by Kenneth M.Hoeck
International Sunday Law? Did you know that most of the states in America have, on their books, a law demanding that no work be done on Sunday, the first day of the week? Most of these laws are currently not enforced but this makes them no less valid. Did you also know, as of the time of this writing, that 11 of the original 15 states in the European Union have Sunday laws? Why are these laws in place? Why should this concern a true Christian? What role does the papacy play in all this? Have sabbath-keepers been persecuted in the past for keeping all of God's Commandments? Let us begin to uncover some truth in the matter-
Introduction
Satan has been attacking, twisting, and maligning the Sabbath, and everything else having to do with God, since the beginning of human history. The fourth commandment is under special attack because it is the only commandment which specifies who the true God really is! Genesis 2:1 -Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. & Exodus 20:11 -For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Satan would like to have the people FORGET who the true God is so they will be able to worship him in place of God! This is why the commandment, given again at Sinai, begins with the word "REMEMBER"! Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (God has not left His people uninformed of the wiles of the Devil.) This is reiterated in the word "KEEP" in Deuteronomy 5:12- Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. "Keep" or "Do Not Let Go Of" or "Do Not Lose" the Sabbath day which is identified in the rest of the passage as the seventh day. It is true that one could worship any other "god" and still keep the other nine commandments but the fourth one is a special indicator of who God and His living saints really are.
Satan hates the Sabbath commandment over the others because it is a sign of God's true followers. Exodus 31:13- Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. This verse also shows once again that the Sabbath points to "who the LORD is", that "He is the one who sanctifies" (separates or makes holy) His people who obey His commandments. It also tells us that the Seventhday Sabbath IS A SIGN of who His true followers really are! Anybody who keeps the Sabbath and walks uprightly before God is sanctified by the LORD Read here in Isaiah 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. 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. 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; 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. 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; 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. 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.
So now we see why Satan has such wrath toward the fourth commandment...against God's holy Sabbath. There are those who want to do away with the seventhday Sabbath today, just as in the past. The Devil has made a counterfeit "sabbathday" (Sunday) which is not the seventh but the first day of the week. He may well demand that "his day", the Day of the Sun" or sungod, be kept IN PLACE OF the true seventhday Sabbath sanctified by God Almighty. Lets us "pull back the veil" on this subject today.
Attack on the Sabbath
The Roman Emporer, Hadrian, in 135 A.D. outlawed sabbath-keeping and Judaism altogether. This seems to be the first successful attack on doing away with the true seventh-day Sabbath. Before this could fully happen the sabbath-keepers had to be ridiculed, persecuted and dehumanized. The dehumanizing of a people, the turning of a people into mere property or objects, must occur before martyrdom can take place. This is exactly what happened to the disciples of Christ in the first century, to the Jews in Pre-World War II Germany, to the black people in the early United States, and soon to the true of Christians who keep the commandments of God.
The Sabbath-keeping "Jews" in the early Roman Empire were treated poorly, as fools and superstitious second class citizens. They were unfairly taxed by their Roman 'masters' (Vespasian 69-79 AD, Domitian 81-96 AD, and Hadrian prior to his outlawing of Judaism in 135 AD). The Sabbath became to the Romans a disgraceful symbol of Judaism and they regarded it as superstitious folly. The Sabbath is ridiculed by all of the oppressors of God's people this is revealed to be true in Israel's history by Jeremiah in Lamentations 1:7 -Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths.
First let us look at the laws from yesterday and today. Try to envision the possibilities of the abuse and enforcement of such laws in the future....quite possibly by those who call themselves "Christians" but are not and do lie. Secondly, we will look at some of the punishments, penalties and attitudes imposed upon Sabbath-keepers who will not forsake God's commandment for the precepts and legislation of men. We will employ quotations from various sources and we ask that you please read each carefully. In reading this you may or may not be :excited, or annoyed, or enlightened, or saddened : but you will most assuredly be educated with the facts on the subject by the time we conclude our study.
