RemnantWaitingOnHisEternalKingdom: Mark of The Beast I'm sorry this is lengthy but worth reading!

Please special notice of what's inside this e-mail and "Be Informed in The Way of this World in what it stands for in the Coming Years and what to expect is coming!!!! Remember whom YOU believe and stand upon it ! NOT to ever compromise it! The "Anti-christ" and the New World Order in which it stands and demands of the People whom takes the "Mark of the Beast! God has said in His own Words unto Everyone on His Earth"I AM thy father, God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. [Ex.2:6].and as God's own children we have His New Covenant Promise[Heb.8:8-10]. We already have what we hold is His truths and it can't lie just as He's said for us to do in concerning His Sabbath DAY But what is coming that it has to be demanded and forced upon those whom takes his mark. He got it from Ex.20:12, He's try to take over God's character,laws,commandments and to have it put between the eyes in showing the people of His own demise of the world at that time. which in all reality he changes it! To fit Himself! to worship the beast upon that day. Just remember the account of the hebew's youth in [Dan.2:48-3:30. in whom stood with them in that furnace. We will be in safe keeping unto our Lord Jesus holding us and keeping him from hurting us just as Jesus did for those hebrews boys. That's is what the Anti-christ in his own computer swizterland and all of Rome whom bring him to the forefront of the world in coming days. And the worship will change unto the people only to his demise of which he's won't change his mind and people will have to choose."
THE MARK OF THE BEAST And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Revelation 13:1

In Revelation 13 and 14, an issue is sharply drawn between God and the leopard beast. Religion and government will cooperate in forcing the "mark" of the beast upon the world. God's people, though small in number, comparatively speaking, will stand out in definite distinction from the world in general. It will be God's last great test of loyalty, and His remnant people will stand in the spirit and faith of Elijah and John the Baptist. As the second coming of Christ approaches, no one can escape the issue. Everyone must decide. Satan will make war on God's people; but God will be with them and will come in glory to deliver them and reward them, along with the faithful of all ages.
1 - WHO IS THE LEOPARD BEAST OF REVELATION 13?
The leopard beast represents the same power as the little horn of Daniel 7. And this power is papal Rome. The following will make this clear. Please look up the following texts:
1. It came up out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) or among multitudes (Revelation 17:15).
The little horn came up among the ten kingdoms of Europe. The leopard beast came up "out of the sea," which means that it arose among many peoples. Thus the two correspond here.
2. Like the "great red dragon," it had seven heads and ten horns (Revelation 13:1: 12:3).
Both the leopard beast and the great red dragon of your last lesson have seven heads and ten horns, identifying them both as Roman. The leopard beast is papal Rome; the dragon represents Satan working through pagan Rome. The terrible beast of Daniel 7 (pagan Rome) had ten horns, and then the little horn arose. In Revelation the dragon beast, or pagan Rome, is followed by the leopard beast, or papal Rome. To make it crystal clear, the terrible beast of Daniel 7 is the same as the great red dragon of Revelation l2-pagan Rome. The little horn, of Daniel 7, is the same as the leopard beast of Revelation 13. Now, let us continue the comparisons.
3. It had feet as a bear and a mouth as a lion (Revelation 13:2).
The leopard beast had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion, thus combining the symbols of Daniel 7, in which a lion stood for Babylon, a bear for Medo-Persia, and a leopard for Greece. The leopard beast had seven heads and ten horns, connecting it also with Rome. Thus papal Rome is a composite of the systems of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and pagan Rome.
4. The dragon (pagan Rome) gave its "seat," or "see," to the leopard beast (Revelation 13:2).
Papal Rome took the rulership following pagan Rome. A Roman Catholic writes:
"Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule over them; and thus. . commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages" (American Catholic Quarterly Review, April, 1911):
The word, "seat," means the "seat of government." The word "see," used in the "Holy See," means the same. There the pope sits today in the City of Rome, the seat of the ancient pagan empire. Pagan Rome gave papal Rome its seat, or see.
5. The world "wondered after" and "worshipped" the beast (Revelation 13:3-4, 7-8).
The papacy is a world power. So the whole world wondered after the beast.
6. The beast spoke "blasphemies" (Revelation 13:5-6; Daniel 7:25).
By claiming to be the vicar of Christ on earth, and by assuming prerogatives that belong only to God, he "sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the very same power as the "little horn" of Daniel 7:24-25.
7. It was to continue 42 months (1,260 days, or years [Revelation 13:5; Daniel 7:25]).
The beast was to rule 42 months, or 1,260 days, or years. This again corresponds to the "little horn" of Daniel 7:24-25.
8. It was "to make war with the saints" (Revelation 13:7: Daniel 7:25).
Again we have a parallel with the little horn which was a persecuting power.
9. One head was to be wounded and taken captive (Revelation 13:3, 10).
This took place in 1798, when the French general, Berthier, took Pope Pius VI prisoner, and hastened him as a captive from prison to prison. He died in the French fortress of Valence eighteen months later. In 1870, the papacy received another blow, when Rome was seized by Italy. The pope became a voluntary "prisoner of the Vatican." Hence, in 1798, he who sent others into captivity went himself into captivity.
But the deadly wound was to be healed. In 1929, the Italian Government recognized Vatican City as an independent state. The pope was again king. On March 9, 1929, the pope said, "The peoples of the entire world are with us."
Today the papacy is coming back into great power.
"Yet since then (A.D. 1798), the papacy has been lifted to a pinnacle of spiritual power unreached, it may be, since earliest Christian history" (The Modern Papacy, p. 1).

10. The beast has a number -the number of a man's name (Revelation 13:17-18).
The man would naturally be the head of the papacy, or the pope. A leading title for the pope is "Vicar of the Son of God." In Latin this is Vicarius Filii Dei. Adding up the numeral letters (Roman numbers) in this title we have: V-5, 1-1, C-I00, (A and R. no value), 1-1, V (U)-5, (S and F. no value). 1-I, L-50, 1-1, 1-1, D-500, (E, no value), 1-1. This totals 666, the number the Bible gives for the beast.
This follows the ancient custom of a person's having a name and a number also.
The Douay Bible (Catholic) gives this note on Revelation 13:18: "Six hundred sixty-six. The numeral letters of his name shall make up this number."
We would give this word of caution: The beast is not identified exclusively by the number 666. This is but the tenth point we have given. The number 666 is just another point in favor of a position already proved.
2 - WHAT IS THE IMAGE TO THE BEAST?
(Revelation 13:14-15)
Someone has said that "the papacy was a church dominating the state." An "image" to the papacy would therefore be another religious power functioning after the same order of things. The "image" power attempts to force, by pressure of civil law, the mark of the beast upon man.
The papacy dominates the state so that its own plans may be forwarded by civil law and government influence. Modern-day Protestantism is organizing its forces to play a forceful role in political, social, economic, and religious problems. By using civil law, it will someday force the papal mark upon the people. This image will not be fully formed until religious laws are enforced by state authority and punished by civil agencies of the government. These religious laws will bring persecution, perplexity, and hardship upon those who conscientiously follow the Scriptures.
3 - WHAT IS THE SEAL OF GOD AND THE COUNTERFEIT MARK?
God has a sign, or mark, of His power and authority, as we read in the Scriptures:
Exodus 31:16-17- "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed."
God's sign is the seventh-day Sabbath. It was made at the close of creation to be a reminder of God's creative power (Genesis 2: 1-3; Exodus 20:8-11). It was based on the unchangeable facts of God's creation (Exodus 31:17; 20:8-11). It will remain unchanged throughout all eternity (Isaiah 66:22-23).
God's authority is based on the fact that He is Creator. He Himself states that the Sabbath is a sign because "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31: 17). All the universe might dispute God's statement, but they could not change the fact that the seventh day is God's sign according to His own Word.
God made the Sabbath the sign or seal of His law. Laws are authenticated by the seal of the lawgiver. Now, a seal gives the name, title, and territory of a ruler. The Sabbath command does this. No other commandment does. God has "signed," or set His seal to, this law.
The fourth commandment is the only one that identifies the giver of the law, the source of authority, and the extent of the law's application. The lawgiver's name is "the Lord thy God." His title is Creator, or Maker, of heaven and earth. His territory, or dominion, is "heaven and earth" (Exodus 20:11).
You recall that God predicted that the papacy would think to change His law.
Daniel 7:25- "He shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws."
The Sabbath commandment deals with time. It is also a part of the law.
The papacy claims that the change of the law in which she thought to transfer the solemnity of the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) over to Sunday is the mark of her power and authority. Yes, she put aside God's sign and put up her own, and claims the act of changing the Sabbath as a mark, or proof, of her power. Note the following from a recognized Catholic authority:
"Q. -Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?"
"A.-Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;-she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority" (A Doctrinal Catechism, (3rdAmer. ed., rev.). Stephen Keenan, p. 174).
From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor C. F. Thomas, came this statement: "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" (italics supplied). Thus God's sign, or mark, or symbol, or flag, was pulled down and the Sunday institution was raised in its place; and the act was set forth as a proof and mark of papal power by the papacy itself.
4 - WILL THE PAPAL MARK OF SUNDAYKEEPING EVER BECOME LAW?
Revelation 13:15-"He had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
Revelation 13:17- "That no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
Both the way of life and business will be affected. Most states already have Sunday laws. Protestantism has been much more forward in seeking to enforce the papal mark than has Catholicism. This is true to the prophecy. The "image to the beast" is the one that is to press this matter to the limit of death itself. Religious freedom will be sacrificed on the altar of the "beast" by the "image of the beast" operating through the civil power.
5 - WHAT WARNING DOES GOD GIVE AGAINST THE PAPAL MARK?
Revelation 14:9-10- "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb."
How could we expect God to remain silent on such an issue as changing the only commandment that gives His sign and seal as Creator and Redeemer of the world? But God's wrath could not justly be visited upon men unless they had warning.
6 - WHAT CHOICE MUST WE MAKE?
When we squarely face this issue, we choose between God and man. Our worship is "in vain" if we choose the "commandments of men" in place of the commandments of God (Mark 7:7). Each of us will be responsible for the light he has (John 9:41).
Monsignor Segur (Catholic) writes:
"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church" (Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213).
Thomas Enright, CSSR (Catholic), was quoted in the American Sentinel:
"The Bible says, Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. The Catholic Church says, No! By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And Lo, the entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church" (American Sentinel N. Y., June 1,1893, p. 173).
As Elijah would say, "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him" (1 Kings 18:21). Surely this question of allegiance to God is one that demands the attention of every judgment-bound soul!
7 - HOW ARE GOD'S OBEDIENT CHILDREN IDENTIFIED?
1. They carry these messages of warning to the ends of the earth (Revelation 14:6-10).
2. They keep all the commandments of God, and they have the true "faith of Jesus."
Revelation 14:12- "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
3. As God's servants they are sealed.
Revelation 7:1-3- "After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads" (Romans 6:16).
4. Satan will make war with them.
Revelation 12:17- "The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed."
5. They will be looking for the second coming of Christ.
Revelation 14:14-15- "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (Isaiah 25:9).
The great issue discussed in this lesson will soon involve the whole world. Men will try to save themselves from the evils that overwhelm them by enforcing the papal rest day in order that proper attention may be given to religion. Those who refuse the papal mark and choose God's sign will be persecuted, even as Jesus was.
On the side of the commandment keepers will be God and His angels. Satan will lead the world to persecute them. But Christ will come again in power and majesty, and gather unto Himself those who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." God's Sabbath is His sign, and it becomes a testing truth in these closing days of earth's history.
As God's children hold fast to the Sabbath of "the commandments of God," they also cling to Jesus, the Man of Calvary. So it shall be, dear friend. The mark of the beast will soon be enforced by law. No one will be marked until it is enforced by law. Please get this point clear. There is only one way to avoid the mark. Said the prophet:
Ezekiel 20:20- "Hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God."
In other words, begin to observe the true seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible, and there can be no mark of the beast in your life. Let me ask a question: Is there room for the mark of apostasy when the seal of God is in the life? of course not. So you see, the way to prevent disaster is to prepare your heart to seek God and obey Him. I know you will make the right decision.
The next lesson is entitled "Following in Jesus' Steps" and is a fascinating study in several Bible principles.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
"The most fearful threatening ever addressed to mortals is contained in the third angel's message. That must be a terrible sin which calls down the wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Men are not to be left in darkness concerning this important matter; the warning against this sin is to be given to the world before the visitation of God's judgments, that all may know why they are to be inflicted, and have opportunity to escape them.
"In the issue of the contest all Christendom will be divided into two great classes-those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark. Although church and state will unite their power to compel 'all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond' (Revelation 13: 16), to receive 'the mark of the beast; yet the people of God will not receive it. The prophet of Patmos beholds 'them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God' and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:2,3)." -Great Controversy, 449-450
THE NUMBER AND THE MARK
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding COUNT THE NUMBER of the Beast: for it is the NUMBER OF A MAN; and HIS NUMBER is SIX HUNDRED THREESCORE AND SIX." Revelation 13: 18.
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the NAME of the beast, or the NUMBER of HIS NAME." Revelation 13:17.
"The number [is] indicated by the letters of HIS NAME." The Twentieth Century New Testament.
"Verse 18, Six Hundred Sixty Six. The numeral letters of HIS NAME shall make up this number." The Rheims Douay [Catholic] Bible, note on Revelation 13:18.
"The method of reading, generally adopted, is that known as the GHEMATRIA of the Rabbins, which assigns each letter of a name its usual numerical value, and gives the sum of such numbers as the equivalent of the NAME." Marvin R. Vincent, D.O., Word Studies in the New Testament, Comment on Revelation 13:18.
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who WORSHIP the BEAST and HIS IMAGE, and whosoever receiveth the MARK OF HIS NAME." Revelation 14:11.
"The beasts of Daniel and John are empires. The ten-horned beast [of Revelation 13] is the Roman power. . The head is the governing power in the body." H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation, pp. 144-145.
"The NUMBER IN THE MARK in Revelation 13 will be found in the title of the leader of 'Mystery, Babylon the Great.' It is the number of the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2, the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13. It is the number of the one who led out through long centuries in killing the martyrs and uniting Christianity with paganism." Jean Delacroix.
"The pope is of such lofty and supreme dignity that, properly speaking, he has not been established in any rank of dignity, but rather has been placed upon the very summit of all ranks of dignities. . He is likewise the divine monarch and supreme emperor and king of kings.
"Hence the pope is CROWNED with a TRIPLE CROWN, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions." Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, Vol. VI, pp. 438, 442 [R.C. sourcebook].
"0. What are the letters supposed to be in the pope's crown, and what do they signify, if anything?
"A. The letters inscribed in the Pope's miter are these: VICARIUS FILII DEI, which is the Latin for 'VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD.' Catholics hold that the church, which is a visible society, must have a visible head. Christ, before His ascension into heaven, appointed St Peter to act as His representative. . Hence to the Bishop of Rome, as head of the church, was given the title, Vicar of Christ" Our Sunday Visitor, "Bureau of Information," Huntington, Indiana, April 18, 1915 [nationwide R.C. weekly journal].
LATIN
V-5
I-1
C-100
A-0
R-0
U-5
3-0
112
F-0
I-1
L-50
I-1
I-1
53
D-500
E-0
I-1
501
53
112
666
GREEK-Lateinos (Latin Man or Church)
666

HEBRON-Romiith - (Roman Kingdom)
666
"Now we challenge the world to find another name in these languages: GREEK, HEBREW, and LATIN (see John 19:20), which shall designate the same number." Joseph F. Berg, The Great Apostasy, pp. 156-158.
"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sunday] was her act. . AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things." From the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.
"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an HOMAGE they pay in spite of themselves to the AUTHORITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. " Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.
"Q. How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"A. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
"Q. How prove you that?
"A. Because BY KEEPING SUNDAY they ACKNOWLEDGE THE CHURCH'S POWER to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin." The Douay Catechism, p. 59.
"PROVE TO ME from the BIBLE ALONE that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. THERE IS NO SUCH LAW IN THE BIBLE! It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone.
"The Bible says, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS, NO. By my divine power, I ABOLISH THE SABBATH DAY and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church!" Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R, president Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and published in The American Sentinel fR. C. journal], June 1893, p. 173.
"All dogmatic decrees of the pope, made with or without his general council, are infallible. . Once made, no pope or council can reverse them. . This is the Catholic principle, that the church cannot err in faith." The Catholic World, June 1871, pp. 422-423.
"We have no right to ask reasons of the church, any more than of Almighty God, as a preliminary to our submission. We are to take with unquestioning docility, whatever instruction the church gives us." The Catholic World, August, 1871,p.589.
"Nowhere is dogmatic intolerance so necessary a rule of life as in the domain of religious belief. . There can be but a single true religion, which, by the very fact of its existence, protests against all other religions as false." Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p. 765.

A LEGAL SEAL / THE MARK OF THE BEAST / THE SEAL OF GOD

A LEGAL SEAL
THE SEAL. OF GOD
THE MARK OF THE BEAST
STORY FOR THIS LESSON

The Living Law

My blest Redeemer and my Lord,
I read my duty in Thy Word,
But in Thy life the law appears,
Drawn out in living characters.
What truth and love Thy bosom fill!
What zeal to do Thy Father's Will!
Such zeal, and truth, and love divine,
I would transcribe, and make them mine.
Cold mountains and the midnight air
Witnessed the fervor of Thy prayer;
The desert Thy temptations knew,
Thy conflict, and the victory too.
Be Thou my pattern; make me bear,
More of Thy gracious image here,
Then God, the Judge, shall own my name,
Among the followers of the Lamb.

L .Mason

Today's study researches that mystical mark so dreaded today by religious and superstitious alike. The dire warnings in Revelation given to those who receive the mark of the beast have caused quite a stir. Many people have studied and questioned, "What is it? Is it bar-coding? Could it be your Social Security Number? Is it on a credit card?" Fear of being tricked into receiving that mark has caused many to look with suspicion on the symbols different groups have used to identify themselves and their products.

Certainly God does not intend to trick us into accepting that mark does He? Why, then, is it not specified more clearly what the mark is? That question reminds me of a similar question the disciples asked Jesus. In Matthew 13 they said to Jesus. "Why do you speak to them in parables?" Mark records this answer in Mark 4:11. Jesus said to them. "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables." He went on to explain that those who were already rejecting truth would not be able to understand these mysteries even if they saw and heard them. But to the faithful, loyal children of God, help is given by the Spirit, and the hidden and secret things in God's Word can be understood. (See 2 Corinthians 2:10)

In our last lesson we learned some of the characteristics that mark the beast. We saw that it is fighting against God, it persecutes God's people, it has no regard for God's law and government, and even attempts to change God's law. All of this is done "under cover" however, as this beast leads the people to believe that he is really on God's side. He even works miracles to prove it.

