Holy Sabbath #4

And in this Holy Sabbath number four, we are going to cover: how did it get started, the shift from Sabbath to Sunday? And we will also see who started it, when it was started, and how it happened. Because it’s very important for us to understand the history of it. Now first of all, I would like to read a quote... I don’t have it exactly quoted, but this is from memory. And it goes something like this from an unknown author: “When lies have been taught and believed by the masses for generations and hundreds of years, when the truth is revealed the speaker will be considered a raving lunatic.” And so there are going to be some people who consider what we are speaking on here, what I have been doing concerning the Holy Sabbath, to be a raving lunatic. But even Christ was called mad. And so that puts me in very good company if people feel that way. That’s why we need to follow the Bible. And the Bible, as we have seen, is the truth of God. And the Bible is what gives us the understanding that we know. And all through the Bible we have seen that everywhere, Old Testament and New Testament, it only upholds the seventh-day Sabbath as the weekly day which God has commanded us to keep.

Now let’s go back to Exodus 20, and let’s read that commandment again. And let’s look at it from the point of view, and we’ll analyze it just a little bit more so we will understand it very thoroughly. Because this is so profound, as we have seen, that this command also has a separate perpetual covenant, as we saw in Exodus 31. So it is to be perpetual. And we have also seen that it’s not just the weekly Sabbath, but that is also the annual Sabbaths. Now there are quite a few people who believe in the weekly Sabbath and keep it, like the Seventh-Day Adventists. They believe it. They preach it. As a matter of fact, I’m going to read some of the writings of the Seventh-Day Adventists concerning the Sabbath when we get closer to the end of the sermon. Because he has some very good information.

And the Church of God Seventh-Day is another church that does that. The Seventh-Day Baptist, and there are also some other scattered smaller churches that keep the Sabbath. Now in Fairview, Oklahoma, there is a Sabbath association which lists all the Sabbath-keeping churches that they know of in the world. And there are some 500 different organizations, including the Seventh-Day Adventists, and the Seventh-Day Baptist, and the Church of God Seventh-Day, which keep the Sabbath. So keeping the Sabbath is not a strange and unusual thing. Except for those who are only used to Sunday and have never heard concerning the Sabbath.

Now Exodus 20:8. And this command is a positive command. You have no room for choice to figure one day in seven. A lot of people say, “Well, one day in seven is good enough for me. That’s good enough for God, it’s good enough for me.” Well, that isn’t what He says here. Let’s read it, verse 8: “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:…” (Ex. 20:8-10). And that means He owns it. It is His. He defines for us what we should and should not do. He is the one Who is God Who has given the commandments. He is the one Who created it, as we saw. Now also, notice something here very clearly: the seventh day and the Sabbath, then, are equated as one. It’s not just one day in seven, but the seventh day. And God has kept the calendar, wherever it has been, as a perpetual thing concerning the Sabbath from creation so that there is no time lost, although some people claim that there has been.

“...In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for...” (vs. 10-11). Here’s one of the reasons for the Sabbath - you recognize God as Creator. And if people would keep the Sabbath there would be no problem with evolution. Because they would know that there is God Who is supreme, Who is Creator, Who is Lawgiver, Who gives us all the commandments that He has because He loves us. And all the commandments of the law, and all the prophets, as we saw last time, all hang on the command of loving God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being. So as we saw, if you do not love God you do not keep the Sabbath. If you do love God you will keep the Sabbath. Now there are a lot of people who have everything all confused because of Sunday, and they say they love God. But how can they love God when every week they’re breaking the commandments concerning the Sabbath?

Now verse 11, “...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.” That is, He made it holy. Now how did all of this get started? Let’s come to Matthew 24. Christ gave us warnings over and over again. And as a matter of fact, if you would like to have a good Bible study, you get out your concordance and you go ahead and look up beguile, deceive, deceiving, deceiveth, and so forth; and you will see that Satan has been active. Because he is the one who is deceiving the whole world, as we will see in just a minute. Because Christ gave us this warning, the very first thing that He told His disciples.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 3. “And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?” Number two, “…and what shallbe the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world [or the end of the age]? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:3-5). And this is what has happened. And Sunday has been taught for so long and so loud, and so thoroughly, and so accepted, even under the pain of death, that people believe in many cases that this Sunday is the Sabbath. And as a matter of fact, in Europe, they have calendars where they have moved Sunday from the first day of the week to the seventh day of the week. They haven’t changed the number of the day of the month; they just changed the placement in the week. But that does not make Sunday the seventh day of the week, because it is the first day of the week. And known all down through the centuries, because the Jews know which day is the Sabbath day.

And there could be no doubt that today, called Saturday, is the seventh day of the week. But Satan is busy. And Satan is active. And Satan has his agents who are out there preaching his false doctrine, preaching his Sunday as Sabbath. Now let’s go to Revelation 12:9 and let’s see something that is very profound. We live in a day of lies in government, in religion, in our lives. Our daily lives are fraught with all sorts of fantasies and fiction. And all of that comes from Satan the devil. Now here, Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth [and that means, is deceiving] the whole world:...” Now you need to understand that. And it says also, “...he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

So Satan has legions of demons, who are called principalities and powers; the spiritual and elemental forces of this world. And they lead the world, and they guide the world, because God has turned it over to Satan the devil. And as we will see a little later, he is called the god of this world. And so he does everything he can to go against God, to go against the commandments of God, to go against the love of God, to go against the truth of God; to ridicule, to besmirch it, to destroy it if he can. And we will see that he can’t.

