The Reason I Asked...
Excerpted from Guide to Armageddon (very brief) by Eddie Fair:
(pg 6) "Ancient civilizations were known for worshiping the sun. They dedicated the first day of the week as the day of the sun: Sunday. They worshiped the sun, disregarding the Lord's command to worship the Creator of heaven and earth on the seventh-day Sabbath. Gen. 2:2-3, Exo. 20:8-11. Our civilization has chosen to honor the Sunday of the pagans instead of the Sabbath of the Creator. The fourth plague, the scorching heat, is to remind men of their wrong choice."
(pg 7)"Emporer Constantine wanted to unite the vast majority of sun worshipers within the Roman Empire with those of the growing Christian faith, taking advantage of the Festival of the Sun. Sunday observance was enforced by royal edict in 321 A.D. requiring townspeople to rest on "the venerable day of the sun." The change from Sabbath to Sunday was gradually accepted by the Christian community at the time. In "The Convert's Catechism," Second Edition, p. 50, by Reverand Peter Deiermann, he says, "We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the council of Laodicea (364 A.D.) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." "
-----A little explanation before the next excerpt: the author suggests that a beast (as referred to in end-time prophecies in Daniel and Revelation, etc.) symbolizes a power, specifically a political one. In Daniel 7, there is a list of beasts/political powers and the author of this Guide to Armageddon further asserts that basically the beast described in Rev. 13: 11-17, the one "like a lamb" is the U.S., and the beast referred to before that as "like a leapord" in Rev. 13:1-10, is Papal Rome. Take a moment, if necessary, to read these passages and understand how the two beasts relate before you read on. I don't want to lose anyone here... And now we continue:-----
(pg 10) "Some day, in the future, the lamb-like power is going to make an image of the Roman heirarchy, the beast, becoming also a religious-political power, breaking down the wall of separation between church and state, to enforce the mark of the beast. Sunday observance will be required of everyone in plain contradiction of the seventh-day Sabbath ordaind by God on the first week of creation. Rev. 13:11-17. This decision, a choice of every mind, will serve to seal the people loyal to God, and to mark the ones following the church-state power, the beast."
(pg. 11) "In God's plans, a new world was to come alive for a different kind of beings: the human race. The Creator spent six days creating and ordering life on earth, but this was not to be completed without spending the seventh day with Adam and Eve, resting and developing a proper communion between them and the Creator, repeated each week, that will contiue forever. Gen. 2:2-3, Exo. 20:8-11, Isaiah 66: 22, 23. "
(next paragraph) "As long as Adam and Eve obeyed the law God gave them, for their safety and happiness, Eden was a real paradise. Satan could not see that happy reunion with the Creator every week, and watched for the opportunity to drag them down to break God's law and have them separated from God..."
(a few paragraphs later:) "About the center of the law (law meaning 10 Commandments) is the fourth commandment, Exodus 20:8-11, the command to worship the Lord on the seventh-day Sabbath; the royal seal of the Ruler of the law: his name, the Lord; his title: made (creator); his dominion: heaven and earth. Even under the usurped dominion of the adversary, the prince of this world, God wants to be among His creatures, be worshiped and (pg 12) recognized for who He is, on the memorial of creation and redemption, the seventh-day Sabbath."
(pg. 12, cont'd, next paragraph) "Satan knows he will be destroyed in his rebellion. His purpose is to drag down to destruction as many as he can of the human family that could be saved in God's kindom. The way is to teach men and women to break God's law, to break God's heart. The law is an expression of God's character. The Ten Commandments, which Christ came to magnify on the sermon on the mountain, show that God is love. You cannot separate the moral law from God, both are divine. Satan incites the world to repudiate, to do away with God's law; if not all commandments, at least one, the seventh-day with God. "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. The world has no ears for God's admonition. Satan's selfish rules appear more pleasant and attractive. His method has won the world. The world has chosen Sunday, ignoring the Creator and His commandments. Satan will see that Sunday observance is enforced and made a mark of allegiance to his authority and to his agencies on earth. The great controversy is coming to the open. Men's minds have to decide between Saturday and Sunday, between life and death. And deciding which side they are going to take in the battle of Armageddon."
He goes on to reiterate the deception of the Antichrist. That people, who seem just like you and me, "strong believers", "devoted followers"... these people will be deceived and follow the Antichrist, believing him to truly be the Christ returned. But that the "remnant of God" knows how the Lord is coming... they are the only ones who have made the truths of the Bible a fortress for the mind, who have abided in Jesus, the Savior.
Whether you believe his ideas about Papal Rome and the U.S., you have to admit that there are some very serious implications here, and I, at least, feel some serious prayer and study is in order...
I think the reason this affected me so greatly and is causing me to yearn to know the truth of the Sabbath is because for as long as I can remember, from time to time, I have had that little niggling doubt... that small voice saying "but Saturday is the seventh day... Saturday is the Sabbath..." On rare occassion, there have been times when I've become physically ill while working on a Saturday and when it's happened, I've heard that doubt eating at my thoughts "what do you expect when you work on the Sabbath..."
I really would like your feedback on this. Please understand that there is no judgement intended in my assertion that Sunday set apart as the day to commune intimately with God is wrong. It's not a "you are bad because you do this or that"... it's more of a "wow, hold up, I think we're missing the mark on a very important bullseye here. what do you think?" sort of thing... please comment, and be open and honest. if you disagree, let's hear it. if i've raised the same concerns in you, i want to know.
thank you... i'm sorry this post was so long... I don't know about you, but I yearn to belong to the remnant of God.
-Jack-
