Program 64: Changeling: Christians becoming pagan

Apostolic Christianity was corrupted when early Christians made concessions by adopting pagan doctrines.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of World’s Last Chance Ministries, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44]

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: Hello! And welcome to another WLC Radio program. I’m your host, Miles Robey. With me, is Dave Wright.

Dave Wright: Hello! Thank you for tuning in and making us a part of your day.

Miles: At WLC, you won’t hear us refer to the Creator by the typical pagan titles of “god” or “lord.” Rather, we prefer to use His personal name, which is Yahuwah, or Yah. The name of the Son is Yahushua and means, “Yahuwah saves.”

Eloah is a Hebrew title for Yah.

So, Dave, what have you got for us today?

Dave: Well, today, I want to talk about a strange metamorphosis. I got to thinking about it the other day when I received an e-mail from my wife’s uncle.

He’s older, retired. He must spend his days scouring the Internet, because he’s constantly sending out these mass mailings of funny memes, moving stories, fascinating pictures, that sort of thing.

Miles: Yeah, I think we all know someone like that. They rarely, if ever, send a personal e-mail message, but they’ll flood you with forwards and mass e-mails, and if you ask them not to, it’ll cause a rift in the family.

Dave: Precisely. The thing is, I do enjoy what he sends. I don’t know where he finds it all, but it is interesting. I simply don’t have time to deal with them all. But the other day he sent a collection of photos that was really fascinating. It was pictures of what is called the “glasswing butterfly.” Have you heard of the glasswing butterfly?

Miles: No. No, don’t think I have. What does it look like?

Dave: Well, they’re quite stunning, actually. Their wings are actually transparent.

Miles: Transparent wings?!

Dave: I know! Crazy, right? But they’re gorgeous. In fact, they’re also one of the strongest butterflies in existence. They can lift up to 40 times their body weight.

Miles: Incredible! So, what do the caterpillars look like? Are they transparent, too?

Dave: You would think so, wouldn’t you? In fact, I looked up images for glasswing butterfly caterpillars in my search engine and they look just like any other caterpillar. And yet, through metamorphosis, they turn into one of the most stunning of all Yah’s creatures.

Miles: Just like Christians. We’re to be transformed into the image of Yah.

Dave: Yes, but it works both ways. The metamorphosis can be into the image of Yah, or it can be into alignment with Satan’s character. If you’ve got your Bible close, would you please turn over to Romans, chapter 12, and read verse 2 for us?

Miles: Sure! It says … “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of Yahuwah.”

Dave: So, the transformation, the “metamorphosis” if you will, can work both ways. Yes, as Christians, we want to be transformed into the image of Yah. But today I want to talk about what happened when apostatized Christians consciously transformed in the other direction.

During this period of time, pure apostolic Christianity was lost and Christianity, for all intents and purposes, became amalgamated with paganism.

Miles: When did this happen?

Dave: This was in the first few centuries after Christ.

Now, in a recent program we talked about the differences between the Biblical calendar versus the papal calendar that is now the de facto civil calendar for the world. The Biblical calendar is luni-solar and follows the phases of the moon for its months. The weekly cycle restarts with every month.

By contrast, the papal calendar is solar. Its weekly cycle is continuous, and it has no link to the moon at all.

Miles: If you missed that program, don’t worry! You can still listen to it. Just go to our website, WorldsLastChance.com, and click on the WLC Radio icon. Look for the program entitled, “The Creator Has A Calendar!”

We also upload the audio files of our broadcasts to YouTube, so you can listen to it there as well.

Dave: Thanks, Miles.

Miles: Let me just add one more explanation: if this is the first time you’ve ever heard that the Biblical calendar is different from our modern calendar, you might not understand the significance. The point is, you cannot find the true Biblical Sabbath on the modern calendar precisely because the pope’s calendar uses a continuous weekly cycle. This means that if you worship on Sunday in honor of Yahushua’s resurrection, you’re not worshiping on the actual day of His resurrection, either. Only by using the Biblical calendar can you find the actual seventh-day Sabbath of Scripture, and the actual day of Yahushua’s resurrection.

Dave: If it is important to worship on a particular day, then it’s vital to use the correct calendar to calculate that particular day. Otherwise, we might as well all be worshiping on Tuesday, or Thursday.

