History According to Wikipedia:

In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. It is the only other country outside of the United States that officially observes the day as a holiday.

Thanksgiving involves a group of people commonly known as the Pilgrims.

They were a dissenting religious group considered to be outside of mainstream “Christianity”.  The Pilgrims felt that the only way freely to practice their religion was to physically separate themselves from the Church of England that had persecuted them*. First to flee persecution, these “Separatists,” moved to the English Midlands. Then they went to Amsterdam in 1607. In 1609, they moved to the more religiously tolerant Netherlands. But they decided that this would not do.  Finally, they began their voyage to America in 1620. It took months to cross the sea and they lost many during that voyage as well as after coming to America.. In spite of all their sufferings and the death of half of their company, in October 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest.  In 1863, US President Lincoln made a proclamation that ultimately led to Thanksgiving becoming a US holiday.

*Was this a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy?

Deu 29:24 “And all nations shall say, ‘Why has יהוה  done so to this land? What does the heat of this great displeasure mean?’
Deu 29:25 “And it shall be said, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of יהוה  Elohim of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim.
Deu 29:26 ‘And they went and served other mighty ones and bowed themselves to them, mighty ones that they did not know and that He had not given to them,
Deu 29:27 therefore the displeasure of יהוה  burned against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
Deu 29:28 ‘And יהוה  uprooted them from their land in displeasure, and in wrath, and in great rage, and cast them into another land**, as it is today.’
The Puritans and most Americans of the 1600’s believed the above Scripture applied to them.  They believed they were Israelites who were being led to a new promised land by the hand of Providence.

**Eretz acharet…America was called the ‘New World’ which could be translated roughly from this Hebrew phrase.
2Sa 7:10 “And I shall appoint a place for My people Yisra’ĕl, and shall plant them, and they shall dwell in a place of their own and no longer be afraid, neither shall the children of wickedness oppress them again, as at the first,
This prophecy was told to David while Yisrael was dwelling safely in the Land.  Ultimately, this is a prophecy of the Kingdom of Messiah but a partial fulfillment may be America.

2 Esdras 13:34 And an innumerable multitude shall be gathered together, as thou sawest them, willing to come, and to overcome him by fighting.
35 But he {Messiah} shall stand upon the top of the mount Sion.
36 And Sion shall come, and shall be shewed to all men, being prepared and builded, like as thou sawest the hill graven without hands.
37 And this my Son shall rebuke the wicked inventions of those nations, which for their wicked life are fallen into the tempest;
38 And shall lay before them their evil thoughts, and the torments wherewith they shall begin to be tormented, which are like unto a flame: and he shall destroy them without labour by the law which is like unto me.
39 And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him;
40 Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land.
41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt,
42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land.
Here we see an amazing prophecy of the 10 tribes, which are represented by the Christians that left Europe to travel to the New World.  There is much historical evidence that the 10 tribes migrated to Europe and later accepted the Gospel.  It is these ‘lost tribes’ that purposed to go to a land where mankind had not known to keep the Torah that they didn’t keep while in the Land of Yisrael.

The Vine in the wilderness

Isa 5:1  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5  And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6  And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

Mat 21:33  Hear another parable: There was a certain man, a house master, who planted a vineyard and placed a hedge around it; and he dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. And he rented it to vinedressers and left the country. Isa. 5:1, 2
Mat 21:34  And when the season of the fruits came, he sent his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits.
Mat 21:35  And the vinedressers, taking his slaves, they beat this one, and they killed one, and they stoned another.
Mat 21:36  Again he sent other slaves, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
Mat 21:37  And at last he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
Mat 21:38  But seeing the son, the vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance.
Mat 21:39  And taking him, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Mat 21:40  Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?
Mat 21:41  They said to Him, Bad men! He will miserably destroy them, and he will rent out the vineyard to other vinedressers who will give to him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42  Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, “A Stone which the builders rejected, this One became the Head of the Corner? This was from the Lord, and it is a wonder in our eyes?” Psalm 118:22, 23
Mat 21:43  Because of this I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you, and it will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.*

*This is the role that America was/is to fulfill.  No single nation has spread the Gospel more than the USA/America.  The problem is that when believers fled from Europe to escape religious persecution, there was also those from the side of darkness that came along with them to escape that same religious intolerance.  There has always been this power struggle in this country between those who wish to worship YHWH according to the dictates of their hearts versus those who hate Him and wish to bring about a new world of antichrist. click here

The date and location of the first Thanksgiving celebration is a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida

The traditional “first Thanksgiving” is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621. The Plymouth celebration occurred early in the history in one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States, and this celebration became an important part of the American myth by the 1800s.

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. It did not become a federal holiday until 1941. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God,[1] and is still celebrated as such by many families, but it is now also considered a secular holiday as well.
“Thanksgiving Day”. Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/590003/Thanksgiving-Day. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest foods. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three whole days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Americans may eat these foods on modern day Thanksgiving, but the first feast did not consist of these items. On the first feast turkey was any type of fowl that the pilgrims hunted. Pumpkin pie wasn’t on the menu because there were no ovens for baking, but they did have boiled pumpkin. Cranberries weren’t introduced at this time. Due to the diminishing supply of flour there was no bread of any kind. The foods included in the first feast included duck, geese, venison, fish, lobster, clams, swan, berries, dried fruit, pumpkin, squash, and many more vegetables.

Squanto, a Patuxet Native American who resided with the Wampanoag tribe, taught the Pilgrims how to catch eel and grow corn and served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe and travels in England). The Pilgrims set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621. At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals existed in English and Wampanoag tradition alike. Several colonists gave personal accounts of the 1621 feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Pilgrims, most of whom were Separatists, are not to be confused with Puritans who established their own Massachusetts Bay Colony nearby (current day Boston) in 1628 and had very different religious beliefs*.

There were two different camps of believers that came out of the Protestant reformation.  The Pilgrims were considered ‘Separatists’ who did not seek to reform the church but to separate from it.  The Puritans sought to ‘purify’ church and state.

The Pilgrims did not hold a true Thanksgiving until 1623, after a switch from communal farming to privatized farming finally resulted in a larger harvest.[9] Irregular Thanksgivings continued after favorable events and days of fasting after unfavorable ones. In the Plymouth tradition, a thanksgiving day was a church observance, rather than a feast day.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony (consisting mainly of Puritan Christians) celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in 1630, and frequently thereafter until about 1680, when it became an annual festival in that colony; and Connecticut as early as 1639 and annually after 1647, except in 1675. The Dutch in New Netherland appointed a day for giving thanks in 1644 and occasionally thereafter.

Charlestown, Massachusetts held the first recorded Thanksgiving observance June 29, 1671 by proclamation of the town’s governing council.

During the 18th century individual colonies commonly observed days of thanksgiving throughout each year. We might not recognize a traditional Thanksgiving Day from that period, as it was not a day marked by plentiful food and drink as is today’s custom, but rather a day set aside for prayer and fasting.

Later in the 1700s individual colonies would periodically designate a day of thanksgiving in honor of a military victory, an adoption of a state constitution or an exceptionally bountiful crop. Such a Thanksgiving Day celebration was held in December 1777 by the colonies nationwide, commemorating the surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga.

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale,[3] proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

Interestingly, Thanksgiving was proclaimed as a national holiday after the north and south came back together as one nation.  The Scriptures speak of the northern tribes and the southern tribes coming back together as a time of Thanksgiving as well.

Jer 30:18  So says YHWH, Behold I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her ruin heap; and the fortress shall remain on its own ordinance.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving and the voice of those who are merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I also will honor them, and they shall not be small.

Isa 51:3  For YHWH comforts Zion. He comforts all her desolations, and He makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of YHWH; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of singing praise

Hodu – Turkey

In excavations near Salem, Massachuseets an old Hebrew manuscript was found that sheds light on why turkey is eaten on Thanksgiving.
b’chag hahodaya
On holiday/feast Thanksgiving

Hodu sheain atem
Give thanks that not you are

tarngol hahodu asher lfaneikhem
the fowl indian/turkey that is before you

This manuscript was called Haggada Shel Hodaya…similar to Haggada shel Pesach.  At Passover it is said:

leshana ha’ba’a b’yerushalayim

Next year in Jerusalem

Haggada Shel Hodaya instructs Thanksgiving day meal be concluded with:

Hodu=give thanks

India = Hodu
The other name for turkey in those days was Indian chicken because Columbus thought he was in India when he saw turkeys for the first time.

The Hebrew word for Turkey is

Benjamin Franklin proposed that turkey be the national bird of the USA arguing that the turkey was more honest, honorable, diligent and smarter than the bald eagle.

Puritans, Yisrael & The Torah

Marvin Wilson’s book,  Our Father Abraham
explains (pp. 127-128):

During the period of the Protestant Reformation (16th century), some signs of the re-Judaization of the Christian faith began to surface, as certain Hebrew categories were rediscovered. The Reformers put great stress on sola scriptura (Scripture as the sole and final authority of the Christian). The consequent de-emphasis on tradition brought with it a return to the biblical roots. Accordingly, during the two centuries following the Reformation, several groups recognized the importance of once again emphasizing the Hebraic heritage of the Church. Among these people were the Puritans who founded Pilgrim America, and the leaders who pioneered American education. We shall comment briefly on the first of these groups before concentrating on the second.

The Puritans came to America deeply rooted in the Hebraic tradition. Most bore Hebrew names. The Pilgrim fathers considered themselves as the children of Israel fleeing “Egypt” (England), crossing the “Red Sea” (the Atlantic Ocean), and emerging from this “Exodus” to their own “promised land” (New England). The Pilgrims thought of themselves as “all the children of Abraham” and, thus, under the covenant of Abraham. (Feingold p. 46.)

The President of Yale College used these words before the Governor and General Assembly of the state of Connecticut in 1783: “Their influence on American society was not soon forgotten: more than a century and a half after the first Puritan settlers reached New England, the American people were referred to in a State Assembly as ‘God’s American Israel.’” (Feldman p. 5)

The seeds of religious liberty for the American Church did not come from New England leaders such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson-as noble as they and others were. Rather, it came from the Hebrews themselves, whose sacred writings inspired the Puritans. Accordingly, many of the Puritans in seventeenth-century England were learned Hebraists. William Bradford (1590-1657), prominent early American and Governor of Plymouth Colony for more than three decades, maintained an intense interest in Hebrew. Bradford stated that he studied Hebrew so that when he died he might be able to speak in the “most ancient language, the Holy Tongue in which God and, the angels, spake.” Cotton Mather (1663-1728), a well-known Puritan minister and scholar from Massachusetts, had a similar deep respect for the Hebrew language. Concerning its importance, Mather once observed, “I promise that those who
spend as much time morning and evening in Hebrew studies as they do in smoking tobacco, would quickly make excellent progress in the language.”click here (Rosovsky)

So popular was the Hebrew Language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that several students at Yale delivered their commencement orations in Hebrew. Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Pennsylvania taught courses in Hebrew—all the more remarkable because no university in England at the time offered it.

Many of the population, including a significant number of the Founding Fathers of America, were products of these American universities—for example, Thomas Jefferson attended William and Mary, James Madison Princeton, Alexander Hamilton King’s College (i.e. Columbia). Thus, we can be sure that a majority of these political leaders were not only well acquainted with the contents of both the New and Old Testaments but also had some working knowledge of Hebrew. Notes Abraham Katsh in The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy (p. 70):

At the time of the American Revolution, the interest in the knowledge of Hebrew was so widespread as to allow the circulation of the story that “certain members of Congress proposed that the use of English be formally prohibited in the United States, and Hebrew substituted for it.”

Many of the earliest “pilgrims” who settled the “New England” of America in early 17th century were Puritan refugees escaping religious persecutions in Europe.

Over the next century, America continued to be not only the land of opportunity for many people seeking a better life but also the land of religious tolerance. By the middle 1700’s, the east coast of America was settled by a virtual “Who’s Who” of Christian splinter sects from all over Europe. Among them were:

* the Puritans, whom we already know so well
* the Quakers, an extremist Puritan sect who did not believe in ministers and for whom a Society of Friends meeting together was good enough to bring down the Holy Spirit
* Calvinists, who early on had challenged the Catholic belief that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Jesus in the celebration of the mass
* the Huguenots, or French Calvinists
* the Moravians, followers of John Hus, the protestant martyr from Bohemia
* the Mennonites, a Swiss sect of Anabaptists who rejected infant baptism
* the Amish, the most stringent of the Mennonites

These were just some of the numerous groups who arrived in America in search of religious freedom.

The majority of the earliest settlers were, of course, Puritans. Beginning with the Mayflower, over the next twenty years, 16,000 Puritans migrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and many more settled in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Like their cousins back in England, these American Puritans strongly identified with both the historical traditions and customs of the ancient Hebrews of the Old Testament. They viewed their emigration from England as a virtual re-enactment of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. To them, England was Egypt, the king was Pharaoh, the Atlantic Ocean was the Red Sea, America was the Land of Israel, and the Indians were the ancient Canaanites. They were the new Israelites, entering into a new covenant with God in a new Promised Land. Thanksgiving—first celebrated in 1621, a year after the Mayflower landed—was initially conceived as day parallel to the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur; it was to be a day of fasting, introspection and prayer.

After that first harvest was completed by the Plymouth colonists, Gov. William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer, shared by all the colonists and neighboring Indians. In 1623 a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of thanksgiving because the rain came during the prayers. Gradually the custom prevailed in New England of annually celebrating thanksgiving after the harvest. During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom, and by the middle of the 19th century many other states had done the same. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a day of thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November, which he may have correlated it with the November 21, 1621, anchoring of the Mayflower at Cape Cod.

Other believe that the Pilgrims were celebrating Sukkot

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday5.htm

Many Americans, upon seeing a decorated sukkah for the first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental: I was taught that our American pilgrims, who originated the Thanksgiving holiday, borrowed the idea from Sukkot. The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and found Sukkot. This is not the standard story taught in public schools today (that a Thanksgiving holiday is an English custom that the Pilgrims brought over), but the Sukkot explanation of Thanksgiving fits better with the meticulous research of Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson, who believes that the original Thanksgiving was a harvest festival (as is Sukkot), that it was observed in October (as Sukkot usually is), and that Pilgrims would not have celebrated a holiday that was not in the Bible (but Sukkot is in the Bible). Although Mr. Johnson claims that the first Thanksgiving was “not a religious holiday or observance,” he apparently means this in a Christian sense, because he goes on to say that the first Thanksgiving was instead “a harvest festival that included feasts, sporting events, and other activities,” concepts very much in keeping with the Jewish religious observance of Sukkot.

Gabriel Sivan, in The Bible and Civilization, (p. 236) observes:

“No Christian community in history identified more with the People of the Book than did the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed their own lives to be a literal reenactment of the Biblical drama of the Hebrew nation. They themselves were the children of Israel; America was their Promised Land; the Atlantic Ocean their Red Sea; the Kings of England were the Egyptian pharaohs; the American Indians the Canaanites; the pact of the Plymouth Rock was God’s holy Covenant; and the ordinances by which they lived were the Divine Law. Like the Huguenots and other Protestant victims of Old World oppression, these émigré Puritans dramatized their own situation as the righteous remnant of the Church corrupted by the “Babylonian woe,” and saw themselves as instruments of Divine Providence, a people chosen to build their new commonwealth on the Covenant entered into at Mount Sinai.”

The earliest legislation of the colonies of New England was all determined by Scripture. At the first assembly of New Haven in 1639, John Davenport clearly stated the primacy of the Bible as the legal and moral foundation of the colony:

Scriptures do hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men as well as in the government of families and commonwealth as in matters of the Church … the Word of God shall be the only rule to be attended unto in organizing the affairs of government in this plantation. (See Abraham I Katsch, The Biblical Heritage of American Democracy, p. 97)

Subsequently, the New Haven legislators adopted a legal code—the Code of 1655—which contained some 79 statutes, half of which contained Biblical references, virtually all from the Hebrew Bible. The Plymouth Colony had a similar law code as did the Massachusetts assembly, which, in 1641—after an exhortation by Reverend John Cotton who presented the legislators with a copy of Moses, His Judicials—adopted the so-called “Capitall Lawes of New England” based almost entirely on Mosaic law.

Ezra Stiles

The following excerpts from Pastor Ezra Stiles’ sermon capture the vision which many of America’s great churchmen had for this planting of God’s vine in the wilderness:

… I have assumed the text only as introductory to a discourse upon the political welfare of God’s American Israel, and as allusively prophetic of the future prosperity and splendor of the United States.
Pastor Ezra Stiles, D.D., “The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor,” election sermon on May 8, 1783, quoted in John Wingate Thornton in The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprinted (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) p. 403.

Already does the new constellation of the United States begin to realize this glory. It has already risen to an acknowledged sovereignty among the republics and kingdoms of the world. And we have reason to hope, and, I believe, to expect, that God has still greater blessings in store for this vine which his own right hand hath planted, to make us high among the nations in praise, and in name, and in honor. The reasons are very numerous, weighty, and conclusive.  Stiles, pp. 438-439

Our degree of population is such as to give us reason to expect that this will become a great people…. This will be a great, a very great nation…. Should this prove a future fact, how applicable would be the text, when the Lord shall have made his American Israel high above all nations which he has made, in numbers, and in praise, and in name, and in honor! Stiles, Stiles pp. 439-440

Any possible ambiguity in Pastor Stiles’ sermon is cleared in the following declaration by Pastor W. B. Record:
LOOKING WESTWARD…

Standing on the western shores of Europe 500 years ago, you could not see nor visualize a great continent that lay to the west; only what seemed to be an endless stretch of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet there was a great continent out there to the west.

Now may I ask you, “Did Jesus Christ know of this North American Continent?” Your only answer could be, “Yes, of course He did.”

Let me ask another question, “Did Jesus Christ know that a great nation would be established here?” Of course He did!

Still another question, please -”Did Jesus Christ know this great nation (yet to be born) would be Christian from its beginning?” Of course He knew that, for He Himself is the source and Author of the faith we call “Christian.”

Now one more question, “Is it possible that this great nation, known to Jesus, was never mentioned, indicated, or foretold in the Bible?”

Consider this, “I will make of thee a great nation” (Gen. 12:2). “The kingdom of God shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43). Where is this great nation, which is bringing forth the fruits of the kingdom of God? The answer is quite obvious: you are living in it. See to it that you make your calling and election sure. Pastor W.B. Record, Truth & Liberty Magazine, September 1964

In The Beginnings of New England, American historian and philosopher John Fiske wrote:

The men who undertook this work were not at all free from self consciousness. They believed that they were doing a wonderful thing. They felt themselves to be instruments in accomplishing a kind of “manifest destiny.” Their exodus was that of a chosen people who were at length to lay the everlasting foundations of God’s kingdom upon earth. Such opinions … took a strong colour from their assiduous study of the Old Testament…. In every propitious event they saw a special providence, an act of divine intervention…. This steadfast faith in an unseen ruler and guide was to them a “pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night.  John Fiske (Edmund Fisk Green), The Beginnings of New England (Cambridge, MA: H.O. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Liberty Press, 1889) vol. 1, p. 308

Samuel Eliot Morison commented on Pastor Cotton’s vision of this New Canaan land:

[Pastor John] Cotton’s sermon was of a nature to inspire these new children of Israel with the belief that they were the Lord’s chosen people; destined, if they kept the covenant with Him, to people and fructify this new Canaan in the western wilderness.Samuel Eliot Morison, Colonial America (1887) p. 25.

John Cotton

Pastor John Cotton, D.D., sermon to fellow Puritans departing for America in 1630, God’s Promise to His Plantation (London, UK: William Jones, 1630) pp. 13-14.
Was it just by coincidence or was it by the providence of God that in 1630 a young Puritan minister by the name of John Cotton chose 2 Samuel 7: 10 as his text for a farewell message to a boatload of fellow Puritans departing for America

2Sa 7:10 “And I shall appoint a place for My people Yisra’ĕl, and shall plant them, and they shall dwell in a place of their own and no longer be afraid, neither shall the children of wickedness oppress them again, as at the first,

In his book New England’s Memorial, Nathaniel Morton demonstrated how perfectly America’s early  settlers fulfilled this passage from Isaiah:

That especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works (Psal. 105.5-6.) in the beginning and progress of the planting of New England, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness; that he cast out the heathen and planted it; and he also made room for it, and he caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land; so that it hath sent forth its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river. (Psal. 80.8-9.) And not only so, but also that He hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habitation, and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance, (Exod. 15.13.) in respect of precious gospel-enjoyments. So that we may not only look back to former experiences of God’s goodness to our predecessors, (though many years before) and so have our faith strengthened in the mercies of God for our times….Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memorial (Cambridge, MA: S.G. and M.J. for John Usher, 1669), reproduced with extracts from other writers (Boston, MA: Congregational Board of Publication, 1854) pp. 13-14.

Cotton Mather

In Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical History of New England, Pastor Cotton Mather, writing of the dangers facing the Puritans seeking asylum beyond the seas, pictured America as a desolate wilderness:

… the God of Heaven served as it were a summons upon the spirits of his people in the English nation; stirring up the spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each other, with a most unanimous inclination to leave all the pleasant accommodations of their native country, and go over a terrible ocean, into a more terrible desert, for the pure enjoyment of all his ordinances.
Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702 and subsequent editions reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 69.
Being happily arrived at New-England, our new planters found the difficulties of a rough and hard wilderness presently assaulting them… Mather, vol. 1, p. 77.

Never was any plantation brought unto such a considerableness, in a space of time so inconsiderable! … an howling wilderness in a few years became a pleasant land, accommodated with the necessaries, yea, and the conveniences of humane life Mather, vol. 1, p. 80

In his foreword “An Attestation to this Church-History of New England” in the above mentioned book, John Higginson also depicted America as an empty wilderness:

It hath been deservedly esteemed one of the great and wonderful Works of God in this last age, that the Lord stirred up the spirits of so many thousands of his [Celto-Saxon] servants, to leave the pleasant land of England, the land of their nativity, and to transport themselves, and families, over the ocean sea, into a desert land in America, at the distance of a thousand leagues from their own country; and this, merely on the account of pure and undefiled Religion [Christianity], not knowing how they should have their daily bread, but trusting in God for that, in the way of seeking first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof: And that the Lord was pleased to grant such a gracious presence of his with them, and such a blessing upon their undertakings, that within a few years a wilderness was subdued before them, and so many Colonies planted, Towns erected, and Churches settled, wherein the true and living God in Christ Jesus, is worshipped and served, in a place where, time out of mind, had been nothing before but Heathenism, Idolatry, and Devilworship; and that the Lord has added so many of the blessings of Heaven and earth for the comfortable subsistence of his people in these ends of the earth. Surely of this work, and of this time, it shall be said, what hath God wrought? And, this is the Lord’s doings, it is marvellous in our eyes! Even so (O Lord) didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name!

John Higginson, “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” foreword to Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702 and subsequent editions reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 13.

Pastor William Gordon was another voice of the early American church. He not only preached concerning what this land had been, but he also preached what it was becoming in light of Isaiah 35:1-2:

They came from a well-cultured kingdom to a savage people and a wild country, enough to discourage the stoutest. However, they ventured to take up their abode in it…. The face of the colony is not less changed for the better since first settled than what is set forth in the language of Isaiah’s prophecy: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.  Pastor William Gordon, discourse preached on December 15, 1774, quoted in John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprint. (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) p. 210-211.

Pastor Emry contrasted the new promised land with the old promised land:

A look at the United States, and Canada, reveals a different picture. Here we find the only land on the face of this earth that is truly a land of unwalled villages. Our Christian ancestors left castles, walls, and moats in the “old world” when they came to the “New World,” and our cities are without walls. God who knows the end from the beginning, can be expected to be accurate in His word.
Emry, p. 10.

[Pastor] John Norton, in the Election Sermon of 1661, said that theycame “into this wilderness to live under the order of the gospel”; “that our polity [government] may be a gospel polity, and may be compleat according to the Scriptures, answering fully the Word of God: this is the work of our generation, and the very work we engaged for into this wilderness; this is the scope and end of it … written upon the forehead of New England … the compleat walking in the faith of the gospel, according to the order of the gospel.”

The venerable [John] Higginson, of Salem, in his Election Sermon of 1663, stated the point with great fulness, as follows: “It concerneth New England always to remember that they are originally a plantation religious, not a plantation of trade…. Let merchants … remember this:

that worldly gain was not the end and design of the people of New England, but religion….”

In the [Harvard University] Election Sermon of 1677 … Increase Mather uttered these words: “It was love to God and to Jesus Christ which brought our  fathers into this wilderness…. There never was a generation that did so perfectly shake off the dust of Babylon, both as to ecclesiastical and civil constitutions, as the first generation of Christians that came into this land for the gospel’s sake.”

[Pastor] William Hubbard, the historian, in a Fast-day sermon, preached June 24, 1682, declared that the fathers “came not hither for the world, or for land, or for traffic; but for religion, and for liberty of conscience in the worship of God, which was their only design.”

The historical fact was stated by President [Ezra] Stiles, of Yale College, in 1783: “It is certain that civil dominion was but the second motive, religion the primary one, with our ancestors, in coming hither and settling this land. It was not so much their design to establish religion for the benefit of the state, as civil government for the benefit of religion, and as subservient, and even necessary, towards the peaceable enjoyment and unmolested exercise of religion – of that religion for which they fled to these ends of the earth.”  John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution: Political Sermons of the Period of 1776, 1860 ed., reprint. (Boston, MA: Da Capo Press, 1970) pp. xviii-xix.

I WRITE the WONDERS of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION , flying from the depravations of Europe, to the American Strand; and, assisted by the Holy Author of that Religion, I do with all conscience of Truth, required therein by Him, who is the Truth itself, report the wonderful displays of His infinite Power, Wisdom, Goodness, and Faithfulness, wherewith His Divine Providence hath irradiated an Indian Wilderness.  Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702, subsequent ed. reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967), vol. 1, p. 25.

The people in the fleet that arrived at New-England, in the year 1630, left the fleet almost, as the family of Noah did the ark, having a whole world before them to be peopled … but where-ever they sat down, they were so mindful of their errand into the wilderness, that still one of their first works was to gather a church into the covenant and order of the gospel.  Mather, vol. 1, pp. 78-89

In the year 1643, after divers essays made in some former years, the several colonies of New-England became in fact, as well as name, UNITED COLONIES. And an instrument was formed, wherein having declared, “That we all came into these parts of America with the same end and aim -namely, to advance the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and enjoy the liberties of the gospel with purity and peace….”  Mather, vol. 1, p. 160.

The ministers and Christians by whom New-England was first planted, were a chosen company of men; picked out of, perhaps, all the counties in England, and this by no human contrivance, but by a strange work of God upon the spirits of men that were, no ways, acquainted with one another, inspiring them, as one man, to secede into a wilderness … a reasonable expression once used by that eminent … lieutenant-governor of New-England … “God sifted three nations [England, Scotland,and Ireland], that he might bring choice grain into this wilderness.”

The design of these refugees, thus carried into the [North American] wilderness, was, that they might there “sacrifice unto the Lord their God:” it was, that they might maintain the power of godliness and practice the evangelical worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, in all the parts of it ….Mather, vol. 1, p. 240

In “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” the foreword to Magnalia, Christi Americana, John Higginson wrote:

It hath been deservedly esteemed one of the great and wonderful works of God in this last age, that the Lord stirred up the spirits of so many thousands of his servants, to leave the pleasant land of England, the land of their nativity, and to transport themselves, and families, over the ocean sea, into a desert land in America … and this, merely on the account of pure and undefiled Religion … seeking first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof… Surely of this work, and of this time, it shall be said, what hath God wrought? And, this is the Lord’s doings, it is marvellous in our eyes! Even so (O Lord) didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name [Isa. 63:141]  John Higginson, “An Attestation to This Church-History of New-England,” Foreword to Pastor Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, 1702, subsequent ed. reprint. (New York, NY: Russell & Russell, 1967) vol. 1, p. 13.

Daniel Webster

…if God prosper us, we shall here begin a work which shall last for ages; we shall plant here a new society, in the principles of the fullest liberty and the purest religion; we shall subdue this wilderness which is before us; we shall fill this region of the great continent, which stretches almost from pole to pole, with civilization and Christianity; the temples of the true God shall rise, where now ascends the smoke of idolatrous sacrifice ….Daniel Webster, discourse at Plymouth Rock, 2 December 1820, The Works of Daniel Webster (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1858) vol. 1, p. 10.

Patrick Henry

America’s Christian foundations could not be affirmed any more emphatically than they were by Patrick Henry:

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Patrick Henry, quoted in David Barton, The Myth of Separation (Aledo, TX: Wallbuilders Press, 1992) p. 117.

David Josiah Brewer

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice David Josiah Brewer provided additional evidence that America began as a Christian nation:

We classify nations in various ways, as, for instance, by their form of government. One is a kingdom, another an empire, and still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is an Anglo-Saxon nation, France a Gaelic, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Mohammedan nation, others are heathen, and still others are Christian nations….

This Republic is classified among the Christian nations of the world. It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the United States. In the case of HOLY TRINITY CHURCH vs. UNITED STATES, 143 U.S. 471, that Court … added, “these and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation….”

Nathaniel Morton also observed:

In the year 1602, divers godly Christians of our English nation … entered into covenant to walk with God, and one with another, in the enjoyment of the ordinances of God, according to the primitive pattern in the word of God .

1639 – FUNDAMENTAL AGREEMENT OF THE COLONY OF NEW HAVEN [Connecticut]: … We all agree that the scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in duties which they are to perform to God and to man, as well in families and commonwealth as in matters of the church; so likewise in all public officers which concern civil order, as choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, we will, all of us, be ordered by the rules which the scripture holds forth; and we agree that such persons may be entrusted with such matters of government as are described in Exodus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 1: 13 with Deuteronomy 17:15 and I Corinthians 6:1,6 & 7.

1639 – CONNECTICUT HISTORY: In June 1639, however, a more definite statement of political principles was framed, in which it was clearly stated that the rules of Scripture should determine the ordering of the Church, the choice of magistrates, the making and repeal of laws … that only Church members could become free burgesses and officials of the colony … and in 1644 the general court decided that the judicial laws of God as they were declared by Moses should constitute a rule for all courts ….

1776 – DELAWARE CONSTITUTION: … officeholders were required to make and subscribe to the following declaration: “I … do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. “

1776 – NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTION: … no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within the State.

1777 -VERMONT CONSTITUTION: …required of every member of the house of representatives that he take this oath: “I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration, and own and profess the Protestant religion. “

Alexis de Tocqueville recognized the uniqueness of our beginnings and wrote of the Scriptural, moral and civil code which was the foundation for those early laws of New England:

… in studying the earliest historical and legislative records of New England. They exercised the rights of sovereignty; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was due only to God. Nothing can be more curious and, at the same time more instructive, than the legislation of that period; it is there that the solution of the great social problem which the United States now present[s] to the world is to be found.

Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in 1650. The legislators of Connecticut begin with the penal laws, and … they borrow their provisions from the text of Holy Writ. “Whosoever shall worship any other God than the Lord,” says the preamble of the Code, “shall surely be put to death.” This is followed by ten or twelve enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery, adultery, and rape were punished with death ….

The 1879 McGuffey’s Sixth Eclectic Reader clearly illustrated how early America’s Christianity influenced her government:

Their  form of government was as strictly theocratical … insomuch that it would be difficult to say where there was any civil authority among them entirely distinct from ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

Whenever a few of them settled a town, they immediately gathered themselves into a church; and their elders were magistrates, and their code of laws was the Pentateuch]….

God was their King; and they regarded him as truly and literally so ….

James Madison, “the Father of the U.S. Constitution” and our fourth President, understood that the future of our American civilization was (and still is) dependent upon the Laws of God:

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Jewish Encyclopedia

UNITED STATES: … the early forms of government and laws were fashioned in a manner upon Old Testament times. This was particularly the case in Massachusetts (whose first criminal code [in 16411 gave chapter and verse from the Bible as its authority), as also in Connecticut. The records of the colony of New Haven, founded in 1638, have distinctly Old Testament character, and Biblical precedent is quoted for almost every governmental act. One can form some opinion of the measure of Old Testament influence when one considers that in the code of colony laws adopted in New Haven in 1656 there are 107 references to the Old Testament....

But Jews as individuals contributed little or nothing to direct the trend of colonial legislation of this early period.

Forefathers of the Puritans & Immigrants to America believed they were Israel

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, England
During his reign from 871 to 899 the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great declared:

Be ye kind to the stranger within thy gates, for ye were strangers in the land of the Egyptians

Scottish Declaration of Independence
In 1320 the Scottish Declaration of Independence was drawn up by King Robert (the Bruce) and twenty-five Scottish nobles in which the Scots are addressed as Israelites. This great document states the following regarding their migrations:

…the Scots … passing from the greater Scythia … and coming thence one thousand two hundred years after the outgoing of the people of Israel … acquired for themselves the possessions in the West…

Adam de Houghton, Bishop of Saint David, Wales
In 1377 Adam de Houghton, the Bishop of Saint David, Wales, delivered a speech before the British Parliament in which he recognized England as Israel:

…you may embrace your noble King … there is through him [King Edward III] that peace over Israel which the Scriptures name – Israel being the heritage of God, and that heritage being also England. For in good truth, I believe that God would never have honoured this country by victories such as had given glory to Israel, had He not intended it for His heritage also.

William Tyndale, English Reformer and Martyr
In 1530 the great English religious reformer, William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament and the Pentateuch into English announced his amazing discovery:

…the properties of the Hebrew tongue agreeth a thousand times more with the English than with the Latin. The manner of speaking is both one; so that in a thousand places thou needest not but to translate it into the English, word for word; when thou must seek a compass in the Latin, and yet shall have much work to translate it well-favouredly, so that it have the same grace and sweetness, sense and pure understanding with it in the Latin, and as it hath in the Hebrew. A thousand parts better may it [the Hebrew tongue] be translated into the English, than into the Latin.

Sir Francis Drake, English Navigator and Admiral
In 1587 Sir Francis Drake, an explorer for Queen Elizabeth I, wrote to the religious writer John Foxe beseeching his prayers:

God may be glorious, His church, our Queen and country preserved, the enemies of truth vanquished, that we may have continued peace in Israel…. Our enemies are many, but our Protector commandeth the whole world….

King James VI of Scotland and I of England

King James VI of Scotland (James I of England) (1566-1625), who commissioned the King James Bible, claimed that the Lord had made him King over Israel; the gold coin of his day, bearing his head was called the “Jacobus” and James had the reverse inscribed in Latin the prophecy of Ezekiel 37:22, “I will make of them one nation.”

Pastor John Cotton, Puritan Clergyman
In 1630, prior to the departure of the ship Abrella for America with Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans aboard, the young Puritan minister John Cotton preached a stirring farewell message taken from 2 Samuel 7:10:

I  will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed….

Pastor Cotton further exhorted his audience:

Go forth … with a publick spirit … have a tender care … to your children, that they doe not degenerate as the Israelites did….

American historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote the following concerning Pastor Cotton’s sermon:

Cotton’s sermon was of a nature to inspire these new children of Israel with the belief that they were the Lord’s chosen people; destined, if they kept the covenant with Him, to people and fructify this new Canaan in the western wilderness.

B. Woodbridge concluded his epitaph for Pastor John Cotton with the following words:

Though Moses [referring to Pastor John Cotton] be [dead], yet Joshua is not dead: I mean renowned [Pastor John] Norton; worthy he, Successor to our Moses, is to be. O happy Israel in America. In such a Moses, such a Joshua.

Edward Johnson, English Historian
In 1630 historian Edward Johnson, writing of those early Puritan and Pilgrim settlers, often made reference to them as being Israel:

…the Lambe is preparing his Bride … yee the ancient Beloved of Christ, whom he of old led by hand from Egypt to Canaan through that great and terrible Wildernesse.

…you the Seed of Israel both lesse and more, the rattling of your dead bones is at hand, Sinewes, Flesh and Life: at the Word of Christ it comes.

…you  People of Israel gather together as one Man, and together as one Tree. Ezekiel 37 and 23.31

Then judge all you … whether these poore New England People, be not the forerunners of Christ’s Army, and the marvelous providences which you shall now heare, be not the very Finger of God, and whether the Lord hath not sent this people to Preach in this Wildernesse, and to proclaime to all Nations, the neere approach of the most wonderful workes that ever the Sonnes of men saw. Will not you believe that a Nation can be borne in a day [Isa. 66:8 – a Scripture that can only be fulfilled in Israel]?

This year the great troubles in our native country encreasing, and that hearing prophane Esau had mustered up all thye Bands he could make to come against his brother Jacob, these wandering race of Jacobites deemed it now high time to implore the Lord for his especial aid in this time of their deepest distress.

As Jacob professes, I came over this Jordan with my staff, and now have I gotten two Bands; so they came over this boisterous billow-boyling Ocean, a few poor scattered stones raked out of the heaps of rubbish, and thou Lord Christ has now so far exalted them, as to lay them sure in thy Sion … the seed of Christ’s Church in the posterity of Israel should be cut off, and therefore pleaded the promise of the Lord in the multiplying of his seed; so these people at this very time, pleaded not only the Lord’s promise to Israel, but to his only son Christ Jesus.

Pastor Jonathan Mitchell, Puritan Preacher
On October 4, 1649, Pastor Jonathan Mitchell wrote in his diary:

…God will humble me before the sun, and in the sight of all Israel

On August 8, 1667, at Pastor John Wilson’s funeral, Pastor Mitchell included the following in his eulogy:

Ah! Now there’s none who does not know, that this day in our Israel, is fall’n a great and good man too

Nathaniel Morton, New Plymouth Court Secretary
In 1669 in New England’s Memorial, Nathaniel Morton wrote of God moving the seed of Abraham to New England:

That especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works (Psal. 105.5,6.) in the beginning and progress of the planting of New-England, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness; that he cast out the heathen and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance (Exod. 15.13.) in respect of precious gospel-enjoyments. So that we may not only look back to former experiences of God’s goodness to our [Israelite] predecessors, (though many years before) and so have our faith strengthened in the mercies of God for our times

I shall close up this small history with a word of advice to the rising generation…. God did once plant a noble vine in New-England, but it is degenerated into the plant of a strange vine. Jer. ii, 21. It were well that it might be said that the rising generation did serve the Lord all the days of such as in this our Israel …Josh. xxiv, 31.

Pastor James Keith, American Clergyman
On October 30, 1676, in a letter to Pastor John Cotton, Pastor James Keith wrote the following:

Let us join our prayers, at the throne of grace, with all our might, that the Lord would so dispose of all of public motions and affairs, that his Jerusalem, in this wilderness, may be the habitation of justice and the mountain of holiness

Pastor Increase Mather, American Clergyman and Author
In 1681, in a preface to a discourse on Urian Oakes, Pastor Increase Mather wrote the following:

…[Urian Oakes] at last called to the head of the “sons of the prophets” in this New-English Israel

Pastor John Bunyan, English Preacher and Author
Regarding the beliefs of Pastor John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of Pilgrim’s Progress, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein commented:

…Bunyan actually fancied himself an Israelite

Pastor Cotton Mather, American Clergyman and Historian
In 1702 a Boston minister Cotton Mather wrote the following concerning New England and some of her earlier inhabitants:

…in our hastening voyage unto the History of a new-English Israel

…I am going to give unto the Christian reader an history of some feeble attempts made in the American hemisphere to anticipate the state of the New-Jerusalem

These good people [the first settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts] were now satisfied, they had as plain a command of Heaven to attempt a removal [from England, Ireland and Scotland], as ever their father Abraham had for his leaving the Chaldean territories…

Among these passengers were divers worthy and useful men, who were come to seek the welfare of this little Israel…
The colony might fetch its own description from the dispensations of the great God, unto his ancient Israel, and say, “O, God of Hosts, thou has brought a vine out of England…

whilst he [Massachusetts Bay Colony’s Governor John Winthrop] thus did, as our New-English Nehemiah, the part of a ruler in managing the public affairs of our American Jerusalem … he made himself still an exacter parallel unto the the governour of Israel…
Make room, then, for Urian Oakes, ye records of New-England. He was born in England … whose liberal education in our College have rendered the family not he least in our little Israel…

Dean Jacque Abadie, French Educator and Author
In 1723 Dean Jacques Abbadie of Killaloe, Ireland, wrote regarding the whereabouts of the “lost” Israelites:

Unless the Ten Tribes of Israel are flown into the air, or sunk into the earth; they must be those ten Gothic Tribes that entered Europe in the fifth century, overthrew the Roman Empire and founded the ten nations of modern Europe.

Alexander Cruden, Scottish Bible Concordance Compiler
In 1761 on a page addressed “TO THE KING” in the well-known Concordance of Alexander Cruden, the author renders this prayer:

May the great God be the guide of your life, and direct and prosper you, that it may be said by the present and future ages, that King George the Third hath been an Hezekiah to our British Israel.

