religious liberty

Current Events – Christian Discrimination

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“The enemy stirs up persons whose hearts are not stayed upon God, who are admitting into their hearts unpleasant and disagreeable things to ponder over, and then pass along the unsavoury dish as a repast for other minds and hearts. This is feeding upon Satan’s garbage, and makes the soul impoverished.”

Australasian Union Conference Record, August 1, 1900.

“Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

Those words were recently written by Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), in a column he wrote for the Huffington Post. Weinstein will be a consultant to the United States Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops. www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/04/28.

Is the Pentagon discriminating against Christians?

A representative said he’s been monitoring a steady stream of religious discrimination complaints over the past four years from Christian soldiers.

“It’s been a steady attack on faith and religious freedom that we’ve seen in our military like we’ve never seen before. We are getting a lot of calls from soldiers saying ‘we’re afraid of going to church, we’re afraid to be seen praying, we’re afraid that would hurt our careers, our promotions.’ ”

Instances of the Christian faith coming under attack in the military include:

  • Commanders barred from disclosing any programs that are tied to the Chaplaincy or any programs involving religion;
  • The Air Force banning the word ‘God’ from an Air force patch logo – even though the reference had no religious connotation;
  • A Navy directive that banned Bibles at Walter Reed Hospital;
  • An Army Reserve training program that listed Evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremism;
  • An Army email that listed prominent Christian ministries like the Family Research Council and American Family Association as “domestic hate groups.”

The question has been asked whether the military is enforcing section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act. The Act, signed into law last year [2012], includes a conscience provision clause protecting the religious rights of troops.

The section reads, “No member of the Armed Forces may — require a chaplain to perform any rite, ritual, or ceremony that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain; or discriminate or take any adverse personnel action against a chaplain.”

A United States Army officer sent an email to dozens of subordinates listing the American Family Association and Family Research Council as “domestic hate groups” because they oppose homosexuality—and warned officers to monitor soldiers who might be supporters of the groups.

An Army training instructor told a Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania that Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism were examples of religious extremism. The Army categorized that episode as an isolated incident.

“Several in the military have this belief that evangelicals and people who hold to traditional values seem to be a problem and need to be monitored.” http://radio.foxnews.com

Current Events – Religious Freedom Challenged

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“One woman sits at the center of the developing—and utterly confusing—Internal Revenue Service scandal. It was Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division, who let slip at an American Bar Association meeting on Friday that, between 2010 and 2012, conservative nonprofit groups were improperly scrutinized by the IRS. And it is Lerner who has since become the target of a number of accusations and conspiracy theories, lobbed from both ends of the political spectrum. As the media waits impatiently for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to release an investigative report detailing who knew about the IRS’s inappropriate practices and when, it seems crucial to get to know the main character in this unfolding drama and the core issues swirling around her.” www.thedailybeast.com, May 14, 2013.

“The IRS has admitted to unfairly targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.” http://hotair.com, May 29, 2013.

“The framework for 501(c) organizations —what we commonly call nonprofits—was established over 75 years ago, when the federal tax laws were first codified. Because these are tax designations, any and all 501(c) organizations—regardless of function—are approved by, and primarily regulated by, the IRS. At present, there are over 29 different sub classifications for the 501(c) designation. But, for the case in question, there are only two that really matter:

  • 501(c)(3) — Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations
  • 501(c)(4) — Civic Leagues, Social Welfare Organizations, and Local Associations of Employees”

www.outsidethebeltway.com, May 29, 2013.

“Let not one who believes the truth, be silent now. None should be careless now; let all urge their petitions at the throne of grace, pleading the promise, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.” It is a perilous time now. If this land of boasted liberty is preparing to sacrifice every principle which enters into her constitution, making decrees to suppress religious freedom, and for the enforcing of papal falsehood and delusion, then the people of God need to present their petitions in faith to the Most High. There is every encouragement, in the promises of God, for those who put their trust in him. The prospect of being brought into personal danger and distress, need not cause despondency, but should quicken the vigor and hopes of God’s people; for the time of their peril is the season for God to grant them clearer manifestations of his power. We are not to sit in calm expectancy of oppression and tribulation, and fold our hands, doing nothing to avert the evil. Let our united cries be sent up to heaven. Pray and work, and work and pray. But let none act rashly. Learn as never before that you must be meek and lowly in heart. You must not bring a railing accusation against any, whether individuals or churches. Learn to deal with minds as Christ did. Sharp things must sometimes be spoken; but be sure that the Holy Spirit of God is abiding in your heart before you speak the clear-cut truth; then let it cut its way. You are not to do the cutting.” The Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, 902.

Editorial – Liberty

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Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” II Corinthians 3:17.

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13.

One of the ways to distinguish the true Christ from Antichrist is that the true Christ brings liberty but Antichrist brings bondage:

“Only by terrible struggles has the right of religious liberty been maintained. When the stake and the scaffold proved ineffectual to destroy the Reformation in Germany, popery summoned her armies, the Catholic States banded together to crush out Protestantism, and for thirty years the tempests of war swept over these now fertile plains and populous cities. At the opening of the thirty years war, in 1618, the country had reached a high state of prosperity. It is said that at that time the methods of cultivation were fully equal to those of 1818. ‘Germany was accounted a rich country. Under the influence of a long peace its towns had enlarged in size, its villages had increased in number, and its smiling fields testified to the excellence of its husbandry. The early dew of the Reformation was not yet exhaled. The sweet breath of that morning gave it a healthy moral vigor, quickened its art and industry, and filled the land with all good things. Wealth abounded in the cities, and even the country people lived in circumstances of comfort and ease.’ Since the Reformation, a school had existed in every town and village in which there was a church, and a knowledge of reading and writing was generally diffused among the people. The Bible had found its way into their houses. The hymns of Luther were sung in their churches and their homes.

