In May 2021, Marriott hired a woman to sell timeshares at one of its properties in Orlando, Florida. During the interview process, she had disclosed her religious practice of honoring the seventh-day Sabbath as a day of worship and rest. The hiring manager assured her she wouldn’t be asked to work on Saturdays.
Two years passed, and the woman was doing well at work. But then, two new managers began to oversee her position. Although they were aware of the agreement with the previous manager, they told her she was now required to come in on Saturdays. The woman refused to report to work on the Sabbath and filed a complaint with human resources for religious discrimination. A few weeks later, an HR representative spoke with the woman and, like the new managers, told her that she must now work on Saturdays.
The woman next contacted her regional director, but sadly, she was told again that she had to work Saturdays. After missing several scheduled Saturdays, she resigned on June 1, 2023.
In May 2025, the Miami Herald reported, “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it failed to reach an early settlement with the Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation and Marriott Ownership Resorts, so it filed a religious discrimination lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida on May 5. … Federal officials say Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation and Marriott Ownership Resorts failed to provide reasonable religious accommodation, retaliated against their employee and constructively discharged her by creating a condition in which she had no choice but to leave.”
What If …
In cases like these, we can all be grateful for a government agency like the EEOC, which enforces laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Before its formation in 1965, it was much easier for employers to get away with discriminating with regard to race, sex, religion, and other factors.
Imagine if the EEOC didn’t exist? Or what if the anti-discrimination laws it seeks to enforce were wiped from the law books? Worse still, what if the U.S. government itself established a state-sponsored religion and prevented the practice of any other religion?
Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? But some people believe this is precisely what’s going to happen.
Is it really that far-fetched?
This type of situation already exists in several countries around the world. Take, for example, the Maldives. The state religion is Sunni Islam, and it is illegal to publicly or privately practice any other religion. Importing non-Islamic religious texts, symbols, or artifacts is banned. Proselytizing or even discussing another religion with Maldivians can lead to deportation or arrest. Leaving Islam is legally punishable by death. And while employment is available to non-Muslims in specific fields, work and residence permits can be revoked at any time for violating Islamic norms.
However, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents the government from establishing a state religion or stopping the practice of an individual or group’s preferred religion.
But does that guarantee there won’t be a change in the future?
America’s Future
While our government currently supports freedom of conscience in religious practice and will even defend a seventh-day Sabbath-keeper when mistreated by her employer, the Bible says this is going to change.
According to Revelation 13:11, the United States will one day speak “like a dragon.” (Learn how the Bible definitively identifies the United States in Revelation 13.) What does this mean exactly? Visiting the previous chapter, we find that Satan is the dragon (Revelation 12:9). We also learn in the same chapter that when Jesus was born, the dragon sought “to devour her [Mary] Child as soon as it was born” (v. 4). How did he do this? Matthew tells us that not long after Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, King Herod, a Roman government representative, “sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16). Of course, Jesus’ parents had already escaped to Egypt with Him by that time (v. 13).
As we can see, it was actually the dragon, a.k.a. Satan, influencing Herod to issue commands in an attempt to destroy Jesus. Satan later persuaded the Jews to turn Jesus over to Pontius Pilate, another Roman official. This time, he was successful at having Jesus put to death.
So, how does a nation “speak like a dragon”? It uses its civil authority to pass and enforce laws for the purpose of destroying God’s faithful followers. Eventually, those who do not bow to the demands of a U.S. state-sponsored religion will not be able to buy or sell—and will even face the death penalty (Revelation 13:15–17).
Satan is angry that Jesus defeated death for us and was “caught up to God and His throne” (Revelation 12:5). Like he brought the Jewish leaders together with the Romans to kill Jesus, he also successfully united a corrupt church with earthly kings during the Dark Ages to persecute God’s true church. (Read more about that history here.) Satan’s tactics haven’t changed. He intends to persuade apostate Christians to unite with the government to enforce their corrupt brand of Christianity on the nation’s population.
How might seventh-day Sabbath-keepers fare under a union of church and state, considering the vast majority of Christians disregard God’s fourth commandment? Remember that Satan’s wrath is directed at a very specific group, “those who keep the commandments of God” (Revelation 12:17), including the Sabbath one.
Find out what role the Sabbath will play as the enemy’s plans unfold.