History reveals that decades after the death of the apostles, a politico-religious system repudiated the Sabbath of Scripture and substituted the observance of the first day of the week. Roman Catholic sources freely acknowledge that there is no Biblical authority for the observance of Sunday and assert that it was the Roman Catholic Church that changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week. James Cardinal Gibbons states that the Bible does not authorize the sanctification of Sunday and that the Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day not sanctified by the Church. Stephen Keenan affirms that the Church's power to institute festivals is evidenced by substituting Sunday for Saturday, a change lacking Scriptural authority. John Laux notes that the Church chose Sunday as a Holy Day, deeming it suitable by her authority. Daniel Ferres highlights that the Church's power to command holy days is proven by changing the Sabbath to Sunday. The Catholic Mirror, an official publication, declares that the Catholic Church, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. The Catholic Virginian states that most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed by the Roman Catholic Church outside the Bible. Peter Geiermann confirms that the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. Martin J. Scott asserts that the Church instituted Sunday as the day of worship by God's authority. Peter R. Kraemer emphasizes that the Church, instituted by Christ, has the right to change ceremonial laws and thus accepts the change of the Sabbath to Sunday. T. Enright boldly claims that the Catholic Church, by divine power, abolished the Sabbath day and commanded the observance of Sunday, to which the civilized world obediently bows.

The Catholic Church has been a formidable force throughout Western civilization, from the Medieval period through the Reformation, Renaissance, and up to the present age, influencing the world in ways that all informed people must consider. Its considerable impact is evident in historical novels like The Three Musketeers, where the main antagonist is the evil Cardinal Richelieu, and in Les Miserables, set after the French Revolution, where its role is less overt but still significant. With a worldwide membership of 1.2 billion, the Catholic Church is the largest organized religious entity unbound by borders, guiding many in political and social matters, thus functioning beyond a mere religious organization. Despite lacking a military, it wields political influence through its vast number of voters and economic strength, resembling a large nation more than a traditional church. The Vatican, officially a state and the smallest in the world, occupies just a few square miles but holds demographic power surpassing most nations, with a population three times that of the United States. Historically conservative in moral teachings, it does not engage in warfare but takes sides in conflicts, leading to numerous disputes with European royalty. The Catholic Church maintains a state department and an intelligence service, considered by some experts to be the world's best, closely monitoring global events to protect its interests, deeply tied to the world unlike other religious entities. In recent decades, it has been viewed as conservative, opposing communism and dictatorship while supporting republican government and capitalism, but under Pope Francis, this stance appears to be reversing. Reports indicate Pope Francis is shifting Catholic Church policy dramatically, embracing liberation theology and aiming to create what he calls a church for the poor, a stark contrast to the efforts of Pope John Paul and Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict, to eliminate this theology. Cardinal Ratzinger, a conservative German, led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressing heresies and scandals by removing around 500 priests involved in liberation theology or sexual abuse. His resignation, the first in Catholic Church history, may have been forced to allow a more liberal approach under Pope Francis, whose address Evangelii Gaudium marks a significant leftward shift in the Church's direction.

The world became uncomfortably aware of the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal in the mid-1990s, when news of priestly pederasty sparked public outcry against both the perversion and the Church's inadequate response. The issue, however, dates back much earlier, with bishops as early as the 1950s sending abusive priests to Church-operated facilities for therapy, indicating a long history of private handling of such deviants within an institution that mandates clerical celibacy. High-profile criminal cases, such as Father Donald Roemer's guilty plea in 1981 in Los Angeles and Gilbert Gauthe's conviction on 11 counts of molestation in Louisiana in 1985, brought attention to the issue, but it was a 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé by The Boston Globe that truly elevated the scandal, encouraging victims to share their stories and file lawsuits against offending priests and the Church. In 1980, a case in Munich came to the attention of then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who has been accused of covering up abuse, a practice seemingly routine among bishops and archbishops worldwide by reassigning offenders rather than defrocking them or turning them over to civilian justice. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger oversaw these cases, yet the Church continued to manage most internally and secretly, often prioritizing its own needs over those of victims. This ongoing scandal, coupled with secularism and humanism in the Western world, has led some to question if the Roman Catholic Church, and by extension Christianity, is in decline. The political power and moral authority of the Pope and the Church have waned in recent years, further eroded by leaks of abusive priests, internal feuds, and historical controversies. Despite this, the Roman Catholic Church, a nearly 2,000-year-old institution with deep ties to Europe's elites and vast global assets, is unlikely to be brought down by the scandal. Some Vatican observers speculate that Pope Benedict XVI, at 83, might use the crisis to reform the Curia, the Church's central governing body, by removing older cardinals tied to traditional cover-up policies and replacing them with loyal, conservative ones, though a comprehensive overhaul may be beyond his current capacity. More likely, the Pope will leverage the scandals as a catalyst for reformation, emphasizing orthodoxy and traditional teachings, particularly on sexual matters like priestly celibacy. Despite public criticism, the Church is resilient enough to endure and adapt to societal changes, maintaining its dominant position among professing Christian churches as it has through historical challenges.