“But during the terrible years that followed, all this was changed. Foreign soldiery, savage and blood-besmeared, traversed the country, marking their course by pillage, fire, and murder. The greatest imaginable horrors were so common that it was a matter of surprise when they failed to be perpetrated. At the approach of the troops, the terror-stricken people sought safety in one-fiftieth of the population remained, and there were regions left without inhabitant.

“Such was the spirit of popery in the seventeenth century, and such is her spirit today. Let Rome but gain the power, and our own favored land would witness scenes like those that covered Germany with heaps of slain, and made her harvest fields a lair for the wild beasts.” Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists (1886), 176, 177.

Current Events – Affordable Care Act

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Christian organizations make a stand against the Federal Government on the moral issues hidden in the Affordable Care Act

“The banner of truth and religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by God’s witnesses during the centuries that have passed since then, has, in this last conflict, been committed to our hands. The responsibility for this great gift rests with those whom God has blessed with a knowledge of His word. We are to receive this word as supreme authority. We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of divine appointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God rather than men. God’s word must be recognized as above all human legislation.” The Acts of the Apostles, 68.

Four Most Important Questions

The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby contraception case. But which arguments will have the most influence on the justices? Which four arguments are most likely to be important?

Cutting through the politicized hype about the Hobby Lobby, the Justices during oral argument focused on four serious legal questions, which deserve a serious answer:

  1. Could Hobby Lobby avoid a substantial burden on its religious exercise by dropping health insurance and paying fines of $2,000 per employee?
  2. Does the government have a compelling interest in protecting the statutory rights of Hobby Lobby’s employees?
  3. Would a ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby give rise to a slippery slope of exemptions from vaccines, minimum wage laws, anti-discrimination laws, and the like?
  4. Has the government satisfied the least restrictive means test?

The answer to all four questions is “no.” http://blog.acton.org/March 24

Supreme Court seeks compromise in contraception case

March 25, 2014

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration struggled Tuesday to defend the so-called contraception mandate in its fledgling health care law before a Supreme Court clearly sympathetic to religious objections raised by employers.

While the justices were predictably divided along ideological lines, it appeared that a majority of them did not want to force for-profit corporations to offer health plans that include birth control methods they claim cause abortions.

The decision could have a psychological impact, however, on a law that has suffered more than its share of website glitches and administrative delays. And it could have a political impact for the White House. www.usatoday.com

Hobby Lobby case goes before Supreme Court

Mar. 26, 2014 – 2:55 – The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s Lori Windham on the Hobby Lobby’s case on employer’s religious rights when it comes to health insurance being heard by the Supreme Court. http://foxbusiness.com

Eradication of Liberty

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“Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side.” The Great Controversy, 565, 566

Rome has a great history behind her of 1,500 years of exercising supremacy and control over the nations of the world. At this moment, she is moving in Eastern Europe, in Russia, and in Mexico. She is moving in the United States. In one month, our President goes to meet with the pope at the Vatican. This President is Jesuit-trained; and from all indications, he is forming his policy, at home and abroad, in accordance with the general features of liberal Jesuitism that have developed since Vatican II. Rome is moving very swiftly. Through His inspired Word, Christ enables us to cut through the propaganda of the media of our day to get to the bottom of what is happening.

A Roman Catholic conservative author has written that the United States Civil War was a religious war. In her astounding book, The Star Spangled Heresy, Americanism, 110, Solange Hertz writes, “One aspect of the Civil War which has been studiously ignored by establishment historians is its character as a war of religion. Protestants found themselves pitted against Catholics and Anglo-Catholics in a death struggle over two incompatible ways of life.” There is no getting around the fact that the only foreign power to recognize the Confederacy and receive its envoys was the Vatican from whose vantage point in the already-threatened papal states the issues could be distinguished with excessive clarity. When the U.S. authorities remonstrated with the Vatican, Secretary of State Cardinal Antonelli, for providing asylum to Confederates, according to an official report, the Cardinal replied that he intended to take such rebels under his special protection. Mary Surratt’s son, John, sought for complicity in Lincoln’s assassination, was even admitted into the papal states.

A physician friend recently sent me a most significant document. It is an article entitled The Vatican and Russia, by Deacon Herman Ivanov Treenadzaty, of the St. Nicholas Parish in Lyon, France. It opens to us a field of view of Rome’s activity with reference to Russia for hundreds of years. You see, ever since the split with Eastern Orthodoxy in A.D. 1054, Rome has been the implacable enemy of Greek and Russian Orthodoxy. This man, obviously a Russian Orthodox cleric living in Lyon, France, delivered the lecture in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, at the 24th Russian Youth Congress in the Jubilee Year of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’. He states, “It appears to us that Roman Catholicism is a great danger, threatening both present and future Russia; more dangerous than communism which is already on the decline.” And I would submit that it would not be so much on the decline as might be thought. It is assuming a new form because Rome has, in its encyclical, indicated that she is not in favor of the Stalinistic type of communistic or the laissez faire capitalism, but wants a middle path between the two. Quoting from Dostoyevesky, a Russian writer. He states that, “Roman Catholicism is more dangerous than atheism since it presents to us a profane and desecrated Christ, usurping the earthly throne. The pope took the sword and added lies, intrigue, deception, fanaticism and villiany.” Ivanov then comments that Catholicism is dangerous precisely because it offers a counterfeit Christ.

