Getting tangled in Hebrew Roots?!

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
Why is is so hard to keep on the "straight and narrow"? I think nowhere is this difficulty more obvious right now than for Christians navigating their relationship with Jews. For centuries, various forms of replacement theology have been the doctrine of the majority of the church. More recently the pendulum seems to have swung the other way and Christian Zionism and various kinds of Hebrew Roots teachings have become more prevalent. As this forum illustrates, there are many Christians taking different stances on "all things Israel" who find it hard to understand the motivations of those who take different views.

As for me, I don't oppose the existence of Israel and I beleive that God has got a reason for gathering the Jews back. Hopefully my previous posts make this fairly clear e.g:-

https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/christian-zionism-discussed.2062/page-15#post-188933

HOWEVER, there is a difference between not being against Israel, believing that unfulfilled prophecy talks about the Jews and blindly endorsing everything it does. There is also a world of difference between opening the OT and understanding it in the light of the New and returning to the Law and rejecting the revelations Jesus gave to Paul.

Nowhere is this issue more clearly shown than the way in which the "Noahide Laws" and the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith are being used by some to eclipse Jesus and take people away from the liberty of God's grace and back into the legalism that Paul warned the Galatians about...

 

Dalit

Star
Joined
Oct 23, 2018
Messages
1,911
I need to spend more time researching this, but I'm under the impression that the Noahide Laws are a bad thing. I spent some time with some people recently who even mentioned it would involve guillotines and the like for all those confessing Jesus/Yeshua.

Based on my very limited research, it appears to come from the Talmud and not from Scripture, not from true Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy or B'reisheet through Devarim). That's a red flag. That means it's a matter of interpretation even if it's by learned scholars and rabbis. Those are the ones who say eating cheeseburgers isn't kosher because it's mixing milk with the meat. Nowhere in Scripture does it say this. It says not to boil a kid (baby goat) in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19) and that was interpreted by rabbis as not to eat cheeseburgers, no turkey and cheese sandwiches, etc. It's about not boiling a baby goat in its mother's milk, which sounds like a cruel, inhumane thing to do anyway, but someone must have done it or it would not be mentioned. It was a pagan custom of the time, I think.

Here's some good stuff from Stephen Pidgeon's Et Cepher blog (will post link):

"The first premise is to accept “One G-d” as that concept is understood by the practitioners of Talmudic Judaism, which of course means denying the Son; (Because they still can’t answer the question posed by Shalomah (Solomon) in Mishlei (Proverbs) 30:4)."

Proverbs/Mishlei 30:4 (NASB): "Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son's name? Surely you know!" (emphasis mine)

"The second is to accept the priesthood of the Jewish people as the guardians and teacher of Torah. This cannot be credibly done by anyone, nor should it be accepted by anyone."

https://www.cepher.net/blog.aspx?post=5294&title=The-Tyranny-of-the-Noahide-(Noachide)-Laws-(with-video)

Hope this helps! If it sounds like tyranny, it probably is.
 

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
Some more information....

Chabad movement

Maimonides stated that God commanded Moses to compel the world to accept these seven commandments. In 1983 Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson urged his followers to actively engage in activities to inform non-Jews about these seven commandments, which had not been done in previous generations.[56]

Sefer Sheva Mitzvot Hashem

After Rabbi Schneerson started his Noahide Campaign in the 1980s, a codification of the exact obligations of the Gentiles in the spirit of the classical Shulchan Aruch was needed. In 2005, Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem accepted to produce an in-depth codification of the Noahide precepts.[57] The work is called Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem, (The Book of Seven Divine Commandments) published 2008/2009. As it was approved by both of the then presiding chief rabbis of Israel (Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger) as well as by other Hasidic and non-Hasidic halachic authorities, it can claim an authoritative character and is referred as a Shulchan Aruch[58] for Gentiles at many places.

Public recognition
United States

In 1987 President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation speaking of "the historical tradition of ethical values and principles, which have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws, transmitted through God to Moses on Mount Sinai",[59] and in 1991, Congress stated in the preamble to the 1991 bill that established Education Day in honor of the birthday of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of the Chabad movement:

Whereas Congress recognizes the historical tradition of ethical values and principles which are the basis of civilized society and upon which our great Nation was founded; Whereas these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws [...][60]

7-Laws-Poster.jpg

Which all makes the following information eye opening viewing!

 
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
1,185
Why is is so hard to keep on the "straight and narrow"? I think nowhere is this difficulty more obvious right now than for Christians navigating their relationship with Jews. For centuries, various forms of replacement theology have been the doctrine of the majority of the church. More recently the pendulum seems to have swung the other way and Christian Zionism and various kinds of Hebrew Roots teachings have become more prevalent. As this forum illustrates, there are many Christians taking different stances on "all things Israel" who find it hard to understand the motivations of those who take different views.

As for me, I don't oppose the existence of Israel and I beleive that God has got a reason for gathering the Jews back. Hopefully my previous posts make this fairly clear e.g:-

https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/christian-zionism-discussed.2062/page-15#post-188933

HOWEVER, there is a difference between not being against Israel, believing that unfulfilled prophecy talks about the Jews and blindly endorsing everything it does. There is also a world of difference between opening the OT and understanding it in the light of the New and returning to the Law and rejecting the revelations Jesus gave to Paul.

