Choose Life

This article is being posted in light of the Torah portion that was read this Shabbat that has just past (Nitzavim).

There is a very large and popular church in the city where I live (Pretoria South Africa) which has the name of “Choose Life Church.” Now, we all have to assume that this church was named after a passage from the Bible, as it is a Christian church. In fact, on their website, they admit that this is true. Now, if this is the case, then this church must stand up to the principles taught in the Bible too, or at least in the verse from which it gets its name from. If you do a little research, then you will quickly realize that the term, “choose life” appears only once in the entire Scriptures. It is not found in the “New Testament” but actually only in the Torah.

The verse that this particular church used in reference to their name is Deut 30:19. Let us read it together:

”I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut 30:19 KJV)

It is actually a very nice name that is based on a very lovely and beautiful verse in the Scriptures. The Almighty has set before us life and death and has given us the choice as to which one we want to choose. The church in question (Choose Life Church) has clearly stated which one they claim to have chosen, and which things that they supposedly teach accordingly.

The Scriptures make it very clear what choosing life entails and what we need to do in order to choose this life. It clearly says that the Almighty has set it before us and that the heaven and the earth are witnesses to this. We need to read the entire chapter in order to know what choosing life is all about, according to the Word of the Almighty. For a restriction of space, let us start reading from vs 15:

“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil, in that I am commanding you today to love יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to guard His commands, and His laws, and His right-rulings. And you shall live and increase, and יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim shall bless you in the land which you go to possess” (Deut 30:15-16).

In the verses above is the formula for choosing life. Choosing life is to love the Almighty, to walk in His ways, and to guard (do) His commands, His Laws, and His right rulings. If you do this, then you are choosing life. This is saying that we need to do all that is written in the Torah.

But what happens when you do not do these things? Well, let us read further to see.

“But if your heart turns away, and you do not obey, and shall be drawn away, and shall bow down to other mighty ones and serve them, I have declared to you today that you shall certainly perish, you shall not prolong your days in the land which you are passing over the Yardĕn to enter and possess” (Deut 30:17-18)

The disobedience of the Torah is to turn away your heart from the Almighty. If this happens then you will bow down to other mighty ones and serve them. When this happens, the verse says, “you shall certainly perish”. The disobedience of the Torah is choosing death.

So with this information from the Scriptures, it is safe to assume that any institution who claims to base their faith on the Scriptures and who call themselves by the title of, “Choose Life” should in fact be following and teaching the Torah, just as the Messiah did. If not, then they are liars and teach only lies. “And by this we know that we know Him, if we guard His commands. The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4). One cannot take a title or verse from the Scriptures and use it totally in the wrong context. If one does so, then it is a total deception to all who come into contact with them.

So let us compare the teachings of the church (called, “Choose Life”) with that of the instruction manual of the Almighty, called the Scriptures (The Word of the Almighty Creator).

But before we get started with this list, let us have a look at one of the prerequisites that the Choose Life Church has for becoming a member of their church is. On their website, the second prerequisite for becoming a member is as follows:

”You should be endeavoring to live a life that pleases God. You should not be living in sin.”

Now let us go to the Bible and see what it says what sin is:

”Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4 KJV)

So according to the statement of the Choose Life Church, we have to assume that all its members are living according to the Law of the Almighty. If not, then they should not be members (according to the requirements of the Church itself). If the leaders and pastors of the Church also do not live by the Law (which according to the Bible is living in sin) then they are hypocrites and liars. This is according to their own standards.

Sha’ul (Paul) makes a clear statement in 2 Corinthians regarding those who do not keep the Law (Torah), “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? And what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14). He makes it very clear that those who do not live by the Law of the Almighty are unbelievers and darkness and the opposite of righteous. And what did the Messiah say about those who are lawless?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master, shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens.

Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!” (Mat 7:21-23).

The Messiah himself proclaims that those who do not submit themselves to being obedient to the Torah of his Father, even though they profess to be believers and do many mighty works, will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. These people who do not live by the Torah are not known to the Messiah and will be rejected at his return.

So now, let us look at a few examples of what the Torah teaches and see if the members of the Choose Life Church lives up to the standards of the Scriptures.

1) The Scriptures teach us that we need to rest and learn Scripture on the Sabbath (the seventh day) and that it is an eternal covenant. The Sabbath is also a sign between the Almighty and the people of the Almighty (Exodus 31:13-16). The Sabbath is also a commandment, the 4^th one (Exodus 20:8-11). If we do not keep the Sabbath, then we do not guard the Commandments and deny the creation of the heavens and the earth, and therefore are not choosing life.

Does the Choose Life Church keep the Sabbath? NO… they get together on the first day which was instituted by the Roman Catholic Church to make the statement that the Church is above Scripture (Word of the Almighty) and has the authority to change the Scriptures. Choose Life Church does not choose life by breaking the Sabbath, which is a transgression of the Law, which is living in sin.

2) According to the Scriptures (Lev 11), the eating of any sort of unclean animals (like pork, rabbit, prawns etc) are an abomination to the Almighty. It is still as relevant today as it was in the time of Mosheh (Moses) and is part of the Law.

Does the Choose Life Church keep to and teach the eating of clean animals only, and the abstinence of unclean animals? NO, they do not believe that to be relevant at all anymore, even though they claim that the “Old Testament” is the Word of the Almighty, on their website under “statement of faith”. It is just too convenient to pick and choose which parts of the Law they want to keep.

3) The Scriptures make it very clear that we should not learn the ways of the world (Deut 18:9), and that the friend of the world is an enemy of the Almighty (James 4:4). The celebration of pagan festivals is an abomination in the eyes of the Almighty and is considered as idolatry, which is the transgression of the 2^nd commandment.

Does the Choose Life Church abstain from idolatrous celebrations as the Scriptures require? NO, They celebrate Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Gregorian New Year, Sun-day, etc. All these celebrations originate from paganism and are an abomination to the Almighty.

4) The Scriptures make it very clear that in order to belong to Yisra’el (spiritual Yisra’el), all the males have to be circumcised. This is the sign of the covenant (Gen 17:10-14). If any males are not circumcised, then they cannot partake in the Passover (that means no communion) (Exodus 12:43-44) and (Ezekiel 44:9).

Does the Choose Life Church practice and teach the necessity of circumcision? NO, They teach that it is not necessary to be circumcised, which is contrary to what the Scriptures teach.

5) The 3^rd Commandment commands us not to bring the Name YHWH to naught (Exodus 20:7). The Torah also commands us not to use the names of other idols, and not to even let it be heard out of our mouths (Exodus 23:13). Substituting the Name of the Almighty, with that of the name of an idol, is forbidden and an abomination to the Almighty. Also, using the names of idols in place of names and other words is also an abomination.

Does the Choose Life Church use the correct names and words as correctly translated from the original text, and do not substitute them with the names of idols? NO, they have chosen to follow the Roman Catholic Church who dictates all the Christian doctrines and totally undermines the authority of the Scriptures. Choose Life Church rather follows after man made doctrines rather than the written Word of the Almighty.

