From A.D. 70 to A.D. 135 — How the Church Became Divorced From Its Hebraic Roots

What is called Christianity today in many ways is very dissimilar, and in many respects, outright antagonistic to the religion of the first-century, book of Acts believers. How did this come to be?

Many modern Christian churches prides themselves on being “a New Testament church, yet what they practice and believe is often very different from and even opposed to the teaching and practices of the apostles and primitive, first century church. For example, life for the apostolic believers in Jerusalem revolved around the temple (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:19-21; 5:42; Acts 21:26; 22:17; 24:18; 25:8; 26:21), and for those outside of the land of Israel, on most Sabbaths, they attended the local synagogue (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1–2; 18:4, 7, 8, 19, 26; 19:8). Not only did the first apostles and early believers not celebrate any pagan influenced holidays such as Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Lent, and the rest, but they adhered to the Torah or law of Moses (see references below). The Book of Acts record is also clear that early believers kept the Bible festivals (as outlined in Lev 23; Acts 2:1; 18:21; Acts 27:9; 1 Cor 5:8; Jude 12) of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day.

What’s more, the book of Acts records that both Stephen and Paul were falsely accused of teaching that the laws and customs of Moses were nullified, and, as a result of this false accusation, both lost their lives defending Torah-obedience.

A hundred other examples could easily be given showing how the Christian church has veered away from the Hebrew or Jewish roots of its faith, but hopefully, the reader gets the point.

So what happened to cause Christianity to veer so widely from the Hebrew or Jewish roots of its faith and to arrive at the place where it hardly resembles that religious faith from which it sprang? This is not an easy question to answer since one must look back nearly 2000 years and attempt to reconstruct the times in which our spiritual forefathers lived. Moreover, we must understand what was transpiring politically, religiously, and socially at the time to answer this question properly. It is also imperative that we understand the contextual social and linguistic fabric, the backdrop of history, and the parade of political Continue reading

 

The Roman Catholic Church and Pedophila—Shame and Judgment!

The Roman Catholic Church and pedophila. What do you expect from an apostate religious institution that doesn’t follow the Bible?

Where in the Bible does it say that the ministry of Elohim is to remain celibate? A celibate priesthood is a pagan concept that goes back to the ancient Greek pagan religious system of asceticism. Paul refers to this heathen practice in 1 Tim 4:3 and relates it to the apostasy of the end times, doctrines of demons and lying hypocrisy.

A celibate priesthood is contrary to the Torah, where we  wee that the Levitical priests were married. Moreover, Paul clearly teaches that elder-leaders in the church were to be happily married and to have their families in order (1 Tim 3:2, 11; Tit 1:6).

Not only that, YHVH commanded humans to be fruitful and to multiply in Gen 1:28. This was the first law of the Torah. The Catholic Church has violated these biblical prescriptions on all accounts with regard to their priesthood.

How sad it is that humans are unable to follow even the most elementary commands of Elohim and, instead, rebelliously, choose to devise anti-biblical religious systems and traditions of men that make of none effect the clear commands and word of Elohim in favor of their own senseless manmade and destructive doctrines (Mark 7:9)!

The Catholic Church should herewith abolish the unbiblical practice of a celibate priesthood. This would go a long way to demonstrating their desire to do the right thing.

If the Catholic Church had followed Elohim’s first command in the Bible and allowed their priests to marry, this pedophile issue would probably never have existed. Think of the thousands of young lives this demonic tradition of man has ruined. This false system has resulted in priest burning with lust sexually abuse countless children placed under their care. This is rotten fruit!

May YHVH Elohim bring judgment on this miserable Babylonian system and have mercy on all the lives it has destroyed in the process! 

From https://www.infowars.com/sex-criminals-revealed-on-a-large-scale/#disqus_thread

SEX CRIMINALS REVEALED ON A LARGE SCALE

But the press will only go so far. Then the curtain drops.

 We are seeing some exposure of sexual predators. But there are very large cases already out in the open.
And the press carries out its prime directive: cover the issue BUT don’t follow up, don’t reveal the stunning implications.Here are just three examples of many—

LA Times, 10/27/11: “The addresses for more than 1,000 state-licensed care facilities for vulnerable people in California matched addresses on the state sex offender registry, according to a newly released audit.”

What?? How were 1000 registered sex offenders allowed to attach themselves to care facilities, or even worse, organize the facilities? And are we supposed to believe these 1000 occurrences were independent of each other? Or were they the result of an overall plan? No press follow-up.

“State Auditor Elaine M. Howle said the California Department of Social Services failed to check the sex offender registry even after her office advised it to do so in 2008.”

“The facilities matching the registry of sex offenders included foster homes, group homes and day-care facilities for children, as well as facilities for adults with special needs and the elderly.”

“Investigations are now complete and the state said eight licenses have been revoked or suspended and regulators issued 31 orders barring individuals from licensed facilities.”

What?? A thousand registered sex offenders are connected to care-facilities, but only 39 actions have been taken? Again, no press follow-up.