Now how did it get started in the church? Let’s turn back to the book of Jude, just a few pages forward here from Revelation. Jude is a small book just before the book of Revelation in the King James version of the Bible. And we will see that this was a deliberate, planned attack by Satan to deceive the church and those who call themselves Christian. And we will see here with the book of Jude, at the time that he wrote, which was in the late 60’s or early 70’s A.D., and that the church was already getting way off the track. And that things were happening and transpiring that were coming against the brethren. They were giving up the faith. They were following those men who taught Sunday. And as we will see little later, I’ll read to you the historical account how a lot of this came out of Alexandria, Egypt.

Now let’s read it here in verse 3. “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful [and that means, it was absolutely necessary] for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Now let me ask you a question: are you earnestly contending for the faith of Jesus Christ that was delivered to the saints, the truth of God, the commandments of God, the love of God, the faith of God, all through the Spirit of God? Are you contending for that? Or are you just sort of muddling along in what I might call a lukewarm, Laodicean rut? Now if you are, watch out. Because you can be deceived. And we’ve seen one of the largest Sabbath-keeping churches in the world be deceived and give up on the Sabbath. And now they are enforcing Sunday. And they are doing exactly what those people did in those days, as we find in the book of 3 John. Those who were the presumptuous ministers were casting out the true ministers; they were retaining the false brethren and casting out the true brethren. And that’s how bad it got.

But let’s go back and see how it got started. Let’s come to Galatians 1, and let’s see what Paul said. It happened immediately. Satan is there immediately to try and take away from people the truth of God. He is there ever to deceive. And he sends oh-such nice, wonderful, comforting messages. And he applies power, and he applies persecution. And he has his agents to do their inquisitions, and their killing, and martyring so that other people will see that as a lesson to not try and go God’s way. But God will never be defeated in that, and the true Christians will never be defeated in it. But here is what he wrote to the Galatians. Verse 6, “I marvel [or I’m amazed] that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another;...” Meaning there is only one true gospel, and that is the gospel of grace, of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the Kingdom of God. There is only one true gospel and that is contained in the New Testament. There is not another. It does not matter how many so-called “early church fathers” did their writings. They are not inspired of God. And they set the tradition where they began keeping Sunday.

“...But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-7). And that’s what’s happened. They’ve perverted It. They perverted it with Sunday-keeping, with Christmas, with Easter, with all kinds of lies. “But though we,...” Now I want you to understand how serious, what we’re talking about, that it really is before God. And I want you to understand, it’s not a matter of choice. We have no choice. We either keep the Sabbath or we don’t. And if you choose to keep the... Let’s back it up this way and say, you do have a choice to keep it or not keep it. But in the final analysis, that choice is between good and evil. It’s not between something that is good versus something else that is good. Sabbath is good because God created it and it is part of His Ten Commandments. Sunday, the first day of the week, is not good; it is evil, because it is a lie, and it’s false, and it comes from Satan, and it is the day of the sun-god. So in that sense, if you want to be a true Christian… Let me phrase it this way - if you want to be a true Christian, you have no choice but to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. No other day has God ever sanctioned.

Now notice this, verse 8, “But though we [that is, Paul or Titus, or Timothy, or any of the other ministers that were with him, or any of the other apostles], or an angel from heaven,...” And remember, Satan the devil was Lucifer, who was an angel that fell from heaven, right? And he rebelled against God. “...Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Now you think about that. If you think that you have salvation through Sunday-keeping, you better stop and think long and hard about that, because the truth is you do not. Can you have salvation with a lie? Can you have salvation with you being deceived and not knowing the truth of God? The answer is, no.

Now notice again. He says this twice. So this is very important. You may want to really think about this. Now if you’re a Sunday-keeper, and you keep Christmas, and Easter, and all of that sort of thing; or if you’re a Catholic, and you bow down to idols; or if you’re a Hindu and you have 10,000 gods; or if you’re a Muslim and you worship Allah, and you worship on the sixth day of the week, you need to think long and hard about what this says here, and what the Word of God really means. So He repeats it again. Verse 9, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that [which] ye have received, let him be accursed.” Now what does “accursed” mean? “Accursed” means that you are cut off from God and headed to the lake of fire. So all of those teachers who reject the Sabbath and reject the commandments of God and say the commandments have been done away, they are in jeopardy of losing any chance of salvation, and going into the lake of fire. Because they are preaching and teaching lies.

Verse 10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men?...” Sunday is very pleasing to men. After all, everybody goes to church on Sunday, don’t they? No they don’t. But Sunday is pleasing to men. “...For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Now every teacher and minister needs to think about that very deeply and very hard. Because unless you teach the words of God, teach the truth of God, and preach the true gospel, in spite of the fact that some people might not like it. If you change it to please men, then you cannot be serving God. Now we need to know and understand how serious this is concerning Sabbath and Sunday. Or any other day.

Now let’s continue on. Let’s come to 2 Corinthians 2. Now there’s quite a bit here in 2 Corinthians concerning those who would be perverting the gospel and how they did it, and the means of doing so. And here’s one thing that’s important: the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “Show yourself approved unto God, a workman rightly dividing the word of truth.” Now that’s a very profound and important statement that Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15. You have to rightly divide the truth of God. Just because a man will stand in a pulpit and open the Bible and say, “My text for today is...” and read it, and then give his ideas in his sermon and twist and turn the Scriptures, if you don’t understand the Scriptures you’re going to be deceived. Because you see, reading and quoting Scriptures alone is no guarantee of truth. We’ll see that in just a minute.

