What does
Jesus say about prophets?
Mat_2:23 And
he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. (((Notes: Jesus'
birth was foretold by PROPHETS))))
Mat_5:12
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Mat_5:17 Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat_7:12
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Mat_7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are ravening wolves. (((Note: Being told to BEWARE of false prophets- so
if there are false there must be true.))))
Mat_11:13 For
all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Mat_13:17 For
verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Mat_16:14 And
they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others,
Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat_22:40 On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mat_23:29 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the
prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat_23:30 And
say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat_23:31
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them
which killed the prophets.
Mat_23:34
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and
some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in
your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city (((Jesus sends
PROPHETS…))))
Mat_23:37 O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat_24:11 And
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat_24:24 For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs
and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect.
Mat_26:56 But
all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then
all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
Mar_1:2 As it
is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which
shall prepare thy way before thee.
Mar_6:15
Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one
of the prophets.
Mar_8:28 And
they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the
prophets.
Mar_13:22 For
false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders,
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
Luk_1:70 As he
spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Luk_6:23
Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in
heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
Luk_6:26 Woe
unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the
false prophets.
Luk_9:8 And of
some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was
risen again.
Luk_9:19 They
answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one
of the old prophets is risen again.
Luk_10:24 For
I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which
ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and
have not heard them.
Luk_11:47 Woe
unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed
them.
Luk_11:49
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles,
and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk_11:50 That
the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world,
may be required of this generation;
Luk_13:28
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you
yourselves thrust out.
Luk_13:34 O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are
sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Luk_16:16 The
law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is
preached, and every man presseth into it.
Luk_16:29
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
Luk_16:31 And
he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Luk_18:31 Then
he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall
be accomplished.
Luk_24:25 Then
he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken:
Luk_24:27 And
beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luk_24:44 And
he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of
Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Joh_1:45
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses
in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Joh_6:45 It is
written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Jesus
spoke of prophets, the Bible is filled with prophets and yet today we scoff at
prophets and prophecy. We hide from the
truth by claiming the prophecies are impossible to comprehend. We say if God
wanted us to understand He would have wrote things plain and we stick to the
plain things, the easily comprehended. We would rather study of God's love as
if His prophecies exclude love. Out of love we were given prophecies and out of
love we will be able to comprehend prophecies.
All
through the love of our Father may we understand.
I wanted
to study a bit about the Sunday Law issue, why? Because our future predicted by
prophets foretells of this, and if I were to ignore it all I put myself at
eternal risk. God help us all, we only want truth!
*******
Continuing from yesterday--
'NATIONAL SUNDAY LAW
Present Truth or Distraction?
(Revised 3/20/11)
Parts One and Two of
Wm. H. Grotheer's A National Sunday Law - PAST? PRESENT? FUTURE? Elder Grotheer's analysis
is that of a highly skilled expositor, and is exhaustive. It will be
convincing to the unbiased mind. There are timely warnings that should
not be ignored.
(Continued)
Application
When we
apply the two simple rules to the question of a "National Sunday Law"
and start comparing testimony with testimony, the first thing we discover is
that this phrase is not found in the Writings. The application of "time
and place" to that which has been written in regard to a Sunday Law could
be divided into pre and post 1900.
At
the very time - 1885 - the incidents which we cited on page 1 were
taking place in Arkansas, Ellen G. White was emphasizing two things. Starting
in 1878 and continuing through 1886 she wrote:
We are now upon the very borders of the eternal world.
