untitled
DON’T
GO BACK TO JEWISH ROOTS!
“This
witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound
in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of
men, that turn from the truth.” (Titus
1:13-14)
James
Russell
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There
are two verses in God’s Word I use quite often when writing
or speaking — John 17:17, in the New Testament and Jeremiah
7:30 in the Old Testament. “Sanctify them by your truth. Your
word is truth” (John 17:17). And, “For the children of
Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord: They have set their
abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it”
(Jer 7:30).
God’s
House today is being polluted by alien, foreign and different strange
doctrines. The Apostle Paul said in another familiar verse, “Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8),
and in verse 9, he continues to say, “Do not be carried about
with various strange doctrines.” Paul’s warning –
as was Jude’s– is for us today, as it was for them in
their generation.
At
that time, as today, many identified themselves as Christians, yet
they were being taken in by the false teaching of the Pharisees. Paul
makes two important points in the book of Hebrews: one,
is that the Old Testament teachings of Judaism had come to an end
through the fulfillment of Christ. And
two, it was to warn those who had identified themselves as
Christians, against falling back into the practice of Judaism. Paul
continues his warning to the Ephesian church, “Henceforth be
no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph 4:14).
We
today, are witnesses to every wind of doctrine. We see Sunday keeping,
we see the trinity being taught, we see God’s Holy Days postponed,
we see tithing taught as no longer required, we see voting for church
offices, we see Jewish fables practiced, and the list goes on and
on!
Many
of God’s scattered churches are playing “Russian roulette”
with God’s truth. These false teachers are very cleaver and
deceiving. We are being told by some of the scattered church leaders
and groups that we need to “get back to our Hebrew Jewish roots!”
Is that what God’s instructions to Paul said we are to do? What
did Paul tell Titus when instructing him on ordaining Elders? Titus
1:14 says, “Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments
of men, that turn from the truth.” Let me relate to you some
examples of what is meant by that: (1). Postponing God’s Holy
Days [this is a man made tradition]; (2). Speaking God’s name
in Hebrew language only [Christ spoke other languages beside Hebrew–
Today if it had not been for English, the gospel would not have been
preached to this world]; (3). Repeating the same prayer over and over.
That is not what the Bible tells us to do! “But when you pray,
use
not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: [don’t
follow their example] for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking” (Matt 6:7). God is not impressed by words
said over and over. He wants to hear the sincere expressions from
the heart. All these are involved in going back to Jewish roots.
People
that want to go back to their Jewish roots are putting themself into
the same caliber as the Pharisees, and scribes who Christ condemned,
calling them “hypocrites, serpents and a generation of vipers,”
– in the book of Matthew, Chapter 23.
I
would like to draw our attention to a Bible study Dr. Hoeh gave on
September 15, 1977– 40 years ago. It was titled “Why Keep
the Holy Days?” Before reading two paragraphs of Dr. Hoeh’s
Bible study, keep in mind what God said in Jer 7:30 about Judah practicing
abominations. It was headline new’s a long time before Christ
walked on earth as a human being. “For the children of Judah
have done evil in My sight, says the Lord: They have set their abominations
in the house which is called by My name, [Church of God] to pollute
it.” Now to Dr. Hoeh’s
Bible study where he said, “I had to face the question, Was
I to become a Jew inwardly? That was and is the issue when the Holy
Days are presented. Because there are those who can see other doctrines
on the Millennium, or on the Sabbath, or on the lost tribes, you name
it, tithing. Some of these things are shared by other Christian groups.
What is uniquely Jewish is a series of festivals, seven in number.
And I realized what I doubt the majority even in God’s church
do. That there is nothing more significant in the world as it is now
structured than the fact that if we keep the festivals of God, we
are most directly related to a Jewish practice.
