Chapter 11: None Might Buy or Sell

This chapter examines current and historical Sunday legislation, from Roman Empire edicts to modern European laws. The progression may seem far-fetched to those living in religiously free countries, but the infrastructure is already being built. The goal is not to predict exact timelines but to recognize patterns Scripture describes.

Before we sprint into legislation timelines: I'm still learning to keep Sabbath faithfully myself. I don't have a settled fellowship or a perfect routine yet. If you're standing in the same in-between place (wanting to obey, still figuring out how), it's okay to feel the weight of these next pages. They aren't written from a pedestal. They're written because the struggle to rest now is the same muscle we'll need when rest is contested.

Not Future - Now

When most Christians hear "Sunday laws," they imagine some distant tribulation event.

They imagine sci-fi scenarios, apocalyptic movies, and far-off persecution that won't happen in their lifetime.

But Sunday legislation already exists in various forms. The question is whether enforcement will expand.

The framework is being built. Legal precedents are being established. Public sentiment is being shaped.

The framework develops faster than most realize.

The following phases represent one possible sequence based on prophetic interpretation and historical patterns. The actual timeline and sequence may differ.

Phase 1: Voluntary Rest (Current)

The first phase of Sunday law progression is voluntary promotion without legal enforcement.

"Let's encourage people to rest on Sunday. It's good for families. Good for mental health. Good for the planet."

No one is forcing you. It appears as a suggestion, a cultural norm, and a recommendation.

This pattern appears globally.

Europe: Sunday Shopping Restrictions

Multiple European nations currently restrict Sunday commerce:

Germany:

Austria:

Poland:

Italy, Switzerland, and Norway:

Common pattern:

North America: Blue Laws Remnants

The United States had widespread "blue laws" prohibiting Sunday commerce throughout the 1800s and early 1900s. (For international readers: "blue laws" are laws restricting activities on Sundays. The name likely derives from colonial-era laws printed on blue paper or bound in blue covers.)

Most were repealed in the 1960s-1980s due to:

But remnants persist:

These aren't heavily enforced. They're cultural relics.

But they establish legal precedent: Sunday can be treated differently than other days for religious/cultural reasons.

That precedent matters when new Sunday laws are proposed.

Pacific Islands: Historical Enforcement

While Western debates focus on Europe and America, the Pacific Islands reveal how thoroughly Sunday observance can be enforced when church and state align. These laws date primarily to 19th-century missionary influence rather than recent ecumenical coordination, but they demonstrate the pattern.

Tonga:

Samoa:

The Pacific demonstrates that Sunday enforcement doesn't require European-style legislation. Cultural consensus, religious influence, and community pressure achieve the same result. When crisis demands "unity," these mechanisms scale.

The pattern is clear: Sunday as a rest day is normalized globally (from European constitutional protection to US legal precedent to Pacific island constitutions), establishing the foundation for future enforcement.

Phase 2: Economic and Social Incentives (Emerging)

The second phase adds incentives for Sunday observance without outright prohibition of work.

"You're not required to rest on Sunday. But if you do, you'll receive tax breaks, employer bonuses, community recognition."

Conversely: "You're not prohibited from working Sunday. But if you do, you won't receive these benefits."

It's a carrot-and-stick approach, not yet backed by legal force.

Climate Sabbath Movement

The most significant emerging Sunday promotion is environmental.

The logic:

  1. Climate change is existential threat
  2. Overconsumption and constant commerce accelerate it
  3. Mandatory rest day would reduce carbon emissions
  4. Sunday is traditional Western rest day
  5. Therefore, universal Sunday rest helps save the planet

Who's promoting it:

Vatican: As explored in Chapter 14, Pope Francis's Laudato Si' explicitly links Sunday rest with ecological necessity, acknowledging the seventh day as "the Jewish Sabbath" while promoting Sunday as its replacement.6 Pope Francis, Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home, encyclical letter, Vatican City, May 24, 2015, ¶237. Available at: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

Christian environmental coalitions including Climate Sunday (31 denominations encouraging climate-focused Sunday services), the Evangelical Climate Initiative, and similar movements are normalizing the link between Sunday worship and environmental concerns.7 Climate Sunday coalition. Available at: https://www.climatesunday.org/. Secular movements advocate universal rest days through Green New Deal proposals and "slow down to save the planet" campaigns.

The mechanism:

Once Sunday rest is tied to planetary survival, dissent will be framed as ecocide.

Refusing to observe Sunday becomes more than religious stubbornness; it becomes actively harming future generations.

This makes persecution morally justifiable in persecutors' minds. They're not opposing religious freedom; they're protecting the planet from dangerous fundamentalists.

