Why do so many people worship on Sunday?

One of the czars of Russia, walking in his park one day, came upon a sentry standing before a patch of weeds. The czar asked him what he was doing there. The sentry did not know. All he could say was that he had been ordered to his post of duty by the captain of the guard. The czar then sent his aid to ask the captain of the guard. But the captain could only say that the regulations had called for a sentry at that particular spot. His curiosity had been aroused. The czar ordered an investigation. But no living man at the court could remember the time when there had not been a sentry at that post, and none could say why he was there, or what he was guarding.

Finally, the archives were opened and after a long search the mystery was solved. The records showed that Catherine the Great had once planted a rose bush in that plot of ground and a sentry had been put there to see that no one trampled upon it. The rose bush died, but no one thought to cancel the order, and so for many years the spot where the rose bush had once been was watched by men who did not know what they were watching. It became a tradition. They really did not know why they were there. They were just there.

Do you know that we have many religious teachers today standing guard over doctrines and practices, the origin of which they do not know, and they are certainly not rooted in the Scriptures. Simply a tradition. They think they are guarding some sacred plant of truth, when in reality they are standing guard over some weed of error.

This brings us to our first text today, found in Matthew the 15th chapter, verse 13: “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” That is to say, every religious doctrine and practice which is not rooted in the Holy Scriptures will in the end be destroyed. And if you want to stand among the victorious ones in the end of time then anchor your faith in the doctrines and practices that God Himself has planted.

How can we know truth? There is only one way, and that is to study carefully this book that God has given to us. When it comes to something so important to salvation certainly no Christian should depend upon the sayings of another man. He will not follow tradition but will search diligently what God has to say to him through the Bible.

Today we present the Bible text man has forgotten—the text God said to remember. In Exodus 20 we find the ten divine precepts of our Creator. These Ten Commandments govern man’s relationship to his God and to his fellow men. We seem to have little difficulty in interpreting the first commandment which says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me;” or the second or the third that reminds us not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain; or the fifth that tells us to honor our father and mother; the sixth, that reminds us not to kill; the seventh, not to commit adultery; the eighth, not to steal; the ninth, not to bear false witness; or the tenth, not to covet. All Christians everywhere testify to the necessity of abiding by the principles of these divine commands of God. All are of equal importance. In James 2:10-12 we read: ‘’For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.’’

So all of these Ten Commandments are of equal importance. Let us be mindful that these Ten Commandments are unchangeable, unalterable. In Malachi 3:6 we are told: “For I am the Lord, I change not.” And in Psalms 89:34 we read: “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Surely if the Lord Himself testifies that His law is unchangeable, that He Himself would not alter it, then we as mere men dare not tamper with this divine constitution of the government of God. In fact, the Lord commands us in Deuteronomy 4:2 “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

Among the Ten Commandments we find the forgotten Bible text, the very one God asked us to remember. Notice again, if you will, Exodus 20, read verses 8 through 11: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.’’

Notice that this commandment is prefaced with the word “remember”—”don’t forget this one.’’ Could it be the Lord knew that of all His ten divine precepts this would be the one most forgotten by all? And so He said, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.” Here the Lord makes crystal clear the day which He made holy as the Sabbath day. Notice verses 10 and 11 where He says: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God...rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” And so as we remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, we must remember also which day the Lord set apart as His holy day. That was the seventh day of the week, or Saturday, as we know it today.

Notice that this Sabbath commandment, along with the rest of the commandments was given through Moses in written form 2,000 years after creation. But the Sabbath itself goes back to creation itself. In Genesis 2:1-3 we read: ‘’Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.’’ There are some who think that the teaching of a seventh-day Sabbath is something new, but in actuality it is the oldest institution known to man, for it dates back to creation week itself, just as does the institution of marriage. It is interesting to note, too, that the seventh day Sabbath is not a Jewish day, for it was given 2,000 years before there was a Jew. Indeed, Jesus said in Mark 2:27, “the sabbath was made for man”—not for the Jew only, but for man.

Now, what was the purpose of the Sabbath? Why was it given in the very beginning of time? “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:17. Here we recognize that the Sabbath, if kept by Christians, is a sign that they believe it was God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In Exodus 20:11 the same reason for the Sabbath was given—”in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath, then, becomes a memorial of creation, a sign or a symbol of the great creative power of God.  Dare we, then, fellow Christians, see the symbol of God’s eternal government torn away from its moorings and dragged in the mud of tradition?

Jesus is surely our example in all things. We will follow Him then in this matter of Sabbath observance, for Jesus was a Sabbathkeeper. “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16. Yes, it was the custom, the practice, of Jesus to observe the sacred, holy Sabbath day. In John 15:10 Jesus testified: ‘’I have kept my Father’s commandments.” In Matthew 15:9 He says: “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” The seventh day Sabbath stands today as a commandment of God. The first day of the week, or Sunday-keeping, stands today only upon the traditions of men.

Multitudes of Christians today believe that there must be some good reason why Sunday-keeping has replaced Sabbathkeeping; some reason why the first day of the week is kept today instead of the Old Testament Sabbath. But the Bible is silent upon such a change.

Did the apostles keep the Sabbath? The followers of Jesus, after beholding the body of Christ in the sepulcher, “returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. There is no record anywhere in the New Testament indicating that the disciples or followers of Jesus honored any other day as the sacred Sabbath of the Lord.

In the book of Acts we find repeated references to the Sabbath long after the resurrection of Jesus. In Acts 13:14 we read: “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.” In verse 42: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” And in verse 44: “And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.’’ As Paul continued his missionary journeys, he continued to honor the seventh day Sabbath. In Acts 16:13 we read: “And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.” Also in Acts 17:2: “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.”

Yes, it was the custom of Paul, as it was of Christ, to observe the Sabbath commandment. “And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (in the city of Corinth, Greece), Acts 18:4. He continued there for a year and six months (verse 11). and every Sabbath he was found in the church with the people.

The Apostle Paul, as he himself testified in Acts 24:14, that he, “believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” kept this commandment. It was he who taught that the keeping of the law which was holy, just and good was not a means of salvation, but a result of salvation, an evidence that the love of Christ had entered one’s heart. As one who loved His Lord, Paul, like all the apostles, continued to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in obedience to the commandments of God. There is absolutely no text in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation indicating that a new Sabbath should be substituted for the old. In fact, there are only eight texts in the New Testament which mention the first day of the week. Surely if there was to be a change from the seventh to the first day, it would have to be mentioned in one of these eight verses.

Why, then, do many keep Sunday, you ask? Well, because they were taught to; because their mothers and fathers did, and their grandfathers, perhaps, before them; because they had thought it must be in the Bible; because you thought there must be some good reason for it. But as we put the first day, Sunday, to the test of Bible truth, we find it must fall, with all the other traditional teachings of mankind which came into the church during the Dark Ages. But in these last days, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the true Sabbath is again to be revealed as part of the great reformatory movement to take place before Jesus returns.

In Isaiah 58:12, 13 we are told of the great reformation which specifies the revival of the true Sabbath. ‘’And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.’’ To those who accept this last-day revival of the true Sabbath, the promise is given in verse 14: “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” What a day of delight it becomes when the true Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, is again accepted and honored as the Holy of the Lord.

The Bible also teaches that the Sabbath will be kept in heaven. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.’’ Isaiah 66:22, 23. What a privilege it will be to gather around the great white throne in the kingdom of glory each seventh-day Sabbath to worship our Maker and our Saviour!

- Sunday Tradition, Joe Crews Radio Sermons

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

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100 Amazing Facts About The Sabbath

WHY keep the Sabbath day? What is the object of the Sabbath? Who made it? When was it made, and for whom? Which day is the true Sabbath? Many keep the first day of the week, or Sunday. What Bible authority have they for

this? Some keep the seventh day, or Saturday. What Scripture have they for that? Here are the facts about both days, as plainly stated in the Word of God:

After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, the great God rested on the seventh day. (Genesis 2:1.3.)

This stamped that day as God's rest day, or Sabbath day, as Sabbath day means rest day. To illustrate: When a person is born on a certain day, that day thus becomes his birthday. So when God rested upon the seventh day, that day became His rest, or Sabbath, day.

Therefore the seventh day must always be God's Sabbath day. Can you change your birthday from the day on which you were born to one on which you were not born? No. Neither can you change God's rest day to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the seventh day is still God's Sabbath day.

The Creator blessed the seventh day. (Genesis 2:3.)

He sanctified the seventh day. (Exodus 20:11.)

He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:1-3.)

It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type; for types were not introduced till after the fall.

Jesus says it was made for man (Mark 2:27), that is, for the race, as the word man is here unlimited; hence, for the Gentile as well as for the Jew.

It is a memorial of creation. (Exodus 20:11; 31:17.) Every time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that grand event.

It was given to Adam, the head of the human race. (Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3.)

Hence through him, as our representative, to all nations. (Acts 17:26.)

It is' not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew.

The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Men should be cautious how they stigmatize God's holy rest day.

Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day week all, through the patriarchal age. (Genesis 2:l-3; 8:10,12; 29:27,28.etc.)

It was a part of God's law before Sinai. (Exodus 16:4, 27-29.)

Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law. (Exodus 20:1-17.) Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable?

The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. (Deuteronomy 4:12,13.)

Then He wrote the commandment with His own finger. (Exodus 31:18.)

He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. (Deuteronomy 5:22.)

It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5.)

God forbade work upon the Sabbath, even in the most hurrying times. (Exodus 34:21.)

God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they profaned the Sabbath. (Ezekiel 20:12, 13.)

It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from false gods. (Ezekiel 20:20.)

God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:24, 25.)

He sent them into the Babylonish captivity for breaking it. (Nehemiah 13:18.)

He destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. (Jeremiah 17:27.)

God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. (Isaiah 56:6, 7.)

This is in the prophecy, which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. (See Isaiah 56.)

God has promised to bless all who keep the Sabbath. (Isaiah 56:2.)

The Lord requires us to call it "honourable". (Isaiah 58:13.) Beware, ye who take delight in calling it the. “old Jewish Sabbath,” “a yoke of bondage,” etc.

After the holy Sabbath has been trodden down "many generations,” it is to be restored in the last days. (Isaiah 58:12,13.)

All the holy prophets kept the seventh day.

When the Son of God came, He kept the seventh day all His life. (Luke 4:16; John 15:10.) Thus He followed His Father's example at creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the Father and the Son?

The seventh day is the Lord's Day. (See Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 20:10.)

Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), that is, to love and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the wife, to love and cherish her (1 Peter 3:6.)

He vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man's good. (Mark 2:23-28.)

Instead of abolishing the Sabbath, He carefully taught how it should be observed. (Matthew 13:1-13.)

He taught His disciples that they should do nothing upon the Sabbath day but what was “lawful” (Matthew 12:12.)

He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded forty years after His resurrection. (Matthew 24:20.)

The pious women who had been with Jesus carefully kept the seventh day after His death. (Luke 23:56.)

Thirty years after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit' expressly calls it "the Sabbath day,"(Acts 13:14.)

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it the "Sabbath day" in A.D. 45. (Acts 13:27.) Did not Paul know? Or shall we believe modern teachers, who affirm that it ceased to be the Sabbath at the resurrection of Christ?

Luke, the inspired Christian historian, writing as late as A.D. 62, calls it the "Sabbath day." (Acts 13:44.)

The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. (Acts 13:42.)

In the great Christian council, A.D.

In the presence of the apostles and thousands of disciples, James calls it the "Sabbath day." (Acts 15:21.)

It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon that day. (Acts 16:13.)

Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on that day. (Acts 17:2, 3.)

It was his custom to preach upon that day. (Acts 17:2,3.)

The Book of Acts alone gives a record of his holding eighty-four meetings upon that day. (See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4. 11.)

There was never any dispute between the Christians and the Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians still observed the same day that the Jews did.

In all their accusations against Paul, they never charged him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not keep it?

But Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the law. “Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all." Acts 25:8. How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath?

The Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the Old Testament, “the Sabbath day.”

Not a word is said anywhere in the New Testament about the Sabbath's being abolished, done away, changed, or anything of the kind.

God has never given permission to any man to work upon it. Reader, by what authority do you use - the seventh day for common labor?

No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after the resurrection, ever did ordinary work upon the seventh day. Find one case of that kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modem Christians do differently from Bible Christians?

There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh day.

As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, so it will be observed eternally in the new earth after the restitution. (Isaiah 66:22, 23.)

The seventh-day Sabbath was an important part of the law of God, as it came from His own mouth, and was written by His own finger upon stone at Sinai. (See Exodus 20.) When Jesus began His work, He expressly declared that He had not come to destroy the law. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.” Matthew 5:17

Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites for pretending to love God, while at the same tune they made void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition. The keeping of Sunday is only a tradition of men.

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship

“Home of Bible Based Christianity”

3095 Dave Ward Drive

Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA

EMAIL:

mountzionconway@gmail.com

We Invite You

to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.

Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

& Bible Study 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY

"There is none so blind

as he who will not see"

WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?

WHAT WILL

YOU DO?

“You may be playing games with God;

but God is not playing games with you!” 

Forty Bible Facts Concerning

the First Day of the Week

The very first thing recorded In the Bible is work done on Sunday, the first day of the week. (Genesis l: l-5.) The Creator Himself did this. If God made the earth on Sunday, can it be wicked for us to work on Sunday?

God commands men to work upon the first day of the week. (Exodus 20.8-11.) Is it wrong to obey God?

None of the patriarchs ever kept it.

None of the holy prophets ever kept it.

By the express command of-God, His holy people used the first day of the week as a common working day for 4,000 years, at least.

God Himself calls it a "working" day. (Ezekiel 46:1.)

God did not rest upon it.

He never blessed it.

Christ did not rest upon it.

Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and worked at His trade until He was thirty years old. He kept the Sabbath and worked six days in the week, as all admit. Hence He did many a hard day’s work on Sunday.

The apostles worked upon it during the same time.

The apostles never rested upon it.

Christ never blessed it.

It has never been blessed by any divine authority.

It has never been sanctified.

No law was ever given to enforce the keeping of it, hence it is no transgression to work upon it. “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15 (See also 1 John 3:4.)

The New Testament nowhere forbids work to be done on it.

No penalty is provided for its violation.

No blessing is promised for its observance.

No regulation is given as to how it ought to be observed. Would this be so if the Lord wished us to keep it?

It is never called the Christian Sabbath.

It is never called the Sabbath day at all.

It is never called the Lord’s day.

It is never called even a rest day.

No sacred title whatever is applied to it. Then why should we call it holy?

It is simply called “first day of the week.”

Jesus never-mentioned it in any way, never took its name upon His lips, so far as the record shows.

The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible at all.

Neither God, Christ, nor inspired men ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day.

The first day of the week is mentioned only eight times in all the New Testament. (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2.)

Six of these texts refer to the same first day of the week.

Paul directed the saints to look over their secular affairs on that day. (1Corinthians 16:2.)

In all the New Testament we have a record of only one religious meeting held upon that day, and even this was a night meeting. (Acts 20:5-12.)

There is not intimation that they ever held a meeting upon it before or after that.

It was not their custom to meet on that day.

There was no requirement to break bread on that day.

We have an account of only one instance in which it was done. (Acts 20:7.)

That was done in the night-after midnight. (Verses 7-11.) Jesus celebrated it on Thursday evening (Luke 22), and the disciples sometimes did it every day (Acts 2:42-46.)

The Bible nowhere says that the first day of the week commemorates the resurrection of Christ. This is a tradition of men, which contradicts the law of God. (Matthew 15:1-9.) Baptism commemorates the burial and resurrection of Jesus. (Romans 6:3-5.)

Finally, the New Testament is totally silent with regard to any change of the Sabbath day or any sacredness for the first day.

Here are one hundred plain Bible facts upon this question, showing conclusively that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord in both the Old and New Testament.*

*Reprinted from a tract published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association about the year 1885.

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship

“Home of Bible Based Christianity”

3095 Dave Ward Drive

Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA

EMAIL:

mountzionconway@gmail.com

We Invite You

to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.

Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

& Bible Study 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY

"There is none so blind

as he who will not see"

WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?

WHAT WILL

YOU DO?

“You may be playing games with God;

but God is not playing games with you!” 

Nine Reasons why the Sabbath is not Jewish

by Steve Wohlberg

1) Adam and Eve were not Jewish. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:3) before sin entered. "Sanctified" means "to be set apart for holy use." The only ones in the Garden of Eden for whom the Sabbath was "set apart" were Adam and Eve, who weren't Jewish.

2) "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2:27. Jesus said this. It was "made" in the Garden of Eden before it was "written" down on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath was "made" for "man," not just Jews.

3) The other nine commandments are not "just for Jews." God wrote "Ten Commandments" on stone, not just nine (See Deut. 4:12, 13; Ex. 20). Does "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," and "Do not bear false witness" apply only to Jews?

4) "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Exodus 20:10. God calls the Sabbath, "my holy day." Isaiah 58:13. The Bible never calls it "the Sabbath of the Jews." It isn't their Sabbath, but God's.

5) The Sabbath commandment is for the "stranger" too. The fourth commandment itself says the "stranger" is to rest on the Sabbath. Exodus 20:10. "Strangers" are non-Jews, or Gentiles. Thus the Sabbath applies to them too. Read also Isaiah 56:6.

6) Isaiah said Gentiles should keep the Sabbath. "Also the sons of the stranger ... every one that keeps the Sabbath ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Isaiah 56:6, 7. Thus the Sabbath is for Gentiles and "all people," not just for Jews.

7) "All" mankind will keep the Sabbath in the New Earth. In "the new earth ... from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord." Isaiah 66:22, 23. Here God says that "all flesh" we will be keeping the Sabbath in "the new earth." If this is the case - and it is - shouldn't we start now?

8) Gentiles kept the Sabbath in the Book of Acts. "The Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath ... Paul and Barnabas ... persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."' Acts 13:42, 43. Here saved-by-grace Gentiles kept the Sabbath (see also verse 44).

9) "The law" [of Ten Commandments] is for "all the world," not just for Jews. Paul wrote these words. Read Romans 2:17-23; 3:19, 23.

For more information, read Truth Left Behind by Steve Wohlberg, Sunday: The Origin of Its Observance in the Christian Church, by E.J. Wagonner,  or watch the fascinating 5-part TV documentary, The Seventh-day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History (view trailer), produced by LLT Productions. All three are now available from White Horse Media. www.whitehorsemedia.com. 1-800-78-BIBLE.

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship

“Home of Bible Based Christianity”

3095 Dave Ward Drive

Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA

EMAIL:

mountzionconway@gmail.com

We Invite You

to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.

Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

& Bible Study 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY

"There is none so blind

as he who will not see"

WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?

WHAT WILL

YOU DO?

“You may be playing games with God;

but God is not playing games with you!” 

MAJOR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

The Day of the Sun 

One of the strangest omissions in our modern life revolves around the calendar which hangs on the wall at your house and mine. Astronomy can supply most of the answers relating to the measurement of time, even when it touches the earliest years of human history. But even the calendar experts can give us no scientific reason for the division of time into seven day weekly cycles. Neither the stars, planets nor sun seem to provide any logical clues as to this arrangement of time. The days and months are based on predictable laws of planetary movements but why does our calendar today count days off in units of seven?

Creation and the Seven Day  

Friends, there is only one answer for this question. The Bible says that God created the world in seven days and established a divine command for all time to come — that mankind should so reckon his time by weeks. Here’s the text in Exodus 20:8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor the maidservant, nor they cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

Please notice that God Himself is the author of the calendar week of seven days. It has passed down to us from time immemorial, and was included in the most ancient forms of calendars, regardless of race or language. There can be little question that we are dealing with an arrangement which the Creator established in the very beginning of human history. And the most amazing thing is, that no time has been lost since the great God gave His command about keeping the seventh day Sabbath in honor of creation. What He commanded, He has enabled man to perform. Miraculously the same seven day weekly cycle has been preserved through the ages so that man might enjoy the spiritual blessing which was placed upon the seventh day in the beginning.

So Which Day Is It?

Today there is no serious question from either clergy or layman as to which day the seventh day really is. Astronomers assure us that the seventh day today is the same seventh day which Jesus kept when He was here over 1900 years ago.

Now we come to that strange omission I mentioned in the beginning. Why do the majority of Christians break the commandment of God by refusing to keep the Sabbath He ordained, blessed, and sanctified? The seventh day, or Saturday, has been made a day of labor and commerce in direct violation of the law written by the very finger of God.

Surely every believer knows that the Creator rested on the seventh day and hallowed it as the Sabbath. And all know that the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Most followers of Christ know that He never kept any other day than the Sabbath day. Yet, in spite of these Bible evidences, the majority of the Christian world observe Sunday, the first day of the week, and worship on that day.

No change from seventh-day to first day worship is recorded in the Bible. If the change were catalogued there, it would no longer be so perplexing. But our Creator says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6. The commandment must still stand; for the Saviour declares that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. Since heaven and earth are still standing and very much in evidence, the fourth precept of that law must still be obligatory. Jesus said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law;” and, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandment.” Matthew 5:17; 19:17.

Who Changed The Day?

Notwithstanding all this, an attempt has been made to change the day of rest. The majority today are not keeping the day that Jesus kept. And the question is, Who changed the Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week, and by what authority? Every Christian who desires to “enter into life” should be concerned about this. We ought to know how this change came about, and if the greater part of Christendom is right in observing Sunday instead of the Sabbath day.

There is light on this question in the very etymology of the word “Sunday.” In early ages, mankind, forgetting the true Creator of the heavens and the earth “and all that in them is,” and being possessed, as all men are, with that inherent instinct which goes seeking after an object or being to worship, began to look about for such an object or being. Their choice rested on the biggest and brightest thing their eyes could see. They chose the sun as god. With its brightness and welcome warmth, it caused earthly life to bud, blossom, and bring forth; surely it must be the true god and the author of man’s being. Thus we find in history sun god’s a-plenty. They are pictured on temples and monuments of Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Ra, Isis, Osiris, Baal, Mithras, Hercules, Apollo, and Jupiter all are heathen gods of the sun. Even in the Bible, sun worship is mentioned. In Job 31:26-28, we read: “If I beheld the sun when it shined, . . . and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.” Again in Ezekiel 8:16: “At the door of the temple of the lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.”

The pagans had “gods many and lords many.” Besides the sun, they worshiped the moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn. And they bestowed upon the days of the week the names of their gods. The sun, whence come the first day of the week was given over to this first and foremost of all gods, and called the sun’s day, or Sunday. The moon took second place and also the second day; hence Monday. Saturn held Saturday, the last day. So from antiquity, Sunday has been held as a day of worship.

Paganism was worshiping the sun on Sunday when Christ came. When the gospel from Judea came to our own ancestors in Europe, it found them paying homage to the sun on the first day of the week. As the Spirit of God, manifested in Christ, began to work upon the hearts of men, many left the worship of Apollo, the sun god, and joined the Christians.

After Christ’s return to heaven, the great majority were still pagans worshiping the sun on Sunday, while the followers of Jesus worshiped God on the true Sabbath, or seventh day. With mighty manifestations of God’s Spirit, Christianity mounted, and paganism began to wane. The Spirit-filled preaching of Paul in Asia, Macedonia, and Italy won thousands to the ranks of Christ. The church at that time was powerful, because of its zeal and earnestness and consecrated lives. The worship of the true God and the following of His commandments spread over the whole world.

Before Paul laid down his life, however, he wrote to the Thessalonians: “Now we beseech you, brethern, ... that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, ... as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. ... For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work.” II Thessalonians 2:1-4, 7, R.V.

The Man of Sin

Here is warning of apostasy. Paul saw it working in the church. A “falling away” was to come “first”. A “mystery of lawlessness,” or a spirit of making void the law of God, was already at work. A “man of sin” was to be revealed sitting right in the church, “setting himself forth as God.” It is quite evident that from this one source was to come the tendency to change the law of God. There can be but little doubt that Paul was acquainted with the prophecy of Daniel 7:24, 25, regarding that “little horn” which was to come up out of Rome, with eyes and mouth like a man’s (verse 8) and “speak words against the Most High,” and “wear out the saints of the Most High,” and “think to change the times and the law.” The same Bible consistency works here. Daniel had prophesied of a man of sin that was to “think” to change the law; and Paul, by the same Spirit, prophesied of the man of sin that had the mystery of lawlessness. Daniel had prophesied of a man of sin that was to “think” to change the law; and Paul, by the same Spirit, prophesied of the man of sin that had the mystery of lawlessness. God, who made eyes, is not blind; and through these two seers, He made known to the people of God the fact that there was to come into the church a power that would “change the times and the law.” And true to the prophecy, we find its fulfillment.

Soon after Paul was put to death, there swept over the church, in the midst of its prosperity, a sharp rivalry among the bishops of the leading churches as to whom should be the greatest. They became thirsty for more power. They did almost anything to inflate their membership, increase their bishoprics, and add to their power. They lowered standards of truth to raise membership. Multitudes joined the church. The white horse of purity and simplicity that the church had ridden, “conquering and to conquer,” was exchanged for the red horse of strife and worldliness. She traded her “gold tried in the fire” for the tinsel of popularity. Paganism stalked into the church without a changed heart or life. Scarcely a century after his death, Paul’s prophecy was meeting its fulfillment. There was a “falling away” from purity, and an induction of pagan principles and philosophies into the church.

Constantine's Influence

In the early dawn of the fourth century, Constantine, a Roman general, ambitious for the throne, adopted Christianity as a matter of political advantage. He saw paganism declining. In reality, it was being absorbed by the church. Merely as a measure of popularity, he proclaimed himself a Christian. The fawning bishops acclaimed him.

Constantine faced this situation: More than half the people worshiped on Sunday—pagans. The others observed the Sabbath—professed Christians. He conceived the idea of cementing the two factions. Though professing Christianity, he did not want to conflict with the prejudices of his pagan subjects. Artfully balancing himself between the two, he allayed the “fears of his subjects by publishing in the same year two edicts, the first of which enjoined the solemn observance of Sunday, and the second directed the regular consultation of the aruspices” —a pagan practice. (Gibbon’s Decline and all of the Roman Empire,” Chapter 20)

Here we are then, face to face with the first law, human or divine, ever given for the purpose of making Sunday a day of sacred rest. And it is entirely a man-made law, uninspired by Divinity. On the seventh day of March, 321, Constantine gave forth his Sunday law:

“Let all the judges and town people and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun (Dies Solis); but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by Heaven.” Right there we find the genesis of Sunday keeping in the Christian Church.

The Council of Laodicea

The church followed the leadership of Constantine, and in the year 364, at the council of Laodicea, passed a law requiring that Christians must “not Judaize by resting on Saturday.” Eusebius, a noted bishop of the church, states, “All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day.” Here, then, it is plain that a human hand, and not a divine, changed the Sabbath. Eusebius says, “We have transferred.”

Finally the Sabbath was crushed, and Sunday, the pagan holiday, was instituted. Henceforth, it was espoused by the church, and supported, as it is in our day. Doctor Eck, the astute lawyer and champion of the Church in its controversy with Martin Luther, admits, “The church has changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday on its own authority, without Scripture, doubtless under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.”

- From the Joe Crews Radio Sermon Library

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

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EMAIL:

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We Invite You

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Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

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WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

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WHAT WILL

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“You may be playing games with God;

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WHAT WE DO ON THE SABBATH

Rest In God - Keeping the Sabbath Holy

Bible Principles: While this list of Bible principles on keeping the Sabbath holy is not comprehensive, it should help you as you search the Bible to learn how to be like Jesus and "do those things that are pleasing in His sight." 1 John 3:22

The Sabbath is a day to cease our creating, working with the creation, and appreciate what God has done in the world and is doing in us. Genesis 2

The Sabbath is a time to lay our burdens down and rest. We should not do any servile work on the Sabbath. This includes our entire family, even our servants and beasts of burden and strangers who live among us. Jeremiah 17; Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

The Sabbath is an holy convocation. We should meet and worship with others. Leviticus 23

We should be reverent and show God that we love, honor, and respect His authority. Psalm 89:7, Habakkuk 2:20

The Sabbath should be a day of delight and rejoicing, a day which we forsake our thoughts and words for God's thoughts and words. Isaiah 56, 58

The Sabbath is a time of healing. Matthew 12, Mark 1, 3, Luke 13, 14

We are not to buy or sell on the Sabbath. Nehemiah 13

The Sabbath is a time to do good and visit and comfort the sick. We should do spiritual work on the Sabbath, serving others. John 5

The Sabbath is a time of prayer. Acts 16:13

The Sabbath is a time to reason with others about spiritual principles, and for ministers to teach the word of God. Acts 17:2, 18:4, 11

Elaborate food preparation is to be done on the day before the Sabbath so that there is no baking or heavy cooking on the Sabbath. Exodus 16

The Sabbath is a time for Singing. Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:16, Psalms 92 is called the "Sabbath Psalm"

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship

“Home of Bible Based Christianity”

3095 Dave Ward Drive

Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA

We Invite You

to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.

Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

& Bible Study 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY

"There is none so blind

as he who will not see"

WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?

WHAT WILL

YOU DO?

“You may be playing games with God;

but God is not playing games with you!” 

What About the Lord's Day?

Sometime ago a friend of mine was driving through Ohio on his way to New York City. At least he thought he was heading for New York until suddenly he saw a huge bus speed toward him and past him, plainly marked New York City. It was puzzling to say the least. Either that bus driver was wrong or he was wrong. So he drove in to the next service station and asked, “Say, isn’t this the way to New York City?” The attendant smiled and said, “Yes, if you want to go 25,000 miles.”

Only then did he realize that he had turned the wrong direction after stopping at a turnpike restaurant. He quickly turned around and headed in the right direction.

This experience of my friend illustrates very clearly what is happening to a lot of people in their religious life. No matter how sincere a person may be, he might be sincerely wrong. Something more is needed than sincerity in order to reach the right destination. Some times Christians discover that they have been mistaken. Sometimes they have been misled by others and find themselves going in the wrong direction. It is tremendously important that Christians keep open minds and hearts and be willing to change directions if necessary to keep in harmony with constantly unfolding truth. After all, truth cannot be everything. Truth is circumscribed in religion by what is in the Bible. It doesn’t conform to everything, but it must conform to what is revealed in the Bible. People may be and will be wrong, but God’s Word never is.

Let’s apply that to a strange situation we find in the world today. Although we have the same Christ, the same Bible, yet we find two Sabbath days kept by Christians. And the sincere heart cannot help but ask, “Which is right?”

There are multitudes who have been told, and who honestly believe, that the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath was abolished at the cross and that the first day of the week—the day we now call Sunday—became the Lord’s day in honor of the resurrection. There is another group of Christians, equally sincere, who believe that the original seventh-day Sabbath is the true Lord’s day to be observed by all—even this side of the cross.

Friends, if ever I have asked God to help me speak with fairness and honest candor, it is now. For we all know, multitudes of sincere, devoted men and women are walking where their forefathers have walked without once thinking to question why they keep the day that they do. Yet we must learn—and I believe we have learned—one vital truth. It is this. We must have Scripture support for every Christian practice that we follow.

What About the Lord's Day?

God's word reveals the truth on the issue

Now if we are wrong on the Sabbath question—wrong either way—God’s word will certainly reveal that error. And I believe that every honest man and woman wants to know the truth, even if the truth turns out to be different from what he expected it to be. If the Scriptures reveal that I am keeping the wrong day, then I ought to be perfectly willing to change. Don’t you think?

I know there are those who say it doesn’t make any difference which day you keep, so long as you keep one day in seven. Ever hear anyone talk like that? Does it make a difference? Is any day acceptable to God? Let’s turn to the Book, to the Bible in your hand, and see what we discover. We shall read three simple, clear statements. First will you turn to Revelations 1:10. “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.”

Evidently the Lord has a day. But which day is it? “For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Matthew 12:8. There must be something different about the Sabbath. Through the prophet Isaiah God speaks of the Sabbath and calls it plainly “my holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. And no where in Scripture does He designate an other day as his.

The Lord, then, has a day. And that day is the Sabbath. But now we ask, which of the seven days is the Sabbath? We turn for our answer to the very heart of the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Exodus 20: 8-10. That is clear, isn’t it? Now we have learned three things. The Lord has a day. The Sabbath is the Lord’s day. The seventh day is the Sabbath.

And now verse 11. This tells us why God made the Sabbath. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Evidently there is a mighty strong link between the Sabbath and creation and the Creator.

What About the Lord's Day?

How does creation fit into the story?

By the way, who made the worlds? Who made this earth? You say, “God did.” Yes. But let’s turn to Ephesians 3: 9. “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” John 1:10 declares “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.” Could any statement be clearer? Yes, Christ, as He pre-existed before Bethlehem, created this world.

Watch what happened. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Genesis 2: 2,3. Do you see it now? The One who made this earth is the One who made the Sabbath. Jesus had every right to say, “The Son of man is Lord of the sabbath day.” For He had made it. He had every right to say, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” For it was He Himself, back in Eden, who first gave commandments to men.

Do we really sense the impact of what we have just discovered? Listen. The Christ of Calvary is the Creator of Genesis. To reject one is to reject the other! Have you ever thought of that? To reject one is to reject the other! Oh friends, why do we try to isolate the Sabbath and put it off somewhere by itself? Why are we so unwilling to leave it just where God put it—in the very center of His eternal law?

Do you know that if I would go into a city and talk about juvenile delinquency and community betterment and salvation from sin—if I should point men to the word of God regarding adultery, stealing, killing, and show how Christ can give victory—every Christian would stand right back of me and many non-Christians as well. They would say, “Brother Joe, what a wonderful work you are doing for humanity!” But the moment we mention the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, eyebrows are lifted. Questions are raised. Excuses are piled high. Why? I ask you. Why?

It is perfectly all right to talk about the first or second commandment or the sixth or the seventh or the eighth. But don’t mention the fourth. Why? Let’s be consistent. You can see that the commandments stand or fall together. Either they are still in force or they aren’t. Either it’s wrong for me to lie and kill and steal, or it isn’t. We don’t make excuses for breaking the other commandments. Why the fourth? I have often wondered how so clear and simple a matter as our relationship to grace and the commandments of God—I say, I have often wondered how so clear and simple a matter can be made to appear so confusing. People say, “I’m saved by grace. I don’t need to keep the law.” Did you ever hear anybody reason like that? But friend, do grace and pardon release us from obedience to the very law that we have broken? If I am saved, will I pick your pocket? Will I lie? Will I steal? Will I kill? No. Commandment keeping becomes a possibility to the heart that loves his Lord. It’s love that makes all the difference.

Do you see? Salvation from the power of sin is a gift from God. He cancels our sin debt of the past through no good works of our own. And then, when we are forgiven, it is our delight to do God’s will. Not to merit heaven, you understand. But because we love Him. Commandment keeping, you see, is not a means of salvation. It is an evidence of it. Keep that clear distinction in mind, and you will never have any confusion on this vital point.

What About the Lord's Day?

Only for the Jews?

Now some, without really thinking it through, have told us that the seventh day Sabbath is Jewish and therefore is not for us. But Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” And that means all men. The Saviour Himself made the Sabbath two thousand years before there was a Jew. He gave the Sabbath along with marriage, and the Sabbath is no more Jewish than is marriage. Woman was made for man. Did you ever hear anyone say, “I can’t get married because it’s Jewish?” Did you?

The deeper you study into this thing, the more thoroughly you investigate, the greater will be your conviction that something is wrong somewhere, that in some very vital issues we have been just slipping along, following the crowd, never thinking to question. At this point you maybe saying, “I believe you are right. Evidently the seventh day is the right day to keep. But how can we know that the day we now call Saturday is the seventh day of Bible times?” Let’s look at the following texts: Luke 23: 52-56; 24: 1. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.”

Do you see how these words settle the matter? Three days are mentioned here—the preparation day, the Sabbath, and the first day of the week. Notice that two of the days are given sacred titles. The other is given simply a number—the first day of the week. The Sabbath is the day in between. It’s as simple as that!

And keep in mind that these words were not written that weekend and rushed off to press. No. They were written many years this side of the cross. Yet the inspired writer still calls the seventh day the Sabbath, and Sunday simply the first day of the week. Significant, isn’t it? Think it through.

I hope you will not be satisfied with a shallow look at this Sabbath subject, friends. It is terribly important to understand exactly how you relate to those ten commandments that God wrote with His own hand.

- From the Joe Crews Radio Sermon Library

This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by

Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship

“Home of Bible Based Christianity”

3095 Dave Ward Drive

Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA

EMAIL:

mountzionconway@gmail.com

We Invite You

to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.

Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m.

Tuesday Night Prayer

& Bible Study 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY

"There is none so blind

as he who will not see"

WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH!

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?

WHAT WILL

YOU DO?

“You may be playing games with God;

but God is not playing games with you!” 

How the Sabbath Was Changed

Today I want to answer the question which so many listeners have been concerned about since our first broadcast on the Sabbath question. How did the change take place, substituting Sunday for Saturday as the day of worship? This is possibly one of the most disturbing religious questions among thinking Christians today. Unfortunately, the issue is not examined publicly very often for reasons that we’ll consider today. But multitudes have wondered when, how and why the change came about. We have established in previous broadcasts that the Bible itself speaks with absolute consistency on this subject.

No Change Documented in the Bible

In both Old and New Testament there is not a shadow of variation in the doctrine of the Sabbath. The seventh day, Saturday, is the only day ever designated by the term Sabbath in the entire Bible. Not only was Jesus a perfect example in observing the weekly seventh-day Sabbath, but all His disciples followed the same pattern after Jesus had gone back to heaven. Yet no intimation of any change of the day is made. The apostle Paul, who wrote pages of counsel about lesser issues of Jewish and Gentile conflicts, had not one word to say about any controversy over the day of worship. Circumcision, foods offered to idols, and other Jewish customs were readily challenged by early Gentile Christians in the church, but the weightier matter of weekly worship never was an issue. Why? For the simple reason that no change was made from the historic seventh day of Old Testament times, and from creation itself. Had there been a switch from the Sabbath to the first day of the week, you can be sure the controversy would have been more explosive than any other to those Jewish Christians.

History Gives Some Clues

If the change did not take place in the Scriptures or through the influence of the apostles, when and how did it happen? In order to understand this, we must understand what happened in that early church soon after the apostles passed off the stage of action. Paul had prophesied that apostasy would take place soon after his departure. He said there would be a falling away from the truth. One doesn’t have to read very far in early church history to see just how that prophecy was fulfilled. Gnosticism began to rise up under the influence of philosophers who sought to reconcile Christianity with Paganism. At the same time, a strong anti-Jewish sentiment became more widespread. Very speculative interpretations began to appear regarding some of the great doctrines of Christ and the apostles.

The Conversion of Constantine

By the time Constantine was established as the emperor of Rome in the early fourth century, there was a decided division in the church as a result of all these factors. I think most of you know that Constantine was the first so-called Christian emperor of the Roman Empire. The story of his conversion has become very well known to students of ancient history. He was marching forth to fight the battle of Milvian Bridge when he had some kind of vision, and saw a flaming cross in the sky. Underneath the cross were the Latin words meaning “In this sign conquer.” Constantine took this as an omen that he should be a Christian, and his army as well. He declared all his pagan soldiers to be Christians, and became very zealous to build up the power and prestige of the church. Through his influence great blocks of pagans were taken into the Christian ranks. But, friends, they were still pagan at heart, and they brought in much of the paraphernalia of sun-worship to which they continued to be devoted. We mentioned in a previous broadcast about the adoption of Christmas and Easter into the church. At the same time, many other customs were Christianized and appropriated into the practice of the church as well.

Sun Worship

You see, at that time the cult of Mithraism or sun-worship was the official religion of the Roman Empire. It stood as the greatest competitor to the new Christian religion. It had its own organization, temples, priesthood, robes—everything. It also had an official worship day on which special homage was given to the sun. That day was called “The Venerable Day of the Sun.” It was the first day of the week, and from it we get our name Sunday. When Constantine pressed his pagan hordes into the church they were observing the day of the sun for their adoration of the sun god. It was their special holy day. In order to make it more convenient for them to make the change to the new religion, Constantine accepted their day of worship, Sunday, instead of the Christian Sabbath which had been observed by Jesus and His disciples. Remember that the way had been prepared for this already by the increasing anti-Jewish feelings against those who were accused of putting Jesus to death. Those feelings would naturally condition many Christians to swing away from something which was held religiously by the Jews. It is therefore easier to understand how the change was imposed on Christianity through a strong civil law issued by Constantine as the Emperor of Rome. The very wording of that law, by the way, can be found in any reliable encyclopedia. Those early Christians, feeling that the Jews should not be followed any more than necessary, were ready to swing away from the Sabbath which was kept by the Jews.

