Pat's Paragraphs
November 2016
Dear Friends,
Thanksgiving is almost here and some of us have hardly thought about it, or made our “Thankfulness” lists, what with all the presidential election campaigning consuming us. But – it’s over! And we can be thankful for God’s promise to be with us to the end!
Of great interest to me, and many of you, as we’ve listened to the candidates, has been their attitude toward religious liberty. It’s a subject worthy of consideration.
On Friday, October 21, the first-ever California Sabbath workplace discrimination case to go to jury trial came to an end. Dusanka Bodiroga, who fled religious persecution in Romania some years ago, claimed that her refusal to work on Sabbath cost her the job she’d worked at for over six years in the California prison system. The California Dept. of Corrections defense team accused her of poor performance, bad attitude and sloppy attendance. Her work records and coworkers testified to the opposite. Someone was lying, and it wasn’t the work records or her colleagues.
Bodiroga’s attorney, Bernard Alexander, finished his arguments with a powerful rebuttal debunking the defense.
Then the jury voted. Against her. 10-2.
Said Alan Reinach, Religious Liberty Director for the Pacific Union Conference:
“The jury did not seem hostile to our client’s religion... It seemed that they didn’t...see through the lies. Even the most obvious lies did not seem to upset them.”
This case, I believe, highlights our changing world. There was a time in the USA when religious liberty and minority rights were paramount; when truth was a virtue, foundational to a society built on trust. This seems to no longer be the case. Along with the shockingly low value placed on truth, we see a surprising amount of resentment toward Christians, with blame cast on them for society’s problems, and little interest shown in accommodating their views or needs.
These prophetic words seem to be fulfilled
: “Judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter”
(Isaiah 9:14).
In times of such uncertainty, frustration, disappointment and fear, what this world needs is a clearer picture of the character of God - His goodness, patience, power; His amazing, everlasting love, demonstrated in every doctrine and in every Christian life.
I pray to be a part of that picture, and I pray that every DVD and piece of literature produced and distributed by LLT will be filling that great need.
Please continue to pray with and for us, as we produce and send out materials about God’s Sabbath rest, His freedom, and His mercy and fairness in regard to death.
We’re back to work on “Beyond the Smoke” (working title), the program(s) that will clearly show what the truth is about death and the afterlife. We cherish your prayers and support!
Thank you, and may God bless and use you to reveal His goodness!
In Christ,
Pat Arrabito
