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November - December 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel
Sabbath vs. Sunday Debate Heats up with $1,000,000 on the Line
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Seventh-Day Adventist pastor A. Jan Marcussen of Illinois is
offering $1 million to anyone who can produce "a verse from the
Holy Bible showing that God commands us to keep holy the first
day of the week instead of the seventh day as is commanded in
the Bible." In an article that appeared on WorldNetDaily
(http://www.worldnetdaily.com/) on October 13, 2001, the reward
will start at $50,000 and "will increase in $25,000 increments
each week for 40 consecutive weeks if no one sends him such a
verse, with a final cap at $1 million."
The purpose of Pastor Marcussen's challenge is to get people to
wake up and read their Bibles, and there is nothing like money
to whet the appetite. Joe Kovacs, writer of the WorldNetDaily
article quotes Marcussen: "Millions of people believe and have
confidence in their clergy that what they're being taught is
true. They'll find out that the clergy is not teaching from the
Bible."
Although most people will not recognize Pastor Marcussen's name,
millions have seen one of his books, National Sunday Law, which
spotlights the debate over which day is the Christian Sabbath.
According to Kovacs: "Experts on biblical scripture tell
WorldNetDaily that Marcussen has little need to worry about
paying out the money. `I am afraid that you are not going to
find an exact Bible verse to counter the good pastor's challenge
and collect,' says James Efird, professor of biblical
interpretation at Duke University Divinity School in North
Carolina. `As far as I know, there is no verse which specifies
that Sunday is the day for Christians to observe the Sabbath.'"
Marcussen believes that many pastors are not encouraging their
paritioners to look into the Sabbath-vs.-Sunday question because
their are afraid -- afraid that they will lose many members if
they encourge people to look into what the Bible says about this
question.
"It is the greatest hoax of all time," according to Marcussen.
Sunday worship is the mark of the Papacy's authority."
TSS
November - December 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel
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