(4T:306)
The end of all things is at hand. (5T:16)
Brethren, I have been shown that we are standing upon the
threshold of the eternal world. (5T:18)
We are standing, as it were, upon the borders of the eternal
world. (5T:382)
We are standing upon the very verge of the eternal world. (5T:460)
Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be
lifted. (5T:464)
In
connection with this emphasis on the nearness of the end, she wrote also about
a Sunday Law and its significance. Her words are:
By the
decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God,
our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. (5T, 451)
This
"decree enforcing" the papal Sabbath is noted as a
"warning" signal "to leave the larger cities" with the
ultimate objective of "retired homes in secluded places among the
mountains." (5T:464-465)
In 1889,
Ellen White would write:
Events
which for more than forty years we have, upon the authority of the prophetic
word, declared to be impending, are now taking
place before our eyes. Already the question of an amendment to the Constitution
restricting liberty of conscience, has been urged upon the legislators of the
nation. The question of enforcing Sunday observance has become one of national
interest and importance. (5T:711;
emphasis mine)
This was a
true evaluation of what was then taking
place. On May 21, 1888, Senator H. W. Blair introduced a National Sunday-Rest
Bill into Congress. It was opposition to this and subsequent religious
legislation which catapulted A. T. Jones to the forefront of Adventism.
However, out of this agitation for Sunday legislation, Congress finally voted
into an appropriations bill for the Columbian Exposition of 1892, a Sunday
closing amendment which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on
August 5, 1892.
Rightly or
wrongly, A. T. Jones perceived this law as giving life to the image of the
beast of Revelation 13, and that the mark of the beast had been established.
Coupling this Congressional action with the Message of 1888, Ellen G. White
could write – "The time of test is just before us"
indicating that God's people had reached the time for the fulfillment of
Revelation 18; and "the loud cry of the third angel had already
begun." (R&H, Nov. 22, 1892)
During
this final decade of the 19th Century, there was constant agitation over the
Sunday question which presented an unparalleled opportunity for the Adventist
to witness to the Sabbath truth. Major statements concerning Sunday, its origin
as a day of worship, were made which were used and have been used by Adventist
evangelists in the decades since then. (See end of Part One)
Since 1900
Counsel to
get out of the cities continued to come from the pen of Ellen G. White. In
1906, she wrote "'Out of the cities; out of the cities!' this is the
message the Lord has been giving me." (Life
Sketches, p. 409).
But the
"message" was not connected with the Sunday Law as a sign to leave
the cities. Instead, she declared - "On these cities, God's judgments will
fall." (Letter 158,
1902) In 1905, she indicated the global extent of the message to get out of the
cities, by writing - "The world over, cities are becoming hot beds of
vice." (Ministry of Healing,
p. 363) Then in 1907, the warning came - "Our cities are increasing in
wickedness, and it is becoming more and more evident that those who remain in
them unnecessarily do so at the peril of their soul's salvation." (Ms. 115, 1907)
By
comparing testimony with testimony, there is revealed a broadening of the
issues which will bring about the same ends had the objectives of the Sunday
Law issue of the final decade of the 19th Century been realized. Observe these
two statements written with a 22 year time gap, but with the same end result:
|
1888 -- A time is coming when the law of
God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our
nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus
God's people will be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative
councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of man in regard to their
religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive
power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God
will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national
apostasy will be followed by national ruin. (R&H, Dec. 18, 1888; 7BC:977)
|
1910 -- When the Protestant churches
shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing
which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution; when the state shall
use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the
church - then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy, and
there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin. (ST, March 22, 1910; 7BC:976)
|
You will
observe that these two quotations are connected by the end result - national
apostasy will be followed by national ruin. But in 1910, the base has been
widened from a single issue of a law "enforcing Sunday observance" to
the exercise of the power of the state "to enforce the decrees" of
the church and to sustain their "institutions." The picture calls for
a union "with the secular power to sustain a false religion."
