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The National Sunday Law Written By Michael Harper The following article was written, and was sent to the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference, 3ABN, Amazing Facts (sent both to the organization and also directly to Doug Bachelor's personal email address, provided to me by a close personal friend of his), Hartland Institute (Dr. Colin Standish), Hope International (Joe Olson), Steps to Life (Pastor John J. Grosboll) , Keep the Faith Ministries (Pastor Hal Mayer also of Hartland Institute), Cornerstone Publishing (Ruben Teske), Smyrna Gospel Ministries (Allen Stump), Restoration Ministries (David Clayton), Fresno Central SDA church (Stephen Bohr), San Francisco Central SDA, To date no replies have been made by any of the above people or organizations. Although the article is original in every way and based on the authors own research, the author would like to share that some of the subject matter was researched on ellenwhiteexposed.com. Towards the end of the article the quotes about the Sunday closing laws being repealed in the United States in the last few years were compiled by sundaybluelaws.org. The reader of this article will find much more information on this subject matter on the first site named. A special thank you to those who have gone before with painstaking effort to make known the facts. - Michael Harper The National Sunday Law Written By Michael Harper Adventist believe that one day there will be a National Sunday Law and that once this is enacted by the United States that Sunday observance will at that time become THE MARK OF THE BEAST. All who observe Sunday from then on will be MARKED with the sign of the Papacy’s authority and will thereby become damned. Most who observe Sunday after this law will be enacted will be punished with God’s wrath during the 7 last plagues and then later will be tortured twice in the lake of fire, once at both ends of the 1000 years. Prior to 1903 Adventist believed that once the Sunday Law was enacted that abstaining from work and worshipping God on Sunday would cause you to be MARKED for damnation. According to Adventist beliefs the Sunday Law would come in stages. First it would demand REST from work on Sunday. Later this law would be intensified by compelling the entire world to GATHER TOGETHER IN CHURCH AND WORSHIP GOD on Sunday. In the final stages this law would prohibit the observance of Saturday. Violating the Sunday Law at that point would result in a death decree against Sabbatarians. All the Sunday keepers will then become raving lunatics and will behave like animals with the taste of blood in their mouths against the Seventh-day Adventist. There will then be mass murder and all the less loyal Adventist will become martyred leaving the 144,000 more loyal Adventists. The Sunday keepers who try to kill them will witness their faces shine like Moses face did and all the Sunday keepers will fall down and begin worshipping at the remaining 144,000 Sabbath keepers feet. “By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness.” Testimonies to the Church Volume 5 P. 451. How does either resting from work or assembling together for worship on Sunday violate the 10 commandments? Under a Sunday Law an Adventist could rest on both Saturday and Sunday, and if the law required the Adventist could assemble together on both Saturday and Sunday. How would that violate the 10 commandments? Please understand that a National Sunday Law would compel Sunday, it would NOT restrict the observance of Saturday. If that were the case we ought to be hearing Adventist warn against the coming National Weekend Law. Remember that the question is “how does either abstaining from work or assembling together on Sunday violate the law of 10 commandments?” “When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday and worship God, while you know that there is not a word in the Bible showing Sunday to be other than a common working day, you consent to receive the mark of the beast, and refuse the seal of God.” - Review and Herald, July 13, 1897 So how does the Adventist avoid the Mark of the Beast? He must WORK on Sunday when a law is made requiring everyone to REST on the first day of the week. He MUST NOT ASSEMBLE WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS on the first day of the week. He MUST NOT WORSHIP GOD inside any church building owned by another denomination on the first day of the week. NO MORE WEEKENDS! A Prominent Adventist pioneer E. J. Waggoner wrote, “It is very clear, therefore, that in order to keep the Sabbath day according to the commandment, we must not only rest on the seventh day, but we must also habitually treat all other days of the week as laboring days. This would be true in any case; but when there is a day, as the first day, which is put forth as a rival to the Sabbath of the Lord, and which claims to be the Sabbath in its stead, the duty of emphasizing the difference becomes more urgent. We are by the commandment bound not only to show that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but also that the first day of the week is not the Sabbath.” “In a word, then, the fourth commandment is our sole sufficient warrant for working on Sunday when the laws of men require us to cease from labor on that day.” E. J. Waggoner - Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald April 16, 1895 How does either abstaining from work or assembling together on Sunday violate the 10 commandments? The early pioneers in the Adventist church realized there was only one possible answer. The fourth commandment not only commands rest on the 7th day, THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT REQUIRES WORK THE OTHER 6 DAYS OF THE WEEK. Only the portion of the 4th commandment requiring WORK 6 DAYS A WEEK could constitute violating the 4th commandment under the supposed future National Sunday Law! Let’s be clear that Seventh-day Adventist no longer teach the above obvious conclusion to our question because it made their teaching appear extreme and fanatical. Most people who were told they must work 6 days a week never practiced this, besides not all employers provide work 6 days a week. Compelling all to work Sunday-Friday without fail in order to be saved, sounded more like salvation by works! The Sunday Law crisis as believed by the Adventist during the 19th Century really was more about work on Sunday than it was about rest on Saturday! “By this it is evident that were his will in Sunday-law matters performed, he would compel those people “to loaf” every Sunday, and thereby prohibit their obeying the commandment, “Six days shalt thou labor.” A. T. Jones - The American Sentinel Articles February 19, 1891. “If Sunday observance is enforced by law, it will result in the oppression of Jews, Sabbatarian Christians, and others who deem it necessary to labor on that day.” E. J. Waggoner - Signs of the Times April 8, 1889. This was not something new to the Adventist church in either 1889 - 1895 When E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones made these statements. These were the teachings of the church as far back as 1854. “In this note we call attention to the fact that this commandment is the only precept in the Bible which tells us how to keep the first day of the week. That precept says: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” Whoever obeys the only precept for Sunday-keeping in the Bible, will commence labor on the first day of the week, just as God did, and when the Rest-day of the Lord arrives, they will cease from labor, and observe it according to the commandment. Whoever wishes to obey God in the observance of Sunday, can here find his will plainly expressed.” J. N. Andrews - Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald November 7, 1854. We must point out that these conclusions were clearly spelled out by Mrs. White as her position. In 1897 she said that When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday and worship God, . . . you consent to receive the mark of the beast.