Sabbatarians have long quoted Roman Catholics in showing that the Catholic Church admits that she changed the Sabbath to Sunday. One of the best known is in Great Controversy, page 448:

Romanists declare that "the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church." – Mgr. Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, p. 213.

On January 5, 2006, Roman Catholic scholar and apologist, Patrick Madrid, made a startling statement of which every person who loves the true Sabbath should be aware. EWTN, Global Catholic Radio Network, hosts a call-in radio show entitled Open Line. A listener called in with a question regarding the allegation that the Catholic Church has changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

Madrid stated that the current Saturday is not the original Biblical Sabbath but that the change made by the Catholic Church was actually one of calendation. Following is a transcript of his statements.

Well, what we have to remember is, first of all what Jesus said: He said don't forget that man was not made for the Sabbath; the Sabbath was made for man. And, the Lord Himself, we're told, was the Lord of the Sabbath, so He had the authority, in areas as far as how we would observe that commandment.

What your brother-in-law may not understand is that the Catholic Church did not change that commandment. The Catholic Church observes the commandment to keep holy the Lo- . . . the Sabbath, but it does so on the Lord's Day, and the earliest Christians transferred their observance of that commandment from Saturday to Sunday.

First of all, because there was a distinct break between the Old Testament requirements: the rituals and Mosaic covenant demands dealing with the Sabbath worship and animal sacrifices, and that sort of thing. And they wanted to show that Christianity was distinct from Judaism. It came from Judaism, but it was distinct from it. Uh, celebrating the Lord's coming, I'm sorry, celebrating the Lord's resurrection and death on the day that He rose from the dead seemed to be the most appropriate.

Uh, the other thing that we should remember, too, is that our calendar that we follow, including Seventh-day Adventists, is not only a calendar that was devised by the Catholic Church, but also it is a calendar that's based upon the solar year, not the lunar year. And the Jewish calendar that was observed in the time of Christ is, follows a lunar calendar, which is several days short of the solar calendar.

So the great irony is that even the Seventh-day Adventists themselves are not worshiping on exactly the same Sabbath day as the Jews of the time of Christ, because it's several days off now, uh, having, uh, switched to [from?] following the lunar calendar.

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Catholic Scholar Verifies Neither Saturday nor Sunday is Biblical Sabbath

[Verse 1]
With the Word as our guide, we will stand for the day,
When the truth is revealed, we will walk in the way,
Let the records be searched, let the evidence shine,
Let the claims of the ages be tested in line,
For the Sabbath was blessed by Father Yahuwah above,
And His holy command is a sign of His love.

[Verse 2]
A scholar has stated the calendar changed,
And the days that we count may be shifted and ranged,
He declared that the Church moved its worshiping day,
From the seventh to Sunday, then called it the way,
Yet the question remains as the records unfold,
Which day did the Scriptures establish of old?

[Chorus]
We will stand, we will stand, though the whole world may fight,
We will walk in the truth, we will cling to the light,
Let the Sabbath be tested by Scripture alone,
Let the words of the prophets and apostles be known,
No tradition can alter what Father Yahuwah ordained,
His appointed seventh day forever remains.

[Verse 3]
Christ declared that the Sabbath was made for mankind,
And the truth of His words still stands firm and defined,
He was Lord of the Sabbath, the Scriptures proclaim,
Yet His lordship does not make the seventh day change,
For the law of Father Yahuwah remains in His Word,
And the seventh-day Sabbath is clearly affirmed.

[Verse 4]
When the calendars shifted from lunar to sun,
Questions arose concerning the day to be done,
Even those who keep Saturday must honestly see,
That the calendar question deserves scrutiny,
Let the ancient records be weighed without fear,
Let the biblical Sabbath be made truly clear.

[Chorus]
We will stand, we will stand, though the whole world may fight,
We will walk in the truth, we will cling to the light,
Let the Sabbath be tested by Scripture alone,
Let the words of the prophets and apostles be known,
No tradition can alter what Father Yahuwah ordained,
His appointed seventh day forever remains.

[Bridge]
Not the customs of men, not the councils of men,
Not the claims of the ages can alter His plan,
If the Scripture declares it, then boldly we’ll go,
Though the whole world rejects it, the truth we will show,
Let the evidence rise and let falsehood depart,
For the Sabbath of Scripture must govern the heart.

[Verse 5]
From creation the seventh was blessed and made bright,
And Father Yahuwah gave that day sacred light,
From the seventh He rested, His work fully done,
And He hallowed that day when creation begun,
No decree of a church can erase what was made,
No tradition of men can make truth retrograde.

[Outro]
So we stand on the Word with a steadfast refrain,
Though the powers of earth may resist us again,
Let the seventh-day Sabbath be searched and proclaimed,
Let the truth of the Scriptures be boldly maintained,
For the Word will endure when the kingdoms are gone,
And the truth of the Sabbath will ever live on.