Sunday Law by StealthBy Pastor Hal Mayer
Transcript
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. Today we are going to talk about a sobering development that I pray will awaken you to the nearness of the Sunday Law crisis. The most important issue facing God’s people today is their unreadiness for close of probation. The crisis is nearly upon us. Secret and stealthy movements are preparing to catch you in an almost overwhelming surprise. I hope that the contents of this CD will open your eyes wide and that you will wake up and trim your spiritual lamps. I pray that it will help you realize that we have very little time left.
Our hope is that you and your family will be awakened to the times in which we live. You need to be aware of what is happening behind the scenes. Let your friends in on this blessing by giving them a copy of this CD.
The rumors were flying around the internet back in early November that a secret meeting was scheduled between the Christian Coalition and the Vatican in Washington DC. Rumor had it that there was to be discussion about the state of the world, the moral condition of the United States, and most importantly the need to protect the Lord’s day, or Sunday, as a day of rest. It was also rumored that there would be key congressional lawmakers present, and a high-level Vatican cardinal was to address the group.
I had many people emailing me about it, asking whether it was true or not. I had to be almost silent about it until now, because I believe that Keep the Faith Ministry must only circulate facts, not conjecture, speculation, or assumptions.
But today I am going to tell you the details as I have received from a personal friend who was a credentialed participant in the secret meeting. I’m also going to tell you what God says about the things going on behind the scenes to bring you to the Sunday law crisis and show you how it is happening. You may have heard criticism of God’s end-time inspired messenger or concerning the prophetic truths of the Remnant Church, but I can tell you, every prophetic detail in Holy Scripture and every detail in the Spirit of Prophecy will happen with certainty. Our monthly CDs have been documenting this month after month after month. But before we begin, let us bow our heads in prayer.
Our Father in Heaven, we are concerned that our liberties are about to be swept away. We are very concerned that we will soon face the great crisis of the ages, and your people are not ready. We are not ready. I ask that today You will wake us up! The moment that patriarchs and prophets longed to see has finally come. We have been asleep like the ten virgins in Your parable. But Lord Jesus, we want to have the oil of the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to go in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Please help us to get ready. Help us to watch and be sober. And may Your presence be with us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let me begin by sharing with you a very important scripture text. It is found in Revelation 13:15-17.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Notice that receiving the mark of the beast revolves around false worship. Those who don’t go along with the new religious order will be prevented from buying and selling and will be killed. This is serious, my friends. The time for this to happen is near at hand. Forces are at work behind the scenes to force you to worship the god of this world.
There are some important things that must be in place for this to happen. First, there has to be a general crisis that generates a good deal of fear, a crisis of global proportions. Secondly, there must be a nearly unshakable cooperation between the religious forces in the United States with the government, including the Vatican, (perhaps even led by the Vatican at least behind the scenes), so that they can cooperate together without fear of being thwarted. Thirdly, there must be a secrecy about the matter so that it isn’t agitated widely until there is nothing that can be done to stop the rolling freight train once it gets on the open track. Our Lord has been holding back the winds of strife so that God’s people can prepare. But the time to let them go is almost here.
As watchmen on the walls of Zion, we must give the warning. We must open the issue to God’s people as early as possible so that they can get ready and so that they can do what they can under the power of God to stay the hand of oppression. The issue is so vital that we dare not miss it. We dare not turn our faces from it or relegate it into the distant future. We have been in the stealth phase for many years now. But now, suddenly, it is looming out there just as prophecy predicted. It is about to come out in the open. Listen to this statement from the pen of inspiration. “I lay down my pen and lift up my soul in prayer that the Lord would breathe upon His backslidden people, who are as dry bones, that they may live. The end is near, stealing upon us so stealthily, so imperceptibly, so noiselessly, like the muffled tread of the thief in the night, to surprise the sleepers off guard and unready. May the Lord grant to bring His Holy Spirit upon hearts that are now at ease, that they may no longer sleep as do others, but watch and be sober.” That is from the General Conference Bulletin, 1893, pp. 132, 133. We live in a sober time. This is not the time to place your children in front of the TV to watch cartoons, even religious cartoons. This is not the time to go to the amusement park to fritter your time away in cheap thrills. This is not the time to be gluttonously eating and drinking things that are harmful to body and soul. My friends, this is not the time to be living in luxury and excess. This is the time to plead for Christ’s righteousness in your soul. This is the time to earnestly seek God to send His Holy Spirit into your life so that you can overcome your sins and be ready to meet the surprise crisis that is surely coming – and soon. This is the time to weep for God’s people and plead with Him to spare them.
Here is another statement dealing with the Sunday Law. It is from the book Great Controversy, page 581. “God's word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”
So many ignore God’s warnings and live their lives in sin as if nothing is going to happen any differently for 100 years. Others ridicule God’s last day prophet and sneer at the warnings she gave us through the testimonies. But God’s word is right on track. One right after the other, the very prophecies that were given in the books of Daniel and Revelation and in the Spirit of Prophecy are being fulfilled. All you have to do is look at the news media and you will know that we are nearing the final crisis.
Unfortunately, so many of God’s people don’t seem to care. Thousands upon hundreds of thousands are sound asleep like the ten virgins in Jesus’ parable. They keep watching their ungodly movies. They keep doing things God has forbidden. They keep listening to music that makes the angel’s weep and invites Satan into their hearts and homes. They continue eating things that becloud their minds so that they cannot hear the still small voice. They forget that we are in the antitypical solemn Day of Atonement.
Listen to this important statement. It is from the book The Great Controversy, page 488. “The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill. Every individual has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the solemn scene when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every individual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days.”
My friend, this speaks to you and to me. As the danger creeps upon us like a thief in the night, many think they are secure and that the things that have been predicted in God’s word will not come to pass in their generation, but in their children’s generation or in their grandchildren’s generation.
Often we hear sermons on love, unity and the cross, but we don’t hear sermons on the close of probation and the end of all things and the need to get our lives right with God. We are told that we don’t have to deal with our sins now, for Jesus will deal with them later. But this, my friends, is falsehood. It is a deception designed to keep you from preparing your heart for the close of probation and to meet the holy Jesus in peace.
We are near the very end. It is finally here! We have known that the Sunday law movement would come, but we have subconsciously at least, put it off in the distance. We want to feel good. We don’t want to be depressed by so-called “bad news.” So we have bathed ourselves in positive thinking and in feel-good spirituality, a kind of superficiality and emotionalism. But this is only superficial and empty. It doesn’t awaken us to our danger, but rather puts us to sleep. It makes us spiritually lazy. Overcoming sin is not something that we want to have to do because that means we have to give up our darling sins. But now the Sunday law movement is right upon us. It has caught up to us by surprise and most of us aren't ready. The blessing is that Jesus is giving us warning before the close of probation so that we can still get ready. Oh my friend, this is the time to make sure that you are living for Jesus. This is the time to make sure that your calling and election is sure.
This is not bad news at all. The approach of the Sunday law is very good news indeed, at least for those who love Jesus with all their hearts. It shows us that the coming of Jesus is very near. I hope this is very good news for you my friend. If you don’t feel ready, this is the time to get serious with Jesus and take the necessary steps.
Let me show you something interesting from history that will help us put this into perspective. In Luke 21:20, 21 Jesus said “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out.”
There were two sieges of Jerusalem after Christ made this prediction, one under Cestius in A.D. 66 and the other under Titus in A. D. 70. After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly withdrew at the very moment when the Jews were on the point of surrendering. This gave God’s true people, the followers of Jesus, enough time to flee the city and move to a place called Pella in the hill country. Then Titus came with his armies, surrounded the city and eventually destroyed it. Please read the first chapter in the book Great Controversy about the destruction of Jerusalem. It is shocking! It is a warning about our times. The first siege warned Jesus’ followers of the coming destruction so that they could flee. It was the signal. Most of the Jews were triumphant, thinking that they were safe and that God would protect them. They had even inflicted some damage on the Romans as they withdrew. The Jews went back to their old ways and didn’t take the warning to flee Jerusalem. They were caught unprepared when the second siege of Titus surrounded them.
