It is a sign of trouble when the state starts pushing for Sunday celebrations as a way to save the environment, promote healthy lifestyles and foster community cohesion. These kinds of initiatives, which aim to designate Sunday as the day to better our communities, are increasingly becoming more common. In this most recent case, political leaders in Costa Rica organized a smoke-free Sunday to encourage people to reduce car emissions, give up smoking, and to offer entertainment, food, sports, and leisure.
On February 18, 2024, La Teja News reported the following:
• “We take advantage of the ‘Smoke-Free Family Sundays’ organized by the municipality of San José on Paseo Colón to find out how informed families are about the real health risks caused by vaping.” [1]
• “In the midst of skateboards, bicycles, roller skates, clowns, inflatables, storytellers and even go-carts, we were happy to see that parents are well informed about vaping and, best of all, that they are explaining to their children how harmful it is to their health. What is this vice?” [1]
• “Smoke-Free Family Sundays are a way to fight against all types of smoke that are harmful to people: the one that comes out of cars, mainly, and cigarettes. We added vaping because the health authorities have already confirmed that it is a vice that is bad for your health.” [1]
We were warned in the book The Great Controversy that the temperance work would be “combined with the Sunday movement.”
“Here the temperance work, one of the most prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interest of society … The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible, yet while there is with these a requirement which is contrary to God’s law, his servants cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men” (Great Controversy, p. 587).
Many people mistakenly believe that Sunday is a special day for a variety of reasons, including religious ones. Government leaders around the world are setting aside Sunday for their citizens in order to build stronger social connections, strengthen family relationships, promote health, and improve climate conditions. However, inspiration says that many positive “moral reforms” will be combined with the Sunday movement in order to encourage people to return to church on this day. That is the bottom line, whether or not people want to recognize it. And just like we saw in Costa Rica, politicians and governments will play a vital role in getting everyone together on Sunday.
“We cannot with safety vote for political parties, for we do not know who we are voting for. We cannot with safety take part in any political schemes. We cannot labor to please men who will use their influence to repress religious liberty, and to set in operation oppressive measures to lead or compel their fellow men to keep Sunday as the Sabbath” (Letter 95, 1899).
Sources
0
0
0
Church and state are illicitly courting each other.
We are in the last days.