Why is
this change of means indicated for the accomplishment of the same ends? Again
it must be remembered that in 1901, Ellen White wrote:
We may have to remain here in this world because
of insubordination many more years, as did the children of Israel, but for
Christ's sake, His people should not add sin to sin by charging God with the
consequence of their own wrong course of action. (Ms. 184, 1901)
To this
might be added that because we have been in this world "many more
years," we should now compound our present predicament by wrongly
comparing "testimony with testimony" and giving a perverted picture
of the Sunday Law question to further personal ends? God has given in the same
Testimonies a sign to look for, and He has clearly indicated the nature of a
Sunday Law which will indeed be oppressive. Besides this, there is clearly
suggested the fact that all will not be so apparent to perceive as we would
hope, but rather will be more deceptive and far more difficult to combat.
Tragically, when the full force of the reality will
become apparent, too many will be caught totally unprepared because they have
been lulled into a fatal delusion by a misinterpretation of the Testimonies.
Surface reading plus the siren calls of false "watchmen" will have
produced tragic consequences. "My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6;) but it is
knowledge they could have had if they would have but followed the rules given
for understanding the Writings.
SABBATH QUESTION AGITATION - 1889-1905
1889
T. Enright of the Redemptorist Fathers - Industrial American, Harlan, Iowa:
The Bible says; "Remember the Sabbath day. to keep it
holy," but the Catholic Church says: "No, keep the first day of the
week," and all the world bows in obedience. (January 19, 1889)
1893
The Christian Sabbath,
(2nd Ed.; Baltimore: The Catholic
Mirror [Official Organ of Cardinal Gibbons]):
The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the
existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day
from Saturday to Sunday. (p. 29)
Dr. E. T. Hiscox, Baptist Clergyman and Author of the Baptist Manual in a paper read
August 20, 1893 at Saratoga, NY, at a Baptist Minister's Meeting:
Of course I quite wall know that Sunday did come into use in
early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian
Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark
of Paganism, and Christened with the name of the Sun-god. Then adopted and
sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to
Protestanism, and the Christian world.
1894
The Catholic World,
a magazine of General Literature and Science, March, 1894:
The church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler
of faith against the heathen. She took the Roman Pantheon, temple of all the
gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took
the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday.
The sun was the foremost god with heathendom ... Hence the
church in these countries would seem to have said, "Keep that old, pagan
name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified." And thus the pagan Sunday,
dedicated to Balder [White God of the Scandinavians], became the Christian
Sunday sacred to Jesus. (p.809)
1895
A Letter from the Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons to J. F.
Snyder of Bloomington, Illinois, Nov. 11, 1895:
Of course the Catholic Church claims the change was her act.
It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of
doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical without her. And the act
is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.
1897
John Milner, a Roman Catholic Divine, to James Brown, a
member of a Protestant Religious Society, Letter #11 in The End of Religious Controversy (New
York: P.J. Kenedy) [After reviewing the history of the Sabbath from Creation
through the life of Christ, Milner drew the following conclusion in his
letter]:
Yet with all of this weight of Scripture authority for
keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants, of all denominations, make this a profane day and transfer the
obligation of it to the first day
of the week, or the Sunday.
Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all, but the unwritten Word, or tradition of the Catholic church,
... (p. 89, Emphasis his)
1899
T Enright CssR, Kansas City, MO, June 16, 1899:
I hereby offer $1000, to anyone who can prove to me, from the
Bible alone, that I am bound, under pain of grievous sin, to keep Sunday holy.
1902
Letter from T. Enright, dated April 26, 1902 from Detroit,
MI:
I still offer $1000 to any one who can prove to me, from the
Bible alone, that I am bound under pain of grievous sin, to keep Sunday holy.
We keep Sunday in obedience to the law of the Catholic Church. The church made
this law long after the Bible was written; hence the law is not in the Bible.
The Catholic church abolished not only the Sabbath, but all the other Jewish
Festivals.
1905
Letter from T. Enright, dated June, 1905 from St Louis, MO:
I have offered and still offer $1000 to any one who can prove
to me from the Bible alone, that I am bound, under grievous sin. to keep Sunday
holy. It was the Catholic Church which made the law obliging us to keep Sunday
holy. The church made this law long after the Bible was written. Hence said law
is not in the Bible. Christ, our Lord empowered his church to make laws binding
in conscience.