Why do they do so? Because it is far more profitable (in the worlds eyes, money -wise) to follow the corrupt Christian system. If the Church taught Scripture and Scripture alone in the correct context, then they would never be able to function as a business (which they really are) and make a profit by exploiting its members.

Is it not a little fishy to realize that the only form of the Law that the Church keeps is that of the tithes? Even this is twisted so that the people are fooled into giving their hard earned money to the church.

For an organization who claims to follow the Scriptures, the Choose Life Church certainly cannot be more wrong. They even support people who supports absolute transgression of the law. They support a preacher who believes homosexuality is acceptable and that homosexuals will also inherit the kingdom of heaven. They even have a link to this preacher’s website on their website.

Choose Life Church is a business that does not promote Scripture, but rather “good feelings” to its members so that they will always have a constant supply of money. One statement that this church cannot say is that their teachings are based on the Scriptures. If you desire to follow the Teachings of the Almighty, who created heaven and earth and sustains it all by His eternal Word and choose life… then Choose Life Church is certainly not the place to be.

One great problem that arises from such churches and people who follow these churches and teachings is that they are the ones who persecute and abuse the righteous people who are keeping all the commandments of the Almighty and walking a righteous life.

Christianity is a religion of pure hypocrisy saying that their faith is based on the Scriptures and yet, they go and transgress all the commands of the Almighty in everything that they do. 

It is very easy to say that you choose life, but it is another thing to actually choose life by obeying the Word of the Almighty.

Nehemia Gordon and the Name of Yehovah

We are living in the information age, with the internet giving the opportunity to anyone and everyone who desires, to post whatever information they want to, whether it be written articles, audio teachings or even video teachings. The problem that arises, is that many people post so many 'things' on the internet that are not factual,things which are even downright lies and falsehood. There is not really any control over this, this situation is beyond control. Also, many people, who call themselves scholars, have the opportunity to teach their own personal doctrines, topics and opinions,as if the absolute truth, and that without any restraint at all. Two such people who have taken advantage of the wide audience of the internet is Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson who claim to teach the only correct pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty, even make lots of money by doing so.

This article has been written to test the so called “proofs” of Nehemia and Keith, and see if it is in fact true or not (factual or opinionated). This article is in no way an attack on Nehemia or Keith and I certainly do not want to speak any bad things about them. It is written purely to bring the truth to the light and to hopefully encourage others to test everything that they hear, no matter who they hear it from. This article is also not intended to diminish anyone’s faith and I am certainly not trying to make anyone believe what they do not wish to believe. Everyone has a right to do and believe whatever they want to. All I will be doing is to provide evidence and facts on this topic, and then it is up to the reader to do with it whatever they like.

The topic of this article is to see whether the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty is “Yehovah,” as Nehemia and Keith proclaim it is, or not. Keith Johnson has written a book trying to “prove” or justify this pronunciation and the book is endorsed by Nehemia who taught Keith that the Name if pronounced is “Yehovah.” Both Keith and Nehemia influence thousands of people by touring the world and speaking, through their books and even through internet radio and other forms of communication, and try to convince them all that this is the only correct pronunciation and that the other people are all wrong. They do this, all while making a lot of money in the process. That is why I am writing this article, to give an objective look at their theory for other people to see the whole truth and not just a snippet taken out of context, which Nehemia has done as we will see below.

Now, to get to the explanations…

While listening to a recording that Nehemia and Keith did on an internet radio station, called Truth2u with Jono Vandor, about the Torah portion, “Beshalach – Exodus 13:17-17:16”. Nehemia explained in short why he teaches that the Name is to be pronounced as “Yehovah.” His explanation might sound clever and impressive to anyone who does not know any Hebrew grammar rules. But to anyone who has a good understanding of the Hebrew grammar rules, will see that Nehemia contradicted himself and actually rendered his theory to be false, as will be explained in detail below.

I am attaching a short MP3 file of Nehemia explaining it, for you to listen to it and analyze it for yourself. (It is attached below). I will be analyzing what Nehemia says and compare it according to the facts and grammar rules to see if he is telling the truth or not. I suggest that you listen to the audio MP3 (less than 3 min) before you carry on reading this article. Then after reading the rest of this article, you can listen to it as many times as you want and compare it to the facts for yourself.


(Listen to audio below before you carry on reading).

In order to download the MP3, right click the play button and then choose the first option, "download document".

Okay, now let us break it down and tackle what Nehemia said piece by piece. I have transcribed the audio to text and will now analize it piece by piece. I am also going to color code it for ease of reading and understanding. Keith’s words will be the color of  green, Nehemia’s words will be in the color of blue and the reply will be in the color of red.

Keith: The second issue I want to bring up, is for all of my brothers and sisters out there that say, “well now Keith, you should change your pronunciation. Here it clearly says, Nehemia Gordon, the great Hebrew scholar, just said, the way you pronounce this two letter name, is what Nehemia… how do you pronounce it?

Reply: Here Keith admits that many people have challenged him about the Name of the Almighty. He also sees Nehemia Gordon as “Great” Hebrew scholar. The fact of the matter is that Nehemia is more than competent in the Hebrew language, but there are many people who are far more advanced in the knowledge of the Hebrew language than Nehemia is.

Nehemia: Yah

Reply: Regarding the name, “Yah” one does not need a Hebrew expert to know that it is written and spelled as Yah and cannot be anything else. There is absolutely no dispute about this word at all.

Keith: Yah, so that’s why we should call Him Yahweh. And I am not going to move from this until you can help us understand, Nehemia, What is this YAH…

Nehemia: … Well, I mean, so look, the poetic form, if you can call it that, of the name Jacob in some languages is James. Does that mean…..

Reply: I do not want to argue this statement too much, but James is not a poetic form of Jacob. It is merely a result of the confusion of a language (English) which is made up of mixed multitude of other languages. This often results in many words, often totally different from one another, having the same or similar meaning. This is what has happened with James and Jacob… the one is not a poetic form of the other.

Nehemia: Lets take the example of Michael (which in Hebrew is Micha’el, where the English name is Michael), but what’s the nickname for Michael, Its Mickey. Does that mean that really… lets say that I didn’t have the vowels of the word Michael but I knew it was Mickey, would I then call him Michal? I guess I would call him Michal, Michi’el.

Reply: Here Nehemia did not say anything that has anything to do with his case. Theoretically, the statement he just made is more proof of the opposite of what he is trying to teach. But this is not where the problem is. We will see, when we get to the Hebrew grammar, where Nehemia makes his errors.

Nehemia: So that’s the type of logic that they’re implying when they say that YAH as the poetic form, therefore, it means that the full form is Yahweh, um, I mean there’s absolutely no connection there.

