Pastor makes family join SDA church over Sabbath

THREE pastors were among 112 others from various church denominations in Jiwaka who left their church and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church last week.
The group were baptised at Wara Kane near Kudjip on a Sabbath earlier this month by pastors and leaders of the SDA Church.
It was witnessed by hundreds of church members.
SDA South Pacific Division president Pastor Glenn Townend, who came from Australia, SDA PNG Union Mission president Pastor Kepsy Elodo, Western Highlands Mission president Pastor Allen Akili and other leaders of the church took part in commissioning.
Evangelical Brotherhood Church pastor Dominic Koro and his family converted on March 10 and were also baptised.
Since he became an EBC member in 1990, Koro said he had been bothered by how he could explain the Sabbath which is mentioned many times in the Bible.
“Today God receives the glory,” he said.
“I found the truth and will worship on the Sabbath and stop eating pigs.
“The church that I was in is well established and is very big. I questioned myself how I could explain to my congregation when I thought of the Sabbath but today I am a new person, in a better position to do so.”
Another convert, Badi Pawa, was an assistant pastor of the ALC
Mt Zion Church at Pepik near Kudjip. He said he left because his pastor could not explain the Sabbath to him.
“I never found Sunday mentioned in the Bible. I don’t want to follow man’s doctrines but God’s. I put up a building and sold beer, but later converted it into a church building,” Pawa said.
“After reading the Bible, I found the truth. I told my family that we must follow the Bible. God gave us eyes, ears and mind to reason things.”
A Nazarene Church elder was also baptised.
Pastor Elodo said people should humble themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to help them understand the truth and interpret the Bible correctly.
“Jesus has promised us the Holy Spirit which will give us the power to understand the word,” he said.
“The spirit gives us the power and courage to do God’s work.”
Townend said: “There are 22 million SDAs worldwide but we have friends from Muslims, Buddhism and other religions that need Jesus too because he died for every human race despite religion, ethnicity, beliefs.
“They need to know the truth.”
The SDA church has 28 fundamental teachings that the 115 people went through before being baptised.