CBS News, May 5, 2014: “The Vatican revealed Tuesday that over the past decade, it has defrocked 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties, providing the first ever breakdown of how it handled the more than 3,400 cases of abuse reported to the Holy See since 2004.”

“The Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, released the figures during a second day of grilling by a U.N. committee monitoring implementation of the U.N. treaty against torture.”

“Only in 2010 did the Vatican explicitly tell bishops and superiors to also report credible cases to police where local reporting laws require them to.”

What?? “Where reporting laws REQUIRE THEM to”? In other words, as far as the Vatican is concerned, if there is no explicit law, HIDE THE CRIMES. This in itself is not a major press story? Where is the deep follow-up?

“The figures, however, only cover cases handled directly by the Holy See, not those handled by local diocesan tribunals, meaning the total number of sanctioned priests is likely far higher.”

“The latest spike began in 2010, when 464 cases were reported, more than twice the amount in 2009. Starting in that same year, the Vatican began resorting more and more to the lesser penalty of sentencing accused priests to a lifetime of penance and prayer rather than defrocking them. The Vatican often metes out such sentences for elderly or infirm priests, since defrocking them would essentially render them destitute in their final years.”

What?? As more cases were reported, the Vatican took LIGHTER ACTIONS against the sex-criminal priests. That’s another major press investigation that never happened.

France 24, Dec. 15, 2017: “The [Australian] government ordered the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2012 after a decade of pressure to investigate widespread allegations across the country.”

“The commission was contacted by more than 15,000 survivors who detailed claims of child abuse involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools, often dating back decades.”

“It heard horrific stories during often confronting and emotionally exhausting public and private hearings.”

“In total, more than 4,000 institutions were accused of abuse, with many of them Catholic-managed facilities.”

“’Tens of thousands of children have been sexually abused in many Australian institutions. We will never know the true number,’ the final report said, making hundreds of recommendations to improve children’s safety and make it harder for paedophiles to operate unpunished.”

“’Whatever the number, it is a national tragedy, perpetrated over generations within many of our most trusted institutions’.”

“During its hearings, the commission heard that seven percent of Catholic priests were accused of abuse in Australia between 1950 and 2010, but the allegations were never investigated, with children ignored and even punished when they came forward.”

“There were more than 1,800 alleged perpetrators, with the average age of the victims at the time 10 for girls and 11 for boys. The St John of God Brothers religious order was the worst, with just over 40 percent of members accused.”

“The inquiry embroiled Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric George Pell, now the Vatican’s finance chief, who was questioned over his dealings with paedophile priests in Victoria state in the 1970s.”

“Pell is currently accused of multiple historical sexual offences, with a committal hearing in March due to decide if there is enough evidence from the prosecution for the case against him to go to trial.”

Priests would certainly share victims—which means pedophile networks. This is not being explored by the press, and I see no evidence that law-enforcement is pursuing the obvious implication, either. Exposing the truth would indict the Vatican in far more than a series of scandals:

Instead—a centuries-old organized sex-crime operation that protects its members and uses a religious cover story to hide itself.

In the three cases I cite in this article, the press has failed to follow up in several huge ways. Realize that editors and publishers have actually hamstrung their reporters—“don’t go further.” This is no accident. The crimes below the crimes must not see the light of day.

This straitjacket is applied to reporters on an ongoing basis.

The press outlets—despite their denials—have the time, money, and resources to do deep investigations. (Such probes would actually pay off in larger audiences and increased ad rates.)

The reason to curtail investigations is political.

Major media owners and major crime figures share memberships in the same “clubs.” When their interests collide, the media will only go so far.

Then STOP signs appear.

This blocking strategy, deployed for decades, has a deleterious effect on the public. Readers and viewers think, during hundreds of news reports, “Why didn’t that reporter ask the next obvious question?” But eventually, the consumer of mainstream news decides, “It must be me. I’m the one who doesn’t understand. Those reporters aren’t pursuing leads for good reasons, whatever those reasons are.”

So the IQ of the public keeps dropping.

 

From A.D. 70 to A.D. 135 — How the Church Became Divorced From Its Hebraic Roots

This is a long read—good for a Shabbat afternoon! But it’s important to know the historical facts. Knowing this truth will help us to better understand the background of the NT church and how the early second century church cut itself off from its Hebraic spiritual roots in so many way.— Natan

What is called Christianity today in many ways is very dissimilar, and in many respects, outright antagonistic to the religion of the first-century, book of Acts believers. How did this come to be?

Many modern Christian churches prides themselves on being “a New Testament church,” yet what they practice and believe is often very different from and even opposed to the teaching and practices of the apostles and primitive, first century church. For example, life for the apostolic believers in Jerusalem revolved around the temple (Acts 2:46; 3:1; 5:19-21; 5:42; Acts 21:26; 22:17; 24:18; 25:8; 26:21), and for those outside of the land of Israel, on most Sabbaths, they attended the local synagogue (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1–2; 18:4, 7, 8, 19, 26; 19:8). Not only did the first apostles and early believers not celebrate any pagan influenced holidays such as Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Lent, and the rest, but they adhered to the Torah or law of Moses (see references below). The Book of Acts record is also clear that early believers kept the Bible festivals (as outlined in Lev 23; Acts 2:1; 18:21; Acts 27:9; 1 Cor 5:8; Jude 12) of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day.