The four
articles in The Catholic Mirror demonstrated
from the Bible that Adventists were the only consistent Protestants since the
Bible provided no justification for Sunday observance. These articles
challenged Protestants either to admit their debt to the Roman Catholic Church
or to keep the Bible Sabbath. The Adventists had these articles published in a
booklet - Rome's Challenge to
Protestants. It was given wide circulation and used effectively by their
evangelists.
Part Two
During the
crucial years of 1901-1903, Ellen G. White introduced three factors into the
events of the last days. Not only did she
indicate that we would have to remain many more years in this world because of
insubordination (Ms. 184, 1901), but she also wrote immediately following the
1903 General Conference session that - "In the balances of the sanctuary the
Seventh-day Adventist church is to weighed." (8T:247) In simple terms this was telling the Church,
that it, too, as a corporate entity had to pass the review of the Judgment. The
Church could not take for granted that its status, as the recipient in trust of
"the last warning message for a perishing world" (9T:19), would place it beyond accountability as to how
it ministered that sacred trust. If it did not prove true to that trust, it
would be "found wanting." (8T:247)
Further, in 1902, Ellen White wrote - "All need
wisdom to carefully search out the mystery of iniquity that figures so largely
in the winding up of this world's history." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 118) The working of "the mystery of
iniquity" in the final affairs is not going to be as simple as 2+2=4, but
must be "carefully searched out." Simply printing a national
Sunday Law booklet and urging its distribution is not searching out "the
mystery of iniquity," but is rather lulling the unsuspected into a fatal
delusion that the final issues will be very obvious. While it is true that
"the day of the Lord" is not to overtake us "as a thief in the
night," it is conditioned upon the premise that we must be "children
of the light." (I Thess.5:1-6) One cannot be a child of the light,
following the principles set forth to understand that light - "time and
place;" and yet be the devotees of the hawkers of the sensational who are
soliciting through that means a "fast buck." Not only did Ellen
G. White call attention to the working of "the mystery of
iniquity;" but in 1901, she observed that Christ connected specific
historical events with the scenes that were to take place "just
prior" to His return a second time. It would be a new "signal"
as the Sunday Law was intended to be in the preceding decade. She wrote:
In the twenty-first chapter of Luke, Christ foretold
what was to come upon Jerusalem and with it He connected the scenes which were
to take place in the history of this world just prior to the coming
of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Counsels
to Writers and Editors, pp. 23-24,
emphasis mine)
By
specifying Luke 21, rather than Matthew 24 or Mark 13 which are parallel
chapters, Ellen G. White was focusing on a specific prophecy in Luke concerning
Jerusalem which the other two gospel writers did not. All the synoptic writers
- Matthew, Mark and Luke - call attention to the prophetic sign Jesus gave in
regard to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but only Luke records that Jesus also said - "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles
(nations) until the times of the Gentiles (nations) be fulfilled" (21:24)
This Ellen White wrote would signal the time "just prior" to Christ's
return. This time we have reached. It is the "now" time for us!
This
factor does not exclude an "oppressive" Sunday Law, but it does place
it as an "International Sunday Law" rather than the emphasis on a
"National" Sunday Law. In the same year - 1901 - Ellen White wrote:
The substitution of the false for the true is the last
act of the drama. When this substitution
becomes universal, God will reveal Himself. When the
laws of men are exalted above the laws of God, when the powers of earth try to force men to keep the first day of the
week, know that the time has come for God to work. He will arise in majesty,
and will shake terribly the earth. (R&H. April 23, 1901)
Observe
this statement carefully. Note and retain in memory the words -
"exalted" and "substitution." We will see them again in
use. Carefully consider that the final issue is not some "Sunday Closing
Law" but a forcing by law the observance of "the first day of the
week." At that point in time, God "will arise in majesty, and shake
terribly the earth."
