A Little More about the Sabbath

Before leaving the subject of the Sabbath for a while, I'd like to respond to specific statements the World Mission Society Church of God has made about Sunday worship and the Sabbath.

I can't emphasize enough that our salvation is not decided by the keeping of the Sabbath on a particular day. Neither are we to judge fellow Christians about it. (Romans 14)

BUT the World Mission Society Church of God has made some false statements about Sunday worship, and I think they should be addressed. I'm going to take them directly from the official church website.
I'll put the quotations in green....

In the New Testament times, the Sabbath day is referred to as "Jesus' [the Lord's] day" because the true Lord of the Sabbath is Jesus Christ. "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matt. 12:8; Luke 6:5). The apostles kept the Sabbath day as the "Lord's [Jesus'] day."

No, in New Testament times, the Sabbath day is referred to as "the Sabbath" not "Jesus' Day" or "the Lord's Day".  I've searched the Bible and never seen the phrase, "Jesus' Day."

As for "the Lord's Day," that occurs only once in the Bible--in Revelation 1:10, when John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day..."  If he meant the seventh day Sabbath, don't you think he would have said, "I was in the Spirit on the Sabbath..."?

Also, there are documents from church history, as early as the first and second century, that refer to "the Lord's Day" as the first day of the week, not the seventh day.  (I can give a list if you'd like the references.  I'm just trying to save space here in an already long post.)

After the apostles died, Christianity spread to western regions, including Rome. The gospel was preached to sun-god worshipers, and in the early 4th century, even the Roman emperor had heard the message of Christ. The emperor happened to be a leader of the sun-god worshipers, and when he converted to Christianity, many sun-god worshipers began to attend Church. As time passed, the faith of the Christians weakened, and they began to accept the customs of the sun-god worshipers. During this turn-over, they even began to rest and to worship on the first day of the week [Sunday]. In A.D. 321, Constantine, a Roman emperor, decreed an edict: "All judges, city-people and craftsmen shall rest on the venerable day of the Sun."

According to the WMSCOG, Christians did not begin to worship on Sundays until about the 4th century, and it was Constantine and the sun-god worshippers who instituted the change to their custom of "Sun"day.

First of all, the apostles and early church were ALREADY meeting regularly on the first day of the week.  Besides the documents of early church history from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd century (as I mentioned before), there are indications of this in the New Testament.

The apostles, being Jews, continued their custom of the Sabbath, especially because it provided opportunity to preach to their fellow Jews. But they also began meeting on the first day of the week to commemorate the Lord's resurrection--starting with the first Sunday a week after the Resurrection (John 20:26).

In 1 Cor. 16:2, Paul instructs the believers to set aside their offerings "on the first day of the week." That implies that they were meeting together on the first day of the week.

And in Acts 20:7, the believers had gathered together on the first day of the week to break bread and listen to Paul preach. I've had more than one WMSCOG member tell me that they were gathered for the Feast of Firstfruits, which occurs after the Feast of Unleavened Bread (which starts with the Passover) on the day after the Sabbath.

Now follow carefully....  Rabbinic Jews say the Day of Firstfruits is the day after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which itself is always a Sabbath rest (even if it is not the seventh day), while the Karaite Jews say that it is the Sunday (first day of the week) following the Passover. In either case, the first day of the week in Acts 20:7 canNOT be the Day of Firstfruits.  The Day of Firstfruits cannot be more than a week after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Acts 20:6, "But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days." In verse 7, Paul is getting ready to leave the next day. That means this first day gathering was about 12 days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread--much too long to be the Day of Firstfruits. 

They sailed "after the days of unleavened bread."  They waited until all seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread were finished before sailing.  So you can start counting those 12 days from the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but the Day of Firstfruits is not more than a week after the first day of the Feast.
They were gathered together, and it was just a regular Sunday.

No matter how many members a church has, if the church has different doctrines than those of Jesus Christ, it could not have originated from Jesus. We keep the Sabbath day?the memorial day of the Creator?not observing the law of the Old Testament, but following the law of the new covenant which Jesus and the apostles obeyed.

The seventh day Sabbath is part of the Law of the Old Covenant.  But where is it commanded as part of the New Covenant?  Jesus kept the Sabbath because He was "born under the law to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal. 4:4-5), and He showed the Pharisees the manner that it had been meant to be kept.  But while Jesus gave us commands on how to live, He never gave the command to keep the Sabbath, even though He had plenty of opportunities if He had wanted to.

As for the statement, "if the church has different doctrines than those of Jesus Christ, it could not have originated from Jesus."  Yes, so where did Jesus promote the doctrine of worshipping a second god, "God the Mother"?!?  Ahnsahnghong's World Mission Society Church of God did NOT originate from Jesus.