2 Corinthians 2, and let’s pick it up here in verse 17, the very last verse. “For we are not as many,...” Now notice, even in Paul’s day, “...as many, which corrupt the word of God:...” I want you to think about that. How much more it is corrupted even today? I could give two or three sermons on what has happened to the text of the Bible, which is now in the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible and the RSV. They are perverted. They have corrupted the Word of God. They have removed in some cases as many as 63,000 words from the Bible. Now you need to get the book, the New Age Bible Versions and you need to read that. Because if you use a New International Version, you have already taken the first step toward deception. You need to understand that.

“Many...” And they were doing it there. But Paul says, “...[but we] but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” In other words, he was only looking to God. He was accountable to Him. He wasn’t looking to men. He was not out there to please himself. He was not out there to please other people. Now all you have to do is read 1 Corinthians, and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians to understand that.

Now let’s come to 2 Corinthians 4:1. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,...” And the hidden things of dishonesty, then, are those things which are the first steps to preaching deception. “...Not walking in craftiness,…” Meaning, not having a secret agenda. And we have seen that in some Sabbath-keeping churches of God, where there have been those men who have snuck in, just like Jude said, unawares, who sat there and waited for decades. But they had a crafty agenda and as soon as they had the opportunity to seize the power, which they did, they began introducing damnable heresies. And we will see what Peter has to say about that a little later on.

“...Nor handling the word of God deceitfully;...” Now how do you handle the Word of God deceitfully? You improperly put the Scriptures together. You come along and you allegorize it. And the Catholic Church is famous for allegorizing Scriptures, by saying, “It doesn’t mean the literal thing that you read. But there is a story in it, because this is a myth for us to gain truth.” Which is a contradictory statement. Because a myth is a lie. And you can’t gain truth from a myth. Another way of handling the Word of God deceitfully is to lock it up in a little sanctuary over the altar and never let anyone read it. Another way is to go through and read a Scripture, which we’ll do next time, concerning the first day of the week and say, “See? They kept the first day of the week.” That’s handling the Word of God deceitfully.

“...But by manifestation of the truth...” (vs. 2). Now let’s just stop here for a minute and let’s understand something concerning truth. We’ll come back here. So hold your place in 2 Corinthians 4. Let’s go to John 17. Let’s right here stop and ask the question, what is the truth? Now when Christ was being tried, Pilate said to Christ, when He spoke, he said, “What is truth?” That’s the way most people are today. They don’t know what truth is. And furthermore, most of them don’t care. Because if they hear the truth, the one who is speaking it becomes a raving lunatic, or stands in the way of their deceitful lustful way of living and living in the lies that they enjoy. Now here, John 17:17, Jesus’ prayer is this: “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”

So the Word of God is truth. And Christ is truth. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And God is a God of truth. And as I mentioned last time, is it possible for anyone to truly worship the God of truth with lies? How can that be? How can such a thing ever take place?

Now let’s continue on with what is truth. Let’s go to Psalm 119. And there are three verses here that very clearly tell us what truth is. Remember Paul said, “By manifestation of the truth.” Now let’s see what that is. Psalm 119, and let’s go to verse 142. Now Psalm 119 is a very long psalm. There are 172 verses, by the way. And I believe that this Psalm really gives us the prophetic view that Jesus had of the commandments of God. Remember, Jesus always did the will of God. Remember that Jesus always did the things that pleased God, didn’t He? Yes, He did. So why don’t you do a thorough study of all of Psalm 119, and see how it exalts and upholds the laws of God, the statutes of God, the judgments of God, the commandments of God, the testimonies of God, the precepts of God, the love of God, and all of those things are there. This really is New Testament doctrine on how a converted person needs to view the Word of God. Did you know that? And if you knew that, then you would want to keep the Sabbath.

Now verse 142, “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,…” Now let’s go back and understand something. Since all the commandments of God are righteousness, and His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness - God was righteous before He created the world; He was righteous in the way that He did it; He was righteous in giving the Sabbath and creating it and giving it to all of mankind; He was righteous in giving the laws and commandments to Israel; He was righteous in His dealings with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; He was righteous with Christ, and Christ was righteous to us. And it’s an everlasting righteousness; and we are to have the righteousness of Christ. Now notice what follows: “…And Thy law is the truth.”

So when Paul talks about the manifestation of the truth, nowhere does he go against the commandments of God, but he magnifies them. Let’s come down here to verse 151. “Thou art near, O LORD, and all Thy commandments are truth.” Can anything be more plain than that? Is the Sabbath truth, then? Is the seventh-day Sabbath the truth of God and what we should keep? And can you worship God on that day, with full knowledge and understanding that it is truth, and receive a blessing from God, and grow in grace and knowledge, and receive salvation from God, and righteousness from God? Absolutely. No doubt about it.

Verse 160, “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” I said 172 verses; I fell short by four. It’s 176. Let’s come here to verse 172 now. “My tongue shall speak of Thy word:…” That’s what needs to be when there is any preaching. Teaching and preaching the wholesome words of Jesus Christ. Can there be anything greater than preaching the Words of God which He has inspired and given and preserved for us? No. “…For all Thy commandments are righteousness.” So since God is Lawgiver, and He gave the laws and commandments, they are all righteous.

Now let’s come back to 2 Corinthians 4 for just a minute, and let’s finish this up. Let’s read it again, beginning in verse 2. “…But have renounced…” given up; forsaken in the watery grave of baptism, “…the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid [from] to them that are lost:…” Now if you don’t understand the truth about the Sabbath, you are in a category that you could be lost. Now that may come as a shock, since, here’s the whole world doing it. You need to think on it.

