Do we really live by the Scriptural culture?

Believing in and serving the Almighty is not an add-on to ones life. I have heard very many people say that one should put the Almighty first in ones life, then I reply, “WHAT… as if He could be second!!!” The fact is that The Almighty and His instructions for us have to guide us in every single aspect of our lives. It has to become our culture to live by every single Word that comes from the mouth of the Almighty.

The Scriptures have to become our way of life and way of thinking in everything that we do, it should become our culture. The majority of people in this world belong to some religious organization of some kind. The largest religion in the world today is undoubtedly Christianity by far. When I hear or read about this fact, the words of the Messiah that comes to mind is found in the book of Matthew, “Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide – and the way is broad – that leads to destruction, and there are MANY WHO ENTER IN THROUGH IT. Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed which leads to life, and THERE ARE FEW WHO FIND IT” (Mat 7:13-14)

With the words of the Messiah in our thoughts, would one want to be part of the majority (the many)? The Messiah made it very clear that this is a matter of life and death. Should we not pay more attention and study to test everything in order to prove it true so that we follow the truth that leads to life? If we do not do so, then we are simply putting our own lives and the lives of our families into the hands of other people.

Let me use a practical example quick. I have two uncles, the one is a middle class worker and the other is a rich financial expert who makes a lot of money from the stock market. One day my middle class uncle asked my rich uncle to invest some of his hard earned money on the stock market for him so that he too could have some extra cash. My rich uncle agreed to do so and took his money to invest.

Now my uncle, that gave his hard earned money, trusted my other rich uncle because he was his own brother and believed he had his best interests at heart. What happened is that because my rich uncle was not investing his own money, he was not too worried about it and sort of forgot to look after his brother’s investment. In the end, he made a loss with his brother’s money. Now it was not because he did not care about his brother, but simply because he was more interested in making more money for himself or simply because any loss of that investment would have no effect on him directly.

This example has exactly the same principle as mentioned above. Are you putting your life in the care of other people, who in the end are more worried about their own lives and “forget” to look after your “investment,” namely your life? That is why it is written that we are to test everything in order to prove that it is right. We are responsible for our own salvation and therefore need to study the Scriptures for ourselves in order to know what is righteous and what is not. We then have to change our lives to the extent that it is perfectly in line with the Word/Instruction of the Almighty. “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of יהוה (YHWH)” (Mat 4:4). He is the only one who knows what is best for us.

Now, whenever someone, who is walking in the ways of the Scriptures and teaching the ways of the Almighty, encounters a Christian, they are usually accused of the following, “you are trying to Judaise me and the other people.” But is this statement true? Absolutely not!!!

Judaising someone is teaching them to follow Jewish traditions and teachings. There is a difference between Judaising and Scripturalising the belief/faith. Although the Scriptural way of life very much resembles that of what the Jews do in many ways, it is not exactly the same in the sense that the Jews (at least the Rabbinics) have many extra laws and “interpretations” of certain passages. But does it make everything they (Orthodox Jews) do incorrect? Certainly NOT.

Let us look at a few things that are different between the Orthodox Jewish faith and the Scriptural faith. Then we will look at the Scriptural faith and compare it to the Christian faith to see if that meets the Scriptural requirements.

A few Jewish traditions that are not Scriptural:

1)   Men have to wear a “kippa” (yarmulke) on their heads.
2)   Not allowed to eat meat and dairy in the same meal.
3)   Not allowed to have a blue thread in the tzitzit (Scripture requires us to wear tzitzit with a cord of blue in it)
4)   Have a set worked out calendar instead of watching for new moon (but only differ by a day or so when there is a difference)

Now let us look at a few things that are required by Scripture, that the Christians do NOT observe:

1)   Wear tzitzit (tassels) on the four corners of our garments (Num 15:38-40, Deut 22:12, Mat 9:20, 14:35-36, Mark6:56, Luke 8:43-44)
2)   Keep the Sabbath (Christianity does not keep the Sabbath) (Hebrews 4:9, Mat 24:20, Ex 31: 13-16, Isa 56:1-2, 58:13-14, 66:22-24, Deut 5:12, Ex 20:8-11, Jer 17:22 etc)
3)   Circumcision, which is an eternal sign of the Covenant given to Avraham (Christianity does not believe in circumcision) (Eze 44:9, Jer 4:4, Gen 17:10-14, Ex 12:43-44, Luke 2:21)

4)   Observe the Mo’edim (appointed times and feasts) as written in Lev 23 (Christians keep pagan holidays instead.) See – Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, New Year, Valentines day etc.
5)   The Name of the Almighty is (יהוה) and is His Name forever (Ex 3:15). (Christianity substitutes it with the names of pagan idols) See – God, Lord.
6)   Eating kosher foods only. (Click here to learn more)

The Jews do all of the above as it is required by the Scriptures, but Christians do NOT.

