For the Record
In case there was any doubt about the authenticity of the claim that the Church not only endorsed but demanded a renunciation of Jewish customs and culture in order to be a Christian, here is the official record:
Constantine’s Christian Creed
“I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all the other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspirations, purifications, sanctifications, and propitiations, and fasts and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants, and observances and synagogues. absolutely everything Jewish, every Law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be an anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils.” (Stcfano Assemani, Acta Sanctorium Martyrum Orientalium at Occidentalium, Vol. 1, Rome 1748, page 105)
Furthermore, any follower of the “Jewish Messiah” (Yeshua HaMashiach) who wished to join this “holy community” was compelled to adopt a different set of rules and customs. Subsequently special creeds were drafted, to which the Christian would have to swear, such as: “I accept all customs, rites, legalism, and feasts of the Romans, sacrifices. Prayers, purifications with water, sanctifications by Pontificus Maxmus (high priests of Rome), propitiations, and feasts, and the New Sabbath “Sol dei” (day of the Sun), all new chants and observances, and all the foods and drinks of the Romans. In other words, I absolutely accept everything Roman, every new law, rite and custom, of Rome, and the New Roman Religion.”
Additionally, in approximately 365 AD, the Catholic Council of Laodicea wrote, in one of their canons:
“Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day. Rather, honoring the Lord’s Day. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema (against) from Christ”.
I have posted this so that you will all have easy access to the reference when needed. I don’t need to point out the impact this had on subsequent Jewish-Christian relations and on the development of a separate Christian theology.
“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” Rev. Sam Pascoe
“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” Rev. Sam Pascoe
Wow! (and “ow!!”) -So where are we today? Friends, G-d always has a “remnant.” A rag-tag band (always small-I don’t know why) of ragamuffin “Christ-followers.” Yes, admittedly- I am blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other “Christianity” with it’s thirty thousand (or so..) divisions has become quite an enterprise. Prophet has a new spelling. There are dollars to be made from the ‘shearing of the sheep.’
Religious ripoffs. All in the name of.. Eats your lunch- doesn’t it? (and I have not even had lunch yet..)
Hypocrites in the church- surprise, surprise!- How about that? Has it ever occurred to anyone- nothing ever occurs to G-d? -Nothing. “But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.” (2 Timothy 3.1) Perhaps we should do a “shout out?” KNOW THIS. (I heard that..)
If I were to have read my Bible I would have been better prepared. There was something I was supposed to know- something I read but paid no attention to. “know this..” But what if we are ignorant and don’t “know these things?” – All we like sheep.. This is by no means a compliment. Sheep have a brain half the size of a walnut and were it not for the “watchcare” of the ever vigilant Shepherd- would surely perish. The presence of the Shepherd assures the sheep (how are ewe?) of His provision and protection.
One more thing.. (always one more thing..) “You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free..” The Truth (may I quickly say) is a Person. It is not a concept. It is not a creed. It is not the church. It is not my conscience or yours. The Truth is Christ. He is the Truth. (and that dear friends is the gospel truth). Christ is the LORD! Then ever, ever praise we, -His power and glory ever more proclaim!
One more thing.. (always one more thing..) – unto Him be glory “in the church.” The church is not a temple. The church is not a building. The church is not an edifice. The church is not an organization- it is an organism. It is the body (today) and bride (on that day) of Christ. In the O.T. G-d had a temple for His people- in the N.T. G-d has a people for His temple. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3.16) Did we know this? Something else we were “to know”. “I would not have you ignorant sheep..err- brethren.” “Christ in you (and you and you and you) the hope of glory.” We (who are His) are the temple of the living G-d. Yes, -it is amazing..the Truth amazes.
Wow indeed Carl. I had never seen this text before but the subsequent developments are very obvious as a result. Isn’t it amazing how easily people follow what others tell them to do, rather than to take their example from what was said and done by our Master? The Lord’s Day? Um, that would have been the Sabbath. Every Jewish Law? It is a wonder that the Roman church even supported the 10 Commandments. Thanks for this Skip, it is very eye opening.
Yes, I remember having to sign that exact pledge when I joined the church. It was a very solemn event. We signed in blood also. Something else!
Say what Carol??? Did you live in a past life??? What church makes you sign that exact pledge & in blood no less – please, please enlighten me… ?!?!?!!?
jan carver
Constantine is dead. The Roman Empire disappeared. And bearing witness to the mistaken ideas of the past is extremely important, and not difficult to do. But lest we become guilty of “false witness” against our Christian forefathers, it is necessary to recognize them when they were obedient to Torah. Even in my little Baptist church in rural Australia when I was a child, they practiced “Harvest Festival” Sunday when produce was brought from the land, filled up the front of the church, a special day of thanksgiving to God for his bountiful goodness to His people. So many parts of Torah have a long history in our culture.
Constantine’s legacy lasted not because he made an edict, but because certain interpretations were offered of parts of the New Testament, especially the book of Hebrews. And one of the key debates today is the continuity/discontinuity of the two covenants (or testaments).
A later king, King Alfred the Great, self-consciously adopted Torah as the laws of England. Unfortunately he mixed that with Roman law.
But in spite of that, today, nearly everything we hold good in our culture can be attributed to the adoption of Torah after the collapse of Rome. By the time of the Reformation, when the question was asked, “What is the Law of God”, the answer given was the Ten Commandments, and the teaching tools of the time were drawn from the Torah. Thus, just weights were required in commerce and money; usury and restitution were required, the Hundred courts were established as an application of Torah. Abortion and slavery were eliminated under the influence of Christianity. Homosexuality was wrong in the site of God and man. These are just small examples of a much, much larger list.
Today, no one practices the sacrificial laws — Jew or Christian. They each have their reasons. There is evidence that the Armenian church practiced these laws with a New Testament orientation, up to the 20th century! So much for Constantine’s Edict.
But that leaves the really perplexing issues. When Jonah preached repentance to Nineveh, there is no evidence the Ninevites were to pack their bags and live in Israel. And if they did, which tribe should they join? So it appears there are some instructions that cannot be applied outside of the land of Israel. But there are a lot more that are relevant anywhere.
Skip, you will do us all a favor by teaching the positive details of Torah, especially relating this to current practice:
Baptism vs circumcision
Lord’s Day (Resurrection Day) vs Lunar Sabbath
Priesthood no longer limited to Aaronic family
Sacrificial system replaced by ??
money by weight vs. paper currency
usury – should we collect interest
restitution vs jail time
capital punishment
abortion
how much tax is the government permitted by God?
Should we send our kids to public schools? If not, why not?
etc.
In other words, teach us TORAH! It’s not possible to replace something with nothing. Wrong ideas need to be replaced with right ideas. We need more right ideas.
Skip, thanks again, for laying down the challenges to our thinking and calling us back to every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Ian,
Thanks for sharing your insights with us.
In your comment on the people of Nineveh and why they did not pack their bags and go back with Jonah to the land of Israel. Your conclusion was basically that there are some commands and instructions that only be realized and fleshed out within the land of Israel itself but there are those that are relevant everywhere else. I can concur and agree with that heartily!
It seems to me though the story more revolves around the reluctance and disobedience of Jonah, and yet beyond that, there was the compassion and intention of YHWH to forgive and relent from destroying the Ninevites. Jonah could not wrap his heart and mind around the compassion and mercy of YHWH….. he went outside the city and was waiting for YHWH to bring destruction upon this people.
This was God’s summation and response about the people of Nineveh at the end of the book of Jonah:
And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left.
Pam Sweet referred us to a blog about this citation found at Roger Pearse “Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online . . .” The blog comment and replies can be found at
http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/?p=4281
where he argues that this citation is not from Constantine but rather from a medieval Greek period.
It’s worth reading to see the scholarship that goes into tracking down sources:
After reading it, I posted the following to the bog site:
I am glad to see the research done well, but I don’t think that this changes much of the intent of the message. Let me elaborate.
We can admit without prejudice that it is not part of the Nicea council. But if it reflects any part of the expectation of a Jew converting to Christianity, then the problem remains. Why would a Jew need to reject any of the Jewish scriptural practices to become a Christian unless Christianity had not previously divorcedrequired itself from the Jewish perspective? We wouldn’t be surprised to find that Christianity required explicit endorsement of the Trinity and the divinity of the Christ, but why would any such requirement, whether actually put into practice or not, expect a Jew to renounce Torah, the festivals, the dietary regulations, etc. unless Christianity had already accepted this division as accurate?
While the scholarship needed to affirm the correct citation is useful, and welcomed, this does not actually overturn the intention of the so-called Constantine’s Creed. The intention, even with the added “missing sentences” is still anti-Semitic. Notice that the missing sentences assume several replacement theology propositions including the “dispensation” of the holy Trinity and the deity of Christ and labeling Jewish religious practices as superstition. The assumptions here still set up an opposition between Judaism and Christianity, an opposition which allows no interdependency in faith or practice.
