And as Jesus went out of the temple courts he was going along, and his disciples came up to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone will be left here on another stone that will not be thrown down!”
Matthew 24:1–2 (LEB)
There is a statistic that tells us eighty percent of evangelical Christians believe that the country of Israel that was created in 1948 is the fulfillment of prophecy that will “bring about the return of Christ”. My experience has been that most evangelicals believe that there will be a “rapture of the church” rather than the return of Christ as in the “second coming” and resurrection. The belief system that most of these evangelical believers draw from is called dispensationalism theology. This belief system teaches that “the Church” and “Israel” are to be “rightly divided”, and that they have two completely different roles and outcomes in the kingdom of God.
“What kick-starts the end times into motion is Israel’s political boundaries being reestablished to what God promised the Israelites according to the Bible,” Pastor Nate Pyle told Newsweek in January.
This is not an uncommon view. The LifeWay poll found that 80 percent of evangelicals believed that the creation of Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy that would bring about Christ’s return.
Washington Post May 14, 2018
Dispensationalism theology fits well into the political realm of unconditionally supporting the current country that was named Israel in 1948. Dispensationalists will argue that the land has been Israel for thousands of years, which is only somewhat true. Historically, Israel has not been the current political arrangement it is today, and if the founders of Israel in 1948 were honest, they would have called it Judea. Solomon was the last king of united Israel almost three thousand years ago.
2 Kings 17:16–18 (LEB): 16 They abandoned all the commands of Yahweh their God and made for themselves two molten calf-shaped idols; they made a pole of Asherah worship and bowed down to the army of the heavens and served Baal. 17 They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. 18 So Yahweh was very angry with Israel and he removed them from his presence; none remained except the tribe of Judah alone.
After Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms: the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Israel was dispersed into the nations after Assyria conquered them in 721 BCE. The southern kingdom was later taken into captivity by Babylon and then returned to the land to rebuild the kingdom. This rebuilding of the kingdom is recorded in the accounts of Nehemiah and Ezra in the Bible. This southern kingdom was mainly comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Fast forward to 70 CE and Judea was scattered and the temple was destroyed. However, a remnant of Judah remains with us to this day.
Genesis 49:10 (LEB): 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff between his feet, until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of nations.
The house of Israel that was destroyed in 721 BCE was cut off from God and dispersed into the nations, becoming “gentiles”. “Gentile” is a word made up (or taken from Latin) to translate the Greek word “ethnos”, meaning nation or people.
Jeremiah 3:6–8 (LEB): 6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. 7 And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw that for this very reason, that on account of apostate Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also.
Most evangelical Christians either do not know this history, or choose to ignore it. I don’t think it is discussed overtly in Judaism, and we are led to believe everyone at Mount Horeb with Moses was a Jew by modern standards. When we fast forward to the late 19th century, there were people that wanted to create a nation state for the scattered Jews to call home. Theodor Hertzl is “the father” of modern Zionism and he died in 1904. I have one of his books where in it he dreams of establishing a country somewhere in the world for the Jews to call home. The holy land was not being considered as a location at this time though.
Many Jews were still living in Palestine in the early 20th century. These Jews have kept and preserved the Torah and the “oracles of God” as Paul claimed. If one listens to the testimony of some of the older Orthodox Jews that were alive prior to 1948, they tell stories of living side by side in peace with Palestinians, Iranians and others even though they practiced different religions. Muslims are given credit for hiding Jews during World War II. It was the protestant countries such as England and the United States that thought the Jews should have their own country in the Holy Land because they believed that this would fulfill Christian prophecy. There were Jews that embraced the philosophy of Zionism that Hertzl also wrote about. Many Orthodox Jews were against this ideology and are still against it today. I realize this is over simplifying the situation, so please research the philosophy of Zionism as taught by the early proponents of it, and also, listen to the Jewish scholars that tell the other side of the story.
Many Torah following, Orthodox Jews believe that stealing land and murdering its inhabitants goes against Torah, and the only way the promises of God should be fulfilled is by a miraculous, world changing event by the Messiah. That would be the only way they could legally reestablish a kingdom because they know they are dispersed among the nations by the hand of God according to scripture. These are their words not mine. They believe the Messiah is the resurrected king David.
Dispensationalist evangelical Christians believe that the country of Israel, created by western Zionists in 1948, is the Israel that is referred to by all the prophecies in scripture. This is aligned with the 19th century Protestant’s theology that dreamed of creating a country like this to hasten Biblical prophecy. Evangelical Christians will also use the promise given to Abraham and apply it to 1948 Israel. They “conflate Zionism with Judaism”, as Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro declares. The Evangelicals think that they will be cursed unless they stand completely behind this newly formed country of Israel. I was raised in this ideology that is prominent in the United States by religious groups and both of the main political parties. Many are proud Zionists, but do not realize what that means.
Genesis 12:1–3 (LEB): 12 And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. 3 And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
This belief system is the reason we can witness many people in the west quietly cheering when thousands of human beings are maimed, blinded and killed by exploding electronic devices. They think they have to pick sides and always condone everything the country of Israel does. Currently, they are assassinating people who are part of other sovereign nations’ governments, killing thousands of innocent people and leading the world into World War III, all in the name of self defence. Who really drew “first blood”, to quote the Sylvester Stallone movie. Everything is claimed to be an act of retaliation on both sides, which seems to have started in 1948.
The truth is that there are not two peoples of God, “the church” and “Israel”, and we do not know what role the Zionist state of Israel will play in eschatology, if any at all. What we see currently in western Asia does not appear to have the fingerprint of God on it in any way. The Torah tells us not to oppress the alien, yet it is clear to see Israel has oppressed the Palestinian people for a long time.
Leviticus 19:33–34 (LEB): 33 “ ‘And when an alien dwells with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. 34 The alien who is dwelling with you shall be like a native among you, and you shall love him like yourself, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.
The “resistance forces”, such has the PLO, Hamas and Hezballah, have also caused much violence in Israel through the years. The point is that Christians do not have to feel compelled to take sides. They can identify the wrongs on both sides. Jesus came and showed us how to apply the Torah. Jesus would not condone exterminating people, bombing, maiming and killing on either side. The Jews in Jesus’ day also wanted to establish the kingdom. They thought Jesus was going to take it by force, much like Benjamin Netanyahu seems to think his mission is today.
Matthew 26:51–54 (LEB): 51 And behold, one of those with Jesus extended his hand and drew his sword, and striking the slave of the high priest, cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot call upon my Father, and he would put at my disposal at once more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then would the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen in this way?”
Jesus also said we would know people by their fruits. If we see people murdering children and innocent men and women, we have to question if we should be supporting it. We often see Orthodox Jews being beaten by Israeli forces for protesting the anti-Torah behavior of the Israeli government. This event with the exploding electronic devices would be considered a heinous act of terrorism if it had been reversed and done to Israeli’s or Americans. It opens the door for anyone who gets labelled a “terrorist” to be fair game for destruction. This could happen to Christians themselves in the future if someone deems them “terrorists”.
Matthew 7:15–17 (LEB): 15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits: they do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do they? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit.
Benjamin Netanyahu thinks he is fulfilling the prophecies intended for the returning Messiah, Yeshua! Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “We will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. You shall hear yet more destruction in your land. We will bring glory to your people. We will fight together, and we will win,” he said according to Khaberni. Source: Jordan News
The current government of Israel has also referred to them fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel 38. Here is a small clip of Ezekiel 38:
Ezekiel 38:8–12 (LEB)
8 After many days you will be mustered; in the last years you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruins but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety, all of them. 9 And you will advance like a storm; you will come, and you will be like a cloud covering the land, and all of your troops and many nations along with you.”
10 “ ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And then on that day, things will come up on your mind, and you will devise evil plans. 11 And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come to the people being at rest in safety, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and without doors, 12 to loot loot, and to plunder plunder, to assail inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world.
If we are in the “last years” as dispensationalism theology claims, then it may make sense that we are witnessing the beginning of the Ezekiel 38 prophesies and the current country of Israel is what this is about. However, my opinion is that we are working towards “a permanent ruins” where many people will dwell in safety in the future. In my almost 56 years, I don’t know about any time the 1948 Israel existed in safety. I have read that each dwelling in Israel has to have its own bomb shelter by the building code. That does not sound like a safe place to live. What would better describe a place of “permanent ruins” than a place that has had tactical nukes hurled at it? Jesus said one stone would not be left on another. What is the west wall in Jerusalem? Is that part of the old temple wall? If so, it will be completely destroyed according to Jesus.
Matthew 24:1–2 (LEB): And as Jesus went out of the temple courts he was going along, and his disciples came up to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone will be left here on another stone that will not be thrown down!”
Also, there are prophecies that have not happened yet. In order for the regathering of biblical Israel, the people that are scattered have to return to His ways and commandments.
Deuteronomy 4:27–30 (LEB): 27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you. 28 And you will there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell. 29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.
I believe we are still in verse 28, because there are not many in Christianity or Judaism that are following His ways. Yeshua tried to turn people from their traditions but they would not, and still do not listen.
Matthew 23:37–39 (LEB): 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her young together under her wings, and you were not willing! 38 Behold, your house has been left to you desolate! 39 For I tell you, you will never see me from now on until you say,
‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Jeremiah is full of prophesies that have not been completely fulfilled.