Verse 4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,…” Now we started out where Satan is deceiving the whole world. And he has blinded the minds of those who believe not. If you don’t believe in the Sabbath, how can you believe in the true Christ? Because Christ, as we saw, kept the Sabbath. Christ, as we saw, was Creator of the Sabbath. Before He came in the flesh He was the Lord God of the Old Testament Who created the Sabbath, Who gave it to mankind, Who commanded Israel, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” So if you don’t believe it…

Now notice what happens if you don’t believe it. If you take what I’m saying and say, “Well, that’s just one of these lunatic preachers out there, and he’s just stuck on this Sabbath day. And all these people in the world can’t be wrong. And all these religious leaders can’t be wrong...” I’ll show you they know they are wrong, a little later here. They are. Notice what happens: “…lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (vs. 4). So they cut themselves off from the knowledge of God and the truth of God, “…if you believe not…” Let’s phrase it another way. If you believe that Sunday is the day to worship on, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath, then you are blinding your minds and letting Satan blind your mind, and you cannot see the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You may use His name; you may read Scriptures; you may sing songs. But it’s all your own righteousness. It’s not from God. Because the righteousness of God comes from His commandments. The righteousness of God comes from the imputing the righteousness of Christ to those who repent, and are baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. And He is not going to give His Holy Spirit to anyone who doesn’t obey Him.

Here, let’s go to Acts 5 for just a minute, and let’s see that. This is very, very important. Because a lot of people get up there and say, “Well how can we be wrong? When I go to Sunday services I feel so good.” Well Satan wants it to feel good. As long as you’re deceived he wants you to feel just wonderful about it. But notice what Peter said here when they were hauled before the Sanhedrin for preaching Christ. Verse 29, after they said, “Didn’t we command you…” Let’s go back to verse 28, where the Sanhedrin said, “…Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:28-29).

Now you also have that choice, don’t you? Are you willing to obey God rather than men? Are you willing to step out on faith and forsake Sunday, and Christmas, and Easter, and all of the pagan holidays of this world, and obey God? And as we covered last time, to seek Him in Spirit and in truth? Well, that’s something only you can answer. If you are, then you need to move away from Sunday. You need to repent of Sunday-keeping. You need to repent of Christmas-keeping; you need to repent of Easter-keeping; you need to repent of keeping the so-called “Lord’s Supper.” Now if you don’t have the book, The Christian Passover, you need to write for it. Because that will fully explain the whole gospel of God, the meaning of the life of Christ, the meaning of His sacrifice, the meaning of His death, the meaning of what we do when we partake of the Christian Passover.

And the so-called “Lord’s Supper” is just another one of these deceitful perversions that men have lied to you about. It’s not the truth of God. It is not of God. Those things cannot be of God. And they are not of God, and they are not going to be of God. And God will never sanctify it, God will never approve it, and God will never accept it. Now how do I know that? Let’s go to…here – hold your place right here…let’s finish this, and then we’ll go to Matthew 7. “We ought to obey God rather then men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, Whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand tobe a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy [Spirit] Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him” (vs. 30-32). Now you can’t receive the Holy Spirit unless you’re willing to repent of your sins and obey God. Jesus said, as we covered last time, “If you love Me keep My commandments.”

Now let’s go to Matthew 7 and let’s see what we have here. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 15, because we’ll come back to what Christ already said concerning false prophets. That should be another study that you should go through: read all the places concerning false prophets. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” And I have yet to see one of them come up and say, “Hey, I am a ravening wolf.” No. He’ll come up and purr and be sanctimonious, and pet your hand, and pat you on the back, and say nice, sweet things to you. Because he’s an agent of Satan the devil, to lead you away from God. So if he’s nice, and he appears sincere, or he appears to be dynamic, “Well then, he’s got to be a man from God.” Wrong. Whom God sends speaks the words of God. And if they don’t speak the words of God, then God never sent him.

Continuing now, verse 16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” And you judge the fruits by the commandments of God. “Do men gathered grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” Because it’s the roots. If they are rooted in Christ it will bring forth good fruit. If it’s not rooted in Christ it’s going to bring forth evil fruit regardless of how good it looks. Remember the account of Adam and Eve? And Eve looked at the fruit and saw that she desired it, that it was pleasant, that it was a fruit to make one wise. But it was corrupt fruit. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (vs. 16-20).

Then Jesus goes on to explain it a little bit further. Verse 21, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth [is doing]...” And the Greek word for “doeth” there, as it is in the King James, which is a present tense participle, meaning “doing,” is poieo, which means “practicing.” “…But the one who [is practicing] the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Now are you practicing the will of God? Is not the seventh-day Sabbath the will of God? Is not every word of God the will of God? Stop and think about it a minute. And if it’s the will of God, can any man come and declare the will of God to be null and void? Well he can, but is God going to oblige him by making His will null and void? Of course not.

“…But he who doeth [is practicing] the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day [and that’s the judgment day] Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name?” They use the name Lord Jesus, and as Jesus said, deceive many. “…And in Thy name have cast out devils [demons]? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?” “Why Lord, we had churches, we had hospitals, we had hospice, we had all the things to feed the poor. We clothed all…we did all of those things. And yes, we had them – we even trained them where they would have Mass every morning. Oh, they were so righteous, they would come into the cathedral and bow down to the Virgin Mary, and do all of the rituals just right.” Verse 23, “And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity [or, lawlessness]” (vs. 21-23). That is, being against the laws of God.

