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Christian Worship and the Sabbath Day
by Wayne L. Atchison
Christian belief is manifested in what is practiced:
Christianity is not just philosophy or speaking
spiritual words, it is also the practice and life-style
of good deeds which demonstrate our commitment to Jesus
Christ. Being a Christian is a Way of life, based upon
what is believed to be true. In order to not be mislead
into believing errors, it is important for Christians to
always question what is taught to them.
The Scriptures remind Christians that it is not for them
to make judgments about another Christian's Spiritual
status: these questions and judgments are to be left to
God. However, even without judging the person, it can be
agreed that God tells Christians not to practice errors,
nor to be unrighteousness (I John 3:7) and to be holy
just as God is holy (I Peter 1:15). Therefore, what may
be said is that a Christian is not supposed to practice
errors, and should therefore earnestly avoid being
deceived into doing so.
The Most Widely Accepted Error In Modern Christianity
Doing a little historical research into the Christian
Sabbath Day, it becomes obvious that a major deception
has been promulgated for multitudinous generations: For
over 1,600 years the majority of the Christian world has
been taught, and has accepted without question, that
Sunday is the Christian's day of worship. Yet the
Scriptures, historical records, and direct quotations
from every major Christian denomination, all agree that
this commonly taught belief is a blatant error. The
truth is that God's Sabbath day has always been the
seventh day of the week-(which today is called)
Saturday.
his deception regarding Sunday (as being the Christian
day of worship) has been passed down since the fourth
century A.D.; most people who believe this lie have
themselves not questioned it by comparing the history
and doctrines of their church with the teachings of the
Bible. As both the Scriptures and historical records
show, there have always been large numbers of
Christians, found throughout the world, who worship
Jesus Christ on the Sabbath day, rather than on
Sunday. Even the great Protestant missionary movement of
the last two centuries discovered previously established
and thriving villages of Sabbathkeeping Christian
congregations in China, Asia, South America, Africa, and
the Pacific Islands.
The practice of going to worship services on the day of
the Sun (Sunday) instead of on the Sabbath day is a
deception that was literally forced
upon the congregations which were within the Roman
Empire. At that time, congregations outside of the Roman
Empire were not influenced so directly, and continued to
worship on the Sabbath day.
Even within the Roman Empire, the practice of Sunday
worship was not part of the earliest Christian
communities-including the Gentile communities. As
historical records show, this deception was not made
into a "Christian tenet of faith" until over 300 years
(between ten to fifteen generations) after Jesus
Christ's resurrection. Though some scholars claim to
have found a reference a congregation holding worship
Services on Sunday as early as 115 A.D, it is still
admitted that prior to that all Christians everywhere,
including Gentile Christians, worshipped Jesus Christ on
the Sabbath Day.
The Sunday worship deception was proclaimed as "truth"
by a decree of the Bishop at Rome (circa 325-333
A.D.). The record of historical documents shows that his
purpose was to separate Christianity from the Jewish
religion as far as possible. At the same time, it was
decreed to keep the festival of Easter (Ishtar) instead
of the Passover.
Most older encyclopedias describe these events under the
title "Quarto-Deciman Controversy." These (and other)
decrees by the Bishop of Rome were the cause of the
first major (international) split in the church, whereby
most of the other Bishops (there were 14 other major
Bishops) refused to go along with the decrees. Their
reply (also preserved in historical documents) declared
that the Roman Bishop's mixing of Christianity with
Sun-god worship was unacceptable; as a result, most
outside Christian congregations (which were beyond the
threat of Roman armies) rejected the Roman Bishop's
decree, and continued as before-to worship Jesus Christ
on Saturday.
Upon "all" other believers, the practice of going to
church on Sunday was forced by decree-punishable by
death or slavery-and was enforced by the Roman
government's army and judicial system. Many Christians
within the Roman domain lost their lives, or were forced
into slavery as the Roman armies imposed the Sunday
worship decrees. Later, this practice included forcing
all businesses to close and everyone (whole villages) to
attend Sunday worship in "mass."
Further, businesses were forced to be open on Saturdays,
and work schedules had to include working on Saturdays.
By the Crusades of the Middle Ages, the practice of
Papal coercion included converting new members into the
fold of the Roman Catholic Church by forcing them, at
sword point, for confessions (oaths) and to submit to
water baptism. This was often how mass groups of entire
villages were "converted."
