Could Pope’s Edict on Global Warming Lead to NSL?

A thorough study and understanding of end-time Bible prophecies along with the Spirit of Prophecy as exercised through Ellen White indicates that environmental issues such as catastrophic weather events and global warming are precursors to enforced Sunday observance. It is being declared that God is displeased and therefore sending calamities upon the land because of man’s disregard for the Sunday-Sabbath, and the only way to appease God’s wrath is by strictly enforcing Sunday observance. Honest Bible students understand that Sunday is not the Sabbath day that God instituted and sanctified at creation (see Genesis 2:2 and 3); they acknowledge that the seventh day of the week is the Lord’s Sabbath that is to be willingly and lovingly kept (see Exodus 20:8-11 and John 14:15).

“When the angel of mercy folds her wings and departs Satan will do the evil deeds he has long wished to do. Storm and tempest, war and bloodshed–in these things he delights, and thus he gathers in his harvest. And so completely will men be deceived by him that they will declare that these calamities are the result of the desecration of the first day of the week. From the pulpits of the popular churches will be heard the statement that the world is being punished because Sunday is not honored as it should be.”((The Review and Herald, Sept. 17, 1901))

At the forefront of this push for reverence for Sunday are the evangelicals, who in turn will call upon their political leaders, who are willing to side with the majority to obtain and maintain their seat along with public favor. “Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected.”((White, Ellen.  The Great Controversy, 1911, page 592))

Yet behind the scenes and influencing and even infiltrating the evangelical circles is the Papacy. However, the role that the Papacy is currently taking is not as covert as in times past, and God is allowing the Papacy to expose her character and reveal her sentiments so that all who love Christ and His truth will be able to discern this masterpiece of deception, not be overcome by the Pope’s charm and peaceful guise, and warn others of Satan’s wiles. “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Corinthians 2:11.

Again, behind the public demand for enforced Sunday legislation is the Papacy, and Pope Francis is gaining traction not only in shaping the policies of nations, but he is also attempting to exert his influence and authority regarding the issue of global warming. He is scheduled to issue a papal encyclical this year with solutions to address the issue.

It is reported that “in 2015, the pope will issue a lengthy message on the subject [global warming] to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, give an address to the UN general assembly and call a summit of the world’s main religions. The reason for such frenetic activity, says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, is the pope’s wish to directly influence next year’s crucial UN climate meeting in Paris, when countries will try to conclude 20 years of fraught negotiations with a universal commitment to reduce emissions.”((http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/27/pope-francis-edict-climate-change-us-rightwing))  The purpose of this encyclical is to urge “all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds…”((Ibid))  The article continues by saying that “the document will be sent to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will distribute it to parishioners. According to Vatican insiders, Francis will meet other faith leaders and lobby politicians at the general assembly in New York in September, when countries will sign up to new anti-poverty and environmental goals.”((Ibid)) With over a billion Catholics worldwide, not to mention those denominations with close affinity to the Papacy who are essentially Catholics in doctrine and practice, the outcome and response to this Papal encyclical will have profound effects.

As we analyze the prophetic significance of Pope Francis’ involvement in environmental issues, it is important that we have an understanding of just what an encyclical is. It is worth mentioning that encyclicals are published concerning issues of the highest importance and priority to the Pope; and what he considers a priority becomes a priority for the Catholic Church and its conscientious followers and sympathizers. A Papal encyclical “is the name typically given to a letter written by a Pope to a particular audience of Bishops. This audience of Bishops may be all of the Bishops in a specific country or all of the Bishops in all countries throughout the world.”((http://www.papalencyclicals.net/encyclical.htm)) Another term that can be used interchangeably with encyclical is edict. An edict is a decree issued by the Pope. According to the director of the Catholic climate covenant, Dan Misleh, “‘a papal encyclical is rare. It is among the highest levels of a pope’s authority…’”((http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/27/pope-francis-edict-climate-change-us-rightwing)) One only has to look at history to see the nature and effects of the papal edicts/encyclicals to discern where this forthcoming edict on global warming is tending. The Papacy’s primary objective has ever been to bring all denominations back to the “Mother Church” and under her control through methods of globalization, initiating solidarity among nations in matters of religion, politics, economics, and now the environment. The Papacy which boasts of infallibility and its unchanging character has a long record of encyclicals, edicts, and bulls intended to exercise her arbitrary control and authority by torturing and killing dissenters of Catholic creeds, traditions, and dogmas, thus inciting fear in the hearts of men. The following are a few of the Papal edicts issued in the past which echo the sentiments of others, namely to reestablish Popery, destroy liberty of conscience and Protestantism, and exalt Sunday as a day of worship.

“There are many who are disposed to attribute any fear of Roman Catholicism in the United States to bigotry or childishness. Such see nothing in the character and attitude of Romanism that is hostile to our free institutions, or find nothing portentous in its growth. Let us, then, first compare some of the fundamental principles of our government with those of the Catholic Church.