Miles: We’ve got some other radio programs, too, that discuss this. You can look for one entitled “Jews & the Sabbath” as well as another on Julian calendar history. But this really is an important topic for people living at the end of time, which we believe we are.

Dave: I’m glad you’ve brought these up, Miles, because strangely enough, the calendar played a really large role in the metamorphosis that transformed Christians into, well, pagans, really.

Robert Leo Odom traced this transformation in a book entitled Sunday in Roman Paganism. I’d like you to read a quote from his book where he links the calendar to the process that paganized Christianity.

Miles: Let’s see … page 202 says, quote:

The pagan names of the planetary week have been perpetuated in the calendar in use among the so-called Christian nations. Every time we look at the calendar we have before us a constant reminder of the amalgamation of paganism and Christianity that took place as a result of the great religious apostasy – that “falling away” foretold by the apostle Paul, which occurred in the early centuries of the Christian church and made the modern Babel of conflicting sects and creeds which profess the name of Christ.

Dave: Modern Christians assume that the week, as we have it today, has cycled continuously and without interruption since Creation. This is what has led to the assumption that Saturday is the Sabbath of the Bible, because it’s the seventh day of the modern week.

Miles: As well as the assumption that Sunday is the day of Yahushua’s resurrection simply because it’s the first day of Gregorian week.

Dave: I can understand why modern Christians make this assumption. The Gregorian calendar is an adaption of the Julian calendar. The pagan Julian calendar was instituted over 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, when the Julian calendar transitioned to the Gregorian, there was no disruption in the weekly cycle. So, like I said, I can see why people have simply made assumptions.

It’s unfortunate, however, because assumptions are often wrong, and this assumption certainly is.

Miles: It reminds me of a verse in Hosea. Give me just a second while I look this up …

Here we go: Hosea 4, verse 6. Yah’s speaking and He says, quote: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Unquote.

Dave: That’s exactly what’s happening here. Ignorance of the truth does not change the reality of what is truth. It’s the responsibility of each one of us to search out and learn truth for ourselves, and then choose to live by that knowledge.

Miles: Choose to obey. Increased knowledge always carries with it the “cross” of obedience.

So, getting back to the amalgamation of Christianity with paganism, how did this work? I can’t imagine faithful Christians just woke up one morning and decided to become pagans.

Dave: No, you’re right. It was actually a process that took several hundred years. Once the process was complete, however, the ancient, original Sabbath of the fourth commandment was lost under the assumption that the modern form of the planetary week has come down unchanged since Creation.

Miles: So how did they do it? I mean, I know that the New Testament contains some references to new Christians apparently still clinging to pagan practices. But you’re almost making it sound like a conspiracy.

Dave: I believe it was, masterminded by Satan himself. And the way he did it was through the calendar.

As we said a moment ago, the modern Gregorian calendar is an adaptation of the earlier pagan Julian calendar. The Julian solar calendar with its continuous weekly cycle was very different from the luni-solar calendar used by Jews and apostolic Christians. Again, the weekly cycle on the luni-solar calendar restarted every month.

You can imagine how difficult it would be to try and conduct business when the culture around you was using a different method of time-keeping.

Miles: It would be a nightmare. They’d have their shops open for business while yours was closed; and they’d be closed when you were open and ready for business.

Dave: Eviatar Zerubavel is a Jewish scholar who has written a number of books on the calculation of time. One of his books, The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week, is just loaded with information. And every point he makes is well-documented, usually from several sources.

Miles: He really proves his points, huh?

Dave: It’s great. In this book, Zerubavel establishes that as early as the last part of the first century, Ignatius, quote: “pioneered the movement toward substituting the Sunday observance for the Sabbath observance.”

Miles: Now, just to clarify, that’s substituting Sunday on the Julian calendar for the seventh-day Sabbath of the Biblical calendar.

Dave: That was one of the steps, yes. Again, it was a process. There were some, as there are now, who worshiped on the seventh day of the Julian week as well. When a transformation takes several hundred years, there are a number of smaller transformations that take place.

Miles: Yeah, I can see that. Satan is a long-term planner. He knew he had time to lay the groundwork for this generation’s assumption that Saturday is the Sabbath of Scripture, and Sunday the true day of Christ’s resurrection.

