The Repairer of The Breach
Part 19
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The Lord’s Day

Now wait a minute! Just because some theologians refer to the Lord’s Day and mean Sunday (as in the Canon 29 on the previous page), is “Sunday” really the Lord’s Day? NO! When John wrote “I was in the Spirit on the “Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10), some believe he meant “Sunday” – WRONG!

Here’s proof: twice before in his writings John had the occasion to refer to “Sunday,” and he did so by calling it the first day of the week”! See John 20:1 and 20:19! Was John “More Inspired” when he wrote the Book of Revelation than he was when he wrote the gospel? Hardly… “Sunday” to John was no more than the common “first day of the week”! Saturday was “The Lord’s Day”! See Matthew 12:8

Part 20

The 48 Steps Down

1. Prayers for the dead 300 A.D.		2. Making the sign of the cross 300 A.D.
3. Wax candles 320 A.D.		4. Veneration of angels’ dead saints 375 A.D.
5. The use of images 375 A.D.		6. The mass as a daily celebration 394 A.D.
7. Priest begin to dress differently than layman 500 A.D.		8. Beginning of the exaltation of Mary. The term "Mother of God" First applied by Council of Ephesus 431 A.D.
9. Extreme unction 526 A.D.		10. The doctrine of Purgatory is established by Gregory I 593 A.D.
11. Latin language used in Prayer and worship by Gregory I 600 A.D.		12. Prayers directed to Mary, dead saints and angels 600 A.D.
13. Title of Pope (Bishop of the universe) given to Boniface III by Emperor Phocas 607 A.D.		14. Kissing the Pope's foot, begins with Pope Constantine 709 A.D.
15. Temporal power of the Popes is conferred by Pepin, King of the Franks 750 A.D.		16. Worship of the cross, images and relics is now officially authorized 786 A.D.
17. The worship of Saint Joseph 890 A.D.		18. Holy water (mixed with a pinch and blessed by a priest) comes into use 850 A.D.
19. College of Cardinals established 927 A.D.		20. Baptism of Bells instituted by Pope John XIII 965 A.D.
21. The cononization of dead saints is first done by Pope John XV 995 A.D.		22. Fastings on Fridays and during "Lent" begins 998 A.D.
23. The mass has gradually developed into a "sacrifice," and attendance is now made obligatory 1050 A.D.		24. The celibacy of the priesthood is required by Pope Gregory II 1079 A.D.
25. The Rosary, a mechanical praying with beads, invented by Peter the Hermit 1090 A.D.		26. The Inquistion, in operation for centuries, is now made official by the council of Verona 1184 A.D.
27. The sale of indulgences begins 1190 A.D.		28. The error of transubstantiation is proclaimed by Pope Innocent III as the power to bring God down out of Heaven into a cup and wafer 1215 A.D.
29. Auricular confession of sins to a priest, instead of God, is instituted by Pope Innocent III 1215 A.D.		30. Laymen are officially forbidden to have or read the Bible - It is placed on the "Index of Forbidden Books" by council of Valencia 1229 A.D.
31 The adoration of the wafer (host) is decreed by Pope Honorius III 1220 A.D.		32. Laymen are forbidden to drink the cup at communion, by order of the council of Constance 1414 A.D.
33. Protection by a piece of cloth the scapular is invented by Simon Stock, a British Monk 1251 A.D.		34. Doctrine of seven sacraments is affirmed on pain of mortal sin 1439 A.D.
35. Purgatory is proclaimed as a dogma by the Council of Florence 1439 A.D.		36. The Jesuit order is founded by Ignatius Loyola 1534 A.D.
37. The first part of the "Ave Maria" saying is made official 1508 A.D.		38. The Apocryphal Books are added to the bible by the Council of Trent 1546 A.D.
39. Tradition (the saying of Popes and councils) is declared to be equal in authority with the Bible, Council of Trent 1545 A.D.		40. The Creed of Pope Pius IV is imposed as the official Creed of the Church 1560 A.D.
41. The last part of the "Ave Maria" has been prepared, and is required of the fiath by Pope Sixtus V 1593 A.D.		42. The Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is proclaimed by Pope Pius IX 1854 A.D.
43. The "Syllabus of Errors" is proclaimed by Pope Pius X, and ratified by the first Vatican Council, as the truth of God. (It condemns freedom of religion, speech, press, and all scientific discoveries that have not been by the Church) 1864 A.D.		44. The temporal authority of the Pope over all rulers is officially reaffirmed 1864 A.D.
45. Public schools are condemned by Pope Pius XI 1930 A.D.		46. The absolute infallibility of the Pope in all matters of faith and morals is proclaimed by Vatican I 1870 A.D
47. Mary is proclaimed to be Mother of God, by Pope Paul VI 1965 A.D.		48. The assumption of Virgin Mary (bodily ascension into Heaven shortly after her death) is proclaimed by Pope Pius XII 1950 A.D.

