Explaining the basic series of crossroads we encounter in the faith on the road to the real truth of first century Christianity.
A Series of Crossroads
Tag: Apologetics
Apologetics are messages related to the basics of Christianity as practiced by the first century Christians.
Historical Proof of the Messiah
Historical Proof of the Messiah: The principal historical source outside the bible showing the Jesus the Christ, aka Yeshua the Messiah, existed and was resurrected.
You Matter
Nobody lights a lamp and puts it under a basket means that you matter. Jesus Christ, aka Yeshua, died for you because you have worth and can be righteous. The mainstream Christian doctrines surrounding works being somehow bad force a conclusion that believers are worthless. If there are none righteous, and you are going to stay unrighteous, then the Messiah died for nothing.
This teaching unravels these destructive and evil doctrines. These wrong teachings, called the doctrines of men, must be refuted because you matter. Yeshua taught expressly against these concepts, and I explain why people believe the opposite of plain scripture in the message. Nearly every page of the Gospels contains parables, teachings, or stories about righteous deeds versus unrighteous deeds. Christ clearly expressed that the disciples, prior to His death and resurrection, were the light of the world. They needed to live so that their righteous deeds could be seen by men and thus draw men closer to Yahweh.
The book after the Gospels is not called Acts because it is fashioned after a play. It’s called Acts because it records the righteous deeds of the first century believers. Their righteousness was based upon the Torah and they lived their lives precisely so mankind could follow their lead and learn righteousness. This teaching is provided in pdf and video format because you matter and it is Yahweh’s desire that you be saved and learn to be righteous.
The Apostle Paul
Understanding the Apostle Paul and the doctrines that depend on his writings can take years of study. This in-depth message can shave a lot of time from your efforts and help make the entire bible more understandable. Key points in this message:
First understand the rest of the Bible from Genesis to revelation.
Select a Bible that is up to date on the most accurate manuscripts and literal while also being easy to comprehend.
Understand how first century Jews communicated, particularly how they communicated when referencing scripture and doctrine.
Come to the realization that without Paul’s writings, the bible doesn’t apply to gentile converts at all.
The Continuity of the Faith
Are you following a different Gospel? Are you sure?
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)
Are you following a different Gospel? Are you sure? pic.twitter.com/w7ztVTb94e
— Chris (@Messianic73) November 13, 2023
The continuity of scripture: Genesis to Revelation. The big draw.
Slide 1 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)
I spoke about predestination and free will on Shabbat. This existential topic is so intertwined into our lives. How we receive information is based both on how we were made by Yahweh and how we’ve been raised. We make decisions in life with both of these invisible forces directing traffic. We’re going to go where God wants. He knows how we will choose based on how we’re wired and He knows how to present information so that it is received they way He wants, when He wants.
When I started looking into religion, challenging the doctrines I had been taught growing up, and exposed to through our culture, I had some hard decisions to make. It was clear as a bell that Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and the Trinity were not to be found in scripture. It was also very easy to find out when these things became mandatory. The switch to Sunday starts in about 110AD with the Epistle of Barnabas. Christmas first shows up as a Christian holiday about 355 AD. Prior to that, it was part of Saturnalia. Easter is and ancient holiday to a pagan fertility goddess. We know that the first Christians continued to keep Passover from Paul’s letters and from Polycarp in the second century, who was a disciple of John. The Trinity became a mandate in the late 300s or early 400s as the first Nicene Creed circa 325AD was effectively a Binitarian document at best.
The reason I bring up these four specific doctrines is because they effectively define mainstream Christianity. And they are new. Not new to the New Testament, they came after the New Testament, which means they weren’t part of the faith once delivered to the saints. This means they are contrary to the verse on the screen. By accepting these doctrines as truth, we are accepting that the Messiah can change, which is a different gospel.
Nearly 25 years ago, when I started this walk, I started by reading the New Testament and looking specifically for a change from the Sabbath to Sunday. Because I knew that the Sabbath was on Saturday (Friday sunset to Sunday sunset). Somewhere in my youth I was taught that, or perhaps I just knew it from society. But I was certain the change was in the New Testament. And if it were there, then I’d keep Sunday and continue on with my life. Somehow, though, I knew that either the NT had to record the change or there was no change. I was not looking for the other three doctrines at all. But I knew the faith had to be continuous. Either the worship continued the way it was articulated in the Old Testament (based on my very rudimentary understanding of the OT at the time) or there was no change. Was this belief because God made me that way, because I was raised in America where changes in law have to be documented, because of the Holy Spirit, or form some combination of these things? I do not know. But what I did know then is that the faith has to be continuous or else we don’t know what to believe.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Sabbath was either annulled or moved to another day. Nowhere in the Bible does it say to observe Easter or Christmas. Nowhere in the Bible does it mandate we believe in a 3 in one god that nobody can even explain. Those things were added after the close of scripture. If we accept that the four biggest things a person has to believe come from men, and can change, then how do we know when to believe some other mandatory change? And what about the people in the New Testament? None of them believed in any of these doctrines of men. Are they lost because they didn’t accept them?