So where did this transformation first start? Who were the first Christians to start worshiping on Sunday? I know some people point to New Testament passages that talk about the early Christians getting together on the first day of the week, but that’s not proof that they had changed their day of worship. It would be like saying that Christians who go to mid-week prayer meeting on Wednesday have changed their day of worship to Wednesday! It doesn’t make sense.

Dave: It was actually the Christians in Rome who were among the first, if not the first, to begin worshiping by the Julian, rather than the Biblical calendar. Now what’s interesting to discover, when you go back and read the accounts of the pagans at the time, this caused them quite a bit of confusion among the pagans.

Miles: How so?

Dave: Well, we’re so used to all three Abrahamic religions using the Gregorian calendar to go to the mosque on Friday, or synagogue on Saturday, or church on Sunday, that we tend to view the calendar as ubiquitous. That’s not how it was in the ancient world, though. They were used to individual nations, with their differing religions, having unique calendars.

Around, oh, about 175 to 178 CE, a Roman philosopher and Stoic by the name of Celsus wrote a treatise called On the True Doctrine.

Miles: Was he a Christian?

Dave: No! In fact, the subtitle of his treatise was: “A Discourse Against the Christians.”

Miles: Interesting.

Dave: This was a very powerful denunciation of Christianity. Part of what made it so powerful was that his writings were fairly calm and emotionless. What I mean is, a lot of pagans at the time wrote very bitterly against Christians. From what we know of his writing, Celsus didn’t do that.

Even so, he mocked the Christians for copying the pagans!

Odom, in Sunday in Roman Paganism, says, quote: “The result of his work was to place the Christian in a very unfavorable light in the eyes of the Romans and their rulers.”

Miles: Well, yeah! I can see how it would. We’re going to take a really quick break and when we return, I’d like to hear some more about that and what, precisely, he was claiming Christians had copied from the pagans.

Don’t go away. We’ll be right back.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: So, tell us more about Celsus. Did he get into specifics of what he claimed Christians did or believed that originated in paganism?

Dave: Well, unfortunately, no copies of Celsus’ work still exist. However, a Christian by the name of Origen wrote a massive work entitled Contra Celsus, which basically means “Against Celsus.” In there, he quoted Celsus extensively.

One quote in particular is especially fascinating because it refers to Mithraism and the planetary gods. One point I, personally, find particularly telling is that when you read through what Origen wrote in trying to argue against Celsus’ charges, you’ll quickly notice that he didn’t try to actually refute any of the parallels Celsus had drawn between Christianity and paganism. Instead, he simply tried to evade, or talk his way around the charges.

Miles: Well, that would suggest, then, that Origen couldn’t refute or argue against what Celsus had to say. Because if he could, why didn’t he?

Dave: That’s a good question. A lot of the pagans were confused when the Christians started whole-heartedly embracing pagan practices. Origen wasn’t the only one who tried to explain away or come to the defense of paganism being found in Christianity.

Have you heard of Tertullian?

Miles: Well … the name rings a distant bell, but I don’t remember who he was or what he did.

Dave: He was an early Christian apologist. He lived from about 155 CE to 240 CE. He wrote in defense of Christians, but what is so revealing about what he wrote is that it shows the process that was already taking place with some Christians worshipping on Sunday, others on Saturday, while still others clung to the lunar calculated Biblical Sabbath.

Here, I printed off a quote from Tertullian I’d like you to read.

Miles: All right.

Dave: It’s interesting because his statement clearly reveals that Christians were being mistaken for Mithraists. That’s how similar they had become.

Okay. Go ahead. Read what he has to say.

Miles: “Others, certainly more cultured, think the Sun is the god of the Christians, because it is known that we pray toward the east and make a festivity upon the day of the Sun. Do you do less? Do not most of you, in affectation of worshipping the heavenly bodies, at times move your lips toward the sun rising. You certainly are the ones who also received the Sun into the register of the seven days, and from among the days preferred it . . .”

Dave: I’m going to interrupt you with a quick explanation here, just so you understand why the pagans would confuse this new religion called Christianity, with their own cult of Mithras.

• Both Yahushua and Mithra claimed to be mankind’s savior.
• Both claimed to have been born of a virgin, with their births attended by shepherds.
• Both were itinerant preachers who taught morality.
• Both Christ and Mithras had 12 followers
• Both performed miracles.
• Mithras birthday was December 25, and even though Christians know that was not, in actuality, Yahushua’s birthdate, that is when most of Christendom celebrates it.

