Three Angels Messages - Sabbath Truth

Three Angels Messages of Revelation 14 Reveal Sabbath Kept Throughout History

The Sabbath Day


Table of Contents

.

All of the Sunday Texts in the Bible

nyone who wishes to investigate anything written from the Bible may look up texts to confirm for themselves what is written. Those who want to rely on the Bible alone to prove that Sunday is the day of the week for New Testament Christians to keep don't have a long list of texts to examine. There are only eight instances in Scripture where the first day of the week is mentioned in the New Testament. Here they are:

ook at them carefully.

he first five texts simply state that the women came to the sepulchre early on the resurrection morning, and that Jesus had already risen. The tomb was empty! Now look at John 20:19. It says that Jesus appeared to the disciples later on resurrection day. More importantly, it says that the reason they were assembled was "for fear of the jews", not because of any change in the day of worship. They were simply scared. They were hiding.

hey had seen their beloved Master die on Friday. They returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. And now they're hiding "for fear of the Jews." John 20:19. There's no mention of a change of the day of worship by Jesus or the disciples.

he seventh text is Acts 20:7,8. It says ""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. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together." This was a night meeting - the dark part of the first day of the week. In Bible reckoning, the dark part of the day comes before the light part. Genesis 1:5 "and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." The Bible reckons a day from sunset to sunset. The seventh day begins on sunset Friday evening. The first day of the week begins sunset Saturday evening. Paul is together with his friends on the dark part of the first day of the week - Saturday night. This is a farewell meeting. He preached until midnight, when Eutychus falls out the window. Acts 20:9. God spared his life. Verse eleven says that they talked until sunrise and then Paul departed. Verse thirteen shows that Paul spent that Sunday morning traveling to Assos. There's nothing here either concerning a change of the Sabbath. The New English Bible translates this text "On the Saturday night, in our assembly for the breaking of bread, Paul, who was to leave the next day, addressed them, and went on speaking until midnight," Acts 20:7. The breaking of bread in this case did no symbolize the Lord's Supper, it simply meant they had a farewell meal together.

he last text mentions the first day of the week in I Corinthians 16:1,2 "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." Verse three tells that he will bring the offering to Jerusalem. Paul is requesting of those in Corinth to have a collection ready when he came to take to the poor saints in Jerusalem. There's nothing in the text about a church service, but each person is to "lay by him in store." the first of the week was the best time for the people to set some money aside because later in the week it would be spent This is an example of systematic benevolence. Paul requested this so that "there be no gatherings when I come." I Corinthians 16:2. There's nothing in this text either about a change of God's Sabbath to Sunday.

hat then, was Paul's custom? Here it is, "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." Acts 17.2.

esus, as our example also had the custom of attending church on Saturday, the seventh day. Luke 4:16).



. From the Church in the Wilderness to Now

his section covers the time period from the writing of the Book of Revelation (around 100 A.D.) up to modern times. It is difficult to find anything written during this period to contradict the custom which says that Sunday is the correct day for Christians to keep. Difficult, but not impossible. And, just because the majority of Christians do it doesn't make it right. In fact, when was there a time of crisis in the Bible when the majority was right? There have been Sabbathkeepers throughout the centuries, and this section will discuss this issue.

he Waldenses, otherwise known as the Church in the Wilderness, existed from around 325 A.D. onward. The medieval church would like us to believe that the Waldenses started with a man named Peter Waldo in Lyons, France, around 1175 A.D. However, rebellion against the Roman power was always in existence. For the two hundred years after the apostles died until the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. there were disagreements between Bible-believing Christians and the group that would become the Catholic Church. The Council of Nicea gave Silvester great recognition as the Bishop of Rome. The Church in the Wilderness rejected this claim completely.