When
I made up my mind on the question of the festivals after months here
at college, and I didn’t make it up in September, October, or
November, or December or January. It took some time, because to do
this was to depart from what had been regarded as the broad Christian
view. And it meant doing something that was so significantly Jewish,
that there was no question that this is an issue which denotes who
are God’s people. Even more specifically than that of the Sabbath
itself, meaning the seventh day of the week.” Today we understand
God’s seven step plan for salvation is revealed through His
Holy Days. These
Holy Days were given to all
of Israel, not just the Jews!
We now keep the Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost,
the Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and God’s Feast of Tabernacles
and the Last Great Day.
God’s
Holy Days time will began again for 2017. Let’s read out of
the Encyclopedia Judaica, Page 169, titled — “Passover.”
In
this is a short paragraph on Jewish roots history, again keep in mind
that many “Jewish roots” church groups want you and me
to combine the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread together, keeping
it as one feast day - doing away with God’s seven step plan
for salvation. But is that what the Encyclopedia Judaica says to do?
“The feast of Passover consists of two
parts; the Passover ceremony and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, originally
both parts existed separately;
but at the beginning of the exile they were combined.”
That statement is very clear: the 14th is the
Passover, the 15th is the First day of Unleavened Bread
- and they are two separate feasts [not one combined] - just as God
calls them in Leviticus 23. “In the fourteenth day of the first
month at even, [“ben--ha’orbayim”- meaning between
evenings, sunset and dark] is the Lord’s Passover. And on the
fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of Unleavened Bread unto
the Lord: seven days you must eat unleavened bread” (Lev 23:
5-6). God’s word clearly confirms
two separate events! The 14th is the Passover and the 15th
– 21st are the Days of Unleavened Bread!
Now
to step (4), the Feast of Trumpets—picturing Christ’s
prophetic return to earth. Notice that all these feast were given
to Israel, not just Judah, as Dr. Hoeh stated in his Bible study.
Leviticus 23:1-2 confirms this. “And the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying, “speak to the children of Israel, [not
just Judah] and say to them: the feasts of the Lord, which
you shall proclaim to be Holy convocations, these are My
feasts.”
Why
am I bringing up the Feast of Trumpets, God’s 4th
step in His plan? Because, as I said before, it seems many people
in God’s scattered churches feel they need to get back to their
Jewish roots and keep days like Rosh-ha-shanah that’s found
in the Hebrew Calendar! What is Rosh-ha-shanah?
Is it the same as God’s
Feast of Trumpets? No,
Rosh-ha--shanah is Judaism’s “first day of the civil new
year.” Both, the Feast of Trumpets, and the first day of Rosh-ah-
shanah are represented in the Hebrew calendar to be on the same month
and day of the year. Rosh-ha-shanah is the civil new year for Judaism.
And the Day of Trumpets pictures the seventh trumpet blast when Christ
will return to this earth with His saints and reign for ever and ever.
To confirm this see: Rev 11:15–19; Rev 19:1-21; Matthew 24:30-31;
1 Cor 15: 51-52; 1 Thess 4:16 and Zech 14:1-4. The Feast of Trumpets
is one day Satan really does want postponed, and he has convinced
those who want to go back to their Jewish roots and practice Judaism
to do just that!
Read
this quote out of the book called “The Jewish Holidays, a Guide
and Commentary,” by Michael Strassfeld. This will give us a
understanding of when Judaism’s“Rosh-ah-shanah”started.
On page 96, Mr. Strassfeld states, “Rosh- ah- shanah is referred
to in the Torah as the day of sounding the shofar.
It
was not called Rosh - ah - shanah the New year until Talmudic
times, (around 200 A.D.) the nature of the festival is unclear. The
notion of Rosh -ah - shanah as the year may have come later in the
tradition. Rosh - ah - shahah as the new year is tied to the creation
of the world. Thus in the Talmud there is a debate as to whether the
world was created in Nisan ( the month when Passover falls) or in
Tishri. In fact the Bible’s silence about the fall new year
and its celebration is hardly accidental. Celebrations of this festival
were so fraught with pagan associations
that the rather Puritanical Biblical authors probably opposed
the festival altogether, much as later rabbis fought against
too much paganism and magic for their comfort. Only in the Talmud
does Rosh - ah - shanah emerge as a major Jewish festival, showing
that the folk, then as later, did
not always listen to their more purist religious leaders. It
is likely that especially the first diaspora Jews, those
of Babylonia, did much to support the acceptance of this festival,
and gave it a legacy that is in many
ways reminiscent of the ancient Babylonian new year.”
