BEYOND PITCAIRN 

Vance Ferrell

16: They Boast the Fact

Can you use a thousand dollars? Over the years a number of people have offered to give away-free-$1000 to anyone who will show them just one verse of Scripture that tells that the sanctity of the Seventh-day Bible Sabbath has been changed to Sunday, the first day of the week.

They do it, obviously, because they want you to begin reading in the Bible on this important subject and see for yourself that you should hallow the only weekly Sabbath in that sacred Book.

But the first one to offer $1000 for that missing Bible verse was a Jesuit priest.

He did it to convince Sunday-keepers that if they wanted to stay with Sunday sacredness, they needed to return to Rome.

Thomas Enright, former president of Redemptorist College in Kansas City, Missouri, issued a number of public statements in which he challenged anyone to produce just one text of Scripture stating that the Seventh-day Sabbath had been changed to Sunday. And he promised to give them $1000 if they would show the Bible passage to him.

The Hartford (Kansas) "Weekly Call," of February 22, 1884, published his challenge:

" 'I will give $1,000 to any man who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep. . The observance of Sunday is solely a law of the Catholic Church ..The church changed the Sabbath to Sunday and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church." Hartford "Weekly Call," quoting Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R., February 22, 1884.

But, try as they might, no one was ever able to claim that $1000 reward. Simply because there is no Bible proof of any kind for Sundaykeeping. Sunday sacredness just isn't in the Holy Scriptures. Enright knew it, and flaunted it, and for a reason.

For, you see, the attempted change of the Sabbath to Sunday marks the basic Roman Catholic "proof" that it is the "true church" that all Protestants should return to and obey. The Roman Catholic leaders declare that Protestants are still part of the Mother Church of Rome, because they keep the papal holy day, Sunday, as their sabbath!

"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles. .From beginning to end of scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.

"Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept [command holy-days]?

"Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. -She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority." -Stephan Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1846 edition, p. 176 {Keenan was a Scottish priest, whose catechism has been widely used in Roman Catholic schools and academies] .

"Ques. Which is the Sabbath day?

Ans. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

"Ques. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

"Ans. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." Peter Geiermann, The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1957 edition, p. 50 {Geiermann, (1870-1929) received the "apostolic blessing" of pope Pius X on this book, January 26, 1910} .

"It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodist, 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." Priest Brady, in an address at Elizabeth, N.J. on March 17, 1903, reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. News of March 18, 1903.

"Some theologians have held that God [in the Bible] likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the New Law, that He Himself has explicitly substituted the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His [Catholic] Church the power to set aside whatever day, or days, she would deem suitable as Holy Days. The Church chose Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days, as holy days." Vincent J. Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, 1943, p. 2 [Kelly, a Catholic priest, prepared this at Catholic University of America}.

"The pope has authority and has often exercised it, to dispense with the commands of Christ. .The pope's will stands for reason. He can dispense above the law, and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws." from Pope Nicholas' time.

"Protestants. .accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change. .But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950 [One of the largest U.S. Roman Catholic magazines}.

"Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible." The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893 [The Mirror is a Baltimore Roman Catholic weekly newspaper} .

"For ages all Christian nations looked to the Catholic Church, and, as we have seen, the various states enforced by law her ordinances as to worship and cessation of labor on Sunday. Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically, to keep Saturday as the Sabbath. The State in passing laws for the due Sanctification of Sunday, is unwittingly acknowledging the authority of the Catholic Church, and carrying out more or less faithfully its prescriptions. The Sunday as a day of the week, set apart for the obligatory public worship of Almighty God IS purely a creation of the Catholic church." John Gilmary Shea, in The American Catholic Quarterly Review, January, 1883, p. 139 [Shea (1824-1893) as an important Catholic historian of his time].

"It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest [from the Bible Sabbath] to the Sunday. .Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage that they pay in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic Church." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, 1868, p. 213 [L.G. Segur (1820-1881) was a French Catholic prelate and apologist, and later a diplomatic and judicial official at Rome.]

"The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under veil of flesh." The Catholic National, July, 1895.

"The Catholic Church, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." The Catholic Mirror, September 23, 1893 [The Mirror, a Baltimore-based Catholic weekly, was the official organ for Cardinal Gibbons].

"Ques. When Protestants do profane work [regular employment] upon Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith, do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume?

