By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining me today once again. We are going to explore a very important subject that involves the coming Sunday laws. We have no time to lose. The Christian nationalist movement is gaining traction. We are to be ready to deal with it.
Let us begin with prayer. Our Father in heaven, we are living at the very end of time. The events are rapidly taking place that will lead us to the final movements. I pray that you will join us today as we open the word and study the Bible for its important principles of present truth. We need Your Holy Spirit to understand. And please help us to awaken your church. In Jesus name, amen.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation 13. We will read verses 11-15.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 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.
Friends, this beast represents the United States of America. America plays a vital role in prophecy because of these verses. These verses tell us that America started out one way, like a lamb, and ends up acting like a dragon and persecuting people. This is a major change that must not be ignored by God’s people. And this must not be downplayed as some are doing. In fact, today’s pastors are either ignoring this statement and not preaching on it at all, or they tell us in so many words that it’s not relevant and downplay its importance.
But the signs all around us show us that these scriptures are being fulfilled. In recent years, America has spiritually fornicated with the Papacy. And there are continual connections between the United States and Rome, which Keep the Faith has documented over and over again.
Apostate Protestantism has also been very active with Rome and has been developing ties that compromise the Protestant message. Through the ecumenical movement Protestants have philandered with Rome until they have healed the wounds between them and now, they deny their heritage, and have virtually eliminated their objections to Rome and it’s meddling in the government of the United States of America. Now the time is ripe for the second beast of Revelation 13:15 to exercise her power and become a dragon.
And she has been developing this power for a long time. The pandemic is only the recent and latest manifestation of the power that the United States manifests over its people. While other countries also experienced dictatorial control by their leaders, the most amazing and shocking manifestation was the control exercised in America over its citizens during the pandemic. And it was all done by instilling fear in their minds. There are still Americans that live in fear even though the pandemic has been supposedly less virulent and deadly. Yet some people still wear masks even outdoors when nobody else is within 6 feet. The vaccines are ineffective at best and dangerous and even deadly at worst. And the mandates have been divisive.
The pandemic also created economic pressure on people that created much unrest. It disturbed their emotional equilibrium and caused chaos in society and in the supply chains. And it gave the global elites, the World Economic Forum, and governments around the globe an excuse to impose the worst economic conditions that we have ever seen since the Great Depression of 1929.
And now the government is controlled by leftists who are imposing very secular policies and regulations and they are turning America into a modern Sodom.
People are becoming frustrated and intolerant of one another. They are also moving to extremes in terms of their attitudes and beliefs. Crime in the big cities has shot through the roof. People aren’t safe anymore on subways and public transport in the big cities. They don’t feel safe even in their own homes.
The looming food shortages have them all of a sudden somehow planning to mitigate the crisis for their own families and for themselves. Instead of growing gardens, they can only stock up on things that they regularly eat to stave off famine for a little while. But that will only last for so long. The big cities are deathtraps, similar to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Thousands of people starved to death. They were even murdering and cannibalizing weaker citizens. Of course, the followers of Jesus were not subject to the pain of starvation and famine because they had left the city as Jesus had told them to do. They had escaped the destruction coming upon the city by God’s word. And in the tiny window of time before the warring factions in Jerusalem blocked off the exits so that no one could escape, and well before the Roman armies surrounded the city by Titus in AD 70 and besieged it, they were safely outside in another region.
Today, the principle is just the same. Obey God’s word and you will escape what is coming upon the wicked. Notice this statement from the Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, and page 446.
“Though the people of God endure privation, and even suffer for want of food, they are not left to perish. While God’s judgments are visited upon the earth, and the wicked are dying from hunger and thirst, angels provide the righteous with food and water.”
We are facing some extreme situations based on the Bible’s testimony. While they weren’t so obvious in the past, we can now see them plainly. And as we get nearer this time, the nations are becoming more stressed. They are beating the drums of war. But more deeply, they are coming together to form an alliance against God and against His truth. The G7 is forming a climate club of nations that will benefit those nations who are members and penalize those that are not, thus pressuring them, or coercing them to join. This will accelerate the creation of the one world government that the Bible predicted. And consequently, we are losing liberty, right, left and center.
