The False Prophet of the Church

Folks, you are going to have to excuse me, but I got hit with a bombshell of a revelation this past week. We Christians are always whinging about how the Jews rejected Jesus as God’s messiah, and that when Paul spoke of a veil being placed over their eyes, he was supposedly prophesying about how God intended the Jews to reject Jesus so that we Gentiles could be brought into the new Church that Jesus instituted.

Pardon me, but I’m coming around to the point of thinking that this just might be a bunch of bovine effluvia!! 

Background

If you have been following what I have been writing over the past three years, you know that I have been exploring more and more the Jewish roots of our faith. My readings over this short period of time have been nothing short of revolutionary to my faith and practice. For example, I have become chary of using words like “church, “christian,” and even “Christ.”

• Church? The Greek word, ecclesia, doesn’t have a religious content, but merely means an assembly. In fact, in one verse in the New Testament speaking of the near riot by the silversmiths of Ephesus, ecclesia is the word used for the mob of angry protesters gathered to oppose Paul’s teachings: “for the assembly was in confusion” (Acts 19.32, ESV). Hardly a revival meeting…
• Christian? The word is derived, of course, from the Greek Christos, which is the direct Greek translation of the Hebrew word mashach. Mashach means “anointed, to anoint”; Christos is the Greek word that means “anointed, or to anoint.” More importantly, the Hebrew mashach is the word from which we get the term “Messiah.” I prefer to say that we are messianic rather than Christian, because “Christian” makes an artificial distinction between followers of Jesus and the Jews.
• Christ? First, so many people seem to believe that “Christ” is his last name. But more importantly, Jesus wasn’t the Christ, he was the Messiah, a completely Jewish concept. We need to acknowledge that Jesus is Messiah, according to the prophecies of the TNK.

Jesus the False Prophet?

Judaism has rejected Jesus as God’s messiah for 1900 years. (Important note–I didn’t say 2000 years! After all, in the first century, many of Jesus’ followers were Jewish, and the leadership of the congregations was almost entirely Jewish.)

But what if it were conceivable that the rejection of Jesus by the Jews is actually done for the right reasons, and in fact, an act of devotion and commitment to God? Could that possibly be the case?

I know that you are probably thinking that I have embraced heresy, and that I am denying the divinity of Jesus. But I’m not. The real problem is that for nearly 1900 years, the church has been presenting a picture of Jesus that violates the word of God, and presents Jesus as the very embodiment of a false prophet, according to scripture. If this is the case, then the Jewish rejection of Jesus as the Church has presented him is because they held true to God and His scripture. In my mind, it is possible that the Jews rejected a false Jesus that the Church has been presenting for nearly 1900 years!

Recognizing a False Prophet

Please read this portion of Deuteronomy carefully. (Understand that Moses is presenting the second generation of Israelites with the covenant, and gives them a warning to not be like their parents, the generation that perished in the desert.)

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. (Deut. 13:1-5, ESV)

Note especially the highlighted phrases, because they constitute the basis for the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah.

The Church Offered a False Prophet

“Wait a minute, CSL, are you trying to claim that Jesus was leading the Jewish people astray to serve other gods?”

No, I’m not. Please go back and re-read the words that I highlighted in that passage that gives the distinctive of a false prophet: a false prophet is one who, while possibly being a miracle-worker, seeks  to lead the people of God from the ways of God. That is the crucial point to understanding why Jews have rejected Jesus as Messiah, and why he is labelled a false prophet in the Talmud.

This is the core issue of why the Jews rejected Jesus as God’s Messiah. During the first century, the followers of Jesus were Jews who accepted that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and the leaders of the new movement were Jewish, some of whom were rabbis. The Jews did NOT reject Jesus. In fact, in the book of Acts, the leaders in Jerusalem report to Paul, 

And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, (Acts 21:20, ESV)

Did you catch that? “Many thousands of Jews” were believers. Israel, as a nation, did NOT reject Jesus in the first century. The Sadducees, the priests, yes, they rejected Jesus, but in the first century? Not the nation. 

But the seeds of Jewish rejection are hinted at in Acts 21.20, and the rest of the book of Acts plays up on that reason. Look at the last part of the verse:

They are all zealous for the law…. In fact, it is this zealousness for the Law that leads to the rejection of Jesus as Messiah.

Why? Because God commanded this zealousness, in Deut. 13, above. What we call “Law” is actually “Torah”, and Torah is God’s way that He has commanded Israel to walk. And a false prophet is anyone who tries to lead people away from God’s Torah/Law.