Finally, even if this confession comes from mefollowsdieval Greek thinking, the fact that it is written as a confession usually signifies that it was in place as practice before it was inscribed as official ecclesiology. For example, the oral Torah was in practice for centuries before it was put down in writing. It is not impossible that the Church simply sat down one day and wrote this confession without prior practice of its claims, but that is very unlikely. It is far more likely that the claims in the confession were actually part of the Christian community for a long time before it was written. But even if that isn’t the case, the confession reflects theological thinking in the Middle Ages and that thinking didn’t arise in a vacuum. There is plenty of material from the Early Church Fathers, as far back as Origen, which if not in the same words follows the same spirit.
Ken Rank’s comment that the sacrifices ceased 200 years before Constantine isn’t germane here. Yes, the Temple sacrifices ceased when the Temple was destroyed, but animal sacrifices are not the only kind of rituals of worship in Leviticus and there is plenty of evidence that Jewish Messianic communities were still actively practicing Torah observance into the 5th century. The statement in the Creed can be understood as a collective noun (all the system of sacrifices – namely Leviticus), not as specifically about animal sacrifices.
The comment that because the creed is from Medieval Greek thought is cannot be connected with Constantine ignores the role of pseudepigraphical literature, namely writings that are connection with notable figures in order to given them authority. This was quite common (there is a large body of this kind of literature) so the historical fact that this was written long after Constantine does not mean that it wasn’t a valid expression of the Church’s thought attributed to Constantine.
Here’s the bottom line. If the Church produced this Creed, for whatever reasons and in whatever historical time period, what it clearly reveals is a distinct anti-Semitism. If the Church required such a statement from converts at any time, this is reason for concern since it reinforces that theology that the Church is separate from and opposed to former Jewish practices (in fact, it denigrates them). Even if Constantine had no historical connection to this creed (except perhaps by false attribution) nothing diminishes the impact that such a creed has on the separation of Judaism and Christianity.
I received this link from a friend when we had a discussion the other day about the “Christian Creed” and wanted Skip’s opinion on this particular study done because my friend thought the Creed was phony due to being produced much later having nothing to do with the Roman king. Several months ago I printed this creed out and read it to my home group giving them each a copy so they could really understand the hatred towards the Hebrews, Judaism, Jews, etc. The Christian paradigm of seperation from YHVH’s ways, like Skip mentioned was set into action long before Constantine. (Marcion, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, and the list goes on.) The bottom line is it is a human condition whether man will submit his ways to YHVH’s. These men listed above should have realized if they read the Torah that they were not called the Jewish feast or Jewish Sabbaths but YHVH’s mo’edim and YHVH’s Shabbat. If you are His then all the covenants and promises of Abraham are yours too including the inheritance of the land & torah. Todah Rabah, Abba for restoration in our day to your ’emet – Truth. May the eyes of many be opened and return to you and your paths of righteousness in these days of trevail.
Very quickly, with more later I hope, why don’t we just look at the orthodox Jewish community? They have been practicing Torah in the “world” for centuries. Wouldn’t their example help us see the “positive” application?
OK, I promised to work on this so here’s the start. First, that little Baptist church in rural Australia was not celebrating the feast since they still didn’t honor the Sabbath (one of the 10, right?). They were celebrating a “Christian” re-interpretation of the biblical feast according to their own view. This is just as much the case with Communion, Baptism, the ministers of the common Church, etc. I was at a conference on the interdependency of Judaism and Christianity in Puerto Rico and one of the speakers was a Catholic bishop who proceeded to demonstrate how each of the Catholic sacraments and many of the Catholic traditions had been “successfully” converted from Judaism. The rabbi next to me just shook his head in disbelief.
So, why don’t we look at the way Paul handled this issue in the first century since his interpretation would pretty much fit our circumstances today (mostly Gentile congregations). First, we would honor the Sabbath. There is just no way around this since God Himself says on more than one occasion that this is a permanent sign for His people. If you want to go to church on Sunday, please feel free to worship then too, but if you are not honoring Sabbath, how can you explain that? Of course, we have already discussed the idea of “work” from a biblical perspective, so we don’t need to go over that again (look on the web site).
Sabbath is not lunar dependent although there is also in ancient Israel a new moon festival. The most interesting thing about Sabbath is that it does NOT follow astronomical rhythms. The idea that the Church celebrates the “Lord’s Day” (resurrection day) is purely tradition. There is no such record of this repetitive celebration in Scripture and, furthermore, if we follow the Jewish reckoning of the day, Yeshua rose sometime after sundown on SATURDAY, not on Sunday morning. There is sufficient historical evidence that Sunday was established as the Church’s day of worship by the pope, not by Scripture.
As for the priesthood, the Church has so departed from the biblical basis as to be unrecognizable. Of course, the OFFICIAL priesthood that serves YHWH in the Temple must be Aaronic, but God Himself points out that ALL His children are priest to the nations. Unfortunately, the Christian idea of the priesthood is basically a hierarchy of power, far removed from the intention of the Great Commission, the rabbinic system and the endorsement of the Mosaic covenant.