What
persuasive power will overcome all "pluralistic" factors which now
stand as a barrier to "oppressive" religious legislation? Observe
carefully this paragraph from a letter written in 1893:
Fallen
angels upon earth form confederations with evil man. In this age antichrist
will appear as the true Christ, and then the law of God will be fully made void
in the nations of our world. Rebellion against God's holy law will be fully
ripe. But the true leader of all this rebellion is Satan clothed as an angel of
light. Men will be deceived and will exalt him to the place of God. and deify
him. But Omnipotence will interpose, and to the apostate churches that unite in
the exaltation of Satan, the sentence will go forth, "Therefore shall her
plagues come in one day, death, and mourning. and famine; and she shall be
utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 62)
It should
be obvious that these two quotations - one written in 1901, and the other in
1893 following "a national Sunday Law" - end with a focus on the same
point of time, a time when God "will arise in majesty" thus
interposing His "Omnipotence." The future "oppressive"
Sunday Law coincides with the deification of Satan by the "apostate
churches." In the final drama, it is to be a universal Sunday Law
originating at the instigation of Satan as "an angel of light."
[In this
schema of events as portrayed by Ellen G. White, one obtains the answer as to
the decision made in the Sanctuary when the Church was weighed in the balances.
For many it will be too late. She wrote commenting on Ezekiel 9 - "Here we
see that the church - the Lord's sanctuary - was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of
God." (5T:211) The "first stroke" is upon those that "had
the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." (Rev.
16:2)
The issue
is far more than "a national Sunday Law" for many of those "who
profess to keep the Sabbath" will not be
"sealed." (5T:213-214) And if one is not sealed with the seal of God,
with what is he marked? But today, Satan is using his agents to profiteer and
to deceive concerned Adventists in agitation over a National Sunday Law issue
instead of studying the Writings as to "time and place."]
Interestingly,
Ellen G. White places the setting of the "oppressive" Sunday law in
the context of Luke 21:24. She wrote:
After the truth has been proclaimed as a
witness to all nations [in other words, the times of the nations was
fulfilled], every conceivable power of evil will be set in operation, and minds
will be confused by many voices crying, "Lo, here is Christ, Lo, he
is there. This is the truth, I have a message from God. He has sent me with
great light." Then there will be a removing of the landmarks, and an
attempt to tear down the pillars of our faith. A more decided effort will be
made to exalt the false
Sabbath, and to cast contempt upon God himself by supplanting the day He has blessed and sanctified. This
false Sabbath is to be enforced by an oppressive law. (R&H, Dec. 13, 1892)
This
prophetic warning, again written after a
National Sunday Law, can serve several purposes. It not only tells us about the
nature of the coming "oppressive" Sunday Law, but also alerts sincere
seekers of truth as to what they face in this "now" time of the
fulfilled prophecy of Luke 21:24.
First, let us note in passing the "red"
alert this warning gives. One has only to mark the date of the complete
fulfillment of Luke 21:24 in 1980 when Jerusalem was proclaimed by the Knesset
of Israel to be the Capital of its government, to see that after that date
there came on the periphery of Adventism, the "many voices" as
foretold. Ellen G. White indicated these "voices" would be confusing
voices which would deceive. Ask yourself when you listen to tapes sent to you,
when did that voice begin its ministry, or when you receive a newsletter, check
the date of first publication of that journal or paper, and you will have a key
that will keep you from deception no matter how good it looks or sounds.
We need to
consider next the implications of the words describing the nature of the
"oppressive" Sunday Law which is to occur in this "now"
time. It states that there will be a "more decided effort to exalt the false Sabbath, and to cast
contempt upon God Himself by supplanting the
day He blessed and sanctified." Now go back to the reference from
the Review & Herald,
April 23, 1901, (p. 2) and compare these same words, and the synonym used for
"supplanting" - "substitution." It should be obvious that
these two quotations are referring to the same Sabbath law that is to be
enacted.
