Is Sunday Legislation Near Or Is It Already Here?
Seventh-day Adventists have been ridiculed since our humble beginnings in 1844 over many of our beliefs, unpopular among Christendom though founded on the clear Word of God, and among the most highly criticized have been our warnings against the coming "Sunday law", or legislation that makes Sunday a national (and universal) day of rest. Our stand has always been religious liberty to all, which includes the right for individuals to worship or not worship, to believe or not believe, without government involvement. Many over the decades, even those who belong to other Christian denominations and religious faiths, have benefited from the Adventist stand for religious liberty and freedom of conscience. However, it is readily apparent that the majority of Americans - and indeed the entire world - are unaware of the war over freedom of conscience that has been fought and is still raging between the two sides: those protecting religious freedoms and those trying to restrict it by the enforcement of Sunday observance.
In 1888, the Lord's Day Alliance was formed by six major Protestant denominations in order to advocate Sunday legislation. According to their website,
The Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States exists to encourage Christians to reclaim the Sabbath-the Lord's Day-as a day of spiritual and personal renewal, enabling them to impact their communities with the Gospel.
The LDA has been the one national organization whose sole purpose is to maintain and cultivate the first day of the week as a time for rest, worship, Christian education and spiritual renewal.
Over its life, the LDA has worked toward the goal of preserving and protecting worker's rights to time away from work responsibilities to worship and honor the Lord.
Source: [link]
The "Sabbath" and "Lord's Day" mentioned here is in reference to the first day of the week, Sunday, and not the Biblical Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). Almost immediately after the organization of this group, the United States saw a period of 58 years (1888-1945) in which Sunday laws, now commonly called Sunday Blue Laws, were passed throughout the country. The following website shares 142 religious measures, ninety-three directly mentioning Sunday observance, that were passed during this time period. [link] Many of these laws dictated such things as shops were to be closed on Sunday to prevent buying and selling, no laborious activities were to be done, etc. In some places around the country, those who broke these "rest" laws, including many Sabbath-keepers, were punished under the law.
After awhile, the religious fervor for protecting Sunday as the only official day of rest began to be replaced by increased secularism, enforcement of the Sunday Blue laws grew lax, and most of these laws faded into obscurity, something for high school students to dig up for American History classes and laugh about. However, what many Americans do not realize is the majority of these Sunday Blue Laws were never repealed and, therefore, are still on the books and could be enforced if the authorities choose to do so.
As the decades passed, people grew comfortable in an atmosphere of religious liberty and growing freedoms. Yet through it all, Adventists continued to warn of Sunday legislation and the enforcement of Sunday as a national (and universal) day of rest, which is not only against freedom of conscience but also against the very clear and plain Word of God, which reads:
"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... 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
Many people ridiculed the Adventists and scorned us as "alarmists" - joined by even some of our own! - saying that such a thing as a Sunday Law could never happen in this country. The atheists, agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, neo-pagans, etc. would never stand for such a thing. Adventists are crazy for saying that there will be Sunday legislation establishing Sunday as a mandatory day of rest. Yes, there are few Americans who are unaware of the Christian Right movement and their attempts to try to force their ideals, opinions, and views on such issues like Sunday observance, anti-homosexuality, Intelligent Design, right to life, etc. on all citizens of the United States through various legislative efforts. So far in most cases, they have lost the battles, and most Americans think of the Christian Right as just a group of backwater conservatives clinging desperately to the "old days".
Well, to all those who do not believe such a thing as Sunday legislation is possible, guess what? It has already begun. The fight is currently being fought in Europe. In 2009, the churches, Catholic and Protestant, united to present a Sunday rest to the European Union. The European Parliament threw it out, but that has not stopped the movement from gaining ground. As recently as the end of 2009, Germany adopted a stricter stance on Sunday rest.
On December 1, 2009, the same day that the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution went into force, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, the highest court in Germany “ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a 2006 Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping.” Hailed as a victory for the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, the ruling takes effect January 1, 2010. Berlin must align its Sunday laws with the constitutional law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious improvement.
"‘Legal protection measures must recognize Sundays and public holidays as days of rest from work,’ said Hans-Juergen Papier, president of the Constitutional Court."
Die Tageszeitung, a Berlin paper, wrote: "Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and ‘spiritual elevation’ precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix."
Source: [link]
In such a secularized nation as Germany, how was it possible to establish a Sunday rest law? Why did the atheists, agnostics, etc. not assemble and claim that their rights are being trampled upon? Simple. To make Sunday rest acceptable to the non-religious and non-Christians, it is marketed as vital for workers' rights and to protect the children (aka restore family unity and stability). If you disagree with Sunday legislation, then you are against children and worker's rights!
Germany's highest court has ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping. Most German newspapers on Wednesday greet the ruling, some for reasons of religion and tradition, others out of a concern for workers' rights.
The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practise religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family. The services union Verdi greeted Tuesday's ruling with "relief and joy," saying this was a boon to shopworkers and their families.
Source: 'Even Atheists Need to Switch Off on Sundays'
The "Sunday Protection" legislation was presented to the European Union again in 2010, this time not only strongly supported by the Papacy and Protestant churches, but also labor unions and family advocates. Take a look at the Free Sunday website, which unashamedly exploits children with the slogan "Mum and dad belong to us on Sunday" in an effort to garnish public support for Sunday legislation. Their objectives, as listed on their website, are as follows. Notice how the focus is on secular reasons and benefits while religion is barely a footnote:
We need a work-free Sunday in all of Europe,
Ah, yes. When one must circumvent individual's religious beliefs, philosophical ideologies, and dictates of conscience, bring out the children and all those who oppose will be branded as evil individuals who are against innocent children and saving families. And for those whose heartstrings are not as easily tugged, get the labor unions involved under the banner of workers' rights, and all those who oppose will be labeled as having no goodwill towards their fellow man. Against this two-fold strategy (three-fold, if you add in the religious aspect from the churches), the opposition cannot win in terms of public opinion!
Even the BBC, which is a leading news source for the United Kingdom, a country with very little Christian influence and a great deal of spiritism, considers the benefits of having a Sunday day of rest. On February 28, 2010, the BBC aired a program on this very issue and just listen to how the secular-minded and those steeped in spiritualism are embracing the idea of an official day of rest, a day free from labor to be dedicated to family, friends, hobbies, and worship, guaranteed and enforced by the government. In answer to the question "Should the Sabbath (Sunday) be a day of rest?", the lady at the beginning of the show, Cristina Odone, said:
"Wouldn't it be nice if the government sent us a message that they didn't think of us only as units of consumption and production, and worker bees. Just once in a week we were let off the hook and we could not shop, and we could not work. And actually concentrate on the other- on the whole self. And on each other. Why not?
Source: video
It sounds good, does it not? Sunday legislation is being publicized as one day a week where the people have the right, guaranteed by the government, to rest from work and enjoy family, hobbies, life, and religious worship if so inclined. It seems a good number of people are jumping on to the Sunday bandwagon, but they have completely forgotten or are ignorant of the real purpose behind this day of rest: instituting Papal Rome's Sunday as the universal day of rest and worship. Why Sunday of all the days in the week? Because Sunday is the mark of Papal authority.
"Sunday is our mark of authority..... The church is above the Bible, and this transference of sabbath observance is proof of that fact."
Source: The Catholic Record, London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.
"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. 'The Day of the Lord' (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy."
Source: Sentinel, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Mich., Vol. 50, Num. 22, May 21, 1995
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.”
Source: Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903.
The Papal system has already convinced the majority of Protestant Christians to join its Sunday cause, and now it is working hard to make Sunday appealing to non-Christians in order to get the secular governments to force all citizens to keep from working on Sunday. It does not matter if Sunday is kept for religious reason or under the pretense of workers' rights and securing the family, to rest on Sunday is to pay homage, knowingly or unknowingly, to the authority of the Papacy. Freedom of conscience and religious liberty cannot be found in the legislation of Sunday.
The Bible solemnly warns: "And he [the beast] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17) The beast will put its mark on the forehead or the hand. Those who receive the mark on their foreheads intellectually agree with and believe that Sunday is the day of rest to be religious observed. Those who receive the mark on their hands embrace Sunday as a day to rest from labor. The Sunday legislation is appealing to both the religious and the secular, and the Beast does not care which mark a person receives as long as he/she receives its mark and bows to its authority. [bible study | video]
When Sunday legislation passes in the European Parliament (it is only a matter of time before the EU caves to the pressure of labor unions and family advocates), it will spread quickly across the world, even into the United States.
A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God's people be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin."
Source: Ellen White. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 11, 1888
My friends, I refuse to observe Sunday, as a religious OR secular "rest day". Now and forever I will only keep holy the true rest day of my Lord and God, His Sabbath, the seventh-day Sabbath which is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Why? Because I love Him, I will obey His commands. As Jesus Christ said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) You cannot truly love Christ if you do not obey His law. As John Wesley, the Reformer and founder of Methodism, once wrote: "Therefore I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ, seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to Him. [...] Indeed each is continually sending me to the other--the Law to Christ, and Christ to the Law."
There is a conflict going on, and it is over obedience. Which will you choose: obedience to God and the Lord's seventh-day Sabbath? Or obedience to man's traditions and the Papacy's first-day Sunday? Oh, if Christians across the world, especially those aggressively fighting for legislated and government-enforced Sunday observance, would open the Holy Scriptures and read the pained words of Christ, as He lamented, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:8-9) The keeping of Sunday is not Biblical. [bible study | video]
Beloved, in Revelation 14:12, it is written: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." In no way am I condemning my brothers and sisters of Catholic and Protestant faiths for their individual beliefs and decisions regarding those; I respect the freedom of all to worship or not worship how they choose. However, I am a follower of the One True God, the Creator, who established His only weekly day of rest, the seventh-day Sabbath, at Creation and made only the Sabbath holy. I refuse to observe the false day of rest, Sunday, no matter how nicely it is packaged in secular terms like workers' rights and saving families and no matter how many secular organizations and groups try to make it appear socially acceptable. Sunday is and will always be the mark of Papal Rome.
I will not bow to Papal Rome. I worship the Lord Almighty, and Him alone I obey. In the words of the Reformer Martin Luther: “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen!”
In 1888, the Lord's Day Alliance was formed by six major Protestant denominations in order to advocate Sunday legislation. According to their website,
The Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States exists to encourage Christians to reclaim the Sabbath-the Lord's Day-as a day of spiritual and personal renewal, enabling them to impact their communities with the Gospel.
The LDA has been the one national organization whose sole purpose is to maintain and cultivate the first day of the week as a time for rest, worship, Christian education and spiritual renewal.
Over its life, the LDA has worked toward the goal of preserving and protecting worker's rights to time away from work responsibilities to worship and honor the Lord.
Source: [link]
The "Sabbath" and "Lord's Day" mentioned here is in reference to the first day of the week, Sunday, and not the Biblical Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset). Almost immediately after the organization of this group, the United States saw a period of 58 years (1888-1945) in which Sunday laws, now commonly called Sunday Blue Laws, were passed throughout the country. The following website shares 142 religious measures, ninety-three directly mentioning Sunday observance, that were passed during this time period. [link] Many of these laws dictated such things as shops were to be closed on Sunday to prevent buying and selling, no laborious activities were to be done, etc. In some places around the country, those who broke these "rest" laws, including many Sabbath-keepers, were punished under the law.
After awhile, the religious fervor for protecting Sunday as the only official day of rest began to be replaced by increased secularism, enforcement of the Sunday Blue laws grew lax, and most of these laws faded into obscurity, something for high school students to dig up for American History classes and laugh about. However, what many Americans do not realize is the majority of these Sunday Blue Laws were never repealed and, therefore, are still on the books and could be enforced if the authorities choose to do so.
As the decades passed, people grew comfortable in an atmosphere of religious liberty and growing freedoms. Yet through it all, Adventists continued to warn of Sunday legislation and the enforcement of Sunday as a national (and universal) day of rest, which is not only against freedom of conscience but also against the very clear and plain Word of God, which reads:
"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... 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
Many people ridiculed the Adventists and scorned us as "alarmists" - joined by even some of our own! - saying that such a thing as a Sunday Law could never happen in this country. The atheists, agnostics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, neo-pagans, etc. would never stand for such a thing. Adventists are crazy for saying that there will be Sunday legislation establishing Sunday as a mandatory day of rest. Yes, there are few Americans who are unaware of the Christian Right movement and their attempts to try to force their ideals, opinions, and views on such issues like Sunday observance, anti-homosexuality, Intelligent Design, right to life, etc. on all citizens of the United States through various legislative efforts. So far in most cases, they have lost the battles, and most Americans think of the Christian Right as just a group of backwater conservatives clinging desperately to the "old days".
