Biblical Holy Days and Sabbath

The Bible Sabbath

Why is the Bible Sabbath Important?
Part 3

Sun, Fire, and Serpent, Worship Comes From Babylon

Worshipping on Sunday goes back at least two thousand years before Jesus Christ. Shortly after the flood in Noah's time, Nimrod and his mother-wife, Semiramis, founded the great pagan religions. Sun worship is related to fire worship. Both are in reality a worship of the fiery serpent, the great red dragon, Satan the Devil.

From the beginning at the Tower of Babel, sun worship spread throughout the ancient world. Documentation for this is found in The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, and Babylon Mystery Religion, by Ralph Woodrow.

On pages 226-227, Hislop states,

"Nimrod is singled out by the voice of antiquity as commencing this fire-worship . . . . The sun, as the great source of light and heat, was worshipped under the name of Baal [another name for Nimrod, who was Satan's earthly representative] . . . . the sun, under that name [Baal] was worshipped in the earliest ages of the world . . . . The beginning, then, of sun- worship and of the worship of the host of the heaven, was a sin against the light -- a presumptuous, heaven-daring sin. As the sun in the heavens was the great object of worship, so fire was worshipped as its [the sun's] earthly representative . . . . Along with the sun, as the great fire-god, and, in due time, identified with him, was the serpent worshipped . . . the serpent is universally the symbol of the sun. In Egypt, one of the commonest symbols of the sun, or sun-god, is a disc with a serpent around it. The original reason of that identification seems just to have been that, as the sun was the great enlightener of the physical world, so the serpent was held to have been the great enlightener of the spiritual, by giving mankind the 'knowledge of good and evil' . . . we have evidence, both Scriptural and profane, for the fact, that the worship of the serpent began side by side with the worship of fire and the sun."

Most pagan religions, with their many and varied gods and goddesses, worshipped the sun as their main deity. Lucifer meant "light bringer." However, he rebelled and became Satan, "adversary." Rebellious mankind has always worshipped Satan as a light bringer instead of worshipping the true Creator, II Corinthians 4:4. In Revelation 12:3, Satan is called "a great red dragon," which could also be translated "a fiery dragon, fiery serpent, or Serpent of Fire."

Sun Worship In Rome

Israel profaned the Sabbath and substituted Baal worship, which is sun worship. Sun-worship was the dominant religion in all ancient civilizations, spreading from Mother Babylon to India, China, Africa, Greece, Rome, Mexico, South America, Egypt and Europe. Sun worship was a very prominent religion and Sunday was the main day of worship in the pagan Roman Empire by the time of Jesus Christ, just as it was in ancient pagan Babylon. Today, false religions do the same thing.

Hislop, page 236,

"In Pagan Rome, this fire-worship and serpent-worship were sometimes separate, sometimes conjoined; but both occupied a pre-eminent place in Roman esteem." Page 238, "Now, if this worship of the sacred serpent of the Sun, the great fire-god, was so universal in Rome, what symbol could more graphically portray the idolatrous power of Pagan Imperial Rome than the 'Great Fiery Serpent'? No doubt it was to set forth this very thing that the Imperial standard itself -- the standard of the Pagan Emperor of Rome, as Pontifex Maximus, Head of the great system of fire-worship and serpent-worship -- was a serpent elevated on a lofty pole, and so coloured, as to exhibit it as a recognised symbol of fire-worship."

Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus 40-50 years B.C. From that time until Emperor Justinian, the Roman Emperors were heads of the state religion of fire- serpent-sun worship. In the 6th Century A.D., Justinian submitted to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Thereafter, the Popes became the Pontifex Maximus of the Babylonian Mystery Religion.

Sun-day and The Planetary Week

The weekly cycle has been preserved by the Jews. The first six days of the week are numbered. The seventh day of the week is called the Sabbath. Pagans in worshipping the sun, moon and stars (planets, which look like stars), borrowed the Hebrew seven-day week and gave names to each day of the week to signify worshipful adoration of the heavenly bodies. The week with astronomical names for the days is called the "planetary week." It appears that Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, had a role in this amalgamation of paganism and the Creator's ways.