       

Two additional doctrines are now being discussed by the Church of Rome, and may soon be adopted: Mary as the “Mediatrix of Mankind.” This means that God and Christ can only be approached through her!

The second is the dogma of Mary as the “Co-Redemptrix of the world.”  The idea here is that the redemption of the race, from start to finish, is done through Mary, working together at each step with Christ. Now let’s take a look at what the early Catholic Church thought about the “Jews.”

Pilgrim’s Rest from the The Great Controversy Edition publishes The 48 Steps Down.

Part 21

The “Other” Reason for

Changing the Sabbath

…The contempt and hatred that Rome had for the Jews! You see, zealous and rebellious Jews were responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Roman people! It was a revolt that sparked the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70. Then the self-proclaimed Messiah-general, Bar Kochba, began his extremely bloody revolt against the Romans in 132-135 A.D.!

 All this inflamed Roman Anti- Judaism! Therefore, here among this scenario, you have the spread of Christianity. Moreover, what were “Christians” doing? They worshipped a Jewish Messiah, read a Jewish Holy Book, and kept the “Jewish” Sabbath Day… which, if it were to spread all through Rome, is just another way for Rome to be “Conquered” by the Jewish Nation! Is it any wonder that the early Church of Rome would consider it advantageous to “disassociate” themselves as much as possible from “those hated Jews”? Therefore, that is what they did!

Roman Bishops and Pontiffs, etc., hated being seen as “second-generation Jewish Holy Men” – they couldn’t very well toss out Christ… And (for a while, at least) they had to keep the Written Word around… Nevertheless, “that day” could be scrapped, they thought. Therefore, there came the laws against Judaizing on Saturdays, and the orders to keep Sunday! When the Roman Church looked around for a “good reason” to make it all sound official and “holy,” they said it was because light was created on the first day of the week (this kept the converted sun-worshipping pagans happy), and secondly, that Christ rose on Sunday! Then the Popes thought, this is great, we do not look like “Jews” anymore…

The Resurrection became the “main reason” for Sunday worship only after Sun Worship waned in the Roman world! (Around 400 A.D.)

History is peppered with writings espousing Anti-Jewish sentiments! Totally incorrect and evil things were made up and told about the Jews – They supposedly celebrated the death of Christ by abducting and sacrificing young Christian boys… They were constantly referred to as “The Christ Killers.”

Centuries of hate and misunderstanding resulted most recently in The Holocaust wherein Hitler murdered millions – and even today, we can hear contemptuous hate-rumors that are totally groundless… THE HATRED OF THE JEWS… That is what prompted early Roman Christians like Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) to do their best to promote justification for Sunday Worship! Justin Martyr wrote that God had made the Sabbath because of the wickedness of the Jews, deeming it “a mark to single them out for punishment they so well deserved for their infidelities.” And he claimed that “the Eighth Day possesses a certain mysterious import, which the Seventh day does not possess,” relating it to the Eighth Day of the Circumcision, and arbitrarily to the eight people that God saved from The Flood – coupled with the fact that pagans honored Sun-Day, Justin Martyr made misuse of numerous Bible verses like John 1:9, Malachi 4:2, Like 1:78-79, Matthew 17:2, and Revelation 22:4, etc., to “prove” that Sunday was the way to go…

However, no matter how “logical” the arguments, the main reason behind all these changes in the 7^th-Day Sabbath was a very Un-Christian one: HATE! Literally there were “Canons to the right of them,” and “Canons to the left of them” – Canons, Proclamations and Evil laws abounded! The beauty of the True Sabbath was defaced!

 

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