Lil Wayne to Perform at Adventist Health Arena, a Sabbath-Breaking, Alcohol-Serving Establishment

Naming rights are part of a business model that allows corporations to purchase the right to have their name on arenas in exchange for large sums of money. The hope is that the company gets exposure to fans and event goers who attend concerts or sporting events. The downside to these business partnerships is that the company's name becomes associated with the venues. In matters of spiritual faith, these naming rights contracts become a public scandal when the name "Adventist" becomes linked with the negative imagery of worldly concerts that openly serve alcohol, violate the Sabbath, and play the devil's music-which are all inconsistent with the principles of our faith.

Adventist Health Arena proudly displays the name "Adventist," which is an abbreviated form of Seventh-day Adventist. We hold this name in high regard because it was given to us by God and it describes the unique features of our faith.

"We are Seventh-day Adventists. Are we ashamed of our name? We answer, "No, no! We are not. It is the name the Lord has given us" (2 SM 384).

"No name which we can take will be appropriate but that which accords with our profession, and expresses our faith, and marks us as a peculiar people. The name, Seventh-day Adventist, is a standing rebuke to the Protestant world. Here is the line of distinction between the worshipers of God, and those who worship the beast, and receive his mark" (1T 223).

Tragically, what you see happening in the world's bars and concert halls is being associated with our holy name, bringing it into disrepute. Instead of pointing people to God's Sabbath and the Second Coming of Jesus, Adventist Health Arena has become the "entertainment destination" for "California's Central Valley." While claiming to be a "world-class entertainment venue," Adventist Health Arena has become the gathering place for boxing, pro-wrestling, worldly concerts, and other sporting events [1] that are even scheduled on the Lord's Sabbath. [2] [3]

To further degrade the experience, Adventist Health Arena is proud to provide you with your choice of alcoholic beverages to accompany their live events, performances, concerts, and other leisure activities. Alcohol is usually served in order to attract a more diverse customer base, and when people are drunk, they tend to spend more money, which means more profits for Adventist Health Arena. All of this is taking place under the "Adventist" banner.

Notice the special instructions to all ticket holders who plan to attend Adventist Health Arena:

• "When you come to an event at Adventist Health Arena, please make sure to bring your ticket and a valid ID, especially if you want to purchase alcohol." [3]

• "Plenty of concessions are available at Adventist Health Arena. Non-alcoholic beverages are served as well as alcoholic beverages including but not limited to beer, wine and mixed drinks." [3]

Alcohol flows at the Adventist Health Arena. In fact, alcohol is considered to be a big part of the modern-day entertainment experience. Selling alcohol is another worldly business model that makes a lot of money, and mixed drinks and cocktails have very high profit margins. Of course, Adventist Health Arena will need a lot of security to deal with fights, accidents, and other disruptive behaviors that occur in places that allow public intoxication. This is what bars do. Adventist Health Arena is a giant bar and entertainment establishment. The Adventist name is being associated with Sabbath breaking and the alcohol-fueled music, dance, and party industry.

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived .. nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.

So if drunkards go to hell, can the person who sold him his drink go to heaven? How about the people who provide the venue for drinking? If drunks go to hell, will the people who provided the tables and chairs and set up the drinking event go to heaven? If God allows the "Adventist" name to be used to support these events that sell alcohol, and if He allows us to go to heaven while drunkards go to hell, then on the day of judgment every lost drunk person will have enough sense to shout "Unfair!"

And it would be unfair to send them to hell and us to heaven. If we profit from the dirty business of alcohol or partner with them, we will meet their same fate, along with those we have helped enslave in the pits of drunkenness and worldly entertainment. The General Conference's Office of Legal Counsel has started many lawsuits against faithful Seventh-day Adventists who used the name in mission and evangelism [4], but they tolerate the open profanation of that same name when it comes to liquor, Sabbath-breaking, dancing, and wicked music. In other words, the General Conference can stop the desecration of our name when it comes to Adventist Health Arena, but they won't. Something is terribly wrong at the top echelons of the church.

What transpired in Babylon when people started drinking wine from the Lord's holy vessels while adoring the idols of stone and wood? What happened when they mixed the holy with the profane? They were weighed in the balances that same night and found wanting. Adventists used to vigorously preach abstinence. We used to preach temperance and oppose intoxicating drinks. We used to rebuke these great evils and call drunkards to repentance. Now, we are profiting along with our corporate business partners from this deadly poison. Don't ever think that a kind and compassionate God who is merciful won't punish this sin, because His love does have a limit:

"This Scripture pictures the work of those who manufacture and who sell intoxicating liquor. Their business means robbery. For the money they receive no useful equivalent is returned. Every dollar they add to their gains has brought a curse to the spender. Every year millions upon millions of gallons of intoxicating liquors are consumed. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent in buying wretchedness, poverty, disease, degradation, lust, crime, and death. For the sake of gain, the liquor dealer deals out to his victims that which corrupts and destroys mind and body. He entails on the drunkard's family poverty and wretchedness" (Temperance, p. 28).

"What a terrible account liquor sellers will have to meet in the great day of God! In the books of heaven a record is kept of every tempting glass held out by man to his fellow-man, to forge the chains of an appetite which makes him mad" (Signs of the Times, July 4, 1900).

Sources

[1] https://www.facebook.com/adventisthealtharena

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20240804031236/https://www.ticketmaster.com/lil-wayne-tickets/artist/712214

[3] https://www.eventticketscenter.com/adventist-health-arena-sacramento-tickets/58917/e

[4] http://adventmessenger.org/the-general-conference-of-seventh-day-adventists-filed-a-three-count-federal-lawsuit-against-fellow-believers-for-trademark-counterfeiting-trademark-infringement-and-false-designation-of-origin-unfa/

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This release was published on openPR.