Rosh-
ah- shanah is not
the first month or first day of God’s year! Exodus 12: 2, tells
us when the first day and month of the year is to begin: “This
month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month
[new moon] of the year to you.” You can see God’s new
year day and month, is not on Judaism’s postponed Rosh-ha-shanah!
While
reading the book “Jewish Holidays, a Guide and Commentary.”
I came across an interesting statement from one of it’s commentators,
Edward L. Greenstein, an associate professor in Bible at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America. It reads: “Most of the biblical
contexts make it clear that the shofar [trumpets to us] was
sounded primarily to announce the beginning of the special day, especially
the new moon: ‘sound on the new moon the shofar at
the darkening of the moon the day of our festival ; for it
is a statute for Israel, a ruling of the God of Jacob’ Psalm
81: 3-5. Rosh-ha-shanah is the seventh , and thus a special new moon.”
We could not have said what we believe any clearer, yet there
are still false teachers following and teaching the counterfeit “postponement
calendar” that is
not found in God’s word
Satan
has not stopped there, he is influencing other thoughts as well. Some
church groups are teaching and believing, Christ was only
an angel before He was born of flesh and that God the Father is the
one who married and divorced Israel - not His son Jesus the Christ.
Those that believe that want to bypass the mystery
of creation week. “Then God said, “Let Us [plural] make
man in Our [plural] image, according to Our [plural] likeness”
(Gen. 1:26). The plural ‘us’ and ‘our’ require
the presence of at least two
beings counseling together. The statement that man was to be made
in Our image and was made in God’s image, leads to the conclusion
that those counseling must both be - being’s of the same
God kind. This truth is implied in various passages such as the one
in Gen 3: 22, “Then the Lord God said, ‘behold, the man
has become like one of Us [plural],
to know good and evil.’”
What
else does it mean “to become like one of us?” We will
need to look at few verses for that answer. Lets start with Matt 19:
3-6, “The Pharisees came
to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, ‘Is it lawful for a
man to divorce his wife for just any reason?’ And He answered
and said to them, ‘Have you not read that He who made them at
the beginning made them male and female,’ And said, ‘for
this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh? So then, they are
no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined
together, let not man separate.’” These words express
the deepest physical and spiritual unity of a man and woman in marriage.
Spiritually, it is the same with God the Father and Jesus Christ,
who expressed, unmistakable community of interests, as one in thought,
in action. They share the same name, the same house and the same love;
meaning - out going concern!
Christ
said to the Jews at the temple in Solomon’s porch that were
around Him, “ I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Again,
Christ said in His prayer to His Father in heaven, “And now
I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come
to you. Holy father, keep through Your own Name those whom You have
given Me, that they may be one, as We are” (John 17:11).
Paul,
in 1 Cor 12, speaks of every called believer being a member of Christ’s
body. “For as the body is one, and has many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is
Christ. For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been
all made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many” (1 Cor 12: 12-14). The lowliest member of the church
is as much a member of the body of Christ, as the most highly endowed.
Christ gave His life for all and He is no respecter of persons. These
verses should make it very clear Christ was not an “angel”
prior to His walking in the flesh on earth. Satan, who is the “prince
of the power of the air,” would love to have Christ’s
authority diminished, especially knowing, his, Satan’s days
are numbered! His time to deceive mankind is about up. Satan wants
us to be influenced by hearing religious terms trumpeted like
“we need to get back to our Jewish roots.” The only trumpeted
roots we need to get back to is found fully trumpeted in God’s
word!