In 1773 the men of Marlborough, Connecticut, made this proclamation:

Death is more eligible than slavery. A freeborn people are not required by the religion of Jesus Christ to submit to tyranny, but may make use of such power as God has given them to recover and support their laws and liberties… (they) implored the Ruler above the skies, that He would make bare His arm in defense of His church and people, and let Israel go.

Jonathan Trumbull, Connecticut Governor
In a letter dated July 13, 1775, to George Washington (then Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army) Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut, wrote in part:

…be strong and very courageous, May the God of the Armies of  Israel shower down the blessings of His Divine Providence on You

George Washington

[Almighty God] Endow with the spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be peace and justice at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth….

One may wonder at whether Governor Trumbull was referring to the Continental Army as one of the “armies of Israel.” There appears no question as to his intent when one reads another exhortation written in his own hand later that same year. In a public proclamation concerning Thanksgiving, dated October 14, 1775, Governor Trumbull proclaimed:

That God would … guide our affairs in this dark and difficult Day; and make them know what Israel ought to do … that He would confirm and increase Union and Harmony in the Colonies, and throughout America…

Great Seal of the United States of America
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the emerging new nation. The committee was composed of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Both Franklin and Jefferson proposed designs related to ancient Israel. While John Adams’ contribution is not recorded here, he wrote to his wife, Abigail, on August 1, 1776, and described in part what the committee had thus far accomplished:

Dr. F[ranklin] proposes a Device for a seal. Moses lifting up his Wand, and dividing the Red Sea, and Pharaoh, in his Chariot overwhelmed with the Waters … The motto: Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.

Mr. Jefferson proposed. The Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by day, and Pillar of Fire by night, and on the others Side Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon Chiefs, from whom We claim the Honour of being descended and whose Political Principles and Form of Government We have assumed.

Following are later depictions of these ideas by Franklin and Jefferson:

Pastor John Clark, American Preacher
In 1781 in his election sermon, Pastor Jonas Clark spoke of the children of the captivity who came to this new land to serve God:

Under this happy [Massachusetts] constitution we have seen, to universal satisfaction, that blessed prophecy concerning GOD’S people after their return from captivity, literally fulfilled unto us “There congregation shall be established before me – their nobles shall be of themselves, and their Governor shall proceed from the midst of them.” (Jer. 30:20-21)

May we not – yea, rather, ought we not, upon this joyful occasion, in a deep sense of our obligations to heaven, to ascribe the glory of all to GOD, and devoutly acknowledge that this is the LORD’S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes!

On this joyful day we are invited to see God, the Supreme ruler, on the throne of his holiness, the favour and defence of an afflicted land; “The princes of the people of the God of Abraham gathered together”: And ‘The Shields of the earth.” (Ps. 47:9) The rulers of every department, devoting themselves to the service of God and their country, in devout acknowledgement of his government, to the end, that God might be greatly exalted, in the good of his people, by their administration.

Noah Webster, American Statesman and Lexicographer
In 1783 Noah Webster wrote The Elementary Spelling Book, better known as the Blue-Back Speller. Following “Lesson Number 123” we find Mr. Webster’s sentiments regarding our Israelite relatives:

All Israelites are brethren, descendents of common parents. How unnatural and wicked it is to make war on our brethren, to conquer them or to plunder and destroy them

George Washington, American General and President

In 1785 George Washington referred to America as the “second land of promise,and in his first inaugural address in April, 1789, he accredited Providence for advancing the affairs of this new nation:

No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency

Thomas Jefferson, American Statesman and President
In 1814 in a letter written to Dr. Walter Jones regarding the death of President George Washington, Thomas Jefferson conveyed his belief in an American Israel:

I felt on his [George Washington’s] death, with my countyrmen, that “verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel.”

Pastor B. Murphey, Canadian Preacher
In 1817 Pastor Murphey provided evidence for the Israelites’ migrations into Ireland:

Israelites came from Egypt into Ireland.

Washington Irving, American Essayist, Novelist, and Historian
In 1824 in his story “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Washington Irving wrote the following about a man whom he named “Absalom Crowinshield” who lived in New England in the 1700s:

It was announced in the papers with the usual flourish, that “A great man had fallen in Israel.”

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish Poet and Novelist
In 1830 in his novel Woodstock, Scottish author Sir Walter Scott had Oliver Cromwell using these words:

…as my soul liveth, and as He liveth who hath made me [Oliver Cromwell] a ruler in Israel

United States District Court for the District of Maine
On November 5, 1840, in a case titled “The Huntress, 12 F. Cas. 984, 993” regarding Constitutional neglect, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine declared:

…we may well ask, with some feelings of surprise, where during these seven years, were slumbering the watchmen of our American Israel.

Charters & Constitutions

In several colonies and States a profession of the Christian faith was made an indispensable condition to holding office. In the frame of government for Pennsylvania, prepared by William Penn, in 1683, it was provided that “all treasurers, judges, and other officers, and all members elected to serve in provincial council and general assembly, and all that have right to elect such members, shall be such as profess faith in Jesus Christ.” And in the charter of privileges for that colony, given in 1701 by William Penn and approved by the colonial assembly, it was provided “that all persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, shall be capable to serve this government in any capacity, both legislatively and executively.”**

**Similar requirements can also be found in the Delaware Constitution of 1776; the New Hampshire Constitutions of 1704 and 1792; the Fundamental Constitutions of the Carolinas; the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780; the Fundamental Order of Connecticut for its Governor; the Vermont Constitution of 1777; the Maryland Constitution of 1776; the current Maryland Bill of Rights, Article 37; the Mississippi Constitution of 1817; and the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 with 1963 supplements – most of which are listed in Justice Brewer’s speech.

1606 – The Charter for the Virginia Colony read in part: “To the glory of
His divine Majesty, in propagating of the Christian religion to such people
as yet live in ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God.”

1606 – JAMESTOWN CHARTER – Purpose: “…in propagation of the Christian religion.”

1606 – FIRST VIRGINIA CHARTER: “…tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God….”

1610 – NEW ENGLAND CHARTER – Aims in settling America: “…to increase the knowledge of the Omnipotent God and the propagation of our Christian faith.”*
*”First, it will be a service unto the Church of great consequence, to carry the Gospel unto those parts of the world, and raise a bulwark against the Kingdom of AntiChrist….” Pastor Cotton Mather, D.D., “General Considerations for the Plantation of New England,” Magnalia Christi Americana or The Ecclesiastical History of New-England quoted by Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America (New York, NY: The Colonial Press, 1899) Vol. 2, p. 360.

1609 – Second Virginia Charter – Purpose: “to live in fear and true worship of Almighty God, Christian peace, and civil quietness.”

1610 – New England Charter -Aims in settling America: “to increase the knowledge of the Omnipotent God and the propagation of our Christian faith.  Walter S. Remmie, “This Is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX) July 1981, p. 28.

1620 – MAYFLOWER COMPACT (the first legal document in America): “In the name of God amen … having undertaken for the glory of God, and [the] advancement of the Christian faith….”

1620 – King James I granted the Charter of the Plymouth council. “In the
hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion, to the
glory of God Almighty.”

1620 – The Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact aboard the Mayflower, in
Plymouth Harbor. “For the glory of God and advancement of ye Christian faith.
doe by these presents solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God and one of
another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civil body
politick[sic].”

1623 – “But God gave them health and strength in a good measure; and
showed them by experience the truth of the word, Deuteronomy 8:3: ‘Man does
not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the
Lord.’” (William Bradford, in BHOPP, p. 175).

1624 -SWEDISH CHARTER OF DELAWARE COLONY: “In the first place God’s glory, which above all must be especially cared for and promoted, can be increased thereby, His blessed Word and Holy Gospel planted and spread among all kinds of people and many thousand souls be brought to the true knowledge and understanding of God.”

1629 – The first Charter of Massachusetts read in part: “For the
directing, ruling, and disposing of all other Matters and Thinges, whereby
our said People may be soe religiously, peaceablie, and civilly governed, as
their good life and orderlie Conversacon, maie wynn and incite the Natives of
the Country to the Knowledg and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of
Mankinde, and the Christian Fayth, which in our Royall Intencon, and The
Adventurers free profession, is the principall Ende of the
Plantacion….”[sic]

1632 – MARYLAND CHARTER: [our Celto-Saxon forefathers were] animated with a laudable and pious zeal for extending the Christian religion … Cecil Calvert [founder of Maryland] wrote in a letter at the time: “At the place prepared we [Celto-Saxon Christians] all kneeled down and said certain prayers; taking possession of the country for our Saviour and for our sovereign Lord.”  Nathanial Morton, New England’s Memorial (Cambridge, MA: S.G. and M.J. for John Usher, 1669), reproduced with extracts from other writers (Boston, MA: Congregational Board of Publication, 1854) p. 20.

1630 – Settlement of Massachusetts published under the subtitle of “Wonder-Working Providence of Zion’s Saviour.”

1636 – Harvard, which was the first college in America, whose name-sake and benefactor* stated in his provision for a fund to build a college: “Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”  1636 Harvard University document, quoted in John le Boutillier, Harvard Hates America: The Odyssey of a Born-again American (South Bend, IN: Gateway Editions, 1978), quoted in Walter S. Remmie, “This is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX, July 1981) p. 29.
John Harvard (1607-1638) was the namesake and benefactor of Harvard University, founded in 1636 and still operating undera 1650 charter

1638 – The towns of Hartford, Weathersfield, and Windsor adopt the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. “To mayntayne and presearve the liberty
and purity of the Gospell of our Lord Jesus, which we now professe….” [sic]

1639 – The governing body of New Hampshire is established. “Considering
with ourselves the holy will of God and our own necessity, that we should not
live without wholesome laws and civil government among us, of which we are
altogether destitute, do, in the name of Christ and in the sight of God,
combine ourselves together to erect and set up among us such government as
shall be, to our best discerning, agreeable to the will of God….”

1639 – Fundamental Orders of Connecticut states as a part of its purpose: “to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess…Walter S. Remmie, “This is a Christian Nation,” Kingdom Digest (Irving, TX, July 1981) pp. 28-29. Additional documents, charters, constitutions, etc., are quoted in this same article.

1643 -ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION: “Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and ye same end and arms, namely to advance the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and to enjoys ye liberties of ye Gospell in puritie with peace….”
1775 – In Patrick Henry’s speech: “We shall not fight alone. God presides
over the destinies of nations, and will raise up friends for us. The battle
is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave…
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains
and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God! I know not what course others may take,
but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

1787 Article III of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787: “Religion, morality,
and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

1789 – George Washington said “Let us with caution indulge the
supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.” (Schroeder
ed. p. 106)

1794 – John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in a
letter to his wife, stated “God’s will be done; to him I resign-in him I
confide. Do the like. Any other philosophy applicable to this occasion is
delusive. Away with it.” (Johnston ed. vol. 4, p. 7.)

In addition to the nation’s united expression of faith in God, each individual state has separately acknowledged God as Sovereign and as the Author of liberty. The Legislative Service of the Library of Congress has compiled the provisions of State constitutions relative to the Supreme Being.  Pat Brooks, et.al., “50 Evidences that the U.S.A. is ‘Constitutionally Christian!,” Appendix D, Freedom or Slavery! (Fletcher, NC: New Puritan Library, 1990) p. 159. Pages 159-165 contain the pertinent portion of all 50 state constitutions.

ARIZONA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 12: The liberty of conscience shall not be construed to excuse acts of licentiousness….

CALIFORNIA, DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section4: … The liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious….

DELAWARE, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 1: …it is the duty of all men to frequently assemble together for public worship of Almighty God; and piety and morality, on which the prosperity of communities depend are hereby promoted….

MARYLAND, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 36: …it is the duty of every man to worship God; and piety and morality, on which the prosperity of communities depend are hereby promoted….

MASSACHUSETTS, DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Article 2: It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly and at stated sessions, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.

Article 3: As the happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon the piety, religion and morality…. And every denomination of Christians….

MINNESOTA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 16: … The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed … the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness….

MISSISSIPPI, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 18: … The rights hereby secured shall not be construed to justify acts of licentiousness injurious to morals or dangerous to the peace and safety of the state, or to exclude the Holy Bible from use in any public school of this state.

NEBRASKA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 4: All persons have a natural indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience…. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the legislature to pass suitable laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceful enjoyment of its own mode of public worship….

NEW HAMPSHIRE, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 6: As morality and piety, rightly grounded on high principles, will give the best and greatest security to government, and will allay, in the hearts of men, the strongest obligations to due subjection; and as the knowledge of these is most likely to be propagated through society, therefore, the several parishes, bodies, corporate, or religious societies, shall at all times have the right of electing their own teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance, or both….

OHIO, BILL OF RIGHTS, Section 7: All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience…. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government….

VIRGINIA, BILL OF RIGHTS, Article 1, Section 16: That religion or the duty which we owe our Creator… it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other….

On the 20th September, 1776, the first constitution of the Delaware State was adopted, the 22d article of which provided, that “every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath … to wit: I … do profess of faith in God, the father, and Jesus Christ his only son, and in the Holy Ghost, on God blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the old and new testaments to be given by divine inspiration.  Clayton, pp. 565-566.

Freedom of Religion

In 1776 there were approximately 2.5 million people in America. Less than one percent of the population was, represented by 20,000 Catholics, 3,000 Jews, and a few Deists; more than ninety-nine percent were Christian Protestants.

After the Constitution was signed and the Bill of Rights made provision of Freedom of Religion these numbers changed drastically.

In 2007 the percentages were as follows:

Which religion had the most to gain?  Roman Catholicism.  Yah willing, this will be addressed in a future study but it begs the question…who had the most to gain by the American Revolution?  The Puritans and those who sought to follow the Scriptures in peace and freedom had no desire to rebel against the king.  It was these same Puritans that refused to allow Catholicism to take a stronghold in America due to the persecution they saw in Europe.  A good reference to learn about more history on the founding of America is ‘Rulers of Evil’ by Tupper Saussy.

Native American Indians

The Indians that were at the first Thanksgiving were the Wampanoag Indians.

The Wampanoag had their own harvest celebration in which they gave thanks for abundant crops to Kiehtan, the Creator. They believed corn, the most valued crop, was a gift from him. The tribe expressed gratitude to the spirits of the game for the animals they killed for food.

Wampanoagtribe.net

tribal elder Gladys Widdiss has to say about the Wampanoag and thanksgiving:

“With Native Americans you do not separate the spiritual from the rest of your life. You’re very involved with who you are, where you came from , and where you are going. We have special holidays or festivals, but every day is a day of thanksgiving.”

Native American’s & Yisrael connection

Cherokee Indians

18th Century explorer, trader, and researcher, James Adair from London, author of History of the American Indians who spent 40 years among the Cherokees, wrote a book named Out of the Flame, listing 23 hard proofs why he believed the Cherokees were descended from Israel. Among other things, the Cherokees were fiercely monotheistic who observed the Ten Commandments to the letter. Harvard professor Barry Fell cites an ancient carving of the Ten Commandments in North America as further proof, another subscriber to the lost tribe theory. Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, former USAF Chaplain and prominent Jewish historian, also holds that the Indians of the Americas are descendants of Northern Israel’s seafaring tribes, Dan and Zevulun. The additional list is long and exhaustive.

Understanding the Exodus Stephen Barrett Segall
James Adair lived among the Cherokee for 40 years beginning in 1736 and John Howard Payne lived among them in the early 1800’s.  Both speak of Cherokee legends about the creation, the great flood, expulsion from Eden, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, crossing the Red Sea, Moses, wandering in the wilderness and the construction of the tent of worship and sacred ark.
The Cherokee believed in life after death, reward and punishment after death for behavior in life, an emphasis on spiritual and sexual purity and the use of baptism and fasting as a means of purification.
On certain days Cherokee would assemple for worship in obedience to Ye ho waah.  If obedient to Ye ho waah’s commandments they would spend eternity with Him in heaven, if not they would spend eternity in a lake of fire and be tortured forever.
In the Cherokee story of creation, the Great Spirit created the world in seven days.  Man was created from the dust of the earth and the Creator breathed life into him.  The Creator saw that man was loney and took one of his ribs to make a woman.  Initially man could live forever, and snakes were not poisonous.  But to make sure the world was not overpopulated the Creator made snakes poisonous and a member of the first family was bitten by a snake and died.  As a result of this all people were doomed to death.
Cherokees tradition stated that Ye ho waah had commanded the people to rest from work every seventh day.  They celebrated the new moon.  They had crystals for predicting the future like the Urim and Thummim.  They had a sacred ark that represented an everlasting bond between them and the Creator.
SEE Cherokee People by Thomas Mails

Cherokee Corn Feasts Parallel Jewish Holy Days!
Also, one of the more convincing evidences is that the Jews followed a Religious Calendar of 7 main Festivals. And so did the Mediavel Cherokee! Even more so, examination of these Celebrations show that they were basically about the same thing–except that the Cherokee followed the growing cycle of corn, rather than that of barley and wheat, as the Jews did.

And for a brief summary, these Mediavel Cherokee Festivals were:1- FIRST FULL MOON OF SPRING,
which would have been literally the Day of Passover, and was accompanied by the slaughter of a lot of animals to prepare the meat for that Feast Day, and was set by the sprouting of the new grass of Spring (like the Passover Barley)! [Not to mention the intensive Spring Cleaning of the Feast!]

 

2- GREEN CORN FESTIVAL,
which was when the corn first balled, so that it could be cooked and eaten–similar to First Fruits, when the Barley was first edible. (However, for the Cherokee, this occured later in the year, more towards Summer, as the Climate in America was not as warm as in the Middle East).

3- MATURE or RIPE CORN FESTIVAL,
which was set for 50 days after the Green Corn Festival (like Pentecost)–and when the Sacred Fire in the Heptagon (like the Jewish Temple Menorah) was re-lit for the next year!

4- GREAT NEW MOON FEAST,
which was set as the first Full Moon of Autumn, and when Cherokee myth said that the whole world was created (and similar to Rosh HaShannah)!

5- PROPITIATION and CEMENTATION CEREMONY,
for cleansing one’s soul of Sin, and joining in UNITY with the Community as they ALL joined with the Creator–setting their relationship to HIM in cement (and similar to the Day of Atonement, with its earlier Kol Nidre purifications and making ammends.) Moreover, as this ended the Torah Study Cycle, many Jewish boys were often bar mitzvahed here, with an appropriate ceremony for Cherokee lads, also.

6- FESTIVAL OF EXALTING or BONDING BUSH CEREMONY (week long),
or a very loose approximating of the 8 Day Feast of Tabernacles–and in the Fall.

Here we see that the Cherokees followed a festival cycle similar to the Scriptural festival cycle.  Did the Wampanoag also trace their festivals back to the Scriptures?

1- Much of the information for the early or Mediavel Cherokee comes from the colonial works of Payne, Butrick, and Adair, a lot of which is quoted in THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE–The Story of the Cherokees, from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times; by Thomas E. Mails, published in 1992 by Council Oak Books of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 2- Supplemental information confirming Mails work can also be found in The HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS and Their Legends and Folklore by Emmet Starr from Oklahoma City in 1921 but was reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 2004.

Pagan Harvest Festivals

Does the holiday of Thanksgiving derive from pagan customs like other holidays in American culture such as Christmas, Easter and Halloweenclick here?

The first feast wasn’t repeated, so it wasn’t the beginning of a tradition. In fact, the colonists didn’t even call the day Thanksgiving. To them, a thanksgiving was a religious holiday in which they would go to church and thank God for a specific event, such as the winning of a battle. On such a religious day, the types of recreational activities that the pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians participated in during the 1621 harvest feast–dancing, singing secular songs, playing games–wouldn’t have been allowed. The feast was a secular celebration, so it never would have been considered a thanksgiving in the pilgrims minds.

History.com

World Book Encyclopedia, 1942 Edition, article entitled, Thanksgiving Day

‘Thanksgiving Day, in the United States and Canada, a day set apart for the giving of thanks to God for the blessings of the year. Originally, it was a harvest thanksgiving, and while the purpose has become less specific, the festival still takes place late in autumn, after the crops have been gathered.’ Indeed, it is probably an outgrowth of the Harvest-Home celebrations in England. Such celebrations are of very ancient origin, being nearly universal among primitive peoples.

The Ancient Greek Harvest festival was called Thesmophora and celebrated Demeter, the founder and goddess of the harvests.  The symbols of Demeter were poppies of ears of corn, a basket of fruit and a little pig.  The Roman goddess of the harvest, Ceres had a festival, which occurred on October 4th and was called the Cerelia.

In ancient China, the 15th day of the eighth month was considered the birthday of the moon. To honor this special occasion, the families held a festival called Chung Chiui trimmed with a meal of moon cakes, roasted pig, and fruit.

Each October the Romans danced to music and watched as parades awed the eyes of onlookers during a celebration they called Cerelia. During the tradition pig and fruit were offered as gifts to the gods, while the people feasted together in thankfulness to their goddess.

Egyptians celebrated fruitful harvest by honoring the God of Vegetation and fertility. This celebration was held each spring and included feasting, music and dancing.

The pagans in Rome celebrated their thanksgiving in early October. The holiday was dedicated to the goddess of the harvest, Ceres, and the holiday was called Cerelia. The Catholic church took over the pagan holiday and it became well established in England, where some of the pagan customs and rituals for this day were observed long after the Roman Empire had disappeared. In England the “Harvest Home” has been observed continuously for centuries.

The ancient Semites called the earth mother Astarte…The Phrygians called her Semele. These deities were absorbed by the Greeks into the one great goddess, Demeter.’ ‘The Roman also had a harvest festival which they called the Cerelia, after Ceres, the Roman goddess of the corn.’

In our own hemisphere, among the Aztecs of Mexico, the harvest took on a grimmer aspect. Each year a young girl, a representation of Xilonen, The goddess of the new corn, was beheaded. The Pawnees also sacrificed a girl. In a more temperate mood, the Cherokees of the American Southeast danced the Green Corn Dance and began the new year at harvest’s end.

We Gather Together: The Story of Thanksgiving, by Ralph and Adeline Linton, 1949.

‘Even before biblical times the ancient people of the Mediterranean Basin held festivals at harvest time in honor of the earth mother. The goddess of the corn (‘corn’ being the European term for any grain; Indian corn (American corn), is called maize), was always one of the most important deities in the hierarchy of the gods, and her child was the young god of vegetation.’17

‘The ancient Semites called the earth mother Astarte…The Phrygians called her Semele…The Minoans had an earth mother for each district. All these local deities were absorbed by the Greeks into the one great goddess, Demeter.’18

‘Besides eating, feasting, etc. the married women practiced special rites. Under the cover of night, the women spent the next day bathing nude in the sea and dancing and playing games on the shore. Then they fasted, sang songs, then feasted, sang, and had general gaiety. All this lasted over a period of several days.’19

‘The Roman harvest festival…was called the Cerelia, after Ceres, the Roman goddess of the corn.’20

‘With the acceptance of Christianity as the official religion of Rome and the conversion of the barbarians who had invaded the crumbling Empire, these pagan rituals were frowned upon and even forbidden by law. However, the peasants clung to them with a tenacity which has made the word ‘pagan’ (originally meaning simply ‘a villager’), a synonym for ‘heathen.’ As late as the sixth century … St. Benedict … found the local peasantry worshiping Apollo in a sacred grove. Even after conversion, old habits and beliefs died hard, and the church was too busy trying to keep the flame of civilization alive to trouble with minor heresies.’21

‘The benevolent earth mother … blended with the equally benevolent mother of Christ. Folk memory of local deities fused with the Christian tales of saints to provide patrons for villages, and the white robed goddess of grain lived on in various guises. To those who live close to the soil, the harvest has an emotional and religious significance … their gratitude finds expression in rites in honor of the being who they feel is most closely related to fruitfulness; a being of warm earth, rather then cold heaven.’22

‘Even today a half pagan belief in the corn mother still survives among the peasant’s in many parts of Europe.’23

‘The Pilgrims undoubtedly brought memories of such English harvest home celebrations with them when they came to the new world. They had also witnessed ‘thanksgiving’ ceremonies during their sojourn in Holland … The Pilgrims themselves would have denied that the Thanksgiving feast in honor of their first harvest in 1621 was evoked by memories of the profane practices of the old world; however, all revolutionaries, political or religious, once their goal is accomplished, turn back to the patterns of the society in which they have been reared, and the Pilgrims, at the time of the first Thanksgiving, were no exception.’24

‘In Peru, the ancient Indians worshiped the ‘Mother of Maize’ and tried every year to persuade her to bring in another good harvest. In Europe, the Austrians also had a ‘Corn Mother’ doll, fashioned from the last sheaf of grain cut in the field and then brought home to the village in the last wagon.’

Organic Gardening and Farming, Nov. 1975, page 132ff, the article entitled, Thanksgiving Day.

Cornucopia

The cornucopia,a horn-shaped container overflowing with fruit, nuts, and vegetables which is typically seen at Thanksgiving in the United States is a Pagan Symbol.

From Wikipedia,
The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty, Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone.

In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk. When her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together, this changed Amalthea into a unicorn with 17 whiskers. The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn. The horn then had supernatural powers which would give person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat’s horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, was depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman’s fertility.

In modern depiction, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket typically filled with various kinds of festive fruit and vegetables. In North America, the cornucopia has come to be associated with Thanksgiving and the harvest.

Harvest Queen
A name given to Ceres the Roman goddess of agriculture and crops or to a young woman chosen from among the reapers to whom was given a post of honor at the harvest home.  Demeter is the Greek version of the Egyptian goddess Isis and Roman version of Ceres.

Harvest festivals around the world:

* Mid-Autumn Festival: China
* Chuseok: Korea
* Dongmaeng: Korea
* Bon Festival: Japan
* Dożynki Poland
* Erntedank: Germany & Austria (1st Sunday in October)
* Festa e Grurit (Wheat Festival): A festival that used to mark the end of the harvest of wheat in Communist Albania. No longer observed.
* Freyfaxi (Aug. 1st): marks the beginning of the harvest in Norse paganism. Historically from Iceland, the celebration consists of blót, horse races, martial sports, and other events, often dedicated to the god Freyr.
* Harvest festival: United Kingdom
* Lammas or Lughnasadh (Aug 1): celebration of first harvest/grain harvest in Paganism and Wicca spirituality and by the ancient Celts.
* Mabon (Autumnal Equinox): the second of three recognized harvest sabbats in Paganism and Wicca
* Mhellia: Isle of Man
* Mehregan (October 2): Iran, Ancient Persia
* Annual Harvest Festival of Prosser, Washington, celebrated on the 4th full weekend in September
* Samhain (October 31): the third and final of three recognized harvest sabbats in Paganism and Wicca; celebration of the end of the harvest season and beginning of the Celtic New Year.
* Solung: falls between June and July for nine days. The Adi (also Abor) is a major collective tribe living in the Himalayan hills of Arunachal Pradesh
* Sukkot: Jewish harvest festival lasting eight days in the fall, in which time is spent in tabernacles or booths
* Hasyl toýy:Turkmenistan – the holiday on the last Sunday in November.
* Timoleague: Harvest Festival is held every year in August – Tigh Molaige in Irish
* Ikore: celebrated by the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria
* Khuado Pawi: celebrated by the Chin tribe of India, Burma and recently in the USA and many other parts of the world.

North America

* Duneland Harvest Festival: celebrated the last weekend in September in Porter, Indiana, near Chicago.
* Harvest Festival (United States): celebrated by American Christians on October 31st
* Thanksgiving (United States): the holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.
* Thanksgiving (Canada): the holiday on the second Monday in October.

South Asia

* Bhogali Bihu: (or Magh Bihu) is a harvest festival celebrated in Assam which marks the end of harvesting season in mid-January.
* Lohri: celebrated in North India esp. Punjab
* Nabanna: Bengal region which comprises West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh
* Onam: celebrated by Malayali people in Kerala (India) and other places
* Pongal: celebrated by Tamil people in Tamil Nadu (India) and other places
* Sankranthi or Makar Sankranti: Celebrated in several regions of India including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
* Vaisakhi (or Baisakhi): celebrated by Punjabi people in Punjab (India), other parts of North India and elsewhere. The festival falls on the first day of Vaisakh month (usually mid-April), and marks the Punjabi New Year.
* Traditional New Year celebrations in Sri Lanka coincides with the harvest festival in mid-April.
* Dree Festival is a agricultural festival of the Apatanis of Ziro valley in Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh, which is celebrated every year from 4th to 7th July.

South Asia

* Flores de Mayo :Flower festival in the Philippines
* Gawai Dayak: Malaysia
* Kaamatan (May 30-31), Sabah in Malaysia
* Maras Taun: Belitung in Indonesia
* Mid-Autumn Festival: Vietnam
* Pahiyas Rice festival in the Philippines

Thanksgiving in the Scriptures

Food is associated with thanksgiving

1Ti 4:4  Because every creature of God is good, and nothing to be thrust away, but having been received with thanksgiving;
1Ti 4:5  for through God’s Word and supplication it is sanctified.

Thanksgiving comes from the Hebrew word Hodu which derives from Yadah.

From the root yad (hand)

Thanksgiving used in the Scriptures

Col 4:2  Steadfastly continue in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving,
Col 4:3  praying together about us also, that God may open to us a door of the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which I also have been bound,
Col 2:6  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
Col 2:7  being rooted and being built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Eph 5:1  Then become imitators of God, as beloved children,
Eph 5:2  and walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.
Eph 5:3  But let not fornication, and all uncleanness, or greediness, be named among you, as is fitting for saints;
Eph 5:4  also baseness, and foolish talking, or joking (the things not becoming), but rather thanksgiving.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for you, that the grace may superabound through the greater number, and may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Jer 33:11  the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of those saying, Praise YHWH of Hosts, for YHWH is good, for His mercy endures forever; those who shall bring the sacrifice of thanksgiving into the house of YHWH. For I will bring back the captivity of the land, as at the first, says YHWH.

Jer 30:17  For I will give health back to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says YHWH, because they called you, Outcast; saying, This is Zion; no one is seeking for her.
Jer 30:18  So says YHWH, Behold I will turn the captivity of Jacob’s tents and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her ruin heap; and the fortress shall remain on its own ordinance.
Jer 30:19  And out of them shall come thanksgiving and the voice of those who are merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I also will honor them, and they shall not be small.

Isa 51:3  For YHWH comforts Zion. He comforts all her desolations, and He makes her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of YHWH; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of singing praise.
Isa 51:4  Hear Me, My people; yea, give ear to Me, My nation. For a law shall go out from Me, and My justice I will make rest as light to peoples.
Isa 51:5  My righteousness is near; My salvation went out; and My arms shall judge peoples; coastlands shall wait on Me, and they shall hope on My arm.

Psa 100:1  A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to YHWH, all the land.
Psa 100:2  Worship YHWH with gladness; come before His face with joyful singing.
Psa 100:3  Know that YHWH, He is God; He has made us, and not we ourselves, His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Psa 100:4  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise; be thankful to Him; bless His name.
Psa 100:5  For YHWH is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His faithfulness to generation and generation.

Psa 107:1  Give thanks to YHWH, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever.
Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of YHWH say so, whom He redeemed from the hand of the foe;
Psa 107:3  and gathered them from the lands; from east and from west; from north and from south.
Psa 107:4  They wandered in the wilderness, in a desert way; they found no city of dwelling;
Psa 107:5  hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them;
Psa 107:6  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He delivered them from their straits.
Psa 107:7  And He guided them in the right way; to go to a city of dwelling.
Psa 107:8  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:9  He satisfies the thirsty soul, and He fills the hungry soul with good.
Psa 107:10  Those who live in the darkness, and in the shadow of death, being prisoners in affliction and iron,
Psa 107:11  because they rebelled against the Words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High;
Psa 107:12  and He humbled their heart by toil; they stumbled, and none were helping;
Psa 107:13  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He saved them out of their distresses;
Psa 107:14  He brought them out from darkness and the shadow of death; and He broke their bonds apart.
Psa 107:15  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:16  For He has broken the gates of bronze; and He cut bars of iron in two.
Psa 107:17  Fools are afflicted from the way of their rebellion, and from their iniquities;
Psa 107:18  their soul hates every food; and they touch the gates of death;
Psa 107:19  and they cried to YHWH in their distress; He saved them from their straits;
Psa 107:20  He sent His Word and healed them; and delivered them from all their pitfalls.
Psa 107:21  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of man.
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and recount His works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23  They who go down to the sea in ships, who work in the great waters;
Psa 107:24  these see the works of YHWH, and His wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For He speaks, and He raises stormy wind, and makes its waves high;
Psa 107:26  they go up to the heavens; they go down to the depths; their soul is melted because they are in evil;
Psa 107:27  they reel and stagger like a drunken man, and all their wisdom is swallowed up;
Psa 107:28  and they cry to YHWH in their distress, and He saves them out of their straits.
Psa 107:29  He settles the storm to a whisper, so that its waves are still;
Psa 107:30  and they are glad, because they are quiet; and He led them to their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Let them thank YHWH for His mercy, and His wonders to the sons of mankind;
Psa 107:32  and exalt Him in the congregation of the people; and praise Him in the seat of the elders.
Psa 107:33  He sets rivers to a wilderness, and watersprings to thirsty ground;
Psa 107:34  a fruitful land to a salty desert; because of the wickedness of those who live in it.
Psa 107:35  He puts the wilderness into pools of water; and dry land into water-springs;
Psa 107:36  and He makes the hungry live there, and they may prepare a city of dwelling.
Psa 107:37  And they sow the fields, and plant vineyards, and make fruits of produce.
Psa 107:38  He also blesses them, so that they multiply greatly; and He does not allow their cattle to diminish;
Psa 107:39  but they are diminished and bowed down from coercion, evil and grief.
Psa 107:40  He pours scorn on nobles, and causes them to wander in a desert; there is no path.
Psa 107:41  But He raises the poor up from affliction, and He sets families like a flock.
Psa 107:42  The upright shall see and be glad; and all iniquity shuts its mouth.
Psa 107:43  Whoever is wise and will observe these things, they shall discern the mercies of YHWH.
Psa 50:14  Offer thanksgiving to God, and pay your vows to the Most High.
Psa 50:15  And call on Me in the day of distress, and I will save you; and you shall glorify Me.
Psa 26:7  to cause to hear with the voice of thanksgiving and recount all Your wonderful works.
Psa 105:1  O give thanks to YHWH; call on His name; make His deeds known among the peoples.
Psa 105:2  Sing to Him; sing praises to Him; tell of all His wonders.
Psa 105:3  Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek YHWH rejoice.
Psa 105:4  Seek YHWH and His strength; seek His face without ceasing.
Psa 105:5  Remember His wonders that He has done, His miracles, and the judgments of His mouth,
Psa 105:6  O seed of His servant Abraham; O sons of Jacob, His elect.
Psa 105:7  He is YHWH our God; His judgments are in all the earth;
Psa 105:8  He has remembered His covenant forever; the Word He commanded to a thousand generations;
Psa 105:9  which He cut with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac;
Psa 105:10  and He established it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for a perpetual covenant;
Psa 105:11  saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the portion of your inheritance;
Psa 105:12  when they were a few men of number; very few, and aliens in it.
Psa 105:13  And they went about from nation to nation; from one kingdom to another people.
Psa 105:14  He allowed no man to oppress them; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes;
Psa 105:15  saying, Touch not My anointed; and, Do My prophets no harm.
Psa 105:16  And He called a famine on the land; He broke the whole staff of bread.
Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, Joseph, being sold for a slave;
Psa 105:18  they hurt his feet with chains; his soul came into iron;
Psa 105:19  until the time His Word came, the Word of YHWH refined him;
Psa 105:20  the king, the ruler of peoples, sent and shook off his links and set him free;
Psa 105:21  he made him lord of his house, and ruler over all he owned;
Psa 105:22  to bind his leaders at his will, and to teach his elders wisdom.
Psa 105:23  Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
Psa 105:24  And He increased His people greatly and made them stronger than their enemies.
Psa 105:25  He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.
Psa 105:26  He sent His servant Moses and Aaron whom He had chosen.
Psa 105:27  They put things of His signs among them; yea, wonders in the land of Ham.
Psa 105:28  He sent darkness and made it dark; and they did not rebel against His Word.
Psa 105:29  He turned their waters into blood and killed their fish.
Psa 105:30  Their land swarmed with frogs in the rooms of their kings.
Psa 105:31  He spoke, and fly swarms came; gnats in all their borders.
Psa 105:32  He gave hail for their rain, flaming fire in their land.
Psa 105:33  He struck their vines also, and their fig trees; and He broke the trees of their borders.
Psa 105:34  He spoke, and locusts came; and larvae without number;
Psa 105:35  and they ate up all the plants in the land; yea, ate the fruit of their ground.
Psa 105:36  He also struck all the first-born in their land, the firstfruit of all their vigor.
Psa 105:37  And He led them out with silver and gold; and among their tribes, not one was stumbling.
Psa 105:38  Egypt was glad when they went out, for their dread had fallen on them.
Psa 105:39  He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
Psa 105:40  He asked, and He brought quail; and satisfied them with the food from the heavens.
Psa 105:41  He opened the rock, and waters gushed out; they went in the dry places like a river.
Psa 105:42  For He remembered His holy Word and His servant Abraham;
Psa 105:43  and He brought His people out with joy; His elect with gladness.
Psa 105:44  And He gave to them the lands of the nations; and they inherited the labor of the peoples;
Psa 105:45  so that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws. Praise YHWH!

Rev 7:12  saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.

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Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born {G1080} again {G509}, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
G1080 γεννάω gennaō
to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate: – bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive

G509 ἄνωθεν anōthen from above; by analogy from the first; by implication anew:
ISR
Joh 3:3   “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him,  “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

LITV

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, If one is not generated from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
THE WORD IS LIKENED UNTO WATER
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
WE ARE WASHED BY THE NAME OF YAHSHUA AND THE SPIRIT
1Co 6:11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
HIS NAME=HIS WORD
Mat 12:18  Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Mat 12:19  He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
Mat 12:20  A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Mat 12:21  And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
MATTHEW 12:21 IS A REFERENCE TO ISAIAH 42:1
Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
Isa 42:2  He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

THE SPIRIT IS LIKENED UNTO WATER
Isa 44:3  For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
Eze 36:25  Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26  A new heart {circumcision of the heart}also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
HIS WORD IS SPIRIT
Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Born again/conceived from above by the Spirit/Word
Tit 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His compassion, through the washing of rebirth, and renewal by the Set-apart Spirit,
1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Jo 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Jam 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Jas 1:21  On account of this, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of evil, in meekness receive the implanted Word being able to save your souls.

The Seed, the Rain/water…life anew
Luk 8:11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luk 8:12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luk 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
Luk 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

Isa 55:10  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The root word for Torah has the meaning of rain

When the seed (the Word) is put into our hearts it must be watered (spirit of Torah) in order to grow.  When it brings forth fruit at maturity it will be in the image of the tree (son of Man) who planted it.

Nobody is born again yet…we are conceived from above, we will be born again when we receive our new bodies at the return of the Messiah. Yahshua is the Word/Torah made flesh, when we are recreated in His image we will be living epistles…walking Torah scrolls just as He was

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Jo 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Psa 17:15  As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

2Co 3:3  it having been made plain that you are Christ’s letter, served by us, not having been inscribed by ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of the heart.

Made anew to walk in the commandments
Wis 19:6  For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt:
1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation*, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

*Being born again=chosen/elect.  We are born again by the Word being implanted into our hearts and watered until it brings forth life, fruit.  The connection between those who are born again and those who are the chosen people is so strong that it can not be denied.

1Pe 2:9  But you are “an elect* race**,” “a royal priesthood,” “a holy nation,” “a people for possession,” so that “you may openly speak of the virtues” of the One who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; LXX-Ex. 23:22; MT-Ex. 19:5, 6

The word translated into english as elect or chosen is a greek word which when broken down to its root means “by or from the Word”click here
G1588*
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos
Thayer Definition:
1) picked out, chosen
1a) chosen by God
1a1) to obtain salvation through Christ
1a1a) Christians are called “chosen or elect” of God
1a2) the Messiah in called “elect”, as appointed by God to the most exalted office conceivable
1a3) choice, select, i.e. the best of its kind or class, excellence preeminent: applied to certain individual Christians
Part of Speech: adjective
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from G1586

G1586
ἐκλέγομαι
eklegomai
Thayer Definition:
1) to pick out, choose, to pick or choose out for one’s self
1a) choosing one out of many, i.e. Jesus choosing his disciples
1b) choosing one for an office
1c) of God choosing whom he judged fit to receive his favours and separated from the rest of mankind to be peculiarly his own and to be attended continually by his gracious oversight
1c1) i.e. the Israelites
1d) of God the Father choosing Christians, as those whom he set apart from the irreligious multitude as dear unto himself, and whom he has rendered, through faith in Christ, citizens in the Messianic kingdom: (Jam_2:5) so that the ground of the choice lies in Christ and his merits only
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: middle voice from G1537 and G3004 (in its primary sense)

G1537
ἐκ  /  ἐξ
ek  /  ex
Thayer Definition:
1) out of, from, by, away from
Part of Speech: preposition
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds), from, out (of place, time, or cause; literal or figurative

G3004
λέγω
legō
Thayer Definition:
1) to say, to speak
1a) affirm over, maintain
1b) to teach
1c) to exhort, advise, to command, direct
1d) to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say
1e) to call by name, to call, name
1f) to speak out, speak of, mention
Part of Speech: verb
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: a root word
–

This is the meaning of the word Nazarene/Netsar/Christian.