Nowhere is this issue more clearly shown than the way in which the "Noahide Laws" and the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith are being used by some to eclipse Jesus and take people away from the liberty of God's grace and back into the legalism that Paul warned the Galatians about...

The Noahic Laws are laws that should be in the heart of all born again believers by the Holy Spirit. They become natural to us in our heart...that was the change in us...we agree with God because of Christ in us and Christ as our propitiation (Mercy seat) for the weakness of the flesh. We are not under the letter of the Law....but under the Law of Christ...We are a new man.
The Seven Noahide Laws

Part 1


The following are the seven commandments, comprising six negative precepts and one positive. There is much more that remains as explanation and commentary, but this article will limit itself to a few insights after presenting the list itself.

  1. Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.
  2. Incestuous and adulterous relations are forbidden. Human beings are not sexual objects, nor is pleasure the ultimate goal of life.
  3. Murder is forbidden. The life of a human being, formed in G-d's image, is sacred.
  4. Cursing the name of G-d is forbidden. Besides honoring and respecting G-d, we learn from this precept that our speech must be sanctified, as that is the distinctive sign which separated man from the animals.
  5. Theft is forbidden. The world is not ours to do with as we please.
  6. Eating the flesh of a living animal is forbidden. This teaches us to be sensitive to cruelty to animals. (This was commanded to Noah for the first time along with the permission of eating meat. The rest were already given to Adam in the Garden of Eden.)
  7. Mankind is commanded to establish courts of justice and a just social order to enforce the first six laws and enact any other useful laws or customs.
 

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
The Noahic Laws are laws that should be in the heart of all born again believers by the Holy Spirit. They become natural to us in our heart...that was the change in us...we agree with God because of Christ in us and Christ as our propitiation (Mercy seat) for the weakness of the flesh. We are not under the letter of the Law....but under the Law of Christ...We are a new man.

The Seven Noahide Laws






Part 1






The following are the seven commandments, comprising six negative precepts and one positive. There is much more that remains as explanation and commentary, but this article will limit itself to a few insights after presenting the list itself.





  1. Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.
  2. Incestuous and adulterous relations are forbidden. Human beings are not sexual objects, nor is pleasure the ultimate goal of life.
  3. Murder is forbidden. The life of a human being, formed in G-d's image, is sacred.
  4. Cursing the name of G-d is forbidden. Besides honoring and respecting G-d, we learn from this precept that our speech must be sanctified, as that is the distinctive sign which separated man from the animals.
  5. Theft is forbidden. The world is not ours to do with as we please.
  6. Eating the flesh of a living animal is forbidden. This teaches us to be sensitive to cruelty to animals. (This was commanded to Noah for the first time along with the permission of eating meat. The rest were already given to Adam in the Garden of Eden.)
  7. Mankind is commanded to establish courts of justice and a just social order to enforce the first six laws and enact any other useful laws or customs.
I must admit I quite liked the idea of the Noahide laws till it became clearer how they were likely to be interpreted...

The most significant one is the first :-

  1. Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.

But what if the enforcement of the laws (which prescribe harsh penalties for infringement) were in the hands of those who regarded having faith in Jesus as an equal member of the Trinity an idolatrous state?! The Muslims are quite clear this is an example of idolatry. Likewise the Jews...

There may soon come a time when I suspect the Monotheists will be seduced to unite in a one world religion under the Noahide laws. It might suddenly get nasty for those who choose to take a stand for Jesus at that time...

https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/the-trifaith-initiative-a-search-for-unity-or-a-prototype-for-a-one-world-religion.3866/
 
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
3,907
I must admit I quite liked the idea of the Noahide laws till it became clearer how they were likely to be interpreted...

The most significant one is the first :-

  1. Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.

But what if the enforcement of the laws (which prescribe harsh penalties for infringement) were in the hands of those who regarded having faith in Jesus as an equal member of the Trinity an idolatrous state?! The Muslims are quite clear this is an example of idolatry. Likewise the Jews...

There may soon come a time when I suspect the Monotheists will be seduced to unite in a one world religion under the Noahide laws. It might suddenly get nasty for those who choose to take a stand for Jesus at that time...

https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/the-trifaith-initiative-a-search-for-unity-or-a-prototype-for-a-one-world-religion.3866/
See the problem right here is using a logical perspective to judge a mystical concept.
it is literalism..and it isnt just the jews and muslims who do it, it is the christians just as much.

islam emphasises the balance between the two eg suppose if I said
"God is with me"
this is not a literal truth, it is a mystical statement reflecting my faith. it isn't meant to be taken literally and the idiot who takes it literally in opposition to me, would want to stone me to death.
You are also a literalist eg if you had faith in me, you would read it with faith and say "wow God was with him everywhere he went, when he went to the shitter, there was God right next to him"

the only difference being you are on the other side of the coin because you're raised a christian, but still a literalist.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
1,185
I must admit I quite liked the idea of the Noahide laws till it became clearer how they were likely to be interpreted...

The most significant one is the first :-

  1. Idolatry is forbidden. Man is commanded to believe in the One G-d alone and worship only Him.

But what if the enforcement of the laws (which prescribe harsh penalties for infringement) were in the hands of those who regarded having faith in Jesus as an equal member of the Trinity an idolatrous state?! The Muslims are quite clear this is an example of idolatry. Likewise the Jews...

