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Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI200477A
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00:29 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:30 This is a program as always designed 00:33 to make you think a little bit more deeply 00:36 about religious liberty 00:37 and perhaps understand some of the developments 00:40 taking place around us in the US and around the world. 00:43 My name is Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty magazine. 00:48 And I have no guests on this program 00:50 as I usually do, 00:51 but I want to share some things with you. 00:53 For a Seventh-day Adventist, 00:55 religious liberty in some ways 00:58 really kicked off in the early days 01:00 in the late 1880s, 01:02 with a national move toward a Sunday law. 01:07 And Seventh-day Adventists 01:09 who had been studying prophecy in effect 01:10 that's how the group formed after the Millerite Movement 01:14 because of an expectation 01:16 through prophecy of the Lord's imminent return. 01:18 Millerites got the date wrong, 01:20 but it was the correct in time awareness. 01:23 And Seventh-day Adventists aware of prophecy 01:27 believed that their reading Revelation 01:30 that there would be a conflict over loyalty to God 01:32 and they saw the Sabbath worship 01:35 on God's day is the key issue at hand. 01:39 And I think there's increasing evidence 01:41 that that is likely to be the way 01:45 even in the United States we will go. 01:47 And in 1888, this national Sunday law movement 01:50 galvanized Seventh-day Adventists 01:52 with an expectation of an imminent time of trouble. 01:55 And the final reckoning with the forces 01:58 that were against worshiping God. 02:01 Let me just show you a few sentences 02:03 from the National Sunday rest bill proposal 02:06 that came before Congress. 02:09 It says, be it an, 02:10 this is Senate Bill number 2983, 02:12 introduced in the first session of the 50th Congress 02:15 by Senator H. W. Blair, May 21, 1888. 02:19 And it says, be it an, 02:21 a bill rather to secure to the people 02:23 the enjoyment of the first day of the week, 02:25 commonly known as the Lord's Day, 02:27 as a day of rest, 02:28 and to promote its observance as a day of religious worship. 02:32 And it's pretty unambiguous, that's the Sunday law. 02:35 And it says be it enacted, 02:36 that no person or corporation or the agent, 02:40 servant or employee of any personal corporation 02:43 shall perform or authorized to be performed 02:46 any secular work, labor or business 02:49 to the disturbance of others works of necessity, 02:52 mercy and humanity accepted, 02:54 nor shall any person engaged in any play, 02:56 game or amusement or recreation 02:59 to the disturbance of others on the first day of the week." 03:02 This is shades of the Taliban and their kite flying. 03:05 Nothing on the first day of the week, 03:07 commonly known as the Lord's Day 03:09 or during any part thereof in any territory, 03:11 district, vessel, 03:13 or place subject to the exclusive jurisdiction 03:16 of the United States. 03:17 Nor shall it be lawful for any person or corporation 03:20 to receive pay for labor or service 03:23 performed or rendered in violation of the section. 03:26 That's a Sunday law with unambiguously religious 03:30 shut down, go to church. 03:33 Thankfully, it was restricted. 03:35 But again, this is the talisman that we carry forward 03:40 that will be the unique sign 03:41 of an opposition to God's principles 03:45 because even though worship on the Lord's Day, 03:49 it happens to be the seventh day, 03:50 Saturday Sabbath. 03:53 Worship on the Lord's Day is something good 03:54 but to compel by civil law is wrong. 03:58 And I often tell people that compulsion, 04:01 if there's a compulsion in it, 04:03 you know that it's not religious liberty. 04:05 Even to compel people do a good thing 04:07 against their conscience and the used force is wrong. 04:10 God didn't do it to Adam and Eve in Eden, 04:12 and He will never do it. 04:15 Not too long ago, actually five years ago, 04:17 the Pope of Rome came and spoke to the US Congress, 04:21 was well received 04:22 by a formally dominantly Protestant society, 04:26 find to be respectful for him, 04:28 but you know, he was lauded as a great leader 04:31 and things that Protestants would never have said directly. 04:35 And he spoke well enough, 04:37 but behind his speech was a document 04:40 called Laudato si'. 04:43 Praise be to Thee. 04:44 And I've spoken on this program in detail 04:47 about that document. 04:48 It's an environmental document 04:50 that says our survival as a people depend on 04:53 or as a human race depend on saving the environment. 04:57 And then he goes further 04:59 and says that part of that saving 05:01 is to recognize the rhythms inscribed in nature. 05:04 And it says along those lines 05:05 worship on the seventh day Sabbath, 05:07 but later he applies it to Sunday. 