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Who's Command?
WHO'S 7TH DAY SABBATH?
I concocted the title of this paper to create curiosity because curious people pay attention. I could have titled this "Which Commandments?," but it might have turned many listeners off because everyone has heard plenty of talks on that subject, and this is far more serious! So, please sit back, relax, and listen carefully because this is TRUTH which you're not likely to hear or read anywhere else.
Before beginning, let me provide a few facts to confirm my qualifications to expose these matters to you. I was born June 26, 1932, making me 66 yrs. young. I was born, raised, educated through high school (Graduated 1950 - St. Anthony H.S. New Bedford, MA) and was a practicing Roman Catholic until I reached 54 yrs. of age before the Almighty "turned on my light!" I describe it this way - "turning on my light" because, until then, I was convinced that I was properly worshiping the Almighty in the right Church. I had problems with some doctrines, for example, "Papal Infallibility," but I didn't see how that would affect my Salvation one way or the other. After reading how Galileo - who discovered the telescope and observed that the earth moved around the sun - was tortured and imprisoned for nearly 30 years until he was near death, because his discovery was contrary to the Church teaching, I became convinced that "Papal Infallibility" was a hoax! The Church taught that the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it. The current Pope recently apologized for Galileo's treatment! Better late than never!
Although Catholic Schools, in my time, didn't advocate Bible reading or "study," we were exposed to "selective" Bible verses which served the purpose at hand. Among such teachings were the "Ten Commandments" which we were taught to obey. More on this later.
I started reading the Catholic Bible - from the front cover to the back cover - when I was around 25 years old. The Bible was the Douay Version, a gift from the Pastor. This version is similar to the NKJV, except that it contains the so-called "Apocrypha." These are 7 additional books of useless value (in my opinion). One of my more notable memories was the observation that the "Ten Commandments" given to Moses in Exodus 20:1-17 were not the same as those "Ten Commandments" we were taught in elementary and high school. However, without the Holy Spirit, I just concluded that those in the Old Testament were for the Jews and those we learned were for Gentiles. This view prevailed until - as I said above - the Eternal turned on my light!
With that background, you can accept what I'm about to tell you as "the rest of the story!" I'm sure you all caught the above comments about different sets of "Ten Commandments," and are intrigued, or maybe even shocked to learn that anyone would dare tamper with the Word of God. I know I was! Like it or not, it really happened - way back around 350 A.D. when Emperor Constantine told the "Church Fathers" they would either worship on the day he worshiped the Sun or lose their heads. They suddenly became persuaded that Sunday worship would work, so they revised the Biblical Commandments to suit their new ideas. IT MUST BE EMPHASIZED THAT THERE IS NO SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY FOR SUCH ACTION; THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH READILY ACKNOWLEDGES THIS, AND ADMITS THAT THEY DID IT ANYWAY!!! After this, persecution of Sabbath keepers became a work of the Church which lasted until Napoleon conquered Rome in 1797, and put an end to the remnants of the Inquisition.
You need to be aware that the changes the Roman Catholic Church made for their own version of GOD's Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 4-17) are as follows:
A. The Roman Catholic Church eliminated Exodus 20: 4-6 inclusive, which is the 2nd Commandment. These verses read: Vs. 4. You shall not make for yourself an idol,, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth). Vs. 5. You shall not worship or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, Vs. 6. but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (NASB throughout). If anyone has been in a Catholic church, you've seen all kinds of statues of "saints," and I'm sure many are aware of the Pope's call for prayers to the ‘Queen of Heaven' for the conversion of Russia. The 1988 collapse of the Soviet Union was due entirely to the financial collapse of the Communist system-70 years after it started-which is the limit of God's tolerance of evil. However, the Catholics are further deceived because they believe their prayers were answered, when, in fact, the same result would have occurred without one Catholic prayer.
In any event, the remaining Commandments advanced, ie, God's 3rd Commandment became their 2nd, etc. This is the reason Catholics and Protestants call the Sabbath Commandment: "the 3rd Commandment," whereas it is the 4th Commandment in the Bible. However, this left a total of only 9 commandments, so in order to retain a "Ten Commandment" facade, --
B. The Roman Catholic Church split God's 10th Commandment (Exodus 20: 17) into two separate "Commandments", wherein #9 became: "You shall not covet thy neighbor's wife" and #10 became: "You shall not covet thy neighbor's goods." The only possible reason for this action was to deceive any or all who didn't closely examine these verses; if this were not so, the separation of this verse would have been unnecessary!
There's still more to this abominable story of revision to GOD's Commandments which is becoming much more important, and dangerous, in our time. In addition to the above:
C. The Roman Catholic Church changed GOD's 4th Commandment by deleting Exodus 20: 9-11 inclusive, leaving only verse 8, which states: "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy." The words eliminated state: Vs. 9. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work. Vs.10. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. Vs.11. For in six days the Lord made the heaven, and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it Holy." Thus, all of the words which could have led people to GOD's TRUTH were removed. I have attached a comparison chart (Exhibit A) showing the Papacy's Commandments, alongside the Old and New Testament versions of GOD's Commandments. Note the Q/A after the 3rd commandment in the Papacy's version, where they freely admit that this is....... A CHANGE FOR WHICH THERE IS NO SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY."
Now, Fundamentalist Christians who follow the Bible know that GOD's Commandments are at Exodus 20: 1-17, and repeated again at Deuteronomy 5: 6-21. We are also aware of the warnings against adding or subtracting from GOD's Word (Deuteronomy 4:2, Deuteronomy 12:32) and, most importantly, our Lord's teaching on changing the LAW (Matthew 5: 17-19) which states: Vs. 17. " Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Vs. 18. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished. Vs. 19. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps these commandments and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." In spite of these verses, which were known and written prior to the time the Roman Catholic Church made these changes, they did so anyway, and the Protestant churches follow along to this day, using their version to justify, Sunday worship proclaiming that Sunday is the Sabbath Day even though the word Sabbath has always meant - Saturday, the seventh day!
And, of course, all Jews and granted Christians know that Saturday is the seventh day - right? Well, let's not get too comfortable, because the worst may still be coming; there's more to this deception. While it is not common knowledge here, it has been the practice in Europe, for a decade or more now, to show their calendar starting the week with Monday. Recently, this practice has begun to show up in the U.S., so that it appears as if Sunday is now the seventh day of the week--not Saturday!
Worse yet!! In the most blatant bit of bald deception, the Roman Catholic Church has just issued their "New Catechism of the Catholic Church." (Exhibit B, attached, exerted from Standard Times-7/13/98). It states: "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: but the 7th day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God, in it -you shall not do any work." (Emphasis added-underlined, italicized words recently added). They have now adopted Exodus 20: 8, 9, and part of verse 10 which will surely be used to further justify Sunday worship now that Satan has re-arranged the weekly order. Unfortunately, they may also use this to persecute Saturday Sabbath keepers down the road, as they did during the Inquisition and, depending how long into the future, who will remember that Sunday isn't the seventh day of the week? We must remember this and teach it to our children and everyone else we can find that's interested.
You need to know this because when we say we keep the Commandments-including the 7th day Sabbath--- Catholics, who know very little about these facts, will also say they do too! We will need to be able to show them WHICH Commandments are GOD's Commandments and which Sabbath is GOD's Seventh Day Sabbath.
Raymond Rousseau
"THE SABBATH-- A SIGN BETWEEN THE
LORD AND ISRAEL"
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, peak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:12- 17).
(See Exhibit A & B on pages 10 and 11 in the Sep. Prove All Things)
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