Friends, we are very close to the end of time. I hope and pray you are making spiritual preparation for the crisis that lies ahead. All the elements are in place except massive disasters. Rest assured these judgments are coming. They will trigger pleas for a Sunday law to take back America for God.
Also, when the beast becomes dragon-like, the United States must be ruled by people that see the solution to the problems as religious. Right now, it’s ruled by people that create the problems. But in the end, both sides, both left and right, Conservative and Liberal, will join together like the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Christ’s day to severely persecute the remnant who keep all the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And the remnant will be seen as standing in the way of the common good. It will seem like the common good looks religious and is rather pious; it would look like the real solutions; it will even look like the right thing to do, but it will be in opposition to God and His law. And this is no good for the nation.
Revelation 14:12 suggests that the remnant will have to really be patient as their rights and liberties are removed and the Ten Commandments become the focus of their lives.
“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
This verse will become more meaningful and more relevant than ever. As the saints are pressured more and more by professedly good Christian people, to comply with the laws of the land, particularly the newly imposed religious laws, they will be at the center of the controversy over the Sabbath, which is the focus of the nation. And the nation will be under pressure by conflict and chaos to right itself.
There is now a movement afoot that is known as Christian Nationalism. They believe that America should be ruled by Christians and that it should be influenced by the Bible.
A recent headline read, “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Says GOP ‘Should Be Christian Nationalists’ Party”
Listen to what the article said.
“The Republican party’s primary focus this year should be on making the political party one of Christian nationalism,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday.
“We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” she said in an interview with the conservative Next News Network while attending the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida.
“‘When Republicans learn to represent most of the people that vote for them, then we will be the party that continues to grow without having to chase down certain identities or chase down certain segments of people,”
“We just need to represent Americans and most Americans, no matter how they vote, really care about the same things and I want to see Republicans actually do their job.’”
Christian Nationalists want to “take back” the United States for God. In their book Taking America Back for God; Christian Nationalism in the United States, Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry summarize Christian Nationalism by listing the following five points.
1. The success of the United States is part of God’s plan.
2. The federal government should declare the United States a Christian nation.
3. The federal government should advocate Christian values.
4. The federal government should not enforce the strict separation of church and state.
5. The federal government should allow religious symbols in public spaces.
6. The federal government should allow prayer in public schools.
Christian nationalism is the reaction to extremism on the left. The leftists have pushed their agenda so hard that a reaction is developing. The pendulum will swing back, but it won’t come back to center. It will inevitably over swing to the right side of the political spectrum, and the nation will be plunged into the end-time scenario and the push for the Sunday law.
Christian nationalism arose in the 1950s, and has been kept alive by the dominionist movement that began in the 1970s. Dominion theology teaches that Christians are ordained of God to rule the nations that have a Christian foundation, such as the British Commonwealth nations and the United States, based on their understanding or interpretation of biblical law. The Christian right is often labeled as dominionist. And while these groups are often disparate and there are differences of opinion among them, in the end they will coalesce into a political movement that opposes God’s law.
Listen to this from Great Controversy, page 443.
“In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority of the state will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends.”
So, while the religious power does not control the United States, it cannot form the image of the beast. Leftists and secularists are in control at the moment, and they are offending the sensitivities of the rest of the people. But people are getting so upset with the leftists and their agendas that they will strongly move the nation toward Christian nationalism. And when the conservatives regain the power, they will insist that the nation become “righteous.”
And they will use the Bible to promote their agenda. For example, the Bible says in Proverbs 14:34 that “Righteousness exalteth a nation.”
They will justify religious laws to promote righteousness on the basis of their interpretation of scripture. Never mind that the Bible clearly point out that heaven is not made of involuntary adherents, but it is made of people who have exercised their individual choice and freedom of conscience.
By the way, the leftists are running scared. Not only are they demonizing conservative Christians and other conservatives, they are determined to keep the left in power. They’re up against a Supreme Court that is mostly Catholic and right wing in its makeup. The Supreme Court recently overturned Roe vs Wade, the abortion ruling dating back to the 1970s. This pushed the left farther to the extreme. This in turn, pushes the right side of politics further to the opposite extreme, until the nation descends into violence and chaos.