Now let us look at a few things that Christianity holds to as true doctrine, but is not at all Scriptural:

1)   The Trinity. (Click here to understand why this is not Scriptural.)
2)   The Law being done away with, lawless. (see – Mat 7:21-23, 24:12, 2 Cor 6:14, 1 John 3:4, 2 Thess 2:3 and 9, 2 Peter 3:17, Romans 2:12-13, 3:31, 7:12, John 14:21, Rev 12:17, 14:12, 22:14, 1 John 3:10, Mat 13:41-43, James 1:22)
3)   Faith without works, which is the keeping of the Torah (see – James 2:14-26, Romans 3:31)
4)   Only have to believe in “Jesus” to be saved. (Mat 10:22, 24:23, Mark 13:13, Click here too)
5)   The cross is a Christian symbol. (but is it Scriptural? Click here to learn more).

6)   Forgiveness of adultery… “he who is without sin, cast the first stone”

There are so many more that I could mention here, but I am sure that you get the point now.

The fact of the matter is that the Faith of the Scriptures is a Hebrew faith. The father of the eternal covenant is Avraham, to whom the Almighty made the covenant with. Christianity claims to be “sons of Abraham” and yet, they do not resemble Abraham in any way. Avraham was called an “Ivri” (Hebrew), where Christians follow a Roman religion.

Are we really trying to Judaise people? No… in fact, we are trying to Scripturalise people. The fact that someone who starts living according to the Scriptures might seem to look like a Jew or act like a Jew in many ways (in the eyes of the world), is because the lifestyle of the Jews are based mostly on the Scriptures. In fact, the Jewish nation is identified by the Torah, but most of them also follow extra laws that comes from the Talmud which was written by the Sages.

Christianity claims to be followers of the Messiah, but one thing that they simply cannot grasp is that the Messiah was and is a Jew (Y’hudi) and held to everything that is written in the Hebrew Tanakh. He lived according to the Scriptures and taught that we need to follow in His footsteps. I still remember a time when the church made arm bands that had the letters, “WWJD” written on them for the youth to wear. Those letters stood for, “What Would Jesus Do.” The wearer of the arm band would wear it as a reminder to do as “Jesus” would do in any situation. This was ironic as none of them ever did as the Messiah did or would do, for the simple fact because they had no idea what the Messiah would do in the situation because Christianity does not teach the true Messiah.

The fact of the matter is that Christianity has taken what is Scriptural and replaced it with other Westernized, Roman traditions of pagan cultures and religions.

Do you want to belong to the Hebrew faith of the Messiah and all His followers… or do you want to be a part of the Western Roman religion that has rejected the Scriptures in favor of their own personal teachings (doctrines) that are not at all Scriptural?

I am a Jew who follows a Jewish Rabbi who is my Messiah who teaches us to follow the Torah in every way.

In the beginning was the Word

Can it be that the Messiah is the Almighty Himself? This is what the churches teach us, that the Almighty came to earth and died for us, and they use the passage in John 1:1-3 to justify their teaching. But does John 1 really teach us that? Let us read the passage in the KJV Bible first (which is a translation) and then in a different translation that is more correct according to the original writings second. Then we can look at the wording and see if the statement can be true by comparing it to other passages in the Scriptures too.

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3 KJV)

Now let us look at a more correct translation.

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim. All came to be through Him, and without Him not even one came to be that came to be” (John 1:1-3 The Scriptures).

One should notice that the difference between the two is that the KJV Bible, and also most other English translations, uses the term “God” and the more correct translation uses the term “Elohim” which is the actual Hebrew word. For those who do not know what Elohim means, it is a Hebrew word which is the plural form of the root word “Eloah” meaning either “mighty ones” or Mighty One” and can be used to refer to other things too, as we will see below.

Now to really understand what the true meaning of the text found in John 1:1-3, we need to first do a more in-depth study on the Hebrew word “Elohim.”

We have seen above from where the word comes from, but for what exactly is it used for in the Hebrew Scriptures?