Now let’s come back to 2 Corinthians 11, and let’s see some more encounters that the apostle Paul had with false prophets and false apostles; and even how the Corinthians, all caught up in their carnal religion - which God’s way is not a religion - and all choosing up sides with men: “I’m of Peter; I am of Apollos; I am of Paul; I am of Christ.” And they were being deceived by false prophets coming in. And they gave them good credentials. Credentials don’t mean anything if the truth is not spoken. 1 Corinthians 11. Let’s take a look at it.

Part 2

I beg your pardon, if I said 1 Corinthians 11, its 2 Corinthians 11. So I’ll give you time to get over there to 2 Corinthians 11. Now let’s begin in verse 1. And sometimes we have to be a little sarcastic or cynical like the apostle Paul was here, because of what these false apostles were doing. Verse 1, “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with [a] godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:1-2). Now this means this: anyone who is a true Christian, who has received the Holy Spirit of God, and is betrothed to Christ by that Spirit through baptism to become the bride of Christ, they are to remain virgins. But if they go out and dabble in false religions and get involved in lies and believe false apostles, then they lose their virginity. Now they may be able to repent and still be saved, but the question is open - will they still be part of the bride of Christ? Well, God will have to make that decision.

Now verse 3. And he’s talking to those who were supposed to be converted. “But I fear, lest by any means [or that is, any way possible], as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,…” And there’s only one. Now if in your church you have pictures of a long-haired Jesus, you have another Jesus. First of all, you’re not to have any pictures, because that’s an idol. Second, long hair is a shame for a man to have, and Jesus never sinned, so He never had long hair. That’s another Jesus. “…Whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit,…” one of the elemental spirits of this world, which come through vain philosophy. “…Which ye have not received, or another gospel,…” There we go again - another gospel. They’re changing, and twisting, and perverting the gospel. And that’s what happens when they change from Sabbath to Sunday. They changed and perverted and twisted and turned it upside-down and did away with the holy days of God; did away with the Christian Passover. Look - if you’re just beginning to understand about the Sabbath and coming out of Sunday, let me tell you, you better hurry up and really start getting with it. Because there’s not much time for you to know and understand the truth. And you have been so deceived, that for me to say it with the urgency that I am, maybe you consider me a raving lunatic. Well I don’t know. That’s up to you.

Another Jesus, or another spirit, “…which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might will bear with him.” And that means, “Why, you just count it all wonderful. Oh, isn’t that lovely!” “For I suppose [Paul said] I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles” (vs. 4-5). Has no reference to Peter. This is these hot-shot false apostles, as we will see here in just a minute. Now let’s come down here to verse 13. “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers [because they are agents of Satan the devil], transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” Meaning God never called them. God never intended them to be preaching and teaching or to be apostles. They took it presumptuously upon themselves at the behest of Satan the devil, and deceitfully said they are representatives of Christ.

And the greatest one on earth who has done that today is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He is not of God, never has been of God, and he is doing the deceitful things that are all throughout the Bible. He leads people into idolatry; he leads people into sin; he absolutely denounces Sabbath-keeping, denounces holy day-keeping, denounces and said that we should never literally interpret the Bible. Now if that offends you and I sound like a raving lunatic, then you are in deep trouble with God. Because that is the truth.

Now let’s continue. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” And we just read that in Matthew 7, didn’t we? Yes we did. “I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh,…” (vs. 14-15). Glorying after the flesh is all these great ceremonies, all of these great cathedrals, all of the money, all of the pomp, all of the ceremony; “Oh, how great this man is; how great that man is.” Glory after the flesh. If you go through the rosary, and you go to the Vatican and you are there when the Pope comes out and you bow down, you are going after the flesh. Those are all fleshly things.

“For ye suffer fools gladly,…” Allow fools gladly. Listen - the truth is, if you believe that Sunday-keeping and what those Sunday-keeping preachers teach you, you are accepting fools gladly. Think about it. If they are teaching you to sin they are teaching you foolishness. “…Seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer [or that is, you allow it], if a man bring you into bondage…” And that’s what happens if you go to Sunday-keeping. You are in the bondage of sin. “…If a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I” (vs. 19-22).

Now what does this tell us? This tells us that there were those going around saying, “Well, I’m from Jerusalem. Well, I’m from Judea. Well, I am from Galilee. I was there when Jesus healed all those people. And He was a wonderful, lovely man. But since then we have a new revelation. We have a new thing that we have added to the gospel.” He said, “…So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?…” (vs. 23). And the Greek here actually means in the next sentence, “I speak as insane.” Now they are not the ministers of Christ. So if I sound like a raving lunatic to you, you have the shoe on the wrong foot. All those false preachers who believe in Sunday and teach these things are the ones who are insane.

Now let’s come to 2 Thessalonians 2, and we will see that in the very first epistle that the apostle Paul ever wrote, that the mystery of iniquity was already working. And we see through 1 John, and 2 John, and 3 John - and we will go to 2 Peter right after this in just a minute - that all of these false teachers and prophets were coming in and twisting and turning the gospel upside down, and leading disciples astray, and getting them to believe in false doctrines. Now here, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth [is holding back] will let [hold back], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [one] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thes. 2:7-8).

We’re coming on a day when all the religions of the world are going to do just like they did in the days of Constantine. We’ll see that. They all were given all freedom of worship, including Christians, if they would keep Sunday. We’re coming back to a One World religion, and it’s going to happen in our time. And that is the one right here, verse 9, “…Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,…” Weeping Madonna’s; bleeding crucifixes; fire from heaven, as Revelation 13 shows. Great and undeniable miracles. And it will look like a lamb, but it will speak as a dragon, because it will speak against the way of God and bring in all of the satanic religions in it. “…And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness…” Do you think that you can stand against all the deceivableness of unrighteousness if you are not on God’s side, if you don’t have the Spirit of God, if you don’t know the Word of God, if you don’t understand the truth of God? Do you think that you can stand that day? No way. You are going to perish. It says, “…in them that perish;…” Now notice the reason: “…because they received not the love of the truth,…” (vs. 9-10).

