Jesus had some of his harshest criticism for the Pharisees. Does this mean that he hated them? Often, Christians are labeled “Pharisees” for following the commandments of God in the Torah; however, the Pharisees placed their ancient traditions above the righteous commandments in His Torah, much like Judaism does today.

From the Jewish Virtual Library:

Of the various factions that emerged under Hasmonean rule, three are of particular interest: the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.

The most important of the three were the Pharisees because they are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Their main distinguishing characteristic was a belief in an Oral Law that God gave to Moses at Sinai along with the Torah. The Torah, or Written Law, was akin to the U.S. Constitution in the sense that it set down a series of laws that were open to interpretation. The Pharisees believed that God also gave Moses the knowledge of what these laws meant and how they should be applied. This oral tradition was codified and written down roughly three centuries later in what is known as the Talmud.

Jesus’s English name is Joshua, and in Hebrew, it is Yeshua. Yeshua delivered some sharp criticisms of the Pharisees’ political and religious views. Yet the Pharisees had no guns, bombs, or political support from other nations because they were subservient to the Roman Empire. Their religious views consisted of strict adherence to rules that were added to the Torah, and they placed heavy burdens on people in the name of the Creator.

Matthew 23:1–4 (LEB): 23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, ² saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. ³ Therefore do and observe everything that they tell you, but do not do as they do, for they tell others to do something and do not do it themselves. ⁴ And they tie up heavy burdens and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing with their finger to move them.

When the Pharisees sat in the seat of Moses, they were reading the Torah. Yeshua made a distinction that we should do and observe what they said in this capacity. They were reading the instructions of the Father from His Torah. Many hoped that Yeshua would be the one to take the kingdom back by force from the Roman Empire. Even His disciples were thinking in this capacity. It was the idea, similar to today, that God was going to intervene and “take back the land,” “drive out the enemies,” etc. Yeshua said that His kingdom was not of this world.

John 18:36 (LEB): ³⁶ Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”

The Elohim of Israel is not a respecter of persons. If one acts in a manner contrary to His commands, there will be consequences. Both Moses and David experienced this because Yahweh is just. If He picked favorites, then He would not be the righteous Creator that He is. Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and David’s son with Bathsheba died shortly after being born. Paul reinforces this idea that there is no partiality with the Father.

Romans 2:5–11 (LEB): ⁵ But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will reward each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who, by perseverance in good work, seek glory and honor and immortality, eternal life, ⁸ but to those who act from selfish ambition and who disobey the truth, but who obey unrighteousness, wrath and anger. ⁹ There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, of the Jew first and of the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God.

Everyone who does evil things like stealing, murdering, oppressing the foreigner-they all will be subject to affliction and distress. Who wants to be that person when we are rewarded for works? What kind of reward does one get for doing evil in the eyes of Elohim? Yeshua prophesied to the Pharisees that they would continue to persecute, murder and crucify prophets, wisemen and scribes. It sounds like they are going to be in some major trouble with the Creator.

Matthew 23:29–35 (LEB): ²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites!—because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, ³⁰ and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets!’ ³¹ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets! ³² And you—fill up the measure of your fathers! ³³ Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How will you escape from the condemnation to hell? ³⁴ For this reason, behold, I am sending to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and will pursue from town to town, ³⁵ so that upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel up to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

What are we to make of all the good things that Elohim promised to Israel if He is going to have these scribes and Pharisees bear the guilt of the righteous blood all the way back to Abel? Hint: Matthew 5:5 (LEB) Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.

Hosea 14:4–9 (LEB):⁴ I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely because my anger has turned back from them. ⁵ I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily plant, and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon. ⁶ His new plant shoots will spread out; his splendor will be like the olive tree, and his scent like the trees of Lebanon. ⁷ They will again dwell in my shadow; they will grow grain and they will blossom like the plant vine; his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon. ⁸ O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? I myself have answered and looked after you. I am like a luxuriant cypress; your fruit comes from me. ⁹ Who is wise that he can understand these things? Who is discerning that he knows them? The ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; but transgressors stumble in them.