Obviously, we are much better off if we simply stop kicking against the goads and accept that, from Genesis to Revelation, Yeshua is the same. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Predestination and Free Will
Video below
Are Predestination and Free Will really competing ideas? No, but it’s complicated.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Rom 8:29-30)
We think in terms of free will versus predestination. This is often attributed to “western thought”, as if Hebrew thought doesn’t have such a dichotomy. In reality, these quandries occur across cultures and have been debated likely since the fall of mankind. I address a first century Jewish doctrine that is quite similar to the modern Christian view of predestination within. This is to illustrate there this concept existed in Hebrew culture as well as Greek.
The modern view of these two concepts, that they are diametrically opposed, comes from John Calvin. He was perhaps the most famous of the leaders during the Reformation. Calvin came up with a system, represented by the word TULIP as an acronym, to try and “solve” Christianity. His system is rather primitive and lacks any connection to Hebrew culture at all. It’s important for us to remember that Yahweh’s culture is not from Europe in the middle ages but is recorded in the Torah and the Old Testament (Genesis to Revelation).
Learning how predestination and free will complement each other rather than oppose is founded on an understanding of the entire bible. When we understand that we live within the constraints of time while the Creator of the Universe does not, then we can begin to understand the symmetry of these two concepts.
Do Christians and Jews Worship the Same God?
A question that doesn’t need to be asked.
Do Christians and Jews worship the same God? pic.twitter.com/LgkFJx13Jw
— Chris (@Messianic73) November 9, 2023
For God So Loved the World
John 3:16 is almost always cited as a stand alone verse. This verse is actually part of a conversation Yeshua (Jesus) has with Nicodemus who is a leader of the Pharisees. Yeshua reveals precious information about Himself and His ministry to Nicodemus beyond the phrase “for God so loved the world”. This information was revealed to Nicodemus prior to it being revealing to the Disciples.
Nicodemus calls Yeshua “Rabbi”, which is an amazing honor for such a leader to humble himself to the Messiah at the beginning of His ministry. This same Nicodemus remains faithful to the end, even being present at the cross when the Disciples had scattered. This discussion includes the new concept of being born again, which the context indicates was something to happen in a person’s lifetime. Yeshua also revealed His pre-existence to Nicodemus, who miraculously remained faithful even after hearing such strange and new information. Please enjoy this deep dive into the context of this remarkable conversation!
An exposition on John 3:1-21 and the many hidden things in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus about how to obtain eternal life. pic.twitter.com/LHaUKzim7B
— Chris (@Messianic73) November 4, 2023
Israel and Racism
Would you ever consider discriminating against the apostle Paul?
Video only via Rumble, Twitter, and Spotify below.
#Israel and Racism: a simple question. Would you ever consider discriminating against the apostle Paul? pic.twitter.com/JHh6soAVjG
— Chris (@Messianic73) November 2, 2023
Judgment Day
What will happen to those who never believed and when is Judgment Day?
Christianity has a skewed vision of end time events. The day of Judgment is almost always scrunched in with the return of Jesus, whom we call Yeshua. However, the Judgment is actually 1000 years after His return. The period of time between his return and the judgment is called the millennium. Revelation 20 explains this gap of time clearly. Unfortunately, modern Christian teachings about the end of days ignores this period of time. When the Messiah returns, those who accepted Him as the Son of God are resurrected. They, along with the believers alive at that time, rise and meet Him in the air. He then descends to rule from Jerusalem for this 1000-year period of time. At the end of the 1000 years, unrepentant sinners and those who had never heard of Jesus, aka Yeshua, in their lifetimes are resurrected and judged against the context of their lives.
The Two Resurrections and the Book of Life
Yeshua speaks of two resurrections in John 5. The first is a resurrection of life, which is generically called “the first resurrection.” Revelation 20 and Matthew 25 speak directly to the requirements for salvation at the resurrection of judgment. The Greek words for judgment in the relevant verses are either krisis or krino, both of which mean, effectively, “decision time”. When all the nations are gathered before Yeshua’s throne, they are judged according to the deeds they did in their lifetimes. The text clearly states that some of the people present at the second resurrection are written in the Book of Life and are granted eternal life, which runs contrary to most Christian teaching today.
The video above is a message explaining all the relevant verses about the topics summarized. It includes good insight from a few of our congregants as well. Understanding that Yahweh (God) has provided an opportunity for the bulk of mankind to enter eternal life is a blessing. The pdf below is a written-out study in case you want to be able to look these things up without listening and pausing. The relevant verses are quite easy to understand, so please enjoy this teaching and please give a share if it blesses you.