IF THE MAJORITY SAY SO, IS IT SO? Constantine, while still pagan, issued a decree endorsing Sunday as a public festival throughout the Roman Empire. After converting to Christianity, he remained a firm advocate of Sunday Worship. If the majority says it is so, does that make it so? What do you think?

We continue our study of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14; within this context, we look at Satan’s Final Deception and how you can recognize it and avoid being a part of it.

Review our previous videos at SabbathSchoolDaily.com.

For further study, obtain the study guide for these lessons at Sabbath.School or ssnet.org.

Let us invite God’s presence:

Holy Father, open our eyes so that we may recognize Truth. Your words are true. Give us the mind to live by your every word. In Jesus’ Name Amen

The people of ancient pagan religions worshipped many deities. These pagan practices included the worship of various gods of nature. One of which included Sun worship. Sun worship is the practice of reverencing or worshiping the sun as a deity or as a symbol of divinity. Hence, sun worship has had a significant impact on various ancient religions and cultures throughout history. And it has been influential in many religions today. 

Sun worship was common practice in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Babylon. James G. Frazier, in his Book the Worship of Nature, asserted that ancient Babylonian had worshipped the sun since the beginning of time. As a matter of fact, even the people of God were influenced to incorporate the sun as a part of their worship of the true God.

The following scriptures attest to that:

Ezekiel 8:16

16 So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. (Ezekiel 8:16)

2 Kings 23:5

5 Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. (2 Kings 23:5)

2 Kings 23:11

11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. (2 Kings 23:11)

Romans 1:25

25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:25)

Ezekiel was a prophet who received special messages from God. As a prophet, Ezekiel was responsible for giving the messages he received to God’s people. Ezekiel lived at the same time as Daniel. Daniel was a Babylonian captive who, at the expense of his life, refused to bow down to a Babylonian god that the king of Babylon had set up, even though the majority were doing so.

 Ezekiel paints us a picture of God’s people. This picture shows that the people of God had turned their backs on the temple of God and turned toward the east to worship the sun. Rather than worshipping the one who made the sun, the Israelites, copying the practice of the surrounding pagan nations, worshiped the sun god.

In Revelation 17, John warns of a time when Babylonian practices would become a part of the Christian church. When did this happen? It happened three hundred years after Jesus died on the cross, during the age of religious compromise. This was a time when Christianity chose to compromise the teaching of the Bible to attract pagan converts. This compromise became most evident when the Roman king, Constantine, became a Christian. Constantine had been a sun worshipper.

In his book, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, a famous history writer, expressed that the people in the time of Constantine believed that the sun was a powerful god that had protected and even guided Constantine. As a part of his conversion and acceptance of Christianity, Constantine passed the first “Sunday law” in a.d. 321. This law declared: “On the venerable day of the Sun let the Magistrates and the people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.”—Edict of Constantine, a.d. 321. 

Though this law didn’t force anyone to worship on Sunday, it influenced the Roman citizens to start moving toward honoring Sunday rather than worshipping on the Sabbath.

However, decades later, emperors and popes, through state decrees and church councils, established Sunday as the day of worship. This decree has remained intact for most Christians today. This change from Sabbath to Sunday worship is a powerful example that just because the majority says so does not make it so.

Church and state unite. Falsehood prevails. Demons work their miracles to deceive. The world catapults into its final conflict. How do the people of God respond? And What does Sabbath Worship have to do with faithfulness?

Find out! View part 5: A Call to Faithfulness

Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church

 7902 Wheatly Street

Houston, TX 77088

Watch Past and Present Lessons at SabbathSchoolDaily.com