Ephraim was cut off and could not return due to his rejection of the Father’s instructions. He represents the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Through Messiah Yeshua, there is a way for everyone to be brought back to the Father as one new man. In this way, the promises are kept to His people; Ephraim can return, having mingled with the whole world, making the world part of Ephraim. This is the good news. It is the story of the prodigal son, and it happened 2000 years ago. The promises given to Israel were extended to those formerly cut off. An added bonus is resurrection from the dead and eternal life. We are going to experience these promises with the Messiah for eternity. There are no other people of Elohim than those brought back through the Messiah and grafted into the cultivated olive tree.

Ephesians 2:11–22 (LEB): ¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the so-called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, ¹² that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, ¹⁵ invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself. ¹⁷ And coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to the ones who were near, ¹⁸ because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ Consequently, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are built up together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Those far away (the nations) and those near (the Jews) both have peace and access in one Spirit to the Father through the Messiah. If we see people killing, murdering, stealing and lying then we can confidently say they have not been grafted back, or never have been part of the olive tree. They are not meek nor hungering for righteousness. They must repent of their evil deeds and be grafted into the kingdom through the Messiah.

Romans 11:17–24 (LEB): ¹⁷ Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although you were a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and became a sharer of the root of the olive tree’s richness, ¹⁸ do not boast against the branches. But if you boast against them, you do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ Then you will say, “Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Well said! They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand firm because of faith. Do not think arrogant thoughts, but be afraid. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity upon those who have fallen, but upon you the kindness of God—if you continue in his kindness, for otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And those also, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

It is easier for a natural branch to be grafted back into the olive tree. There are millions of Jews who sincerely want the “resurrected King David” to return and have the world sit under the authority of the Father through the Messiah. However, currently, they reject Yeshua as this Messiah.

Zechariah 12:10 (LEB): ¹⁰ “ ‘I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look to me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn over him, as one wails over an only child, and they will grieve bitterly over him as one grieves bitterly over a firstborn.

Likewise, there are millions in the “Church” who are sincerely waiting for a sabbath-breaking, pork-eating, born on the sun god’s birthday “Jesus” figure to whisk them away in a rapture, yet they reject the very instructions that the real “Jesus,” Yeshua, taught. They are not that much different from the Jews who reject Yeshua as the Messiah. The Christians present a Messiah that the Jews cannot accept because the Messiah would not be a Torah breaker. Both cannot see Messiah Yeshua in Spirit and Truth. The Jews, however, are the ones who were entrusted with all the things pertaining to the Creator to deliver to the world.

Romans 3:1–4 (LEB): 3 Therefore, what is the advantage of the Jew, or what is the use of circumcision? ² Much in every way. For first, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³ What is the result if some refused to believe? Their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! But let God be true but every human being a liar, just as it is written,

“In order that you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are judged.”

What will become of all the sincere people, such as the Jews and Christians, who earnestly seek the Father but deny Messiah Yeshua or, in the case of Christians, deny his teachings of obedience? It is not something we can know, but there are these words of Yeshua that need to be considered:

Matthew 7:21–23 (LEB): ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name?’ ²³ And then I will say to them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’

There are also both secular Jews and Christians that are not sincere about the things of the Father at all. They are out there doing all manner of evil. Then there are Muslim’s murdering Jews and Christian’s, Christians and Jews murdering and oppressing Muslims and Arabs etc. The point is that a life following the Messiah is not about any of that. All we need to do is seek the Father by doing His instructions and we have the hope of the resurrection and eternal life through Messiah Yeshua.

Revelation 14:12–13 (LEB): ¹² Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus. ¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ”“Yes,” says the Spirit, “in order that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow after them.”