Now let us apply this to today. Back in the 1880s there was a Sunday law movement. God’s church appeared as if surrounded by the siege forces of spiritual Babylon. But then through the efforts of A. T. Jones and others, the hand of oppression was stayed and God’s people were given time. The Sunday law movement withdrew signaling the opportunity to leave the cities both physically and spiritually. But what have God’s people done? They have gone back to their old ways. They have gone back to their worldliness and their sins and they have ignored the warnings to get out of the cities and prepare for the coming crisis; just as the Jews of old did. Now, coming right upon us is the second siege, the second Sunday law movement. This time there will be no reprieve. This is the final siege of God’s people by spiritual Babylon. There is no time to lose my friend. Please don’t think that you can delay.
There was a man who for seven years warned Jerusalem, going up and down the streets of the city declaring the woes that were to come upon it. He is quoted in the book Great Controversy, page 30. Go there and read what he said about God’s church just before her destruction. He was imprisoned and scourged, but he did not complain. He was insulted and abused, but he only answered by saying “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” “woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!” He was eventually slain in the siege he had predicted. Perhaps the Lord is sending you a warning today. How will you treat the unpopular message?
Do you remember that statement in the 9th volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 11 that says, “the agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.” You can't wait until you see that things are finally falling into place. Most people will try to live a normal life, even though things around them seem unsettled. They will not see the signs of the times. Everything will seem like it is the same, day after day, except for some pretty big natural disasters, some wars and other disturbances. But they expect their lives to return to normal.
It is just as it was before the flood. Nothing changed until the seventh day after Noah went into the ark. Then things began to happen with great speed. But it was too late. It was as if everything was going along at a slow pace, then all of a sudden everything was in turmoil. It was as if a dam broke and a flash flood blasted down the narrow canyon overtaking and destroying everything in its path. Oh my friend, don’t delay the preparation. Your eternal destiny is at stake. An overwhelming surprise is coming.
Now, one more statement that astonishingly applies to our present situation. It is from the Review and Herald December 24, 1889. “I have been much burdened in regard to movements that are now in progress for the enforcement of Sunday observance. It has been shown to me that Satan has been working earnestly to carry out his designs to restrict religious liberty. Plans of serious import to the people of God are advancing in an underhand manner among the clergymen of various denominations, and the object of this secret maneuvering is to win popular favor for the enforcement of Sunday sacredness. If the people can be led to favor a Sunday law, then the clergy intend to exert their united influence to obtain a religious amendment to the Constitution, and compel the nation to keep Sunday.”
There are those that are secretly working to enforce a Sunday Law right now, my friends. We have been able to document some of it, but I suspect there is a lot more going on. And since this is a secret and underhanded movement, we know that it is trying to disguise itself and keep its real purpose away from public scrutiny. Some of the things we will discuss today about the secret meeting in Washington are not verifiable from public sources. What we have is the first-hand testimony of one who was present. But once the ecumenical churches and the Vatican openly discuss these things, the soup will already be cooked. It is the Spirit of Prophecy that is the guidance system to show us what we can accept and what is erroneous. When the Spirit of Prophecy says that there is a secret and underhanded movement attempting to enforce Sunday as a day of rest, we can rest assured that it is happening, though we cannot see or feel it yet. But once in a while you can see it pop up on the surface, or God places individuals in positions where they can see and give testimony to the truth of what the Spirit of Prophecy has predicted. The message on this CD is about that kind of testimony. What you will hear is the detail from the first-hand report of the one man God has placed in the position to see behind the scenes and can report to us from the inside what is happening in their secret planning sessions.
There are three religious organizations that were involved in the secret meeting in Washington DC. They are the Christian Coalition of America (CC), Christian Churches Together (CCT) and Catholic Campaign for American (CCA).
First let me tell you about Pastor Allen Fine and the Christian Coalition. Pastor Fine is the speaker and director of New Sound Inspiration Radio in West Virginia. He has been a Seventh-day Adventist pastor for over 40 years and is now retired, but perhaps more involved in God’s work than ever before. He has been at the forefront of the battle for the Lord, lifting up the trumpet and proclaiming God’s last message on radio and in the pulpit and continues to work for the salvation of souls. He has taken criticism and abuse for his strong support of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and is no stranger to the forces arrayed against God’s people. I have spent quite a bit of time talking with Pastor Fine and have learned the story of his involvement with the Christian Coalition.
Pastor Fine began to attend the meetings of the Christian Coalition of America back in 1989. He wanted to see what they were doing and to get an idea of their plans. Pat Robertson, their leader at the time, was gleeful that he had successfully brought together so many different Christian churches. As he listened to their ideas and plans, Pastor Fine thought of the warnings of the Spirit of Prophecy and realized that the intentions of this group had been predicted and that prophecy was being fulfilled exactly as it had been written.
On March 29, 1994 The leaders of the Christian Coalition, including Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Gary Bower, James Dobson, Ralph Reed and others, including a Jewish Rabbi stacked their hands all together and declared that they are one. Pastor Fine and his wife Deanna witnessed this and believes that their intention was to use Christian organizations to get control of state and federal legislatures and thereby set up the image to the beast.
Then in 2004 Pastor Fine received a memo from the new President of the Christian Coalition, Roberta Combs. It was addressed to him as the “Leader, Christian Coalition in West Virginia,” and it discussed plans for the upcoming leadership meetings and legislative briefings in Washington, DC. Pastor Fine was surprised. “I didn’t ask for this,” he thought, “but I’ll take it.” When Roberta Combs, the president of the Christian Coalition lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack, Pastor Fine was on hand to minister and pray with the family over the phone. This brought them close together as friends. Roberta Combs later asked him if he would be willing to serve as co-chairman of the Christian Coalition alongside Jim Backlin. He accepted and this has put him in a position to be credentialed to the leadership meetings with other Christian organizations and for him to attend the important secret meeting with the Vatican. Pastor Fine says that he believes God has a very important purpose for him on the inside of this important organization.
The Christian Coalition along with Christian Churches Together and Catholic Campaign for America has developed a ten point agenda for America that they want to implement at the federal and state levels by law. These ten amendments were recently updated at the Fuller Theological Seminary on March 1, 2007. Most of them are designed to uphold the principles that are important to Christian people, such as marriage between one man and one woman, public prayer, references to God in the pledge of allegiance and on coins and bills, judicial integrity, limits on eminent domain, the right to bear arms, etc. But ironically the seventh amendment on their list is a call for a national day of rest. This day would no doubt be Sunday. Here is what number seven on the list of their “ten amendments” says; “Throughout all the land a National Day of Rest shall be honored by governments and industrial manufacturers and public shopping facilities.”
A much more recent organization known as Christian Churches Together (or the CCT) is also involved in the secret Sunday law movement and was represented at the secret meeting in Washington. This ecumenical organization has many churches that are members and they are all made to feel as if they have equal say, but it is organized in such a way that Rome’s representatives dominate the steering committee and the direction of the organization. It is becoming more and more powerful however, and is now working, among other things, to implement a national day of rest in the United States.
