Sabbath: Seventh-Day Adventist Quagmire
The Sabbath question.
Saturday as the seventh day of the week, and a day designated as the Sabbath, is it mandatory for Christians or is it an extra blessing, a mark of deeper discipleship?
For starters, I believe that Sabbath is a beautiful thing, and I also believe that God intended us to observe Sabbath. Not from a legalistic, mandatory stand point, but from a point of love and affection for God.
Let’s explore what I mean, because the Sabbath can turn into a quagmire.
The Seventh-day Adventist position regarding Sabbath is also a deep quagmire, even though on the surface level, it seems fairly cut and dry.
The Seventh-day Adventist Position regarding Sabbath:
Sunday observance is believed to be the mark of the beast, mentioned in Revelation 13. That those who observe Saturday as Sabbath are sealed for Salvation. There will come a time when Sabbath observant Christians will be hunted down, torn from their homes, sent to jail, unable to purchase food, or work. With scenes painted in a medieval catholic inquisition style persecution. This is the basis for many Seventh-day Adventist ministries, such as religious liberty or Pathfinders, to prepare the youth of the church to survive the Sabbath persecution. The mark of this persecution will be the legal establishment of a Sunday Law. Meaning people will be mandated to go to church on Sunday.
What I laid out in the previous paragraph is the commonly held belief, albeit condensed, regarding the position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Now, it should be noted that there are other protestant denominations that observe Saturday as Sabbath, Seventh Day Baptist being the predominant, and oldest. Seventh Day Baptists first arrived in America in the 1600’s, predating Seventh-day Adventism by two centuries. Sabbath observance is not necessarily the question, as today, many theologians and pastors readily state that Saturday is still the Sabbath….Christians are simply not mandated to observe the Sabbath. There are other pastors, who lead worship services on Sunday, who observe Saturday as Sabbath.
The greatest issue in the Seventh-day Adventist belief regarding Sabbath is that it is disconnected.
Sabbath as the seal of Salvation – Scripture is fairly clear, the Holy Spirit is the seal of Salvation, not the Sabbath. In fact, it is stated directly several times.
“And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, ESV).”
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14, ESV).”
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30, ESV).”
Sunday as the Mark of the Beast (Revelation 13) – Growing up in Christian America you realize that Mark of the Beast is slapped on anything and everything. Even though it is clearly layed out by Ellen White, even Seventh-day Adventists will regularly label things as the mark of the beast.
“And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name (Revelation 13:16-17, ESV).”
So what is the Mark of the Beast? Sunday observance as instituted by Roman Catholicism is not too far off the mark, sorry I had to use that pun. In order to understand what the Mark of the Beast is we need to go to the book of Ezekiel, and look in chapter nine.
“Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case. 4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” 5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. 6 Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the temple (Ezekiel 9:3-6, ESV).”
The man in the linen cloth is the ben enasha, the Son of Man, the Messiah. The man in the linen cloth actually appears in Ezekiel nine and ten but also Daniel chapters ten and twelve. Seventh-day Adventists cannot get to a deeper understanding of the Mark of the Beast because Ellen White did not see the man in the linen cloth as a Messiah type. She saw that the man in the linen cloth was one of the six men and not a man among the six men, meaning a seventh man. That is because she did not know Aramaic or Hebrew. Mathew Henry in his commentary and other protestant commentators acknowledge this fact and more importantly, Jews clearly see and teach the man in the linen cloth as the Messiah.
In English we miss the significance of words. Reading the original, and Rabbis picked up on this, God commands the man in the linen cloth to mark TAV on the foreheads of those who are appauled by the sin of Israel and the world around them. That letter TAV has undergone some changes, as all languages have, over the centuries. When it was written in the Hebrew of Ezekiel it would have been a simple X. The Hebrew letter tav has an etymological history of starting as a cross, then an X, and then the current Hebrew letter that we have today. In Revelation 13, which was originally written in koine Greek the work for mark is Charagma, but that is using English letters. The koine Greek letter used for the ‘ch’ sound is….X.
That explanation is not good enough?