Pope Pius IX., in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854, said: ‘The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience, are a most pestilential error—a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a State.’ The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized ‘those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,’ also ‘all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.’”((White, Ellen.  The Great Controversy, 1911, page 564))

“If this edict [the Edict of Worms] were enforced, ‘the Reformation could neither be extended . . . where as yet it was unknown, nor be established on solid foundations . . . where it already existed’… Liberty of speech would be prohibited. No conversions would be allowed. And to these restrictions and prohibitions the friends of the Reformation were required at once to submit. The hopes of the world seemed about to be extinguished. ‘The re-establishment of the Romish hierarchy . . . would infallibly bring back the ancient abuses;’ and an occasion would readily be found for ‘completing the destruction of a work already so violently shaken’ by fanaticism and dissension.”((White, Ellen.  The Great Controversy, 1911, page 199))

“Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321) This edict required townspeople to rest on ‘the venerable day of the sun,’ but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity.”((White, Ellen.  The Great Controversy, 1911, page 574))

It would not be far-fetched to conjecture that among the Pope’s proposed solutions to global warming and the calamitous weather conditions, would be a mandatory law for Sunday rest. Already the notion of using Sunday as a day of rest is being talked about. Pope Francis urges Sunday to be kept as a day for God and families. A Yahoo News headline reads: “Pope: No-work Sundays good, not just for faithful.”((http://news.yahoo.com/pope-no-sundays-good-not-just-faithful-130300599.html)) The article states that “Pope Francis has lamented the abandoning of the traditionally Christian practice of not working on Sundays, saying it has a negative impact on families and friendships…While he said poor people need jobs to have dignity, he indicated that opening stores and other businesses on Sundays as a way to create jobs wasn’t beneficial for society.”((Ibid))

Some Christian ministers are attributing the calamities that are now taking place and intensifying to the desecration of the Sunday-Sabbath. One example of this is the assertion made by a Free Presbyterian minister that the devastating Tsunami that struck Indonesia December 26, 2004, a Sunday, was divine retribution for pleasure-seekers’ violation of the Sabbath. “A Christian minister claims the tsunami of Sunday, Dec. 26, killing at least 160,000 people, was direct result of ‘pleasure seekers’ breaking God’s Sabbath. In the February issue of his church magazine, Rev. John MacLeod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland writes: ‘Possibly … no event since Noah’s flood has caused such loss of life by drowning as the recent Asian tsunami. That so many of our fellow creatures should have perished in so short a time, and in so awful a fashion, was a divine visitation that ought to make men tremble the world over… It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord’s day, the day God set apart to be observed the world over as a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days.’”((http://www.wnd.com/2005/02/28902/)) Inspiration confirms that this claim will continue to be made thus strengthening the call for universal Sunday observance.

“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.”((White, Ellen.  The Great Controversy, 1911, page 590))

Concern for the preservation of the environment may be a legitimate one; but God’s people cannot join with any movement, even if it is for a seemingly good cause, so long as that movement is connected with destroying reverence for God’s Commandments, while substituting the doctrines of men. Currently the 10:10 Climate Change Campaign is calling for the reduction of carbon emissions and is therefore promoting “slow-Sundays.” Guardian reports: “The 10:10 movement… is a wonderful way to empower ordinary people to participate in the great movement of mitigating global warming. We cannot wait until governments are enlightened enough to legislate and cap the carbon emissions. Matters are urgent. We have to act now, without any delay… One thing we can easily do to achieve this goal: we can declare Sunday to be a fossil fuel-free day or a low-carbon day or at least an energy-saving day.”((http://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/17/low-carbon-sunday?CMP=share_btn_fb)) The article continues, “not long ago Sunday used to be a day of rest, a day of spiritual renewal, a day for families to come together, but we have changed Sunday from a day of rest to a day of shopping, flying and driving. However, in the context of excessive carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which are bringing catastrophic upheavals, we can and should restore Sunday to a day for Gaia, a day for the Earth.((Ibid))

As active as the Papacy has been in 2014 on many fronts, the year 2015 promises to be an even more critical year as the 78-year old Pope Francis plans to visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January, and later visit Bolivia and two other Latin American countries, then visit France and of course the United States for the World Meeting of Families in September. The following is a list of important strategic moves and footholds that the Papacy has gained in 2014 that will set the stage for 2015 and the ushering in of legislated Sunday observance, the enforcement of the Mark of the Beast.

Since all of these strides have been taken in just one year, fulfilling Bible prophecy, one can only expect that the remaining prophecies yet unfulfilled, will be fulfilled in their exact order.

“The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His word, uniting link after link in the chain of events, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tell us where we are today in the procession of the ages and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.”((White, Ellen. Prophets and Kings, 1917, page 536))

Let us make sure that we are found on the right side of prophecy, standing with the Lamb and not with the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Now is the time that we should be studying, fasting and praying like never before, and allowing God’s Word to sanctify us in the inner man so that we will daily “crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts” Galatians 5:24.

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