God’s grace is the focus of this month’s potpourri segment. Grace is pivotal to our salvation, because it speaks of the divine enablement that helps us to say no to satan, sin and the flesh. Sadly, many institutional churches in Christendom downplay grace in favour of works, as a means of redemption. In particular, the Seventh Day Adventists insist that only those who hold their congregational meetings on Saturday, which they erroneously call “Sabbath” are saved.
It is pertinent to note that the Jewish Sabbath starts by 6 p.m. of Friday and ends same time on Saturday. According Exodus 20:8-12, God designed the Sabbath as a day for rest, not for congregational meetings. The Adventists conveniently ignore Colossians 2:16-23, which presents Jesus as the fulfilment of Old Testament patterns.
Similarly, the Catholic Church promotes a work-based faith, along with unscriptural doctrines that abrogate their own version of Mary, the mother of Christ to a deity to be worshipped, while members are encouraged to reach God through certain “Saints.” God is not mocked by these man-made attempt to cheapen the blood of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit, who is referred to as the Spirit of grace (Zechariah 12:9-11; Hebrews 10:29). We pray that God would deliver people under such delusions and open their eyes to the truth, “This Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become to cornerstone. Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12). John 1:17, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