There may soon come a time when I suspect the Monotheists will be seduced to unite in a one world religion under the Noahide laws. It might suddenly get nasty for those who choose to take a stand for Jesus at that time...

https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/the-trifaith-initiative-a-search-for-unity-or-a-prototype-for-a-one-world-religion.3866/
Yes, If they try to live by the letter of the Law, then that makes those who (under the Law are condemned) become the Judges over the people without Liberty. While they themselves are sinners (unrepented) judging others. Much like Christ chastised the religious leaders of Israel for. Is that making sense?
 

JoChris

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
6,168
I never had heard about this movement until hearing a sermon about it from Mike Hoggard on www.sermonaudio.com.
I found a sermon of his here.


Is it more common in the USA and other countries? I haven't heard of it here in Australia but I have only been in Baptist churches since 2011.
 

Dalit

Star
Joined
Oct 23, 2018
Messages
1,911
Hey, I know this is going back to Stephen Pidgeon's article and I must confess I didn't read it all yesterday, but I liked where he was going with it, with explaining how the Noahide laws, while sounding similar to the 10 Commandments, are not Biblical but the product of rabbinical thought. Pidgeon does quote from Jubilees here, and let me say this about that. I'm currently studying some of the Apocrypha with a group, but I have my Bible open alongside. I feel I can keep what lines up with the Bible. The rest I can consider and/or toss. I respect the canon.

[Pidgeon starts here]
Yovheliym (Jubilees) 7:20
And in the twenty eighth jubilee Noach began to enjoin upon his son’s sons the ordinances and commandments, and all the judgments that he knew, and he exhorted his sons to observe righteousness, and to cover the shame of their flesh, and to bless their Creator, and honour father and mother, and love their neighbour, and guard their souls from fornication and uncleanness and all iniquity.
Unlike the rabbinical reach to create out of whole cloth a set of laws based upon centuries of rabbinical midrash, we actually have a list of laws actually given to Noach.
  1. Observe righteousness,
  2. Cover the shame of their flesh,
  3. Bless their Creator,
  4. Honour father and mother,
  5. Love their neighbour,
  6. Guard their souls from fornication and uncleanness
  7. [Guard their souls from] all iniquity.
But, the rabbis of the third century – many of whom were not of the tribe of Yahudah – couldn’t refer to these laws, because they refused to recognize the Cepher Yovheliym. So, they came up with their own. (emphasis mine)

[Pigeon ends here]

https://www.cepher.net/blog.aspx?post=5294&title=The-Tyranny-of-the-Noahide-(Noachide)-Laws-(with-video)

The whole point of the Noahide Laws is that they likely will be used to persecute and/or kill Christians in the future and that is wrong.
 
Last edited:

Karlysymon

Superstar
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
6,722
There's some more information in this thread
https://vigilantcitizenforums.com/threads/have-you-heard-of-the-noahide-law.348/#post-14300
The whole point of the Noahide Laws is that they likely will be used to persecute and/or kill Christians in the future and that is wrong.
https://www.thenation.com/article/pursuing-millennium/

"For, in its full and perfect form, the Jewish Kingdom that arose in its place would elevate a stern and wrathful God’s sovereignty over any new-fangled, heathen concepts such as the people’s will, civil liberties or human rights. It would be governed by the Halacha, or Jewish religious law, of which the rabbis would be the sole interpreters, and whose observance clerical commissars, installed in every public and private institution, would rigorously enforce, with the help of citizens legally obligated to report any offense to the authorities. A monarch, chosen by the rabbis, would rule and the Knesset would be replaced by a Sanhedrin, or supreme judicial, ecclesiastic and administrative council. Men and women would be segregated in public, and “modesty” in female dress and conduct would be enforced by law. Adultery would be a capital offense, and anyone who drove on the Sabbath, or desecrated it in other ways, would be liable to death by stoning. As for non-Jews, the Halacha would be an edifice of systematic discrimination against them, in which every possible crime or sin committed by a Gentile against a Jew, from murder or adultery to robbery or fraud, would be far more heavily punished than the same crime or sin committed by a Jew against a Gentile–if, indeed, the latter were considered to be a felony at all, which it often would not be.

All forms of “idolatry or idol-worship,” but especially Christian ones (for traditionally Muslims, who are not considered to be idolaters, are held in less contempt than Christians), would be “obliterated,” in the words of Shas party leader Rabbi Ovadia Yossef. According to conditions laid down by Maimonides, whose Halacha rulings are holy writ to the fundamentalists, those Gentiles, or so-called “Sons of Noah,” permitted to remain in the Kingdom could only do so as “resident aliens,” obliged under law to accept the “inferiority” in perpetuity which that status entails, to “suffer the humiliation of servitude,” and to be “kept down and not raise their heads to the Jews.” At weekday prayers, the faithful would intone the special curse: “And may the apostates have no hope, and all the Christians perish instantly.” One wonders what the Jerry Falwells and Pat Robertsons think of all this; for it is strange, this new adoration by America’s evangelicals of an Israel whose Jewish fundamentalists continue to harbor a doctrinal contempt for Christianity only rivaled by the contempt which the Christian fundamentalists reserve for the Jews themselves."
 

