KPC Media Group Inc. publishes 13 newspapers in various counties in the state of Indiana. [1] On January 28, 2023, KPC Media published an article written by David Hogsett, a United Methodist pastor, in which he urged people to at least voluntarily adhere to the Blue Laws, which prohibits secular activities on Sunday. The article said, in part:
“When I was growing up Blue Laws were quite common across the country. Blue Laws were originally enacted to restrict or ban certain business and recreational activities on Sunday to help promote the observance of the Christian day of worship. For the most part, all commerce ceased on the Christian Sabbath. Today, Blue Laws are pretty much a thing of the past. However, you can find isolated instances where they are still enforced.” [2]
“Economists Tyler Giles, Daniel M. Hungerman, and Tamar Oostram published a study in 2022 entitled, “Opiates of the Masses? Deaths of Despair and the Decline of American Religion.” The study indicated that the increase in deaths of despair — deaths by drugs, alcohol, and suicide — since the 1990s, is connected with the decline in religious participation. For them, a major factor in the decline of religious participation was the repeal of Blue Laws. This decline has a significant effect on mortality rates. States with high levels of religiosity have suffered less from mortality due to alcohol, suicides, and drug poisoning.” [2]
“We no longer have Blue Laws to create settings where we can learn and experience the resources that are important if we are going to make a successful journey during our days under the sun. Nevertheless, this does not prevent us from voluntarily following them so that we might receive the benefits they can offer.” [2]
Blue Laws cannot be kept on a voluntary basis because they were originally enacted to compel people to limit their activities on Sunday. In fact, Blue Laws had penalties for breaking them, such as fines or imprisonment. What we are seeing today is a call to revive the spirit of the Blue Laws, which is generating interest in their reinstatement. In this particular instance, this Methodist minister is calling on people to voluntarily embrace the Blue Laws. However, we know that the calls for Sunday laws will start out mild before becoming more imposing:
“It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced” (The Great Controversy, p. 590).
The secular press, social media, political pressure, religious dogma, and a false science are all being utilized to engage in the deceptive marketing campaign that says that the repeal of the Blue Laws has brought death through alcohol, drugs, and suicide. That is the message that is currently being actively promoted to persuade the minds of our political and religious leaders to take action. Sunday rest by law is being advertised as the solution to all of the problems in society. Inspiration tells us that this is what would happen:
“Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called “Christian Sabbath,” and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society” (Great Controversy, p. 587).
“Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God.” (The Great Controversy, p. 592)
Sunday laws are coming back, and these regulations will aim to restrict our conduct on Sunday. This is intended to persuade people to attend church on Sundays because, according to proponents, they are necessary to uphold morals and order in society. The problem with this type of legislation is that the subject of religion should be open to disagreement and differing views of interpretation. Sunday rest by law conflicts with God’s moral law, which requires us to rest on His seventh-day Sabbath, or Saturday. Additionally, God’s law designates Sunday as a working day:
“Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” Exodus 20:9, 10.
This falls within the realm of religious conviction and the individual conscience. So how can the government argue over which day should be the day of worship and rest? It is against the constitutional principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state to establish Sunday as a day of rest with the goal of improving the morals of society. Sunday laws effectively force people to follow a religious practice through the heavy hand of the civil government.
“We see the world working to the point of establishing by law a false sabbath, and making it a test for all. This question will soon be before us. God’s Sabbath will be trampled under foot, and a false sabbath will be exalted. In a Sunday law there is possibility for great suffering to those who observe the seventh day. The working out of Satan’s plans will bring persecution to the people of God. But the faithful servants of God need not fear the outcome of the conflict. If they will follow the pattern set for them in the life of Christ, if they will be true to the requirements of God, their reward will be eternal life, a life that measures with the life of God” (Selected Messages, Vol. 2, p. 375).
Sources
[1] https://www.kpcnews.com/site/about.html
[2] https://www.kpcnews.com/columnists/article_b00eb2ba-0e0c-57da-acfe-2b8878e34441.html
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Evangelicals are doing the work for the beast.