In ancient Babylon, "evil days" were set apart on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days of the month. The seventh day of each Babylonian week was called a shabattum. Instead of a day of spiritual and physical joy and rest, the Sabbath was termed an "ill omen," a day on which the pagans had to afflict themselves and do penance, not eat flesh cooked upon coals, nor change garments (Webster's Rest Days, p. 230, 232). "This seven-day week, in its astrological form . . . probably first appeared . . . [in] Syria, certainly not before the second century B.C. had passed . . . thence to Alexandria . . . and about the age of Augustus (31 B.C.-14 A.D.) . . . into the Occidental (Roman) land" (Ibid., pages 218-219).

The English language for the days of the planetary week borrowed the Teutonic versions of Roman and Greek gods' names:

Samuele Bacchiocchi, in his book, From Sabbath to Sunday, pages 242-246, gives evidence that the planetary week was in popular existence in Rome before the time of Christ.

"Various Sun-cults were predominant in ancient Rome by the early part of the second century [A.D.]. That these attracted the imagination and interest of Christian converts from paganism, we found evidenced by the development of the theme of Christ-the-Sun, and by the adoption of the eastward orientation for prayer [true Christians are inclined to pray to the north, where God's throne is located, Psalms 48:2] and of the date of the 25th of December . . . . The valorization of the day of the Sun over that of Saturn, as a result of the diffusion of the Sun-cults, possibly oriented Christians (who desired to differentiate themselves from the Sabbath of the Jews) toward such a day. This choice however, it must be stated again, was not motivated by their desire to venerate the Sun-god on his day, but rather by the fact that its symbology could fittingly commemorate two important events of the history of salvation -- creation and resurrection: 'it is on this day that the Light of the World has appeared and on this day that the Sun of Justice has risen.' Moreover, the day of the Sun enabled Christians to explain also the Biblical mysteries to the pagan world by means of an effective symbology that was very familiar to them." (pages 268-269).

"The early Christians had at first adopted the seven-day week with its numbered week days, but by the close of the third century A.D., this began to give way to the planetary week. The use of planetary names [Monday, etc.] attests to the growing influence of astrological speculations introduced by the converts from paganism" (Webster's Rest Days, page 252).

"[Roman Emperor] Constantine's famous edict (321 A.D.) definitely enrolled Sunday among the holidays of the Roman State religion. The change from Saturn's day [Saturday, the Sabbath] to Sunday must have further commended the planetary week in Christian circles, where the Lord's Day . . . beginning the week, had long been observed as the day on which Christ, the Son of Righteousness [supposedly] rose from the dead. Thus a pagan institution [Sunday observance] was engrafted upon Christianity" (Ibid., p. 222). This edict commanded that "On the venerable day of the sun let all magistrates and people . . . rest" (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article "Sunday Legislation").

Emperor Constantine was a pagan sun worshiper who saw that religion could be a unifying factor in his kingdom. "Constantine . . . persevered till he was near 40 years of age in the practice of the established religion [of pagan sun worship]. But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the sun . . . the sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine," (Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. I, pages 636-638). Even after Constantine's supposed "conversion," he continued his devotion to the Sun. His enforcement of Sunday worship, under the guise of Christianity, continued to brand followers of the state catholic religion with the mark of pagan sun worship.

Christmas, December 25, and Sun Worship

The adoption of December 25 for the celebration of the birth of Christ is the most striking example of the influence of Sun worship on Romish Christians. It is a well-known fact that the pagan feast of dies natalis Solis Invicti -- the birthday of the Invincible Sun was held on December 25, long before Christ. Church fathers were careful to admit that they borrowed the date from pagans. However, Mario Righetti, renowned Catholic liturgist, writes, "After the peace [of the Council of Nicaea] the Church of Rome, to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, found it convenient to institute the 25th of December as the feast of the temporal birth of Christ, to divert them from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in honor of the 'Invincible Sun' Mithras, the conqueror of darkness." In the East, the birth of Christ was celebrated on January 5 and 6.

Sun Worship in Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church rites and ceremonies are loaded with relics borrowed directly from pagan sun worship. Hislop, pp. 162-163, notes that the wafer used by the Roman Catholic Church in their "sacrifice of the Mass" is round like the sun, and symbolically has been carried over from sun worship.

