AboutElder Greg Madden Expertise I am available to answer questions concerning most Biblical doctrines, Catholic beliefs, the gifts and fruit of the Spirit, and the history of the Pentecostal movement. Please understand that I will answer any questions you may have from a Biblical perspective, not a Catholic one.
Experience I have studied the Catholic religion for many years, and I have discussed questions and issues conserning this faith with those who are followers of the Catholic religion. I attend an independent Pentecostal church for twenty five years, and have served there as an Elder for fourteen years. I am also the new member’s class coordinator. I have had the privilege of ministering God's Word to churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. In those meetings we have seen the Lord save, heal, deliver, and fill people will His Spirit.
Organizations I am ordained through Harvest Church, and with the World Harvest Church Ministerial Fellowship. I also am a licensed minister with the State of Oklahoma.
Education/Credentials I am currantly enrolled with the Ames Bible College.
I came across your website in Madden Ministry. I check it out that your congregation worship is during Sunday.
It also say that Sunday is "Lord's Day". Based from the Jews tradition and the Bible, early Christian worship is during the Sabbath or 7th day of the week. Even Paul did not say that the Lord's Day should be on the 1st day of the week which is Sunday. History showed that Sunday-keeping worship was initiated by PAGANS Emperor in Early Christian Church in Rome which when Constatine adapt Christianity in as religion of his empire became the Roman Catholic Church WHICH BY THEN INFILTRATED BY paganism. This was changed to SUNDAY in " Council of LAODICEA".
We are attacking the Beast not knowing that we are using the beliefs or ideas of the Beast itself...
Answer Rodel,
Thank you for your question and for the opportunity to help.
It is often claimed that "God instituted the Sabbath in Eden" because of the connection between the Sabbath and creation in Exodus 20:11. Although God's rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3) did foreshadow a future Sabbath law, there is no biblical record of the Sabbath before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. Nowhere in Scripture is there any hint that Sabbath-keeping was practiced from Adam to Moses.
An examination of New Testament passages shows us four important points: 1) Whenever Christ appears in His resurrected form and the day is mentioned, it is always the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, 9, 10; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1, 13, 15; John 20:19, 26). 2) The only time the Sabbath is mentioned from Acts through Revelation it is for evangelistic purposes to the Jews and the setting is usually in a synagogue (Acts chapters 13–18). Paul wrote, "to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews" (1 Corinthians 9:20). Paul did not go to the synagogue to fellowship with and edify the saints, but to convict and save the lost. 3) Once Paul states "from now on I will go to the Gentiles" (Acts 18:6), the Sabbath is never again mentioned. And 4) instead of suggesting adherence to the Sabbath day, the remainder of the New Testament implies the opposite (including the one exception to point 3 above, found in Colossians 2:16).
Looking more closely at point 4 above will reveal that there is no obligation for the New Testament believer to keep the Sabbath, and will also show that the idea of a Sunday "Christian Sabbath" is also unscriptural. As discussed above, there is one time the Sabbath is mentioned after Paul began to focus on the Gentiles, "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Colossians 2:16–17). The Jewish Sabbath was abolished at the cross where Christ "wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us" (Colossians 2:14).
This idea is repeated more than once in the New Testament: "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it" (Romans 14:5–6a). "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years" (Galatians 4:9–10).
But some claim that a mandate by Constantine in A.D. 321 "changed" the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. On what day did the early church meet for worship? Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship. However, there are clear passages that mention the first day of the week. For instance, Acts 20:7 states that "on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread." In 1 Corinthians 16:2 Paul urges the Corinthian believers "on the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper." Since Paul designates this offering as "service" in 2 Corinthians 9:12, this collection must have been linked with the Sunday worship service of the Christian assembly. Historically Sunday, not Saturday, was the normal meeting day for Christians in the church, and its practice dates back to the first century.
It was the custom of the Jews to come together on the Sabbath, which is Saturday, cease work, and worship God. Of the 10 commandments listed in Exodus 20:1-17, only nine of them were reinstituted by in the New Testament. (Six in Matthew 19:18, murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, honor parents, and worshiping God; Romans 13:9, coveting. Worshiping God properly covers the first three commandments) The one that was not reaffirmed was the one about the Sabbath. Instead, Jesus said that He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8).
In creation God rested on the seventh day. But, since God is all powerful, He doesn't get tired. He doesn't need to take a break and rest. So, why did does it say that He rested? The reason is simple:
Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
In other words, God established the Sabbath as a rest for His people, not because He needed a break, but because we are mortal and need a time of rest, of focus on God. In this, our spirits and bodies are both renewed.
The O.T. system of Law required keeping the Sabbath as part of the overall moral, legal, and sacrificial system by which the Jewish people satisfied God’s requirements for behavior, government, and forgiveness of sins. The Sabbath was part of the Law in that sense. In order to "remain" in favor with God, you had to also keep the Sabbath. If it was not kept, then the person was in sin and would often be punished (Ezekiel 18:4; Deut. 13:1-9; Num. 35:31; Lev. 20:2).
But with Jesus’ atonement, and justification by faith (Rom. 5:1), we no longer are required to keep the Law and hence the Sabbath which was only a shadow of things to come.
Colossians 2:16
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
2:17
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
This passage is critical to understanding how the New Testament sees the theme of the Sabbath, together with its sub-themes of rest and worship, are fulfilled in the person of Christ. Paul declares that the old Sabbath law is no longer applicable, because the reality to which the law pointed has arrived. The rest which the Sabbath promised is found in Jesus and his finished work, the worship which the Sabbath enjoined is offered through Christ. We are not under Law, but grace (Rom. 6:14-15). The Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus because in Him we have rest.
Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Therefore we are not under obligation to keep the Law and this goes for the Sabbath as well.
However Rodel, we would all do well to recall the words of Paul, who warned against divisions over these matters, saying that the "strong" should bear with the "weak", not causing them to stumble, and that while two may disagree over whether one day is more sacred than another, each should be fully convinced in his own mind (Rom. 14:1–8).
Please let me know if this helps, or if you have any further questions.
Elder Greg Madden