A confusing theological system arose in the 19th century called dispensationalism. It claims that there are two categories of “God’s people” that are now in the “age of grace.” This “age of grace” started somewhere in the book of Acts, although there is a big disagreement about where among the dispensationalists. This system claims that Christians will be removed from the earth in a secret rapture of the “church” (how to define “church,” we do not know) and the “Jews” will be left for the time of “Jacob’s trouble” and will face off with the Antichrist, resuming the prophetic timeline with “Israel.” This is essentially a twisted form of replacement theology because the “church” is separated and given better treatment than “the Jews.” It presents a new God with new traditions for one group and an old God with old “laws” for the other group. We have already shown that we are one people through the Messiah.

Deuteronomy 32:16–18 (LEB): ¹⁶ They made him jealous with strange gods; with detestable things they provoked him. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to the demons, not God, to gods whom they had not known, new gods who came from recent times; their ancestors had not known them. ¹⁸ The rock who bore you, you neglected, and you forgot God, the one giving you birth.

Dispensational theology also has a hard time with definitions. They cannot accurately define terms like Israel, Church, Christian, or Jew. For example, is a Jew a religion or an ethnicity? If it is an ethnicity, then why are there Jews of all ethnicities and races all over the world? Is Israel just people from the tribes of Judah, Levi, and Benjamin, or all twelve tribes that were at Mount Horeb? Or is it a nation-state in Western Asia created by United Nations Resolution 181 in 1947? If it is all twelve tribes, how did the people who were exiled from the Northern Kingdom get back? They were cut off from God. If they (according to dispensationalists) are back because of belief in the Messiah, then why are they not part of the secret rapture?

Concerning Christianity, which of the 50,000 denominations of Christianity will be part of the “rapture”? Are Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses part of Christianity? If we read Christian cult books, then it is a hard “no.” In Christianity, one must believe in the Trinity. There are three persons wrapped up in one God, or something to that effect. That is, unless you are part of the “Jesus Only” sect where Jesus is the whole Godhead. Dispensational theology also supports the philosophy of Zionism, which is all about land worship and an earthly kingdom through force, void of anything the Elohim of Israel has instructed.

Dispensationalists will reject Revelation 12 as being relevant to them because in their system of religion they have been raptured and this statement would be for the Jews “left behind” to follow the “Jewish commandments” and have faith in Jesus.

It is all very confusing and deceptive because the enemy always wants to find a way to get people not to do what the Father wants them to do. Religion is a great way to accomplish this. Everyone is fighting each other and thinking they are right. How do we know what is right? How do we know whom to believe?

Isaiah 8:19–22 (ESV): ¹⁹ And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. ²¹ They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. ²² And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

There are some truths we must accept to have understanding. We must put everything to the test of the Torah and prophets and view it through Messiah Yeshua’s teachings. For example, to determine if something is right or wrong, did the Father command us to do it or not do it? Did Yeshua talk about or exemplify it, and what did the writers of the New Testament show us? The Sabbath is a good example. Yeshua and his followers kept the Sabbath; Yeshua said he was the Lord of the Sabbath; Paul kept the Sabbath; Isaiah talks about salvation for foreigners who keep the Sabbath, and future events prophesied in scripture involve keeping the Sabbath. Therefore, I must conclude anyone teaching that the Sabbath is not for us is teaching a doctrine from a “new god of recent times.”

Likewise, if I see a person, group of people or a nation, killing, oppressing the poor, stealing or lying, I must assume they also represent a “new god of recent times”. Most importantly we must be sure to be “the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”.

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Having been raised in evangelical denominations in the United States, I became accustomed to hearing a sermon about giving to the church about twice a year. It was often joked about to lighten the atmosphere, but like any organization, there has to be an income source for funding salaries, building costs, and the like. These are just some thoughts I have had on this subject over the years.

The cornerstone scripture used in every money-raising sermon comes from Malachi. I am sure every person who has attended an evangelical church for any length of time has been introduced to these verses in the Old Testament:

Malachi 3:8–10 (LEB): ⁸ Will a human dare to rob God? Yet you are robbing me! And you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In the tithes and the contributions! ⁹ You are being cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse, so that there will be food in my house, and test me please in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour forth for you an overflowing blessing.

