AdventHealth University is a Seventh-day Adventist University located in Orlando, FL. Their ministry department is busy preparing Valentine bags for their students just in time for St. Valentine’s Day. They are really excited to commemorate the day associated with the Roman god of fertility [1], as you can see in the picture below from the university’s ministry page.
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And just as the ancient pagans practiced sexual rituals on this day, today many people around the world will also have premarital and other illicit relationships on this day. It is expected. St. Valentine’s Day is dedicated to love, fertility, sex and lust.
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There is no question that in our ever deteriorating culture, many unmarried people will use St. Valentine’s Day as an excuse to engage in illicit relationships. It is a global phenomenon. And how many of these sexual encounters will lead to unwanted pregnancies and abortions?
Seventh-day Adventists, who are supposed to be preparing people for heaven, should not be promoting these worldly holidays. If we really want to celebrate love, let’s preach the Third Angel’s Message that is inscribed with the commandments of God:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15.
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3.
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 14:21.
This is how we commemorate love, the everlasting gospel, the Three Angels’ Messages and the second coming of Jesus. Sadly, it seems we just don’t believe that Jesus is coming anytime soon. Some do not believe that Jesus will come in our generation. And this is evident by what God’s people are doing and not doing.
If the second coming of Jesus is not immanent, why do we see all the signs of the end times? Why does every biblical indication suggest that we are in the last days? The conditions of the world are exactly as Jesus said they would be just before His appearing.
“Though no man knoweth the day nor the hour of His coming, we are instructed and required to know when it is near. We are further taught that to disregard His warning, and refuse or neglect to know when His advent is near, will be as fatal for us as it was for those who lived in the days of Noah not to know when the flood was coming” (Great Controversy, p. 371).
If we ignore the biblical signs of Christ’s coming, we make the same “fatal” mistake that was made in the days of Noah. And if we see and understand the signs of the times, then we will also understand that the proximity of Christ’s coming depends on how serious we are in accepting the challenge in preaching the final warning message to the world:
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14.
“Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?” 2 Peter 3:12.
How do we hasten the coming of the Lord? By preparing St. Valentine’s Day bags for people? No. We hasten Christ’s coming by boldly proclaiming the final warning message in context of the everlasting gospel without fear or hesitation. So how soon will Jesus come? That depends on how serious we are about the gospel commission.
Sources
[1] https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2
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