Sabbath Refuters Refuted

Sure, He changed, the "Sabbath Refuters" preach. Perhaps they don't spit it out in those words. But if they preach that "Sunday is now the Sabbath because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week" -- they are teaching just that, that Jesus changed. They teach that God said: "Psyche!" That His Word changed, that His own Law changed. The same Lord Who claimed to be "Lord of the Sabbath" has changed His Own day. Or, the more honest teach, that they believe the Apostles changed God's holy day -- yet it is amply clear in the New Testament that the Apostles KEPT the Biblical Sabbath day, see Acts 13:42-44, Luke 23:54-56, Acts 16:13, 17:2.

God wrote the 10 Commandments with His Own Finger. Do you believe it is true? Or am I just making it up?

And He gave unto Moses, when He had

made an end of communing with him upon

mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables

of stone, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 31:18 (Deuteronomy 9:10)

Can you find any proof, throughout the Bible, from beginning to end, that God CHANGED the day He claims to be His own day? God claims that He gave His own holy day to man as a gift -- do you believe the Apostles or any other human has the right or power to change or alter God's own holy day, set down in the HEART of the Ten Commandments? For the Sabbath to be abrogated, negated, destroyed or disintegrated, discombobulated and outrighted dissed? God would have had to have negated it, Himself, in as clear of terms as He instituted it! Read Genesis Chapter 2 -- God hallowed the day. In the heart of the 10 Commandments God said REMEMBER! God calls the Sabbath HIS OWN HOLY DAY! Can it be ANY clearer than that?

If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,

from doing thy pleasure on My holy day;

and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of

the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour

Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding

thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own

words: Then shalt thou 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 the

mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Isaiah 58:13-14

And He said unto them, The Sabbath was

made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:

Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of

the Sabbath.

Mark 2:27-28

If the Sabbath doesn't exist today, then Jesus was making false prophecies concerning the "end of days." And remember, keep it firmly in mind, "Bible teachers" repeat, over and over again, that the Sabbath was not reinstated in the New Testament (and where in the world do they get THAT? That God must repeat Himself? Did God stutter on Sinai?).

Along with a slew of signs, and warnings about false prophecies and falser prophets, Jesus told His followers that they should pray that their flight be not on the Sabbath day. Jesus was looking into the future, and stressing the Fourth Commandment, that we should REMEMBER the Sabbath day -- pray that our holy rest will not be broken in order to fly for our lives. Was Jesus lying?

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the

disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us,

when shall these things be? and what shall be

the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take

heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall

come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall

deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and

rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for

all these things must come to pass, but the end

is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation,

and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be

famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in

divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of

sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be

afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated

of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then

shall many be offended, and shall betray one

another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many

false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love

of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall

endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be

preached in all the world for a witness unto all

nations; and then shall the end come. 15 When

ye therefore shall see the abomination of

desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,

stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him

understand:) 16 Then let them which be in

Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which

is on the housetop not come down to take any

thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is

in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And

woe unto them that are with child, and to them

that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that

your flight be not in the winter, neither on the

Sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great

tribulation, such as was not since the beginning

of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 And except those days should be shortened,

there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's

sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if

any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ,

or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise

false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew

great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were

possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore

if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the

desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret

chambers; believe it not. 27 For as the lightning

cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the

west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Matthew 24:3-27

This has to be the most read and yet least READ passage in the Bible. Preachers are shrieking this passage to make their points, and yet, oh so many points they obviously miss. Note, the passage opens with the disciples asking about the "end of the world" and the signs of the "Second Coming of Jesus the Christ," and Jesus opens with this dire warning:

"Pay attention that nobody deceives you.

Because people are going to claim to be

Christians, they will even say 'I am

Anointed!' And they will deceive many!"

That's how serious this is, these end-time issues, because it's happening, right now -- Christians are claiming that they are anointed, and they are deceiving many! The wars and rumors of wars are here, as are the nations rising against each other, as are the famines, pestilences and earthquakes. But these are just the BEGINNING OF SORROWS. The word used here, for sorrows, is literally "birth pangs."

So just like a woman giving birth, the contractions get stronger, and stronger, and closer together as well -- the deceptions get thicker, more and more false teachers claim to be "anointed" -- and then, after a whole lot of blood (tribulation), a beautiful baby is born (the return of Christ, the True Anointed), an event so wonderful it makes possible the forgetting of the awful build-up of the labor (the birth pangs).

The iniquity -- sin -- will be overwhelming, and love will grow cold in many. This accounts for the huge swell of abortions, where love has grown so cold that women are able to murder their own children, and say they are proud of the act, that they choose to do it, as their choice, in order to improve their lives. This accounts for children taking guns and other lethal weapons to school to murder their innocent classmates. Love IS growing cold, even now, at this moment, even as the false teachers who claim to be anointed spread their "New and Improved Gospel of Greed," and tout their "New and Improved Sabbath" in honor of the Lord's Resurrection.

It is in the midst of all these warnings that Jesus says: "Pray that your flight be not on the Sabbath." Why would Jesus warn His followers of this, if there was no Sabbath. And if the Sabbath was actually changed, something different from what the Disciples knew, Jesus would have told them here in this passage. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and God does not change. The Sabbath does not change, cannot be changed, even if every person on the face of the Earth gets together and votes to change it -- it will not alter the reality of God. Even when man seeks to take the place of Yahweh, in reality he cannot change even a jot or tittle of God's laws and times. And the New Covenant is God writing His laws into our hearts and minds -- this cannot be changed -- His laws!

These are the last days, and the Sabbath exists -- and yet people who claim to love Christ teach that God's holy law, written with His own Finger, has been done away, has changed, does not exist. Why wouldn't love grow cold? If you break even the least of the commandments, you break them all:

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet

offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that

said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.

Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,

thou art become a transgressor of the law.

James 2:10-11

The truth may be painful to hear, but that doesn't change it from being the TRUTH. If you do away with the Sabbath day, then you also rip away the laws concerning adultery and murder and true worship of God! Jesus claims the Sabbath exists, a day He claims to be Lord of, a day it was His custom to keep, a day the Apostles kept along with the Gentile converts (Luke 4:16,31, Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1, Luke 23:54-56, Colossians 2:16, Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5, Matthew 12:11-12, Luke 13:15-17, Matthew 24:20, Hebrews 4:9, Isaiah 66:22-23, Acts 13:42-44 -- the evidence is overwhelming! Pray to God, ask HIm for His wisdom, He will lead you into all truth. The Holy Spirit will open your eyes.

Jesus gave you a command: LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU. It is echoed through the remainder of the New Testament, even to the end in Revelation -- "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." (1 John 3:7) And "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." (Revelation 3:11) "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Revelation 12:9) "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." (Revelation 13:13-14)

When New Age theologians proclaim the Sabbath was not reinstated in the New Testament, they are fluffing up their strawman to impress you with their virility in tearing it apart. The fact is, the Bible clearly states that God instituted the Sabbath, at the beginning of the world, at the conclusion of Creation (see Genesis 1 and 2) and that Yahweh, with His Own Finger, told us to REMEMBER that Sabbath which was instituted at Creation:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

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 man-

servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor

thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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.

Exodus 20:8-11

God instated it, and in writing the Ten Commandments, God tells YOU why He wants YOU to keep the Sabbath -- "For in six days the LORD (Yahweh) 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." And read the verses again, it is called "the Sabbath of the LORD they God" -- it is not called man's sabbath, or the Jew's sabbath, or witch's sabbath, or black sabbath, but the "Sabbath of the Lord."

It was the SEVENTH day (Saturday) that God blessed, the SEVENTH day (Saturday) that God hallowed, the SEVENTH day (Saturday) on which Yahweh rested. And yet the "Sabbath Refuters" say, ANY day in seven, then they tell you the FIRST day (Sunday) because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. The "Sabbath Refuters" inadvertently admit that they have kept track of the days, since they DO know which day Jesus rose from the dead, thus...