Christian nationalists want to place themselves where they can rule America from a Christian point of view. They despise the “the wall of separation of church and state” that is inherently written in the constitution, claiming that it doesn’t exist.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of America, and one of the framers of the constitution, made the following statement in his well-known letter to the Danbury Baptists. He makes it very clear why the wall of separation between church and state is very important to the liberties and freedoms of everyone. He said, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Thomas Jefferson and Religious Freedom [1]
So, Thomas Jefferson understood that freedom and civil rights, including religious freedom, must be preserved by preventing churches and religious institutions or movements from controlling the government and using the “sword” of the government to enforce their opinions on others. He also wrote, “But our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg… Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error.”
Thomas Jefferson and Religious Freedom [1]
While the founders did not use the exact words to create the wall of separation, they put principles in the constitution that effectively did the same thing. And that has served America for nearly 250 years.
But the enemy of mankind wants to remove freedom. Remember, this is his fundamental purpose toward nations and empires. Because, unless freedom is removed, he can’t control and oppress.
In recent years, he has worked to create so much division between the political left and the political right, that they are now so far apart that they can’t even understand each other. They don’t even hear each other. They talk over each other’s heads. And God’s church is caught up in it to.
In effect, the nation has been, and is being pushed toward more and more secular views and values, and is leaving the foundations which made it great and powerful. Now, when the conservative wing of the political right gets control again, they will try to keep themselves in power. They are closely aligned with conservative Christians, who are sick and tired of the liberal bent to America. They will try to influence the state with their values and will ultimately to control them.
They will insist that America needs to be brought back to God. And they will press the government to enact a Sunday law. They will do this, thinking that this is the right thing to do. They will assume that because the majority of people attend church on Sunday, and keep Sunday for their families and recreation, and rest from work, that all should comply with this law. But they will soon find out that there are those who keep another day, that keep the Bible Sabbath. And Sabbath keepers will have arguments that can’t be refuted. So, they will enact stricter rules and regulations targeted at Sabbath keepers. The tools have already been developed for this isolation and targeting. They were used during the pandemic to isolate and restrict unvaccinated people. When these measures are less than effective, Satan will give them some help. He will resort to extreme disasters and spread destruction everywhere. Listen to this short but revealing statement from Great Controversy, page 614.
“There are forces now ready, and only waiting the divine permission, to spread desolation everywhere.”
At the same time, the angels in heaven remove their restraining power because the world has chosen to reject God even in the name of remembering Him. Here is another statement from the same page in Great Controversy.
“As the angels of God cease to hold in check the fierce winds of human passion, all the elements of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem of old.”
Did you hear that? The ruin will be more terrible than that which came upon Jerusalem when it was destroyed by Titus. And this is over the whole world. Nations everywhere will suffer under the pressure of disasters, war, chaos and famine.
So, let us consider a statement found in Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, and page 451.
“By the decree of enforcing the institution of the Papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.”
What should God’s people do? Should they argue over politics? Should they campaign and make loud noises and hold picket signs in the streets? Listen to this statement from Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, page 464 and 465.
“The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption of power on the part of our nation, in the decree enforcing the papal sabbath, will be a warning to us. It will then be time to leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired homes in secluded places among the mountains.”
Lest we think that the large cities are the place to make our homes until the Sunday law crisis comes, the following statement clarifies. It is from Country Living, page 29
“As far as possible, our institutions should be located away from the cities. We must have workers for these institutions, and if they are located in the city, that means that families of our people must settle near them. But it is not God’s will that His people shall settle in the cities, where there is constant turmoil and confusion. Their children should be spared this; for the whole system is demoralized by the hurry and rush and noise. The Lord desires His people to move into the country, where they can settle on the land, and raise their own fruit and vegetables, and where their children can be brought in direct contact with the works of God in nature. Take your families away from the cities is my message.”
So, we should work with cities from outside them, but have our homes in the country. We should be quietly finding our way to remote places that are secluded in the mountains. We should be doing what scripture says in Isaiah 26:20, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
From Country Living, page 20 we read the following statement.
“The Sunday party is strengthening itself in its false claims, and this will mean oppression to those who determine to keep the Sabbath of the Lord. We are to place ourselves where we can carry out the Sabbath commandment in its fullness. ‘Six days shalt thou labor,’ the Lord declares, ‘and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.’ And we are to be careful not to place ourselves where it will be hard for ourselves and our children to keep the Sabbath.”
