The Daily Reflector is a newspaper that serves eastern North Carolina. On July 11, 2023, an article was published titled “Remember the Sabbath (Sunday) May Soon be Long Forgotten” that decried the desecration of Sunday in society and spoke about how this day used to be kept holy as businesses were closed. The publication also noted that the “pendulum of Sunday reverence has swung in the opposite direction.” The article said:
• “My mother grew up in Greensboro in the early 1900s. On Sundays, her parents forbade her from playing games and attending picture shows. In the early 1960s, on an episode of ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ a businessman was passing through Mayberry on a Sunday when his car broke down. Gomer and Wally refused to repair his car on Sunday even though the businessman offered to pay them whatever they charged.” [1]
• “Today, the pendulum of Sunday reverence has swung in the opposite direction. It seems that most businesses that were once closed on Sundays are now open. Chick-Fil-A is one of the few that is closed, mostly for religious reasons.” [1]
• “Years ago, then-N.C. Sen. Tony Rand tried unsuccessfully to pass a bill allowing ABC (liquor) stores to open on Sundays. Now, a similar bill titled Senate Bill 527 is pending in our legislature that, among other things, would allow local governments the option to open ABC (liquor) stores on Sunday.” [1]
• “Will Rogers said that ‘whoever wrote the Ten Commandments made ’em short. They may not always be kept, but they can be understood.’ Only the Fourth Commandment begins with the word ‘remember.’ How much longer will it be before it is totally forgotten?” [1]
This is a call to action to resurrect Sunday as the Sabbath in civil society before it is forever forgotten. It is also a call to push the “pendulum of Sunday reverence” in the opposite direction. This has nothing to do with the gospel and everything to do with politics. Tragically, they are also spreading the lie that Sunday is the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. The truth is that Sunday is not the Sabbath because the Fourth Commandment tells us to remember the seventh day, not the first day, as God’s day of rest.
All of these popular demands to restore Sunday rest are based on man-made traditions rather than God’s clear teachings in the Bible. Many attempts have been made to argue that the Sabbath has been changed and that this alteration was made by divine appointment. We agree that the Sabbath was altered, but it was not by divine decree. It was the Little Horn (Daniel 7:25) who did it, not God. If God had made this change, it would have been in accordance with His will, and He would have revealed it in His word:
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
Whenever we hear calls to bring back Sunday as the weekly day of rest, we can know for certain that these are attempts to mobilize people into political action for sinister purposes. True social reforms cannot be achieved through political action or by enforcing Sunday as a day of rest through state power. Laws can limit people’s actions, but they can’t change their hearts. And if churches want to impose Sunday by legislation, forcing men to rest, this means that they have abandoned their gospel commission and have become political lobbyists, relying on the state’s strong arm to impose church doctrine on society.
Instead of restoring society through the union of church and state, these actions will lead to the implementation of the mark of the beast during the final crisis. Human traditions, church doctrines, men’s opinions, and the politicization of the gospel through Sunday rest legislation are all things we must emphatically reject. It is our responsibility to cling to pure Bible truth. Only the gospel can bring righteousness. Our hope is that we will all obey God’s Word, which is the standard of righteousness by which we will be judged at the end of time. All false doctrine and oppressive dragon-like actions by governments will soon vanish during the outpouring of the seven last plagues (Revelation 16). Our only hope is to rely on God and His Word.
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It is evident that the whole world is aboard the same train, going with the speed of lightning unto perdition, thus it a sure prophecy that legislation of Sunday sacredness is just around the next bend in the tracks. However, let us not fix our eyes on the coming Sunday law crisis, but instead look to our present duty of keeping the Sabbath holy, making it a delight, and using its precious hours to deepen our experience in the beauty of righteousness.
Now, in this time where there is still freedom to worship according to conscience, is the time for God’s true Seventh-day Adventist people to demonstrate to their Creator our resolve to be obedient to his command to keep the Sabbath. If instead, we dwell upon on a pending Sunday law, while concurrently diminishing the sacredness of the Sabbath by our thoughtless unsanctified words, our worldly-oriented thoughts, and indifferent actions which are all native to common working days, we just as surely desecrate the Sabbath as if we willfully adopted the false first-day-of-the-week Sabbath and accepted the mark of the beast.
Isaiah 58:13-14 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: (14) Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
To honor the Sabbath is the call of God to his last-day SDA people with knowledge about the truth. To those that answer this call, the Father gives the above promise regarding a new earth, and thus, eternal life. The Sabbath test is presently being presented to the professed SDA people. Let us not overlook it by borrowing trouble against the coming Sunday legislation crisis which will primarily serve to test those who previously had no knowledge regarding the Sabbath truth.
Happy Sabbath to all!
“Sooner or later Sunday laws will be passed.” The Review and Herald, February 16, 1905. – {LDE 128.4}
The stones are crying out.
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Ellen White – The third angel’s message is to be given to our world in clear, distinct lines. In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation we read, “The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, or receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” [Verses 9, 10.] This message embraces the two proceeding messages. It is represented as being given with a loud voice; that is, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Everything is now at stake. The third angel’s message is to be regarded as of the highest importance. It is a life and death question. The impression made by this message will be proportionate to the earnestness and solemnity with which it is proclaimed. 15LtMs, Ms 16, 1900, par. 1
Satan has devised a state of things whereby the proclamation of the third angel’s message shall be bound about. We must beware of his plans and methods. There must be no toning down of the truth, no muffling of the message for this time. The third angel’s message must be strengthened and confirmed. The eighteenth chapter of Revelation reveals the importance of presenting the truth in no measured terms but with boldness and power. John writes, “After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 15LtMs, Ms 16, 1900, par. 2
The first and third angels messages are of course complementary. We should most certainly be keeping God’s seventh day Sabbath as a witness while the freedom to do so unmolested lasts. We most certainly should also be warning people about the mark of the beast, and what it is and or will be, while we still have the freedom to speak such truths unmolested.