Secular news magazines such as Time and Newsweek sometimes feature articles on Bible prophecy and Christian beliefs. But it seems odd that a secular magazine would attempt to interpret Bible topics for Christians. After 9/11, and more recently the movie The Passion, secular news magazines have filled their pages with articles on Bible prophecies and Christ's sacrifice. These articles probably are good eye-candy for selling magazines.

Yet, these same secular magazines carefully avoid the stark differences between what Christ really taught His disciples and what modern Christians believe and teach.

Members of the early New Testament Church were called Christians because they followed Jesus Christ. The criteria supporting that designation remain the same, but the name Christian today has taken on a new meaning.

When one actually compares the New Testament scriptures to modern religious writings about what Christ believed and taught, the differences are mind-boggling.

Who is right, Christ or religious interpreters? Let's look at one such difference: the modern Christian "Sabbath" day.

Most Christians, and there are over one billion of them in the world, keep Sunday as their sacred day. What biblical support do they have for observing the first day of the week instead of the seventh-day Sabbath?

It can't be the Bible. The Bible supports only the seventh-day Sabbath.

But why not allow Christ to speak on Christ? He said the Sabbath (the seventh-day) was made for man (Mark 2:28). He customarily went to Jewish synagogue service on the Sabbath day (Luke 4:16). And He taught on that day (Mark 1:21 ; Luke 6:6).

Without apology, even The Catholic Encyclopedia plainly states that Jesus and the apostles kept only the seventh-day Sabbath. It confirms that it was the Roman Emperor Constantine who was responsible for shifting the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday.

Nowhere in the New Testament is there even one hint that Jesus kept any day other than Saturday as the Sabbath. Also, the apostle Paul kept the seventh-day Sabbath and taught the gentiles on that day (Acts 13:42, 44).

Some might argue "that was then and this is now," that the gentile Christians have a right to observe a day different from that of the Jews. But where is the logic in this reasoning? Somehow it seems to have escaped them that Jesus our Savior also was a Jew. And He observed the same Sabbath the Jews observe.

The real logical question should be: Is the Sabbath that Jesus and the apostles kept from the Jews or from God?

It was God who sanctified the Sabbath in the beginning (Genesis 2:2-3). And Jesus said that He didn't come to earth to cancel even a letter or part of a letter of God's law but to fill it to the full (Matthew 5:17).

The Fourth Commandment, of the Ten Commandments, addresses and sanctions the seventh-day Sabbath explicitly. It is the only day of the week that God ever consecrated for a commanded assembly (Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:1-3).

Neither God the Father nor Christ ever changed any of those Ten Commandments. This includes the Fourth Commandment.

We've now come full circle. Jesus Christ taught the observance of and kept the seventh-day Sabbath. The original 12 apostles kept the Sabbath (from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday). Later, the apostle Paul taught the gentile converts on the seventh-day Sabbath, not on Sunday (Acts 13:42-44).

Even the Catholic Church, that began abandoning the keeping of the Sabbath during the reign Constantine, plainly confirms that Jesus Christ and His apostles always kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

If the term Christian identifies one who follows Christ's teachings and example and Christ kept the seventh-day Sabbath, how can a modern professing Christian keep another day and also claim to be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ?

Jesus spoke plainly about those who follow religious traditions contrary to what the Bible teaches: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:8-9).

Are modern Christians following Christ or traditions that are merely the commandments of men? If Jesus were walking the dusty roads of Galilee today and teaching from the same Scriptures He used 2,000 years ago, would modern Christians follow Him or would He have to walk alone? The question remains: Have modern Christians forgotten Christ?