The document discusses the origins of Sunday worship and argues that it is not biblically supported as the Lord's day. Sunday worship has its roots in pagan Roman religion and emperor worship. While early Christians were persecuted by Romans, later church leaders adopted Sunday to accommodate the pagan majority. The document asserts that the biblical Sabbath day remains the seventh day according to God's original commandment.

1. Sunday
worship
Is it Really the Lord’s Day?

2. Introduction
For thousands of years, Sunday has been touted as the high
day of the Lord by self proclaimed Christians
Although it is universally accepted throughout the world,
like so many other matters pertaining to the word of God,
this belief opposes God’s law, specifically the 4th
commandment
Sunday has a dual origin that first comes from paganism and
then later stems from the self willed ideologies of man
This presentation will dispel the myth that Sunday, the first
day of the week, is God’s holy day of worship
©2012 Household Of Israel Temple Of Jesus Christ. All Rights Reserved

3. Religious Climate of
the Roman Empire
©2012 Household Of Israel Temple Of Jesus Christ. All Rights Reserved

4. Roman Empire:
A Polytheistic World
Sunday worship is deeply rooted in the idolatry of the Roman empire,
therefore we will start here
The Roman empire was largely polytheistic, that is, they believed in the
worship of many gods and goddesses
Many of the Roman emperors proclaimed themselves to be gods and
wanted to be worshipped as such
As the Roman Empire continued to expand it included people with a
variety of cultures & beliefs
For the most part, Romans were tolerant of other religious groups as long
as they paid taxes & didn’t challenge their government
The Jews & Christians that worshipped on the Sabbath, however, became
an exception and were subjected to persecution by the Romans

5. Persecution of Jews
Around 66AD, the Jews began to rebel
against Rome due to their refusal to
sacrifice to idol gods & issues with taxation
This led to a great war between the Jews &
Romans and the eventual death of
thousands of Jews, as well as the destruction
of Jerusalem & the holy temple in 70AD
As a result of this rebellion, anti Jewish
sentiments were at an all time high and the
Romans hated anything pertaining to the
Jews, including their religious faith,
tradition & customs

6. Persecution of Christians
Christianity was initially considered a religious sect
within the Jewish faith
In fact, many very “early Christians” as scholars state,
were Jews by birth or conversion
The Roman people were also highly suspicious about
the Christian religion due to their refusal to accept
pagan religions or sacrifice to Roman gods or emperors
The persecution of the Christians began during the
ministry of Jesus and continued intermittently until
about 3 centuries after Christ’s death (took place
approximately in 33 AD)
Many Christians were kicked out of their homes, their
property was confiscated, they were jailed and fed to the
lions

7. Paganism & False Ideologies
of SundayWorship

8. Pagan Roots
The history of Sunday worship is deeply rooted in
paganism
The Romans were notorious for worshipping the planets &
named the days of the week after their gods (i.e. Mercury,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun and the moon)
Sunday was the day of the Sun or “Dies Solis”
The worship of the sun in the Roman Empire was
extremely popular because it was considered the source of
all light & life
Therefore Sunday was declared to be higher than all other
days of the week
Though other so-called gods had days named after them,
only Dies Solis was considered holy

9. False Ideologies:
Day of the Sun & Resurrection
So-called Christian leaders of the 2nd & 3rd
centuries, such as Justin Martyr, used the meaning
of Dies Solis (day of the sun) to help justify why
Sunday was the Lord’s high day
Justin Martyr specifically described the relationship
between the name ‘Sunday’ & what God actually did
on that day
His rationale was this.......
It is good to come together on the day of the sun because
Christ created light & separated it "om the darkness on
the 1st day
Christ, who is deemed the light of the world, resurrected
on Sunday

10. Day of the Sun & Resurrection
Dispe$ing the Myth
It is accurate that God created light on the first day but it is NOT true that Christ
rose on Sunday
The book of Daniel 9: 27 indicates that our Lord was sacrificed on Wednesday
and resurrected on the Sabbath or three days later
You can also look at Matthew 28: 1, 5 & 6, which states....
“In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the
week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And the angel
answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was
crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the
Lord lay.”
Note the scripture states “end of sabbath” and “began to dawn;” thus, Sunday was
ABOUT TO BEGIN & Christ had already risen
More importantly, Christ NEVER stated that we should worship him on the day
of his resurrection, so even if Jesus rose on Sunday (which is not true) we are still
required to reverence the seventh day Sabbath as commanded by God

11. False Ideologies:
First Day
Theologists often reference the writing of the apostle Paul in I
Corinthians 16: 1-2, which states,
“Now concerning the co$ection for the saints, as I have given and to the
Churches of Galatia even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let
everyone of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him, that there
be no gathering when I come.”
Many religious scholars count this as having spiritual significance in
establishing the first day as the day of the Lord
But this scripture in no way states that Sunday should be observed as
a holy day
In fact, Paul was an ardent keeper of the Sabbath day, and taught the
Gentiles to do the same (Acts 13: 13-14 and 42-49)

