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Is Sunday Really The Lord's Day?
by Gregory John Monroe Sunday, the first day of the week, is Satan's day. It is the day through which he has managed to fulfill his boast that he would become like the Most High. This is so, for millions of Christians over the course of almost twenty centuries have been directing their worship to him, albeit unknowingly. Amazingly, he has pulled off this deception by using the same trick used back in the garden of Eden when he was able to get Adam and Eve to go against God's will by asking them "Did God Really Say...?" God, in His word, clearly expresses a specific time in which He and His children are to come together in holy Sabbath convocation. But Satan's "Did God Really Say?"seed-of-doubt grew, causing God's will to be set aside and replaced by man's sentimental reasoning. Therefore, most Christians have come to believe that Sunday is the day of the Lord; the Sabbath, because it is the day that Jesus rose from the grave. But Sunday observance is not Biblical, though many profess that it is found in the good book. Taking a look at the eight references made to the first day of the week in the Bible is the best way to provide evidence for or against Sunday being God's sacred day. Sunday Verses 1. Matthew 28: 1 - Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. This verse clearly shows that the Sabbath isn't the first day of the week, for the scripture says that the Sabbath had ended by the time the two women arrived. 2. Mark 16: 1, 2 - When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. There is nothing in this about a Sabbath transference. Instead it shows the women having honored the seventh-day Sabbath by waiting until it was over before going out to buy the spices. 3. Mark 16: 9 - Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. Nothing is mentioned here about the first day being made holy; nor that it should be observed in honor of the resurrection. 4. Luke 24: 1, 2 - But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Notice that the women didn't consider the first day as the Sabbath, for they came to do labor on that day. Furthermore, nothing else shows any evidence of any sacredness being attached to the first day. 5. John 20: 1 - Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. There's a total absence of proof here that Sunday was thought to be holy, or that anyone kept it as the holy Sabbath. 6. John 20: 19 - So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them , "Peace be with you." The disciples were not gathered for Sunday worship to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, as some have interpreted. In fact they didn't even believe that Jesus had been resurrected, as had been told to them by Mary and the other disciples (Mark 16:10-14). The Scripture plainly states that they were huddled together in that room, "for fear of the Jews." They were frightened, expecting to be charged with stealing the body of Jesus. They were there thinking to be protected. Again, there isn't any evidence here for Sabbath transference to the first day. 7. I Corinthians 16: 1, 2 - Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. The assumption here by many Sunday advocates is that because Paul mentioned collections, he must be referring to the collection plate that is passed around for money during religious services. But the reality is that Paul was asking for food, clothing, and anything else, to help provide for the daily needs of many Christians in Jerusalem who were suffering. The need was greater for more than just money because there was famine in the land (Acts 11:27-30), and the saints in Jerusalem were in need of carnal things (Romans 15:25-28). Most Bible scholars agree that the phrase, "put aside and save" ("lay by him and store" as translated in other Bible versions), has the original Greek implication of putting aside at home. Paul was asking in his letter that donated items be stored up at home. This letter would have been read while all were gathered for worship on the Sabbath, the last day of the week. After the week was over, Sunday, the first day, would have been the first opportunity to do the work of gathering material items and storing them up at home until Paul could send men around to collect them. Once again, Sunday, the first day of the week, is shown to be just another secular day. There is nothing to show that the saints had received a command from God to observe the first day of the week as His Sabbath day. 8. Acts 20: 7-12 - On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, "Do not be troubled, for his life is in him." When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted. In Biblical times, among the Jews, a day began at sundown and ended the next sundown, as opposed to the pagan Roman method we observe now, which is midnight to midnight. The Jewish people were following God's method of reckoning time, which was established during creation week. You'll recall that in the book of Genesis, it is said "The evening and the morning is the first day; the evening and the morning is the second day," etc. This means that the evening, the dark part, is the first part of the day. That's why Sabbath keepers, in our time, as was then, Biblically observe the Sabbath as from beginning Friday at sundown and lasting to Saturday at sundown. So with this Biblical pattern in mind, and applying the Roman-named days to the numbered-named days, it is clear that Paul was fellowshipping with believers on Sunday. And because verse eight mentions lamps in the room, we know that this scene took place at night. In other words, the Sabbath had ended at sundown, and the first day had begun. Defenders of Sunday-keeping say that there was a religious meeting going on during this first day. And that may well be the case because Paul did deliver a message. But this does not prove that those at this meeting thought of the first day as the Sabbath. After all, religious meetings among Christians were held on various days then, as they are today (Wed. prayer meetings, for example). But we don't give credence to those days as God's holy Sabbath. Instead the context of this meeting shows this gathering to be a special farewell gathering in honor of Paul's departure. Some have said - in furthering their view that this was a religious service - that the breaking of bread shows that this scene involved a communion service (a celebration/remembrance of Jesus' suffering and death). However, Scripture doesn't support that breaking bread necessarily means a communion service. In Acts 2:46, we're told that, "Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they [believers] were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart." In other words, breaking bread daily indicates common meals. There is nothing in these upper room verses confirming that the Lord's supper (communion) was taking place. But even if it were, that wouldn't give credence to Sunday observance because communion isn't associated with any particular day. It should be obvious that this was not a regular weekly worship service taking place. After all, it appears that the importance of this episode being written was not to highlight the content of some theological point in Paul's marathon message; nor to attach some spiritual significance to the first day. But instead, this scene was written to show the miracle that Paul performed in bringing a dead Eutychus back to life, and to document Paul's departure from Troas. Verdict In going through these eight Bible references to the first day of the week, it is seen what the word of God has to say about the matter. In these verses cannot be found one shred of evidence that God sanctified, nor that man celebrated the first day as God's holy day. God's word has revealed that those who worship on Sunday, as the Lord's Day, are not following the truth. Instead, they are following the dictates of a malevolent, so-called Christian organization. It is an entity, full of itself, that boasts of thinking to change God's Sabbath. As a church, it says things such as, "Our authority is above the Bible." And, "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." Furthermore, in instituting Sunday as the lord's Day, it admits that the change from the Sabbath to Sunday is its act, a mark of its ecclesiastical authority. The Bible identifies this organization as the book of Revelation's beast that possesses the infamous "mark of the beast." Many will be shocked by Gregory's book, The Three Angels' Message. It ID's Antichrist and the "mark of the beast," and the role both are playing today in the end-time issue of worship. The book's biblical & historical proof can't be denied. 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