First Century Jews, Jesus, and Torah

Guess what? When the apostles told Paul that there were many thousands of Jewish believers in Jerusalem, who were also “zealous for the Law,” this wasn’t seen by them or by Paul as a contradiction. They, too, were zealous for the Torah of God, because Jesus was a teacher of that same Torah! 

The first century believers, both Jewish and Gentile, believed that God gave Torah to Israel, and that it was God’s way of living. This was the message of the New Testament, that Jesus, as Messiah, came to teach a pure Torah and an eternal Torah. “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18, ESV)

Jesus taught Torah and his followers were zealous for God’s Law/Torah. In fact, it was the belief that Gentile converts to Jesus would catch this devotion to Torah from the synagogues that they would start attending. After all, that is what James the Elder leans on when the Jerusalem Apostles made their ruling on Gentile converts:

“For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he [Torah] is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” (Acts 15:21, ESV)

In James’ mind, the Gentiles will learn what it mean to follow God by going to synagogue and learning Moses’ Torah!

The Church Changed Jesus

However, starting in the second century AD, the Church began to preach a  Jesus who, in the eyes of the Jews, DID attempt to lead God’s people astray, in violation of Deut. 13.

How? By teaching that Jesus came to do away with the Torah. On the strength of a few verses interpreted wrongly, the Early Church Fathers taught that Jesus destroyed the Law, that he instituted the Church and apostolic supremacy, and in essence condemned the entirety of the faith delivered to Moses and to Israel.

The Church began to teach that Jesus came to do away with Torah, that the Law was obsolete. According to the Church, Jesus brought in a new way of salvation and replaced the Jews as God’s Chosen people.

By teaching that Jesus violated God’s covenant, the Church ensured that Jews would have nothing to do with Jesus. By preaching a Jesus who rejected Moses and Torah, the Church made it a requisite that Jews reject Jesus as a false prophet, by God’s own Word.

The blame for the Jewish rejection of Jesus as God’s Messiah is on the Church, pure and simple.

CSL

Leaving Ignorance Behind: Pharisees, part 3

In the first two posts in this series, I broached the idea that we are rather too smug in our assumptions about the pharisees of the Bible, and are all-too self-congratulatory toward our own humility (how very Pharisaical of us, right?). I promised that in this post I would deal with our assumption that the pharisees the Jews who rejected Jesus believed that you earned your salvation by keeping the Law.

After all, we are taught that the writers of the New Testament were always contrasting the  works of the law of the Jews vs. the grace that Jesus was bringing. And Paul told us that “by the works of the Law no flesh will be saved.” So it is only natural to assume that the Jewish leaders and teachers, with the pharisees leading the charge, taught that obedience to the Law earned salvation.

Leaving Ignorance Behind: Pharisees, part 2

In my last post, I began to look at the purblind ignorance of the Church and Christians when it comes to the Jewish nature and context of our faith. As I said, we just don’t have a clue about how little we really don’t know, and it makes me want to weep.

My first subject for examination is our idea of those evil villains of the New Testament, the pharisees (*boo* *hiss*). But in examining the beliefs of the pharisees vs. the beliefs of the other religious sects in first-century Palestine, we find that the closest group to the Church (as far as beliefs go) is the pharisees! But if we share so much, spiritually, with the pharisees, then why do we feel that they are the ultimate baddies of the Bible?

Leaving Ignorance Behind: Pharisees, pt. 1

I have been doing a lot of reading and studying these past two years into the Jewish roots of our Christian faith. I am reading material on some great websites; I have about 10 great books I’ve read (and more on the way); I’ve taken several online classes/seminars that have been extremely informative and eye-opening; I am accessing excellent teachings series, whether online or on DVD. I’ve even purchased a new study bible that is translated with Hebrew terminology and great accompanying study notes and commentary. Basically, my Christian mindset is undergoing a major renovation because of what I am learning.

But there is one fly in my ointment, folks: I’m mad!  At myself.

Lawless Christians?, part 3

[I use the phrase tanach/TNK to refer to the Old Testament.]

In my two previous posts, I have been dealing with bad teaching in the Church that tries to do away with God’s requirement for holiness in the lives of His followers. The Church has tried to do away with God’s requirements for his followers to live lives that are worthy of His calling by eliminating God’s instruction, His torah, by calling it Law and saying that we are free from the Law, that we are “under Grace” because Jesus did away with the Law.

As I demonstrated in my previous posts, we have mislabeled and mistranslated God’s words to us to fit our desires. In this post I want to deal with one more concept that we have gotten phenomenally wrong because of our misunderstanding of the context of the scriptures.