"Ans. On the contrary, they have only the authority of [Catholic] tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God's commandments, which He has never abrogated, 'Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day."  Priest Steven Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, pp. 252, 254 , [The catechism of this Scottish priest is widely used in Catholic schools to instruct children into their beliefs] .

"If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is Saturday." John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, 1936 edition, vol. 1, p. 51 [J.J. Laux (1878-1939) was a Catholic priest, teacher, and author of many Catholic histories as well as biographies of their saints] .

"Some of the truths that have been handed down to us by tradition and are not recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are It the following: That there are just seven sacraments; that there Is a purgatory; that, in the new law, Sunday should be kept holy instead of the Sabbath; that infants should be baptized, and that there are precisely seventy-two books in the Bible [66 that are inspired, plus 6 apocryphal] ." Francis J. Butler, Holy Family Catechism, No.3, p. 63 [Butler (1859-?) was a Catholic priest of Boston and an author of a series of catechisms.]

"It is worth while to remember that this observance of Sunday-in which after all, the only Protestant worship consists, not only has no foundation in the Bible, but it is in flagrant contradiction with its letter, which commands rest on the Sabbath, which is Saturday. It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday." Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213 [L.G. Segur (1820-1881), a French prelate, later was appointed as a diplomatic and judicial official in Rome].

"All the names which in the Scriptures are applied to Christ, by virtue of which it is established that He is over the church, all the same names are applied to the pope." Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, De Conciliorum Auctoriatate (On the Authority of the Councils), Bk 2, chap. 17 [Rellarmine (1542- 1621), a professor and rector at the Jesuit Gregorian University in Rome, is generally considered to have been one of the outstanding Jesuit instructors in the history of this organization].

On April 29, 1922, in the Vatican throne room, a throng of cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, boys and girls, who had all fallen on their knees in reverence of the one before them, were then addressed from the throne by Pope Pius XI, who said: "you know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on the earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means I am God on the earth." Pope Pius XI, quoted in The Bulwark, October, 1922, p. 104 [Pius XI (1857-1939) was pope from 1922-1939, and was the one who signed the Treaty of the Lateran with Mussolini in 1929, whereby Vatican City was established. He consistently backed Mussolini's policies and government until he met with military reverses].

"The Pope can modify [change] the Divine Law." Lucius Ferraris, Ecclesiastical Dictionary [Ferraris (d. before 1763) was an Italian Catholic official of the Franciscan order, highly placed in the Church].

"We define that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff holds the primacy over the whole world." Philippe Labbe and Gabriel Cossart, The Most Holy Councils, val. 13, col. 1167, on "The Council of Trent. "  

"The pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God. He is the divine monarch and supreme emperor, and king of kings. Hence the pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions." Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, vol. 6, art. "Papa II" [Ferraris (d. prior to 1763) was an Italian Catholic canonist and consultor to the Holy Office in Rome].

"We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." Pope Leo XIII, in an encyclical letter dated June 20, 1894, The Great Encyclical Letters of Leo XIII, p. 304 [Leo XIII  (1810-1903) was pope from 1878 until his death. He was one of the most forceful popes of the nineteenth century] .

"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church:" Albert Smith, Chance//or of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a letter dated February 10,1920.

"Protestants often deride the authority of Church tradition, and claim to be directed by the Bible only; yet they, too, have been guided by customs of the ancient Church,  which find no warrant in the Bible, but rest on Church tradition only! A striking instance of this is the following:- The first positive command in the Decalogue is to 'Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy " ..But the Sabbath Day, the observance of which God commanded, was our Saturday. Yet who among either Catholics or Protestants, except a sect or two, ever kept that commandment now? None. Why is this? The Bible which Protestants claim to obey exclusively, gives I no authorization for the substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh. On what authority, therefore, have they done so? Plainly on the authority of that very Catholic Church; which they abandoned, and whose traditions they condemn." John L. Stoddard. Rebuilding a Lost Faith, p. 80 [Stoddard (1850-1931) was an agnostic writer most of his life,' who later was converted to Catholicism] .

"We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy instead of Saturday as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth'  (1 Timothy 3:15); whereas you who are Protestants have  really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, follow tradition in this matter; but we follow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the [Catholic] Church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter; you follow it [the Catholic Church] , denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often 'makes the commandments of God of none effect' [quoting Matthew 15:6]" The Brotherhood of St. Paul, The Clifton Tracts, Vol. 4, tract 4, p. 15 [Roman Catholic]

"Now the [Catholic] Church. .instituted, by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory. . We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday." Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p. 236 [Jesuit theologian and writer] .