--Review and Herald, July 13, 1897 After 5 decades of holding this position Ellen White completely reversed the direction of the church on this matter. She changed her view in nearly every particular detail, and thereby let the Adventist church off the hook concerning this obvious point of contention. But by doing so she left the Adventist with no way to explain how assembling together on Sunday after a law is enforced by the government will violate the 10 commandments. “We must try to remove their prejudice against the Bible Sabbath. And NEVER MUST WE SAY TO THEM, “YOU MUST WORK ON SUNDAY.” At one time, while I was in Australia, those in charge of our school at Avondale came to me, saying: “What shall we do? The officers of the law have been commissioned to arrest those working on Sunday.” I said: “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.” - The General Conference Bulletin April 14, 1903. So how does the Adventist avoid the Mark of the Beast? He must WORK on Sunday when a law is made requiring everyone to REST on the first day of the week. In 1903 Ellen White announced that it is OK to REST on Sunday when a law is made requiring everyone to REST on the first day of the week. “This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.” Let’s examine Ellen’s revelation in 1903, “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 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. . . . 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. . . . 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.-- Testimonies to the Church volume 9 p. 232, 233. So how does the Adventist avoid the Mark of the Beast? He must WORK on Sunday when a law is made requiring everyone to REST on the first day of the week. (This was the 19th century understanding among Adventists, but Ellen White took a new position in the 20th century. ) Right up until the end of the 19th century she said that “When you obey the decree that commands you to cease from labor on Sunday and worship God, . . . you consent to receive the mark of the beast.” - Review and Herald, July 13, 1897. After the turn of the century in 1903 and again in 1909 Mrs. White thoroughly renounces her earlier teaching of 1897. Compare them both together carefully and see for yourself. “One does not receive the mark of the beast ..... by refraining from work. .... Whenever it is possible, let religious services be held on Sunday.” -- Testimonies to the Church volume 9 p. 232, 233. After the turn of the century Ellen recanted her earlier 19th century traditional definitions of the mark of the beast and began saying just the opposite - that it was now OK to REST on Sunday when a law is enforced by the government requiring everyone to cease from labor on Sunday. “This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.” He must NOT GATHER WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS on the first day of the week. In 1903 Ellen White announced that it is OK to GATHER on Sunday and conduct meetings, preach sermons, and sing hymns when a law is made requiring everyone to gather on the first day of the week. “This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.” In fact this should be done, “Whenever it is possible!” He must NOT WORSHIP GOD inside any church building owned by other denominations on the first day of the week. Ellen White held out on this point. Assembling together for meetings on Sunday are OK so long as they are done outdoors, or in a cottage or house to house. What will offend God when Sunday Laws are enforced? What is left in the writings of Ellen White to classify a person as receiving the Mark of the Beast? It is NOT resting from work on Sunday. It is NOT gathering for meetings on Sunday. It is NOT hearing sermons or even singing on Sunday. What is left to offend God and “grieve the Holy Ghost” during the Sunday Law ‘crisis?’ Segregation - gathering on Sunday with those from the other denominational churches! Since Ellen White back-tracked on what the National Sunday Law - Mark of the Beast teaching was when faced with an actual Sunday Law in Australia, the Mark of the Beast is reduced to assembling with non-Adventist’s on Sunday. That means the Adventist must either tell the people there is nothing to worry about when the National Sunday Law comes or the church must take a new position not found Mrs. White’s testimonies. That the Sunday law will actually restrict Seventh-day Adventist from assembling by themselves exclusively and will in fact compel the Adventist to assemble with non-Adventists. After all it is OK for Seventh-day Adventist to conduct meetings under a Sunday Law crisis, but it makes God very angry if the Baptist does the same thing. Adventist can preach, and sing and worship on Sunday, but if the Methodist or Lutheran do these things they become worthy of the 7 last plagues. So in order to overcome the National Sunday Law Crisis the Seventh-day Adventist can do all the same things the other Evangelical Churches are doing on Sunday, however they must avoid meeting with the non-Adventists on that day, just like the Pharisees avoided the Samaritan or the lepers. Ellen White said that a future Saturday -v- Sunday showdown will demonstrate whose authority we are all under, whether God’s or the pope’s. According to her 1903 declaration we do not fall under the pope’s authority by conducting meetings on Sunday with “intensely interesting” sermons and by praising God by singing hymns. So how exactly does attending meetings with the Assemblies of God and hearing “intensely interesting” sermons side by side with them and praising God by singing hymns with the Baptist place me under the authority of the Pope? Whereas doing so with only a Seventh-day Adventist group on Sunday does not? Of course it does not! Can you see that Ellen’s arguments in Great Controversy fell apart the moment she released her 1903 “testimony?” The 1903 retractions by Ellen White are devastating to the National Sunday Law - Mark of the Beast teaching of the Seventh-day Adventist church. These statements in Mrs. White’s Testimonies have unknowingly, completely demolished her entire eschatological view. The National Sunday law is the cornerstone to Adventist eschatology. Everything else about her teaching of the final events was built upon it. When I was a youth still in junior high, we would tease the girls when they experienced an innocently naive moment. We used to pretend to let the air out of the back of their head when those moments occurred. We were all 12-13 years old, and at that age these girls of course were fun loving and laughed at the analogy of temporarily being an “air head.” Ellen White was such a brilliant lady. She really was. Her intelligence is almost unrivaled. But these statements were definitely an “air head” moment on her part. When examined they let the air out of her entire end time view of a Saturday -v- Sunday showdown dividing the loyal from the damned. There is no clear explanation left for the Adventist as to what exactly constitutes the Mark of the Beast. It is not resting on Sunday, It is not worshipping God on Sunday, it is not assembling together on Sunday, it is not listening to sermons or singing as a congregation on Sunday. The only possible answer the Adventist have is that the Sunday law is entirely about segregation and has nothing to do with which day we assemble together for worship. This of course contradicts everything else Ellen White ever wrote about the Sunday Law. But that is the point. In 1903 she blatantly contradicted her own core teaching. This turns Jesus, the one who by the way ate with the drunkards and the prostitutes into a person who gets angry and wants to torture the “apostate people” who caves in under pressure by listening to sermons and singing songs with the Baptist and Methodist when a Sunday Law is enforced. If it is no longer about whether a person rests or works on Sunday. If