My Talent from the King

By Tim Clark

My Talent From The King book is a gift from God to me. As I began my journey after finding Jesus, He began to show me and teach me wonderful things about His holy Word. He said in John 14–15 that He would give me a Comforter that would teach and guide me into all truth. This book has summaries of different topics throughout the Bible. There are even a few testimonies written in this book. This book was written to be a disciple (Matthew 28:19–20), to go where I couldn’t go, into people’s homes and lives as they read and found out truth versus the error of false teachers, and I thank God for giving me this gift to share with my brothers and sisters so that we can come to the truth of Jesus. Christ said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

In John 10:1–5, Jesus speaks saying to us, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

In John 10:14–16, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice [my truth which I have spoken]; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645152927

Book preview

The Fourth Commandment

Genesis 2:1–3, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and also sanctified it, because in it he had rested from all his work which he had created and made. To safeguard His work sovereignty, He established a mark that denoted His absolute right to rule as Lord. He chose to memorialize His display of creative power by setting aside the seventh day which was different from any other day.

Question: What is the significance of the seventh day Sabbath anyway? Well, just look back at what happened in Genesis 1:31. The Bible tells us that God looked and observed His handy work of His creative power and saw that it pleased Him, therefore causing Him to say that it was good, and He may have said, I can’t wait to show Adam all that I’ve done for him, I’m going to complete the week with day number 7, it would be a time when man can rest from his weekly labors as I have done with mine, and I know that he would teach all things whatsoever I tell him to his children. This day would be a time when we could spend the entire day together as I show him my wonders which I’ve created. It would be a time when Adam and his wife could walk, and talk, while holding hands admiring nature, the birds singing, and the animals playing together with them, and so on. It would be a time for them to give adoration and praise to me, because I’ve created them and have given them life and each other. At the end of each week this would be a holy time and a special time, because I would put myself into this day, and it will become holy. And also on that day I will shower down blessing and gifts to Adam because I love him.

In Genesis 2:1–3, three times did the Lord mention that specific day, it should remind us that God did not make the first day of the week special, or any other day.

Ezekiel 20:12 says, I give them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they may know that I am the Lord which sanctify them. (The word them meant all mankind.) The Sabbath was to be a blessing for man. The seventh day of the week, the biblical Sabbath, commemorates the creation of our world several thousand years ago. God wants His people to keep the Sabbath as an acknowledgment of His rulership over their lives. It was to be a holy day of resting and remembering. However, God didn’t rest on the Sabbath because He was tired or needed to catch up on His sleep. God rested because He was finished creating, and He shared His Sabbath rest with the entire human race. Some people claim that because the creation story doesn’t include a command for people to keep the Sabbath, no one knew about it. It was taught and explained very well unto Adam in how to work six days as His Creator did, but rest the seventh. He even taught his children the ways of the Lord (see Genesis 4:3–4). On day 7 (not one of the required working days), set aside for bringing one’s offering unto the Lord, they each presented their own offerings.

Genesis 2:3 states that the Creator blessed the seventh day just as He blessed the animals and man during creation week. Some people believe that the observance of the Sabbath wasn’t around until God spoke it to Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, but in God’s Word as we read it, we found out that even before reaching Mt. Sinai, when God had rained down manna from heaven, it never fell on the Sabbath. In Exodus 16:29–30, God commanded them to gather up the manna and eat daily, but on the sixth day God told them to gather up enough for two days, because on the seventh day there would none be found. The reason God had told them this is that, He told them that the Sabbath would be a day of rest from all work, it was a time to worship and commune with Him.

Exodus 16:27–30, And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?’

See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

So the people rested on the seventh day.

Now whenever the children of Israel had reached Sinai, and after God had come down unto them in a black cloud (Exodus 19:9, 16–19) and spoke to them His commandments, He later on called up Moses to come up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, which God Himself had written in stone with his own finger (Exodus 31:18). In the Ten Commandments that He wrote, there was only one that started with the word remember, because it reminds us of the true Sabbath and Creator. You see, God’s original command in which He himself had written in Exodus 20:8–11 consists of ninety-four words, but in Daniel 7:25 Jesus tells us that, Man will think to change times and laws, and in most places today you now see that man has changed it to only eight words (Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy).

Today there are so many people saying that they didn’t know about the Sabbath, it may be because they never picked up their Bible to find out the truth.

In Genesis, God had given man an example to follow in the way it took Him six days to create the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested. He wanted man to do as He did: work six days but rest on the seventh, because after day six was over his weekly labors would be finished for the week. The example proof given to us in chapter 4 show us that Adam even taught it to his children (see Genesis 4:3–5). After finishing their weekly labors, on day six each prepared an offering to present unto the Lord. On Sabbath morning they each presented their offering of praise and adoration unto God.