These verses work well to compel congregants in the twenty-first century to give more money to the church, and that they have been “robbing God” by not maximizing their giving. The rest of the book of Malachi is completely ignored because it would not be applicable to a church that does not believe that the instructions of God are still relevant today. I encourage everyone to read the entire book of Malachi, but here is a summary of these “robbing God” verses.

The God of Israel was angry with the Israelites for bringing maimed and sick animals for their offerings. They were saying that they were choosing the best animals for God, but in the end, sneaking in the lame and diseased ones to the temple. The offerings were consumed by the priests for their food, so this was not only a disservice to God, but it could also have put the health of the priests at risk.

Malachi 1:13–2:2 (LEB): ¹³ And you say, ‘Look! This is a weariness,’ and you sniff with disdain at it,” says Yahweh of hosts. “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the one that is sick—this you bring as the offering! Should I accept it from your hand?” says Yahweh. ¹⁴ “Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows it, but instead sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I am a great king,” says Yahweh of hosts, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

The validity of the Levite priesthood is described along with some Messianic prophecies about God’s messenger coming before Him. The whole theme of the book of Malachi discusses how both the priests and Israelites have gone astray and that Yahweh is going to come and destroy all the evildoers. This is hardly a book about the modern-day church and tithing that enables them to make the parking lot larger or the building fund bigger.

Malachi 4:1–4 (LEB): “For look! The day is about to come, burning like an oven, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says Yahweh of hosts. “It will not leave behind for them root or branch. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like fattened calves. ³ You will trample down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am going to act,” says Yahweh of hosts.⁴ “Remember the instruction of my servant Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb to all Israel, the rules and regulations.

These verses are never discussed alongside the earlier verses talking about “robbing God.” We rob both God and ourselves when we ignore His instructions and treat them with disdain. The one reminder given here is to “remember the instruction of my servant Moses.” This is directed to a future generation, such as ours. We are still to remember the instructions of Moses in light of “the day about to come,” when the evildoers will become stubble.

The irony is that modern-day churches, which use these verses from Malachi, are using them incorrectly. It is impossible to bring a tithe to a Levitical priestly system that has no temple. However, we can remember the instructions of Moses, which emphasized resting on the Sabbath and eating only the animals intended for food. These are very unpopular ideas in the modern church, yet they are drawing their tithing logic from the same source.

We get a glimpse of giving in the early church from a church leader named Tertullian in one of his letters to the Roman emperor, explaining the Christian attributes of that period.

The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purchase, but by established character. There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God’s Church, they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us.

Tertullian describes the money collected, “to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; “.

I commend churches that still use their congregants’ money this way. I suspect they are few and far between. I believe most of the money given goes to heating buildings that are empty ninety-five percent of the time and plowing parking lots to be used by the staff throughout the week and the congregation only on Sunday mornings. This is hardly a good use of money that is supposed to help the widows, orphans, and those who have suffered shipwreck. I have not yet discussed the thousands of dollars that have gone to private jets, theme parks, and large mansions for television evangelists. I have all their books from my parents’ donations, and they were mostly wrong about all the predictions of the future, and wrong about the lawless gospel they preach. It seems the whole model of the church has gone astray many years ago. We ignore the instructions given to Moses by the God we supposedly worship and at the same time use these instructions to manipulate people to give a considerable amount of money to unbiblical things. We should be able to ask for a refund to redirect the money to the people God told us to help.

There are examples in the New Testament of giving and following the instructions given to Moses by God.

Mark 12:38–40 (LEB): ³⁸ And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like walking around in long robes and greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets, ⁴⁰ who devour the houses of widows and pray lengthy prayers for the sake of appearance. These will receive more severe condemnation!”

In the book of Revelation, we are given a similar warning. There were people in the churches putting a stumbling block in front of Christians, as Balaam did to the Israelites, causing them to worship false gods with the festivals of Balak. We still see the syncretism today. He also warned of the Nicolaitans, who were likely similar to the Pharisees lording over the people. I suspect we do not know much about the Nicolaitans because it would point a finger at the people controlling Christianity for hundreds of years.