Reply: Firstly, I am not saying that the pronunciation of, “Yahweh” is perfectly correct. This article is about testing the pronunciation of Yehovah. So I am not going to get into why Yahweh is not perfectly correct.

To say that “Yah” has absolutely no connection to the pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty is not true at all. We will see this below when we get into the grammar rules.
Nehemia: Its, uh, you know, YAH… and actually the significance of YAH is that it almost always appears at the end of a word, like HalleluYAH. That’s the form you will normally find.

And even in Ex 15:2 (g¡I Z¡X¥N¦F¥E I¦i¡R – Ozi v’zimrat Yah) and that word Yah is attached toward zimrat which is called smuchut, or the construct case. Its attached to the previous word.

Reply: The question is, is the short form of the Name of the Almighty, “Yah” (spelled yud hey) ever pronounced differently when it is not attached to another word? No it is not, it does not ever have to be attached toward another word for it to be pronounced as Yah. (Ex 15:2; 17:16; Ps 68:4 & 18; 76:11; 89:8;)

Nehemia: And that’s very similar to what we would find when we have, “Yud hey vav”, the three letters of the full name in a larger name, as a compound name, for example, Isaiah, is YeshaYAHU, Elijah is, EliYAHU. So we always have YAHU, which is exactly what we find with YAH, the poetic form.

Reply: The Hebrew grammar rule teaches us that, in a “compound” word (as Nehemia calls it) the suffix (end part of the word) ALWAYS keeps its original form and pronunciation of the word it is using as the suffix, where the prefix (beginning of the word) ALWAYS shortens its syllables whenever possible. Nehemia and Keith so conveniently “forget” to quote the whole grammar rule and only part of it to try and justify their theories.
Nehemia: Now here’s the thing, whenever Yud Hey Vav appears at the beginning of a word its never YAHU, or YAH, its always Yeho, Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav.

Reply: Remember that what the Hebrew grammar rule says, the prefix (beginning) always shortens its original syllables whenever possible. Let us look at a simple example. (Please note that this is also true according to ALL Hebrew grammar books. You can look it up for yourself)

Lets use the “Compound” name of Yehonatan (which is Jonathan in the English). It is constructed by joining two words together. The two words are Yahu (from the Name of the Almighty) + natan (give)

Yahu + natan = Yehonathan

Now lets join these two words together but in the opposite order, namely, natan + Yahu. If we do so, then we get the following:

Natan + Yahu = Netanyahu (Nethaniah in the KJV)
Notice how 'natan' shortened its 'vowels' and became 'netan' when used as a prefix.

(found in 2 Kings 25:23, 2 Kings 25:25, 1 Chr 25:2, 1 Chr 25:12, 2 Chr 17:8, Jer 36:14, Jer 40:8, Jer 40:14-15 (2), Jer 41:1-2 (2), Jer 41:6-7 (2), Jer 41:9-12 (4), Jer 41:15-16 (2), Jer 41:18)

As you can see, according to the Hebrew grammar rule, the suffix (end of the compound word) always keeps its original form and pronunciation of the word used for the prefix and that the prefix (beginning part) always shortens its syllables whenever possible.

Let us look at another example quick:

Yasha (to save, be saved, be delivered) + Yahu (from the Name of the Almighty) = Yeshayahu (Isaiah in the KJV)

Notice once again that the prefix shortened its syllable and that the suffix keeps its original pronunciation.

So if the prefix shortens and the suffix keeps its original form and pronunciation, then …yahu at the end of a word is the original form and pronunciation of the Name of the Almighty.
Nehemia: Now here’s the question you have to ask, In the Father’s Name (yud hey vav hey) are those three letters at the beginning of the Name, like in Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav, Yehochanan, etc. Or are they at the end of the Name, like in, YeshaYAHU, EliYAHU etc. Obviously they’re at the beginning of the Name.

Reply: This is Nehemia’s explanation on why the Name must be “Yehovah”. As you can see by the above Hebrew grammar rules concerning “compound” words (two words joined to create one word/name), that the Name of the Almighty cannot be Yehovah as Nehemia professes to be true (the Almighty's Name is not a compound word). Now ask yourself, is Nehemia ignorant concerning Hebrew grammar, or is he purposely hiding this rule from you in order to promote his theory (which would be an outright lie)? (Remember that the Almighty's Name is not a compound word).

Once again, the Hebrew grammar rule proves that the original form of yud hey vav, the three letters of the Name of the Almighty, is Yahu and NOT Yeho

But it does not end here, there are a couple more problems with the pronunciation of Yehovah and also with what Nehemia said about it. He really does like to contradict himself a lot, which is the result of not standing by the truth.

Now, Nehemiah said above, that because the three letters, yud hey vav, are at the beginning of the Name, like that of Yehoshua, Yehonatan, Yehonadav etc. proves that it must be pronounced as Yehovah. But there is a very obvious problem with his statement. All the other names that Nehemia compared it to are all “compound names” (as Nehemia called them). The question you need to ask is, is Yud hey vav hey (the full Name of the Almighty) a “compound word”? And if it is, then from what word does the final “hey” come from and what is its meaning?

The fact of the matter is that the Name of the Almighty is NOT a “compound” word comprised of two or more words (as I mentioned above). Therefore, the grammar rule that Nehemia twists to try justify his pronunciation does not and cannot apply to the Name of the Almighty.

Now let us look at another Hebrew grammar rule that does not apply to “compound” words. In Hebrew, the general rule is that the accent falls on the final syllable. The syllable that is accented always keeps its original form and so does the syllable that directly precedes the accented syllable. So, the general rule is that the last two syllables of a word keep their original form (when the accent falls on the final syllable).

In Nehemia’s pronunciation of Yehovah, the accent falls on the final syllable. That means that the last two syllables must keep its original form. This is NOT the case in the pronunciation of Yehovah. Once again, it has failed to meet the Hebrew grammar rules.

Let us look at such an example of a similar type of word and see what the result is.

The Name Y’hudah is a “compound” word which is a combination of the two words, Yahu and yadah. Leah named her son Y’hudah because she, “gratefully praised YHVH” (Gen 29:35).

The accent falls on the last syllable of the name of Y’hudah. That means that the final syllable retains its original form and so does the syllable directly before it. That is why the name is Y’hUdah and not Y’hodah.

Now we have to apply this grammar rule to the Name of the Almighty too. If the accent falls on the final syllable, then the syllable directly before it has to keep its original form as it does in Y’hudah. Therefore, if Nehemia is correct, then the Name should be Yehuvah and cannot be Yehovah.

So once again we have proved the pronunciation of Yehovah to be false.
But we can even go a step further. And this is a clincher.

Nehemia outrightly admitted that the first three letters of the Name of the Almighty, when in the beginning of a word, is “Yeho...” Now if this is the case, all we are left with is the single letter, “hey”. Now the question that you have to ask yourself, once again, is, “is it ever possible to get the pronunciation of “…vah” from a single hey?”