Miles: That’s true. What else?

Dave:

• Both were claimed to have sacrificed themselves for world peace.
• Both were claimed to have been buried in a tomb and resurrected the third day.
• Interestingly enough, both were known as the “Good Shepherd” and the “Light of the world.” Each was viewed by his followers as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
• And finally, both promised their followers immortality.

Miles: Wow! That’s a lot of similarities. I can see why pagans would think Christians were just borrowing from paganism. Then, when Christians also adopted the Julian calendar for worship, there was virtually no difference between those who believed in Yahushua and those who followed Mithras.

Dave: There really wasn’t. The main difference was that Christians refused to burn incense to the emperor. That’s about it, but since that refusal was viewed as treason, it created a lot of problems for Christians.

Miles: Well, yeah. I can see how. You’ve got this new cult that looks the same as the state religion in everything but name only, they’re even worshiping on the same days, and the only difference is an act of treason? That would create a real problem.

Dave: Which is precisely why Yahushua wanted His followers to be in the world but not of the world. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one. Why don’t you turn over to John, chapter 17, and read it for us.

Miles: What verses?

Dave: John 17, verses 14 through 20. Here, Yahushua is praying for His followers. It’s just before His betrayal, and He’s wanting His followers to be protected from the evil in the world.

You have it? Okay, go ahead.

Miles: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

Dave: Christians are to be in the world, but not of the world. Unfortunately, as time passed and the first couple of generations passed away or were killed, it became easier for later generations to compromise than to stay faithful to the purity of their earlier beliefs.

Now, I’ve got another quote by Tertullian I’d like you to read.

Miles: Okay.

Dave: It’s really significant because, again, it reveals the different practices among Christians. It admits some were worshiping on Sunday, others on Saturday which he admits is itself a deviation from Jewish practice. See, at this time, the apostolic Christians were still keeping the Sabbath by the Biblical calendar.

Here it is. Go ahead and read that, if you would.

Miles: All right. It says, quote: “We shall be taken for Persians, perhaps . . .”

Dave: Mithraism was a Persian mystery religion. So what he’s saying here, is that Christians might be mistaken for Mithraists. Keep reading. He’s going to explain why.

Miles: “The reason for this, I suppose, is that it is known that we pray towards the east . . . Likewise, if we devote the day of the Sun to festivity (from a far different reason from Sun worship), we are in a second place from those who devote the day of Saturn, themselves also deviating by way of a Jewish custom of which they are ignorant.”

Dave: This is an amazing statement. Here, Tertullian is admitting that worship on Saturday was itself a deviation from the Jewish custom of worship on the seventh-day of the original calendar. Instead of the seventh-day Sabbath on the luni-solar calendar of Creation, some of the Christians were worshiping on Saturday, now the seventh day of the pagan solar calendar.

Miles: That’s really interesting. Today, we’d never know to make that distinction since the Jews today use the luni-solar calendar only for their annual feasts. Even the Jews use the Gregorian Saturday for worship.

Dave: Exactly. You can see how Satan won a real victory by creating a delusion so long ago that now the belief that Saturday is the Bible Sabbath has just been “grandfathered in.” People accept it without question.

Miles: So, by Tertullian’s time, were all Christians worshiping by the Julian calendar?

Dave: Not at all. Just because some Christians had compromised their beliefs and embraced pagan practices, worshiping on the Julian calendar, that doesn’t mean that all had or that the transformation occurred without protest from other believers.

Apostolic Christians, those who clung to the teachings of the apostles and their immediate spiritual descendants, were really upset as they saw pagan apostasy creeping slowly, but steadily into the church.

Miles: I can see how the compromise of some Christians would make it harder on others who refused to compromise.

Dave: That’s exactly what happened. The pagans, who were normally quite tolerant of differing beliefs, saw the inconsistency among Christians, and the compromise of many of them. This developed in the pagans an extreme prejudice against Christianity.

In fact, the main point of Tertullian’s work, the Apologeticum, was to defend Christianity against the unreasonable treatment of Christians by pagans.

Miles: Actually, I do remember this about Tertullian. It’s starting to come back from university.

