So I was sitting in church today listening to my Rabbi preach, and while he spoke, he began to address what it is to follow Yeshua. As he spoke on this, my mind began to run a million miles an hour. I thought on how the Christian church views this topic, and what exactly it means to them. Bear with me as I lay all this out. This may be a bit hard to swallow, but again, it’s just something to consider. I think that the view of the Christian Church on the person of Yeshua HaMashiach must seriously be re-thought. Why do I say this? Well, the church views “Jesus” as anything but a Jew. Yes, they know He was born in Israel, but as to what that really means, they are totally oblivious to. In this article, we are going to talk about what that means.
Not wanting to sound presumptuous in speaking for all churches, but I will say that few churches would dare to acknowledge that Yeshua was a Jew, but none elaborate on what that means. Our perception of the Son of God has been grossly altered. Paintings of Yeshua from the most famous painters in the world depict Him as more European than Jewish, with the blond hair, and bright blue eyes. Even his attire hides His Jewish heritage. Years ago, I remember seeing these cool bumper stickers on cars that read “My boss was a Jewish carpenter”. Even in that statement, it still fails to express exactly what that meant. It’s almost cliche. Even His poorly transliterated name, Jesus, lacks His Jewish ethnicity. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, our Westernized version of “Christianity” has been severely altered. If you were to compare the 1st and 2nd century church to the 4th century church on up, you would see a massive difference in foundational doctrines. For one, Yeshua, as a Jew, was required to not only fulfill every prophecy concerning Him in the Tanakh (Old Testament), but to completely fulfill Torah. For those who are unsure what Torah is, it’s what the translators poorly translated as “The Law”. Why is it poorly translated? Well first of all because when looking at the Hebrew word “Torah”, it’s better translated as instructions or even as teachings. I heard someone explain it by saying that defining Torah as “Law” is like defining “father” as “disciplinarian”. Although a father is a disciplinarian, it is still a very vague definition. A father is so much more than just a disciplinarian just as Torah is much much more than just a “Law”. Yeshua, as the Messiah made it blatantly clear to the religious leaders of the day that He did NOT come to abolish Torah, but to fulfill it, and furthermore that not one jot or tittle would pass from the Torah til all be accomplished. So what exactly does that mean? Here is where the Christian church gets it wrong at. Seeing that He clearly stated that He didn’t come to abolish the Torah (The Law), we must accept the fact that it is still intact. Yet and still, the common belief is that despite His denial of abolishing Torah, He still abolished, or ended it. I guess He is bipolar and incapable of making up His mind. Ok, maybe that was a bit petty, but seriously though, what does He mean by fulfilling Torah? What He did, was to show us what it looked like to live Torah. Yeshua was the embodiment of what living Torah looked like to the fullest. If we were to walk in Torah, we would live exactly as Yeshua lived.
And what about the apostles? Contrary to popular belief, they too, followed Torah to the letter. The church has taught for centuries that the apostles taught contrary to the Torah (The Law), but the truth is, they actually taught people Torah. The book of Galatians is one of the books that the Christian church uses to prove that the Torah was ended, but again this has never been further from the truth. I do plan to do an article on the handful of Scriptures the church uses wrongly when trying to prove this fact. But where did this come from? For that matter, when did it start? According to Author, Activist, Radio Host Dr Michael Brown, a leader in the Messianic Movement, this theology began about the 2nd Century, when one of the Gentile converts began to preach against the idea of Yeshua being a Jew, in 125 AD, Ignatius of Antioch wrote “it is wrong to talk about Jesus Christ living like Jews”. Interestingly enough, this guy lived in the same place that Luke wrote in the Book of Acts that the believers were first called Christians at. In 177 AD, Irenaeus writes that “Jews are disinherited from the grace of God”. We see a trend of anti-semitism at work. Around 325 AD, Emporrer Constantine stated “We ought not therefore to have anything in common with the Jew, for the Savior has shown us another way”. This is the same guy that faked conversion, to make Christianity the one world religion for his empire. He also wrote a letter to all of his bishops asking that Pesach (Passover) be celebrated separately from Easter’s celebration. Seeing that the Jews, as well as Messianic believers would not accept his version of the faith, he began to distance himself from them. And as Gentile converts began to be the majority and the Jews the minority, Christianity took on a whole new look and doctrine. Now we have an idea of where things began to change at. By the middle ages, it was to the point that if a Jew wanted to be baptized, he had to first denounce his Jewish ancestry by no longer observing Sabbath, as they relate to th Torah, no more Passover celebrations, and lastly, no more naming their kids Jewish names. The Gentile converts stripped away every trace of Jewishness from the faith. That being said, we see that it was not biblically inspired at all. In fact, I submit that it was prophecy, that they Jews were hated of all nations. A by-word to the nations. During time of Hitler, books were published that sought to strip away the Jewishness of Messiah. With a non Jewish Messiah, and a people with no home, Western Christianity began to preach that they, the church was the “new Israel”, and that all the promises to the Jews transferred from the Jews to the church, despite the fact of no Biblical evidence to support it. With no one to challenge the theology of Rome, after a process of time, this became an accepted doctrine world wide.
With over 4000 different “Christian” faiths, the bride of Yeshua is so divided that the concept of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again seems much easier than putting the church back as one. Looking at Scripture, every one of the apostles lived, taught and preached Torah. The observed the Feast Days of YHVH, Sabbaths, and dietary laws, and taught new converts, including the Gentiles to do the same. In 1 Corinthians 5:7-9, Sha’ul (Paul) wrote to the gentile converts about Yeshua being the Passover Lamb that was sacrificed for them, and that they should eat the passover with this in mind. If Torah was indeed abolished, like the church claims, then why would Sha’ul (Paul) teach the gentiles about Passover? The concept of a Passover Lamb surely would not be understood to a non Jew nation. For that matter, the idea of him making this statement implies that they must have had a full knowledge and understanding of Torah in order for him to speak on this topic and not go into depth on it. The letters written by Sha’ul were to a people of his time, so everything he spoke on was just as clear as a letter written to you from a friend or loved one. There are several other Scriptures written of this nature, but I am hoping that this one point is enough to cause you to a least reconsider your views. So, for the sake of argument, lets just say you agree with me now, then knowing that all things Jewish that you were taught were irrelevant to the faith, are actually relevant, what now? Will you still follow Yeshua? Sha’ul said follow me as I follow Mashiach, and Yeshua Himself said He left us an example to follow. If this example that both He and Sha’ul left included Torah, and all it’s applicable observances, what does that mean to you? Will you still follow? This is what it is to follow. The Western Church theology is really off. Looking at the origins thereof, and the people who established it out of spite for the people of YHVH, who will you follow, the Word, which is infallible, or the church which has been mis taught? It’s your move. Checkmate, game over!
