This annual rite is bigger than ever—especially among adults. It’s just harmless fun, most believe. Harmless? Let’s take a look below the surface of this annual rite to see what’s really behind the mask-querade.
On October 31 children across the land learn how extortion works through one of the world’s most popular of ancient pagan festivals.
We call it Halloween, which is a contraction of the words “Hallowed” and “evening.” But there is nothing holy about this night. “Trick or treat!” the bantam, masked marauders cry as they go from door to door coercing goodies from mostly compliant residents.
Along with blackmail, the chance to deface private property and get away with it is also a big part of this “hallowed evening.” Shaving cream, soap, and toilet paper are essentials in the juvenile vandals’ bags of tricks prepared especially for this weird, annual ritual. Imagine trying to explain the whole scene to a visitor from another planet…
Adults Now Big into the Act
Visit many office buildings and department stores on October 31 and you’ll see adult employees dressed in silly or grotesque costumes, perhaps with painted faces and fluorescent green hair.
They are psyching up for the Halloween party that night — when they’ll have a chance to act foolishly with impunity. It seems that as our world sinks deeper into paganism and fascination with the occult, this holy day of the heathen Druids has zoomed to the top of the holiday charts. In fact, among adults Halloween is starting to vie in popularity with Christmas.
But is Halloween just a harmless time of fun for the whole family, where everyone can practice their pumpkin-carving skills and then head for the store to be the first to sport the latest in weird costumery?
It is time to tear the mask from Halloween and expose it for what it is. What we find at its roots should concern anyone who professes belief in Scripture.
Night of the Wandering Dead
Rooted in Druidic demon worship 2,000 years old, Halloween continues to cast its ugly spell on modern peoples.
The ritual was not called Halloween when the Celtic peoples of pre-Christian Ireland and Scotland observed it on November 1. For them it was the Feast of Samhain (pronounced Sa-ween), Lord of the Dead. This was also the beginning of the Celtic new year, a time to give thanks to the sun god for the harvest.
But it was also a terrifying night when it was believed time stood still and the souls of the dead walked abroad, mingling with the living and playing malicious tricks on them. The Celts thought that the sinful souls who died during the year had been transferred to the bodies of animals. Through gifts and sacrifices these souls could be freed to claim a heavenly reward. Samhain judged these souls and decreed that their existence was to continue as either animal or human.
The spirits of the dead that were thought to collect around houses of the living were greeted with banquet-laden tables. (They believed spirits needed food.) When the feast was over villagers donned masks and costumes to represent the souls of the dead and paraded to the outskirts of town to lead the ghosts away. Thus they thought they might avoid any retribution the roving spirits may cause them in the event they had not provided suitable and sufficient sustenance. Such reprisals included causing livestock to die, turning milk sour, and spoiling food.
In some areas, food was set outside for the spirits so that they would leave the house untouched. The trick-or-treat ritual re-enacts these ancient superstitions.
Amid all of this superstition the Druids were offering up sacrifices to the sun god. “It was common for horses to be sacrificed since they were sacred to the Sun God. There were also human sacrifices. Men, mostly criminals, were imprisoned in wicker and thatch cages shaped like animals or giants. The Druid priests set fire to the tindery cages and the men were burned to death…In the Middle Ages in Europe, black cats were still being thrown to the flames in wicker cages, for they were thought to be the friends of witches or even transformed witches,” Celebrations, The Complete Book of American Holidays, p. 258.
Samhain Merges with All Saints’ Day
So where does “Hallowe’en” come in, this “hallowed evening”? The celebration in the Roman Catholic Church, which was later to merge with Samhain, was known as All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day originated in the 7th century when the Pantheon at Rome was wrested from the barbarians, made into a cathedral, and renamed the Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs. Thus, from honoring all gods (which is the meaning of the Greek word “pantheon”) the Pantheon became the center for glorifying all saints (Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 363).
This day that honored all the “hallowed” or holy saints, was first observed on the evening of May 13, and was known as the All Hallows festival.
The day was officially sanctioned in 835 by Pope Gregory IV after it was moved to November 1 to coincide with
Samhain. It began on the evening of October 31, which was called All Hallows Eve.
Thus, without forcing the pagans to drop their heathen practices and accept Christianity, the Roman church merely made room to accommodate the barbarians.
Just as it confiscated the pagan Pantheon for its own uses, the Roman church incorporated the customs of Samhain to further its mission to convert the known world to Catholicism.
The two celebrations made strange bedfellows: one in respect of evil spirits, the other honoring so-called saints.
One writer noted, “The three days between October 31 and November 2 see pagan and Christian celebrations intertwined in a fascinating way. All Hallows Eve, usually called Hallowe’en, is followed by All Hallows’ Day, which is also All Saints’ Day, and the three-day period is a perfect example of superstition struggling with religious belief,” Year of Festivals, p. 76.
Can we mix light with darkness? Is a little compromise with idolatry acceptable to a holy Creator? Paul warns us, “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to Elohim; and I would not that you have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Master, and the cup of devils: you cannot be partakers of the Master’s table, and of the table of devils,” 1Corinthians 10:20-21.
The joining of the two celebrations spawned an odd hybrid of beliefs about what was supposed to happen in the spirit world. Souls in purgatory appeared as witches and toads to persons who had wronged them. Halloween fires now were used to comfort souls in purgatory and people prayed for them while holding burning straw in the air.
Even the idea of trick-or-treating by evil spirits transformed into an acceptable church practice: costumed children went around on All Souls Day offering to fast for the departed souls in return for money or an offering.
As the Celts converted to the new religion, they did not forget their stories of the dead traveling to the afterworld on Halloween. Rather, exhibitions of this night became more evil and the observance adopted even more malicious overtones.
Let’s take a look at the familiar customs of Halloween and ask ourselves whether they are fit practice for a True Worshiper.
That Smirking Jack-o-lantern
In America it starts as a pumpkin, but in Europe it was often carved from a turnip, large beet, potato, rutabaga or even a skull with a candle in it. The fearsome face of the fat jack-o-lantern was representative of the god of the dead, Saman, who would drive off less powerful evil spirits abroad that night.
As glimmering lights flickered over an English marsh or an Irish bog, people imagined dead souls had returned to earth. They would place the jack-o-lantern on posts and in windows to ward off the spirits of the dead on Halloween.
The word jack-o-lantern is an abbreviation of “Jack of the Lantern.” Jack is another name for joker or Satan. In an Irish tale, a man named Jack was fond of playing tricks on the devil. Annoyed, the devil tossed Jack a burning coal from hell and with that in his lantern Jack was condemned to walk the earth forever.
The jack-o-lantern is a Halloween idol that keeps alive an ancient symbol of demonic superstition.
Witchery and Black Cats
A pagan practice that was not eradicated upon the coming of Christianity was witchcraft. The word “witch” comes from the Anglo-Saxon wicce, or “wise one.” Witches were thought to be possessors of magic.
Witches, who worship the deities of nature, have living talismans or symbols through which they derive their dark powers. They invoke evil spirits to enter the bodies of their talismans. Some witches have dogs, owls, snakes or swine for their talismans, but the most common are cats. Cats have been closely associated with mystery religion from the Egyptians to the Norse. But the Celts had a particular fear of cats, believing they were humans who had been changed into feline form by evil powers. The black cat particularly was connected to demonic powers.
Black cats are the chief idol of the goddess of Wicca, Diana. In legend, she turns into a black cat to commit incest with her brother, Lucifer.
Eventually the Druids themselves came to be regarded as witches. Witch hunting during Halloween became almost a national pastime in the colonial years of our nation.
Halloween is regarded as the highest “sabbath” for practicing witches today.
Witchcraft is demonic worship in diametric opposition to the worship of Yahweh. Yahweh minces no words about it. He told Israel through Moses, ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (Ex. 22:18). He says in Deuteronomy 18:10, “There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.”
How can a True Worshiper allow his son or daughter to dress up in imitation of a witch or warlock, knowing how Yahweh condemns witchcraft? We are commanded to avoid even the APPEARANCE of evil (1Thes. 5:22).
The Airborne Witch
The broomstick is a symbol of the male organ, on which the witch mounts and leaps high around the fields to “teach” the crops how high to grow (ABC’S of Witchcraft, pp. 48-49).
The notion of flying witches relates to the fact that witches believed they could fly great distances to their feasts by smearing their bodies with ointments containing drugs. The drugs gave them psychedelic “trips” making them think they flew (Ibid., pp. 142-146).
Colors of the Demonic
“Orange, black, and red, the devil’s colors, are the colors associated with Halloween…,” so says the Good Housekeeping Book of Entertainment, p. 168.
Black prefigures black magic and demonic influence. The black of night is when these forces of evil are busiest, using the cover of darkness for their sinister works.
Yahweh warns, “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from Yahweh, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?” (Isa. 29:15)
In John 3:19-20 Yahshua said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
How much time should any Bible believer give to a rite that is observed in the dark and that revels in the colors, symbols, and practices of Yahweh’s adversary, Satan the devil?
Skulls and Skeletons
The skeleton is a form of the god of the dead, the witches’ “horned god.” The Dictionary of Satanism by Wade Baskin says this about skulls and skeletons under “skull worship”: “Skulls play an important role as sacred relics and as objects of worship among primitives. Among Polynesians and Melanesians, skulls of ancestors are worshiped in order to establish connections with the spirits of the dead. Like the head of Osiris in Egypt, the skulls of ancestors may also serve as tutelar deities. The head or its parts, each of which may stand for the whole, can be used as magical food or as a means of increasing the fertility of the soil.”
Under “skull,” the Dictionary of Lore and Legend says, “Symbol of death, often with crossed bones beneath.”
Isaiah tells us what Yahweh thinks of the courting of death and the dead: “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritualists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their Elohim? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isa. 8:19-20, NIV)
Fires to Call Up the Sun God
Being that Halloween is a Celtic new year’s festival, many of its surviving rituals trace to the Celtic feast. The fire rite was practiced in many areas around the world on the night before the new year. The old fire was allowed to go out and a new one was kindled — usually a sacred fire from which the fires of the village were re-lit. The fires were thought to rejuvenate the waning sun and aid in banishing evil spirits. The Druids built hilltop fires to celebrate important festivals (Celebrations, the Complete Book of American Holidays, pp. 258-259).
Ghosts and witches feared fire, it was thought, and so fire became the best weapon against evil spirits. Witchcraft was punished by burning at the stake, fire being used as a means of purification. The light that fires gave off was a sign of sacredness.
Apple Bobbing
Popular at Halloween parties is apple bobbing. It was a means of divination among the Druids and survives in cultures influenced by the Celts.
Because the apple is a common love charm, the practice of ducking for apples seems to have been associated with the selection of a lover (see The Folklore of American Holidays).
Apple bobbing was originally a fertility rite deriving from the Christmas observance, which was replete with various fertility rites.
Selling Out to Sin
One of the perpetual failings of ancient Israel was their inability to keep their worship pure. The record throughout history has not been any different. Yahweh’s people have always been tempted to compromise their faith by selling out to the dominant culture and its practices.
For those who are satisfied with less than total truth, the concessions come easier.
Today we witness Easter egg hunts on church lawns, Christmas trees in church vestibules, and Halloween parties in church basements (on the pretext of keeping the children off unsafe streets and away from tainted Halloween candy).
“It’s for the children,” goes the rationalization. “We really just do it for them.”
What our children practice they also learn from. Why would we want to introduce to them pagan falsehoods? How can we instill in them a desire for righteousness if we allow them to revel in ancient customs of evil on Halloween? How can we promote healthy, decent values while allowing them to don hideous masks of vile creatures or deformed humans — with the underlying themes of murder, mayhem, and death?
Can we live a lie? Can we mix the holy with the profane and expect Yahweh to still bless us? “Learn not the way of the heathen!” He thunders in Jeremiah 10:2. Come out from among them and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing, Paul writes in2Corinthians 6:17.
Paul also admonished, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?” (2Cor.6:14)
Halloween has no redeeming value. It is one big trick on an ignorant or indifferent society, and another victory for the forces of darkness.
Almighty Yahweh gives us a final warning in the law about demonism and witchcraft: “For all that do these things are an abomination unto Yahweh: and because of these abominations Yahweh your Elohim does drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect with Yahweh your Elohim” (Deut. 18:12-13).
Become perfect before Yahweh. Drop the empty, senseless, heathen observances of man and resolve to begin keeping the true holy days He has commanded in His Word. Discover what true blessings and deep fulfillment are when you begin to comply with His will and not the will of society.
It’s December. Darkness overtakes light as winter days shorten. Frigid blasts whistle through leafless, lifeless trees. The ground is frozen with a layer of ice and silence. Nothing moves. By all appearances, nature has died.
And then, intruding like hoofbeats comes the most hyperactive frenzy of merrymaking, gush and glitter ever conceived in the heart of man. Wine flows freely, songs of cheer echo through halls strung with holly and mistletoe. Gifts are exchanged while candles like a million points of light puncture the darkness. Out of the throes of encroaching death springs a frenetic celebration of life—all in the urgent hope of reviving the god of life and fertility. It’s Christmas 500 B.C.E. Time makes no difference to this changeless holiday.
Early Warning
Contrary to common belief, Christmas is not the celebration of the birth of the Savior at Bethlehem. That story was much later tacked on to this ancient festival to a solar deity. The fact that the holiday is deeply rooted in pagan sun worship was reason enough to keep the Puritans and other early American settlers seeking religious purity from taking any part in it.
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature notes, “The Puritans regarded these diversions, which appear to have offended more against good taste than against morality, with a holy horror. Prynne says, in his strong way (in Histrio-Mastix), ‘Our Christmas lords of misrule, together with dancing, masks, mummeries, state players, and such other Christmas disorders, now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalian festivals, which should cause all pious Christians eternally to abominate them’’’ (“Christmas,” p. 276).
Christmas, with its bag-full of life-celebrating superstition, stretches back far beyond the Saturnalia. Steeped in beliefs of reincarnation and immortality the ancient Babylonians thought that their king and sun-god Nimrod, who had been cut down, was brought back to life in the form of a green tree.
His revival coincided with the winter solstice at the end of December, when the sun returns in its yearly cycle and days begin to lengthen once more. Hence, the burning of the yule log signifying the sun’s light and warmth, and the ever-living evergreen tree strung in lights like miniature suns. As pointed out in the book, 4,000 Years of Christmas, by Earl W. Count, “Mesopotamia is the very ancient Mother of Civilization. Christmas began there, over four thousand years ago, as the festival which renewed the world for another year,” p. 18.
