Seduced

The longer I study the Bible and pray, and the longer I observe the christian church and the world, the more convinced I am that there is a great deal amiss. I read the words of Yeshua in the gospels and he gives us clear instructions. Some things He tells us to do, and some things He warns us not to do. Yet I watch and I see people that claim to be Christians doing the opposite of the way He instructs. This isn’t just moral failures like christians having extramarital affairs or christians stealing from their work. No, this is about things that are normalized in Christianity that go directly against the words and teachings of Yeshua, the Laws of God and the prophets. Let me explain. Here are a few passages from the Bible for you to consider.

Matthew 23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. 9 And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.    

In this passage we can plainly see that Yeshua is telling his followers that He is their only teacher. He is also prohibiting titles like Rabbi, Father or Teacher. He is stating a principle here that his followers would all be considered equals. He is saying that we should not have exalted clergy and that those who are in positions of leadership should conduct themselves humbly and be servants of the congregation. How did we get men in fabulous robes and men in three thousand dollar suits flying in million dollar airplanes being worshipped by christians? Something is amiss.

Let’s look at another example.

Exodus 23:9 You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 19:33 When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 34 The foreigner who resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the foreigner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I think it is goes without saying that the Law, the Prophets and Yeshua himself all instruct us to be be welcoming to foreigners, to be willing to feed and cloth the less fortunate, and in general to be kind and merciful to others. Yet, I see christians opposing immigration. See them in favor of deportation. I see them wanting to cut out social services to the poor. I hear them calling for harsher sentences for criminals. Something is amiss. 

Yet another example.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.

Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always. 

1 Chronicles 16:15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations … an everlasting covenant.

Deuteronomy 11:26 Take note – I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing if you take to heart the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, 28 and the curse if you pay no attention to his commandments and turn from the way I am setting before you today.

Leviticus 23:3 Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. 18 For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.…

Matthew 19:16 Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” 17He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Luke 16:17 (Yeshua said) It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

From these passages it seems clear to me that God intends us to keep His commandments and obey his Laws as he gave them to Moses. He says the seventh day is his sabbath and that we should not work on it. I do not hear the church advocating keeping the Laws of Moses and somehow the first day of the week (Sunday) has become the Christian sabbath. Who authorized this? Who had the authority to change something that God said was eternal? Something is amiss.

I believe that I now know what is amiss. 

Matthew 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’

Matthew 24: 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Something is amiss and the explanation for it is that the Christian religion has been seduced by false teachers. The christian religion is not the religion of Abraham, Moses and Yeshua. It only pays lip service to it. It is the religion of Paul and the popes. 

Here are some examples of Pauls false teachings.

People are justfied by faith. The law doesn’t matter.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 3:28

If you’ve got grace, you don’t need to obey the law.

Ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14

Jesus’s body made you dead to God’s laws.

Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ …. We are delivered from the law, that being dead. Romans 7:4, 6

Believe in Jesus and you can ignore the law.

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 10:4

Jesus saved you from the curse of God’s laws.

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13

The laws are were meant to teach you about Jesus. Once you believe, you can ignore the laws.

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Galatians 3:24-25

Ignore God’s law. Be led by the Spirit instead.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:18

Jesus destroyed the laws with his flesh, nailing them to his cross.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. Ephesians 2:15

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances … nailing it to his cross. Colossians 2:14

Paul was a Herodian. Herod Agrippa was his relative, here he admits it 

Romans 16:11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. 

Acts 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul.

The Herodians and the Pharisees were the ones plotting to kill Yeshua. Yeshua warned his Apostles and followers about them.

Mark 8:14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

Paul’s letters gave the Romans what they needed to change Christianity from the religion of YHWH to a blend of Judaism and pagan mystery religions. Paul never met Yeshua. In his writings he only quotes Him once. He never teaches from Yeshua’s parables. Paul was a persecutor of the followers of Yeshua.  He disagrees with the twelve Apostles claiming that he is an Apostle also. But, he is not! There are only twelve and he is not listed among them.

Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal. 12 The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Yeshua also warned us against him.

Matthew 24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 Remember, I have told you ahead of time. 26 So then, if someone says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. Paul claims to have met Yeshua in the wilderness, on the road to Damascus.

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats to murder the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he was going along, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting! 6 But stand up and enter the city and you will be told what you must do.” 7 (Now the men who were traveling with him stood there speechless, because they heard the voice but saw no one.)

I believe that Paul was either knowingly or unknowingly a false teacher that was not authorized to change any of the Laws of YHWH or the teachings of Yeshua. Yeshua was an observant Jew. He attended synagog regularly. He also read publicly and preached in the Synagog and went to the temple. He celebrated the passover and all the other feasts.

1 John 2:6 The one who says he resides in YHWH ought himself to walk just as Yeshua walked.

Matthew 7:13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:24 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Yeshua is the long awaited Prophet who spoke for YHWH. He and He alone was authorized to be our teacher.

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 

The Church has been seduced. It has followed a false teacher. It has been lead down the wide easy way. It has been built on the shifting sands of Paul’s teachings not on the solid rock of Yeshua’s teachings.  Something is amiss.