Unveiling The Sabbath

Evidence of the 7^th Day

By: Ron Harmon

Introduction

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        A serious discussion about which day Christians should worship never took place during my youth. The subject was rarely, if ever spoken of, while I sat in the pews of my family’s Baptist Church. To be equally fair, my own church attendance was sporadic at best as a young boy, so perhaps I missed a sermon on this particular doctrine. It was only through happenstance later on in life that I began to weigh the differences between Sunday or Saturday as the day of worship.

        Nonetheless, it still doesn’t explain why I never heard even an infrequent conversation regarding what day Christians were supposed to worship according to the bible and whether  Sunday was the true Sabbath. The opportunity to question Sunday worship simply was never offered, and I didn’t know enough to ask. Later in life, I began to wonder, “why is that, and what does the world fear concerning this issue?”     

        Ignorance was the main reason I never knew enough to ask questions. Ignorance is the reason the world meanders through this subject and stays in the dark concerning many biblical subjects, and that’s disgraceful. Some teachings within many churches are even forbidden, the Sabbath being one of those subjects.

        In my realm of religious relationships, Sunday worship was pretty much universally accepted the day you went to church. Folks like 7th day Adventists were scorned along with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and Pentecostals were considered nuts. Mainstream religions like Catholics and baptists didn’t tolerate differing views then or now.

        In many religious circles of Sunday worshipers, the congregants call the 1^stday (Sabbath), which is hardly correct. It is totally inappropriate by scriptural standards to refer to any day of the week except the 7^thday as the Sabbath. Besides, if questions did manage to come up about the Sabbath, they are quickly brushed off as merely being Jewish.

        Looking back once more on my religious journey as a young boy, I realized I had a lingering curiosity about the phenomenon of where or how Sunday worship supplanted the Old Testament 7^th day instructions from God. Those nagging questions that sat persistently in the back of my mind were calling for satisfactory answers during my early religious life.

        Here is one of those questions, if Christianity was born out of Judaism, why then do the two religions observe separate days? If anyone would stop for just one moment and think about that, I believe they would also begin to wonder how two religions reading the same religious source worship on separate days.

     That question leads me to another thought: Why don’t we see Sunday mentioned in the Bible if it is so evident? The 7^th day is commanded repeatedly in scripture, but nowhere do we see a commandment to observe the 1^stday of the week; why? Why do Sunday worshipers say their day of observance is the Sabbath, which is incorrect? Why is Sunday magically identified as God’s day when God Himself identifies with the 7^th day. Are there two different gods in the Bible, one for Christians and one for Hebrews?

        Another question, if the purpose of studying the Bible is to seek the truth, why then is there such resistance toward discussing this controversy? It is, after all, one of the most essential doctrines for anyone wanting to follow God. I have spent a lifetime seeking answers to this all-important question,

 alongside corresponding doctrines, but this one is first on my list to be addressed.

        One more thought before moving forward, I hear folks say, I feel God is only concerned with what’s in a person’s heart, not what they do.” STOP!!!! I don’t care what you think or how you feel about God. If someone says, they think or feel it means absolutely nothing to those that understand the bible. We deal in facts and context, not feelings.

        If you think you know something about God, then prove it through scriptures, not by your assumptions. God didn’t leave His commandments up for debate—He was very clear about observing all of them. Someone’s feelings or assumptions interjected into a biblical argument tends to only shroud the real truth about God’s will.

        I want to make a disclaimer, I don’ mean to sound harsh, but a sound biblical foundation isn’t built upon feelings or assumptions, it’s built upon facts. Also, this booklet isn’t written with political correctness in mind, it’s written to disseminate verifiable doctrine.

I do realize we live in a climate where people tend to shrink away from opposing thoughts. With that in mind, I must warn folks reading this booklet, phrases and statements may and most likely will be made that possibly can offend someone’s view of God. If you are easily offended by your religious beliefs, perhaps you shouldn’t read any further simply to protect your feelings.

        Now, we can move forward and explore the subject of God’s weekly Sabbath more profoundly.

The 7^th Day

Does God’s Sabbath Matter?

Traditions of Men

        I wish it was as simple as saying, God commands mankind to observe the 7^th day Sabbath, and the Sabbath would be universally accepted. The ugly truth is few churches are willing to deny, the Bible does explicitly say to follow the 7^th day. The problem is Christians aren’t eagerly jumping on board to keep the 7^th  day Sabbath as God commanded through the Bible.

                Unfortunately, there is an apparent disconnect between God and man on this subject. God is perfectly clear on the subject, and man continually struggles to prove God wrong. Going forward, we’ll look at man’s proof text and compare the wording to God’s explicit will. Like a scale of justice, God’s words will be weighed on one side and man’s comments on the opposite side.

        This booklet is more concerned with the causality of events and not condemning someone for keeping one day instead of another. If you’re happy with your beliefs,  Sunday worship and dinners, I’m probably not going to sway you one way or another. If there exists the least bit of curiosity within someone, then knowing what God has to say about this subject might be a major concern.

        This Sabbath day study begins with an acknowledgment.

I understand there is a considerable degree of skepticism about the 7^thday Sabbath. I even acquiesce Sunday observance is deeply ingrained within Christianity’s fabric of this nation. Sunday worship represents generations of a family’s particular day of worshiping God. A time when the family rested from their labors and had Sunday dinners together. Simply put, it’s the Christain doctrine and their venerated day of the Lord. One might ask, “can the beliefs of an entire nation of people be wrong for centuries?”

        In this small booklet, we also will attempt to illustrate where the train left the tracks, in a manner of speaking. God’s commandments on this subject couldn’t be any clearer. In fact, Sabbath is mentioned in 116 verses from 19 books in the Bible.

        Let’s address one of the questions I proposed in the introduction, If Christianity came from Judaism, as so many scholars acknowledge, why are there separate days of worship for Christians and Jews?

        Why did the worship of God center around the 7^th day Sabbath for the entirety of the Old Testament? For 1500 years under the auspice of Hebrew teachings, the 7^th day was the only day to worship God? Then the religious world took an entirely separate direction in the New Testament? Where did that divergence occur, and why did it happen?

                It also creates subsequent questions in my mind like, why do Christians carry Hebrew manuscripts while denying large portions of its teachings?

The Bible is mostly written by Hebrews of one tribe, or another and most were observers of the Sabbath. From where did the idea materialize concerning altering Sabbath worship, and what transcendent authority made changing acceptable? Can there be any good reason to alter prior beliefs and teachings? Are the changes a result of changes made by God or based upon traditions?

God’s Seasons

        Another subset of God’s weekly Sabbath are annual observances like Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Trumpets listed in Leviticus 23. These days play a significant role in teaching God’s plan to man. They may seem strange after a lifetime of following secular holidays, but understanding these times have a substantial unrealized effect on ones’ salvation. We’ll speak more about these days, more so later in the booklet.

        Christians additionally have a subset to Sunday worship. The major times are Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, which occur at a time of the year outside God’s prescribed times. It’s interesting to note, in the northern hemisphere, man created times of worship occurring in the dark months of the year, while God’s days occur in the months filled with light. These secular days directly contradict God’s Holy Days and serve as counterfeits pulling away from God, many hearts and minds.

Galatians 4:8-12, However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? ¹⁰ You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

        A closer examination shows God’s holy seasons are times of abundance. This occurs when the three major harvest periods are being completed. Secular holidays are times when the earth is at rest and not producing, a time when man is left to his own imagination. That’s why God commanded offerings three times a year when He did. Deuteronomy 16:16, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and they are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. ¹⁷ Everyone shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.      

     As I said, God desires His people to observe His times which are Unleavened bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles, listed in Leviticus 23;1-44; the Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

³‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings. ⁴‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. ⁵In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. ⁸But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.'” ⁹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one Year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ¹⁵‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. ¹⁶You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. ¹⁸Along with the bread you shall present seven one Year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

²²‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.'” ²³Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.'” ²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷“On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³²It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath.” ³³Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. ³⁶For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. ³⁷‘These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day— ³⁸besides those of the sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the Year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴²You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, ⁴³so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.'” ⁴⁴So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.

        The contents of the entire chapter were purposely included to illustrate a couple of essential points. Number one: verse two states, these are God’s days of observance, which He commands man to observe. I can’t reiterate that fact nearly enough times; God desires His people to worship Him only on these specific days.

 Number two, He began with the Sabbath day and highlighted it as the 7^th day of the week. God rested on the 7^th day as an example to man after He created the Universe. The obvious question here, why would God rest on the 1^st day of the week before He did a single thing regarding creation? You work, then you rest, not the other way around. Number three, nowhere, and I mean nowhere in the Bible, will you find either together or individually a commandment by God to worship on the 1^st day of the week. Nor can one find any secular holidays like Christmas in the Bible. The Bible exclusively encompasses times only God commands as His.

        Yes, I understand the King James version reads in Acts 12:4,  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

        This, by all accounts, is a deliberate mistranslation and a purposeful manipulation of the original manuscript. The word Easter was changed from the word Passover, which occurs approximately at the same time annually. One is God’s commanded celebration, and the other is a worldly celebration tied to paganism. There wasn’t a chance on earth Paul or any other disciple would ever observe Easter. Any God-loving Hebrew at the time this was written would have stayed far away from such celebrations.

        In fact, ask yourself this question, if Easter is all about the resurrection of Christ, why is the etymology of the word steeped in pagan lore? Easter’s roots go all the way back to ancient Babylon to the goddess Astarte. Unger’s Bible Dictionary translates the word by the following, “The word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor

sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century, Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. M. Denis-Boulet, Christian Calendar (1960).”
        AlexanderHislop’s Two Babylons interprets it like this: “What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.”

Adam’s Clarke Commentary adds this to the discussion, “The Saxon Earten, Eartne, Eartno, Eartna, and Eartnon are different modes of spelling the name of the goddess Easter, whose festival was celebrated by our pagan forefathers on the month of April; hence that month, in the Saxon calendar, is called Easter month. Every view we can take of this subject shows the gross impropriety of retaining a name every way exceptionable, and palpably absurd.”

        It’s an abomination toward God for this word to ever appear on the pages of the Bible, especially the way this reads in Acts. In most, if not all, subsequent translations, the error was corrected, but that doesn’t stop the naysayers from falling back on this translation to champion their beliefs.

        Here is the proper reading of the manuscript, Acts 12:4 (New American StandardBible).   When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.

        This may seem trivial to some but truth in doctrine is incredibly crucial to correctly understand God’s holy will. There is no mistake in scripture too small to ignore. Hence, the very reason for this book.

     Generations have worshiped under the pretense of truth when all along, they have been misled or been disingenuous concerning the Bible. The divergence of worship days is guided mainly by man’s traditions, not by God’s desire. The change came directly from Satan filtering down into the willing hands of men.

        If someone wants to understand the Bible more fully, they need only to peruse doctrine through to the origins of some of their religious practices. I will delve more fully into some of these later on, but I first want to finish my original thought. How did Christians move from 7^th day worship to Sunday or 1^st day observance?

        To answer this, it requires us to examine a brief history lesson on the subject. I’ll begin with a comment from everyone’s favorite source of information, Wikipedia. “Early Christians largely continued to pray and rest on the seventh day but soon also observed Sunday, the day of the week on which Jesus had risen from the dead and on which the Holy Spirit had come to the apostles.” 

