Sunday - False Doctrine ! or is it? Part Two

SUNDAY Worship
FALSE Doctrine! or is it?
Part Two
The Sabbath changed to Sunday?

Sunday sacredness is not commanded or practised in the Bible?
True or False?

fcstudies@thefinalcall.org

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What does the Spirit of Prophecy say about the change from Sabbath to Sunday?

THE SCRIPTURES FORETELL A GREAT APOSTASY, WHICH EVEN IN THE DAYS OF THE APOSTLES HAD BEGUN TO MANIFEST ITSELF AMONG CERTAIN FALSE BRETHREN IN THE CHURCH, AND WHICH FINALLY WAS TO DEVELOP INTO A " FALLING AWAY," AND THE REVELATION OF " THAT MAN OF SIN, . . . THE SON OF PERDITION," OF WHOM PAUL WROTE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-7. {CET 241.1}

IN FULFILMENT OF THESE PREDICTIONS, IT IS A MATTER OF HISTORICAL RECORD THAT FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF THE LAST OF THE APOSTLES OF JESUS, SOME MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH BEGAN TO DEPART FROM THE SIMPLICITY OF THE TRUTH AS TAUGHT BY CHRIST AND GRADUALLY THESE CHURCH MEMBERS WERE LED TO UNITE WITH THE WORLD IN HEATHEN PRACTICES. {CET 241.2}

AS THE YEARS PASSED BY, AND THE CHURCH INCREASED IN NUMBERS AND IN POPULARITY, THERE WERE MANY WHO BECAME LESS AND STILL LESS STRICT IN THEIR OBEDIENCE TO BIBLE TEACHING, UNTIL FINALLY, IN THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES AFTER CHRIST, THE GREATER NUMBER OF THOSE WHO CLAIMED TO BE CHRISTIANS WERE IN REALITY NOT LIVING IN HARMONY WITH THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST. FOR MANY CENTURIES THEREAFTER AN APOSTATE FORM OF CHRISTIANITY HELD SWAY. THE TRUTH WAS SUPPRESSED AND LOST SIGHT OF, AND IGNORANCE PREVAILED. {CET 241.3}

THESE CENTURIES OF APOSTASY ARE CORRECTLY DESIGNATED IN HISTORY THE " DARK AGES." DURING THIS TIME ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO ALTER OR TO SET ASIDE MANY OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE. UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES, IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT, IN SUCH A TIME, AS LIKEWISE IN THE CENTURIES IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE FIRST ADVENT OF CHRIST, THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GIFT OF PROPHECY ALMOST WHOLLY DISAPPEARED. {CET 242.1}

David prayed, " It is time for Thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law." This prayer is no less pertinent at the present time. The world has gone astray from God, and its lawless state should strike terror to the heart, and lead all who are loyal to the great King to work for a reformation. The papal power has thought to change the law of God by substituting a spurious Sabbath for that of Jehovah and all through the religious world the false sabbath is revered, while the true one is trampled beneath unholy feet. . . . {ChS 155.1}

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, " except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." [2 THESS. 2:3, 4, 7.] And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that " the mystery of iniquity doth already work." [2 THESS. 2:3, 4, 7.] Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy. {GC 88 49.1} Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and his apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ. {GC 88 49.2} This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of the " man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan's power, --a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will. {GC 88 50.1}

That the law which was spoken by God's own voice is faulty, that some specification has been set aside, is the claim which Satan now puts forward. It is the last great deception that he will bring upon the world. He needs not to assail the whole law if he can lead men to disregard one precept, his purpose is gained. For " whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. By consenting to break one precept, men are brought under Satan's power. By substituting human law for God's law, Satan will seek to control the world. This work is foretold in prophecy. Of the great apostate power which is the representative of Satan, it is declared, " He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand." Dan. 7:25. {DA 763.1}

During the Christian dispensation, the great enemy of man's happiness has made the Sabbath of the fourth commandment an object of special attack. Satan says, " I will work at cross purposes with God. I will empower my followers to set aside God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. Thus I will show the world that the day sanctified and blessed by God has been changed. That day shall not live in the minds of the people. I will obliterate the memory of it. I will place in its stead a day that does not bear the credentials of God, a day that cannot be a sign between God and His people. I will lead those who accept this day to place upon it the sanctity that God placed upon the seventh day. {Mar 162.1}