Economic Incentives Proposals

Some proposals don't mandate Sunday closure but incentivize it:

U.S. Policy Proposals: Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy blueprint for a conservative administration, explicitly proposes amending federal labor law to protect "Sabbath" work while defining "Sabbath" as Sunday:8 Heritage Foundation, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2023), 589. "God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest, and until very recently the Sabbath was automatically a day off for most Americans, including those making less money than their bosses. But that is no longer the case." The document proposes time-and-a-half pay requirements for "Sabbath" (Sunday) work. Available at: https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf [PDF]. Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20251008201203/https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf.

"God ordained the Sabbath as a day of rest... The Judeo-Christian tradition emphasizes the importance of Sabbath rest for everyone, including workers."

The document proposes requiring time-and-a-half pay for Sunday work under the Fair Labor Standards Act. This is Phase 2 methodology: not prohibiting Sunday work, but making it economically disadvantageous through federal law.

The religious framing is explicit, yet the policy claims secular justification (worker protection). This mirrors the European pattern.

Tax breaks for Sunday-closing businesses: "If your business closes Sundays to give workers rest, you receive tax reduction."

Employer bonuses for Sunday-off scheduling: "Companies that don't schedule Sunday shifts qualify for government grants/subsidies."

Social credit for Sunday rest (theoretical): Social credit systems are government programs that track citizen behavior and adjust privileges accordingly. They reward compliance with benefits and penalize nonconformity with restrictions. In nations that adopt such systems, Sunday observance could theoretically factor into citizen scores. No jurisdiction has proposed this, but the technical infrastructure exists.

Premium pay requirements for Sunday work: "Employers must pay double or triple wages for Sunday work, making it economically prohibitive."

None of these technically prohibit Sunday work. But they make it economically disadvantageous.

And they normalize the idea: Sunday is special. Sunday is different. Sunday should be protected.

The Four-Phase Progression

For the interactive world map, see https://theremnantthread.com/studies/sunday-law-map

Before continuing to Phases 3 and 4, here's the complete progression mapped out, from where we are now to the final enforcement of Revelation 13:

Sunday Law Enforcement Progression

From a print standpoint, the entire journey can be summarized in four phases. The interactive chart at https://theremnantthread.com/studies/sunday-law-map expands each stage, but the essentials are below.

  1. Phase 1 - Voluntary promotion (present reality):
    • European constitutions and national statutes shield Sunday trading; Germany treats it as a civic treasure, Austria and Poland legislate closures, and multiple countries restrict Sunday commerce.
    • North America retains "blue law" DNA: twelve U.S. states still forbid Sunday car sales, numerous counties block alcohol sales, and courts describe Sunday as uniquely worthy of protection.
    • Church coalitions (Laudato Si', Climate Sunday) and evangelical alliances preach Sunday rest as moral duty, framing it as the Christian counterpart to the Sabbath.

    Outcome: The culture absorbs the assumption that Sunday is special even without legal teeth.

  2. Phase 2 - Economic and social incentives (potential trajectory):
    • Climate policy becomes a new rationale: "rest one day to save the planet," with the Vatican and numerous denominations endorsing the concept.
    • Governments could implement tax relief, subsidies, or premium pay linked to Sunday closures, creating economic pressure on seventh-day businesses.
    • Digital-ID and social-credit systems provide theoretical infrastructure for tracking compliance, though no jurisdiction has yet proposed Sunday observance as a criterion.

    Potential outcome: Sunday observance becomes economically advantageous; Sabbath-keepers face financial pressure.

  3. Phase 3 - Legal mandate with exemptions (prophetic expectation):
    • National laws would outlaw normal commerce on Sunday, retaining only essential services.
    • Religious exemptions might exist on paper, but could require registering beliefs, proving sincerity, and carrying documentation.
    • Public pressure could frame seventh-day observance as antisocial or unpatriotic.

    Potential outcome: Sunday becomes the enforced default; Sabbath-keepers become visible and vulnerable.

  4. Phase 4 - Universal enforcement (prophetic interpretation of Revelation 13):
    • Revelation 13:17 describes economic exclusion. Digital currencies and biometric systems provide theoretical infrastructure, though none has been proposed for religious compliance.
    • Global crises could brand dissenters as enemies of unity.
    • The progression would parallel the medieval pattern (economic pressure first, then escalation per Revelation 13:15), but with modern technological reach.

    Prophetic expectation: If this phase is reached, humanity faces the choice between the mark of the beast and the seal of God described in Revelation.

What this shows:

The technological infrastructure that could enable such enforcement exists. Whether it will be applied to religious observance remains speculative, but Scripture describes a trajectory that ends in compelled worship.