        Here’s a statement that either intentionally falsifies the evidence or was simply born out of a lack of knowledge. Thoroughly investigating the evidence, mainly scripture rejects a Sunday resurrection. Oops, I said it. It may surprise someone to learn; there is no credible evidence in scripture for a Sunday resurrection. How can that be? Let’s examine verses together, see what the verses say, don’t take my word for it, and don’t accept mainstream religions’ explanations of truth either.

        Mainstream churches like to tout Sunday being enacted as the day of worship because Christ supposedly rose on that day; we’ve seen that already. The claim going forward, all Christians should now worship on Sunday, “the lord’s day.” Regardless of what someone calls the day, the scriptures documenting the resurrection are used as proof and listed in the following verses, Matthew 28:1, Luke 24:1-11, John 20:1-10, and Mark 16:1-8.

Ican see no significant disagreements in the world of religion regarding these being used for their proof.

        Let’s look at one of these verses and see what else they say or what they don’t say. John 20:1, Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

        When Mary arrived at the tomb, it was still dark, not my words but an eyewitness account of events. The time isn’t sunrise when it’s dark; I hope we all can agree upon that simple fact.

     Mark 16:1 states it slightly differently, “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³ and they asked each other,

        The common theme throughout these verses is underlined and in bold print. “When the Sabbath was over,” was it midnight when the Sabbath was over? It’s important to interject how time was observed at the time of Jesus. The days began and ended at sunset… so the Sabbath could only be over at sunset on Saturday (7^th day).

     In Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:1-10 says multiple other women arrived after the Sabbath at early dawn. The women must have traveled separately from Mary Magdalene to the tomb for this to happen. It doesn’t in any way, shape, or form discount John’s account that Mary was first to arrive at the tomb.

     Let us examine the words of the Bible about the beginning or end of the day.  We are told in Leviticus 23:32 to observe the Atonement, a High Sabbath; it says “from even to even.”  The Hebrew word for “even” is ereb, meaning dusk.
In the account of Mark 1:21, it states the Messiah was teaching one sabbath in the synagogue, something He often did. After leaving the synagogue, the Messiah visited Simon’s mother-in-law, healing her of the fever. Immediately she began ministering unto them.
   Inverse 32 of the same account, scriptures clearly tell us the Messiah, when the Sabbath was over, He immediately began healing any infirmed who were brought to Him. He did that on the same day He taught in the Synagogue after sunset when the Sabbath was over. The Sabbath day came first, then evening completed the day.
      The same account documented in Luke 4:40 describes the incident in this manner, Luke 4:38-42, Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her. 39 And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and served them. 40 Now while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He was laying His hands on each one of them and healing them. 41 Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” And yet He was rebuking them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that He was the Christ.

        It’s more than apparent, the day ended and another had begun at the setting of the sun. It was only after the sun began setting when the Messiah healed many more people. There are thirty documented places in the Torah (First 5 books of the Bible) where someone defiled was unclean until sunset. It is more than reasonable to believe that God declared the day ended, and the unclean would again be cleansed.

        One more thought on this; the body of the Messiah had to be removed from the stake on which he hung because a high Sabbath was quickly approaching at sundown. The only reason to feel anxious about this because it was a Hebrew law that a body wasn’t to hang on a tree overnight, and touching a dead body would make a person unclean. No one wanted to be unclean, especially on an annual high Sabbath, because they would be excluded from participating in the commanded assemblies the next day.

        Let’s step back for just a moment; John states early on the 1^st day of the week, “while it was still dark,” the sun hadn’t even risen yet, and Mary is already at the tomb. What else does it say? There was no Messiah in the tomb!

        If someone leaves their home and a friend unannounced comes to visit, would they automatically know when their friend left home? NO, they most certainly would not!

        This is John’s account and a personal witness of these events. Luke’s account is second hand but still extremely relevant. He states the women came early in the morning….what women? Did those women include Mary, who most likely went ahead of the others to have the guards remove the stone for their work beforehand? These are really the only two accounts that matter in regards to a Sunday resurrection.

        Another scriptural account John 19:31, The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

        He had to be taken off the stake before sunset because a Sabbath day was approaching at “sunset.” Even Christianity claims Christ died Friday afternoon before sunset. The difference between Christianity’s claim and the actual truth is: what type of Sabbath this day represented?

        American King James Version—clearly states that this was an approaching Sabbath and “was a high day.” This term does not refer to the weekly Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). This day at that time of the Year would be the first day of Unleavened Bread, one of God’s annual Holy Days,  American King James Version; Leviticus 23:6-7, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 In the first day you shall have an holy convocation: you shall do no servile work therein.

        Several Bible commentaries, encyclopedias, and dictionaries will confirm that John is NOT referring to the weekly Sabbath, but rather to one of the 7 annual High Sabbaths.

The biblical calendar in that year would place this high-day (Sabbath) on a Thursday (meaning it began on Wednesday night at sunset). We can confirm this by looking at the details in the Gospel accounts—which show us that two separate preparation days and two Sabbath days are mentioned.

        Here is what is necessary to understand. The total amount of time Jesus was in the tomb was three days and three nights. He did NOT  die on a Friday afternoon and rise early Sunday morning? He actually was in the tomb 72 hours as He claimed He would? Matthew 12:38-40. ^“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” ³⁹ But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; ⁴⁰ for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” 

        The traditional view allows Jesus to only be in the tomb for only a day and a half. In an off-handed way, this is calling the Messiah a liar. He specifically said three days and three nights and rose at sunset on the Sabbath (Saturday).

        Some contend the Messiah’s statement He would be “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” does not require a literal span of 72 hours. There is deceptive reasoning in mainstream religion that says any part of a day can be reckoned as a whole day.

        Here’s what they offer as a solution, they contend since Jesus died on Friday afternoon before being entombed at the upcoming sunset, they believe the closing few minutes of that Friday constituted the first day. Then, Friday night constituted the first night of the three required. Saturday, which was the weekly Sabbath made for the second day, and the second night.  At dawn on Sunday morning was enough to say it was the third day, including the time of the Messiah’s resurrection.

        One massive problem with this reasoning, where is the third night? Even if a few minutes of daylight late on Friday and another few on Sunday morning constitute “days,” this interpretation fails to explain there only being two nights—Friday night and Saturday night. Can a reasonable person simply disregard the third night of which Jesus spoke?

        If the Messiah had risen before Sunday sunrise, as John clearly illustrates, no parts of Sunday could be counted as a day. That fact brings our count to two days and two nights. Jesus states very specifically, “Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” We have no biblical basis for thinking that Jesus meant only two nights and one day, and plus part of one other day. If the Messiah were in the tomb from late Friday afternoon to early Sunday morning, then the sign that He used to legitimize Himself as the prophesied Messiah was not fulfilled.

        So, how do we satisfy the sign Christ gave to anyone willing to listen? Once more, let’s carefully examine the details from the Gospels. When we do, we uncover the real story of how Jesus’ words were fulfilled precisely.

        When considering all the details in all the relevant Gospel accounts, the picture is increasingly apparent. Jesus was crucified and entombed late on Wednesday afternoon, just before a high Sabbath began at sunset. Just to reiterate, that was a high-day Sabbath, lasting from Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset, rather than the regular weekly Sabbath that lasted from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

        This timeline perfectly accommodates three full nights (Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night) and three full daylight periods (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). This is the only timeline perfectly fitting the Messiah’s own prophecy.

        It fits precisely with all the details recorded in all three Gospels. Also, keep this in mind; there are no registered accounts of any eyewitness seeing Jesus Christ rise from the tomb. All we truly know from the Gospel accounts, the Messiah’s resurrection had already occurred before that Sunday sunrise.

        This is important because the Messiah rose from the tomb at sunset on the Sabbath, not sunrise on Sunday morning. Therefore, one cannot say they are keeping Sunday because Christ rose on that Sunday morning. He did not rise on Sunday; it never happened, and the scriptures prove it didn’t happen. Besides, nowhere in the Bible does it stipulate we are to worship the Messiah on the day He supposedly rose from the tomb.

        When examining scriptures, the gospel accounts clearly nullifies a Sunday resurrection. Contending the Messiah was crucified on Friday afternoon is based solely upon man’s assumptions, not to mention ignorance of the culture.

        The main point of all this; sunset is the demarcation line in God’s day. Sabbath began and ended at sunset, and no other time of the day. No clocks existed other than sundials, which would be quite useless at night. Although, there were rudimentary instruments for hourly measurements dating back to the time of Christ, like water clocks, sand clocks, candle clocks, and oil lamps. It was likely the Priest in the Temple used oil lamps to determine the passage of time during the night.

        Night cycles in ancient Jerusalem were divided into four watches, not hours. The book of  Matthew, for example, states that it was in the fourth watch of the night when Jesus walked on water. (Matthew 14:25).

        Daylight, on the other hand, was divided into 12-hour increments, as illustrated in the parable of the laborers hired at different times in the day, the last at the 11th hour (Mt 20:9). There are references to Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well at the sixth hour (Jn 4:6). The book of Mark says Jesus was crucified at the third hour and died at the ninth hour (Mk 15:25,33).

        Mechanical clocks weren’t invented until the 14^th century AD as well as the well-known hourglass. We all have lived and have grown up in an automated world where everything is precisely measured by mechanical instruments. The modern age doesn’t rely upon the constant seasonal changes, which no longer has any significant bearings on keeping time.

Humans are caught in a doctrinal vice, squeezing the ancient customs from our reckoning one generation at a time. Therefore we become less and less willing to comprehend alternate explanations. This leads to accepting false teachings that strain to explain simple scriptures like, “three days and three nights.”

Unclean Until Sunset

          In Leviticus ll:24-25, anyone touching or carrying the carcass of any unclean creature would be “unclean until the even.” With the beginning of a new day at even (sundown) when the person would be considered clean once again.
           To show when the person would be considered unclean, note Leviticus 22:6-7, “The soul which has touched any such shall be unclean until even…And when the sun is down, he shall be clean…” Note carefully that the Bible does NOT say a person shall be unclean until midnight or until sunrise. Biblical days change at sunset, not midnight or sunup.
     Anyone touching an unclean thing, dead or otherwise, would be considered unclean until even, when the sun had set, which started a new day. Then he would be regarded as clean again. He was not unclean until midnight or dawn, but until sundown, when a new day began at the start of the evening.
     To prepare for the time of cleansing, one was to wash and cleanse oneself while the sun was still up, and after sunset, there would be sufficient light for him to find his way back to the camp. Additionally, one would desire to be washed and clean before a Sabbath day was about to begin; being clean inward as well as on the outside was paramount with God’s people.
   Deuteronomy 23:11, gives us two definite points of time: “But it shall be when evening comes on, he shall wash himself with water; and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.”
     Notice that the unclean man was to wash thoroughly as sundown approached in anticipation of the new day. After the sun had set, he was free to return to the camp, clean once more before the new day had arrived with the coming of sunset.
     Pay special attention to the first part of Deuteronomy 23:10-11, where the rite of cleansing was completed before darkness. ” cleansing occurred by night beginnings.” Now, if a new day begins at sunrise, it would be perfectly acceptable for the unclean man to return to camp at dawn. But the Messiah said he was to wait: “But it shall be, when evening comes on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again,” 

                              More Sunset Beginnings

 
        If what we’ve already discussed isn’t enough proof, we should examine a few more instances where the sunset is shown as the end of day.  Let’s begin in the New Testament, reading in Luke 24:29, “Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”  The word evening is from the Greek hesperos , meaning “evening or the eve.” The day ended at sundown and the new day began. Also, in  Judges 19:9, we read, “Behold, now the day draws toward evening…the day grows to an end.”  The wording is unmistakable; the day in reference is approaching and end marked by the sun’s setting. One more in Judges l4:l2. This is where Samson issued a riddle during his wedding feast to taunt his enemies. They were to give Samson an answer within the seven days of the feast. In verse l8, it says this “on the seventh day before the sun went down.” There’s no mistaking, the seven days ended at that seventh-day sundown. They solved the riddle just before the seven days had fully expired—at sunset.  Nehemiah 13:19 tells us, “And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath…” Notice that it “began to be dark before the Sabbath.” The Sabbath had not yet arrived, but late afternoon shadows covered the streets, and Nehemiah commanded the gates to be shut before the Sabbath started, which was before it was completely dark. In 2 Samuel 3:35, Mourning for the death of general Abner, king David refused food, for he had made an oath not to eat until the setting sun ended the day.

