Thus the false science of the present day, which undermines faith in the Bible, will prove as successful in preparing the way for the acceptance of the papacy, with its pleasing forms, as did the withholding of knowledge in opening the way for its aggrandizement in the Dark Ages. GC 572.3
The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments; but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High. GC 571.1
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
by Keri Kelly | For Jersey’s BestTue., Jan. 17, 2023
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Not being able to pump our own gas is one of the quirky laws many residents have gotten behind. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media
The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. “Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy” (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ? GC 571.2
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World. And that which gives greater significance to this movement is the fact that the principal object contemplated is the enforcement of Sunday observance—a custom which originated with Rome, and which she claims as the sign of her authority. It is the spirit of the papacy—the spirit of conformity to worldly customs, the veneration for human traditions above the commandments of God—that is permeating the Protestant churches and leading them on to do the same work of Sunday exaltation which the papacy has done before them. GC 573.1
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
Want to sell handcuffs to minors or close that car sale on Sunday? You might not want to do it in New Jersey. Both selling handcuffs to minors and cars on Sunday can result in a fine and even an arrest. These are just two of the many strange laws still on the books in the Garden State.
1. Don’t drive while watching television.
2. Bike sirens are prohibited.
3. It’s illegal to sell handcuffs to minors.
4. You cannot wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime.
Selling a car on a Sunday in New Jersey could result in a disorderly persons offense. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
5. No car sales on Sunday.
If someone sells, exchanges or opens a place of business to sell a car on a Sunday in New Jersey, they will be charged with a disorderly persons offense, and the first offense is punishable with a fine of less than $100 and/or 10 days in prison. The penalties and imprisonment go up from there and include losing a dealer’s license. This law came from the old ‘blue laws,’ which were created in 1704 and prohibited working on Sundays.
6. You cannot have a vanity license plate if you are charged with a DUI.
7. Don’t pump your gas.
A high school student in Bernards Township created smile-inducing street signs with the goal of enlightening residents. The township approved the resolution in 1996, and the signs were erected. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media
8. Bernards Township — It’s illegal to frown.
“It’s not really a law as much as a resolution,” said Rhonda Pisano, Bernard Township’s municipal clerk.
9. Sea Isle City — No burning bones.
Don’t eat hot dogs on a Sunday in Manville, unless you want to break the law. Photo courtesy of Getty Images
10. Manville Borough — You cannot give alcohol or tobacco to zoo animals.
No hot dogs on Sundays? Now that’s just too far, New Jersey. Check out these laws and more on New Jersey’s State Department Website: state.nj.us/state.
If the reader would understand the agencies to be employed in the soon-coming contest, he has but to trace the record of the means which Rome employed for the same object in ages past. If he would know how papists and Protestants united will deal with those who reject their dogmas, let him see the spirit which Rome manifested toward the Sabbath and its defenders.
The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G White
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; see Appendix note for page 53.) 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.
The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Scriptures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity and points to the real authors of the change. “All things,” he says, “whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”—Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538. But the Sunday argument, groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling upon the Sabbath of the Lord. All who desired to be honored by the world accepted the popular festival.
As the papacy became firmly established, the work of Sunday exaltation was continued. For a time the people engaged in agricultural labor when not attending church, and the seventh day was still regarded as the Sabbath. But steadily a change was effected. Those in holy office were forbidden to pass judgment in any civil controversy on the Sunday. Soon after, all persons, of whatever rank, were commanded to refrain from common labor on pain of a fine for freemen and stripes in the case of servants. Later it was decreed that rich men should be punished with the loss of half of their estates; and finally, that if still obstinate they should be made slaves. The lower classes were to suffer perpetual banishment. GC 573.2 – GC 574.3
Keri Kelly is an award-winning author, comedy writer and creative writing professor at Rowan University. Keri resides at the Jersey Shore with her family. Learn more and say hello at kerikelly.com.
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of Jersey’s Best. Subscribe here for in-depth access to everything that makes the Garden State great.
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