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
The right way to explore Hebrew Roots?

Luke 24 - Jesus Explains the Prophecies

25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
 
Joined
Jul 29, 2018
Messages
2,040
Romans 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness (as to their true identity) is happened to part of Israel (the ten "lost" tribes - the House of Israel), until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
King of kings' Bible.
 

Dalit

Star
Joined
Oct 23, 2018
Messages
1,911
Here's a good resource for those in Hebrew Roots that feel the weight and oppression of the false teaching they've embraced. Not sure why the font is so big. I can attest to the truthfulness of this blog. And it's quite interesting that when I was enmeshed in the HRM, I refused to listen to anything against it even though I had my doubts. This movement attracts the wounded and those who are dissatisfied with the church yet it wounds the wounded even more. I was told a modest dress I was wearing was immodest because it showed my knees and maybe half an inch of my thighs. I felt shame and haven't worn that dress since. I should totally wear it if it's not too big now. :)

https://joyfullygrowingingrace.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/hebrew-roots-movement-salesmanship-101/
 

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
The Hebrew Roots Movement

Gary Thursday, July 11, 2019
From https://www.unsealed.org/2019/07/the-hebrew-roots-movement.html?m=1

As we grow nearer to our Blessed Hope, it's becoming increasingly necessary to step up and speak out, guarding the flock while there is still a few meager moments left. It's time to be straightforward. There is one particular heretical movement that is surging right now while the dragon tries his last minute wiles to prevent the male child's ascension. We've dealt with different forms of apostasy, some on the left and some on the right. All apostasy has one thing in common: it presents a false gospel in which the Atonement is presented as either unnecessary (liberal theology), or not enough (legalism).

The Hebrew Roots Movement is one such apostate movement (though not all of it, as I'll explain in a moment). But it is definitely not new or innovative. It is simply a resurgence of 1st century apostasy cloaked in a pretentious mask of "holiness", which in reality is nothing of the sort. Self-righteousness and fear are what hide underneath.

If you are teaching that commandment-keeping is good, right, and a blessing—and a right response of gratefulness for what God has done for us through Christ—then I stand with you in faith. If, instead, you are teaching that keeping the Mosaic Law is necessary for salvation then I stand apart from you. You stand condemned already: not only by your rejection of the blood of Christ, but by the immense hypocrisy of your message.

"Necessary" is the key word. It's the message of law-keeping necessity that supplants the gospel and severs one from Christ.

Disclaimer: [Before I continue, I want to be clear that I'm not singling out anyone in particular. My tone would be completely different if that were the case and I would want to confront them directly in love. But I'm confronting an entire movement and so I'm going to be straight and to the point. I pray you will all receive this with the understanding that my heart is broken for those caught up in this demonic trap. I desperately want them to be free from it, so that they can be saved (if not already), and stand firm in the grace and power of our LORD Jesus Christ. I long for the scales to fall from their eyes, so that they can step into the light of the truth of the gospel. I'm trying to snatch them from the fire, so that they can, in turn, snatch others.]

I'm witnessing many in this movement pay lip service to Christ, but fight tooth and nail against any mention of the gospel message. There is a genuine repulsion to the biblical concept of atonement (which is in fact the Bible's central theme). At its core, the Hebrew Roots Movement is a man-centered, man-focused, man-glorifying attempt to live by God's standards, which can never be successful. Salvation is entirely of the LORD.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't want to lump in Messianic Judaism and everything Hebrew Roots-related into this rebuttal, because there are genuine Christians in the movement who understand and believe the gospel yet live out their faith by exploring the Hebrew underpinnings of the Christian faith. There is beauty in that. Celebrating Sukkot, having your family rest on Saturday, or referring to Jesus in Aramaic are fine and good. But as soon as those things become necessities, then your faith has become vain and useless, and, like James said, who wrote to the scattered tribes of Israel which had largely rejected Christ (Jas. 1:1)—that faith is dead. And that dead faith has also become a stumbling block to others (Rm. 14:1–23; Mt. 23:4; Lk. 11:46). If you truly believe that Christ has entirely, once-and-for-all, atoned for your sins and risen again, your works will normatively show that. And those normative works are most clearly evidenced by the Holy Spirit's fruit in your life. Love chief among them.

The fruits of the apostate elements of the Hebrew Roots Movement appear to be anger, self-righteousness, hypocritical judgment, obsession with rule-keeping rather than God Himself, and, most tellingly, an aversion to any mention of the gospel, security of salvation, the finality of atonement, justification before God, or the sovereignty of God in salvation.

There is also a strong aversion when Christians state the obvious fact that our flesh will necessarily remain imperfect until glorification. Believers should hate sin and strive toward perfection, but 100% of believers who have ever lived have sinned in the flesh even after coming to a saving knowledge of the truth. Peter, Paul, James, and John all had "bod[ies] of sin and death" even after receiving the Holy Spirit. You and I are no different.

Before you jump in with the wolves, who regurgitate Roman Catholic and sectarian talking points about passages like James 2 and Hebrews 10, I implore you to first explore the possibility that these passages do not alter the gospel, but rather bolster it. If you find yourself believing that James 2 and Hebrews 10 somehow paint a picture where works are necessary for salvation rather than, or in addition to, the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf, I implore you with all of my heart and soul to read these two studies:

James 2: Law and Grace

Hebrews 10: The Final Sacrifice

- - -

A Common Enemy

Why are Islam and the secular Left in bed together? The most totalitarian and legalistic religion on the planet and the lawless forces of leftism, are conjoined for convenience, because the enemy of both is the truth of God and the Church.