The fact of the matter is that it is never possible and that what Nehemia teaches is false and has been proven to be a lie.

We once again need to ask ourselves the question, is Nehemia Gordon ignorant of these Hebrew grammar rules? Or is he outrightly lying to thousands, if not millions, of people? If he is lying, what is his reason for doing so?

The problem that Nehemia has gotten himself into is that his only audience, and the only people who buy his books and support him are the Christians and Messy-anics. Nehemia does not have any Hebrew following at all. For that reason, he is seen as a leader and makes a very pretty penny on the book sales and support from such people.

After realizing how Nehemia so blatantly lies about such an important topic, how then can he be trusted with anything else? Yes, many of the things that Nehemia teaches is truth, but the problem is that he mixes a lot of falsehood in-between. Everyone has the duty to test everything that they hear.

Every time that I have asked Nehemia about all this, He simply ignores me and has even deleted me as a friend on Facebook. If someone makes such a declaration, like he does, then is it not fair to give explanations and answer questions? Maybe he is unable to answer them without contradicting himself?


I posted a comment on the website where this teaching of Nehemia comes from. Jono Vandor, the owner of the website, has still not moderated my comment for others to see. It seems as if Jono is very biased and does not like anyone to speak against the doctrines of Nehemia, even if he speaks falsehood.

The comment I left was on 27 Jan 2012 and Jono has still not approved it as a comment.

I will post that comment in the comments section below for you to read for yourself.

May the Almighty open all our eyes to the truth of His Word.

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

Do miracles determine a belief system to be true?

There are many many people who follow the Christian faith, and will not consider any other belief, because they have witnessed a “miracle” performed by a Christian minister or missionary or evangelist etc. at one time or another. Some have even witnessed many “miracles.” But do miracles prove a certain belief system to be the true faith of the Almighty?

The Christian Church of today, especially the “super” churches, are all about performing miracles in order to con their followers to throw their hard earned money at the church. There are even super rich Christian television networks, like TBN, that preach to the public in every single show or sermon, that they should give their money to them, even if it is their last cent. Then they claim that if they do, then a “wonderful” miracle will happen and that the people who give money to them, will be financially blessed or healed of a physical ailment. This all is a load of rubbish as these people take the last little bit of money from old ladies and drive around in the most expensive cars and live in the most expensive houses, and even own multiple houses, and some even have their own private jets too, like Kennith and Gloria Copeland and still continue to fool the poor people into supporting their wealthy lifestyle. What do these faithful followers of theirs get in return? Absolutely nothing, not even a miracle.

There are however some genuine miracles that have been performed by Christian leaders. Does this, however, prove that Christianity is the true faith of the Almighty? In order to answer this, we need to see if the Christian faith is based upon the Word of the Almighty. The litmus test to see if anyone is in the true faith of the Messiah, is to see if that person walks as the Messiah walked. “For this is favour, if because of conscience toward Elohim anyone bears up under grief, suffering unrighteously. For what credit is there in enduring a beating when you sin? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure, this finds favour with Elohim. For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:19-21). Also read here, “The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6).

Are the Christians following in the footsteps of the Messiah? Let us have a look at a few examples of what the Messiah did, and then compare them to the Christians and see if they are the same.

1) The Messiah - wore tzitzit (tassels)

“and begged Him to let them only touch the tzitzit of His garment. And as many as touched it were completely healed” (Mat 14:36)

“came from behind and touched the tzitzit of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped” (Luke 8:44)

1) The Christian – Does not wear tzitzit

In fact, whenever I see one of my old Christian friends, and they see my tzitzit, they always ask me, “what is that for?” This is because they have never been taught the true Messiah. If the Messiah came and walked into a church, they would not recognize him, and would actually say that He is one of those Jews, who’s Torah does not apply to them at all.

2) The Messiah – Kept the 7^th day Sabbath

“At that time יהושע (Yehoshua) went through the grain fields on THE Sabbath. And His taught ones were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain, to eat” (Mat 12:1).

“And pray that your flight does not take place in winter or on the Sabbath” (Mat 24:20). Here the Messiah is speaking of the end times, which has not happened yet, that he is saying that THE Sabbath is still in effect. That when the time comes that the believers in the Messiah have to flee, that we should pray that it not be on THE Sabbath.

“And they went into Kephar Naḥum, and immediately on the Sabbath He went into the congregation and taught” (Mark 1:21)

“And Sabbath having come, He began to teach in the congregation. And many who heard Him were astonished, saying, “Where did He get all this? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such miracles are done through His hands?” (Mark 6:2). It is very clear that the Messiah kept the Sabbath day.

2) The Christian – Does not keep the Sabbath

In fact, the Christian teaches that the Sabbath does not apply to them any more and that they have been set free from it. WHAT??? They have been set free from rest? Is not the Sabbath a delight? I would hate to be set free from a delightful rest.

The Church admits that they have changed the day of rest from the 7^th day to the 1^st day of the week in commemoration of the worship of the Sun (Sun-Day) and also to show the Churches authority above the Scriptures. They do not even hide this fact and have arrogantly published this and even brag about this.

Would you rather follow the sun-worship 1^st day, or the day that the Almighty has established and that the Messiah Himself kept and taught us to keep?

3) The Messiah – ate only clean (kosher) food.

We all know that the Messiah never committed any sin. This means that he kept His Fathers Torah (Instruction) perfectly. We read in Lev 11 about what foods are clean and which ones are not clean. The Messiah never ate anything animal that is unclean.

We can know this as we have a record of one of His followers (disciples) that walked with Him daily, that tells us that he has never eaten anything unclean. “But Kĕpha said, “Not at all, Master! Because I have never eaten whatever is common or unclean.”” (Act 10:14). Here Peter is saying that he never ate anything unkosher (unclean). This is even the time that he walk with the Messiah. All the followers of the Messiah will never eat anything that is unclean according to the Word of the Almighty, Leviticus 11.

3) The Christian – Eats unclean (unkosher) food.

The Christian learns by his church that we do not have to follow the Instruction of the Almighty anymore. They do however have to follow the instruction of the church. Shouldn’t this alone raise suspicion?

The church teaches that only “God” can change His Laws and that He gave Peter the permission to eat unclean foods, that are detrimental to our health and cause many deceases like cancer. They quote Acts 10, but then fail to read further where it gives the description of the vision given to Peter. It was never intended for him to eat unclean meat. Read more about that here.

4) The Messiah – Prayed using the Name of His Father YHWH

The Messiah came to make known the Name of His Father. The Jewish practice of those days, and still today, is to keep the true Name of the Almighty secret out of fear of using it in vain. The Messiah never subscribed to Jewish traditions, but rather kept His Fathers Word where it is written, “And Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of Yisraĕl, ‘יהוה (YHWH) Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Ya’aqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.” (Exodus 3:15).

4) The Christian – Does not know the Name of the Almighty, prays to pagan idols.