You know, Tertullian had quite a biting wit. He really relished irony. I remember that he pointed out how the courts treated Christians versus other criminals. He said that a common criminal was tortured until he confessed to a crime. On the other hand, people who were accused of being Christian were tortured until they denied it.

Christians had also been accused of ritual incest and eating babies even though such charges had never been proven. Tertullian had even something to say about this!

See, one thing the Romans would do is, they would abandon unwanted children. Tertullian poked fun at the Romans and said that, with how licentious they were, and with all the babies they abandoned, incest was inevitable for them!

Dave: Well, I guess that’s one way to toss an argument back in your opponent’s teeth!

The thing I want to be careful that we don’t do, is to harshly judge those who lived through extreme persecution. It’s not our place to judge others. We can leave that up to Yah.

But we should all be aware that paganism made inroads into Christianity only under extreme protest from all true believers. Many gave their lives in defense of the truth.

Antonio Gallonio wrote a book entitled Martyrum Cruciatibus. In his book, published in 1591, Gallonio said that Christians who refused to drop a pinch of incense in honor of the so-called “divine” emperor, would often be forced to hold a handful of incense mixed with burning coals. If the burning mixture was dropped out of reflex, or if it fell only after the fingers were burned off, the pagans declared that proper honor had been given the emperor. It was really sick, evil, and twisted but there were many who remained faithful to Yah despite the persecution of those who tried to force them to comply.

Miles: Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to amaze.

Dave: Christians were also expected to offer a pinch of incense to the other Roman gods. Odom says, quote: “Prayer to the planets on their respective days was part of the worship of the heavenly bodies.” Unquote.

One protestant minister, who is employed by a large Saturday-observant denomination, told me, “Yes, when the seventh-day Sabbath is calculated by the Biblical calendar, it will fall differently; but all God requires of us is to keep the seventh-day Sabbath by whatever calendar society is using.”

Miles: Seriously? He actually said that?

Dave: He did.

Miles: That’s so inconsistent!

Dave: Well, I can tell you that it shocked me. The thing is, his answer shows a real lack of knowledge of the issues at stake. He might stand up in his pulpit on a Saturday and preach against Sunday keeping, but by going to church on Saturday, he’s no different than the very ones I’ve, personally, heard him preach against.

But, getting back to the calendar, apostolic Christians clearly understood that the planetary week with its seven astrological gods was linked to demon worship.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 20, would you please?

Here we can see that the Bible itself is adamant that the rites of paganism are nothing but devil worship.

Miles: “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles [pagans] sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to Yahuwah: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.”

Huh! That’s a rather eye-opening verse when seen in this context!

Dave: In researching this subject, I found an old copperplate engraving. It’s from Antonio Gallonio’s book, Tortures and Torments of Christian Martyrs. You can see several Christians being tortured, but in the upper right-hand corner you see someone standing before the planetary god, Jupiter. Do you see it?

Miles: Yeah, but how do you know it’s Jupiter?

Dave: Do you see how the image is holding a cluster of thunderbolts?

Miles: Yeah. It’s in the form of an X with a thick, bisecting bolt.

Dave: Jupiter was always depicted holding his thunderbolts. That was his symbol. Jupiter was the god of the fifth day of the week. His day equates to our modern Thursday.

Now, I want you to read the caption under the photo.

Miles: “Martyr whose hand is filled with incense mingled with live coals, and who being constrained by the pain to scatter the incense, is said to have made sacrifice to the idol.”

Wow!

Dave: No true Christian, to save his life, would offer a pinch of incense to that day’s planetary god, not even Saturn – even if the seventh-day Sabbath on that lunation happened to coincide with Saturn’s day.

Miles: Well, no! Obviously to do so, would acknowledge Saturn as “god” of that day.

Dave: The calendar we use encompasses much larger issues than most of us have understood. In a very real sense, the day on which you worship reveals which deity is being worshipped.

The early Christians understood that when you worship by a pagan calendar you are, in reality, giving homage to a pagan god.

Miles: I see. And, by contrast, by worshipping on the Creator’s luni-solar calendar, they were declaring their allegiance to, Yahuwah, the deity of Heaven.

Dave: Exactly.

Miles: Wow. There is so much more to this than we’ve every realized before.

Folks, obviously in one short radio program, there’s simply not enough time to get into it all, but on our website, we’ve got dozens of articles, well-researched and documented articles, that lay out the evidence from Scripture and the facts of history. Please. Start studying it out for yourself.