I've spoken at great length in numerous articles about the importance of discerning how the gospel of salvation is distorted by both legalists (often on the right of the political spectrum) and lawless (often on the left). Legalists and lawless are typified in the New Testament by the competing camps of Pharisees (the legalistic, self-righteous) and the Sadducees (the lawless, God-rejecting). Mankind hasn't changed much in 2,000 years. The same demons of the past are with us today. The apostles diligently warned us about the deception from both camps that are, unknowingly, Satan-inspired to steer people away from the simple truth of the gospel. Both sides attack the truth and twist words, regularly employing straw-man arguments against those who hold fast to the Cross. Both sides are all about self and self-aggrandizement, whereas the gospel of Christ and Him crucified is about God and His glory.

Whereas I've spelled out a number of ways to detect the lie(s) of both sides, let me share with you the simplest way to detect their untruth:

They both lack clarity.

We don't know as much as we think we do, but what God has chosen to reveal to us through His word is crystal clear. If your belief system lacks clarity about salvation and the truth of God, you can be assured it's from hell. Run from it. Satan is the author of confusion, not our all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect Heavenly Father.

The Hebrew Roots Movement is a perfect example of this. You'll never get a clear or consistent answer about any of these things:

1. Salvation: accomplished by Christ through His death and resurrection... or accomplished by us, either in whole or in part?

2. Maintaining salvation: Christ or us?

3. Which works/commands are necessary for salvation?

4. How many works/commands must be performed to "prove" one's salvation?

5. How many sins/acts of disobedience are necessary to disprove one's salvation or to be considered a habitual sinner?

6. Confession of individual sins: necessary for salvation? If so, what about forgotten sins? What about sins you're not aware of? And how does the Atonement factor in? Was the penalty of sin paid for on the Cross or when one confesses individual sins?

7. The Name of God: Yahweh? Yehowah? Yehoweh? Yehowih? Yehovah? Jehovah? Yahuah? What if you use the wrong name? Must Gentiles become like Jews?

8. Keeping the Torah: which of the 613 commands? All of them? Some of them? How do you decide which to neglect and which to keep? What about the principle that Christ fulfilled the Torah Himself on our behalf? Are we free or still bound by the Law? If bound by the Law, what is the penalty for breaking the Law? If the penalty is loss of salvation, then what did Christ come for? Why did He die?

Just like the Christ-rejecters circa 33 AD whose testimonies did not agree—so too the Christians-in-name-only Cross-rejecters in 2019.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against Him, but their statements did not agree.
- Mark 14:55–56

Christ Did Not Come To Abolish The Law
- YET -
We Are Not Under It

Christ said He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Paul says we are no longer under the Law and that the Law is passing away. Which is it? The Hebrew Roots Movement will have you either mix these truths and muddy the waters, or keep what Christ said and ignore what Paul said.

To the contrary, both are true and both are clear. Christ came to fulfill the Law Himself. Which He did. Perfectly. And He did it because no one could ever fulfill it except Him. He fulfilled it for us, on our behalf. Now we are free. Now we are no longer under Law, but under grace.

We are now under a new law. A better law, which is variously called the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), the Law of Liberty (Jas. 1:25; 2:12), and "a new commandment" (Jn. 13:34–35). We are not under the Law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14). We now only have one necessary "work" to perform:

The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent. (Jn. 6:28–29)

And one set of rules to follow:

Love God and love one another
(especially those of the household of faith, our brothers and sisters in Christ).

The first is necessary for salvation. The second naturally flows out of a person who has genuinely trusted in Christ and received the Holy Spirit. There's no room for error on the "work". Christ is the only way. But on the rules, there is room for error, because none of us are perfect while in the flesh. Yet a truly blood-bought believer will exhibit this ultimate fulfillment of all of the laws at some point, in some fashion, as proof of faith. And salvation rests entirely, and without exception, on the work of God, through Him who is our righteousness, Jesus Christ.

Those who deny this are either not in the household of faith, or are severely deceived, whose faith has become useless and unproductive—even counter-productive—as is the Hebrew Roots Movement, which is leading tens of thousands away from Christ.

Jumping To The Moon

I leave you with this analogy: these mixed-gospel, works-righteousness systems like the Hebrew Roots Movement and Roman Catholicism are like a couple of kids trying to jump to the moon. They are both fully convinced they can do it. And they are both fully unaware of how far away the moon really is. It looks close from their perspective—like you could almost reach up and grab it. Yet looks can be deceiving. In reality, it's a quarter of a million miles away. Nothing but a rocket ship will get them there.

One jumps first. "Look, I'm closer than you are!" he says as he reaches a hand toward the sky. The other jumps second, ascending just a few inches higher than the first. With an extra burst of competitive enthusiasm, the first bends his knees as much as he can, leaping even higher than his companion. The competition only builds from there, but an accurate grasp of reality would show that neither were any closer than when they first began. Their achievements were minuscule and useless toward getting to the moon.

