Who Changed The Sabbath to Sunday?

What is the real Biblical and historical truth about who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? Where in the Bible do we find one single legitimate scripture stating the Sabbath is changed to Sunday?

How many have noticed that Christians have hundreds of different reasons as to why they do not keep this Commandment? If the Sabbath was changed to Sunday or abolished then there should be and would be one clear reason that everyone would agree on, but no so!

Some say it is Ten Commandments and some say it is nine and others say all Ten Commandments are gone. And if that isn't enough contradiction, some say the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in the Bible, and yet those arguing this fallacy do not keep the Sabbath as God Commanded anyway. The truth seeker will recognize that something is seriously wrong here and know that when you have so much confusion that Satan is behind it.

One group avoiding the fourth Commandment claim that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday by anyone and that it was changed from Saturday to Sunday in the Bible. This group frequently insist that the early Church changed to worshipping on Sunday and base this on Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2 and amazingly even John 20:19. (Note scriptures are tooltips and that Acts 20:7 shows that some translations say Saturday night or evening.) Acts 20:7 was in fact after sunset and so actually was a Saturday meeting that ran late and breaking bread was also a fellowship meal and was done every day of the week and at every meal. Compare Acts 2:46 and note that only one of the following scriptures is communion but they all show them breaking bread and generally giving thanks. Matthew 15:36; Acts 20:11; Acts 27:34-36; 1 Corinthians 11:24. So breaking bread does not imply communion which the Bible also says you do “as often as you want”). 1 Corinthians 16:2 was laying goods away in storage for the poor which would not be appropriate on the Sabbath but the first opportunity after being the first day of the week. And the deception becomes unmistakably clear when some even say that John 20:19 was the apostles celebrating the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week. The apostles were in fact hiding in fear of the Jews and did not even believe Jesus had been resurrected. Scripture such as Mark 16:11-14 reveals Jesus in fact rebuked them for their unbelief. Celebrating the resurrection of Jesus? Not even close! And something as important as God's law that He personally spoke and wrote in stone does not change based on assumptions.

This group also cannot produce one single scripture that shows one single person worshipping in the Synagogue (Church) on the first day of the week, which would be the case if the Sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday in the Bible. In fact this is all you would find in the book of Acts if this were so. But instead all we have is loads of scriptures showing in fact that they only worshipped in the Synagogue on the Sabbath and never the first day of the week. Here are just a few examples and unlike those trying to prove a fallacy, you will note that these scriptures are not assumptions: Mark 6:2, Mark 1:21, Luke 4:16, Luke 6:6, Luke 13:10, Acts 13:14, Acts 13:27, Acts 13:42, 44, Acts 15:21, Acts 17:1-2 and Acts 18:4. See also the sister site what day is the Sabbath for much more detailed information on all the above points that proves the Sabbath was not Jewish and that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday in the Bible.

So this is the typical support from those who say the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in the Bible and yet we find these are all desperate attempts at proving a fallacy. This alone should help one see that the Sabbath was not changed to Sunday in the Bible and that another force is at work trying to convince us otherwise. Why? Obviously the Sabbath day is important or our adversary would not be so busy searching for those he can manipulate to try and convince of us of a lie.

Some also quote Revelation 1:10 declaring Sunday as the Lord's Day but did you note that this verse does not so much as even hint of a day name. One has to look elsewhere in scripture for the answer to which day, which reveals that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:8) being the day that we call Saturday. The blood of Jesus sealed the New Covenant that Friday afternoon when Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” Once the New Covenant was sealed by the blood of Jesus, scripture states that it can no longer be changed. (Galatians 3:15; Hebrews 9:16-17) See the Sabbath in the New Covenant for detail. And yet an early church historian (Lucium) wrote that it was nearly 300 years after the cross that the Bishop of Rome decided to declare Sunday as the Lord's Day because some had changed to Sunday worship in Rome and Alexandria only, as a result of sun worship that was prevalent in these two areas.

And then there are those who claim that the Pope or Emperor Constantine did not change the Sabbath to Sunday. As far as I know the majority if not all do not say the Pope did! Resting on the Sabbath was outlawed in the council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364) and no mention is made of the Pope and the history of this change is rock solid despite the deceived that would tell you otherwise. Did Constantine change the Sabbath to Sunday? Not on his own but he definitely played a very significant part. So who changed the Sabbath to Sunday? It was in fact changed by a combination of Satan, paganism, Constantine and the Catholic Church and a study of a large part of Biblical history reveals the full story and truth. For other common deceptions or misunderstandings see frequently asked questions on the fourth Commandment.

So how did the change of the Sabbath day really happen?