Born again…cut off but come back to life
The Nazarenes/Christians are from the tree of Israel, but a different sprout
Job 14:7  For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout(*chalaph) again, and its shoot will not cease.
Job 14:8  Though its root becomes old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust,
Job 14:9  at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.

Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
H5342 נצר nêtser  …the meaning of the word netser is one who watches over or guards in order to preserve.  This is what believers in Yahshua are.  They are His watchmen, whose purpose is to preserve Yisrael.
The Olive tree of Yisrael was cut down/died.  It was ‘born again’ through Messiah Yahshua.

Jer 11:16  The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17  For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Luk 3:8  Then bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones.
Luk 3:9  And also the axe is already laid to the root of the trees; therefore, every tree not producing good fruit is being cut down and being thrown into the fire.

Rom 11:15  For if their casting away is the reconciliation of the world, what is the reception, except life from the dead?

The Family of Elohim…New Creation

Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17  That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Partakers of His divine nature
Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature (G544), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

G5449 φύσις phusis
foo’-sis
From G5453; growth (by germination or expansion), that is, (by implication) natural production (lineal descent); by extension a genus or sort; figuratively native disposition, constitution or usage: – ([man-]) kind, nature ([-al]).

Jas 3:7  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

LITV
Jas 3:7  For every species of beasts, both indeed of birds, of creeping things, and of sea animals, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human species;
We are new creatures in Him

Joh 15:5  I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from Me you are not able to execute, nothing.
Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

The Israel of Elohimclick here are the new creation in Yahshua
Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Olive Treeclick here is Yahshua, when we are grafted into Him we partake of His divine nature.  We become the Israel of Elohim.
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

The Messiah is Israel
Isa 49:3  And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Isa 49:5  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

This prophecy is speaking of Messiah.  Messiah is the Servant Israel.
Isa 49:6  And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes(H7626) of Jacob, and to restore(shub…lead back in repentance) the preserved(v’netsri-Netsarim=followers of Messiah) of Israel.I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation(H3444yeshua) unto the end of the earth.

The Holy Spirit makes it clear that this prophecy is speaking of Yahshua our Lord.

Luk 2:29  Now, Master, You will let Your slave go in peace according to Your Word;
Luk 2:30  because my eyes saw Your Salvation,
Luk 2:31  which You prepared before the face of all the peoples;
Luk 2:32  a Light for revelation to the nations, and the Glory of Your people Israel.

The word for tribe points to the olive tree imagery.

H7626 שׁבט shêbeṭ shay’-bet
From an unused root probably meaning to branch off; a scion, that is, (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan: -  X correction, dart, rod, sceptre, staff, tribe.

ROMANS 11 THE REDEEMED OLIVE TREE OF ISRAEL
“GENTILES” and NATURAL BORN ISRAELITES ARE GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL.  ONLY THOSE IN MESSIAH (born again) ARE IN THE OLIVE TREE OF ISRAEL.
Rom 11:13  For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Rom 11:14  If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Rom 11:15  For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? (Eze 37; Zec 12:10; Mic 5:3)
Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit (1Cor 15:52) be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root (Isa 6:13; Gal 3:16) be holy, so are the branches (Joh 15:5).

The firstfruit and the root of this tree is Messiah.  He is the only One from which holiness comes.
Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches be broken off (Jer 11:16), and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; (Isa 14:1; Deu 29:9-12; Zec 2:11)
Rom 11:18  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19  Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23  And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26  And so all Israel (BOTH HOUSES) shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Isa 59:20; 45:25)
Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins…..JEREMIAH 31:31 THE NEW COVENANT IS ONLY WITH THE TWO HOUSES OF ISRAEL AND IS ONLY THROUGH MESSIAH HEB 8:8; 10:16

WILD BRANCHES GRAFTED IN
Rom 11:17  And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

NATURAL BRANCHES GRAFTED IN
Rom 11:24  For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

GRAFTING (SCION)
What is the definition of scion(pronounced Zion)
Scion
SCION. [See Cion.]
Cion
CION, n. A young shoot, twig or sprout of a tree, or plant, or rather the cutting of a twig, intended for ingrafting on another stock; also, the shoot or slip inserted in a stock for propagation.

Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

True Zion are those who are grafted into the Olive Tree of Yisrael who is Messiah.  The counterfeit is the Zionism we see in the world today which uplifts a false olive tree of Israel.  As Shaul says, not all those of Israel are Israel.
click here

Hebrew definition of Zion

H6726 ציּון tsîyôn tsee-yone’
The same (regular) as H6725; Tsijon (as a permanent capital), a mountain of Jerusalem: – Zion.
H6725 ציוּן tsîyûn tsee-yoon’
From the same as H6723 in the sense of conspicuousness (compare H5329); a monumental or guiding pillar: – sign, title, waymark.

Isa 8:16  Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
Isa 8:17  And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isa 8:18  Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs(H226 Ot flag, beacon, monument) and for wonders(H4159 mopheth conspicuousness,miracle, sign, wonder) in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

The Signs/waymarks are the children of Messiah.  His people.  This is  seen in the vision of Revelation 12 where the manchild who will rule with Messiah is born.

Rev 12:1  And a great sign was seen in the heavens, a woman having been clothed with the sun, and the moon was underneath her feet; and on her head a crown of twelve stars;

Rev 12:5  And she bore a son, a male, who is going to shepherd all the nations with an iron staff. And her child was caught away to God, and to His throne.

Rev 2:26  And the one overcoming, and the one keeping My works until the end, “I will give to him authority over the nations,”
Rev 2:27  and “He will shepherd them with an iron staff” (they are “broken to pieces like clay vessels”), as I also have received from My Father. Psa. 2:8, 9

Dan 7:21  I was looking, and that horn made war with the saints and overcame them,
Dan 7:22  until the Ancient of Days came. And judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.
Dan 7:26  But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his rulership, to cut off and to destroy until the end.
Dan 7:27  And the kingdom and rulership, and the greatness of the kingdom under all the heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him.

Being molded into His Image
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Sons of Elohim…this will be addressed more fully in a future study, Yah willing.

1Jo 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jo 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer* with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

*He learned obedience by suffering
Heb 5:6  As He also says in another place, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek,” Psa. 110:4
Heb 5:7  who in the days of His flesh was offering both petitions and entreaties to Him being able to save Him from death, with strong crying and tears, and being heard from His godly fear;
Heb 5:8  though being a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered
Heb 5:9  and having been perfected, He came to be the Author of eternal salvation to all the ones obeying Him,

Php 2:8  and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient until death, even the death of a cross.

1Pe 4:1  Therefore, Christ having suffered for us in the flesh, also you arm yourselves with the same thought, because he having suffered in the flesh has been made to rest from sin,
1Pe 4:2  for him no longer to live in the lusts of men, but to live the remaining time in the flesh in the will of God.
2Ti 2:11  Faithful is the Word: for if we died with Him, we also shall live with Him;
2Ti 2:12  if we endure, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, that One will deny us;
2Ti 2:13  if we are unfaithful, that One remains faithful; He is not able to deny Himself.
Jas 1:2  My brothers count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
Jas 1:3  knowing that the proving of your faith works patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have its perfective work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
1Pe 5:10  Now the God of all grace, the One calling you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, you having suffered a little, Himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen, establish you.

YHWH is perfecting us

Psa 57:2  I will cry to God Most High, to God who works (gamar=perfects) for me.
Psa 18:32  It is God who girds me with strength and gives my way to be perfect;

Luk 6:40  A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who has been perfected will be like his teacher.

Perfected by Messiah Yahshua, in the New Testament

Heb 10:14  For by one offering He has perfected in perpetuity the ones being sanctified.
Heb 10:15  And the Holy Spirit witnesses to us also. For after having said before,
Heb 10:16  “This is the covenant which I will covenant to them after those days, says the Lord: Giving My Laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds;”
Heb 10:17  also He adds, “I will not at all still remember their sins” and their lawlessnesses. MT-Jer. 31:33, 34

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Sir 33:7 Why doth one day excel another, when as all the light of every day in the year is of the sun?
Sir 33:8 By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished: and he altered seasons and feasts.
Sir 33:9 Some of them hath he made high days, and hallowed them, and some of them hath he made ordinary days.

From the root word meaning to sit or return to your dwelling. Literally, in the ancient Hebrew pictographs, Shabbat means to return by the covenant to the house (House of Elohim)

Shabbat comes from the root word:

SABBATH INSTITUTED AT CREATION

Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested (heb. shabbat) on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make.

DID THE MOST HIGH NEED TO REST?
Isa 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? YHWH, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth; He is not faint, nor does He grow weary; there is no searching to His understanding.

The Sabbath is still for believers, it is a weekly rehearsal of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why the Most High rested on the 7th day, He was setting a precedent for the 7th Millenium of rest.
Heb 4:9 So, then, there remains a sabbath rest (G4520) to the people of God.

G4520 σαββατισμός sabbatismos
Thayer Definition:
1) a keeping sabbath

Heb 4:10 For he entering into His rest (G2663), he himself also rested (G2664) from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11; Gen. 2:2

Heb 4:11 Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest (G2664), that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.
G2663 κατάπαυσις katapausis
Thayer Definition:
1) a putting to rest
1a) calming of the winds
2) a resting place
2a) metaphorically the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended

G2664 καταπαύω katapauō
Thayer Definition:
1) to make quiet, to cause to be at rest, to grant rest
1a) to lead to a quiet abode
1b) to still, restrain, to cause (one striving to do something) to desist
2) to rest, take rest

The Hebrew origin of these words is:

H4496
מנחה / מנוּחה
menûchâh
BDB Definition:
1) resting place, rest
1a) resting place
1b) rest, quietness

The root of this word is beautiful in context with the Sabbath:

Psa 23:1 A Psalm of David. YHWH is my shepherd; I shall not lack.
Psa 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to waters of rest;
Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

The sabbath was made known to Yisrael, not instituted at that time. It was instituted at creation.
Neh 9:14 And You made Your holy sabbath known to them, and You commanded commandments, statutes, and laws, to them by the hand of Your servant Moses.

In Matthew 24 at the ‘Olivet discourse’, Yahshua speaks of the Sabbath as being kept after the cross, specifically during the end of days. Yah willing, more examples of the Torah being kept after the cross will be put in a future study.click here

Mat 24:20 And pray that your flight will not occur in winter nor in a sabbath.

Sabbath will be kept forever
Eze 44:23 And they shall teach My people between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, to make them known.
Eze 44:24 And in a dispute, they shall stand to judge, they shall judge it by My judgments. And they shall observe My laws and My statutes in My appointed feasts, and they shall sanctify My sabbaths.
Eze 45:17 And responsibility for burnt offerings shall be on the prince, and a food offering, and drink offerings, in the feasts and on the new moons and on the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He shall make the sin offering, and the food offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to atone for the house of Israel.
Eze 46:3 And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, before YHWH.
Eze 46:4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall bring near to YHWH on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.
Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I make stand before Me, declares YHWH, so your seed and your name shall stand.
Isa 66:23 And it will be, from new moon to its new moon, and from sabbath to its sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says YHWH.

YHWH DOES NOT CHANGE
Mal 3:6 For I, YHWH, change not. Because of this, you sons of Jacob are not destroyed.

YAHSHUA DOESN’T CHANGE
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

The sabbath is forever. YHWH/Yahshua does not change…where is the Scriptural support that the sabbath is not to be kept any longer by believers?

WE INHERITED LIES
Jer 16:19 O YHWH, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, Our fathers have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.

Our fathers have inherited lies…one of the major lies propagated down through the centuries is that the sabbath has been done away with or has been changed to Sunday. This is vanity and brings no profit.

The Sabbath isn’t a feast of the Jews, it is YHWH’s feast
Lev 23:1 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, The appointed feasts of YHWH which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, shall be these: These are My appointed seasons:
Lev 23:3 Work is to be done six days, and in the seventh day shall be a sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:4 These are appointed seasons of YHWH, holy gatherings which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons:

Yahshua is YHWHclick here, therefore the Feasts are Yahshua’s Feasts
1Co 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Every knee shall bow
Phi 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Phi 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Phi 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isa 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Mt of Olives
Zec 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Zec 14:4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Act 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

YAHSHUA IS LORD OF THE SABBATH
Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mar 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luk 6:5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
G2962 κύριος kurios koo’-ree-os
From κῦρος kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller;
Thayer Definition:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
Many use this verse to indicate that this now means that observing the sabbath need not be done any longer because ‘Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath’. Indeed, He is the Lord of the Sabbath…He is the one who Has supreme authority and to whom the day belongs. One cannot be Lord of something that has passed away.

YAHSHUA THE LAWGIVER
Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?
Deu 33:1 This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
Deu 33:2 He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned from Se’ir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran, he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.

1000’s of Saints
Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

No one has seen or heard the voice of the Father…who’s voice did Yisrael hear at Mt. Sinai?

Joh 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

YAHSHUA KEPT TORAH
Psa 40:7 Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me;
Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”

YAHSHUA KEPT THE SABBATH
Luk 4:16 And He came to Nazareth where He was brought up. And as was His custom, He went in on the day of the sabbaths, into the synagogue, and He stood up to read.

WE SHOULD WALK AS HE WALKED
1Jn 2:3 And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commands.
1Jn 2:4 The one saying, I have known Him, and not keeping His commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that one.
1Jn 2:5 But whoever keeps His Word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.
1Jn 2:6 The one claiming to rest in Him ought so to walk himself as that One walked.

Sabbath is a remembrance of Creation (Exodus 20) & Redemption (Deuteronomy 5)

CREATION
Exo 31:16 And the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to do the Sabbath for their generations; it is a never ending covenant.
Exo 31:17 It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
YHWH created the universe by His Word
Psa 33:6 Through the Word of YHWH the heavens were made; and all their host were made by the breath of His mouth.
Yahshua is our Creator
Col 1:15 who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation.
Col 1:16 For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.
REDEMPTION
Deu 5:15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. On account of this YHWH your God has commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Yahshua is our Redeemer
Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Tit 2:14 who gave Himself on our behalf, “that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify a special people for Himself,” zealous of good works. Psa. 130:8; Eze. 37:23; Deut. 14:2

Sabbath isn’t for Israelites only, it is for all believers
Isa 56:1 Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Isa 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isa 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
Isa 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
Isa 56:5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Isa 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
Isa 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Isa 56:8 The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Sabbath is for all men, not just Israelites…Notice the text does not say for the Jew’s sake.
Mar 2:27 And He said to them, The sabbath came into being for man’s sake, not man for the sabbath’s sake.

Believers are no longer ‘gentiles’click here

Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
1Co 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles (past tense), carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

ONE LAW FOR ISRAEL AND STRANGER AMONG THEM
Exo 12:49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Lev 24:22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.
Num 15:16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

“GENTILES KEPT SABBATH”
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God

Sabbath in heathen cultures

Sacred Books & Early Literature 4 pg 69 Exodus Rabba
Moses, before he left Egypt, succeeded in securing for the Israelites the observance of rest on the Sabbath, by pointing out to Pharaoh the necessity in his own interest of granting his slaves one day every week freedom from labor, and thereby invigorating them for the renewal of labor after their rest.

Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions pg 34

In cuneiform texts of ancient Babylon the word ’shabattm’ is used with indicates the day of rest

Of the three branches of Noah’s family after the flood, that of Ham was the least favoured. Of Ham’s family, the portion descended from Canaan was the worst of all. Of them God said, “cursed be Canaan” (Genesis 9, 25). Yet, of the Phoenicians, a Canaanite race, we have the following testimony in antiquity: “The Phoenicians consecrated one day in seven as holy.” These are the words of the Greek writer Porphyry. “The Phoenicians,” he said, “the Phoenicians of all people, consecrated one day in seven as holy.” The Greeks are noted to the modern world for their polytheism and sensuality, yet they observed a Sabbath for all that. Two of their earliest and most noted poets tell us this: ‘the seventh day is holy’.

The Greek philosophers and poets were men of genius, but they were in thick religious darkness. Yet, even of them we are told by the church historian, Eusebius, almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy. He is referring of course to the Greek world. Vastly worse than the Greeks in many ways, were the Barbarians or non-Greeks. Yet, of these, we have the testimony from the Jewish historian, Josephus: “No city of Greeks or Barbarians,” he says, “can be found, which does not acknowledge the seventh day’s rest from labour.”

The Romans were no lovers of the Hebrew religious outlook, yet one of their own poets has to admit this: Tibullus it is, who says, “The seventh day which is kept holy by the Jews is also a festival to the Roman women.”

From Theology by Timothy Dwight pg 255

Hesiod “The seventh day is holy.”
Homer and Callimachus give it the same title.
Theophilus of Antioch “The day, which all mankind celebrate.”
Porphyry “The Phoenicians consecrated on day in seven as holy.”
Linus “A seventh day is observed among saints, or holy people.”
Lucian “The seventh day is geven to school-boys as a holy day.”
Eusebius “Almost all the philosophers, and poets, acknowledge the seventh day as holy.”
Clemens Alexandrinus “The Greeks, as well as the Hebrews, observe the seventh day as holy.”
Philo “The seventh day, is a festival to every nation.”
Tibullus “The seventh day, which is kept holy by the Jews, is also a festival of the Roman women.”

Manna

Exo 16:22 And it came about on the sixth day, they gathered double bread, two omers for one. And all the leaders of the congregation came and reported to Moses.
Exo 16:23 And he said to them, That is what YHWH said, Tomorrow is a rest, a holy sabbath to YHWH. What you will bake, bake. And boil what you will boil. And lay up for yourselves all that is left over, to keep it until the morning.
Exo 16:24 And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses commanded. And it did not stink and no maggot was in it.
Exo 16:25 And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to YHWH. Today you will not find it in the field.
Exo 16:26 You shall gather it six days, and on the seventh is a sabbath; in it none shall be found.
Exo 16:27 And it happened on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and did not find any.
Exo 16:28 And YHWH said to Moses, Until when do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?
Exo 16:29 Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place. Do not let anyone go out from his place on the seventh day.
Exo 16:30 And the people rested on the seventh day.

MANNA WAS A TEST
Exo 16:4 And YHWH said to Moses, Behold, I AM! Bread will rain from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather the matter of a day in its day, so that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.

Shabbat is the test that is used to see what is in the hearts of believers, whether they are obedient or stiffnecked.

We are not to buy or sell or conduct business on Shabbat
Neh 13:15 In those days I saw in Judah ones treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves and loading asses; and also wine, grapes, and figs, and all burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them on the day they sold food.
Neh 13:16 Men of Tyre also lived in it, who brought fish and all wares, and were selling on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, even in Jerusalem.
Neh 13:17 And I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil thing that you do, defiling the Sabbath day?
Neh 13:18 Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by defiling the Sabbath.
Neh 13:19 And it happened, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath day.
Neh 13:20 And the merchants and sellers of all the wares stayed the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.
Neh 13:21 Then I testified against them and said to them, Why are you staying around the wall? If you do it again, I will send a hand against you. From that time they did not come on the Sabbath.
Neh 13:22 And I said to the Levites that they should be cleansing themselves, and they should come guarding the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. O my God, remember me for this also and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy.
Not to carry your burdens
Jer 17:21 So says YHWH, Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not carry a burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 17:22 And do not carry a burden from your houses on the sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
Jer 17:23 But they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but they made their neck stiff, not to hear, nor to receive instruction.
Jer 17:24 And it shall be, if you carefully listen to me, says YHWH, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy, to do no work in it,
Jer 17:25 even kings and rulers sitting on the throne of David shall enter into the gates of this city, riding on chariots and on horses, they and their rulers, the men of Judah, and those living in Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever.
Jer 17:26 And they will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of YHWH.
Jer 17:27 But if you will not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy, and to not carry a burden and enter at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates. And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem; yea, it shall not be put out.
We are to seek Him on Shabbat, not our own pleasures
Isa 58:13 If you turn your foot away because of the sabbath*, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the sabbath a delight, to the holiness of YHWH, glorified; and shall glorify Him, to the holiness of not doing your own ways, from finding your own pleasure or speaking your word;
Isa 58:14 then you shall delight yourself in YHWH. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and make you eat with the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.
*Literally if you turn from my sabbath your foot, as in walking in your own paths and going your own ways.

We are to remain in our place (maqom) on Shabbat
Exo 16:29 Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place. Do not let anyone go out from his place on the seventh day.
LXX
Exo 16:29 See, for the Lord has given you this day as the Sabbath, therefore He has given you on the sixth day the bread of two days. You shall sit each of you in your houses; let no one go forth from his place on the seventh day.
TARGUM
And the Lord said to Mosheh, How long will ye refuse to keep My commandments and My laws ? Behold, because I have given you the Sabbath, I gave you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man abide in his Place, and not wander from one locality to another, beyond four yards;[7] nor let any man go forth to walk beyond two thousand yards on the seventh day; for the people shall repose on the seventh day.

Exo 16:29 Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place*. Do not let anyone go out from his place** on the seventh day.

*Tachat is also a term which can be translated as instead of, because when a man and wife become one, when a man is out working in the field and the woman is at home preparing the food that was brought home yesterday, both man and wife partake of the labor in the field as well as the labor in the home. When man and wife are following proper spiritual authority, both benefit by being two places at the same time. This is why we are said to be in heavenly places in Messiah
Eph 2:6 and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
We are not physically in heaven yet, but because we are one with the Messiah, because He is physically there…so are we. We also have an important job of manifesting His presence here on earth. This is why it is so important for His body to be where they are supposed to be on the Shabbat. When we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing, He can live through us.

Joh 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The Words which I speak to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me, He does the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.

Spiritually, this day is a rehearsal of when the Messiah the bridegroom and Yisrael the bride become one and abide together in one place which the second hebrew word translated as place refers to.
Zec 3:10 In that day, says YHWH of Hosts, you shall call each man to his neighbor to sit under (tachat) the vine and under the fig tree.

Under the vine and fig tree is a Hebrew idiom referring to the Kingdom, or dwelling in peace in your own land.

Interestingly, the numerical value of the Sabbath & His wife is the same- 707.

**maqom- a place one rises up to.

The picture seen in this word maqom is that when we enter the Kingdom we enter with what we bring to it…our place/standing. We cannot ask for more time to bear fruit. This is why we are to STAY in our PLACES on Shabbat. It is a shadow picture of the millenium of rest where we keep our place. When erev shabbat comes whatever unfinished business is left will have to wait until the next week. When the Kingdom comes, whatever unfinished business is left will not be finished. YHWH rested on the 7th day from what He created and we too will rest when the Kingdom comes. Whatever we “create” will be all that we have after the 6 days.

the Kingdom of REST…the Restoration of all things
Psa 37:7 Rest in YHWH and wait patiently for Him; inflame not yourself with him who prospers in his way, with the man practicing evil wiles.
Heb 3:7 Because of this, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
Heb 3:9 there where your fathers tempted Me, testing Me, and saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Because of this, I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways;
Heb 3:11 so I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.” LXX-Psalm 94:7-11; MT-Psalm 95:7-11
Heb 3:17 But with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with the ones sinning, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom did “He swear” “they would not enter into His rest,” except to those not obeying? LXX-Psa. 94:11; MT-Psa. 95:11
Heb 3:19 And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
Heb 4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest perhaps a promise having been left to enter into His rest, that any of you may seem to come short.
Heb 4:2 For, indeed, we have had the gospel preached to us, even as they also; but the Word did not profit those hearing it, not having been mixed with faith in the ones who heard.
Heb 4:3 For we, the ones believing, enter into the rest, even as He said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest,” though the works had come into being from the foundation of the world. LXX-Psa. 94:11; MT-Psa. 95:11
Heb 4:4 For He has spoken somewhere about the seventh day this way, “And God rested from all His works in the seventh day.” Gen. 2:2
Heb 4:5 And in this again, “They shall not enter into My rest.” MT-Psalm 95:11
Heb 4:6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those who formerly had the gospel preached did not enter in on account of disobedience,
Heb 4:7 He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today (after so long a time, according as He has said), “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” MT-Psalm 95:7, 8
Heb 4:8 For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day.
Heb 4:9 So, then, there remains a sabbath rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11; Gen. 2:2
Heb 4:11 Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.
Isa 11:10 And it shall be in that day, the Root of Jesse stands as a banner of peoples; nations shall seek to Him; and His resting place shall be glory.
Isa 11:11 And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
Isa 11:12 And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel, and gather those dispersed from Judah, from the four wings of the earth.
Isa 14:1 For YHWH will have pity on Jacob, and will yet choose among Israel, and set them in their own land. And the stranger shall be joined to them; and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.
Isa 14:2 And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of YHWH for slaves and slave girls. And they shall be captives of their captors; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Isa 14:3 And it shall be, in the day that YHWH shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard bondage which was pressed on you,
Isa 14:4 you shall lift up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the exacter, the gold gatherer, has ceased!
Isa 14:5 YHWH has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of rulers,
Isa 14:6 who struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, dealing out persecution without restraint.
Isa 14:7 All the earth is at rest, quiet; they break forth into singing.
Isa 32:17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever.
Isa 32:18 And My people shall live in a peaceful home, and in safe dwellings, and in secure resting places.

Isa 58:12 And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall rear the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to live in.
Isa 58:13 If you turn your foot away because of the sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the sabbath a delight, to the holiness of Jehovah, glorified; and shall glorify Him, to the holiness of not doing your own ways, from finding your own pleasure or speaking your word;
Isa 58:14 then you shall delight yourself in YHWH. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and make you eat with the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.
Jer 31:1 At that time, says YHWH, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.
Jer 31:2 So says YHWH, Israel, the people, the survivors of the sword, have found grace in the wilderness, I will go to give rest to him.

‘JESUS IS OUR REST NOW”
We have always rested in YHWH
Psa 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Psa 62:5 My being, find rest in Elohim alone, Because my expectation is from Him.
Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a Root of Yishai, standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him the gentiles shall seek, and His rest shall be esteem.
Mat 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I shall give you rest.
2Ch 14:11 And Asa called to YHWH his God, and said, O YHWH, it is nothing to You to help between the mighty and him with no strength. Help us, O YHWH our God; for we rest on You, and in Your name we come against this host. O YHWH, You are our God. Do not let man hold out against You.

SABBATH IS A SIGN
Exo 31:12 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Exo 31:13 And you speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Keeping you shall keep My sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you for your generation; to know that I am YHWH your sanctifier.
Exo 31:14 And you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you; the profaners of it dying shall die; for everyone doing work in it, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people.
Exo 31:15 Work may be done six days, and on the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, holy to YHWH; everyone doing work on the Sabbath day dying shall die.
Exo 31:16 And the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to do the Sabbath for their generations; it is a never ending covenant.
Exo 31:17 It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
Exo 31:18 And when He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Eze 20:12 And I also gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am YHWH who sets them apart.
Eze 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them he will even live by them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. Then I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Eze 20:20 And keep My sabbaths holy, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am YHWH your God.
Eze 20:21 But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, and they did not keep My judgments, to do them, which if a man does them, he shall live by them. They profaned My sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.

The Mark of the Beast is a counterfeit of YHWH’s signs

”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.

Daniel prophesied that the antichrist (little horn) would think to change times and laws
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.

Antiochus Ephiphanes was a shadow picture of the antichrist

1Ma 1:41 Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42 And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.

Antiochus destroyed the Temple service, and forbid Israel from keeping the Torah
1Ma 1:20 And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude,
1Ma 1:21 And entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,
1Ma 1:22 And the table of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials. and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crown, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off.
1Ma 1:23 He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.
1Ma 1:24 And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly. (((Romans also did this in 70AD)))

Interestingly, this destroying the Temple system and abrogating the Torah is the charge that the Pharisees gave against the teachings of the believers in Yahshua which the Holy Scriptures call FALSE
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. And coming on, they together seized him and led him into the sanhedrin.
Act 6:13 And they stood up false witnesses, who were saying, This man does not cease speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the Law;
Act 6:14 for we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered over to us.

Did the REAL Yahshua of Nazareth do these things?
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I came to annul the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to annul, but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 Truly I say to you, Until the heaven and the earth pass away, in no way shall one iota or one point pass away from the Law until all comes to pass.

1Ma 1:41 Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42 And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.
1Ma 1:43 Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath. (Many Christians fell for this same thing in the person and orders of Constantine)
1Ma 1:44 For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land,
1Ma 1:45 And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:
1Ma 1:46 And pollute the sanctuary and holy people:
1Ma 1:47 Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts:
1Ma 1:48 That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation:
1Ma 1:49 To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.
1Ma 1:50 And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

Constantine

For 250 years it was a martyrs’ assembly of believers; the persecutions were fueled by the refusal of Christians to worship the state and the Roman emperor. There were persecutions under Nero, Domitian, Trajan and the other Antonines, Maximinus Thrax, Decius, Valerian, Diocletian and Galerius; Decius ordered the first official persecution in 250. In 313, Constantine I and Licinius announced toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan. In the East the church passed from persecution directly to imperial control (caesaropapism), inaugurated by Constantine, enshrined later in Justinian’s laws, and always a problem for the Orthodox churches. In the West the church remained independent because of the weakness of the emperor and the well-established authority of the bishop of Rome.

Constantine made all Christians agree to the following:
I renounce all customs, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews And all the other Feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspirations, purifications, and Propitiations and fast and new moons and sabbaths and superstitions and hymns and chants, And observances and synagogues, absolutely everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if Afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with jews Or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly Confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be an anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with satan And the devils.”
(stcfano Assemani, Acta Sanctorium
Martyrum Orientaliom at Accidentalium, Vol.

1 Rome 1748 page 105

This is the technique that the adversary has always used. This can be seen in the book of Nehemiah.

1) Adversaries are grieved

Neh 2:10 And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard. And it grieved them greatly that a man had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.

This what we see with the opposition of believers in Messiah

Act 4:16 saying, What may we do to these men? For that a notable miracle indeed has occurred through them is plain to all those living in Jerusalem, and we are not able to deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it may not be spread abroad further to the people, let us threaten them with a threat that they no longer speak on this name to any one of men.
Act 4:18 And calling them, they ordered them not to speak at all, nor to teach on the name of Jesus.

2) Laughter & mocking & despising

Neh 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard, then they mocked us and despised us. And they said, What is this that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?

3) Wrath and opposition against believers

Neh 4:1 And it happened, when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry, and it was greatly enraging to him, and he mocked the Jews.

Act 6:9 But some of those of the synagogue called Libertines, rose up, also some Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some of those from Cilicia and Asia Minor, disputing with Stephen.

4) Fighting against believers

Neh 4:7 And it happened, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that repairing of the walls of Jerusalem had gone up, that the breaks were being closed up, it was very angering to them.
Neh 4:8 And all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and do harm to it.

Act 7:57 And crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion.
Act 7:58 And throwing him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And having said this, he fell asleep.

5) Conspiracy against believers

Neh 6:1 And it happened, when it was heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that no break was left in it though at that time I had not set up doors on the gates,
Neh 6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do evil to me.

Act 23:12 And it becoming day, some of the Jews making a conspiracy cursed themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink until they should kill Paul.
Act 23:13 And those making this plot were more than forty;
Act 23:14 who, having come near to the chief priests and to the elders, said, With a curse we have cursed ourselves to taste of nothing until we shall kill Paul.
Act 23:15 Now, then, you with the sanhedrin inform the chiliarch, so that tomorrow he may bring him down to you, as intending more accurately to find out about him. And before his drawing near, we are ready to kill him.

6) Joining and infiltrating the believers to corrupt them

Neh 6:10 And I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you. Yea, in the night they will come to kill you.
Neh 6:11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who being as I am would go into the temple and live? I will not go in.
Neh 6:12 And I understood that, behold, God had not sent him. For he spoke the prophecy against me, and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Neh 6:13 So he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and I should sin, and become for them for an evil name with which they might reproach me.
Neh 6:14 O God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also to the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who are my alarmers.

1Jn 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they left so that it might be revealed that they all are not of us.

So too the same process repeated in greater fashion with the Roman government. First mocking, then opposing, afterwards persecuting then joining with false belief to the faith.

Council of Nicea AD 325

EASTER
Schaff’s History of the Christian Church 3.79 states: “The feast of the resurrection was thenceforth required to be celebrated everywhere on a Sunday, and never on the day of the Jewish passover, but always after the fourteenth of Nisan, on the Sunday after the first vernal full moon. The leading motive for this regulation was opposition to Judaism, which had dishonored the passover by the crucifixion of the Lord.” Eusebius’ Life of Constantine, Book 3 chapter 18 records Constantine as writing: “… it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. … Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.”
Theodoret’s Ecclesiastical History 1.9 records The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present: “It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. … Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. … avoiding all contact with that evil way. … who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. … a people so utterly depraved. … Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord. … no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews.”

Who then changed it to Sunday, in effect nullifying it? In Dan. 7:25 we read of a horn, a sovereign (remember: in those days the gentiles regarded their sovereigns as deities). This one is often interpreted as being the Anti-Messiah, the enemy of the Chosen People. In Dan. 7:25 we read that he would “intend to change appointed times (or, festivals) and law.” The Roman Catholic Church openly boast that they changed the Sabbath to Sunday. This change was preceded by Emperor Constantine legislating, in the year 321, that “the venerable day of the Sun” was to be kept as a day of rest. Remember: Constantine was a worshipper of Sol Invictus, the sun-deity. The “Church” soon followed suit, and in the year 336 (some give the date as 364), at the Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, the christians were commanded to observe the Sunday as well. Bishop Eusebius (270-338 CE), who worked with Constantine, admits to the Church’s decision to change from Sabbath to Sunday.

Council of Laodicea
This last one, canon 29, included no more resting on the Sabbath (Saturday), but restricted Christians to honoring the Lord on Sunday even though canon 16 says the Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 approved the canon of this council, making these canon ecumenical.

Flavius Theodosius 347-395 also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great reigned from 379-395, reunited the western and eastern portions of the Roman empire and is credited for making Nicene Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire
Codex Theodosius XV
….On the Lords day which is the first day of the week, on Christmas, and the days of Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost…believers are to be occupied with the worship of God. Those who follow this law we command shall be comprised under the name of Catholic Christians; but others indeed, we require as insane and raving, to bear the infamy of heretical teaching.
Codex Theodosius XVI
Their gatherings shall not receive the name of churches, they are to be smitten first with the divine judgment and after that by the vengeance of our indignation

Judaizers is a term used by Pauline Christianity, particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Yahshua needed to keep the Law of Moses.

The origins of Pauline Christianity lie in the teachings of Paul of Tarsus, who declared himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” and its development in his circle and among his followers. In the history of Christianity (q.v. for detailed discussion), “Pauline Christianity” is a term commonly employed to specify the eventually dominant form taken by “official” or “catholic” (signifying “universal”) Christianity

Pauline Christianity derives its name from the teachings of Paul, yet Paul never said the Torah was done away with. This is a twisted interpretation of his writings which the Apostle Peter warned us of:
2Pe 3:15 And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;
2Pe 3:16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unsettled pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17 Then beloved, you knowing beforehand, watch lest being led away by the error of the lawless you fall from your own steadfastness

What about Paul? Paul kept the Torah and the Sabbaths and did not teach believers that they were annulled. More on this in a future article, Yah willing.
Act 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Act 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

THE FEASTS AND SABBATHS OF THE PEOPLE
Hos 2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Hos 2:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
Hos 2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
Hos 2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
Hos 2:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
Hos 2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
THE EXAMPLE OF JEROBOAM
1Ki 12:26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom shall turn back to the house of David;
1Ki 12:27 if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of YHWH at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people shall turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me and go again to Rehoboam the king of Judah.
1Ki 12:28 And the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!

Jeroboam leads the people back into the Babylonian worship system…this is what Constantine and then later the Roman Catholic Church did.
1Ki 12:29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Ki 12:30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
1Ki 12:31 And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Changing of the priesthood…cardinals, bishops etc. after the similitude of the Roman governmental system
1Ki 12:32 And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah; and he offered on the altar, so he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he made; and he made stand in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made.

Changing set apart times…Sunday, Easter, Christmas etc…
1Ki 12:33 And he offered up on the altar that he made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and offered on the altar, to burn incense.

A false altar…mass
1Ki 14:7 Go, say to Jeroboam, So says YHWH, God of Israel, Because I have exalted you from among the people, and have appointed you leader over My people Israel;
1Ki 14:8 and have torn the kingdom from the house of David, and have given it to you, and you have not been as My servant David who kept My commandments, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in My eyes;
1Ki 14:9 and you did evil above all who have been before you, and went and made for yourself other gods and casted images to provoke Me to anger; and you have cast Me behind your back
1Ki 14:10 therefore, behold, I am bringing evil to the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him who urinates against the wall, bound and free in Israel; and will sweep away the rest of the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away the dung, until it is all gone.

PUNISHMENT FOR BREAKING SHABBAT
Exo 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Capital punishment for breaking the Sabbath…certainly not a light matter. Murder, adultery, idolatry were capital offences which most would not argue with the punishment yet believers of today are appauled at the thought of capital punishment for profaning Shabbat.
Num 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
Num 15:33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Did Yahshua really break the Sabbath?

Joh 9:16 Then some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because He does not keep the sabbath*. Others said, How can a man, a sinner, do such miraculous signs? And there was a division among them.

*Notice, this is what the Pharisees were saying about the Messiah. It does not mean this is true. They also said He casted out devils by Beelzebub.

Rabbinic interpretation of the Sabbath added 39 additional laws

Mishnah Appointed Times Shabbat 7:2
The actual restrictions are known as the “39 Av Melachot” (literally “Fathers of Work”) – 39 prohibited classes of work, based on the 39 types of work that were involved in building the temporary Sanctuary (the Mishkan) that travelled with the Children of Israel during their wonderings in the desert after leaving Egypt. There’s more information on their details at 39 Melachot, but here’s a quick summary list.

Planting, plowing, cutting, gathering in piles, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, whitening, combing, dyeing, spinning, mounting the warp, setting 2 heddles, weaving 2 threads, removing 2 threads, tying a knot, untying a knot, sewing 32 stitches, tearing in order to sew 2 stitches, trapping animals, slaughtering, skinning, salting, tanning a hide, smoothing, cutting, writing 2 letters, erasing 2 letters in order to write 2 letters, building, destroying (for the purpose to build), putting out a fire, lighting, hitting the final blow, and carrying objects from one type of property domain to another.

Yahshua challenged these teachings of the Pharisees and brought people back to the liberty that is in the Torah. The Written Scriptures speak nothing of 39 prohibitions on the Shabbat.

The first Scripture that people use to ‘prove’ Messiah changed or broke the Sabbath is where Yahshua our Lord speaks of David eating of the “bread of the Face,” something that was reserved for the priests to eat (from 1 Samuel 21:6), followed by how the Torah allows for priests to do certain type of work on the Sabbath, as part of their Temple service (Leviticus 24:5-9). His point in quoting these, is to establish the principle that within the framework of the Torah is a hierarchy of principles.

The Pharisees recognized this fact, as in the Talmud makes it clear that both the commands of circumcision and Temple sacrificial service, take precedence over the command not to do work on the Sabbath:

Talmud – Mas. Shabbath 132b – whilst the sacrificial service supersedes the Sabbath, yet circumcision supersedes it: then the Sabbath, which is superseded by the sacrificial service, surely circumcision supersedes it.

Here, Yahshua makes it clear that it is not wrong to eat when you are hungry on the Sabbath even though you haven’t gone through all the religious rituals that the religious leaders of that time were expecting the people to perform.

Was it wrong to heal on the sabbath? Even the Pharisees said it was acceptable to heal on the sabbath.
In the Mekhilta Tractate Shabbata to Exodus 31
“R. Ishmael, answering the question said: Behold it says: `If a thief is found breaking in,’ etc. (Ex. 22:1). Now what case does the law speak? Of a case when there is a doubt whether the burglar came merely to steal or even to kill. Now, by using the method of kal vahomer, it is to be reasoned: Even shedding blood, which defiles the land and causes the Shekinah to remove, is to supersede the laws of the Sabbath if it is to be done in protection of one’s life. How much more should the duty of saving life supersede the Sabbath laws! R. Eleazor b. Azariah, answering the question, said: If in performing the ceremony of circumcision, which affects only one member of the body, one is to disregard the Sabbath laws, how much more should one do so for the whole body when it is in danger!
…R. Akiba says: If punishment for murder sets aside even Temple service, which in turn supersedes the Sabbath, how much more should the saving of life supersede the Sabbath laws!”

The problem the Jews had with Yahshua is that He wasn’t healing according to their ways. He wasn’t playing their religious games.
Along a similar line, Mishnah Shabbat chapter 14 and its corresponding Tosefta chapters state:

“A. He who is concerned about his teeth may not suck vinegar though them (on the Sabbath).
B. But he dunks his bread in the normal way,
C. and if he is healed, he is healed.”

Vinegar was a common healing remedy for a toothache. It was often applied to a sore tooth with the intention of helping the tooth to heal. This case describes the use of vinegar for a toothache on the Sabbath. Although it is prohibited to directly apply the vinegar to the tooth, a similar effect can be achieved by dipping bread into vinegar and eating the bread. Therefore if one encounters a healing remedy simply by living out one’s everyday life, it is acceptable on the Sabbath.

According to the Mishnah then, one can make an exception to the prohibition on healing if that healing either saves a life, or is incidental. Using these two criteria to examine the culpability of Yahshua’s healing of the man with the withered hand, we find that from the Pharisaic viewpoint, Yahshua is wrong on both accounts. Not only is his action conscious and deliberate, but the healing takes place when it is not necessary for saving life.

Getting back to the question at hand, it is obvious from the silence of the Pharisees that they disapprove of the act of healing, yet they choose not to enter into a discussion of halakha which would allow for the exact reason of their disapproval to be explained. In Mark, Yahshua asks a rhetorical question which appears to desire a response in halakhaic terms yet does not root itself directly in the language of halakha. It is possible then that the Pharisees did not respond in halakhaic terms because they were not addressed in them, but I do not believe this to be the case. In the Gospel According to Matthew, the same story appears, yet in this case the language of Yahshua’s case is rooted deeply in halakha.

“Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12)

Yahshua in the book of Matthew appeals to the worth of an individual in relation to the worth of an animal. Yahshua gives an example of when the violation of the Sabbath law not to “carry [uproot the feet of] a domestic beast” (Tosefta Shabbat 15:1) can be safely overridden. According to Yahshua, it can be overridden when there is great worth involved.

Physiology of man

Gestation with the Human species is 280 days (or 40×7).

The women’s menstrual cycle is based on 28 day (4 x 7).

Sabbath and man’s pulse
E.W. Bullinger Number in Scripture pg 10
Man’s pulse beats on the seven-day principle, for Dr. Stratton points out that for six days out of the seven it beats faster in the morning than in the evening, while on the seventh day it beats slower. Thus the number seven is stamped upon physiology, and he is thus admonished, as man, to rest one day in seven. He cannot violate this law with impunity, for it is interwoven with his very being. He may say “I will rest when I please,”— one day in ten, or irregularly, or not at all. He might as well say of his eight-day clock, “It is mine, and I will wind it up when I please.” Unless he wound it at least once in eight days, according to the principle on which it was made, it would be worthless as a clock. So with man’s body. If he rests not according to the Divine law, he will, sooner or later, be compelled to “keep his sabbaths,” and the rest which he would not take at regular intervals, at God’s command, he has to take at the command of man all at once! Even in this case God gives him more rest than he can get for himself; for God would have him take 52 days’ rest in the year, and the few days’ “change” he is able to get for himself is a poor substitute for this. It is like all man’s attempts to improve on God’s way.

“The Approaching End of the Age,” H. Grattan Guinness, page 268, 269.
Dr. Grattan Guinness:
“As to man his very pulse keeps time to the seven-day period. Dr. Stratton states (as the result of several series of observations) that in health, human pulse is more frequent in the morning than in the evening, for six days out of seven; and that on the seventh day it is slower. And man’s life as a whole is a week a week of decades. ‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten’ and that by Divine appointment. Combining the testimony of all these facts, we are bound to admit that there prevails in nature a law of septiform periods. In organic nature a law of completion in weeks.”

Dr. Stratton states as a physiological and pathological fact, that “in health the human pulse is more frequent in the morning than in the evening for six days out of seven; and that on the seventh day it is slower.” (Ibid. Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, Jan. 1843.)

Sabbath History

1st Century -

it is clear in the Gospels and the Book of Acts that believers in the Messiah kept the Sabbath. Here are a few examples:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56

“And Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures” Acts 17:2

Here we find Gentiles in a Gentile city gathering on the Sabbath. It was not a synagogue meeting in verse 44, for it says almost the whole city came together, verse 42 says they asked to hear the message the “next Sabbath.”

Josephus
“There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come!” M’Clatchie, “Notes and Queries on China and Japan” (edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100.
Philo
Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of the universe. M’Clatchie, “Notes and Queries,” Vol. 4, 99

2nd Century

“It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord’s day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.”

“A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77

“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to the purpose.” “Dialogues on the Lord’s Day,” p. 189. London: 1701, By Dr. T.H. Morer (A Church of England divine).

“…The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the example but also the command of Jesus.” “Geschichte des Sonntags,” pp.13, 14

“The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath,” Gieseler’s “Church History,” Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93.
Early Christians
“The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;…therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council.” “The Whole Works” of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX,p. 416 (R. Heber’s Edition, Vol XII, p. 416).
“It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord’s day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.” “A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77

Note: By the “Lord’s day” here the writer means Sunday and not the true Sabbath,” which the Bible says is the Sabbath. This quotation shows Sunday coming into use in the early centuries soon after the death of the Apostles. Paul the Apostle foretold a great “falling away” from the Truth that would take place soon after his death.

2nd, 3rd, 4th Centuries
“From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observance of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it.” “Sunday a Sabbath.” John Ley, p.163. London: 1640.

3rd Century

“The seventh-day Sabbath was…solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish the observations of it.” “Dissertation on the Lord’s Day,” pp. 33, 34

Egypt (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus) (200-250 A.D.)
“Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (sabbatize the Sabbath,” Greek), ye shall not see the Father.” “The oxyrhynchus Papyri,” pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 (London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898).

Early Christians-C 3rd
“Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands.” “The Anti-Nicene Fathers,” Vol 7,p. 413. From “Constitutions of the Holy Apostles,” a document of the 3rd and 4th Centuries.
Africa (Alexandria) Origen
“After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice (the crucifixion) is put the second festival of the Sabbath, and it is fitting for whoever is righteous among the saints to keep also the festival of the Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a sabbatismus, that is, a keeping of the Sabbath, to the people of God (Hebrews 4:9).” “Homily on Numbers 23,” par.4, in Migne, “Patrologia Graeca,” Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.
Palestine to India (Church of the East)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed lallrge bishoprics or conferences of the Church of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India. Mingana, “Early Spread of Christianity.” Vol.10, p. 460.
India (Buddhist Controversy, 220 A.D.)
The Kushan Dynasty of North India called a famous council of Buddhist priests at Vaisalia to bring uniformity among the Buddhist monks on the observance of their weekly Sabbath. Some had been so impressed by the writings of the Old Testament that they had begun to keep holy the Sabbath. Lloyd, “The Creed of Half Japan,” p. 23.

“The seventh-day Sabbath was…solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish the observations of it.” “Dissertation on the Lord’s Day,” pp. 33, 34

4th Century

“When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.”
Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan gave rise to this proverb by stating that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome he observed Sunday. (See page 70 in this Online version of Truth Triumphant)

Italy AND EAST-C 4th
“It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some churches of the west…For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);…it seems the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme… Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ the Lord of the Sabbath.” “History of the Sabbath” (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.

Italy – Milan
“Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.’” Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath” (1612)

Orient And Most Of World
“The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day…It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival…Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same.” “Antiquities of the Christian Church,” Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.
Abyssinia – Remnants of Philip’s Evangelism
“In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had ‘traveled almost everywhere in the country of the Seres’ (China). For more than seventeen centuries the Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth commandment.” Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.
Arabia, Persia, India, China
“Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, travelled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India and China.” “Truth Triumphant,”p.308 (Footnote 27). (Page numbers vary in this Online version)
Spain – Council Elvira (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spainat that time kept Saturday, the seventh day. “As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath.” This resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.
Spain
It is a point of further interest to note that in north-eastern Spainnear the city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originaly inhabited. By a people called both “Valldenses” and Sabbatati.”
Persia-A.D. 335-375 (40 Years Persecution Under Shapur II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-”They despise our sungod, they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by burying their dead in it.” Truth Triumphant,” (Online Version p. 261)
Persia-A.D.335-375
“They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday.” O’Leary, “The Syriac Church and Fathers,” pp.83, 84.
Council Laodicea – A.D.365
“Canon 16-On Saturday the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud.” “Canon 29-Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day.” Hefele’s “Councils,” Vol. 2, b. 6. (See an online version of this council on the Roman Catholic New Advent website – see Canon 29)

5th Century

“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.

The World
“For although almost all churches throughout The World celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord’s Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.” The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word “Sabbath.” It says: “That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called “the Sabbath’ by the ancient Fathers and historians.” Sacrates, “Ecclestical History,” Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.

Constantinople
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.
The World – Augustine, Bishop Of Hippo (North Africa)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day “in the greater part of the Christian world,” and his testimony in this respect is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent Sunday-keeper. See “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,” 1st Series, Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.
Pope Innocent (402-417)
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) “Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.
5th Century Christians
Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church. “Ancient Christianity Exemplified,” Lyman Coleman, ch. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
In Jerome’s day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary work on Sunday. “Treatise of the Sabbath Day,” by Dr. White, Lord Bishop of Ely, p. 219.
France
“Wherefore, except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the day except on Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday.” John Cassian, A French monk, “Institutes,” Book 3, ch. 2.
Africa
“Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighbouring churches in Africa one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath.” p. 416.
Spain (400 A.D.)
“Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says). Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday Sabbath.” Truth Triumphant, p. 68.
Sidonius (Speaking Of King Theodoric Of The Goths, A.D. 454-526)
“It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord’s day and to hold sacred assemblies: while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord’s day have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath.” “Apollinaries Sidonli Epistolae,” lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.
Church Of The East
“Mingana proves that in 410 Isaac, supreme director of the Church of the East, held a world council,-stimulated, some think, by the trip of Musacus,-attended by eastern delegates from forty grand metrop olitan divisions. In 411 he appointed a metropolitan director for China. These churches were sanctifying the seventh day.”
Egypt
“There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings, and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries.” Sozomen. “Ecclesiastical History Book 7, ch. 119

6th Century

Scottish Church
“In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours.” W.T. Skene, “Adamnan Llife of St. Columbs” 1874, p.96.

Scotland, Ireland
“We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath.” “History of the Catholic Church in Scotland,” Vol.1, p. 86, by Catholic historian Bellesheim.
Scotland – Columba
“Having continued his labours in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the month of June, said to his disciple Diermit: “This day is called the Sabbath, that is the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labours.’” “Butler’s Lives of the Saints,” Vol.1, A.D. 597, art. “St. Columba” p. 762
Columba (Re Dr. Butler’s Description Of His Death)
The editor of the best biography of Columbia says in a footnote: “Our Saturday. The custom to call the Lord’s day Sabbath did not commence until a thousand years later.” Adamnan’s “Life of Columba” (Dublin, 1857), p. 230.

7th Century

Scotland and Ireland
Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says: It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of week.” “The Church in Scotland,” p.140.

Scotland and Ireland
“The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate (R.C.) and kept Saturday as a day of rest, with special religious services on Sunday.” Flick, “The Rise of Mediaeval Church,” p. 237
Rome
Gregory I (A.D. 590-640) wrote against “Roman citizens (who) forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day.” “Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers,” Second Series, Vol, XIII, p.13, epist. 1
Rome (Pope Gregory I, A.D.590 TO 604)
“Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the Roman citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse spirit have disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to the holy faith, so that they forbid anything to be done on the day of the Sabbath. What shall I call them except preachers of anti-Christ?” Epistles, b.13:1
Rome (Pope Gregory I)
Declared that when anti-Christ should come he would keep Saturday as the Sabbath. “Epistles of Gregory I, “b 13, epist.1. found in “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.”
“Moreover, this same Pope Gregory had issued an official pronouncement against a section of the city of Rome itself because the Christian believers there rested and worshipped on the Sabbath.” Same reference.

8th Century

Council Of Friaul, Italy-A.D. 791 (Canon 13)
“We command all Christians to observe the Lord’s day to be held not in honour of the past Sabbath, but on account of that holy night of the first of the week called the Lord’s day. When speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe..” Mansi, 13, 851

Persia and Mesopotamia
“The hills of Persia and the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates reechoed their songs of praise. They reaped their harvests and paid their tithes. They repaired to their churches on the Sabbath day for the worship of God.” “Realencyclopaedie fur Protestatische and Krche,” art. “Nestorianer”; also Yule, “The Book of ser Marco Polo,” Vol.2, p.409.
India, China, Persia, ETC
“Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India, who never were connected with Rome. It also was maintained among those bodies which broke off from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon namely, the Abyssinians, the Jacobites, the Maronites, and the Armenians,” Schaff-Herzog, The New Enclopadia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians”; also Realencyclopaedie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche,” art. “Nestorianer.”
Council Of Liftinae, Belgium – A.D.745 (Attended By Boniface)
“The third allocution of this council warns against the observance of the Sabbath, referring to the decree of the council of Laodicea.” Dr. Hefele, Counciliengfesch, 3, 512, sec. 362
China – A.D.781
In A.D. 781 the famous ChinaMonument was inscribed in marble to tell of the growth of Christianity in Chinaat that time. The inscription, consisting of 763 words, was unearthed in 1625 near the city of Changan and now stands in the “Forest of Tablets,” Changan. The following extract from the stone shows that the Sabbath was observed:
“On the seventh day we offer sacrifices, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts.” Christianity in China, M. I’Abbe Huc, Vol. I, ch.2, pp. 48, 49

9th Century

Bulgaria
“Bulgariain the early season of its evangelization had been taught that no work should be performed on the Sabbath.” Responsa Nicolai Papae I and Con-Consulta Bulllllgarorum, Responsum 10, found in Mansi, Sacrorum Concilorum Nova et Amplissima Colectio, Vol.15; p. 406; also Hefele, Conciliengeschicte, Vol.4, sec. 478

Bulgaria
(Pope Nicholas I, in answer to letter from Bogaris, ruling prince of Bulgaria.) “Ques. 6-Bathing is allowed on Sunday. Ques. 10-One is to cease from work on Sunday, but not also on the Sabbath.” Hefele, 4,346- 352, sec. 478
The Bulgarians had been accustomed to rest on the Sabbath. Pope Nicholas writes against this practice.
Constantinople
(Photuus, Patriarch of Constantinople {in counter- synod that deposed Nicolas}, thus accused Papacy). Against the canons, they induced the Bulgarians to fast on the Sabbath.” Photius, vonKard, Hergenrother, 1, 643
Note: The Papacy tried to bring the seventh-day Sabbath into disrepute by insisting that all should fast on that day. In this manner (she sought to turn people towards Sunday, the first day, the day that Rome had adopted.
Athingians
Cardinal Hergenrother says that they stood in intimate relation with Emperor Michael II (821-829) and testifies that they observed the Sabbath. Kirchengeschichte, 1, 527
India, Abyssinia
“Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India. It was also maintained by the Abyssinians.
Bulgaria
“Pope Nicholas I, in the ninth century, sent the ruling prince of Bulgaria a long document saying in it that one is to cease from work on Sunday, but not on the Sabbath. The head of the Greek Church, offended at the interference of the Papacy, declared the Pope ex-communicated.” Truth Triumphant, p. 232

10th Century

Scotland
“They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner.” A history of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, Vol. I, p.96. Andrew Lang

Church Of The East – Kurdistan
“The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory.” Schaff-Herzog, “The New Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians.”
Waldenses
“And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath days, they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no Sabbath.” Luther’s “Fore-Runners” (original spelling), PP. 7, 8
Waldenses
Roman Catholic writers try to evade the apostolic origin of the Waldenses, so as to make it appear that the Roman is the only apostolic church, and that all others are later novelties. And for this reason they try to make out that the Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo of the twelfth century. Dr. Peter Allix says:
“Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was set for them…It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever found by Peter Waldo…it is a pure forgery.” Ancient Church of Piedmont, pp.192, Oxford: 1821
Waldenses
“It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the valleys: they were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the valleys in which they dwelt.” “Id., p. 182
Waldenses
On the other hand, he “was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys.” History of the Christian Church, William Jones, Vol II, p.2

11th Century

Scotland
They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work. “Celtic Scotland,” Vol. 2, p. 350

Scotland
“They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner…These things Margaret abolished.” A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation,” Vol.1, p. 96.
Scotland
“It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord’s day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she (Queen Margaret) proved to them as well by reason as by authority. ‘Let us venerate the Lord’s day,’ said she, ‘because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same.’” Life of Saint Margaret, Turgot, p. 49 (British Museum Library)
Scotland
(Historian Skene commenting upon the work of Queen Margaret) “Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord’s day, but in this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours.” Skene, “Celtic Scotland,” Vol.2, p. 349
Scotland And Ireland
“T. Ratcliffe Barnett, in his book on the fervent Catholic queen of Scotland who in 1060 was first to attempt the ruin of Columba’s brethren, writes: ‘In this matter the Scots had perhaps kept up the traditional usage of the ancient Irish Church which observed Saturday instead of Sunday as the day of rest.’” Barnett, “Margaret of Scotland: Queen and Saint,” p.97
Council Of Clermont
“During the first crusade, Pope Urban II decreed at the council of Clermont (A.D.1095) that the Sabbath be set aside in honour of the Virgin Mary.” History of the Sabbath, p.672
Constantinople
“Because you observe the Sabbath with the Jews and the Lord’s Day with us, you seem to imitate with such observance the sect of Nazarenes.” Migne, “Patrologia Latina,” Vol. 145, p.506; also Hergenroether, “Photius,” Vol. 3, p.746. (The Nazarenes were a Christian denomination.)
Greek Church
“The observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a bitter dispute between the Greeks and the Latins.” Neale, “A History of the Holy Eastern Church,” Vol 1, p. 731. (Referring to the separation of the Greek Church from the Latin in 1054)

12th Century

“Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. “One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day.’” General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413

Lombardy
“Traces of Sabbath-keepers are found in the times of Gregory I, Gregory VII, and in the twelfth century in Lombardy.” Strong’s Cyclopaedia, 1, 660
Spain (Alphonse of Aragon)
“Alphonse, king of Aragon, etc., to all archbishops, bishops and to all others…’We command you that heretics, to wit, Waldenses and Insabbathi, should be expelled away from the face of God and from all Catholics and ordered to depart from our kingdom.’” Marianse, Praefatio in Lucam Tudensem, found in “Macima Gibliotheca Veterum Patrum,” Vol.25, p.190
Hungary France, England, Italy, Germany. (Referring to the Sabbath- keeping Pasagini) “The spread of heresy at this time is almost incredible. From Gulgaria to the Ebro, from nothern France to the Tiber, everywhere we meet them. Whole countries are infested, like Hungary and southern France; they abound in many other countries, in Germany, in Italy, in the Netherlands and even in England they put forth their efforts.” Dr. Hahn, “Gesch. der Ketzer.” 1, 13, 14
Waldenses
“Among the documents. we have by the same peoples, an explanation of the Ten Commandments dated by Boyer 1120. Observance of the Sabbath by ceasing from worldly labours, is enjoined.” Blair, History of the Waldenses, Vol.1, p. 220

“Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. “One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day.’” General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413
Wales
“There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales university until A.D.1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David’s. The old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places.” Lewis, “Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America,” Vol.1, p.29
France
“For twenty years Peter de Bruys stirred southern France. He especialy emphasised a day of worship that was recognized at that time among the Celtic churches of the British Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great Church of the East namely, the the seventh day of the fourth commandment.”
Pasagini
The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the “Pasagaini”: “Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called Pasaagini…First, they teach that we should obey the Sabbath. Furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and the whole Roman Church.” D’Achery, Spicilegium I,f.211-214; Muratory, Antiq. med. aevi.5, f.152, Hahn, 3, 209

13th Century

“The inquisitors…[declare] that the sign of a Vaudois(Waldenses of France), deemed worthy of death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments of God.” History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages,” H.C.Les, vol.1

Waldenses
“They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul as having been the son of perdition.[They also say] that the keeping of the Sabbath ought to take place.” Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches ofPiedmont,” p.169 (by prominent Roman Cathholic author writing about Waldenses)

France (Waldenses)
To destroy completely these heretics Pope Innocent III sent Dominican inquistors into France, and also crusaders, promising “a plenary remission of all sins, to those who took on them the crusade…against the albigenses.” Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol.XII, art.”Raymond VI,” p. 670
France
Thousands of God’s people were tortured to death by the Inquisition, buried alive, burned to death, or hacked to pieces by the crusaders. While devastating the city of Biterre the soldiers asked the Catholic leaders how they should know who were heretics; “Slay them all, for the Lord knows who is His.” History of the Inquisition, pp.96
France-King Louis IX,1229
Published the statute “Cupientes” in which he charges himself to clear southern France from heretics as the Sabbath-keepers were called.
Waldenses Of France
“The heresy of the Vaudois, or poor people of Lyons, is of great antiquity, for some say that it has been continued down ever since the time of Pope Sylvester; and others, ever since that of the apostles.” The Roman Inquisitor, Reinerus Sacho, writing about 1230
FRANCE-Council Toulouse, 1229
Canons against Sabbath-keepers: “Canon 3.-The lords of the different districts shall have the villas, houses and woods diligently searched, and the hiding-places of the heretics destroyed.
“Canon 14-Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the Old or the New Testaments.” Hefele, 5, 931, 962
Europe
“The Paulicians, Petrobusinas, Passaginians, Waldenses, Insabbatati were great Sabbath-keeping bodies of Europe down to 1250 A.D.”
Pasaginians
Dr. Hahn says that if the Pasaginians referred to the 4th Commandment to support the Sabbath, the Roman priests answered, “The Sabbath symbolised the eternal rest of the saints.”
Mongolia
“The Mongolian conquest did not injure the Church of the East. (Sabbath-keeping.) On the contrary, a number of the Mongolian princes and a larger number of Mongolian queens were members of this church.”

14th Century

“Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as Sundays.” Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway (See below), Vol.1, p.184 Oslo

Waldenses
“That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day.” Luther’s Fore-runners,” p. 38

Insabbati
“For centuries evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses, were called Insabbati because of Sabbath-keeping.” Gui, Manueld’ Inquisiteur
Bohemia, 1310 (Modern Czechoslovakia)
“In 1310, two hundred years before Luther’s theses, the Bohemian brethern constituted onefourth of the population of Bohemia, and that they were in touch with the Waldenseswho abounded in Austria, Lombardy,. Bohemia, north Germany, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Moravia. Erasmus pointed out how strictly Bohemian Waldenseskept the seventh day Sabbath.” Armitage, “A History of the Baptists,” p.313; Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” vol. 2, pp. 201-202
Norway
Then, too, in the “Catechism” that was used during the fourteenth century, the Sabbath commandment read thus; “Thou shalt not forget to keep the seventh day.” This is quoted from “Documents and Studies Concerning the History of the Lutheran Catechism in the Nordish Churches,” p.89. Christiania 1893
Norway
“Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as Sundays.” Theological Periodicals for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway, Vol.1, p.184 Oslo
England, Holland, Bohemia
“We wrote of the Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Transylvania, England and Holland between 1250 and 1600 A.D.” Truth Triumphant, Wilkinson, p.309

15th Century

“The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503.” Geschichte der Juden” (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122

Bohemia
“Erasmus testifies that even as late as about 1500 these Bohemians not only kept the seventh day scrupulously, but also were called Sabbatarians.” Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” Vol.2, pp.201, 202 “Truth Triumphant,” p.264

Norway
(Church Council held at Bergin, August 22,1435) “The first matter concerned a keeping holy of Saturday. It had come to the earth of the archbishop that people in different places of the kingdom had ventured the keeping holy of Saturday. It is strictly forbidden-it is stated-in the Church Law, for any one to keep or to adopt holy-days, outside of those which the pope, archbishop, or bishops appoint.” The History of the Norwegian Church under Catholicism, R. Keyser, Vol.II, p. 488.Oslo: 1858
Norway, 1435 (Catholic Provincial Council at Bergin)
“We are informed that some people in different districts of the kingdom, have adopted and observed Saturday-keeping. It is severely forbidden-in holy church canon-one and all to observe days excepting those which the holy Pope archbishop, or the bishops command. Saturday-keeping must under no circumstances be permitted hereafter further than the church canon commands. ,Therefore we ccounsel all the friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the holy church to let this evil of Saturday- keeping alone; and the rest we forbid under penalty of sever church punishment to keep Saturday holy.” Dip. Norveg., 7, 397
Norway, 1436
(Church Conference at Oslo) “It is forbidden under the same penalty to keep Saturday holy by refraining from labour.” History of the Norwegian Church, p.401
Russia (Council, Moscow, 1490)
“The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503.” H.Sternberfi, “Geschichte der Juden” (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122
France – Waldenses
“Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515), being informed by the enemies of the Waldense inhabiting a part of the province, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return they reported that they had visited all the parishes, but could not discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith, and the commandments of God. The King having heard the report of his commissioners, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people.” History of the Christian Church, Vol.II, pp. 71, 72, third edition. London: 1818
India
“Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of the Lateran. ‘We are Christians, and not idolaters,’ was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary.’”

16th Century

“The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping).” Adeney, “The Greek and Eastern Churches,” p.527, 528

England
“In the reign of Elizabeth, it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it previously had done to some Protestants in Bohemia) that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of the first, but of the specified ’seventh’ day of the week.” Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, article “Sabbath,” Vol. 8, p. 462, 1537
Sweden
“This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time: even little things which might strengthen the practice of keeping Saturday were punished.” Bishop Anjou, “Svenska Kirkans Historia after Motetthiers, Upsala
Lichenstein Family
(estates in Austria, Bohemia, Morovia, Hungary. Lichenstein in the Rhine Valley wasn’t their country until the end of the 7th century). “The Sabbatarians teach that the outward Sabbath, i.e. Saturday, still must be observed, They say that Sunday is the Pope’s invention.” Refutation of Sabbath, by Wolfgang Capito, published 1599
Bohemia (the Bohemian Brethren)
Dr. R. Cox says: “I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformantion when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be…scrupulous in resting on it.” Literature of the Sabbath Question, Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202
Historian’s List Of Churches (16th Century)
“Sabbatarians, so called because they reject the observance of the Lord’s day as not commanded in Scripture, they consider the Sabbath alone to be holy, as God rested on that day and commanded to keep it holy and to rest on it.” A. Ross
Gremany
-Dr. Esk (while refuting the Reformers) “However, the church has transferred the observance from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own power, without Scripture.” Dr. Esk’s “Enchiridion,” 1533, pp.78,79
Princes Of Lichtenstein (Europe)
About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhardt of Lichtensein held to the observance of the true Sabbath.” J.N.Andrews, History of the Sabbath, p. 649, ed.
India
“The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping).” Adeney, “The Greek and Eastern Churches,” p.527, 528
Norway – 1544
“Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be severely punished. Whoever shall be found keeping Saturday, must pay a fine of ten marks.” History of King Christian the Third,” Niels Krag and S. Stephanius
Austria
“Sabatarians now exist in Austria.” Luther, “Lectures on Genesis,” A.D.1523-27
Abyssinia – A.D. 1534
(Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon) “It is not therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe the day.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia,” pp. 87,8
Dr. Martin Luther
“God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. God willed that this command concerning the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day the word should be preached.” Commentary on Genesis, Vol.1, pp.138-140
Baptists
“Some have suffered torture because they would not rest when others kept Sunday, for they declared it to be the holiday and law of Antichrist.” Sebastian Frank (A.D. 1536)
Finland – Dec. 6,1554
(King Gustavus Vasa I, of Sweden’s letter to the people of Finland) “Some time ago we heard that some people in Finland had fallen into a great error and observed the seventh day, called Saturday.” State Library at Helsingfors, Reichsregister, Vom J., 1554, Teil B.B. leaf 1120, pp.175-180a
Switzerland
“The observance of the Sabbath is a part of the moral law. It has been kept holy since the beginning of the world.” Ref. Noted Swiss writer, R Hospinian, 1592
Holland And Germany
Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: “God has commanded us to rest on the seventh day.” Another martyr, Christina Tolingerin, is mentioned thus: “Concerning holy days and Sundays, she said: ‘In six days the Lord made the world, on the seventh day he rested. The other holy days have been instituted by popes, cardinals, and archbishops.’” Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London, 1850,1, pp.113-4.

17th Century

“A Christian keeping the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years.”
Monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain (view it)
Hungary, Romania
“But as they rejected Sunday and rested on the Sabbath, Prince Sigmond Bathory ordered their persecution. Pechi advanced to position of chancellor of state and next in line to throne of Transylvania. He studied his Bible, and composed a number of hymns, mostly in honour of the Sabbath. Pechi was arrested and died in 1640.
Sweden And Finland
“We can trace these opinions over almost the whole extent of Sweden of that day-from Finland and northern Sweden. “In the district of Upsala the farmers kept Saturday in place of Sunday. “About the year 1625 this religious tendency became so pronounced in these countries that not only large numbers of the common people began to keep Saturday as the rest day, but even many priests did the same.” History of the Swedish Church, Vol.I, p.256
Muscovit Russian Church
“They solemnize Saturday (the old Sabbath). Samuel Purchase- “His Pilgrims.” Vol. I, p. 350
India – 1625 (Jacobites)
“They kept Saturday holy. They have solemn service on Saturdays.” Pilgrimmes, Part 2, p.1269
America – 1664
“Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America come from London in 1664.” History of the Seventh-day Baptist Gen. Conf. by Jas. Bailey, pp. 237, 238

America – 1671 (Seventh-day Baptists)
“Broke from Baptist Church in order to keep Sabbath.” See Bailey’s History, pp. 9,10

America 1603-1683 “ The pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, … speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition.” Roger Williams, First Baptist pastor in America (1603-1683) — The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, quoted in L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3, p. 52. Emphasis supplied.
England
Charles I,1647 (when querying the Parliament Commissioners) “For it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is no longer to be kept, or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Church’s authority that changed the one and instituted the other.” Cox, “Sabbath Laws,” p.333
England – John Milton
“It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first.” Sab. Lit. 2, 46-54
England
“Upon the publication of the ‘Book of Sports’ in 1618 a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force; and, secondly, on what ground the first day of the week was entitled to be observed as ‘the Sabbath.’” Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates, art. “Sabbatarians.” p.602

England – 1618
“At last for teaching only five days in the week, and resting upon Saturday she was carried to the new prison in Maiden Lane, a place then appointed for the restraint of several other persons of different opinions from the Church of England. Mrs. Traske lay fifteen or sixteen years a prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath.” Pagitt’s “Heresiography.” p.196

England – 1668
“Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have eminently preserved.” Stennet’s letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox, Sab.,1, 268
Ethiopia – 1604
Jesuits tried to induce the Abyssinian church to accept Roman Catholicism. They influenced King Zadenghel to propose to submit to the Papacy (A.D.1604). “Prohibiting all his subjects, upon severe penalties, to observe Saturday any longer.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia.” p.311, also Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall,” ch. 47
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, Germany
“one of the counsellors and lords of the court was John Gerendi, head of the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday.” Lamy, “The History of Socinianism.” p. 60
Telegraph Print, Napier
The inscription on the monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain, physician to King James and Queen Anne, King Charles I and Queen Katherine says that Dr. Chamberlain was “a Christian keeping the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years.”

18th Century

“It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath (P.366). the Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week. Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week.” Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt’s “Schriften,” P.49 (printed 1712)

Abyssinia
“The Jacobites assembled on the Sabbath day, before the Domical day, in the temple, and kept that day, as do also the Abyssinians as we have seen from the confession of their faith by the Ethiopian king Claudius.” Abundacnus, ‘Historia Jacobatarum,”p.118-9 (18th Century)

Romania, 1760 (and what is today) Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
“Joseph II’s edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some of whom again lost all of their possessions.” Jahrgang 2, 254
“Catholic priests aided by soldiers forcing them to accept Romanism nominally, and compelling the remainder to labour on the Sabbath and to attend church on Sunday,-these were the methods employed for two hundred fifty years to turn the Sabbatarians.
Germany-Tennhardt of Nuremberg
“He holds strictly to the doctrine of the Sabbath, because it is one of the ten commandments.” Bengel’s “Leban und Wirken,” Burk, p.579
He himself says: “It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath (P.366). the Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week. Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week.” Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt’s “Schriften,” P.49 (printed 1712)
Bohemia and Moravia (Today Czechoslovakia).
Their history from 1635 to 1867 is thus described by Adolf Dux: “The condition of the Sabbatarians was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to become the spoils of flames.” Aus Ungarn, pp. 289-291. Leipzig, 1850
Holland and Germany
“Dr. Cornelius stated of East Friesland, that when Baptists were numerous, “Sunday and holidays were not observed,” (they were Sabbath-keepers). Der Anteil Ostfrieslands and Ref. Muenster,” 1852, pp l29, 34
Moravia-Count Zinzendorf
In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus: “That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel.” Budingsche Sammlung, Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig, 1742
America – 1741
-Moravian Brethren (after Zinzendorf arrived from Europe). “As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422
America
But before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania. See Rupp’s “History of Religious Denominations in the United States,” pp.109- 123

19th Century

“But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians,”
Sternberg, “Geschichte der Juden in Polen,” p.124

China
“At this time Hung prohibited the use of opium, and even tobacco, and all intoxicating drinks, and the Sabbath was religiously observed.” The Ti-Ping Revolution,” by Llin-Le, and officer among them, Vol. 1, pp.36-48, 84
“The seventh day is most religiously and strictly observed. The Taiping Sabbath is kept upon our Saturday.” P. 319
China
“The Taipings when asked why they observed the seventh day Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and, second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship.” A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday.
India and Persia
“Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship throughout our Empire, on the seventh day.” Christian Researches in Asia,” p.143
Denmark
“This agitation was not without its effect. Pastor M.A. Sommer began observing the seventh day, and wrote in his church paper. “Indovet Kristendom” No.5,1875 an impressive article about the true Sabbath. In a letter to Elder John G.Matteson, he says:
“Among the Baptists here in Denmark there is a great agitation regarding the Sabbath commandment..However, I am probably the only preacher in Denmark who stands so near to the Adventists and who for many years has proclaimed Christ’s second coming.” Advent Tidente,” May, 1875
Russia
“But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians,” Sternberg, “Geschichte der Juden in Polen,” p.124

Sweden (Baptists)
“We will now endeavour to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages.” Evangelisten (The Evangelist). Stockholm, May 30 to August 15,1863 (Swedish Baptist Church)
America – 1845
“Thus we see Dan. 7, 25, fulfilled, the little horn changing ‘times and laws. ‘Therefore it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the Sabbath are Pope’s Sunday-keepers and God’s Sabbath- breakers.” Elder T.M. Preble, Feb.13, 1845
America (Seventh-day Adventists)
In 1844 Seventh-day Adventists arose and had spread to nearly all the world by the close of the 19th Century. Their name is derived from their teaching of the seventh-day Sabbath and the Advent of Jesus. In 1874 their work was established in Europe, 1885 -Australasia, 1887-South Africa, 1888-Asia, 1888-South America. Seventh-day Adventists uphold the same Sabbath that Jesus and His followers kept. The sacred Torch of Truth was not extinguished through the long centuries. Adventists are working today in nearly 1000 languages of earth and have over 27,000 churches. Over ten million members around the globe welcome the sacred Sabbath hours.

Sabbath Confessions

McClintock and Strong, “Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical
Literature,” Vol. 9, p. 196
Until well into the second century (a hundred years after Christ) we do not find the
slightest indication in our source that Christians marked Sunday by any kind of
abstention from work.

W. Rordorf, “Sunday,” p. 157
The ancient Sabbath (7th day) did remain and was observed, by the Christians in the
Eastern Church (in the area near Palestine) above three hundred years after our Savior’s
death.
“A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77
The Festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always 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 Sabbath to
Sunday.
Augustus Neander, “The History of the Christian Religion and Church,” 1843, p. 186
Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbath
observance of that day (Sunday) is known to have been ordained, is the edict of
Constantine, 321 AD.

Roman Catholic Confessions

Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 4 pg 153
“The Church…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.”
“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
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
“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.
Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927), p. 136.
Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday…. Now the Church … instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.
“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.

T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
“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.
Dan 7:25 And 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: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
“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)

“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.

James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, 88th ed., pp. 89.
But 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.
Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed., p. 174.
Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Answer: 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.
John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies (1
936), vol. 1, P. 51.
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 the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now 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.
James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1877-1921), in a signed letter.
Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day – Saturday – for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day? I answer no!
Faithfully yours, J. Card. Gibbons
The Catholic Mirror, official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.
Catholic Virginian Oct. 3, 1947, p. 9, art. “To Tell You the Truth.”
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 [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.
Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975), Chicago,
Illinois.
Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:
1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.” It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible.

Protestant Confessions

Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a Sabbath.
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/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
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.
Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments, pp. 52, 63, 65.
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.
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.
Baptist
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 and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not on Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of truimph, 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… “I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perlexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussion is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that some how a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history. “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 glosses [of Jewish traditions], never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during 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 instruction 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 a sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to protestantism!” Dr. Edward Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual. From a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox.
William Owen Carver, The Lord’s Day in Our Day, p. 49.

“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, 1976
Brethren:
“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.
CHURCH OF CHRIST:
“Finally, we have the testimony of Christ on this subject. In Mark 2:27, he says: ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’ From this passage it is evident that the Sabbath was made not merely for the Israelites, as Paley and Hengstenberg would have us believe, but for ….. that is, for the race. Hence we conclude that the Sabbath was sanctified from the beginning, and that it was given to Adam, even in Eden, as one of those primeval institutions that God ordained for the happiness of all men. “-Robert Milligan, Schetne of Redempiten, (St. Louis, The Fethany Press, 1962), p.165.
“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.

“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.
Church of England:
No warrant from scripture for the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday “Neither did he (Jesus), or his disciples, ordain another Sabbath in the place of this, as if they had intended only to shift the day; and to transfer this honor to some other time. Their doctrine and their practise are directly contrary, to so new a fancy. It is true, that in some tract of time, the Church in honor of his resurrection, did set apart that day on the which he rose, to holy exercises: but this upon their own authority, and without warrant from above, that we can hear of; more then the generall warrant which God gave his Church, that all things in it be done decently, and in comely order.” Dr. Peter Heylyn of the Church of England, quoted in History of the Sabbath, Pt 2, Ch.2, p7
“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.
“The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone.” Hobart Church News.
“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).
“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.

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

“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
Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, Feb. 2, 1824,vol. 1. no. 7, p. 164.
“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.
Episcopal:
Bible commandment says the seventh day “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 avove 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 Sunday Problem, a study book of the United Lutheran Church (1923), p. 36.
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.
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.
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!
Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church Henry John Rose, tr. (1843), p. 186.
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.
John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp. 15, 16.
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.
“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 [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.

“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.
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
Harris Franklin Rall, Christian Advocate, July 2, 1942, p.26.
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.
John Wesley, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., John Emory, ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25,vol. 1, p. 221.
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.
Dwight L. Moody, D. L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting (Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York), pp. 47,48.
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?
Clovis G. Chappell- Ten Rules For Living- ‘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.”
Moody Bible Institute: “Sabbath was before Sinai”
“I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated [abolilshed], 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, not man for the Sabbath’ [mark 2:27]. 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. (Moody was also a Methodist)

“This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times.”
“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.” Bishops Pastoral.
D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881.
PENTECOSTAL:
“‘Why do we worship on Sunday? Doesn’t the Bible teach us that Saturday should be the Lord’s Day?’…Apparently we will have to seek the answer from some other source than the New Testament.”-D5~~d A. Womack, “Is Sunday the Lord’s Day?” The Pentecostal Evangel, Aug. 9,1959, No.2361, p.3.
Presbyterian
T. C. Blake, D.D., Theology Condensed, pp.474, 475.
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.
“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
“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.

“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’

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.”

“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
Miscellaneous:
“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.

2006; EMAIL RESPONSES TO SABBATH QUESTION
“Are 7th day Adventists correct in stating that the Roman Catholic Church changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?”
Dear Levi,

In regard to your question concerning the Sabbath, it never has been
changed. Saturday is the Sabbath and was intended for the Jew. Paul makes
it clear in Colossians 2:16 that we should not allow anyone to judge us in
the Sabbath days. In other words, he is saying that the Christian
recognizes the Lord’s day as the day He was resurrected, which is Sunday.

