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The Scriptures tell us that the Sabbath is to be observed on the seventh day, which is Saturday. However, Protestants today worship on Sunday.
How did this change of the Sabbath take place? Who is responsible? Does it even matter which day we worship on?
Papal Authority and the Sabbath Change
In the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath commandment emphasizes the authority of the lawgiver—God (See The Royal Seal). A change in the Sabbath means a change in authority. When we choose another Sabbath, we give the authority to another entity. God is no longer the authority. Rather, the substitute—the counterfeit—grasps this position. Another god on Earth has attempted to replace the true God.
Author John Ley tells us that, "From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observation of the Jew's Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors."i Until the Catholic council that changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, early Christians all worshiped on the seventh day.
Read Catholic testimony about the Sabbath change.
Behind the papal authority that changed the Sabbath is an even higher authority that wants to steal Christ’s claim on our lives. Satan was worshiped in pagan traditions under the symbol of the sun. He was the hidden one, the god behind the scenes. Sunday was the day dedicated to sun worship, but Christianity still adopted Sunday as the holy day:
Sunday...so called because this day was anciently dedicated to the sun, or to its worship.ii
Sunday, so called because it was dedicated to the worship of the sun.iii
Sunday (Dies Solis of the Roman calendar, ‘Day of the sun,’ being dedicated to the sun), the first Day of the week.iv
Sabbath Change in New Testament Times
Through the influence of Mithraism (Persian sun worship) in the Roman Empire and the heathen festival of Sunday, the pure Church of Christ gradually fell into apostasy. Even in the days of the apostles the great apostasy had begun to develop. Paul writes, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
Paul also declares this:
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30).
A Theological Dictionary agrees with Paul. It states, “It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first Day.”v
Learn more about the true Sabbath, its history, and why worship on the seventh day is so important:
i. John Ley, Sunday a Sabbath (London: 1640): 163, as quoted on SundayLaw.net
ii. "Sunday," Webster’s Dictionary.
iii. McClintock and Strong, “Sunday," Biblical and Theological Encyclopedia, as quoted in Ray Cottrell, The True Sabbath (1942).
iv. Johann Jacob Herzog and Phillip Schaff, “Sunday,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge
v. Charles Buck, "Sabbath," A Theological Dictionary (Philadelphia, 1815): 403.
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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