A mark distinguishes one thing from another. A mark of a religious power would be some outstanding belief that distinguishes it. The best way to determine the distinguishing mark of the Roman Catholic Church is to consult her teachings directly.
Cardinal Gibbons claimed that Sunday-keeping was the mark of Roman Catholic authority:
Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. 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.i
Sunday worship has no Scriptural authority, and rests solely upon tradition. Protestants have always claimed that the Bible alone should be the standard for our religious beliefs. To meet this challenge, the Roman Catholic Church called the Council of Trent in 1545, and proclaimed that tradition stood above Scripture.
Protestants who observe Sunday as the day of worship are honoring the defining feature, or mark, of Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholics have claimed this:
Sunday is our mark of authority...the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.ii
You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, 'Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day', who shall dare to say, nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day, but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead? This is a most important question which I know not how you can answer. You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet, in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that which He has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you believe the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principle, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered.iii
Ahead to Why is the Sabbath Commandment Relevant?
Back to The Mark of the Beast Introduction
i. Extract from a letter written by the Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons (November 11, 1895).
ii. Catholic Record (September 1, 1923).
iii. Burns and Oates, Library of Christian Doctrine, as quoted in Carlyle Haynes, From Sabbath to Sunday (Review and Herald, 1928): 48.
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This article is adapted from Truth Matters by Professor Walter J. Veith, an international speaker who has studied Biblical issues in-depth in his quest for truth. His popular series Genesis Conflict brings the debate between Creation and evolution to a new climax as he dissects the arguments with a scientific eye. His highly-acclaimed series Total Onslaught sheds light on the state of the world today as we move to a one-world government and an anticipated apocalypse.
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The Lamb and the Sealed Book
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