Satan decided to go still further. He told his angels that some would be so jealous of God's law that they could not be caught in this snare that the ten commandments were so plain that many would believe that they were still binding therefore he must seek to corrupt the fourth commandment which brings to view the living God. He led on his representatives to attempt to change the Sabbath, and alter the only commandment of the ten which brings to view the true God, the maker of the heavens and the earth. Satan presented before them the glorious resurrection of Jesus, and told them that by his rising on the first day of the week, he changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Thus Satan used the resurrection to serve his purpose. He and his angels rejoiced that the errors they had prepared took so well with the professed friends of Christ. What one might look upon with religious horror, another would receive. The different errors would be received, and with zeal defended. The will of God plainly revealed in his word, was covered up with error and tradition, which have been taught as the commandments of God. But although this heaven daring deception was to be suffered to be carried on down through time until the second appearing of Jesus, yet through all this time of error and deception, God has not been left without a witness. There have been true and faithful witnesses keeping all of God's commandments through the darkness and persecution of the church. {1 SG 111.1}

The man of sin has instituted a false sabbath, and the professed Christian world has adopted this child of the papacy, refusing to obey God. Thus Satan leads men and women in a direction opposite to the city of refuge and by the multitudes who follow him, it is demonstrated that Adam and Eve are not the only ones who have accepted the words of the wily foe. {4 BC 1172.1}

The enemy of all good has turned the signpost round, so that it points to the path of disobedience as the path of happiness. He has insulted Jehovah by refusing to obey a " Thus saith the Lord." He has thought to change times and laws (RH April 17, 1900). {4 BC 1172.2}

The pope has changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day. He has thought to change the very commandment that was given to cause man to remember his Creator. He has thought to change the greatest commandment in the decalogue and thus make himself equal with God, or even exalt himself above God. The Lord is unchangeable, therefore His law is immutable but the pope has exalted himself above God, in seeking to change His immutable precepts of holiness, justice, and goodness. He has trampled underfoot God's sanctified day, and, on his own authority, put in its place one of the six laboring days. The whole nation has followed after the beast, and every week they rob God of His holy time. The pope has made a breach in the holy law of God, but I saw that the time had fully come for this breach to be made up by the people of God and the waste places built up. {EW 65.1}

The special characteristic of the beast, and therefore of his image, is the breaking of God's commandments. Says Daniel, of the little horn, the papacy, " He shall think to change the times and the law." [DAN. 7:25, REVISED VERSION.] And Paul styled the same power the " man of sin," who was to exalt himself above God. One prophecy is a complement of the other. Only by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above God whoever should understandingly keep the law as thus changed would be giving supreme honor to that power by which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the place of God. {GC 88 446.1} The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. The second commandment, forbidding image worship, has been dropped from the law, and the fourth commandment has been so changed as to authorize the observance of the first instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But papists urge, as a reason for omitting the second commandment, that it is unnecessary, being included in the first, and that they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be understood. This cannot be the change foretold by the prophet. An intentional, deliberate change is presented: " He shall think to change the times and the law." The change in the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the prophecy. For this the only authority claimed is that of the church. Here the papal power openly sets itself above God. {GC 88 446.2}

The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamb like horns shall cause " the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the papacy --there symbolized by the beast " like unto a leopard." The beast with two horns is also to say " to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast " and, furthermore, it is to command all, " both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive " the mark of the beast." [REV. 13:11-16.] It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamb like horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgement of her supremacy. But in this homage to papacy the United States will not be alone. The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion, is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. " I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast." [REV. 13:3.] The infliction of the deadly wound points to the abolition of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, " His deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast." Paul states plainly that the man of sin will continue until the second advent. [2 THESS. 2:8.] To the very close of time he will carry forward his work of deception. And the Revelator declares, also referring to the papacy, " All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life." [REV. 13:8.] In both the Old and the New World, papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Romish Church. {GC 88 578.3} For about forty years, students of prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sunday keeping, and the same lack of scriptural evidence, as with the papist leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God's judgements are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday sabbath, will be repeated already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground. {GC 88 579.1} Marvellous in her shrewdness and cunning is the Romish Church. She can read what is to be. She bides her time, seeing that the Protestant churches are paying her homage in their acceptance of the false Sabbath, and that they are preparing to enforce it by the very means which she herself employed in by-gone days. Those who reject the light of truth will yet seek the aid of this self-styled infallible power to exalt an institution that originated with her. How readily she will come to the help of Protestants in this work, it is not difficult to conjecture. Who understands better than the papal leaders how to deal with those who are disobedient to the church? {GC 88 579.2}

Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let history testify of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism openly puts forth the claim that the pope " can pronounce sentences and judgements in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of God and man." [THE " DECRETALIA." ] {GC 88 580.2}