Jeremiah 23:5–8 (LEB): 5 “Look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety,and this is his name by which he will be called:
‘Yahweh is our righteousness.’
7 “Therefore look, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when they will no longer say, ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up the Israelites from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As Yahweh lives, who led up, and who brought the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they will live in their land.”
I tend to side with the Orthodox Jews who believe the restoration of the land has to be done miraculously by the resurrected king David, who I know is Jesus. This probably takes place after the resurrection when he gathers his people. Currently we are still talking about God delivering His people from Egypt 3500 years ago, and no one that I have ever heard views people returning to Israel in the mid 20th century on par with the Exodus of Egypt. In fact, thousands have left and are leaving due to the current war. Russia just recalled dual citizens from Israel warning them to get out while there are still commercial flights available.
Revelation 20:7–10 (LEB): 7 And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and he will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to assemble them for battle, whose number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the fortified camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet also are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
It makes more sense to me that the Ezekiel 38 war is the same as the Revelation 20 war with Magog and Gog. People would truly be living in the land in peace during the millennium reign of Jesus.
As Christians, we really do not need to be compelled to pick sides in western Asian conflicts. We should not be influenced by dispensationalism theology eschatology to turn a blind eye to crimes, no matter who commits them. Start reading the Bible today and thinking for yourselves.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you. And it will be that every…
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. Deuteronomy 32:17 (LEB) The Greeks set up Asherah poles and sacrificed…
And you will say, ‘I will go up against a land of open country; I will come to the people being at rest in safety, all of them dwelling without a wall and crossbars and…
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits: they do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles,…
And while he was still approaching, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. Luke 9:42 (LEB) What…
But as for the cowards and unbelievers and detestable persons and murderers and sexually immoral people and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share is in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur,…
All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, in order that the person of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy…
And then many will be led into sin and will betray one another and will hate one another, and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many, and because lawlessness will increase, the love…
And I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and I brought them to the desert, and I gave my statutes to them, and my regulations I made known to them, which, if a…
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot call upon my Father,…
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”.…
Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness,because they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (LEB) When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
And behold, one of those with Jesus extended his hand and drew his sword, and striking the slave of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword.
Matthew 26:51–52 (LEB)
I received an email with the subject line, “Palestine just triggered the rapture”. It makes for a good email spam subject line, but can anyone “trigger” the rapture? What does that even mean?
The modern rapture doctrine is an adopted child of dispensational theology. It causes endless debate and feeds into the situation we have currently in western Asia. There are many complex explanations of dispensationalism and the “rapture”, but I am only going to generalize to keep things less confusing. I encourage everyone to learn about dispensationalism theology, where it originated and how it spread through the West in the twentieth century.
The basic doctrine of dispensationalism theology is that God divided the history of mankind into different dispensations affecting the way He dealt with humanity. In this belief system, the first dispensation was innocence, then conscience, eventually law, then the church and so on. “Law” supposedly started with Moses and ended sometime in the book of Acts. There are people that go so far as to say the gospels were not written to the “church” and we must only listen to the letters Paul wrote for our doctrine. This is one way modern Christianity dismisses the instructions of God. Because of this, we daily witness the debauchery that this doctrine has brought to the places where it has been preached the most.
2 Timothy 3:14–17 (LEB): 14 But you continue in the things which you have learned and are convinced of, because you know from whom you learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the holy writings that are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 in order that the person of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Timothy was born around 17 CE, so the only “holy writings” were the law, prophets and writings. This is not about debunking the lawless teachings of dispensational theology though. I want to demonstrate how Christianity at large has adopted their geopolitical world view through dispensationalism theology.
One of the belief systems incorporated into mainstream dispensational theology is that the end of the “church age” will happen with a secret rapture where Jesus will take away all of the people “who believe”. This is taught as being a separate event from the resurrection or second coming of Christ. In this belief system, Israel will be left to face off with the anti-Christ and will supposedly believe in Jesus as they are slaughtered by the “beast” of Revelation. I am not going to argue any of that belief system. The point is to give some background.
Once the political state of Israel was created in 1948, it fed into this belief system that the “Jews” would return to “the land” and that we are coming to the end of the church age. Now that Israel is in the land again the prophecies of Gog and Magog can take place. Russia and Turkey are usually the main suspects of being related to Magog.
The question is this: Have we been watching prophecy unfold in front of our faces, or have there been world leaders forcing events to look like this prophecy is being fulfilled?
Mark 13:4–7 (LEB): 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 So Jesus began to say to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you! 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many. 7 And when you hear about wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must happen, but the end is not yet.
Once one studies Zionism and Judaism, it is clear to see they are not the same thing. Zionism has been conflated with Judaism and “the Jews” to the point where if one points out the flaws of Zionism they will be labelled anti-semitic, yet the semitic people take in more of a population then those who practice the religion of Judaism. Are all Israeli’s, that is people who live in Israel, practising Jews? How can the government of Israel do the things it has done and justify it with the Torah?
The idea of having a homeland which Jewish people could call their own started as early as the nineteenth century, and the philosophy of Zionism was explained by people such as Theodr Hertzel. Many of these Zionists were not Torah observant, and the Torah observant Jews often were against having a man-made “homeland” created. In the Orthodox view, only a resurrected King David could facilitate such an undertaking.
I live in Canada, and recently the Conservative party leader proclaimed his party’s alliance with Israel. I do not believe in dispensational theology eschatology, so I can look at the conflict in western Asia more objectively. Why does the leader of a secular political party take sides in a war that really does not involve us? We should be able to point out the atrocities of either side. The politics of the United States are also interwoven with dispensational eschatology along with politicians pandering to the evangelical vote where people believe that they will be raptured sooner if Israel is attacked by its enemies. There is something suspicious about all of this. How can we know the truth?
The fingerprint of God is easy to find when we look at His words. How do we determine what is right and wrong? How do we know when the Creator is behind a movement, country, religion etc.? We have instructions, and we can plug in any of the commandments into “let us go after other gods” in the verses below because when we come up with theologies, philosophies and religions that go against God’s commands, we are “going after other gods”.
Deuteronomy 13:1- (LEB): 13 “If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes about that he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self. 4 You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.
Many of the people that heard Jesus were looking for someone to establish an earthly kingdom that would liberate God’s people from the Romans. Some thought he was the resurrected King David who was going to overthrow Rome, but he had a different message.
Matthew 5:43–48 (LEB): 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors also do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing that is remarkable? Do not the Gentiles also do the same? 48 Therefore you be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Was the hand of God involved in creating the modern state of Israel? Is God with the modern state of Israel today, where it appears to have an atheistic, anti-Christ and anti-Torah government? I guess we will have to wait and see. Modern eschatology, taught by dispensationalism theology, looks like it will be proven true or false very soon. If proven false as I suspect will happen, people that are relying on it to be true will have to reevaluate their faith.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
He will speak words against the Most High.He will harass the holy ones of the Most High continually.His intention will be to change times established by law.The holy ones will be delivered into his handfor…
The one who is from God listens to the words of God. Because of this you do not listen—because you are not of God.” John 8:47 Confusion is a state of existence that does not…
And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple, and there were lightnings and sounds and thunders and an earthquake and large hail. Revelation 11:19…
“When Yahweh your God has cut off the nations whom you are about to go to, to dispossess them before you, and you have dispossessed them, and you live in their land, take care so…
And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?” in order that they could accuse him. But he said to…
And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’ Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB) I recently heard a minister preaching…
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. John…
Here is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus. Revelation 14:12 (LEB) As I was going through some of my mother’s religious books written…
And as Jesus went out of the temple courts he was going along, and his disciples came up to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said to them,…
And behold, one of those with Jesus extended his hand and drew his sword, and striking the slave of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back…
Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness,because they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (LEB) When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones…
for we live by faith, not by sight—so we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:7–8 (LEB) “Absent from the…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied.
Matthew 5:6 (LEB)
When Jesus delivered his famous sermon on the mount, one of his statements was “Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied.” Unfortunately, we are not given the definition of righteousness in today’s world. If one trusts in Jesus at all, it is often a “Jesus” of their own imagination or the imagination of a particular religious organization, and does not resemble the Messiah Yeshua.
It is very simple to define the righteousness Yeshua was speaking of that will satisfy. How many people do we know today that are not satisfied? Feeling satisfied is often sought after by trying to experience things such as special trips, occupational success and making more money. These things will only temporarily satisfy a person, if at all. Here is the Greek word, Strong’s G1466, that is translated “righteousness”.
δικαιοσύνη G1466 (dikaiosynē), righteousness, uprightness; δίκαιος G1465 (dikaios), upright, just, righteous; δικαιόω G1467 (dikaioō), justify, vindicate, treat as just, acquit, pronounce or treat as righteous, make or set free from; δικαίωμα G1468 (dikaiōma), regulation, requirement, commandment, righteous deed; δικαίως G1469 (dikaiōs), justly, in a just manner, uprightly; δικαίωσις G1470 (dikaiōsis), justification, vindication, acquittal. For ἀδικία (adikia), unrighteousness, and cognates → Sin.
H. Seebass et al., “Righteousness, Justification,” ed. Lothar Coenen, Erich Beyreuther, and Hans Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 352.
Righteousness is defined early in the Bible. It was shown to Israel how to be righteous in the eyes of the Creator God. Christianity today, for the most part, hates this definition of righteousness to the point that one will be ridiculed, mocked and cast out for suggesting it.