Revelation 2:14–16 (LEB): ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. ¹⁵ So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth.

In the two letters to the Corinthian Church, Paul is petitioning the congregation for a special collection he is gathering for those in Jerusalem who have fallen on hard times. The Macedonians gave generously toward this cause, as did the Corinthians. There was likely famine and persecution for the believers in Jerusalem.

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 (LEB): ⁶ Now the point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one should give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or from compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, because you have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work. ⁹ Just as it is written,

“He scattered widely, he gave to the poor;

his righteousness remains forever.”

¹⁰ Now the one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed, and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow, ¹¹ being made rich in every way for all generosity, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, ¹² because the service of this ministry is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also is overflowing through many expressions of thanksgiving to God. ¹³ Through the proven character of this service they will glorify God because of the submission of your confession to the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your participation toward them and toward everyone, ¹⁴ and they are longing for you in their prayers for you, because of the surpassing grace of God to you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

An indulgence became money donated to the church to help reduce the temporal punishment for sin. In Protestantism, this has turned into a lawless gospel where one comes with a ten-percent offering and is told they do not have to keep any of God’s instructions (except for the misused verses discussed earlier in Malachi). All their sins, past, present, and future are “nailed to the cross.”

Romans 6:15 (LEB): ¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

John tells us how to define sin. Sin is now a religiously charged word that is better defined as not following the instructions of God. These are the instructions that He promised would bring life to those who did them and curses to those who do not. Is that not apparent today?

1 John 3:4 (LEB): ⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology tells us the religious meaning of the Greek word translated “lawlessness”:

The legal, ethical and religious meanings of nomos are inseparable in antiquity, for all goods were believed to come from the gods, who upheld order in the universe and in relations between men. Hence, the universal conviction, found throughout history, that law is linked to the divine—an idea which has persisted subconsciously even in periods when the purely human aspects of law have been emphasized (see below). The close interrelationship between the worship of the gods, the customs of the time and one’s duty to the state was expressed in the charge levelled at Socrates, namely that he failed to reverence the gods officially worshipped (nomizein) by the city, or at least that he did not worship them as everyone else did.

There is no doubt that John was referring to “the law of the divine” when he uses the word lawlessness for the definition of sin. This was not the law of the gods of the Greek polytheistic religion, but the one true God, who created the universe and gave His divine law to Moses and the ancient Israelites. John is telling us that ignoring the instructions of God is sin.

I believe that the modern church, as a whole, is mostly beyond saving at this point. We need to go back to meeting house to house to develop a community of believers that sheds all the expenses of buildings, staff, gimmicks, and frivolous spending. Also, we need to look at the Word of God in its entirety and act upon it.

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There are so many people today that enjoy pointing out other people’s life choices without ever self reflecting on their own. The old saying is when one points a finger, three fingers are pointing back. When it comes to the instructions God gave us, through ancient Israel and Moses, it is serious business.

The instructions of God have been framed by the modern church as outdated, irrelevant “law” that no one is able to keep, and the reason Jesus had to come and save us from his genocidal father god. This is completely false and a first century heresy called Marcionism. It is framed a little differently in modern theology, but essentially it is the same message.

Actually, Jesus came to offer the same benefits to the world as were offered to ancient Israel. Due to the dispersion of the Northern kingdom, the world became the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” that can now come back similarly to the prodigal son in the parable Jesus told about the younger and older brother. This was referring to Ephraim and Judah.

There are issues that have divided churches since the first century. The Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic church due to the King of England wanting to get a divorce. This is why the king is still the head of the Anglican Church and why there is an Episcopal Church in the United States. Just as the English wanted to separate from Rome over marriage, the American “rebels” wanted to separate due to the Revolutionary War. The Anglican church became the Episcopalian Church in the United States.

Slavery was a church divider in nineteenth century America, and today it is same-sex marriage that divides churches. There is always that one show stopper that people will not tolerate and cut ties with their fellow church members. What if I said this was all pointless?

