Sunday Legislation and the Golden Calf

Coming out of Adventism is a bit like navigating a moral minefield. Because we were taught a false worldview, because everything Christians believe was redefined and falsified to keep Adventists compliant and loyal, every glimpse of new covenant truth elicits a cascade of fear or confusion. The most pervasive fear that lingers long after understanding the grace of God in Christ Jesus is this: what if the Sabbath really is God’s day? What if a Sunday law does come and I have abandoned the Sabbath? Will I be stumbling into eternal damnation? Have I been deceived?

This week we received an email asking about this very question. This week I am sharing both the email and my answer because this is a universal concern among those of us who have had to figure out the biblical place of Sabbath. Following is the email: 

I am beginning to see the Sabbath in a new way and to feel a new joy in the gospel, BUT it’s still so hard to totally let go of it. The main reason for my fear is the Adventist view of the great controversy/mark of the beast scenario with its prediction of a coming Sunday law.

According to Adventists the pope is apparently speaking currently about working together “for the common good” and having a regular rest to allow the world to heal. All of this supposed talk is in relation to climate change and Covid. 

Adventists see these suggestions as the way the pope will set up an insistence on Sunday rest. This possibility is making me feel very nervous of completely letting go of the Sabbath—just in case! 

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this possibility.

Our common fear

I completely understand what you are describing. I believe the possibility of a Sunday law is a fear we ALL have as we leave. Moreover, with every world crisis, the Adventists have new “evidence” that such a law is coming.

Here’s what I have come to understand: Ellen White is a FALSE prophet. As our younger son said when he was only nine years old, “She’s a prophet…a FALSE prophet.” I realized with a start that he was right: she actually was a prophet; she had visions and dreams and an other-worldly visitor. But her supernatural revelations and visits were not from the Lord. She taught doctrines of demons.

Thus, even IF there is a Sunday law, that law is not a fulfillment of EGWs visions and “mark of the beast” prophecies. Satan knows his own plans; he knows how to frighten people and keep them in bondage to his proclamations of doubt and fear. 

Here’s what I know: EVEN IF there is a Sunday law one day (and I doubt there will be…but even if…), it will not be what she said it would be. It will not be the mark of the beast. I know it will not because the seal of God is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is our guarantee of our eternal future that God has promised when we trust Jesus. It is the mark of our being born again. The mark of the beast will not be a “false Sabbath” because the seal of God is not the Sabbath. Whatever that mark may be, it will not mimic a “true day of worship” because observance of days is not related to salvation. Such things are not part of the new covenant. 

Ellen White said the Sabbath is the seal of God (modern Adventists often say it is the “sign” of having the seal). This  belief is blasphemy; it makes a created day fulfill the role of God Himself. 

The New Testament explains that the physical observances, rituals, and religion of Judaism were all fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. The reality He ushered in with the new covenant is spiritual. We can’t “see” our Sabbath rest, our eternal, once-for-all sacrifice, our eternal High Priest, and so on. We are born again into an “unseen” reality that is more profound than the physical shadows ever were. We actually have eternal life when we are literally born of the Spirit.

Ellen White made the created Sabbath the “seal of God” instead of acknowledging that God Himself IS our seal. She substituted a physical, created shadow for God Himself.

Thus, her idea of the mark of the beast is wrong in the same way. A “holy day” cannot be the mark of the lost. The lost are “lost” because they do not believe (Jn 3:18). Whatever the mark of the beast will be, it is not a “holy day” in itself.The mark will be a subtle deception that those who do not honor the Lord Jesus above ALL will receive because they do not believe. 

Jesus did away with the physical shadows of the law when He died, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to Scripture. He became their fulfillment, even the holy days. Thus a day cannot be the seal of God, and a day cannot be the mark of the beast. While the mark of the beast may have a physical manifestation, it is actually something those who do not believe and trust Jesus will take willingly because they are not born again.

Even the texts in Revelation about the mark of the beast do not hint at its being a day. The Adventists’ explanation of how it is Sunday are invented and twisted to fit the text.

No fence-straddling

I had to decide, when I first left Adventism, that I couldn’t retain an internal honoring of the seventh-day “just in case”. If I kept an internal “what if” about the day, I wasn’t putting all the weight of my faith and trust in Jesus alone. I was hedging my bets. I had to believe that Jesus ALONE was my true Sabbath rest and Source of salvation. Nothing I did could keep me saved, even hedging my bets with the Sabbath. 

In fact, if I hedged my bets and internally held onto a “what if” attitude about the Sabbath, I was holding onto my Sabbath idol. I was trying to honor Jesus and keep the old mark of my salvation at the same time.

I realized that the Sabbath was the equivalent of the golden calves that King Jeroboam erected at Dan and Bethel in the Northern Kingdom. The Canaanites never thought of those calves as “gods”. Rather, they were the representation of their gods’ strength, power, and dominance, and they were always depicted with their gods riding them.

Jeroboam erected two golden calves, but he didn’t put Yahweh on top of them because Yahweh was invisible. Thus he still called his false worship “Yahweh worship” and used the calves to represent God’s strength and power. But God called Jeroboam’s syncretism idolatry. Using anything to symbolize God to ourselves is idolatry. 