The Sabbath was never intended for the Christian, it was intended for the
Jew. Colossians 2:16 says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in
drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days.” In this scripture it is made clear that no man has the right to
judge another. At Grace Cathedral we worship the Lord on the first day of
the week which is, of course, Sunday.

Yours depending on Jesus,
Reverend Ernest Angley

Greetings from the Crystal Cathedral.

Thank you for your question about the Sabbath Day. We honor you for
taking the Bible seriously and the guidance it gives to us. One way to
see the Bible is as a guide book into living abundantly. When God tells
us to “keep the Sabbath day holy” we need to take that seriously; not
only to honor God, but also to care for ourselves. Now, the question of
how we apply that command:

First, we do take very seriously the command to keep the Sabbath Day
holy. It is noted frequently throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Second, how to we interpret the command to “keep the Sabbath Day holy?”
A primary meaning of Sabbath is “stopping.” A primary meaning of holy is
“set aside from the others.” Therefore, keeping the Sabbath Day holy
means to “maintain a stopping day that is set aside from the others.”
One day in seven is to be kept different from the other six in that it
is to be a day in which we stop from the usual. The Bible helps us
understand better what this means when it tells us to work six days and
stop from that work on the seventh (Exodus 20). It also tells us to stop
our routine one day in seven in order to rest and renew our
relationships with God, ourselves, others, and nature. In summary, we
believe that it is important to set aside one day in seven from work for
rest and renewal.

Third, what day should this be – Saturday or Sunday? Throughout the Old
Testament, for many religions, and in some Christian churches people
observe the Sabbath from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. This
interprets the command to work six days and “stop” on the seventh day as
meaning to work on Sunday through Friday and stop on Saturday. After
Jesus arose from the dead on a Sunday morning, most Christian churches
decided to honor that “Resurrection Day” as their “stopping day.” This
interprets the command as to work for six days each week (observe a
usual routine), but to stop on the remaining day.

We follow the second interpretation. We believe it is important to stop
one day out of seven each week. We have found that it makes most sense
for our congregation that Sunday become that “stopping day.”

I hope this answers your question!

“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the
Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.”
2 John 1:3

Victoria
info@crystalcathedral.org

Saturday is still a sabbath day – a day of rest. The early Christian
Church chose to worship on the first day of the week because that
represents the day Christ rose from the dead and when the Holy Spirit
appeared to the disciples gathered in the upper room.

Miriam L. Woolbert
ELCA Communication Services

Dear Levi,

On behalf of John Hagee Ministries, we appreciate the support and confidence you have in Pastor Hagee’s teachings. Hopefully, our response, along with your own prayerful study of God’s word will give you the wisdom and direction you are seeking to strive to please Him with your living. We understand there are conflicting views by New Testament Bible Scholars concerning the Sabbath, the one-day a week we choose to honor God. We thank you for sharing your views concerning the Sabbath. Pastor Hagee teaches the following:

JEWISH SABBATH

Is the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? The Sabbath is the 7th day. The Jews celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday and do to this day. In the early church the Christians desired to be considered separately from the Jews, so they began to worship the Lord on “the first day of the week”, which is Sunday. See I Cor. 16:2. After all, you must remember what the Bible says, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, which simply means that the Sabbath was given to men to rest one day out of seven and we do that on Sunday.

Jesus kept the Sabbath Himself (Luke 4:16) and commanded the Jews of His day to do so also (Matt. 5:18, 19), but He condemned the keeping of the Sabbath Day merely as an external act of obedience to law (Matt. 12:1-13; John 5:1-18). Many Christians feel that God expects them to observe the Sabbath, because the Sabbath originated at the creation (prior to the giving of the Law). Also, because it is part of the Ten Commandments, something they believe is morally binding upon all people for all time. However, Christians have historically observed the Sabbath day on Sunday, the first day of the week, to differentiate themselves from Jews who are still under the Law and celebrate the Sabbath on the last day of the week, our Saturday. They note that Christ arose on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1) and that the New Testament church regularly worshipped on Sunday (Acts. 20:7, I Cor. 16:2). The day on which Jesus arose was called the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10).

In the present dispensation of grace Sunday perpetuates the truth that one-seventh of one’s time belongs to God.
The Sabbath or Lord’s Day should be honored to please our Father, not to earn our salvation. It is a love offering to show God we are thankful for His Kingdom. When done in the right spirit it is about relationship and attitude, not legalism.

We suggest that you prayerfully read Matthew 22:35-40. If we keep the commandments of God, “loving Him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind”, and loving our neighbors as ourselves, we have the fullest proof that we have the saving knowledge of God and Christ.

The Lord bless you with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Sincerely,

Edward Martinez
John Hagee Ministries

Dear Levi,

Thank you for your email and for your interest in Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Regarding your questions about the Sabbath, Joyce asked us to share with you her belief that every day is holy unto the Lord. Romans 14:5-6a says, “One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike [sacred]. Let everyone be fully convinced (satisfied) in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.”

The Old Testament commanded resting the physical man while the New Testament stresses a spiritual rest. Hebrews 4:9-10 says, “So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; for he who has once entered [God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.”

We do know that God wants us to set aside one day a week for Him and for our minds, emotions, and bodies to rest. We believe that God will honor the day we set aside for rest, worship, and prayer just as He honors the financial tithe we give Him. God will help us to get more accomplished in six days than we do in seven, just as He helps us do more with 90 percent than we could do with 100 percent of our income.

We hope this answers your questions regarding the Sabbath. We encourage you to allow God’s peace to be your umpire in this and all such questions. Dave and Joyce appreciate you and send their love.

In His grace,

Joyce Meyer Ministries

Dear Levi,
Thank you for writing to Dr. Kennedy with your questions. As to a response to how to answer a Seventh Day Adventist, you may not want to go into such a debate. They are very convinced in their position, and we do not believe that there is any thing wrong with attending Church on Saturday or considering Saturday as their Sabbath Day.
However, if they insist on your believing and converting or you may not be saved, then we object.
I have included an article on the Sabbath Day by Dr. Kennedy that will address this issue and the claims of the Catholic Church.
Even the Catholic Church claims to have made such a change, so in that face (i.e., “the claim”) they are correct. But, the Bible makes it clear enough that this change took place from the beginning of the Church after the resurrection of Jesus.
The second article will give you the scriptures and answers to the Seventh Day challenges.
I hope this is helpful.
Rev. David Rice
Assistant to Dr. Kennedy
Pastoral Resource Department
Coral Ridge Ministries
5554 N. Federal Highway
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

Dear Levi,
Thank you for contacting us. Please accept our sincere apology for the delay in our response. We appreciate your question regarding the Sabbath. As we consider this topic it is important to remember that the Sabbath is not a day of the week but a day of rest. The word “Sabbath” means rest. When God set up the Sabbath, it was to be a day of rest. It was not until Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law that the Jews under Moses made the Sabbath on what we now know as Saturday. After the resurrection, the followers of Jesus continued to worship in the synagogues on Saturday and celebrate the resurrection on Sunday morning. When the Christians were forced to leave the synagogues between 70 and 90 A.D., they chose to continue their worship on Sunday. Scriptural warrant for giving special worship and honor to Christ on Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” is found in Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10. This occurred much before the establishment of the Catholic Church. Below this message is an article which you may find to be of interest.
Sincerely, Mary L. Precup (kb)
Christian Guidance Department
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

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Sir 33:7  Why doth one day excel another, when as all the light of every day in the year is of the sun?
Sir 33:8  By the knowledge of the Lord they were distinguished: and he altered seasons and feasts.
Sir 33:9  Some of them hath he made high days, and hallowed them, and some of them hath he made ordinary days.

From the root word meaning to sit or return to your dwelling. Literally, in the ancient Hebrew pictographs, Shabbat means to return by the covenant to the house (House of Elohim)

Shabbat comes from the root word:

SABBATH INSTITUTED AT CREATION

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had made. And He rested (heb. shabbat) on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.
Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which God had created to make.

DID THE MOST HIGH NEED TO REST?
Isa 40:28  Have you not known? Have you not heard? YHWH, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth; He is not faint, nor does He grow weary; there is no searching to His understanding.

The Sabbath is still for believers, it is a weekly rehearsal of the Kingdom of Heaven.  This is why the Most High rested on the 7th day, He was setting a precedent for the 7th Millenium of rest.
Heb 4:9  So, then, there remains a sabbath rest (G4520) to the people of God.

G4520 σαββατισμός sabbatismos
Thayer Definition:
1) a keeping sabbath

Heb 4:10  For he entering into His rest (G2663), he himself also rested (G2664) from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11; Gen. 2:2

Heb 4:11  Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest (G2664), that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.
G2663 κατάπαυσις katapausis
Thayer Definition:
1) a putting to rest
1a) calming of the winds
2) a resting place
2a) metaphorically the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended

G2664 καταπαύω katapauō
Thayer Definition:
1) to make quiet, to cause to be at rest, to grant rest
1a) to lead to a quiet abode
1b) to still, restrain, to cause (one striving to do something) to desist
2) to rest, take rest

The Hebrew origin of these words is:

H4496
מנחה  /  מנוּחה
menûchâh
BDB Definition:
1) resting place, rest
1a) resting place
1b) rest, quietness

The root of this word is beautiful in context with the Sabbath:

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. YHWH is my shepherd; I shall not lack.
Psa 23:2  He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to waters of rest;
Psa 23:3  He restores my soul; He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

The sabbath was made known to Yisrael, not instituted at that time.  It was instituted at creation.
Neh 9:14  And You made Your holy sabbath known to them, and You commanded commandments, statutes, and laws, to them by the hand of Your servant Moses.

In Matthew 24 at the ‘Olivet discourse’, Yahshua speaks of the Sabbath as being kept after the cross, specifically during the end of days.  Yah willing, more examples of the Torah being kept after the cross will be put in a future study.click here

Mat 24:20  And pray that your flight will not occur in winter nor in a sabbath.

Sabbath will be kept forever
Eze 44:23  And they shall teach My people between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, to make them known.
Eze 44:24  And in a dispute, they shall stand to judge, they shall judge it by My judgments. And they shall observe My laws and My statutes in My appointed feasts, and they shall sanctify My sabbaths.
Eze 45:17  And responsibility for burnt offerings shall be on the prince, and a food offering, and drink offerings, in the feasts and on the new moons and on the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He shall make the sin offering, and the food offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to atone for the house of Israel.
Eze 46:3  And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, before YHWH.
Eze 46:4  And the burnt offering that the prince shall bring near to YHWH on the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.
Isa 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth which I make stand before Me, declares YHWH, so your seed and your name shall stand.
Isa 66:23  And it will be, from new moon to its new moon, and from sabbath to its sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says YHWH.

YHWH DOES NOT CHANGE
Mal 3:6  For I, YHWH, change not. Because of this, you sons of Jacob are not destroyed.

YAHSHUA DOESN’T CHANGE
Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

The sabbath is forever.  YHWH/Yahshua does not change…where is the Scriptural support that the sabbath is not to be kept any longer by believers?

WE INHERITED LIES
Jer 16:19  O YHWH, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, Our fathers have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.

Our fathers have inherited lies…one of the major lies propagated down through the centuries is that the sabbath has been done away with or has been changed to Sunday.   This is vanity and brings no profit.

The Sabbath isn’t a feast of the Jews, it is YHWH’s feast
Lev 23:1  And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev 23:2  Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, The appointed feasts of YHWH which you shall proclaim, holy gatherings, shall be these: These are My appointed seasons:
Lev 23:3  Work is to be done six days, and in the seventh day shall be a sabbath of rest, a holy gathering; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to YHWH in all your dwellings.
Lev 23:4  These are appointed seasons of YHWH, holy gatherings which you shall proclaim in their appointed seasons:

Yahshua is YHWHclick here, therefore the Feasts are Yahshua’s Feasts
1Co 12:3  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Every knee shall bow
Phi 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Phi 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Phi 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Isa 45:22  Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isa 45:23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Mt of Olives
Zec 14:3  Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
Zec 14:4  And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Act 1:12  Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey.

YAHSHUA IS LORD OF THE SABBATH
Mat 12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mar 2:28  Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luk 6:5  And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
G2962 κύριος kurios koo’-ree-os
From κῦρος kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller;
Thayer Definition:
1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
Many use this verse to indicate that this now means that observing the sabbath need not be done any longer because ‘Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath’.  Indeed, He is the Lord of the Sabbath…He is the one who Has supreme authority and to whom the day belongs.  One cannot be Lord of something that has passed away.

YAHSHUA THE LAWGIVER
Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?
Deu 33:1  This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
Deu 33:2  He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned from Se’ir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran, he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.

1000’s of Saints
Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

No one has seen or heard the voice of the Father…who’s voice did Yisrael hear at Mt. Sinai?

Joh 5:37  And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

YAHSHUA KEPT TORAH
Psa 40:7  Then I said, “Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me;
Psa 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”

YAHSHUA KEPT THE SABBATH
Luk 4:16  And He came to Nazareth where He was brought up. And as was His custom, He went in on the day of the sabbaths, into the synagogue, and He stood up to read.

WE SHOULD WALK AS HE WALKED
1Jn 2:3  And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commands.
1Jn 2:4  The one saying, I have known Him, and not keeping His commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that one.
1Jn 2:5  But whoever keeps His Word, truly in this one the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.
1Jn 2:6  The one claiming to rest in Him ought so to walk himself as that One walked.

Sabbath is a remembrance of Creation (Exodus 20) & Redemption (Deuteronomy 5)

CREATION
Exo 31:16  And the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to do the Sabbath for their generations; it is a never ending covenant.
Exo 31:17  It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
YHWH created the universe by His Word
Psa 33:6  Through the Word of YHWH the heavens were made; and all their host were made by the breath of His mouth.
Yahshua is our Creator
Col 1:15  who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation.
Col 1:16  For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.
REDEMPTION
Deu 5:15  And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. On account of this YHWH your God has commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Yahshua is our Redeemer
Tit 2:13  looking for the blessed hope and appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Tit 2:14  who gave Himself on our behalf, “that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify a special people for Himself,” zealous of good works. Psa. 130:8; Eze. 37:23; Deut. 14:2

Sabbath isn’t for Israelites only, it is for all believers
Isa 56:1  Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Isa 56:2  Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isa 56:3  Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
Isa 56:4  For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
Isa 56:5  Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Isa 56:6  Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
Isa 56:7  Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Isa 56:8  The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.

Sabbath is for all men, not just Israelites…Notice the text does not say for the Jew’s sake.
Mar 2:27  And He said to them, The sabbath came into being for man’s sake, not man for the sabbath’s sake.

Believers are no longer ‘gentiles’click here

Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
1Co 12:2  Ye know that ye were Gentiles (past tense), carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Col 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

ONE LAW FOR ISRAEL AND STRANGER AMONG THEM
Exo 12:49  One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Lev 24:22  Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God.
Num 15:16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

“GENTILES KEPT SABBATH”
Act 13:42  And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:44  And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God

Sabbath in heathen cultures

Sacred Books & Early Literature 4 pg 69 Exodus Rabba
Moses, before he left Egypt, succeeded in securing for the Israelites the observance of rest on the Sabbath, by pointing out to Pharaoh the necessity in his own interest of granting his slaves one day every week freedom from labor, and thereby invigorating them for the renewal of labor after their rest.

Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions pg 34

In cuneiform texts of ancient Babylon the word ’shabattm’ is used with indicates the day of rest

Of the three branches of Noah’s family after the flood, that of Ham was the least favoured. Of Ham’s family, the portion descended from Canaan was the worst of all. Of them God said, “cursed be Canaan” (Genesis 9, 25). Yet, of the Phoenicians, a Canaanite race, we have the following testimony in antiquity: “The Phoenicians consecrated one day in seven as holy.” These are the words of the Greek writer Porphyry. “The Phoenicians,” he said, “the Phoenicians of all people, consecrated one day in seven as holy.” The Greeks are noted to the modern world for their polytheism and sensuality, yet they observed a Sabbath for all that. Two of their earliest and most noted poets tell us this: ‘the seventh day is holy’.

The Greek philosophers and poets were men of genius, but they were in thick religious darkness. Yet, even of them we are told by the church historian, Eusebius, almost all the philosophers and poets acknowledge the seventh day as holy. He is referring of course to the Greek world. Vastly worse than the Greeks in many ways, were the Barbarians or non-Greeks. Yet, of these, we have the testimony from the Jewish historian, Josephus: “No city of Greeks or Barbarians,” he says, “can be found, which does not acknowledge the seventh day’s rest from labour.”

The Romans were no lovers of the Hebrew religious outlook, yet one of their own poets has to admit this: Tibullus it is, who says, “The seventh day which is kept holy by the Jews is also a festival to the Roman women.”

From Theology by Timothy Dwight pg 255

Hesiod “The seventh day is holy.”
Homer and Callimachus give it the same title.
Theophilus of Antioch “The day, which all mankind celebrate.”
Porphyry “The Phoenicians consecrated on day in seven as holy.”
Linus “A seventh day is observed among saints, or holy people.”
Lucian “The seventh day is geven to school-boys as a holy day.”
Eusebius “Almost all the philosophers, and poets, acknowledge the seventh day as holy.”
Clemens Alexandrinus “The Greeks, as well as the Hebrews, observe the seventh day as holy.”
Philo “The seventh day, is a festival to every nation.”
Tibullus “The seventh day, which is kept holy by the Jews, is also a festival of the Roman women.”

Manna

Exo 16:22  And it came about on the sixth day, they gathered double bread, two omers for one. And all the leaders of the congregation came and reported to Moses.
Exo 16:23  And he said to them, That is what YHWH said, Tomorrow is a rest, a holy sabbath to YHWH. What you will bake, bake. And boil what you will boil. And lay up for yourselves all that is left over, to keep it until the morning.
Exo 16:24  And they laid it up until the morning, as Moses commanded. And it did not stink and no maggot was in it.
Exo 16:25  And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to YHWH. Today you will not find it in the field.
Exo 16:26  You shall gather it six days, and on the seventh is a sabbath; in it none shall be found.
Exo 16:27  And it happened on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and did not find any.
Exo 16:28  And YHWH said to Moses, Until when do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?
Exo 16:29  Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place. Do not let anyone go out from his place on the seventh day.
Exo 16:30  And the people rested on the seventh day.

MANNA WAS A TEST
Exo 16:4  And YHWH said to Moses, Behold, I AM! Bread will rain from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather the matter of a day in its day, so that I may test them, whether they will walk in My Law or not.

Shabbat is the test that is used to see what is in the hearts of believers, whether they are obedient or stiffnecked.

We are not to buy or sell or conduct business on Shabbat
Neh 13:15  In those days I saw in Judah ones treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves and loading asses; and also wine, grapes, and figs, and all burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them on the day they sold food.
Neh 13:16  Men of Tyre also lived in it, who brought fish and all wares, and were selling on the Sabbath to the sons of Judah, even in Jerusalem.
Neh 13:17  And I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What is this evil thing that you do, defiling the Sabbath day?
Neh 13:18  Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by defiling the Sabbath.
Neh 13:19  And it happened, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, so that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath day.
Neh 13:20  And the merchants and sellers of all the wares stayed the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.
Neh 13:21  Then I testified against them and said to them, Why are you staying around the wall? If you do it again, I will send a hand against you. From that time they did not come on the Sabbath.
Neh 13:22  And I said to the Levites that they should be cleansing themselves, and they should come guarding the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. O my God, remember me for this also and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy.
Not to carry your burdens
Jer 17:21  So says YHWH, Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not carry a burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
Jer 17:22  And do not carry a burden from your houses on the sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
Jer 17:23  But they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but they made their neck stiff, not to hear, nor to receive instruction.
Jer 17:24  And it shall be, if you carefully listen to me, says YHWH, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but keep the sabbath day holy, to do no work in it,
Jer 17:25  even kings and rulers sitting on the throne of David shall enter into the gates of this city, riding on chariots and on horses, they and their rulers, the men of Judah, and those living in Jerusalem. And this city will be inhabited forever.
Jer 17:26  And they will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of YHWH.
Jer 17:27  But if you will not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy, and to not carry a burden and enter at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates. And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem; yea, it shall not be put out.
We are to seek Him on Shabbat, not our own pleasures
Isa 58:13  If you turn your foot away because of the sabbath*, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the sabbath a delight, to the holiness of YHWH, glorified; and shall glorify Him, to the holiness of not doing your own ways, from finding your own pleasure or speaking your word;
Isa 58:14  then you shall delight yourself in YHWH. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and make you eat with the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.
*Literally if you turn from my sabbath your foot, as in walking in your own paths and going your own ways.

We are to remain in our place (maqom) on Shabbat
Exo 16:29  Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place. Do not let anyone go out from his place on the seventh day.
LXX
Exo 16:29  See, for the Lord has given you this day as the Sabbath, therefore He has given you on the sixth day the bread of two days. You shall sit each of you in your houses; let no one go forth from his place on the seventh day.
TARGUM
And the Lord said to Mosheh, How long will ye refuse to keep My commandments and My laws ? Behold, because I have given you the Sabbath, I gave you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man abide in his Place, and not wander from one locality to another, beyond four yards;[7] nor let any man go forth to walk beyond two thousand yards on the seventh day; for the people shall repose on the seventh day.

Exo 16:29  Behold! Because YHWH has given the sabbath to you, therefore He is giving to you two days of bread on the sixth day. Each one of you remain in his place*. Do not let anyone go out from his place** on the seventh day.

*Tachat is also a term which can be translated as instead of, because when a man and wife become one, when a man is out working in the field and the woman is at home preparing the food that was brought home yesterday, both man and wife partake of the labor in the field as well as the labor in the home.  When man and wife are following proper spiritual authority, both benefit by being two places at the same time. This is why we are said to be in heavenly places in Messiah
Eph 2:6  and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus,
We are not physically in heaven yet, but because we are one with the Messiah, because He is physically there…so are we.  We also have an important job of manifesting His presence here on earth.  This is why it is so important for His body to be where they are supposed to be on the Shabbat.  When we are where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing, He can live through us.

Joh 14:10  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The Words which I speak to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me, He does the works.
Joh 14:11  Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves.

Spiritually, this day is a rehearsal of when the Messiah the bridegroom and Yisrael the bride become one and abide together in one place which the second hebrew word translated as place refers to.
Zec 3:10  In that day, says YHWH of Hosts, you shall call each man to his neighbor to sit under (tachat) the vine and under the fig tree.

Under the vine and fig tree is a Hebrew idiom referring to the Kingdom, or dwelling in peace in your own land.

Interestingly, the numerical value of the Sabbath & His wife is the same- 707.

**maqom- a place one rises up to.

The picture seen in this word maqom is that when we enter the Kingdom we enter with what we bring to it…our place/standing.  We cannot ask for more time to bear fruit.  This is why we are to STAY in our PLACES on Shabbat.  It is a shadow picture of the millenium of rest where we keep our place.  When erev shabbat comes whatever unfinished business is left will have to wait until the next week.  When the Kingdom comes, whatever unfinished business is left will not be finished.  YHWH rested on the 7th day from what He created and we too will rest when the Kingdom comes.  Whatever we “create” will be all that we have after the 6 days.

the Kingdom of REST…the Restoration of all things
Psa 37:7  Rest in YHWH and wait patiently for Him; inflame not yourself with him who prospers in his way, with the man practicing evil wiles.
Heb 3:7  Because of this, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,
Heb 3:8  do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,
Heb 3:9  there where your fathers tempted Me, testing Me, and saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10  Because of this, I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways;
Heb 3:11  so I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.” LXX-Psalm 94:7-11; MT-Psalm 95:7-11
Heb 3:17  But with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with the ones sinning, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18  And to whom did “He swear” “they would not enter into His rest,” except to those not obeying? LXX-Psa. 94:11; MT-Psa. 95:11
Heb 3:19  And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
Heb 4:1  Therefore, let us fear lest perhaps a promise having been left to enter into His rest, that any of you may seem to come short.
Heb 4:2  For, indeed, we have had the gospel preached to us, even as they also; but the Word did not profit those hearing it, not having been mixed with faith in the ones who heard.
Heb 4:3  For we, the ones believing, enter into the rest, even as He said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest,” though the works had come into being from the foundation of the world. LXX-Psa. 94:11; MT-Psa. 95:11
Heb 4:4  For He has spoken somewhere about the seventh day this way, “And God rested from all His works in the seventh day.” Gen. 2:2
Heb 4:5  And in this again, “They shall not enter into My rest.” MT-Psalm 95:11
Heb 4:6  Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it, and those who formerly had the gospel preached did not enter in on account of disobedience,
Heb 4:7  He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today (after so long a time, according as He has said), “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” MT-Psalm 95:7, 8
Heb 4:8  For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day.
Heb 4:9  So, then, there remains a sabbath rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10  For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11; Gen. 2:2
Heb 4:11  Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.
Isa 11:10  And it shall be in that day, the Root of Jesse stands as a banner of peoples; nations shall seek to Him; and His resting place shall be glory.
Isa 11:11  And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
Isa 11:12  And He shall lift up a banner for the nations, and shall gather the outcasts of Israel, and gather those dispersed from Judah, from the four wings of the earth.
Isa 14:1  For YHWH will have pity on Jacob, and will yet choose among Israel, and set them in their own land. And the stranger shall be joined to them; and they shall cling to the house of Jacob.
Isa 14:2  And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their own place. And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of YHWH for slaves and slave girls. And they shall be captives of their captors; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Isa 14:3  And it shall be, in the day that YHWH shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your trouble, and from the hard bondage which was pressed on you,
Isa 14:4  you shall lift up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the exacter, the gold gatherer, has ceased!
Isa 14:5  YHWH has broken the rod of the wicked, the staff of rulers,
Isa 14:6  who struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, dealing out persecution without restraint.
Isa 14:7 All the earth is at rest, quiet; they break forth into singing.
Isa 32:17  And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever.
Isa 32:18  And My people shall live in a peaceful home, and in safe dwellings, and in secure resting places.

Isa 58:12  And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall rear the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to live in.
Isa 58:13  If you turn your foot away because of the sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the sabbath a delight, to the holiness of Jehovah, glorified; and shall glorify Him, to the holiness of not doing your own ways, from finding your own pleasure or speaking your word;
Isa 58:14  then you shall delight yourself in YHWH. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and make you eat with the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of YHWH has spoken.
Jer 31:1  At that time, says YHWH, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.
Jer 31:2  So says YHWH, Israel, the people, the survivors of the sword, have found grace in the wilderness, I will go to give rest to him.

‘JESUS IS OUR REST NOW”
We have always rested in YHWH
Psa 37:7  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Psa 62:5 My being, find rest in Elohim alone, Because my expectation is from Him.
Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a Root of Yishai, standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him the gentiles shall seek, and His rest shall be esteem.
Mat 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I shall give you rest.
2Ch 14:11  And Asa called to YHWH his God, and said, O YHWH, it is nothing to You to help between the mighty and him with no strength. Help us, O YHWH our God; for we rest on You, and in Your name we come against this host. O YHWH, You are our God. Do not let man hold out against You.

SABBATH IS A SIGN
Exo 31:12  And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Exo 31:13  And you speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Keeping you shall keep My sabbaths; for it is a sign between Me and you for your generation; to know that I am YHWH your sanctifier.
Exo 31:14  And you shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you; the profaners of it dying shall die; for everyone doing work in it, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of his people.
Exo 31:15  Work may be done six days, and on the seventh day is a sabbath of rest, holy to YHWH; everyone doing work on the Sabbath day dying shall die.
Exo 31:16  And the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to do the Sabbath for their generations; it is a never ending covenant.
Exo 31:17  It is a sign forever between Me and the sons of Israel; for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.
Exo 31:18  And when He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Eze 20:12  And I also gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am YHWH who sets them apart.
Eze 20:13  But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them he will even live by them. And they greatly profaned My sabbaths. Then I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Eze 20:20  And keep My sabbaths holy, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am YHWH your God.
Eze 20:21  But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, and they did not keep My judgments, to do them, which if a man does them, he shall live by them. They profaned My sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.

The Mark of the Beast is a counterfeit of YHWH’s signs

”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.

Daniel prophesied that the antichrist (little horn) would think to change times and laws
Dan 7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time.

Antiochus Ephiphanes was a shadow picture of the antichrist

1Ma 1:41  Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42  And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.

Antiochus destroyed the Temple service, and forbid Israel from keeping the Torah
1Ma 1:20  And after that Antiochus had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the hundred forty and third year, and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a great multitude,
1Ma 1:21  And entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,
1Ma 1:22  And the table of the shewbread, and the pouring vessels, and the vials. and the censers of gold, and the veil, and the crown, and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off.
1Ma 1:23  He took also the silver and the gold, and the precious vessels: also he took the hidden treasures which he found.
1Ma 1:24  And when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly. (((Romans also did this in 70AD)))

Interestingly, this  destroying the Temple system and abrogating the Torah is the charge that the Pharisees gave against the teachings of the believers in Yahshua which the Holy Scriptures call FALSE
Act 6:12  And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. And coming on, they together seized him and led him into the sanhedrin.
Act 6:13  And they stood up false witnesses, who were saying, This man does not cease speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the Law;
Act 6:14  for we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses delivered over to us.

Did the REAL Yahshua of Nazareth do these things?
Mat 5:17  Do not think that I came to annul the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to annul, but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18  Truly I say to you, Until the heaven and the earth pass away, in no way shall one iota or one point pass away from the Law until all comes to pass.

1Ma 1:41  Moreover king Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people,
1Ma 1:42  And every one should leave his laws: so all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king.
1Ma 1:43  Yea, many also of the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed unto idols, and profaned the sabbath. (Many Christians fell for this same thing in the person and orders of Constantine)
1Ma 1:44  For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Juda that they should follow the strange laws of the land,
1Ma 1:45  And forbid burnt offerings, and sacrifice, and drink offerings, in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days:
1Ma 1:46  And pollute the sanctuary and holy people:
1Ma 1:47  Set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh, and unclean beasts:
1Ma 1:48  That they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable with all manner of uncleanness and profanation:
1Ma 1:49  To the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances.
1Ma 1:50  And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die.

Constantine

For 250 years it was a martyrs’ assembly of believers; the persecutions were fueled by the refusal of Christians to worship the state and the Roman emperor. There were persecutions under Nero, Domitian, Trajan and the other Antonines, Maximinus Thrax, Decius, Valerian, Diocletian and Galerius; Decius ordered the first official persecution in 250. In 313, Constantine I and Licinius announced toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan. In the East the church passed from persecution directly to imperial control (caesaropapism), inaugurated by Constantine, enshrined later in Justinian’s laws, and always a problem for the Orthodox churches. In the West the church remained independent because of the weakness of the emperor and the well-established authority of the bishop of Rome.

Constantine made all Christians agree to the following:
I renounce all customs, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews And all the other Feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspirations, purifications, and Propitiations and fast and new moons and sabbaths and superstitions and hymns and chants, And observances and synagogues, absolutely everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if Afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with jews Or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly Confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be an anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with satan And the devils.”
(stcfano Assemani, Acta Sanctorium
Martyrum Orientaliom at Accidentalium, Vol.

1 Rome 1748 page 105

This is the technique that the adversary has always used.  This can be seen in the book of Nehemiah.

1) Adversaries are grieved

Neh 2:10  And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard. And it grieved them greatly that a man had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.

This what we see with the opposition of believers in Messiah

Act 4:16  saying, What may we do to these men? For that a notable miracle indeed has occurred through them is plain to all those living in Jerusalem, and we are not able to deny it.
Act 4:17  But that it may not be spread abroad further to the people, let us threaten them with a threat that they no longer speak on this name to any one of men.
Act 4:18  And calling them, they ordered them not to speak at all, nor to teach on the name of Jesus.

2) Laughter & mocking & despising

Neh 2:19  But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard, then they mocked us and despised us. And they said, What is this that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?

3) Wrath and opposition against believers

Neh 4:1  And it happened, when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was angry, and it was greatly enraging to him, and he mocked the Jews.

Act 6:9  But some of those of the synagogue called Libertines, rose up, also some Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some of those from Cilicia and Asia Minor, disputing with Stephen.

4) Fighting against believers

Neh 4:7  And it happened, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that repairing of the walls of Jerusalem had gone up, that the breaks were being closed up, it was very angering to them.
Neh 4:8  And all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and do harm to it.

Act 7:57  And crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion.
Act 7:58  And throwing him outside the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.
Act 7:59  And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60  And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And having said this, he fell asleep.

5) Conspiracy against believers

Neh 6:1  And it happened, when it was heard by Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that no break was left in it though at that time I had not set up doors on the gates,
Neh 6:2  Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do evil to me.

Act 23:12  And it becoming day, some of the Jews making a conspiracy cursed themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink until they should kill Paul.
Act 23:13  And those making this plot were more than forty;
Act 23:14  who, having come near to the chief priests and to the elders, said, With a curse we have cursed ourselves to taste of nothing until we shall kill Paul.
Act 23:15  Now, then, you with the sanhedrin inform the chiliarch, so that tomorrow he may bring him down to you, as intending more accurately to find out about him. And before his drawing near, we are ready to kill him.

6) Joining and infiltrating the believers to corrupt them

Neh 6:10  And I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill you. Yea, in the night they will come to kill you.
Neh 6:11  And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who being as I am would go into the temple and live? I will not go in.
Neh 6:12  And I understood that, behold, God had not sent him. For he spoke the prophecy against me, and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
Neh 6:13  So he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and I should sin, and become for them for an evil name with which they might reproach me.
Neh 6:14  O God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also to the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets who are my alarmers.

1Jn 2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they left so that it might be revealed that they all are not of us.

So too the same process repeated in greater fashion with the Roman government.  First mocking, then opposing, afterwards persecuting then joining with false belief to the faith.

Council of Nicea AD 325

EASTER
Schaff’s History of the Christian Church 3.79 states: “The feast of the resurrection was thenceforth required to be celebrated everywhere on a Sunday, and never on the day of the Jewish passover, but always after the fourteenth of Nisan, on the Sunday after the first vernal full moon. The leading motive for this regulation was opposition to Judaism, which had dishonored the passover by the crucifixion of the Lord.” Eusebius’ Life of Constantine, Book 3 chapter 18 records Constantine as writing: “… it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. … Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way.”
Theodoret’s Ecclesiastical History 1.9 records The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present: “It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because, their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded. … Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries. … avoiding all contact with that evil way. … who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them. … a people so utterly depraved. … Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord. … no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews.”

Who then changed it to Sunday, in effect nullifying it? In Dan. 7:25 we read of a horn, a sovereign (remember: in those days the gentiles regarded their sovereigns as deities). This one is often interpreted as being the Anti-Messiah, the enemy of the Chosen People. In Dan. 7:25 we read that he would “intend to change appointed times (or, festivals) and law.” The Roman Catholic Church openly boast that they changed the Sabbath to Sunday. This change was preceded by Emperor Constantine legislating, in the year 321, that “the venerable day of the Sun” was to be kept as a day of rest. Remember: Constantine was a worshipper of Sol Invictus, the sun-deity. The “Church” soon followed suit, and in the year 336 (some give the date as 364), at the Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, the christians were commanded to observe the Sunday as well. Bishop Eusebius (270-338 CE), who worked with Constantine, admits to the Church’s decision to change from Sabbath to Sunday.

Council of Laodicea
This last one, canon 29, included no more resting on the Sabbath (Saturday), but restricted Christians to honoring the Lord on Sunday even though canon 16 says the Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 approved the canon of this council, making these canon ecumenical.

Flavius Theodosius 347-395 also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great reigned from 379-395, reunited the western and eastern portions of the Roman empire and is credited for making Nicene Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire
Codex Theodosius XV
….On the Lords day which is the first day of the week, on Christmas, and the days of Epiphany, Easter and Pentecost…believers are to be occupied with the worship of God.  Those who follow this law we command shall be comprised under the name of Catholic Christians; but others indeed, we require as insane and raving, to bear the infamy of heretical teaching.
Codex Theodosius XVI
Their gatherings shall not receive the name of churches, they are to be smitten first with the divine judgment and after that by the vengeance of our indignation

Judaizers is a term used by Pauline Christianity, particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Yahshua needed to keep the Law of Moses.

The origins of Pauline Christianity lie in the teachings of Paul of Tarsus, who declared himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles,” and its development in his circle and among his followers. In the history of Christianity (q.v. for detailed discussion), “Pauline Christianity” is a term commonly employed to specify the eventually dominant form taken by “official” or “catholic” (signifying “universal”) Christianity

Pauline Christianity derives its name from the teachings of Paul, yet Paul never said the Torah was done away with.  This is a twisted interpretation of his writings which the Apostle Peter warned us of:
2Pe 3:15  And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;
2Pe 3:16  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unsettled pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17  Then beloved, you knowing beforehand, watch lest being led away by the error of the lawless you fall from your own steadfastness

What about Paul?  Paul kept the Torah and the Sabbaths and did not teach believers that they were annulled.  More on this in a future article, Yah willing.
Act 17:2  And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Act 18:4  And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

THE FEASTS AND SABBATHS OF THE PEOPLE
Hos 2:8  For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Hos 2:9  Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
Hos 2:10  And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
Hos 2:11  I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
Hos 2:12  And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
Hos 2:13  And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.
THE EXAMPLE OF JEROBOAM
1Ki 12:26  And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom shall turn back to the house of David;
1Ki 12:27  if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of YHWH at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people shall turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me and go again to Rehoboam the king of Judah.
1Ki 12:28  And the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!

Jeroboam leads the people back into the Babylonian worship system…this is what Constantine and then later the Roman Catholic Church did.
1Ki 12:29  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Ki 12:30  And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
1Ki 12:31  And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Changing of the priesthood…cardinals, bishops etc. after the similitude of the Roman governmental system
1Ki 12:32  And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah; and he offered on the altar, so he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he made; and he made stand in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made.

Changing set apart times…Sunday, Easter, Christmas etc…
1Ki 12:33  And he offered up on the altar that he made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and offered on the altar, to burn incense.

A false altar…mass
1Ki 14:7  Go, say to Jeroboam, So says YHWH, God of Israel, Because I have exalted you from among the people, and have appointed you leader over My people Israel;
1Ki 14:8  and have torn the kingdom from the house of David, and have given it to you, and you have not been as My servant David who kept My commandments, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in My eyes;
1Ki 14:9  and you did evil above all who have been before you, and went and made for yourself other gods and casted images to provoke Me to anger; and you have cast Me behind your back
1Ki 14:10  therefore, behold, I am bringing evil to the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him who urinates against the wall, bound and free in Israel; and will sweep away the rest of the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away the dung, until it is all gone.

PUNISHMENT FOR BREAKING SHABBAT
Exo 35:2  Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Capital punishment for breaking the Sabbath…certainly not a light matter.  Murder, adultery, idolatry were capital offences which most would not argue with the punishment yet believers of today are appauled at the thought of capital punishment for profaning Shabbat.
Num 15:32  And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
Num 15:33  And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

Heb 10:26  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27  But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

Heb 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Did Yahshua really break the Sabbath?

Joh 9:16  Then some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, because He does not keep the sabbath*. Others said, How can a man, a sinner, do such miraculous signs? And there was a division among them.

*Notice, this is what the Pharisees were saying about the Messiah.  It does not mean this is true.  They also said He casted out devils by Beelzebub.

Rabbinic interpretation of the Sabbath added 39 additional laws

Mishnah Appointed Times Shabbat  7:2
The actual restrictions are known as the “39 Av Melachot” (literally “Fathers of Work”) – 39 prohibited classes of work, based on the 39 types of work that were involved in building the temporary Sanctuary (the Mishkan) that travelled with the Children of Israel during their wonderings in the desert after leaving Egypt. There’s more information on their details at 39 Melachot, but here’s a quick summary list.

Planting, plowing, cutting, gathering in piles, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, whitening, combing, dyeing, spinning, mounting the warp, setting 2 heddles, weaving 2 threads, removing 2 threads, tying a knot, untying a knot, sewing 32 stitches, tearing in order to sew 2 stitches, trapping animals, slaughtering, skinning, salting, tanning a hide, smoothing, cutting, writing 2 letters, erasing 2 letters in order to write 2 letters, building, destroying (for the purpose to build), putting out a fire, lighting, hitting the final blow, and carrying objects from one type of property domain to another.

Yahshua challenged these teachings of the Pharisees and brought people back to the liberty that is in the Torah.  The Written Scriptures speak nothing of 39 prohibitions on the Shabbat.

The first Scripture that people use to ‘prove’ Messiah changed or broke the Sabbath is where Yahshua our Lord speaks of David eating of the “bread of the Face,” something that was reserved for the priests to eat (from 1 Samuel 21:6), followed by how the Torah allows for priests to do certain type of work on the Sabbath, as part of their Temple service (Leviticus 24:5-9). His point in quoting these, is to establish the principle that within the framework of the Torah is a hierarchy of principles.

The Pharisees recognized this fact, as in the Talmud makes it clear that both the commands of circumcision and Temple sacrificial service, take precedence over the command not to do work on the Sabbath:

Talmud – Mas. Shabbath 132b – whilst the sacrificial service supersedes the Sabbath, yet circumcision supersedes it: then the Sabbath, which is superseded by the sacrificial service, surely circumcision supersedes it.

Here, Yahshua makes it clear that it is not wrong to eat when you are hungry on the Sabbath even though you haven’t gone through all the religious rituals that the religious leaders of that time were expecting the people to perform.

Was it wrong to heal on the sabbath?  Even the Pharisees said it was acceptable to heal on the sabbath.
In the Mekhilta Tractate Shabbata to Exodus 31
“R. Ishmael, answering the question said: Behold it says: `If a thief is found breaking in,’ etc. (Ex. 22:1). Now what case does the law speak? Of a case when there is a doubt whether the burglar came merely to steal or even to kill. Now, by using the method of kal vahomer, it is to be reasoned: Even shedding blood, which defiles the land and causes the Shekinah to remove, is to supersede the laws of the Sabbath if it is to be done in protection of one’s life. How much more should the duty of saving life supersede the Sabbath laws! R. Eleazor b. Azariah, answering the question, said: If in performing the ceremony of circumcision, which affects only one member of the body, one is to disregard the Sabbath laws, how much more should one do so for the whole body when it is in danger!
…R. Akiba says: If punishment for murder sets aside even Temple service, which in turn supersedes the Sabbath, how much more should the saving of life supersede the Sabbath laws!”

The problem the Jews had with Yahshua is that He wasn’t healing  according to their ways.  He wasn’t playing their religious games.
Along a similar line, Mishnah Shabbat chapter 14 and its corresponding Tosefta chapters state:

“A. He who is concerned about his teeth may not suck vinegar though them (on the Sabbath).
B. But he dunks his bread in the normal way,
C. and if he is healed, he is healed.”

Vinegar was a common healing remedy for a toothache. It was often applied to a sore tooth with the intention of helping the tooth to heal. This case describes the use of vinegar for a toothache on the Sabbath. Although it is prohibited to directly apply the vinegar to the tooth, a similar effect can be achieved by dipping bread into vinegar and eating the bread. Therefore if one encounters a healing remedy simply by living out one’s everyday life, it is acceptable on the Sabbath.

According to the Mishnah then, one can make an exception to the prohibition on healing if that healing either saves a life, or is incidental. Using these two criteria to examine the culpability of Yahshua’s healing of the man with the withered hand, we find that from the Pharisaic viewpoint, Yahshua is wrong on both accounts. Not only is his action conscious and deliberate, but the healing takes place when it is not necessary for saving life.

Getting back to the question at hand, it is obvious from the silence of the Pharisees that they disapprove of the act of healing, yet they choose not to enter into a discussion of halakha which would allow for the exact reason of their disapproval to be explained. In Mark, Yahshua asks a rhetorical question which appears to desire a response in halakhaic terms yet does not root itself directly in the language of halakha. It is possible then that the Pharisees did not respond in halakhaic terms because they were not addressed in them, but I do not believe this to be the case. In the Gospel According to Matthew, the same story appears, yet in this case the language of Yahshua’s case is rooted deeply in halakha.

“Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11-12)

Yahshua in the book of Matthew appeals to the worth of an individual in relation to the worth of an animal. Yahshua gives an example of when the violation of the Sabbath law not to “carry [uproot the feet of] a domestic beast” (Tosefta Shabbat 15:1) can be safely overridden. According to Yahshua, it can be overridden when there is great worth involved.

Physiology of man

Gestation with the Human species is 280 days (or 40×7).

The women’s menstrual cycle is based on 28 day (4 x 7).

Sabbath and man’s pulse
E.W. Bullinger Number in Scripture pg 10
Man’s pulse beats on the seven-day principle, for Dr. Stratton points out that for six days out of the seven it beats faster in the morning than in the evening, while on the seventh day it beats slower. Thus the number seven is stamped upon physiology, and he is thus admonished, as man, to rest one day in seven. He cannot violate this law with impunity, for it is interwoven with his very being. He may say “I will rest when I please,”— one day in ten, or irregularly, or not at all. He might as well say of his eight-day clock, “It is mine, and I will wind it up when I please.” Unless he wound it at least once in eight days, according to the principle on which it was made, it would be worthless as a clock. So with man’s body. If he rests not according to the Divine law, he will, sooner or later, be compelled to “keep his sabbaths,” and the rest which he would not take at regular intervals, at God’s command, he has to take at the command of man all at once! Even in this case God gives him more rest than he can get for himself; for God would have him take 52 days’ rest in the year, and the few days’ “change” he is able to get for himself is a poor substitute for this. It is like all man’s attempts to improve on God’s way.

“The Approaching End of the Age,” H. Grattan Guinness, page 268, 269.
Dr. Grattan Guinness:
“As to man his very pulse keeps time to the seven-day period. Dr. Stratton states (as the result of several series of observations) that in health, human pulse is more frequent in the morning than in the evening, for six days out of seven; and that on the seventh day it is slower. And man’s life as a whole is a week a week of decades. ‘The days of our years are threescore years and ten’ and that by Divine appointment. Combining the testimony of all these facts, we are bound to admit that there prevails in nature a law of septiform periods. In organic nature a law of completion in weeks.”

Dr. Stratton states as a physiological and pathological fact, that “in health the human pulse is more frequent in the morning than in the evening for six days out of seven; and that on the seventh day it is slower.” (Ibid. Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, Jan. 1843.)

Sabbath History

1st Century -

it is clear in the Gospels and the Book of Acts that believers in the Messiah kept the Sabbath.  Here are a few examples:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56

“And Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures” Acts 17:2

Here we find Gentiles in a Gentile city gathering on the Sabbath. It was not a synagogue meeting in verse 44, for it says almost the whole city came together, verse 42 says they asked to hear the message the “next Sabbath.”

Josephus
“There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come!” M’Clatchie, “Notes and Queries on China and Japan” (edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100.
Philo
Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of the universe. M’Clatchie, “Notes and Queries,” Vol. 4, 99

2nd Century

“It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord’s day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.”

“A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77

“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to the purpose.” “Dialogues on the Lord’s Day,” p. 189. London: 1701, By Dr. T.H. Morer (A Church of England divine).

“…The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the example but also the command of Jesus.” “Geschichte des Sonntags,” pp.13, 14

“The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath,” Gieseler’s “Church History,” Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93.
Early Christians
“The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;…therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council.” “The Whole Works” of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX,p. 416 (R. Heber’s Edition, Vol XII, p. 416).
“It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord’s day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour’s death.” “A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77

Note: By the “Lord’s day” here the writer means Sunday and not the true Sabbath,” which the Bible says is the Sabbath. This quotation shows Sunday coming into use in the early centuries soon after the death of the Apostles. Paul the Apostle foretold a great “falling away” from the Truth that would take place soon after his death.

2nd, 3rd, 4th Centuries
“From the apostles’ time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observance of the Jews’ Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it.” “Sunday a Sabbath.” John Ley, p.163. London: 1640.

3rd Century

“The seventh-day Sabbath was…solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish the observations of it.” “Dissertation on the Lord’s Day,” pp. 33, 34

Egypt (Oxyrhynchus Papyrus) (200-250 A.D.)
“Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (sabbatize the Sabbath,” Greek), ye shall not see the Father.” “The oxyrhynchus Papyri,” pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 (London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898).

Early Christians-C 3rd
“Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands.” “The Anti-Nicene Fathers,” Vol 7,p. 413. From “Constitutions of the Holy Apostles,” a document of the 3rd and 4th Centuries.
Africa (Alexandria) Origen
“After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice (the crucifixion) is put the second festival of the Sabbath, and it is fitting for whoever is righteous among the saints to keep also the festival of the Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a sabbatismus, that is, a keeping of the Sabbath, to the people of God (Hebrews 4:9).” “Homily on Numbers 23,” par.4, in Migne, “Patrologia Graeca,” Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.
Palestine to India (Church of the East)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed lallrge bishoprics or conferences of the Church of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India. Mingana, “Early Spread of Christianity.” Vol.10, p. 460.
India (Buddhist Controversy, 220 A.D.)
The Kushan Dynasty of North India called a famous council of Buddhist priests at Vaisalia to bring uniformity among the Buddhist monks on the observance of their weekly Sabbath. Some had been so impressed by the writings of the Old Testament that they had begun to keep holy the Sabbath. Lloyd, “The Creed of Half Japan,” p. 23.

“The seventh-day Sabbath was…solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish the observations of it.” “Dissertation on the Lord’s Day,” pp. 33, 34

4th Century

“When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.”
Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan gave rise to this proverb by stating that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome he observed Sunday. (See page 70 in this Online version of Truth Triumphant)

Italy AND EAST-C 4th
“It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some churches of the west…For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);…it seems the Saturday was held in a farre esteeme… Not that the Easterne Churches, or any of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ the Lord of the Sabbath.” “History of the Sabbath” (original spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.

Italy – Milan
“Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb, ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.’” Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath” (1612)

Orient And Most Of World
“The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday, or the seventh day…It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival…Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same.” “Antiquities of the Christian Church,” Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.
Abyssinia – Remnants of Philip’s Evangelism
“In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had ‘traveled almost everywhere in the country of the Seres’ (China). For more than seventeen centuries the Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth commandment.” Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.
Arabia, Persia, India, China
“Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, travelled extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India and China.” “Truth Triumphant,”p.308 (Footnote 27). (Page numbers vary in this Online version)
Spain – Council Elvira (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spainat that time kept Saturday, the seventh day. “As to fasting every Sabbath: Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath.” This resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.
Spain
It is a point of further interest to note that in north-eastern Spainnear the city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originaly inhabited. By a people called both “Valldenses” and Sabbatati.”
Persia-A.D. 335-375 (40 Years Persecution Under Shapur II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-”They despise our sungod, they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by burying their dead in it.” Truth Triumphant,” (Online Version p. 261)
Persia-A.D.335-375
“They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have divine services on Saturday.” O’Leary, “The Syriac Church and Fathers,” pp.83, 84.
Council Laodicea – A.D.365
“Canon 16-On Saturday the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud.” “Canon 29-Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day.” Hefele’s “Councils,” Vol. 2, b. 6. (See an online version of this council on the Roman Catholic New Advent website – see Canon 29)

5th Century

“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.

The World
“For although almost all churches throughout The World celebrated the sacred mysteries (the Lord’s Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.” The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word “Sabbath.” It says: “That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called “the Sabbath’ by the ancient Fathers and historians.” Sacrates, “Ecclestical History,” Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.

Constantinople
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.” Socrates, “Ecclesiastical History,” Book 7, chap.19.
The World – Augustine, Bishop Of Hippo (North Africa)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day “in the greater part of the Christian world,” and his testimony in this respect is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent Sunday-keeper. See “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,” 1st Series, Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.
Pope Innocent (402-417)
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) “Innocentius did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.
5th Century Christians
Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church. “Ancient Christianity Exemplified,” Lyman Coleman, ch. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
In Jerome’s day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary work on Sunday. “Treatise of the Sabbath Day,” by Dr. White, Lord Bishop of Ely, p. 219.
France
“Wherefore, except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the day except on Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday.” John Cassian, A French monk, “Institutes,” Book 3, ch. 2.
Africa
“Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighbouring churches in Africa one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it.” Dr. Peter Heylyn, “The History of the Sabbath.” p. 416.
Spain (400 A.D.)
“Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says). Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday Sabbath.” Truth Triumphant, p. 68.
Sidonius (Speaking Of King Theodoric Of The Goths, A.D. 454-526)
“It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord’s day and to hold sacred assemblies: while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord’s day have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath.” “Apollinaries Sidonli Epistolae,” lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.
Church Of The East
“Mingana proves that in 410 Isaac, supreme director of the Church of the East, held a world council,-stimulated, some think, by the trip of Musacus,-attended by eastern delegates from forty grand metrop olitan divisions. In 411 he appointed a metropolitan director for China. These churches were sanctifying the seventh day.”
Egypt
“There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings, and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries.” Sozomen. “Ecclesiastical History Book 7, ch. 119

6th Century

Scottish Church
“In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours.” W.T. Skene, “Adamnan Llife of St. Columbs” 1874, p.96.

Scotland, Ireland
“We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath.” “History of the Catholic Church in Scotland,” Vol.1, p. 86, by Catholic historian Bellesheim.
Scotland – Columba
“Having continued his labours in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the month of June, said to his disciple Diermit: “This day is called the Sabbath, that is the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labours.’” “Butler’s Lives of the Saints,” Vol.1, A.D. 597, art. “St. Columba” p. 762
Columba (Re Dr. Butler’s Description Of His Death)
The editor of the best biography of Columbia says in a footnote: “Our Saturday. The custom to call the Lord’s day Sabbath did not commence until a thousand years later.” Adamnan’s “Life of Columba” (Dublin, 1857), p. 230.

7th Century

Scotland and Ireland
Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says: It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of week.” “The Church in Scotland,” p.140.

Scotland and Ireland
“The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate (R.C.) and kept Saturday as a day of rest, with special religious services on Sunday.” Flick, “The Rise of Mediaeval Church,” p. 237
Rome
Gregory I (A.D. 590-640) wrote against “Roman citizens (who) forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day.” “Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers,” Second Series, Vol, XIII, p.13, epist. 1
Rome (Pope Gregory I, A.D.590 TO 604)
“Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the Roman citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse spirit have disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to the holy faith, so that they forbid anything to be done on the day of the Sabbath. What shall I call them except preachers of anti-Christ?” Epistles, b.13:1
Rome (Pope Gregory I)
Declared that when anti-Christ should come he would keep Saturday as the Sabbath. “Epistles of Gregory I, “b 13, epist.1. found in “Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.”
“Moreover, this same Pope Gregory had issued an official pronouncement against a section of the city of Rome itself because the Christian believers there rested and worshipped on the Sabbath.” Same reference.

8th Century

Council Of Friaul, Italy-A.D. 791 (Canon 13)
“We command all Christians to observe the Lord’s day to be held not in honour of the past Sabbath, but on account of that holy night of the first of the week called the Lord’s day. When speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe..” Mansi, 13, 851

Persia and Mesopotamia
“The hills of Persia and the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates reechoed their songs of praise. They reaped their harvests and paid their tithes. They repaired to their churches on the Sabbath day for the worship of God.” “Realencyclopaedie fur Protestatische and Krche,” art. “Nestorianer”; also Yule, “The Book of ser Marco Polo,” Vol.2, p.409.
India, China, Persia, ETC
“Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India, who never were connected with Rome. It also was maintained among those bodies which broke off from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon namely, the Abyssinians, the Jacobites, the Maronites, and the Armenians,” Schaff-Herzog, The New Enclopadia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians”; also Realencyclopaedie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche,” art. “Nestorianer.”
Council Of Liftinae, Belgium – A.D.745 (Attended By Boniface)
“The third allocution of this council warns against the observance of the Sabbath, referring to the decree of the council of Laodicea.” Dr. Hefele, Counciliengfesch, 3, 512, sec. 362
China – A.D.781
In A.D. 781 the famous ChinaMonument was inscribed in marble to tell of the growth of Christianity in Chinaat that time. The inscription, consisting of 763 words, was unearthed in 1625 near the city of Changan and now stands in the “Forest of Tablets,” Changan. The following extract from the stone shows that the Sabbath was observed:
“On the seventh day we offer sacrifices, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts.” Christianity in China, M. I’Abbe Huc, Vol. I, ch.2, pp. 48, 49

9th Century

Bulgaria
“Bulgariain the early season of its evangelization had been taught that no work should be performed on the Sabbath.” Responsa Nicolai Papae I and Con-Consulta Bulllllgarorum, Responsum 10, found in Mansi, Sacrorum Concilorum Nova et Amplissima Colectio, Vol.15; p. 406; also Hefele, Conciliengeschicte, Vol.4, sec. 478

Bulgaria
(Pope Nicholas I, in answer to letter from Bogaris, ruling prince of Bulgaria.) “Ques. 6-Bathing is allowed on Sunday. Ques. 10-One is to cease from work on Sunday, but not also on the Sabbath.” Hefele, 4,346- 352, sec. 478
The Bulgarians had been accustomed to rest on the Sabbath. Pope Nicholas writes against this practice.
Constantinople
(Photuus, Patriarch of Constantinople {in counter- synod that deposed Nicolas}, thus accused Papacy). Against the canons, they induced the Bulgarians to fast on the Sabbath.” Photius, vonKard, Hergenrother, 1, 643
Note: The Papacy tried to bring the seventh-day Sabbath into disrepute by insisting that all should fast on that day. In this manner (she sought to turn people towards Sunday, the first day, the day that Rome had adopted.
Athingians
Cardinal Hergenrother says that they stood in intimate relation with Emperor Michael II (821-829) and testifies that they observed the Sabbath. Kirchengeschichte, 1, 527
India, Abyssinia
“Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of India. It was also maintained by the Abyssinians.
Bulgaria
“Pope Nicholas I, in the ninth century, sent the ruling prince of Bulgaria a long document saying in it that one is to cease from work on Sunday, but not on the Sabbath. The head of the Greek Church, offended at the interference of the Papacy, declared the Pope ex-communicated.” Truth Triumphant, p. 232

10th Century

Scotland
“They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner.” A history of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, Vol. I, p.96. Andrew Lang

Church Of The East – Kurdistan
“The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither auricular confession nor purgatory.” Schaff-Herzog, “The New Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,” art. “Nestorians.”
Waldenses
“And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath days, they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no Sabbath.” Luther’s “Fore-Runners” (original spelling), PP. 7, 8
Waldenses
Roman Catholic writers try to evade the apostolic origin of the Waldenses, so as to make it appear that the Roman is the only apostolic church, and that all others are later novelties. And for this reason they try to make out that the Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo of the twelfth century. Dr. Peter Allix says:
“Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was set for them…It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever found by Peter Waldo…it is a pure forgery.” Ancient Church of Piedmont, pp.192, Oxford: 1821
Waldenses
“It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the valleys: they were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the valleys in which they dwelt.” “Id., p. 182
Waldenses
On the other hand, he “was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys.” History of the Christian Church, William Jones, Vol II, p.2

11th Century

Scotland
They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work. “Celtic Scotland,” Vol. 2, p. 350

Scotland
“They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner…These things Margaret abolished.” A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation,” Vol.1, p. 96.
Scotland
“It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord’s day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she (Queen Margaret) proved to them as well by reason as by authority. ‘Let us venerate the Lord’s day,’ said she, ‘because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same.’” Life of Saint Margaret, Turgot, p. 49 (British Museum Library)
Scotland
(Historian Skene commenting upon the work of Queen Margaret) “Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord’s day, but in this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours.” Skene, “Celtic Scotland,” Vol.2, p. 349
Scotland And Ireland
“T. Ratcliffe Barnett, in his book on the fervent Catholic queen of Scotland who in 1060 was first to attempt the ruin of Columba’s brethren, writes: ‘In this matter the Scots had perhaps kept up the traditional usage of the ancient Irish Church which observed Saturday instead of Sunday as the day of rest.’” Barnett, “Margaret of Scotland: Queen and Saint,” p.97
Council Of Clermont
“During the first crusade, Pope Urban II decreed at the council of Clermont (A.D.1095) that the Sabbath be set aside in honour of the Virgin Mary.” History of the Sabbath, p.672
Constantinople
“Because you observe the Sabbath with the Jews and the Lord’s Day with us, you seem to imitate with such observance the sect of Nazarenes.” Migne, “Patrologia Latina,” Vol. 145, p.506; also Hergenroether, “Photius,” Vol. 3, p.746. (The Nazarenes were a Christian denomination.)
Greek Church
“The observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a bitter dispute between the Greeks and the Latins.” Neale, “A History of the Holy Eastern Church,” Vol 1, p. 731. (Referring to the separation of the Greek Church from the Latin in 1054)

12th Century

“Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. “One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day.’” General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413

Lombardy
“Traces of Sabbath-keepers are found in the times of Gregory I, Gregory VII, and in the twelfth century in Lombardy.” Strong’s Cyclopaedia, 1, 660
Spain (Alphonse of Aragon)
“Alphonse, king of Aragon, etc., to all archbishops, bishops and to all others…’We command you that heretics, to wit, Waldenses and Insabbathi, should be expelled away from the face of God and from all Catholics and ordered to depart from our kingdom.’” Marianse, Praefatio in Lucam Tudensem, found in “Macima Gibliotheca Veterum Patrum,” Vol.25, p.190
Hungary France, England, Italy, Germany. (Referring to the Sabbath- keeping Pasagini) “The spread of heresy at this time is almost incredible. From Gulgaria to the Ebro, from nothern France to the Tiber, everywhere we meet them. Whole countries are infested, like Hungary and southern France; they abound in many other countries, in Germany, in Italy, in the Netherlands and even in England they put forth their efforts.” Dr. Hahn, “Gesch. der Ketzer.” 1, 13, 14
Waldenses
“Among the documents. we have by the same peoples, an explanation of the Ten Commandments dated by Boyer 1120. Observance of the Sabbath by ceasing from worldly labours, is enjoined.” Blair, History of the Waldenses, Vol.1, p. 220

“Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati. “One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they kept the Saturday for the Lord’s day.’” General History of the Baptist Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413
Wales
“There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales university until A.D.1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David’s. The old Welsh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to Rome, but fled to their hiding places.” Lewis, “Seventh Day Baptists in Europe and America,” Vol.1, p.29
France
“For twenty years Peter de Bruys stirred southern France. He especialy emphasised a day of worship that was recognized at that time among the Celtic churches of the British Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great Church of the East namely, the the seventh day of the fourth commandment.”
Pasagini
The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the “Pasagaini”: “Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called Pasaagini…First, they teach that we should obey the Sabbath. Furthermore, to increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and the whole Roman Church.” D’Achery, Spicilegium I,f.211-214; Muratory, Antiq. med. aevi.5, f.152, Hahn, 3, 209

13th Century

“The inquisitors…[declare] that the sign of a Vaudois(Waldenses of France), deemed worthy of death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments of God.” History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages,” H.C.Les, vol.1

Waldenses
“They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist of whom mention is made in the Epistles of St. Paul as having been the son of perdition.[They also say] that the keeping of the Sabbath ought to take place.” Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches ofPiedmont,” p.169 (by prominent Roman Cathholic author writing about Waldenses)

France (Waldenses)
To destroy completely these heretics Pope Innocent III sent Dominican inquistors into France, and also crusaders, promising “a plenary remission of all sins, to those who took on them the crusade…against the albigenses.” Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol.XII, art.”Raymond VI,” p. 670
France
Thousands of God’s people were tortured to death by the Inquisition, buried alive, burned to death, or hacked to pieces by the crusaders. While devastating the city of Biterre the soldiers asked the Catholic leaders how they should know who were heretics; “Slay them all, for the Lord knows who is His.” History of the Inquisition, pp.96
France-King Louis IX,1229
Published the statute “Cupientes” in which he charges himself to clear southern France from heretics as the Sabbath-keepers were called.
Waldenses Of France
“The heresy of the Vaudois, or poor people of Lyons, is of great antiquity, for some say that it has been continued down ever since the time of Pope Sylvester; and others, ever since that of the apostles.” The Roman Inquisitor, Reinerus Sacho, writing about 1230
FRANCE-Council Toulouse, 1229
Canons against Sabbath-keepers: “Canon 3.-The lords of the different districts shall have the villas, houses and woods diligently searched, and the hiding-places of the heretics destroyed.
“Canon 14-Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the Old or the New Testaments.” Hefele, 5, 931, 962
Europe
“The Paulicians, Petrobusinas, Passaginians, Waldenses, Insabbatati were great Sabbath-keeping bodies of Europe down to 1250 A.D.”
Pasaginians
Dr. Hahn says that if the Pasaginians referred to the 4th Commandment to support the Sabbath, the Roman priests answered, “The Sabbath symbolised the eternal rest of the saints.”
Mongolia
“The Mongolian conquest did not injure the Church of the East. (Sabbath-keeping.) On the contrary, a number of the Mongolian princes and a larger number of Mongolian queens were members of this church.”

14th Century

“Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as Sundays.” Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway (See below), Vol.1, p.184 Oslo

Waldenses
“That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day.” Luther’s Fore-runners,” p. 38

Insabbati
“For centuries evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses, were called Insabbati because of Sabbath-keeping.” Gui, Manueld’ Inquisiteur
Bohemia, 1310 (Modern Czechoslovakia)
“In 1310, two hundred years before Luther’s theses, the Bohemian brethern constituted onefourth of the population of Bohemia, and that they were in touch with the Waldenseswho abounded in Austria, Lombardy,. Bohemia, north Germany, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Moravia. Erasmus pointed out how strictly Bohemian Waldenseskept the seventh day Sabbath.” Armitage, “A History of the Baptists,” p.313; Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” vol. 2, pp. 201-202
Norway
Then, too, in the “Catechism” that was used during the fourteenth century, the Sabbath commandment read thus; “Thou shalt not forget to keep the seventh day.” This is quoted from “Documents and Studies Concerning the History of the Lutheran Catechism in the Nordish Churches,” p.89. Christiania 1893
Norway
“Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as Sundays.” Theological Periodicals for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Norway, Vol.1, p.184 Oslo
England, Holland, Bohemia
“We wrote of the Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Transylvania, England and Holland between 1250 and 1600 A.D.” Truth Triumphant, Wilkinson, p.309

15th Century

“The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503.” Geschichte der Juden” (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122

Bohemia
“Erasmus testifies that even as late as about 1500 these Bohemians not only kept the seventh day scrupulously, but also were called Sabbatarians.” Cox, “The Literature of the Sabbath Question,” Vol.2, pp.201, 202 “Truth Triumphant,” p.264

Norway
(Church Council held at Bergin, August 22,1435) “The first matter concerned a keeping holy of Saturday. It had come to the earth of the archbishop that people in different places of the kingdom had ventured the keeping holy of Saturday. It is strictly forbidden-it is stated-in the Church Law, for any one to keep or to adopt holy-days, outside of those which the pope, archbishop, or bishops appoint.” The History of the Norwegian Church under Catholicism, R. Keyser, Vol.II, p. 488.Oslo: 1858
Norway, 1435 (Catholic Provincial Council at Bergin)
“We are informed that some people in different districts of the kingdom, have adopted and observed Saturday-keeping. It is severely forbidden-in holy church canon-one and all to observe days excepting those which the holy Pope archbishop, or the bishops command. Saturday-keeping must under no circumstances be permitted hereafter further than the church canon commands. ,Therefore we ccounsel all the friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the holy church to let this evil of Saturday- keeping alone; and the rest we forbid under penalty of sever church punishment to keep Saturday holy.” Dip. Norveg., 7, 397
Norway, 1436
(Church Conference at Oslo) “It is forbidden under the same penalty to keep Saturday holy by refraining from labour.” History of the Norwegian Church, p.401
Russia (Council, Moscow, 1490)
“The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow; Dec. 17,1503.” H.Sternberfi, “Geschichte der Juden” (Leipsig, 1873), pp.117-122
France – Waldenses
“Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515), being informed by the enemies of the Waldense inhabiting a part of the province, that several heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a certain doctor of the Sorbonne, to make inquiry into this matter. On their return they reported that they had visited all the parishes, but could not discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism, according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith, and the commandments of God. The King having heard the report of his commissioners, said with an oath that they were better men than himself or his people.” History of the Christian Church, Vol.II, pp. 71, 72, third edition. London: 1818
India
“Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of the Lateran. ‘We are Christians, and not idolaters,’ was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary.’”

16th Century

“The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping).” Adeney, “The Greek and Eastern Churches,” p.527, 528

England
“In the reign of Elizabeth, it occurred to many conscientious and independent thinkers (as it previously had done to some Protestants in Bohemia) that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of the first, but of the specified ’seventh’ day of the week.” Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, article “Sabbath,” Vol. 8, p. 462, 1537
Sweden
“This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time: even little things which might strengthen the practice of keeping Saturday were punished.” Bishop Anjou, “Svenska Kirkans Historia after Motetthiers, Upsala
Lichenstein Family
(estates in Austria, Bohemia, Morovia, Hungary. Lichenstein in the Rhine Valley wasn’t their country until the end of the 7th century). “The Sabbatarians teach that the outward Sabbath, i.e. Saturday, still must be observed, They say that Sunday is the Pope’s invention.” Refutation of Sabbath, by Wolfgang Capito, published 1599
Bohemia (the Bohemian Brethren)
Dr. R. Cox says: “I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformantion when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be…scrupulous in resting on it.” Literature of the Sabbath Question, Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202
Historian’s List Of Churches (16th Century)
“Sabbatarians, so called because they reject the observance of the Lord’s day as not commanded in Scripture, they consider the Sabbath alone to be holy, as God rested on that day and commanded to keep it holy and to rest on it.” A. Ross
Gremany
-Dr. Esk (while refuting the Reformers) “However, the church has transferred the observance from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own power, without Scripture.” Dr. Esk’s “Enchiridion,” 1533, pp.78,79
Princes Of Lichtenstein (Europe)
About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhardt of Lichtensein held to the observance of the true Sabbath.” J.N.Andrews, History of the Sabbath, p. 649, ed.
India
“The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the ‘Jewish wickedness’ (Sabbath-keeping).” Adeney, “The Greek and Eastern Churches,” p.527, 528
Norway – 1544
“Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be severely punished. Whoever shall be found keeping Saturday, must pay a fine of ten marks.” History of King Christian the Third,” Niels Krag and S. Stephanius
Austria
“Sabatarians now exist in Austria.” Luther, “Lectures on Genesis,” A.D.1523-27
Abyssinia – A.D. 1534
(Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon) “It is not therefore, in imitation of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe the day.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia,” pp. 87,8
Dr. Martin Luther
“God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. God willed that this command concerning the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day the word should be preached.” Commentary on Genesis, Vol.1, pp.138-140
Baptists
“Some have suffered torture because they would not rest when others kept Sunday, for they declared it to be the holiday and law of Antichrist.” Sebastian Frank (A.D. 1536)
Finland – Dec. 6,1554
(King Gustavus Vasa I, of Sweden’s letter to the people of Finland) “Some time ago we heard that some people in Finland had fallen into a great error and observed the seventh day, called Saturday.” State Library at Helsingfors, Reichsregister, Vom J., 1554, Teil B.B. leaf 1120, pp.175-180a
Switzerland
“The observance of the Sabbath is a part of the moral law. It has been kept holy since the beginning of the world.” Ref. Noted Swiss writer, R Hospinian, 1592
Holland And Germany
Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: “God has commanded us to rest on the seventh day.” Another martyr, Christina Tolingerin, is mentioned thus: “Concerning holy days and Sundays, she said: ‘In six days the Lord made the world, on the seventh day he rested. The other holy days have been instituted by popes, cardinals, and archbishops.’” Martyrology of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London, 1850,1, pp.113-4.

17th Century

“A Christian keeping the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years.”
Monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain (view it)
Hungary, Romania
“But as they rejected Sunday and rested on the Sabbath, Prince Sigmond Bathory ordered their persecution. Pechi advanced to position of chancellor of state and next in line to throne of Transylvania. He studied his Bible, and composed a number of hymns, mostly in honour of the Sabbath. Pechi was arrested and died in 1640.
Sweden And Finland
“We can trace these opinions over almost the whole extent of Sweden of that day-from Finland and northern Sweden. “In the district of Upsala the farmers kept Saturday in place of Sunday. “About the year 1625 this religious tendency became so pronounced in these countries that not only large numbers of the common people began to keep Saturday as the rest day, but even many priests did the same.” History of the Swedish Church, Vol.I, p.256
Muscovit Russian Church
“They solemnize Saturday (the old Sabbath). Samuel Purchase- “His Pilgrims.” Vol. I, p. 350
India – 1625 (Jacobites)
“They kept Saturday holy. They have solemn service on Saturdays.” Pilgrimmes, Part 2, p.1269
America – 1664
“Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America come from London in 1664.” History of the Seventh-day Baptist Gen. Conf. by Jas. Bailey, pp. 237, 238

America – 1671 (Seventh-day Baptists)
“Broke from Baptist Church in order to keep Sabbath.” See Bailey’s History, pp. 9,10

America 1603-1683 “ The pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, … speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition.” Roger Williams, First Baptist pastor in America (1603-1683) — The Bloody Tenet of Persecution, quoted in L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3, p. 52. Emphasis supplied.
England
Charles I,1647 (when querying the Parliament Commissioners) “For it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is no longer to be kept, or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Church’s authority that changed the one and instituted the other.” Cox, “Sabbath Laws,” p.333
England – John Milton
“It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to adopt the first.” Sab. Lit. 2, 46-54
England
“Upon the publication of the ‘Book of Sports’ in 1618 a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force; and, secondly, on what ground the first day of the week was entitled to be observed as ‘the Sabbath.’” Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates, art. “Sabbatarians.” p.602

England – 1618
“At last for teaching only five days in the week, and resting upon Saturday she was carried to the new prison in Maiden Lane, a place then appointed for the restraint of several other persons of different opinions from the Church of England. Mrs. Traske lay fifteen or sixteen years a prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath.” Pagitt’s “Heresiography.” p.196

England – 1668
“Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have eminently preserved.” Stennet’s letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox, Sab.,1, 268
Ethiopia – 1604
Jesuits tried to induce the Abyssinian church to accept Roman Catholicism. They influenced King Zadenghel to propose to submit to the Papacy (A.D.1604). “Prohibiting all his subjects, upon severe penalties, to observe Saturday any longer.” Gedde’s “Church History of Ethiopia.” p.311, also Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall,” ch. 47
Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, Germany
“one of the counsellors and lords of the court was John Gerendi, head of the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday.” Lamy, “The History of Socinianism.” p. 60
Telegraph Print, Napier
The inscription on the monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain, physician to King James and Queen Anne, King Charles I and Queen Katherine says that Dr. Chamberlain was “a Christian keeping the commandment of God and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years.”

18th Century

“It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath (P.366). the Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week. Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week.” Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt’s “Schriften,” P.49 (printed 1712)

Abyssinia
“The Jacobites assembled on the Sabbath day, before the Domical day, in the temple, and kept that day, as do also the Abyssinians as we have seen from the confession of their faith by the Ethiopian king Claudius.” Abundacnus, ‘Historia Jacobatarum,”p.118-9 (18th Century)

Romania, 1760 (and what is today) Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
“Joseph II’s edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some of whom again lost all of their possessions.” Jahrgang 2, 254
“Catholic priests aided by soldiers forcing them to accept Romanism nominally, and compelling the remainder to labour on the Sabbath and to attend church on Sunday,-these were the methods employed for two hundred fifty years to turn the Sabbatarians.
Germany-Tennhardt of Nuremberg
“He holds strictly to the doctrine of the Sabbath, because it is one of the ten commandments.” Bengel’s “Leban und Wirken,” Burk, p.579
He himself says: “It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of the Sabbath (P.366). the Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week. Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week.” Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt’s “Schriften,” P.49 (printed 1712)
Bohemia and Moravia (Today Czechoslovakia).
Their history from 1635 to 1867 is thus described by Adolf Dux: “The condition of the Sabbatarians was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to become the spoils of flames.” Aus Ungarn, pp. 289-291. Leipzig, 1850
Holland and Germany
“Dr. Cornelius stated of East Friesland, that when Baptists were numerous, “Sunday and holidays were not observed,” (they were Sabbath-keepers). Der Anteil Ostfrieslands and Ref. Muenster,” 1852, pp l29, 34
Moravia-Count Zinzendorf
In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus: “That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel.” Budingsche Sammlung, Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig, 1742
America – 1741
-Moravian Brethren (after Zinzendorf arrived from Europe). “As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422
America
But before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers in Pennsylvania. See Rupp’s “History of Religious Denominations in the United States,” pp.109- 123

19th Century

“But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians,”
Sternberg, “Geschichte der Juden in Polen,” p.124

China
“At this time Hung prohibited the use of opium, and even tobacco, and all intoxicating drinks, and the Sabbath was religiously observed.” The Ti-Ping Revolution,” by Llin-Le, and officer among them, Vol. 1, pp.36-48, 84
“The seventh day is most religiously and strictly observed. The Taiping Sabbath is kept upon our Saturday.” P. 319
China
“The Taipings when asked why they observed the seventh day Sabbath, replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and, second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship.” A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday.
India and Persia
“Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship throughout our Empire, on the seventh day.” Christian Researches in Asia,” p.143
Denmark
“This agitation was not without its effect. Pastor M.A. Sommer began observing the seventh day, and wrote in his church paper. “Indovet Kristendom” No.5,1875 an impressive article about the true Sabbath. In a letter to Elder John G.Matteson, he says:
“Among the Baptists here in Denmark there is a great agitation regarding the Sabbath commandment..However, I am probably the only preacher in Denmark who stands so near to the Adventists and who for many years has proclaimed Christ’s second coming.” Advent Tidente,” May, 1875
Russia
“But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians,” Sternberg, “Geschichte der Juden in Polen,” p.124

Sweden (Baptists)
“We will now endeavour to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on all men in all ages.” Evangelisten (The Evangelist). Stockholm, May 30 to August 15,1863 (Swedish Baptist Church)
America – 1845
“Thus we see Dan. 7, 25, fulfilled, the little horn changing ‘times and laws. ‘Therefore it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the Sabbath are Pope’s Sunday-keepers and God’s Sabbath- breakers.” Elder T.M. Preble, Feb.13, 1845
America (Seventh-day Adventists)
In 1844 Seventh-day Adventists arose and had spread to nearly all the world by the close of the 19th Century. Their name is derived from their teaching of the seventh-day Sabbath and the Advent of Jesus. In 1874 their work was established in Europe, 1885 -Australasia, 1887-South Africa, 1888-Asia, 1888-South America. Seventh-day Adventists uphold the same Sabbath that Jesus and His followers kept. The sacred Torch of Truth was not extinguished through the long centuries. Adventists are working today in nearly 1000 languages of earth and have over 27,000 churches. Over ten million members around the globe welcome the sacred Sabbath hours.

Sabbath Confessions

McClintock and Strong, “Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical
Literature,” Vol. 9, p. 196
Until well into the second century (a hundred years after Christ) we do not find the
slightest indication in our source that Christians marked Sunday by any kind of
abstention from work.

W. Rordorf, “Sunday,” p. 157
The ancient Sabbath (7th day) did remain and was observed, by the Christians in the
Eastern Church (in the area near Palestine) above three hundred years after our Savior’s
death.
“A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,” p. 77
The Festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always 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 Sabbath to
Sunday.
Augustus Neander, “The History of the Christian Religion and Church,” 1843, p. 186
Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbath
observance of that day (Sunday) is known to have been ordained, is the edict of
Constantine, 321 AD.

Roman Catholic Confessions

Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 4 pg 153
“The Church…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.”
“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
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
“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.
Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927), p. 136.
Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday…. Now the Church … instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.
“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.

T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
“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.
Dan 7:25  And 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: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
“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)

“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.

James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of our Fathers, 88th ed., pp. 89.
But 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.
Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed., p. 174.
Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Answer: 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.
John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies (1
936), vol. 1, P. 51.
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 the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now 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.
James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1877-1921), in a signed letter.
Is Saturday the seventh day according to the Bible and the Ten Commandments? I answer yes. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the seventh day – Saturday – for Sunday, the first day? I answer yes. Did Christ change the day? I answer no!
Faithfully yours, J. Card. Gibbons
The Catholic Mirror, official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.
Catholic Virginian Oct. 3, 1947, p. 9, art. “To Tell You the Truth.”
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 [Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible.
Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1957), p. 50.
Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975), Chicago,
Illinois.
Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:
1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.” It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible.

Protestant Confessions

Protestant theologians and preachers from a wide spectrum of denominations have been quite candid in admitting that there is no Biblical authority for observing Sunday as a Sabbath.
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/Episcopal
Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol. 1, pp.334, 336.
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.
Canon Eyton, The Ten Commandments, pp. 52, 63, 65.
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.
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.
Baptist
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 and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not on Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of truimph, 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… “I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perlexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussion is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that some how a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history. “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 glosses [of Jewish traditions], never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during 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 instruction 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 a sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to protestantism!”   Dr. Edward Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual. From a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox.
William Owen Carver, The Lord’s Day in Our Day, p. 49.