The man in the linen cloth has an ink set, he is seen as carrying utensils of a scribe in Ezekiel 9, which honestly is odd, right? The others surrounding him have weapons of war, passing judgement on Israel, and yet the man in the linen cloth has a writing case and set. What do scribes do? They write, they create words. The six judgements that pass behind the man in the linen cloth are at the instruction of the man in the linen cloth. They cannot harm those who are sealed, by the man in the linen cloth. In the New Testament, Christ does the sealing. In fact John demonstrates his greatest understanding of this concept right from the start, “In the beginning was the Word (logos),…” and John goes on to describe how Christ is the very Word of God, creates all things, sustains all things, and so on.
So what is the mark of the beast in Revelation 13?
Myself, protestants, and even Seventh-day Adventists see the mark of the beast belonging to the mark of Catholicism.
What evidence do we have for Roman Catholicism being the beast?
Revelation 13:16, “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,” is pointing back to Deuteronomy 6:4-9,
“4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
If you have spent time around the orthodox or Hasidic Jewish faiths as I have it will become abundantly clear that the mark of the beast is meant to be an ideology, a set of laws and ways of worshiping that looks similar to that of Israel’s faith, but it is not. When an individual belongs to the Catholic faith, they are required to make the sign of the cross with their right hand and then sign the cross over themselves. On ash Wednesday, during lent, the priest will use ash to mark an X or cross on the foreheads of parishioners while using his hand, with fingers in the form of a cross (the index finger under the thumb). Many forget that Roman Catholicism does not allow for any salvation outside of the church. Extra ecclesian nulla salus. I have this written on the inside of my Bible, as it is a warning against catholic mindset. I also was told by a former family friend who was a conference president that there was no salvation outside the Seventh-day Adventist church, that, “we need the church.”
So, if you are lost. The mark of salvation in Ezekiel 9 is the mark of TAV, an X or Cross in old and middle Hebrew. The mark of the beast is a symbolic mark the marks the thoughts and actions, head and hands, of the believers with a religion that looks like Christianity, but it is not Christianity.
Why did I not discuss 666? This is due to a couple of reasons. For one, there are two renderings in the original manuscripts, 666 or 616. Even in the early church it was debated which was the number of the name of the mark of the beast. Seventh-day Adventist point to the papal title, Vicarius Filii Dei. Throughout history, letters have often equated to numerical values. So in the title Vicarius Filii Dei, letters that equate to roman numerals are added and equal 666. However, the same rule applies to the name Ellen Gould White, which equals 666. Something that catholic.com points out. Seventh-day Adventists have to follow sound hermeneutics, the rule to which I apply interpretation at one spot applies to the whole. So if I state that the name or title of an individual representing a belief system is the mark of the beast, then that applies not only to one but to any entity / leader of belief systems. Oddly enough if you wanted to go down that rabbit hole, the Seventh-day Adventist administration system (structure) is a direct carbon copy of the episcopal / catholic structure. Neal Wilson, the General Conference president in 1981 even wrote in an article in the Review and Herald that he was delighted to share with non-Seventh-day Adventists that, there is in fact one, universal, catholic church, the Seventh-day Adventist church. “…they discovered that there is another universal and truly catholic organization, the Seventh-day Adventist Church (Review & Herald, March 5, 1981, pg. 3, Wilson).”
I digress. Yet it begs the question, is the mark of the beast a mindset or is it a religion?
The Early Church and the Sabbath – Here we come to one of the greatest arguments, the early church, as seen in the New Testament is recorded to have kept the Sabbath. Yes, this is true. And this is one of the greatest examples of why Christians should take pause and contemplate serious the Sabbath question.
However, we have to get to the why?
Why did the early church observe the Sabbath?
First, we have to do sound exegesis here. Simply stating that the early church kept the Sabbath is not solid enough of a foundation. Their observance of Sabbath looked far different than the Jews of their time who kept the Sabbath according to the Law. Which is our next point. The early Christian church observed the Sabbath by attending the synagogue and then gathering together for prayer, singing, praise, communion, and worship. Yet they also did the same thing on Sunday and many other days of the week. Their faith and passion for Christ was so contagious that what they did on Sabbath, they did throughout the week. 1 Corinthians 11, Ephesians 5:18-21, and others give instruction for the worship of the church.
Today, Seventh-day Adventist believe that keeping the Sabbath Holy is through a combined effort. Part one is attending church and worshiping, part two is through ceasing to work and normal weekly activities.