The Christians place their trust and faith in the name of pagan idols every time they pray in the name of “God” or in the name of “Jesus”. Both these names are of the names of pagan idols (click on the names highlighted to see where they come from).

The Name of the Messiah is “Yehoshua.” The name “Jesus” is not a translation of Yehoshua, but comes from the Greek Iesous, which originates from the Egyptian Sun-deity called “Isis”

The name “God” is of just as bad a origin as the name “Jesus”

The reason for the Christian not knowing the Name of the Almighty and His Son the Messiah is because all the English Bibles have substituted the Name of the Almighty and His Son the Messiah and many other names and words with those of pagan idols.

English is a very young language and only came to be after the joining of the true faith and paganism from the time of Constantine in the year 321 AD. He started to create Christianity as we know it to be today and hid the truth from the people. (Also read about thefounders of the all gentile church here).

“And there is no deliverance in anyone else, for there is no other Name under the heaven given among men by which we need to be saved.” (Act 4:12). Here we can see that we cannot be saved by the name of “Jesus”, but only by the true Name of the Almighty.

5) The Messiah – Kept all the moedim (appointed times and feasts)

“And the festival of the Yehuḏim was near, the Festival of Booths” (John 7:2). Here we can see that the Messiah did attend the feast of Sukkot.

Like we have seen from above, the Messiah never sinned once. This means he kept all the moedim that the Almighty teaches us that we must do (Leviticus 23). We cannot know or understand salvation if we do not keep all the appointed times of the Almighty.

Also notice that sin is described by breaking the Torah of the Almighty. Is it not taught by the Messiah that we must go and “sin no more?”

5) The Christian – Keeps all the pagan feasts and none of the moedim of the Almighty

The Christian does not keep any of the moedim of the Almighty. In fact, the Christian rather keeps all the pagan feasts and celebrations. Many do not even know this, but blindly follow the Church into their own destruction.

Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, New years day, Birthday celebrations. All these are pagan celebrations and are an abomination to the Almighty. All of them originate from Sun-worship, which is forbidden by the Word of the Almighty.

Now I can go on and on about the many teachings and practices and traditions that the Christians follow to prove that Christianity is not the faith of the Messiah as they do not do as the Messiah did. The Messiah never came and died for us so that we may continue in sin. What was an abomination to the Almighty before, is still an abomination to Him now.

So now we can see that the Christian faith does not follow the teachings of the Messiah. But what about the miracles that happen within the church? Let us read what the Word of YHWH says about this, “When there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he shall give you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder shall come true, of which he has spoken to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other mighty ones – which you have not known – and serve them” (Deut 13:1-2). Here we see that even false prophets and dreamers of dreams (those who receive “divine” visions) can perform miracles too. Does that make them righteous? Let us carry on and see what the Almighty says, do not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim is trying you to know whether you love יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being” (Deut 13:3). Okay, now we can see that that person who is performing those miracles that does not follow the Messiah should not be listened to. It is also a test for those who do follow the Word of the Almighty, that they know His Word and can see when someone is not teaching them truth, even though he performs miracles. It is to see whether they love the Almighty to do and follow His Word, or will they fall for and follow other doctrines that are not taught by the Almighty or His Messiah.

So what then are those, who desire to do the Will of the Almighty, to do? Walk after יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim and fear Him, and guard His commands and obey His voice, and serve Him and cling to Him” (Deut 13:4). Here we clearly see that we need to fear the Almighty and guard to obey all His Commandments and obey His voice.

What then should be done of that false prophet that teaches us to follow the ways of Sun-worship? And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is put to death, because he has spoken apostasy against יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim – who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim and redeemed you from the house of bondage – to make you stray from the way in which יהוה (YHWH) your Elohim commanded you to walk. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deut 13:5). The Almighty hates the people who teaches others to turn away from His Instructions. He says that they are evil and need to be put to death. Now we cannot go around and put every Christian preacher to death, as that would land us in jail. However, they will stand in front of the Almighty one day and will have to try and explain why they turned so many people away from Him, and to their destruction.

We should not fellowship with such evil people nor should we stand for or follow anything that they teach, as it will be turning us away from obeying the Word of the Almighty.

Now many will say that this only applied to the “Old Testament” times and does not apply to them any more. Is it not written that the Almighty is the same yesterday, today and forever? But let us also read what is written in the “New Testament” for those who ignorantly throw the Word of the Almighty (Old Testament) out the window, “For false messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and they shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones” (Mat 24:24). This does apply to today.

Let me leave you with a piece out of the “New Testament” that perfectly describes the Christian Church of today and of the English Bible too. “But there also came to be false prophets among the people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall secretly bring in destructive heresies, and deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. And many shall follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Peter 2:1-2). The Christians speak evil of those who are keeping and obeying the Word of the Almighty. They even say that the Torah, which is the Word of the Almighty, is a curse. Is this not speaking evil of the Almighty Himself?

Also realize that the person who wrote the above verse also kept the Torah of the Almighty, as did Shaul (Paul), who wrote the majority of the “New Testament,” as did all the disciples and followers of the Messiah. Those who do not keep the Torah of the Almighty are those who are teaching a different doctrine to the Messiah and are the evil prophets spoken of above.

Another thing, if we are to have a relationship with the Almighty and His Son, that also means that we need to love Him. What are we taught about loving the Almighty? “He who possesses My commands and guards them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21). So only those who guard to keep the Commands love the Almighty and are loved by Him.

Chag Shavuot proves that the Lunar Sabbath is false

I have been debating many of the people who follow the Lunar Sabbath theory and have not gotten one piece of evidence from them to even consider the Lunar Sabbath to be true. The best argument I have seen from them so far is that of the counting of the “Omer” to the Feast of Weeks or “Chag Shavuot”. Let me explain to you how they see it, and then I will show you why their theory is totally incorrect.

The Lunar Sabbatarians count to Shavuot

They claim that in order to work out when Shavuot is, you need to observe 7 complete Sabbaths, and then the day after the 7^th Sabbath, then you start counting 50 days. (and yes, they really do believe this). The only reason these people come to such a conclusion is because their false doctrine of the moon phase determining the Sabbath, does not work out according to the Scriptural requirements, so they have to create their own requirements in order to believe the lie. (which is not found in the Torah at all)


To justify this false doctrine, they even go as far as to say that Shavuot was when Mosheh came down from the mountain with the tablets where the Ten Commandments were written on by Elohim Himself. They also say this is when Aaron declared a festival on that day. All this falls in the 4^th moon (or month). Keep this in mind as I will be explaining the truth about this further down in this article.

Please also note that this is one of the many views within the lunar sabbath community. There is certainly no cosistancy in this false doctrine as none of them can agree on many points, they are all trying to defend their belief without any facts. That is why they all have very different oppinions. 

As soon as you accept the true Scriptural calendar, then there are no inconsistancies or disagreements among its followers as it is very plain and easy to understand.