Lies of Yuletide – Pagan Christmas
None of these or other facts about Pagan Christmas is a mystery. All are readily available every year in a variety of media. What is mysterious, however, is the complete indifference the religious masses show toward these revelations about Pagan Christmas.
Unable to refute its pagan origins and practices, many argue, “Well, we do Christmas for the children. How can we deny them such a fun and exciting thing?” Wait a minute. What caring parent would allow their child to indulge in a diet of nothing but candy bars and soft drinks day after day? For the child nothing could be more enticing — but at the cost of his or her very health and longevity. The effects of spiritual toxicity last much longer and can be permanent.
Aside from being anchored in dark Mystery Worship, the perceived “Biblical” side of Christmas is tethered to a sequence of lies and twisted facts. Saint Nick has superseded the Savior. Children are taught to be good for Santa’s sake (a mythological character who can do magical things), not for the One whose birthday is presumably being honored. From start to finish, the entire observance is fraudulent.
No Christmas Command Anywhere
Significantly, not one verse in all of the Scriptures commands man to remember the birthday of Yahshua the Messiah’s human advent. If there were, rest assured that man would virtually ignore it, as he does the other direct commands of Yahweh. Ironically, this holiday—entirely missing from Scripture—is elevated to superholiday status.
Nowhere does the Bible say the Messiah was born on December 25. That date coincides with the Saturnalia, the pagan Roman feast held in December at the winter solstice in honor of the returning sun-god. In the spirit of joining what cannot be overthrown, the Roman church adopted this day of solar rebirth as the birth of the Savior. The Son for the sun.
Yahweh is not well-pleased. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” Yahshua said inMatthew 15:9.
Along the way Bible truths truths have been twisted into fantasy. For example, the wise men never came to the manger but to Mary and Joseph’s house as much as two years after His birth (Matt. 2: 11). The Messiah was not a babe by then but a child. Their gifts were not birthday presents but royal gifts befitting a King (of the Jews). Tradition says the shepherds came and worshiped Yahshua in the manger. The Bible says they glorified Yahweh the FATHER for all that they had seen and heard, Luke 2:20. Christmas is clearly the case of an ancient rite retrofitted into a biblical story of the Messiah and the results are a compendium of error and myth.
Sending the Wrong Message
This annual greedfest is entirely fixated on gift-getting. The popular question is, “What did you GET for Christmas?” Visions of dollar signs dance in the greedy heads of retailers, who glory in the fest hoping to earn up to 60 percent of their yearly profit from the spending madness. Imagine any other birthday observance where the celebrators come together to give gifts to one another and ignore the guest of honor!
In a flagrant violation of the Second Commandment not to make or bow down to any graven image, the tree is idolized with an adoration verging on shameless worship. Gift offerings are placed at its base, while children brag to their friends about having the most presents. Adults hold contests for the most beautifully decorated property, while many churches bring trees and holly into their halls to entice more through their doors..
A Relative Latecomer
Nowhere in the entire Bible do we find that anyone was told to keep Christmas, or find even a shred of evidence that anyone did. In fact, Christmass as a celebration of the Savior’s birth was not observed before the fourth century. These facts alone are testimony to the absence of any heavenly command or ongoing Biblical practice.
Let’s read once more from the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature: “It is historically certain that the Christmas festival proper is of comparatively late institution. This may doubtless be accounted for in the following manner. In the first place no corresponding festival was presented by the Old Testament, as in the case of [Passover] and Pentecost. In the second place, the day and month of the birth of [Messiah] are nowhere stated in the Gospel history, and cannot be certainly determined… It was not till the sixth century that the whole Christian world concurred in celebrating the nativity on the same day” (“Christmas,” pp. 276-277).
A person who seeks only the pure word of truth will give up this solar survival called Christmas in favor of what Almighty Yahweh DOES command in His Living Book.
Leviticus 23 lists seven annual observances that Almighty Yahweh gave man as an ordinance “forever.” These are called Feasts of Yahweh, not Feasts of the Jews or any other nationality or race. They are for ALL men everywhere in honor of the one true Creator Yahweh, your Designer and Maker. Shouldn’t True Worshipers seek to keep the days specifically commanded in the Scriptures, and not the holidays man has devised that are not?
The Christmas super-holiday is the standard for popular observances today. Families will gather on December 25, gorge themselves on ham and turkey, stare at a decorated tree while a swooning Bing provides the ambience, and exchange billions of dollars in gifts, many of them unwanted. A crescendo of months of retailer hype will climax on one grand day of the Savior’s supposed birth.
But hold on. Amid the bells and booze, frolicking elves and fruitcake, many sense that something isn’t right. If Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the Savior at Bethlehem, who came to bring peace on earth and good will toward men, why isn’t there more peace and good will in our world? With so many millions observing this holiday, should not our world be changing for the better with each celebration? Is this not what a “religious” observance is supposed to accomplish?
Maybe the problem is simply that people fail to catch and hold the “spirit”of Christmas. Or could the holiday itself be flawed? Why do so many people sense an emptiness at this time of year, a major letdown amid the torn gift-wrapping and crushed ribbon bows
Where’s the Scriptural Christmas?
Christmas, after all, is supposed to be rooted in the Bible. It is assumed to honor the birth of the Savior of men in a manger at Bethlehem. (Its name is a contraction for “Christ’s Mass.”) But the overblown rites of Santa Claus, tinsel, Rudolph, gift exchanging, and football mostly obscure any religious overtones of the observance.
A revealing survey would be to poll frantic Christmas shoppers to find out how many know the origins of Christmas. Do YOU know what Christmas is all about? Are you mildly amused each year with newspaper and magazine articles detailing the strange, irreverent customs of Christmas? On the other hand, maybe you have found these facts somewhat troubling. Isn’t it time you honestly investigated the matter? If Christmas is that significant – the biggest holiday of the year demanding a great deal of your time and money – shouldn’t you at least know what it is actually all about? This is especially serious considering the religious flavor of Christmas. The Creator in heaven may just have a definite opinion about the observance of this holiday that you need to discover.
Do you observe Christmas because you believe it is in the Bible? Try as you might, you will not find a hint of Christmas anywhere in the Scriptures. There is neither a call to observe it nor an example where anyone in the Bible did so. Shocking? Millions are oblivious to this simple fact. As one authority puts it, “There is no historical evidence that our [Savior’s] birthday was celebrated during the apostolic or early post-apostolic times,” Christmas, p. 47, The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Another writer makes this astounding statement: “The day was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church. In fact the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom repugnant to Christians,” The American Book of Days, by George W. Douglas.
What a revealing statement! The single most important religious holiday observed today in Christianity would have been FORBIDDEN in early New Testament times. Many historians and Biblical scholars corroborate this fact. Now read a candid admission from the New Catholic Encyclopedia, “Inexplicable though it seems, the date of the [Messiah’s] birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month,” vol. 3, p. 656. And the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature says, “The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special observance of the nativity. No corresponding festival was presented by the Old Testament … the day and month of the birth of [the Messiah] are nowhere stated in the Gospel history, and cannot be certainly determined,” Christmas, p. 276.
If Christmas is as popular and pervasive a religious holiday as retail sales indicate, why isn’t it found anywhere in the Bible? Why aren’t we told the month – let alone the day – of the Savior’s birth?
“But what about the manger scene with shepherds and wise men?” you ask. Yes, the manger is described in the Bible, but it was never provided as a focus for the continued observance of the birthday of the Savior. Shepherds came to the manger, but the wise men visited a house up to two years later. Here’s the account of these wise men, right from Matthew 2:11, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary [Miriam] his mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.”
And then there is the timing. Usually during Christmas plays someone will read the account in Luke 2:8: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Is this describing a cold December scene? According to Jeremiah 36:22, December is wintry in the Holy Land, cold and rainy, and on occasion snow covers the ground (see Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops).
Luke, however, says that sheep were still in the open fields. This had to be BEFORE the cold winter rains and snows began to fall. The livestock had not yet been moved to shelters. Notice: “It was a custom among Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts about the Passover [early spring], and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain” (Clarke’s Commentary by Adam Clarke, vol. 3, p. 370). Clarke says the first rain commences in October or November. He adds, “As these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Savior was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields …the [Bible says] flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up.”
Another indication that the Savior was born in the fall rather than in winter is the fact that Caesar Augustus had declared a census or tax be made of the empire, and each citizen had to report to his hometown to register, Luke 2:1-5. Ordering the people of the empire to travel great distances in the dead of winter would have surely incited a revolt, at least among the Jews in the Holy Land. No right-minded Roman emperor would have requested such a thing. He more likely would have called a census in early fall after the crops were harvested and the people had money and time to travel before bad winter weather set in.
Various prophetic Scriptures indicate that Yahshua the Messiah was born at the time of the fall Feast of Tabernacles. That may have been one reason that the inn was full when Joseph came to Bethlehem, as the city had swelled with Feast observers.
Sun (Not Son) Worship
If Christmas is not in the Bible, where did it come from? The answer is found in every encyclopedia and in many newspapers or magazines appearing around December 25. What they say about the roots of Christmas should shock every honest Bible believer into taking a serious look at the annual observance and what it REALLY celebrates.
Historians do not hide the fact that Christmas was an invention of the Roman church, designed to compete with the heathen Roman feast of Saturnalia in honor of the sun deity Mithras. Mithras bore remarkable similarity to the Biblical Messiah. The Mithraic feast, like Christmas, was celebrated to commemorate his birth.
Notice the remarkable parallels, as detailed by Joscelyn Godwin, professor at Colgate University. He writes that Mithras was “the creator and orderer of the universe, hence a manifestation of the creative Logos or Word. Seeing mankind afflicted by Ahriman, the cosmic power of darkness, he incarnated on earth. His birth on 25 December was witnessed by shepherds. After many deeds he held a last supper with his disciples and returned to heaven. At the end of the world he will come again to judge resurrected mankind and after the last battle, victorious over evil, he will lead the chosen ones through a river of fire to a blessed immortality,” Mystery Religions in the Ancient World, p. 99. Godwin remarks, “No wonder the early Christians were disturbed by a deity who bore so close a resemblance to their own, and no wonder they considered him a mockery of [the Messiah] invented by Satan.”
These two popular movements were vying for dominance in the Roman Empire – one being pagan sun worship, the other Christian. Historian and archaeologist Ernest Renan once wrote, “If Christianity had been halted in its growth by some mortal illness, the world would have been Mithraist” (Marc Aurele, p. 597). Caught in the middle were the Roman emperors, who wanted to unify and solidify their diverse empire. They didn’t need divisive religious factions. For political reasons, the Roman rulership saw great advantage in synchronizing and harmonizing these religious beliefs into one.
So today, much of what is accepted as Bible-based tradition is the direct result of compromising and mixing with heathen religion. Roman Emperor Constantine, a former pagan himself, gave the most significant push to the Christian-pagan blending of teachings like Christmas. Among other things, he would decree that worship for Christianity switch from the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week – Sun-day – the day superstitious heathens worshiped the sun. “On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed” (Codex Justinianus lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380, note 1).
“This tendency on the part of Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed,” says Alexander Hislop in The Two Babylons, p. 93. Interestingly, Hislop notes that the pagans gave up precious little of their own beliefs and practices. “And we find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of [Messiah] in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict fidelity of the Pagans to their own superstition.”
Hislop quotes Tertullian, the most ancient of the Latin church fathers whose works are extant, as he decries the early church observances: “By us who are strangers to Sabbaths and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to [Yahweh], the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia are now frequented; gifts are carried to and fro, new year’s day presents are made with din, and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar.”
Why a Death Celebration Honoring a Birth?
A mass is a celebration of the Eucharist or the emblems of the death of the Savior. Yet, “Christ-mass” is an observance supposedly in honor of His birth. Why? The answer is found with the secular ancients. Mithras was known as the Sun Deity. His birthday, Natalis solis invicti, means “birthday of the invincible sun.” It came on December 25, at the time of the winter solstice when the sun began its journey northward again. Pagan peoples were overly concerned with life and fertility. They saw life fading in the darkness of winter and so held festivals in honor of and to beckon back the sun to give life and light to the earth once more. The Dictionary of the Middle Ages explains how a funeral mass came to be celebrated as the supposed birthday of the Savior:
“In patristic thought [the Messiah] had traditionally been associated with light or the sun, and the cult of the Sol invictus, sanctioned as it was by the Roman emperors since the late third century, presented a distinct threat to Christianity. Hence, to compete with this celebration the Roman church instituted a feast for the nativity of [the Messiah], who was called the Sol iustitiae …. Usually when Christians celebrated the natalis of a saint or martyr, it was his death or heavenly nativity, but in this case natalis was assigned to be [the Messiah’s]
earthly birth, in direct competition with the pagan natalis,” pp. 317-318. (That is, it was to compete with the birthday of Mithras.) So confused were some about what or whom they were worshiping that Pope Leo I (440-461) chastised Christians who on Christmas celebrated the birth of the sun deity!
The sun cult was particularly strong at Rome about the time Christmas enters the historical picture, according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia. “The Feast is first mentioned at the head of the Depositio Martyrum in the Roman Chronograph of 354. Since the Depositio was composed in 336, Christmas in Rome can be dated that far at least. It is not found, however, in the lists of Feasts given by Tertullian and Origen,” vol. 3, p. 656.
Where did Mithraism come from, this Roman religion that venerated the sun deity and influenced Christianity so greatly? Kenneth Scott Latourette in A History of Christianity, traces Mithraism to the mystery religions of Egypt, Syria, and Persia. “Almost all the mystery cults eventually made their way to Rome,” he notes. “They were secret in many of their ceremonies and their members were under oath not to reveal their esoteric rites. Numbers of them centered about a savior-god who had died and had risen again. As the cults spread within the Empire they copied from one another in the easy-going syncretism which characterized much of the religious life of that realm and age,” pp. 24-25.
Nimrod: The Grandfather of Paganism
Clearly, Christmas as the observance of the Savior’s birth did not come into existence immediately. It was not observed for at least three centuries after His birth. But Christmas as a pagan holiday traces back thousands of years to a man named Nimrod, founder of ancient pagan Babylon. Forefather to Mithras, Nimrod began a counterfeit religion in the Book of Genesis that was to compete with the True Faith of the Bible in every conceivable way down through the centuries. The Bible refers to it as the religion of Mystery Babylon — the mother of false religion that will be destroyed when the Savior Yahshua comes to set up His throne on earth,Revelation 18. Babylon’s false worship is found today in some aspect in nearly all religions, including churchianity.
The Madonna and child theme, which is universal or evident in hundreds of religions down through the centuries, had its origin in Babylon. Nimrod was so full of evil, it is said he married his own mother, who’s name was Semiramis. Semiramis was the first deified queen of Babylon. She is also known variously as Diana, Aphrodite, Astarte, Rhea, and Venus. Her son was Tammuz, also called Bacchus, Adonis, and Osiris. He was the supposed reincarnated Nimrod. He came back to life when the dead yule log was cast into the fire and the evergreen tree appeared as the slain king-deity reborn at the winter solstice (The Two Babylons, p. 98). The similarities with Biblical elements found among pagan religions is not simply coincidence. It is the design of the Adversary to sidetrack seekers of truth into believing they are worshiping Scripturally.
According to legend when Nimrod died Semiramis, Nimrod’s mother-wife, made the proclamation that Nimrod was not just a carnal human being but was actually deity. The account states that she saw a full grown evergreen tree growing out of the roots of a dead stump. This supposedly symbolized Nimrod reborn. On the anniversary of his rebirth (the time of the winter solstice, December 25), Semiramis proclaimed that Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts under it. (More about the Christmas tree below under the heading: “They Worshiped Trees.”)
Saturnalia – Forerunner of Modern Christmas
Tammuz, the Babylonian sun deity, was the first counterfeit savior. Yahweh in Ezekiel 8:14-18 condemns ancient Israel for adopting worship of Tammuz, which included sun worship and the asherah (phallic symbol).
“Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch [asherah] to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.”
Elements of this worship are still found in today’s Christmas rites. The Romans worshiped Tammuz as the sun deity Mithras in a special observance called the Saturnalia. The Saturnalia was named for Saturn, otherwise known as Cronus. Cronus is an alias for Tammuz. His wife and mother was Rhea (Semiramis). The Saturnalia, therefore, was just another observance for Tammuz, the Babylonian, counterfeit redeemer. The Romans kept the Saturnalia in December, at the time of the winter solstice, in honor of the returning sun. The festival lasted seven days. “All classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being waxed tapers and clay dolls,” says the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition.
Legend has it that the Saturnalia was instituted by Romulus under the name Brumalia (from bruma, rneaning winter solstice),Britannica, p. 232. “The pagan Saturnalia and Brumalia were too deeply entrenched in popular custom to be set aside by Christian influence,” notes the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, p. 48.
And so the church established the birthday of the Savior to coincide with the heathen feast day. “…the Latin Church, supreme in power, and infallible in judgement, placed it on the 25th of December, the very day on which the ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their goddess Bruma. Pope Julius I was the person who made this alteration” (Clarke’s Commentary).
This fact is supported by the New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 223: “December 25 was the date of the Roman pagan festival inaugurated in 274 as the birthday of the unconquered sun which at the winter solstice begins again to show an increase in light. Sometime before 336 the Church in Rome, unable to stamp out this pagan festival, spiritualized it as the Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness.” Hislop observes, “That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin,” The Two Babylons, p. 93.
This blending of observances only served to confuse worshipers. By the middle of the fifth century, Pope Leo the Great rebuked his over-cautious flock for paying reverence to the Sun on the steps of St. Peter’s before turning their backs on it to worship inside the westward-facing basilica. Even some bishops, like Troy, continued to pray to the sun. He eventually went back to sun worship entirely (from The Early Church, by Henry Chadwick).
Protestants Object to Christmas
As the Roman Empire grew and as merchants traveled, the customs of Christmas spread also. Cultures in northern Europe contributed some of their own traditions, or twists on some unbiblical themes, nearly all of which had a basis in Babylonian paganism. The decorated tree, St. Nick, yule log, wreaths, cookies, berries, mistletoe, bonfires, roast goose, roast pig, wassailing, caroling, and other familiar fixtures were added or embellished for the Christmas-Saturnalia in various countries.
When the Protestant movement attempted to rid itself of the excesses and sins of Roman Catholicism, there also came an opposition to Christmas that almost obliterated it entirely in England. “In England, for example, the Puritans could not tolerate this celebrating for which there was no biblical sanction. Consequently, the Roundhead Parliament of 1643 outlawed the feasts of Christmas, Easter, Whit-suntide, along with the saints’ days,” Celebrations, p. 312.
In 1644 the English Parliament outlawed the holiday, compelling shops to be open that day and condemning plum puddings and mince pies as “heathen.” It was condemned for its pagan roots by the Baptists, the Puritans, the Quakers, the Amish, the Methodists and the Presbyterians.
The fact that Christmas was not looked upon with any kind of legitimacy in early America is evident by the fact that Congress sat in session on December 25, 1789, the country’s first Christmas under the new constitution. Christmas wasn’t declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
In 1659 under Puritan influence a law was passed in Massachusetts to punish anyone who “…is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings.”
For a period of 12 years the staunch Puritans kept the shackles on Christmas, making it an ordinary day of business and even a day of fasting. Yet “with the Restoration in 1660 the citizens reclaimed Christmas, but it was a different festival from what it had been. The religious aspects were often neglected, with the result that the secularization of the holiday was well under way,” ibid.
In America, strong religious antagonism to the feast of Christmas lasted from 1620 to 1750 – 130 years! In 1776 General George Washington surprise-attacked the German Hessians on December 25, winning a critical Revolutionary War battle by defeating the Christmas-celebrating, drunken German mercenaries. Obviously, Christmas was not an important celebration for the father of our country!
Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and lecturer, wrote in 1874 of his boyhood in New England, “To me Christmas is a foreign day, and I shall die so. When I was a boy I wondered what Christmas was. I knew there was such a time, because we had an Episcopal church in our town, and I saw them dressing it with evergreens, and wondered what they were taking the woods in church for; but I got no satisfactory explanation. A little later I understood it was a Romish institution, kept up by the Romish Church.” Eventually the major Protestant denominations accepted Christmas, “although they reacted violently against the corruption of the Christkindl, the Christ Child, into ’Kriss Kringle,’ ” Celebrations, pp. 315-316.
Thanks for the Memories?
Can anyone who sincerely seeks to worship in purity and truth continue practicing a legacy from rank Mystery worship?
“But Christmas gives so many memories,” some may argue. “What’s so wrong with giving the children happiness and joy at this time of the year?” From a purely human standpoint, probably nothing. If Christmas existed apart from a Creator who has very clear expectations for worship, then no harm would be done to celebrate it.
Christmas, however, is a religious holiday as well as a secular observance. Its pagan rites Almighty Yahweh outright and forcefully condemns in the Scriptures. Because of that fact alone we must heed when He thunders, “Learn not the way of the heathen!”Jeremiah 10:2. Nor is it acceptable to the Father in heaven to take only what seems to be properly religious about Christmas and downplay the pagan attributes.
Those seeking True Worship cannot mix the holy with the profane. Paul writes, 14: “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?2Corinthians 6:14. We simply cannot pretend to be worshiping in truth while partaking in pagan worship rites that the Bible condemns.
What About Ol’ Saint Nick?
Where did the jolly fat man known variously as Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas come from? Santa as children affectionately call him derived from the Dutch figure Sinterklaas.
Sinterklaas is a traditional winter holiday figure in Aruba, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The Sinterklaas feast celebrates the birth of Saint Nicholas on December 6. He was an early Christian Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (now Demre) who lived from 280 to 342 CE. In the 11th century, Nicholas’ bones were moved to southern Italy, an area then controlled by Spain. His fame spread throughout Europe. In the north of France he became the patron saint of school children, then mostly in church schools.
The folk feast arose during the Middle Ages. In early traditions students elected one of them as “bishop” on St. Nicholas Day, who would rule until December 28 (Innocents Day). They sometimes acted out events from the bishop’s life. As the festival moved to city streets, it became more lively.
Sinterklaas was assisted by many mischievous helpers with dark faces and colorful Moorish dresses, dating back two centuries. These helpers are called ‘Zwarte Pieten’ (Black Petes). During the Middle Ages Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas eve the devil was shackled and made his slave.
Interestingly the term “Old Nick” that was commonly used for Santa Claus has the meaning of Lucifer or Satan in old English. The World English Dictionary says: “Old Nick—a jocular name for Satan.” The Cambridge Dictionary entry says: “Old Nick—the Devil—the main evil spirit in the Christian religion.”
Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin, a major god among the Germanic peoples. Odin was sometimes recorded at the native Germanic holiday of Yule as leading a great hunting party through the sky.
Two books from Iceland—the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, describe Odin as riding an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir that could leap great distances, giving rise to comparisons to Santa Claus’ reindeer. Further, Odin was referred to by many names in Skaldic poetry, some of which describe his appearance or functions. These include Síðgrani, Síðskeggr, Langbarðr (all meaning “long beard”) and Jólnir (“Yule figure”).
According to Phyllis Siefker the author of Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men, children would place their boots filled with sugar, carrots or straw, near the chimney for Odin’s flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir’s food with gifts or candy. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas as a result of the process of Christianization and can be still seen in the modern practice of the hanging of stockings at the chimney in some homes.
During the Protestant Reformation, the St. Nicholas image was nearly banished permanently to the North Pole. Taking his place was a more secular figure known as Christmas Man, Father Christmas, or Pope Noel. The Dutch clung tenaciously to St. Nick, however, and although his religious attributes died, the profane ones brought by the new Santa live on in the confused minds of youngsters everywhere.
When the Pennsylvania Dutch came to America in the eighteenth century they brought with them the custom of the Christkindl. This “Christ Child” supposedly brought gifts for children on Christmas eve, riding a mule loaded with presents. His name was changed by the English settlers to Kriss Kringle. The notion of his North Pole home was contrived through Scandinavian or Russian tales about north-dwelling wizards.
While Saint Nicholas was originally portrayed wearing bishop’s robes, the modern Santa Claus is depicted as a plump, jolly, bushy, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots. This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century partly because of the significant influence of caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast.
When we tell our children lies about the existence of fantasies like Santa Claus, we introduce them at an early, impressionable age to the sin of deception. That is inexcusable. Not only do we mislead them into believing myths, but by doing so we also shut out the true Giver of blessings, Almighty Yahweh. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child into the way he should go,” not in the way of traditions that replace the truth. Santa is an insidious, captivating counterfeit (See Rev. 1:13-16; Dan. 7:9).
They Worshiped Trees
Space prohibits us from detailing all of the customs of Christmas and their origins in the mystery religions of ancient peoples, but the Christmas tree deserves special note because of its prominent role.
In Old Testament times an indispensable part of Baal worship involved the asherah, a sacred tree stem or pole (from which we get the May pole and totem pole). The asherah was a carryover of even more ancient tree worship. These asherah were used by the Canaanites in what the King James Version calls “groves.” Typically asherah sites included an altar and a stone pillar (a survivor of even older stone-worship).
Some historians believe asherahs were connected with phallic worship. “At first [asherah] may have been living trees (Deut. 16:21), but in later usage were wooden poles, perhaps erected to represent a tree,” Eerdman’s Bible Dictionury, p. 93. Rather than condemn and destroy this rite of Canaanite Baal worship that they found in the Promised Land, the Israelites, as was their custom, chose instead to indulge in it. And because of that Almighty Yahweh allowed Israel to be taken into captivity and nearly destroyed. Read2Kings 17:9-11.
The “green tree” is mentioned 13 times in Scripture and in every instance it is linked with idolatry! Can we find much difference between idolizing trees anciently and adoration of Christmas trees today? Notice what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in connection with tree-idol worship: “Thus says Yahweh, learn not the way of the heathen … for the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go …” Jeremiah 10:2-5.
Although based in mystery worship, the modern Christmas tree traces to Europe. “…Tree worship is well attested for all the great European families of the Aryan stock. Amongst the Celts the oak-worship of the Druids is familiar to everyone. Sacred groves were common among the ancient Germans, and tree-worship is hardly extinct among their descendants at the present day” (The Golden Bough, p. 58).
The ancients were very concerned about the dead vegetation in December and the waning of the sun. Fir trees were always green, symbolic of life, and to the ancients represented immortality in a dead world. They were often set on fire to portray and beckon back the sun, hence the modern practice of stringing trees with Christmas lights and round bulbs and balls. Ultimately, the Christmas evergreen springs from that old Babylonian, Nimrod. It represents the resurrected and reincarnated man-deity. “Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas tree is Nimrod redivivus – the slain god come to life again,” The Two Babylons. p. 98. He was reborn as his son Tammuz.
Yule (from huel meaning wheel) was a Germanic and Celtic sunfeast in the period December-January which became absorbed into Christmas. It commemorated the turn of the sun and the lengthening of the day. The Christmas tree wasn’t found in America until 1821, brought by the Pennsylvania Germans. Christmas itself wasn’t recognized until 1836, when Alabama became the first state to make it a legal holiday.
Virtually every Christmas custom is connected with some man-made rite or heathen tradition with little to do with the Bible.
The Right Alternative: True Bible Holy Days
In the final analysis, how could Almighty Yahweh expect His people to observe Christmas, which is so thoroughly steeped in heathen ritual? He kept the month as well as the day of the Savior’s birth hidden. The answer is obvious and clear – He never wanted it to be observed! If He did, He would have told us when and how it was to be kept, just as He did for those days He commanded in His Word.
Clearly, if Christmas were commanded in the Bible, few would be observing it – as opposed to the vast millions around the world who indulge in this ritual today. That should be proof enough that Christmas is not Scriptural. What Yahweh commands, man ignores; what He prohibits, man indulges in.
Once we are enlightened to the truth of Christmas, we find the holiday not only distasteful but totally unacceptable to Yahweh. Israel was condemned for sun worship in Ezekiel 8. Similar rites based in sun and fertility worship come alive each December 25.
Now that you know the truth, you must make a decision. Do I continue keeping a nonBiblical observance that Yahweh condemns? Or do I start honoring the very days He commands in His Word for all True Worshipers?
His seven annual Feasts are found in Leviticus 23, the only “holidays” sanctioned in the Scriptures. These Feasts were kept by Israel, the patriarchs, the Messiah and His apostles, and will be kept worldwide in the coming Kingdom (see Isa. 66:2-3, Ezek. 45,Zech. 14:16-18). The choice is yours, and so is the promise of salvation for all who obey and follow the Truth.
Did you know….