Joshua 10:26-27, we learn that Joshua had the dead kings hung on five trees until evening. Verse 27 says that at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded that they be taken down from the trees and thrown into a cave. For a very good reason, it was a curse for someone to be hung on a tree in ancient Israel.

Deuteronomy 21:23,  his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

This is the main reason the disciples were able to prevail in getting the Messiah’s body removed from the stake for burial.

The Jewish law required the Messiah to be taken down; even the Pharisees and Sadducees wouldn’t have objected.  We as God’s people are reminded in Ephesians 4:26, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” 

        This verse causes me to wonder if one’s anger could be considered unclean within God’s people. To be clean from anger, one must be set apart from the congregation until they are considered clean again. This is an intriguing thought because the Messiah warns His people about hatred in Matthew 5:21-24, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. ²³ Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

        It more than sounds like to me anger is something God’s people should try and control as best they possibly can.

Changing weekly Sabbath

        Here’s a question, when did the 1^st day of the week become the de facto day of worship? Mainstream Christians contend Paul was the emphasis toward changing the day. As we already explored, Christians continue to rely hugely upon the Sunday resurrection, which is false. So, what are the scriptures Christians use to say the worship day was changed? Christians contend Paul was the arbiter of this change.

        It begins with the next scripture, where Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. 1^st Corinthians 16:1, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: ² On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. ³ And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me.

        Paul was coming to collect funds for the church in Jerusalem. They simply weren’t able to do what was necessary before the 1^st day of the week for whatever reason. The day prior was the Sabbath, and most likely, when the letter from Paul was read to the congregation. Paul wouldn’t travel on the Sabbath, and the people wouldn’t be found guilty of breaking the Sabbath by working. Just because you see the 1^st day mentioned doesn’t mean there was any significant shift in doctrines. It simply may have meant the 1^st day was the first opportunity to collect what was necessary for Jerusalem’s church. It might have been essential to collect quickly after the Sabbath because Paul would be by shortly after the 1^st day while on his way to Jerusalem.

        Wikipedia adds this to the subject of Paul changing the times of worship. Paul the Apostle and the Christians of Troas, for example, gathered on Sunday “to break bread” (Acts 20:7) and Paul indicated Sunday as the day on which the Corinthian Christians were to put their alms aside 1 Corinthians16:2). 

Comments in biblical commentaries say, “Soon some Christians were observing only Sunday and not the Sabbath.” 

        The scriptures document one instance in the Bible, where Paul may have taught on the week’s 1^st day. According to mainstream religion, this event is all that is scripturally required to override 1500 years of scriptural Sabbath observance? How many preachers today have worship services on Wednesdays or Bible conventions other than on Sundays? Does that mean we should move all worship to the middle of the week on Wednesdays or alternate times during the week?  Based upon this reasoning, that’s exactly what should be done.

        Perhaps Paul was in Troas on the Sabbath, teaching the church on the Sabbath as he typically would. He could have taught and spoken past sundown, taking him into the week’s 1st day. Read the verse once again, Acts 20:7, On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

        ATTENTION: breaking bread in the Bible IS NOT A RELIGIOUS TERM!!!! It is a function of every modern church and involves EATING!!!!

        How big a stretch is it for someone to contend, breaking bread and enjoying a meal after worship changed times and laws? The claim is only that breaking bread means they had a worship service on Sunday. That is an enormous leap for supposedly intelligent people.

        After the Sabbath was over at sundown, and the 1^st day of the week began, they were eating a meal while Paul kept teaching. Paul had to leave the following morning, so He, being a good teacher, stayed over, and answered their questions until midnight. It even says in Acts 18:4,  And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

        But for argument’s sake, let’s pretend Paul did have some sort of service on a Sunday. Paul was meeting with the folks because he was leaving the next day, as it says. Could it be Paul was endeavoring to pass along as much knowledge as possible before once more beginning his journey? I find that a plausible assumption because conversations can often linger on as time permits from my own experience. Once again, that one event in Acts cannot set aside God’s holy day; it’s totally outside the realm of possibilities.

        Paul attended church on the 7^th day of the week, NOT on the 1^st day of the week. The 1^st day wasn’t considered a day of worship for Jews when the apostles walked the earth. Why would Paul simply pluck some arbitrary day out of the air and attempt to make it holy over God’s commanded day? That makes absolutely no sense in light of Paul’s background.

It would seem as though modern Christians believe you could tell a Jew to stop observing on the Sabbath and start eating pork, and they would do so without question. The contemporary Christian couldn’t be more wrong; Jews will go to their deaths to defend the 7^th day Sabbath and starve to death before indulging in a porkchop.

        Acts 25:8, Paul made this comment concerning his loyalty to the Messiah “Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended anything at all.”  

How could this be true if he had not been keeping the weekly Sabbath as Jewish law requires?

        Paul being a Benjamite by birth, grew up in the synagogue surrounded by fellow Hebrews. Acts quotes Paul referring to his family by saying he was “a Pharisee, born of Pharisees.

        When Paul was fairly young, history tells us he was sent to Jerusalem to receive his education at the school of Gamaliel. It was very likely he then joined the Sanhedrin as a Pharisee, even though it doesn’t directly say he did. However, there is evidence of his participation in Acts 26:9-11, “So I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, after receiving authority from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being put to death.

        Paul was 100% all-in on chasing down and destroying the followers of the Messiah. He cast his vote against the faction and was given the authority to pursue and torture the faithful followers. At the stoning of Stephen, he held the coats of those casting the stones and made no attempt to stop the men.

        Later on, Paul was converted on the road to Damascus by the Messiah. Paul was in the process of hunting down disciples hiding in Damascus when he was struck blind by the Messiah.

Paul eventually became a convert and went on to author many of the letters, of some we now have in the New Testament. Were these the only letters available to a team of 3^rd century bishops telling the story of Christianity?

        I guess that’s a question for the ages, but all this begs the following question about Paul in light of the text above vagueness attempting to prove 1^st day worship.

        Are these 1^stday quotes from Paul’s letters somehow supposed to prove that he had some special authority to change worship from the 7^th day to the 1^st day of the week?

        Who is Paul? Who is this one man capable of changing 1500 years of precedence? How can one man supersede set times and days the creator God of the Universe put into place? Is it possible for any man or group of men to have that amount of authority over God? If God rejected  Satan’s desire to supplant His rule, why would God allow a mere mortal to do something Satan wasn’t allowed to do?

        This is an absolute abomination toward the word of God and His will. In the pages of Daniel 7:25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

        Does any apostle have any right to supersede Jesus the Christ and the Ten Commandments? According to scriptures, “No, he does not!“ The problem is this, the mainstream world of religion for the past 1700 years certainly attempts to replace God’s will with their own doctrines. Why else throw out ridiculous passages as some proof text for unfounded doctrine?

        What was Paul telling the Corinthians? He told them to lay something aside on the first day because it was a workday, a day they could harvest their fields or make goods to be sold in markets. The Sabbath was a day when Hebrews rested from work and couldn’t gather or sell or even walk a quarter-mile in any direction (according to pharisaical laws).

        In fact, the Messiah confronted with the Pharisees about this in Luke 6:1-5,  Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that He went through the grain fields. And His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. ² And some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” ³ But Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?” ⁵ And He said to them, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” 

        Did this mean Jesus advocated disobeying the Sabbath? It certainly did not! What Jesus was conveying was the fact he was the creator of the Sabbath, and merely plucking a few grains in a field for sustenance wasn’t a violation. He was the one who set aside the 7^th day as a day of rest; you would think the Messiah would have some insight into its proper applications.

        If there are any lingering doubts, the one we call Messiah was the creator, read the following verses: John 1:1-18, 1 Corinthians 10: 5-20 and Hebrews 1:1-3; this is unequivocal proof of the identity of the Messiah.

        Without a doubt, He was the creator who breathed life into the nostrils of Adam and Eve. He was the God that gave Moses the ten commandments, including the fourth commandment Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

        Jesus the Christ, because he dared to correct the Pharisees and Sadducees in their traditions, he made them a formidable enemy. One bent on His destruction and eventually would become instrumental in His death. What is interesting about this, the Pharisees and Sadducees were 7^th day Sabbath observers. They kept God’s laws and holy days but were mortal enemies of the man called Jesus because He challenged their traditions, but not the laws. In fact, the Messiah said He didn’t come to earth to change the laws. Matthew 5:17-19, “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! 19 Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

        There is a supposition that says, since Christ fulfilled the laws, they no longer apply, but please consider these two facts: One, He said, (Matt. 5:19) whoever teaches the law would be called great in the kingdom, but those diminishing the commandments would be called least in God’s kingdom. Why would the Messiah say something like that if the law was done away? The second point of disagreement with mainstream contentions (Matt. 6) God magnifies the law to a higher plain and therefore, the physical aspects are null. Are we truly supposed to believe that elevating the law nullifies the law? Wouldn’t it be  correct to view they claim the law is done away with as just wishful thinking   ? Some folks will do anything and say anything to promote their version of the Bible. After all, isn’t it really just the 4^th commandment the mainstream religions have a problem with?

        The 7^th day Sabbath is undoubtedly a thorn in the sides of those that advocate Sunday worship today. Men and women in mainstream religion act like the Pharisees and Sadducees of yesteryears. That’s because Jesus the Christ created the Sabbath, and it’s here to stay regardless of what they desire.  Hebrews 13:8,  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever. The 7^th day Sabbath will also be the day of worship in God’s future kingdom. I understand that might be troublesome for some but it’s true nonetheless.

        One day in the not so distant future, Sunday  will be just another day. Worship on Sunday will become no more and will pass into obscurity and will always be the first day of the week.  The Sabbath will always be the 7^th day, a day of rest and a day to be made holy.

        But this didn’t answer the question, how did the 1^st day of the week replace the 7^th day in Christain worship. Let me introduce a man that was instrumental in this transition, a man called Constantine.

Constantine

        Records strongly indicate most followers of Christ up to the 3^rd century observed the 7^th day Sabbath faithfully. So, what could possibly change, creating such a gigantic rift? Israel followed the 7^th day Sabbath for almost 1800 years at this point in time. It’s true, there were brief interruptions because of veering away from God; but they always came back to God.

Why would a nation of people suddenly move to a different day of worship after all they had gone through? Why such a sudden and significant shift with a new religion called “Christianity?”

        This type of earth-shaking doctrinal change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We don’t witness churches in mass droves move away from any other doctrines in today’s churches. Change is a very subtle beast; it comes in minor disagreements between leaders or organizations.

        If one studies the subtle differences in all protestant churches around the world, findings will show very few doctrinal variances. Most, if not all, denominations adhere to the Trinity, Sunday resurrection, and traditional holiday observance. They also advocate God’s law is done away, and one can live solely on grace.

