Human nature, without co-operation with the Divine, has been diseased with inconsistency and a disposition to change the perfect will of God. The Papacy made the law of God void by thinking to change times and laws. This resulted in the Pagan feast days of Roman Christianity: Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and others, along with the adoration of images. This work of man attempted to conceal and effectively destroy God's loving plan for His priceless creation. Progressively, men have lost their intimate communion with the Master Planner, and even the Bible Sabbath has been deceptively camouflaged by Saturday idolatry. By this, we identify a dead form without the power, through which Saturday Protestants have answered Rome s image worship.

What does it profit a man if he goes to church every Saturday, and has no love? What does this man accomplish for his Savior and fellow-men? Christ was a servant; His disciples, likewise, are bond-servants of righteousness. Saturday has absolutely no sanctifying power without the Spirit of Christ even though it represents the Sabbath, being the seventh day.

The Creation 7th Day was made at creation for the first human family. It is important to remember that this preceded the fall of Adam. The earth was then a wonder world of perfect bliss and harmony Heaven on earth. Picture, if you will, the relationship that the first couple and their Maker shared together there in the magnificent Garden of Eden. Can you imagine the innocence of that abundant life, free from pain, disease, stress, death, and all the hardships of this present sinful state? Eternal life was there bestowed upon the human pair.

The Creation 7th Day (Sabbath) not only commemorates the power and beauty of God's Creation; it also stands as a perpetual memorial that man's own works will never advance him or bring him any merit whatsoever in the estimation of God. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the [free] gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. 2:8, 9. Let it be forever understood that the Sabbath reminds us weekly, and every time we remember it, that salvation is the [free] gift of God: not of works. As such, The Creation 7th Day is the sign of God s redemptive power, proclaiming Him as lawful Master of the repentant sinner.

Those who refuse to enter the Creator's Rest fail to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. This class keeps a day unto themselves and becomes labeled legalistic. These must do something of their own devising or their own choosing, in order to please God to create a rest in the soul. They must mold some sort of idol which masks their false impression of the true character of God. This is not authentic rest! These individuals fight for their rights, become offended easily, show anger quickly, complain about the circumstances of their lives, and manifest other ill spirits. Yet, these same Christians continue their high profession deceiving themselves, and saying, We are the chosen of God.

Any who observe and keep a counterfeit sabbath find themselves without the peace of God, which passeth all understanding . . . Phil. 4:7. They often seek to improve or protect God s program with some image beast of their own development. Yahshua says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Matt. 23:15.

To illustrate our discussion, we may share a summary of the recent crisis in Adventism. The Orlando Business Journal, Vol: 12, Iss: 2, June 16, 1995 reported the following:
      In Washington, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is fighting a landmark legal challenge filed by Prophecy Countdown members. The case could strip the 133-year-old Seventh-day Adventist Church of exclusive trademark rights to its name.

The petition to cancel the SDA trademark was originally filed on October 6, 1988. After more than seven years, the TTAB decision was reported by the Adventist News Network as follows (March 8, 1996):

Seventh-day Adventist Church Wins Trademark Ruling
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA... [ANN] The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the Patent and Trademark Office found the trademark and service mark Seventh-day Adventist, used by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 130 years in its worldwide Christian ministry, to be validly and federally registered.

In the majority opinion (p.3), dated February 15, 1996, the two petitions to cancel are summarized by the judges:

As grounds for cancellation both petitioners allege that they are Seventh-day Adventists and members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination . . . and with being forced to become participants in obtaining an illegal trademark and unwilling participants in fraud because they give tithes and gifts which help support such fraud; that this causes them frustration and mental anguish, and will continue to cause such harm as long as respondent [Seventh- day Adventist Church] is allowed to hold and enforce the registered trademark; . . . that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to express one s sincere faith and belief in a religion, using the descriptive name of the religion to identify oneself as a part of it; that the subject registration violates petitioners First Amendment rights because unless petitioner's congregation is approved by respondent, it may not use the name Seventh-day Adventist to express its members faith and belief; that the grant to respondent of the exclusive right to use the generic name Seventh-day Adventist constitutes an establishment of religion; that should petitioners practice their faith under the name Seventh-day Adventist without the express approval of respondent they would be subject to possible legal prosecution, and this would be religious persecution; . . . that respondent has violated basic principles of Christian conduct as set forth in the Bible . . . Stocker v. Gen. Conf. Corp. of SDA (TTAB, 1996).

