The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is a non-profit Christian outreach organization that promotes multimedia evangelism, conducts evangelistic crusades, and engages in disaster relief. On May 16, 2023, the BGEA published an article titled “Taking Bach Your Sabbath” and featured Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of Billy Graham. Cissie Graham Lynch shared the following points about Sunday:
• What do Sundays look like for you? Are they a time to rest and recuperate? Or do you find yourself scrambling through the day, trying to get everything done before Monday morning? [1]
• Forsaking the Sabbath can leave us feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and stressed. [1]
• As a wife and mother of three, Cissie Graham Lynch shares her own struggle to prioritize this day of rest. Her latest episode on the Fearless podcast encourages listeners to reclaim their Sabbath as a family. [1]
• “Why is this one of the Ten Commandments that we have no problem breaking in our lives and in our relationship with the Lord?” asks Lynch. “It’s because our culture says it’s OK. Our culture has redefined what Sunday should look like.” [1]
• By missing out on a true Sabbath each week, we are also missing out on an opportunity to put God first, to experience rest, and to trust in Him. [1]
• “God gave us the Sabbath for a reason,” Lynch shared on the podcast. “When we don’t take a day of rest, we will not be ready physically, spiritually, and emotionally to face the days ahead.” [1]
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association makes the case that everyone’s health would benefit from having Sunday off. At the same time, they want us to set this day aside to reconnect with God. This is talking about worship. The BGEA is saying that we cannot “recuperate” or “reclaim” Sunday rest unless we preserve this day for worship. That is the ultimate goal and the reason why they call Sunday desecration a breaking of the Ten Commandments. If God gave us the Sabbath for a reason, and if this is designed for our “spirituality,” then what we are seeing is a call by Evangelical Protestants to preserve Sunday as the Christian Sabbath for both rest and worship. In other words, you cannot promote Sunday rest as a solely secular practice but rather as a rest based on religious principles.
When we speak out against any measure that would promote Sunday as the day of rest, we are doing the work of the gospel. By opposing Sunday observance, we are directly opposing false doctrine, hypocrisy, and religious formalism. Sunday rest measures will soon have the support of the state. These are efforts that use force, and they represent the fulfillment of what God foresaw in the last days when He said that people would have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5). Setting Sunday aside for worship and rest is a “form” of godliness devoid of God’s power. Sunday rest lacks biblical support and the conviction that comes from the Holy Spirit. That is why Sunday rest must be mandated by human law.
“In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction. With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sundaykeeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God’s judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground” (Great Controversy, pp. 578, 579).
Sources
[1] https://billygraham.org/story/taking-back-your-sabbath/
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Jesus is coming sooner than we thought! I’m so excited and at the same time, I want me and my family to be ready.
Amen !!!
My prayer is that peoples will pray and ask God to show them what the mark of the beast will be. And he is all to ready to lead them to the truth. All they have to do is ask! Praise God for answered prayers.
We are reminded, “The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast, the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God” (Great Controversy, pg.605).
In this environment of more calls for ‘rest’, God’s people have and obligation to declare to the world what is the true Sabbath rest and its eternal consequences for their lives. The wake-up call must go to the world by those who claim to know the TRUTH: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:6-7).
It is a dereliction of duty and patently suicidal for God’s people not to take advantage of and walk through the doors God is placing before us. Again, we are admonished, “We must take every justifiable means of bringing the light before the people. Let the press be utilized, and let every advertising agency be employed that will call attention to the work. This should not be regarded as nonessential. On every street corner you may see placards and notices calling attention to various things that are going on, some of them of the most objectionable character; and shall those who have the light of life be satisfied with feeble efforts to call the attention of the masses to the truth?
(Evangelism, pg. 130.1).
Recognizing the opportunities and heeding the admonition, we are initiating our SABBATH billboard campaign. The first one is up in Forsyth, Georgia. We recently finalized arrangements for another in Los Angeles, California. The message is plain, direct and forceful. It takes advantage of the Sabbath-rest growing phenomenon and shares the Truth as it is in Jesus. The board directs readers to a website where they can learn more about the Sabbath, get answers to their questions, engage in conversation, read the latest news from around the world on the Sabbath/Sunday issue, and download the Sabbath Truth App.
We invite you to join us in proclaiming the TRUTH for these times by getting on of these boards up in your city.
Please contact us for more details: info@sabbathconversations.org http://www.thesabbathtruth.org
Was startled by this article, but was somewhat relieved to see at least she doesn’t appear to be calling for national Sunday enforcement. It even says, “Your Sabbath could even be a completely different day during the week.” I did listen to the Janise Holmes podcast.
Pues creo que los adventistas no deberían dedicar su tiempo en predicar un día si no al Señor del día.
Y otra vez testifico a todo hombre que se circuncida, que está obligado a guardar toda la ley. De Cristo os desligasteis, los que por la ley os justificáis; de la gracia habéis caído.
Gálatas 5:3-4