Now let us see what the real count to Shavuot is

To get a good idea of what and when Shavuot is, we need to look at the Hebrew meaning of the word, and also learn what Shavuot is all about. When we put these ‘clues’ together, you will see that the Lunar Sabbath is so silly and the people who follow it do not follow what the Torah of YHWH teaches, but are disobedient to the Word of YHWH.

Let us have a look at what Shavuot represents. We need to go to the Scriptures to learn about this as the Scriptures are the ultimate authority as it is the Word of the Almighty.

“And from the morrow after the Sabbath (That falls within the feast of unleavened bread Matzot), from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall count for yourselves: seven completed Sabbaths. Until the morrow after the seventh Sabbath you count fifty days, then you shall bring a new grain offering to יהוה (YHWH)” (Lev 23:15-16)

Here we can see exactly when Shavuot is. As it clearly states that the count of fifty days will be completed at the day after the seventh Sabbath, we have to read this with a Hebrew mindset and not an English mindset, a native Hebrew will always read it this way as it is a Hebrew idiomatic phrase. We can even see this from the actual word Shavuot (Z«R§A¡[). This word is a plural word for shavua, which means “week”. It also comes from the root word “sheva” which means “seven” and “oath”. So here we can see that Shavuot comes from the word “seven” and “week” meaning that the count to Shavuot is a count of 7 weeks of 7 days each which is an oath given to us from YHWH Himself, just like the Scriptures teach us. Then the Torah goes on to teach us that Shavuot is on the day after the seventh Sabbath which MUST be the total of a 50 day count. (This is common Hebrew thought and understanding).

But let us do the maths quickly

7 days x 7 weeks = 49 days + the day after the 7^th Sabbath = 50 days.

Hey, this works out 100% according to how the Torah teaches us to work out when Shavuot is, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Now the maths for the lunar Sabbath will never work out this way.

Let us do the maths for the lunar Sabbath.

7 days x 7 weeks = 49 days + day after 7^th sabbath + new moon day + conjunction day = 52 days + another 50 days = 102 days. (Even if you do not add the extra 50 days, it still does not add up to 50 days)

This just does not work out according to the requirement of the Torah. (This alone should be proof that the lunar Sabbath is totally false)

Let us look at another point of view, “In the third month after the children of Yisraĕl had come out of the land of Mitsrayim, on this day they came to the Wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1). Here we can see, if we read further, that the Ten Words (Commandments) were given during this month. Notice here that it was in the third month, that the ‘Torah’ was given to the Israelites. Here the Ten Commandments were spoken the men of Yisra’el directly from YHWH Himself. All the men of Yisra’el heard the voice of YHWH as he spoke these words to them.

Now I have had one of the lunar Sabbath followers ask me where it is written that the giving of the Torah is connected to Shavuot? Really? No wonder these people follow such silly false teachings, because they do not have any knowledge of the Torah whatsoever.

If Shavuot is not about the giving of the Torah (Ten Words) to the Israelites, then what is it about? What Jewish sect, or Torah followers do not read Exodus 19-20 on Shavuot? Even the other lunar Sabbath guys proclaim this (There is no unity within this false teaching as it is one big confusing mess).

Well, it is just a few ignorant people within the lunar Sabbath sect that believe this. The rest believe that Shavuot is calculated as 7 complete Sabbaths plus an extra 50 days. They say that Shavuot must fall in the 4^th moon (or month) as that is when Mosheh came down from the mountain with the Tablets where the Ten Commandments were written on. They also say this is when Aaron declared a festival for the people of Yisra’el. But let us examine this in a little more detail.

What really happened on that day when Mosheh came down from the mountain with the Tablets of stone in his hands? And what feast did Aaron declare at that time? Once we learn these things, we can see exactly who the lunar Sabbath people are following and what feasts they keep.

We can find al these things in Sh’mot (Exodus) 32, let us read together, “And when the people saw that Mosheh was so long in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Arise, make us mighty ones who go before us. For this Mosheh, the man who brought us up out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.” And Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

 “And all the people took off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he took this from their hand, and he formed it with an engraving tool, and made a moulded calf. And they said, “This is your mighty one, O Yisra’ĕl, that brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim!” (Exodus 32:1-4)

Here we can see that Aaron made a golden calf for the nation of Yisra’el to worship. Let us read further, “And Aaron saw and built an altar before it. And Aaron called out and said, “Tomorrow is a festival to יהוה (YHWH).” And they rose early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (Exodus 32:5-6)

Aaron went as far as to call the golden calf by the Name of YHWH, and declared a festival in honor of the golden calf. What do you think YHWH thought of this what the people had done? Let us see, “And יהוה (YHWH) said to Mosheh, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt) have corrupted themselves. “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a moulded calf, and have bowed themselves to it and slaughtered to it, and said, ‘This is your mighty one, O Yisra’ĕl, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt)!” (Exodus 32:7-8)

So the people who were feasting were those that corrupted themselves and followed after things that the Almighty specifically told them not to do. YHWH even wanted to destroy them completely, but Mosheh convinced Him not to do so (Exodus 32:10-14).

Now when Mosheh came down from the mountain with the two Tablets of stone, where the Ten Commandments were written, did he give them to Yisra’el, did Yisra’el receive the Torah on this day, as the lunar Sabbath people claim? Let us see what the Torah teaches us about that, “And Mosheh turned and went down from the mountain, and in his hand were the two tablets of the Witness, tablets written on both their sides, written on the one and on the other. And the tablets were the work of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:15-16). So Mosheh did have the Tablets of the Commandments with him. Let us read further.

“And it came to be, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. And Mosheh’s displeasure burned, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain” (Exodus 32:19). So as you can see, Mosheh was furious with the people and threw down the Tablets and broke them. So did Yisra’el receive the Torah or the Ten Commandments on this 4^th month festival? Definitely not, and did this festival honor YHWH, the true Elohim? Definitely not, it was in honor of a pagan golden calf.

If you read on, you will see that Mosheh destroyed the golden calf, ground it up, threw it into the water and made the people drink the water. He also commanded the death of about three thousand men that day.

Now we know that Shavuot is in the 3^rd month (moon), and NOT in the 4^th month, so let us do the maths again. Let us say that the start of the count is from the middle of chag Matzot (the Feast of unleaven bread) the 18 Aviv (first month).

(click here to see when the start of the count to Shavuot begins)

18^th of the first month + 30 days = 18^th of second month + 20 days = 7^th or 8^th of the THIRD MONTH. (30 +20 = 50)

Hey look…. Once again, we have a perfect calculation according to the requirements of the Torah for when Shavuot is. Can we get to this Torah requirement by using the lunar Sabbath calculation? Well let us do the maths and see where we land up.