"The [Catholic] Church, by the power our Lord gave her, changed the observance of Saturday to Sunday:" The Catholic Canon, H. Cafferata, The Catechism Simply Explained, 1932 edition, p. 80.

"The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. .But the Protestant says: 'How can I receive the teachings of an apostate Church?' How, we ask, have you managed to receive her teaching all your life, in direct opposition to your recognized teacher, the Bib/e, on the Sabbath question?" The Christian Sabbath, 2nd ed., published by the Catholic Mirror of Baltimore, Maryland. [The official paper of Cardinal Gibbons.]

"If you follow the Bible alone there can be no question that you are obliged to keep Saturday holy, since that is the day especially prescribed by Almighty God to be kept holy to the Lord." Priest F. G. Lentz, The Question Box, 1900, p. 98  [Lentz (d. 1917) was a Catholic priest and writer, based in the Illinois area].

"Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says, No, By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." Priest Thomas Enright, CSSR, President of Redemptorist College, Kansas City. Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and printed in the Hartford Kansas Weekly Call, February 22, 1884, and the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal in June 1893, page 173.

"Of Course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act ..AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power:" from the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.

"Sunday is our MARK of authority! ..The Church is, above the Bible, and this transference of sabbath observance is proof of that fact." The Catholic Record, London, Ontario, Canada, September 1, 1923.

We have earlier seen that historians are in agreement on the fact that the attempt to change the Bible Sabbath to Sunday was made after the Bible was finished. And now we have found that the Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly admitted, even boasted, openly of the fact that the change was not made by God or the Bible writers, but by the Vatican.

Surely, in light of all this, there must be learned Protestants who have also admitted that the change is not Biblical but was made in later centuries! And there are, many of them. 

BEYOND PITCAIRN

17: Others Agree

 Dr. E. R. Hiscox was a leading Baptist scholar and writer of three-quarters of a century ago. He wrote the well-known "Baptist Manual" which went through many printings. He was probably one of the best-known Baptist research and Biblical authorities of his time. On November 16, 1893, Dr. Hiscox presented the key-note address at a major church gathering, the Baptist Ministers' Convention, which met in New York City.

In his sermon, Dr. Hiscox said this to the assembled ministers of his church:

"There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no Scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. .

"I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perplexing question connected with Christian institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people," and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious discussion is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that somehow a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history.

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years' discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.

"Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism." Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual. From a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox.

Leading pastors, writers and administrators of a wide range of the major Protestant denominations have recognized the truth that the Seventh-day Sabbath is the Bible Sabbath- and Sunday sacredness is not to be found anywhere in Scripture.

Here are a few of their statements. Many more could be given if we had the space:

British Congregationalists: "It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath ..The Sabbath was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday. .There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday." Dr.R.W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, Hodder and Stoughton, page 106-107.

Protestant Episcopal: "Ques. Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday?

"Ans. None." Manual of Christian Doctrine, p. 127

Disciples of Christ: "Either the [Ten Commandment] Law remains in all its force, to the utmost extent of its literal requirements, or it is passed away with the Jewish ceremonies. If it yet exists, let us observe it according to law. And if it does not exist, let us abandon a mock observance of another day for it." Alexander Campbell, "Address to the Readers of the Christian Baptists, " part I, Feb. 2, 1824, pp. 44-45 [Campbell (1788-1866) was the founder of the Disciples of Christ Church].

American Congregationalists: "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890.

English Independent: "Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week, ..and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, art. "Sabbath," p. 403 [Buck (1771-1815) was a British Independent minister and author].

Methodist Episcopal: "The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." Bishop's Pastoral, 1874 edition.

Church of England: "The Lord's day did not succeed in the place of the [Bible] Sabbath, but the.. Lord's day was merely of ecclesiastical institution. It was not introduced by virtue of the fourth commandment, because they for almost three hundred years together kept that day which was in that commandment." Jeremy Taylor, The Rule of Conscience, 1851, pp. 456-548 [Dr. Taylor (1613-1667) was chaplain to the King of England, and later appointed a bishop and became president of a college in Wales].

