In a previous blog, I listed several justifications and misunderstandings Christians use to disobey God’s 4th Commandment. Here’s another one:
John 20:19 shows the Sabbath was changed to Sunday.
This rationalization is terrible…as if going to a worship service on Wednesday evening or any other day of the week would change a Commandment of God. John 20:19 does not show the apostles celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, as some claim. The verse says that the apostles were hiding in fear of the Jews. They didn’t even believe Jesus was resurrected. Mark 16:11-14 shows Jesus rebuking them for their unbelief.
The Bible does tell us in the book of Daniel about a future persecuting power that would seek to change God’s times and Laws, which it did.
“He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7:25 NKJV)
Daniel refers to this change of God’s Law by the antichrist power as reaching to the host of heaven and trampling the heavenly sanctuary under foot. So why aren’t more pastors and teachers teaching it?
Here are the explicit statements made by the papacy and historians concerning Sun-day worship:
“The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom. … The sun has worshipers at this hour in Persia and other lands. … The pagan Sunday dedicated to Balder became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus.” — Catholic William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, wrote in The Catholic World, March, 1894, page 809.
“Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is IMPOSSIBLE.” — Cardinal James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore and noted writer, said in The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
Doctor Alexander Hislop, in his classic work, The Two Babylons, page 105, says this: “To conciliate the pagans to nominal christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the christian and pagan festivals [that’s the Sabbath and Sunday] amalgamated, and … to get paganism and christianity now far sunk in idolatry in this as in so many other things, to shake hands.” He says further: “A glance at the main pillars of the papal system will sufficiently prove that its doctrine and discipline in all essential respects have been derived from Babylon.”
“In ancient Babylonia the SUN was WORSHIPED from immemorial antiquity.” — Sir James G. Frazer, an authoritative scholar, makes this statement in his book The Worship of Nature, Volume 1, page 529.
“It is interesting to note how often our Church has availed herself of practices which were in common use among pagans … Thus it is true, in a certain sense, that some Catholic rites and ceremonies are a reproduction of those of pagan creeds…” — (The Externals of the Catholic Church, Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals, Sacramentals and Devotions, by John F. Sullivan, p 156, published by P.J. Kennedy, NY, 1942).
Did Emperor Constantine change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?
Many ask this question but the answer is No! However, Constantine’s first Sunday law did play a key role in the final change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
Understand that Satan has always attacked the commandments of God. He began his first attack in the garden of Eden. While the second Commandment defines who and what we should not worship, the fourth Commandment states who it is we worship and there is no shortage of scriptures stating this. Satan wants to be worshiped like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12-14); so he started his own church and his own day of worship. When did this begin?
This can be traced back as far as the tower of Babel around 2000 B.C. Most who are deceived will say something like, it is well documented that the early Church adopted Sunday as their day of worship. This statement is based entirely on the abuse of two or three scriptures that refer to the first day for the week such as Acts 20:7 and 1 Coriinthians 16:2. If it was true, then there would have been very clear instruction from God as Jesus made it extremely clear that no change would occur to the Law. This is the Ten Commandment Law of God. Something this important just doesn’t change based on assumptions.
“Do not think that I came to do away with or undue the Law or the writings of the prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you and most solemnly say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke will pass from the Law until all things are accomplished. So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17 AMP)
“Yet it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a letter of the Law to fail and become void. (Luke 16:17 AMP)
It’s not hard to understand that Jesus WAS NOT referring to the Ten Laws written by God’s own finger but the Mosaic Law because the apostles and Paul all wrote that the sacrificial law of Moses was nailed to the cross. What’s more, the apostles sternly rebuked and reprimanded judaizers who demanded that new converts keep the sacrificial law which was done away with at Christ’s death.
Further, there isn’t one single verse showing Christians worshiping in the synagogue on Sunday. But there are quite a few verses where Jesus and his followers worshipped in the synagogue on the Sabbath. See Mark 1:21; Mark 6:2; Luke 4:16; Luke 6:6; Luke 13:10; Acts 13:14; Acts 13:27; Acts 13:42, 44; Acts 15:21; Acts 17:1, 2; Acts 18:4
So what about Colossians 2:16, Galatians 4:10 and Romans 14:5? Are these verses talking about the Sabbath of the Lord? No! Note what The People’s New Testament (1891) by B. W. Johnson states in regards to these scriptures:
“Romans 14:5 – One man esteemeth one day above another. A second difference of opinion is now cited. Some, Jewish converts or Gentiles who did not understand that the old covenant was ended, believed that the Jewish sabbaths and new moons should be kept sacred. Compare Col_2:16, and Gal_4:10.”
This Bible commentary links all three passages but not with the Sabbath of the Lord but the Mosaic Law with all the Jewish ceremonial sabbaths such as Passover and the Day of Atonement as well as the New Moon festivals etc. These were practiced because of sin and that is why they all ended at the cross. Again we see that all three passages are connected with the ceremonial laws and NOT the Ten Commandments. {See also Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes Commentaries on Colossians 2:14-16, Albert Barnes and People’s New Testament Commentaries on Galatians 4:9-10 and People’s New Testament and Adam Clarke Commentaries on Romans 14:5}.
There are many pastors and teachers claiming these scriptures ended the fourth Commandment, but they quote these scriptures in ignorance. These verses do not refer to the Ten Commandments or the Sabbath at all, but to the sacrificial law that was practiced before the cross?
This shows us that those forming these erroneous teachings are either deceived by Satan or have just decided what they think these verses mean when in fact they have no idea. Many teach truth mixed with error; yet so many readily believe what they teach because it sounds good.
Please don’t believe what tickles your ears. Carefully examine the scriptures as the Bereans did. (2 Timothy 4:3,4; Acts 17:11) Jesus says God is seeking those who worship Him in spirit and truth. We have to be ever so sure of what we believe so we’re not deceived by Satan’s lies on crucial topics and salvific issues.
What Really Happened?
In 312 A.D., prior to his pivotal victory over his rival Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine became a “Christian” after claiming to see in broad daylight a vision of “a cross above the sun” with these words emblazoned, “in hoc signo vinces” (by this sign conquer”). After defeating his enemies and becoming Emperor of Rome, Constantine presided in full royal pomp over the “First Council of Nicea” in 325 A.D.
As a shrewd political genius, his scheme was to unite Christianity and paganism in an effort to strengthen his disintegrating empire. Constantine knew that pagans throughout the empire worshiped the sun on “the first day of the week,” and he discovered that many Christians in Rome and Alexandria also kept Sunday because Christ rose from the dead on that day. So Constantine developed a plan to unite both groups on the common platform of Sunday keeping. On March 7, 321 A.D., he passed his famous national Sunday law.
“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321].)” Source: Codex Justinianus, lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol.3 (5th ed.; New York: Scribner, 1902), p.380, note 1.
Constantine, now a professed Christian, nevertheless remained a devout sun worshiper. “The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine,” notes Edward Gibbon in his classic Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xx, par. 3.
Constantine even printed coins which “bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun god.” Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, lect. vi, par. 14.
Again, Constantine’s promotion of Sunday observance was part of his definite strategy to combine paganism with Christianity: “The retention of the old pagan name of dies Solis, or ‘Sunday,’ for the weekly Christian festival, is in great measure owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects, pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the Sun.’” – Stanley’sHistory of the Eastern Church, p. 184.
In spite of the rising popularity of Sunday sacredness, Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (5th century) wrote: “For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord’s Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” – Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, ch. 22.
Another historian also confirmed this by stating, “The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” – Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, ch. 19. Thus even in the 5th century, Sabbath keeping was universally prevalent (except in Rome and Alexandria) along with Sunday keeping.
During this time, many Christians kept both days, but as the centuries wore on, Sunday keeping grew in prominence and especially in Roman Catholic territories. As the Papal Church grew in power, it opposed Sabbath observance in favor of Sunday sacredness and made the day change official in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364). This is when the Catholic church outlawed Sabbath-keeping in which they decreed the 59 Canon laws. The following is a relevant Canon law:
“Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” (Percival Translation).
Four hundred years after the death of Christ and 100 hundred years after Constantine linked church and state by his Sunday law edict, Rome and Alexandria were the only places in the world where many of the Christians kept only Sunday and not the true Sabbath. Why was it that Rome and Alexandria were also the first locations that Sunday worship began? Because this is where the pagan practices of Babylon eventually landed after it was conquered. And what was the dominant pagan practice that the Babylonian priests brought with them? Sun worship which was done on SUNday.
The change of the Saturday Sabbath to Sunday was totally completed by the 7th century as the popes consolidated their enormous power and persecuted all who resisted their law. It’s clear that sun worship from 2000 B.C. continues today in the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Vatican. The mystery Babylonian religion went straight into the church of Rome and that is why God calls her “Mystery, Babylon” to this day.
The Roman Catholic Church goes even further and claims responsibility for the change from seventh-day to Sunday worship.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church Section 2 Article 3 (1994)
“Sunday – fulfillment of the Sabbath. Sunday is expressly distinguished from the Sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the Sabbath…
The Sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation, has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ…
In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church’s holy days as legal holidays.”
Cardinal James Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (Ayers Publishing, 1978): 108:
“But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”
The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957): 50:
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 transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.
Chancellor Albert Smith for Cardinal of Baltimore Archdiocese, letter dated February 10, 1920:
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day by God is Saturday. In keeping the Sunday, they are following a law of the Catholic Church.”
Stephen Keenan, Catholic—Doctrinal Catechism 3rd Edition: 174:
Question: “Have you any other way of proving 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 1st day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the 7th day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”
Catholic Priest T. Enright, CSSR, Kansas City, MO:
“It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the 1st day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, AD 364, anathematized those who kept the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the 7th day under penalty of anathema.”
Catholic Priest T. Enright, CSSR, lecture at Hartford, KS, Feb 18, 1884:
“I have repeatedly offered $1000 to any one who can furnish any proof from the Bible that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep…The Bible says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” but the Catholic Church says, “No, keep the first day of the week,” and the whole world bows in obedience.”
Catholic Record (September 1, 1923):
“The [catholic] Church is above the Bible, and this transference of the Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”
Pope Leo XIII, Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae (The Reunion of Christendom), June 20, 1894:
“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”
“Pope,” Ferraris’ Ecclesiastic Dictionary:
The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God.
Our Sunday Visitor (April 18, 1915): 3:
The letters inscribed in the Pope’s miter are these: VICARIUS FILII DEI, which is the Latin for, “Vicar of the Son of God.”
Letter from C.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons on October 28, 1895:
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act…And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything, in matters spiritual, ecclesiastical and religious without her. This act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”
American Catholic Quarterly Review (January 1883):
Sunday…is purely a creation of the Catholic Church.
Catholic American Sentinel (June 1893):
Sunday…It is a law of the Catholic Church alone…
S.C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica (1969): 366-367:
Not the Creator of the Universe in Genesis 2:1-3, but the Catholic Church “can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days.”
“The Question Box,” The Catholic Universe Bulletin (August 14, 1942): 4:
The (Catholic) Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her Founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter, the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.
John A. O’Brien, The Faith of Millions: the Credentials of the Catholic Religion Revised Edition (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1974): 400-401:
But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn’t it curious that non-Catholics, who claim to take their religion directly from the Bible and not from the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; 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 and explicit text in 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.
This change from Saturday to Sunday Sabbath was prophesied about in Daniel 7. The great reformer Philipp Melanchton knew this truth five centuries ago. He wrote this:
He changeth the tymes and lawes that any of the six worke dayes commanded of God will make them unholy and idle dayes when he lyste, or of their owne holy dayes abolished make worke dayes agen, or when they changed ye Saterday into Sondaye…They have changed God’s lawes and turned them into their owne tradicions to be kept above God’s precepts
These are the Catholic Church’s own admissions. Can it be any clearer?
So What’s the Real Problem?
Why have the majority not seen this? The Bible says that Satan blinds the light so that unbelievers cannot see it. It’s interesting that even when these blatant admissions are shown to people, they STILL refuse to believe the proof and change to pure worship. Why is that? It’s simply that most do not want to change because it would disrupt their church, and lifestyle or that their family and friends may reject or disown them.
Hear the words of our only Lord, Jesus:
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37 NIV)
What are we afraid of? Is not our God greater than all? Our God values and blesses our obedience? If you’re hesitant or unsure, ask God to show you the path to take. Ask God to give you an obedient heart.
“Teach me your way, Yahweh, and I will live by your truth. Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.” (Psalm 86:11 HCSB)
Our Lord says:
This means eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)
“Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” (John 17:17 ESV)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you…. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 17:23, 24 ESV)
“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of Yahweh!
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek him with their whole heart.. (Psalm 119:1, 2 ESV)
Loving Yahweh with Heart, Soul and Strength 