Salvation is like that, but even more so. Much more so, in fact. We're not just trying to get to a physical object in viewing distance, but to a whole different realm in another dimension where a perfectly holy God dwells in unapproachable light. Sinners traveling to Heaven are like mosquitoes flying toward a bug zapper.

What these children need to understand is that no feat of jumping, regardless of how much effort and dedication they put into it, will get them to the moon. The only way for them to get to the moon is for someone to take them there. They need that rocket ship and a pilot with the skills to fly it.

Our rocket ship is the Cross and our pilot is the LORD Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach. He will most assuredly get us where we're going, but we have to trust Him enough to get in the ship of salvation, just as Noah had to trust God enough to build the ark and get into it before the rains came. There are many "Christians" who talk incessantly about how great the pilot is, but never board the ship—they're still trying as hard as they can to jump to the moon.

The biblical standard of righteousness is perfection. That means perfect thoughts, perfect intentions, and perfect actions. And not just for a day or a week or a month, but forever. That standard is such that it qualifies exactly zero people in history to fly to the moon, spare One—Jesus Christ. The Bible couldn't be any clearer about how universally disqualified we are (Eccl. 7:20; Rm. 3:10). We're dead men walking (Eph. 2:1, 5). The best things we've ever done and our greatest achievements are like dirty tampons (Isa. 64:6). Yuck.

This is why any belief system other than faith alone in Christ alone, is a blasphemous denigration of God's standard and Law. Those in the Hebrew Roots Movement who reject sola fide aren't closer to fulfilling the Law, they're further away—much further away—because the Law is perfectly fulfilled in Christ. And those who believe that Christ's perfect Law-keeping record can be applied to them by faith, have become perfect Law-keepers in the eyes of Almighty God. They've boarded the rocket ship and are headed for something much, much grander than the moon.

We might need to compare the record of a 1st Century Pharisee or teacher of the Law with that of a Hebrew Roots proponent. The Pharisees were a band of meticulous [external] Law-keepers. In fact, they added myriads of extra rules around each mitzvah to ensure the commandment would be kept. By appearances they were near-perfect. Yet Jesus revealed that exceeding their Law-keeping prowess was the only way into the Kingdom of God (Mt. 5:20). That is, of course, barring a substitute.

For the sake of your souls and all those who take their spiritual cues from you, I implore you to trust in Christ alone for your salvation and not in yourself. It's easy to say Christ is the only way in the context of non-Christian religions, but there are many who acknowledge that premise, yet remain unaware that "no other name under Heaven" (Acts 4:12) necessarily includes their own.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
1,185
The Hebrew Roots Movement

Gary Thursday, July 11, 2019
From https://www.unsealed.org/2019/07/the-hebrew-roots-movement.html?m=1

As we grow nearer to our Blessed Hope, it's becoming increasingly necessary to step up and speak out, guarding the flock while there is still a few meager moments left. It's time to be straightforward. There is one particular heretical movement that is surging right now while the dragon tries his last minute wiles to prevent the male child's ascension. We've dealt with different forms of apostasy, some on the left and some on the right. All apostasy has one thing in common: it presents a false gospel in which the Atonement is presented as either unnecessary (liberal theology), or not enough (legalism).

The Hebrew Roots Movement is one such apostate movement (though not all of it, as I'll explain in a moment). But it is definitely not new or innovative. It is simply a resurgence of 1st century apostasy cloaked in a pretentious mask of "holiness", which in reality is nothing of the sort. Self-righteousness and fear are what hide underneath.

If you are teaching that commandment-keeping is good, right, and a blessing—and a right response of gratefulness for what God has done for us through Christ—then I stand with you in faith. If, instead, you are teaching that keeping the Mosaic Law is necessary for salvation then I stand apart from you. You stand condemned already: not only by your rejection of the blood of Christ, but by the immense hypocrisy of your message.

"Necessary" is the key word. It's the message of law-keeping necessity that supplants the gospel and severs one from Christ.

Disclaimer: [Before I continue, I want to be clear that I'm not singling out anyone in particular. My tone would be completely different if that were the case and I would want to confront them directly in love. But I'm confronting an entire movement and so I'm going to be straight and to the point. I pray you will all receive this with the understanding that my heart is broken for those caught up in this demonic trap. I desperately want them to be free from it, so that they can be saved (if not already), and stand firm in the grace and power of our LORD Jesus Christ. I long for the scales to fall from their eyes, so that they can step into the light of the truth of the gospel. I'm trying to snatch them from the fire, so that they can, in turn, snatch others.]

I'm witnessing many in this movement pay lip service to Christ, but fight tooth and nail against any mention of the gospel message. There is a genuine repulsion to the biblical concept of atonement (which is in fact the Bible's central theme). At its core, the Hebrew Roots Movement is a man-centered, man-focused, man-glorifying attempt to live by God's standards, which can never be successful. Salvation is entirely of the LORD.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't want to lump in Messianic Judaism and everything Hebrew Roots-related into this rebuttal, because there are genuine Christians in the movement who understand and believe the gospel yet live out their faith by exploring the Hebrew underpinnings of the Christian faith. There is beauty in that. Celebrating Sukkot, having your family rest on Saturday, or referring to Jesus in Aramaic are fine and good. But as soon as those things become necessities, then your faith has become vain and useless, and, like James said, who wrote to the scattered tribes of Israel which had largely rejected Christ (Jas. 1:1)—that faith is dead. And that dead faith has also become a stumbling block to others (Rm. 14:1–23; Mt. 23:4; Lk. 11:46). If you truly believe that Christ has entirely, once-and-for-all, atoned for your sins and risen again, your works will normatively show that. And those normative works are most clearly evidenced by the Holy Spirit's fruit in your life. Love chief among them.