Ivanov reviewed hundreds of years of Russian history with reference to all of the political, psychological, and diplomatic efforts that the Vatican has made to try to overthrow Orthodoxy in Russia, showing how the Vatican has tried to rewrite the history of the introduction of Christianity to Russia. He reveals how propaganda was introduced through the media in Russia to try to destabilize the situation and pave the way for the Vatican to increase its power there. And even this current pope, today, is part of this picture, he points out. Soon after the overthrow of the czar Nicholas II in 1917, the Fatima visions which have indicated that if certain conditions were fulfilled, Russia would be converted to the papacy. It is now believed that those conditions have been met and that Perestroika is the conversion of Russia to the papacy.

All this sheds light on the gigantic struggle between Orthodoxy and the papacy. It reveals that though historians believed that the Crimean War was largely a human, political, and inter-governmental war, the archbishop of Paris, at the start of the Crimean War, declared that “it is a sacred deed, a God-pleasing deed, to ward off the Orthodox heresy, subjugate, and destroy it with a new crusade. This is the clear goal of today’s crusade. Such was the goal of all the crusades, even if all their participants were not fully aware of it. The war which France is now preparing to wage against Russia is not a political war, but a holy war. It is not a war between two governments or between two peoples, but it is precisely a religious war and other reasons presented are only pretext.” And then he comments that the case could not be more clearly stated.

He pointed out that the Vatican found the destruction of the czar, who had been the protector of Orthodoxy, and the Bolshevik Revolution a great opportunity to gain control in Russia and how disappointed they were when things did not work out the way that they had expected. And yet, they felt that somehow communism could alter the whole picture in Russia so that ultimately the Vatican could move in and take advantage of the devastation wrought by communism.

Why is this so significant? Well, by the early 1980s, more than half of the Orthodox priests in Eastern Europe were prepared to accept the primacy of the pope; and Rome realized that the time had come to strike. Using the solidarity Labor Union, which had been largely developed and fostered by the papacy, she began a chain of evolution in Eastern Europe that toppled one government after another with breath-taking speed.

Rome wants to radicalize nations, to drive them into left wing and right wing, and then, out of the insecurity that develops because of the contending factions, she feels that she can take advantage of the situation to impose a new order. This is exactly what took place in pre-war Germany. The communists were fighting the Free Corps which ultimately became the Nazi Wehrmacht. Both national socialism in Germany and international socialism in Russia had the same common basis. Friederick A. Hayek, an Austrian-born author who was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1974, has written several volumes exposing how the very principles that led to Nazism’s triumph in Germany and Stalinist communism’s triumph in Germany and Stalinist communism’s triumph in Russia are at work in the Western countries through socialism. We are now, in our nation, going into an enormous plunge of socialism based upon the thinking that has been developed in the Institute of Policy Studies. The social security card which was to be kept inviolately secret when it was introduced, never to be known publicly, has now essentially become our national ID card. Now, when through a health care program you have to fill out forms in order to get any medical assistance, delineating every aspect of your life, and the government can begin to control people from birth to death, all your privacy is gone.

The Russian constitution, under the USSR, made provision for religious liberty; but it also stated that if the security of the state was at risk, then those liberties could be suspended in the name of protecting the state. The very same thing happened in World War II in America when tens of thousands of Japanese were interned under the Preamble of the Constitution that it was for the common good. Socialism has, at its basis, the basic Jesuit principle that the end justifies the means.

The European Community is headed by Jacques Delors who is a devout Roman Catholic. When he took control about ten or eleven years ago, he took the European Community from a state of shambles and made it into a very dynamic force. Now we have the North American Free Trade Agreement which is similar in nature.

We have had in our country, for decades now, the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. This organization is now exerting enormous influence in this country. In his book, Secret, F. Stephen Powell documents how the Institute for Policy Studies, started by a communist a number of decades ago, has now found hundreds of front organizations for influencing American policy. It reveals that some of the top advisors to Bill and Hillary Clinton are some of the chief figures in this organization which has worked closely with the KGB for years.

Speaking of the treaty-making power of the United States, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I say the same as to the opinions of those who consider the grant of the treaty-making power as boundless. If it is, then we have no Constitution.” On April 11, 1952, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said, “Treaties make international law and also they make domestic law. Under our Constitution, treaties become the supreme law of the land. Treaty law can override the Constitution. Treaties, for example can cut across the rights given the people by their constitutional Bill of Rights.” What better way to repudiate the Constitution than to bring in a whole new framework of law. How acquainted are you with the North American Free Trade Agreement? It was written in such ambiguous language that there is a ninety-man commission that will be required to interpret it. Does that sound familiar?

