The 2016 presidential landscape is permeated with the aura of religious sentiments. Particularly on the Republican side, religion seems to be the defining criterion in the race for the White House. The candidates, declared and undeclared, are bombarded with their views on faith and morality. Same sex marriage is at the top of the list; but issues such as abortion and religious liberty continue to play major roles in the drama of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ted Cruz, the first Republican to declare his run for the presidency, epitomizes this sentiment. Not only did he choose to announce his run for the Office of the President at Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the nation; but the central point of his discourse was that America is a Christian nation and he is committed to returning the country to its Christian roots. Whether or not one shares Cruz’s beliefs, the inescapable fact is that faith and religion will continue to be a potent potion in the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the American people.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, world renowned neurosurgeon, is another declared Republican candidate in the race to for the country’s highest political office. In addition to his passionate love of the American Constitution, his profession to bring the nation back to its foundational principles, and his virulent opposition to the liberal left, he brings to the table a cogent dose of religious sentiment. He is a life- long Seventh-day Adventist and his religious beliefs are coming under increased scrutiny.

The Seventh-day Adventist denomination is an American born Christian movement that grew out of the Great Awakening of the early to mid 1800’s. Of course, one of its distinguishing features, as its name entails, is honoring the Bible Sabbath as opposed to Sunday keeping which is practiced by almost all of Christendom. The other feature of the movement, Adventists, is the belief in the second, visible, and glorious coming of Jesus Christ to planet earth. The Seventh-day Adventists are also known for their adherence to health principles, which research has repeatable shown, enables them to live an average of 10 years longer than the general population. Its world-wide missionary endeavors, international relief mechanisms, global network of schools, hospitals, and publishing houses are supported by almost 20 million faithful members residing on every continent on planet earth. No other Protestant denomination comes close. All this would certainly benefit Dr. Carson in his run for the White House. But there is one element of his beloved religion that would certainly pose a challenge to the electorate, and perhaps obstacle, to his presidential ambition, i.e. his church’s Eschatology (View of end-time events).

According to Seventh-day Adventist theology, this very America, which Dr. Ben is so passionate about improving, will form an alliance with the Roman Catholic Papacy resulting in the deprivation of civil and religious liberties of Americans and others around the world. Specifically, the Seventh-day Adventist church teaches that this alliance of America and the Papacy will force the world to honor Sunday as a sacred day of rest and worship in opposition to lovingly and voluntarily allowing men and women to choose the Bible Sabbath which it believes God ordains. Dr. Carson’s church believes that this controversy will ultimately develop into a tectonic struggle of apocalyptic proportions in which millions will be persecuted and killed who do not go along with the requirements of the alliance’s call for Sunday sacredness. Many believe that this universal union of church and state is being developed before our very eyes.  They cite the ‘Holy Alliance’ (Time magazine, Cover story, February 1992), when Former President Ronald Reagan joined forces with the late Pope John Paul II to defeat Communism, as the beginning of this union. Today, the call from Rome for universal Sunday sacredness is rapidly intensifying. (Read more about Dr. Carson’s religion)

The Associated Press recently reported on Pope Francis’ appeal for Sunday sacredness: “Pope Francis lamented the abandoning of the traditionally Christian practice of not working on Sundays, saying it has a negative impact on families and friendships…He says that spending Sundays with family and friends is an ‘ethical choice’ for faithful and non-faithful alike.” He later added, “Preserving the special character of Sunday as the Lord’s Day — even civilly where possible.”

Here are some other pronouncements from the Roman church that Seventh-day Adventists believe are supportive of their interpretation of End-Time Bible prophecy:

“When, through the centuries, she has made laws concerning Sunday rest, the Church has had in mind above all the work of servants and workers, certainly not because this work was any less worthy when compared to the spiritual requirements of Sunday observance, but rather because it needed greater regulation to lighten its burden and thus enable everyone to keep the Lord’s Day holy. In this matter, my predecessor Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of Sunday rest as a worker’s right which the State must guarantee” (Pope John Paul II, Dies Domini, Section 66).

“Sunday is our mark of authority…the church is above the Bible, and the transference of Sabbath is proof of that fact” (Catholic Record, Sept 1, 1923).

“Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed to Sunday…not from any directions noted in Scriptures, but from the church’s sense of its own power…People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become Seventh-day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy” (Saint Catherine Catholic Church Sentinel, May 21, 1995).

Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy (Dies Domini, Section 67).

There is a growing movement that is calling attention to this conflict between the Bible Sabbath and the  call for Sunday sacredness, a tradition of the Roman church. Further, judging from the state of the current church/state political environment, Ben Carson’s Seventh-day Adventist’s eschatology seems to have the evidence of Biblical, historical, and contemporary world events weighing in overwhelmingly in its favor. Pope Francis’ obvious meddling in, some believe orchestrating, both religious and political world affairs, gives further credence, if not vindication, to Ben Carson’s Seventh day Adventist’s beliefs. Underpinning Francis’ widely professed concern for the family, the world economy, and climate change is his determination to universally institute Sunday sacredness as the panacea for the world’s moral, social, and economic woes. Both American and European initiatives advocating Sunday sacredness are undeniable. Francis’ sacred Sunday solution has become more manifest in his recently released encyclical on the environment and his visit to the United States where he  addressed a joint session of Congress, World Family Day, and the United Nations.

Given this back drop of contemporary world affairs viewed through the prism of Ben Carson’s religion eschatology, he very well might be the man for such a time as this. His entry into the race to the White House may yet prove to be a matter having nothing to do with him becoming the 45th or 2nd black president of the land of the free and home of the brave. Whether Ben Carson, Seventh-day Adventist, secures the GOP nomination or advances to the presidency of the United States, one thing is certain: He is serving as a lightning rod for the national debate on legislated Sunday sacredness.

Ellen G. White, a pioneer founding member of the Seventh-day Adventist church, whom the Smithsonian Magazine recently named one of the ten most influential religious leaders of all time, writes these prophetic words more than one hundred years ago in her classic, The Great Controversy, “The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not…It has been confidently declared that this land could never become other than what it has been—the defender of religious freedom. But as the question of enforcing Sunday observance is widely agitated, the events so long doubted and disbelieved is seen to be approaching…” (Great Controversy, 605-606).

In light of the fast-fulfilling Bible  prophesies in this regard, it is not difficult to conjecture that only the God of Creation could have cast Dr. Carson in the role he is playing on the world stage in these closing scenes of earth’s history. As the call for Sunday sacredness accelerates at an alarming rate, Jehovah seemed to have appointed Dr. Carson to his divine post of duty. He is bold, fearless, yes, perhaps a bit brash, politically incorrect, lover of the U.S. Constitution, and Seventh-day Adventist.

Undoubtedly, legislated Sunday sacredness, in opposition to God’s 7th day Sabbath, is on the horizon. Just maybe, Ben Carson may fearlessly stand for upholding  the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (Separation of church and state) thereby also bringing to the forefront God’s loving requirement of all humanity to worship Him by keeping holy His blessed Sabbath day thus rejecting the universal call for Sunday sacredness. The good doctor is playing a key role in the last battle of the Drama of the Ages.  about

Whether you agree with or support Dr. Carson politically, do pray that God’s will be done. For who knows, Dr. Ben has come to the kingdom for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).