Christian Church {Christian Connection}: "The Roman Church. .reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God's word, and instituting Sunday as a Holiday."-Nicholas Summerbell, History of the Christian Church, 3rd ed., 1873, p. 415 [Summerbell (1816-1889) was the president of Union Christian College in Indiana] .

Disciples of Christ: "There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day 'the Lord's Day.' " Dr. D.H. Lucas, in the Christian Oracle, January 23,1890.

Protestant Episcopal: "The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day; ..but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church." The Protestant Episcopal Explanation of Catechism. "

Baptist: "The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. .There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course any Scriptural obligation." The Watchman.

Episcopal: "The Sabbath was religiously observed in the Eastern church three hundred years and more after our Saviour's Passion [death]. Prof E. Brerewood of Gresham College, London, in a sermon.

Baptist: "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath was not Sunday. It will, however, be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. . Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not." E. R, Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Ministers' Convention, in New York Examiner, November 16, 1893 [Dr. Hiscox was a well-known Baptist writer and author of their Baptist Manual] .

Presbyterian: "There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments [Dr. Eyton was the Canon of Westminster in London].

Anglican: "And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason we ob- serve many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church, has enjoined [commanded] it." Issac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. 1, pp. 334, 336.

Methodist: "It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition." Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, 1902 edition, pp. 180-181, 171 [Binney (1802-1878), Methodist minister and presiding elder, whose Compendium was published for forty years in many languages, also wrote a Methodist New Testament Commentary].

Southern Baptist: "There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish Seventh Day Sabbath to the Christian First Day observance. .

"There are in the New Testament no commands, no prescriptions, no rules, no liturgies applying to the observance of the Lord's Day. .

"There is no organic [no actual] connection between the Hebrew Sabbath and the Christian Lord's Day. .It was only a short while until gentiles predominated in the [early church] Christian movement. They brought over the consciousness of various observances in the pagan religions, preeminently the worship of the sun-a sort of Sunday consciousness." William Owen Carver, Sabbath Observance, 1940, pp. 49, 52, 54 [Dr. Carver (1868-1954) was professor of comparative religion at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Kentucky] .

Episcopalian: "The observance of the first day instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the Catholic church, and the [Catholic] church alone." Hobart Church News, July 2, 1894.

Irish Methodist: "There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use superseded, by the introduction of Christianity. I have shown elsewhere that, 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: is a command of perpetual obligation." Adam Clarke, The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Vol. 2, p. 524 [Clarke (1760-1832) was an Irish Wesleyan minister, writer, and three times Methodist conference president].

Southern Baptist: "As presented to us in the Scriptures the Sabbath was not the invention of any religious founder. It was not at first part of any system of religion, but an entirely independent institution. Very definitely it is presented in Genesis as the very first institution, inaugurated by the Creator Himself." W.O. Carver, Sabbath Observance, pp. 40-41 [Dr. Carver (1868-1954) was professor of comparative religion in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky] .

All this seems amazing to us. How could the heart of the Bible worship of the God of heaven (the worship of Him on His appointed worship day)how could any mere mortals dare try to change it, and enforce such a change on everyone around them!

Why did not the Protestant Reformers of the Sixteenth Century bring us back to Sabbath keeping?

The truth is that they did not have a chance to make all of the needed reforms before Rome threw armies upon them for their destruction. But, even deeper: Why does not the Vatican confess this terrible change that they had Constantine instigate? Why do they not now lead out in bringing Christendom back to the Bible Sabbath?

At this point the plot thickens. For now we shall learn that, by their own admission, the change of the Sabbath to Sunday is the doctrinal basis upon which the Roman Catholic Church is built. It is the mark of her authority. She dare not change it, for to do so would be to yield that religious authority back to the God of the Sabbath. 

 BEYOND PITCAIRN

18: Out of Darkness

 The red granite obelisk finally came home.

But here is the story:

 Earlier we mentioned that Heliopolis literally: "city of the sun in Egypt was the center of North African sun worship around the time of Christ. And the center of sun worship in Heliopolis was a red granite obelisk that was 83 feet high. What is an "obelisk?" It is a tall pillar, pointed at the top, that anciently was a symbol of the Sun-god. Pagans would place these in front of their churches to identify them.

In A.D. 37-41, Emperor Caligula of Rome, a devoted Sun-worshiper, ordered that this immense obelisk at Heliopolis, Egypt, be carefully packed and brought at great expense to Rome. There it was later erected by Nero in the center of the "Circus" that Caligula had built. Chariot races, often dedicated to Lord Mithra, the Sun-god, were run there.

