"The Earth Belongs to HaShem and the Fullness Thereof."

The Fourth Commandment

Honoring the Day of HaShem
Part Three: How the Sabbath Day was Stolen

Go to: Part One: The Sabbath Day (this page)

Go to: Part Two: The Sabbath Day in the Gospels

Go to: Part Three: How the Sabbath Day was Stolen (this page)

Or read this study On My Blog

So now the question comes, since HaShem ordained Shabbat before the Fall, before Noah, before Abraham and before Moses, and since we know that Master Y'shua honored the Sabbath and ordered his disiples and their followers to continue observing for all time... What happened to Shabbat?

That's the topic of this section of the study. I hope you have read parts one and two first as this section builds on those.

In 70 CE the Roman legions, under Titus, attacked the city of Jerusalem destroying the Temple and causing the majority of Jews, including the followers or Master Y'shua, to flee for their lives.

The followers of Master Y'shua were largely rejected by the rest of the Jews over his teachings. As they entered the Diaspora therefore the two groups grew farther and farther apart.

Having lost the Holy Temple the Jews had to drastically restructure Judaism into what we today call Orthodox Rabbinical Judaism (Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism did not flower for hundreds of years. Karaite and other minor forms of Judaism have their own fascinating histories).

Unlike their ethnically isolationist Jewish brothers, the Jewish followers of Master Y'shua were missionary minded and on a mission. As they introduced the Gentiles to the Way they moved into their communities and merged with their cultures. They intermarried and gradually lost all traces of their Jewish roots and culture. Forgetting the Jewish traditions their beliefs gradually changed. Through this process the followers of Y'shua converted a great many Gentiles to the Way but as they did so their movement gradually lost its biblical identity and came to resemble that of their Pagan neighbors more and more.

From the earliest days this presented a major problem for the Way. To what degree should they maintain their Jewish identity, and moreover to what degree must Gentile converts conform to Jewish tradition (i.e. with regard to circumcision, forbidden foods etc)? This is a common topic in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts, as such issues were hammered out.

This issue is important and directly related to the loss of Shabbat and thus bears a bit of space here to discuss.

While visiting Galatia Paul accuses Peter and others of going too far in this mixing of cultures. What's worse, they did so hypocritically! In this section of the text we can glean important insight into how the Way became the Roman Church!

Galatians 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I [Paul] withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

In part one of this series, and somewhat in part two, I discussed how HaShem had ordered His people to remain apart from the Gentiles. Most of the woes described in the Tanack had to do with the Jews embracing Pagan religions and doctrines after merging too closely with their cultures.

The followers of the Way were now facing the same dangers.

In order to lessen the persecutions and attract ever more followers they began compromising their beliefs. Rather than there being one Way as established by the Master suddenly there were many, each claiming to be true Way! There were groups of the Way embracing Gnostic teachings, Egyptian and Syrian mysticism and so on. The leaders of these groups began producing works that expressed their beliefs. Often they produced these words under assumed names. An example of these include:

• The Apocryphon of John
• The Apocalypse of Adam
• The Reality of the Rulers, Also known as The hypostasis of the Archons
• The Thunder-Perfect Mind
• The Three-fold First Thought (Trimorphic Protennoia)
• The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit (also known as the (Coptic) Gospel of the Egyptians)
• Zostrianos
• Allogenes
• The Three Steles of Seth

Others who considered themselves the true followers held to the Jewish roots of the Way. Despite this desire to maintain the original teachings, their doctrines were still sometimes diffused due to the diversity within first and second century Judaism. Some followers of the Way favored the Essene aestheticism, or that the Pharisees or the Sadducees doctrines influenced their beliefs while still others favored the various Nazarene and Ebionite sects that claimed to be based on the teachings of James and others. With so many of the Way leaders traveling, in prison or martyred it soon became debatable which form of the Way was the truest and whose teachings could be accepted. Deception and honest error was becoming rampant.

As in all such contests one party inevitably won. The Roman Papacy.

While there were countless hermits and other sincere seekers there were also those who dealt in the politics and power of religion and this meant working with Rome.

