"Bishop Robert Reed from the Archdiocese of Boston published an
article in The Pilot, (5/2/23) a Roman Catholic newspaper, titled “Sabbath: A
Blessing We Should Think About Accepting.”
In this article, the Roman
Catholic Bishop stated that Sunday rest has both a temporal and eternal
blessing, and we must reclaim the Sunday Sabbath if we are going to live
“well-adjusted, purposeful, and sane lives.”
Bishop Reed said the following in part:
• “If we must
live purposeful lives (and most of us must, to some extent), then it
seems absolutely essential for us to reclaim the idea of Sabbath rest if
we are to feel peaceful, well-adjusted and — dare I say it — sane.”
• “Jesus taught that ‘the Sabbath is for man, and not man for the
Sabbath’ (Mk 2:27), indicating that this one day of the week is meant to
be a blessing, rather than a burden, to those who observe it. We know that God rested after seven days of work, and God really did work quite extensively before resting. I mean, when was the last time you created a universe in a week?”
First of all, the First Angels’ Message (Revelation 14:7) calls us to
give glory to God and to worship Him by keeping the Sabbath of creation,
which is the seventh day (Genesis 2:1–3).
Secondly, God did not rest after
seven days of work. God’s law says that “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 20:11). Thirdly, there are no “temporal” or “eternal” blessings
that come from keeping Sunday holy. Isaiah 66:22–23 clearly tells us
that in God’s kingdom made new, those who receive eternal life will be
keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, Saturday, throughout all eternity.
What’s significant, though, is the part where Bishop Reed talks about the “temporal”
blessings that come from keeping Sunday holy. That part is especially
important because this is talking about reclaiming Sunday rest so that
we can restore our personal well-being and stop all of the human misery
and disasters that are happening on the earth. In other words, the
spurious Sabbath must be exalted for the sake of “temporal” prosperity.
“It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday-sabbath, that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced, and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity” (Great Controversy, p. 589, 590).
Inspiration says that the claim will be made that unless the Sunday
Sabbath is restored, there can be no temporal prosperity and that
distress and tribulations will continue.
And on May 5, 2023, Roman
Catholic Bishop Robert Reed said that it is “absolutely necessary” to
“reclaim” the “temporal” blessings that come from the Sunday Sabbath.
Brothers and sisters, we are seeing these words come to pass in part.
This is only the beginning." AdventMessenger