Matthew 5:11–12 (LEB): 11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you, lying on account of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
They persecuted the prophets because they were always telling the leaders and people that they were not doing what Yahweh said to do. The definition of righteousness is found in Deuteronomy chapter six.
Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB): 25 And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.
The word translated from Hebrew to “righteousness” in this verse is “Tsadaqah”.
To be righteous, we are to do all that Yahweh commanded. Yeshua helped explain this through the gospel accounts. It was already told to us by the prophets, but Yeshua came to embody righteousness. Justice, mercy, honesty, loving our neighbour and loving God are all examples of righteousness.
The ones that try to rob the blessings and satisfaction from us will call it “self righteousness” to try to do all that God commanded. It is simply lies that one should not listen to. Only listen to Yeshua, who is the Word of God, which is the word spoken through Moses and the prophets.
“Self righteousness”, as spoken about by Isaiah, is when one thinks they are righteous because of some man-made tradition they are doing. For example, people may think going to a church every time the doors are open is righteousness, or they are righteous because they do not smoke or consume any alcohol, or they do what is right in their own eyes and make an imaginary god that shares their beliefs. They replace God’s definition of righteousness with their own, along with their “personal Jesus”.
I have seen some belief systems use Isaiah 64:6 as an excuse not to regard the instructions of God. They will say that it is actually a sin and anyone who tries is “going back under the law”. The following verses are taken out of context when one says that when we try to do God’s definition of righteousness it is like filthy rags to God, when the verses in context are actually referring to those who abandoned the commandments doing their own form of righteousness.
Isaiah 64:4–7 (KJV 1900):4 And since ancient times they have not heard, have not listened, no eye has seen a God except you; he acts for the one who waits for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, Those that remember thee in thy ways: Behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: In those is continuance, and we shall be saved. 6 But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: For thou hast hid thy face from us, And hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
We have been handed a lie when we are told “our righteousness are as filthy rags” when it is told to those seeking God’s will, meaning His instructions. We can call it dispensationalism theology, hyper grace theology, or any other theology that claims there is no true and right path. They are lying and it is why there is no satisfaction.
Yeshua pointed this out to the Pharisees. The traditions of men were more important to the Pharisees then the heart of the Torah.
Mark 7:5–8 (LEB): 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?” 6 So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. 7 And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”
Along with satisfaction, those thirsting for righteousness also are “blessed”. How do we know what it is to be blessed? Here are the Greek and Hebrew words that are translated to “blessed”.
In Greek and in Hebrew the word means happiness. Who does not want to be truly happy? One of my favourite Bible verses is from Psalms 119.
Psalm 119:165 (LEB): Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling.
Do you want “great peace”, happiness and satisfaction? Hunger and thirst for righteousness!
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
“Woe, my worthless shepherdwho deserts the flock!May a sword fall on his armand on his right eye!May his arm wither completelyand his right eye be utterly blinded!” Zechariah 11:17 (LEB) Often we see the subject…
For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever benefit…
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting…
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…
Blessed are the meek,because they will inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 (LEB) The world can be an unfriendly and intimidating place. We have forgotten how to maintain a simple life, and have embraced a society…
But at that time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods. But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come…
The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he…
And a highway shall be there, and a way,and it shall be called the way of holiness.The unclean shall not travel through it,but it is for them, he who walks on the way;and fools shall…
And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,…
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not a great thing if…
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise), “in order that it may be well with you, and you…
I hate and abhor falsehood; I love your law. I praise you seven times in the dayfor your righteous ordinances. Great peace is for those who love your law,and they do not have a cause for…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
for we live by faith, not by sight—so we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:7–8 (LEB)
“Absent from the body, present with the Lord” is a misquoted verse from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. It usually is used to “prove” that when we die we instantly go to heaven in some non-material form if we “believe” in Jesus. Otherwise, we are destined to hell in this same non-material form. I have heard this argued many times, yet it is rarely reconciled with the rest of scripture.
For example, does this mean that a non-material part of a person that dies, similar to a ghost, flies up to heaven? It would then mean at some point this ghost would have to reunite with it’s resurrected body. Would the resurrected body leave the grave to meet it’s ghost in heaven? Some say there is an army of ghosts of dead saints following Jesus on the white horse when he returns, spoken about in the book of Revelation. It becomes more messy when we add the rapture doctrine to this scenario.
John 5:28–29 (LEB): 28 “Do not be astonished at this, because an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and they will come out—those who have done good things to a resurrection of life, but those who have practiced evil things to a resurrection of judgment.
According to Jesus, there will be a time when the dead will be raised where those that have practiced evil will go to a resurrection of judgment and those who have done good things to a resurrection of life. There is no indication of anyone being immortal before the resurrection.
Many churches teach that we should not try to “do good” or be righteous according to the scriptures description of righteousness because it makes us appear like we can save ourselves and diminishes what Jesus did for us. The churches that follow this doctrine will go as far as saying that the gospels were not written to us and we are only to follow the instructions of Paul. According to this theology, we are to ignore all of scripture and only get our doctrine from letters of Paul that were written to specific churches in the first century. However, Jesus told us at the resurrection it will be the people that do good who live.
In the book of Acts, Peter explains that David is still in the grave and never ascended to heaven.
Acts 2:29 (LEB): 29 “Men and brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us until this day.
Acts 2:34–35 (LEB): 34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says,‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” ’
Jesus tells us no one has ascended into heaven except himself:
John 3:12–13 (LEB): 12 If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 And no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
So what does Paul mean when he says, “so we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord”? Usually people leave out “rather to be”, and is why I say it is often misquoted. The verses are speaking about the resurrection in context and Paul is contrasting the difference between being at home in our earthy bodies compared to when we will have our resurrected bodies, at which time we will “be home with the Lord”, where we would rather be. Paul even refers to “being found naked”, which I assume is without an earthy body or resurrected body.
The idea of one being freed from their earthly body at death, and going to a good place or bad place, comes from mythology and philosophy. This completely leaves out Jesus’ work on the cross to free us from the curse of death and give us eternal life. Jesus conquered death by dying himself and resurrecting. The verses in Acts we looked at earlier showed that David was still in the grave, even after Jesus’ resurrection. Some people confuse the stories in mythologies where the hero goes to the under world and frees the people trapped there by thinking that is what Jesus somehow did when he died.
Jesus made it possible for everyone to resurrect at the appropriate time because he spent three days and nights dead in the grave before resurrecting. If he was dead in the grave, he certainly was not in paradise to meet the thief on the cross as some people also try to use to prove that we are immortal. The thief died and will resurrect with everyone else to be in paradise as Jesus promised at the end.
Revelation 22:1–5 (LEB): 22 And he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming out from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 in the middle of its street, and on both sides of the river is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits—yielding its fruit according to every month—and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 And there will not be any curse any longer, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his slaves will serve him, 4 and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will not exist any longer, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp and the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give light to them, and they will reign forever and ever.
What happens then when we die? I don’t think anyone can honestly answer that based on scripture. An emotional response would be something like, “I’m going to be with Jesus!”, without considering anything we just discussed. I prefer to try to understand as best I can what the scriptures actually say about death. It looks to me like when we die we “sleep” in the grave until the resurrection.
Hebrews 9:27–28 (LEB): 27 And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this, judgment, 28 thus also Christ, having been offered once in order to bear the sins of many, will appear for the second time without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him for salvation.
There are many references in scripture equating being in the grave to sleep awaiting the resurrection. The only place I can find that describes what this will be like, are verses in the second book of Esdras that the New Revised Standard Bible includes in their apocrypha.
2 Esdras 7:88–101 (NRSV): 88 “Now this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal body. 89 During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the Most High, and withstood danger every hour so that they might keep the law of the Lawgiver perfectly. 90 Therefore this is the teaching concerning them: 91 First of all, they shall see with great joy the glory of him who receives them, for they shall have rest in seven orders. 92 The first order, because they have striven with great effort to overcome the evil thought that was formed with them, so that it might not lead them astray from life into death. 93 The second order, because they see the perplexity in which the souls of the ungodly wander and the punishment that awaits them. 94 The third order, they see the witness that he who formed them bears concerning them, that throughout their life they kept the law with which they were entrusted. 95 The fourth order, they understand the rest that they now enjoy, being gathered into their chambers and guarded by angels in profound quiet, and the glory waiting for them in the last days. 96 The fifth order, they rejoice that they have now escaped what is corruptible and shall inherit what is to come; and besides they see the straits and toil from which they have been delivered, and the spacious liberty that they are to receive and enjoy in immortality. 97 The sixth order, when it is shown them how their face is to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on. 98 The seventh order, which is greater than all that have been mentioned, because they shall rejoice with boldness, and shall be confident without confusion, and shall be glad without fear, for they press forward to see the face of him whom they served in life and from whom they are to receive their reward when glorified. 99 This is the order of the souls of the righteous, as henceforth is announced; and the previously mentioned are the ways of torment that those who would not give heed shall suffer hereafter.”
Some of the mainstream theologies in Christianity teach that when we die a non-material part of our being goes to a good place or bad place, when the resurrection is consistently taught in scripture. They also teach that we do not need to be concerned with any part of the Bible other than misinterpreted teachings of Paul, and we should not try to follow the instructions of “doing good” or righteousness taught by the Messiah himself. The same system of theology teaches that we are to no longer rest on the Sabbath and we should mix customs of other gods on our special holy days to honor the one true God. This sounds like a lot of deception to me.
