Sunday Worship: Is it Really the Lord's Day by Elisabeth Pointer

Sunday worship Is it Really the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day?

Introduction For thousands of years, Sunday has been touted as the high day of the Lord by self proclaimed Christians Although it is universally accepted throughout the world, like so many other matters pertaining to the word of God, this belief opposes God’s law, specifically the 4th commandment Sunday has a dual origin that first comes from paganism and then later stems from the self willed ideologies of man This presentation will dispel the myth that Sunday, the first day of the week, is God’s holy day of worship ©2012 Household Of Israel Temple Of Jesus Christ. All Rights Reserved

Religious Climate of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire: A Polytheistic World Sunday worship is deeply rooted in the idolatry of the Roman empire, therefore we will start here The Roman empire was largely polytheistic, that is, they believed in the worship of many gods and goddesses Many of the Roman emperors proclaimed themselves to be gods and wanted to be worshipped as such As the Roman Empire continued to expand it included people with a variety of cultures & beliefs For the most part, Romans were tolerant of other religious groups as long as they paid taxes & didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t challenge their government The Jews & Christians that worshipped on the Sabbath, however, became an exception and were subjected to persecution by the Romans

Persecution of Jews Around 66AD, the Jews began to rebel against Rome due to their refusal to sacrifice to idol gods & issues with taxation This led to a great war between the Jews & Romans and the eventual death of thousands of Jews, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem & the holy temple in 70AD As a result of this rebellion, anti Jewish sentiments were at an all time high and the Romans hated anything pertaining to the Jews, including their religious faith, tradition & customs

Persecution of Christians Christianity was initially considered a religious sect within the Jewish faith In fact, many very “early Christians” as scholars state, were Jews by birth or conversion The Roman people were also highly suspicious about the Christian religion due to their refusal to accept pagan religions or sacrifice to Roman gods or emperors The persecution of the Christians began during the ministry of Jesus and continued intermittently until about 3 centuries after Christ’s death (took place approximately in 33 AD) Many Christians were kicked out of their homes, their property was confiscated, they were jailed and fed to the lions

Paganism & False Ideologies of SundayWorship

Pagan Roots The history of Sunday worship is deeply rooted in paganism The Romans were notorious for worshipping the planets & named the days of the week after their gods (i.e. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun and the moon) Sunday was the day of the Sun or â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dies Solisâ&#x20AC;? The worship of the sun in the Roman Empire was extremely popular because it was considered the source of all light & life Therefore Sunday was declared to be higher than all other days of the week Though other so-called gods had days named after them, only Dies Solis was considered holy

False Ideologies: Day of the Sun & Resurrection So-called Christian leaders of the 2nd & 3rd centuries, such as Justin Martyr, used the meaning of Dies Solis (day of the sun) to help justify why Sunday was the Lord’s high day Justin Martyr specifically described the relationship between the name ‘Sunday’ & what God actually did on that day His rationale was this....... It is good to come together on the day of the sun because Christ created light & separated it "om the darkness on the 1st day Christ, who is deemed the light of the world, resurrected on Sunday

Day of the Sun & Resurrection Dispe$ing the Myth It is accurate that God created light on the first day but it is NOT true that Christ rose on Sunday The book of Daniel 9: 27 indicates that our Lord was sacrificed on Wednesday and resurrected on the Sabbath or three days later You can also look at Matthew 28: 1, 5 & 6, which states.... “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Note the scripture states “end of sabbath” and “began to dawn;” thus, Sunday was ABOUT TO BEGIN & Christ had already risen More importantly, Christ NEVER stated that we should worship him on the day of his resurrection, so even if Jesus rose on Sunday (which is not true) we are still required to reverence the seventh day Sabbath as commanded by God

False Ideologies: First Day Theologists often reference the writing of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 16: 1-2, which states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now concerning the co$ection for the saints, as I have given and to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him, that there be no gathering when I come.â&#x20AC;? Many religious scholars count this as having spiritual significance in establishing the first day as the day of the Lord But this scripture in no way states that Sunday should be observed as a holy day In fact, Paul was an ardent keeper of the Sabbath day, and taught the Gentiles to do the same (Acts 13: 13-14 and 42-49)

False Ideologies: “Second Creation” Another argument states that whereas the Sabbath commemorates the end of the “first creation,” Sunday celebrates the beginning of the “second creation,” which is said to have no end According to this notion, when Christ allegedly rose on Sunday, a new covenant was established with mankind With this new covenant, salvation was for all human beings and not just the Jews Theologists further stated that as a result of this new covenant, human beings were no longer bounded by the laws written in the 5 books of Moses, aka Torah, which is said to be only for the Jews It should be noted that one of the 5 books of Moses is Exodus which explicitly lists the 10 commandments including the 4th....”Remember the Sabbath Day”

False Ideologies: “Second Creation” It is true that Christ brought forth a new testament or covenant for his people through the shedding of his blood Under the first covenant, God gave Israel the 10 commandments & they were also required to use the blood of animals for sacrificial offerings, which prophesied of Christ’s sacrifice to come With the second covenant the law of sacrificial offerings (i.e. Animals) was no longer needed because the blood of animals could in no way purge our sins but Christ’s blood has the power to do so The second covenant also brought forth the free gift of grace, which offers all mankind the time and opportunity to repent and OBEY God’s commandments In no way did the death of Christ do away with the law or 10 commandments, which Christ himself states in Matthew 5: 17-19

False Ideologies: Day of the Lord The name Dies Dominica or day of the Lord replaced Dies Solis as the legal name for the day Sunday The â&#x20AC;&#x153;Day of the Lordâ&#x20AC;? is said to refer to Christ, who became the Conquerer and Master of mankind when he allegedly arose on Sunday It is certainly true that Christ is Lord & master of all but as stated before, he did NOT rise on Sunday

False Ideologies: The 8th Day As early as the first half of the second century, so-called Christian writers began calling Sunday the “eighth day” It was believed that God rested on the Jewish Sabbath from his work of creation and then accomplishing the new creation or the church on the eighth day This argument has no basis of truth as there are only 7 days in the week, which was established from the beginning during the Creation The phrase “Jewish Sabbath” indicates that the seventh day Sabbath is only for the Jews to keep Whether Jew or Gentile, all human beings are required to keep his 10 commandments

Constantine the Great During the reign of Constantine the Great, the strong presence of Christians in Rome became a great political opportunity The Christians wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go away by force or persecution, and knowing that people unite best behind a religious belief or cause, he chose another way He joined the Christians and became the Bishop of the Church in Rome

Constantine the Great Having supreme power over the government & over the growing church, he changed it from within, the very fabric & foundation of the Doctrine it was founded upon His words, â&#x20AC;&#x153;we will not Judaize,â&#x20AC;? legalized the removal of all things associated with the hated Jews & the addition of all the traditions of the heathen In 322 AD, Constantine established so called Christianity as the lawful religion of Roman society The edict also brought about legislation that would call for the closing of government facilities, businesses, and prohibiting labor and certain forms of work Even today, this legislation to some degree, is still in eďŹ&#x20AC;ect

Constantine the Great Constantine being a sun worshipper welcomed the first day worshippers of self proclaimed Christians with great ease The Emperor of Rome was worshipped by the Romans who were fervent sun worshippers Therefore the worshipping of Christ on Sunday, who was also compared to the risen sun, greatly accommodated sun worshippers

Sunday Is NOT the Lordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day It can be concluded that Sunday is in fact founded upon the proclamations of men Nothing more than an amalgamation of theories, philosophies, edicts and commandments that were initiated from paganism and manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to worship God in his own way This approach obviously spawned the multitude of religions we have in the

world today

In Closing God commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath holy but the Sabbath day law was established at the beginning (Exodus 20: 8 & Genesis 2: 2-3) This holy day was not only a perpetual covenant for Israel but for all humanity for eternity (Exodus 31: 12-17 & Isaiah 66: 22-23) With the coming of our Lord and Savior Christ, were edified and admonished as to how we should keep the Sabbath day (Matthew 12: 1-12 & Mark 2: 27-28) The Sabbath day was a holy law established by God which was never intended to be altered (Malachi 3: 6) The Sabbath day will be a part of the law that will be put in our new hearts by God for eternity (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)

Special Thanks to.... “This presentation was based on the class written by Pastor Derrick Pointer entitled.... “Sunday”

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