...if we know which day is the FIRST, Sunday, then we obviously know which day is the SEVENTH, Saturday. If one day in seven is fine for the Sabbath, Saturday, then one day should be fine for the Resurrection day, Sunday. By making this argument, the one-in-seven argument, the Sabbath Refuters refute themselves, because they specify that NO DAY IS IMPORTANT. Whereas the Bible teaches that while man might see-saw back and forth about which day is important, God DOES NOT waver, His mind isn't the mind of a man, God does not change, and what He makes holy, man cannot make unholy, no matter how much spit is employed.

Sunday cannot be both the FIRST day AND the SEVENTH, and yet this is the logic-voided argument the "Sabbath Refuters" attempt to perpetrate upon you. That "Jesus rose on the first day of the week thus making it the seventh day." And some go so far as to pollute the Biblical passage even further, declaring the Resurrection morning the EIGHTH DAY. Forcing an interpretation on the text that just isn't there, that the first is now the seventh but now the eighth, all the while using the same argument the serpent employed in the Garden of Eden, that you do not have to literally obey God, that you can make up your own TRUTH, that you will not surely die. One is seven is eight so is seven, so is Sabbath, the first, seventh and eighth. Huh?

DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO YOU?

Of course it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to anyone. God says six work days followed by the seventh of rest, and man says pick and choose merely one out of the seven. God says SEVENTH, man says whenever. Think about it. Your job, as Jesus proclaimed, is to not let anyone deceive you. It's a commandment. You have to fulfill the words of Jesus. It's a sad thing, when someone is tricked into something. The whole idea is to make you think you are doing the right thing, while all the while you are doing the wrong thing. But God says, don't let anyone deceive you. When they claim to be anointed, don't go and see them. When you catch them in a distinct lie, don't cover it up. Expose it. And get away from them. Like Joseph, run the other way.

Don't attempt to justify their lie. True, their lie may be firmly ensconced in tradition -- my daddy believed it and his daddy before him, gimme dat ole time religion, it's good enough for me. But if it is a lie it shouldn't be good enough for you, because no matter how many people wear their pants backward, they are still wearing them opposite of the way the pants were designed to be worn.

IF you know the truth, and you throw it away, if you accept the lie because it's the "old time religion," the news is pretty grim:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only

he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of

the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed,

whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his

mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his

coming: Even him, whose coming is after the

working of Satan with all power and signs and

lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of

unrighteousness in them that perish; because they

received not the love of the truth, that they might

be saved. And for this cause God shall send them

strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not

the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

The Sabbath was changed? A lie.

Jesus destroyed the law? A lie.

That God says Seventh while any day will do? A lie.

That the Sabbath is a burden? A lie.

That Jesus rose on the 7th day? A lie.

That we don't know first from Seventh? A lie.

You don't need to obey God? A lie.

Men should judge Sabbath keepers? A lie.

The Apostles kept Sunday holy? A lie.

God needed to repeat Himself? A lie.

There is evidence of a First-day Sabbath? A lie.

This is the truth, all of these are lies. Think about it. Why are they lying to you, these Sabbath refuters? Think about it. Who are they working for, these "teachers" that would lead you away from what God has said in His Word?

PROOF OF A COMMON SUNDAY:

Here is the greatest example of how "Sabbath Refuters" attempt to change God's holy Word, and especially His holy day:

And upon the first day of the week, when the

disciples came together to break bread, Paul

preached unto them, ready to depart on the

morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

Acts 20:7

A few facts that "Sabbath Refuters" do not wish you to know: God's time-keeping runs from sunset to sunset, thus the dark part of the day comes first, see Genesis 1, so Sunday begins on what we call "Saturday night," as the sun sets the Sabbath ends and Sunday begins. Nowhere in the Bible do the writers employ modern time-keeping, though many deceivers will claim so. The Greek word for "midnight" means literally, in the midst of the night, away from the day, away from the light -- yet the false teachers will use this word and claim Paul was wearing a Timex with a tiny alarm that rang at 12:00 a.m., Midnight. See Genesis 1, darkness was first, and then God created light, so the day began in the evening -- unlike modern timekeeping, you have evening and then you have morning. Doesn't it make sense that darkness comes before light? And there was evening, and there was morning, and that's a day.