"In Egypt, the disk of the Sun was represented in the temples, and the sovereign and his wife and children were represented as adoring it . . . . In the great temple of Babylon, the golden image of the Sun was exhibited for the worship of the Babylonians . . . . In the worship of Baal, as practised by the idolatrous Israelites in the days of their apostasy, the worship of the sun's image was equally observed; and it is striking to find that the image of the sun, which apostate Israel worshipped, was erected above the altar. When the good king Josiah set about the work of reformation, we read that his servants in carrying out the work, proceeded thus (2 Chronicles 34:4): 'And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and the images (margin, SUN-IMAGES) that were on high above them, he cut down.' . . . And here, in a so-called Christian Church, a brilliant plate of silver, 'in the form of a SUN,' is so placed on the altar, that every one who adores at that altar must bow down in lowly reverence before that image of the 'Sun.' Whence, I ask, could that have come, but from the ancient sun-worship, or the worship of Baal? And when the wafer is so placed that the silver 'SUN' is fronting the 'round' wafer, whose 'roundness' is so important an element in the Romish Mystery, what can be the meaning of it, but just to show to those who have eyes to see that the 'Wafer' itself is only another symbol of Baal, or the Sun."

Sunday Keeping Resulted From Anti-Jewish Bias

Besides the planetary week and its Sunday worship, another major factor led to the introduction of Sunday in the professing Christian world in the early part of the Second Century, beginning at Rome. This was a strong anti-Jewish sentiment. In addition, Jews hated Christians. All these factors led some professing Christians to change from Sabbath to Sunday as the day of worship.

The Roman Empire had originally recognized Judaism as a legal religion, and even shown respect and admiration for their religious principles. Because of the Sabbath, early Roman emperors exempted Jews from military service. That was all to change in the years just after the Messiah's death.

Paul's letter to the Romans indicates that the Gentile-Christian element (of pagan descent) in Rome was the majority, while Jewish-Christians there were a minority. The Jewish-Christian minority seems to have created "disputes" (Romans 14:1) over the value of the law, 2:17, the need for circumcision, 2:25-27, and salvation by obedience to the law, chapters 3, 4, 5, and foods offered to idols, chapters 14-15. In A.D. 49, Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome supposedly for having "rioted constantly at the instigation of Chrestus [Christ]." There may have been up to 50,000 Jews in Rome at this time. Converted Jews like Aquila and Priscilla were expelled along with non-Christian Jews, Acts 18:2. This shows that Roman police had not yet come to distinguish Christians from Jews. The situation was changed in 64 A.D., when Emperor Nero identified the Christians as a separate entity, blaming them for arson in setting Rome on fire, which in fact Nero started. Tacitus reports that Nero "fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abomination, called Christians by the populace." Nero had married Poppea Sabina, a Jewish proselyte and friend of the Jews. Some historians think Nero was instigated by the Jews to blame the Christians. Both Jewish and Christian groups in Rome tried to distance themselves from the other.

Nero's death removed the Jews from favor. Nationalistic Jewish feelings led to the first (A.D. 66-70) and second (A.D. 132-135) Jewish wars. Between the wars, anti-Jewish riots occurred in Alexandria, Caesarea and Antioch. Jewish revolts occurred in Mesopotamia, Cyrenaica, Palestine, Egypt and Cyprus in which they slaughtered thousands in revenge. In the end, the Jews became a scattered homeless people. Christians often suffered as victims of these outbursts of Jewish violence, because they were regarded as traitors to the Jewish faith and competitors because they were gaining more converts than the Jews did.

In 70 A.D., the Romans destroyed the Temple and ended the first Jewish war. Some 600,000 to 1,000,000 Jews perished, and 97,000 were taken captive. In the second, or Barkokeba War, 580,000 Jews were killed in action, besides numberless who died of hunger and disease. The Romans suffered many casualties as well. All of Judaea became almost a desert. Under Vespasian (A.D. 69-70), both the Sanhedrin and office of High Priest were abolished, and worship at the destroyed temple site was forbidden. Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138) prohibited any Jew, under penalty of death, to enter the area of the new city. He outlawed the practice of the Jewish religion and particularly the observance of the Sabbath. Jews were singled out for a discriminatory tax to finance the pagan temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, built in Jerusalem on the old Temple site. Leaders of the Church of Rome introduced Sunday worship to distinguish Christians from Jews and avoid payment of this discriminatory tax.