We already discovered what the truth is, right? And if you don’t love the truth… and let’s back up to the subject of the Sabbath, now. If you don’t love the Sabbath, and if you don’t love the holy days of God - which are part of the Word of God - and if you don’t love the commandments of God, and the Word of God, and the law of God, you do not love the truth. And if you don’t believe what I have read to you from the Scriptures here, you do not believe the truth. So a penalty is going to come upon you which is going to come upon the whole world, because they don’t love the truth. They love to live in fantasyland; they love to believe in a lie. And everything about our modern life is built upon, religiously and economically, on lies and Satanism and demonism. And that is the truth. So what’s going to happen if you don’t believe the truth? Here it is right here. “…Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them [a] strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:…” (vs. 10-11).

Now when that happens, all of those who believe the lies will believe it with the same intensity and sincerity that they should believe the truth. But it’s a strong delusion. And it is coming. So let me ask you the question: do you want to be deceived? Do you want this strong delusion to come upon you because you won’t believe the truth? Or do you want to really come to God and repent and be baptized and receive the Spirit of God, and to know the love of God, and the truth of God, and to do the things that are pleasing in His sight? The choice is yours. God has set before you life and death, good and evil, but He commands you to choose life and to love Him.

Now let’s finish the question, how did all of this get started? Before we get there I want to read some things concerning: “Do they know?” Do the liars know they’re lying? Let’s just put it that way. Do the liars know that they are lying? And we will see the answer is “yes.” Because you see, when a liar comes to the point that he is so confident, he will brag on his lies. And let’s read it here. Here’s a Catholic admission concerning the Sabbath day. Now we already read the Scripture where the priests have “hid their eyes from My Sabbath.” And they’ve hidden them. “Incidentally, there is no proof in Scripture that God willed the Sabbath to be changed from Saturday to Sunday. So that those non-Catholics who do not accept the value of tradition as a source of faith…” Because, see, the Catholics say this: “We believe in the Bible, and the traditions of the fathers, and the words of the Pope.” God said no such thing. Jesus said you need to believe the Word of God. All the traditions that we have seen go against God’s way. “So those non-Catholics who do not accept the value of tradition as a source of faith should logically still observe Saturday as the Sabbath.” And this is from This IsThe Faith: Catholic Theology For Laymen, by Francis J. Ripley, page 176.

Now here is from Faith Of Our Fathers, by Cardinal Gibbons, who wrote The Rise and Fall Of the Roman Empire. He says, “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation…” Now that’s the whole Bible. Does he know that that is true? Yes. Notice - they are admitting that they are enforcing a non-Biblical thing. So therefore they are enforcing a lie, and they are bragging about their lies, and bragging about their power and authority. “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctified.”

Now here’s another one concerning Sunday. And this is…let’s see…where is this from here? Ok. “Take for instance the day we...” This is from The Catholic Sunday: “What right have the Protestant churches to observe that day?…” And you see, the truth is, the Protestant Reformation started out really fine, and was going great guns. But it got stopped and it was never finished. And now all roads lead back to Rome. And it’s all over the Sabbath-Sunday issue. “Take for instance the day we celebrate: Sunday. What right do the Protestant churches have to observe that day? None whatsoever. You [that is, Protestants] say it is to obey the commandment, ‘Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.’ But Sunday is not the Sabbath according to the Bible and the record of time.” Now that includes all the places where it is the first day of the week. That includes all the excuses about “time has been lost.” They know better. Everyone knows that Sunday is the first day of the week, while Sabbath is the seventh-day.

“…And the Sabbath is the consecrated day of rest. It is so recognized in all civilized nations. It was the Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week.” Now we’re going to see they did it secondarily. It was the pagan Roman emperor Constantine, whom the Roman Catholics look upon as being Christian, but he was never a Christian, as we will see. “It was the Holy Catholic Church…” And there’s nothing holy about the Catholic Church, by the way. God calls it an abomination and the mother of harlots. “…That change the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week. It is not only compelled to keep Sunday, but at the Council of Laodicea in A.D. 364 they anathemized those who kept the Sabbath and urged all people to labor on the Sabbath under penalty of anathema. Which church does the whole civilized world obey? Protestants call us every horrible name they can think of: Ant-Christ, the Scarlet Coloured Beast, Babylon, and etcetera; and at the same time profess great reverence for the Bible. And yet their solemn act of keeping Sunday, in that they acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church.” Quite an admission, isn’t it? “The Bible says, ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.’ But the Catholic Church says, ‘No - keep the first day of the week,’ and the whole world bows in obedience.” Now that is arrogance at its height. And this is by Father T. Enright, Roman Catholic priest, Kansas City, Missouri.

Now let’s read some Protestant admissions. Do they know? Do the leaders of the religions of this world know? Yes. “The Lord’s Day is not sanctified by any specific command, or by any inevitable inference. In all the New Testament there is no hint or suggestion of a legal obligation binding upon any man, whether saint or sinner, to observe that day.” And that’s from The Bible Question, page 52.

 Dr. R. W. Dale, British Congregationalist says, “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 command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday. There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday,” The Ten Commandments, page 127 and 129.

