You try to pay for groceries, but your credit card is denied and a message comes on the screen that reads, “Sabbath Breaker”. What a weird and seemingly impossible situation.
For more than 160 years, Seventh-day Adventists have been teaching that a time will come when national laws will require people to rest from work on Sunday, the day which, based on Catholic traditions, many Christians now call “the sabbath”.1
If people don’t obey this law—which will be created to do things like rest the environment (hooray) and encourage family time (excellent)—then they will not be able to buy or sell (ouch!).2
With this Adventist teaching in mind, I wasn’t surprised to read this recent report:
“Not all of us are called to be saints, but the pope [Francis] . . . insists that the planet now requires a similar kind of conversion from its inhabitants. We must take on a ‘less is more’, anti-consumerism approach to life that will lead us to transcend unhealthy anxieties caused by being trapped in consumer culture. We must also celebrate rest, especially from buying and selling, by returning to a focus on keeping the sabbath.”3
Coincidence, or prophecy being fulfilled? Time will tell.
Julian Archer is the founder of Faith vs Finance—a global ministry working with Christians who seek to maintain a vibrant relationship with Jesus amidst the pressures of materialism and self-centred lifestyles.