When someone asks "Can't I just observe both days?" the question misses the point.

The enforcement won't be designed to allow both. It will be designed to force a choice, just as it was during the Dark Ages when the Council of Laodicea required people to work on Saturday to prove they rejected the Sabbath.

Phase 3: Legal Requirement with Exemptions (Coming)

Phase three moves from incentives to mandates, but with religious exemptions.

"Everyone must rest on Sunday. If your religion observes a different day, you may apply for exemption."

This appears tolerant. "We're not forcing anyone to violate their conscience. We're just establishing Sunday as the default."

How it will work:

Sunday Commerce Prohibition:

Application process:

Social pressure:

Economic cost:

Precedent exists:

This already happened in history.

United States, 1960s: Multiple states had Sunday closing laws with religious exemptions. Sabbath-keepers challenged them (McGowan v. Maryland, 1961).9 McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961). Sunday closing law upheld as constitutional when given secular justification. Available at: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/366/420/.

Supreme Court ruling: Sunday laws don't violate First Amendment even if they burden Sabbath-keepers, because the laws serve "secular purpose" (providing uniform day of rest) even if they align with Christian tradition.

Translation: States can legally require Sunday closure as long as they claim non-religious justification (worker welfare, family time, environmental benefit).

The precedent stands.

When new Sunday laws come framed as climate action or worker protection, courts will likely uphold them, even if they burden Sabbath-keepers.

International Models

European Union history: The 1993 Working Time Directive stated weekly rest "shall, in principle, include Sunday," but the European Court of Justice annulled this provision in 1996, ruling the Council failed to explain why Sunday specifically relates to worker health/safety. The 2003 Working Time Directive contains no specific Sunday references.10 European Foundation, "Sunday work in Europe," Eurofound, 2016. Available at: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publications/2016/whats-happening-sunday-work-europe-0.

Since then, no EU-wide Sunday restriction proposals have succeeded, but national debates continue:

Countries restricting Sunday work:

Countries expanding Sunday work:

Arguments for restrictions:

Arguments against:

The trend is mixed, but as crises intensify (economic, environmental, and social), pressure builds to adopt Sunday rest as solution.

How Exemptions Become Targets

Initially, religious exemptions allow Sabbath-keepers to operate.

But they make you visible.

You're on a list:

When Phase 4 arrives (enforcement without exemptions), you're already identified.

And public sentiment shifts:

Phase 3: "Fine, let them have their exemption. We're tolerant."

Phase 4: "Why should they get special privileges while we sacrifice for the planet? Everyone must participate."

The exemption becomes the accusation.

Phase 4: Enforcement Without Exemptions (Final Crisis)

This is Revelation 13 territory.

The final phase allows no exemptions, no tolerance: universal Sunday observance is required.

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

Revelation 13:16-17

Economic enforcement means no one can buy or sell without the mark.

In modern terms:

Revelation 13:17: "no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark."

Keep Saturday / refuse Sunday? You're excluded from the economy.

This isn't sci-fi. The technology exists now:

When Sunday becomes tied to:

...then enforcement becomes "necessary" for the "common good."

Social enforcement:

"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

Revelation 13:15

This is a death decree.

Revelation's prophecy suggests economic pressure precedes more severe measures. Whether literal death penalties emerge depends on how events unfold, but the pattern described in Revelation 13 is unmistakable.

Historical pattern:

This isn't new. The Roman Catholic Church perfected this mechanism centuries ago:

The 1492 Template (see Chapter 8): Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Jews from Spain. Ninety days to convert, leave, or die. Those who left forfeited everything: homes, businesses, and debts owed to them. Crown and Church divided the spoils. The pattern is familiar: crisis leads to blaming a religious minority, then confiscating property, until the institution enriches itself.

The 1,260-Year Application: The same machinery ground against Sabbath-keepers:

The mechanism is proven. The technology now makes it enforceable globally, not just in European Christendom.

Why Enforcement Will Succeed (Temporarily)

"But this could never happen in America! We have religious freedom, separation of church and state, constitutional protections!"

History shows constitutional protections can fail: Weimar Germany had one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. Rwanda had democratic institutions. Neither prevented what followed. Legal frameworks depend on the people who interpret and enforce them.

Constitutional protections fail when:

  1. Crisis creates fear (economic collapse, climate catastrophe, pandemic, or war)
  2. Unity is promoted as solution ("We must all sacrifice for common good")
  3. Dissent is reframed as threat ("Your refusal endangers everyone")
  4. Enforcement is gradual (incrementally accept small restrictions until total control normalized)

Sunday law enforcement will succeed because:

It will be framed as secular necessity:

Courts uphold secular justifications even when they align with religious practice (McGowan precedent).