Christmas tree sales in the U.S. make a huge business. Acording to the National Christmas Tree Association consumers purchased 28.2 million farm grown Christmas trees in 2009 with an average cost of $40.92 dollars a tree. The total revenue was 1.15 billion dollars. NCTA estimated that Christmas tree farms in North America planted about 41 million new tree seedlings in the winter/spring of 2010 to replace harvested crops and meet future increased demand. As a side note, it is estimated that in 2007 Americans spent $66 billion on gifts during Christmas.
At various times in the history of Israel the work of Yahweh’s true ministry reached a point where drastic changes needed to be made. These changes were necessary for the preservation of truth and righteousness. Corrupt influences rooted deep in man-made worship stretching back to Babylon crept in and threatened to destroy Yahweh’s true work.
Men such as Noah, EliYah, Jeremiah and even our Savior Yahshua the Messiah were called upon to oppose the corrupt forces at work in the organized ministry and take a stand for what is true and right. As this degeneration has occurred repeatedly in the past, there should be no wonder that it occurs now in these end-times as well. As such, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed and understood by all True Worshipers.
Come Out of Babylon
Yahshua the Messiah has warned us to come out of the corruption of this world by coming out of Babylon. Realize that Babylon encompasses all of corrupt religion. It includes all religious groups that are not keeping the Truth in accordance with the Sacred Scriptures no matter how great or small their defection is from the Truth.
Consider this fact in light of the prophetic plea that Yahshua makes to his people in the Book of Revelation.
“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Yahweh has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her’” (Rev. 18:1-6).
Yahweh will severely judge Babylon and those associated with it. Babylon the Great represents grossly corrupted religion. But it applies also to groups like the Pharisees of Yahshua’s day. As the caretakers of the sacred Scriptures within the confines of synagogue worship, the Pharisees were part of the corruption of Babylon. Being a close counterfeit of the Truth made them the greatest threat to True Worship.
Yahshua chastised them for fol-lowing the traditions of men (which were derived from Babylon) rather than keeping the true commandments of Yahweh.
Notice what Yahshua says in Mark 7:5-10. “The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’ And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of Yahweh, you hold to the tradition of men.’”
He was also saying to them, You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Yahweh in order to keep your tradition.
We must especially beware of those modern-day Pharisees who pay lip service to the Truth while they teach the doctrines of a man or men while they neglect the commandments of Yahweh. Any association with them will bring judgment from Yahweh. The time for separation is now!
Breaking from Corruption
Those of us who have been involved with Truth-oriented organizations need to thoroughly examine the workings of those groups to see if indeed they are “True Worship.” Just because they keep the Sabbath and feast days, just because they use the Sacred Names, just because they eat clean foods, and just because they even keep the sabbatical year, does not in and of itself mean that these groups are in fact True Worship. As the saying goes “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and the proof of doctrine is in the doing.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,’” Matthew 7:22-23.
It is an incredible thought that Yahshua will reject many who practice lawlessness even though they use His Name. There are modern-day Pharisees who outwardly are totally circumspect with keeping the law. Inwardly, they lack the true love of Yahweh. They therefore are guilty of practicing lawlessness. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all,” James 2:10.
The brethren involved with this ministry have made a break from the corruption of former religious affiliations. Some tried their best (without success) to remove what polluted those bodies. It therefore be-came necessary to follow the precept of Revelation 18:4 and come out of the corruption of Babylon.
This ministry is in fact not some-thing new. It is a continuation of Yahweh’s True Worship. Just as Yahshua separated himself from the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of his time so we have separated ourselves from their modern equivalents.
End-time Prophetic Fulfillment
We have seen the fulfillment of various prophetic passages of Scripture. This has caused us to join as a body of believers for the purpose of preserving Yahweh’s True Worship in these end-times. It is our intention to warn others of the corruption that they face in their religious affiliations and to offer those who heed that warning a place in which to go.
The Apostle Paul cautioned his disciple Timothy of this subversive corruption today. “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1Tim 4:1-2).
We are living in the latter days spoken of here. It is important to our salvation that we be aware of how this prophecy applies to us as Yahweh’s end-time believers. Yes, the fallen ones are at work as they follow deceitful spirits instead of the Holy Spirit. They teach their own ideas rather than sound Biblical doctrine.
A corrupt leadership makes void the Law of Yahweh with oppressive doctrines of demons. They forbid marriage of some and advocate abstaining from food which Torah legislates as being clean. Consequently, they are guilty of transgressing the covenant by adding to and diminishing from Yahweh’s Word, Deuteronomy 4:2.
What the Apostle Paul writes here ties in with what we have already learned. These hypocrites teach counterfeit and confusing doctrines that come from the paganism of ancient Babylon. The doctrines of demons are in effect the teachings or policies of any man that take precedence over the Word of Almighty Yahweh. Yahweh will always further His Truth by bringing forth His true people from the spiritual Babylon of the modern-day Pharisees.
In Spirit and Truth
During His ministry, Yahshua was continually being confronted by the religious establishment of his day. For the most part that was the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were of the priestly Aaronic aristocracy. They controlled Temple worship and were strongly associated with King Herod and his governmental control.
On the other hand, the Pharisees functioned on the local level, as they were the ones who controlled the synagogues. Yahshua’s ministry was totally separate from these groups. He recognized that it was impossible to reform them because of their corruption. He chose rather to bring forth a continuation of the Truth from the various followers of those groups who chose to join his ministry.
This is key. Yahshua did not start something new. He brought forth purity from that which was corrupt. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22).
Yahshua is proposing here the continuation of the Truth by putting new wine in fresh skins. The religion of the Pharisees would have represented one aspect of the old wine skins that cannot hold the new wine. Mainstream Judaism for the most part had the Truth, but they obviously lacked important spiritual aspects.
Yahweh seeks out people who will worship him in a specific way. They must be new wine skins if they are to hold the new wine. They must worship Him in both spirit and truth. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “Yahweh is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). We see from this passage two main components of True Worship. They are the Holy Spirit of Yahweh and the Truth of the Word. There are many truth oriented religious groups. But, having the Truth alone is not enough. The true body of the Messiah must have the Holy Spirit along with that Truth. Bear in mind that it is possible to have the Truth and not have the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John has warned us that there is the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. Once again, we must beware! “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of Yahweh: every spirit that confesses that Yahshua Messiah has come in the flesh is from Yahweh; and every spirit that does not confess Yahshua is not from Yahweh; this is the spirit of the anti-messiah, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from Yahweh, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from Yahweh; he who knows Yahweh listens to us; he who is not from Yahweh does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1John 4:1-6).
The Word of Yahweh shows repeatedly that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. See John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 and 1John 4:6. Each of these verses refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth! True Worshipers will always have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh along with the Truth.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Those who have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh are keeping Almighty Yahweh’s commandments, Acts 5:32. Along with that, they are bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Love is at the forefront of the fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah Yahshua have impaled the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:22-26).
It is our desire to possess the Spirit of Truth along with the fruit of the Spirit. For this reason we have separated ourselves from former religious affiliations. Ironically we have seen firsthand how the corruption of the Pharisees is still at work.
Outwardly, what many of these groups teach is very close to the Truth. Inwardly, these organizations are corrupt. We would not argue against teaching that the leaders of these groups are the ones who presently sit in Moses seat. We totally agree with Yahshua’s assessment of them, their position, and their corruptness due to hypocrisy. People in this category are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
“Then Yahshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Messiah. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt 23:1-12).
Sadly, we have had to face the fact that those like this and the organizations that they control are not reformable. They lack the humility to admit that they are making mistakes and to correct those mistakes. Outwardly, as they pay lip service to the Truth, they appear to be perfect. Inwardly they are something quite different, hypocrites who refuse correction.
Woe to Hypocrisy
Salvation is not to be found with these people. They obviously lack the Holy Spirit in their lives. Yahshua strongly denounces them for their hypocritical leadership.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of Yahweh and by Him who sits upon it.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and impale, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matt 23:13-36).
Considering what Yahshua brings out against the Pharisees, it is no wonder that He choose not to reform them. Instead, he rose up a continuation of the Truth from the perverseness the Pharisees had created. By having the fruit of the Spirit and most importantly by having true love, Yahshua and his disciples were in opposition to the Pharisees and all that they stood for. He showed the distinction by His life.
Yahshua’s life was a living testimony to what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 13.
He teaches that regardless of the greatness of a person, if he doesn’t have love, he doesn’t have anything. Love is the great barrier between Truth and error. Obviously ancient and modern Pharisees still lack the important fruit of love.
At times in the history of Israel the work of Yahweh’s true ministry reached a point where course corrections were necessary for the preservation of truth and righteousness. Corrupt influences crept in and threatened to destroy Yahweh’s true work. Men such as Noah, EliYah, Jeremiah and even our Savior Yahshua stood in the gap to choke off the occasional evil threatenings.
Yahshua the Messiah has warned us to come out of the corruption of Truth represented by Babylon. Babylon encompasses all of corrupt religion, including all religious groups that are not keeping the Truth in accordance with the Sacred Scriptures no matter how great or small their defection is from the Truth.
Consider the following in light of the prophetic plea that Yahshua makes to his people in the Book of Revelation:
“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Yahweh has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her’” (Rev. 18:1-6).
Yahweh will severely judge Babylon and those associated with it. Babylon the Great is usually understood to represent grossly corrupted religion. It also applies to groups like the Pharisees of Yahshua’s day.
As caretakers of the sacred Scriptures within the confines of synagogue worship, the Pharisees were part of the iniquity of Babylon. Being a close counterfeit of the Truth made them the greatest threat to True Worship. Yahshua chastised them for following the traditions of men (which were derived from Babylon) rather than keeping the true commandments of Yahweh.
Notice what He says in Mark 7:5-10. “The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’ And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of Yahweh, you hold to the tradition of men.’”
He was saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Yahweh in order to follow your tradition.”
We must especially be aware of modern-day Pharisees who pay lip service to the Truth while they teach man-made traditions and neglect the commandments of Yahweh. Any association with them will bring judgment from Yahweh.
Breaking From Corruption
Those seeking truth must thoroughly examine the workings of groups to see if indeed they are “True Worship.” Just because they keep the Sabbath and feast days, just because they use the Sacred Names, just because they eat clean foods, and just because they keep the sabbatical year, does not in and of itself mean that these groups are in fact True Worship. As the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of doctrine is in the doing.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matt 7:22-23).
It is an astounding thought that Yahshua will reject many who use his Name because they practice law-lessness. Again, be advised that there are also modern-day Pharisees who outwardly are circumspect about keeping the law. Inwardly, they lack the true love of Yahweh. They therefore are guilty of practicing lawlessness. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all,” James 2:10.
The brethren who are involved with this ministry have made a break from the error they found in former religious affiliations. It became necessary to follow the precept of Revelation 18:4 and come out of the sins of Babylon.
This ministry is in fact not something new. It is a continuance of Yahweh’s True Worship. Just as Yahshua separated Himself from the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of His time so we have separated ourselves from modern equivalents.
Prophecy Being Fulfilled
We have seen the fulfillment of various prophetic passages of scripture. This has caused us to join as a body of believers for the purpose of preserving Yahweh’s True Worship in these end-times. It is our intention to warn others of the falsification that most face in their religious affiliations and to offer those who heed that warning a place in which to go.
The Apostle Paul warned his disciple Timothy of this subversive corruption. “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which Yahweh has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Tim 4:1-3).
We are living in the latter times spoken of here. It is important to our salvation that we be aware of how this prophecy applies to us as Yahweh’s end-time believers. The fallen ones are busy following deceitful spirits instead of the Holy Spirit. They teach their own ideas rather than sound Biblical doctrine.
Corrupt leadership on a massive scale makes void the law of Yahweh with doctrines of demons. They are guilty of violating the covenant by adding to and diminishing from Yahweh’s Word, Deuteronomy 4:2.
What the Apostle Paul writes here ties in with what we have already learned. These charlatans are at work teaching counterfeit and confusing doctrines that come from the paganism of ancient Babylon.
The doctrines of demons are in effect the teachings or policies of any man that take precedence over the Word of Almighty Yahweh.
Yahweh will always continue His Truth by bringing forth His true people from the spiritual Babylon of modern-day Pharisees.
New Wine, New Wineskins
During his ministry, Yahshua was continually being confronted by the religious establishment of his day, typically the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
The Sadducees were of the priestly Aaronic aristocracy. They controlled Temple worship and were strongly associated with King Herod and his governmental control. The Pharisees functioned on the local level, being in control of the synagogues.
Yahshua’s ministry was totally separate from these groups. He recognized that it was impossible to reform them because of their corruption. He chose rather to call out the various followers of those groups to join His ministry.
Yahshua did not start something brand new. He brought forth purity from that which was corrupt. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22).
Yahshua is proposing here the continuation of the Truth by putting renewed teachings in a fresh structure. The religion of the Pharisee’s would have represented one aspect of the old wine skins that cannot hold the new wine of His teachings.
Mainstream Judaism for the most part had Truth, but they obviously lacked important spiritual aspects. Yahweh seeks out those who will worship him in a specific way. They must be new wine skins if they are to hold the new wine. They must worship Him in both spirit and truth. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. Yahweh is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).
We see from this passage that there are two main components of True Worship, the Holy Spirit of Yahweh and the Truth of the Word. There are many Truth-oriented religious groups.
But, having the truth alone is not enough. The true Body of Messiah must have the Holy Spirit along with that Truth. Bear in mind that it is possible to have the Truth and not have the Holy Spirit. Yahweh grants His Spirit to those who obey His Truth, Acts 5:32.
The Apostle John has warned us that there is the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. Once again, we must beware!
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of Yahweh: every spirit that confesses that Yahshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is from Yahweh; and every spirit that does not confess Yahshua is not from Yahweh; this is the spirit of the anti-messiah, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from Yahweh, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from Yahweh; he who knows Yahweh listens to us; he who is not from Yahweh does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1John 4:1-6).
The Word of Yahweh shows repeatedly that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Truth (see John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13, and 1John 4:6). Each of theses verses refers to the Holy Spirit as the spirit of Truth! True Worshipers will always have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh along with the Truth.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Those who have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh are keeping Yahweh’s commandments, Acts 5:32. Along with that, they are bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
Love is at the forefront of that fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah Yahshua have impaled the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:22-26).
We want to possess the Spirit of Truth along with the fruit of the Spirit and thereby worship Yahweh in Spirit and in Truth. For this reason we have separated from former religious affiliations.