Now moving on, when you read in Exodus 20:8–11, His true fourth commandment reads, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor and do all of your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it thou shall 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: For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

In Isaiah 58:13–14, The Lord says, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy own pleasures on my holy day; and call my Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thy own pleasures, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thy delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The Sabbath is not a time for doing nothing, it’s a time for building a relationship with God. It is to be a delight, a time for joy in the Lord. He tells us rather spending time on our own interests and pursuits, it’s a time set aside to concentrate on the things pleasing to God and to nourish our relationship with Him. We build our relationship with Him through contact and communication with Him. We talk to God through prayer, and He talks to us through His inspired Word, the Bible.

You see the Sabbath is a commandment that gives us a time for welcomed refreshing rest from working our weekly labors, and it’s a time for us to be no longer absorbed in our daily cares and concerns. It’s a time for spiritual rejuvenation and a time for fellowshipping with others of like mind mutually encouraging one another. It’s a holy convocation a sacred assembly.

God never gave man the privilege of choosing his own day of rest. In fact, God confirms that the Sabbath is a matter sealed by His divine power. Also He never gave the days of the week names, He numbered them. The Bible states that, The evening and the morning were the first day and so on. God says, Remember the seventh day Sabbath.

Back in the day the Jews only had names for two of the days (God’s Sabbath and the preparation day before the Sabbath), and the others were numbered (first day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, preparation day, and Sabbath day). On preparation day (the sixth day), they cooked their food, cleaned their houses, and finished other business and household chores they had so that they would be free to spend the Sabbath with the Lord. Man himself later on in time gave them names after the different gods they worshipped. (Sunday—the worshipping of the sun; Monday—the worship of the moon; Tuesday—the worship of Twa; Wednesday—the worship of Woden; Thursday—the worship of Thor; Friday—the worship of Friga, the wife of Oden, and she was the founder of culture and art; Saturday—the worship of the planet Saturn.)

Revelation 22:18–19 says, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Question: Who changed the Sabbath? Was it Jesus? No! He kept the Sabbath, and He kept it even in the grave. His example of resting in the tomb on the Sabbath is indeed another strange way of getting that point to us. Christ while on the cross cried out, It is finished! (John 19:30). After His work of redemption (prior to His heavenly intercession) was done, what did Jesus do? He rested on the seventh day. Sound familiar?

According to Scripture, Jesus died on the eve of the Sabbath (this is what people now call Good Friday) and rose after the Sabbath had passed (on the first day of the week, in which we now call Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday), but there’s nowhere in Scripture throughout the entire Bible that He tells us the change or observance of a new worship day. Hebrews 4:1–7 says, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left to us of entering into His rest, that any of you should come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as God did when He ceased from His work of creation. [In which He limited (placed) the day of rest on a certain day.] For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, ‘If they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some will enter therein, but others will not because of unbelief.’ After a long time it is said, Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Hebrews 4:8 says, For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterwards spoken of another day? Psalm 84:11 tells us that There’s no good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly. Hebrews 4:9, Therefore even today there remaineth a rest to the people of God.

Luke 24:1–3 tells us that after Jesus had risen from the tomb, early at dawn upon the first day of the week (Sunday morning), the women came to the tomb. You know, even today many believed the Sabbath was abolished at the cross (done away with). Yes, there were some Jewish Sabbaths given unto the Israelites for ceremonial worshipping such as sacrificing lambs, and all the feasts to be kept, but those Sabbath ceremonies were given while in sin. Yes, they were done away with, but God’s holy Sabbath was before sin it will be kept forever. Let me ask you this, if you think that God’s holy Sabbath was done away with, then why would resting be the first thing Jesus do after the cross? Thus, both in life and death, Jesus showed us the continued validity and importance of the Sabbath. In Luke 16:17, Jesus says, It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one tittle of the law to fail. And in Psalm 89:34, God says, My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing which is gone forth from my lips. Ecclesiastes 3:14 says, What God does forever shall last forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it, that men should fear before him. In Genesis 2:2–3, whenever God had blessed the Sabbath, it shall remain blessed and sanctified forever.

We all know that it’s true that many other events occurred on certain days of the week, but we have not been given a command to keep any of those days holy. Let’s take Sunday for instance. There is of course a memorial of the resurrection commanded in the Bible, but that doesn’t determine a new day of worship. In Romans 6:4, Paul wrote, Therefore we are buried with him into death, that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life. Baptism is the memorial of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. However, the Sabbath is a memorial of creation. Jesus Himself kept the Sabbath. Luke 4:16 says that it was Jesus’s custom to attend the synagogue (church) on the Sabbath. He did some of His greatest healing miracles on the Sabbath. Jesus, through His Sabbath miracles, demonstrated what the Sabbath was really about. It is a day for healing and restoration. It’s the day when He freed the captives (Luke 4:31–37), made the lame walk (Luke 13:10–17 and John 5:1–9), and restored sight to the blind (John 9:1–7). After seeing Jesus do all of these miracles on the Sabbath, the priest and Pharisee were against Him, but right after Jesus had told them of a man’s worth, He then said, That it is good to do good on the Sabbath. For Jesus, the Sabbath was more about people rather than rules. In 1 Peter 2:21, the Bible says that Jesus is our example, and that we should pattern our lives after his.

