“A storm is coming, relentless in its fury. Are we prepared to meet it?” (Testimonies, Vol. 8, p. 315).
Under the guise of healing our nation, Roman Catholics in America are pressuring Christians to adopt stricter Sunday observance. This is what Catholic Answers, a media ministry dedicated to defending the Catholic faith, refers to as the New Evangelization: encouraging Sunday rest to help alleviate societal problems. This argument is currently being made today, and we can only expect more stringent calls to limit Sunday activities in the near future. It won’t take long for circumstances to arise that will spark a call for a national Sunday law.
Last year, Catholic Answers published the following, encouraging American Catholics to start taking Sunday observance much more seriously:
• “What if American Catholics started taking the the Lord’s Day as seriously as Orthodox Jews take their Sabbath? It’s a question Pope John Paul II posed to the entire church in his 1998 apostolic letter on the Lord’s Day, Dies Domini.” [1]
• “The Eucharist is, of course, the ‘heart of Sunday’ (Dies Domini, ch. 3), and Sunday is ‘the very heart of the Christian life’ (para. 7). If Christians can regain Sunday beyond ‘just’ the mass, we can regain ourselves, the culture, and the public square. John Paul II concludes his letter saying just as much: it will not fail to have a positive influence on civil society as a whole.” [1]
• “There is a reason John Paul II called for a ‘New Evangelization.’ There is a reason ‘rediscovering Sunday’ is an essential part of getting to know God and ourselves once again. If enough Christians reclaim the Lord’s Day, this will be enough to transform culture for the better, which the American Church lately just cannot seem to do.” [1]
• “It will also affect politics. As Father Neuhaus observed, religion is the root of culture, culture the root of politics. We have our attention and priorities backwards, and then we wonder ‘what’s wrong with the world’.” [1]
• “You may be wondering how keeping a proper Lord’s Day is going to alleviate the most dramatic of social ills. But all social and cultural problems, in some way or another, are rooted in a lack of human dignity. The Catechism candidly expresses that the Sabbath Day is ‘a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money’ (2712).” [1]
• “The decision to rest is also a protection against an endless cycle of pressure, school, work, motion, and inevitable burnout.” [1]
According to Catholic Answers, the American Church has struggled to make a significant impact in society and proposes that by reclaiming Sunday, we can change our culture for the better. For the student of prophecy, this movement for Sunday rest, which will transform our cultural and political lives, fits into the pattern of events described in the prophetic pages of Revelation 13.
“A great crisis awaits the people of God. A crisis awaits the world. The most momentous struggle of all the ages is just before us. Events which for more than forty years we have upon the authority of the prophetic word declared to be impending are now taking place before our eyes … The question of enforcing Sunday observance has become one of national interest and importance. We well know what the result of this movement will be. But are we ready for the issue?” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 711).
However, some people involved in the campaign to establish Sunday as a day of rest may be sincere and honest in their efforts. They are unaware that their attempts to save society by advocating for a Sunday law will only make matters worse, not better.
“There are many, even of those engaged in this movement for Sunday enforcement, who are blinded to the results which will follow this action. They do not see that they are striking directly against religious liberty. There are many who have never understood the claims of the Bible Sabbath and the false foundation upon which the Sunday institution rests. Any movement in favor of religious legislation is really an act of concession to the papacy, which for so many ages has steadily warred against liberty of conscience” (Testimonies, Vol. 5, p. 711).
Whatever their motive may be, we know that elevating Sunday as a day of rest will only help Satan in his campaign to discredit the Creator’s seventh-day Sabbath. Therefore, the movement for Sunday rest offers an opportunity for God’s people to give witness to the true Sabbath and point people to Saturday. The following advice provided in the Testimonies can be applied to our time:
“Satan is busily laying his plans for the last mighty conflict, when all will take sides.” (Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 14).
“Let the warning be given them before it is too late. We should now feel the responsibility of laboring with intense earnestness to impart to others the truths that God has given for this time. We cannot be too much in earnest.” (Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 16).
“Men need to be aroused to realize the solemnity of the time, the nearness of the day when human probation shall be ended. Decided efforts should be made to bring the message for this time prominently before the people. The third angel is to go forth with great power. Let none ignore this work or treat it as of little importance” (Testimonies, Vol. 6, p. 16).
Sources
[1] https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/resting-on-sundays-means-something
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” ‘Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words, “Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.” -Great Controversy, 565.
“Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side.”-Great Controversy, 565-566.
“The very beginning of the great apostasy was in seeking to supplement the authority of God by that of the church. Rome began by enjoining what God had not forbidden, and she ended by forbidding what He had explicitly enjoined.” Great Controversy, 289-290.
“A large class, even of those who look upon Romanism with no favor, apprehend little danger from her power and influence. Many urge that the intellectual and moral darkness prevailing during the Middle Ages favored the spread of her dogmas, superstitions, and oppression, and that the greater intelligence of modern times, the general diffusion of knowledge, and increasing liberality in matters of religion, forbid a revival of intolerance and tyranny. The very thought that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age is ridiculed.” -Great Controversy, 572.
“Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see, and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.”-Great Controversy, 566.
“The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christ-like garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today.”-Great Controversy, 571.