Catholic Campaign for America is another organization that is wanting to establish a Sunday law. It was founded in 1989 by a man named Thomas V. Wykes, Jr. “who wanted to address the moral crisis in American with a Catholic response,” wrote Wikipedia. “In 1991 he gathered together several notable Catholic leaders in Washington DC, who constituted the first board of directors. They included William Bennett, Mary Ellen Bork, Hugh Carey and Bishop Rene Gracida. According to the National Catholic Register, the CCA was initiated to ‘bring a politically powerful and distinctively Catholic voice to the U.S. political scene.” Their motto is as follows, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a private opinion, a remote spiritual idea, or a mere program for spiritual growth. The Gospel is the power to transform the world.”
What is meant, obviously, by “the power to transform the world,” is political power. Jesus never tried to start a political movement or establish His power in political circles, or He would have done what Roman Catholics try to do today and have done for centuries, secretly work to get more power, and then force all under their control to follow their dictates. But Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18.36.
This background is important because you need to see that the Sunday law movement has been stealthily working its way through the ecumenical organizations, just as the Spirit of Prophecy predicted, and is preparing to mount itself and ride on the momentum of the ecumenical movement. It is also going to become very political and will use both governmental and non-government political organizations. When church leaders are excited about their unity with other churches, and when a large enough coalition of churches unite together, they begin to feel very powerful, especially politically powerful and then naturally attempt to use the political apparatus to accomplish their purposes. That is how the image to the beast is being formed right now.
Now we come to the meeting in November of 2007. The Sunday law movement as you will see has top level government support, approval and security protection.
Originally the meeting was to be held in the John Paul II cultural center in Washington DC. When Pastor Fine’s commuter plane landed at Washington Dulles to meet with the other leaders of the Christian Coalition and to have the designated meetings, top government security agents from the National Security Agency (NSA) met his plane and verified his identity right then and there. They told him that “because this was such a provocative meeting, they would have to keep his driver’s license until the meeting is over.” They escorted him to a taxicab and told him that the driver already knew where to take him. Then apparently they followed him to the Regency Hotel where the driver delivered him. He asked the driver why he was being taken to the Regency Hotel and not the John Paul II Cultural Center where the meeting was to be held. The driver only said that this is where he was told to take him and that he should go in and await future instructions.
After sitting in the lobby for a few minutes he was approached by the same two agents, who said to him, “one of your people will be here soon.” When one of the leaders of the Christian Coalition met him, there were three more agents with her and all five of them followed them to registration. In fact NSA trailed the participants of these closed meetings constantly until the meetings were over.
Pastor Fine asked one of the agents why they weren’t meeting at the John Paul II Cultural Center. He said, it was ”decided, along with the Vatican that it would not be appropriate to have this kind of meeting at the John Paul II Cultural Center and that the meeting had been moved to the Regency Hotel.”
On November 14, the day was spent in a conference on global warming. The speakers included Al Gore, the former Vice-President of the United States, who has become something of a climate change guru, and his liaison Davy Crocket, great grandson of the famous Davey Crocket of the wild frontier, who does his research. There was much frightening material presented concerning the effect of the changes in climate as well as the speed at which the changes are taking place. It was pointed out that global warming will create a crisis for America and the rest of the world. It involves the loss of life on the planet including animals and fish, etc. The ecosystems are all tied together. One thing affects another. It was felt that responsible Christian leaders must tell their people how they can help protect the environment.
Back at least as far as 1990 the Vatican was promoting the connection between ecology and world peace. John Paul II in his message for the World Day of Peace on January 1 of that year wrote about protecting the environment as a grave moral responsibility. Other statements have also been released by the Catholic Church. Then more recently, as climate change has become a much more political issue, the national Association of Evangelicals paralleled the Roman Catholic Church and released its statement on the environment in a document called Climate Change: an Evangelical Call to Action. Six months later, on August 27, 2006 Benedict XVI called for a commitment to care for creation once again. Now the Independent on September 24, 2007 reported that the Pope is likely to make action on climate change a moral issue when he makes his speech at the United Nations in April. It is important to note that the mutual effort on climate change between the evangelicals and Catholics has ratcheted up the issue as a moral obligation for Christians to embrace. This is important because it means that climate change has been elevated to the same or similar level as abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, etc. Their cooperation on climate change will strengthen their political power and lead to other moral issues that they want to enforce, such as observing the Lord’s day.
During lunch on November 15, just before the meeting with the Vatican Cardinal one of the NSA security agents came to the table and asked Roberta Combs the President of the Christian Coalition, if she had told her people that they were not to take any recording devices or cameras into the meeting, and that nothing will be released for publication until the Vatican has approved it. This is important because it reveals the concern that the Vatican has for loose elements that might damage her position. It also reveals Rome’s manipulation. She wants everything under her control and doesn’t want anything said or done that she hasn’t approved.
There were 13 people that met together, seven from the Christian Coalition, two from Christian Churches Together, and two from Catholic Campaign for America, plus Nancy Pelosi and the Cardinal. The Cardinal was introduced as Cardinal Pizeroser from San Francisco, but that name cannot be found on any official lists of Cardinals, which suggests that it was a pseudonym. Remember that this secret meeting involves very sensitive matters in relation to Sunday laws, hence it may well be that the Vatican does not want to get its fingerprints on certain provocative activities.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a staunch Roman Catholic entered the room and said a few words to the Vatican Cardinal. Nancy was the only one who was permitted to be there from the U.S. Congress. She said to the Cardinal, “I live my faith. I have been trained and directed by Christian parents. I went to church school and also every Sunday I was faithful in recognizing that it was very necessary to do the things that I knew that I was supposed to do, and I have not changed one bit from that.”
During the meeting the word “Sunday” was never used, but here the Vatican Cardinal said, “We as Christian leaders must recognize that we have a responsibility to do that which is in keeping with the Lord’s will, and if we don’t, we will pay for it… As you all know, we must all work together for the betterment of America, after all, America is the second Israel. We must work with the state legislatures to appropriately help them to understand that all the immorality and slime must be stopped and that we must work together in unison to show our Lord that this must be stopped…
Then with the “ten amendments” list in his hand, the Cardinal said that there would be more said on this when “His Holiness” (Benedict XVI), would be here in Washington in April to meet with President Bush and also to meet with some of these same Christian leaders at the Senate Office Building on April 17th. “Some of the things that we at the Vatican are concerned about” he said, “is what is happening here (in America) to the Lord’s day, concerning sporting events and all kind of calls for different things to be done. As you know, the Lord’s day is used in a blatant way against our God, when the people must be told that this day must be kept holy. You must work together as leaders of this nation. As goes this nation, so goes the world.”
My friends, the Cardinal’s words should remind us of the following statement from the pen of inspiration taken from Maranatha, page 214. “As America, the land of religious liberty shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world.”
This idea about America as the second Israel is important. Most churches believe this, though it is unbiblical. The scriptures teach that they that are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed,” Galatians 3:29 not they that are Americans. But as the churches have wanted to take the finger of condemnation off the papacy, false interpretations of prophecy have led them to come up with another explanation of the second beast of Revelation 13, the United States of America. By making America the second Israel rather than the second beast, Rome can participate with other churches in addressing America’s problems with her own agenda. This fits her ecumenical plans very well. The result has been that America is now uniting with Rome to accomplish her purposes. We have no time to lose, no time to waste in foolish, worldly behavior, my friends. Now is the time to get ready and pray that you will be able to secure your soul.
When Pope Benedict XVI lands in Washington on April 15th, he will meet with President Bush. Then on the 16th he will spend his birthday with a gathering of Cardinals at the John Paul II Cultural Center, I am told, as well as with ecumenical leaders. Then on the 17th he will meet with selected religious leaders including representatives of the three organizations that met in November; the Christian Coalition, Christian Churches Together, and the Catholic Campaign for America and perhaps others including a number of members of Congress. The purpose of the meeting, among other things, is to motivate Christian leaders and legislatures to bring to the forefront, in the Congress and state by state, a national day of rest.