05:10 So it's quite obvious that from a point of Rome, 05:14 which is a political religious power, 05:16 worship on the seventh, 05:18 on the Sabbath day is vital and will be encouraged, 05:22 and in other documents that implies enforced. 05:25 I came back from hearing that speech. 05:28 We had a meeting with our board. 05:30 And I was sort of full of the topic 05:32 and a couple of the lawyers they weren't named 05:34 because they're being used illustratively here 05:37 to damn them. 05:38 They sort of mocked me and they said, "Big deal. 05:41 He's not bringing the Sunday law." 05:44 And I said, "Well, I didn't say 05:45 that the pope is bringing the Sunday law." 05:48 And Great Controversy does not say that directly. 05:51 It's that Rome has been advancing Sunday law 05:54 for most of its history, 05:56 and often persecuting those who didn't keep it 05:58 and we are told and believe that at the end of time 06:02 a resurgent Rome will increase that push which they've done. 06:06 And that finally, 06:08 once Protestant society and the free, 06:11 religiously free society in the United States 06:13 will pick up that cajole and enforce Sunday worship. 06:19 And I said, "You haven't read Great Controversy, have you?" 06:21 They didn't answer me. 06:22 And I do believe that, unfortunately, 06:25 even within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 06:26 many have not adequately read Great Controversy 06:30 after not having adequately read the Bible. 06:32 I want to share a few pages from Great Controversy 06:37 on this general topic of the Sunday worship 06:40 and the role of the United States. 06:44 It's from the chapter, God's law immutable. 06:47 And it says this, and so please indulge me, 06:50 but this may be a way that we all, 06:52 I review it and you hear it perhaps for the first time. 06:56 It says, "The importance of the Sabbath 06:57 as a memorial of creation 07:00 is that it keeps ever present the true reason 07:03 why worship is due to God, 07:06 because He is the Creator and we are His creatures." 07:09 The Sabbath therefore, 07:11 and this is a quote from J. N. Andrews, 07:14 History of the Sabbath. 07:15 "The Sabbath therefore lies 07:17 at the very foundation of divine worship, 07:19 for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner 07:23 and no other institution does this. 07:25 The true ground of divine worship, 07:28 not of that on the seventh day merely, 07:33 but of all worship is found in the distinction 07:36 between the Creator and His creatures. 07:39 This great fact can never become obsolete 07:41 and must never be forgotten. 07:43 It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men 07:46 that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden." 07:49 And the pope dodged that a bit 07:51 because he said it was given to the Jews, 07:52 but it was given to mankind at creation. 07:56 And he continues to say that, 07:58 "Had the Sabbath been universally kept, 08:00 man's thoughts and affections 08:02 would have been led to the Creator 08:05 as the object of reverence and worship, 08:07 and they would never have been an idolater, 08:09 an atheist or an infidel. 08:11 The keeping of the Sabbath 08:13 is a sign of loyalty to the true God." 08:16 And I think that's just logical. 08:19 And, of course, prophecy points to this. 08:21 And it says in contrast, 08:23 "To those who keep the commandments of God 08:24 and have the faith of Jesus." 08:26 "The third angel of Revelation 14 08:29 points to another class 08:30 against whose errors are solemn and fearful warning is uttered: 08:34 If any man worship the beast and his image, 08:37 and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, 08:40 the same shall drink of the wine 08:42 of the wrath of God." 08:43 That's Revelation 14. 08:46 So who are the beast and the image? 08:48 It says, "The line of prophecy 08:49 in which these symbols are found 08:51 begins with Revelation 12 with the dragon 08:54 who sought to destroy Christ at His birth. 08:57 The dragon is said to be Satan." 09:00 That's in Revelation 12:9. 09:03 "He it was that moved upon Herod 09:05 to put the Savior to death. 09:07 But the chief agent of Satan 09:08 in making war upon Christ and His people 09:11 during the first centuries of the Christian era 09:13 was the Roman Empire, 09:16 in which the paganism was the prevailing religion. 09:20 Thus, while the dragon primarily present Satan, 09:24 it is as a secondary, 09:26 in a secondary sense the symbol of pagan Rome." 09:29 No question on that. 09:32 Historians universally know and acknowledge 09:34 that pagan Rome persecuted early Christianity. 09:38 It says in Chapter 13 of Revelation 09:40 described another beast like unto a leopard, 09:43 to which the dragon gave his power and his seat 09:45 and great authority. 09:48 This symbol as most Protestants have believed 09:50 represents the papacy. 09:53 And the papacy is a political and religious combination 09:57 by its own testimonies. 09:59 It's not disputed. 