"PROVE ALL THINGS BIBLE STUDY"
"THEN SPAKE JESUS TO THE MULTITUDE, AND TO HIS
DISCIPLES, SAYING, THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES SIT IN
MOSES' SEAT: ALL THEREFORE WHATSOEVER THEY BID YOU
OBSERVE, THAT OBSERVE AND DO; BUT DO NOT YE AFTER
THEIR WORKS: FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT" (MATT 23:1-3).
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1. What was Moses seat?
Moses was given by God the authority to make judgments on the affairs of the people. Because of the multitude of people. Moses could not handle the job alone. "And so it was. on the next day. that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. "When they have a difficulty they come to me and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing, and God so commands you then you will be able to endure and all this people will also go to their place in peace" (Exo 18:13. 16.21-23).
Notice Deuteronomy, chapter 1, "So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes. "Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring it to me, and I will hear it.' And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do" (Deut 1: 15-18). "You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment" (Deut 16:18). "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of blood guiltiness, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses, you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you" (Deut 17:8-11).
2. Was Moses given permission by God to change the words that God had established?
Moses did not get to go into the promise land because he took upon himself to say, "must "we" bring you water?" Moses did not give God the credit or glory! "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animal. So Moses took the rod from before the LORD as He commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe Me, to hallow (sanctify) Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was hallowed [sanctified] among them" (Num 20:7-13 NKJ).
What was the punishment of Moses for just changing what God told him to do? "And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: Because ye trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the children of Israel, Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel" (Deut 32:48-52).
3. Did Moses have permission to change God's law and instructions?
NO, we can see from the question and answer above, that Moses was not to change a word or command of God's instructions to the Israelites when giving them water. If Moses was not given the right to change God's instructions to him, when Moses asked God for water at Meribah Kadesh, how can we change laws that God has commanded? "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (Deut 4:2).
4. What is Moses seat that Jesus Christ said, the Scribes and Pharisees were sitting in?
"Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, Saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. "Therefore whatever they tell you to observe [keep] that observe [keep], and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do" (Matt 2 1-3).
Moses' seat was the civil authority given to him by God to make judgements between human people. Moses could make decisions based on the law of God, for the peoples good, but even Moses did not have the authority to change the laws or instructions of God.
"After the death of Alexander Janneus (103 B.C.E.-76 B.C.E.), the Pharisees were, given civil control of the people of Judah by Queen Alexandra. They added to God's written instruction the oral laws. These traditional laws naturally had no indication in the Written Law and no basis in the teachings of the Sopherim, because they developed after the period of the Sopherim" [Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays, pg. 206]. Even the Priests, the Sadducees, did not follow the oral law, they only followed the written law of the Old Testament. In Matthew 23:1, religious authority was not given to the scribes and Pharisees. They did not have the right to change the Words of the Old Testament, Christ said, they had the right to make decisions between the people in civil matters, as was given to Moses in Exodus 18, and Deuteronomy chapters, 1, 16 and 17."
5. What did Christ say about the Pharisees, when they took it upon themselves to change God's laws?
"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, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye man keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:7-9). "But He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt 15:3, 6-9).
6. What did Christ tell His disciples about the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod?
"Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees" (Matt 16: 6,11-12). And in Mark 8:15, "And Ile charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod."
7. What authority did Christ give to the Apostles and the New Testament Church for making decisions for
the good of the people?
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt 18:15-18).
These scriptures are talking about the same authority that God gave to Moses when making decisions for the people. This authority, is not to change God's laws or His commandments. With the finishing of the Old and New Testament writings, the law was given, and no man has the right to change God's living laws.
8. Does the Church have the authority to change Gods law when binding and loosening?
The Interlinear Bible reading of Matt. 18:18 is as follows: "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on the earth shall occur, being already bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on the earth shall be, having been already loosed in heaven."
Amplified Bible says: "Truly, I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be already permitted in heaven"
These scriptures show that man can only bind and loose what God has already set in heaven. If we follow the Word of God, we will see the principals laid out for righteous judgement and we can know this is God's will.
9. Should the Church of God follow the teachings of the Pharisees?
"Jesus said unto them [Pharisee], If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" (John 8:42-47).
10. Could the doctrine of the Pharisees and Judaism of today, be a part of the teachings of the anti-christ?
"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also" (1 John 2:18, 22-23 ).
11. Can we be deceived by following Judaism?
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 1:7). Judaism has taken upon itself to say that the Holy Days can be postponed, by the authority of the Pharisees and their oral teachings. Christ said, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men"(Matt 15:7-9). What was Isaiah inspired to say? "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them" (Isa 1:13-14). Christ said, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 5 :18-19).
12. Should the Church of God follow the rulings of the Pharisees in the calendar calculations?
The Hebrew calendar the churches use today follow the rulings of the Pharisees. They have postponed the true Holy time of God for a preparation day. They also postpone Holy time so the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles does not fall on a weekly Sabbath.
One Church today say, we must have a preparation day on a Friday or else we cannot keep the Sabbath properly and it would show that the man was made for the Sabbath and not the Sabbath made for man. Is this a subtle way of deceiving the people not to obey God?
NO man, has been given the authority to change Holy appointed time, days on which God has set His Feast days.
13. Is Judaism the religion of Moses today?
"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?(John 5:46-47).
14. Could the POSTPONEMENTS of GOD'S HOLY DAYS be the way Satan has deceived the true Church
of GOD to this day, is this the strong delusion?
"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2Thes 2:11).
"That we 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).
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2Tim 3:5,7).
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim 4:3-4). "Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate" (Titus 1: 14-16).
SATAN HAS USED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO DECEIVE THE REST OF THE SO-CALLED CHRISTIAN CHURCHES TO KEEP SUNDAY INSTEAD OF GOD'S TRUE SABBATH.
WE SHOULD NOT LET JUDAISM TEACH US TO POSTPONE GOD'S HOLY DAYS. JUDAISM IS NOT THE RELIGION OF MOSES. MOSES NEVER HAD THE AUTHORITY TO CHANGE THE LAWS AND INSTRUCTIONS OF GOD AND NEITHER HAS ANY OTHER MAN THE AUTHORITY TO CHANGE THE LAWS AND INSTRUCTIONS OF GOD. DON'T BE DECEIVED INTO KEEPING THE POSTPONEMENTS!
[Reprinted from 1995 Prove All Things]
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