it is no longer about whether or not a person listens to sermons, or sings songs on Sunday, and if it is no longer about whether a person assembles with other people to worship God on Sunday, then all the Adventist have left is that God is prejudiced against the buildings themselves and the people in them. Then the Sunday law is no longer about which day is observed or whose authority we fall under, whether God’s or the pope’s, if it is merely a matter of staying away from other groups of Christians by practicing strict segregation when the “crisis” comes. Ellen White has simply left no other position for Seventh-day Adventist to cling to. Most Adventist have never thought through the Sunday Law teaching of Ellen White in light of the 1903 statements. Most Adventist blissfully and rather ignorantly go on believing that the Mark of the Beast is being compelled to refrain from work and attending religious services on the first day of the week under the coercion of a National Sunday Law. Ignorance among the masses in the Adventist church does not dismiss the reality that segregation is all that the Adventist really can claim as the Mark of the Beast, and that this alone does not meet all of Ellen White’s claims concerning the Sunday law in her writings. So when a Sunday Law comes, it is no crisis at all if we follow the mode of Ellen’s teaching. The law compels rest...So what! Rest! She said, “This way of spending Sunday is always acceptable to the Lord.” Later the law will compel us to assemble and worship God together. Again, so what! She said, “Whenever it is possible, let religious services be held on Sunday.” Unless of course the Adventist takes this new position not taken by Ellen White - that the Sunday law will actually restrict Seventh-day Adventist from assembling by themselves exclusively and will in fact compel the Adventist to assemble with non-Adventists. Ridiculous! Let’s not forget that one day Sabbath keeping is supposed to be prohibited upon pain of death, which means we need to look for a world-wide Saturday law prohibiting worship on Saturday and demanding that all men around the world work on Saturday. Again, this is ludicrous and irrational. Let’s examine the death decree for a moment, What kind of law could possibly prohibit REST on Saturday? The only logical answer is a law requiring WORK on Saturday. Why is it then that Seventh-day Adventist are not warning the world against the coming NATIONAL SATURDAY LAW? For Sabbatarians a law requiring work on Saturday should be a much more serious matter than a law requiring them not to work on some other day! Besides . . . . How can God condemn the whole world for doing something that is NOT prohibited by scripture? There is no scripture in the Bible that says, “THOU SHALT NOT ASSEMBLE TOGETHER WITH OTHER BELIEVERS ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK!” If that were the case then Paul would be guilty of doing the same thing as those who will later receive the Mark of the Beast. Whether Acts 20:7 teaches that the Christians met Saturday night as the first day of the week began, as Adventist assert or if they met Sunday morning as Evangelicals believe SIMPLY DOES NOT MATTER. The fact remains either way that the Bible gives the example of New Testament Christians ASSEMBLING TOGETHER ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. They even heard a lengthy sermon on the first day of the week. How can God approve of Paul doing so, and then later condemn the WHOLE WORLD and torture them in the lake of fire or doing the exact same thing Paul and the early church did? Either way you interpret Acts 20:7 it is still a group of Christians assembling on the first day of the week and listening to a sermon. Even if this only happened once as Adventist like to believe, it still happened. The Bible nowhere says, “IF YOU ASSEMBLE TOGETHER ON ANY OTHER DAY OTHER THAN THE 7th DAY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ASSEMBLE ON THE 1st DAY OF THE WEEK YOU WILL BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE WHERE THERE WILL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.” Again! How can God condemn the whole world for doing something that is NOT prohibited in the Bible? How can God justify demonstrating His wrath poured out without mercy against people, without one scripture in the Bible warning against assembling together on the first day of the week? Assembling together on Sunday DOES NOT VIOLATE the Ten Commandments anymore than gathering together on Wednesday for a mid-week meeting! Both Sunday and Wednesday are after all named after pagan gods. Saturday is Saturn’s day, should we feel it a duty to warn that Adventist’s are giving homage to Saturn and are branded with the mark of astrological god’s by assembling together and worshipping on that day? Of course that would be ridiculous! However let’s do something fun. Just for the “object lesson” of it and nothing more, let’s entertain this for a moment. Saturn’s day or Saturday came from what the Ancient Greek’s called the 7th day, “hemera Khronu” the ‘day of Cronus.’ Cronus was banished to the pagan’s “hell” Tartarus by his son Zeus, but later managed to escape to Italy, where he ruled under his new alias “Saturn.” The period of his rule was said to be a golden age on earth, honored by the Saturnalia feast. Imagine with me hypothetically/fictitiously of course, that a brand new church arose with a person claiming to be a prophet whose core teaching required people to warn the Seventh-day Adventist that they were in fact giving homage to Cronus who to the ancient pagans was the king of Heaven and the “god of all the gods,” the very father of Zeus. Cronus was a greater god than his grandson Apollo (the sun god) and the father of everything pagan! This new church warns the Adventist unrelentlessly year after year that a law is coming that will force all the world to observe Saturday, and that once this happens that all who give into the governments pressure will be branded with the mark of this pagan god’s authority and will in fact be giving homage to astrology thus grossly offending the true God of Heaven when they worship on that day? Cronus was the god of time, this churches fictitious prophet teaches that Adventist who observe the 24 hours of time on Saturn’s day are in fact giving a sacrificial offering of time to the pagan “god of time.” More than this, since Cronus was the ruling god of Italy, observance of Saturday under the coming law will thereby cause the Seventh-day Adventist to “reach across the gulf and clasp hands with the Roman power.” Every fact presented is historically accurate to Greek and Roman Mythology. Adventist could not deny any of it. This new church could go on decade after decade calling the General Conference “Antichrist” and accusing its leaders of secretly worshipping Cronus behind closed doors. Doesn’t matter if it is true or not. History records that if someone preaches something charismatically and enthusiastically enough times there will be people out there naive enough to go along with it and believe it, and go on to teach it themselves. Need I site several bizarre religions as proofs to this fact? However unreasonable and unfair this argument is, we need to realize that this is the same class of argument Adventists wage against Evangelicals. The fact is that neither Adventist nor Evangelicals assemble in homage of anything pagan, rather they both gather together to sincerely worship Jesus Christ! Evangelical’s no more worship Apollo than Adventist worship Cronus when they assemble on their respective days of worship. Neither can help the fact that EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK has been named after something astrological and pagan thousands of years ago. Evangelicals only wish to worship Christ as they gather on Sunday. Not a single one of them comes to church to either worship the pope or the sun! That is completely outrageous, slanderous and totally misrepresentative of the truth