Considering what Yahshua brings out against the Pharisees, it is no wonder that He chose not to reform them. Instead, He rose up a continuation of the Truth out of the perverseness the Pharisees had created. By having the fruit of the Spirit and most importantly by having true love, Yahshua and his disciples were in opposition to the Pharisees and all that they stood for. Yahshua’s life was a living testimony to what the Apostle Paul taught in 1Corinthians 13. He teaches that re-gardless of the greatness of a person, if they don’t have love, they don’t have anything. Love is the great barrier between truth and error. Obviously ancient and modern Pharisees lack that important fruit, love.
Persecution Energizes True Worship
The corruptness of these hypocrites, then and now, is such that they are the ones who do in fact persecute Yahweh’s true people. Literally and figuratively, the forefathers of these people persecuted the prophets of Yahweh in ancient times. They themselves persecuted Yahshua and the apostolic assembly. And, in these end-times, the modern-day Scribes and Pharisees persecute the saints.
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:10-12).
Don’t be discouraged by oppression from false worshipers. Yahshua revealed them for what they are so that his true people could be encouraged and raised up from the depths of depression. Yahweh has made a way for his people to go whereby they can find safety in a spiritual body of believers, who are the continuance of Truth. Yahweh brings them out of the corruption of the modern-day Pharisees.
The emergence of the spiritual Body of the Messiah at the end of the age is the direct result of persecution.
Although it is difficult to deal with, persecution is the fire that purifies Yahweh’s true spiritual people. It is the force that brings forth the true end-time members of Yahweh’s ministry.
“Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1Cor 3:12-15).
Those who keep His Word will be persecuted but Yahshua shall keep them safe during the tribulation that is to come on all the earth. “And to the angel of the [congregation] in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
“Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown” (Rev 3:7-11).
The persecution of the saints at the end of the age will most certainly have the effect of separating the spiritual body of the Messiah from those of the synagogue of Satan (those who have defected from the truth). Remember that those whom He and his disciples separated themselves from were the ones who persecuted Yahshua to death. Yahshua, the Apostles and disciples remained separate from the religious corruption around them.
Devotion Causes Separation
Many times Almighty Yahweh has allowed divisions to occur within the physical body of believers to separate the good who possess a spiritual attitude from the evil who are motivated by the flesh. That was the case in the Corinthian congregation. “For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you” (1Cor. 11:19).
Spiritual hardships that some of Yahweh’s people face are difficult to bear. Yet, these things are happening for good reason, the revealing of the true Assembly of believers in these last days. They are known by their good fruits. They are contradicted and opposed by wicked counterfeits of whom they must beware.
Yahshua tells us to watch out for false prophets. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:15).
The fruit that comes forth must determine our religious affiliation. Those who associate with corrupt people will ultimately be corrupted!
We must be willing to separate from evil and corruption. The Truth will continue and Yahshua will return regardless of the stand we take or our position on Truth. Yahweh does not need us, we need Yahweh. The choice is ours.
Perhaps you have searched for a group of people who endeavor with all their hearts to remain true to the Bible.
Many will tell you that they are that group. Just check any newspaper “church page” and you will find a plethora of churches advertising themselves as giving, caring, sharing, and Bible-believing. What more could one want? How about … the truth?
The problem with many is that instead of looking into Scripture with an open mind in search of the truth, they seek out a group that is teaching the doctrines they already believe. And those tenets do not necessarily need to come from the Bible.
Tradition is the most popular teacher, which is why doctrinal errors like the immortal soul teaching, the rapture, ever-burning hellfire, heaven as the ultimate reward, worship on the first day – and many more nonBiblical teachings continue to abound. Basing their belief on the fact that they have always believed them, people accept such doctrines as truth.
Others are not as concerned with the teachings as they are with the group’s prestige, its comfortable sanctuary, gifted choir, handsome minister, or any number of other reasons that have nothing to do with what is taught there.
For many, a religious affiliation is a marriage of convenience, a compromise for the sake of the spouse or children. For others it is used to enhance their worldly status.
Just as perilous is the person who believes he or she is justified in worshiping Yahweh alone. Maybe some problem in their former affiliation prompted them to go it alone. They may even pride themselves with going solo.
Should we reject organized worship when problems arise? Are we given the Scriptural alternative to worship separately from everyone else? Is that the arrangement we find taught in the Bible? What does Scripture reveal about becoming part of a group of worshipers and working with and through the Body of Messiah? Could private worship signal spiritual defeat or does it have Yahweh’s complete blessing?
‘I Will Build My … lndividual’?
Scripture is clear on the subject of worship. It also has much to say about group affiliation. Clearly, the command to assemble is there: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching,” Hebrews 10:24-25.
We are directed to join in fellowship, encouraging and exhorting one another to good works and sacrificial love by word and example. We must seriously consider the Savior’s words about those called out from the world to be a part of the Body of Messiah. It is obvious that He expected His followers to become a part of a greater Body of believers who would be close to one another and who would help guide one another.
Yahshua said there would always be a group of True Believers on earth teaching the truths he magnified and brought to light: “And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my assembly; and the gates of [the grave] shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16: 18). He established an organized worship based on Peter’s confession that Yahshua was the Messiah.
If we seek salvation, we must become a part of that Body. His assembly was to continue until His return, 1Peter 4: 17. Teaching the truth of Scripture, His Body would be the physical representation of Him on earth. This Body would be the repository of His truth and mirror the example He set.
The writers of the New Testament, and especially Paul, shared the belief that Believers must congregate as a body whenever possible. Acts 2:42 relates that after Yahshua’s death that the early apostles continued steadfast in fellowship and prayer. The apostles were in constant fellowship with one another throughout the Book of Acts. They were aware that persecution was soon to fall on them and they used every opportunity to encourage one another and to preach the Word wherever they could.
It is up to all who have been called to proclaim the Good News and encourage others in the truth of the Name, Sabbath, Feasts, clean foods, and other truths neglected for millennia. These are the bedrock teachings that must be reintroduced before the Savior returns, Jude 3. Those who have this knowledge are to be teachers and guides of others searching for it, 1Peter 2:9; Romans 2:21.
The only real way to get the message out effectively is through a united effort!
Message Through the Body
For a number of important reasons Yahweh’s people are to congregate to study His Word. The overriding concern is to help sinful lives change to lives of righteous obedience. The Book of Acts is filled with examples of conversions to Messiah. The Apostle Paul himself was struck down on the Damascus road in Acts 9, where he actually heard and spoke to the risen Messiah (vv. 1-6). Although Yahshua spoke to Paul, He did not tell him the entire plan at that time.
Rather, the plan of salvation was to be found in going to the city and letting those in the ekklesia – the Body of believers – tell him what had to be done. Yahshua had given the keys of the Kingdom to His called-out ones, and although He could just as easily have told Paul what to do for others directly, that was the job of the Body. It still is today.
The early assembly was busy showing the path to those who were seeking the strait gate and the narrow way. For example, the Ethiopian treasurer was trying hard to understand the Book of Isaiah (Acts 8). Philip explained the Scriptures to him and brought about his conversion and desire for baptism. This is a prime example of Yahweh’s Spirit working through His people to help others find the way of salvation. That truth is lodged in the Body of believers.
Yahweh could just as easily have spoken to, or in some way moved, the people He was dealing with to do His bidding. Instead, He used those who had prepared themselves and were qualified, to help others seeking truth. It is up to the Body of Messiah to preach the Good News of salvation as Yahshua said in Matthew 28: 19.
Although signs, visions, and miracles were used on occasion by Yahweh in the New Testament Assembly, the message of salvation was given and expounded to others by those in the ekklesia, the called-out ones.
Shaping the Building Stones
Another reason for the necessity to gather with others of like faith is that all those placed in the Body of Messiah have a particular gift that is to be used to edify and build the Assembly, 1Corinthians 7: 7. That gift is to be used for the ekklesia and is not for personal glorification, 1Corinthians 14:12.
We are placed in the Body of Messiah as living stones making up a spiritual temple. Each member of the Body has been selected to be a part of that temple and is even in this life being fitted for an individual place in Yahweh’s spiritual temple.
The chipping, shaping, and fitting of each of the called-out ones goes on as we live our lives and change according to His Word. Yahshua is the chief cornerstone of the entire living, spiritual temple. He is not a lone rock on the seashore. We are to be formed collectively into a spiritual house, 1Peter 2:4-7, founded on Yahshua.
Yahweh has a purpose for gathering His people. We are to use whatever gift He has given each of us for the edifying of the temple. If we never associate with others of like faith, how can we exercise the gift we have received? Only through interaction with others do we learn to subjugate our own wants and desires as we uplift, edify, and strengthen others in the truth and faith.
“Living stones” that make up the body fit together only once they have been chipped and shaped and smoothed through contact with other living stones. The finished, polished pieces fit into a harmonious building where Yahweh’s Spirit dwells.
As an individual member of the Body of Messiah begins to pattern his life after that of the Messiah, he stops committing acts that he learns are sinful and against Yahweh. He starts following a course in accord with Yahweh’s way of life.
His mind is stayed on the Messiah. He no longer is taken up with satisfying his flesh and former way of life. He now longs to please the Heavenly Father and no longer indulges in wickedness of the lower nature: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of Elohim” (Gal. 5: 19-21).
Advantages of Fellowship
Through the Body of Messiah the fruits of Galatians 5:22-23 are grown, nurtured, and matured: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Examples of the kind of people we are to become should be visible in each assembly.Here we meet with those who are also trying to become more like the Messiah, growing in His likeness and stature. This is not possible to fulfill alone, which is why it is all the more important that we fellowship with other saints. Regardless, we should always live as if the Messiah were living right here among us no matter where we are.
By fruits is that person known, Matthew 7:20. Just as Yahshua sought fruit from the fig tree (Matt. 21), so we should be bearing fruit not only for Him, but also for the brethren.
Another great advantage of regular fellowship is the mutual understanding one can derive from others. Often we learn of a strange new doctrine that arises from an isolated individual who does not “test out” his idea with others for validity and harmony with the Scriptures. How often have we all been corrected or redirected by a brother or sister who had more insight on an idea or teaching! We need one another to stay balanced and on track. This is just another advantage of regular fellowship.
Believers Same as Yahshua
While most of us fully recognize the great debt of gratitude we owe Yahshua the Messiah, we often forget the most obvious way we can show our appreciation and love to Him for the price He paid that we might have life.
The Apostle Paul got the message in a big way. Supernaturally struck down on the Damascus road, he heard a voice asking him, “Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute Me?” Who was this he was hearing? The answer comes: “I am Yahshua whom you persecute,”Acts 9: 1-5.
Suddenly Paul realized the astounding fact that Yahshua was so close to His disciples that anything Paul had previously done in persecuting them was the same as attacking the Messiah Himself! That is how important the Body of Messiah is to our Savior, and that is why each person must have a place in it and work through it. To work and worship with the Body is to work and worship with the Savior!
Paul never forgot the lesson. On frequent occasions he would mention that he – more than anyone else – needed forgiveness because he had persecuted the Body of believers, and through them Yahshua Himself. Philippians 3:6; Galatians 1: l3, 1Timothy 1: l3.
Yahshua again revealed the deep and intimate feelings He has for His True Worshipers when he spoke of the righteous saints who inherit the Kingdom, Matthew 25:34-40. He said that doing good to the saints is the same as reaching out to Yahshua Himself. He likens His spiritual Body to his own body. When we do anything to a fellow believer we are in essence doing the same to Yahshua. When we refuse to fellowship with the Body, we are refusing Yahshua.
In verses 41-46 He makes the same point with the wicked who have not shown compassion and love for the Body. He speaks of not having cared for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned.
Some hunger for the Word; we should feed them. Some thirst for the Holy Spirit; they should be taught. Strangers should be taken into the camp and made spiritual Israelites wherever possible. They should be clothed in the robes of righteousness. If they are sick, they need healing and should be made whole. Those in prison should be freed from the captivity of sinful living.
Yahshua identified the group of believers in Matthew 12:48-50 when He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, “Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister and mother.”
Keeping His words in mind will help us to think of one another in the ekklesia as brothers or sisters. Whatever we do to these followers of the Messiah we also do to Him. He said that the ekklesia was also His Body. He refers to the called-out ones as the spiritual mother of the Body of believers. This is the same thought Paul had when he referred to the spiritual Jerusalem as the “mother of all,” Galatians 4:26.
Strength Through Fellowship
It is quite apparent that Yahshua expected the Body of believers to assemble as often as they could. Not associating with the saints leaves much of the development of the spiritual aspects of our lives unfinished. The interaction between the believers is necessary not only to help us become better followers of the Messiah, but also to learn from others who have met and overcome many of the same problems and difficulties. It strengthens us as well to see how others have overcome their trials.
Becoming associated with a group of True Believers allows one into a training ground or preparation for the work in the Kingdom. We develop talents or gifts that Yahweh has given us so they become ability. We use that ability to edify and build up the ekklesia.
In interaction with the saints we not only help them be better followers of the Messiah, but we also perfect ourselves. It is difficult or impossible to develop and use the spiritual gifts Yahweh gives us if we are alone.
Another purpose for assembling together is to make recommendations and judgments on the qualifications of the brethren. This was true in Acts 15:1-2 when the brethren determined who would go to Jerusalem. It was the brethren who decided the candidates for the role of deacon in the early assembly, Acts 6:3-6. In Acts 11:22 it was the ekklesia that sent Barnabas to Antioch. Later (Acts 15:22-23) it was the ekklesia that joined with the apostles and elders to send men they had chosen to visit the gentiles.
Cooperation Is Key
All through the New Testament we find that the Assembly played a vital part in the direction of the ministry. Decisions were made by the Body. There is no such term as head elder or directing elder in the New Testament, unless it refers to Yahshua. Examples of a plurality of people making the important decisions are found in the following:
Yahshua established the Assembly (Matt. 16:18), and to make it run He guides it by His Holy Spirit working through His people. It was the apostles or elders who recognized the choice of the brethren in ordaining individuals for the special task of serving the Body.
Most of us can look back on our Biblical pursuits and recall that we assimilated Bible knowledge by degrees. After we accepted one truth we went on to study deeper knowledge. Significantly, we learned through the help of others. Who can say that he learned all the truth totally without the help and direction of other people guided by Yahweh?
To say that we no longer need the fellowship and help of others in the Body is to reject the blueprint Yahshua established by which the truth is spread to all the earth.