Do you remember what happened to the Bohemians? When Rome wanted to subjugate Bohemia, she brought against them the greatest forces in Europe. She marshaled all of the nations of Europe, virtually, against little Bohemia. She gave the promises of paradise to thieves and murderers and brigands if they would only join and fight against Bohemia and subjugate it for the papacy. But as long as the Bohemians were faithful to the Lord, they could not be overcome, even by the most mighty armies. But there came a day when Bohemia decided to enter into a treaty with Rome. Rome granted all kinds of liberties, but they reserved the right to interpret this treaty. Bohemia was thrown into civil war, and it was a great catastrophe.

Now think of a ninety-man commission, with thirty from Mexico, thirty from Canada, and thirty from the United States. What is the religion of Mexico? There is a large portion of Canada which is French Canadian, which is what religion? Much of the rest of Canada is Anglican which is a step-sister; in fact, Solange Hertz calls them Anglo-Catholics. And then there is the United States. What is the premier school that produces foreign service personnel, the excerpts on international law? Georgetown University, the premier Jesuit university form which Bill Clinton graduated. The administration has chosen to keep secret the names of the people who will be on the commission from United States. They were going to release, them, but then they decided to keep them secret.

Meanwhile, from the Washington Post, Sunday, April 17, 1994, I read, “Clinton Policy Allows Public Housing To Be Searched Without a Warrant.” As you know, this has becoming a growing issue. “The Clinton administration yesterday introduced a new policy to permit police without warrants to raid and search apartments in gang-ridden public housing, but said the plan will not violate the constitutional rights of tenants.”

Harry Martin, editor of the Napa Sentinal, who has been editor and involved in at least six different defense intelligence magazines, has released the contents of a secret memo from the White House regarding the plans of the Administration to completely exterminate private weapons ownership and even camouflage clothing, ultimately, or anything having to do with anything that will enable the citizenry to resist a tyrannical government. This is the very reason, according to our founding fathers, why the Second Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights.

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John F. Kennedy conceived of the plan for all of the armies of the world’s nations to be downscaled gradually, while an international force, such as the UN, would be continually building up and increasing in power. Now, as our nation’s military is scaled back, there are reports of foreign vehicles, foreign military aircraft, and other troops pouring in.

At the same time, we see the UN decide to invade Somolia without being asked to come, setting a precedent for UN intervention. We see environmental laws blanketing the globe and a call for an environmental police force to enforce this internationally.

We know, according to Revelation 17, that ultimately there will be a grand unity of the nations. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” Revelation 17:12-14

Commenting on this passage, the Spirit of Prophecy tells us, that, “‘These have one mind.’ There will be a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan’s forces. ‘And shall give their power and strength unto the beast.’ Thus is manifested the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, as was manifested by the papacy, when in the past it persecuted those who dared to refuse to conform with the religious rites and ceremonies of Romanism. In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God’s people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 983

The law of Jehovah is the foundational question. The law of God is the expression of His character. It is the foundation of His government, and rebellion against His law is rebellion against God. “In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” Ibid., So we have been warned that there is going to be a grand confederacy at the end of time. There will be a grand union, a grand harmony of all of the forces opposed to God’s law; and it will ultimately come down to the testing of spiritual loyalty to God and to His law or else unity with these forces that have confederated themselves against the government of God.

“Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph! For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth. He will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet. He will choose our inheritance for us, the excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah.” Psalm 47:1-4. He is awesome in His power. His glory, and His majesty. He will arise one day and vindicate the honor of His law which has been violated by puny man. These little specks of dust down here think to enter into rebellion against the great King of the universe.

God calls upon us to have spiritual loyalty in these last days, to know our King, and to act upon His principles. For the gospel of Jesus Christ provides a solution for every human contingency that we may be called upon to face in these last days so that we may emerge as overcomers—more than overcomers—triumphant in Christ.

The End

Choose Whom You Will Serve

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A BIBLICAL INDICTMENT AGAINST ALL WHO WOULD USE FORCE IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS

Prior to Pope Francis’ visit to America in September, his Advisor, Jeffrey Sachs said that the Pope would challenge the American ideal of individual choice in matters of religion and conscience. It was also reported that the pope would encourage a family day. It seems to have escaped his mind that Americans in “the land of the free” can already rest on Sunday as a family if they so choose. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees them the freedom to choose whatever day of rest they want without interference from the government.

What is the Pope up to?

The Catholic Church has always been an enemy of separation of church and state. The pope’s plan to encourage a Sunday law will be forced on all. Those who choose to keep God’s seventh day Sabbath holy will be eventually branded as criminals and persecuted. Those who forget history are bound to repeat it. Is it now time that we better understand where the American ideal of separation of church and state came from, what it cost, and what we can do to preserve this God-given right.

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7–9.

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, though they were put in a perfect environment, chose to sin. As a simple test to prove loyalty to their Creator, they were prohibited from eating the fruit from one tree in the Garden of Eden. Satan deceived Eve. She ate the fruit and gave it to Adam and they lost their right to live in their garden home.

After Satan had caused the fall of Adam and Eve, he claimed this world as his own. The plan of salvation put in place to restore fallen man from his sinful condition could only be successful if he was given free choice.

In heaven, we are told that Michael (Christ) fought against the devil, who was thrown out of heaven as a result. However, when Christ came into this dark world, which was under Satan’s dominion, He never fought physically for its recovery. He knew that would have proved nothing to the unfallen worlds in vindicating God’s Holy Law, His character, and His plan of Salvation.

