MISTAKES 'SOME' SABBATHARIANS MAKE REGARDING THE DAY OF WORSHIP.

 MISTAKES 'SOME' SABBATHARIANS MAKE REGARDING THE DAY OF WORSHIP.

B.I.C. Abeiku Okai

Anathallo Chapel Int.

(+233) 0249287855

Having once been a Sabbatharian myself, baptized as a Sabbath Observing Christian within the Judeo-Christian tradition, and through my interactions with other Sabbatharians and their perspectives on the Sabbath day and Sunday worship, I've identified several misconceptions that I aim to clarify and correct.

1. Only those who go to church on Saturday are saved or will be saved. 

But the Bible says,

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

It is not only Sabbatharians who call on Jesus as Lord. There are many who go to church on Saturday but never really believe Jesus is Lord - they have made Moses their Lord, and all they overemphasise is the Ten Commandments, not really Christ. But salvation is never dependent upon the day a person goes to church. 

2. Every Christian must go to church on Saturday. 

But this is what the Bible says,

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." (Romans 14:5)

In Christianity, no particular day is too special compared to another. If you choose to attend church on a particular day because you deem it special, that's cool. Condemn no man for not sharing that same thought. We attend our morning service on Sunday because Jesus resurrected on Sunday. Therefore, going to church on Sunday is a means by which we celebrate the resurrection and meet as brethren. It is not a means by which we seek salvation.

3. It is mandatory for all Christians to worship God on Saturday. 

But this is what the Bible says,

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

Limiting the worship of God to a day is a great mistake. We worship God every day in spirit and in truth. In fact, going to church is only a small part of worship. Worshipping God is a lifestyle. That's what the New Creation Life is about, not Saturday or Sunday.

4. Those who go to church on Sunday are Anti-Christ.

But this is what the Bible says,

"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son." (1st John 2:22)

The antichrist is not somebody who attends church on Sunday, my Sabbath brethren. It is those who deny and oppose Jesus. But we believe in the Father and the Son, and Him we serve in sincere worship, not in a day's worship.

5. Those who go to church on Sunday break God's Law - specifically the fourth Commandment of the Ten Commandments. Going to church on Saturday means observance of the commandments of God, leading to righteousness.

But this is what the Bible says,

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Gal. 2:21).

If anybody could be saved by the Ten Commandments, then Christ died in vain.

6. Those who go to church on Sunday worship the Sun god because that day was dedicated by the Roman pagans to the worship of the sun.

But Saturday was also dedicated by the same Roman pagans to the worship of the planet Saturn, hence the name Saturday. Would that mean Sabbatharians also worship the planet Saturn because they attend church on Saturday? If it's true for Christians who go to church on Sunday, then it should be true for Sabbatharians also that they worship the planet.

7. Obedience of the Commandment means observing Saturday or the Sabbath day. 

But Jesus said,

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." (John 13:34)

Loving one another is the commandment given to the New Creation. We are sent out to express Christ to the world through love, not self-righteousness and boasting in the law. Joseph didn't need the Ten Commandments to avoid fornication, neither will we need it to live a morally clean life. What we have is Christ to follow, not the Ten Commandments to carry. Whoever follows Christ fulfills the Law of Christ. 

8. Constantine changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in 321 AD. 

But that's historically inaccurate. Constantine only declared Sunday as a day of rest for the Empire, not the church. This is what Constantine decreed;

"On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed" (Codex Justinianus lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380, note 1).

Long before AD 321, records of early Christians not observing Saturday but Sunday, ie 'The Lord's Day', exist. For example, in AD 110, Ignatius wrote,

"If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e., the Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death … (Ignatius, Letter to the Magnesians 9)"

In AD 150, Justin Martyr also wrote,

"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. … [then a description of communion given as well] (Justin Martyr, First Apology 67)

Ignatius also wrote in AD 110,

Those who have been brought up in the ancient order of things [i.e., converted Jews] have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath but living in observance of the Lord's day.

–Ignatius, Magnesians 10, A.D. 110

These are historical facts with dates long before AD 321 when Constantine merely made Sunday a holiday in his Empire, not a change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Sunday was long acknowledged and observed from the days of the Apostles and the early church. 

Acts 20:7

"On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people …" 

1 Corinthians 16:2, 

"On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made."

Above all arguments, let me leave you with what Apostle Paul wrote in AD 60:

"Let no one judge you concerning food or drink, or in regard to a feast, new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of coming things, but the body belongs to Christ."

- Colossians 2:16-17. 

B.I.C. Abeiku Okai is the Founder and General Steward of Anathallo Chapel Int. 

Share