not to mention unfair to the millions of sincere Christians to say otherwise. Adventist don’t understand that Evangelicals that are truly informed about the Old and New Covenants do not think of Sunday as a holy day, neither do they call Sunday the new Sabbath. In fact it embarrasses Evangelicals that some ignorantly call Sunday a Sabbath. Only uninformed people who have never studied the covenants claim Sunday is a Sabbath! Such claims open them up to the assertions of the Adventist church. Under those circumstances the Adventist is absolutely right, in that there is no biblical transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. However for most Evangelicals that is a non-issue, because Sunday is not a Sabbath. It is not holy at all! There are no holy days in the New Covenant. There are only two positions held in the time of Paul according to in Romans 14:5 Romans 14:5 (NCV) Some think that one day is more important than another, and OTHERS THINK THAT EVERY DAY IS THE SAME. Let all be sure in their own mind. There are those who esteem one day above another. The Jews esteemed the 7th day above the other days of the week. And then there were those who ESTEEMED EVERY DAY ALIKE! New Testament Christians THINK THAT EVERY DAY IS THE SAME. Notice that Paul did NOT say that some esteem one day above others, and then another group esteem A DIFFERENT DAY as better than the other groups day. No! The second group ESTEEMED EVERY DAY ALIKE! Christians do not “observe” or “keep” Sunday. They assemble on Sunday! Hebrews 10:25 (KJV) 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Sunday is not commanded in New Testament, TRUE! But guess what? Neither is the 7th day! Ellen White acknowledges that the validity of the Sabbath is “assumed” in the New Testament. She wrote against presumption, and yet her core teaching is based entirely upon presumptions about the Sabbath. “The New Testament does not reenact the law of the tithe, as it does not that of the Sabbath; for the validity of both is assumed.” R. & H., May 16, 1882. Paul taught that if something violates the conscience whether it was valid or not, that the person whose conscience was convicted should avoid doing what they thought was wrong. Adjusting to the realities of the New Covenant after a lifetime of conditioning from Ellen White can take time. If the thought of assembling together with Christians on Sunday makes your conscience feel dirty, then don’t do it! There is no punishment enlisted against those who don’t. Does your conscience feel dirty about the idea of assembling together with the Baptist, the Methodist, or the Assemblies of God on Wednesday night for a midweek service? If it does then Adventism’s unspoken teaching of segregation has placed in your heart something you must deal with and get victory over. James makes it clear that showing partiality is a sin. In the Good Samaritan story the priest and the Levite passed by the Samaritan and did all they could to avoid him. The Pharisee’s looked on themselves as superior to other Jews and avoided those they considered to be lower classes of Israel. The teaching that the Adventist church is the “Remnant Church” has caused division in the body of Christ. Ellen White has denounced all other churches as Babylon. Adventist have by no fault of their own as a consequence fallen into the same mind-set as the priest and the Levite or the Pharisee. Ellen White’s writings have conditioned the Adventist mind to view those in the other churches as a lower class. Adventist view themselves as enlightened with greater light because they have Mrs. White’s testimonies. During the 1840’s Ellen White believed and taught “the shut door.” That all those in the churches who had rejected William Miller’s teaching of the second coming in 1844 had their probations closed October 22, 1844. She said that those still in the churches failed to see that Christ left the first compartment in Heaven and that he had shut the door behind him, and that when they prayed Satan sat on the throne before them and answered their prayers. Let’s consider this for a moment. The churches rejected Miller’s teaching because Jesus said NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR OF HIS COMING. The churches were abandoned by God and handed over to Satan according to Ellen White for clinging to the words of Christ instead of listening to William Miller? The Millerites spoke in the name of the Lord a great many things that did not come to pass in 1844. The Bible said this means that people ought to ignore the rest of their teachings after that. Deuteronomy 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. Jesus did not come in 1844. The Bible said that if the thing “does not happen, it is not the LORD’S message.” Why would God abandon the churches for not accepting something that contradicted Christ and in fact did not happen? Obviously the shut door taught by Ellen White up until 1851 was a false teaching. Yet the idea continued throughout her writings that the other churches lacked God’s full approval and presence. That is why you might be feeling dirty about assembling with those who attend a different congregation. Jesus who ate with drunkards and prostitutes, most certainly gathers with the Baptist and the Methodist etc. Don’t you think Jesus is more than willing to join those who are just as sincere in their desire to serve God as the Adventist? But now you will say, doesn’t assembling on “Sunday” give homage to the sun gods of the ancient pagans? D. M. Canright answered this question back in 1919. Don’t miss this point. Christians were the ONLY ones assembling every week on Sundays in the early centuries. They did NOT get this from the pagan’s. THE PAGAN ROMANS AND GREEKS HAD NO WEEKLY DAY OF REST, OR FESTIVAL, OR WORSHIP. D. M. Canright wrote the most prestigious authorities of Roman and Greek Antiquity on the planet asking them about whether the Roman’s or the Greeks had weekly worship on Sunday. In fact to make sure of the answer he would get from them he asked 10 variations of the question, to exhaustively remove all doubt on the topic. They all emphatically said NO, they did not have a weekly day of worship! D. M. Canright wrote the following historical authorities. Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, London, England Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., University of Wisconsin University of Chicago Michigan State University Rochester Theological Seminary All of them replied unanimously. Here is the reply from the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. “REV. D. M. CANRIGHT, Grand Rapids, Mich. Dear Sir: I have referred your letter of September 14th to Dr. I. M. Casonawicz, Assistant Curator of Old World Archeology, who furnishes the following replies to your several inquiries: 1. Did the pagan Romans and Greeks ever have any regular weekly day of rest from secular work? Answer No. 2. Did they ever have any weekly festival day? Answer No. 3. Did they have any regular weekly day when they assembled for pagan worship? Answer No. 4. When was our calendar of the week first introduced among the Romans and Greeks? Answer The division of the month into weeks was introduced into Rome from Egypt. The date is uncertain, but it was not earlier than the second century, A.D. 5. When was our calendar of the week first recognized in Roman law? Answer The earliest Sunday legislation was enacted under Constantine I, 321 A.D. No legislation of earlier date on the division of the month is known. 