The six-day workweek will be reintroduced in Greece on July 1. Workers will be able to legally work six days a week on a regular basis with prior restrictions removed as long as they are compensated. The new law was approved last September and is designed to end skilled labor shortages.

While the six-day workweek remains optional for now, many in Greece already feel forced to work more to make ends meet.

With other economies struggling, Germany’s Focus asked on April 24: “Do we all have to work more in the end?”

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner believes the answer is yes. “In Italy, France and elsewhere, people work significantly more than here. … When people work or work more, they end up paying higher taxes and social security contributions and receive fewer social transfers,” he noted on April 18.

With new technologies and an increasingly globalized world, many dream of four-day workweeks, fewer working hours and higher pay. But in some countries, the exact opposite is happening. This a paradox that the Trumpet and its predecessor, the Plain Truth, have long expected due to a specific prophecy.

Notice a peculiarity in the new Greek law. Employers generally must pay a 40 percent premium for the additional day of labor. However, if the sixth working day falls on a Sunday or public holiday, employers must pay a further 75 percent premium on top of the 40 percent premium, resulting in 115 percent extra pay for the day. That’s because Greek law mandates that every Sunday is a public holiday: Working on this day requires a special permit. In almost every case, the six-day workweek will be from Monday to Saturday.

Some may be surprised that Sunday rest is not commanded in the Bible. In a.d. 321, Emperor Constantine decreed that Sunday, instead of Saturday, should be a day of rest protected by law. Ever since, so-called Christians have followed what Constantine established instead of God’s clear biblical command to rest on the Sabbath—Saturday. (To learn more, request Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath?, by Herbert W. Armstrong.)

In 2012, the European Union urged Greece to introduce a six-day workweek, essentially asking Greece to make Sunday worship mandatory. While the demand wasn’t heeded at the time, circumstances are now forcing Greece to go down this route. As economic crises worsen across Europe, expect the option to work six days a week and rest on Sunday to become an obligation.

The six-day workweek is an attack on people’s ability to keep the Sabbath day holy.

In Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?, Mr. Armstrong showed that Revelation 13 warns of a six-day workweek and Sunday rest being forced on nations around the world. Historically this has happened in part, but it is prophesied to happen again on the largest scale ever. Mr. Armstrong explained:

Laws became so strict no man could hold a job, or engage in business, unless he worked on Saturday and rested on Sunday. And the world will be so geared that it will be almost impossible for one to “buy or sell” except he receive this mark of the beast!

A major Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes, and it will soon affect the whole world. However, people do not recognize this because mankind has lost sight of the seventh day of the week.

As these prophecies are fulfilled, it is paramount to meet the upcoming challenges equipped with God’s truth. For a thorough explanation of this vital topic, request Mr. Armstrong’s free booklets Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? and Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast?