Seminar Descriptions
Could It Really Happen?
Week-end seminars
Week-long seminars
Seventh-day Adventists understand that a terrible final crisis will erupt in the world just before the second coming of Jesus. This crisis will engulf the entire world in a conflict that will bring about the conclusion of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. We have said that the focal point of this controversy will be the law of God, especially the fourth commandment. As we understand it, the entire world will be faced with the choice of observing the law of God by keeping the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week or observing human traditions by keeping Sunday, the first day of the week. People's choice in this matter will determine whether they receive the mark of the beast or the seal of God. When every human being has made his or her choice, then probation will close, the seven last plagues will fall, and Jesus will come.
The key question is whether this scenario is plausible in the early twenty-first century. Sunday laws faded in America during the twentieth century, to the point that some Adventists are asking, Could it really happen as we have taught, or have we been wrong all these years? Events in the world during the past twenty years persuade me that our prophetic scenario is very realistic. While much remains to be fulfilled, the pieces are beginning to fall into place. This seminar will describe those pieces and how they fit together at this point in human history. The description below is for both churches and camp meetings.
Friday night, 7:30 - 9:00 (day 1 for camp meetings)
I begin this session by briefly reviewing the Adventist scenario of the end time and asking, Could all of this really happen? Then I show why Adventists interpret the beast from the sea in Revelation 13 to be the papacy. Following this, I trace the history of Catholicism to the pinnacle of its power in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This is followed by the papacy’s decline that ended in 1798 when the pope was taken prisoner. I then show the rise of the papacy during the twentieth century to the point that it again holds a position of great political power in the modern world.
Sabbath morning, 11:00 worship service (day 2 for camp meetings)
The purpose of this session is to explain Catholic political theory, including the following:
● That Catholicism views itself as the only true church.
● That the pope is supreme in all affairs, both spiritual and secular.
● That the best form of government consists of a close union of church and state.
● That historically, the Catholic Church has opposed freedom of conscience.
● That the church prefers authoritarian forms of government rather than democratic forms of government.
● That the church anticipates the day when it will rule the world.
Some Adventists today claim that Vatican II reversed many of these Catholic political views. However, I show from the documents of Revelation 13 itself that this is not the case.
Sabbath afternoon, 2:00 – 3:15 (day 3 for camp meetings)
This session begins with a presentation of the Adventist under-standing of the land beast in Revelation 13 as the United States of America. Then I show the rise of both the Protestant Religious Right and Catholicism as major political players on the national scene.
Sabbath afternoon, 3:30 – 5:15 (day 4 for camp meetings)
Seventh-day Adventists have historically identified the mark of the beast as the observance of Sunday when it is enforced by law. We believe this enforcement will begin in America and eventually spread to the entire world. However, during the last quarter of the twentieth century American Protestants launched a vicious attack on church-state separation, making the Adventist scenario much more realistic than it ever has been in the past.
Sabbath afternoon, 5:30 – 7:00 (day 5 for camp meetings)
This session is optional for churches. Following are the themes it traces:
● The history of reconstructionism, which has had a major influence on America’s Religious Right Protestants.
● How the persecution of “heretics” developed in early Christian history and how the same forces are at work in modern America.
● How the wars and natural disasters of the final crisis will precipi-tate political ideas and attitudes that most Americans today reject.
● How should Adventists respond to these developments?
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