The professed Protestant world will form a confederacy with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt harmony. --7 BC 975 (1891). {LDE 130.3}

Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honor all the divine precepts. --GC 616 (1911). {LDE 130.4}

When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. --5T 451 (1885). {LDE 131.4}

The man of sin, who thought to change times and laws, and who has always oppressed the people of God, will cause laws to be made enforcing the observance of the first day of the week. But God's people are to stand firm for Him. And the Lord will work in their behalf, showing plainly that He is the God of gods. {14 MR 153.1}

Laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath will bring about a national apostasy from the principles of republicanism upon which the government has been founded. The religion of the papacy will be accepted by the rulers, and the law of God will be made void. --7 MR 192 (1906). {LDE 132.1} A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success. --4 SP 390 (1884). {LDE 132.2} In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. --GC 573 (1911). {LDE 132.3}

A National Sunday Law
Means National Apostasy

To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law.... By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. . . As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God's forbearance is reached..). We must take a firm stand that we will not reverence the first day of the week as the Sabbath, for it is not the day that was blessed and sanctified by Jehovah, and in reverencing Sunday we should place ourselves on the side of the great deceiver.... When the law of God has been made void and apostasy becomes a national sin, the Lord will work in behalf of His people... The people of the United States have been a favored people, but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and " national apostasy" will be registered in the books of heaven. --RH May 2, 1893. {LDE 132.4-133.4}

National Apostasy Will Be
Followed by National Ruin

God's Word has given warning of the impending danger let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. {FLB 329.5}

Satan will arouse indignation against the minority who refuse to accept popular customs and traditions. Men of position and reputation will join with the lawless and the vile to take counsel against the people of God. Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals, men will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a " Thus saith the Scriptures" to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for Sunday laws. But those who fear God, cannot accept an institution that violates a precept of the Decalogue. On this battlefield will be fought the last great conflict in the controversy between truth and error. And we are not left in doubt as to the issue. Today, as in the days of Esther and Mordecai, the Lord will vindicate His truth and His people. (PK 605)

The Mark of the Beast. --When Sunday observance shall be enforced by law, and the world shall be enlightened concerning the obligation of the true Sabbath, then whoever shall transgress the command of God, to obey a precept which has no higher authority than that of Rome, will thereby honor popery above God. He is paying homage to Rome, and to the power which enforces the institution ordained by Rome. He is worshiping the beast and his image. As men then reject the institution which God has declared to be the sign of His authority, and honor in its stead that which Rome has chosen as the token of her supremacy, they will thereby accept the sign of allegiance to Rome, --" the mark of the beast." And it is not until the issue is thus plainly set before the people, and they are brought to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, that those who continue in transgression will receive " the mark of the beast." --The Great Controversy, p. 449. (1888) {Ev 233.4}

Are we responsible to tell the truth about the Sabbath?

Called to Expose Man of Sin. ---In the very time in which we live, the Lord has called His people and has given them a message to bear. He has called them to expose the wickedness of the man of sin who has made the Sunday law a distinctive power, who has thought to change times and laws, and to oppress the people of God who stand firmly to honor Him by keeping the only true Sabbath, the Sabbath of creation, as holy unto the Lord. He has called them to bear the sign of God, to exalt the Lord in keeping holy His law for it is a transcript of His character. No part of the law of God and their covenant obligation to keep that law holy is to lose its binding claims upon all the world. Those who have had the light upon keeping the law of Jehovah are to stand firmly in the faith, and to make that light shine forth in clear, distinct rays. {18 MR 33.1}

We should now seek a deep and living experience in the things of God. We have not a moment to lose. {FLB 329.6}

The minds of the Bereans were not narrowed by prejudice, and they were willing to investigate and receive the truths preached by the apostles. If the people of our time would follow the example of the noble Bereans, in searching the Scriptures daily, and in comparing the messages brought to them with what is there recorded, there would be thousands loyal to God's law where there is one today. But many who profess to love God have no desire to change from error to truth, and they cling to the pleasing fables of the last days. Error blinds the mind and leads from God but truth gives light to the mind, and life to the soul. {3 SP 394.1}

As God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, that they might keep His Sabbath, so He calls His people out of Babylon that they may not worship the beast nor his image. The man of sin, who thought to change times and laws, has exalted himself above God by presenting this spurious sabbath to the world the Christian world has accepted this child of the Papacy, and cradled and nourished it, thus defying God by removing His memorial and setting up a rival sabbath. {3 SM 406.1}