As a result of such severe enforcement, over the course
of many years, the western culture was transformed to
regard Saturday as the opposite of God's Sabbath day,
believing it to be a day of business and
labor. Likewise, Sunday is regarded as the opposite of
the day of Baal-the day of the Sun-god; it is believed
to be the day to worship Jesus Christ. Since our schools
primarily teach history from the Roman point of view,
people never hear about the much larger portion of
Christians that remained faithful to the practice of
worshipping God on Saturday-His memorial day of
creation.
Even having these facts behind the Sunday worship
deception (since circa 330 A.D.), this deception has
been taught as being the unquestioned "sacred" truth in
most Christian denominations. Most Christians today, are
completely unaware that there could possibly be any
problem associated with worshipping God on the day of
the sun, rather than on His Sabbath day. After all, one
day honors the god of the sun, while the other day is
the memorial of the creation by the Creator God.
Creation Week
In the book of Genesis, verses 1-25, the earth has been
prepared for five days for God's creation of mankind. On
the sixth day God created the first man and woman: "And God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth"
(v. 26). "And God saw every
thing that he had made, and behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth
day" (v. 31).
On the seventh day God created the Sabbath 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. 2:1-3).
There are two Hebrew words in verses 2 and 3 that should
be understood before proceeding, because they specify
how the Creator God views the Sabbath Day: The Hebrew
word 'quadash': The word translated as "sanctified",
comes from the Hebrew word 'quadash', and means "to be
hallowed, holy, to consecrate, prepare, dedicate," and
is a denominative verb. The verb 'quadash', being a
denominative verb, connotes the state of that which
belongs in the realm of what is sacred. Thus, a
"sanctified" object is distinct from the "common or
profane" object. Therefore, the seventh day is distinct
and set apart as being holy time, in the realm of what
is sacred, in contrast to the other six days. It is a
separated time, from the rest of time.
The Hebrew word 'barak': The word translated as
"blessed", is the Hebrew word 'barak', and means "to
kneel, praise or salute." The word's major function is
to confer honor, worship, high esteem and
acknowledgment. For God to bless, as in Genesis 2:2-3,
means that God has taken notice of the seventh day, and
has saluted it with His favorable esteem.
From these verses in Genesis it is apparent that the
seventh day of the week has a very special significance
to God, since He gave it a special blessing and then set
it apart as being sacred time. From the very beginning
of creation, God intended Adam and Eve, and all their
children, to keep the seventh day as holy time. This is
the one day a week specifically reserved to worship God
and remember His creation.
Also of note is that God's sanctification of the Sabbath
day had nothing whatsoever to do with the law of Moses,
the Ten Commandments, or sacrificing animals. In
contrast, it is important to note that the first day of
the week (Sunday) was not sanctified by God anywhere in
the Scriptures-neither in the old or the new
covenant. Sunday worship was never introduced by God-but
was, and is, a creation and institution of men.
The Seven Day Weekly Cycle
It is not by accident that all world governments use
exactly the same seven day weekly cycle. Even though
each culture has a different name for each day,
different names for the months, or different numbers for
the year, they all use the same seven day cycle, called
a week. Of course men have invented other "weeks", but
the seven day week has always prevailed throughout
history.
Upon checking the common Gregorian calendar [with the
exception of some calendars which are numbered for
banking or accounting purposes], you will find, looking
from left to right, that Sunday is the first day of the
week, followed in order by [second] Monday, [third]
Tuesday, [fourth] Wednesday, [fifth] Thursday, [sixth]
Friday, and [seventh] Saturday. Saturday is the seventh
day of the week in our modern world wide culture. If you
have an opportunity to check older calendars, dating
back as far as you can find, even from other countries,
you will find the same relationship between Saturday and
Sunday. Sunday is the first day of the week, and
Saturday is the seventh day of the week. Further, it has
been established that this seven-day weekly cycle has
never been disrupted or broken, even back to the time of
Adam and Eve.
Through archaeological digs, many ancient manuscripts
have been found dating back to events occurring in each
of the centuries between today and 600 B.C. These
manuscripts provide recorded dates of astronomical
events, dates of monumental battles, dates of weddings,
dates of business transactions, and some even include
references to the Sabbath day. In every instance where a
date is specified, and also provides reference to a
Sabbath day, that date and the Sabbath day match exactly
to demonstrate that the seven day weekly cycle has never
been disrupted. Calendar systems have come and gone, but
the seven day weekly cycle has perpetuated throughout
history.
