Dear Reader,
The following
article was sent to me by an SDA Reformer friend, Kevin Straub. Ron
“The following
quotes and commentary are all good reminders of the fact that the
great power that would think to change times and laws yet lives.
Also note Ratzy's ("Pope Benedict XVI") September
09, 2007 statement, "... for the
early Church, the first day increasingly assimilated the traditional meaning of
the seventh day, the Sabbath." Here you have a very
current statement by the ArchApostate as to where the
"Christian Sabbath," or Sunday worship, originates. In our
evangelism we have traditionally reached far back to very old published
statements to prove this point, but here this issue is coming to the modern
forefront. Also, realize that the term "early church" does not
refer here to the true church but to that which usurped the title, that
"man of sin" operating through the "mystery of iniquity" to
which Paul referred in 2 Thes. 2:7.
Truly, who is
this power but the "man of sin"? Many modern SdA churches steer completely away from these topics.
We are so loathe to put the finger on
"The man of
sin has exalted himself against God, sitting in the
"But though every member of the human family should accept this child of
the papacy, in no case would this invalidate the holy Sabbath of Jehovah. Those
who accept the false sabbath
exalt the man of sin, and assail the government of God. But the man of sin can
not annul what God has declared shall stand fast forever. The work now to be
done in our world is to exalt the law of the Lord, and call the attention of
the people to it. The time has come when the truth is to be proclaimed against
falsehood and error." {RH, July 26, 1898 par. 3}
"By their
treatment of His Word, the popes have exalted themselves above the God of
heaven. This is the reason that in prophecy the papal power is specified as the
'man of sin.' Satan is the originator of sin. The power that he causes to alter
any one of God's holy precepts, is the man of sin.
Under Satan's special direction the papal power has done this very work.
Although those standing at the head of the papacy claim to have great love for
God, He looks upon them as haters of Him. They have turned the truth of God
into a lie. Tampering with God's commandments and placing in their stead human
traditions, is the work of Satan, and will divorce the religious world from
God; for He declares, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate Me." God will fulfill this word. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians
6:7)." {2SAT 182.5}
KS
==>>
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday
|
"Without
Sunday we cannot live" ... we cannot live without joining together on
Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist. We would lack the strength to face our
daily problems and not to succumb. |
But Sunday IS
an externally imposed duty not commanded by God! It is a duty imposed by the
Catholic Church, a Tradition of men which cannot be found in the Bible. Sunday
sacredness is simply not a precept of God, it is
a precept of men.
|
Pope
Benedict XVI Calls Sunday 73. ... To lose a sense of Sunday as the Lord's
Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss of an authentic sense
of Christian freedom, the freedom of the children of God. (206) Here some
observations made by my venerable predecessor John Paul II in his Apostolic
Letter Dies
Domini (207) continue to have great value. Speaking of the various
dimensions of the Christian celebration of Sunday, he said that it is Dies
Domini with regard to the work of creation, Dies Christi as the
day of the new creation and the Risen Lord's gift of the Holy Spirit, Dies
Ecclesiae as the day on which the Christian community gathers for the
celebration, and Dies hominis as the day of
joy, rest and fraternal charity. Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all believers,
wherever they are found, can become heralds and guardians of the true meaning
of time. ... 74. Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the day
of the Lord is also a day of rest from work. It is greatly to be hoped that
this fact will also be recognized by civil society, so that individuals can
be permitted to refrain from work without being penalized. Christians, not
without reference to the meaning of the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, have
seen in the Lord's Day a day of rest from their daily exertions. — Pope
Benedict XVI, Apostolic Exhortation SACRAMENTUM
CARITATIS, February 22, 2007. |
Pope Benedict
XVI implies that Sunday, the first day of the week, (traditionally called Dies
Domini, the Lord's day) is the sanctified holy day,
"with regard to the work of creation." This directly contradicts
scripture:
Gen 2:2 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.
Gen 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.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath
day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt
thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 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:
Exo 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.
The seventh day
sabbath is the primordial (original) holy day,
blessed and sanctified by God at the end of creation week, not Sunday the first
day! To be "heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time" one
would have to keep holy the seventh day sabbath
(Isa. 58:12-14), Saturday, established at creation,
and directed by God in His Ten Commandments!
Pope Benedict
XVI is referring back to the following by Pope John Paul II:
2. ... (3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feastday", (4) established not only to mark the
succession of time but to reveal time's deeper meaning. — Dies
Domini, Apostolic Letter of May 31, 1998. [see
the Latin below]
2. ... (3) Christianis namque «est primordialis
dies festus», (4) cuius est non modo
temporis signare progressionem, sed ipsius etiam altum
recludere sensum. — Dies
Domini
(Latin).
19. ... In the light of
this constant and universal tradition, it is clear that, although the Lord's
Day is rooted in the very work of creation and even more in the mystery of the
biblical "rest" of God, ... — Dies
Domini.
|
Without
the Lord “Sine dominico non possumus!”
Without the Lord and without the day that belongs to him, life does not
flourish. ... for the early Church, the first day
increasingly assimilated the traditional meaning of the seventh day, the
Sabbath. We participate in God’s rest, which embraces all of humanity. Thus
we sense on this day something of the freedom and equality of all God’s
creatures. — Homily
of Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday, 9 September 2007 |
God's biblical
rest day is the seventh day of the week, Saturday. It is not the first day of
the week, Sunday. Scripture never designates the first day of the week as the
Lord's day, however, God calls the sabbath
"my holy day" (Isa. 58:13) and refers to
Himself as Lord "of the sabbath day"
(Matt.12:8, Mk 2:28, Lk 6:5).
Sunday is NOT the biblical Sabbath day.
Did the Apostles keep Sunday?
Offering Strange Fire Before The Lord
The Seal of God in the Old and
New Covenants
The Seal of God and the Mark of the
Beast.
The
Battle of Armageddon
What Does The Word VATICAN Mean?