In
ancient Israel trumpets were blown to warn of impending dangers.
Those
who heard the warnings were prepared to defend themselves! Are the
churches of God hearing the trumpet warning of Isaiah, Jeremiah and
the other prophets - prepared to defend God’s truth? Are they
“Crying aloud, and sparing not,” are they “lifting
up their voice like a trumpet,” and “showing God’s
people [God’s called] their transgression, and the house of
Jacob their sins” (Isa. 58:1)?
A
call to repentance by a minister cannot be effective, unless it is
set forth clearly what man must obey from God’s word. Leaders
who fail to draw a clear line
between right and wrong, truth from error, so that the people may
understand the principles involved, are blind leaders of the blind.
Who are “the blind leading the blind?” Matthew 15, is
speaking about the Pharisees - those who follow Jewish roots. “Then
came His disciples, and said unto Him, ‘knowest Thou that the
Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?’Christ
answered, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind.
And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”
(Matt. 15:12,14). Christ also tells the Laodicean Church, “So
then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit
you out of My mouth. Because you say, `I am rich, have become wealthy,
and have need of nothing’-- and do not know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and
naked” (Rev. 3:16-19). John is speaking of spiritual blindness.
The antidote for spiritual blindness is to gain true spiritual vision
through the enlightenment of God’s Holy Spirit. Vs. 18, “I
counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may
be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame
of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye
salve, that you may see.” That is, see sin as God sees it, and
realize their real condition as a prerequisite to repentance. Vs.
19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous
and repent.”
Upon
examining Isaiah 56, we find the message of this chapter is filled
with meaning for God’s church today. The work of repentance
is centered on a return to faithful Sabbath observance. “Thus
saith the Lord, keep your judgment, and do justice: for My salvation
is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the
man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that
keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand
from doing any evil” (Isa. 56: 1-2). Those who ignore this blessing
will face going through Satan’s wrath.
A
spirit lead Christian must have the ability to discern the truth from
error. And not compromise God’s true Sabbaths, as many are wanting
to do today by postponing God’s annual Holy Day Sabbaths. Isaiah
further states, “His watchmen [those whose responsibility it
was to instruct and warn God’s called] are blind:
they are all ignorant, [in instructing the people, as they do not
faithfully reprove them for their sins]. They are all dumb dogs, [meaning,
they lack the intelligence of a watchdog] they cannot bark; [that
is, they fail to sound a warning] sleeping, lying down, loving to
slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough,
and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they
all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his
quarter” (Isa. 56:10-11). These are shepherds whose only interest
is in themselves!! In other words, making sure they get paid money
for their services’s and have freedom to write books and make
sermon tapes to sell. Do you see in verse 11, end time prophecy being
fulfilled today?
Not
many reverence God and His truth as found in the His word, the Bible.
Not many today really stand in awe of the great God and His instruction
book given to mankind. God says, “For all those things has Mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to
this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembles at My Word”
(Isa. 66:2).
Do
we tremble at God's word? Are we humbled by our calling? Do we take
our calling seriously?
As
God's first fruits we cannot bury our heads in the sand and ignore
what is going on all around us today! It is overwhelmingly clear that
we are at the end of this age. Christ inspired Matthew, Mark, and
Luke to write down end time events that are to be evident at the end
time. For example: wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against
nations, kingdom against kingdom, famines, pestilence, earthquakes
in diverse places. In Luke there is written a disconcerting prophesy,
“You shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinfolks,
and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
And you shall be hated of all men for My name's sake” (Luke
21:16). This is happening today to those who choose to follow God
and His Word. The people who want to follow the Jewish Hebrew Calendar,
that incorporate the postponement rules, say we are causing division
in the Church of God. They want to follow man made traditions which
Christ condemned! “ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him,
Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders...
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you
hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their
lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside
the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men ... And he said
unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment
of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:5-9).
Now
is the time to follow God! Not man made traditions! ☜
James
Russell