The Christian Nationalist movement is a modern Sunday party. Once in power, they will seek to establish Sunday as a national day of rest and worship. They will use spurious arguments to build their case. But God does not change, nor do His laws. The Bible is plain. The Sabbath is on the 7th day. It is not on the first day or any other day. The Sabbath was changed by the most corrupt, abusive, and wicked organization in the world. And the true Sabbath continues to be maligned, and multitudes of excuses are given for why we shouldn’t keep it.
The Christian Nationalists are just waiting for the opportunity to publicly make their case. They will argue that we need Sunday laws to stem the moral corruption that has taken over society, and that the majority of secular people who are largely responsible for promoting wickedness don’t attend church and have rejected God. And forcing Sunday worship will be seen as the way to accomplish their conversion. Listen to this statement from Great Controversy, page 587.
“Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called “Christian Sabbath,” and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society. This claim is especially urged in America, where the doctrine of the true Sabbath has been most widely preached. Here the temperance work, one of the most prominent and important of moral reforms, is often combined with the Sunday movement, and the advocates of the latter represent themselves as laboring to promote the highest interest of society; and those who refuse to unite with them are denounced as the enemies of temperance and reform. But the fact that a movement to establish error is connected with a work which is in itself good, is not an argument in favor of the error. We may disguise poison by mingling it with wholesome food, but we do not change its nature. On the contrary, it is rendered more dangerous, as it is more likely to be taken unawares. It is one of Satan’s devices to combine with falsehood just enough truth to give it plausibility. The leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible; yet while there is with these a requirement which is contrary to God’s law, His servants cannot unite with them. Nothing can justify them in setting aside the commandments of God for the precepts of men.”
Back when this was written, the moral issue attached to a Sunday movement was temperance reform. And today it will be the same principle. The Sunday movement today will be attached to some moral movement like abortion. It really doesn’t matter what good issue is allied with the Sunday movement. It doesn’t make the morality movement invalid. It only disguises the Sunday movement. And people will fall for it because they don’t know their Bibles, but more importantly, they don’t believe in the importance of following all of God’s commandments. They would rather follow a lie than sacrifice their lifestyle.
If you are faithful to God you will have to stand against the Christian Nationalist movement, and the forceful government mandates that it will achieve. Are you ready for that?
Marjorie Taylor Greene is a congresswoman that is a self-professed Christian Nationalist. Listen to what she said about the Christian nationalist movement. Greene said at the student conference that Christian Nationalism is nothing to be scared of because… “It will be the movement that stops school shootings, this will be the movement that stops the crime in our streets, this will be the movement that stops sexual immorality…”
Next News Network Twitter post [2]
Opinion: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s words on Christian nationalism are a wake-up call [3]
All of that sounds good, and of course, we all want to see these evils stopped. That’s why she said what she said. The nation has been taken off course by forces that bring darkness and evil. But how do Christian nationalists plan to implement those plans to correct this problem? More importantly, what else do they have in mind? These talking points are but the tip of the iceberg of Christian nationalism.
Lauren Boebert, a newly elected member of Congress, is also a Christian Nationalist. She made this comment just two days before her primary election in late June.
“The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.”
She goes on to say that “separation of church and state” is not in the constitution.
Let’s keep in mind, this is a woman who was recently elected to the Congress of the United States. Do you think Christian Nationalists are gaining traction in America when a candidate gets elected who embraces it? The pendulum is swinging back from the liberals and leftists to the right-wing conservatives.
Boebert is accurate that the words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the Constitution, but her statement glosses over what the Constitution does say about religion. The relevant part of the First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
This is known as the Establishment Clause. It was included in the Constitution’s First Amendment because originally European settlers came from a number of religious backgrounds, and the Constitution’s framers wanted to ensure that the country had no nationally established church like the Church of Rome and the Church of England. Rome severely persecuted those who did not agree with her doctrines, and the Church of England persecuted too, though less severely, but it still persecuted dissenters. The settlers were hungry for a land where they could be free to choose what to believe, where their opinions were as sacred as their honor.
These are by no means the only examples of Christian nationalism that is attempting to take power. All across the country, there are those running for office who espouse the idea that America is a Christian nation and should be run on Christian principles. Public opinion polls show that support for Christian nationalism is growing. Other countries have their Christian nationalists as well.