Matthew 24:23–24 (LEB): 23 “At that time if anyone should say to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘Here he is,’ do not believe him! 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, and will produce great signs and wonders in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
One could argue that being asleep (dead) in a state of unconsciousness will seem as though there is no time that passes between death and the resurrection. The idea that our body goes into the grave and a non-material form floats away gives us scenarios of loved ones looking down at us from heaven, visiting the living in some form and a host of other fallacies. There are simply too many scriptures that do not allow for this philosophy. So we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord!
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
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And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day of your bringing the wave offering’s sheaf—there shall be seven full weeks. Until the day after the seventh Sabbath you…
Thus says Yahweh: “Stand at the roads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the way of the good is, and walk in it, and find rest for your inner selves. But they…
And the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants.For they have transgressed laws;they have passed by statutes;they have broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:5 (LEB) I enjoy engaging with strangers on social media to discuss religious…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
“Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword fall on his arm and on his right eye! May his arm wither completely and his right eye be utterly blinded!”
Zechariah 11:17 (LEB)
Often we see the subject of a worthless shepherd or leader who does not fulfill their duties of leading people on a righteous path. They call the unclean clean and are described as devouring wolves. Are any of these references in the Bible relevant today? I say they are more than ever.
Zechariah 11:15–17 (LEB): 15 And Yahweh said to me, “Take again the implements of a foolish shepherd. 16 For look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to the ones that are perishing; he will not seek the young man, he will not heal the ones that are crushed and he will not sustain the healthy ones; he will devour the flesh of the fattened ones and tear apart even their hoofs. 17 “Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! May a sword fall on his arm and on his right eye! May his arm wither completely and his right eye be utterly blinded!”
Yahweh describes the worthless shepherd to Zechariah by the following attributes:
First, he will not attend to the ones perishing. This could be the elderly sick in bed or the surrounding area full of people lost without the knowledge of God in their life. Next, he will not seek the young men. The worthless shepherd surrounds himself with the old guard that keep the things of God locked up for fear of losing control. Then, the worthless shepherd will not “heal the ones that are crushed” and will “devour the flesh of the fattened ones”. In other words, he will live off of the rich who are more than willing to give resources to the one who tickles their ears with all the things they want to hear, while forsaking those who are of no use to him.
This sounds like a terrible situation, but these verses in Zechariah do not stand alone. Jeremiah also spoke of pastors that will go astray in the “latter days”.
Jeremiah 23:1–4 (LEB): 23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture,” declares Yahweh. 2 Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people, “You yourselves have scattered my flock, and you have driven them away, and you do not attend to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. 3 “Then I myself will gather together the remnant of my flock from all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their grazing place, and they will be fruitful, and they will become numerous. 4 And I will raise up over them shepherds, and they will shepherd them, and they will no longer fear, and they will not be dismayed, and they will not be missing,” declares Yahweh.
God’s people are gathered by Him despite the shepherds that are working against the people and fighting the Creator. Later in the chapter we are pointed to the “latter days”.
Jeremiah 23:16–24 (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.’ 18 For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively to his word and heard it? 19 Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his mind. In latter days you will look closely at it with understanding. 21 I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds. 23 Am I a God from near,” declares Yahweh, “and not a God from far? 24 Or can a person hide himself in secret places and I cannot see him?” declares Yahweh. “Do I not fill up the heaven and the earth?” declares Yahweh.
This sounds like dispensationalism theology’s age of grace, where we no longer have to do anything God said, all the while being whisked away to a land far, far away in the rapture before anything bad happens “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.’ ” Then they say “Didn’t Jesus do enough on the cross?”, but they are leading everyone astray.
Even after speaking about the Righteous Branch coming, who we know is Yeshua, commonly called “Jesus” from the Greek “Iesous”, Yahweh tells us through the prophet Jeremiah that, “if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds”. The shepherds today that are saying His instructions are “nailed to the cross” or impossible to keep are fulfilling this prophecy. This is their worst crime; next in line is neglecting those in need, building empires and stealing the resources that could be used to feed and clothe people.
Ezekiel 22:26–29 (LEB): 26 Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. 27 Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. 28 And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practising divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken. 29 They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery, and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without justice.
Declaring things “clean” that the Creator calls an abomination or detestable is the norm today in the Church. It became a tradition to eat ham for the spring festival of the sex goddess Easter to honor God at some point in history, and now the church allows all manners of abominations. Need I say more? We see the term “wolves” used in Ezekiel and it is likely where Paul lifted the term to describe the future of the church and the worthless shepherds.
Acts 20:29–30 (LEB): 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And from among you yourselves men will arise, speaking perversions of the truth in order to draw away the disciples after them.
Yeshua also referred to the wolves Ezekiel spoke about. Are we not able to trace the wolves through the history of the church changing everything away from the heart of the Creator to some new, unrecognizable religion that encourages the abandonment of all of the instructions of Yahweh?
Matthew 10:16–17 (LEB): 16 “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 But beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils, and they will flog you in their synagogues.
Matthew 7:15–20 (LEB): 15 “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits: they do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do they? 17 In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree to produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 As a result, you will recognize them by their fruits.
Good trees produce good fruit. On the local level, what kind of fruit are the pastors producing? Is it strife, divisions and wantonness? How about on the world stage? Are the shepherds promoting the killing of innocent people by supporting those depriving them of the basic necessities? Bombing them relentlessly resulting in genocide? This is not good fruit.
Yeshua gives us the ultimate example to follow. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep and protects them from the wolves.
John 10:11–17 (LEB): 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf approaching and abandons the sheep and runs away—and the wolf seizes them and scatters them—13 because he is a hired hand and he is not concerned about the sheep.14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep which are not from this fold. I must bring these also, and they will hear my voice, and they will become one flock—one shepherd. 17 Because of this the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take possession of it again.
Yeshua laid down his life and conquered death by resurrecting so that we may also have eternal life. Be like the good shepherd and not like the wolves!
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Now these were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They accepted the message with all eagerness, examining the scriptures every day to see if these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and not…
I invoke as a witness against you today the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your…
Remove from me the noise of your songs, and I do not want to hear the melody of your harps! But let justice roll on like the water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos…
And not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once for all into the most holy place, obtaining eternal redemption. Hebrews 9:12 (LEB): There is a great contrast…
Death Deprives Humans of Everything in Life Whoever is joined to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion! For the living know that they will…
And in the day of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left for another nation, and it will bring…
Having destroyed the certificate of indebtedness in ordinances against us, which was hostile to us, and removed it out of the way by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:14 (LEB) I often refer to…
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was established for people, and not people for the Sabbath. So then, the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27–28 (LEB) The Sabbath was…
He came to his own things, and his own people did not receive him. But as many as received him—to those who believe in his name—he gave to them authority to become children of God,…
and with every unrighteous deception against those who are perishing, in place of which they did not accept the love of the truth, so that they would be saved. And because of this, God sends…
And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?”So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly…
But the things which God foretold through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled in this way. Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be…
For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or his mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received from me is a gift to God,” need not honor his father,’ and you make void the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Matthew 15:4–7 (LEB)
There are two schools of thought in Christianity regarding tradition. One says that the traditions were handed down from the apostles to the church fathers, pope and priests and that we are to obey them. The other position is “sola scriptura”, which means we are to follow scripture only.
From http://theorthodoxfaith.com/article/tradition-in-the-scriptures/: “Often Jesus associates tradition with the “tradition of men.” There is a distinction between traditions of men and traditions given by the Holy Spirit. Those traditions that Paul commands us to obey come from the Holy Spirit and not of men”.
So, the way the Orthodox Christians distance themselves from the Pharisees is to say their traditions come from the Holy Spirit and not from men. The Roman Catholics also have a similar stance on their traditions being handed to the fathers by the “the Spirit of truth”, and that they hold a higher place than the written word of God.
However, the Pharisees’ traditions came from the oral Torah which was also supposed to be given by God to Moses orally. The Protestants used the term “sola scriptura” to break away from the traditions of the Catholic church, but the protestants did not do a very good job of “sola scriptura” and seemed to copy a lot of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 (LEB): 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions which you were taught, whether by spoken word or by letter from us.
The Orthodox website I quoted earlier maintains that Paul told the Thessalonians to follow the traditions handed down to them. It continues by claiming the New International Version of the Bible changed the word “tradition” to “teachings”.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NIV): 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
The following is from the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology regarding the Greek word for “tradition”:
NT 1. In the NT paradidōmi occurs in all 120 times; of these 84 are in the Gospels, 13 in Acts, only 19 altogether in the Pauline Epistles (6 in Rom., 7 in 1 Cor., 3 in Eph., 1 each in 2 Cor., Gal., 1 Tim.), 3 in 1 and 2 Pet., 1 in Jude. It does not occur at all in Heb., Rev., and the Epistles of Jn. In the NT paradosis never occurs in the sense of handing over or betrayal, but only in the sense of the transmission of doctrine (→ Teach, art. παράδοσις).
Now we know that there is an argument about the meaning of the Greek word paradidōmi, and whether or not the traditions of the church fathers, “given by the Holy Spirit”, have more weight than what word of God tells us.