The Hebrew word Elohim appears 2605 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. The great majority of the time when this word appears, it is translated as “God” in the English translations, in fact, 2366 times out of the 2606 (the word ‘God’ is not a correct translation of the word “Elohim” and should never be used). But that is not the only English word that is used to translate the Hebrew word “Elohim.” Let us have a look at a few other uses, or meanings, of the word “Elohim.”

”then his master shall bring him before Elohim (Judges), and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl. And he shall serve him forever” (Exodus 21:6). Here the word is used to speak of Judges, who bring the righteous judgments concerning any cases that are brought before them. They represent the judgments of the Almighty

“If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought before Elohim (Judges) to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbour’s goods” (Exodus 22:8). Here, once again, the word “Elohim” is used to speak of Judges.

“Yet You have made him a little less than Elohim (Messengers (Angels)), And have crowned him with esteem and splendour” (Psalm 8:5). Here the term Elohim is referring to Messengers of the Almighty.

”So יהוה (YHWH) said to Mosheh, ‘See, I have made you an elohim to Pharaoh, and Aharon your brother is your prophet’” (Exodus 7:1). Here Mosheh (Moses) is being referred to as an elohim to Pharaoh, which means that Mosheh is a mighty one to Pharaoh.

”And the sovereign said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?” And the woman said to Sha’ul, “I saw a spirit (Elohim) coming up out of the earth.” (1 Sam 28:13). Here is where King Sha’ul went to a medium to call up the prophet Samuel. When the Medium saw the spirit of Samuel coming up from the grave, she referred to his spirit as Elohim.

So the Hebrew word Elohim can mean “Mighty One”, “mighty ones”, “judges”, “Messengers”, “spirit”, “great” and even called Mosheh, Elohim.

So now that we know that the Hebrew word “Elohim” does not always refer to the Almighty, we can start to understand what John 1:1-3 really means.

Let us then try and translate it correctly so that it stays perfectly in line with the rest of Scripture.

”In the beginning was the Word (Torah), and the Word (Torah) was with Elohim (the Almighty), and the Word (Torah) was Elohim (Mighty, Superior, Perfect). The Word (Torah) was in the beginning with Elohim (the Almighty). All came to be through the Word (Torah), and without the Word (Torah) not even one came to be that came to be” (John 1:1-3).

This Word that is being spoken of is the Word of the Almighty which is called the Torah. 4,000 years later, the Torah became flesh and walk upon this earth, and His name was Y’hoshua haMashiyach (The Messiah).

This Word is NOT the Almighty, but rather the Word of the Almighty that comes out of His Mouth. The Church falsely teaches that there is a Trinity where the Messiah is the Almighty. But that doctrine does not meet the requirements of the rest of Scripture. In fact, in order to teach this false doctrine, they need to falsely translate the Scriptures to say things that it does not really say. The Church has even added entire verses that never existed in the original writings to push the false Trinity doctrine.

John 1:1-3 makes it very clear that the Messiah is the Torah in the flesh and that He is NOT the Almighty, but rather the Son of the Almighty who is a being on His own.

Now, with this understanding of the word Elohim, we can understand Matthew 1:23

“See, a maiden shall conceive, and she shall give birth to a Son, and they shall call His Name Immanu’ĕl,” which translated, means, “Ěl with us” (Mat 1:23). This verse is also use a lot to try and justify the false Trinity doctrine. In the KJV Bible and the great majority of the other English translations of the Bible, it is translated as “God with us.”

We can now know that it is not a correct translation at all. If one wanted to translate it correctly, then it should either say, “Elohim with us” or “a Mighty One with us”

In order to really understand the Scriptures, you have to go back to the Hebrew text and read it with a Hebrew mindset as it was written in Hebrew by Hebrew’s. As soon as we “Westernize” the Scriptures, it looses most of its true meaning and actually changes the meaning of what should be taught.

If we truly want to know the truth of the Scriptures, then we really do need to start learning Hebrew. The English can NEVER convey what is written in the Hebrew text.

The Trinity doctrine is a false doctrine

One of the most fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith is that of the “Trinity.” But is this belief based on the Scriptures, or does it originate from a different religion altogether. One thing we need to ask ourselves, can we find it in the Scriptures?

I did a search for something that might support the Trinity doctrine. I did find something in the King James Bible that looked as though the doctrine might be Scriptural. Let us have a look at this section in the Bible.

5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one (1 John 5:7-8 KJV).

Now verse 7 clearly speaks of what we today know as the Trinity. But when I started looking at other translations, I came across something startling. It seems as thought the KJV Bible added verse 7, that did not originally exist, into the Bible. Let us see what the other translations say.