One of the biggest thrills yet to come is when Yahshua returns to set up His Kingdom. It will not be the individual who thought it was “just you and me, Yahshua” who will make up that Kingdom. It will be ALL those who have been faithfully keeping the commandments and living daily the precepts they have proved true. It will be His entire ekklesia, the firstfruits, that will make up the core of His Kingdom of which there will be no end.
Serving the Body
In any organization, obligations and duties befall some for the good of all. For some, the reluctance to meet with a group is born of the fear of the responsibilities involved.
Yet that is exactly what the Kingdom will involve … responsibilities! We are in training now to handle the smaller duties of service so that we will be able to take on the much greater responsibilities to befall us in the Kingdom. If we shirk the little assignments of service now, how do we think Yahweh will consider us for the far greater and more demanding ones of ruling in His Kingdom? (Rev. 5:10)
A muscle that goes unused withers away. Yahweh wants involvement from His people. They in turn will grow with the responsibilities, ultimately to be qualified for a greater role to come. No one can presume to be an effective ruler in the Kingdom if he has not learned how to interact with others now.
This is one of the great truths of the Assembly. The ekklesia is a training ground, both for now and also for a more important role in the future. No one can effectively rule in the Kingdom if he has not learned to get along successfully with others now.
Traits of the True Group
How can we know which is the correct group of True Worshipers? The Bible gives us a clear understanding of the characteristics of truth seekers. Many teach that the law of the Old Testament has been done away. But Revelation 14:12 and many other New Testament verses maintain that Yahweh never changed His mind. His precepts are still binding. Besides boldly teaching the truth of the Word, other significant characteristics identify the true Assembly.
Revelation 14:12 tells of the patience of the saints who keep the commandments of Yahweh and have the faith of Yahshua. The saints, then, must be willing to endure situations that may not be pleasant. They must be willing to sacrifice all for the sake of the truth. Conditions will come to pass that will severely test their dedication and resolve to be faithful to the Father they serve. Will they keep the commandments? Will they be willing to suffer shame for His Name?
Notice specifically in Revelation 14:12 that the True Worshiper keeps the faith OF Yahshua, not the faith IN Yahshua – but the same faith He had. Part of His faith was that He was obedient in all things, 1Peter 2:22. He kept all the commandments. All the Feast days. All the Sabbaths. He is our example, our model, and our goal.
Another characteristic setting apart of True Worshipers is that His people will know and use His Name, Isaiah 52:6. His people will also be hated because of His Name, Matthew 24:9, but they will never deny it, Revelation 3:8.
The way is narrow and the gate is strait that leads to the Kingdom, and few will find it. The closer an organization follows the truth the fewer there will be in that group.
But seek the Kingdom we must, and with all our determination follow the Savior. This is not just a hobby for the Truth Seeker, it is his and her very reason for living.
They have expanded it, condensed it, made it thinner, more readable, easier to carry. They’ve put it on microfilm, movie film, cassette tape, CDs, DVDs and in Braille. No book in history has undergone so much transformation as the Bible. Man has translated Yahweh’s Word into 1,884 languages and dialects. In the last 100 years no fewer than 120 different English translations have come off the printing press.
With the dizzying array out there you may feel totally lost. Which are the better English versions? Which are the most trustworthy? Most accurate? One of the most frequently asked questions we get is, which Bible do you use? Before you make a choice, realize that no translation is perfect. Each is shaded to some degree by the translator and his personal beliefs and biases. Some translations are better than others and more faithful to the text. We prefer a study Bible with the King James text simply because more references, including lexicons, concordances, and studies, are geared to the King James than any other Bible. But the KJV also has its own detractors.
In early days, special edition Bibles contained not only the New and Old testaments, but also a concordance, small dictionary, and copious commentary notes. Because these notes were usually biased, a man’s religious persuasion was known by the type of Bible he kept.
In a less significant way, the Bible version you use most reflects your own intensity of interest in the Book of Books. The casual reader may choose a paraphrase version like The Living Bible or the easy-reading Today’s English Version. The serious student who wants copious study notes may consult The Anchor Bible, Harper Collins Study Bible, English Standard Version, Ryrie Study Bible, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, The NIV Study Bible, or one this writer uses, The Companion Bible.
Before we examine the bestsellers, a look at the historical background of Bible translations will be helpful.
Originals Unavailable
Some believe that the King James Version is the only trustworthy Bible. As one confused devotee said, “If the King James was good enough for the disciples, it’s good enough for me.”
Although the King James is one of the most popular of versions, it was not the first English translation of the sacred Scriptures. Before the King James was published in 1611, 12 others had appeared in England. The King James in circulation today is actually a 1762 version.
Translating of Scripture has been ongoing since 300 B.C.E. when tradition tell us 72 Jewish scholars were ordered by Egyptian ruler Ptolemy II to provide a Greek translation of the Old Testament for Alexandrian Jews who gradually had lost touch with the Hebrew language. Thus the Septuagint Greek Old Testament emerged. The Septuagint is the first attempt to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into another language, and is based on Hebrew manuscripts 1,000 years older than the Hebrew of the Masoretic text on which our Bibles are based.
More than 1,700 ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures exist today, but none of them are originals. Until over 60 years ago, the oldest existing Hebrew manuscript was the Masoretic, prepared by Jews known as Masoretes in the 5th and 6th centuries of our common era. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, much older Hebrew documents—dating from 100 B.C.E to 100 C.E.—became available. The Scrolls include parts or all of the Old .Testament books but Esther.
Except for segments in Syriac (an Aramaic dialect), only Greek manuscripts have been found for the New Testament, dating to the second century C.E.
A Hebrew New Testament?
That does not mean, however, that the originals were in Greek. Only Paul and possibly Luke were capable of writing in Greek. Further, Paul wrote his epistles to “converted” Jews of the dispersion in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome as well as to Gentiles. The disciples were Hebrews and many thoughts and idioms of the New Testament are Hebraic, especially in the books of Matthew and Mark. What’s more, hundreds of Hebrew words remain in the English New Testament, many simply because no exact synonym existed when the Hebrew was translated into Greek.
Notice the following Hebrew words left virtually untouched in the English: corban (Mark 7: 11); Sabbath (Matt. 12:1); raca (Matt. 5:22); cummin (Matt. 23:23); hosana (Mark 11:9), and myrrh (Matt. 2: 11). In addition are Hebrew words found commonly in the New Testament, like halleluyah (see alleluia); Satan; Messiah; wai (woe), and rabbi.
Idioms are found in the Evangels and the first part of the Book of Acts that are purely Hebrew. These don’t make good literal sense in either Greek or English, but they make perfect sense in Hebrew. These colorful Hebraisms provide undeniable evidence for a Hebrew source of the New Testament. If the original were Greek, it would not contain Hebrew vernaculars that have survived to our English.
Such Hebrew idioms include the Savior’s words in Matthew 6:23:”If your eye is evil…” and “If they do this when the wood is green … “ (Luke 23:31). Another is, “Whatever you bind [or loose] on earth will be bound [or loosed] in heaven” (Matt.16:19).
Also consider these expressions in the Evangels that have clear Hebrew understructures: “cast out your name as evil”; “the appearance of his countenance was altered”; “lay these sayings in your ears,” “he set his face to go,” “lifted up his eyes and saw,” etc.
Whenever anyone in the New Testament was addressed from heaven, it was always in the Hebrew tongue. Translations replaced the original Hebrew manuscripts, which either became lost, were destroyed, or simply wore out through use. Perhaps even older Hebrew scrolls will be discovered in some future archaeological dig.
Even more exciting would be the discovery of ancient Hebrew autographs of the New Testament. Such a find would demonstrate that the New Testament is simply a completion of the Old, as the New Testament faith is but a continuation of the “faith once delivered” to Israel, Jude 3. Paul wrote that we who are the Messiah’s today are Abraham’s seed, and heirs to the same promise,Galatians 3:29. For now we must rely on the oldest available manuscripts as did generations before us.
Our English Translations
Many English Old Testaments are based on the Septuagint. Another influential translation was the fourth century Latin Vulgate, an entire Bible translated by Eusebius Hieronymus, otherwise known as Jerome. The Vulgate was based on the Hebrew and became the standard of the Roman Catholic Church. From it sprang the Douai version, the only authorized English Bible for Catholics from 1600 to the 20th century.
With the emergence of a hierarchical government under the papacy, the Bible fell into general disuse. Exclusive decrees and dogmas of the Roman Church began to take precedence over Scripture. The common man could not read Latin, and the Vulgatewas the only Bible he had hopes of ever seeing. Volumes were scarce, and those that were available were chained down in the church and could not be removed.
But a renewed interest in the Scriptures followed the Protestant Reformation, as many of the church’s teachings came under scrutiny and criticism. The Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries revived the study of ancient languages and helped to inspire the many English Bible translations that would follow.
Among the new translators was the Dutchman Erasmus, who in 1516 became the first to publish a Greek New Testament. His work was used by the leaders of the Reformation in their common language versions of the New Testament.
First English Bible
In the 10th century a priest named Aldred wrote an English rendition of the Evangels between the lines of a Latin text he was copying, thus producing the oldest English translation of the New Testament for which evidence exists. Aelfric of Bath, an Anglo Saxon abbot, shortly afterward produced an English translation of the four Evangels.
It was 400 years later that the reformer John Wycliffe translated the first complete English Bible, relying primarily on the Latin Vulgate. The 1382 Wycliffe Bible paved the way for the Protestant Reformation.
Another influential translator was William Tyndale. He was a member of the Catholic order and friend of Martin Luther. In 1525 he published an English New Testament from the Greek, as well as the Book of Jonah from the Hebrew. It was the first English version made directly from the Hebrew and Greek and the first to be printed. His work was consulted in subsequent English translations, including the King James. For his efforts, Tyndale was strangled and burned at the stake, being accused of producing “untrue translations.”
The first complete English Bible to be published was the work of Miles Coverdale in 1535. This Bible had the blessing of King Henry VIII because Coverdale worded many passages in a way that supported Anglican doctrine and undermined the use of the Latin Vulgate. This version was translated from German and Latin sources (Martin Luther’s Bible, the Vulgate, and Tyndale’s Bible). Coverdale was the first to introduce chapter summaries and to separate the Apocrypha into an appendix to the Old Testament.
In 1553 Mary Tudor came to the throne of England and promptly banned the use of all English Bibles in favor of the Catholic Latin versions. In 1560 a group of English Protestant scholars fled to Geneva and produced the Geneva Bible. It was the first translation to divide the Scriptures into verses. It was also called the Breeches Bible, because of the peculiar way it translated Genesis 3:7: “They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves breeches.”
The Geneva Bible was based mainly on Tyndale’s work, with strongly Calvinistic notes.
Bible Fit for a King?
In an attempt to unite Presbyterian Scotland and Episcopal England, King James I authorized a new English translation of the Bible. The Hampton Court Conference, which the king assembled, resolved, “That a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes and only to be used in all Churches of England in time of divine service.”
Partly because of the “very partial, untrue, and seditious” Calvinistic notes in the popular Geneva Bible, the king was stirred to issue a new translation void of such notations. He took a leading part in organizing the work, dividing the Testaments among a panel of 47 of the leading scholars. It was one of the first English translations to be a united translating effort.
When it was finished, the King James Version was reviewed by a panel of 12 men. By virtue of the large number of translators, the same word is sometimes rendered differently. For example, Isaiah renders the nation descended from Esau as both Edom and Idumea.
The King James for the Old Testament relies primarily on ben Hayyim’s edition of the ben Asher Hebrew text. For the New Testament the committee used the Greek text of Erasmus and a bilingual Greek-Latin text of the sixth century.
The King James New Testament is far from perfect. The preface of the Revised Standard Version reads, “The King James Version of the New Testament was based upon a Greek text that was marred by mistakes, containing the accumulated errors of fourteen centuries of manuscript copying. It was essentially the Greek text of the New Testament as edited by Beza, 1589, who closely followed that published by Erasmus, 1516-1535, which was based upon a few medieval manuscripts.”
This source notes that Beza had access to two valuable manuscripts dating from the fifth and sixth centuries but used them very little because they differed from Erasmus’ text. The King James was revised in 1615, 1629, 1638, and 1762, the latter because the English language had changed so much that people wanted a Bible they could understand easily.
Most new translations have a hard time catching on. The King James was no exception. The Pilgrims didn’t like the newfangled KJV, preferringthe more traditional Geneva Bible. But through time the KVJ had come to be the most widely used of all translations.
Because of its wide popularity, most reference works such as lexicons and concordances are geared to the King James Version. The King James was the most popular Bible purchased in America until 1988, when the New International Version superseded it.
No Perfect Translation
Because it is produced by well-meaning but fallible men, no Bible translation is perfect. Only the original manuscripts by the prophets, apostles, and writers were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Languages are not precisely parallel in meaning. Often a translator has to make a judgment call as to which would be a better word to use based on his own competence with the languages and his own background in understanding the Scriptures.
Because the originals are unavailable, many modern translations are based on less than perfect source texts that are themselves born of translator biases. Some translations interpret certain passages according to traditional theological understanding (for instance, “Easter” in Acts 12:4 instead of the proper “Passover”); some are very loose or general in the use of language; others use outdated language (what does the KJV mean in reference to the Kingdom in Luke 16:16 that every man “presses into it”?);while nearly all suffer from the fluid nature of language as old meanings are replaced by new inferences. (Remember when “gay” meant happy and “bad” always denoted something harmful?)
Must we give up all hope of understanding the true, intended meaning of Scripture? Not at all. The key is knowing where the weaknesses and strengths lie in each version, as well as consulting as many good versions as possible when questions arise.When there is a problem, the Bible student can consult the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages through interlinears and lexicons. The diligent Bible student must sometimes rely on a variety of renditions, comparing one with another and especially with the Hebrew or Greek source word. Some study Bibles such as The Companion Bible do just that, as do interlinears and lexicons.
Yahweh has preserved His Word down through centuries of change and attempts to destroy it. Remarkably, ancient manuscripts like the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal just how closely the text was followed in the scribal copying leading to our translations.After copying, the scribe would count up the letters in the original and check it against his copy. If there were any discrepancies, the copy would be destroyed and the scribe would start over.
Why New Versions Necessary
Exact word equivalents are not possible for every word translated from the Hebrew or Greek. If a word-for-word translation were always possible, we would have no need for all the existing translations in English. But because we speak in phrases and sentences whose construction varies from language to language and dialect to dialect, the meaning can easily vary as well.
Additionally, languages constantly change, requiring revisions of translations to keep abreast of changes in word meanings. Better versions are necessitated as knowledge of ancient languages, customs, idioms, and circumstances grows through scholarship and discovery.