I wonder what will be the real agenda of the meeting with the Cardinals. Will it be about their role in bringing about a Sunday law in America? According to the news reports there will also be an ecumenical meeting there with representatives of other religions. Will this involve discussions about a national day of rest?
Senator Robert Byrd, the oldest member of Congress, the president pro Tempore of the Senate and a Baptist called Pastor Fine one day in January. “Pastor Fine,” he said, “We’re going to be having a special occasion with the Pope when we meet in the Senate Office Building, and the President wants to meet with us too. He feels that it wouldn’t be honorable for the Pope to meet in another place with the Christian Leadership of America.”
My friends, when the President of the United States of America elevates this kind of meeting with Christian leadership in America to the level where it wouldn’t be honorable to do it in any other place than in the Senate Office Building, we have come to a very important and significant moment in prophecy. When the President of the United States can bring the Pope to the White House and to the Senate Office Building to discuss a national day of rest, we have essentially come to the point where the image of the beast is about to reveal itself. “I will be there,” said Senator Byrd, “and so will Nancy (meaning Nancy Pelosi). We want to hear firsthand what Benedict has to say.
Pastor Fine also had the opportunity after the private meeting with the Vatican Cardinal, to speak about the Sabbath to the Christian Leaders that were present. He pointed to his name tag which identified him as a Seventh-day Adventist and said, “Things haven’t changed. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist. I chose to become a Seventh-day Adventist because the seventh-day is the only day that God has ever blessed. God blessed three things, man, the animal kingdom and the Sabbath. Sunday is not specially blessed the way God blessed the Sabbath. To bless something means that it has divine empowering. God empowered the Sabbath, not Sunday.
The Christian Coalition and the other organizations present have developed a communiqué following the meeting with the Vatican Cardinal. They had to have it approved by the Vatican. The text of the communiqué is specifically designed to stir Sunday agitation. Yet it opens with the express purpose of keeping its authors secret. Let me read it to you word for word. The following statement from the 5th Volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 449, should remind us of the truth about this. “Church and state are now making preparations for the future conflict. Protestants are working in disguise to bring Sunday to the front, as did the Romanists.” Here is the text of the communiqué.
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATE RELEASE
“In this release NO person’s name is to be included in any part while corresponding to another person. This is a summary as of 11/16/07.
“The Lord will destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18) along with the immoral slime of America. I call upon the C.C.A. (the Catholic Campaign for America) and the C.C.O.A (Christian Coalition of America) to help in our spiritual fight to help save America, the second Israel. We must band together to stave off the crisis of gross neglect of Bible truths and help America and the nations of the world to a realization for what is happening and continues to worsen. These crises will increase on America, the second Israel of Bible prophecy. The Lord will allow more terrorist attacks and these will increase as it was in O. T. times of the first Israel. The Lord will allow the enemies of the second Israel to awaken the people in an effective but unexpected way. Now global warming – melting icebergs and icecaps – water shortages – poor people starving and dying by the millions, the desecration of the Lord’s Day by the mega malls and shopping centers – various sporting events – all unnecessary frolicking on the Lord’s Day. Our government leaders and church leaders who really care must protest all these immoral goings on. If we don’t, it will be too late very soon. The Lord’s Day must be protected and supported by responsible persons. If we do not care and understand, the crisis of great magnitude no doubt will soon come. We must work and pray and support efforts to protect the Lord’s Day. We need more than ever to work together to help stave off God’s anger. We must show our Lord that we will work together to protect His day of worship. Unless we work together to avert the crisis, it will surely come.”
Notice that the communiqué from the Christian Coalition uses the same words the Cardinal used at the secret meeting, such as “immoral slime,” “America, the second Israel,” “We must show our Lord that we will work together…” etc. And also notice that the emphasis of the communiqué is the same as the Cardinal’s emphasis – “Protect the Lord’s Day.” The evangelicals are taking lessons from Rome as well as instructions. They copy her. They set up a mirror image of her. Rome has nearly 2000 years of experience at this process of uniting church and state and they are coaching non-Catholic religious leaders and helping them build up their political power.
Pastor Fine thinks that the communiqué will be publically released and that the urgent need to protect the so-called Lord’s Day as a national day of rest will be presented before Congress and the state governments some time following the papal visit and the meeting in the Senate Office building April 17. So stay tuned.
Rome and the ecumenical churches know that fear will stir the people to action. They are using fear of global climate change, fear of terrorism, fear of the judgments of God, etc., to get people to agree that they must do something to stem the tide of immorality in America and return it to the favor of God.
The same thing will happen in other countries as well. As goes America, so goes the world, said the Cardinal. While not all nations normally agree with the United States in her agendas, in fact most don’t; on this point we know that all the world will wonder after the beast, and that the United States will cause all to worship the first beast that had the wound by the sword and did live.” Revelation 13:14.
My friends, we must study the book of Revelation along with the Spirit of Prophecy. If you want to understand what it all means quickly, go to your copy of the book Great Controversy and read the last 250 pages. You’ll find it very enlightening. Though the author is dead, she still speaks powerfully to this generation. Pastor Fine says: “Church and state must amalgamate in order to legislate that they may dominate.
But here is a description of God’s people today from the 2nd volume of Testimonies to Ministers, page 337. “Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people!” This is amazing my friends. Here we are at the very moment that prophecy has foretold, at the very apex of history. Yet God’s people are not ready for the challenge. Oh, my brothers and sisters, I need the power of God in my life, don’t you? You don’t want to miss the latter rain. Now is the time to plead with God for purity as never before. Now is the time to earnestly seek Jesus’ power. Cling to Jesus Christ my friends. Your eternal destiny depends on it.
My friends, the mark of the beast is soon to come. It is the observance of the false Sabbath set up by Rome and copied in America by the religious leaders. The end will come more quickly than we understand. The crisis will come as an overwhelming surprise and it will be too late for many who are spiritually lazy and asleep. It will be too late to make restitution or turn your life around. Listen to this statement from the 8th volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 28. “Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.”
And here is how you make the necessary preparation. This is from Prophets and Kings, page 626. “Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise, and this preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts.”
Are you conforming your life to the precepts of the Bible? Are you putting away every sin so that you can overcome and live for Jesus every moment? Please, please take the steps to prepare your mind and your character for the almost overwhelming crisis.
My friends, thank you for listening today. The Sunday movement is making its way in darkness and stealth. Please don’t put off making certain of your salvation. This is the time to move out of the cities into the country so that you can prepare for the time of trouble. This is the time to get worldliness out of your mind. Now is the time to learn how to have the Holy Spirit in your life every moment. You can't learn that at the last minute. Now is the time to give you heart and soul unreservedly to Jesus Christ so that He can mature your character so that in the coming crisis you will have a savior.
Let us bow our heads in prayer and ask Jesus to help us come fully under the Holy Spirit’s control. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for giving us probationary time. Thank You for warning us of what is coming upon this world. Lord, we pray that You will send us Your Holy Spirit so that we can discern the signs of the times and get ready for the coming crisis. I pray that you will help us to learn how to prepare by diligent study of your holy word and by earnest fervent prayer, gain power with God. We need victory in
our lives over the devil’s temptations. Please enter our lives and change us into Your image that we may live by Jesus power. In Jesus name, amen.
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. Today we are going to talk about a sobering development that I pray will awaken you to the nearness of the Sunday Law crisis. The most important issue facing God’s people today is their unreadiness for close of probation. The crisis is nearly upon us. Secret and stealthy movements are preparing to catch you in an almost overwhelming surprise. I hope that the contents of this CD will open your eyes wide and that you will wake up and trim your spiritual lamps. I pray that it will help you realize that we have very little time left.