. . . all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Matt. 26:52. And . . . he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Rev. 13:10.

The saints do not take up the sword. They experience the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. In every life circumstance they have learned to be content and rest in the Providence of a faithful Heavenly Father.

While we can sympathize with the petitioners view in the trademark case to a point, the Christian has no grounds to take up the sword of the State. While we protest the unholy union of Church and State, and the inevitable persecutions stemming from it, we find no permission in Holy Writ to . . . go to law before the [unrighteous]. 1 Cor. 6:1. Any initiation of law-suits in worldly courts by professed believers constitutes transgression of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue. In this crisis, the record indicates guilt on both the part of the petitioner and the respondent. The Creator instructs us to--

    "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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, . . . For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11.

The Sabbath of the LORD is The Creation 7th Day, the representation of total trust in and reliance on the precious promises of God.

    "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God . . ." Rev. 7:2. ". . . and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. 7:4. "YAH says, '. . . I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign [or seal] between Me and them, that they might know that I am YAH that sanctify them.'" Eze. 20:12. "Thus saith YAH, 'Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.'" Isa. 56:1, 2.

In conclusion the keeping of The Creation 7th Day forbids all recognition of the State in religious matters, and prohibits Christians, and especially Seventh-day Adventist Christians, from bringing suit in civil court.

The world can only be warned by seeing those who believe the truth sanctified through the truth, acting upon high and holy principles showing in a high elevated sense the line of demarcation between them who keep the commandments of God and those who trample them under their feet. The sanctification of the Spirit signalizes the difference between those who have the seal of God and those who keep a spurious rest day [and receive the mark of the name of the beast Rev. 14:11.] SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 980. See also, ibid., p. 822, on Rev. 13:17. (Brackets and emphasis supplied.)

Let it be remembered, it is the boast of Rome that she never changes. The foundations established by Gregory VII and Innocent III are still the basic tenets of the Roman Catholic Church and all other organizations built on Romish principles. And had these the power, they would put them into practice with as much vigor now as in past centuries. Professed Protestants, including Seventh-day Adventists, little know what they are doing when they propose to accept the aid of Rome in the work of religious liberty legislation and in amending morals of society. While they are bent upon accomplishing their purposes, Rome is aiming to secure her power, to recover her lost supremacy. As the principle has now been established (Stocker v. General Conference Corp. of SDA, TTAB, 1996) in the United States, that a church (the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists) may employ or control the power of the state; that "religious observances" may be enforced by secular trademark laws; in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience, the triumph of Rome in this country is now assured. While we have already seen the initial exercise of church-state authority through the persecution of Pastor John Marik (Hawaii Trademark Case) in 1988, this Sabbath desecration is yet to be manifested in an open and obvious manner to the American public and the world.

God's word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the professed Protestant world, including Adventists, 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. 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 has been given her to a large degree. We shall soon see and shall feel what the purpose of the Roman element is, even though it is exercised through the hierarchy of a professedly Protestant denomination. Whoever shall believe and obey the word of God will thereby incur reproach and persecution. (Adapted from The Great Controversy, p. 581.)

While the professed Protestants and Adventists are by their common attitudes 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 voices 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. (Adapted from Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 716.)

"If God abhors one sin above another, of which His people are [now] guilty, it is doing nothing in case of an emergency. Indifference and neutrality in a religious crisis is regarded of God as a grievous crime and equal to the very worst type of hostility against God." Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 281. (italics mine.)

In this late and dark hour of earth s history, God calls you to invest your means: time, money, talents, and soul energies into the most important work of Revival and Reformation ever witnessed since the foundation of the world. We enlist your pledge to the loud cry for God's gift: