Most Christians of today’s world observe a Sabbath of some sort. Many go to church every Sunday and they think that that is all there is to it. WRONG! By reading the Bible the way God had meant for us to, some startling facts begin to emerge. Maybe it is time for us to see for ourselves what is being put forward. How else can we make an informed decision? Soon, much sooner than we may think, this subject is going to become really important to everyone in the world, especially to those of us purporting to be Christian.

               

The very first book of the Bible tells us of God’s creation of the earth and everything within it. From the ground that we live on, the animals, the birds, the fish, even down to the grasses. This is in fact the hardest part of the Bible to be proved. Mr. Darwin saw to that with his book “The Origin of the Species”. Since then, creation has taken a back seat to evolution, but just how right is that view?

Even at the back of his own book, Darwin had to admit that although species can evolve, he still fully backed creation, and for many years to come he sought to find conclusive proof to fully justify evolution. He knew that such a colossal grouping of diverse creatures could not just have evolved from nothing and even today, much research is being done and believe it or not, the evidence is piling up on the side of creation.

So how does the creation go? We know how long it took, it took only seven days, that’s probably another good reason we find it so hard to believe. We are however talking about God here though. Purely because of his very nature, these seven days should have been a doddle. So there we go, it took only seven days. To do what though? Let’s explore…

DAY 1.    He created the heaven and the earth, the light and darkness, day and night.

DAY 2.    He created the dry lands, the rivers, lakes, oceans and the skies.

DAY 3.    He created the vegetation of the earth.

DAY 4.    He created the stars, the sun and the moon (our universe).

DAY 5.    He created the birds and marine life.

DAY 6.    He created the animals, the insects and MAN.

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 God created and 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.    

Gen 2:1-3

ON THE SEVENTH DAY HE CREATED 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.

Exo 20:11

It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.              

Exo 31:17

The Sabbath honours the creation of the earth, that’s why God instituted it as a weekly event, so we would remember and honour the creation of the World and all Mankind. It wasn’t created because God was tired, can you possibly think He could ever tire? No it was for remembrance. But how should we remember it? Keep going…

Once again, God comes to the rescue, he tells us in his commandments. Does that sound right to you? There is a reason for me asking that, but I’m not going to tell you what it is quite yet. First I’d like you to answer; we’ll then see if you are right.

GOD GAVE MOSES THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,

THEY WERE WRITTEN WITH GOD’S OWN HAND.

Some of you would have agreed with my last statement. Unfortunately though, quite a few of you won’t have been so convinced. Don’t worry about it too much at this stage; you are probably following your teachings, something which will take a fair bit of explaining, so make yourself comfortable…

Moses spent forty days and forty nights on top of Mount Sinai, that was where the Lord wrote the Decalogue, His commandments, His ten commandments. These commandments are God’s eternal laws, eternal and untouchable laws, written in His own hand. So could any world power seek to CHANGE the laws of the Lord? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Before we can prove this though, we must first establish what day was the seventh day?

Sunday was the first day; it was named after the Pagan sun gods, honouring the light which was created on it. That being the case, Monday would be the second day, third would be Tuesday, fourth Wednesday, Thursday the fifth, Friday the sixth, thus leaving the seventh day a Saturday. Already we have thousands of Jews queuing up to agree with this, but it’s the Sabbath on trial here so let’s see what other evidence we can find.

Was the Sabbath only ever intended for the Jews? Firstly it was never ever called the Jewish Sabbath, it was called “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God”. It was created 2000 years before the Jews were created. “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever”, are we not all direct descendants of Adam and Eve and the tribe of Israel?

In Mark 2:27, Jesus said “The Sabbath is made for man” which meant man as a race, as the word man was unlimited in its context. That too suggests that the Sabbath was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. In Corinthians I 11:9, the Bible also tells us that “woman was made for man”. So, if the Sabbath is only for the Jews, then so would be marriage. Marriage and the Sabbath are the only two institutions which God set up for mankind, why should we use one and ignore the other?

In Isaiah 56:6-7, God pronounced a special blessing upon the Gentiles who kept the Sabbath, and he said that ALL PEOPLE would be welcomed within his house of prayer.

Look at the layout of most modern calendars, some still have Saturday at the end of the week, suggesting even now that Sunday was the first day.

               

For absolute proof, Jesus Christ, the very son of God showed us the way through his own crucifixion, around what we now call Good Friday. The story goes like this:

GOOD FRIDAY:

               

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.

Luke 23:52-54

SATURDAY:

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.

Luke 23:55-56

EASTER SUNDAY:

In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.       

Matt 28:1

The “preparation day” for the Jews, was the day before the Sabbath day. Jesus was crucified and put to death on this day which is now called Good Friday. The Sabbath arrived at sundown Friday, and lasted until sundown Saturday. Then on early Sunday morning, the first day of the week, it was discovered that the tomb was empty and Jesus had risen. This is the day we call Easter Sunday, so Saturday really is the “seventh day” Sabbath. But how and perhaps more importantly, why was it changed?

               

I remember being amazed, the first time I was shown this, it will probably have the same effect upon you, but it is only right that you should know…

THERE ARE TWO SETS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

There, I’ve said it. I suppose now that I ought to prove what I am saying, so here goes… Firstly, there is a set of the Ten Commandments, as written by God, laid out in Exodus 20 verses 3 to 17. And then, there are the Roman Catholic Ten Commandments. The changes are quite subtle, but at the same time, they are lethal to true Christianity. How could they have been so stupid as to rewrite the Lord’s own work?

At the time, the Papacy was extremely large and very, very powerful, they had within them a conviction that they had authority. As they grew even stronger, so did those convictions, until they thought, with their “Divine authority” they could change even Devine rulings. In at least three places, the Church of Rome has altered the handwriting of God, to more accurately reflect their compromising attitudes towards paganism. Paganism relied heavily upon sun worship and idol worship, so by changing the Decalogue, the Church of Rome found it was easier to accommodate the Pagan peoples they had conquered. They had sold out – for power.

Now, does it make sense that men can come along and alter God’s Ten Commandments? The Lord himself blessed them, He sanctified the seventh day, yet relatively modern Christians ignore Saturday and worship on a Sunday instead. It would be like going to a dentist on Wednesday for a Tuesday appointment… Totally pointless and achieving nothing. This is what most of us modern day Christians are doing by worshipping on a Sunday.

The Bible is a collection of 66 separate books, 66 separate writings, and from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, the Holy Scriptures constantly speak of the importance of God’s Holy Sabbath. Every time we rest on the Sabbath day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that fantastic special time, the event of creation

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and he wrote them upon two tablets of stone.

Deut 4:12-13

THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH WAS COMMANDED BY THE VOICE OF THE LIVING GOD. IT IS A SIGN OF THE TRUE GOD, BY WHICH WE ARE TO KNOW HIM FROM FALSE GODS … THIS, IS IMPORTANT FOR THE TIME OF THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.

In Matthew 12 verses 1 to 13, instead of abolishing the Sabbath, Jesus carefully taught how it should be observed.

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

Jesus lived amongst us for approximately 33 years, during which time, he participated in 1700 Sabbaths. That’s one a week for 33 years. Now if Sunday was supposed to be holy, don’t you think Jesus himself would have told us? Jesus never blessed a single Sunday; he worked on every one of them. He honoured his father by keeping the seventh day Sabbath. Every one, of the 1700 of them.

The chosen twelve gathered together with their master on the eve of his arrest and capture. Only once, did Jesus say “this is my body” and broke the bread and bade his disciples to eat. Only once did he say “this is my blood” and bade them to drink. Only once did Jesus tell us how to pray. Only once did he ride into Jerusalem, triumphantly, on the back of a donkey. And only once did he die on a cross.

Through the centuries, there have been millions of people who have listened, followed and obeyed what Jesus said and did only once. Imagine the power and vitality that would be behind something that the Lord Jesus did hundreds of times, 1700 times to be exact. Yet most of the modern Christian world ignores the Sabbath and worships on a Sunday.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Matt 5:17

Jesus never spoke to change the Sabbath day. He criticized the Jews and how they had made a burden of it, but he never once said “change it to Sunday”.

The Roman Catholic Church are to blame for the change of the Sabbath day, through the use of history, we can find the evidence…

This change came around the 200 – 400 AD period. In 200 AD, there was a dispute in choosing one day during the year to honour Christ’s resurrection, and Rome picked a Sunday for it. Later when Lent was brought into the church, each Sunday during the forty days was designated to honour the resurrection.

Then, in the fourth century the church made the decision to keep every Sunday in the year and to stop Christians observing the seventh day Sabbath, the powerful Roman church passed laws to ensure Sunday observance. Failure to comply carried the death penalty. Thus the Saturday Sabbath was effectively quashed.

               

Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence, the favourable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions of heaven be lost.

Given March 7^th, Crispus & Constantine being consuls, each for the second time. 321 AD.

Lots of Christians think that this event was “Oh – so – wonderful”. It was good that Constantine helped end the persecution of Christians. But the questionable conversion of Constantine brought with it a flood of Pagan compromise into the church, like the use of idols, mother goddess worship, Caesar like proclamations of being God and worship on the Sun-day. Worst of all, the law, orders people to break the fourth commandment.

               

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH FULLY ADMITS THAT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SUNDAY

AS A HOLY DAY IS COMPLETELY THEIR DOING

Q.            WHAT IS THE THIRD COMMANDMENT?

A.            THE THIRD COMMANDMENT IS: REMEMBER THAT THOU KEEP HOLY THE                       SABBATH DAY.

Q.            WHICH IS THE SABBATH DAY?           

A.            SATURDAY IS THE SABBATH DAY.

Q.            WHY DO WE OBSERVE THE SUNDAY INSTEAD OF THE SATURDAY?

A.            WE OBSERVE THE SUNDAY INSTEAD, BECAUSE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH             TRANSFERRED THE SOLEMNITY FORM 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 DEVINE POWER WHICH JESUS CHRIST BESTOWED UPON HER.

Q.            WHAT DOES THE THIRD COMMANDMENT COMMAND?

A.            THE THIRD COMMANDMENT COMMANDS US TO SANCTIFY SUNDAY AS THE        LORD’S DAY.

                In the Old Testament, there’s no doubt that Saturday was the Sabbath day.

The Pagan Romans hated the Jews because of Jewish rebellions throughout the empire. In 115 AD Jews revolted in Cyrene, Egypt and Cyprus. More than 220,000 Greeks and Romans were killed in Cyrene alone. After ruthlessly suppressing each revolt, the Romans would tighten their grip on the Jews.

The Emperor Hadrian said he would rebuild the temple of the Jews, but it would be dedicated to a Roman deity. A Jew named Bar Kochba declared himself to be the long awaited messiah and began a revolt in Palestine during 132 – 135 AD. In the first year, the Romans were driven out of more than 50 cities and villages. Bar Kochba proclaimed himself king and even struck his own coinage.

Hadrian brought his top general, Julius Severus, the then Governor of Britain, to lead the troops in battle, and after three years, the revolt was crushed and Bar Kochba killed. These rebellions inflamed Roman anti-Judaism, riots exploded against the Jews, and after the Bar Kochba revolt, Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem. Hadrian outlawed Judaism, the study of the Torah, and Sabbath keeping.

Christianity was caught up between the Roman imperialism and Jewish nationalism. Christianity originated in the land of the Jews, its holy writings were Jewish and therefore the Christians were mistaken for Jews. Some Christians, to appear different from the Jews, eased away from the Saturday Sabbath.

Until 200 AD, no one observed Sunday. Saturday was observed as the only weekly Sabbath. Then, as previously explained, around 200 AD a dispute arose over observing an annual honouring of the resurrection. The Church of Rome suggested a Sunday, but all the other churches preferred Nisan 16, regardless of what day it fell on. Rome insisted on a Sunday, so eventually all accepted that day as a yearly celebration. Later, an argument arose over introducing Lent into the church, and it was decided to keep every Sunday during those forty days in remembrance of the resurrection. Time went on and in the 4^th century, a decision was made to keep every Sunday in the year.

Up until 300 AD, both Saturday and Sunday were kept. Christians honoured both the Sabbath and the resurrection. It was around that time that there was a definite shift from being identified with anything Jewish, the Roman Church began to show their prejudices by making Saturday a day of mourning and fasting, whilst exalting the Sunday as a time for feasting and joy. The bishop Victorinus extended the fast to include the Friday with the Saturday, to ensure that people really enjoyed the Sunday.

Other factions also exalted the Sunday after 300 AD and through the influence of Eastern Sun Cults, sun worship had become dominant in Rome by the early second century. Obelisks and alters to the sun proliferated throughout the city, and Roman Christians started favouring Sunday, the day of resurrection over the Sabbath.

For Justin Martyr, Sunday commemorated the first day of creation, particularly the creation of light and the sun. For the early church fathers, the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week served only a secondary reason for Sunday observance. As sun worship waned throughout the empire, it was only then that the resurrection was brought to the fore, as it still is to date.

In the early fourth century, Constantine the Great issued the first known secular Sunday Blue Law, ordering Sunday rest instead of Sabbath rest. And in later church councils, the Catholic Church enforced Sunday keeping on pain of death.

It was at this meeting that the Catholic Church formulated its permanent fundamentals of the Catholic creed. These series of sessions were held to consider the questions that had been raised and forced upon the attention of Europe by the Protestant reformers. The reformers had charged that the Catholic Church had apostatised from the truth as contained within the written words of the Bible.

The Catholics insisted on carrying on with their scripture and tradition, the Bible as interpreted by themselves, themselves being the Popes and Bishops of earlier generations. There was a strong party, even of the Catholics within the council who were in favour of abandoning tradition and adopting the scriptures only as the standard of authority. This view was so decidedly held in the debates that the Pope’s legates actually wrote him that there was a strong tendency to set aside tradition altogether and to make scripture the sole standard of appeal. There was of course only one real problem with that, in as much as to have gone ahead, would have justified the claims of the Protestants, something their foolish pride would never allow.

By this crisis, there was developed within the ultra-Catholic portion of the council, the task of convincing the others that scripture and tradition were the only secure grounds to stand on. If this could be done, the council could be convinced to issue a decree condemning the reformation, otherwise not.

The question was debated day after day, these meetings lasted for over 27 years, the reason being due to a recess during a plague in Trent, and then the council was frequently adjourned when they could not reach agreement. This went on until the council was brought to a stand-still. Finally, after a long and intensive debate, the Archbishop of Reggio introduced into the council the following argument:

The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only; they profess to hold the scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the church has apostatized from the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestant’s claim that they stand for the written word only is not true. Their profession of holding the scripture alone as the standard of faith is false.

For proof: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they truly hold the scripture alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as the Sabbath, as enjoined in the scripture throughout. Yet they not only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the church. Consequently the claim of scripture alone as the standard fails, and the doctrine of scripture and tradition as essential, is fully established, the Protestants themselves being the judges.

By this observation the archbishop scored a telling point, for the Protestant’s own statement of faith (the Augsburg Confession of 1530) had clearly admitted that the observation of the Lord’s Day had been appointed by the church only. The argument was hailed as pure inspiration, and the party for the scripture alone surrendered. The council then immediately condemned Protestantism and the whole reformation movement as only an unwarranted revolt from the communion and authority of the Catholic Church.

Thus it was the inconsistency of the Protestant faith that gave to the Catholic Church her long sought after and anxiously awaited grounds upon which to condemn Protestantism and the whole reformation, simply because Protestants rejected the Bible’s seventh day Sabbath. So the Catholics won out and the Protestants failed in winning an important victory for the Lord, and tradition would continue.

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” But he answered and said unto them, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”

Matt 15:1-3

The Jews had enacted a rule that let a person by-pass leaving his possessions to his parents in case of his dying, which ran contrary to the fifth commandment to honour thy father and mother.

.... Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

Matt 15:6

As you can now see, God knew that the traditions of men were running contrary to his commandments, He was obviously not pleased with this; otherwise he wouldn’t have illustrated the point.

But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Matt 15:9

 See how we are told here, how following the laws of man is all to no avail? Is it possible that this should only apply to the fifth commandment? I don’t think so. If God could be angry about the transgression of one of his commandments, it can safely be assumed that all of his commandments would be as important as each other. Can you see now what the Catholic Church has done? It has replaced the fourth commandment of the Lord, with its own traditions. And when Protestants endorse worshipping on a Sunday, they too are supporting The Roman Church’s traditions.

The Catholic Mirror was the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons and the Papacy in America. It was published in around 1893. During this time, the US congress and the Supreme Court, declaring the country to be a “Christian nation”, passed the orders that the world’s fair was to be closed on Sundays. This meant no trading. The first Sunday trading laws.

The International Religious Liberty Association of the General Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church published a 21 page brochure citing the fact that “it is improper for the government to legislate public behaviour in regard to religious matters”. It is called the separation of church and state. If people didn’t want to attend the world’s fair on a Sunday, they could always stay at home, but by passing a law to prohibit them; this was far too close to legislating religion.

The Adventists outlined their belief in worshipping the Lord on his Saturday Sabbath day, via free will, and the Catholic Mirror wrote their articles to verify that Saturday is the Bible Sabbath day.

Here are some quotes from what the editor of the Catholic Mirror wrote, but remember, this was from the pen of an extremely knowledgeable Catholic theologian, and he told things exactly like they are today.

Ø  In the Old Testament, reference is made 126 times to the Sabbath, and all these texts conspire harmoniously in voicing the will of God. He commanded the seventh day to be kept, because God Himself kept it, making it obligatory on all as a ‘perpetual covenant’. Nor can we imagine any one fool hardy enough to question the identity of Saturday with the Sabbath or seventh day, seeing that the people of Israel have been keeping the Saturday from the giving of the law, 2514 BC to 1893 AD, a period of 3383 years (3500 years now).

Ø  Examining the New Testament from cover to cover, critically, we find the Sabbath referred to 61 times. We find, too, that the saviour invariably selected the Sabbath (Saturday) to teach the synagogues and work miracles. The four gospels refer to the Sabbath (Saturday) 51 times.

Ø  The redeemer refers to himself as ‘The Lord of the Sabbath’, he never once hinted at a desire to change it ... thus the Sabbath (Saturday) ... from Genesis to Revelation.

Ø  Hence the conclusion is inevitable, that of those who follow the Bible as their guide, the Israelites and the Seventh Day Adventists have the weight of evidence on their side, whilst the Biblical Protestant has not a word in self-defence for his substitution of Sunday for Saturday.

Ø  Whilst the Pharisees of old kept the true Sabbath, our modern Pharisees have never once in their lives kept the true Sabbath which their divine master kept, after his example, for 30 years afterward, according to the sacred record.

Ø  The Bible and the Sabbath constitute the watchword of Protestantism; but we have demonstrated that it is the Bible against their Sabbath... We have shown that no greater contradiction ever existed that their theory and practice! We have proved that neither their Biblical ancestors nor they have ever kept one Sabbath day in their lives.

Ø  The Catholic Church for over 1000 years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.

Ø  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...’ and promised to be with her to the end of the world. She holds her charter from him – a charter as infallible as perpetual.

Ø  The Protestant world at its birth found the Christian Sabbath (Sunday) 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 300 years.

Ø  The Israelites and the Seventh Day Adventists are witnesses of this weekly desecration of the day named by God so repeatedly.

Ø  The history of the world cannot present a more stupid, self-stultifying specimen of dereliction of principles than this... That immense concourse of Bible Christians, the Methodists, have declared that the Sabbath has never been abrogated, whilst the followers of the Church of England, together with her daughter, the Episcopal Church of the United States, are committed by the 20^th article of religion that the church cannot lawfully ordain anything ‘contrary to God’s written word’ yet God’s written word enjoins his worship to be observed on Saturday absolutely, repeatedly, and most emphatically... All Biblical sects occupy the same self-stultifying position which no explanation can modify, much less justify.

Ø  They have ignored and condemned their teacher, the Bible... And they have adopted a day kept by the Catholic Church, the ‘mother of abominations’.

Ø  Their pretence for leaving the bosom of the Catholic Church was for apostasy from the truth as taught in the written word. They adopted the written word as their sole teacher, which they had no sooner done than they abandoned it, as these articles have abundantly proved.

That was, and still is, what is called Rome’s challenge to all Protestants. Unreal isn’t it? Catholics can sit there and condemn Protestantism, merely because they have followed the traditions of the Catholic Church while professing to follow the scriptures only. Not once have the Catholics ever thought about how they too are condemning themselves, and the uninitiated that follow them through their guidance, by worshipping on a Sunday. By the way, did you know that Catholics were once forbidden to read the Bible for themselves? That privilege was reserved for the ministers only, I wonder why? To be fair though, this was reversed during the Vatican II Conferences.

This article could go on forever more. To do that though, I run the risk of either missing the whole point, overburdening you with prejudice, overstating the case or even boring you to death. Hopefully though, you now know that Saturday is the Sabbath day and you know how and why it was changed. But what is the significance? For the answer to that, look out for my next update – MORE ABOUT RELIGION.