners around the world. You’ve always got great questions.

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with your Daily Promise from Yah’s Word.

I am the proud parent of five fabulous kids. They enrich my life in so many ways. I’ve always had a soft spot for the story of Hannah and how, when she finally had a child, she dedicated him to Yahuwah for his entire life.

So when I heard the story of Elizabeth Doddridge, it really touched me. Eighteen of her nineteen children died in infancy. On June 26, 1702, she gave birth to her twentieth child. At first, he also appeared stillborn. But as he was laid aside, he let out a feeble little cry.

Elizabeth, like Hannah in the Bible, immediately determined to raise her little boy for Yahuwah. She named him Philip. Often, he would join her, as she sat beside the fireplace, which was lined with Delft tiles illustrating various Bible stories. Elizabeth taught her little boy the stories of the Bible by using the tiles.

When Philip was only 8 years old, his mother died. Just four years later, he lost his father as well. But Philip had learned his mother’s lessons well. The young boy wrote in his journal, quote: “God is an immortal Father, my soul rejoices in Him; He hath hitherto helped me and provided for me; may it be my study to approve myself a more affectionate, grateful, and dutiful child.’’

The problem was, Philip was very poor with no way to pay for an education. Friends suggested he learn a trade, but before doing so, Philip decided to pray earnestly and ask Yahuwah to guide him. While he was yet praying, the postman brought a letter. A wealthy acquaintance was offering to pay for his training. Such an obvious and immediate answer to prayer inspired Philip for the rest of his life. He resolved to live his life in constant prayer.

When he was 27, Philip was asked to become the head of a seminary for non-Anglican ministerial students in Northampton, England. Because his health was poor, he was worried he didn’t have the strength to do the job. However, while passing a house in town, he heard someone reading from Deuteronomy 33, verse 25, which says “As your days, so shall your strength be.”

Philip accepted this as Yah’s assurance and accepted the job. For 22 years, Philip trained ministerial students. He wrote over 400 hymns as well as a number of books that were highly regarded for generations. The reputation of Northampton Academy spread throughout England. Students wanting a deep spiritual connection with Yah, flocked to the school.

His life of dedicated service was cut short by consumption and he passed away shortly after turning 49.

You may not think that you have much influence, but you do. You are precisely where Yahuwah needs you to be. He will use every soul that dedicates itself to His service.

None of us will regret the time spent in service to the Father. Our only regret will be that we did not do more. Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 and 8 says: “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

We have been given great and precious promises. Go, and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: One thing in all of this for which I am very grateful is Yahuwah’s description of His character in Exodus 34:6 to 7. He told Moses that He is, quote: “Merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin.” That’s really good news when you learn that you’ve, unintentionally, been dishonoring the very one you’ve been wanting to honor!

Dave: It is. Acts 17:30 assures us, quote: “The times of this ignorance Yah winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Once you know the truth, you cannot continue to sin with impunity. He winks at our ignorance, not our knowing disobedience.

Miles: This is really important because when you knowingly worship reveals who has your loyalty.

This is where you demonstrate your loyalty and who has your heart. Revelation 18:4 gives the command: “Go out of her My people.” Every single religious organization has either clung to error or refused to accept new light. Your church is not exempted. No church is.

Following the Saviour no matter what the cost will cost you … everything. But it’s so worth it.

Join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *Pre-recorded Sign off

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage.

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.