In our lesson this week we will look more closely at "the mark" and will study what it means to be marked. It is interesting to note that not only do those who worship the beast receive a mark, but those who worship God are also marked. How is it done? What does it mean? Who can see it? Is it literal or just symbolic? These are some of the questions that you will find answers to. Our stories today look at some different marks we as humans have used.

DRUMMED OUT!

My regiment was marshaled on the parade ground, at strict attention. The silence could be felt.

A soldier--one of my friends--had been caught stealing and held for court-marshal. He had been a good soldier so far as training was concerned. He had come from a home with little of this world's goods. On brief furloughs I had taken him to my home in Glasgow, Scotland. On our latest trip he had asked for a loan, but unfortunately I had been broke also. In the barracks the next day he had been caught stealing. At the court-martial I had been called with others as a witness and asked if I had lent him any money. Regretfully I had to answer no. Whence then had the money in his pocket come? The evidence against him was overwhelming. He had been found guilty and sentenced to be drummed out of the British army.

Now, in the awful silence a bugle sounded. The door to the guard room swung open and the prisoner with his guards appeared. A quick march brought them to the assembled troops where they halted before the officers. The colonel in command addressed the prisoner, "Private, you have been found guilty of stealing. You have disgraced your king, your country and your regiment. The court has sentenced you to be drummed out of his majesty's service." Turning to an officer he said, "Captain, you have your orders. Take over."

The captain removed the prisoner's cap, cut off the badge identifying his regiment, and removed from his shoulders the epaulets with the regimental insignia. Next he cut the brass buttons from the man's uniform. The prisoner stood uneasily before the regiment, his shoulders slumped, his head hanging.

"Remove him from the barracks," ordered the captain. With a sad, sad heart I saw my friend standing alone, bearing his tragedy before the regiment.

Slowly the drummers began a tattoo. As the sound rose in a swelling crescendo like the roll of approaching thunder, the guards marched the disgraced man to the gate and ordered him to leave. Rejected by his majesty the king, banished from the army forever, my disgraced friend ran down the street. The rolling drums suddenly ceased. The ceremony of disgrace was over.

As I read this sad story, I was struck with the importance of the symbols that were cut off of his uniform. While he was a loyal soldier he was allowed to wear the emblems of honor that marked him as a member of the king's army. Those symbols not only identified whose army he belonged to, but they also implied something about the character and behavior of the wearer. When he broke the laws of the king, his actions proved that he was not worthy of the character implied by those ensigns, and he was no longer allowed to bear those marks.

The emblems on his uniform were easily visible. His character was not so easily visible. The Bible says that man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Our next story illustrates one of those less easily seen marks of character.

***

The Secret*

To the casual onlooker it may seem that some successful men and women have had a streak of good luck. But when we get to know these people who are doing things, we find that luck did not enter into their success. And there is no magic formula. It is no secret.

A number of years ago the head of the great Carnegie Steel Company one day said to the head of the drafting department, "Al, I would like to have your best man for some special work."

"But my men are all good men," the head of the department replied. "I don't have a No. 1 man."

A few days later an order came from the managers' office asking every man in the drafting room to work two hours overtime each working day.

After some weeks of these extra hours in the department the manger inquired, "How do the men like the accelerated program?"

"Like it? They don't like it. They are kicking about it--all but one man.

"And who is that?" inquired the manager.

"His name is Charlie Schwab. He just eats work. He seems to enjoy it."

"Send him to my office," the manager requested. "He is your No. 1 man--he's the man I was asking about." And the world knows that Charlie Schwab became steel king--an outstanding man in the industry.

Only a thoughtful discerning eye could pick out a mark of character like that. But God searches our hearts and discerns every tendency we have whether for good or for evil. How thankful I am that as we surrender to Him and cooperate with Him He can remove the evil tendencies and replace them with the character of Jesus. How I long to have Him finish writing His law in my heart so He can seal it for Himself forever.

***

Branded for Life!

The young man struggled fiercely with his captors. He was not about to give up easily. Then it happened! A knifelike pain seared the skin on his forehead as they over-powered him, held him down and applied the hot iron to his tender flesh. He screamed and struggled again, but it was no use. He was helpless in their vice-like grip.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air as they continued their terrible work. Then it was over. The boy was free. He ran for water to cool the ugly red burns on his forehead. The cool water brought a little relief to the stinging throbbing pain, but nothing eased the pangs in his heart. He looked in the mirror. The letters "ST" glared back at him. How could he face life mutilated like this? People would stare, wonder, question, taunt. The only answer to their merciless questions would be, "'ST' means stealer. They caught me stealing and my punishment was to be branded so that everyone would know I'm a thief"

Hopelessness settled over him like a fog. There seemed to be no way out. Forgiveness such as God offers seemed to be beyond his reach. He was forever doomed, forever marked. The burns healed, the skin no longer hurt, but each time someone looked at the scars, he felt the stares and burned with shame.

There seemed to be no balm, no ointment to ever heal the pain in his heart. As time passed however, he found the "Balm of Gilead". He found the comfort, the solace the strength that comes to the one who seeks help and forgiveness from Jesus. As his repentance for his past life of sin deepened, his resolve to live a noble, honest upright life increased. He didn't see how it would be possible to do much for God with the shameful brand on his forehead but he determined to make the best he could of a bad situation.

As he spent time learning of the lovely Savior, his life came to reflect the One he loved. Kind words, thoughtful acts, loving deeds became natural to him. While still shunned as a condemned criminal, the people in the community got used to seeing the branded forehead. Everyone knew what the "ST" stood for so the curious questions died down.

As the years went by little by little his quiet unassuming life full of gentleness and honesty broke down the prejudices of the people. They became used to seeing him in church, and the little children learned to love him before they ever learned the ABCs. They grew up knowing him as a loving friend they felt safe with, and the brand on his forehead just seemed to be a natural part of him.

Eventually, the story behind the mark on his forehead was almost forgotten. One day a little fellow stood looking at his big kind friend. He was just learning to read and was trying to read everything he saw. "S-T" his lips moved and his forehead knotted as he tried to figure out the letters on the mans forehead. "S-T". Tugging at his young mother's hand he again tried to sound out the letters. "Mother, what does that say on his head?" he asked. "Well, it just says 'S-T‘".. his mother replied, "It doesn't spell a word."