Don’t take our word for it, but study it out for yourself while there is still time.

We’ll be right back with our daily mailbag.

* * *

Mid-point call letters

You are listening to World's Last Chance Radio.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

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* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Karl Hoffman from Bonn, Germany has sent a question for our Daily Mailbag. He writes: “What’s the best way to approach a false teacher? Any advice would be appreciated as we’re dealing with a situation here that requires diplomacy.”

Dave: False teachers have been around a long time. Clear back in Jeremiah, we read: “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Yahuwah. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness.” [Deuteronomy 23:1 & 11]

But we’re certainly seeing a proliferation of them now!

Miles: I’ve noticed that, too. It seems the more Yahuwah pours out truth, the more Satan raises up false teachers.

Dave: That’s exactly what’s happening. That’s why the apostle, John, in 1 John 4, verse 1, warns: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of Yah: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

Miles: Yahushua, too, in … what was it? Matthew 24? He warned, quote: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” [Matt. 24:24]

Dave: It definitely has increased, and it most definitely is a sign of the end. Paul warned this would happen. In 2 Timothy 4, verses 3 to 4, he wrote, quote: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Unquote.

So, Karl’s question is a good one, and it’s a situation more and more people are facing. How do you approach a false teacher?

I believe the first and most important step is to pray about it first. It’s easy to feel indignant when we see someone teaching error. But we have to remember that Yah loves that person as well and he or she has a soul to save, too.

Ask the Father to give you a genuine love for the other person. Don’t skip this step. If you approach someone with accusations and anger, all you’ll accomplish is to make him or her—we’ll just say him to keep it simple—all you’re going to do is make him resistant to whatever you have to say.

Miles: That’s true. Most people don’t go out and deliberately teach what they know to be wrong. It’s not some competition, winning an argument or whatever. We want to win their hearts.

Dave: Right. So we should take the time to first engage in intercessory prayer. We need to ask Yah to appropriate unto us, as well as the person for whom we are praying, the merits of Yahushua’s blood to forgive us both of our sins and to implant a humble, teachable spirit. We need to ask for the gift of spiritual discernment.

Miles: A humble, teachable spirit is so important. Not just for the false teacher, but for ourselves. I’ve found that it’s helpful, when approaching a person, to seek a common ground of understanding by sharing a time or two when I’ve been wrong about something. I mean, we all have been, at one time or another.

Dave: I know I have!

Miles: We want to come across as humble ourselves, rather than arrogant or superior. That’s not going to win anyone over! We’re not the final authority. Scripture is.

Dave: Any correction should always be done in love and kindness, even gently stated. Love has got to be the underlying motive. If we take a self-righteous attitude, we’re likely to end up doing more harm than good as it’s just human nature to resist when we feel attacked.

After praying, and with a spirit love, the best way—and I might add, the only way—to approach a false teacher is with the word of Yah. If you can’t back it up with Scripture, you have no business approaching them. If they are sincere in wanting to know and obey the truth, the word of Yah is all that you will need to gently, kindly, and without accusation, show them their error. As author Jack Wellman would say: You may have to contend for the faith, but that doesn’t mean you have to be contentious.

Miles: Well said. I think we’d all do well to remember that! Let’s all go and contend without being contentious.

If you have a question you’d like answered, just send us a message. Go to our website, WorldsLastChance.com, and click on Contact Us. You can also check out our Frequently Asked Questions. There’s a lot of information there as well.

Again, that’s WorldsLastChance.com. We always enjoy hearing from our listeners.

* * *Daily Promise

Hello! This is Elise O’Brien with your Daily Promise from Yah’s Word.

During the Napoleonic wars, one young soldier was sentenced to death for some offense deemed worthy of death.

The young man’s mother approached Napoleon Bonaparte and asked him to pardon her son.

Napoleon replied that her son had committed a certain offense, not once, but twice and justice demanded death.

The mother didn’t give up. Instead, she gave a very insightful reply. She said: “But I didn’t ask for justice. I am pleading for mercy.”

Napoleon remained firm. “Your son, madam,” he said, “does not deserve mercy.”

“But sir,” the mother replied, “It would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.”

Napoleon recognized the truth in the woman’s words and spared the young man’s life.