        Most minor differences in doctrine occur where small groups depart from mainstream congregations over dancing, drinking alcohol, using musical instruments in church. The point is, rarely is there any major shift in any doctrine that flows down from their mother church, the Vatican.

The hidden truth is, churches tend to follow their beloved minister or priest and become hurt and disgruntled when leadership wants to remove their beloved pastor. This is often the catalyst in small congregational rebellions culminating in a split. A church will often leave with that minister if he decides to exit an organization over some dispute. This is the very reason why many religious organizations will move their ministers around, never leaving them shepherding over a particular church for very long. They don’t give the congregation time to form those attachments to a particular minister.

        I’m off the main trail somewhat, but I felt this was information that needed saying to help complete the whole picture.

        As I indicated before, the major shift came with the introduction of one man. He was instrumental in merging paganism with Judaism creating a brand new belief. It wasn’t easy at first both groups had distinct issues with the other.

        To pagans, Judaism was undesirably Jewish with their monolithic view of God. A one God belief repelled many prospective converts from joining them at first. Most were not ready to disregard their lifelong pagan deities and celebrations to become Jew like in their worship. They loved their holidays and gods and weren’t prepared to shed their favorite deities.

        The same could be said for Christian converts; they had given up paganism and embraced the 7^th day and holy days while rejecting old pagan gods. They weren’t ready to acquiesce backward to old beliefs. They were prepared to hold firmly to their new convictions, no matter the consequences.

        How did Constantine merge these two groups into one religion? Let’s look at a brief history of Constantine and where he came from. This information is taken from Wikipedia: “Flavius Valerius Constantinus; it was his Latin name, also known as Constantine I, and was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337.

        Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was a son of Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian army officer who became one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, a less impressive heritage, was Helena, who was Greek by birth and from a family of low esteem.

        Constantine served with distinction under emperors Diocletian and Galerius campaigning in the eastern provinces against barbarians and the Persians, before being recalled west in 305 to fight under his father in Britain.

        After his father died in 306, Constantine was acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (York). He emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become the Roman Empire’s sole ruler by 324.

        As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social, and military reforms to strengthen the Roman Empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. He introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years to combat inflation.

        The Roman army was reorganized to consist of mobile units and garrison troops capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths, and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.

        Constantine lived much of his life as a pagan. Later, he joined the Christian religion as a convert but only on his deathbed, being baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia. Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. His role was influential in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convened the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which produced the Nicene Creed proclamations.

        The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his mother’s recommendation and his orders at the purported site of Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem, becoming the holiest place in Christendom. The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine. He has historically been referred to as the “First Christian Emperor.

        This was the man who became the instrument of change. That tremendous change can be viewed as good or bad, but that’s a question the reader must answer. Personally, I consider it very bad because, according to scripture, there is a curse that accompanies changing God’s word. Either way, today’s mainstream churches and their teachings are concrete in their views, and a little thing like God’s curse isn’t going to stand in their way.

History of Christian Worship

        We will now look at why the church was willing to dramatically change course. We touched briefly upon why the two factions were repelled by the other, but those differences eventually disintegrated into nothingness. Constantine was the primary catalyst opening the door for compromise, but what made the change palpable?

        To answer this question, we first must take a look at the history of those merging into Judaism from paganism. We need to see what they believed before they became Christain.

        The known world of Ancient Roman rule was governed by multiple gods’ and beliefs. They were, in fact, Polytheism with their worship.

        The main gods and goddesses are too numerous to state by name and function. But the major deities were:  Jupiter (protector of the state), Juno (protector of women), and Minerva (goddess of craft and wisdom). Other major gods included Mars (God of war), Mercury (God of trade and messenger of the gods), and Bacchus (God of grapes and wine production). Venus was believed to be the mother of Aeneas, who, according to legend, founded Rome, making her the divine mother of the Roman people. Similarly, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus, brothers and founders of Rome.

    The pagan Mithra religion became popular with the Roman legions – many of whose soldiers served under Constantine. Shrines to this god have been found in Britain, Syria, and across North Africa. Almost anywhere one might find roman soldiers, they could find images of the pagan god Mithra and the goddess Isis.

        It was from these two pagan beliefs where Sunday worship and veneration of the sun influenced Christianity. The pagan god Mithra was considered a co-equal with the celestial sun. His title included the moniker “Radiant Sun.”

        The pagan god Mitra is also associated with sunrise and a Sun Salutation as part of daily activity. Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”) was the official sun god of the later Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. On December 25, AD 274, the Roman emperor Aurelian made it an official religion alongside the traditional Roman cults. Constantine made this symbol his own and was a useful tool for bringing Christians and pagans together into one religion.

        From there, other pagan celebrations began merging into Christendom, like Christmas, on December 25. It was clear why most pagans became Christians; they didn’t actually need to change anything. They observed Sunday worship in paganism, and now  they would do the same under Christianity.

        Hearts and minds didn’t actually change toward the true God, only titles of their pagan gods. But, converted pagans had to legitimize what they were doing to appease the few true Christians who still observed the Sabbath. In that vein, they set up counsels and religious authorities to give credence to their agenda.

        Under Godly worship and authority’s guise, bishops by name only and ministers came together at the council of Nicea 325AD, where certain disputes were supposedly settled. They set in motion doctrines that are still taught today without biblical precedence. Landmark decisions included the Trinity, also known as the Nicene Creed.

        Constantine was insistent on Christianity being the explicit religion throughout the Roman Empire; so, what the council said, goes. In that light, there emerged a significant turn of events at another council later on after Constantine’s death.

        The council of Laodicea began constructing the Bible as we know it today. They excluded some books and letters in place of others based upon their interpretation of legitimacy. Many Old Testament books listed in the Septuagint were excluded, including the New Testament letter of John called “Revelation.” The Septuagint was the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), including the Apocrypha, made for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Councils of Rome selecting books for the newly formed Bible using the Septuagint as reference rejected many of the Greek version books, including the Apocrypha. At the council of Laodicea, an edict was drafted outlawing Sabbath-keeping (Saturday), and encouraging rest on Sunday (canon 29) took place.

        This is where the most significant divergence of the two beliefs occurred, in my humble opinion. From that time until now, Sunday worship has been defended by the sword of the greatest world powers, while Sabbath worship has been equally condemned. These are the actual words to Canon 29: Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.

        For the sake of arguing, let’s look at some comparisons. Here the newly formed Catholic church is very succinct in their reasonings for not observing the Sabbath. Notice they didn’t use the same tired old arguments we hear from modern-day churches today. Ridiculous statements such as Paul and Christain’s worshiped on Sunday, and the New Testament or New covenant did away with the laws of God, particularly the 4^th commandment.

        Look at their justification, “Christians must not be found Judaizing by resting on the Sabbath. By Christain standards, that is a workday; Sunday is not the day God desires man to rest on. If a “Christain” is found Judaizing by observing the Sabbath, then he becomes an anathema. What does becoming an anathema mean?

Here is the Merriam-Websters definition:

1. someone or something intensely disliked or loathed —usually used as a predicate nominative.

2. one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority

3. a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication

4. the denunciation of something as accursed

5. a vigorous denunciation: CURSE

        So, Sabbath-keepers get the boot and are no longer welcomed in the community of believers. The infant catholic church used intimidation and threats at the beginning. Today in the mainstream churches, they merely misrepresent the Sabbath.

That threat was a tool of the Catholic church for well over a thousand years. Even today, the Catholic church uses intimidation as a tool to keep their parishes in line. It isn’t as extreme as the old church, but they still use excommunication as a weapon of choice.

          Why did the Jews get under their skin in such a profound way? After all, Rome was noted for the inclusion of other religions into their nation before Christianity came along. Constantine changed the welcome matt at the door to read, “Christain’s only.” He did away with the old ways of dealing with different religions and incorporated every deity under one banner of exclusion; under the banner of Christianity.

        In fact, Constantine changed how religion was incorporated into the new Rome. He made religion an equal partner of the government, not just a side entity. It would be the church that governed the world in matters of belief, not kings or emperors. The church began having a small role at first, but the church became more and more powerful as the hundreds of years passed.

        At its climax in the middle ages, the church wielded immense power over kings and queens to the extent that they didn’t dare make a major move in the world without consulting the Pope first. Or, at least considering the consequences of their actions in correlation to the desires of Rome.

        This was a beast; unlike any other, it had two horns of power. One horn represented the civil government. The other was a powerful religious side. It was Christian and lamb-like in all appearances but had and still has a deadly bite. Now look at Revelation 13:11-20, Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. ¹² He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. ¹³ He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. ¹⁴ And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life. ¹⁵ And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves,  to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, ¹⁷ and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

        I would ask the reader to compare these verses to what Constantine has done. Did his actions create this beast spoken of by John? Remember, at the council of Nicea, they tried to exclude the letter of Revelation from John? Was it because they saw something in Revelation they didn’t want others to notice? Did they see a description of themselves and their motives?

        This information should be a giant billboard warning all practicing Catholics to reconsider their faith. There was no initial reasoning for worshiping on Sunday except the religious hierarchy at the time, dictating its observance to everyone. The religious leaders despised the Jews so much the very thought of hearing about God from them on the Sabbath became their anathema.

Persecutions of Sabbath Keepers

        Did the Roman Catholic church stop there, NO! They didn’t; instead, they went after Sabbath-keepers for following the Bible’s explicit instructions. Hal Holbrook narrated a 5 hour series on the Sabbat called “The Seventh Day,” which documented abuses Sabbath observers have endured the last 1700 years. The documentary well defines the Catholic church as the entity that led persecutions throughout the ages.

        Considered forerunners of the Protestant Reformation by various historians, the Waldensians stressed the importance of adhering strictly to the Bible’s teachings as the only rule of faith. Finding that many teachings and practices of the Roman Church were based more on tradition than Scripture, they rejected these doctrines and rituals, calling believers to return to the simplicity of the New Testament lifestyle and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.

        The church became incensed, launching investigations followed by persecutions of the Waldensians. This all took place at the third Lateran Council (1179), which ultimately condemned the Waldensians as heretics. In councils that followed, the condemnation of heresy was repeated. This resulted in ongoing persecutions, which caused them to flee to more hospitable locations. The unintentional result of the church’s actions caused the Waldensians’ teachings to spread to Europe’s other regions. The Waldensians never wholly disappeared, nor were they absorbed into other movements, but have continued their observance of the 7^th day to this day.

        It can’t be said the Catholic church didn’t try to annihilate the sect. In 1655A.D., the Catholic church killed 1700 Waldensians. This all began with Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, when he ordered all Protestants in his region to revert to Catholicism. The duke had been forced to implement this policy by signing the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559). The Waldensians petitioned him, saying they had always stayed loyal to him. Their petition claimed their religion was the same as the Messiah’s original teachings and swore to become Catholics if their theology could be disproven in a debate. This argument fell on deaf ears, and the slaughter began in earnest shortly afterward.

        In our own land of the free and brave, we also have stories of religious convictions. The 13 North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women who fled European persecution, refusing to compromise with Europe’s state religions.

        In the early New England colonies, a great majority had left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct. Many were documented to be 7^th day Sabbath-keepers. “Stephen Mumford came over from London in 1664 and brought the opinion with him that the whole of the ten commandments, as they were delivered from Mount Sinai, were moral and immutable. The anti-Christian power thought to change times and laws, changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. He was just of many that migrated from Europe to the new world. The 7^th day Sabbath community had many who saw the words of the Bible as fact over traditions.