Our hope is that you and your family will be awakened to the times in which we live. You need to be aware of what is happening behind the scenes. Let your friends in on this blessing by giving them a copy of this CD.
The rumors were flying around the internet back in early November that a secret meeting was scheduled between the Christian Coalition and the Vatican in Washington DC. Rumor had it that there was to be discussion about the state of the world, the moral condition of the United States, and most importantly the need to protect the Lord’s day, or Sunday, as a day of rest. It was also rumored that there would be key congressional lawmakers present, and a high-level Vatican cardinal was to address the group.
I had many people emailing me about it, asking whether it was true or not. I had to be almost silent about it until now, because I believe that Keep the Faith Ministry must only circulate facts, not conjecture, speculation, or assumptions.
But today I am going to tell you the details as I have received from a personal friend who was a credentialed participant in the secret meeting. I’m also going to tell you what God says about the things going on behind the scenes to bring you to the Sunday law crisis and show you how it is happening. You may have heard criticism of God’s end-time inspired messenger or concerning the prophetic truths of the Remnant Church, but I can tell you, every prophetic detail in Holy Scripture and every detail in the Spirit of Prophecy will happen with certainty. Our monthly CDs have been documenting this month after month after month. But before we begin, let us bow our heads in prayer.
Our Father in Heaven, we are concerned that our liberties are about to be swept away. We are very concerned that we will soon face the great crisis of the ages, and your people are not ready. We are not ready. I ask that today You will wake us up! The moment that patriarchs and prophets longed to see has finally come. We have been asleep like the ten virgins in Your parable. But Lord Jesus, we want to have the oil of the Holy Spirit so that we will be able to go in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Please help us to get ready. Help us to watch and be sober. And may Your presence be with us today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Let me begin by sharing with you a very important scripture text. It is found in Revelation 13:15-17.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Notice that receiving the mark of the beast revolves around false worship. Those who don’t go along with the new religious order will be prevented from buying and selling and will be killed. This is serious, my friends. The time for this to happen is near at hand. Forces are at work behind the scenes to force you to worship the god of this world.
There are some important things that must be in place for this to happen. First, there has to be a general crisis that generates a good deal of fear, a crisis of global proportions. Secondly, there must be a nearly unshakable cooperation between the religious forces in the United States with the government, including the Vatican, (perhaps even led by the Vatican at least behind the scenes), so that they can cooperate together without fear of being thwarted. Thirdly, there must be a secrecy about the matter so that it isn’t agitated widely until there is nothing that can be done to stop the rolling freight train once it gets on the open track. Our Lord has been holding back the winds of strife so that God’s people can prepare. But the time to let them go is almost here.
As watchmen on the walls of Zion, we must give the warning. We must open the issue to God’s people as early as possible so that they can get ready and so that they can do what they can under the power of God to stay the hand of oppression. The issue is so vital that we dare not miss it. We dare not turn our faces from it or relegate it into the distant future. We have been in the stealth phase for many years now. But now, suddenly, it is looming out there just as prophecy predicted. It is about to come out in the open. Listen to this statement from the pen of inspiration. “I lay down my pen and lift up my soul in prayer that the Lord would breathe upon His backslidden people, who are as dry bones, that they may live. The end is near, stealing upon us so stealthily, so imperceptibly, so noiselessly, like the muffled tread of the thief in the night, to surprise the sleepers off guard and unready. May the Lord grant to bring His Holy Spirit upon hearts that are now at ease, that they may no longer sleep as do others, but watch and be sober.” That is from the General Conference Bulletin, 1893, pp. 132, 133. We live in a sober time. This is not the time to place your children in front of the TV to watch cartoons, even religious cartoons. This is not the time to go to the amusement park to fritter your time away in cheap thrills. This is not the time to be gluttonously eating and drinking things that are harmful to body and soul. My friends, this is not the time to be living in luxury and excess. This is the time to plead for Christ’s righteousness in your soul. This is the time to earnestly seek God to send His Holy Spirit into your life so that you can overcome your sins and be ready to meet the surprise crisis that is surely coming – and soon. This is the time to weep for God’s people and plead with Him to spare them.
Here is another statement dealing with the Sunday Law. It is from the book Great Controversy, page 581. “God's word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated. Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike. All that she desires is vantage ground, and this is already being given her. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution.”
So many ignore God’s warnings and live their lives in sin as if nothing is going to happen any differently for 100 years. Others ridicule God’s last day prophet and sneer at the warnings she gave us through the testimonies. But God’s word is right on track. One right after the other, the very prophecies that were given in the books of Daniel and Revelation and in the Spirit of Prophecy are being fulfilled. All you have to do is look at the news media and you will know that we are nearing the final crisis.
Unfortunately, so many of God’s people don’t seem to care. Thousands upon hundreds of thousands are sound asleep like the ten virgins in Jesus’ parable. They keep watching their ungodly movies. They keep doing things God has forbidden. They keep listening to music that makes the angel’s weep and invites Satan into their hearts and homes. They continue eating things that becloud their minds so that they cannot hear the still small voice. They forget that we are in the antitypical solemn Day of Atonement.
Listen to this important statement. It is from the book The Great Controversy, page 488. “The subject of the sanctuary and the investigative judgment should be clearly understood by the people of God. All need a knowledge for themselves of the position and work of their great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible for them to exercise the faith which is essential at this time or to occupy the position which God designs them to fill. Every individual has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the solemn scene when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, when, with Daniel, every individual must stand in his lot, at the end of the days.”
My friend, this speaks to you and to me. As the danger creeps upon us like a thief in the night, many think they are secure and that the things that have been predicted in God’s word will not come to pass in their generation, but in their children’s generation or in their grandchildren’s generation.
Often we hear sermons on love, unity and the cross, but we don’t hear sermons on the close of probation and the end of all things and the need to get our lives right with God. We are told that we don’t have to deal with our sins now, for Jesus will deal with them later. But this, my friends, is falsehood. It is a deception designed to keep you from preparing your heart for the close of probation and to meet the holy Jesus in peace.
We are near the very end. It is finally here! We have known that the Sunday law movement would come, but we have subconsciously at least, put it off in the distance. We want to feel good. We don’t want to be depressed by so-called “bad news.” So we have bathed ourselves in positive thinking and in feel-good spirituality, a kind of superficiality and emotionalism. But this is only superficial and empty. It doesn’t awaken us to our danger, but rather puts us to sleep. It makes us spiritually lazy. Overcoming sin is not something that we want to have to do because that means we have to give up our darling sins. But now the Sunday law movement is right upon us. It has caught up to us by surprise and most of us aren't ready. The blessing is that Jesus is giving us warning before the close of probation so that we can still get ready. Oh my friend, this is the time to make sure that you are living for Jesus. This is the time to make sure that your calling and election is sure.
This is not bad news at all. The approach of the Sunday law is very good news indeed, at least for those who love Jesus with all their hearts. It shows us that the coming of Jesus is very near. I hope this is very good news for you my friend. If you don’t feel ready, this is the time to get serious with Jesus and take the necessary steps.
Let me show you something interesting from history that will help us put this into perspective. In Luke 21:20, 21 Jesus said “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out.”
There were two sieges of Jerusalem after Christ made this prediction, one under Cestius in A.D. 66 and the other under Titus in A. D. 70. After the Romans under Cestius had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly withdrew at the very moment when the Jews were on the point of surrendering. This gave God’s true people, the followers of Jesus, enough time to flee the city and move to a place called Pella in the hill country. Then Titus came with his armies, surrounded the city and eventually destroyed it. Please read the first chapter in the book Great Controversy about the destruction of Jerusalem. It is shocking! It is a warning about our times. The first siege warned Jesus’ followers of the coming destruction so that they could flee. It was the signal. Most of the Jews were triumphant, thinking that they were safe and that God would protect them. They had even inflicted some damage on the Romans as they withdrew. The Jews went back to their old ways and didn’t take the warning to flee Jerusalem. They were caught unprepared when the second siege of Titus surrounded them.