Sacrifies have not be replaced. They have been suspended. We wait for the Temple, the Return and the Kingdom on earth for them to begin again.
Money is a problem, isn’t it? We see how much of a problem it is in today’s insane debt. How did that happen? Perhaps in part because we disregarded the biblical requirement that exchange of labor be based on tangible value. But just like the Jews in Babylon, God instructs us to live here and make a difference. That means we do NOT allow ourselves to become debtors for greed. And as far as interest is concerned, there is no prohibition on charging interest in business transactions as long as the condition of “no greed” applies.
I am in full support of RESTITUTION rather than “serving the state” in jail. What good does this do for the integrity of the community? I can tell you from personal experience that it obliterates the connection between the victim and the criminal. Not every culture practices this stupidity – and we should object to it. The biblical view of restitution and atonement is far superior and it prevents the STATE from taking on the role that belongs to God. Within the believing community, restitution should be de rigueur.
Capital punishment – YES!
Abortion – NO!
Tax – isn’t it clear that God hates taxes and that whenever any government was granted the power to tax, the appetite was insatiable. We must pay taxes because we live in lands where men are taxed, but we must protest the uses of these taxes and resist their expansion. Furthermore, any taxation that directly results in a violation of Torah must be rejected even if it means punishment.
Public schools? You must be kidding? Who do you know who actually gets an education in a public school? Now, the law of the land requires schooling, but there are many ways to provide education without the indoctrination of a culture bent on optimistic humanism. With what I have seen as an educator, I would NEVER send my children to a public school again, and not because all the teachers are terrible. They aren’t. Most teacher are good people trying their best. But as Amanda told us, the SYSTEM forces them to ignore education because the districts need the MONEY from attendance.
I really think that the only permanent solution is the Return of the King, but in the meanwhile, I am inclined to gather like-minded people into a real community and do what God asks us to do together. I just need a place to start. By the way, Matt Woodward is doing something like this in New Orleans. Pray for him.
“Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.” Rev. Sam Pascoe
If a body becomes an enterprise is it then not a prostitute?
Am I a lover or a prostitute of the body of the Messiah?
The prostitute demands:I need, I want. I did what You asked of me. Now God needs to perform and He owes me.
A lover says: Even if God never answers, never gives – whatever He decides is good, is good enough for me and I will love Him unconditionally.
WOW! Luzette… great insight and comment. I’m going to share this.
AMEM & AMEN!!!!!!!
Shabbat Shalom Dear Ones
Luzette,
That is a great word! Thank you for sharing this insight.
Luzette, the great whore is in every mega church i have ever been in or attended – selling their wares to everyone – last mega church i attended for 5 or more years – the pastor blatantly professed from the pulpit that he ran “his/the” church like a business. how long do you sit under a man like that’s preaching/teaching when you wanted to stand & call him a heretic – i could just stand so much & left never to step in there again…
jan
Well stated, even beautiful.
Yes, yes and AMEN sister. Right on! Only in America.
Jan, I was being sarcastic. Ian right after me is right on. Here is a really perplexing question: I live in a predominant Jewish neighborhood with their synagogue. Now should I go join them so I can be Jewish, even though they DO NOT recognize Jesus as the messiah? I suppose I could compromise on that issue for the better good. Why don’t they do sacrifices? In their situation I would think they would do them. My point is that we can run down “christianty” from now until the Lord returns, but so what? What does that get us? I attempt to live as I am led by the Spirit as I continually study the word. So, as Paul speaks on judgment in 1 Corinthians in respect to the “weak” and “strong,” I’ll be the weak here and the rest can pray that I’ll see the light and join the Jews.
Certainly this is NOT about joining the Jews. The issue is about the truth which has apparently been deliberately misrepresented by the Church (capital C, so that I don’t mean any particular church). The “Church” is the body of those who follow YHWH, and it has been since Sinai. If the organization called Christianity adopts specific teaching that contradicts the instructions God gives, then who do we follow? The answer from history is “the Church.” Given the imposed separation between Messianic Judaism and Christianity between 200 and 400AD, no other answer is possible. Christianity today is NOT what the disciples and the early followers of Yeshua believed or practiced, partially because of creeds like this one. It won’t do any good to simply ignore this history or to plead “just follow the Spirit” since, obviously, the early Church fathers and hosts of other theologians made the same appeal. We must understand our history, what really happened and why, if we are to return to the truth. It doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile. What matters is what God demands and what men did to alter that demand.
SKip I agree with everything you say here. Amen and Amen.
But . . . was Constantine’s Creed an accepted creed of the church? If so, which church council adopted it, apart from the one clause you made reference to AD 365, Laodicea?
“The answer from history is ‘the Church.'” I thought the Protestant Reformation was supposed to have changed that? 🙂
Did the Protestant Reformation actually change anything in terms of the stance toward Judaism? There is an historical straight line between Lutheran anti-Semitism and the justification of the Holocaust, well documented and finally acknowledged by the Church. The Reformation might have changed some of the theology, but it doesn’t seem to have made one bit of difference when it comes to understanding the vital connection to Hebraic worldview. Luther was just as Greek as Augustine in his approach to the nature of Man, the concept of the material world, the idea of sin.
The trouble is, Skip, there is no “organization called Christianity.” Even Sha’ul had trouble with other believers and their beliefs. And I confused Creed and Council in my earlier post. Churches recite Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed , the “I believe” statements. Canons from councils influence doctrine outside of the “I believes” of the Creeds, and those in worship are not asked to “confess” them. At least not in any of the churches I’ve ever had contact with.
Your suggestion that there is no organization called “Christianity” leaves me nonplussed. If you wish to distinguish “Christian” from “Christianity,” I might agree, but to suggest that Christianity isn’t an organization seems quite impossible. It behaves like an organization, although obviously with many parts. It is very much like a multi-national corporation or franchise. It has a general code of conduct for its “employees” and it actively engages in recruitment, propaganda, advertising strategy and considerable financial enterprise. Just because we don’t call it an “organization” doesn’t mean it doesn’t behave like one. But, of course, all major religions sort of act like organizations.
I will investigate some about the application of the Creed to religious requirements. It may be that no “official” Church adopted the creed, but it is nevertheless quite informative that Constantine, usually touted as the first “Christian” emperor, was so adamantly anti-Semetic.
Now that we have evidence that Constantine’s Creed may be pseudepigraphical, one might think this exonerates Constantine from the charge of anti-Semitism. I don’t think so. There is sufficient other evidence in the life of the Emperor to indicate that he would have endorsed the Creed if he had been alive when it was most likely written, and perhaps that’s why it was attributed to him. A good discussion of Constantine’s efforts to establish Christianity as a religion opposed to Judaism can be found in David Dungan’s Constantine’s Bible (pace Leithart’s work Defending Constantine).
Carol, you asked, “Why don’t they do sacrifices? In their situation I would think they would do them.”
Because the scriptures explicitly forbid the offering of animals anywhere other than a properly sanctified altar on the “temple mount” in Jerusalem. Since there is no altar on the temple mount in Jerusalem there can be no offerings.
By the way, the word “sacrifice” is a bad translation. The Hebrew word is korban (plural korbanot) and means to be brought near, or to draw near to enter into an intimate relationship. There are 13 different types of offerings specified in the Torah, and only 2 have anything to do with sin (a sin offering for unintentional sin by an individual, and a guilt offering for unintentional sin by a leader). Note that there is no offering for willful, rebellious sin – only the perfect offering of the sinless Lamb of God could suffice for atonement for that.
It is unfortunate that there is so little understanding of the korbanot by Christians – from them we learn so much about our saviour and redeemer and so much about our relationship with our Father.
A relationship with Yeshua since four years old….Adventist, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Warehouse, Calvary Chapel & Grace… In ’97 I walked out not knowing at the time I wouldn’t return. Twice in the 90’s I went to Grace out of “forsake not the brethren”. Meanwhile we had ragtag meetings at our house once a week to read scripture and expound upon them.
I began going to Synagog in ’08- I LOVE it. I’m the only Yeshua believer and I go for the service and to be a light – with my body not my mouth – I have come to LOVE each and every Jew in the place and they love me. It took awhile and wasn’t easy, the gates of hell cannot get me out. I’m a gentile not a Jew, I don’t feel the need to be a Jew, God saved all humanity. Where else could I go?
It’s almost like skeletons’ bones jangling in the basement. It’s so dark and rank down there, so neglected, kinda scary…it’s easier to just not go there. Who cleans their basement like their living rooms/bedrooms? It’s too hard, seems so unnecessary. Outta sight…you know the drill. But believers are not called to a life of ease are we? I used to think so when getting “drunk in the Spirit” of the church…little did I realize the intoxicant was actually a depressant, or should I say a SUPPRESSANT, of reality.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” Romans 1:8
This “hold the truth in unrighteousness” seems to tell us that men/people have the capacity to deny what YHWH has declared to be true/right/viable for life as He means for it to be. Some other term may be perversion which is also addressed in this same chapter. And continued perversed living without the intervention of Holy YHWH, becomes the norm. This is evident by the removal of homosexuality from the diagnostic manual used by those “professionals” dealing with the psyche. Next will be pedophelia, bestiality, and so on.
