More than 750 Adventists and Lutherans gathered together in Australia for a Good Friday Easter worship event. The President of the South Australian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists David Butcher (left) and Lutheran Pastor David Gogoll (right), pictured above, led out in the celebrations. [1]
From the start the question should be asked, “What is this never ending, eager, anxious desire on the part of contemporary Seventh-day Adventists to worship together in a Good Friday Easter celebration with the churches of Babylon?
“Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” a voice from heaven declares, “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4, 5).
Do these joint-worship services mean that our unique doctrines are no longer important? Are we now in harmony with the Evangelical churches? Historically, the distinctive doctrines which we have held for more than 100 years have NEVER been popular with the other churches, and they never will be.
Whenever we yield or hide our distinctive truths in exchange for interfaith respectability and acceptance, we betray the special messages that make us a unique people. These interfaith worship services are happening far too often within Adventism, and many of our people are bending over backwards to accommodate apostate Christianity.
“There’s nothing wrong with being friendly,” some may say. But being friendly and engaging in joint-Babylonian worship services are two separate issues. We are falling for the gullible, foolish notions which tell us that interfaith worship is the Christian thing to do. Church leaders are forcing these interfaith worship services and traditions upon the commandment-keeping people. You can’t mix the faith of the Remnant people with the wine of Babylon. This is called syncretism and it has to do with mixing the worship of our true God with false beliefs and practices. What are those false beliefs?
“Satan tampered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed and sanctified, and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as ‘the venerable day of the sun’ ” (Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, pp. 54-55).
How exactly was Satan able to transfer the day of worship from the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week?
“This change was not at first attempted openly. In the First Century the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that his law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety, Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed” (Ibid., 55).
We are told through inspiration that the annual festival celebrating the resurrection of Christ (Easter) paved the way for Sunday sacredness. Sunday-keeping was introduced into the church through a yearly celebration. They wanted to remeber the resurrection. Instead of commemorating the death and resurrection of Jesus on Passover (Leviticus 23:3; John 19:14), which could fall on any day of the week, they decided to celebrate it on the first Sunday closest to Passover. In time these annual Sunday celebrations turned into weekly events while the seventh-day Sabbath was eventually discarded. This change came about through Easter.
“The first day of the week is not a day to be reverenced. It is a spurious sabbath, and the members of the Lord’s family cannot participate with the men who exalt this day” (Last Day Events, 127).
Talk about a perfect description of syncretism! We are trying to worship the Lord and serve pagan traditions at the same time. Ask yourself, “What do Easter eggs and bunny rabbits have to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ?” How many of our people are guilty of this? It is sad to see how Seventh-day Adventists are being used to help bring about the fulfillment of the end-time prophecies.
How many more interfaith worship services will it take before we open our eyes? How many more capitulations and compromises will we make? Women’s ordination, the LGBT+ agenda, interfaith Easter worship – what’s next? The fact that some of our churches and church leaders are now doing this is a testament that judgment is soon to come.
Sources
[1] https://record.adventistchurch.com/2019/05/03/adventists-and-lutherans-share-combined-easter-service/
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