It will have ecumenical support:

Opposition will be framed as extremism:

This technology exists:

The compliance pattern: Most Christians already observe Sunday. Enforcement wouldn't require them to change anything, only to continue what they already practice.

Sabbath-keepers are a small minority. History shows that small religious minorities are vulnerable to scapegoating during crises, often blamed for disrupting social unity or divine favor.

Whether this dynamic emerges remains to be seen. But the pattern has precedent.

Current Developments to Watch

These developments are already underway:

1. European Sunday Alliance lobbying

The European Sunday Alliance is an organized coalition actively lobbying EU institutions for continent-wide Sunday protection.16 European Sunday Alliance, official website. Available at: https://www.europeansundayalliance.eu/. The Alliance describes itself as "a network of civil society organizations, trade unions and churches" promoting "work-free Sunday and decent working hours."

Key details:

The religious origin is obscured by secular framing. Catholic bishops' conferences work alongside labor unions, allowing Sunday legislation to be presented as worker protection rather than religious enforcement.

This is the Phase 2 methodology: religious agenda pursued through secular coalitions with economic/social justifications.

2. Climate Sabbath campaigns

3. Digital currency rollouts

4. Social credit expansions

Note for skeptics: This doesn't mean a unified global social credit system exists or is imminent. The point is that the technical infrastructure for compliance-based economic exclusion has been built and tested. Whether governments will use it for religious enforcement remains speculative, but the capability now exists in ways it didn't a generation ago.

5. Religious liberty erosions

6. Ecumenical advancement

Each of these developments creates infrastructure for Sunday law enforcement.

None alone constitutes the final crisis.

But together, they show the progression is underway.

What This Means for You

If you're keeping the seventh-day Sabbath:

The cost is currently social (loss of fellowship, family tension, being called legalistic).

The cost is coming financial (employment challenges, business restrictions).

The cost will eventually be life (economic exclusion, death decree).

Obedience now costs relatively little. Later it costs everything. Those who won't stand for truth when it costs comfort won't stand for truth when it costs life.

The Prophetic Timeline

We're not in Phase 4 yet (universal enforcement).

We're in Phase 1-2 transition (voluntary promotion moving toward economic incentives).

How long until Phase 4?

Unknown. Could be 5 years. Could be 20. Could be sooner.

What accelerates it:

What delays it:

But the prophetic framework suggests enforcement may come.

Revelation 13 doesn't give a date, but it describes a pattern of escalating enforcement that those who accept this interpretation should prepare for.

"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark."

Revelation 13:16

The text does not say "some" or "many." It says "all."

The mark will be global, universal, and enforced.

When the final crisis hits, Sabbath-keepers will face the choice:

They will either obey God and lose the world's comfort, or compromise and lose God.

Those who practice obedience in small things gain strength for obedience in ultimate things.

The time to decide is now, while you still can.

Practical Preparation

While the timing remains uncertain, preparing makes sense:

  1. Reducing debt: The less dependent on the financial system, the less leverage enforcement has. Paying off what you can, avoiding new debt, and simplifying financial life reduces vulnerability.
  2. Building community: Fellowship with other Sabbath-keepers matters now. Isolation during crisis is spiritually dangerous. A community provides encouragement, practical help, and accountability.
  3. Developing useful skills: Abilities that function outside formal employment (gardening, repair work, healthcare basics, teaching) serve others regardless of economic systems.
  4. Practicing obedience in small things: Keeping Sabbath faithfully now, even when inconvenient, builds the muscle needed when pressures become severe.

These steps aren't survival prepping. They're spiritual preparation. The goal isn't to escape difficulty but to remain faithful through it.

Why You Can't "Just Keep Both"

"But if Sunday law is enforced, can't I just keep the seventh-day Sabbath and observe Sunday? Why does it have to be one or the other?"

If keeping both days were possible, Sunday enforcement would be an inconvenience, not a crisis. History shows why compromise will not be an option.

The Historical Pattern: Saturday Work Required

Council of Laodicea (AD 364), Canon 29:

"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day."17 Council of Laodicea, Canon 29 (AD 364). Text preserved in Hefele, Karl Joseph. A History of the Christian Councils. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1896, 316.

They did not say "rest both days." They said work on Saturday and rest on Sunday. This is enforcement by design. If keeping both days were allowed, the law would not force allegiance. But if working on Saturday becomes required to prove Sunday honored as supreme, then it becomes a test.