“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, 1976
Brethren:
“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.
CHURCH OF CHRIST:
“Finally, we have the testimony of Christ on this subject. In Mark 2:27, he says: ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’ From this passage it is evident that the Sabbath was made not merely for the Israelites, as Paley and Hengstenberg would have us believe, but for ….. that is, for the race. Hence we conclude that the Sabbath was sanctified from the beginning, and that it was given to Adam, even in Eden, as one of those primeval institutions that God ordained for the happiness of all men. “-Robert Milligan, Schetne of Redempiten, (St. Louis, The Fethany Press, 1962), p.165.
“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.

“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.
Church of England:
No warrant from scripture for the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday “Neither did he (Jesus), or his disciples, ordain another Sabbath in the place of this, as if they had intended only to shift the day; and to transfer this honor to some other time. Their doctrine and their practise are directly contrary, to so new a fancy. It is true, that in some tract of time, the Church in honor of his resurrection, did set apart that day on the which he rose, to holy exercises: but this upon their own authority, and without warrant from above, that we can hear of; more then the generall warrant which God gave his Church, that all things in it be done decently, and in comely order.” Dr. Peter Heylyn of the Church of England, quoted in History of the Sabbath, Pt 2, Ch.2, p7
“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.
“The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone.” Hobart Church News.
“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).
“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.

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

“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
Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, Feb. 2, 1824,vol. 1. no. 7, p. 164.
“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.
Episcopal:
Bible commandment says the seventh day “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 avove 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 Sunday Problem, a study book of the United Lutheran Church (1923), p. 36.
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.
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.
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!
Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian Religion and Church Henry John Rose, tr. (1843), p. 186.
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.
John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp. 15, 16.
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.
“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 [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.

“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.
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
Harris Franklin Rall, Christian Advocate, July 2, 1942, p.26.
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.
John Wesley, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., John Emory, ed. (New York: Eaton & Mains), Sermon 25,vol. 1, p. 221.
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.
Dwight L. Moody, D. L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting (Fleming H. Revell Co.: New York), pp. 47,48.
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?
Clovis G. Chappell- Ten Rules For Living- ‘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.”
Moody Bible Institute: “Sabbath was before Sinai”
“I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated [abolilshed], 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, not man for the Sabbath’ [mark 2:27]. 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. (Moody was also a Methodist)

“This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places and times.”
“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.” Bishops Pastoral.
D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881.
PENTECOSTAL:
“‘Why do we worship on Sunday? Doesn’t the Bible teach us that Saturday should be the Lord’s Day?’…Apparently we will have to seek the answer from some other source than the New Testament.”-D5~~d A. Womack, “Is Sunday the Lord’s Day?” The Pentecostal Evangel, Aug. 9,1959, No.2361, p.3.
Presbyterian
T. C. Blake, D.D., Theology Condensed, pp.474, 475.
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.
“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
“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.

“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’

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.”

“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
Miscellaneous:
“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.

2006; EMAIL RESPONSES TO SABBATH QUESTION
“Are 7th day Adventists correct in stating that the Roman Catholic Church changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday?”
Dear Levi,

In regard to your question concerning the Sabbath, it never has been
changed. Saturday is the Sabbath and was intended for the Jew. Paul makes
it clear in Colossians 2:16 that we should not allow anyone to judge us in
the Sabbath days. In other words, he is saying that the Christian
recognizes the Lord’s day as the day He was resurrected, which is Sunday.

The Sabbath was never intended for the Christian, it was intended for the
Jew. Colossians 2:16 says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in
drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath
days.” In this scripture it is made clear that no man has the right to
judge another. At Grace Cathedral we worship the Lord on the first day of
the week which is, of course, Sunday.

Yours depending on Jesus,
Reverend Ernest Angley

Greetings from the Crystal Cathedral.

Thank you for your question about the Sabbath Day. We honor you for
taking the Bible seriously and the guidance it gives to us. One way to
see the Bible is as a guide book into living abundantly. When God tells
us to “keep the Sabbath day holy” we need to take that seriously; not
only to honor God, but also to care for ourselves. Now, the question of
how we apply that command:

First, we do take very seriously the command to keep the Sabbath Day
holy. It is noted frequently throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Second, how to we interpret the command to “keep the Sabbath Day holy?”
A primary meaning of Sabbath is “stopping.” A primary meaning of holy is
“set aside from the others.” Therefore, keeping the Sabbath Day holy
means to “maintain a stopping day that is set aside from the others.”
One day in seven is to be kept different from the other six in that it
is to be a day in which we stop from the usual. The Bible helps us
understand better what this means when it tells us to work six days and
stop from that work on the seventh (Exodus 20). It also tells us to stop
our routine one day in seven in order to rest and renew our
relationships with God, ourselves, others, and nature. In summary, we
believe that it is important to set aside one day in seven from work for
rest and renewal.

Third, what day should this be – Saturday or Sunday? Throughout the Old
Testament, for many religions, and in some Christian churches people
observe the Sabbath from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. This
interprets the command to work six days and “stop” on the seventh day as
meaning to work on Sunday through Friday and stop on Saturday. After
Jesus arose from the dead on a Sunday morning, most Christian churches
decided to honor that “Resurrection Day” as their “stopping day.” This
interprets the command as to work for six days each week (observe a
usual routine), but to stop on the remaining day.

We follow the second interpretation. We believe it is important to stop
one day out of seven each week. We have found that it makes most sense
for our congregation that Sunday become that “stopping day.”

I hope this answers your question!

“Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the
Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.”
2 John 1:3

Victoria
info@crystalcathedral.org

Saturday is still a sabbath day – a day of rest. The early Christian
Church chose to worship on the first day of the week because that
represents the day Christ rose from the dead and when the Holy Spirit
appeared to the disciples gathered in the upper room.

Miriam L. Woolbert
ELCA Communication Services

Dear Levi,

On behalf of John Hagee Ministries, we appreciate the support and confidence you have in Pastor Hagee’s teachings. Hopefully, our response, along with your own prayerful study of God’s word will give you the wisdom and direction you are seeking to strive to please Him with your living. We understand there are conflicting views by New Testament Bible Scholars concerning the Sabbath, the one-day a week we choose to honor God. We thank you for sharing your views concerning the Sabbath. Pastor Hagee teaches the following:

JEWISH SABBATH

Is the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday? The Sabbath is the 7th day. The Jews celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday and do to this day. In the early church the Christians desired to be considered separately from the Jews, so they began to worship the Lord on “the first day of the week”, which is Sunday. See I Cor. 16:2. After all, you must remember what the Bible says, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, which simply means that the Sabbath was given to men to rest one day out of seven and we do that on Sunday.

Jesus kept the Sabbath Himself (Luke 4:16) and commanded the Jews of His day to do so also (Matt. 5:18, 19), but He condemned the keeping of the Sabbath Day merely as an external act of obedience to law (Matt. 12:1-13; John 5:1-18). Many Christians feel that God expects them to observe the Sabbath, because the Sabbath originated at the creation (prior to the giving of the Law). Also, because it is part of the Ten Commandments, something they believe is morally binding upon all people for all time. However, Christians have historically observed the Sabbath day on Sunday, the first day of the week, to differentiate themselves from Jews who are still under the Law and celebrate the Sabbath on the last day of the week, our Saturday. They note that Christ arose on the first day of the week (Matt. 28:1) and that the New Testament church regularly worshipped on Sunday (Acts. 20:7, I Cor. 16:2). The day on which Jesus arose was called the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10).

In the present dispensation of grace Sunday perpetuates the truth that one-seventh of one’s time belongs to God.
The Sabbath or Lord’s Day should be honored to please our Father, not to earn our salvation. It is a love offering to show God we are thankful for His Kingdom. When done in the right spirit it is about relationship and attitude, not legalism.

We suggest that you prayerfully read Matthew 22:35-40. If we keep the commandments of God, “loving Him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind”, and loving our neighbors as ourselves, we have the fullest proof that we have the saving knowledge of God and Christ.

The Lord bless you with peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Sincerely,

Edward Martinez
John Hagee Ministries

Dear Levi,

Thank you for your email and for your interest in Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Regarding your questions about the Sabbath, Joyce asked us to share with you her belief that every day is holy unto the Lord. Romans 14:5-6a says, “One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike [sacred]. Let everyone be fully convinced (satisfied) in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.”

The Old Testament commanded resting the physical man while the New Testament stresses a spiritual rest. Hebrews 4:9-10 says, “So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; for he who has once entered [God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.”

We do know that God wants us to set aside one day a week for Him and for our minds, emotions, and bodies to rest. We believe that God will honor the day we set aside for rest, worship, and prayer just as He honors the financial tithe we give Him. God will help us to get more accomplished in six days than we do in seven, just as He helps us do more with 90 percent than we could do with 100 percent of our income.

We hope this answers your questions regarding the Sabbath. We encourage you to allow God’s peace to be your umpire in this and all such questions. Dave and Joyce appreciate you and send their love.

In His grace,

Joyce Meyer Ministries

Dear Levi,
Thank you for writing to Dr. Kennedy with your questions. As to a response to how to answer a Seventh Day Adventist, you may not want to go into such a debate. They are very convinced in their position, and we do not believe that there is any thing wrong with attending Church on Saturday or considering Saturday as their Sabbath Day.
However, if they insist on your believing and converting or you may not be saved, then we object.
I have included an article on the Sabbath Day by Dr. Kennedy that will address this issue and the claims of the Catholic Church.
Even the Catholic Church claims to have made such a change, so in that face (i.e., “the claim”) they are correct. But, the Bible makes it clear enough that this change took place from the beginning of the Church after the resurrection of Jesus.
The second article will give you the scriptures and answers to the Seventh Day challenges.
I hope this is helpful.
Rev. David Rice
Assistant to Dr. Kennedy
Pastoral Resource Department
Coral Ridge Ministries
5554 N. Federal Highway
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

Dear Levi,
Thank you for contacting us. Please accept our sincere apology for the delay in our response. We appreciate your question regarding the Sabbath. As we consider this topic it is important to remember that the Sabbath is not a day of the week but a day of rest. The word “Sabbath” means rest. When God set up the Sabbath, it was to be a day of rest. It was not until Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law that the Jews under Moses made the Sabbath on what we now know as Saturday. After the resurrection, the followers of Jesus continued to worship in the synagogues on Saturday and celebrate the resurrection on Sunday morning. When the Christians were forced to leave the synagogues between 70 and 90 A.D., they chose to continue their worship on Sunday. Scriptural warrant for giving special worship and honor to Christ on Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” is found in Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Revelation 1:10. This occurred much before the establishment of the Catholic Church. Below this message is an article which you may find to be of interest.
Sincerely, Mary L. Precup (kb)
Christian Guidance Department
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

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Penghemat Bensin

Yah jurang terus menunjukkan bahwa biaya energi semakin kurang dan kurang untuk melakukan dengan biaya yang sebenarnya bahan bakar. Dengan sekitar lima persen dari dunia S populasi Amerika mengkonsumsi lebih dari persen dari gas alam dunia persen dari bensin motor persen dari minyak mentah persen dari batu bara dan persen dari total produksi listrik . Tapi buku menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar konsumsi energi kita bukan untuk penggerak pencahayaan atau pendinginan. Apa yang kita gunakan untuk energi terutama adalah ekstrak memperbaiki proses dan memurnikan energi ke negara-negara lebih tinggi efisiensi. Yang lebih efisien teknologi kami semakin banyak mengkonsumsi energi yang kita sebenarnya tidak menyimpan karena biaya untuk hadiah rasio begitu positif bagi konsumen energi yang sangat halus ini. Buku ini juga menunjukkan bahwa keunggulan kompetitif dalam industri manufaktur akan segera bergeser secara meyakinkan kembali ke Amerika Serikat permintaan manusia energi hanya akan terus tumbuh dan memang tak terpuaskan baku sumber bahan bakar tidak kehabisan dan tak kenal lelah Amerika mengejar tinggi energi kelas tidak menambah kekacauan di lingkungan global melainkan untuk mengembalikan ketertiban. Memang memperluas pasokan energi berarti produktivitas yang lebih tinggi lebih banyak pekerjaan dan meningkatnya PDB. Seluruh papan-energi bukan masalah energi solusi .

]]> http://littleguyintheeye.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/birthdays-2/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:39:53 +0000 littleguyintheeye http://littleguyintheeye.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/birthdays-2/

Should believers in the Elohim of Yisrael celebrate birthdays?

Birthdays are associated with death.

G1077 γενέσια genesia
Thayer Definition:
1) a birthday celebration, a birthday feast
1a) the earlier Greeks used this word of funeral commemorations, a festival commemorative of a deceased friend
Part of Speech: noun neuter plural
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from a derivative of G1078


International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Genesia, which in Attic Greek means the commemoration of the dead, in later Greek is interchangeable with genéthlia = “birthday celebrations”;

Customs of mourning the dead that are forbidden in the Holy Scriptures

Lev 19:28  And you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead; and you shall not put on yourself any etched mark; I am YHWH.
Deu 14:1  You are sons to YHWH your God; you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
Deu 14:2  For you are a holy people to YHWH your God; and YHWH has chosen you to be a people to Him, a special treasure out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Where did the custom of cutting oneself for the dead come from?  It was a celebration of the birthday of Saturn.

Two Babylons pg 130
“When it is remembered that Saturn himself was cut in pieces, it is easy to see how the idea would arise of offering a welcome sacrifice to him by setting men to cut one another in pieces on his birthday, by way of propitiating his favour.
The practice of such penances, then, on the part of those of the Pagans who cut and slashed themselves, was intended to propitiate and please their god, and so to lay up a stock of merit that might tell in their behalf in the scales of Anubis.”

Wikipedia.org-Birthdays
It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the non-Christian cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia, and was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Such celebrations were uncommon previously so practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia {Christmas} were adapted for birthdays.

Elijah message

1Ki 18:26  And they took the bull that was given to them, and prepared, and called on the name of Baal from the morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us! And there was no sound, and no one was answering; and they leaped about the altar that one had made.
1Ki 18:27  And it happened at noon, that Elijah taunted them and said, Call with a loud voice, for he is a god; for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep and must be awakened.
1Ki 18:28  And they called with a loud voice, and cut themselves, according to their way, with swords and with spears until blood gushed out on them.

Birthdays are ALWAYS looked upon in a negative light in the Holy Scriptures where someone dies.
Gen 40:19  Yet within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.
Gen 40:20  And it happened, on the third day, the day of Pharaoh’s birth, he made a feast for all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers in the midst of his servants.
Gen 40:21  And he restored the chief of the cupbearers to his cupbearer office; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
Gen 40:22  And he hanged the chief of the bakers, as Joseph interpreted to them.

Pharaoh’s natural birthday, which was observed among the Egyptians as birthdays were among the Persians – Herodotus. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 133

We are commanded not to do as the Egyptians
Lev 18:2  Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, I am YHWH your God.
Lev 18:3  You shall not do according to the doings of the land of Egypt in which you lived; and you shall not do according to the doings of the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; nor shall you walk in their statutes.

Job felt it necessary to offer sacrifices on behalf of his children due to their celebrating on their birthdays
Job 1:4  And his sons feasted in the house of each one on his day. And they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 1:5  And it happened, when the day of feasting had gone around, Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt sacrifices according to all their number. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. This, Job always did.
Job 1:13  And a day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their brother’s house, the first-born.
Job 1:14  And a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses were feeding beside them.
Job 1:15  And the Sabeans fell on them and took them away. And they killed the young men with the mouth of the sword; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
Job 1:16  While this one was still speaking, this other also came and said, The fire of God has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the young men. And it has consumed them; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
Job 1:17  While this one was still speaking, this other also came and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and swooped down on the camels. And they have taken them away. And they have killed the young men with the mouth of the sword; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
Job 1:18  While this one was still speaking, this other came and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the first-born.
Job 1:19  And, behold! A great wind came from the wilderness and touched the four corners of the house. And it fell on the young men and they died; and I, I alone have escaped to tell you.
Job 1:20  And Job rose up and tore his robe, and shaved his head. And he fell down on the ground and worshiped.
Job 1:21  And he said, I came naked out of my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. YHWH gave, and YHWH has taken away. Blessed be the name of YHWH.
Job 1:22  In all this Job did not sin, nor charge wrong to God.

Job 3:1  After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
Job 3:2  And Job answered and said:
Job 3:3  Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night which said, A man-child has been conceived.

Feast of Bacchus (“Christmas”) & Birthdays are connected
2Ma 6:7  And in the day of the king’s birth every month they {the Jews} were brought by bitter constraint to eat of the sacrifices; and when the fast of Bacchus was kept, the Jews were compelled to go in procession to Bacchus, carrying ivy.
2Ma 6:8  Moreover there went out a decree to the neighbour cities of the heathen, by the suggestion of Ptolemee, against the Jews, that they should observe the same fashions, and be partakers of their sacrifices:
2Ma 6:9  And whoso would not conform themselves to the manners of the Gentiles should be put to death. Then might a man have seen the present misery.

Birthday of Herod
Mat 14:6  But a birthday feast for Herod being held, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod.
Mat 14:7  So then he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.
Mat 14:8  But she being urged on by her mother, she says, Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.
Mat 14:9  And the king was grieved, but because of the oaths, and those who reclined with him, he ordered it to be given.
Mat 14:10  And sending, he beheaded John in the prison.
Mat 14:11  And his head was brought on a platter and was given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

Vincent Word Studies
Mat 14:6
Birthday (γενεσίοις)
Though some explain it as the anniversary of Herod’s accession. The custom of celebrating birthdays by festivities was not approved by the strict Jews; but it is claimed that the Herodian princes adopted the custom.

J.P. Lightfoot
[And when Herod's birthday was kept.]  The Jewish schools esteem the keeping of birthdays a part of idolatrous worship:  perhaps they would pronounce more favourably and flatteringly of thine,  O tetrarch,  because thine.

These are the times of idolaters:  the Kalends;  the Saturnalia;…the birthday of the kingdom;  and the day of a man’s birth…

John Gill
Mat 14:6  But when Herod’s birthday was kept,…. The birthdays of princes, both of their coming into the world, and accession to the throne of government, were kept by the Gentiles; as by the Egyptians,Persians, and Romans (o), and other nations, but not by the Jews; who reckon these among the feasts of idolaters.

“These (say they (p)) are the feasts of idolaters; the “Calends”, and the “Saturnalia”, the time kept in memory of subduing a kingdom (or when a king takes possession of it, the day of his accession), ויום גנוסיא של מלכים, “and the birthday of kings” (when they are made and crowned, the day of coronation), and the day of birth, and the day of death.”  (celebrating the day of birth and death goes back to the Greek word Genesia)
Gen_40:20 and by the (n)
And it is a question, whether this day, that was kept, was the day of Herod’s natural birth, or of his civil government, being his accession, or coronation day: and it might also be a question, whether it was the then present Herod’s birthday, or whether it was not his father Herod’s, was it not that Mark says, Mar_6:21 it was his birthday; since it is the latter the poet (q) refers to, as kept by Jews, when he says, “At cum Herodis venere dies”; and the old Scholiast upon him observes, that

“Herod reigned over the Jews in Syria, in the times of Augustus; therefore the Herodians kept Herod’s birthday, as also the sabbath, on which day they set up candles in the windows lighted, and encircled with violets.”

This they did, believing him to be the Messiah: and it is further to be observed, that the word here used, is said (r) to be proper to the dead, and not to the living; and that he that uses it of the living, speaks very inaccurately: but however, it was a festival, and a time of great mirth and jollity; and a proper opportunity offered to Herodias, to execute her malicious designs against John the Baptist; for at this time,
(n) Herodot. l. 1. c. 133. & 9. c. 109. (o) Plin. Ep. 1. 10. ep. 61. (p) Misn. Avoda Zara, c. 1. sect. 3. (pg 660) (q) Persius, Satyr. 5. prope finem. (r) Ammonius, περι ομοιων &c. in lit.

Josephus – Against Apion Book II Chapter 26-27

26. Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess; but it ordains that the very beginning of our education should be immediately directed to sobriety. It also commands us to bring those children up in learning, and to exercise them in the laws, and make them acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, in order to their imitation of them, and that they might be nourished up in the laws from their infancy, and might neither transgress them, nor have any pretense for their ignorance of them.

Notice how Josephus associates burial customs with birthdays…
27. Our law hath also taken care of the decent burial of the dead, but without any extravagant expenses for their funerals, and without the erection of any illustrious monuments for them; but hath ordered that their nearest relations should perform their obsequies; and hath showed it to be regular, that all who pass by when any one is buried should accompany the funeral, and join in the lamentation. It also ordains that the house and its inhabitants should be purified after the funeral is over, that every one may thence learn to keep at a great distance from the thoughts of being pure, if he hath been once guilty of murder.

Historical References

The Encyc. Of Religion and Ethics (ERE), art. Birth (Assyro-Babylonian), Vol. 2, p. 643).
Strange as it may seem our methods of measuring the hours and the place of man in that time scale comes from the Babylonian sexagesimal unit, i.e. sixty. Thus there were sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a minute. The Assyro-Babylonians sought to maximise the race by ensuring that births took place at the correct times in the luni-solar cycle. The births were matched to the phases of the moon so it seems and the calculations of the phases were placed on tables which we have today
We know beyond doubt from tablets of later date that the hour of birth was carefully noted and the horoscopes were cast, based on careful notations of celestial observations. From tablet K 1285 we deduce that ceremonies were carried out in the Temple of Ishtar, or Istar (Easter), at least for children of people of note. In this tablet she is addressed as Queen of Nineveh (ibid., p. 644).

Herodotus shows us that Birthdays were accompanied by a special meal among the Persians (Persian Wars I, 133). In the case of the king there was an annual royal banquet with gifts being given to his subjects (ix, 110).

The pre-Hellenistic Greeks celebrated the birthdays of gods and prominent men (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE), art. Birthday, Vol. 1, p. 515). The Greek words genéthlia designated these celebrations whilst genésia represented the celebration of the birthday of an important person who was now deceased.

In 2Maccabees 6:7 there is the reference to the monthly genéthlia of Antiochus IV, during which the Jews were forced to partake of the sacrifices. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, vii. 3. 1) refers to Titus’ celebration of his brother’s and father’s birthdays (genéthlia) by slaughtering Jewish captives.

The reference in Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21 shows that apparently the term genésia could be used of important living personages. The ISBE holds that when Herod celebrated his birthday it was in accord with a Hellenistic custom; there is no evidence for the celebration of birthdays in Israel in pre-Hellenistic times (ISBE ibid.).

The instance of the birthday of Pharaoh from Genesis 40:20 is held to be the only evidence of the celebration of the birthdays of Pharaohs in Egypt in pre-Hellenistic times. Procksh suggests that the annual celebration of the Pharaoh’s enthronement, in which he was born as a god, may be the meaning behind the reference of Genesis 40:20. This would mean that the day of the enthronement became the more important day because it designated a change in the status of the individual who became Pharaoh over and above that of the others. During the Ptolemaic period the Pharaoh’s birthday was celebrated by an amnesty** of prisoners (as opposed to the sacrifices we saw previously). This has the same idea behind it in that the power of life and death rests in the god who can dispose of it as he wills. Josephus refers to a celebration (genésia) at the birth of a son to Ptolemy (A of J, xii, 4, 7-9).

**This custom of amnesty to prisoners traces back to Nimrod
Alexander Hislop’s Two Babylons
Chapter II
Section II
Sub-Section III
The Child in Greece
* The bearing of this name, Phoroneus, “The Emancipator,” will be seen in Chapter III, Section I, “Christmas,” where it is shown that slaves had a temporary emancipation at his birthday. {Again we see birthday celebrations linked with Christmas…}

Celebrating birthdays and celebrating Christmas are linked together.  The question is for those who have come to the understanding that Christmas is of pagan origins and should not be celebrated by believers in the Elohim of Yisrael, is it acceptable for birthdays to be celebrated even though they come from the same origins?

Rom 2:21  Then the one teaching another, do you not teach yourself? The one preaching not to steal, do you steal?
Rom 2:22  The one saying not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? The one detesting the idols, do you rob temples?

{You who teach that it is wrong to celebrate Christmas, do you celebrate your birthday?}

Rom 2:23  You who boast in Law, do you dishonor God through transgression of the Law?

wikipedia.org “Birthday”

Origin

It is thought the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the non-Christian cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia, and was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Such celebrations were uncommon previously so practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia {Christmas} were adapted for birthdays.

Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it was distributed widely and its influence was spread throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_birthday_celebrations
Birthday celebrations are actually rooted in paganism.

The Encyclopedia Americana (1991 edition) states:  The ancient world of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Persia celebrated the birthdays of gods, kings, and nobles.  Authors Ralph and Adelin Linton reveal the underlying reason for this. In their book The Lore of Birthdays, they write:  Mesopotamia and Egypt, the cradles of civilization, were also the first lands in which men remembered and honoured their birthdays. The keeping of birthday records was important in ancient times principally because a birth date was essential for the casting of a horoscope.

So, there is a direct connection between the Pagan practice of birthday celebrations and astrology.(horoscopes and fortune telling)

Notice what the Bible says about astrology and fortune telling at Isaiah 47:13-15: ” You have grown weary with the multitude of your counselors. Let them stand up, now, and save you, the worshipers of the heavens, the lookers at the stars, those giving out knowledge at the new moons concerning the things that will come upon you.  Look! They have become like stubble. A fire itself will certainly burn them up. They will not deliver their soul from the power of the flame. There will be no glow of charcoals for people to warm themselves, no firelight in front of which to sit down.  Thus they will certainly become to you, with whom you have toiled as your charmers from your youth. They will actually wander, each one to his own region. There will be no one to save you.”

Not surprisingly then, the ancient Jews did not celebrate birthdays, regarding them as Pagan.

Also, The World Book Encyclopedia states:  The early Christians did not celebrate His [Christ's] birth because they considered the celebration of anyone s birth to be a pagan custom. Volume 3, page 416.

Origen of Alexandria, in 245 A.D., wrote in a dissertation on Leviticus:

“None of the saints can be found who ever held a feast or a banquet upon his birthday, or rejoiced on the day when his son or daughter was born. But sinners rejoice and make  merry on such days. For we find in the Old Testament that Pharaoh, king of Egypt,                 celebrated his birthday with a feast, and that Herod, in the New Testament did the  same. But the saints not only neglect to mark the day of their birth with festivity, but also, filled with the Holy Spirit, they curse this day, after the example of Job and Jeremiah and David.”

…of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below (Origen, in Levit., Hom. VIII, in Migne P.G., XII, 495) (Thurston H. Natal Day. Transcribed by Thomas M. Barrett. Dedicated to Margaret Johanna Albertina Behling Barrett. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume X. Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

3rd Century Arnobius
…you worship with couches, altars, temples, and other service, and by celebrating their games and birthdays, those whom it was fitting that you should assail with keenest hatred. (Arnobius. Against the Heathen (Book I), Chapter 64. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886. Online Edition Copyright © 2005 by K. Knight).

When we examine the principles of God’s law closely, as they relate to birthday celebrations, we can understand why neither Christ, nor His Apostles, nor their true followers, observed their birthdays. As noted earlier, the practice has its origin in idolatry and the worship of the sun, moon and stars…Some may view birthday customs as purely secular, lacking any religious significance. Yet we need to be aware of the broader perspective of their origins, and the religious significance they have had—and still have—for vast multitudes of people. (Reynolds, Rod. Should Christians Celebrate Birthdays? Living Church News, May-June 2002. pp.16-18).

The German periodical “Schwäbische Zeitung” (magazine supplement Zeit und Welt) of April 3/4, 1981 on page 4 stated: “The various customs with which people today celebrate their birthdays have a long history. Their origins lie in the realm of magic and religion. The customs of offering congratulations, presenting gifts and celebrating – complete with lighted candles – in ancient times were meant to protect the birthday celebrant from the demons and to ensure his security for the coming year. . . . Down to the fourth century Christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan custom.”

The book The Lore of Birthdays (New York, 1952) by Ralph and Adelin Linton, on pages 8, 18-20 had this to say: “The Greeks believed that everyone had a protective spirit or daemon who attended his birth and watched over him in life. This spirit had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born.

The Romans also subscribed to this idea. . . . This notion was carried down in human belief and is reflected in the guardian angel, the fairy godmother and the patron saint. . . . The custom of lighted candles on the cakes started with the Greeks. . . . Honey cakes round as the moon and lit with tapers were placed on the temple altars of [Artemis] {See Jer 7:18}. . . . Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic for granting wishes. . . . Lighted tapers and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. The birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to the birthday child and bring good fortune“

This same book, on page 20, also had this to say about the traditional greeting of ‘Happy Birthday’: “Birthday greetings and wishes for happiness are an intrinsic part of this holiday. . . . originally the idea was rooted in magic. The working of spells for good and evil is the chief usage of witchcraft. One is especially susceptible to such spells on his birthday, as one’s personal spirits are about at the time. . . . Birthday greetings have power for good or ill because one is closer to the spirit world on this day.” <–Notice the connection to Halloween…the closeness to the spirit world, witchcraft & astrologyclick here

The giving of birthday gifts is a custom associated with the offering of sacrifices to pagan gods on their birthdays. Certainly the custom was linked with the same superstitions that formed the background for birthday greetings. “The exchange of presents… is associated with the importance of ingratiating good and evil fairies… on their or our birthdays” (ibid.)

The traditional birthday cake and candles also have their origin in ancient pagan idol worship. The ancients believed that the fire of candles had magical properties. They offered prayers and made wishes to be carried to the gods on the flames of the candles. Thus we still have the widely practiced birthday custom of making a wish, then blowing out the candles. The Greeks celebrated the birthday of their moon goddess, Artemis, with cakes adorned with lighted candles…

“The Egyptians… discovered to which of the gods each month and day is sacred; and found out from the day of a man’s birth, what he will meet with in the course of his life, and how he will end his days, and what sort of man he will be” (Herodotus, Persian Wars, Book II, ch. 82)

Since it was believed that the positions of the stars at the time of birth influenced a child’s future, astrological horoscopes came into being, purporting to foretell the future, based on the time of birth. “Birthdays are intimately linked with the stars, since without the calendar, no one could tell when to celebrate his birthday. They are also indebted to the stars in another way, for in early days the chief importance of birthday records was to enable the astrologers to chart horoscopes” (The Lore of Birthdays, p. 53).

And Horst Fuhrmann, professor of medieval history at the University of Regensburg, made this comment about birthdays: “The birthday celebration was in honor of one’s guardian angel or god, whose altar was decorated with flowers and wreaths; sacrifices were offered to the god of festival, friends offered congratulations and brought gifts.” Furthermore, he stated in the German newspaper “Süddeutschen Zeitung”: “Great prominence was given the birthday parties held for the emperor, replete with parades, public banquets, circus plays, and the hunting of animals: spectacles disgusting to the [early] Christians.”

“There are no positive data in the Bible or in rabbinical literature concerning birthday festivals among the ancient Jews … Even if not common among the people, yet kings and princes probably practiced it, following the custom of their heathen contemporaries …” (Isidore Singer, “Birthdays,” The Jewish Encyclopedia, III, 221).

“The example of Herod, the tetrarch (Matt. xiv, 6) the celebration of whose birthday cost John the baptist his life, can scarcely be regarded as such, the family to which he belonged being notorious for its adoption of heathen customs. In fact, the later Jews regarded birthday celebrations as parts of idolatrous worship (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matt. xiv, 6), and this probably on account of the idolatrous rites with which they were observed in honor of those who were regarded as the patron gods of the day on which the party was born.” (John McClintock and James Strong, “Birthday,” Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, 1968 rep., I, 817).

Historian Augustus Neander writes: “The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period.” (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During th First Three Centuries, translated by Henry John Rose, New York 1848, p. 190).

M’Clintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia (Vol. I, p. 817) says the Jews “regarded birthday celebrations as parts of idolatrous worship … , and this probably on the account of the idolatrous rites with which they were observed in honor of those who were regarded as the patron gods of the day on which the party was born.”

“Every Egyptian attached much importance to the day, and even to the hour of his birth; and it is probable that in Persia… each individual kept his birthday with great rejoicing, welcoming all of his friend with all the amusments of society, and a more than usual profusion of the delicacies of the *table.” – M’Clintock & Strong’s Cyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 817.
Isa 65:11  But you are those who forsake YHWH, who forget My holy mountain; who array a table for Fortune, and who fill mixed wine for Fate.
1Co 10:21  you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and a table of demons.

Birthdays & Satanism

In his book Satanism, Bob Larson states that the most important Satanic day is the individual member’s birthday.

From wikipedia.org LaVeyan Satanism
The most important holiday in Satanism is one’s own birthday, as it is the birthdate of one’s own god. This is as a reminder that to a Satanist, you are the most important being in the universe, and to honor your own vital existence and your life. LaVey recommends that a Satanist celebrate their own birthday in any way they choose, with as much pomp and ceremony as they see fit. The Satanic celebration of the birthday can also be seen as a mockery of the holidays commemorating the birth of various gods or saints in other religions.

The Satanic Bible (Anton Szandor LaVey, (Air) Book of Lucifer – The Enlightenment, Avon Books, 1969, Ch XI, Religious Holidays, p. 96) has the following to say about Birthdays:

THE highest of all holidays in the Satanic religion is the date of one’s own birthday. This is in direct contradiction to the holy of holy days of other religions, which deify a particular god who has been created in an anthropomorphic form of their own image, thereby showing that the ego is not really buried.

The Satanist feels: ‘Why not really be honest and if you are going to create a god in your image, why not create that god as yourself.” Every man is a god if he chooses to recognize himself as one. So, the Satanist celebrates his own birthday as the most important holiday of the year. After all, aren’t you happier about the fact that you were born than you are about the birth of someone you have never even met? Or for that matter, aside from religious holidays, why pay higher tribute to the birthday of a president or to a date in history than we do to the day we were brought into this greatest of all worlds?

Despite the fact that some of us may not have been wanted, or at least were not particularly planned, we’re glad, even if no one else is, that we’re here! You should give yourself a pat on the back, buy yourself whatever you want, treat yourself like the king (or god) that you are, and generally celebrate your birthday with as much pomp and ceremony as possible.

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The Scriptures are clear that a holiday such as this should not be partaken of by believers in the Elohim of Yisrael.

1Co 10:20  But the things the nations sacrifice, “they sacrifice to demons, and not to God.” Deut. 32:17 But I do not want you to become sharers of demons;
1Co 10:21  you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and a cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord, and a table of demons.
1Co 10:22  Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
Deut. 32:21

Eph 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them.

Deu 18:9  When you come to the land which YHWH your God is giving to you, you shall not learn to do according to the hateful acts of those nations.
Deu 18:10  There shall not be found in you one who passes his son or his daughter through the fire, one that uses divination, an observer of clouds, or one divining, or a whisperer of spells,
Deu 18:11  or a magic charmer, or one consulting mediums, or a spirit-knower, or one inquiring of the dead.
Deu 18:12  For all doing these things are an abomination to YHWH. And because of these filthy acts YHWH your God is dispossessing these nations before you.
Deu 18:13  You shall be perfect with YHWH your God.
Deu 18:14  For these nations whom you shall expel listen to observers of clouds, and to those divining. But as to you, YHWH your God has not given to you to do so.

History of Halloween

Origin of name

The term Halloween, originally spelled Hallowe’en, is shortened from All Hallows’ Even – e’en is a shortening of even, which is a shortening of evening. This is ultimately derived from the Old English Eallra Hālgena ǣfen. It is now known as “Eve of” All Saints’ Day, which is November 1st.

A time of pagan festivities, Pope Gregory III(731–741) and Gregory IV (827–844) tried to supplant it with the Christian holiday (All Saints’ Day) by moving it from May 13 to November 1.

In the 800s, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine Calendar. Although All Saints’ Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were once celebrated on the same day.

Halloween begins well over 2,000 years ago in the British Isles. Here, we find the holiday stripped to its most essential element: a night when Celtic tribes communed with the spirits of the ancestral dead. These grand and glorious pagan celebrations were assimilated by the Catholic church. . . Rather than extinguish old customs, the church leaders provided Christian versions of them: from the Middles Ages on, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day replaced the ancient Celtic celebrations of the dead. (Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt, Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1990 p. x)

The origin of Halloween is the Celtic Festival of Samhain (meaning summer’s end), lord of death and evil spirits. Long before Messiah (at least 2000 years), Druids in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and other Celtic countries observed the end of summer by making sacrifices to Samhain (pronounced sow-een). The Celts considered November 1st as being the day of death because the leaves were falling, it was getting darker sooner and temperatures were dropping. They believed Muck Olla, their sun god was losing strength and Samhain, lord of death, was overpowering him. Further, they believed that on October 31st Samhain assembled the spirits of all who had died during the previous year. These spirits had been confined to inhabit animals bodies for the past year, as punishment for their evil deeds. They were allowed to return to their former home to visit the living on the eve (Oct. 31) of the Feast of Samhain. Druid priests led the people in wicked worship ceremonies in which horses, cats, black sheep, oxen, human beings and other offerings were rounded up, stuffed into wicker cages and burned to death. This was done to appease Samhain and keep spirits from harming them. It is clear to see that HALLOWEEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CELEBRATION OF DEATH.
Our Pilgrim forefathers well knew of Halloween’s occultic roots. In fact they banned celebrating Halloween in America. Halloween was not celebrated in this country until 1845. At that time multiplied thousands of Irish emigrants flooded into New York because of the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-46. They brought with them the old Druid holiday of Halloween. Gradually celebrating this day spread throughout the rest of the country.
Halloween.- Celtic peoples (Britons, Gauls, Scots, Irish). They observed the end of summer with sacrifices to SAMAN (Shamhain). He was “the lord of death and evil spirits”. This marked the beginning of the Celtic New Year.
Depending on your source material, the Druid lord of death and evil spirits was called Saman, Samana, Shamhain or Samhain. His “holiday” was called “The Vigil Of Saman” or Samhain (pronounced so-wein). You probably have seen a modern day version of SAMAN without even knowing it. This pagan god was shown as a ghostly, skeleton holding a sickle in his hand. He later came to be known as THE GRIM REAPER.

It is also given the name of the Angel of Death (מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת‎ Malach HaMavet) stemming from the Bible.  There are numerous traditions about the Angel of Death in Rabbinic literature.  Many times the Angel of Death is compared to satan.  One such example is a story about how the Angel of Death was not able to take the soul of Moses, rather the Almighty drew Moses’ soul out of his body by a kiss.  This is very reminiscent to what Jude speaks of in Jude 1:9

From Wikipedia

In the Bible, the fourth horseman of Revelation 6 is called Death, and is pictured with Hades following him. The “Angel of the Lord” smites 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp (II Kings xix. 35). When the Angel of Death passes through to smite the Egyptian first-born, God prevents “the destroyer” (shâchath) from entering houses with blood on the lintel and side posts (Ex. xii. 23). The “destroying angel” (“mal’ak ha-mashḥit”) rages among the people in Jerusalem (II Sam. xxiv. 16). In I Chronicle xxi. 15 the “angel of the Lord” is seen by King David standing “between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.” The biblical Book of Job (xxxiii. 22) uses the general term “destroyer” (“memitim”), which tradition has identified with “destroying angels” (“mal’ake Khabbalah”) and Prov. xvi. 14 uses the term the “angels of death” (“mal’ake ha-mavet”).

The Druids – They were occult practitioners, witches of sorts. In the century preceding the birth of Christ, Caesar conquered the Britains and he records very carefully the account of the DRUID PRIESTS (early witches)…”All Gallic nations are much given to superstition…they either offer up men as victims to the gods, or make a vow to sacrifice themselves. The ministers in these offerings are the Druids, and they hold that the wrath of the immortal gods can only be appeased, and man’s life redeemed, by offering up human sacrifice, and it is a part of their national institutions to hold fixed solemnities (Ceremonies) for this purpose.”

Ba’al worship

Holiday researcher George Douglas adds some interesting information when he says “Many of Halloween’s customs are derived from the ancient Baal Festivals. Other customs originate from the taking of omens from the struggles of victims in the fires of druidic sacrifices.” (From: The American Book of Days, by George William Douglas revised by Helen Douglas Compton).

Alexander Hislop in his book, The Two Babylons, says, “The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show — We know that they offered human sacrifices to their bloody gods. We have evidence that they made `their children pass through the fire to Molech’, and that makes it highly probable that they also offered them in sacrifice; for, from Jeremiah 32:35, compared with Jeremiah 19:5, we find that these two things were parts of one and the same system.” Further, it is to be noted that the “priests of Nimrod or Baal were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices; and thus it has come to pass that `Cahna-Bal’, (Cahna is the emphatic form of Cahn which means `a priest’) meaning the priest of Baal, is the established word in our tongue for a devourer of human flesh.” (from The Two Babylons, Hislop. See page 232).