        Religious persecution drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang out of the conviction of one’s ability to see and understand God’s truth. It doesn’t stop at just seeing and understanding but acting upon those same  convictions.

        More often than not, civil authorities of this world will impose their iron will upon man, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as “enforced uniformity of religion,” meant majority religious groups controlled political power and punished dissenters in their midst.

        Catholics have indeed been the prosecutors of Protestants along with Sabbath observers for the last several hundred years. It’s also loyal Protestants reciprocated by persecuting Catholics when they controlled an area of the world. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it’s persisted worldwide toward 7^th day Sabbath observers. Seventh-day observers tend to bring Protestants and Catholics together for short periods in a common cause, making an uncomfortable alliance to silence the truth.

        The following is a list of Sabbath observers down through The Centuries – Beginning with the Fourth Century A.D. who were persecuted for their beliefs. These are quotes and documentation from historians and church leaders of the past 1700 years.

ITALY AND EAST-C 4th
“It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some churches of the west…For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);…it seems the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme… Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ the Lord of the Sabbath.” “History of the Sabbath” (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.

ORIENT AND MOST OF WORLD
“The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day…It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival…Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same.” “Antiquities of the Christian Church,” Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.

ABYSSINIA
“In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had ‘traveled almost everywhere in the country of the Seres’ (China). For more than seventeen centuries, the Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth commandment.” Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.

ARABIA, PERSIA, INDIA, CHINA
“Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath-keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, traveled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India, and China.” “Truth Triumphanat,”p.308 (Footnote 27).

ITALY-MILAN
“Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.'” Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath” (1612)

SPAIN-COUNCIL ELVIRA (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spain at that time kept Saturday, the seventh day. “As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath.” This resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.

PERSIA-A.D. 335-375 (40 YEARS PERSECUTION UNDER SHAPUR II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-“They despise our sun-god, they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by burying their dead in it.” Truth Triumphant,” p.170.

PERSIA-A.D.335-375
“They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honor of the sun and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday.” O’Leary, “The Syriac Church and Fathers,” pp.83, 84.

The Fifth Century A.D.

“For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord’s Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.” The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word “Sabbath.” It says: “That is, upon Saturday. It should be observed that Sunday is never called “the Sabbath’ by the ancient Fathers and historians.” Sacrates, “Ecclestical History,” Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.

CONSTANTINOPLE
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.

THE WORLD-AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO (NORTH AFRICA)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day “in the greater part of the Christian world,” and his testimony in this respect is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent Sunday-keeper. See “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,” 1st Series, Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.

POPE INNOCENT (402-417)
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) “Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.

THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D.
Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church. “Ancient Christianity Exemplified,” Lyman Coleman, ch. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
In Jerome’s day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary work on Sunday. “Treatise of the Sabbath Day,” by Dr. White, Lord Bishop of Ely, p. 219.

FRANCE
“Wherefore, except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the day except on Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday.” John Cassian, A French monk, “Institutes,” Book 3, ch. 2.

AFRICA
“Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighboring churches in Africa one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath.” p. 416.

SPAIN (400 A.D.)
“Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says). Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday Sabbath.” Truth Triumphant, p. 68.

SIDONIUS (SPEAKING OF KING THEODORIC OF THE GOTHS, A.D. 454-526)
“It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord’s day and to hold sacred assemblies: while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord’s day have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath.” “Apollinaries Sidonli Epistolae,” lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.

EGYPT
“There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings, and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries.” Sozomen. “Ecclesiastical History Book 7, ch. 119

The Sixth Century A.D.

SCOTTISH CHURCH
“In this latter instance, they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labors.” W.T. Skene, “Adamnan Life of St. Columbs” 1874, p.96.

SCOTLAND, IRELAND
“We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath.” “History of the Catholic Church in Scotland,” Vol.1, p. 86, by Catholic historian Bellesheim.

SCOTLAND-COLULMBA
“Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the month of June, said to his disciple Diermit: “This day is called the Sabbath, that is the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labors.'” “Butler’s Lives of the Saints,” Vol.1, A.D. 597, art. “St. Columba” p. 762

The Seventh Century A.D.

SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says: It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of week.” “The Church in Scotland,” p.140.

SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
“The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate (R.C.) and kept Saturday as a day of rest, with special religious services on Sunday.” Flick, “The Rise of Mediaeval Church,” p. 237

ROME
Gregory I (A.D. 590-640) wrote against “Roman citizens (who) forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day.” “Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers,” Second Series, Vol, XIII, p.13, epist. 1

ROME (POPE GREGORY I,A.D.590 TO 604)
“Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the Roman citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse spirit have disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to the holy faith, so that they forbid anything to be done on the day of the Sabbath. What shall I call them except preachers of anti-Christ?” Epistles, b.13:1

The Eighth Century A.D.

COUNCIL OF FRIAUL, ITALY-A.D. 791 (CANON 13)
“We command all Christians to observe the Lord’s day to be held not in honor of the past Sabbath, but on account of that holy night of the first of the week called the Lord’s day. When speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe..” Mansi, 13, 851

PERSIA AND MESOPOTAMIA
“The hills of Persia and the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates re-echoed their songs of praise. They reaped their harvests and paid their tithes. They repaired to their churches on the Sabbath day for the worship of God.” “Realencyclopaedie fur Protestantische and Krche,” art. “Nestorianer”; also Yule, “The Book of ser Marco Polo,” Vol.2, p.409.

INDIA, CHINA, PERSIA, ETC
“Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India, who never were connected with Rome. It also was maintained among those bodies which broke off from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon, namely, the Abyssinians, the Jacobites, the Maronites, and the Armenians,” Schaff-Herzog, The New Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians”; also Realencyclopädie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche,” art. “Nestorianer.”

COUNCIL OF LIFTINAE, BELGIUM-A.D.745 (ATTENDED BY BONIFACE)
“The third allocution of this council warns against the observance of the Sabbath, referring to the decree of the council of Laodicea.” Dr. Hefele, Counciliengfesch, 3, 512, sec. 362

CHINA-A.D.781
In A.D. 781 the famous China Monument was inscribed in marble to tell of the growth of Christianity in China at that time. The inscription, consisting of 763 words, was unearthed in 1625 near the city of Changan and now stands in the “Forest of Tablets,” Changan. The following extract from the stone shows that the Sabbath was observed:

“On the seventh day we offer sacrifices, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts.” Christianity in China, M. I’Abbe Huc, Vol. I, ch.2, pp. 48, 49

The Ninth Century A.D.

ATHINGIANS
Cardinal Hergenrother says that they stood in intimate relation with Emperor Michael II (821-829) and testifies that they observed the Sabbath. Kirchengeschichte, 1, 527

BULGARIA
“Pope Nicholas I, in the ninth century, sent the ruling prince of Bulgaria a long document saying in it that one is to cease from work on Sunday, but not on the Sabbath. The head of the Greek Church, offended at the interference of the Papacy, declared the Pope ex-communicated.” Truth Triumphant, p. 232

The Tenth Century A.D.

SCOTLAND
“They worked on Sunday but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner.” A history of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, Vol. I, p.96. Andrew Lang

CHURCH OF THE EAST-Kurdistan
“The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory.” Schaff-Herzog, “The New Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians.”

WALDENSES
“And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath days, they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no Sabbath.” Luther’s “Fore-Runners” (original spelling), PP. 7, 8

The Eleventh Century A.D.

SCOTLAND
They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work. “Celtic Scotland,” Vol. 2, p. 350

SCOTLAND
“It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord’s day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she (Queen Margaret) proved to them as well by reason as by authority. ‘Let us venerate the Lord’s day,’ said she, ‘because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same.'” Life of Saint Margaret, Turgot, p. 49 (British Museum Library)

SCOTLAND
(Historian Skene commenting upon the work of Queen Margaret) “Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord’s day, but in this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labors.” Skene, “Celtic Scotland,” Vol.2, p. 349

SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
“T. Ratcliffe Barnett, in his book on the fervent Catholic queen of Scotland who in 1060 was first to attempt the ruin of Columba’s brethren, writes: ‘In this matter, the Scots had perhaps kept up the traditional usage of the ancient Irish Church which observed Saturday instead of Sunday as the day of rest.'” Barnett, “Margaret of Scotland: Queen and Saint,” p.97

GREEK CHURCH
“The observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a bitter dispute between the Greeks and the Latins.” Neale, “A History of the Holy Eastern Church,” Vol 1, p. 731. (Referring to the separation of the Greek Church from the Latin in 1054)

The Twelfth Century A.D.

WALDENSES
“Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. “One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day.'” General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413

SPAIN (Alphonse of Aragon)
“Alphonse, king of Aragon, etc., to all archbishops, bishops, and to all others…’We command you that heretics, to wit, Waldenses and Insabbathi, should be expelled away from the face of God and from all Catholics and ordered to depart from our kingdom.'” Marianse, Praefatio in Lucam Tudensem, found in “Macima Gibliotheca Veterum Patrum,” Vol.25, p.190

HUNGARY FRANCE, ENGLAND, ITALY, GERMANY. (Referring to Sabbath-keeping Pasagini) “The spread of heresy at this time is almost incredible. From Bulgaria to the Ebro, from northern France to the Tiber, everywhere we meet them. Whole countries are infested, like Hungary and southern France; they abound in many other countries, in Germany, in Italy, in the Netherlands, and even in England they put forth their efforts.” Dr. Hahn, “Gesch. der Ketzer.” 1, 13, 14

WALES
“There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales university until A.D.1115 when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David’s. The old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places.” Lewis, “Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America,” Vol.1, p.29

FRANCE
“For twenty years, Peter de Bruys stirred southern France. He especially emphasized a day of worship that was recognized at that time among the Celtic churches of the British Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great Church of the East, namely, the seventh day of the fourth commandment.”

PASAGINI
The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the “Pasagaini”: “Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called Pasaagini…First, they teach we should obey the Sabbath. Furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers and the whole Roman Church.” D’Achery, Spicilegium I,f.211-214; Muratory, Antiq. med. aevi.5, f.152, Hahn, 3, 209

The Thirteenth Century A.D.

WALDENSES
“They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist of whom mention is made in the Epistles of SSt. Paul as having been the son of perdition.[They also say] that the keeping of the Sabbath ought to take place.” Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches ofPiedmont,” p.169 (by prominent Roman Cathholic author writing about Waldenses)

WALDENSES OF FRANCE
“The inquisitors…[declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments of God.” History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages,” H.C.Les, vol.1

FRANCE-KING LOUIS IX,1229
Published the statute “Cupientes” in which he charges himself to clear southern France from heretics as the Sabbath-keepers were called.

FRANCE-Council Toulouse, 1229
Canons against Sabbath-keepers: “Canon 3.-The lords of the different districts shall have the villas, houses, and woods diligently searched, and the hiding-places of the heretics destroyed.
“Canon 14-Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the Old or the New Testaments.” Hefele, 5, 931, 962

EUROPE
“The Paulicians, Petrobusinas, Passaginians, Waldenses, Insabbatati were great Sabbath-keeping bodies of Europe down to 1250 A.D.”

PASAGINIANS
Dr. Hahn says that if the Pasaginians referred to the 4th Commandment to support the Sabbath, the Roman priests answered, “The Sabbath symbolized the eternal rest of the saints.”

MONGOLIA
“The Mongolian conquest did not injure the Church of the East. (Sabbath-keeping.) On the contrary, a number of the Mongolian princes and a larger number of Mongolian queens were members of this church.”

