Tag: sunday

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Daily Manna Devotionals

FROM EGYPTIAN SUN-WORSHIP TO TODAY’S SUNDAY-WORSHIP

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

FROM EGYPTIAN SUN-WORSHIP TO TODAY’S SUNDAY-WORSHIP

The Exodus Movement in the Old Testament for ancient Israel is the type of the Advent Movement for the Church in the New Testament. We often only associate the Exodus as God’s intervention to deliver from bondage and emancipate the Israelites from slave labor by their atheistic Egyptian masters headed by Pharaoh. While this is true there is a far deeper issue being addressed in these two major movements: the Sabbath!

Now this: Taylor Bunch, p. 15. Egypt in the Bible, particularly in prophecy, symbolizes atheism. “While the Egyptians worshipped many gods, their chief god was the sun. In fact all other gods were but various manifestations of the sun-god and his [alleged] creative power in nature. In ‘defining themselves with the idols of Egypt’ they worshipped ‘the hosts of heaven.’ Exo. 20:6-8; Acts 7: 39-42. When the children of Israel forgot the Creator and began to worship the creature, they also CEASED to celebrate the SIGN of the true God and the MEMORIAL of His creative power—the SABBATH. As the true Sabbath gradually lost significance to them they gradually adopted the COUNTERFEIT, the SIGN of idolatry and the memorial of sun-worship.

“The Egyptians dedicated the first day of the week to their first or chief god, Amon Ra, the sun. Since the king of Egypt was the chief pontiff of their religion and the high-priest of sun-worship, he took the dynastic title of PHARAOH which is the Hebrew rendering of Ph Ra—the sun. The Sun’s day finally became known as Sunday. ‘The wild solar holiday of all pagan times.’ – ‘The North British Review, Vol. 18, p. 409.

‘It is not to be denied but we borrowed the name of this day from the Ancient Greeks and Romans, and we allow that the old Egyptians worshipped the sun, and as a standing memorial of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their example, OTHER NATIONS, and among them the JEWS themselves, doing him homage.’- Morer, ‘Dialogue on the Lord’s Day,’ pp. 22,23.

“By the end of the fourth generation the Israelites were in such dense darkness and idolatry that they were but little better than the Egyptians themselves. They were at least SEMI-PAGANS with but little left of the faith and practice of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Exodus Movement was therefore a REFORMATION to lead Israel back to the knowledge of the true God; back to ‘the faith once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3). – Taylor Bunch, ‘Exodus and Advent Movements in Type and Antitype, pp. 15,16, Teach Services, Inc., Bruston, NY.

More on this specific sub-topic tomorrow, God willing, NMF.

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Devotionals

A UNIVERSAL RELIGION UNITING ALL RELIGIONS – REAL PURPOSE OF SUN-DAY WORSHIP BEGAN IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

A UNIVERSAL RELIGION UNITING ALL RELIGIONS – REAL PURPOSE OF SUN-DAY WORSHIP BEGAN IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The word catholic simply means “universal.”

“Dean H.H. Milman says: ‘It was openly asserted that the worship of the sun, under the name Elagabalus, was to SUPERSEDE all other worship. If we may believe the biographies in the Augustan history, A MORE AMBITIOUS SCHEME OF UNIVERSAL RELIGION had dawned upon the mind of the Emperor. The Jewish, the Samaritan, even the Christian, were to be FUSED and RECAST into ONE GREAT SYSTEM, of which the Sun was to be the central object of adoration.’ – ‘History of Christianity,’Vol. II, Book II, ch. 8, par. 22, pp. 178, 179. NY: 1881.

“Dr. Lewis further says that [Emperor] Aurelian, who reigned from
270-276 A.D., embellished the temple of the Sun with ‘above fifteen thousand pounds of gold.’—‘History of Sunday Legislation,’ p. 23.

“Emperor  Diocletian, who reigned from 284-305, appealed in the face of the army to the all-seeing Deity of the Sun.’ -Ibid, p. 24.