The fruits of the apostate elements of the Hebrew Roots Movement appear to be anger, self-righteousness, hypocritical judgment, obsession with rule-keeping rather than God Himself, and, most tellingly, an aversion to any mention of the gospel, security of salvation, the finality of atonement, justification before God, or the sovereignty of God in salvation.

There is also a strong aversion when Christians state the obvious fact that our flesh will necessarily remain imperfect until glorification. Believers should hate sin and strive toward perfection, but 100% of believers who have ever lived have sinned in the flesh even after coming to a saving knowledge of the truth. Peter, Paul, James, and John all had "bod[ies] of sin and death" even after receiving the Holy Spirit. You and I are no different.

Before you jump in with the wolves, who regurgitate Roman Catholic and sectarian talking points about passages like James 2 and Hebrews 10, I implore you to first explore the possibility that these passages do not alter the gospel, but rather bolster it. If you find yourself believing that James 2 and Hebrews 10 somehow paint a picture where works are necessary for salvation rather than, or in addition to, the atoning sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf, I implore you with all of my heart and soul to read these two studies:

James 2: Law and Grace

Hebrews 10: The Final Sacrifice

- - -

A Common Enemy

Why are Islam and the secular Left in bed together? The most totalitarian and legalistic religion on the planet and the lawless forces of leftism, are conjoined for convenience, because the enemy of both is the truth of God and the Church.

I've spoken at great length in numerous articles about the importance of discerning how the gospel of salvation is distorted by both legalists (often on the right of the political spectrum) and lawless (often on the left). Legalists and lawless are typified in the New Testament by the competing camps of Pharisees (the legalistic, self-righteous) and the Sadducees (the lawless, God-rejecting). Mankind hasn't changed much in 2,000 years. The same demons of the past are with us today. The apostles diligently warned us about the deception from both camps that are, unknowingly, Satan-inspired to steer people away from the simple truth of the gospel. Both sides attack the truth and twist words, regularly employing straw-man arguments against those who hold fast to the Cross. Both sides are all about self and self-aggrandizement, whereas the gospel of Christ and Him crucified is about God and His glory.

Whereas I've spelled out a number of ways to detect the lie(s) of both sides, let me share with you the simplest way to detect their untruth:

They both lack clarity.

We don't know as much as we think we do, but what God has chosen to reveal to us through His word is crystal clear. If your belief system lacks clarity about salvation and the truth of God, you can be assured it's from hell. Run from it. Satan is the author of confusion, not our all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect Heavenly Father.

The Hebrew Roots Movement is a perfect example of this. You'll never get a clear or consistent answer about any of these things:

1. Salvation: accomplished by Christ through His death and resurrection... or accomplished by us, either in whole or in part?

2. Maintaining salvation: Christ or us?

3. Which works/commands are necessary for salvation?

4. How many works/commands must be performed to "prove" one's salvation?

5. How many sins/acts of disobedience are necessary to disprove one's salvation or to be considered a habitual sinner?

6. Confession of individual sins: necessary for salvation? If so, what about forgotten sins? What about sins you're not aware of? And how does the Atonement factor in? Was the penalty of sin paid for on the Cross or when one confesses individual sins?

7. The Name of God: Yahweh? Yehowah? Yehoweh? Yehowih? Yehovah? Jehovah? Yahuah? What if you use the wrong name? Must Gentiles become like Jews?

8. Keeping the Torah: which of the 613 commands? All of them? Some of them? How do you decide which to neglect and which to keep? What about the principle that Christ fulfilled the Torah Himself on our behalf? Are we free or still bound by the Law? If bound by the Law, what is the penalty for breaking the Law? If the penalty is loss of salvation, then what did Christ come for? Why did He die?

Just like the Christ-rejecters circa 33 AD whose testimonies did not agree—so too the Christians-in-name-only Cross-rejecters in 2019.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against Him, but their statements did not agree.
- Mark 14:55–56

Christ Did Not Come To Abolish The Law
- YET -
We Are Not Under It

Christ said He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Paul says we are no longer under the Law and that the Law is passing away. Which is it? The Hebrew Roots Movement will have you either mix these truths and muddy the waters, or keep what Christ said and ignore what Paul said.

To the contrary, both are true and both are clear. Christ came to fulfill the Law Himself. Which He did. Perfectly. And He did it because no one could ever fulfill it except Him. He fulfilled it for us, on our behalf. Now we are free. Now we are no longer under Law, but under grace.

We are now under a new law. A better law, which is variously called the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), the Law of Liberty (Jas. 1:25; 2:12), and "a new commandment" (Jn. 13:34–35). We are not under the Law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14). We now only have one necessary "work" to perform:

The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent. (Jn. 6:28–29)

And one set of rules to follow:

Love God and love one another
(especially those of the household of faith, our brothers and sisters in Christ).