Now let us apply this to today. Back in the 1880s there was a Sunday law movement. God’s church appeared as if surrounded by the siege forces of spiritual Babylon. But then through the efforts of A. T. Jones and others, the hand of oppression was stayed and God’s people were given time. The Sunday law movement withdrew signaling the opportunity to leave the cities both physically and spiritually. But what have God’s people done? They have gone back to their old ways. They have gone back to their worldliness and their sins and they have ignored the warnings to get out of the cities and prepare for the coming crisis; just as the Jews of old did. Now, coming right upon us is the second siege, the second Sunday law movement. This time there will be no reprieve. This is the final siege of God’s people by spiritual Babylon. There is no time to lose my friend. Please don’t think that you can delay.
There was a man who for seven years warned Jerusalem, going up and down the streets of the city declaring the woes that were to come upon it. He is quoted in the book Great Controversy, page 30. Go there and read what he said about God’s church just before her destruction. He was imprisoned and scourged, but he did not complain. He was insulted and abused, but he only answered by saying “Woe, woe to Jerusalem!” “woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!” He was eventually slain in the siege he had predicted. Perhaps the Lord is sending you a warning today. How will you treat the unpopular message?
Do you remember that statement in the 9th volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 11 that says, “the agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.” You can't wait until you see that things are finally falling into place. Most people will try to live a normal life, even though things around them seem unsettled. They will not see the signs of the times. Everything will seem like it is the same, day after day, except for some pretty big natural disasters, some wars and other disturbances. But they expect their lives to return to normal.
It is just as it was before the flood. Nothing changed until the seventh day after Noah went into the ark. Then things began to happen with great speed. But it was too late. It was as if everything was going along at a slow pace, then all of a sudden everything was in turmoil. It was as if a dam broke and a flash flood blasted down the narrow canyon overtaking and destroying everything in its path. Oh my friend, don’t delay the preparation. Your eternal destiny is at stake. An overwhelming surprise is coming.
Now, one more statement that astonishingly applies to our present situation. It is from the Review and Herald December 24, 1889. “I have been much burdened in regard to movements that are now in progress for the enforcement of Sunday observance. It has been shown to me that Satan has been working earnestly to carry out his designs to restrict religious liberty. Plans of serious import to the people of God are advancing in an underhand manner among the clergymen of various denominations, and the object of this secret maneuvering is to win popular favor for the enforcement of Sunday sacredness. If the people can be led to favor a Sunday law, then the clergy intend to exert their united influence to obtain a religious amendment to the Constitution, and compel the nation to keep Sunday.”
There are those that are secretly working to enforce a Sunday Law right now, my friends. We have been able to document some of it, but I suspect there is a lot more going on. And since this is a secret and underhanded movement, we know that it is trying to disguise itself and keep its real purpose away from public scrutiny. Some of the things we will discuss today about the secret meeting in Washington are not verifiable from public sources. What we have is the first-hand testimony of one who was present. But once the ecumenical churches and the Vatican openly discuss these things, the soup will already be cooked. It is the Spirit of Prophecy that is the guidance system to show us what we can accept and what is erroneous. When the Spirit of Prophecy says that there is a secret and underhanded movement attempting to enforce Sunday as a day of rest, we can rest assured that it is happening, though we cannot see or feel it yet. But once in a while you can see it pop up on the surface, or God places individuals in positions where they can see and give testimony to the truth of what the Spirit of Prophecy has predicted. The message on this CD is about that kind of testimony. What you will hear is the detail from the first-hand report of the one man God has placed in the position to see behind the scenes and can report to us from the inside what is happening in their secret planning sessions.
There are three religious organizations that were involved in the secret meeting in Washington DC. They are the Christian Coalition of America (CC), Christian Churches Together (CCT) and Catholic Campaign for American (CCA).
First let me tell you about Pastor Allen Fine and the Christian Coalition. Pastor Fine is the speaker and director of New Sound Inspiration Radio in West Virginia. He has been a Seventh-day Adventist pastor for over 40 years and is now retired, but perhaps more involved in God’s work than ever before. He has been at the forefront of the battle for the Lord, lifting up the trumpet and proclaiming God’s last message on radio and in the pulpit and continues to work for the salvation of souls. He has taken criticism and abuse for his strong support of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and is no stranger to the forces arrayed against God’s people. I have spent quite a bit of time talking with Pastor Fine and have learned the story of his involvement with the Christian Coalition.
Pastor Fine began to attend the meetings of the Christian Coalition of America back in 1989. He wanted to see what they were doing and to get an idea of their plans. Pat Robertson, their leader at the time, was gleeful that he had successfully brought together so many different Christian churches. As he listened to their ideas and plans, Pastor Fine thought of the warnings of the Spirit of Prophecy and realized that the intentions of this group had been predicted and that prophecy was being fulfilled exactly as it had been written.
On March 29, 1994 The leaders of the Christian Coalition, including Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Gary Bower, James Dobson, Ralph Reed and others, including a Jewish Rabbi stacked their hands all together and declared that they are one. Pastor Fine and his wife Deanna witnessed this and believes that their intention was to use Christian organizations to get control of state and federal legislatures and thereby set up the image to the beast.
Then in 2004 Pastor Fine received a memo from the new President of the Christian Coalition, Roberta Combs. It was addressed to him as the “Leader, Christian Coalition in West Virginia,” and it discussed plans for the upcoming leadership meetings and legislative briefings in Washington, DC. Pastor Fine was surprised. “I didn’t ask for this,” he thought, “but I’ll take it.” When Roberta Combs, the president of the Christian Coalition lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack, Pastor Fine was on hand to minister and pray with the family over the phone. This brought them close together as friends. Roberta Combs later asked him if he would be willing to serve as co-chairman of the Christian Coalition alongside Jim Backlin. He accepted and this has put him in a position to be credentialed to the leadership meetings with other Christian organizations and for him to attend the important secret meeting with the Vatican. Pastor Fine says that he believes God has a very important purpose for him on the inside of this important organization.
The Christian Coalition along with Christian Churches Together and Catholic Campaign for America has developed a ten point agenda for America that they want to implement at the federal and state levels by law. These ten amendments were recently updated at the Fuller Theological Seminary on March 1, 2007. Most of them are designed to uphold the principles that are important to Christian people, such as marriage between one man and one woman, public prayer, references to God in the pledge of allegiance and on coins and bills, judicial integrity, limits on eminent domain, the right to bear arms, etc. But ironically the seventh amendment on their list is a call for a national day of rest. This day would no doubt be Sunday. Here is what number seven on the list of their “ten amendments” says; “Throughout all the land a National Day of Rest shall be honored by governments and industrial manufacturers and public shopping facilities.”
A much more recent organization known as Christian Churches Together (or the CCT) is also involved in the secret Sunday law movement and was represented at the secret meeting in Washington. This ecumenical organization has many churches that are members and they are all made to feel as if they have equal say, but it is organized in such a way that Rome’s representatives dominate the steering committee and the direction of the organization. It is becoming more and more powerful however, and is now working, among other things, to implement a national day of rest in the United States.
