by: Norberto Betita
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When the Lord commanded that, “the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant, as a sign between me and the children of Israel forever” (Exodus 31;16-17, He was not referring to the Israelites alone, but also to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well as the whole world.
John H. Groberg once told of his experience in the island of Tonga: “The small island kingdom of Tonga lies immediately next to the international dateline, so it is the first country in the world to greet the Sabbath day. It is a small country and, in the counting of the world, a poor country. But years ago a wise Tongan king decreed that the Sabbath would be kept holy in Tonga forever.
John H. Groberg once told of his experience in the island of Tonga: “The small island kingdom of Tonga lies immediately next to the international dateline, so it is the first country in the world to greet the Sabbath day. It is a small country and, in the counting of the world, a poor country. But years ago a wise Tongan king decreed that the Sabbath would be kept holy in Tonga forever.
“But when Sunday dawns on the kingdom of Tonga, a transformation takes place. If one goes downtown, he sees deserted streets—no taxis or buses or crowds of people. All the stores, all the markets, all the movie theaters, all the offices are closed. No planes fly, no ships come in or out, no commerce takes place. No games are played. The people go to church. Tonga is remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy.
“It is significant that the first country in the world to greet the holy Sabbath keeps the Sabbath holy.
“Has the Lord blessed them? Maybe the world cannot see his blessings, but in the ways that really count, he has blessed them abundantly. He has blessed them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a larger percentage of the population there belongs to the Church than in any other country.”
“Has the Lord blessed them? Maybe the world cannot see his blessings, but in the ways that really count, he has blessed them abundantly. He has blessed them with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a larger percentage of the population there belongs to the Church than in any other country.”
“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:20-21). Keeping the Sabbath day holy is a divine law and the obedient shall therefore receive the promised predicated blessing.
He said, “I expressed my concern to my Priesthood leader about my planned engineering review classes for the Civil Engineering Board Examinations. I was told by my Priesthood leader never to study on the Sabbath Day but instead to earnestly keep it holy. It seemed difficult at first to take the advice considering that I would be missing 24 days of studies, but I accepted the counsel seriously. For many weeks I tried to sincerely keep the Sabbath Day holy, but I found it difficult to pass my weekly evaluation exams.”
The result of the Civil Engineering Board examination was released and Brother Quim Torres made it to the list of successful new licensed civil engineers. Then he told the congregation that, “it even surprised me greatly to know that my rating was one per cent higher than that of the consistent top student in our review class.”
Accordingly the promise of the Lord served its purpose, ”If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” (Isaiah 58: 13-14).
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