I agree that we are not required to keep the Sabbath, and that includes Sundays, too. I am presently reading in Hebrews for my QTs with the Lord, and this morning I read about that Sabbath-rest, which is our salvation and our relationship with Jesus Christ. Since we, as believers in Jesus, have the Holy Spirit now living within us, we can enter into the presence of Almighty God 24/7. Jesus told the woman at the well that a day was coming when they would no longer worship God in this place or that place, but we would worship him in Spirit and in truth. The early church met daily in the temple courts and from house to house. The church is not a building or an organization of humans but it is a spiritual entity comprised of all believers in Christ, so we can meet anywhere on any day, as long as we are truly meeting in the name of our Lord, and not in the name of humans, and the Spirit is with us and so we can worship together and enjoy one another's fellowship in the Spirit any time and any place.
This is from my QT with the Lord in April of 2011 - a study on Hebrews 4:
http://christsfreeservant.blogspot.com/2011/04/sabbath-rest.html.
The Council of Trent (1545 A.D.), the church leaders ruled that "tradition" is of as great authority as the Bible! They believed that God had given them the authority to change the Bible any way they pleased. By "tradition" they meant human teachings.
The sun was the main god of the heathen even back as far as ancient Babylon. Since they worshiped the sun on Sunday, the compromising church leaders could see that if they changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, it would accomplish several things. Number one - it would separate them from the Jews who were hated by many of the Romans and who, along with Jesus, (Luke 4:16), had been worshiping on Saturday from the beginning (and still do today). Number two - it would make it much easier for the pagans to come into the church if the Christians met on the same day that the pagan world did.
It worked well. Pagans flocked in by the thousands. Satan's plan of compromise was doing its baleful work. The change was attempted gradually but many of the true hearted, loyal Christians were alarmed. They came to the leaders and wanted to know why they had dared tamper with the law of Almighty God! The church leaders knew this would happen - and they had an answer ready. It's a masterpiece. If a person doesn't know the bible well it sounds good.
The people were told that they were worshiping on Sunday now because Jesus rose from the dead on that day.
There's not even one verse in the Bible that tells us to do this, but that's what they were told. Isn't it amazing! Maybe you've even heard that yourself!
When Emperor Constantine became a Christian, Christianity became the state religion you remember. As thousands of sun-worshipers flocked into the church, it wasn't long before they had a dominating influence. Most of his top officials had been sun-worshipers. Because the Roman government was getting shaky, Constantine consulted with his aides and with the church officials in Rome.
"What shall we do? How can we unite and stabilize the government?"
The counsel of the church leaders was timely.
"Pass a Sunday law. Force everyone to cease work and honor Sunday."
That was it! It would satisfy the sun-worshiping pagans, and unite pagans, Christians, and the Roman empire as never before.
The year is 321 A.D. Constantine, yielding to the suggestion of church leaders passes the first Sunday law! Here it is, straight out of the record:
"Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun" Edict of March 7, 321 A.D. Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, Lex. 3.
The Christians who would not compromise and dishonor God found themselves in a dilemma. Satan had worked things around so that you were forced to honor the pagan "day of the sun" or pay the penalty. Even after the Emperor's Sunday law, many Christians continued to honor and keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath that their Saviour had kept. God knew what was going on and had predicted that the man of sin would "think to change times and laws." Satan was about to pull off a world-wide hoax.
Bibles were forbidden by the priests. As the years went by, the new generations (without Bibles) would forget all about the Sabbath of the Lord.
Not only that - from time to time, great church councils were held. In nearly every one, the Sabbath which God had given as a memorial of His creation of the world was pressed down and Sunday was exalted. The pagan festival finally came to be regarded as the "Lord's day" (by Pope Sylvester, 314-337 A.D.) and the church leaders pronounced the Bible Sabbath a relic of the Jews, and those who honored it, in obedience to the fourth commandment of God, were pronounced to be "accursed."
To rip out the commandment right in the center, put in Sun- day worship as a counterfeit, take the Bibles away, and command the whole world to accept it - this was the king of all swindles!
Keep in mind that our God is kind and fair. Those who are keeping Sunday and breaking God's fourth commandment ignorantly are not under condemnation. It's only those who know what God commands and willfully disobey who are committing sin. God's enemy knows that to break one of God's commandments is a sin which hurts our Saviour and robs us of eternal life with Him if not repented of.
Satan laid this plot so deep that even many ministers are not aware of it. Many religious leaders are putting forth desperate efforts to keep the facts on this subject away from the people. Shocking but true, many ministers have not learned at school anything different than their teachers have learned before them. Then they teach their congregations what they learned from their teachers. It is perpetuated for generations. This is why even your own parents or grandparents may not have understood what God's word teaches about His seventh-day Sabbath. But when people honestly study the Bible for themselves - their eyes are opened. Many people take the preacher's word and just don't study God's word for themselves.
The Biblical Sabbath, however, is and has always been on the seventh day of the week, or Saturday. Despite the prevalence of Sunday worship in Christendom, we must look to the Bible as our authority and keep the seventh day Sabbath ordained by God. Now go into your history books and prove me wrong, I challenge you to do so.
So sisters and brothers read your bible for yourself and pray for understanding. Don’t let some unlearned or false preacher deceive you. The Sabbath of the Lord has, and will always be the seventh day of the week (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday) and has not been changed.
Remember Paul said;
(Acts 24:14) “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:” And it says clearly in the law
(Ex:20) to remember the sabbath, to keep it holy.