Catholic Campaign for America is another organization that is wanting to establish a Sunday law. It was founded in 1989 by a man named Thomas V. Wykes, Jr. “who wanted to address the moral crisis in American with a Catholic response,” wrote Wikipedia. “In 1991 he gathered together several notable Catholic leaders in Washington DC, who constituted the first board of directors. They included William Bennett, Mary Ellen Bork, Hugh Carey and Bishop Rene Gracida. According to the National Catholic Register, the CCA was initiated to ‘bring a politically powerful and distinctively Catholic voice to the U.S. political scene.” Their motto is as follows, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a private opinion, a remote spiritual idea, or a mere program for spiritual growth. The Gospel is the power to transform the world.”
What is meant, obviously, by “the power to transform the world,” is political power. Jesus never tried to start a political movement or establish His power in political circles, or He would have done what Roman Catholics try to do today and have done for centuries, secretly work to get more power, and then force all under their control to follow their dictates. But Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” John 18.36.
This background is important because you need to see that the Sunday law movement has been stealthily working its way through the ecumenical organizations, just as the Spirit of Prophecy predicted, and is preparing to mount itself and ride on the momentum of the ecumenical movement. It is also going to become very political and will use both governmental and non-government political organizations. When church leaders are excited about their unity with other churches, and when a large enough coalition of churches unite together, they begin to feel very powerful, especially politically powerful and then naturally attempt to use the political apparatus to accomplish their purposes. That is how the image to the beast is being formed right now.
Now we come to the meeting in November of 2007. The Sunday law movement as you will see has top level government support, approval and security protection.
Originally the meeting was to be held in the John Paul II cultural center in Washington DC. When Pastor Fine’s commuter plane landed at Washington Dulles to meet with the other leaders of the Christian Coalition and to have the designated meetings, top government security agents from the National Security Agency (NSA) met his plane and verified his identity right then and there. They told him that “because this was such a provocative meeting, they would have to keep his driver’s license until the meeting is over.” They escorted him to a taxicab and told him that the driver already knew where to take him. Then apparently they followed him to the Regency Hotel where the driver delivered him. He asked the driver why he was being taken to the Regency Hotel and not the John Paul II Cultural Center where the meeting was to be held. The driver only said that this is where he was told to take him and that he should go in and await future instructions.
After sitting in the lobby for a few minutes he was approached by the same two agents, who said to him, “one of your people will be here soon.” When one of the leaders of the Christian Coalition met him, there were three more agents with her and all five of them followed them to registration. In fact NSA trailed the participants of these closed meetings constantly until the meetings were over.
Pastor Fine asked one of the agents why they weren’t meeting at the John Paul II Cultural Center. He said, it was ”decided, along with the Vatican that it would not be appropriate to have this kind of meeting at the John Paul II Cultural Center and that the meeting had been moved to the Regency Hotel.”
On November 14, the day was spent in a conference on global warming. The speakers included Al Gore, the former Vice-President of the United States, who has become something of a climate change guru, and his liaison Davy Crocket, great grandson of the famous Davey Crocket of the wild frontier, who does his research. There was much frightening material presented concerning the effect of the changes in climate as well as the speed at which the changes are taking place. It was pointed out that global warming will create a crisis for America and the rest of the world. It involves the loss of life on the planet including animals and fish, etc. The ecosystems are all tied together. One thing affects another. It was felt that responsible Christian leaders must tell their people how they can help protect the environment.
Back at least as far as 1990 the Vatican was promoting the connection between ecology and world peace. John Paul II in his message for the World Day of Peace on January 1 of that year wrote about protecting the environment as a grave moral responsibility. Other statements have also been released by the Catholic Church. Then more recently, as climate change has become a much more political issue, the national Association of Evangelicals paralleled the Roman Catholic Church and released its statement on the environment in a document called Climate Change: an Evangelical Call to Action. Six months later, on August 27, 2006 Benedict XVI called for a commitment to care for creation once again. Now the Independent on September 24, 2007 reported that the Pope is likely to make action on climate change a moral issue when he makes his speech at the United Nations in April. It is important to note that the mutual effort on climate change between the evangelicals and Catholics has ratcheted up the issue as a moral obligation for Christians to embrace. This is important because it means that climate change has been elevated to the same or similar level as abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, etc. Their cooperation on climate change will strengthen their political power and lead to other moral issues that they want to enforce, such as observing the Lord’s day.
During lunch on November 15, just before the meeting with the Vatican Cardinal one of the NSA security agents came to the table and asked Roberta Combs the President of the Christian Coalition, if she had told her people that they were not to take any recording devices or cameras into the meeting, and that nothing will be released for publication until the Vatican has approved it. This is important because it reveals the concern that the Vatican has for loose elements that might damage her position. It also reveals Rome’s manipulation. She wants everything under her control and doesn’t want anything said or done that she hasn’t approved.
There were 13 people that met together, seven from the Christian Coalition, two from Christian Churches Together, and two from Catholic Campaign for America, plus Nancy Pelosi and the Cardinal. The Cardinal was introduced as Cardinal Pizeroser from San Francisco, but that name cannot be found on any official lists of Cardinals, which suggests that it was a pseudonym. Remember that this secret meeting involves very sensitive matters in relation to Sunday laws, hence it may well be that the Vatican does not want to get its fingerprints on certain provocative activities.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a staunch Roman Catholic entered the room and said a few words to the Vatican Cardinal. Nancy was the only one who was permitted to be there from the U.S. Congress. She said to the Cardinal, “I live my faith. I have been trained and directed by Christian parents. I went to church school and also every Sunday I was faithful in recognizing that it was very necessary to do the things that I knew that I was supposed to do, and I have not changed one bit from that.”
During the meeting the word “Sunday” was never used, but here the Vatican Cardinal said, “We as Christian leaders must recognize that we have a responsibility to do that which is in keeping with the Lord’s will, and if we don’t, we will pay for it… As you all know, we must all work together for the betterment of America, after all, America is the second Israel. We must work with the state legislatures to appropriately help them to understand that all the immorality and slime must be stopped and that we must work together in unison to show our Lord that this must be stopped…
Then with the “ten amendments” list in his hand, the Cardinal said that there would be more said on this when “His Holiness” (Benedict XVI), would be here in Washington in April to meet with President Bush and also to meet with some of these same Christian leaders at the Senate Office Building on April 17th. “Some of the things that we at the Vatican are concerned about” he said, “is what is happening here (in America) to the Lord’s day, concerning sporting events and all kind of calls for different things to be done. As you know, the Lord’s day is used in a blatant way against our God, when the people must be told that this day must be kept holy. You must work together as leaders of this nation. As goes this nation, so goes the world.”
My friends, the Cardinal’s words should remind us of the following statement from the pen of inspiration taken from Maranatha, page 214. “As America, the land of religious liberty shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis will come upon our people in all parts of the world.”
This idea about America as the second Israel is important. Most churches believe this, though it is unbiblical. The scriptures teach that they that are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed,” Galatians 3:29 not they that are Americans. But as the churches have wanted to take the finger of condemnation off the papacy, false interpretations of prophecy have led them to come up with another explanation of the second beast of Revelation 13, the United States of America. By making America the second Israel rather than the second beast, Rome can participate with other churches in addressing America’s problems with her own agenda. This fits her ecumenical plans very well. The result has been that America is now uniting with Rome to accomplish her purposes. We have no time to lose, no time to waste in foolish, worldly behavior, my friends. Now is the time to get ready and pray that you will be able to secure your soul.
When Pope Benedict XVI lands in Washington on April 15th, he will meet with President Bush. Then on the 16th he will spend his birthday with a gathering of Cardinals at the John Paul II Cultural Center, I am told, as well as with ecumenical leaders. Then on the 17th he will meet with selected religious leaders including representatives of the three organizations that met in November; the Christian Coalition, Christian Churches Together, and the Catholic Campaign for America and perhaps others including a number of members of Congress. The purpose of the meeting, among other things, is to motivate Christian leaders and legislatures to bring to the forefront, in the Congress and state by state, a national day of rest.