"But it was not without some foundation of truth that the Waldenses of this period asserted the high antiquity of their sect, and maintained that from the time of the secularization of the church- that is, as they believed, from the time of Constantine's gift to the Roman bishop Silvester {A.D. 314-336}--such an opposition as finally broke forth from them, had been existing all along." Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, 5th period, sec. 4, p. 605, as quoted in Truth Triumphant, p.216.

Patmos is the island where John the Revelator was living when he wrote the book of Revelation approximately 95 A.D. to 97 A.D. There is a monastery there now. Nowhere in the Book of Revelation does it say the Sabbath was changed by God. Nowhere does it say that John or any disciples of Jesus changed the day of worship! It predicts a change in many places, such as 2 Thessalonians 2:5-9, but this change is man-made by the "mystery of iniquity", and not by God.

hristianity took root on the Malabar coast (now Kerala, India) in the first century AD around the seven churches that St. Thomas established there. Christian faith has since flourished across the land, coexisting with other religions. ....And it was on a trading vessel plying between Alexandria and the Malabar coast that St. Thomas the Apostle arrived in Cranganore in 52 AD. There he began preaching the Gospel....The Church in Kerala had a high missionary spirit. Christians from Malabar spread their faith as far as Maldives and Indonesia. Source: Catholic vs Syrian church

he Donation of Constantine is the most famous forgery in European history. Originally discovered in the 9th century (c. 847-853) with some documents that were later declared forgeries, parts of the Donation of Constantine were later incorporated into most of the medieval collections of Catholic canon law (Anselm's, Cardinal Deusdedit's (c. 1087), and Gratian's Decretum (c. 1148) (also known as Concordia Discordantium Canonum). So the Donation of Constantine was held to be genuine for centuries.

he Donation of Constantine is cited in writing by no less than 10 popes as proof of their civil authority and sovereignty over Rome, and what came to be known as the Papal States, which included a large portion of Italy. It was eventually exposed as a pious fraud in 1440 by Laurentius Valla who proved it had to have been written several centuries after the death of Constantine (337 A.D.) The Vatican condemned Valla's scholarly work by listing it in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the Index of Prohibited Books of 1559. COMMENT The donation reads in part as follows in Latin: (caps added for emphasis) - Sicut B. Petrus in terris VICARIUS FILII DEI esse videtur constitutus, ita et Pontifices, qui ipsius principis apostolorum gerunt vices, principatus potestatem amplius quam terrena imperialis nostrae serenitatis mansuetudo habere videtur, conscessam a nobis nostroque imperio obtineant...

In English that is-
s the Blessed Peter is seen to have been constituted vicar of the Son of God on the earth, so the Pontiffs who are the representatives of that same chief of the apostles, should obtain from us and our empire the power of a supremacy greater than the clemency of our earthly imperial serenity is seen to have conceded to it, (continuing beyond the Latin above) choosing that same chief of the apostles and his vicars to be our constant intercessors with God. And to the extent of our earthly Imperial power, we have decreed that his holy Roman Church shall be honored with veneration, and that more than our empire and earthly throne the most sacred seat of the Blessed Peter shall be gloriously exalted, we giving to it power, and dignity of glory, and vigor, and honor imperial. And we ordain and decree that he shall have the supremacy as well over the four principal seats, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, as also over all the churches of God in the whole earth. And the Pontiff, who at the time shall be at the head of the holy Roman church itself, shall be more exalted than, and chief over, all the priests of the whole world, and according to his judgment everything which is provided for the service of God and for the stability of the faith of Christians is to be administered.

Source: Donation of Constantine, quoted in Christopher B. Coleman's The Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine, pp. 12,13 Copyright 1922 by Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.


isentis was a community high in the Swiss Alps, north of St. Moritz, Switzerland. It was the site of a Celtic, Sabbath- keeping school. Disentis, Switzerland today can be seen at http://www.disentis.ch/Deu/indexD.htm.

Iona is a small island off the Scottish coast. It's spiritual leader, Columba (521-597 A.D), founded a Bible training school. He and his followers kept the Sabbath here. The mission school functioned for over 600 years, sending missionaries to Scotland, Whales, England, and Europe. It is said that when Columba died, his tomb stone was made from the stone on which he rested his head as he slept. A stone called 'St Columba's Pillow' was unearthed in 1870 by a man whose cart bumped over the stone regularly - until he finally dug it up. The stone can be seen in the Abbey museum. The nunnery was abandoned during the Reformation and never used again. Despite surviving many attacks from Vikings several centuries before, the Abbey was unable to escape the effects of the Reformation, and in 1560 and was left derelict. It remained so until, in 1899, when refurbishing began. Reference at http://www.isle-of-iona.com/burials.htm

emains of grave stones of 6th century Celtic Sabbathkeepers in Anagray, France. The grave stones are on the site of a mission school founded by Columbanus (543 A.D. - 615 A.D.), who died in Bobbio, Italy. Columbanus was a Sabbath-keeper, who evangelized in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. "The Irish foundations in Germany and north Italy became the chief book-producing center on the Continent", Fitzpatrick, Ireland and the Foundations of Europe, page 24, as quoted in Truth Triumphant, p. 192.

egun in the 6th Century, this monastery became one of the intellectual centers of Ireland until 1214 A.D. "It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." The Church in Scotland p. 140.

mperor Charlemagne's throne. Charlemagne was the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, beginning in 800 A.D. His throne is on the second floor in the church in Aachen, Germany. It faces the altar, and also faces the east. It is said that he (Charlemagne) wanted to see Jesus when he came, so he had the throne facing the east. The throne, incidentally, is made of slabs of solid rock. This began a period where the church and state were interchangeable. The church used its influence on kings to control their "subjects". This was the case for about 1,000 years.

ope Gregory VII became pope in 1073 A.D. and immediately tightened control over Europe. He rigidly enforced celibacy and brought the princes of Europe under his control. He made Emperor Henry IV (picture opposite) stand barefooted and bare-headed in the snow in the outer court of Canossa for three days before seeing him. Some clergy at the time were married, and he put a stop to that and made the priesthood celibate from that time on. His harsh ways actually hastened the Protestant Reformation. Truth Triumphant, B.G. Wilkinson, Ph.D., TEACH Services, Inc., Brushton, NY, 1994, p. 235.

he cathedral in Albi, France is the largest brick building in the world. The information put out about it says that it was built between 1282 and 1480. "Built by Christian loyalists as a defense against the Cathare Heresy starting in the 13th century, the cathedral is a masterpiece of meridional gothic architecture. One can easily see that she was originally intended to be a fortress." The truth of the matter is that the so-called "Cathare Heresy" consisted of the punishment of Bible-believing Sabbath-keepers.

he Albigensians were slaughtered by the medieval church mercilessly between 1211 A.D. and 1215 A.D. These people were Waldenses who lived in the area of Albi, France, hence the name Albigensians. At least 100,000 men, women, and children, some mere babies were slaughtered because they wouldn't obey Rome. Voltaire says in Additions to Ancient and Modern History, vol. 29, pp.227,242 "Those who were called Manichaeans, and those who were afterward named Albigenses, Vaudois, Lollards, and who appeared so often under different names, were remnants of the first Gaulish Christians, who were attached to several ancient customs, which the Church of Rome thought proper to alter afterward." One of these customs, of course, was the Sabbath!

arcasonne is the most prominent castle in southern France.   It is 480 miles due south of Paris, France. Named after Acfred II (C of Carcasonne), who died in 934/5 A.D., most fortifications were built in the 13th century at the king's direction. It makes a lovely and breathtaking tourist stop. However, what many don't know, is that it houses the largest collection of torture instruments in the world. It was used in the Inquisition. Although the exact original of the English word carcass cannot be verified, it isn't hard to imagine where the word came from when one examines the following links:
Description of torture http://www.newadvent.org/cath

r. Peter Chamberlen was the royal physician to the families of England and Scotland in the 17th century. He was also a Sabbathkeeper. His gravestone reads "As for his religion, was a Christian keeping ye commandments of God and faith of Jesus, being baptized about the year 1648 and keeping ye seventh-day for the Sabbath above 32 years." Quoted from The (New Illustrated) Great Controversy, inset pictures.