This verse in Acts Chapter 20 in all actuality does not say what "Sabbath Refuters" want it to say. Look closely at the verse, and especially the following verse. They were together, already in a meeting, as the day began:

And there were many lights in the upper chamber,

where they were gathered together.

Acts 20:8

This was what we know as Saturday night -- the believers had been together all that day, the Sabbath, and their meeting extended into the night, Paul preaching to them until midnight (the middle of the night). After the miracle of the dead Eutychus being raised to life, Paul continued to talk and eat with the others until the sun came up Sunday morning -- AT THAT TIME PAUL DEPARTED ON HIS JOURNEY! Read Verse 11.

This is proof that Sunday was not held as a rest day, a holy day of God. Paul waited until the sun rose on Sunday morning to set off on his journey! After spending the Sabbath and Saturday night with the others, preaching, teaching, eating (and even performing a miracle of raising someone from the dead) Paul sets off on his journey on Sunday morning.

Yet this is the favorite verse of "Sabbath Refuters" to attempt to chisel the Fourth Commandment off the stone tablets, and ink in a new day with a Sharpie marker. They want God's fingerprints obliviated from the stone, and their own felt-tip history to take its place.

In reality, you need the Finger of God to change the Fourth Commandment, and a Sharpie marker -- though a great tool -- just doesn't cut it in the holiness department!

Another common tactic of the "Sabbath Refuter" is to claim that Jesus, after His resurrection, kept appearing to the Disciples on the "first day of the week," proving that Sunday is now the Sabbath. Aside from being distinctly poor logic, as the text in all of the post-resurrection passages mentions nothing of Jesus creating a "new day" or a "new Sabbath" or an "eighth day," a passage in John Chapter 21 definitely proves the "Sabbath Refuter" wrong, dead wrong.

Read the chapter. It is the third time that Jesus appears to the Disciples. And are they having a church service on Sunday morning? Are they gathering together to break bread and institute the Lord's Supper? No. They are fishing. They have been out all night after the Sabbath ended on Saturday night, fishing, doing their jobs, working, and working as per the Fourth Commandment. Jesus appears in the morning, walking along the beach, and big Peter, seeing the Lord, strips his clothes off and swims to shore, where Jesus has prepared a meal for His followers.

Jesus appeared to the Disciples on a day they were busy about their work. In short, a work day. Sunday morning, the first day of the week, thus the "Sabbath Refuter" is refuted, by the Word of God. Sunday is not holy, but the Sabbath, Saturday is holy.

But that doesn't mean you can't go to church on Sunday. You can worship God and gather before Him seven days a week if you choose, if you have the time. Is Sunday "special" because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week? If so, then Friday is just as special as well, because He died on that day, and it was by His death that we are saved -- so if Sunday is a special day of holiness, so is Friday. And the Sabbath, Saturday, is strengthened even again, because Jesus rested in the grave on the Sabbath day, and His followers rested on the Sabbath as well, according to the Fourth Commandment (Luke 23:56).

But, tradition is strong. Is your father's religion good enough for you? Must you keep Sunday holy? I suggest following what the Bible has to say about it:

One man esteemeth one day above another:

another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man

be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that

regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and

he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth

not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for

he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the

Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Romans 14:5-6

So if you esteem Sunday highly, do so unto the Lord. This is a tradition of man, pure and simple, people "made Sunday special," most claiming in honor of the Resurrection of Jesus, but others more honestly admit they borrowed the day from paganism in an attempt to sway pagans over to "Christianity." Do you esteem Sunday better than the other days? That is your prerogative. We know that Jesus does not esteem Sunday above any other day, not in heaven and not on earth, not in life and not in death. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (how do we know this? Jesus said so), and in keeping the Sabbath we regard Jesus above any other man -- we regard Him as God, the very Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus claimed the Sabbath was made for man. Well, do you believe Him?