Let’s briefly review the most popular English versions of the Bible.
New International Version
Said to be the closest thing to a standard Bible among evangelicals is the New International Version. A team of 115 scholars spent seven years producing this contemporary language Bible in 1978. Each book was assigned to a team of scholars, who passed their work on to an intermediate committee who checked it with the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Then a general editorial committee double-checked the work. Still another committee made any needed changes.
The primary concern was for accuracy, clarity, and natural English style. For the Old Testament they used the Masoretic Text, Biblia Hebraica,, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, Peshitta, Targums, and Jerome’s Juxta Hebraica, for the Psalms, as well as consulted the Dead Sea Scrolls. Numerous Greek texts were used for the New Testament.
The NIV employs a dynamic equivalence form of translating in a number of passages. This method calls for using a word or phrase that makes the impact that the original had on its first readers, rather than using a simple grammatical or lexical equivalent. In English style it is similar to the Revised Standard Version.
The study version employs footnotes. Drawbacks are that it, as most, is not faithful to the sacred Names, and the New Testament reflects popular and sometimes erroneous dogma.
The New King James Version
The idea behind this version was to improve the readability of the King James Version but effect as little change as possible. A team of 130 scholars worked on individual books and recommended changes to the KJV text. An executive review committee then gave final approval to the new version. The New Testament was completed in 1979, the Old in 1982.
This version replaces Old English words like thee’s, thou’s, ye’s, thy’s, and thine’s with their modern equivalents. The NKJV is criticized for not updating the language enough. One authority called it a halfway house for some KJV readers who would eventually move on.
English Revised Version
In the 1870s two committees began to revise the King James Version with an attempted word-for-word rendition of the ancient autographs. The result in 1885 was the English Revised Version, a translation oriented toward British word spelling and British figures of speech. It was unpopular in the United States, even though an American committee had joined the project in 1872.
American Standard Version
Some of the same members of the American committee who worked on the English Revised Version joined the effort to produce the American Standard Version in 1901. This American revision of the KJV used American expressions for British ones and went back to the KJV in many phrases.
Further, it made parallel passages the same when the Greek was identical, something the King James was inconsistent in doing. Other changes included a more precise use of words with related meanings. For instance, “justice” for “judgment,” and “despoil” for “spoil. “
An attempt to translate literally from the ancient Hebrew and Greek text led to many difficult Hebraisms that the American Standard attempted to avoid. But in their effort to produce a literal translation where possible, ASV translators made their version sometimes as awkward as the King James. Still, the American Standard remains one of the most accurate of English language versions.
Revised Standard Version
Originally, the Revised Standard Version was an attempt to modernize the American Standard Version. But this Bible, published in 1952 by the National Council of Churches, came to be a new translation, at least of the improved Greek of the New Testament.
The RSV is one of the most consistent English translations, yet was strongly criticized at the outset for two reasons in particular: it altered the wording of many classic passages, and it chose new readings for many passages that had major theological implications.
The phrasing of the RSV is similar to the high style of the King James, which makes it less popular than more modern English Bibles today. It uses a word-for-word correspondence form of translation, and corrects such passages as Acts 12:4 (using the correct word “Passover” instead of “Easter”) and Hebrews 4:8 (employing the more proper “Joshua” rather than the erroneous “Jesus,” a mistake showing that the name “Jesus” should be “Yahshua”).
New American Standard Bible
Called the most literal, word-for-word translation on the market today, the New American Standard Bible of 1963 was another attempt to revive the American Standard Version of 1901.
Translators of the NASB used some of the papyrus manuscripts of the Greek New Testament, as well as referred to recent studies of the New Testament text. The Old Testament employed Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica (a Masoretic text), noting in the margin alternate translations from other manuscripts versions. It also has numerous cross-references.
A convenient feature of the NASB is that when a literal translation might be confusing to the reader, it gives the meaning of the text and puts the literal translation in the margin.
Some scholars think the Old Testament NASB is better than the New. Whatever the shortcomings, the New American Standard Bible is a valuable consulting version.
Jerusalem Bible
Previous English Catholic Bibles were translations from the Latin, until 1966 when The Jerusalem Bible was introduced. This readable version was based on a new way of translating, meaning for meaning from the Hebrew and Greek.
The name derives from the fact that the annotations are translated from a French version prepared at a Dominican center for Biblical studies in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Bible was edited by Catholic scholars in Britain. It is one of the few to transliterate the Name Yahweh in the Old Testament.
A plus for the Bible student are the notes at the bottom of the right-hand pages, as well as an introduction to each book.
New English Bible
The New English Bible was the first British version to break completely with the King James. It was completed in 1970 by a committee of both Bible scholars and learned men under the auspices of all major Protestant denominations in Great Britain.
Rather than use traditional Biblical English, the translators employed contemporary idiom. It is based on Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica for the Old Testament and a New Testament text by R.Y.G. Tasker, produced in 1964. The True Worshiper should be alert to the evangelical approach in the New Testament that does not always harmonize with Old Testament truth.
Of little import to the serious Bible student are the paraphrase versions, like the Living Bible and Good News Bible. These use dynamic equivalence and interpretive paraphrase techniques to make very easy reading but also very free English translations.
Sacred Name Bibles
We’ve covered a mere fraction of the hundreds of English versions available. There are many other lesser knowns, including single translator versions like the James Moffatt, Smith and Goodspeed, and J.B. Phillips. These former two acknowledge the true Name Yahweh in their prefaces.
Of significance to True Worshipers seeking to worship their Father in the truth of His personal Name is J.B. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible, which uses the Name Yahweh in the Old Testament, as do the Anchor Bible and Jerusalem Bible.
Since the 1950s several Bibles have been produced that restore the sacred Name. One of which is A.B. Traina’s Holy Name Bible. This work is based on the King James, although it reorganizes chapters in some books (including Genesis, Daniel, and Revelation) and takes a few translation liberties.
Other Sacred Name Bibles:
The Restoration of the Original Sacred Name Bible was published in 1976. This Bible is based on the Rotherham Version and uses the European-inflected Ashkenazic form of the sacred Name, Yahvah, as well as Yahshua in the New Testament.
Published by the Institute for Scripture Research in South Africa, The Scriptures says in the foreword that it uses the Masoretic Hebrew and Ara- maic as found in Kittle’s Biblia Hebraica for the Old Testament. In the New, this translation relies on three Greek texts. The Tetragrammaton (four Hebrew letters of Yahweh’s Name) is used in the Old Testament wherever the sacred Name is found. It employs the Hebrew letters for Yahshua in the New.
In 1992 World Book Publishers of Iowa Falls, Iowa, published The Authorized King James Version of 1611 in Exegeses. A year later came the second edition called the Exegeses Ready Research Bible. This Sacred Name version uses the King James and inserts exegeses or critical explanatory words within the flow of the text. It employs the Ashkenazic form “Yahveh” in the Old Testament and “Yahshua” in the New. This translation restores the Hebrew names of people and places of Scripture.
The Word of Yahweh of Eaton Rapids, Michigan, is a King James Bible using “Yahweh,” “Yahshua,” and “Elohim” with an explanation of the criteria used for employing “Yahweh” and “Yahshua” in the New Testament.
The Bible Student’s Wish
We see a reawakening to Bible truth today. Fifty years ago when the sincere Bible student mentioned the sacred Name and Yahweh’s Sabbaths and Feast days, he received quizzical stares.
But today, many churchgoers now know that Yahweh is the true, personal Name of the Father, and that Yahshua is the Name of His Son. Most Bible translators say they want to provide as accurate a version as possible. Perhaps some day all Bible translators will be honest with themselves and their readers and boldly and properly proclaim the true Names Yahweh and Yahshua in all Bible versions.
Without a doubt the most misinterpreted book in all of the Bible is Shaul’s (Paul’s) letter to the Galatians. It has been hailed as the Magna Carta of Christian freedom, with “freedom” meaning freedom from Biblical law.
Through the centuries Protestants have erroneously assumed that this book eradicated all Old Testament laws, even though Paul contradicts that notion in the book itself and in other books he wrote to other assemblies. To understand this letter correctly it is paramount that we know the reason that Paul was writing to these people of central Turkey known as the Galatians.
When we read New Testament letters like Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and Galatians, we are reading personal mail. There was a reason Paul wrote each of these letters and it was primarily to resolve problems endemic to the respective groups.
Why Not Tell the Other Assemblies Also?
A key question that must be asked before we delve into the book is: if Paul were in the process of abolishing all Old Testament law in his epistle to the Galatians, why did he not inform the other assemblies of this monumental, history-making disclosure? Why in his other letters like Hebrews and Romans does he contradict the notion that the law is obsolete?
In passages like Romans 3:31 he gives 100 percent support for the law: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Elohim forbid: yea, we establish the law.” He writes in Hebrews 8 that the law is to be in our hearts. And in Acts 24:14 he offers this plain and clear position statement: “But this I confess unto you, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the Elohim of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.”
Some of his statements had been mistaken by Jews in his day and thought to be heretical, yet he assured them (and us) that he was not against the law or prophets (Old Testament). On the contrary, he was a lawkeeper himself. In Acts 25:7-8 he stood before those falsely accusing him, “And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. While he answered for himself, ‘Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.’”
In Acts 21:24 Paul was told to prove to the doubting Jews that he was still law observant by taking part in purification rites: “Them take, and purify yourself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law.”
Truth Comes with Obedience
Some may ask, how can we presume to know the truth of Galatians if clerics have been debating the book for centuries? One advantage the True Worshiper has is that he comes properly prepared. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.” Those who are obedient to His laws will have a proper understanding of Yahweh’s Word, while the reverse is also true: those who snub His commandments will be misled when it comes to His truths.
Paradoxically, those who argue against obedience are arguing against proper understanding itself and therefore are working at cross purposes to truth, according to Psalm 111:10. His Spirit teaches us of His ways, Ezekiel 36:26-27. If you truly desire to know truth you need His Spirit, and that means obedience to the law because the Spirit is given specifically to those who obey, Acts 5:32. If you want to understand the Scriptures correctly, seek out a teacher who obeys the commandments and you will be much more likely to hear the truth. The requirement of a true prophet is to teach Yahweh’s commandments, according to Deuteronomy 13. Proper teaching does not reject the law either; on the contrary, the law is central to right instruction.
Five Problematic Areas in the Epistle
Let’s focus on the controversial passages in the Book of Galatians. There are five areas in Galatians that are usually used in an effort say that the law is no longer necessary under the New Covenant.
Notice first in 1:11-12 that Paul authenticates his own teachings by explaining that they were given not by man but by Yahshua Himself. Some reject his writings as uninspired, but here the apostle himself verifies their authenticity, which is something you don’t find in other books of the Bible — self-certification! For him to believe it was necessary to authenticate His letter Paul must have anticipated some misconceptions about what he was teaching.
We come to the first area of contention in chapter 2.
Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Yahshua the Messiah, even we have believed in Yahshua the Messiah, that we might be justified by the faith of Messiah, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” This verse seems to contradict what Paul says about justification and the law inRomans 2:13: “For not the hearers of the law are just before Elohim, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Is Paul confused or is the translation vague?
An understanding of the Greek clears up the mystery and sets forth a remarkable truth that corrects mainstream doctrine. An understanding of the Greek helps: “A man is not justified by (Greek ek — out of) works of law but [ean me, except] through faith in Messiah.” The Greek Emphatic Diaglott literally reads, “And knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, except on account of Faith of Messiah Yahshua.”
This verse goes to the whole issue of whether one can be justified by works. Paul says it can’t be done outside the context of faith in Yahshua. As important as works are to salvation, they must go hand-in-hand with faith. Far from negating works, Paul confirms them. It is our works that will determine our judgment and rewards, Revelation 22:12.
2:17-18: “But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Messiah the minister of sin? Elohim forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.” Once we commit our lives to Yahweh we must not return to sin. But if we do sin it is not Yahshua advocating it, Paul says. Note that in Paul’s discussion sin is still possible. In 1John 3:4 sin is defined as the transgression of the law — so the law is obviously still in effect. Romans 7:7 says we would not know sin except by the law.
Verse 19: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto Elohim.” By being law-observant, we are dead to the law, meaning free from the law’s penalties through obedience. Paul is simply saying that if I am a law-abiding citizen I have no fear of going to jail for such violations as stealing or killing. Being law abiding I don’t fall under that punishment. Note that this condition of being “dead to the law” comes “through the law” itself and not from an abolished law.
Verse 20: “I am impaled with Messiah: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Messiah lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of Elohim, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Yahshua living in us brings about true righteousness of character and conduct as we put to death our old ways of sinful lawlessness.
This is not a vicarious “righteousness of Messiah” imputed to us. The traditional, mainstream claim is that Yahshua kept the law for you because you can’t keep it yourself. That notion contradicts the many Scriptures in the New Testament that command us to obey the laws of Yahweh. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible (KJV) lists some 1,050 commands and laws operating in the New Testament. Yahshua died for us but He doesn’t live for us, He lives in us. With Him in us, we can obey.
Chapter 3’s Puzzling Passages
Gal. 3:10: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” This is an indictment of the Jews of Paul’s day who were keeping the law solely for justification purposes, including sacrifices and circumcision. Following a lot of do’s and don’ts cannot lead to justification apart from Yahshua. The law by itself cannot justify you. Without faith in Yahshua seeking justification by law alone is futile (v. 11).
12: “And the law is not of faith: but, the man that does them shall live in them.” The Twentieth Century New Testament (TCNT)translates the passage: “But the Law is not based on faith; no, its words are —‘Those who practice these precepts will find Life through them.’”
13-14: “Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Yahshua the Messiah; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” The TCNT renders it clearer than the King James, “[Messiah] ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the law…” Yahshua paid the death penalty that the law imposes for disobedience (“the curse”), and He opened the way through the New Covenant for gentiles to have the covenant blessings as well.
15: “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuls, or adds thereto.” Paul explains that once even a human covenant is made, you can’t add to it or take from it. You can’t pile on more requirements beyond what you agreed to. This is what the Jews were trying to do in Galatia with their added, man-made ritual law.
16-18: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Messiah. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of Yahweh in Messiah, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but Elohim gave it to Abraham by promise.” Yahweh made a covenant with Abraham that involved Abraham’s seed, referring to Yahshua. And that covenant did not originate from the law but by special promise.
19: “Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.” The traditional view says that the law that was added was the whole package of Old Testament laws, including the Ten Commandments. Yahshua came to end those laws, many believe, except perhaps those repeated in the New Testament.
The word “added” here does not mean to add a new arrangement as it does in verse 15 (Greek word epidiatassomai). “Added” in verse 19 (prosthemi) means to put alongside or join with. Why is this significant?
In verse 29 Paul says that the covenant made with Abraham was a promise that did not hinge on the law, or else it would be by works — something Abraham could possibly achieve on his own. Abraham was already law-observant, and that is one reason Yahweh chose to make a covenant with him, Genesis 26:5. Now when Yahweh extended the covenant to Israel the law was placed alongside the covenant as central to the covenant’s conditions (Deut. 4:31).
Israel was not obedient as Abraham and therefore they needed the details of the law included in their covenant with Yahweh. The law served as a guide for them to ensure that they knew what transgression was and what Yahweh expected.
3:21-25: “Is the law then against the promises of Yahweh? Yahweh forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Yahshua the Messiah might be given to them that believe. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Messiah, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”
The Old Covenant is superseded today by the New Covenant, Hebrews 9, but that does not mean the laws are replaced also. The law is not the covenant; the law represents only the terms of the covenant. The terms of the New Covenant still involve obedience to the law, with the law written in our hearts and minds just as it was supposed to be with Israel, Hebrews 8:10; Deuteronomy 6:6;30:11-14. The trouble was, Israel’s hearts were hard and they resisted obedience as some do today.
“Schoolmaster” in Greek is paidagogos and refers to a trustworthy slave who had charge of the boys in a family, guiding them in their formative years into making right choices. Once the youths matured they would make their own decisions guided by what they had been taught in childhood and therefore no longer needed a schoolmaster constantly prodding them. The law is our guide in the same way. Once mature in Messiah we no longer need the constant reminding of the law, having already learned what constitutes obedience to Yahweh through His laws.
The prophet Ezekiel foretold a time when the stony heart would be taken from people and a soft heart would replace it so that “they may walk in My statutes and keep my ordinances, and do them,” 11:19-20.
Putting the law in a soft, pliable heart results in an obedient believer. Many today have stony, rebellious hearts, refusing to acknowledge that the law is still in effect in the New Testament. They don’t accept that the law is the standard that measures their behavior today and that will judge them tomorrow.
After confirming the necessity of the law coupled with faith, Paul zeroes in on a new aspect of the Galatian problem.
Backsliding into Paganism
In Galatians chapter 4 Paul addresses another issue problematic with the people themselves. The name Galatia comes from the people who lived there, formerly Gauls who migrated from northwest Europe. The people who made up the various tribes were called Galli by the Romans and Galatai or Keltoi by the Greeks, terms meaning barbarian. It is from the Greek Keltoi that Celt is derived.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopaediasays under “Origin of the Name ‘Galatia,’: “The name was introduced into Asia after 278-277 BC, when a large body of migrating Gauls (Galatai in Greek) crossed over from Europe at the invitation of Nikomedes, king of Bithynia…The Galatai soon adopted the country religion, alongside of their own; the latter they retained at least as late as the 2nd century after [Messiah], but it was politically important for them to maintain and exercise the powers of the old priesthood…” “Galatia,” p. 1154.
The Gauls, who came from France and Belgium, were of the Celtic religion. Their high priests were the Druids. These were Babylonian pagans in every sense, who contributed heavily to the modern holiday of Christmas with its fertility rites and tree worship, as well as Halloween and other heathen observances that are so much a part of our culture today.
4:3: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” “Children” equates to those ignorant of Yahweh. Paul is dealing with a people here who had come out of a past steeped in spiritual blindness and falsity.
He portrays these Galatians by reminding them in verse 8 that they previously did not know Yahweh and in ignorance they had served idols. Then in verse 9 he asks, “But now, after that you have known Elohim, or rather are known of Elohim, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage?” They had a problem with slipping back to their old idolatry.
In verses 10-11 he says, “You observe days, and months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” Many think Paul was reproving them for keeping the Biblical Feasts here. But the context proves that they were actually leaving the Biblical worship they had recently been taught and going back to their former, pagan worship. The only thing these former pagans could possibly go back to was their old false gods. They were certainly not “turning again” to Biblical Feasts that they never knew before.
The Book of Galatians is instruction not just to the people of Galatia, but a warning against the pagan rites that are alive and well today. It deals with two problems: the people’s desire to return to their pagan past as well as the influence of certain Jews who were trying to get the new converts to convert to Judaism before they could enter the faith of Yahshua. This latter issue is addressed again in chapter 5.
In 5:1-6 the concern was physical circumcision as practiced by the traditional Jews: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Messiah has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Messiah shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Messiah is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Yahshua Messiah neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love.”
Here again we see how the issue of works alone as symbolized by physical circumcision contrasts with faith in Yahshua and how faith puts life and meaning into works. Without Yahshua one is obligated to do all the law, including the whole system of animal sacrifices, which Yahshua replaced by the death sacrifice of Himself.
Paul: Champion of Lawkeeping
Popular teaching sees Paul as the titleholder in bringing a new, law-less religion to the New Testament. As we have seen, the Book of Galatians has been mistaught and grossly distorted to make it appear that Paul was anti-law. Paul explicitly said he did not do away with the law but taught it and followed it, Acts 28:23. Yet, people still don’t believe him.
Paul was first of all a Jew, a Pharisee, and if there was anyone who upheld to the law standard as no other, he was the one. This is a man who adhered to the law so much that he:
went regularly to the synagogue on the Sabbath where the law was being taught, Acts 17:2;
said in verse 21 that he must by all means keep the Feast of Tabernacles, an Old Testament law;
rushed to Jerusalem in Acts 20:16 to observe the Feast of Weeks, another Old Testament law;
said plainly in Acts 21:24 that he kept the law, and he proved it by purifying himself with the Jews at the Temple.
This is the same man who told the Roman governor Festus that he “had done nothing against the Torah to which the Jews hold, nor against the temple, Acts 25:8.
Yes, the very one who in Acts 28:17 said he had done nothing against the customs of his fathers, and in verse 23 proceeded to teach the law of Moses from morning to evening.
Paul upheld the law because he believed that the “commandment is holy, just, and good,” and said so in Romans 7:12 — maintaining in verse 1 that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.
How can anyone say that this Apostle was out to destroy the law? We find contradiction after contradiction to that false belief all through Paul’s letters. We find instead one of the most powerful orators and most influential of Apostles upholding the law in every book he wrote, including the Book of Galatians.
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When I look at all the young fathers and mothers in the Assembly, I can’t help realizing how blessed their children are to have parents in the Faith. Some of these parents have known Yahweh all their lives. Watching these young couples walk in strength of their Faith in everything they do is a joy. Their support of one another through all the problems of life is exemplary as they guide their families toward the Kingdom of Yahweh.
Other mothers and fathers come into the Faith later in life, sometimes as a family and sometimes by themselves. As they work to overcome sin themselves, they also are teaching their children Yahweh’s ways and commandments. Learning Yahweh’s ways brings happiness to families if they allow His will, forgiveness, and mercy to be their everyday guide.
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die…” Ecc. 3:1-2. How true are these words of the Preacher.
The loss of our fathers this past year still brings tears to both my husband and me, as our thoughts and memories drift to the time when they were here with us. Our fathers were different in so many ways, but similar in their strength. Not just the physical strength when they were younger but also their resolve to never give up. Even in their later years they kept going till they could go no more. Their attitude of never giving up, no matter what, has touched each one in our families.
Don’t ever give up! Stay strong, work hard for Yahweh and for your family and for the brethren around you. There will be trials and everyday problems. Nevertheless, continue as a guide and example for your children, showing them how to persevere. Your children watch you in what you do, say, and act. If you say one thing and do another they’ll do exactly what you do! You will also lose their respect.
When I was a young mother I thought I had all the answers on discipline. Wow, did I have a lot to learn. It was hard for me to watch my husband discipline our little toddler at first and I would come to the rescue. Guess what? It didn’t take long before our child started playing one of us off against the other. We learned quickly to stand united as a couple, even if we didn’t agree with the other’s way of discipline at that time. We would discuss it later behind closed doors, but never in front of the children, I also realized when my husband stepped in the children listened.My husband showed our children amazing love in the way he disciplined.
He was calm, never disciplining in anger. He listened to them and discussed with them what they did wrong. He helped decide restitution, he was fair in punishment, and most of all he reassured them that they were deeply loved and because of that, correction was necessary. It hurt my children’s feeling when they knew their father was disappointed in them, even more than the actual punishment. There were always lots of hugs and smiles afterwards and most of all, respect.
Another strength you might need to find deep within you, due to difficulty with a strong-willed child, is let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no” be “no” just as the Word says. When your child comes running to you, asking for something, consider your response before you answer. Don’t say “no” and then give in and say “yes.” If you do you have just taught your child that wearing you down will get him what he wants. He will also learn that “no” doesn’t really mean “no.”
It’s okay to say “no,” but let them know why. Maybe they misbehaved that week or maybe what they want to have isn’t good for them, etc. Remember, this goes both ways. Don’t forget to say “yes” sometimes too, especially when you want to reward their good behavior. Be consistent and be strong! Your children will love and respect you for it.
Yahweh’s powerful example is His love for His Son. Let Yahweh’s strength, love, mercy, and correction that He showed us guide you with strength to teach your children the way they must go so they do not depart from Him or you…
“Then Yahweh said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground’.” Genesis 1:26
This morning, before grabbing my jacket to head outside, I looked out the window to see my cows patiently waiting for me at the feed tubs. Despite the big bale of hay by the fence and the newly emerged springtime grass, they are always eager to dine on grain. Sometimes they almost seem human in their understanding and acceptance of how things are. Watching them over the years, I have seen them express grief after losing a calf, curiosity as a cat ventures close, sadness when one of the herd leaves, boredom when left alone, fear when I’ve lost my temper and yelled at them, and anger when they’ve been wronged somehow. They babysit each other’s calves and console one another when sick or bereaved. And, even though I’ve had them dehorned, ear-tagged, and vaccinated and then proceeded to steal their milk and send their calves off to the meat processor, they still look at me with a measure of trust. What beautiful, gentle and compassionate creatures they are!
So, you may rightly ask, how can I eat beef? Many question the practice of killing animals for food. In fact, some are so repulsed by the idea of eating meat that they will only eat a vegetarian diet. Was mankind meant to consume only a plant-based diet? Often, Genesis 1: 29-30 is used in support of this viewpoint: “Then Yahweh said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food. And it was so.” A further reading of the scriptures, however, clarifies that there is no plant-only diet directive.
“Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to Yahweh. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Yahweh looked with favor on Abel and his offering…” (Genesis 4:2-4). Why did Abel have flocks if not for food and why did he offer the choicest portions to Yahweh if eating meat was forbidden?
As Noah entered the Ark he was told to take seven of every kind of clean animal but only two of every kind of unclean animal (Genesis 7: 2). Why would there have been a distinction between clean and unclean animals were they not used for food? When the floodwaters receded and Noah, his family, and all the creatures came out of the ark, the first thing Noah did was to build an altar and sacrifice “some of the clean animals and clean birds” to Yahweh (Genesis 8:20).
Just before leaving Egypt, when the first Passover was instituted, Moses and the Israelites were commanded to slaughter a lamb, smear its blood on their doorposts, and roast it over a fire. Later, as they wandered in the desert, the Israelites were given specific instructions for building the Tabernacle, the Ark and the Altar for burnt offerings. Not only did Yahweh instruct them in the timing and purpose of animal sacrifices, but also went on tell the Israelites how to prepare the animals and which parts to eat.
The animal sacrifices performed by Abel, Noah, and Moses all foreshadowed the sacrifice of the Messiah, the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world. It was an act of faith. The sacrificial animals were to be blemish free, or perfect, as was our Savior. The killing of the innocent mirrored His blamelessness. And, just as the meat was necessary for the physical body to live, Yahshua’s sacrifice was necessary for the spiritual body to live.
But, even though mankind was given dominion over the animals and allowed to use them for food, he was not given permission to torment them. Then, as now, farmers had a special relationship with their herds as they fed, watered, nursed and protected them. Yahweh’s directive, “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk,” Exodus 23:19 was a reminder to use compassion in our treatment of His creatures. Cattle, sheep, and goats roamed outside, grazing on green pastures in the fresh air. An animal was consumed only upon special occasions and the slaughter was done quickly and expertly.
How different we find the production of meat and dairy products today! Many animals are raised on bleak feedlots, wandering around in manure with little or no access to grass or even sunlight. The production lines of large slaughterhouses cannot ensure that each animal is killed quickly and humanely. Chickens may live their whole lives caged up in smelly, overcrowded poultry sheds to insure that their meat will be tender or that maximum egg production runs smoothly. Surely, Yahweh cannot be pleased with mankind’s treatment of His creatures.
The stark reality is that if one eats meat, an animal had to die. This truth is hard to swallow and it is preferable to ignore this fact while munching on a juicy cheeseburger. How is it possible to reconcile the sacrifice of an animal for food with our desire to be good caretakers of that which Yahweh has created?
Cut down on your meat consumption. Most of the people in the world did not and do not eat meat every day. Use meat sparingly, as a condiment rather than the main course and eat meatless meals several times each week. A diet based heavily on meat not only kills more animals, but has been shown to cause many diseases in the consumer as well.
Try to purchase beef or poultry from a local farmer who uses grass-fed or free-range practices instead of the grocery store offerings. Research suggests that grass-fed cattle have 80% less E. coli in their gut systems than their feedlot counterparts. If more people would do this, perhaps the huge feedlots and poultry prisons would cease to exist.
Don’t waste your food. Only fill your plate with as much as you will eat. Much time, effort, and expense went toward your meal. Remind your children and yourself that a life was taken, a sacrifice was made, so that they and you might nourish your bodies.
Remember to give thanks to Yahweh for that which He has provided and show your respect and love for Him by not abusing or taking His gifts for granted.
In America it starts as a pumpkin, but in Europe it was often carved from a turnip, large beet, potato, rutabaga or even a skull with a candle in it. The fearsome face of the fat jack-o-lantern was representative of the god of the dead, Saman, who would drive off less powerful evil spirits abroad that night.
Historians do not hide the fact that Christmas was an invention of the Roman church, designed to compete with the heathen Roman feast of Saturnalia in honor of the sun deity Mithras. Mithras bore remarkable similarity to the Biblical Messiah. The Mithraic feast, like Christmas, was celebrated to commemorate his birth. 