The Sabbath According to the Law – Seventh-day Adventist foundations point to observing the Sabbath first because it was instituted at Creation, then it was instituted in the law, especially within the fourth commandment in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments).
Yes, on the seventh day of creation, God, “Blessed the seventh day and made it Holy.” Again, we need to do some solid hermeneutics here. For one, Sabbath as a word, does not appear until the Exodus account. So, Genesis does not state that God made the seventh day of creation a legal day of observance. This is important. It simply states that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. We often use the Mandela Effect and apply the precepts of the law to our reading of the creation account of the seventh day. It is not even recorded that God commanded Adam and Eve or any of the patriarchs to observe Sabbath. It simply is created as a marker of God’s authority, holiness, knowledge, supremacy, and his desire for intimacy.
When we come to the law, given at Sinai, we have instituted the legal Sabbath.
“The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:
3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. 14 Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
15 ‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord.17 You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’”
23 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”
26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.29 If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. 30 As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”
33 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. 36 For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.
37 ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day— 38 besides those of the sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.
39 ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lordfor seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.40 Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall bea perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, 43 so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.”
The seventh day Sabbath is a feast day, a part of the ceremonial law. Now, diving deeper, the feast days all pointed to the work of the Messiah and the identity of the Messiah. This is what Hebrews 4 points us too when the author of Hebrews writes, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His (Hebrews 4:9-10, ESV).” Now, there is debate among ALL protestants as to whether this is discussing the observance of Sabbath as a day, or as entering into the work of the Messiah, as the Feasts in Leviticus 23 point out. Meaning, if I accept and enter into the body of Christ, I am entering into that Sabbath rest. For Christ dwells within us, He is holy, therefore we become holy due to his residing presence and work of sanctification in our lives, and thus any day we reside on and gather together with other believers becomes Sabbath. This is the main argument.
Israel was commanded to rest on Sabbath. They were commanded to stay home, that is directly implied by the fourth commandment in the Decalogue. They did no work, they simply rested. The only worship that took place on Sabbath under the Levitical laws were the sacrificing by the priests. That sacrificial worship is symbolic or ceremonial for the work of Christ.
Remember that is the only worship that took place under the law. The synagogue did not come into existent until the exiles and post-exiles.
So, if Seventh-day Adventists are to keep the Sabbath according to the law, then they should stay at home that day and rest, not worship, because the worship part is fulfilled by Christ, as is pointed out by Hebrews chapter four.
Sunday worship is the Mark of the Beast – This is honestly exegetical gymnastics to arrive at Sunday worship as the Mark of the Beast and not the entire Roman Catholic doctrine, polity, and dogma.
Why?
Because Israel, under the law, worshipped on Sunday.
The Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks all had their high points of worship AFTER the seventh day Sabbath, and worshipped. Those first days of the week became Sabbaths also.
The Feast of First Fruits, “He [the high priest] shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord (Leviticus 23:11-12, ESV).”
The Feast of Weeks, “You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord (Leviticus 23:15-16, ESV).”
The Old Testament church, Israel, observed Sabbath on the seventh day by staying home while the priests worshiped through Sacrifice.
After the exiles, which is still a precept today in jewish communities, in order to get around the command to stay home and rest on Sabbath, rabbis figured out that if they made their communities one dwelling, then individuals would be free to move around within that community on Sabbath. In orthodox or Hasidic communities, look at the light posts and power poles known as eruv.
Seventh-day Adventists and Sabbath- The reality is that the Seventh-day Adventist position regarding Sabbath is the construct of Ellen White. The persecution that will take place is initially horrific, terrible and outlined in detail in A Word to the Little Flock, from 1845.
Yet, later on in 1902 the persecution due to the Sunday Laws is merely an annoyance and nuisance, legislative, dulled down from the fiery and brutal examples laid out in Ellen White’s first vision.
“Sanitarium, California,
August 17, 1902.
Dear Brother,
I will try to answer your question as to what you should do in the case of Sunday laws being enforced.
The light given me by the Lord at a time when we were expecting just such a crisis as you seem to be approaching, was that when the people were moved by a power from beneath to enforce Sunday observance, Seventh-day Adventists were to show their wisdom by refraining from their ordinary work on that day, devoting it to missionary effort.