This idea that the “Holy Spirit” gave instructions that supersede what we read in scripture is suspicious, especially if one believes the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit continually change His mind? Who is the Holy Spirit? Is it not the Creator of the universe? I could start a tradition and tell everyone it came from the “Holy Spirit”, force people under my control to do it for hundreds of years through an institution and now we have just described hundreds of years of Christianity.
Jesus gives us the perfect example with the Pharisees’ oral tradition, supposedly from God, where one could give money to the priests in lieu of taking care of their parents. Here are some verses about how we should honor our mother and father.
Exodus 20:12 (LEB): 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days can be long on the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.
Exodus 21:15–17 (LEB): 15 And whoever strikes his father or his mother will surely be put to death. 16 “ ‘And whoever kidnaps someone and sells him, or he is found in his possession, he will surely be put to death. 17 “ ‘And one who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death.
Leviticus 19:3 (LEB): 3 Each of you must revere your mother and your father, and you must keep my Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God.
Jesus never seemed to quote anything from the oral Torah, which eventually was written down in what they call the Mishna. He was all about the “Word of God”
Matthew 4:4 (LEB): 4 But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’ ”
Even this comes from the Word of God. Jesus never makes new doctrine and then tells us it is “from the Holy Spirit”.
Deuteronomy 8:1–4 (LEB): “All of the commandments that I am commanding you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and multiply, and you may go and take possession of the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors. 2 And you shall remember all of the way that Yahweh your God led you during these forty years in the desert in order to humble you and to test you to know what is in your heart, whether you would diligently keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you go hungry, and then he fed you with that which you did not know nor did your ancestors know, in order to make you know that not by bread alone but by all that goes out of the mouth of Yahweh humankind shall live. 4 Your clothing did not wear out ⌊on you⌋, and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
We are free to believe whatever we want. If the Pharisees believed the “Holy Spirit” gave them oral tradition that said one could give money to the priests instead of honoring their parents, then that was their prerogative. Jesus came to correct their error and this ended in the crucifixion stake for him. What would Jesus think about the Greco-Roman tradition of Sunday being God’s new special day, replacing the Sabbath? This is clearly a tradition handed down through the church that makes the Sabbath commandment void. Was it given to the church fathers by the “Holy Spirit”, or is it a Christian version of the Pharisees’ tradition of giving money to the priests instead of taking care of one’s mother and father?
Here are some verses about the importance of the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:8–11 (LEB): 8 “Remember the day of the Sabbath, to consecrate it. 9 Six days you will work, and you will do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God; you will not do any work—you or your son or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your animal, or your alien who is in your gates—11 because in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and on the seventh day he rested. Therefore Yahweh blessed the seventh day and consecrated it.
Isaiah 56:2–5 (LEB): 2 Happy is the man who does this, and the son of humankind who keeps hold of it, who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it, and who keeps his hand from doing any evil.” 3 And do not let the foreigner who joins himself to Yahweh say, “Surely Yahweh will separate me from his people.” And do not let the eunuch say, “Look! I am a dry tree!” 4 For thus says Yahweh, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose that in which I delight, and who keep hold of my covenant. 5 And I will give them a monument and a name in my house and within my walls, better than sons and daughters; I will give him an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Did God change His mind about the Sabbath and tell the Holy Spirit to tell everyone it is to be changed to a different day with different traditions? That does not sound like the voice of the God in the Old Testament. Do we have a new God now? Jesus was very harsh with the Pharisees who viewed their traditions higher than the commandments of the God of the Old Testament. Would he not be just as indigent to those who completely changed the Sabbath?
Mark 7:6–8 (LEB): 6 So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. 7 And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”
Jesus quotes Isaiah, who was quoting God, saying that it is vain worship when we forsake the commandments of God. How is this not the case with the Sabbath? It was Roman law in 343 CE. “The Canons of the Synod Held in the City of Laodicea, in Phrygia Pacatiana, in which Many Blessed Fathers from Divers Provinces of Asia Were Gathered Together”.
Canon XXIX. Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord’s Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
This is actual Roman law making the commandment of God void, telling us to work on the Sabbath.
Are there other commandments of God made void by the traditions of men? By misusing Paul’s writings, millions of Christians have convinced themselves that most of God’s commandment’s are null and void. This is a precarious place to be once one discovers the true nature of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He selected a particular family from the earth, Genesis 26:5 (LEB): “because Abraham listened to my voice and kept my charge: my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” He told this family how to live and then extended the blessing to the whole world through Jesus the Messiah. Jesus simply pointed us back to the words of his Father. Now we have a big mess on our hands because people do anything they want and say it is from the “Holy Spirit”.
Other examples of replacing commandments of God with traditions of men is that of God’s feast days. The Father tells us His special days are Passover, First Fruits, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot and Sukkoth. Tradition has us replace Passover with Easter, a day mixed with traditions of the “queen of heaven”, with the eggs, baked cakes and rabbits; and then make up a day mixed with traditions from Roman and Nordic gods calling it the birth day of the son of God at the winter solstice. These traditions were not given by the “Holy Spirit” because the theme of all scripture is about the importance of keeping the commandments of God and not mixing worship with gods of others.
The Father gave us his secrets through Israel, and Jesus the Messiah gave us the ability to understand through the real Holy Spirit. The way to spot a tradition of man is to see where it leads. There have been many deceiving spirits, prophets and dreamers who have led Christianity astray. Just as the Father put the serpent in the garden, He has sent all these different traditions to see if we love Him enough to do what He said to do. Even the writings of Paul sit there in scripture giving the reader a choice to follow God or man. If one wants to believe God’s commandments are null and void they can use Paul to justify it and feel good about it, even though Paul said the law is spiritual, holy and good, and he also believed.
Acts 24:14–16 (LEB): 14 But I do confess this to you, that according to the Way (which they call a sect), so I worship the God of our fathers, believing all things that are in accordance with the law and that are written in the prophets, 15 having a hope in God which these men also themselves await: that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 For this reason also I myself always do my best to have a clear conscience toward God and people.
To learn the nature and voice of God, one must study what He said. Jesus emphasized the importance of love, mercy and justice and that is the purpose of God’s law.
Deuteronomy 12:32–13:4 (LEB): 32 All of the things that I am commanding you, you must diligently observe; you shall not add to it, and you shall not take away from it.”
13 “If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes about that he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self. 4 You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.
It’s a test that unfortunately, many are failing.
The featured image is a meme made by 119 ministries.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
And he said, “Because I am with you, and this will be the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on…
As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Be zealous, therefore, and repent! Revelation 3:19 (LEB) What must one do to be saved? Most of us were taught to say a prayer and “ask…
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her; in order that he might sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word; in order…
And we all have become like the unclean, and all our deeds of justice like a menstrual cloth, And we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities take us away like the wind. Isaiah…
And the dragon was angry at the woman, and went away to fight against the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Revelation…
But be doers of the message and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves, because if anyone is a hearer of the message and not a doer, this one is like someone staring at his own face in…
And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here, not having wedding clothes?’ But he could say nothing. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw…
Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!’ And he will reply, saying to you, ‘I do not know where you are from! Go…
For if you had believed Moses, you would believe me, for that one wrote about me. But if you do not believe that one’s writings, how will you believe my words?” John 5:46–47 (LEB) Is Jesus…
Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. John 10:22–23 (CJB) I know that Hanukkah is not a commanded, Biblical feast day or celebration…
And he humbled you and let you go hungry, and then he fed you with that which you did not know nor did your ancestors know, in order to make you know that not by…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1 Timothy 6:3–5 (KJV 1900)
Religion is an intellectual commitment to a set of beliefs or supreme being. There are thousands of Christian denominations, several Jewish belief systems, doctrines of Islam, such as Sunni and Shia, Buddhism, and all of the so-called cults that different religions identify as “heretical”. How do we know the truth? Is there truth, or is it just personal preference which god one serves? Who is it that has the knowledge to determine which sects are to be labelled cults?
During the late first century and early second century, there was a person called Marcion, who was considered a heretic by all of the early church fathers. They wrote volumes against Marcion. Marcion is credited with the terms “old” and “new” testaments. He believed the God of the “Old Testament” was a mean creator god with many laws, and Jesus came to free us from this law. Marcion believed that the apostle Paul’s teachings were the only valid doctrine for the Christian church to follow.
This belief system, deemed heretical by first century standards, sounds a lot like mid-Acts dispensationalism. Many Protestant churches follow some form of dispensationalism theology. Since each sect of Protestantism may mix and match the various forms of dispensationalism theology, I am going to generalize with some liberty. Here is a chart showing when the various forms of dispensationalism theology started.
Pentecostals use dispensationalism for eschatology, and I would place the Pentecostal churches I have been involved with in the Acts 2 container of dispensationalism. Baptists would fall into the mid-Acts or Classic Pauline Dispensationalism with the exception of still requiring water baptism. Again, this is an over simplified, generalized explanation of some complex nuances of doctrine.
At the same time, there are many people involved in religion that do not even know where there beliefs originated or at what time in history they began. They appear to assume what they believe is what the New Testament churches believed simply because someone told them so.
There are many parts of dispensationalism that are very close to Marcionism, the first century belief system that early church fathers fought hard to dispute. Were they right in doing so, or was Marcion right? Most people today do not even know they are taking sides. “Ignorance is bliss”, so they say.