Alexander Campbell, founder of the Disciples of Christ said, “But say some, ‘It was changed from the seventh to the first day.’ Where? When? By whom? No man can tell.” Well, we’re going to see, yes, we can tell. “No, it was never changed, nor could it be, unless creation was gone through again. For the reasons assigned must be changed before the observance in respect to the reason can be changed. It is all old wives’ fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week. The first day of the week which is now commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The first day of the week is never call the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not any place in the Bible, any intimation of such a change.” The First Day Observance, pages 17 and 19.

Now let me read you some quotes here. And this is taken from S.D.A. Outreach Organization, and its says, “Who changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? Was it the Roman Catholic Church? The Roman Catholic Church says yes, it was the Council of Laodicea in 364 A.D. But that was secondary. It was changed by Constantine.”

Now let’s go to Daniel 7 first, and let’s read a prophecy of how it was to be changed. And it was changed. And it was changed by the little horn; that is, the one that raised itself up. A lot of people think that’s the papacy, but it’s not. It was Constantine. Now it says here, verse 24, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change the times and laws:…” It’s exactly what has happened with Sabbath-Sunday, and Christmas, and Easter, and all of that. “…And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Dan. 7:24-25). And it comes right down to the second coming of Christ.

So let’s pick up here. This is very important. “It is claimed that Constantine’s edict of March 7, 321 A.D. changed the day. Constantine’s edict reads: ‘On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and the people residing in cities rest. Let all workshops be closed…’” Now we need to understand: Sunday laws are coming again. They are being pushed in Europe right now, and they are being pushed from a supposedly non-religious sense through economics, by saying we have better, more stable economics if we all have one day of rest. “‘…Let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agricultural may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits.’”

Now there are many other things, and I’ll read some of these the next time. But what I want to read here is the story, or the history of Constantine, the man who changed the Christian church. Because Constantine was the most important figure to amalgamate those professing Christians and pagans, and bring them into a position where the Roman Catholic Church could be formed. Now this is going to be a little long, and it may be a little tedious. But I want you to listen at the profound message that this says, and the true history of it:

“As far is the history of Christianity is concerned, Constantine was one of the most influential men that ever lived. From the time that the Bible ended, about the year A.D. 96…” So it’s very important to understand that the Catholics did not have anything to do with the canonization of the text. It was the apostles of Christ. And it was finished by the time John died, which is pretty close here, “…A.D. 96. From that time until Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door in 1517…” which was October 11, 1517. And by the way, the Catholics and Lutherans have signed a concordant that they are all back together again; and they signed it in the Wittenberg Cathedral where Martin Luther nailed the theses to the door. So Lutheranism is dead. Protestantism is dead. The last coffin that’s going to come into Protestantism is going to be when the monarchy of England allows a Catholic to sit on the throne. The Reformation will be dead in Europe. And the only singular place it will be left is in the United States of America, and Canada, and perhaps Australia and New Zealand.

“There was no single person that so changed the course of church history as did Constantine. Indeed, his influence was so vast that it continues to tower over Christendom to our own time, both in church customs and in church government. We owe a lot to Constantine’s intervention. It is for that reason that this biography has been prepared. Here is the man who changed history. If you are a Christian you will want to read this brief story, for it will explain many things to you. Without a clear understanding of what took place during the life of Constantine it is difficult to understand the simple pure life, doctrines, and church government that the people of God had before he came on the scene.

“After the crucifixion the followers of Christ carried the good news of salvation to lands near and far off. But that message was carried in spite of the rulers of Rome, who worshiped heathen deities and frowned on the new religion. In the two hundred and forty years between A.D. 64 and 304, there were several major persecutions of Christians by Roman emperors. Fortunately each period of persecution was short-lived, or the faithful followers of Christ would have been blotted from the earth. Yet, as it always does, persecution had a purifying effect on Christians, whether they were located in the wicked cities or out in the farmlands. In the province of God problems and trials were needed, for many of the Christians were gradually uniting with the world in the observance of heathen beliefs and practices. A surprisingly large number of pagan concepts that entered into the Christian church in the first three centuries of the Christian era originated in Alexandria, Egypt, or in the city of Rome.

“For some reason, those two local Christian churches where more modernizing than most other congregations. At that time Alexandria was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. A worldly Christian seminary was located there and its faculty occupied itself with an ongoing new modeling of the Christian faith. Heathen ideas from pagan religions in Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Asia Minor where explored, adopted, and taught to the ministerial students at the seminary. From there the ideas had a way of going to Rome, where the leaders of the local church there divided their time between copying worldly customs and trying to urge their adoption by all the other Christian organizations in the Roman Empire. In brief, Alexandria was surprisingly innovative in transforming Egyptian, Persian, Babylonian, and Greek paganism into Christianity, and Rome was amazingly bold in seeking to acquire acceptance of those new ideas in other Christian churches.

“It is interesting to note that the very same thing happened to Mithra. Just as soon as the essential aspects of Mithraism had been officially brought into the Catholic Church Mithraism disappeared within a century. Mithra was no longer needed, for his worship was now within the Christian church…” And we’ll rephrase that and say the false Christian Church, which became to be called Catholic. “Who was Mithra? In the Roman Empire he was the most important pagan god of the first three centuries after the time of Christ. In order to better understand Mithraism, we need to go back in history. The various days of the week in ancient times were called ‘the first day,’ ‘the second day,’ etcetera. Those were their Bible names. But just before the birth of Christ they were given new names - the day of the sun, the day of the moon, etcetera, which is Sunday and Monday, in honor of different heavenly bodies. This is known as the planetary week. Each day was ruled over by a different god, but the most important of them was the Sun-god that ruled over the first day of the week. It was his day, the day of the sun, and all the worship of the week had its focus on the worship of the sun on the first day.

