Religious Liberty

Freedom to Worship (Part 1) "One of the noblest testimonies ever uttered for the Reformation was the Protest offered by the Christian princes of Germany at the Diet of Spires in 1529. The courage, faith, and firmness of those men of God gained for succeeding ages liberty of thought and of conscience. Their Protest gave to the reformed church the name of Protestant; its principles are "the very essence of Protestantism."--D'Aubigne, b. 13, ch. 6." GC 197 "Let us reject this decree," said the princes. "In matters of conscience the majority has no power."--D'Aubigne, b. 13, ch 5... To protect liberty of conscience is the duty of the state, and this is the limit of its authority in matters of religion. Every secular government that attempts to regulate or enforce religious observances by civil authority is sacrificing the very principle for which the evangelical Christian so nobly struggled." GC 201 "When brought to the test, nearly one half their number sided with the Reformers. Those who thus refused to sacrifice liberty of conscience and the right of individual judgment well knew that their position marked them for future criticism, condemnation, and persecution. Said one of the delegates: "We must either deny the word of God, or --be burnt."--Ibid., b. 13, ch. 5." GC 201 "Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the magistrate, and the authority of the word of God above the visible church. In the first place, it rejects the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and apostles, 'We must obey God rather than man.' In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it (Protest of Spires) uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes farther: it lays down the principle that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God."--Ibid., b. 13, ch. 6." GC 203 "The protesters (Christian princes of Germany) had moreover affirmed their right to utter freely their convictions of truth. They would not only believe and obey, but teach what the word of God presents, and they denied the right of priest or magistrate to interfere. The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance, and an assertion of the right of all men to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences." GC 203 "The experience of these noble Reformers contains a lesson for all succeeding ages. Satan's manner of working against God and His word has not changed; he is still as much opposed to the Scriptures being made the guide of life as in the sixteenth century. In our time there is a wide departure from their doctrines and precepts, and there is need of a return to the great Protestant principle--the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty." GC 203-4 Facing this crisis John of Saxony one of the Christian princes said, "that you should exclude me. I am resolved to do what is right, without troubling myself about my crown. I desire to confess the Lord. My electoral hat and my ermine are not so precious to me as the cross of Jesus Christ." Said another reformed prince, "If the honor of my Lord Jesus Christ requires it, I am ready . . . to leave my goods and life behind."----Ibid.. b. 14, ch 6 "Satan is still working through every means which he can control to destroy religious liberty. The antichristian power which the protesters of Spires rejected is now with renewed vigor seeking to re-establish its lost supremacy. The same unswerving adherence to the word of God manifested at that crisis of the Reformation is the only hope of reform today." GC 204 We see in America the home of the Free and the land of the brave an image to the beast being set up. Church and State are uniting quickly in a country whose constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, 12/15/1791 The Pharisees and Herodians united to lay a snare for Jesus. "Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly: Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." Luke 20:21-25 "Christ's reply was no evasion, but a candid answer to the question. Holding in His hand the Roman coin, upon which were stamped the name and image of Caesar, He declared that since they were living under the protection of the Roman power, they should render to that power the support it claimed, so long as this did not conflict with a higher duty. But while peaceably subject to the laws of the land, they should at all times give their first allegiance to God." DA 602 The principal is clear our first allegiance is to the Kingdom of God. We should not compromise our faith in Jesus Christ and His Word by uniting with the state. The Government seeks taxes, which are in fact, (mammon) and we should return unto Caesar the things, which be Caesar's. The Kingdom of God is not of this world and most assuredly is not based on Riches. Jesus taught, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24 "To yoke up with those who are unconsecrated, and yet be loyal to the truth, is simply impossible. We cannot unite with those who are serving themselves, who are working on worldly plans, and not lose our connection with the heavenly Counselor." RH, April 19, 1898 On March 7, 2006 executive order number 13397 was signed into law. It starts as follows: Executive Order: Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security with Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet America's social and community needs, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Establishment of a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security" So all churches and ministries with 501c3 status have now been linked with the Department of Homeland Security. Rules and Orders are now in place as to how these churches ministries are to conduct themselves as Government Agencies. This is a big start to setting up the image of the beast a church and state union in America. (See Revelation 13:14,15) What an awesome time to be alive. God's servant gives us a look at the conclusion of this process underway in America. "The image is made to the first or leopard-like beast, which is the one brought to view in the third angel's message. By this first beast is represented the Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power, having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast represents another religious body clothed with similar power. The formation of this image is the work of that beast whose peaceful rise and mild professions render it so striking a symbol of the United States. Here is to be found an image of the papacy. When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy." Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4 page 278 Executive order number 13397 was signed less than one year after the following: Church and State Can Cooperate, Says Pope VATICAN CITY, MARCH 17, 2005 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II believes that the Church and state can and must collaborate in their service to the person and the common good with relations of "autonomy and difference." What comes to mind is this statement: "The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones." 9T 11 God in looking down to our day has shown us our danger. The context of these verses is just prior to the vials being pored out at the close of human probation. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Revelation 17:1-5 A Harlot church is seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, the civil power. This Harlot church is upheld by the scarlet coloured beast, which she controls and guides to her own ends, as a rider controls the animal upon which he is seated. "When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy." Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4 page 278 Our leading men and women will be brought before King and Rulers. Our eyes must be fixed on Christ for He is our only Hope. Like the Christian princes of Germany who stood for the present truth in 1529 were brought before Charles V so the leader of our Faith will be tested. "Different periods in the history of the church have each been marked by the development of some special truth, adapted to the necessities of God's people at that time. Every new truth has made its way against hatred and opposition; those who were blessed with its light were tempted and tried. The Lord gives a special truth for the people in an emergency. Who dare refuse to publish it? He commands His servants to present the last invitation of mercy to the world. They cannot remain silent, except at the peril of their souls. Christ's ambassadors have nothing to do with consequences. They must perform their duty and leave results with God." GC 609 Freedom to Worship (Part 2) Jesus taught that His kingdom is not of this world. "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." John 18:36 Force has no part in establishing the kingdom of God and bringing an end to the controversy between Christ and Satan. "The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan's deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God's government;" DA 22 The Pilgrim Fathers fled persecution to find the joy of unmolested spiritual communion. "It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with God's blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. GC 292 "Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. "Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith."--Ibid., vol. 5, p. 297." GC 293 Rome's spirit of intolerance still had roots with the Pilgrims and a kind of state church was formed. Eleven years after the establishment of the first colony at Massachusetts Bay, Roger Williams came to the New World. "Like the early Pilgrims he came to enjoy religious freedom; but, unlike them, he saw --what so few in his time had yet seen--that this freedom was the inalienable right of all, whatever might be their creed. He was an earnest seeker for truth." GC 292 Williams "was the first person in modern Christendom to establish civil government on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before the law."--Bancroft, pt. 1, ch. 15, par. 16. "He declared it to be the duty of the magistrate to restrain crime, but never to control the conscience. "The public or the magistrates may decide," he said, "what is due from man to man; but when they attempt to prescribe a man's duties to God, they are out of place, and there can be no safety;" GC 293 Jesus teaches us to make His kingdom our first allegiance: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." Luke 20:25 We are to be single minded in seeking the Glory of God. Jesus said "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33 In 1630, Roger and Mary Williams set sail for Boston on the Lyon. Arriving February 5, 1631, he was almost immediately invited to replace the pastor, who was returning to England. But he had found that it was "an unseparated church" and he "durst not officiate" to it. He was prompted to give utterance to his conviction, formed no doubt before he left England, that the magistrate may not punish any sort of "breach of the first table [of the Ten Commandments]", such as idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, false worship, and blasphemy and that every individual should be free to follow his own convictions in religious matters. Roger Williams spoke out that people should have freedom of opinion on religious matters. He called this freedom "soul liberty". The Great Law of Love is the foundation of the divine Government and Absolute Freedom characterizes God's Government. "God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers as easily as one can cast a pebble to the earth; but He did not do this. Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan's government. The Lord's principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power. DA 759 Persecution is the inevitable result of uniting church and state and we have history to bear this out. "Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated." GC 294 He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and, finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest. "For fourteen weeks," he says, "I was sorely tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." But "the ravens fed me in the wilderness," and a hollow tree often served him for a shelter.--Martyn, vol. 5, pp. 349, 350. "Making his way at last, after months of change and wandering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams's colony was "that every man should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own conscience."--Ibid., vol. 5, p. 354." GC 295 Around the year 1635 Roger Williams moved into the Narragansett Bay area, this settlement was the start of Religious Liberty in the colonies. "His little state, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles--civil and religious liberty--became the cornerstones of the American Republic." GC 295 ." In 1640, another agreement was signed by thirty-nine freemen, in which they express their determination "still to hold forth liberty of conscience." Thus a government unique in its day was created " a government that expressly provided for religious liberty and a separation between civil and ecclesiastical authority (church and state). The colony was named Providence, due to Williams' belief that God had taken care of him and his followers and brought them to this place. "In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights--the Declaration of Independence--they declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States." "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." GC 295 "The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man's relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate."--Congressional documents (U.S.A.), serial No. 200, document No. 271." GC 295 "The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently taught in the home, in the school, and in the church, and its fruits were manifest in thrift, intelligence, purity, and temperance. One might be for years a dweller in the Puritan settlement, "and not see a drunkard, or hear an oath, or meet a beggar."