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The FOUR HORSEMEN
The MARK OF THE BEAST
The
SEVEN LAST PLAGUES
"Blessed is he
who watches and keeps his garments... Rev.16:15
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
The Counterfeit Christ
Perilous Times
Jerusalem |
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Some may teach that Jesus broke the Sabbath and because of this it is no longer binding to keep the Sabbath commandment. This teaching according to the above verse actually accuses Jesus of being called the least in the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus is the greatest man in Heaven because He did both DO and TEACH men to keep all Ten of the Commandments. Jesus said, “whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
One cannot read the four gospels with out recognizing that the life and teachings of Jesus caused serious conflict with the religious leaders of His day. Nothing stirred up controversy between Christ and these religious leaders more than the way Jesus kept the Sabbath. Jesus could not change who He is concerning the Sabbath, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. The majority of the Jews kept the Sabbath according to the teachings of the leading men of the church of Israel. Through the way Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath, He taught, “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.” Exodus 23:2. “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men… Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition… Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition.” Mark 7:7-9,13. Worshipping God according to the teachings of men and disregarding the Ten Commandments is a “vain” worship and makes “the word of God of none effect through your tradition.” Jesus was faithful to the commandments of God in spite of going against the crowd, and the teachings of respected religious leaders. Truth is not always popular.
We are going to look at some quotes now that strike a blow at long standing traditions revered by multitudes of people and religious leaders regarding the Sabbath. The question we are faced with is the same one Jesus was faced with. What will we choose, Church tradition or the Commandments of God? May we have courage to do what Jesus did! |
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Sunday worship does not have Christian roots.
"The first observance of Sunday that history records is in the fourth century, when Constantine issued an edict reading, ‘let all the judges and people of the town rest and all the various trades be suspended on the venerable day of the sun.' At the time of the issue of this edict, Constantine was a sun worshipper; therefore it could have had no relation whatever to Christianity." Henry M. Taber, Faith or Fact p. 112. (Note: Henry M. Taber is an infidel and has no bias towards any Christian beliefs). |
15 years later the Catholic Church changes the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
"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 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." Rev. Peter Geierman, C.S.S.R. The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, page 50, 2nd edition, 1910. |
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"The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." The Catholic Mirror September 23, 1893 |
"Protestantism, in disregarding the authority of the (Roman Catholic) Church, has no good reasons for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to keep Saturday as the Sabbath." American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
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"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles...From beginning to the end of the scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week, to the first." Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August 1900.
| "It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe the commandment of the Catholic Church." Priest Brady, in an address, reported in “The Elizabeth, New Jersey News" of March 18, 1903 |
*Saturday in over 160 languages means Sabbath. Shabbot in Israeli; Sabbato in Spanish; etc. *"Saturday, the Seventh and last day of the week” Webster’s Dictionary. *"Sabbath, the period of time from Friday evening to Saturday evening, kept as a day of rest and worship by the Jews and some Christians." Webster’s Dictionary. Upon the first day of creation, Jesus said, “Let there be light.” That light was His own presence. The sun was not created until the fourth day, so logically the day we now call Wednesday should be the one we call Sunday. However the Bible had nothing to do with naming the days of the week. Idolatry and astrology dominated this process.
From ancient Egypt to Babylon and from Greece to Rome the heathen nations surrounding the people of God worshipped the sun as a god. They believed the sun was the giver of all life. It was the largest object in the heavens. Any common farmer could see that all plant life grew or did not grow based on how much sunlight it received. In the time of Christ the heathen people worshipped the sun on the first day of the week. Thus the name Sun Day. The worshippers of the Greek sun god, Mithra (lord) were calling Sunday "the lord’s day” long before Christ was born. Constantine a sun-worshipper made the first law that all mankind was to worship “on the venerable day of the sun”. 15 years later the church changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday to win the favor of Roman Politicians, and popular heathen religions.
136 years earlier Pope Victor started the first annual observance of Sunday. In the year 200 AD Pope Victor changed the observance of the resurrection from three days after Passover to the annual observance of the goddess of fertility named Ishtar which in English we pronounce Easter. The Christians in the time of this change protested this edict of Pope Victor. Over a long period of time these changes became accepted traditions. These traditions over hundreds of years brought together the combination of church and state, making the mammoth system we know now as the Roman Catholic Church. History records that at the fall of the Roman Empire there arose a new power called the Holy Roman Empire. All of this would of never happened had the church not made concessions over long periods of time to the customs of the pagan citizens and emperors of Rome.
It is not my purpose in this already lengthy article to divulge the rest of our time here together discussing the history of the compromises of Rome, of which endless books have been written and will no doubt continue to be written, based on historical facts. As a long time student of history, I would highly recommend reading a book called “The Great Controversy” to learn more about the things we just discussed. If you would like to know how you could obtain a copy of this book please contact me. You can find an audio version of this book on my web site, www.theloudcry.net. The information in The Great Controversy was written with sources from over 800 historical quotations from over 80 respected and authoritative historians and contains over 1,200 scriptures from the Bible, revealing all the prophecies about this super power of the Dark Ages, as well as the end of the world.