That does not bode well for freedom of religion. Eventually, Christian nationalists will promote Sunday observance and will make laws to enforce it. And now that America has been pushed hard to the political left, the pendulum is now about to swing to the far right.
Listen to this statement from Great Controversy, page 592.
“The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we shall see exemplified the prophet’s words: “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:17.”
That is ultimately what these lawmakers like Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to do. They might not even think about where their movement is headed. But once they are in power, they will certainly become aggressive regarding what they see as God’s principles.
America is split on whether the Christian Bible should influence U.S. lawmaking, according to a Pew survey. About half of adults say the Bible should influence laws a great deal (23%) or some (26%), while the other half say the Bible shouldn’t influence U.S. laws much (19%) or at all (31%). Republicans are more likely to believe the Bible should influence laws by a two-to-one margin.
Does history give us any lessons we can learn, or an indication of how this will play out and how to navigate it? It turns out, that in the 19th century there was a similar movement in America which involved nationalism. In the late 19th century there was the National Reform Movement. Listen to the following statement from Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, pages 712, and 713.
“The National Reform movement, exercising the power of religious legislation, will, when fully developed, manifest the same intolerance and oppression that have prevailed in past ages. Human councils then assumed the prerogatives of Deity, crushing under their despotic power liberty of conscience; and imprisonment, exile, and death followed for those who opposed their dictates. If popery or its principles shall again be legislated into power, the fires of persecution will be rekindled against those who will not sacrifice conscience and the truth in deference to popular errors. This evil is on the point of realization.”
“Those who seek to compel men to observe an institution of the papacy, and trample upon God’s authority, are doing a work similar to that of the Jewish leaders in the days of the apostles. When the laws of earthly rulers are brought into opposition to the laws of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, then those who are God’s loyal subjects will be true to Him.”
What should we do when we see these movements coming again? Here it is from Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, page 715.
“The people need to be aroused in regard to the dangers of the present time. The watchmen are asleep. We are years behind. Let the chief watchmen feel the urgent necessity of taking heed to themselves, lest they lose the opportunities given them to see the dangers.
“If the leading men in our conferences do not now accept the message sent them by God, and fall into line for action, the churches will suffer great loss. When the watchman, seeing the sword coming, gives the trumpet a certain sound, the people along the line will echo the warning, and all will have opportunity to make ready for the conflict. But too often the leader has stood hesitating, seeming to say: “Let us not be in too great haste. There may be a mistake. We must be careful not to raise a false alarm.” The very hesitancy and uncertainty on his part is crying: “‘Peace and safety.’ Do not get excited. Be not alarmed. There is a great deal more made of this religious amendment question than is demanded. This agitation will all die down.” Thus he virtually denies the message sent from God, and the warning which was designed to stir the churches fails to do its work. The trumpet of the watchman gives no certain sound, and the people do not prepare for the battle. Let the watchman beware lest, through his hesitancy and delay, souls shall be left to perish, and their blood shall be required at his hand.”
Why are our leaders now silent? When the national reform movement becomes stronger, God’s people were advised to preach the message with stronger power. Don’t hold back. Be wide awake!
Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 5, page 716.
“While the Protestant world is by her attitude making concessions to Rome, let us arouse to comprehend the situation and view the contest before us in its true bearings. Let the watchmen now lift up their voice and give the message which is present truth for this time. Let us show the people where we are in prophetic history and seek to arouse the spirit of true Protestantism, awaking the world to a sense of the value of the privileges of religious liberty so long enjoyed.”
Is the ecumenical movement very prominent today? Should not the pastors and preachers be raising the alarm and letting the three angels messages go out with power. Should not God’s people be wide awake and involved in doing what they can to stay the tide of evil and oppression?
Oh friends, we are at a very important time in history. It is pivotal and our liberties will be taken away. It is now time to watch and work as never before.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, this is a sobering time to be alive. We pray that you will send Your Holy Spirit to imbue us with power. But we know that before you can do that we have to live our lives in harmony with God’s word. So please convert us and make us earnest and persevering in our walk with you. Help us to understand the movements that are taking place around us. And please make us ready for the overwhelming crisis that is coming. In Jesus name, amen.