To defy the Sunday laws will but strengthen in their persecution the religious zealots who are seeking to enforce them. Give them no occasion to call you lawbreakers. If they are left to rein up men who fear neither God nor man, the reining up will soon lose its novelty for them, and they will see that it is not consistent nor convenient for them to be strict in regard to the observance of Sunday. Keep right on with your missionary work, with your Bibles in your hands, and the enemy will see that he has worsted his own cause. One does not receive the mark of the beast because he shows that he realizes the wisdom of keeping the peace by refraining from work that gives offense, doing at the same time a work of the highest importance.
When we devote Sunday to missionary work, the whip will be taken out of the hands of the arbitrary zealots who would be well pleased to humiliate Seventh-day Adventists. When they see that we employ ourselves on Sunday in visiting the people and opening the Scriptures to them, they will know that it is useless for them to try to hinder our work by making Sunday laws.
Sunday can be used for carrying forward various lines of work that will accomplish much for the Lord. On this day open-air meetings and cottage meetings can be held. House-to-house work can be done. Those who write can devote this day to writing their articles. Whenever it is possible, let religious services be held on Sunday. Make these meetings intensely interesting. Sing genuine revival hymns, and speak with power and assurance of the Saviour's love. Speak on temperance and on true religious experience. You will thus learn much about how to work, and will reach many souls.
Let the teachers in our schools devote Sunday to missionary effort. I was instructed that they would thus be able to defeat the purposes of the enemy. Let the teachers take the students with them to hold meetings for those who know not the truth. Thus they will accomplish much more than they could in any other way.
God has given us plain directions regarding our work. We are to proclaim the truth in regard to the Sabbath of the Lord, to make up the breach that has been made in His law. We are to do all that we can to enlighten those in ignorance; but we are never to confederate with men of the world in order to receive financial assistance.
Of the children of Israel we read: “Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes, and showed them My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness: they walked not in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
“But I wrought for My name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up My hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; because they despised My judgments, and walked not in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them; and hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:10-20.
The Sabbath is the Lord's test, and no man, be he king, priest, or ruler, is authorized to come between God and man. Those who seek to be conscience for their fellow men, place themselves above God. Those who are under the influence of a false religion, who observe a spurious rest day, will set aside the most positive evidence in regard to the true Sabbath. They will try to compel men to obey the laws of their own creation, laws that are directly opposed to the law of God. Upon those who continue in this course, the wrath of God will fall. Unless they change, they cannot escape the penalty.
The law for the observance of the first day of the week is the production of an apostate Christendom. Sunday is a child of the papacy, exalted by the Christian world above the sacred day of God's rest. In no case are God's people to pay it homage. But I wish them to understand that they are not doing God's will by braving opposition when He wishes them to avoid it. Thus they create prejudice so bitter that it is impossible for the truth to be proclaimed. Make no demonstration on Sunday in defiance of law. If this is done in one place, and you are humiliated, the same thing will be done in another place. We can use Sunday as a day on which to carry forward work that will tell on the side of Christ. We are to do our best, working with all meekness and lowliness.
Christ warned His disciples in regard to what they would meet in their work as evangelists. He knew what their sufferings would be, what trials and hardships they would be called upon to bear. He would not hide from them the knowledge of what they would have to encounter, lest trouble, coming unexpectedly, should shake their faith. “I have told you before it come to pass,” He said, “that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” John 14:29. Their faith was to be strengthened, rather than weakened, by the coming of trial. They would say to one another: “He told us that this would come, and what we must do to meet it.”
“Behold,” Christ said, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:16, 22. They hated Christ without a cause. Is it any marvel that they hate those who bear His sign, who do His service? They are counted as the offscouring of the earth.
“When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” It is not the will of God that your lives shall be carelessly sacrificed. “Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” Verse 23.
The people must be given the truth, straightforward, positive truth. But this truth is to be presented in the spirit of Christ. We are to be as sheep in the midst of wolves. Those who will not, for Christ's sake, observe the cautions He has given, who will not exercise patience and self-control, will lose precious opportunities of working for the Master. The Lord has not given His people the work of making a tirade against those who are transgressing His law. In no case are we to make a raid on the other churches. Let us remember that, as a people entrusted with sacred truth, we have been neglectful and positively unfaithful. The work has been confined to a few centers until the people in them have become gospel-hardened. It is difficult to make an impression on those who have heard so much truth, and yet have rejected it....