“Now although these names of the week are relatively new, the worship of the sun-god was not. It was one of the most ancient forms of worship, and is represented by the solar disk worship found on nearly every continent in the world. Fawcett tells us that sun worship was the earliest idolatry.” Now then, he explains how that comes through ancient Israel too. “Now this is where Mithra comes in. Just as the planetary week - each day named for different planets in the sky - played a very important part in the worship of the sun, so Mithra became important as the leading sun-god after the time of Christ. By the beginning of the first century Mithraism had become the largest sun worship cult in the western world. Within the next two hundred years it became the largest pagan religion in the Roman Empire, surpassing all others. The Romans called him by the new name, Sol Invictus: ‘Invincible Sun’…” And we’ll see later, that’s what Constantine was told to conquer by.

“It is impossible to properly explain the dramatic changes that took place in Christianity without mentioning Mithraism. For during the first three centuries after the death of Christ it became the greatest pagan rival of Christianity. In Mithraism was an outstanding counterfeit. It had such features as a dying and raising god-savior; special religious suppers; special holy days, and the weekly cycle that was different than that of the Christians’, the Sun-day. An introductory baptism of its converts in the blood of a slain bull, as well as several other similarities. It counterfeited the religion of the true God more cleverly than any other religion up to that time in history. Mithra was especially worshiped by the Roman soldiers. And wherever they went throughout the Empire they spread the worship of Mithraism. When Augustus Caesar became emperor several decades before the birth of Christ, Mithraism was already spreading westward from Asia into Europe and throughout the Roman Empire. Since it was the Roman generals that frequently took command on the death of an emperor, this hastened the spread of Mithraism.

“As might be expected, within the passing of time the more worldly Christians of the Roman Empire began keeping the first day of the week, as well as the seventh day…” And that’s exactly what happened when they took down the largest Sabbath-keeping church in the world. They started keeping Saturday and Sunday, and they gave them the option as to what to do.

Now continuing, “By the middle of the second century, Mithra worship was very popular among influential Romans. Antonius Pious, emperor from A.D. 138 to 161, erected a temple to Mithra at one of the seaports just a few miles from the city of Rome. The emperor Alurian (A.D. 270 to 275), whose mother was a priestess of the Sun, made the solar cult the official religion of the Empire. His biographer, Flavius Volpiscus, tells us that the priest of the Sun temple were called ‘pontiffs’…” Same name that the Pope has today – pontiff. “…They were priests of their dying, rising savior, Mithra, and reigned as vice-regents of Mithra.” And that’s exactly what the Pope says he is today: he is vice-regent of Christ. So it’s another Christ. Not the true Christ, but the false Christ.

“Under Emperor Antonius Pious, Mithra was by official decree entitled, ‘Sol Dominus Imperial Romani’ – ‘The Son, the Lord of the Roman Empire.’ And his holy day was declared to be the Lord’s Day. This name and his other names – ‘Sol Invicto’ (Invincible Sun) appeared together on his coinage. Sun worship continued to be the official religion of the empire until the time of Constantine. Cumat, Olcott, and other scholars clearly show that December 25th was the yearly date of the annual birth of Mithra. On that date his followers held a special celebration of the fact that the sun was beginning to rise again higher in the sky. It was the lowest at the winter solstice, December 21^st, and not until the 25th could its rising be clearly seen. This birthday of the sun-god was made an official holiday in the Roman Empire by Alurian, about the year 273 A.D. And here is what Willesden Rocker, well known church historian, has to say about this: ‘December 25^th…’” And I think it’s kind of ironic, because the Seventh-Day Adventist, now many of them keep Christmas and yet they know the truth.

“…‘December 25th was a great pagan festival, that of Sol Invictus, which celebrated the victory of light over darkness and the lengthening of the sun’s rays at the winter solstice. This assimilation of Christ to the sun-god as “the sun of righteousness” was widespread in the fourth century and was furthered by Constantine’s legislation on Sunday, which is not related to the fact that the sun-god was a titular divinity of his [that is, Constantine’s] family.’ The Christians living in the larger cities of the empire were gradually leaning toward pagan practices while their rural brethren more carefully maintained the true faith. The people of God were gradually nearing a crises, and only the intermittent persecutions kept them relatively pure. But then Constantine entered the picture, and the Christian church has never been the same since. Here’s how it came about…”

Well I’m looking at my time and I only have my five minutes left. So I’m going to go ahead and end it here, and say, “to be continued the next time.” But I think it’s very important that we understand the profound history behind the deception that brought about a change from Sabbath to Sunday. And that I think it’s very profound that all of the religious leaders know better. They know it. They understand it; but now they have been dumbed down to the point that they say, “Well, it doesn’t make any difference. We just all need to love God and get along together.”

Listen - love does not exist in a vacuum. Love is just not a fuzzy warm feeling, that everybody gets along with each other, and everything’s fine, and you never say anything contrary. That’s how people get deceived. Love requires faith, obedience, commandments, loyalty, dedication, the Spirit of God. You want to talk about the love of the world? That’s what they have. The love of God is an entirely different thing. And the love of God will separate you from the world, because God is calling us out of the world, calling us out of Sunday-keeping, calling us out of Christmas-keeping, and Easter-keeping, and Lord’s Supper, and Eucharist, and all those pagan things that the world has accepted as Christian. And so I’ll finish where I began: that if what I have said makes you think I’m a raving lunatic, then you have been deceived.