The Law of Men
The first "Christian" Sunday Law states "Let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the venerable day of the sun. But let those dwelling in the country freely and with full liberty attend to the culture of their fields; since it frequently happens that no other day is so fit for the sowing of grain, or the planting of vines; hence, the favorable time should not be allowed to pass, lest the provisions of heaven be lost." -- Edict of March 7, 321 A.D. Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, Lex. 3. Constantine (and Crispus) being consul (each for the second time). 321 A.D.
"For several centuries, Christians observed Sunday simply as a day of worship, without being able to give it the specific meaning of Sabbath rest. Only in the fourth century did the civil law of the Roman Empire recognize the weekly recurrence, determining that on "the day of the sun" the judges, the people of the cities and the various trade corporations would not work"- Pope John Paul II-DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis v.64, May 31, 1998
'The Pope has power to change times, to abrogate (change) laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. This , my friends, is blasphemy. The pope believes that he can forever change the laws of the very Creator without retribution. Notice this very similar wording in the book of Daniel:
The Holy Bible -KJV, Daniel 7:21 "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;" 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 Pope has authority and has often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap.( This is very true as he did away with God's seventhday Sabbath and replaced it with his own first day or Lord's day....the day of the Sungod.~kh)
The pope would like to make keeping Sunday "a Must" - ``Sunday is something much different: It is the weekly day in which the church celebrates the resurrection of Christ,'' he said. ``In obedience to the Third Commandment (really the fourth commandment -but one does not expect those who worship graven images to acknowledge a commandment against them~kh), Sunday must be sanctified, above all by participation in holy Mass.'' Pope John Paul II-DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis, May 31, 1998
"In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, 585.
Church and State Cooperation
In the following quotes you will notice the urging of the Pope and others to encourage governmental powers of the world to enforce an international Sunday Law. The strong wording is only a hint of what is to come. What will happen if the Pope and his team of Jesuits ever get the power to enforce such a law?........ Remember the Inquisition?
"Therefore, also in the particular circumstances of our own time, Christians will naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy. In any case, they are obliged in conscience to arrange their Sunday rest in a way which allows them to take part in the Eucharist, refraining from work and activities which are incompatible with the sanctification of the Lord's Day, with its characteristic joy and necessary rest for spirit and body."(112)Pope John Paul II-DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis, May 31, 1998
"The Code of Canon Law of 1917 for the first time gathered this tradition into a universal law.(81) The present Code reiterates this, saying that "on Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to attend Mass".(82) This legislation has normally been understood as entailing a grave obligation: this is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,(83) and it is easy to understand why if we keep in mind how vital Sunday is for the Christian life."- Dies Domini, Pope John Paul II 1998
"In this matter, my predecessor Pope Leo XIII in his Encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of Sunday rest as a worker's right which the State must guarantee." (110)Pope John Paul II-DIES DOMINI-Dies Hominis, May 31, 1998
'There will be no relief from mounting economic disaster until Sunday is strictly enforced by government decrees and action." LIBERTY CONFIDENTIAL NEWSLETTER Vol 5, 1982.."
"All Americans would do well to petition the President and the Congress to make a Federal law - an amendment to the Constitution if need be - to re-establish the Sabbath [meaning Sunday here] as a national Day of Rest." CATHOLIC TWIN CIRCLE, August 25, 1985, Article "Sacking Sunday."
PERSECUTION
Even the most innocent of governmental legislations, in the wrong hands, can be used to enact evil upon those who oppose it. The papacy will continue to regain its power with nations and there well may come a time when they will not only enforce the "no work on Sunday laws" but also require Sunday observance in Catholic mass AS LAW. It will also NOT ALLOW the keeping of any other days than that which the Pope sanctifies. The Sabbath-keepers, those who keep the commandments of God, will be persecuted. The ability of the Roman Catholic Church to, once again, force its ways on the world shall become evident as in the days of its bloody Inquisitions. Who could withstand this political-religious entity? Revelation 13:4 "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"
The first known Sunday law penalties in America : "Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath (not the true Sabbath but Sunday is meant here), and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the said allowance and also be whipped; and for the third to suffer death." III Laws and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia: first established by Sir Thomas Gates, knight, Lieutenant - General, the 24th of May, 1610.