On November first was Samhain [Halloween] . . . Fires were built as a thanksgiving to Baal. . . (Kelley, Ruth Edna, The Book of Hallowe’en, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co. Boston, 1919)

The mystic rites and ceremonies with which Hallow’en was originally observed had their origin among the Druids . . . ancient Baal festivals from which many of the Hallow’en customs are derived. (Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 569)

Trick or Treat

Sacrifices – Druid priests and people would go from house to house asking for fatted calves, black sheep, and human beings. Those who gave were promised prosperity and those who refused to give were cursed and threatened. In addition, it was likely that all of the “wandering spirits” would get hungry. If you set out a treat for them, they would not trick or curse you. Hence we have THE ORIGIN OF TRICK OR TREAT. “Trick or Treat” is a reenactment of the Druidic practices. The candy has replaced the human sacrifices of old, but it is still an appeasement of those deceptive evil spirits. The traditional response to those who do not treat is to have a trick played on the. When you give out Halloween candy, you are, in essence providing a sacrifice to false gods. You are participating in idolatry” says the former high priest of Wicca, Tom Sanguinet.

According to Doc Marquis, this was the phrase ‘trick or treat’ was used by Druid priests on the eve of Samhain when arriving at the homes of their ‘victims’.  If the resident of the house choose treat, the ‘lord of the manor’ would give the druids a member of his household as a human sacrifice offering that night.  The druids would leave a treat, a hallowed out pumpkin filled with human fat and lit it up.  This was to serve as a protection against the demonic forces unleashed that night.  The trick was if the resident did not agree to their terms.  The druids would paint a hexagram on the residents door with human blood to summon demons to this plane of existence to kill someone at that home.
This sounds a lot like Passover and putting the blood of the lamb on the doorpost so that the Angel of Death would pass over your home.  Here we see the blood painted on the door so that death would come to the person’s home.  Yet another perversion of principles set forth in the Torah.  When you study the customs of the heathen this is seen over and over again.  It is also interesting that a hexagram was placed upon the victims doors as this is a perfect picture of the mark of the beast which is nothing more than a counterfeit of the mark of YHWH.

Passover/Chag Ha’Matzot is a mark of YHWH

Exo 13:6  Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
Exo 13:7  Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
Exo 13:8  And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Exo 13:9  And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.

At Pesach the blood was applied to the doors unto LIFE.  At Halloween, the blood is applied to the doors unto DEATH.  This is what it all comes down to.  The way of truth which leads unto life or the way of falsehood which leads to death.
Deu 30:19  I call Heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, that you may live, you and your seed,

First-born sacrifices are mentioned in a poem in the Dindshenchas, which records that children were sacrificed each Samhain . . . (Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 17)

Halloween. That was the eve of Samhain . . . firstborn children were sacrificed. . . Samhain eve was a night of dread and danger. (National Geographic. May 1977, pp. 625-626)

Halloween glorifies death and darkness. Passover glorifies life and light.

Passing children through the fire to Molech

Halloween. That was the eve of Samhain . . . firstborn children were sacrificed. . . Samhain eve was a night of dread and danger. (National Geographic. May 1977, pp. 625-626)

Alexander Hislop in his book, The Two Babylons, says, “The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show — We know that they offered human sacrifices to their bloody gods. We have evidence that they made `their children pass through the fire to Molech’, and that makes it highly probable that they also offered them in sacrifice; for, from Jeremiah 32:35, compared with Jeremiah 19:5, we find that these two things were parts of one and the same system.” Further, it is to be noted that the “priests of Nimrod or Baal were necessarily required to eat of the human sacrifices; and thus it has come to pass that `Cahna-Bal’, (Cahna is the emphatic form of Cahn which means `a priest’) meaning the priest of Baal, is the established word in our tongue for a devourer of human flesh.” (from The Two Babylons, Hislop. See page 232).

The Burning of the Wicker Man of the Druids of Stonehenge, in which children were offered to the burning flames of sacrifice to the sun god. In Canaanite, Egyptian, and Babylonian times, the wicker man was in the form of Molech, Apis, Baal, Bel, and others

2Ki 23:10  And he defiled Topheth in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so that no man could cause his son and his daughter to pass through the fire of Molech.

which is the valley of the children of Hinnom; a valley that belonged to the posterity of a man of this name, near to Jerusalem, see Jos_15:8, hence the Greek word “geenna” for hell, in the New Testament:

Gehinnom…translated as hell in most english versions comes from this concept of human sacrifice at the valley of Hinnom.  Halloween is a picture of this ‘hell on earth’.  Demons and evil spirits let loose on the earth.  At the fall of Babylon this is what is seen.  Babylon falls and becomes a habitation of evil spirits and unclean beasts.

Jer 32:34  But they set their idols in the house on which My name has been called, to defile it.

Jer 32:35  And they built the high places of Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My heart, that they should do this detestable thing, to cause Judah to sin.

Jer 7:30  For the sons of Judah have done evil in My eyes, says YHWH. They have set their idols in the house on which is called My name, in order to defile it.
Jer 7:31  They have built the high places of Tophet in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

John Gill commentary

to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire: which was done, as Jarchi says, by putting them into the arms of the brasen image Moloch, heated hot. The account he gives of Tophet is this,

“Tophet is Moloch, which was made of brass; and they heated him from his lower parts; and his hands being stretched out, and made hot, they put the child between his hands, and it was burnt; when it vehemently cried out; but the priests beat a drum, that the father might not hear the voice of his son, and his heart might not be moved:”

but in this he is mistaken; for “Tophet” was not the name of an idol, but of a place, as is clear from this and the following verse. There is some agreement between this account of Jarchi, and that which Diodorus Siculus (z) gives of Saturn, to whom children were sacrificed by the Carthaginians; who had, he says, a brasen image of Saturn*, which stretched out his hands, inclining to the earth; so that a child put upon them rolled down, and fell into a chasm full of fire:

*This is important to note.  The worship of Saturn = Ba’al worship.  This is what Halloween is.  This brazen image of Saturn is the origin of placing children into the lap of Santa Claus.  Halloween (death) and Christmas (birthdays) are intimately connected.  Birthdays originally were celebrations of the dead which can be seen by the Greek word that is translated into ‘birthday’.  This is seen in more detail below on the section of mourning for the dead.  The symbol of Saturn is the hexagram and is associated with this holiday of witchcraft and magic.  The hexagram was placed on the doors of those who would not offer their family members for human sacrifices to the Druid priests as a ‘X marks the spot’ for demonic spirits to attack these homes.

1Ki 11:1  And King Solomon loved many foreign women, even the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites;
1Ki 11:2  of the nations which Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, You shall not go in to them, and they shall not go in to you; they shall turn aside your heart after their gods; Solomon clung to these in love.

1Ki 11:5  And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites;
1Ki 11:6  and Solomon did evil in the sight of Jehovah, and did not go fully after Jehovah like his father David.
1Ki 11:7  Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the sons of Ammon;

Jack – O- Lantern

The Jack-O-Lantern – The World Book Encyclopedia, 1977 edition, volume 9, page 24-26 says, “The apparently harmless lighted pumpkin face of `Jack-O-Lantern’ is an ancient symbol of a damned soul.” In the book Occult Conceit the author says on page 190, “The candlelit pumpkin or skull served as a signal to mark those farms and homes that were sympathetic to the Satanists and thus deserving of mercy when the terror (“trick or treat”) of the night began.” Further, an old edition of The World Book Encyclopedia says “The apparently harmless lighted pumpkin face of the Jack-O-Lantern is an ancient symbol of a damned soul.”

The name jack-o’-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer.  He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.

Carved and illuminated by a candle, they are symbolic of death and the spirit world. (Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 256)

. . . the jack-o’-lantern is generally presented in its traditional form as a festive euphemism for the death’s-head,* the triangular nose hole and rictus grin being the “dead” giveaways. (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 38)

*This is important to note.  Halloween is a celebration of death which is something that Secret Societies are obsessed with, even today.  The Jack-O-Lantern is seen as the skull & cross-bones today which was/is the symbol of the Thule Society which Adolph Hitler was a member and the Skull & Bones which The Bushes, and many other powerful men are members.

Another interesting connection to these secret societies and Halloween is a place known as Bohemian Grove.  Once a year in the summer, powerful men (mostly Republicans) meet in a heavily secluded ‘campground’ in Monte Rio California.  Much of what they do is secret but the Grove has been infiltrated in the past with video footage taken.  One ritual that was videotaped was the ‘Cremation of Care’.  It is a ceremony where priests dress up like the Druids and offer a ‘mock human sacrifice’ to a giant owl idol which traces back to Molech.

COSTUMES

They originated with these terrible Druid death rites also. As people and animals were screeching in agony while being burned to death the observers would dress in costumes made of animal skins and heads. They would dance, chant and jump through the flames in hope warding off the evil spirits. Again, the early origin of costumes is repulsive. On the evening of October 31st, the Druids, who were the occultic priests and teachers of the Celts, ordered the people to put out their hearth fires. The Druids built a huge new year’s bonfire of oak branches, which they considered sacred. They burned animals, crops and human beings as sacrifices to their sun god Muck Olla and Samhain, their god of death. During this diabolical ceremony the PEOPLE WORE COSTUMES made of animal heads and skins. They then practiced divination, looked for omens in the struggle of the victims sacrificed in the fires, jumped over the flames or dashed through them, danced and sang. All of this was done to frighten the evil spirits away.
According to Man, Myth & Magic, volume 1, page 68, “The guisers went from house to house, singing and dancing. Their bloodcurdling masks and grotesque costumes may have been meant to keep evil at bay, or more likely, were visible representations of the ghosts and goblins that lurked in the night…”
In the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 12, page 8578 it states, “It was the Druids belief that on the eve of this festival (November 1st, Celtic New Year) Samhain, lord of death, called together the wicked souls (Spirits) that within the past twelve months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals.” Samhain would then send these evil spirits to attack people on the eve before the November 1st celebration. The only way these people could escape was by assuming disguises and looking like evil spirits themselves. (See Christianity Today, October 22, 1982, p.32).

In rituals, a person wearing a mask of a god or spirit often feels possessed by the supernatural being. . . (World Book 2005, p. 263)

The person wearing the mask feels internally transformed and takes on temporarily the qualities of the god or demon represented by the mask. (Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism, p. 218)

BOBBING FOR APPLES

In A.D. 43 the Roman Empire was in solid control of the Celtic people. As a result of this control the idol worshipping Romans introduced another ceremony honoring their false gods to the already demoniacal Druid New Year’s celebration. It was in honor of their goddess of fruit trees. They would try to grasp fruit, floating in water, without the use of their hands. This is the origin of BOBBING FOR APPLES according to the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Associated Press quote, October 16, 1977.

According to Doc Marquis, this custom traces back to the Druids who used to bring forth victims and give them a choice to bob for apples in a boiling cauldron of oil and if they could successfully pull our the apple they would be set free or they could have their heads chopped off right then and there.

The Black Cat

In the 1959 edition of World Book Encyclopedia, under Halloween it was noted that Druid priests believed that cats were once human beings but were reincarnated as punishment for evil deeds. Because of this they held cats sacred and involved them in their idol worship of October 31st and November 1st.
Druids believed “the cat was sacred and…that cats had once been changed (from being human & reincarnated) into that form as punishment for evil deeds.” (The American Book of Days, by George Douglas)
“Even after Christianity spread to Europe…oxen were sacrificed on October 31st…and in medieval Europe, black cats [were] chosen as victims in the belief that they were witches in disguise [and] were burned on that day (Halloween).” (The American Book of Day, third edition by Hatch)

It is plain to see that cats, particularly BLACK CATS were thought to represent EVIL. Further, they were a symbol of REINCARNATION.

Black cats were associated with darkness and death . . . they embodied demons who performed the witches’ task of maleficia against their neighbors. . . Black cats are said to be the devil himself.” (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, p. 49)

Owls

“On Halloween night, demons in the form of owls were said to have traveled with Witches and their cats . . . some were even believed to be Witches in disguise. . . (Interestingly, the owl was called a strix by the Romans—a word that means “Witch.”)” (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 43)

Halloween and Babylon

“The first Halloween ritual was celebrated
thousands of years ago in the post-Flood world
in Mesopotamia (now called Iraq). While we do not
know the exact name of this ancient festival,
we do know that it involved worship of fire
and serpents; astrology; witchcraft; magic;
communicating with the spirits; and human
sacrifice. The first of these festivals was
instituted by Nimrod at the Tower of Babel.
Nimrod was a mighty leader of the Babylonian
people and he persuaded them that he was a god
who had come down to earth and as such,
was to be worshipped. The Babylonian people
worshipped him under a variety of names
and titles such as Samas – the Sun God,
Marduk, Merodach, Ninus, Bel / Baal,
Attis – the list is practically endless.
Nimrod, along with his wife, founded what
the Bible refers to as Mystery Babylon –
a pagan, false religious system that included
worship of many gods and goddesses, fire,
serpents, the sun and moon, and the planets.”
-Traditions -The Real Origins of Halloween
by J. R. Terrier ; 2007

“When we think about the history of Halloween
we generally trace its roots back to the time
of the Druids in England, Scotland and Ireland.
In truth, its roots go much further back than that.
The celebration of the “Lord of the Dead” (later
known as Halloween) can be traced to ancient Babylon
and to the trinity worship of Nimrod, the sun god
and his son Tamaz, and the Queen of heaven Samarimas,
wife of Nimrod, mother of Tamaz. This triune god
of Babylon battled with Saman, (also known by a
variety of other names including Samana, Shamhain,
Satan and others), god of the underworld, death,
sin and evil. The ancient priests from Babylon
would roam the countryside demanding contributions
from the people in an effort to appease the god
of death and keep him at bay.”

In Ancient Babylon – “On the eve of all hallows,
a gigantic fire was lighted to ward off the death
god. In the midst of the fire large cages were
suspended containing sacrifices to the god of the
underworld. These sacrifices ranged from beasts,
to children and adults both men and women.
The priests would observe the writhing of the
burning victims and make predictions for the future
based upon the manner in which these poor creatures
screamed and gyrated in their agony within the
confines of those cages.”

“When Julius Caesar entered the British Isles
he was amazed to find that the Druids had adopted
the complete Chaldean (Babylonian) system -
in almost its pure form. In these gruesome
ceremonies – the bodies of the victims were
often eaten by the priests. It is interesting to note
that the Chaldean (Babylonian) word for priest
is “Cahna” and the word for lord is “Baal”
hence, “Cahna-Baal” or priests of Baal (Nimrod)
from which we derive our English word for the
eaters of human flesh, cannabal.”

-Halloween, the Counterfeit “Last Great Day”

By Carl R. Dillenback

The BonFires of Halloween – were originally
called – “bone”Fires – “Sacrificial victims
were led through the streets of the village
by “MASKED” Celtic priests, the Druids,
who ceremonially offered the victims to the
Lord of Death, Satan. From the death agonies
of the “living” victim placed on the altar of
sacrifice, the priests divined the future of
the village from the way the soul departed the
body. This custom originated in BABYLON where the
Babylonian priests’ prayed to the symbolic deity -
Nimrod. The victims were furiously consumed
by the roaring flames, and in the morning, all
that was left were the bones and ashes.
Today without realizing it, people everywhere
practice a similar ritual during the Harvest
Festival, not as “bone fires,” but as “bon fires.”
-The Dark Night of the Soul- Halloween
Excerpts taken from the October 1998,
Lampholder Newsletter

Halloween and the fall of Babylon

Each year millions of children walk through the streets wearing customs and masks, traditionally in the guise of demonic and wicked creatures.

Rev 18:2  And he cried in a strong, great voice, saying, Babylon the great has fallen! It has fallen, and it has become a dwelling-place of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean bird, even having been hated,

Isa 13:19  And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20  It shall not be lived in forever, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation. And the Arabian shall not pitch a tent there, nor shall the shepherds make flocks lie down there.
Isa 13:21  But the desert creatures (tziyiy yellers) shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures (LXX sirens/mermaids); and daughters of owls shall dwell there; and he goats (sair – satyr, demon) shall skip there.
Isa 13:22  And hyenas (iy- wild beast) shall cry along with his widows; and jackals in palaces of delight. Yea, her time to come is near, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Isa 14:22  For I will rise against them, says YHWH of Hosts, and I will cut off the name and remnant, the son and grandson, from Babylon, declares YHWH.
Isa 14:23  Also I will make it a possession of the hedgehog and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the broom of ruin, says YHWH of Hosts.

Isa 34:8  For the day of vengeance is to YHWH, the year of repayments for Zion’s cause.
Isa 34:9  And its torrents shall be turned to pitch, and its dust to brimstone; and its land shall become burning pitch.
Isa 34:10  It shall not be put out night or day; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation, it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and forever.
Isa 34:11  But the owl (unclean bird that vomits) and the hedgehog (one that shrinks) shall possess it; and the eared owl (unknown bird of the twilight) and the raven shall live in it. And He shall stretch out on it the line of shame, and the stones of emptiness.
Isa 34:12  They shall call its nobles to a kingdom, but none shall be there; and all her rulers shall be nothing.
Isa 34:13  And thorns shall grow in her palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it shall be a home for jackals (tan-dragon LXX monsters), a court for daughters of ostriches (LXX daughter of sirens).
Isa 34:14  The desert creatures (Targum – monsters) shall also meet with the howlers; and the shaggy goat (satyr) shall cry to his fellow. The screech owl (Heb. lillith Vulgate- lamla (witch)) shall also settle there, and find a place of rest for herself.
H3917 לילית li^yli^yth
BDB Definition:
1) “Lilith”, name of a female goddess known as a night demon who haunts the desolate places of Edom
1a) might be a nocturnal animal that inhabits desolate places
Līlīth (Syr. and Zab. lelitho), lit., the creature of the night, was a female demon (shēda^h) of the popular mythology; according to the legends, it was a malicious fairy that was especially hurtful to children, like some of the fairies of our own fairy tales.

Here is a short reference to the Owl, Lilith, and Mayday.
“The Sabine flower Goddess Flora holds games when the flowers bloom. Chloris the green Goddess and her followers dance costumed as animals. At the May festival of the sea God Poseidon, flowers were thrown into salt or running water. On May Day by the old-style Julian calendar in Spain, Mary of Fatima appeared above an oak tree, wearing a crown of roses. Old May Day is Garland Day in England. Passing a child through a garland of flowers heals any illness “Blodeuwedd, the original Queen of the May, was created from nine flowers: trefoil, meadowsweet, broom, primrose, bean, oak, cockle, nettle, and chestnut. Transformed into an owl, she is rearing her hatchlings by May Day. Lilith, the owl Goddess of women and wisdom, is celebrated on April 30th

“The Phoenician moon Goddess Tanit was honored at a bare tree woven all around with ribbons. For her Sabbat in May, the great Goddess Ishtar wears a tall conical hat with a wide brim, covered over with flowers. The bonnet of Ishtar became the traditional witch’s hat.”
http://www.webofoz.org/heritage/Beltane.shtml

Isa 34:15  The snake shall nest there, and shall lay, and hatch, and shall gather in her shadow. Vultures shall also be gathered together, each with its mate.

Halloween is a rehearsal of the Fall of Babylon and the dwelling of demons and unclean creatures in that fallen land.  Those who share in this rehearsal now are proclaiming they want to share in its fulfillment.  This is a very scary warning to those who think this holiday is just an innocent night of fun for kids to get candy.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice out of Heaven saying, My people, come out of her, that you may not share in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues;

Halloween and the Occult

Samhain: This is the “Witch’s New Year” and the primary Sabbat from which all others flow. (RavenWolf, Silver. Teen Witch, p. 42)

Halloween is one of the four major Sabbats celebrated by the modern Witch, and it is by far the most popular and important of the eight that are observed. . . Witches regard Halloween as their New Year’s Eve, celebrating it with sacred rituals. . . (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 120)

Satanic High Priestess Blanche Barton, on The Church of Satan web site, praises Halloween:

It [Halloween] gives even the most mundane people the opportunity to taste wickedness for one night. They have a chance to dance with the Devil . . . I see Satanists all over the world meeting in small groups this night and Hallowe’ens 500 years hence, to raise a glass to the Infernal Hosts. . .

Festivals of the Dead

The Festival of the Dead is held by many cultures throughout the world in honor or recognition of deceased members of the community, generally occurring after the harvest in August, September, October, or November. In Japanese Buddhist custom the festival honoring the departed (deceased) spirits of one’s ancestors is known as Bon Festival. In Inca religion the entire month of November is Ayamarca, which translates to Festival of the Dead.
In many cultures a single event, Festival of the Dead, lasting up to 3 days, was held at the end of October and beginning of November; examples include the Peruvians, the Hindus, the Pacific Islanders, the people of the Tonga Islands, the Australians, the ancient Persians, the ancient Egyptians, the Japanese, ancient Romans, and the northern nations of Europe.

The souls of the dead

Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecc 9:10  Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Psa 146:4  His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Haunted Houses?

Job 7:9  As the cloud fades, it goes, so he who goes down to Sheol shall not come up.
Job 7:10  He shall return no more to his house; nor shall his place know him any more.

Ghosts?
1Sa 28:7  Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
1Sa 28:8  And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
1Sa 28:9  And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
1Sa 28:10  And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
1Sa 28:11  Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
1Sa 28:12  And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
1Sa 28:13  And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

Samuel was not brought up from the grave but a ‘god’, a demon.

1Sa 28:14  And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
1Sa 28:15  And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

Eternity has been set in our hearts
Ecc 3:11  He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has set eternity in their heart, without which man cannot find out the work that God makes from the beginning even to the end.

Heathen cultures have a fascination with the dead.  Halloween/Festivals of the Dead etc are a perfect example of this.  The Scriptures always focus on life.  The heathens focused on the afterlife of the dead and where the soul would dwell.  The Scriptures point us to the resurrection FROM the dead and eternal life.

We are not to partake in the vain customs of the heathen in regards to the dead

Deu 14:1  You are sons to YHWH your God; you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

John Gill commentary
ye shall not cut yourselves; for the dead, as appears from the next clause, as the Heathens did, who not only tore their garments, but their flesh in several parts of their bodies, in their mouths, cheeks, breasts, &c. (r); and used other extravagant signs of mourning, which the apostle cautions against, 1Th_4:13 and were condemned by the Heathens themselves (s). Though some think this refers to incisions the Heathens made in their flesh to the honour of their gods, cutting the names of them therein to whom they devoted themselves; or lashing their bodies at the worship of them, as the worshippers of Baal did when they called upon him, 1Ki_18:28 and so the Jerusalem Targum,”make not marks, marks,”that is, here and there, in many places, or bruises black and blue by striping and beating themselves, for strange worship, or at it, in honour of their gods; but the former sense seems best to agree with what follows; see Lev_19:28,

nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead; by shaving the forepart of their head or their eyebrows, or both, which used to be done in lamentations for the dead; see Jer_16:6 if this could be thought to have any respect to rites and ceremonies used in the worship of dead and lifeless idols, the customs of the Egyptians might be referred to, who are said to shave their heads and their eyebrows in their sacred rites to Isis (t).

(r) Vid. Virgil. Aeneid. 12. ver. 870, 871. and Servium in Aeneid. 1. ver. 78. and in l. 12. (s) Vid. Cicero de Leg. l. 2. c. 23. and Tusculan. Quaest. l. 3. c. 27. (t) Ambros. Epist. l. 4. c. 30. p. 259.

Lev 19:28  And you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead; and you shall not put on yourself any etched mark; I am YHWH.

John Gill commentary
Lev 19:28  Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,…. Either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and other parts, or with any instrument, knife, razor, &c. Jarchi says, it was the custom of the Amorites, when anyone died, to cut their flesh, as it was of the Scythians, as Herodotus (d) relates, even those of the royal family; for a king they cut off a part of the ear, shaved the hair round about, cut the arms about, wounded the forehead and nose, and transfixed the left hand with arrows; and so the Carthaginians, who might receive it from the Phoenicians, being a colony of theirs, used to tear their hair and mouths in mourning, and beat their breasts (e); and with the Romans the women used to tear their cheeks in such a manner that it was forbid by the law of the twelve tables, which some have thought was taken from hence: and all this was done to appease the infernal deities, and to give them satisfaction for the deceased, and to make them propitious to them, as Varro (f) affirms; and here it is said to be made “for the soul”, for the soul of the departed, to the honour of it, and for its good, though the word is often used for a dead body: now, according to the Jewish canons (g), whosoever made but one cutting for a dead person was guilty, and to be scourged; and he that made one for five dead men, or five cuttings for one dead man, was obliged to scourging for everyone of them:

nor print any marks upon you; Aben Ezra observes, there are some that say this is in connection with the preceding clause, for there were who marked their bodies with a known figure, by burning, for the dead; and he adds, and there are to this day such, who are marked in their youth in their faces, that they may be known; these prints or marks were made with ink or black lead, or, however, the incisions in the flesh were filled up therewith; but this was usually done as an idolatrous practice; so says Ben Gersom, this was the custom of the Gentiles in ancient times, to imprint upon themselves the mark of an idol, to show that they were his servants; and the law cautions from doing this, as he adds, to the exalted name (the name of God): in the Misnah it is said (h), a man is not guilty unless he writes the name, as it is said, Lev_19:28; which the Talmudists (i) and the commentators (k) interpret of the name of an idol, and not of God:

I am the Lord; who only is to be acknowledged as such, obeyed and served, and not any strange god, whose mark should be imprinted on them.

(d) Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 71. (e) Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 7. (f) Apud Servium in Virgil. Aeneid. 3. (g) Misn. Maccot, c. 3. sect. 5. (h) Ibid. sect. 6. (i) T. Bab. Maccot, fol. 21. 1. (k) Jarchi, Maimon. Bartenora, & Ez Chayim in Misn. ut supra. (g))

Adam Clarke
Lev 19:28
Any cuttings in your flesh for the dead – That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, etc., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido “tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists.”
“Unguibus ora soror foedans, et pectora pugnis.”
Aen., l. iv., ver. 672.
Nor print any marks upon you – It was a very ancient and a very general custom to carry marks on the body in honor of the object of their worship. All the castes of the Hindoos bear on their foreheads or elsewhere what are called the sectarian marks, which distinguish them, not only in a civil but also in a religious point of view, from each other. Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms, breasts, etc., curiously carved or tattooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the face, arms, etc., in honor of different idols; and to this the inspired penman alludes, Rev_13:16, Rev_13:17; Rev_14:9, Rev_14:11; Rev_15:2; Rev_16:2; Rev_19:20; Rev_20:4, where false worshippers are represented as receiving in their hands and in their forehead the marks of the beast. These were called στιγματα stigmata among the Greeks, and to these St. Paul refers when he says, I bear about in my body the Marks (stigmata) of the Lord Jesus; Gal_6:17. I have seen several cases where persons have got the figure of the cross, the Virgin Mary, etc., made on their arms, breasts, etc., the skin being first punctured, and then a blue colouring matter rubbed in, which is never afterward effaced. All these were done for superstitious purposes, and to such things probably the prohibition in this verse refers. Calmet, on this verse, gives several examples. See also Mariner’s Tonga Islands, vol. i. p. 311-313.

Mourning for the dead and birthdaysclick here

Where did the custom of cutting oneself for the dead come from?  It was a celebration of the birthday of Saturn.

From Alexander Hislop’s Two Babylons:

Two Babylons
When it is remembered that Saturn himself was cut in pieces, it is easy to see how the idea would arise of offering a welcome sacrifice to him by setting men to cut one another in pieces on his birthday, by way of propitiating his favour.
The practice of such penances, then, on the part of those of the Pagans who cut and slashed themselves, was intended to propitiate and please their god, and so to lay up a stock of merit that might tell in their behalf in the scales of Anubis.

Mat 14:6  But a birthday* feast for Herod being held, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod.

John Gill

This they did, believing him to be the Messiah: and it is further to be observed, that the word here used (for birthday), is said to be proper to the dead, and not to the living;

*G1077 γενέσια genesia
Thayer Definition:
1) a birthday celebration, a birthday feast
1a) the earlier Greeks used this word of funeral commemorations, a festival commemorative of a deceased friend
Part of Speech: noun neuter plural
A Related Word by Thayer’s/Strong’s Number: from a derivative of G1078

“These (say they) are the feasts of idolaters; the “Calends” {New Year’s}, and the “Saturnalia” {Christmas}, the time kept in memory of subduing a kingdom (or when a king takes possession of it, the day of his accession), ויום גנוסיא של מלכים, “and the birthday of kings” (when they are made and crowned, the day of coronation), and the day of birth, and the day of death.” (celebrating the day of birth and death goes back to the Greek word Genesia) Misn. Avoda Zara, c. 1. sect. 3. (pg 660)

Birthdays, Sacrifices

Josephus (Wars of the Jews, vii. 3. 1) refers to Titus’ celebration of his brother’s and father’s birthdays (genéthlia) by slaughtering Jewish captives.

Astrology, & Horoscopes

The Encyc. Of Religion and Ethics (ERE), art. Birth (Assyro-Babylonian), Vol. 2, p. 643).

We know beyond doubt from tablets of later date that the hour of birth was carefully noted and the horoscopes were cast, based on careful notations of celestial observations. From tablet K 1285 we deduce that ceremonies were carried out in the Temple of Ishtar, or Istar (Easter), at least for children of people of note. In this tablet she is addressed as Queen of Nineveh (ibid., p. 644).

At Halloween, it was believed that predicting the future was at its most opportune time based on astrology and reading the reactions of those who were being sacrificed etc…

“From the death agonies
of the “living” victim placed on the altar of
sacrifice, the priests divined the future of
the village from the way the soul departed the
body.”  -The Dark Night of the Soul- Halloween
Excerpts taken from the October 1998,
Lampholder Newsletter

Holiday researcher George Douglas adds some interesting information when he says “Many of Halloween’s customs are derived from the ancient Baal Festivals. Other customs originate from the taking of omens from the struggles of victims in the fires of druidic sacrifices.” (From: The American Book of Days, by George William Douglas revised by Helen Douglas Compton).

Purim connection

Est 3:5  And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow nor worship him, then Haman was filled with fury.
Est 3:6  And it was light in his eyes to reach forth a hand against Mordecai alone; for they had revealed to him Mordecai’s people. And Haman sought to destroy all the Jews in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.
Est 3:7  In the first month, it is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they made fall Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman day by day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, the month Adar.

פּוּר is an Old-Persian word meaning lot (sors); in modern Persian, bâra signifies time,

Adam Clarke

We see plainly intimated by the Hebrew text that they cast lots, or used a species of divination, to find which of the twelve months would be the most favorable for the execution of Haman’s design; and, having found the desired month, then they cast lots, or used divination, to find out which day of the said month would be the lucky day for the accomplishment of the enterprise. But the Hebrew text does not tell us the result of this divination; we are left to guess it out; but the Greek supplies this deficiency, and makes all clear. From it we find that, when they cast for the month, the month Adar was taken; and when they cast for the day, the fourteenth (Heb. thirteenth) of that month was taken.

Albert Barnes

“Pur” is supposed to be an old Persian word etymologically connected with the Latin “pars”, and signifying “part” or “lot.” The practice of casting lots to obtain a lucky day still obtains in the East, and is probably extremely ancient. A lot seems to have been cast, or a throw of some kind made, for each day of the month and each month of the year. The day and month which obtained the best throws were then selected. Assyrian calendars note lucky and unlucky days as early as the eighth century B.C. Lots were in use both among the Oriental and the Classical nations from a remote antiquity.

Adolph Hitler is known as a modern day Haman.  As seen above, Hitler was a member of a ‘death’s head’ secret society known as the Thule society.  Hitler marked those who were doomed to death with a hexagram, much like the doors that were painted with the same symbol by the Druids.

What is the Thule Society?

They were Satanists who practiced Black Magic — this means that they were “solely concerned with raising their consciousness by means of rituals to awareness of evil and nonhuman intelligences in the universe; and with achieving means of communication with these intelligences.” (Ravenscroft, Spear of Destiny p. 161).

Thule members practiced a form of Sexual Magic derived from a lodge of which Aleister Crowley was a member. Crowley was recognized as the foremost worshipper of Satan in the 19th Century. “The origin of this…medieval magic…can be traced to a Freemason, Robert Little, who founded the Societas Rosicruciana in 1865… (Ravenscroft, Spear of Destiny, p. 164-5). While the actual sexual perversions which were practiced are too offensive to share, the results are not. Author Revenscroft stated that “indulgence in the most sadistic rituals awakened penetrating vision into the workings of Evil Intelligences and bestowed phenomenal magical powers.” (Ibid. p. 167).

These sexual perversions can be seen today at the Bohemian Grove.  There has been much documentation of homosexual activities being wide-spread amongst the members of this club.

Thule society believed in “communication with a hierarchy of Supermen — The Secret Chiefs of the Third Order”. (Ibid) The quality which make these beings supermen was occultic spirituality. Further, they believed in Madame Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine, which teaches that certain superman had survived the destruction of Atlantis with their higher levels of consciousness intact. These supermen were Aryans. These two beliefs combined into one through the Thule Society and Hitler, culminating into the Nazi Death Camps. (Ibid, p. 166).

• Thule society believed in “communication with a hierarchy of Supermen — The Secret Chiefs of the Third Order”. (Ibid) The quality which make these beings supermen was occultic spirituality. Further, they believed in Madame Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine, which teaches that certain superman had survived the destruction of Atlantis with their higher levels of consciousness intact. These supermen were Aryans. These two beliefs combined into one through the Thule Society and Hitler, culminating into the Nazi Death Camps. (Ibid, p. 166). When one group of people incorporate into their spiritual belief structure that they are inherently superior to another group of people, it is inevitable that genocide will be attempted as soon as possible.
• The Thule Society regularly held occultic seances, during which time they communicated with demons who were either masquerading as a dead person or who were just appearing as their guiding spirits. Dietrich Eckart, Alfred Rosenberg, and Adolf Hitler invoked the Anti-Christ into manifestation at the mediumistic seances of the Thule Group in Munich.” (Ravenscroft, Spear of Destiny, p. 168) Eckert believed he had been told by his guiding spirit he would have the privilege of training the coming Great One, the Anti-Christ. From the beginning of their association, Eckert believed Hitler was Anti-Christ. Therefore, Eckert spared no occultic knowledge, ritual, or perversion in his attempt to fully equip Hitler for the role. Once the training was completed, Hitler believed he was “born anew with that super-personal strength and resolution he would need to fulfill the mandate … ordained for him.” (p. Ravenscroft, p. 93-4)

The Skull and Bones also incorporates sexual activities into their practices. “The death of the initiate will be as frightful as the use of human skeletons and ritual psychology can make it…” (Esquire Magazine, “The Last Secrets of Skull and Bones”, Ron Rosenbaum, p. 89). Sexual perversion is part of ritual psychology. Ron Rosenbaum, author of the Esquire Magazine article, stated that on initiation night, called tap night, “…if one could climb to the tower of Weir Hall, the odd castle that overlooks the Bones courtyard, one could hear strange cries and moans coming from the bowels of the tomb as the 15 newly tapped members were put through what sounded like a harrowing ordeal…” (Esquire, September, 1976, p. 86).

Further,[initiates] “lay naked in coffins and tell their deepest and darkest sexual secrets as part of their initiation.” (Esquire, p. 85). These experiences in the coffins incorporated sexual pain and resulted in being born-again, into the Order, as we mentioned above. (Cooper, p.95) Powerful force charges through the participants of these ceremonies, transforming their lives dramatically. This type ritual is classic Satanism. Anton LaVey states, in his book The Satanic Rituals: Companion To The Satanic Bible, (p. 57)

“The ceremony of rebirth takes place in a large coffin..This is similar to the coffin symbolism that…is found in most lodge rituals.”

To the un-initiated these secret societies are obsessed with death, just as Halloween appears to be an obsession with death.  On a deeper level they are actually obsessed with life.  Death to bring life.  This is the theory of evolution.  The death of the weak brings forth a more evolved being.  Sacrifice the weak so that the strong can become stronger and obtain the favor of the ‘gods.’    Ultimately the goal of these secret societies/mystery religion priests is to bring about a utopian society of evolved men known as homo-noeticus (supermen).

Why does it say 322 at the bottom of the Skull & Bones symbol?

Gen 3:22  And YHWH God said, Behold! The man has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and also take from the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever,

Also notice that the skull in the above picture has a head wound…

Rev 13:3  And I saw one of its heads, as having been slain to death, and its deadly wound was healed. And all the earth wondered after the beast.

Ultimately, this is what Halloween points to.  The Antichrist.  The Feasts (holidays) in the Holy Scriptures are wedding rehearsals for the Messiah and His Bride.  Halloween, Christmas, Easter etc are wedding rehearsals for the Antichrist and his bride.

In the Scriptures, there is no custom of honoring the dead or giving worship to the dead.  Contact with the dead brought uncleanness and kept you from drawing close to the Most High who dwelt in the midst of the camp.

Contact with the dead brings uncleanness
Num 19:11  He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Num 19:12  He shall cleanse himself for it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean. And if he does not cleanse himself on the third day, then on the seventh day he shall not be clean.
Num 19:13  Anyone who touches the dead body, the body of a man who dies, and does not cleanse himself, he shall have defiled the tabernacle of YHWH; and that person shall be cut off from Israel, for the water of impurity shall not be sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness shall be still on him.

The unclean were to dwell outside of the camp

Num 5:1  And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying,
Num 5:2  Command the sons of Israel, and they shall send every leper out of the camp, and everyone with an issue, and everyone defiled by a dead body.
Num 5:3  You shall send out from male and female. You shall send them to the outside of the camp. And they shall not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.
Num 5:4  And the sons of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp. As YHWH spoke to Moses, so the sons of Israel did.

Lepers were as dead and not allowed within the camp
Num 12:12  I pray, do not let her be as one who is dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.

Nazarite Vow
Num 6:6  All the days of his separation to YHWH he shall not go near a dead person.

High priest
Lev 21:10  And the high priest of his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, and whose hand is consecrated to put on the garments, his head shall not be uncovered, nor his garments torn;
Lev 21:11  nor shall he come near any dead person; he shall not defile himself for his father or for his mother;

Priesthood
Lev 21:1  And YHWH said to Moses, Speak to the priests, Aaron’s sons, and you shall say to them, None shall be defiled for the dead among his people.
Lev 21:2  But for his relative who is near to him, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
Lev 21:3  and for his sister, the virgin, who is near to him, who has not been with a man, for her he may be defiled.
Lev 21:4  A leader shall not defile himself among his people, to pollute himself;
Lev 21:5  they shall not make their heads bald, and they shall not shave the corner of their beard; and they shall not make a cutting in their flesh;
Lev 21:6  they are holy to their God, and they shall not pollute the name of their God. For they offer the fire offerings of YHWH, bread of their God, and they are holy.

The Messiah teaches us not to get caught up in focusing on the dead.

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said to him, Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.
Secondary burial;  Ossilegium…during this time there was a custom amongst Jews that a year after the burial of a person a loved one would come back to the grave when the flesh had rotted off of the bones and this had to do with atoning for sins.

The Jerusalem Talmud states: When the flesh had wasted away, the bones were collected and placed in chests (ossuaries).  On that day (the son) mourned, but the following day he was glad, because his forebears rested from judgment (Moed Qatan 1:5).

Messiah teaches us to leave off these superstitions about the dead and to follow Him.  Eternal life is a gift that is given by putting our faith in Him.  Not elaborate burial procedures and customs that the living do for the dead.  The dead do not need us to pray for them or to them.  Those who partake of these vain customs usually have a skewed view of what the Scriptures teach about death.  We are to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness.  The Kingdom is about life.  It is about resurrection FROM the dead, not the continuation of life after death.  It is about the restoration of the Garden of Eden.

2 Esdras 9:13 And therefore be thou not curious how the ungodly shall be punished, and when: but enquire how the righteous shall be saved, whose the world is, and for whom the world is created.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Triennial Torah portion 2009

Deut 11:26-12:19…speaks of destroying the idols, Asherah and high places of the heathen
Isa 54:11-55:6
Psalm 119:49-72…

Psa 119:55  O YHWH, I have remembered Your name in the night and have kept Your Law.

Here we see that the righteous believer remembers the Name & Torah of YHWH in the night.  Halloween represents the night & darkness.

Layil comes from the root lamed lamed which means night/howl.

Lilith is the demon of the night…interesting.

Psa 119:61  The cords (to bind with a rope) of the wicked encircle* (KJV robbed) me; I have not forgotten Your Law.
*from the root:

Halloween is a festival that ‘binds’ believers and is celebrated in a repeated fashion each year on the same day.  This is the same root word for mo’edim which is translated as the feasts/appointed times of YHWH.  Here we see in Psalm 119 that believers are not to forgot the Torah even though we are bound on all sides by pagan feasts.  We are to keep the Torah in the night and be lights to this fallen world.

Luke 6:20-49

Videos
click here…Halloween is at the 2 hour 30 minute mark of the video on this website.  A documentary on Halloween by the History channel is on this page as well as the Order of Death by Alex Jones about Bohemian Grove and the Death’s Head cult.

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