--Bancroft, pt. 1, ch. 19, par. 25. "It was demonstrated that the principles of the Bible are the surest safeguards of national greatness. The feeble and isolated colonies grew to a confederation of powerful states, and the world marked with wonder the peace and prosperity of "a church without a pope, and a state without a king." GC 296 "The regulation adopted by the early colonists, of permitting only members of the church to vote or to hold office in the civil government, led to most pernicious results. This measure had been accepted as a means of preserving the purity of the state, but it resulted in the corruption of the church." GC 297 Thus again was demonstrated the evil results, so often witnessed in the history of the church from the days of Constantine to the present, of attempting to build up the church by the aid of the state, of appealing to the secular power in support of the gospel of Him who declared: "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36. The union of the church with the state, be the degree never so slight, while it may appear to bring the world nearer to the church, does in reality but bring the church nearer to the world." GC 297 Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, spoke out supporting liberty. He is quoted as saying, "Give me liberty or give me death" but unfortunately this has been revised out of current textbooks. The following year in 1776 he wrote this: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Force has no part in the Government of God. The freedoms we have enjoyed as Americans are disappearing quickly. Truly the final events will be raped ones and are moving us towards the crisis of the Ages. "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 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." Revelation 13:11,12,15 In the new Congress (January 2007), under House Speaker Nancy Pelosi there is a proposal to designate churches, pastors, religious denominations, public interest organizations and other non-profit groups as 'lobbyists. The proposed Lobbying Reform Bill would actually impose registration and reporting requirements on churches and other nonprofit organizations. And here's how they see it working: Lobbyists must register with the government; this new bill expands the definition of "lobbyist" to include any church or organization that strives to influence public opinion! This bill would also drastically affect the operation of churches that speak out on major moral and political issues, and Christian organizations using TV, radio or the Internet to mobilize citizens around an issue. Many churches, especially larger ones with TV and radio ministries, would be subject to registration as "lobbying organizations." Failure to register under this new law could result in criminal prosecution "fines of up to $100,000, and prison sentences of six and in some cases 10 years. The analysis of the American Center for Law and Justice on the proposed legislation states, "in essence, free speech is forbidden. To regulate and restrict free speech, to effectively stop people from speaking out on the issues, is exactly the opposite of what the Founding Fathers intended when they included in the First Amendment to the Constitution the right 'to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Chief Counsel Sekulow sums up: "This bill represents the biggest single legal restraint ever placed on people of faith; this legislation is absolutely unconstitutional; it attempts to override the Constitution itself!" As we learn in lesson 1 Executive order 13397 signed March 7, 2006 joins all churches with 501c3 status with the Department of Homeland Securities. The synagogue of Satan plans to use Force, which is the basic of His Government to restrict Freedom to Worship. Satan has always desired Worship and His substitute Sunday Sabbath will be the point of contention in Christendom. "Prophecy represents Protestantism as having lamb-like horns, but speaking like a dragon. Already we are beginning to hear the voice of the dragon. There is a satanic force propelling the Sunday movement, but it is concealed. Even the men who are engaged in the work, are themselves blinded to the results, which will follow their movement. Let not the commandment-keeping people of God be silent at this time, as though we gracefully accepted the situation. There is the prospect before us, of waging a continuous war, at the risk of imprisonment, of losing property and even life itself, to defend the law of God, which is being made void by the laws of men. This Bible text will be quoted to us, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. . . . The powers that be are ordained of God." RH January 1, 1889 "When the disciples preached Christ and him crucified, after his resurrection, the authorities commanded them not to speak any more nor to teach in the name of Jesus. "But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." RH January 1, 1889 "The Roman church thus declares that by observing the first day of the week as the sabbath, Protestants are recognizing her power to legislate in divine things. And it is true that those who, understanding the claims of the fourth commandment, choose to observe a false sabbath in the place of the true, are thereby paying homage to that power by which alone it is commanded. The Roman church has not relinquished her claim to supremacy; and when the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath of her creating, while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit this assumption. They may claim the authority of tradition and of the Fathers for the change; but in so doing they ignore the very principle which separates them from Rome,--that "the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." The papist can see that they are deceiving themselves, willingly closing their eyes to the facts in the case. As the movement for Sunday enforcement gains favor, he rejoices, feeling assured that it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome." ST, March 22, 1910 "With rapid steps we are approaching this period. When the Protestant churches shall unite with the secular power to sustain a false religion, for opposing which their ancestors endured the fiercest persecution: when the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church,--then will Protestant America have formed an image to the Papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin." ST, March 22, 1910 God's Great Law of Love, being the foundation of His Government, will be vindicated before the universe in the lives of His Children. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them." Psalms 119:165 Justice and Mercy are the foundation of the Law and Government of God. The principal of religious liberty will be seen in the lives of those who stand for Jesus Christ in these Last Days. Those who "follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth" will not link up with a national or world system that will in principal and practice persecute those who honor God by obeying the Moral Law of God.