5:7 For there are three witnesses-

5:8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood-and these three are one. (1 John 5:7-8 International Standard Version).

Here we see a huge difference. It seems as if the KJV combined verses 7 and 8 into one verse and added their own verse as verse 7 to support their own doctrine. They also added the words, “in earth” into verse 8 in the KJV to suggest that there must be three witnesses in heaven too.

Many of the translations differ from the KJV here as do the early Greek manuscripts. So where does this false doctrine originate from?

The Christian Faith is built on the writings of the early Church Fathers who created what is known as Christianity today. One of these Church Fathers is called Tertullian and he lived in 155-230 CE (AD).

Tertullian was born into a mainstream Gentile pagan family, but later he became a devout Christo-pagan. He found mainstream Christianity very intolerable, so he set out to make broad sweeping reform.

According to Jerome, Tertullian was “distressed by the envy and laxity of the clergy of the Roman church” so he joined with the Montanists (also known as the Cataphrygian Heresy) founded by Montanus. Montanus was formerly following the pagan mother goddess of fertility named Cybele where he learned plenty of things to adapt into Christianity.

One of Montanus’ “achievements” was to fall into a trance and prophecy under the influence of the “Holy Ghost,” insisting that his utterances were the voice of the “Holy Ghost.” Modern day “tongue-speaking” Pentecostal or Charismatic denominations apparently have very similar experiences to those of the church of Montanus. As Montanus’ theologies and influence advanced, he was joined by Priscilla and Maximilla, who abandoned their husbands to follow the call of his “prophetic” ministry.

Tertullian, though, while fumbling in all manner of paganism and spiritism also picked up an “anointing” of the “Holy Ghost” and through demonic inspiration, he compartmentalized the “Godhead” and coined the word “Trinity” which, of course, is one of the most cherished doctrines of the Christian Church today. The “persons of the Trinity” doctrine flourished in the hierarchy-based Christian religion, which also views itself as a pyramid structure. Tertullian wrote using puns, wit, sarcasm and a continual pounding of his opponents with invective and platitude; yet he was the architect of the pinnacle doctrine of Christianity, the “persons of the Trinity.” Tertullian theology is very akin to the likes of Nimrod, Semiramis and Tammuz who were the original trinity of Babylon and he inserted the “persons” of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, making him extremely popular among pagan Gentile Christians.

Other trinities

Let us have a look at some Trinities found that influenced Tertullian and gave him the idea to incorporate it into the Christian religion.

Babylonian: Baal, Semiramis, Tammuz. (alt. Bel, Ishtar, Duzu).

India: Brahma, Shiva (or Devaki), Vishnu (or Krishna).

Egypt: Amon Ra, Isis, Osiris (or Horus).
Greece: Zeus (or Apollo), Demeter (or Athena, Artemis), Porsephene (or Nike).

Rome (Roma): Deus (form of Zeus, also known as Zeus-Father, or Iu-piter, Jupiter); Venus (or

Astarte, Biblia, Charis); Cupid (or Bacchus, Nike).

Celtic: (also known as Druid, Wiccan, Norse, Gaelic); Baal (or Woden, Teutates, Heil);

Ceridwen (or Freya, Frigga, Eostre); Thor (or Balder, Taranis, Dero). (alt. Esus, Taranis,

Teutates).

Canaanite: (and Phoenician); Baal (or Moloch); Asherah (or Ishtar, Easter, Tanit); Rompha.

Chaldean: (and Zoroastrian); Baal Mithras (known as “wise-lord” Ahura Mazda, or Ohrmazd);

Astoreth; Haoma.

Persian: Shamash, Ishtar, Sin. Macedonian / Asian: Dagon (fish idol); Cybele

(or Ceres); Deoius (or Janus).

Mithraic: (Chaldean fusion with Indo-Iranian); Mithras (or Marduk, called Sol by Romans);

Rashnu; Vohu Manah.

Mandaean: Joshaman, Abatar, Hibil Ziwa.

Manichaean: Ohrmazd, Maitreya (New Age “Christ”); Zurvan.

So as you can see, there is quite a list of pagan trinities and that many of them are interlinked with each other, which teaches us that the pagan religions stem from the same root. We can clearly see that the Trinity doctrine originates from paganism.

Trinity in the Scriptures?

For any kind of doctrine or teaching to be true, then that specific doctrine or teaching has to match up to every other part of the Bible. Does the Bible claim that the Messiah is also the Almighty as the Trinity doctrine teaches? Well let us look at a few verses concerning this matter.