Satan had accused God of being a dictator. He claimed a victory in Adam’s fall, claiming that it was impossible for humans to keep God’s law and that there was fault with the Law Giver. God and His Law had to be vindicated, and doubt had to be removed from the minds of the unfallen worlds. God is love and only through love could He draw this lost world back. The plan of salvation would not only vindicate God but would save lost humanity from their sins.

The inhabitants of the unfallen worlds could see that Satan had won control of this world by tempting our first parents to choose to transgress God’s law, just as he had caused the ruin of one third of the heavenly host. God’s eternal and perfect law had been broken, and the only way the world could be won back was through the shedding of blood to pay the penalty for a broken law. “… and without shedding of blood is no remission [of sin].” Hebrews 9:22.

Satan was cast out of heaven for breaking God’s law, and the universe would see the inconsistency if God had not allowed death to come upon Adam and Eve, who, like Satan, had transgressed God’s law. He could not penalize Satan for transgression and then excuse our first parents for the same offence.

The story is told of a judge who fined all who came before him who had been found guilty, because the law had to be upheld. One day his own son came before him and many whispered that the judge would let him off. Much to their surprise, his own son was fined heavily. Then, because he was his father, the judge put his hand into his own pocket and paid his son’s fine. No one could say that justice had not been done. Justice and mercy had met. So it was with God. Adam and Eve had to be punished because His law had to be upheld. Then He paid the fine Himself by sending Jesus Christ to die in our place.

God loves His creatures. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8. By His death the law was magnified and made honorable.

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” Isaiah 42:21. Jesus kept His Father’s commandments. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. Jesus asks us to do the same. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15.

Some might think that because Jesus fought and won in heaven, why couldn’t He come to this earth and again take the sword to Satan and his angels, and then take us all back to heaven? The problem with that argument is that when we get back to heaven we would continue to take the sword to each other. God’s plan of salvation has provided power for all those who choose to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and live a victorious life. The old carnal man must choose to die and be born again. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

The whole plan to recover this lost world of sin and death was to be one of choice alone. Christ said that His kingdom is not of this world, for if it were, then His servants would fight (see John 18:36). Because of this principle He separated the church from the state, for if these powers were united, force would replace choice, and the gospel message would fail.

There are many examples in Scripture of the exercise of freedom of choice. Satan chose to rebel in Heaven. Our first parents chose to transgress. Choices were made before the flood, in Sodom and Gomorrah, and at the golden calf. The three worthies in Babylon chose to be loyal to God. Judas chose to betray Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Peter chose to deny Christ several times. The unbelieving Jews chose to reject Christ.

The common people chose to follow Jesus. Christ chose to die for us on Calvary.

Two thieves were crucified with Jesus—one chose to accept Him and sadly the other thief chose to reject Him.

When Christ started His church on earth, force was never used to compel those who heard Him preach. He would harm nobody. “A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.” Isaiah 42:3.

On one occasion when Jesus and His disciples were rejected while passing through a Samaritan village, His disciples wished to take revenge. Instead, Christ gave them a lesson in love and tolerance towards those who chose to reject their message: “And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9:54–56.

Because Christ’s kingdom was not of this world, He rejected those who tried to make Him a king on this earth. Caesar could not forgive but Christ could forgive seventy times seven the vilest sinners who truly repented (see Matthew 18:22). “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take Him by force, to make Him a king, He departed again into a mountain Himself alone.” John 6:15.

Christ had told His followers that they had to eat His flesh and drink His blood (figuratively). That meant that they had to take His victorious life into their hearts. At this stage most of His followers chose to leave Him. He never tried to compel them to come back. “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?” John 6:66, 67.

Christ preached the gospel; some chose to accept Him while others chose to reject Him. Christ never used violence and coercion to obtain converts. Some who believe in the church/state union say that Jesus used force when He cleansed the temple. However, there is no record of anyone being physically harmed by Christ. The only harm done was to the egos and pockets of the moneychangers. To try and use this example as an excuse for full scale genocide defies all credibility.

Jesus taught the disciples that there was to be no force used when they preached the gospel to the world. At Pentecost, Peter preached with the power of the Holy Spirit. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then they that gladly received His word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:38, 41. Three thousand souls chose to accept Jesus without coercion. In Acts 4:4 five thousand chose Jesus as their Saviour. In Acts 5:14 multitudes of both men and women chose to believe. In Acts 6:7 a great company of priests chose to become obedient to the faith. In Acts 7:57 most of the leaders chose to stop their ears. In Acts 8:37 the Ethiopian chose to accept Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:42–51 the Gentiles chose to accept Christ but many of the Jews chose to reject the gospel message. They expelled both Paul and Barnabas from their coasts. The disciples chose to shake off the dust from their feet and went to Iconium.

There is no record of the first church ever having used force to attain conversions. Conversely, the unbelieving Jews continually chose to use violence against their former fellows who had chosen to become followers of Christ.

The following Bible verses show that all those who claim to be followers of gentle Jesus and advocate the use of force in religious matters are not His disciples despite their profession:

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:1, 2. The Bible warned us that there would be a time coming when force would be used, but it also said that false doctrines would be introduced. These two factors (force and false doctrine) would unite to bring forth the man of sin. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” II Thessalonians 2:3.