This Circus was located on one of the seven hills of Rome: Vatican hill. This was fine with everyone, for Vatican hill, back in those days, wasn't used for anything other than the Circus horse races. But then the years passed, and with them the centuries. And a new ruler over Rome came into power: Pope Sixtus V. His followers all over Europe were busy fighting the Great Reformation that had begun half a century before.

But Pope Sixtus V wanted to add the finishing touch to the sparkling new St. Peter's Cathedral, the largest Catholic Church in the world. Located in the heart of Vatican hill, it was not far from that old red obelisk.

In the year 1585, a decree from the holy one of Rome went out to all the people: The obelisk that the pagan Emperor Caligula had brought over from Heliopolis, must be brought to the front of St. Peter's and set up in the exact center of the circular court that stood before it. By so doing, the obelisk of the Sun would be placed at the center of the Vatican. And this was understandable.

The decree called for someone to do the moving. But there was no one with enough courage to tackle the operation, even though a large sum of money was offered.

The problem was that the decree included a death penalty to the mover, if he accidentally let the obelisk fall to the ground as he was erecting it. This ancient relic of paganism was obviously more important than the lives of Christians.

Finally a man stepped forward and said he would contract to do the job. His name was Domenico Fontana. Using 45 winches, 160 horses, and a crew of 800 men, the moving operation began.

Starting at that ancient pagan carnival site, Caligula's Circus Maximus, Fontana carefully began the job of lowering the immense 83-foot-high sun-image to the ground. Masterful architects like Antonio Da Sangallo and Michelangelo had said the moving operation couldn't be done. (The sun-image weighed over a million Roman pounds.) But Domenico and his brother Giovanni spent a year on the task. Immense machines lowered and transported the pagan worship symbol. Eight hundred men, braced for the task by a sacrament from the pope himself, and working with 160 horses, pulled on 44 ropes, each as thick as a man's arm, and gradually raised it aloft at the new site. The date: September 10, 1586. The pope himself was present to pray to heaven that the sun-image would not be injured. He also issued an edict while it was being raised that no one in the surrounding crowds could speak aloud, on pain of death, lest the workmen be distracted and the solar idol of Heliopolis be shattered. Only reverent whispers were to be heard as the symbol of the Sun-god was moved to its proper place in front of St. Peter's. When the job was completed, hundreds of church bells rang out, cannons roared, and the crowds cheered wildly. Coming forth from the cathedral, Pope Sixtus approached the sun pillar and blessed and dedicated it to the "cross." Then, entering St. Peter's at the head of a procession, he performed a solemn mass in its honor, and pronounced a blessing on the workmen and their horses.

Domenico Fontana became the hero of Rome, and Pope Sixtus V sent official announcements to foreign governments. It was clear to all that the Religion of Rome had achieved a new climax in greatness.

The red granite Obelisk of the Vatican can be seen today in the immense circular court in front of St. Peter's. In the exact center of 248 large Doric-style columns (which alone cost nearly a million dollars), stands the sun-red obelisk. Weighing 320 tons, it stands 83 feet high, on top of a 49-foot foundation 132 feet in all.

The great Obelisk of the ancient "City of the Sun" is back home again-standing Once more at the entrance to the largest church in town. .to identify it.

It is back at the center of worship in the City of the Sun.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a sheet of paper containing 95 protests to the door of the University Church in Wittenberg, Germany. That day marks the beginning of the Great Reformation.

But that Reformation was never completed, for Luther and his associates had so recently come out of the darkness of Catholic error, that they only partially perceived those errors. We are deeply thankful for what they did, but the work they began is yet to be finished.

When the Reformation burst upon Europe in the Sixteenth Century, Rome determined to crush out the interest of the people in returning to Bible religion. The three primary methods used to extinguish Protestantism were warfare, Jesuit espionage, and the Council of Trent.

The Council of Trent was convened by the pope and continued from December 13, 1545 to December 4, 1563. Its assigned purpose was to clarify Roman Catholic doctrine in order to strengthen the Church in its fight against Protestantism. It is generally considered to have been one of the most important councils in the history of Romanism.

Every basic modern doctrine of Catholicism finds its foundation in the decisions affirmed at the Council of Trent.

