On December 11, 2022, The Vindicator, a daily newspaper in Warren, Ohio that reaches Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties as well as online readers, published a Letter to the Editor extolling the virtues of Sunday rest and urging the restoration of the old blue laws. The following was published in The Vindicator:
“Returning to ‘good ol’ days’ is possible – This is my response to the letter of Nov. 20 asking, ‘Was there such a thing as ‘the good ol’ days’?’ The answer is, ‘Yes!’ The good ol’ days existed during the time when the center of life was family and church. When one knew all or most of the neighbors close by and throughout the community, and they looked out for each other. You could leave your home with unlocked doors and not worry. Sundays were for rest and relaxation. Nonessential businesses were closed on Sundays according to Ohio’s Blue Laws. Today, it’s go, go, go, seven days a week. Sunday is ‘just another day.’ If the computer takes 20 seconds to respond, we’re stressed. We want instant gratification on everything. There always have been and always will be wars, conflicts and selfish desires. If we want the “good ol’ days” again in our life, we must reduce the time on the cellphone and internet and start putting God and others first.” [1]
One of the proponents of Sunday as a day of rest is the news media, and they are not slowing down in their effort to generate an interest for the reinstatement of the blue laws. There is a growing sentiment in society that says we should return to the good old days when family, church, and Sunday were at the center of public and private life. The Letter to the Editor published by the Vindicator was basically saying, “Yes,” we can go back to the days when Sunday was dedicated for rest and businesses were closed as a result of the blue laws. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they are fast-tracking measures that will strike directly against religious liberty:
“There are many, even of those engaged in this movement for Sunday enforcement, who are blinded to the results which will follow this action. They do not see that they are striking directly against religious liberty” (Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 711).
Freedom of religion has been one of America’s most cherished liberties and one of the reasons why America became a great refuge for the persecuted. On the other hand, blue laws mandated Sunday rest. People were urged to attend church on Sundays by these oppressive religious laws. They discriminated against minorities who kept the seventh-day Sabbath, Saturday, holy while helping the Sunday-keeping majority. Those who disobeyed these rest mandates were also subject to fines and imprisonment under the blue laws. Notice what one of the Founding Fathers said about this:
“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities” (Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779).
Today, times have changed. Religious freedom is quickly disappearing. Great horrors await this nation if this trend continues. Now is the time for the third angel’s message to be proclaimed with power. May we share the present truth, God’s last-day message for this perishing world:
“They are working in blindness. They do not see that if a Protestant government sacrifices the principles that have made them a free, independent nation, and through legislation brings into the Constitution, principles that will propagate papal falsehoods and papal delusions, they are plunging into the Roman horrors of the Dark Ages” (Review and Herald, December 11, 1888).
Sources
[1] https://www.vindy.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2022/12/returning-to-good-ol-days-is-possible/
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SDAs can teach Sunday Blue Laws until they are blue in the face because it (again, from previous posts) is not the final test. The final test for the world is whether you
will worship the true Christ or the false christ. Revelation 13 and 14 say nothing about Sunday laws. Do SDAs understand what they read? I don’t think so or else they
would state the same things I already have. Again, I invite any SDA to ask Muslims if they will honor and obey Sunday laws. Please do it and let everyone on this website know the answers. I’ll be patiently waiting.
Pakistan has already shifted from Friday to sunday in 2003-2004
UAE has shifted to sunday from jan 2022
Provinces in Malaysia have shifted to sunday
Exactly as prophesied
As persons become convinced from the Scriptures that the claims of the fourth commandment are still binding, the question is often raised, Is it necessary in order to secure salvation that we keep the Sabbath? This is a question of grave importance. If the light has shone from the word of God, if the message has been presented to men, as it was to Pharaoh, and they refuse to heed that message, if they reject the light, they refuse to obey God, and cannot be saved in their disobedience. On the other hand, many have died conscientiously observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. These will not be condemned, because they followed the best light they had. They will not be held responsible for light which they never received. Christ said to the scribes and Pharisees: “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.’ Again he said, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” – RH January 5, 1886
The final test will not be as simple as either worshipping a man with horns and a pitchfork or worshipping a being who appears like the typical Western depiction of Jesus. And no the current blue laws are not the final test either. Nobody sins because they don’t shop on Sunday. They are just a precursor to the final test which will be to either violate the 4th commandment or lose the right to buy and sell and ultimately be put to death.
The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. Those who honor God’s Sabbath receive the “Seal of God”. There is only 1 of the 10 commandments which contains His seal.
A seal contains the name, title, and territory of the ruler.
In the 4th commandment we have God’s name: The Lord (Yahweh)
We also have his title and territory: Creator/Maker of “Heaven and Earth”.
Revelation 14 ends the subject of the 3 Angels by making a contrast with those who receive the Mark of the Beast. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
The final test of loyalty is keeping all 10 of God’s commandments through faith in Jesus.
The entire Muslim world is embracing the man of sin. If you follow the ecumenical movement you would know this. Revelation says all will wonder after the beast. Slowly, many Muslim nations are aligning their economies to the western standard by embracing work-free Sundays. That has been documented here and by others. The problem is that you reject the book the Great Controversy and many other historic teachings of the SDA faith. So naturally, you will never accept what is becoming obvious to everyone else.