Sunday Laws & the Mark
of the Beast
by Nic Samojluk
Introduction: I received an Email from a friend of mine asking me my opinion regarding the Sunday laws and the mark of the beast. He included in his electronic communication a long letter describing the subrepticious manner in which the Catholic Church allegedly is trying to advance the imposition of the observance of Sunday as a sacred day of worship. What follows is my response to his query. It represents probably not what he expeected to hear as an answer to his question, but it is what, I believe is relevant to the Adventist Church today. I hope you will take the time to read this, and you are welcome to send your comments to me about this controversial issue. Send yourcomments to: nicsamojluk@adelphia.net
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Hi:
I just finished reading the interesting material you sent my way. There is no doubt that the new Pope would like to influence the rest of the world, but especially Americans, to restore the respect for Sunday observance, and that the Catholic Church will do everything in its power to accomplish said objective. There is also no doubt that Sunday is a false day of worship, as Ellen White has repeatedly stated during her many years of service to the Adventist Church as God's messenger to his Remnant people. Nevertheless, we must remember that all prophetic predictions are conditional and subject to the people's response to God's messages and warnings. The experience of Prophet Jonah should warn us not to read those predictions the way we read the newspaper news. The Lord did not give us those prophecies that we might read the events of the future the way we read the history of past events.
The Role of the Sabbath. First, I want to comment on the role of the Sabbath Commandment. The Bible states that the Sabbath is a sign of our allegiance to him. Signs are very useful devices. The sign which reads "Emergency" in front of a hospital has played a useful role in guiding emergency vehicles to a place where help is available for victims of accidents. Nevertheless, the sign itself does not save the life of those victims. If behind the sign there is no hospital staffed with doctors and nurses ready to render critically needed help, then the sign becomes a nuisance and an obstruction which delays the provision of needed life-saving assistance. Likewise, if Sabbath keepers by the way they live and act do not lead sinners to Jesus Christ, their Sabbath sign becomes an obstruction instead of being a saving instrument. Think about the leading religious leaders two thousand years ago. They had a high regard for the sanctity of the Sabbath, yet they used said sign as an excuse to kill the most innocent being in the universe: Jesus Christ. Evidently, the Sabbath for them became--not a sign of allegiance to God but--a sign of their allegiance to the deceiver, the one who has been a "murderer from the beginning."
The Mark and Image of the Beast. We have been taught, and Ellen White has written, that the mark and the image of the beast point to the forced observance of a false day of worship instituted by the Catholic Church and implemented by the union of the Protestant Church and the government. We believe that this will incite the persecution of those who refuse to render homage towards this false day of worship. We also have been trained to believe that the "mark of the beast" represents the observance of Sunday and that the "seal of God" the observance of the correct day of worship. On the surface these beliefs are correct. Nevertheless, we need to look behind the sign to determine the true meaning of the mark of the beast and the seal of God. The Jewish leaders, as I have pointed before, did cleverly hide behind God's sign--the Sabbath--in order to carry out their murderous intentions. This means that carrying the right sign is useless if our objective is to justify our evil actions and our persistence in ignoring some of the other Commandments of God's Law, like the one which forbids the killing of innocent human beings.
Many books and articles have been written about the "Image of the Beast." I want to ask you to look at this from another perspective. Instead of trying to decipher the obscure meaning of the number "666," why can't we look at what is rather obvious--The character of the leading individuals and organizations? Look at Cain! He brought an offer for the Lord, but killed an innocent human being. Look at King Pharaoh: He ordered the destruction of the Jewish male babies. Look at King Herod: He ordered the killing of innocent children. Look at the Catholic Inquisition: they killed thousands of innocent worshippers of God. Look at Hitler: He annihilated six millions of innocent members of the Jewish race. He also killed the veteran amputees, and those who could no longer contribute with their work for the welfare of his country.
What I am suggesting is that we should judge the identity of the "Beast" by its character. Beasts of prey kill and maim innocent victims, and so do politicians and organizations whose aim is to eliminate the most vulnerable members of humanity. My question now is: Why can't we look at the present instead of looking at the future. Yes, there will be a "Time of Trouble" for God's people, but there is a present time of trouble for a specific group of human beings. Can you guess the identity of those who are systematically destroyed today in the entire world, including the United States? We look for a future decree which will justify the killing of the innocents, yet we fail to see that the decree ordering the deaths of the innocents has been already issued back in 1973. The sad part is that the church that is supposed to be God's Remnant, the one carrying God's sign of allegiance to the Lord and defending the observance of the correct day of worship--the Sabbath, is the one who has been promoting the killing of the innocents.