The Fourteenth Century A.D.

WALDENSES
“That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day.” Luther’s Fore-runners,” p. 38

INSABBATI
“For centuries, evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses, were called Insabbati because of Sabbath-keeping.” Gui, Manueld’ Inquisitor

BOHEMIA, 1310 (Modern Czechoslovakia)
“In 1310, two hundred years before Luther’s theses, the Bohemian brethren constituted one-fourth of the population of Bohemia, and that they were in touch with the Waldenses who abounded in Austria, Lombardy,. Bohemia, north Germany, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Moravia. Erasmus pointed out how strictly Bohemian Waldenses kept the seventh-day Sabbath.” Armitage, “A History of the Baptists,” p.313; Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” vol. 2, pp. 201-202

NORWAY
Then, too, in the “Catechism” that was used during the fourteenth century, the Sabbath commandment read thus; “Thou shalt not forget to keep the seventh day.” This is quoted from “Documents and Studies Concerning the History of the Lutheran Catechism in the Nordish Churches,” p.89. Christiania 1893

ENGLAND, HOLLAND, BOHEMIA
“We wrote of the Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Transylvania, England and Holland between 1250 and 1600 A.D.” Truth Triumphant, Wilkinson, p.309

The Fifteenth Century A.D.

BOHEMIA
“Erasmus testifies that even as late as about 1500 these Bohemians not only kept the seventh day scrupulously but also were called Sabbatarians.” Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” Vol.2, pp.201, 202 “Truth Triumphant,” p.264

NORWAY
(Church Council held at Bergin, August 22,1435) “The first matter concerned a keeping holy of Saturday. It had come to the ear of the archbishop that people in different places of the kingdom had ventured the keeping holy of Saturday. It is strictly forbidden-it is stated-in the Church Law, for anyone to keep or to adopt holy-days, outside of those which the pope, archbishop, or bishops appoint.” The History of the Norwegian Church under Catholicism, R. Keyser, Vol.II, p. 488.Oslo: 1858

NORWAY, 1436
(Church Conference at Oslo) “It is forbidden under the same penalty to keep Saturday holy by refraining from labor.” History of the Norwegian Church, p.401

FRANCE – Waldenses
“Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515), being informed by the enemies of the Waldense inhabiting a part of the province of Province, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return, they reported that they had visited all the parishes but could not discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith, and the commandments of God. The King, having heard the report of his commissioners, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people.” History of the Christian Church, Vol.II, pp. 71, 72, third edition. London: 1818

The Sixteenth Century A.D.

ENGLAND
“In the reign of Elizabeth, it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it previously had done to some Protestants in Bohemia) that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of the first, but of the specified ‘seventh’ day of the week.” Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, article “Sabbath,” Vol. 8, p. 462, 1537

RUSSIA (Council, Moscow, 1593)
“The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503.” H.Sternberfi, “Geschichte der Juden” (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122

SWEDEN
“This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time: even little things which might strengthen the practice of keeping Saturday were punished.” Bishop Anjou, “Svenska Kirkans Historia after Motetthiers, Upsala

LICHTENSTEIN FAMILY
(estates in Austria, Bohemia, Morovia, Hungary. Lichenstein in the Rhine Valley wasn’t their country until the end of the 7th century). “The Sabbatarians teach that the outward Sabbath, i.e. Saturday, still must be observed; they say that Sunday is the Pope’s invention.” Refutation of Sabbath, by Wolfgang Capito, published 1599

BOHEMIA (the Bohemian Brethren)
Dr. R. Cox says: “I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be…scrupulous in resting on it.” Literature of the Sabbath Question, Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202

HISTORIAN’S LIST OF CHURCHES (16th Century)
“Sabbatarians, so-called because they reject the observance of the Lord’s day as not commanded in Scripture, they consider the Sabbath alone to be holy, as God rested on that day and commanded to keep it holy and to rest on it.” A. Ross

GERMANY
Dr. Esk (while refuting the Reformers) “However, the church has transferred the observance from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own power, without Scripture.” Dr. Esk’s “Enchiridion,” 1533, pp.78,79

INDIA
“The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping).” Adeney, “The Greek and Eastern Churches,” p.527, 528

NORWAY-1544
“Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be severely punished. Whoever shall be found keeping Saturday must pay a fine of ten marks.” History of King Christian the Third,” Niels Krag and S. Stephanius

AUSTRIA
“Sabbatarians now exist in Austria.” Luther, “Lectures on Genesis,” A.D.1523-27

ABYSSINIA–A.D. 1534
(Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon) “It is not, therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe the day.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia,” pp. 87,8

DR. MARTIN LUTHER
“God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. God willed that this command concerning the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day, the word should be preached.” Commentary on Genesis, Vol.1, pp.138-140

BAPTISTS
“Some have suffered torture because they would not rest when others kept Sunday, for they declared it to be the holiday and law of Antichrist.” Sebastian Frank (A.D. 1536)

FINLAND-Dec. 6,1554
(King Gustavus Vasa I, of Sweden’s letter to the people of Finland) “Some time ago we heard that some people in Finland had fallen into a great error and observed the seventh day, called Saturday.” State Library at Helsingfors, Reichsregister, Vom J., 1554, Teil B.B. leaf 1120, pp.175-180a

SWITZERLAND
“The observance of the Sabbath is a part of the moral law. It has been kept holy since the beginning of the world.” Ref. Noted Swiss writer, R Hospinian, 1592

HOLLAND AND GERMANY
Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: “God has commanded us to rest on the seventh day.” Another martyr, Christina Tolingerin, is mentioned thus: “Concerning holy days and Sundays, she said: ‘In six days the Lord made the world, on the seventh day he rested. The other holy days have been instituted by popes, cardinals, and archbishops.'” Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London, 1850,1, pp.113-4.

The Seventeenth Century A.D.

ENGLAND-1618
“At last for teaching only five days in the week, and resting upon Saturday she was carried to the new prison in Maiden Lane, a place then appointed for the restraint of several other persons of different opinions from the Church of England. Mrs. Traske lay fifteen or sixteen years a prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath.” Pagitt’s “Heresiography.” p.196

ENGLAND-1668
“Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have eminently preserved.” Stennet’s letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox, Sab.,1, 268

HUNGARY, RUMANIA
“But as they rejected Sunday and rested on the Sabbath, Prince Sigmond Bathory ordered their persecution. Pechi advanced to position of chancellor of state and next in line to throne of Transylvania. He studied his Bible and composed a number of hymns, mostly in honor of the Sabbath. Pechi was arrested and died in 1640.

SWEDEN AND FINLAND
“We can trace these opinions over almost the whole extent of Sweden of that day-from Finland and northern Sweden. “In the district of Upsala the farmers kept Saturday in place of Sunday. “About the year 1625 this religious tendency became so pronounced in these countries that not only large numbers of the common people began to keep Saturday as the rest day, but even many priests did the same.” History of the Swedish Church, Vol.I, p.256

MUSCOVIT RUSSIAN CHURCH
“They solemnize Saturday (the old Sabbath). Samuel Purchase- “His Pilgrims.” Vol. I, p. 350

INDIA (Jacobites)-1625
“They kept Saturday holy. They have solemn service on Saturdays.” Pilgrimmes, Part 2, p.1269

AMERICA-1664
“Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keepers in America come from London in 1664.” History of the Seventh-day Baptist Gen. Conf. by Jas. Bailey, pp. 237, 238

AMERICA-1671 (Seventh-day Baptists)
“Broke from Baptist Church in order to keep Sabbath.” See Bailey’s History, pp. 9,10

ENGLAND
Charles I,1647 (when querying the Parliament Commissioners) “For it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is no longer to be kept, or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Church’s authority that changed the one and instituted the other.” Cox, “Sabbath Laws,” p.333

ENGLAND-John Milton
“It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first.” Sab. Lit. 2, 46-54

ENGLAND
“Upon the publication of the ‘Book of Sports’ in 1618 a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force; and, secondly, on what ground the first day of the week was entitled to be observed as ‘the Sabbath.'” Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates, art. “Sabbatarians.” p.602

ETHIOPIA-1604
Jesuits tried to induce the Abyssinian church to accept Roman Catholicism. They influenced King Zadenghel to propose to submit to the Papacy (A.D.1604). “Prohibiting all his subjects, upon severe penalties, to observe Saturday any longer.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia.” p.311, also Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall,” ch. 47

BOHEMIA, MORAVIA, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
“one of the counselors and lords of the court was John Gerendi, head of the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday.” Lamy, “The History of Socinianism.” p. 60

TELEGRAPH PRINT, NAPIER
The inscription on the monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain, physician to King James and Queen Anne, King Charles I and Queen Katherine says that Dr. Chamberlain was “a Christian keeping the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years.”

The Eighteenth Century A.D.

ABYSSINIA
“The Jacobites assembled on the Sabbath day, before the Domical day, in the temple, and kept that day, as do also the Abyssinians as we have seen from the confession of their faith by the Ethiopian king Claudius.” Abundacnus, ‘Historia Jacobatarum,”p.118-9 (18th Century)

RUMANIA, 1760 (and today) YUGOSLAVIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
“Joseph II’s edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some of whom again lost all of their possessions.” Jahrgang 2, 254

“Catholic priests aided by soldiers forcing them to accept Romanism nominally, and compelling the remainder to labor on the Sabbath and to attend church on Sunday—these were the methods employed for two hundred fifty years to turn the Sabbatarians.

GERMANY-Tennhardt of Nuremberg
“He holds strictly to the doctrine of the Sabbath because it is one of the ten commandments.” Bengel’s “Leban und Wirken,” Burk, p.579

He himself says: “It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath (P.366). The Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week. Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week.” Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt’s “Schriften,” P.49 (printed 1712)

BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA (Today Czechoslovakia).
Their history from 1635 to 1867 is thus described by Adolf Dux: “The condition of the Sabbatarians was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to becomes the spoils of flames.” Aus Ungarn, pp. 289-291. Leipzig, 1850

HOLLAND AND GERMANY
“Dr. Cornelius stated of East Friesland, that when Baptists were numerous, “Sunday and holidays were not observed,” (they were Sabbath-keepers). Der Anteil Ostfrieslands and Ref. Muenster,” 1852, pp l29, 34


AMERICA, 1741
Moravian Brethren (after Zinzendorf arrived from Europe). “As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422

AMERICA
But before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania. See Rupp’s “History of Religious Denominations in the United States,” pp.109- 123

The Nineteenth Century A.D.

RUSSIA
“But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians,” Sternberg, “Geschichte der Juden in Polen,” p.124

CHINA
“The Taipings when asked why they observed the seventh-day Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and, second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship.” A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday.