6. As each day of the week was dedicated to some god, as Sunday to the Sun, Monday to the Moon, Saturday to Saturn, etc., Was each of these supposed deities worshipped on one particular day more than any other day? Answer No. 7. Did the pagan Romans have any one special day in the week when individuals, if they chose, went to make prayers or offerings to their gods? Answer No. 8. Did Apollo have any special day in the week or month more than any other day when he was worshipped with prayers or offerings? Answer No. Very truly yours, " Taken from D. M. Canright's Book "The Lord's Day From Neither Catholics nor Pagans" The Catholic Church teaches that it existed since the apostle Peter got the Keys from Jesus. If Peter did something or one of his early successors then in the thinking of the Catholic, the Roman Church did it. “The Holy Catholic Church began with the apostles. St. Peter was the first Pope. Hence, when they say that the Church changed the Sabbath, they mean that it was done by the Church in the days of the apostles. Neither the Church nor the Pope, two or three hundred years after the apostles, had anything whatever to do with changing the Sabbath, for the change had been made ages before. Catholics do not call the first day of the week the Sabbath, for that was Saturday; but they call it Sunday, or the Lord’s Day.” Rev. James C. Pulcher, Pastor of St. James’ Church, Grand Rapids, Mich. A council of pastors from all over the Eastern Roman empire assembled in Laodicea in 336 A.D. At this meeting the Christian church officially recognized what was already in practice for centuries. The Catholic catechism makes reference to this in its boast of the change. History gives undeniable proofs that the Bishop of Rome was not at this council, in fact he was not represented at this council by anyone. There was not a pope until 200 years later (533 A.D.) A decree was made in 440 A.D. concerning the Bishop in Rome as a universal father of the church but this was not recognized universally until given backing by Justinian in 533 A.D. The Catholic church had nothing to do with Christians assembling on Sunday during the first second and third centuries. Christians assembled on the first day of the week long before the existence of the Roman Church, and long before there was a pope to “think to change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25. The facts of history are solid on these points. History records Christians assembling together on Sunday during the first and second centuries, so how could the Bishop of Rome orchestrated that since there was no Bishop in Rome until late in the third century? Therefore Daniel must be talking about something other 7th day Sabbath in the words, “think to change times and laws.” I know that is impossible to the Adventist mind, but the fact remains none the less. The pagans had nothing to do with influencing Christians to gather on Sunday. They themselves had no such practice. The Catholic church did not exist yet and therefore had nothing to do with introducing Sunday observance to the Christians. Both of these ideas are based on erroneous propaganda introduced by the Seventh-day Adventist early pioneer’s. Weekly observance among the Greeks and Roman pagan’s was impossible because they did not observe a 7 day week until 40 years after Constantine’s death. The “Standard Dictionary,” Article “Week,” says: “It was not, introduced into the Roman calendar till after the reign of Theodosius in the fourth century.” The “Universal Dictionary of the English Language,” Article “Week,” says: “During the early centuries of their history the Greeks and Romans had not the institution of the week.” Webster’s Dictionary, Article “Week,” says: “The week did not enter into the calendar of the Greeks, and was not introduced at Rome till after the reign of Theodosius.” Constantine had been dead over forty years before Theodosius began to reign. So at the time when Constantine issued his Sunday law, A.D. 321, his pagan subjects did not use the week of seven days, hence, could not have, kept the first day of our week till taught it by Christians and required by Constantine’s law.” Schaff, in his “Church History,” says: “The pagan Romans paid no more regard to the Christian Sunday than to the Jewish Sabbath.” The “Encyclopedia Americana,” Article “Week,” says: “The Romans and Greeks each divided the months into periods, and were not acquainted with the week till a late period. The Romans had, however, for civil uses, as the arrangement of market days, a cycle of eight days, the ninth being the recurring one, instead of the eighth as with us.” ” Ibid. Every major historical authority in the world has conclusively disproved what the early Adventist pioneers claimed to be facts about the history of Sunday observance. The Greeks and Romans did not have a 7 day weekly cycle much less a day of worship every 7 days. Please get a copy of Canright’s book quoted in this chapter and read it for much more detail about these things. The pagans were simply not as religious as Adventist report them to be. So why would the early Christians assemble on Sunday? After all Sunday is no more a holy day then Tuesday or Thursday.First let's take notice that they did! The Apostolical Constitutions, A.D. 250 said: “On the day of the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord’s Day, assemble yourselves together.” Tertullian, 200 A.D., said: “We solemnise the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath.” Clement of Alexandria, writing about 196 A.D., said: “He in fulfilment of the precept, keeps the Lord’s Day when he abandons an evil disposition . . . glorifying the Lord’s resurrection in himself.” Justin Martyr, 140 A.D., said: “On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place” for the Lord’s Supper. “The Teaching of the Apostles,” in the early part of the second century, has this exhortation: “Every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together and break bread.” Luke, in the book of Acts (20:7), says: “On the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. Paul preached unto them.” This was about the year 57 A.D.--300 years before the Council of Laodicea. The practice becomes an obvious one. Paul took a firm stand against observing the Sabbath. See Galatians 4:10 and Colossians 2:16 Also see the chapter on the covenants. Every significant event for the early church happened on Sunday. On the first day of the week 1. Jesus rose from the dead (Matt. 28:1; Luke 24:1) 2. He appeared to various disciples (Matt. 28 etc.) 3. He appeared again the next Sunday (John 20:26). 4. He gave the apostles legislative authority (John 20:23) 5. He gave them the great commission (Luke 24:36-39 Mark 14:14-16). 6. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4; cf. Lev 23:15, 16). 7. The gospel was first preached (Acts 2:22). 8. The church was established (Acts 2:47). Seventh Day Adventist pastors know that Christians observed the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day in New Testament times, early in the second, third and fourth centuries. Yet they assert that the pope changed the day in 363 A.D. The same pastors know that there was no pope until long after 363 A.D. In 440 A.D. the bishop of the Roman church was declared to be “the rector of the whole church,” but the claim was not then recognized. Fisher, in “The History of the Church,” says that it was in the beginning of the sixth century that the title Pope became the exclusive designation of the bishop of Rome. In 533 A.D. the Emperor Justinian bestowed the title, “Lord of the Whole Church,” upon the Roman bishop. Yet Adventist pastors assert that the pope changed the Sabbath in 363 A.D. SUNDAY “BLUE LAWS” HAVE BEEN rapidly VANISHING over the last 20 years IN THE United states We live in a day very different from yesteryears colonial puritans with their Sunday “Blue Laws.” Most legislation supporting Sunday closing in the past decades have been struck down. Fewer and fewer enterprises are interested in closing on Sundays, and still fewer are sensitive to the desires of individuals who would choose to keep Sunday as a day of worship and rest. In Liberty Alert, volume. 