Well, if Jesus didn’t change the Sabbath, it had to have been His disciples, right? No! Even after Jesus ascended into heaven, His apostles continued to keep God’s Sabbath. It tells us that in the book of Acts, the disciples taught as many who would believe and the Gentiles were then converted into worshipping on the Sabbath (Acts 13:42, 44). Also Paul whom called himself the last apostle kept the Sabbath. Acts 18:4 says, And he reasoned with them in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks into Sabbath observance. And it’s evidence itself that Jesus or His disciples did not change God’s Sabbath, and it even remains today.

In Isaiah 66:22–23, God says, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make [meaning He has not made yet] shall remain before me, and so shall your seed and name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.

Well, if Jesus nor His disciples didn’t change it, then who did? The answer is Satan, He wants the world to accept Sunday, a day that he chose for people to worship on, but any day would do for him as long as we’re breaking God’s command. In Matthew 24:4, 24, Jesus tell us, Take heed that no man deceive you. For there shall arise false prophets that if possible, they shall deceive the very elect [man’s tradition].

The Attempt to Change God’s Sabbath

The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared in 2 Timothy 4:3–4 that the day of Christ should not come, except there come a falling away first from the truth of the Bible and from God’s commandments. And also Paul tells us, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers, having itchy ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables. And then goes on to say that the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that the mystery of iniquity doth already work (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7). Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, the mystery of iniquity carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found there way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions, which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and His apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. Later on as Christianity grew, the church members wished to increase the numbers of the church. So in order to make gospel seem more attractive to non-Christians, pagan ceremonies were incorporated into the church ceremonies, like Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc.

The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for a still further disregard of heaven’s authority. Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment also and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2–3), and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as the venerable day of the sun. This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the honor of God and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ.

The custom of Sunday worship was welcomed by Christians who differed themselves from the Jews. Many believed that the Sabbath was meant only for the Jews, but in the garden of Eden there were no Jews, but only Adam and Eve. There wasn’t a Jew around for nearly 2200 years later. That’s why in Mark 2:27, Jesus says, The Sabbath was made for man. So soon after the continual observance of sun worshipping, the first day of the week began to be recognized as both religious and a holiday. By the end of the second century, Christians considered it sinful to work on Sunday. And not long after that, a Roman emperor named Constantine Constantinople, who was a former sun worshipper, professed conversion to Christianity, though his actions were more of a political move than a genuine heart change. He named himself bishop of the Catholic church and enacted the first civil law regarding Sunday observance in AD 321. He said, On the vulnerable day of the [sun], let the magistrates and people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. By him saying this it caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

The day of the sun not the son was reverenced by his pagan subjects and was honored by Christians; it was the emperor’s policy to unite the conflicting interests of heathenism and Christianity. He was urged to do this by the bishops of the church, who, inspired by ambition and thirst for power, perceived that if the same day was observed by both Christians and heathen, it would promote the nominal acceptance of Christianity by pagans and thus advance the power and glory of the church. In Mark 7:6–7, Jesus says, This people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And He says, Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. But while many God-fearing Christians were gradually led to regard Sunday as possessing a degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath as the holy of the Lord and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment.

Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of the man of sin foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan’s power—a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.

Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation and, showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to give all into His hands if He would but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter and forced him to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in presenting the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth, and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan—the bishop of Rome.

Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3).

The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to think to change times and laws (Daniel 7:25). This work was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. The decree of a general council finally established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment in order to preserve the number.

Notwithstanding that vice prevailed, even among the leaders of the Roman church, her influence seemed steadily to increase. About the close of the eighth century, papists put forth the claim that in the first ages of the church the bishops of Rome had possessed the same spiritual power which they now assumed. To establish this claim, some means must be employed to give it a show of authority; and this was readily suggested by the father of lies. Ancient writings were forged by monks. Decrees of councils before unheard of were discovered, establishing the universal supremacy of the pope from the earliest times. And a church that had rejected the truth greedily accepted these deceptions.

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of deity. He has been styled Lord God the Pope and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage. But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve (Luke 4:8). God has never given a hint in His Word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ’s church except by usurpation.

The accession of the Roman church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could approach God except through him, and further, that he stood in the place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed. A deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring, and cruel men, nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself, who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions of men, it resulted in setting aside the law of God.