To begin with, note that scripture informs us of the very significant fact that Satan wanted to and still wants to be worshipped like the most high (Isaiah 14:12-14) and that God's Holy day of worship is the Seventh Day being Saturday. So Satan set out to do two things. One was to rob God of the worship He desired on His Holy day that He instituted at creation, and two, to institute his own day of worship in place of God's day of worship by setting up his own counterfeit Christian Church. Note that the Satanic occult is typically the reverse of what God uses such as an inverted cross for example. The Bible shows God works on a 1:6 principle many times. So the occult equivalent would be the opposite being 6:1, which would make the occult equivalent of the seventh day (being the day we call by the pagan name Saturday) to the first day of the week. (the day we call by the pagan name Sunday)

So Satan began his plan by using idolatrous sun worship from Babylonian paganism that God despised to begin implementing his plan. Babylon was the seat of Satan worship until its fall to the Medes and the Persians in 539 BC. At this time the Babylonian pagan priests left Babylon and went to Pergamos and some to Alexandria. So for many centuries after the fall of Babylon, Pergamos became the new seat of Satan (Revelation 2:12-13). Opportunity arose around 129 B.C. for the priests to leave Pergamos and go to Rome and thus Rome became the final seat of Satan and where he set up his church. Hence sun worship, which was practised on Sunday, was most prevalent in Alexandria and Rome by the time of Christ. It is no coincidence that Sun-day worship in the Church began in these exact same two locations that sun worship went! So here is very significant evidence of the true origin of Sunday worship in the Church.

Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (5th century) observed this also and wrote: “For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord's Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” – Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, ch. 22.

Babylonian priests rightly calculated the Romans would be willing to learn and follow their pagan teachings. So it was not long before all of Rome was filled with their religious practices. It eventually became so pervasive that people called Rome the “New Babylon.” Early Christians also used the term Babylon as a veiled code word for a particular city, so as to avoid persecution from that pagan power. That city was also Rome. (See also 1 Peter 5:13)

When the Christian Church came along, the pagan religious practices of Babylon followed right into the Church. Historians said it seemed as though the entire city of Rome converted virtually overnight to Christianity, but what actually happened is that the pagan Babylonian religion was simply brought into the Church. This made it easy for followers of the Babylonian religion to convert to Christianity though it certainly was not a genuine conversion of course.

Some dispute that Church leaders incorporated pagan Babylonian religious practices into the Catholic Church but even Catholic historians admit it. Cardinal Newman in his Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 372, 373 says that the Church incorporated many pagan religious practices into the Church. He claims that the Church sanctified them and that made it safe to bring these practices into the Church. God of course will never accept pagan practises.

The pagan Babylonian priests had a chief priest who held the title Pontifex Maximus (translated to Latin meant that he was head pagan priest or literally the Greatest Pontiff). Most have heard the Pope called “Pontiff” and history explains where that term comes from.

Satan now began his plan to use persecution and hatred of Judaism along with his influence to cause the so called early Church fathers to switch to Sunday using the resurrection of Christ as their so called justification. Needless to say, there was no command from God to do this. So some in Alexandria and Rome ONLY began the switch to avoid persecution as early as 90-120 AD before the enforced change that came about 240-270 years later.

So Satan’s plan to lay the foundation for and establish his own counterfeit church was under way. Under Satan’s direction paganism would get a new face. As the Roman Empire was near disintegration, the pagan Caesars did not want to lose their power in controlling the world, so they decided on a plan by which to keep their power and influence in the world. The Roman Caesars simply exchanged their Roman togas for religious costumes. Thus they could control the world’s governments and their economies through religion.

After Constantine defeated Maxentius in 312 AD in a battle for the throne of Rome, Satan continued in his clever plan to build his own version of a “Christian Church.” After his ascension to the Roman Throne, Constantine issued his Edict of Toleration in 313 AD to stop the persecution of the true believers in Christ. Under Constantine the Christian Church for a time found relief from persecution. Satan had now temporarily stopped his persecution of the Christian Church from without, but he now proceeded to attack the Church from within.

Under Satan's direction, Constantine set up the “Council of Nicaea” and presided as “Summus Pontifex”, the official title of a Pope. (Note the Bible does NOT support a system of Popes) The Catholic Church claim Peter was the first so called Pope of this Papal system but it was in fact Constantine. So under Constantine as its first Pope, the Roman Catholic Institution as we know it today had its beginning.

Constantine was a devout sun worshipper and a shrewd political genius and his plan was to unite paganism and Christianity to strengthen his disintegrating empire. Constantine knew that pagans throughout the empire worshiped the sun on “the first day of the week,” and that many Christians especially in Rome and Alexandria had switched to Sunday to avoid persecution. So Constantine developed a plan to unite both groups on the common platform of Sunday keeping. So on March 7, 321 A.D., he passed his national Sunday law.

