MarketWatch, a Dow Jones Company, is Raising the Alarm that the Repeal of the Blue laws is Causing Death, Despair, Suicide and Alcohol Abuse

MarketWatch is one of the world’s most influential media sources, providing global financial professionals with stock market statistics, financial and business news. It is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, which also owns the Wall Street Journal and created the Dow Jones Industrial Average, one of the three major stock markets in the United States. On January 16, 2023, MarketWatch joined the growing chorus of support for the increasingly popular message that repealing blue laws has been detrimental to our society.

MarketWatch published an article written by Steve Goldstein titled “Deaths of Despair may be Driven by Loss of Religion, New Research Paper Argues” and expressed the following:

“So-called deaths of despair such as from suicide or alcohol abuse have been skyrocketing for middle-aged white Americans. It’s been blamed on various phenomenon, including opioid abuse. But a new research paper finds a different culprit — declining religious practice.” [1]

“The working paper, from Tyler Giles of Wellesley College, Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame, and Tamar Oostrom of The Ohio State University, looked at the relationship between religiosity and mortality from deaths of despair. The paper was circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research.” [1]

“The authors noted that many measures of religious adherence began to decline in the late 1980s … States that experienced larger declines in religious participation in the last 15 years of the 20th century saw larger increases in deaths of despair.” [1]

“The researchers looked at the repeal of blue laws in particular. Blue laws limited commerce, typically on Sunday mornings. ‘These laws have been shown to be strongly related to religious practice, creating discrete changes in incentives to attend religious services that are plausibly unrelated to other drivers of religiosity,’ they said.” [1]

“The repeal of blue laws had a 5- to 10-percentage-point impact on weekly attendance of religious services, and increased the rate of deaths of despair by 2 deaths per 100,000 people, they found — accounting for a reasonably large share of the initial rise in the deaths of despair.” [1]

Theories are being created and circulated to prove that the repeal of Sunday laws in the United States is killing people. So-called experts are saying that society is destroying itself ever since the Blue Laws were repealed. A new crisis is emerging, indicating that something must be done to reverse this trend and save society. And what is the answer? Make Sunday the legal day of rest. Sunday rest is being promoted as a solution to death and despair. This is the message that prominent leaders in the financial and economic sectors are circulating. This is the same message that churches are promoting. They are all doing the bidding of Rome:

“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of Spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome” (Great Controversy, p. 588).

The financial, political, and religious worlds are banding together to make Sunday the day of rest for our planet. And, of course, Rome is at the forefront of this global movement for Sunday rest. Satan’s counterfeit church is having a significant impact on society. Tradition is once again overtaking God’s law in importance:

“There is one pointed out in prophecy as the man of sin. He is the representative of Satan. . . . Here is Satan’s righthand man ready to carry on the work that Satan commenced in heaven, that of trying to amend the law of God. And the Christian world has sanctioned his efforts by adopting this child of the Papacy—the Sunday institution” (Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 910).

The message is being revived that we are destroying ourselves, society is crumbling, and people should have the right to enjoy life. What is troubling is that so-called financial experts and investment advisors are amplifying Rome’s message, claiming that in order to repair and undo the damage done to society, we must lend public support for Sunday rest and help spread the message that Sunday laws are beneficial. That is what MarketWatch is doing. Prophecy predicts that not only religious and political powers will form an unholy alliance with Rome, but also the merchants and financial sectors will be drunk on Babylon’s wine:

“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” Revelation 18:3.

Soon, Sunday laws, which were once used to severely punish seventh-day Sabbath keepers for noncompliance, will be reinstated. It will be at this time that Rome’s political power will reach new heights, and she will use the nations, especially the United States, to impose her mark of authority, Sunday, on the world. There will be an unholy alliance centered around Sunday worship, and those who refuse to join it by remaining faithful to the whole law of God by keeping the true Sabbath will be persecuted.

“As the Sabbath has become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular authorities have combined to enforce the observance of Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration” (Great Controversy, p. 615).

Regardless of the difficulties that God’s faithful people will face, they must remain firm in their faith. May we preach the pure and undiluted everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ and warn people about the impending mark of the beast. That is our responsibility in this trying time.

“The decree (mark of the beast) is not to be urged upon the people blindly. Everyone is to have sufficient light to make his decision intelligently. The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty; for it is the point of truth especially controverted” (Great Controversy, p. 605).

Sources

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/deaths-of-despair-may-be-driven-by-loss-of-religion-new-research-paper-argues-11673876749