Some Protestants believe in replacement theology or supersessionism. This system believes the “church” has replaced Israel in the promises given to Israel and that Jesus invalidated the Old Testament law given to Moses by God. The church will experience the blessings intended for Israel in this belief system. I do not know anyone personally who believes this way today. Some of its deeply rooted tentacles still find their way into Christianity simply because “modern Christianity” was formed by replacement theology. The following is from https://www.khouse.org/articles/2020/1372/.
Ignatius of Antioch (ca 50-117 AD) — Taught that those who partake of the Passover are partakers with those who killed Jesus.
Justin Martyr (100-106 AD) — Claimed God’s covenant with Israel was no longer valid and that the Gentiles had replaced the Jews.
Irenaeus (ca 130-202 AD) — Declared the Jews were disinherited from the grace of God.
Tertullian (ca 155-230 AD) — Blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus and argued they had been rejected by God.
Origen (185-254 AD) — He was responsible for much anti-Semitism, all of which was based on his assertion that the Jews were responsible for killing Jesus.
The Council of Nicea (325 AD in Anatolia) — Prohibited Christians from sharing a meal with a Jew, marrying a Jew, blessing a Jew or observing the Sabbath. They changed the celebration of the Resurrection from the Jewish Feast of First Fruits to Easter in an attempt to disassociate it from Jewish feasts. The Council stated: “For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this odious people…” It decided that “the Sunday a week after the Sunday after Passover would be the official date, and that all celebrating on Passover would be considered anathema.” This is when the persecution of the Quartodecimans begins. The term “Quartodeciman” is Latin for “fourteeners“ and it referred to those that celebrated Passover on 14 Nisan.
Eusebius (ca 275-339 AD) — Taught that the promises of Scripture were meant for the Gentiles and the curses were meant for the Jews. He asserted that the Church was the “true Israel.”
Hilary of Poitiers (AD 291-371) wrote: “Jews are a perverse people accursed by God forever.”
Gregory of Nyssa (died AD 394), Bishop of Cappadocia wrote: “the Jews are a brood of vipers, haters of goodness…”
Jerome (AD 347-407) describes the Jews as “serpents, wearing the image of Judas, their psalms and prayers are the braying of donkeys.”
Augustine (354-430 AD) — Asserted that the Jews deserved death but were destined to wander the earth to witness the victory of the Church over the synagogue.
During the Middle Ages, Passion plays abounded and they were used to cultivate hatred toward the Jewish people.
In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV granted the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, the right to establish a special inquisition in Spain to deal with baptized Jews who were suspected of remaining faithful to Judaism. Thousands were burned at the stake by order of the Spanish Inquisition.
In 1492, King Ferdinand decided that all Spanish Jews should be banned from Spain. It was feared that Jews were a danger to Christianity. Approximately 150,000 Jews were forced to leave Spain.
Commonwealth of Israel theology differs from dispensationalism and supersessionism, or replacement theology, because it teaches that all the promises to Israel still stand, and Jesus made a way to unite the gentiles and Jews as “one new man”. It is the prophecy of the two sticks being held in God’s hand representing the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The house of Israel, called Ephraim or the northern kingdom, was dispersed into the gentile nations. Jesus brought them back, formerly not a people, but now “the sons of the living God”.
COMPARISON OF THREE MAIN THEOLOGIES RE: ISRAEL & THE CHURCH
These are all accepted systems of theology in Christianity. I left dispensational theology and now favor Commonwealth of Israel theology. Does this mean I am in a cult? I don’t think so. I simply took the time to try to understand the different belief systems in Christianity. I always had a hard time reconciling dispensationalism theology whenever I studied the Bible. Sadly, not many people make the effort to understand their faith, belief systems, church history and inherited traditions. They simply accept whatever system they were raised in, or leave Christianity all together due to not being able to intellectually bare all of the inconsistencies in the different theological systems. Some simply “believe in Jeeesus”, as if he is their fairy godmother.
How do we label cults as compared to legitimate doctrine? It is complicated because everyone thinks their way is the only way. Some Protestants do not believe Catholics are saved and some Catholics think that their way is the one that is correct. There are Pentecostals who think they are the only people “going to heaven”, then there are Anglicans that believe everyone will “go to heaven”. Others do not believe anyone goes to heaven because in Revelation God makes a new heaven and earth and appears to bring new Jerusalem down to the new Earth.
Here are some dispensational themed memes people share on X.
One of the doctrines that will put someone in the cult container is soul sleep. This is simply the belief that when we die we “rest in peace” until the resurrection. This is different than the more common belief that has some non-material part of our body fly up to heaven “to be with Jesus”, only to have to somehow reunite with their resurrected body at the resurrection.
Another doctrine assigned to cults is that of annihilation. This is the belief that mortals will be “annihilated” at the second resurrection instead of being tormented eternally in fire with the immortal demons and Satan.
The “trinity” doctrine is something one must uphold since the sixth century in order to not earn the cult label. I have a book called Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions that labels the United Pentecostals as a cult because they supposedly do not believe in the trinity correctly.
Much of cult designations are subjective and soon everyone who believes differently becomes a cult member that must be feared. What if we did the hard work of understanding the different belief systems, discussing them in a civil manner and try to understand with the help of the Holy Spirit? Christians often are afraid to talk to someone who may believe differently for fear of being converted themselves. This simply means they are not sure of their faith enough to not be lured away.
God told Israel He would send false teachers as a test to see if the people cared enough about Him to do the work to be able to distinguish a false teacher. The definition of a false teacher to God was clear.
Deuteronomy 13:1–4 (LEB): “If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams and he gives to you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes about that he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self. 4 You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.
Paul was not afraid of speaking to people with different belief systems and discussing them. Paul had the knowledge of scripture from being a Pharisee and an encounter with Jesus, an experience that emboldened him not to be afraid to talk to those in the pagan sex cults about his religion.
Acts 17:17–20 (LEB): 17 So he was discussing in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 And even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him, and some were saying, “What does this babbler want to say?” But others said, “He appears to be a proclaimer of foreign deities,” because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we learn what is this new teaching being proclaimed by you? 20 For you are bringing some astonishing things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”
Paul would go to the synagogues and discuss Jesus and also talk about Jesus to Stoic philosophers, yet some Christians today fear discussing Jesus with those who believe the law of God is holy and good, such as people who believe Commonwealth of Israel theology. What about the Jehovah Witnesses? Should we fear them? That is what I was taught, however, I have come to believe we need to discuss our beliefs with them as Paul reasoned in the synagogues.
My family attended a Hanukkah special service last December at the local synagogue. I did this not because I want to convert to Judaism, but because it is what the Messiah did. If Paul could reason in the synagogues, why can’t I? Perhaps I could make a difference. Paul went to the synagogues after he had his “coming to Jesus” moment. He never went into a pagan temples.
If one studies historical Christianity, it is clear that Christianity today does not look anything like that of Christianity of the first century. Were they in error or are we? Who is allowed to decide? My litmus test is Deuteronomy 13. If someone is teaching that the ways of the Creator God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are wrong, then I will not follow their teaching. If someone denies that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to save mankind, I will not listen to them either.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Yahweh called your name, ‘A leafy olive tree, beautiful with fine fruit.’ With the sound of a great storm he will set fire to it, and its branches will be good for nothing. And Yahweh…
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You will listen to him in everything that he says to you. And it will be that every…
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, for…
Therefore, what am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but that the things which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and…
For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20 (LEB) One of the errors Christians believe…
Therefore is the law opposed to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, certainly righteousness would have been from the law. But…
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 (LEB) Remember…
Therefore, what is the advantage of the Jew, or what is the use of circumcision? Much in every way. For first, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. Romans 3:1–2 (LEB) Erasing history…
And then every survivor from all those nations coming against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and celebrate the Feast of Booths. Zechariah 14:16 (LEB) Most Christians…
Is this not the fast I choose: to release the bonds of injustice,to untie the ropes of the yoke,and to let the oppressed go free,and tear every yoke to pieces? Is it not to break your…
You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! Acts 7:51 Anytime subjects such as the Sabbaths or dietary instructions present themselves, the average Christian will sharply…
The Feast of Trumpets Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a rest period, a remembrance of the…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
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.”
John 18:36 (LEB)
Yeshua walked the earth in the first century at a time when Judea was controlled by Rome. There was a difference of opinion then, as now, as to how God was going to establish His kingdom. Was it going to be a military operation with a zealous leader who would defeat the Romans, or a miraculous, supernatural move of God where there would be a metaphysical change on earth?
Both dispensationalism theology and political Zionism are belief systems where the holy land is reclaimed by bullets and bombs or by some other political means. Dispensationalism theology teaches that the “Jews” will obtain an earthly kingdom and rebuild the temple of God. The “church” is somehow a separate people of God, and Jesus Christ will come rescue them in a secret rapture, while the “Jews” are fighting for their kingdom. There is a disagreement whether Jesus Christ will conduct this secret rapture before the temple is built or after, at a time when an antichrist figure will defile the temple. This is what they call “pre-trib”, “mid-trib” and “post-trib” rapture theories. This is a great over simplification, but it is the nuts and bolts of this theology system.
Zionism works hand in hand with the evangelical dispensational belief system because it is about the Jews returning to the holy land. Theodor Herzl wrote the following in his book, A Jewish State, which he wrote in 1898!