“Such were the influences that PRECEDED Constantine and surrounded him when he came into power. The following extract shows still plainer the CHARACTER of Constantine and his attitude toward the sun-worship CULTS, when the first ‘Sunday edict’ was issued:

‘But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the Sun, the Apollo of the Greek and Roman mythology…..The sun was UNIVERSALLY celebrated as the INVISiBLE guide and protector of Constantine.’- Ibid, pp. 26, 27. These facts combine to show that Sunday legislation was PURELY PAGAN IN ITS ORIGIN.” – Ibid, p. 31.” – Facfs of Faith, pp. 111, 112.

How can a true Bible-believing Christian ever hold in reverence and worship anything that is pagan/heathen, instead of Christian and from Christ Himself, in origin and practice?? The light of truth needs to shine and dispel the gross darkness covering the Christian world!  Do your part and God will be glorified!  NMF 

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Devotionals

BISHOPS OF DENMARK AND NORWAY HONESTLY ADDRESSED THE SABBATH-SUNDAY PROBLEM

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

BISHOPS OF DENMARK AND NORWAY HONESTLY ADDRESSED THE SABBATH-SUNDAY PROBLEM

“Bishop Skat Rordam, of Denmark, says:
‘As to  whom and how it became customary to keep the first day of the week the New Testament gives no information…..The first law about it was given by Constantine the Great, who in the year 321 ordained that all civil and shop work should cease in the CITIES, but AGrICULTURAL LABOR IN THE COUNTRY was permitted….

‘Still no one thought of basing this command to rest from labor on the 3rd [4th] commandment BEFORE the latter half of the SIXTH CENTURY. From that time on, little by little, it became the established doctrine of the church during its ‘DARK AGES,’ that the holy church [?] and its teachers, or the bishops of the Roman Pope at their head, as the Vicar of Christ and His holy apostles on earth [?!], had TRANSFERRED the Old Testament Sabbath with its glory and sanctity over unto the first day of the week.’ – ‘Report of the Second Ecclesiastical Meeting in Copenhagen, Sept. 13-15, 1897,’ P. Taaning, pp. 40, 41. Copenhagen, 1887.

“Bishop A. Grimelund, of Norway, says:
‘Now, summing up what HISTORY teaches regarding the ORIGIN of Sunday and the development of the doctrine about Sunday, then this is the sum: It is NOT the apostles, nor the early Christians, not the councils of the ancient church which have imprinted the NAME and STAMP of the Sabbath upon the Sunday, but it is the CHURCH OF THE MIDDLE AGES and its scholastic teachers.’- ‘Sondagen Histori’ (The History of Sunday), p. 37, Christiana: 1886.

‘What do we learn from this HISTORICAL REVIEW? ……That it is a doctrine which ORIGINATED IN THE PAPAL CHURCH that the sanctification of the Sunday is enjoined in the 3rd [4th] commandment, and that the essential and permanent in this commandment is a COMMAND from God [?!] to keep it holy one day each week.’ -Ibid, pp. 47, 48.”- “Facts of Faith,” Christian Edwardson, Southern Publishing Asso.,(Revised), 1943, p.108.

“Stamp” is synonymous with “mark,” “seal,” and “sign.” It is critical that we know for a certainty when the Dark Ages began, and what three things had to happen before the papacy could be fully formed!

Stay tuned and connected; remain on the prophetic track we are on! Bless all, NMF 

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Devotionals

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, THE LORD’S DAY, CHRISTIANITY, AND ROMANISM (Part VII)

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:  MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, THE LORD’S DAY, CHRISTIANITY, AND ROMANISM (Part VII)  “Cardinal Newman says:  Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon-worship to an evangelical use, the rulers of the Church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to ADOPT, to IMITATE, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the EDUCATED CLASS……  “The same reason, the NEED OF HOLY DAYS for the multitude, is assigned by ORIGEN, St. Gregory’s master, to explain the establishment of the LORD’S DAY……..  “We are told in various ways by EUSEBIUS, that CONSTANTINE, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, TRANSFERRED into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own…..Incense, lamps, and candles, holy water; asylums, holy days, and seasons, the ring in marriage, turning to east [Easter Sunday morning worship services], images, ……are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church.’ – ‘Development of Christian Doctrine,’ pp. 371-373. London: 1878.  “Real SUPERSTITIONS have sometimes obtained in parts of CHRISTENDOM from its intercourse with the heathen, as PHILOSOPHY has sometimes corrupted her divines [church leaders], so has paganism corrupted her worshippers.’ Ibid, pp. 377, 388.  “The Church can CONVERT heathen appointments into spiritual rites and usages. Hence there has been from the first much variety and change, in the SACRAMENTAL acts and instruments which she has used.’  -Ibid, p. 379.”- (From “Facts of Faith,” Cristian Edwardson, p. 104. Southern Publishing Asso., Nashville, TN. 1942.  The Christian religion of man is mingled with pagan practices. The Christian religion of Christ and the Bible is free from these corruptions of faith and doctrines. What is your religion?   Bless all, NMF