All this is against us now. Had we put forth earnest efforts to reach those who, if converted, would give a true representation of what present truth would do for human beings, how much further advanced our work would now be. It is not right that a few places should have all the advantages while other places are neglected.
At our Avondale school, near Cooranbong, Australia, the Sunday labor question came up for decision. It seemed as if the lines were soon to be drawn so tightly about us that we should not be able to work during Sunday. Our school was situated in the heart of the woods, far from any village or railway station. No one was living near enough to us to be disturbed in any way by anything we might do. Nevertheless, we were watched. The officers were urged to come around to inspect our premises, and they did come. They could have seen many things if they had desired to prosecute us, but they did not appear to notice those who were at work. They had so much confidence in us as a people, and so great respect for us on account of the work we had done in that community, that they believed they could trust us anywhere.
Many recognized the fact that the whole community had been transformed since we went there. A woman who was not a Sabbathkeeper said to me: “You would not believe me if I should inform you fully in regard to the transformation that has taken place in this community as the result of your moving here, establishing a school, and holding these little meetings.”
So when our brethren were threatened with persecution and thrown into perplexity in regard to what they should do, the same advice was given as was given in answer to the question concerning games. I said: “Employ Sunday in doing missionary work for God. Teachers, go with your students. Take them into the bush [this is what we called the sparsely settled districts in the woods, where houses are often a mile or two apart], and visit the people in their homes. Let them know that you are interested in their soul's salvation.” They did so and, as the result, were greatly benefited themselves and were able to help others as well. The blessing of God rested upon them as they diligently searched the Scriptures in order to learn how to present the truths of the word in such a way that these truths would be received with favor.
August 20, 1903.
At one time those in charge of our school at Avondale inquired of me, saying: “What shall we do? The officers of the law have been commissioned to arrest those working on Sunday.” I replied: “It will be very easy to avoid that difficulty. Give Sunday to the Lord as a day for doing missionary work. Take the students out to hold meetings in different places, and to do medical missionary work. They will find the people at home and will have a splendid opportunity to present the truth. This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.”
We are to do all we can to remove the prejudice that exists in the minds of many against our work and against the Bible Sabbath.
Teach the people to conform in all things to the laws of their state when they can do so without conflicting with the law of God.
Sometimes the hearts of persecutors are susceptible of divine impressions as was the heart of the apostle Paul before his conversion (Testimonies vol. 9, Chapter 28).”
Are you seeing the disconnect? The Testimonies are authoritative and binding to Seventh-day Adventists. Ellen White continuously told the church that the Testimonies were directly given by God and to reject them and not follow them was to reject God.
Help me understand the logic.
We have prophecy given to us to know the plans God has set before us, also to repent and defeat Satan’s plans that are subjective and futile to God’s. Ellen White then states that after the Sunday Law is implemented, that Seventh-day Adventists can best and defeat Satan’s plans by, “whenever possible holding religious services on Sunday.” Doing the very thing that Sunday Christians do now.
So why wait for the enemy’s apparent plans to enact the Sunday Law and defeat it then through Sunday services, Seventh-day Adventists could defeat that plan now by having Sunday services and doing what Sunday Christians do now while also observing and teaching the importance of Sabbath. Thus blessing Christians and robbing Satan of his devious plan.
Instead, we are to have this ‘prophecy’ of what will take place in the future and yet we are to wait until that persecution to enact Sunday services in order to defeat that persecution.
In all seriousness, how does this logic make sense? How is this genuinely not a persecution complex?
If a pastor or conference were to enact ANYTHING on Sunday that was religious or looked at all like Sunday services, even thought they are fully authorized by Ellen White, there would be such an upheaval among conservative and ultra-conservative Adventists.
I believe in the importance of Sabbath, and I will write on Sabbath and seeing how one hinders themselves from the intimate, deep, and mature discipleship God has by resting and worshiping on Sabbath, by receiving the blessing God set aside for us on Sabbath. I just do not believe in the disconnectedness that many Seventh-day Adventist do not realize is right in front of them.
Seventh-day Adventists think and teach that the Sabbath question is cut and dry, black and white, clearly taught and presented.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