As stated earlier, those claiming that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday say it is also the Lord's Day despite scripture revealing the Sabbath to still be on the day we call Saturday. Lucium who was an early church historian exposes this lie also, as he wrote it was in the fourth century when Christians begun calling Sunday the Lord's Day and of course against the will of God.

In 330 A.D., Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople preparing the way for the Roman Catholic Popes to reign in Rome as the successors of Constantine. As the Roman Church grew in power, it opposed Sabbath observance in favour of Sunday sacredness and made the day change official in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364). So Constantine’s law resulted in the final change of the Sabbath to Sunday.

Around 364 AD, the Roman Catholic Church outlawed resting on the Sabbath in the Council of Laodicea when they decreed 59 Canon laws. Here is the final law.

Canon XXIX: “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.” (Percival Translation).

Now note very significantly that while resting on the Sabbath was outlawed in favour of resting on Sunday as per Constantine’s Sunday Law, Cannon law 16 was also issued by the Bishops in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364) that confirms that Christians were in fact still worshipping on the Sabbath, which is even more proof that the day was not changed to Sunday in the Bible as some erroneously claim.

Canon XVI: “The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath [i.e. Saturday], with the other Scriptures.”

The fact that the council of Laodicea found it necessary to deal with this issue verifies that more than 330 years after the cross that there were many Christians who were still observing the Sabbath according to the Commandment.

Four hundred years after the death of Christ and one hundred years after Constantine’s linking of Church and State by his Sunday law edict, Rome and Alexandria were the ONLY places in the world where many Christians kept only Sunday and not the true Sabbath. Why? Because this is where the pagan practices of Babylon landed after it was conquered. And what was the dominant pagan practice that the Babylonian priests brought with them? Sun worship which was done on Sun-day!

So one can understand why Rome and Alexandria did not bother to keep the true Sabbath as they had not done so for 200 years. Throughout the entire history of the changeover from Sabbath to Sunday, Rome and Alexandria had worked together. Alexandria provided the philosophical reasons for the changes and Rome provided the decrees and anathemas. Constantine’s help was given only to the worldly Church leaders at Rome and those Christians that resisted the errors that were being introduced into the Church met with his opposition. “Unite with the bishop of Rome or be destroyed,” was Constantine’s position.

“Great as were the favors which Constantine showed to the church, they were only for that strong, close-knit, hierarchically organized portion that called itself Catholic. The various [so-called] heretical sects could look for no bounty from his hands.” – Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, page 105.

Satan had the change of the Sabbath to Sunday totally completed by the seventh century as the Popes consolidating their enormous power persecuted all who resisted their innovations. Those found keeping the Seventh day Sabbath were tortured and burnt at the stake. (Watch a short dramatic re-enactment video of what they did to Sabbath keepers. Use history back arrow to return) By the time the Protestant reformation began, the Sabbath had almost been murdered out of existence by this Apostate Church. But God had a plan and scripture says that God would raise a remnant of His original Church to restore His Commandments. Sabbath keeping denominations has now grown to more than 540 other denominations, and the count of Sabbath keeping Churches continues to grow as we get closer to the end times as those who truly love God search out the truth instead of perpetuating the last excuse they heard.

You can see why some have different answers as to who changed the Sabbath to Sunday. It was Satan who planned the change, and while he used many people over hundreds of years to achieve his goal, it was the Papacy that enforced the final law with the death penalty.

God also calls the Catholic Church mystery Babylon and one should now know why. It was through the origins of Babylon that Satan brought about a change to God's law and brought many other pagan practise’s into the Church. See Catholic Church paganism for more.

God told us in Daniel 7:25 that the Papal Church would change His law and there can be no doubt Satan was behind it. Despite this, most Christians do not want to know and fight with all their heart, might and soul to see how many different reasons they can come up with to avoid this one Commandment and many of these reasons even contradict each other. So Satan claps his hands with his victory over the Christian Church and achieving his goal, and keeping so many in the dark on this one special Commandment that is a sign that defines the worship of our Creator and that we are His Holy children!

You can read more detail on the Constantine and origin of Babylon and sun worship and did Constantine change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday from these pages.

Since God has been robbed of the worship He desired for most of Church history because of the counterfeit day Satan instituted, what is God going to do about it? The beast that enforces the mark is the Catholic Church, and they say their mark was the ability to change the law of God and have most of the Protestant world follow her. And Revelation 14:12 says those who do not get the mark of the beast endure tribulation but keep the Commandments of God through Christ like faith. Could the mark of the beast be the final climactic event over this century long issue that defines who we worship? Do we worship God according to His Commandment or on the day Satan instituted through the Roman Catholic Church?

Please continue with page 3 for a detailed historical account of the change and the role of sun worship and solar seals with the number 666 on them.

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