he church in Lalibela, Ethiopia was cut out of solid rock. The Queen of Sheba was from Ethiopia, and bore a son from King Solomon. Falashas continued the Old Testament religion. In Acts 8:26-40, we are given the account of the introduction of Christianity to Ethiopia, with the conversion of the Ethiopian treasurer (eunuch) by Philip. The treasurer returned to Candace's court, and as a result, Ethiopia became the first Christian nation. Source: http://www.biblesabbath.org/tss/484/sabbathroots.html. There is no record at any time in the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church that they have officially given up the Sabbath. Source: http://www.giveshare.org/churchhistory/sabbathroots.html.

homas Jefferson was a champion of freedom. Inscribed in marble around the interior ceiling of the Jefferson Memorial, are the words (written by Jefferson) "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." He also said, "Let every man likewise stand for freedom who believes that the state that forces conscience by religious legislation sins against God and the soul of man".

he poem by Emma Lazarus says it best:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
     Your huddled masses yearning 
	to breathe free,
     The wretched refuse of your
	teeming shore.
     Send these, the homeless, 
	tempest-tost to me,
     I lift my lamp beside the 
      golden door!" 

	Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)


Revelation 13:11-18 discusses how the United States will forego religious freedom in favor of a law enforcing the "mark of the beast". A country controls behavior by passing laws. In this case, the law that will be passed will be over the Sabbath issue. A law enforcing rest on Sunday will be passed and persecution for Sabbathkeepers will result. The United States will eventually repudiate all claims of religious liberty for sake of the majority.

he Vatican. The Declaration of Religious Freedom called DIGNITATIS HUMANAE, issued in 1965, discusses religious freedom. It is interesting that the biggest Christian persecutor of all time can talk about religious freedom in such a positive way, especially when the Jesuit Order was formed for the express purpose of stamping out dissension.




. The Bible Record

Jesus Christ was the Active Agent in creation
The Sabbath was given by God at creation, kept throughout history, even by Jesus Christ, and will be kept eternally in heaven.

Every Verse in the Bible That Mentions Sabbath

Every Reference to the First Day in the New Testament





. Summary of Sabbath Study


he Sabbath of the Lord is very misunderstood. No human being- no pope, no president, nobody, can change it or abolish it. It stands as solid as God Himself because the Sabbath is a transcript of His character. It is imbedded in the law of God for a reason. It is supposed to be kept. Those who understand it keep it out of love and respect for our Creator. There will always be those who criticize it, say it is legalistic and outdated, but the majority has never been right. It will be a source of conflict and persecution again before Jesus comes. The examples here are only a representative sample of the story of Sabbath-keeping people all over the world and throughout history.

The Sabbath is a sign of God's finished work at creation. He obviously didn't need to rest. He gave it to us so we would be reminded to rest one day in seven. It is also a sign that we are justified by faith without the deeds of the law! The human body was created to last forever and we would be keeping the Sabbath forever to rest our bodies one day in seven. The Sabbath will be kept in heaven. (Isaiah 66:23).

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Food for Thought


"Though the last act of Satan be to unite all the wicked of the earth in the worship of the beast, and to attempt the utter extermination of the saints; yet God has said the saints shall triumph!" The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12 PARTICULARLY THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE, AND TWO-HORNED BEAST, JOHN N. ANDREWS, REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING CO.: BATTLE CREEK, MICH; CHICAGO, ILL.; TORONTO, ONT.; ATLANTA, GA, 1892, P. 144)

Important Statements


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