The Roman Catholic Church, emerging as the successor to the visible but corrupt church from the second century, became a powerful, wealthy, and temporal institution by the 14th century. It governed large territories in Italy known as the Papal States and held significant influence over many European kingdoms, including the Holy Roman Empire. The popes, claiming universal rule as the Vicar of Christ based on Matthew 16:18-19, were major players during the tumultuous times of the Hundred Years War, often caught in power struggles with kings and nobles who sought to control or resist papal interference. During the late Middle Ages, particularly in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Roman Catholic Church was marked by profound corruption. This period saw scandals involving sexual misconduct among the clergy, including popes and cardinals, as well as pervasive greed. The church interpreted Matthew 16:18-19 as divine sanction to amass wealth, using their perceived authority over the keys of the kingdom and the power to bind and loose to justify extracting money from the faithful through tithes, first fruits, dues from papal fiefs, and fees for church offices, nominations, appointments, and dispensations, especially in matters of marriage among the nobility. The Roman Catholic Church employed various methods to enhance its revenue, including the sale of indulgences, taxes like Peter's Pence, and fees for judgments, pardons, and absolutions. It took cuts from voluntary gifts and bequests, imposed special taxes for crusades, and sold extra indulgences during jubilee years. The church also used excommunication and anathema as tools to extort money, intervening in disputes and threatening spiritual consequences to enforce payment, even withholding Christian burial from clergy who died in debt until their families settled the owed amounts. The Great Schism of the 14th century further highlighted the church's internal conflicts, as the King of France established a rival pope in Avignon, leading to a division in authority and the eventual election of a third pope to attempt unification. Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church has claimed powers from Matthew 16:18-19 to justify its actions, interpreting these verses to satisfy desires for power, prestige, control, and wealth, rather than aligning with the original intent of the church founded by Jesus Christ.

The Roman Catholic Church emerged as a significant entity among the religions surrounding the early New Testament church, originating as a pagan religion derived from Babylonian Mithraism with influences from Gnosticism, though excluding outright Occultism. It evolved into a sophisticated pagan philosophy that adopted Christ's name and Christian terminology, while twisting the meanings of those words. The church incorporated some teachings about the true transcendent all-powerful God and His Savior Son, yet the conduct of its membership revealed a lack of alignment with the purity of God's spirit. Officially naming itself the Church of God with the addition of Universal, it grew to become the largest church in the Roman Empire. Under Constantine, it was appointed as the official state religion, dominating the empire for centuries. The onset of their dominance marked the beginning of the Dark Ages, reflecting the fruit of their rule through the emperors.

The Roman Catholic Church was stunned by Pope Benedict XVI's announcement of his resignation on February 11, 2013, effective February 28, marking only the third voluntary resignation in nearly two millennia of papal rule by Roman bishops. Benedict, at 85, cited his declining strength of mind and body as inadequate for the Petrine ministry in a rapidly changing world, a decision contemplated for almost four years as evidenced by symbolic acts and statements on a pope's duty to resign if unable to perform adequately. Elected at 78 as a reluctant pope following Pope John Paul II's death in 2005, Benedict was seen as a symbol of continuity desired by the Church hierarchy, despite his hope that the College of Cardinals would choose another. His tenure as a conservative defender of Catholic doctrine faced criticism and scandals, yet he remained steadfast against relativistic and progressive influences. Due to Vatican law, Benedict, over 80, cannot participate in the Conclave to elect his successor, though his preferences might be known within the Vatican hierarchy. The upcoming Conclave of 117 cardinal-electors faces unpredictability, with media speculation on candidates from diverse regions like Africa, Latin America, and Europe, reflecting the global presence of the Catholic Church and varying ideological alignments.

