12-Year-Old Boy Challenges Priest Over Sabbath

James was confused to see the word “Sabbath” in the Bible.

By Andrew McChesney

Twelve-year-old James Kiangua liked carrying the backpack for the priest as they walked from village to village in Papua New Guinea.

He was especially glad that he was in charge of the backpack as he listened to the priest giving a Bible study one evening. Bored, he looked inside the backpack and saw the usual contents: communion bread, wine, and plates. Then his eyes were drawn to something else: a blue leather Bible.

The Bible belonged to James’ uncle, who was helping the priest that day. The boy had never opened a Bible before.

“Maybe I can follow along with the priest as he speaks,” James thought.

He pulled out the Bible and opened it. Looking down, his eyes fell on Mark 2:27-28, where Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (NKJV).

James was confused. The only time that he had heard the word “Sabbath” was when Seventh-day Adventist neighbors spoke. They said things like, “We’re going to church on Sabbath,” and “Let’s meet next Sabbath.” Now he was seeing this word in the Bible.

James decided to ask the priest.

The next day, he saw his opportunity as they walked back to their village, Moruma, in Simbu Province.

“Priest, I saw something in Mark 2:27-28 that talks about the Sabbath,” James said. “Can you explain something about the Sabbath to me?”

The priest looked sharply at the boy.

“Ahh you don’t need this,” he said. “You are too small to ask this question.”

Shut out by the priest, James’ desire to understand the passage only grew. He asked several other leaders of his church, and each replied with the same question, “What did the priest say?”

James was not satisfied, and his curiosity grew.

Several months later, he wandered into the Seventh-day Adventist church in his village. The church was having a special youth program, and he wanted to see what it would be like. James liked the program, and he returned the next Sabbath.

In church, he sat beside a mother and decided to ask her about the meaning of the passage in Mark. The mother immediately explained that Jesus set aside the seventh day as the Sabbath for all people to rest and worship Him. From memory, she recited Genesis 2:2-3 about how God created the Earth and rested and blessed the seventh day. She recited the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20:8, which says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

“Sunday is a man-made day, and Sabbath is God’s day,” she said.

When James was 14, he decided to keep the Sabbath always and be baptized. His family told him to keep Sunday or leave the house. When James insisted on keeping the Sabbath, his family rejected him. The priest also rejected him. But the church mother who had first explained the Sabbath welcomed him into her home.

“This is your home,” she said. “You stay here, and I’ll be your mother.”

She gave James a spade and kept him busy in the garden when he wasn’t doing his homework.

Today, James is a pastor and the stewardship ministries director for the Adventist Church’s Eastern Highlands Simbu Mission. His family no longer rejects him. Because of his influence, nine members of family have joined the Adventist Church, including his father and mother. Dozens of other people have also been baptized through his work as a pastor.

James, who is now 40, has no doubt in his mind that he made the right decision to keep the Sabbath.

“Obeying God is more important than obeying man,” he said.

James Kiangua says finding Mark 2:27-28 was the turning point of his life. (Andrew McChesney / Adventist Mission)

Part of a 2016 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering helped construct children’s Sabbath School classrooms in James’ province in Papua New Guinea so other children, like him, can learn about the Lord of the Sabbath. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings.