Posted on 05/02/2009 2:35:35 PM PDT by Conservative Coulter Fan
Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, wrote the following which was taken from a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox: “There WAS and IS a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was NOT Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath WAS TRANSFERRED from the Seventh to the First day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament - absolutely not. There is NO scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the Seventh to the First day of the week…
“I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perplexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussion is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that somehow a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history.
“To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false glosses, NEVER alluded to any transference of the day; also that during forty days of His resurrec-tion life, NO such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.
“Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the SUN-GOD, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestism.”
Does Dr. Hiscox have a legitimate argument concerning NO authority to change the Sabbath to Sunday from Jesus, the Bible, or the original disciples? Let’s investigate and BE HONEST.
“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:…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” (Exodus 20:8-11).
Can You Find:
1. One Biblical text that says the Sabbath (seventh day) was ever changed from
the seventh to the first day of the week?
Christ?
day of the week?
the week as a Sabbath?
Day?
18. One text that says that the Father or the Son rested on the first day of the
week?
to observe the first day of the week as the Sab-bath?
21. One text that calls the seventh day the “Jewish Sabbath” or one text that calls
From Sabbath to Sunday Sunday the “Christian Sabbath”?
until the first stars appear, this is WHEN you START to keep the Sabbath. THIS
IS THE BIBLICAL TIME TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH. As the sixth day ends at sunset on Friday, the Sabbath BEGINS. At sunset ending Saturday, the Sabbath ends.
We must let the Bible be our guide in all matters of doctrine. God created the earth in six literal days. THEN: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day. 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: BECAUSE that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (Gen. 1:31; 2:1-3).
There were only TWO people alive when God rested -Adam and his
wife Eve, who was made from Adam’s rib. We find that the Eternal Creator set
aside from creation the seventh day and SANCTIFIED AND BLESSED IT.
The word sanctified is #6942 in the Strong’s Concordance of the Hebrew language. It means “to pronounce CLEAN. “So God pronounced the SEVENTH DAY clean to worship Him upon.”
Referring to Israel when they were delivered from Egyptian bondage, 1 Cor. 10:1-4 reads: “…And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual Rock that went with them (margin): and THAT Rock WAS CHRIST.”
In John 1:1-3 we read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God. The same was in the beginning with God. ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” V. 14, “…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”
It was Jesus Christ our Saviour that MADE the Sabbath. Mk. 2:27-28: “And he (Jesus) said unto them, The Sabbath was MADE for man…Therefore the Son of Man (Jesus) is Lord of the Sabbath.” Col. 1:16-17, “For by HIM (Jesus) WERE ALL THINGS CREATED,…ALL things were CREATED by him:…And
Joseph, Jacob’s (Israel’s) youngest son, was sold by his brothers into Egypt. God was preparing the way to show His glory and power as a physical type of a spiritual lesson. All 75 members of the family went in Egypt. Finally to become slaves, as a physical type of our becoming slaves to Satan’s system of sin. They were subject to forced labor 7 days a week. Therefore they lost track of the seventh day Sabbath. Let’s pick up the story after deliverance had been completed.
The children of Israel had left Egypt but had NOT YET come to Mt. Si-nai. The Covenant had NOT YET been proposed. Now the amazing set of circumstances. In verse 4 the Lord (Jesus Christ) said He would work a great miracle. He would give them bread from heaven. Jesus told them through Moses to gather a certain rate of manna each day. Never to save any over night during the first 6 days. WHY? Same verse. “…that I (Jesus) may PROVE them, whether they will walk in My LAW, OR NOT.” WHAT DID PICKING UPMANNAATA CERTAIN RATE FOR 6 DAYS HAVE TO DO WITH GOD’S LAW? If they kept any manna over night, worms would breed and spoil it. It would stink (v. 19 and 20).
After some experienced disbelief and found worms and stench, God told them that on the sixth day they were to gather TWICE as much. This was to be kept over to eat on the Sabbath. GOD WOULD NOT SEND MANNA ON THE SABBATH. V. 22-23 says, “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered TWICE as much bread.…And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord said, Tomorrow IS the rest of the HOLY Sabbath unto the Lord:…”
When they kept it overnight for the Sabbath, did it stink and breed worms? V. 24: “And they laid it up till the morning (Sabbath), as Moses bade: and it DID NOT STINK, neither was there any worm therein.”
GOD WAS RESTORING THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS SABBATH. Moses instructed the people concerning the Sabbath Day. V. 25-26: “And Moses said, Eat that today; for TODAY IS A SABBATH UNTO THE LORD:
today you shall NOT find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it; but on the
seventh day, which IS THE SABBATH, in it there shall be NONE.”
Some still did not believe. They went out on the Sabbath to gather and found NONE. V. 28 “And the Lord (Jesus Christ) said unto Moses, How long REFUSE you (plural) to KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS and MY LAWS?”
Think WHAT God was doing! He gave manna year after year until they actually crossed over the River Jordan (Joshua 5:10-12). Yet the manna started before they came to Mt. Sinai. This means that for nearly 40 years God showed WHICH DAY was the TRUE Sabbath.
One of the most important questions to confront mankind is HOW LONG WAS THE SABBATH TO EXIST FOR US TO KEEP? The truth can be unraveled and understood. Let’s begin!
Ex. 31:12-17: “But as for you [Moses], speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a SIGN between me and you throughout your generations, that you may KNOW that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you.…For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, HOLY to the Lord [Jesus Christ];…So the sons of Israel shall OBSERVE the sabbath to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a PERPETUAL COVENANT. It is a SIGN between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed.”
The word perpetual comes from the Hebrew word “olam.” The literal translation means “time out of mind.” In other words, the human mind could not comprehend a time when the sabbath was not to be kept.
The Lord [Jesus Christ] was serious about His PERFECT law being a perpetual covenant. It is SIN to break it, just like it is SIN to kill. Both are taken from the same law (James 2:8-12). “He [the Lord] hath remembered his COVENANT for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And CONFIRMED the same [covenant] for a LAW, and to Israel for an EVERLASTING COVENANT” (Ps. 105:7-10). Jesus gave the Sabbath as part of His EVERLASTING COVENANT.
Notice WHY Jesus came and died. 1) To forgive sins; “To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, AND 2) to remember his HOLY Covenant
-PERPETUAL COVENANT; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham” (Lk. 1:72-73). Jesus came to FORGIVE sins, re-member His covenant - NOT CHANGE IT! The New Covenant has better PROMISES - eternal life - NOT better and different laws (Heb. 8:6-12). Read it all.
Rom. 15:8 says “that Jesus Christ was a minister OF THE CIRCUMCISION [Israelites] for the TRUTH of God, TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE FATHERS:” He didn’t come to start a new religion, rather CONFIRM that the covenant still existed. Now He would forgive PAST violations [Rom. 3:24] and offer ETERNAL LIFE IN THE FUTURE FOR OBEDIENCE. This is BETTER PROMISES for obedience. Heb. 13:20-21 states that “…our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the [shed] blood OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT, make you PERFECT in every good work to DO his will…” He came to FORGIVE our breaking the covenant. Now we can obey FROM THE HEART. When we slip and disobey, Jesus pleads our case before the Father (1 Jn. 2:1-2). We NO LONGER disobey when we have a knowledge of the covenant. Only out of weakness of the flesh would we disobey after accepting the shed blood of Jesus. Part of that EVERLASTING COVENANT
God brought Israel out of Egyptian BONDAGE as a type of bringing US OUT OF BONDAGE TO SIN AND DEATH. Notice the account!
“Wherefore I [Lord Jesus Christ: 1 Cor. 10:1-4 ] caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them MY statutes, and shewed them MY judgements, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them MY [Jesus Christs’] sabbaths, to be a SIGN between me and them, that they might KNOW that I am the Lord that SANCTIFY them. [Sign in Heb.: beacon, flag, EVIDENCE]. But the house of Israel REBELLED against me in the wilderness:… MY sabbaths they greatly POLLUTED: THEN I SAID, I WOULD POUR OUT MY FURY UPON THEM IN THE WILDERNESS, TO CONSUME THEM… Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I WOULD NOT BRING them into the land which I had given them… BECAUSE they despised my judgements, and walked NOT in my statutes, but polluted MY sabbaths: for THEIR HEART went after their idols” (Ezek. 20:1-16). God would NOT let Israel go into the land of promise because of SIN - and one of the MAJOR infractions was breaking the Sabbath, which was evidence He was their God.
Men and churches have tried to create doctrines based upon one scripture or a part of the scripture to justify their beliefs. God’s word stands by itself. God does NOT change His moral concepts.
“Jesus Christ the SAME yesterday [Old Testament times], and today [New Testament times], and for ever” (Heb. 13:8).
Since Jesus does NOT change His approach toward sin, does He punish nations and individuals alike for Sabbath breaking TODAY as He did in Old Testament times? Remember, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for OUR LEARNING…” (Rom. 15:4).
An inspired saint wrote a long letter to Hebrew Christians residing in Jerusalem concerning their soon destruction of the Temple and the end of national life as they knew it. He admonished them NOT to give up God’s way just because of the Temple being destroyed.
“Wherefore as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden NOT your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation IN THE WILDERNESS: When your fathers TEMPTED me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do ALWAYS ERR in their heart; and they have NOT KNOWN MY WAYS. So I [Jesus] sware in my wrath, They shall NOT ENTER INTO MY REST. TAKE HEED, brethren [Christians], LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, in departing from the living God [through disobedi-ence]… So we see that THEY COULD NOT enter BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF. Let US [Christians] therefore FEAR lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to COME SHORT of it.… For he spake in a cer-tain place of the SEVENTH DAY on this wise, And God did rest the SEVENTH DAY from all his works… Seeing therefore it REMAINETH that some must ENTER therein [to
the Sabbath], and they to whom it was first preached entered not in BECAUSE of
UNBELIEF [Greek: disobedience]: There remaineth therefore a KEEPING OF A SABBATH to the people of God [The Greek word for REST in the King James Version is #4520 in the Strong’s Concordance, Sabbatismos, meaning the weekly REPOSE as a TYPE of God’s future rest in His kingdom, and comes from the root word #4521 Sabbaton, identical to the Hebrew #7676 meaning: THE SABBATH]. For he [any Christian] that is ENTERED INTO THAT [Sabbath] REST, he also HATH CEASED FROM HIS OWN WORK, AS GOD DID FROM HIS. Let us labour therefore to enter into that [Sabbath] rest, LEST ANY MAN FALL AFTER THE SAME EXAMPLE OF DISOBEDIENCE” (Heb. 3:7-4:11).
How plain! God warns Christians NOT to break His Sabbath as ancient Israel did and LOST OUT on the promised land [a type of the coming kingdom of God].
Jesus said “The Sabbath was MADE for MAN [Greek meaning, mankind], Therefore the Son of man IS Lord of the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27-28). The Sabbath was MADE during creation week, nearly 2,000 years before there was, what people term as Jews, trodding on the earth. We have seen God REgave it to Israel when they came out of Egypt.
You cannot find the word Jew [meaning Judite or Judean] in the Bible until 2 Kings 16:5-6 where Israel is at war with the Jews! “Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz [king of Judah], but could not overcome him… and DRAVE THE JEWS from Elath… and dwelt there unto this day.” HOW CAN THIS BE? CHURCHES TEACH THAT JEWS ARE ALL ISRAELITES! That is NOT true at all.
Turn NOW and read 1 Kings 11. It describes how God divided the twelve tribes into separate nations. The Northern Ten Tribes became known as the House of Israel, and the Two Southern Tribes became known as the House of Judah, nicknamed Jews. Judah was only ONE tribe out of twelve, with Benjamin making two tribes.
The Encyclopedia Britannica states concerning the weekly cycle of seven days: “The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions [movements of the sun and moon].… It [seven day cycle] has been employed from time IMMEMORIAL in almost all eastern countries; and as it forms neither an aliquot part of the year nor the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss as Delambre remarks, to assign it an ORIGIN having much semblance of probability” (Theodosius, 4th Century A.D., recorded in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th Edition, Vol. 4, P. 664, under the title WEEK).
The seven day weekly cycle, ending with the Sabbath is as old as creation. It NEVER has been - NOR - NEVER will be Jewish. IT IS FOR MANKIND AS JESUS SAID.
Jesus was the Lord of the Old Testament that pronounced the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, with His own mouth, so Israel would fear Him always. Hebrews 13:8 said He does NOT change.
Jesus stated with His own mouth, while in the flesh, in the Sermon on
the Mount, “Do NOT think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I came
NOT to abolish, but to fulfill [live it as an example for us to follow]. For truly I
say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Who ever then annuls ONE of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:17-19).
Jesus stated clearly the law would be in effect UNTIL heaven and earth perish. THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET.
Jesus kept the Feasts [Jn. 7:37-39] and Sabbath. He GAVE it at creation. “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read” (Lk. 4:16).
Many Christians think that the apostles worshipped on the first day of the week [Sunday] instead of the Sabbath. Even though the Bible makes NO SUCH REFERENCE, rather it repeatedly shows they came together on the sabbath day as the Israelites did.
“But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down” (Acts 13:14).
“And as Paul and Barnabus were going out, the people kept begging that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42).
“And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44).
Notice, Gentiles as well as scattered Israelites known as Judeans [nicknamed Jews] were keeping the Sabbath day! Paul waited until the NEXT Sabbath to teach them, instead of the next day, Sunday. Paul would have invited the people to join him in Sunday worship if he was teaching such, but he did not. Rather:
“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled” (Acts 16:13). So we see that Paul did not always meet with Jews on the Sabbath, but other nationalities who were believers or someone to start a conversation with to share the truth.
Paul made it a custom to teach in the synagogue on the Sabbath. “And according to Paul’s CUSTOM, he went to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2).
Twenty years AFTER Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul and the disciples were still keeping the Sabbath, WHICH is the FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
To be exact, Paul taught for 78 consecutive Sabbaths in one city. He NEVER even hinted at switching from the Sabbath to Sunday.
“And he [Paul] was reasoning in the synagogue EVERY Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews AND Greeks. And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:4,11).
God started a prophecy during the days of Daniel’s captivity by the Babylonians. Daniel chapter 2 is one such utterance. We will focus in on Daniel 7. “These great beasts [governments], which are FOUR ARE FOUR KINGS, which shall arise out of the earth” (V. 17).
Those FOUR governments that were to arise would begin with Babylon. “This is the DREAM; and… the INTERPRETATION…” (Dan. 2:36). “Thou, [Nebuchadnezzar] O king,… art this head of gold” (V. 37-38).
Babylon, starting with King Nebuchadnezzar, ruled the civilized world from 605-538 BC. They were supplanted by the Medo-Persian Empire which ruled from 538-331 BC. Under Alexander the Great, Greece absorbed the known world from 331-168 BC for world rule as the THIRD kingdom. Finally, the mightiest of all four emerged to rule from 168 BC - 476 AD, Rome.
Horns grow out of the head of animals. This beast [government] was to have TEN HORNS growing out of it. When the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, TEN divisions resulted. It was assaulted by barbarians for many years until the Empire finally collapsed: the TEN divisions WITH ten kings resulted.
From the book, The Divine Program of the World’s History, by H. Grattan Guenness, P. 318-321, we read: “The historian Machiavelli, without the slightest reference to this prophecy, gives the following list of the nations which occupied the territory of the Western Empire at the time of the fall of Romulus Augustus (476 AD), the last emperor of Rome: the Lombards, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Heruli, the Suevi, the Huns, and the Saxons: ten in all.
“And the division is as apparent NOW as ever. Plainly and palpably inscribed on the map of Europe this day, it confronts the skeptic with its silent but conclusive testimony to the FULFILLMENT of this great prophecy. Who can alter or add to this tenfold list of the kingdoms now occupying the sphere of old Rome? Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, Germany, England, Holland, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal - ten, and NO more; ten, and NO less.”
Why would I mention these 4 kingdoms, and the breakdown of Rome into Ten kingdoms while writing concerning the Sabbath? Let’s see the connection!
After the collapse of Rome and the emergence of the Ten kingdoms, notice WHAT else would happen!
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a FOURTH BEAST [Rome], dreadful and terrible… it was diverse [different] from all the beasts that were before it; and it had TEN HORNS. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up AMONG THEM another LITTLE HORN, before whom there were THREE OF THE FIRST HORNS [3 of the 10 kingdoms after Rome’s fall] plucked up by the roots:… in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking GREAT THINGS (Dan. 7:7-8).
V. 25 says concerning this “little horn” - “And he shall speak great words AGAINST the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS: and they [saints] shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Three and ½ times is 1260 days. In Bible prophecy a day represents a year many times. In this case it does. See Ezek. 4:6 and Num. 14:34.
The Papacy was established in 538 AD, after the Emperor of Rome decreed that the Bishop of Rome should become the head over ALL churches on the earth. From 538 AD, the Papacy ruled for EXACTLY 1260 years until 1798 AD. Something unheard of happened. The Pope was taken prisoner by General Berthier of Napoleon’s army. The captured Pope was taken to France and put in prison where he died. THUS ENDED THE 1260 YEARS OF THE PROPHESIED RULE OF THIS SYSTEM. What did the Popes, as absolute dictator over ALL churches, do during this 1260 years of rule?
“The Pope HAS POWER TO CHANGE TIMES, TO ABROGATE LAWS, and to DISPENSE with all things, even the PRECEPTS of Christ” (Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop). Incredible!!!
Bible Readings for the Home, (Washington: Review & Herald Pub. Asso., 1942), P. 221, says “Although the ten commandments, are found in the Roman Catholic Versions of the Scriptures, yet the faithful [Catholics] are instructed from the catechisms of the church, and NOT DIRECTLY from the Bible. As it appears in these [catechisms], the law of God has been CHANGED and virtually RE-ENACTED BY THE Papacy.
“The second commandment, which forbids the making of, and bowing down to images, is OMITTED in Catholic catechisms, and the tenth, which forbids coveting, is DIVIDED into two.” The second Council of Nicea in 787 AD was called to establish image worship in the Catholic church. This council is recorded in Ecclesiastical Annals, by Baronius, Vol. 9, P. 391-407 (Antwerp, 1612); and Charles J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church From the Original
T. Clark ed, 1896), Vol. 5, P. 260-304, 342-372. But WHAT other part of God’s law did the Roman Empire and the Papacy change during this 1260 years of iron grip rule over the civilized world?
>From A DOCTRINAL CATECHISM, by Stephen Keenan, P., 174: “Question - Have you any other way of proving that the church [Roman Catholic] 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.” They admit that they CHANGED God’s seventh day to man’s first day. From THE CONVERT’S CATECHISM OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, P. 50, third edition: “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 (AD 364), TRANSFERRED THE SOLEMNITY FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY.”
>Cardinal Gibbons, in Faith of Our Fathers, P. 111, states: “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.” Can you talk back to that frank admission?
>In the Council of Trent (1545 AD) the Catholic Church leaders ruled that “tradition” is of GREATER AUTHORITY than the Bible. Jesus said, “But in VAIN do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9).
>The Edict of March 7, 321 AD Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib 3, tit. 12, lex. 3 states: “Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades REST ON THE VENERABLE DAY OF THE SUN.” The pagan festival finally came to be regarded as the “Lord’s Day” by Pope Sylvester in 314-337 AD, and the church leaders pronounced the Biblical Sabbath a relic of the Jews, and those who honored it in obedience to the fourth commandment of God, were pronounced to be “accursed.”
>The FIRST SUNDAY LAW is recorded in the Encyclopedia Britannica, ninth edition, article “Sunday.” “The earliest recognition of the observation of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 AD enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday [venerabili die Solis], with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor.”
>The Latin original is in the Codes Justiniani (Codes of Justinian), lib. 3, title 12, lex. 3. The law is given in Latin and in English in Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, 3d period, chapter 7, sec. 75, Pg. 380, footnote
>1. The Codes of Justinian were also printed in Albert Henry Newman’s A Manual of Church History, (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1933), rev. ed., Vol. 1 P. 305-307, AND in Leroy E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington D.C.: Review & Herald Publishing Asso., 1950), Vol. 1, P. 376-381.
Remember, after Constantine started the changing process, the “Little Horn” came up in 538 AD. Through the centuries the Catholic Church has made unbelievable statements. “The Pope has POWER to CHANGE times, to ABROGATE laws, and to DISPENSE with all things, EVEN the precepts of Christ.” “The Pope has authority and OFTEN exercised it, to dispense with the COMMAND of Christ” (Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. “The Pope can MODIFY divine law” (Ferraris’ Ecclesiastical Dictionary).
A ruling was handed down at the Council of Toulouse which stated: “We PROHIBIT laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament… We FORBID them most severely to have the above books in the popular vernacular [language]” “The lords of the districts shall carefully SEEK OUT the HERETICS in dwellings, hovels, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out” (Concil Tolosanum, Pope Gregory IX, Anno. Chr. 1229).
The Council of Tarragona ruled: “NO ONE may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after the promulgation of this decree, so that they MAY BE BURNED” (D. Lortsch, Histoire de la Bible en France, 1910, P. 14).
The Popes even classified Bible Societies with Communism. On December 8, 1866, Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical Quanta Cura issued the following statement: “Socialism, Communism, clandestine societies, Bible societies …pests of this sort must be DESTROYED by ALL means.”
Why keep the Bible out of the peoples hands? Simple! If the lay members read the Bible, they would discover the awful truth about their spiritual DICTATORS. THEY CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE (2 Thes. 2:113).
And finally, concerning the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD and its decisions: “The seventh day Sabbath was solemnized by Christ, the apostles, and primitive Christians till the Laodicean Council did, in a manner, quite ABOLISH the observance of it. The Council of Laodicea [AD 364] first settled the observance of the ‘Lord’s Day.’” (See Prynne’s Dissertation On The Lord’s Day Sabbath, P. 163).
Episcopal: “The Bible commandment says on the seventh day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday” (Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, October 26, 1949, Anglican archbishop of Quebec, spoke the above in a message on this subject delivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was widely reported at the time in the news media).
Anglican: “And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are NOWHERE commanded to keep the first day. The REASON WHY we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things -NOT BECAUSE THE BIBLE, but because the [Catholic] church, has enjoined [commanded] it.” (Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. 1, P. 334,336.)
Dwight L. Moody: “I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath] is JUST AS BINDING TODAY as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated [abolished], but they have NEVER been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did NOTHING to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its TRUE place.
“The [Seventh-day] Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force EVER since. This fourth commandment [Ex. 20:8-11] BEGINS with the word ‘REMEMBER’ showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote this law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will ADMIT that the other nine are STILL binding?” (Dwight L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, 1898, P. 46-47. He was the most famous evangelist of his time, and founder of the Moody Bible Institute).
Church of England: “Take which you will, either the ‘fathers’ of the moderns, and we shall find NO Lord’s Day instituted by any apostolic mandate, no sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the week.” (Dr. Peter Heylyn of the Church of England, quoted in History of the Sabbath, Part 2, chapter 1, page 410).
American Congregationalists: “The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively SUBSTITUTED the first day FOR the seventh is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament” (Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890).
Disciples of Christ: “If it [the Sabbath Day] yet exist, let us observe it… And if it does not exist, let us abandon a mock observance of another day for it. ‘But,’ say some, ‘it was changed from the seventh to the first day.’ Where? when? and by whom? NO, it NEVER was changed, nor could it be, UNLESS creation was to be gone through again: for the REASON ASSIGNED must be changed before the observance or respect to the reason, can be changed. It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the ‘change of the sabbath’ from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio. I think his name is ‘Doctor Antichrist.’” (Alexander Campbell, The
>Christian Baptist, Feb. 2, 1824, Vol. 1, No. 7). Methodist: “It is true that there is no positive command for infant bap
tism. Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe
that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for NO SUCH PURPOSE. Those who believe that Jesus changed the sabbath base it on a SUPPOSITION” (Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, 1902 edition,
P. 180-181,171, Methodist minister and presiding elder, whose Compendium was published for forty years in many languages, also wrote a Methodist New Testament Commentary).
Lutheran: “They [the Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord’s day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [Ten Commandments]; and they have NO example more than their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church’s power to be very great, because it hath DISPENSED with a precept of the Decalogue.” (The Augsburg Confession, 1530 AD [Lutheran], part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christendom, fourth edition, Vol. 3, P. 64. This important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation).
Congregationalist: “The Christian Sabbath [Sunday] IS NOT in the Scripture, and was NOT by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath” (Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, P. 49. Dwight was President of Yale University from 1795-1817).
Episcopalian: “We have made the change FROM the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, catholic, apostolic church of Christ” (Episopalian Bishop Symour, Why We Keep Sunday).
Catholic Church: “The Catholic Church …by virtue of her divine mission, CHANGED THE DAY from Saturday to Sunday” (The Catholic Mirror, Sept. 23, 1893. The Mirror, a Baltimore based weekly, was the official organ for Cardinal Gibbons).
Catholic Church: “If we consulted the Bible ONLY, we should STILL have to keep holy the Sabbath, that is, SATURDAY” (John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, 1936 edition, vol, 1, P. 51).
Catholic Church: “Some of the truths that have been handed down to us by tradition and are NOT recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are the following: That there are just seven sacraments; that there is a purgatory; that, in the new law [the Catholic law], Sunday should be kept holy INSTEAD of the Sabbath; that infants should be baptized, and that there are precisely seventy-two books in the Bible [66 which are inspired, plus six apocryphal books accepted by Rome]” (Francis J. Butler, Holy Family Catechism No. 3, P. 63. Butler was a Catholic priest of Boston and an author of a series of catechisms).
Catholic Church: “Question - How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy-days? Answer - By the VERY ACT of CHANGING the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of [by observing it]; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church” (Priest Henry Tuberville, An Abridgement of the Christian Doctrine, P. 58. In 1833, Tuberville received a papal approbation, a special approval, on this book).
Catholic Church: “Protestants …accept Sunday RATHER THAN Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church MADE THE CHANGE…But the Protestant mind does NOT seem to realize that in ACCEPTING the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the AUTHORITY of the spokesman for the church, the Pope” (Our Sunday Visitor, Feb. 5, 1950. This is one of the largest U.S. Roman Catholic magazines).
Catholic Church: “The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he IS Jesus Christ Himself, HIDDEN UNDER VEIL OF FLESH” (The Catholic National, July 1895). No wonder the Catholics accept the change of the Sabbath to Sunday! They think of the Pope as Christ Himself in making the change. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE POPE IS GOD? THEN WHY CONTINUE KEEPING THE POPE’S DAY?
Catholic Church: “It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has TRANSFERRED this rest to Sunday… Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants IS AN HOMAGE THEY PAY, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church” (Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, 1868, P. 213. L. G. Segur was a French Catholic prelate and apologist, and later a diplomatic and judicial official at Rome).
Catholic Church: “For ages all Christian nations looked to the Catholic Church, and, as we have seen, the various states ENFORCED BY LAW HER ORDINANCES as to worship and cessation of labor on Sunday. PROTESTANISM, IN DISCARDING THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH, HAS NO GOOD REASON FOR ITS SUNDAY THEORY, AND OUGHT LOGICALLY, TO KEEP SATURDAY AS THE SABBATH. The State in passing laws for the due Sanctification of Sunday, is UNWITTINGLY acknowledging the authority of the Catholic Church, and carrying out more or less faithfully its prescriptions. The Sunday as a day of the week set apart for the obligatory public worship of Almighty God is purely a CREATION OF THE Catholic Church” (John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883, P. 139).
CONCLUSION
The Sabbath has been kept by God’s people from creation onward, was
codified in the Ten Commandments, kept by Jesus, kept by the apostolic church,
and to be kept in these last days before Jesus’ return and will be kept during the millennium [1000 year reign of Jesus].
Keeping God’s Sabbath is an inescapable duty of Godly people today, just as it has always been.
We may be blessed of God if we follow Jesus’ exhortation in Matt. 4:4 to “live…by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.”
May God bless you in your effort to understand His will for His people today.
I can’t believe we’re even having this discussion.
The Bible says: “One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks” (Rom. 14:5-6).
Cased closed.
Absolutely false. The writings of the first Christians show that it was changed during apostolic times and has been the tradition of the Church since then...well before Constantine.
Why then didn't the earliest Christian churches do that then. They met on the morning of the first day of the week and then regathered after work and had the Lord's Supper.
Constantine changed it because he wanted to unify the Christian and pagan worlds under Rome.
When the Roman aristocrats began to dominate the Christian churches in Rome and Constantine saw it as a tool to unite the empire a lot of things happened. The point I'm trying to get across is that prior to this the accepted practice was to gather on Sunday morning and then again Sunday evening.
Pliny the Younger was commissioned by Trajan to investigate Christians because they were growing in number and pagans were making complaints against them. Numerous Christians were martyred during the interrogations, but among the data that was gleaned was when services were held. The investigation was done around 110-114 AD, just after the end of the Apostolic Era, but a couple hundred years before a govt backed hierarchy was established.
All you need do is read the New Testament or any history book.
But 100% Christian (the Catholic Church).
See Pliny letters.
Pliny is hardly a supporter of Christianity, being a Roman legate and having killed numerous Christians when interrogating them. He would have no reason to lie as to Christian religious practices.
I'm surprised you would want a definition of earliest Christian churches. I mean those assemblies of Christians who gathered together to worship and celebrate The Gospel.
Maybe it's time for you to explain why the legalism of having services on Saturday is so critical when there is secular evidence that our brothers and sisters in Christ during Apostolic Era and the centuries immediately following did not do that.
Cite?
If worshiping on Saturday versus Sunday was so critical why did the earliest Christian churches do this?
Please show me where they worshiped on Sunday. You obviously can't from scripture because every passage that the translators have translated as "First Day of the Week" actually says in the Greek....."On one of the Sabbaths" or is related to the Sabbath. That's the whole point! [Matthew 28:1][Mark 16:2-9][Luke 24:1][John 20:1][Acts 20:6-7][I Corinthians 16:2]. Show me in the Greek where any one of these scriptures is properly translated "First day of the week'!
The fanatics that argue violently on this thread show their own disregard of holy Scripture.
Diego et al. have yet to answer the plain meaning of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians where he COMMANDS:
“Therefore don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah.” (Col. 2:16, 17)
Many of these same folks no doubt deny the holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (since the word “trinity” is itself not in the bible), and ultimately the full divinity of Jesus Christ—and are convinced the light of the gospel was pretty well extinguished from AD 325 to the 1800s (poor pitiful Holy Spirit just couldn’t keep it going, eh? Wasn’t very “good news” since the devil prevailed for over 1000 years, eh?)— much like the LDS and other cults think.
Jesus saves, not the Law. Those who try to live by the law, will be killed by it... Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit frees us to live as God the Father wants in the light and power of the Resurrection of Jesus...on Sunday.
Who changed it?
Based on what authority?
If we have a church writing something for 100 years can it alter the Commandments?
If it is a tradition to worship idols, does that change the Commandments?
Constantine did formalize something which had been going on previously, but sanctioning something that is contrary to scripture is not an amendment to the scripture.
Can you show me where it says this in scripture?
Besides the secular sources already given, read:
ICor. 11:21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk.
What was happening was on Sunday evening when they regathered the more affluent Christians were eating and drinking prior to the poorer Christians who could not come until later. The poor came and were only left with a symbolic (small) portion.
22. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?...
Good points.....and I would add.....a major factor in these disputes was vegetarianism.....and who should or should not participate (verses 2-3) and on which days they should fast (verse 6).
Paul speaks not of Sabbath days in these passages. The Greek is "HEMERA"....an ordinary day. If Paul had been speaking of Sabbath days, the term used would have been SABBATON. This chapter in Romans has nothing to do with God's Feast Days or Sabbaths and this is why people should familiarize themselves with Hebrew and Greek if they are to study the scriptures.
The crowd defending the article at the top of this thread are indeed anti-Trinitarian.
Good thing St. Constantine did not sanction something that is contrary to Scripture.
The authority comes from Christ who gave the Apostles the authority to loose and bind.
You call it legalism when folks continue to honor God's appointed times [Leviticus 23:44] and Sabbaths....but when folks observe holidays and religious festivals invented by mankind.....that's simply O.K.? ......I got it!
Yeah.....who does He think He is, anyway? Asking us to observe all these legalistic Old Testament Feast Days and Sabbaths. After all.....He did tell us to not do it anymore, didn't He? Oh.....here it is....[I Papacy 1:11]. Read it aloud! "Do not honor God anymore by observing His Holy Days and Sabbaths. Instead honor the Church of Rome and all our Pomp and Tradition."
I knew I could find it.
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