“Should the powers declare themselves willing to admit our sovereignty over a neutral piece of land, then the Society will enter into negotiations for the possession of this land. Here two territories come under consideration, Palestine and Argentina. In both countries important experiments in colonization have been made, though on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end in disaster. It continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself threatened, and forces the government to stop the further influx of Jews. Immigration is consequently futile unless based on an assured supremacy.“
If one ever wonders why protestants and evangelical Christians are so obsessed with the nation state of Israel formed in the land of Palestine in 1948, we need not to look any further than dispensationalism theology that makes this “Jewish state” a fulfillment of their view of prophecy. It also fits the plan of early Zionists such as Theodor Herzl. The two fit together like two peas in a pod.
The interesting aspect of both philosophies is that they are void of the workings of God and rely completely on political means to obtain their results. It is as if God has His hands tied and needs to work with United Nations and Arab states to fulfill prophecy. Here is another quote from Herzl’s book, A Jewish State.
“The Society will be the new Moses of the Jews. The undertaking of that great and ancient gestor of the Jews in primitive days bears much the same relation to ours that an old opera bears to a modern one. We are playing the same melody with many more violins, flutes, harps violinchellos, and bass-viols: with electric light, decorations, choirs, beautiful costumes, and with the first singers of their day.”
The problem with Herzl’s vision and Zionism is that Moses was lead by God. It’s as if the Exodus was a primitive event without the hand of God involved at all.
Exodus 3:10–12 (LEB): 10 And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and you must bring my people, the Israelites, out from Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out from Egypt?” 12 And he said, “Because I am with you, and this will be the sign for you that I myself have sent you: When you bring the people out from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”
On the evangelical side, they completely ignore the prophecies that show a metaphysical change in the world when the Messiah returns to gather his people. Many think this happened in 1948 with the creation of the political state of Israel; however, that place does not describe anything close to the kingdom of God described in the prophets.
Isaiah 11:1–10 (LEB)
11 And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots will bear fruit. 2 And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him—a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh. 3 And his breath is in the fear of Yahweh. And he shall judge not by his eyesight, and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with his ears. 4 But he shall judge the poor with righteousness, and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips. 5 And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. 6 And a wolf shall stay with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a lion and a fatling together as a small boy leads them. 7 And a cow and a bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together. And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle. 8 And an infant shall play over a serpent’s hole, and a toddler shall put his hand on a viper’s hole. 9 They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea. 10 And this shall happen on that day: the nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse, which shall be standing as a signal to the peoples, and his resting place shall be glorious.
This prophecy in Isaiah is void of bombs, bullets, navies and armies. The wicked will perish at the breath of Messiah’s lips. More interesting is how Yeshua describes the kingdom of God. Is this why dispensationlists will say that “the words in red are not for the church”? Meaning, Yeshua was not speaking to Christians, only Jews. Not all dispensationalists teach this, but there are many that do. They have to distance themselves from the Gospels and books like Revelation in order to make their theology work.
Revelation 19:15 (LEB): 15 And out of his mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it he could strike the nations. And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the wine of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful.
Yeshua spent a lot of time describing the kingdom of God, and he was not describing a scenario where he would over throw Rome and retake the land. It was always a grander scale and appears to be after the resurrection of the dead, yet also here and now, if we choose to partake.
Luke 13:23–30 (LEB): 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, are there only a few who are saved?” And he said to them,24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able to, 25 when once the master of the house has gotten up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ And he will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from!’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets!’ 27 And he will reply, saying to you, ‘I do not know where you are from! Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside! 29 And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Our job as followers of Yeshua is to walk like he walked, following his Father’s instructions, and to watch for the signs of his coming, not being deceived by those claiming to represent God, yet showing no indication that they are following the ways of God.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good thing to…
And he also told them a parable: “Surely a blind person cannot lead the blind, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? Luke 6:39 (LEB) Many Christians believe in a pretribulation rapture…
And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. John 1:14 The fall feast…
By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are…
But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a faith without hypocrisy, from which some have deviated, and have turned away into fruitless discussion, wanting to be…
“So you must be very careful for yourselves, because you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not…
You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah pole beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves. And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that…
The earth dries up, it withers; the world languishes, it withers. The elevated of the people of the earth languish, and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants. For they have transgressed laws; they have…
What is more, I swore to them in the desert to scatter them among the nations and to disperse them in the lands, because they did not do my regulations, and my statutes they despised,…
So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. And they worship me…
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?’ And then I will say to…
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the…
Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:5 (LEB)
The world can be an unfriendly and intimidating place. We have forgotten how to maintain a simple life, and have embraced a society that cries for more war, is quick to get angry, and has completely mixed religion with politics to a point where they are nearly inseparable. We need a reset that has nothing to do with what world leaders would have us believe. Yeshua gave us insight into world events and who will live a meaningful life apart from the worldly chaos.
Matthew 5:3–12 (LEB): 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are the ones who mourn, because they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you, lying on account of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
“Meek” is the English word used for Strong’s G4558, and the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology has the following to say about this Greek word:
CL praÿs (from Homer on) is etymologically linked with the Gothic frÿon to love, frionds, friend, and means friendly, mild, gentle. The noun praÿtēs (from Thuc. on) and praÿpathia, derived from praÿpatheia, means gentle, mild friendliness. The virtually synonymous epieikēs, and the noun epieikeia are derived either from eikos, becoming, decent, or from eikō, to yield, give way, and mean (from Homer on) the proper way of life, or (from Thuc. on) forbearance, indulgence, mildness. Words from the praÿs group are used of things (e.g. mild words, soothing medicine, actions and feelings), animals (tame) and people (benevolent). It is a quality shown by friends, while stern harshness may be expected from an enemy.
W. Bauder, “Humility, Meekness,” ed. Lothar Coenen, Erich Beyreuther, and Hans Bietenhard, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 256–257.
I have difficulty understanding the thought process of Christians who vehemently support leaders, nations or movements that are acting contrary to the words of Yeshua. We are to be peace makers, friendly, humble, and thirst for righteousness. Righteousness is defined for us in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB): 25And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’
Yeshua told his followers that if they lived by the sword they would die by the sword. This means if we are warmongers who seek revenge by bombing other nations and acting inhumanely, then we should expect to get bombed and be treated inhumanely.
Matthew 26:52 (LEB): 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place! For all who take up the sword will die by the sword.
The idea of one’s own actions coming back on their own head is a concept from the Old Testament. It is likely where the concept of “Karma” was derived.
Obadiah 15 (LEB): 15 “For the day of Yahweh is near against all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return on your own head.
Yeshua repeats the same concept. God’s justice is always presented with balanced scales.
Matthew 7:1–2 (LEB): 7 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. 2 For by what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and by what measure you measure out, it will be measured out to you.
NBC reported, that according to the Council of Foreign Relations, the US dropped 26,171 bombs on seven nations in 2016. These nations were Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia. More recently, Israel has been dropping an amount of bombs equal to that of two nuclear bombs in Gaza according to an article on the euromedmonitor.org website. Here is what the article reported:
“Geneva – Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip since the start of its large-scale war on 7 October, equivalent to two nuclear bombs, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a press release issued today.
According to the Geneva-based human rights organization, the Israeli army has admitted to bombing over 12,000 targets in the Gaza Strip, with a record tally of bombs exceeding 10 kilograms of explosives per individual. Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that the weight of the nuclear bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II in August 1945 was estimated at about 15,000 tons of explosives.”
Yemen has joined the war aligning with Palestine, and it looks like it is expanding to Lebanon. Algeria is threatening to close the straight of Gibraltar. It is just as devastating to human life in the Ukraine theatre or war, and it looks like the wars are ramping up more than there is any hope of a peaceful solution as the NATO nations push back against Russian aggression, or Russia pushes back against NATO aggression. It is all perspective based on what one believes to be truth.
Matthew 5:43–46 (LEB): 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, because he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not the tax collectors also do the same?
Many of these wars are justified through some type of religious framework. People fighting wars throughout history have usually had a deity fighting on their side. Christians, Jews and Muslims are no different; however, does the one true God of Israel condone all these wars we see today?
Matthew 26:53 (LEB): 53 Or do you think that I cannot call upon my Father, and he would put at my disposal at once more than twelve legions of angels?
Ancient Israel did not fight battles by might and force. It was the supernatural workings of the Father that gave them prosperity, and it was only when they were obedient to His commandments.
Psalm 34:11–17 (LEB): 11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of Yahweh. 12 Who is the man who desires life, who loves many days in order to see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous, and his ears toward their cry for help. 16 The face of Yahweh is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 They cry out and Yahweh hears and delivers them from all of their troubles.
This is how the world will go from a complete disaster to a peaceful place where the resurrected King David’s descendant, Yeshua, will rule the nations.
Revelation 19:11–15 (LEB): 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and the one seated on it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 Now his eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many royal headbands having a name written that no one except he himself knows. 13 And he was dressed in an outer garment dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. 14 And the armies that are in heaven, dressed in clean, white fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 And out of his mouth came a sharp sword, so that with it he could strike the nations. And he will shepherd them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the wine of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful.
There will be a supernatural event that will end the wars and create a peaceful existence where Yeshua is ruling the nations. It will not be ushered in by the actions of nations bombing other nations into oblivion, despite how righteous or justified they claim to be.