In 1885, Arkansas passed a statute forbidding labor on the "Sabbath"(Sunday). Section 1886 of the law exempted Sabbatarians so the seventh day Sabbath-keepers did not voice much concern. On March 3. 1885, the Sabbatarian exemption was repealed and the forcing of Sunday, the false sabbath, upon all people was strictly adhered to under penalty of fines.
"Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be severely punished. Whoever is found keeping Saturday, must pay a fine of ten marks." - History of King Christian the Third (of Norway 1544AD), Niels Krag and S. Stephanius.
"Aiphonse, king of Aragon, etc., to all archbishops, bishops, and to all others...We command you that heretics, to wit, the Waldeneses and Insabbathi (those who keep the Sabbath), should be expelled away from the face of God and from all Catholics and ordered to depart from our kingdom." - Marianae Praefatio in Lucam Tudensem and quoted in Macima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum Vol 25 p 190
Justin Martyr, a popular "mainstream Christian "of the second century (around 150 AD) believed that the Sabbath was an outdated mosaic law which God placed on the Jews as " a mark to single them out for punishment they so well deserve for their infidelities."- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho.
Canons against Sabbath-keepers from the French Council Toulouse in 1229: "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, 981, 962
Council, Moscow, 1503 : "The accused (Sabbath-keepers) were summoned; they openly acknowledged the new faith, and defended the same. The most prominent of them,...were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow, Dec 17.1503- H. Sternberfi, Geschichte der Juden
"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 Motet i Upsala.
"The famous Jesuit, Francais Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was set up in Goa, India, in 560, to check the 'Jewish wickedness' (Sabbath-keeping)." - Adney, The Greek and Eastern Churches p 527,528.
Pope Gregory I, 590-604 AD, Epistles b. 13:1- "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." This pope believed in his perverse mind that keeping the Sabbath commanded by God was heresy and the doctrine of antichrist! He ordered that it not be kept.
"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."- Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
"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, AD 1536. By this time in history the Seventhday Sabbath was severely under attack.
In Eithiopia, 1604 AD, the Jesuits influenced King Zadenghel to propose to submit to the Papacy " Prohibiting all his subjects, upon severe penalties, to observe, Saturday any longer."- Gedde's Church History of Eithiopia p 311 and also in Gibbon's Decline and Fall chapter 47.
Catholic Provincial Council at Bergen -" 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 counsel all the friends of God throughout all of 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 severe church punishment to keep Saturday holy." - Dip, Norveg, 7, 397.
"The inquisitors...(declare) that the sign of a Vaudois (Waldeneses of France, Sabbathkeepers) 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. Lea, Vol 1. This was a fulfillment in type of the end time persecution shown in Revelation:
The Holy Bible -KJV, Revelation 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
What do you think of what you just read? History repeats itself , maybe you have heard such. The Inquisition couldn't happen again.....or could it? Your bible says that such martyrdom WILL occur! The Catholic church is quickly destroying the evidence against them concerning the Inquisitions but I challenge you to research the subject yet. A repeat of such persecution will occur! Your bible also specifies the subject or objects of this persecution will be "the saints which keep the commandments of God". Some of the saints will be overcome by the Beast Power. Revelation 13:7 "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." Which commandment will most people refuse to follow? Thats right, the fourth, which some call "the test commandment, The Sabbath Commandment! Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. We trust that this short study has been educational and spiritually edifying. God bless those who have ears to hear...and obey.
The Sabbath stands as a memorial of the creation itself: Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
GO TO---> Sabbath/Sunday Notes & Quotes:Who Changed the Sabbath
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