Today, church leaders have made convenient boxes for Old Testament sins. There are “moral laws” and “ceremonial laws” now so we can pick and choose our sins depending on what category they are found in. No where in scripture do we find these distinctions. Other leaders, such as mega-church pastor Andy Stanley, say to “unhitch” from the Old Testament all together.

John 12:47–50 (LEB): ⁴⁷ And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I will not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has one who judges him; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So the things that I say, just as the Father said to me, thus I say.”

Jesus said, “His commandment is eternal life,” referring to the Father. Jesus only said what the Father said to him. We have a lot of what the Father said through His Word. He told us what would bring blessings and curses, what was an abomination, meaning what defiles a person, and God never says that later on in the future we will call some of these things moral law and others ceremonial law. He does talk about future gods that will try to make His commands void.

Deuteronomy 28:64 (LEB): ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor your ancestors, gods of wood and stone.

The instructions we cannot follow today are the ones involving the Holy land, the temple, and the Levitical priestly system because those things do not currently exist. We could argue that the land is still Holy, but it certainly is not a safe space, and it seemingly is being governed by rogue actors not at all reflecting the love of the God they claim to represent.

The reason why I claim all this fighting over the definition of sin is irrelevant because most everyone involved is missing the whole point. The same group of people that will fight against same-sex marriage will serve bacon at their Easter sunrise service, or tell us that the Sabbath day is no longer important to God, or that it has changed to a different day. The same God that said ” a man should not lay with another man” also said the pig was not food. Both will abominate a person, meaning it will defile the person. I do not really know what that means, but personally, I am choosing to not be defiled in the eyes of my God. I won’t tell anyone else what to do other than point out the warnings.

These instructions from God are just that: instructions. God showed us through ancient Israel and Moses how to have a successful life on the earth He created. Do these things and don’t do these other things, etc., and you will have life. It is the blessings and curses of Leviticus chapter 26.

Leviticus 26:1–2 (LEB): 26 “ ‘You shall not make for yourselves idols and divine images, and you shall not raise up stone pillars for yourselves, and you shall not put a sculptured stone in your land in order to worship before it, because I am Yahweh your God. ² “ ‘You shall keep my Sabbaths, and you shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

Do what He says! Don’t make excuses over one thing and not the other. Or, don’t do what He says. That is an option too. I can respect someone who does not believe any of this or has a completely different religion. However, let’s not point out one thing we don’t like as sin, then make a framework of religion that condones the things we want to do that are sometimes worse than the things we are condemning.

A grossly overlooked book in Christian churches is the book of Isaiah. We like the part about “by his stripes we are healed” or “we shall mount up like eagles”, but what about Isaiah chapter sixty-six? This is a post Messianic world, and I do not know where Christians picture themselves in this world. It hasn’t happened yet, and dispensationalism theology is a lie.

Isaiah 66:15–17 (LEB): ¹⁵ For look! Yahweh will come in fire, and his chariots like the storm wind, to give back his anger in wrath, and his rebuke in flames of fire. ¹⁶ For Yahweh enters into judgment on all flesh with fire and his sword, and those slain by Yahweh shall be many. ¹⁷ Those who sanctify themselves and those who cleanse themselves to go into the gardens after the one in the middle, eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents together shall come to an end!” declares Yahweh.

Those “eating the flesh of swine and detestable things and rodents shall come to an end”. This is talking about the second coming of Jesus. It sounds like a church picnic where people are eating barbequed hotdogs (more than likely, a mixture of swine and rodent meat). There is no “rapture” to allow an escape. The rapture is your payment or indulgence for the tithes you pay to hear ear tickling messages that say something similar to this:

Jeremiah 23:16 (LEB): ¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are deluding you with visions of their mind, They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh. ¹⁷ They are continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, ‘Peace it will be to you,’ and to each one who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’

Jeremiah is speaking to the modern church because this is exactly what they are doing. They pick and choose their sins and frame a theology that reinforces it. Please remember this the next time you are pointing fingers at the things God gets extremely mad about such as profaning the Sabbaths, idolatry with gods of other cultures and religions along with eating swine. The future example is His destruction of those “in the gardens with the one in the middle and eating the flesh of swine and rodents”.