2 no.1, January/February 1993, Roland R. Hegstad writes: “Through the years I’ve seen Sunday laws disappear from the books of 21 states most recently from Virginia, which in its colonial phase had a law containing the death penalty. An additional 18 states have so liberalized their laws that it would take a psychopath to search out an illegal act. In the remaining states, county by county, municipality by municipality, Sunday laws are being removed from the books.” “Arkansas Eliminates Blue Law That Banned Sunday Alcohol Sales” NWAHomePage.com (Arkansas, USA) - “Arkansas became the 36th state to repeal its Blue Law banning Sunday liquor sales at package (liquor) stores, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, which called the state’s decision a sign of things to come across the South as legislators continue looking for ways to raise revenue without raising taxes in this sour economy.” - March 4, 2009 “Changing Blue Laws to Boost Revenue” KTEN News (Oklahoma, USA) - “Sunday is the one day of the week when liquor stores are not allowed to open in Texas or Oklahoma. But this is no longer true for our neighbor Arkansas who recently changed their Blue Laws and is now allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays... Some residents in our area were opposed to changing the Blue Laws; some felt Sunday was the Lord’s day and others said if they changed the law, it would not affect them at all.” - March 8, 2009 “States across nation rethink ‘blue laws’” KSWO.com (Oklahoma, USA) - “State officials across the nation are looking for different ways to repair budget deficits, and one of the most talked about and controversial is to banish ‘blue laws.’..” - February 24, 2009 “Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?” Time Magazine (USA) - “A handful of state legislatures have declared its closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales.” “[Sunday sales legislation] always comes bubbling up when the economy goes south,” says David Laband, an Auburn University economics professor who authored Blue Laws: The History, Economics, and Politics of Sunday-Closing Laws. Blue laws, which restrict shopping of any kind on Sunday, date back to the colonial era, Laband says. However, those laws gradually died off as economic forces made some states realize that they could stand to gain by having stores open on Sunday. “ - February 22, 2009 “Bill would allow vote on Sunday alcohol sales” MSNBC.com (Anniston, Alabama, USA) - “A bill that would allow Anniston to call a referendum on whether to allow Sunday alcohol sales passed with unanimous approval in a state Senate committee Wednesday, though bets are off as to whether it will reach the governor’s desk. The bill applies to 13 other cities in the state, including Talladega, Gadsden and Sylacauga, that under current state law can neither sell alcohol on Sundays nor hold a public referendum to change the statute. All forms of alcohol would be covered, according to the wording of the bill.” - February 17, 2009 “Sunday hunting legislation introduced for Baltimore County” Maryland, USA - “Sunday hunting prohibitions are some of the last remnants of religious based legislation and “Blue Laws” that restricted activities of the public on Sundays. Maryland is only one of a few remaining states that still have any restriction on hunting on Sundays. Thirty-nine states have no restrictions on Sunday hunting and of the remainder; only seven have an all out ban. Maryland is not one of them.” - February 17, 2009 “Will blue-law vote go before the public?” WALB News 10 (Albany, Georgia, USA) - “As the state struggles with a budget crisis, lawmakers may be more willing to allow Sunday alcohol sales.” - February 16, 2009 “Lancaster ‘blue laws’ may be suspended” Fort Mills Times (Fort Mills, South Carolina, USA) - “The floundering state of the economy has the Lancaster County Council considering measures to help out local businesses. In one recent move, the county council gave preliminary approval to a measure that would alter “blue laws” to allow county businesses to open before 1:30 p.m. on Sundays.” - February 10, 2009 “Sunday sales law could hike revenue” Connecticut Post (Connecticut, USA) - “The state’s worsening fiscal situation may finally lead to passage of a law allowing liquor stores the option of opening on Sundays. As we have maintained for many years, such a law would finally rid Connecticut of one of the last vestiges of its antiquated “Blue Laws.”” - February 13, 2009 WFSB Eyewitness News (Connecticut, USA) - “A group of liquor store owners have revived the fight for Sunday liquor sales in the state. Connecticut is one of only three states that enforce the blue law... Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week, but Alaimo said because the state prohibits Sunday alcohol sales, Connecticut shoppers are driving over the border to Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, where Sunday sales are legal.” - January 31, 2009 “Religion no reason to keep blue laws” (Opinion) RedandBlack.com (University of Georgia, USA) - “Our so-called blue laws make no sense, as more enlightened states decided years ago, but year after year we take them in stride. In only the first week of the 2009 Georgia General Assembly, state legislators began working to legalize Sunday package sales.” - January 22, 2009 “Sunday alcohol sales may show up on ballot” DothanEagle.com (Dothan, AL) - “Sunday alcohol sales in the City of Dothan is expected to be put to a vote later this year.” - January 13, 2009 “Georgia debates ending Sunday blue laws on booze” RedandBlack.com (University of Georgia, USA) (Editorial) - “Blue on blue laws - Conservative Christian groups are the main opponents of Sunday liquor sales, claiming alcohol shouldn’t be sold on the Christian Sabbath. But not everyone in Georgia practices Christianity, and The Red & Black editorial board does not believe the ‘Sabbath’ argument is a valid one.”- January 15, 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA) - “Supporters of Sunday store sales of beer, wine and liquor began their latest crusade Tuesday to end Georgia’s blue laws on booze”- January 13, 2009 Macon.com (Macon, GA) - “The state Christian Coalition leader’s comparison of Harp’s proposal to legalized prostitution is absurd. Retail sale of alcoholic beverages, unlike prostitution, is lawful already; it is banned on Sunday by a law everybody implicitly understands is a religious prohibition on the population at large. ‘Blue laws’ have never really made much sense, and Georgia’s peculiar version of them makes none whatever.”- December 21, 2008 “New South Carolina chamber head wants to eliminate blue laws” TheItem.com - “Other items on the agenda include eliminating blue laws statewide...” - January 9, 2009 “French Sunday law debate put on hold again” Gulfnews.com - “France’s opposition Socialists claimed a rare victory over the centre-right government when parliamentary debate on a Bill to ease restrictions on Sunday business hours was postponed indefinitely.” - January 6, 2009 “Liquor Sales Staying Strong On Sundays in Sioux Falls, SD” Keloland.com - “The Sioux Falls city council changed the restriction in November to allow sales of wine and hard liquor every day of the week.” - January 4, 2009 “Indiana debates blue laws against liquor sales on Sundays” Evansville Courier Press - “According to a poll conducted by the Indianapolis Star, 46 percent of Hoosiers favor the repeal of the so-called blue laws, which prohibit the sale of packaged liquors on Sundays.” - December 23, 2008 “Colorado becomes 13th state to repeal blue laws in regards to liquor sales since 2002” US News and World Report - “’All of these repeal efforts are related to economics now,’ says David Laband, author of Blue Laws: The History, Economics, and Politics of Sunday-Closing Laws. ‘There’s no vestige of a religious component anymore.’” - July 8, 2008 CNN Money - “Despite the efforts of well-intentioned crusaders like Wilensky, whose group helped strike down a 2005 proposal in the Connecticut state legislature to allow Sunday sales, a nation without blue laws seems increasingly inevitable.” - July 1, 2008 “In battle for Sunday, the ‘blue laws’ are falling” The Christian Science Monitor - “Massachusetts joined five