Adventists and Abortion. This leads me to the issue of abortion. I ask: What benefit is it for us Adventists to worship the Lord on the correct day of the week, if we officially justify the killing of the innocent? If you don't believe what I am saying, then read the official "Guidelines on Abortion." They state that the killing of the unborn is morally justifiable under a great number of circumstances including the following: if the baby is the result of rape or incest, if the baby is malformed, if the baby's mother is a minor, or if the baby interferes with the woman's mental health. All a woman carrying a perfect baby in her womb who is faced with an unwanted pregnancy is to secure the opinion of a physician declaring that her pregnancy is affecting her mental health, and bingo, the baby is doomed to never see the light of day; and notice that in the case of rape, the criminal's life is protected, while one of the innocent victims is summarily executed.
This official position of the Adventist Church is defended by many leading Adventists in the U.S. Some of them argue that the unborn baby has no right to life because it has not taken the first breath; others insist that the killing of the unborn is not a crime because their brain--which is required to be fully human--has not developed sufficiently to acquire a right to life. This philosophy is being taught in Loma Linda University by the leading teachers. No wonder one of their graduates owns now over twenty abortion clinics in California. His name is Edward Allred. Someone asked him whether the killing of the innocent human beings doesn't bother him. He said, that if he quits the business, someone else will take over, which means the baby killing will not stop. A few years ago a survey revealed that five Adventist owned medical institutions were offering elective abortions to their patients. This started in Hawaii back in the 1970 when the state legalized abortion. A group of non-Adventist physicians at our hospital there demanded the right to offer elective abortion services. The then North American Division president, Neal Wilson, declared that the church was leaning towards abortion because there were too many people and there was too much hunger in the world.
A few years ago there was a demonstration in front of our Washington Hospital with picketers carrying signs which read: "What about the Sixth Commandment?" The current SDA president publicly stated recently that our church is pro-life. Can you believe this? Our official "Guidelines of Abortion" state in fine print that "Jesus died to restore our freedom of choice." If this is true, them perhaps we could also argue that Jesus died to restore our freedom to steal, rape, murder, and abuse little children! Catholic hospitals refuse to perform abortions, and we think they are part of the "Beast of Revelation." We do kill the unborn, and generously label ourselves as members of the "Remnant Church." How can we be so blind as not to see the patent lack of logic in our thinking? Fortunately, there are some at the General Conference who see this contradiction, but their efforts have not produced a change of position regarding abortion. One of them is James Standish, the man in charge of the Religious Liberty department. He wrote and article on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling which legalized the destruction of the unborn. I am including a link to what he said recently in his magazine. I am also including several items I have published in the past dealing with this controversial subject.
Concluding Remarks. I spent ten years investigating the role of the Adventist church regarding this abortion issue. I have discovered, to my dismay, that while the SDA pioneers, including James and Ellen White, did condemn the practice of abortion in the strongest terms and labeling it as "murder;" the majority of the new American generation of Adventists defend the right of women to destroy their own unborn children. If we continue to do this, I believe that we have no right to call ourselves the "Remnant Church" and no right to insist that the Catholic church--which defend the right to life of the unborn--as the "Beast of Revelation." How can we continue to identify the Pope as the Beast of Revelation if we are the ones who justify the mass killing of the innocents? A few years ago the leaders of the Adventist Church in both Germany and Austria issued a public apology for the SDA participation in the Hitler genocide. History is being repeated now, and again we are actively participating in the mass slaughter of a different group of members of humanity. There is a need for repentance regarding this serious religious anomaly. No wonder the Adventist Church in North America is not growing. There is a need for repentance and reform.
This is my humble opinion!
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35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
http://www.religiousliberty.info/blog/index.php?paged=2
Who is the Antichrist Today?
http://sdaforum.com/page30.html
Sabbath Observance v. Infanticide
http://sdaforum.com/page41.html
Is Human Life of Less Value than Holy Time?
http://sdaforum.com/page52.html
From Pro-life to Pro-choice: The Dramatic Shift in the Seventh-day Adventist Attitude Towards Abortion
http://www.sdaforum.com/page13.html
A Corporate Apology by the Seventh-day Adventist Church
http://sdaforum.com/page47.html
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