Is Sunday the Mark of the Beast? I am on a mailing list that sends out articles, sermon outlines, and occasional questions. The following question was submitted by a brother in Christ. A fellow worker that he had been studying with mentioned the following. The poor guy was obviously trying to study and learn the bible and I want to help him but i dont even know where to begin on this one.. He told me that his pastor was teaching on revelation and that he had been told that the mark of the beast was of all things Sunday I had never heard that one before. It gets worse than that he stated that all the people who receive the mark were the ones who violate gods law by worshiping on Sunday and not the Sabbath. He said that his Pastor told him that anybody who goes to church service on Sunday were the ones who received the mark of the beast and were going to hell. The brother in Christ was asking for help on this subject since he had never heard it before. If one goes on the internet they will find numerous postings on this subject. The Seventh Day Adventist does teach this as their official doctrine. To quote some of their sources: Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the beast. ... The reception of his mark must be something that involves the greatest offense that can be committed against God. (The Marvel of Nations, Elder U. Smith pages 170, 183) Here we find the mark of the beast. The very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, on the part of the Catholic church, without any authority from the Bible. (Ellen G. White, The Mark of the Beast, page 23) The Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast. (Advent Review, Vol. I, No. 2, August, 1850.) The change of the Sabbath is the sign or mark of the authority of the Romish church. ... The keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath is the reception of the mark. (Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, Vol. 4, page 281. The mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping. A law will enforce this upon Seventh-day Adventists. They wont obey. Then they will be outlawed, persecuted, and condemned to death! Of all the wild Advent speculations in the prophecies, this deserves to stand among the wildest. (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced by D.M. Canright, 1914) Sunday-keeping is an institution of the first beast, and ALL who submit to obey this institution emphatically worship the first beast and receive his mark, the mark of the beast. .... Those who worship the beast and his image by observing the first day are certainly idolaters, as were the worshippers of the golden calf. (Advent Review Extra, pages 10 and 11, August, 1850) the Seventh day, Saturday, must be kept; that keeping Sunday is the mark of the beast; that all should pay tithes; that Mrs. White is inspired as were the writers of the Bible; that the Bible must be interpreted to harmonize with her writings (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced by D.M. Canright, 1914) Let us look at some of the statements listed above. First and foremost is the claim that Mrs. White was inspired by God and the Bible must harmonize with her instead of her harmonizing with the Bible. I wonder if the Seventh Day Adventist would accept that premise with Mohammad. Muslims say Mohammad was inspired by God and we must accept his word over the Bible. If one accepts the inspiration of the Bible, 2 Timothy 3.16-17, then one must accept the fact that God is not the author of confusion but peace, 1 Corinthians 14.33. The test is not whether one agrees with the Bible but whether one can prove their doctrine by the Bible. Christians were told to test the spirits in 1 John 4.1. We do that today by reading the Bible and seeing if what is taught is backed up by scriptures or not. Not the other way around. There is also the claim that Sunday worship did not exist until the Catholic Church introduced it. Where is the proof of such a charge? Even if one can find a council conducted by the Catholic Church stating Sunday worship, it does not mean it was started by them. For instance, one may find a creed book stating that the Lord’s Supper is to be observed every Sunday. The practice did not start with that denomination or creed book but in the 1st Century. Acts 20.7 teaches us that Christians met together on Sunday to break bread. In that passage the breaking of bread does not refer to a common meal but the Lord’s Supper. The same can be said in regards to Sunday being the day the Christians met to worship. How would I confront the teaching that Sunday is the mark of the beast? I would ask him which day is the Sabbath in the Old Testament, specifically in Genesis. Then God say everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 1.31– 2.4). This to get him to understand that it was the seventh day God sanctified. I would then ask when Sabbath Day observance was instituted and to whom? This to get him to understand it was not instituted until the 10 Commandments was given at Mount Sinai. Exodus 20.8-11 is the first time we read of man being commanded by God to be observed. True it does point back ward to the creation but no where in Genesis can we find God commanding man to observe the Sabbath or read of man doing so. I would also stress that the command to observe the Sabbath was given only to the nation of Israel. This was never required of the Gentiles. One interesting fact is, of all the sins listed against the Gentiles, breaking the Sabbath is never mentioned. This was due to them never being under the 10 commandments. Finally I would ask what day of the week was Jesus resurrected? Mark 16.2 states it was on the first day of the week when they came to the tomb to find Jesus’ body was gone. The first day of the week is not the seventh day of the week. Matthew 28.1 reads, Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. The first day of the week is Sunday and not Saturday. What day of the week did the Holy Spirit come upon the Apostles in Acts 2? Verse one states it was on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles. Jesus was crucified on Friday, According to John 19, Jesus was buried in verse 41. Verse 42 calls it the Jews’ Preparation Day. Mark 15.42 specifically mentions it was the day before the Sabbath. That Sabbath was the Passover. John 19.31 tells us that Sabbath was a high day meaning it was not only a Sabbath but the Passover. Pentecost was 50 days after the Sabbath, Saturday. Therefore, Pentecost came on Sunday. What day of the week was the church at Corinth coming together in 1 Corinthians 16.1-2? 2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. What day of the week was the Lords Supper observed in Acts 20.7? 7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. (Emphasis mine, D.T.) The answer to all of the above questions is the first day of the week, Sunday. Find one passage where Christians came to worship on the Sabbath in the book of Acts. Find one passage in the letters written by the inspired writers from Acts on here Sabbath day observance is commanded for us today. Show me one passage giving us an example of the church in the first century coming together on a Saturday to observe the Lord’s Supper. Or one passage necessarily inferring that Christians in Acts kept the Sabbath Day. That is how I would approach this teaching. — Dennis Tucker
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 08:15:10 +0000
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