Seventh-day Adventist Newspaper Ad Sparks Sunday Law Debate

Digital Journal | April 28, 2014

A two-page, center spread, newspaper advertisement that appeared in the San Francisco Examiner on Sunday, April 27, 2014, pages 12, 13, is stirring up a heated debate on the Biblical Sabbath.

The ad headline reads "Liberty of Conscience Threatened" and predicts that Sunday laws will once again be enforced here in America. The two, full-page ad goes on to describe that the Bible commands us to observe the Sabbath on Saturday, the seventh day of the week.

"The ad is part of a nationwide campaign to educate and warn the public that Sunday laws will become more and more increasingly dangerous to religious liberty," says Pastor Raphael Perez of the Eternal Gospel Church, an independent Seventh-day Adventist Church in West Palm Beach, FL that was founded in 1992.

Other ads have appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, USA Today, Miami Herald, and in over 250 daily newspapers according to the Eternal Gospel Church's website.

Pastor Perez believes that church and state will unite in the efforts to save our culture and family structures from completely deteriorating. He claims that a national Sunday law will be offered as a solution by these "interest groups" to combat the ills of society.

"What they don't understand is that in their efforts to 'save' our society, these Sunday laws will actually have a negative social impact because they are a threat to the freedom of conscience," Pastor Perez explains.

The advertisement cites many sources from both the media and from the Bible that seems to suggest that a Sunday law is in the horizon.

"The concern we have is that when the state begins to enforce religious festivals and compels people to observe the first day of the week [Sunday law], this will inevitably lead to discrimination and persecution and will trample the conscience of minority groups," Pastor Perez continues. "Seventh-day Adventists, Sabbatarian Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and atheists are all entitled to equal rights and to impartial protection under the laws of government."

Pastor Raphael Perez, a former Catholic who once attended a Roman Catholic Seminary identifies himself as a "Seventh-day Adventist believer."

One the foundational tenets of the Seventh-day Adventist faith is that its members keep Saturday, the seventh day, as the Biblical Sabbath and not Sunday as do the Protestants and Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church is identified in the ad as the party responsible for the change of the day of worship.

The ad concludes with a one thousand dollar offer to anyone who can produce a Bible verse that states that Jesus or His disciples transferred the solemnity of the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week.

About the Eternal Gospel Church: The Eternal Gospel Church was founded in 1992 by Seventh-day Adventist Believers, and has been engaged in a world-wide newspaper, radio, and billboard campaign for over 20 years with the goal of teaching people about the present truth for this time. They also have been giving a warning message about the dangers of Sunday laws, the union of church and state, and modern spiritualism.

Eternal Gospel Church
http://www.eternalgospel.com
eternalgospel(at)att(dot)net
1-800-769-2150

Source: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1878468#ixzz30NFau7pq