Aunty, will the Sabbath be the test at the time of the end?
10 February 2025 |
Dear Aunt Sevvy,
I’m of the opinion that when Earth’s final events occur, the day one chooses to worship will not be the test. Rather, coercive methods to enforce religion will be the dividing line—even for those who don’t observe Saturday Sabbath. What do you think, Aunty?
Signed, Watching for the Signs
Dear Watching,
Aunty doubts anyone knows precisely what the final events will be. The Bible gives some general ideas of what’s coming—widespread calamities and powerful people oppressing others—but all of the specifics that we Adventists talk about so often and so loudly come from Ellen White.
And so far, none of Ellen White’s predictions have happened. She focused our attention largely on the single issue of what day we worship, to the exclusion of many other freedoms. No one has threatened our day of worship, and it is unlikely that they will. She insisted that Roman Catholics would be our enemy, though as far as Aunty can tell, that organization has no interest in us.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of ways to coerce people besides telling them they can’t go to church on Saturday. Anyone who tries to coerce others is acting “beastly.” Even our church is capable of this, when they insist that everyone conform to ideas or programs that aren’t strictly biblical—such as the notion that Ellen White is more important than the Bible—or leave.
Aunty keeps saying this: don’t get caught up in specifics, but instead look for the large biblical principles. Right now it appears, at least here in the United States, that those who want to use civil power to manipulate people are evangelical Protestants. The issues about which they are coercive have nothing to do with which day to worship on, but are about oppressing vulnerable people: LGBTQ people, immigrants, pregnant women, poor people, racial minorities, and others. If we take Matthew 25:31-46 seriously, how we treat those who need our help—not the Sabbath—could be the real issue in the final judgment.
Aunt Sevvy
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