INDIA AND PERSIA
“Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship throughout our Empire, on the seventh day.” Christian Researches in Asia,” p.143

DENMARK
“This agitation was not without its effect. Pastor M.A. Sommer began observing the seventh day and wrote in his church paper. “Indovet Kristendom” No.5,1875 an impressive article about the true Sabbath. In a letter to Elder John G.Matteson, he says:

“Among the Baptists here in Denmark, there is a great agitation regarding the Sabbath commandment. However, I am probably the only preacher in Denmark who stands so near to the Adventists and who for many years has proclaimed Christ’s second coming.” Advent Tidente,” May, 1875

SWEDEN (Baptists)
“We will now endeavour to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages.” Evangelist (The Evangelist). Stockholm, May 30 to August 15,1863 (organ of the Swedish Baptist Church)

AMERICA, 1845
“Thus, we see Dan. 7, 25, fulfilled, the little horn changing ‘times and laws. ‘Therefore, it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the Sabbath are Pope’s Sunday-keepers and God’s Sabbath-breakers.” Elder T.M. Preble, Feb.13, 1845

AMERICA (Seventh-day Adventists)
In 1844 Seventh-day Adventists arose and had spread to nearly all the world by the close of the 19th Century. Their name is derived from their teaching of the seventh-day Sabbath and the Advent of Jesus. In 1874 their work was established in Europe, 1885 -Australasia, 1887-South Africa, 1888-Asia, 1888-South America. Seventh-day Adventists uphold the same Sabbath that Jesus and His followers kept. The sacred Torch of Truth was not extinguished through the long centuries. Adventists are working today in nearly 1000 languages of earth and have over 27,000 churches. Over ten million members around the globe welcome the sacred Sabbath hours.

The Twentieth Century A.D.

American Congregationalists:

No authority in the New Testament for substitution of the first day for the seventh
“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.” Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890

Anglican: Nowhere commanded to keep the first day
“And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason why we keep the first of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, – not because the Bible, but because the church, has enjoined [commanded] it.” Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. 1, pp 334, 336.

Anglican/Episcopal: The Catholics changed it
“We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ.” Episcopalian Bishop Symour, Why we keep Sunday.

Congregationalist: The Christian Sabbath’ [Sunday] is not in the Scripture. “The Christian Sabbath’ [Sunday] is not in the Scripture, and was not by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath.” Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, p49 [Dwight (1752-1817) was president of Yale University from 1795-1817].

Disciples of Christ: It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the ‘change of the sabbath.’ “If it [the Ten Commandments] yet exist, let us observe it… And if it does not exist, let us abandon a mock observance of another day for it. ‘But,’ say some, ‘it was changed from the seventh to the first day.’ Where? when? and by whom? – No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for a reason assigned [in Genesis 2:1-3] must be changed before the observance or respect to the reason, can be changed. It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the ‘change of the sabbath’ from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio, – I think his name is “Doctor Antichrist.'” Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2, 1824, vol 1, no. 7

Lutheran: They err in teaching Sunday Sabbath
But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel…..These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect” John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16
“We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both.” The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36

“They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord’s day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church’s power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of the Decalogue.” The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christendom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation].

“They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, as having been changed into the Lord’s Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten commandments!” Augsburg Confession of Faith,art. 28; written by Melanchthon and approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Henry Jacobs, editor (1911), p.63

Methodist: Jesus did not abolish the moral law – no command to keep holy the first day. The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He Jesus did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which can never be broken…Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.” John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, Vol.1, No. 25

Moody Bible Institute: “Sabbath was before Sinai”
“I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated [abolished], but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ [mark 2:27]. It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was – in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.


Presbyterian: Sunday kept the Gentiles happy
“Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means to hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel” T.M. Moorer, Dialogues on the Lord’s Day

Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible
“Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the bible.” Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947

“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified.” James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73

Rome’s challenge

“The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. We say by virtue of her divine mission, because He who called Himself the ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’ endowed her with His own power to teach, ‘he that heareth you, heareth Me’; commanded all who believe in Him to hear her, under penalty of being placed with the ‘heathen and publican’; and promised to be with her to the end of the world. She holds her charter as teacher from Him–a charter as infallible as perpetual. The Protestant world at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence; it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the Church’s right to change the day, for over three hundred years. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world.”–From the Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893; reprinted in Rome’s Challenge, p. 24.

Question. Which is the Sabbath day?

Answer. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Question. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

Answer. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because . . . the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”-Peter Geiermann, CSSR, “A Doctrinal Catechism,” 1957 ed., p. 50. The Catechism of the Council of Trent, translated by John A. McHugh and Charles J. Callan, stated, “But the Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday” (p. 402).

Question. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals or precepts?

Answer. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her–she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”–Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brothers, 1851), p. 174.

Question. By whom was it [the Sabbath] changed?

Answer. By the governors of the church, the apostles, who also kept it; for St. John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (which was Sunday). Apoc. 1:10.

Question. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?”

Answer. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.

Question. How prove you that?

Answer. Because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest [of the feasts] by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.” –Rev. Henry Tuberville, D.D.R.C., An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brothers, approved 1833), p.58.

And as one leading Protestant exponent of Sunday has written: “We must admit that we can point to no direct command that we cease observing the seventh day and begin using the first day.”–Samuel A. Cartledge, “The Sabbath–The Lord’s Day,” in James P. Wesberry, comp., The Lord’s Day, p. 100.

The following is excerpts from a letter [Catholic Mirror of Sept. 2, 1893] written by Gibbins

To add to the intensity of this Scriptural and unpardonable blunder, it involves one of the most positive and emphatic commands of God to His servant, man: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

No Protestant living today has ever yet obeyed that command, preferring to follow the apostate church referred to than his teacher the Bible, which, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches no other doctrine, should the Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists be correct. Both sides appeal to the Bible as their “infallible” teacher. Let the Bible decide whether Saturday or Sunday be the day enjoined by God. One of the two bodies must be wrong, and, whereas a false position on this all-important question involves terrible penalties, threatened by God Himself, against the transgressor of this “perpetual covenant,” we shall enter on the discussion of the merits of the arguments wielded by both sides.

---

Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible

“Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Satuday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the seventh day of the week, Saturday. Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the bible.” Catholic Virginian, Oct. 3, 1947

“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified.” James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73

“”The Catholic Church,… by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.” The Catholic Mirror, the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.

        I must admit this entire list wasn’t by my research; much of it came from J.F. Coltheart, who personally read old manuscripts and gained insight into the sources of many quotations placed in libraries and museums of Europe, in Constantinople and the east.

I purposely left out many other documented quotes about 7^thday Sabbath observers because of time and space.  However, I believe I have demonstrated my point thoroughly. The quotes from historical accounts prove the churches for the last 1700 not only knew the 7^th day was God’s true Sabbath, but they would go to any lengths to silence those that dared observe the 7^th day.

        Additional historical documents include many writings of martyrs that were often burned or otherwise destroyed. Still, they have evidence, either from some surviving records or even opponents of the report. One should ask the question, “why does Sabbath observance require defending?

        Let’s ask this question a little differently. Would anyone let someone else dictate, either Christian or Jew, how they should believe? I’m going to go out on a limb and emphatically say, NO! The problem is evidence over the centuries says otherwise. Whether through traditions or someone intimidating others, people do let churches and pastors tell them what they should believe. In fact, it’s the main reason Sunday is so widely observed. What Sabbath observers must ultimately prove to our fellow brethren is scriptures trump traditions.

Can One Keep the Sabbath?

        Can someone observe the Sabbath without looking or physically being Jewish? I ask this question because the Sabbath has been associated with the Jews for centuries. One might be surprised to discover Sabbath observance doesn’t make one a Jew. Nor does adhering to the food laws listed in Leviticus 11.

        Being Jewish is hereditary, just like being German, Italian, or Japanese. If anything, keeping the Sabbath is a Godly identification simply because He said the day belongs to Him. Leviticus 23:1-3, The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: ³ ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.

        These days are explicitly God’s, not nations of men or certain cultures who believe they have some say in when and how they are implemented, if at all. The Holydays were first given to Israel, all thirteen tribes, simply because God used them to set His plan into motion. Judah was just one tribe of the thirteen, so why say one is Judaizing when they keep the 7^thday Sabbath? It makes no sense and shows a smidgen of ignorance while making such a comment or using this terminology.

        I say thirteen tribes because Ephrihm and Manasseh were Joseph’s grandsons who were included as two members of Israel’s tribes while excluding Joseph (their father). Below is a list of the tribes of Israel for reference.

Reuben (Hebrew ראובן‎ Rəʼûḇēn)

Simeon (שמעון‎ Šimʻôn)

Levi (לוי‎ Lêwî)

Judah (יהודה‎ Yehuḏā)

Issachar (יששכר‎ Yiśśāḵār)

Zebulun (זבולון‎ Zəḇūlun)

Dan (דן‎ Dān)

Naphtali (נפתלי‎ Nap̄tālî)

Gad (גד‎ Gāḏ)

Asher (אשר‎ ’Āšêr)

Benjamin (בנימין‎ Binyāmîn)

Joseph (יוסף‎ Yôsēp̄), later split into two “half-tribes”:

        Ephraim (אפרים‎ ’Ep̄rayim)

        Manasseh (מנשה‎ Mənaššeh)

The Lord’s Day

        Why is Sunday called the Lord’s Day? Personally, I see no scriptural evidence to apply a nomenclature like this to one particular day of the week. Here is the scripture that is the emphasis behind calling Sunday “the Lord’s day.” Revelation 1:10,  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet

        You won’t see any reference to the Lord’s Day being associated with any day of the week; it is an assumption for any and all practical purposes to link it to the 1^stday of the week.

The phrase “Lord’s Day” can only be found in chapter one of the book of Revelation, nowhere else. The Day of the Lord absolutely can be found in several places in the Bible; below are some of those examples:

Joel 1:15, Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

Jeremiah 46:10, That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

Isaiah 13:9, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

Malachi 4:5, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

Isaiah 13:6, Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!

Matthew 28:1, Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

Isaiah 2:12, For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

        The Day of the Lord, according to scripture, appears to be a one-time event proclaiming the return of the Messiah. It also describes a day of a great calamity occurring upon the earth, referring to previous verses, the Day of the Lord. Why would anyone in their right mind associate Sunday with events which illustrate massive death and destruction?

        No wonder so many Christians are confused about what to believe; they get so many conflicting views about the Bible’s events. It’s easy to comprehend the Bible if one blocks all the surrounding rhetoric and focus solely on the context.

        Revelation 1:10 doesn’t magically connect one event to another; one cannot place that phrase on John 20:1 because it sounds really cool; that would violate the warning written in the Law, Deuteronomy 4:1-2, “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ² You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. 

        The Apostle John gave a similar warning in Revelation 22:19, which is even more explicit. But nevertheless, Sunday worshippers around the world will flock to their churches under the belief that  the Lord’s day is a day of worship.

Days of the Week

        In the first chapter of Genesis, scriptures state God created all things in six days. He didn’t rest on the 1^st day or the “Lord’s day” He rested on the 7^th-day. Let’s go through the 1^st week of creation and look at the Messiah’s miraculous work.

Day one, God created light, creating night and day.

Day two, God separated the firmament and made the sky and oceans.

 Day three, God made dry land appear and created plants on the earth.

Day four, the Bible says the Messiah created two great lights: ruling day and night, and He also made the stars. 

Day Five, God created the water animals (fish) and the air animals (birds).

Day six, God created all land animals, which includes Adam and Eve. 

Day seven, God’s creation was done, so He made this a special day, as a memorial for all of eternity, so that we will remember this week of creation.  The Messiah deemed it as “Sabbath.”  As I already stated, He then rested and blessed this specific day above all the others. Was God exhausted from all this creating?  Does God need to rest, or was it part of His creation, where He made an example for all humankind to follow?

        The Sabbath was the only day God named throughout all his wondrous process of creation. One might think if God wanted the first six days to have names, He might take a minute out of his busy schedule and give them names memorialized throughout time. The creator Messiah would have done us a great favor had He simply named them other than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  Better yet, He could have had Adam give names to the first 6 days of creation. In the beginning, Adam had yet to be corrupted by Satan, so Why not let a sinless man do the honors? After all, God let Adam and Eve name the animals so, why not the days of the week?