Roman writers railed against the Jews in such a way that would make Goebbles and Hitler applaud. Seneca (ca. 4 B.C. -- A.D. 65) referred to the Jews as an "accursed race," and especially was against their Sabbath-keeping: "By introducing one day of rest in every seven, they lose in idleness almost a seventh of their life, and by failing to act in times of urgency they often suffer loss." Persius, 34-62 A.D., said that the Jewish Sabbath was proof that superstition enslaves man. For Martial (ca. A.D. 40-104), circumcised Jews and their Sabbath were a synonym for degradation. Plutarch (ca. A.D. 46-119) labeled the Jews as a superstitious nation and singled out their Sabbath-keeping as a time of drunkenness. Juvenal was against the corrupting influence of Jews who spent "each seventh day in idleness, taking no part in the duties of life." The historian Tacitus (ca. A.D. 55-120) wrote, "All their customs are perverse and disgusting" and as a people, they are "singularly prone to lust." Perhaps some of this was well-deserved, because Jews had severely departed from the Eternal. Nevertheless, true Christians keeping the Sabbath had to face guilt by association with the hated Jews.

Apostate Christians Were Anti-Jewish

By the time of Roman Emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), most "Christians" in the Roman Empire were reconciling themselves to the empire, and at the same time trying to distance themselves from Jews. Hadrian was virulently anti-Jewish, but sympathetic toward the Romish Christians. A plethora of anti-Jewish literature came forth from the so-called Christians. The Epistle to Diognetus (ca. 200 A.D.) states,

"As to their scrupulosity concerning meats, and their superstition as respects the Sabbaths, and their boasting about circumcision and their fancies about fasting and the new moons, which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice . . . ."

This literature emphasized the Jews as a wicked people who were guilty of murdering the Messiah.

There were four factors influencing the false Christians to go against the Sabbath:

1. Rome was fighting the Jews
2. Christians were barred from synagogues and often directly persecuted by Jews
3. Imperial Rome worshipped the sun and were anti-Sabbath, although they somewhat protected the Christians, recognizing that they were not a nationalistic threat
4. Judeo-Christians in the Church, insisting on literal observance of certain Mosaic regulations, fostered resentment among Gentile Christians.

Judaizers Made the Sabbath Repugnant to Others

The Jerusalem conference of Acts 15 did not rid the Church of Jews who insisted Gentiles be circumcised and obey all the Jewish rites and customs. Their continuing influence in the Church caused the Sabbath to be degraded in the eyes of others.

Irenaeus, Bishop of Antioch (A.D. 98-117) argued against judaizing Christians,

"Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness . . . . But let every one of you keep the Sabbath in a spiritual manner, rejoicing in the meditation on the law, not in the relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God [the creation] . . . ."

From Irenaeus, we move to Barnabus (Epistle of Barnabus, A.D. 130-138) who totally repudiates the Sabbath. He argues that the seventh day rest is a picture of the millennium when Christ will return, that sanctification of the Sabbath is impossible for man at the present since man is impure and unholy, and that God has explicitly stated that "Your New Moons and Sabbaths I cannot endure," therefore the present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Him, but only the one which is future. Thus, for Barnabus, the Sabbath has no validity in this present world. Further, he lauds "the eighth day," Sunday, as a foretaste of the Sabbath of the millennium, and the day on which Christ (supposedly) rose from the dead.

Justin Martyr Attacks Sabbath

In order to distance themselves from the hated Jews, apostate Gentile "Christians" needed to divorce themselves from Jewish religious customs and rites, and substitute new ones. Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 100 - ca.165) wrote a most devastating and systematic condemnation of the Sabbath. He said that the Sabbath was a temporary ordinance, derived from Moses, and not intended to be kept literally. The Sabbath, Justin says, was imposed by God on the Jews as "a mark to single them out for punishment they so well deserved for their infidelities." To Trypho, Justin explains, "We, too, would observe your circumcision of the flesh, your Sabbath days, and in a word, all your festivals, if we were not aware of the reason why they were imposed upon you, namely, because of your sins and your hardness of heart."