My purpose in sharing the above quotes and information is to establish that the holy day Moses, King David, the prophets and Jesus Christ Himself kept as the Sabbath is not the same day Christians observe today. Not because Jesus or the Apostles changed the Sabbath to Sunday, rather because the religious leaders in the church did 305 years after Jesus died on the Cross. Just as the religious leaders in the time of Christ thought their teachings about the Sabbath were binding, so the religious leaders in the church three hundred years later thought and still think the same. Today we are faced with a long-standing tradition that rivals the commandments of God based merely on the authority of man.
The REAL 10 Commandments contain 195 words, the ALTERED version has only 77 words. More than 70% of the 10 commandments have been removed by the Catholic Church! "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." - Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:18)The Catholic Church has attempted to alter change and remove more than there share of "jot's and tittle's" don't you think? "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 observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor February 5, 1950.
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A Christian is not a follower of churches or of religious leaders. A Christian is a follower of one man, The Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ has always and will always keep the seventh day Sabbath, as it is written in the Ten Commandments. On the other hand we have to look carefully at the claims of Rome, "The Pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." Decretal De Translat. Episcop. Cap. The Bible prophecy warns us he shall, “think to change times and laws” Daniel 7:25. The Roman Church may THINK it possesses the AUTHORITY to change the times and the laws of God and also the teachings of Jesus Christ, but this is a grave mistake with eternal consequences.
"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things." H. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons. Whose authority do you accept, the religious leaders of the Church or the authority of the Ten Commandments, the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ? When Jesus was faced with deciding between the Ten Commandments and the authority of church leaders he agreed with Peter who said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. Whose authority did the Apostles follow? What day did they keep as the Sabbath? Let’s look again at what day Christ custom was to keep holy. What day did He keep, where did He go on that day, what did He do on the Sabbath? “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16. Did the Apostle Paul do the same things go to the same places and keep the same day as Christ? “And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.” Acts 17:2. Both Paul and Jesus custom was to attend church and read the Bible on the Sabbath.
“And he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue EVERY Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Acts 18:4,11. Paul attended the Corinthian Church every Sabbath for a year and six months. That is 78 Sabbaths Paul kept faithfully just like Jesus did! The Bible records a time when Paul attended the church in Antioch. He, “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.” Acts 13:14. After presenting a heart felt message, the Jews left the church and all the Gentiles approached Paul. “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” Acts 13:42. Paul was all alone with the Gentiles, and as the Apostle especially sent to the Gentiles he had the perfect opportunity to tell these Gentiles, “return tomorrow on Sunday and I will share this same message then, in honor of the Lord’s resurrection.” There is no scripture in the Bible that supports the tradition that keeping Sunday was instituted to honor the resurrection. Baptism is what Paul taught was instituted to honor the resurrection (see Romans 6:1-3). Paul did not offer a special Sunday service for the gentile Christians. Instead he had them wait until the next Sabbath to repeat the message to them. “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” Acts 13:44. The early disciples, “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56), whether there was a church to attend or not. “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.” Acts 16:13. Brothers and sister we have just witnessed 84 times Paul and the early church met together on the Sabbath day to worship God and read the scriptures after the same manner Christ did. That included the apostles, both Jewish and Gentile Christians, and people who had no church to attend.
Jesus Christ is our Lord, He is our example of the ONLY WAY to eternal life. The religious leaders disagreed with the way Jesus observed the commandments of God. Today religious leaders disagree with keeping the same day that Jesus and the apostles kept because it is not as popular as the tradition made by religious leaders in the Church long ago. Two decisions stand before you, the commandments of man or the Commandments of God. What difference does a day make? In the Garden of Eden the test was a simple tree, what difference does a tree make? Obeying God makes all the difference in the world, even in the simple things. Eve learned that lesson, have we? Yesterday you may not have known the truth. Today you do. Your family may have kept Sunday for hundreds of years, because the truth had been lost sight of through years of Church tradition. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” Acts 17:30. Remember the warning of Christ if we choose to honor traditions made by religious leaders above the commandments of God. “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men… Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition… Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:7-9,13.
The Sabbath is so important that God considers it equal to the other Ten Commandments, which prohibit lying, stealing, murder, and adultery. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. Today Bibles and prayer are not allowed in our schools and evolution is taught in class. We need a day that reminds us that Jesus Christ made everything in Heaven and Earth! That is what the Sabbath was designed to help us remember. In this day of atheistic thinking this is the only one of the Ten Commandments we want to forget although it begins with the word “Remember.” Jesus kept all Ten Commandments overcoming temptations of greed, gluttony, hate, and bigotry, He was honest and truthful, faithful and giving. In every word and deed He exemplified a character which gave a shining example of obedience to the commandments of God. WWJD what would Jesus do? When in doubt do it just the way Jesus did. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” 1 John 2:6.
Jesus was quoting the last six words of the second commandment “love me, and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6), when He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15. When it all comes down to it either we are following His example or we are not. Either we know Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with Him or we do not. Those who know Him also love Him, and those who love Him also keep His commandments. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 2:3,4. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13,14. |
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