“For there is one Elohim, and one Mediator between Elohim and men, the Man Messiah יהושע (Yehoshua)” (1 Tim 2:5)

The above verse clearly makes a differentiation between the Messiah and Elohim the Almighty. Yehoshua the Messiah is the Mediator between us and the Almighty, just like the “Kohen Gadol” (High Priest). In fact, Yehoshua is the Kohen Gadol, “Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, יהושע (Yehoshua) the Son of Elohim, let us hold fast our confession” (Hebrews 4:14).

The Messiah is our High Priest who is the Mediator between us and the Almighty because we are unable to come to the Almighty on our own for the forgiveness of sin. No one who is blemished is able to come into the presence of the Almighty. It is the Messiah who fulfills that roll of presenting His own blood to the Almighty for the forgiveness of our sins on Yom Kippur. If Yehoshua the Messiah was the Almighty and not a being on His own, then it would be impossible to fulfill the role of High Priest.

Let us have a look at another verse, “for us there is one Elohim, the Father, from whom all came and for whom we live, and one Master יהושע (Yehoshua) Messiah, through whom all came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6)

Once again we get a very clear distinction between the Almighty and His Son Yehoshua the Messiah. It states that there is only One Elohim, who is the Father, for whom we live, and only one Son who is the Messiah through whom we live. This verse also reveals to us that the Messiah has been around since the beginning. He is also know as the Living Word (Torah). That is why we are to live through Him (the Torah) in order to live for the Almighty.

So as we can see, the Bible does not support the Trinity doctrine at all, but some people take bits and pieces from the Scriptures and use it out of context to try and justify their convictions or false teachings. Let us look at one such argument that is used by the Church to try and justify their falsehood. “I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30)

Now does Yehoshua the Messiah claim the be the Almighty when He said, “I and My Father are one.”? Or was He really saying that He and His Father are in agreement with one another? To answer this question, we need to compare it with the rest of what is written in the Bible. “And I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Set-apart Father, guard them in Your Name which You have given Me, so that they might be one, as We are” (John 17:11)

The above verse is speaking of the followers of the Almighty to become one as the Almighty and the Messiah are One. Now, can a group of people suddenly become one person? Or is this verse speaking of a group of people standing in agreement with each other and in agreement to the Almighty and His Messiah? Now let us look at another verse and see if this statement is consistent, “so that they all might be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so that they too might be one in Us, so that the world might believe that You have sent Me” (John 17:21).

Once again it clearly says that the people stand together in agreement with each other and in agreement with the Almighty and Yehoshua the Messiah. It does not mean that they are one person at all. The Hebrew idiom “being one” means to be in agreement with each other. This terminology comes from the very beginning of the Scriptures, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).

Now I ask you, how many of you have ever witnessed a man and his wife physically joining and becoming one person? No one has ever seen this happen because that is not what is meant by becoming one flesh. It simply means to join together in agreement with each other.

So any one who uses the argument that the Messiah said, “I and My Father are one” to prove the Trinity doctrine, is either not very well versed in the Bible or is simply a liar.

One very important message for us all is that it is saying that the Almighty and His Messiah (the Living Word) call us to become one with them. Now we also know that The Almighty and His Word (the Messiah) are never changing and remains the same today as in the time of the beginning, ”יהושע (Yehoshua) Messiah is the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb 13:8).

We have also seen from above that the Messiah was there from the beginning in the time of Adam. We can also see that He is the same today as He was in the beginning, and He is in perfect agreement with His Father who is the Almighty Master of the universe.

So if we want to learn how to serve the Almighty and follow the Messiah, then we have to go to the Instruction book called the Torah, which are the first five books of the Scriptures (Tanakh). In those five books, the Almighty reveals to us what He requires from us and also the things that He loves and also the things that He hates.

Those five books give us exact instructions on how to live our lives to be pleasing to the Almighty in order to receive favor from Him.

There are many things that the Almighty regards as abominations and teaches us to NOT do them or have them close to us. These things, for example, are eating unclean animals, making moulded images (like the cross) adultery, idolatry, profaning the Sabbath, Murder, Rape and many other things too. Now to think that what was once unacceptable to the Almighty has suddenly become okay to do today is a teaching that is anti-Scriptural and evil.

If we desire to love the Almighty, then we need to do all that is commanded in the Torah. “If you love Me, you shall guard My commands” (John 14:15)

Also.... click here to see John 1:1-3 explained