Hank Hanegraaff in his wee book about "Bible Answers," almost gleefully admits that it was people who chose to change the Sabbath. Ole Hank never claims that God changed it. Why? Because God made no mention of a change in the Bible (don't you find that SIGNIFICANT?). Josh McDowell claims the same, that people purposefully CHOSE to change the day from Sabbath to Sunday:

"Fact number two is the sociological phenomenon

of the Christian Sunday. The decision to change

'the day of worship' from the Sabbath (Saturday) to

the first day of the week (Sunday), probably is one

of the most significant decisions ever made by a

group of people in history. This is especially true

when one considers the consequenses the Jews

believed would result if they were wrong.

"The early Christians were devout Jews who were

fanatical in their observance of the Sabbath. The

Jews feared breaking the sabbath. They believed

they would incur the wrath of God if they broke it.

Yet something happened that caused these

committed Jewish men and women to turn their

backs on all their years of religious training and

tradition.

"They changed their 'day of worship' to Sunday in

honor of the anniversary of the resurrection of

Jesus Christ. I know of no other historical event

that is celebrated 52 times a year."

Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor

Bucking "Jewish tradition" to create new and certainly much improved "Christian tradition." But Jesus never blessed "Christian Tradition," either, I would think that He would battle it just as He did the Jewish Tradition in His own day. It might be based on good intentions, but those roads often lead to hell. But do you buy this, I mean good guys spout this stuff! Good guys like Josh McDowell, Hank Hanegraaff, Charles Stanley -- it's kind of a mindless mantra, repeating it over and over and over again: "Sabbath is bad, and Sunday is good, join us, Sabbath is bad, and Sunday is good, join us, Sabbath is bad and Sunday is good, turn to the person next to you and chant Sabbath is bad and Sunday is good!" A group of people changing the day God blessed, from Sabbath to Sunday.

DO YOU BUY IT? Wake up! It cannot be done. A group of people cannot choose to change something God set in place. It's not Biblical, no hint of it, Biblically speaking, and it is shouting against the booming voice of God Himself Who spoke in His own words:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 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: 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.

Yahweh, Exodus 20:8-11

Jesus said:

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Yahshua, Matthew 5:19

Do you believe Him? Or do you think that Hank has better revelation than Jesus, he's more with the times than the Lord? And Josh, he does so much good in the world, he can't be wrong, can he? Jesus must have slipped up, He really meant to claim that He was "Lord of Sunday," don't you think?

God said "Remember." Do you remember? Hank and Josh and Chuck and Beanie Boy say forget. Who do you believe?

Go with the True Way of the Master, not any foolish "way of the master dot com." The Bible says we are to follow the example of Jesus, not "Growing Pains" wisdom.

If your tradition dictates that you act differently on Sunday, so be it, unless, however, your tradition mandates that you break God's holy day, the Sabbath of the Bible. Go to church on Sunday, even Sunday night (which is really Monday, to God's way of keeping time) -- go to church, but keep God's true holy day, truly holy.

Romans 14:5-6 may commend going to church on Sunday, but it in no way negates God's holy day. Go to church 7 days a week if you can manage it, but keep God's holy day, Saturday, the Sabbath, as a day of delight (it is not necessarily about going to church, but that is certainly an acceptable thing to do on God's Holy Sabbath). It is a gift to you, take joy in God on Saturday, from Friday night to Saturday night -- 24 hours of a blissful date with Adonai Yahweh El Shaddai, and Yashua Messiah His Son, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

God says that the Sabbath is not a burden. It is a day of delight that He has gifted us. A gift given at the beginning of the world, before sin had ever reared its ugly head (it is not a shadow law depicting sin). The Sabbath is a piece of what heaven must be like. It is a "shadow" of eternity, with the Messiah the reality that casts the shadow.

This Friday night, as the sun goes down, talk to God. Ask Him. Ask our Heavenly Father if He has given you the gift of the Sabbath, His own holy day -- and when He answers, hey, take delight in God, take delight in Jesus, take delight in His holy day, the Sabbath!

Be full of the Holy Spirit and may God bless you and your family!

Art et Amour Toujours

Douglas Christian Larsen

aka DCLWolf

And hereby we do know that we know

Him, if we keep His commandments. He

that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not

His commandments, is a liar, and the

truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth

His word, in him verily is the love of God

perfected: hereby know we that we are

in Him.