Mercy is defined as, quote: “That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant.” Unquote.

Fortunately for us, mercy is also an attribute of the divine character. Psalm 145, verse 8, beautifully describes the inner heart of the Father and what we find there is mercy. It says: “Yahuwah is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.”

To be gracious means to be kind, benevolent, and quick to forgive offenses. It also means friendly. Have you ever thought of Yahuwah in that light? He’s friendly! He wants to be your friend!

The psalm also describes Yahuwah as full of compassion. Compassion is defined as a sensation of loving sorrow at the distress of another. The Father hurts when you do!

Most of all, Yahuwah is merciful. He has a tender heart that is quick to overlook offenses and His attitude is to treat the offender better than he, or she, deserves.

Who wouldn’t want a best friend like that? Friendly, kind, and quick to forgive offenses.

When you think about what those words mean, when you take a moment to let it sink in, you realize that Yahuwah is the very best friend you could ever have!

Isaiah 55, verse 7, extends a beautiful invitation. It says: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto Yahuwah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our Eloah, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Psalm 103 says: “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so Yahuwah pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. But the mercy of Yahuwah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children.” [Psalm 103:11-15, 17]

We’ve been given great and precious promises. Go, and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Dave: In summation, I just want to say that Christianity’s acceptance of pagan calendation did not happen overnight. From our perspective, looking back over 1800, 1900 years, it’s easy to assume that, but it took centuries.

Some Christians compromised on one point, others on another. Some adhered strictly to the luni-solar calendar, while others kept the lunar Sabbath, but also acknowledged Sunday. Still others kept both Saturday and Sunday, while some worshipped only on Sunday.

Miles: The compromises of one generation were taken a little further by the next.

Dave: Isn’t that always how it goes?

Miles: Yeah. Satan can get more done by creeping compromise than he can by one big change which believers would resist. It’s a lot more subtle, and more dangerous, to make just a little change every generation.

Dave: Have you heard of a book called The Two Republics?

Miles: No, don’t think so. Doesn’t sound familiar.

Dave: It was written by a man by the name of Alonzo T. Jones and published back in 1888, 1887. Somewhere in there. Anyway, in the book, he was comparing the factors that led to the fall of Rome, to what he was already seeing in his day would lead to the eventual “fall” of the United States.

Miles: Sounds interesting.

Dave: He’s got some really insightful observations in there. I’ve got a copy in my personal library. It’s this massive tome. Hardback; with nearly a thousand pages.

Anyway, I’d like you to read this quote from pages 320 and 321.

Miles: All right. Now, is he talking about the US or Rome, here?

Dave: Rome.

Miles: All right, it says, quote:

At every step in the course of the apostasy, at every step taken in adopting the forms of sun worship, and against the adoption and the observance of Sunday itself, there had been constant protest by all real Christians. Those who remained faithful to Christ and to the truth of the pure word of God observed the Sabbath of the Lord according to the commandment, and according to the word of God which sets forth the Sabbath as the sign by which the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is distinguished from all other gods. These accordingly protested against every phase and form of sun worship. Others compromised, especially in the East, by observing both Sabbath and Sunday. But in the west under Roman influences and under the leadership of the church and the bishopric of Rome, Sunday alone was adopted and observed.

Dave: Because the Biblical luni-solar calendar was so different from the pagan solar calendar, literally every area of life was affected.

Miles: I’m sure! You can see how it would take a real heart commitment to the truth to stand firm and not compromise. When your work, your ability to feed your family is being impacted, you can see how they’d excuse away compromise.

Dave: Scholars believe that Eusebius of Caesarea was the first ecclesiastical writer to spiritualize the pagan name of “Sunday” to make it more palatable for Christians. He said of dies Solis, or Sunday, quote: “On it to our souls the Sun of Righteousness rose.”

Miles: Clever manipulation of words there. You’ve got day of the sun, and you just make that sun be Yahushua, the “sun of righteousness” and it covers up the fact that it’s actually a pagan day.

Dave: Eusebius also wrote of seeing, quote: “The face of the glory of Christ, and to behold the day of His light.” Unquote.

Miles: Has there been anything preserved in the archeological record that shows this transformation from Biblical calendar observance, to pagan Julian?