The following verses also predict that error would come into the church and be forced upon the people: Acts 20:28–31; II Peter 2:1, 2; I Timothy 4:1–4; II Timothy 4:3, 4; II Corinthians 4:2. Christ admonished us to read the Book of Daniel (Matthew 24:15). In Daniel 7:25 there is prophesied that a power would arise out of pagan Rome and it would “wear out the saints of the Most High” who chose to remain loyal to Jesus and His doctrine. In Daniel 11:33 and 35, it says that this same religio-political power would kill God’s children. They would “fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days” (1260 years). Protestant Bible students historically believe that these prophecies were fulfilled by the papacy in the Dark Ages, which, to be politically correct are now called the Middle Ages.

This blasphemous religious power had united itself to the state. That act contradicted Christ’s command to the first church (see Matthew 22:21). This was the first step in using the arm of the state to force millions to choose a false worship against their conscience. This power claimed this world to be its kingdom, which also contradicts Christ’s statement that His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

“Pope Urban II, inspirer of the first Crusade, decreed that all heretics were to be tortured and killed.” A Woman Rides the Beast, 246, by Dave Hunt. “St. Thomas Aquinas [the darling of the Catholic Church] taught that non-Catholics, or heretics, could, after a second warning, be legitimately killed. His exact words are: ‘they have merited to be excluded from the earth by death.’ ” St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, vol. 4, 90. “There is no greater offence than heresy … and therefore it must be rooted out with fire and sword.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, vol. 14, 767. The Catholic church claimed the right to kill all those who chose to believe differently from what the church taught, even if that teaching conflicted with the plainest Scripture.

Christ, on the contrary, had told us to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matthew 5:44. Christ gave all a choice in religious matters, but popery believes in force.

“The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.” Pope Pius IX, Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854. [Emphasis added.]

“One eighteenth Century historian, Walter James, counted 95 popes who claimed to have divine power to depose kings.” Vicars of Christ, by Peter de Rosa, page 355. This is a far cry from their claimed first pope Peter who said, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors.” I Peter 2:13, 14, first part.

“Archbishop Kendrick, says: We confess that the Roman Catholic Church is intolerant, that is to say, that it uses all the means in its power for the extirpation of error and sin; but this intolerance is the logical and necessary consequence of its infallibility. She alone has the right to be intolerant, because she alone has the truth. The Church tolerates heretics where she is obliged to do so; but she hates them mortally, and employs all her force to secure their annihilation. When the Catholics shall here be in possession of a considerable majority which will certainly be the case by and by, although the time may long be deferred, then religious liberty will have come to an end in the Republic of the United States. Our enemies know that we do not pretend to be better than our Church, and in what concerns this, her history is open to the eyes of all. They know then, how the Roman Church dealt with heretics in the Middle Ages, and how she deals with them to-day, everywhere she has the power.” Shepherd of the Valley, (St. Louis, Mo.), 1876.

“The church has the right to require that the Catholic religion shall be the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all others.” Pope Pius IX Syllabus Errorum, December 1864.

“I want to hear some American stand up and shout: ‘Give us justice. Give us decency and to hell with the Constitution.’ ” The Catholic News, July 25, 1963.

“Our work is to make America Catholic … and our hearts shall leap toward it with crusader enthusiasm.” Bishop Ireland, Baltimore Catholic Council, 1890.

“The word of God teaches that these scenes are to be repeated as Roman Catholics and Protestants shall unite for the exaltation of the Sunday.” The Great Controversy, 578. “And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. … is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.” Ibid., 581.

“The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: ‘Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.’ … The archbishop of St. Louis once said: ‘Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.’ ” Ibid., 565.

“The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.

“The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4). It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. ‘Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy’ (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ?” Ibid., 571.

Seventh-day Adventists know that there are two significant powers mentioned in Revelation 13. We recognize them to be the resurrected papacy and the United States of America. America, the land of free choice in religious matters, has succumbed to its age-old foe from which her ancestors fled nearly four hundred years ago. Sleepy America has taken her wonderful liberties for granted. The people have been seduced and subdued by a mysterious stupor and are infatuated by sports, amusements, revelry and making money.

It is in this atmosphere that Pope Francis came to America to present to the U. S. Government the plan (or conspiracy?) for a New World Order to deal with global warming and the problems of humanity. He also presented at the World Family Day in Philadelphia the need for Sunday rest. Pope Francis is being idolized as the solver of the world’s problems. These problems are being used as an excuse to sell Catholicism to America as the only remedy.

As the pope and a confirmed Jesuit, he sincerely believes that he can resort to any means to rid the world of all who do not accept his “remedy.” He believes, as a “good” Jesuit, that he can take the wealth of America and distribute it to the slums of the world, the majority of which are Roman Catholic.

Even more alarmingly, the top Vatican adviser, Jeffery Sachs reported prior to the pope’s visit that he would directly challenge the ‘American idea’ of God-given rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence. The Catholic Church’s view, confirmed by the ‘Holy Father’ in veiled messages, has always been that the orderly development of a civil, pluralistic society, required that the authentic spirit of religion not be confined to personal conscience. Catholicism must supersede the Protestant belief of individual choice in religious matters for his planned New World Order.