They were taught not only to look to the pope as their mediator, but to trust the works of their own to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the erection of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of large sums to the church—these and many similar acts were enjoined to appease the wrath of God or to secure His favor, as if God were like men, to be angered at trifles or pacified by gifts or acts of penance!

The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He had dared to change the only precept of the divine law that unmistakably points all mankind to the true and living God. In the fourth commandment, God is revealed as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and is thereby distinguished from all false gods. It was as a memorial of the work of creation that the seventh day was sanctified as a rest day for man. It was designed to keep the living God ever before the minds of men as the source of being and the object of reverence and worship. Satan strives to turn men from their allegiance to God and from rendering obedience to His law; therefore he directs his efforts especially against that commandment which points to God as the Creator.

Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the Word that even the Savior of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, It is written. To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed the wisdom and power of the Word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place finite men in their true position; therefore, its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.

In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism had given place to the papacy. The dragon had given to the beast his power, and his seat, and great authority (Revelation 13:2). And now began the 1260 years of papal oppression foretold in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5–7). Christians were forced to choose either to yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or to wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death by the rack, the fagot, or the headsman’s ax. Now were fulfilled the words of Jesus, Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake (Luke 21:16–17). Persecution opened upon the faithful with greater fury than ever before, and the world became a vast battlefield. For hundreds of years, the church of Christ found refuge in seclusion and obscurity. Thus says the prophet, The woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days (Revelation 12:6).

The arch deceiver had not completed his work. He was resolved to gather the Christian world under his banner and to exercise his power through his vicegerent, the proud pontiff who claimed to be the representative of Christ. Through half-converted pagans, ambitious prelates, and world-loving churchmen, he accomplished his purpose. Vast councils were held from time to time, in which the dignitaries of the church were convened from all the world. In nearly every council the Sabbath, which God had instituted, was pressed down a little lower, while the Sunday was correspondingly exalted. Thus the pagan festival came finally to be honored as a divine institution, while the Bible Sabbath was pronounced a relic of Judaism and its observers were declared to be accursed.

Protestants now urge that the resurrection of Christ on Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But Scripture evidence is lacking. No such honor was given to the day by Christ or His apostles. The observance of Sunday as a Christian institution had its origin in that mystery of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7, RV) which, even in Paul’s day, had begun its work.

To prepare the way for the work which he designed to accomplish, Satan had led the Jews before the advent of Christ to load down the Sabbath with the most rigorous exactions, making its observance a burden. Now, taking advantage of the false light in which he had thus caused it to be regarded, he cast contempt upon it as a Jewish institution. While Christians generally continued to observe the Sunday as a joyous festival, he led them, in order to show their hatred of Judaism, to make the Sabbath a fast, a day of sadness and gloom.

Those were days of peril for the church of Christ. The faithful standard-bearers were few indeed. Though the truth was not left without witnesses, yet at times it seemed that error and superstition would wholly prevail and true religion would be banished from the earth. The gospel was lost sight of, but the forms of religion were multiplied and the people were burdened with rigorous exactions. And in just four years later in AD 325, Pope Sylvester officially named Sunday the first day of the week as the Lord’s day.

Question: How can man claim the Lord’s day when Jesus Himself said that, The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath? And the Bible says that only the seventh day Sabbath was blessed and sanctified for holy use. Throughout the ages the seven-day weekly cycle has never change.

Some people claim that the calendar has been changed and it threw off the weekly cycle. The calendar has been changed, but it was never changed so as to affect the weekly cycle of days or confuse the days of the week. We can be 100 percent positive that our seventh day is the same day Jesus observed when He was here. Pope Gregory XIII was responsible for a calendar change in 1582, but it did not interfere with the weekly cycle. Our present Gregorian calendar was named after him when he made that small change. Before 1582, the Julian calendar had been in effect instituted by Julius Caesar about 46 BC and named after him. But the Julian calendar had calculated the length of the year as 365 1/4 days, which was incorrect as the length of a year was actually eleven minutes less than 365 1/4 days. Those eleven minutes accumulated, and by 1582 the numbering of the calendar was ten days out of harmony with the solar system. Pope Gregory fixed the problem by simply dropping those ten days out of the numbering of the calendar. It was Thursday, October 4, 1582, and the next day, Friday, should have been October 5. But Gregory made it October 15 instead, dropping exactly ten days to bring the calendar back into harmony with the heavenly bodies. Were the days of the week confused? No. Friday still followed Thursday, and Saturday still followed Friday, etc. The same seventh day remained, and the weekly cycle was not disturbed in the least.

Even if you take a dictionary and look up Saturday, it says the seventh day of the week, and for Sunday it says the first day of the week. Remember what Jesus said to us about Man thinking to change times and laws?

In over 105 languages in the world, the word for the seventh day of the week is Sabbath.

Below is a Table of the Week (showing the position of the true Sabbath). Apart from Latin and English, unless otherwise stated, the name of the seventh day means