One example is found in "The Talmud the Steinsaltz
Edition", Volume XIV Tractate Ta'anit Part II ( 1995 by
Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications and Milta
Books), pages 205-206. It says the following regarding
the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem-built
by Solomon, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's army: Page
205: "Then late on the day of the ninth, close to
nightfall, they set the Temple on fire, and it continued
to burn the entire next day, on the tenth." Page
206: "When the Temple was destroyed for the first
time at the hands of Nebuzaradan [captain of the guard],
that day was the ninth of Av, and it was the day
following Shabbat, and it was the year following the
Sabbatical Year.... And similarly when the Temple was
destroyed a second time at the hands of Titus, the
destruction occurred on the very same day, on the ninth
of Av."
In II Kings 25:8-9 we learn that this event occurred in
the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar. These
ancient records provide a clear example of reporting
both a known event, the destruction of Solomon's temple,
and that event happening relative to a Sabbath day. The
ending of the Sabbath day would be at sunset, as the
Babylonian / Jerusalem calendar's day ends at
sunset. For this same reason, the ninth of Ab would
start at sunset, extending for about 24 hours after
that, through Sunday afternoon, to the next
sunset. Therefore the first temple was destroyed
starting on Saturday evening, in the nineteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar.
By other analysis, Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year can
be calculated to be in 587 B.C. In that year the ninth
of Ab unmistakably began at sunset on Saturday
night. Thus, two historical records reference a weekday
Sabbath, relative to a month, day, and specific
year. The fact that they match demonstrates that the
identification of which week day is the Sabbath day has
not been corrupted for the last 2500 years, between now
and 587 B.C.
As a related historical note, the second temple was
likewise destroyed by the Roman army under Titus in 70
A.D. In 70 A.D., the ninth of Ab also began at sunset on
Saturday night, just as with the first destruction.
Since God, after the exodus circa 1450 B.C., used the
laying out of the manna to demonstrate which days were
work days and which day was the Sabbath day of rest, it
is certain that the weekly seven-day cycle has not been
interrupted throughout most of the Bible's historical
time frame, from Moses to Jesus.
The History Of Sun Worship
Attending worship services on Sunday did not begin with
the advent of Christianity. Sunday, the first day of the
week, has been a religious day of worship throughout
history. The activity of worshipping 'god' on Sunday was
intentionally used to distinguish those who worshipped
"the Mother and Child", in contrast to those who
worshipped the "Invisible Creator God" on the seventh
day of the week. This alternative worship system began
over 4300 years ago with Nimrod (Osirus), a man who
rebelled against God, and was deified by Semiramis
(Isis), his sister and wife.
Shortly after the great flood, during the life time of
Shem, a son of Noah, Nimrod and his sister, named
Semiramis, founded the great religions which have
survived to this day. Nimrod rebelled against God, and
set himself up as a 'local' deity. He married his
sister, Semiramis, and together they started an
underground (hidden or occult) priesthood with worship
ceremonies. This was done in rebellion to the
priesthood sanctified by God, represented through Noah
and Shem.
Shem, upon hearing of Nimrod's activities, and after
repeated warnings, gathered an army and sought to
capture him. Nimrod fled, but was eventually captured
and executed for his rebellion. The execution included
the cutting of Nimrod into many pieces, whereby each
piece was sent to a specific region of the world as
proof of his death and as a warning against following
his rebellious religion.
Semiramis, upon hearing of the death of her husband,
sought after and gathered each piece of Nimrod and
reconstructed his body. She then had sexual intercourse
with the body of Nimrod (more probably with her high
priest) who allegedly became alive again long enough for
her to conceive. Later, Semiramis bore "Nimrod's only
Son" called "Ninus (Horus), the savior", and claimed
that she supernaturally conceived the child. As proof
that the child was the reincarnated Nimrod, only taking
the form of a child, Semiramis claimed that she
witnessed an evergreen branch grow out of a dead log in
one night, the same night the child was born. (This is
the yule-log as it is known today.)
Later, Semiramis was deified into the title of "The
Mother, The Queen of Heaven", and the child-savior was
portrayed as a child-god held in her arms. The first
"mother and child" nativity story was told over 4300
years ago, 2300 years before Jesus the Messiah was born.
Incidentally, Ninus is listed as being the second
Pharaoh of Egypt, and started the practice of believing
that the King is also 'a god', and sun-day-worship. The
concept of a god-king has prevailed many times
throughout history, and is still held to be true in
Japan, believing that the emperor is a god.
Today, archaeologists find remains of temples and idols
all over the world having the same common religious
theme, the theme of the "Mother and Child" being
worshipped as the "Queen of Heaven, and her child-god
the 'savior'".