I wonder what will be the real agenda of the meeting with the Cardinals. Will it be about their role in bringing about a Sunday law in America? According to the news reports there will also be an ecumenical meeting there with representatives of other religions. Will this involve discussions about a national day of rest?
Senator Robert Byrd, the oldest member of Congress, the president pro Tempore of the Senate and a Baptist called Pastor Fine one day in January. “Pastor Fine,” he said, “We’re going to be having a special occasion with the Pope when we meet in the Senate Office Building, and the President wants to meet with us too. He feels that it wouldn’t be honorable for the Pope to meet in another place with the Christian Leadership of America.”
My friends, when the President of the United States of America elevates this kind of meeting with Christian leadership in America to the level where it wouldn’t be honorable to do it in any other place than in the Senate Office Building, we have come to a very important and significant moment in prophecy. When the President of the United States can bring the Pope to the White House and to the Senate Office Building to discuss a national day of rest, we have essentially come to the point where the image of the beast is about to reveal itself. “I will be there,” said Senator Byrd, “and so will Nancy (meaning Nancy Pelosi). We want to hear firsthand what Benedict has to say.
Pastor Fine also had the opportunity after the private meeting with the Vatican Cardinal, to speak about the Sabbath to the Christian Leaders that were present. He pointed to his name tag which identified him as a Seventh-day Adventist and said, “Things haven’t changed. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist. I chose to become a Seventh-day Adventist because the seventh-day is the only day that God has ever blessed. God blessed three things, man, the animal kingdom and the Sabbath. Sunday is not specially blessed the way God blessed the Sabbath. To bless something means that it has divine empowering. God empowered the Sabbath, not Sunday.
The Christian Coalition and the other organizations present have developed a communiqué following the meeting with the Vatican Cardinal. They had to have it approved by the Vatican. The text of the communiqué is specifically designed to stir Sunday agitation. Yet it opens with the express purpose of keeping its authors secret. Let me read it to you word for word. The following statement from the 5th Volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 449, should remind us of the truth about this. “Church and state are now making preparations for the future conflict. Protestants are working in disguise to bring Sunday to the front, as did the Romanists.” Here is the text of the communiqué.
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATE RELEASE
“In this release NO person’s name is to be included in any part while corresponding to another person. This is a summary as of 11/16/07.
“The Lord will destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18) along with the immoral slime of America. I call upon the C.C.A. (the Catholic Campaign for America) and the C.C.O.A (Christian Coalition of America) to help in our spiritual fight to help save America, the second Israel. We must band together to stave off the crisis of gross neglect of Bible truths and help America and the nations of the world to a realization for what is happening and continues to worsen. These crises will increase on America, the second Israel of Bible prophecy. The Lord will allow more terrorist attacks and these will increase as it was in O. T. times of the first Israel. The Lord will allow the enemies of the second Israel to awaken the people in an effective but unexpected way. Now global warming – melting icebergs and icecaps – water shortages – poor people starving and dying by the millions, the desecration of the Lord’s Day by the mega malls and shopping centers – various sporting events – all unnecessary frolicking on the Lord’s Day. Our government leaders and church leaders who really care must protest all these immoral goings on. If we don’t, it will be too late very soon. The Lord’s Day must be protected and supported by responsible persons. If we do not care and understand, the crisis of great magnitude no doubt will soon come. We must work and pray and support efforts to protect the Lord’s Day. We need more than ever to work together to help stave off God’s anger. We must show our Lord that we will work together to protect His day of worship. Unless we work together to avert the crisis, it will surely come.”
Notice that the communiqué from the Christian Coalition uses the same words the Cardinal used at the secret meeting, such as “immoral slime,” “America, the second Israel,” “We must show our Lord that we will work together…” etc. And also notice that the emphasis of the communiqué is the same as the Cardinal’s emphasis – “Protect the Lord’s Day.” The evangelicals are taking lessons from Rome as well as instructions. They copy her. They set up a mirror image of her. Rome has nearly 2000 years of experience at this process of uniting church and state and they are coaching non-Catholic religious leaders and helping them build up their political power.
Pastor Fine thinks that the communiqué will be publically released and that the urgent need to protect the so-called Lord’s Day as a national day of rest will be presented before Congress and the state governments some time following the papal visit and the meeting in the Senate Office building April 17. So stay tuned.
Rome and the ecumenical churches know that fear will stir the people to action. They are using fear of global climate change, fear of terrorism, fear of the judgments of God, etc., to get people to agree that they must do something to stem the tide of immorality in America and return it to the favor of God.
The same thing will happen in other countries as well. As goes America, so goes the world, said the Cardinal. While not all nations normally agree with the United States in her agendas, in fact most don’t; on this point we know that all the world will wonder after the beast, and that the United States will cause all to worship the first beast that had the wound by the sword and did live.” Revelation 13:14.
My friends, we must study the book of Revelation along with the Spirit of Prophecy. If you want to understand what it all means quickly, go to your copy of the book Great Controversy and read the last 250 pages. You’ll find it very enlightening. Though the author is dead, she still speaks powerfully to this generation. Pastor Fine says: “Church and state must amalgamate in order to legislate that they may dominate.
But here is a description of God’s people today from the 2nd volume of Testimonies to Ministers, page 337. “Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people!” This is amazing my friends. Here we are at the very moment that prophecy has foretold, at the very apex of history. Yet God’s people are not ready for the challenge. Oh, my brothers and sisters, I need the power of God in my life, don’t you? You don’t want to miss the latter rain. Now is the time to plead with God for purity as never before. Now is the time to earnestly seek Jesus’ power. Cling to Jesus Christ my friends. Your eternal destiny depends on it.
My friends, the mark of the beast is soon to come. It is the observance of the false Sabbath set up by Rome and copied in America by the religious leaders. The end will come more quickly than we understand. The crisis will come as an overwhelming surprise and it will be too late for many who are spiritually lazy and asleep. It will be too late to make restitution or turn your life around. Listen to this statement from the 8th volume of the Testimonies for the Church, page 28. “Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.”
And here is how you make the necessary preparation. This is from Prophets and Kings, page 626. “Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise, and this preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts.”
Are you conforming your life to the precepts of the Bible? Are you putting away every sin so that you can overcome and live for Jesus every moment? Please, please take the steps to prepare your mind and your character for the almost overwhelming crisis.
My friends, thank you for listening today. The Sunday movement is making its way in darkness and stealth. Please don’t put off making certain of your salvation. This is the time to move out of the cities into the country so that you can prepare for the time of trouble. This is the time to get worldliness out of your mind. Now is the time to learn how to have the Holy Spirit in your life every moment. You can't learn that at the last minute. Now is the time to give you heart and soul unreservedly to Jesus Christ so that He can mature your character so that in the coming crisis you will have a savior.
Let us bow our heads in prayer and ask Jesus to help us come fully under the Holy Spirit’s control. Our Father in heaven, we thank You for giving us probationary time. Thank You for warning us of what is coming upon this world. Lord, we pray that You will send us Your Holy Spirit so that we can discern the signs of the times and get ready for the coming crisis. I pray that you will help us to learn how to prepare by diligent study of your holy word and by earnest fervent prayer, gain power with God. We need victory in
our lives over the devil’s temptations. Please enter our lives and change us into Your image that we may live by Jesus power. In Jesus name, amen.
Sonja & David Upham
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Dedicated to the upbuilding of His kingdom by example and through teaching principles which will help us to attain physical, mental, & spiritual well being, bringing us into a closer relationship to our Maker and Redeemer. Physical & Spiritual healing can only come through the One who made us in His image and we are delighted to share the wisdom that He has given us.
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