10:01 It says, "Which succeeded to the power and seat 10:03 and authority once held by the ancient Roman Empire. 10:07 Of the leopardlike beast it is declared 10:09 there was given unto him 10:10 a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. 10:13 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God 10:16 to blaspheme his name, and His tabernacle, 10:19 and them that dwell in heaven. 10:20 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, 10:23 and to overcome them and power was given him 10:26 over all kindred and tongues and nations. 10:29 This prophecy says great controversy, 10:32 which is nearly identical with the description 10:34 of the little horn of Daniel 7." 10:37 Another prophetic 10:38 looking forward to persecuting power, 10:40 unquestionably points to the papacy. 10:43 And, you know, we don't want to attack unduly 10:46 another religious force in this world. 10:49 So we're primarily talking 10:51 about the historical role of papacy 10:53 played in medieval persecutions and the claims 10:56 that it made then someone 10:58 of which it carries forward to this present day 11:01 even in a more quiescent form. 11:04 And it says, "Power was given unto him 11:07 to continue 40 and 2 months. 11:09 And says the prophet, 11:10 'I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death.' 11:13 And again, he that leadeth into captivity 11:15 shall go into captivity.'" 11:18 Years ago, I was reading a letter 11:20 between Thomas Jefferson and President, 11:23 Ex-president Adams in their old age, 11:26 and they both wondered 11:27 whether Christianity would survive in America. 11:30 Jefferson thought not. 11:32 Adam said, "Yes, it'll survive." 11:34 But he says "First, 11:36 that Hindu capitalistic system known as Roman Catholicism 11:39 must die." 11:41 That's what aggressive Protestantism 11:43 thought in his day. 11:45 That's how they describe the papacy and he says, 11:48 but first, he says that present, 11:51 it has a mortal wound. 11:53 He understood this prophecy. 11:57 Napoleon Bonaparte had taken the pope captive 12:01 and destroyed its secular power or the pope secular power. 12:06 And he says that present has a mortal wound 12:08 but such is its strength 12:09 that it may take 200 years more for it to fail. 12:13 We're 200 years down and, of course, it's resurgent. 12:16 But there's a danger in the persecutory power 12:20 that's inherent in these absolutist claims 12:23 that Rome falling on, 12:25 Roman Catholic Church following on from Rome 12:28 had made. 12:29 And it says, at this point, another symbol is introduced, 12:35 says the prophet, 12:36 "I beheld another beast coming up from the earth 12:38 and he had two horns like a lamb. 12:40 Both the appearance of this beast 12:41 and the manner of its rise 12:42 indicate that the nation that is represented 12:45 is unlike those in the preceding symbols." 12:49 And it says, 12:51 "The beast with the lamblike horns 12:53 was seen coming out of the earth. 12:55 Instead of overthrowing other powers, 12:57 this nation arises from territory 13:00 previously unoccupied." 13:01 Well, unoccupied in a European sense, 13:04 but still a new land. 13:06 And it says, "It could not then arise 13:08 among the crowded 13:09 and struggling nationalities of the old world. 13:11 It must be in the western continent. 13:14 This is what nation? 13:16 This is the, the rhetorical question 13:20 asked in Great Controversy. 13:22 What nation of the new world 13:24 was in 1798 arising into power, 13:29 giving promise of strength and greatness 13:31 and attracting the attention of the world? 13:33 The application of the symbol admits of no question, 13:36 one nation and one only meets 13:38 the specification of this prophecy. 13:40 It points unmistakeably 13:43 to the United States of America. 13:47 It's an interesting point, 13:48 and we're going to take a break in a moment, 13:51 but I'll bring it to the point, it says, 13:52 he had two horns like a lamb, 13:56 lamblike, seemingly specific, but it says, 13:59 "The lamblike horns indicate youth, 14:01 innocence and gentleness, fitly representing 14:03 the character of the United States 14:06 when represented to the prophet is coming up in 1798." 14:11 But later, it found, 14:13 it's found to be aggressive and dominant. 14:15 And it says, these horns figuratively can be seen 14:19 as the two characteristics of the United States, 14:21 Republicanism, which is power from the people 14:25 and Protestantism, fundamental characteristics. 14:29 And I found it very significant 14:31 in a recent presidential election. 14:32 Senator Santorum, a fine and upstanding 14:35 and deeply dedicated Roman Catholic candidate said 14:40 in a shocking commentary 14:42 that was picked up by media everywhere. 14:44 He says, "Protestantism is absent in America today." 14:48 Let's take a break and I'll come back 14:49 and continue and conclude 14:51 this important segment of the book, 14:54 Great Controversy by Ellen G. White 14:56 written 120 some years ago. |
Revised 2020-09-18