Adventist Liberty Magazine Says Abortion Restrictions Are Unconstitutional, but Vaccine Mandates Are Not

Last week, the United States Supreme Court heard a Mississippi abortion case that directly challenges the precedent set in 1973 by Roe v. Wade that allows a pregnant woman the freedom to abort her baby. Roe v. Wade is a government sanctioned, government funded and government protected mass murder of innocent children in the wombs of their mothers. So potentially, the US Supreme Court could come up with an opinion that affirms the Mississippi law and overturn Roe v. Wade. We could see Roe v. Wade coming to an end in our day, thank God. But that’s not how Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty leaders see this.

In the November/December 2021 issue of Liberty Magazine, the official publication of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, Bettina Krause, editor of Liberty Magazine, published an editorial saying that abortion restrictions are unconstitutional but that vaccine mandates aren’t because forced vaccinations do not violate religious freedom. Here’s what Bettina Krause had to say about the vaccine mandates:

““Clearly, in these difficult times, many people have concerns about vaccine mandates. Mandates inherently feel coercive. Or people may distrust the government, or they may have doubts about the efficacy or safety of a vaccine. These are all matters of individual understanding and choice that should be addressed. But these are not issues of religious freedom.” [1]

Do vaccine mandates feel coercive? No, they don’t feel coercive, they are coercive. That is what a mandate does. It forces people to do something. Should we distrust the government? We should have a healthy fear of the government. In fact, our Founding Fathers believed that when the government fears the people, there is freedom. But when people fear the government, there is tyranny. Then Bettina Krause spoke about “doubts” over the “efficacy” of vaccines. Well, if these vaccines were effective, why do they require so many boosters? She then said vaccine mandates are not “issues of religious freedom.” No, these are not issues of science and fact, and forcing people to embrace political ideologies is a violation of freedom.

Bettina Krause also said that when church members ask for “religious exemptions” from taking the vaccine, they are only fueling hostility:

“In some quarters of our society there’s a steadily growing hostility to the very existence of religious exemptions in a whole range of legal areas. There’s increasing momentum to rein in “special treatment” for religion. Inevitably, the actions of those who abuse the language of religious freedom and religious exemptions will only fuel this hostility.” [1]

What is fueling hostility today? It’s not the people who are asking for exemptions, but the refusal of our society to offer “religious exemptions,” as required by federal law, that is fostering hostility. The Joe Biden administration’s refusal to recognize “religious exemptions” is causing people to lose their jobs. This is the source of all the anxiety we are seeing today.

On the subject of abortion, notice what Bettina Krause says about Texas Senate Bill 8, which prohibits abortion after a child’s heartbeat is detected. Bettina Krause focuses not on the substance of the law but on the mechanism:

“As I write this editorial, my Twitter feed has been hijacked by the legal circus surrounding the Texas abortion law, which openly defies current constitutional law. When the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 8 limiting abortions back in May this year, the move was embraced by many who hold deep convictions about the sanctity of life. But just for a moment, let’s focus on only the mechanism of this law, and not its subject. Here’s why the mechanism of this law is unique: instead of requiring state prosecutors to enforce its provisions (which under current constitutional law is impermissible), the law empowers private citizens to sue anyone who supports or carries out an abortion or who intends to do so. And there’s a healthy financial incentive to do so. In successful suits the Texas law provides for a payment of $10,000 from defendant to plaintiff.” [1]

Basically, Senate Bill 8 empowers the citizens of the state of Texas to sue any abortion clinic or doctor who kills a baby after the child’s heartbeat is detected. This gives fathers, grandparents and other citizens the right to defend the lives of babies who may in fact be their relatives. By empowering the people, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers will be unable to sue the state of Texas, but will instead have to wait until citizens sue them for performing illegal abortions before they can challenge this law. This, in essence, would severely limit abortions in Texas.

But according to Liberty Magazine, saving the lives of babies after a heartbeat is detected “defies current constitutional law” because of the “mechanism,” not the “subject.” No, let me tell you what defies belief: the willingness of religious liberty leaders to support the pro-abortion death cult and to stand in lockstep with anti-biblical leftist political agendas. How low will Seventh-day Adventists go in defending and promoting the transgression of the Sixth Commandment? Are we no longer the commandment-keeping people? We are not ready for the mark of the beast or the crisis to come if our moral compass is broken and we cannot even defend God’s law now!