This is what the Roman Catholic Church did for 1,260 years (538-1798 AD). Sabbath-keeping was heresy. Saturday work was required to prove Sunday allegiance. Refusal meant confiscation, torture, and execution. Digital tracking makes such enforcement trivial today: employment records timestamped, business transactions logged, purchase histories documenting Saturday commerce. Hiding Sabbath-keeping in a surveillance economy is no longer possible.

It's About Worship, Not Rest

Sunday laws require "honoring" Sunday as sacred, not just physical rest. Canon 29 says "the Lord's day they shall especially honour." Germany's constitution protects Sundays as days "of spiritual edification."18 Federal Republic of Germany, Basic Law, Article 140 (incorporating Weimar Constitution Article 139, 1919). Available at: https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2025/11/shop-closing-laws-in-germany/. Pope Francis's Laudato Si' declares Sunday "meant to be kept holy, reserved for God."19 Pope Francis, Laudato Si', Vatican City, May 24, 2015, ¶237. Available at: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

This is worship language, not rest language. When you observe Sunday under these laws, you acknowledge Sunday as "the Lord's Day." But God declared the seventh day as His holy day (Exodus 20:8-10). There is one Sabbath, and it cannot be both Saturday and Sunday. When you honor Sunday as "the Lord's Day," you accept the Roman Catholic Church's claim to have changed God's commandment. That is the test.

The Biblical Pattern

Every major biblical test forced a choice between conflicting authorities.

In Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar commanded all to bow to his golden image or be thrown into a fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused. The king heated the furnace seven times hotter than normal, so hot that the soldiers who threw them in died from the heat. Yet the three Hebrews walked out unharmed, without even the smell of smoke on their clothes. There was no option to bow to both the image and God.

In Daniel 6, King Darius of Medo-Persia decreed that no one could pray to any god or man except him for thirty days. Daniel continued praying to the Lord three times daily and was thrown into the lions' den. God shut the lions' mouths. Daniel walked out alive while his accusers were devoured before they reached the bottom of the pit. There was no option to pray to both Darius and God. Daniel, by the way, was the same man who in his youth "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat" (Daniel 1:8), choosing vegetables and water over the royal diet. Faithfulness in small things preceded faithfulness in ultimate things.

In Acts 5:29, the Sanhedrin commanded the apostles to stop preaching in Jesus's name. Peter answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men." There was no option to obey both.

Revelation presents the same binary. On one side stand "they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). On the other stand those who "worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark" (Revelation 14:9-10). Scripture describes commandment-keepers and mark-receivers, with no third category between them.

If the Roman Catholic Church required Saturday work during the Dark Ages to prove Sunday allegiance, and thousands were martyred for refusing, why would modern enforcement allow you to rest both days?

The Roman Catholic Church has not changed its doctrine. Sunday remains their claimed mark of authority. God has not changed His commandment. The seventh day remains holy. The test has not changed. It is still about whose authority you acknowledge as ultimate.

Deciding now costs little. Deciding later costs everything.

For an interactive overview of these historical steps, see https://theremnantthread.com/studies/mark-progression.

Practical steps now: Those reading this in countries with religious freedom have the opportunity to establish Sabbath practice while the choice is easy. Fellowship with others who keep the seventh day provides strength. Understanding the prophetic framework clarifies why this matters. The muscle built now through faithful obedience is the muscle needed later.

Key Takeaway

Sunday legislation exists now. Phase 1 laws operate in Germany, Austria, Poland, and Pacific islands. Phase 2 economic incentives are forming through climate Sabbath campaigns and Project 2025's Sunday premium pay proposals. The progression follows Revelation 13: voluntary observance becomes incentivized, then mandated with exemptions, then universally enforced until "no man might buy or sell" without compliance. Digital infrastructure (CBDCs, biometrics, social credit systems) now makes global enforcement technically possible. Historical precedent is clear: the Council of Laodicea (AD 364) did not allow "keeping both days" but required Saturday work to prove Sunday allegiance. When enforcement comes, it will be framed as secular necessity (climate, worker protection, unity), making dissent seem antisocial rather than religious. The test is binary: "they that keep the commandments of God" versus "those who worship the beast and receive his mark" (Revelation 14:9-12). Those who practice obedience when it costs little build strength for obedience when it costs everything.

The weight of this chapter is real. Economic exclusion, social pressure, and potential persecution are not light subjects. But Scripture doesn't leave the faithful without hope. The same God who shut the lions' mouths for Daniel, who walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace, who fed Elijah by ravens--this God has not changed. "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). The test is coming. But so is the deliverance. Those who endure to the end will see their Savior return in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:13; Revelation 1:7). The suffering is temporary. The victory is eternal.