In answer to the claim that at the death of Christ the precepts of the decalogue had been abolished with the ceremonial law, Wesley said: " The moral law, contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, he did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken, which " stands fast as the faithful witness in Heaven.' . . . This was from the beginning of the world, being " written not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And, however the letters once written by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other. {GC 88 262.1}

In the Holiest I saw an ark on the top and sides of it was purest gold. On each end of the ark was a lovely cherub, with their wings spread out over it. Their faces were turned towards each other, and they looked downwards. Between the angels was a golden censer. Above the ark, where the angels stood, was an exceeding bright glory, that appeared like a throne where God dwelt. Jesus stood by the ark. And as the saints' prayers came up to Jesus, the incense in the censer would smoke, and he offered up the prayers of the saints with the smoke of the incense to his Father. In the ark, was the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone which folded together like a book. Jesus opened them, and I saw the ten commandments written on them with the finger of God. On one table was four, and on the other six. The four on the first table shone brighter than the other six. But the fourth (the Sabbath commandment,) shone above them all for the Sabbath was set apart to be kept in honor of God's holy name. The Holy Sabbath looked glorious --a halo of glory was all around it. I saw that the Sabbath was not nailed to the cross. If it was, the other nine commandments were and we are at liberty to go forth and break them all, as well as to break the fourth. I saw that God had not changed the Sabbath, for he never changes. But the Pope had changed it from the seventh to the first day of the week for he was to change times and laws. {ExV 16.1}

From that day to the present the knowledge of God's law has been preserved in the earth, and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment has been kept. Though the " man of sin" succeeded in trampling underfoot God's holy day, yet even in the period of his supremacy there were, hidden in secret places, faithful souls who paid it honor. Since the Reformation, there have been some in every generation to maintain its observance. Though often in the midst of reproach and persecution, a constant testimony has been borne to the perpetuity of the law of God and the sacred obligation of the creation Sabbath. These truths, as presented in Revelation 14 in connection with " the everlasting gospel," will distinguish the church of Christ at the time of His appearing. For as the result of the threefold message it is announced: " Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." And this message is the last to be given before the coming of the Lord. Immediately following its proclamation the Son of man is seen by the prophet, coming in glory to reap the harvest of the earth. Those who received the light concerning the sanctuary and the immutability of the law of God were filled with joy and wonder as they saw the beauty and harmony of the system of truth that opened to their understanding. They desired that the light which appeared to them so precious might be imparted to all Christians and they could not but believe that it would be joyfully accepted. But truths that would place them at variance with the world were not welcome to many who claimed to be followers of Christ. Obedience to the fourth commandment required a sacrifice from which the majority drew back. As the claims of the Sabbath were presented, many reasoned from the worldling's standpoint. Said they: " We have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many good and pious men have died happy while keeping it. If they were right, so are we. The keeping of this new Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the world, and we would have no influence over them. What can a little company keeping the seventh day hope to accomplish against all the world who are keeping Sunday?" It was by similar arguments that the Jews endeavored to justify their rejection of Christ. Their fathers had been accepted of God in presenting the sacrificial offerings, and why could not the children find salvation in pursuing the same course? So, in the time of Luther, papists reasoned that true Christians had died in the Catholic faith, and therefore that religion was sufficient for salvation. Such reasoning would prove an effectual barrier to all advancement in religious faith or practice. {GC 453.2-454.2}

" I am instructed that when the Lord's time comes, should no change have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men will find that the hand that has been strong to save will be strong to destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God's appointed time comes to send retribution on men for their insolence and their disregard of His law." [QUOTED IN REVIEW AND HERALD, APRIL 26, 1906.] {LS 414.1}

All who will not bow to the decree of the national councils and obey the national laws to exalt the sabbath instituted by the man of sin, to the disregard of God's holy day, will feel, not the oppressive power of popery alone, but of the Protestant world, the image of the beast. --2SM 380 (1886). {LDE 145.1} Those religious bodies who refuse to hear God's messages of warning will be under strong deception and will unite with the civil power to persecute the saints. The Protestant churches will unite with the papal power in persecuting the commandment keeping people of God. . . . This lamb like power unites with the dragon in making war upon those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. --14 MR 162 (1899). {LDE 145.3} The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and in this work papists and Protestants unite. --GC 607 (1911). {LDE 145.4} Before the Courts Those who live during the last days of this earth's history will know what it means to be persecuted for the truth's sake. In the courts injustice will prevail. The judges will refuse to listen to the reasons of those who are loyal to the commandments of God because they know the arguments in favor of the fourth commandment are unanswerable. They will say, " We have a law, and by our law he ought to die." God's law is nothing to them. " Our law" with them is supreme. Those who respect this human law will be favored, but those who will not bow to the idol sabbath have no favors shown them. --ST May 26, 1898. {LDE 145.5}