What’s more, the book of Acts records that both Stephen and Paul were falsely accused of teaching that the laws and customs of Moses were nullified, and, as a result of this false accusation, both lost their lives defending Torah-obedience.

A hundred other examples could easily be given showing how the Christian church has veered away from the Hebrew or Jewish roots of its faith, but hopefully, the reader gets the point.

So what happened to cause Christianity to veer so widely from the Hebrew or Jewish roots of its faith and to arrive at the place where it hardly resembles that religious faith from which it sprang? This is not an easy question to answer since one must look back nearly 2000 years and attempt to reconstruct the times in which our spiritual forefathers lived. Moreover, we must understand what was transpiring politically, religiously, and socially at the time to answer this question properly. It is also imperative that we understand the contextual social and linguistic fabric, the backdrop of history, and the parade of political Continue reading

 

False Teachings and Destructive Heresies in the Early Church

Who goes there?

Thief sneaking through door2 Peter 2:1, False teachers…destructive heresies. When did several prominent but destructive, non-biblical heresies creep into the early church, which are now major doctrines in mainstream Christianity? Here is a partial list along with the approximate times the early church fathers began teaching these doctrines.

The Human Soul Is Immortal

The immortality of the soul was not  a Hebraic concept, but originated from the ancient Greek philosophers. This pagan concept made its way into the church as Gentiles who were steeped in the thinking of the Greek philosophers gained control of the early church after the death of the last apostles.

A.D. 130— The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, ch. 6

Ca. A.D. 155—The First Apology of Justin Martyr, ch. 18

Ca. A.D. 180—Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book Two, ch. 34

Ca. A.D. 180—Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book Five, chaps. 7.1; 31.1

Teachings Against the Sabbath and Biblical Feasts

There is no record in the Bible of the early New Testament believers replacing the seventh-day Sabbath with Sunday. To say so is wishful thinking, a twisting of the Scriptures and biblical revisionism. It wasn’t until the fourth century at the Council of Nicea under Roman emperor Constantine that the Sunday officially replaced the Sabbath in the early church. Until that time, many Christian churches still observed the Sabbath throughout the Roman empire. The process of transitioning from Sabbath to Sunday observance was a slow one beginning in the early second century and had its roots largely in antisemitism.

A.D. 130—The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, ch. 4. The author calls the Sabbath and biblical feasts “utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice.”

Ca. A.D. 130—Epistle of Barnabas, ch. 2 (also ch. 14). The author says that the Sabbaths (weekly Sabbath and biblical feasts) are abolished.

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Philippians, ch. 14

Observance of the Lord’s Day (Sunday) Advocated Over Sabbath Observance

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesian, ch. 9. The author says to keep the Sabbath on Sunday.

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians, ch. 9

Ca. A.D. 130—Epistle of Barnabas, ch. 14

Ca. A.D. 155—The First Apology of Justin Martyr, ch. 67

Teachings Against the Torah

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians, ch. 6. The author declare, “If anyone preach the Jewish law, listen not to him.”

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesian, ch. 10

Ca. A.D. 155—The First Apology of Justin Martyr, ch. 47. The author states that out of “weak-mindedness,” some Christians observe the Mosaic law. Sabbath and feast days observance are optional, but not encouraged.

Anti-Semetic/Anti-Torah Theology

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesian, chaps. 8, 10

Ca. A.D. 180—Irenaeus’ Against Heresies, Book Four, ch. 16.4. The author declares that the Decalogue was not cancelled by the New Covenant, but the statues and judgments of the Torah were a bondage to the Israelites and are no longer binding on Christians.

Teachings Against the Biblical Dietary Laws of Clean and Unclean Meats

Early part of second century A.D.—Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians, ch. 6. The author states that one who adheres the biblical dietary laws “has the apostate dragon dwelling within him.”

Easter Celebration Established a Christian Holiday

Ca. A.D. 150—The celebration of the resurrection within the early church began in the middle of the second century (History of the Christian Church, vol. 2, pp. 207–8, by Philip Schaff). The date of Easter and its formal establishment and disconnection from Passover occurred in A.D. 325 at the council of Nicea.

Sabbath Officially Changed to Sunday

A.D. 321—Sunday officially becomes the weekly day of worship (in place of the Sabbath) by a legal enactment of Emporer Constantine (History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, p. 378ff, by Philip Schaff; History of the Christianity, vol 1, p. 93, by Kenneth Scott Latourette)

Christmas Established as a Christian Holiday

Ca. A.D. 354—Christmas originated in the middle to the end of the fourth century as a Christian holiday as an outgrowth of a pagan festival celebrating the birth of the pagan sun god.