Isaiah 2:4 (LEB): 4 He shall judge between the nations and he shall arbitrate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against a nation, and they shall not learn war again.
No earthly alliance of armies will make this happen. Our only job as followers of Yeshua is to do what he said. He told us to do the Father’s will which is following His instructions for a peaceful, meaningful life on earth. Be meek, peaceful and thirst for righteousness, resisting picking sides in these earthly battles designed to divide believers.
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
Come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and…
Grass withers; the flower withers, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8 (LEB) If I were a song writer I would write a country song with the title of this blog…
Can a human make for himself gods? Yet they are not gods!” “Therefore look, I am about to let them know, this time I am going to let them know my power and my might,…
But I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never carry out the desire of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 (LEB) The apostle Paul does a great job of condensing the commandments of God found…
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. Leviticus 19:17 Do you love your neighbour? When asked to reduce…
And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place. Acts 2:1 (LEB) The Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, or in Greek, Pentecost, is traditionally the feast day that celebrates…
And why do you call me “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them—I will show you what he is…
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does…
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. Therefore do and observe everything that they tell you, but do not do…
O Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth, and they will say, “Our ancestors have inherited…
So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a person examine himself, and…
Brothers, even if a person is caught in some trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of humility, looking out for yourself, lest you also be tempted. Carry the burdens…
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
But at that time when you did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods. But now, because you have come to know God, or rather have come to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years.I am afraid for you, lest perhaps I have labored for you in vain!
Galatians 4:8–11 (LEB)
Many people in Christianity use Paul’s writings to preach against the commandments of God. When it comes to keeping the Sabbath, Passover or Pentecost, denominations of Christianity will quote Paul’s letter to the Galatians, claiming he is speaking out about Sabbaths and feast days, when he is really speaking about “times” observed by the false religions of the nations.
Galatians 4:8–11 (KJV 1900): 8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Commentary after commentary will claim this is speaking about the Sabbaths and feast days of God. They will reason that the Sabbaths and feast days God instituted were “weak and beggarly elements”. I completely disagree. For one, the people of Galatia were not formerly observing God’s Sabbaths and feast days. They were serving Greek deities and religious rites. We have this account in Acts where Paul is in Lystra, a city of the province of Galatia and they think he is the Greek god Hermes. This is the type of behaviour that Paul is lamenting about, hoping his efforts had not been in vain. Why do people think this is about these Greek Zeus worshippers keeping the Sabbath of the one true God? It makes no sense.
Acts 14:8–13 (LEB): 8 And in Lystra a certain man was sitting powerless in his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked. 9 This man listened while Paul was speaking. Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” And he leaped up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!” 12 And they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the principal speaker. 13 And the priest of the temple of Zeus that was just outside the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates and was wanting to offer sacrifice, along with the crowds.
The Galatians were not returning to the one true God’s holy days as modern scholars like to claim. They were steeped in the “beggarly elements”, being vain philosophies, superstitions and the “times” of the pagan deities.
Paul also kept the feasts and Sabbaths of God, so why would he be condemning the Galatians for doing the same? Paul wanted to be in Jerusalem for the feast of Shavuot, called Pentecost from the Greek language.
Acts 20:16 (LEB): 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not be having to spend time in Asia. For he was hurrying if it could be possible for him to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
How does Paul tell us to keep the feasts? Does he tell us to put groves of Christmas trees on the altars of our churches and to paint eggs at Easter to honour Jesus? No, these are actually the weak and beggarly elements used by the religions to whom Paul was preaching. They didn’t call it a “Christmas tree” or “Easter egg” in the first century. We have adopted the symbols of these religions and foolishly incorporated them into Christianity over hundreds of years. These are items that are “polluted by idols”, and the first things the early leaders said we need to abandon.
Acts 15:19–21 (LEB): 19 Therefore I conclude we should not cause difficulty for those from among the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but we should write a letter to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses has those who proclaim him in every city from ancient generations, because he is read aloud in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
What is left of Christmas celebrations if we take away the evergreen trees, the lights and the presents? It is a well known fact by Christians, atheists, Satanists and modern Pagans that Jesus was not born on December 25th, so what are we really celebrating that day? The answer is we are celebrating one of the sacred days of sun god worship popular in every culture from antiquity. These are what the symbols we use represent, and the time of the winter solstice is the birthday of the sun god going all the way back to 2000 BCE. “You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years”.
Paul told us to observe the feasts in light of the Messiah. The feasts of God are still important, and point to Jesus. Christianity has returned to the weak and beggarly elements just as in Galatia. Paul warned Galatia, and instead of heeding Paul’s warning, the practices of the pagan religions were adopted by the church wholeheartedly.
1 Corinthians 5:7–8 (LEB): 7 Clean out the old leaven in order that you may be a new batch of dough, just as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 8 So then, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and sinfulness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Is Paul referring to the feast of Christmas or Easter when he says, “So then, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven or with the leaven of wickedness and sinfulness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.“? No, he is referring to Passover. We must celebrate in “truth”. There is no truth in the “beggarly elements”.
The Mishna is the oral instructions in Judaism handed down and preserved by having it written for future generations. I am only using this for historical purposes to show what would have been normal practices in the first century when Jesus and the apostles were engaged in their ministries.
“And these are the festivals of the gentiles: the Calends, 2 the Saturnalia, 3 the commemoration of empire, 4 the anniversaries of kings, and the day,· of [their] birth and the day of (their] death.“
These festivals, times and days are what Paul is talking to the Galatians about returning to celebrating, and these are the same sort of times the church is still celebrating today only with “Jesus flavouring” to lull the people into thinking they are doing something great for God by celebrating the same old worldly festivals that were well known to the first century Christians. Continuing in the Mishna:
“These things it is forbidden to sell to the gentiles :7 fir-cones, white figs with their stalks, frankincense, or a white cock. R. Judah says: One may sell a gentile a white cock among other cocks, or, if it is by itself, cut off its spur and sell it to him, because they do not sacrifice to an idol what is defective. All other things, if [any idolatrous use is] not specified, are permitted to be sold; but if (any idolatrous use is] specified, they are forbidden. R. Meir says: It is forbidden also to sell to gentiles fine dates, or Hazab or Nicolaus dates.“
Christmas is nothing more than a continuation of the Roman Saturnalia and Scandinavian Yule celebrations rolled into the false birthday celebration of Jesus. It is all fake and an abomination to God. When the church leaders give their list of instructions to new believers that include abstaining from things polluted by idols, this is in line with the list in the Mishna that includes fir cones. I find it interesting that two thousand years later we are still selling and buying fir cones for Saturnalia and Yule, calling it “Christmas” to somehow legitimize the festival as a Christian holiday.
I am not judging the people that want to celebrate these festivals at all. We shouldn’t; however, pretend that they have anything to do with Jesus. This is where the problem lies. We are mixing the gods of the world with the one true God, and He says not to do this.
Ezekiel 22:26–28 (LEB): 26 Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. 27 Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. 28 And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken.
“Across this empire, in cities and towns and even in the countryside, bishops complained about the behaviour of their flocks at this time. What exactly were they complaining about? Much of the behaviour associated with the Kalends was precisely what we would expect from any festive revelry: eating, drinking, singing, dancing and carousing were all involved, as we would expect. Ritual practices clearly associated with the idea of the new year were attacked as ‘superstitious’ by clerics: for instance, in the town and countryside alike, people laid out food on tables aiming to secure abundance the year ahead. They also exchanged gifts known as strenae– ‘good luck presents’ (which can be compared with the sigillaria of Saturnalia), ranging from fruit decorated with tinsel to gold coins. These gifts were exchanged – along with greetings, known as vota– as part of door to door visits, again, in both town and country. It is these visits which contain the most intriguing aspects of the festival from the point of view of ancient popular culture.”
We have preserved the festivals of ancient sun god worshippers very well in Christianity. By using all these symbols of the sun gods that have existed under different names since Babylon to celebrate “Jesus’ birthday”, we are essentially projecting that Jesus is actually the sun god Tammuz. The following is from the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible.
Tammuz. Chief Sumerian deity whose name derived from the Sumerian dumuzi. He is the god of fertility, of vegetation and agriculture, of death and resurrection,and the patron of shepherds. The son and consort of Ashtar (Inanna), Tammuz represented the annual vegetation cycle of death during the heat of summer and the rebirth of life with the coming of the fall and spring rains, as mythically recounted in the Akkadian poem, “Inanna’s Descent into the Netherworld.” This rejuvenation of life and defeat of death was annually celebrated during the Babylonian New Year Festival. In the OT, the prophet Ezekiel sees in a vision women weeping for Tammuz at the north gate of the temple, descriptive of coming desecrations of the Lord’s house (8:14).
Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Tammuz,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 2035.
We shouldn’t want to confuse the son of the Creator God, Jesus the Christ, Iesous Christos in Greek, or in Hebrew, Yeshua the Messiah, with false gods of the world. Pay attention to Paul when he asks us, “how can you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental spirits? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? “
Please check out my first book on Amazon titled, Finding God in Organized Religion. It is the story of my life focusing on my involvement with three major denominations, from my childhood to present, describing the good and bad, and what I learned during the process. This link is for the Canadian Amazon marketplace. It is also on many other Amazon international marketplaces.
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Hear the Matter Proverbs 18:13 