February 2009
Dear Friends,
Many of you have wondered what happened with the efforts of the Roman Catholic bishops in Europe to have a Sunday-protection law enacted as part of the European Working Time Directive. Did the bishops have their way and did the European Union include Sunday sanctions? Here is an excerpt from a news release issued by COMECE, the Commission of Bishops' Conferences of the European Community:
“Sunday as the privileged weekly rest day will not be inserted into the future Working Time Directive although the reconciliation of work and family life is the explicit aim of this Directive,” stated COMECE Secretary General Piotr Mazurkiewicz.
“This is incoherent and a missed opportunity when we consider how much European citizens expect today in a Social Europe which protects workers and their families. We thank all those who got involved in favour of the protection of Sunday rest.”
That “missed opportunity” is good news for all who support religious liberty. While it reflects the highly secular nature of European society, it also shows that our heavenly Father still guides in the affairs of men. Remember, God “is not willing that any should perish.” He continues to give us time to reach honest-hearted people everywhere with our special end-time message.
We should not be complacent about our mission when we see evidence that holy angels are holding back the “winds of strife.” There are also omens of the crisis to come.
"A History of Sunday"
On February 1, the CBS network's long-running “Sunday Morning” show featured a segment by popular commentator Charles Osgood. In “A History of Sunday” Osgood explored the course of Sunday blue laws that outlawed playing a flute or kissing a baby on Sunday. Humorous, light-hearted stuff. Then he got to the point:
“Which brings us back to the Puritans of the 1630's; their measures may now seem extreme, but what if they were actually onto something?”
Maybe in this troubling, chaotic world, people are longing for that Sabbath rest intended by God. Will they accept a counterfeit – a day that “protects” their rest and family time by outlawing football, alcohol and shopping?
Or will they discover the true rest of God, the rest of soul and spirit that comes from knowing God and receiving His salvation, symbolized by honoring the day God made Holy – making their own choice to put away daily work, to have fellowship with other believers and to enjoy God's beautiful creation on His Sabbath day?
We are living in exciting times! Let us watch the movements to exalt Sunday. And let's rejoice over the victories in people's lives as they discover the truth about the Sabbath.
Reports from Near and Far
An Adventist pastor in Georgia decided to use The Seventh Day for his midweek evangelistic outreach. He bought a fifty-dollar ad in the local newspaper. Unfortunately, the newspaper printed the wrong date for the beginning of the series. Was the fifty dollars wasted? Read on.
On the Sunday before the series was to begin one local family attended their Sunday School class with a few nagging questions on their minds: Why are we here today? Is this really the Sabbath? What about the seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments?
They gave voice to their questions, but the answers did not satisfy them. They went home after church even more confused about the Sabbath-Sunday issue. Then they found the Adventist pastor's ad in the paper. Although the notice had the wrong date, it did get the pastor's phone number right. They called him for information, got the correct schedule for the Wednesday evening programs, and showed up at every meeting.
These folks joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church on profession of faith. Our pastor friend assures us that our Seventh Day videos were the key to answering this family's questions. I praise God for reports like this. A former member of the Worldwide Church of God wrote:
I recently bought your five-part series and it is wonderful. It's so hard to live even among Christians when they don't understand the true meaning of the Sabbath. God has allowed me to struggle with the truth of the Sabbath for a long time, but your series is icing on the cake. Today is the Sabbath and I'm enjoying watching the last of the series. I will view them repeatedly and share them with anyone open minded enough to watch them. No Hollywood production can come close to your series.
Here is an appeal from central Asia:
My name is Alexander Rossinskiy. I am a rabbi at the Messianic congregation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We have all purchased videos of The Seventh Day. I wanted to ask if you have these videos in Russian language? If you do, how is it possible to get them? If you don't, can we ask for permission to translate the series? We believe those videos are valuable and can serve many people in our country and elsewhere if they are translated into Russian.
Progress
About the Russian version of The Seventh Day: Yes, the translation is complete and we are scheduled for production in just a few weeks. This will be a full voice-over translation, not subtitles. Interested supporters have provided a significant portion of the necessary funding, but more help is needed. The Russian version will bear fruit far beyond the borders of Russia itself.
We are hard at work editing the Arabic and Korean translations. This is a tedious, time-consuming and costly process. We are also making the final script preparations for the Portuguese production, scheduled for filming in early April. I thank God for your generous support that enables us to keep moving forward on these languages.
Our work depends on up-to-date video-editing technology. But our system is old now, and unable to handle current software and camera feeds. So we're faced with the necessity of upgrading the primary component of our editing system at a price of nearly $30,000.
(Incidently, that will be the lowest price we've ever paid for an editing system!) This investment will allow us to maintain our high production standards for the foreign-language versions of The Seventh Day and for our future series on the state of the dead.
The economic distress shaking our world reminds us that life on planet Earth is uncertain. But I believe that your contribution to the work of LLT will pay off in a certain and secure eternal future for people who desperately need to hear the call of those three angels of Revelation 14.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your financial support.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Pat Arrabito
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