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Pentecost is a Greek term meaning “fifty”. Many churches are celebrating the day of Pentecost today, which in most cases is viewed as the start of the Church and the giving of the “Holy Ghost”. (This is, by the way, a terrible translation of the term Spirit of God.) However, Pentecost is the 50th day of the Feast of Weeks, known in Hebrew as Shavuot.

¹⁵ “ ‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks.^{18 16} You must count fifty days—until the day after the seventh Sabbath—and then¹⁹ you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15–17, NET 2nd ed.)

The apostles were gathered in one place on the day following the commandment:

2 Now¹ when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly² a sound³ like a violent wind blowing⁴ came from heaven⁵ and filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And tongues spreading out like a fire⁶ appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. ⁴ All⁷ of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages⁸ as the Spirit enabled them.⁹  (Acts 2:1–4, NET 2nd ed.)

“ ‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you.³¹ You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations.³² (Leviticus 23:21, NET 2nd ed.)

The Church couldn’t have started on this day because they were already gathered as an assembly, much like they did at Mount Sinai, when God gave the ten commandments during the same time of the year. Stephen makes reference of the “congregation in the wilderness”. The KJV translates this word as “church”.

³⁸This is the man who was in the congregation¹⁰⁴ in the wilderness¹⁰⁵ with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors,¹⁰⁶ and he¹⁰⁷ received living oracles¹⁰⁸ to give to you.^{109 39} Our¹¹⁰ ancestors¹¹¹ were unwilling to obey¹¹² him, but pushed him aside¹¹³ and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt (Acts 7:38–40, NET 2nd ed.)

At this celebration of the Feast of Weeks, where one counts seven Sabbaths from the Sabbath after Passover, this sect of Jews who followed Yeshua were meeting on the day after the seventh Sabbath as they had done their whole life. This time, on the fiftieth and last day of the festival, God chose to pour out His Spirit on these people. He had given the commandments so many years earlier at this time of the year, and now He has given the way these commandments can be written on our heart. The law is spiritual as Paul claimed. Peter explains what is happening to the people witnessing the outpouring of His Spirit and links it to the prophecy of Joel, not some new religion.

¹⁴ But Peter stood up²⁵ with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “You men of Judea²⁶ and all you who live in Jerusalem,²⁷ know this²⁸ and listen carefully to what I say. ¹⁵ In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk,²⁹ for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.^{30 16} But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:³¹

¹⁷ ‘And in the last days³² it will be,’ God says,

‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people,³³

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

and your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸ Even on my servants,³⁴ both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.³⁵

¹⁹ And I will perform wonders in the sky³⁶ above

and miraculous signs³⁷ on the earth below,

blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

²⁰ The sun will be changed to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and glorious³⁸ day of the Lord comes.

²¹ And then³⁹ everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’⁴⁰

²² “Men of Israel,⁴¹ listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds,⁴² wonders, and miraculous signs⁴³ that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know—²³ this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed⁴⁴ by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.^{45 24} But God raised him up,⁴⁶ having released⁴⁷ him from the pains⁴⁸ of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power (Acts 2:14–24, NET 2nd ed.)

Today when we mention “Pentecost”, people envision a large sect of Protestants called “Pentecostals”. However, this sect usually omits anything related to the commandments given at Mount Sinai, the Feast of Weeks and Shavout, which is the platform God chose to pour out His Spirit “so anyone that calls on the name of YHWH will be saved”, as the prophet Joel stated.

Peter gave us a time stamp concerning the prophecy of Joel: God started pouring out His Spirit back then. The next verses speak about the events leading up the “Day of the Lord”. Today is an important day and it would be good for everyone to learn about it in order to have understanding.