Justin's arguments are:

1. There were no Sabbaths and festivals before Moses, and they are not needed now.
2. God does not intend the Sabbath to be kept because He does not stop controlling the universe on that day, and the priests violated the Sabbath with the sacrifices.
3. There is a new dispensation in which Christians are to observe a perpetual Sabbath not by idling one day but by abstaining themselves continually from sin:

   "The New Law demands that you observe a perpetual Sabbath, whereas you consider yourselves pious when you refrain from work on one day of the week, and in doing so you don't understand the real meaning of that precept. You also claim to have done the will of God when you eat unleavened bread, but such practices afford no pleasures to the Lord our God. If there be a perjurer or thief among you, let him mend this ways; if there be an adulterer, let him repent; in this way he will have kept a true and peaceful Sabbath."

4. Justin felt that the Sabbath and circumcision are not to be observed, since he feels they are the signs of the unfaithfulness of the Jews, imposed by God to distinguish and separate them from other nations.

Justin says "Sunday, indeed, is the day on which we all hold our common assembly because it is the first day on which God, transforming the darkness and prime matter, created the world; and our Saviour Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the same day." Thus, he links the pagan day of the sun with the first day of creation. He also emphasized that Sunday is "the eighth day" and fulfills spiritually the rite of circumcision, which was done on the eighth day. It is interesting to note that ancient Rome had an eight day week, or nundimae based upon a custom of holding market day every eight days.

Sabbath Changed From Feast to Fast Day

Marcion (ca. A.D. 144) ordered his followers "to fast on Saturday . . . . Because it is the rest of the God of the Jews . . . we fast in that day in order not to accomplish on that day what was ordained by the God of the Jews." For the Jews, the Sabbath was anything but a day of fast or mourning. Even the strictest Jewish sects objected to fasting on the Sabbath. The transformation of the Sabbath from a day of feasting and joy to a day of fasting and mourning was a measure taken by the Church of Rome in order to enhance Sunday worship. Marcion was expelled from the Church of Rome because of his dualistic-Gnostic views, but the custom of fasting on the Sabbath was retained. The Eastern church and other areas were not in favor of Sabbath fasting, and gave special reverence to both Saturday and Sunday. The Sabbath fast came to Rome even before Marcion, possibly from the (false) custom of fasting on the Sabbath before "Easter Sunday." In spite of the protests from Eastern churches, Rome maintained Sabbath fasts until the Eleventh Century.

Sometimes the Day of Atonement falls on the Sabbath. Times of crisis or urgency may dictate fasting on the Sabbath to get one closer to the Almighty. But generally, the Sabbath should not be a fast day.

Friday and Sabbath fasting were Roman Christian attempts to show sorrow for the time Christ was taken away under death, and contempt for the perpetrators of His death, the Jews. Pope Sylvester (A.D. 314-335) wrote in defense of Sabbath fasting: "If every Sunday is to be observed joyfully by the Christians on account of the [supposed] resurrection, then every Sabbath on account of the burial is to be regarded in execration of the Jews." In addition, Roman Catholic churches did not take the Eucharist on the Sabbath, nor did they hold church meetings. Thus, Rome led the effort to wean Christians away from the Sabbath and enhance Sunday worship exclusively.

Easter/Passover Controversy

Irenaeus traces the origin of Easter Sunday to Bishop Sixtus (ca. A.D. 116-ca. 126), who administered the Church of Rome during the time of Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian prohibited Jewish festivals, and apostate Christians instituted the new Easter Sunday to avoid appearing to be "Judaizers" to the Roman authorities.

There is a direct relationship between observing an Easter Sunday and a weekly Sunday as a day of worship. Each Sunday is held to be a "mini Easter" in commemoration of the (supposed) resurrection of Christ. Tertullian states, "On Sunday it is unlawful to fast or to kneel while worshipping. We enjoy the same liberty from Easter to Pentecost." Origin states "The resurrection of the Lord is celebrated not only once a year but constantly every eight days." Eusebius says, "While the Jews faithful to Moses, sacrificed the Passover lamb once a year . . . we men of the New Covenant celebrate every Sunday our Passover."

