How was the Sabbath Changed to Sunday?

This has to be one of the most controversial questions asked by Christians in these end times that we live. Many are asking, what day is the Sabbath or why Sunday is the Sabbath for most denominations but not for many others, while a growing number of Churches are actually switching back to Saturday which is the Seventh day. Here is a list of over five hundred of these Sabbath keeping denominations.

Some say that Emperor Constantine changed the Sabbath while others say the Catholic Church or the Pope are responsible but then others say this is not possible as some early Christians were keeping Sunday as early as 100 A.D. (which is true) before the Catholic Church instituted a law forbidding resting on the Seventh Day Sabbath.

The reason for the confusion and apparent contradictions is because there were many steps involved in the change of the Sabbath to Sunday that occurred over a long period of time. Why over time? Because Satan has to effect his deceptions slowly over time to avoid being noticed. So provided below is the full story in brief detail on how the Sabbath to Sunday change occurred.

Since the obvious goal of Satan is to get Christians living in wilful, un-repented sin, our adversary set out to do the obvious, which was to attack the Ten Commandment law of God. It is clear to most that it is sin to break nine of the Commandments but not so obvious that it is sin to break the Sabbath Commandment. Thus the easiest Commandment for Satan to attack was the fourth Commandment, which defines that it is God whom we love and worship, and that it is God who sanctifies us when we keep His Sabbath day holy. Exodus 31:13, Exodus 31:16-17, Ezekiel 20:20.

Scripture reveals that Satan desired to be worshipped like God and so our adversary set out to institute his own day and achieve worship in place of God while also achieving a victory over God by robbing God of the worship He desired on His Holy day. (Isaiah 14:12-14) How many know that the occult is typically reversed (an occult cross for example is upside down) and why Satan's counterfeit Sabbath is also the occult equivalent? That is, 6:1 versus 1:6.

The first six days are normal but the 7th day is the “Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Remember that the occult uses the reverse symbol or is the opposite (in opposition) to God. So if Sunday was Satan's plan for a day of worship then his week would be the reverse of God's week. Instead of being the 6:1 principle it would be 1:6. As seen from the table above, this is the case and so it is not just two days side by side. It is the occult equivalent and this is not by chance but Satan's choice. Read the origin of Babylon and Sun worship for full detail on God's 1:6 principle.

Satan begins the change by introducing idolatrous sun worship, which he also knew God despised. Sun worship was rampant in Babylon until its fall to the Medes and Persians in 539 B.C. which resulted in the Babylonian priests and their pagan practices eventually ending up in Rome and Alexandria just over a century before Christ was born.

Note the following quote from the Church historian Socrates Scholasticus (5th century), “For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [of the Lord’s Supper] on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this.” – Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5, ch. 22.

The religious practices of the Babylonian priests eventually found their way right into the Church of Rome to the point where people began calling Rome the “New Babylon.” Early Christians used the word “Babylon” as a code word for Rome to avoid persecution from that pagan power. (1 Peter 5:13) Many historians say it was like the entire city of Rome converted overnight to Christianity but it was the Babylonian religion that was brought into the Church. This made it easy for its followers to convert to Christianity though it was not a genuine conversion of course.

The Romans initially accepted the Jewish leaders and their traditions but this soon changed. In 70 A.D. the Jewish temple was destroyed by the Roman army and persecution for Judaism was growing fast. By as early as 90-100 A.D. some of the early Church fathers began moving away from anything that “appeared” Jewish to avoid persecution for apparent Judaism. Since many Christians were also worshipping the SUN on SUN-day, some said, “Let's keep Sunday and say it is in honour of the resurrection.” And so began some of the earliest Sabbath keeping on Sunday but significantly ONLY in Rome and Alexandria where sun worship was prevalent. Other areas were still observing Saturday which also corroborates the part of pagan sun worship in changing the day.

Though now a professed Christian, Constantine was also a devout sun worshipper and planned to unite paganism and Christianity to strengthen his disintegrating empire. He knew pagans worshiped the sun on “the first day of the week,” and that many in Rome and Alexandria had changed to a Sunday Sabbath to avoid persecution. So on March 7, 321 A.D., Constantine passed his national Sunday law.

Now nearly 300 years after the cross, SUN-day worship in Rome had really taken hold and so Christians now begun calling Sunday the Lord's Day instead of Saturday. Note carefully the following historical quote. “In the year 325, Sylvester, Bishop of Rome (AD 314-337), officially changed the title of the first day, calling it the Lord's day.” (Lucium, Historia Ecclesiastica, p. 739)

As the Papal Church grew in power, it opposed Sabbath observance in favour of Sunday sacredness and outlawed resting on the Sabbath in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364).

Canon XXIX: “Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.”

While resting on the Sabbath was outlawed in favour of resting on Sunday according to Constantine’s Sunday Law, Cannon law 16 that was also issued by the Bishops in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363-364) confirms very significantly that Christians were still worshipping on the Sabbath.

Canon XVI: “The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath [i.e. Saturday], with the other Scriptures.”

The fact that the council of Laodicea found it necessary to deal with this issue is indisputable evidence that more than 330 years after the cross that there were many who were still observing the Sabbath according to the Commandment.

The change of the Sabbath to Sunday was completed by the seventh century as the Popes persecuted all who resisted their innovations. Anyone found keeping the Seventh day Sabbath were persecuted and burnt at the stake. Watch a reenactment of a true story of someone being burnt for keeping the Sabbath. Centuries later when the Protestant reformation began, the fourth Commandment had been almost murdered out of existence by the Roman Catholic Church, and so as all the new Protestant Churches began, they continued keeping Sunday in ignorance. This is the reason why so many think Sunday is the Sabbath.

Please read who moved the Sabbath to Sunday for more detail on the above and the following related topics for more insight. Read also the Sabbath to Sunday change and did Constantine change the Sabbath.