We are seeing the sure word of prophecy springing forth into reality before our very eyes. The two powers of Revelation 13 are uniting, and soon, no man shall buy or sell unless he receives the Mark of the Beast (see Revelation 13:16). After this economic boycott will come death to all those who choose to refuse to receive the Mark of the Beast (see Revelation 13:15).

There is a storm coming relentless in its fury. Rome is to regain its lost ascendancy. The three worthies on the plain of Dura chose to honor God and accept the consequences. The great majority chose to take the easy way out. Soon all the world must choose between the Mark of the Beast and the Seal of God. Man’s extremities are God’s opportunities. His biddings are also His enablings. We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us. Soon Jesus will return and take all those who have chosen Him as their Saviour to heaven. Anything we must suffer of this earth for the glory of God is nothing compared with the eternal life to come. He that tries to save his life will lose it, and he who is prepared to lose it will save his soul (Matthew 16:25). “But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9.

Evan Sadler is the director of Hope International (NZ) Ltd. He is passionate about sharing the warning messages of Revelation 14 on his many travels throughout the United States of America and his home country, New Zealand. He may be contacted by email at: office@hopeinternational.co.nz.

Is Religious Liberty Really Under Attack?

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The Spirit of Prophecy provides significant warning against the gradual erosion of religious liberty.

“The people of the United States have been a favored people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and ‘national apostasy’ will be registered in the books of heaven.” The Review and Herald, May 2, 1893

The following is quoted directly from www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/current-threats-to-religious-liberty.cfm, the website maintained by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

During his September 2015 visit to the United States, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of religious freedom, saying in front of the White House that religious “freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”

Although Americans generally do not face the kind of violent persecution endured by many people of faith around the world, Pope Francis has recently spoken of a “polite persecution” that many people face, as “when someone is persecuted not for confessing Christ’s name, but for wanting to demonstrate the values of the Son of God.” Religious freedom continues to be threatened in the U.S.:

  • HHS mandate for sterilization, contraception, and abortion-inducing drugs. The mandate of the Department of Health and Human Services forces religious institutions to facilitate or fund a product contrary to their own moral teaching. Further, the federal government tries to define which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit protection of their religious liberty.
  • Catholic foster care and adoption services. Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and the State of Illinois forced local Catholic Charities out of adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, ending government contracts, or both—because they refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
  • State immigration laws. Several states have passed laws that forbid what they call “harboring” undocumented immigrants—and what the Church deems Christian charity and pastoral care to immigrants.
  • Discrimination against small church congregations. New York City adopted a policy that barred the Bronx Household of Faith and other churches from renting public schools on weekends for worship services, even though non-religious groups could rent the same schools for other uses.
  • Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services. After years of excellent performance by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services (MRS) in administering contract services for victims of human trafficking, the federal government changed its contract specifications to require MRS to provide or refer for contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching.
  • Christian students on campus. In its over-100-year history, the University of California Hastings College of Law has denied student organization status to only one group, the Christian Legal Society, because it required its leaders to be Christian and to abstain from sexual activity outside of marriage.

Pope Francis has asked American Catholics to preserve and defend religious freedom, both in the United States and throughout the world.

After reading the above document, one could assume that Rome has changed. One might be inclined to believe that the warnings given in the Spirit of Prophecy are no longer valid, a thing of the past. Indeed, many professed Seventh-day Adventists assert that Rome is no longer the threat to religious liberty that she was during the persecutions of the Dark Ages. However, it is imperative to remember that the great controversy is a battle between Christ and Satan for the souls of men, a battle between principalities and powers.

A review of the admonitions, warnings, counsels, and testimonies given by God to His faithful commandment keepers through His prophet to the remnant should reawaken in us a fearful apprehension of the underlying intent of Romanism.

“And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the principles of the Roman Catholic Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Protestants little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of Sunday exaltation. While they are bent upon the accomplishment of their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let the principle once be established in the United States that the church may employ or control the power of the state; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured.” The Great Controversy, 581.

“Had the Reformation, after attaining a degree of success, consented to temporize to secure favor with the world, it would have been untrue to God and to itself, and would thus have ensured its own destruction. The experience of these noble Reformers contains a lesson for all succeeding ages. Satan’s manner of working against God and His word has not changed; he is still as much opposed to the Scriptures being made the guide of life as in the sixteenth century. In our time there is a wide departure from their doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle—the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty. Satan is still working through every means which he can control to destroy religious liberty. The antichristian power which the protesters of Spires rejected is now with renewed vigor seeking to re-establish its lost supremacy. The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today.” Ibid., 204, 205.

“Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated. The application of this new doctrine, it was urged, would ‘subvert the fundamental state and government of the country.’ He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and, finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest.

“ ‘For fourteen weeks,’ he says, ‘I was sorely tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean.’ But ‘the ravens fed me in the wilderness,’ and a hollow tree often served him for a shelter. Thus he continued his painful flight through the snow and the trackless forest, until he found refuge with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he had won while endeavoring to teach them the truths of the gospel.

“Making his way at last, after months of change and wandering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams’s colony was ‘that every man should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own conscience.’ His little state, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles—civil and religious liberty—became the cornerstones of the American Republic.” Ibid., 294, 295.

“Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence, which sets forth the great truth that ‘all men are created equal’ and endowed with the inalienable right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith was also granted, every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity. The oppressed and downtrodden throughout Christendom have turned to this land with interest and hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth.” Ibid., 441.