18^th of the first month + 30 days = 18^th of second month + 22 days = 9^th or 10^th of the third month + 50 more days = 28^th or 29^th of the Fourth month or the 1^st of the Fifth month (and could even be later if the conditions allow)

Oops, once again, this does not meet the Torah’s requirement at all. How can anyone who claims to follow the Torah, continue to follow the false lunar Sabbath that does not meet any of the Torah’s requirements? Only those who do not have a love for the truth will follow the lunar Sabbath.

So how is the Sabbath worked out?

The week is a continual cycle of 7 days without any interruptions like “new moon days” we can know this just by the Hebrew word for week, which is “shavua”, and its root word is “sheva” which just happens to be seven. The root word for Shabbat is also “sheva” proclaiming the 7^th day of the week to be the Sabbath. “Sheva” also has the meaning of “oath” proclaiming the Sabbath to be an oath between YHWH and those who keep His 7^th day Sabbath.

Now for another nail in the coffin for the lunar Sabbath

We read in Exodus 23:10-12 that the Sabbath of the land is a continual cycle of 7 years where there are 6 years of sowing and gathering the produce of the land and the 7^th year is the Sabbatical (Sabbath year) where the land rests. This is the exact same model given to us for the weekly Sabbath. Now it is clear that the Sabbatical year is not governed by any moon cycle, but is governed by 1 day representing 1 year.

So if there is no new moon “year” or conjunction “year” then how is it possible that there is one for the weekly Sabbath? YHWH is constant and keeps to the same models and instruction as a remembrance of His work of Creation.

Now the Jubilee year is calculated with the same model as used for Shavuot. The day after the 7^th Sabbatical year is the Jubilee which occurs every 50 years 7 x 7 years = 49 years +1 year = 50 years. Wow… The Almighty gave us such absolute evidence and cycles using the same models as the other created cycles to show us what the absolute truth is.

Let us look at some Historical Data 

Historical information can be helpful if we are trying to discern the truth of something that doesn't seem very clear to us from scripture. Although I believe the scriptures speak clearly about the seventh day Sabbath always occurring every seventh day, referencing historical works may be helpful for some who are not yet convinced. 

Lunar Sabbath keepers love to quote from a few Encyclopedic references which say that the week was originally tied to the lunar cycle. If we rely on such Encyclopedias to tell us about historical data, we might indeed wonder if the moon had something to do with setting the weeks. 

When researching this topic historically, we don't need to go any further in history than the time period that Yehoshua the Messiah was born into. We do know that He kept the Sabbath day and we know that He kept it on the same day as the rest of the Jews in His day. For example: 

“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16)

The first century disciples also did the same:

“Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2)

So, for me the question is whether or not there are any first century eyewitnesses that may enlighten us as to whether the Jews of that time kept the Sabbath by the moon, or by a recurring seven day week. 

Can we find a clear answer to this question? Absolutely. 

To find a clear answer to this question, we will examine the Talmud, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus

1. The Talmud

First of all, please understand that I do not believe in following the Talmud or looking at it as being authoritative for doctrine 

I'm not going to be using it for the purposes of telling anyone how or when to keep the Sabbath, except that we can know that the Messiah was in agreement with the weekly Sabbath of 1st century Judaism. Therefore, we will only use the Talmud to help us understand what views of 1st and 2nd century Judaism actually were. 

The Talmud is a pretty good source because although it was compiled about 130 years after the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, parts of it act as a historical reference for things that were going on when the temple was still standing. 

The Talmud is composed of three parts. There is the Mishnah, which is the central focal point of the whole Talmud. There is the Gemara, which is a commentary on the Mishnah. Then there is Rashi's commentary on both. 

The Mishnah simply records the beliefs of 1st century Judaism. It speaks often about the views of two Jewish scholars called Shammai and Hillel. They were leaders of two (often opposing) schools of thought, called "houses." Hillel and Shammai lived from c. 50 BCE to 50 CE so they were alive during Yehoshua's ministry on the earth.

The Talmud records some 300+ differences of opinion between both houses. In Judaism, the views of the house of Hillel (Beth Hillel) usually prevailed over the views of the house of Shammai (Beth Shammai). 

As you will see, the Talmud is pretty clear that the Lunar Sabbath was not observed by Beth Hillel, Beth Shammai, or any Jewish man living in the first century. 

(please keep in mind that the lunar sabbatarians very often, try use the writings of Hillel to support the false theory of the lunar Sabbath. They have to twist his writings and use them out of context in order to do so)

In our first example, we will examine a difference of opinion between Hillel and Shammai on what blessing needed to be recited if the "new moon falls on a Sabbath." 

"R. Zera replied: The New Moon is different from a festival - Since its mention is included in the benediction on the sanctity of the day in the morning and evening prayers it is also included in that of the additional prayer. But do Beth Shammai uphold the view that the mention of the New Moon is to be included? Was it not in fact taught: If a New Moon falls on a Sabbath, Beth Shammai ruled: One recites in his additional prayer eight benedictions and Beth Hillel ruled: Seven? This is indeed a difficulty." Talmud - Mas. Eiruvin 40b

Of course, if they were keeping the Lunar Sabbath, the New Moon can never fall on a Sabbath because the Lunar Sabbath is never on the first day of the month. This difference of opinion wouldn't have been recorded if they kept the Lunar Sabbath. 

Next, we will see that the Mishnah records what the first century temple priests did with the non-meat portions of the Passover Lamb:

"Mishnah. The bones, and the sinews, and the nothar of the paschal lamb are to be burnt on the sixteenth. If the sixteenth falls on the Sabbath, they are to be burnt on the seventeenth, because they do not override either the Sabbath or the festival." Talmud - Pesachim 83a

With the Lunar Sabbath, there is no such thing as the sixteenth day of the month falling on the Sabbath. These are not men who are trying to figure out how to fit a weekly Sabbath into Babylonian life, it is a reference to the acts of first century priests who certainly did not keep the Lunar Sabbath. These are the practices observed during the temple era when Yehoshua and His disciples lived. 

The Mishnah also recorded the following rule regarding the meal offerings:

"Mishnah. A man may offer a meal-offering consisting of sixty tenths and bring them in one vessel if a man said, I take upon myself to offer sixty tenths, he may bring them in one vessel. But if he said, I take upon myself to offer sixty-one tenths, he must bring sixty in one vessel and the one in another vessel; for since the congregation bring on the first day of the feast of tabernacles when it falls on a Sabbath sixty-one tenths as a meal-offering, it is enough for an individual that his meal-offering be less by one tenth than that of the congregation." Talmud - Menachoth 103b

Obviously, this is a record of what went on while the temple was still standing because after that time, there would be no place to take it. With a Lunar Sabbath, there is never a time when the first day of the feast of Tabernacles falls on any day other than the Sabbath (15th day of the seventh month). 

Obviously, the recorded practices of first century Judaism while the temple still stood indicate that they did not keep a Lunar Sabbath. They kept the Sabbath on a recurring, seven day week just as it is given in Genesis chapter 1, independent of the moon cycle. Therefore, since Yehoshua kept the Sabbath along with the rest of the Jews of that period, He did not participate in a Lunar Sabbath, a doctrine that doesn't appear to exist in Judaism at that time.

