Oscar Dickerson can hardly contain himself now. He is excited, and exudes joy like a collector who has stumbled upon a rare treasure. His 1000-watt smile doesn’t begin to tell the story of what’s in his hear, a story that began when he was a child in Liberia, West Africa.

Dickerson grew up in a Christian home and every Sunday morning the family would go to the local Presbyterian Church. “I thought I was a Christian,” Dickerson says, “especially since I was baptized as a child. I sang in the junior choir, and even became choir director as a young teen. I was so active.”

Dickerson didn’t realize that being active in the church did not equate to being a Christian. That revelation came when he was sixteen years old and attended a Vacation Bible School sponsored by a Christian radio station in Monrovia. “We read, studied, and dramatized John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. One day I realized that I had to meet Christ face-to-face and that church work couldn’t save me. That day, when I was sixteen, I repented of my sins, asked Jesus to forgive me, to come into my heart and life, and become my personal Lord and Savior.” As the saying goes, Dickerson never looked back.

As a high school youth, he organized a Bible study group and led chapel services for the student body, yet he didn’t know the Lord’s hand was upon him for a special calling to become an evangelist. Following high school he enrolled in the Gbarnga School of Theology in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, a Methodist seminary, where he studied theology and evangelism. “But the subject of God’s holy seventh-day Sabbath truth was never taught,” he recalls. “How sad.”

Dickerson married his high school sweetheart, Marion, in 1970 and five years later was ordained at the First Presbyterian Church in Monrovia, launching his ministry in West Africa. He was a diligent student of God’s word, taking advantage of numerous Bible correspondence courses. “I received eight different certificates from correspondence schools and again, I’m sad to say, not one of them mentioned the seventh-day Sabbath. So for many years I continued to preach Sunday sacredness, because Sunday was the day Jesus was resurrected.”

Dickerson’s Bible knowledge and preaching talents were evident and quickly recognized during a period in the Liberian army. A journey that would change his life forever began in the Army. He was a chaplain in the Liberian National Huard Brigade and in 1976 the army sent him to the United States (U.S.) to take a course in chaplaincy. Upon completion, he returned to Liberia and became fully engaged in several evangelistic ministries, which included preaching on street corners. However, Dickerson was consumed by a strong desire to continue his education in the states. In 1978 his prayers were answered.

When he arrived in the US, he continues his street ministry in northeast Ohio, which led to a series of contacts with other Christians and invitations to preach in various churches. The result was employment as director of Christian education at the Good Samaritan Youth Center in Cleveland, Ohio. 

“The center’s founder introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Skinner, a Christian coupe who supported the center financially. The Skinners paid the full cost of obtaining my masters degree from the Ashland Theological Seminary. They are the greatest white Christian philanthropists I have ever met.” But Dickerson was not finished meeting Christians who would positively impact his life.

Although Dickerson grew up a Presbyterian and began his ministry with the denomination, he eventually discovered that sprinkling, as a form of baptism, was unbiblical. “This is the reason I left the Presbyterian Church and joined the Baptist Church, because I didn’t believe in the Presbyterian way of baptism. I was again baptized, this time by immersion.” He soon became an associate pastor of the True Light Missionary Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

By this time, Dickerson was also employed by the Cleveland Public School System, working as a bus assistant transporting children with physical disabilities. He stated an outreach ministry for employees at the bus depot, which began with writing a “Though for Today” and evolved into distributing literature and Bible studies.

One day a co-worker gave Dickerson the tract “Law and Grace.” As one who devours Christian literature, his interest was piqued and in-depth discussions began with his co-worker, Bertha Clopton. She was the first Adventist the Lord placed in Dickerson’s path.

“As I was continuing my street ministry, fulfilling my ‘Macedonian call’ of going house to house sharing Christ, I happened upon the house of Burt Thomas, another Adventist. That encounter led to regular Bible studies with him.” Dickerson quizzed Thomas- drilled might better describe it-on the question of the Sabbath. “He gave me all biblical answers and also documented Bible truth with historical information.”

The Sabbath became clear to Dickerson, a light that finally pierced that gauze that was keeping him from knowing and experiencing the whole truth of God’s word. The Sabbath was incontrovertible. “The first day of the week is not God’s Hold Day. Nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the apostles ordered that God’s Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We still have the fourth commandment of God given to Moses.”

Dickerson began keeping the Sabbath in July of 1995. “I had been an associate pastor of a Baptist church since 1988, but when I became a Sabbath keeper, I was no longer permitted to preach at the church. The pastor said, ‘I don’t want you coming to my church telling people they’re wrong for observing Sunday as the Lord’s Day instead of Saturday,’ so I stopped attending. I was unfavorably viewed by my ‘Christian’ brothers and sisters as an outcast.” But Dickerson didn’t give up on the Baptist denominations. Even though he had studied with the Adventist church, when the Sabbath became clear he affiliated with the Seventh-day Baptist Church. In fact, he was garnering support to form a congregation when another Adventist co-worker “enlightened” him, this time about hell’s fire.

“I was witnessing to Victor Rodriguez about hell’s everlasting fire when he asked me two questions: ‘Where are Sodom and Gormorrah today?’ and ‘Are they still burning?’” That led to deeper studying with Rodriguez. He shared the purpose of the Adventist church with Dickerson and why the church is different from the Seventh-day Baptists. In essence, Rodriguez explained the third angel’s message.

“And this was the basic reason I decided to become a Seventh-day Adventist, because the Adventist church is the remnant church of Revelation 12:17, not to mention the spirit of prophecy, which the Seventh-day Baptist Church does not have. I had no excuse, nor the reason for not becoming a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.”

Dickerson was baptized at the Glenville Seventh-day Adventist Church in June of 1999 and is presently mentored by current pastor M. A. Bob Mounter. “And I say glory hallelujah for the Holy Spirit has graciously called me out of the spiritual darkness of keeping Sunday holy, to the truth, God’s holy Sabbath, which is indeed into His marvelous light.”

What baffles Dickerson today is that regarding the Sabbath, the majority of the Christian world doesn’t see it, know it, or believe it, which only fuels the fire within him to spread the message. “And then there are many Sunday Christians who do know the real Lord’s day, but they would rather obey man and their pastors, more than God. But to me, the holy Bible alone is my final authority in matters of faith and conduct.”

Today Dickerson not only keeps in the forefront of his mind the early advice of Burt Thomas, but also takes it to the most literal extent. “He told me ‘Do not stop believing, sharing, and teaching the truth about God’s true Sabbath; even though they may refuse to accept it, and call you a cult member.” So Dickerson uses every means possible to share his knowledge. He continues his street ministry, leads a Bible study group at work, writes letters to popular first-day evangelists, and accepts invitations to be a guest speaker at first-day churches.

Yes, Dickerson can hardly contain himself. His beaming face hints of a heart that is bursting at the seams with the treasure of God’s Holy Sabbath, a treasure this former Baptist preacher intents to share until the Lord’s return.

Barbara L. Jackson Hall, former editor of Vibrant Life magazine, writes from Charlotte, NC. She recently met Dickerson on a visit to her home church in Cleveland Ohio.