The Catholic Mirror, as the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons and the Vatican in the United States, published a series of editorials in September 1893, under the Cardinal's sanction, expressing the position of the Roman Catholic Church to Protestantism. These editorials demand that Protestants account for why they observe Sunday as a day of worship and how they justify this practice. The Protestant world, since its inception in the sixteenth century, has been in thorough accord with the Roman Catholic Church in keeping Sunday holy, rather than Saturday. This unanimity of sentiment and practice over more than 300 years is a point of discussion, as it raises questions about the basis of Protestant observance of Sunday in alignment with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Roman Catholic Church asserts that it transferred Christian worship from the biblical Sabbath, which is Saturday, to Sunday. It argues that attempting to claim this change is biblically supported is both dishonest and a denial of Catholic authority. The Church maintains that if Protestantism insists on basing its teachings solely on the Bible, it should observe Saturday as the day of worship. Over a century ago, the Catholic Mirror published articles emphasizing that without accepting the authority of the Catholic Church to designate the day of worship, Christians should adhere to Saturday.

In the Christian era, the Roman Catholic Church assumed the authority to change the day of worship from the seventh day to the first, starting at least in the fourth century AD. Catholic theologians openly acknowledge this change, asserting that if one adheres strictly to the Bible, the seventh day remains the Sabbath, but they maintain that church leadership holds the authority to make such modifications. This shift has been a point of contention, as many seventh-day Sabbath-keepers faced imprisonment or death for adhering to the fourth commandment in the years following this change. Despite the Protestant Reformation's opposition to certain practices of the Catholic Church, the altered day of worship persisted among most professing Christians, who continue to observe the first day as the proper day of worship.

Over three centuries ago, Satan cunningly persuaded a large number of discontented and ambitious Christians to abandon the Church instituted by the Son of God as their teacher, presenting the Bible alone as their new oracle. The Evil One foresaw the brilliant success of this maneuver, and the result did not fall short of his expectations. Satan found a bold leader in the apostate monk, Luther, who facilitated this departure from the established Church. As the aim of the Evil One in his raid on the Church of Christ was the destruction of Christianity, the means adopted by him have been found to be misleading, self-contradictory, and fallacious.

The Catholic Church, for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this day the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance from the Protestant world. The Protestant world at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence and was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying the Church's right to change the day, for over three hundred years. Despite their claim to follow the Bible alone as teacher, Protestant Bible Christians have adopted a day kept by the Catholic Church, accepting her teaching in direct opposition to the plain, unvaried, and constant teaching of their sole teacher in the most essential doctrine of their religion.

The Roman Catholic Church prominently features the cross as a central symbol in its practices and architecture. Catholic churches, homes, hospitals, and schools around the world are adorned with crosses on their walls. The use of the cross in this manner became formalized over time, with crosses in churches being introduced in 431 AD and their worship sanctioned by the Church of Rome. In 449 AD, at the second council at Ephesus, the Catholic Church required private homes to possess a cross. Additionally, the tradition of placing crosses on steeples emerged around 586 AD. The influence of the Catholic Church has deeply ingrained the cross as a symbol, often leading to a strong emotional attachment among its followers, despite historical evidence of its pagan origins.

As the holiday season approaches, many of us who grew up in traditional Christianity recall the deep emotions and nostalgia tied to what we were told was the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. For some, this includes memories within the Roman Catholic Church, where traditions were deeply ingrained. However, upon reading God's word for ourselves, a disconnect became evident between those traditions and the teachings of Scripture. This realization led to difficult conversations, such as explaining to relatives why one might walk away from the Catholic Church, not out of rebellion or rejection of God, but due to a growing understanding of His authority over human tradition. Historically, a shift in authority occurred within Christianity, notably influenced by Roman authorities in 325 AD. They replaced God's instructions with man-made traditions, substituting the Sabbath with Sunday worship, Passover with Easter, and abandoning God's calendar. This redefined obedience as legalism, aligning worship with foreign customs that Scripture deems strange and abominable. Such changes reflect a broader system of belief that prioritizes human tradition over God's commanded way of worship, a system that has become unrecognizable to Him.