Well, to all those who do not believe such a thing as Sunday legislation is possible, guess what? It has already begun. The fight is currently being fought in Europe. In 2009, the churches, Catholic and Protestant, united to present a Sunday rest to the European Union. The European Parliament threw it out, but that has not stopped the movement from gaining ground. As recently as the end of 2009, Germany adopted a stricter stance on Sunday rest.
On December 1, 2009, the same day that the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution went into force, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, the highest court in Germany “ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a 2006 Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping.” Hailed as a victory for the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, the ruling takes effect January 1, 2010. Berlin must align its Sunday laws with the constitutional law institutionalizing Sunday as a day of rest and religious improvement.
"‘Legal protection measures must recognize Sundays and public holidays as days of rest from work,’ said Hans-Juergen Papier, president of the Constitutional Court."
Die Tageszeitung, a Berlin paper, wrote: "Sunday as a day off is a great gift. The treadmill is closed for 24 hours. The court has given relaxation, rest and ‘spiritual elevation’ precedence over the thirst for profit and the right to a consumer fix."
Source: [link]
In such a secularized nation as Germany, how was it possible to establish a Sunday rest law? Why did the atheists, agnostics, etc. not assemble and claim that their rights are being trampled upon? Simple. To make Sunday rest acceptable to the non-religious and non-Christians, it is marketed as vital for workers' rights and to protect the children (aka restore family unity and stability). If you disagree with Sunday legislation, then you are against children and worker's rights!
Germany's highest court has ruled that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest and has overturned a Berlin law easing restrictions on Sunday shopping. Most German newspapers on Wednesday greet the ruling, some for reasons of religion and tradition, others out of a concern for workers' rights.
The labor unions had joined the churches in their campaign to ring-fence Sunday as a day off for the nation. However, their focus was not on protecting the right to practise religion, but rather on protecting workers in the retail sector from having to work on Sundays, sometimes the only day they might get to spend with other members of their family. The services union Verdi greeted Tuesday's ruling with "relief and joy," saying this was a boon to shopworkers and their families.
Source: 'Even Atheists Need to Switch Off on Sundays'
The "Sunday Protection" legislation was presented to the European Union again in 2010, this time not only strongly supported by the Papacy and Protestant churches, but also labor unions and family advocates. Take a look at the Free Sunday website, which unashamedly exploits children with the slogan "Mum and dad belong to us on Sunday" in an effort to garnish public support for Sunday legislation. Their objectives, as listed on their website, are as follows. Notice how the focus is on secular reasons and benefits while religion is barely a footnote:
We need a work-free Sunday in all of Europe,
- because children need a family day, which is protected as a day off-work
- because this brings Europe forward on it's way to become the most child-friendly region in the world
- because according to EU legislation, Sunday is the weekly rest day for children and adolescents
- because schools and public institutions never used to work on Sundays and do not intend to do so in the future - despite of various religious, cultural and ethnical backgrounds
- because studies prove the positive health effects of the work-free free Sunday
- because every person needs spare time - to relax, to be active in civil society, for hobbies and for religion
- because the work-free Sunday is an essential pillar of the European Social Model and a part of the European cultural heritage.
Ah, yes. When one must circumvent individual's religious beliefs, philosophical ideologies, and dictates of conscience, bring out the children and all those who oppose will be branded as evil individuals who are against innocent children and saving families. And for those whose heartstrings are not as easily tugged, get the labor unions involved under the banner of workers' rights, and all those who oppose will be labeled as having no goodwill towards their fellow man. Against this two-fold strategy (three-fold, if you add in the religious aspect from the churches), the opposition cannot win in terms of public opinion!