To survive and prosper in Rome one obeyed Roman law and Pagan religion was the heart of the empire. What was equally clear was that the Romans hated the Jews because they refused to have their God join the Roman pantheon! The memory of the sacking of Rome remained fresh in their minds and those who were identified with the Jews were hated.

To appease Rome and harmonize with its Pagan society certain doctrines were added while others were discarded. A bit here and bit there and soon there was spiritual confusion. In defense of these doctrinal changes forgeries and new writings were penned. Based on the likely dates of the Book of Barnabas it appears all but certain that it was not written by the biblical Barnabas. The Epistle of Barnabas, written circa 130 CE, is often cited in support of the change from Sabbath to Sunday however in truth it is simply an example of how Pagan converts to the Way sought to recreate it their own image:

Barnabas 15:9 Wherefore also we keep the eighth day for rejoicing, in the which also Jesus rose from the dead, and having been manifested ascended into the heavens.

'Like the Pagans, we also gather on the day of the Sol Invictus'. Nothing is completely certain when it comes to dating ancient writings, however books like the Epistle of Barnabas were rejected for the Christian canon and are not therefore accepted as scriptural support texts. Such works were produced in part because as the Way abandoned the teachings of Master Y'shua the new Roman religion needed a foundation for its new doctrines. When the time came to determine the canon these books were considered and rejected. Why? In my opinion because God was protecting those who sincerely wanted to know the truth. Some errors did creep in to the New Testament but had books like this been included we would have no evidence of how the Way was co-oped.

Men like Ignatius of Antioch (107 CE) were busily at work trying to redefine the Way in terms the Romans would accept. To this end he wrote:

"Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish Law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace… If, therefore, those who brought up in the ancient order of things 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.

Such men were openly promoting heresy but many of the Believers maintained their faith in Master Y'shua and his teachings. The Apostle John had warned that this heresy was taking root within the Church:

Romans 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

I discuss this in some detail in my study Identifying Babylon the Great.

The Nicolaitane Heresy refers to the mixing of God's truth with Pagan error.

Such early founders of the Roman Church referred to the doctrines of the Master as "old fables." They sought to create something new and replace the Way with it. They encouraged the Believers to abandon the Faith of Y'shua and adopt the Universal Roman Church. These were the pioneers who created Roman Catholicism, the Universal Church of the Roman Empire.

These were the architects of an entirely new religion that had little in common with the doctrines of Master Y'shua and the Holy Tanack. And yet as Prophet John foretold in Revelation two and three there were always true Believers within the Church seeking to reform and restore it.

Another of these Roman fathers opined:

"Furthermore, I do not suppose that you need to learn from me how ridiculous and unworthy of any argument are their scruples about food, their superstition about the Sabbath, their pride in circumcision, and their shame in fasting" (Letter to Diognetus, 125 AD).

Note the absolute arrogance as he derides those who maintain faith in the Holy Scriptures and teachings of HaShem! God calls His Sabbath holy and eternally sacred and this man calls it a superstition!

The obvious question is, should we side with the God who gave the Torah and declared Shabbat holy, who was preached by Master Y'shua, or should we accept the teachings of Gentile Romans who deliberately altered the teachings of the Torah, Tanack and Master Y'shua and changed the biblical day of worship to that of Sol Invictus?

Even men like Justin Martyr intentionally misrepresented the Bible's teachings in order to create a faith apart from its roots. Read his words carefully:

"On the day called Sunday all who live in the cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles of the writings of the prophets are read... But Sunday is the day on which we all hold a common assembly, because it is the first day of the week on which God made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead."

What's wrong with this? Only God's word!

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

These early Nicolaitane heretics could not support their doctrinal changes scripturally and so in some cases they wrote allegedly inspired books (like Barnabas above), they altered the words of what became the Bible, or they simply cited as evidence verses not found in the Scriptures as though they were! As most people were illiterate these lies were seldom discovered. Besides, as the Church's power increased disagreeing with the Pope became hazardous to ones health! A few years later the Vatican outlawed the reading of the Bible by everyone but priests and monks in order to stop opposition to their teachings! In time their doctrines came to be accepted as orthodoxy.