"From a doctrinal and disciplinary point of view, it was the most important council in the history of the Roman church, fixing her distinctive faith and practise in relation to the Protestant Evangelical churches." Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, article entitled "Council of Trent. "

The Protestants had launched a campaign that all doctrine must be brought to the test of the Inspired Word. And if not found there it must be rejected. This deep truth lies at the heart of Protestantism.

But Rome was determined to overthrow that truth and again bring the people into bondage to its errors. How they were to do this was the question, for there was a division in the Church over the primacy of Tradition.

The Roman Catholic Church had always been founded on the words of men ("Tradition"), with a sprinkling of the Word of God ("Scripture"). They had always declared Tradition to be superior to Scripture in every dispute over worship, doctrine or practice.

And what is "Tradition?" It is the sayings of men. It is the decisions of Roman Catholic councils, the decrees of its popes, and the words of its canonized saints.

"Like two sacred rivers flowing from Paradise, the Bible and divine Tradition contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truths.

"Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, TRADITION is to us more clear and safe." [Full caps theirs] Joseph F. Di Bruno. Catholic Belief. 1884 ed.. p. 45. [Di Bruno was an Italian Catholic priest and writer.]

"Some of the truths that have been handed down to us by Tradition and are not recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are the following: That there are just seven sacraments; that there is a purgatory; that, in the new law [Roman Catholic "Canon Law"] , Sunday should be kept holy instead of the Sabbath; that infants should be baptized, and that there are precisely seventy-two books in the Bible [66 in our Bible that are inspired, plus 6 apocryphal books)." Francis I. Butler, Holy Family Catechism, No.3, p. 63 [Butler (1859-?) was Catholic priest of Boston and an author of a series of catechisms].

But when the Council of Trent convened, there was a battle over this matter. Should Tradition rule over the Bible, or should they carry equal authority? Should the Bible be considered more authoritative, or should Tradition be set aside entirely?

There was much bickering over this matter at Trent. Protestantism was making a powerful attack on Romish beliefs, which were based on Tradition. Since Roman Catholic tradition was nothing more than a hodge-podge collection of confused sayings, many of the archbishops and cardinals attending this very important Catholic council naturally hesitated to officially announce that Tradition was the basis of the Roman Catholic Church.

But then came the deciding point and it came as a surprise.

What is not generally known is that the entire argument was settled in one day.

When Gaspar del Fosso, the Archbishop of Reggio, stood up and spoke on January 18, 1562, he decided once and for all the entire future course of Catholicism.

Rising to his feet, and calling for attention, he whole-heartedly praised Tradition and then made bitter jibes at those who wanted to downgrade its supremacy in the Church.

Since others had already spoken in defense of Tradition, what is it that made del Fosso's speech so decisive? It was this:

He reasoned that the Church of Rome was founded on Tradition and it and its beliefs would soon perish without it. Then he gave his punch line: He told the assembled delegates that the great proof that the doctrine of "Tradition-above-Scripture" must be right, was the fact that the Church of Rome had centuries earlier changed the Seventh-day Sabbath, which God Himself had commanded, to Sunday, the first day of the week.

Del Fosso declared that THIS proved that Tradition was more important than the Bible, for Church Tradition had presumed to change the very laws of GOD Himself, and had apparently succeeded! And what is more, del Fosso climaxed, the Protestants were obeying Rome and keeping Sunday also. That morning, Del Fosso made it clear that Sunday sacredness was the pivotal proof of the entire doctrinal structure of Catholicism.

His logical speech settled the matter. The tone of the gathering changed. Never again in the councils of Rome was a question to be raised in regard to the supreme authority of Roman Catholic Tradition. For Sunday-keeping had settled it. The fact that Rome had changed the Sabbath to Sunday and the fact that Protestants carefully obeyed the papacy by keeping it, was the "proof" needed to forever establish Rome's authority.

"Finally, at the last opening [session] on the eighteenth of January, 1562, their last scruple was set aside; the Archbishop of Reggio made a speech in which he openly declared that tradition stood above Scripture. The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the church had changed the Sabbath into Sunday, not by the command of Christ but by its own authority. With this, to be sure, the last illusion was destroyed, and it was declared that tradition does not signify antiquity, but continual inspiration." J. H. Holtzman, Canon and Tradition, p. 263.