states that have relaxed bans on Sunday [alcohol] sales in the past 18 months...Critics decry it as an attack on the Sabbath - and on leisure itself. And both sides agree it’s a further indication that Sunday is becoming just an ordinary day.” - December 5, 2003 “NYC’S Blue Laws” Gotham Gazette (NY City News & Policy) - “Some may think that this finally means an end to what are called the blue laws, which have regulated Americans’ moral behavior, especially what people can or cannot do on a Sunday, since the 17th century. Things certainly have changed since the time when even a Sunday baseball game was considered immoral -- and outlawed.” - May 26, 2003 Germany, and Croatia have been beefing up their Sunday closing laws, and even other parts of Europe. Unfortunately it is not Europe that leads the world towards the Mark of the Beast according to Ellen’s Great Controversy. It is the United States of America. The fact is that grass-roots America is running in the opposite direction as Adventist predicted it would. “I don’t believe that this (the Sunday Laws) would be acceptable in Washington D.C. and states that collect an Income Tax. That’s the real reason why the Sunday Laws were lifted.” President Barack Obama in 2008 - taken from the web at http://my.barackobama.com. “If Sunday-keeping is the awful thing Adventists say it is, then what Mrs. White here tells her people to do is positively sinful - a compromise with sin. It is as if Daniel had said to his three Hebrew companions: “When the people are moved by a power from beneath to compel you to bow down and worship images, give them no occasion to call you lawbreakers. That difficulty can be easily avoided. You are to show your wisdom by devoting the time to prayer. Bow down, but while bowed pray to the God of heaven. That kind of worship is always acceptable to God.” In giving the instruction she did, Mrs. White herself removed the ground for the persecution under Sunday laws which she had previously predicted.” D. M. Canright - Life of Mrs. E.G. White - Seventh-day Adventist Prophet - Her False Claims Refuted, Chapter 21 - “Give Sunday to the Lord.” Perhaps the Adventist church should close its religious liberty department and begin lobbying both at the state and federal levels for Sunday Laws. Perhaps The Seventh-day Adventist need to join the Christian-right and the pope in their apparently futile attempts to urge American’s to reconsider their position against these Sunday closing laws. That might be the only way such a change in the United States could effectively be made and thereby fulfill Ellen White’s Great Controversy vision. Which by the way she copied from Hastings’s book “The Great Controversy between God and Man.” Ellen White released her version of that book and later named it “The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan” Six months prior to releasing her “Great Controversy,” James White in the Adventist Review and Sabbath Herald gave a “glowing review” of Hastings’s “Great Controversy. That review by her husband was published just four days after her “great controversy vision.” Hastings’s book has nearly the same title and contains nearly the same content from beginning to end. “These borrowings occurred not only in the historical sections of the Great Controversy, but also in its prophetic sections. They appear in descriptions of the content of specific visions given to Mrs. White. It would be unwise at this point to assert that there is any particular book written by Mrs. White or any type of writing from her pen in which literary borrowing will not be found.” - Ron Graybill, Associate Secretary, Ellen G. White Estate - Presented to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in November 1981. That topic of course will have to wait to be discussed in a later chapter. For now it is time to close this chapter on the National Sunday law, because nothing remains to be said, the facts speak for themselves. (Message edited by michaelsavedbygrace on July 19, 2010) (Message edited by michaelsavedbygrace on July 19, 2010) | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 8339 Registered: 3-2004  |
Michaelsavedbygrace, what a way to introduce yourself. Welcome to FAF. Diana L | ||
| Bobj Registered user Username: Bobj Post Number: 531 Registered: 1-2006  |
Welcome Michael! Bob Johnston | ||
| Cloudwatcher Registered user Username: Cloudwatcher Post Number: 116 Registered: 5-2009 |
Mercy! What a thorough and thoughtful treatment of the facts. Are you an attorney?!  Please give us permission to begin circulating this... | ||
| Michaelsavedbygrace Registered user Username: Michaelsavedbygrace Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2010 |
By all means, circulate it far and wide! If you want a pdf version with the proper formatting (type setting) which this post now lacks, then please email me and I will send it to you! P.S. More articles to follow soon. Thank you for welcoming me! michael.saved.by.grace@gmail.com | ||
| Michaelsavedbygrace Registered user Username: Michaelsavedbygrace Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2010 |
This is the letter I sent to the Forum ADMIN when asking for forum membership on this site. It offers more of a personal introduction. I am a 3rd generation now ex-Adventist. God's grace has transformed my heart with renewed love for Him and for others. I have served as an elder in the church my grandfather built. I preached as a radio evangelist five days a week for three years on 3 radio stations. I have given out over $100,000 in Adventist literature. I have been personal ministries leader, youth leader, sabbath school teacher, served in prison minstries. I have served as a Literature Evangelist, and even worked as production manager for a major Independant Adventist ministry. My zeal for the Adventist message has cost me a great deal. It cost me my relationship with both my mother and brother for the past 20 years. They both left the SDA church in the 80's. It has caused me untold grief, and condemnation and doubt. Today I have peace with God, and the teachings of the New Testament have helped me to mend broken relationships. Like Paul and even Martin Luther I have experienced a radical conversion, and have been devoting all my spare time ever since to understanding the prophecies that were misinterpreted, the new covenant that is misunderstood, and God's will which has had a veil placed over it by the teachings of Ellen White. Everything I have shared is the naked truth. I have no hidden agenda's for wanting to be on your forum. I plan to present the truth in so much clarity and with so many undeniable proofs that the reader will have no other choice than to accept that Adventism teaches bondage to a modified version of the Old Covenant, and that Christians are called to liberty from this bondage. My methods are kind and compassionate, while at the same time uncompromising. I have been a soul winnder for the Adventist church and know about tact. I promise to exercise common since and not to purposely offend. (Message edited by michaelsavedbygrace on July 19, 2010) (Message edited by michaelsavedbygrace on July 19, 2010) | ||
| Skeeter Registered user Username: Skeeter Post Number: 834 Registered: 12-2007 |
WOW !!!! Welcome Michaelsavedbygrace :-) I read your "introductory letter" in one sitting (quite an accomplishment for me) LOL Thank you for giving permission to circulate this information. You have put it all together very well. I am glad to see that Stephen Bohr (from Fresno Central) is one of those you sent this to as my still very SDA Mother in Law knows him and thinks he is just Mr. Wonderful..... I will send a copy to her as well and point out to her that he has not responded to you. I plan to print this out and send a copy to all the Pastors in my area (San Luis Obispo County in California) I am sure it will be ignored by the majority... but if even one will read it through, maybe it will make a difference in one Pastor, and perhaps those that he comes into contact with. I will email you for the pdf version. Thank you for telling it like it is. Francie | ||
