[ HOME ][ TSS Magazine Index ]


November - December 2001 The Sabbath Sentinel

Sabbath vs. Sunday
Debate Heats up with $1,000,000 on the Line

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