The reason so many Seventh-day Adventists are on the sidelines on this important issue is that we have embraced the notion that ending abortion will give the churches political power and then a Sunday law will come. This is the reality we find ourselves in today. Therefore, ending abortion in America would be a premise for the mark of the beast, and if Seventh-day Adventists in any way support any of these efforts to end abortion, we would be helping to establish an image of the beast. But is supporting and enforcing vaccine mandates okay? According to many church leaders, vaccine mandates are not helping to establish the mark of the beast, but ending abortion will.

To protect the unborn is to defend God’s law. To enforce a Sunday law by setting up an image of the beast is to defend the laws of man. This is not the same issue. The creation of Sunday laws benefits Rome because Sunday is her own invention. Who benefits when abortion laws are repealed? Rome? Not at all. It is the unborn who benefit when abortion laws are repealed because this law (the Sixth Commandment) was given for the purpose of maintaining civil order within society. God gave it to us to protect life.

You can pass federal, state, county and local ordinances all day long with regards to the Six Commandment of God’s law (abortion/murder) and you will NEVER establish tyranny, the mark of the beast or dominionism. Why? Because this law has to do with respecting life. Now, whenever any law is passed by man that deals with Sunday observance, obviously, this would pave the way for tyranny and persecution. What about the vaccine enforcement “mechanism?” Those are much more oppressive than the “mechanism” used to end abortion in Texas Senate Bill 8. But somehow, our leaders don’t want to see that.

This idea in Adventism is based on the “pendulum theory,” which basically says that the Democratic Party is good and protects religious freedom, while Republicans are bad and want to eliminate our liberties. And the growing anarchy in our country under the democratically controlled House, Senate, and Presidency will swing the pendulum the other way so Republicans can return to power and pass the mark of the beast. That is what many Seventh-day Adventists believe, although this idea is not found in inspiration.

Brothers and sisters, the pendulum is broken. Joe Biden, a Roman Catholic Democratic president can pass a Sunday law just as easily as an Evangelical Republican president. Rome is working on both sides and will use whoever serves her purposes. Regardless of who is in power, our duty is to speak up and uphold God’s law, and not support the breaking of any of its divine principles (abortion):

“Warn every soul that is in danger. Leave none to deceive themselves. Call sin by its right name. Declare what God has said in regard to lying, Sabbathbreaking, stealing, idolatry, and every other evil. ‘They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Galatians 5:21. If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God’s word is pronounced upon them in heaven. In choosing to sin, they disown Christ; the church must show that she does not sanction their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must say about sin what God says about it. She must deal with it as God directs, and her action is ratified in heaven.” (Desire of Ages, p. 806).

Not only is abortion one of the greatest catastrophic moral failures of our time, but the abortion industry is also engaged in the massive exploitation of mothers for profit. Let me share with you what God thinks about the abortion business and, specifically, about abortion money. The following list is especially offensive to God, for these acts are destructive to human life.

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Proverbs 6:16-19.

“Hands that shed innocent blood.” This is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. God “hates” this. But then there is another component to shedding innocent blood that aggravates this sin even more. We are talking about when money is involved. God not only hates murder for hire, or blood money, He curses it. This is how God feels about the modern abortion industry:

“Cursed be he that taketh reward (money) to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.” Deuteronomy 27:25.

You can also read in Exodus 1:15-22 where the King of Egypt gave an order to the Hebrew midwives (healthcare providers) to kill the babies. The Hebrew midwives said “no” and they disobeyed the law spoken by the king. Whose side was God on, the corrupt king or the Hebrew midwives who upheld the law of God and saved the babies? If you read the story, God was on the side of the Hebrew midwives and blessed and honored them for their faithfulness.

Tragically, top religious leaders in the church today are standing on the side of the Egyptian King who issued the command to kill the babies. The more the church speaks out against this national sin, not less, the more lives will be saved from a horrific death. The more the church speaks out in defense of God’s law, not less, the more hearts and minds will be changed to honor the sanctity of life. When this becomes our experience, then we can truly be the people described in Revelation where it says:

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17.

Sources

[1] https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/this-editorial-is-not-about-abortion-or-vaccine-mandates