Somehow I think we/the Church have received fair warning that the monster that we have allowed to grow in our basements will consume us if we do not allow YHWH to rescue us. Dare we not use the Sword of the Spirit and take the monster out?!
OH, MARY – YOU ARE MY KINDA GIRL/WARRIOR – I SO AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAY ABOVE!!! NO – HE DID NOT COME TO BRING PEACE BUT A SWORD – A SWORD OF TRUTH/THE WORD OF GOD – THAT IS TWO EDGED & CUTS TO THE BONE CLEAN TO THE BONE TO DIVIDE ASUNDER THE TRUTH FROM THE LIES…
DAUGHTER OF ZION/JERUSALEM
jan
I am shocked to say the leas! I am reading a book written by a Rabbi about what Christians should know about Judaism and it is so sad to discover how so much have been distorted and mixed. The sad situasion is that many who call themselves Christians do not care about the Truth and when or where it was changed to suit the leader’s agenda’s. All I can say is that our Heavenly Fahter and Son is still in control and His will will be done even if no human voice speaks out. The rocks will shout out His Truth. Let us keep on praying for all Yisrael to return to Heaven’s plan. With the love of Master Yeshua working in and through us the tide is already turning. Let us stand in His Truth and cling to Him. He is the true Redeemer after all no matter what the enemy and liers have achieved so far. It is only over when Abba Fathers says it is over and it is not yet so! “We bless Your Holy Name and thank You Abba Father that You are the only One true God, Creator and Redeemer. Your will will be done! Amein and Amein! We love You Abba Father – help us to love you with a perfect love please!”
I was reading an article the other day pertaining to some wheat they found in a dig. Although I couldn’t find the exact article, here is a link to a similar one.
http://www.israel21c.org/culture/unlocking-the-secrets-of-ancient-wheat-to-battle-disease
The interesting part is that our refinement of grains seems to have depreciated the nutritional value as well as the resistance of the plant to disease. As I was reading the portion of scripture in Duet. 22, the construction of the translation, “lest be defiled,” caught my attention. The word is quodesh (clean and sanctified) with a tav preceding it so that it is a direction or a mark (to the purpose or end of) towards clean. It is also preceded by the kaf-noon which ads a depreciating value to the term. Check out Gen. 3:3 where Eve said to the serpent, “you shall not eat of it or……..lest you die.” It’s the same construct.
What does this have to do with this creed? Everything!! God doesn’t necessarily tell us the why of something, (don’t mix your seeds, or in the positive, observe the feasts) He only tells us, that if we want it to go well with us, we need to be very careful to do, or don’t do, what He says. They are both positive commands in that sense. It comes down to our trust or faith in the nature of God.
The point is that if we want to know how we got where we are, look back at what we did. Where did we get off the mark (tav) and how do we get back to the original intent? What Skip showed us here are the generational, depreciating effects of creeds, no matter when or where they originated, not in alignment with what we are commanded to be doing. God tells us that the cross pollination of various seeds DEPRECIATES the purpose of it (nourishment). How do we fix that? Don’t do it!! That IS a positive command. However, we have to ascertain the negative to get to the positive.
thanks for this insight – and the parallel in Genesis.
Robert,
Your point about not mixing seeds makes me think of what’s happening today in the seed business…GMO…genetically modified organism. They are taking over crops whether wanted or not (cross pollination) and are spreading all over the world thanks to corporate greed and power. I read that thousands of farmers in India have committed suicide because of the harm that gmo seeds have done to their crops and farming efforts. GMO adulterated food is often unidentified (hidden) in foods in grocery stores of the USA. The corporations that push this have power over the FDA and Congress and thus gain approval. One has to be proactive to avoid eating gmo contaminated food and proactive to maintain the health of ourselves, loved ones and future generations. Diligence is needed to find health giving unrefined and unadulterated food. Your comment gives additional motivation!
thx for the encouragement. 🙂
After reading all these posts this morning I realize how incredibly vital it is to reflect seriously on Skip’ s Word for Today –
…….. ” The verb is yada, a verb reflecting intimate, personal relationship. Manasseh ends his life in love with God. But not just any God. Not one of the many gods he brought into Israel. This is YHWH hoo ha-Elohim, YHWH the specific God, the only God”.
Know Him and hear Him – May we all live out lives in love with YHWH hoo ha-Elohim
Lest we forget
Maddie
The question of the authenticity of Constantine’s Creed is somewhat irrelevant to the issue. The “Creed”, presented in the name of Christianity, is abominable. But this leaves the question, what influence did it have on Christianity? Which churches adopted it as a necessary component of their credo?
