I’m often asked by Adventist audiences about the imminence of Sunday laws. One of my typical responses is that when I graduated from law school, they gave me a law license, not a crystal ball. Although I understand the desire of Adventists to know when or how prophecy will be fulfilled, to me, there is a much more important question: what are we supposed to be doing NOW, in light of our prophetic insight. What is the message we should be giving now?

From my perspective, the focus must be on the second angel’s message as it relates to the first. Here’s why. The second angel warns against the union of church and state. The fall of the religious power, “Babylon,” is due to her immoral intimacy with the kings of the earth, the state. She makes all nations do her bidding with her religious teachings being enforced by law.

Today, American churches have shifted their emphasis from evangelism and preaching to politics. The gospel message has been watered down. Where once the emphasis was on repentance and holiness, today it is on believing. Where once believers were taught that those who are justified will live by faith, today the message is that they are saved by an act of faith. The gospel has been denuded of its power. See Romans 1:16-17 for more.

The prophetic message is that a spiritually powerless church seeks a substitute for the power of God in the power of the state. Politics replaces the Holy Spirit as the engine of moral and spiritual revival. So it is today in America. Moreover, this is the fruit of generations of antinomianism. Beginning in the 19th century, Protestant America rejected the Law of God as the standard of character in the judgment, effectively rejecting the sanctifying influence of God’s Spirit. It is no wonder that a false doctrine of the Holy Spirit has swept the globe. Emotional enthusiasm has replaced humble obedience.

The first and second angel’s messages cannot be separated. It is the rejection of the first message — the everlasting gospel and its emphasis on the worship of the Creator and the recovery of the Law of God — that leads to the apostate reliance on state power the second angel’s message warns against.

Adventists make the mistake of imagining that other churches have an equally robust gospel. This is simply false. While people of many churches have a wonderful love relationship with Christ, sound teaching is in short supply.

Today, as the American evangelical culture puts its trust increasingly in politics, the Adventist prophetic perspective is critically relevant and urgent. The nation deserves to benefit from the wisdom that: “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes" (Psalm 118:9).