Oddly enough, the Protestant leaders who presented the Augsburg Confession, a little over thirty years earlier, had recognized this very fact that Rome's authority was keyed to her attempted change of the Bible Sabbath:

"They [the Catholic bishops] allege the changing of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the church's power to be very great, because it hath done away with a precept of the Decalogue. "

"But of this question ours do thus teach: that the Bishops have no power to ordain any thing contrary to the Gospel, as was showed before." from the Augsburg Confession, quoted in Library of Original Sources, Volume 5, pp. 173-174.

Soon after this confession of Protestant faith was made at Augsburg, Germany, in 1530, the Reformers and their followers found themselves deluged in war and intrigue. Fighting for the faith they already had, indeed, for their very lives, they had little time to carry the Reformation further and rediscover many of the Biblical truths buried under centuries of error and speculation.

But the Catholic leaders knew, and they tell us in their writings:

"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles ..From beginning to end of scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.

"It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodist, 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." Priest Brady, in an address at Elizabeth, N.J. on March 17, 1903, reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. News of March 18, 1903.

The Sunday as a day of the week set apart for the obligatory public worship of Almighty God is purely a creation of the Catholic Church." John Gilmary Shea, in The American Catholic Quarterly Review, January, 1883, p. 139 [Shea, (1824-1892) was an important Catholic historian of his time].

"Protestants ..accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change. .But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950 [One of the largest U.S. Roman Catholic magazines].

"If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal in a letter dated February 10, 1920.

"Protestants often deride the authority of Church tradition, and claim to be directed by the Bible only; yet they, too, have been guided by customs of the ancient Church, which find no warrant in the Bible, but rest on Church tradition only! A striking instance of this is the following: The first positive command in the Decalogue is to 'Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy: ..But the Sabbath Day, the observance of which God commanded, was our Saturday. Yet who among either Catholics or Protestants, except a sect or two, ever kept that commandment now? None. Why is this? The Bible which Protestants claim to obey exclusively, gives no authorization for the substitution of the first day of the week for the seventh. On what authority, therefore, have they done so? Plainly on the authority of that very Catholic Church which they abandoned, and whose traditions they condemn."-John L. Stoddard. Rebuilding a Lost Faith, p. 80 [Stoddard (1850-1931 ) was an agnostic writer most of his life, who later was converted to Catholicism] .

"Now the [Catholic] Church. .Instituted by God's authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory. . We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday." Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About, 1927, p. 236 [Jesuit theologian and writer].

"The Catholic Church for over one thousand yean before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. .But the Protestant says: 'How can I receive the teachings of an apostate Church?' How, we ask, have you managed to receive her teaching all your life, in direct opposition to your recognized teacher, the Bible, on the Sabbath question?"- The Christian Sabbath, 2nd ed., published by the Catholic Mirror. [This Baltimore periodical was the official paper of Cardinal Gibbons..]

"If you follow the Bible alone there can be no question that you are obliged to keep Saturday holy, since that is the day especially prescribed by Almighty God to be kept holy to the Lord." Priest F.G. Lentz, The Question Box, 1900, p. 98 [Lentz (d. 1917) was a Catholic priest and writer, based in the Illinois area] .

Yes, now we understand. The Sun day and the worship of God on that day instead of on the Bible Sabbath IS THE MARK of Rome's authority in religious matters.

Oh, that more people understood this! Oh, that everyone would leave the mark of Rome and return to the symbol of obedience to the true God the Sign of creation, sanctification and salvation.

"Keep the Sabbath. .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 31:16-17.

"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." Exodus 31:13.

"Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Ezekiel 20: 12.

"And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20.

Yes, it is time to return to God's Sign of Creation, Sanctification and Salvation. It is time to flee the Mark of Roman Babylon.

"Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone.

"The Bible says 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.

And Lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." Priest Thomas Enright, CSSR, President of Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Mo., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, and printed in the Hartford Kansas Weekly Call, February 22, 1884, and in the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal in June 1893, p. 173-

Cardinal Gibbons was the leading Roman Catholic spokesman for the Vatican in America at the turn of the century. He wrote the well known "Faith of our Fathers" which went through many printings.

A letter addressed to his office brought the following reply:

"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act.. AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power." from the office of Cardinal Gibbons, through Chancellor H.F. Thomas, November 11, 1895.

For us, who live down in earth's final hour, these are facts too serious to be ignored. Knowing the truth about the Bible Sabbath and the Sun-day, we must individually make our decision.

For the end is just ahead.