For Adventists, the Sabbath was our golden calf. We believed we had the right God, the right “plan of salvation” because we had the Sabbath. Without the Sabbath, we decreed every other belief in God to be false. We even believed Christians whom we knew loved the Lord had a false religion because they didn’t have the Sabbath. 

I had to give up Sabbath because it was part of my Adventist salvation package. It had a much deeper meaning for me than a day had for a “normal” Christian. Sabbath was the Adventist “golden calf”. It carried our view of correct worship of the correct God—and we had it all wrong. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “God is spirit, and true worshipers worship Him in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:24). There is no day we bring along with us in our worship of the Lord. No day holds up true worship—and no day will be the mark of the beast. 

Days are neutral and irrelevant. True worship is that of a born-again heart, a living spirit worshiping the living God. When we are born again, we will not receive any external thing that is defined as “worship” of another God…even if there IS a Sunday law.

No potential mandated worship day will mean what EGW said it would mean. We have to let go of our fear that she might be right and fear only God. He knows His own, and He keeps us. He gives us His wisdom and knowledge, and He will hold us fast. Sunday is not the mark of the beast, but those who do not believe and trust in Him will receive whatever that mark is because they will not trust Jesus alone. †

Colleen Tinker
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6 comments

    1. We cannot know in advance whether or not there will be a “holy day” mandate, whether in honor of Sunday or Saturday or any other day. But here’s what we DO know: the new covenant never asks us to worship on Saturday as part of our believing in the Lord Jesus and being born again. Holy Days and times and places are obsolete in the new covenant of Jesus’ finished work.

      In fact, Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that true worshipers worship God who is spirit, in spirit and in truth. In other words, true worship is done from our own spirits, which are born again and sealed by God’s Spirit, as we praise and honor God who is spirit. There is no day or time associated with true worship.

      Consequently, whether or not there is a “Sunday law”, that law will not be the mark of the beast per se. We are saved or lost not on the basis of our practices or by embracing any day. We are saved or lost entirely on the basis of belief or unbelief. Even if there IS a Sunday law, it will not be the fulfillment of EGWs prophecies. A day will never be the mark of the saved or of the lost. Rather, the mark of the saved is the born-again, living spirit that is God’s work in us when we believe, and His mark on us is His own Spirit. The mark of the unsaved is the dead spirit that has never been brought to life through trust in Jesus alone. Those who do not trust Jesus will be vulnerable to honor the beast; those who are born again will be kept by the Lord Jesus and protected from worshiping the beast.

    2. Colleen, I read your comment. I have one also. You said, “We cannot know in advance whether or not there will be a holy day” mandate, whether in honor of Sunday or Saturday or any other day.” I first want to note that Seventh Day Adventist’s or another groups are not Jews, they are not the chosen people whom God took through the red sea, who gave the commandments & the oracles of God, who gave the feasts, etc. “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Perpetual in Strong’s 5769 means: forever, everlasting, evermore, etc. Of past and of future. So in the future millennium there will be a temple, their will be sacrifices, they will observe their Sabbaths on Saturday. The Jews have always celebrated their sabbaths on Saturday and always will. Forever is forever. Further I want to note in Zechariah 14:16-19 all nations must observe the Feast of Tabernacles during the 1,000 year rein of King Jesus. The feast of Tabernacles mentioned in Lev. 23:33-44 also called ‘Booths’ The born again Churches role is to reign with Messiah, we will have jobs to do in our new heavenly bodies. So looking forward to that. I want to share these wonderful teachings by Robert Congdon. These will help born again Christians understand the ‘Feasts’ further. Blessings. Here is part 1 if you would like more I will forward. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP9lQ29ICEA

  1. One problem with any cult which includes the Roman Catholic Church is all the false teaching that must be shed. Once a person is born again, Scripture CAN AND WILL correct all the errors. The tools that helped me most was a Bible Dictionary, Strong’s Concordance of the KJV Bible, and a KJV audio Bible to help me pronounce the words, and a good Commentary or two. My first commentary that I settled on was J. Vernon McGee’s which I purchased from Thru the Bible Program/J. Vernon McGee. I left the Adventist church before I was 18. I can understand not wanting to listen to anyone’s commentaries after finding out about Ellen G. White being a false prophet and a plagiarizer. So Scripture alone can clean up all the junk food you have in your heart. The Holy Spirit, He (John 16:7-15) teaches us and convicts us. If we stick with the Bible all the lies that Ellen G. White told are exposed. My simple answer to an Adventist about the mark of the beast is to read Revelation 13-14 literally. Since when is the Sunday worship a mark in the right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:-16-18)? How many times is the Sabbath mentioned in the book of Revelation? ZERO. How many times is the Sabbath mentioned after Acts (the Apostles went to preached to the Jews first in the synagogues!) ? Only ONCE: ‘Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.’ It is not mentioned in Romans, 1 &2 Corinthians, Ephesians, or any other New Testament book except once which I have quoted! Lastly when was the Sabbath mentioned the first time? Exodus 16:23 ‘And he (Moses) said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until morning.’ Who is Moses talking to? ‘Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:16-17. Answer: to Israel=the Jewish people, NOT TO ANYONE ELSE! Where in the Bible does it say that ‘Christians’ are to keep the Sabbath? NO WHERE. “every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto His words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6

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