| Yenc Registered user Username: Yenc Post Number: 191 Registered: 6-2008 |
WOW!! Amazing, especially for your first FAF post! Thanks, Michael. As I read through your post (only stopping long enough to eat breakfast) I couldn't resist two responses: I remembered all the fear and confusion I grew up with, being taught to have a powerful fear of persecution by "Sunday-keepers," and confused by comparison with the reality of kind, loving Christians of other (non-SDA) churches. I never put the two together the way you have with the "segregation" idea! But you are totally right. I do disagree, however, with one paragraph, the one in which you called EGW "brilliant" and saying she had unrivalled "intelligence." I think she was stupid, used by James White and others who saw her as a money machine. She always had some rationale for changing her doctrines whenever it was expedient, whether there was any logical, historical, or other reason or not (and almost always not). Her own, handwritten productions were gibberish, masterfully made readable only by the minds and hands of others much more skilled; she used secretaries, rewriters, and editors to make her work intelligible, and what they didn't "enhance" was mostly plagiarized! In addition, many of her "testimonies" to individuals were vicious and/or based on unfounded information. She couldn't even keep up with her own instructions and "revelations," contradicting herself and in many instances, disobeying the instructions she had set out for others. If anything, you were too generous with her! (But I'll forgive you.) I'm eager to read the rest of your book. Yen | ||
| Cortney Registered user Username: Cortney Post Number: 113 Registered: 8-2006 |
Welcome, Michael! Thank you for sharing | ||
| Michaelsavedbygrace Registered user Username: Michaelsavedbygrace Post Number: 6 Registered: 7-2010 |
I appreciate the encouragement and comments. THANK YOU! My journey began on May 22, 2010 when I came to realize that Hebrews 9 could not possibly apply to 1844. I studied that chapter 4 hours that night and came to an undeniable reality that my churches teachings were wrong about the Investigative Judgment. I have since been studying the Bible over 40 hours a week ( I just had to have answers) and have written articles on the major proof texts in the New Testament which Adventist use, and have come to realize that none of them teach what I thought they did. I will be sharing those articles in the near future. I have prepared charts on Daniel 8-9 and written detailed responses to the Adventist position on these chapters. Write me if you want a copy of those charts. They are 24X30 PDF's and I know of no way to post them on this forum. I have also put together charts on the Covenants giving comparisons, which make them simple and easy to understand. Giving abundant scripture on the topic. Write me if you want a copy of those charts. They are 24X30 PDF's and I know of no way to post them on this forum. I have a 4 page 24X30 Chart with EVERY COMMAND in the New Testament, which is the equivalent to 67 pages 8.5 X 11 in size. Write me if you want a copy of that chart. They are 24X30 PDF's and I know of no way to post them on this forum. I also have a 24 X 30 pdf chart of the 613 commands in the Torah, which of course has been totally abolished by the death of Christ. Write me if you want a copy of that chart. If you write me I will send you all these charts and the PDF of this article on the National Sunday Law. Jesus said, "freely you have received, freely give." I have of course made these charts and articles for my own PERSONAL GROWTH and understanding. They are NOT intended for sale and will be shared freely with anyone who requests them. michael.saved.by.grace@gmail.com (Message edited by michaelsavedbygrace on July 19, 2010) | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 11416 Registered: 12-2003  |
Welcome, Michael! You're among friends, and God will use your research and writing not only to help others but also to organize and retrain your mind from the "Great Controversy paradigm" that shaped your reality to biblical reality. It is amazing how faithful God is to teach us and at the same time use our learning and study to bless others. Welcome again! Colleen | ||
| Michaelsavedbygrace Registered user Username: Michaelsavedbygrace Post Number: 7 Registered: 7-2010 |
Thanks Colleen, I appreciate being apart of this forum. It is nice to have a social inviroment where there are others who have come from a similar background who all have gone through the same discoveries and changes. Others who have not been there would not understand in the same way. I am thankful this place exists on the net. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 1298 Registered: 7-2007 |
Welcome Michael! | ||
| Hec Registered user Username: Hec Post Number: 1148 Registered: 3-2009 |
Welcome to the Forum, Michael. Hec | ||
| Michaelsavedbygrace Registered user Username: Michaelsavedbygrace Post Number: 10 Registered: 7-2010 |
Hi Hec! Thanks! I tried to send you a reply to the email you sent me. Attached were the files you requested but unfortunately this message came back. "This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed. xxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com" (I blotted the original address out for your privacy) PLEASE! Send me a valid email address and I will send you the files right away! I have a single zip folder with all the pdf's in it which I will email you or anyone else requesting them. Several already have written for them and have received them. | ||
| Asetechrail Registered user Username: Asetechrail Post Number: 36 Registered: 1-2010  |
I also would like to say Welcome to the Forum, Michael. I will email you for the charts. Thank you so much for sharing them with us! Kent | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 858 Registered: 2-2008  |
Welcome Michael! I look forward to reading your contributions to the forum!! vivian | ||
| Hec Registered user Username: Hec Post Number: 1150 Registered: 3-2009 |
Michael, thank you for following up. I don't know why you received that message because I received the files. Thank you again. Hec | ||
| Dljc Registered user Username: Dljc Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2010 |
Wow Micheal, great post and I love the insights in what you've found while investigating this from a different perspective. Thanks! | ||
| Bb Registered user Username: Bb Post Number: 724 Registered: 7-2004 |
Yes, Welcome and WOW! That was some read! I found it fascinating and right on. I have to agree with Yenc on the intelligence thing, however. Here is another quote that fits in with your paragraph about the Great Controversy. This is found on the EllenWhiteExposed website.... ************************************************* Dr. McAdams stated it best when he announced at the special 1980 meeting of SDA leaders in Glendale, California: "If every paragraph in the book Great Controversy, written by Ellen White, was properly footnoted, then every paragraph would have to be footnoted." | ||
| Grace_alone Registered user Username: Grace_alone Post Number: 1723 Registered: 6-2006  |
Welcome Michael! Thanks for your story. I married into a very active SDA family and sure wish I could see them writing a story like yours. At any rate, your testimony gives me hope... Leigh Anne (Message edited by grace_alone on July 19, 2010) | ||
| Nowisee Registered user Username: Nowisee Post Number: 443 Registered: 5-2009 |
Wow, Michael--what a miraculous story! Like Diana always says, God is AWESOME!" You are an encouragement to many here... | ||
| Philharris Registered user Username: Philharris Post Number: 2191 Registered: 5-2007  |
Michael Harper Welcome! I say wow to all you have to have shared with us. I see yesterday was very busy with you being one of four new members. Phil Harris |