The same causes that led to the abandonment of the Sabbath for Sunday were instrumental in the abandonment of Passover for Easter: "the inclination to break away from Judaism" (J. Jeremias), to avoid "even the semblance of Judaism" (J.B. Lightfoot). With the abandonment of Passover came the abandonment of the Hebrew Calendar. M. Righetti states that Rome and Alexandria after "having eliminated the Judaizing Quartodeciman tradition [annual Passover on Nisan 14], repudiated even the Jewish computations, making their own time calculations, since such a dependence on the Jews must have appeared humiliating." This anti-Jewish sentiment is very much evident today in Sabbath keepers who believe in the Biblical Holy Days, yet reject the Hebrew Calendar.

The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) settled the Quartodeciman Controversy in favor of Easter. It enjoined "All the brethren in the East who formerly celebrated Easter with the Jews, will henceforth keep it at the same time as the Romans, with us and with all those who from ancient times have celebrated the feast at the same time with us." Further, Constantine's Nicean letter stated "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd . . . ."

The Church of Rome led the adoption of Sunday, Easter and Christmas (December 25), and the abandonment of the Sabbath and Passover. This was done to oppose the Jews and the Sabbath, and to amalgamate truth with the pagan custom of Sun worship.

Sabbatarians Claim Sunday is the Sabbath

Today, Sabbatarianism can refer to those professing Christians who regard the first day of the week as the Sabbath, the continuation of the fourth commandment. "The transference of the name Sabbath to Sunday was first made by Alcuin (8th Century)," Encyclopaedia Britannica, article "Sabbatarianism." In 1647, the Westminster Assembly Shorter Catechism, question 59, stated, "From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath." Sabbatarians such as Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians have instituted rigorous "blue laws" enforcing Sunday observance and prohibiting certain business activities on Sunday.

Roman Catholics Admit Sunday Is Not Biblical

Catholics claim to have the authority to change worship from Sabbath to Sunday.

"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," James Cardinal Gibbons (1877-1921), The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 edition), pp. 72-73.

"Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day -- Saturday -- for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day? I answer no!" Signed letter of James Cardinal Gibbons.

"The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday," The Catholic Mirror, official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, September 23, 1893.

"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 transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday," Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.

"Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday . . . . Now the Church . . . instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday," Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927), p. 136.

Priest Offers $1000 Reward for Scripture Authorizing Sunday

"My brethren, look about you upon the various wrangling sects and denominations. Show me one that claims or possesses the power to make laws binding on the conscience. There's but one on the face of the earth -- the Catholic Church -- that has the power to make laws binding upon the conscience, binding before God, binding under the pain of hell fire. Take, for instance, the day we celebrate -- Sunday. What right have the Protestant churches to observe that day? None whatever. You say it is to obey the commandment, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' But Sunday is not the Sabbath according to the Bible and the record of time.

"Everyone knows that Sunday is the first day of the week, while Saturday is the seventh day, and the Sabbath, the day consecrated as a day of rest. It is so recognized in all civilized nations. I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to any one who will furnish proof from the Bible that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money. If any person in this town will show any scripture for it, I will tomorrow evening publicly acknowledge it and thank him for it. It was the Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, anathematized those who kept the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the seventh day under penalty of anathema.

"Which church does the whole civilized world obey? Protestants call us every horrible name they can think of -- anti-Christ, the scarlet colored beast, Babylon, etc., -- and at the same time profess great reverence for the Bible, and yet by their solemn act of keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church.

"The Bible says: 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' But the Catholic Church says, 'No, keep the first day of the week,' and the whole world bows in obedience." The person making this offering in none other than a Roman Catholic Priest in Kansas City, MO. USA!

Catholics Do Not Accept the Bible Only

"If we consulted the Bible only, we should have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday," John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, 1936 edition, vol. 1, p. 51.

"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:

"(1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies [causes them to appear foolish] them in the eyes of every thinking man.

"(2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.

"(3) We also say that of all Protestants, the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the only major Protestant denomination that reasons correctly and is consistent with its teaching. It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

"Father" Peter R. Kraemer,
Catholic Church Extension Society, Chicago, Illinois