Let not those who have the truth as it is in Jesus give sanction, even by their silence, to the work of the mystery of iniquity. Let them never cease to sound the note of alarm. Let the education and training of the members of our churches be such that the children and youth among us shall understand there are to be no concessions to this power, the man of sin. Teach them that although the time will come when we can wage the war only at the risk of property and liberty, yet the conflict must be met, in the spirit and meekness of Christ the truth is to be maintained and advocated as it is in Jesus. Wealth, honor, comfort, home -- everything else -- is to be a secondary consideration. The truth must not be hid, it must not be denied or disguised, but fully avowed, and boldly proclaimed. {2 SM 369.3} The Lord has faithful watchmen on the walls of Zion to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show His people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. The Lord has permitted the enemy of truth to make a determined effort against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. He designs by this means to awaken a decided interest in that question which is a test for the last days. This will open the way for the third angel's message to be proclaimed with power. {2 SM 370.1} Let not one who believes the truth, be silent now. None should be careless now let all urge their petitions at the throne of grace, pleading the promise, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do" (John 14:13). It is a perilous time now. If this land of boasted liberty is preparing to sacrifice every principle which enters into her Constitution, making decrees to suppress religious freedom, and for the enforcing of papal falsehood and delusion, then the people of God need to present their petitions in faith to the Most High. There is every encouragement, in the promises of God, for those who put their trust in Him. The prospect of being brought into personal danger and distress, need not cause despondency, but should quicken the vigor and hopes of God's people for the time of their peril is the season for God to grant them clearer manifestations of His power. {2 SM 370.2} We are not to sit in calm expectancy of oppression and tribulation, and fold our hands, doing nothing to avert the evil. Let our united cries be sent up to heaven. Pray and work, and work and pray. But let none act rashly. Learn as never before that you must be meek and lowly in heart. You must not bring a railing accusation against any, whether individuals or churches. Learn to deal with minds as Christ did. Sharp things must sometimes be spoken but be sure that the Holy Spirit of God is abiding in your heart before you speak the clear cut truth then let it cut its way. You are not to do the cutting. {2 SM 370.3}

The work of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgement. The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles, showing in a high, elevated sense, the line of demarcation between those who keep the commandments of God, and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God, and those who keep a spurious rest day. When the test comes, it will be clearly shown what the mark of the beast is. It is the keeping of Sunday. Those who after having heard the truth, continue to regard this day as holy, bear the signature of the man of sin, who thought to change times and laws. {BTS, December 1, 1903 par. 6}

Let the Trumpet Give a Certain Sound. As God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, that they might keep his Sabbath, so he calls his people out of Babylon, that they may not worship the beast or his image. The man of sin, who thought to change times and laws, has exalted himself above God, by presenting a spurious Sabbath to the world the Christian world has accepted the child of the papacy, and cradled and nourished it, thus defying God by removing his memorial, and setting up a rival Sabbath. {1888 1079.1}

But there is a day that God hath appointed for the close of this world's history. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come" . Prophecy is fast fulfilling. More, much more, should be said about these tremendously important subjects. The day is at hand when the destiny of every soul will be fixed forever. This day of the Lord hastens on a pace. The false watchmen are raising the cry, " All is well" but the day of God is rapidly approaching. Its footsteps are so muffled that it does not arouse the world from the deathlike slumber into which it has fallen. While the watchmen cry, " Peace and safety" , " sudden destruction cometh upon them" , " and they shall not escape" " for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth" . It overtakes the pleasure lover and the sinful man as a thief in the night. When all is apparently secure, and men retire to contented rest, then the prowling, stealthy, midnight thief steals upon his prey. When it is too late to prevent the evil, it is discovered that some door or window was not secured. " Be ye also ready: for in an such hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" . People are now settling to rest, imagining themselves secure under the popular churches but let all beware, lest there is a place left open for the enemy to gain an entrance. Great pains should be taken to keep this subject before the people. The solemn fact is to be kept not only before the people of the world, but before our own churches also, that the day of the Lord will come suddenly, unexpectedly. The fearful warning of the prophecy is addressed to every soul. Let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised. Let no one's interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of events which show that this great event is near at hand. {FE 335}

JOH 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Coming Soon!
God's Law Broken Down!