"But why Mommy?" he asked innocently, "Why does he have those letters on him?"

Mother was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure son," she replied, "Those letters have a meaning but I've forgotten what it is. The only thing I can think of is that they must mean 'saint'." Satisfied with that explanation the young boy went back to his play.

What a flood of joy those words must have brought to that then elderly man's heart. Men had placed a mark of condemnation on the outside, but God had made a mark that was more important. God had made a mark on the delicate, tissue of the mind just inside that forehead. God had made a mark on his character. He had written something in his heart. God's hidden mark could be seen and interpreted by man in spite of the visible mark man had placed on him.

Friends, I believe that the mark that will be received in the last days, whether the mark of the beast, or the seal of the living God, will be more than skin deep. Something more is involved here than externals.

All will be marked. Even humans will be able to discern the difference between those who have the mark of the beast and those who do not. But they may not realize what the difference is. All they will see is that these people that God has marked as His are different and they don't like the difference. They will try to force them to worship as they do, not knowing that it is the beast they are worshipping.

May God bless you as you seek to walk humbly with your God seeking to learn His will, His ways, His laws, and His character so that He may mark you as His friend for eternity.

and it goes on for YOU to read for YOUR self... St. Catherine Catherine Church Sentinal

Sabbath Purpose Which Day? Sabbath in Prophecy Sabbath Questions Keep It Holy Sabbath History Sabbath Resources Home

Modern and Historic Statements on the Sabbath
American Congregationalist Anglican Baptist Brethren Catholic Church of Christ Church of England Congregational Christian Church Disciples of Christ
Episcopalian Lutheran Lutheran Free Church Methodist Moody Bible Institute Presbyterian Protestant Episcopal Southern Baptist Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Infidel Miscellaneous American Congregationalist:
"The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." Dr. Layman Abbot, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890. Anglican:
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pages 334, 336.
Baptist:
“There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found: Not in the New Testament – absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week.” Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’."To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during the forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism." Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister's Convention, in 'New York Examiner,' November 16, 1893 (The leader / spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church agrees with this statement.See Below)"The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. . .There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation." The Watchman."We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government."-"Baptist Church Manual," Art. 12. "There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath to the Christian first-day observance." -WILLIAM OWEN CARVER, "The Lord's Day in Our Day," page 49. "There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day." Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976Brethren:
"With the views of the law and the Sabbath we once held ... and which are still held by perhaps the great majority of the most earnest Christians, we confess that we could not answer Adventists. What is more, neither before or since have I heard or read what would conclusively answer an Adventist in his Scriptural contention that the Seventh day is the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). It is not 'one day in seven' as some put it, but 'the seventh day according to the commandment.' " Words of Truth and Grace, p. 281. ^ Top Catholic:
“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 a commandment of the Catholic Church.” Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903. See This Rock"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 Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950. See This Rock“Of course these two old quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit – or blame – for the change.” This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p.8, June 1997Question: 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.” -Rev. Peter Geiermann C.SS.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50 Q. Must not a sensible Protestant doubt seriously, when he finds that even the Bible is not followed as a rule by his co-religionists?A. Surely, when he sees them baptize infants, abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, and observe Sunday for which [pg. 7] there is no Scriptural authority; when he finds them neglect to wash one another's feet, which is expressly commanded, and eat blood and things strangled, which are expressly prohibited in Scripture. He must doubt, if he think at all. ...Q. Should not the Protestant doubt when he finds that he himself holds tradition as a guide?A. Yes, if he would but reflect that he has nothing but Catholic Tradition for keeping the Sunday holy; ... Controversial Catechism by Stephen Keenan, New Edition, revised by Rev. George Cormack, published in London by Burns & Oates, Limited - New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benzinger Brothers, 1896, pages 6, 7."The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153.''The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.'' The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4. "All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible." The Catholic Virginian, "To Tell You The Truth,” Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947)."... 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." The Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73.'Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third - Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.'' Catholic Record, September 1, 1923. "But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn't it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism was born, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away - like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or a lock of her hair." The Faith of Millions"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. "The Day of the Lord" (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy." Sentinel, Pastor's page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995
“If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church.” Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church.” Monsignor Louis Segur, ‘Plain Talk about the Protestantism of Today’, p. 213.What Important Question Does the Papacy Ask Protestants? Protestants have repeatedly asked the papacy, "How could you dare to change God's law?" But the question posed to Protestants by the Catholic church is even more penetrating. Here it is officially: ""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 day which the Bible has commanded.
The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, 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."" *Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don't You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4.
''I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R., February 18, 1884, Printed in the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal in June 1893, p. 173."There is but one church on the face of the earth which has the power, or claims power, to make laws binding on the conscience, binding before God, binding under penalty of hell-fire. For instance, the institution of Sunday. What right has any other church to keep this day? You answer by virtue of the third commandment (the papacy did away with the 2nd regarding the worship of graven images, and called the 4th the 3rd), which says 'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.' But Sunday is not the Sabbath. Any schoolboy knows that Sunday is the first day of the week. I have repeatedly offered one thousand dollars to anyone who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no one has called for the money. It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week." - T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture delivered in 1893. ''Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.'' C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895.“Tradition, not Scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built.” Adrien Nampon, Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent, p. 157"The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine law". The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts a vicegerent of God upon earth" Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, art. Papa, II, Vol. VI, p. 29. "The leader of the Catholic church is defined by the faith as the Vicar of Jesus Christ (and is accepted as such by believers). The Pope is considered the man on earth who "takes the place" of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of the Trinity." John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3, 1994 "...pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the christianization of the notion of Sunday as "the day of the sun", which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern languages.(29) This was in order to draw the faithful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity's true "sun"." John Paul II, Dies Domini, 27. The day of Christ-Light, 1998 (Prominent protestant leaders agree with this statement - See above for a statement by Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the ‘Baptist Manual’)"The Sun was a foremost god with heathen-dom…The sun has worshippers at this hour in Persia and other lands…. There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, to 'Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.' And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, The Catholic World, March, 1894, p. 809"The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday is, in a great measure, owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects - pagan and Christian alike - as the 'venerable' day of the sun."" Arthur P. Stanley, History of the Eastern Church, p. 184"When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not change and still remain the infinitely holy God."-Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, I951."Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67)
"Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days." John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51 "Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of 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, Aug. 25, 1900
"The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday. The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. Protestants must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said, 'Keep holy the Sabbath Day.' The word Sunday does not come anywhere in the Bible, so, without knowing it they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church." Canon Cafferata, The Catechism Explained, p. 89. ''Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.'' John Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893. ^ Top Church of Christ:
"But we do not find any direct command from God, or instruction from the risen Christ, or admonition from the early apostles, that the first day is to be substituted for the seventh day Sabbath." "Let us be clear on this point. Though to the Christian 'that day, the first day of the week' is the most memorable of all days ... there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it as a holy day." "The Roman Church selected the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection of Christ. ..." Bible Standard, May, 1916, Auckland, New Zealand."... If the fourth command is binding upon us Gentiles by all means keep it. But let those who demand a strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seventh day is the ONLY sabbath day commanded, and God never repealed that command. If you would keep the Sabbath, keep it; but Sunday is not the Sabbath. The argument of the 'Seventh-day Adventists' is on one point unassailable. It is the Seventh day not the first day that the command refers to." G. Alridge, Editor, The Bible Standard, April, 1916."There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day."-DR. D. H. LUCAS, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890."The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change."-"First-Day Observance," pages 17, 19."It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." DR. N. SUMMERBELL, "History of the Christian Church," Third Edition, page 4I5."To command...men...to observe...the Lord's day...is contrary to the gospel." - "Memoirs of Alexander Campbell," Vol. 1, page 528."It is clearly proved that the pastors of the churches have struck out one of God's ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are the most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, "Debate With Purcell," page 214."I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath was changed, or that the Lord's day came in the room of it."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Washington Reporter, Oct. 8, 1821. ^ Top Church of England:
"Many people think that Sunday is the Sabbath. But neither in the New Testament nor in the early church is there anything to suggest that we have any right to transfer the observance of the seventh day of the week to the first. The Sabbath was and is Saturday and not Sunday, and if it were binding on us then we should observe it on that day, and on no other." Rev. Lionel Beere, All-Saints Church, Ponsonby, N.Z. in Church and People, Sept. 1, 1947.
"Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ...! That is Saturday." P. Carrington, Archbishop of Quebec, Oct. 27, 1949; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 12.
"The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone." Hobart Church News, July 2, 1894; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 14.
"Where are we told in Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the Seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason why we keep the first day holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined them." Rev. Isaac Williams, Ser. on Catechism, p. 334.
"The seventh day, the commandment says, is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. No kind of arithmetic, no kind of almanac, can make seven equal one, nor the seventh mean the first, nor Saturday mean Sunday. ... The fact is that we are all Sabbath breakers, every one of us." Rev. Geo. Hodges."Not any ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries attributed the origin of Sunday observance either to Christ or to His apostles."-SIR WILLIAM DOMVILLE, "Examination of the Six Texts," pages 6, 7. (Supplement).
"There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. . . . Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters…, The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday." -CANON EYTON, 'The Ten Commandments," pages 52, 63, 65.
"Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? None."-"Manual of Christian Doctrine," page 127.
"The Lord's day did not succeed in the place of the Sabbath....The Lord's day was merely an ecclesiastical institution. It was not introduced by virtue of the fourth commandment, because for almost three hundred years together they kept that day which was in that commandment...The primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord's day, even in times of persecution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments; but in this they knew there was none."-BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR, "Ductor Dubitantium," Part I, Book II, Chap. 2, Rule 6. Sec. 51, 59.
"Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adore that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it), the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel."-T. M. MORER, "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," pages 22, 23."The Puritan idea was historically unhappy. It made Sunday into the Sabbath day. Even educated people call Sunday the Sabbath. Even clergymen do."
"But, unless my reckoning is all wrong, the Sabbath day lasts twenty-four hours from six o'clock on Friday evening. It gives over, therefore, before we come to Sunday. If you suggest to a Sabbatarian that he ought to observe the Sabbath on the proper day, you arouse no enthusiasm. He at once replies that the day, not the principle, has been changed. But changed by whom? There is no injunction in the whole of the New Testament to Christians to change the Sabbath into Sunday.' - D. MORSEBOYCOTT, Daily Herald, London, Feb. 26, 1931.
"The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other."- F.W. FARRAR, D.D., "The Voice From Sinai," page 167.
"Take which you will, either of the Fathers or the moderns, and we shall find no Lord's day instituted by any apostolical mandate; no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the week."-PETER HEYLYN, "History of the Sabbath," page 410.
"Merely to denounce the tendency to secularise Sunday is as futile as it is easy. What we want is to find some principle, to which as Christians we can appeal, and on which we can base both our conduct and our advice. We turn to the New Testament, and we look in vain for any authoritative rule. There is no recorded word of Christ, there is no word of any of the apostles, which tells how we should keep Sunday, or indeed that we should keep it at all. It is disappointing, for it would make our task much easier if we could point to a definite rule, which left us no option but simple obedience or disobedience. . . . There is no rule for Sunday observance, either in Scripture or history."-DR. STEPHEN, Bishop of Newcastle, N.S.W., in an address reported in the Newcastle Morning Herald, May 14, 1924. ^ Top Congregational:
"The Christian Sabbath' [Sunday] is not in the Scripture, and was not by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath." Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, p49 Note: Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was president of Yale University from 1795-1817. "It is quite clear that, however rigidly or devoutly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday ... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday." Dr. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106, 107. "It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Buck's Theological Dictionary page 403.
"There is no command in the Bible requiring us to observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath."-ORIN FOWLER, A.M., "Mode and Subjects of Baptism.""The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament."-DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, Christian Union, Jan. 18, 1882. Christian Church:
"I do not believe that the Lord's day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, or that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the room of it." Alexander Campbell, in The Reporter, October 8, 1921 "It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's Word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." - Dr. N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church, Third Edition, p. 415 "There is no direct scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day." - Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890. "The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceeding the first day of the week. The first day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any place in the Bible any intimation of such a change." First-Day Observance, pp. 17, 19.Disciples of Christ:
"There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’" Dr D.H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January, 1890 "If it [the Ten Commandments] yet exist, let us observe it... And if it does not exist, let us abandon a mock observance of another day for it. 'But,' say some, 'it was changed from the seventh to the first day.' Where? when? and by whom? - No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned [in Genesis 2:1-3] must be changed before the observance or respect to the reason, can be changed. It is all old wives' fables to talk of the 'change of the sabbath' from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio, - I think his name is "Doctor Antichrist.'" Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2, 1824, vol 1, no. 7 ^ Top Episcopalian:
"We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ." Bishop Symour, Why We keep Sunday. "The Bible commandment says on the seventh-day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday." Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, Oct 26, 1949 [Carrington (1892-), Anglican archbishop of Quebec, spoke the above in a message on this subject delivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was widely reported at the time in the news media]. Lutheran:
"The observance of the Lord's Day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the Church." Augsburg Confession of Faith. "They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord's day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." -Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9."They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation]. "For up to this day mankind has absolutely trifled with the original and most special revelation of the Holy God, the ten words written upon the tables of the Law from Sinai."-"Crown Theological Library," page I78."The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a Sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together, and to celebrate the ordinances one with another: without a shadow of doubt, this took place as early as the first part of the second century."-Bishop GRIMELUND, "History of the Sabbath," page 60."The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance."- AUGUSTUS NEANDER, "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. 1, page 186. "I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogate sin also."-MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71, 72. "We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both." The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36 "But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the children of Israel .... These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament to that effect" John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16 ^ Top Lutheran Free Church:
“For when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Who has transferred the Sabbath, and who has the right to do it?” George Sverdrup, ‘A New Day.’Methodist:
"This 'handwriting of ordinances' our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away.... The moral law stands on an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages."-JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222."No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral."-"Methodist Church Discipline," (I904), page 23."The Sabbath was made for MAN; not for the Hebrews, but for all men."-E.O. HAVEN, "Pillars of Truth," page 88."The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first. The early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. By and by, this day of worship was made also a day of rest, a legal holiday. This took place in the year 321."The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first... Our Christian Sabbath, therefore, is not a matter of positive command. It is a gift of the church... "-CLOVIS G. CHAPPELL, "Ten Rules for Living," page 61."Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, "Sabbath" "In the days of very long ago the people of the world began to give names to everything, and they turned the sounds of the lips into words, so that the lips could speak a thought. In those days the people worshipped the sun because many words were made to tell of many thoughts about many things. The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor whose name was Constantine. This emperor made Sunday the Christian Sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn't it?"-Sunday School Advocate, Dec. 31, 1921."The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other."-JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," Vol. I, Sermon XXV. “It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there any for the keeping of the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition.” Amos Binney, ‘Theological Compendium’, p. 180-181"The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or a tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874 Moody Bible Institute:
"The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word 'remember,' showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?"- D.L. MOODY, "Weighed and Wanting," page 47."I honestly believe that this commandment [the fourth, or Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.' It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.' - Id., page 46. "This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times." D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881. ^ Top Presbyterian:
"The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Dwight's Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401.
"A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matthew 24:20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day. But the final destruction of Jerusalem was after the Christian dispensation was fully set up (AD 70). Yet it is plainly implied in these words of the Lord that even then Christians were bound to strict observation of the Sabbath." Works of Jonathon Edwards, (Presby.) Vol. 4, p. 621."We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant and uniform." JOHN CALVIN, "Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels," Vol. 1, page 277. "God instituted the Sabbath at the creation of man, setting apart the seventh day for the purpose, and imposed its observance as a universal and perpetual moral obligation upon the race." American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 175."The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished after the [Roman] empire became Christian," American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118. "The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation." "Westminster Confession of Faith," Chap. 19, Art. 5. "The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue-the Ten Commandments. This alone for ever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution ... Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand...The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath."- T.C. BLAKE, D.D., "Theology Condensed," pages 474, 475. "Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel" T.M. Morer, Dialogues on the Lord's Day "There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments. "Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all.... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument." The Christian at Work, April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884 Protestant Episcopal:
“The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day... but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church.” ‘Explanation of Catechism’^ Top Southern Baptist:
“The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10 quoted]… on this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages… Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week, -- that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh.” Joseph Hudson Taylor, ‘The Sabbatic Question’, p. 14-17, 41. "The first four commandments set forth man's obligations directly toward God.... But when we keep the first four commandments, we are likely to keep the other six. . . . The fourth commandment sets forth God's claim on man's time and thought.... The six days of labour and the rest on the Sabbath are to be maintained as a witness to God's toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten words is of merely racial significance.... The Sabbath was established originally (long before Moses) in no special connection with the Hebrews, but as an institution for all mankind, in commemoration of God's rest after the six days of creation. It was designed for all the descendants of Adam."-Adult Quarterly, Southern Baptist Convention series, Aug. 15, 1937. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:
"Sunday was a name given by the heathens to the first day of the week, because it was the day on which they worshipped the sun, ...the seventh day was blessed and hallowed by God Himself, and ...He requires His creatures to keep it holy to Him. This commandment is of universal and perpetual obligation...The Creator 'blessed the seventh day'-declared it to be a day above all days, a day- on which His favour should assuredly rest. ...So long, then, as man exists, and the world around him endures,' does the law of the early Sabbath remain. It cannot be set aside so long as its foundations last.... It is not the Jewish Sabbath, properly so-called, which is ordained in the fourth commandment. In the whole of that injunction there is no Jewish element, any more than there is in the third commandment, or the sixth." Eadie's Biblical Cyclopedia, 1872 Edition, page 561.
"Thus we learn from Socrates (H.E., vi.c.8) that in his time public worship was held in the churches of Constantinople on both days.... The view that the Christian's Lord's day or Sunday is but the Christian Sabbath deliberately transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week does not indeed find categorical expression till a much later period.... The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in A.D. 321, enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die Solis), with an exception in favour of those engaged in agricultural labour...The Council of Laodicea (363) ... forbids Christians from judaizing and resting on the Sabbath day, preferring the Lord's day, and so far as possible resting as Christians."-Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1899 Edition, Vol. XXIII, page 654.
"Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained is the sabbatical edict of Constantine, A.D. 32I." Chambers' Encyclopedia, Article "Sunday."
"It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day."-M'CLINTOCK AND STRONG, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. IX, page 196.
"Sunday (Dies Solis, of the Roman calendar, 'day of the sun,' because dedicated to the sun), the first day of the week, was adopted by the early Christians as a day of worship. The 'sun' of Latin adoration they interpreted as the 'Sun of Righteousness.' . . . No regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament, nor, indeed, is its observance even enjoined."-SCHAFF HERZOG, Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1891 Edition, Vol. IV, Art. "Sunday." "Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." CHARLES BUCK, "A Theological Dictionary," "As the Sabbath is of divine institution, so it is to be kept holy unto the Lord. Numerous have been the days appointed by men for religious services; but these are not binding, because of human institution. Not so the Sabbath. Hence the fourth commandment is ushered in with a peculiar emphasis-'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.'…The abolition of it would be unreasonable."-'CHARLES BUCK, "A Theological Dictionary," 1830 Edition, page 537.
"But although it [Sunday] was in the primitive times indifferently called the Lord's day, or Sunday, yet it was never denominated the Sabbath; a name constantly appropriate to Saturday, or the seventh day, both by sacred and ecclesiastical writers."-Id., page 572.
"The notion of a formal substitution by apostolic authority of the Lord's day [meaning Sunday] for the Jewish Sabbath [or the first for the seventh day]...and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of the fourth commandment, has no basis whatever, either in Holy Scripture or in Christian antiquity." - SIR WILLIAM SMITH AND SAMUEL CHEETHAM, "A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," Vol. 11, page 182, Article "Sabbath.""This long series of temporal enactments (in considering which we have, for the sake of exhibiting them as a whole, anticipated chronological order) must have told very powerfully upon the conception of the Lord's day in the church itself, not only tending to formalize its celebration, but to invest it in great degree with the character of a sabbath. Still, however, there was no connexion of its observance with the obligation of the fourth commandment, and therefore no application to it either of the laws of the Jewish sabbath, or of our Lord's teaching on the subject, as modifying and spiritualizing these laws." -Id., page 1047 Infidel:
'Probably very few Christians are aware of the fact that what they call the 'Christian Sabbath' (Sunday) is of pagan origin.
"The first observance of Sunday- that history records is in the fourth century', when Constantine issued an edict (not requiring its religious observance, but simply abstinence from work) 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" (preface by Robert G. Ingersoll), page 112.
"I challenge any priest or minister of the Christian religion to show me the slightest authority for the religious observance of Sunday. And, if such cannot be shown by them, why is it that they are constantly preaching about Sunday as a holy day? ...The claim that Sunday takes the place of Saturday, and that because the Jews were supposed to be commanded to keep the seventh day of the week holy, therefore the first day of the week should be so kept by Christians, is so utterly absurd as to be hardly worth considering....That Paul habitually observed and preached on the seventh day of the week, is shown in Acts 18:4-'And be reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath' (Saturday)."-Id., pages ,114, 116. ^ Top Miscellaneous:
"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 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 day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, 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."-"The Library of Christian Doctrine," pages 3, 4.
"The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day: 'God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.' Genesis 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the Ten Commandments: 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep It holy. ...The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' Exodus 20: 8, 10. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. (Matthew 5: 17.) He Himself observed the Sabbath: 'And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.' Luke 4: r6. His disciples likewise observed it after His death: 'They . . . rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.' Luke 23: 56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word, or tradition of the Catholic Church, which declares that the apostle made the change in honour of Christ's resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week."-JOHN MILNER, "The End of Religious Controversy," page 71.
"Sabbath means, of course, Saturday, the seventh day of the week, but the early Christians changed the observance to Sunday, to honour the day on which Christ arose from the dead."-FULTON OURSLER. Cosmopolitan, Sept. 1951, pages 34, 35.
"I do not pretend to be even an amateur scholar of the Scriptures. I read the Decalogue merely as an average man searching for guidance, and in the immortal 'Ten Words' I find a blueprint for the good life."-Id., page 33.
"Most certainly the Commandments are needed today, perhaps more than ever before. Their divine message confronts us with a profound moral challenge in an epidemic of evil; a unifying message acceptable alike to Jew, Moslem, and Christian. Who, reading the Ten in the light of history and of current events, can doubt their identity with the eternal law of nature?"-Id., page 124.
"The Sabbath is commanded to be kept on the seventh day. It could not be kept on any other day. To observe the first day of the week or the fourth is not to observe the Sabbath. . . . It was the last day of the week, after six days of work, that was to be kept holy. The observance of no other day would fulfil the law."-H. J. FLOWERS, B.A., B.D., "The Permanent Value of the Ten Commandments," page 13.
"The evaluation of Sunday, the traditionally accepted day of the resurrection of Christ, has varied greatly throughout the centuries of the Christian Era. From time to time it has been confused with the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. English speaking peoples have been the most consistent in perpetuating the erroneous assumption that the obligation of the fourth commandment has passed over to Sunday. In popular speech, Sunday is frequently, but erroneously, spoken of as the Sabbath."-F. M. SETZLER, Head Curator, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institute, from a letter dated Sept. 1, 1949.
"He that observes the Sabbath aright holds the history of that which it celebrates to be authentic, and therefore believes in the creation of the first man; in the creation of a fair abode for man in the space of six days; in the primeval and absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, and, as a necessary antecedent to all this, in the Creator, who at the close of His latest creative effort, rested on the seventh day. The Sabbath thus becomes a sign by which the believers in a historical revelation are distinguished from those who have allowed these great facts to fade from their remembrance.' - JAMES G. MURPHY, "Commentary on the Book of Exodus," comments on Exodus 20: 8-11. ** The Bible also identifies the entity who thinks it can change God's law. ^ Top
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"When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not change and still remain the infinitely holy God."Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, 1951.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...: interesting read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did any one know that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
[url=http://amazon.reviewazone.com/]Pamela[/url]; January 17, 2010 at 11:48 PM
Anonymous said...: very useful article. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you guys learn that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
[url=http://amazon.reviewazone.com/]Ashley[/url]; January 18, 2010 at 6:53 AM
Anonymous said...: very useful read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did anyone learn that some chinese hacker had hacked twitter yesterday again.
[url=http://amazon.reviewazone.com/]Jessica[/url]; January 18, 2010 at 6:53 AM
Anonymous said...: nice and thanks.; November 10, 2010 at 12:07 PM

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Friday, July 13, 2007

Mark of The Beast I'm sorry this is lengthy but worth reading!

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