Before Constantine there was Marcion who also had a wrong view of Torah and Tanakh. His ideas were condemned, but that still left unanswered the relationship of New Covenant Christians and Torah who misread Hebrews and its insistence — twice — that the “new covenant” of Jeremiah had arrived. Just as they misread Col. 2:16 and confuse the point of this text, as you have shown so clearly.
There is no excuse for the shifts from the lunar Sabbath, as you identify or for any other departure from Torah. But Christian teaching, by and large insisted on the “moral” and the “judicial” laws of Torah. Thus, property rights were upheld, money was “sound” money, taxation was limited on the basis of the eighth commandment, which insists that theft is taking what God says you are not entitled to. Work was prohibited on the wrong day, but nevertheless prohibited. It was the “ceremonial” laws that became the issue. Not that anyone could provide a clean line of separation between moral, judicial and ceremonial categories.
The beliefs of the early followers of the Messiah also drew the distinction between created and Uncreated reality, and insisted that not even in the Person of the Messiah was there a confusion of the human and the divine. This led to the Western insistence that the political realm cannot claim divinity without being idolatrous, and that belief brought them in conflict with the Caesars — yes, even Constantine. That’s what drove martyrdom, as it did with Daniel: politics and an unwillingness to acknowledge the divinity of the political order. It is this belief, along with the amount of Torah that was accepted, that created a culture in which we still recognize a high point. That contemporary culture no longer displays the characteristics of Biblical teaching on the human /divine distinction has led it to the foolish notion that ethics and morality are man-made, and not to be obtained from divine revelation. Thus they believe power is from below, not from above. Scripture emphasizes power is in grace, yet another distinction that established the good Western culture, but not its bad.
But at the Reformation, despite all the ambiguity on the Torah, two documents were produced which insisted on the abiding validity of the law of God. That they did not go far enough is a valid and real criticism, and needs to be made loudly and clearly. But the other side of the coin is the correct Torah they did write into the Heidelberg and Westminster Catechisms, and, up until recent times, insisted on as necessary for the man and woman of faith.
When we look at the history, we see a mixture of truth and error. It does not matter what drives the error, it is still error, just as the good is still good, even if it might have been for the wrong reasons.
As we look at this, the question becomes is the glass half full or half empty? Our answer usually depends on what it is we are trying to emphasize, the emptiness or the fullness, and our “doctrine” will drive our answer. The emphasis, however, is not the accuracy of “the half” but whether or not we are willing recognize good when it occurs, then ask folk to “go further”.
This is why I think your work is important. It asks us to “go further.” Keep asking.
Thanks for your support, Ian. You are a true man in quest for the truth.
Great post! I appreciate all the different comments and perspectives. I know for me, the light began to dawn when I compared what Yeshua actually taught versus what was taught about Him.
I became convinced that I could not separate Yeshua from His Jewishness unless I created a religion that excluded His true message.
While Constantine’s authorship of the “creed” that carries his name is questionable, perhaps other words of Constantine, in the “Edict of Milan” of which his authorship is not in doubt, might shed some light on what Constantine really thought about religion in general and Christianity in particular.
“[W]e thought, among other things which we saw would be for the good of many, those regulations pertaining to the reverence of the Divinity ought certainly to be made first, so that we might grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred.”
Yes, I agree that this sounds good, all except for the “which each preferred,” certainly a humanist view of the role of religion. If God actually revealed His expectations for behavior in the Kingdom, does it matter what we prefer? I suppose that the overall evaluation is always in question since Constantine sometimes acts as if he is a true believer but then at other times one must wonder (like having his wife killed and his son, or was it step-son). His influence was tremendous for good and ill. Again, I refer you to David Dungan’s book.
I did not intend to infer Constantine’s “Edict” was good. It merely indicates what he really thought about religion: use it and control it for the advancement of the Empire. Diocletian before him eventually realized the persecution failed to achieve a united Empire, where all would bow the knee to the Emperor as the ultimate authority. For the next 200 years the Emperor’s would try the same tactic, with the same result. They were ignored whenever possible. And we know the outcome. Roman Empire — gone the way of all civilizations that do not acknowledge the King of kings.
Major correction Skip. First sentence should read, “In case there was any doubt that the [Roman Catholic] Church not only endorsed but demanded a renunciation of Jewish customs in order to be a [Roman Catholic], here is the official record:”
“Church”, capital “C”, can be taken to mean the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that his disciples would be known by their love for one another, Jn 13:35. Such a Creed would be only an evil imitation perpetrated by the enemy, attempting to smother the shining Love, Light and Truth of Jesus Christ. And of course the enemy has been defeated, praise God.
