Leaderboard

In the interests of full disclosure, I have long wearied of the Adventist sport of pope-watching/president watching, where every little inconsequential event in world history "proves" that the "Sunday Law (TM)" is just around the corner. Sixty years ago it was the election of JFK and the horror of a Roman Catholic in the White House. Then it was Ronald Reagan and the rise of the "Moral Majority". At the same time it was Pope John Paul II and his charismatic globetrotting. Then it was the fall of the Iron Curtain and George Bush's "New World Order" and the "Kinder Gentler America". Then it was Clinton and his ties to organized labour that would usher in the "Sunday Law (TM)" under the guise of workers' legislation. Then it was the accession of "hardline" Pope Benedict XVI who was going to be tough enough to succeed where JPII failed (or rather where JPII never even tried). Surely with a hardline conservative in St. Peter's chair the Sunday Law would be on its way. Then Benedict resigned and an alleged "liberal" or "softy" took over St. Peter's chair. So the Sunday Law alarmists did a 180 pivot and proclaimed that now with a liberal in the Vatican, surely the Sunday Law is for real. In the USA the conservative SdAs cheer on the Republican presidents (including the current office holder) as they appointed Catholic after Catholic to the Supreme Court - this was all good stuff since these Catholics are "conservatives" (SdA American conservatives believe they have greater affinity with Evangelical and Catholic conservatives than they do with fellow Adventists who don't vote the same way). To them the enemy isn't Catholicism, but Liberalism. And the "liberal" Adventists in the USA cheer on every advance by the secular progressives. As for an alleged plot to create a Sunday Law, to me, this is just the latest in a series of examples of the boy crying wolf. My personal belief is that the will be no Sunday Law and that the Adventist movement badly misunderstands the mark of the beast, the seal of God and I'm beginning to think that we're probably off base on the Sabbath. My purpose in stating this is not to try to undermine anyone's beliefs or even to argue against traditional SdA understanding of these symbols, but merely to disclose to you and the participants in the forum where I stand so that you may judge my comments accordingly. So no, I did not review the citations in the article posted upthread nor do I have any intention of doing so.

Fascinating; for decades American Adventists who leaned right envied their evangelical brethren who could unabashedly support every right wing policy on earth on the basis that the US Republicans were doing God's work; while the Adventist righties had to bite their tongues since Evangelicalism and the Moral Majority were working hand in hand for the "Sunday Law (TM)". Now the Adventist righties have finally dreamed up a fantasy where they can pin the "Sunday Law (TM)" on the left, to justify and rationalize their making common cause with American evangelicalism. Make no mistake about it. This alarmism had nothing to do with the pope, nothing to do with climate change, nothing to do with the Sunday Law; it's all about domestic USA politics.

? He shall sustain ? Psa 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

5 Things You Didn't Know About The American Flag On January 13, 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. Here are 5 surprising facts that you may not know about the flag of the United States of America... The Current American Flag Was Designed by a Teenager The modern American flag was designed by Robert G. Heft, a 17-year-old student. Because Hawaii and Alaska were being admitted to the Union in 1959, a design contest was held, which received more than 1,500 applicants. Heft’s design was chosen by President Dwight Eisenhower over all the rest. As a class history project to design a new flag, Heft submitted his design and received a B- for his project from his teacher. But after his flag was chosen, the teacher changed his grade to an A. The Flag Probably Wasn’t Designed by Betsy Ross While Betsy Ross is commonly given credit for the design of the American flag, evidence is lacking about whether she actually designed it. The only proof of her involvement in the design of the flag came from her own family when her grandson provided affidavits from his family members to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. However, early Continental Congress records clearly name Francis Hopkinson as the designer of the flag. We All Know The Flag Has 13 Stripes, But For 23 years, it Had 15 Up until 1795, the flag had one stripe and one star for each of the 13 states. After Vermont and Kentucky were added to the union in 1791 and 1792, respectively, the flag was due for its first major redesign in the country's history. Not only were two stars added to the blue field to represent the new states (a tradition that continues to this day), but designers also added two stripes.The 15-star, 15-stripe flag existed from 1795 until 1818, when five more states were added. Designers realized that adding more stripes would quickly become unwieldy, so they dropped the stripe count back to 13. The Flag Was Nicknamed “Old Glory” by a Sea Captain A sea captain named William Driver had been given an American flag by women in Salem, Massachusetts, his hometown. Once he saw it proudly flying onboard the mast of his ship in 1831, he nicknamed it Old Glory. The name caught on, and it became a nickname nationwide for the American flag. The Television Show "Gilligan’s Island" Shows the American Flag at Half-Mast In the 1960s television series “Gilligan's Island,” the American flag is shown in the distance flying at half-mast in the opening of the first season of the show. It turns out that the pilot episode was filmed on November 22, 1963. This was the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, so the flag had been lowered to reflect that day of mourning.