We have the mistaken belief that the writers of the Tanach and the religious leaders of Jesus’ day believed that they had to earn salvation, that by doing works of the Law, they could merit God’s kingdom. Yes, the phrase, works of the Law does occur several times in Paul’s epistles, but could it be even remotely possible that we have, somehow, misunderstood Paul and got it wrong? Again? (That again should tell you that were you and I speaking face-to-face, my tone would be dripping with snarkasm.)

Lawless Christians?, part 2

In my last post, I decided to examine the basic Christian assumption that Christian are not under the Law (Torah), that since Jesus fulfilled the righteousness of the Old Testament’s requirement by paying the penalty for sin, we are freed from the Old Testament law and now live by the grace of God.

Yup, I went there. But I had facts to back up my statements that the word Law in the New Testament is greatly misunderstood. After all, the Hebrew word that is translated “law” in the TNK (Old Testament) doesn’t mean “law”, but means “guidance, teaching”. With that basic misunderstanding cleared up, we would have to say, “How could Torah be abolished, done away with? God’s instruction and teaching is eternal.”

Lawless Christians?, part 1

How many of you believe that we Christians are not under Law, but under grace? After all, isn’t it a truism of the Church that, as people living under the New Covenant, the righteousness that the Old Testament Law required was fulfilled by Jesus, and so did away with it? The Law no longer applies to us because of the New Covenant established in Jesus’ blood, right?

As those of you who know me, the contrarian that I am, have probably surmised, I am going to disagree with this established teaching of the Church. (Quelle surprise!, right?)

Be that as it may, with the next couple of posts, I would like to share an eye-opening thought that just might help with bridging the gap that stands between the teachings of Jesus, who was a completely Torah-observant Jewish rabbi, and the teachings of his followers.

Fifteen Questions: An Oldie Re-Surfaces

In my very first post on this blog, three years ago, I addressed what used to be a hot topic in the Church–or at least used to be when I was a young Christian back in the 70’s and 80’s. The Rapture.

To be more specific, the rapture (catching away) of the Church from the earth, by Jesus, seven years before a cataclysmic Tribulation period that would unleash Hell on earth: the pre-trib. rapture, for shorthand.

I must confess that, as a new christian being discipled in conservative churches of the day, and hearing teachers & preachers on TV and radio, I was a staunch believer in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching for several years. Until I was challenged to read a certain book…. But that’s all addressed in my first CSL On The Bible post.

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These two blogs that I write don’t represent my first venture into flinging my thoughts and ideas at the world’s wall to see what sticks. For seven years, I had a website entitled The Pelajian Challenge**, which I used to write about Christian topics, and one of the things I wrote about was the fallacy of the Pre-Trib. Rapture teaching.

And one of the things I created was a small pamphlet entitled “15 Questions For The Pre-Trib. Rapture Believer.” Well, I’ve recently used the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to look at some of the articles I wrote, and decided to resurrect that pamphlet. I’ve created it as a .pdf file, and you can read/download the file here: Fifteen Questions.

CSL

**About 30 years ago, I realized that I have more in common with Augustine’s chief bugaboo, Pelagius, than Augustine. As an in-joke, when I started getting active online, I chose to spell his name phonetically, Pelajus, to see how many ministers in my denomination were acquainted with the heretic. Sadly, not one asked me about it. *sigh*.

“Am I A Disciple?”, part 2

In my first post on this subject I wrote about the need to ask a different question of ourselves, something other than “What benefits do I accrue as a Christian?” I presented the idea that the real concern for a follower of Jesus would be his/her walk and not the perks of salvation. I want to explore the implications of the Church’s failure to be concerned about discipleship in greater depth in this post, and for one vital reason:

I’ve come to believe that most Christians don’t have a clue as to what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. I know I don’t. And I am sure that we, as a church, don’t know what being a disciple meant to Jesus and the Jews of the first century. In Mt. 28:19–20, Jesus gave his disciples, and the subsequent church, its Great Commission:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

“Am I A Disciple?”, part 1

I understand that in this post, I may come across as getting all church-y and critical; however, if you think of it as merely the quibblings of a grumpy old coot and not a breaking out of whips and cords, maybe we can get through this alright.

Some time ago, a fellow blogger asked his readership for future writing topics and among the replies he received was a suggestion that we need to hear more about who we are in Christ. This reader felt that we need reminding that, as children of the king, we are “supernatural royalty.” And that was the catalyst for this post. Why? Because my basic reaction to that sort of statement is usually an ungentlemanly snort of derision.