Recently, a vocal group among theologically conservative Adventists has shown a tendency to interpret prophecy by current events rather than permitting the prophetic worldview of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy writings to guide their thinking. I mention theological conservatives because, for now, theologically liberal Adventists generally show little interest in end-time events due to the higher-critical approach they take to the inspired texts.
This is not a new phenomenon. Adventists in Uriah Smith's day tried to bend end-time prophecy to fit the events surrounding the fall of the Ottoman Empire [1]. History has a way of repeating itself, and now we have various attempts to bend end-time prophecy to fit current events. Unlike in Uriah Smith's time, the SDA Church is divided on excitement about the soon coming of Jesus. Theological conservatives in the church, alarmed at the sin in contemporary society, see Jesus's return as being "at the door". Theological liberals, by contrast, tend to take non-literal views of Bible prophecy and see the church’s duty as less concerned with warning the world of its imminent demise than improving the temporal lot of society.
However, the conservatives’ alarm at the sin in the world can lead to problems with regard to interpreting end-time events. One problem has been the tendency to seek secular political solutions to the problems of consensual immorality, thus leading them to reinterpret prophecy to identify the end-time Anti-Christ as the political Left and atheism. See http://advindicate.com/articles/2020/6/12/costa-draft-1-327gd-mpree-hegrg-ydj5j-87n6b
A New Phenomenon
However, a new phenomenon has arisen in certain circles of conservative Adventism, which still recognises the Papacy as the Anti-Christ but seeks to bend Adventism’s classic prophetic scenario to fit the activities of the current Pope. The fact is that much of what the current Pope is saying appears to fit our prophetic picture. He is calling for the honoring of Sunday, basing this on two main issues of concern in the world today. One of these is social justice. He proposes a need for a Sunday rest for the tired and overworked workers of a malignant modern capitalism [2]. He also believes the earth needs a Sunday rest for natural environmental reasons [3].
This is causing considerable excitement among some of our conservative members, who interpret these moves by the Pope as leading to an imminent Sunday Law and hence the soon coming of Jesus. Those of us who hate sin and love Jesus anticipate in these developments the soon fulfilment of our desires as members of the great Advent movement. However, at risk of being called a Jonah and being accused of not loving Jesus and looking forward to His soon return, I must point out a snag to be found in these interpretations of these recent events. This snag becomes evident when we examine what the Spirit of Prophecy has to say about the introduction of the end-time Sunday Laws, in contrast with the very different pattern now being observed with the current Pope.
Ellen White on Sunday Law Agitation
Let us look at some significant statements in Ellen White’s writings on the introduction of Sunday Laws in the last days, and what pattern they paint regarding the lead-up to such legislation.
Men in responsible positions will not only ignore and despise the Sabbath themselves, but from the sacred desk, will urge upon the people the observance of the first day of the week, pleading tradition and custom in behalf of this man-made institution. They will point to calamities on land and sea--to the storms of wind, the floods, the earthquakes, the destruction by fire--as judgments indicating God's displeasure because Sunday is not sacredly observed. [4]
Note that man-made climate change is not specifically mentioned here, though the statement does refer to calamities we presently see happening which many believe to be related to man-made climate change, such as storms, floods, and fires. But note that the "men in responsible positions" (in context, the ministers of the Sunday-keeping churches) do not attribute these calamities to nature or humanity's interaction with nature, but rather, to divine wrath over the neglect of proper Sunday observance in society. A very similar quote is to be found here:
Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sundaybreaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance [5].
The present Pope does not attribute the aforementioned disasters to Sunday desecration, but to nature and humanity's destructive interaction with nature. Like scientists of a secular orientation, he proposes natural causes for these calamities. He is not rebuking the world for Sunday violation and then encouraging Sunday observance to appease an angry God. He is rebuking the world for producing too much carbon dioxide and proposing they have a Sunday rest to reduce carbon emissions. An angry God is not mentioned.
Let’s keep in mind that to many conservative Roman Catholics, this Pope is an atheist/idolater infiltrator into the Roman Catholic Church [6] [7]. To some SDA conservatives, this aligns with their view that the end-time Anit-Christ is atheist in nature. So a modified view of our classic prophetic understanding would be the Roman Catholic Church going atheist and thus functioning as an atheistic Anti-Christ. However, the above statements by Ellen White do not align with such a perspective. In addition, Ellen White has this to say regarding the Roman Catholic Church:
And let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The principles of Gregory VII. and Innocent III. are still the principles of the Romish Church. And had she but the power, she would put them in practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Let the principle once be established in the United States, that the church may employ or control the power of the State; that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws; in short, that the authority of church and State is to dominate the conscience, and the triumph of Rome in this country is assured [8].
History records Rome's battles against atheism since the latter’s introduction to the modern world during the French Revolution in the 1790s [9] [10]. The odds of the current Pope reorienting the Roman Catholic Church to atheism are, according to Ellen White, nil.
In the area of society's morals and a Sunday law, Ellen White has this to say:
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....... 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 [11].
To understand what Ellen White meant she wrote that “the leaders of the Sunday movement may advocate reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible," this would hardly comport with the present Pope’s apparent desire for changing his church’s teachings on gay marriage [12]. This would hardly qualify as "reforms which the people need, principles which are in harmony with the Bible."
Conclusion
In summary, we see a pattern in Ellen White's writings on the lead-up to the final Sunday Law which is completely different from the pattern in which Pope Francis wishes to take the Roman Catholic Church. Just because Pope Francis speaks favorably of Sunday Laws doesn’t necessarily make him the final Pope or prove a Sunday Law to be imminent.
According to Ellen White’s inspired predictions, a Sunday Law is imminent when the Protestant churches of America clamor for such legislation based on viewing increased natural calamities as caused by an angry God, not by natural causes such as global warming. (Remember that the image to the beast in Revelation 13 is set up by the second beast, representing Protestant America, not the first beast which represents the Papacy.) Apostate Protestantism will thus propose Sunday observance as a way to appease God. The present Pope makes no mention of an angry God, but rather, sees today’s environmental damage as caused by man-made global warming.
We do best by permitting the Bible/Spirit of Prophecy worldview to function as our exclusive guide to the events of the last days, and the sole measure of every development in our world relative to the signs of Jesus’ soon coming.
REFERENCES
[1] https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1967/12/what-adventists-have-taught-on-armageddon-and-the-king-of-the-north
[2] Recovering the Sabbath: Sunday Observance as a Universal Human Right and Civic Cooperationism, Brett McLaughlin, SJ Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (Brighton, Massachusetts) , Lumen et Vita ?8:1 (2017), doi:?10.6017/lv.v10i2.12497 https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/lumenetvita/article/download/12497/10033/
[3] https://empowermissions.org/pope-connects-sunday-keeping-with-a-better-environment/
[4] Signs of the Times, January 17, 1884 par. 12
[5] 10 Manuscript Releases 239 (1899)
[6] https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/catholics-condemn-popes-syncretism
[7] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-heresy-idUSKCN1S73KE
[8] Great Controversy, 1888 Edition, 580.3
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_France#:~:text=The%20French%20Revolution%20marked%20a,Europe%20and%20throughout%20the%20world.
[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_against_Communism#:~:text=The%20Decree%20Against%20Communism%20was,apostates%20from%20the%20Christian%20faith.
[11] Great Controversy, 1888 Edition, 587.1
[12] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/21/pope-francis-backs-same-sex-civil-unions
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.