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Devotionals

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part VI)

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part VI)

“So willing were the church leaders to adopt the POPULAR heathen festivals, that even HEATHEN authors reproached them for it. Faustus accused St. Augustine [prominent church father of the Romish church] as follows:

“You celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles,!their calends, and their solstices; and as to their manners, these you have retained WITHOUT any alteration. Nothing DISTINGUISHES you from the pagans except that you hold your assemblies APART from them. – ‘Cited in ‘History of the Intellectual of Europe,’ Dr. J. W. Draper, Vol. 1, p. 310. NY, 1876.

“Similar reproaches has been made earlier, for Tertullian [another prominent church father] answers them, making the following admission:

“Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we may PRAY TOWARDS THE EAST, or because we make Sunday a day of FESTIVITY. What then? Do you do less than this? …..It is you, at all events, who have even admitted the sun into the calendar week; and you have selected its day, in preference to the preceding day [Saturday]….You who reproach us with the sun and Sunday should consider your PROXIMITY [nearness, closeness, likeness] to us.” – ‘Ad Nationes,’ Book I, chap. 13; in ‘Anti-Nicene Fathers,’ Vol. III, p. 123, ed. by Drs. Roberts and Donaldson, NY: 1896.

“Tertullian had no other excuse for their Sunday-keeping than that they DID NOT DO WORSE than the heathen! But not only did the Church adopt heathen festivals but Gregory Thaumaturgus allowed their celebration in the DEGRADING manner of the heathen [pagans]:

“When Gregory perceived that the IGNORANT MULTITUDE persisted in their IDOLATRY on account of the pleasures and sensual gratifications which they enjoyed at the pagan festivals, he granted them permission to INDULGE THEMSELVES in the like pleasures, in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs [?], hoping that, in process of time, they would return of their own accord, to a more VIRTUOUS and regular course of life.’ – ‘Ecclesiastical History,’ J. L. Mosheim, D. D., Vol. I, Second Century, Part II, chap. 4, par. 2, footnote (Dr. A. Maclaine’s 2-vol. ed., p. 66). NY: 1871. (From “Facts of Faith,” Christian Edwardson, pp. 103, 104. Southern Publishing Asso. Nashville TN. 1943.

God bless all today. NMF

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Devotionals

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part V)

November 27, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part V)

“Richard Vertegen, after much research, writes of the heathen nations:

‘And it is also respectable that the most ancient Germans being Pagans, and having appropriated their first Day of the Week to the peculiar adoration of the Sun, whereof that Day doth yet in our English Tongue retain the name of Sunday.’ – ‘Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities,’ p. 11. London: 1673.

“Speaking of the Saxons, he says: ‘First then unto the day dedicated unto the especial adoration of the Idol of the Sun, they gave the name of Sunday, as much as to say the Sun’s-day, or the day of the Sun. This Idol was placed in a Temple, and there adored and sacrificed into, for that they believed that the Sun in the Firmament did with or in this Idol correspond and co-operate. The manner and form whereof was according to this ensuing Picture.’ – Ibid, p. 74. (Capitalization as given in this ancient book).

“It is hardly fair to accuse the Roman Catholic Church of exchanging God’s holy Sabbath for a heathen festival WITHOUT giving her the opportunity to DENY or ACKNOWLEDGE this accusation; so we will let her now state the FACT in her own words, frankly. She says:

“The Church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen……She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday……There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the Church in these countries would seem to have said, ‘Keep that old, pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus.’ – ‘Catholic World,’ March, 1894, p.809.” (From ‘Facts of Faith,’ Christian Edwardson. pp. 102, 103, Southern Pub. Asso. 1943.

