The National Sunday Law – How,
Why, and When?
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Dear Faye:
A few days ago, I
responded to your question on the
seven trumpets of Revelation. You
asked if the seven trumpets could
happen again: specifically, if there
could be a dual fulfillment. For the
reasons presented in my response (see
the February 2009, Wake Up Report!),
the short answer is no. There
can be only one fulfillment for each
apocalyptic prophecy. As you know, I
believe the seven trumpets will soon
begin. I believe the historical
position defended by the Seventh-day
Adventist Church (and a few other
churches) will prove to be
spiritually harmful. After giving
your letter some additional thought,
I believe your church is missing a
tremendous opportunity to prepare
people for the next prophetic
event and this is the reason for
this short study. SDAs have
anticipated a national Sunday law for
more than 145 years. Many SDAs think
this be the next prophetic event, but
this not be the case for reasons that
follow. Evan though you did not ask
about a national Sunday law in your
letter, I hope you will consider this
information as a continuation of our
discussion on the seven trumpets. I
also hope you will share this article
with your pastor. Since you indicated
that your pastor believes there will
be a future fulfillment of the seven
trumpets, he may be interested in
this article.
Sincerely,
Larry Wilson
In a Nutshell
Seventh-day Adventists
(SDAs) teach a national Sunday law
will occur in the United States. They
believe the First Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution will be set aside
and everyone will be forced to
recognize Sunday as a holy day. Once
this law is enacted, SDAs believe
they will be persecuted for refusing
to recognize the sacredness of the
first day of the week. In some cases,
they believe there will be torture
and even death.
Seventh-day Adventist
use the following logic to reach this
conclusion: First, they teach the
Roman Catholic Church is the first
beast mentioned in Revelation 13.
Since the Bible predicts this
particular beast will make war
against God’s saints and impose
false worship upon the world
(Revelation 13:5-8), SDAs conclude
the Catholic Church will someday war
against those who observe God’s
seventh-day Sabbath. SDAs also teach
the Roman catholic Church altered the
Ten Commandments by eliminating the
second commandment and transferring
the holiness of God’s seventh
day from Sabbath to Sunday. SDAs
interpret this assault on God’s
law as a mark (as in
trademark) of the Church’s
presumed authority. Therefore, SDAs
conclude the mark of the beast
will occur when a national Sunday law
is enacted. This law, they teach,
will require everyone to respect
Sunday as a holy day.
Next, SDAs teach the
second beast in Revelation 13 is the
United States. They believe the Roman
Catholic Church and Protestants in
the United States will “join
hands” at some point in the
future for the purpose of imposing a
national Sunday law. United, these
two powers will then impose a universal
Sunday law on all nations. The
church’s prophet, Ellen White
(1827-1915), wrote: “As America,
the land of religious liberty, shall
unite with the papacy in forcing the
conscience and compelling men to
honor the [Catholic Church’s]
false Sabbath, the people of every
country on the globe will be led to
follow her example.” She also
wrote: The decree enforcing the
worship of this day [Sunday] is to go
forth to all the world…. Trial
and persecution will come to all who,
in obedience to the fourth
commandment, refuse to worship this
false Sabbath.”
Finally, SDAs teach
the enactment of a national Sunday
law in the United States will usher
in a “time of trouble” for
the whole world. They believe
that God will test all mankind to see
who will acquiesce through
persecution and honor Rome’s
false Sabbath and thus receive the
mark of the beast. They believe
God’s saints will resist these
laws by standing firm in their faith
and obeying the fourth commandment
that declares the seventh day of the
week holy.
How Can This Be
Possible?
Ever since the
Seventh-day Adventist church was
formed in 1863, non-SDAs have been
puzzled by the Church’s
anticipations. For example, what will
cause the United States Congress to
abolish the First Amendment? What
will cause Protestants and Catholics
to “join hands,” supporting
the elimination of religious freedom
in the United States? Will the United
States and the Catholic Church be
able to impose a universal
Sunday law on seven billion people?
These are valid questions and one
would think that after 145 years, the
SDA Church should have some answers.
Think about this:
The current war in Iraq proves the
outcome of any war is hard to
predict. The world’s most
powerful army has sacrificed
thousands of lives in Iraq. The
world’s richest nation has spent
trillions of dollars and invested six
hard years setting up a fledgling
democracy in a tiny country of
twenty-five million people.
(California has a population of about
36 million.) If establishing a
democracy in tiny Iraq has been this
expensive and lengthy, how will the
United States and the Catholic Church
impose the holiness of Sunday
on billions of devout Moslems,
Hindus, Jews, Pagans, and Communists?
This is a valid question that
deserves an answer. Many SDAs are
also asking this question because 93%
of Church members live outside the
United States. (Source:
Nationmaster.com)
The Remnant Church of
Bible Prophecy
Revelation 13:8
indicates that worship will become a
matter of salvation during the Great
Tribulation. Unfortunately, SDAs have
misinterpreted the identity of the
two beasts in Revelation 13, as well
as the mark of the beast. The first
beast cannot be the papacy, the
second beast cannot be the United
States, and the mark of the beast
cannot be Sunday worship. The
historical position defended by SDAs
is not defensible when the
specifications given in the Bible are
given full consideration. To better
understand the problem, consider the
following:
Revelation 12:17 is a
very important text to the SDAs. “Then
the dragon was enraged at the woman
and went off to make war against the
rest [remnant] of her
offspring – those who obey
God’s commandments and hold to
the testimony of Jesus.”