The “Church” includes Messianic Christians like me, grafted by grace into the Tribe of Judah through the sacrifice and blood of the “King of the Jews”. I am, by His blood, fully Jewish and fully free to follow my Lord and Savior. The body, or “Church”, that I belong to did not write, and does not follow, that Creed.
Thank you for shining the Light.
Hi David,
I get your point, but I would never associate Church (capital C) with the body of followers of YHWH. Church, as you know, is a Germanic origin word based on some loose relationship with ekklesia, which is itself problematical since it doesn’t capture the q’ehalah or the edah of the Tanakh. I wrote a lot about this in the past. I always use Church to mean the official body of the religion called Christianity, not of the followers of Yeshua or YHWH. Nevertheless, I am sure it could be confusing.
One more point. I don’t mean that only the RCC endorsed this kind of thinking. It is just as prevalent in Luther and Calvin and, indeed, in contemporary evangelicals.
Skip, seems quite natural to associate “Church” with the followers of God? Probably why the enemy uses “Church” to marginalize believers by associating them and their King with various man-made religions and their perversions – such as the Creed above. That’s the precise concern with the first sentence above the Creed.
More confusing than “Church”, is “the official body of the religion called Christianity”. Whew – easy to get lost in there. For all believers reading this – know that you are free of religion – Jesus often chastised learned religious leaders and even knocked over their merchandise tables. Be proud to claim the title of Jew (The sign above His head declared His only crime – He was the “King of the Jews”) Take full possession of all the promises and covenants given to Abramam – they are yours because you are grafted into the King of the Jews and He said so. Don’t let religion get you down – just remember what it did to Jesus – and yet He rose again! Shalom
Thanks for helping us keep straight on this. I wish you were both coming to Israel with us.
Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Sounds a lot like Jesus to me. 🙂
Enter Kabbalah and all of your questions will be solved.
THAT is what Jesus taught ..h.ow do I know ? I grew up Catholic and then learned Kabbalah for the past six years..when you look at Jesus teachings in light of kabbalah, there is simply no doubt , no room for intepretation , you see it like the light of day…not to mention that some of the greatest kabbalists in history lived in the Galilee during Jesus life…To think that they didn’t at least meet being that Jesus was a rav, a teacher, is like thinking you lived in NY in 2001 and did not hear about 9/11. I have been to Galilee and know it is not very big .
Here it is: everything explained. There is two videos, the person talking is a long time student of the Kabbalah Centre…if you have eyes and ears and are willing to learn, then watch and listen:
http://kabbalahstudentsspeak.com/jesuskabbalah-lectures/
Now, if you go like others: “oh, it s a cult” …”its this, its that” and believe everything a small group of people who don’t want to relinquish power and never set foot on a Kabbalah Centre say, then by all means remain ignorant and God bless you
Just a comment. While I do find some Jewish mysticism interesting and sometimes revealing, it strikes me that if this was so clear and obvious, and so well understood in the first century and before, then why is it that Kabbalah didn’t develop prior to the middle ages? Yes, sod is present in the rabbinic approach, but it doesn’t take on the full aspects of Kabbalah until much, much later – after the mysticism of Hellenism is thoroughly entrenched in Judaism. And if it is so prevalent in Scripture and so clear to the prophets, then why do we have no serious teaching of these topics in the Tanakh? No, I am afraid that history belies the claim that Kabbalah is the “answer.” It is one way of looking at the patterns, but only one, and one that isn’t quite as obvious as we might want to believe.
Skip did you watch the videos? The reason why it is not obvious to the whole world, is because of what you just did. Reject it plainly without even knowing what it is. Here are some more resaons:
1. Because people in the religous establishment did not want to share this knowledge with the world
2. Because humanity was not able to understand the concepts of parallel worlds and spirtiuality in the middle ages or even later.
And Kabbalah did develop before the Middle Ages , Abraham wrote the Sefer Yetzirah or Book of Formation – that’s pure Kabbalah, Moses received the Torah and the Kabbalah knowledge at Mount Sinai , so on and so forth… I can share the whole lineage with you if you like (Shimon Bar Yochai, Jesus, etc).
ThE Zohar itself talks about the time when this knowledge will be readily available to all and that time is now.
The Kabbalah Centre is making a huge effort to disseminate Kabbalah to the world and thank God they are being successful , as the number of students grows exponentially …
fair enough ?
Please don’t make the same mistakes many people do : to think they know what Kabbalah is because they have a pre-conceived notion that they heard from others or they read in the media …Learn for yourself !… You will be in for a surprise …
If i may, I recomend you start by not letting your pre conceived ideas govern you and watch the videos