The Bible Sabbath has a preparation day, Friday. The pagan Sunday which the Catholic Church changed its name to ‘Christian Sunday,’ does not have a preparation day. Hence, they cannot change the true Sabbath into their “preparation day.” It would be too obvious a change this late!
Let’s prepare for the Lord’s day tomorrow! Bless all, NMF  

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Devotionals

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY, ROMANISM AND ‘THE LORD’S DAY’ (Part IV)

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY, ROMANISM AND ‘THE LORD’S DAY’ (Part IV)

“Thomas Chafie, a clergymen of the English [Anglican] Church, gives the following reasons why the early Christian church COULD NOT CONTINUE to keep the Bible Sabbath among the heathen, nor CHANGE the heathen custom from Sunday [back] to Saturday:

“Christians should not have done well in changing, or endeavoring to have changed the heathen’s standing service-day, from Sunday to any other day of the week; and that for these reasons:

“1. Because of the contempt, scorn and derision they thereby should be had among all the Gentiles with whom they lived; and toward whom they ought by St. Paul’s rule to live in offensively, 1 Cor. 10:32, in things indifferent. If the Gentiles thought hardly, and spoke evil of them, for that they ran not into the SAME EXCESS of riot [wild feasting and gross intemperance]: 1 Pet. 4:4, what would they have said of Christians for such an innovation as would have been made by the CHANGE of their standing service-day? If long before this, the JEWS were had in such disdain among the Gentiles for their Saturday-Sabbath…..how grievous would be their taunts and reproaches against the poor Christians living with them, and under their power, for their new set Sacred day, had the Christians chosen any other than the Sunday?

“2. Most Christians then were either Servants or of the poorer sort of the People: and the Gentiles most probably not give their servants LIBERTY to cease from working on any other set day constantly, except on their Sunday……

“3. It would have been but labor in vain for them to have assayed the same, they could never have brought it to pass.’- ‘A Brief Tract on the Fourth Commandment,’ ….About the Sabbath-Day,’ pp. 61, 62. London: St. Paul’s Yard, 1692.” –   (From Facts of Faith, Christian Edwardson, pp. 101, 102. Southern Pub. Asso., Nashville, TN, 1943.

Instead of converting the Gentiles, Christianity feared to offend them more than offend God, and yielded up their faith and fidelity to God and the Bible Sabbath and started keeping the heathen Sunday, calling it “the Lord’s Day.” The compromise turned into a major deception and gross doctrinal error embraced by the whole Christian world then and now!

Be a true and faithful commandment-keeping Christian! Bless all, NMF. 

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Devotionals

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part III)

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

MITHRAISM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, CHRISTIANITY AND ROMANISM (Part III)

Professor Gilbert Murray, M.A., D. Litt., L.L.D., F.B.A., Professor of Greek in Oxford University, says:

“Now, since Mithras was ‘The Sun, the Unconquered,’ and the Sun was ‘The Royal Star,’ the religion looked for a King whom it could serve as the representative of Mithras upon earth.

The Roman Emperor seemed to be clearly indicated as the true King. In sharp CONTRAST to Christianity, Mithraism recognized CAESAR as the bearer of the Divine Grace, and the votaries [worshippers] filled the legions of the CIVIL service [note that for it is part of how religious laws will be legislated soon, mingling church craft and statecraft].

It had so much acceptance that it was able to IMPOSE on the CHRISTIAN world its own SUN-DAY in place of the SABBATH, its Sun’s birthday, TWENTY-FIFTH DECEMBER, as the birthday of Jesus.’ – ‘History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge,’ Chap. III; cited in ‘Religion and Philosophy,’ pp. 73,74. NY, 1929.” (From Facts of Faith, Christian Edwardson, p. 100, Southern Publishing Asso., Nashville, TN, 1943.

Know the origin of things. It reveals why things are, and what they will be, in the light of prophecy. Bless all, NMF