The first is necessary for salvation. The second naturally flows out of a person who has genuinely trusted in Christ and received the Holy Spirit. There's no room for error on the "work". Christ is the only way. But on the rules, there is room for error, because none of us are perfect while in the flesh. Yet a truly blood-bought believer will exhibit this ultimate fulfillment of all of the laws at some point, in some fashion, as proof of faith. And salvation rests entirely, and without exception, on the work of God, through Him who is our righteousness, Jesus Christ.

Those who deny this are either not in the household of faith, or are severely deceived, whose faith has become useless and unproductive—even counter-productive—as is the Hebrew Roots Movement, which is leading tens of thousands away from Christ.

Jumping To The Moon

I leave you with this analogy: these mixed-gospel, works-righteousness systems like the Hebrew Roots Movement and Roman Catholicism are like a couple of kids trying to jump to the moon. They are both fully convinced they can do it. And they are both fully unaware of how far away the moon really is. It looks close from their perspective—like you could almost reach up and grab it. Yet looks can be deceiving. In reality, it's a quarter of a million miles away. Nothing but a rocket ship will get them there.

One jumps first. "Look, I'm closer than you are!" he says as he reaches a hand toward the sky. The other jumps second, ascending just a few inches higher than the first. With an extra burst of competitive enthusiasm, the first bends his knees as much as he can, leaping even higher than his companion. The competition only builds from there, but an accurate grasp of reality would show that neither were any closer than when they first began. Their achievements were minuscule and useless toward getting to the moon.

Salvation is like that, but even more so. Much more so, in fact. We're not just trying to get to a physical object in viewing distance, but to a whole different realm in another dimension where a perfectly holy God dwells in unapproachable light. Sinners traveling to Heaven are like mosquitoes flying toward a bug zapper.

What these children need to understand is that no feat of jumping, regardless of how much effort and dedication they put into it, will get them to the moon. The only way for them to get to the moon is for someone to take them there. They need that rocket ship and a pilot with the skills to fly it.

Our rocket ship is the Cross and our pilot is the LORD Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach. He will most assuredly get us where we're going, but we have to trust Him enough to get in the ship of salvation, just as Noah had to trust God enough to build the ark and get into it before the rains came. There are many "Christians" who talk incessantly about how great the pilot is, but never board the ship—they're still trying as hard as they can to jump to the moon.

The biblical standard of righteousness is perfection. That means perfect thoughts, perfect intentions, and perfect actions. And not just for a day or a week or a month, but forever. That standard is such that it qualifies exactly zero people in history to fly to the moon, spare One—Jesus Christ. The Bible couldn't be any clearer about how universally disqualified we are (Eccl. 7:20; Rm. 3:10). We're dead men walking (Eph. 2:1, 5). The best things we've ever done and our greatest achievements are like dirty tampons (Isa. 64:6). Yuck.

This is why any belief system other than faith alone in Christ alone, is a blasphemous denigration of God's standard and Law. Those in the Hebrew Roots Movement who reject sola fide aren't closer to fulfilling the Law, they're further away—much further away—because the Law is perfectly fulfilled in Christ. And those who believe that Christ's perfect Law-keeping record can be applied to them by faith, have become perfect Law-keepers in the eyes of Almighty God. They've boarded the rocket ship and are headed for something much, much grander than the moon.

We might need to compare the record of a 1st Century Pharisee or teacher of the Law with that of a Hebrew Roots proponent. The Pharisees were a band of meticulous [external] Law-keepers. In fact, they added myriads of extra rules around each mitzvah to ensure the commandment would be kept. By appearances they were near-perfect. Yet Jesus revealed that exceeding their Law-keeping prowess was the only way into the Kingdom of God (Mt. 5:20). That is, of course, barring a substitute.

For the sake of your souls and all those who take their spiritual cues from you, I implore you to trust in Christ alone for your salvation and not in yourself. It's easy to say Christ is the only way in the context of non-Christian religions, but there are many who acknowledge that premise, yet remain unaware that "no other name under Heaven" (Acts 4:12) necessarily includes their own.
Reading this was like looking into a mirror, It is the same as The Lord taught me. The only thing is the word atonement. God did not Atone (cover our sins) but RECONCILED us to God. Our sins are gone! As far as the East is from the West. Praise The Lord!
 

Red Sky at Morning

Superstar
Joined
Mar 15, 2017
Messages
13,931
Perhaps the worst example of getting “tangled in Hebrew roots” - rejecting the writings of Paul?


As an antidote to such foolishness, I suggest a course by Chuck Missler on the Book of Romans:-

 
Last edited:

TokiEl

Superstar
Joined
Dec 13, 2017
Messages
7,239
I suggest some words from the shepherde.


Look to Jesus as LordGod and cultivate a relationship with Him... and His Spirit will guide you into all truths.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
1,185
I suggest some words from the shepherde.


Look to Jesus as LordGod and cultivate a relationship with Him... and His Spirit will guide you into all truths.
How about calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Son of David who is the Jewish Messiah who is also the God of the Gentiles who will bring peace and mercy everlasting. We do not cultivate we are called and born again, you do not join, we were predestined beforehand by God's purpose that we be conformed to the image of Christ....complete conformity.
 
Top