Sunday Worship - False Doctrine! or is it? Part four

SUNDAY Worship
FALSE Doctrine! or is it?
Part Four
Protestant Churches Making an Image to the Beast?

Sunday sacredness is not commanded or practiced in the Bible?
True or False?

fcstudies@thefinalcall.org

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What do the Protestant Churches say about the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?
Protestant theologians and preachers from a many denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical
authority for observing Sunday as a sabbath. Then why are so many of the main line Protestant churches keeping Sunday?

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Anglican/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.

" 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, vol. 1, pp.334, 336.

" 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.

" 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, pp. 52, 63, 65.

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 Judson " Taylor, The Sabbath Question, pages 14-17, 41.

" 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.

" There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. If 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.

" There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however,
and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the
record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not." " To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' intercourse with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question . . . never alluded to any transference of the day also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated." " Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history . . . . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!" Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers' conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner, Nov.16, 1893.

" 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, p. 49.

" 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 churches, counselling 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,

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.

" It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath. . .The Sabbath was founded on specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday. . .There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the suppose sanctity of Sunday." Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pages 106-107.

" . . . it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly 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. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments (New York: Eaton & Mains), p. 127-129.

" . . . the Christian Sabbath [Sunday] is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive Church called the Sabbath."
Timothy Dwight, Theology: Explained and Defended (1823), Ser. 107, vol. 3, p. 258.

Christian Church

" 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.

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.

" 'But,' say some, 'it was changed from the seventh to the first day.' Where? when? and by whom? No man can tell. No it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned 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, Feb. 2, 1824,vol. 1. no. 7, p. 164.

" 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 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.

Dwight L. Moody

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 (Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York), pp. 47, 48.

Lutheran

" For when there could not be produced one solitary pace 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 had the right to do it?" George Sverdrup, A New Day.

" 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
Christians of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both." The Sunday Problem, a study book of the United Lutheran Church (1923), p. 36.

" They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, a shaving been changed into the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it
seems. Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments!" Augsburg Confession of Faith art. 28 written by Melanchthon, approved by Martin Luther, 1530 as published in The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Henry Jacobs, ed. (1 91 1), p. 63.

" The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday." Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church Henry John Rose, tr. (1843), p. 186.

" 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.

Methodist

" It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there any for keeping holy 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, pages 180-181.

" Take the matter of Sunday. There are indications in the New Testament as to how the church came to keep the first day of the
week as its day of worship, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day, or to transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that
day." Harris Franklin Rall, Christian Advocate, July 2, 1942, p.26.

" But, 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, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., John Emory, ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25,vol. 1, p. 221.

Presbyterian

" 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.

" The Sabbath is a part of the decalogue — the Ten Commandments. This alone forever 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, pp.474, 475.

~The Beast from the Earth

Rev 13:11-18 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And 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. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 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. 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.

LET NONE DECEIVE THEMSELVES
Great Controversy, page 571.

" The Roman Church now presents a fair front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy that existed in past ages exists today. The doctrines devised in the darkest
ages are still held. Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when
she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High." {GC 571.1}

Coming Soon!
God's Law Broken Down!