By the time the Protestant Reformers rose to oppose the Vatican so much had been forgotten and so much error had been accepted as Christian Orthodoxy that -- although their intentions were doubtless good -- they didn't understand how deeply the Way had been compromised. They focused on obvious heresies: the selling of indulgences, the transformation of Mary into a veritable goddess... but missed the more serious errors. For a complete list of the Ninety Five Thesis of the Reformation Click Here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Citing dates from the second century sounds conclusive but realize they are still over a hundred years after the time of the Master and thirty or forty after the sacking of Jerusalem that so fundamentally altered their world.

Despite these heresies, the Master said:

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Master Y'shua's teachings were supposed to guide the Way "even unto the end of the world" and yet within 300 years they had been so compromised that most people did not even know his essential teachings and viewed his Church with fear and mistrust.

The persecutions endured by the Way were severe and history is written by the victors: The Vatican won and Shabbat was lost to most Believers. The Roman Papacy fundamentally altered the Way of Master Y'shua into something not supported by the Bible nor by the teachings of the Master. They changed many of the essential doctrines, implemented Christianized holidays, rites and traditions that in some cases have no Christian basis and in others (like the Christmas tree) are directly condemned by the Holy Scriptures...

All the writings of the Church fathers combined can not alter the simple and obvious fact that Master Y'shua and his followers like all other Jews honored Shabbat, that the Sabbath was issued BY GOD at Genesis 2:3 and in countless subsequent verses including the Ten Commandments as the eternally observed day of rest in honor of God our creator.

There were several reasons why the followers of the Way allowed their movement to be usurped by the Roman Pagans. Some were Roman converts who genuinely didn't know any better, others due to the lack of biblical education accepted the new doctrine that God had changed His mind about Shabbat... but perhaps the main consideration was that embracing the newly emerging Roman religion meant an end to the persecutions. By embracing the reformed teachings of the Vatican the Believers made it clear to Rome that they were no longer Jews, that they, like the Romans, now renounced God's people completely; by rejecting Shabbat they turned their backs on the Jews and saved their skins. Antisemitism became a Christian virtue as the historic Passion Plays make clear. That this is true can be demonstrated in their own words:

Tertullian (200 AD) wrote:

"We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath.

This quote also demonstrates that Sabbath keeping was still an issue as of the third century CE. There were still followers of the Way who were trying to maintain Shabbat but the leaders and elders of the emerging Roman Church maintained their heretical work without respite.

In their ongoing efforts to transform the Way they employed direct lies:

"The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be services and reading of the holy Scriptures and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead" (The Didascalia, 225 AD).

Where did the Apostles EVER say this? They didn't!

Eusebius of Caesarea even directly equates Sunday observance with the Day of the Roman Sun God (Sol Invictus)!

"The day of the light... was the day of his Resurrection from the dead, which they say as being the one and only truly holyday and the Lord's Day."

This is very telling! The Way became the Church under the tutelage of Roman Pagans and was fundamentally altered into what Rome hoped would be the Universal ("catholic") religion. According to the prophets it will as the Mother Church of Babylon the Great. Every holiday celebrated by the Nicene Christian faith has its origins in Paganism. For instance:

Easter was celebrated long before the resurrection of the Master as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos.

It was sacred to:

• Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus
• Ashtoreth from ancient Israel [Baal's consort]
• Astarté from ancient Greece
• Demeter from Mycenae
• Hathor from ancient Egypt
• Ishtar from Assyria
• Kali, from India
• Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.
  And others.

Its no wonder the Universal religion abandoned the biblically mandated Sabbath!

The change from the Jewish Reform Movement of Master Y'shua to the New Religion formalized by Emperor Constantine (who was a lifelong worshiper of Sol Invictus and only converted to Christianity on his death bed) took about 300 years.

The abandonment of God's Holy Sabbath was finalized in 364 CE.

As the Catechism of Catholic Doctrine says on page 50 (3rd edition):

Question: Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodecea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.

For more on this topic see my Rise of the Universal Church study:

...we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews -- John 4:22

And Shabbat is the only day ever declared holy by the God of Israel

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Here ends my study Honoring the Day of HaShem

If you have any questions etc. feel free to write,

~ Ben Ruach ha Kodesh
~ John of AllFaith

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