12. False Ideologies:
“Second Creation”
Another argument states that whereas the Sabbath commemorates the
end of the “first creation,” Sunday celebrates the beginning of the
“second creation,” which is said to have no end
According to this notion, when Christ allegedly rose on Sunday, a new
covenant was established with mankind
With this new covenant, salvation was for all human beings and not just
the Jews
Theologists further stated that as a result of this new covenant, human
beings were no longer bounded by the laws written in the 5 books of
Moses, aka Torah, which is said to be only for the Jews
It should be noted that one of the 5 books of Moses is Exodus which
explicitly lists the 10 commandments including the 4th....”Remember the
Sabbath Day”

13. False Ideologies:
“Second Creation”
It is true that Christ brought forth a new testament or
covenant for his people through the shedding of his blood
Under the first covenant, God gave Israel the 10
commandments & they were also required to use the blood
of animals for sacrificial offerings, which prophesied of
Christ’s sacrifice to come
With the second covenant the law of sacrificial offerings
(i.e. Animals) was no longer needed because the blood of
animals could in no way purge our sins but Christ’s blood
has the power to do so
The second covenant also brought forth the free gift of
grace, which offers all mankind the time and opportunity
to repent and OBEY God’s commandments
In no way did the death of Christ do away with the law or
10 commandments, which Christ himself states in
Matthew 5: 17-19

14. False Ideologies:
Day of the Lord
The name Dies Dominica or day of
the Lord replaced Dies Solis as the
legal name for the day Sunday
The “Day of the Lord” is said to
refer to Christ, who became the
Conquerer and Master of mankind
when he allegedly arose on Sunday
It is certainly true that Christ is
Lord & master of all but as stated
before, he did NOT rise on Sunday

15. False Ideologies:
The 8th Day
As early as the first half of the second century, so-called Christian
writers began calling Sunday the “eighth day”
It was believed that God rested on the Jewish Sabbath from his
work of creation and then accomplishing the new creation or the
church on the eighth day
This argument has no basis of truth as there are only 7 days in the
week, which was established from the beginning during the
Creation
The phrase “Jewish Sabbath” indicates that the seventh day
Sabbath is only for the Jews to keep
Whether Jew or Gentile, all human beings are required to keep
his 10 commandments

16. Constantine the Great
During the reign of Constantine the
Great, the strong presence of Christians
in Rome became a great political
opportunity
The Christians wouldn’t go away by
force or persecution, and knowing that
people unite best behind a religious
belief or cause, he chose another way
He joined the Christians and became the
Bishop of the Church in Rome

17. Constantine the Great
Having supreme power over the government & over the growing
church, he changed it from within, the very fabric & foundation of
the Doctrine it was founded upon
His words, “we will not Judaize,” legalized the removal of all things
associated with the hated Jews & the addition of all the traditions
of the heathen
In 322 AD, Constantine established so called Christianity as the
lawful religion of Roman society
The edict also brought about legislation that would call for the
closing of government facilities, businesses, and prohibiting labor
and certain forms of work
Even today, this legislation to some degree, is still in effect

18. Constantine the Great
Constantine being a sun worshipper welcomed the first
day worshippers of self proclaimed Christians with great
ease
The Emperor of Rome was worshipped by the Romans
who were fervent sun worshippers
Therefore the worshipping of Christ on Sunday, who was
also compared to the risen sun, greatly accommodated
sun worshippers

19. Constantine the Great
Constantine being a sun worshipper welcomed the first
day worshippers of self proclaimed Christians with great
ease
The Emperor of Rome was worshipped by the Romans
who were fervent sun worshippers
Therefore the worshipping of Christ on Sunday, who was
also compared to the risen sun, greatly accommodated
sun worshippers

20. Sunday Is NOT
the Lord’s Day
It can be concluded that Sunday is in
fact founded upon the proclamations of
men
Nothing more than an amalgamation of
theories, philosophies, edicts and
commandments that were initiated
from paganism and man’s desire to
worship God in his own way
This approach obviously spawned the
multitude of religions we have in the
world today

21. In Closing
God commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath holy but the Sabbath day
law was established at the beginning (Exodus 20: 8 & Genesis 2: 2-3)
This holy day was not only a perpetual covenant for Israel but for all
humanity for eternity (Exodus 31: 12-17 & Isaiah 66: 22-23)
With the coming of our Lord and Savior Christ, were edified and
admonished as to how we should keep the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:
1-12 & Mark 2: 27-28)
The Sabbath day was a holy law established by God which was never
intended to be altered (Malachi 3: 6)
The Sabbath day will be a part of the law that will be put in our new
hearts by God for eternity (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)

22. Special Thanks to....
“This presentation was based on the class
written by Pastor Derrick Pointer entitled....
“Sunday”
©2012 Household Of Israel Temple Of Jesus Christ. All Rights Reserved

23. Questions?
For questions regarding this presentation please
contact us via email at info@householdofisrael.org
or by phone at 219.949.9308
Feel free to visit our website @
www.householdofisrael.org
©2012 Household Of Israel Temple Of Jesus Christ. All Rights Reserved