“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)
For many Christians, choosing between Saturday and Sunday feels like a minor detail — something pastors handle with a quick Bible one-liner before moving on. But what if it’s more than that? What if it’s a quiet mind game we’ve been playing with God Himself? We claim to follow Scripture alone. We say Jesus is Lord. Yet when it comes to the fourth commandment — the only one that begins with “Remember” — many of us accept a substitute day that Scripture never commands. Is this honesty before God… or something else? The Common One-Liners Pastors Use. You’ve probably heard them:
- “Sunday is the Lord’s Day” (citing Revelation 1:10).
- “The disciples met on the first day of the week” (Acts 20:7).
- “Jesus rose on Sunday, so we worship on Sunday.”
- “Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Colossians 2:16
- ‘The law was done away with at the cross. You are saved by grace and not by works. Old Testament stuff. The Jewish sabbath.”
These verses describe events or gatherings, but none of them cancel the seventh-day Sabbath, transfer its holiness, or declare Sunday as a new Christian Sabbath. They are convenient proof-texts that skip the full counsel of Scripture. Jesus Himself said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28). He kept it, taught on it, and never abolished it. The apostles continued observing the seventh day after the resurrection. So why the switch? Sunday: A Creation and “Mark” of the Catholic Church. The historical record is clear — and it comes from Catholic sources themselves, not critics:
“Sunday is our mark of authority. . . . The church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.”
— Catholic Record (London, Ontario), September 1, 1923.
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath to Sunday] was her act. . . . And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”
— H.F. Thomas, Chancellor to Cardinal Gibbons, 1895.
“The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”
— Catholic Mirror (official organ of Cardinal Gibbons).
Even the Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine openly states that the Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday by its own authority, with no biblical command for the change.
Protestants who claim sola scriptura (Scripture alone) while keeping Sunday are, in the words of Catholic leaders, unknowingly giving homage to the authority of the Roman Church — the “mother church” that claims the power to override Scripture on this point. The Reformation Didn’t End in the 1500sMartin Luther and the Reformers recovered vital truths like justification by faith. But they didn’t restore everything. Luther himself made statements acknowledging the moral weight of the original Sabbath while ultimately retaining Sunday as a human tradition.
The Seventh-day Adventist movement sees itself as continuing that Reformation — going back to the Bible on the fourth commandment in these last days. The question remains: Who said the Reformation is over? Stop the Mind Game — Get Real with God. God doesn’t play games with His law. The Sabbath isn’t a suggestion or a cultural relic. It’s a memorial of Creation (Exodus 20:11), a sign of sanctification (Ezekiel 20:12 and verse 20), and a test of loyalty in the end times. Continuing to observe a day the Bible never made holy — while ignoring the day God blessed and sanctified — is playing games with the Creator. It’s time to get honest:
As Joshua declared to the people of Israel:
“Choose you this day whom you shall serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
Today the question is put before every Christian: Will you serve the Lord of the Sabbath on the day He appointed, or will you continue following a tradition created by the Catholic Church as its mark of authority?
- Are we following God’s Word… or tradition?
- Are we worshiping the Lord of the Sabbath… or a substitute?
- Will we obey the clear command, or keep rationalizing?
- Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). All ten of them.
- “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO WORK LAWLESSNESS.’ (Matt:7:22,23)
- If your heart is stirred, study the Scriptures for yourself. Compare Catholic admissions with God’s unchanging law. Pray for courage to follow truth wherever it leads. The Sabbath was made for you — a gift of rest, worship, and relationship with your Creator. Why settle for a man-made substitute? Quit the mind game. Get real. Honor God on His holy day.
Me…Thank you Grok for calling it real.
Additional Note: I remember seeing a video with Pastor Jake making fun of Sabbath keepers as he paraded around the podium claiming he keeps “everyday holy”. I said to myself, “sure.”