        Perhaps the 6 days of the week weren’t named because they were meant for work and not rest. Side note, they also weren’t meant to set aside for worshiping the true God. Neither are they holy or (set apart) by God, Himself. The seventh day is the only day God felt necessary to name or make holy.  It was man’s corrupted imagination that gave pagan names to the months and days.  Here is what man came up with within the twisted recesses of their heathen minds.

Monday: The name Monday comes from the Old English Monandæg, meaning “day of the Moon”.

Tuesday: Tuesday comes from the Old English Tiwesdæg, meaning “Tyr’s day.” Tyr was the Norse God of combat. In countries that didn’t have a Norse influence, it is the “Day of Mars” (the Roman war god); In French, this translates as mardi and in Spanish martes.

Wednesday: This name comes from the Old English Wodnesdæg, meaning the day of the Woden or Odin, the father of the Gods. It is based on Latin dies Mercurii, “Day of Mercury,”; in French mercredi and Spanish miércoles. The Germans have renamed this day as Mittwoch, which simply means the middle of the week.

Thursday: The original meaning of Thursday comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, or Thor’s day. Thor was the Germanic and Norse God of thunder. In Germany, the same route leads to Donnerstag. Donner can be directly translated as thunder.  In Latin countries, Thursday was the “Day of Jupiter,”; which becomes the French jeudi and Spanish jueves.

Friday: The name Friday celebrates the Norse goddess of beauty Frigg; in Latin, the “Day of Venus” (also the goddess of beauty); leads to vendredi and Spanish viernes.

Saturday: Saturday is the only English day of the week to retain its Roman origin. Saturday “Day of Saturn”; In southern Europe, the catholic church remembers the Jewish Sabbath in the names (French samedi and Spanish sábado).

Sunday: The name is quite literally the day of the Sun or simply Sunday. Attempts by the church to replace the Sabbath with Sunday worship of a sun-god are obvious to those standing on the outside looking in.  God’s people see this as pagan worship with scriptural elements used as proof; that somehow the true God wants us to worship Him on a pagan day of worship.

        The etymology of the names of the week’s days gives clear insights into the political and social history of our nations. God didn’t stop there; the Sabbath became more than just a day with a name to God’s people. It became a yearly event outlining the plan God has in store for man.

        One last item before we move on, the 7^th day was the only day God bothered to put a name on. He called the 7^th day, “Sabbath,” NOT the 1^st Day of the week. Let’s understand completely, Sunday isn’t a Sabbath or “The” Sabbath.

What else does the Sabbath Worship mean ?

        What might surprise some concerning the 7^th day Sabbath, the day represents more than just one day for rest and worship. The 7^th day is a mark on God’s people. The 7^th day sets God’s people apart from the world. In Exodus 31:12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³ “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ¹⁴ You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵ Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶ Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'”    

        We also see much of the same wording in Ezekiel 20:19, I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and follow them. ²⁰ Sanctify My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

        Note, the 7th day is a sign between man and the true God of this world, and many blessings are associated with keeping the 7^th day. Just look at what Isaiah had to say about the day.

Isaiah 58:13-14, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, nAnd shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

        Once again, I can hear the chorus of bellows, “I’m not an Israelite, and the 7^th day doesn’t pertain to Christians.”  You’re right, if you’re not one of God’s children, you’re not an Israelite, and you are not under God’s laws or protection.

I used an analogy that illustrates the relationship between God and man; it goes like this. A child becomes adopted, that child then moves into the house where the new parents reside. In the perfect world, the new child is now a legitimate son or daughter of that couple going forward. That adopted child has all the privileges and access to the home as any other child would. But, also, they are subject to all the rules of the house. Breaking those same rules brings with it consequences. It’s absolutely no difference in the House of God. His home, His rules; if anyone claims to be God’s Son or daughter, then they’re subject to the blessing and cursing governing God’s household. I truly believe every man or woman who says they believe in God wants to belong in God’s family. Isn’t the whole reason for religion is to belong to God, to join God after this life is over?  Aren’t these the lessons we’ve received all our lives from churches?

A person can’t live in the house of God and reject His rules. Man does not have that right here on earth or in heaven above to tell God what he will or won’t do. Can someone honestly believe one day they will present themselves before God’s throne and tell God they weren’t required to follow His commandments? I genuinely don’t think that’s going to work out well for that person.

        The 7^th day Sabbath is the 4^th commandment in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5;  This isn’t an option or a suggestion. In God’s holy house, it’s a day of rest, and those that live under His roof rest on that day.

        Obeying God brings incredible blessings to those that observe His commandments as promised by God. Leviticus 26:3-10, If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new.

        It is in  God’s house  where one finds joy and blessings, not outside in the world. One can be adopted into the house of God and share in the gifts He desires for those whom He loves.

        It states in Romans 9:6, It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ⁸ In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring

        Those with circumcised hearts, who are willing to follow God and do His bidding, are Abraham’s spiritual seed. If one is willing to put aside old traditions and beliefs and follow God, that person can be called a child of the Father. First, One must put aside teachings that say Christians aren’t like the Jews or the Israelites and needn’t follow God’s word.  The book of Romans gives one more lesson on this matter. Romans 14:17,For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

        What a great promise God has given mankind. Makes one wonder how the world cannot see the importance of this special day. You see, we do belong to God, and we are His people, we are Israel, His Sabbath isHis mark identifying His holy people.

What does Sunday Worship mean ?

        If the Sabbath is the identifying mark of God’s holy people as we have seen in Exodus 31:12 and Ezekiel 20:19, does keeping Sunday mark those folks in any way? I feel firmly this is a legitimate question, a question Sunday observers should want to be answered. Let’s take a look at the source of all Godly knowledge and give the problem substantial consideration.

        We’ll begin with the hypothesis Satan is countering everything God has created with his own versions. Let’s go down the list and match scripture to an item where Satan has counterfeited God’s version.

Throne: Isaiah 14:12-16, Revelation 2:13

Kingdom: Luke 4:5-8, Matthew 12:26

The Coming Messiah: Revelation 6:1-2, Matthew 24:4-5, 1 Thessalonians 2:9-11

Church: Revelation 2:9, Revelation 3:8-9, Matthew 24:23

Ministers or Priest: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Matthew 24:11

Gospel (teachings) Galatians 1:6-9, 2 John 1:9-11,  2 Chronicles 18:20-22

Spiritual Father: John 8:44, Acts 13:10

Salvation: Genesis 3:4-5, John 3:13

Prayers: John 9:31, Isaiah 59:2, Proverbs 28:9, James 4:3

Sacrifice: 1 Corinthians 10:20, Isaiah 1:12-13,  Isiah 66:1-3, Romans 12:1

Holy Days: Isaiah 1:13-14, Hosea 2:8-13, Jeremiah 10:1-5

        These are just a few, but I saved the Sabbath for last. What has Satan done to the day of worship that would make it an abomination to God? To begin with, let’s look at the mark God places on His people once again. Exodus 31:12 and Ezekiel 20:19 saying that mark is the 7^thday Sabbath, not the 1^stday of the week. We also see in Revelation 9:4, “And it was commanded them that they should… [hurt] only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”

        It appears the 7^th day is a well-established mark on God’s people; now, if we use this reasoning and take the opposite of the 7^thday Sabbath as the mark of God, what might we conclude? The total opposite of the 7^th day is the 1^st day of the week; one can’t get any further away and be more opposite. 5 days are separating the two days on each end of the week. If the 7^th day is a mark of God, one would correctly conclude the 1^st day is a mark for something or someone.

Revelation 14:9, 10 “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worships the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.”

        What is the mark of the beast, the mark of Satan? If Satan duplicates everything of God and the Sabbath is the true holy mark of  His own. One can only conclude that Satan’s mark must be those who worship him on his day (Sun-Day).

        I followed the logic of scripture, trying not to interject traditions or being influenced by desire. It is the only way God’s people are commanded to study scripture. Isaiah 28:10-13, For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there.’” 11 Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,
12 He who said to them, “This is the place of quiet, give rest to the weary,” And, “This is the resting place,” but they would not listen. 13 So the word of the Lord to them will be,
“Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,” That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

Traditions

        Traditions have always been the chains that enslave the minds of ordinary peoples. They are more adhered to than the literal commandments of God. The Messiah said this about man’s traditions. Matthew 15:7-9,  You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 9 And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

        Why did the Messiah sound so vehemently opposed to man’s traditions? For one extremely good reason, men will default to their loving traditions over God’s word every time given a choice. Just look at what the desires of men have put in place of God’s will. Christmas, Easter, and Halloween and a host of minor holidays. The people do worldly holidays in contrast to keeping Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and The Last Great Day not to mention worshiping one  the 1^st day of the week,   rather than the 7^th day Sabbath. Traditions have had an enormous influence on maintaining and preserving non-biblical beliefs.

        Traditions are NOT Godly in any fashion; they tend to only guide one’s feet toward the wrong path. But God says this, Isaiah 58:13-14, “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word,  

        It also says in Isaiah 55:7,  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Conclusion

        In the book, “The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time,” author Judith Shulevitz says something very interesting: “Whenever people begin reading the Book [the Bible], they start keeping the Sabbath. And when they keep the Sabbath they read the Book” (2010, p. 2). She couldn’t be more correct; I’ve seen this phenomenon play out many times. I’ve witnessed worldly ministers turn to the Sabbath and away from Sunday because they couldn’t live a lie any longer.

        There isn’t anything that can match the joy of witnessing someone understanding scriptures for the first time. The Sabbath is a light into a tunnel of darkness; once inside, a person can begin to see and understand the truth, then start their journey on a path with God.

        The Sabbath has been controversial for the past two thousand years; I don’t believe it will change overnight in the next few years or before the Messiah returns. The Sabbath first came to the Hebrews, then eventually to the gentile world. The Messiah kept the Sabbath, and so did His disciples. If they kept the Sabbath and their disciples kept the Sabbath, why shouldn’t Christians also observe the Sabbath? After all, even the Catholic church tells all protestants they should be supporting the 7^thday Sabbath. If protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” Albert Smith, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the cardinal in a letter of Feb. 10, 1920.

        Is God’s 7^th day Sabbath a commandment for all or just a few? Can the average man or woman reject only a single portion of God’s commandments, or should all be observed? In James 2:10 we see a comment that should resonate with Christains James 2:10, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

If breaking the Sabbath law (4^th commandment, Exodus 20:8-11) is sin, which it is most assuredly doing so by switching God’s day with Sunday, then one has broken every one of God’s laws. The penalty for breaking one of God’s laws is the same as breaking them all. Murder extracts the same punishment as adultery, thievery, worshiping a pagan idol, or merely breaking the Sabbath; please consider this prayerfully.

These are many of the questions we have to ask ourselves in the divine light of scripture and removing the mystery from the 7^th day Sabbath.

        We began by testing the words to see how the evidence weighs out. How did we do with our little exercise? Did your scales register man’s evidence over God’s? Or, was it God over a man?

        Remember we are obligated to work out our own salvation according to Philippians 2:12-13, So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.

        Working out one’s own salvation with fear and trembling might require NOT listening to those voices telling you the Sabbath is nothing or somehow different than what the scriptures denote. Remember this as well; the Messiah’s prayer in Matthew 6 says (thy will be done) it does not say man’s will or our will be done. Our will is meaningless in contrast to God’s laws and His holy plan for mankind.

 Now that the evidence has been weighed and shows just how important the Sabbath is to God; shouldn’t it be equally important to YOU!