While we
do not believe in verbal inspiration, nevertheless words give thought as
perceived by the writer. In the paragraph preceding the one quoted from
the Review and Herald, Dec.
13, 1892, Ellen G. White speaks of -Sunday as a "rival Sabbath," a
"spurious Sabbath." But "after" the truth has been
proclaimed as a witness to all "nations," this rival and spurious
Sabbath is "exalted" and made to "supplant" the true in
seeking to cast contempt upon God. Supplant means "to take the place of
and serve as a substitute for especially by reason of superior excellence of
power." Thus the exaltation leads to supplanting. There is an interesting
calendar in use today in various parts of the world which alters the
arrangement of the week, and gives to Sunday the place which God assigned for
the true Sabbath - the seventh day.
The details of the future are not open before us, and
will be known only as the scroll unfolds. Today, we can see only the broad
outlines. However, one has only to do a minimum of thinking to grasp the
implications if this calendar form should become universal, and a world-wide
law were enacted enforcing the observance of the seventh-day as outlined in
this calendar. Do not forget there are forces within society today who would
return to such "Sabbath regulations." See WWNXX-6; "Now You Can Hear the
Thunder".
The
concept from Puritanism giving to Sunday the status of the seventh-day Sabbath
and robing "the Lord's day" with the sanctity of the Sabbath is
firmly held by the Lord Day Alliance. The cover of Sunday (Jan./March, 1989), the official organ of the LDA
in the United States, reads - "May God's JOY of the Sabbath Enter Your Heart THIS SUNDAY!" Of
import is the theology of Pope John Paul II on this point. During his 1987
visit to the United States, the Pope observed concerning Sunday:
Today is
Sunday: the Lord's Day. Today is like the "seventh day" about which
the Book of Genesis says that "God rested from all the work he had
undertaken." (Gn 2:2) Having completed the work of creation, he
"rested." God rejoiced in his work; he "looked at everything
that he had made, and found it very good." (Gn 1:31) So God blessed the
seventh day and made it holy" (Gn 2:3).
On this
day we are called to reflect more deeply on the mystery of creation, and
therefore our own lives. We are called to "rest" in God, the Creator
of the universe. Our duty is to praise him: "My soul, give thanks to the
Lord ... Give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings." (Ps.
102 (103):1-2) Quoted in Sunday, op. cit, p.23) . . .
Elder Grotheer wrote these articles in 1989, just over twenty (Almost 30 years ago now- 6/11/18) years ago. Jesus said in relation to
the prophecies of Luke 21, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall
not pass away, till all be fulfilled." (Vs. 32) Taking a
biblical generation to be approximately forty years, nearly thirty years have
passed since (Nearly 40 years now)
1980.
Romans 9:28 states, "For he will finish the work, and
cut it short in righteousness:
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Ellen White
predicted that the final movements will be rapid ones (9T 11.) Referring
to the fulfillment of Luke 21:24, Elder Grotheer stated in 1989, "It
is the "now" time for
us!" How much more is it the now time at the end of 2009
(2018)! Truly, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the
day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2b.) Now is
the time to give diligence to make our calling and election sure (2 Pet.
1:10.) Now is the time to
search the Scriptures diligently before it is too late, following the
counsel of Ellen White:
Do not trust to the wisdom of any man, or to the
investigations of any man. Go to the Scriptures
for yourselves, search the inspired word with humble hearts, lay aside your
preconceived opinions; for you will obtain no benefit unless you come as
children to the word of God. You should say, "If God has anything for me,
I want it. If God has given evidence from his word to this or that brother that
a certain thing is truth, he will give it to me. I can find that evidence
if I search the Scriptures with constant prayer, and I can know that I
do know what is truth."
You need not preach the truth as the product of another man's mind, you must
make it your own. (RH, March 25, 1890; emphasis added)
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