For instance, in Babylon they worshipped a "Goddess
Mother" and a "Son of God", who was represented as an
infant in his mother's arms. In Egypt the Mother and
Child was worshipped under the names of Isis and
Osiris. In India they still are worshipped as Isi and
Iswara. In Asia they were worshipped as Cybele and
Deoius. In Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer, or Jupiter
the boy. Other eastern nations worshipped Rhea, the
"Great Goddess Mother". In Greece as Ceres the "Great
Mother" with "the babe" at her breast, or else as Irene
the "Goddess of Peace" and the boy Plutus. Even in the
Orient the Jesuit missionaries were astonished to find
the counterpart of the Madonna and her child being
worshipped as Shing Moo, the Holy Mother and the "child
in her arms". (Reference: "The Two Babylons", by
Rev. Alexander Hislop. 1916. Loizeaux Brothers,
Inc. Reference: "Babylon Mystery Religion", by Ralph
Woodrow. 1981.)
It is well known by Bible scholars and archaeologists
that the gods and goddesses of the ancient civilizations
prior to Christianity were all started by one and the
same false religion. In these false religious
alternatives, "The Lord" was represented by the sun, and
therefore those who worship "The Lord," worship him on
his day, or sun-day.
Israel And Sun-Day Worship
By studying the Bible Christians know that one of the
main false religions that the Israelites followed, when
they departed away from God's way, was to practice the
worship of Baal. Baalism is known to be a religion of
sun worship. The word translated as "Baal" is from the
ancient Hebrew language and means "The Lord." When
ancient Israel worshipped Baal they kept Sunday, because
Baal-worship was sun-worship, and sun-day is the day
when the sun is worshipped. As sun-day was Baal's day,
or the Lord's day, the ancient Israelites began to keep
the first day of the week as their day of worship, in
contrast to God's worship day, the seventh day of the
week.
The contrast between Sunday worship and Sabbath-Day
worship is not confusing. It is historical and straight
forward. Readers of the Bible do not become confused
when they read the scriptures and find that the
Israelites rebelled against God by worshipping "The
Lord." They do not become confused by thinking that "The
Lord" (Baal) is just another name for "The invisible
Creator God," and then begin to wonder why God is all
upset about a simple name variation? The worship of
Baal, whether you call it the worship of "The Lord" or
call it something else, is distinguished from the
worship of the true Creator God by what they did, not
the words they used to describe their deity. What they
did was worship "their god" on sun-day, called it
worshipping "The Lord," and thereby denied the Creator
God who decreed that He is to be worshipped on His
Creation-Day, Saturday.
History Of The Authority Of The Pope
As part of the doctrine of the sun-worship religion,
they believed that the king, or emperor, was the direct
representative of the sun god on earth. As such, the
king was more than just mortal, but was king-god, or
god-king. He was the only one in whom the highest level
of the spirit of the sun-deity resided. This 'spirit'
was not the Holy Spirit of God, but the 'spirit' of the
sun. This is why the pagan emperors were worshipped as
god. The religious center representing sun-worship was
transferred from Babylon, after the death of Belshazzar,
to the city of Pergamos in Asia Minor, about 575 B.C.
In Revelation 2:13, Pergamos is called "Satan's seat,"
and was the headquarters of the original Babylonian
sun-worship until Imperial Rome began to take over the
leadership around 50 B.C. This began in the person of
Julius Caesar when, as emperor, he had supreme civil and
religious rule. "... When Julius Caesar, who had
previously been elected Pontifex Maximus, became also,
as Emperor, the supreme civil ruler of the Romans, then
as head of Roman religion, all the powers and functions
of the true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff were supremely
vested in him, and he found himself in a position to
assert these powers" (From Sabbath to Sunday,
Samuele Bacchiocchi, 1977, p. 241).
In the year 46 B.C., Julius Caesar was made "Praefectus
Morum" (supervisor of morals); that is, he was made head
of Roman religions. In the year 44 B.C., he was made
dictator for life (see Langer's Encyclopedia of World
History).
It is essential to understand that from that time
forward, the Emperor of Rome was also head of the state
religions. This did not change until Emperor Justinian,
who reigned from 527-565 A.D., submitted to the head of
the Roman Catholic Church. From that time forward, the
Pope was acknowledged by the Emperor to be Pontifex
Maximus over all religion. The Pope now had supreme
authority in religious matters and the Emperors had
control of the political power of the state.(... End of
first half....Part Two next issue!)
TSS
November - December 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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