(Insertion mine) SDAs use this verse
to identify themselves as “the
remnant church of Bible
prophecy.” They reach this
position by concluding the writings
of Ellen White are “The Spirit
of Prophecy” and they often
apply this title to her works. Next,
SDAs believe the phrase
“God’s commandments”
in verse 17 refers to the God’s
[Ten] Commandments.” Since the
SDA church is the only church
upholding the obligatory nature of
all Ten Commandments and possessing
the testimony of Jesus (The Spirit of
Prophecy), they conclude that they
are the remnant church of Bible
prophecy. I make this point so you
can see why SDAs believe their
church will someday be the object of
the dragon’s wrath.
Seventh-day Adventists
teach the dragon in Revelation 12:17
primarily represents the devil, but
“in a secondary sense, a symbol
of pagan Rome. Using this logic, they
conclude Rome [which morphed from a
pagan power into a papal power] is
preparing to make war against them.
Consequently, there is a great deal
of concern within the SDA Church
about the activities of the Catholic
Church formed by Ignatius Loyola in
the sixteenth century. This militant
order was established during the
Spanish Inquisition and its initial
endeavor was the forced conversion of
the Moors (Moslems) to Catholicism.
Later, Jews and Protestants became
targets of the Jesuits and some SDAs
believe the Jesuits will once again
persecute those who refuse to submit
to the pope’s authority.)
The Forty-Two Months
Problem
Remember that
Adventists believe the first beast in
Revelation 13 is the Roman Catholic
Church. SDAs support their
interpretation, in part, by saying
that the forty-two months mentioned
in Revelation 13:5 is the same
time period as the 1,260 days in
Revelation 12:6 and the time, times
and half a time in Revelation 12:14
Daniel 7:25. They claim all four
references point to papal supremacy
during the Dark Ages. (A.D. 538 to
1798)
Please read the
following passage carefully and
especially notice how the forty-two
months fits into the story: “And
the dragon stood on the shore of the
sea [waiting to make war on the
remnant of the woman]. And I saw a
beast coming out of the sea. He had
ten horns and seven heads, with ten
crowns on his horns, and on each head
a blasphemous name. The beast I saw
resembled a leopard, but had feet
like those of a bear and a mouth like
that of a lion. The dragon [who
had been waiting to make war on the
remnant] gave the beast his power
and his throne and great authority.
One of his heads [actually, the
sixth head] of the beast seemed to
have a fatal wound, but the fatal
wound had been healed [when the
beast came up out of the sea]. The
whole world was astonished [at
the appearing of the beast] and [voluntarily]
followed the beast…. The
beast was given a mouth to utter
proud words and blasphemies and to
exercise his authority for forty-two
months. He opened his
mouth to blaspheme God, and to
slander his name and his dwelling
place and those who live in heaven.
He was given power to make war
against the saints and to conquer
[defeat] them. And he [the
leopard-like beast] was given
authority over every tribe, people,
language and nation. All inhabitants
of the earth [seven billion
people] will worship [obey] the
beast – all whose names have not
been written in the book of life
belonging to the Lamb that was slain
from the creation of the world.”
(Revelation 13:1-3, 5-8, italics
and insertions mine)
These verses present
several problems for SDAs, but to
keep this short, we will focus on the
forty-two months. SDAs insist that a
day must equal a year in Bible
prophecy, so they have to place the
forty-two months mentioned in verse 5
between A.D. 538 and 1798. (42 months
x 30 days = 1,260 day/years) This
conclusion is flawed for two reasons.
First, the leopard-like beast has no
power except during the forty-two
months described in Revelation 13:5.
If the forty-two months belong in the
past, so does this beast! Second, the
Bible says this beast will exercise
authority for forty-two months after
the leopard-like beast rises from the
sea. When does this beast rise from
the sea? The bible doesn’t
explicitly answer this question.
However, it does say that when the
leopard-like beast rises from the
sea, the head that had received the
deadly wound is healed.
Consider this: History
says the power of the papacy was
deeply wounded in 1798 when the pope
was taken prisoner and placed in
exile. This means the healing of the
deadly wound has to occur after
1798. Since the deadly wound is healed
when the leopard-like beast rises
from the sea, the leopard-like beast
has to arise after 1798 and
the forty-two months will occur after
the beast rises to power! Again,
the Bible says: “One of the
heads of the beast seemed to have had
a fatal wound, but the fatal wound
had been healed…” (Revelation
13:3) These facts force the forty-two
months in Revelation 13:5 after 1798.
Shoving the forty-two months backward
into the Dark Ages is going in the
wrong direction because the bible
puts them in the future.
Revelation 12:17 does
indicate the dragon is preparing to
make war against the remnant of the
woman and the Bible highlights this
war in verse 13:7. “He [the
leopard-like beast] was given
power to make war against
the saints and to conquer them.
And he was given [as a gift] authority
over every tribe, people, language
and nation.” (Revelation
13:7, italics and insertion mine)
When and how does this war occur?
Meaningless Trumpets?
SDAs have unwittingly
destroyed an essential portion of
Revelation’s end time story by
forcing the seven trumpets into
ancient history. If we put the seven
trumpets where they belong, the
seven trumpets will explain how, why,
and when false worship will become a
great controversy throughout the
world! The seven trumpets
explain many things that SDAs know
nothing about!
SDAs and evangelicals
have a serious problem. Both groups
have embraced a prophetic paradigm
that denies the importance of the
seven trumpets. The SDA church
teaches the seven trumpets happened
long ago and evangelicals believe the
seven trumpets will occur after a
pre-tribulation rapture. The end
result is the same. Both groups
believe the seven trumpets of
Revelation are prophetically
insignificant. This is a horrible
mistake because the seven trumpets
are about to begin and they explain
how Revelation’s story will
unfold! The bitter Millerite
disappointment of 1844 proves that a
failed prophetic schematic can be
spiritually fatal. I offer this
observation because I think several
hundred million Christians are about
to be bitterly disappointed and there
is no need for this.
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