“The papal church will never relinquish her claim to infallibility. All that she has done in her persecution of those who reject her dogmas she holds to be right; and would she not repeat the same acts, should the opportunity be presented? Let the restraints now imposed by secular governments be removed and Rome be reinstated in her former power, and there would speedily be a revival of her tyranny and persecution.

“A well-known writer speaks thus of the attitude of the papal hierarchy as regards freedom of conscience, and of the perils which especially threaten the United States from the success of her policy:

“ ‘There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first compare some of the fundamental principles of our government with those of the Catholic Church.

“ ‘The Constitution of the United States guarantees liberty of conscience. Nothing is dearer or more fundamental. Pope Pius IX, in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: “The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a state.” The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized “those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,” also “all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.”

“ ‘The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O’Connor: “Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.” … The archbishop of St. Louis once said: “Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes.” …

“ ‘Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words: “Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord (the pope), or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.” ’—Josiah Strong, Our Country, ch. 5, pars. 2–4.

“It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. They are not allowed access to His word, and therefore they do not discern the truth. They have never seen the contrast between a living heart service and a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them the truth as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their position with His people.

“But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any former period in her history. The Protestant churches are in great darkness, or they would discern the signs of the times. The Roman Church is far-reaching in her plans and modes of operation. She is employing every device to extend her influence and increase her power in preparation for a fierce and determined conflict to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo all that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground upon every side. See the increasing number of her churches and chapels in Protestant countries. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries in America, so widely patronized by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics. These things should awaken the anxiety of all who prize the pure principles of the gospel.

“Protestants have tampered with and patronized popery; they have made compromises and concessions which papists themselves are surprised to see and fail to understand. Men are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism and the dangers to be apprehended from her supremacy. The people need to be aroused to resist the advances of this most dangerous foe to civil and religious liberty.” Ibid., 564–566. [Emphasis author’s.]

“Through His servants, God gave the Jewish people a last opportunity to repent. He manifested Himself through His witnesses in their arrest, in their trial, and in their imprisonment. Yet their judges pronounced on them the death sentence. They were men of whom the world was not worthy, and by killing them the Jews crucified afresh the Son of God. So it will be again. The authorities will make laws to restrict religious liberty. They will assume the right that is God’s alone. They will think they can force the conscience, which God alone should control. Even now they are making a beginning; this work they will continue to carry forward till they reach a boundary over which they cannot step. God will interpose in behalf of His loyal, commandment-keeping people.” The Desire of Ages, 630.

The men whom God chose to establish the laws that serve as the very foundation of the government of this country recognized that steps needed to be taken to avoid the sins of the past to the fullest extent possible. That same spirit of caution was instilled in those who fought valiantly for the freedoms from tyranny our forefathers held in such esteem. So adamant were they in their defense of those freedoms that they refused to ratify the Constitution in its original form. They insisted that before they could support a government on which it was based, it must contain assurances of protection of those freedoms.

As a result, what is known as the Bill of Rights was added. They constitute the first ten amendments and begin with these stirring words:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

“… make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”

“… it is the boast of Rome that she never changes …” The Great Controversy, 581.

“By the decree of enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 451.

John Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. After retiring as chief financial officer for the Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, Arizona, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, to join the Steps to Life team. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

Current Events – Trump Signs ‘Religious Liberty’ Executive Order Allowing for Broad Exemptions

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By Ali Vitali

President Donald Trump on Thursday made good on a promise to allow religious organizations greater freedom in political speech.

“Faith is deeply embedded into the history of our country, the spirit of our founding and the soul of our nation,” Trump said in the Rose Garden at a National Day of Prayer event with religious leaders and White House staff. “We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore.”

The president declared his administration would be “leading by example” on religious liberty in the United States.

“We are giving our churches their voices back,” Trump said.

Religious leaders prayed in the garden just before Trump signed the executive order.

Two nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor, the plaintiff in a federal lawsuit seeking relief from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, were among those on stage for the signing, according to a press pool report.

Trump promised during the campaign to dismantle the Johnson Amendment, which bans tax-exempt organizations like churches from political speech and activities. His executive order relaxes IRS enforcement of that ban. While the executive order signals a promise kept, fully repealing the Johnson amendment would require Congressional action.

The executive order, called “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,” also gives “regulatory relief” to companies that object to an Obamacare mandate for contraception in health care. That builds on the 2014 Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case, which found that the Affordable Care Act mandate that certain corporations must provide female employees with no-cost access to contraception was a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

While an earlier draft of the religious liberty order reportedly would have let federal contractors discriminate against LGBT employees based on faith beliefs, Thursday’s version did not include such provisions.

Pastor Mark Burns, a longtime Trump supporter who attended the White House signing and a White House dinner for religious leaders Wednesday evening, celebrated the move, telling NBC News Thursday morning that it was a “great day for religious freedom in America.”

Conservative religious groups applauded the move.

“The open season on Christians and other people of faith is coming to a close in America and we look forward to assisting the Trump administration in fully restoring America’s First Freedom,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement.

Civil liberty groups criticized the order with several vowing to sue.

“Plain and simple: President Trump’s executive order will hurt women,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement. “And the Center for Reproductive Rights is ready to fight back in court.”
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-signs-religious-liberty-executive-order-allowing-broad-exemptions-n754786