Even the BBC, which is a leading news source for the United Kingdom, a country with very little Christian influence and a great deal of spiritism, considers the benefits of having a Sunday day of rest. On February 28, 2010, the BBC aired a program on this very issue and just listen to how the secular-minded and those steeped in spiritualism are embracing the idea of an official day of rest, a day free from labor to be dedicated to family, friends, hobbies, and worship, guaranteed and enforced by the government. In answer to the question "Should the Sabbath (Sunday) be a day of rest?", the lady at the beginning of the show, Cristina Odone, said:
"Wouldn't it be nice if the government sent us a message that they didn't think of us only as units of consumption and production, and worker bees. Just once in a week we were let off the hook and we could not shop, and we could not work. And actually concentrate on the other- on the whole self. And on each other. Why not?
Source: video
It sounds good, does it not? Sunday legislation is being publicized as one day a week where the people have the right, guaranteed by the government, to rest from work and enjoy family, hobbies, life, and religious worship if so inclined. It seems a good number of people are jumping on to the Sunday bandwagon, but they have completely forgotten or are ignorant of the real purpose behind this day of rest: instituting Papal Rome's Sunday as the universal day of rest and worship. Why Sunday of all the days in the week? Because Sunday is the mark of Papal authority.
"Sunday is our mark of authority..... The church is above the Bible, and this transference of sabbath observance is proof of that fact."
Source: The Catholic Record, London, Ontario, September 1, 1923.
"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. 'The Day of the Lord' (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church's sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy."
Source: Sentinel, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Mich., Vol. 50, Num. 22, May 21, 1995
“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.”
Source: Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903.
The Papal system has already convinced the majority of Protestant Christians to join its Sunday cause, and now it is working hard to make Sunday appealing to non-Christians in order to get the secular governments to force all citizens to keep from working on Sunday. It does not matter if Sunday is kept for religious reason or under the pretense of workers' rights and securing the family, to rest on Sunday is to pay homage, knowingly or unknowingly, to the authority of the Papacy. Freedom of conscience and religious liberty cannot be found in the legislation of Sunday.
The Bible solemnly warns: "And he [the beast] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17) The beast will put its mark on the forehead or the hand. Those who receive the mark on their foreheads intellectually agree with and believe that Sunday is the day of rest to be religious observed. Those who receive the mark on their hands embrace Sunday as a day to rest from labor. The Sunday legislation is appealing to both the religious and the secular, and the Beast does not care which mark a person receives as long as he/she receives its mark and bows to its authority. [bible study | video]
When Sunday legislation passes in the European Parliament (it is only a matter of time before the EU caves to the pressure of labor unions and family advocates), it will spread quickly across the world, even into the United States.
A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God's people be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin."
Source: Ellen White. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 11, 1888
My friends, I refuse to observe Sunday, as a religious OR secular "rest day". Now and forever I will only keep holy the true rest day of my Lord and God, His Sabbath, the seventh-day Sabbath which is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. Why? Because I love Him, I will obey His commands. As Jesus Christ said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) You cannot truly love Christ if you do not obey His law. As John Wesley, the Reformer and founder of Methodism, once wrote: "Therefore I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ, seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to Him. [...] Indeed each is continually sending me to the other--the Law to Christ, and Christ to the Law."
There is a conflict going on, and it is over obedience. Which will you choose: obedience to God and the Lord's seventh-day Sabbath? Or obedience to man's traditions and the Papacy's first-day Sunday? Oh, if Christians across the world, especially those aggressively fighting for legislated and government-enforced Sunday observance, would open the Holy Scriptures and read the pained words of Christ, as He lamented, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:8-9) The keeping of Sunday is not Biblical. [bible study | video]
Beloved, in Revelation 14:12, it is written: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." In no way am I condemning my brothers and sisters of Catholic and Protestant faiths for their individual beliefs and decisions regarding those; I respect the freedom of all to worship or not worship how they choose. However, I am a follower of the One True God, the Creator, who established His only weekly day of rest, the seventh-day Sabbath, at Creation and made only the Sabbath holy. I refuse to observe the false day of rest, Sunday, no matter how nicely it is packaged in secular terms like workers' rights and saving families and no matter how many secular organizations and groups try to make it appear socially acceptable. Sunday is and will always be the mark of Papal Rome.
I will not bow to Papal Rome. I worship the Lord Almighty, and Him alone I obey. In the words of the Reformer Martin Luther: “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen!”