Dave: Yes! I’m glad you asked. I almost forgot. You can find this transition the Christians underwent in adopting the pagan calendar preserved in an unusual place.

Miles: Where’s that?

Dave: Inscriptions on sepulchers! One Christian inscription refers to dies Mercurii—or “day of Mercury”—in its text. The date is believed to be either 291 or 302 of our common era.

There’s another Christian inscription that’s even more interesting. It’s actually one of the oldest dated sepulchral inscriptions to be discovered in Rome. It refers to dies Veneris, or our modern Friday. What sets this particular inscription apart is that it lists both the Julian date and the luni-solar date!

Miles: No way!

Dave: Yes way. Here, I’ve got a copy of it. Why don’t you read it for our listeners? It’s dated 269 CE.

Miles: All right, it says, quote:

In the consulship of Claudius and Paternus, on the Nones of November, on the day of Venus, and on the 24^th day of the lunar month, Leuces placed [this memorial] to her very dear daughter Severa, and to Thy Holy Spirit. She died [at the age] of 55 years, and 11 months [and] 10 days.

Unquote. Wow! That’s incredible!

Dave: In our modern calendar, we don’t use the term, “nones” so let’s talk about that a moment.

The “Nones” of November is November 5, which the inscription states fell on the day of Venus.

Miles: Or “Friday.”

Dave: Right. And on that lunation, this corresponded with the 24^th day of the lunar month. Because the weekly cycle restarts every month on the Biblical calendar, the 24^th day of the month always lands on the second day of the week.

This is proof positive, right here, that the weekly cycles differ. If November 5 that year fell on a Friday—and that’s what the inscription says—that means that November 6 was a Saturday.

But on the Biblical calendar, Saturday on that lunation simply fell on the third day of the week, not the seventh!

Miles: Wow. We’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again: there is no possible way to find the true seventh-day Sabbath on either the pagan Julian calendar, or the papal Gregorian calendar. You just can’t do it! Nor can you find the true day of Yahushua’s resurrection. It’s impossible.

If you really want to honor Yahuwah by worshiping on His holy Sabbath, if you want to acknowledge the day on which Christ was resurrected, the only way you’re going to be able to do that is if you use the luni-solar calendar of the Bible to calculate your months.

Dave: It’s true. This slow metamorphosis from pure, apostolic Christianity, to a Christianity intertwined with pagan calendation principles is what’s responsible today for the lack of knowledge about the Biblical calendar.

Miles: Well, yeah. The pagan continuous weekly cycle reaches so far back in history, we’ve all just assumed that a continuous weekly cycle has simply always existed.

Dave: The historical facts—again, these are documented, demonstrable facts—the facts of the history of the Julian calendar have been forgotten.

Miles: We’ve all used circular reasoning to “prove” that Saturday is the Bible Sabbath and Sunday the day of the resurrection. We say:

“The modern Gregorian week has continuously cycling seven-day weeks. Therefore, weeks have always cycled continuously. Saturday, then, must be the ‘seventh-day Sabbath’ of the fourth commandment.”

Dave: Catholics and Protestants worshipping on Sunday, the first day of the Gregorian week, has been taken as further “proof” that Saturday is the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible.

After all, it’s reasoned: “If Saturday is not the true Sabbath, why would Satan bother with having people worship on Sunday?”

This double deception has affirmed Saturday sabbatarians in their assumption that Saturday is the Bible Sabbath. However, the facts of history shine light through the darkness of error and tradition to reveal the pagan origins of both modern days of worship, Sunday and Saturday.

Miles: Yeah, I’ve heard that. It’s a double deception and it’s affirmed Saturday sabbatarians in their assumption that Saturn’s day is the Bible Sabbath.

Dave: The facts of history, though, prove otherwise. The modern days of worship, the sun’s day, and Saturn’s day are nothing but pagan worship days and if we worship on them we are, in effect, giving honor to pagan demon gods—something for which early Christians would rather sacrifice their lives than do.

Miles: Thank you, Dave, for taking us through this. We can’t make assumptions, folks.

It’s a Biblical principle that Yahuwah, in His love and mercy, takes into account our ignorance of truth.

Acts 17, verses 30 to 31 says: “And the times of this ignorance Yah winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

Please, study this out. You’re no longer ignorant. The truth has been presented to you and now you need to study it out for yourself.

Join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

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In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

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