I should also mention that if you ever read the Talmud in depth, you will come away with one clear impression: They debated about almost everything. Something as major as a change in when the Sabbath is observed ought to have been at least debated somewhere. After all, they debated every little fine point of the law! The lack of such a debate speaks volumes.

2. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Josephus

The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered by scholars to be authored by the Essenes, a sect in first century Judaism. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are a number of extra-biblical scrolls which appear to shed light on what this sect believed and practiced. Understanding what they believed can be helpful in determining whether or not the Lunar Sabbath was being observed by mainstream Judaism of that time.

It is generally undisputed (even by Lunar Sabbatarians) that the authors of these scrolls did not keep a Lunar Sabbath. Rather, the Calendrical scroll shows that they observed a recurring seven day weekly cycle, independent of the moon phases. I know of no one who disputes this. The Calendrical Scroll and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice confirms this.

Of course, Lunar Sabbatarians generally will teach that this Jewish sect was wrong about the Sabbath.

But in the book of Josephus, he speaks much about the Essenes. Josephus was a first century Jewish historian who wrote much about life in Judea during the first century. He goes into great detail as to how practices of the Essenes were different than others. He mentions everything from how the Essenes don't carry anything with them when they travel, to how they regard oil to be defilement. In Wars of the Jews 2:119-161, Josephus speaks of them in no less than 2000 words, describing over 100 characteristics of their way of life. 

So did Josephus mention that they kept the Sabbath on a day that was different than the rest of Judaism?

“… Moreover, they are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day; for they not only get their food ready the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not move any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon” (Wars of the Jews 2:147)

In this, Josephus even goes so far as to say that the Essenes are "stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labors on the seventh day." Does it sound like there was any disagreement as to when the Sabbath was? Wouldn't it seem strange that Josephus would mention that the Essenes were stricter in their resting from labors on the Sabbath but not bother to mention that the Essenes held the Sabbath on a totally different day than the other Jews of that period? 

The fact is, if the Essenes were keeping a different day than the rest of Judaism, Josephus wouldn't have been able to say that they were even resting on the seventh day to begin with. He would have to say they were typically resting on some other day. 

There is no record in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes disagreeing with other groups as to when the Sabbath was. In fact, there is no historical record of any Jewish sects disagreeing with each other on when the Sabbath was.  

In another interesting note, Josephus speaks of one of the large towers that were built in Jerusalem:

“and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests stood of course, and gave a signal beforehand with a trumpet, at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight, as also at the evening when that day was finished, as giving notice to the people when they were to stop work, and when they were to go to work again” (Wars of the Jews 4:582)

So his report is that a trumpet was blown at the beginning of every seventh day, to mark when the people should stop working, and begin working. As an interesting side note, archaeological finds concur with Josephus' comments about the place of trumpeting:

"When we excavated the beautifully paved Herodian street adjacent to the southern wall and near the southwestern corner of the Enclosure Wall, we found a particularly large ashlar block. On the inside was a niche where a man might stand, especially if the ashlar were joined to another which would enlarge the niche.
On the outside was a carefully and elegantly incised Hebrew inscription: LBYT HTKY ’H LHH [RYZ]; “To the place of Trumpeting to (declare).” If the restoration of the world “declare” is correct, the rest of the missing part of the inscription probably went on to tell us more about the declaring of the beginning and the end of the Sabbath.
The stone had been toppled during the Roman destruction of the Temple onto the street below where it had lain for nearly two thousand years until we uncovered it.
It must have originally come from the pinnacle of the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount. From a spot on top of the Temple chambers a priest would blow a trumpet on Sabbath Eve, to announce the arrival of the Sabbath and the cessation of all labour, and to announce, on the following evening, the departure of the Sabbath and the resumption of all labor.
The entire city was visible from this spot on the southwest corner of the Temple Mount; the clarion call of the trumpet would reach the farthest markets of the city. Such a scene is recounted by Josephus in his work, The Jewish War. (IV, 582)." Editor, H. S. 2004; 2004. BAR 06:04 (July/Aug 1980)” Biblical Archaeology Society

Josephus also records that Agatharchides, a 2nd century BCE Greek Historian, wrote something quite interesting about Ptolemy's defeat of Jerusalem:

"When Agatharchides had premised this story, and had jested upon Stratonice for her superstition, he gives a like example of what was reported concerning us, and writes thus:--
209 ``There are a people called Jews, and dwell in a city the strongest of all other cities, which the inhabitants call Jerusalem, and are accustomed to rest on every seventh day; on which times they make no use of their arms, nor meddle with husbandry, nor take care of any affairs of life, but spread out their hands in their holy places, and pray till the evening.
210 Now it came to pass, that when Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, came into this city with his army, that these men, in observing this mad custom of theirs, instead of guarding the city, suffered their country to submit itself to a bitter lord; and their law was openly proven to have commanded a foolish practice" (Against Apion 1:208)

Ptolemy was the General of Alexander the Great, who took over Jerusalem in 332 BCE. We see that the Jews would not defend themselves or take up arms on the Sabbath, which was "every seventh day." 

If I were to describe the Sabbath keeping practices of Lunar Sabbatarians, I certainly wouldn't describe their Sabbath keeping as something they did "every seventh day." Rather, I would mention that they only keep a Sabbath on certain days of the month. Therefore, it's quite evident that Josephus was describing the practice laid out for us "in the beginning" when Elohim created the first week and that is to rest every seventh day, without moon interruptions.

Conclusion

There is no indication whatsoever in the entire Scriptures that the week is not a continual cycle of seven days, and every appointed time works out 100% according to the Torah using the continual cycle of seven days.

If you follow the lunar Sabbath, then you are not keeping YHWH’s Sabbath and therefore you are not one of His people. The Sabbath is a sign between the Almighty and His people.

In fact, if you follow the lunar Sabbath, you are worshiping the golden calf, and just as Mosheh broke the Tablets of the Ten Commandments because of idolatry, so too are the lunar Sabbath people breaking the Torah of YHWH by their idolatrous festivals. You see, the festival that the lunar Sabbath people celebrate is the festival that Aaron declared for the golden calf in the 4^th month (moon), and not the festival of Shavuot.

Whoever teaches that the festival in the 4^th month is Shavuot is totally ignorant of the Torah or is just a straight out liar seeking a following. These people are not to be trusted as you can see for yourself that the Torah proves them to be liars.

I will continue to say that the lunar Sabbath teachers are idiots and liars and do not know the Torah of YHWH and should have their mouths shut. And all those who follow these people are those who do not study the Torah for themselves.

To truly have a relationship with the Almighty, you cannot follow the lunar Sabbath as it is breaking His Torah and following after other mighty ones.

You can read more about the lunar Sabbath on the following two links:

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