Historical Accounts

Some of you may be greatly surprised by the explanation I’ve just made, and I’m not going to ask you to believe it blindly. I have before me a multitude of authorities to verify what has been said. Here are historians, Catholics and Protestants, speaking in harmony about what actually took place in the fourth century. After Constantine made the initial pronouncement and legal decree about the change, the Catholic Church reinforced that act in one church council after another. For this reason, many, many official statements from Catholic sources are made, claiming that the church made the change from Saturday to Sunday. But before I read those statements I shall refer to one from the Encyclopedia Britannica under the article, Sunday. Notice: “It was Constantine who first made a law for the proper observance of Sunday and who appointed that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman empire.” Now you can check these statements in your own encyclopedias or go to the library and look into other historical sources.

Here is a statement from Dr. Gilbert Murray, M.A., D.Litt., LLD, FBA, Professor of Greek at Oxford University, who certainly had no ax to grind concerning Christian thought on the Sabbath question. He wrote: “Now since Mithras was the sun, the Unconquered, and the sun was the Royal Star, the religion looked for a king whom it could serve as a representative of Mithras upon earth. The Roman Emperor seemed to be clearly indicated as the true king. In sharp contrast to Christianity, Mithraism recognized Caesar as the bearer of divine grace. It had so much acceptance that it was able to impose on the Christian world its own sun-day in place of the Sabbath; its sun’s birthday, the 25th of December, as the birthday of Jesus.” History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge.

Looking a bit further into historical statements, Dr. William Frederick says: “The Gentiles were an idolatrous people who worshipped the sun, and Sunday was their most sacred day. Now in order to reach the people in this new field, it seems but natural as well as necessary to make Sunday the rest day of the church. At this time it was necessary for the church to either adopt the Gentile’s day or else have the Gentiles change their day. To change the Gentiles day would have been an offense and stumbling block to them. The church could naturally reach them better by keeping their day.” There it is, friends, a clear explanation by Dr. Frederick as to how this change happened. Another statement very parallel to this one is found in the North British Review.

But let’s move on to a statement from the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 153. “The church after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath or seventh-day of the week to the first, made the third commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord’s day.”

Catholicism Takes Credit for the Change

Now a quote from the Catholic Press newspaper in Sidney, Australia. “Sunday is a Catholic institution and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles. From the beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.”

The Catholic Mirror of September 23, 1894, puts it this way: “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.”

To point up the claims we’re talking about, I want to read from two Catechisms. First, from the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine by Reverend Peter Giermann. “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 Catholic Church in the Council of Laodicea transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

Second, from Reverend Steven Keenan’s Doctrinal Catechism we read this: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? 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.”

Then from Cardinal Gibbons’ book, The Question Box, p.179, “If the Bible is the only guide for the Christian, then the Seventh-day Adventist is right in observing Saturday with the Jew. Is it not strange that those who make the Bible their only teacher should inconsistently follow in this matter the tradition of the Catholic Church?”

One more statement taken from the book, The Faith of Millions, p. 473. “But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistency but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text from the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair.”

That is a most interesting statement, is it not, friends? And it is a very true statement. There is some inconsistency somewhere along the line, because we have examined the statements of history, and you can check them for yourself in any library. I’m not reading anything one-sided here at all. I’ve tried to give you an unbiased picture. Although we have seen the claims made by the Catholic Church in their publications, we are not reading them to cast any reflection upon anyone, by any means. We are simply bringing you a recital of what has been written and what claims have been made.

- From the Joe Crews Radio Sermon Library

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Catholic Church Admits They Made the Change

Was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day? Well, yes and no. Let’s deal with the “no” first. God, “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17), does not change (Malachi 3:6). The Israelites received two laws from Moses: the law of Moses, that of ordinances and ceremonies; and the Law of God, embodied in the Ten Commandments, which is an expression of God’s character. If God does not change, neither will His Law. “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips” (Psalm 89:34). “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). “The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness” (Psalm 111:7, 8). God gave His Law to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. Amid thunder and lightning, a thick cloud covered the mountain, and a trumpet blasted. Smoke billowed up as from a furnace and the whole mountain shook as the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses led the Israelites out of their camp to meet with God, and every one of them trembled. Then God spoke (Exodus 19:16-19, 20:1). If this Law were to be changed, it would be reasonable to expect God Himself to announce it, and give reasons for its alteration, amid the same amount of ceremony. Yet there is no indication in Scripture of such an announcement.   What About the New Testament? In the New Testament, the seventh day of the week is called the Sabbath; it is mentioned 58 times. The first day of the week is mentioned eight times. It is simply called the first day of the week, and it is always differentiated from the Sabbath. This in itself is evidence for the continued validity of the seventh-day Sabbath. The gospel writers record Jesus and the apostles going to the synagogue on Sabbath as their “custom” (Luke 4:16 ). Jesus said, “I have kept My Father’s commandments” (John 15:10). The women who went to anoint His body after his death “rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). Nearly all of the incidents reported of the apostles’ preaching occurred on the seventh-day Sabbath. Of all the accusations the Jews made against the apostles, never once did they accuse the apostles of breaking the Sabbath. Some teach that after Christ’s death and resurrection, the Old Testament law was done away with and a new covenant took its place. But Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18). The law of Moses, which foreshadowed Christ’s sacrifice, was indeed made irrelevant, but Paul maintains that the Law of God is to be kept, though we now be under grace. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).   How It Happened... Yet for nearly 2,000 years now, millions of Christians have worshiped on Sunday. So was the Sabbath changed from the seventh to the first day of the week? Let’s look at the “yes” now. “The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5). Here Jesus staked His claim and forbade anyone to meddle with the Sabbath. Yet He knew there would be those who would claim the power to change God’s Law. Through Daniel he warned of just such a man. Describing a “little horn power” (Daniel 7:8), Daniel says, “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws” (Daniel 7:25). Paul made a similar prediction: “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God, or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7). Paul warned that this blasphemy was already at work, and that it would come not from an outside influence, but from within the church (2 Thessalonians 2:7, Acts 20:28-30). Sure enough, not long after Paul’s day, apostasy appeared in the church. About 100 years before Christianity, Egyptian Mithraists introduced the festival of Sunday, dedicated to worshiping the sun, into the Roman Empire. Later, as Christianity grew, church leaders wished to increase the numbers of the church. In order to make the gospel more attractive to non-Christians, pagan customs were incorporated into the church’s ceremonies. The custom of Sunday worship was welcomed by Christians who desired to differentiate themselves from the Jews, whom they hated because of the Jews’ rejection of the Savior. The first day of the week began to be recognized as both a religious and civil holiday. By the end of the second century, Christians considered it sinful to work on Sunday. The Roman emperor Constantine, a former sun-worshiper, professed conversion to Christianity, though his subsequent actions suggest the “conversion” was more of a political move than a genuine heart change. Constantine named himself Bishop of the Catholic Church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in A.D. 321.   On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrate and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however, persons engaged in agricultural work may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain growing or for vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. —Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. III, chap. 75. Note that Constantine’s law did not even mention Sabbath but referred to the mandated rest day as a “the venerable day of the sun.” And how kind he was to allow people to observe it as it was convenient. Contrast this with God’s command to observe the Sabbath “even during the plowing season and harvest” (Exodus 34:21)! Perhaps the church leaders noticed this laxity as well, for just four years later, in A.D. 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday “the Lord’s Day,” and in A.D. 338, Eusebius, the court bishop of Constantine, wrote, “All things whatsoever that it was the duty to do on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) we (Constantine, Eusebius, and other bishops) have transferred to the Lord’s Day (the first day of the week) as more appropriately belonging to it.” Instead of the humble lives of persecution and self-sacrifice led by the apostles, church leaders now exalted themselves to the place of God. “This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:3).   The Catechism Recall the ceremony with which God made known His Law, containing the blessing of the seventh-day Sabbath, by which all humanity is to be judged. Contrast this with the unannounced, unnoticed anticlimax with which the church gradually adopted Sunday at the command of “Christian” emperors and Roman bishops. And these freely admit that they made the change from Sabbath to Sunday. In the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, we read:   Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday…. Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday? A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday. Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday? A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her! —Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50. In Catholic Christian Instructed,   Q. Has the [Catholic] church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God? A. ...Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath. —The Catholic Christian Instructed in the Sacraments, Sacrifices, Ceremonies, and Observances of the Church By Way of Question and Answer, RT Rev. Dr. Challoner, p. 204. In An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,   Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days? A. 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. Q. How prove you that? A. 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.), (1833), page 58. In A Doctrinal Catechism, Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? A. 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, (1851), p. 174. In the Catechism of the Council of Trent, The Church of God has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday! –p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937.  (First published in 1566) In the Augsburg Confession, They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, they say, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments. —Art. 28. God warned that a blasphemous power would “seek to change times and laws,” and the Catholic Church openly admits doing it, even boasts about it. In a sermon at the Council of Trent in 1562, the Archbishop of Reggia, Caspar del Fossa, claimed that the Catholic Church’s whole authority is based upon the fact that they changed the Sabbath to Sunday. Does this not fulfill the prophecies of Daniel and Paul?   “For centuries millions of Christians have gathered to worship God on the first day of the week. Graciously He has accepted this worship. He has poured out His blessings upon Christian people as they have sought to serve Him. However, as one searches the Scriptures, he is forced to recognize that Sunday is not a day of God’s appointment… It has no foundation in Scripture, but has arisen entirely as a result of custom,” says Frank H. Yost, Ph.D. in The Early Christian Sabbath. Let us ask the question again: Was the Sabbath changed from the seventh day of the week to the first? The Bible is clear: “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Genesis 2:3).  “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). If God intended for another day to become the Sabbath, He must have removed the blessing from the seventh day and placed it on the day which was to replace it. But when God bestows a blessing, it is forever. “…You, O Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:27). “I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it” (Numbers 23:20). Your birthday, a memorial of your birth, can’t be changed, though you may celebrate it on a different day. Neither can the Sabbath, a memorial of creation (Exodus 20:11), be changed, though some may celebrate it on a different day. God instructed Moses to construct the earthly sanctuary, all its furniture, and the ark according to “the pattern” he was shown. (Exodus 25:9, 40) The ark was called the “ark of the covenant” (Numbers 10:33, Deuteronomy 10:8, Hebrews 9:4), and the “ark of the testimony” (Exodus 25:22), because in it Moses placed the tablets of stone on which God wrote His Law. (Exodus 25:16, 31:18) John, in Revelation 11:19, describes the scene before him when “the temple of God was opened in Heaven.” John saw the ark of the covenant in the heavenly sanctuary. David wrote, “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). It is safe to assume that God’s Law remains, contained within the ark of the covenant in the heavenly sanctuary. When God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:10), that ends all controversy. We cannot change God’s Word for our own convenience. “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). - Emily Thomsen   This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship “Home of Bible Based Christianity” 3095 Dave Ward Drive Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA EMAIL: mountzionconway@gmail.com We Invite You to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.   Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m. Tuesday Night Prayer & Bible Study 7:00 p.m.   PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY   "There is none so blind as he who will not see"   WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH! WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?   WHAT WILL YOU DO? “You may be playing games with God; but God is not playing games with you!”    Teaching Notes on the 4 th Commandment   Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Here is what the highlighted words mean: REMEMBER = properly to mark (so as to be recognized), by implication to mention; (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record (-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, think on.   HOLY = clean (ceremonially or morally): - consecrate, dedicate, hallow, purify, sanctify.   LABOUR = to work (in any sense); by implication to serve, till, etc.:   NOTE: The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord God.  Since the Lord God has a Sabbath day don’t it make since the Christians should have one also.  Since God chose the seventh day to be His Sabbath and we are “to walk as He walked” and we are to follow in His steps” don’t it just make since that the day He chose should be our Sabbath day as well.  KEEPING THE SABBATH is simply following the commandments and example of the Lord God and who would dare fault someone for doing that?   WORK = generally employment or work; also property (as the result of labor): - business, + cattle, + industrious, occupation.   REST = that is to settle down; (to dwell, stay, withdraw, etc.): - cease, (be) quiet, remain, set down.   NOTE:  This is why ripping and roaming up and down the roads or excessive travelling is not considered rest on the Sabbath day.   Deu 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Deu 5:13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: Deu 5:14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. Deu 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.   KEEP = properly to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.: - beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve.   SANCTIFY = to (pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, holy, proclaim, purify.   THEY KEPT THE SABBATH AFTER JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD!   BIBLE EXAMPLE:      Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: PLEASE NOTICE:  This Verse of Scripture is looking ahead to the coming of the Lord and Jesus says that they should pray that their flight (fleeing) not be on the sabbath day.  It is hard to explain this if the sabbath was done away with.    Luke 23:50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:Luk 23:51  (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. Luk 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Luk 23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. Luk 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. Luk 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. Luk 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. This article of Truth has been copied from the internet and presented here in the public interest by Mount Zion Deeper Life Fellowship “Home of Bible Based Christianity” 3095 Dave Ward Drive Conway, Arkansas 72034 USA EMAIL: mountzionconway@gmail.com We Invite You to come and see what the Lord Jesus is doing in these last and evil days.   Saturday Sabbath Service 3:00 p.m. Tuesday Night Prayer & Bible Study 7:00 p.m.   PLEASE COME EARLY AND PRAY   "There is none so blind as he who will not see"   WARNING!  The TRUE LIGHT HAS SHINED ON YOUR PATH! WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?   WHAT WILL YOU DO? “You may be playing games with God; but God is not playing games with you!”  CONTACT US:   Our Mailing address is: LIFELINE MISSIONS P.O. 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